Alastor: Sci-Fi Alien Romance (A Hexonian Alien Romance Book 3)

by Charmaine Ross

  Alastor was rendered speechless, but Marie’s life was a stake. He mentally shook himself. “It’s Marie. She’s in trouble.”

  Lines formed between Black Feather’s brows, “I can’t sense her. Where is she?”

  “She’s… mind-enslaved. I can’t… help her.”

  “No!” Fury, as well as the deepest concern, washed through Black Feather’s face.

  The hair haloed around Lyria’s face undulated as horror flashed across her beautiful face. “It can’t be.”

  “She tried to help the human females. They are being used somehow to power the entity. She went into a meditative state, but she has not awoken. I… I don’t know what to do.” Never had he felt so useless. So helpless. He was fighting an enemy with such a lack of regard for life he could hardly contemplate it. So many lives lost. Keira and now Marie. “Why is it doing this? What possible reason could there be?”

  Black Feather placed his hand on Alastor’s shoulder. A sense of calm, peace, and deep understanding flowed through him at the touch. “It has destroyed all life in its own dimension. There is nothing there but an absence of anything. Not even a grain of energy. It has been starving. Living off itself until it worked out a way to breach dimensions.”

  “We have been fighting, but the energy coming from your dimension is too powerful. If it succeeds, it will consume everything until there is nothing left,” Lady Lyria said.

  His gut hollowed out. If this happened, everything he’d fought for, everything he thought he’d fought to protect, those who had already died—was all in vain. Such loss. Such devastation. All for nothing.

  Thunder rolled in, along with a gust of frigid wind. The feathers in Black Feather’s hair spun about his face as billowing clouds raced toward them.

  “It is coming closer,” Alastor said.

  Frigid wind gusted around Alastor, clawing at his limbs. An aura of despair radiated around him. Whatever this was, it overflowed with such anguish he wanted to cry out in pain.

  Black Feather’s head sank down, his features scrunched tight. His shoulders sagged and time stood still. “It is stronger. It is using Marie.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  There was nothing but pain. Emotional. Physical. They blended in unimaginable agony. The scene had played out so many times now, it blurred. Each time Veronica died was like it happened all over again for the first time, bringing with it a fresh wave of grief and horror.

  “My mother’s name was Elvie.”

  This was not going to happen again. It was not! She tried to clear her mind. The pain in her head was so acute that her knees buckled and she fell to the stage, only it was spongy and frigid cold. Instead of polished floorboards, black clouds surrounded her hands. The cold seeped through her skin and into her bones. She ignored the biting agony. An entity filled with malevolence and destruction poured into her mind. “Who are you?”

  “I am your death.” The words pierced her mind.

  A powerful image of darkness so finite and dense that no life could ever be there formed in her mind. She gasped as she realised that was what this thing wanted for her. No, not just her, it wanted this for this planet, and the next and next. Its greed would never stop until it devoured the entire universe. It was the entity Black Feather was fighting against.

  “Who are you?”

  “I hunger. I need. You are my feeding ground.”

  ‘You… you can’t do this!” Marie gasped.

  “My hunger cannot be sated. I need more.”

  Life was sacred. Any life where it existed, however it existed. This being was the pure absence of anything. It destroyed and left nothing behind. “But… why?”

  Dark energy pulsed into her mind. The scene continued to play around her. Shots fired. Veronica tumbled to the ground. Deep red splatters stained the stage and sprayed over Marie. She gasped as pure agony ripped through her.

  “I feed.”

  ◆◆◆

  “Marie saved the souls by reaching into the clouds,” Alastor said. They were just like the clouds in the chamber, growing larger and stronger with each female’s death.

  “She said that?” Lady Lyria asked.

  “She said she reached in and pulled the person free.” As much as he could understand what she’d done.

  “Then we have to get closer to the entity. It’s manifesting through those clouds. I’ll guide you back to your body to try to free her,” Black Feather said.

  “You will not!”

  Black Feather eyed with him with a gaze that would reap terror in anyone else, but he stood to his impressive height and sent him the Hexonian version of the same look. “I don’t care what happens to me, but whatever that thing is, it’s strong. It will need both of us. I’m not going anywhere. Not until Marie is safe.”

  “You won’t have seen anything like it. You don’t know what you’re up against,” Lady Lyria said.

  “I have lost too many soldiers not to understand what I’m up against. If it’s the last thing I do, it will not take Marie. I’m not going anywhere and we’re running out of time, so take us to those clouds so I can save the female I love,” Alastor said.

  Something flashed in the depths of Black Feather’s eyes. For a moment he thought it might be triumph before they grew serious and grim. “You are a good male.”

  “We have chosen well,” Lady Lyria said.

  Alastor rocked back on his heels. That was… not what he expected. “Chosen?”

  “I sense her. Be prepared,” Lady Lyria said.

  Wind howled about them, forcing his eyes closed. When he blinked them open again, he was face to face with a limitless wall of writhing cloud. It inched forward, forcing them to step back.

  “Where is she?” Alastor asked.

  “She is in here. Somewhere.”

  There was nothing but a solid wall. A frigid breeze whipped his clothing, chilling him to the bone. “But where, exactly?”

  It was like trying to see through the side of the Starlight, a ship built to withstand nuclear radiation and the heat of enormous suns.

  “She… she’s lost.”

  “It will take three of us to find her. We are the only three beings with a strong enough connection to her. We will concentrate with you and together we will mentally reach out to her. Concentrate, Alastor. Concentrate.” Lady Lyria spoke with a tone that he’d only heard from generals in charge of entire galaxies. The words held power, and he used them to reach out to Marie.

  The way she smiled. The way her eyes sparked when he said something she didn’t like. The way she’d come to mean more than life itself to him. She’d saved him, and he hadn’t even known it. She achieved more with gentle words and actions than his years of fighting.

  “There. See it?” Black Feather said.

  Alastor’s eyes snapped open to see a flash of silver. He dived onto it and his hands and arms disappeared into the clouds. Cold bit into his hands like ice picks. He gritted his teeth and held on.

  He was going to find Marie and he was going to save her, no matter how painful it was. The cord jerked and was immersed by the clouds.

  “Marie!”

  She was on a stage, speaking to an audience of humans. He stepped towards her, but was rooted to the spot, unable to move. He could see the scene, but was not a part of it.

  A man from the back of the audience stood. Alastor’s senses were on alert. There was something wrong about that man. His face was pinched. He looked uncared for. He looked about him as though he blamed the world for his ramshackle appearance.

  “My mother’s name was Elvie.”

  Why couldn’t he move? Why couldn’t she see him?

  The man pointed a projectile weapon at Marie. Pandemonium exploded. Alastor reached towards Marie, straining. “No!”

  A female ran towards Marie from the side of the stage. She crumpled in an explosion of blood at Marie’s feet. Marie’s face was slack in shock, still as a statue.

  The woman’s dead body fell on top of Marie. Someone
slid her out. Blood coated Marie. She screamed and tried to revive the female. The clouds devoured her, a predator pouncing on prey. Everything was silent, except for his harsh breathing.

  The clouds dispersed and he saw Marie on the stage again. The audience watching her.

  “Marie!”

  The man stood again. The female rushed to Marie. The projectile was fired and the female’s body took Marie to the ground. She cried out, the sound filled with gut-wrenching despair. The cloud descended once again, pulsing and growing impossibly cold and black.

  The cloud dispersed, releasing Marie on the stage. She was in some sort of a loop, replaying the terrifying scene again and again, and the clouds were feeding from her terror.

  It had to stop. Somehow, he had to make it stop.

  ◆◆◆

  “No. No, no, no, no, no!” The scene pulsed around her, playing over again and again. She couldn’t face it. Couldn’t live through Veronica dying again. Others in the audience had died also. A woman she’d spoken to about her late husband. An elderly man whose mother had shared a touching and loving message.

  All along, this entity pulsed and throbbed around, as though it revelled in her pain. As though it was… feeding off her pain.

  My God! This was what it wanted! It wanted her to relive the most painful time in her life. It fed off it.

  She was not going to do this. Not even one more time! She gritted her teeth, forced one word out. “No.”

  It was so shaky. So quiet she barely heard it herself, but the entity had. A frigid chill pressed all around her, crushing her the breath from her. “Do it again!”

  “I will not!”

  “You feed me. I grow!”

  “I will NOT!”

  She was blasted with a brutal wind so frigid it scoured her skin. The scene changed. Shots were fired. Warm blood splattered over her. She squeezed her eyes shut. The scene played out, but now highlighting the most painful parts. Whatever it was wanted her to hurt. To relive the agony and torture of that day. She had relived it so many times in the privacy of her own mind and this thing was exploiting it.

  Veronica had died. She would never recover from it, but no one went through life unscathed. It was the very reason for existence. To feel. To grow, but ultimately, to love.

  Love was the strongest emotion in the universe. Its light could obliterate any darkness that ever existed. She knew this as a universal truth. So why was she stuck in this darkness? Why did she even allow it?

  She wasn’t going to stand for it a moment longer.

  She was a soul. A sovereignty in her own right. The darkness was weaker because it prayed on negativity, but love was the brightest, highest power of the universe. She was going to fight in a language it would understand.

  She centred herself and focussed on all the times love had shed its light into her life. Her friends. Black Feather.

  Alastor.

  The only man—incarnated—who had seen past her gifts to see her. He had accepted her without hesitation, and given her the one thing she had searched for her entire life. That was something worth fighting for.

  She pictured Alastor in her mind. His strength. His acceptance. His love. An image of his face formed in her mind, brightening and solidifying. She poured every ounce of love she felt for him No more barriers. No more pain. Only light. Love. “Alastor.”

  If she died with the image of him, she would be happy. She’d recognised her heart’s true wish, and had accepted it.

  “Marie!”

  Her head snapped up. Billowing clouds circled a discorded hand. “Alastor?”

  “I’m here. I’m going to get you out!” His voice was muffled behind the clouds.

  She scrambled to her feet, ignoring the gunshots that rang out around her. Veronica collapsed on top of her, but this time Marie didn’t fall to the ground or feel the warm blood splatters. The screaming around her was distant and muted.

  She clung to Alastor’s hand. It was real and solid and warm. His fingers entwined with hers. “I’ve got you. I’m never letting you go.”

  She believed him. He’d come for her. How, she had no idea. But he was here. He was real. And she wanted him like nothing she’d ever wanted before. “I’m never letting go either.”

  The scene around her lost colour and faded. Wind roared around her, whipping her hair and clothing, but she concentrated on holding onto Alastor’s hand. Faces disappeared. Shadows and screaming clouds surrounded her, taking away the stage and the people, and Jack and Veronica.

  “I’ve got you, Marie. I’ve got you!”

  She had him right back. Alastor’s forearms appeared from the swirling fog. She clasped onto them. “I’m here. Right here!”

  The clouds dispersed and Alastor stood right there. Strong arms locked around her. She tucked her face against his neck, losing herself in his strength, his scent—everything that was Alastor.

  “I thought I’d lost you!” His voice was a deep rumble in her ear.

  “So did I.” She pulled back so that she could see his face. “I love you, Alastor. I never want to lose you. I’ve been so stupid, keeping myself away. For what? I’ve not only tortured myself, I’ve tortured you. Can you ever forgive me?”

  His face morphed from grave fear, to confusion, then loosened with joy. “There is nothing to forgive. I love you, too, Marie. I love you so much.”

  His mouth crashed against hers, his tongue sweeping inside her mouth. She kissed him back just as fervently, climbing up his body, wrapping her arms and legs about him and clinging to him like a limpet in a storm.

  Someone cleared a throat. “Black Feather!”

  Fine strands of hair floated in front of his serious face as he peered at her, the familiar compassion in his eyes, mixed with concern and fatigue. He was always serious, but not like this.

  “Lady Lyria.”

  Lady Lyria stood next to him, her long blonde hair undulating in the breeze, a serious expression on her ethereal face.

  Marie became aware of the darkness that stretched forever in all directions. She wasn’t in the shadows of the pyramid. There was no chamber. No women. There was only one reason she could see Black Feather and Lady Lyria so solid like this. One reason there was so much unnatural darkness surrounding them.

  Her heart thudded as realisation crashed through her. She wasn’t really free. “This isn’t the physical plane. We’re not in our physical bodies. We’re still here in the in-between, aren’t we?”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Marie launched herself at her friend and enveloped him in a hug. Strong arms surrounded her, yet broke away far too fast. “I’m glad to see you safe, Marie.”

  “I don’t know how I wound up in that… thing. It said it was going to devour the entire universe.” She struggled to contemplate an entity so destructive it sought a new dimensional universe because it had destroyed its own.

  “That is what we’ve been fighting, Marie. But it’s managed to start manifesting into your dimension,” Lady Lyria said.

  “And it is growing, killing the women it made the Reptiles abduct as it expands,” Alastor said.

  Dread sat like black sludge in her stomach. This wasn’t good. She knew what it was capable of. What its intentions were. If it fully manifested, nothing could stand in its way.

  “How can we stop it?” Marie asked.

  As though it knew where they were, thunder cracked overhead. Billowing black clouds descended, surrounding them on all sides. Marie clutched Alastor. “It’s found us!”

  Black Feather and Lady Lyria pressed close to them as Alastor gathered her in his arms. A chill breeze struck, cutting right to her bones. Black Feather’s worried gaze told her everything. The clouds swarmed, surrounding them instantly.

  Alastor’s arms tightened around her. She closed her eyes, fighting against the despair flowing through her. She wasn’t going to live through this. She didn’t even know if her soul would survive.

  “Black Feather, I love you so much. Thank you for
everything you’ve done for me. The hours you’ve spent helping me. Guiding me. I couldn’t have done anything like I did without you.”

  He brushed fingers across her cheek, his touch light and warm, yet filled with love that extended to the limits of the universe. “It is I who am honoured to be of service to someone so full of light and potential. You have aided me on my journey also. You are stronger than you can possibly know.”

  A tendril of cloud lashed around her ankle. She jerked as it drilled ice into her skin.

  Alastor ripped it apart with his bare hands. “Ahhh!” His face twisted in agony, his hands white with chill. More tendrils wrapped around his wrists, tugging his arms away from his body.

  “Alastor!”

  Tendrils banded about her arms, waist, and legs. She screamed in agony as white-hot pain shot through her limbs. More lashed around Black Feather as he strained to help her.

  Black Feather was propelled backwards, devoured by the clouds. Lady Lyria disappeared beneath a mass of darkness.

  Marie sobbed helplessly. Alastor roared, his face contorted with emotions as tumultuous as the clouds. He reached for her as he disappeared from sight.

  She screamed as clouds closed in. The cold seeped into her, stealing her breath. Her legs wobbled, her muscles trembling and weakening.

  A face formed from the clouds. Black eyes peered down at her. They were blank. Empty. The only emotion that came from it was its intent to destroy. A gaping mouth formed and a deep, reverberating groan made her wince. A blast of icy wind brought with it the stench of pure and utter evil.

  She felt the life force draining away. Hopeless despair washed through her. The entity had made her relive the worst day of her life, but as her life drained away, she wanted to remember the good days as the last thing she saw.

  Faces flashed into her mind. People she’d helped and who had helped her. Those she’d touched with her gift and had touched her in return with a hug, a smile, a look of gratitude. The friends she’d loved, and who loved her in return.

  Black Feather, as he had appeared to her when she was a child. A loving father-figure, mentor, guide, and friend. And Alastor, when she thought she was incapable of finding that sort of love, and receiving it in return. Hard-won. But hard-won love was the deepest.