Page 13 of Decadence

How was she going to explain away her sudden disappearance?

Oh, god.

She had a life to go back to on Earth. A crazy, hectic, busy, fulfilling existence that she’d created for herself through her own sweat and tears and hard fucking work.

She was going back?

A lump rose in her throat. A tear threatened to slip from her eye.

No way. Don’t do this, she told herself. You’re not going to lose it in front of this guy. He’s already seen too much of you.

“Suitable?” she asked quietly, daring to hope. “What do you mean by that?”

The Kordolian pressed a long gloved finger to the side of his head. His fingers, she realized, were a little longer than a human’s would be. “Your thoughts must be calm. Your body needs to be fully healed. There will be questions. You must be able to withstand the scrutiny of your people and the transition back into your ordinary life. Of course, we will provide the necessary protection. My men are securing the area as we speak.”

“S-securing?”

Ikriss smiled, his fangs gleaming in the faint starlight. “Flushing out potential threats. Neutralizing hidden surveillance. Dissuading any of your infernal human media from thinking they can investigate. You are under our protection now, Sienna. We would do no less if you were one of our own.” A devilish glint entered his eyes. “Do not look so worried. We can be very discreet when we choose. Ordinary humans will never detect our presence.”

And just like that, her hopes of returning to any semblance of normality were snatched away.

“I don’t understand. The ones that abducted us... y-you dealt with them, didn’t you? Why would I still need security?”

“The ones that orchestrated your capture were not Ephrenians. The Ephrenians were just the traffickers.”

“Pretty brutal for just traffickers,” she muttered bitterly. “But I get your point. There was another one. A total asshole. He was calling all the shots, but he wasn’t in the room with me. He was one of your kind.”

“I know him,” Ikriss’s voice turned deathly cold, “and I will deal with him. Rest assured that revenge will be exacted.”

Revenge will be exacted. Jeez, he made it sound like a transaction. An eye for an eye, only it was her pain and humiliation and suffering that he was dealing back.

Did Kordolians have a special thing about revenge?

Deep down, there was a small part of her that relished the thought of her abuser’s suffering. The idea that one of his own kind would be the one to mete out punishment and probably even death on her behalf… it filled her with a savage kind of satisfaction.

And she had no doubt Ikriss could be cruel and ruthless when he wanted.

What the hell is wrong with you? Thinking about revenge and torture like you’re some damn Kordolian…

She wasn’t even angry about what had happened to her. When she thought about it, she just felt cold… and numb.

“I don’t care what you do with him,” she said quickly, suppressing a shudder as she blocked out the violent thoughts. “I don’t want to know about any of that. I just want to go home. I want to go back to how things were before all this happened.” She had a perfectly good life back on Earth. “Even these security measures… are they really necessary?”

The alien gave her a darkly intense look that made her insides turn to mush. “You don’t know my people very well. I do. The security remains until we deem it unnecessary.”

“And what if that never happens?”

“Then you will just have to get used to us, won’t you?” The alien flashed a sharp-toothed grin. It took Sienna a moment to realize that he was kind-of teasing her, in a weird and darkly alien kind of way. Did Kordolians have a sense of humor, then? “Consider yourself fortunate. Most humans would never be able to afford our protection services, but you get them for free.”

“Free? I think I’ve paid my dues,” she said tersely. A sudden terrifying thought occurred to her. “I don’t know what exactly you have in mind for security, but your people… they can’t be in my shop.”

Ikriss’s left eyebrow arched ever so slightly. “You are a cook, are you not?”

“Chef,” she corrected, a little indignant. She’d worked hard enough to get where she was. She wasn’t going to downplay her existence for anyone, not even this intimidating alien, who probably didn’t understand anything about Earth’s food culture. “I run a small and extremely busy restaurant in one of Earth’s cities called New York, but you probably already knew that. It’s a tight ship and it’s fucking hard work. I create the menu, prepare the food, pay the staff, pay the debts… that’s why I need to go back as soon as possible. The whole thing’s going to collapse soon if I’m not there.” If it hasn’t already. She just hoped her staff had been able to keep things going in the face of her unexplained sudden disappearance.

She was pretty sure she’d already missed a payment on her business loan. Soon, the Syndicate’s menacing debt collectors would be hanging around in the dark alleyway behind her shop again, issuing not-so-veiled threats until she paid her monthly installment.

And every time she felt like she was just about to get on top of things, they raised the fucking interest rate. Bastards.

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