“Okay. What’re we doing first?” Nikhara asked me, as she adjusted her lightweave flight-suit. We had elected to forego armour, Nikhara and I leaving Andrea and Sidney to meander about. The two of us grabbed our weapons and stepped outside.

In the distances, a roiling wave of sand was slowly rising up and coming this way. “The convention centre is this way,” I muttered to Nikhara and both us jogged north in the direction of the centre. We followed the mag-train rails above us, as we sprinted up the street.

Andrea had tried to cut my stupidly long hair for me before we’d left. The pair of scissors she’d produce became blunted after the first strand got chewed through.

The wire cutters she produced afterwards worked fine. But using them to cut my hair seemed ridiculous. Sidney had settled the matter by tying the front portion of my hair back to knot around the back of my head.

It still felt stupid and I looked dumb as hell. But it was better than nothing. I had thought about burning it off. But I and everyone else cringed at the suggestion.

“I wonder if it’s a spider monkey,” Nikhara mused to me.

“What?” I asked her and blinked out of my thoughts as we jogged. My orc-dryad wife was carrying her great big badass sword on her shoulder like it weighed nothing to her. It weighed nothing to me now. But holding it started a drain on my vessel. Nikhara’s blood had revitalised me, but I knew I needed more. Would need more, and soon.

She couldn’t keep slashing her palm open forever, my control was bound to slip at some point I just knew it. The I would be sinking my fangs in her neck and Sidney’s.

“You know. A spliced version of a monkey and spider,” she told me.

“I don’t even want to think about cross-species-splicing. I know some xeno races do it intentionally. But they have rules and regulations for such things. That Lee Petrich fucker is still out there as well.”

“Hmm, you do have a point,” she mused. We crossed a street and darted through an alley way. Out the other side, we turned right and followed the street going up at a slight incline. About half way up, I saw the convention centre building at the end of the road, across a junction.

The dead bodies we’d encountered seemed far too little. Not long after seeing the building, we wound our way up some twisting ramps and came to the entrance once again.

Nikhara boldly walked forward and headed inside, while I scanned around with a laser pistol. I had lost my revolver, submachine gun, and heavy pistol somewhere in the rubble of the agency building.

I followed Nikhara inside and stopped. The orc-dryad was shining her handheld flashlight around. There more bodies in here than there had been previously. Some were stacked in piles atop one another. The mounts placed on either side of the reception area. The models of old ships and vehicles were still there, but one of them. A miniature model of a spaceship on strings, rocked about as if it had been moved recently.

“Did I ever mention how much I don’t like this place,” I mumbled to Nikhara. My orc-dryad wife shrugged at me and smirked.

“You’d rather be flash-fried?”

“Uhhh, yeah,” I nodded in replied. “What hit the agency building anyway?”

“You didn’t see? Oh I suppose you wouldn’t have. That shot from the monstrous ship in orbit, the same one that hit the Erebus. It blasted the roof of the building. Right where you and that ‘Makkian’ were struggling.”

She rolled her eyes and moved further in. Her light scanning the mounts of bodies on either side of us. I looked further ahead into the darkness. A deeper part of the shadows before us was hunched over on the floor. I held my hand out to Nikhara to stop.

A squishy tearing sound attuned my enhanced hearing. I pointed ahead, and a little lower to the left of the coming corridor.

A muscular pink-furred thing was munching on the arm of a dead women. It had its back to us, and I could make out a stubby tail with a small gnarled hand at end. It looked almost ape-like in appearance with large floppy ears, and hands instead of feet.

Its thick arms came up to shield it’s face from the light as it twisted to regard us.

It chuffed deeply, and irritably.

“I don’t think it likes the light,” I murmured to Nikhara. “I take it, this isn’t the kind of monkey you were looking for?” I heard another deeper chuff come from behind us.

“Definitely not the kind of monkey I was looking for,” Nikhara said almost apologetically to me. “I do like the pink fur though.”

“Yeah, well…” I couldn’t think of anything to say in response to that. Was it strange that, this thing scared the shit out of me more than anything else I had encountered today.

It says a lot about our current situation that we were now dealing with potentially hostile wildlife, instead of xeno-alien blood drinkers and an army of undead thralls.

I wasn’t sure which I’d rather be dealing with.

The pink-furred monkey-thing growled deeply and chuffed from deep in its chest. I saw its thick razor-filled maw of teeth, as it growled and backed away from us. Going deeper into the darkness, and out of range of Nikhara’s light.

The orc-dryad then whipped around and scanned the flashlight behind us. Peeking over the top of a billboard off to one side of the reception room behind us. Were a pair of yellow iris’s with a red crimson slitted pupil. The same pink fur as the monkey-thing we’d just encountered, illuminated itself with a bright pink fluorescent glow.

It ducked down as Nikhara’s past over it once again.

“Okay. This building is way scarier that I thought,” I mumbled to my wife.

“You sound like, Andrea,” she pointed out. I nodded grudgingly and turned back to the path ahead of us. “Do we go deeper?” she asked after a moment.

I looked back towards the reception area. The light outside was getting remarkably dimmer, and I was beginning to worry about the sandstorm steadily coming towards the city.

“Let’s get back. If these thing’s are nocturnal I don’t want to be cornered somewhere where I can barely see.”

“Fair enough.”

We backed slowly towards the entrance. I heard another calling chuff sound, and twin deeper chuffs called out in response.

We past the billboard, that showed Falcis city on a sunny day. The sky on the billboard was littered with traffic. The fluorescent smaller monkey-thing poked its head out and squeaked out something that sounded like ‘polta’ as we exited back through the entrance.

Once outside we sprinted away from the convention centre building. The sandstorm to the west was curving upwards, as if to come crashing down in a surging wave over the city.

We ran back to where Andrea and Sidney were waiting. By the time we made it to the building, the sandstorm was sweeping across the city. Dusty particles beat against my neck, cheeks and ears. I covered my eyes as the entrance was held open for us to run through. We raced inside and out of the storm. The breach the Erebus had made through the ceiling of the mall, swirled with dusting clouds of sands and dirt.

“Come, this way,” Sidney shouted to us and jogged off towards a back room. We followed behind her into a clothing store. Andrea was inside picking out outfits.

“Hey babe,” she greeted us with a grin. The evening light outside, plus the sandstorm made the lights we had set up increasingly brighter.

Andrea and Sidney had apparently found a mattress somewhere and dragged it into this room. Andrea had set up spot lamps, old things that required a cord and an area to plug into. She had managed to attach the cords to a external outlet on the Erebus. We couldn’t access the ships functions properly, but external functions and power outlets still working fine.

“Hey yourself,” I smiled at the blue-haired android. She was holding up a blue pleated mini skirt and a tight white halter top. A pair of white trainers were hanging by their laces over a peg. “Trying on outfits?”

“Seeing what works mostly,” Andrea replied and stepped onto my boots to lean up and give me a kiss. I happily answered her questing mouth. “That hot-ass doctor has picked out some outfit’s as well. All tight clothing, I swear a girl can get jealous watching her body. I bet she could give Niki a run for her money.”

“Oh I doubt that. And I doubt you have anything to actually be jealous of. I love and want you for the way you are. Your looks and body never counted into it.”

“Oh, really… So If I decided to get some big ass titties implanted, that wouldn’t bother you?” she asked me quietly.

“Yes actually it would bother me,” I replied with a grin. She quirked a fine dark blue eyebrow at me in question. “Variety is the spice of life as they say.”

“Who says?” she asked me with a grin of her own.

“Nobody I know at least. But most people I know don’t have two wives travelling the galaxy with them and stirring up trouble.”

“Hmm,” she mused and kissed me again.

“Come on this way a moment. We’ve got some news.” I tugged on Andrea’s arms gently, getting her to follow me. Nikhara and Sidney were sat opposite each other on some plastic crates. I gave the psychiatrist a nod in greeting, and thanked her for opening the door for us.

“Okay,” I started. “We might have a problem--”

“What kind of problem?” Sidney interrupted me.

“I was getting to it. Nikhara and I went back to that convention centre, we spoke of before. There’re things, like pink furred monkeys inside. And one of them was chewing on a dead body.”

“Oh, that isn’t good,” Sidney muttered. I noticed she had on a pair of glasses perched on her delicate nose, she moved them up so she could rub the spot between her eyes. “Did they have a hand at the end of their tail?”

“Yes. Considering you know they have a tail could only mean they’re common knowledge here. We only saw the one, and it was at least man sized. The hand at the end of its tail was gnarled like the appendage had arthritis. It also seemed sensitive to light as well.”

“They’re called Phoban. They’re essentially nocturnal carrion eaters. Though they have a feral hunger, that has as I know in the past grown so bad to the point that swarms of them have come to the city at night and broken into homes. Sometimes kidnapping, killing and eating young children.”

“There was another,” Nikhara said pointedly looking at me.

I nodded, remembering. “There was a smaller on. Its eyes were yellow with red pupils, and its pink fur glowed with a fluorescent light.”

“I’ve never heard of such a Phoban before. But I’ve only been Lios for the past nine months. And most of that time was spent underground.”

“So we could be attacked by glowing monkeys, what else?” Andrea groused at us.

“Uhhh, that was it,” I said and shifted uncomfortably.

“You guys did nothing else? You just went there, got scared and came running back to mommy?” Andrea grinned at us.

“I was fine,” Nikhara said and raised her chin. “Marcus was scared though.” I didn’t bother correcting her. Animals weren’t really my thing. Mainly because we shared a mutual dislike of one another.

The women chuckled at my obvious discomfort. “Come here baby,” Andrea held out her arms to me, “mommy will it all better for you.” The android made a kissy face and winked at me.

Sighing I stood up and stretched, “we should do rotational shifts tonight. Then, hoping the storm has past by come morning, I want all of us to return to the agency building. Maybe even to the underground facility.”

They all nodded, and we set about parcelling out rations that the women had found from a food market, while Nikhara and I had been away. The cold meats and diced sandwiches tasted fine, and I was partially surprised I wasn’t vomiting it all up. It didn’t taste as good as the stuff within Nikhara or the thralls blood.

There was an electrifying vital energy within their blood. I could only guess that I was feeding on the magic within the thralls, and considering what Nikhara had said of her mother telling her about magic. Makkian had said something along the lines that Nikhara had life magic within her.

Had I fed on that?

I drew my mind inside myself. Picturing the vessel that held all this, ‘stuff’ or ‘magic’ as I was starting to think of it. I felt the same small trickle leaking through the bottom of the vessel. I hadn’t used any of my enhancements. So the drain was minimal, barely noticeable.

Like a drip instead of a trickle now.

I drew my focus away, and instead looked over my three stupidly beautiful companions. My wives, Andrea and Nikhara were telling Sidney about some of our rather unforgettable adventures. They talked of the pay for this specific mission, how I had met each of them, and when we had married.

I watched the sexy psychiatrist laugh, grin, and bite her plump bottom lip throughout their telling. I spoke of growing up an orphan, ran through a brief summary of my military career, and onto my life as a contractor for hire.

“So you’re a mercenary?” she asked me in surprise.

“Not quite,” I explained. “We do all types of jobs and missions. Usually depending on the pay and whether the job involves innocent people being harmed or not.”

“But you do it for money,” she pressed.

“Well, yes. But the money is an effect of the job. We do the work, sometimes well and get paid better than we had originally agreed. Sometimes our contract holders don’t even bring up the possibility of money as a reward for service. We do the job, and accept whatever they believe to be a suitable reward. I only take credit currency from Zarian militant missions.”

“Whys that?”

“Because Zarian society is filled with pompous dick bags,” Andrea cut in.

“Not all of them. Bill is just fine,” I interjected.

“Bill? Isn’t he the one who gave you the mission to come here?”

“Yeah. I haven’t been able to get in contact with him since we entered the fringe territory. So what’s your story then?” I asked her, and smiled dubiously as she blushed.

“Not that special I assure you, nor as exciting. I was born on a farm, in Yashinsophar. That’s the Yashrin federation capital world. I wanted to be a neurologist growing up. My mother had an accident and suffered severe brain damage when I was fourteen. She died when I had just started schooling at the age of sixteen, and I fell out with my dad shortly after. I spent a while partying, and drinking. Moving all over the place, until I settled down and was married for four months.”

She absently fingered the ring finger on her left hand. There was no ring, so I could only guess that they were no longer together.

“He was cheating on me. We ended things shortly after that, and I got into the practice of being a psychiatrist. Now I’m here, with all of you, on a dying world. Struggling to comprehend the reality of our current situation.”

“You seem to coping remarkably well,” Nikhara noted to her.

“I’m just better at ignoring it.” Her amber eyes flicked towards me. “You know, they’re legends of things like the Draugur’s, in the federation. Fanged men, who ate the souls of the living and devoured there corpses. They supposedly had minions and castles. Ruled entire countries. Could transform into all manner of animal’s and beasts. The sun and religious believe and icon’s drove them out into the open where they were killed.”

“Huh, I’ve never heard of anything like that before,” I told her. Growing up in a mix society of elves and human, were the latter were seen and treated as lesser, would do that to ones knowledge. I didn’t know any children rhymes either.

“I doubt you would. It goes back to the days before we all became star-born,” her accent became thicker than usual. “To the days when Princess Yashino, took our people from their world and gave them hope, dreams, and order.”

“What were the Draugur called in your legends?” I asked, and leaned forward.

“They were called Vampires. Parasites that fed on the innocence of man,” Sidney said and smiled at me shyly.

“Maybe they’re true…” I trailed off, thinking of my latest dream. The white cocoon, the white-haired woman pointing towards Arden city.

The only times my life had ever truly felt in my control. Was when everyone died on my home world and I was left free to roam.

Now, I felt swept up in events that were not of my own doing. Being tethered on by forces I could not see, nor feel. Like I was obligated to continue this course for no other reason than a shaky moral code.

“Sidney?”

“Yes,” she replied and blinked up at me.

“Why did all the people die here?”

“Oh I thought you knew that,” she said with some surprise. “The Draugur seed did it. It claimed the live of all of those born humanoid on this world. Those that weren’t, were killed. A few that did die, got back up and changed into those… things you fought.”

It felt as if my ear drum’s had popped as she spoke.

“Thought I knew…” I murmured to myself, why would she think… If I were a Draugur, I’d have to have a seed. That seed would’ve claimed all humanoid life on Ardenai-Prime.”

The pieces of the puzzle slowly inched closer. Creeping and affixing themselves in a clearer image. They hadn’t simply dropped dead from some sort of disease.

I had killed them. All nine billion people. Wouldn’t that mean that I at least had thralls out there. In that case where had all the people been taken to. I stood up and walked to the doors of the clothing store and looked out on the front of my crashed ship. The sandstorm was waning now. Not as harsh as it been.

A small crouched figure walked on all fours through the dusty cloud interior towards us. “Contact!” I snapped, and a second later my laser pistol was in hand. Bright pink glowing fluorescent light shone dimly as a small monkey-thing cleared through the sandstorm blowing in through the breached ceiling.

On its back however was a small blonde-haired girl. Her arms and legs tightly wrapped around the monkey’s body. It fifth tailed hand, held her steady pressing down on her back.

“Polta!” chirped the monkey-thing and nudged at the door with its forehead. I stepped back even as I reached out, wrapped my hand around the doors’ handle and swung it open. The fluorescent glowing monkey trotted inside and walked over to the now standing women. Then it gently took the small child down from its back and laid her down before them.

“Polta?” it chirruped and tilted its head in question at the women.

“Am I running a zoo, now?” I muttered to myself and closed the door behind me.

This novel is the work of Rhys Thomas. If you are reading this and it has not been published by Rhys Thomas, then this work has been stolen. Please report this to Amazon and me at email: [email protected]