by Erin Raegan
“It is shallow.” The Vitat’s claws were sharp, but had they clawed anywhere else on my body, they would not have penetrated. The hide between my wings was one of the only vulnerable areas on a Dahk. Still, they did not dig deep. The cut was barely a scratch.
“Your blood is purple,” Nahythahn whispered, his voice catching with wonder.
“And yours is red,” I murmured and motioned them ahead of me.
Bahyly stopped before me, scowling. “How do you know that?”
“My commander’s mate and her companions’ lifeblood is red.” I scowled back. I knew she believed I’d harmed a human to gain the information. But humans were not to be harmed. My king may be dead―assassinated in his own dwelling―but I would not betray his orders. The humans were to be protected. “They were injured by the Vitat.” I thought of the humans who had betrayed us, shooting down our ship from the sky, and clenched my jaw. My commander’s mate and several humans had been in the ship and suffered from their own people’s cowardice. “And my bite revealed it.” I eyed her neck, satisfaction shooting through me.
She flushed beautifully and eyed me suspiciously but stepped through the room, her tiny hand fisted in her charge’s clothing. The Vitat could be heard outside, their war-cries and pain-filled wailing grating against my hima. I followed the humans as they climbed up a vestibule of stairs. I did not like my Pythe leading the way, but I knew a threat lurked from behind. I could not leave her vulnerable. I stayed close so that I could interfere should an unknown enemy come from above.
We climbed and climbed. The humans breathing grew labored and uneven.
“Slow down, Bails,” Nahythahn panted.
“No. You play basketball for cripe’s sake, Nate, you can climb a few steps.”
“This is not a few! It’s, like, a million!”
Bahyly huffed but slowed her feet. I would carry them, but I needed my hands free to palm my blades. When we reached the top, Bahyly stopped at another door, twisting the knob. It didn’t move. She sighed heavily and looked back at me, her bright eyes shining in the dark.
I stepped behind her and reached around, holding my breath to avoid taking in her enchanting scent. The weak door folded under my strength.
“You are super strong. Do you guys have, like, laser beam eyes or anything else?”
I looked down at the small male as he eyed my form with curiosity. Bahyly snickered. My eyes shot to her enthralling smile. “No.”
“Can you teleport?” he asked eagerly.
“No.”
I allowed Bahyly to shove open the door but pulled her back by the cloth covering her torso. Looking through the door, I eyed the top of the building. It was dark, crushed stone covering the ground. The wind whistled, carrying the sounds of the battle below. Hovering over the humans, I ushered them through the door and searched the top of the structure.
“Don’t go near the edge,” Bahyly warned her charge.
“Can you read minds?” he asked, following me.
“No.”
“Shapeshift?”
I eyed the male. “No.”
“X-ray vision?”
“No.”
The male huffed. “Mind control?”
“No. That is a Kilbus ability.”
“Another alien species?” he asked excitedly.
“Yes.”
“Wicked!”
“Nate!” Bahyly pulled the male back by her side. “Stay by my side,” she gritted through her blunt teeth.
“Invisibility?” he asked as he allowed her to pull him back beside her.
“No.” After clearing the rooftop, I stopped in front of them. “Our ships have cloaking abilities,” I told the male, ignoring the flare of his eyes and his shaking excitement. “I will aid the others. Stay here.”
I glared at my Pythe. She raised her small chin stubbornly and did not answer. I stepped closer to her and palmed her small neck. She tensed.
Bending, I inhaled her enticing scent, my lips stopping at her delicate ear. “I know your scent,” I whispered threateningly. “There is nowhere you can flee that I will not find you.”
Her warm breath snagged. Her chest heaved unsteadily.
“Should you run, I will come for you. I will come, and I will redden your rump.” Her eyes flashed with fury as I stepped back. “Stay.” I pointed at the ground as I had seen Tahk’s mate and the other humans do with their mule, Booboo. Then I ran for the edge of the building and leaped from it. A small male shout carried on the wind, but I did not turn back. I plummeted to the ground, flaring my wings at the last moment and landing with a blow that cracked the black ground beneath my feet. I looked up at the two humans already defying my orders and pointed at them with a claw as they looked down over the edge.
There was nothing more to do. I ran for the small passageway where the battle continued. I’d told her all I could to deter her inclination to flee. I could not leave my comrades to fight the horde alone, no matter my instincts to guard the humans. They would be safe above for a short while.
And if she did flee―she would not be able to sit for sunrings.
Chapter 4
Bailey
“We’re staying right?” Nathan asked me from the middle of the rooftop as I searched the ground below us on all sides.
I spotted Olynth and the others fighting off the Vitat in the small alley, but I couldn’t stomach the fight for more than a second. They moved so quickly it was almost beautiful, but the carnage made my skin clammy and my stomach heave. We could go back through the building, but I only knew about the one door. It would spit us out in the middle of the fighting, and I didn’t have time to look for another.
Eyeing the fire escape on the side of the building, I sighed. We’d have to climb down them, and we were up about ten stories. “Come on.”
Nathan folded his arms across his chest. “No.”
I stomped back to him. “We don’t have time for this.”
“I heard what he said to you.” He scowled at me. “He’s just going to come get us.”
“He won’t find us,” I said, but a part of me didn’t believe myself. Still, I had to try.
“He’s going to be mad if we leave.” Nathan scowled at the ground.
“So what? They’re aliens, Nate. Aliens! We can’t trust them!”
“We can!” He grabbed my arm. “I’m scared all the time, Bails! But you heard them. They can protect us!”
“I’m scared too.” I blinked away mutinous tears. Hearing the fear in his voice broke my heart. “We need to get somewhere safe. It’s dark now, and way too dangerous to be outside.”
“But if we stay with them, we don’t have to be afraid anymore.” His voice broke and his face reddened with the urge to control his emotions.
“Nate,” I sighed and hugged him. He stiffened but let me pull him to me. “I know you want to trust them, kiddo, but we can’t. We have no idea if they’re lying or not. I’m not willing to take a chance that they are, or that they’re going to snatch us and take us to another planet like that girl and her friends.”
“It would be cool.” His voice was muffled by my jacket.
“Maybe for a second, dork, but I’ve seen your comics and movies. You really think they’re going to take us and not lock us in a cage somewhere?”
He sighed and clutched me tighter. “I don’t know.”
“C’mon. We need to go before they come back.”
I wanted to take the time to explain all the possibilities of abduction, but I didn’t want to scare him, and I really didn’t think it would take long for those three massive guys to slice off alien heads. They didn’t seem worried about their abilities or their own safety at all. Only ours.
I stiffened. I would never tell Nathan this, but all their worry about us had me thinking they would protect us, but it was most likely so they could sell a couple of humans at some alien slave auction. I wasn’t willing to take the chance.
Reluctantly, Nathan followed me to the fire escape. The fi
rst ledge was a couple of feet down, but if we were careful, we could drop onto it.
“I’ll go first and help you down.” I wished I had my pack. I had rope in there that would help us, but there was nothing I could do about that now.
I sat on the edge and rolled onto my stomach. Gripping the edge tightly, I wiggled down until I was dangling over the platform. Nathan clutched my wrists, helping hold up my weight. I looked down. I was only a couple feet above the platform.
“I’m going to drop down.”
He eyed me warily but eased his hold on my wrists. Taking a deep breath, I looked at him and nodded. The drop wasn’t far, but I still stumbled and fell flat on my back. I groaned and rolled to my knees.
“Okay, your turn.” I motioned for him to do as I had done.
His eyes flashed with fear, but he rolled onto his stomach until he was dangling from the edge. I could barely reach his feet. I clutched them tightly, bracing my feet apart.
“Slide down slowly.” As he came down, my hands moved up his legs, guiding his feet to the platform. “Easy-peasy.”
I grinned and clutched his hand, pulling him to the steps. The metal clanked and groaned under our feet on the way down. It had only been about ten minutes since the big guy left us on the rooftop, but that was ten minutes too long.
“Hurry,” I whispered.
The ladder made way too much noise as it slid down at the bottom, but I wasn’t risking jumping this time. We rushed down the ladder and took off running down the opposite alley from the fighting. I couldn’t hear the Vitats’ screams anymore, and that made me nervous. If the fight was over, the purple aliens would soon know we weren’t where we were supposed to be.
We ran and ran, our breathing erratic. My thighs burned, but we didn’t stop, and this time Nathan didn’t ask me to. My arms pebbled with fear-fueled goosebumps from every noise and every moving shadow. All kinds of buildings surrounded us, but they were all too big, and we didn’t have any light to scout them out. I couldn’t risk something lurking inside one of them when I had no way to fight them off.
I knew there was a moving company in a smaller building not much farther away, and it had an underground garage. We could hide inside one of the box trucks.
We reached the side of the building, gasping for air, and looked at the garage doors in dismay. They were rolled down, no doubt locked from inside. I looked for the front door, praying it was unlocked. I’d bash in a window if we had to, but the noise would give us away. I didn’t know how the Vitat could hear without ears, or if they even could, but sound always drew them. Plus, the other guys had excellent hearing and apparently super sniffers. My stomach dropped. Was this pointless? Could they really pick up our scent and follow us here? I shook off the warning pricking my neck and sighed in relief when the door opened easily.
It took a lot of courage and determination, but we searched the inside without any light and made our way down to the garage.
“Water,” Nathan whispered and pointed at a vending machine.
I nodded and followed him there. I looked around and scrounged up some tools to pry the machine open as quietly as possible. We each drank a full warm bottle, and I grabbed a cloth bag and filled it with as many bottles as would fit.
“You see a snack machine?” I asked him.
He shook his head sadly. I was starving, and he was a growing kid, so I knew he was feeling it worse than me.
“Flashlight,” I gasped as I rummaged through a desk. I prayed before clicking it on, biting my lip in excitement as it lit up. I hadn’t been looking forward to going down into a pitch-black garage, and now we had a little light.
We made it down and carefully searched the garage.
“We’ll camp out in this one.” I pointed at the only box truck that had its back open. I wasn’t going to try to look for keys to the others in the dark.
He nodded and climbed up. I helped him lay out the dusty furniture blankets on the hard metal.
“Should we leave it open?” Nathan asked, eyeing the open truck door.
I shook my head. “Too much noise to close it. And if something does find us down here, I don’t want to be trapped inside.” He made a ragged noise, and I scooted closer to him. “It’s going to be okay. I’m not going to let anything happen to you, booger.”
He nodded unsteadily and lay down. “Love you, Bails.”
I shut off the light. “Love you most, kiddo.”
I sat against the back of the truck wall, keeping my eyes on Nathan and the truck opening. I wouldn’t sleep. I would stay up and keep my ears open as best I could for intruders. Most noises would echo in the garage, so I hoped we would have ample warning if something found us.
If someone found us.
I listened to Nathan’s even breathing and clutched a tire iron. It was all I could find in the garage in the dark. I would look for something better in the morning.
My eyes were sore and heavy-lidded when Nathan woke up.
When we emerged from the garage, he looked at me with accusation, no doubt seeing dark circles under my eyes. “You didn’t sleep.”
I smiled and ruffled his hair. “I’m fine.”
No aliens had come for us, and the sun was out. Unfortunately, something else was lurking in the shop. I gasped when a hand clamped down on my shoulder and spun me around.
“You are certainly fine,” a ragged voice drawled.
Three men looked me up and down with leers.
“We thought we saw someone scurrying in here last night,” a man with a dirt-smudged face and tattered clothes said as he circled me.
Nathan trembled beside me.
“Had no clue it was a pretty piece like you. We might have risked the night.” Another licked his lips, eyeing my chest. “What’s your name, honey?”
I ignored the dirty man and clutched the tire iron. Nate wrapped the handle of the bag of bottles around his fist, ready to swing it.
“Don’t touch me,” I spat and swatted at the hand reaching toward my ass.
A hand smacked my cheek. I stumbled, and Nathan clutched me to keep me on my feet. I lifted the tire iron and swung it wide as Nathan swung the bag. The three men backed away with lifted hands, chuckling quietly.
One pulled a gun from the back of his pants. My chest tightened. I had nothing to protect myself against a gun. Nothing to protect Nathan.
“Let us go,” I said evenly, stepping in front of Nate.
“Watcha doin’ with that boy?” the man with the gun and a knotted dirty beard asked, eyeing Nathan with disgust.
Great, a bunch of rapists and racists. Our luck had been shitty yesterday, but this was getting ridiculous.
“He’s my brother,” I spat, eyeing the repulsive men.
All three guffawed. “No, he ain’t.”
Nathan may not have come from the same woman as me, the same man, but he was my brother in every way that mattered. And I would kill all three of these guys to protect him.
“Bails,” Nathan whispered fearfully. He knew what these types of men were capable of, unfortunately. His own father was ashamed of him when Nathan was born to a woman his father had spent one drunken night with. The man took one look at Nathan’s smooth chocolate skin and disappeared, leaving him with a mother who preferred drugs over the well-being of her child.
“To the door, Nate,” I told him.
The men stopped laughing and glared. “You ain’t goin’ nowhere. We got plans for you, girly. The boy can go. Let the beasts have him.”
“Nate, go,” I said again when he pressed into my back. We were in a small office. I couldn’t protect him in such a tight space.
“No, I’m staying with you.”
“I’ll be fine.” I eyed the men as they stepped closer, their impatience growing.
“No,” he growled.
“Nate. Go,” I said through my teeth. My eyes flashed to the window behind the men as a shadow flew by. Nathan must have seen them too, because his hand dug into my side.
“I�
��ll be back,” he whispered, hope and anticipation clear in his voice.
I tensed. He saw heroes out there when all I saw was one more threat. One more enemy to protect him from. I wanted to call him back when he ran from the room, but the men had a gun aimed at me. The enemy you know and all that.
One man grinned. “Smart boy.”
“Drop it,” another said threateningly, pointing at the tire iron in my clutches.
Shivers racking my body, I did as I was told, loosening my hands and relaxing my tense muscles.
“Mmmm.” One man stepped up and palmed my chest roughly.
I kept my eyes on the man with the gun.
The other man stepped behind me, his hands bruising the cheeks of my ass and his smelly face scraping along my neck. He licked the sore wound from Olynth, and I winced.
“You got a little cut here, girly. We’ll take real good care of you from here on out,” he whispered ominously.
I let them push and pull me to the desk. I didn’t fight them as they roughly shoved me down on my back.
“I’m first,” the man with the gun grunted and shoved the gun into the back of his pants.
I stayed frozen as he fought with the button of my pants with one hand and moved my shirt up to my neck with the other. The other two men were entranced as the first shoved a hand down my pants. He pushed his dirty face into my chest, biting me hard enough to sting. I breathed evenly and allowed him to tear open my jeans. Only when he gripped my hips with both hands and the other men stepped back to lean against the wall, fiddling with their pants, did I tense and knee the guy between his legs. I shot up to sitting as he shouted, and I yanked the gun from the back of his waistband.
The gun was aimed at his head as my steel-toed boot hit him again between the legs and he stumbled away from me. I jumped from the desk as the other two men shot forward. My back was to the door as I stumbled away from them, aiming the gun between them.
“I will tear you apart when we get you back down,” the one clutching his balls shouted.
“I will blow your head off before you can get near me,” I threatened him and thumbed the safety.
