Amy gasped when a black blur was suddenly before her. For an instant the blur touched her and Amy felt a jolt of surprise.
The man who was about to attack her was off the ground, his feet dangling by a foot. His mouth and eyes were open wide in shocked surprise.
A creature the likes of which Amy had never seen was standing mere inches from her. It was encased in black, with fangs protruding from its mouth. For feet it had claws, five thick ones up front and one at the back where its heel would be. On the side of the creature’s face was a glowing green tattoo.
One-handed, the massive creature before her had the large man off the ground. Four of its five long talons were sunk into the man’s belly. The creature growled showing more of its ivory-white, inch-long fangs. Amy was too terrified to scream. It was like the boogeyman meets the monster from the black lagoon all wrapped up in one eerie creature. In one fluid motion, her would-be attacker was flung like a rag doll into the wooden fencing. The toss had been so hard the body embedded into the wood with a solid crunch.
The other two men found their voices and the second man screamed when he was gored with the talons next. A vicious slice across the man’s middle and cloth mixed with blood and flesh. The youngest, Leon, fled.
Amy watched in morbid fascination as her previous threats played out. They died in sequence.
As blood spewed from the second man’s mouth, he was sent spiraling into the returning circle of men. Six were knocked to the ground when his lifeless body crashed into them.
That’s when Amy found her feet—or rather her belly. She dropped, rolled and was back in her hiding place. She wiggled her way out and bolted.
Behind her Leon was scrambling over the fencing of debris. He raced to Amy, flung her backwards and almost ran over her in his haste to get away from the terrifying creature. Amy lay stunned on the ground. The beast-like thing jumped over the fence as though it were a mere trotting post. It landed on all fours inches from her. Amy swore the ground moved. A small spattering of dust rose then settled around it. The skin of the creature was ebony and shiny. It cocked its head to the side studying her. The thing was bald. Bumps were prominent where eyes should have been. It growled and Amy shook, unable to move.
Oh my God, it’s huge.
“Run,” the creature demanded.
The single word was a heavy growl and hissed as it passed its fangs. It was a male voice.
Amy scrambled up wondering if it wanted to play cat and mouse with her. She ran for all she was worth into the darkness. Her legs pumped madly beneath her. She chanced a quick glance behind her. The creature wasn’t following her. To her left, she heard a scream of agony. The creature had found Leon. Amy raced until she thought her lungs would burst. When she fell, she remained motionless. Gasping sobbing breaths were dragged into tortured lungs. She rose to her knees and began to crawl.
What was she to do? She couldn’t let the thing follow her back to the cave. If the men were defenseless from the beast, her sorry lot of malnourished women and children would be like shooting fish in a barrel. Bracing herself against a tree Amy found her footing—as unsteady as it was. The night was filled with agonized cries of fear. There was no doubt in Amy’s mind that the creature was killing every single man back at the circle of men.
Amy moved faster. She practically bounced off each tree trunk in her haste to get away. The creature knew she was the most defenseless. It was saving her for last. She had to warn the others. She needed to protect the children. But how? The being had been at least six-and-a-half feet. Fangs like a vampire’s protruded from its mouth. Just to look at it stopped her dead in her tracks.
The opening to her cave was closer. She was almost there. A sound high in the trees stopped her. Amy spun about and looked up. The gray cloud hanging overhead parted for a mere few seconds to allow the light of the stars to shine. Oh my God. It was up in the trees above her hanging upside down staring at her. Thick talons on its hands and feet clung to the bark of two trees side-by-side, embedding into the hard wood as easily as they had sunk into human flesh. One lone talon tapped the tree trunk as though counting down her remaining seconds of life. Both Amy and the creature remained frozen except for that single claw. Amy’s heartbeat thumped, stopped, thumped, stopped. It consumed her—the need to hear her life drum continue.
The creature jumped from tree to ground to tree, eating up the distance between them, gaining momentum with each pounce. In seconds it would have her. Amy screamed. She had never been so terrified in her life. She bolted like a rabbit. The dark crevice was before her. She slipped inside, seeing then the fiery shimmer of light, hope. The pounding thunder of her heart hammered in her ears. Sweat covered her body and dripped down the back of her neck.
Amy felt something hook her shirt. She screamed when a huge talon embedded into her clothing. Amy was in the cave but it still had her. With its foot-long, sharp black talons the reach of the creature was phenomenal. The other women and children were screaming as Amy tried to struggle out of her coat. Her zipper was snagged on a corner of fabric. The creature pulled. The yanking motion ripped her clothing and jerked her backwards toward the crevice. Her scrambling feet skid across the dry dirt floor. The women and children pulled her back. Their game of tug-a-war was turning violent with both sides persistent.
Finally Craig, a young boy of almost twelve, grabbed a knife and cut Amy from her clothes. All of them went flying back in a heap onto the cave floor barely missing the fire pit. The creature’s claw disappeared with its useless prize.
Amy did something she hadn’t done in ages. She crumpled lower to the ground, with her face in her hands, feeling defeated with this new threat and sobbed in terror on the dirt. She remained there a long time as each individual wrapped their arms around her making a human ball of comfort. How could they ever hope for survival now?
Chapter 1
Dasks stood looking at the cloth he held in his talon. It fluttered in the breeze. He frowned. The woman should be in his arms heading back to the ship not sobbing her heart out in a dank cave. He cocked his head to the side and sniffed into the crevice. He could smell fear, a lot of it. The scents were odd. Seven female scents he counted. Then two tiny female scents. The other odor made him growl. There was a male smell in the cave. Was he hurting her? The woman was Dasks’. He had found her. Castian law ruled here now, ever since their ship had landed. These females no longer belonged to the males of their crumpling world. They were Castian prizes. Dasks bellowed in rage. The sound reverberated off the cave walls. Every occupant of the cave screamed…including the male.
Good—be afraid, human male.
The question was how was he going to get his female to come out? Long talons clicked against the side of the rock while he thought. Dasks didn’t have much knowledge of females. During the long ride from his galaxy to the planet Earth they had been given a few fast lessons by their leader, Cobra. Thankfully a few Earthwomen had crash landed on Dargon months earlier and each Castian male was given their scent so they wouldn’t accidently kill one when they reached the surface of Earth.
Earth’s atmosphere didn’t regulate temperature like Dasks’ planet and those surrounding it. Cobra warned his warriors that the females would be completely clothed. Normally, a female was supposed to keep their shoulder bare. It was to indicate if they had mated. A bare shoulder void of a tattoo meant a female had not been claimed by a Castian warrior. Cobra had mentioned males of Earth didn’t mark their females in the same fashion. Therefore the women, even if mated, were not considered so if not marked. They were fair game.
On Dasks’ own planet, females had been poisoned to death by Tonans—Castian enemies—almost four hundred years ago. The murdering bastards had killed both his parents. When Dasks had been weaned from his mother at three-and-a-half years, his shield of armor no longer kept her safe. Because Castians mate for life, when his mother died so too did his father. Dasks was raised by an older brother who had never mated. Dasks was almost four hundred year
s old; his brother was eight hundred. His brother, Segan, never spoke of any females, not even their mother. The older males on Dasks’ home planet had decided that after their females died there would be no further talk of them. Why reminisce about something they could never have?
It was fate the shuttle containing females, or ‘women’ as humans named them as well, crash landed on Dargon. Dargon was not Dasks’ home world but a neighboring planet where many Castians had been exiled when Cobra had lost his leadership before regaining it. The discovery of females was welcome for desperate warriors who thought never to set eyes on one again. Many of the males on Dargon were just reaching emotional maturity. When their senses were reminded of females, each warrior wanted his own mate.
The human females spoke in the ancient Castian tongue and some surmised that at one time humans were known to Castians and their language was learned. Thousands of years ago, it was mentioned that young Castian warriors had traveled to Earth. At that time the humans were considered too barbaric and were left alone. Earth was considered a doomed planet long ago and forgotten. Many of the older Castian males were amazed Earth still harbored life after so long. Earth’s people were too combative and destructive. With the planets circling Earth or in closer proximity to their solar system already dead and unable to sustain life, it was only a matter of time before the same fate befell the Earthers.
It was promising that Castians and Earth females could mate and produce offspring. Earth’s precarious predicament was also a bonus. Castian warriors only wanted to save the women from their planet’s demise. Yet, sniffing into the cave Dasks realized his female was less than excited to see him. The smell of fear was assaulting and not something Dasks was used to. Rarely did a Castian warrior or even a filthy Tonan display the emotion. It was upsetting to Dasks.
Dasks knew the female in the cave was afraid of him. She had never set eyes on a Castian warrior. His armor was impressive. Dasks was massive compared to human males. The fifteen men he had cut through were so simple, it was pathetic. Castian males had no need of Earth males. Only the females. The males of this planet were collateral damage. Dasks didn’t have to kill them all, but after smelling their filth, he couldn’t help himself. All of them had known there was a female present. All fifteen of them were aroused. They would have killed her like a Tonan would have. Tonans were without honor. Dasks’ first encounter with human males had left a sour taste in his mouth.
When Dasks had come across the two small creatures talking earlier, he could scent they were female. One had the oddest shade of hair coloring he had ever seen. It was as russet as Dargon’s two suns setting low in the sky. The other had hair dark as night, like him. The russet female had a spatter of tiny brown dots across her nose. The other’s complexion was clear except for a thumb streak of dirt across her delicate chin.
Both females were beautiful, but the dark-haired one looked different somehow. Stronger in character. Dasks had watched the little female as she spoke to her friend earlier. Dasks was excited to see two of them. He and his warrior mate, Talsk, had split up when the Castian ship had landed. Neither was in danger from any of Earth’s creatures. Their armor was almost indestructible, invincible on Earth. Each was in search of his own life-mate and if Dasks found a second woman for Talsk it would be a double mating. The idea was pleasing.
Both females were so tiny they reminded Dasks of his pet Glosh, Ebbie. He wanted to pick them up and cuddle them like he had Ebbie when he was a child. The idea made him smile. He hadn’t thought of Ebbie in years. He had been a gift from his mother. Ebbie had died when Dasks was fifty, at the age of one hundred, he had deactivated Ebbie’s hologram program. After all, he was close to manhood. He had outgrown the pet. It was only an interactive image; it didn’t need him. Looking at the human female had given him a warm scent of responsibility toward another again. Cobra was right; these females did get under a warrior’s armor.
Dasks had smelt how worried both women were for the dark-haired female while they had spoken together. When the dark-haired one set out, Dasks thought it best to keep a close eye on her. She was up to something. The russet female had retreated back into the cave with a small limp. The female winced when she had taken a step. The little russet was injured and Dasks had felt sorry for her. He and Talsk needed to get her into their healing waters. A distinguishable odor of foreboding had hung thickly between the two women.
The dark-haired female hadn’t detected him and Dasks had taken his time studying her. Her scent was intoxicating. Her perfect little body moved with grace over and through the heavy bush. He knew she couldn’t see in the dark the way he did. She stumbled over a few pieces of debris but recovered quickly. If she were to stop and look right at him she wouldn’t have seen him. Her dark hair was barely to her shoulders. Her skin was as white as the blossoms of an Effie flower in full bloom. The set determination of her shoulders was his undoing. Tiny strength.
When the scent of men had filled his nostrils at the circle with fire, Dasks was uneasy. The smell of blood was prominent. Dasks saw the roast of flesh on the fire and grimaced. How barbaric. Knowing the humans needed to hunt and kill didn’t prepare him for the sight. As long as Dasks could remember his food was replicated. There was no need to harm any creature. The men had a kill and it was apparent they were full of themselves at their seeming prowess. It was dangerous for a female to be around them. But the little thing, Amy her friend called her, was persistent.
Dasks had settled in a tree to watch. It had been cute the way her flying weapon had injured the man in the camp circle. Dasks had been informed that males of Earth weren’t in possession of self-acting body armor. It was strange to see an actual physical attack, and by something so small. The hard-flung pebble she had sent whizzing through the air would have only tapped Dasks’ armor without notice.
Amy was a fast little thing and cunning. When she had grabbed the meat and rolled into her hiding place he had been concerned for her. The meat was devoured. She was starving!
Still Dasks had refrained from interfering. He guessed the meat was her mission, nothing more. It was obvious to him that she had intended to take more food back to her friend. He had sensed Amy’s worry and even a small scent of hurt betrayal. Dasks guessed the female was no thief, just desperate. The appalling male creatures wouldn’t have shared with her—Dasks was positive—and his fury had escalated. No wonder the female felt betrayed. Her own kind had turned on her. When she had scampered out a second time, she had made the mistake of giggling when she hit her target. Dasks had to admit he had almost laughed with her at the man’s sprawled form while holding his manhood. He had never seen such a sight, but witnessing it gave Dasks an odd cringe in his groin area—though he had never been nailed directly in that spot. He was decidedly feeling empathy for the male rolling about. It was so strange.
Three men had heard Amy’s silly laughter and she was in danger. When the first man had grabbed her, Dasks knew he was a dead man. When his female—and she was Dasks’—threatened the men one-by-one with her false bravado, he knew what he would do. When they pounced on her, Dasks was in motion and let her threat play out. She had never said they would die by her hand after all. No one was allowed to harm what was his.
Amy had looked just as terrified of Dasks as the men had when he made his presence known. His armor had touched her for a brief second. To his surprise a small square of his shield dropped where her splayed fingers settled. Her terror hurt him in a way that shocked him. He felt her. For a second they were one until the contact broke as he strode forward. Cobra had mentioned human females were emotional creatures and his body would react to soothe fears, but to feel her emotion as well as smell it was something Dasks wasn’t used to. The dampness in her touch had seeped into him and his own skin had produced secretions on that one single area. When the touch broke, his shield snapped back into place. He had reacted in a rage at her fear while his armor struggled to control it and regulate his emotion. Dasks couldn’t help it, he wante
d the men slaughtered, but he also wanted to have her now. The urge to mate with her was phenomenal. It was his first feeling of sexual arousal. The sudden conflict that had assailed him was almost maddening.
When his fury-induced killing spree was in high heat and she lay helplessly on the ground before him, Dasks understood Cobra’s warning. A Castian in must was a danger to himself and a female. If his armor came down to mate with her, he would be vulnerable. He couldn’t let his hormones’ sexual overdrive interfere with her survival. He had told her to run. He would catch up with her easily enough once the threat of the other men had passed.
Dasks sighed. Pondering the dilemma was hopeless. He had no idea what to do. When he had saved her, he thought she would be pleased. In her mind, she should have likened him to one of those knights in shining armor he had read about while on the ship here. Dasks had read everything he could about human females and what they liked. Maybe he could find a creature called a puppy and lure her out. Or chocolate…whatever that dark substance was female humans seemed to crave.
A warning in Dasks’ armor sounded and he growled in frustration. There was no sun to speak of here and after his battle, meager as it was, his armor needed to regenerate. That meant he needed to get back to the ship. With a last longing look cast in the direction of the cave, Dasks began to slip away. His muscles bunched as he launched himself into the nearest tree. His female should be safe enough. He detected no immediate threat. The male in the cave must be known to her. Dasks stopped dead and clung upside down in the tree for a moment. He hated the hardness of the unyielding bark, he was used to a more spongy terrain, but he had more worrisome thoughts.
What if she’s mated to the male in the cave?
Cobra had warned that some of the females could be mated. Though the males on this planet didn’t mark their females, they were attached to each other. Dasks would need the help of another Castian to kill the mate. Cobra explained that in human culture the male and female didn’t normally die the same day if they were mated. The female was in no danger if her mate expired. What an odd culture. How could they bond? Nevertheless Amy would never come to him or trust him if he were the one to end her mate’s life. Dasks began to jump-run once again. His speed increased until he was nothing more than a blur to the human eye.
ARMOR [New World Book 2] Page 2
