Chapter 9
I jerked awake and scrambled to my feet when someone came in. The open door let in a refreshing breeze and I inhaled deeply. My heart stuttered when I noticed there were two this time. That couldn’t be a good thing.
I had been in the dim room for days. One of the vorpyr that had been with the original group to capture us came twice a day to bring me food and water and check the energy chain he’d hooked to my leg soon after my interrogators had left.
He refused to speak with me except the one time I’d clutched his arm and begged him to tell me if Jaron and Tatiana were ok.
He’d shaken me off with a warning growl and had said they were alive and getting the same rations I was. That was something, at least.
The vorpyr who’d been bringing me food and water waved a small device on his wrist over my chain and it dropped from my ankle. “Come.”
“Where are we going?” I glanced at the newcomer.
Oh. I hadn’t seen a female vorpyr yet. She was smaller than the males of the species but beautiful, with petite horns and delicate features, though not as small-boned as human females.
She was nervous though, her gaze darting between us.
I offered a smile. Maybe she would be willing to tell me what was going on.
“My name is Junyv.” she said in the intergalactic tongue. Her accent was so heavy it took me a moment to process what she was saying. “I am to get you ready for today.”
“Get me ready for what?” I glanced from her back to the cranky male. Were they going to prepare me for some ritual execution? I hadn’t been eating a great deal, but what little I had was about to come back up at the thought.
“The Vorazyr wants to speak with you.” Her gaze flicked over me and then away again. “I am to get you a bath and a change of clothes.”
“Let’s go.” the male said impatiently.
As I followed Junyv, I wondered idly if they had superior smell.
Maybe my sweat was highly offensive to them.
Or maybe he knew bathing was a basic need for humans.
Was it for vorpyr? Wasn’t it normal to leave prisoners dirty and without their needs met?
I couldn’t help but think of the information the Consortium had distributed about them.
Being captured by vorpyr was the worst kind of horror, according to them.
My thoughts whirred as I followed behind Junyv, acutely aware of the big vorpyr behind me.
We traveled a great distance, back through the city via the interconnected walkways and stairs.
We finally came to an area that wasn’t built on, further along the cliff and about two-thirds up, though still dozens of feet beneath the cliff top.
In front of us was a long walkway leading to a huge, multi-level building with other buildings attached.
Was this where the Vorazyr lived? Surely not, he wouldn’t allow me near his home.
I followed Junyv over the final walkway, bypassing the large building, to a small side building.
Some type of guest house? The doors and windows were all open like the others, sheer blue and orange curtains decorating the openings.
I allowed myself a moment to just enjoy the fresh air before I followed Junyv inside, afraid she’d close this building up like the other one.
The male vorpyr stayed outside, shifting so his back was to the cliff and sliding the door closed after us.
A sigh of relief found my lips. He was going to stand guard out there.
I got my answer to whether bathing was important to vorpyr when Junyv led me from a comfortable looking main room through a bedroom to what I would equate to the master bathroom.
It was massive. Not just large enough to accommodate their wingspan, but big enough for them to splash around for enjoyment.
If a small home like this had a small swimming pool with varying water jets and spouts, what did the larger ones have?
“Where does your water come from?” I asked as she set out a comb and various glass-like bottles of what I could only assume were things like bodywash and shampoo.
It was idiotic, really. I was about to be allowed to take a bath for who knew what reason in the middle of this horrible situation.
I should ask her what his plans for me were, why he was allowing me to get cleaned up, where my brother and friend were.
Somehow, I knew she wouldn’t answer those questions.
She couldn’t even meet my gaze, instead flicking it to my shoulder now and again before continuing what she was doing.
“I don’t think I can tell you that.” her voice was soft, and she had a meek air about her, but she was firm.
I withheld a sigh. “Could you at least tell me why he’s having me get cleaned up?”
“It is a necessity for humans to be clean, is it not?” She laid out a fluffy towel and clothes and then waved toward the pool. “Please disrobe and get in.”
Undressing in front of her couldn’t be any worse than communal baths I’d joined in other cultures I’d visited on my own planet.
And besides, I was relieved to get out of the garment.
Sweat and dirt loved each other, and I didn’t enjoy being caked in either.
The closed-up building had gotten hot during midday, and stress had me pacing enough to add to the sweat.
The water was pure bliss. Given how hot it was outside the cool of the water was heavenly. She provided me with body wash and a—was that a rock?—to scrub myself with. I ran my hands over the object. It was like a pumice stone, but softer and porous.
“We don’t have anything like this to scrub with at home.” I commented, desperate to connect. Not even to possibly gain an ally, but because I hadn’t been able to truly speak to anyone in days. “Do you work for the Vorazyr?”
Her left fang bit into her bottom lip and she seemed to consider my words, though she still wouldn’t look at me. “Yes.” she finally said.
“Do you enjoy it?” I smiled when she finally looked at me. “I work at a university and find being inside all the time can be stuffy.”
She blinked and I froze. Did they have a third eyelid? The kind reptiles had? Their eyes were reptilian, except for the brilliance of the color filling everything except the dark, horizontal pupil, so it would make sense.
“Is something the matter?” she asked cautiously.
I dropped my gaze to the water so my staring didn’t unnerve her. “I just realized you have an extra eyelid that you sweep across your lid side to side instead of up and down.”
This time she fully blinked, like a human would. “Oh. Yes.” She leaned forward, her face open with curiosity. “Do you not have this?”
“No. I imagine it has to do with our development as a species and not needing the extra protection it provides, one of the reasons being that we’re not in physical battles since the invention of long-range weapons.”
She made little trilling noises in her chest as I spoke, and I wondered if it might be the equivalent of humans nodding or saying “mmhmm.”
“You are a scholar.” she said approvingly.
I laughed, soaping my hair. “Not when it comes to evolutionary development. I specialize in culture and language.”
She perked up. “Do you know any vorikaan?”
I blinked. It must be the vorpyr language, or at least the language of this territory. “Um, I think I’ve caught a couple of words. Would you tell me if I’m right?” There were some words that I’d heard in the same context a few times, but of course I didn’t know for sure.
She trilled.
My mouth went dry. I’d never been so nervous about trying to communicate in a new language.
Then again, I’d never been a captive a hairsbreadth from execution, either.
“Look at this is zel voraan, come here is raesh tal, and what do you think is veyth oraan.” I watched her expression intently, and she lit up. “Did I get it right?”
She nodded, “except it’s ray-sh tal, not ray-esh tal.”
I repeated the word the way she pronounced it.
“Yes! Do you—” heavy footsteps silenced her, and we both jerked around to face the door. The water rippled with my rapid movement.
My heart slammed painfully against my ribs as the Vorazyr stepped through the door into the bathroom, his bulk making the room seem much, much smaller.
He froze, gaze raking over my exposed body.
Awareness zinged through me at his perusal, tension and warmth doing strange things to my stomach.
I wrapped my arms around myself and splashed to the far end of the little pool.
It was not nearly far enough to get away from the heat of his predatory gaze.
Finally, he looked away, focusing on Junyv, who was standing now and had her gaze on the floor.
He said something to her, and though I had picked up a couple of basic parts of a sentence from the children, I had no idea what he said.
I was just glad that intense gaze was no longer stroking over my body.
The feeling had been…confusing. Something I didn’t want to unpack while a captive on a foreign planet.
He left as quickly as he’d appeared.
“We must hurry, we’ve taken too long.”
“Is that why he came in?”
She hesitated and then said, “he thought you might have done something when we took so long.”
Of course. Because I’m such a mastermind criminal and could definitely take on a being with claws, fangs, and wings.
I hurriedly climbed out, and she gave me a towel. I nearly jumped out of my skin when she started rubbing something in my hair and then brushing it while I finished toweling off and pulled on the breezy pants she’d laid out.
“You don’t have to do that.”
“He asked me to help you get ready, this is easy.”
When she was done I slipped into the top, highly aware that I didn’t have anything underneath the flimsy material. His gaze had scorched me just a moment ago, and I felt vulnerable.
“What is the Vorazyr’s name?” I asked when she snagged my shoulder length hair and put it in some form of twist.
“I am afraid he’d be angry if I told you.”
“Is he a harsh master?”
“He has a great deal of responsibility on his shoulders.” She finished with my hair and slid the door open to the main room.
He was waiting at a table that occupied part of the room, a backless settee and various plush chairs filling up the rest. I glanced toward the door on instinct, prey looking for an escape. No, I couldn’t set myself up for failure by thinking that way.
“Sit. I’m taking you up on your offer of teaching me about your species.” He tilted his horns toward the chair next to him. I took the chair diagonal to him. His left wing twitched, but he didn’t comment on it.
“Start with your Consortium Military. Activities, training, anything and everything.”
I steeled my spine. “I want to see that Jaron and Tatiana are safe first.”
We stared each other down. I was all too aware of the power differential and hoped he wouldn’t be cruel.
“Come.” He stood abruptly and I scrambled to follow, jogging to keep up with his long strides. Junyv brought up the rear.
I watched the strong line of his back, the powerful branches of his wings, and wondered what his wings would feel like.
He led me back across the archway, into a lower level of the mansion, through an airy room with a vast ceiling, decorated with stunning artwork, and then out to a circular, open-air courtyard.
It was as though it was just another room in the building, but it had no ceiling and was filled with lush greenery.
I couldn’t help but admire the architecture of this place.
On a bench in the shade of a wide-leafed tree were my brother and Tatiana. I surged past the Vorazyr, running to them. A guard I hadn’t noticed before stepped forward, but his eyes flicked behind me and he stepped back just as quickly.
“Jacqueline.” Jaron crushed me to him. “I’m so glad you’re ok. They wouldn’t tell us anything. I was so scared they’d hurt you.” Stress deepened the lines of his face when I tilted my head back to look at him.
“Are you ok?”I kept patting him, as if to assure myself he was here with me, unharmed.
“Yes. We’ve been locked in a house for the last four days.”
I turned and hugged Tatiana. “The house is a million times better than those ledges. They’ve even given us resources to learn the intergalactic language.” she told me.
“You being here means they’re letting you join us, right?” Jaron asked.
“I don’t know.” I stepped back, a hand on each of their arms, not wanting to lose contact with them again after the last terrifying few days.
The rumble of a deep voice behind me caused the hair on the back of my neck to stand on end. “Unlike humans, I keep my word. Now that you see that, come and tell me what I want to know.”