Chapter 1

Leo was awakened by an insistent beeping in his ear, and an augreal message painted onto the back of his eyelids.

YOUR COMPANY HEALTH PLAN FROM [Boremann Security and Riot Control, inc] HAS BEEN EXPENDED. PLEASE LEAVE THE PREMISES IMMEDIATELY OR CLICK HERE TO SEE IF YOU QUALIFY FOR A MEDICAL LOAN!

He groaned audibly and opened his eyes, swiping the message away with a lazy sweep of his hand. He was alone, confined to a hospital bed in an abandoned ward. A quickly abandoned ward too, the other beds were a mess. Looked down, he observed that his skinsuit had been cut to pieces, and there were discolored patches on his skin where synthskin had clearly been grafted on.

Attempting to get to his feet, he collapsed with weak legs and a throbbing head. The painkillers had run out with his medical coverage, it would seem. Taking a moment to steel himself, he hauled his battered body upright by the bed’s railing, and forced himself to survey the room. All the cupboards had been turned out, leaving a couple of gowns scattered on the floor, but alas, no drugs.

Limping out of the ward, he discovered that the entire wing appeared abandoned too. Leo was beginning to become concerned. Was this a fever dream? Or had something gone horribly wrong? He headed for the exit, dragging his aching legs down the hallways and searching wards left and right. He found a bottle of aspirin, a handful of which took the edge off, but there was nothing stronger to be found.

The abandoned hospital was creepy, as they generally were, and Leo decided to arm himself by kicking an IV stand apart and hefting the central supporting pole. It was flimsy, but better than nothing. And it could serve as a walking cane as well. When he finally located an exit, he was completely unprepared for the sight before him.

Columns of smoke rose across the city, fires raging in the rubble of collapsed skyscrapers. The sky was scored across with the dissipating wakes of orbital shuttles, and the bright tracers of anti-aircraft guns. The air was alive with VTOLs, shrieking desperately towards the north edge of the city behind him. Three were crouched in the parking lot in front of him, bearing the insignia of the Conglomerate’s Special Internal Policy Enforcement division.

Leo gritted his teeth and ran towards the VTOLs as their engines spun up and they began to hover. Hanging out the side door of one of them was a man in Overlord armor, also bearing the SIPE markings.

“HEY! HEY! WAIT FOR ME!” Leo yelled hoarsely, waving his makeshift quarterstaff to get the attention of the Overlord.

“FUCK OFF, WE’RE FULL!” The man barked back, as his craft climbed higher.

“WHAT THE HELL’S GOING ON?!” Leo croaked, raising a hand to shield his eyes from the dust kicked up by the VTOL.

“REBEL SCUM ARE ATTACKING THE PLANET. THE SECTOR ADMIN HAS AUTHORIZED A STRATEGIC WITHDRAWAL FROM THIS AREA!” The Overlord explained, preparing to shut the door.

“REBELS?! WHAT THE FUCK MAN, YOU CAN’T LEAVE ME HERE! I’M AN OVERLORD JOCK LIKE YOU, THEY’LL SKIN ME ALIVE!”

“EVACUATION FLIGHTS ARE VIP ONLY. MY ADVICE? GET RID OF THAT SKINSUIT AND LEARN TO SUCK UP TO ALIENS!”

“YOU CAN’T LEAVE ME HERE!” Leo shouted desperately.

“WHY?”

“B-BECAUSE ... I’M HUMAN DAMNIT!”

“GOOD FOR YOU!” The Overlord slammed the door, and all three VTOLs rocketed into the sky, leaving Leo stranded among the ruined and burning remains of the parking lot.

Leo stood there, crushed, for a few moments. Then, started quickly limping back into the hospital. He shed his skinsuit as quickly as possible, replacing it with a set of scrubs he found.

Keeping a tight hold on his staff, he ventured further into the darkened complex, looking for the dispensary. Lights were unnecessary, Leo’s eyes were entirely synthetic and had integrated night-for-day. The synth skin on his torso was also starting to hurt with increasing severity, forcing him to double over and stop a few times. A baseline Human 700 years ago wouldn’t have been able to get half this far, but seven centuries of cumulative gene therapy combined with affordable and advanced cybernetics had resulted in a much tougher strain of homo sapiens.

At last he discovered the pharmacy. Unfortunately the drugs were inside a vendor. Leo flicked his wrist, causing a very small, wickedly curved blade to slide out of the tip of his right index finger. He’d lost the entire right arm to a molotov cocktail years ago, and it was now entirely synthetic, with a few tricks up its sleeve. Literally. He applied the blade to the vendor like a can opener, leveraging the strength of his prosthesis to peel the machine open like a tin of beans and pillage the painkillers and stimulants inside.

His mind cleared of the clouding influence of pain, Leo explored further, walking more confidently now. Hopefully there was a security station where he could find a gun, a hand pacifier or at least a baton. As he crept through the hallways, one hand on the scrub pocket full of pill bottles to stop them rattling and the other brandishing his IV pole turned staff, he heard the sound of boots on tile.

Standing perfectly still and straining his aural implants, he could make out the faint sound of careful footsteps and low chatter. The voices were speaking incredibly fast, and not English ... exactly. As it drew closer Leo could make out the trademark lilting, trilling tones of Shanglish, an abbreviated and streamlined English dialect spoken by the alien Sha’dee when they thought Humans weren’t listening.

“Shit.” He muttered under his breath, hefting his pole and creeping carefully forward.

Leo followed the sound of the voices until he reached a lobby with a security desk. The door had been cut off its hinges with freq knives, and there were three lightly armored figures rummaging through lockers behind the counter. Carbines hung from slings behind their shoulders with stocks collapsed, their hands occupied with the business of finding and sorting the contents of the security desk’s armory. Like him, Sha’dee had excellent night vision, though theirs was an evolved trait rather than a cybernetic one.

If he could get behind one of them, break his neck with the staff and grab his weapon, he could quickly gun down all three. Unfortunately for Leo, he had forgotten another Sha’dee sense which made them very difficult to sneak up on. As he reached the door, he heard a pair of clicks behind him, and turned just in time to see the flat of a tomahawk collide with the side of his skull.

Laid out on the ground, vision swimming, Leo could barely make out the figures crowded around over him. They were speaking more slowly, and he could understand them, barely.

“Shit Vetri, did you have to knock him out? That’s really bad for you, you know.”

“So’s getting cracked across the back of the neck with an IV pole.”

“He’s kinda cute, for a Human.”

“What do we do with him?”

“Can we keep him? Please, Staff Sgt.?”

Before fading out for the second time in as many days, Leo was struck by the fact that the voices of the alien soldiers were ... female?

Consciousness returned slowly. Leo’s world was gently rocking and jostling, he must be inside a vehicle of some kind. His body felt heavy, as though he was weighed down with something. There was something restraining his arms, and a tightness around his chest. Was he tied up? No, whatever was holding him was far too soft to be zip ties or rope, unless it was made of velvet. Which would be awfully strange. He opened one eye slowly, and found himself staring directly into another eye; one with a vibrant green iris and enormous by comparison. Too terrified to move, he slowly panned his eye around the darkened compartment.

He had been stripped of his scrubs, and placed in the middle of a messy pile of bedding inside the back of what was likely a truck, or maybe a VTOL. What was of much more concern was the fact that he was surrounded by Xenos. Four of them, in fact. One clung to each arm, diminutive faces nestled into his shoulders, another laid ontop of his torso with her head buried in his chest, and the fourth, the largest of them, was cradling his head. With the exception of the one holding his head, they were all asleep. It was the same three Sha’dee he’d seen in the hospital, the big one must have been the fourth who clocked him with the tomahawk. They were all wearing blue-stripped undershirts and khaki boxers, fairly standard undergarments for rebel Regulars.

If Humans were naked apes, then Sha’dee were more like naked monkeys. They were short and scrawny, roughly 5 feet in height at the tallest compared to the modern Human average of 6+, with slender and dexterous limbs. Their skin was deep red, and in the case of two of them, broken up by darker red stripes. They had four fingers to the Human five, mobile, pointed ears, large eyes and long prehensile tails wrapped around eachother and his legs. The big one noticed his eyes open and smiled, revealing a mouth full of wickedly sharp teeth complete with two prominent fangs.

Leo’s eyes widened and he tried to break free of their grip, but he was too weak to resist as the alien pressed his face tightly into her chest and stroked his now-bandaged head, purring softly.

“Shhhhh ... Don’t struggle Human, you’re in pretty rough shape. Wouldn’t want to hurt yourself more, would we?” She crooned, nuzzling her cheek against the top of his head and tightening her tail around his ankles.

“X-x-xeno...” He stammered foolishly, eyes wide with terror.

She chirped in amusement as the others stirred and awoke, staring at Leo with large bright eyes.

“Yes, I’m a Xeno. Now hold still!” The Xeno instructed, sliding down and gently pushing his head to the side, exposing his neck as her grin widened, fangs extending out of her upper jaw.

“Hey, hey, hey, wait! Can we maybe talk about this? I don’t think you wanna do that, I probably taste really bad and my body’s mostly full of cybernetics...” Leo protested clumsily, grinning nervously.

All four of them laughed out loud, an almost birdlike chittering sound emitted from deep in their long throats.

“You’re scaring him, Vetri. I think he thinks we’re going to eat him.” One of them giggled.

“Awww, poor thing” the big one, Vetri, purred “we’re not going to eat you, you silly Human.”

Her eyes gleamed mischievously as her face inched closer to his neck.

“I’m just gonna bite you a little.”

Before Leo could react, she struck like a cobra, sinking her fangs into his neck. Surprisingly, it didn’t hurt. Felt more like being pricked with a hypo than bitten by an animal. In fact, once the sting faded, it actually felt kinda ... good? He cautiously opened his eyes, which had instinctively screwed shut the moment she struck, and was relieved to find himself not covered in blood. Indeed she was being remarkably fastidious, cradling his head and very gently pressing her lips against his neck, with a tenderness that felt more like a kiss than a bite.

As she broke away, Leo felt all the aches and pains in his head and body melt into nothing. He’d felt this sensation before. A long time ago, when he was in high school, trying hypo patches behind the gym with the chugs he’d called friends back then. Venom. If he’d known the stuff was literally Xeno venom back then he probably would have puked, but right now the pain relief was all he cared about.

“See, that wasn’t so bad, now was it?” Vetri’s voice had an almost maternal tone, but with a hint of mischief that was echoed by the little toothy smirk on her face.

“If you don’t like hers, you can try mine...” One of the others purred saucily, running a long, slender black tongue along her own fangs.

Vetri casually reached over and flicked her on the tip of her ear, causing the other girl to squeal and fall off Leo’s chest, into the one clinging to his right arm. Once they had finished wrestling, Vetri straightened up and spoke.

“Alright bitches, time to get up. We should arrive any minute, and this guy needs to be presentable or it’s going to be that New Kheerat hooker incident all over again.”

The Xenos pouted and grumbled, but nonetheless they quickly scurried to their feet and started to get dressed. They pulled on combat pants and battle-jackets, helping eachother tug on autolace boots and tightening eachothers’ plate carriers. It was old, old gear, primitive by the standards Leo was used to as a private mercenary. No nanotube weave tactinecks, dynamic armor pads, combat IV tubing, or adaptive camouflage coating. Never mind power armor or even a load-bearing exoskeleton. Apart from their modern railguns and helmet-mounted optics, they would not have looked much different from the ancient Operators of the 21st Century.

Leo’s staring was interrupted by something landing on his chest. It was a pile of clothes, which Vetri had dug out of a footlocker and tossed at him.

“Come on, you too. Get dressed.”

He hauled himself to his feet, and began pulling on the pants.

“What’s your name, anyway?” He heard her ask while he fumbled with the cheap magzips.

“Leo.” He muttered, still extremely wary of his alien captors.

Nobody really thought of Sha’dee as particularly dangerous. Indeed, Leo like most of the mercenary class though of them as weak and pathetic, albeit quick on their feet. It’s certainly hard to take something seriously when you’ve seen so many crumple under your boots. But he didn’t have an Overlord now. He didn’t even have a gun. And they had plenty of them. The best course of action, he decided, was to play along until he at least knew where the hell he was. Then he could figure out how to escape.

“Just Leo? Ok. I’m S.Sgt Vetri, this is Cpl. Kiri, and those two are Sgt. Hera and Cpl. Kess.” Vetri explained as she tightened the final straps on her harness, pointing out each member of her team as she named them.

Kiri, who had been wrapped around his left arm, was the smallest of the bunch, at least in terms of height. She was quiet and avoided his eyes, with fluffy brown hair that hung just below her jawline, brilliant green eyes and deep red skin with bands of irregular darker spots in the same pattern as Vetri’s stripes. She must have been of mixed parentage; Sha’dee usually had spots, stripes or neither, but rarely both.

Hera was no exception to this, sporting paler skin with bold, vibrant stripes of dark red alongside spiky orange hair and bright, mischievous yellow eyes. She was the second smallest after Kiri, and the only one besides Vetri wearing a pistol. Hera was the one Vetri had flicked on the ear, which Leo now noticed sported a series of piercings and decorative notches. Her arms, neck and chest were heavily tattooed as well. Like many Liberation Front fighters, she had likely originally been part of a gang somewhere.

Kess, the second largest, had very deep red skin with long, elegant ears, jet black hair and strikingly purple eyes. She had apparently been fitted with cybernetics, a rarity in Xenos, as she didn’t have a throat mic band, augreal goggles or earbuds like the others. She was also wearing a short freq hanger on her hip. Leo had heard her species was good with swords, but Kess must have come from a wealthy (by alien standards) background to be able to afford one. A decent freq blade cost as much as a small aircar.

Vetri herself had opted for a much more economical solution to that problem. The dreaded freq tomahawk, as last seen in the bruise on the side of Leo’s head. Business end hooked into a kydex sheath on her chest, it was powered via contacts embedded in the power transmission gloves she wore, drawing from the same microfusion cell on her lower back that her carbine did.

She was the toughest-looking Red Leo had ever seen, like the stereotypical Sha’dee Huntress who found herself the villain of so many webshows and videogames come to life. While small compared to a Human she was still bigger than your average Sha’dee, with steely green eyes and a sly smile that mirrored her cocky attitude. Unruly brown hair was wrestled into a short ponytail just below the rim of her helmet, complementing her medium red skin. She had tattoos as well, though not nearly as many as Hera, and like Hera sported notched ears and most likely a lawless background.

Their uniforms (including the one he’d been given) were the dirty concrete-grey patchwork of static urban camo with dark khaki webgear and plate harnesses favored by anyone who couldn’t afford adaptive camo these days. Both these and their helmets had clearly been originally produced for Humans, and later modified for use by the smaller Aliens. The trousers now sported a tail-hole, which fortunately for what remained of Leo’s modesty was covered by a flap, and the ear modules for the helmets had been punched out to make room for pointed ears. Leo was provided a boonie hat instead of a helmet. His jacket also lacked insignia, besides a rebel flag on the right shoulder.

As whatever they were in ground to a halt, Vetri tossed him the last piece of kit and hauled the sliding door open. It was the same compact emergency breathing mask they wore around their necks. They must still be in the city, or a city. As the other three piled out, Vetra stopped him.

“Just don’t talk much, and follow my lead. If anyone asks, you tell them you’re a local volunteer under the authority of Munitions and Logistics Division. Trust me, it’s a pretty cushy gig compared to what’s going to happen to most of the people here.” She explained, adjusting his hat to cover the head bandages.

“Then why are you doing this for me?” Leo asked, finally sufficiently awake and adjusted to his bizarre situation to start questioning it.

“Oh this isn’t strictly a favor. You’re going to be very useful to us.” Vetri announced with a very worrying grin. “We have a lot of ammo crates to haul and seized munitions to sort and distribute today. Division won’t give me more help, so congratulations, you’ve been press-ganged. Don’t worry, if your injuries start acting up, just let me know and I’ll give you a little nip. And we aren’t even mates. How nice of me.”

She hopped out and Leo followed, stepping out the side of a massive transport truck into a giant public square-turned-staging area, surrounded by tents, military vehicles, and destroyed buildings. It was filled with activity, with Xenos and Humans alike scurrying about their business. As his feet found solid ground, Hera pushed a rickety folding cart into his hands, already laden down with heavy ammunition boxes.

“Don’t dawdle. If we don’t get the first truck unloaded in two hours, then no breakfast.”

Manual labor. It was something Leo hadn’t had to do in a long, long time. If he’d had his Overlord, he would have been able to put a cart under each arm and bounce across the tarmac in seconds. Instead, he was grunting and straining by the fifth trip, shoulder to shoulder with the damn Xenos.

If anything, it was the cavalier attitude they treated him with that pissed him off the most. Just a couple days ago, they would have cowered and groveled before him. Now, they didn’t even give him a second glance. When one of them cut him off, forcing him to stop the heavy cart and twist his ankle in the process, it was all he could do not to smack the little bastard through the nearest wall. But surrounded by the enemy on all sides, violence just wasn’t an option.

Neither was running away. Vetri watched him like a hawk. And even when he managed to elude her keen eyes, one of the others was watching him instead. He could probably beat the piss out of all four in hand-to-hand, what with his Human strength and cybernetics, but trying to outrun a Sha’dee was a losing proposition without sprinting prosthesis or power armor. Fast, nimble and acrobatic, the little aliens might be weak and fragile, but they could really move when they wanted to.

Somehow, Leo managed to keep his temper under control by envisioning Vetri’s smug, grinning face on every ammo box he slammed into a rack. All he had to do was keep his head down, and eventually they’d drop their guard. He could escape, make his way to the nearest Human forces, and tell them exactly where this rebel camp was. The thought of his tormentors being ripped to shreds by assault gun fire or barbecued by an Overlord’s gauntlet flamer brought a smile to his face.

“Aww, look at you smiling. See, you’re liking it here already.” Vetri purred coyly, sidling up behind him out of nowhere.

Leo almost jumped out of his skin. The alien grinned and shoved his shoulder playfully, reaching into her uniform shirt and extracting a pack of cigarettes.

“Want one?” She asked, voice muffled around the paper tube she was extracting between sharp teeth.

Vetri shook the pack and proffered it, using the heating element on her multitool to light the one in her mouth. Leo narrowed his eyes, trying to figure out what the trap was, before tentatively accepting. The general public had almost entirely switched to electronic alternatives centuries ago, but the ancient art of burning tobacco for nicotine was still popular with mercs and, apparently, soldiers as well. Mostly because cigs didn’t need batteries, required no maintenance and couldn’t malfunction, rare qualities on the hi-tech battlefield of the 28th Century. Plus all you had to do was go to any auto-doc street clinic and medical nanobots could scrub your lungs of tar for the cost of an oil change.

Leo tucked the alien cig between his lips and snapped the index finger of his prosthesis across his thumb, conjuring a small electric arc between them. Damn thing was probably menthol too, he thought sulkily as he lit it. To his surprise, he was wrong. It was rich and full-bodied, with a hint of something cool and sweet.

“Nice arm. Pretty fancy for a hospital orderly.” Vetri commented, blowing a smoke ring with surprising precision.

“It was my dad’s.” Leo muttered the first excuse that came to mind.

Vetri looked puzzled for a second, then slapped her temple.

“Oh, right, Humans do that whole nuclear family thing with inheritance and shit. Your species is weird.”

“Says the alien who chews on strangers’ necks in her underwear.” Leo rubbed the twin pinpricks on his throat reflexively.

“Exactly.” Vetri chuckled smugly, blowing smoke from little “<”-shaped slits on each side of her slim nose. “You Humans are weirdos. I can’t imagine being as terrified of physical contact as you roundears are.”

“You’re awfully forward for a Xeno.” Leo noted, flicking a cone of ash into a nearby pile of garbage.

“You mean I’m not scared of you.” Vetri cocked an ear in amusement. “I was born on rebel soil. My mothers and fathers have been fighting this war since before I was born, and my children will be fighting it after I die. I guess I just never learned to be afraid of Humans.”

“Wait, how old are you?” Leo was legitimately curious now; the war had only been going for about 20 years and the grizzled alien looked older than that.

“About 16 Earth Standard.”

“What?!” Leo nearly spit out his cigarette. “No way you’re only 16.”

Vetri threw her head back in raucous laughter.

“Not everyone has the luxury of a Human lifespan.” She explained. “Sha’dee are mentally and physically mature at 13 ESY. If I were Human I’d probably be in my late 20’s. I bet you don’t look your age either.”

“36.”

“Yeah, see I would have pegged you much younger. But I guess gene therapy and Human-tier medical care go a long way. You guys live until what, like 150?”

“Thereabouts yeah. What about you?”

“Little less than half of that. I’ll count myself lucky to see 70.”

“Fucking hell.” Leo whistled. “No wonder you lot are dumb enough to take on the Conglomerate. Lifespan that short, it’s not like you have much to lose.”

“Seems to be working out pretty well for us so far.” Vetri smirked. “The Conglomerate only lets Humans fight. So with each planet we take, your numbers fall, and ours swell with fresh recruits. Sure you’ll kill a lot more of us, but in the long term the Conglomerate is unsustainable. It’s simple math.”

“That’s awfully optimistic of you.” Leo snorted.

“Maybe.” Vetri snubbed out the cigarette under the toe of her boot and straightened up. “Alright, break time’s over, back to the grind. One more trip and we’ll have the whole thing unloaded. Then we get to sort and distribute all this crap.”

“Didn’t the spiky orange one say something about breakfast?” Leo asked, tossing his own butt aside and kicking off the brake on his cart.

“Hera? Yeah, I sent Kiri to the mess tent with our ration cards. We can eat while we sort.”

Leo wheeled the final cart into the massive tent they had been storing all the munitions in, Vetri right behind him. The others were already breaking up crates and dumping ammo boxes and empty magazines onto tables. The short one, Kiri, had just entered with her arms full of meal cartons.

He put the brake on his cart and stood around awkwardly until Vetri beckoned him over to the table. Kiri looked at him shyly as she laid out the rations.

“I grabbed what they had that I thought was good. I’m sorry, I don’t really know what Humans like.” Kiri blushed slightly, flattening her ears.

Vetri chuckled and tousled Kiri’s hair, causing the smaller alien to flush harder and avoid Leo’s gaze.

“What?! Kiri you tailhead there’s only four cartons.” Hera objected, halfway through breaking them open.

“W-well he doesn’t have a card...” Kiri trailed off.

“Well Hera, you’re just gonna have to share then.” Vetri ordered, pulling out a chair and sitting down.

“Fuuuuck that. Maybe we should eat him afterall.” Hera pouted.

Leo narrowed his eyes and rubbed the subdermal release stud for his finger blade nervously. Vetri rolled her eyes.

“Ooooor you could try not being so greedy for once. It’s not like you can eat yourself a bigger chest.” Vetri taunted.

“Seems to be working for Kiri.” Hera shot back.

“Hey!” Kiri objected, crossing her arms reflexively.

“Ignore them.” Leo almost jumped out of his boots for the umpteenth time that day as Kess appeared behind his left shoulder, offering him a bottle of water and a packet of bug juice. “You can eat half of one and we’ll divide the rest.”

“You ... people have GOT to stop sneaking up on me.” He muttered, taking the beverage in trembling hands.

“Sneaking up on you?” Kess looked puzzled.

“Humans don’t have lines, remember?” Vetri piped. “He can’t feel you.”

“Oh, duh. Sorry bud.” The black-haired alien smiled sheepishly.

Lines. Of course. Leo mentally kicked himself for forgetting about this in the hospital. Sha’dee had electroneural sensor lines in their flanks that allowed them to sense the presence of other lifeforms. No wonder he hadn’t been able to catch them off guard.

“Wait, then you knew I couldn’t feel you coming before.” He accused Vetri, who merely laughed annoyingly.

“I like startling you. It’s cute.”

Leo scowled and shook his head. This was easily the worst day of his life. Fucking aliens.

A ration carton slid in front of him. It was Kiri’s. She looked at him tentatively, ears still lowered shyly.

“You can have whatever you want. I’m not that hungry.”

The meal was, at least, familiar. High on the protein and fat though, with almost no veggies or carbs. The whole meal was 3D printed, with faux eggs, sausage and beans. Sha’dee were still omnivores, but definitely skewed more to the carnivorous side of the spectrum than Humans.

Leo cautiously picked up a sausage and took a bite. Eh, he’d had worse. The Aliens were all watching him, Vetri and Hera both snickering quietly.

“What?” He asked, staring them down.

“Nothing.” Hera grinned wider.

Leo ignored her and took another bite, which elicited more snickering from the Xenos.

“What?!” He put the sausage down and glared at them.

“Your bites are so tiny!” Hera chirped. “You eat like a little one.”

“Tiny?” Leo felt insulted, for some reason.

In response, Vetri fished a sausage out of the carton in front of her and to Leo’s utter astonishment, swallowed it whole. He could see the thing sliding down her throat like in a goddamn cartoon.

“I think I’ll chew my food, thanks.” He muttered.

“D’awww, poor Human...” Vetri purred, smacking her lips.

“Poor nothing. You’re all fucking disturbing.” Leo scowled and turned his attention to the pseudo-eggs.

“Oooh, is Mr. Civilized Human out of his comfort zone?” Hera crooned mockingly, tossing a hunk of food and catching it in a single gulp.

“Alright, alright. Lay off him. Don’t want him stabbing us in our sleep, do we?” Vetri joked around a mouthful of eggs.

She could joke all she wanted, Leo thought to himself, at this rate he’d actually do it. Well, maybe he’d let Kiri and Kess live, they hadn’t pissed him off too much yet. But Vetri and Hera were just begging for a conversation with the blade in his index finger. That would wipe the infuriating grins off their faces. At this point Leo would count himself unbelievably lucky if he never laid eyes on a Sha’dee ever again.