Accidental Acquisition by Evangeline Anderson
3
But as Jillian and the huge bodyslave had boarded the tram, one of the gramples—small soft purple fruit about as big as a large apple—whichshe had bought at the produce side of the market, somehow worked its way out of the hole in her tote and tumbled to the ground.
“Shit!” Jillian hissed impatiently. “No, don’t worry—I’ve got it. You just stay here and keep hold of the thaelite,” she added to Kalis, who looked like he was about to go after the rolling grample. “Don’t move—I’ll be right back.”
Hopping down from the tram, which was still for the moment, she ran to grab the purple fruit…only to see it snatched up in a huge gray-green hand as big as her entire head.
Looking up, she saw that the hand belonged to the two-headed Trollox she’d seen eyeing her earlier.
“Hey,” she said uncertainly. “Uh, that’s mine.”
“Of course it is. Sweeties for a sweet little humanoid.” It was the yellow-eyed head talking and Jillian thought it produced a strangely high voice for such a big body. Its eyes glowed like a Jack-o-lantern’s as they roved greedily over her body. The leering way it was looking at her made her want to cover herself, though she wasn’t wearing anything provocative—just a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.
“Sweeties for the sweet!” the other head exclaimed, and bellowed laughter—a hyuck-hyuck-hyuck sound that set Jillian’s teeth on edge. This head had beady little red eyes and it seemed to be somehow mentally deficient—at least compared with the first head. Its long yellow tusks dripped drool on the dusty ground, which made her stomach turn.
The Trollox extended its enormous hand and opened it, showing her the grample, which looked about the size of a pea in its huge palm.
“Go on, my dear—take it,” the yellow-eyed head said as the Trollox loomed over her like an enormous tree. “A gift from Ripper to you.”
“Uh…Ripper?” Jillian looked up at him uncertainly.
“That’s our name, so it is!” the red-eyed head exclaimed. “Hyuck-hyuck-hyuck! Ripper, cause we rips ‘em open when we shoves inside!”
“Shut up, you imbecile!” the yellow-eyed head snapped. It looked at Jillian. “Pay no attention to him, my dear. Here you go—take it.” And it held out the lost fruit again.
“Okay, thanks…um, Ripper,” Jillian said, frowning as she reached for the grample. What was going on between the two heads? It must be really weird to have to share a body like that—especially if you disagreed a lot…
“Don’t touch it, little Mistress.” The growling voice over her left shoulder made Jillian jerk her hand away from the grample and whirl around.
Kalis was standing there, a stormy look in his silver-green eyes.
“Don’t…fucking…touch it,” he repeated, his voice a low growl. “If you take a gift from the big bastard, you’ll owe him one in return, according to Market Law. And you don’t want to owe a Trollox.”
The Trollox snatched the grample out of sight, both heads glaring down at the big warrior.
“Who asked you?” the yellow-eyed head snarled in its strange, high voice. It sounded like the Trollox had been sucking on a helium balloon, Jillian thought.
Kalis didn’t answer. He only nodded at Jillian.
“Come, little Mistress—let it go and we can get another one later. The tram’s about to start.”
“Um…all right.” Feeling shaky—as though she’d barely avoided something really bad—Jillian turned away from the enormous Trollox and headed for the tram.
But as she stepped aboard, she looked over her shoulder and saw that the two-headed monster was still staring at her balefully with both sets of eyes. As she watched, the Trollox held up the grample between one massive finger and thumb and crushed it until purple juice splattered on the dusty ground.
Shivering, Jillian turned hastily away and looked towards the other side of the market, trying to ignore the angry eyes she could still feel on her back until the tram pulled smoothly away.
