sedona files 05 - falling angels

by Christine Pope

  In the next instant, the jacket was gone. As was his shirt — and my sweater and jeans. In fact, everything was gone except my bra and panties, and the underwear he had on, which looked just as normal and earthly as his suit had. I gasped, although I couldn’t say for sure whether my reaction was from shock or finally getting to see what his clothes had concealed. Of course I’d been able to tell that he was tall and broad-shouldered and well built, but that wasn’t the same as being able to drink in the fine muscles of his chest and stomach, a lot more defined than I’d imagined.

  “Holy crap,” I blurted.

  “Is that a good thing?”

  “A very good thing.” But since actions spoke louder than words, I figured the best thing to do was to show him how good I really thought he was. I trailed my fingers down his chest and over the hard, flat stomach muscles, down to something that was even harder, but not exactly what you’d call flat. In fact, it was quite a bit bigger than I’d been expecting.

  Somehow I managed to keep myself from saying “holy crap” again. No, I brushed my hand over the bulge in his underwear, savoring the feel of it — and enjoying the way he moaned. There was an undercurrent of surprise to the sounds he made, as if he truly hadn’t ever experienced anything like this before.

  It did feel a little strange to be the wise and worldly one, considering I really didn’t think I was all that experienced. But I knew what we both wanted, and so I didn’t see any need to hold back. Not now.

  Before I could lose my nerve, I took hold of the waistband of his underwear and pulled it down, then tried not to gasp. He was big, and completely human-looking — and obviously ready for me. I ran my fingers down his shaft, letting out a little sigh of my own at the sensation of that silky skin beneath my fingertips. Another moan escaped his lips, and I wrapped my hand around him, gently moving up and down. Right then I didn’t want to be too forceful, because I didn’t want to run the risk of having him spend before we even got started.

  No, I wanted this to last a long time.

  It seemed he had the same idea, because only a moment or so passed before he placed his hand on mine, lifting it away from him so he could press his body up against mine. Once again his lips brushed my throat, and I shivered. A second later, I could feel his fingers at the back of my bra, undoing the clasp so he could lift the garment from my body.

  A whisper of a moan escaped me. I couldn’t manage anything more than that, because immediately afterward he bent his head to my breasts, burying his face in the valley between them as he inhaled deeply, breathing in my scent. And then his mouth was on me, licking, suckling, and I couldn’t hold it in anymore, had to cry out as I felt his tongue slip over my flesh.

  But there was so much more than that, because immediately afterward his hand slipped lower, moving between my legs, fingers pushing their way under the lacy fabric of my underwear, sliding into me.

  For someone who’d never done this before, he sure seemed to know what he was doing. I shut my eyes and let the waves of pleasure run all through me, building far more quickly than they ever had before. Usually it would take a long time for me to climax, but in that moment I knew I would hit the edge far more quickly than I ever had before.

  Which I did, clinging to him as the orgasm slammed through me. I had to hold on to him, because in that moment it seemed as if he was the only solid thing in my universe. I broke apart, and he put me back together.

  Not-quite sobs heaved their way out of my chest. Raphael cradled me in his arms and whispered, “My dear, are you all right?”

  Since I didn’t know if I was capable of coherent speech right then, I only nodded. In silence, he held me until the last of the shivers had passed through me. Damn. And that reaction was only from him stroking me. What would happen when we actually joined?

  Part of me didn’t want to know. This was beginning to feel like far too much. It had to be the connection between us, a bond that — clearly — I hadn’t fully understood. Before now, sex had been a mostly take-it-or-leave-it proposition for me, which was why I hadn’t been with too many people. But it was all different with Raphael.

  “I’m fine,” I said at last. “It was just — ” I stopped there, because I couldn’t seem to find the words to articulate what I’d experienced without sounding — at least to myself — like a complete idiot. So I told him the only thing that made sense right then. “Raphael, make love to me.”

  His lips found mine, hungry. I could imagine they would be, after spending a lifetime made up of many lifetimes deprived of this sort of intimacy. I could feel him press against me, hard, ready. And then he was inside, moving slowly at first, finding his rhythm. God, the perfection of that touch, the way we fit together — I’d never imagined anything like it. Our bodies locked as one, speeding up, while my legs wrapped around his hips and I drove him in that much deeper.

  I could tell from the intensity of his movements that he probably wouldn’t be able to hold on for too long. In that moment, I didn’t care. It was enough that we’d experienced this together, that I was the one who’d finally given him a chance to know ecstasy.

  His entire body convulsed, and I held on to him, my own climax following just a few seconds later. Quieter, since he’d already made me come a few minutes before, but no less intense for all that. I kept my arms wrapped around him until the last shudders had worked their way through his frame, and then I placed my mouth against the hollow of his throat, tasting the faint saltiness of the perspiration there.

  He’d never felt as real to me as he did in that moment.

  A long silence, and then he said,

  “I love you, Callista.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  I’d been thinking the same three words, but I wasn’t sure whether to say such a thing aloud. Not so soon, not when we’d only known each other for such a short amount of time. But Raphael had been brave enough to say it, and I wasn’t about to hurt him by letting my own fear and my own limitations get in the way. I knew my heart, even if my brain might be telling me that this was all crazy.

  “I love you, too,” I whispered.

  He ran a hand over my tumbled hair, then slid the back of his fingers against the side of my cheek. I breathed out, softly, thrilled by even that small, tender touch, so different from the tumult of the lovemaking we’d just shared.

  A silence fell, but a good one. We both seemed content in that moment to lie next to one another, to let the delicious afterglow wrap itself around us. Every rise and fall of his chest beneath my cheek reassured me that he was there, apparently happy to just be with me. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what that must have felt like to him, after so many years with no physical intimacy at all. It had been overwhelming enough for me, and I’d known something of what to expect, although in comparison my previous encounters couldn’t even come close, like flying an ultralight instead of the latest hypersonic jet.

  But reality intruded enough for me to realize that I should probably get cleaned up a bit. “The bathroom?”

  He shifted enough so he could look down at me and smile faintly. “Through that door in the wall opposite.”

  I kissed him, then slipped off the bed and went to the door he’d indicated. A few things in the restroom looked more or less familiar, like the large glass-walled shower enclosure, and the glass basin on the counter of smooth-planed stone. However, I couldn’t find anything remotely resembling a toilet, although there was some sort of control panel on a wall that was otherwise empty. I placed my palm on the panel, since I didn’t really know what else to do, and an oval receptacle extruded itself from the wall.

  Okay, mystery solved. I took care of business, then went to the basin and splashed some cool water on my face. As I shut off the water, a drawer in the cabinet below opened silently, revealing neatly folded rectangles of fluffy pale blue cloths that must have been the alien equivalent of towels. I used one to pat my face dry, doing my best not to complete the ruin of my makeup that had begun with my roll in the sheets
with Raphael.

  In that moment, the reality of what I’d done seemed to finally hit home. I’d gotten my annual contraceptive shot a few days before my last birthday, so I knew I didn’t need to worry about any of those sorts of complications arising from my intimacy with Raphael.

  No, my current shaken state was due to something entirely different. Whatever else happened, my world would never be the same again.

  I held on to the edge of the counter and stared into the mirror of polished metal, or whatever it was. My mascara had blurred a little, and my long pale hair, which I’d set in careful waves that morning, was a mess, but otherwise, I didn’t think I looked all that different. Certainly not like someone who’d just had mind-blowing sex with her destined soul mate, but maybe that was all for the best. I’d have to go home sometime, and better to do that without the telltales written all over my face.

  I returned to the bedroom. The lighting seemed a little brighter now, bright enough that I was able to see my panties lying on the smooth, gleaming floor. Blood rushed to my cheeks as I bent to pick them up, all too aware of Raphael’s eyes on me as I did so.

  Slipping back under the covers next to him seemed the safest thing to do. All right, not safe, exactly — I had a feeling as to what might happen between us in the next few minutes — but wandering around naked in front of him was a little too brazen for me. By that point he had to know what I looked like, more or less, but still….

  His arms went around me, and he pulled me toward him. I could tell right away that he hadn’t bothered to put his own underwear back on. “Better?” he asked.

  “Yes,” I replied, snuggling up to his shoulder. “This definitely doesn’t feel like a spaceship…more like a resort or spa or something.”

  “I haven’t been in one of your resorts. But since we do spend a good deal of time traveling between the stars, we might as well be comfortable while doing it.”

  His comment sounded logical enough to me. In a way, it was sort of a relief to realize that a civilization with the technological savvy to build a ship like this still believed in providing some creature comforts along the way, that it didn’t have to be all nuts and bolts and function over form.

  “Do many of you do that?” I asked. “Travel between the stars, I mean.”

  “Those who are called to it. There are some who only visit a few systems and then return home, happy to be in familiar surroundings, while others would prefer to spend their entire lives on worlds not their own. Neither path is better than the other. It’s important for everyone to find their own way.”

  “So you always wanted to go out into the universe?”

  Something in his expression darkened then. “Not exactly. More that such a life chose me, rather than the other way around. And truly, once I realized that the universe intended me to spend this existence alone, it seemed better for me to do my work far away from the life I knew. It can be…difficult…to see everyone else happy around you, and realize you will never be able to experience that kind of happiness for yourself.”

  My heart ached for him after that revelation, even though everything appeared to have turned out all right after all. He certainly wasn’t alone now. “I’m sorry,” I murmured.

  “Don’t be.” He shifted on the bed so he could look me full in the face. “For now I know the universe was only making sure that I could be with you at the right time.”

  “You have a lot of faith in the universe.”

  “I’ve seen the way it works. Your own people might call it fate, or God. We don’t think in such terms, but we live long enough to see the way the pattern grows, its harmony and power, even if these things aren’t always apparent at first glance.”

  “What about the Reptilians?” I asked. “They don’t seem too interested in peace and harmony, as far as I can tell.”

  “No.” He was silent for a moment — so long, in fact, that I began to wonder if he intended to say anything else. When he spoke again, his voice sounded heavy, worried. It definitely wasn’t the tone of a man who’d just been relieved of several thousand years’ worth of biological backpressure. “They aren’t interested in the natural order of things, and think us weak for letting the universe speak to us, rather than exerting our will upon it.”

  “I’m surprised you’re not at war all the time.”

  Raphael’s mouth tightened upon hearing that remark. “War profits no one, and is a senseless waste of lives and energy. War is the refuge of those who refuse to negotiate.” He paused then, his hand reaching out to take mine. Although he sounded grim enough, I couldn’t help experiencing a thrill at his touch, my body telling me that it would be more than happy to leave this talk behind so we could attend to more important matters.

  But I also had a feeling that Raphael wanted to talk these things through, so I didn’t interrupt him. The afterglow would last long enough. “If they’re that militant, I’m surprised they didn’t bring the fight to you, whether you wanted it or not. I still can’t quite understand how you allow them in your Assembly.”

  He touched my hair, a long, pale strand falling between his fingers. “You have a saying — ‘keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.’ And while the Reptilians do seem to be a focus for everything that is dark in the universe, they are far outnumbered by those who do not believe as they do. My people — your people,” he added, smiling a little now, “are only one race in the greater galaxy. Some are very like us, some are not, but what we have in common is the belief that we do not have the right to impose our will on others. I have no doubt that there are some who would say our hands-off policy does some damage, for we don’t interfere in what the Reptilians do in their sector, on the worlds they control, and so can’t help but allow harm to come to those who live on those worlds.”

  “You interfered here,” I pointed out.

  “Yes, but only after we came to the conclusion that staying away would do far more harm than good.” Although the temperature in the room seemed comfortable enough to me, even with only a sheet pulled up to cover my bare torso, I thought I saw the faintest of shivers move over him. “Your people are at a crossroads now. You have made a great deal of progress since the last time I was here, are so very close to reaching the point where you are ready to become citizens of the galaxy. But that cannot happen if the Reptilians interfere and do whatever they can to stir up fear and discord among the people of Earth.”

  Hearing that revelation, I wanted to shiver, too. The Mars mission had been the culmination of years and years of research, endless finagling behind the scenes, and more setbacks than a regular civilian like me knew anything about. But it was also the first time the world’s powers had worked together on something that was greater than any single one of them. Yes, the United States and Russia and the U.K. had contributed the most to the effort, along with several private space agencies, but the commander was Spanish, and Marta Levin, the geologist, German or Austrian. I couldn’t remember for sure.

  Anyway, I had no doubt that the Reptilians would have enjoyed throwing a spanner into the works to see what kind of fallout would result. “So did they plan the whole thing?”

  “No,” Raphael said at once. “It was an unfortunate coincidence that the expedition landed so close to the place where they’d set up their base. Or perhaps not a huge coincidence, since the terrain there allows for a safe landing site, as well as enough level ground to make building a large-scale compound relatively easy.”

  “If it was that big, you’d think our instruments would have picked it up.”

  “And do you think our adversaries don’t have their own ways of concealing their presence? Yes, the Reptilians are not quite as advanced in some things as our own people, but they certainly possess the technology to ensure that no one on Earth would have any way of detecting their activities on Mars.” He stopped there, then reached out to me with one arm. Grateful for the chance to get close to him again, I scooted over so he could pull the covers over us both. Once we were snuggle
d against each other, he continued, “No, I fear that was a crime of opportunity, but an opportunity they were all too willing to exploit. They could have their human specimens and also incite an incident that would be sure to cause tension among the very nations that had worked together to make the mission happen in the first place.”

  I wanted to say that sounded like a real dick move, but something about being with Raphael made me want to curb those sorts of remarks. A civilizing influence, so to speak. “And so you were sent to enlist our help, because in this case, not interfering would have been a lot worse than the alternative.”

  “Precisely.”

  The weight of his arm around me made me feel safe, but right then I wondered how safe anyone could be when a race like the Reptilians could go around doing more or less exactly what they wanted. No, that wasn’t exactly true. I was able to read between the lines and tell that the Pleiadians stepped in from time to time. It wasn’t exactly the Wild West in our galaxy. Even so, I hated to think that the Reptilians were out there, plotting, trying to come up with a way to create as much discord as possible. And if they could get their clawed hands on Sedona’s energy fields as a nice side bonus….

  I decided I really didn’t want to think about that right now. Raphael had already assured me that they now knew they’d been put on notice and wouldn’t try anything again. Not in the near future, anyway. I had no doubt that they’d be back to their regular tricks after they thought they had everyone fooled.

  “What about us?”

  In the room’s dim lighting, Raphael’s eyes looked nearly black, although I knew they were really a warm chocolate brown. When he spoke, he sounded almost amused. “Are you asking if I think the Reptilians are going to interfere in our relationship?”

  “No, of course not,” I replied, a little annoyed. But only a very little. It was hard to get too irritated with someone who held you like that, whose every touch seemed to be another reassurance of how much he cared about you. “What I meant was…this isn’t going to be a problem for your superiors, is it? I mean, my father ended up exiled — ”