Lauren backed away. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Of course you do.” He took another step toward her and Lauren shrank back. If only she had a weapon of some kind! Xairn had left her the finger-sized stunner but there were no pockets in the voluminous silver muumuu so she didn’t have anyplace to put it. She’d been keeping it on the counter across from the rehydrator machine but now the tall blond alien was blocking her way.
Blix leaned over her, so close that she could smell the strange, musty scent of his breath. Lauren was about to knee him and hope that it would hurt a male of his species as much as it would a human, when he suddenly reached past her and threw open the cupboard above her head with a flourish. “Food cubes!” he announced in the ecstatic tones of a prospector striking gold. “Genuine Kindred food cubes.” He turned to Lauren. “I knew it—you have hundreds. They’re quite valuable, you know.”
“They are?” Lauren put a hand to her chest to still her pounding heart. “So that’s what this is all about? That’s what you’re interested in—just the food cubes?”
“But of course!” Blix laughed. “What else would I want?”
“I…I don’t know.” There was no way she was going to tell him she’d been afraid he wanted her.
“I was certain you would have some in a vessel like this. They always stocked this particular model with plenty to spare.” Blix looked around the small ship approvingly. “But you didn’t seem inclined to let me in—which was why I created a small, ah, illusion, to facilitate my entrance into your lovely ship.”
Lauren shook her head. “I still don’t understand how you were able to do that. How did you make yourself look exactly like a rabbit? Like…”
“Like Mr. Kittles?” He raised one pale blond eyebrow at her. “It wasn’t hard at all, my dear. You think very loudly. You really should try to stop that.”
“I do?” Lauren put a hand to her temple and frowned. “But what about the weird dragon thing that was after you?”
“All part of the illusion.” Blix assured her.
“Illusion? But that thing was real. The door cut off a piece of its tongue.” Launre pointed to the slimy black chunk still twitching on the metal floor.
“That did smart a bit.” Blix went to stand by the chunk of tongue. Pointing one foot delicately, he touched it with the toe of his brown boot. There was a faint but disgusting sucking sound and the slimy mess was somehow suddenly absorbed into his foot. “It was me,” he explained as Lauren’s eyes got wide. “All of it. The bunny, the dragon—this form too. Don’t I look slightly familiar?”
Lauren looked at him, frowning. “If you had brown eyes instead of purple I’d say you looked like a grown up version of—”
“Scott Snyder—the first boy you ever kissed.” Blix smiled at her, his purple eyes flashing briefly brown. “He was a senior and you were just a freshman. You weren’t supposed to be out with him at all but you couldn’t resist—he was forbidden fruit. And the way he kissed. Just thinking about it still makes your toes curl, doesn’t it, my dear? Positively yummy.”
“Don’t do that.” Lauren frowned. “Don’t go into my head. I don’t like that.”
“I beg your pardon,” Blix managed to sound contrite and amused at the same time. “I didn’t mean to upset you. On the contrary—I wish to put you at ease.”
“Well you’re not doing a very good job.” Lauren put a hand on her hip. “Look, it was nice of you to drop in and all but my, uh…” She started to say ‘boyfriend’ but that description of Xairn didn’t really fit. “My protector who happens to be a very large, aggressive Scourge warrior will be back at any second,” she continued. “So it’s probably better if you leave. Now.”
“Very well.” Blix nodded humbly. “I realize that I used trickery to gain entry to your ship and my harmless little illusion has made you angry so I will go. But please consider doing business with me in the future. For just a few of those food cubes I’d be willing to give you enough creds to live comfortably here in O’ah for a year.”
“A year?” Lauren looked at the cupboard filled with cubes uncertainly. It wasn’t like she could eat them all. And maybe she could just sell him the ones that rehydrated into worms. Those she was never going to eat. If Xairn really was gone, she’d need a way to survive. No, don’t think like that. He’s not really gone—he’ll be back. But she was no longer so sure.