Alien Romance: Interview with an Alien (Football Paranormal Invasion Abduction Alpha Sci-fi Romance) (Fantasy First New Adult Contact Science Fiction Mystery Sports Alien Short Stories) (23 page)

*****

Marla took a pull from the brandy bottle. She never would have done such a crude thing, but then since she fell in with those two she found that she could do a lot of things that she never would have. She looked at her assailants and chuckled. The two tried to look sheepish, but their twin idiot grins gave them away. She lay with her head on Jason’s lap, Laird nestled between her legs toying with her breast.

“Well,” she sighed. “That was different.”

Both her lovers were silent, but she felt Laird stifle his giggle.

“And just look what you done to my dress. You both owe me one.”

“Gladly,” Jason said with a contented sigh. “You are – you’re wonderful.”

“No,” Marla said planting a soft kiss on his lips. “You are.”

“No, you.”

“No, you.”

“Um,” Laird began.

“I’m sorry sweetheart,” Marla said kissing his head. “You’re wonderful too.”

“Yes,” he replied. “I am. We’re all wonderful. Well and good. But before we all get too comfortable and complacent in our rapture, there is that other matter.”

“The witch,” Jason finished. “You know you can be a real wet blanket sometimes.”

“A what?”

“Never mind.”

“What’s a witch?” Laird asked.

“Witches are not nice people,” Jason began to explain. “They started a long time ago, when the powers of the Earth and the Heavens were more, I don’t know . . . more approachable; more tangible. They used their womanly ways to seduce those powers.”

“You mean sex?” Marla asked.

“Yeah.”

“How does one go about seducing a power?”

“You gotta see it to believe it,” Jason sighed. “So anyway they get all caught up in the spiritual plane and they are able to see things and do things, and the more they see and learn the more they want to see and learn. It’s serious addictive behavior. And like any addict it gets to the point that they live for that fix. But also like any addict the price gets higher and higher, and so they have to pay more and more until it gets to the point where they are driven to find that ultimate high.”

“Total power?”

“Immortality,” Jason said.

“So,” Marla reasoned. “She wants you because you’re like some price she has to pay?”

“You didn’t listen to her,” Laird said. “She wanted to use Jason for something, and she was willing to pay a legitimate fee.”

“But,” Marla mulled. “She said that the only thing werewolves were good for was sex or protection. Does she want to mate with you?”

“No,” Jason said. “She wants to use me to breed.”

“Say what?”

“She probably has a bunch of slave girls,” Jason went on. “Remember that she talked about the timing being important?”

“So she would want you when they were all ovulating,” Marla said.

“Give the lady a cigar.”

“I’d rather --,” Marla said. “Never mind. Bad joke. But why would she want a lot of baby werewolves?”

“My guess is,” Jason said, “that she wants to raise an army. She’s threatened by something and she’s in it for the long haul.”

“Just one question,” Laird said. “Will she keep her word?”

“She has to,” Jason answered. “She swore on her children.

They were nervous and cautious in the days after. But the days turned to weeks, and the weeks turned to months and there was no hint of the witch. Janet came every week with her cache of garbage and there were no more pretty little letters. The three began to think that Vanessa was actually as good as her word. They started to feel something like secure, but Jason insisted that whenever they needed to go into town that they go as a group. He didn’t like the idea of any of them being alone beyond the safety of their little home. Laird immediately agreed. Marls did so reluctantly.

They settled on weekly jaunts for groceries and such, and always made it a holiday, treating themselves to lunch or ice-cream. And so it was that on one crisp autumn day, sitting in the diner and munching on hot-dogs, Janet walked in. Marla insisted that she join them and the two chatted happily. Janet was all agog about a new boutique that had opened.

“You have got to see it,” Janet said. “They have this whole line of . . . um.”

She glanced at laird and Jason, blushed slightly and giggled.

“Purple?” Marla said. Janet eagerly nodded. “Then show me. Let’s go.”

“Um,” Jason began.

“Oh pooh on you,” Marla said. “If you think that I want to spend this lovely afternoon looking at nuts and bolts you are nuts yourself. Janet and I will be fine. I’ll meet you at the hardware store in an hour or so.”

She knew that Jason wanted to protest, but before he could she kissed both her boys on the cheek, and the two girls slipped away.

The shop was a tiny store-front called
Lillian’s
. Marla loved that the door had a little bell that tinkled as they entered. Lillian was a big woman, all smiles and bubbles and ever so delighted to greet a new customer. She led them to the new arrivals, and the two girls gushed over the delicate frillies. Marla loved silk, and these things were among the finest fabrics she had ever felt. She was running her fingers across a bit of flimsy lace when a hand clamped over her mouth and a burly arm wrapped around her waist. Before she could respond or react she looked up wide-eyed straight at Janet. Her friend looked a little sad as she took the syringe from her purse.

*****

When she woke Marla’s head throbbed. She was so terribly confused. She lay where she was and tried to remember . . . there was that shop, she remembered the tinkling bell. There was that person, the shop owner, the big busted woman who yammered on and on about her lovely lingerie. Then there was a hand over her mouth and then there was – there was Janet, and Janet had a needle. And then it struck her, the thing that Laird had thought so odd about the letter; the stamp had not been canceled.

Marla tried to sit up, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t move her arms or legs. Thick leather cuffs wrapped her wrists and ankles, stretching her wide. Something wrapped around her belly pinning her to the cold slab. She couldn’t see. She was blindfolded. And she was naked.

She tested her bonds. She yanked and pulled and she chains. Panic started to possess her and she screamed and screamed and screamed.

“Please,” a timid voice begged her. “Please stop that. Please!”

“What’s going on?” Marla wailed.

“I don’t know,” the girl said with a whine. “I just know that if you keep screaming like that she’ll come down, and if she comes down she’ll be angry, and if she gets angry we all get a whipping! So please, please stop screaming.”

Marla yanked her chains. If what the girl said was true she thought that she ought to do as she was told. Despite her raging fear he took a few breaths and calmed herself.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“I’m nobody,” the girl said, “and I don’t know what’s going on here either. All I know is that she comes down here sometimes with that other freaky bitch and they – they like to do things to us, and if somebody makes a fuss they come down and whip us all, so please! Please stop!”

Marla thought a moment, but then she realized that she knew.

“Who is she?” Marla asked quietly.

“Mistress. That’s all I know. And that other one, Dana, she’s – wait, what was that?”

Marla heard a small sound from somewhere. It sounded like metal turning on metal.

“Shit,” the girl said near sobbing. “Now you’ve done it.”

A door opened and Marla heard footsteps on hard stairs. The footfalls were sharp and pointed. Heels. They reached the floor. Marla heard several whimpers from all around.

“Now, now, my dear,” a sickly sweet voice sang in a distinct Russian accent. “Your tribulations are almost at an end. I have my bait and your time here is near its end. Please don’t cry anymore, dear Rachael.”

Rachael. Marla knew that name.

“Yes Mistress,” Rachael said.

The heels approach. Marla tensed. Then suddenly her eyes were free. It took a moment to focus, but when her eyes cleared she looked up and cringed. It was indeed Vanessa.

But the witch was so different. Her lush raven hair flowed and clung to her shoulders like water. Her face seemed fresh and bright and so much younger. She stood over Marla clad in a strapless, black satin bustier. Her complexion seemed to glow in the dimly lit room and her cleavage was stunning.

On her other side Marla saw the woman. She had shiny, wavy lush auburn hair and a stern but delicate face. Her eyebrows were thick and seemed to set her face in an angry look. She wore a red corset and her breasts rivaled Vanessa’s.

“Vanessa, you bitch,” Marla said.

Then she yelped as the red-head slapped her.

“It is
Mistress
Vanessa,” the woman snapped.

“Now Dana darling,” Vanessa said soothingly. “The poor thing is frightened.”

“That is no excuse for her to be rude, Mistress.”

“There, there Dana darling, there will be plenty of time for reproof and correction. Right now I believe that our guest has so many, many questions.”

“Why am I here?” Marla said.

“Oh dear Marla,” Vanessa said smiling. “I’ll bet that you can work that out all by yourself.”

“Jason. You want Jason.”

“Got it in one.”

“But you gave your word,” Marla said. “You swore on your children!”

Vanessa and Dana burst into peals of laughter.

“My children,” Vanessa said still laughing, “attempt to kill me on a fairly regular basis. They can all be damned for all I care.”

Marla shook her head; she should have figured something like that. But then she had another question.

“Janet,” she said. “She was with you all along, wasn’t she?”

“Well,” Vanessa said. “She did need some persuasion. I believe that you’ve met Rachael?”

“Rachael,” Marla echoed, and then it made sense. “What have you done with Janet?”

“Nothing really,” Vanessa said with a shrug. “By now I suspect that she has told your friends her tale of woe, and I am certain that they are planning a dashing sort of rescue.”

“It’s a trap.”

“Of course it’s a trap,” Vanessa chuckled. “And they will all bravely walk right into it. And then I will have everything that I want.”

“You bitch – Owww!”

“If you do not keep a civil tongue in your head,” Dana said, twisting Marla’s nipple, “I will rip this off.”

Marla fumed, but bit her tongue. Dana eased her grip.

“Dear Marla,” Vanessa said. “Do try not to irritate my friend. She has quite a sadistic streak, as you will soon discover.”

“What are you going to do to me?”

For an answer Dana stroked Marla’s breast with one hand, while she slid her other along her belly to cup her puss. Marla tried to shrink away. She looked up at Vanessa and mouthed the word, ‘no’. Vanessa just smiled and nodded her head.

“Why?” Marla asked.

“Darling, I am sure that your screams will act as a spiritual beacon guiding our intrepid heroes. Besides, Dana wants to play.”

“Noooooo!”

*****

“You brought it on yourself,” Vanessa said fixing her stocking.

Marla hung beside Rachael. Bound by her wrists, she was a mass of pain and shame. Dana had abused her in the most wretched ways, delighting in Marla’s shrieking and begging while Vanessa watched, sipping sherry. And then Marla was forced to pleasure both women as the two giggled and laughed and cooed and kissed. And as if Marla’s degradation served only to fuel their deviant lust, they strung her up and satisfied each other with animal- like passion.

Then, as if their perversions were simply a natural part of their lives, they washed one another, primped, dressed and celebrated with a drink.

“I gave you the opportunity,” Vanessa continued. “You might have been content in your home enjoying my money and the company of your Hroth lover, happily awaiting the return of your pet Jason. Now look where you are. You are pathetic.”

Marla wanted to spit in the woman’s face, but she didn’t have the energy. Instead she hung her head, her sweat soaked hair dangling limp. Her rage grew. If she was pathetic they had made her so. They had rendered her helpless and they did as they pleased, and she wondered the depths of depravity a mind needed to sink in order to take such pleasure in such acts. But even as Marla seethed, Dana sat up from the table. Her face looked intent.

“They’re coming,” she said.

“Oh goody,” Vanessa smiled. “And they could not have timed themselves better. I suggest that you make ready now, darling.”

“Absolutely.”

The two shared one more long passionate kiss and Dana retreated out of sight. Vanessa approached the two bound women with gags.

“Things are going to get very exciting here very soon,” she said as she forced the ball into Marla’s mouth. “And I really don’t need you two adding to things. Now you just relax and watch the show.”

Vanessa stepped into the shadows. Marla thought that she heard someone mew softly. She looked around. But for her and Rachael and that horrid table there seemed to be nothing but shadow. She hung, waiting. The silence was eerie.

And then there was a commotion from above. There were bumps and bangs, and then Rachael squealed into her gag when they heard a gunshot, then another, then another and then a rapid volley and then – quiet. Silence from above. Vanessa let loose a giggle. Marla heard a moan from the darkness.

Suddenly the door at the top of the stairs burst open, and there was a loud rolling thudding. A bloodless body clattered to the base of the stairs. One of Vanessa’s androids lay lifeless, its chest blown open. Rachael screamed.

“Marla!” Jason cried.

She tried to yell. She tried to warn them off but her words were garble. A moment later heavy boots pounded down, and suddenly there stood Jason and Laird and Janet. They each had a pump-action shotgun with a blinding light attached. They bristled with ammo belts and knives and pistols.

“Rachael!” Janet cried, but Laird’s hand haltedher.

Jason looked quickly to Marla, but then his eyes scanned. He played his light into the shadows. In the darkness something glinted, and then the light revealed an awful sight. A girl, a young girl barely out of her teens stood trapped in a steel cage that formed around her body. Her eyes were puffy with tears and she shied away from the light. The other lights showed other girls in the same sort of cages, all young, all naked and all terrified.

“What the fuck?” Janet said softly.

“I see you’ve found my pets,” Vanessa said.

Instantly the three beams bathed her face, and just as instantly three weapons cocked.

“Allow me,” Vanessa said.

She snapped her fingers and the dungeon filled with light. The caged girls wailed. Marla looked about in horror. There were nine whimpering women trussed and hanging.

“What kind of twisted shit is this?” Jason said.

“You are as stupid as your Mistress,” Vanessa said with a snort. “These are yours, moron.”

“Jason, don’t let her,” Laird said.

“They are yours,” Vanessa went on. “Yours for the taking.Yours for the delight. You can have your way with any and all of them, and when you grow tired of these there will be more. You are going to live like a Sultan in a palace of pure pleasure. Feast your eyes and imagine your eternal delight.”

“Jason don’t.”

He stood a moment, and Marla’s heart skipped when she saw the twitch on his ear. And then he shook his head almost sadly.

“This shit is over now,” he said, and so saying her shouldered his shotgun and aimed straight at Vanessa.

“I can’t let you do that, Jason.”

Marla looked. Janet held the barrel of her gun to Jason’s head. Jason’s only reaction was a slight lift in one eyebrow.

“I just want my Rachael back,” Janet said, tears welling in her eyes. “She promised me. She promised me and – and I don’t care anything about any of this. I just want my Rachael back.”

“Janet?” Laird said softly.

The girl flinched, just a little but it was enough. In a blinding move Laird grabbed the barrel of her gun, but even as he yanked up the thing went off. The edge of the flash grazed Jason’s skull and in that moment his own weapon fired and the explosion of the double blast was like a concussion in the room, followed by screams and shrieks. But lilting over all of the cacophony was Vanessa’s silvery laugh. The witch was gone. Laird and Jason looked around. Janet wailed and rushed to her lover.

“Stupid ass,” Vanessa said from the other side of the room.

Both men turned and both weapons fired. Girls screamed and Vanessa vanished.

“I’m a witch, you dolts,” she called from the darkness.”And I’m in my own home. You think your toys can touch me?”

“We’re gonna find out!” Jason yelled firing blindly into the shadows.

“Enough of this,” Vanessa said. “Dana!”

The auburn-haired siren suddenly appeared. Without hesitation both guns fired at her, but she didn’t disappear. The pellets rammed up against the air before her. As if they had flown into an invisible wall they slammed to a halt and fell harmlessly on the ground. Dana approached them. Laird stood stunned. Jason cocked and fired blast after blast to no avail. Dana slapped away the shotgun, then grabbing Jason as if he were nothing she flung him aside. He collapsed inertly. Laird seemed mesmerized by the woman. Smiling sweetly she placed her middle finger on his forehead.

Laird’s eyes opened wide and his mouth gaped. He let out an unearthly sound, and then it was as if he had been possessed by something from within. He began to quiver and shake and then he began to collapse into himself. His eyes shut, his arms clutched around his heart and he sank to his knees. In a moment he was curled up in a tight ball. That unnatural sound faded and Marla watched perplexed and horrified as his body began to shimmer with a silver aura. He rolled to his side making an almost metallic sound.

“Darling what did you do to him?” Vanessa asked appearing at her side.

“I put him in stasis,” Dana said. “It’s a thing that Hroth mothers can do to protect their children. Doesn’t work well on adults, but the poor idiot was so confused and vulnerable that it was easy.”

“Your people never cease to amaze.”

“And the wolf?” Dana asked.

“Sleeping like a puppy, Vanessa smiled. “I charmed him. He is going to be easier than I imagined. Well then, I think we’re quite finished here. Shall we go?”

“Rachael,” Janet sobbed softly.

“I’m afraid,” Vanessa said. “That I’ve taken a fancy to the dear thing.”

“You promised!”

“And you believed me.”

The witch smiled, glanced once at Marla and muttered something inaudible. And as she did the world seemed to whirl and spin and everything became a blur. Marla heard a soft roaring as her brain went dizzy. The rush and noise soon faded into nothing, and when she looked about, the Witch, her minion and her pets were gone. So were Rachael and Jason. Marla hung in her bonds and her heart slowly froze. She was left alone in the witch’s dungeon, her lover Laird contorted in a glowing ball, and Janet weeping for her Rachael.

CONTINUE TO EPISODE 2

Another bonus story is on the next page.