“Do you like it?”
“I love it!”
“Are you sure? I wanted to get something bigger but Selma and Vincent said it was overkill. They assured me you’d like this one.”
“They were right, I do love it.”
Paige turned her head and mouthed a thank you to her brother and sister-in- law.
“Sneaky man, I never suspected.”
“It was hard hiding it from you, but you always allow me my privacy.” He kissed her before holding her chair for her to take a seat.
“We can eat now,” Joaquin’s dry tone brought laughter to everyone.
“Good thing too, I don’t want the food to get cold.” Victor took the children into the kitchen with him. They all came out bearing platters of food.
“Paige, aren’t you going to eat?”
She looked over at Victor and shook her head. “I don’t think I can eat anything. Maybe that’s a good thing; when we went through the…”
She stopped when she realized Aviana was watching her. Aviana didn’t know what was happening. She knew nothing about the soul bonding trials and Paige didn’t want to be the one to tell her.
“I’m not really hungry.”
“Eat a little bit, the rules are different this time and you will need the energy.” Victor got up and made a plate for her before making one for Cal. “Both of you eat it all.”
Family, it was still hard for her to really comprehend that she now had a family. There would be someone to grieve her passing. They would miss her. Once again her eyes misted, she really needed to stop with the crying. She took a bite of the food feeling an energy go through her. The food felt like it was lighting her up on the inside; she took another bit suddenly ravenous.
She ate, enjoying every bite. Vick and Mckayla were making plans about when to wake up on Christmas morning and who would be the first one down the stairs. The house was full of joy and she savored every word, smile, and laughter.
“Paige, why don’t we go for a walk?” Cal asked as they cleared the table.
She looked at him, one more walk—hand in hand. Another memory to add to her collection in case she didn’t make it. She wouldn’t think that way, she would just enjoy every moment she had.
“Can we come?” Vick questioned quickly standing next to Mckayla.
“If your Aunt Paige says it ok.”
“Aunt Paige?” Two pair of eyes stared up at her.
“Of course you can come, it will be fun.”
They shrieked and ran out the room to get ready.
Cal and Paige stood in the kitchen together; the lower floor was suspiciously deserted.
“What if we don’t make it? What if we die today or worse?”
“Paige, I don’t know. I never fought anything like this before. If you would have asked me if this was a possibility I might have laughed at you, now I know better. We’re in this together, live or die we do it as one. Who was it that said all we can do is fight the good fight?”
“It’s a Bible verse.”
“Then that’s what we will do. We’ll fight the good fight and see where we end up.”
“Alright, we better get ready before two little hurricanes knock us over,” she said, taking his hand as they left the kitchen.
They grabbed coats and gloves and were waiting when Vick and Mckayla came running down the stairs. Aviana trailed behind them.
“Are you sure you want to take these two out with you?”
“It’ll be fun, don’t worry we’ll bring her back in one piece.”
Aviana gave Paige a thankful smile before they left.
“Where are we walking to?” Mckayla asked, making a snowball to throw at Vick.
“Hey!” Vick returned fire as the two of them moved a little ahead playing.
“Do you want children, Paige?”
“I do. I always wanted a boy and a girl. One would look like me and the other like my husband.”
“I can picture a girl who looks like you, a boy who looks like me.”
“Hmm, sounds a little sexist to me. What if the boy looked like me?”
“Then he’d be extremely handsome, but I fear for a girl who looks like me.”
“Oh baby, with those eyes and those lips, you’d need to keep those claws sharpened. The boys would chase her like she was cat-nip.”
“She’s not allowed to date.”
“Oh, you’re so cute.”
Paige could see them walking with their children running ahead of them playing in the snow. She wanted that, she was determined to have a life with Cal, one that didn’t end today.
She stumbled when a searing hot pain burst through her breast. Cal caught her.
“It’s time to go back,” he called halting Vick and Mckayla.
They rushed back as he held Paige. In silence they returned to the house.
Chapter Twenty Nine
Cal gently placed Paige down on the bed, her body twisting in pain. He slowly removed her clothes not wanting to cause her anymore distress. He left her clad only in her underwear. Stripping quickly he joined her on the bed. The final battle or the first in many to come, he didn’t know which it would be; as long as she was with him he’d deal with whatever came their way.
“Paige, can you hear me?”
“Cal, it feels like putting your hand in a flame and then being too stupid to take it out.”
He ran his hand over her arm before opening his link to her. Her pain poured through leaving him bent over in agony. Stiffly he maneuvered himself from a seated position to lie next to her.
“It’s time, Paige. This time you have to invite me in. I can’t enter; you’re too strong now, you have to invite me in.”
Paige spun in circles, thoughts swirling around her head as she tried to get her bearings. She needed to find her way inside of herself. How was she supposed to do that without Cal’s help? She reached out to him, but could only feel the white hot pain branding her.
She tried to picture Cal but couldn’t; all she could see was Voyager’s face challenging her, asking her if she came this far to fail. His voice was like a hard slap of reality, one she actually appreciated. Taking everything she had, she pushed the pain down to a bearable level and began looking for the door that would lead her inside of herself.
It beckoned to her, red and fiery, warning her that entering in would lead to pain unimaginable. She squared her shoulders. The pain she felt now was unimaginable. What was a little more pain?
She moved towards that door taking a good look at herself, this was her essence, who she was without the shell of her body. She looked the same but she was light and airy, translucent. Color is what defined her, lots of yellow and white with patches of sky blue. Cal called her Sunshine and that’s what her essence reflected.
Reaching out she grabbed the handle of the door as the fire raced over her raising her pain to another level. The need to let loose of the handle screamed through her; instead she tightened her grip and began to turn. The handle resisted whispering seductive words of how good it would feel to let go. She continued to turn. You will die here, a malicious voice swept through her mind.
She dropped to her knees still grasping the knob turning the handle. Just when her strength seemed it might fail she fell through the door. She was in.
She took a quick look around; she was in her abdomen hovering over her stomach. Every place she looked was shrouded in color. She was in her body but on another plane; there was no need to worry about stepping on something or damaging her insides. The knowledge was pouring into her. Later she would wonder where it was coming from, now she needed to find cal.
Looking over she saw him, there was a thin barrier dividing them. She stretched her hand until she was pushing against it. It had the consistency of gelatin bouncing when she touched it. She added more strength and pushed through reaching for Cal’s hand.
He reached back to clasp her hand allowing her to pull him inside.
“You did it.”
�
�Uh huh, but why do I think that was the easy part? What do we do next?”
He ran his hands through her hair. “We take the fight to the source. Lead us to your heart.”
“Like I said this was the easy part.” Stilling herself, she moved them to her heart where the Venom snake was rearing its ugly head.
Her heart reminded her of the cave she visited in the amount of space there was. It was cavernous with a huge red throbbing ball in the middle, must be how she was symbolizing her heart. This time the Venom snake was a snake with razor sharp deadly fangs and the thread like tentacles from earlier moved like vicious limbs. Great, she hated snakes in the worse way.
“Should it look like this?”
Cal shrugged, “You’ve grown and matured, and its body would grow and mature with you.”
“Cal, why don’t you try using a couple of these lines. No! Paige I’m just as surprised as you, but don’t worry you will defeat the icky snake. Or you could try, yes, Paige this is normal and a sign of how powerful you’re becoming. But shrugging and giving me that luke warm answer—not good.”
“Yes, Paige…”
She reached out to hit his shoulder, “You feel solid even though you don’t look that way.”
Cal was a sea of color starting with the deepest red along with the palest white she ever saw. In the midst were shades of gray. He reminded her of the sun peeking out on a stormy day.
“You’re solid too even though you’re so bright you almost hurt my eyes.”
The Sudir joined them. “Ahh, how wonderful, are you saying goodbye to each other?”
“We’ve been waiting for you,” Paige’s voice dripped with sarcasm.
“I wouldn’t want to disappoint,” he said as he tossed a black web at her pinning her against a wall.
Cal lifted a hand sending a bolt her way cutting her out of the webbing.
“You’re really beginning to irritate me.” The Sudir lifted both hands shooting two webs at Cal. They interlocked knocking him into the wall with a jarring thud, for good measure he shot one covering his mouth.
“Now that we’re alone, Paige, or at least mostly alone…” He wrapped her hands in webbing before she was able to rescue Cal. “I thinks it’s time for us to talk.”
He floated up bending his legs in a macabre twisted position as if he were sitting at home relaxing.
“I’ve been watching you since you were a little girl. Who knew you would net such a prize? Dead or alive he’s a prize; of course he’s worth more alive. That’s where you come into play. I will give you his life, all you have to do is serve me. He will still be alive and breathing with the asinine hope that he may one day get free.”
He floated closer to her. “What, you ask, has moved me to such a generous offer? The thought of you on your knees serving me as I feed from you. You’re probably wondering if there’s another choice. Glad you asked! Your other option is to watch me kill Cal slowly and then make you serve me anyway. If I were you, I’d choose option number one.”
The Sudir looked at his nails removing imaginary pieces of dirt from under them as he gave her time to think.
“I’ve come to a decision.”
“I hope it’s the right one. You are rather smart for a human.”
“I guess that’s better than being rather smart for a female.”
“Humans and their difficulty with sexes. Everyone knows the female is the deadliest creature alive, next to me of course. What have you decided?”
“While thoughts of serving you on my knees is intriguing…” Paige’s stomach rolled and her throat quivered as she spoke, “keeping Cal alive is the goal. I am going to have to reject your offer.”
She spun as her hands became light. Dissolving the webbing, she threw several beams of light at Cal freeing him. He hit the floor of the cave with a thud that made her wince in sympathy.
The Sudir roared throwing his web again missing them as they dodged it.
“I’m done playing with you, Paige. I will make you regret every moment of your life.” The Sudir turned to the venom snake, “Come to daddy and destroy them.”
The venom snake uncurled its massive body from around her heart. She dropped to her knees feeling the pain in her physical body.
“You should have chosen me, Paige.”
The snake grew in size making the cavernous space feel small. The appendages hanging from its body thickened, reaching out to grasp the walls with a sucking action that allowed it to climb.
“Cal?” Paige threw him a look of desperation.
“Stay away from it; if it injects you with the venom in its fangs you’re dead.”
Easier said than done. She followed the snake watching as it slithered up the wall and crept overhead. That was her target, if she could kill it they were more than half way home. Not wasting any time, she shot a beam of pure white light at it. The snake’s body separated allowing it to pass through harmlessly. Undaunted, she tried again, Cal reinforcing her beam this time.
Light surrounded the snake as darkness emanated from it fighting their light back until it swallowed the light and pulled them toward it. The fought to break the hold, heels dug into the floor causing gouge marks as they were pulled slowly.
“Cross our beams, Cal!”
He moved in front of her crossing the beam coming from his body with the one coming from hers. The movement broke the connection dropping them to the ground.
“What next, Paige?”
“How am I supposed to know?”
They moved to the other side of the cave, Paige in the lead. The snake dropped his tail and swung it catching Cal on the appendages of it. They impaled him, the snake lifted him high and dropped him to the floor like refuse.
“Cal!” Paige screamed hearing the sound echo around the cave.
She lost. Everything she did in the end was for nothing.
“Poor Paige, I told you I always win. Give up now and take the easy way out. You and I. With him dead, I have nothing to worry about and with you to feed on I will live an eternity. I do believe I want to rule the stars. We can leave this backwards planet; think of all you will see, the new life I will give you. Kneel Paige and accept me.”
The certain smile on his face turned her stomach. She knew she wasn’t ready. What made her bond with Cal? How could she have deceived herself into dreaming of a future with him? How was she still alive when he was dead? She reached out mentally to touch a raw wound in her mind. He truly was gone, her strength and her light.
How could she defeat the Venom snake and join Cal? There was no reason to stay behind, she had no desire to be without him. Maybe she’d see her parents again, but she didn’t have time to wallow in despair right now. She wouldn’t let Cal’s death be in vain.
Standing tall she faced the snake as it slithered its way toward her. Poison, blacker than any night, dripped from it fangs and its eyes looked like the fires of hell. Tonight it would die. She closed her eyes looking at the snake through her gift. The body moved and slivered on plates that kept it intact. They allowed it to grow massive yet remain in one piece.
She looked at her body, she glowed, and reaching deep inside of herself she touched her core. It was pure light. She cupped it in her hand before allowing the light to engulf her body. The light took on a sharpness harder than the most precious metal.
The snake’s tail came at her and she twisted, slicing through it. It wailed in pain retreating slightly. She wasn’t done, she needed it to come closer. It backed away again looking over at her heart. It turned and raced towards it. She flew overhead of it and stood between her heart and the venom snake.
“If you want to kill me, you’ll have to get through me first.”
The snake reared up before striking out with its fangs. She became like a knife slicing into one of his fangs, it dripped poison. The light coming from her burned it as fast as it fell. She flipped over cutting off several of its appendages as it screamed in outrage.
“You like to hurt, I can feel it coming
from you in waves.” She cut anther appendage away. “Suffer for Cal. Die for Cal.”
She became a hurricane, a twister thinking of nothing except utter destruction. She flew at the snake’s neck slowly cutting through it as it tried to use the rest of its useless appendages against her.
“Go to hell and take your Sudir with you.” She fell to the ground as the snakes body convulsed in death.
She looked over at her heart so red and beautiful. It pumped like she would live for years. The poison of the snake slowly covered her body now that she no longer had the strength to channel her light.
“Soon Cal, I’ll be with you soon,” she whispered as she closed her eyes waiting for the inevitable.
Chapter Thirty
Paige opened her eyes not sure what to expect. She was impaled unable to move, the heavy sword that hung from her original cave was stuck through her heart making it struggle to beat.
“You won. I knew you could do it.”
“Voyager?” She turned her head to see him standing there minus the cane. He was still in his original clothing that kept her from seeing him, but he was no old man she was sure of that.
“How did you get inside of me?”
“There are few places I can’t penetrate.”
“What happened?”
“You killed the venom snake and defeated the Sudir.”
“Is he dead?”
“No, it takes a lot to kill one of his kind. Who knows, you may get another chance.”
She groaned, “Don’t do me any favors please.”
Voyager looked at the sword standing at attention in her heart. “Accept your talents, Paige.”
“My talent is a sword?”
“It’s so much more than that.”
“Hmm ok, I accept my talents. She lifted her hand to touch the sword, it swiftly dissolved running through her body. “I feel different.”
“Perfect, now stand.”
She stood focusing on Cal. Tears ran fast as she crossed to him dropping to her knees. Her face went to his chest as she prayed to hear his heartbeat.
Soul-Bonded to the Alien Page 19
