Charm Prequel - Chapter 1

  (UNEDITED)

“For the last time, Charm, the answer is no,” Council Amand said, glaring up at me from his desk. His black, beady eyes looked like they belonged on an insect, not the head of one of the most feared rogue guilds this side of planet Horang.

I took a sigh, considering the words that I knew were about to come bubbling up, the words that would change my life forever. I’d thought hard and long on them, debating where to put the proper inflection and how to ensure they had their intended consequence. 

This was, after all, the most influential man on Station Eshu, one of several mobile stations at the edge of the Oram star system, and host to three guilds. Since my sister and I had served under him, there was no other way. 

He stared up at me with those beady eyes, eyes that roamed over my chest—cleavage pushed up in my space rogue suit of green to match my eyes. I’d purposely even worn a wide-brimmed hat that evening, the type that hid my fox ears, along with a heavy overcoat to conceal my bushy tail. This was the type of man who looked down on my type, as many did. 

But cleavage was his language, so I flaunted it. 

He’d said ‘no,’ however, so the temptation of sexual acts wasn’t in the cards. Instead, I took my hat off, placed in on his desk, and breathed heavily as I prepared myself to say the words. 

“Go fuck yourself your one-balled, erogial-brained, shit eating piece of maggot-farts.” I tossed the coat into the corner and spun so that my tail nearly brushed against his nose, which I knew he’d be disgusted by—the prick—and made my way for the door. “I’ll find my sister, and there isn’t shit you can do to stop me.

His reaction was delayed, more subdued than I’d expected, too. 

A slight movement from the corner from my eye, then two large men stepping out of the shadows. Their hands grabbed me with the strength of eogials—large creatures that roamed our planet, similar a mixture of the elephants and guerillas that are said to have once roamed Earth. They flung me back, on me in a second with a good shot to the gut that left me motionless and wheezing, then they had me in the air for Amand’s judgment. 

My tail wrapped around one of their throats and I turned to the other, mouth opening, but caught another shot in the face that left me completely limp. The pain was dull but starting to build up, to course through my body and remind me that the recovery would be a bitch. But I’d recover from it, and this son of a bitch knew better than to kill me. We had our guild laws, and a code on top of that. I’d insulted him, hurt his honor, but it wasn’t enough to earn death. 

And no matter the level of pain he brought upon me, it couldn’t be stronger than the pain of losing my sister, of not knowing where she was and of this fucker telling me I had no right to go after her. 

“You’re valuable,” Amand said, steepling his three fingers, placing the first on each side under his chin as he assessed me. “But you’re also a stupid bitch in need of an attitude adjustment. Throw her in the cells,” he said to his goons. “Let the scum of this station’s underbelly remind her how lucky she is to be topside.” 

“Fuck… you…” I managed between the shooting pain in my ribs that was now starting to take over. 

He shook his head, disappointed. “Your sister had her mission, and she failed. She’s gone. Leave it alone.” 

I’d heard those words enough times in the months since she’d failed to return, and had no new response to them. The goons dragged me off, me in too much pain to kick or scream, the room spinning and the taste of blood in my mouth.

“Wait,” Amand said, and my heart filled with dread at the sound of his chair screeching across the metal floor. He rose and came to me, eyes narrowing even more than before, if that was possible, and he cocked his head. “You’re not the type to lose your cool.”

I grinned, letting my ears twitch in the way that I knew didn’t sit right with him. He gave me one last calculating look, then