Carol opened her mouth, but didn’t say anything. She stepped away from the door and let them pass inside.
He led Tracey to the couch and pulled her down next to him. Carol followed, closing the door behind her and locking it. She pressed the button that lowered the shades on the floor to ceiling windows that made up the southern wall of the house.
As soon as the light dimmed, the throbbing behind his eyes lessened. He hadn’t even realized he had a headache with all the changes in his body.
“You okay?” Tracey asked.
“Yeah.”
Tracey’s stomach gurgled. Her eyes widened, and she pressed a hand to her middle. “Sorry. I guess we sort of forgot breakfast.”
“I’m the one who’s sorry. I was supposed to make you pancakes.”
“I’ll get you something.” Carol crossed the room, heading for the kitchen section of the great room.
She gathered glasses and filled them with water, then rummaged around in the pantry. After a few moments, she walked over to the sitting area. Her metal tray clinked as she set it on the glass-top coffee table.
There were two specimen vials on the tray—non-reactive plastic tubes filled with clear liquid. Sterile swab packs sat next to them.
“You can’t be serious,” Kyle said. “You want to get a DNA swab now?”
She sat across from them with the tranquilizer gun resting in her lap. Her finger was still on the trigger. “Kyle, please, I know this is a lot, but could you humor me?”
“Cool.” Tracey leaned forward and picked up one of the swab packs. “How does it work? Do I rub it on my cheek like on TV?”
“You don’t have to,” Kyle said.
“Actually, she does.” Carol’s finger twitched on the trigger. If she wasn’t careful, she’d end up firing it by accident. She wasn’t quite pointing it at Tracey, but it was closer than he was comfortable with. What was even in that thing?
“It’s okay.” Tracey tore open the swab and held it up, then stuck it in her mouth. Her words were garbled as she said, “Am I doing it right?”
“Yeah.” Kyle picked up the other and did the same, then opened one of the specimen vials. He dropped his swab in the liquid, then put the cap back on and did the same for Tracey’s.
“Shake them, please,” Carol said.
Kyle did as he was told, holding up both vials. The liquid in Tracey’s stayed clear. The one in his turned bright green.
That had never happened before. He set the vials on the table, then ran his hand over his forehead.
“When my DNA sample would turn yellow, you told me that only meant you had to tweak my allergy shot,” Kyle said. “What does this mean?”
“It means you didn’t take your shot on time today,” Carol said.
“So this is my fault?”
“No, this is…fate.” Carol’s lips tightened. “You’ve always been sensitive to lights and sounds. That will be more pronounced now.”
He didn’t trust himself to speak without shouting—or flipping the table. Every word damned her further. How much had she been keeping from him? What other surprises did he have to look forward to?
“You’re both hungry,” she said. “Please, eat.”
She set the tranquilizer gun on the table in front of her, then gestured toward the granola bars she’d brought over. There was also a large glass jar full of applesauce.
“I guess that means I passed inspection,” Tracey said.
She glanced at Kyle, then leaned forward and grabbed a couple of bars. She offered one to him, but he shook his head.
“The applesauce is for Kyle,” Carol said.
Tracey’s mouth was full of food already. She must have been starving.
She covered her mouth, and said, “No spoon?”
Carol shook her head. “His father used to just drink it straight from the bottle. It’s a trait they share.”
The skin on Kyle’s back broke out in gooseflesh, like it was trying to crawl away. “Present tense? My dad is alive?”
Carol’s face paled, but she half-smiled. “I don’t know. I hope so.”
“You’ve never talked about him before,” Kyle said. “Not once. Even when I begged you to.”
“It was—”
“Too painful. Yeah, I remember.” He remembered all the excuses, all of the fights. He’d never wanted to yell or throw things before, though. He would have written it off as stress due to the fact that he had just turned green, but after Carol talking about “strange new urges”, he wasn’t so sure.
Tracey reached over and rested her hand on his thigh. She didn’t say anything. She didn’t have to. Having her close was enough to help him curb his temper.
They’d been together for less than a day, and already he was leaning on her, drawing on her strength. What would it be like a week from now? A month?
What had his parents shared—and lost?
“I’m sorry,” he said. “This is a lot.”
“Anyone would be overwhelmed.” Carol shook her head. “You’re handling this better than I’d hoped.”
“Handling what? What exactly is happening to me?”
Carol gripped the arm rests of her chair. She took a deep breath, then said, “A man was brought into the ER of the hospital where I worked. Unconscious. Unresponsive. They took a blood sample, and it…surprised them.”
“Was it green?” Tracey asked.
Carol stared at her. So did he.
Tracey shrugged. “It’s a valid question. I mean, look at you.”
“Please go on,” he said, looking pointedly at Carol.
“They asked me to come in and look at the sample,” she said. “I did, and it was unlike anything I’d seen before. I went to the patient’s room, and…”
She shook her head, a small smile teasing her lips as her eyes grew distant. He’d never seen that look on her face before.
“He was, too.”
“Was he green?” Tracey said.
Kyle turned to her. “Seriously?”
“I still say it’s a valid question.” She squeezed his thigh again and smiled. “Green is my favorite color, by the way.”
A laugh burst out of him. He shook his head, then picked up her hand and kissed it. He kept hold of it as he set it back on his leg.
When he turned to Carol, she was smiling. “It was like that for your father and I, too. Sudden and…intense.”
“He was the patient,” Kyle said.
“Yes. He regained consciousness while I was in the room with him and explained what was going on. I destroyed the samples and helped him escape. He stayed with me for a few days while he healed, but then he had to go.”
“Go where?” Kyle asked.
She sucked in a breath, probably to come up with some diversionary topic, like usual. Only this time, she held it.
He pushed. He had to. “Carol, I need to know. What am I? What was—is—he?”
“He’s an alien.”
Chapter Eight
“I knew it!” Tracey crowed, bouncing in her seat. She brought herself back under control as Kyle and Carol stared at her again. “I mean, that’s fascinating. Please continue.”
“What more is there to say?” Carol said.
“What more—” Kyle bowed his head, letting out a brief laugh. “You tell me my dad was an alien and expect to leave it at that? After I turn green?”
“Green is the way of the future,” Tracey said.
Kyle frowned at her. “Not helping.”
“Are you sure?”
She hoped her attempts at humor were helping him. They were the only thing keeping her from running screaming from the house or curling up in the corner laughing while she chewed on her hair.
Aliens were real. And she’d slept with one. And she kind of had feelings for him.
More than kind of.
He scoffed again, but his body relaxed a bit next to hers. Yeah. She was helping.
She held up her free hand toward Carol and said, “High five for alien
hookups.”
Carol’s eyebrows raised up her forehead. Tracey wasn’t that surprised to be left hanging.
“No? Okay,” she said.
“Ugh, she’s my mom,” Kyle said.
“Yeah, and I’m your…girlfriend, I guess.”
His eyes widened, and a huge smile spread over his face. “After all this?”
“You don’t go through shit like this together without forming a lasting bond.” She glanced over at Carol. “Oops, sorry. ‘Stuff like this’.”
Carol waved it off. “Swearing is the least of my concerns right now.”
“I’m guessing your not-so-little greenbean is at the center of your focus.” Tracey nudged Kyle with her shoulder.
“Don’t even think of making that a pet name for me.” Kyle turned back to Carol. “So, was my dad green?”
“No.” She let out a little laugh. “He actually looked much like you did when you were younger. Before your…growth spurt.”
“I will pay you cash money to see those pictures,” Tracey said. “Kyle says he was a skinny geek, but I’m having trouble picturing that.”
“He was thin and bookish.”
“Bookish.” Tracey laughed. “I like that.”
Kyle gestured toward his chest. “If my dad looked human, why am I green?”
“I don’t know,” Carol said. “From what he told me, his species were originally amphibious. Perhaps they had coloration that fits what your body is expressing. He did tell me that their geneticists modified their DNA to change their appearance generations ago.”
“So that they could fit in on Earth and invade?” Tracey had read so many books like that.
“No, they did it to fit in with the dominant society,” Carol said. “Most of the galaxy is controlled by the Coalition of Planets. The ruling species are from Sadr-4. Their appearance is similar enough to ours that his people speculate Earth might be a lost colony.”
“No way.” Tracey beamed at Kyle. “I guess that means I’m an alien, too.”
“If they’re correct, I suppose we all are,” Carol said.
Tracey dropped her empty wrapper on the tray. “Is that why you wanted to test my DNA, too? To make sure I’m not an alien in disguise?”
“We can’t be too careful,” Carol said. “Most of the aliens I’ve heard about aren’t very friendly.”
“I want to hear all those stories.” If Tracey was going to be living a Scifi novel, she wanted to get the most out of it.
“I don’t understand how you’re handling this so well,” Carol said.
“Kyle isn’t the only ‘bookish’ one.” Tracey reached into her purse and pulled out the book she and Kyle had bonded over last night.
Carol rolled her eyes. “Now it makes sense that you two bonded so quickly. He loves that series.”
“I keep telling you to give them a try,” Kyle said. “Although, I guess I understand better what you meant when you kept saying they were too unrealistic.”
Carol smiled at him gently. “I know the emotional ramifications of this must be intense, but how are you feeling otherwise?”
“Honestly? I feel great,” Kyle said. “Never better.”
Carol nodded. “I’m not surprised. I’m glad to hear it, though. Suppressing your DNA on such a large scale hasn’t been easy.”
“You know what else isn’t easy? Being—”
Kyle cut Tracey off before she could finish her amazing joke.
“But you didn’t know I’d change this radically,” he said.
“Your father looked human for the most part, but he had incredible strength and he could cling to walls.” Carol actually laughed a little. “That would have been hard to explain during parent-teacher conferences.”
“What parts of him didn’t look human?” Tracey asked.
“Again,” Kyle said. “My mom.”
“I wasn’t thinking about that, you perv.” Although now that he brought it up, she was kind of curious.
“His teeth.” Carol held up her hands as if warding off the topic. “Just his teeth.”
“Did he have like shark teeth or something?” Tracey asked.
“No.” Carol looked over at Kyle intently, as if wary of his reaction. “He had fangs embedded in the roof of his mouth.”
“Fangs?” Tracey reached out for Kyle’s lips. “Let me see.”
Kyle caught her hands by the wrists, but her momentum made her land against his chest—not that she minded. His pupils dilated as he stared down at her. Dilated sideways, in an oblong pattern.
“Cool…” she said.
“I do not have fangs in the roof of my mouth,” he said. “I’d be able to feel them.”
“Oh, right.”
He helped her sit back up, but this time, put his arm around her shoulders, tucking her against his side. Instead of overheating in the balmy weather, he was actually cool. She could feel her warmth siphoning into him in a pleasant way.
“Your father and I had no idea that his Sadirian DNA would make us biologically compatible enough to produce offspring,” Carol said. “If he’d known I was pregnant, I don’t think he would have left.”
Kyle tensed at Tracey’s side. “Then why did he leave?”
“His people may not have altered their appearance with the intention of invading Earth, but they’re making use of it now,” Carol said.
“Wait, so they are invading Earth?” Tracey wondered if she’d ever encountered an alien before and not even realized it. That funky lady at the tea shop seemed a likely candidate.
When Carol didn’t respond, Kyle said, “Carol?”
“They’re not here to take over the planet,” she said.
“Okay…” He drew out the word. “Then why are they here?”
“They’re collecting chemicals to improve their quality of life.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad,” Tracey said.
Kyle shook his head. “There’s more you’re not telling us.”
“The chemicals they need are generated by humans.” Carol rushed on. “But your father never bit me, even though he could easily have done so.”
“Oh my God.” Kyle started to pull away, but Tracey gripped his thigh and shifted closer to him.
“They don’t kill people,” Carol said. “They just siphon off the chemicals they need from the bloodstream.”
“Like that makes it better?” he yelled.
“You’re my son. You are not a monster.”
“Look at me, mom. Look at me and tell me I’m not a monster.”
“Come on,” Tracey said. “Breathe.”
He covered his face with his hands for a few moments, his huge chest expanding and contracting as he took several deep breaths. Tracey reached over and rubbed his back, keeping her other hand on his knee.
After a few moments, he leaned forward, clasping his hands in front of him. “So, let me get this straight. I am half human, half…vampiric genetically engineered amphibious-human alien?”
“That doesn’t change who you are,” Carol said.
He snorted.
“She’s right,” Tracey said. “Just because your dad is a…vampire…space…frog, that doesn’t mean he’s a monster. Or that you are.”
Kyle let out a light laugh. “‘Vampire space frog’?”
“It’s a lot easier to say than ‘vampiric genetically engineered amphibious-human alien.”
“You could just call them by their species name,” Carol said.
Tracey and Kyle both looked up at her, waiting.
“In the Coalition, they’re known as the Tau Ceti.”
Chapter Nine
“Can you change me back?” It was the one question at the front of Kyle’s mind, and the one he most dreaded getting an answer to.
“I’m not sure,” Carol said. “We can try, but the fact that you’ve changed so much… It was easier to keep the DNA dormant than it will be to force it back into dormancy. The process may be painful.”
“That doesn’t matter,” he said.
“We need to reverse this.”
“I don’t know, I think you look hot.” Tracey was still resting her hand on his back.
Carol might think Tracey wasn’t freaking out, but he knew better. That acrid edge to her scent had sharpened when Carol was holding the gun, and dulled when she put it on the table. It remained an undercurrent in whatever pheromones Tracey was putting off that Kyle could now detect.
Fear. An undercurrent to the near-constant lust.
He was sure that was the sweet scent that surrounded her—like honey barbeque. He tried to ignore it, along with the effect it was having on his body.
“I can’t walk around looking like this,” he said.
Tracey shrugged. “We could buy a bunch of foundation and get you some turtlenecks. Although, that might not feel too great with our summers.”
“Summer weather has never bothered me.” He turned to Carol and said, “Is that a side-effect of all this?”
She nodded. “Probably. Tau Ceti-5 is a swamp planet with high heat and humidity and extensive plant life. The Tau Ceti evolved to suit that environment. That’s why your eyes have always been sensitive to light. Your hearing will be amplified as well, if you follow after Alan.”
“Alan?” Kyle’s stomach lurched. “Is that his name?”
Carol nodded, that same half-smile that Kyle had never seen before today on her face. “His Earth name, anyway. He told me I’d never be able to pronounce the Tau Ceti one.”
Kyle snorted. Even with all the changes, there were still things he was grateful for. Learning about his father—and his mother. He’d never seen this side of her.
“Is it a play on the word ‘alien’?” Tracey asked.
Carol shook her head. “No, I think it was just the name assigned to him.”
“It sounds so…normal,” Tracey said. “Alan the alien.”
Carol chuckled. “Wait till you meet Craig and Barbara.”
"Who are they?" Tracey asked.
"Lyrian smugglers--who also happen to be seven-foot tall, white-furred, four-armed...'Bigfeet', for lack of a better term. But don't tell them I said that. Some of the ingredients in Kyle's 'allergy shots'," Carol had the decency to use air quotes when she said the words, "were a little hard to come by. I was able to find an Earthling with alien contacts who could get me what I needed."
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