Chapter 3 #2
“Yeah, sorry,” Crystal said wryly. “I was just living life in the apocalyptic hellscape of the earth after an alien invasion. I forgot I’d need to have nice nails for my auspicious career as a whore.”
Rose rapped her on the mouth for that one.
It was sudden and sharp and it rang Crystal’s head like a bell.
“You don’t use that word!” Rose said. She had grey-blonde hair in a carefully sculpted old-fashioned flip.
If she put on a skirt suit she could have been some politician’s wife.
In the old days, anyway. “You use that word, you only feel bad about yourself.”
“Alright,” Crystal muttered, her mouth smarting. At least it was a distraction.
By the evening, her legs and pubic area were freshly shaved and trimmed, she was lotioned, prettied up, and trussed into a skimpy nighty. She felt naked and her feet hurt in the heels they’d given her.
“This is gross,” she muttered, sitting huddled on the couch with a five-year-old fashion magazine.
“You’ll get used to it,” Gail said, offhandedly.
“Hope not.”
There was the sense that Vampyren could arrive at any time and Crystal’s heart thudded with anxiety just thinking about it.
She also couldn’t stop worrying about Nina and Jet, wondering if they were safe.
She thought she would pass out from worry.
When a Vampyren walked through the door, accompanied by a young human woman in normal clothing, Crystal was on alert.
The striking couple went and talked to Sasha in the corner first and Crystal had to assume this was the infamous Kiera.
She sat, tensed up on her couch, hoping they would save her from the prospect of someone like Drake, or even Drake himself showing up to claim her.
Other Vampyren arrived and Crystal’s heart pounded.
She hopped up from her seat on the couch and hid in a backroom, not waiting to see what they were like although she could already feel the effects of their pheromones, even from another room.
She shut her eyes, lying back in bed, resisting the urge to run out and preen for one of them against her own will.
That Drake asshole definitely hadn’t used pheromones to make her willing. Which could only mean he hadn’t wanted her to be willing, and that made him exponentially more terrifying.
She made herself sit up in bed, her hands pressed to the neatly made up blankets. She closed her eyes and breathed. She just needed them to leave. She felt dizzy with want, the pheromones arousing her. It wasn’t fair.
“Crystal?” The voice was firm and Crystal opened her eyes to see that girl, Kiera, walking into the room, followed by a Vamp wearing some combination of Vampyren robes and human clothes that looked sort of weird and sort of chic at the same time.
The vamp shut the door behind him and Crystal was a little relieved of the effect of the pheromones.
All I had to do was close the door? Idiot.
“Yep.” She raised her hand. “That’s me.”
“You’re new here,” Kiera said, nodding. “Gail said you might need my help. I’m Kiera. This is Loren.” There were awkward handshakes. Crystal had never met a Vamp who shook hands before.
It felt odd.
“I was in a breeding farm myself once,” Kiera said, sitting beside her. “Just across town. It’s not fun to get used to it.”
“I get that impression,” Crystal muttered.
“I’ve heard you’re sort of snarky,” Kiera said, but she smiled as if perhaps that wasn’t a huge problem. “Anyway, I’m sorry you’ve ended up here.”
“I am not snarky,” Crystal said. “I have a personality unlike several people in this place I could name.”
“You used to trade? Before this?”
“Used to,” Crystal muttered sadly. “Yeah, I used to as in yesterday. I’d just taken a bunch of meds to some doctors around town. At least I was able to do that. I’m the best trader in Chicago for fuck’s sake. What will they do for meds now?”
The Vamp was standing back, giving the two women room, and now he finally spoke. He was crossing his arms, regarding her quietly. “We should introduce her to Mark,” he said in a low voice. “Sasha wouldn’t get along with him. She’s too… hard-edged.”
“I’m sorry,” Crystal said with a snort. “Did you say one of the girls is too hard-edged for a Vampyren?”
“He’s not like the rest of us,” Loren said.
“He’s not like the rest of them,” Kiera said, raising her eyebrows. “Some of them. But the two of you are not so different, really.”
“If he’s not an asshole, that would be ideal,” Crystal said dryly. “There was this Vamp—"
Loren frowned at her and she sighed. “There was this Vampyren, Drake, he caught me alone before I was brought here. He… tried to rape me. And I think he deliberately didn’t use pheromones—"
“Because he wanted it to hurt,” Kiera whispered. “Okay yeah, you need a protector and I vote Mark. He’s a good man. If that Drake comes back for you, you’re gonna need somebody standing up for you. And trust me, he will come back for you.”
“I can get him over here…” Loren tapped his chin and squinted, gaging, Crystal supposed.
“I can get him over here… in an hour. He said he really doesn’t want any part of a breeding farm.
He doesn’t approve of them. But if I tell him it’s to protect a human woman, I might be able to change his mind. ”
“You’re sure he’s…” Crystal shrugged her shoulders. “Nice?”
“Yeah,” Kiera said, smiling kindly. “He’s the nicest Vampyren I’ve met.”
“Hey,” Loren said, but he was smiling.
“It’s true.” She winked at him and Crystal inwardly reeled. She had a better attitude about Vampyren than most, even given everything. But she had never seen a real functioning human and Vamp couple. It was like watching a cat and dog get married.
“Never heard of a Vampyren named Mark,” Crystal murmured, stroking her chin. “What’s next? Steve the Vampyren?”
It sounded… okay. If Crystal was anything, she was pragmatic. There was no getting out of the creche system any time soon. If she could make it at least bearable with a Vamp who wasn’t going to rape and beat her. Well, she’d take it.