Cyborg Heart

by Anna Lewis

  The necklace warmed up again between her fingers. She looked down at the dazzling ruby and focused on the glowing red, watching as it burned deep into her eyes. A vision of her prince appeared and she could hear him clear as day, his moans filling her brain. She grew angry.

  While still gripping the ruby, she flew from the room and dashed down the hall, seeming to fly without wings. Her heart raced as she sprinted from one hall to the next, glancing into each room that she passed. She arrived at another map and held the stone as she studied it, feeling her arm tugging in a different direction. She followed her gut. Every turn she took felt right, the floor feeling familiar beneath her feet as she stood firmly in front of a dingy metal frame.

  “This is it,” she said.

  The digital display next to the door read that it was occupied and Melody placed her hand over the screen. It crackled beneath her touch, the glass bending to her will as the doors began to creak open. Behind them stood the Gluon that had been prodding her sweet prince and he immediately charged at her. She remained calmly in place.

  When the creature was close enough, she hurled an arrow in its direction which went straight through its skull. It looped around and came back for another blow, driving through the chest of the alien that was now on its knees. It croaked and then hit the ground with a sickening thud.

  “My hero,” groaned the injured prince from the table.

  Smiling, Melody ran to his side and began quickly undoing his restraints.

  “I thought this was the end,” he whispered.

  “No, darling. It could never be that way,” she said while cupping his face. “Are you all right? Can you walk?”

  “I’m not sure, my love,” he replied.

  When he sat up, he groaned and clutched his stomach.

  “He hit me fiercely, dear Melody,” the prince croaked.

  “Here,” she said while wrapping a firm arm under his shoulders. “I’ve got you. Let’s go.”

  “You cannot carry me all the way,” he insisted.

  “I will do my best,” she retorted with a grin.

  “Where is the king? Is he aboard the ship?” the prince asked.

  Melody helped him up from the table and carefully guided him to the door, looking around to see if any Gluons were waiting for them. The hall was empty. They stepped out and began walking briskly. She wasn’t sure exactly where they were going, but her gut seemed to have a good idea.

  “I’m not sure. He was on the screen when I spoke to him,” she replied.

  “For me as well,” the prince commented.

  “Hush, darling. You’re using too much energy,” she said.

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said.

  She giggled and propped him against the wall, studying the map that was next to his head. It looked like they were close to a loading area. There might be a few pods there for them to travel back to the planet in.

  “Come on. We have to get out of here,” Melody said, nearly losing her breath as they started running towards the loading room.

  Behind them, she could hear the strange language of the Gluons who were quickly closing in. Their thunderous steps echoed through the hallway, making it difficult to pinpoint exactly where they were. She wasn’t sure if she could use the ruby again for it might harm her prince. It might not be the safest tool. She pressed on.

  They arrived at another steel door and she kicked the control panel hard, busting it enough to get the doors to crack.

  “Help me,” she said while propping him up.

  Without hesitation, the prince took one door and Melody took the other. They each pulled their ends and pried the doors open as the thud of heavy steps quickly approached. She took her prince off the wall, tossed him in between the doors, and then dashed in after him. A quick look around revealed an escape pod at the far end of the room and she dragged the prince the rest of the way, cringing every time he groaned loudly.

  She approached the control panel and pressed a few buttons. It beeped and then flashed red, asking for clearance.

  “Damn it,” she whispered.

  The doors behind them creaked. She turned to find the Gluons prying them apart, their giant bodies trying to press through the entrance all at once. When she turned back to the control panel, the prince was pressing a code into the screen and it turned green, the door hissing open. She loaded the prince into the pod, hit the button for the door, and then maneuvered to the pilot seat.

  On the other side of the steel door, she could hear the Gluons growling for them to open up. She ignored it. Stunned, she stared at the buttons beneath her fingers and started pushing a few. Her gut continued to guide her. No matter what, she continued to follow it.

  The pod began to hum with energy. It vibrated briefly before a digital voice greeted Melody and announced their take off. The steel doors behind her creaked and bent under the weight of the Gluons who were desperately attempting to claw their way inside.

  “Melody, hurry,” Prince Tezod said.

  “I’ve got you, baby,” she said confidently.

  In an instant, the pod zipped off from the ship, carrying them to safety. Melody whooped in the pilot seat and smiled as she shakily maneuvered the vehicle down towards the castle. The docking area was open. She quickly took a space and opened the side door, taking her prince with her.

  “Press my watch, Melody,” the prince said. “Call for Fenneck.”

  Epilogue

  The great hall was packed to the brim with Eflorians as music gently played in the background. Every window was covered in bright curtains, each one different from the previous. Standing in front of the hall was Melody and her prince, the two holding hands as Fenneck stood on top of a tall stool in order to raise a crown to the prince’s head.

  “Joined in beautiful union, I now pronounce you King Tezod of Efloe,” Fenneck said proudly.

  The crowd erupted with applause and the new king bowed his head, overwhelmed with joy. Fenneck floated over towards Melody who was biting her lower lip anxiously. He winked with his big eye and she giggled, looking down at the ground.

  “Joined in beautiful union, I now pronounce you Queen Melody of Efloe,” Fenneck said tearfully.

  When he placed the crown upon her head, the room roared with cheers and King Tezod squeezed her hand as he began to weep quietly. She brushed a tear away from his blue cheek and he smiled, turning to look at her with his bright green eyes. They trailed down to the tiny blue baby in her arms who cooed excitedly at the noise filling the room.

  “Shall I take a turn?” he asked after the cheering had faded.

  “Of course,” she replied.

  Melody held up their son and the king took him with joy, raising the blue child up into the air with a wide smile.

  “Divyd, you are such a divine child,” the king said. “And I hope you’ll bring us all the glory of our old days.”

  “Tez, that is quite a weight to put on our own child,” Melody teased.

  “He’ll make a great leader,” he said.

  “I’m sure he will,” she said.

  “Would the king and queen like to sit and receive their gifts? Or shall we feast first?” Fenneck asked.

  “Darling, what would you like?” the king asked his new wife.

  “Let’s open our gifts,” she replied.

  “Splendid,” Fenneck said.

  He clapped his tentacles together and then urged the first couple to bring their gift up to the king and queen. Melody watched with joy as they set it on the ground and then lifted the top, revealing a golden chalice with their names engraved. She lifted it from the box and raised it up to the crowd with a smile. They marveled at the fine craftsmanship. She placed it back in the box and gave the Eflorian a kiss on the forehead.

  When the couple walked away, Fenneck waved the next person up the steps. It was an Eflorian man wearing a cloak bearing a small satchel. She could see nothing else but his hands which made her nervous, but she accepted the gift and opened it. A glass moon was cradled
inside the black cloth. When she lifted it up to the light, it seemed to glow.

  “This is beautiful,” she said. “Thank you, stranger.”

  “I am no stranger,” said the man.

  He removed his hood and Tezod gasped, nearly scaring their child into a fit of crying. Melody looked at her shocked king and then back at the stranger. His eyes were incredibly kind, shining a light of comfort over her that she hadn’t felt in years.

  “Melody,” he said in a low voice. “I’m your father.”

  Covering her mouth, she stood from her decorated chair and fell into his arms, weeping. The queen shook viciously with sobs, feeling the warmth radiating from her father who she hadn’t seen since she was an infant. Her father held her close until she pulled away and wiped the tears from her eyes.

  “Where have you been?” she asked.

  “I was being held captive by the Gluons. They released me when they surrendered, but I was out in the desert on the other side of the fields,” he replied. “I’m sorry it took me so long to get here.”

  “It’s fine. I’m just glad you’re here,” Melody whispered.

  She shook her head, tears still streaming down her face as her father cupped her cheek and gave her a kiss on the nose. She took his hand and pulled him further up the stairs.

  “Come meet your grandchild,” she said.

  Memnak smiled wide and held out his arms. Divyd cooed and curled his hand around Memnak’s finger, kicking his feet. It made Memnak chuckle.

  “Such a strong boy. He’ll be a fine prince,” he said.

  Melody nodded. She wiped an errant tear from her face and then held up her hands to the crowd.

  “No more gifts today,” she announced. “I want to spend time with my father.”

  Though most of the crowd appeared to be disappointed, they respectfully dispersed. Fenneck reached up with a tentacle and took her hand.

  “Should I delay the feast as well, my queen?” he asked.

  “No, Fenneck. We should eat at the same time,” she replied.

  He nodded and rolled away, leaving the four of them alone with each other. Melody turned to her family, smiling wide. It was the perfect picture. She admired how natural her father was with her son, the sight alone causing her to tear up again. She shook her head.

  No more tears, she thought. From now on, there will be no more tears.

  THE END

  = Bonus Book 7 of 8 =

  Out Of This World -

  Scifi Menage Romance

  Book 1: The War

  Talia was only six years old when the whole world collapsed around her. She might not have been able to remember much of her life before the war, but that was the one day that she didn’t think she would ever forget. It was ingrained so deeply into her memory that it would probably be the last thing that she thought about before she died.

  She was sitting in class, next to her best friend at the time – Bonnie Smith. They were giggling about something, not really concentrating on the lesson, until the teacher’s voice started to change enough to actually drag them out of their little friendship bubble.

  Talia had never particularly liked Mr. Jones – he wasn’t passionate or interesting – and it was ironic that the first time he’d ever sparked any kind of reaction from her was when he was telling her the worst news ever. The news that would change her life forever.

  “Everything is about to change,” he said, actually sounding passionate for the first time in his entire life, but also completely bizarre too. “Everything you ever knew is about to be no more.”

  A murmur burst up around the class, and Talia had glanced towards her friend, but Bonnie was so sucked in by their teacher’s words that she didn’t even realize that her eyes were upon her.

  “There has been a plan in place for generations. We have merely been biding our time, waiting for the time to strike. Now, finally, that time is upon us.”

  Talia watched in a stunned silence as his skin took on a purplish hue and his face began to change shape. She blinked a few times, trying to make the terrifying image in front of her to finally disappear. This had to be a dream, some kind of nightmare and she needed desperately to wake up. Even though her young mind didn’t fully understand what was going on, it seemed to be able to grasp that she should be afraid. There was a cold terror coursing through her veins and fixing her to the seat.

  “What’s happening?” she asked out of the side of her mouth, needing some kind of confirmation from Bonnie. “What is he doing?”

  But as she spun around to look at her friend, to get the reassurance that she so desperately needed, she realized that not only was Bonnie taking on the same look as their teacher, but so were a few of the other members of the class too.

  Talia scooted back in her seat, feeling more frightened than she ever had before, which only got worse as the teacher spoke out again.

  “Now this will be too much for your young minds to comprehend, but I will tell you about it anyway.” His shape shifted over and over again, until Talia couldn’t keep up. She didn’t understand what he was at all, and that was almost worse than anything else. “We have been living among you for a very long time, taking your form. You didn’t ever recognize that there was something different about us. Of course, a few of us have gone rogue, but thankfully human nature is unpredictable enough so that no one realized.” Talia didn’t really understand the words, but they stuck firmly in her mind regardless. She could just tell that they would be important and that she needed to remember them to get her through the rest of her life. “And now it is time for us to act, to take you down. You might assume that because we have lived among you and we have adopted your ways, that we would have sympathy for you. But we don’t. Nor do we wish to continue living among you as we have been. That was never our end goal.” He began walking through the rows of children, focusing on the few remaining humans. “I think that you should know our race is far ahead of humans in every way possible. We have skills, talents, and abilities that you wouldn’t believe. It has been torture to hold ourselves back, to act like we are just these boring vessels. You will die at our hands, unless you make the smart choice right now.”

  Die?! Her eyes flickered everywhere at that word. She didn’t want to die. Bonnie wouldn’t do that to her would she? They were friends, they shared secrets. But as she glanced over to Bonnie, all she saw was another terrifying beast that wanted her dead too. Everything that she’d ever thought in her life had been a lie, and that was utterly devastating.

  “It is a shame for you to die, which is why I want you to join us, work for us, start your life in the right way for the time that the new regime is beginning.”

  He looked at every one in turn, waiting for a response. Finally he got one from the youngest lad in the class… Johnny. “Can I ask my mommy first?”

  “No,” Mr. Jones shot back firmly. “Definitely not!”

  “Why?” Johnny whined, starting to cry. “Why are you doing this? Why can’t I see my mommy? I need to know what she says…”

  Before he could even get the rest of his sentence out, Mr. Jones obliterated him in a massive flame ball, leaving only ashes behind.

  The same happened to other children, as they began to cry too, finally realizing that this wasn’t a game. Talia was scared and very upset, but her life preservation kicked in and all she wanted to do was survive. She ducked under her desk and curled herself up into a ball while the chaos went on around her.

  People fought, people died, and Talia remained put.

  Just as the weird, shape-shifting people were about to leave, one of them leaned down to face her. For a split second, Talia’s heart raced and her mouth ran dry with fear. The thing cocked its head, looking at her, and just at the moment Talia became convinced that she was going to end up a spot of ash too, the figure zipped away, leaving her completely alone.

  Bonnie – it had to be. Her friend had saved her life. Maybe some of their bond had been true after all…

  Of al
l the horror that had surrounded her, of all the awful things that came afterwards, Talia would always remember her friend and the fact that she risked herself to let her live.

  ***

  Talia wrestled the alien interloper, using her size to knock him down. She clawed at him with her fingers, then punched him with her elbow.

  “You’ll die, you scum!” she cried. The alien struggled back, but Talia had been in this position before, many times. She was confident.

  Talia was pretty sure that it was her birthday. Somewhere along the line she had lost track of days, but she definitely felt like it could have been. If so, that made her eighteen years old, which she was pretty certain would be the type of birthday that she should have been celebrating with a big party with all of her friends, but of course the world wasn’t like that. Not anymore.

  Now she was spending her days by herself, fighting off aliens, and wondering how different things would be if her life was normal, if the aliens hadn't invaded Earth. She still didn’t fully understand why this race – the Ec’dua, they called themselves – felt the need to take over the planet in such a horrendous fashion, but to be honest she didn’t really care.

  All she did was fight… fight for her survival. Like her fight against this alien, whose neck she now held tightly in her strong, battle-hardened hands, and whose face showed that he was running out of oxygen.

  Okay, so the aliens had proven time and time again that their technology was much better than humans, which meant they had some seriously amazing weapons, but if you could get them one on one, in hand-to-hand combat, they were quite a bit easier to defeat.

  Especially for Talia, who had grown up in the war. She had quickly become a badass fighter, defending herself in the best way that she could.

  When she raced home that dreaded day, when she was only six and the entire world had turned on its feet, she found her mother dead and there was absolutely no sign of her father – that was the day that she’d learned that she was truly alone. She never did discover what had become of her dad. She simply focused on what needed to be done to keep her alive.