Ugh, wow, my back hurts. What on earth was I doing last night? Did Griffin and I have another epic sexy session?
Wait, why am I on a concrete floor in the dark?
I sit up, everything flooding back to me all at once, but I receive an intense wave of headache as reward for moving so quickly. After a few seconds of waiting for the headache to stop creating stars in my vision, I desperately search for any clue as to where I am.
The small room is dark, windowless, and the walls are covered in a variety of handcuffs, small switches, whips, hammers, and other tools. Below me is bare, cold concrete, and the only light in the room radiates from two flickering bulbs that look as if they might die at any moment.
Great. So I’ve been kidnapped by good aliens, and then kidnapped by bad aliens in cooperation with a bunch of old dudes who run a shady secret society in a boring London mansion. Now I’m probably going to be tortured in a dark dungeon with an assortment of farm equipment and adult toys.
This is really not what I planned for when I moved to New York City.
A quiet groan draws my attention to the corner of the room, which seems to be occupied by a small, awkwardly positioned lump of skinny arms and legs.
Griffin.
I crawl across the room to him, gently rolling him onto his back so I can get a better look. He hasn’t sustained any new physical damage that I can see, but he’s trembling all over as if he’s freezing cold.
“D-Dev…?” he says, those strange alien eyes opening and glowing in the dark as he looks at me. “Daisy?” He lets out another groan and forces himself up until he’s propped on his elbows. “Daisy, I told you… I told you to go.”
“Yeah, well, you also said I was free of the kidnapping ordeal, so I decided to use my freedom however I wanted,” I say, even though my voice betrays my nerves more than I’d like. “And that meant staying with you. It would be pretty crappy of me to ditch you now, after everything we’ve been through together. Champagne, bad movies, Frog Snout…”
“Kammie!” he says. “What about Kammie. Do you know where she is?”
I shiver. “I-I don’t know. I just woke up.”
Griffin sits up, dropping his head into his hands. He’s still shaking, maybe even harder now than before.
“Are you alright? What happened to you? Did they give you some kind of sedative?” I think he nods, but it’s hard to tell. “They just want you to do something, right?” I whisper. “Then they’ll let us go.”
“I know these people, Daisy. Not these particular people, but their group, I mean. They’re the ones who killed my mother. They won’t let Devon go. They’ll kill both of us as soon as they get whatever it is they’re after.” He raises his face long enough to look at me. “You should have run while you could, Daisy.”
Oh, God, are those tears shining in his eyes? Up until this point, I’ve managed to keep myself together, somehow, but seeing Griffin’s sadness makes me want to cry.
“What do you think they want you to do?” I ask, my mind already whirring with half-ideas and useless solutions. “In action movies, the hero pretends to go along with what the bad guys want, and then tricks them to escape!”
He takes a shuddering breath, blinking hard enough to force a couple of fat tears to escape and roll down his cheeks. “It could be anything. I just—I just hope I get to see Dev again.”
“Of course you will.”
“He’s been through everything with me, most of my life. I never should have brought him here. Everyone said it would be dangerous, but Dev wouldn’t say anything, because… because he… he doesn’t do that! He goes along with things, if he knows they’re important to me.” He wipes savagely at his eyes with one of his sleeves. “He should be home, working on his experiments or complaining about my stupid ideas. After everything he’s done for me… Gods, Daisy, I wish he’d never met me at all! I wish neither of you had!”
I wrap my arms around him as best I can, holding him close while he silently shakes.
“It’s going to be okay,” I say after a long time, mostly to convince myself of it. “We’re gonna get out of here. Can you call your dad for help?”
Griffin shifts around enough to pat his pockets. “They took my communicator.”
Of course. “Well, is there another way to call him? Don’t you have telepathy or something?”
“He couldn’t hear me from here. We’re too far away.”
The whole room feels as if it’s been plunged into winter, uncomfortably cold and crackling with depressing energy. Sparks of blue and gray fall around us like rain before fading entirely from sight.
“What is this stuff?” I whisper, holding out a hand and collecting a few of the sparks. “You feel like you’re buzzing. Is your magic coming back?”
Griffin doesn’t answer for so long that I think he didn’t hear me, but he finally says, “It’s just from being around them, because they brought home stones with them. I had one, too, but I lost it. Someone took it from me, I think. Who knows, maybe those… those traitors who called themselves my bodyguards.”
“But you’re recharging your magic by being around someone with magic stones? Maybe we can steal one of them! What do they look like?”
“You wear them around your neck, close to your heart.” He looks at me then. “I’m sorry, Daisy. I’m so sorry I dragged you into this.”
“Hey.” I kiss his cheekbone, the side of his head. “I meant it when I said we’re getting out of here. There’s what? Five of them? Maybe six? There are four of us, between you, me, Dev, and Kammie.”
He considers this and then nods, even if only once. “They took my Dev.”
“You can get him back. I’ll help you. We’ll get out of here, and you’ll still have won your wager against your dad. Think positive.” I don’t feel even slightly positive, but there’s no use in both of us losing hope right now. “Do you think you could fight them better with one of the stones?”
Griffin nods again, so I press my hand against his chest, over his heart. I’m about to say something really inspiring and helpful, but a loud noise startles both of us, and we turn around to find the door to our room swing open with a creak. Griffin’s on his feet before I can even react, crossing the room at lightning speed.
“Where is Devon?” he says. “Where is Devon? Answer me!”
“Your friend is waiting for you, as always, Prince Griffin.” It’s Taug’s voice, but I can’t see him until I stand up and dare to move closer. I stop just behind Griffin, peering around him at Taug and three of Griffin’s bodyguards. They seem altogether scarier than ever before, thanks to the grim set of their faces and the crackling energy emitting from them. “Perhaps we shouldn’t keep him waiting too long, though?”
“If you want anything from me, you know you’ll have to let Devon, Daisy, and Kammie go,” Griffin says, his voice steadier than before, even if I can feel the slight tremble remaining in his body.
Taug simply smiles at Griffin, and then motions for us to follow him. The bodyguards fall into step beside us, watchful of our every movement. I’m equally watchful, my eyes scanning them for any signs of necklaces that might hold the home stones.
We’re escorted past a series of doors and up a dark staircase, into the light of the surface level of the mansion. I recognize the Origin Collective’s headquarters immediately, both by the cheerful interior colors and the faint floral smell.
A man wearing a spiffy uniform and white gloves walks by us, takes one look at Griffin and me, and averts his eyes, hurrying on past.
“We’re being kidnapped here!” I call after him, but he doesn’t slow down or respond, and I receive a hearty elbow in the ribs from one of the bodyguards for my effort.
“Leave her alone,” Griffin says, in a low, dangerous voice. “She’s not one of us, remember? And she’s under my care.”
From somewhere up ahead, I can hear Taug let out a snicker. Eventually, we’re escorted into a large room that is mostly empty, save for a chair, a large came
ra, and another bodyguard. Judging by several impressions on the carpets and some furniture lined up against a wall, this room doesn’t normally appear this way. It’s been set up especially for us.
“What do you think?” Taug asks, waving his arms wide, moving so he’s standing in front of Griffin and me. “Is it grand enough for you, Prince Griffin? I know you’re a famous celebrity now, known all over the galaxy for your music and your ability to sleep with almost anything that moves across your path. But this was the best we could do for you.”
Griffin glances at me before stepping closer to Taug. “You told me that Devon was waiting for me. Where is he?”
“He’ll be brought into the room as soon as you’ve completed our task.”
“No. I won’t do anything until I see that Devon is alright.”
Taug cocks his head to the side. “Making demands as always, I see, Prince Griffin. Unfortunately, your days of demands are over. Back home, you held some semblance of power, but here, you are nothing. Here, you are only a toy for me to play with and discard at my whim. Here, you are beneath me. Here, you are crushed under the mighty boot of the very souls you held prisoner for all these years.”
Griffin stands up a bit taller. “Let me see Devon.”
Three of the bodyguards lay hands on Griffin and bodily lift him off his feet, depositing him roughly into the empty chair set up in front of the camera. He springs back from the chair immediately, hitting the floor and rolling away from them.
Before I know what’s happening, someone’s arm slides around my back and I’m tugged into a rough, painful embrace. Taug’s voice fills the room as if it’s been amplified by an impressive speaker system. “Would you like me to snap her neck?” he demands.
Griffin lets out a heavy, angry huff of air. “Leave her alone.”
“You’ll record our message, and then I’ll consider your request.”
“It’s not a request. I want Dev brought to me immediately and Daisy unharmed, or I won’t do a damn thing you ask me to.”
The bodyguard holding me reeks of something spicy and strong, now that I’m up close to him, and I can’t help wincing. Unfortunately, Griffin looks at me just then and must think I’m wincing from fear or the crazy, muscular arm clamped in front of my throat.
“It’s not difficult, what we’re asking you to do. We just want you to record a message for everyone back home,” Taug says, in a supremely annoying and smug voice. “Tell them that you’ve fallen in love with this little planet, and you want to forfeit the crown to us.”
Griffin hisses, making the air buzz and waver around him. “My father will never believe that. He and I made a wager, and he knows how much I want to win it.”
“Your father?” Taug repeats. “Oh! So you must not have heard. I’m sorry to be the one to tell you the news, Griffin, but your father is dead.”
The buzzing intensifies, and Griffin’s eyes narrow to slits. “What?”
“By now, Mali should have taken care of him. And that leaves you next in line, but everyone knows you’re a reckless and irresponsible choice for leader. You’ve been obsessed with this planet for as long as anyone can remember. Of course, you’ll want to stay here. You love it! And that leaves room for someone to step in and repair all the damage that’s been done. Wonderful, isn’t it? Everyone’s happy.”
Griffin shakes his head, opening his mouth to speak, and then closing it again. After a few long seconds, he sucks in a deep breath and looks at me first, then at Taug. “Bring Dev to me, and I’ll record your message.”
Taug must feel as surprised as I do by this statement, because his smug smile falls away briefly, but then he motions to one of the bodyguards. “Bring him out here. Bring the girl, too.”
Though it’s probably less than a minute before Kammie is dragged into the room, it feels much longer. It would seem that it took two of the traitorous bodyguards to hold Kammie, who does her best to shake them off as she arrives.
“How dare you!” Kammie shouts. “You’re traitors, is what you are. Traitors! Showing up here and hurting Devon and Griffin. Daisy and I, we’re their human escorts and companions. Daisy and I are going to talk to the president about this. And maybe the Queen of England, too!”
Taug walks slowly toward her. “You humans… you’re fierier than you were the first time we visited, aren’t you? I suppose a few thousand years should make a difference. But at the core, you’re still as weak-minded and breakable as ever.”
“Visited before?” I say, before I can stop myself. Muscle-arm guy tightens his hold on me a little, so I launch into dramatic coughing splutters until he loosens his grip again. “What do you mean, you’ve visited before?”
“You’ve forgotten now. Maybe your ancestors didn’t want you to know your true heritage. Maybe they were ashamed of our blood running through their veins. Through your veins.”
I cough again, this time for real. “What, are you gonna try to tell me you helped us build the pyramids, Stargate-style?”
Kammie, for her part, stops squirming and shoots me a rather smug look. “I told you, Daisy, aliens built the pyramids.”
“We lived among you, for a time, and we suffered. All the wonderful knowledge we shared with you, all the growth we provided you, the peace we offered, was returned only with disease and ruin. Your planet is one of the only planets in the universe like ours, and your people, so similar to us in starmatter… It should have been a second home, especially when we shared our very language with you. Our blood.” He shakes his head. “Think of it! Some of your ancestors are our kind, but your people chose to forget us.” Taug snorts. “No wonder Griffin likes it here so much. He fits right in with all of you—ungrateful, weak.”
I filter this through my mind quickly, thinking of Griffin’s weakened state and the missing necklace. “You never found another planet, did you?” I demand. “That’s why you’re fighting over the one you have, instead of going somewhere else. You can’t go anywhere else.”
Taug looks at me with new curiosity. “Don’t think, girl, that just because we can’t live for an extended period on your planet means that you’re safe. If you interfere with our plans, I might find special use for your planet… harvesting or labor. Who knows?”
Devon arrives then, escorted by just one bodyguard. “Griffin!” he says, and Griffin takes a step toward him before hesitating.
“Are you alright, Dev?” Griffin asks, twisting his hands together in front of himself.
They exchange a look across the room at each other that seems like a full conversation in a few silent seconds, and then Griffin takes several steps backward.
“Your friend’s here now, Griffin. It’s time for you to do the right thing,” Taug says, flicking a switch on the camera and turning a knob. “Sit down, and we can begin.”
“What’s he trying to make you do?” Devon asks, his normally perfect blond hair flopped down over his eyes. He looks incredibly disheveled, which is jarring at best, but the worst thing is probably the worried expression on his face. Dev’s supposed to be unflappable British—err— alien calm. “Griff, talk to me. What’s he want you to do?”
“He’s going to send a message home,” Taug says. “Now that his father’s dead, we’re almost finished with this mess once and for all.”
Any remaining color in Devon’s face drains away. “You’re a disgrace,” he says, and I’m glad he’s not talking to me. His voice, filled to the brim with burning disgust, is enough to make someone spontaneously combust. “The Emperor President might not be a soft man, but he’s always wanted the best for all of us!”
“Anterys is dead now. Thank you for your speech, Dev, but I’m not as easily swayed by you as everyone else seems to be.”
“Griffin, don’t cooperate with him.”
“Stop, Dev,” Griffin says in a very quiet voice.
“If you think holding me as captive will make Griffin bow to your wishes, you’re wrong,” Devon says. “Neither of us will have any part in your plot. Gr
iffin’s your Emperor President now. He knows what he has to do.”
Taug lets out an exasperated sigh. “Shut him up, will you?” he says to the bodyguard holding Dev. Kammie attempts to claw her way out of the strangle-hold her two guards have on her, but they stop her from making much progress.
The air around Griffin crackles, and the floor under my feet shakes. A window rattles and then shatters, sending glass everywhere, including raining down over Griffin’s head. His eyes remain fixed in Dev’s direction, even as he raises his hand high and snaps his fingers.
Another window breaks, and then another; I squeeze my eyes closed in an attempt to protect my eyes as glass falls around me.
The smelly alien releases me, and I open my eyes to find Taug and three of the bodyguards rushing Griffin, but they all freeze before they can reach him. A sickly, gurgling sound emits from the bodyguard behind Devon, and he collapses to the floor with a loud gasp.
“Griffin, stop it!” Devon shouts, but he, too, seems to be frozen in place.
One of the bodyguards rises into the air, his arms stiff at his sides, until he’s levitating with his back against the roof. All at once, he falls to the ground, like a toy that’s been dropped, and lands close enough to me that I hear the crunch of his bones as they break.
A shriek escapes me before I can stop it, and I jump back, away from the body.
Breaking through the hold, one of the bodyguards makes a rush for Griffin, but he doesn’t make it very far before his whole body lights up. He screams and falls into a writhing, glowing jumble on the floor.
The last of them, and arguably the biggest, slowly claps his hands together as if he’s dragging them through water. A glowing, red shape forms between his hands. He pulls his arm back to throw it at Griffin, but then he hesitates and throws it at Taug instead, who barely bats it away.
Behind me, the displaced furniture shakes and bursts apart, as if someone’s blown it up. I fall instinctively to the ground and cover my head, praying the giant, flying shards of wood won’t land on me.
When I dare to sit up again, I find that the last of the bodyguards has fallen, leaving only Taug and Griffin, both of whom are floating several inches off the ground.
I know, without needing to be told, that Griffin’s used up most everything he has left in him, not just his magic. His whole body shakes with rage, and I can feel an overwhelming sense of exhaustion rolling off him in waves, reaching me by way of our weird mind-connection thing.
“Griffin.” My voice sounds too weak, so I clear my throat and try again, though not much louder. “Griffin, you’re hurting yourself.”
“She’s right, Griffin,” Taug says, and the room shakes with the violence of an earthquake. “But you’re not who you pretend to be, are you? You’re stronger than I thought, stronger than any of us thought. And you’re ruthless! Look, look at all of this devastation you caused. Griffin Tamanoc Anterysli, you… you are one of us.”
“No, I’m not!” Griffin screams, sending Taug flying across the room and into a pile of broken furniture rubble. “I will never let you destroy our home. Never! They may hate me all they want, but I will not let them fall into your evil hands.”
Taug climbs back to his feet, but with difficulty, and he disappears from sight, only to reappear in front of Griffin. He sends his elbow crashing into Griffin, doubling him over, and hits him on the back of his neck. The room shakes again, sending a crack racing across the floor and several pieces of the roof crashing down around us.
A sound, a horrible sound like thunder, cracks overhead, deafening me. I cover my ears, but it doesn’t block out the noise.
The room shakes again as Griffin charges Taug, throwing all of his weight into him and hitting somewhat blindly. They grapple for what feels like forever, inflicting damage to each other but never quite breaking the dangerous cycle of energy they’ve built. When Taug finally catches hold of Griffin, the crack in the floor widens and the rest of the windows in the room shatter.
“You’re going to kill your pretty little human, Griffin, and your best friend, if you’re not more careful. Wouldn’t that be a shame?” Taug asks, sinking his fingers into Griffin’s dark hair and yanking, forcing his head up. “Would it be like when you killed your own mother?”
Griffin snarls and his whole body flames with glowing blue light as he shoves Taug away. “Your organization killed her!”
“Are you sure? Or were you so afraid of us that you lost control and accidentally killed her yourself?”
Griffin’s hands fall to his sides and his glow dims. “No. No, I didn’t. I remember what happened!”
Memory flashes of red-uniformed intruders dance across my vision, shared from Griffin’s mind, and I see one of the intruders sink a knife deep into the chest of a tall, graceful woman…
“He’s lying to you, Griffin. You do remember what happened!” I say, but then Taug rushes Griffin, slamming into him and setting off a massive blue explosion that shakes the room again. “Griffin!” I shout, even though my voice is drowned out by the deafening hiss of the energy that surrounds and shields the aliens from my eyes. One glance at Kammie and Devon tells me they can’t move at all, but they also seem to be shielded from everything flying around them, so I take a few deep breaths and run toward the crackling, blue energy.
Halfway there, I realize what a stupid idea this is, but there’s no stopping it. I leap into the snapping, popping, blue-tinged airwaves and find Griffin and Taug locked into something that looks altogether too much like a sorcerer battle. I throw myself against Taug, clawing at his neck for the home stone necklace that I know must be there. Sure enough, I grab hold of a thin strip of metal and yank as hard as I possibly can, using every bit of that first-place-in-a-tug-of-war-contest strength to break the necklace, and throw it toward Griffin.
Griffin catches the necklace and locks eyes with me for a brief second. His gaze is terrifying, electric blue, and deadly, so much that I’m glad when he looks away from me again.
“What will you do?” Taug demands, though there’s fear in his voice now. “Go home, kill Mali? Kill everyone in our organization?”
“If I can, I will,” Griffin says, quietly, and Taug’s body lights up from within, exploding into too many pieces to count.
After a few breaths, a few seconds of barely suppressed shock, I look at Griffin. “You did it,” I say. “You can stop now.”
I don’t think he can hear me, however, because he just stares at the space where Taug had been and quakes with rage and rippling energy.
“Griffin. Griffin, listen, Dev and I are waiting for you, right here! It’s okay now; you can stop!” I say, but I receive no response. “Griffin! You’re not the bad alien; you’re not like the alien in that stupid movie!” Anger, hurt, and the strength of dying energy fight for control in my head, washing over from Griffin, but I force them all aside and take a step toward him. When he doesn’t respond, I take another step, and then another, until I’m standing directly in front of him. His voice whispers in my mind that he’s dangerous, that he’s lost, but I shake my head and dare to loop my arms around him.
“No. You’re mine,” I whisper, and every sound in the room falls silent, all the light dying out. And Griffin crumbles to the floor, despite my best attempt to hold onto him.
Dating an Alien Pop Star Page 30
