by Melody Adams
"And I prefer a soft bed or sofa to a hard floor," I agreed. "And yes, I'm really getting cold!"
"Then come!"
Strike took my hand and pulled me with him. We fought our way through the bushes until we came to a half overgrown path leading to the small cabin. Strike opened the door and let me in, and then he followed me and locked the door from the inside. Inside the cabin it was even dimmer than outside.
"There is no light, but I found some candles. Wait!"
I could only make out Strike's outlines as he moved around in the cabin. A short time later I heard a scraping noise and a hissing, then the flame of a match flickered and I could see Strike lighting one candle and then another. I looked around the room. There was a table with three chairs, some shelves, a small kitchenette with a wood stove, and instead of a bed, there was a mattress on a pedestal. Not particularly inviting, but at least better than sleeping outside on the hard floor in the cold.
"I saw wood behind the cabin," Strike said. "I just go get it and turn on the stove. We should have it warm in here soon. The room isn’t big. It’ll heat up quick."
"Okay," I replied and sat down on one of the chairs.
Strike disappeared outside and I stared at the candle flames. They flickered slightly. I couldn't believe how quickly my whole life had suddenly turned upside down. Apart from that adventure with the Chinese, I had led a relatively quiet life since Tamtam took me off the streets. Most of the time I had been sitting in my basement in front of the computer. Rarely had I dared to go outside. I had lived isolated from the outside world. Now I had been kidnapped, most of the people I knew were dead and I was on the run with an Alien Breed who didn't even know what he was. I noticed that I knew almost nothing about the man I had slept with. I only knew that he had been made to believe that he was fighting for a just cause. He had killed. I didn't find the idea particularly nice, but I knew Strike wasn't evil. He hadn't known that it was wrong what he was doing.
The door opened and a breeze almost blew out the candles, but then they flickered back to life. Strike carried a stack of wood in his arms and closed the door with his shoulder. I wanted to jump up to help him, but Strike swayed: "Leave! I have everything under control. You just sit there and rest!"
I watched him free the stove from old ashes, piling up small, then bigger wood, and lighting it with a little old newspaper. The wood seemed to be very dry because it burned immediately. Strike closed the door of the stove and regulated the ventilation. The stove brought back memories of my earliest childhood, when I had lived with my Granny before she became ill and had to go to a nursing home. I had been put into a foster home, and from then on my life had only known one direction: downhill! I missed my Granny. I missed the smell of freshly baked Apple Crumble and blueberry muffins.
Strike approached me and took my face between his big hands. I put my hands around his hips and looked up at him.
"We should lie down. Under the blankets we'll get warm."
"Hmmm," I replied and leaned my forehead against him.
I was tired, so tired that I was even too lazy to get up. Strike seemed to feel it. He lifted me from my chair into his arms and carried me to the plateau where he laid me down on the mattress.
"Should I take off your jeans so that you could sleep more comfortably," he asked and looked at me.
I nodded.
Strike opened the waistband of my trousers and pulled the jeans down over my legs. Then he spread one of the blankets over me, and a second one over it.
"Aren't you coming to bed?" I asked.
"I'll be right there. I'll go for a walk and then check on the fire. Sleep, baby. I am here. Nothing will happen to you!"
I yawned. My eyes were so tired that it hurt to watch Strike, so I closed them. A little later I had fallen asleep.
With a scream, I startled out of my sleep. My heart raced and the panic of my dream still had me firmly in its grip. A strong arm embraced me and pulled me into a hard body.
"Shhht," a rough voice close to my ear said. "It was just a dream. Shhht! It's all right!"
I relaxed a little as I became a little clearer and knew it was Strike who was holding me tightly to him. Nevertheless, I couldn’t get rid of the terrible fear that the dream had stirred up in me. I sobbed quietly.
"Shhhht. Calm down. Everything will be fine. You are safe. I'm not gonna let anything happen to you, Alex."
He turned me on my back and looked down at me. I couldn't make out much of his face in the dark room, but I knew this wasn't true for him. He could see perfectly in the darkness.
"What if they find us?" I whispered anxiously.
"They won’t. We will surely soon find some place where we can go to the police. Then you're safe."
"But ... what ... what will become of you? Won't they arrest you? We can't go to the police!"
"Don't worry about me. I'll drop you off at the police station, and then I'll go and get rid of anyone who's a danger to you. I'll make sure you're safe again."
"What about ... about us?" I asked.
"You must forget me, Alex!"
"No," I vehemently contradicted. "Never!"
"I am not human, Alex! I am a monster! A killer. I am not good for you."
I felt anger and despair rise up in me.
"I don't care about any of that!" I replied angrily. "You ... you fucked me and now you just want to leave me?"
"You know it's not like that, Alex."
"Then what is it like?" I yelled at him. "Tell me! Because I don't understand anything at all!"
"I killed a lot of people, Alex! I am not the right man for you!"
"So, you want to tell me that you don't care if ... if another man kisses me? Fucks me? Is it ...?"
I didn’t get any further, because Strike cut my word off, when he pressed his mouth hard against mine. It wasn’t a loving kiss. Also not a passionate kiss. It was a kiss full of rage! A punishing kiss! I clung to Strike as if he were my lifebelt in a stormy sea. Strike's hand slipped between my thighs and grabbed my panties. A hard tug, and they were history, but at that moment I didn't care. I wanted him. Even like this, when he was more like a wild animal than a lover. His fingers rubbed my clit and I pressed myself against him. A growl vibrated through his body as he pushed a finger deep into me and launched a brutal attack on my G-spot. It was almost unbearably intense and I whimpered, but he knew no mercy until I came so hard that it literally gushed out of me. He growled again, then he replaced his finger with his hard cock and he brutally thrust into me. Over and over again. I sobbed and pressed myself to him. My legs closed around his middle to keep him with me.
Strike let go off my mouth and threw his head in the neck. His lips were slightly parted, and I could see his sharp fangs in the weak light of the candles. It had something wild, animalistic, but Strike didn't scare me. Cole had been a sadist, but this Alien Breed in all its savagery, and despite the fact that he was a killer, would never hurt me, I was sure of that.
"Alex," he growled, then he came inside me and I studied with fascination his face, which showed all the feelings he didn't want to express.
This wasn’t just sex between us, I knew that. But for some reason Strike seemed to think I was too good for him. He wanted to leave me? This act had made it clear how he really felt. But he had a sense of honor that I couldn’t underestimate. He would make this nonsensical sacrifice if I couldn’t convince him how wrong it was. He was stubborn? Well! Me too! And he would find out, just how stubborn I could be!
Strike
Alex's quiet breathing told me she had fallen asleep again. It was torture to hold her in my arms and to know that I would soon lose her forever. But it was the only right thing to do. I wasn’t the right man for her. Even if the thought of another man touching her killed me, I couldn’t be so selfish as to want to keep her for myself. I would probably be locked up for a long time for all these murders, perhaps even sentenced to death. I couldn’t expect her to tie herself to a prisoner. A criminal. A Kille
r! This relationship wasn’t meant to be. I wanted her to be happy, to have a family, to have a normal life. All this I couldn’t give her. I held her in my arms until dawn. Then I gently woke her.
"Alex! Wake up, baby!"
She moved and blinked sleepily.
"Hmmm?"
"Wake up, Alex. We must go!"
"What ...? Where ...?"
She opened her eyes and looked at me a little confused. Obviously she had difficulties to orient herself, but then knowledge appeared on her face and she sat up slowly.
"Oh! I remember!"
I raised myself from the sleeping platform and grabbed my trousers to slip them on. I remembered all too clearly the wild, unbridled sex we’d had in the middle of the night. I had taken her like an animal. Another reason why I wasn't the right man for her. She needed a gentle, tender lover, not a wild beast that used her without regard to her own needs. I was ashamed of my behavior.
I picked up her jeans and threw them at her.
"Get dressed," I said curtly and disappeared from the cabin.
Outside, in front of the cabin, I took a deep breath. The hurt expression in her eyes had not escaped me when I had thrown her the trousers. I cursed quietly. Better she learned to hate me; then it would be easier for her. Easier for her, but not for me!
Alex
I stared at the pants in my hands and tried to understand what was going on. Strike had been so cold. I had never experienced him like that before. It hurt. Had I been so wrong about him? No! I couldn’t and didn’t want to believe that.
You have never been good at judging men, my inner voice said. Already forgotten? You thought Cole was a gentleman. Look what has become of it!
"No," I whispered. "No!"
I rose with a dull feeling in my stomach and a sting in my chest. I was confused. What should I believe? What should I do?
Well, first put on the damn pants, stupid girl!
Sighing, I did exactly that and breathed deeply before I left the cabin. Strike stood with his back to me, a few meters away from the hut. He turned when I stepped out of the door, but he avoided my gaze. His face was a cold mask.
"Come! I finally want out of this damn forest. We follow the path. It has to lead to somewhere!"
He turned away and just marched off. Confused and hurt I followed him. It took me a while to catch up with him. He was walking fast, and didn't seem to care if I could keep up with him. Tears ran down my cheeks and I resented myself.
The police station in the town was small and old-fashioned. I sat on a wobbly chair, a cup of coffee in my hands and watched the older officer type my statement. Strike had led me to the building and then just disappeared. I’d stood there for minutes, unable to move. I still couldn't believe it. He had really done it. He had been so fast, and I had been so shocked, that I hadn't had a chance to stop him. At some point I had come out of my frozen state, and had gone inside the small police station. Officer McBrian had offered me a chair, a younger policewoman had brought me coffee and then I had started telling my story.
Officer McBrian looked up from his keyboard and looked over at me.
"And you don't know where this ... Alien Breed is now?" He asked.
I shook my head.
"He just said that he wanted to get rid of all those who would be a threat to me, before he turned himself in," I replied in tears.
"We have already called for reinforcements, but it may take a few hours for them to arrive. I can't send my only two officers on such a mission. This is way too big for us. The FBI will take care of it."
"I know," I replied desperately.
Strike
I had stolen a car and drove back to the house, we had escaped from. I had a good inner compass and it hadn't been hard for me to find it. I had parked the car at a safe distance and sneaked up to the property. From my hidden post I could see a few figures sneaking around the house collecting the dead. I assumed they belonged to Alfons and Lewis. So the attackers had probably lost the battle. Slowly, I crept closer. Two men stood next to a corpse and talked. One lit a cigarette. None of them looked in my direction. I had broken the neck of the first one before they noticed me. The other one opened his mouth to a scream, but I brought my fist down on his skull so hard, that he passed out and sank to the ground. I also broke his neck and took his gun. Then I pulled the two of them behind a bush and sneaked on.
It wasn't hard to take those idiots out, one after the other. In no time I had worked my way inside the house. I purposefully approached the office where I suspected Alfons and Lewis had survived. I could hear voices as I approached. One voice I could clearly identify as Lewis, the other voice was quiet, but it could’ve been Alfons.
I came to the door and stopped to listen again.
"And I say there is nothing more important than that at the moment," Lewis' voice sounded.
"No! We have to find them and take them out before they can call the police. Two men are enough to clean up the rest! Let the others search the area extensively. We need at least two helicopters in the air. They could’ve made it to some shanty town and then we'll have the FBI here in no time," Alfons replied.
"And that's why I say it's more important that we clear all evidence here."
"You idiot! Do you think you can get away with this just because there are no more bodies lying around? The FBI will find enough evidence. Add to that the statements of this little hacker bitch and her Alien Breed ..."
"We've already searched the area and found nothing," Lewis replied.
"We haven’t searched far enough!"
I had heard enough! I opened the door and stepped into the room. Lewis and Alfons shot up from their seats and grabbed their weapons. I shot Lewis in the hand and aimed at Alfons' hand, who was about to pull out a gun from under his jacket and was now pausing.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," I said coldly.
"You won't get out of here alive," Alfons said, but took his hand back and let it hang loosely. "We have too many men. They’ll catch you!"
"How many", I asked. "More than the thirteen I killed? Oh! Surely you still have some upstairs to protect the wife and children. Shall I kill them too?"
"You're bluffing," said Lewis.
"You think?" I asked provocatively.
"What do you want," Alfons asked. "We can give you money. A lot of money for you and the little one."
"What use is money to me if we live in constant danger of you coming to kill us?"
"We'll leave you alone if you don't go to the police," Lewis said, looking at Alfons. He nodded in agreement.
"I'm sorry, but it's a little late for that. Alex is at this moment with the police, making a statement."
Lewis acted lightning fast and grabbed his gun, but I was faster. A red spot appeared on his suit and his eyes widened in shock as he looked down at himself. Then he simply slumped down to the floor with a loud thud. Alfons stared at the dead man and retreated, then raised his gaze and looked at me in horror.
"Please," he pleaded. "I swear I'll leave the country and don't bother you or the little one, but let me go! Please!"
I shook my head slowly and raised my gun. I shot the son of a bitch right between the eyes. Calmly, I watched him go down. Now all I had to do was kill the men upstairs. The woman and the kids posed no danger, and I wasn’t a murderer of women and children. But every man who could come after my girl had to die before I surrendered to the police.
Chapter 5
New York, USA
April 17, 2033 / 2:22 p.m. local time
Alex
I looked nervously at the watch. Damned time didn't seem to move at all.
"You poor thing," Miri said next to me, sympathetic. "Waiting is hell for you, isn't it?"
I nodded. Senator Bridgefort was at a hearing to make sure the charges against Strike were dropped. The Senator was in charge of the Alien Breeds and, if the hearing were successful, would come here with Strike. I was so excited. After we parted under such strange circumstan
ces, I wasn't sure Strike would be happy to see me, but at least he would be free. I had to get used to the idea that maybe I would never mean to him what he meant to me.
"I'm sure we'll hear from you soon," Teddy interfered.
He was a friend of Miriam. Teddy was a hacker like me, and was rescued from the house of Strike's former boss shortly after Miriam. I liked the boy. He seemed to be quite a talent.
"How long can such a hearing last?" I asked desperately.
"I don't know," replied Miri. "Ice promised me that he would call immediately if anything was decided. I am sure that everything will go well!"
"Maybe he doesn't want me after all," I sniffed. "He was so cold when he left me in this godforsaken town!"
Miri pressed my hand.
"Let me tell you something. What I know about the Alien Breeds," she said and put her arm around my shoulder. "Alien Breeds don't sleep around. They are genetically designed to look for their mate. After everything you've told me about how it went between you two, I assure you that you are his mate. He won't let you go anymore, believe me!"
"But why was he so ... so cold after the last time...?"
"I tell you what I believe. He wanted to protect you, Alex. He did it out of love because he thought he'd get behind bars for life and he didn't want you to tie yourself to him. But if he is now free, then nothing will stand in the way of your love. He will be happy to see you, believe me!"
Her words gave me a little hope and I breathed deeply.
"Thank you," I whispered and Miri hugged me.
"Everything will be fine," she assured, "You will see. Everything will be fine!"
A bark sounded and it seemed to come out of Miri's pocket. Miri saw my surprised look and laughed.