by Liz Paffel
“I know of it. It closed in the forties. It was a sanitorium, where people with mental health and cognitive issues went for live-in treatment.”
“It has no current use that you know of?”
She shrugged. “I’m no expert, but I don’t believe so. The county owns the property now. They used it for storage at one time, but I think that’s about it. Why?”
“I believe many captives are being held there.”
Her heart flipped. “Brandon? Is he there?”
Tryllin took her upper arms in his hands, his eyes slowly sweeping over her. Tenderness crossed his expression. “I do not know yet. Teams have been sent just now to investigate. I need multiple delivery devices for the xerron-G because there is more area to cover than originally planned.”
The reminder of her place made her recoil a bit and step away from him. Why did she feel such a need to be accepted by him for more than what she was? She was a means to an end for him. She’d allowed him to use her body. That’s it.
Wasn’t that the way between most casual relationships?
Not that she’d know. She only knew from women’s magazines.
“Okay.” She turned away, wishing him away in her mind.
The door to the lab opened and closed and she finally turned around. She was glad that Tryllin had left, yet the room felt remarkably empty without him in it. Two guards stood just inside the door, yet another reminder of her place. They’d likely been ordered to listen and watch her every move.
A dull ache started near her left breast and quickly blossomed into a sharp pinching sensation. Pressing there with the palm of her hand, she frowned and headed to a long silver metal table. Various equipment sat there.
“Priya,” she called. “Let’s figure out how we’re going to do this thing.”
“Do you know they sent the rest of the Summoned women up there?” She pointed up. “They’re gone from earth forever.”
“At least you weren’t among them.”
Priya gave a sarcastic laugh and wiped her mouth with her hand. “I don’t know which is worse.”
They could ruminate on their fates all day. She still had so many unanswered questions and just thinking about what-ifs was enough to terrify her. Instead, she needed to focus on the task at hand. Glancing to a freestanding refrigerator, she noticed two clear boxes, each holding a bright lump that resembled a crumbly looking rock.
“You’re telling me that the Axxeon don’t have the technology to create their own delivery system? Why are they making us do it?”
“I don’t know. I’m not even sure what this stuff is. Tryllin said once vaporized, it will knock the Nozing out. They want them unconscious for whatever they are planning next.”
Priya stood close to Alora, her voice low. “Maybe the Axxeon react to it as well, and that’s why they won’t touch it.” She gestured with her eyes, communicating that they should keep that consideration in their back pocket. She increased her vocal tone in case the guards really were listening. “He said to aerosolize it?”
“Create a vapor delivery system.”
“What it’s point of sublimation?”
“He didn’t say. I get the impression they don’t know much about this stuff except what it does to the Nozing.”
Priya rolled her eyes. “Of course, they don’t.” She walked to the refrigerator and peered at the boxes. “I mean, it looks like granite. Could we be lucky enough that something about it turns to gas when exposed to oxygen?”
Alora spied two bio suits and respirators hanging on the opposite wall. “I guess there’s one way to find out.”
They slipped into the full protective gear and set up the equipment they needed to run a few tests. Alora couldn’t help but peek at the Nozing prisoner in the holding chamber. He’d barely moved since being brought in. It was clear that he was not healthy, that something terrible had been done to mutilate his body so. A pang of sympathy went through her each time she glanced at him. How cruel was it that she was creating something before his very eyes that would help kill off his people?
“Alora?” Priya touched her shoulder. “Are you ready.”
“This is so wrong. He’s sitting right there and we’re making this thing in front of him. Does he know that we’re going to test it on him? That its purpose is to kill him off?”
“You can’t think about that,” Priya said gently as she gathered a few things. “Just focus on Brandon.”
Her friend was right, of course. But even as they took a very small sample of the strange material from its container, went inside the airtight containment room, and played around with it in various ways, she couldn’t stop wondering how Tryllin could order the death of a species without batting an eye? Yes, it had been done to their women. But was retaliation and revenge ever a true solution?
Her life experiences had been so different. She hadn’t experienced death and trauma the way the aliens had. She certainly didn’t know what it felt like to watch half the population die before her eyes. Revenge always had its place in books and movies. But what about real life?
How would she feel if the Nozing killed Brandon?
Anger came to life inside her. They’d already kidnapped him and set fire to the city. That alone made her feel stabby, a feeling that would only multiply if something tragic happened to her brother.
Resolved to get this over with, Alora returned to her work until the hours passed and her head started to feel light. Cool sweat beaded along her hairline as her face flushed inside the protective hooded mask. Jahtal had stopped by with a tray of food, but Alora had denied it. They were too consumed with what they were doing to stop and eat. They hadn’t figured out exactly what the red substance was, but they now knew how to turn it into vapor fog.
“I think we’ve got it.”
Priya held up the capsule they’d created. “They just have to throw this hard enough to break it and the red stuff will begin to vaporize.” She produced the smaller sample they’d set inside a round delivery system. Her eyes slid to the Nozing captive.
Just then, the doors opened and Tryllin came in, followed by his brother. Both men took similar wide-legged stances, arms crossed.
“Have you made progress?” Tryllin swept her with a gaze through the glass that separated him from the testing room. He seemed to realize what Priya was holding in her hand and recoiled. Both he and Hahn took a step back. Even though the material was contained behind thick glass, the mere sight of it was enough to make them squirm. Alora’s brows shot up. Priya had been right. Whatever this stuff was seriously terrified the Axxeon.
“We have a sample ready to try on the test subject.”
“We will observe from outside.” Tryllin and Hahn left the lab, pulling the Axxeon guards with them, and peered in through the view panel in the door. Alora found her hands shaking as she and Priya left the treatment room and walked to the container where the Nozing was.
He didn’t look up as they approached. He didn’t flinch as she opened a small drawer that fed directly into the container and set the material inside it. All she had to do was lift the top, and there’d be a two second delay before it began to vaporize. More than enough time to shut the drawer. Her hand trembled harder.
“I can’t do it, Pri.”
“You have to. They’re watching us. Do it for Brandon.”
A quiet grunt came from inside the container. “Do not worry, human woman. Do what you must.” The Nozing spoke in an even, understanding tone as if he were accepting of whatever fate he was dealt.
Alora clenched her eyes and counted to three. “For Brandon.”
She pulled the tab on the container and slammed the drawer shut. Almost instantly, a red haze filtered up from the sample and spread like an ethereal, translucent red blanket through the container. It billowed and danced, quickly expanding until it filled every inch of space. The Nozing looked up and stared at the vapor, his expression almost appreciative as if it were a beautiful thing.
Without preamble, h
e tipped to his left and rolled off the cot. Alora cried out and jumped back as he hit the floor. Motionless.
“He is not dead.” Tryllin’s reassuring voice came through the intercom from a button he depressed on the outside. “He is sleeping. We will time how long until he recovers.”
She made eye contact with the King through the glass. She might believe he was trying to ease her conscious, but she didn’t understand how to read him well enough to know. Another wave of lightheadedness went through her. Gasping for breath, she pulled off her hood and took a lungful of air.
“Whoa, you’re pale.” Priya pulled off her own hood. “Maybe you should have taken that food after all.”
“I have to sit down.”
Alora felt her way to the chair and sat. Dark spots floated before her vision. Her heart pounded unusually hard inside her chest. Her friend was right beside her, unzipping the bio suit and helping her to shrug out of it. “Are you able to walk through the decontamination mist?”
She nodded. She’d probably gotten a slight exposure to whatever the substance was. Tryllin had said it wouldn’t affect humans, but maybe he was wrong. Priya helped her from the chair and walked her through the spray, then the pressurized dryers that blew away any remaining particles while drying the sanitizing mist. She barely remembered sitting back down, or Priya getting out of her own suit.
She blinked and Tryllin was in front of her, bent down on one knee with a look of pure concern on his face. He’d come back inside the very room he’d fled over concern about the red stuff, to check on her. He placed a palm to her forehead and his look of concern grew.
“Your pulse is racing. Why did you not eat after you mentioned you were hungry?”
“Too busy.” Her breath came in hard spurts, words nearly impossible to form.
Tryllin glanced down at himself, holding out one arm and turning it over before looking back to her. “Now you are depleted. This is unacceptable.”
“Not hungry. Need to rest.”
Something wasn’t right. A heavy weight sat on her chest, making it harder and harder to breathe. Sweat along her forehead spread down her neck and into her armpits. She felt simultaneously hot and cold and had the strongest urge to get up and walk around, as if she needed to do something.
Her vision went in and out as reality began to spin around her. Jahtal appeared with a grim expression. Priya cried out, reaching for her. Quixx flashed glowing cuffs, turning them onto Priya’s wrists. Alora wanted to help her friend, but she was too weak. She had the sensation of lying on something cold as it moved around. Bright lights above her, cold metal beneath her downturned palms.
Tryllin was there, beside her. His hand gripped hers. His big, tall body kept pace with her as she floated through time.
Nausea rose in her throat, the squeezing heaviness in her chest multiplying with a flutter of her heart against her sternum.
“Her heart is going out of rhythm. Cut her dress open at the chest.”
Tryllin’s voice growled a low warning. “I will do it.”
Alora danced in and out of consciousness, her brain grabbing words at random.
“Atrial fibrillation… stress on her heart… urgent… pulse too fast.” Her eyes closed. “Yes, this will hurt her, my King.”
Something cold raced up the inside of her arm and spread over her ribs and to her hip, then across her chest and abdomen. It was inside her veins, thick like iced mercury. The burning cold intensified. Her back arched and she moaned low, the vocal tones turning into a disbelieving cry as her heart stopped.
Just like that. The organ paused, inside her chest, suddenly still and void. Her brain registered the cease of her pulse, her lungs squeezing and screaming for breath as her chest pressurized.
Her heart flipped a double beat and fell back into a pulse as the coldness assaulted every vessel inside her, ripping, shredding. Her eyes rolled up hard in the sockets before everything went black.
Chapter Fourteen
“You must make a decision, my King. And soon.”
Yawndit the physician set down his medical bio scanner and pulled the white sheet over Alora’s chest. Tryllin looked at the image on the illuminated screen on the wall.
The pod he’d had implanted in her upon their first meeting was exactly where they’d placed it next to one of her major arteries near her heart. The pod had implanted it’s hair like projections into the artery, creating an unbreakable bond. Deep inside it, lay a capsule carrying a potent virus, one Tryllin knew killed Nozing. Attempting to remove the pod would create extensive damage to her cardiac artery. She’d bleed to death before it could be extracted.
“Her body is reacting to the pod, likely from some minor breakdown of the surface which has released foreign properties into her system that her body recognizes as an enemy. Her immune system is attempting to fight it off. However, it’s her heart that is most concerning. I am unsure why, but the pod is converting her heart from a normal rhythm.”
“My option is to detonate the pod before it kills her, or simply let it kill her.”
Yawndit shrugged. “Well, my King, in theory the viral pod can still be detonated once she has died. Her body can be used as the transport system even after death. The question is then how to introduce a corpse into the enemy ship.” The healer gave Alora a glance. “I’ve stabilized her heart for now, but it is only a temporary fix. My advice is to use her while she’s alive, as quickly as you can.”
A flash of tossing Alora’s dead body into the Nozing ship played in his mind, her limbs flopping lifelessly, her glorious hair strewn around her head. The comlet on his wrist made his skin itch. Glancing at it, he spied the varied programs waiting for his touch on the square screen. One of those programs detonated the pod, releasing the virus into its host-- Alora-- who would then infect any Nozing in the immediate area. In turn, they’d infect each other until the entire ship was dead. The virus moved fast and with one-hundred percent efficacy.
Even as he imagined his plan coming to life, his mind rejected it. She was his captive, his pawn, his means to proving himself worthy as a warrior King. Yet… his heart saw her as something more.
Soft, yet strong. Unsure, yet confident. Reserved, yet passionate. He’d known the moment she’d set foot into his compound that she was meant to be something more.
And then she’d given him her body and it was confirmed, but he ignored it. He denied what his heart already knew.
She was his mate.
But it was too late for them.
Her eyelids fluttered, the movement grabbing his attention. Hurrying to her side, he scooped up her hand and got down on one knee to her level beside the bed. Yawndit didn’t hide his obvious surprise.
“Alora, how do you feel?”
She tried to sit, but he held her down with a gentle hand. “Did I have a heart attack? It felt like my chest was going to explode.” Her hands touched her chest, spreading over the width as if to make sure she was in one piece.
Yawndit tapped on his handheld device. “No, captive, you did not have a heart attack. Your heart lost its rhythm which produced your symptoms.”
“Her name is Alora.”
The physician did a double take. “What’s that, my King?”
Tryllin stood to his full height. “Her name is Alora. Not captive.”
The Axxeon was obviously confused but didn’t question it. He bowed at the waist. “My apologies, my King, Alora.”
“Is she well enough to leave the medical bay?”
“I will do a final check now that she is awake. But I believe so, yes. She needs rest until it is time for her to resume her… duties.”
“Finish up, then.”
Alora was watching him warily as if she knew something was causing turmoil inside him. He could not look at her. She and her friend had created the delivery system for the xerron-G. Once his warriors confirmed that human captives were being held in the Nozing compound, he’d send his team back to overcome the enemy with the vapor. The xerron-G c
ompound could not be filtered. The respirator masks the Nozing liked to wear would not stop it.
Another team would introduce the vapor capsules through the Nozing ship’s air intake valves, detonating them so the gas pumped through the fresh air system and distributed through the ship.
Then it would be time to release the virus.
With one word of confirmation from his warriors, and it was all systems go.
“Things look well enough at this time that she may be moved.” Yawndit gestured to her neatly folded dress and shoes on top of a counter. “I will check on her again in a few hours’ time.” With a small bow, the physician left the room.
Alora pushed herself into a sitting position and Tryllin found himself once again beside her. His pulse beat hard and fast, emotions trying to claw their way out of him. He gripped her hand between his and grabbed her eyes.
“What happened to me?”
Her skin was so pale and soft, her bone structure delicate. She looked fragile, but she wasn’t. She was much stronger than he’d ever anticipated. She’d impacted him in a way he never expected a human would do. He thought he’d simply choose a mate at the Summons and rut a kinder into her womb and that was it.
He never considered he might want a female for more than carrying his child.
“Your heart fell suddenly ill,” he said softly. “But you are better now.”
Going around the medical bed where there was more room, he pulled the covers aside and sat down next to her. Her lips turned up in an uncertain smile, her eyes lighting as he stretched out next to her. Reaching his left arm behind her shoulders, he curled her into him until she moved to her side and slowly, cautiously lowered her head onto his chest. Tryllin sighed and snugged his arm tightly around her body.
He had never simply laid with a female outside of sexual encounters before. Human couples liked to sleep in the same bed-- he’d seen it in movies-- and considering how wonderful it felt to have her pressed against him, he understood why.
