by Pearl Tate
It’s only a matter of time before Remus finds me. He’ll enlist the help of the Greys, and they have to know these guys exist out here. Sure, I’m underground in a mountain, but it stands to reason that they’ll know where these guys live.
Scratching at the door distracts us both, but he hesitates before moving to the large slab. A series of clicks and low whistles has him lifting it as if it’s a piece of styrofoam! His muscles bulge, reflecting the low light as he sets the stone down, exposing an almost identical bird guy at the door.
If I saw them separately, I wouldn’t realize this was someone new. Everything about him is identical. Coloring, feathers, and lack of clothing… the only real difference is the sneer on his face as he leers at me.
His eyes travel down my scantily clad body and a terrible foreboding washes over me. Slowly, I move further behind my captor. We seem to be communicating okay, and I don’t want to be at the mercy of this new guy.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
- Remus
Red clouds my mind as I race through the mountains that seem to go on and on. I know I’m getting much higher than I’d originally planned, but I’m running totally on instinct with no clear thoughts, except to find my mate. My body pulses with need as every pump of blood pounds through my veins.
It’s a powerful pull inside me, spurring me on. I don’t feel anything but anger and need. Someone dared to take my mate, and I intend to make them pay.
It doesn’t matter that I know nothing about fighting or the enemy. It doesn’t matter that I have no idea where I am or where I’m going. All I can see clearly is my mate. My beautiful Jo-Anne, who’s so kind and giving. Both her body and mind call to me as I continue to leap from one rocky incline to another.
The tingling sensation that begins in my hands only makes me pick up speed. Something is trying to stop me. I can feel myself numbing slowly until suddenly my vision burns brighter and brighter. Things around me begin to lose focus as the bright light washes out features of even the ground beneath my feet.
Instead of red in my vision, I now see orange! Then yellow—until the light is so bright, I can’t see the ground I’m running across any longer.
My perception shifts as my limbs feel weightless and the pounding of the ground beneath my feet disappears. Roaring in frustration, my own bellowing anger is the last thing I hear as I lose substance, and the world around me disappears.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
- Jo-Anne
Birdman one—my captor, thankfully tucks me behind him when he sees my concern. Their clicks and speech pick up, and I get the distinct impression that they’re arguing. When the new, big birdman tries to push his way in, birdman one lunges forward, pushing away from me.
There’s a brief tussle at the door before the second, leering birdman steps back.
It’s then that my captor turns to me looking… resigned. Lifting his hand towards me and my head, I step forward to let him rest his hand on my forehead. I want to know what the hell is going on!
Flashes of all the birdmen gathered together bloom in my mind's eye. After a flash, I watch us walking through similar hallways to before. Dark, dim, and narrow before opening up into the room where all the birdmen are gathered. Does this mean we’re going to go to their meeting room?
As he waves me toward the door, I hesitate. Now?
Glancing back at our makeshift pallet on the floor, I wonder if we’ll be coming back here. Certainly, he doesn’t intend to let anyone else take me… or take me away from him!
It’s only a matter of time before someone comes looking for me, right? I don’t know why I feel so confident about that, but I do. I just need to keep my head on my shoulders and communicate that I’m Remus’s mate.
Yeah, I feel bad that they appear to be lonely, but certainly they have each other, right? Maybe this will be for the best?
Stepping closer to him, I grab his forearm and tuck my arm around it. If we’re going to go someplace else, I don’t want to start over-communicating. Maybe they intend to take me away from him? Or maybe he’s in trouble for taking me period?
He looks surprised when I link my arm in his, but then steps out the door to follow birdman two who is walking down the tunnel ahead of us. He’s traveling the opposite way we came in, and a brief flash of panic shoots through my system. We’re getting further and further away from the way he brought me in.
It’s a fairly short walk, even with my sore foot. He slows his pace and allows me to hang on him a bit to keep as much pressure off the actual cut in my foot as possible. By the time the tunnel starts to widen, we’ve passed numerous other passages shooting off in each direction. This entire mountain seems to be a maze of caves and tunnels.
But when the entire tunnel ends at a huge open area, I’m stunned. It’s easily as big around as a football field and the ceiling is way, way up. I’ve no idea how high, but the most impressive part is I can see the sky!
Bright blue illumination shines in, lighting up the space. Natural light pours into the area, and I look around in amazement. This appears to be some kind of meeting area, but also there are also tables and benches and way over on the other side, there looks like there’s a pool of water.
My attention is snagged by the small group of other birdmen waiting for us. They’re already sitting on benches that appear to be arranged facing a raised podium area. They all turn to watch us as I limp over to where they’re sitting.
The birdman leading us has widened the distance between us during the walk, obviously assured that we plan to continue to follow him. I wonder what would happen if I just took off at a sprint back the other way? It’s tempting, but I’m not sure I could find my way back to the ledge I was brought in on.
No. My best bet at this point is to convince them that they need to take me back. If that takes too long, I can’t imagine that I won’t be found. I mean, really, how many clearly sentient beings can be here like them. The Greys will know it was them, and Remus will make them come for me.
I’m led to the front with my escort, and we stand next to the visitor birdman that stopped by and led us here. The rest of the birdmen have begun to speak to each other. Their unique clicks and chatter start low but pick up in speed and volume as we stand before them.
Holding up his arms, our visitor presses his palms toward the floor in an obvious attempt to quiet them. In less than a minute, they all pause and stare up at us expectantly. Well, they stare up at me.
My gaze jumps from one to the next. They all look so much alike? How is that possible?
I can see a couple looking alike or similar, like twins and triplets looking alike. But, damn! As the guy next to us begins speaking, I count over the crowd. Twenty-three faces look back at me with identical expressions. That’s twenty-five of them all together!
All identical. Glancing up at the birdman who grabbed me, I study his profile before he glances down, and I look away. It’s incredible.
They all have the dark skin of Denzel Washington, and now that I don’t have to worry about staring—since I’m clearly being ogled myself, I let my eyes travel over one of the birdmen sitting the closest. In addition to the feathers on their heads that mimic closely cropped hair, they’ve a smattering of feathers on their stomach that looks just like a happy trail as it thins to a line pointing at their groin.
Turning my attention back to the man I’m still clinging to, I realize that even though they’re naked, their feathers cover everything important in the groin area. In fact, I’m not sure that they even have penises under there. Birds lay eggs so maybe they do too? But why the fascination with me… ?
Their discussion is escalating, and a few of the birdmen sitting in the crowd have begun to argue, cutting in with their clicks and sharp whistles. Their voices rise on the end, and I think they’re asking questions. My captor has begun talking back next to me. He must be answering them.
Squeezing his arm, I wait to see if he’ll look down. When he doesn’t, I hold my arm up, palm out t
owards his head.
I want to know what’s going on. Even if it’s only what he’s saying to them. It stands to reason, I should be able to if I’m just touching his head, right?
I wave my hand more in front of his face, although I’m still a good six inches away from blocking his eyes. I don’t know exactly how tall he is, but probably somewhere close to seven feet.
When he grasps my forearm, I think he’s just going to move it out of the way, treating me like an annoying child that’s trying to interrupt the adults. Instead, I’m relieved when he lets his grip travel to my wrist, and he leans into my palm.
He’s still talking and images burst into my brain in techno-color. They’re fast and bright as I bring my other arm up to lean into his chest as the communication washes over me. Clearly, he was babying me earlier with simple and slow communication.
This is the real deal! Fast, bright, visually overwhelming communication I can see, but I have to concentrate to understand. Blanking my own mind, I push out any extra thought or assumptions as I watch him tell them about grabbing me.
A picture of the Greys flits through his mind. I see some of his people at the construction site Remus and I were at, and it appears they’re the workers. That would explain why they were there. They have something to do with the development there, and that was why they saw us.
From the communication I see with the Greys, they were instructed to stay away from the homes we’re in now, but they’d begun the work on the other places just recently. In anticipation of…
That I couldn’t gather. But the big question he’s answering now is where they came from? How many are there? Why are we there?
They feel… slighted? Angry or aggravated? They don’t understand why the Greys would bring another species with females into the dimension, but they didn’t bring females in for them?
Someone must have asked about my lack of wings, and I “see” his answer back. We don’t have any. They aren’t removed or broken. They never existed in the smooth skin of my back I see pictured.
I don’t even stop him when he pulls my hair to the side as I stand in front of him, his body still leaned into my hand. I practically feel their collective gasp through his perception as they take in the mating marks and note the differences of our bodies.
He agrees. A picture of my naked back appears in his mind again. No wings. Maybe this is why the Greys have never brought in any females of their species?
But from the looks of things around me, their identical features, bodies, etc. Maybe they’re clones? After the initial shock of our differences, I can feel his acceptance of me. Picture of us talking earlier, my hand on his head like it is now. He’s explaining that even though we’re different in so many ways, we can understand and communicate.
I can see him telling them he wants to take me back to the Greys and question them. He shows pictures of Remus, who he remembers from the construction site. He knows I’m his. He tells them all he wants to confront the Greys and ask about others like me.
When he’s cut off by the birdman at the front, nothing changes for a moment before he answers and pictures begin again. The Greys and their mind-talk and expressing what they want. A few other negotiations flit through his mind, and I realize he’s talking to them about creating goodwill by returning me and asking about others for them all?
Pair after pair of human women with each of them appears in my mind. Holy shit! I’m not sure this is good?
Now that they’ve seen me, they all seem to figure they need to get their own. Does that mean they’ll be enlisting the Greys to snatch women from earth to match up with them?
Who are those poor women going to be? They won’t really do that, right? If the Greys thought that was acceptable, it’d have already happened.
My dire thoughts are cut off by a flash of light. The birdman whose forehead I still have my hand on spins me around quickly, pushing me to the floor. His body crashes over mine and everything goes dark instantly.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
- Jo-Anne
It takes a moment before I realize that it’s just dark around me. I’m tightly enfolded in black arms and wings. I don’t know how he did it, but I’m totally covered by him and his feathers.
“Rise, Steward and release the Human woman.”
I know that mind voice! The Greys were quicker than I thought too. Is Remus here as well?
A rustling starts, and it takes me a moment to realize it’s feathers. The surrounding whirlwind of shifting wings only lasts for a second before I realize that it’s a lot brighter in here now. I feel the birdman’s weight leave my back, before I gingerly climb to my feet.
Brushing off my knees, I swing around to face the Greys that arrived. Stewart, the birdman has moved a step or two away and is hanging his head. Whether it’s in defeat or because he knows he’s in hot water, I’m not sure.
I realize there’s a new light as I look around for others. I can see so much better now because of a dome about twenty feet away. It’s cloudy, but I gasp as the mist inside clears. Remus materializes, looking like a statue inside.
He’s frozen in place as my heart drops. “Is he okay?” When neither Bill nor Ted answer quickly enough, I turn to them indignantly. “What the hell have you done to him?”
“Fear not, Jo-Anne. The paralysis is temporary and for his own safety.”
Right! “I was the one that was taken. Why does he need to be paralyzed like that?”
Travek steps closer, and I realize Sol and Gilip arrived with him as well. “I agreed to it!” He holds his arms out pleadingly, dropping them to his side in defeat. “We tried to contact him to communicate. We could barely keep up with him in the craft. Berserker rage it’s called… the Ashen said this is normal when a mate is threatened?”
Ted nods solemnly as he turns towards the bird guys, addressing them directly.
“This is good for the Stewards to see. You caused this. Instead of contacting us and arranging a meeting with the new inhabitants we’ve welcomed, you stole one of their mates. See what you will deal with if you proceed down this path in the future?”
Angling his body, Ted steps away from Bill, who also takes a step back allowing us an unobstructed view of Remus. He’s not paralyzed any longer. As he shakes his head and looks up, I see an expression I’ve never seen on his face before.
I take a horrified step toward him, covering my mouth as he runs right into the forcefield keeping him from us. He bounces back and doesn’t appear to be hurt, just stunned as he slides on his ass all the way to the other side until his back hits the force-field there.
He’s raging alright. Scrambling to his feet, his eyes light on me briefly before he seems to forget himself, and his gaze goes skittering away to review all the birdmen watching in the room.
Steward reaches out his hand toward me, and I immediately step into it. Flashes of him in what I can only assume are groveling bird-style positions pop into my head. With his wings out to the side, they’re spread wide, and he’s on his knees, head down.
It’s weird, but I get it. He wants me to know that he didn’t intend to make a big ruckus. He’s sorry.
I have to agree with the Greys though. He should have gone to them and discussed it. They must have some form of communication with them since they appear to be doing some work on the new construction.
Taking a step back, I try to smooth over the entire incident. Sure, it scared the fucking piss out of me—and I lost a shoe. But for the most part, no harm done.
“I forgive you.” Turning to Travek, Sol, and Gilip, I try to make sure they all realize that I’m fine. “It was scary, but he didn’t do anything bad or… inappropriate. He can send mental images into your mind like the Greys—Ashen, you know? Only by touch, and once we figured that out and started communicating, it was fine.”
I can’t help turning to the Greys to plead his cause. I’ve always been a sucker for the underdog. After all, I was one for a long time—the social outcast that was alwa
ys made fun of.
“Where are their females? From what I gathered from him,” I jerk a thumb back toward Steward, “They’re lonely. That’s what this was all about, really. Loneliness and curiosity.”
“They’re clones. Certainly you can see the resemblance between them?”
Ted’s explanation confirms what I already suspected. There are just too many of them that look alike for it to just be a family resemblance. Travek starts to sputter while Gilip’s normal sneer turns into a look of pure disgust.
“Are you serious? Why would you do that? That seems…” Travek loses his train of thought, and Ted picks up smoothly, his calm, even tone settling everyone down.
“Would it have been better for them to disappear altogether? Their people were decimated in your Earth dimension many thousands of years ago. The one survivor was brought here. It’s not perfectly ideal, but better than the alternative of extinction.”
I have to agree, although I don’t say a word. Nodding, my eyes snap back to Remus, who is still pressed against the side of his enclosure, breathing heavily and not looking anywhere near calm.
“In fact, the human women will see many of the animals in this dimension that’ve been extinct on their world. Our intention is to preserve life. Of course, we apologize for not informing you about the Stewards, but we’re surprised at their interest in the opposite sex. Especially ones so different. We’ll plan to discuss this with them shortly. For now, I suggest Jo-Anne go to Remus. That will calm him down—”
“I can go in there with him?” At my question, Travek looks alarmed at the suggestion. Stepping in front of me, he blocks my view of Remus.
“Whoa, wait a minute! Remus will kill me if he harms her. Is it safe?” Grasping my arm, he holds me in place while I peer around him. Remus’s roar can be heard through the force-field he’s behind, and he’s not impressed.
“Of course, he’d never hurt her. And you will be able to go right in. The cage field allows entry but not leaving. Once he’s calm, we can drop the enclosure. Until then, let me speak with the Stewards.”