The Cowboy Who Strolled Into Town

by Riley Moreno

  “I’m so glad,” she said and when Diesel turned her face up he saw tears in her eyes. “I was worried that he might not be what you were looking for in a father,” Diesel pressed a finger on her lips.

  “After you,” he said looking in her eyes meaningfully, “I don’t care what the world is like. All of this,” he waved at the people around them, “that’s just a bonus.”

  Sonya laughed and stood on tip toe to kiss him lightly on the lips.

  Chapter Eight

  Fatal Attraction

  Sonya undressed and slipped on her warm slippers. The night had been a resounding success. Diesel and Andrew had really hit it off and Keith was hilarious. She had noticed Diesel looking at him with wonder and she knew he must be thinking: this is my brother; he’s funny and he’s my brother!

  Diesel had gone to drop Andrew and Keith at their hotel in Waterville and Sonya was sure he’d be gone a long time. They had over thirty years of catching up to do. Sonya pulled on her nightgown, made herself some hot chocolate and settled in the living room.

  The snow was coming down faster now, blanketing everything in white.

  Sonya must have fallen asleep because she got up with a sudden jerk. The room was dark except for the icy blue light coming from the French windows that lead to the porch. It had stopped snowing and the moon was glowing.

  Sonya felt cold. There was a frigid breeze in the house. She pulled her nightgown closer around her and looked around for the source. She saw that the front door was wide open, drifts of snow swirling on the cabin floor, footprints in the melted snow drew a track from the door to her bedroom.

  “Diesel!” she called a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.

  A low growl came from her bedroom and Sonya’s hair stood on end. She edged away from the bedroom, the growling growing deeper and a shadow slinking on the walls. Sonya turned and ran outside the open front door, her feet slipping in the fresh snow, holding her back.

  A panther, sleek and ferocious jumped out roaring at Sonya. Sonya pushed herself to run to her car. The panther swiped at her, catching the end of her nightgown in its claws. Sonya let her nightgown fall in the snow, the cold hitting her skin like a punch. She ran as far as the main road, her mind in complete lockdown. She didn’t know what to do.

  The panther was trudging out of the drift of snow it had landed under and Sonya was about to give up hope when she saw headlights down the road. She ran, slipping and sliding on the slick iced road but she didn’t dare stop. She waved her hands screaming for the car to stop.

  Diesel braked hard and stepped out.

  “No!” Sonya was screaming. “Get back in! It’s not safe!”

  Diesel saw a panther come running towards them in the moonlight, its green eyes crazed and bloodlust upon it. Diesel roared and charged. He bent low and took the panther at a running leap knocking it out of Sonya’s way.

  The panther roared up at him but he kicked swiftly at the panthers’ exposed ribs cracking a bone and the panther howled in pain. Sonya watched as patches of fur disappeared and alabaster flesh revealed itself to the light of the moon.

  “Melanie?” Sonya was shocked.

  “You fucking bitch!” Melanie screamed lunging at Sonya with her still shifted paw but Diesel stamped it down with his heavy boot twisting his foot so her paw broke. Sonya saw bone poking out of the flesh.

  “Diesel, no, I love you,” Melanie whimpered. “You should be with me! We’re both WerePanthers; she’s not even a Shifter! We should be together, you know it. I know you want me, you were hard when we went in to the woods,” Melanie’s head snapped back.

  Sonya massaged her stinging palm.

  “Shut up about my boyfriend or I’ll slap your head the wrong way around,” Sonya said.

  Diesel looked at her admiringly and Sonya shrugged.

  “I’d been wanting to do that for a very long time,” she said.

  “Melanie Beal,” Diesel said, “You’re under arrest for breaking and entering and trying to attack a non-Shifter with full intention of bodily harm.”

  Melanie screamed in frustration but didn’t protest when Diesel put cuffs on her and carted her in to the back of his van.

  “Wow,” he said, “I guess I just don’t know how attractive I am,” he grinned down at Sonya.

  “You are very attractive,” she said snuggling in to him for warmth. “And you’re all mine!”

  Diesel didn’t argue just held her close, the idea of losing her too hard to even bare thinking. He kissed the top of her head and thanked all his luck, and to all the miserable years that had led him to her.

  The End.

  Alpha Aquila

  Alien Romance

  By: Riley Moreno

  Mother of Alpha Aquila

  Vanna wiped a tear from her soft rosy cheek as she stared into the inky black night sky. Her eyes rested on a faint slightly pink circle of light. That was Alpha Aquila. That was to be her new home. Vanna brushed the tips of her fingers underneath her eyelids to make sure that they were dry and then turned, and went back into the house to bid her younger two sisters, Clarissa and Isobel, goodbye. They might never know of the sacrifice that she was making, and that was what Vanna was counting on. She loved her sisters so fiercely that she would do anything for them, even this. The next morning, two men in anonymous black suits and dark glasses came to take her away. She kissed each of the young girls on the crown of their heads, told them that she loved them and held her head high as she walked across the threshold of her childhood home for the last time. As she passed by the cherry tree that her mother had planted when she was born, she plucked and pocketed half dozen cherries. She would eat them on the way to the launch pad. This way she would not be tempted to glance over her shoulders as the stone house disappeared over the horizon and forever from her sight.

  As the car drove away, Vanna stealthily placed a cherry in her mouth and slowly savored the tart and sweet taste. This is what home tastes like, she thought. She tongued the pit, rolling it around in her mouth, wanting the taste to remain with her for the remainder of the last few moments she had left on the planet that she had always known as home.

  "Master, the ship has left the planet Earth." Jarab's servant, Lucien, said with his head bowed. "It is done then", Jarab thought, there is no turning back now. "Lucien placed a thin clear glass slide on the control panel and a 3 dimensional image of Vanna appeared.

  "I think that you might be the luckiest Aquiline on the planet." Lucien said jokingly. "She's beautiful, not in the stunning way that our women were but, still. There is something about her. Something soft..." He trailed off. Jarab glanced up at the screen for a split second, shook his head and then said sternly

  "It doesn't matter. Take it down. We have preparations to attend to". He then squared his shoulders, straightened his spine, and turned out of the room.

  Lucien watched his master's strong back leave. It was a back as strong as iron, the other commodity that was on the ship headed toward Alpha Aquila, a back strengthened over the course of many years of difficulty. His master had been through many trials, trials that could easily have crushed him but, somehow, had made him stronger. Lucien wished, not for the first time, that Jarab could have maintained some of the characteristics that had made him so likeable when he was a young boy. Jarab was a trouble-maker who loved to pull pranks on every Aquiline who lived within the compound. One time he switched out Lucien's meal ration with his own. Each Aquiline had been rationed a meal based on weight, not even an Aquiline of Royal Blood like Lucien could escape these regulations. Jarab's dark emerald eyes had twinkled when he saw the look of shock on Lucien's face. He smiled and then swapped the meals back. "I wouldn't really do that to you." He laughed. "Not to such an elderly Aquiline." He looked a little bit graver, and then said more quietly, "Not when it could easily be your last meal on Alpha Aquila. They had made eye contact for a few second then turned their heads back to their trays and silently finished their food.

  She was cold. Va
nna was told by the men in black suits and dark glasses that the green viscous tonic they had made her drink before the flight would cause her to sleep for the 25 years it would take for the ship to travel from Earth to Alpha Aquila. She had done so eagerly. She would not mind 25 years of pleasant dreams and a peaceful mind. 25 years of rest and oblivion before she had to perform her duties laid out by the contract was so appealing that she had swallowed the tonic in one gulp and crawled into her pod. Now she awoke to hear the rumblings of the engine to feel the frigid air. She was lonely and frightened. Lonely and frightened and cold. The only comfort that Vanna could muster for herself was in the knowledge that Clarissa and Isobel would be safe and warm. Safe and warm and free. Vanna closed her eyes and tried to force herself to go back to sleep. There was no use dwelling on the things that she had left behind and she would focus on the tasks that lie before her once she arrived at her new home but all that she wanted to do now was sleep.

  This time Vanna was awakened by stern and unfriendly voice.

  "It is time to arise your highness" Said one of the men in the black suits. "We are nearing Alpha Aquila and you must prepare". He led her into an enclosed metal room where a bath had been drawn. He pointed to the bath and ordered; "We have been told that this would be required for you to refresh yourself after your slumber. When you are finished you will put on this." He pointed to a white garment bag. "You have 30 minutes until we are home. You will be ready to greet my master." After he had gone, Vanna slipped herself into the bath, hoping that it would warm her icy skin, but she was disappointed. The bath was lukewarm at best. She would not be tempted to linger for 5 minutes, let alone a half an hour.

  She reached for a container of soap and inhaled the scent. It was mild and sweet and one she did not recognize. She imagined that this was the first part of the process of her transition to life on Alpha Aquila and so she began to scrub her skin clean of any scent that would remind her of earth. She thoroughly washed every part of her body including her dark wavy hair. Her hair reached down to the middle of her back now, it must have grown a few inches during her long sleep. Vanna examined the rest of her body to see if there were any more changes that she had not noticed before. Her skin was much paler now. That was understandable, as the sun had not kissed it for 25 years. She was a little thinner but still maintained her round curvy hourglass shape. A shape that she was taught was something of which to be ashamed. Her father, who had insisted that he knew what was best, had demanded that Vanna wear loose fitting clothing in order to hide her feminine shape. Vanna had always tried to show her love and allegiance to her father and so she had complied and worn shapeless volumes of fabric at all times, even to sleep in. Her wardrobe had served its purpose. Whenever she had walked into town to buy supplies from the market, no young man had ever given her a second glance. Vanna had noticed them, the way that their eyes lit up, and how they had turned their heads, almost like an owl, to continue to gaze after a pretty girl that had walked past. They never noticed her and Vanna was reluctant to admit, even to herself, that a part of her had yearned for them to.

  Vanna reached for the towel and got out of the bath. She was shivering from the cold. She hoped that Alpha Aquila would be a warm planet. She was fed up of this refrigerated space ship and could not wait to feel warm again. Vanna reached to the top of the white garment bag and carefully unzipped it, eager to see what was inside. She put her hand over her mouth when she saw what the garment bag contained. A sheer gauzy gown made from the softest amethyst fabric that Vanna had ever touched. It felt almost like a combination of velvet and silk, luxurious and luminescent. Vanna ran her hands lovingly over the fabric and as she did, she noticed that when in motion, the fabric caught the light and glittered like a jewel. She turned the gown over to examine the back, wondering how she was to put it on by herself. There was no zipper or buttons. Vanna was not going to wander out to the ship and ask one of the men in dark suits and sunglasses to help her slip into her dress. She lifted the gown over her head and was amazed how easily it went on. As she pulled the gown down to cover her body, she felt the fabric reforming itself to embrace each of her curves. She was curious how the gown made her look. She was not at all used to how the dress fit her form. She wished that she had a mirror so that she could inspect herself. She wondered if she wore this gown at home if it would cause the village youths to turn their heads to gaze at her. There was no need to worry about that now or dwell on what could have been. There were only a few more minutes to finish preparing to land on Alpha Aquila and she was eager to discover what kind of life she would now be living at her new home.

  As the doors of the spaceship opened, Vanna saw a man in a dark gray military uniform standing at attention. She drew in her breath and walked toward him. He was much older than she had expected. He had thinning gray hair and aged wrinkly skin. She noticed that the wrinkles had been formed over years that seemed to have included equal amounts of smiles and frowns. Vanna thought that he could easily have been from earth if it wasn't for his eyes. They were a warm brown color but a deeper and warmer brown than Vanna had ever seen. When the light caught his eyes, they turned into a prism and Vanna could see other colors flickering in his irises. She wondered if this is what the eyes of the men in dark suits would look like if they ever removed their glasses.

  "Hello." The man said and Vanna exhaled a sigh of relief. He had a kind voice. Not a voice that had become raspy after years of being raised in angry shouts like that of her grandfather. Vanna remembered being frightened of him when she was a young girl and was sad to admit she had been a little relieved when he had passed away. She did not know how a man as kind and loving as her father could have been raised by such an angry parent. Perhaps that was her father's way of rebelling against his father's iron fist, by showing his daughters the love that he had yearned for when he was growing up.

  "It's a pleasure to meet you, Your Majesty" Vanna said

  "Oh my dear, I am afraid you are mistaken" the kind older gentleman replied. "I am not your betrothed husband, only his faithful servant. He calls me Lucien and I hope that you will do the same."

  Vanna was so shocked that she could only nod. She had left her home planet, never to return and traveled in a spaceship, sleeping and preserved for 25 years and her future husband could not even be bothered to greet her upon her arrival. Lucien read her emotions

  "My dear you are disappointed, I can tell." Vanna blushed. Lucien sighed "perhaps you will forgive my master's absence. He has so much to worry about, so many things to prepare. He has arranged to dine with you tonight. He thought that you would require some rest upon your arrival.

  "I have been resting for 25 years" Vanna said. "I am ready to begin my new life"

  "Then perhaps I should show you to your palace" He said.

  My palace? Wondered Vanna. She thought it was odd her master's palace would be referred to as her palace. "Am I not to be living with my future husband until after we are wed?" she asked.

  Lucien looked a bit puzzled, yet sympathetic. "No, I am afraid that you are not. My master wanted you to feel comfortable and so he studied the architecture of your planet and has built you a beautiful new residence. Come this way and I will show you.

  Lucien led Vanna through the spaceship hangar and out the door. She gasped as she saw what was in front of her. Although she had never seen it in the flesh, Vanna recognized the shape and structure of the Taj Mahal, only not built from marble, but from a glittering substance that looked almost like metal mixed with natural stone.

  "This," said Lucien sweeping his hands over the vista, "is your palace."

  Vanna turned her head to the right and noticed a white square utilitarian-looking building. "What is that?" she asked.

  "My master's laboratory." He answered. "It's where he spends most of his waking hours."

  "And where does he sleep?" Vanna wondered.

  "In the home that belonged to his family." answered Lucien, "it's where he was born and where he grew up. It is hi
s home"

  "And you?"

  "So curious" Lucien teased "I also sleep in my master’s familial home. I was also born there and have not slept a night elsewhere for 250 years.

  "250 years!" Vanna gasped.

  "Yes my dear. You will find that our life expectance is much longer on Alpha Aquila than on earth. I am nearing the end of my allotted time very soon I am afraid" Lucien said, looking a bit melancholy.

  Vanna heard a loud buzzing noise and then looked up at the sky. The sky was a pale pink, quite unlike the baby blue color of the sky back on earth but the fluffy cotton-like clouds were a pale blue. It looks like a paint-by-number sky where the artist has misread the colors, she thought. She saw the spaceship that had carried her here rise up a few hundred feet and then speed away.

  "Very efficient transporters the Golang's are." Lucien said. "I have only just paid our bill and off they go to load and deliver their next cargo.

  "They are not from here?" Vanna asked.

  Lucien gazed past her at some invisible spot on the horizon and sadly answered

  "Not many that are from here are left. I am afraid my dear that you are looking at half of the population of Alpha Aquila."

  Vanna was amazed "Half?" she asked. Just when she thought that she could not be any colder, a chill ran down her spine, causing her to shiver uncontrollably.

  "Oh I am forgetting that you are here now." Lucien said "Now our population has skyrocketed to three." then added "hopefully the numbers can continue to increase at such a rate.

  Vanna could not believe what she had just heard. She was one of only three people living on Alpha Aquiline. A planet so rich in history that it was a legend on Earth. She had known that they had suffered from a war with neighboring planets, a war that their bravest warriors had won but then she had heard whisperings of a plague contracted during the war by a soldier on a neighboring planet. He returned to Alpha Aquila and the disease had spread like wildfire. Vanna did not realize just how far-reaching the devastation had been until now. It had almost wiped out an entire alien species.