Check out "Oni Hunters" by Nickolaidas here:
https://tapas.io/series/Oni-Hunters/info

**Art Trades**
Email me if you're interested in doing an art trade of OC fanart! My email is tethyka@guardiankayden.com

Now back to the story!

They went inside and found Turrel’s reception and his party and joined them in a small dark room.

“Excuse me, who are you?” one man asked. He was a Valerian that looked like Arlen.

“Rio, I’ve come with an offering to the cause. She’s from Earth. Meet Kaylie,” Rio said as they eyed her, and Kayden felt uncomfortable as he lowered his eyes to the ground.

“She’s got nice legs,” one man said. One man lifted her face and looked into her eyes. Kayden had to focus not to stare him down and quickly averted his eyes.

“Her eyes are red; why is that? Earthlings don’t have red eyes,” one gruff man said, and Rio sweated.

“My father was a Cyril, but I didn’t inherit much else from him,” Kayden replied.

“Obviously, she’s hit puberty. She would be a hulking giant if she did inherit more of his genetics,” another man said.

“Part Cyril and still this beautiful? She could go for a high price…if she didn’t have a synthetic, that’d bring her down a few hundred. You know all girls that go through this route must pay a commission fee,” the gruff man said.

“That’s no problem,” Rio said. One man escorted Kayden away to another room as a man with a white fur jacket smiled and approached Rio.

“Nice to meet you, Rio, I’m Turrel. This little show is on my ruplet, so I appreciate you coming in with some nice goods. I’ll guarantee she’ll be set at a good starting bid,” Turrel said.

“In the meantime, you can stay here with the other traders and mingle. What would you like to drink?” Turrel asked.

“I don’t drink at sales. I like a clear head for figures,” Rio said with a smile.

“I see, you’re a serious businessman,” Turrel said. The man chaperoned Kayden to a room on the other side of the establishment and tossed him toward the bed, but he didn’t budge. Kayden didn’t fall under his toss and stood his ground glaring at the man. In the peripheral of his eye, he noticed several women scared and cowering in the corner of the room. He grimaced as he looked among them and saw Vanessa sitting in the middle of the women. The man left the room, and Kayden took the opportunity to speak with her.

“Vanessa?” Kayden asked. She looked at him, and her eyes widened.

“I’m Kayden Royal, I’m a Cyril Guardian that’s come looking for you,” he said as he knelt to her.

“You don’t look like a Cyril to me,” Vanessa said, her voice quivering. He paused to perform the eye trick, and all the women gasped as he did it. He did the trick back to get to two eyes and grinned as he crossed his arms.

“We can shapeshift with special means, I’m not even a woman,” Kayden said, and Vanessa raised a brow. Kayden reached into his pocket, grabbed a handful of small discs, and handed them to each woman.

“Put this on your body where it won’t be visible, under your clothes if possible. They are tracking devices. That way, I can find you after this operation is over with in case it doesn’t go according to plan,” Kayden said. Vanessa slipped her tracker into her bra. Kayden pressed buttons on his wristband. Rio’s wristband beeped, and he saw the flashing red light.

“I’ve got a call to make, I’ll be back in a few minutes,” Rio said as he left the room and answered the call.

“Rio here, what is it, Kayden?” Rio asked.

“I’ve found Vanessa and about half a dozen other girls here on the other side of the establishment. I’m going to lock them in and come back. Can you identify Turrel yet?” Kayden asked.

“Yes, he’s wearing a white fur coat. He’s got long black hair and gold eyes. I could tell right away, but then he introduced himself to me,” Rio said, and he heard the door open behind him and pressed mute on his wristband.

“Everything alright, Rio?” Turrel asked as he poked his head out the door.

“Yeah, just trouble at home. I can’t keep my own woman under control, it seems,” Rio said with a nervous chuckle. Turrel put his arm around Rio and walked him into the room, and sat him down. Kayden came walking into the room from the hallway and pulled out a gun. Turrel ducked as Kayden shot all the other men around them, and they all fell to the ground. Rio ducked as well, and Turrel looked straight at him.

“What the hell did you bring in here?!” Turrel growled. Rio jumped to his feet and ran, but Turrel grabbed him and held him in front of himself, using Rio’s body as a shield. Kayden sighed as he saw Rio put his hands up and sweat.

“Sorry, Rio,” Kayden said as he shot Rio right in the stomach, and Rio doubled over and fell to the ground. Turrel gasped and turned to run, but Kayden shot him too but right in the chest. Kayden signaled his ship to fly over to the Royal Banquet, and it hovered just outside. Kayden hauled Turrel to a cryogenic freezer pod, placed him inside, and turned on the life support. He hauled all six men at one time into the holding cell. He shackled them all, shut the door to both the holding room and the freezers, and hauled Rio inside to his bed.

“Sorry, Rio. It was on stun. I promise I didn’t mean for this to happen,” Kayden said as he patted him on the shoulder. He walked back into the Royal Banquet, found the girls, led them hand in hand to his ship, and helped them up by lifting them to the ramp. Kayden finally followed and took the ruplets out of Rio’s pocket and stashed it back into the console when nobody was looking. He served all the women food, and they ate like they were starving.

“I’ll be right back, take off your trackers and put them on the counter when you feel up to it,” Kayden said. Kayden grabbed a regular-sized shirt, jacket, and pants from his closet, walked into his private quarters, and shut the door. After turning back into himself, he walked into the bathroom and looked into the mirror, realizing he still had makeup on and looked horrified. He grabbed a towel and wet it and started rubbing off his eyeshadow, mascara, and lipstick. His foundation came off in the process. He did the eye trick to shift his eyes to one again as he regrew all his parts and put his clothes back on, feeling better, and walked back out into the main room of the ship. The women gasped as they saw him.

“I told you I wasn’t really a woman,” he said, and the girls giggled. He suddenly realized he still had the choker on, and he quickly and embarrassedly took it off, removed the small disc, and put it with his artifacts as he walked back to the main chamber.

“I’m taking you all to the Guardianship Citadel, and Vanessa…I’m taking you back home to Orbit Seven. Your father has been worried about you,” Kayden said. Vanessa teared up and got to her feet, and ran to him, wrapping her arms around him. She was half his height and ended up hugging his waist.

“I was so scared no one was coming…they humiliated me! They undressed me to ‘check the goods’!” she cried, and he cringed.

“I’ll take care of those men. You can count on that,” Kayden said softly. He patted her on the head and smiled as she looked up to him.

“The Guardians were watching out for you—they sent me your status right away. I’m sorry it took me so long to find you, but you saw what lengths I went to to get you back safe and sound,” Kayden said, and she sniffled as she nodded. He grabbed blankets for each one of them as they were all wearing thin risqué outfits.

“I’m sorry I don’t have much else to offer you, but you can sleep in the living quarters. There should be enough room for all of you back there if you put the table down and the softcover over it. It’s made to be converted to a king-size bed from a couch,” Kayden said, and the girls got to their feet, and he led them to the living quarters past the bed-chamber where Rio was knocked out. Vanessa eyed him and looked back to Kayden.

“Who is he?” she asked.

“He’s my Squire, Rio. He played my pimp in all of this. He located Turrel—my target and the one responsible for your kidnapping and took a stun shot to the stomach for you,” Kayden said, and Vanessa gasped.

“Don’t worry, he’ll wake soon enough, he’ll feel a little sore, but he’ll be alright,” Kayden said as he walked her to the back and set up the bed from a table and couch, and they all laid down together.

“I want all these women to come with me back to my father’s mansion. I want to take them in. They have nowhere else to go,” Vanessa said to Kayden in private.

“Very well, I’ll drop you all off on Orbit Seven. It’ll take about two days to get there, get some rest. You all probably need it,” Kayden said as he showed her into the room and shut the curtain.

“Thank you, Kayden Royal,” she said softly, and he smiled as he walked back to the main chamber. He dialed in a few numbers to bring up the report, found her father’s private line, and dialed it. A Sargasian man with thin black hair and green eyes was surprised to see Kayden.

“This is Guardian Kayden Royal reporting. I’ve successfully picked up your daughter,” Kayden said as he tried to stand up at attention.

“My God! Is she alright?!” the father asked, and Kayden groaned.

“Well…she’s better now, but those thugs…she said humiliated her,” Kayden said, feeling wary of revealing that detail. The father’s face turned red with anger as he even began to shake.

“I’ll kill them!!” he exclaimed.

“I can’t let you kill them…but…” Kayden trailed off as he thought about it.

“I…can rough them up a bit and just say they put up a struggle,” Kayden said as he crossed his arms. The Sargasian nodded.

“Film it, I want to see it all,” the man asked. Kayden sweated.

“You do realize if this gets circulated, it could be bad for me, right?” Kayden asked. The man groaned.

“It’ll be my personal collection, it’s not my first time getting hold of dangerous information, and I’ve never leaked any of it,” the man said. Kayden sighed.

“Very well…I’ll go and take care of that now. I’ll send the recording with your daughter back to you privately. Kayden out,” he said as he terminated the comms. Kayden set up a camera from his wristband, which hovered where he directed it like a drone in the holding cell and aimed it at the cell. He activated his wristband and brought up a picture of Vanessa to the inmates.

“Look at her,” Kayden started, and they all looked. He suddenly found their minds teeming with guilty strings of thoughts.

“Hmph. I won’t have any qualms or guilt about doing this,” Kayden muttered before he turned to face the camera orb.

“This is for Vanessa Irving’s honor. For those watching this know that these men assaulted Vanessa. I will be delivering their punishment personally. Today I will show you how to do a thorough beating,” Kayden said as he grinned and walked to the cell and opened it up. The men got to their feet, but their legs were shackled. Their hands weren’t. Kayden shrank down to six foot seven—200 cm to make the odds less daunting, but he was still a Cyril. He unshackled them and stood ready.

“I won’t even put my all into this, so you all have at least a chance to hit me,” Kayden said, and they growled.

“Put up a fight if you can,” Kayden taunted, and several men went at him, but he dodged and tackled them down, beating two men at a time to a pulp. Kayden got blood on his knuckles as he started beating down another, then another, and another until he beat all the men up and held one man in a chokehold.

“Apologize to the camera, or I’ll knock out a fourth or fifth tooth,” Kayden said as he held him up.

“I’m s-sorry!” the man cried out, and Kayden punched him square in the face knocking him down and out. He dragged the man back into the cell, and the others cowered before him. Kayden walked over to the camera with blood spatter on his face before sizing back up.

“They’ll be taken back to the Guardianship Citadel and tried for assault and slave trading. Their days of running on the black market are over, Vanessa. I hope this gives you a little peace of mind,” Kayden said as he wiped his chin and smeared the blood as he stopped the recording. He deactivated the camera and commanded it back to his wristband, and it docked before he sighed. He grabbed a towel and got it wet, and wiped his face and knuckles. He didn’t tear his knuckles, but they were wet in other men’s blood. He wiped himself clean and heard groaning from the sleeping quarters. Rio gasped as he sat upright and lifted his shirt to check his stomach.

“You shot me!” Rio exclaimed.

“I had my gun set on stun. I wasn’t going to kill you!” Kayden said with a chuckle, and Rio looked hurt.

“I can’t believe you shot me!” he exclaimed. Kayden handed him his Squire’s uniform, and Rio groaned as he stood up and limped to the living quarters until Kayden stopped him.

“Get changed in the closet. The women are in the living quarters,” Kayden said. Rio groaned as he held his stomach and walked back to the closet before closing the shutters.