by Sadie Savage
Soon, her cries drowned in his ever increasing moans, until he bolted upright, caught her around the middle, sank deep inside her, and climaxed. Her legs shook as evidence of the same in her trickled down over him.
He looked into her eyes, brushed her hair back, gave her one last kiss, and fell back onto the bed with her in his arms. He spent the rest of the afternoon in the same manner, and for the first time in a month, they slept in the same bed.
CHAPTER 9
Cynthia could not believe the euphoria she had felt ever since Darius had found out about the baby. He was no longer the cold and domineering man of before, but was, instead, sweet and sensitive.
“I don’t get it,” she said to him one morning at breakfast. He had a habit of leaving early in the day in order to see to the proper running of Argon, and she'd started rising early with him.
“Get what?” he asked, and spooned a mouthful of wild bird’s egg into his mouth.
“It’s like you're a different man,” she told him. She bit into a fruit that resembled an avocado, but tasted more like apple. She could barely stomach much of anything else anymore, so she avoided the venison. And the eggs. “Did the baby do this to you?”
“Darling, I don’t even recognize the man of which you speak,” he said, and smiled. He wiped his hands with a piece of napkin and leaned back in the chair.
Someone burst into the room, excused himself, and passed a device to Darius which he quickly scanned, and handed back to the man.
“Pressing matters?” she asked.
“I’m afraid so,” he told her. “It seems there has been a disturbance among some of the members of the council who are trying to ratify an amendment.” He wiped his lips and got up. He went over to her and kissed her briefly on the lips. “See you later?”
“Where else would I be after spending another long, boring day counting hovercrafts from the terrace?” she asked sarcastically.
Darius chuckled and slipped into his coat. “You can always go out,” he told her.
“Yeah, but where?” she asked his slowly disappearing back. She looked down at her stomach, which hadn't yet begun to show, and decided that she'd indeed venture into the city, for the first time since she'd left it in chains.
She went to the bedroom and put on an animal skin coat Darius had given her. When she pressed the buttons to open the door and it slid apart, she stepped out onto a marble walkway. She received a few nods from the guards, and she wrapped her coat tighter around her and went down the steps. The air was crisp and clean, and life on the streets had already begun for the day. She didn’t plan on going far, maybe only around the block and back; the architectural setting made it easy for one to get lost.
She walked farther than she thought she would, drawing the attention of several other men from the planet, and some humans, too. She passed one woman, who had red eyes and bruises on her face, and she shivered as she thought of the life she must have lived so far. She kept her head low and walked quickly onwards, but she couldn’t help noticing, after some time, the looks she was getting from some of the women. It wasn’t hard to see that all the women were human, and obviously from Earth. The thought occurred to her that she should probably return to the safety of the house, as she was beginning to feel uncomfortable.
She had barely taken a few steps in the direction from which she had come, when she noticed a familiar face, only this time, it didn’t seem as bland as it had been back at the compound.
“I thought they might like that pretty face with the blue eyes, I just didn’t think it would be Lord Darius,” she said, placing great emphasis on her owner’s name.
“Look, I don’t want any trouble,” Cynthia said. She took a few steps back.
“I guess now you think you're better than the rest of us, huh?” the woman said. She took a step or two closer to Cynthia.
“What? This is crazy,” she said. She turned to walk away, her heart fluttering so hard in her chest she was sure she was about to have a heart attack.
“I was talking to you,” the woman pressed, shoving Cynthia in the process.
Cynthia stumbled and fell, landing hard, on her side, and she screamed out in pain. Before she was able to stand, the woman was standing over her, eyes flaming red. Cynthia pushed against her and twisted her body, causing the woman to topple over sideways. Cynthia got onto her knees in a bid to stand, but before her hands had left the ground, she felt searing pain in the back of her neck.
Her hands found the spot, as her eyes tried to focus. Everything seemed in a daze. Tears stung her eyes, and she fell to the ground. Through the mist of her tears she saw one of the guards from the house as he apprehended the woman, still flailing and kicking in his grasp. The others who had gathered close quickly dispersed, and the woman was carted off.
Cynthia's head grew heavy, she fell back, and everything grew still.
CHAPTER 10
When Cynthia opened her eyes again, it felt as if her head was bobbing in water. She saw the sky moving and felt her body rocking before she realized she was being carried. Her head pounded, and she made no attempt to move. She looked upwards to see the face of the guard she'd seen earlier, when she'd left the house.
“Where am I?” she asked.
“Don’t worry,” he replied, without looking down. “You'll be home soon.”
Her head dipped back, and her eyes closed as the door to the house opened. The guard placed her on a futon-like resting pad, as he and the other guards busied themselves deciding whether to get Lord Darius, or to wait until he came from the meeting. They decided on the latter, and Cynthia spent the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon nursing a head injury and a nagging pain in her neck.
She was rubbing the bruised spot and walking into the bedroom when Darius charged through the door. “Why didn’t someone come to get me?” he barked.
“Sir, we didn’t want to disturb you, and--”
“Nonsense!” he shouted, and he rushed to her side. “There is nothing more important to me now than her,” he said as he sat down beside her and took her hand, “and this child.”
“It really was nothing,” Cynthia told him, but he would hear none of it.
“Do you have any idea how long I’ve waited for a woman I wanted to be with? I got lucky when I met you,” he told her.
“They got her,” she tried to tell him.
“Where is the woman?” Darius shouted at the guard.
“In custody,” the man replied, respectfully.
“I will see to it that she is shown the full measure--”
“Darling,” Cynthia said, stopping him. “Don’t be so hasty to make judgement. She was just…jealous.”
“Jealous? Of what?” He didn’t seem to realize his own station and status, and how the other humans would perceive someone chosen by him.
“Not all of the women who were taken here are treated well. I saw one with a bruised cheek and red eyes. The woman who hit me seemed like she'd seen better days, as well.’
He seemed to register what she was saying, and his features softened. His eyes sloped downwards, and his hand reached out and touched her stomach. “Is he all right?” he asked tenderly.
“I think so,” she told him, smoothing the hair that had been hiding half of his face like a drawn curtain. She could hardly believe he had become everything she had ever wanted, and had given her even more, this man from another planet. With each passing day, the memory of her hurt sank further into the abyss, and she embraced Darius.
“He'd better be,” he whispered, and even while his guests looked on, he lowered his head and kissed her slowly and deliberately. She curled her hand around his neck, allowing the emotions within to overcome her. “How about we go and do something else?” he asked her, a grin spreading from ear to ear.
“I can barely move,” she replied, though her body had already begun to react to his words.
“That’s all right--you won’t have to do a thing,” he said, and whisked her off to the bedr
oom. By this time, the help had all but disappeared, leaving the two alone, and as the evening sun grew orange in the background, they made love, not as master and servant, but as lovers.
************
His little face looked up at them, his bright, blue eyes melting their hearts. He reached tiny pale fingers upwards, his face displaying features that resembled his father, and cooed.
“Are you ready?” Darius asked as he bent to pick up the infant. Baby Dane was just two weeks old, and already the spitting image of his father.
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Cynthia replied. She stood and took her place next to him. There was to be a showing in the large council room where Dane would be presented to the people in a welcoming ceremony. It was a big deal, considering his status on Argon, though there were smaller ceremonies for the other babies when they were born.
“So, do you still want to go back to Earth?” he whispered into her ear as she walked next to him.
She was clad in an elegant, silver gown that fell to her ankles, and adorned with diamond accessories. “I wouldn’t dream of it now.” She turned to him and smiled, remembering the conversation they'd had a few months ago, when she had told him of her desire to return home. “You’re not as bad as when I first met you.”
“Not as bad, huh?” he asked.
“Nope. He is adorable, isn’t he?” she asked. She reached over and touched her son’s chin. He gripped her finger, smiled, and her world seemed to shake.
“He absolutely is,” Darius replied. Cynthia looked up at his face, her heart warming when she saw nothing but love there.
When they got to the room, she sucked in her breath. She hadn’t made a public appearance of this magnitude since Darius had taken her. She witnessed the smiles and nods she received as they made their way to the entrance hall.
“Welcome, Lord Darius,” the guard said. He pressed the button and the door slid back.
“Thank you,” he replied, much to the guard’s surprise, who smiled in turn, and then faced forward, once more.
The members of the room stood as soon as they appeared, and Cynthia got a feel of what royalty was really like. The elder councilman held his hand out to Darius for the baby. Darius placed him in the councilman's outstretched arms. The two of them stood there solemnly, as the man pressed his thumb to the babe’s forehead and chanted words in a tongue unfamiliar to Cynthia's ear.
When it was all over, they retired to the dining hall for the festivities. They received congratulatory remarks from several of the guests, who were largely Argonites, with a few of their human mates scattered throughout.
“Come on,” Darius said. He took her hand and led her to a now familiar room on the other side of the building. Dane was resting nearby in a cot, being watched by Annette, who had taken to the child, and was less fearful of her Lord than she had been in the past.
“What are we doing?” Cynthia asked as Darius led her away.
“Overseeing the next selection process,” he told her, eying her suspiciously. Images of when she had first arrived rushed through her mind, and she gripped her chest as anxiety beset her. “Don’t worry,” he told her. He rubbed the back of her hand. “It won’t be like it was then.”
And he was right. This time, the women were brought in, and they got to choose. Cynthia smiled as she sat there, not approving of the fact that humans were still being abducted, but that they would have a chance at a better life. And the men didn’t seem to mind either.
“What did I tell you?” he asked at the end of it. “It’s a part of the new amendment.”
“I approve.” She smiled. “The women will appreciate it more, too. But tell me something: does that mean that I am your master now?”
“Anything you wish,” he told her. He kissed her temple, slipped his hand around her waist, and they all went home.
THE END
Kidnapped by An Alien
Aurora Palmer pulled the throttle back and hurled forward into the black abyss polka dotted by meteor rocks that whizzed by her ship. Her eyes focused on the monitor for any signs of the Thraxians, but all that showed was the red line going back and forth on the screen and detecting nothing.
“When I get my hands on these sons of…”
“Not on my ship Nora,” Aurora warned.
“Why do you have compassion for these things? The Thraxians have been terrorizing our planet for years. This last attack claimed the lives of many, and we can’t seem to get the better of them. I don’t get why you would even want to sympathize with them.” Nora slammed her fist on the panel and got up.
“You think I sympathize because I don’t want you to call them names on my ship? Nora, my brother is dead because of those things. Why would I sympathize?”
“Look, I’m tired and frustrated and I just want this thing to be over,” Nora replied and paced the floor.
“Then let’s just find them so we can go home,” Aurora suggested, and nodded at the seat across from her. “Nora you know I can’t do this without you. You have been my wingman for…I don’t even remember how long.”
“Eight years,” Nora said and smiled. Then she walked back to her seat and took her place as second in command on the starship Aurora piloted. There was silence for a while as the two checked the blackness for a motion or heat signal, but there was nothing. “Do you think they are even out here?”
Aurora took up her communicator and pressed the button on the side. “Come in base, this is starship one.”
“Go ahead starship one,” the muffled voice said over the speaker.
“We have been circling for over an hour. There is zero activity here. What should we do?” she asked and waited for instructions from the command center.
“Hold on a second starship one,” the voice said.
Aurora kept her hands on the device and rested her head against the padded headrest on her seat. She was tired, and she just wanted to go home. It had been a long month, and she was sick of chasing the Thraxians over the galaxy. She had grown up to stories of the animals they were; they would find neighboring planets and pillage and plunder them, taking whatever spoils they could return to their home planet. Their stories were told over bonfires and for bedtime stories to the children of Earth for centuries. Of late, the stories had all come to life after repeated invasions on other planets nearby. The Galaxy Peace Corp had called for assistance from the other planets since Planet Nirvana, the latest planet to come under attack, was unable to defend itself.
“Starship one, there is activity about thirty-five miles east of your location. Do you copy?” the voice from the speaker asked.
“Copy base,” Aurora said and clicked off. She replaced the communicator and programmed the location into the monitor. The space ship dipped right and sped off in the direction. Five minutes later and Aurora heard the monitor beeping and the red lights that were flashing before suddenly turned to green. But the size of the vessel they saw was nothing compared to their own, and she looked across at Nora as she gazed at it in shock.
“Do you think we need help?” Nora asked, her eyes still wide with astonishment.
“No, I got this,” Aurora said as she opened a compartment below the monitor and flicked two switches that armed the space craft.
“What’s going on?” someone asked from the back.
“The Thraxians are in sight,” Aurora responded. “We are going in.”
“Alright,” the man hooted enthusiastically.
“Can’t say I blame them,” Nora said and smiled. “We are all itching to snag some Thrax.”
“Let’s go do just that,” Nora said as she pressed another button and the guns crept forward and set poised for battle.
The space craft Aurora piloted was about a third of that of the Thrax, but she was accustomed to battle and knew enough to be confident that size was not always an advantage. Those big vessels usually have engines underneath them, and she guided her ship exactly there. She was only a few hundred feet off when the vessel started turnin
g, and before she had even begun to engage, she felt her ship rock as they discharged their weapon.
“Hold on,” Aurora said as she swerved and flew to the other side of the ship. She targeted a spot on the underside of the vessel and pressed the button. A torpedo flew out and there was a big ball of fire as the vessel was hit. She dipped low to avoid shrapnel backfiring and damaging her ship, and then let fly another. Before it made contact Aurora’s ship jerked and catapulted a few yards away from the Thraxian vessel. She hung from her chair after the ship did, and by the time she realized, she saw smoke coming from the bottom of her ship.
She looked across and saw blood coming from Nora’s nose, and her body slumped over the seat. She reached for her communicator and pressed the button, but all she heard was a crackling sound. “Mayday! Mayday!” she said with a cracked voice that only came out as a hoarse whisper.
She tried to sit straight and level the space craft, but when she looked out, she saw the Thraxian vessel directly before her, with the guns aimed directly at her. “Not today,” Aurora said and gritted her teeth. She grabbed the throttle and pulled it back. She hit the seat hard when the space craft suddenly shot into the air, and when she was on top of the vessel she levelled it off. She checked and saw that the Thraxian vessel was too big to turn as quickly, and when it did, she was already too far off.
She programmed the coordinates for Earth into the monitor, and hoped she could make it home before they caught up with her. She was beginning to get hopeful when she heard a loud beeping sound. She had damaged two of the air ducts, and she felt the panic rising in her as she mentally calculated how long her oxygen would last. The space craft was moving too fast, burning oxygen she needed. Aurora started gasping for air before she decided to set the control to auto pilot.