From Earth to Oblivion

by Amber Lynn

  “What does it matter what they think?” Hunter asked. “The worse they can do is try to shoot us, and from what I understand, that’s not going to do them a lot of good.”

  Krinla found herself shaking her head, something she decided she was going to need to get used to doing. If Hunter could read her mind, there was no reason for her to verbally go through the list of reasons why that line of thinking wasn’t a good idea.

  Hunter had the teeth and eyes of a Dracul, but that didn’t prove to her that he had the healing power they did. One of the guard’s bullets could tear through his skin and organs.

  “The concern is cute, but if you listen carefully,” Hunter said as he grabbed Krinla’s earlobe. “you’ll hear my heart isn’t beating anymore. The idea that my other organs are still necessary seems slim. Plus, we aren’t going to be able to sit in here forever. Even if we can do whatever training you think I need in this space, eventually we have to go back to the lab so we can leave.”

  “Until I can figure out the mental stuff going on between us, please pretend you don’t know everything I’m thinking.”

  It seemed like an impossible ask, but Krinla had to say the words. Her thoughts on the matter were being ignored.

  “I’ll try, but it comes across like you’re saying the words, so it’s hard to discount them.”

  “It gets easier,” Rya provided. Since she seemed to answer everything Krinla thought, it wasn’t much of a reassurance. “I do agree that we should try to get out of here and move towards us going home. I thought it’d be a while before you were ready, but the hard part is over.”

  Krinla didn’t have to read minds to know the hard part was her turning Hunter into a Dracul. She didn’t agree with that sentiment at all. Whatever happened when they went home was going to be a lot more difficult than her sinking her teeth into Hunter’s neck.

  “Take a deep breath and look at my hand,” Hunter said, lifting the hand in question up to make sure she could see it. “The bruises are gone, so I can heal myself if the guards do anything. I’d like to go talk to my dad. I don’t want him to hear about this from someone else.”

  When he put things that way, it was hard to refuse the request. Of course, if they didn’t leave the room, no one could tell his dad about the change. In the end, it was three against one.

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Hunter had to hold Krinla back when Liam made a smart aleck remark the second they walked out of the room. The man still didn’t understand how minuscule his life was and how easy it’d be to end it.

  “I’m only going to hold her back and warn you to tread lightly once.” Hunter’s voice dropped as he spoke.

  The added grit made Krinla turn around to look at him. She almost expected his eyes to glow, but his eyelids were only closed slightly as he stared over at the other man.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me. I knew you were talking crazy about becoming one of them downstairs, but you let her sink her teeth into you, didn’t you? I know she’s cute and all, but there are some things any self-respecting man doesn’t allow.”

  It took a split second for Hunter’s arms to let go of Krinla and him to flash in front of Liam so he could slug the man in the jaw. Krinla couldn’t help smiling. Liam was still trying to figure out what had happened when Hunter moved back to wrap his arms around Krinla. The sharp crunch of bones cracking should’ve been all he needed to hear.

  “I’ve wanted to do that for over a year,” Hunter whispered in Krinla’s ear as he kissed her cheek.

  “I don’t care who your father is. You’re going to pay for each of those bones you just broke.”

  Krinla was partially impressed that the man didn’t reach up to grab the part of his face that had instantly started to swell. She’d heard about how weak humans were, and it was highly doubtful Hunter knew everything when it came to controlling his strength.

  Liam lifted up the automatic rifle that hung around his neck and pointed it at Krinla and Hunter. Since she was standing in front of Hunter, the threat didn’t worry her. It probably didn’t worry Krinton either, but that didn’t stop him from moving in front of the couple.

  “You’re lucky that’s all he broke. Your disrespect for his future wife is challengeable, and I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t come out ahead of that challenge. If you don’t mind, we’re on our way to talk to his dad for a little bit, but after that, you can watch what it’s like for two Draculs to fight. I can assure you that it’s nothing like the games you guys play.”

  “You guys are all crazy.”

  Liam didn’t have anything else to add to the conversation. At least that’s what Krinla decided when the guard stormed off down the hall, leaving the man who was watching the door with him.

  “I’m not getting involved. The President told us to make sure you didn’t leave the place, and as far as I’m concerned, that’s all I’m doing here. You guys are going to have to explain what happened in that room.”

  Between Hunter’s death wish and Liam’s total craziness, Krinla was led to believe all humans were crazy. The man with a medium build, short brown hair and matching eyes appeared to be the sanest human Krinla had met.

  He gave her a little hope for their kind, even when she knew there was little hope to be had. Having never met humans, Krinla didn’t have a feeling of sorrow for what they must have gone through. Knowing at least a few dozen of them through Hunter’s memories made her feelings on the matter a little different.

  The guard left behind moved out of the way when no one said anything and held out his arm to indicate they should start walking in the opposite direction that Liam had gone. With Krinla’s new knowledge, she studied the camouflage uniform he was wearing. Having spent a lot of time out in the woods, she was curious how well the various green colors blended into the surrounding.

  Her father looked behind him before he waved Rya forward and the pair led the way down the hall. The guard followed behind them. Krinla didn’t like the order, but Hunter seemed comfortable as he draped an arm across her shoulders and started walking.

  “Mark’s one of the only guys I can stand, so I’m pretty sure he’s not going to stab us in our backs.” Hunter’s voice was low, but it wasn’t much of a whisper.

  “I like to think I’m not an idiot. I swear I didn’t blink, but I didn’t see you move, let alone swing to crush Liam’s skull.”

  “It was his cheekbone that ended up breaking.” There wasn’t a need for Hunter to correct him, but he apparently wanted to make small talk.

  “Yeah, well, all I heard was bones cracking and I knew I wasn’t about to get involved. Ever since you guys got the machine working, things going on around here have been way above my pay grade.”

  One of the many things Krinla picked up from Hunter was the fact that the little buttons he had were just a small piece of a bigger device. He didn’t understand everything about it, even though his dad had tried to explain it. That left Krinla with a little more information, but not enough to be any kind of expert.

  She’d seen the various experiments they’d gone through before Hunter was allowed to test it. The situation was another instance to prove how crazy humans were. It didn’t matter that they’d successfully transferred ten animals before he gave it a try and he was the only person his father trusted to do it. Krinla would have never allowed him to be a test subject.

  Hunter scoffed, letting Krinla know he was more than likely following along. She looked out the corner of her eye to see a smirk on his face.

  “I’m not going to say a thing. You said don’t act like we’re having a conversation when we’re not, but I can’t help when what you’re thinking makes me laugh.”

  “For not saying a thing, you just said way too many words,” Krinla replied.

  They’d made it down the stairs and were on their way back to the lab they’d arrived in. The fact that Noah wasn’t there the moment they’d appeared from the past was an abnormality. There were times Hunter’s dad tooled over his calculatio
ns for days, with only breaks to go to the bathroom. Since he barely ate or drank anything those days, it equated to minimal interruptions.

  When they got to the lab, there were more guards waiting at the door for them. Krinla knew them from Hunter’s memories, but she hadn’t met them. It was obvious to tell the moment they saw Hunter’s eyes. The wide-eyed expressions they got made them look almost comical.

  Thankfully, they were smart enough not to say anything. Not only that, they gave the group a wide berth as they stepped away from the open door.

  They weren’t quiet as they walked in, but Noah still took a second to look up from his desk. He didn't think anything of the interruption and looked back down. The novelty of the Dracul visitors never seemed to interest him as much as the guys charged with keeping him safe. He was curious if they could help cure his people, but he didn’t seem to be worried they were there to take over the planet.

  “I take it your mornings have been restful. The only thing I’ve heard from the guards is that they’re worried I’m going to be a grandfather soon.” Noah chuckled as he wrote something on one of the papers in front of him.

  “I can assure you that children were mentioned, but it was in the distant future,” Krinton said with authority. “We are moving forward with their plans to get married, though.”

  The statement brought Noah’s eyes away from his work again. He first looked to Krinton before turning his focus to his son. There were no cartoon eyeballs for him, only relief in his eyes.

  Krinla wasn’t sure what she expected when Noah realized his son had made the transition to being a Dracul, but relief wasn’t the first emotion that crossed her mind. He’d seemed like a big supporter of taking a step back and thinking about things before jumping in feet first.

  “I thought we’d have a little more time, but I knew I was fooling myself. I take it the idea of trying it out on someone else first was skipped over? At least I haven’t seen any guards with red eyes.”

  Noah pushed his chair back and slowly made his way over to the group. He didn’t show any signs of being afraid of the obvious changes in his son, but there seemed to be a little hesitation.

  “I know in our time people traveled back here, but Krinla was firmly against doing something that could change anything that would alter our future.” Krinla didn’t need her father to speak for her, but he was still in front of the couple, off to the side slightly, so he was Noah’s first contact as he came closer.

  “I can’t blame you. We’ve been trying to change our time because we’re in dire need of something to change. Talking about what that meant for the future hasn’t been a high priority.”

  “But it’s going to have to be now,” Hunter butted in.

  Krinla got the sense he wasn’t happy saying the words. He hadn’t asked for anyone else to join them in the future, which told her he was either avoiding the conversation or already knew what her answer would be. She hoped it was the latter keeping the question at bay.

  “It is,” he said as he squeezed her closer to him.

  “What is?” Noah asked.

  He looked to Hunter for the answer, as he should, but Krinla felt part of the focus spread to her, and it made her slightly uncomfortable. She didn’t step away from Hunter, mainly because he’d already proven it would be a bit of a production for her to battle his newfound strength.

  “Sorry, that was something I meant to keep private. We have an issue we’re trying to work out that leads me to say weird things sometimes.”

  If Krinla heard that explanation from someone she cared about, it wouldn’t have calmed any fears. She couldn’t believe Noah was going to let things move on in the conversation without more clarification, and she was right.

  “Is everything okay? You seem to be standing up on your own okay, but maybe we should have a doctor take a look at you.”

  Before Krinla could say something about not liking that idea, Hunter was quick to answer his father.

  “We both know any doctor would try to take as many vials of blood as he or she could out of me. Krinla is the special one, but anything taken from me is from her, so I can’t share that with anyone.”

  The reasoning was a little convoluted, but the sentiment was all Krinla cared about. Hunter wasn’t human anymore so a human doctor wouldn’t have anything to offer him.

  “There’s nothing wrong with him that won’t work itself out.” Krinton tried to reassure. “You weren’t surprised at all to see your son had gone through the transformation.”

  There was no question involved in Krinton’s words, but Krinla had been surprised at the instant sign of relief. She hadn’t expected the jerk-like response that Liam had, but maybe a little anger at the clear indication his son could’ve died.

  “Why would I be? I already said I thought I’d have a little more time, but there was no doubt in my mind that it would happen.” Noah took his eyes off his son for a second to look over at Krinton. “My son has never looked at a woman the way he does your daughter. I like to think it’s the same look I had in my eyes whenever I thought about his mother.”

  Hunter sighed and tilted his head so it collided softly with Krinla’s. He preferred to keep the talk of the people he lost to the minimum, much like Krinla did with her own mother.

  “We don’t have forever, but we’re not leaving right this second. Krinla’s going to need some food from somewhere and I have to learn how to fight like a Dracul so I can kill her ex-fiancé.”

  There was something in Hunter’s tone that made it seem like both of those things were going to be easy. They would soon find out that one was a lot easier than the other.

  Chapter Twenty-six

  “Is there ever going to be a day when you take it easy on me?”

  Hunter had asked the question at least twice every day that Krinla attempted to get him ready for the fight with Hulin. His back was on the mat in the training room they’d set up. There had been some machines that took up most of the space in the room, but the Draculs were quick to move them out of the way.

  The humans who originally came to help set things up had wondered about the large area of floor space that had been cleared. Apparently, when they trained for combat, they didn’t need as much room. For the ones who showed up each day to watch what Krinla and Hunter did, they realized the room was actually a little too small.

  “Are you ever going to quit hitting her like she’s a delicate flower and use some of the techniques she taught you on day one?”

  It was unclear whether Rya’s unique way of cheerleading was helping. She never had anything nice to say to Hunter, even when he did something halfway decent. He was new to the power at his fingertips, so Krinla wasn’t totally discouraged when his attention wavered and he hesitated to hurt her.

  He let in more hits than Krinla thought he should, especially since he was able to pick up what Krinla planned to hit him with. Hunter had been a Dracul for three cycles and seemed to master most things that came along with the territory. He didn’t even scoff when Krinla thought his energy was weakening and ordered him to drink out of one of the bags of blood they had nearby.

  The blood they’d been provided was not fresh from the source, and had a stale taste, but it kept them moving. Krinla promised Hunter that when they got home, she’d make sure he got to sample some of the real stuff before his fight. It was a bit of a joke between them.

  “You already know what I’m going to say to that, munchkin, so why don’t you zip your lips.”

  Krinla wasn’t sure how much Rya enjoyed the nickname Hunter had settled on. There were about ten he’d tried over the course of the three days, and munchkin seemed to win out.

  “You know what she’s going to do before she does it. Most people would use that to their advantage.”

  Rya had a good point. Krinla hadn’t opened up, or whatever it was she needed to do to know what Hunter was going to do, but he didn’t hide the fact he knew what she was thinking. He was better about not starting conversations bas
ed on her thoughts, but he hadn’t mastered not reacting.

  Hunter managed to catch Krinla’s fist as it swung towards his head. His grip was weaker than she wanted, but stopping it from colliding with his head was a step in the right direction. Since she knew he could see where her mind was going, Krinla kept attempting to do things without thinking about them to see how quickly he could come up with something to counter the move.

  It was clear he still needed a lot of work when she took their connected hands and spun her body around to throw Hunter against a wall across the room. She only used about half her strength, so the wall didn’t end up with a permanent mold of Hunter’s body. Krinla gave herself half a second to glance over to the place across the room where she hadn’t taken into account the poor craftsmanship of the walls and there was a large dent.

  Hunter brushed off his pants and took off in a run at Krinla. There was a little more fire in his eyes than there had been, which made Krinla smile. She ducked out of the way when he tried to tackle her. He caught her off guard when he came from behind her before she could turn and wrapped his arms up parallel to her body and pulled back to fling both of their bodies on the ground.

  The move wasn’t one of the ones Krinla taught him, so she wasn’t prepared for it. When they got to the ground, Krinla fought to free her arms, but holding her in place wasn’t something Hunter had a problem doing. As she struggled, Hunter locked his legs around hers to keep her from kicking him.

  “Is this some kind of a joke?” Rya asked.

  Krinla was having fun with her first challenge during their little battles, so she ignored the criticism. She didn’t need to be able to read minds to know what Rya’s latest beef with their fighting was going to be. Instead of contributing to the conversation, she focused on trying to buck Hunter off of her.

  The power she felt in his arms and legs was reassuring. The few times he’d been able to land hits were fairly inconsistent. Hunter didn’t trust the many assurances that he couldn’t hurt Krinla. On her side of things, she actually had reason to worry since she had bruised his hand at one point.