by M. Stratton
“Who?” he demanded.
“Ummm…” It was like my brain shut down and every single name I knew was wiped from my memory. I could feel the sweat breaking out, and I was pretty sure he knew I was lying.
“Who, Halley? Who are you meeting?” He leaned in closer to me. “You wouldn’t be lying to me now, would you? As an officer, we don’t take kindly to that.”
“No, no I wouldn’t dream of lying. It’s just…”
The front door slammed open and Lucian came through it, looking like he was going to kill someone. His eyes scanned everyone in the room until they landed on me. I gulped. I couldn’t help it. Then he noticed Merrill sitting there. I didn’t think he could get any angrier, but he did. Stalking across the room, he stopped right next to me and glared at the man sitting across from me.
“You need to leave,” he hissed. “Now.”
Slowly, Merrill stood up. “I don’t believe you have the authority to make me leave.”
“Oh, I do. This is my place…”
“Wrong. This is Ama Saldova’s place; they own the Complex. You are simply the manager. I am an Intra officer of the law here. I can do whatever I want. Do you understand that, Procris?”
“Listen here you…”
I quickly stood up and placed my hand on Lucian’s arm, trying to ignore the spark it created when we touched. “Thanks for showing up, we can go over that paperwork in the office now.” I tried to pull him away, but he was so solid and strong. “Lucian.”
He looked down at me and our eyes locked. I felt like my whole body was on fire from the intensity of his gaze and goosebumps spread across my skin.
“Come on.” My eyes begged him to leave with me.
He nodded, and with my hand still on his arm, we walked away from Merrill. Once we were behind the closed door of the office, I breathed a sigh of relief, but it was short-lived, because now I was in a confined space with an angry Strogi.
“Just what were you thinking? Do you have any kind of idea what that man is capable of?”
“Oh, I think I have a clue. I’m not stupid. Besides, this is my life. We are here as an experiment for Humans and Metas to coexist together. How can I do that by staying in my quarters every single night and not meeting anyone new?”
“You can go out, you just have to be smart about it.”
“What was so dumb about coming to a shop where I spend the majority of my days? I wanted to do something different tonight than stay in my quarters, so I decided to go all wild and crazy and come here for coffee…”
“Call a friend up, go out with them.”
“I don’t have any,” I said quietly.
“What do you mean, you don’t have any? You’re always so friendly to everyone who comes in. You’re always talking to someone and the regulars love to see you.”
“Yes, but I don’t get together with any of them after hours. It’s only me.”
We stood there in silence staring at each other, vastly aware of the difference between being a man and a woman and Human and Meta. As a male Meta, he didn’t have to worry about being overpowered and taken advantage of. As a Human woman, that was all I thought of. I’d seen what that kind of attack had done to my sister, and I didn’t want to go through that myself.
“How did you know I needed help?”
“What makes you think I am here because of you?”
I shrugged. “A hunch, as soon as you saw me, you came right over. If you were there for some other reason, you wouldn’t have come in so angry or come right to me.”
He scowled and growled, “I had my own hunch that told me I had to come back here.”
“I’m sorry to disturb your evening.”
“Oh please, give me a break. Tell me what is going on.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Are you fully Human?”
My brows furrowed. “Where is that question coming from?”
“Answer the question.”
I sighed. “Yes, my family has always been Human.”
“There is no other explanation, you are completely positive there is no Meta blood anywhere in your bloodline?’
“No, we can trace our ancestors back to Earth, on both sides.”
“Were there not Metas back on Earth, all that time ago?”
“There were fairy tales.”
“Don’t all fairy tales have some basis in reality?”
Frowning, I shrugged. “I…I…don’t know. Possibly?”
“Do you have access to your family records? Could we find out?”
“Yeah, sure, I guess. Why the urgency?”
“Let’s see what we can find, then I will fill you in.”
“Why can’t you fill me in now?”
“Because it is getting late. We need to get back to the dome before the fields fall and we are caught out after your curfew.”
“Oh. I forgot about that. What if Merrill is still out there?”
“I’m sure he’s gone, not far, I’m willing to bet money he’ll be watching for us to leave and follow us.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time,” I muttered.
He gripped my arm. “What?”
“Nothing.”
“Don’t nothing me, what do you mean? He’s followed you before?”
“I thought you didn’t hear?” I crossed my arms over my chest.
“I’m Strogi, of course I heard. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Why should I tell you?” I bit my lip and my heart rate increased, wondering what he meant. Could he possibly be feeling the same things I am?
“Because I could have made sure you were safe.”
Feeling brave, I continued asking him questions. “Why would you?”
“Because…because you work for me.”
I wasn’t sure that was the only reason, but I didn’t want to push it any further since the fields would be falling soon. Right now, I wanted to get home. “Fine, let’s go. I have everything in my quarters.”
“Quickly, we don’t have much time.”
Thankfully, Uni-Brew was close to the my dome, but I wasn’t sure we were close enough. Before I knew what was happening, Lucian picked me up, and we sped the rest of the way and up to the living quarters in the dome. When he finally stopped, I felt dizzy.
“Why? Why did you do that?” I hung onto him as he set me down.
“Because Merrill was there. He’d love nothing more than for you to be caught in Main City after hours.”
“Oh, thank you.” I looked around to see where we were. I frowned when I realized we were right in front of my quarters. “How did you know where I live?”
“I followed your scent back here.”
“Oh, okay.” I opened the door and we went in. The place I had wasn’t large, it was big enough for me, but with him filling the space; I felt like there wasn’t any room left to move around.
“Have a seat.” I stopped before asking him if he wanted something to drink. I wasn’t sure how’d he’d take that, considering their main source of nourishment was blood. I wondered what it felt like when they drank someone’s blood. Shaking my head, I didn’t want to get distracted while he was here. I wondered if I should get some of the bottled synthetic blood they had available here, in case he ever came back again.
Shaking my head at my dreaming, I went over to one of the bookcases and pulled out the large book on my family. Since we were curious on my ancestors from Earth, I opened it to the beginning, careful not to show him the more recent activity. This was our family history; I didn’t want him to know about Starr.
“Here, this is when we left Earth. I don’t know what you are looking for, but here you go.”
Once he started looking at the book, I was suddenly self-conscious. What was I going to do while he was reading? There was a lot of history there to get though. Maybe I should pick up another book, something to keep me occupied while he read. But then what to read? We should be doing something about whatever he was thinking was a connection
, but since he didn’t share what brought him to that conclusion I didn’t know where to start looking. I didn’t want to pull out the book I had been reading because it also hit too close to Starr and the Meta that attacked her.
I was about to go for one of my classics when he closed the book.
“That was quick.”
He raised an eyebrow at me. “I read fast.”
“Oh. Yeah. I didn’t think.” Of course, he did, all their senses were enhanced. “What did you find?”
“Did you know your ancestors came from a place on Earth called Romania?”
I searched my memory. “I’m sure at some point someone said something, but I can’ remember anything specific.”
“The fairy tales about Strogi and vampires come from that region.”
“Okay.” I stretched the word out. “And...”
“Most times fairy tales are based on some truth.”
“The same Strogi and vampires that are part of the Meta communities now? In Ama Saldova?”
“Yes. Possibly some random Strogi or vampires were traveling through space and found your Earth and decided to see what it was all about, or some kind of distant cousin. But this is why I might have been so in tune to you since we met.”
He stood up and walked over to me, towering over me.
“Tell me you don’t feel it,” he whispered. “The connection.”
There was no way I could deny it. “I don’t understand it”
“Me either. I know you have a fear of Metas; I can feel it whenever one of them comes around. Yet here you are, in this place, alone with me. Yet I don’t scare you, even when I’m angry. I have scared the worst Metas in the system, yet it does not bother you.”
“No, I don’t know why.”
“And my brother, you are fine around my brother, but still, different with him than me.”
“Yes, there is a comfort feeling around him.”
“I don’t make you feel comfortable?”
“No, not at all. You make me feel alive.”
“Yes. Precisely.”
His hand came out and wrapped around the back of my neck and he pulled me close, his lips descending on me. When they brushed against mine, that electrical shock I had felt before, when we had touched, burned my lips and the back of my neck where his hand was. I felt energy coursing through my body, pulsating with the beat of my heart.
I did truly feel alive for the first time in my life.
As the kiss deepened, I could feel his fangs grow in my mouth. Feeling them rake across my bottom lip, I moaned. His other arm reached out around my waist and pulled me in closer to him. When our bodies touched, a huge spark touched off an electrical explosion, filling the room. For a brief moment, the lights went out and came back on. When they did, we were on the other side of the room from one another, on the floor from where the shock had sent us flying. I didn’t remember getting here, and my body didn’t hurt from the fall, but from the look on his face, this was something neither one of us expected.
There was a knock on my door. I looked at him in fear. No one came to see me.
“It’s okay, it’s my brother. He felt something happen and is making sure I am okay.”
The knocking on the door became louder.
“You might want to open it before he breaks it down.”
“But he can’t, it isn’t possible.”
“Do you want to find out?”
“No.” I stood up on shaky legs and walked over to the door and opened it. Fandare rushed in looking around and frowned.
“I thought you were in danger,” he said.
“I don’t know exactly what happened,” Lucian said. “But I wasn’t in any danger.”
“We need to figure it out. Why did the lights go out for a couple of seconds before coming back on? The whole dome. We’ve had a few blips before, but it has always been a dimming instead of a complete blackout. Thankfully it was only a few seconds, but still. What happened?” Fandare narrowed his eyes at us.
I leaned up against the wall, let my legs give away, and I slid down to where I could sit on my butt. I was weak from the kiss and the shock.
“Oh dear,” Fandare said. “You shouldn’t be on the floor, let me help you up.” He reached down to gather me up into his arms, but a growl from Lucian had him stopping and slowly backing up. “You know I meant no disrespect, brother.”
“She is my responsibility; I will make sure she is taken care of.”
I sighed. I wanted to sleep. I could barely keep my eyes open. “As far as I knew, I was neither of your ‘responsibilities’ now, if you’ll excuse me. I need to go to bed. None of us know what happened, but I can’t think, or keep my eyes open. Please leave.”
“Of course, we apologize.” Fandare gave a little bow. “Brother?”
“While I would love to accommodate you, it would appear I cannot move right now either.”
In a flash Fandare was crouched down next to him. “What do you mean you can’t move?”
“I think it’s pretty self-explanatory…”
“What should we do?”
“I need blood and to rest. Something tells me I shouldn’t be far from Halley. Merrill was poking around again. I don’t want her alone, and I don’t want to be seen like this out there. We stay here tonight.”
“Don’t you think you should ask me?” My words were slurred I was so tired, and I was afraid I was going to tip over.
“Help her,” Lucian commanded.
“Oh, so now I can touch her?” Fandare asked.
“Brother, do not anger me.”
“Now would be the best time, since you are dependent on me and can’t fight me.”
Chuckling to himself, Fandare carefully lifted me up and placed me on my bed. He knelt next to it and looked me in the eyes.
“I need for you to tell me I have permission to enter your quarters at will. You can always take this privilege away from me at any time, but it will give me the opportunity to make sure Lucian has what he needs, while watching over both of you tonight.”
“You have my permission to come and go here as you need to, Fandare. Thank you.”
I looked at Lucian and he looked at me. I had no idea what happened, or what this connection meant, but I did know what that kiss felt like, and I knew what having him watch over me felt like. I wanted more. I wanted more of him. He was the last image I saw before my eyes closed. I hoped he would be the first when I woke up.
Chapter 10
March 2, 4 AS
Lucian
As soon as Halley was asleep, Fandare left using the door. I knew, after he gathered everything I would need, he’d use his magic to come back into her quarters. It wouldn’t be good to show him coming and going from here. It would be bad enough having me entering but not leaving. Maybe it would make Merrill back off, which I knew would end up being healthier for him.
I didn’t want to show my emotions in front of Halley, but I was pissed and scared. I’d never had something like this happen to be before. I couldn’t move my body. Real blood would be the best thing, Human blood even better, hers would be the best, but I couldn’t do that. I knew Fandare would be bringing me some Sythoplas. While it would work, synthetic bland blood wasn’t going to work as quickly as real blood.
She looked so peaceful, and vulnerable, while she slept. I knew she was very private, but I had to know all about her. I’d done my own digging once I began to suspect something else was going on. I knew about her sister, the thing she hid from everyone; the only reason she was here. I knew what her family thought of her and how they treated her.
What I didn’t do was research her family history. Obviously, that was something I should have done a while ago. It certainly explained a few things. If she had Strogi blood in her, no matter how diluted, it would still call to me. It didn’t explain the aftereffects of the kiss though.
Fandare appeared next to me. “Here, drink.” He held the cup so I could drink. I let the unsatisfying liquid slide down my
throat. How I longed for it to be her blood, but I couldn’t do that to her. Not now, not while she was sleeping.
“I have more.”
Shaking my head, I tried to stretch my legs. “Let’s give it a few minutes while I fill you in.”
“We need to figure out why Merrill has it in for you. He’s tolerant of me, but that could just be because I am more charming than you, or something else, something from our past. Maybe from the days were we more wild, before we became the leaders of our clan.”
“Possibly, but we never did anything that bad, and certainly never to Humans. We stayed on the Meta held planets.”
“There has to be something.” Fandare looked over at Halley. “Maybe he sees you as competition for Halley?”
“No, this started as soon as he saw me, when we were checking in, before I met her.”
He narrowed his eyes at my unmoving body. “You should sleep.”
“Did you forget? We don’t need sleep.”
“When we are injured, we do. Think of it this way, I’ll watch over both of you, and you’ll be healed by morning and ready to protect her, like normal.”
“Fine.” I hated having to rely on anyone, even my brother. The only person I trusted with my life and Halley’s.
“Oh, you’re welcome.” He rolled his eyes at me. “Here, drink some more.”
“I hate this stuff.”
“We all do, but I can’t bring you down into the tunnels like this to get some real blood.”
“Yeah, too dangerous. I’ll drink another and then sleep. Make sure I’m up before her.”
“As long as you don’t take my head off for waking you. I still remember last time you had to heal from something.”
“That was over two hundred years ago, and you move fast.”
“The only reason I am still here.”
“Fandare.” My voice was serious. “Keep her safe.”
“I will, brother, I will. Now sleep.”
I took one last look at Halley, making sure she was asleep, and closed my eyes. Within seconds, I was in my healing state, willing my body to regenerate quickly so I would be at full strength tomorrow to protect her.