Taken by the Aliens

by Anna Lewis

  My heart began to pound so heavily in my chest that I feared it might have broken free. Shit, Kayla had no idea how much trouble she was in! She didn't even slightly understand what was going on here. If she was gone, then things could easily take a very bad turn.

  No, I forced myself to step backwards. No, I was overreacting here. There could have been lots of explanations to why she was suddenly silent. Maybe she was in the bathroom, maybe she really was asleep. Maybe…

  Uh uh, it wasn't enough. I needed to be sure.

  Knock, knock.

  “Kayla?” I asked quietly, not wanting to wake up any of the other hotel guests. Not that there was anyone too close by really, the rooms were really spread out in here. It must have been a very expensive hotel. “Kayla, are you in there?”

  Okay, I'd asked twice and got nothing back. I had to go in there. It was my job. If she wasn't in there already, on my first night on the job, I would lose it right away. Then the agency would fire me and I would end up with nothing yet again. This job might not have been what I wanted from my life, but I really needed the money. If I kept thinking about the cash and the possibility of a new home, then surely it wouldn't be so bad?

  I pushed the door, using all of my strength. It clicked open far too quickly for my liking. Mouse was right to be worried, he understood that this place wasn't really safe enough for Kayla. It was just a shame that he hadn't trusted her enough to give her that information too. After all, it was her life in danger.

  “Fuck.” I ran my fingers through my hair, tugging on the ends as I realized that my suspicions were right. The room was in fact empty, and the window was open.

  This sort of behavior must have been normal for her. It was probably where she got her bad reputation from. It was just a shame that Mouse hadn't warned me properly. I didn't always like to believe what I read with no proof, which was why I'd suggested sleeping outside of the room, but now I could see that was silly. I should have just done it. It would have been much better for her.

  I raced out of the room and pounded down the steps until I reached the front door. I could hear the receptionist yelling something to me behind my back, but I didn't stop to listen. This was an emergency, I didn't have time for anything else. I just had to get out there.

  A part of me wanted to yell her name top note, but I knew that I couldn't. I needed to keep my cool with this one, it had to be a secret what with it being a high profile person involved.

  Instead I crept along, my mind whirring at about a hundred miles an hour, trying to work out where she could have gone.

  Then I spotted her. She hadn't made it far, she was just outside the hotel in the arms of a man wearing a hoodie. I felt silly, knowing that I'd freaked out just to witness her sneaking off for some time with her boyfriend. I wanted to creep backwards, to escape unseen, but somehow I couldn't stop looking.

  Something about the image made me feel wrong. I wasn't sure what it was, but it wasn't normal.

  But then before I could force myself to go, her eyes drew around to me, as if she was magnetized by my presence. I saw something in her eyes that I hadn't spotted before. Fear.

  She was afraid.

  This wasn't a lovers' tryst after all, this was danger. I needed to snap into action.

  ***

  Kayla

  My heart was thundering in my chest. My stomach was swirling with sickness. I was shaking all over… was this really happening?

  “You will be mine,” the hooded assailant hissed into my ear. “Remember what I said, I am the only one that can have you.”

  This was my stalker, it had to be. I had suffered messages along that sort of line from numerous people, but he was the only one that I'd ever felt really meant it… in a sinister way, not just in a 'messing around online' way. And now he had come to put that plan into action. I really should have listened to Mouse and everyone else. I should have taken it all much more seriously. I was foolish to ignore it, and to carry on in such a silly and naïve way.

  Now I was out here, stuck with him, and no one knew where I was. A tear pricked my eye as it hit me how serious this was, and how I had no one to blame but myself.

  He had a tight grip of my wrists, and he'd pulled me up close to him so that his body was pressed up against me. He had me trapped, pinned so close that I could smell his weird, musky scent and that had my skin crawling. I kept trying to pull away but he had me completely overpowered. I couldn't help but wonder if he was actually human. He seemed more shapeshifter than anything else.

  “P… please…” I stammered through the emotion. “L… let me go…”

  But he just laughed loudly at me, as if I was making the funniest joke ever. “You aren't going anywhere.”

  I tried to move my head around, to see if there was anyone around that I could get the attention of before he hurt me… or worse, but I just couldn't move a single bone in my body. I wasn't sure if it was just him holding me in place, or fear too, but I couldn't move anywhere. I was frozen to the spot.

  “You know how long I've been wanting you, you think that I'm just going to give you up that easily.”

  “C… can we just… talk?” I said. I needed to find some way around this, and negotiating was all I had left.

  “I gave you chances to talk, and you weren't interested. You blew your chance for that.”

  He did? When? I couldn't remember that at all, but it was possible that I'd ignored him without even meaning too, back when I wasn't taking everything seriously.

  “I… I'm sorry. I didn't mean…”

  All of a sudden with no warning whatsoever, I felt my stalker's body sharply shift to one side, almost as if he was staggering. My heart leapt up into my throat, especially when his grip loosens, and I feel myself freed just a little bit. I didn't care what was happening, this was my chance to escape.

  I shoved him backwards, my brain spinning, and I moved to run. Just then, another set of arms wrapped around me. I lashed out, punching and kicking whoever this guy's helper was, but it was like hitting stone.

  “Hey, hey, hey,” came a calming tone of voice. It was Hex! He said, “Are you okay? I've got you.”

  I stared at him, lost for words. Something about the way he spoke had me soothed, and I found my eyes traveling up his body.

  “I hit him, I'm pretty sure that he's knocked out. Shall we get back to the hotel room?”

  “Oh thank God,” I gasped, gripping tightly to him. “Hex, thank goodness. I thought… I thought…” But I didn't want to vocalize what I thought because it was just too awful, so I collapsed into sobs instead. “Maybe we should call the cops.”

  But as I spun back to try and get a better look at my attacker now I felt safe, I saw the shadow of someone racing away, taking away my chance to find out his identity, and to get him arrested.

  “Shit, well I guess that he wasn't knocked out after all,” Hex furrowed his eyebrows, looking pissed off at himself. “But hopefully that will be a warning to him and he'll leave you alone.”

  I nodded silently, mostly because I didn't agree, and I tucked myself firmly under his arm. No longer was I worrying about Hex being the enemy, or the confusing feelings he was causing in me, I just relied on him solely. Despite my shitty attitude towards him, despite the fact that I had run off to hopefully get him in trouble or maybe even make him lose his job, he had still come for me. He had saved me, and for that I was extremely grateful.

  “Take me inside,” I whispered to him. “And please, don't leave me alone again.”

  As we walked, Hex spoke quietly and gravely to me, shocking me to my core. He told me all about the stalker and the packages he's sent.

  “I told Mouse that he should have told you everything. It wasn't fair not to. Mouse deemed it a good idea to keep some of the stalker's communication away from you, and I told him you wouldn't understand the severity of things but he wouldn't listen. Well… now you know.”

  “Wow,” I didn't know what to say to that, it all felt so shitty. Why w
ould Mouse think that it was so terrible for me to know the whole truth about my own damn life? “Thank you.”

  That confirmed it for me. I needed to keep Hex around, he was the only one willing to tell me the truth. I had to start doing what I could to keep him as a go-between, to finally keep me in the know. Plus, if that asshole stalker came for me again then I wanted someone as strong as Hex to defend me. I needed him!

  I needed him more than I'd ever needed anyone before, and that scared the hell out of me. I had always been so independent, so focused on making my own way in life, and now that had been taken from me. Although to be honest I wasn't sure that I'd had much control over my own life for a very long time.

  ***

  Hex

  My heart was racing as I finally got Kayla back into her hotel room where she belonged. This was crazy, and all the fault of Mouse. He should have told her. It should not have been left to me, but I felt glad that at least I'd said something.

  I carried her over to her bed and watched her flop on the sheets, looking vulnerable and sweet. I realized that she couldn't be the terrible person that the Internet presented her to be. The media often got it wrong, I was aware of that, but with the case of Kayla I felt like they were way off.

  In the very short time that I'd been around her, I got the distinct impression that the only reason she ever acted out was because she felt trapped, out of control of her life, and she wanted to regain that. In a way it reminded me of the way that I had run away to escape heart break. I felt like I understood her, just a little bit.

  “Do you need anything?” I asked her kindly. “Can I do anything for you?”

  “No, thank you,” she said in a small tone of voice.

  “Okay, well I can stay in your room if you like,” I said. I couldn't judge what she needed and that put me out of whack. As a dragon, I was usually pretty good at reading the emotions of others, but right now with Kayla I just couldn't get any sort of read. “That way I can keep an eye on you. But I don't think the guy will come back tonight. I think I might have scared him off for now…” Great, I was babbling.

  “Yes, please stay with me.”

  I perched on the end of her bed and examined her closely. “Did I upset you with what I told you? I'm sorry if so, I just think that you deserve to know.”

  She bolted upright at that, her eyes wide and her expression much more animated. “No, I'm glad that you told me. It's everyone else that I'm disappointed in.”

  Her long blonde hair fell past her face, and her eyes still sparkled, despite the fact that she'd been crying. She actually looked more beautiful without the makeup and the styling. Her natural look was even more gorgeous than when she was airbrushed. Shit, my heart was actually fluttering excitedly as I stared at her.

  “I just… I hate all of this,” she continued, rubbing her hands furiously together. “I hate the fact that my life is in danger and there isn't anything that I can do about it. Everyone rules my life, everyone decides everything for me, does everything for me. No one ever listens to what I want.” She sighed deeply and looked down at her feet. “The only place I ever feel like people listen to me is online. I know that's stupid but I miss it. Now I can't even do that. This guy has taken everything from me.”

  I instinctively wrapped my arms around her, wanting her to feel a little better. It might have been inappropriate to overstep the boundary in that way, but the humanity in me just needed to see her smile.

  “I'm sorry,” I told her awkwardly. “It sucks that this is happening to you. I wish there was something I could do to make it better.”

  “But you are,” she insisted quickly. “You're here, you're being honest with me, you're going to help me catch this guy…”

  She was giving me a look, a hooded, desire-filled look that had every nerve inside my body standing up on edge. She actually looked like she wanted me, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to resist.

  Stop it! I warned myself. Behave yourself!

  But it was so damn hard, because I hadn't felt that magnetism between me and another person in a very long time. I hadn't felt connected with anyone in a life time.

  I had to though, I needed to remember was why I was here: to protect her, to make her life less complicated, not to add to anything.

  “You know, I haven't met anyone like you before,” she mused, making my mouth run dry. “You're different, and I really like that. I'm surrounded by fake people, but you don't seem to be that way.”

  “You… you don't even know me,” I replied dryly, trying to distance myself from her. “I could be anything, anyone.”

  “Well,” she batted back instantly. “I get the sense that you aren't. I don't know why but I feel…” Unfortunately, just as she was getting to the good part, she stopped herself short. I stared at her, willing her to go on, but she was biting down on her lip hard, trying to keep it all inside.

  Those lips… I could not stop looking at them. Wait, am I leaning in? I felt myself going in for the kiss, and I begged myself to stop, but it seemed that my brain had totally disconnected from my body and was just doing what it wanted. This is wrong, I can't do this, I need to stop…

  But she was leaning in too, her lips pouting out, her eyes sliding closed. How was I supposed to resist when she was pulling me in with her raw sexuality?

  Maybe this was how she got people, maybe this was what made her famous, her charisma…

  Shit, our lips had crashed together, fireworks were exploding inside me, and there wasn't a damn thing that I could do about it. Her hands were tangled up in my hair, mine were around her waist. This was growing hotter and hotter by the second, I was about to lose all control.

  I wanted this, I needed this, I need to feel her, all of her and from the way that she was grappling at me she did too. Was this really going to happen? Were we actually going to do this?

  ***

  Kayla

  Oh my God, was this really happening? Was I actually kissing this guy? And did it really feel so good? I knew that Hex was hot, and that he had a real intense sexuality about him, but the passion he was creating inside of me felt off the scale.

  I didn't usually sleep with guys right away, I was much more accustomed to waiting until at least the fourth date because I liked to understand what guy's intentions were with me, but now… now I was feeling like I might just be in the mood to break that cycle. My whole body was on fire, my brain was swimming with desire, I felt hot and sticky and we hadn't even done anything yet…

  “Wait,” he snapped back from me, panting hard. “Shit, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. That was…” he stood up, backing away from me as if I was a succubus or something, drawing him in to me. “I'm your bodyguard, I'm supposed be… to be looking after you…” his eyes were flickering everywhere as if he were scared that we'd been seen.

  “It's okay,” I told him miserably as everything inside of me cooled. “Don't worry about it, we can just… forget it.” If he was going to freak out and regret it, then I really didn't want anything to happen either. I needed to be wanted and needed, and that feeling had gone. “Let's just… get some sleep.”

  I glanced down sadly at the bed beneath me, imagining what could have been happening if he'd just allowed his body to lose control. It would have been so intense, so much fun. I'd never felt so much chemistry before and I wanted to know how that would go…

  Still, it didn't matter now. It was time to forget about it and move on.

  “Shall I go out into the hallway?” Hex asked nervously. “I can still wait out there if you want…”

  “No,” I replied a little too sharply. “No you can't leave me alone.”

  “But I won't sleep…”

  “The windows,” I gasped, terror gripping onto my heart. This was about so much more than one failed kiss. “What if he gets in?” I shivered involuntarily as I remembered the texture of him against me, his smell, the horror he struck into my body. I didn't want to be alone again. “Please stay.”

/>   “Yeah… yeah okay I will,” he nodded slowly. “I'll just sleep on the couch or something.”

  I handed him some sheets, and watched as he climbed himself into a snuggled position. I wanted those arms around me again, I needed him to hold me, but there was no way that I could ask again. This was going to have to be enough.

  I grabbed myself some pajamas and made my way into the bathroom to change. There, I stared at my reflection in the mirror for a moment, looking at how weird I looked under the harsh lighting. My expression was a mix of fear and sadness, my eyebrows knotted tightly together, my skin pale and pasty. The world got the best version of me, always. That was what I was paid to give them, but that was so far from what I looked right now.

  Urgh. I shook my head sadly and glanced away from the shiny mirror. This situation was crazy. I had so much else to worry about, and my life was in danger. I shouldn't have been concerned about who did and didn't want me.

  By the time I slunk back into the room, it seemed that Hex was sleeping, but as he turned to face me and our eyes locked I felt the tension rise again. There was definitely something between us. No matter what either of us thought, that wasn't going anywhere, but it really didn't matter. We'd just proven that nothing could ever happen.

  “Goodnight,” I whispered, climbing under my own bed sheets.

  “Yeah, goodnight.” He sounded just about as sad as I felt.

  My head hit the pillow, but I couldn't sleep. The sexual tension was floating above our heads and it was making me feel all kinds of things. I wondered what he was thinking, if Hex was having the same kind of thoughts as me, but of course I couldn't ask. Not without making things more awkward than the already were.

  The image of his mouth on my neck filled my mind in a split second, and despite the fact that I really didn't want it to I found myself writhing a little, gripping onto the sheets beneath me.

  Good God I wanted him, I wanted him bad.