The Complete Alien Apocalypse Series (Parts I-IV Plus Bonus Novella): An Apocalyptic, Romantic, Science Fiction, Alien Invasion Adventure

by JC Andrijeski

  It didn’t matter. It really didn’t.

  Turning her head, Chloe opened her eyes.

  She found herself staring up at a raised bed on a wooden frame.

  In construction, it reminded her of an old-fashioned human bed, like she’d seen in old movies and television shows from back before the Nirreth came. She stared at a round-ended bedpost and blinked at it, feeling almost like she must be dreaming, even as she glimpsed the dark blue sole of a Nirreth foot poking out of the covers to one side.

  Over the bed hung a filmy canopy, stark white, like a mosquito net.

  Something about that billowy white cloth coupled with the style of bed made her feel she’d been transported back in human history, perhaps into the bedroom of some colonial mansion housed on a distant continent of Old Earth.

  The thought was strangely appropriate.

  She heard the rustling again.

  That time, she saw the flick of a tail as he rolled over, probably onto his stomach.

  Chloe swallowed, but the blue-skinned body fell still.

  Raising her head cautiously to glance down, she looked at her own bed.

  It was smaller than his, which made sense, and lower to the ground, resting on what appeared to be a wooden frame. When she glanced left, she realized it was actually part of a cabinet built into the wall, and could be tucked out of sight when not in use.

  But why had he put her in her own bed?

  Perhaps he didn’t like sleeping next to humans.

  Perhaps he preferred her at his feet, like a pet.

  The thought tightened her jaw, even as she shook it off.

  Why would he give her clean sheets? A pillow? Nirreth didn’t normally use those, yet he’d provided them for her.

  The bigger question was, why hadn’t he stung her? Why hadn’t he had sex with her, and why had he given her clothes?

  Could that be pity? A temporary consideration from what Agnon had done?

  Nothing could have been further from Trazen’s reputation, if so.

  Cautiously, she sat up, propping her body up on her elbows.

  She really had to go to the bathroom.

  She waited to see if he’d react to her shift in position, but nothing moved on the bed above her. He hadn’t locked her to the frame or anything, so maybe he didn’t mind if she got up without him.

  The idea was absurd of course, regardless of what kind of Nirreth he was.

  He didn’t know her. He’d taken a risk––big or small––in pissing off Agnon to the degree he did. He wouldn’t just let her run away.

  Further, he had no reason to think she wouldn’t try.

  The pressure on her bladder got more and more uncomfortable. She decided to take the risk. It was as good a way as any to determine something more about him.

  She unwrapped the sheet from around her legs and waist.

  Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she placed her bare feet on the floor. Looking down at her clothes again, she couldn’t help but smile, fingering the soft material. It was cleaner and softer than anything she’d worn in probably five years.

  When she glanced up, she found Trazen sitting up.

  She sucked in a breath.

  He didn’t change expression when he saw her, simply raised a four-fingered hand and rubbed his high-cheekboned face with his palm and thumb, as if waking himself up. When he blinked at her with those gold-flecked eyes, his face remained smooth.

  “Are you hungry?” he said.

  She stammered, unthinking. “Y-y-yes.”

  He nodded, human-fashion, then swung his muscular legs and feet over the side of the bed. She couldn’t help noticing his body since he was shirtless, wearing only loose pants that fell to just above the knees and hung low on his hips.

  His upper body was corded with muscle, containing not an ounce of fat. His legs flexed as his feet met the floor, long lines of muscle running down his calves to his three-toed feet.

  He rubbed his face again while she watched, then rose to his feet with a yawn and a stretch, flicking his tail sideways before he aimed his tread for an arched doorway behind her.

  Peering through that same archway, Chloe glimpsed a couch, and what might have been a wardrobe built into the wall next to a low table.

  She also saw something lower to the ground, covered in candles and what looked like burning incense.

  Was that some kind of altar?

  She doubted her eyes as she stared at it.

  She’d never seen an altar in a Nirreth house before.

  Only in Kabasi had she seen those, and those had all been human.

  Before he left entirely, Trazen aimed a jointed finger behind him, to a different segment of wall on the other side of his bed.

  He didn’t look at her as he did it.

  “Secondary washroom’s in there,” he said. “Come find me when you’re done. Anyone around here can tell you where the kitchen is.”

  Chloe’s jaw dropped.

  Before she could think of a reply, he left her, walking through the narrow archway and disappearing with a last sensual flick of his dark blue tail.

  The door closed behind him without a sound.

  3

  The Ringmaster’s House

  Just like he told her, the first human servant she approached and stammered about finding Trazen seemed all too happy to take her there personally.

  A lot of people lived in this house, Chloe realized.

  She heard them in the halls, talking and laughing in the rooms they passed.

  Moreover, she understood why Trazen hadn’t seemed overly concerned with her running away. When she followed that same chatty, helpful servant through a high-ceilinged foyer with marble floors and dotted with indoor trees, Chloe noticed not only the stone statues and art and priceless-looking human artifacts––but also the armed guards who stood just outside the front doors, carrying Nirreth rifles.

  One of those same guards glanced at her as she walked by, his long tail coiling languidly behind him as he looked her over.

  His eyes shifted away seconds later, gazing back towards a circular driveway with a human-style fountain gushing water from a stone fish.

  “Nice, eh?” a voice asked her with a smile.

  Swallowing, Chloe turned. She hadn’t realized she’d slowed her pace until she saw the young girl servant had come to a stop beside her.

  The girl grinned, and it struck Chloe that she couldn’t be more than fourteen.

  The indirect reminder of Kiji made her chest flare with a pain.

  The girl’s smile faltered. “Hey. Are you okay?”

  Chloe nodded, forcing a smile. “I’m fine.”

  The girl continued to scan her face for a few seconds more, then shrugged.

  “Okay,” she said, with a teenager’s pretend nonchalance.

  She jerked a chin towards the guards.

  “Just… don’t get any funny ideas,” she cautioned. “I don’t know if you have a boyfriend out there you’re pining for, or family, or if you’re some big-time rebel or what, but you’re better off negotiating that stuff with Trazen directly. His guards might be flirts, and you’re hot and everything… but they’re super loyal. And they’re not only there for show. Trazen can’t afford to look weak, you know. He’ll send them after you, if he has to.”

  Chloe nodded.

  Even so, the servant’s words puzzled her.

  Questions flickered through her mind.

  Even so, she remained silent. Her eyes continued to scan her surroundings surreptitiously as they resumed walking.

  “The kitchen’s just down there,” the girl said cheerfully, waving a hand towards a narrow corridor. “I can give you a tour later, if you want? The pool is great. It’s where we all hang out. There’s also the gardens, his private zoo, the gaming room…”

  Chloe nodded, murmuring a thanks.

  She would take the tour.

  Maybe by then, with some food in her system, she could even think straight enough to figure out
what the hell was going on. This girl seemed pretty open, at least. She certainly didn’t seem to be living under the iron boot of the infamous Ringmaster Trazen.

  Chloe couldn’t help staring as they crossed yet another stone-tiled floor in a high-ceilinged and glass-enclosed room. Birds flew inside the house, as was the Nirreth custom, and she saw more trees, more fountains, purple flowers hanging down from dark vines that filled the sunlight-streamed room with thick scents, and…

  Chloe did a double-take, disbelieving her eyes.

  “Oh, that.” The girl laughed. “Yeah, Trazen likes animals. I mentioned the zoo, right? He lets me feed the big cats sometimes.”

  Chloe nodded, but knew her jaw continued to hang.

  The full-sized giraffe continued to eat leaves casually where it stood halfway inside and half outside the domed sunroom. Chloe only knew what it was because she and her sister had once gone to the Nirreth city zoo to look at the Old Earth animals.

  Looking past the tawny, chocolatey-patched animal with its absurdly long neck, she glimpsed a tree and grass-filled garden. A full-sized pond stood there, surrounded by willow and other trees in the distance.

  Birds with long tail feathers strutted around the lawn.

  Trazen was wealthy, obviously.

  Which made sense, given his record in the Rings and his current position as Ringmaster. Chloe knew the position was one of the most coveted in the Nirreth world, mostly because of the prestige attached, but clearly it paid well, too.

  No one became the Head Rings Operator without first earning the rank of “Ringmaster,” a lifelong title granted to one with an undefeated record in the Rings. It happened so rarely that Ringmaster Al-En Mosq––Trazen’s predecessor and an aged, crocodile-like creature who repulsed Chloe whenever she’d been forced to interact with him––held the position for over thirty years before Trazen won it from him.

  Chloe remembered hearing or reading somewhere that Trazen was the youngest Rings Operator they’d ever had.

  They walked through another carved archway dripping with flowers and into an open-air patio. At the white stone table nearest the lawn, feeding what looked like a small deer, sat Trazen, a plate of food mostly untouched on the table in front of him.

  Chloe watched him as they approached, studying his face while his attention remained elsewhere.

  The planes of his face looked even more dramatic in direct sunlight.

  She found herself thinking that he really was handsome.

  The structure of his face was perfect enough to be fascinating, well beyond the way Nirreth faces in general tended to be more symmetrical than those of humans. Nirreth faces tended to elongate forward more too, making them appear more cat-like, even close to a horse or deer, depending on the individual.

  Something about Nirreth face structure struck Chloe as almost unnervingly perfect, alien beyond even the surface attributes.

  Trazen was beautiful, however.

  His dark eyes looked liquid in direct sunlight, his mouth forming a perfect curve in the slightly elongated face. He wore a cloth wrapped around his head like most Nirreth males, black, like what he wore the night before. The loose shirt that covered his upper body made it clear just how muscular that body was. She saw the low V-shape of his collarbone and a swell of muscle on his neck and upper chest through the collar.

  Studying those angular lines, she swallowed a little, in spite of herself.

  His skin looked like deep-blue silk, gliding perfectly over muscle and bone.

  She was still staring when he glanced up, his dark eyes meeting hers before she could look away.

  “Hello.”

  He studied her face, swishing his muscular tail as he stroked the deer with a four-fingered hand––or three fingers and one long thumb, she supposed.

  He continued petting its fur as he used his other hand to indicate the side of the table opposite him.

  “Sit,” he said politely. “Someone will bring you food.” He glanced at the girl servant, who grinned at him openly. “Can you let the kitchen know she’s here, Mira?”

  “Sure thing, boss,” the girl said.

  Nudging Chloe’s arm, Mira gave her a wink Chloe wasn’t sure how to interpret.

  Without another word, the girl wandered away across the patio, presumably towards the kitchen.

  Chloe watched her go, bewildered all over again.

  It occurred to her that she was still standing. Flushing, she walked over to the bench opposite Trazen and sat down, smoothing the long skirt under her. When she glanced up, he was watching her with those dark, gold-flecked eyes.

  “Are you all right?” he said, his voice low.

  She blinked at him, thrown completely by the concern she could see there.

  “Y-y-yes.”

  Tension touched his mouth. She distinctly got the sense he didn’t believe her.

  Remembering he’d been there when Agnon cut Kiji’s throat, she fought with the pain that rose in her chest, enough that she couldn’t hold his gaze.

  She thought about saying more, but just… didn’t.

  After another pause, he cleared his throat.

  “I need to ask you a favor, Chloe,” he said.

  Again, she stared at him, trying to decide if she was dreaming, or hallucinating maybe.

  “A… a favor?” she said. “You want me to do you a favor?”

  “Yes.”

  He released the deer’s neck, leaning back over the table and picking up a spear-like utensil and a sharper knife. Sawing into the piece of meat that stood on his plate, blackened and smelling of spices she didn’t know, he frowned again as he cut off a bite-sized chunk. He used the spear to put it in his mouth and chewed.

  Making a displeased, bleating sound, perhaps because he’d stopped petting it or perhaps because it didn’t like the smell of the meat, the deer wandered off.

  Trazen spared the animal a faint smile before looking back at Chloe.

  “I have been informed that Agnon is quite displeased with me,” he said, his voice mild.

  Chloe let out a surprised snort.

  When he looked at her, the skin over one dark eye lifting like a quirked eyebrow, she forced her expression smooth. Trazen smiled one of those subtle Nirreth smiles though, and conceded her point with an inclined head.

  “Yes… you probably gathered that last night,” he conceded. “But it turns out this may be a problem for me. For us.” Plunking his elbows down on the table, he gave her a level look over his plate. “His infatuation with you… if it can be called that… is more intense than I anticipated. His feelings on the matter were sufficient that he’s calling in favors from several quarters to see me punished.”

  His frown grew a touch harder, holding more disgust before he looked down, sawing into the next piece of meat on his plate.

  “I guess killing a human pup not old enough to reach my chest wasn’t enough to soothe his ego in this matter,” he grunted.

  Chloe felt her chest clench more, but only nodded.

  She heard no scorn in his voice about Kiji.

  If anything, his anger eased that pain slightly.

  Her voice came out stronger.

  “What’s the favor?” she said.

  Meeting his gaze when he looked up, she made sure to hold it.

  “Of course, it almost doesn’t matter,” she added. “You must know I’d do anything you asked of me right now, Ringmaster Trazen.”

  He frowned slightly at that, but in a different way that time.

  She almost got the impression he might argue with what she’d said, then he exhaled in a rolling purr, as if thinking better of it.

  “Well then. The favor is this. We need to be seen in public.” His voice held a tinge of apology. “I’m thinking after the Rings match today. I’ll need to take you to the public functions following, so we are seen together. It cannot wait.”

  Chloe smiled. “You’re taking me out for dinner?” she said, unable to help herself. “That’s the big favor, Ringmast
er Trazen?”

  “Well… yes.”

  His voice trailed, his eyes shifting to someone approaching her from behind.

  She glanced up as the new person reached her, setting down a plate in front of her on the stone table. Looking down, she realized it was food.

  More of a platter than a plate, the ceramic dish was heaped with more good-smelling things to eat than anyone had ever put in front of her in her life: eggs, toast, berries, mushrooms, bread, what looked like yogurt, a greenish paste she knew to be Nirreth curry next to another dollop of jam, butter, sausage.

  The human who’d given this feast to her, a male human roughly in his thirties and with shaggy auburn hair and wearing a blue T-shirt with some kind of writing on it and a stained apron, grinned at her when she looked up at him in bewilderment.

  She smiled back, and he responded with a chuckle before looking at Trazen.

  “Anything else for you or your guest, sir?” he said.

  Guest? she couldn’t help thinking.

  Trazen looked at her. Realizing the silence was a question, Chloe glanced up from where she’d been staring at the insane amounts of food on her plate and shook her head.

  Trazen looked back at the human.

  “No, I don’t think so, Greg. Thank you.”

  The human––Greg, presumably––grinned, winking at her when she glanced up at him a second time. She watched as he walked back towards the main house, wiping his hands on the stained apron and whistling.

  Chloe bit back another wave of incredulity, then looked back at the food, still in awe at the sheer amount of it, much less the amazing smells coming off her plate.

  “You might not like how I’ll need you to come with me,” Trazen said, going on with what he’d been saying once Greg was out of earshot. “…To the dinner I mean. That’s more the favor part,” he added. “This will be a bit of a performance, I’m afraid.”

  She picked up her own spear-like utensil and poked at a mushroom.

  Her stomach let out a growl that Trazen must have heard.

  She hadn’t seen this much food all in one place in…

  Well, ever.

  In Kabasi, food was relatively scarce.

  Not starving-scarce, but nothing like this.