The Crimson Hunt

by Smith, Victoria H.

  “Oh, yes. I am sorry. I was waiting, and the next thing I knew, there you were. I was confused at first, because I thought I planned it correctly so you would not arrive on time. I quickly figured I could just reroute a few things, and go from there. The longer I looked at you, though, the more confused I became because of your actions.”

  I squinted. “Why?”

  His face grew serious. “Please do not take offense to this, but when we come to your world we study your society through your peoples’ history. I had developed a bit of a bias, and believed your people to be quite vengeful and unpleasant.”

  I nodded. “That’s true for many of us. I don’t blame you for your feelings.”

  “This was why I was confused about your reaction to our encounter. I clearly upset you and actually believed, at first, you might hit me.” He laughed.

  I smiled. “Oh, how I wanted to.”

  “You did seem mad at first, but then, you reacted in kindness. You apologized profusely for something that was not entirely your fault. I was standing in the middle of the hallway, after all, but you took the blame. My thoughts became entangled about my previous beliefs, and I grew a sudden urge to want to help you. Without thinking, I attempted and—”

  I held up my hand to him. Something said in the diner that day finally made sense. “But Gemini was there, wasn’t he?”

  His lips tightened and he nodded.

  So Gemini was the one he looked at, over my shoulder. “And he probably would have been pretty confused why you’d do something like that. Wanting to help a human, I mean.”

  “Yes. After that moment, I wanted to forget the matter. I assumed it was a lapse of judgment on my part, and moved on. But then, I saw you again.”

  “In the coffeehouse.”

  “Yes, which again, I was not expecting. You do not normally eat lunch there on that particular day.”

  My God. He was right. Piper and I usually headed to the union for lunch, but the restaurants were packed that day because of some event on the quad …. And I really needed a brownie after literally running into him.

  “And this time when seeing you … our eyes connected. Really connected. It was so peculiar. There was something in your eyes and the way you looked at me. It was so deep. You were studying me. I always do that with people, but when you did it, it was something more. It was as if, you saw something in me no one else had.”

  My mouth slowly hung open. I was completely speechless. He was so right. I felt it, too. At the time, I thought I was just crazy. We definitely had this crazy connection I just couldn’t explain, though. It was like we were drawn to each other in every way and shape possible.

  “And it was in that moment I realized … I felt something. At the time, I did not know what it was, but what I really took note of was that I did feel. I never feel anything.”

  Just like he told me last night. His problem he has with emotions. He must feel so numb all the time. He had to, with what he used to do. I couldn’t even imagine.

  “I never, not once in my entire existence, had that experience. And the longer the connection, the more powerful it felt. It was exciting, addictive even, but what it was most was alarming. It felt so foreign I drew back from you to end whatever it was. I knew it was not correct what I felt. I was supposed to destroy you. I had to leave.”

  I glanced up at him. I guessed my gaze veered away during his words. “And that day in the woods?”

  He drew in a deep breath, then sighed heavily. “I watched you for a while during your observations, but the longer I did ….” He shook his head. “It just seemed so wrong, and I could not make myself approach you. I could not deny the connection I had with you, and I had to explore it. It felt so extraordinary that I had to know more. I had to find out what this feeling I had for you was, and I could not …. I just could not let it happen.”

  I lifted from the seat and waded toward him. He opened his arms and I sat in his lap. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I nuzzled him with my hair. “Was your kind suspicious? Gemini?”

  He looked up at me, but then, he gazed down. “They were more confused than suspicious. I am usually quite quick and equally efficient with my missions because I do not get involved. I created an excuse to my superior and was easily given an extension for your destruction. It was my first error, so they overlooked it. And, as time went on, I told myself I was going to go through with it, but the longer I was with you, the more I felt and I—”

  “Couldn’t.”

  He nodded, and I kissed his cheek.

  “So, at the bed and breakfast … when you said you were making plans to relocate me …. It was all true, wasn’t it? None of it was a lie.” My last statement wasn’t a question. It was more of a realization.

  He leaned back to look at me and smiled. “It was true, Ariel. The moment I sensed a Hunter in your home that night I finally admitted to myself I could not harm you. The threat of you being hurt …. Your destruction was no longer an option. After I disabled Garrett and knew you were safe at the bed and breakfast, I immediately began making arrangements for you. I also refused to tell anyone where you were. My people assumed my isolation of you was my plan to send you into a manic state and, later, take yourself out from the pain. To deter them from asking questions, I helped Garrett lead your people to believe you murdered Piper. Garrett had already set you up, and I figured aiding him was the best way to avoid suspicions of my plans for you. I am sorry for this, but I felt it was best. This is what you most likely heard in the diner that day.”

  God. After finding out who Luca truly was, I thought the whole time he’d been lying to me. I was actually the only one he’d been truthful with. He answered all my questions honestly whenever I asked them of him. I slipped my hand into his under the water. “What were your plans?”

  “I knew money was the first necessity I had to secure. I infiltrated our system databases and put an invisible siphon on the program accounts. It is pretty much endless funds. You would have been secure for the rest of your life, but the process was intricate and quite difficult to achieve. I actually just completed it a few days before your location was discovered by the authorities.”

  I tilted his chin up. “Is that why you left so much?”

  His eyes veered away. “No.” He glanced back at me. “Matters around the campus grew complicated with the escalated activity of the targets and they required us more. I was needed for that, but that was not the only reason for why I left.”

  I shook my head. Why else would he leave me? I needed him so much during that time. “Why?”

  He pursed his lips, his eyes cringing. “I was getting too close to you. Though I knew I could not destroy you, I also knew I could not have you. I was bounded by the ties of the program. Being around you was just too much for me to bear, and that night when I almost—”

  “Kissed me?” I leaned in, and his eyes connected with mine.

  He nodded. “That was when I knew I had gone too far. It hurt me to do so, to watch you in so much pain by my departures, but I had to stay away. I continued the plans and kept away.”

  I played with his fingers during my thoughts. I finally understood now. “If you were supposed to destroy me, wouldn’t your people know you didn’t, though?”

  “I was working on that leg of the plans the day you were discovered at your location. I was making arrangements to fake your death.”

  My eyebrows shot up. “Wow. You did so much.”

  He lay his forehead against mine. His hold tightened around me and his warm breath touched my lips. “I knew I could not let them harm you, and did what I had to do to keep you safe.”

  I brought my hand to his cheek and ran my thumb across his lips. We sat like that for a while, just being together.

  He glanced up. “When was it that you ….” His eyes shifted. “Grew to care for me?”

  I gave a short laugh. “Well, I’d like to tell you it was that first day, too, but you were kind of an asshole.”

  He lau
ghed.

  “I’m just kidding. I didn’t want to feel something for you. In fact, I lied to myself for a while that I didn’t.”

  He scrunched his brows. “Why?”

  I sighed. “I’d been hurt in the past by other guys and just people in general. It was just really hard growing up … being different.”

  “Different?”

  “Yeah. Let’s just say, I grew up in a land where models are grown and harvested, and I was the little, chubby kid who had ridiculously unmanageable, stringy black hair I didn’t learn how to control until the latter part of high school.”

  He smiled and kissed my cheek.

  “But with you, I realized I didn’t want to hide anymore. I wanted be exposed. To let someone in.”

  He nudged my head with his.

  I lifted my head. “Little did I know, he wouldn’t be from this planet.” I eyed him.

  He shrunk in his seat. “I am sorry.” He gave a nervous chuckle.

  I ran my thumb along his lips. “Don’t be.”

  He lifted his hand to my cheek and touched his lips to mine. I slid my arms from around his neck and trickled my fingers down his chest. Squeezing into his hard muscle, I let my thoughts completely leave me. He brought his other hand to my waist, and before I knew it, I straddled him. Moving my hips against his body, I moaned into his mouth. His hands caressed to my shoulders, then his fingers laced underneath the straps of my bathing suit top. Getting a good grasp, he pulled the material slowly down my arms.

  I stilled and forced my lips away. Quickly pushing the straps back up my arms, I got my suit in order. “No. No. No. You got me all mushy and side tracked, and I forgot about our questioning.” I got up from his lap and sat on the other side of the tub again. Being this far away worked for, at least, a few minutes last time.

  Giving me a sexy grin, he shook his head. “Ah, yes. Proceed.”

  Damn that boy. I closed my eyes to resist the sex god that he was and sought out some questions. It was time for some logistics. I was getting information people would pay to hear, so I had to make them good. I opened my eyes. “What’s it like where you’re from? I know you probably don’t know too much because Bernadetta told me you came here so young, and all.”

  His expression grew bright. “Elda is such a beautiful place. You are right, I did not live there long, but when we come here to live in your world we do study everything about our home and keep up with current events as if we are there.

  I thought about his words. Everything for me came so easily when thinking about where I came from. I’d been here my whole life. But he had to study where he was from, probably via pictures and other visual images, because he hadn’t even seen most of it. “I couldn’t imagine being pulled away from your home and family so young.”

  His eyebrows knit, and he glanced away.

  I sucked in a breath. “I’m sorry. I probably shouldn’t have intruded by bringing that up. It wasn’t my place.”

  When he turned back, his look had faded into content. “No, it is fine. The memories from back then, though we as a people do remember everything from the time we are brought into the world, are hard to interpret. The brain is so young in that stage of life that making sense of it all can sometimes be a challenge. I do remember my family, though. Their faces … their kindness ….”

  I smiled inside at that.

  “It is why the program allows us to stay with them until we are two years of age, so we can develop solid memories of them.”

  “I’m glad. My parents …. I don’t remember them very much. I never told you how they died. It was in a fire when I was five. I remember the special, more memorable events, but I can feel their faces fade every day.” I glanced away.

  “Do you have any pictures?”

  I shook my head, and brought my gaze back. “No. They all burned in the fire. As far as I know, I didn’t have any other family.”

  “I understand.”

  I drew in a deep breath and refocused. “Anyway, let’s move on from that. I have so many other things I want to ask you about your people.”

  He gestured toward me with both hands to proceed.

  “I don’t want to sound cliché, but my knowledge of extraterrestrial technology goes about as deep as Star Wars and E.T.”

  He chuckled.

  I stilled. “You have seen those, right?” God, I was so stupid. He probably didn’t even watch that stuff because it was so cliché. I hoped I didn’t offend him.

  He tilted his head to the side with a smile. “I do not make it a habit to go to the cinema much for lack of time, but I did grow up here, Ariel. I am aware of the references.”

  Oh, thank goodness. Dodged that hurdle of ignorance. “Okay. So enlighten me. It’s probably pretty sweet, right? I mean, you all managed to get here, so you probably have something on us down here.” I was surprised by what I just said. It didn’t sound as dorky as I thought it would.

  “It is indeed quite advanced there. Some parts more than others. We use teleportation to come here through tears we can make in the atmosphere.”

  Hmm …. That’s pretty cool. “So, if your kind is advanced, that means you’re like really smart, aren’t you?” I eyed him.

  He shook his head at me, fighting the urge to smile. “Our chemical makeup is very similar to humans, but it is more elaborate, more complex. These differences allow us to learn faster and understand new information more clearly. This cognitive awareness also allows us to understand our bodies better.”

  Gosh he was probably a boy genius. Him going to school was totally a cover. “I’m not even going to ask how many times you’ve been to college.” His eyes shifted at my words, and confirmed my thoughts. I shook my head at him. “This ‘cognitive awareness’ you have …. What exactly does that mean?”

  He looked to the sky in thought, then gazed back at me. “I guess an example would be agility. We understand the movements of our bodies, which makes maneuvering quite effortless.”

  Realizing something, I smirked. “Agility? I guess that explains how you can easily jump in and out of ten-foot deep holes to save baby deer. And why you can scale trees like a monkey.”

  He nodded with a half smile.

  Damn. I bet he could do all kinds of stuff he hadn’t shown me. “Can you run fast, or get hurt?”

  “We run normally, but our endurance is higher than your kind, and yes, we can get hurt. If you were to stab me with a sharpened spear, it would most likely not penetrate. Your guns would be a different matter depending on the force behind the gun. Our skin is tougher, but not flawless, by any means. Our own kind can hurt us, as well.”

  “Do you age normally?” Bernadetta and Giovanni looked to be in their late forties, early fifties. God only knew how long they looked that way, though. And they looked really good for their ages. For all I knew, that was the age his people capped out at.

  “We age slower on Elda, because the atmosphere acts more naturally with our bodies. When we are here, we age the same as you.”

  Interesting fact. I wonder …. “So, are you actually in your twenties?”

  He laughed. “Yes, I am twenty-two.”

  Hmm …. An older man. I knew the age difference was only like a year, but I like. My thoughts complex by this new development, I stilled in surprise. Luca’s arms had somehow made their way around me again. I giggled at his pursuit. “Luca, wait, wait. I’m not done.”

  He nuzzled my neck. “I will only continue if you allow me to hold you. Your questions are quite tiring, and I need this.”

  Ah, to deny such a request would be wrong. What one must do for their hottie. Sighing, I shifted in his arms. “Fine.”

  We relaxed and he held me in his lap.

  “I need to know more about these powers of yours. I feel like I’ve only just scratched the surface with what I’ve seen. What else can you do?”

  He laced his fingers in mine, watching our hands. “We can do many things.”

  “Like?”

  He released my
hand and placed his over the water. He moved his hand in a counterclockwise circular motion and created a whirlpool within the water. As he moved his hand, the funnel went faster and faster.

  I edged away from him and looked down into the funnel. The floor of the hot tub could be seen through it. “That’s insane.”

  He smiled and motioned his hand in the opposite direction. He moved just as fast. The water filled in at the bottom of the tub and the surface returned to normal. He kept his hand moving, and the funnel went out the opposite way and formed into a cone shape. He raised his hand and the cone uplifted with him. Then, in one quick motion, he sliced the water underneath the formation with his hand. The cone cut off from the rest of the water. A perfect water cone now hovered atop his palm. He shifted his fingers a bit, and the formation of the water slowly became spherical.

  I stared, completely stunned. I watched as the once cone-like formation completely changed into a spherical ball of water. The ball of water hovered over his palm as if the most normal of occurrences. My gaze left from the water and to him.

  He nodded toward his hand for me to approach.

  I hesitated, not wanting to break it. But then, I lifted my hand. I pointed my finger out and slowly edged closer. When I got to the exterior of the water, I quickly poked my finger into the ball. I pulled back out even quicker.

  He laughed gently. “It is okay, Ariel.” He brought my other hand out of the water and moved it toward the formation hovering over his other hand. When we got close enough, he placed my hand in between his other and the water formation. “See. It is fine. I am pushing it through you.”

  The feeling was so surreal. I couldn’t feel any pressure within my skin, but the water hovered over my hand, as well.

  “Are you ready to let go, Ariel?”

  I nodded, and just like that, the water released. The ball collapsed over our skin and splashed into the tub below. “How?” I shook my head in dismay. “How did you do that?” I turned to face him.

  “We can manipulate energy by connecting to an object, or an organism. Various elements, as well.”

  Holy cow. “So, you can move water, air, fire?”