“Alastor, if you can hear me. I love you! You matter! You are worthy! You are the bravest man I have ever met. Also the most stubborn and serious. Life shapes a person. That’s when you know you’ve lived your life. When it affects you. Changes you. Makes you grow. I can see who you really are. I see the man inside. I love you. Do you hear me? I love you!”
She concentrated in his face. The way he’d looked at her with trepidation on the Starship. The serious line of his mouth when she didn’t do what he wanted her to do. The way his jaw ticked with frustration, but he did what she’d asked of him anyway, most probably, against his better judgment. The way he’d kissed her with complete abandon. The way she’d kissed him regardless of conventional wisdom and the way it had felt in his arms. Warmth filled her chest.
Not just warmth. Love. The brilliant, white-light, highest-vibration kind of love. It lit her soul, made it expand and grow. She let the golden light of it pour through her and tensed against the darkness threatening to descend.
But the wind had stilled. The tendrils loosened and broke away. The black clouds billowed and frothed, but were withdrawing. There were voices. Muffled, but distinctly there.
“Hello?”
There was an exclamation. Marie called again and again, yelling into the retreating darkness. A hand appeared from the darkness. She grabbed it. It was warm, and real and she clung to it like a lifeline. The darkness withdrew and a figure appeared.
“Seriat!” Marie launched herself into her friend’s embrace. Seriat hugged her back, her limbs trembling. “But… how?” Marie leaned back, surprised to see her at all. Especially here.
“I’m meditating, but for some reason it was easier this time. I concentrated on you, and I found you!” Seriat beamed at her.
More figures appeared through the darkness, pushing it away. Thunder rumbled in the distance, a far-off threat. Still there, waiting, but somehow unable to descend. Marie peered as one by one, the villagers appeared. “They all came?”
Seriat smiled. “We followed you. We are sitting around the sacred pyramid as we speak. It is the pinnacle of power for our planet.” She looked about and shuddered. “There is something dark and evil here, but I had to save you, just like you saved all of us.”
“I can’t even imagine how this could be happening.” Marie turned around to see quite a crowd surrounding her. So many people. All of the villagers. And to think they hadn’t been able to even do simple mind relaxation exercises when she’d left.
“We want to fight back. We have been enslaved too long. If there is a way to save our planet, then we will try anything we can,” Seriat said.
Marie shook her head in surprise. She’d think about the complexities later. “I think you came at just the right time. Whatever you’re doing, it made that thing back away.”
“We didn’t do anything except follow a bright light. We saw it right through the clouds. It brought us here to you. It wasn’t us, Marie. It was you. You guided us,” Seriat said.
Thunder rumbled, the sound vibrating through her, reminding her they were far from safe.
“Come. We have to get out of the in-between,” Seriat said.
“I can’t. Alastor. Black Feather. Lady Lyria. They were taken.” A sliver of fear worked through her. The clouds were held at bay, but they were nowhere to be seen. “I have to find them.”
She wouldn’t return until she had.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Help me. Please. Can anyone hear me?” The voice was barely there, floating on the chill breeze. She understood the language that wasn’t being filtered through a translator coming from a distinctly human voice.
“I can hear you. Who are you?” Marie said.
“I’m Casey. Casey Sanders. Please, I don’t know where I am.” The frail voice sounded young and scared.
“It’s okay. We can hear you. Tell me, what can you see?” Marie asked.
“Lots of clouds. And this big face. It keeps on circling above us. I’m scared,” Casey said.
“Us? There’s more than just you?” Marie asked.
“Yeah. Lots. At least a hundred of us.”
“Who else is there?” Marie asked.
“My friend, Tori. Others I’ve never met before now. Please. We don’t like this place. We’re so tired. I want to go home.” Casey started to quietly sob.
“Sweetheart, I’m going to find a way out for you, but you have to break through the clouds.” She looked for a silver thread, but found none. Somehow, she’d help these poor women, and then she’d find Black Feather, Lady Lyria and Alastor.
“Wait. I just saw something!” Casey said, her voice urgent.
“What did you see?” Marie asked.
“It was a glimmer. A light. There for a second, but then it disappeared again,” Casey said.
“Damn,” Marie whispered. She had to find a way out of this hell. No, not just had to, she would. Finally, after letting love in, she wasn’t going to let it slip through her fingers.
“There! I saw it again!” Casey exclaimed.
“They seem to see it when… Oh my God!” Marie grabbed Seriat’s arm. “Seriat, think of your daughter. How much you love her.”
Seriat’s forehead creased. “Why?”
“Please. There’s no time. Just do it.”
“Okay, then.” Seriat closed her eyes. Her features softened and a smile drifted across her mouth.
“I see it!” Casey said. “We all can.”
Marie faced the villagers. “Everyone. Think of your loved ones! As soon as you can. Concentrate as hard as you can. Please. I think I’ve found the entity’s kryptonite.”
Seriat sent her a quizzical look. “No time to explain. Just think.”
The entity was so filled with darkness and evil, that it had no hope against the highest energy of the universe. The biggest power of all. She stilled her racing heart, and brought the images of Black Feather, Lady Lyria and Alastor into her mind.
There was a distant crack of thunder, but the darkness gave way to filtered greys. Everything lightened around them as dawn to the Earth.
“I see you. My God. I see you!” A woman appeared. Then another and soon a crowd was surging towards Marie.
One girl who wasn’t more than eighteen slammed into Marie, wrapping her arms around her shoulders and holding on tight. Her chest heaved as she sobbed into Marie’s hair. “Thank you! Thank you!” the girl repeated over and over again.
Marie clung back just as hard. The villagers welcomed the rest of the bewildered women.
“Casey?”
Casey nodded, tears leaking from her eyes, her frail body trembling. “Where are we?”
“This is going to sound very strange, but…” Marie grimaced. Trepidation washed through her.
“More strange than this? The last thing I remember was walking to my car after a party, and then a darkness I couldn’t see through. I just want my mum,” Casey said.
Marie’s heart lurched. There was a high chance Casey wasn’t going to get to see her mum again. Ever. Not only were they stuck in the space between dimensions, they were also down the wrong end of a one-way wormhole. “We’ll try our best to get you home, but at the moment, you’re on another planet. Well, your bodies are, anyway.”
Stark shock washed over Casey’s face. Marie heard gasps from the other women, but there was no time to smooth things over. She gestured to the villagers, “These are the people who live on this planet. They have come to take you back to your bodies. They will keep you safe. I’ll explain everything, but later. You’ll just have to trust us.”
Huge, angry clouds rolled in the distance, reminding Marie the entity was still there. It was only the thoughts of their loved ones that was keeping it away.
“They look…” Casey said.
“They may look different on the outside, but on the inside they are exactly the same as us.” Marie held Seriat’s gaze. “They have risked themselves to help us. Please, let them guide you.”
Casey to
ok Seriat’s hand in hers. “Thank you.”
“There are others. Not so nice. Reptiles that look like crocodiles walking on their hind legs. They took you. They’ve imprisoned your bodies and… and…”
“They are not nice like these people,” Casey said.
Marie nodded, thinking of the emaciated bodies caught in those cells and what they were doing to them. Her throat closed over.
“We will fight with you,” Seriat said.
“Just tell me what to do. I’m ready to fight those bastards! They don’t get to steal us away and then lock us up!” There was a fire in Casey’s eyes that told Marie she wasn’t going to lie down and take it. That was good. Anger would fuel her.
There was no telling what the Reptiles were doing to their bodies as they spoke. There was no time to waste.
“We need to get back. Hold hands, everyone.”
Everyone quickly scrambled to hold hands. Villagers and women locked together.
“Close your eyes and think of your body. How weighty it feels, what your skin feels like, what your hair looks like. Think about how shoes feel on your feet. What the grass feels like under your bare feet. Concentrate as hard as you can.”
Thunder cracked angry and loud. Clouds swirled and writhed above them. The entity was pissed.
“Think of someone you love and it can’t harm you. Fear gives it power. It can’t touch you if you think of love.”
“I’m never going to let it get me again!” someone called out.
“We can do this!” another yelled.
Determination was etched on faces, and slowly they started to fade. It was working! “Keep going. You’re doing so well!” Marie yelled.
One by one, they disappeared until she was the only once left in the in-between. A sparkle of light in the darkness caught her eye. A tunnel of incandescent light bathed a shadowy form. A familiar form. Her heart stuttered. Alastor!
She’d found him. A silhouette formed within the tunnel and reached towards Alastor. Marie’s heart stuttered. She knew what this light was and if Alastor took the hand, he was never coming back and she finally understood.
Keira, Alastor’s wife, had come to take him into the next life.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Was this a dream? Bright colours surrounded him. Warmth. And Keira. Real and solid, holding out her hand for him to take. He almost reached for her, but something niggled at the back of his mind.
How had he even come to be here? He’d been enveloped by the raging clouds and been sucked into a darkness so complete he didn’t know which way was up or down. White-hot pain had wracked through his entire body, as though every cell was being torn apart, shattering his body and his life. He’d expected death, but right now he thrummed with vitality and good health.
“Keira? You’re alive!”
Her full mouth curved into the grin he loved. “I never really died.” Her lips twisted. “Well, my body did, obviously, but the real me just moved on.”
As her words sank in, along came the familiar staggering wash of grief and loss. And guilt. “You should still be alive. If it wasn’t for me…” He dropped his head in defeat, waiting for everything he deserved. Everything he wanted to say, to let her know how unrelentingly sorry he was, how his life had been hell after her death, fell silent on his lips. Laughter shuttered him from his thoughts. His head jerked up.
“Alastor! You are not to blame.”
“But you died! Because of me.” His voice was hoarse. Strained.
Keira snorted. “You had nothing to do with it.”
“But if only I had been there quicker. Defended you! You could have lived.” His voice cracked, snapped by the heavy remorse that had weighted his heart for so long.
“It was ultimately my decision. Alastor. I left because I didn’t want to go back. I’d done my time and I was quite happy to come here.” She gestured to the world beyond. “I was finished with what I wanted to do. For me, that chapter of my existence closed.”
His mouth opened and closed. “I thought… because of me…”
“Everyone has their own path to follow. I loved you, Alastor. I still love you and I don’t blame you for anything. How could I, when I ended up here? This was my reward, not my sentence.”
He could hardly wrap his head around her words. He’d been so focussed on himself, he’d failed to realise that ultimately it was Keira’s path.
Something shifted inside of him. A lightening of his heart. Of the responsibility of guilt he’d cloaked himself with. He understood now. Truly understood what the soul’s journey really was.
“I missed you, Keira.”
“I have missed you too. But now we can be together again, if you so wish, Alastor.”
Alastor looked beyond her shoulder at the lush landscape of his childhood. Violet grappa carpeted the ground, dotted with the vibrant colours of little diama flowers. In the distance was the Momoa Range, tall and austere, capped with icy snow and home to countless species of ice-dwelling creatures.
The verdant blazing magenta and teal forests, that were host to a myriad of living things, framed the clearing. A crisp, cool breeze imbued with the damp forest floor, stroked strands of Keira’s hair and caressed his skin. He breathed in deeply, memories of happy times filling his mind.
He could have that again. All he had to do was to reach out and touch her hand. His arm lifted, fingers outstretched. Keira smiled, her hand held towards him. But as their fingers were about to make contact, something held him back. His hand stilled.
He’d missed Keira. Of course, he had. He’d loved her. She’d been his wife! But even though all that perfection was laid before him, even though it was the only thing he thought he’d wanted for years, he wasn’t finished.
Because he wanted more. More life. More love.
His hand dropped to his side. “Keira… I can’t…”
She was his first love. A life he had desperately wanted back. But that was before everything had changed. Keira was his first love, but Marie would be his last.
Kiera let her hand drop to her side also. Her smile turned from joy to understanding. “It’s every soul’s journey to choose what they desire.”
“I…” He wanted to continue to love. To strive. To explore life. Here he was on the cusp of life and death. To live on, knowing there would be no more fighting. No more death. No more pain. No more Reptiles. He could finally find the peace he’d yearned for. He could have Kiera again. He could finally rest.
And yet, he hesitated.
“Don’t explain. There’s no need. You are not done, Alastor. Not by any stretch of the imagination.”
Sadness wrapped around his heart, but it wasn’t heavy. It was… a relief. He knew that one day, when he was ready to really go home, she would be there for him. But for now? There was so much more he wanted.
Marie.
“I love you, Kiera.”
Keira smiled and stepped back. Lush blades of grappa curled over her bare feet. “And I love you too, Alastor. Enjoy your life. Don’t let the memory of me keep you back from anything. I don’t want that for you. You have a second chance. Take it.”
Kiera gestured to something behind him. He turned. His heart stuttered when he saw Marie, looking as though her heart was being torn from her chest.
“I will never forget you, Kiera. You honoured me by being my wife.”
“And there’s nothing I would have wanted more, Alastor. Don’t worry about me. You have a whole life to look forward to. Go, with my blessing, and do not doubt we will see each other again. But I hope not until after many, many years of you living a happy life.”
The light surrounding Keira became smaller and blinked away. Five strides took him to Marie. He wound one arm around her waist, the other locked at her nape, and his mouth fell upon hers. It wasn’t a gentle kiss. It was one of passion. Of ownership. Of reward. She was his and nothing was going to stop him from living a life with her.
She met his kiss with as much fire as he gave. His
tongue swept into her mouth, a wholly possessive move. Her delicate flavour erupted across his palate. She tasted of lightness and love and everything that was unique to her. Nothing like the world he thought he wanted to return to, and everything he now desired for his future life.
“You’re not just a mirage, are you?”
Her mouth curved in a breathy laugh. She placed her palm on his cheek. “I hope you wouldn’t do this to a mirage.”
He kissed her again. Gods, he would never get enough of this. He didn’t want to. If he could spend his entire life with Marie in his arms, it would be a very good life, indeed.
Life was a gift. It was time he accepted it and was grateful. There was a wealth of experience to be explored—both good and bad. If he had to do all of that to get the woman in his arms, he’d do it all again. Twice over.
Thunder boomed so loud the vibration echoed in his chest. Wind roared about them. Darkness raced towards them in the form of a mega-storm. Marie’s hair whipped around her face, their clothing beating about their bodies in the howling wind. Marie stiffened in his arms. “Something’s happened. It’s breached the light. But… how?”
He didn’t have an answer. His arms locked around her in a pathetic attempt to try to protect her. Marie clung to him. He buried his face in her hair, breathing in deep, caving his body around hers.
As the entity raced towards them, a grim calm settled over him. He’d finally made a choice to live and now—right now—it was going to be taken out of his hands.
They didn’t stand a chance.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“I love you, Marie.”
Her eyes shone as she peered up at him. “I thought you were going to go with Kiera. I thought that’s what you wanted. You should have gone. Saved yourself from this.”
The wind screamed around them, but he ignored it. He stroked her cheek. He couldn’t seem to stop touching her. Didn’t want to. “I thought that was exactly what I wanted, but there is no way I can leave you. I would not have you face this alone.”
Alastor: Sci-Fi Alien Romance (A Hexonian Alien Romance Book 3) Page 16
