Alien Bride, page 32
part #2 of The Alien Series
He stares me down, unblinking, and I force myself to keep his gaze. Finally, his shoulders relax and he huffs out his annoyance. “It seems most humans are.” Though he says it more to himself than to anyone else. “Do us all a favor, take our lead and do not be stupid,” he hisses.
“That I can agree to,” I respond as he passes me a gun. I turn it over in my hand, nervous about carrying such a lethal device. Frowning, I absently reach for Kye’s short sword, which I slipped into the back of my belt, hidden by my shirt. I am a fighter. I am a survivor. But can I be a killer?
I already know my answer… I’d do anything to keep a person from being tortured the way I was, and that is especially true of Kye.
The ship lurches slightly as we knock up against the UPC vessel. It’s not enough to warn their crew. If they even notice, they’ll think it was a wandering piece of the asteroid belt. I hear the hiss of machinery and the tearing of metal as our ship affixes itself to our enemy’s vessel.
One of the Sovolians holds a type of scanning device, pointing it in the direction I assume the enemy ship is in. “All clear,” he states, and the two red and wingless Vendari step forward to swipe at a control panel, causing a door slides open. I didn’t quite know what to expect on the other side, but thankfully the opening has been sealed to the exterior of the other ship. The Vendari each raise what looks like a weapon, but as they activate it I realize it is more like a welding torch. They make short work of carving the outline of our very own entrance to the ship. The edges glow a molten orange and the men turn back to face the group.
The pounding of my heart is like this surreal beast inside of me. I can feel it in my throat when I swallow. I look over at Allison, hoping to at least have a shared moment of panic with another human. A visual confirmation that, yes, this is indeed nuts. But she looks balls to the wall, gung-ho, like she’s been doing this shit her whole life. She isn’t shaking, her hands don’t tremble around the grip of her gun. Her breath is slow and even.
“By the Six Kings.” I jump at the Red King’s voice, who stands leading the group. “And in the spirit of our given duty. To guard! To protect! And to deliver justice!”
The Red King bellows so loudly I’m more worried about the bad guys hearing him than I was about bumping into their ship… But there’s no time to even think after that. The King spins around and slams his hands into the center of the cut metal. The thick piece is pushed to the ground by his weight and he bursts into a wide corridor on all fours. There’s a rush of bodies following him in. They split, half going left and the other half going right.
“Move it!” Allison calls to me, and my feet respond.
Chapter 56
Alessandra
We run in and I expect immediate chaos—screaming and gunshots, a veritable warzone. But as the groups trickle away from one another, the surrounding corridors become eerily quiet. I am hyper-aware of the sound of my breathing. Each step I take on the metal floor sounds like a piece of morse code, letting the enemy know my location.
I pay close attention to Da’vi and his signals. I stop when he indicates and creep forward when he gives us the all clear. As the first few minutes pass my adrenaline has a chance to dissipate and I start to gain a little perspective.
I know what I am here for—to rescue the man I love. I already know that I’ll do anything to save him and anything to protect all these brave people who volunteered to help find the sometimes less than likeable man I want to spend the rest of my life with. A wave of certainty and determination washes over me. I am a fighter. I am still the same Alessandra who fought the Makaan when I was first captured and I am not a helpless creature to be caged. I never was.
We follow Da’vi around a corner and are halfway down a long hall when a door glides open and four Nev come walking out in the middle of a conversation. We have no cover. Instantly, we all crouch low and Da’vi’s gun fires just as their eyes grow wide in recognition of attack. One of the Nev pushes another in front of him. Da’vi’s shot connects and the man gurgles out a short scream as he falls lifeless to the ground. The other men duck back into the room they had exited only seconds ago.
Da’vi pushes off the ground, leaping to follow them.
“We can’t let them get to a comm!” Allison hisses as we run shoulder to shoulder after them. We round the corner to see two men have tackled Da’vi, who fights wildly against their holds, while the last man races to a door along the back wall of the room. Allison hardly spares a second look at Da’vi before sprinting after the runner. Da’vi screams out in rage, and then I hear the crack of bones and the squelch of wet flesh.
Da’vi doesn’t even look at me as his feet pound the metal floor, pursuing Allison. The door closes behind him. It’s suddenly quiet again, that is, until I hear the sound of wet and labored breathing.
I approach the two Nev lying on the floor. One is bent and broken at an odd angle. The other coughs on his own blood, but does not move at all, not even to writhe in pain. I inch my way to him, unable to look away. His eyes find mine.
I find my voice. “I’ll help you. Tell me what you need. I’ll help you, but you have to help me, too.”
“Hurts…” he says with much effort. His eyes drift to the gun in my hands. “Make it stop.”
“Tell me where Kye Amara is.”
The Nev’s eyes roll back and he blinks a few times. “Down one level, door is marked with a Prel.” He coughs and blood spills from the corner of his mouth.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know what a Prel is.”
“Two loops and…”
“Come on, two loops and what?”
“Dash…” he finishes and eyes my gun expectantly once more.
“Thank you,” I tell him and he blinks his acknowledgement. Beyond that, I don’t allow myself to hesitate.
When I come running from the room I don’t bother to wipe the stray tears from my cheeks. I look both ways down the corridor before I continue down the path Da’vi had us on. I keep my back to the wall and freeze at any hint of a sound, my gun poised in front of me. I’m lucky to find a service ladder and I make my way down silently. The ladder is positioned in a little alcove that offers me protection when I hear booted feet pounding past. I wait until the sound fades in the distance before I emerge. There are more doors in this hall, each marked with a foreign symbol.
I’m looking for two loops and a dash. I see a circle with a hook… a dotted triangle… I look back and forth down each direction of the hall. I don’t want someone to sneak up on me before I find Kye. Finally, I see what I’m looking for—two beautiful loops, punctuated by a dash. I run to the door, but it doesn’t recognize my presence and open. I see a control panel at the side and pray for a miracle that is isn’t locked. I swipe my hand across it and the door glides open.
Immediately I see Kye along the back wall, chains keeping him locked in place. His head is hung is despair, but there is no curtain of hair hanging down from his roughly shorn head. Instead he sits in a pile of scattered strands, looking like an angel who has lost his wings.
“Kye?” I choke out, stepping just inside the room.
He jolts to full awareness and is up on his feet so quickly it belies the beaten and bloodied look of his body. His eyes are filled with such pure hope before his expression contorts in horror and rage.
“Alessandra! Behind you!”
But it’s too late. Arms grip me from behind. I try to bring my gun up, but a hand grabs my wrist and twists until it feels like it’s going to snap. The gun falls to the floor.
“Aghhhh!” I scream out in agony. Everything is muted by the intense flash of pain, but in the distance, I hear vaguely familiar laughter and the sound of Kye’s chains snapping tight with tension. I mentally take myself away from the white-hot, searing pain in my wrist… though the man holding me keeps his focus there. I reach for the short sword in my belt. I find the handle and blindly swing the blade over my shoulder, into the heavy body pressed against me.
The man whips away from me, screaming, and I’m thrown to the floor. My wrist flares with pain when I fall onto it. Without hesitation I frantically search for the gun. Just before my hand can close on it, it’s inadvertently kicked from my reach by the frenzied and screaming man who has Kye’s short sword buried deep in him. I hear Kye’s chains rattling, then there is a resounding snap—the sound of metal giving way. I look up to see one of Kye’s chains, still linked to his arm, has pulled free from its anchor to the wall.
He swings the chain around like a whip and I follow its motion as it wraps around Rad’s neck. What is Rad doing here? Kye yanks the chain, bringing Rad down to the floor at his feet. He pulls the metal links, tightening their hold around Rad’s neck. The blade I drove into him still juts from his body as Kye strangles him in a rage driven fury.
“Wait! Kye! Wait! This is Kellen’s brother! Show him mercy!” I plead. “Please!” I wail, as Rad’s resistance fades and his body begins to sag. Kye’s eyes meet mine and recognition shines through his anger. He launches Rad into the wall, his head bangs hard into the metal and he falls to the ground, limp.
I dive into Kye’s arms and we embrace each other, hungrily stealing kisses between sobs.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” he asks me, trying to search my body.
“I’m fine, Kye,” I say, ignoring the throb in my wrist, “but we need to go. Now.”
He nods and reluctantly releases me so that I can grab the gun. I aim it at his chains and fire. The metal splits and he is free.
“Come on, the ship isn’t far from here.” I’m already pulling him to the door, but he resists my grip.
“Wait, Alessandra! There are humans onboard!”
My heart sinks. I was ready for this adventure to be over. We were so close. So close to making it back safely to a place where we can be protected and not worry about death-defying scenarios. In my mind we were already back in the borough, just the two of us, wrapped in each other’s arms.
But we’re still here on this prison ship and there’s still work to do.
“Okay. Okay. Okay,” I try to mentally ground myself. “Do you have any idea of where they are?”
He turns back to Rad’s unconscious form and pulls out his blade. Blood oozes from some unseen wound.
“No. I will take you back to your ship, then I will search for the humans.”
Fuck that. I advance on Kye. Reaching up, I grip his face, forcing him to look into my eyes. “You want to know how to love me? We are in this together, goddamnit. Everything from now until forever, together, Kye, or not at all.”
The look in his eyes is penetrating. “Whatever happens, it will be together,” he responds finally, and I have to blink away tears. We may have been married in the eyes of Islerians, but those words and the soul-crushing honesty behind them, those were our vows.
“Come on, let’s find the others, let them know there are humans aboard,” I suggest.
We rush from the room and I lead Kye to the ladder. I have to nurse my wrist as we climb, but I’m just thankful it isn’t worse. I decide to take Kye back to where Da’vi, Allison, and I parted ways. Maybe we’ll find them. If that doesn’t work we can always double back to the ship and hope we cross paths with a friendly face. Sooner than I expect, I hear hushed but familiar voices and see Da’vi pressing Allison into a small alcove.
“I cannot believe you left her!” Allison hisses.
“You are the one who left her!”
“I left her with you, you idiot!”
“It is not my fault she did not follow! You should have guarded her better while I battled the Nev!”
“I’m not a babysitter! I’m here to kick ass, just like you. Don’t you dare try to put me in that pigeon hole. That wasn’t our deal!”
“Psst! Guys!” I give a muted call, not wanting to sneak up on them and get shot at. They both look to me, startled.
“Come on,” Da’vi says to Allison, pulling her out roughly by her arm. She shrugs him off angrily.
“Let’s get back to the ship,” he says, touching the personal comm at his wrist. “I will let the others know that we have what we came for.”
“Wait! No! There’s more!” I tell him.
“There are humans here. Twelve of them,” Kye interjects.
There is a chilling moment of silence as our companions take in the news, but we are ripped from it by a sound straight from hell. It is like crunching metal, like a landslide coming down a mountain. It is animalistic and raw. We all flinch and clutch our weapons tighter. The sound comes again, it is a wave of horror before Da’vi’s comm starts speaking to him. It is one of the Sovolians, I recognize his voice.
“The Red King has gone berserk, everyone back to the ship!”
“What?” I ask in shock.
Da’vi activates his comm. “There are more humans aboard, 12 more require rescue. Repeat, 12 humans aboard require rescue.”
“The king found them!” a voice responds. “He’s killing everything in sight! Get back to the ship! Now!”
“No! No, he can’t! We have to stop him!” I scream, clutching at Kye and Da’vi.
“That is not what Gile meant,” Da’vi tells me, yanking his arm away from me. “We have to get back to the ship.”
And suddenly, we are all running. We cross no more Nev but are shaken by wave after wave of the terrible roar of the Red King. Back at the ship, we find the others. Some panting, some bloodied, but all of our people are present nonetheless. Save for the Red King of course.
The two red Vendari stand there, like weird demonic bellhops, waiting to be called upon. “What the fuck?” Allison demands, approaching them.
“He found the captives.”
“What is he doing to them?” I ask, trembling from the savage barbarity of the sounds coming from the Red King.
They look at me, either surprise or confusion lacing their alien features. “Liberating them, of course.”
Epilogue Part One
Alessandra
Sometimes I still have nightmares about it, being there, on the Nev ship. Sometimes I’m running through the halls, lost, and I can’t find Kye. Sometimes I find him too late. Usually I hear the dreadful bellows of the Red King brutally raging revenge on anyone who hurt the humans. In real life, the cavalry arrived and, after what seemed like hours, the Red King calmed enough to allow the humans to be carried out to safety. There was only one survivor among the crew of that ship, Kellen’s brother Rad, who was dragged out still unconscious and carted off to a prison planet.
But every day it gets better. Every day the horror fades a little bit more from my mind. I never dream of the Makaan ship. I hardly even think of it anymore. My worst nightmare is losing Kye. I suppose that’s why the dreams usually come when he’s away on business. Thankfully his ship gets back today.
I look up at the clock on the wall, tsking at myself for my late start. Today is my day off. It’s been a lot busier here with all the new women. With everything they’ve been through, they’ve had a more difficult time integrating.
I’ve been running classes and workshops nonstop. It seems like the art aspect of what I teach has had a therapeutic effect for many of them.
Beacon runs like a real village now. We’ve amped up the farming, the pond we’ve built is now a thriving hatchery, and there are constant hands-on “classes” to help teach our new way of life. There’s yoga, pottery, woodworking, basket weaving, animal husbandry, hunting, farming, and fighting. Nearly everyone wants to learn the skills necessary to protect themselves.
Allison and Da’vi each have moved into their own respective boroughs. They don’t seem to enjoy all the hustle and bustle of everyday life that is Beacon now. They live by their own training regimens, and even though they keep to themselves, it’s nice to have neighbors.
I wipe down the last of the ceramic dishes and put them back up on the shelf. Folding all my blankets, I put them back into the bottom of the wardrobe. I won’t need them at night anymore with Kye coming home today. He keeps me warm enough. I toss a few dirty clothes into the hamper and wipe the dust from Kye’s desk before I grab my easel and paint box and head out the door.
It’s sunny and humid today, a break from the rain we’ve been having lately. I set up my easel in the garden, Kye’s garden, and the shade of our tree stretches out around me. The women outnumber the men out in the field. I admire them as they work, bending over their baskets and kneeling in the rich Elysian soil. I begin adding paint to my canvas, losing time in the activity.
“Do you want to know how much I have missed my beautiful wife?” Kye asks, and I startle.
“Kye! You’re home!” I hop over the short garden gate and into his arms. “I didn’t expect you until later!” I tell him, throwing my head back and greedily allowing him to nuzzle at my neck.
