by S. E. Smith
Chaos snorted, and I glared at him. At least, he spared me any smart-ass comments.
“The Kryptids have tons of humans that they injected with that thing all piled up on big platforms. They got my partner about twenty minutes ago, and …”
What the fuck does she mean by partner?
Her voice trailed off, and she took a hesitant step back, clasping her hands in front of her. The way she eyed me warily, I realized my anger at her words must have shown.
“Control yourself, my brother,” Legion mind-spoke to me.
To my shame, I’d not only displayed my displeasure—sense of betrayal even—on my face, I’d psychically broadcast it loud enough for my brothers to frown at me.
“We were going to avoid that area to keep you safe. But, of course, we can help you save your mate,” Chaos said.
“My mate? Andy?” Victoria exclaimed as if Chaos had said something ludicrous. “Oh no, he’s not my partner that way. He’s my partner at work. We’re both medical doctors. And I’ve been way too busy to date anyone, what with the long hours and … Oh gosh, I’m babbling,” she said, pressing her palms to her reddening cheeks.
She was unbearably cute … And delightfully single. I wanted to thump my chest, shout ‘mine’ and then haul her away from here.
“It’s okay, Red … Victoria. Stay out of sight with Stran. We will free your partner,” I said with a stupid grin on my face.
“You’re so pathetic,” Rage said, rolling his eyes at me.
“Bite me. She’s my soulmate.”
“Whoa, someone is getting ahead of himself,” Chaos retorted. “We’re all attracted to her stunning aura.”
“But my fangs are aching, and my mating glands are swelling. Are yours?” I challenged.
All ten of my brothers turned sharply to look at me, their mouths gaping.
“Your mating glands have awakened?” Legion asked, disbelieving.
“Yes,” I replied, both excited and awed.
“Err … Are you guys doing that telepathic thing?” Victoria asked.
“Yes, we were,” I said. “Apologies. Let’s go get your partner.”
Turning on my heels, I led the march towards the hospital.
“Congratulations, my brother,” Legion said with genuine affection. “May others among us also—finally—be so blessed.”
The others echoed the sentiment. My chest warmed with love for them. Legion, Chaos, Rage, and Wrath—who was piloting one of the evacuation shuttles—were my closest friends. We’d all been born out of the first batch of bio-engineered Xian Warrior embryos. We came out of our incubators within hours of each other.
But now, as we were approaching the front of the hospital, wasn’t the time to reminisce. Adrenalin pumping, bloodlust rising, the sight of so much prey before me claimed my attention. From where we stood, we could clearly see one of the hovering platforms Victoria had mentioned.
Such a pretty and appropriate name for a delightful female.
I chastised myself for this passing distraction and refocused. That our scanners weren’t detecting them meant there could be other Breeding Swamps in the city as well. We would need to do another thorough sweep after we’d pushed back the Kryptids. Knowing that they required warm and humid environments for the larvae to thrive would help to pinpoint their location with thermal scans.
Considering the large number of Kryptids, we threw in some flash grenades to blind them and even the odds. While the humans paralyzed with the Mexlar distributor implants would find it unpleasant, it wouldn’t hurt them. Careful not to hit any of the humans, we thinned the Kryptid ranks with blaster fire and poisoned darts, which we regurgitated from pouches at the backs of our throats. The lethal venom coating them would kill our targets in seconds once it managed to reach the soft tissue beneath their chitin armor.
And, at last, we initiated hand-to-hand combat, or rather scythe-to-bladed-pincer combat. The Kryptid Soldiers grew battle appendages on their forearms as we did. But while ours looked like scythes, theirs resembled pincers with bladed inner edges. Our scorpion tails—which they didn’t possess—allowed us to inflict serious damage and even kill them when they got close enough. It was like having two extra hands to stab them while they had to use one of theirs to hold their shield up and one to fight with.
Nothing excited me more than the sound of chitin shattering beneath the violent assault of my tails, of my scythes, or of my darts. Well, except for their screeches of agony. My opponent, thinking himself smart, kept ramming me with his shield. He was looking for an opportunity to strike me with his pincers while hoping for backup from his buddies. I spit acid at it three times back-to-back. I didn’t need to see his armband’s control panel to know the shield was depleting rapidly from the heavy damage caused by my acid. As soon as it collapsed, the spikes of my scorpion tails did a one-two punch at the same spot on his armor, bashing it in. I spit more acid in the opening before the fool could cover it. The divine sound of his dying squeals only made me hungry to add more Kryptid voices to harmonize with it.
My brothers and I moved forward, operating as a unit. Something about this invasion bothered me. Despite the great number of Kryptids present, General Khutu was clearly throwing his weakest Soldiers at us. They were young, barely out of basic training. Many hadn’t come into their full adult strength. Why throw away so many troops? Before our arrival, it made sense. Even young, these Soldiers far surpassed human strength. But the Kryptid General knew they stood no chance against us. Why sacrifice them?
It took us a little over twenty minutes to wipe them out in the area surrounding the hospital. Our scanners indicated the various wings of the large building were empty. But we had every reason to believe the missing population had been hauled inside, hidden from detection by some disruptor.
“We’re going in,” Legion said, gesturing at the hospital with his head.
“I’ll stay here and secure evacuation for them,” I replied, indicating the pile of humans with my chin.
“I’ll help,” Rage offered.
Legion nodded and, accompanied by our eight other brothers, he walked into the hospital.
“Wrath, we have a few hundred humans to be transferred to the safe zone. All implanted. Sending you coordinates,” I mind-spoke to him.
“Area safe?” he asked.
“Outside, yes. The rest of the unit is clearing the Swamp inside the building.”
“Acknowledged. The shuttles will be there in ten,” Wrath replied.
I ended the communication and gave Stran the all clear. By the time he and Victoria turned the corner onto the hospital’s street, Rage and I’d already removed the implants from a dozen humans. My skin warmed then tingled with pleasure at the sight of my woman. Her fiery mane, held in a single thick braid, framed her delicate face. I longed to feel her hair spilling over my chest and to run my fingers through it.
But Victoria didn’t come to me and even resisted Stran’s attempts to lure her our way. She was looking for something—or rather someone—in a street adjacent to the one where I stood.
“I’ll be right back,” I mind-spoke to Rage.
He nodded, his gaze weighing on me as I jogged towards my woman. Her head jerked my way when she noticed my approach, an air of guilt laced with worry descending upon her features. It struck me that I was still in my battle form. I hated that my presence could trigger any type of fear within her. Without stopping my advance, I shifted back to my natural form.
Victoria stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes all but popping out of her head as they widened in disbelief, her thin lips falling open in shock. I welcomed the slight burn in my back as my spiked frills and scorpion tails resorbed back into my skin, as did the defensive spikes on my arms, legs, and forehead. My fused scales thinned and parted with a crackling sound, freeing my hair, and my scythes faded.
I stopped a couple of meters in front of her, fighting to suppress the smug smile that wanted to stretch my lips. My hearts soared as her aura finally took o
n the pink hue I had been hoping for. It didn’t surprise me that she enjoyed the view. Dr. Xi had designed us to be appealing to the human aesthetic in our normal form. Victoria’s gaze slowly roamed over me, lingering on the natural loin plate covered in scales that preserved my ‘modesty’—if I even had such a thing.
“Wow,” Victoria breathed out. “That’s … That’s different.”
I snorted. “Not in a bad way, I hope.”
She shook her head and gave me another once over. “Nope. Definitely not bad. But … hmmm. You’re male, right?”
I burst out laughing, while her cheeks turned scarlet.
“Wow, I totally didn’t mean to ask that.”
“It’s okay,” I said, still chuckling. “You can ask me anything. If it is too sensitive for me to answer, I will tell you as much. Otherwise, I have no secrets. And yes, I am a male. We all are. Our creator made us very similar to your males. The ‘parts’ you’re not seeing are shielded behind a reinforced plate, and a thick layer of scales. I could part them to show you, but somehow, I believe you’d rather I didn’t.”
To my surprise, instead of squirming with embarrassment, and despite her crimson cheeks, Victoria didn’t shy away and held my gaze.
“As a medical doctor, I would certainly be fascinated to learn more about alien biological and physiological similarities and differences,” she said with poise. “But as the current timing isn’t quite ideal, I’ll have to take a rain check on that.”
“Acknowledged,” I said teasingly. “May I ask where you are headed?”
“If they haven’t moved him yet, Andy should be right around that corner,” she said, pointing with her index finger. “Our van with all the supplies we’d gathered was also stuck over there.”
“Let’s go check it out,” I said, gesturing for her to lead the way.
Stran rolled ahead, eager as always to get a first stab at any potential action. My scanner showed no enemies in a one-kilometer radius. That didn’t mean they weren’t cloaked or using a disruptor as they were doing with the humans.
Victoria cleared her throat. “So … hmmm, your people don’t wear clothes?”
I chuckled and looked down at myself. “We normally do,” I conceded. “Black t-shirts and pants, or our black Vanguard uniform. But not when we go into battle. They would only get wrecked when we shift into battle form.”
“Vanguard?” Victoria asked.
“The military force that I belong to. My brothers and I are Xian Warriors. We’ve been genetically engineered specifically to combat the Kryptids.”
“By a human?” she asked, dubiously.
“Yes.”
“So, our governments knew about you guys all along?” she asked, flabbergasted.
“No,” I replied, shaking my head. “Dr. Liang Xi was secretly approached by the leaders of the Intergalactic Coalition since his revolutionary work on genetics touched on many of the issues the original scientists couldn’t solve while trying to create us.”
“Are you saying this Coalition abducted him?” Victoria exclaimed.
I chuckled again, charmed by her fiery personality. “No, Little Red. He was asked, and he came voluntarily. As a scientific mind, wouldn’t you seize such an opportunity of a lifetime?”
“Yeah, I guess,” Victoria said, scrunching her face.
As expected, we found no enemies when we turned into the street Victoria had indicated; nor could I see her friend anywhere. A white van was stuck on what appeared to be a toppled-over concrete divider.
“Dammit,” Victoria said, crossing her arms over her midsection, as if to hug herself. “They’ve moved him.”
“Don’t worry. I’m sure we’ll find him among the others.” I gave the van an assessing look and scanned it with my armband to evaluate its weight. “Does it still run?”
“It did when I fled, but I couldn’t get it over that thing,” Victoria answered, pointing at the divider.
“I’ll fix that,” I said, wanting to both help and impress her.
I marched towards the vehicle with resolute steps, reveling in the intensity of her stare. Hooking my hands beneath the front bumper, I lifted the van sufficiently to be able to push it backwards over the obstacle. The damn thing was ridiculously heavy, especially with the stockpile of supplies in the back. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t have attempted it without the assistance of one of my brothers. However, I was in full courtship mode, and failing now would subject me to a humiliation I refused to even contemplate.
I put the vehicle back down, my muscles screaming bloody murder. But, with my pride intact, I straightened and turned towards Victoria. I suppressed the urge to puff my chest as she gaped at me with awe.
“You are every shade of badass,” she whispered.
My mind went blank for a second, then I cast a confused glance at my rear, wondering what might be wrong with it. Had I smeared it with Kryptid blood or dirt? My head jerked back towards the little human when she burst out laughing.
“I didn’t mean it literally,” she said, her eyes sparkling with mirth. “Your behind is quite spectacular … Like, seriously perfect,” she added, pink creeping back to her cheeks. “ ‘Badass’ is a human expression meaning that you’re amazing, that you’re really strong, and that people with any kind of survival instincts shouldn’t mess with you.”
More embarrassed than I wanted to admit, I tried to control my expression and gave her a grateful smile. “You flatter me, Victoria. Thank you.” I gestured to the vehicle with my head. “Want to give it a try?”
“Sure!”
I had wanted to show off my strength and had achieved my goal. So why were we both feeling awkward? Victoria hopped into the van, started the engine, and advanced by a few meters.
She lowered the driver’s window. “Seems good. Do you see any fluids leaking from underneath?”
I shook my head.
“The passenger door is stuck,” she said apologetically.
“Don’t worry. I hadn’t planned on riding. I’ll run alongside,” I said.
“What?” she exclaimed, looking at me as if I’d lost my mind.
“If more bugs show up, I do not want to be trapped inside a vehicle,” I explained.
“Oh, right.”
I smiled. “Come on, Red. Race you to the entrance.”
“Are you kidding me?”
I took off, keeping an eye on my proximity scanner to make sure nothing bad lurked in the vicinity. But my Red didn’t disappoint and stepped on it. She wasn’t able to accelerate much considering the short distance we had to cross, and while I could have easily outdistanced her at that speed, I was content to run alongside her.
“I didn’t know you were such a show-off,” Rage mind-spoke to me while leveling me with an amused stare.
“The passenger door is damaged,” I explained, my face deadpan, though he wasn’t fooled.
Victoria stepped out of the vehicle, medical bag in hand. Despite her eagerness to find her friend, she jumped into physician mode, immediately donning gloves and examining the paralyzed victims with a concerned look on her face. I crouched by her side, next to a young male. He stared at me with a mix of fear, hope, and helplessness.
“Do not be afraid, sir,” I said gently to the male. “We are here to help. We must remove the paralyzing implant in your arm. It will hurt a bit and will take some time to fade away, but by this time tomorrow, the effects will have worn off. While you recover, we will evacuate you and the other humans to a safe area.”
Turning to Victoria, I said, “This is what you’re looking for.” I showed her the barely visible bulge in the fleshy part of the man’s shoulder, then I willed the claw in my index finger to come out. “You have to make a small incision, like so,” I demonstrated, carefully slicing through the skin with my claw.
“Wait!” Victoria exclaimed. “You didn’t clean the area first!”
“Do not worry, Little Red,” I said with an indulgent smile. “The sealant we use contains antibacteria
l agents and disinfectants. I will give you one. Then you need to massage both sides of the cut like this to coax the implant out. Do not try to push it out or it will bury deeper. Then apply the sealant, like this. It will close the wound, disinfect it, and numb any pain in that area.”
Victoria opened her mouth as if to ask a question but then changed her mind. If my suspicions were right as to what the question had been, I was glad she had withheld it. The victims had been traumatized enough without having to listen to the gruesome details of the horrible fate that would have befallen them. I gave her one of my two sealant tubes, shaped like a pen. Between us—she, Rage, and I—we’d removed most of the Mexlar implants by the time the rescue shuttles appeared. We’d also found Andy along the way.
Wrath walked out of the shuttle, fully dressed in the black Vanguard uniform, followed by a few of our Hulanian Soulcatchers. While Victoria’s gaze lingered on my brother a little too long for my liking, it was Shoyesh, my Soulcatcher, who made her do a double take. Having grown up surrounded by Hulanians, I never gave their appearance a second thought. However, I could see how strange she must appear to a human. Like all the people of her species, Shoyesh was bald, with blueish-grey skin. A long appendage in the shape of a fan dangled at the back of her head with natural, intricate patterns which indicated her age, gender, cast, and psychic level. Her face, somewhat reptilian in nature, was long, with thin lips and only two discreet nostril holes. Shoyesh’s round, doll-like, midnight-blue eyes assessed Victoria in turn. She’d never seen a human female up close. And while their bodies shared similar curves, Hulanians being particularly sexy—according to Dr. Xi—Victoria’s breasts seemed to fascinate Shoyesh, as her people’s females had flat chests.
My woman made a commendable effort not to gape at Shoyesh, who reciprocated. But they both kept stealing furtive glances at one another. I made quick introductions, not going into details about Shoyesh being a Soulcatcher.
Considering the number of paralyzed humans, Wrath had brought two shuttles and a dozen Warriors and Hulanian females who immediately went to work removing the remaining Mexlar implants and loading the humans on board. By the look of it, a few trips would be required.
