The blooms unfurled from the black bulb, their petals as red as drops of blood. Alluna gasped, amazed. She'd never seen such a thing. Taking a deep breath, she filled her lungs with the sweet aroma the flowers exuded. A smile tugged at her lips and she couldn't help look up at Zak. Her joy was short lived when she saw his frown. He looked troubled, and she couldn't help wonder why.
Behind Zak, Alluna caught sight of a blue-skinned female rushing up to them. Alluna gaped at the girl dressed in a silver jump suit with a deep V neckline. Four breasts bounced and jostled, barely hidden by the silver fabric of her attire. She reached Zak, tugged his arm, and bared one side of her chest, asking him to
sign
her.
The shock left Alluna mute, not that she would have had the chance to utter a single protest. A blonde woman with ice-cold hands yanked her out of her seat with a hiss. Alluna didn't miss the murderous glare or the inch long fangs gleaming in the dim light. The female's blue eyes glowed with hatred. Another creature, with golden scales and bottomless black eyes grabbed Alluna's hair and finished yanking her farther away from Zak.
Alluna opened her mouth to scream, but she lost her footing and gripped an orange-skinned male holding a crystal orb in front of her face. He smiled, his golden eyes sparkling.
"One of his groupies? How does it feel to be fucked by Zak wilder? Do you go down on the other girls too? I've heard he never has less than at least five females at once."
Alluna's mouth dropped open, her mind registering what the male told her. That was when the screens caught her eyes.
The video monitors were immense and circled the entire arena. They showed the same image.
Zak stood on a stage, the breeze blowing his damp hair about his body. Torso bare, and legs spread, Zak twisted and turned, his fingers flying over a power guitar. The look on his face was rapturous as he bent back, guitar keening in his arms. A prominent bulge between his legs also showed he was aroused. The music he played was amazing, mesmerizing.
The scene changed to Zak surrounded by thousands of fans, signing autographs, and then again to him standing with a group of pale, skinny, black-haired vampires that all resembled each other. Although she'd never seen them before, her mind told her that these were the Teus brothers, members of the intergalactic rock band called Draconius Imorteus.
Her thoughts screeched to a halt as she stared at the next scene—Zak sitting backstage on a large couch. He looked different; his hair gleamed brighter, his eyes glowed strangely. He smiled and Alluna saw the long vampire fangs flash between his lips.
She swallowed as her eyes continued to take in the scene. Female vampires swarmed him. One gripped his hair and turned his head to devour his lips, another licked his neck. He had his arm around that one, his hand buried beneath the neckline of her dress fondling a breast. His other hand was between the legs of a third female that sat to his other side clearing riding his fingers while a fourth female lapped blood that trickled from her puncture wounds around the girl's nipple. The forth girl then crawled over the climaxing female and latched onto Zak's nipple.
Zak arched as the vampire bit his flesh turning his head down to hiss at her, but he didn't stop her from sucking his blood. There was a fifth and sixth female between his legs and they seemed to be taking turns...sucking his cock. Three more females tried to get into the fray of writhing bodies as well.
Alluna's eyes welled as the truth sank in. This was Zak's world...and there was no place in it for a little insignificant nobody like her.
The pain of that ripped her heart to shreds.
"Alluna," she heard Zak cry out.
"Zak," she whispered tearing her gaze from the screens showing him standing before an arena filled with hundreds of thousands of beings.
Tears streaming down her face, she reached back to where he was. She couldn't see him...but she could feel him. The throngs of creatures pushed her farther away. Her feet stumbled, fear slamming into her. A Grei pressed against her, its almond shaped black eyes staring right at her. His hair hung like metal coils around his oval face. Although his large slanted eyes dominated his face, Alluna stared in apprehension at the thin lipless mouth that curved up into an evil grin They were notorious for abducting beings and selling them into slavery.
Someone shoved Alluna and her feet, with those ridiculously high heels, tangled with something on the floor. It could have been anything, perhaps the tentacles of the slimy brown creature slithering past her. Cold hands gripped her and kept her from falling to the floor. Alluna looked up into the milky green eyes of a male vampire. He smiled at her and licked his fangs.
Her heart raced, her mind already knowing he intended to bite her. She stared, mesmerized, wanting to flee, but he had her entranced, heart beating triple time. The vampire dipped his finger into the neckline of her dress and bared one of her nipples.
"Here. I'll bite you here, little one." Spit dripped from his fangs. "Your terror will taste like ambrosia."
"Alluna," Zak's voice roared breaking her out of the trance.
She clenched her teeth and pulled away from the solid grip of the vampire, but her left heel caught on something again and this time she went down.
Zak's arms were there to catch her. He hauled her against his chest.
"I've got you, baby," he rasped.
Alluna clutched him, desperation filling her as more bodies pressed against them. Would the Grei snatch her from him and take her away? Would the vampire tear her throat out even as Zak held her?
He turned with her in his arms, the strength of them nearly crushing, but she didn't care. She knew he was trying to get them out of there.
Hundreds of strange creatures surrounded them, all holding vid-crystals, recording Zak and her.
"She looks Arborian," someone shouted.
"Look at her eyes. She's royalty."
Zak pushed through the horde of paparazzi, using his broad shoulders.
"Are you the long lost princess of the Northern king of Arboria?" another creature shouted.
Their words confused Alluna. She was nothing more than the only daughter of Lalia, the sorceress.
She felt Zak's dread as if it were her own. It was a strange sensation. She knew the emotion wasn't hers as well as the anger he held in check, in tight control.
An image came to her mind, an immense dragon, its scales gleaming like liquid gold, pacing, angry...trapped.
A Numba stepped up to Alluna, his face and body the color and texture of petrified wood. He shot his spiked tongue out at her, pricking her neck. Alluna shrieked in terror. She just could not take it anymore and clawed at Zak's chest, sobs choking her. She didn't want to be here. She wanted to go home, back to the safety of her tower room.
Everything around her swirled and melted until Zak's black Viper was the only solid reality around them.
"I want to go home," she screamed twisting in his arms.
"Easy, baby. You're safe now," he tried to soothe her.
"No," she shouted shaking her head so that her hair flew all around her face. "I want to go home, back to mama."
"You're upset. We'll go home. To our home and rest for the night. Tomorrow will be a new day—"
She turned her head to bare her teeth at him. "I don't want to go home with you," she shouted in his face, uncaring of the anger that made his blue eyes turn into slits. "I want my mama, my room. I don't belong here in this world. I don't belong with
you
."
Zak pulled her completely around to face him. "Back to being locked in a tower? Back to being alone? To the people that tried to kill you once?" he grated. "Fine."
He released her, closed his eyes, and leaned back. Light began to emanate from his body and Alluna felt sick of a sudden. Trembling she turned her head and almost fainted. All of space looked like a swirling whirlpool funneling around them. Zak was using his power to bend space to his will.
Alluna fell against him, unable to look any further or vomit the drink she'd ingested moments ago.
He didn't make a single move to cradle or soothe her. Like a fool, she clutched at his leather vest, burying her face against his hot skin. His scent filled her nostrils. How she longed to feel his arms around her again, but he remained stiff as a statue.
