‘Preservation of your race…’” She snorted in derision. “You just want to live forever, revered as gods, and you don’t care how many innocent people you use to achieve that goal!”
“Calm her, Athan!” one of the Holy Councilmen snapped. “Her anger disrupts the transference properties of the Sacred Ceremony!”
“Take her out of here,” another said, waving his arms to drive them away. “Go! Before she taints this place with her negativity!”
Athan shook his head. “Pathetic,” he muttered.
“Yeah? Well, fuck you, too!” Melinda said, raising her hand with middle finger extended.
Athan reached out and snatched her by that wrist, and in another flash they vanished from the temple. When they rematerialized, they were in a small room with no windows and no furnishings, just a dark box with light that emanated from the floor.
Melinda had no time to get her bearings when a shaft of red light enveloped her. She found herself immobilized, unable to move her arms or legs. She stood there, hands at her sides, and looked at Athan. “What are you going to do to me?”
“What we have always intended to do,” Athan replied. He walked around her slowly, looking her over as he flexed his fingers. “You will be prepared. You will be ensconced at the Temple. And you will provide what we need.”
He stopped in front of her and shook his head. “What a foolish child. Your life is but a fraction of a heartbeat, a tiny speck of dust compared to the vastness of our existence. We have always been here, and we shall always remain. We have never bargained for our time. It is there for us. It is ours. We are entitled to it.”
“You’re going to run out of it one day,” Melinda ground out through her teeth. She felt a pressure on her jaws, forcing her to keep her head up in one position. It did not stop her from finding her voice or using it.
“Resources dry up. You lost your women and you can’t reproduce. That’s why you want to live forever – because you have no one to continue your legacy.” She chuckled. “And you called me ‘pathetic.’”
She saw his gold eyes flash, saw his cheek twitch from the willpower it took to keep his rage in check. “The blessings begin at dawn,” he announced. “The same moment that your autonomy ends.”
Melinda squinted as he disappeared with a quick, bright flash. As purple and green spots danced before her eyes, she let out a sigh.
“Fuck,” she muttered.
She wanted to scream. She wanted to cry. More than that, she wanted to go back to Earth, to her stupid, useless life where no one gave a shit about her enough to notice her.
“I don’t want to be ‘special,’” she whispered. “I want to go home.”
Chapter Eight
Melinda strained against the force field surrounding her, trying once more to break free, only to give up with a moan of frustration. Closing her eyes, she sobbed at the futility of her situation.
This can’t be happening, she thought. All my life, I’ve never been able to catch a break. What did I do to deserve this? I’ve never hurt anyone. I go out of my way to help other people. I swear, it’s like someone out there has it in for me…
Another pop of bright light made her open her eyes again. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw Roth standing before her.
“Oh my God,” she groaned, awash with relief at the sight of him. “Where have you been? You’ve got to get me out of here! You were right, everything you said about Athan is true, he’s just going to use me – please, you’ve got to help me!”
“I will,” Roth said, “but only when the time is right.”
Melinda stared at him in disbelief. “Are you kidding me?” she mumbled, still unable to speak clearly. “Oh my God, you’re just as sick as he is! You’re messing with my head, lying to me – you’re probably gonna be one of the first in line at the temple when the ceremonies begin, ready to nail me again!”
Roth rushed up on her, coming within inches of the stasis field. “I am nothing like Athan!” he snarled, pointing to himself. “You know nothing of me, nothing of what I have experienced, the things I have lost!”
She scoffed. “Do you see me right now?” she asked. “Do you see where I am? I just lost the only thing I have left: my freedom. What did you lose?”
Roth stared at her for another long moment. He raised his hand again, this time making a sweeping gesture. The red light around Melinda disappeared, and she found she could move again.
“Thank you,” she said.
He paced away from her, dragging his fingers back through his white-blond hair.
“Long ago,” he said, his voice lower now, “I had been the leader of a four-member party of Volosian explorers, a scientist trained in botany and agriculture. We were sent to study your Earth. We found a race of people who were dying, starving to death. I taught them how to grow crops and how to irrigate. As a show of their gratitude, they gave me a name.”
“Quetzalcoatl,” Melinda provided. When he turned to look at her again, she nodded. “Athan told me about it. He didn’t say you were the one who did all that.”
“Did he tell you of Meztli?” Roth asked. She shook her head and he snorted. “Of course not. Meztli was a Human woman. Her name meant ‘moon.’ They called me ‘Morning Star.’ As far as I was concerned, she was all that existed in the heavens and on Earth.”
Damn, that’s pretty romantic, Melinda thought, surprised. And here I thought he was just some manipulative bastard…
“What happened to her?”
“I married her,” Roth replied, a smile curving his lips. “She had been married once before, but her husband had died, leaving her to raise their two young children on her own. I took her as my personal Oracle, caring for her and her family. She had been unlike any other woman I had met in that time – intelligent, clever, witty. Shortly after she became my wife, she conceived a child. Never before had a mating between a Human and a Volosian resulted in conception. We believed it to be a rare mutation of the gene which made her an Oracle, bringing our races one step closer together.”
His smile faded. “One day, she had been out with her handmaidens. She became separated from them. They found her only after they heard her screams. She had been mauled by a jaguar. They brought her back to the temple but it was too late. She died in my arms.”
Melinda felt overcome with grief, as though she had just lost the love of her life. “Oh, God…Roth…I’m sorry.”
“The loss of Meztli hardened my heart,” Roth said. “I left Earth immediately, returning to Volos where I surrendered my titles as Explorer and Scientist and joined the Warrior ranks.”
“Putting yourself on the front lines,” she murmured. “You would be one of the first sent out on dangerous missions where you stood a good chance of being killed.” Melinda shook her head again. “Losing her made you suicidal.”
“Until now.” Roth looked at Melinda. “The vision you had during our coupling when you achieved the trance state – it was a memory. A genetic memory passed down to you along with the trait that makes you an Oracle.” He reached out to cup her face. “And they are not the only qualities you inherited.”
Melinda caught his hand and pulled it away slowly. “What are you saying?” she asked, frowning at him with suspicion.
“You are the direct descendant of Meztli,” he said. “I sensed it the moment I first saw you – it called to me like a signal. That is how I found you. You are more than an Oracle, Melinda – you are Meztli.”
She blinked and backed away from him. “So that’s why you came to me in my room that night,” she said. “Why you fucked me, and then told me you wanted to keep me for yourself. Not because I’m an Oracle, and not even for me – because I remind you of your dead wife.”
“Perhaps,” he admitted. “Or maybe I did not want Athan to have you. Dragons are, by nature, greedy creatures. We love to hoard what others treasure.”
“Is that what Meztli was?” Melinda’s eyes narrowed. “Oh my God. You didn’t love her – she w
as just a possession to you. And now you want me for the same reason.” She let out a short, hollow laugh. “I don’t know what’s worse: Athan, for wanting to use me to make him feel superior and help him to live forever…or you, for using me because you can’t get over a woman you used and lost centuries ago.” She shook her head. “I hate to break it to you, Roth, but I am not some souvenir you get to take home and keep. I’m a person. I have feelings, and I also have a say in what happens to me and my body. Letting you and your friends put me in a trance is no different from the guy who roofies a girl’s drink at a party so he can get busy with her while she’s unconscious. Where I come from, that’s called rape. So to hell with you and your entire race, you’re not going to make me do something I would never consent to do. Like I told Athan, I will kill myself before I let that happen.”
Roth became angry again, his rage sparked by Melinda’s. “I have told you that I will not allow Athan or anyone else to have you,” he growled, advancing on her. “I mean to keep my word.” He stared into her eyes, his own seeming to crackle with fire. “And you will never speak of my wife again – or I will kill you, myself.”
He stepped back from her and in another brief flicker of light like the pop of a camera’s flash, he was gone.
Melinda staggered back and fell against the wall, shaking – not from fear, but from the pain and anger, she could feel rolling off of Roth in that last moment, crashing into her like ocean waves during a storm. Her legs threatened to give out from the sheer force of it.
Does this have something to do with these ‘special abilities’ they keep telling me I have? She wondered. She also had to question her sanity, because she felt something else when Roth got right up on her: longing. Why do I still want him?
“Fuck,” she muttered, looking around at her prison. “I have got to get off this planet.”
Chapter Nine
Athan returned for Melinda just before sunrise the next morning. He wore a white robe belted with a red sash.
She saw his frown when he found her curled up in the corner instead of in the stasis field where he had left her. His eyes narrowed sharply. “Come with me,” he told her.
They transported to the Temple of the Sacred Pool. Already, Melinda could see Volosian men lined up outside, also dressed in white ceremonial robes with red sashes, their heads bowed in silent contemplation.
Melinda lagged and Athan grabbed her arm just above the elbow. He propelled her into the grotto. The four members of the High Holy Council stood, two on either side of the circle, waiting.
One pair stepped forward. They reached up and unhooked the pins at Melinda’s shoulders; her dress dropped to the floor in a puddle at her feet, leaving her naked except for her shoes. Immediately, she tried to cover herself with her hands as her face heated with a blush of embarrassment.
“Please enter the circle,” the red-haired Councilman instructed.
Melinda shook her head and started to back away when she felt a strong hand grip the back of her neck. Athan placed his lips close to her ear.
“You will do as you are told,” he hissed. “You think you have nothing to lose, but you still have feelings for people back on your world. Tell me, would you care if your parents died, or did they mistreat you so terribly that their deaths would be inconsequential?”
“You leave my family alone!” Melinda snarled at him. She tried to twist her head around to give him a withering glare but his fingers dug into the base of her skull to keep her in place. She did not doubt he had the strength to crush her vertebrae if he wanted. She imagined him severing her spinal cord and leaving her helpless but alive. He was sadistic enough to make that happen. He might even have the power to bring her back and forth from paralysis if he wanted. She realized then how little she still knew about the Volosians.
“Don’t,” she whispered. A tear rolled down her cheek. She loved her family dearly and she wasn’t sure she would be able to handle anything happening to them. It didn’t matter that they did not really understand her or her dreams she was pursuing; they loved her and she loved them. They were good people. How dare Athan or anybody else threaten them? She felt the hairs standing up on the back of her neck as the rage coursed through her. She wanted to curse Athan within an inch of his life, but she tried to hold back her rage and not set him off. As much as she hated to admit it, he held the cards here.
He reminded her of every bully she had ever met in her life. Because she was overweight they thought she was an easy target for their aggression when she was growing up, but they learned quickly that if you crossed Melinda then she would stand up and make you sorry you did, as Ryan Taylor learned the hard way during sixth grade lunch period. She could still remember the look on his face as she dumped her chocolate milk over his head. The entire cafeteria erupted in laughter and he ran out of the room crying like a little girl. It wasn’t the first time she’d had to stand up to a bully and it would not be the last.
“Sit,” Athan ordered, biting out the last letter. He released Melinda and she began to move, slowly, stepping down into the circle. She walked across to the chair sitting in the center, the bright green, emerald candles growing brighter with every step she took until her naked body was awash in green light. She almost felt like an alien right then.
“Turn around,” Athan said.
She did. She glared up at him, tears flowing freely now. It wouldn’t have mattered if I had said no, she thought. Roth was right about that.
The second pair of Holy Councilmen entered the circle and approached her. As they did the candles of green flame suddenly united together, forming one huge green fireball that burned higher and brighter, the flames stretching easily seven feet up in the air. She could hardly see anything except for the green flames. The heat was warm and almost soothing as it floated over her skin with a soft breeze. It was gentle and calming, but she fought it hard. It was just another trick to lull her into a highly suggestible state so she would be more compliant. Not only were they raping her body, they were going to rape her mind as well. This race of beings were pure scum; and Athan was the vilest of them all by far, which probably explained why he was the leader. They lifted her as easily as a child and placed her in the chair. Melinda’s breath hitched as they positioned her legs in the smooth, curved recesses of the supports. They began to chant over her, anointing her forehead, temples, and throat with oil from a silver bottle. The scent of it filled her nostrils and she began to feel lightheaded.
She blinked hard, trying to stay focused. Roth! She glanced around, frantic, looking for him. Where are you? You said you wouldn’t let this happen!
The Councilmen retreated and Athan stepped into the circle, the flames parting to outline his body as he stepped through and then returning to their raging position behind him.. “I will have the first blessing,” he announced. He untied his sash and draped it across Melinda’s belly.
She watched, her chest heaving rapidly, as he shouldered out of his robe, exposing his lean, hard body.
“Yes,” he said, as though savoring the moment. He reached out and ran his hands down the insides of her thighs. “I shall take…and you shall give.”
This was it. This was the point of no return. The fear of everything that was going to happen culminated with this act right here; she knew that she was only seconds away from being penetrated against her will by this vile creature. She had to act fast. With Roth nowhere to be found, Melinda took matters into her own hands. . and quickly grabbed the sash off her stomach, looped it over Athan’s head, crossing the ends, and pulled in opposite directions. Athan’s eyes widened in surprise as the sash tightened around his throat. It felt good to see genuine fear invade his mind and spread across his evil face. Melinda leaned back using her weight as leverage to strengthen the sash tighter, but his neck was thick and muscular making it harder to squeeze.
Unfortunately, Melinda’s attempt on his life lasted for less than a ten seconds. Athan dislodged her easily with his superior strength, breaking he
r hold and shoving her backward into the cradle. His lip curled.
“Stupid child!” he spat, and for a moment she could see the pattern of red and gold scales on his neck and cheek as he raised a clawed hand in preparation to strike her. In that instant, the scent of the oils – or perhaps something else – kicked in. Melinda’s eyes fluttered and rolled back in her head...
She wandered through the jungle. The sky above grew dark with the approach of a storm, clouds rolling as a brutal wind whipped the treetops into a violent dance. She squinted against the gale and picked her way through the dense undergrowth. She had to find shelter. Her arms curled protectively around her belly, swollen with child. She called out for help but the sound of thunder drowned out her voice.
The familiar beating of leathery wings made her smile. She turned and looked up, expecting to see her husband, only to behold one of Quetzalcoatl’s three brothers: Tezcatlipoca, dubbed The God of Deceit by her people. She watched him lightly before her, his wings shrinking back into his shoulders. He smiled at her. “You are far from home, Meztli,” he said. “You are also alone, separated from your companions.” He clucked his tongue. “Such a shame.”
As she watched, he went down on all fours, transforming into a jaguar in the blink of an eye. His golden eyes glinted and with a roar he launched himself at her. She let out a scream as she tried to run but tripped and fell to the ground just as the skies opened up and the rain began to fall –
Melinda snapped out of the trance with a gasp. She stared up at Athan, trembling. “It was you,” she said, gulping. “You killed her. You killed Meztli.”
Athan smirked. “Yes,” he said, “I did. We were sent to that planet to study, not to fall in love with the natives. It was better when they revered us as gods. When it came time to return to Volos, Roth refused to leave. He had grown too attached to them. But I found a way to make him go.”
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