by Rena Marks
Behind him, a few of his guards snickered. “I hate when my food looks at me,” he complained. This brought full on laughs.
“Time’s up,” I whispered to Miack.
“No matter. Our men are in place.”
I turned on my probe, which I would use as a weapon, but the Praydians would assume I used to keep Miack in line. I tightened my hold on the lasso around his neck, and I led him down the ledge.
Chapter Fifteen
Miack stumbled for effect, and I had to fight not to aid him. Instead, I did the hardest thing I’d ever have to do. I turned the probe on him and watched his muscles jerk. His scream was horrendous, ringing in agony at the high voltage of electricity I’d shot him with.
The Praydian’s ugly face had returned to a more normal look, the head, jaws, and teeth shrinking to a range more fitting for his string-like body. He clenched his hands tightly, barely able to contain his glee at seeing Miack so weakened and treated harshly.
“Move,” I said to Miack, and we made our way slowly down the steep hill.
“You’re fucking him regularly?” Piehelock asked me as we approached.
I shrugged. “Only if I feel he starts to gain strength.”
“How can you tell?” he asked, narrowing his eyes.
“It comes on slowly,” I lied. “You can tell with a change in his demeanor. He becomes cocky because he knows it’s building.”
“When was the last time you fucked?” he barked.
“This morning. You’re safe for a couple days, at least.”
He looked suspicious. Then he turned to one of the men still standing outside the human-transporting pod. “Go get us a willing female.” For my benefit, he added. “We’ll pay her handsomely to return with us.”
I smiled broadly. “As handsomely as I was paid to screw the alien, I’m sure.”
The man who had been guarding the pod saluted to his leader, spun on the ball of his foot, and left. There was still a crowd of others standing further behind Piehelock, though.
“You kidnapped my captive,” Piehelock said, and his voice was low. It reverberated deep within his chest as if he controlled something inside him.
I shrugged. “Do you blame me? Humans are starving, and here was an opportunity for food and money.”
For once, his face looked humorous. “How do you think you’re going to get your money now that you let a bunch of strange humans run free with it?”
I shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter. I’ll catch up with someone, and there will be more than enough to share for both of us.”
His grin grew broader. “What a stupid child. What makes you think you will live long enough to catch up to them? You may have cost me money, but I’ll make sure you don’t live long enough to spend any of it.”
The sensation of icy fingers running up my spine slid over my skin as awareness prickled across the base of my skull. In a split second, I “saw” an image of Piehelock stretching his arm out to knock the electrical probe from my hands. The vision vanished at once, and then in real time, I saw him shift.
I’d just witness this moment, so I stepped forward from the shield and blocked the move easily, prepared for the extension of his reach as his plastic-like arms stretched toward me. Around us people gasped, as if wondering how I knew what would happen.
Including Miack. I could sense his confusion even through the shimmer of the protection shield. His confusion interfered with the shield, allowing a slight waver in the energy. In return, he gained some strength, but mine didn’t feel sapped. Strange.
Suddenly it dawned on me. His strength was tied to protecting me. None of the Nisibians ever mentioned the purpose of their species giving the strength to their mates. I still had no idea why they lost it through sex. But now I knew it was controlled with the protection shield. He would be able to summon it back if he wasn’t concentrating so hard on the damn shield projected around me.
Apparently, having visions of the strikes before a fight was a new ability between a mating of humans and Nisibians that no one was aware of. And I couldn’t explain to Miack what was going on, but he should be safe. Our men should be in place behind Piehelock’s.
Piehelock came at me again, a vision I watched unfold in my head while my physical eyes remained on him. Like before, it was a flash of a scene. He stretched an arm out, looped it around my waist, brought me to him and at the same time, unlocked his jaws to tear a chunk from my throat.
When his arm did reach out, I could have let the shield block him. It might have been smarter. But I wanted to see what would happen to him with a shock to his elastic skin. So I moved forward, breaking the boundary again, so I could slap his hand with the electrical probe.
The effect was better than I could have hoped for. The shock loosened his control on his muscles and his arm looped to the ground, stretching out like a ribbon curled among the rocks and dry twigs.
Miack hissed, and I knew his frustration. He wanted me to remain safe within the shield. But I couldn’t do that. He was unprotected, his wrists tied, and I wanted to explore the visionary thing. Besides, he’d have some strength if he wasn’t keeping the shield active for me.
I stepped forward onto the loop of arm, and Piehelock grunted. His other arm reached for his laser, but he had to reach across his body with his left arm to get it. I kicked it away easily, and then used the electrical stick to shock his left arm.
He screamed in frustrated fury. From around us, his men began to run toward us, but Miack used the loose chain between his hands to hook around someone’s neck. I heard bone crack, and he used the body as a weight to propel himself into a kick to someone else.
Our people began running onto the base, taking on the Praydians at the outer edges.
I used a roundhouse kick to knock Piehelock flat onto his back. He kicked his feet into my belly and I grunted at the force. Then, from the ground, he looked at me and grinned. Grinned. What was that about?
Something sharp pierced my side from behind, all the way through, and I saw the blade come through the front of me.
Miack bellowed and reached the person behind me, who gave a piercing shriek before it was abruptly cut off midstream. My blood flowed down my side, down my hip and past my leg in great gushes. It was stopped as the energy of my shield blasted to full power, enveloping me in a cushion of comfort. Miack lowered me gently to the ground, my head in his lap.
“Do not move from here,” he said, his thumb tenderly rubbing across my bottom lip. Now that I was safe in the shield, I didn’t feel any more blood gushing from my body. I looked around me to see the world had calmed. The fighting had stopped, and Turic and Driadad held Piehelock by the upper arms—the bottoms of which were still stretched to useless ribbons on the ground.
Miack laid me gently on the ground and rose to his full height to face them.
“No,” I gasped, not wanting him to leave the safety of our bubble. I saw the puddle of blood on the hardened dirt in front of me. It was so thick it wasn’t even sinking into the parched ground. This is what I didn’t want him to go through, not without his strength.
Miack’s gaze barely flickered toward me. No one had time to react before he grabbed Piehelock’s head and twisted. The crack of bone was horrendous, but it didn’t stop there. In morbid fascination—the kind where you’re horrified, yet you can’t look away—I watched as he twisted the head. His men still held the Praydian leader’s arms, and the body stayed still as the cartilage, muscle and flesh was torn in a sickening, wet crunch. The head came away, with numerous, thin strings attached that appeared to be the creature’s spines. It was hard to tell with the difference in anatomy. Blood sprayed everywhere, but where it hit the shield, it slid downward without penetrating.
The two Nisibians stepped away and let the body fall. Blood drenched everyone and I was glad for the shield that blocked it from me. It was bad enough that I was covered in my own blood.
Turning to the crowd, Miack raised the head to show his victory to our
soldiers who held the rest of the Praydians at laserpoint. I covered my mouth to keep the bile from rising. From behind me, one of Miack’s soldiers stepped into my force field, and put his hand on my shoulder.
I managed to swallow it back instead of spewing on the dried clumps of grass.
Piehelock’s mouth hung open, slack-jawed. His eyes were wide, but sightless. The broken strings of spine curled like octopus tentacles, still reaching and twisting with electrical impulses despite his obvious demise. As we watched, the spines slowly stopped, and froze in the acceptance of death.
Blood dripped from Miack’s hair, slid down his face, and splattered his clothes in a red spray that mimicked that of Turic and Driadad’s, who’d held Piehelock still.
“Anyone who dares to eat humans again will face much worse than a manual beheading. You will watch your friends and relatives die in this manner beforehand. Their flesh will be cooked and processed and placed in a cell with you, while you are ravenous with nothing else to eat. You will choose whether to die a slow death by starvation or becoming a cannibal, tempted daily with the flesh of your own family.”
My stomach heaved, and the soldier at my back tightened his hold.
Miack handed the head to Turic and turned to me. I flinched at the drenching of blood. It dripped from his face like a downpouring of rain might.
“Don’t drop the shield until we get her into the resuscitation pod,” the soldier behind me said. “The shield is the only thing keeping her alive.”
Miack looked down at his bloody form. Blood dripped from the fingers that he clenched and unclenched. “Bring her,” he said, and I felt myself being lifted.
Chapter Sixteen
The first thing I heard was breathing—deep, rhythmic breathing. It seemed to echo off the inside walls of my skull. It was beautiful breathing, really. Evenly paced, gentle and perfect. Gradually, I became aware that it was my breath. I opened my eyes. I was in a glass coffin, like Snow White as she lay dead in the forest. Except, I wasn’t in a forest. I was on a ship, from the look of the highly polished, metallic walls.
I slid back into sleep, barely aware of what else was in the room.
I faded in and out of consciousness, the sleep so heavy it felt like death. The more times I woke, the more I began to notice small things each time. My glass box was filled with a pale blue light. It was thickened, like a water-gel I could breathe through. From time to time, I could hear the gentle hum of voices. Faces appeared and disappeared, and I blinked at them, too dazed to make the connection of who they were, though they each looked vaguely familiar.
As my recognition returned, I realized I knew one of the images. The man with the spiky Mohawk, and the greenish-gold skin. The full, pouty lips. His eyes blinked, and in that brief moment when they reopened, they were a different color altogether. He blinked again, and the phenomenon occurred again. Red, green, blue, purple, gold, orange. They never stayed the same.
He smiled at me, showing small, bright white fangs. He placed his hand on top of the coffin. I raised mine, and held the palm up to his. Then, others clamored around the coffin. Two older men. Two older women and one near my age, whatever that was. They all looked familiar.
Suddenly their identities broke through my fragile consciousness.
Mom. Dad. Robert. Marie. Ria.
And Miack. This was Miack. My mate.
Slowly the gel drained from the glass tube as they all watched. The level crept downward, inch by inch. Then the top of the glass slid up, from my feet to past my head, disappearing into the wall. There was no barrier left between me and them.
“I’m alive?” I asked.
Miack looked surprised. “Of course, my love. Did you doubt that I’d keep my queen safe?”
“Well, I had your strength,” I reminded him.
“I did not need it. I have extraordinary fighting skills.” He leaned in, as if sharing the secret. His lips were tender as he kissed me, over and over. Then the coffin beneath me began to rise, or the sides began to lower, until there was nothing surrounding me. He pulled me up until I was sitting. For the first time, I noticed Turic in the room, standing next to Ria.
“Glad to see you’re awake and healthy, your highness. Next time, please leave the fighting to the skilled crew,” Turic said.
“But that’s what drew me in,” I said, eyes widening. “Did you see? I was getting visions of what the Praydian was going to do before he did it.”
“Is that what was going on?” Miack asked. “I knew something was happening, but I couldn’t figure out how you knew what to deflect.”
“I’m glad you told me about electrocuting his muscles when he’d stretched them out. That worked well.”
“Have you ever heard about humans gaining this ability when mated to one of us?” Miack asked Turic.
“No, but she is the first…human to mate our kind. I’ve never heard of it with any other species. We need more humans to study,” Turic said, looking at Ria.
“Not a chance,” she said.
“But, Ria, my love, when will you realize I’m perfect for you?” Turic’s voice was teasing.
“No offense, big guy. I’m a single gal, and that’s how it’s going to stay.”
Turic smiled easily.
“Of course,” Miack said, looking as if he wanted to smack his forehead. “Sian had a hole in her auric field, now it’s scarred over. I was forced to yank my power from her to save her parents in the cave that collapsed. Perhaps that enables her kind to have visions.”
“A hole in my what?” I squeaked.
“Ohmigawd, I remember! That’s what I witnessed…when my eyes turned silver,” Ria said.
“Yes,” Miack said. “Sorry about that. I couldn’t seal her and shield your eyes both.”
“That must have been painful.” Turic wrinkled his nose. “For both of them.”
“Ria was already dazed by then, but yes,” Miack said.
“Oh, look.” I smiled at Ria. “I’m the reason why all our new alien friends find you smokin’ hot.”
“She also has a rockin’ body,” Turic agreed, in a somewhat creepy tone.
I ignored Ria’s glare. “So what happens next?” I asked, deliberately changing the subject.
“Now we set the planet to heal,” Miack said. “Once the ball is rolling, we take a quick trip to my planet to announce our mateship and receive our blessings. You’ll meet my family. Then we may return and see how things are progressing here.”
I swallowed. “Where will we live?”
“If you choose to stay here, we can do that,” he said. “Otherwise, we will spend our time half on Earth and half on Nisibia.”
“What about hunting more Praydians?”
“There are others who will take over the task. We have lots of single males.”
“And a lot from this crew who plan to be mated,” Turic said, still looking at Ria. “Many of our men are heading out to find humans in hiding, to let them know the Praydians are gone. They are convinced they will find warrior princesses as beautiful as Sian and Ria.”
“We’re heading out later today,” my father said. “A small trip to the old fishing hole and the old town. We need to feed our friends and let them know their efforts paid off.”
“I’d like to go,” I said, sitting up.
“Whoa, there,” Miack said, at the same time as my dad.
“My son-in-law and I are getting to know each other,” Dad said. “All you women are going to stay here on the ship in all your royal finery.”
I almost spluttered at that concept.
“It’s not such a bad deal, Sian,” Marie said, leaning in. She and mom were definitely dressed in royal finery, choosing sparkly gems sewn into the fabric of their long dresses. “Someone has to keep ship,” she said, eyeing my mom, who actually giggled. “Get it? Keep ship? Like keep house?”
“I get it, I get it,” my mom said.
Ria rolled her eyes. “In the span of one day, I realized I can’t live without you. You
and I kept each other sane.” Ria’s outfit, on the other hand, was a short modern dress in which she was able to maneuver about.
“Let me get Sian to our quarters where she may dress. Robert, Gerry, do you want to meet in about an hour?” Miack asked.
The fathers nodded, and Miack scooped me up into his arms. We headed to our own quarters, where we had been once before.
* * * * *
The men were long gone while Ria and I relaxed outside the ship. I’d traded in my white, hospital jumpsuit for the same short dress style she wore.
The cleaning up of the planet would take years. After all, we’d lived under the Praydians for nearly a decade. Thankfully, the Nisibians had a lot of experience in healing fractured planets.
“Turic said the first step would be to unite the factions of resistance. Troops will be sent out on foot to post flyers in the deserted towns, which of course we all know from experience aren’t actually deserted. Then the hiding spots will be bridged—that’s why humans will partner with the Nisibians. The dads are taking the crew to the fishing hole to get the first round of the volunteers. Soon, electricity will be restored to homes. We’ll be able to reach others then, by broadcasting the news over television sets.”
“That’s if they work eight years later.” Hell, a lot of homes had been looted, and time had trashed the others.
She nodded. “It’s not a plan to depend on. They’re just using it in case there’s that one person who may see.”
I followed the way her eyes kept staring off in the distance, in the direction the guys had all left.
“What’s up with you and Turic?”
She shrugged. “He’s a nice guy. But, hey.”
“I guess a different species doesn’t matter anymore?”
“We’re all going to be mixed real soon,” she said with a wry grin. “Have you seen the horn dogs on this ship? They’re always asking me what other human females are like. I assure them none are as attractive as you and I. We’re the cream of the crop.”
