Captured by the Dark Lord

by Jaide Fox

  “When does the droid arrive?”

  “She’s expecting it this afternoon.”

  Sabin was accustomed to the unexpected, but this knocked the wind out of him. Nothing like giving him no time to think it over and spot potential problems. “That doesn’t leave me much time to prepare.” Sabin stood as did Hartley.

  “You’ll manage,” he said as he ushered Sabin from the office. “We all do.”

  * * * *

  The incessant knocking had been going on for some time when it finally stopped and roused Emily Shue into consciousness.

  She sat up at her desk, startled and groggy, blinking back the blur obscuring her vision. When had she fallen asleep? And who was at her door? She never had visitors.

  Rising weakly from her chair, she stumbled through the room into the hall beyond to the foyer.

  As if sensing her approach, the person on the other side of the door began knocking again.

  More than a little annoyed at being woken, she called, “Coming! I’m comin’.” She grumbled to herself, rubbed her face and discovered she had a note stuck to her cheek. She’d undoubtedly picked it up when she’d lain her head on her desk. Peeling it off, she glanced at it, saw it was important and stuffed it into her pocket as she cautiously opened the front door a crack and peered through the narrow opening.

  A beaming, bright eyed youth greeted her, leaning forward to peer back at her through the slender crack. “Ms. Shue?”

  “Yes,” Emily croaked.

  “I have your delivery here. You just need to sign for it.”

  Delivery? What delivery? She hadn’t ordered anything since last week’s pizza--still sitting at the bottom of her fridge. Or perhaps that was the week before last? Anyway, it was nearly dark. Companies had stopped delivering this close to dark years ago.

  As she stood contemplating the matter, not budging, ‘bright eyes’ smile dimmed to headlights in her eyes. “Your companion android, Ms. Shue?”

  She was still too absorbed in trying to remember what she might have ordered to really pay him any attention--until he mentioned android. Her eyes focused on him for several moments as the key word jogged something in her memory and then she slapped her forehead with her palm. She’d forgotten all about Gramma’s early birthday present. Or it could have been late? She wasn’t entirely sure what day of the week it was.

  Emily opened the door and pressed her thumb to the delivery confirmation pad, affirming her receipt of the delivery. “What are you doing making deliveries so late? I thought they were only doing automated deliveries now.”

  “It is automated, Ms. Shue. I’m an android, as well.” He smiled brighter.

  That would explain the peachy keen disposition, she thought and wondered what she was getting in to now ... or rather what Gramma had gotten her in to.

  “I’ll be right back with your package, Ms. Shue.”

  “Hope he comes fully assembled,” she murmured, chuckling as she left the door open and wandered into the living room to have a seat while she waited. She was still more than a little groggy from being awakened so abruptly. Or maybe it was just that she hadn’t slept nearly long enough?

  Before she could rest her cheeks on the cushions of the couch, a deep male voice called her name from the foyer.

  It arrested her, mid sit, her jaw going slack.

  The ‘man’ caught sight of her and strode into the living room, his hand extended. “I’m Sabin. I will be your new companion android,” he said with a smile that turned her knees to water so that she collapsed abruptly onto the couch. She gaped at him, at his sensual, utterly kissable lips, the smoky bedroom eyes that met her own stunned gaze with a gleam that banish all thought from her brain. He towered above her. She came upright as if the couch had ejected her, and realized he still towered over her.

  She ran a disbelieving stare up and down his body. He had the lean look of an athlete, muscles well defined and bulging on his bared arms, and she wondered idly if the rest of him was so ... detailed. A strand of dark hair curled over his forehead. It looked so natural, it made her palms itch to run her fingers through the thick mass.

  Her brain kicked into gear as her physical reaction ran it’s course, and still she stared at him, unblinking, marveling at the advances in technology that never ceased to amaze her--to create a perfect simulation of a human being ... and a damned sexy one at that. Was he supposed to be so ... so sexy?

  What in the world was she going to do with him?

  The frightening thought provided resuscitation to the steaming pile of mush her brain had been reduced to. Or, perhaps it was only an animal reaction to fear that finally gave her a kick in the ass. Whatever the case, the moment it occurred to her that she was going to be trapped in her home with him, she dashed past him and out the front door.

  The delivery boy, she saw when she ran out of the house, had loaded up and was backing down the drive.

  “Wait!” she called, hailing him down before he could escape. He stopped and she caught up to him breathlessly.

  “Yes, Ms. Shue?” He regarded her questioningly.

  “Are you sure he’s supposed to ... um ... be this way? Did you deliver the right one to me?” She hadn’t expected something like this. What had Gramma been thinking?

  “Of course, ma’am. He comes with award winning technical support and a manual built in to his memory capacitor. Have a nice day.” The boy waved and drove off, leaving Emily staring after him in the gathering dark.

  With a feeling not unlike dread, she trudged slowly back up her overgrown walkway to her new “live in.”

  What was she to do now?

  She kept repeating the question in her mind numbly until she reached the door. Uneasiness assailed her at the thought of facing her ‘companion’ once more. She stepped quietly into the house, closing the door with the barest whisper of sound, then crept across the foyer and peered cautiously around the door frame of the living room.

  It was empty.

  Where had he gone off to?

  She looked around the room blankly for several moments before she moved inside. She’d checked under all of the tables in the room before it occurred to her that he wasn’t an animal, scampering about, exploring his new territory. Even if he could’ve managed to fit himself under her tables, there was no reason why he would. She got up and went to check the closet, wondering if it would be best just to ignore the droid and go about her routine as usual. It wasn’t like he was a living thing and would keel over dead if she forgot to feed him, or water him. In general, she worked all day on her equations, occasionally remembering to feed herself and her pets—when she had them--snatching sleep when she could.

  She frowned thoughtfully and realized that wasn’t going to work. She had a ... person wandering around the house. She was bound to bump into him and that would be downright unnerving since she wasn’t used to having another person around. She was accustomed to living alone. Even her independent minded pets avoided her most of the time.

  “Hello?” she called softly as she left the living room and continued her search through the house, examining every room. It wasn’t a very large house. There were only so many places he could be. He was a droid, she reminded herself. What interest would he have in exploring anyway? But as she searched each room with no sign of him, she soon found the choices of hiding places had dried up to only one remaining room.

  Her bedroom.

  The door was closed. She never closed her bedroom door unless she was sleeping in there—and she fell asleep at her desk more often than not. Please, please don’t let him be in there. Emily had never had a man in her room--ever.

  Reaching out, she turned the handle and let the door slowly open on its own.

  She gasped as her bed came in to view, covering her eyes with her hands before it occurred to her how absurd it was to ‘hide’ from an android. Peeling her fingers loose, she looked at her bed again.

  The android was in it.

  And he was naked.

&n
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