The Alien Huntress Series

by Gena Showalter

  “Why not simply kill us?” Mishka asked.

  Nolan’s features actually blanched. “We aren’t monsters. We wanted to offer you choices.”

  Choices? “Like what?” Jaxon asked. “’Cause the only thing I’m willing to agree to is your absolute surrender.”

  “Not going to happen,” Nolan said. He scrubbed a hand down his tired face. “We can infect you and teach you how to survive with the virus. We will be brothers, then, and you will fight with us rather than against us.”

  Mishka arched a brow. “Why didn’t you teach the people on the other planets how to survive?”

  “And have more competition for females?”

  “Why us?” Jaxon asked.

  Nola smiled, sadness clinging to the edges. “You’re strong, smart. When this planet falls, and it will, you will help us find other worlds, other women.”

  “No, thanks.” Mishka shook her head. “Next.”

  Anger flittered over the otherworlder’s face. “We can kill you.”

  “I thought you weren’t monsters,” Jaxon said.

  Nolan’s shoulders squared. “Death would be your choice. Therefore, it would not be murder.”

  “Next,” Mishka said.

  “We can use you as bait to draw out other agents. Agents we will capture and offer the same choice,” Nolan said. “Someone will choose to join us.”

  “Next.”

  “That’s it,” Nolan gritted out. “Those are your only options.”

  “You could forcibly infect us,” Jaxon said. “So why don’t you?”

  Anger finally fading, Nolan gazed down at his feet and kicked a mound of dirt. “You are warriors. Like us. We do respect that.”

  “And?” Mishka insisted. “There’s more than simple respect. I can tell.”

  Jaxon knew she could have killed Nolan at any point during the conversation, but she was as hungry for answers as he was.

  “Taking choice from a warrior is dishonorable and wrong. I know because my choice was taken.” Nolan rested his forehead against the bars. “One day a woman lovelier than anything I had ever seen arrived on our planet. She was like your sun, bright and glorious, blinding to all else. We could not help ourselves. We worshipped her, did anything she desired. And in return, she infected us. One by one. You see, she is the original host, the first carrier.”

  Is. Not was. Jaxon’s stomach clenched. “She’s still alive?”

  A nod.

  “She’s coming here, isn’t she?” Mishka asked.

  Another nod, this one shamed. “As soon as A.I.R. is weakened, she will come. That is another of the reasons we have not killed you outright. As much as we despise her and hope to never see her again, we are helpless against her. She speaks and we obey. But you are not so compelled.”

  “We can kill her for you,” Jaxon suggested.

  Hope curtained Nolan’s expression for the briefest of moments. Then he shook his head. “When she dies, we die. Or so she says. I want her dead, but I do not want to die. I want to live. That’s all I’ve ever wanted. To live and be happy. To love. Like you.” His arms fell to his sides. “Think about all I have said. Please.” He backed up a step.

  “Nolan?” Mishka said, stopping him.

  He appeared weary as he said, “Yes?”

  “I’m sorry.” There was true sincerity in her tone.

  “About?”

  “This.” She was standing at the bars in the next instant, having moved so fast she’d been nothing more than a black blur. Her arms reached through the bars and latched onto Nolan.

  The alien’s eyes nearly bugged as she squeezed his neck, one of her rings digging deep.

  Jaxon knew she could have snapped his neck, could have killed him instantly, but she merely sought to put him to sleep. Nolan struggled, trying to rip her hands away. Mishka held tight. Finally, the otherworlder’s wheezing stopped and he slumped to the dirt-laden floor.

  She released him with a mournful sigh.

  “Sure he’s not faking?” Jaxon asked her. “Our drugs may not work on otherworlders.”

  “I’m sure. His body chemistry and his vitals have calmed completely.”

  “Good. Unlock me, sweetheart. They can communicate through their minds, and if he told the others you were free, they’ll be down here soon. And we need all the time we can get to free Lucius.”

  Expression pensive, she rushed to his side and began working at his chains, her metal finger acting as the key. While she worked, her ears twitched as if she were listening to a conversation he could not hear. “They’re not gearing for attack. They’re…” She frowned. “They are watching a movie, I think. A dreadful one, at that, with a gunfight and shitty dialogue. ‘I don’t know how much longer I can hold them, Tyler. You must, you’re our only hope.’ They’re laughing about it, at least.”

  Humor burst through him, and he rubbed at his now free wrists. He knew she’d relayed the bit of conversation for his benefit. “Probably hope to learn all of our secrets through our programming.”

  “We’re going to have to kill them. Even Nolan.”

  “I know.”

  “I just couldn’t do it. Not to him, not yet. I’m pissed at him, but anyway”—she waved her hand through the air—“after we’ve killed the others, we can question Nolan about the queen.”

  “I know,” he repeated. And he did. Nolan wasn’t too bad a guy. Not great, but not as horrible as some Jaxon had encountered. Still, the Earth’s safety, Mishka’s safety, came first. Always. Ultimately, they would kill him.

  “Stupid of me to wait,” she whispered.

  “No, compassionate. It’s a good goal, finding love. No one should die without knowing it.” He paused, his mind churning with all the things that could go wrong. “We have to kill them without making them bleed and we have to kill them fast enough that they aren’t able to disappear on us.”

  “Yes.”

  She unsnapped his ankles, and he rubbed those, too. “Mia and the others should be here soon, but I’m afraid they won’t have any more luck against the invisibility than we did. Any ideas? I mean, right now we’re pretty much weaponless.”

  “Right now we are.”

  His brow rose in question as he swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood.

  “Give me ten minutes. If I can’t put a pyre-gun in your hand in ten minutes, I’ll give you a blow job later in apology.”

  “Baby, you need motivation to succeed, not fail.”

  A laugh bubbled from her, delighting him.

  “Besides, I’d rather you just moved in with me.”

  Obviously not the response she’d expected. “Wh-what?”

  “I love you, and I want you living with me.” Reaching down, he grabbed her arm and hoisted her up. “Marriage, too, but I figured I’d shove that little gem at you once I’d gotten you addicted to hot-water showers and chocolate.”

  Chocolate. She’d read about it. Sweet and delicious, a rare treat since most cocoa plants had been burned, the fields wiped out during the human-alien war. “I—I—you love me?”

  Jaxon tugged her to the bars and she crouched, working on the tumbler. Her hands were shaking. “I thought it was obvious when I didn’t shove my foot so far up Estap’s ass it had to be removed surgically,” he said. “Instead, I saved him for you.”

  She nibbled on her lower lip, silent.

  “Say something. I’m dying here.”

  “I’ll say something,” Lucius’s voice echoed from the next cell over. “That ten minutes is ticking, sweetheart. Do I get to reap the rewards, too?”

  The lock fell open and Mishka straightened.

  Jaxon ran his tongue over his teeth, though he knew Lucius wasn’t serious. The man was too in love with Eden. Otherwise, Jaxon would’ve had to kill him. Violently.

  “You can tell me how much you love me later,” Jaxon said.

  “Let’s go kill us some Schön. Just don’t be surprised when I kick those pyre-guns out of your hands.”

  CHAPTER 26


  Mind on the task at hand, mind on the task at hand. Hard to concentrate, though, when one simple phrase kept drifting through Mishka’s mind: He loves me. Earlier he’d mentioned keeping her, perhaps adopting children one day. But love? In all her wildest dreams, she’d never considered such a possibility. Hoped, yes. But a strong, intelligent man choosing her above all else? Of his own free will? A miracle!

  She unchained Lucius, knowing she sported a stupid grin. Jaxon and I will spend the rest of our lives together.

  Rest of our lives. Okay, that phrase managed to overshadow the other. How long did they have? How long did she have? Would his life end here as Dallas thought?

  No, she couldn’t let herself think like that. The Schön had overpowered them once; the bastards wouldn’t do so again. She would make sure of it.

  Part of her wanted to take the Schön all by herself. A few weeks ago, she would have. Would have put Jaxon and Lucius to sleep or rechained them and left them in the cells. What happened afterward, the consequences of her actions, would not have mattered. But now, everything mattered.

  She could kill a few of the otherworlders on her own, but probably not all. They could use their invisibility and escape or overtake her. They could get to Jaxon, kill him before she realized they’d left the room. And if they left the building and decided A.I.R. no longer deserved a choice about the disease, Jaxon, if he survived today, would be at risk for infection.

  None of those options appealed to her.

  The Schön had to die, and the best way to ensure that was to fight them as a team.

  Without her toys, she did not know the layout of the building or the position of the aliens. Yet she needed to sneak quietly and invisibly and confiscate a few pyre-guns.

  “Once I’ve gotten my hands on the weapons, I think our best course of action is to set the pyre-guns to stun,” she said, “flip out the lights so they can’t see us, either, and start shooting. Stun won’t affect either of you, and hopefully they won’t be able to see you.”

  “What about you?” Jaxon asked.

  She shrugged as if it didn’t even bear considering. “I have alien parts. If I get hit, I’ll freeze.”

  “And I won’t be able to see you to know it, which means I won’t be able to protect you.” He raked a hand through his choppy hair. “Since we don’t have the guns, don’t know where they are, and can’t guarantee we’ll get them, I guess I shouldn’t get too worked up about the possibility.”

  “I still have eight minutes and eleven seconds.” She said the last over her shoulder, striding from the cell and into the hallway. Someone else’s home, a human most likely, since pictures adorned the walls. Two women in their early twenties. Pretty. Arms wrapped around each other. A good chance they were sisters, since they both possessed the same sloping nose. A good chance they were already dead. What a waste. “Follow me, but don’t talk. Okay?”

  Neither responded. Good. Increase ear volume.

  Percentage?

  Fifty. The sounds of that movie already blasted through her mind, making her cringe. Louder and louder…The hammer of multiple triggers, the shuffle of footsteps, the fall of a vase. More of that discordant laughter. She frowned. Should a movie gunfight last this long? And were there female Schön? Because that time, Mishka had definitely heard a few women.

  Louder. Filter out the movie if possible.

  Increasing to sixty percent. Filtering…

  Under the currents of gunfire, laughter, and grunting, she could suddenly hear Jaxon and Lucius breathing behind her. Could even hear the slide of sweat from their skin. The whoosh of it, the drip as it hit the ground.

  Gunfire. Laughter. Yes, female laughter. Muted now. That drifted from the TV, she realized, because there was a hint of static. The gunfight, however, did not fade. It wasn’t coming from the TV.

  “—can’t see them,” Mia snapped.

  “—they’re on me,” Dallas grunted.

  “Duck!” Eden shouted.

  “Your friends,” Mishka said. The sound of her own voice nearly felled her. Too loud. She quickly bypassed the small kitchen, the equally small living room with threadbare furniture. The front door loomed ahead, closed, locked. No Schön. No gunfight. “Your friends are here,” she said, trying to keep panic from her voice. “Battle has already been engaged.”

  “Damn it.” From Lucius.

  “Where?” Jaxon.

  Absolute panic covered both of their faces, and they didn’t even try to hide it. Lucius for Eden. Jaxon…for her?

  Sweating, she easily picked the lock, shoved open the door, and peered out into the hall. “We’re in an apartment building. They probably killed the other tenants, because I don’t hear any other conversations.” So badly she wanted to cover her ears. More and more, the sound of her own voice was like booming thunder. “Do you hear them? See flashing from under the doors?”

  “No,” they said in unison, and she cringed.

  Jaxon’s strong arm wrapped around her waist and he dragged her down the hall, to the elevator. “Up or down, sweetheart?” he whispered, and that saved her from vomiting.

  “Don’t know,” she whispered back. They’d have to experiment. “Go down one.”

  He pressed a button. The doors slid closed. Lucius stood behind the left side, ready to attack anyone who tried to throw themselves inside the elevator when it next opened. As the metal box descended, however, the fight grew the tiniest bit quieter.

  “Up,” she rushed out. “We need to go up.”

  The elevator stopped on the floor he’d first requested, and the doors opened. No one appeared. No one attacked. Jaxon pressed another button. Soon they were rising, past the floor they’d occupied and to the next one.

  When they reached it, she cried out. The fight was so piercing now she could no longer discern individual sounds. Just a constant stream of loud. Return volume to normal.

  “There,” Jaxon said.

  She opened her eyes. When had she squeezed them shut? Jaxon had already ushered her out of the elevator. They were pressed into a corner in an empty hallway. Blue flashes edged from the crease at the bottom of the door at the far end.

  Lucius was already halfway to the room, creeping along the wall. Like a phantom, he blended with the shadows.

  “You good?” Jaxon asked her.

  “Yeah. But someone needs to stay here in case they try to escape.”

  He opened his mouth to say something. What, she might never know.

  “I’ll do it,” she said, obviously surprising him. “I’m going to change my vision, so that I can see the Schön even if they’re invisible. They’re brighter than humans this way, but I won’t have time to judge brightness. I’ll simply fire at whoever comes out that door.”

  “Noted. Just be careful.” He planted a hard kiss on her lips, slipping his tongue inside her mouth for an all-too-brief taste. And then he was gone, creeping right behind Lucuis.

  Staying here was going to be the hardest thing she’d ever done, she realized. Already she wanted to tag behind him, watch him. Guard him. He’s strong. He can protect himself. Knowing didn’t stop the worry, though. He was her man, her love.

  He flicked her a heated glance before concentrating on the doorway. Both he and Lucius claimed a side. They were going to kick it in and throw themselves into the heart of battle.

  He would be all right, she once again assured herself. Switch to infrared vision.

  She heard the creak of metal and the grunt of man as the world around her once again darkened to nothing. This time, she didn’t have the flash of a single red light to break up the black. Jaxon and Lucius were already inside the room.

  “Thank God,” Mia said between grunting. She must be fighting an alien while speaking. “We followed your signal, but couldn’t find you.”

  “We can’t see them.” Eden. Grunting, as well. “I managed to tag a few with pulse beams, but those disappeared too.”

  “Le’Ace?” Dallas said, panting.

  �
��Hall,” Jaxon replied. “Don’t go out there. She’ll attack. Now throw me a goddamn weapon.”

  Glass shattered. A table overturned. At least, she thought it was a table by the thump followed quickly by teetering bowls.

  Mishka saw a red light peek from the door. It disappeared as she fired, then reappeared a moment later. She crouched, ready. The light never approached her. Instead, something skidded across the floor and sailed into her boot.

  “Gun,” Jaxon said. “Your ten minutes are up.”

  The small light disappeared.

  If she hadn’t been so nervous, she would have grinned as she palmed the weapon. Straightening, she weighed the weapon. Pyre. Having trained in the dark, she pressed her thumb against the internal dial and knew it was locked on stun. Good.

  Several minutes ticked by. More grunting, even a scream. Curses. Glass breaking, crunching. Sweat trickled down Mishka’s body. What was going on? The longer she stayed in place, the more intense her feeling of helplessness.

  There was a growl. Dallas, she thought. Jaxon cursed. Someone crashed against something solid. A red blur darted from the doorway. Le’Ace aimed and fired. The bright red line froze in place.

  Alien.

  One down.

  How many more to go?

  Had any of them managed to hurt Jaxon? Was he still unscathed?

  Panic rising. Breathing too uneven.

  Deep breath in, deep breath out. The darkness, the sounds of battle, she hated them both more with every second. Someone screeched, cutting into her thoughts. She tensed.

  The aliens began muttering in a language she did not understand, a language she had not heard before. Panic must have settled inside of them, as well, for they’d managed to remain quiet, keeping them from A.I.R. detection until now. If not for the isotope inside of Jaxon, Mia and her friends might not have found them at all.

  “You bitch!”

  Mia’s voice. Then, a red blur stepped into the hall and Le’Ace fired. Could be Mia, could be someone else. The blur managed to jump out of the way.

  “Not going to get me that easily.”

  Mia, then. Not a Schön. Still, Mishka didn’t relax. No, she geared for more. “I don’t want to hurt you, Mia.” Jaxon, where are you?