A Hidden Element

by Donna Galanti

  By the time the boy trudged back to his home, the sun rose high over his head just like his new heir was rising—an heir to help him overrun Earth with their powerful genes. Someday in the far off future, Earth would be the new Elyon—a world of Destroyers.

  And his plan to take back all that his brothers had taken from him would succeed. He was the strong one. His father had said so. He had survived to reap what his brothers had sown and lost—and more.

  But first he would continue his fun with Laura.

  And then it would be Ben's turn.

  CHAPTER 12

  Adrian knelt naked by his bed. He needed to endure pain to inflict pain on his flock. He could not be weak like them. He lifted the cat o' nine tails and flung it on his back in a familiar rhythm. With each whip he released a deep grunt.

  Each strike was a gift he offered to fate as penance for the death of his mistress Manta. He did not seek penance for killing Tollen's unborn child that had grown within her. That was merely a casualty. Someday he would use it against Tollen. It would be his glorious, final playing card. For now he would let Tollen think it was Brahm's child who died. He did not need distractions. He needed to lead his people into this new world and breed the Earth with Destroyer power. Pain would make him strong then Fate would accept his pain and realign his path to greatness.

  Forty lashes on his back. New scars over old scars painted his skin. Each strike of the nine tails pierced him with points of fire. He called to Manta with each grunt. She had understood him, loved him—and he had betrayed her. Blood ran like slow rain down his skin washing his guilt away.

  And in the exquisite pain, his love for her skewered his flesh. He breathed it in with each lash. Frenzied love filled him up. It crazed his brain like an addicting drug. He had never felt it before except with Manta. It drove the harsh dark away, which ruled him. It filled him with soft light. But with the light came pain to endure Manta's death.

  He could not let himself feel the pain of loss again. It was too much to bear.

  He had caused her death.

  Harder. Harder.

  He groaned from the whip's sting and cherished the sweet physical pain that made him strong again.

  He fell on his hands, breathing deep to push the pain away. Each morning he scourged away his sin. Day by day he became cleaner inside, stronger.

  Time to finish. Adrian stood and faced the mirror. The lit candle sent shadows across his pale skin in the windowless room. He flexed his muscles admiring his physical attributes. Then he took a deep breath and resumed self-flogging. This time his thighs took the brunt. Streaks of red wound around his muscular legs. He called to his love again and again.

  "Manta. Manta."

  Caleb watched the courtyard fill up from under the side overhang. He soon would bring Rachel out. He watched her often with the other women doing laundry or working in the gardens gathering vegetables. She had been with many males since him and had borne more children since their time of passion six years ago. Did she think about it like he did? His last time of wild abandon. He had given in to lust and sweetness. She had been so open to him and full of beauty. It had felt so good to allow reckless release without care. Everything in his life now was done with care. He guarded his thoughts and actions to protect himself and others.

  And now she would die. Could he save her?

  The community members flooded into the square, silent except for the younger children. He scanned the gathering seeking two dark heads with hair of his own. He finally saw them. Relief washed through him that his children would live, but now he must lead their mother to her death.

  Caleb walked down the open corridor to the prisoner's room. He hesitated at the door, unlocked it, and pushed it open with conviction. She sat on the concrete floor, naked and small, knees drawn to her chest. Her golden brown hair flowed around her, strands of pure bronze covering her in light. She looked up, eyes wide with fear. Tears dropped like clear pearls from her emerald eyes. Eyes he had looked into with desire and yearning long ago.

  "Caleb," she whispered. "Help me."

  "My father says you must pay for your desertion."

  She put her head on her knees. "What will happen to all of my children? I wanted them to know I was their mother. I wanted to save all of them, but I could only take two. They were my first and I always knew they were mine."

  Like I know they are mine, he wanted to say. Instead, he narrowed his eyes at her and walled himself off from her plea. "They aren't your children. They belong to the community."

  "Mine."

  "Not according to my father."

  She looked up at him, sad and appealing in her bereft nakedness. "Will you watch over them?"

  He pulled her up. She covered her breasts with her hair but not her sex. It had held him in a fierce blur of tangled bliss—and had given their sons life. He busied himself by binding wooden cuffs on her wrists.

  "Come." Caleb pulled her to the door.

  She screamed and fought him. Her hair flew like wild ropes about her, lashing him. He grabbed her shoulders and shook her. "It will be worse for you if you go like this."

  She slumped against him. He felt her heart beat next to his and her warm breasts. So alive. Not for long. An ache struck him like his father's whip. He felt the pain deep inside now as his skin had felt many times from lashings. She moved closer into him, twisting his robe in desperation as if clutching onto him would keep her alive. Her thoughts shot clear into his mind. I loved you once. I needed you then. Our sons need you now. My other children need you.

  "You needed a lot of other males after me."

  She looked up at him. "Not like you, Caleb. You were my first. You knew I wasn't allowed to breed with only one."

  Caleb nodded. He had loved her too, from afar. He opened his mind to her now. He dare not speak the words out loud. I will protect the children. I promise. But I can't promise to save you.

  She cried harder then. He sensed her relief from his words. And hope. He pulled her then to the courtyard. She shivered against him from the early autumn air, bared to the elements. Free of coverings, as she had been when she entered this world. Adrian stood at the stoning gates. All heads turned to them as he led her to the stocks.

  He locked her in, her head held tight in place with a wooden collar. He undid the cuffs on her wrists and locked her arms and legs to the posts in metal braces. Her eyes followed his every movement. She pleaded to him with her mind, but he closed off his thoughts to her. If he didn't he would go crazy, release her, grab their sons, and run. They wouldn't get far.

  Red leaves shot down from the giant maple tree above. A gust of wind tugged the last of them from the old tree, blurring Rachel's face from Caleb for a moment. A burnt crimson ring encircled her. He stepped back and took his spot. The crowd surged forward, one entity. A gray-robed flock of death. The barrel of stones sat in the center of the courtyard. Each person selected two stones. When everyone had their weapons, Adrian and Caleb stepped forward and chose their stones. Rachel's sobs and the children's fretting cries hung over the silent crowd.

  All eyes watched Adrian, waiting for his signal. He raised his hand and nodded at Caleb.

  Caleb raised his hand also and closed his eyes. Then he let go.

  The first stone flew.

  CHAPTER 13

  Laura wasn't being chased this time. It came as a delicious dream she had dreamt many times over the past year when she'd dozed on her bed, alone, under cotton striped blankets. She was naked and her breasts throbbed. She remembered how small they had once been before pregnancy. She had been ashamed of their size the night Ben first took her so long ago, thinking he wanted a full breasted woman as so many men did. But he had convinced her otherwise of their perfection. She lay back and stroked them now, enjoying the feel of her body as it held her child.

  She closed her eyes luxuriating in content slumber, wondering about getting up, when hands covered hers. Ben. She smiled and kept her eyes closed. He gently pulled her hands away
and caressed her. Slow warmth spread through her groin. Lips pulled on her nipples, fingers drawing them to intense arousal. She gasped, fighting the urge to open her eyes. Ben remained silent, fueling her fantasy.

  Fingers trailed down her belly and pried her thighs open. She groaned and cried out when a hot tongue lapped at her in expertise as it had many times. It played with her as she liked best. Hands cupped her bottom, stroking, stroking. She twisted the sheets, legs trembling as she yearned for release. The heat flamed an unbearable ache, stabbing her with need and want.

  The tongue fell away and she whimpered in loss, but then she was being pulled toward Ben. He opened her up wider to receive him. Her legs shook. She pushed into him. Hot flesh plunged into her core and she screamed, her need met. He thrust rhythmically, slow then fast, teasing her swollen sex bud that painfully throbbed.

  "Ben, oh, Ben."

  He covered her body with his, sinking into her, pressing his hard chest to her soft skin. His hand placed possessively across her swollen belly. She wrapped her arms and legs around him. Their sweat mingled together. Ben pulled on her breasts in sweet agony. Her body rose in the air. Breezes blew around her, embracing her, filling every crevice. She was so close. So close. Nothing bound her to Earth but this primeval fire. Space surrounded her, carried her. And still she refused to open her eyes. The dream was hers.

  The explosion swelled in her and Ben held her tight. Her body bucked and he drove deeper inside her than he had ever been.

  "Laura, open your eyes. I want to see you."

  That voice.

  The soft dream disappeared. Her eyes flew open. The pale demon stared down at her, covering her body with his. His yellow eyes burned in hers. Her body betrayed her, shaking with orgasm as she tried to claw out from under the monster. He held her fast, grinning down at her then plunged into her faster and faster. She screamed again and again. He arched his back and shot his dark seed into her with a mighty groan. It filled her womb and poured out of her, a gushing torrent of evil.

  "It will be our son, Laura. Ours. He has been all along."

  She woke up. Terror pulled at her. Her heart raced. She sat up and reached for the light, knocking it over. She pulled up the lamp. Finally, sweet light. The clock glowed 2am. She clasped her belly. It pulsed as if her child had been a witness to her dream. But her child was safe. Hers and Ben's.

  A breeze tickled her face. The curtain blew up from the open window. She hadn't remembered opening it. She couldn't shake the dream. Her sex throbbed with heat. She put her fingers to herself. She was so wet and swollen there and her breasts ached. Could she be reliving the terror associated with her twin brother fifteen years ago in her dreams? Perhaps being pregnant drove her intense dreams and paranoia, as Ben had said.

  She got out of bed and went to the guest bedroom where Ben now slept since the awful night where he tried to strangle her. She didn't resist his move. She had to protect her child.

  She slid into bed beside him. He rolled over and pulled her to him.

  "I miss you," she whispered.

  "I miss you, too."

  "You had another nightmare, didn't you?"

  "Yes."

  "Tell me."

  Laura shook her head. "This one was different," she finally said. "It was you but then it wasn't you."

  "Was it the man who chases you?"

  She nodded, unable to speak.

  "I've seen him chase you in my dreams. Like…your twin, X-10, did long ago. Only this man wants our unborn child."

  "The man in my dreams wants our child, too," Laura whispered.

  "X-10's gone, Laura. It's been over for fifteen years. There's no one chasing us here. Just in our dreams. It's natural to worry when you're pregnant. Your hormones are raging along with your fears our son won't be…normal. And that is all normal. It's been a long time since you had Charlie."

  "I know, but we've had a good life for so long now. I don't want it taken away. Like everything was taken from me back then."

  "It's just fear. Nothing else. Don't let it overshadow the good we have now. The bad doesn't have to come back."

  She wanted to believe it. "Charlie! I have to check on Charlie." Laura threw back the covers and swung her legs to get up, but Ben stayed her with his hand.

  "I just did. He's asleep in his bed."

  "You're sure?"

  "I checked on him right before I came in here."

  Laura eased back on the pillow and closed her eyes. She pulled the blanket tighter to her, chilled even though the furnace had kicked on warming them against the early fall chill. "Something is happening. I can feel it. My migraines are back. My nightmares are back. Someone is here. Someone who wants to harm me…and our child."

  "Laura, how can you be sure?"

  "I can't."

  "There's no physical proof. No murders of those you love. No cryptic notes telling you this time to use your powers."

  His words soothed her. She knew she sounded like an irrational, hormonal pregnant woman, but his actions the other night had truly frightened her. She opened her eyes to Ben's kind face, trying not to see the face of another. A face filled with hate and revenge. A face like her dead brother's. He had been the hunter and she had been his prey. She didn't want to be hunted again.

  "Stay with me, Ben." She reached for him and he pulled her to his chest. "I need you."

  He lay her down then and placed a hand on her belly, claiming her child as his like the monster in her dream had. "I won't fall asleep, I promise."

  She looked up at him, eyes shining. "I don't want to sleep."

  He smiled at her, rubbing a breast that swelled from her nightgown. "Are you sure?"

  She nodded. "I want you in me."

  She needed to chase the monster from her mind. She needed Ben inside her, stroking the terror away as he filled her with his purity and strength. She undid her buttons, offering herself to him. He undressed quickly and she pulled him closer, eager for him to be inside her.

  "Now, Ben." She pushed into him, needing him to fill her with his goodness. He sunk deep, his face buried in her breasts, and took her in all the gentle ways she needed.

  She made sure to keep her eyes open.

  CHAPTER 14

  The crowd moved away. The community members went back to their daily chores. Washing, child care, compound repairs, cooking. They all had their jobs to do. Now Caleb had his job to do. Taking out the trash. Only Rachel wasn't trash. She had been loving and alive. Someone's mother. Someone's lover. She had his heart once.

  He stared at her figure in death.

  He had no time to waste if she were to live again.

  He unlocked the stoning gates and gently removed her from the iron braces and wooden neck collar. Her pale, bruised body fell into his arms. Her heart no longer beat against his chest. Her breasts no longer pressed warm to him. He picked her up, cradling her head to his. Her hair fell in the waning sunlight, the one sheath adorning her. Time hung precious. He strode across the yard, when his father stepped from the shadows. His robe's hood covered most of his face.

  "Take her far past the perimeter fence. Bury her."

  Caleb nodded as twisted emotion burned through him. He had to close off his thoughts so his father didn't see his true plans for Rachel. He continued through the courtyard.

  "Caleb."

  Caleb turned and faced his father again.

  "Watch yourself." His father pulled back his hood and smiled at him. "And when you're done report back to me."

  "Where?" It came out a deep whisper.

  "The whipping shack. Penance for Thomas."

  Caleb nodded again. He turned and strode off. He turned back once. His father still watched him. Caleb turned a corner. His legs pumped faster.

  Time was running out to bring Rachel back to life.

  Charlie slowly pushed open the back door, looking for signs of his parents. Both cars sat in the driveway. He stayed in the woods most of the day again talking with Adrian. Ghost Man seemed so real si
nce he now had a name. He was out there, somewhere in a real place, waiting to meet him. It all tumbled inside Charlie. He didn't know how he felt about it, but anticipation for something filled him up. For what, he didn't know, but it rose inside him waiting to spill out. He couldn't tell his parents about this. Not yet.

  He shut the door quietly behind him. He wasn't supposed to be home for another twenty minutes, but he had been freezing in the woods all day and was starving. He had practiced his powers for a while. Then the temperature dropped. It felt almost cold enough for snow. He placed his hands on the radiator, warming them in the toasty kitchen.

  He hoped the school hadn't called about his absence and he checked the new phone messages. Lucky him. The secretary had left a message. He deleted it. The second time this week. Running water hummed. His mom or dad in the shower. Probably his mom. When her back was killing her she said a hot shower made her feel better. His heart slowed a bit. He might get away with skipping school today.

  And then screams hurdled through the house. He dropped his backpack and ran toward them. His parent's room.

  Another piercing scream ripped through his gut.

  His mom.

  Charlie burst through the bedroom door. Steam curled out from under the bathroom door. He reached it in two steps, expecting to push the door open. Locked. He slammed up against it.

  "Mom, I'm coming!"

  The floor shook.

  "Charlie…no." His mom's words came out a gurgled whisper. Glass shattered. Wild grunts called to him.

  He kicked. The door cracked. The jamb shredded. He used his hands to pull the wood apart with his mental commands. Splintered shrieks filled the air.

  "Mom, hang on!"

  Wood exploded. Charlie pushed through the shattered door and fell into the bathroom—and a dark figure. He beat on him, grabbing his shirt. Steam billowed all around the mad man.

  It was his dad.

  And he was strangling his mom.