Hello again! I hope no one minds the daily chapters, I've just had a ton of stuff flowing out! I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited and followed me, it always makes my day to see the alert of a new friend :) I hope this chapter is satisfying for you guys and once again, thank you for choosing Devotion!
*Disclaimer: I do not own Predator, Alien or any characters pertaining to the Predator, Alien or AvP franchise!*
Her captor had said something to what she thought was some sort of butler and it wasted no time in departing from the enormous apartment like house. The place was huge and was the epitome of vaulted ceilings. The roof was made of glass and a strange dark orange colored sun shined into the living room area. It was no where near as bright as Earth's but gave off just enough light to be considered dim. There was a couch made of what looked like ivory and leather and cushioned with fur. In fact, most of the furniture was made of fur and leather. Skulls of every shape and size, human and not, made up the crown molding. The whole place looked similar to a hunting lodge except instead of wood cabin walls there were black metal walls instead. So, a futuristic hunting lodge? Aside from the skulls, she had to admit it was a little cozy. It even had a giant hearth with a large blue fire flickering inside of it.
She timidly walked over and sat down on the couch but when she went to lean back she winced at the contact on her scrubbed off tattoo. That whole experience in that weird alien spa was traumatizing. She was certain she would have post traumatic stress after this whole experience was over, if it ever ended that is. She couldn't believe they actually scrubbed off her tattoo, skin and all. Not to mention the weird baths that somehow evaporated all the hair off her body. She'd never been one for going bald eagle but the feel of the smooth leather underwear did feel quite amazing against her bare skin. Come to think of it, she didn't remember putting this weird outfit on. She looked down at the straps that made up her top. It looked more like a harness than a shirt as the only thing covered were her nipples.
She guessed that being eaten could be ruled out since he gave her a name. No'elia. His word for cat. What was that weird name he wanted her to call him? N'yaka-de? She'll have to say the word over and over again to remember it.
The sound of the door opening drew her attention from thinking and she jumped up to see the butler returning with something in his hands. It looked like, she narrowed her eyes to get a good look, a collar. Her heart sank into her stomach and the memory of that horrid monster woman leashing her up like a dog, came into mind. There was no doubt that the collar was intended for her. She watched as the butler showed N'yaka-de how to set it up with his weird wrist computer and once they were done, N'yaka-de headed right for her with the opened collar.
"Come." He instructed to her, like a dog! Like hell she was. She backed away and prepared to dash for an opening. He tried again to coax her over to him. "Come, No'elia. Cooperate and it shall go smoothly." Not in her book. A collar? Really? Was this guy into weird BDSM or something? Whatever his cup of tea was she wasn't about to take a sip from the same edge. She sprinted off in front of the fireplace, heading for a set of double doors.
He took two giant leaps and caught her by the straps of her harness top, dragging her to the floor. The part that wrapped around her neck got tugged tight and choked her into submission. He realized exactly what was happening and tightened his grasp on her top, squeezing the shit out of her neck. After a few moments of no air, her eyes felt like they were going to pop and only when she managed to wheeze out a raspy "please" did he let go. Her lungs were dying of thirst as they gulped in breaths of air. Holy shit. This guy wasn't messing around, he was dead set on collaring her even if it was on her lifeless body. "Alright." She wheezed. "I'll cooperate." He slammed the collar around her slender neck and closed it until it was tight like a choker. Every time she swallowed the collar struggled to stop her from doing it. Great. She had managed to piss him off yet again and now she was stuck with a too tight collar. He grabbed her by her neck and pulled her close to his side.
He spoke in clicks and growls to the butler and the butler replied. He looked down at her, nodded towards the butler then sternly said, "Go to him." She gave him a look of confusion then he nudged her with his hand. She grunted in annoyance then headed for the butler on the other side of the room. Her path was immediately blocked by some invisible wall. She looked back at N'yaka-de for instruction but he gave none. She pressed her body up against the force shield and ended up moving in a perfect four foot radius around N'yaka-de. She could extend her legs and arms beyond the space but her neck seemed to be the only thing restricting her from going any further. It was the collar, it was somehow tethered to N'yaka-de and kept her at his side.. like an electric fence..for dogs.
This new situation hit her hard. It was definitely a blow to her humanity. Not the invasion on earth, not the abduction, not the rough housing or even the spa day in hell. It was this. His intentions for her were finally clear. She was his pet, something to feed treats to and pet every now and then except she couldn't live in ignorant bliss like the household pets on Earth did. She had to live knowing that she was a slave, doing what she was told or else she would be violently punished. She burst into tears and sank down the invisible wall to her knees. The room was completely quiet except for her pitiful sobbing.
"There are rules you will follow." N'yaka-de said still using his serious voice.
She wiped her snotty nose. "Rules?" She asked wearily.
"Outside of this domicile, you will not speak to me. Your gaze will remain on either me or the floor." As he instructed her, she looked up from her spot and gave him a sorry and dejected look. "You are my companion. You belong to me. You don't talk unless I tell you too. You don't eat unless I give it to you. Everything you do will be decided by me. Failure to obey will result in punishment." His voice raised little by little as he spoke and she found his angry tone frightening. She quickly nodded in agreement but it wasn't good enough. "Do you understand?!" He roared at her. She found his treatment of her unnecessary, she had already stated she would behave why must he verbally abuse her? She nodded her head frantically. "Yes, N'yaka-de. I understand." Her voice broke at the end and she quickly buried her face into her palms to weep.
The sound of the butler leaving didn't phase her but when N'yaka-de went on the move, the force shield gave her no choice but to jump up and follow him or else she would've been dragged. He exited the room, placed his hand firmly on the back of her neck and walked with her down the dark hallway. She did as he had instructed and kept her eyes on the floor. A metal grate made up the ground and the sound of the metal talons on N'yaka-de's shoes were loud and his footsteps heavy, almost like a ten ton robot was walking through the hallway. She didn't have to be looking to know that she was being stared at and it made her wonder why they were. Was N'yaka-de not supposed to have her or maybe she was doing something wrong. She swallowed hard and kept her gaze on her feet.
He strolled her around for a while before coming to a doorway that had metal detectors in front of it. Another monster was standing behind a fence like wall inside of the room and N'yaka-de was speaking to him. She wanted desperately to look into the room, to see what was going on. The sound of N'yaka-de's wrist computer chirping meant he was doing something with her again. The stranger in the room reached out and she flinched in preparation to be grabbed or shoved but he only scanned her arm where they injected her earlier. After that, N'yaka-de leaned down, took off her collar and whispered to her. "You will stay here until I come for you again. Do not leave this room." He said sternly as he nudged her past the metal detectors.
She quickly turned to see N'yaka-de departing from the doorway. She went to dash out of the metal detectors after him but the monster guarding the doorway extended his arm and clotheslined her. She looked up at the guy with a shocked expression while she backed away from the door.
"Yeah, that wouldn't be a good idea." Erie spun her head around to see a girl, another human, standing behind her. "Hola." She said with a thick Spanish accent. Erie scrambled in the opposite direction of the girl to the front of a couch. "I know, you want to be with your Master but going through the fence wouldn't be the way to do it unless you want a 1,000 volts of electricity to pass through your body. I mean, it's a good way to suicide if you can get past the babysitter there." The girl pointed at the guy who had just performed the perfect wrestling move on Erie then she grabbed a purple round object from a bowl and plopped down on the couch.
Erie looked around the room and saw about a dozen more girls, all of different ethnicities and shape and size. Most of them looked Latino. Couches lined every inch of the walls and some had sleeping girls on them while the others were just sitting, patiently waiting for something. A cart with a glass barrel of water and small bowls to drink from adorned the center of the room. Side tables between each sofa had a bowl of strange looking, what she assumed, was fruit. No one seemed to even notice Erie as they whispered among each other. Where the hell was she? A human daycare center?
"Are you going to hang out on the floor all day or what?" The girl said as she peeled off the violet skin of her fruit. Erie watched as she glanced at her. "As someone who has personally witnessed what's been on that floor and how often feo here has cleaned it, I advise against lingering there for much longer."
Erie took the girl's advice and climbed up onto the sofa beside her. "Where are we?" Erie asked.
The girl had short frizzy hair that was pulled up in a poofy ponytail and light brown freckles that covered her nose and cheeks. Her leather outfit was more of what Erie wanted, a mini skirt and a one shoulder tank top. The girl gave her an estranged look that quickly shifted to realization. "Straight from the home planet, huh? Tenemos un salvaje uno." The girl said in Spanish and some of the other girls flocked over to where they were.
A lot of them immediately bombarded her with questions, mostly about pop culture. Who was the most popular music artist? What the fashion was like. What celebrities had died. Movies, food, video games and everything else Erie herself wasn't even sure about. One girl even asked if McDonald's still existed. She couldn't help but wonder exactly how long they had been here. The monster at the door let out a loud grunt and the girls quickly dispersed.
"What was that about?" She asked the original girl.
"It's been a while since a girl straight from the gran canica azul has been here." The girl said as she bit into the fruit and a thick purple jelly oozed down her chin.
"Is there somewhere else that human girls come from?" Erie asked suspiciously.
The girl laughed showing off a mouthful of purple pulp. "Mamasita, every girl in this room aside from you came from," She swallowed then used her free hand to spread across the air like a banner. "the auction house."
Erie gave her a confused look as her brain tried to imagine exactly what her definition of an auction house was. The girl shot her a look of disbelief. "It's where guys like him," She nodded towards the monster at the door. "Can get himself a little humana coño. Ever see all of those missing people posters? I'd say about 1 in 10 were actually missing, the rest were brought here. Beaten and trained into obedience so these monstruos have the perfect little chihuahua. Those that can't handle it or refuse to become a dog are executed like one." The girl made a gun out of her fingers and put it to her temple.
Erie couldn't believe that there was an actual space trade of humans. specifically trained to be a pet to these aliens. She looked around the room again at the girls and they did seem to be well behaved, all except for the girl that was explaining all of this to her. She finished her fruit and reached over into the bowl and pulled out another. Erie couldn't help but to feel like she had it easy, what these monsters must've done to these poor girls was unnerving. She thought how N'yaka-de had treated her thus far was scary, she could only imagine what a bunch of these guys did to every one of these girls. She pondered about how she tried to run from N'yaka-de and her blow to his head back on Earth, could those have been reasons for him to kill her? What exactly was considered a fatal act of disobedience? Maybe her view and actions towards the situation was incredibly careless.
Three girls walked over and stared down at Erie. She did her best to avoid looking at them but they were practically in her face. She glanced up at the middle girl who gave her a disgusted look. She was Latino, with short straight hair that came to about her shoulders and she was missing her top. The piece that covered her bottom might as well have been missing as the one inch thick strip could hardly be called a covering. "So you're from Earth?" She said with a bitchy tone in her voice.
Erie cleared her throat. "Uhm, yes." She really didn't want any trouble and these girls seemed to be looking for it.
She said something in Spanish and the other girls rolled with laughter. "So what did you do to hook such a jefe of a master?" One of the other girls made a provocative gesture with her mouth and the other ones nodded in agreement.
"Are you serious right now, Dana? Why don't you and your slut squad go back to talking about whose Master has the tiniest pene some more?" The girl on the couch barked as she made a pinching gesture with her fingers.
"Aw, Seleana, you going lesbiana on us are you?" Dana said and Seleana flashed her a threatening eye.
Erie wanted to go to the corner of the room and just blend in with the decor. She was never good with confrontation and always ended up on the wrong side of the jokes. She felt like she was in high school all over again. Erie went to slink off the couch when Dana reached out and pulled a lock of her hair up to her nose.
"She got the Princesa Package, ladies. Smell her hair, like roses on a pile of mierda." Dana said as she tossed Erie's hair behind her shoulder. "Only a master above Elite can afford such a treatment. She probably bagged herself an Ancient like poor little Seleana here." The girls laughed at every joke Dana made, like she was the most hilarious person that ever existed. Erie didn't go through four years of college to be thrown right back into a clique pool.
"Ignorante perras. Did you even bother to look at her Master? He's one of the Príncipes." After Seleana finished her remark, the other girls faces went from "bitchy" to "oh shit".
Erie wasn't too sure of what Seleana had said but the look on the other girl's faces confirmed that N'yaka-de was indeed someone of importance. The girls quickly became uninterested in Erie as they frowned and shuffled off to the other side of the room in a hurry. She had a million questions for Seleana and hoped she had the answers to them all.
"My master, who is he?" She asked as she watched Seleana begin to devour her new piece of purple fruit.
"His father is the king of these aliens. He's not as important as his brother, the Firstborn, but he is still important." She replied.
A prince? She had been kidnapped by a prince?! She felt like she was in some sick fairy tale story. Prince Charming rescues the damsel in distress but instead of living happily ever after or returning her to her people he kidnaps her and turns her into his lapdog. She wondered why he was on Earth killing those acidic aliens to begin with. Why would a prince be sent to the front lines? There was obviously more to her Master than she thought.
"These, creatures, what do they call themselves?" Erie asked.
The girl laughed. "What do they not call themselves? They're so egotistical and self absorbed. Always finding ways to be better than the male next to him. Yautja is the name of their kind but they call themselves warriors, hunters, conquistadores del universo, you name it and that's what they are." Erie watched as Seleana stood and went over to the water barrel, picked up one of the wooden bowls then filled it with water.
She brought it over to Erie and held it out for her. "So what's your name? Most of these girls have the same name, just like dogs do. There's probably five Dana's in here, three or four Seleana's. So what original name did you end up with?"
Erie reached out and took the small bowl. "No'elia but my human name is Erie." She replied.
"Fruit?" The girl found the name as interesting as N'yaka-de had. "Your name in Yautja means fruit. That's kind of funny." Seleana said as she fixed her own bowl of water. "No'elia though, that's different. I've never heard that one before. In fact, I've never heard the word at all. I'll have to ask my n'yaka-de what it means."
"Your master's name is N'yaka-de, too?" Erie exclaimed.
Seleana laughed even louder this time. "No, girl, n'yaka-de means master in Yautja." Seleana leaned back against the couch with a hand on her forehead. "Oh my god, you're funny. My master's name is U'th'ri, he's an Ancient which means he's over a thousand years old. I've been with him for a very long time, I think about 300 Earth years now."
Erie's jaw dropped. "How have you lived this long?"
"Chronological cessation. Apparently the Yautja invented the fountain of youth." She laughed again. "In all seriousness though, it's a process that basically makes you live forever. You've had it done too, here let me show you how you can tell." Seleana said as she set her bowl down then picked up Erie's hand. "See this?" She asked showing her one of her fingernails. Erie looked closely and barely saw a white line at the bottom of each of her nails. "That's where the cessation began. Your nails will never be any longer than they are now. Same thing with your hair so no more having to shave your legs!" Seleana said.
She seemed awfully chipper to have such a huge thing done to her body. Erie was up in the air about it. She'd never get old, never experience any natural changes beyond the age of 22 or be able to change her hair. Luckily, it was down to the middle of her back or she would've been upset. She supposed there were benefits to it like not having to shave or deal with wrinkles but why? Why did the Yautja, her master, need this done to their humans? It was obvious that they wanted to keep them past their expiration dates but it had to be more than that right? It couldn't be just so they lived longer.
"Well, my ride's here." Seleana said as she stood up from the couch.
Erie looked over at the doorway to see a decorated Yautja with a long black cape and it's dreadlocks heavy with silver rings. It looked much older than any of the Yautja she had met so far. Seleana turned to her before heading for her master who was busy talking to the babysitter Yautja.
"See you tomorrow, fruit." Erie watched as the tall slender girl got her arm scanned then walked through the metal detectors for her master to place a hand on the back of her neck in the exact same way her own master did. Seleana flashed her a smirk before averting her eyes to the floor.
Erie had a lot of questions for her master and even more for Seleana. There was a lot her master hadn't told her, maybe he didn't want her to know or thought that it didn't matter but to Erie, it did. Just the mention that her master was a prince had scared off those crazy Latino girls, she could only imagine what other power her master had over his own kind.
Her master was gone a long time before he came to get her. As soon as she saw him at the door she jumped up and tried to get to him. The babysitter Yautja quickly shoved her to the ground. He raised his hand like he was going to backhand her and she immediately covered her face in preparation for the incoming blow. A loud growl from her master quickly changed the babysitter's attitude and he reached down and pulled her to her feet gently. He scanned her arm then shoved her through the metal detector. She hastily tucked her body behind her master and after he gave the babysitter a good long hateful gaze he set his hand on the back of her neck and led her down the hallways to his apartment.
She was thankful that he didn't immediately slap on the collar even when they got to his room. She hopped up in the bed and nuzzled into the furs. She peeked out from under a fluffy white hide and watched as her master fumbled with his armor pieces. He was clumsy and his movements were slow. She didn't recall him being this careless earlier, why was he now? She watched as he went to take a step towards the weapon rack to take off his wrist swords and stumbled slightly. It was almost as if he were...no..no way..him? The prince was intoxicated and clearly well beyond a slight buzz. She couldn't help but stifle a giggle. That was why he took so long in coming to get her from the daycare, he was busy getting plastered.
"I am tired." He mumbled out. "I plan on going on a hunt soon and I need to be well rested." He said slurring slightly.
He must've been talking about going to get more skulls for his wall. Even though he was turning out to be quite scary, she had to admit that his body armor was pretty amazing. A heavy shoulder piece that draped over a majority of his left bicep and just the top of his right shoulder, came off first and was set onto a rack. He removed his greaves then his belt followed by the bracer on his right hand but he kept the wrist computer on his left. He continued this process until all he had on was a leather loincloth and his mask. She saw the other Yautja without a mask on and wondered if he looked as terrifying beneath his as they did. She watched in awe as he pulled off the decorated mask slowly, air hissing as it broke away from another part that was attached to his head. He set the mask on a rack then turned to face her.
She gasped and covered her mouth with her hand in shock. He didn't look the same as the others, he was much more intimidating. His mandibles moved around his fangs as he watched her reaction, each of the four sharp tusks were capped with a razor sharp metal tip. His eyes were a vibrant fiery red surrounded by darkness and above them, the place where eyebrows would go, was pierced with several silver rings along both sides. His huge sloping forehead was raised along where his tresses started, almost like a crown, and along the ridges he had metal spikes embedded into his skin about an inch apart, obviously not a natural characteristic. Her eyes moved to his enormous pectorals and noticed that his skin had crimson colored splotches that matched the ends of his thick dreadlocks. She saw his fists tightening and she quickly composed herself and turned her gaze from his muscular body to the floor where it belonged. He gave a snarl then moved to his bed where he collapsed indolently on to it. She moved towards the end of the bed, unsure of what he wanted her to do or where she should go. When he didn't protest, she relaxed against the soft fur.
She opened her mouth to speak but quickly shut it. She wasn't allowed to speak to him unless he told her too. She buried her face into the fluffy white fur of an unknown animal and tried to force herself to sleep. She felt him shift and she quickly rolled into the end of the bed.
"The place where I left you today, what was it like?" He asked, probably trying to figure out if she liked the daycare or not.
"It was," She paused. "Okay. Some of the other girls were a little pestering but other than that it was alright."
"That male. Did he touch you after I left you?" He questioned.
She was confused for a moment. Did he mean inappropriately or in a punishing manner? She was never one for getting people in trouble but she also didn't want to lie to him, especially after what Seleana had told her. He had every right to end her life whenever he pleased and she definitely didn't want it to be tonight. "Sort of but it was only because I tried to run after you when you left." She replied, cautiously.
He snarled and sat up to look at her. "How did he touch you and where?" He barked.
She moved away from him, unsure if he was angry at her or at the babysitter. "He just stuck his arm out and I ran into it, that's all." She squeaked out.
He grumbled and laid back down. She relaxed again but couldn't help but feel like he was trying to defend her from the babysitter. That would mean that he would have to have feelings for her, other than the regular feelings a Master would have for a slave, that is. She rolled the thought around for a minute before deciding that it was insane. There was no way he could favor her that much, he was probably just defending his property. Yeah. That had to be it.
After a moment he said, "When I arrived and you wanted to come to me of your own will, you earned the right not to wear the restraint."
Erie didn't look at it like she was doing what was expected of her. She just wanted out of that horrid place and she knew he was the only way she would be set free. It wasn't like she was ecstatic to see him or something. He was just a means to an end. She turned and looked at him as he laid on his back with one hand on his chest while the other rested at his side. She had to admit though, it was pretty cool that her master was the prince.
"No more talking." He said firmly as he opened his wrist computer and turned down the lights.
There was still a small light that shined in from the bathroom and gave off just enough illumination for her to make out everything in the room. She messed with the furs until she managed to get one lifted enough to make a pillow out of. She wasn't sure how much sleep she would get but she had to try to get some in. Her mind needed to rest, especially after such a horrific day. She laid on the side that didn't have her scrubbed off skin and closed her eyes. Maybe tomorrow would be a better day, maybe N'yaka-de will be easier on her. It didn't seem too hard to please him, she could at least pretend like she was a good pet. If the reward for such a trivial act of obedience was her freedom of space, maybe she could manage something even more impressive. She hoped the reward would be food. She always enjoyed foreign foods so it was something to look forward to. Hopefully it wasn't some sort of dog food equivalent stuff and N'yaka-de gave her actual sustenance. The sound of some distance device whirring quietly within the walls lulled her to sleep quite quickly. She was thankful for whatever the noise was, it was just enough distraction to help her fall asleep.
There you have it! I felt like it was kind of a filler chapter for you guys but for Erie it was some important discoveries! My Spanish is a little iffy and if someone who is more fluent wants to correct anything, just let me know and I'll edit it! See you soon!
Yautja Vocab:
N'yaka-de: Master
No'elia: Cat
