Page 10 of Indentured Companion
Vrajan.
I am nervous as I shrug off my robe. I have not shown my body to another since I was a boy living with my Queen. The chiffon slides down my arms, and I wait for her reaction to me. Like all Korvis, my skin is alabaster white, with black stripes spiralling around my limbs to hug my outer arms, back, torso and thighs. My elbows to my fingertips are black, as are my knees to my feet. My hair is long and black from a central parting framing my face. The upper half is white, and the lower half is black, as is my neck. My ears are pointed, white, and stick out of my hair. My groin is also black, but I have hidden my modesty with a pair of silk black shorts.
I smile, seeing that she is tense, but she still looks me right in my lilac eyes. My black diamond pupils dilate and the sound of her quickening heart beat calls to me.
“…holy…fuck.” Valerie gulps, eyes wide and having a clear prey response to my appearance. I make no sudden moves and wait for her to get used to me. Once she is, I’ll approach. Perhaps we will talk for a little while before I feed from her? Just to be sure she is comfortable with me.
“Am I what you were expecting?” I ask nervously, my voice rumbling more clearly without a veil covering my mouth.
“No, good God, you arenotwhat I was expecting.” I raise a brow, unsure why she’s looking at me like she’s been cheated in some way. “I’m not going to lie? I was expecting you to look more like space Dracula, than…” She waves her hand up and down to indicate my whole body. “Jeez. All you need are a pair of horns and you’d look like you crawled your ass out of hell.” I grip my hands into fists down by my sides. I understood that reference. Hell is where Terrans believe demons and devils reside. She thinks I look monstrous. I drop down and grab my blue robe, turning my back to her as I hurry to put it back on.
This was a mistake. It’s only the third day. I shouldn’t have unveiled myself for her. She thinks I look hideous. Oh no. Now I’m crying. How humiliating… “Dynast?” Her voice is right behind me and I panic, clutching the robe in place over my chest.
“I will not feed from you this morning. Help yourself to breakfast.” I am ashamed to say my voice wobbled and I raised my chin bitterly, before marching out of her room to hide in mine. Once in my sanctuary I lock the door and slide down to my knees with my hands braced on the door.
That was not my finest moment. Damn it. I prepared for this. Theskians see my people as monsters. Of course even brave little Valerie would look upon me and see the same beast as everyone else did. I hang my head forward and press my forehead to the door, clenching my fists and my eyes shut as I cry. Am I truly hideous? Are my markings truly that terrifying? I spoke softly to her and hid my fangs, I think. I…have a year of this.
After a moment of indulging self-pity I sit back and kneel. I rub my hands on my face and chastise myself. That was hardly becoming behaviour for a Dynast. The opinion of one Terran shouldn’t shatter me so. I can simply feed from her like I did before. Moving my veil to one side for the bite, and replacing it. I’ll just have to stock up on plenty of spares. I sigh and intend to apologise to Valerie for exposing her to what must be an unsettling experience with my body, when she knocks on my door.
“Erm, Dynast?”
“Just a moment.” I drag myself up to stand and pull my blue robe closer over my chest. “I just need a few minutes to get dressed and I’ll be with you Miss Stone.”
“Don’t do that.” She swears under her breath and I regard the door curiously. Did she tell menotto get dressed? “I reacted badly back there. I’m sorry. Your species is very different from mine and I shouldn’t have said what I did.” No, she shouldn’t have, but it doesn’t change how she feels about me. She thinks I’m a hellish monster. “Can I please come in so I’m not talking through a door?” I look over my shoulder towards my wardrobe, thinking about getting one of my headdresses out. “Please?” I sweep my lilac eyes back to the door.
“…I’m not dressed.” I grumble and wait to give her one last chance to change her mind.
“Great, now can I come in?” I rub my hand across my dark mouth and hesitate for another moment, before I press the door release. I quickly tug up my blue robe to hide below my eyes, another ‘not my finest moment’ decision for the records, but I felt better by covering up a little more. “Right.” Valerie looks me in the eye, and has her hands up in surrender. “Look, I’ve never met a Korvis before, and I have no idea what Ithoughtyou were going to look like, but you surprised me and I reacted badly. Very badly. I was wrong, and I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have freaked out at you like that.” She put her hands on her hips and smiled awkwardly. “Especially after making a big deal about the fact Korvis don’tunveilthemselves for just anyone…yeah. Not my finest moment.” I raise a brow, having just thought something very similar about myself. “Do you accept my apology?”
“I do.” I slowly lower my robe and watch her gaze dart to my dark mouth. “Am I trulyoff putting?” She chuckles and pushes her brown hair back over her shoulders.
“Come on Dynast.” She walks into my bedroom and sits on the edge of my bed. As per my preference, everything in here is red. From the bedding to the lighting, and the framed mirror on the wall. The red filtered spotlights make her seem paler and her hair darker. I blush at the sight of her on my bed and tapping the space next to her. “I’m really bloated, and hungry, so let’s get you fed so I can rest and have some breakfast too.” I feel my phyrodox glands secrete into my mouth and I gulp with anticipation.
“If you’re sure.” I lower my robe to my shoulders. “Once we begin a healthy feeding schedule, it wouldn’t be fair to stop.” I let the chiffon slip to my elbows. Her eyes drop to the stripes on my chest.
“Come on.” She is tense and I hear her heart racing, but not as quickly as it was in earlier. I hum curiously and let my robe fall the rest of the way to the floor. I watch her with a raised brow to see if she ‘freaks out’ again. She doesn’t, so I slowly approach her. The bed shifts and she slides toward me as I lower my weight into the mattress. I’m on her left and I can see her jugular throbbing.
“Relax.” I whisper and slowly trace the back of my fingers across her neck to move a few wisps of her hair out of the way. “If you relax, it stings less.”
“Oh, I don’t know?” She chuckles nervously. “You said that last time and itreallyhurt.” Guilt rises in me for a moment, but I squash that down. It can’t be helped.
“It will hurt more if you are tense, and if I go slowly it draws it out. It’s better for you if you relax and if I am swift.” I wait as she takes a few steadying breaths. Once she clears her throat and nods that she’s ready I smile. I can tell she’s still afraid of me. More so now she knows how the bite feels and my true appearance. Yet, she’s still going through with our contract. Brave girl. I move to turn on the bed to face her and use my left hand to hold the back of her head. “Relax Miss Stone.” I whisper and hold her left shoulder with my right hand. I’m ready to cradle her as I feed and support her if she passes out again. I aim for the pulsing I can see beneath the surface and pierce my four fangs firmly into her neck. She cries out and grips my sides, anchoring herself to me as I feed. I massage her artery with my tongue to speed up the feed. My priority is making this feed quick to reduce how long she suffers for. A shame, as her blood is delightful. Like warmth caressing me from the inside with each sweet gulp. I can feel her pulse as I feed and instinctively know to stop when it reaches a certain point. I finally allow my phyrodox gland to pump into her to aid the healing process and blood replenishment for the next feed. I withdraw my fangs from her throat and lap at her wounds. Again, to help them seal over. I lick every smear I can find and then suck my lips into my mouth to savour her taste.
She slumps back, but I am still holding her so she doesn’t fall. I press my lips to her neck to feel her pulse and check it isn’t too low. Content she is stable, I take great care to lower her to rest on my bed. I only leave her to retrieve some Regen pills. She’s unconscious, but it’s important to get the Regen in her, so I twist the capsules open to empty the powder into the palm of my left hand. I lick my finger and dab the pad into the powder. Then I use another finger to part her lips and dip the first into her mouth. I take my time to rub the Regen powder against her gums so it absorbs into her blood stream. “Don’t worry Miss Stone. I’ll take excellent care of you.” I whisper and smile at her. “You let me feed off you, even though you think I’m monstrous. One day, hopefully you’ll be so used to my appearance, you won’t mind it.” I rub the last of the powder to her gums and tug at her lips with my thumb and finger. “…softer than I was expecting…” I bring my hand up to my own lips and dart my tongue out to taste her saliva. It has the same sweetness as her blood, but not as intense. Still? She would probably be quite pleasant to kiss too…
Chapter 12
Security
Valerie.
I thought being the food source for a Korvis was a pain in the neck. It is, literally, but at least the pain eventually passes. At least I’m a well pampered blood bag. For the last three weeks as the Dynast’s feeding companion, we’ve fallen into a good rhythm. The sound of ‘Good morning Miss Stone’ wakes me bright and early each morning. I shower and dress into something shoulderless so my neck is exposed, walk to the Dynast’s bedroom, where he is waiting for me with his clothes off. Oh, but with silk shorts on, thank God. I wouldn’t say I’musedto his appearance, but I don’t feel the urge to scream and run away like I did the first time I saw his true appearance. No wonder the Korvis cover up in public. They look like black and white striped demons. All the Dynast needs is a pair of horns, maybe some bat wings. I’ve found it helps to focus on his lilac eyes. They are always gentle and patient, and I anchor my sanity there.
I sit on his bed, he tells me to relax, and he feeds on me. He does the same at lunch and dinner time. I nap after every feed, and the time it takes me to come around is getting shorter. In the beginning I would be out cold for at least an hour, sometimes two. Now I’m only out for about 10 minutes. The Dynast says that’s because my body is getting used to our symbiotic biochemistry. He also assures me that it’s not permanent change, because of the measures he is taking. Whatever that means. Once I come to, I’m hungry, and the Dynast keeps me company and ensures I eat a healthy meal. My neck tends to stop aching in time for the next feed, and that’s a ‘healthy feeding schedule’ for a Korvis and his feeding companion.
I’m used to having space Dracula nom on my neck three times a day now. I’m fine with it. What I amnot fine with, is my experience as his feeding companion when we arenoton his cruiser. Every time we dock with the main starbase we have to go through customs. I’ve done this hundreds of times before becoming an indentured servant, but now I’m the feeding companion to the Dynast, it’s honestly infuriating. Before, I would just let them scan my eye for my ID, ask me to enter my security code, and off I would go through the checkpoint. Now? Fuck me. It’s like they’re trying their best to refuse us entry.
Today we’re going to lunch with a Sacron reporter who the Dynast has been approved to give an interview. Good press. It’s a lunch time appointment, but we set off three hours earlier than the meeting time,justto make sure we passed through customs in time. I get it. Theskians are scared of the Korvians. I still am, to a certain degree, but this one is contractually obligated to keep me healthy, and I’m confident that if he didn’t, the Indentured Servitude Services would black list their species from forming contracts. He was desperate to pave the way for the Korvis in returning to Theskian space, so he wouldn’t risk my neck. So to speak.
