"Petra! Petra! Get out here!" I yelled over the sound of my laptop's fans wheezing. I'd set up shop on the counter in the kitchen.

Charlotte was on the couch lounging and Gabby was at her feet meticulously stitching up a hole in her work slacks.

"She's out with Landon. They went down to the florist to pick out flowers for the wedding remember?" Alicia toweled off her wet hair.

"Oh, damn. You're right I forgot. I just remembered that she was off," I glanced between all the girls, "and Nat?"

Alicia's gaze flicked to Gabby for a second before she inclined her head toward the door to the bedroom. The tension in the house was palpable ever since Gabby entered the lottery.

"Ah, I see. That's probably for the best anyway."

"Why?" Alicia twisted the towel around her hair.

"Y'know the chick who broke the news about the Temani Bercari?"

"Something Bird, yeah?" Charlotte didn't even look up from her book. I could feel her interest, though, and the interest of everyone else in the room.

"Cecilia, yeah. She updated her blog today--"

"What is it." Gabby looked up from her pants, her needlework forgotten. "She found something else in the packet, didn't she." She pressed her palms into her eyes almost as if to wipe away the dark circles there.

"Not in the packet, no. She posted a video she got from some tech savvy person in...France I think?" I scrolled down the blog page, scanning the writing, "Yeah, Cannes France, apparently. Whoever it was is in hiding now or something, because they managed to get a hold of a snippet of the video conference with the Val'Dornn Communications Lead. They sent it into Bird and she had it verified."

"You're lying. What do they look like?" All three girls had managed to pile in behind me to look at the screen of my cheap little laptop.

"Not lying and I haven't watched it yet."

"Well shit. Press play, girl."

I looked to Gabby over top of Charlotte motioning for me to continue. She nodded to me, "I gotta know."

I pressed the little white triangle. The video was black for a few seconds. Where I was expecting it to just be the actual video feed sent down to Earth from the Val'Dornn ship, it actually seemed to be some kind of video feed from the room itself. The heads of multiple different government officials could be seen at the bottom of the frame. It was obvious that the section of the video was taken sometime in the middle of the conversation. The communications screen took up more than half of the vid, and the male -- you're supposed to call them that right? -- while fuzzy, was easy to see.

"What the hell? He looks human." Charlotte sounded almost disappointed, after all, she didn't enter the lottery so there wasn't much for her to worry about.

Gabby, on the other hand, let out a quiet breath, "thank God."

"Not quite human," Alicia murmured, "he has strange eyes."

Sure enough, despite the loss of clarity from it being a video of a video, his eyes were a strange silvered color, almost reflective. I'd originally thought it was a byproduct of the recording, but maybe it wasn't.

"Is there a translation?" Charlotte reached over and scrolled down the page as the video continued playing. "Here!" She mumbled as she read through the rough translation Ms. Bird had posted, "Apparently they're discussing the actual genetic deformity on the X chromosome of their race. I think he's trying to convince them of the importance of their genetic studies. The deformity causes," she mumbled words as she scanned through the list of medical terminology, "god, okay, it causes a lot of issues most of which result in the miscarriage of a female fetus in utero almost immediately. The arm of the X chromosome degrades further with each generation causing the reducing the number of live female births exponentially each generation. Wow, god that's so crazy. Apparently, the only fix is found in genes located on the Y chromosome, and since the Y chromosome lacks the extra arm of the X chromosome, males are exempt. Wow, that's so fucking crazy."

"Charlotte?"

"Yeah? God, wow, the genetic deformity has a basis in their earliest history and almost destroyed their entire race, and it has actually gotten worse after their first foray into space because of the unguarded radiation they encountered in deep space."

"Earth to Charlotte."

"Yeah? What's up."

"I know you're a CNA and all, and I know this kinda stuff is what interests you, but what the fuck are you rambling about."

"Oh, sorry. It's just it is actually just really interesting."

"For you probably, but damn I sold my genome to them."

"I mean at least he's hot." Alicia joked.

"Hot? He's a fucking babe!" Charlotte scrolled back up to the video and we all watched the male as he conversed with the men in front of him.

Charlotte's right he is a babe. He wore a military dress shirt in pale blue with silvered stripes around his right arm. The colors accentuated his tanned skin and made the odd silver color of his eyes that much more noticeable. His arms were folded behind his back in a formal military posture, but he really did genuinely look ripped. His arms were thick and his wide shoulders tapered down into what you could assume were slim hips --

"What the fuck? Go back?" Alicia reached for the computer this time.

"What? What's wrong?"

"He just turned his head a second ago and smiled off behind the camera and it looked like he had fucking fangs."

"I'm sorry what?"

"Look!" Alicia restarted the video and sure enough, the male on the screen turned to his right and smiled, it wasn't an unsettling smile or anything, more relieved. They'd probably reached some kind of conclusion, but plain as day in his mouth you could see longer sharp canines.

"What the fuck?"

"I mean they could just be normal teeth?" Gabby reasoned.

"Bitch. Look at my mouth and tell me if my teeth are that sharp," Charlotte gave a mock smile.

Gabby's gaze flicked between the viewscreen and Charlotte, "Damn. He's a fucking vampire."

"A hot one that's for sure. I mean, I've had my fair share of bloodsucker fantasies and I wouldn't mind him to star in some"

"Charlotte!" We all cried.

"What? I'm just say--"

"What's going on?" Nat stood in the doorway to the bedroom, looking for all the world as if she hadn't slept in days.

"It's um," even Charlotte was lost for words, "there's been --"

Alicia swept in to save her and her fumbling, "There's been another leak."

"Oh?" Nat feigned interest, but you could hear the worry in her voice.

"Yeah, a guy in France got a hold of the original communication with the Val'Dornn. We finally have a glimpse of what they look like." Alicia spoke softly like she was trying to keep from startling a terrified animal.

"Let me see," Nat's voice was surprisingly determined, "I need to know what I've done."

She stepped up to the group of us and her eyes met Gabby's. They seemed to share a moment of silent communication before they both nodded to each other. When Nat looked at the screen the first thing she saw was the still of him with his mouthful of daggers, because we were all too dumbstruck to rewind the video. She let out a startled, "Oh!"

Quickly I changed the frame to a few seconds later. He was facing forward in this one, smiling a gentle smile. For all the world he looked much less intimidating, but I doubt Nat would forget the fangs.

"Merci. Merci, beaucoup." The man spoke in a deep rich voice before he bowed to the men in the room.

"You're not welcome." Nat looked furious, "They sold us. Right there that's them buying and selling us." She fled back into the bedroom.

We all watched her go in silence. I'd almost wished she'd been at work when the news had been leaked, but I suppose it's better that she found out in the safety of her home than out in public.

"I mean, damn. He's welcome to me. Hell, I'd like to buy him for a night, right Addison" Charlotte joked to break up the tension.

I shrugged in response, sure the man was hot, but any one man in a race of many could be beautiful. It didn't mean they all were.