by C. R. Jane
At that statement, the staff member gripped his arm firmly. "That's enough now," he barked, beginning to drag him away from all of us.
"Did you ever find out what the Council was doing with all those human women, or do you still not care?" he cackled. "Because I did," he said, beginning to laugh uproariously. The laugh echoed down the hallway until he was out of sight, leaving us alone.
I stood still for a moment, struggling to put together everything he had just said with what I had been told and learned before this. I finally looked at them. "Were you the ones that brought women like Bruda to the Council to be their slaves?" I asked, horror freezing my insides.
"I don't think we should talk about that here," Thane said warily. “There’s more to this than you can understand right now.”
Derrial tried to grab me again to lead me out of the facility, but my feet refused to move. It was like I had been encased in ice.
It was bad enough when I had thought that they had known about the existence of my parents and possibly other human beings on this planet. But to find out that they'd actually been the ones harvesting humans to bring them back to Veon for the Council’s use. And that the Council had then used the human women as sex slaves...
Everything just kept getting worse. It had been awful to think that I was the special human that they had brought back for the first time to try and solve the Vepar’s fertility issues. But I was just one person. The idea of them stealing human women on a mass scale...it was just incomprehensible.
They were monsters. There was no way around it.
I felt something break inside of me at that moment. It was like something snapped, and I was left with an emptiness in its wake that felt irreparable.
“Stop looking at us like that,” Derrial groaned, rubbing his heart like I had mortally wounded him.
“You make me sick,” I spat at them. “How can you even deign to call me your mate when I’m human. What made me different than all of those poor people that you sentenced to a life of unending torment?”
“Just let us…” started Corran.
“There’s nothing you can say to make this better,” I screeched, probably causing a scene to whoever was listening behind closed doors. I expected the facility’s security staff to arrive at any moment, but I didn’t care.
“We’ve changed, you have to admit that,” Thane answered desperately.
I began to back away from them, not sure where I was going to go. I knew I wasn’t safe to be away from them, but in this moment...I wasn’t sure how I could stay.
Just then an alarm started blaring, practically bursting my eardrums with how loud it rang. The guys looked around, immediately trying to analyze where the danger was coming from.
Derrial grabbed me, this time not letting me go as he began to drag me down the hallway. I didn’t fight him this time, I wasn’t a fool.
I noticed that Thane hadn’t moved from where he was standing. He looked torn.
“What are you doing? We need to go!” barked Derrial.
“My mother,” he said. And that was all he needed to say. Whatever this alarm was, it sounded serious.
“Fuck,” said Derrial. “Let’s go.” He turned around and started to move back in the direction we’d come from. He was walking so fast that I couldn’t keep up, so he had to hoist me into his arms as the guys started to run.
His touch made my skin crawl, but what could I do?
We had just reached the wall where I thought his mom’s room lay beyond, when a sudden trampling of hurried footsteps came from the left of us.
I looked up and immediately felt Derrial shudder with panic beneath me.
“Grab her,” he barked, but Thane was already blasting through the wall to escape. Evidently, we didn’t have enough time for him to try and activate the door.
Derrial must have decided he needed to get me out of there because he turned to run back outside.
But it was too late.
Vepar after Vepar came streaming towards us. But they weren’t regular Vepar. Something was wrong with them. The sounds coming out of their mouths didn’t resemble any language I had ever heard.
They lurched like they’d lost control of their functioning body and now it just moved like someone controlled them. Faces pale, clothes torn, limbs inflicted with wounds and bloody cuts. What happened to these people?
An unsuspecting nurse headed out of a nearby room when three of the Vepar lunged at her, dragging her to the ground. She screamed, and Thane charged. He hurled a fist into one man, then lunged for the two other attackers. He flipped one off the men in an incredible wrestling match to the ground. Shoving the last man off the nurse, he dragged the woman back to her feet by the back of her uniform, the poor thing crying, blood pouring from her bites and scratches. She darted back into the office.
I whimpered and recoiled into Derrial. My heart shuddered as I watched them scratch and bite her. They were like zombies.
Please don’t let it be zombies. I can’t handle that on top of everything else.
Derrial pushed me behind him. “Corran take the few at our rear,” he commanded, his voice tense and strained. “I’ll take the rest with Thane.”
“Pet,” he said to me without looking back. “Please stay low and hidden.”
Then he burst forward at the onslaught of Vepars.
Behind me, Corran had fought and knocked to the ground a man with a single punch, while two others lunged onto his back.
I cried out and trembled insanely. But instinct punched me in the gut, and I scanned the hallway, finding only a metal table on wheels for a weapon. I ran and grabbed the damn table and shoved it toward one of the demons, driving it right into the hip of a man about to pile on top of Corran as well.
He groaned with shock and stumbled over his own feet, hitting the ground hard.
Corran kicked a man in front of him, while I grabbed the arm of the woman clinging to his back like a monkey, her mouth gaping open, readying to bite him. Drool seeped from her mouth and I gagged, but I wrenched her backward.
“Get off him,” I cried.
Corran whipped around, his expression startled, but he flashed me a grin. “Thanks.” A fast kiss on my lips, and he threw himself back against the three encroaching Vepar. If I wasn’t so terrified, I might swoon.
Someone slapped a hand to my shoulder.
I flinched around, my heart racing, and shoved the hand off me.
A young man with stubby white horns and a square head snarled, lips peeled over sharp canines. His shirt had been half torn and hung off low on one shoulder. His flesh was dotted in bite marks.
My feet slipped backward.
My stomach clenched.
Hands raised; grubby fingers reached for me as he rushed forward.
I screamed, backing away.
Corran whirled toward me in an instant, grabbed the attacker by the throat, and hurled him into a wall.
I stared in awe, in complete and utter amazement at his strength.
More of the infected or whatever they were, staggered down the hallway, and I looked left and right, unsure where to go, where it’d be safe.
I reached for a nearby door, pushing on the handle, but it was locked. I snapped around, my heart in my throat. No other doors to try, so I slid down near the metal table, my back to the wall, and tucked my knees against my chest. I tried to curl myself tight, too scared to move. A scream bubbled on my throat. After everything, I didn’t want us to die here. Not like this.
The fights grew vicious, and I remained low, watching every blow... every bite and punch. I lost concept of time, but when I saw Derrial fall, I couldn’t help but run to him. I didn’t even register what was going on around me. All I could see was Derrial lying on the ground motionless, blood seeping from his body.
I sank to my knees beside him. My hands immediately went to his chest in a desperate attempt to stop the bleeding. Not that that ever worked... even in the movies. But I still had to try.
"It's okay
, it's okay," I said desperately. Derrial opened his eyes and took a deep, rattling breath. Even with my nonexistent medical knowledge, I knew that rattling wasn't a good thing.
I looked around desperately for Corran. Surely, he would have his device with him to help heal these injuries. He was in the middle of a fight with two rabid Vepar however, and it didn't look like he was winning. Looking around next for Thane, his situation was even more dire. He was on his knees, bloody slashes all over his body as he tried to fend off at least five of the crazed Vepar who were attacking him from all angles.
Looking down at a dying Derrial, I realized we weren't going to make it.
Derrial slid his trembling hand to mine and took it in a weak grasp. "I'm so sorry, Ella," he wheezed out.
I didn't know what he was saying sorry for, was it for kidnapping me in the first place or transporting humans to Veon for years… Did it really matter? At that moment, honestly, I didn't care.
Maybe that made me a terrible person that I could forgive all of that but seeing the being that I'd fallen irreversibly in love with dying in my arms...that made forgiveness a lot more possible.
"I'm so sorry for all of it,” he repeated, his eyes glistening. "At least now you will be free."
This wasn't happening. This wasn't real life. After everything we'd been through, this was really the end.
I heard a pained grunt and my eyes flashed over to Thane. Piles of Vepar surrounded him, but he was on his hands and knees on the floor, covered in blood. My eyes flashed over to Corran, still expecting somehow that one of them was going to be able to save the day. Corran was passed out on the ground, the two Vepar he had been battling on the ground alongside him.
I stood up and ran over to Corran’s body. He was still breathing, but barely. I started patting him down, looking for the device. I couldn't find it.
"Where is it?" I cried out in an anguished voice.
His eyes fluttered open. "I left it on the ship. I don't know why I did that. This is my fault," he rasped. "All my fault."
"Shhh," I soothingly told him, stroking his face and brushing his lips with a gentle kiss. The ship was too far away for me to make it there and back in time, if I could even find the device in the first place. We were out of time.
I was aware that there were still some crazed Vepar stumbling in the hallway around me, but at the moment, I didn't care if they killed me. What was my life going to be like anyway alone on this forsaken planet without these three men?
I wished at that moment it was possible for me to be in three places at once. I wanted to touch Thane one more time.
“I love you, kitten," I heard him call out softly. My crying intensified.
I was trying to be strong, but the tears were falling so rapidly that they were soaking Corran’s shirt.
Looking at his face, I realized that I wasn’t even going to get to look at them as they really were because they were still wearing their disguises. We were all going to die looking like other people.
I began to hear a loud buzzing sound.
It grew louder and louder until the whole building began to shake. What was that? Had the Council arrived to blow the building up?
The buzzing seemed to really affect the surviving crazed Vepar still milling around. They sank to the ground, screaming in agony with their hands over their ears.
I didn't understand what was going on. The buzzing was loud, but not loud enough to cause physical pain. They were acting like they were being tortured.
The buzzing finally stopped. There was an intense silence, it almost sounded louder than the buzzing had been. It was funny how that worked.
The wall down the hallway opened up and a group of male and female Vepar dressed in battle gear came running in from the outside. Was this the Council's army? I looked around for a weapon that I could use against them, but the group was upon us before I could grab anything.
I took a deep breath, prepared for whatever came next and the inevitability of my enslavement or death.
I was shocked when a familiar face made his way from the back of the group. It was Lanton, Thane’s father. I had never been so happy to see someone.
"Ella," he said, looking relieved. That relief immediately disappeared as soon as he saw the carnage around us and the fact that his son was one of the fallen. Pulling a device out of his pocket that looked achingly similar to Corran’s healing device, he ran over to Thane and started running it over him. Within a minute Thane’s cuts were sealing up, and his breathing was improving. Once Thane had opened his eyes, looking so much better than before, Lanton next ran to Derrial. "Shit," he muttered to himself. “It might be too late."
Thane’s father started running the device all over Derrial frantically. "Come on, son," he barked frantically.
I was distracted by Thane sitting up. A wave of relief so potent that it almost succeeded in knocking me to the ground rushed over me. I looked down at Corran. We didn't have much time left with him though. What if he and Derrial didn’t make it?
Thane walked over to me, and I had never been so intensely grateful for Corran's brilliant mind that had created such amazing technology. Thane looked almost completely healed.
Thane gathered me in his arms, burying his face into my neck. "I love you," he whispered fiercely. That emptiness that had built inside of me since the earlier revelations, and which had only gotten larger in the aftermath of seeing their broken bodies… it started to fill.
I heard a sigh and my attention leaped back to where Lanton had been furiously working over Derrial’s broken body. To my relief, Derrial’s breathing had started to steady as well, the rattling sound disappearing, although he hadn't woken up yet. Lanton kept moving the machine over him for another minute before he stood up and made his way quickly to Corran.
Corran's eyes blinked open, but his gaze was hazy. "It's okay, son," Lanton said soothingly to him as he started to run the machine over Corran’s body.
At that moment I was so grateful for the men’s bond that had extended to their parents as well.
Corran recovered before Derrial even opened his eyes. We had been so close to losing him. It was going to be a long time before I would be able to let any of them out of my sight.
While Lanton had been saving my men's life, the rest of the Vepar that he had brought with him had disposed of the remaining infected Vepar. Derrial, Thane, and Corran had taken care of a lot of them, but the sheer number of them had made it impossible for warriors even of their caliber to win.
Everyone still standing looked around the hallway with a little bit of shock. The amount of infected Vepar they had been holding in this facility was almost unbelievable. It didn’t surprise any of us that they had been able to escape and get past the staff.
Thane put a hand on his father's shoulder and bowed his head in respect. "Thank you, father," he said, his voice choked with emotion. "That was almost the end for us."
Lanton seemed equally choked up. Coming so close to death definitely brought everything into perspective, even for two gruff and powerful men like Thane and his father.
"But how did you know to come here?" Thane asked after a moment, looking puzzled.
"I knew you would try to see your mother when I heard about all of the crazed Vepar that the Council had started to put into this facility. A large group of them tried to invade the Council building this morning," Lanton continued. "As soon as I heard that, and none of you had checked in with any of us, I knew I needed to make sure you were all right for myself."
He pulled Thane in for a tight hug. "I don't know what I would do if I lost you," he said, his voice swelling with emotion. “I’ve never recovered from what happened to your mother. But losing you would be my final breaking point.”
Thane looked up suddenly. “We need to check on her,” he said worriedly.
“I already sent in some of my men to make sure she was safe. She didn’t even know anything was happening.”
Thane nodded, looking relieved.
/> “Let’s get out of here,” Lanton said, looking around in disgust at the carnage around us.
“We need to bring her with us,” said Thane, moving to walk to his mother’s room.
“I’ll be taking her with me. You aren’t really in a position to be moving her around with you right now,” Lanton said.
That made sense to me, but by the look on Thane’s face, what Lanton had just said surprised him.
“You’re taking her with you?” he asked, sounding concerned. “Are you going to be alright seeing her every day?”
Lanton cleared his throat, resolve shining from his face.
"She’s still my wife," he said in a gravelly voice. "I can still picture her as she was, every memory that we shared runs on a loop in my head. I guess I’ve just been a coward since everything happened. It just felt too hard to see her as she is now when I can remember so clearly how it was in the past. But I still love her, I’ll love her until my dying breath. And maybe someday she'll come back to me."
He cleared his throat. "Until then I'll keep her safe." He clapped Thane on the shoulder and walked away. Thane looked like he was holding back tears. He had shown more emotion today than I had seen from him ever.
I suddenly felt exhausted. I knew it would probably take a very long time before the images from today left my own head. I just hoped that we would get the chance to replace them with the good memories that Lanton at least had of him and his wife.
A pair of arms encircled my waist, and I whirled around, knowing who they belonged to immediately. Derrial was up. He looked tired but healed. I wrapped my arms around his neck and began to sob. It seemed like all I did nowadays was cry.
“Shhh, it’s alright, pet,” he whispered in my ear. The sound of his voice only made me cry harder.
“You almost dieeeed,” I whimpered. “You all almost did.”
He didn’t say anything, just continued to hold me in his strong grip.
“Let’s get out of here,” he said after a few minutes. I pulled away, trying to wipe his shirt discreetly as I was sure there was a bucket of snot and tears covering his shoulder after the cryfest I had just engaged in.