Allie's War Episodes 1-4(49)

“Should we call his owner?” a girl asked from another part of the room. She sounded worried...and sane, at least. “He’ll be in trouble, won’t he?”
“What is the point?” The predatory woman’s eyes remained on me. Her accent was thick, and sounded Slavic. Russian, maybe. “His owners will have declared him rogue by now...cut a deal with SCARB to avoid attention.”
“But I thought his job was classified. Even among the humans, don’t they—”
“Well, they may not tell the human news crews what he did for them,” the Russian said, rolling her eyes at the other’s words. “But that does not mean they will not shoot him down like a dog now.” Her eyes returned to mine. “What do you think, little girl? You were raised human.”
Her full lips curled, but it wasn’t really a smile.
“Would you kill him?” she taunted. “...Or play with him awhile first?”
A few of the other seers snickered.
I tried looking from face to face openly, the way Cass would have done.
When the other seers only avoided my eyes, I focused back on the Russian. The woman had her hair piled in braids around an angular but striking face with caramel-colored skin. Her brown eyes shone with so much light that I found myself fighting a kind of fear reaction just trying to hold her gaze.
Her full lips curved higher, so I knew she was reading my mind, too.
She stood beside a short Asian with a wide face and dark hair hanging down the center of her back. So not all seers were tall—good to know. Both of them wore silk robes that covered only the top of their thighs.
“Does it bother you, that we are whores?” the Russian asked me, folding her arms. “Would it bother you to know he sells it, too? But then, we seers are all ‘big sex,’ yes?” Anger colored her voice again, but once she saw my face, her predatory smile returned.
“Ah, you do not like what I say. But Revi’ is a whore...of many kinds. Offer him money. See what he says.” She grinned around at the others. “We seers always need money!”
More laughter rose. A few other seers held my stare that time, too, and smirked at me knowingly. Their expressions and bodies seemed to shift around me, a sea of hair and skin and glowing eyes, and they looked like animals to me, I couldn’t help it. They gestured to one another and their voices echoed in my head, seeming to come from all sides.
Has she tasted him yet?
No. I do not see him in her.
No wonder she is so angry...
Laughter rings, in my mind and outside. My head pounds, but my body feels far away, like a shank of meat on a hook. I close my eyes, trying to block them out.
Do you think it was she who beat him half dead?
Knowing Revi', he liked it...
A few more of them laughed.
He was hungry...even under all that. Do you think she refused him?
Not this one. She is hungry too.
Maybe he is forbidden? By the elders, I mean. Maybe he is not allowed, with his penance.
Did he ask you for it, little girl?
This last is directed at me, and comes from the Russian with that angular face and light-filled eyes and long, brown legs. The rest of the prostitutes fall silent, waiting for my answer.#p#分页标题#e#
I look around at them, knowing there is no good answer, no good not-answer.
Finally, I just fold my arms, sinking deeper in the plush chair.
They all laugh again. The room is half in darkness now. Their faces flicker, in and out, negative to positive. The Russian smiles nearest to me.
You don't know what you're missing, little sister...
I struggle to work my tongue. I am too angry, tired and in pain to care anymore if they hurt me. “Look,” I say. “We're not related, Miss...?”
Kat. I am Kat, and I have tasted him. Would you like to know how often? In what ways?
Images swirl briefly, a taste of the flavor of him, and my body reacts involuntarily, a thick surge of that nausea bringing heat to my face.
Kat laughs, and the images recede.
Yes...she is hungry for brother Revik. Kat looks around at the room. But is it him in particular, I wonder? She is new to our kind, after all. Maybe she would like one of her other brothers just as much? Who will break her in for the rest of us?
My fists curl. I don’t turn my head towards any of the males I now feel looking at me with interest. The tiredness is debilitating; if they’re not just having fun with me, there’s no way for me to know. I see a wine bottle, half full on the table.
I let my hand wander closer—
Stop! A voice breaks through the others. You are going too far...she thinks you mean it! The short, Asian female steps closer, and I realize it is her voice. She looks at me with curiosity, but also sympathy. She can’t help what she’s been taught. She’s scared, Kat. You’re being mean.