I re-activated the vid, which had apparently shut down when I made my wild dash to the bathroom. It sprang up, illuminating a shifting tide of dust in the air. The picture showed a frozen moment of Esak and Weln looking at Dusa as he recited his vows. Seeing the boys, even through the haze of particles, gave me a shot of courage.
I could at least see the bathroom now, and it remained whole. The ceiling in there showed no sign of damage despite its many complaints. Holding the computer so that the vid floated in front of me, I left the room.
The whole front of the main part of my dorm was a pile of rubble, right up to the edge of the bed I’d been lounging on. While I watched, a chunk of ceiling came down to land smack in the middle of the bed. Oh man, this was bad. I knew I was in big trouble.
The back of my room butts up to the back of another room on the other side of the dorm. I had no windows, no doors, no way out. All my escape routes had been at the front of the room … the now-destroyed front of the room, where stuff was still shifting.
So of course I did something stupid. If you set aside moments when I huddle in bathtubs and scream like a girl, I’m not the kind of woman that waits to be rescued. I set the computer down on the floor, well back from the pile of debris. I ventured forward slowly, trying to keep an eye on everything as I searched for some way out.
That bit of bravery ended rather quickly when another bigger chunk of ceiling fell and grazed my shoulder. I yelped and jumped back, then screamed and jumped again when something beeped right next to me.
It was my com beeping for attention. Willing my speeding heart to slow down before I dropped from a stroke, I picked it up. Clicking it on, I breathlessly said, “Yes? Who’s there? I need help.”
Nang’s voice was possibly the most beautiful thing I’d ever heard in my life. “Shalia, thank the ancestors. We’re right outside. Are you hurt?”
“No. Nang, I can’t get out.”
“I know. The entire front of the building has collapsed, and your room is blocked. The whole thing could crumble at any moment.”
“And here I thought you’d be giving me bad news. Thanks for the uplifting message.” I was pissy, but it beat being a crybaby.
“Shalia, go to as far back in your quarters as you’re able. We’re going to have to clear this out as fast as we can before the entire thing comes down. The machines are arriving now, so we’re getting to work right away. Hang in. I’m not going to let you die.”
You know, it’s incredibly hard to be strong when your life is hanging by a thread and someone promises he won’t let that thread get cut. I was suddenly bawling my eyes out.
“O-okay,” I sobbed. Stupidly, I said, “I’ll be here.” Duh. Like I was going to be anywhere else but that tomb.
“It’s okay, sweetling. I’m on my way.”
When the machines started clearing the front of the building to get to me, Nang was forced to click off. We couldn’t hear each other over the noise. So I waited, sitting in the tub again. What the heck, if I was going to die, it beat my body being found sitting on the toilet. Meanwhile I stared at my still vid of Dusa’s happy clan while listening to the sound of crashing bits of debris, screeching of the building supports, and ominous thunder of falling building. It only took them fifteen minutes to clear a way through, but it felt like fifty million years.
At last the room beyond the bath brightened with sunlight. I switched off my computer and hugged it to my chest, scrambling out of the tub. I crept out to look into what had so recently been my bedroom in time to see Esak dart through a large hole where the ceiling used to be. He dropped to the floor, his eyes were wide and his lips pulled back in a snarl as he came until he saw me standing there.
Relief made him sag all over for an instant. “Mother of All. Shalia, I was so scared for you.”
I dashed into his arms, crying again to feel his strength. He held me tight for a moment and then picked me up. “Let’s get you out of here.”
He boosted me up to the hole where both Dusa and Nang waited to haul me out. A moment later I was outside, still alive and well. Nang carried me away from the half-demolished building while Dusa helped Esak out.
“All the rooms are clear, Commander,” someone told Nang.
“Good. Keep everyone away from that building until we can take it down safely. What about that rocket?”
“It detonated fully and is no longer any kind of threat. Fortunately, it went halfway into the ground before going off, which kept the effects of the explosion from being worse than it was.”
Dusa and Esak hurried up. Nang still cradled me in his arms, and the two men looked uncertain. I thought perhaps they wanted to snatch me from the commander. With him outranking them, I guessed it wouldn’t be a good thing for them to do.
Fortunately, Nang wasn’t a jerk. He handed me off to Dusa with the instructions, “Get her to Medical and have her checked out by the doctors.”
“Yes, Commander. Right away.”
There was a tremendous crash at that instant and I yelled, thinking another rocket had found us. Instead, it was the dorm collapsing into a heap. Dusa clutched me so hard to his chest that he actually left bruises from his fingers digging into my skin. I had come within seconds of dying.
As Dusa was carrying me to a shuttle, Matt King rushed up to the scene. He gasped to see the carnage. “Shalia! You weren’t in that building, were you?”
“Yeah, I was. They got me out though.”
“Thank God. Was anyone else hurt?”
“Shalia was the only one there,” Dusa said a little impatiently. “I’m taking her to Medical right now.”
“I’m okay though,” I reassured Matt, who looked ready to fuss over me. “They just want to make sure.”
“Of course, of course. I’ll check on you later. Thank God no one was killed!”
He hurried towards the Kalquorians gathered around the blast site. It was nice to see him so concerned.
I checked out as perfectly fine, of course. Dad was almost embarrassingly thorough in the examination, insisting on deep tissue contact scans to reassure himself I was in one piece. Weln showed up to hover too, then Candy came running in, screaming my name at the top of her lungs. Even after we told her I was perfectly fine, she carried on in near hysterics until Dad threatened to sedate her for a week. Now she’s insisting I move in with her until we leave for Kalquor.
Last night was spent in Dusa’s quarters. To top off an already messed up day, we found out he and Esak will be leaving in three days. Weln’s transfer has still not been verified, though Dusa refused to let anyone worry over it.
“Shalia is alive. We will be happy because of that. Nothing else is important,” he told his clanmates. They nodded in agreement, though Weln looked a little lost. I don’t blame him. I’m glad to be alive, but I really don’t look forward to losing my boys.
I really can’t write anymore about this right now. It hurts too much.
November 2
If Candy is the ‘Bluebird of Happiness’ then I suppose I would be characterized as the ‘Crow of Despair’. She did her best to lift my spirits yesterday, but it seems I’m the one bringing her down to earth.
I spent the night before with the boys. They pulled a bed in from an unused dorm room and slid it right up against the one already in their room to create enough space for all four of us to share. They made love to me very carefully, very gently. They acted as if they were afraid I’d break apart despite the clean bill of health from my shaken dad. That was fine because I felt emotionally fragile. I knew the strong bodies surrounding mine were not real protection, not against people determined to kill, but I hid in the fantasy anyway.
Morning came much too soon. Dusa and Esak starting working on what they needed to pack to take with them to Atlanta. I couldn’t handle listening to their plans. On top of the explosion, it was just too much.
I made the excuse I wanted to borrow clean clothes from Candy. Despite my ever-present Nobek guard, Weln accompanied me to her dor
m building. Maybe he couldn’t stand to watch his clanmates pack either. He left me with Candy, mumbling something about checking in with the daycare bunch though he’s been given time off due to clanning and his clanmates leaving.
Candy acted thrilled to see me. “Get in here! You know what? I’m going to run you a nice, hot bath. You’re going to soak and relax. I’m going to trim your hair … look at those split ends! Oh, I’m going to do your nails too. When you look good, you feel good, that’s what I say.”
I stood in the middle of her room, so much like the one I’d had. And I cried. I cried and cried and cried. Candy crooned to me, hugging me, and patting my back. “It’s going to be okay,” she reassured me over and over.
I finally finished crying, having run out of the energy to continue to do so. Then, feeling empty and tired, I let Candy take care of me. I was like a life-size doll for her to play with. True to her word, she ran me a bath. I was at least allowed to wash myself, but the rest was all Candy. She trimmed my hair, styled it nicely, filed and buffed my fingernails and toenails, put a little makeup on me, and found pair of trousers and a blouse that fit rather well. Through it all, she kept up her bright chatter, determined to keep me from moping too hard. Little by little I recovered much of myself, though the deeper sadness remains.
She sent me out to have lunch with Mom. Dusa, Esak, and Weln joined us, and we spent much of the afternoon there. Mom made knitting motions with her good hand, and I gently reminded her she needed both hands to knit. It’s just as well that she can’t. All her yarn was lost in the building collapse.
I spent last night with the boys again. This morning, Weln decided we needed to go on a nice picnic, so he and Dusa have gone to the kitchen to get the makings of that while Esak has a checkup in Medical.
Dusa and Esak leave tomorrow. I am fighting with all I have to not waste today in tears. I want to enjoy every last moment we have left. Crying will no doubt come, but it will have to wait.
November 4
They’re gone. Dusa and Esak left yesterday, early in the morning.
The night before, we got some good news at least. Weln got approval to join them at their new site just outside the remains of Atlanta, and he also got the okay to stay here until Mom and I leave for Kalquor. That at least was a little something to celebrate. So we did in our usual fashion: we had sex.
Animal sex. Desperate sex. I owe Candy an outfit, because Dusa ripped the one she loaned to me into confetti before picking me up and pinning me against the wall. “Get this damned formsuit off me,” he snarled at the other two men before plastering his mouth against mine. I could hardly breathe from the force of his kiss. Meanwhile, Esak and Weln worked to get his uniform off so that his burning hot body moved against mine. His boots kept them from stripping him entirely, leaving everything hanging from the knees down.
He shoved his cocks at my pussy and ass, like rams storming the palace gates. I opened to him, crying out at the harsh invasion but wanting it as desperately as he wanted to give it to me. It seemed right that it should hurt just a little, like losing him and Esak hurt me inside. Dusa thrust deep into me with one strong plunge, skewering me so that I screamed.
He pounded into me, hard so that I thudded against the wall. I wrapped my legs around his hips, squeezing tight in rhythm with his thrusts, making him go as deep within me as I could, yelling with each powerful claiming. I clawed at his shoulders and back, biting his lips. He growled like a vicious beast, his upper lip curling back to show fangs. He crushed against me, forcing me to take him deep. His groin ground against mine, sending devouring pleasure through my clit.
His thrusts shoved the tip of his cock against my cervix. The sensation completely erased the line between pain and pleasure. Dusa held me a willing captive, his dark eyes riveted on my face as he took what he wanted. My head tossed from side to side as heaviness bloomed in my gut, need demanding it be born from my womb. The orgasm came with monumental force, blasting through my loins and up through my chest, throat, and head. It annihilated me utterly. I only knew Dusa climaxed when I came back to reality to feel his cocks pulsing hugely, pouring him into me. His groans bled from one to the next, shivering my eardrums.
He let me fall to the floor, though he kept me from doing so hard. I slid down between the wall and him, the friction of our contact settling me as gently to the carpet as a mother lying a baby in its crib. He stepped back, his primary cock still dripping slightly, and Esak stepped forward.
The Nobek looked the most primal I’d ever seen him, what with those scars livid on his now-fuzzy scalp. Instinctual terror lit in my stomach to see him coming for me. I was instantly aroused once more and offered no protest when he grabbed me by the hair and tugged me away from the wall. There was no violence in the way he made me crawl across the floor, just a firm, uncompromising grip and insistent pull. I followed his direction on hands and knees, eager to know what he had in store for me.
Once I’d moved to where there was enough room, Esak got behind me, keeping a handful of my hair. He knelt between my legs, pushing them far apart with his knees. I shivered to feel the larger of his cocks settle on the bud of my anus, then pressing in until the smaller penis just did enter my vagina. Esak’s free hand went to my shoulder. He gripped it tight.
I forced myself to relax and open to him, knowing what was going to happen next. I welcomed it.
Esak thrust his hips forward, pulling back on my shoulder and hair at the same time. All the breath left my body as he buried himself to the hilt with one shove. Orgasmic pain billowed through me. You read that right. The pain hurt so good I almost climaxed immediately.
He didn’t let up for an instant. His groin slapped hard and loud against my ass, and he grunted with each thrust. I had no choice but to take it, my staccato yelps adding to the din. We were like beasts in the wild, the female mounted by the prevailing male, forced to absorb his eager need to breed. We were primal animals, guided only by natural impulse. There was nothing but the most base urges left to us, the whole thin veneer of our humanity gone.
At some point Esak leaned over me, taking a mouthful of the back of my neck and biting down, much like a tomcat taking the female in heat. He growled, and the vibration of it shivered down my spine, making me raise my hips higher, inviting him deeper inside. Both his hands clutched my hips, driving me back onto him. I might carry the bruises of his fingers for weeks. I will be sad when they fade.
He plunged deep over and over. I clawed the floor and screamed breathlessly as my body fought for the sanctuary of climax. At last it closed over me in a maelstrom of stormy sensation, sweeping me far and wide. Pulsing, pounding, and quaking, I fell into the abyss with the sound of Esak’s howl following me down.
The warm weight of my adored Nobek fell over me as our spasms slowly faded. His arms closed around my upper body, simultaneously claiming and sheltering me for the last moments we had. His chest heaved against my back as he regained his breath. We rested for a bit, loathe to separate too soon.
At last Esak stirred, lifting off me with obvious reluctance. It was Dusa who picked me up and placed me on the bed. He slid next to my prone body and Esak joined us, lying on the opposite side of me.
As if rehearsed, each man grasped a wrist and pinned my arms over my head. Then they grasped the backs of my knees and drew them up and out, opening me wide for the waiting Weln.
The Imdiko crawled up so that he kneeled between my splayed thighs. My breath caught at the position I was in: I felt as if Dusa and Esak offered me to some pagan god, a sacrifice to a great and terrible deity. That was how Weln looked at that moment.
Where was the gentle, sweet Imdiko I thought I knew? Nowhere here. Perhaps it was the waiting for his turn and watching his clanmates with me that made his face so primitive with brute lust. Maybe it was the angst of knowing this was our final night together as a foursome. Whatever it was, there was nothing remotely kind in Weln’s expression. All I saw was feral need.
I lay trembling in th
e unmoving grasp of Dusa and Esak, waiting for Weln to claim his victim.
His naked body shook all over, as if he barely restrained some violent urge. There were only the barest sliver of blue-purple irises showing around his wide-pupil stare. He crept over me, as sinuous as a snake. His mouth opened, and fangs descended.
I made a noise of doomed acquiescence. Weln grabbed my hair and used it to pull my face to once side, exposing the side of my throat. His face descended. The rough rasp of his tongue scraped along the thick side muscle of my neck; a taste before the kill. Then he bit.
I whimpered, though the pain was over in an instant. As he injected me with his toxin, he positioned his cocks to enter me. However, he didn’t enter right away. Instead, I was held still, feeling all sorrow and fear whirl away under the tide of euphoria. My thoughts lightened, and I was newly aroused.
Weln slid his fangs free and rose over me. The expression etched in his dark face was still that of a dangerous predator, but instead of terror I knew only desire. I arched a little, offering my throat again to him.
Shalia's Diary Book 2 Page 11