by Regine Abel
“No!” I whimpered as the dream faded and I found myself back in the escape room.
I blinked, temporarily blinded by the bright, ambient light. As my vision cleared, my lips parted in shock at the sight of the shattered pieces of the window hanging from the window frame by a thread. Beyond it, the clicking sounds of the Swarm slowly faded as their receding backs left the corridor.
“What’s going on?” I asked, my heart pounding again.
I once more tried to get the pod to launch without success. Surprised by Legion’s silence, I reached out to him only to hit a wall.
Another psychic disruptor.
It dawned on me then that the Kryptids had called back their Drones. Right on cue, three of them turned the corner into the corridor leading to my hideout. The red light above the door indicated it was locked, but it wouldn’t hold them back. They probably already had control over it. Stepping out of my pod again, I looked around the room for anything that could serve as a weapon; not that it would do me any good.
As expected, the red light turned to green the minute they stood in front of it. Hands fisted to my sides, I lifted my chin in defiance as they entered the room. I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of witnessing my fear despite the painful knots in my stomach. In the next fifteen minutes or so, we’d all be dead anyway. I just inwardly cursed them to hell for cheating me out of spending my last moments with the love of my life.
They looked even scarier in person. Like the Xian Warriors, they were easily seven feet tall. The upper part of their heads, shaped like a helmet, reminded me of a rhinoceros beetle, with spikes around the forehead, smaller than the ones Legion had in his battle form. Their oversized, multifaceted eyes could have belonged to the insect version of the clichéd little grey men. Large mandibles protruded on each side of their otherwise oddly human mouths. Their humanoid bodies, entirely covered in a thick, black, chitin armor, had narrower waists than a man’s. Pincer-like limbs extended past their hands which only possessed three digits. Unlike humans, their legs consisted of three segments, which I assumed gave them the ability to jump fairly high. I wondered in passing why Dr. Xi hadn’t given that trait to his Warriors, although I did prefer Legion having human-jointed legs in his default form.
But it was the third Kryptid that held my gaze; a hybrid. He favored his human parent—probably the mother. Unlike his two companions, large chitin plates didn’t cover his body; instead he had black scales similar to the golden ones that covered the Xian Warriors’ chests and backs. Blond, wavy hair hung down to his shoulders, split in the middle by a V-shaped protective shell that blended into the base of his nose bridge. A smaller version of his peers’ rhinoceros beetle horn decorated the top of that partial helm. His multifaceted eyes subjected me to the same inspection I was giving him. When his gaze took in my bonding-bite, the small mandibles framing his perfect human lips quivered.
“Legion’s mate,” one of the two Kryptids Soldiers said. “You reek of him.”
Cold dread ran down my spine as I recognized the Kryptid voice that had been speaking to the assassin when I intercepted their conversation. The clicking and buzzing quality of his voice grated on my nerves. My heart sank, knowing he would use this knowledge to cause even more damage. He rubbed a bad dent in the plated chitin armor on his leg in an almost absent-minded gesture. The hatred in his voice when he had spoken of Legion led me to believe this old injury, long-healed, had been inflicted by my mate.
“The General will be most pleased, Sornax,” his companion said, with a sibilant laugh that set my teeth on edge. “He will impregnate her and send their offspring to kill her mate.”
“I hope he lets me record their coupling to send as a present to that son of a whore,” Sornax replied, once more touching his old wound. “I guess I’ll be a bit more lenient when I punish that useless Mimic. Her failed assassination attempt has brought me a most delectable present.” He licked his lips with a thick, grey tongue, his mandibles twitching. “Maybe I should sample her first before the General gets to her. You’ll find he’s not a very gentle lover,” he added, looking at me with a cruel grin.
My insides twisted, and I swallowed the bile rising in my throat.
“The General will not approve,” his companion said, wariness creeping into his scratchy voice.
“He won’t know. We’ll thoroughly wash her after we’ve fucked her. I’ve never seen a dark-skinned Soulcatcher before. We can’t pass up the chance and I owe that beast she mated. Too bad you aren’t holding your mate. I would have loved for that bastard to be cradled inside you while I destroy that human cunt of yours with my cock.”
Panicked, my eyes flicked to the hybrid who watched the scene unfolding, stoic, borderline bored. As I considered making a pointless run for the still open door, Sornax’s dreadful laughter filled the room again.
“You want the hybrid? You hear that, Bane?” he said, looking over his shoulder at him. “Legion’s mate wants your half-breed cock. Maybe we’ll let you have a go. When we hand her over to your father, you can tell him you’ve finally spent your seed elsewhere than over your own hand.”
The General’s son?
My lips parted as I looked at him with new eyes. While it didn’t explain his dragon scales, it suddenly struck me that his mother could be one of the first Soulcatchers that had been abducted in the early days of the program. I instinctively tried to reach for his mind, but the damn disruptor blocked me again. My gaze flicked towards the device before returning to the three men in front of me. My irritation must have shown because the hybrid’s eyes narrowed, glanced at the disruptor, then returned to me; an odd, almost imperceptible smile stretching his lips.
Sornax detached his weapons belt and tossed it to the ground while his loin plate parted. I recoiled, ready to run.
“STAY!”
I nearly jumped out of my skin when the command resounded in my mind. I froze, my head jerking toward the hybrid… toward Bane, who still stood impassively two feet behind the others.
“Do not move, and no harm will come to you.”
My lips parted in shock. A quick look at the disruptor showed it to still be active, and attempting to use my psychic abilities continued to prove futile. A smug look descended on Bane’s oddly attractive features. I licked my lips nervously, my fisted hands aching as I pondered what to do. My flight instincts screamed for me to run. Was Bane turning into an ally or was he just encouraging me not to fight to spare me useless pain in light of the inevitable?
“Kalix, hold her down,” the scarred Kryptid said, advancing on me.
Kalix’s large mandibles clicked, whether from nerves or excitement, I couldn’t say. I immediately fell into a battle stance.
“Don’t you fucking touch me!” I warned with a bravado I didn’t feel.
Sornax laughed, the horrible sound like nails on glass. As I readied to dodge their attempt to grab me, Bane’s smug expression turned lethal. The chitin plaques on his forearms extended into spear-like limbs. With lightning speed, he moved in on the Kryptids coming for me and stabbed at the base of their spines.
The Kryptids screeched and fell to their knees before flopping on their faces. I quickly backed away until the wall between two of the pods pressed against my back. My eyes felt like they’d pop out of my head any second. I watched in horror as my would-be aggressors writhed on the floor, their bodies shaken by violent tremors. They emitted a thin, shrill sound that made my stomach churn. Face void of any emotion, Bane approached them and stabbed his spears at the base of their necks. They emitted a startled sound then went still and quiet. I thought them dead at first then noticed their blinking eyes and the shallow rise of their backs as they breathed.
Looking back up at Bane I held my breath, unsure what to think. Was he protecting me or preventing the defiling of his father’s present? Staying at a non-threatening distance, his mind touched mine again. I could feel his curiosity as he glided over my sphere, the pleasure of connected minds familiar, yet different.
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br /> “There is no such thing as a black Soulcatcher. You have no vessel. What are you? What is that?”
He lurked around my portal. I had no ability to react with the disruptor still shackling me. It even muted my portal which didn’t try to suck Bane in when his consciousness brushed over it.
A soft keening sound had us both looking towards the open door. A blue-skinned female with long, black hair approached, followed by a hover-stretcher.
“You!” I hissed, as she entered the room.
Added to her skin-color, her stormy eyes and the vertical gills along the sides of her neck gave her away as a Mimic, a species long believed extinct. I instinctively knew her to have impersonated Linette earlier.
“Behave!” Bane ordered.
His real voice, similar to his mind voice, rang deep. It didn’t buzz like that of other Kryptids and the discrete clicking sound made him sound exotic rather than creepy. I bit my tongue and hugged my midsection with my good arm. I still didn’t know where I stood and couldn’t risk antagonizing a potential ally. Casting a brief look at Sornax’s discarded weapons belt, I wished it had dropped closer to me.
“Don’t be stupid.”
My eyes snapped back to his, hating how he seemed to read my mind while preventing me from getting any glimpse into his thoughts. The smug smirk appeared again. Turning his attention to the Mimic, he gestured with his head for her to get into one of the pods.
“Go.”
She nodded in response to his command. Eyes cast down, she avoided meeting my gaze and headed for one of the empty pods. Sornax emitted a raspy growl, his multifaceted eyes burning with rage and helplessness. Was he hoping for her to aid him? Bane, looking slightly amused, pulled out a com device from his pocket, thumbed the interface, and the light over her pod turned green. The Mimic set a course and launched off seconds later. I watched the silver-bullet shape of her escape vessel fly away through the window, envy burning in my gut. A panicked look at my watch indicated eleven minutes before the charges went off.
“There’s time.”
“You know about the charges?” I asked, shocked by his nonchalance.
“I make it my business to know things.”
Bane walked towards the hover-stretcher and I craned my neck to see who was inside. He opened the protective dome and my heart soared, recognizing the unconscious but unharmed form within.
“Tabitha!” I exclaimed, taking an involuntary steps towards her.
Bane’s head jerked towards me. His savage expression had my blood running cold.
“Stay, I said,” he hissed through his teeth. “Do not make me repeat myself again.”
I froze where I stood while he carefully picked up Tabitha in his arms, his arm spears having receded. The gentle, almost reverent way in which he carried her into one of the pods baffled me.
“Is she okay?” I asked as he settled her in.
“Yes.”
“Where are you sending her?” I asked when he enabled her pod and set a course for her.
“Where she belongs,” he mysteriously answered, then pressed the launch button. The pod took off with a suction sound, like when things got stuck in the vacuum.
“And where is that?” I asked.
He turned to me then pointed his chin at the pod to my right; the original one I had tried to leave with. “Get in.”
“With your father?” I insisted, complying with his order. “Is that where you’re sending me, too?”
His small mandibles flexed while his mouth stretched into a feral grin. “There could be no greater victory for the General than to have Legion’s bonded-mate at his mercy.”
My anger flared as I tired of his games. “Why? So he can do to me what he did to your mother?”
Seething rage descended on his features, all taunting gone. “You do not speak of my mother! You know nothing of her!”
My stomach lurched, and my pulse picked up. Swallowing past the lump in my throat, I felt the need to press on. I’d hit a nerve that could be the way to my salvation.
“You’re right, I don’t,” I conceded, licking my lips nervously. “Is she still alive?”
Bane placed his hands on each side of the pod’s door, an indefinable expression crossing his features. Some of his anger gave way to what I could only interpret as bitterness and resentment.
“Her body still lives, whatever it’s become now; her mind, not so much.” He snorted at my confused look. “Do you know what my father does to the pretty little Soulcatchers he captures?”
I pressed myself against the padding of the narrow chamber of the escape pod in a vain attempt to increase the distance between us and shook my head.
“He performs genetic mutations on them to make them compatible with Kryptid genetics and splices their DNA with Gomenzi Dragons in the hopes they will pass on to the offspring some of the traits of the Vanguard Warriors. Those who survive, he rapes over and over again so they can breed an entire superior army from his loins.”
“You hate him,” I breathed out, hit by the sudden realization.
He chuckled. “I hate everyone.”
He raised a flat, silver object to his lips and blew through it. The horrible shrill sound that had pulled me out of the dream-walk with Legion resounded in the room. Within seconds, the clicking sounds of the Swarm approaching hard and fast could be heard in the distance. Eyes wide, pulse racing, I looked pleadingly at Bane. He paid me no attention, too busy watching Sornax and Kalix both groaning in fear, his expression unreadable.
He snorted then headed towards an empty pod. While walking, he casually thumbed his device, activating my pod. Its door closing silenced the rapidly increasing sound of the incoming Swarm. My pod launched as the first dark silhouettes of the Drones appeared at the end of the hallway. I realized then that Bane hadn’t modified the coordinates set for Jaylon. As I shot out into space, I looked at the receding ship, my mind still reeling. Seconds later, another pod flew out of the Striker, headed in a different direction than mine.
No longer hindered by the disruptor, I reached for his mind. Alien, yet familiar, he didn’t fight the intrusion, but I could feel his guard going up.
“Thank you.”
“What are you?” he asked, ignoring my expression of gratitude.
“Many things, but not your enemy. Possibly your friend someday, if you allow it.”
Silence stretched between us.
“Goodbye little human,” Bane said.
“It’s Ayana. Until we meet again, Bane.”
I felt him chuckle, his mind sweeping over my sphere in a gentle caress filled with curiosity and confusion.
“When next we meet, you will tell me what you are.”
“Be safe,” I said.
Once more, the silence stretched, but I still felt his presence in my mind.
“Safe journey, Ayana.”
I smiled and retreated from his mind, feeling him retreat from mine as well. A bright light blinded me as both our ships, fading in the distance, exploded, taking out the Swarm and God only knew how many Kryptids. Closing my eyes, I mentally reached for my mate.
CHAPTER 12
Legion
The two-day flight from Khepri back to Jaylon nearly drove me insane. Despite being in almost constant psychic contact with Ayana, the need to see her, hold her in my arms, and physically make sure that she was okay became a never ending torment. Chaos even threatened to sedate me. With Myriam, Wrath, Linette, and Tabitha by her side, nothing justified my fears. The bonding essence I had injected into Ayana when I bit her worked wonders on her fractured elbow. Its regenerative properties, which extended a bonded-mate’s life, also healed most diseases and could repair any damage sustained by the female in record time.
Once we landed, I almost smothered my woman with desperate hugs and kisses. Chaos promised to knock my lights out if I didn’t get my shit together. I recognized the irrationality of my reaction, but none of them could understand what I had gone through. I held my mate in my arms, help
less to shelter her from her impending death other than through the illusion of a dream-walk. When she abruptly left the dream and my mind couldn’t reach her anymore, I believed she had died. I had lost her before our lives together ever had a real chance to begin. For thirty atrocious minutes, a blip in time if you thought about it, I screamed in agony at the loss of my soulmate. Nothing could ever describe the pain of having my hearts torn right out of my chest and ripped to shreds. In all my years of service as a Vanguard, I’d gone through hundreds of deaths and rebirths. None compared with the excruciating pain her loss caused me. When she reached out to let me know her escape pod was en route to Jaylon, I thought my mind had broken.
I spent the following week shadowing her, needing the constant reassurance that she was fine. Ayana eventually lost it when she found me hovering outside the bathroom door whenever she took a bio break. She’d have been more annoyed had she known I actually considered going in.
For all my stalking, duty forced me away from my mate. This time, we’d come with a small Vanguard fleet to do a thorough sweep of Jaylon to ensure no Breeding Swamp had been left behind. Although disgruntled by the presence of so much technology invading their planet, the locals grudgingly allowed us to do our job, some less willingly than others. We wouldn’t have given them a choice anyway.
Rescuing Hetsiia, the Aznarian female, went a long way toward earning their reluctant collaboration. Her disappearance had been at the heart of the rising conflicts between local clans, tribes, and religious factions. While other disappearances had been noticed, with their primitive communications systems in addition to the frequent pilgrimage and religious retreats their people went on, they had hesitated to call foul play, until Hetsiia. She possessed a rare genetic trait inherited from the Miegly, a sister race attuned to water with whom the Aznarians often cross-bred back on their homeworld before religious fervor pushed them on a path to purity.
I had wondered at the Kryptids’ unexplained interest in the young female. The Miegly’s diet was heavily comprised of highly poisonous fishes and toxic plants. Deprived of an immune system, they possessed a special gland that used the poisons and toxins to cleanse their bodies of any bacteria or impurity that could pose a threat to them. Occasionally, one would be born with an immune system and develop an organ similar to the liver that safely processed and eliminated all poison, storing them in a pouch that she drained regularly. The Aznarians considered that anomaly a blessing from their god, making her an Anointed Sister.