Excerpt: As Yet Unnamed

Her vice had been gambling and her problem was that she wasn't very good at it. Or maybe stupidity was somehow involved. After all, it took some real stupidity to get half-a-mil in debt to one of the universe's most notorious loan sharks. It took even more stupidity to believe him capable of mercy. She supposed she should have been glad that he decided not to maim or kill her, instead choosing to coerce her into being his date to a business partner's extravagant birthday celebration. Stupidity came back into play when she never stopped to question why an attractive, powerful man with more money than the government would chose to bring someone like her, cute and passably attractive, but no real prize. Maybe then it wouldn't have surprised her so much when she found out that she wasn't a date so much as a birthday present. It seemed the creepy old lecher with the birthday had a thing for younger women, particularly ones who could be regularly mistaken for underage girls.

The real icing on the proverbial cake, however, was one of the other presents. Apparently a rival was insulted that he failed to warrant an invitation to such a joyous night of debauchery. His gift consisted of four enormous crates filled with thousands of some sort of creature taken straight from either the depths of hell or the film industry's more terrifying horror movies. They were big, they were fast, and they were hungry. And their teeth... she fully expected to dream about those teeth until she reached her death bed.

For some reason, another guest had taken her under his protection as they struggled to escape the massacre. It wasn't that uncommon of an experience, in all honesty, more the result of being 22 years old and being able to pass for 15. She was short, blonde, and even had a young sounding voice. She attracted 'big brothers' everywhere she went, she always had. Still, he surprised her by hauling her out of harm's way during the initial panic and keeping an eye on her while they fought through the blasted creatures to get to his space ship. She's laughed when he told her that, probably a slight case of hysteria, but she had never been off of her home planet before she was idiotic enough to take up gambling. But he'd pulled her along anyway, keeping her safe and relatively unharmed until they somehow made it to his little ship and taken off.

They'd saved a few others too. Well, he had. A couple of the kitchen staff, a bimbo escort, and most importantly, a government officer who'd gone undercover for evidence as to the many guests' many illegal activities. If it wasn't for him, she was pretty sure that she would have been dropped back home while her savior went on his merry way. Instead, they all went to a nearby police base and had the exciting experience of being questioned by the disbelieving cops. By the time they finally released her, her savior had been told to get lost and she was stranded.

Oddly enough, that was when her real troubles began.