Isirdor Konstantin

I couldn’t move. Oh god I couldn’t move! I was petrified with fear. As metal scraped against stone and a resounding echo of heavy footsteps became louder and louder, my heart felt as if it were about to explode. I began to have a full-on panic attack the minute I saw the craft situated on the front garden of the academy. I kicked and screamed as we boarded the ship. Dread and terror consumed me as we walked through the dark, narrow hallway. I heard voices in the distance—female voices. They giggled cheerfully as we neared cabins deep within the ship. Realizing it was no use to continue to plea with them, I stopped. We stopped in front of a cabin; the guard pressed a hand on a pad against the wall and then waited for it to glow green. As soon as it beeped in acceptance, the door slid up, and I was welcomed by friendly faces. Are they girls who volunteered to be taken? I thought. They were all pretty—beautiful girls who looked so happy and grateful to be there. However, a handful of girls had a look of regret and sorrow. I saw my reflection in those eyes. I was sure I would have the same resignation and despair in mine soon enough, and I shivered at the thought. I felt a slight tingle the instant the ship moved, and I knew that we were leaving Planet Virkatar. Afraid, I ran to the nearest window and watched how we slowly ascended—I watched the large majestic birds fly around the ship, and the lush green planet disappeared beneath us. Feeling my heart beating violently against my chest, resigned, I took a deep breath, closed the window, and then moved to stand in a corner, not wanting to bring attention to myself. I needed to think of a way to get out of this. There just has to be a way! The ship halted, and the door to our cabin opened. “Let’s go, females!” the guard yelled. We were herded out of the ship and onto the loading dock. I looked up to find that we were encased in what seemed to be a huge bubble. The entire dock was encased in crystal. Caught in the moment of my new surroundings, I had stopped walking. “Move it, female!” the guard yelled as he pushed me into a girl who was walking in front of me. The girl’s eyes were glazed in resignation. She was more like a walking zombie. I felt my eyes grow wide with fright, but I fought it back. Be strong, Alyna…be strong, I recited as if a prayer whenever I felt like crumbling to pieces. I mean, brought up in a secluded and protected facility, surrounded only by females, to then be taken and exposed to males—especially of their species—was nerve-racking. Adding to my fears was the thought of how was I supposed to act in order to please them. To think of the things that were to come, to think of the things that would be demanded of me. I shut my eyes tightly and shook my head in hopes of getting the images out. If this was what they called freedom, I didn’t want to think about what they called slavery. “It’ll be okay, honey,” a girl whispered to me. I opened my eyes and looked at her. I was shocked that she would speak to me. No other species was allowed to speak in the presence of a Vulpirian unless spoken to by one of them. However, I was told this by an Urion instructor. She was a beautiful blonde with green eyes. Her face was filled with excessive colors, and her hair was muzzled in wild disarray. Her clothes: a firm top that accentuated her mounds of breasts, and her pants—a white, tight pair of shorts that left little to the imagination. Her skin was splayed with sparkles. I looked around, and the rest of the girls were all dressed just as provocatively. I still had on my strapless, long white dress with a beaded top. One of the nurses at the academy had loaned me the dress because I didn’t have one for the graduation. And I was so grateful to her. She was the only one who was ever truly nice to me. I smiled at the girl and nodded. Too fast for my senses to register, I was grabbed by my arm and pulled out of the line. The male leaned into me and inhaled. Surprisingly, his skin was warm. He was blond. A beautiful being beyond comprehension, but knowing the dark nature of them made them evil and repulsive in my eyes no matter how attractive they appeared on the outside. “You smell divine, human,” he murmured against my neck. “Innocence…and…” He sighed, the purr a cool breeze against my skin. I felt embarrassed that he knew I was…embarrassed that he would say it out loud. Every instinct told me that it wasn’t good. Then he leaned in and licked my cheek. The hairs on my neck and arms rose, and I choked on a gag. The closeness of the male was repulsive. I moved away only to be blocked again. His actions brought the attention of other males. They surrounded me and pushed me against a wall as they looked down at me with hunger in their eyes. Some had bright blue eyes, some green, and others purple—all with a predatory glow in their gaze, all with an evil nature in their essence. Petrified, I didn’t move. Their eyes became filled with lust and hunger. I had never been near a male, but my every instinct sounded an alarm of danger. “She is mine!” one of the males snarled as he pushed another male who brought my hair to his nose. I snatched my hair back as I dodged another one of them trying to touch my face. The other males rumbled in disagreement and protest. “She is mine!” others said. A brawl broke out among the males, and I was in the middle. This was my moment—until one guard dressed in bloodred armor approached us and snarled so loudly everyone in the hall had to cover their ears. Well, everyone who was human had to cover their ears. “Enough!” he thundered and looked at me frozen in the middle of all the chaos. He walked toward me and looked down as he closed his eyes and inhaled. He leaned in closer, a mere inch away from my face as I cringed from his nearness, and inhaled again. “Take them to the maiden chamber and have them cleaned up. They will be displayed properly to our lord,” he said, still an inch away from my face. He grabbed my arm and pulled me next to him. “No one touches this one. And did I not order to have her brought to the third-floor guest chamber?” he said as he placed me back in line with the other girls. I was shaking with fear as another girl grabbed my arm and pulled me forward. “Why are they so filthy?!” the male in the blood armor thundered with incredulity to the other males as he walked past and then held out the hair of another girl in formation. “Why are they not properly cleansed?!” He continued to snarl in aggravation. The other males stood quietly. They remained silent as they acknowledged their mistake. “Get them ready!” he thundered as he made his way past them. He stopped at my side again and looked down at me with a stern yet curious expression, his mouth turned up in a grin, and then he turned and walked out into the hall. The girls began to whisper as we walked into the maiden chamber. “Wow! Did you see Captain Nikolai?” one girl said. “I heard he’s one of the gentlest ones when he takes you,” another whispered. I leaned closer to the girl who had caught my arm. “What are they talking about—when he takes you where?” I asked, confused. She looked at me and then smiled as if she realized something. The other girls burst into laughter. “What’s your name, honey?” she asked.