The Krinar's Bane

by May Sage

  Red wasn’t a color a Krinar would wear - at least in their Center, or on their planet - and it only served to make her look more exotic to him. She wore her hair down today, soft waves falling down her back.

  Her hands were self-consciously crossed around her torso, and she played with a wayward curl. Zarken forced his fists to uncurl, and willed himself to stay in control, when she tripped on the perfectly flat surface, despite the fact that she was still wearing her flat boots.

  How did she do that? Did she have a balance issue? He made a note to check her health later. Whatever it was, he could fix it.

  Zarken moved to help her, but he’d only taken one step when a man appeared right in front of her, hand outstretched, and smiling at her.

  “There you go. A pretty lady like you shouldn’t be by herself…”

  “She isn’t,” he replied darkly, walking around the suicidal homo sapiens to reach his woman.

  Zarken captured her lips under his, simply meaning to convey that the woman was with him to her admirer, but the instant they touched, everything around them disappeared. He pulled her closer, running his hand on her back, feeling each dip and curve under her clothes. He groaned hungrily when she put her hand around his shoulders and plastered herself against his hardness.

  Madness. This was nothing short of madness.

  “You’re late, doll.”

  A minute ago, he’d been quite put out about it, but he said it without any heat behind the words.

  She shrugged. “Women tend to be. If you really wanted me here at nine, you should have said half past eight.”

  Why was he amused? Punctuality was important to him, to anyone of his race, women included. Being late, wasting someone’s precious time, was downright rude. But all he said was, “Duly noted. No Julie?”

  Which meant his prototype’s response had been optimal.

  She shrugged, a shadow passing under her eyes.

  “No, she had to go to work.”

  A lie, but he let her get away with it.

  “I can’t pretend to be overly saddened by her absence. Now come on. Our tour is about to start.”

  The tour guide, and everyone else around them, spent most of their time staring at him, and he saw a few humans take pictures. That made him frown. Staring wasn’t rude in their society, and he also understood why they found it necessary to take records of his presence – as Krinars generally avoided cities, he might be the very first one they saw face to face. But recording Eva could prove problematic. There still was the pesky matter of those resistance fighters who could try to harm her to get to him.

  But given the fact that they’d recently suffered a humongous blow, and that most of them were currently tracked and recorded everywhere they went, there was little chance of that. They wouldn’t risk it to get to a Krinar they knew nothing about.

  “Have you visited before?”

  Eva nodded. “Yes, it’s pretty much a given when you live in D.C. Most high schools organize White House tours.”

  “You were raised around here, then.”

  He’s known that, just like he knew her seven previous addresses, her social security number, and the amount of cash in her two bank accounts. But talking was distracting him from the feel of her hand in his, their fingers intertwined.

  “How are you here, by the way? I didn’t know Ks were allowed in the White House just like that.”

  Clever woman.

  “I put a request through.”

  His program wouldn’t have been nearly as useful if it didn’t take into consideration data collected around leaders of various human countries. The human technology in place to protect the president’s privacy was no challenge for any Krinar; all he had to do was disperse his nanocytes at the right place. Of course, he could have done it remotely, but he enjoyed these outings. It was his fourteenth official residence of presidents, kings, or prime ministers, all of which had been beautifully decorated. If there was one thing he couldn’t deny about human beings, it was that their artists were as emotionally complex as any Krinar.

  “And they just granted it?” her pretty, red mouth popped open, making him want to put something in it.

  He had to smile. “Let’s just say I’m hard to resist.”

  She lifted her brow and stared until he caved, giving her a better answer. “Arus, our spokesperson, demanded that I be received.”

  “You know him, then?”

  “Not well. He asked, because the Elders told him to.”

  “So,” she guessed, “you’re saying you’re pretty important amongst your people.”

  “My standing is very high in our society, yes.”

  Eva seemed curious, and fascinated as he explained how the Krinar society worked. “All of our accomplishments gain us a higher standing, while our failures make it drop. Over the years, mine has been the highest in the entire society at times, and it has decreased when I’ve taken what you would call a sabbatical decade. Some time off. It happens every other millennium.”

  That made her stop walking and stare with shocked, open eyes.

  “Did you just say millennium? Like, as an exaggeration, right?”

  Amusing little thing. “I’m over a million years old, Eva.”

  She blanched and seemed unable to formulate another word, or move for that matter, but all things considered, the woman, who’d just celebrated her first quarter of a century, took it well.

  “It’s old, by our standards,” he clarified.

  “You’re immortal, then.”

  “Biologically, perhaps, but we can certainly be killed.”

  “Erm- sir,” the hesitant tour guide called out. “Everyone is meant to stay with the group.”

  Zarken wrapped his arm around Eva and walked forward to join the other tourists. It took her a minute to start walking by her own accord.

  “Sorry. I mean, I’ve heard that you were long lived. I just didn’t think we’d talk millions of years.”

  “Most Krinars on Earth are hundreds, or thousands of years old. I’m undoubtedly the most ancient one here.”

  “I must be a baby, to your eyes.”

  Ah. So that was the reason for her distress.

  “No more or less than any human adult. I don’t believe there’s a distinct difference between a twenty-five year old, and a seventy year old woman. Your kind exists for too short a period of time to truly evolve during one lifetime.”

  She still seemed shocked, and a little sad, if he wasn’t mistaken. Zarken found himself wanting - needing - to change that.

  “There’s something on your mind, Eva. Tell me.”

  “Are you married? Do you have children? Sorry, it’s just, in a million years… humans don’t tend to do this with taken men.”

  “What do you mean by this, pretty doll?” he teased her, smiling as she blushed. “This?” he caressed her lower back, bringing his mouth to her neck, just under her ear. “Or this?” he kissed her right there, enjoying the way she gasped.

  The distraction wasn’t working. She reacted to him, of course, but he could still feel waves of unease emanating from her. Very well. He was going to have to spell it out.

  “I never had a successful union. My kind does form unions, but we only celebrate, and make them public after forty-seven years. My five relationships dissipated long before the celebration of forty-seven.”

  Which means that his standing never took a hit, but it didn’t change the fact that he’d felt like a failure each time. Something was wrong with him, he knew it. His apathy ruined every chance of keeping a woman’s affection for a lengthy period of time.

  “Why?” Eva asked.

  Of course she did. Zarken sighed. “Because I’m easily bored, and passion isn’t in my nature.”

  He frowned, this line of questioning making him think back to times he scarcely went back to. Merina, Verni, Palu, Ruja, and Ametas had nothing in common, except for the fact that after a decade of casual dating, he’d attempted to form a union with each of them, and ul
timately failed. Time had a way of bending truth, but if he wasn’t mistaken, the pull he’d felt toward them hadn’t surpassed the raw, primal attraction to the young, irrelevant human girl at his side.

  He opened his mouth to tell her that, and closed it.

  No, that wouldn’t be fair to his previous companions. Comparing the two was downright stupid. They’d been successful, beautiful Krinar women who had greatly contributed to society in their field of choice. Eva was just what he called her: a pretty doll he’d fuck, and forget about anytime now.

  “One thing they all agreed on: I worked too much.”

  His work often challenged him, which was as close to entertaining him as anything was. To his surprise, Eva laughed and bobbed her head.

  “That, I can understand. My friends all think I spend too much time working.”

  He lifted a brow. She was a secretary in a dental practice and to his knowledge, her hours were light, even in a human point of view.

  “What do you do?” he asked, recalling that he wasn’t supposed to know.

  “My day job is pretty boring - I just file some stuff and answer the phone. It pays the bills and comes with great benefits. But I also draw. What do you do?” she countered.

  Zarken chuckled.

  “I’m a mind expert, a biology expert, a calculation expert, and I own companies covering each of those sectors, as well as companies I oversee to support the growth of our society. Genetics, entertainment, engineering, and nutrition, specifically.”

  He found himself smiling as she rolled her eyes.

  “You basically just said all the things.”

  “That’s exactly it. I’ve tried a few things – I’m better at some than at others. But just because my own abilities weren’t up to par doesn’t mean that I couldn’t hire an efficient expert and keep the companies running.”

  “What are you bad at?” she asked directly, her eyes sparkling.

  Of course she’d ask about the failures. Zarken sighed.

  “For one, I can’t draw – even my stick figures are pathetic. I have a deep appreciation for artists, though. How did you get into that?”

  He eagerly redirected the discussion towards her. Speaking of himself felt wrong, somehow. Too intimate, perhaps. Simple as it seemed, there were few Krinars alive who knew he had no artistic skills whatsoever, yet, she knew that now.

  Because she’d asked. Who asked about him, these days? People came to him with their problems, or hoping to learn from him.

  “I started doing it for fun, but a while back, some fantasy author got in touch asking if I could illustrate a book cover for him. Fast forward three years, I’m doodling all day, all night. During cookouts, during dates…”

  Dates. The casual mention of her seeing another man incited a shot of white-hot rage he had never felt, and had never seen coming. Zarken’s nostrils flared and he descended on her mouth again, taking it suddenly, deeply. Only one word thundered through his mind.

  Mine.

  He hadn’t seen it coming. His race was territorial, but his possessiveness was at an all-time high. He needed to get it over with.

  Are the nanocytes deployed?

  His computer confirmed that they were, and Zarken moved from his doll long enough to tell her. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Nine

  Senseless

  The journey from the White House to Zarken’s place was a blur of sensations and experiences. Zarken only stopped kissing her mouth to bite her earlobe, or suck on the sensitive skin of her neck, as his hand explored her thighs, her breast. They caught a taxi, or some sort of a car in any case, and in the relative privacy, his hands ventured higher on her thighs, driving her mad because he wouldn’t touch her where she desperately needed him.

  Then, a long elevator ride later, they’d arrived at what was obviously his place. Obviously, because it didn’t look like any apartment she’d ever seen. For one, it was mostly empty, and white. And if she wasn’t mistaken, the furniture she did see was actually floating.

  And while any other time, she might have been extremely curious about an alien’s actual house, she also didn’t give a damn, because Zarken swept her off her feet, and carried her towards a wall, that suddenly collapsed, to reveal what must be the bedroom. It had a flat surface, anyway.

  He threw her on his bed. Eva only had the time to register that the mattress felt heavenly underneath her back when the wind was literally knocked out of her lungs.

  Could this man, alien or not, possibly be real? He’d ripped through his clothing, revealing taut, defined, lean muscles, and thick legs. Her eyes devoured it all, and stayed fixed on his hard length. She was in awe, and downright anxious, wondering how that thick, veiny, angry member was supposed to fit inside her.

  “I need you to remove your clothes, my pretty doll.”

  She wanted to obey, she really did. But that would actually involve moving.

  “I don’t have anything for you to wear here. If you want this dress to remain in one piece, you’ll have to take care of it yourself, you understand?”

  She bobbed her head, and forced herself to breathe out. Finally, she could move again.

  “Remove your panties first. Slowly. Then, you can spread these legs for me.”

  Oh, god. How was she supposed to manage it? She wasn’t a femme fatale used to stripteases for hot men. Not by any stretch of imagination. But Zarken devoured her with his eyes, making her feel like she could be, with nothing more than a look.

  Wishing she’d worn something sexier, she lifted her hips to slide her grey cotton panties down her legs.

  “Open for me, doll.”

  Her chest rose and fell at an alarming rhythm as she parted her legs, and pulled her dress off. There she was, completely exposed.

  Another glance made her wonder if it was possible for his engorged dick to have become bigger, harder.

  “A million years, I’ve lived,” he growled, crawling to her, “and in all this time, I’ve never fucked such a pretty pussy, doll.”

  On this note, he dropped his face between her thighs and languidly licked her folds.

  “Oh god…”

  Eva fisted the strange material of his bed sheet, and attempted to wiggle her legs; immediately his hands captured her ankles, keeping them in place, and he sucked at her clit, hard, punishingly. She yelled in pleasure as he chuckled on her exposed flesh.

  Zarken was merciless. He sucked, bit, and licked, ignoring her pleas. She panted, begged, and cried out, desperate for release.

  She felt close to the bottomless abyss - so close. But the cruel, cruel, man stopped, and within an instant, all pleasure vanished, replaced by sheer pain.

  He’d dived into her in one single, powerful thrust. Eva felt tears running down her cheeks as she gasped. No words crossed her lips; she could formulate none, or she would have begged him to get out. Obviously, their race wasn’t compatible. She couldn’t take him, it hurt so much.

  “You need to relax, my beautiful, beautiful doll,” he whispered softly.

  Relax? How could she, while he was planted inside her?

  She closed her eyes, willing the nightmare to end, when she felt his heavy figure shift, hovering right over her. His lips kissed her forehead, softly, tenderly. Then, her temple. Her nose.

  “That’s it, doll,” he praised her, retreating his hips a little.

  She expected more pain, but the white-hot hunger that burned her insides every time he touched her returned unexpectedly, and while she couldn’t call his invasion comfortable, the pain stopped. The next thrust was shallow. At the third, she moved her hips with him.

  He growled in response, and withdrew his hard, huge cock all the way before hammering right back inside the apex of her sex, hitting so deep within.

  She heard a wordless chant, moans and cries. It took a while to realize they came from her. Her fingernails scratched at his arms, his back, as she panted hard with him.

  “Harder,” she heard herself beg, and this time, he o
beyed her, growling like a feral beast.

  She felt the edge again; it was so, so close…

  She was just about to fall when she felt a sharp, unexpected pain on her shoulder.

  What the…

  His mouth lapped at a small, open wound, and then, nothing else mattered. Time. Space. Her very being disappeared. Her body hit its release, and Zarken fucked her savagely through it. She felt his come drip on her legs, but he never stopped. Eva recalled pushing him to his back - he must have let her, because she rode him, screaming that she needed more of him, again, and again, and again, until she passed out.

  Ten

  Supremacy

  After a sleepless night mostly spent fucking Eva into oblivion, Zarken was agitated throughout the morning.

  She’d wake up eventually, but not yet. He wanted to be there when she did, so he may take her again.

  An unforeseen, and unpleasant, development. Taking her once should have been enough. He’d taken her all day, and most of the night, but it really, really wasn’t. He needed to understand why.

  Eventually admitting the limitations of his tired mind, he’d gathered his best employees, and some of his apprentices from Krina and held a virtual reality conference.

  They all stood in the middle of his conference room in Krina, and although no one was there, the simulation was so real he could smell the unpolluted air coming out of the open window. A refreshing change.

  “That’s the data gathered in the club last night, and throughout the day while our subject was at work,” he told them, pulling up the information. “The nanocytes have been, for all intents and purposes, scanning her cerebral functions for over twenty-four hours, yet we aren’t any closer to categorizing her.”

  The eleven Krinars’ reactions ranged between bafflement and curiosity.

  “Would it be a malfunction of our nanocytes?” Ravrak, the head of development asked.

  “No, they’ve functioned perfectly well with any other human they’ve analyzed. The program gets close to coming to a conclusion, then gets thrown off when the subject acts in a way that contradicts its reading.”