Chapter Seven
Alastor’s mind reeled, suspended somewhere between disbelief and wonder. Marie had done the impossible. Brought back one of the mind-enslaved. On her own. With nothing more than the power of her mind.
He quickly checked the female’s vitals. She was weak. Severely dehydrated. Starving. It was a wonder she lived. Her pale yellow eyes found his, startled.
Marie placed a hand on the female’s shoulder and the woman stilled. The level of trust amazed him, yet didn’t he find the same comfort, if not more, from Marie? In spite of her strange ways. Maybe even because of them.
“Alastor’s with me. He’s safe.”
“Do you know where you live? Your house?” Alastor asked.
“They came. Those… creatures. They took our home. Burned everything to the ground.” She clutched Marie’s hand. “My husband. My children. You have to help me find them!”
Marie made a soothing sound. She hesitated, yet spoke after a pause. “Seriat. Your family. I… I can only sense your daughter.”
Seriat’s eyes blazed. “Do you know where she is? Where is Tallex? My baby, Johan.”
Marie tried to soothe the female, but Seriat’s agitation was increasing. She clutched Marie’s clothing with clawed fingers, her eyes blind and wild with confusion. Alastor loosened his pack and withdrew a sedative. He pressed it against the female’s neck. She became limp as the drug took effect.
“What did you do to her?” Marie asked.
“I gave her a tranquiliser. She was getting agitated, which is not good for her physical state.”
Marie soothed the female’s hair from her face. Various cuts and bruises marred her sickly skin. “The poor thing. How could anyone do this to someone? Those Reptiles, they’re… evil.”
“They do this to entire planets, Marie. They are planning to do this to Earth.”
Her eyes filled with tears. “I know. Seeing what they do like this… Alastor, we have to stop them. This is… this is…”
He brushed a lone tear from her cheek. He knew exactly how she felt. He just had no more tears to fall. Only simmering anger that was much more productive than tears ever would be. “I know. That’s what we’re here to do.” She couldn’t understand how important she was now that she could do this. How incredible she was. And totally off-limits.
He had to no right touching her, let alone kissing her. He couldn’t do that to a female who could save billions. That was a mistake that wouldn’t happen again. Yet when she looked at him with those large, expressive, unusual eyes and that expression of such trust, he had to fight the urge to take her into his arms and repeat the mistake again and again.
“Thank you. For helping her. Helping me.” She sucked a plump bottom lip between her teeth. His mouth went dry.
“It is not just you here. It is both of us. I am here to protect you and keep you safe and I will do everything in my power to do that.”
That was an undeniable truth. He would do anything to keep her safe. “Although I’m concerned that coming across another mind-enslaved will cause you further pain.”
To see her face twisted in agony. To watch helpless. He would not allow her to suffer like that again.
“That’s never happened to me before. I’m not sure why I felt that way… it’s like this planet has extra energy waves. I can feel it humming in the background, like electricity, but...” She nibbled on her plump bottom lip again and he nearly groaned out loud.
“But what, Marie?”
Her violet eyes returned to his. “When I’m around you, it’s muted. I can think. Protect myself. There’s just something about you… It doesn’t make any sense, but I don’t have a lot of experience when it comes to different planets, or Hexonians. You’re different. The Callistean was right. This planet is different.”
That was unsettling and… comforting. It also probably led to a whole lot of trouble he wasn’t certain he needed.
“Come, we will take this female back to the shuttle. If she doesn’t receive medical attention soon, I fear your efforts will be wasted.” He scooped the emaciated frame of the female off the ground, startled at how light she was. There was nothing more to her than skin and bones.
Familiar, impotent rage at the Reptiles surged through him, but getting angry wasn’t going to do Marie or Seriat any good. He swept aside his anger, replacing it with the logic of cold, hard revenge. The human females were the key to ending this, and he was sure Marie was the answer to the riddle.
He hated to think of pure, innocent, fragile Marie being anywhere near the Reptiles. He hated that he could do nothing but watch as she freed the female. He was used to action—killing—not sitting back to let a small female take risks.
Why did it have to be Marie who held the answer to end the scourge of the universe? Why her, in particular? One thing he did know, was that life was rarely fair.
Holding Seriat securely in his arms, he began the trek back to the shuttle. “When you found the fem… Seriat… in your mind. How did you do that?”
“Do you guys ever meditate?”
The question was obscure, yet he answered. “The elders. And those that are Holy. They give their minds to the spiritual arts.”
“Anyone else?”
He frowned. “It is not for everyone to do. Only those who have proved themselves to be worthy.”
Her snort had him stopping in time to see her smile. “Yeah. That’s what they used to say on my world as well. Only the chosen few, blah, blah, blah.” At his confused expression, she continued. “People say that when they want to control other people, that’s all. Our ancient history is full of that crap. In reality, everyone can meditate. It’s a skill, like cutting carrots or folding laundry.”
His frown deepened. “I do neither of those.”
She sighed “What I’m saying is, it’s easy. Anyone can and should meditate. The more you do it, the easier it gets.”
He turned back, wary of the deepening shadows surrounding them in the foliage. “Would you be willing to train me to meditate?”
“You want me to teach you something? The guy who knows everything and can do everything.” Marie said.
He grunted. “I cannot do everything and anything. There are many things at which I am unskilled.” He paused for a moment. “I cannot cook.”
“The big, bad alien can’t cook. Will wonders never cease.” She chuckled and the sound wove through him like a spell. “Yes, you’re perfect. It’s just a figure of speech. I think this translator thingy you put in my ear doesn’t get the nuances of the English language. Yes, of course I’ll teach you to meditate. It would be my honour.”
He nodded, satisfied. If he could understand how she’d freed the female, he might gain an advantage he otherwise would not have. It would be far better if he could take on the Reptiles and free the mind-enslaved, rather than Marie.
Seriat stirred in his arms and moaned softly in her sleep. “Can you walk faster? I don’t think this female will last that much longer if we don’t provide the attention she needs.”
Marie’s reply was immediate. “Yes. Of course. I’ll keep up. Don’t slow down for me.”
Alastor strode through the trees and various strains of grasses. To her word, Marie kept pace with him. Even though her breathing strained, she didn’t complain. Not only was she very beautiful and seemed fragile, there was a toughness about her that didn’t let it stop her. A strange emotion almost like pride washed through him, and he ignored it just as fast. He didn’t want to feel anything at all. Numb was good. He could function with numb. It was when he started to feel that things fell apart and this was not the time or place to let things fall apart.
At last they reached the shuttle. A quick glance to make sure that Marie was close by and he darted through the threshold and into the tiny facility room that doubled as a medical bay and food prep area.
He punched in a command on the control panel, and a narrow cot formed from the wall. He laid Seriat down. A display lit on the wall above he
r prone form, the cot already taking her physical readings.
“That’s fast,” Marie panted from the narrow corridor behind him.
He adjusted some readouts on the display. The findings horrified him. “This is an emergency.” The readings finished, along with the required medical procedure. “How are your medical skills?”
Her throat worked, but then she squared her shoulders. “Tell me what to do.”
He slid the medical panel open and took out a needle and catheter. He pierced a vein on the back of Seriat’s hand and the liquid started flowing into her body. “I’ll give her nutrients and vitamins. Everything she’ll need to recover until we get her to the Starlight.” He handed Marie an antiseptic cloth. “Would you mind cleaning her body of any germs while I work at optimising her breathing levels?”
Marie took the cloth. “Of course. Have you had to use this shuttle for first aid like this before?”
“First Aid” he assumed was her term for first medical response. “Many times.” Too many to count. And too many times where he hadn’t been fast enough.
Marie’s astute gaze found his, before flicking back to the female she was attending. “I’m sorry, Alastor.”
Gods, he couldn’t say two words without her picking up on everything about him. “This is war. Please attend the female.”
Alastor handed Marie a pair of scissors, which she used to cut the rags off the poor soul. Marie cleaned the female’s skin, carefully wiping her down again and again before she was satisfied. By the time Marie finished, Seriat glowed a warm, pale yellow, the same colour as the sands of the planet. Marie covered her with a clean sheet before cleansing and grooming her hair.
Alastor fixed a breathing tube beneath her nostrils and injected a mild sedative to help the cocktail of fast-acting nutrients.
“What now?’ Marie asked.
“We monitor her, eat and rest ourselves.” Alastor pushed through the fatigue of his body. Right now, he needed to stay alert. He took two energy drinks and ration bars that were packed with nutrients. That would keep them going.
“Come. We will stay the night in the cockpit.” There was nowhere else they could rest in this shuttle. It was designed for stealth and quick missions, not comfort. At least the piloting chairs would recline into a semblance of a sleeping platform, although a little uncomfortable. It was better than the floor. That, he knew from experience. On one amazingly violent mission, they had fitted twenty warriors on board a shuttle this size going in. Friends, all of them.
Ten came back.
He shoved the thought aside as he settled into the chair and handed Marie the bar and drink. She offered him a tired smile. “Thank you, Alastor.”
“I need your body in optimal working order,” he said.
“That’s not what I was thanking you for. I know you want to get to the energy source and do what we came here to do. I understand that saving Seriat is holding you up, but we will find them and we will save them. I promise one night won’t make a difference,” Marie said.
‘How...?”
“How what?” She kept her gaze trained on him, her expression guileless.
He adjusted his position in the chair. It was snug for his frame, the armrests pushing into his shoulders.
“Will you stop doing that?” she asked.
“What?”
She rolled her eyes, the hint of a smile playing on her lips. “Delaying tactics. They are what you do. You want to know how I sense people’s thoughts and emotions, don’t you?”
He refused to be confused or intrigued. “It is a trick I want to know how to do.”
She sighed and her face washed with sadness. She shook her head, looking away, and he immediately missed her large eyes in him. “It’s not a trick. If it was, I could turn it on and off at will. But I can’t. And it’s not all good, believe me.” She picked at the wrapping on her ration bar.
“To read your enemy. To know what they think, what they’re going to do next. It would be a clear advantage,” Alastor said.
“You’d think so, would you,” she said very quietly, to herself really, then before he could comment, “As I told you, everyone can do it. We can start your meditation lesson now, if you’d like?”
Chapter Eight
Marie nibbled her lip. Alastor’s hesitancy ate at her, but she didn’t feel any animosity. It was a relief. More than a relief, if she was being totally honest. She should be used to the distrust. The suspicion of her abilities.
Alastor’s concern was that he might not be able to achieve anything, rather than open cynicism was… different.
“Black Feather, do you think training Alastor is a good thing to do?” she asked mentally, while she adjusted herself into a more comfortable position. To Alastor she said, “Get into a comfortable position where you can rest your head and take pressure off your neck.”
Black Feather’s warm presence was almost immediate. “It is exactly what his race needs.”
“Where have you been?” Black Feather’s face appeared in her mind in his favourite form—that of a Native American. Three black feathers dangled by the side of his face. There were three red streaks of ochre on his left cheek. He appeared to her as a man in his fifties. Healthy, strong, and old enough to have garnered some experience from life, even though she knew his soul was centuries old. His warm, brown eyes smiled, soothing her like they normally did.
“I was never far away.”
From what she knew of the other dimensions, there was quite some distance between some of them. Wormholes needed to be traversed to go from one to the other, but she was Black Feather’s ward and he normally stayed close.
“Then why haven’t you answered me?”
“The reasons are far reaching. Now, get your charge ready. I have someone here who has volunteered to guide him. Would you like to meet her?”
“Yes! Of course. I would love to meet her.” Maybe that was why Black Feather had been silent. He had been helping her, but he’d been busy for Alastor also.
“What would you have me do now, Marie?” Alastor asked.
She’d forgotten Alastor couldn’t hear the conversation taking place in her mind. “I’ve been talking to Black Feather. You have a helper.”
Alastor quirked his brow. “A helper?”
“He told me that a guide is waiting to help with your meditation.” It wasn’t unusual for a guide to help when a person chose to meditate or communicate. They were only too happy to help those who chose to work on their spiritual side, but she’d never met a guide for another race. Then again, she’d been abducted by aliens and had never been put in this situation before. If guides helped humans, then it stood to reason that they’d also help other species as well.
“Is one required?”
She couldn’t help but smile. “No, not required if you’re meditating for relaxation or mindfulness, but for this, I think it’s a good idea.” It was strange that Black Feather was introducing Alastor’s guide and master. Usually they flittered behind the scenes, helping only when asked.
“Who is it?” Alastor asked.
A face appeared in Marie’s mind, of a flawless woman with long, flowing, golden hair and sparkling, golden skin kissed by a thousand stars. Around her neck she wore an electric-blue pendant in the shape of a lyre, and a white and golden aura shone around her. She looked to be of Alastor’s race and also someone of great mastery and spiritual enlightenment. “Oh, she’s very beautiful,” Marie said out loud, while mentally she communicated with Alastor’s guide. “I’m pleased to meet you.”
The woman’s smile grew. “My name is Lyria, and I am delighted to meet the both of you.”
“She said her name is Lyria,” Marie said out loud.
His eyes widened and he gripped the armrests of the seat, tension thrumming through him. “Lady Lyria?”
“I don’t know. She only introduced herself as Lyria.”
His body stiffened as though she’d doused him with a bucket of iced water. His eyes glinted as
he looked at her, roaming her face, questions and disbelief swirling together. Questions also poured through her own mind, but she didn’t think he would answer them.
Her stomach sank. It seemed it didn’t matter where she was in the universe, she would always say the wrong thing. Do the wrong thing. How much did it take for her to learn her lesson?
“It couldn’t possibly…” His words drifted off. His mouth flatlined again and the muscle at his temple began to tick.
“Maybe we should leave it. Try another time.” He was so wired, she couldn’t imagine that he’d have the slightest chance at relaxing.
“We will do this now.” He settled into the chair, stiff as a board.
“You’ll have to relax if you want to do this.”
“I am relaxed.” He clenched his eyes, ramming his head into the headrest. His body thrummed with tension. She eyed his clenched fists around the armrests, afraid he might tear them right off. It would be highly doubtful he’d see anything other than the back of his eyelids.
“Right.”
“What has happened to him, Black Feather?” She mentally projected to her master. Her soul ached for his pain that reached for her as though she was a sponge.
“His soul has known great hurt and pain, and he struggles to heal,” Black Feather said.
She knew that already. She’d felt his pain from the moment she’d met him. He’d broadcast it to her loud and clear, although he didn’t know it.
“Marie?”
“It is best we withdraw. Take care, little bird. Know that I always watch over you, only with your best interests at heart.” Black Feather and Lyria’s energy faded, drowned out by the negative energy waves Alastor poured out.
“Black Feather!” Marie called into her mind, but Black Feather was gone.
Tense and impatient. That was all the energy she registered now and it came from the man—alien—beside her. Maybe it was the perfect time to help him relax. “Let’s do a simple relaxation technique to help relax your body. I want you to focus just on your toes. Feel their weight. The skin. The muscle, blood and bones. Feel them getting heavier. Bring your attention into your feet. Let all the tension drain from them, like water dripping off and into the ground.”
Alastor: Sci-Fi Alien Romance (A Hexonian Alien Romance Book 3) Page 5