Chapter 1 Tess #4
“Yes, sort of.” Crystal shrugged, and she rubbed her lips, looking bothered.
“Hope they can hurry up and organize some new system or government. An infrastructure. As long as they’re not going anywhere.
I’m tired of this shit. I… I got a kid.” She shrugged, looking somewhat sheepish. “With Mark. A little daughter.”
Tess’s stomach flip flopped uncomfortably. “Oh shit. Is she in the creche?”
“No!” Crystal said quickly. “Thank goodness. I have a couple friends keeping her while I’m here. I’ve been able to visit a little. But… I just want to… you know.”
“Settle down?” Tess said.
“Yeah,” Crystal whispered. “Never thought I was the type. But yeah. I want to have a little family in a little house. That’s the dream anyway.”
“Someday maybe,” Tess said, though she wasn’t sure if she believed that or not.
They ate and chatted and then Crystal took Tess to the dormitory where she lived, away from the rest of the women who were there to breed.
There was a tension there, Tess couldn’t help but notice.
She got the feeling that Crystal had been spared the duty of breeding for the creche from now on, perhaps because of her Vampyren boyfriend and perhaps that was why the other women resented her. But Tess wasn’t about to bring that up.
“We get in clothes every once in a while,” Crystal said as Tess followed her up the stairs. “Everyone just kind of grabs what they can but I picked out some stuff for you. Hope it works out. And I got you some clean underwear and some essentials.”
“What is it the breeders think I’m here to do?
” Tess said a minute later as she sorted through the clothes, nodding in approval.
It was simple stuff mostly; jeans, black cargo pants, tank tops and t-shirts, a jacket, and a couple button-ups, and some socks.
Some of it was a bit baggy on her. Tess got the sense that Crystal thought of her taste as utilitarian, maybe by her reputation.
Tess laid out an outfit and longingly looked at the bathroom in the empty dorm where Crystal had settled her.
“You’re my infertile sister,” Crystal said, chuckling. “I wouldn’t worry about it anyway. The breeders can be catty but they know me. They’re not assholes and they won’t talk. I used to be one of them. Besides, I’m a trader. I get them all the good shit.”
“Oh!” Tess’s eyebrows shot up as she grabbed one of the towels Crystal had provided her. “You’re a trader. Good to know. You’re everyone’s best friend then.”
“You know it.” Crystal said, tossing her a wink. “Listen, just shower and get some rest. Tomorrow we can talk about heading down to the new creche to do some recon. Talk about our plans.”
“Thanks,” Tess said and Crystal tossed her a smile. Tess found herself feeling more relaxed than she would have suspected after so long feeling like she was walking a high wire. It almost seemed like she made a friend, maybe more than one.
* * *
“Okay,”
Tess said, sighing. “But how do we get in there?”
As it turned out, she was sent on recon with Kal and not Crystal.
She sort of hated how pleased she was by that.
It wasn’t that she didn’t like Crystal either, only Kal was easy to be around and she hadn’t felt attracted to anyone in ages, it seemed.
It was a good feeling. She couldn’t help but wonder what it was like when he used his pheromones. She’d never been interested before.
They were staking out the creche, a sprawling cement compound downtown.
Kal had the binoculars and Tess was eating chips in between making notes on a pad about the layout from the outside and the number of guards and their behavior.
The place was like a military base and it was supposed to be a home for innocent children.
There was something very wrong about that.
It looked more foreboding than the other creches Tess had seen, most of which were decrepit and in no shape to house kids.
“I got some faked unit papers,” Kal said, shrugging. “ID. Uniform, of course. They have human matrons doing inspections now, at least for show. You can say you’re one of them. Surprise inspection. Then we can get an idea, eyeball exits, see how many kids they got in there.”
“Sounds good,” Tess said, nodding. She glanced over and watched Kal stretch, his black t-shirt tight across his muscles.
Tess had not had sex since before the invasion and now she found herself annoyingly turned on.
It wasn’t just his looks, although she was getting to like his long face and his big dark eyes that seemed softer than the other Vampyren’s.
It was that he cared. He’dalwayscared. She found herself especially turned on by that.
“Thanks for doing this,” she said, and her cheeks burned. She hadn’t flirted in so long. She wasn’t so much rusty at it as much as totally dysfunctional. “Nice when a guy like you cares about… kids. Ya know.”
“A guy like me?” Kal said, raising a thick, dark eyebrow.
“A Vampyren,” she said, smirking.
“Well, I told you, I admire what you’re doing,” Kal said, giving her an easy smile. “You look good doing it too.” With that he hopped out of the car and Tess smirked to herself.
Maybe this wouldn’t be so hard after all.