by Arwen Jayne
Michael didn’t like having either of his women taking risks but he knew they’d kick his ass if he tried to stop them. “Okay but don’t try and take him on until I get there.” He watched her receding back for a moment as she disappeared, barefoot, into the bush, easily camouflaged by her dark skin colouring and army green shorts and tank top she prefered to wear. Doing his best impression of an official looking cop, which he was, he went to attract the villains attention while Sarah made her play. The ping of a bullet hitting his shoulder made him swear. Instinct he supposed. In truth it had passed right through him leaving him unharmed. He gave a quick thanks to the all-spirit for the miracle of the geneticist’s DNA treatment, the retrovirus that had healed both Sarah and him of their mortality. Kiana was alright, she was Malakim, immortal from the start. As long as it wasn’t the Din firing at any of them they were fine. But the villains didn’t know that. He wondered what was going through that guy’s mind right now as Michael kept walking towards the ridge, ignoring the increasing stream of bullets coming his way. Yeah, if it was him right now he’d be wondering if he was caught up in some sci-fi plot and about to meet his maker.
The bullets stopped. Michael swore. Running the rest of the way he reached the top of the climb and looked over. Sarah had the man on the ground, already handcuffed and was idly standing there, a carefully aimed foot applying pressure to the man’s kidneys. “I told you to wait.” Michael swore again.
13
Ally knocked on the guys’ door. No answer. Figures! At this time of the morning the half men half lizards were probably out on their back porch dozing in the sun, trying to get their body temperatures up for the day. She wandered around the back and spied Mendal half asleep in his cloud chair, a kind of sophisticated hammock, his morning cuppa getting cold on the coffee table beside him. She cleared her throat.
Mendal’s eyes flashed open, instantly alert, their tangerine irises dazzling her. He visibly relaxed when he realised who was there. The smile that etched his face was almost sweet, as much as you ever got a smile out of the two ex-Din. “Oh, hi Ally, sorry, didn’t hear you.”
“Relax Mendal, I just came around to see if you were up and whether you might be interested in making a start on looking at those electrical diagrams I’ve drawn up.” She looked around for a seat and spied an old cane chair. The whole place was whatever the guys had been able to scrounge and repair. They hadn’t wanted charity from the locals. Accepting use of the abandoned house had been hard enough. Their only prized possessions were the two cloud chairs that hung from their back verandah, paid for by doing odd jobs for the townsfolk. Of late they’d finally given in to Simon’s insistence that they draw a wage for the projects they were working on.
“How’d your date go with George last night?”
Ally looked aghast. “Date! It was just a meal. We shared recipes and engineering ideas. I was afraid he wanted more but it was time to make it clear that I value him as a friend, nothing more.”
“Ouch, that must have hurt. You know’s he’s been hankering after you for a long time.”
Ally’s shoulders sagged a little and she struggled with the guilt. “I know. I was sort of hoping he’d grow bored with chasing after me but he only seemed to be getting more earnest over time.”
“The chase is often like that for us guys, it just makes us want what we are chasing even more. You did right to come clean with him and let him know you weren’t interested.”
“I just don’t want to lose him as a friend. I love his company and professionally he’s a great sounding board for some of my more way out ideas.”
Mendal was curious what was going through that vast brain of hers. “Like what?”
“Oh, ... like harnessing dark energy to supply the town’s energy needs and get us off the grid.”
“Is that all? Yeah I think if the four of us put our minds together we might crack that. “
“You really think so? You sure George will still want to work with us on it?”
“We’ll all support him through this Ally, we’ll make sure he know’s his friendship is valued. Why don’t we all have a pizza night tonight and have a look at your ideas.”
“That would be awesome.”
“Can I ask you one thing though Ally?”
“Sure.”
“If you’re not interested in George is there anyone else who takes your fancy?”
Shit, she hadn’t seen that one coming. Her faced flashed red as she blushed. Her subconscious betraying her, raking her eyes over his body. “I um, let’s not go there Mendal.”
Mendal casually extracted himself from his cloud chair and stalked over to her. “Why Ally, do you actually fancy me?”
“Ah, shit, it’s complicated.”
“I’m an engineer, I like complicated. Tell me more.”
“Bugger, I really didn’t want either of you to ever know I was interested in you more that professionally, how are we going to all work together if this all goes South.”
“Either of us?”
“Yeah well, I rather fancy you and Upal. Both. There I’ve said it. It’s okay, I know it’s just a stupid fantasy. Put it down to an overly active imagination and too many menage novels. Now can we pretend I didn’t just say all that and get back to talking about energy systems. Where is Upal anyway?” Flustered, she desperately hoped that would change the discussion.
“Upal’s still in recovery. His heart stopped when the virus took hold. Jnarn, Doc and Sally were with him all night.”
“Shit, bugger I’m saying that a lot today.”
Mendal laughed. “You do seem to have a way with swear words this morning. It’s alright though. Simon and his mother said Upal would pull through. He’d better. I’m up next.”
Ally visibly paled. “Maybe you should hold off until they work out why his heart stopped.”
Mendal reached his hand out to lightly stroke her cheek, wonder warming his eyes. “You really do care don’t you?”
Ally thought her own heart would stop as Mendal touched her face. “I do.”
Mendal frowned, a seriousness seeming to weigh him down. “It would not be that easy loving us you know.”
Damn. That statement only wetted her appetite. Challenges were worth living for. “For goodness sake, why? Apart from the whole two guys and one girl thing there’s nothing unusual about how this all works.”
“Ah but there is. You see Upal and me, we aren’t quite built the way you’d imagine.”
Well that was a surprise. If anything it had her slightly intrigued. “What do you mean exactly? I know you were both human, each possessed by a Din. When the goddess forgave you your karma she merged your Din oversoul with your human body and you ended up with the orange eyes and the ability to shapeshift into your lizard form. Unless you’re going to eat me I can’t see a problem with any of that.”
“I’m glad you’re open minded but... Hell. It would be easier if I could just show you.”
“Well then show me.”
“You won’t take it the wrong way? You won’t think I’m flashing you if I strip out of my clothes?”
Ally blushed a little more. “I’ll be a pure scientist.” She lied.
“Yeah, sure. Well okay then. Purely in the interests in the science then.” He absentmindedly unbuttoned his shirt and turned his back to her. Showing the green, shiny like enamel scales that covered his spine and much of his upper back, tapering off down between his buttocks.
Ally admired the beauty of his back. No problem there. “Is that all?”
“Fraid not.” Mendal kept his back turned to her and almost shimmied out of the loose pants he’d been lounging in. Then turned.
Ally sucked her breath in, in shock. “Oh my, you’ve got no...”
“Oh yes I have. They’re retracted within me when not in use.”
“They?”
“You’d have to get me aroused to really see them. I won’t ask that of you.”
Ally simply grinned like a cheshire c
at. “Um... purely in the interests of science.” She stretched out her hand and stocked his balls lightly. “Wow.” Okay they weren’t retracted now. The sight of them held her in fascination.
“They’re called hemipenes, common enough amongst reptiles. They can be used alternatively or together. Some female reptiles have a divided vagina that connects with two uteruses you see.”
“Well , I’ll be. Can I touch, purely in the interest of science of course?”
“Of course.” He choked.
She stroked the length of one of them and noticed a lot of bumps in the texture.
“There’s your problem.” Mendal commented sadly. “When I come those bumps become spines that would latch onto the surface of a vagina, holding me in place until I finished releasing my load. I guess they evolved for wilder more competitive environments where a male might get dislodged by another male during mating.”
Ally winced. Ouch. But it didn’t quell her curiosity. “I can’t imagine that would be pleasurable for the female lizard on the receiving end.”
“Actually they don’t seem to mind, what little I know of the act.”
Now that really surprised Ally. “So you’ve never actually done it?”
“Oh I masturbate okay, carefully. I just haven’t mated. We mate for life you see. A chemical in the spines is injected into the female, making her fertile and at the same time branding her as ours. I’m told it’s an exquisitely painful and pleasurable experience for the female but they don’t seem to mind doing it all again. The female smells subtly different to other males of our kind afterwards. Males won’t touch another male’s mate once he’s marked them in this way.”
Ally pondered the puzzle in her head. “So if I want to be with both of you we’d have to find a way for both of you to come in me at the same time.”
Mendal’s eyes widened with shock. “You’d still actually consider us even knowing what you know now?”
“Hey we’re engineers, where there’s a will there’s got to be a way.”
Mendal shook his head in amazement. He bent down to grab his clothes and quickly redressed then he pulled Ally up from her chair and embraced her. His mouth taking firm possession of hers.
She felt a more lizard like tongue than she’d expected flick into hers, tasting her. That this exotic being would even consider her awed her. She responded with her own tongue, diving in and jousting with his. They were both oblivious to the door opening and the individual who stood there staring in shock.
Mendal breathlessly broke away from the nuzzle and looked up to see his friend had recovered from Jnarn’s ongoing experiment. “You’re okay?”
It wasn't’ clear whether Upal was pleased to be home, shocked by what Ally and Mendal had been doing, or jealous. “Look’s like you’re pretty okay yourself. I hope you explained the difficulties to her. You know what.”
“I showed her, she wants both of us anyway.” He emphasised the both.
Upal’s face lit up with a sudden burst of joy. “Does she now?” Then he frowned. “But what about George?”
“George wasn’t ever in the picture apparently.”
Upal relaxed. “Well damn Ally, you must be pretty good at blocking your mind. I never would have guessed. Mendal and I have been mourning for a long time that we’d never be able to have you as anything more than a friend.”
“I guess I should have come clean with all of you sooner. I’m truly sorry if I led George on in any way. I really wasn’t trying to. I finally realised he was just going to keep trying. I kept my dream of you two to myself because I didn’t want to wreck what we all had.”
Upal approached her from behind, until he was so close she could feel his hot breath in her ear. His tongue flicked out to lick the lobe. Then he whispered in his deep richly toned voice, the rumble reverberating through her body. “Then we’d all better talk a lot so we can get to the part we all want.”
A small part of Ally yelled at her that she was completely and utterly insane but she throttled the thought and enjoyed the moment, sandwiched between her two fantasy guys. “Somehow we’ll make this work.”
14
The cops had carted the baddies away and she had finally made it here. Helena roamed around the her new home, exploring every nook and cranny. The affectionate female tabby cat that came with the place followed her everywhere, rubbing up against her whenever she paused to look at something. She guessed the cat was making a claim on her.
The kitchen was large and well stocked with fresh fruit and vegetables, nuts, grains and something that looked like yoghurt but smelled distinctly of coconut. Unsure of the dubious whitish looking substance she replaced the lid and put it back in the fridge. Someone might enlighten her later. She was grateful that they had prepared for her arrival, even if their idea of what constituted food left a little to be desired. About now a good borsch of cabbage, beetroot, potatoes and meat would help to settle her jet lagged stomach.
Wandering briefly upstairs she found the linen on the bed smelling freshly laundered. The bedroom window looked out onto an wild and unkempt garden at the back. She’d have to fix that. She had a geneticist’s fondness for sweet peas. They were not only beautiful but quick to grow. So easy to do experiments with.
Downstairs there was a cellar that seemed to have been used for some arcane arts. The bare floor was marked out with a pentagram enclosed in a circle, marked out using different coloured timbers that had been inlaid into the floor. A multitude of candles had obviously been used as the room’s main form of lighting. There didn’t seem to be a bad vibe though and she knew her partially psychic sister would never have ever let her stay here if there was.
Finally, it was her love of books that took her back upstairs to the large library she'd seen before, next to the main bedroom. The books covered three walls of the large room. Their topics seemed to cover everything from ancient languages, mythologies, esoterica, various healing techniques, meditation practices and a small selection of new-age books the library’s owner must have thought worthwhile enough to include. In the middle of the room was a large sturdily built coffee table. It looked to be of Chinese design and was ornately carved, its dark timbers suggesting walnut or maybe even expensive ebony had been used in its construction. The room had that earthy relaxing smell that only old, much loved books could bring. There was a tantalizing scent of something else as well, maybe sandalwood. She doubted she’d read any of the library’s contents, not much science in this lot, but she would enjoy coming here to read her favorite modern Ukrainian and Russian sci-fi authors as well as scouring through her tomes on genetics. There was a power point on the one wall that wasn’t covered with books. She’d plug her laptop in there and set up her wireless modem. The wall needed something though, a wall hanging or a print. Maybe after she’d worked a bit for her new boss she’d put aside a few pennies and get an inexpensive reproduction print of one of German expressionist painter Franz Marc’s colorful animal paintings she so loved.
Helena stayed in the library for a while, musing, then decided it was time for her daily workout. On her drive into the town she had seen trails leading into the woods. She’d go exploring. George had told her the town had a kind of perimeter defence system. He was a bit vague on how it worked but she guessed whatever it was would be as unconventional as everything else in the town. The fact remained no one was getting at her here. She put on her runners and set the timer on the GPS sports watch Petrov had given her as a retirement bonus. She had to laugh at that, still shaking her head in amazement that Petrov would give her anything for free. She guessed he was happy with the money making proposition she had suggested.
The forest fascinated her. It was so different to the few dark broadleaf and conifer forests she’d been to back home. No smell of fungi and rotting leaves here, not this end of the year anyway. Instead her lungs were greeted with fresh clean eucalyptus scented air. Bird calls unlike anything she’d heard before tantalized her ears. The light was different too. The leaves
on the trees seemed sparse by comparison with those she knew. Dappled light played the ground. There were fairies here too. She watched them dart about the blossoms in the trees, fifty to a hundred feet above her head. They had to be some of the world's tallest flowering plants. Duly entranced she didn’t see the danger. The sharp sting at her ankle drawing her attention downward. A large black shape slithering away in the undergrowth had her catching her breath. Surely not. She bent down to examine her ankle and found two faint marks, just above her sports socks. Shit! He brain raced through the little she knew of Australia’s venomous creatures. She knew there were no Taipans this far South. More likely a Tiger snake. The length and size of the one she’d seen moving away in the scrub lived up to what she’d heard. They were rumoured to have inefficient fangs. If she’d been been wearing long socks and running pants little might have gotten through. Direct into her flesh though, some of the deadliest snake poison in the world was already taking its hold. She looked around frantically, wishing now that she’d brought her phone with her. Her watch said it was about 5 kilometers back to town and walking that distance, if she made it, would only hasten the venom’s course through her system. She knew tourniquets were no longer advised. Neither was excising the wound. She had nothing she could use as a compression bandage, let alone one that would go from ankle to groin. Keep the leg below the heart, keep still, she could do that. Panic would only make it worse, she didn’t need adrenalin in her system right now. Bit of a hard call though when her own mortality was staring her in her face. She needed to calm and slow her pulse rate. Looking around she realized the track she’d been running followed a small creek. No doubt the water in these parts would be cold. She shivered at the thought but if she got herself in it maybe she could slow her metabolism and hope like hell someone would come for her. Her sister was a little psychic. As a scientist she’d never had much time for that stuff. Maybe could try and focus on her sister and send a message. She had nothing to lose.