Seriat’s face focussed through her blurry vision. The sound of yelling and the sickening sounds of battle filled her ears.
“Alastor!” She shook Seriat’s grip from her and scrambled over the rise of the dune to see a battle raging below. The people she’d awakened fought the Reptiles with hands and feet and anything they could find. Blood spilled on limbs, clothing, the ground. Patches of red staining pale sand. Bodies littered the ground. Reptiles. Locals.
Her fingers clawed grains of sand until finally she saw him. The only two Reptiles left standing were the one Alastor fought and the other behind him. He lashed out, striking the head of a Reptile. The creature staggered, but somehow still remained on its feet. Behind Alastor, a Reptile downed a local man and then spun towards Alastor from behind. People gave chase, but it was too far ahead of them. Too close to Alastor.
Alastor didn’t see it coming. Marie yelled, her voice weak and thin and yet his gaze locked on hers. She pointed behind him, but the Reptile struck, dragging its claws down Alastor’s back before a horde of people attacked both of the last Reptiles with hard spikes.
A scream ripped from her lungs as Alastor wobbled on unsteady legs, back bowing in agony, face contorted into a rictus of agony. Blood poured from open wounds staining his tan survival suit crimson-edged with green. The Reptile poison!
Chapter Fourteen
White-hot agony ripped down his back. He twisted to see the Reptile taken down by one of the mind-enslaved. His vision wavered as the mind-enslaved brought the creature to the ground, savagely attaching it with anything they had in hand. A branch was driven through its eye, and a young man drove a stake through its heart. Blue blood spurted from the fatal wound, and the Reptile sprawled on the ground, dead.
Black dots edged his vision. Mind-enslaved? His own mind was playing tricks.
A cry had his immediate attention. Marie stumbled down the dune, running straight for him. Ignoring the agony of his back, he forced his limbs to move towards her. He’d told her to run. It was too dangerous. He staggered one step. Two. And then Marie was in his arms and he brought her to his chest, his heart pounding. “Get out of here.”
But his legs refused to move and his arms kept her locked against him. His blood was fire in his veins and his chest was constricting and constricting until he could barely breathe “…over now. Alastor. It’s over.”
Over? It would never be over. She didn’t know what she was talking about. Fresh agony seared through him. His legs wobbled and he came down onto one knee, no longer able to take his weight. He forced his eyelids to stay open. She had to stay safe. Sweet, pure Marie. She couldn’t fall prey to the Reptiles again, but his lips were numb and his tongue was three times its normal size. Poison surged through his system, torturing each cell in his body from the inside out. Against his will, he tumbled to the ground. “Not over. Run.”
Marie folded to the ground with him. Clutching him to stop him toppling over altogether. “Help! Can someone help?”
But there was nobody here to help. The Starlight was too far away and the Reptile poison was too fast-acting. There was no help. Marie would be on her own on an occupied planet of Reptiles.
His body shook with the effort of staying conscious. He wanted to die, by the seven hells he wanted to die and make amends for all his wrongs, but Marie was still here and the poison was burning through his system, slowly killing him. She didn’t run. He had to protect her. “Get shuttle. Help.”
“I got them all out. It’s over, Alastor. They helped you,” Marie said.
They? Who? He looked around him through darkened vision. Rag-tag figures milled about the still forms of dead Reptiles. There was a faint cry and one person ran to another, collecting them in a fierce hug.
They were no longer mind-enslaved. He fought the edge of darkness that sunk around him. “How… Why?”
“I brought them back, like I did with Seriat. To help you,” Marie said, tears pouring down her cheeks. Her beautiful eyes. That was the last thing he wanted to see. But not crying. Laughing. He wanted to see joy in them.
He struggled through the lethargy of his limbs and placed his palm on her face, “Miracle.”
She caught his other hand in hers, keeping them on her beautiful face. Instead of the relief he thought he’d feel with his last moments, all he could think about was that he wanted more of them. With her. How stupid he’d been to deny himself. He tried to speak. To tell her, but his lips were too numb. His tongue too big to even breathe properly.
“Hold on, Alastor. I’m getting you help.” Hot tears streaked down her face, making her violet eyes luminous.
He summoned the last of his energy. She had to know what she was. Beautiful. Strong. Pure. He had to tell her, but no words came out. His breath stilled in his chest as darkness descended.
◆◆◆
There was no up or down or sideways or anything to cling to. Just white-hot pain that wracked his back and…
◆◆◆
Sounds. Too faint to be heard properly. Darkness turned to grey. Fire in his blood. On his skin. His back erupted in flames. A touch on his arm. His lungs seized, bones jarred and…
◆◆◆
Confusion. Exhaustion. And pain. White-hot and intense, stealing thoughts, words, awareness. He never thought it would hurt so much to die.
An insistent voice prodded above the gushing blood in his ears. He latched onto it, surfacing through the warm comfort of oblivion, racing upwards too hard, too fast.
The agony of his back blended with the fire in his blood. A groan too weak to be his, but then he realised it was. Hands lifted his head that was too heavy to hold on his own. Cool water touched his lips, trickled down his throat, helping to soothe the fire inside him.
A gentle hand stroked his face. He worked hard to slit open heavy eyelids. Platinum hair and striking violet. Concern. Sadness. Comfort. Run, Marie. Go! But the darkness was too powerful and sucked him back beneath its tumulus waves.
◆◆◆
A flutter of colour swam in front of his eyes, unfurling and waving as though undulating in water. A purple hue that went from deep amethyst melted to the softest of lilac. The colour wove in and out of shadows before clearing into a blinding, white light. There was a shadowed form haloed with the light.
As the form grew closer, the shadows lightened enough for him to see a woman. A very beautiful woman with vibrant blue eyes, wavy blonde hair that went all the way down to her waist, pale pink lips curved into a subtle smile. Light glowed from her skin and her hair sparkled with a million stars. A gentle feminine power radiated through him, as warm as sunlight on a spring day, comforting him as his mother had done when he’d been a child.
“Alastor. How good it is to see you.” Her voice was like a melody that sang through him.
“You know me?” He would have remembered a woman as beautiful as her.
She chuckled, the sounds like chiming bells. “Of course I do. I’ve been watching from the sidelines all your life, but this is the first time you have been able to see me.” Her smile was radiant.
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“Marie told you of my existence. Yet you still didn’t believe her,” the woman said.
He frowned, studying the woman. She was so beautiful she was almost painful to look at. Perfect. God-like… He moistened dry lips. “Lady… Lyria?”
Even as he spoke the words, his mind revolted. His soul was tarnished. Nothing too bright and pure would want to be anywhere near him. He was not worthy of her perfection.
She cupped his cheek and warmth sank into his cold bones. Her skin was the softest silk, warm and tingling with energy. “You are worthy, but you, in particular, do not see it.”
“The things I’ve done…” She, of all people, would know the depths to which he’d sunk. The filthy battles. The suffering. The friends and colleagues he’d failed to protect. The mind-enslaved planets he’d failed to save. That he’d come home—and they hadn’t.
“Do no
t disrespect their sacrifice, soldier. They knew what they did. They fought for the same reasons you do. You do not honour the lives they gave to fight the same war you’re still fighting,” Lady Lyria said.
“But I failed…” He choked up, unable to speak. He could barely stand to look at her beauty, but he would accept everything she would see fit to punish him with. Whatever it was, he was ready. He would accept it
“You deserve no sanction, but you will need to find the strength to rejoin the fight, my son. I need to send you back.”
His head snapped up. “I’m not being punished?”
Her soft chuckle was angelic. “Don’t look so surprised. You yet have work to be done, but it will not be easy. You need to let Marie in, Alastor. She is the key. We need your help. Both of you. We are working in our dimension, but the entity that is trying to cross dimensions is very strong. And dangerous.”
“I... don’t understand.” The frown on Alastor’s brow was heavy. Nothing she said made any sense. A chill breeze made his skin crawl. How could anything be stronger than a goddess?
Lyria began to fade. “There is no more time. It will become clear. Everything in your life has led to this point, but don’t let your doubts overrule your heart. You have come too far, gone through too much pain, not to have your reward.”
“Reward?” The only reward he wanted was to find peace, and to let his soul rest. To stop the endless killing, the senseless deaths, and fighting an overwhelming force.
“There is a great darkness coming. Together we fight, but we need you to help us. Accept Marie. Together, you will be the answer to our prayers.” Her form was no more than a shadow.
They would be the answer? All his life he had prayed to Lady Lyria and she had never replied. He tensed for the usual burning anger and resentment he felt, but it didn’t come. Instead, a pure, warming energy washed through him, wiping away the darkness, leaving only light in its wake.
“I answered every one of your prayers, my son. You were simply not ready to hear me. You are not alone, Alastor. You have never been alone.”
Her words wound around him like the hint of a whisper. Darkness overcame him and the current pulled him under.
Chapter Fifteen
He sought the absolute peace he thought he’d have to die to find, but it slipped through his fingers, elusive and insubstantial. Exhaustion pulled him one way and then the other, ripping him in half to slam him back, melding muscle, blood and bone.
Faces of his soldiers and comrades passed in front of his eyes. So many faces, but instead of the gore and horror that usually filled them when he thought of them, their faces were resolute. They knew what they were doing, and just like him, had risked their lives to fight against the oppression of the Reptiles.
Lyria had told him to honour their sacrifice. They’d given their lives for a bigger purpose, just as he was doing, and yet wishing his life away in penance was dishonourable. He’d never thought about it like that. Had never thought it wrong, but now, from her lips, he knew it to be true. He hadn’t respected their choice. He hadn’t respected their ultimate sacrifice.
A light grew in the darkness, lifting him upwards. A light that was warming, tender, caring, filling him with purpose that fulfilled rather than took, gave instead of stole. It was a light that righted his world and everything in it.
He swam towards it, tired of the constant darkness, that cold, driving force that sculpted his days with endless guilt. He reached towards the light with all his will.
“Lyria?” he croaked, hoping to see the face that would offer him redemption.
A delectable scent wove through his senses. The scent that belonged to the light that was indescribably tempting. A face haloed with mussed platinum hair. An angel. Temptation. Desire. Not Lyria. Marie. It was Marie.
He threaded his fingers into silky-soft hair. Brought her down and touched her lips to his. He didn’t know if this was the afterlife or a hallucination, but he didn’t care.
He slid his tongue along the seam of her mouth, then plundered inside her wet heat. Her taste exploded as he stroked his tongue along hers. He massaged and pillaged, tasted and feasted.
Tiny fists unfurled on his chest and the heat of open palms seared his skin. He was naked, his uniform gone, but if this was the afterlife, then he didn’t need it. Didn’t want it. What he wanted was right here in his arms, sipping from his lips, surrounding him with that delectable scent that thrummed through his body, lighting his mind.
He wound his other arm around her waist, bringing her on top of him. Her slight weight was a comfort before his desire increased. He held her on top of him with an open palm on the small of her back, the other cupping her nape, locking her against him.
His shaft grew heavy. Swelled. Her hips brushed the juncture of his thighs, sending sensitive sparks upwards through his belly. He deepened the kiss, using his tongue like he wanted to use his cock, thrusting in, withdrawing. Devouring her.
Her breasts were crushed against his chest, her nipples hard little buds. The material between them was too thick, an obstacle. He wanted to feel her—all of her—naked against his skin.
He slid his fingers beneath the hem of her shirt, her skin searing his fingertips as he dived beneath the fabric. He traced upwards, across her back. Her chest vibrated with a groan that ignited his desire. He slipped his thumb between them and brushed it over her taut nipple.
She jerked, but had nowhere to go within the trap of his arms. Her hands travelled upwards, entwining around his neck, her fingers easing into his hair. His skin tightened, his sense of touch heightened.
His thumb found her nipple again. He circled it, then pressed on it gently, this time ready for the jerk of her body brought on by the intimate touch. Alastor canted his hips to crush his straining cock between them, glorified as sensation sparked in his abdomen.
Tensing his arms, he rose his torso and twisted. He groaned out loud as his muscles seized with fiery agony. She scrambled off him, and guided him onto his stomach with firm, deft movements.
“…stupid thing to do…”
He reached for her, his hand fumbling until he gripped smooth, warm, soft skin. Her fingers firmed in his grip. A sigh rippled through him. His back might still be on fire, but the tension eased from his body enough to breathe a little more easily.
“…don’t know why I even kissed you when you’re obviously in agony. Of all the stupid things…”
Marie hovered over him. Wet coolness ran down his sides, taking the fire away to an insistent throb. Now that he wasn’t suffering with agony, his mind cleared so he could think. Could he be in so much pain in the afterlife? Surely he wouldn’t have a body to feel in such a way. If he felt such agony, he must still have a body. If he had a body, he must still be alive.
Lady Lyria hadn’t taken him.
“I’m… alive?”
Marie paused, a cloth clutched in her hand that hovered over his back. Her delectable mouth was dusky-pink, swollen, and wet from their kiss. “You nearly weren’t.”
Blue shadows smudged beneath her eyes. Tense lines edged her mouth. Her hair was more mussed than it usually was. She looked tired and worn out. She’d looked after him.
“The poison. It should have killed me.”
“Luckily one of the people I set free is a doctor. He cleaned your wounds and got the venom out of your system.” Marie sat back, her spine curved, and she looked more lost than she ever had. Her eyes were luminous in her pale face. “It nearly didn’t work.”
There was a time, until very recently, that he would have been angry to be saved. But now… now he couldn’t muster anything other than gratitude.
“How long have I...?”
“Three days.”
The fight, the Reptiles, the mind-enslaved. “The Reptiles…”
“They’re all dead. Alastor, did you understand me? I… I freed the mind-enslaved and we were able to fight the Reptiles!”
He stared, dumb and mute as she beamed. “How...?”<
br />
“The same way I saved Seriat. I went to the in-between and pulled them from the fog.”
His mind spun. She’d done the impossible. Again. This shouldn’t be possible. Entire planets had fought for years, and this one woman… this fragile, human woman had done what thousands had not been able to accomplish. Did she realise how very special she was?
“How many?”
“All of them. I… I pulled them out. I did it while you were fighting. It… it was the only way I could help you. I… was so scared for you, Alastor.” A tear tracked down her cheek. She didn’t have to help him. Not her. He should be the one protecting her.
“That’s impossible.”
She stiffened, her back rigid. “Regardless of whether you think it’s impossible or not, I did it.”
The simple fact he was still alive and being tended to in a bed told him she’d done the impossible. While he’d been intent on destruction, she’d not only saved him, but a whole lot of people as well.
Her face twitched with emotion, her shoulders rigid and tense. She thought he didn’t believe her when he felt the opposite. He was torn between wanting to take her to bed and sinking deep inside her willing body, and reporting to the Starlight. Maybe he could do both. Report first, and sink into her second.
He tried turning over only to find his back erupting in streaks of fire and his limbs so weak he could barely move. “Frek!”
Marie pressed him back down. “Stop, Alastor. You’re not well enough to move.”
“I was well enough to kiss you,” he growled, not liking the fact he was as weak as a newborn, and about as agile as one.
Finally, some colour bloomed in her too-pale cheeks. She dropped her gaze, obviously nervous. “I thought you might have been delirious.”
“Not delirious enough to not know what I was doing.” He would still be kissing her if he had half the strength to sit up. He was greedy for more. Much more. It was good to see the venom hadn’t stripped him of his libido.
Alastor: Sci-Fi Alien Romance (A Hexonian Alien Romance Book 3) Page 9
