Her Dual Abduction

by Ines Johnson

  "Moons? Planet? You mean you're an alien?"

  Chen nodded.

  "Wait. I'm not dead. You abducted me?" Shanti scrambled out of the bed. "What are you going to do with me?" She backed against the wall, completely naked. "Are you going to probe me for experiments."

  "Shanti, I told you I would never hurt you. I brought you here because I thought you wanted me."

  A flash of memory hit her head. Chen asking her if she would come with him. "What if I wanted to go back?"

  Chen’s face fell, and with it Shanti's heart. "Do you want to go back, Shanti?"

  "I..." Did she want to return? What did she have to return to? Just an hour with Chen had been the most fulfilling and satisfying of her life.

  Her life; which she still had running through her veins instead of scorpion poison.

  Shanti startled when the door to the bedroom opened. A male identical to Chen stood in the doorframe. But there was something different about him. Something harder, harsher, darker. His skin was a darker shade of blue. His eyes and mouth set in a permanent frown. Even the energy coming off of him felt different.

  Shanti took a step back from this second Chen. A step closer to her Chen.

  "So, brother," said the Chen-twin. "It appears the abduction went well. And I see you have already primed our mate with copulation."

  Our mate?

  Shanti looked between the two of them. Chen heaved a sigh, but he didn't correct the other male.

  What the hell was going on?

  Shanti looked out the door. Before she could make a dash, the door closed behind the darker Chen and she was trapped.

  Chapter Seven

  Hsing watched his brother as Chen lay the human woman's head down gently on the cushion. Her mouth slackened as her head rolled into the crook of his brother’s arm. Her lips were plump, a deep shade of pink that wasn't quite red. They made Hsing think of suckling berry fruits off the arbors of the planet Radek. Those fruits were sweet on the tongue, but gave a little kick when they reached the back of his throat.

  Chen placed his lips at the crease in the woman's forehead. The crease went away. Her lips parted and an audible sigh escaped.

  Hsing saw her tongue in the crevice of her mouth. His eyes feasted on that other shade of pink. His loins tingled at the sight.

  He'd felt a buzzing hint of the pleasure shared between Chen and the woman. Chen couldn't shut his brother out, and he never would have. The link between maternal brothers was too strong to shut off completely. At that moment, while Chen was with the woman, Hsing didn't open himself fully to his brother. Hsing allowed Chen his privacy with the woman -their mate- knowing his own time with her would come soon enough.

  Over the short span of time that Chen had returned with their mate, Hsing felt the tingling pleasure grow and grow. It was like a wind blowing a soft suggestion across his cheek. In time, the wind increased its insistence into a gale force upsetting his stance. The strong gust of emotion caused Hsing to squirm in his command chair.

  Strong emotion was never comfortable to a Yin like him. The feelings were an annoying agitation to his state of ready consciousness. But there was something more to this affect Hsing was feeling. His curiosity piqued, he decided to come to them and see their mate for himself.

  She was not what he expected. Had he had any real expectations? Other than a human with female parts in working order. Hsing got a glimpse of her female parts. From the barrage of pleasure-stoked windstorm that brought him from his duties and to her berth, it was clear her parts worked just fine.

  Still, he couldn't stifle his disappointment. The female was small, helpless. He scented fear in the sweat on her skin. He spied it in the liquid that crinkled her eyelids.

  Chen covered her female parts with a blanket. Hsing felt another pang of disappointment to see them go. Her reception of him had been far from pleasant. Chen hadn't prepared her for her duties.

  It was no matter. She was now their mate. Just as Chen had done his duty in taking her, Hsing would do his duty and mate with her. The fate of their entire society, what little remained of it, rested upon it.

  "I think we should return her." Chen ran his fingers gently down the side of her sleeping face. The action put her into a deeper state of zen. Imparting calm was one of his Yang talents.

  "You cannot be serious."

  Chen tore his gaze away from the woman. Hsing could tell it was with some level of difficulty that Chen turned from her and faced him. "There has been a misunderstanding between us."

  "Did I misunderstand the time you spent between her thighs?" Even now, small sparks of the sensations crawled up and down the telepathic link Hsing's shared with his brother.

  "She does not want to be here." Chen's brow sank low at the proclamation. "She thought she was dead, that I was a spirit guide come to take her to the afterlife." Chen turned back to her. "I thought she wanted to come with me. I thought she wanted me."

  "It does not matter what she or you thought. You cannot take her back, and you know it. You have bonded with her. Your nature will not allow you to be parted from her."

  Once their female mate was chosen, Eloheem mated for life. There was no severing of ties, unless in death. The strings that bound Eloh brothers and their mate were so strong that it often pulled the widow partners into death after them. Or, if not death, something worse.

  "And once I take her, the bond will be sealed." Hsing's loins stirred as he looked down at her covered body. He'd glimpsed the dark mounds on her chest, the curve of her torso, the dark, furry apex at her thighs.

  Chen turned back to Hsing, eyes flaring.

  "Is that jealousy in your eyes, Chen-Na?"

  Chen's jaw tightened.

  Hsing reached out a hand and laid it on Chen's shoulder. His brother stiffened beneath his fingers. "Your head is clouded with feelings, brother. A heavy load that is thrust upon those of your nature."

  Chen's Yang nature was one that allowed him to feel a host of emotions. Hsing was glad he wasn't born with that burden. His nature was Yin where he focused more on logic.

  "You know that I must take her,” he said. “If our kind is to survive we must bring forth the next generation. Do not allow your feelings to cloud your judgment, Chen. Otherwise we will end up like the marred ones."

  Slowly Chen's vision cleared. It more than cleared. Hsing watched as something passed over his brother's eyes.

  "You are right, Hsing-I. I can see it now." Chen turned back to the female. "Once she accepts you, our fates will be sealed. But she will need to stop running first."

  "I see that coupling has made you prophetic." Hsing raised an eyebrow.

  Their Yang father often saw visions after he went behind closed doors with their mother. He’d seen the vision of what would happen to the ones that went mad, whose beings became marred. He’d seen what would happen to their tribe. But in his father’s visions, he’d seen no way of stopping it.

  "It is not my prophecy, brother. You said it first. We all will come full circle."

  Hsing had said those words earlier. He'd said them to Chen as his brother prepared to go down to Earth and procure them a mate.

  Chen regarded their mate. "You will mate with her. But she will not accept you while you stand behind your walls. You must become vulnerable."

  Hsing rolled his eyes and turned to go. Vulnerability was the last thing he would do. He couldn't afford it, not with the fate of his people in his hands and a war on their tails. It didn't matter if their mate accepted him or not. They all would do their duty.

  Chen's hand stopped him. "She is the key to peace, Hsing-I."

  A telepathic ding met both of their ears.

  Pakua's voice rang true in their minds. "We have spotted trouble."

  "I will be right there." Hsing shut off communication with Pakua and turned his mind back to his brother.

  "We will find peace once we free the universe of the marred ones."

  Chen smiled. "Wrong again, brother. You will find peace
when you lay with her."

  They both looked over at her. In the hailstorm of emotions, Hsing sensed Chen's peace, his awakening. It was what called him away from his duties and to the room.

  "I was there, Hsing. Inside of her I touched Nirvana."

  Chapter Eight

  Shanti floated on a cloud. A cloud of white light wrapped in firm blue ribbons. No, not ribbons. Strong blue arms held her securely. Strong blue arms that would never let her go.

  Chen's mouth probed hers deeply. His tongue sought her heat, her secrets, and her surrender. Shanti clung to him. She climbed his body, wrapping her legs around his strong torso.

  He entered her, plunged himself inside of her, to the depths of her, until he touched the very essence of her. His tentacular petals wrapped around her sex; at her clitoris in the front, and her anus in the back. Chen claimed her body, mind, and soul.

  He pushed impossibly deeper into her until she saw tendrils of energy wrap around her heart, her mind. It was a full-scale invasion, and Shanti gave herself over to him.

  She felt another set of hands at her waist. She opened her mind's eye to see that the hands were identical to Chen's, only a darker shade of blue. Shanti broke the kiss with Chen. Chen’s light eyes smiled at her, open, welcoming, full of love and adoration.

  Shanti leaned her head back. Looking over her shoulder, she met with a dark gaze. A hard gaze, full of wariness and resignation. The floating sensation receded.

  Without warning, Chen released her. Her body fell. Before she hit the floor, she opened her eyes breaking from the dream.

  Shanti stared at the ceiling. Immediately, she knew she wasn't in her bedroom in Maryland. The walls of her bedroom were painted a light shade of purple. Her room was feng shuied to lessen anxiety and increase her sexual attractiveness. Her windows faced her backyard in the east where the sun rose each morning.

  There were no windows in this room. No light fixtures either. A soft phosphorescent streamed in from some unknown origin. The room was a startling color of white with fixtures of every shade of blue.

  Shanti was not in her energy-aligned bedroom.

  She was not in the dingy sleeping quarters of the ashram.

  She was not dead from the scorpion's sting, as she had previously believed.

  She was in the blue bedroom, of the blue alien who had abducted her from Earth.

  Well, he hadn't abducted her exactly. She had come willingly. Willingly, but under false pretenses. Pretenses he'd taken advantage of for his own gain.

  What was his game?

  Shanti ran her hand over her eyes. Her mind raced through all the abduction stories she'd ever seen, read, or heard.

  Aliens abducted humans to run tests on their bodies. They abducted women to breed their wombs. Shanti's hands glanced over her belly. It was still flat.

  "Greetings."

  Shanti sat bolt up at the sound of the voice. Standing at the end of the bed was a small boy. Correction, small alien boy. He had the same coned head as Chen. The same nodes instead of hair. The same large eyes. The only difference was that this boy's skin was a light tan color, a few shades lighter than Shanti's skin...

  No!

  Wait?

  Blue and brown didn't make tan. Did it?

  "Oh, God,” she wailed. “How long have I been out?"

  How could Chen have done this to her? She had trusted him. The last thing she remembered was Chen trying to calm her. Then her vision went blurry, and she saw double.

  She remembered feeling Chen's gentle hands on her, lulling her into a calm state. But her eyes remembered seeing a darker Chen standing in the corner, like he owned the place. Like he owned Shanti. The double-Chen had called her their mate.

  Maybe Chen had a split personality? Maybe he could duplicate himself? Maybe he was Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde? She had no clue. He was a freaking alien.

  Had he taken advantage of her while she'd been out? Beneath the blankets Shanti was completely nude. She clutched the blankets to herself as she eyed the young boy. Her son?

  "You have been asleep for the duration of a tidal phase."

  The boy's lips didn't move, but Shanti heard him. She just didn't understand him.

  The boy grinned even brighter. "I believe on your planet the tide pulls in a measurement called...hours. That means you have been asleep for twelve hours."

  She couldn't have gotten pregnant, given birth, and had this child grow this much in that amount of time.

  So they hadn't impregnated her.

  Yet.

  First thing's first. She needed to get dressed. She spied her suitcase in the corner. She scooted to the edge of the mattress. Her bare legs peaked out from under the blanket. The young boy watched her with wide-eyed curiosity.

  "You appear distressed," he thought at her.

  Shanti shook her head to clear it of his childish voice. "Will you get out of my head, please?”

  The child blinked and stepped back.

  Shanti felt a moment's shame for snapping at the boy.

  He opened his mouth to speak. The words came out slowly as he enunciated each sound. "My apologies. Chen said you preferred vocal speech."

  "I would also prefer privacy."

  The child cocked his head in confusion.

  "I want to get dressed.”

  The child’s face brightened as understanding dawned in his large eyes. He turned to the corner where her suitcase lay. He reached out both his hands and the case sailed through the air until it was before him.

  Shanti crabbed walked backwards on the bed at the display.

  The boy paid her no mind. His attentions were on the suitcase which he hefted onto the bed. "You have so many robes." He popped open the lock as though he'd done it before. "Eloh only have two robes. One for ceremony and one for duties."

  "Did you go through my things?"

  He nodded without shame or guilt, large eyes eager.

  "That's an invasion of privacy."

  "I do not understand this word: privacy."

  "Obviously." Shanti grabbed a pair of jeans and a t-shirt from her case. She prepared to drop the sheet when she saw that the child's eyes still watched her. "What's your name?"

  "My name is Niao. And your name is Shanti."

  "Niao, I want to explain the concept of privacy to you."

  He nodded eagerly, apparently excited to learn something new.

  "Privacy is when you don't touch another's belongings. Privacy is when you leave someone alone."

  Niao frowned. "But we are never alone. We are all one."

  Impatience and anger rippled through Shanti's blood. Then she realized she'd heard these words before. She'd heard them her whole life, from her parents, from her spiritual teachers, from her own mouth: Everyone and everything was interconnected. There was no self. But none of them had ever been abducted by Buddha-looking aliens.

  She sighed as she looked into this child's face. "Niao, I'm naked under this sheet and I'm uncomfortable being naked in front of you. Would you please step outside the door while I put my clothes on?"

  "We can not leave you alone." The voice did not come from Niao. It was a deeper baritone than Niao's higher pitched voice.

  Shanti turned around to the other corner of the room. Lounging against the wall was another young boy, though the harsh look on his face made him appear more mature. His face was the exact same shape as Niao's. His eyes and skin were a darker shade of brown.

  Shanti looked between the two. The boys could have been twins. Likely were twins. Just like Chen and double-Chen.

  "Hsing-I sent us here to protect you," said the darker boy.

  Shanti noticed the staff in the boy’s hand. "Who is Hsing-I?"

  "Your bondmate, of course," said Niao.

  "But Chen said that he was my bondmate." Another lie?

  "Chen-Na and Hsing-I are brothers," said the darker one. "They are both your bondmates." He spoke to her as though she were a child.

  Shanti's hand reached out to the headboard of t
he bed. She hadn't been seeing double before. That second Chen, Hsing-I, had been real. And he was supposed to claim her too?

  No way. She was getting off this ship right now.

  Shanti grabbed her jeans and pulled them on beneath the sheets. She turned her back on the watchful children and pulled her shirt over her head. Then she turned and marched for the door.

  "Where are you going?" said the darker one.

  "Home." Shanti reached the door and looked for a handle, a way out.

  "You can not leave."

  "Watch me." But she couldn't find a panel or a handle.

  The dark one appeared at her side and placed himself between Shanti and the door. "Hsing-I gave me a mission to protect his mate, and I will not fail him."

  "Protect me? You'll need to protect him from me once I get out of here."

  A loud noise sounded through the room and then a loud bump knocked them all off their feet. It felt as though they were on a ship at sea that hit rough waters. Then Shanti remembered, this was a ship. But she doubted they were in any ocean.

  "What's going on?" Shanti looked around the room.

  Niao came to help her to her feet.

  His brother stood over them with his staff. "We are under attack."

  Chapter Nine

  Hsing felt the blast to the ship's hull in the core of his being. It had been a long time since he'd felt such a blast. The first and only other time he'd felt such a disturbance was when he'd lost his parents. It wasn't only Hsing who'd lost his parents that day. He looked up at Pakua’s grim face and knew the male waded through the same memories.

  On that fateful day, the entire second moon of Elysium had shaken from the blast. Hsing, who was at the edge of younghood at the time, had felt every being, every life form on the planet halt in shock. Eloheem were a peaceful breed, even the warrior Yin. They were a race of healers, protectors. It was unconscionable that any sentient life form would train a weapon upon their moon.

  Back in the present, the same blast that had wrought genocide on their moon was now trained on the Mothership, the last vestige of their home world.