CHAPTER ONE
Psychedelic orange and blue lights pulsed across the hundreds of humans packed into the nightclub where a lone singer screamed unheard against the background of twanging guitars and thumping drums. Squeezed in the middle of hundreds of revellers a tall guy swung in far too close to a bronzed skin young woman. They could barely talk above the screams and background noise but he knew it was about to be his lucky night.
Brook had ignored Talbot's advances earlier in the evening but now accepted an invitation to dance a few moments earlier. She appeared well under the influence of Big C, the alcoholic cactus drink that most of the patrons consumed but this was good. She only grinned when he pulled her close.
However, he was a tapped on his shoulder and heard Brook gasp. He turned and found two ice blue eyes staring into his. The woman was quite unlike the other females around. She wore a tight golden dress that emphasized her breasts, stood almost two metres tall and was quite attractive in a cold sober sort of way.
"I have selected you," she said in a harsh whisper that he heard in spite of the background music.
Talbot gasped. Even in that fraction of a second, his mind raced back to his knowledge of this species. They were called Blues for more reasons than their eye colour. Their skin was a fair but lips and fingertips had a faint blue tinge. It was rumoured that they came from an oxygen-enriched zone hundreds of metres below sea level and their colouring was caused by the more diluted local atmosphere. There were no known males of the species and in normal situations Blues were introverted, hard working women who stayed in their own part of the city once the working hours were over. For a Blue to be at the nightclub at this time meant that she wanted to mate.
Rumours and facts were intertwined but it was common knowledge that a Blue only came on heat for eight days once in their yearly cycle. During this time, her personality changed to that of a predator who selected dozens of males to mate with. The encounters were talked about whenever men congregated. The stories varied from guys who were so exhausted after an encounter that they needed hospitalization to one of a guy who had a mental breakdown. Another rumour suggested that the Blues bit the male on the neck and injected a serum to enhance his performance. One thing a male never did, though, was to turn a Blue down. It was against the law.
"My name is Princess Anu IV. Do you hear me?"
"Sure," Talbot muttered. This was bad. There was no chance that this was a mistake. Blues only used formal titles when it was their mating season.
"Your name?"
"Talbot ... err ... Talbot Bassart."
"Good, Talbot. You have the physical stature I require." Princess Anu grabbed his hand and squeezed so hard he gasped in pain. The woman grunted in satisfaction and lifted her eyes at Brook. "Take a hike woman," she said. "My needs supersede yours."
A suddenly sober looking Brook sucked on her bottom lip and stared at Talbot. "Will you be okay?" she said.
"I guess..."
Talbot's mind turned to other rumours, the ones of the sheer excitement of the episodes with a Blue. Once a male mated with a Blue, it was said that an ordinary woman never satisfied the man again. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on one's attitude, unless one actually impregnated the Blue they were never selected again to mate with the species. 'Used' mates always had the vampire bite, a small scar that appear on the side of their neck during their lovemaking.
The country's laws were not rumours but hard facts written into the constitution after a war between Blues and humans had ended in a stalemate centuries before. Blues on heat had the right to pick any adult male of their choosing. If they became pregnant, as they often did the resulting daughter was DNA tested and the father found from the twenty or more mates who had serviced her. This man was considered responsible for raising the child and expected to mate with the Blue again a year later. Men who already had wives and families invariably had relationships that faltered. One Blue had five children in six years that were all fathered by the same man. He had lost a court battle after the third child was born, on the grounds that it was his duty to continue to father children for as long as she wished.
"You think too much, Talbot." Princess Anu almost smiled. "The rumours are exaggerated. We'll have fun." She handed Talbot a small yellow pill. "It's a stimulant to enhance your endurance. Take it and meet me in Cubical Five in twenty minutes." She glowered at Brook. "Still here, girl?" she said, turned and disappeared into the crowd.
"The bitch," Brook muttered. "Don't take that pill, Talbot."
"Why not?" For some strange reason Talbot, found he was quivering in excitement at the thought of Anu's body.
"Oh it'll stimulate you all right. You'll perform until daybreak then you'll be sterile for two months. My friend's partner was selected and took one. He was never the same and they ended up..." Brook sighed. "Let's say they aren't together any longer."
"So what do I do?" Talbot muttered.
"How the moon do I know? Fake it, I guess." She looked miserable. "If it's any consolation I had already booked Cubicle Sixteen for us at midnight."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. The constitution says it's considered an honour for a male to be selected by a Blue."
Talbot stared at the yellow pill in his hand and at the girl pleading with him. Oh moon, it was Brook he wanted not this Blue woman. He shook his head and the vision of Anu was replaced by that of the girl beside him, He clenched his fist, opened it again and let the pill drop to the ground. He stepped forward and crushed it with his heel.
"For you Brook," he said. "You're right of course. Let's go," he said.
The girl's retort was unexpected. "Are you crazy?" she replied. "I said not to take the stimulant but you still have to mate with her."
"No I don't" Talbot replied. "We shall invoke the non-consummation clause."
"Yeah sure," Brook replied. "Ten have tried in the last year and, as far as I know, nobody has succeeded. They were forced to mate and afterwards answered charges of breaking the Protocols of the Inter-species Reproduction Law. You could go to jail for a year."
"But they never had a vehicle like mine." He grabbed Brook's shoulders and peered into her eyes. "Will you help?"
Again, the constitution was explicit. If a selected mate could escape and was not caught during the time that the Blue was on heat, he was considered free of any obligations. This could be anything from one to eight days depending on how far in her cycle she was. Once out of her cycle, Princess Anu would not mate for another year and would have no further interest in him. Police and civil authorities, though, were obliged to help the Blue find the escapee who now had the status of a common criminal.
"Oh for moon's sake go and mate with her. I promise I'll be waiting for you afterwards," Brook blinked as if she was trying to stop tears.
"I'm not going to be treated like a slave," Talbot's voice became angry. "All I want you to do is to bring my car to the side entrance. I'll come out and..."
)
