by Alice Cooper
“Zed. Tell me where Xam is.” I could hear a fire in my voice.
“They have denied his release.” Zed started. “He was caught trying to source outside information.”
“I don’t understand.” The numbness started seeping into my bloodstream again.
“He is being sentenced to death. Kate, there is nothing we can do. I am so sorry.” Zed reached forward in attempt to bring me to my feet. I pounded at him until he let me go.
“Hirt.” The eyeless man’s voice echoed.
“There has to be some way we can find him.” I cried.
“Xam.” The eyeless man’s voice boomed filling the hollow in my chest.
I heard my heart hit the floor.
“Xam!” I screamed. I pushed off Zed and darted to toward him. “Xam!”
Xam looked disoriented and confused but his expression lifted when he saw me running toward him.
“Xam!”
“Kate!” He shouted back trying to break free from the guard holding on to him.
As my legs pedaled me closer to Xam, the bruises and blood came into vision. It was quite obvious that he had been severely beaten. His left shoulder drooped out of place and his nose jarred in every imaginable direction. There were bloodstains across his face and running down his back. As he trudged forward, he limped pathetically favoring his right leg.
My pace quickened. He needed my help more than I had realized.
When I reached him I threw myself at him using my own body as a shield to protect him. He winced in pain as I wrapped him in my arms. He tucked his head into my shoulder and gently kissed my neck.
“Xam, I love you.” I whispered. “I have never felt like this in my entire life and I have never breathed those words. With you everything is good in the world and I am going to do everything I can to make you happy.”
I could feel him laugh in my embrace. He leaned back and kissed me. “I love you too.”
Normally a moment like this would make me want to throw in the towel and walk away from the television. The parameters of love tended to soar past my own imagination. But now that I was here, in this moment, I knew that love was an intangible thing. It couldn’t be accurately represented on a television screen or through words on a page. It was beyond describable feeling, beyond explanation. But in this moment I could feel it.
“Guards!” The raspy voice cut through my ears and suddenly Xam was ripped out of my arms and thrown to the ground.
Five guards circled him with their clubs raised in the air.
“On my count.” The man croaked. “Three.”
“Stop!” I screamed trying to fight my way through the guards.
“Two.”
“That’s enough.” Zed’s voice boomed, out voicing the eyeless man who jumped at the sound of it. “I demand sanctuary.”
The guards lowered their clubs and stepped away from Xam who lay motionless on the blood stained concrete floor.
“Who do you think you are to demand sanctuary in the midst of an execution?” The man sounded angrier than he had before if that was even possible.
“I am Leadership Officer Zed. I have traveled here from Moal to retrieve this man.” Zed reached down and plucked Xam up off the floor.
He staggered for a moment trying to gather his bearings. I ran to his side and held on tight.
“This girl is from Earth.” Zed started.
A hush fell over the room. Every prison guard and inmate held his or her breath in anticipation for what Zed might say next.
“She has been able to penetrate the barrier between our galaxies and has come to teach us her knowledge of Earth. This entire arrest has fallen in fault of misinformation to The Leadership. We are trying to rectify our mistake however we cannot do so without your confirmation and acceptance.” Zed cleared his throat. It echoed` through the room. “This could mean big things for Ceban.”
Applause erupted through the room. I looked up to see the inmates above us hanging over the railings, cheering. They pumped their fists in the air, clapped, and shouted for the guards to release Xam.
“That is enough!” The eyeless man bellowed, silencing the room and everyone in it.
He stepped down from his podium and stormed his way across the room quickly closing in on Zed, Xam, and me. The closer he got, the more terrifying he was. Even without the use of his eyes he seemed to know exactly where we stood.
“You are playing with fire, Officer Zed.” His voice lashed, his tongue as sharp as his teeth.
“All I ask is that you grant me fifteen more minutes of this man’s life and your time.” Zed pleaded but remained regal.
“I don’t do anyone any favors, you hear me?”
“I am not requesting a favor. I am simply vying for a few minutes of your time, sir.”
I was so proud to have Zed in my corner. He was a reasonable and stoic man. I would owe him majorly when everything was all said and done.
“Five minutes.”
“I accept.” Zed winked at me.
“Thank you.” I mouthed inaudibly.
Zed and the eyeless man headed to the right back down the long corridor that had brought me here. Just before they disappeared out of sight, the eyeless man braked in his tracks and turned toward us.
“In the meantime, separate them.” He pointed at Xam and me.
“Please, no!” I begged and dropped down to my knees in desperation.
Two of the five guards in the circle scooped me up and pulled me away from Xam. They followed down the same corridor as Zed and the eyeless man.
I squirmed under their grip in attempt to find Xam. I needed to know where they were taking him but it was too late. He was already gone.
The guards forced me into the corridor where Zed and the eyeless man were waiting for us.
“Let me go!” I shrieked. I clawed at the prison guards and threw my weight around hoping they would lose grip and drop me to the ground.
“That is enough!” The eyeless man slapped me across the face with the back of his hand. On his index finger he wore an iron-plated ring with an eagle perching. The eagle tore through my flesh like a razor blade. The nerves on my cheek caught fire and I could feel blood coursing out of the gaping wound.
Zed threw his elbow across the man’s chest and pinned him up against the wall so that he could see face him at eye level.
“You touch her again and you’re done.” Zed motioned across his throat.
I grabbed at my cheek in attempt to slow the bleeding.
“Are you alright, Kate?” Zed propped himself in front of me on one knee.
“I’m alright. Just the blood.” I looked down at the floor. I was standing in a vibrant puddle of red.
Zed tore off a piece of his shirtsleeve and pressed it against my cheek. “Hold this tight. We will be right back.”
Considering that every time I had been instructed to do something in the past and didn’t listen, everything seemed come crashing down around me. I couldn’t bare another set back in my life and I wasn’t about to toy with Xam’s fate. So this time, I decided to quietly obey.
Zed and the, now frightened, eyeless man disappeared into the room across the corridor. The heavy door swung closed follow by a large bang.
With the door closed, their conversation was muffled. I could, however, pick up on the tone of the conversation.
It started out loud as each man attempted to out-smart and out-alpha the other. I knew that if this was the case, Zed was absolutely a shoe-in.
Cutting through the muffled noises I was catching from behind the metal door, another sound flooded my head. It was the sound of someone moaning and calling out in pain.
I recognized the cries. It was Xam.
I leaned back against the cinderblock wall and slid down to the floor. I couldn’t bear to hear his cries of pain for one more second. But what could I possibly do that would jeopardize this entire plan?
I brought my arms up to my face and buried my head between my knees in attempt to block out the sound.
>
Even still, it rang sharp in my ears.
My mind circled the possibilities. What would I do if Xam were denied sanctuary? What would I do if he were granted sanctuary?
All of these questions soaring through my mind were a reminder as to why I used to live the way I did. The less I cared about anyone, the less likely I was to get hurt. Now, here I sat, on this cold concrete floor, hurting more than I had ever thought possible. Not only was I in pain from the gash in my cheek. It was the internal pain that claimed center stage. My heart was hollow and my mind soggy. The thought of Xam being ripped out of my life was absolutely unbearable to me.
I couldn’t let that happen.
Silence surrounded me and screamed in my ears. Xam’s wailing had stopped. There were no longer inmates chanting in the cells. The conversation in the room behind the metal door had seized as well.
Uneasily, I got to my feet and paced three steps across the hall toward the door. I pressed my palm against it. The metal was cold and smooth to the touch. I placed my swollen cheek against the surface. The iciness brought instant relief to the fire burning beneath my skin. I leaned in resting my weight on my cheek. I could have cried it felt so good.
I heard the doorknob squeak, someone was about to open the door. Before I could step back I fell head first into the room right at the eyeless man’s feet. He looked down on me in pity and stepped over me.
Scrambling to my feet, I locked my eyes on the man as he marched himself down the corridor back toward the circular room.
Next out the door was Zed. I searched his face for an answer or a sign. Anything. But he was stone faced and illegible.
The guards followed in pairs falling stride with the eyeless man toward the circular room.
Zed watched after them but I kept my eyes fixed on him.
When they had disappeared out of sight, Zed turned to look at me. I could have sworn I caught a twinkle in his eye but his expression wasn’t giving anything away.
“Tell me Xam is safe.” Tears flooded my vision. My heart pained. I wanted this to end.
Zed pulled me and hugged me tight. He rubbed my shoulder trying to calm me down.
I could hear footsteps approaching us in the distance. I rubbed my eyes and looked up at Zed, hopeful.
He winked.
It was Xam.
I pushed off and ran faster than I ever had before down the corridor toward the echoing footsteps. By the time Xam came into view, I was soaring. Seeing him set my heart free and I moved faster, faster until he was within my reach.
Xam picked me up and twirled me around through the air. He ran his hand through my hair and pulled me into his lips. I wanted this kiss to last forever.
“Are you ready to go home?” Xam offered me his battered hand.
I smiled, I was going home.
THE END
HOLD ME CLOSE
Chapter 1
“What you are suggesting Erica is a groundbreaking moment for scientists everywhere. You’ve been working very hard and it appears that all of your hard work is paying off. Preliminary tests are quite revealing. I want you to make sure that there are no hiccups before I go to the trouble of making the proper introductions.” Nigel Adams was Erica’s boss and an English transplant that had his own designs on making a billion before he was 30. His dark hair and brooding nature had given him the perfect attitude to work with a one track mind like Erica.
“I wouldn’t exactly go putting the horse before the barn. There are still a lot of tests to be done, but the preliminary results are favorable. I haven’t seen anything to indicate any problems whatsoever.” Erica was that dark haired sexy thing that had a lot of guys wondering what she wore underneath the lab coat. “I can’t tell him how excited I really am. I don’t want to get ahead of myself and this kind of breakthrough doesn’t come around very often. This could be a cure for cancer. The stem cell research that I have been doing has shown me the building blocks of the DNA of every man, woman and child on this planet. I hope that there are no miscalculations or side effects to worry about. We haven’t quite got to human testing, but maybe it’s time to move to that of something living.”
“Erica, I must admit that I was skeptical when you came to me with this. It seemed almost Frankensteinish and I wasn’t sure if I could sign off on something that would make most people cock an eyebrow at the very least. You promised that you were on the right track and it appears that is the case. We need to be careful about who we speak to about this. The best way to handle this is for the two of us to be on the same page.” In a moment of weakness, Nigel leaned in and got rebuffed for his advances. Her hand met his mouth. She stared at him disbelief that he would do something like this. “I’m sorry, I thought that we were having a moment and I got a little carried away.” Nigel had this need to make Erica succumb to all of his hidden kinky desires. He’d already envisioned her strapped down on one of these tables writhing in agony, as he whipped her mercilessly with a cat of nine tails.
Erica was not stupid and his infatuation had gone beyond that of a stalker. The only reason why she stuck around was because of the money. He was loaded and it didn’t hurt that she had the curvy figure that had made him tripping over his own tongue from the moment that they met to discuss her proposal. She used her sexuality to make men feel powerless to resist her charm. Those working underneath her would wonder what the hell they were getting themselves into. She was a taskmaster and had no problem putting people in their place whether they were her boss or not.
“I understand that you have these feelings for me, but I don’t really feel the same way. I know that’s not what you want to hear, Nigel, but it’s the one thing that I don’t think is ever going to change.” She heard him sigh with resignation and that was at least a good sign that he was willing to back down. “I was an only child going up and my father was quite strict when it came to dating. He would grill any perspective suitors mercilessly over the hot goals, until they were running out the door like their pants were on fire. I didn’t even lose my virginity until I was 20 years old and that was just because I wanted to perform what I considered to be a personal experiment. The guy was a little younger at 17, but he was the one that had me looking out my window and finger fucking myself to him mowing his lawn with no shirt on. I researched the subject matter, but that didn’t prepare me for the onrush of emotional baggage that was unleashed afterwards. I had to teach him to slow down and the 25 times that we were together, it was better each and every time, until he went off to college.”
“I know that what you say is something that you believe, but I know that if I can get you in my bed that things would change. The feeling of me thrusting against you and my cock deeply encased within the hot little hole of yours would seriously have you screaming at the top of your lungs. The one thing that I know is that I’m a consummate lover and I’m always forcing women to see outside the box.” Nigel had always had women dripping off his arms and it was the accent that had them throwing their panties at him before even the desert arrived. He had had many encounters, but the one that had gotten away was Erica.
“I have no doubt that we would have a good time, but I’m looking for more than that. I hope that this doesn’t ruin anything, but I thought that I made this very clear from the moment that I came to work with you. There was not going to be anything physical, but I have to admit that you are persistent. It’s no wonder that there’s not a girl that goes by your path that doesn’t want you. You’re pretty good to look at and if I was only into something fleeting, I would gladly spread my legs for you.” He’s not my type and I’m not looking for some pretty playboy English expatriate to turn my crank. I want something that is going to make me feel like my entire world is changing around me.” Erica turned her back on Nigel hoping that this would be the end of it, having no idea that Nigel was just as determined to take what he wanted by whatever means necessary.
“You do know that we have a lot in common. We both come from being the only child in the f
amily. We were doted on from the moment that we were born. We also have a love of science and it’s that kind of passion that should be translated into the bedroom. Trust me, I’m never going to give up, until I hear the words that I want to hear coming from your lips. If you expect me to give up this crusade up, then you don’t really know me at all.” Nigel had seen brief glimpses of her cleavage and images of him squirting his load up all over her chest came to mind in a hurry. Glazing her like a doughnut from head to toe, while she was tied up for days on end would keep him hard for days. It was something of a fantasy that he could never relinquish. “I don’t know why you just won’t give in.”
“You dress impeccably and you have the manners of a gentleman, but underneath it all you are still a dirty boy. I’m not saying that I’m not tempted, but I am saying I think that I can hold off, until I find that one that is going to make all others pale in comparison. I want more from a relationship than just hot animal sex. Don’t get me wrong, I want that to, but all of that should come hand in hand.” Erica was that blond bombshell with an hourglass figure. She had a 5’8 frame and 160 pound body that had guys literally falling over themselves to be close to her. “I’ve had many suitors, but none quite like Nigel. He obviously fantasizes about me and I just hope that his fantasy life doesn’t get the best of him.”
“I have some business to conduct, but trust me we’re not finished with this by a long shot. I will have you and there’s really nothing that you can do about it. You may think that you have control but once you give up the reins to somebody else, you’ll feel so much better about yourself.” The image of his seed dripping off her face and the look of contempt after the deed was done was what he lived for. He loved to seduce with his words and then surprise them with some of the hidden toys in his closet of sexual delights. The woman would usually leave feeling ashamed and aroused at the same time. “It’s just a matter of time and I will wear you down. That’s a promise that I’m going to live by.”
“I always thought that it was a blessing that you accepted me into this program. I showed you a woman that was not only beautiful, but had the intellect that was far superior over others. I gave you no reason to doubt that my claims couldn’t be proven. I’ve been working on this for years and now that we see the finish line, you decide now that you’re going to do more than just flirt. Why would you try to ruin this good thing between us? I could take my research and go someplace else. I didn’t sign any kind of nondisclosure agreement and I wouldn’t have come to work with you had you even brought it up.” I don’t want him to get the wrong idea and I’m grateful, but I’m not going to show him that with my body on the line. The one thing that my mother did teach me growing up before she died was to respect myself. If I didn’t, then nobody was going to do it for me. My father on the other hand believed that I should find some rich tycoon to settle down with, but that was not how I was made.”