The Human

by Jenny Foster

  “I received enough money from the poker game to pay for ten passages to another universe,” she said confidently. “It might take a few days for me to get my hands on it, but it shouldn’t be a problem.”

  An unexpected smile pulled at his lips. “Does this mean that Ferthoris is paying for our escape, when all is said and done?”

  “I guess so,” Cat said happily. She laughed, and they made their way out of the zoo. “Where are we going? What do we do now?” It was strange to have someone at her side who would make decisions with her. She wasn’t alone, not anymore. Cat didn’t know if she would miss being unattached, but one thing was certain: Neither agents, nor Ferthoris III could do her any harm as long as she had Talon at her side.

  Part 2: His Companion

  Chapter 1

  It took a while for Talon to be convinced that the Krak didn’t present any more danger, but their strange behavior wouldn’t leave him alone. The water creatures were as foreign to him, a sun worshipper, as you might expect, but he knew one thing for sure. They had worked really hard to catch him and his Cat, so there had to be a strong reason behind that. Why had the last Krak just let them go then? Cat had said that she had nothing to do with that part, and he believed her. It seemed like her ability to read another person’s thoughts and even to influence that creature made her feel uncomfortable. It probably had something to do with her past with the Mind Readers – those damned, power-hungry bastards. Even his king had heard of their bad reputation. Talon remembered Ferthoris gleefully talking about founding a surveillance unit on Kanthari 7 and modeling it after the Mind Readers in structure and function.

  Well now he had gotten rid of the bastard once and for all. He didn’t owe him anything anymore. When Ferthoris had tried to sacrifice him behind his back, he had freed Talon from any obligation of loyalty and faithfulness. This wasn’t easy for him, he admitted to himself, grumbling. It wasn’t just because he had had his monarch’s back his entire life. Talon’s family had served the king for generations – practically forever. At least he didn’t have any relatives, so he wouldn’t have to worry about their well-being the minute the king heard that his top warrior had left him. Without thinking, he reached for Cat’s hand and squeezed it. The king would be furious that he had left in the middle of an assignment, but he would be even more irate when he found out that Talon had taken off with the woman he, Ferthoris III, had won in a poker game. With good reason, you could say, even though the brokering poker company moved at the outermost reaches of legality.

  Talon looked at Cat. His Cat, he thought possessively, and felt the lion inside him growl hungrily and playfully at the same time. One of the many things he cherished about this human, was the pleasant silence between the two of them. She didn’t need to chat constantly in order to feel close to him. She could leave him space, and that was exactly what he needed, he realized with a surge of adrenaline. How could he have ever thought that he would want a woman who would worship him devotedly, without ever making any of her own decisions. He grinned to himself, thinking about Cat. She was the perfect mix of defiance and submission. She was simply perfect, not just for the hungry predator inside him, but also for the man.

  “What’s up? What is so funny?” Cat’s question brought him back to the present. Talon felt freer than ever before in his life, now that he had figured out that he owed his king nothing and was going to spend the rest of his life with Cat. It felt strange, and he would need to get used to it. He shook his head. Talon finally knew what had been missing from his life. He was completely sure of one thing: He didn’t want to live without this freedom and without Cat at his side.

  “I was just thinking about what we are going to do with our newly found freedom.”

  Cat raised her eyebrows and pulled him to her. “The way you put that is strangely seductive.” The challenging flash in her eyes grew stronger. His lion reacted and stretched with pleasure. Talon could feel his predator prepare to come out and pushed it back forcefully. “I suggest we go back to the old library,” she said and walked on. Seeing her turn and walk away from him gave him an instant pang of loss, and the power of the emotion almost made him shy away. “It’s nice and dry and warm there, and we can take our time figuring out how we will get away from Earth.”

  “I have no objections to a warm place,” Talon agreed and looked at the iron-gray sky. The snow was falling in single flakes from the sky. It covered the ground with a bright white layer that crunched under their feet. The only sounds you could hear were the sounds of their footsteps and the soft breaths that sent steaming clouds out of Cat’s mouth. It was a moment of peace they could feel all around them. “From there I can hunt, and the city is close enough that we can get there quickly if we need to.”

  Her eyes widened when he mentioned hunting. For a second, he thought she might be repulsed by the idea. Then he noticed that she was breathing heavily and smelled her excitement.

  “Can I accompany you on a hunt sometime?” She asked so softly that he had a hard time making out what she was saying over the crunching snow, despite his excellent hearing.

  “If you like,” he began carefully. Cat was definitely a remarkable woman but watching him circle an animal and kill it might be something that would take some getting used to. He knew well that she accepted his predator as part of him but witnessing the act of killing was something else. The smell of the blood, the death cries of the prey, and the sound of him burying his fangs into its flesh – these things were all very real, and they would differ significantly from anything a human was used to. Just thinking about circling his prey and chasing it made his blood boil. The predator inside him was a primitive being, and was only half-tamed because of his presence, but it took great pleasure in things that humans called primitive: hunting, feeding, mating. If Cat wanted to live at his side, she would have to get to know this unpredictable side of him sooner or later, so why wait?

  “Let’s get out of here first,” he growled, his throat constricted. Talon could see the exit now and was relieved to be leaving this strange park with its cages and old smells of imprisoned animals. He asked Cat why humans liked to lock up other creatures so they could gawk at them. Her eyebrows shot up in surprise.

  “I think that it satisfies a certain need for power,” she answered his question. “This behavior isn’t just limited to humans though, is it? Your king is doing the same thing when he brings women to his harem. He locks them away so he can look at them and use them whenever he feels like it.”

  She was right, looking at it from that perspective. The brisk wind made the snowflakes dance, but it also brought with it a scent that made Talon’s hairs stand on end. He stopped, pulled Cat behind him, and looked intently in the direction from which the odor had come. No, he was not mistaken. It smelled like old fish. The Krak were around here somewhere, and if his nose wasn’t fooling him, there were more than three or four. The smell became so strong that it made him gag. He forced himself to ignore the nausea, pushing it back into his stomach. “Breathe,” he told himself. He took deep breaths through the mouth, reducing the attack on his sense of smell to a tolerable level.

  Cat was standing next to him, waiting patiently. He could feel the tension in her body as if it were his own. She stayed behind him without being told. Slowly, without making a sound, she turned around until they were standing back to back. A wave of ridiculous pride rushed through his body. They didn’t even have to speak with each other to agree on a plan. He tensed up and released his predator so that it was lurking right underneath his skin. Now, he would be able to shift within seconds. Talon closed his eyes and scented the air.

  Everything happened very quickly after that.

  Chapter 2

  Cat could feel Talon’s protective back stiffen up behind her. Now she knew what had gotten his attention. The smell of old fish, an odor she associated with the Krak, reached her nostrils, and landed on her tongue like a living being. At least the snow wasn’t falling as heavily as it had been, s
o she was able to see the trees and bushes that lined the path into the zoo clearly. Nothing was moving. Nevertheless, this was a different silence from before. She had been on a high walking next to Talon, feeling his tall body next to hers, and knowing that they were both free, but that high had been filled with distrust. Not towards Talon, no. Towards herself and her fickle fate. It was always sending obstacles her way, making her life difficult. Couldn’t things go the way she wanted them to, just once? Cat realized that she was whining, and that there was actually no reason for it. She was at Talon’s side, and she loved him. It was a crazy turn of events. Just when she had made her peace with the fact that she would probably never meet someone who could awaken more than just a fleeting interest in her, fate had thrown an alien man at her feet who made her heart race.

  She tried to remain calm and alert, but it was hard, since she couldn’t see the threat. She trusted Talon and his well-developed senses, but it was unnerving that she herself couldn’t detect anything unusual. Or could she? She tilted her head to the side and tried to feel something with her own gift. Just as she had learned at the Mind Reader Academy, she sent her spirit out in circles, searching for what was hiding in the shadows. It didn’t take long for her to find something living. Feeling her way as carefully as possible, she probed further, going in a circle around Talon and herself, until she was sure that she had been right. Just as she pulled back to herself, recalling her probing spirit, the creatures showed themselves.

  As one being, they came out of the bushes and the shadows along the edge of the path. It was the Krak. There were so many of them that, for a moment, Cat got dizzy when confronted with their sheer numbers.

  They were surrounded. Cat heard the crunching noises that accompanied Talon’s shift to his predator. Could they dare fight when they were outnumbered so badly? The Krak were still just standing there, swaying back and forth. It was spooky to look at them, swaying together in sync, and for a moment, she was distracted. It was enough that there was a lion standing behind her now, instead of an alien man. His glowing body temperature melted the snow around his large paws, and he tensed up. Right before he jumped, Cat could see what would happen next flash before her eyes like a movie.

  Talon jumped into the Krak who were standing closest to him. Cut.

  His mighty claws ripped through their flabby bodies. Cut.

  He opened his jaw so he could tear off a tentacle that was shooting out at him. Cut.

  While Talon was tearing at the tentacle, another one wound around his throat. Cut.

  A second and third tentacle found their way to his body. Cut.

  Cat wrestled with keeping even more tentacles away from her and her beloved. Cut.

  The circle of Krak drew in around her. Cut.

  Talon and Cat were dead. Cut.

  She wouldn’t allow it. It just couldn’t happen! There had to be another way! Think, Cat, she told herself, as Talon’s muscles trembled, ready to pounce. The Krak had not killed them earlier. Why would they do so now, less than an hour later?

  There were too many of them for her to have anywhere near enough time to plant impulses in their heads that would deter them from attacking. She remembered the feeling of sluggishness she had encountered in the one Krak’s head. She had neither the strength to influence more than three or four of the ocean creatures, nor enough time to do so.

  Behind her, Talon let out a dark, deep growl.

  At the last second, she was able to grab him by the scruff. Her grip alone would not have been enough to slow him down, but Cat threw her whole weight on him, trusting that the beast inside him would not fling her off with one swipe of his paw. It was enough to slow his momentum, and when she felt his eyes on her, she called his name. “Talon! They want something from us, that’s why they let us live!” The blood roared in her ears and her heart raced. The Talon she loved had disappeared under the fur of the predator. She needed to bring him out. She said his name again, softly but with an insistent tone, and finally, she saw the beginnings of understanding appear in his eyes. After three terrifying heartbeats, in which he roared and showed the Krak his sharp teeth, her heartbeat slowed. The animal’s eyes changed to Talon’s, going from yellow to the gold, warm glow that Cat recognized. Within half a minute, he was a man again. Without a word, she handed him his torn clothes. The pants were still wearable, but the shirt would need to be replaced as soon as possible. At least he had remembered to take his boots and down parka off before he shifted.

  “You think they want to talk to us?” She could still hear the feline predator in his voice, a distant echo or reminder of the killer he carried inside him. Cat ignored the shiver that his voice gave her. It wasn’t just out of fear. His voice spoke to all of her instincts and senses, almost like a wordless cry that made her body want to do its bidding.

  “I am fairly certain that we would already be dead if they wanted us to be,” Cat responded. She turned and put her hand on her warlord’s arm. “Let’s find out what they want.”

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him shake his head. It was nothing more than an implied caution, but it was enough to make the Krak come in closer. The eerie way in which they moved in complete sync with each other was the creepiest thing Cat had seen in a long time, and she had seen several weird things during her year on the run. She breathed in and out deeply, and hoped that this ancient meditation technique also gave Talon some measure of peace. “We can always still decide to fight,” she pushed him, and to her surprise, he gave in.

  “Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” he growled, but Cat noticed by the tone of his voice that he was ready to give her approach a chance. It was unbelievable. Even in a situation like this one, her love for him felt like a living and breathing being inside her, constricting her throat for a moment. Cat cleared her throat. “Then let’s try it,” she said in a shaky voice that betrayed her anxiety all too clearly.

  She looked around. Which one was likely their leader – the Krak she would need to deal with? They all looked the same to her. She could see no appreciable difference. Their gender was not even recognizable. Cat raised her hand tentatively, a sign that she was ready for a conversation. “What do you want?” she asked loudly, her voice surprisingly clear.

  She saw some movement among the creatures, and a buzzing sound arose. It sounded as if a thousand bees were taking off at the same time, beating their wings furiously. The deep tone rose, leveled out, and then grew louder than in the beginning, but then, in a flash, silence returned. This was even more unnerving than the anxious buzzing and swaying of the Krak, this absolute and deathly silence. She took another deep breath. “I ask you again: what do you want from us?”

  The ocean creatures waved at her with one tentacle, all at the same time. Were they asking her to come closer? “What do they want me to do?” she whispered to Talon, who shrugged, seemingly indifferent.

  “You wanted to negotiate with them,” he replied and gave her a mocking look.

  “That isn’t funny,” she shot back, whispering, and his mouth twitched in suppressed merriment.

  “Oh yes, it is. Very funny actually,” he said, “and in a few years, when I tell this story to our children, you will undoubtedly agree with me.”

  Fine. If Talon was relaxed enough to speak about children, then she was relaxed enough to try mind reading again. She approached one of the Krak and spoke to him directly. “I cannot speak your language, so I am going to try to read your mind.” She waited in vain for a sign of refusal. All of the creatures were standing around her, their tentacles hanging loosely at their sides. “Now,” she forewarned the one she had selected, and slid over into his head. She remembered the moment she had first heard the Krak’s voice inside her head, and prayed that it would be pain-free this time. Since she was the one who was reading their minds, she felt that there was a pretty good chance that it would be.

  Cat could see immediately that this was different. Instead of the tough swamp she had encountered on her first visit inside
a Krak’s head, this time she found a well-ordered head. The creature’s thoughts were still barely more than impulses, but there seemed to be a path that led to the interior. “No obstacles this time,” she thought, as if from a great distance, and then gave in to her longing to take the path to the interior thoughts. She had no idea how much time might have passed when she finally reached her goal. Cat couldn’t even have described how she knew that she had reached the point where the Krak wanted her to be. She just knew it – she could feel it with every fiber of her being. This was the right spot.

  She waited, unsure of what she should do. This was a completely new experience, and not just because this was only her second time in a Krak’s head. She had only experienced the voluntary opening of thoughts to a Mind Reader two or three times in her career. And what was that? Normally, she didn’t hear anything when she sent her thoughts out on a trip. Cat had always thought that only some of her senses could travel with her, because her hearing and taste senses were bound to her body, but now a slow, steady knocking reached her ears, even though they weren’t even with her! She pushed the dizzy feelings to the very back of her consciousness and followed the noise. It led her to a door of sorts, or at least that’s what it looked like to Cat. There was no door handle, but her power of suggestion was enough to open it with a hard push.

  As soon as she had opened the thing that her imagination believed to be a door, she was literally pulled into the room that lay behind it. She took in the red glowing walls and the pulsing and throbbing. Panic seized her consciousness as she realized that she was back in the room where she had once been held prisoner. She could have turned around and run out of there in a matter of seconds, if it hadn’t been for something that was pushing against her thoughts and holding her in place.