“As in spaceship?”
“Yes.”
“Then what happened?”
“I hit my zenith, and I still had not met my abraza, my melody. They forced me to retire. An unmated byema is considered a risk when we reach our zenith.”
“I’ve got a feeling you said a lot, but I have no idea how to deconstruct it. Go ahead, you retired.”
“I took my crew out on one last run. It was last minute, I never filed flight plans, we just left. We went to the dark moon. It has always called to me, I spent so much of my life either studying or fighting that I never got a chance to answer the call.
“If it was dark how did you know it was there?”
He pointed to his eyes. “They allow me to see what others could not.”
She watched as he took a slow steady breath in before allowing his lungs to deflate. The look on his face never changed, but his eyes were haunted. They spoke of a man who had seen too much.
She took another drink not liking the direction the story was going in. She concentrated on her drink and the fact that she had forgotten to eat dinner.
“You can’t see anything against the dark moon. Not that it mattered no one to be seen except us… until there was. A fleet of Hydal ships came through space-slips they shouldn’t have been able to access. They didn’t try to fight or hold our planet hostage. They destroyed it before I could get the first communication sent.”
The rolling of her stomach was threatening to send her to the bathroom or maybe she’d just lean over and lose her drink around her shoes.
“You mean they scorched the earth and made the water unable to drink?” This was just a fairytale, and they always had happy endings, right? As long as they weren’t written by the brothers Grimm.
“I mean there was nothing left but odd pieces of rock flowing in the path where once there was a planet.
She ran. Her raspberry cosmopolitans didn’t taste as good coming up.
Chapter Four
“How do you feel?” Lyrek asked as she sat back down.
“Sorry, I forgot to eat. Lightweight,” she pointed at herself while she tried to smile. “I forgot to eat dinner, and I didn’t anticipate the ending of the story you told me.”
“It’s not a story.”
“That’s part of the problem. I’m smart enough to know that it can’t be anything but a story, but part of me believes we are not the only people to inhabit space and time. You talk a good game,” she gave him a wan smile.
“That’s more than I expected from someone who was raised to believe they are alone in the universe.”
“It’s hard to look at the stars at night and convince yourself that no one else exists. Tell me about the Hydal.”
“Why don’t we do it over dinner?”
“I like that idea.”
He stood and took her hand which she was grateful for. Her balance was off and she still felt sick. Before her eyes were people she loved. She thought of Em and the rest of their friends being on the planet while she was off. Then out of nowhere, it blew up, taking everything, she had ever known with it. She’d throw up again but her stomach was empty.
The ride to the restaurant was done in silence. It wasn’t his but a popular steak place that she liked.
The waitress sat them before bringing them the two glasses of soda they ordered. No more alcohol for her, she needed to be able to think.
“What do you think about earth,” she asked as she stared at the menu.
“That I’ve never met anyone like you.”
His answer made her laugh. “We’re talking about the planet, not me.”
“The planet is beautiful. What makes it wonderful is that someone like you came from it.”
“Flattery will get you nowhere.” She was lying, it would get him everywhere please more. She clamped her lips against that truth.
“Are you ready to order?”
They stopped talking seeing the waitress headed to their table. Jade ordered her usual, steak with mashed potatoes with a side of mushrooms and onions, and a side salad. She noticed that Lyrek followed her lead.
“What happens next in the story you are writing?” She gave him a wink hoping he caught on. It was her opinion that people listened when you didn’t want them to and ignored you when you cried fire, help, rape, etc.… She could be bitter, naw not her.
“We started wandering the universe, going from planet to planet looking or our abraza, our melody.”
“Why not find an empty planet? Forget I said that.”
“We would have if we were giving up.”
“You needed women.”
“We needed our abraza’s, there were none on my ship.”
“How did you get here? Aren’t we off the beaten path? What about our government, are they clueless you’re here?”
“Your government knows.” He stopped to smile as the waiter brought their food. Once he left the couple behind them paid. The teenaged boy with them leaned over the seat.
“I hope they make that book into a movie, I’d watch.”
“At least I know I have one viewer,” Lyrek smiled and then shook his hand. The boy’s parents hustled him out. “Most of the citizen’s think the universe is empty. If they think it’s populated, they assume the other inhabitants are too far away to find them.” He stopped to take a bite of his food. He gave Jade a nod of appreciation at her selection and took another bite.
“The government knows differently. We are not the first group, nor will we be the last group to visit your planet.”
“They know you’re here,” her voice was mixed with awe and some fear. Part of her believed what he was saying. The other part wanted to stick its head in the sand and deny that anyone not born of this planet could exist.
“They just opened their arms and accepted you?” She asked when she was done chewing.
“Hell no. Your government is split into several camps. There is the one that accepts us with a few misgivings and then the one that believes we are here for world domination.”
“Are you?” H. G. Wells’s War of the Worlds was playing out in her mind’s eye. They won that one, but only because it was written by a human.
“No. It’s the easiest question you have asked me all night.” The bright light of his eyes dimmed some.
“I can’t imagine seeing my planet floating in pieces.”
“It gives a new spin to the desire for revenge and what makes a male crazy. What kept me sane was my crew. The thirst for vengeance, the desire to hate sat in front of me like a beacon calling me home. I watched as tough hardened men fell to their knees. They were never going to get back what they lost in a moment of time. They only had one question left to answer. Would they lose their soul?”
She blinked her eyes in an effort not to cry. She’d already thrown up this was the wars she was kept apart from and only saw on her television screen. This was the suffering that others went through but she was isolated from. This was a glimpse of hell and it wasn’t her hell but it felt like it.
Lyrek would protect his people but he would never make an unsuspecting world pay for another’s crimes.
They finished their meals in silence. When the waitress asked if they wanted dessert, they each got a piece of cake. It was a chocolate volcano with vanilla ice cream.
“Why are you telling me this?”
“I’m a wanted male. Not because of what I did, but who I am. The Hydal want to kill me because I am Porcoyan. Some humans want to kill me because I am alien. And you would be considered justifiable collateral damage to both the humans and the aliens after me.”
She opened her mouth to argue but nothing came out. She shut it as the words he spoke ran around her mind. Thoughts of church, synagogue, and mosque shootings swam through her mind. Were the lives, the souls lost thought of as justifiable collateral damage? Was it okay to kill as long as you got your message across?
The one thing was clear it didn’t matter if it was on earth or in the universe, they hadn
’t grown enough to stop the violence.
Her spoon dropped, the beauty of the heated chocolate along with the coldness of the ice cream was no longer making her taste buds salivate. Her stomach was sending out warnings of oncoming eruptions if she ate another bite. It seemed senseless violence didn’t settle well with her.
“I’m ready,” she whispered. What else was there to say? She couldn’t wrap her head around what Lyrek was telling her. Common sense told her it was all lies and maybe she would fall back on that later. When the sun was out and the laughter of children floated around her. Right now, she believed what she was hearing maybe it was because whatever she ate last Friday wasn’t steak. It also wasn’t venison. She knew that from hanging out with the West Virginia boys. College had been fun.
Maybe it was Buffalo, but she didn’t believe that. Whatever she ate that night wasn’t born or raised on earth.
Lyrek got the attention of the waitress. He paid and left a nice tip on the table. Generous. He had been on the earth long enough to know the rules. They walked out in silence because she didn’t know what to say.
When he turned away from her in concern, she realized she was daydreaming.
“Lyrek? What’s happening?”
“We’re being followed.”
“What?”
“Don’t turn around just keep walking.”
They were out of the parking lot for the restaurant and were walking down the street. It was a Friday night so there were people all around picking places to eat and running in and out of bars.
“How do you know someone is following us?” She turned to the side to miss a drunk who almost slammed into her.
He pointed to his nose. “I can smell the danger.”
“Umm, right?”
“We’re being tracked by two humans who are carrying a weapon specially designed to kill me. It will kill if they shoot you there won’t be enough left to get a DNA sample.”
She took a chance and looked at him. The look on his face was all business. He was serious.
“You can smell the weapon, can’t you?”
“I can. It uses a unique emulsifier.”
“Shit. They won’t fire as long as we’re in a crowd of people, right?”
“Run!” He took her hand and dragged her behind him.
The flip flops she had on came off her feet. She never stopped even when the rocks and other things she didn’t want to think about pierced her skin. If she was alive at the end of this, she’d call it a good day.
They ran down the street to people going woot-woot and catcalling. No one seemed to realize they were being chased. When they were free of the main drag, Lyrek took her through a deserted parking lot that led to an area of several trees.
“When I say duck do it.”
He still had her hand even as they made their way through the trees. He could have left her at any time, she was slowing him down and she lost her shoes. He never dropped her hand until that moment.
“Now.”
She hit the ground hard. Her brain never thought of disobeying or arguing. A man came up behind her. The round he fired that was aimed at her head missed. Lyrek brought his arm up. His elbow went into their assailant’s throat. He followed it up with a backhanded punch.
A man stopped in front of them far enough away that his shot would go off without a hitch. Lyrek threw his body forward. It elongated, stretching even as it tried to change shape. He slammed into the man hitting him in the chest knocking him to the ground. They tussled over the weapon in the man’s hand. When Lyrek got it, he stood and shot him. His body lit up like he was being electrocuted and then disappeared.
Lyrek turned and pointed at first guy. Jade turned to see the guy wasn’t trying to run away he was trying to aim his phone at her. Lyrek shot.
Two men were dead. Was the second one necessary? Was it her fault that he died?
A calm came over her. She wanted to scream, isn’t that what the women did in the movies and on television. This was shock, she was sure it was shock, but she couldn’t make herself move.
Lyrek reached down taking her hand and pulled her to her feet. After holstering the weapon, he led her back to the car like it was a normal day. Maybe for him, it was. She watched two men die who would have killed her given the chance.
Once in the car, a shield came over them. She could see it but it was translucent enough for her to look out. The car went straight up in the air. So much more than a fancy car. They moved in silence until he found a street and set them down.
They weren’t far from where she lived. When he got there, she sat in the car not moving. He got out and opened her door like the gentleman he was.
“I would have preferred introducing you to my world slowly. You needed to know. To be seen with me means that your life is in danger. You won’t be able to keep your job, your apartment or even your friends. Anyone around you will become justifiable.”
He pressed her against the car until he was flush against her. The kiss took her by storm. His tongue searched her mouth demanding entrance. She opened for him. Her heart quickened as his taste flooded her begging her to take him to bed.
She felt him press against her and she couldn’t help but slip her hand between her body to verify that he was hard for her. Shit, he was hung, and she wanted it all.
He stepped back leaving her in a puddle of goo.
“If I have no job, no place to live, and no friends. What do I get out of the deal?”
“Me.”
Chapter Five
Jade walked in making sure the door slid closed silently behind her. This time instead of kicking off her shoes she set them down gently making sure they were settled on the floor by the wall before she went to the couch.
The shoes probably had something to do with the flip-flops she lost Friday night. She tried not to think about that night but it haunted her. Common sense told her to let it go. There was no way she was giving up her life for an alien with a death sentence on his head.
If only common sense was a strong motivator in her life. She knew stupid, crazy, and all the other not for public consumption emotions. That’s why she kept hers tucked deep inside of her. She didn’t tell most people that she was the girl who laid under the stars and wished for that alien encounter. No one knew that she was minutes away from saying “F” this and throwing everything away on a whim to find something new, something that would fit with the void she felt inside. And no one would ever know what it cost her to walk away from Lyrek Friday night.
She stripped her shirt off as she walked to her bedroom. Her bra went sailing across the room as she cried out “Freedom!” She grabbed a pair of loose shorts and a tee before going back into the living room and flopping on the couch.
So far so good. No thought of Lyrek’s tongue down her throat or his thick bulge pressing against sensitive areas. No moans of need coming from her lips as she thought of the tip of his cock wedging its way through her folds to widen the entrance of her pussy. She wasn’t lying on her couch with her legs spread wide like a total wanton with one of her hands pinching a nipple while the other slowly made its way down her belly heading for the slick river trying to leave her panties.
Thank God she was above all that.
The knock at the door made her jump. Her guilty hands looked for a place to hide.
“Who is it?” her voice sounded breathless to her own ears.
“It’s Emerald, open up.”
“One sec Em.” She flew to the kitchen to wash her hands and hopefully wipe the guilty look off her face.
“Hey, come in, I wasn’t expecting you.” Jade opened the door to see Em leaning against the wall.
“What were you expecting? You have been sending me to voice mail hell since Saturday morning. Voice mail! FRIENDS DON’T SEND FRIENDS TO VOICE MAIL!”
Jade laughed and took a step back so Em could pass her. “I’ve never known anyone to hate voice mail hell as much as you do.”
“Seriously Jade, what’s go
ing on?” Em toed her shoes off before she sat on Jade's comfy chair and folded herself like a pretzel in it.
“I went out with Lyrek Friday.”
“Why do I feel like I should know that name?”
“Really, Em? Really? You don’t remember hunk a hunk of burnin’ love from the restaurant?”
“Oh shit.” Em almost fell out of the chair laughing. “Did you really just call him that?”
Jade’s dark cheeks started to heat up. “Yeah, I did.”
“I thought you weren’t into him.”
“No, you weren’t into him. I was sure he was the source of every wet dream I ever had.”
“True,” Em grimaced. “I don’t know what you see him, besides the fact that he is tall. His arms looked like they belong on a god. His ass is tight like an apple meant to be bitten. His legs look strong enough not to give out when he is carrying you. He has the mouth of the aforementioned god. You know what, never mind.”
Jade giggled, she loved Em so much. “Yes, to all that and so much more. If you keep going, you’ll hear an Amen and preach sister coming from my lips.”
Em found herself laughing again. “I don’t get it. You like him, he took you out. Why are you hiding away?”
“That’s the hard part and honestly I don’t know if I get it either.” She couldn’t make herself stop seeing him when he aimed that weapon at the man on the ground. The one fumbling for his phone.
She never asked him why he killed him. She didn’t need to ask. The reason was apparent. The man was trying to take a picture of her. If he had succeeded, she would probably be dead by now. Wasn’t that enough evidence that she should stay away from Lyrek? Then why did he draw her in?
“Jade? Em to Jade, come in.”
“Sorry, thinking.”
“There’s a bit of drool coming from your mouth right about here.” Em touched her mouth to point it out.
“No there isn’t!” Jade couldn’t stop herself from wiping just in case.
“So, you like him, but think you have to say away? OMG! Is he a mobster? He didn’t look Russian or Italian to me. That’s a stereotype, isn’t it? Wait! Is he a drug dealer? ABSOLUTELY NO DRUG DEALERS!”
Melody Embraced Page 3