by Meg Ripley
"What are they trying to change?"
"They have already destroyed the ancient Egyptian civilization and brought about the fall of Rome."
"But those things already happened. They are part of history."
"Part of history as you know it. To you, what they have done already happened long ago. You do not have the capacity to comprehend the breadth of time. What they have done, has always been done, what they intend to do is still yet to happen."
"What do they intend to do?"
"They plan to kill the Founding Fathers before they have developed the Declaration of Independence."
"I don't understand."
"The days leading up to the Declaration were the most vulnerable time for the nation," Makhahr said, his voice sending a shiver down her spine, "They know that, and they intend to take advantage of it. They know that if they can prevent the Declaration from coming into existence, they will send the entire course of history into turmoil. That moment in time established patterns that developed the world as it exists today. Without it, a ripple effect will leave the planet completely destroyed by now."
"But those things have already happened," Hava insisted again, "You said they destroyed Egypt and Rome. Those civilizations fell thousands of years ago, and it had nothing to do with an alien race."
"Come with me," Makhahr said, standing.
Hava moved to follow him. Jake and Josh stood, but Makhahr held a hand up to stop them. They lowered back into their chairs and as Hava followed the gorgeous man out of the room, she could hear a heated debate building around the table.
Hava and Makhahr walked in silence through the large home where they had been meeting until he led her outside. She felt him step up close beside her and the heat emanating from his body made her stomach shiver. His hand touched hers between them and he pressed his palm to hers, intertwining their fingers.
"What do you see?" he asked, looking up into the sky.
She followed his gaze and saw a sky that looked just like what she knew, though she realized now that she was on a planet far from Earth.
"Stars."
"No," he said, shaking his head, "You see the memories of stars. The actual stars were there long ago. Things are not always as they seem, and what you see is not always is truly there at that moment. Sometimes you experience moments that should not have happened, and miss moments that should have. Sometimes you think you are experiencing something, when you are truly caught in a memory."
"The destruction of those civilizations…"
"Has at once just occurred and been history for millennia. It is because it was, and it was because it has always been. That is how these creatures operate. They utilize their knowledge of time in its entirety to both travel through and manipulate it."
"If they want the planet, why don't they just attack now? Why bother going through the hassle of setting up some complicated destruction?"
"Knowledge, is all they have. They are not strong enough to fight now, and even if they were, the warfare would put them at risk. This way, they are able to allow mankind to destroy itself while they are able to remain at a safe distance."
"Why does the timing of killing the Founding Fathers matter though? If you already know these men found the country and create the Declaration, why can't they just do it earlier than history says?"
"There are some moments that cannot be changed. The Declaration is one of these moments. That singular action changed the course of humankind. The warriors have already arrived in that time. They can only change the patterns once. If we can hold them off until the Declaration is written and distributed, they will never be able to change it and it will destroy them."
"Can this moment be changed?" she asked softly.
Makhahr turned to her and she felt his hand cup her face. She let him guide her around so that she looked into his eyes and her body brushed his.
"No," he whispered, "You were meant to be here. That is why the portal opened for you. This moment is and will always be."
****
Pursuit of happiness.
Hava lifted her face further toward Makhahr and felt his mouth settle onto hers. She sighed at the feeling of his lips pressing tenderly into hers and parted them, welcoming his tongue into her mouth. The sensation was nearly overwhelming, dizzying in how unexpected it seemed, yet how completely sure she felt under his touch as if, just as he said, this moment was always meant to exist.
The kiss deepened and Hava wrapped her arms around his neck, drawing her closer to her. Suddenly he pulled away from her and looked at her through lowered eyelashes.
"You know I am not one of your kind," he said.
It was a statement, not a question, but she nodded in response.
"Yes."
"And you are alright with that?"
"I want you, Makhahr. It doesn't matter to me."
He leaned down and captured her mouth again, biting into her bottom lip.
"There are things about me that are different."
"Tell me."
She was nervous about what he was going to say, but she felt so passionately drawn to him she knew that no matter what he said, she would still need him. It was as though her pull toward the Statue had been actually been a pull to him, and that somehow, she had been waiting for this moment all her life
"I am stronger than human men."
"How much stronger?"
He reached down and swept her into one arm, pulling her up so that he cradled her against the front of his shoulders. She gasped and clung to him, noticing that his muscles didn't even seem strained.
"I am also more…powerful."
"What do you mean?" she asked in a powdery whisper.
Makhahr nuzzled his face against her stomach until her shirt moved out of the way and touched a kiss to her skin. She drew in a breath as he moved his mouth down, still holding her against him as he let his lips trail down until he reached the waistband of her pants. His tongue dipped beneath the waistband and she arched against him.
"Let me show you."
He tucked his other arm around her and she didn't protest as he started moving away from the building and into the darkness. He carried her a short way before she saw a row of smaller homes positioned along a winding trail. He walked through the door to one and she felt them climbing stairs before he lowered her gently onto a soft mattress.
Makhahr came down with her, stretching his body over hers so that she could feel the full weight of him crushing her down into the bed. It felt warm and fulfilling, and Hava indulged herself by lifting her head to run her tongue along his collarbone. He kissed her languidly for a few long seconds before bringing his hands to the hem of her shirt and nudging it up.
Hava submitted to him, allowing his hands to move patiently over her body, removing each article of clothing until she lay bare in front of him. She felt herself trembling with nearly uncontrollable desire, a need that far surpassed the time she had known him to a connection that she couldn't understand but craved.
He gazed down at her admiringly, seeming to take in all of her before pushing back off the end of the bed to stand over her. She watched him kick off his black boots and bring his hands to the front of his belt.
"Your hair," she whispered and he paused, "Take your hair down."
He complied, releasing his hair from its tie and letting it tumble down around his shoulders. Hava bit her bottom lip, wriggling her hips against the bed as she sought relief from the incredible pressure building between her thighs.
Makhahr continued undressing, releasing the sexy studded belt and unbuttoning the buttons along the fly on his pants. As soon as he eased his pants down his hips, she knew what he meant by more powerful. She gasped at the sight of him and felt her mouth water. Rather than intimidated by his sheer size, she was even more aroused. Her body readied for him with a wash of hot slickness and she opened her arms as he crawled up onto the bed.
Gathering him in her arms, Hava let him part her thighs and pull her pelvi
s up so that the tip of his erection massaged her. The delicious feeling flowed through her and her head dropped back against the pillows. He continued to rub against her, nurturing her and bringing her closer and closer to the edge.
His hand smoothed along the inside of her thigh and down the juncture between her hip and leg so that he could touch her. As soon as his fingers traced through her folds, she heard him groan.
"You are so wet," he murmured.
Hava's body squeezed at the pure, unfettered eroticism of the words and heard a whimper escape her own lips.
"Are you ready for me?" he whispered.
Hava nodded.
"Yes."
The tip of his shaft replaced his fingers at her opening and she felt him gradually sink into her. He eased forward slowly and cautiously, and she gasped as her body stretched to hold him. The feeling was intense, but wonderful as he filled her completely.
"Relax," he said softly and she willed her muscles to soften and accept even more of him.
As her body eased, she felt him start to move. He rolled his hips, sinking deeper into her with each stroke until she finally felt his hipbones touch hers. His hands gripped her butt and she felt him hold her in place as he thrust, putting himself at an angle that caused her to cry out each time the tip of his erection hit the deeply pleasurable place inside her.
Hava buried her fingers in his hair and stared into his eyes as he increased his pace. His sounds began to build and she felt the pressure tightening within her body until suddenly it crashed, contracting around him and then dissolving into a series of tremors that took her breath away. As her body milked him, she felt him swell and harden even further until he threw his head back and let out a roar, spilling into her with each throb deep inside her.
When the most intense waves of their climaxes slowed and quieted, Makhahr lowered himself beside her and tucked his head onto her shoulder so that he could rest a kiss to her neck. She cuddled against him, letting his warmth surround her and lull her into a deep, restful sleep.
****
The next morning Hava and Makhahr sat beside each other at the same long table as the night before. She held his hand in both of hers and rested it on her lap, finding comfort in him being so close to her. He had tied his hair back and wore his mask again, but now Hava found the intense, dominant effect even sexier.
"We will send the warriors back and let them deal with the rogues there."
"That is too dangerous. What if the battle is more severe than we anticipate and critical lives are lost? Ben has not been able to figure out why the people who have fallen have no hearts when he autopsies them. If we do not understand their attack methods, how are we to fight them?"
"We are running out of time. They have positioned themselves at just 24 hours from the vote. By now they have likely noticed your absence, gentlemen. It is important that you return at the proper time."
Hava listened to the men for several minutes before she realized that two were missing.
"Where are Jake and Josh?" she asked, suddenly feeling frantic.
"We unlocked a portal that opens in a different location close in time to the one you used to get here. We have returned them home."
"You sent them back? Without letting me know?"
"Would you have left?" Makhahr asked quietly and she turned to look at him.
"No," she answered truthfully, "but I would like to have said goodbye." She gazed into his eyes and something that he had said the night before flashed through her mind again, "If they were able to go back, I think I might know how to end this without losing any lives."
"What do you have in mind?" the man across the table from her asked.
"I will need to go with you when you go back to the point in time where they are."
"It is too dangerous."
"It may be the only way. Bring me with you and I will explain everything then."
Hava felt like her lungs were collapsing and she fought to breathe. The air around her burned when she drew it in and the sounds were loud enough that she felt like they were ricocheting in her head, drowning out her own thoughts. She pressed against the stone wall in the alley, focusing on the cobblestones of the street beside her so that she could force herself to acclimate.
1776 Philadelphia was louder, faster, and more aggressive than she could have imagined. She could feel the stirrings of Revolution in the air and the tension of families and friends torn apart by a singular, critical question of loyalty versus independence.
"When will the Declaration be finished?"
"Tonight. The men have all returned to their positions and will follow through with the pattern as we know it. It is our job to protect them and ensure that they get the document completed and distributed. As soon as it is read, the pattern is set and the rogues are destroyed."
"I need a piece of parchment."
Makhahr gave her a quizzical look.
"Why?"
"Please just trust me."
He nodded and they crept down the alley toward a backdoor that led them into a room near where the men were meeting. She could hear a heated argument and caught familiar phrases. They were piecing together the Declaration, stitching the words carefully to create a document that would change the course of history.
She found a piece of clean parchment and a pencil and jotted a quick note on the back. When she was finished, she handed it to Makhahr.
"Make sure that this is the piece of parchment that they have the official copy transcribed on. Meet me outside in ten minutes."
She touched a quick kiss to his lips and ducked back outside, stepping out into the oppressive heat of a July afternoon. They had told her how to recognize the rogues and she scanned the people who passed by carefully. None seemed to notice her, almost as though she were so out of place that they simply didn't register that she was there. Finally, she noticed one of the rogues and began to follow him.
Hava stepped up close behind him, letting images of Makhahr temper the fear that was building inside her, and started to murmur words just loud enough for him to hear.
"When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth…"
She felt a hand grab her by the back of the neck and she suppressed a scream as the hand dragged her into another alley. The man who had been in front of her followed and as soon as they were away from the street, he pushed her up against the wall.
"How do you know those words?" he hissed, his face so close to hers that she could feel the spray of his saliva settle onto her cheek.
"I learned them in school."
"They have not finished those words yet."
"Are you sure?"
"Hava?"
She heard Makhahr's voice and she ducked suddenly, managing to slip under the man's arm and run down the alley toward him. A few people jumped out of her way, suddenly aware of her presence, but she couldn’t stop to worry about that. She could feel the rogue following her and she knew she had only a few minutes. The sun was already setting and the Founding Fathers were more vulnerable than ever.
"Bring me to the portal," she demanded when she saw Makhahr, "Do not stop the man who is following us. Just come with me."
They ran until they were back at the portal and Hava felt herself dragged into it. The feeling had become familiar to her and she didn't resist it, enabling her to land on her feet and continue running.
"I need you to get me to Washington, D.C.," she said as they ran through the building toward the original portal where she had arrived, "It doesn't matter when."
Makhahr moved levers along the wall until it shimmered and glowed in a purple so vibrant she had to squint. She reached for his hand, needing his touch to soothe her, and let the portal take her. When they landed, she looked around and realized that they were in the National Archives. She gave a sob of relief and pulled Makhahr to the side, concealing them around a corne
r.
Seconds later the rogue landed in a crouch beside the portal. He rose slowly to his feet and another appeared behind him. A moment later, two more appeared. Makhahr glared and began to rush toward them, but Hava held him back.
"Wait," she said.
They hesitated for a few more moments and then Hava grabbed him by his arm and started to run. Relying on her memory from fieldtrips when she was younger, she guided him, and the rogues now chasing them, through the National Archives Building until they reached the Rotunda. She sent up a prayer of thanks that the space was empty of tourists, ran up to the podium set in the center and wrapped her hands around the velvet rope blocking access to it.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident," she started to read, "that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
She saw Makhahr's face brighten and heard strangled gasps behind them. She turned in time to see the rogues backing away from their, their chests collapsing in before they finally crumbled into dust. Her knees buckled and Hava lowered herself to the floor.
Makhahr dropped down beside her and gathered her into his arms.
"How did you know what to do?" he asked, pressing a kiss to her hair.
"You told me that there are moments that must always exist and that the rogues could only change the patterns of time once. I knew that the message I wrote on the back of that piece of parchment would still be there when I came back here, because I heard about it the first time I came to see this copy. If we forced them to acknowledge a future that they didn't want to see exist, they would not be able to go into the past and change it because they already changed that past simply by being there."
Makhahr tilted her back and looked at her, the expression in his eyes looking stunned but overjoyed. He drew her close and kissed her deeply.
"You are my yesterday, my today, and my tomorrow," he whispered.
