Nightshift

by Kate Douglas

  Sirens wailed in the distance, but Mac didn’t move. He couldn’t. What he watched was impossible, and yet the questions he’d not been able to ask were finally making a strange and horrible sense.

  Zianne. The question really wasn’t who she was, but what she was. And no matter what, she was saving Dink’s life. In so many ways, she’d saved Mac’s as well. He’d give her time. Give her a chance to explain. This would all make sense. It had to.

  Most of the blood was gone. Dink’s eyelids fluttered but didn’t open. A flash of light surrounded his body and then Zianne was sitting beside Mac. Not a hair mussed, her clothes only a bit rumpled from the first few seconds after the attack.

  “That was you,” Mac said. He glanced over his shoulder. “You threw the second guy over the railing.”

  She nodded. “The first one, too, but I hadn’t shifted yet.”

  “Pretty impressive.” He glanced at her and almost laughed at the confusion in her eyes. “Ya think maybe you can answer some of my questions tonight? Without making me forget to ask them?”

  She lowered her gaze and stared at her clenched fingers. “I promise I will answer all your questions.”

  “Good.” Mac heard voices and glanced over his shoulder. A crowd was beginning to gather at the open door. His neighbors, the apartment manager. He heard the sound of doors slamming and knew the police had arrived. Probably an ambulance. He wondered if either of the guys on the ground needed medical care.

  Probably not.

  Dink stirred. Mac touched his fingertips to his forehead. “You okay, buddy?”

  “I dunno.” Frowning, he ran his fingers over his belly. “What happened?”

  “A couple of thugs were waiting for us in the apartment. One of them ...” He glanced at Zianne. “Punched you really hard.” He touched the pink flesh on Dink’s belly that had been a mortal wound only moments ago. “I’ll tell you about it later. After the police leave.”

  Dink frowned. “After?”

  Mac nodded and glanced at Zianne. Her violet eyes were swimming in tears. He realized he’d never seen her cry before. There was so much he didn’t know, but he’d find out later. After the police left. “Yeah. For now, all the police need to know is that we were attacked by those two guys in my apartment, and we fought them off. They went over the railing during the fight. And Dink? For what it’s worth, you were right. Zianne’s one hell of a healer.”

  He turned and smiled at her. The surprise in her violet eyes was almost his undoing. What had she expected? That he’d run screaming in fear? He leaned close and kissed the shock right off her lips. “I love you, Zianne. No matter what.”

  And then he rose to his feet as armed police officers dressed in SWAT gear barged through the open doorway.

  10

  Mac scrubbed at the bloodstains in the carpet while Zianne and Dink righted the furniture and cleaned up the mess they’d made fighting off their assailants. “Too bad you can’t remove stains as well as you heal wounds, Zianne.” He glanced her way.

  Zianne merely looked at him, lifted an eyebrow in Dink’s direction, and shrugged.

  “Oh.” Mac ducked his head and concentrated on the stain. Obviously there were many things she could do. Things she wasn’t comfortable sharing with Dink, no matter how close they were. The moment he’d made the decision to keep Zianne’s secret—whatever it was—to himself, he knew he’d made the right choice.

  “Crap. Is there any place the cops didn’t dust for prints?” Dink headed into the kitchen carrying a wadded-up roll of filthy paper towels and cleaning spray.

  Mac sat back on his heels. “They want everything they can get to build a connection between organized crime and one of the dean’s scams. These two might be direct links to the counterfeit student visas, according to the detective. He recognized one of them and thinks prints will ID the other.”

  “Dead direct links, thank goodness. Bastards.” Dink tossed the dirty towels and rinsed his hands in the sink. He turned and leaned against the counter. “At least now you can see why they were able to beat the hell out of me in that fight at Sloan’s.”

  “We got lucky,” Mac said. He hadn’t told Dink about Zianne’s part in the fight. Another secret, but he really had no choice.

  Dink shoved away from the counter. “As much as I’d like to stay with you guys tonight, I’ve got an early ride into the city tomorrow. I think I’ve used up all my adrenaline, because I’m really tired. I’m going to head home.”

  Mac quickly glanced at Zianne and bit his lips to keep from laughing at her innocent expression. Adrenaline was the least of what Dink had used tonight. If he were a cat, he’d be working on his ninth life. Mac pushed himself to his feet. “I’m beat, too. Hell of a way to celebrate your new job. I’m sorry.”

  “I’m not.” Dink swaggered over to Mac. “We got rid of the bad guys, right? Just think of what might have happened if I hadn’t been here tonight. Who’d have saved your ugly butt?” Laughing, he added, “I just wish I could remember the fight. Thanks. Whatever you did, thank you.”

  “You got in a couple of punches before you went down.” Mac felt his throat tighten. Damn but he was going to miss this guy.

  “Well ...” Dink glanced from Mac to Zianne. “At least I’m not going to be that far away.” He sighed and wrapped his arms around Mac. “Damn, I’m going to miss the hell out of you guys.”

  Mac hugged him back. “I’ll miss you, too, Dink. We’ve never been apart, not since we were, what? Seven?”

  “Yep. Second grade, when my parents got busted and social services stuck me in the same foster care with you. We’ve been through a lot together. These last few weeks ... they’ve been the best. I love you, Mac. Good luck.” His eyes shimmered as he turned and pulled Zianne into a warm hug. “Take care of him for me, okay? He loves you. Don’t hurt him.”

  Zianne kissed Dink and rested her arms loosely on his shoulders. “I will take care of him. You have my promise. Don’t forget to come back here. I’ve learned there is nothing I love more than two gorgeous men in bed with me.”

  “That works for me, too.” He took a deep, shuddering breath. His eyes glistened. “I need to get moving.”

  “Good luck.” Zianne kissed his cheek one more time. “Let us know what time to watch for you on the television.”

  Dink paused at the open door and tipped a salute. “If you figure out a way to raise the ratings, a little help wouldn’t be remiss.”

  “Gotcha.” Mac laughed. “I’ll have Zianne get right on that.”

  “You do that.”

  Then Dink closed the door behind him and was gone.

  Mac turned and leaned against it. Sighing, he locked gazes with Zianne. “I’m really going to miss him, but this is the right thing for Dink. It’s time for him to make his break. As for us? Whatever you have to say ...” He studied her closely. Noted the tension around her lips, the slump to her shoulders, as if she’d already given up. “I want you to know that I love you. Just promise me something, okay?”

  She stood alone in the center of the room and faced him as if she were staring at a firing squad. “I will promise you anything, Mac.”

  “No lies. No head tricks. You will tell me everything. You know everything there is to know about me. I want the truth about you, Zianne. You can’t build a relationship on a foundation of lies. Without a strong foundation, we have nothing. So that’s the deal. If you want us to last ...” He shrugged. “All of it. Understood?”

  “Yes. I promise, Mac.”

  She looked so guilt-stricken that it took everything Mac had not to pull her into his arms and tell her it was all okay. It wasn’t okay. He realized he didn’t care who or what she was, but he had to have honesty. He had to know the truth.

  Tears glistened on her cheeks. He held out his hand. She took a step toward him. He stepped closer to her. When their fingers met, he tugged and she came to him, wrapping her arms around his waist, burying her face against his chest and sobbing as if her world had ended. />
  Maybe it had. He hoped not. He wanted to see this as a beginning, as a new start for the two of them. He lusted after Zianne. That was a given. He loved her sense of humor, her quick smile, and the brilliant mind that was constantly miles ahead of his. He honestly loved her as much as he liked her, but Mac knew he needed more.

  He needed to know the real woman behind the one he loved, the one who made him laugh and challenged his mind. The image of that flash of pure energy, a deadly lightning bolt dragging their assailant to his death, slipped boldly into Mac’s thoughts. He pushed it aside. He had no doubt that was a part of Zianne, but there was more. Much more.

  He peeled her arms from around his waist and led her to the couch. Sat down beside her and took both of her hands in his. Looked into those violet eyes still swimming in tears, and gave her an ultimatum. “Only the truth, Zianne. Nothing else.”

  She sighed. Bit her lips and closed her eyes. Then she looked at him, pulled her hands free of his, and folded them in her lap. “First of all,” she said. “I’m not really human.”

  Mac burst out laughing. “No shit, Sherlock. Now tell me the stuff I don’t know.”

  “But how?” Zianne felt as if her heart, that strange organ that constantly rumbled in her chest, thundered now, as if it had leapt into overtime. “How did you know?”

  “Sweetheart, I may be a bit of a geek, but I’m not entirely stupid about women.”

  Mac cupped her face in his big, warm hands and looked at her with such loving acceptance, Zianne felt sick. “I didn’t come here to lie to you,” she said. “That was not my intent, but I couldn’t tell you the truth because you would have refused to help me.” She swallowed back the horrible lump in her throat. That was the main drawback with this human form—there were so many physical reactions connected to the emotions that seemed to be connected to every thought, every action. Some of them were good, others just created more misery.

  “You don’t know that.” He kissed her and slowly pulled his hands away from her face. “Now tell me. Everything.”

  “I hardly know where to begin, but I have an idea that will help. I must ask your permission. Will you open your mind to me? I can read your thoughts, but I want you to see mine. It should help you understand, if you can see what I’m thinking.”

  “Show me how.”

  His eyes were so blue. So trusting. She linked with him, going into his mind as gently as she knew how. His eyes went wide. A perfect smile of surprise spread across his beloved face.

  “I feel you.”

  Good. Do you hear me?

  Holy shit! I do.

  Can you see what I’m showing you? Do you have a visual?

  Oh. My. God. He raised his head and stared at her with a look of absolute wonder in his eyes.

  Excellent. You must see everything I show you, if you are to understand. This is the world I came from. A world that no longer exists. And that, my beloved MacArthur, is why I need you so terribly.

  He’d loved science fiction as a kid. Grew up on Star Wars and Star Trek. He’d even been hooked on Lost in Space. He loved to play video games and he’d always hoped he’d never outgrow his sense of wonder, but what Zianne was showing him with the power of her mind went entirely beyond anything Mac had ever imagined.

  This was not some Hollywood set or a screen with amazing graphics. This was Zianne’s home.

  A home she’d just said no longer existed. He grabbed both her hands, surprised by how icy they felt. He squeezed them and looked into those gorgeous violet eyes. “My mind’s as open as I know how to make it. Now tell me everything. Show me.”

  She nodded. Then she changed everything Mac had imagined another world would look like. The image in his mind grew sharper, an unbelievable landscape of sparkling stone, of flowing rivers that were streams of multicolored liquid. Lights flickered everywhere. On the ground, in the air, clinging to the sides of strange structures that might be plant life of some sort. He wasn’t sure how he knew, but he recognized the flashes of light as Zianne’s kind. These were her people.

  “We are called Nyrians. We are creatures of pure energy. We originated on the world you see, many, many light-years from your Earth, long before your world existed. Much of our history has been lost. Our legends say we are children of the sun, fathered by the star our planet revolved about, though we may have had corporeal bodies at one time. Now all that is solid about us is a physical soul of pure carbon, a substance you call diamond. By the time I came into existence, we were nothing more than pure, sentient energy with a diamond at our center. What you saw when I went into Dink’s body? That’s me when I’m not in a body like this.”

  She glanced down at her long legs and shrugged, almost as if she were embarrassed. “Our planet was alive and her name was Nyria. We, her people, were proud of our heritage as the offspring of a sentient planet and a star, but that pride may have been our downfall. Eons ago, we were visited by another race. At first we welcomed the Gar—strange, bipedal creatures we were able to communicate with telepathically. They showed interest in learning about us and knowing about our world. What we didn’t realize is that they used our fascination with them to seduce us, so that when they invited us, we willingly chose to enter their star cruiser.”

  There was a long silence until, in a soft whisper, Zianne said, “Once they had as many of us aboard as they needed, the Gar destroyed our planet. Our world was lost; millions of her souls—our family, our friends, our Nyria—disappeared.”

  Mac jerked, blinking at the image that filled his mind. He’d not expected the horrible sight of her planet and her people exploding into a fiery ball—he was seeing Zianne’s last view of her world—a view she’d had from a portal within the alien ship.

  She tugged her left hand free of Mac’s grasp to wipe at the tears streaming from her eyes. He’d been so caught up in the violent destruction, in Zianne’s emotional reaction at the thought of so many deaths, he hadn’t noticed she was crying. Tugging a clean handkerchief from his pocket, Mac pressed it into her hand.

  “Thank you.” She sighed, wiped her streaming eyes, and twisted the fabric in both fists. After a moment, she seemed to gather her composure. “We had not realized that our visit, fueled by curiosity, would leave us stranded as slaves aboard the Gar’s ship. We no longer had a home to return to. The Gar wanted our energy. Their scientists had figured out how it could be tapped to run their ships. Now we power their engines, all life support, the intricate ecosystem that keeps the Gar alive.” She shrugged once again. “Their home world is gone as well, polluted beyond recovery. It can no longer support life.”

  “But where do you get your energy?” Mac’s mind was spinning as he remembered how Zianne had looked, streaking inside Dink. And before, when she’d dragged the guy out of his apartment and tossed him over the railing. “You can’t constantly produce without feeding on something.”

  “Originally, we drew our energy from our sun, but once the Gar enslaved us, we learned to pull it from distant stars, from the inhabitants of the sentient worlds we passed during our travels. Human energy is an amazing source of power.”

  Images filled his mind and he saw what had to be the inside of the alien star cruiser. It was too bizarre for words. “You’re able to come here. Why haven’t all of you escaped?”

  She was wringing the handkerchief between her hands now. He felt her tension, the frustration she and her people must live with all the time. “The Gar have taken our souls. If we go too long without the diamond, we will die. At the beginning of each shift, they remove that crucial bit of carbon that links us together as a people, and they store it until we have used up our available energy. When we go back to our cells, when our shifts end, the diamond is returned. Half of our people are always providing energy, but they do it without their souls.”

  She took a deep breath and he saw the huge engine rooms deep within the bowels of the alien ship, the arcs of pure energy that kept everything running. Zianne’s brethren.

  “How
is it you can be here with me?”

  She shrugged again. Such a human gesture. How did she know to act human? How did she have this form, this body, this very human set of values and fears?

  “Your mind called me. I felt you far, far from your world.” She smiled, reached up, and ran her fingers across his lips. He kissed her fingertips and inhaled the sweet scent of honey and vanilla—a scent, he’d quickly discovered, that was also her most intimate flavor.

  “I recognized your unique strength and followed the signal of your mind. Once we found an orbit around your sun and we began to drink from that powerful star, I was able to strengthen the link I’d forged with you. The more I studied you, the more I learned. You humans create an amazing form of energy tied directly to your reproductive abilities, an energy so powerful I can take this form merely from the power of your thoughts.”

  Her image blossomed in his mind, but it was a visual from the very first night he saw her. Naked, on her knees in the shower, taking his cock in her mouth. Mac burst out laughing. “You’re saying my sexual fantasy is what brought you here? I imagined the perfect woman sucking my cock, and you popped into my shower?”

  She raised her eyes and nodded with an almost sheepish expression on her face. “I was actually in your apartment a bit earlier. Your fantasizing with Dink gave me form.”

  “Oh, Zianne. Dear God, but I love you.” He grabbed both her hands in his again. He wanted her with an ache that went beyond anything he’d ever known. An ache that was centered in his heart and soul. He leaned close and kissed her. Tasted the sweet honey and vanilla of her lips. “What do you need from me? How can I help? That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? Because somehow you think I can help?”

  Her beautiful violet eyes, no longer awash in tears, sparkled. She nodded. “You already are. The programs we’re developing are the beginning. Not only have you called me through space with your amazing mind, you have brought me through time. The ship circles your sun both many miles and many years from us. When I leave you each morning, I return through the time slip that links me to the ship, fully recharged after being with you and able to cover my shift of work. The nights I don’t come to you are the nights I must connect with my soul, or I will die.”