 
Alien Bride  
Taron Invasion Series Prequel

### A.J. Daniels

GTQ LLC

Orlando, Florida

Copyright © 2017 by A **.J. Daniels**

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.

GTQ **LLC**

PO Box 540375

Orlando, FL 32854

www.gtq.com

Publisher's Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author's imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

**Alien Bride/A.J. Daniels** \-- 1st ed.

ISBN

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Chapter 1

## Mission Interrupted

~ Nick ~

Music Mix

Intent on earning his Trident, Nicholas Blake jerked slightly in the water, realizing that he was starting to feel lightheaded. Flicking the small gauge attached to his scuba suit, he watched the needle slowly bottom out. It was an unfortunate fact of life that sometimes gauges got stuck, even the ones on high tech military issued equipment. Tamping down his annoyance, he ignored his quickly depleting oxygen supply and doubled down on the mission.

Grasping onto his underwater dive propeller, Nick toggled the speed higher and kicked his webbed feet, putting on a burst of speed. The slight jerk of the nylon reinforced composite handles pulled him forward sharply as the unit vibrated in his hands.

His target was a gigantic dark form, drifting ever closer. The wealthy arms dealer luxuriating on the forty foot yacht overhead had no idea what lay in store for him tonight. The man might think he was a big deal, but to the US military, he was one of many small fish destined to share their innermost secrets regarding local arms trafficking in the region.

The moonlight danced eerily across the water's surface casting odd shadows, fit to make a lesser man pause. However, Nick was a Navy Seal, and they never broke formation or strayed off course. He cut the engine on his sea scooter, before quietly breaking the surface. Switching on his body cam, he hauled ass up a ladder through some unnaturally thick fog. The shit seemed to have a mind of its own. Rather than dissipating when he moved through it, the mist circled lazily around his limbs infusing his clothing. Since fog didn't behave that way, he pushed forward. It must be his mind playing tricks on him, brought on by his brush with oxygen deprivation while submerged. Landing noiselessly on the deck near the rear of the luxury craft, he was pleased to find no one around.

Quietly ditching his gear, he crept forward. The gun in his hand didn't feel right. Then again tranquilizer guns never did feel quite right in a soldier's hand. However, that's how it had to be because command wanted him alive and zero collateral damage on this one. Military intelligence had already verified that Jax Santiago was on board with five support staff following a meeting with a Russian wholesaler interested in purchasing grenade launchers.

Nick moved silently through the small yacht until he'd neutralized the entire crew, most while they slept. Moving towards the master suite, his ears began to ring. Shaking it off, he eased the door open. Raising his gun, he pulled off a clean shot and watched the man drop to the ground with a satisfying thud.

Blinking once and then again, Nick tried to make sense scene before his eyes. A nearly naked person was tied with their arms to the ceiling. Though her form would strongly suggest she was female, her light blue skin, pointed ears, and black hair were singing a different tune altogether. Her eyes shone like obsidian orbs and were about four times larger than human eyes. Those beautiful dark eyes held a note of panic at the moment.

Since what he was seeing was not remotely possible, he pulled out his radio and called in his mission.

"Eagle Eye, this is Seal One. Do you copy?"

His radio blew up with a bunch of static interference. Looking down at the fog swirling around his legs, he gave his head one hard shake as if to clear his thoughts before trying to raise his command again. "Eagle Eye, this is Seal One. The package is secure. Calling for pick-up. Over."

"Jesus, it's really you?"

"What the fuck. Use appropriate..."

"It is you. God, I never thought I'd be the one."

"This is a secure line. I don't know who you are, but you're interfering in..."

"A military mission to arrest Jax Santiago. And you're Nicholas Blake...The Nicholas Blake. Everybody knows about the two of. Jesus, you're both fucking legends. I can't believe I'm talking to you."

Looking at the criminal on the floor, Nick stammered. "This is all FUBAR. The fog, the woman, you...nothing is what it should be."

Suddenly, the young man's voice got serious. "It's because you aren't in 2017 anymore, sir. It's the year 3039. Your present is my history. You always talked about how hard this moment in time was for you, and I've honestly tried to imagine it a million times. The frightened woman in front of you is Miss. Acacia and she is going to become very important to you. In fact, you named her that yourself, 'cause you never could pronounce her name in her tongue."

Nick watched the slender female jerking in her bonds. "My oxygen malfunctioned. I'm hallucinating."

"Dude, you're not hallucinating. Pay attention. We don't have much time, and I have a message for you."

"You have a message from my navy commander?"

"Look dude there's no Gods damn command. The US Navy was integrated with the Earth Gov military almost a thousand years ago. The message is from the future you."

"How did you get a message from me if you never met me?"

Sighing, the man spoke calmly as if he were explaining something to a child. "You're the reason Earth survived when no other world did. Every kid memorizes your letter in first grade along with the Earth Gov Unification Pledge. Jesus dude, they make story books about you and Jax. Just let me tell you the message, and then we can talk until they arrive. I'm going to read it directly from the data stream, so I don't miss anything."

"Go ahead."

"Nick, you stupid son-of-a-bitch, get with the program."

"Wait. They taught you to curse in first grade?"

"Dude those aren't even curses anymore."

"Fine, get on with the message."

"In a few minutes some really ugly aliens are going step through that door to shoot you with a stun gun, and you're going let them. The only thing standing between the Taron battle fleet and Earth's total annihilation is you and the clueless dude lying on the floor. Jax will turn out to be the one person you can count on to have your back, so take good care of the stupid fucker until you figure that shit out. It's critically important that you get taken to the mother ship because they keep a large number of slaves that decide to join forces with Earth when the battle starts. Without their assistance, every man, woman, and child on Earth will be killed or forced into slavery. I remember thinking that I must be hallucinating, but this is real, and you have got to kick start your brain right damn now soldier. I struggled with how to end this message so you would believe me, and one thing came to mind. I remember going to the cemetery every year when I was really little to put flowers on dad's grave. I thought it was disrespectful that the spiders keep on growing right on top his grave like it didn't matter that he'd died. That's all I got. Do the right thing. Save our people."

There was a brief pause, and the young man asked quietly. "Did that mean anything to you, sir?"

Finally snapping out his shocked trance, Nick took a deep cleansing breath. "Yeah, the fucking message sounds just like me and that cemetery part is aces. So as weird as it sounds, it looks like I'm doling out missions to myself now. Does this ship ever get back to my timeline?"

"No, sir. It's listed as lost at sea."

"Well, in that case, there's no need to try to write a message to my commanders. Answer me something else. Who are the Taron?"

"I'm not supposed to tell you anything that might change the natural order historical events. We were told just to give the message."

"I can't believe Earth is still using primitive communication lines?"

Laughing the youngster replied. "We're not. I belong to the Order of the Guard. We're what you would think of a cross between gamers and hackers. Since we spend most of our time submerged in the data stream, we use special programs to scan for old Earth radio waves, each of us hoping that we'll be the one to make contact with you. Even now thousands are gathering in the stream to hear our interaction."

"What's your name kid?"

"I don't think it would be a good idea to say. If I told you and you let it slip, it might change history, and I wouldn't want to chance it."

"Fine, tell me about the Taron."

The young man replied hesitantly. "They're a race of aliens who target innocent worlds based on the natural resources locked beneath the surface of their planets. During your time people thought Earth was about mined out, but the Taron could see things humans couldn't, using their advanced alien technology. The ship in orbit right now is just a scout ship, but when word gets back to their fleet about Earth, they will make their way here. It takes them another fifteen years or so, but they do come for us, sir."

"Any other information you can share about my new mission?"

"The historical records show that you talked a lot about wanting to stop the scout ship from giving the Taron mother ship Earth's coordinates. I'm begging you not to do that, sir. Earth will be the first world ever to turn back a Taron invasion, and our success leads to the formation of trade and military ties with other worlds that enable Earth to survive when our ozone layer finally goes belly up. Kalian scientists help us design a shield to protect our world. In fact, other worlds are so grateful for our help, they share all kinds of technology with us. It ushers in a new golden age for our people."

"So I'm going to be spending fifteen years on a slave ship with a beautiful blue woman and arms dealer. I'm supposed to survive, rally the other slaves to revolt, and somehow warn Earth of a pending invasion when the time is nigh. All based on a conversation with a faceless guy who won't even give me his name. What the hell is with this fog? It feels like it's trying to get into my clothes and molest me."

The other man laughed. "It is because the scout ship has you in the outer regions of its force field. The fog facilitates electromagnetic pulses that assist with the time jump. According to the historical record, something went wrong, and they jumped time instead of space."

"Any idea what brought them to our world?"

"They came for the woman, but unfortunately for them, they got you and Jax in the bargain."

Just then the door slammed open. Nick backed up slightly, placing himself between the very ugly blue aliens and the woman. He had only a moment to take in their large bobble heads and long spindly arms before one of them pulled a weapon. It took every ounce of self-control he could dredge up not to react. The creatures were slow, and when they spoke, it sounded like a cross between a screech and a tiny dog barking.
Chapter 2

## Earning His Trident

~ Jax ~

Music Mix

Trying to open his eyes, Nick slammed them shut again when pain went lancing through his head. Sighing, he wondered what kind of wild one he tied on last night. His pounding headache was being aggravated by barking dogs; barking dogs that kicked like a marine. Rolling over, Nick instinctively grabbed one black boot and tossed the person across the room. Before the room could clearly focus, a searing pain radiated down from his neck to his toes. After a few heart pounding seconds, it abruptly stopped.

The barking dogs were back, but they clearly weren't dogs. As he rolled to his feet, the whole horrible message from the future came crashing through his memory like a runaway truck. The huge bobbly head creature snorted deservedly at him before stalking off. Sliding down to sit with his back against the wall, Nick tried to pull his thoughts together. Blocking out everything else, he tried to recall the details of his conversation with the disembodied voice from earlier.

A pair of bright red sneakers skated by and a man's heavily accented voice sang a song he vaguely recognized from before his time. "Macho, macho man. You've always got to be a macho man."

Looking up at the man dancing around, Nick mumbled under his breath. "You're pretty fly for a white guy."

Stooping down, the brown eyed man with scraggly dark hair waved a hand in his face. "You awake, dude? You've been waking up, fighting the big blue fuckers, and getting your ass shocked for a day and a half now. You need to get with the program or your body is going to shut down on you." Sniffing, Nick could still see white dust in the man's nose. "Know what your problem is, macho man? You're a straight arrow. If you did a little dust, the alien shit wouldn't mess you up so much."

Suddenly the nice blue lady kneeled at his side, forcing a drink to his lips. "Sweet Jesus, this tastes awful."

Jax suggested helpfully. "Hold your nose when you drink it. I've tried everything, and that's the only way to get it down without gagging it back up."

Shaking his head, Nick shoved himself to his feet. "Any idea where we are?"

"You are a figment of my overactive imagination, dude. It's a place where for some godforsaken reason the women are hot, and everyone is obsessed with you."

"You're not making any sense. You know that, right? I mean, why would your subconscious have picked someone like me to be in your dream?"

Tilting his head sideways to look out a portal at stars flying by, the man replied objectively. "See, I have been thinking about that. I believe this dream about alien abduction is a way for me to live out all my wildest fantasies. Unfortunately, my mama took me to church as a small boy and father Jonas stuffed my mind with a bunch religious stuff while trying to teach me to be a good boy. Therefore, I've created a world where beautiful mostly naked women don't want to know me, and there's another man who's foolish enough to get himself beat up all the time instead of me." Shrugging, the man added. "Besides the lack of good drugs, the dream's been really fun."

The tone of the arms dealer's voice told him whatever had been going on for the last day and a half had been anything but fun. Cutting to the chase, he took two steps forward and punched the ridiculous man right in the face. Bending over his prone body, Nick stated earnestly. "This is not a dream, dimwit. I need you to listen carefully. If you were dreaming, don't you think your subconscious mind would have protected you from getting hit by me? Of course, it would. Every man has a survival instinct."

Reaching out a hand, he pulled the man to his feet. Jax didn't react well to having his only coping mechanism ruthlessly snatched away. "Aliens aren't real, man. Everybody knows that."

Pulling the woman over, he turned her to face Jax. "Does this woman look human? If you're not dreaming and she's an alien, that means this is as real as it gets."

Staring between Jax and the now squirming woman, Nick sighed. "Tell me what you know."

Slowly bringing his hand to his left ear, he explained quietly. "When they first brought us here, I woke up first. They gave me a shot behind my ear, and after hearing them talk for a while, I could understand their words."

"Mind telling me what they said?"

"They kept calling you a hunter, 'cause I guess you stunned me the way they do. They keep coming to check on their hunter like you're somebody important. They pretty much ignore me and seem to actually hate her. They debated about whether to kill her but decided to keep her because they think she's your breeder." When Nick shot him an angry look, Jax held up both hands. "Their words, not mine. Jesus, shake it off man. You are wound tight."

"Are they monitoring us?"

"I don't think so because sometimes you woke up and they didn't come. It feels like they come at certain times."

Lowering his voice, Nick quickly explained. "I have intel that they are going to attack Earth soon. They're a race of conquerors, and no world has been victories against them."

"Well, fuck that. You got a plan super cop?"

Edging the woman aside, Nick shoved his finger in the other man's chest. "I'm no cop, you ass hat. I'm a goddam Navy Seal, earning his Trident."

"Well, excuse the fuck out of me. What you going to be is dead if you keep rolling up on me that way, Hero. Now, do you have a plan, or don't you?"

Smirking, Nick nodded. "We get ourselves out of here, mix and mingle with the other abductees, and learn everything we can about the Taron." Lowering his voice even more he whispered. "When the time comes, we use it against them."

"That's not the best plan I've ever heard, but it will do until we can figure out something better."

Both men turned to see the door being jerked open. Several bobble heads stepped through the doorway, eagerly looking where he had been lying. It took them a second to realize he was standing across the room.

Jax advised quietly. "Be a good boy, so you don't get zapped again."

Shooting him a dark look, Nick stepped forward to greet his abductors. His plan to keep his expression blank almost faltered when Jax spoke. "Be sure to bow. The big heads like humiliating display of submissiveness."

Glancing over his shoulder, he responded. "You don't sound much like a gun runner."

"I'm an arms dealer, nimrod. There's a difference."

One of the aliens approached him with a syringe. Floating inside was a clear liquid with a little bead.

Jax muttered, "It's the translator. Just let them shoot it in your neck."

Standing before the tall sentients, Nick turned his head to give them the access they needed. The instrument jarred against his neck, and he felt a thick needle shoot out, puncturing his skin. The alien looked curiously down at him, blinking slowly.

Nick shoved down the need to gut the creature where he stood. Knowing what they had in store for Earth and that they'd wiped worlds clean of intelligent life galled him. A burning sensation drifted from the injection site to his head and rapidly spread to his chest. Gritting his teeth, he waited for the needle to come out.

Once the alien stepped back, still holding the poised injector, the others began to speak. At first, it was all just barking and screeching, and then the sounds morphed into words. Without willing it so, his mind clicked through their phrasing to select the right words.

"The fighter...hunter...warrior has woken."

"I mental...think...wonder if we are a scared...terrifying sight to know...see...behold."

Staring at the creatures intently, Nick zeroed in on understanding their words.

"I do not care for the way it sees...looks...stares. Does it not know we are Taron elite?"

"It is an animal. The Taron will be fortunate if it can know...Comprehend even part of what we say."

Forcing his mouth to make the unfamiliar noises that his brain identified as correct, he spoke in a growly voice. "I know your words."

The moment he spoke, all hell broke loose. The Taron began speaking so rapidly, it was impossible to follow, one drew a weapon, and before anyone could fire upon him, the door burst open.

The person who stalked through the door took him by surprise. If a Taron could be considered intimidating with their oversized head and long spindly arms, this one came close. He was taller than the others and wearing a stark black uniform. When he spoke, it was with the calm indifference of a military commander. "You will not harm the humond." The man's strange articulation of the word human led Nick to think maybe they didn't know much about Earth or the human race.

"The animal speaks. It is not natural."

"You will load him with a language program for the top five species aboard this vessel."

"That will certainly kill the creature."

Smiling malevolently, the military commander replied. "If it dies, then that is evidence of its weakness. If it survives, it will be our voice among the many."

"I do not understand."

"The Taron have long wished for a program that would afford full communication with our slaves." Gesturing towards Nick, the commander's face contorted into a mask of disgust. "Its brain must be different from the others. If it accepted one language program, perhaps it will accept many. The Taron only keep slaves that are useful. Properly conveying our wishes to the horde of slaves is of use, for it will relieve the Taron of the need to interact with them."

Nick wondered why the aliens kept referring to themselves in the third person. It was kind of weird.

The aliens stood for a brief moment before their commander barked. "The Taron command has spoken. All Taron will obey." His harsh words sent them all scurrying from the room.
Chapter 3

## A Rocky Start

~ Nick ~

Music Mix

As the door shut behind them, a feminine voice broke the stillness of the room.

"If you have a God, now is the time to pray to him humond."

Both he and Jax looked at the blue woman with new eyes. "You're Taron?"

"I am as the gods have made me."

"What the hell does that even mean?" Jax's crudeness aside, Nick was eager to hear her answer.

"My father was Taron, and my mother was...something else."

Nick approached her, giving her another once over visually. "You don't look like them. Your skin is smoother and lighter blue. They don't have the big head or points on their ears like you do. Your body is shaped..."

"I am aware of my flaws, humond. I do not need you to articulate them for me."

"No need to get testy, mam. I was simply pointing out that you're damned beautiful compared to the other Taron. Why do they have you locked up with us slaves? Did you do something to piss them off?"

Backing up against the wall, her eyes slid away. She looked a bit demoralized. "I dared to take my first breath. In their eyes, one such as me ranks lowest among the slaves. They will find a reason to destroy me soon. I can tell by the look in their eyes."

Jax sniffed again. "What's your name, Doll?"

Closing her eyes for a brief moment, she whispered. "I am called Zaphredinelyn."

"That sounds beautiful when you say it out loud but can we call you Zaph for short?" Jax's perfectly serious question, almost made him smile.

The woman stared at Jax for a long moment. "The word means mixed biology. It is the name the Taron use for the few of us who are not pure bloods. The Taron despise half breeds."

Nick stepped closer to her. "I---you are going to become important to me, and I don't like you being called that. How about we call you Acacia? In our language, it's the word for a beautiful flower." Running the tips of his fingers around the shell of her pointed ear, he watched in fascination as she trembled beneath his touch. "The name suits you because you're perfect."

"Never heard of it." Jax's disgruntled voice broke into their special moment.

"It's like a mum, you philistine."

A small voice drew his attention again. "You think I'm perfect?"

Nick allowed his eyes to roam over her delicate face, down to the swell of her breasts pushing against the coarse material barely covering her slight form. Her slim arms and legs were something straight out of fashion magazine. The long black hair, grazing her now flushed skin seemed soft and fine. Sifting his fingers through the side of it, he realized the texture was indescribably luxurious.

"Look, I'm not good with words. I've spent way too much time toting a gun and visiting all the wrong kind of places. But I gotta say, you're prettier than any female who ever crossed my path."

"Hey, I called dibs on that cute elf a long time before you crossed either of our paths."

Shooting Jax a furious look over his shoulder, he bit out. "I still haven't forgotten that you had her tied up back on your boat. I'm gonna tag you for that when you least expect it."

"It's was a yacht, not a boat. And I didn't have much choice. Kitty's got claws, and she ain't afraid to use them."

Turning back to the woman still pressing herself back against the wall, he leaned forward on one arm, practically pinning her to the wall with his muscular body. Reaching for her hand without breaking eye contact, he brought it up for inspection. Each elegant finger was tipped with a long nail. They were a little thicker than human nails. The thought of her running them down his back as pumped into her flew through his mind.

Bringing the hand to his mouth, he kissed each nail, in turn, murmuring quietly. "Are you going to uses these on me?"

Staring up at him, she jerked when he ran his tongue tenderly over one knuckle.

"I am in my mating phase. If you do not step back, you will lose yourself to the lust my pheromones provoke."

For some reason, a beautiful woman thinking he needed mating pheromones to want to have sex with her struck him a funny. Snorting a laugh, he ran his face down the side of her neck.

"If you wish to take me, I cannot stop you." Her voice sounded like a strange mixture of fearful, needy, hopeful and anxious.

"Sweetness, when I take you it will be because you asked nicely, not because I forced myself on you." Making himself step back, he spun on his heel to face Jax.

The other man was standing across the room, leaning one shoulder on the far wall. Nick wasn't sure exactly what his facial expression was communicating, but if Jax's response was any indication, it must have been something close to furious.

"Hey, I didn't touch her like that. I was gonna try to get her interested, but you interrupted us. There's no need to turn all super soldier on my ass."

Stalking up to the man, Nick slammed him right back into the wall with one powerful slap to the chest. Jax's shocked expression told him that was the last thing he had expected.

"We don't call dibs on women like they're fucking cherry popsicles sitting in a cardboard box waiting to be selected. You got that?"

"Yeah, I got it, big guy. Want to ease up off my ass for a second?"

Slamming his hand into the wall beside the snarky man's head, he gritted out. "If you even think about touching her or any other woman without their express verbal consent, I'll drop you on the spot, stamp mission accomplished across your ass, and toss you in the alien equivalent of a trash compactor. Sound off if you understand what the hell I'm communicating to you."

Shoving him back with two hands, Jax stared him down. "I'm hearing what you're laying down, you stupid fucker. Now let me tell you something. If you keep rolling up on every damned situation spitting God and glory, you're not going to last long. Dial it down a fucking notch or two, brother."

"Brother? We are definitely not brothers. I call men in uniform brothers. You know, the ones who have sworn themselves to a greater cause; men who care about something besides making a fast buck. You're just a two-bit gun runner in flashy sneakers with delusions of grandeur."

Sneering at him, Jax shot back. "You think your shitty little insults are gonna cut me to the quick or put me in my place? Boy, you have no fuckin' idea who you're dealing with. I was raised in a crack house by a woman who thought skittles was a good breakfast food for four-year-old. I've survived police raids, gang wars, and being knifed by a junkie lookin' for a fix. And that was all before my tenth birthday. I've got survival skills they don't teach you in boy scouts or whatever shitty little military academy your rich parents sent you to when you were little."

"I'm a United States Navy Seal, and that's the last time I'm telling you."

"Well, you're also a pompous, arrogant asshole who needs to work on his people skills. That hero complex is gonna get you killed, and then you won't be saving nobody."

Shaking his head, Nick stared at the man standing defiantly in front of him. "I've been told we'll probably end up being best friends or some such shit like that. I have to say, I'm not seeing that right now."

Snorting a laugh, the other man stated flatly. "You listen to me; you live longer, Doctor Jones."

Turning back to Acacia, Nick muttered. "Crazy fucker's quoting vintage movies during an alien abduction. Why am I not surprised?"

The door open and shut several more times that day and before it was all over Nick was balled up in the corner, sweating as his body tried to process the several shots of their translation cocktail. The injections were causing him to go into hypovolemic shock. Nick became aware that Acacia was holding him in her arms, trying to get him to drink some kind of drink that tasted salty. She removed part of her barely there clothing to mop the sweat from his forehead.
Chapter 4

## Stark Reality

~ Jax ~

Music Mix

Huddled in the darkness, Jax watched Nick moving restlessly on Acacia's lap. Wrapping his arms around his stomach, Jax tried to forget all the horrible things he'd seen since being brought aboard this ship. Unfortunately, every single time he closed his eyes, the images of wholescale death and destruction reigned supreme.

Growing up in a crack house had come with its own set of challenges. Humans thirsting for a fix could be some of the most despicable creatures imaginable. He could get his head around addiction. People physically needed a drug, and they would do absolutely anything to get their next fix. What he couldn't understand was the Taron. The big-headed fuckers would kill a person just for looking them in the eyes, or getting in their way while walking. Hell, he'd even seen a man get killed for absolutely no reason anyone could figure out. Life meant nothing to these people.

He watched Nick wake to their dimly lit alcove. He'd been stripped down to his boxers while the fever burned itself out. Acadia had taken really good care of them both. Her small bowl of water still sat nearby with a dingy scrap of cloth floating in it. Nick's expression became confused as he pushed up off the cool metal flooring.

Though he was a little unsteady on his feet, Nick began to stretch out his muscles.

"Thank God, you're awake, Hero."

Seeming to notice him sitting in a shadow in one corner of the room, Nick retorted sarcastically. "I thought you didn't need a Hero?"

When he moved forward into the dim lighting, Nick froze.

Dropping to his knee in front of Jax the shocked man mumbled. "Jesus, what happened to you? You look like a fucking scarecrow."

Scrubbing both hands down his face, Jax sank back against the wall. "We ain't gonna make it, dude."

Quickly sitting beside him, the man stared at him. "I need a Sitrep. Tell me everything you know."

Rubbing his temple with one dirty hand, Jax couldn't find it in him to laugh. "It's really goddamn cute how you're still being a good little soldier and all." Feeling a tear slid down his face, he wiped it away with the back of one hand. "We ain't never getting' home, soldier boy. You said they're gonna attack Earth, but they got some crazy system where they go rank planets according to how rich in natural resources they are. We ain't even in the top ten."

"They are going to attack, in fifteen years. When they approach Earth, we have to..."

"We ain't gonna last fifteen months, much less fifteen years. They've killed millions while you slept."

"How the hell long was I out?"

"It's hard to tell time here. I'm guessing a little over a month."

"It's not logistically possible to kill..."

"It is. I watched it happen. The mother ships surround the planet, they have some type of particle beam weapon that destroys whole cities." Jax knew his voice sounded flat and wooden. He could hear the hopelessness loud and clear.

A warm hand landed on his arm. "Don't they feed you? You've lost weight, and you look like hell. Talk to me, brother."

Taking a deep breath, Jax spoke, trying to keep to the major issues. "They fabricated some type of language program from your blood, imprinted on bacteria or something. Naturally, they gave it to me. It didn't' knock me out like it did you, but it's been pretty hard on my system. They feed us, but nothing you would recognize as food. There are thousands of us slaves in the lowest level of the ship. They take us out when they need cheap expendable labor."

"Are they working you to death? Acacia looks fine."

Shaking his head, he responded. "They work us hard, food is tight, so I do extra chores for other slaves in return for extra things we need."

"Shit, I've been down for a while. The two of you have been doing extra to get me well again, haven't you?"

Jax swallowed thickly, refusing to look at the man who seemed to be everything he wasn't. "There are only a few ways for a man like me to earn." His mouth went dry before he could get the words out.

"Whoring is nothing to be ashamed of if it keeps you alive."

Jax found his humor. Snorting a weak laugh, he pushed the words out. "Women are few and far between on these ships. The few there are, will not be interested in weak ass human men."

Grinning, Nick flung back. "Speak for yourself."

"Anyways, the men are pretty desperate for company."

"Male whoring is a tough road for a man to hoe. If you got yourself a boyfriend, well that's just fine by..."

Laughing, Jax shoved the ignorant man, "Shut the fuck up and let me get through this."

"Yea, yea, there are lots of men and no women. Naturally, men are interested in getting some. Get on with the story before I fall asleep."

"You know how we always wondered if there was intelligent life in space. Come to find out, there are lots of different species. So far, I've met about twelve different kinds of people, and two of them are single sex." Holding up his hand when Nick opened his mouth, Jax explained. "They seriously don't have males or females. They're literally all one gender. There are several races where the men prefer other men and most of the other ones just swing all ways. The bottom line is none of the males are going without, so they ain't gonna be interested in trading scarce resources for what they're already getting for free."

"That's all fucking fascinating as shit, but can you cut to the damn chase. What do they value enough to trade?"

"You aren't going to believe me, but I'm gonna tell you anyways."

"Spit it out or so help me..."

"Blood. I've been trading blood, maybe a little too much."

"You...say what? Repeat that please."

"The most resilient and adaptable creatures on this vessel live off the blood of others."

Nick immediately held his hand up to Jax's forehead. "You don't feel like you have a fever. How many fingers am I holding up?"

Staring at the man holding up three fingers like a moron, Jax shook his head. "I didn't believe it either until I saw them feed. They bite you on the neck, just like we think of vampires."

"And the bobble heads just let them wander around turning everyone else into creatures of the night? That does not make rational sense."

"It's not like that. They're just a species of people who get their primary nutrition from drinking blood, like a tick or a mosquito. Only the Vampiere are really nice people. Hell, I'd describe them as shy even."

"They call themselves the Vampiere?"

"Vampires are real, dude. I think we got the stories because some of them crash landed on Earth a really long time ago. How else would we know the name for them?"

Nick's face scrunched up into a disapproving scowl. "Be honest, are you shitting me?"

Pulling up his sleeve, Jax showed him delicate bite marks from a recent session of feeding. "I have arrangements with a family to feed their little one. Kids drink from your wrist. Adults drink from your neck. Don't ask why, because I honestly don't know."

Nick muttered thoughtfully. "I guess that isn't so fantastical. You look anemic."

"I don't know how much longer I can do this."

"Twice as long as you thought you could, cause I'm on the job with you now."

"Like you're gonna let a vamp drink from your body. That's seen as a sign of weakness here."

"Think I give two hoots in hell what they think? For me, this about us sucking it up and saving Earth. If I have to save our goddamn planet with a little vampire attached to my wrist, then that's what I'm goddamned doing."

"I can't see us being able to save Earth. You don't know what their weapons can do. That last planet they took was a hundred times more advanced than Earth. They had a defensive shield around the entire planet and thousands of space fighters. Taron just blasted right through all of it. These fuckers don't invent anything themselves. They steal technology from every world they conquer, growing stronger and more unstoppable with each attack. How can anyone compete with that?"

"Oh, we're going to kick their asses alright, 'cause Earth has something no other planet did. They've got us. You and I are going to make all the difference."

"Yeah hero, whatever you say."

"I can't do this alone, Jax. We have to do it together."

"I thought, I was just some slimy good for nothing gun runner."

Mimicking Jax's former outrage at being called a gun runner, Nick spat his own words back at him. "You were an arms dealer. There's a damn difference, you know."

"Whatever, man. I'm gonna get some sleep."

Grabbing Jax's arm, Nick jerked him back down. "I wasn't gonna say anything, but we need to be on the same page. Back on the boat..."

"It was a goddamn yacht, not a boat."

"Whatever. Look, when I stunned you and tried to call for a pickup, they told me your yacht had jumped into the future because of some malfunction with the alien ship."

Jax sank back down into his former position, as shock ripped through his chest. "Shit, that actually makes more sense than you know. I heard each ship has a crazy pilot and they use some type of mutagenic substance to move the ship through time and space. They were complaining about some unauthorized jump when we came on board. The big heads were the most freaked out that I've ever seen them."

"Well, I spoke to a guy from over a thousand years in the future, and he said you and I are in their history books. They called us legends, 'cause we pulled together, stayed strong, and gathered up enough intel on the big blue bastards to turn the tide of war. I know we can do this because we've already done it."

Sitting up straighter, Jax felt a surge of pure adrenaline spike thought his system. "Fuck yeah, that's what I'm talking about."

Giving him a swift jerk of his chin, Nick stated smugly. "Glad to have you on board. Think about it for a minute. I'm a goddamn Navy Seal, and you're the most notorious arms dealer in the entire world. Though we come from very different backgrounds, you and I were created for mission impossible."

"I'm in one hundred fucking percent, man. Now, where do we start?"

"No idea."

"Didn't they tell you what to do?"

"No, the message was actually one I left behind for myself. It was one of those get your head out of your own ass and save the world speeches."

"Yeah dude, Iv've noticed you're real good at those. However, motivational speeches ain't gonna be particularly helpful in terms of figuring out the nuts and bolts of overthrowing an invincible enemy."

"No enemy is invincible. You just have to find their weaknesses. Everybody has them."

Rubbing his chin, Jax responded thoughtfully. "I'm supposed to feed Dracon's little one in an hour. Maybe if we get there early, we can bend his ear. He'll help us if he can."

Pulling on his clothing, Nick asked, "What about Acacia?"

"Life in the underworld is unpredictable. Let her sleep."

"What's the underworld?"

"It's where we are, nimrod. The Taron ships are huge, and the most vulnerable part is the lowest level."

"So naturally, that would be the very place they select to house their slaves."

Snorting a laugh, Jax answered sarcastically. "Well they sure as hell ain't gonna house their elite soldiers down here."

Nick shook his head, responding harshly. "I feel like that dude who fell asleep for thousand years and just woke up." A sly smile slid onto his face. "It would really suck, only I have bestie, a beautiful blue babe, and the mission of lifetime on my hands. It's enough to make a guy like me just real damn happy."

Gesturing towards the slumbering woman, Jax quipped. "Well, the beautiful blue babe's real nice. And she already told everyone that she's yours, so there's that to look forward to."

Jax thought it was funny just how quickly that bit of information put a smile on the battle-hardened soldier's face. The difference between having Nick at his side and struggling through the situation alone was profound.

Before, he'd forced himself to carry on only because he'd worried about what would happen to Acacia without his help. Jax was ashamed to admit it, but he had dreamed about all the ways he could put an abrupt end to his miserable existence. There were times over the last month when it would have taken so very little for him to have crossed that final line, times when the darkness of death beckoned to him like a long lost lover.

In the blink of an eye, his world had righted itself. Now, he had hope and purpose, and it was because of one man, who challenged him to be better than he was before. Holding his head up, Jax felt genuine pride growing in his chest for the possibly the first time in his entire life. It was something his soul badly needed, and he knew in an instant that he would fight like hell to keep it.
Chapter 5

## A Warrior For Me

~ Acacia ~

Music Mix

Drifting in an aimless slumber, Acacia dreamed of dark times. On a planet, deep in the Hellion system, she was at her mother's side harvesting food. Though the work was difficult and the hours long, they enjoyed the brief reprieve from being on the mother ship. Her mother's pale white form moved noisily among the bushes as her hands flew, picking fresh berries. It was at a time in her life when her father could still protect her. Stooped on a nearby cliff, his job was to monitor the slaves. Even at a young age, she could see the large warrior's eyes only ever rested on her and her mother. Basking in the warm glow of his approval had meant everything to her.

Her tiny hands drifted over the bushes, and she greedily popped one plump berry after another into her small mouth. The slight curve of her father's lips told her that this once it was okay. It was her one perfect memory, the one right before everything in her world turned upside down. The storm clouds rolled in incredibly fast on that world. Before her father could even make it to them, the skies had opened and dumped a deluge upon them. Her mother's long, white hair clung to her slight form. Her eyes turned worried when they saw the lightning in the sky. The thunder was even more terrifying, for it shook the ground with each deafening clap.

She could remember running to her mother on shaky legs. This was always where the dream turned strange. The clouds morphed into a dark fog that grabbed and grasped at her small body. It was thick and smelled strange to her small nostrils. As her mother struggled to reach her, the ground began to move, and she slowly began to move away.

The other slaves were panicking, and her father ran full speed down from the cliff, scooping her into his arms as he made for her mother. To both their shock she slid over a rocky embankment even as his hands reached for her. He stood holding her in his arms, forcing her head away from the sight of her mother's mangled body below. Acacia could remember watching the mud and strange fog swirl around his big black military boots. If only her mother had been wearing a pair, the ground might not have carried her away.

Jerking from her dream, she wrapped her arms tightly around her body, as the full force of her aloneness in the universe came crashing down around her. Her father was no longer able to spend time with her. His token visits were always so bittersweet.

Holding her hand down onto the floor where her human had been laying, she found it held no trace of his body heat. Being certain that Jax would have woken her if he'd taken a turn for the worst, she felt that he had taken Nick to meet with Dracon. Getting up, she cleaned herself and hurried to the Vampiere's quarters.

The Vampiere were housed in a huge cargo hold, but over the years they had managed to collect enough space junk to create individualized family units. For some reason, the Taron separated out their slaves according to species. Since Jax and Nick were the only humans, they got a tiny room, which she suspected had once been a utility substation before the ship underwent a modern retrofit. It was glaringly obvious that they didn't bother with the one and only Zaphredinelyn onboard their vessel. Jax had insisted she stay and she'd had no mind to argue the point.

Stepping to the huge cargo hold, she couldn't help but notice her human was looking much better. He was sipping a nutrient packet, and his body was a lush cream color rather than the stark white she'd come to expect. Nick was a handsome male by any female's standards. Slipping into a squatting position, she admired the way he interacted with the other males. Where the Vampiere were naturally quiet and reticent creatures, her warrior was bold and easily spoke his mind. He moved through the verse with confidence, sure of his purpose. He had a charm all his own, and she would be proud to call him her own. A tiny doubt lurked in the back of her mind that he might not want her. She shoved it away, certain that he had touched her skin and told her she was beautiful in his eyes.

Suddenly, he was standing before her. Reaching down, he pulled her to her feet. "Hello, beautiful. Sorry, I passed out for weeks."

"You are lucky to be alive."

Drawing her into the tight circle of his arms, he pressed his forehead to hers. "Thank you for taking care of me. I owe you and Jax my life."

Smoothing her cheek over his, she murmured. "I was so worried for you."

"I'm aces, I promise."

Nodding, she swallowed thickly, shoving her worry aside in favor of meeting his needs in the here and now.

Wrapping an arm around her, he returned to the small group of vampires.

Dracon dipped his head in recognition. "What you suggest has never been attempted."

"Which means it will be the last thing they expect. We have the element of surprise on our side as well as time."

"Of all the aliens aboard this vessel, I believe the Vampiere would be least welcome among your people."

"You have no idea what we're capable of. Do you know that I probably could have overwhelmed the slow moving Taron who took me? I didn't because they were intent on taking me right where I needed to be."

The vampire made a sound of disbelief. "If what you say is true, you are the first to offer yourself voluntarily into slavery."

"Slavery is nothing more than a state of mind. They can hold us, force us to work and even kill us." Tapping the side of his head, Nick stated with conviction. "We are the ones who make ourselves their slaves by believing their garbage about owning us."

Jax spoke up. "What he says is true. I feel differently now that I know we are destined to change the course of history in the verse. I imagine a universe without the Taron in it, and my spirit soars. To be able to put a stop to their killing makes life worth living for me."

Her beautiful warrior spoke words meant to shake the hopelessness of slavery from a million minds. "Think of your little one living among my people. She could go to school with other children, grow into a woman with real choices in life and have a home of her own. My world has over seven billion humans. She would never have a problem finding a willing feeding partner with so many to choose from. Hell, none of you would ever have to worry about that again. My world will welcome any alien willing to fight by our side. I will see to that myself. Isn't that worth risking your life for?"

Dracon lifted his chin. "It's something worth dying for if it gives my daughter true freedom."

"Will you speak to your people?"

Nodding, the man watched his little one crawl from a small flap in his door. "I will do all within my power to aid you in your mission." Picking up his little one, he gazed at Jax. "Are you sure you are well enough to trade?"

Before he could answer, Acacia spoke up. "If you will accept me, I would be happy to give in his stead."

Staring at her for a long hard moment, Dracon nodded. "As you wish, among my people females are often preferred feeding partners for children."

Drawing the tiny child into her lap, Acacia offered her wrist. The little one struck hard and fast, sinking her teeth into the pale blue flesh. Vampire children often didn't have the finely honed and disciplined feeding skills of adults, so Acadia wasn't too surprised, that the little one acted impulsively. Pulling back the child's long hair, she relaxed into the experience. Her ears overheard the males speaking again.

"My people are not used to having a formal leader. You must prove yourself worthy of being followed."

"Look, when it comes to fighting, I'm highly trained. Seals are the Navy's elite fighting force. Though there are few of us, we are the ones called in when the situation calls for extraordinary skill."

"You certainly brag like a warrior." Dracon's humorous reply seemed to offend her new mate.

Staring at the man, Nick jerked his head one time before speaking. "The chances of being abducted by a stranger on my world is one in a half of million. The chances of getting abducted by aliens are too astronomical to even speak of. Yet here we are, standing on an alien space ship and I'm already running the odds on this conversation with you going bad."

"I don't understand."

"My best-educated guess is there is a one in about hundred thousand chance our conversation will end in violence, maybe a little less because your child is present. If you attack me, there's a good chance the first indication will be you dropping your left leg back into a formal fighting stance. I noticed you're right hand dominant so, you'll to brace yourself to attack with that hand. Since you've received formal military training, you'll turn on me when I least expect it and go for any vulnerabilities, you pick up on as we fight. If you're your left leg goes back, I'll spin around and take out your knee with the heel of my right foot. It's the quickest way to defuse the situation."

The man gasped, "I would never do such a thing."

"It doesn't matter if you do. I'm specifically trained to test my opponent's responses, recognize fighting patterns and anticipate my opponent's moves. Since I've been talking to you, I've run scenarios on at least half a dozen potential threats. It's so deeply ingrained into my personality that I do it without even thinking about what I'm doing. The fact is, I'm not just a warrior. I'm a US Navy Seal, earning his Trident. I'm the evolution of thousands of years of formal military expertise condensed down into one human form. I'm seriously not bragging when I say that comparing me to any other warrior is nothing short of an insult."

"I believe what you say is true."

"I honestly don't care if you believe it right now or not. By the time we reach Earth, you and every other hostage on this ship will be a believer. Let your people know that gathering intel on the Taron and protecting Earth is their ticket to freedom. They can die in the air with the Taron or enjoy a new life on my home world."

A alarm sounded off, and everyone in the room stood up and turned to the door. Though Nick seemed confused, everyone else knew the alarm was meant to alert them to present for the Taron elite. Dracon shoved his little one behind him and took a protective stance in front. The room became eerily quiet.

Acacia didn't have to wonder what they wanted. There were here for Nick. The collars they all wore monitored their movements, and they would, therefore, know he was now up and moving around. The door slid open, and three Taron elite walked in. Nick stepped out to meet them, with Jax at his back. Reaching out, they slapped a metal cuff on each man's wrist. Squawking something that sounded like _you work now_ , they turned on their heels and left.

Nick sent her a questioning look. "That was all kinds of weird."

Sighing she approached. "It is a communication device like the Taron use to communicate with each other. They hate interacting with slaves and I believe they mean for you two to relay information to the slaves. We have developed ways to communicate among ourselves, but no one can speak the snarls of the Taron except the two of you. They will want regular reports on the progress of whatever duties you assign." She watched the units begin to vibrate. A micron later, a small holographic image appeared. They watched an assortment of cargo being moved from area to another. An image of a crate being popped open and the contents being scanned danced through the air.

Dracon immediately volunteered. "The Vampiere usually perform such functions. Would you like me to assign a crew?"

Nodding, Nick responded. "Yes, please do."

Holding up his wrist he gestured to the device. "This worries me. It doesn't come off, and if they can send messages to us, they can probably listen to what we're saying."

Dracon nodded. "We will see to that. In the meantime, we need to get the assignments done. Slaves get eliminated if they are not useful.

Jax's communicator buzzed. Another three-dimensional image jumped up into the air. It showed a huge spill getting cleaned with little cleaning bots. Acacia headed for the door. "I will see to this situation. I recognize the section and have released the cleaning bots many times before."

Nick started to object. Before he could get too wound up, she stated soothingly. "This is our life. Do not worry for my safety, for none here would harm me but the Taron and they loathe the underworld."

"Come straight back, okay?"

Nodding, Acacia took comfort in his protective stance. Perhaps he was growing real feelings for her. Her spirit soared at the thought of them being mated for life.
Chapter 6

## Pushy Women

~ Nick ~

Music Mix

Being alone with the woman who'd announced to the underworld that she belonged to him was difficult for only one reason. He wanted her with an overpowering need that was becoming ever more difficult to resist. The woman smelled like cotton candy, and her potent mating scent filled the air. She was light on her feet, graceful and totally fixated on him. Those were good qualities for a female to have in his humble opinion.

Her quiet voice pulled him from his internal thoughts. "Why do you fight so hard against something you clearly desire as much as I do?"

Glancing behind him, he caught her dark eyes upon him yet again. "You don't really want me." When she opened her mouth to object, he pushed his bare feet against the floor, turning to face her. "I'm aware that you think you want me. The fact is, you've only known me for a few months, and you don't really know me."

Seeming amused rather than annoyed, she announced. "You are not a complicated being. You eat, sleep, plot with the others to overthrow the Taron and deny your sexual urges. Have I missed anything?"

Unable to keep the grin off his face, Nick replied sheepishly. "I guess you got my number, after all, Miss Acacia. The thing is, if you were on a real planet and had a million men to choose from, you'd pick someone else. You're choosing me for lack of better options."

Her head jerked like she'd been slapped. Emotion jumped into her beautiful dark eyes like she finally understood something profound. "Among the Voltaire, there is a saying. Beware when you seek to divine the internal thoughts of another, lest you mistake their motivation for your own."

It took Nick a minute to figure out what she was saying. "No, that saying does not apply to this situation. It's an oversimplification of a complex situation."

"It is simple. You either want me, or you do not."

"I want you. Jesus, you're all I think about."

"Then we mate."

"I can tell you haven't thought this whole thing through. We don't even know if we can mate."

Smiling, she pulled her hair over one shoulder and began finger combing it. "We are very compatible. My grand sire was like you."

"A soldier?"

Looking annoyed, her hands dropped to her lap. "He was human, and my grandmother was of the Voltaire." Gesturing to herself, she asked frustratedly. "Do you not see that I am the one being aboard this ship who is most like you appearance? I wish you for a mate because we are compatible in many ways and our biology is foremost among them."

"That probably means I can get you pregnant. That's the best reason of all not to jump into a mating relationship."

Her eyes narrowed to mere slits. "You think I am unfit to bear you children because..."

Cutting her off, Nick's voice raised a notch. "There's no need for you to even finish that sentence. You are totally barking up the wrong tree."

Going back to messing with her long black hair, her voice communicated quite clearly that she was still miffed. "Then tell me the correct tree to bark up."

Sighing, Nick began to wonder why he was even trying to do the right thing. The thought came immediately to mind that Navy Seals didn't take advantage of beautiful alien women with limited options. It was dishonorable. "Think about it for a minute. If we mated and had a child, would you really want them to be raised on this ship? This is no kind of environment to bring a child into."

"I was born in the underworld. Would you wish me from existence?"

"Of course not Acacia, I did not know that you were born here."

"Many thousands of us are born, mate, and die aboard these vessels. Before you, I thought this would be my fate as well. You alone have given me a reason to hope for more. Our children may be born in the underworld but they will one day live as free people on your home world."

"You can choose any man here, and you will still end up on Earth enjoying freedom.

"I see something unique and intriguing in you, and my mind is eager to discover all your most deeply held secrets. My eyes admire your strong male form. My body calls to you. I wish to be naked in your arms."

"You are making it very hard to say no. We should talk more about this instead of making a rash decision."

"Warriors act. Political leaders talk. Which are you?"

The stubborn set of her brow was all kinds of adorable. Her words reminded of the double dog dares he could never resist accepting as a child. Being caught off guard by her persistence, he spoke without thinking. "Apparently I'm a warrior with a stubborn and mouthy female on his hands."

Rising smoothly to her feet, she looked at him admiringly. "We will prepare to mate now. We will soon see if you are a true warrior or something less."

Tilting his head, Nick looked up into her proud face. "Is this one of those situations where I have to fight off a bunch of other men intent on claiming you?" Rolling to his feet, he stretched his arms above his head. "I don't want to start any trouble, but if that's the way it has to be..." Trailing off, he let her fill in the blank.

Instead of responding verbally, her hands slid over her delicate body. His mouth went dry at the sensual and provocative display, which was clearly meant to provoke his arousal. The thing was, it was working better than he would ever think possible. As her hands cupped the curve of her breasts, she purred. "You are an easy male to engage."

"Exactly how the hell many males have you engaged with?"

"A few, but none were quite as handsome as you."

Stalking towards her, he looked down at her. "Well, I'm going to make you forget every other male you ever knew. By the time we're finished mating, my touch will be the only one seared into your memory."

"Is that so? I'm quite adept at touching myself."

Pulling her hands away, he spoke. "If you're mine, you don't get to touch without my permission."

Her gaze narrowed slightly, in the look he was coming to associate with suspicion. "My body belongs to me. You will not..."

Wrapping one arm around her, he pulled her up until they were eye to eye. "I'm not of the Voltaire, Taron, or any of the other species you're familiar with. I'm human, and I like being in charge."

She quickly glanced away, but not before he saw her expression get smug. The hot little alien was playing him. Running one hand under the small swath of material covering her breasts, he filled his palm with one pert breast. Giving it a gentle squeeze, he found it barely had a soft peak. Grasping it between his thumb and forefinger, he teased her until a strangled cry of pleasure broke from her throat.

Letting her go completely, he stepped back. "No more touching yourself. From this moment forward, all your pleasure belongs to me."

The woman flushed a soft pink color from her plump little breasts to her hairline. "It will be as you say, my mate."

Stepping forward again, he asked quietly. "Tell me what we must do to prepare."

"We must cleanse ourselves and alert the priestess."

Nick felt his nostrils flare. "Do it now." Hearing her sweet sounds of submission when he handled her precious body did something to him, fundamentally shifting his thinking on the subject of them being together. He suddenly felt embolden to claim her.

The urgency to see her belly heavy with his child took him by surprise. What kind of guy thinks of that kind of shit when he meets a pretty girl? Shaking his head, Nick knew that with each passing day, he was becoming less like the man he once was and more like someone he didn't fully recognize. It was terrifying, anxiety provoking and thrilling, all at the same time.

Grabbing him by the hand, Acadia led him into a part of the underworld he'd never visited. The alien mother ships were huge, so there was much he hadn't had the opportunity to see yet.

Slipping into a large cargo hold, he marveled at the difference between this space and all the others he had visited. The entire room had been reworked into a hive by a brown resin. The substance had been used to create dozens of small individual compartments, giving each the appearance of a single cell in a beehive. Inside were comfortable pallets and sparse furnishing, the likes of which had been conspicuously absent from the other slave compartments.

The beings standing and sitting around were all very similar in appearance and wore a long homespun type robe which opened in the front to reveal vastly different outfits. They had pale, almost translucent skin, pointed ears, and large dark almond shaped eyes. Their height was something approximating average for a human, but they each had a pale bone like ridge running around the top of their head. It shot up like an ornate crown through their long snow-white hair.

They were the Voltaire, and Acacia's heritage was on full display. After meeting so many Taron, he could see the bloodlines mingled in his new mate. Her pale blue skin was a gift from the Taron, but her small elegant body and pointed ears were all Voltaire. The human part was easy for him to pick up on, now that she'd pointed it out. Her arms and legs were very human as was the size of her head. Looking at her with new eyes, he realized she was far the most beautiful woman of any he'd seen.

An older female moved forward. "Zaphredinelyn, it is good to see you again. Word has come to my ears that you have selected a human mate."

Acacia's eyes slid away, leaving Nick with the impression that she was humiliated by the woman using her old name of shame in his presence.

Wrapping an arm around her, he pulled his new mate close. "We no longer use that name. My mate will be called Acacia. May I ask why we are here?"

"All Voltaire must receive the blessing of mating."

Acacia interjected, asking timidly. "May we be joined in the old way?"

A smile of genuine warmth tugged at the older woman's lips. "We would be honored to host your joining."
Chapter 7

## Bonding

~ Nick ~

Music Mix

Jax's eyes bugged out of his head. "You have got to be joking with me, man. I've been all around and up in this place. Ain't nobody said nothing about sticking your junk in a happy hole."

Slapping him on the shoulder, hard enough to shove him over a couple of inches, Jake barked a laugh. "You're thinking of a glory hole, nimrod. And it wasn't anything like that."

Sniggering, the former arms dealer shot back. "But it was a hole in the wall, and you had to stick your junk in there."

Nick nodded enthusiastically. "Only it was all hole and no glory. I just moseyed right up, lifted the family jewels and shoved everything God gave me right into the hole. Only it really wasn't a hole. It was more like an indentation in the cleansing unit."

"Don't tell me a little hand came out and cleaned your junk, cause I'm gonna be real jealous."

"Hell no. This is where the whole situation got super strange. The metal started vibrating."

"Now you're talking."

Laughing, Nick shook his head. "Not the fun type of vibrating. More like that kind that made me wonder if it was going to vibrate my dick right off."

"Ouch. Are you dickless now? You can tell me. I won't think you're any less of a man."

"Dickless? I think not. I am hairless though. No damn joke. The damn sonic device is just some alien hair removal system for your privates."

Jax's expression turned knowing. "Ah, a device to make alien women like us more. That makes sense, cause women sure don't like pubes."

"Well fuck that, I was actually quite partial to mine."

Rolling his eyes, Jax responded teasingly. "Would you rather have hair on your ball sack or a beautiful alien bride? Make up your mind, man. Cause if you make the wrong decision, this guy standing here will shove his junk in a bizarre alien device designed to render him hairless in a hot minute to catch a little face time with Acacia."

Frowning, Nick shook his head in disgust. "I don't know why I even talk to you. I really don't."

Grinning like the madman he was, Jax shot back. "You talk to me because we're the only two fuckers, crazy enough to think that shit's funny."

"Yeah well heads up buddy, that cute little bitch in near the end of the first row is staring at you."

Glancing nervously around, he complained quietly. "Shit man, I didn't do nothing. I swear."

Cuffing him on the back of the head, Nick whispered. "Stop being a stupid paranoid fucker and pay attention. She's looking at you like she'd like a ride on your little pink pony."

"Fuck you, man. It's a stallion."

"Well, unless you're looking for hairless balls and nice creepy robe like mine, I suggest you stay away from that one."

Giving his new robe the once over, Jax grinned in that better you than me way, he was so fond of using for such moments. "What do you call that, anyway? You look like a Sith warrior with not enough material to make a full costume."

"Always got something smart to say, don't you?" Smoothing down the front of his robe, Jake explained proudly. "This means I've been officially accepted into the company of the Voltaire. They were the first world conquered by the Taron."

"Yeah, I already heard all about how they are the ones who get the plum jobs and better everything than regular slaves. Congratulations, brother. You're better off with them than sleeping on the metal floor in the human section."

"I ain't going nowhere without you, so you get that shit out of your head right now. It seems the Voltaire have a real fondness for humans. They've cleared out a cell for you in the hive, right next to me and Acacia."

A grateful smile slid onto Jax's face. "You didn't have to do that."

"It wasn't me. Acacia told it to them straight. Let them know right up front that the three of us were a package deal. I was surprised when they jumped right on board with that idea."

"Yeah?"

Nodding, Nick added, "Yes, they were enthusiastic enough to make me wonder about their motivation. Unless I miss my guess, they are particular about who they mingle bloodlines with. The priestess came right out and referred to us as preferred breeding partners."

"I ain't a breeder, man. I'm a person."

"I'm hearing you loud and clear on that one. Watch your back. I don't trust that priestess at all. She's kind of creepy. If anyone tries to pressure you, Acacia already said we'll just head back to our old space."

Crossing his arms over his chest, Jax seemed pensive. "I think they just really want you, cause you're a soldier and trying to get everyone organized for a revolt. It wouldn't make sense for them to value a drug addict with no formal education or job skills."

"Keep talking about my friend like that and we are going to go a round or two. You got that?"

"Whatever, dude. I'm gonna go check out the chick makin' googly eyes at me."

"Don't wander off. The priestess will be here soon."

Throwing his hand up as he walked away, Jax strolled down the long line of Voltaire. Their reaction to his friend was nothing short of hysterical. The females all turned towards him wearing curious expressions. However, the males were openly hostile and some even made frustrated tilling noises in the backs of their throat as he passed.

Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion, as Nick counted down the minutes until his mating ceremony was to start. Jax completed his circuit around the room and was back inside of twenty minutes with a huge grin eating up his face.

"You must have found something you like."

Leaning close, he whispered. "I discovered two very important things about the Voltaire." Holding up one finger, he stated. "Their women are expected to give potential husbands a little test drive or two, so they both have a clear understanding of what they are getting themselves into." Adding another finger, he pulled down the sleeve of his shirt. As Nick stared at all the strange markings, Jax explained. "You were right. Human men are much preferred to other species. These are all housing designations. It's their way of inviting me for a booty call."

"You lucky dog."

"It almost makes up for you snatching up the prettiest little alien of them all." A chime sounded, and everyone turned to see Acacia enter with several priestesses at her back. "You brother, are the lucky one." Jax's voice held a note of awe.

Staring at the long virtually transparent gown hanging off Acacia's lovely form, Nick had to agree. All her dark hair had been piled high on her head with one thin tendril hanging down over her shoulder. The sheer white fabric draped around her lovely body emphasized every slight curve.

Stepping in front of them, the priestess approached a box perched on a nearby stand. Drawing back a cloth, she withdrew a long thick ribbon. It must have been nearly five feet long and at least three inches thick. The luxurious fabric seemed out of place among the plainness of the home spun robes, and even the bride's gown was more of a gauze than a fine silk.

The room grew quiet as brought their hands together and carefully wrapped the ribbon around their joined hands. Her formal voice rang out in the large space, as she spoke words meant to bind them together for all time. Nick allowed the words to whisper through his mind as he gazed at Acacia.

"The way of the Voltaire is both ancient and pure. Walking the path between honoring our heritage and embracing exciting new opportunities is filled with many dangers. The Voltaire are privileged to support the union of Acadia and Nick and in doing so support the cause for freedom or our people."

Both Nick and Acacia turned happy faces to their priestess. Getting a positive response about joining the cause and a marriage blessing all in one day was enough to make everything he'd been through worth it. Acacia had made it possible by bringing him to meet her people. Between the Vampiere and the Voltaire, they were definitely making progress in carving out enough insurgents to make winning the coming war possible.

After the binding ceremony, Nick was confused about why the binding wasn't removed. They moved through the room, meeting and greeting more people than he could hope to remember. Somehow, they Voltaire had gotten a hold of real honest to goodness drinking water. It was served in long slender drinking glasses that he suspected were the alien version of test tubes, nabbed from a lab at some point. Everyone was really careful to drink their allotment and place the glasses in a special holder designed to protect them.

When they stopped to catch their breath, he asked curiously. "Are they expecting us to stay tied together for all eternity or just throughout the reception?"

"We stay tied until our mating is consummated."

"It's going to be real hard to pleasure you the way I want with us being tied together."

Taking a sip of her drink, she glanced up at him. "You plan to pleasure me?"

"I can't wait. You seemed very responsive the last time I had my hands on you."

"You have a nice touch. I am fortunate to have captured your notice."

"Oh, you got my undivided attention."

"For now."

"Forever."

"We will see how you respond to the dancers."

"The what?" His question was accompanied by the sound of a strange electrified music beat.

"Come we must take our places."

Leading him across the room, they had no sooner settled into place on the floor than a group of females came twirling into the room. They were moving quickly, and Nick was so focused on getting settled that he didn't notice they were nearly naked, wearing only a cloth over their groin area.

"You must watch."

Something about the tone of her voice caught his notice. Cupping her chin in the palm of one hand, he turned her face to his. "Can we not skip this part? I'd rather get started on our honeymoon."

"I do not know what that is."

"It's the part of the mating ceremony where I take you somewhere private and pleasure you until you beg me to stop."

One of the women stooped down beside him. "Why would you wish to pleasure a Zaphredinelyn when you could pleasure a real woman?"

Swiveling his head around to look at the woman, he responded harshly. "If you think I won't knock you on your pretty little ass because you're a woman, you better think again."

The woman's eyes got big. "You are a warrior."

Placing one hand on her chest, he shoved her back with a bit of force. Before Nick could really blow his top, a female voice rang out.

"He has proven his worth. It is done."

The woman moved forward sitting beside him as the dancing continued unabated. "Apologies, to be so unfamiliar with our ways, you did remarkably well."

"I don't care for your shitty little test because it involved Acacia being insulted." Pulling her safely into his arms, he stated coldly. "The next time you or your people want to test me, you leave her out of it."

Dipping her head in acknowledgment, she spoke softly to Acacia. "You have an honorable and strong protector, my friend. Take him and enjoy your unbinding, with my blessing for a long and happy life."

"Thank you, Priestess."

Looking down, Nick noticed Acadia was playing with her hair the way she did whenever she was hot for him. It made keeping his arousal from showing more difficult.

Rising gracefully to her feet the priestess spun around, almost bumping into Jax. Her eyes drifted over him for a brief moment before she scribbled something on his arm and wandered away.

Looking down, Nick thought for sure, he could not have seen what he just saw. "Jesus, could this day get any stranger?"

"Only if I end up visiting that priestess chick. She's some kind of weird, but she..."

Cutting him off at the pass, Nick interjected. "She can kill you with her mind. That's what she can do."

"Are you joking? Man, I can never tell with you."

Acacia shook her head slightly, giving him a clue. "That's part of your problem, hero. You only date normal chicks. Strange ones need love too."

"I thought we already decided that she was crazy bait."

"Don't make her forbidden fruit. You know I can't resist that shit."

"Hell, go do what you're gonna do, you stubborn piece of shit."

"That's no way to talk to your bestie."

"Go, bang the lot of them for all I care. Just stay away from the one who got in Acacia's face. I do not like her."

Tilting his head, Jax responded sharply. "You did not need to say that to me. The priestess has a giant question mark beside her name, but the other one is on my shit list."

"We've got some unbinding to do. Hang tough and don't get yourself killed while we're down for the count."

"Fuck you, man. They'll be crowning me king by the time you two come up for air."

"Believe it when I see it, bro."
Chapter 8

## Unbinding

~ Nick ~

Music Mix

Slipping into their newly assigned cell, Acacia carefully sealed the door. Turning, she smiled when he used their bound arms to pull her to him. "We are far from the celebration."

Shoving the wayward tendril of hair from her face, he murmured. "Sorry about that disrespectful woman. You shouldn't have had to tolerate something like on your special day."

"I do not blame her. You are an extremely desirable mate. Many think you are wasting yourself on someone like me. She is a full blood Voltaire and I a Zaphredinelyn."

"You know I don't like that word, sweetness."

"It is only natural for her to try to take you from me."

"That is never going to happen, and I don't like her even thinking for a minute that it's possible."

"You look really handsome tonight. I can't believe you're truly mine."

"I'm yours alright, no trying to throw me back. When I first saw you today, all I could think of was getting the ceremony over so we could spend time alone together. Can we unbind now?"

Nodding happily, she went to work on the pulling out the tips that had been tucked securely under the edges of the tightly wrapped cloth.

The moment the last of the cloth was gone, Nick draped it around his neck before carefully peeling her out of her pretty dress. As it slid to the floor, he finally got to see everything the gods had given her. Running two fingers over the smooth skin of her shoulder, he murmured. "You are unbelievably beautiful. I truly have no words to describe what touching you feels like to me."

"I love it when you touch me. It fills a hole deep inside my soul."

"I could be really naughty right now, but I'm going to resist."

"I don't know what that means."

Pulling open his robe and shirt, he slid them off. She quickly took them from him and folded them neatly before working open the stays on his pants, Nick felt her hand move against his heated flesh. His hands came up to shove his pants down, eager as he was to give her more access.

"You are not like our males."

"Too bad, you're stuck with me."

Her eyes quickly looked up at her. "What I mean to say is your design is better for pleasuring a woman."

Hissing a sigh of pleasure as she stroked her hand up and down his rod, his curiosity finally got the better of him. "What's so great about it?"

"There are no ridges to tear into my rings."

"Alright sweetness, I think I need to have a look at what I'm dealing with before we get this party started."

Her hands immediately came up to fuss with her hair again. "You're a beautiful woman, Acacia." Dropping down onto the makeshift bed, he grabbed her hand and pulled her down beside him. Cupping her cheek in his hand, he murmured softly. "Don't worry, I'll make it really good for you. Trust me on that."

"Oh, I do." Her earnest and quickly spoken assurance gave him cause to be bold. Leaning down, he ghosted his lips across hers. Guiding her down beneath him, his hands skated across her soft skin, as he mapped every detail of her body. Her mating scent was delicate and addictive.

Pulling one leg to the side, Nick began to kiss his way down her chest. Stopping briefly at her breasts, he explored and teased soft peaks until she began to make soft sounds of pleasure. Moving lower, he took his time inspecting all her womanly treasures. Fascinated that she seemed to have not a trace of body hair, her female parts were formed in the traditional horseshoe design he was all too familiar with.

Rather than the tiny nub human females sported, she had an extra ring of flesh running around the inside of her lips. Pulling it back gently with his hands, all it took was one swipe with his tongue to verify that touching it apparently provoked the same pleasure. Within moments, her body crashed into a thrashing orgasm.

Running one finger around the entrance to her body, he slid into her. Without her needing to say a word, he knew what she had meant by rings. As his finger slid in and out, he felt a set of five concentric rings gripping at him. He imagined that penetrating her must feel like doing it five times in rapid succession with each thrust. Suddenly, he was eager to experience it.

Looking up at her face had been a mistake. Her gentle face was filled with need, and he realized it must be her way of pleading with him. Thrusting roughly into her, he whispered. "You like that don't you sweetness?"

"Please, Nick. I need you." The tiny feminine voice was needy and desperate.

Moving up, he positioned himself and gave her one lingering kiss before breaching her body with his stiff rod. Her legs wrapped around him and she pulled him closer, impaling herself, as she made small noises that made his balls ache.

The feeling of sinking into her body was nothing sort of dying and being reborn into a world of unimaginable pleasure. Feeling her soft rings sliding back and forth over his rod was making it difficult not to spill inside her. Closing his eyes, Nick concentrated on making it last for them. First times were all about setting expectations, and he was desperate for Acacia to see them as highly compatible.

Whatever he was doing, he felt it was correct. Acacia was absolutely going wild beneath him. She couldn't stay still, moving against him with such urgency he was afraid of leaving bruises. Her body had taken on a full body blush, turning her light blue skin a charming shade of almost lavender. She was murmuring in the language of Voltaire, and her words were music to his ears.

Getting lost in their lovemaking, he vaguely realized that she peaked several times, before her body tightened around his rod, forcing him to at long last release his seed deep inside her body. Enjoying the way her rings felt around his slowly softening rod, he rolled them into a comfortable position without pulling out.

Just when he thought she had passed out from exhaustion, she spoke. Her voice was filled with dread and a little shaky. "Am I acceptable to you as a mate?"

Without looking down, he answered solemnly. "You're better than acceptable. I don't ever want to be without you. From now on, I want you at my side always." Turning slightly, he tilted her face up to look into her eyes. "You are very important to me, Acacia. I know we are in a precarious position here on the Taron ships. Yet, I cannot turn away the comfort and understanding you offer."

"I'm grateful. I want you more than I've ever wanted anything in my life.

"If anything looks strange to you, someone bothers you, or you feel unsafe, I expect you to let me know immediately. I need to be able to know that you will come to me and that we can trust each other to always be honest."

"I will."

"No matter what happens or who comes at us, you can always rely on me to keep you safe. We'll get through this together. One day we'll be living on Earth, and this will all seem like a bad dream."

"Tell me about your home world, Nick. Let me dream of what our life may be once the Taron no longer haunt our every step."

Glad the Vampiere had added a dampening field to his wristband that keep the Taron from eavesdropping on them, he spoke freely. "Earth is amazing. I never truly knew how special it was until I ended up here. The sunshine bathes blue oceans in soft yellow light. On a good day, the skies are blue with big fluffy clouds drifting aimlessly by. At night, I used to lay on my back in the soft grass and gaze up at the night sky. I'd marvel at the millions of little white dots and wonder what each planet was like."

Kissing her gently on the head, he murmured. "It never once occurred to me to think a beautiful woman was up here waiting for me. Whatever happens, always remember finding you is the part that makes all the rest bearable for me."
Taron Invasion  
Taron Invasion Series

### A.J. Daniels

GTQ LLC

Orlando, Florida

Copyright © 2017 by A.J. Daniels

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.

GTQ LLC

PO Box 540375

Orlando, FL 32854

www.gtq.com

Publisher's Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author's imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

Taron Invasion/A.J. Daniels \-- 1st Ed.

ISBN

Foreword

In the beginning of earth's history, there were only humans. Those humans created stories of fantastical creatures and faraway places. There were tales about giants that came out of nowhere, plaguing mankind, as they tore apart entire villages. The mythical creatures were said to be twenty feet tall and subsisted on a steady diet of human flesh. The human world exhaled a collective sigh of relief when the beasts were banished to a faraway place in the clouds.

Other ancient stories told of strange looking demons with solid black eyes. They fed off humans as well. However, these creatures did not feed on flesh. Instead, they attached themselves to the human soul and thrived on their lust and aggression. God saw his creation losing themselves to the darkest of desires, and sent his angels to save them. His archangel Lucifer would have none of that, for he was the foremost soul feeder. Michael led the angels of God. They fought Lucifer and his legion of demons. The battle was fierce but in the end, the immortals and their mortal followers were cast into in the darkest pits of hell. It is said that they burn endlessly for their crimes against humanity, forced to endure never ending pain in place of the never ending pleasure of feeding on God's chosen ones. It was enough to make one wonder if God had a sense of humor. If so it was a dark one.

Perhaps the most disturbing were the stories of the Vampiere. They live in the shadows unseen by man until it is too late. It is said, no human can resist being seduced by a vampire, nor can any vampire resist the temptation of a human. The creatures of the night are known for stealing blood and slaking their lust upon their human host. They alone, of all the creatures of the verse, are cursed by God to feed only on human blood. God created their thirst to be virtually insatiable. No human was safe as long as the Vampiere walked free, yet God so loved the Vampiere that he refused to choose sides. The sons of man grew tired of hiding in fear and felt certain that God had abandoned them. Gathering together, they hunted the Vampiere to the four corners of the earth. Each was killed by driving a wooden stake through its heart. Instead of ensuring their peace of mind, mankind continued to live in fear of the Vampiere. For how could they be assured their ancestors discovered the foul hiding places of every last vampire? It is the reason, to the day, humans are afraid of the dark.

The tales of mankind were crafted to terrify and entertain. Humans congratulated themselves on their intelligence and creativity, for their stories were both thrilling and fearsome.

In the year 2032, the alien wars began, and humans came face to face with their monsters of old. Humans quickly learned that their ancient lore was nothing more than their ancient ancestors a skewed accounting of what their ancestors had experienced firsthand. The stories were a skewed attempt to capture the terror of contact with forces beyond their reckoning and meant to serve a warning to future generations. Thus, the tales of the aliens who visited Earth during ancient times became distorted as they were handed down from one generation to another.

During Indian summer in the year 2032, the first shuttle craft to land on Earth. It carried slaves from an alien ship waiting in earth's orbit. The mother ship, cloaked and silent, waiting for the remainder of the attack fleet remained unnoticed by mankind. Little did humans know, but the ship was filled with all the creatures born of man's greatest fears. Even more terrifying was the fact that a few ragtag escaped slaves represented mankind's only defense against that deadly enemy.
Chapter 1

## Making Ready

~ Tham ~

Music Mix

Tham leashed his anger, as the large Taron guard nudged him along with a thump to the back with his battle blaster. The impact sent a shock of pain radiating from the impact sight. Such behavior was typical of the brutality slaves were forced to endure from their Taron masters.

Barely lifting up his head as they walked by, Tham made sure to catch Jensen's eye. The older human turned out to be a gift from the gods when it came to ensuring the safety of his little one. Being taken by an overlord was risky business. They might want you to clean a waste removal tube, or they might need fresh meat for their horrible, scaly Yucak. Surviving was foremost in his mind since he had a little on relying on him.

Jensen nodded his understanding to look out for her. Therefore, Tham went without a fuss. Being a slave meant he had no choice but to comply. Resistance was both futile and dangerous. Disobedience was dealt with quite harshly by the overlords. Slaves were all too aware of how expendable they were aboard the Taron ships.

Tham had been born and raised aboard a Taron vessel, so this was the only life he'd ever known. His grandmother had survived for many years. Long enough to raise him and nurture whatever little cunning and charm he'd been born with. At her knee, he'd learned the concept of freedom, for she had entertained him with tales of living freely on a real planet. The idea of feeling the ground beneath his feet and breathing air that wasn't purified thousands of times had always thrilled and intrigued him.

He'd dreamed of one day enjoying freedom. It was now a dream he also wished for his small daughter. In the tradition of his people, he'd already started teaching her about the concepts of freedom. Jensen helped her understand when his rough voice failed him. His little one didn't care what he sounded like, only that he spoke to her. For this he was grateful. Being rejected by the only person in the verse who mattered to him would have been worse than a slow painful death.

Stretching his spine in an effort to tamp down his frustration, Tham wondered how it was that beings with the language skills of a child managed to rampage their way through the galaxy conquering worlds. Hell's fire, only their elite soldiers, even spoke complete sentences.

While the many of the species they subdued created and used a wide variety of contemporary languages. Some few, like his own, were fluent in multiple languages and created majestic pieces of art and musical compositions. Though he hadn't been exposed to such, the others spoke fondly of their accomplishments.

Stopping short, the overlord shoved him towards an access tunnel. Dracon staggered out of another corridor with an overlord at his back. The vampire prime took it all in stride, giving him a quick jerk of his chin in acknowledgment. Tham suppressed a smile when his overlord nudged him along with a blaster blow to the back. The big man intentionally slowed his steps, turning to look the big blue brute in the eye. "Did you need something?"

"Move faster."

Turning slowly Dracon ambled along at a decelerated pace until he was standing shoulder to shoulder with Tham. "Greetings, brother."

"Greetings, sir." Watching the overlord peck out a code on his wrist communicator, Tham waited for the door to slide open. Within microns, it slid open but stuck halfway.

The Taron shouted. "You fix and then you fix." The creature's huge head wobbled on his shoulders as he spoke, making Tham think it might snap off his skinny neck and roll away one day.

"Your overlord is limited."

Dracon wasn't wrong. Sighing, Tham stepped forward and scanned the metal slave bracelet he'd always worn against the engineering panel. Once again, the overlord pecked out a code on his communicator and the access panel slid open.

"You fix, then you fix."

Gritting his teeth so hard his fangs cut into his lower gum line, Tham nodded. "I understand and comply." Watching the guard approach, the other Taron, he turned his attention back to the task at hand."

"So, we are to fix and then fix?"

Finally smiling, Tham replied quietly. "I believe he wishes us to fix the door then fix whatever is wrong with the filtration unit."

"Fix good." To hear a vampire prime, emulate the foolish speech patterns of their captors was nothing short of hilarious.

"I did not know you had a sense of humor, sir."

"The closer we get to Earth, the closer I come to finding it." Lowering his voice, Dracon asked. "You and yours are ready?"

"Yes, sir. We are seventeen strong, not counting the little ones."

"The time is near. Be alert for the signal."

"We are eager to participate."

Glancing at the two Taron guards, they watched them wander out into the corridor. They appeared to be attempting to convince two more passersbys to join in some kind of betting game involving multi-sided dice. It wasn't unusual for them to wander off completely. The low-status guards were easily distracted.

"Their stupidity and inattention are making our job easier."

"We have never given the Taron reason to be cautious of us, sir."

"The Taron create nothing of worth. Their civilization exists solely to conquer and steal the wealth and technology of other worlds, using every new piece of recovered technology against the next world they invade. I will not grieve their loss."

"Me either." Glancing at the gambling group as they worked, Tham murmured. "I'm anxious because of my little one, but I don't see another way for her have a normal life."

"I will admit that it has been easy to lose hope, for it seemed that our suffering was never ending. There has never been the slightest opportunity for us before now. My own daughter is a young woman now. I would not see her waste away in the belly of this metal beast, never knowing a moment of peace. Better to die trying for a better life than miss our only opportunity to escape. You have a human friend. What does he say?"

"Jensen reports his people are cunning and ruthlessness. They fight amongst themselves for sport and profit. He thinks they will relish the opportunity to unite against a common enemy and will embrace those of us who join them in battle."

Dracon nodded, "I have heard they thrust for the blood of their enemies, and kill with impunity. Surely, with a human at our side, we might have a real chance at victory.

The mere thought of overthrowing their Taron overlords sent a thrill snaking through Tham's gut. It would mean not only freedom for his little one and himself, but freedom for all of his kind being held aboard the ships. "The Taron are at their weakest now. It has been so long since they felt defeat, they have grown complacent and lazy. Their pilots seem to be deteriorating as well."

Dracon wiped his hands on a rag he pulled from his worn uniform. "I and many others believe it the substance they use to fold space-time. Exposure to it slowly drives the pilots mad. So far from their home world, it is nearly impossible to obtain replacement pilots. They have a guild that controls that job classification, much to the Taron's detriment."

"Their shortsightedness is our gain, I think."

Slapping Tham on the back, he addressed the one issue Tham didn't want to talk about. "It is nice to speak with you. Your reluctance to speak grieves the others, and isolates you."

"Apologies, sir. My voice is rough, and speaking out only draws strange stares and ridicule. I would have my little one grow up thinking her father quiet rather than flawed."

"These are precarious times, my brother. Keep your little one near and don't hesitate to ask for help if you find yourself in need."

"My daughter and I manage to get by with help from Jensen."

"Stick close to your human friend if you make it to Earth. Our kind has not been welcome there for over a thousand years."

"Jensen is my little one's preferred feeding partner and I am his protector. Our bond of friendship is stronger than most."

"Jensen has proven himself to be a friend to the Vampiere many times over the years. He has our trust and support. If a threat comes that you cannot manage alone, call upon you vampire brothers for support and know that we will come to your aid without question."

"Thank you, sir. I will remember. If Jensen and I can do anything to further the cause, you have only to ask."

Finishing their task, the two men who rarely had an opportunity to meet, went their separate ways. Each had their own worries about the coming battle. For his part, Tham was certain freedom from the intergenerational oppression they were subjected to aboard the Taron vessels was something truly worth fighting for. It was also something worth dying for, should it come right down to it.

Tham was luckier than most, for he'd traded protection and food from his daily ration to a woman in exchange for giving him a daughter. Though her mother had eschewed responsibility for her from the day of her birth, Tham didn't care. The beautiful little girl was his reason for surviving in this hellish environment. Caring for and protecting her was his only care. Thank the gods that Jensen had grown attached his little one because he keeping her fed. It was a deb Tham could never come close to repaying.

Jensen had regaled him with tales of the females from Earth. The few times he'd been with the female, during the time they were trying to conceive, left him longing for more. However, that particular female wanted nothing to do with him after fulfilling her end of the bargain. Tham didn't blame her. He was large, discolored, scarred and unattractive by anyone's account. Still, he'd been shocked senseless when Jensen told him there were millions of females on his world and many never managed to find mates because there were significantly fewer men.

Tucked into the far recesses of his mind was an idea that maybe one of those millions might find it in her heart to care for one such as him. The rational side of his brain cautioned him not to waste precious time and energy hoping for such a thing, but his soul called out for a mate. In his mind's eye, she was sweet, delicate and in need of a strong protector. His imaginary mate looked at him with open acceptance, if not admiration. She wasn't reluctant to be touched by him and easily slid her hand into his when they walked together. Tham let his mind drift, as he headed back to his section of the ship. Such daydreams were likely all he would ever have, but he enjoyed them none the less.

Alien Convict  
Taron Invasion Series

### A.J. Daniels

GTQ LLC

Orlando, Florida

Copyright © 2017 by A.J. Daniels

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.

GTQ LLC

PO Box 540375

Orlando, FL 32854

www.gtq.com

Publisher's Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author's imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

Alien Convict/A.J. Daniels \-- 1st Ed.

ISBN

Chapter 1

## Loss and Love

~ Andrew ~

Music Mix

Tossing and turning in his sleep, Andrew relieved got pulled into a reoccurring dream. His little five-year-old self, choked on the thick smoke pouring out of the vents running along the top of the walls. Since he'd been born and raised on the Taron ship, he was used to emergencies every now and then. This felt different somehow. Everyone was running around, females were screaming and the normally stoic male's voices were tinged with panic.

It was getting difficult to breathe. His slight form was getting bounced around as people accidentally knocked into as they rushed past. Carefully searching every face, he found that none of the adults were his family. Getting emotional, he held his hand over his face. Suddenly out of nowhere, a large hand locked down around his wrist. Relief flooded his system as he realized it was his father.

"Run faster. We are under attack."

Andrew moved as fast as his feet would carry him, thankful that his grandfather never let go of his wrist. Of course he wasn't called Andrew back then. His name had been Androd.

At one point they heard the familiar sound of Krador squalling. His grandfather quickly pulled him into his arms and began to run for one of the exits. Andrew had been too terrified to speak, for fear the Krador would find them.

The moment they staggered out the door, a large human male grabbed them. Before his grandfather could react, the man fired a weapon over their shoulder. Andrew watched in absolute horror as an overlord feel motionless to the ground. The alien shouted in Kalian, "Survivors go to the right. Rescuers are waiting to transport you to safety."

The strange alien warrior shoved them to the right, just as a huge Krador came crawling out of whole in the ship's hull. Several of the strange aliens gathered with long rifles, intent on taking the huge creature down. His grandfather staggered to the left, away from the creature. Andrew watched over his shoulder as the aliens shot at the huge creature's many legs, then began targeting the triple row of eyes running back over its head. Andrew noticed something the strange aliens didn't. Dozens of tiny Krador young scurrying from the vessel and taking refuge in the nearby woods.

Finally his father stopped running. They approached a huge vehicle of some sort. It was white with large red sign upon it. The people there looked like medics to his young eyes.

His grandfather, asked about other survivors. "We have family aboard the ship. I won't leave without them."

An alien male stepped forward wearing green with a funny design on his clothing. He had weapons strapped all over his body.

"You're going to get your ass on the Red Cross transport right now and get your boy to safety."

"Who are you?"

"Sergeant Marcus Ross. Now, move your ass."

Andrew watched a female with long red hair approach. "If you can't interact with the newcomers any better than that, you need to leave."

Ross spat on the ground, and stood glaring at her for a moment before speaking. "The last time I checked sergeants' outranked nurses."

"The last time I check, I was in charge of this unit and you were assigned to protect us. Unless you want us to file a formal complaint with your chain of command you will step back and allow us to access to our patients."

"We need to evac the area." Holding his hand to his ear, he paused briefly and frowned. "A Krador is loose and just attacked a team of militia."

"Gather up as many as you can find. We don't leave anyone behind."

The Sergeant gave a clipped response. "Yes, mam. You heard the lady. Fleece the area. If they have a heartbeat, they come with us, even if you gotta stun them."

The annoyed woman frowned. "That is not what I said."

As the males stalked off into the darkness, the woman turned to them. "Come, we have hydration packs and you can rest in our vehicle. It armor plated, so you will be safe there. What is your name?"

His grandfather's dispirited voice responded quietly. "I am Malok and this is my grandson Androd. How is it you speak our language?"

"We were given an inoculation with of alien languages. My name is Rebecca and I'm a healer. It's nice to meet you and your grandson. I know this is a difficult situation, but you are safe with us. Under the new inter-species treaty, Earth is now your home. Is there anything you need right now?"

"I just want to see my family survive this night."

Andrew watched the woman place a reassuring hand on his grandfather's arm. "We'll do everything we can to see that you're reunited with them as soon as possible."

Before they could get onto the large transport, the males wearing green came back, herding dozens of rescued slaves. "We gotta go now. There are half a dozen Krador and they've torn people apart limb by limb back there."

Everyone rushed aboard the vessel. His grandfather sat him down and tried to get back off but was shoved back the alien males in charge. The man leaned over and stated quietly. "You don't want to do that. There's no one alive back there. The sight will haunt my nightmares until the day I die. You have the boy to worry about. He's all you have left."

The older man's knees buckled under him, and an agonized wail of grief escaped from his lips. The Keening was sound he would never forget. Andrew watched the nurse kneeled and wrap her arms around his grandfather. That was the moment it hit Andrew that his father, mother, brothers and sisters were all gone. Instead of the sounds his grandfather made, Andrew felt like his life-force had been knocked from his body, only to be filled by an infinite well of sadness.

Jerking awake, Andrew padded through his house to check on his own two small daughters. They were each in their tiny bed, surrounded by their favorite stuffed animals. Shutting the door, he walked back to his room and stood in front of his nest. The lights were dimmed for the night cycle, but inside the clear glass his unborn child rested in the gently bubbling liquid. He checked to make sure the temperature was stable and the proper amount of oxygen and nutrients were circulating through the water.

Running his fingers over the metal casing he remembered his joy in building the mechanical device meant to bring his children through their last stages of growth before being born into this new world of privilege and freedom for his kind.

If his grandfather could see this one, it would have brought yet more joy to his life. Unfortunately, he had passed away shortly after his new human mate died. Andrew's chest constricted painfully when he thought of his grandfather. The male had spent many long years enjoying this new human world alongside the human woman who lived only for his smile. Andrew had been loved and doted upon as a child. Now he was alone in the world, just his girls and him.
Chapter 2

## Integrated Kalian Male

~ Danielle ~

Music Mix

Danielle noticed him immediately, as he meandered by her office. The huge glass wall afforded her a view of most of the work floor in her tiny law firm. Her firm had agreed to hire eight alien males. Their resettlement was related to a push by the central government to open new opportunities for the aliens who had supported them in the war effort.

His soft brown eyes glanced over to find her admiring him and he nodded politely. Feeling her face flame, she quickly got back to work. Perving on her new employees, was bound to cause problems for her, since she hadn't even been a full partner for year yet.

Her assistant poked his head in her door and he asked politely. "Are you ready to get a bite of lunch, or should I order something for delivery?"

Rubbing her temple, she shoved herself away from the desk. "Let's eat out somewhere nice."

Smiling, he suggested helpfully. "How about Jackson Fife?"

Unable to keep the grin off her face, Daniel nodded, That would be fantastic. We deserve a treat."

"I'm beginning to think that's what company expense accounts are for."

"Our firm is pretty generous in that regard. Let's bring schedules and come up with a strategy for turning alien rights into the next big social issue."

"Nothing would make me happier. That's the reason I signed up with the firm, after all." Jon's brown eyes and pointed ears gave away his alien heritage, in much the same way as the soft green color of his skin.

"In my humble opinion we were lucky to get you."

He preened a bit as he quipped. "Strangely enough, that is my wife's opinion as well."

Laughing, Danielle tossed some her electronic tablet into her bag and followed Jon to his office to get his.

Never one to miss an opportunity to chitchat, Danielle walked through the door he held open for her. "I'd really love to meet your wife sometime. I'll bet she's really sweet."

"She has my heart, or at least a piece of it."

There was no way she was letting such a mysterious statement fly right by without comment. "I can't imagine or what has snagged the rest of your heart, Jon. Is that top secret information, or what?"

"Human females are predictably curious. I knew you wouldn't be able to resist asking." Beaming at her, he lowered his head slightly. "Of course each of my young have a small piece of my heart as well."

"That's about the sweetest thing I've ever heard. My best friends growing up were Kalian. I really miss them a lot."

Of all the aliens that came down on the ships, Danielle preferred Kalian males. They were consistently attractive, accepted direction, and were meticulous about the details that could make or break a case.

The being attractive part was always the piece that constantly got her attention. They were smaller than most of the other aliens; making them about the size of a human. Their compact, muscular bodies made the males look like body builders. A Kalian could lift twice his body weight, above their head easily. Their skin was lighter, like a human. Hair only came in two varieties; thick coarse black hair, which was almost always worn at shoulder length, or. some few had snow white hair. Any way you cut it, they were real lookers.

Jon's voice drew her from her thoughts. "What made you decide to relocate to this area?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

Smiling politely, he opened the door to the restaurant. "Please tell me."

"I'm looking for a mate. My home town was stuffed with single men but none of them were my one."

He expression shifted to one of understanding. "You are clever to move to large metropolitan area. I have no doubt that you will hundreds of new males over the next year or so. I wish you luck in finding your one."

A hostess led them to a cozy table with a view of the city. Leaning over, Danielle whispered. "Would you like to know a secret?"

Looking intrigued her new assistant, nodded. "Only if it's a really good one."

"I have a very strong feeling my one is Kalian."

Gasping, he pressed his lips together a brief moment before responding. "You can't possibly know that."

Picking up her menu, she sighed. "I might as well come clean. The Kalian family I grew up with had a ton of sons. I made every single one of the kiss me because I was so convinced one of the was my one."

Jon stilled long enough for the server to fill their glasses with water. "What on Earth was that like?"

"It was really disappointing. It felt just like kissing my brother." Smacking her menu down on the table, she stated happily. "Don't worry though, I'm not giving up without a kissing every single eligible Kalian bachelor in this entire city."

Jon made a small sound of shock. "You better get to it, cause there are a lot of my brethren running around without mates."

"I'm surprised women don't snap them right up."

"Though we were highly valued as fighting partners during the war, I get the feeling human women don't select mates based on the fact that they have highly developed senses, an tendency towards detail or an identic memory."

Snorting a laugh, Danielle responded. "Well if they don't, they should. My father had a Kalian fighting partner, and they've remained best friends for life. The man can track like a bloodhound. It's a good skill to have."

Now it was Jon's turn to laugh at her antics. Strange that seem to value such traits. I can't say my Kalian wife even cares about such qualities."

Looking over the menu, Danielle responded thoughtfully. "I've always the Kalian were most attractive of the aliens to land on our world. And not just because of the long hair and big muscles either. You all seemed to be less formal, warmer, friendlier, and you have a good sense of humor."

Nodding, Jon murmured. "I'll have to give you that one. We are not quite as serious as most other species."

"Are you kidding me? A lot of the other alien males seem to have a stick stuck perpetually up their backside for no apparent reason. They're quick to anger and often times they don't play well with others. Over the years, she'd learned to be cautious."

"I can't say I blame you for that. I'm cautious of many of them myself."

"God, I thought it was just me. Earth's first contact with an alien species was a rude awakening for us. Then the long brutal war blindsided us before we could really get used to the idea that we aren't alone in the verse. Goodness knows, we never would have won without the help of the alien slaves. Most humans recognize your people's contribution, and welcome you with open arms."

Jon responded thoughtfully, "I believe many humans were compassionate, if nothing else, because of the hardships we endured on the ships."

Nodding, Danielle agreed. "However, there is still a lot of discrimination. Many states were struggling to update their legal codes to ensure the protection of the newest members of society."

"You believe in getting right down to the working part of the lunch without much small talk. I respect that in a boss."

"I think of us more as co-workers. I eagerly signed the agreement for our small firm to hire the eight aliens because I believe in our cause. However, I need you to understand that decision garner support among our partners for many different reasons."

"I don't understand."

"Most of the partners are honestly dedicated to supporting alien rights. They general consensus is that since you all shed your fair share of blood for the cause of a free earth, you deserve a chance to participate in society on an equal footing. Please don't be put off that all our new hires were assigned mostly to clerical functions."

His eyes slid away. "We have noticed that every one of us ended up working in the mail room, or as research assistants, receptionist, or personal assistants. Since most, with the exception of me, got paired with other aliens we suspected the firm wished to marginalize and segregate us."

They stopped long enough to place their orders and Danielle picked back up with the conversation. "That was actually my idea. I'm the one who spearheaded this move. I reviewed resumes, performed most of the interviews, and debated the merits of each applicant. I asked the firm's HR team to make offers to the individuals who scored highest on a set of pre-established criteria."

"I suppose that makes good sense, but why segregate us?"

I wanted you paired with tenured aliens who have already learned their way around our system. I may have miscalculated but I wanted them to hit the ground running with mentors who understood what it took to adapt to our fast paced environment. I focused the search on newcomers with the best command of the English language, good written skills, and high scores on the pre-employment testing because I was confident that with the right foundation the individuals I chose would be highly promotable."

Though Jon still appeared slightly suspicious, he nodded, clearly willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.

"The last thing in the world anyone wants, is for any of our newcomers to get stranded in lower level jobs. It would seem patronizing, and appear as though you were incapable of competing on an equal footing when we are confident that you can. The firm's goal in this situation is total integration at all levels. Nothing less will due."

"Alright, I will stick with the firm for a few years and see where this goes."

"Years? I think not. Several of you have high enough scores to sit for the bar exam. Our partners have already determined, they are very interested in having an Kalian partner in particular."

"Ah, this is the part where our natural propensity towards mental alertness, being detail oriented, and single minded pursuit of success finally wins us some extra bonus points."

Smiling at the charming man, he nodded. "Yes sir, it does. Those qualities make you particularly good accountants, and exceptional attorneys. The firm feels that having an Kalian partner, will enable them to capture a whole new segment of the marketplace. The Kalian are most integrated of all the alien species and since they have more contact with humans, they are more heavily discriminated against. Those law suits could constitute a new untapped market for her firm, particularly the ones related to reproductive rights."

"I must say that I feel fortunate to have been selected as your administrative assistant."

"Actually, I'm the one who feels fortunate to have you on my team. You're professional, polite, and detail oriented. I like that you are a bit of a stern task master. I need that kind of structure to keep my meetings to a reasonable length, and get through the volume of work I juggle on a daily basis. If I'm being honest, I would have to admit that I've never had it so good."

Looking embarrassed, he mumbled. "That is kind of you say."

"Look at me, Jon. I want to be sure you understand your worth. All this being sweet, brining me coffee in the morning, and scanning the major newsfeeds so you can keep me updated on the trends that related to our business is a courtesy. You don't owe me any of that, so don't let it stress you out or keep you for doing what you need to do to be successful. I honestly think with your sharp mind and skills at diplomacy, you're destined to be an outstanding attorney in your own right."

"I can't tell you how nice it is to get such a confidence boost, right now particularly. I also appreciate you filling in the blanks about our being hired. It puts my mind at east. I can't wait to tell my wife the good news. We were starting to think I should looking for another position. She will be happy to know we have found some stability with your firm."

"How's your family adapting to the move? It must be stressful."

"It has been incredibly stressful. We are still at the resettlement annex." She could hear the disappointment and frustration edging back into his voice as he spoke.

"How many little ones are in your family?"

His expression immediately shifted to one of pride and happiness. "Me, my wife and our three children. They're all small and as you must know Kalian children are extremely inquisitive. Just yesterday they took apart our holographic projector and put it back together again. We are currently housed all in one room. It is a tight squeeze with a new baby."

Thinking it over, Danielle reached in her purse, pulled out a set of keys and tossed them to him. "I have a beach house not far from here. It's about a forty-five minute drive. It's small...three bedrooms and a study but it is furnished. You can stay there for a few months until they get your housing worked out. I almost never use it. You know how tight our schedules are. I can't seem to get myself out of the city to save my life these days."

He looked at her strangely and when he opened his mouth to object, she quickly explained. "It's an empty house just sitting there on the beach. It makes no sense for it sit empty if a family can make use of it. I know how the Kalian feel about wasting resources, so don't object when you know it's the right thing to do."

"This will make such a difference to my family's quality of life right now. I don't know how to thank you."

"You just did, now let's eat before our food gets cold."

Putting a bit of food into his mouth, Jon chewed slowly and swallowed before taking a sip of water. "I never expected such generosity from someone I barely know. Though it feels strange to accept, I do not feel that I should pass up an opportunity to get my family into a better living situation. Thank you, Danielle."

"Trust me, your family will love the bungalow. It's right on the beachfront. The kids will love playing in the surf. Tell them to beware of the occasional jellyfish."

"I am certain they will consider it a little vacation. We are anxious to integrate ourselves fully with the human population. All my children were born on earth, it's a shame they have seen so little of life outside the resettlement center."

"Well don't put it off any longer than you have to. Try to take off early today, if you can break away. An early start might get you in my nightfall."

"Are you certain you don't need me the rest of the day?"

Smiling deviously, she responded. "I'm planning to take a load of work home for a special project. I'll hit you with it first thing Monday morning. Prepare to be wowed."

"I can't imagine what it could be. Won't you give me even a little hint?"

Pushing the food around on her plate, she murmured quietly. "It might have something to do with making a name for ourselves in the area of Kalian reproductive rights."

"It definitely sounds exciting. Nesting is one of the most misunderstood components of Kalian's culture."

"God, I know. I'm almost too excited to even eat."

"Me too, but that is more because it's the weekend and I'm looking forward to getting my family into a real home."

"Alright, let's each five gigantic bites and hit the road."

"You are a very funny female. I hope you find the perfect Kalian mate. You deserve the best."

Giggling, she deadpanned back. "So Kalian male are the best, are they?"

"I know encouraging you to choose a Kalian is blatantly self-serving, but we really do take special care with our females and I want that for you."

Speeding their way through lunch, they both went their separate ways with a gleam in their eye. Jon was gone by early afternoon. Though Danielle was pleased with herself for doing a good deed, she had to admit it didn't feel all that great, because it took no real effort. Her general feeling on the matter was that to generate real karma, one had to put forth enough effort to feel the proverbial burn.

In any event, she ended up staying until about 6:30 pm. By that time on a Friday most of the others had left. She stepped into the elevator to find the good looking Kalian was there, apparently heading home himself. She smiled, stepped onto the elevator, and introduced herself again.

"Hello, Jem. I don't know if you remember me from the interview. I'm Danielle. Thank you for accepting our offer. I hope this position turns out to be a good fit for you."

"I always make a point of remembering a pretty face, Miss. Danielle. I was delighted to get an offer from this firm." She was aware that he had already been snapped up by one of the other partners, who was desperately in need of an administrative assistant.

"I hear there is some type of celebration involving a gentleman in a red suit. Are you planning to attend that celebration?"

Danielle stood staring at him for a moment, trying to figure out what he was talking about. Then it clicked. He was referring to their annual company Christmas party. "Are you kidding, watching a bunch of straight laced attorneys drink themselves stupid. That is a show I'd never miss."

His slightly raised brow told her he didn't quite understand. "I am not certain how drinking intoxicating beverages can impact a human's long term intelligence level."

"That's not exactly what I meant. At such functions humans usually drink too many intoxicating beverages. This lowers their inhibitions, resulting in them doing embarrassing things such as dancing with lamp shades on their head and making scans of her private parts."

He looked at her disbelievingly. She laughed, "I'm serious. Don't miss it. It's the show of the century."

He replied sincerely. "If it is all that entertaining, I will certainly try to be there."

"Be careful if you bring your wife. You might have to put your hands over her eyes, if old man Edwards begins flashing everyone again."

He laughed at the image she drew in his mind. "Lucky for me I won't have to worry about that."

She noticed he was eyeing her with heated interest. She was familiar enough with Kalian males, to know what that looked like. "So where are you headed? You look like you brought enough work home, in your pull along bag to last all weekend."

Glancing down at her huge briefcase, she lifted her eyes to look at him again. "I'll give you one guess?"

He shook his head in disgust. "Home to work."

She nodded. "Afraid so, I have a fascinating new plan to launch our firm into the spotlight."

"I would love to hear more about your plan. Are you planning to eat? We could grab dinner some place."

"You're absolutely gorgeous, and I would love to go out with you, but partners are not permitted to date employees."

He leaned one arm across her body boxing her against the wall. "You could always reevaluate your commitment to the firm. You might find that I am worth rearranging your life around."

She smiled, and pressed him back with one hand. "I think a better course of action for both of us would be for you to just sit for the bar exam. I have it on good authority, the firm is extremely interested in having an Kalian partner. If you were a partner we could definitely have dinner together whenever we wanted."

He smiled and said rather sarcastically, "That sounds like a bit of a fairytale to me."

"Well since you think I am not being honest, I guess we are stuck with your original suggestion."

He ran on hand over her cheek, and tilted her face up to look her in the eyes. "You win beautiful. I will sit for the exam. If that does not work out, we will look at the situation a little more closely. It probably makes a little more sense, for me to just move on to another job."

She touched his chest with her hand and reiterated, "Sit for the exam. You're a smart guy. You'll probably breeze right through it."

When the elevator doors slid open and she stepped bout and disappeared into the crowded street.

Vampire  
Brotherhood  
Dark Woods Series  
Prequel

### A.J. Daniels

GTQ LLC

Orlando, Florida

Copyright © 2017 by A.J. Daniels

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.

GTQ LLC

PO Box 540375

Orlando, FL 32854

www.thesios.com

Publisher's Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author's imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

Brotherhood/A.J. Daniels \-- 1st ed.

ISBN

CONTENTS

Chapter 1 4

Mission Interrupted 4

Chapter 2 13

Earning His Trident 13

Chapter 3 22

A Rocky Start 22

Chapter 4 30

Stark Reality 30

Chapter 5 42

A Warrior For Me 42

Chapter 6 53

Pushy Women 53

Chapter 7 62

Bonding 62

Chapter 8 74

Unbinding 74
Epilogue

It's the year 2092 and the world is a very different place, especially since the end of the alien wars. The earth is now populated by several different species, all living side by side, working together, and things can get rough. Aliens sometimes have difficult navigating the complexities of human civilization, and there is still much prejudice against the newcomers.

When you back's against the wall and your survival is no the line, don't trust public law enforcement. They're overworked, underpaid, and spend most of their time combatting the never ending war on designer drugs.

No matter who's after you, alien or human, a good hunter can mean the difference between life and death. Get the best one you can find, and then sit back and enjoy the no holds barred thrill ride as they do their thing. Dakota Davenport is the best in the business. She protects newcomers with a vengeance. Trust me, she won't let you down.
Chapter 1

## Ghosts Whispering From The Past

The planet Earth was a weird and wonderful place. The sky was blue, the oceans were deep, and it was just about far enough off the beaten path not to be visited by his kind any time soon. Alek had been stranded on this obscure planet for over fifty years and had somehow managed to carve out a semblance of a life for himself and his family. The humans were an odd lot but he had slowly become used to their strange ways.

Alek leisurely strolled through the city park on his lunch break. Pulling his hoodie up over his head, he was careful to block out as much as the sunlight as possible. Though his kind thrived on their new world, prolonged exposure to sunlight did strange things to their photosensitive skin. Vampires were one of the few species that never fed in the middle of the day. The human world stopped every day at the same time for this activity called lunch. It was one of the several times each planetary rotation when his mortal counterparts fed. Alek had long since identified it as an opportunity to either have a refreshing swim or a massage.

Today, he had taken a short cut through the park to get to his favorite spa with the intention of swimming his lunch break away. Normally, he thought of walking to swim as a clever way to cram twice the exercise into his hectic life.

In the year 2092, the world was a very different place. Since the end of the alien wars, the ozone layer was extensively damaged to the point of being imminent collapse. Alien weapons had leached exotic chemicals, including high concentrations of abrasive particulate matter into the upper ionosphere, creating what the humans called the Cerion Effect.

The Cerion Effect resulted in increased oxygen in the air, fluctuations in atmospheric pressure, and a slight increase in surface temperature. The ice caps melted, creating more temperate zones in the polar regions. A rapid influx of water into the oceans as the ice caps melted lead to an increase in sea level, which ate up an estimated hundred kilometers of the coastal land mass around each continent. Eventually, the planet would become uninhabitable but not for generations.

The atmospheric changes allowed plant and animal life to grow much larger than before the ships had landed. The changes had been well tolerated by the human physiology, proving mortals were both robust and adaptable. The Most noticeable change was size, with the average human nearing six feet tall. The effects had been especially profound in the deep ocean ecosystems, where squid were now regularly growing to the size of skyscrapers. Alex didn't understand the intricacies of why this was happening but, then again, he was a computer programmer, not a botanist.

The lush New Florida landscape was hot and balmy, even in the fall. Alek came to a stop, unwittingly drawn to a bizarre flowering plant. The lush foliage towered over him, covered in beautiful snow white blossoms the size of his head. Each bloom had several long thin tendrils snaking out from the center. The tiny filaments gently undulated in the breeze performing a captivating ghost like dance in the wind. A light floral scent filled his nostrils. It was a heady scent, and one he'd not encountered before. It was so out of sync with the surrounding vegetation that anyone would know it was obviously of alien origin. It was just one of dozens of new uncultivated life forms thriving on this new world, much just like himself.

Alek paused briefly to let the intoxicating scent wash over him. His body quickly calmed and a transcendental feeling stole over him. This was what his people would identify as a moment of heightened spiritual awareness. He immediately decided to embrace it, unware of the impending danger creeping ever closer.

The sounds of nature filled his ears, the sweet scent of the spring flora filled his nostrils, and a warm breeze swirled around his body, caressing his skin like a long lost lover. He felt a brief wave of calmness wash over his senses and his head began to fill with memories and thoughts of days long past. It felt like being tugged gently backward by a hand of a wise and all-knowing specter from his past.

Hearing the soft whisper of long departed friends soothed his battered soul. He could feel long dormant emotions flare to life. It felt good to reconnect with his inner self in that way. It was that part of themselves vampires considered to be the most sacred. He felt whole and complete for the first time in a long endless age, standing there centering himself in the moment.

Alek had never spent much time contemplating the sacred scrolls of his people, but he tried to live his life in in a righteous manner. During the time of war, he'd been forced to do things that slowly ate away at his soul. The war was long over and he was only now coming to grips with the memories that haunted him still.

The one experience he could never get past was losing his fighting partner and best friend. Jensen had sacrificed himself to give Alek a chance to escape. Although Alek recognized it as an act of unselfish love and compassion, the fact that he was alive to enjoy life and a family, while his friend was lying cold in the ground never sat well with him.

At night, his dreams were haunted with images of seeing his friend die and of what might have been, had his friend lived. They would probably both have families, and would have visited each other's homes. Their children would have played together. He knew if Jensen were still alive, he would tell him to suck it up and get on with his life. Jensen would tell him to be careful and watch his back.

Jensen said things like that so often, Alek could almost hear his friend and see him in his mind's eye. He was waving his arms and his lips were moving...he was shouting at him...something about there being danger...Jensen was shouting at him to get down.

Suddenly, Alek slid back into reality, sensing danger in the here and now. He quickly opened his eyes and looked around. Nervously scanning the landscape proved fruitless. He was not sure what he was looking for, but the birds had stopped tweeting and something was different. Then it hit him, he was being followed.

His vampire senses began pulling in information faster than his brain could process it. The sound of breathing drifted to him on the wind, and he could smell them...four of them. His nostrils flared slightly. With some concentration, he could make out the scent of two humans, a vampire and...maybe a Kalian. One was recently injured...he could smell the faint scent of human blood.

He spied movement about a hundred yards away in the bush. They were looking right at him. That was a red flag because people kept to the pathways in the park rather than lurking in the brush. His eyes zeroed in on a form lying close to the ground. His mind registered the rifle in his hands about the same time as he felt a prick on his chest.

His vision began to fail and he reached out, groping in the air. Even as his hand flailed, he knew it some deeply born instinct searching for something to grasp onto. His knees unhinged and he began falling to the ground in what felt like slow motion. Landing upright on his knees, he looked down and saw a small dart sticking out of his chest. It was the kind used to tranquilize animals.

Reaching down, he jerked it out, and threw it aside as his vision began to blur. When trying to push back up off the ground proved impossible, he endeavored to craw with what little strength remained. His hands found a stone fountain and he tried to pull up by grasping the edge. Darkness was closing in and he collapsed, hitting his face on the pavement instead. He could hear footsteps and his sense of smell told him the Kalian was approaching quickly. His last thoughts were of his girls, so young and vulnerable. Who would protect them when he didn't return?
Chapter 2

## Touching the Face of a Goddess

Squeaky spent the ride home worrying about what tomorrow held. His hands tightened around his crucifix, the blatant reminder that although he longed to walk the true path of the righteous, he was forced to accept work that ensured he never caught sight of that particular path.

"So what's eating at my creepily anxious friend?"

Looking up into his brother-in-law's smiling face Squeaky had to smile. Jake was about as linked into the criminal underworld as Squeaky was. Only Jake didn't seem to have to guilt complex Squeaky did.

As his automobile's automatic driving program, steered the hover car at a snail's pace to their neighborhood, Squeaky used the seclusion to bounce his latest caper off his longtime friend.

"My crew was given orders to abduct a local businessman today. "

Jake shrugged.

Squeaky clarified the problem. "He was vampire."

"Shit, I know how you guys hate perping on each other. Did you go through with it?"

"Reluctantly, I did. My contribution was minimal. I researched the target and worked with the leader of our group to plan the best time and place for the abduction."

"If you planned it, I'm sure it went off without a hitch."

Squeaky knew his friend meant that as a compliment, but to him it was a reminded that he was good at all the wrong kinds of things in life.

"Yes. My plan was a complete success. My vampire brother is even now being held hostage under our team's careful watch."

"You feel guilty?"

"Of course I feel guilt. But note that my feelings on the matter did not prohibit me from betraying one of my own. I worry that my dark deed will turn darker. Even now, my vampire brother lies in a drug induced slumber, compliments of the large animal tranquilizer we used to bring him down. My sorrow will be compounded tenfold if his body is unable to flush the drugs from his body. Vampires do not process out such impurities as easily as humans."

"Now you're just making up shit to worry about."

Looking into Jake's serious face, Squeaky explained. "Before the war, many of us were experimented upon often and with no thought to the long term consequences. Vampires were seen as highly expendable. It was difficult to craft a drug that would bring him down without killing him. I mixed animal tranquilizers together to belay the potency."

"You're worried that you misjudged the dosage?"

Nodding, Squeaky swallowed thickly. I believe he is to be ransomed back to his wealthy family. In my research I discovered he has little ones."

Holding up his hands, Jake made the gesture for a time out. "People like you and me; we gotta make do with the jobs nobody else wants. They want those jobs for a reason. You gotta do what you're asked or suffer the consequences. They ain't gonna let you pick and choose the jobs you feel comfortable with."

"The fact remains that if Mr. Shardon wakes at all tomorrow, he will realize the betrayal that brought him down was at the hands of a fellow vampire. I will have to look him in the face and that is the part of my job that claws at my conscience."

Jake's voice softened. "I know Vampires usually shared a strict brotherhood and never committed acts of aggression against each other..."

"Did you know that protecting each other from outside threats is a deeply engrained part of our religious doctrine? I hate my part in this situation. It goes against every fiber of my being as a vampire."

"Maybe you can do something to ease his way. Treat him with respect, even though the outcome of his fate is not in your hands. Just be open and honest, Squeaky. Just don't get caught sympathizing with him."

"You are right to remind me of the inherent dangers of going against the syndicate. I worry all the time about them coming after my beautiful Alyese in recompense for some failure or mistake on my part."

"It has known that to happen." Jake's voice dropped to a low rumble when his sister's safety was being discussed.

"I will tolerate no risk to my lovely wife. I would suffer a thousand terrible deaths to keep her out of harms way. No matter what, I must keep my home life separate from my work life."

"My sister is far too innocent to recognize danger in general. It is good she has you to look after her."

"Though I do my best to keep her safe, I worry that having me in her life also introduced additional danger that would not otherwise be there."

"Look dude, you cannot spend every minute of every day beating yourself up about shit like that." Grabbing Squeaky by the head, Jake gave him a playful shove. "I swear to God, you worry more than man I ever met. Get your head in the game. You don't want to go home to my sister every evening being a total killjoy."

Sighing, Squeaky had to smile at his irreverent friend. "Coming home to Alyese every evening is an honor I do not deserve, but a pleasure I can never resist. Seeing her smiling face and her kind words is by far the best part of my day."

"What the hell am I chopped liver?"

"No, you are the only person in the world I can speak openly about such things with. That fact along earns you a special place in my heart."

Laughing as the vehicle came to a stuttering stop in Squeaky's driveway, Jake commented merrily. "Dudes do not say things like to each other, but thanks for the sentiment."

"Humans are such narrow minded concrete thinkers."

Climbing out into the cool night his friend deadpanned back. "Just when I was starting to like you, you come off with shit like that. I am not narrow minded."

"As you wish. Do you need a ride into the city tomorrow?"

"Yep, I gotta keep up the hustle. You know how it is."

"Indeed I do, my friend. Meet here at six in the morning."

Jerking his hand up above his head, Jake strolled down the block towards the home he shared with several other males.

Squeaky quietly entered through the garage of his modest rental home. All the lights were out. Since it was so late Alyese was probably in bed. He stopped for a moment by a small meditation shrine to pray. He lit a small incense and murmured a simple prayer. "Praise be to the gods mighty and strong. Impart to me your wisdom that I might know right from wrong. I beg of you, pull me from the path of darkness into the light." He disciplined himself for a moment of meditation before putting out the incense and going to his room for sleeping.

His beautiful wife was already in bed. Squeaky tried not to wake her as he showered and slid into bed beside her. She was small, delicate, and thought he worked in an office. He looked down at the human female lying all pale and lovely against his dark sheets. It was difficult to believe he had somehow managed to find such a loving, loyal, and dedicated mate on this alien planet millions of miles from his home world.

Her inherent goodness made it virtually impossible to admit to not being an office worker. Squeaky closed his eyes and imagined the look in her eyes if she knew, really knew what he did for a living. Seeing that look of disappointment on her face would tear him apart.

Meeting her a year and half ago had been a bit of a life altering experience for him. Compared to her, he was seemed more like the small little creature with many legs the humans despised so much...what was it called...oh, yes, a spider. That is what he felt like every time he did something he knew was wrong.

Squeaky had spent the last year and half endeavoring to be more like the husband she deserved, rather than the husband she had inadvertently ended up with. In trying to reinvent himself, Squeaky realized something he never knew before. The gods blessed people with the opportunity to make many choices throughout the course of each day.

As he fell into the habit of making better choices, he could feel himself slowly turning from a horrible person into someone who made him proud. Pride in himself was a feeling he had not known much about up until now. He found that the more he tried to be a decent person, the easier it became.

Since this newfound path was the one and only way to finally close the lingering distance between himself and his wife, he decided right then and there to take the final step by getting himself out of the business once and for all. Somehow, he would find a way.

As he looked down at his beautiful little wife, her eyes fluttered open and her expression turned adoring. His chest ached, as Squeaky realized for the very first time that he was finally beginning to feel worthy of her love. It was so like her to wait up for him. Alyese was always so considerate of his feelings.

He knew she would want him to feed tonight. He was awash with feelings of anticipation, craving, love, lust, guilt, and such an intense thirst for her. Her precious blood was innocent, pure, and better than anything he had ever imagined, much less tasted.

Because his wife always worried about him eating, he made it a point to ease her worries. Alyese didn't quite trust synthetic blood to keep him healthy so she insisted on supplementing with fresh feeding at least every other day. He had a feeling tonight was the night because he had not fed the day before.

She had come to bed without clothing and was wearing the promise locket he had given her. It was the one and only memento of his family and was given to him by his grandmother before she died. It was made of an ancient lightweight metal the color of tarnished silver and had a small, oval, red bloodstone set into the front of it.

It was a good thing the alien overlords cared little for such trinkets or his grandmother would have never been able to hang onto it all those years on the alien ship. If only she had lived long enough to see it wrapped around the neck of his beautiful wife, she would have known all her sacrifices to keep him alive on the ships had been worth it. Having a mate meant their line would continue.

It gave him an immense feeling of satisfaction to see his most precious possession hanging around the neck of the woman he dearly loved. It looked beautiful against her pale white skin. His eyes traveled from her face, as she sat up, to her neck and down the length of her arms to her delicate hands. Drawing on this his lips, he pressed a gentle kiss to her palm.

"I missed you this evening."

"I'm sorry, love. Please know that I would prefer being with you a thousand times more than the tasks assigned to me today."

"Forget about your job. Your wife needs your undivided attention, if you're up to the challenge."

Grinning, he took a deep breath. "You smell like flowers."

"I tried a new body wash. Do you like it?"

"Yes. It's delicate and feminine, like you."

"I like the way you smell better."

Almost cringing, he hesitated to ask.

"You smell like hot sexy male."

Having grown up on a slave ships, so few of the creatures on board had blood suitable for feeding and even fewer still were willing to feed vampires. He was always hungry before landing on his world. Lack of proper nutrition during his formative years had led to his smaller body size. Being loved and cared for by his beautiful wife was a dream he had never once dared to dream.

"You truly are precious gift from the gods. Human women were so very open, loving, and accepting of our kind."

Smiling up at him, she murmured. "It's because Vampires are all long hair, sexy fangs and practically worship women. Who wouldn't want that?"

Squeaky opened up a little to her. "On my home world, females are scarce and only the most prominent members of our society have their very own female. The rest must make do with negotiating breeding rights with a female. Even then, the privilege of procreation is always awarded to the largest and strongest."

"That sounds very discriminatory to me."

"Our females think it best that only the strongest males contribute to the genepool. I would never have been selected by a female because of my size alone."

"I would have chosen you."

"Perhaps, but I would not have been allowed to keep you."

Her eyes got large. "What do you mean by not allowed to keep me?"

"They would have taken you from me and assigned me military service aboard a vessel and never allowed to return. It is how they handled such things."

"Vampire females must be docile. If anyone tried to take you away, I'd scream the walls down."

Trying to get her to understand her value was proving difficult this night. "I do not believe you would be so keen to keep me after meeting the males of my home world. You know only me and my emotionally scarred brethren that survived aboard the slave ships bound for Earth. The males of my home world are large, strong and handsome beyond compare."

Scooting closer to him, she asked quietly. "Would you like to know a secret?"

Quickly locking down the rising panic, he nodded. Usually in his world secrets were terrible soul sucking obligations. He knew his innocent wife well enough to not believe her capable of such.

"I've always been thoroughly fascinated by to Vampires. The thing that held me back was their size. Most of your kind are a good twenty-five percent larger than human men. It doesn't seem like much until you think of being trapped beneath one. I was drawn to you because of your size."

Looking down, he tried to get his head around what she was saying. "I am more the size of a human male."

"Yep, and that makes you perfect for me."

Seeing the wisdom of her words, he had to admit that it made a certain kind of sense. "How strange that the one quality I always saw as a weakness is the one who drew a perfect mate to me." Raising his eyes to hers, he reached out for her. She came easily into his arms.

He felt his heart might just explode as he watched her slowly unbuttoning his shirt. Heaving out a sigh of relief, he turned wrapping her in his arms. Moving closer, she kissed his neck and smoothed her hands over his chest. The look in her eyes was both loving and filled with a growing need for him. It was an intoxicating combination. Her soft hands and lips had him hard before she even slid her hand down to his gently tug down his pajama bottoms.

"I love everything about you, especially your nice six-pack. You're everything I ever wanted in man."

His hands roamed over her soft skin, mapping and claiming her as his own. Palming one of her perfect breasts, he teased her nipple with his tongue, before sucking it into a tight little point.

"God, I love how you touch me."

His woman whispering sexy things flipped all the right switches for him as a male. Learning that she was attracted to him because of his smaller size and that she loved the way he touched her enflamed his desire. Her words, the tone of her voice, and the scent of her arousal was more intoxicating than anything Squeaky had ever known.

Alyese rolled on top of him, wrapping her legs around him and the sensation of her silky smooth body flush with his as she moved against him was just the kind of sensual foreplay he loved.

Her long, brown hair fell over one shoulder and spilled onto his chest, gently caressing his skin. Kissing her way down his body, she landed on his manhood. Her soft wet tongue teased his willing flesh over and over again, spiking his desire until he couldn't stand it.

It made him want to lick her skin, sift his fingers through her hair, and run his fingers through her sex until she moaned his name. In one quick move, he put her under him. Kissing her with breathless abandon, he moved down her soft body until his lips found her secret place. He teased her tender flesh mercilessly, bringing her close then slowing down, only to bring her to the edge again.

He didn't stop until she was writhing beneath him and extremely vocal. Then, he kissed his way back up to her lips and plunged himself deeply into her sweet body. She was soft and the feeling of her feminine warmth surrounding him made him feel safe and cared for in a way he could never quite explain.

Her response was immediate. Alyese wrapped her arms and legs around him, as she made soft sounds that would only come from a woman's lips. Having her aroused and wet for him in a matter of minutes was gratifying.

She loved being pushed to the edge a couple of times before she climaxed and to be quite honest. If he were being honest, he'd admit it was nothing short of thrilling to know he had the capacity to turn her on that way. Struggling to stave off his own climax, he dove into her over and over again, meeting her needs and his own.

They always strove to climax at the same time. The intimacy of sharing such a sacred moment bonded them together more securely each and every time. When they came together, it was always like a moment in time that was meant to be. As Alyese shattered around him in a strong orgasm, it tipped him over the edge as well. He loved watching her come apart in his arms. The way her body trembled at his touch and the look of pure pleasure on her face really spoke to his heart as a male.

He had long suspected she loved that his body was slightly cooler than her own. There was something about having his cool manhood inside her that made his mild mannered little bookkeeper hot for him. When he pleasured her, Alyese went from shy and reserved to womanly, vocal, and bold. Seeing to her needs was his highest priority, wanting her to forever associate being in his arms with the most exquisite pleasure.

It was adorable that Alyese always seemed slightly embarrassed after they made love. He felt it was because she was so uncharacteristically vocal and needy when she was aroused. That strange dichotomy only sealed her deeper into his heart.

This was all in the world he ever wanted or needed. They lay wrapped in a warm embrace as they spiraled back down to reality. The period of coming back after such a profound shared experience always made him reflective.

Tonight, she pointed out, "You did it again...became so caught up in the sex, you forgot to feed. Those things are supposed to go hand in hand with your kind, aren't they?"

He smiled, pulling her close. "Making love to you is always the better part. You are more distracting than you realize, my sweet."

She glanced up at his very serene face. "What are you thinking? You always look so chilled out after we make the beast with two backs."

Squeaky laughed at her strange characterization of their love making. He pulled her closer, deciding to follow his new path of being more open and honest. "When I first learned your language, I liked to read human literature. On my world, I might not have had the opportunity to waste my time on literary pursuits so I decided to find the most whimsical unnecessary kind of earth literature and waste a few moments a day simply enjoying it. I elected to read poetry because it touched something deep inside me and helped me heal from my experiences on the ships."

She turned to him and propped herself up on one elbow to look at him as he spoke. The look on her face was one of love and admiration. He was slightly embarrassed to have her full attention on something so trivial but continued with his explanation.

"I have a favorite piece that was written by a pilot. One quote in particular reminds me of making love to you. It goes something like, 'I have slipped the surly bonds of earth and danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings; sunward I've climbed, and hovered there, I've trod the high un-trespassed sanctity of space, I put out my hand, and touched the face of God.' Only in my case, I feel that I have touched the face of a goddess."

The next thing he knew, her arms were around his neck again and she was kissing him as she sifted her fingers through his hair. She ran her hands over his growing manhood. He felt moisture on his face as she kissed him and knew instantly that she was crying. He worried that he had upset her with his stupid talk of being on the ships and poetry that no one else cared about. But if she was unhappy with him, why was she preparing to have sex with him again? She knew he loved having sex twice.

He pulled Alyese back slightly to check that she was alright.

"That is the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me. I love you so much more than words can say."

He hauled her back into his arms and held her for a few moments before making slow, sweet, sexy love to her all over again. This time, she pulled his face down and he fed as he made love to her. He had to admit that always fueled their sex into something off the charts hot.

Feeding normally turned his eyes red but feeding and sexing at the same time brought the bloodlust in him so fast, it took his breath away. Turning his face away slightly, he didn't want her to see his eyes fill with the little lines of bright amber brought on when the bloodlust surged in his kind.

Alyese tilted his face to look deeply into his amber eyes. Allowing her to see him like that was difficult. He always thought he could just about pass as close to human until his eyes changed. Red eyes were a common sight when vampires fed. However, the amber color his eyes changed to when he was in bloodlust was rarely seen in public because it took both intimacy and feeding to invoke that response from a vampire. He was well aware that it made him appear almost animalistic. It always made him feel vulnerable and exposed. Instead of being put off, his lovely wife looked rather pleased with herself.

Sharing his innermost thoughts and feelings had always been difficult for him. As he looked in her eyes, he knew she accept him. It reinforced the feeling that she was meant for him...just for him. He didn't know what the beautiful female saw in him, but he felt for sure he was the luckiest man on this strange alien planet called Earth, to have captured her heart.

Squeaky lay awake afterward thinking. He sometimes worried that he spent too much time thinking and not enough time doing. There was something about warm and naked in his own bed with a woman who loved him enough to see he was properly fed that made him introspective.

Squeaky had never told anyone that he read poetry before. He felt it would make him seem weak. However, he was glad he shared that small bit of himself with the woman he loved. Maybe he couldn't share everything with Alyese, but each additional bit of himself that he shared and she didn't reject him for, left him feeling hope that she did truly accept him. Truth be told, the more he shared, the more the hauntingly beautiful creature seemed to love him. That kind of acceptance was rare in the universe and he cherished it beyond all measure.
Chapter 3

## Vampire Brother

Squeaky awoke the next morning, grabbed a shower, and kissed his lovely wife tenderly on the cheek as she slept. A quick of her neck assured him the wound from his bite had totally healed. Vampire saliva had extremely strong regenerative powers, healing wounds rapidly. Sometimes, when his wife got a cut or a scratch, he would have her wash it and then he would lick the wound and put a bandage on it. It always healed in a few hours, leaving her both grateful and impressed.

He supposed it was a quality that had slowly evolved in his kind to ease the effects of biting on a vampire's host. Most humans were accommodating to vampires because the saliva took out the sting of the bite and healed the wound so fast.

Squeaky thought briefly that if he had to look at his wife's neck bruised and torn skin all the time it would rip at his heart, making him extremely reluctant to feed from her. When faced with the choice between love and feeding, most Vampires would chose love every single time. Food could be had in the form of synth-blood, blood bags or even animal blood in a pinch. Love was a much more elusive thing for a Vampire to find. Being consistently denied tenderness led most vampires to value love above all things.

Squeaky pulled up the blanket around his wife in a protective gesture before slipping off to continue his life of crime. He sighed as he began to worry about how to extricate himself from his unsavory day job. The gang of criminals he worked with would not take kindly to him just walking off. Then there was his vampire brother sitting in the warehouse to worry about. Damn, his plate was totally full of worry and it was only nine in the morning.

Heading out to his vehicle, Jake wandered up with a cup of sim-coffee. Though it smelled wonderful, Squeaky had no taste for its bitterness. Since he'd fed only hours before, he'd grabbed a bottle of water to help himself stay hydrated.

"You look like a rock star today. What's up with that?"

Shrugging, Squeaky replied blandly. "Getting fed properly has that effect."

"No, there's something else going on."

"Alyese and I spoke last night. I shared things about my past that I've never dared to speak to anyone about. I believe your sister really accepts me." Unable to keep the smile off his face, Squeaky climbed into the driver's seat."

"You're honestly the world's biggest idiot. Alyese has been absolutely crazy about you front the first moment she set eyes on you."

Squeaky's mouth went dry as he realized that his wife could not have possibly loved the real him, as he only recently began to share his true thoughts and feelings with him. Luckily she happened to be accepting of the things he shared. It worried him to lose that acceptance if she discovered his secret life of crime. Realizing his newfound sense of self-respect and the innocent acceptance his wife had for him were both on the line, gave him a newfound sense of purpose.

Parting ways with his brother-in-law, Squeaky headed for the abandoned warehouse, to check on his vampire brethren. He streamed the news as his hover car made its way through the programed route. News that he was missing was being blasted on every station, along with a hefty reward for information leading to his whereabouts. Squeaky clicked through all the possible ways to alert the authorities without getting his crew arrested. No good options came immediately to mind. He worked different scenarios out in his brain all the way to their remote meeting spot.

Entering the warehouse, he noticed that his boss had procured fresh blood for their guest. To his mind that was a good sign. It meant they wanted to keep healthy for the time being. Relief surged through him as he realized that fact alone gave him to figure something out. He walked over to the vampire chained to the floor. He was still out cold, but seemed otherwise unharmed.

Josh and Faran were picking at each other as they played a game of cards. Squeaky sat quietly, and began scrolling through the local news. After a job, he paid close attention to see if any clues leaked out to the press. He could find nothing to indicate they were on the radar of the local authorities.

The day turned into evening and the large vampire chained to the floor did not move. The fourth member of their crew joined them with food in the late afternoon. Little Joe handed him a small synth-B pouch and dropped two large pizza's on the table for the rest of his crew.

Sipping on the pouch of synthetic blood, Squeaky was worried again about why Alex Shardon was not awake. Finishing his dinner, he tossed the pouch in the trash. Just when he was thinking of checking on their guest again, when Faran got up, strolled across the room and gave his chains a good yank. The lethargic man moved to a sitting position.

Faran boasted, "You owe me sixty large, Little Jo. I told you the animal tranq would have him down for days."

"We took him down around noon yesterday. It's only four pm. That hardly qualifies as days."

The Kalian replied, "Over one day is days. Pay up, little man."

Josh stood up walked over and looked down at the clearly confused man. Looking over his shoulder, he spoke. "Squeaky, Feed him, the boss wants him kept healthy. That means no toying with him. I don't want so much as a bruise on his skin." Turning to Faran, his voice dropped a level. "Are you listening to me, Kalian?"

"I have a name, use my name. I use your name when I address you, Josh. It is discourteous to..."

Josh instantaneously stepped forward into the large alien's personal space. "Fine. Faran, do not hit, punch, slap, scratch, or otherwise injure the hostage until we receive orders to do so. Am I understood?" Standing face-to-face with almost their noses touching, Josh waited for Faran to acknowledge the directive.

Faran swallowed thickly and for the briefest of seconds, Squeaky though he was going to kiss him, again. Instead Faran held himself in check, giving a slight nod of understanding. When Josh spun on his heel, Faran watched a split second too long as the other man walked back across the room and sat back down at the card table. Squeaky had a hard time deciding if he liked it better when they were sleeping together or when they feigning for each other. Their on again, off again relationship was getting tiresome for the rest of the crew.

Heating a blood bag under running water, Squeaky tried not to stare at the man who was only just noticing him. When it was properly heated, he went to his vampire brother. Pulling the end off of the tube that came out the bottom of the blood bag, Squeaky put it to the man's lips like a straw. "Drink, my brother. You have been unconscious for a day and half. Your thirst must be great."

Turning his head slightly, he responded quietly. "I'm sorry, but I drink only synthetic blood." His voice was dry and the poor man almost choked the words out.

Squeaky felt his brows furrow. "I do not think the others will care about your personal preferences. If you want to feed, this is your chance."

As always, Faran was anxious and tightly wound when they had a live one on their hands. Apparently still aggravated from the disagreement with Josh, he noticed them speaking. Jumping to his feet, he yelled. "What are you two talking about? Get away from him, Squeaky."

Josh shot Faran an exasperated look, walked over to the two of them, and gave him a questioning look. "It's been a long day, Squeaky. If we could just cut to the chase that would be great. What's the problem?"

"The gentleman says he does not drink human blood. He will only drink synthetic blood."

Josh stooped down and looked Alek in the face for a brief moment, then slowly pulled a $20.00 bill out of his pocket and gave it to the small vampire, saying, "Just get him synthetic, Squeaky. They have by-one-get-one at the gas station across the street."

As Squeaky tried to ask the man what kind of Synth-B he preferred, their conversation was drowned out by Faran.

"So you are purchasing the food of choice for our hostages now? You're getting soft, Joshua. And you're even more of a fool than I ever imagined possible."

Josh stood up, walked back to the table, and picked up his cards. He glanced over at their hostage a brief moment before speaking. "You know something, Faran? You and the vampire are both aliens to be sure but there are only a couple of real differences between you. The most obvious difference is that you're a criminal and he's not. You and I do some pretty awful things to other people all the time. He didn't do anything to anyone."

Faran nodded his agreement so far and Josh continued, "The less obvious difference is that you don't seem to be the least bit selective about what goes between your lips. There are no standards there, whatsoever, that I can see. The vampire refuses to drink our blood. That is called having and sticking to a principle, which is hard to do, particularly in a situation like this. If you really want to know, that's why I would buy him dinner and not you."

Shit, Josh did not just say that to the already out of control Faran. Squeaky was certain the human was referencing the fact that his onetime lover wasn't sucking the correct rod in Josh's opinion. Since the moment they'd separated after their last tryst turned heated, Josh seemed intent on treating Faran like the world's biggest man whore. Faran was far too thick to realize Josh's insults were driven my jealousy rather than generalized disrespect.

Before anyone could respond, Furan's eyes flashed black. It was the way with his kind when their temper flared. He promptly picked up the card table and threw it against the wall. The other two men did not seem perturbed at all, they just stood staring at him, until he stalked out of the room, cursing.

Little Jo, burst out laughing, righted the table, and began gathering the cards back up. Though they had long since become used to Faran blowing his top every now and then, this felt different. He murmured to Josh as he passed, "Beware that you don't push the Kalian too far."

"He'll be fine. Steer clear of him out there, yam hear?"

"I will do my best."

Upon exiting the building, he found Faran was nowhere to be found. Climbing into his hover car, he headed down the long isolated road to the gas station Josh had described as across the street. It was more like seven miles down a long lonely secondary road and across the street. He snagged a couple of bags of regular Synth-B and headed back to the warehouse.

On his way from the vehicle to the door, he was blindsided by Faran. Giving him a shove against the hard exterior of the building, he snarled angrily. What's so gods damned special about vampires?"

"Nothing, leave me alone."

Grabbing him around the neck, Faran leaned in so close that Squeaky could feel the man's hot breath against his cool skin. "Human's love their vampires above all the other aliens who landed in those ships. The part I can't figure out is why?"

"They don't. You're letting your emotions get the better of you again."

Squeezing tighter around his neck, Faran pulled him forward and hurled him to the ground. Since the Kalian was almost twice his size and had hands the size of his head, there wasn't a good chance Squeaky would come out unscathed in a physical altercation with his longtime friend.

"Humans are all different and no all of them prefer vampires. Josh is pissed about you tossing him aside. Making you jealous is his way of getting even." Coming to his feet, Squeaky tried to dust his clothing off. He could feel a trickle of blood ooze from his bottom lip. "The real question is why do keep letting him get to you?"

"I don't...I...shouldn't. I'm sorry."

Shaking his head, Squeaky looked at his still seething friend. "You are forgiven. Why don't you go burn off some steam, before you go another round with our smart mouthed leader?"

Sighing, Faran slapped at an overhanging sign, jutting out from the side of the building. "I suppose you're right. Thanks for not going off on me."

"You two are going to need to work your shit out, before one of gets mangled in the middle."

Snatching up his bag of blood, Squeaky headed into the warehouse.

Taking one look at him, Josh threw his cards down on the table and cursed under his breath. "I swear that dumb ass Kalian is going to be the fucking death of me." Turning to him, Josh spoke up in a frustrated voice. "Just stay the hell away from Faran when he's pissed. God, you should know that by now, Squeaky."

Shaking his head, Squeaky waved away the attention. "Faran is harmless. He just likes to shout it out when he is angry. You know, for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction. If you make him angry, he is going to show it. What exactly did you think was going to happen when pushed him too far, Joshua?"

Josh stared at his hand like it had suddenly grown another finger, making it the most fascinating appendage in the entire world.

Squeaky opinioned quietly. "The humans have a saying about flies and honey. Perhaps you have heard of it."

Storming out the door, Josh appeared a slightly panicked. Little John followed him.

Squeaky murmured, "Yes, do go that before our impulsive friend is balls deep in his next conquest.

Squeaky sat down beside Alek, took out a bag of synthetic blood, and stuck the straw that came with it into the correct spot. He held it up, nodding. "Thank you, my thirst is great."

Sitting with their clearly confused guest, Squeaky smiled slightly. Handing him a half-liter Synthetic blood bag, Squeaky spoke casually. "I do not know what you did to these people, but they seem unsure what they should do with you. I am not certain you are safe with the Kalian. I will try to stay with you, my vampire brother, but if he wants to harm you, as you can see, I am no match for him."

The man lifted up his chain. "If not for these, I would be more than a match for him."

"Trust me, they know exactly what you could do if you weren't chained. It's why they chose to drop you using the large animal tranq before they took you. It's also why they are never going to take the chains off until they decide what to do with you."

The other man nodded his understanding, sending his dark shoulder length hair falling over his shoulder. Alex Shardon had an impressive war record, and had received several Medals of Honor for his marksmanship skills, battle tactics, and something called valor in battle.

Squeaky, put his finger on the scanning plate on his wrist cuff and nothing happened. The man glanced up and he clarified, "Just in case you were wondering, I cannot open your cuffs."

The other man's clear blue eyes gazed into his. "Can you get word to the police?"

Squeaky frowned, shaking his head. "Not if I want to live. The syndicate we work for has informants at the police station. Honestly, he would know immediately if I betrayed him."

Sighing, Mr. Shardon sipped another drink of his Synth-B before responding thoughtfully. "I am wealthy. Perhaps I can buy my way out of this mess."

Smiling faintly, Squeaky replied. "They do love money, my friend."

Little Joe came back within an hour to relieve him. Squeaky felt terrible for the vampire humans did not know what to do with. He racked his brains to figure out a way out of this situation for the both of them.

Squeaky spent the entire next day looking for work that would make his wife proud. He pulled up the data stream associated with employment needs in the area and began searching for respectable work. He communicated with several potential employers and spoke to one in person. He could not see himself being happy working for a meat packing plant but he would take whatever got him into honest employment.

Heading home early, he spent time with his wife after she got off work. They planted flowers along their walk and he trimmed their shrubs with his laser trimmer in a delicate formation that pleased her. He sighed as he realized that it really didn't matter what they were doing together; as long as they were together, they were happy. This could be his life if only he weren't tied to the syndicate.
Chapter 4

## Don't Name It or  
You Won't Want to Kill It

Squeaky woke up the next morning and was delighted to find the vampire's disappearance was still at the top of the news feed. Squeaky would at least be able to share that with the poor man and perhaps it would give him hope.

When Squeaky came into the warehouse, Josh and Little Jo were sleeping. One was lying on the table and the other was leaning back against the wall. The vampire no one knew what to do with was leaning against the wall, asleep as well. His chains were still in place. He dropped one bag of Synth-B in the cooler and brought the other one with him to sit with the vampire the humans did not know what to do with.

Squeaky whispered, "Mr. Shardon, I brought you a data stream so you can see the news. Many are looking for you. Have hope, my brother, the police will soon come for you." He laid the electronic pad on his lap so he could read the news articles and went to retrieve the blood bag. He slowly fed the blood bag to Alek as he read.

Alek glanced up from the news feed and said pleasantly, "Please, call me Alek."

Josh woke up, reprimanding Squeaky earnestly. "Don't get attached to the hostage. You know there's at least a 50% chance we are going to have to kill him. I grew up on a farm and I can tell you that once you name them, you won't want to kill them. I don't like this situation any better than you do, but we have a job to do here." Josh sounded a little exasperated.

Squeaky could see the pain and the conflict in Josh's eyes even as he spoke the words and he wondered how someone with a conscience fell into this type of work. Perhaps, like him, Josh wanted out as well.

The Kalian came in about four hours later. For no apparent reason, the Kalian walked right over and began kicking their guest in the legs and hit him in the face with his fist. That was when Squeaky noticed his eyes were black again. Faran was normally a very cause and effect kind of man. Squeaky knew Mr. Shardon could not have provoked him, because the man had been sitting in the corner in chains all morning. I was unclear what provoked such anger in their friend.

It took both Josh and Little Jo both to pull Faran off.

Josh was furious. "Did you not hear me say that I don't want a scratch on his skin? Unless you have a kill order, you need to just get the hell out of here."

The Kalian shoved Josh a step back and said, "I have been working with you for four long years and all you do is disrespect me constantly. Now you treat the vampire hostage respectfully. There is only one of us who is stupid here, and it is not me."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"There have been many times when I was the only reason you walked off a job alive. You humans love your vampires better than any other species because you are too foolish to realize that, to them, you are just food."

"You know something, Faran, in all the time I've known you, I've never let you down. I've always had your back and yet, you're never anything but obnoxious and difficult. I think it's the way with your kind. All you do is complain, eat anything that doesn't eat you first, and have sex with anything that stands still long enough."

Faran sounded earnest in his reply. "I am a Kalian male and I have an obligation to mate. I never force myself on others. Can I help it if many are attracted to me? I try to be accommodating to as many partners as possible. Where I come from, that is called being considerate."

Josh yelled back, "Well, on earth, it is called being a man whore."

Faran seemed shocked speechless by this revelation.

Squeaky kind of tuned them out and kneeled down to check on Mr. Shardon.

"Are you alright?"

"Of course. It would talk more than being mishandled by a Kalian to inflict real damage on a Vampire prime. What's up with those two?"

"I wish I knew. They are proving to be more distracting than helpful lately."

*****

Squeaky went to check on his vampire brother several times a day over the next seven days, left bottled water, encouraged him to stay hydrated, and gave him a container to relieve himself in.

After turning the situation over in his mind, he though he may just have to take the hit on this one. Dropping down onto the floor beside Mr. Shardon, Squeaky handed him a Synth-B pouch. He seemed to have something to say, so Alek waited patiently for him to spit it out.

"I have decided that if there is a time when we are here alone I will try to free you. I think they will not trust me alone with you because we are both vampires. If they think you tried to escape and I didn't put up a good fight, they will probably kill me and perhaps my wife as well. If I can manage to free you, then you will have to beat me very, very badly so they will think I really tried to do my job. I am sorry."

"That sounds very painful for you."

"I have promised myself to try to become a better person and I don't want anything bad to happen to you. I think Josh's estimation of your survival chances being fifty percent was probably not very accurate. I believe they will eventually terminate your life. This is the only solution I can think of to get you safely away from these people while minimizing the danger to my family. Is this plan acceptable to you?"

A crease formed between his brows and Mr. Shardon replied thoughtfully, "I am desperate to be free and worried for the safety of my children but I cannot agree. That plan of action sounds dangerous for both of us and there's no guarantee your employers will refrain from harming your wife. If they have made such threats before, they may harm her out of spite. Humans are very emotional creatures. We must always remember that."

Squeaky sighed and before he could speak, Mr. Shardon stated, "I have a better idea. Why don't you contact a hunter and alert them that I am willing to pay a handsome amount for an impromptu rescue."

Squeaky pondered the suggestion out loud. "That would get us both out of danger. Hunters are always looking for missing people, particularly wealthy ones. Everyone would think they hunted you down for the reward. It's standing firm at a hundred grand right now."

"No one would blame you if a really prominent hunter came knocking. They wouldn't expect your crew to be able to stand up to a professional. The syndicate would most likely chalk it up to underestimating my worth."

"This idea is better than any of the ones I came up with on my own."

"Have you heard of Dakota Davenport?"

"Hell yes, she's amazing. My nephew has a poster of her on his bedroom wall. She has a success rate of a hundred percent and is good about searching for missing vampires. Even though she's human, she is the go to person when... oh I see where you're going with this conversation. You want me to contact her on your behalf."

Nodding, Mr. Shardon chewed his bottom lip. "I think she will take the case because we are acquainted."

Squeaky's mount dropped open in shear shock. "You actually know Dakota Davenport? Like know her, know her?"

"Yes. We travel in the same circles. Whenever we're at a formal function, I always manage to get a little face time and dance or two from her."

"Wow."

"What's more, her teenage son is the preferred feeding partner for my young daughter."

"Gods of chaos, you're practically related."

"Miss. Dakota has a strained relationship with her son. I am not certain she is aware of their relationship."

"You still feel confident she will hunt for you?"

"Yes. I must caution you, if you speak to her directly, someone might notice. She is in the public eye. What with the press and her many admirers, I can't imagine much of what she does goes unnoticed."

"What is the best way to reach out to her?"

"I wish you to speak to her son, Jared. He will engage her on my behalf, I'm certain of it."

"I agree to this request, and pray it is the best for both our sakes."

"God's speed, my friend." Yanking off the crucifix from around his neck, Mr. Shardon shoved it into his palm. "Jared knows this is sacred to me. Give to him as proof that you are acting as my emissary. You can find him at The Advent Home For Children."

Pushing up from his sitting position, Squeaky headed straight for the door. He was eager to see to put this whole business behind him.
The Hunt  
For a Vampire  
Dark World Series  
Book 1

### A.J. Daniels

GTQ LLC

Orlando, Florida

Copyright © 2017 by A.J. Daniels

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.

GTQ LLC

PO Box 540375

Orlando, FL 32854

www.gtq.com

Publisher's Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author's imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

The Hunt for a Vampire/A.J. Daniels \-- 1st Ed.

ISBN

CONTENTS

Mission Interrupted 4

Earning His Trident 13

A Rocky Start 22

Stark Reality 30

A Warrior For Me 42

Pushy Women 53

Bonding 62

Unbinding 74

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Chapter 1

## One Hell Of A Fix

~ Alek ~

Alek slowly woke up in a fog. His eyelids were heavy and his mouth felt like it was stuffed with cotton. Forcing his eyes open, he saw that he was in some kind of warehouse environment, which kept blinking in and out of focus. Unsure which was more concerning, the pounding headache or the fact that the room was spinning, he tried to move. His limbs seemed to be made of lead and were sluggish when he tried to move. He pushed off the floor with his hands into a sitting position and slowly shook his head, trying to make the grogginess dissipate.

As the fog cleared, he became aware that he was thirsty and very weak. Memories of being knocked with an animal tranquilizer dart came flooding back. Whatever drug his abductors had used had dropped him on the spot. How long had he been out?

Alek slowly became aware of the smell of human food. It smelled awful and he instantly became nauseous. He glanced around, trying to take in his environment. His wrists and ankles were chained to a metal plate on the floor.

He quietly tested his chains. The chains were strong and connected to metal bands around his wrists and ankles. There was a fingerprint scanner on each cuff. He didn't have to wonder whose fingerprint would be needed to release the chains. They were the type used on the slave ships that brought him to this planet. It was scrap salvage and most likely keyed to a Kalian's fingerprint. The Kalian were exceptionally good at cobbling together useful tech items from just about anything. Their resourcefulness was a source of never ending fascination by Earthlings.

As happenstance would have it, a Kalian had noticed him sit and was not moving towards him. The male was large, like a vampire warrior, but his skin was a dark olive color and had subtle veining running through it. He had long, black, coarse hair falling loosely around his shoulders and gray eyes. The Kalian had come with them to this planet about fifty years ago and their natural propensity toward fighting and violence made them the thug of choice for humans. Therefore, it was no surprise that whoever wanted him out of action chose a Kalian for the job.

The Kalian grabbed his chains, gave them a good yank, and loudly proclaimed, "You owe me sixty large, Little Jo. I told you the animal tranq would have him down for days."

The smaller human shrugged. His unkempt, sandy blond hair and dingy, baggy clothing indicated he didn't care much for grooming. He was wearing vintage running shoes that had seen better days. The dirty human, who was obviously called Little Jo, began to argue the validity of his wager, "We took him down around noon yesterday. It's only four pm. That hardly qualifies as days."

The Kalian replied, "Over one day is days. Pay up, little man."

The other human stood up, walked over to them, and gave orders to the vampire still sitting at the table, "Feed him, the boss wants him kept healthy. I don't want so much as a bruise on his skin. Are you listening to me, Kalian?"

The Kalian turned on him and yelled, "I have a name, use my name. I use your name when I address you, Josh. It is discourteous to..."

Josh instantaneously made a course correction. "Fine. Faran, do not hit, punch, slap, scratch, or otherwise injure the hostage until we receive orders to do so. Am I understood?" Faran nodded and watched a split second too long as the other man walked back across the room and sat back down at the card table. Even Alek noticed Josh was stunningly gorgeous.

The human was probably in his early thirties and had short, blond hair clipped close to his head. His large, light blue eyes didn't miss much and his muscles rippled under his tight cotton shirt and jeans. He wore a cuff on one wrist, made of thin strands of black leather. It accentuated the fact that his hands were huge. He was well put together and well groomed. His clothing was neat and clean. An aura of authority surrounded him, clearly communicating he was the one in charge.

The Kalian and two humans went back to playing their card game. The human named Josh gave some of the foul smelling human food to his Kalian friend along with a cold beer. The Kalian smiled his approval at being served. Alek wondered if the human realized that in Kalian culture, serving another food was considered a gesture of love and intimacy. Within moments, Josh and Faran were arguing about Faran going to a club. Alek didn't understand the nature of their argument so he turned his attention to the small vampire.

He had watched the small vampire male get up from his chair, go to a small ice chest, and remove two small bags of actual human blood. He put them into a small sink and ran hot water on them. It was the most primitive thing Alek had seen in years. In his world, synthetic blood was delivered to his home daily and kept in a specially designed warming cabinet to keep it at the appropriate temperature.

The little vampire must have an ounce of compassion to have heated the blood. His vampire brother was one of the smallest of their kind he had seen. He was neat in appearance and meticulous in his hygiene. That was not unusual for vampires because they tended to overcompensate for the stereotype of being intrinsically unclean. His body was lithe and what he lacked in muscle definition, he made up for in attractiveness. The vampire wore his long, dark hair down the middle of his back and his dark brown eyes were hauntingly beautiful. His facial features were quite lovely for a male.

His vampire brother was wearing a wedding band. Alek tried to imagine what the little vampire's wife looked like. He imagined she would be small, quiet, beautiful, and well-mannered like he was. It filled his heart with joy to see even the weakest of his kind was able to find a mate on this world. Earth truly was a remarkable haven for his kind. No wonder so few aliens wanted to leave once the humans achieved the capacity for space travel some twenty years ago. Earth offered them a better quality of life than they could possibly find any place else in the verse.

The small vampire approached him, pulled the end off of the tube that came out the bottom of the blood bag and put it to his lips like a straw. He said, "Drink, my brother. You have been unconscious for a day and half. Your thirst must be great."

Alek turned his head slightly. "I'm sorry but I drink only synthetic blood." His voice was so dry and he almost choked the words out.

The small vampire looked at him with concern and responded quietly. "I do not think they will care about that. If you want to feed, this is your chance."

The Kalian was apparently aggravated from the argument he was having with the one called Josh. When he noticed them conversing, he yelled. "What are you two talking about? Get away from him, Squeaky."

Josh shot Faran an exasperated look, walked over to the two of them, and gave the small vampire a questioning. "It's been a long day, Squeaky. If we could just cut to the chase that would be great. What's the problem?"

Squeaky responded, "The gentleman says he does not drink human blood. He will only drink synthetic blood."

Josh stooped down and looked Alek in the face for a brief moment, then slowly pulled a $20.00 bill out of his pocket and gave it to the small vampire, saying, "Just get him synthetic, Squeaky. They have by-one-get-one at the gas station across the street." Squeaky slipped out the door.

The Kalian laughed and teased his friend, "So you are purchasing the food of choice for our hostages now? You're getting soft, Joshua, and you're even more of a fool than I ever imagined possible."

Josh stood up, walked back to the table, and they began arguing again. Since Alek didn't know or care what they were going on about, he concentrated on trying to get out of his chains. It entered his mind to worry about his girls. He knew the older of the two would see her younger sister well cared, but he thought neither of them would do well without him long term.

Alek noticed they ordered more human food, which was delivered by an automated flying droid as most food was these days. The humans seemed to love this foul smelling food that came in a large, round, flat box. He watched as they pulled triangle after triangle out. The small vampire, Squeaky, came back in looking a little roughed up. His hair was messed up and his clothing looked like it had been gripped around the collar in the front, though he did not appear to be injured.

Josh cursed under his breath and said, "I swear that dumb ass Kalian is going to be the fucking death of me." He turned to the little vampire and said in a frustrated voice, "Just stay the hell away from Faran when he's upset. God, you should know that by now, Squeaky."

Squeaky shook his head and waved away the attention saying, "He is harmless. He just likes to shout it out when he is angry. You know, for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction. If you make him angry, he is going to show it. What exactly did you think was going to happen when you pushed him too far, Joshua. The humans have a saying about flies and honey. Perhaps you have heard of it."

The other two men left to check on their out of control partner and Squeaky brought him a synthetic blood back and sat to talk with him.

"Thank you, my thirst is great."

The small vampire smiled slightly and sat with him as he drank. It was a half-liter bag, which was enough to fill him up completely. Squeaky commented, "I do not know what you did to these people but they are unsure what they should do with you. I am not certain you are safe with the Kalian. I will try to stay with you, my brother, but if he wants to harm you, as you can see, I am no match for him."

Alek held up his chains and replied, "If not for these, I would be more than a match for him."

The small vampire smiled again and replied, "Trust me, they know exactly what you could do if you weren't chained. It's why they dropped you with the large animal tranq before they took you. It's why they are never going to take the chains off until they decide what to do with you."

Alek nodded his understanding. Anyone who had researched him was no doubt aware of his war record. He received several Medals of Honor for his marksmanship skills, battle tactics, and something called valor in battle, which translated in his mind to pure viciousness. Granted, he was working through his anger at his alien overlords and was probably more violent than was necessary. He was grateful to have long since mastered his more violent tendencies.

The small vampire, Squeaky, put his finger on the scanning plate on his wrist cuff and nothing happened. Alek glanced up and the small vampire and he clarified, "Just in case you were wondering. I can't open your cuffs."

Alek asked hopefully. "Can you get word to the police?"

Squeaky frowned, shaking his head. "Not if I want to live. The mobster we work for has informants at the police station. Honestly, he would know immediately if I betrayed him."

"I am wealthy, perhaps I can buy my way out of here."

"They do love money, my friend." Squeaky chuckled his reply.

When the younger of the two humans returned, Squeaky stood, leaving two bottles of water. "I am putting your other synthetic blood bag in the cooler. Little Jo will heat it up for you this evening. I will be back tomorrow morning to feed it to you. I am leaving two bottles of water. You must stay hydrated." Alek just looked at him wide eyed and Squeaky knew it was because he felt uncomfortable being left with the humans.
Chapter 2

## Because You Ask,  
I Will Hunt

~ Cassandra ~

Dakota Davenport sat at her desk in a spacious corner office. The Bedford Training Academy was located on fifty-nine lush acres in the New Florida sun. Though it was beginning to show the wear and tear of an older university, it was unique in that it was the only one of its kind on the continent.

Foremost among the hands on professionals was Dakota. She was always receiving requests for consults from local law enforcement on unsolved cases and missing persons in particular. She was possibly the most prominent private detective in the country and divided her time between hunting and teaching advanced justice courses at the one and only academy graduating fully trained professionals into law enforcement and the more sensitive field of intergalactic security.

The slang term these days for Dakota's profession was 'hunter' because they were always being asked to hunt for something or someone. Over the last twenty five years, law enforcement had thrown all their resources and manpower into fighting the never ending war on synthetic drugs and the huge multinational drug cartels that seemed intent on ensuring everyone on the planet was addicted to some kind of exotic designer drug.

Civilian hunters were a novel concept that slowly emerged to fill in the gaps. Hunters were fly by the seat of their pants adrenaline junkies and cutting edge tech savvy professionals all rolled into one. In fact, their love of tech was second only to their love of hunting. Hunters were likely to be utilized by families and private sector corporations when local law enforcement was unsuccessful in solving a particular crime. Hell, even the military and intergalactic security contracted with them off and on. Dakota had completed several off world missions. Hunting was an extremely lucrative, glamorous, and high profile profession. She'd learned her trade from the best, saved a lot of lives, and solved several very complex cases throughout the course of her career.

She was consulted fairly regularly on missing person's cases because they were time sensitive. After the first seventy-two hours, the probability of finding a missing person decreased by thirty percent and continued to nose dive to the point that after thirty days, the person was almost never found alive.

This is exactly what worried her about the Shardon case. Law enforcement had asked for a consult nine days ago on a wealthy CEO. Dakota was tempted to decline because there was no doubt a legion of people searching for him. The missing person was prominent local businessman, Alek Shardon. She had rubbed elbows with him on occasion.

Mr. Shardon seemed well mannered, professional, and reserved. In fact, he was intensely private. Considering his wealth and position, he didn't end up in the news very much. On the few occasions she had been around him, she'd been thoroughly impressed with his nerdy charm and general attractiveness. If a person weren't paying close attention, they might really underestimate him.

Unable to ignore any opportunity to assist, she had reviewed the information provided by law enforcement and worked up a profile on the perp. She also gave a list of instructions indicating that in addition to interviewing all witnesses, family, friends, and co-workers as suspects, that the officers should also pull his work and home hard drives and search them for clues. Those were things one shouldn't have to remind law enforcement officers to do but they were simple actions not taken with enough regularity to be a problem. She suspected it was because of the limited tech support afforded public law enforcement agencies.

Mr. Shardon was the father of one of her students who had not returned to her classes since his disappearance. Arianna was one of her best students and Dakota thought if anything else was needed from her, surely Arianna would come to her.

Dakota was thinking of checking in with the local police chief to see if she could get an update on the case but suddenly, Arianna was standing in her doorway. The twenty three year old female was mixed heritage, although mostly vampire. Though thin and fit, she moved with a grace of a dancer. The young woman had short, dark hair and pale blue eyes that set off her delicate facial features. She was wearing street clothes today rather than her usual red academy uniform.

Dakota had to admit that she genuinely liked Arianna. She was strong, intelligent, highly motivated, well trained, and accustomed to success. She was a little rough around the edges but showed great promise.

Dakota motioned for the woman to sit and spoke cautiously. "If you're back at class today, I assume your father has been found safe and sound."

The young woman's face was blank. Dakota tilted her head slightly and motioned for her to have a seat. "Detective Weaver just told me you probably won't help find my father. He said you are a busy woman and you normally reserve your time for those who are vulnerable like children and people no one else cares about. I guess I always thought vampires fell in the category of people no one cared about."

A perplexed frown wrinkled Dakota's brow. "I followed through with the consult on the very day it was requested. If the police need anything more from me, they usually contact me. You must have a virtual army searching for your father. Pay the money and get him back. Just so you know, I reserve my time for complex cases, not necessarily cases involving 'nobodies' as you put it."

Arianna stared at her despondently. "Either way, my father's case is a challenging one. No one has contacted us requesting a ransom. The only thing unusual going on with him when he went missing was that he had recently discovered some financial irregularities in one of the non-profits he chairs. He had his personal accountant perform a financial audit and the accountant was found dead in his apartment two days after my father went missing. The police are calling it a suicide but I suspect otherwise. We really thought the police were making headway until I got a call from the lead detective this morning. My father has been gone for nine days, they are pulling their officers, but assure me they are keeping his file open in case new leads materialize. I have virtually no hope of finding him at this point. Is that fascinating enough to get your attention?"

Dakota's was stunned. That did not seem like correct information. Another voice came from the doorway. It was Dakota's son, Jared. "Mr. Shardon is now what is commonly referred to as a cold case. The police ran down what few leads they had and they went nowhere. Will you take the case, for me, just because I asked?"

Dakota looked thoughtfully at her son for a brief moment. He was strong and handsome, like his father. He was quickly growing into a large vampire warrior. Even at seventeen, it was apparent that he was going to be one of the strongest of his kind. Mixed heritage vampires usually were small and unimpressive but Jared's long, dark hair with a slight red cast to it and sparkling teal eyes were the hallmark of his biological father's line. Jared had no idea how important he was.

Dakota sighed. For now, Jared was just a regular person, not a vampire legacy. He was just a young man, a grown up version of the little boy she never knew, and she felt the overwhelming urge to protect him with her entire being.

Today, he looked as tired and worn out as Arianna. He held her steady gaze, waiting for an answer to his question. Dakota blinked back to the reality of the situation and slowly nodded her affirmation. "You are my son. I hope you know, I will hunt for you any time of the day or night. All you have to do is say the word." He smiled his gratitude and she thought she saw a hint of pride in his face.

He looked so much like his father. wearing his training leathers. The thick leather straps, strapped diagonally across his chest marked him as a hunter in training. Leathers began as a convenient way to carry excess gear. It was merely a leather utility belt with a bandoleer attached for carrying extra ammo. As the years wore on, they became more decorative than utilitarian and were worn only by hunters and hunters in training. Jared was a hunter in training and this was easily identifiable because of the thick red line than ran down the strap across his chest.

Dakota asked, "Do you mind if I ask what your interest in this case is?"

He looked at her evenly. "Does it matter?"

"It absolutely does not matter at all. Because you asked, I will hunt."

Jared looked serious. "I expect your best work on this one, Mother."

Tears welled up in her eyes because it was the first time he called her Mother instead of Dakota.

Grabbing up her phone and called Detective Charles Weaver. She put him on speakerphone. "Arianna tells me you are pulling your officers from her father's case. The man has only been missing nine days. You could still find him, but obviously not if you pull your officers. He's pretty prominent. We don't usually leave prominent members of our community high and dry. What is going on here, Charles? Do you suddenly have a missing human to focus your attention on?"

The detective's voice was stressed as he responded. "I didn't pull them. That decision was made up the chain of command because we have had a diplomat's teenage son go missing. International relations trumps missing local CEO. It is that simple for the white shirts upstairs."

Dakota shot back. "Mr. Shardon is a war hero and a citizen of the Empire. His safe recovery should be prioritized above a non-citizen from another republic."

"One would think so and I agree with you entirely, Dakota. However, some decisions are not mine to make."

"Mr. Shardon is counting on your officers. That missing teen is probably not. As you well know, missing teenagers are usually runaways and his consulate would have rallied an army of resources to assist in tracking the teen down."

"Trust me, I don't like this at all myself. For pity's sake, Dakota, he is a personal friend of mine. My hands are tied." She could hear the anguish and frustration in his voice. She had known Charles a long time and it tore at her heart a little but she couldn't help but to force his hand.

She automatically asked. "Is this teenager a human or a vampire?"

Charles became agitated. "Don't make this about alien verses human. It is not discrimination."

Dakota replied smoothly. "Of course not. Don't worry about it, Charles. I've been asked to take over the case. Forward me everything you have. The job of law enforcement will once again fall to civilian hunters. Really Charles, you know I love you but sometimes, I wonder where our tax dollars go, if not to ensure the protection of our citizens."

Charles' voice sounded extremely pleased. "Snark it up all you like, Dakota. There's some truth to your words. I do want to say, thank you for taking the case. At least now Alek has a fighting chance of survival. He is a nice person. You won't regret it."

Dakota smiled to herself and quipped. "I never do." She thought vaguely that the only cases she ever regretted were the ones she didn't take.

Arianna took a stuttering breath. "I never got around to actually asking you to take the case."

Dakota smiled brightly. "Why else would you have come to see me and told me all about your father's situation?"

Arianna relaxed a bit, running her hands down her pants legs. "What do you need from me to make this work?"

Dakota replied sincerely. "I will need all the things you won't want to give. I need to see his room, his study, his computer, his office at work, his financial records, cell phone records, his bed, his sheets, everything private. Do you understand?"

Arianna swallow hard. "Of course, whatever it takes. Don't worry, I will make it happen."

Dakota stated in a firm voice. "Also, I need one more thing. I need your undivided attention. I'm willing to take time off for this hunt but you need to as well. I need someone who knows him personally to assist me in determining what is routine in his life from what is not. Do you understand?"

Arianna nodded her head. "I have no intention of returning to class until my father is safely back at home where he belongs."

"Then we have an agreement," Dakota held out her hand.

The woman's eyes darted up to look Dakota in the face as she shook her hand. "Don't we have to negotiate payment or something?"

Dakota glanced at her son before clarifying. "You weren't the one to retain my services so you don't need to concern yourself with such things."

Dakota turned her attention to Jared. "Everything I just told Arianna goes double for you, young man. I don't know what your interest in this case is but you aren't going to get me involved elbow deep and skip out."

"Don't worry; I am in until the end. I will not fail you or Mr. Shardon." The look of sincerity on his face was all she needed so see.

Dakota e-mailed the dean and she dropped by the front desk to alert them that she was taking a leave of absence as they left campus. The dean would not be all that surprised. They had a longstanding understanding. She left if and when she was needed. She was the most prominent hunter in the country and when she solved an impossibly difficult case, it was the equivalent of her peers having papers published. It verified her credentials and gained status for the academy. They had back up instructors in place to teach her classes.

Her fame and expertise were what filled the justice department with students every fall, bright young minds eager to learn from the best. The cases she worked were analyzed by her students to learn the trade. She would always be able to come and go as she pleased and the academy would always be delighted to have her back. That was business as usual in her world.

