Show yourself vulnerable. It’s okay to let him be strong and to need him.
Closing her eyes, she leaned her forehead against his shoulder.
“Let’s go to the ship. Make me a cappuccino and I’ll tell you all about it. Please?”
*****
Stephan clenched his jaw.
He should stay outside where the fresh air kept his mind straight.
“I don’t want to go anywhere or do anything. I want an explanation.”
The fragrance of her hair was already getting to him. How could he stay resentful and jealous when she looked so tired and broken?
She didn’t say anything, but rested her hand on his arm and he eyed the perfect fingers ending in perfect nails. Her touch made his skin tingle, and the little gesture of trust in him melted his last resistance.
“Fine. Just don’t cry. He might come back.”
She sounded tired.
“Oh, I’m sure he will. Eventually. He always does.”
Great, just what I wanted to hear...
“You just want me to make you coffee so I’ll forget to be mad.”
And maybe get me inside so I’ll fall under her spell. No, I don’t think she does that on purpose, it probably just happens.
“Maybe. Maybe I just like your coffee.”
He shook her off and marched towards the ship. Going in might be a good idea after all. In there, he could pretend the outside didn’t exist.
Maria perched on a stool and watched him in silence. He wanted to hold on to anger, but couldn’t help glancing over at her.
Stay angry and watch her leave. Then what’ll you do with the rest of your life?
Irritating inner voice of reason…
He put the cup in front of her and she took his hand and squeezed it.
Is she frightened too?
He made himself free, gently this time, and sat down opposite her, watching her.
“My father is the ruler of our family, he’s considered the king of the Gods. He likes women.”
She kept her eyes fixed on her cup and trailed a finger around the rim. “I mean, he really likes women. He had hundreds of affairs, maybe thousands, and each one resulted in a child. I’m one of them.”
Stephan didn’t say anything, and she continued after a moment’s hesitation.
“My mother died at childbirth. She was human, so yeah, I’m part human. The midwife couldn’t care for me and I was alone in the world, so she brought me to the temple and begged the Gods to take me. One of my aunts, not my stepmother but one of my father’s other sisters took pity on me and brought me home.”
Her stepmother is also her aunt, and her father has more sisters. Am I really slow?
This family relation seemed incredibly complicated, but no matter how much he thought about it, he reached the same conclusion.
“Say what?”
She frowned and whispered her last sentence to herself, counting on her fingers.
“Yeah, that’s correct. He has many sisters, but he’s only married to one of them. See, that’s the way it usually goes with my species. There aren’t all that many of pure blood to choose from.”
Meeting his gaze, she gave a slight shrug and sounded defiant.
“I can see how you feel about that, but I can’t do anything about it, and up until now I’ve honestly haven’t given it much thought.”
Stephan sighed and leaned back; this promised to be a long story. Her voice was spellbinding and he normally loved listening to her, but a part of him still wanted to crush something.
Be patient. She’ll get to the point, eventually.
“Anyway, I was different from most of the other half-humans because I had the promise to develop powers, so my family took me in, and I grew up there. I developed later than most of them. I had to overcome the human in me, you know, and the purebloods like Frank had a lot of fun on my expense. He was fifteen when I was five, and he liked to throw fire-bolts at me. I’d run and hide behind my cousin Cratus. He has the most incredible wings.”
“Wings?”
She waved him off.
“Where was I? Oh yes, I came into my powers late, and I had problems mastering them at first, but in the long run it all evened out. You see, our powers grow with usage and experience, and I’m the only one in my family who hasn’t gotten bored enough with this dimension to nap for a few centuries at a time. I used to be among the weakest, and now I’m among the strongest. Except for Frank, I don’t think even our father could beat him today. He’s the God of war, so he uses his powers all the time and usually has a blast.”
Who the hell ever heard of a god of war named Frank? It’s preposterous.
Just as he was about to voice the objection he remembered her mentioning they took these names in the 19th or 20th century or something like that.
When they lived together in New York.
The thought made him want to grind his teeth. The way that man looked at her and touched her was unbearable.
She reached for his hand and seemed relieved when he let her take it.
“Look, Frank and I have a long and complicated history, but this is many lifetimes ago, and I was another person back then. For what it’s worth, I’m the first person for nearly three thousand years to pick a permanent partner outside the family. It’s a... cultural difference I guess, between the species... One that humans mirrored in their royal families, but it doesn’t work that way for humans.”
“And now he came to, what, claim you?”
It didn’t seem funny at all to him, but she bit her lip, clearly trying not to laugh.
“Oh no, lover, it’s not like that at all. I can’t be claimed, and I made my choice already. I haven’t seen him for years, he probably just got bored with having nymphets throw rose petals in front of his feet.”
She squeezed his hand.
“Trust me, he liked you. I don’t think anyone but me has had the courage to hit him for several millennia.”
A part of Stephan wanted to pull his hand back, wanted to reject her, but he wasn’t able to.
Her words made him smile a little in spite of all, and he admitted, “He was pretty hard.”
She lifted her hand to touch his cheek. “
Lover, I have a past, and you have a past, that’s the way of the world. If it was to be undone, I wouldn’t be the person I am today.”
Damn, I guess I’m the one with at least one girl in every port. She already had to pry one off my back.
As much as he wanted to say it, the disgusted objection, “But he’s your brother,” didn’t apply to an alien species.
“Stephan, thank you for making me coffee and hearing me out.”
“What? Oh, no problem.”
“Let’s go back outside and see our eggs hatch. It’s time.”
Standing in the grass with thousands of colourful beings taking flight around them shook the last of his fury off. He pulled her close in his arms and kissed her hungrily.
She had made her choice, and selected him before a God.
He should be happy.
~ 16 ~
Days went by in peace without further interruption, and Stephan’s memory of Frank faded.
He still wasn’t happy.
The B’vil-ayes were cared for.
There were no problems to solve.
They weren’t in danger.
He lacked purpose for the first time in his life. Anything he might ever want was available by a mere wink of one of Maria’s beautiful eyes, so what remained for him to do?
When they left the planet, the solitude of space made it worse. He plotted courses for any space station or inhabited planet that came to mind, only to discover he didn’t really want to go there. They stopped at a couple of places anyway, stayed a night or two, and moved on.
“Don’t you grow bored?”
Maria looked at him with surprise on her face.
“No, I live in right now, and now is good.”
He bent over to flip a switch,
making a star chart visible. Their erratic journey had brought them far towards the edge of the galaxy.
“We’re in the middle of nowhere.”
“Well, if you’re bored maybe we should go to somewhere instead of nowhere. What would you do if I wasn’t here? Find yourself a job or something.”
“You think you’re pretty funny, don’t you?”
Trying to sound irritated didn’t work well for him and she laughed.
“I know I’m funny.”
The ship’s computer interrupted their banter.
“Incoming subspace message.”
“As far out as we are, it must have been on its way for a long time. Put it on.”
“Who, me?”
He put his hands on her shoulders.
“Yes, you. You’re sitting in my chair and you have all the controls.”
“Oh…”
His mouth twitched as she looked at the multitude of buttons and switches in front of her.
Got you, you have no idea what to do, do you?
“Seriously, who makes these things? There’s no switch called radio, no logic…”
He offered no help and she bit her lip. Her finger hovered over a big green circuit breaker and he shifted his weight a little, ready to take over in case she really pressed it. Then, she pulled her hand back.
“Dammit.”
Leaning back in the chair, she stuck her tongue out at the multitude of buttons, snapped her fingers in the air, and watched the monitor come alive with a static crackle.
That works too, I guess.
He sank down in the co-pilot’s chair, put his feet up on the console, crossed his hands behind his head, and watched the soft fabric in her shirt fall around her breasts.
If you move just a little that flap will fall open and I can see some more skin…
Then, the message caught his attention.
The image on the screen was of a beautiful woman with dark hair and wild eyes, and the old him would have gone through great lengths to get her into bed. The new him was more interested in the desperate look on her face, and in the fact that he was interested in it. A few months earlier, he wouldn’t have cared about anything besides lending just enough assistance to get her clothes off.
The woman’s voice had a sharpness to it, and she spoke with an accent he recognized from settlers from Eastern Europe from old Earth; the little planet in the Alpha quadrant countless light-years away.
“This is a warning to any and all travelling through this sector. The colony on Beta IV is under attack by...”
The woman hesitated for a long moment, as if afraid people wouldn’t believe the rest of it, and looked like she decided to jump into the surreal.
“The undead. The evils of old are once again alive. Do not approach. We will not be able to protect you.”
Undead? What is she babbling about? She already considers herself doomed, though.
The voice on the transmission laughed, a short and joyless little cackle, and added as if more to herself than to anyone listening.
“Unless you come equipped with silver bullets, old fashioned guns, and holy water of course. We’ve tried everything else and nothing has done any good. No good whatsoever.”
The message faded to static, and just before it broke off, he heard screams in the background.
Maria frowned.
“It almost sounds like a joke.”
“No, she looked petrified.”
Ever since Stephan lost his family, he prided himself on only caring about himself. This had changed lately; he’d readily admit he cared as much about Maria as he did for his own well-being, if not even more, but he wouldn’t confess to worrying about other people.
Standing up for people in need seemed like a weakness. He still got up to date the message and look up the coordinates for Beta IV.
Maria rested her hand on his shoulder and he glanced back to flash a smile. Astronavigation was just as much of a mystery to her as turning on the radio. He knew she could find her way anywhere, he had seen her do it many times, but the information flowing over the monitor was probably gibberish to her.
“It’s right there, in the Deneb system, and we’re over here. It’s not far. I thought the message must be old, but it’s only been on its way for a couple of days.”
She nodded and he started to plot the course. They didn’t have to discuss whether to go there or not.
*****
Maria read from a screen.
“Beta IV attracted colonists mainly from Eastern Europe on old Earth. They came from countries with feudal traditions, and voted for a social system with a ruling family. In times of hardship, the people still expect their count and countess to make decisions. No major exports, no major imports.”
“So, they brought a uniform mind-set and similar superstitions?”
“Maybe. A lot of people have thought I was a superstition. Would you have believed in me if someone told you about me?”
This information is completely useless. I wonder if anyone in my family knows anything about them…
She said in an absent-minded voice, “Beta IV appeared to be perfect. It didn’t even need terraforming. It’s enough out of the way to ensure peace and quiet from pirates and visitors, but not too desolate. It has green meadows with bright flowers that aren’t poisonous to humans, drinkable waters with edible fish, and a fairly harmless wildlife.”
“Sounds perfect.”
“Yeah... there was a bug that killed a few people, but they took care of that.”
“Why did they call it Beta?”
Good question, most people would think of something a bit more colourful.
“They... Oh, it’s a joke. They reasoned Eden, I mean Earth, was the Alpha choice for humans, and this would be the Beta choice. Four because it’s the fourth planet, of course.”
“Of course.”
The story came to her through the very fabric of the universe.
“Life was good on Beta IV, and it seemed like they really found a second paradise. Not long ago, a young couple went on a camping trip into the mountains. They found a cave where set up camp, and went to explore the tunnels. Many of them were dead ends, but one continued far below ground, and led them to a vast underground room. They sent up a flare, and could barely see the ceiling.
In this cave was a lake, with still and tepid water. They argued what to do. The girl said they should go back and tell the count, and come back with a science team. The boy said they should investigate a little more on their own. It was their find, and the more they knew before going home, the better. He stared out over the water and sent up another flare, and both thought they saw something out there. With a little imagination, it might be an island.”
Her lover’s voice woke her from the vision.
“I take it they didn’t go back.”
She nodded.
“They went to get a boat. She was scared when they paddled over the lake, it was so calm, but then they found an island, lit up from the ceiling and covered with vegetation. Underground trees, very peculiar… Anyway, he fell in the water, and she thought he was weird when he came up on land, but decided it was a figment of her imagination.”
She trailed off, reluctant to tell him the rest. The water contained a rare virus that eradicated the entire population of the planet thousands of years earlier and became the source of legends and myths all over the universe. Interesting.
Stephan said, “And then what? They went to explore?”
“Yeah. He led the way, with a big empty smile on his face. She thought it was scary, but going back alone was even scarier. At least until they found a hole in the ground that led to a cavern under the island.”
She was barely aware of her voice taking on another timbre.
“These were the fires of hell, and if demons came from anywhere it was from here. He killed me. There wasn’t anything human left in him, just his appearance, and he killed me and ate me. He dumped my remains into a pool of lava, and de
voured the scent.”
Stephan’s hand on her shoulder made her jump.
“Are you alright, babe?”
Shaking her head to get rid of the all too vivid vision, she whispered, “Sure.”
“You said he killed you.”
“I did?”
He crouched next to her and took her hands, and his kind eyes were worried. She averted her gaze.
“Are you sure we should go there?”
She had gotten too far into the memories of these people. It never happened before.
Should I be concerned? All this reminds me of something I heard, but it’s so long ago.
“He went back to the village and it spread like a plague.”
Most of her relatives hadn’t bothered with spending a lot of time with her, but her cousin Cratus told stories for hours, and she often fell asleep in his lap, with his words about faraway worlds and mysterious things ringing in her ears and mind, following her into her dreams. Had he said something about a place like this?
She shrugged the feeling off.
“The woman on the screen is Olga Ivanova. She’s 25 years old, and she is all that’s left of the ruling family. Her mother was the first to disappear, taken by the creatures. Her father went missing about a month ago and her brother as late as last week.”
“Are you sure you’re okay? You look like there’s something more.”
“I don’t know. There’s something I can’t quite remember, something my cousin mentioned when I was just a little girl, but it’s so long ago... It can’t possibly be relevant.”
There was something more. A part of her insisted they shouldn’t go; she was already in too deep.
The voice claimed there were surely more interesting things to see elsewhere in the galaxy.
Another part of her insisted just as strongly they had to go; there was something vital to their future on this very planet.
She sighed and tried to shake both feelings off; whatever would be would be, no matter how much one tried to fight it.
“Just say the word and I’ll turn the ship around. Even when we’re there, just tell me if we should leave.”
She nodded, but knew she’d never do it.
Goddess's Saga 1: Touch of the Goddess Page 11
