by Zara Zenia
I found Zaruv as Jennifer was replacing his bandage. His hand was about halfway regrown, comprised of bones and some muscle tissue. Jennifer did what she could, but I knew from experience the indescribable pain of regrowing a limb.
As she got to the last layer of gauze, she wrapped it ever so slightly tighter and I saw the pain on Zaruv’s face.
“No further injury, I take it, batr?” I asked as he looked up.
“Not for me, no, but Jennifer was burned.” For a moment, fear seized me that I might have negligently burned someone other than the raiders.
“Zach has already apologized, Zaruv. Let it go. The burn is minor at best. Andie has several, so I hardly think I qualify as deserving of any pity here.”
“He was reckless. I do not trust him in battle if he cannot control himself. He saw you, Jennifer, but he was so battle-crazed he still struck you,” Zaruv seethed.
“Hopefully, this was an isolated occurrence,” I said.
Turning to me, looking a little worn down, Jennifer asked, “Is Andie all right? I haven’t seen her burns. Depending on the voltage they were using when they struck her, she may need to have her burns dressed.”
Defensively, I responded, “How would I know?”
Jennifer’s face furrowed with impatience. “Obviously, by asking her. Can you please check in with her and send her to me if she needs dressing? I need to see to Pavar.”
Zaruv winced again as she finished securing his sling somewhat less carefully as she was talking to me.
Growling, he looked at me, irritated. “Be useful and find her.”
I trudged away, frustrated because I was avoiding her. I was determined to keep things cooler and not let my urges rule me.
I found Andie repairing the windows to Hardin’s rover with thin film. It wouldn’t do a lot, but it might keep some of the dust out if another storm kicked up.
I saw her look at me, looking over my body slowly, the desire written clearly on her face. She straightened and swept wisps of golden hair out of her face from where it had escaped her braid.
I wanted so desperately to sink my fingers into its silken strands and see it draped down her naked back. I reminded myself that these thoughts were becoming a liability.
“Hey, we should all be good to go soon. Not much damage to the vehicles, thankfully.” She said, slapping the hood of the rover.
“That is fortunate,” I said, feeling awkward but trying to convey an air of total indifference. “Jennifer wishes to know if you will need any medical attention prior to our departure.”
“Me? No, I’m fine, just a couple of burn marks. They don’t even really hurt anymore,” she said as she lifted her tank top to show me.
There were two large bright red circular marks, one just above the curve of her hip and the other higher up on her rib cage, below her breast. Seeing the soft, flat planes of her stomach was impossibly arousing.
I schooled my features into a blank expression. “Hopefully, the pain is gone swiftly then. I will communicate your status to Jennifer.”
With that, I turned and left. Needing to work off some of this excess energy, I spoke with Ragal and we agreed to alternate having one of us in the air once we got back on the road. I shifted first and took off, ready to incinerate anyone I encountered.
With so much time lost between the dust storm, the attack, repairing the damage, checking and recharging weapons, and patching up the minor scrapes and bruises, our progress was far slower than expected.
I flew up ahead, grateful to be out of close quarters with the object of increasingly distracted thoughts. I sailed over the crags. It was beautiful in a harsh, severe way. The land was striated by deep crevices. Birds flew out of the crags, evidence of life in their depths.
I circled back, summoning the rovers to follow my course to the location I had picked out for our camp, and I shifted right before they pulled up.
Hardin wisely went straight to work helping Ragal and Andie set up domes. Zaruv, who had ridden with Andie, assisted Jennifer with medical supplies and the thermogenerator.
I went to Pavar with the intention of helping him, but he slapped away my attempts.
“I’m not so pathetic that I can’t get down from a truck on my own,” he said, wincing as his feet hit the ground with a jolt.
“You put words in my mouth, batr. You are certainly not pathetic,” I said, trying to be sensitive to his wounded ego.
“Well, what other word would you use to describe it when I need to be rescued, not once, but twice, by a human woman?”
“Andromeda is not an ordinary human woman,” I replied defensively.
“Good, I’m glad you think so,” he said. I wasn’t sure what point he was trying to make.
“Well, yes. Obviously, she is capable of holding her own against considerable foes.”
“Indeed, she could probably even handle a dragon. You should find out,” he said with a brief grin as we walked toward the makeshift camp.
I said nothing, refusing to play into this game. I had enough to struggle with my own responses. I couldn’t argue with him about it too.
Finally, sensing my refusal to engage, he said, “I, too, feel the sting of rejection from our senseless exile. But we cannot live our lives in fear of it.”
Sensing a tangent I could exploit, I said, “It is indeed senseless. Our absence does not protect Mulkaro from another challenger.”
Pavar was extremely critical of Dragselian tradition and began a long and often repeated rant. “No, it doesn’t, but regardless, if there is such a constant threat of revolt, then perhaps we should examine what is so flawed with our governmental structure that allows this distrust and instability to take root.”
He would have made a good political counselor, and maybe someday, a good ruler. Of course, with the monarchical structure of Dragselia, he would never be given the opportunity to prove his intelligence or competence.
Having redirected his attention, I passed the conversation over to Ragal, who had come over after completing the dome setup.
I was walking around the camp, securing our perimeter, when Andie caught me off guard, further proof of my mental distraction. Ordinarily, with my Dragselian heightened senses, I would not be startled so easily.
Recovering from the unwelcome rush of heat, I greeted her. “Good evening, Sergeant Titania.”
“Back to Sergeant, are we? I thought we were on a first-name basis, Prince,” she said, emphasizing the last a bit sarcastically.
“Excuse me. I only meant to show courtesy,” I said politely.
“Have I offended you somehow?” she asked sincerely.
“No, absolutely not.”
“Okay, well stop me if I’m wrong here, but there is something happening here,” she said, gesturing between us, “and I know I’m not the only one who feels it. I didn’t just dream that kiss—”
“It was a momentary lapse in a stressful situation,” I tried to cut in.
“It was more than that, and you know it. Don’t insult both of our intelligence.”
Sighing, I turned my back to her, facing east to watch the suns dip low. Anything to put distance between us.
“You’re right, it was more than that, and maybe . . .” I paused, trying to figure out how to be gentle but make clear where things stood. “Maybe in a different situation, if we weren’t fighting for our lives, if I weren’t being hunted by demons who would kill anyone in their path, then maybe there would be leave to explore this infatuation.”
I turned back to face her, needing to make myself clear.
“But we can’t. This isn’t the time or the place for that. Lives are on the line—yours, mine, my family’s, your comrades’. It would be selfish and wrong to put this physical attraction before their and our safety.”
Looking like I’d slapped her, she drew back.
“Well. I see where I stand. I’m sorry to have been such an inconvenience,” she said, swallowing audibly. Turning on her heels, she hastily withdrew into th
e eerie, stretching shadows of the double sunset.
Choosing a dome on the opposite side of the camp, she stayed there through our meal. As I walked to my dome, I had the strongest urge to go to her dome and apologize for my callous words and show her just how much I wanted her.
The worn leather of my pants had been doing a lot of work since I’d met her, and that wasn’t going to get any better tonight.
Chapter 10
Andie
Karun was right, it was a bad time to feel out this tension between us. His ability to just ignore it, though, to block it out like he hadn’t felt what I was feeling, made me think that maybe this was one-sided. Had I projected my own thoughts and feelings onto him?
I heard the sound of voices spreading out from the central point of the thermogenerator and knew they were heading to bed. I had volunteered for first watch, and I wasn’t one to shirk responsibilities.
I came out of my tent and saw Ragal still seated on one of the gear boxes. He looked at me, surprised.
“Sergeant Titania, I hadn’t expected you to come out.”
“Please just call me Andie, and why didn’t you expect me?” I asked, a little offended at the implication.
“Of course, my apologies . . . Andie,” he said awkwardly. “I just assumed you were not feeling well.” That didn’t sound genuine but I didn’t want to press it.
Karun and I both knew he’d turned me down, and that was more than enough people to bear witness to my shame and rejection.
“Well, I’m fine and dandy, as you can see. I have this, so you can go catch some shuteye.”
“Are you sure? I don’t mind taking watch,” he persisted, and I could sense the sympathy in his words.
I was so not one of those girls who cried into her pillow over a guy. I was a soldier and I could still do my job.
“If I say I have this, I mean it. Maybe on Dragselia, chicks need down time in battle, but on Vaxivia, if you’re not on your toes, you die, and I haven’t died yet.” I knew I sounded cantankerous, but I couldn’t help it.
He still looked unconvinced but gave in. “I am sorry. It was wrong of me to question your fortitude. I will return to relieve you in two hours.”
“Okie dokie.”
He started away to his tent, then turned back. “And just so you know, there were great female warriors on Dragselia too. I have no doubt you could hold your own with any woman of our realm.”
Damn, now I felt bad for being so terse with him. Well, one more thing to feel shitty about today. My mind wandered back to Karun. It seemed to somehow find its way back there no matter how hard I tried.
I started taking apart my rifle, finding comfort in the familiar, mundane task.
I knew what he said was true—we were likely being hunted by murderous demon aliens, two of our party were significantly injured, and we had fallen far behind where we hoped to be because of the attack from the storm raiders. I knew all that, but my gut also told me that this chemistry between us was something special.
The moment we locked eyes after the battle with the Infernians, something sparked and it hadn’t extinguished. The ride on our first day, I knew we had connected, and then came that kiss. That had to be the hottest experience of my life. Just thinking about it made my stomach do funny little things.
It was like he was trying to ignore something that was smacking us in the face. I felt like we were two celestial bodies in orbit, circling and pulling toward one another. What had started wasn’t going to just go away.
Still, I knew he had a point. Orbiting bodies don’t merge nicely. They collide and obliterate each other and everything around them.
Distracted by thoughts of just what that bodily merging might be like, I didn’t hear the first electric sizzle of the stun charger. What roused me from my thoughts was Jennifer’s scream.
“Demons!” she shrieked, and I leapt to my feet only to be knocked to the ground hard by the golden-horned demon.
He landed on my back, claws biting at me through the thick body armor I had luckily thrown on for my watch.
Leaning forward, he licked at my ear with a long, thin tongue that felt almost serpentine. His tongue slithered across my face as I tried hard to push up from the ground. It felt like my fugecraft was sitting on top of me.
“Lovely human, you taste so sweet, not like the dragon-loving whore you are. I wonder what other parts of you might taste like. Pity we won’t have time for that.” Something sharp and hot grazed my arm, scalding it.
I couldn’t see what he was about to do, but I knew it wasn’t going to be good. In a flash, I heard a low, guttural growl, and the demon was off me. I rolled and scrambled back up against a gear box, grabbing for my rifle.
Karun was rolling with the demon. They both moved with speed. It was hard to really tell what was happening. The demon managed to kick Karun back with both feet.
“I knew you’d come running to protect your human whores,” he hissed.
“Hey, I’m not a whore, asshole,” I chimed in defiantly.
He threw back his head, golden hair shaking as he let out the most sinister sounding laugh I could imagine.
“You have aided a Dragselian. You’re a mindless whore, and it will be a pleasure to rip the flesh off your bones, bit by bit,” he said, and I didn’t doubt that he really would.
“You’ll never touch her, you piece of Infernian filth,” Karun said just before he shimmered and shifted.
Heaving, the great silver dragon shook the ground as he stepped forward and roared inches from the demon’s face. He was easily the size of a small aircraft. That the demon remained unflinching was disconcerting.
The demon launched himself in the air and Karun followed. Gold and silver collided and spun. I saw Karun breathe a torrent of fire at him and the demon only laughed.
Meanwhile, Jennifer and Zaruv came running out to the center. Behind them, I saw Ragal’s obsidian dragon form rising. He was battling the demon I had shot with my hadron pulsor in the last battle. His distinctive orange-red horns and mane were hard to forget.
Ragal seemed to be doing well. The squat demon was awkward and clumsy in flight. Suddenly, another demon came shrieking to the air. It was the sickly, malnourished looking one. He hit Ragal with stun charges, wearing him down while the other demon landed on his back and tore at him with dark red claws.
I aimed at the demon on his back and fired my rifle as Hardin helped Pavar out. Passing out rifles and pulsors, we all tried to fire on the demons from the ground, even Pavar, who had just regained his ability to stand straight.
“The heads! Aim for their heads!” Zaruv shouted to us, his eyes lit with savage intensity.
Our targets were small and constantly moving, made worse by their proximity to Karun and Ragal. We fired volley after volley, but they seemed to absorb the hits and keep going.
“Baluwama!” shouted the golden-horned demon.
I saw the spiny dragon change course and go for Karun just as Karun had gotten the golden-horned demon in his claws. Over and over, like lightening striking, he was hit with stun after stun in unrelenting succession.
Karun dropped the demon, who fell nearly to the ground before catching himself and recovering to the air.
He was just low enough that I could get a clear shot without hitting either of the dragons.
“Hardin!” I shouted since he was the only other with a rifle.
He saw the shot too, and we both took aim, firing nearly in unison.
Unfortunately, the demon spun at exactly that moment, and instead of blowing off the bastard’s head, we took an arm.
While not the intended hit, it was not a total loss. The demon fell to the ground, letting out an ear shattering screech. Zaruv ran toward him but was knocked back by the spiny little creep of a demon.
Crashing into Jennifer, they both fell hard against the thermogenerator. Zaruv took the brunt of the impact and didn’t fry like a fish in oil, probably thanks to that dragon blood.
I jumped
around them to take on the pervy gold demon myself, but the orange and black demon had dived down and scooped him up. Cowards that they were, they retreated into the dark.
Karun, who had a stun charge stuck in him and was shimmering back and forth between dragon and man, fell to the ground and ripped the charge out of his back, standing again as a man.
I looked around to find Ragal but couldn’t spot him. Even if he’d been close, he was hard to see if he was in dragon form.
I ran toward Karun, and our eyes met right as I felt the claws sink into my shoulders, ripping me off the ground.
Before the searing pain took my consciousness, I saw Karun roar like some kind of magnificent otherworldly being. Then everything went black.
Chapter 11
Karun
The pain had sliced through me. Being caught between two forms was one of the most painful things a shifter could experience. It was the sensation that every single cell throughout my body was dissolving.
Infernians knew this feeling well. Driven from their lands in Dragselia in the name of peace, they had been forced to make due with the most uninhabitable of planets. Surely, they found a means to adapt for survival, but in so doing, they reformed themselves as monstrosities.
They tried to mask their disfiguration, the process itself an abomination because of the means required to do so, but it was not permanent, and when it wore off, they experienced the same pain, over and over.
I could not even begin to grasp or guess at the mania or lunacy that would drive one to willingly endure such pain. And yet, they sought it over and over. They injected themselves with their serum knowing with total lucidity how painful the price of their conceit would be.
Their pride and vanity demanded that they hide their true, grotesque selves as much as their lust for power drove them to incite chaos and death on any planet they visited.
I groped my back, desperately seeking to end the torture. Finally finding the charger, I ripped it from my flesh, feeling a great tearing sensation that was nothing in comparison to the painful limbo it had induced.
