Taura opened her eyes and winced. Sunlight streamed through the window directly onto her face. Her eyes hurt and her head throbbed, a sort of dull ache that spiked with each heartbeat. She held up a hand to shade her face and took a slow look around. She was in a bed, but not hers. This room was unfamiliar except for a few blurry memories.
She pushed herself up, grunting and grimacing, and sat on the edge of the bed. Then she waited for the room to stop spinning. Finally, she was able to really take in her surroundings. The dark green carpet was very short and had numerous stains all over, with cigarette butts and other detritus here and there. The room was tiny, the only furniture a bed, a chair with an end table beside it, and a cabinet with a small, old TV on top.
This is a motel room. How the hell did I get here?
She took a few deep breaths to slow her pounding heart. She closed her eyes and concentrated, and in a moment the throbbing ache dulled a bit more and she felt steadier. She opened her eyes and sighed.
A moment later she noticed the smell. A human's scent was on her.
Her mouth fell open and she ran a trembling hand through her hair. What was I doing here?
She closed her eyes again and tried to focus. Okay, calm down, think. Where did I go after leaving the apartment? She remembered it a moment later: a bar. Why did I go to a bar? I've never had an urge to go out drinking in my entire life. But now that a few bits and pieces were coming back to her, she did recall stepping into the first bar she'd found -- a sudden, inexplicable impulse sending her through the door and up to the counter to order a drink. She hadn't liked the taste of it. Then …
A voice behind her, just over her left shoulder: "Hey, you look like you could use some company."
She had turned and found a young human with short, dark hair and the brightest, most charming smile she'd ever seen. Her breath had caught in her throat at the realization that such a hot guy was even speaking to her, much less offering his companionship. At first she'd thought he had a severe case of beer goggles, but she had merely shrugged and nodded at the adjacent empty stool.
"Well, if you want to. Sure."
He had sat beside her and bought her another drink. She hadn't liked the taste of that one any more than the first, but she wasn't about to tell him that. She'd just smiled and nodded at whatever he said to her, though she couldn't remember much of it now. All that had mattered to her was that a good-looking guy was spending time with her.
All that had mattered was the way he'd smiled at her and rested his hand on hers as he talked. Her horniness had faded during her walk down the street, but this man's presence, good looks and charm had brought it back, even stronger than before. And then …
She frowned, trying to remember. And then...
"Say … you want to go somewhere private? I think we could have a much better time away from all this noise."
She remembered nodding numbly, the room spinning around her as she stumbled along beside him. Which was odd. With her engineered metabolism, it should've taken a hell of a lot more to get her drunk than she had taken in. It hadn't occurred to her to question that, of course, and she had followed him … somewhere ….
This motel, most likely. Taura shook her head. I had sex with him. Without even finding out his name! She groaned and rubbed her hands over her face. And I don't even remember any of it!
Well, she did recall a few things, but dimly. His hands moving over her body, mostly. And she thought she'd felt him enter her, but she couldn't be sure whether she'd imagined it or not. Other than that, it was all one big blur. And now the man she'd slept with was gone. He must've slipped out during the night. He'd had his fun with her and then he'd left her here.
"Stupid," she groaned, leaning forward and burying her face in her hands. "How could I do something so goddamn stupid?" She sat there for a long moment, moaning softly at her idiocy, then she sighed and sat up straight. Can't change what happened. Just have to … what? Go on as if everything's normal? Yeah, that'll happen.
She stood on wobbly legs and glanced around for her clothes. The best thing to do was to go home and talk to Corona and Jack. Maybe they'd know what to do. She sighed again, picked up her clothes, and put them on slowly.
The room spun around her again and she sank back onto the bed.
"Ohhh, shit!"
Something slammed into the door and it flew open.
Taura was back on her hooves in an instant. She steadied herself as two men burst into the room. Both were human and wore plain civilian clothing -- jeans, T-shirts and long coats. Both aimed large pistols straight at her.
"Where's Slade?" the one on the left snapped.
"Who?" Taura shook her head and blinked.
"The guy you fucked! Where'd he go?"
"I don't know. When I woke up, he was gone." She frowned. "How did you know we …? Were you following me?"
"No," the other one muttered as he kicked the door to the bathroom open and peeked inside. "We were following him."
"Search her," the other one grunted. "She might have it on her."
"Have what?" Taura said.
"Shut up!"
"Look, I don't have anything. I never met that man before a few hours ago. I didn't even know his name until you said it."
"Zip it." The other one walked over to her and held his free hand out. "Take off your clothes. We need to see if Slade stashed anything in 'em."
Taura scowled at him, shrugged, and took her coat off. Then she whipped it at him, catching him across the face. He snapped his head back and threw his arms up. Taura yanked her coat back and reached into the pocket for the one weapon she always carried with her. She pulled the ten-inch metal cylinder out, flicked her wrist, and extended one end of it. With a quick, fluid motion, she spun it and the other end extended, forming a ten-foot quarterstaff. She slammed one end of it into the side of the man's head and he fell like a tree, crashing into the TV and knocking it to the floor.
The other man cursed and whipped his gun around. She swatted it out of his hand and drove the end of her staff into his gut. He doubled over and fell to his knees, and she finished him off with a blow to the back of his head.
She glared at them, watching them to be sure they weren't about to get back up, then she retracted both ends of the staff and returned it to her pocket. She took a deep breath, tried to calm herself, and headed for the door.
She strained her ears, listening for footsteps, clothing rubbing together, breathing, anything that would indicate the presence of someone outside. She heard nothing and peeked into the hallway, ready to dodge back into the room at the slightest movement or sound. She let out another slow breath and stepped out, closed the door behind her, and walked down the hall, trying to be quiet and look casual at the same time.
She opened the door at the end of the hall and found herself in the parking lot, shading her eyes from the sunlight and glancing around, waiting for her eyes to adjust. She stuck her hands into her pockets and started walking. She shook her head and suppressed another groan.
What have I gotten myself into?