by Chloe Joel
Martin’s back was to her. She did not hear any of his words as she tried to understand what she was seeing. Holograms of creatures that clearly were not human strode around several points of the room. All eyes were focused on Martin as he spoke, and his eyes were fixed on something in front of him.
Even from where she was standing, Ashley could see the green light that she had seen the night of the attack. In her vision, that light had actually come from his eyes, and right now, from this angle, that seemed to be true.
The creatures around him seemed to be arguing, but none of them looked anything like Martin. It was like one of those sci-fi conventions. Some had extra arms or tentacles. Others floated above the air – of course they were all holograms, but the creatures’ lower extremities never moved, which meant that they were floating wherever they were.
Ashley’s eyes widened and her hand went to her mouth to cover the gasp that escaped. The room she had walked through was not from some sci-fi movie, it was something else entirely.
Let this be another nightmare. Please, let me wake up from this. She silently pleaded in her mind. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion as soon as she gasped. All of the creatures stopped staring at Martin and their eyes, eyestalks, and whatever things they used to see, turned in her direction.
The green light shifted as Martin turned around to face the door. As soon as she saw the same flash of green coming from his eyes, Ashley started to unfreeze. Turning on her heel, she took two steps back into the room she had passed through moments ago.
Suddenly, there were two strong arms around her and that familiar sensation at her back. For two weeks, she had been hoping to be in his arms again, to feel him pressed against her body just as he was now, but now, she wasn’t even sure what he was. Martin waited, not saying a word.
Ashley stood there, her body wanting more but her mind shrieking at this unreal shift in reality. She counted to 30 in her mind, waiting for any one of the many scenarios she had seen over the past few weeks to happen. Half expecting Darren and her step-father to show up, she waited, rooted to the spot. His hold was not threatening, it was more like a lover wrapping his arms around the waist of the person he loved, not at all like the experience she had had in her dreams.
The silence stretched on for a while, one person waiting to see what would happen, the other waiting for the nightmare to blossom.
After over a full minute of anticipation, Ashley decided to do something that had not happened in any of the dreams. She placed her hands on Martin’s outer thighs and slowly began to shift her hands up until her finger tips were at the top of his pockets. Her shallow breaths inspired by fear shifted to something else entirely as she felt him respond to her hands.
Martin’s chest heaved against her back, but he did not release her. She leaned her head back against his chest and slipped her hands down into the pockets, slowly moving them further in. Martin pulled her closer and lowered his head to her neck. Ashley closed her eyes as he began to kiss her.
His voice was deep and rich as one of his hands slid under her shirt. “You don’t mind?” There was a hint of surprise and satisfaction in what he asked, but it was still a question.
Then the trance broke as he began to kiss her face when she turned toward him. Even with her eyes closed, the strange green illumination caught her attention.
Two things were clear. She desperately wanted him. And he wasn’t human.
Chapter 7
Ashley tensed, trying to think of a way to escape, but the noticeable change in her stance caused Martin to stop before she could think of anything. Unexpectedly, he let go of her and took a few steps back.
Her mind and body warred with each other for the next moment. She desperately wanted to call him back to her, to give in to the desire that had nearly blinded her since she had arrived. Her mind focused solely on the fact that the man she wanted wasn’t even a man. She had no idea what he was or what would happen if she gave in.
For too long she had let others make the decisions. Her body had learned to jump at the commands of her step-father and his customers. Running away from him was the first time she had acted for herself, and she did not want to lose that now. She had her whole life in front of her, and what could this creature offer her?
She turned around to face him. His back was to her again. Unable to stop herself, her eyes took in every part of him. The way his broad shoulder pulled the shirt across his back. The waviness of his hair. The perfect way his pants curved with his amazing…
Shaking the thought away, she planted a new one. Is that even what he really looks like? It was a sobering thought. While she had initially been fine with the idea that he had been through some plastic surgery, this was a bit more than she could handle. The realization sunk in that she probably didn’t want to see his natural form now.
It was then that Ashley decided that this didn’t change anything that she had been about to do. She had come up here to thank him and to apologize for everything, and then she was going to leave.
“I just…I only wanted…I only came upstairs to say I’m sorry.”
The words caused him to whip around and face her, his eyes shining a faint green light, but it was now obvious to her that he was holding back. She tried to press on, but her eyes were drinking every beautiful feature of his face and she was losing control of her thoughts. Tearing her eyes away from his face, she looked at the floor, her hands twisting in the folds of her skirt.
“I…well you have spent the last few weeks having to bear the burden of my being here, so I wanted to apologize for everything. To say that I have treated you very…um…” her throat was dry, so she closed her eyes and tilted her face up to the ceiling. “I haven’t been fair to you. You told me that you didn’t take that step lightly, yet I constantly forced myself on you. It was wrong, and for that, I am both deeply ashamed and sorry for having put you in that kind of position.”
Taking a deep breath, she moved on to the part of the speech she had been preparing for several days, “I also wanted to say thank you. You saved my life, and for that, there is just…nothing I can say or do that would ever make up for that. You have been beyond amazing, which makes me even more uncomfortable with my inappropriate behavior.
I very much wish that I could blame it on the drugs, my mental state, or some other excuse, but that would be wrong. They were my actions, and I was entirely responsible. I won’t insult you by trying to create a flimsy justification.” Her body began to tingle and Ashley imagined that she smelled mint.
“Thank you. For everything. For saving me from my step-father and from a life of misery. Thank you for taking care of me, even though I treated you poorly. And thank you for putting up with me for so long.”
Pursing her lips, she gave her head a little nod, her eyes still firmly closed. “That was all I wanted to say before I left. And don’t worry, this poorly bred human won’t be bothering you any more.” She nearly frowned at the words. “I just wanted you to know I was grateful…”
“You don’t have to leave.”
Her eyes shot open. Martin was standing directly in front of her, his eyes were searching hers as if they already knew her answer but just wanted to hear her say it.
“What?” her eyebrows knit together as she tried to process this change in attitude.
“I’m not going to kick you out. What kind of monster do you think I am?”
Ashley swallowed hard as she tried to rearrange her scattered thoughts. She had just been going by what she had planned, but now she knew something about him that she hadn’t known before. Martin had said exactly what she had hoped he would say, he had invited her to stay, but he wasn’t the man she thought he was.
“I couldn’t possibly stay.” There was a finality in her voice as if there was no room for debate.
The look calm, knowing look that had been on his face dissolved. His beautiful mouth drew up into a line and his eyes narrowed. “You can’t stay, or you won’t stay?”
“I-I…” she looked around the room, wishing that some of the servants had been around. But what if they knew? Would they have helped her?
Be firm. He doesn’t control you. You control your own life now.
He moved in closer so that he towered over her, nearly no room between their bodies. “What if I don’t want you to leave?” There was something in his voice that reminded her of the way her step-father asked her questions before putting down whatever it was she wanted. Her instincts kicked in without her thinking about her response.
“It doesn’t matter what you want. I am leaving.”
He leaned down toward her, “I would say that it matters very much.”
“Of course, you would. Did you rescue me just so you could have someone else to boss around? Another pawn in your home to do your bidding?”
His eyes flashed and he took a step back. “There is no one in my home who is forced to be here. Everyone is here because they chose to come here. They are all serving a higher purpose. Some of them have left families behind because they know that destiny cannot be denied!”
Ashley gave him an incredulous look, “Since when is destiny a real thing?”
Martin’s expression became cold. “Destiny is what guides us all. Even you humans know about it, have written about it. Of course, like most lower life-forms, you tend to give it other names and treat it in weird ways, but you do acknowledge it in your own unique little ways.” His voice was so condescending as he spoke that Ashley felt the heat start to rise to her cheeks and her hackles were raised.
“I am one of those lower life forms.”
A sneer spread across his beautiful face. Despite everything, a part of her brain chimed in over the rest of the swirling thoughts that this man was gorgeous even while sneering. The more rational part of her brain shut it down as quickly as possible by pointing out that his exterior was obviously not the one he was born with. As her mind waged war against itself, she very nearly missed his next words.
His voice was low and threatening, “Don’t think for a second that I haven’t already realized the … inhuman,” he laughed at the use of the word “malicious twist of fate that made you what you are.”
“And just what is that supposed to mean?” Her hands went to her hips and her nostrils flared in rage.
“You have no idea who I am, what I’ve done, what I have fought for. For my entire life, I have been at the front of what seems like an unwinnable battle. My focus has always, always been on doing what needs to be done. Destiny has led me through some of the worst battles this universe has ever seen. You can’t imagine the horrors I have witnessed, the men I’ve watched die, and yet even I have had to bow to a greater will because none of us is above the machinations of fate and destiny. None of us.” His eyes had softened, and for a split second, Ashley imagined that his eyes had glistened with tears.
A trick of the light. She easily dismissed it because the words he was spouting were nonsense.
“That’s all fine and good, but that has nothing to do with me.”
Before she could blink, he had closed the distance between them. He stood over her again, his presence much more menacing than she had thought possible on such an angelic face. “Then I can only feel that there is nothing in existence that is crueler, as merciless as fate.”
“You’re damn right!” She nearly shouted as she said it. Standing up on her toes, she tried to get in his face, “So you’re a warrior. Whatever you say, you still choose to do what you do. Not all of us get that chance. Some of us are born into terrible situations, and we have to learn to adapt and live with the worst, no choices of our own.”
“You lived with a single man who treated you badly for one year. I’ve been through…”
Ashley thrust her hands out and pushed him away from her, “I don’t give a shit what you’ve been through!” He froze, his eyes wide. “I’m not a warrior. I don’t choose to fight anyone.”
“And yet since the very moment I met you, I’ve never seen you do anything else with anyone.”
“That’s not true!” Her face was flushed with rage and her voice was loud. She saw Martin make a motion at the door, but she refused to turn to look. Ashley was going to say everything that was on her mind whether he liked it or not.
“Oh really?” Martin’s mouth twitched and one side crooked up into a smile. “Hmm.” He turned and sat on a desk. “Let’s go through all of the encounters, shall we? First, I saw you pushing both of the men away. And with a broken ankle, it was one of the stupidest things I’ve ever witnessed. Given what I’ve seen, that’s really saying something.”
“Are you saying that I should have just gone…”
He held up a finger, then he put a second finger up, “Next, as soon as I leaned down to pick you up to help you, you fought me. Not the usual reaction I get when dealing with people I’m saving, or women for that matter.”
“If more women knew you as well as I do, they would. Wait, what do you mean broken? It was only sprained.”
There was a low rumble of laughter in his chest, but Martin simply held up another finger, “I said that it was just fine the next day. I repaired the bone by rewinding time around it. Very simple technology that you humans still can’t manage. It became a sprain and it required work to keep the bone on the new timeline. That was why I brought in Joanne.”
Ashley made a face at him, “Yeah, that turned out really well, didn’t it?”
“And that brings us to number three,” the next finger rose on his hand. “No matter how drawn to me she was, she would have done her job well if you hadn’t acted as you did. She saw your attitude toward her on that first day as an insult, and so she reacted accordingly. It’s not like you can blame her, you did the exact same thing to her.”
“That’s the biggest bunch of bull…”
“Then let’s consider the way you’ve treated me since you got here.”
“I’ve already apologized for that!”
He carried on as if she hadn’t said anything, “Once you were comfortable, you refused to respect anything I told you. I told you not to walk on your ankle, yet you kept trying.” Ashley thought back to those first few days. “I told you that where I come from, we don’t engage in casual mating, and yet every time I was anywhere close to you-”
“Shut up!” Her face was flushed, “Shut up! I already apologized for that!”
“You did, just after you tried again. It is difficult to take your apology as sincere when your behavior doesn’t change at all.”
Ashley had no come back for that, so she changed the subject, “I have gotten along perfectly fine with all of the servants you sent to help me. You can ask any of them…”
“They are all robots.”
“They are what?”
Martin raised an eyebrow and very slowly moved his mouth as he repeated, “They are all robots. That means they are not alive. There is not a single person you have encountered since I met you that you have not fought and offended.
And that is why I say that destiny is ruthless. Like a fiendish, diabolical imp that constantly twists my most triumphant career successes into bitter personal defeats. I suppose being blessed with so much, it’s the only way to make up how unfair it is to everyone else.”
“Are you saying you’re God’s gift to the universe?” Her eyes were narrowed, her fists were balled up. Never in her life had she been this angry.
Martin threw his head back and laughed. Ashley turned and ran toward the door. She pulled it to behind her as she ran, but it was pointless. Martin had continued to laugh until he was done, then with a speed that Ashley could never manage, he caught up to her before she had gotten to the next door in the hall.
Roughly, he lifted her off of her feet and continued to run. Her fear of him turned into a blind fear of the unnatural speed, and she instinctively turned and buried her face in his neck.
“That’s right. I’m near you, so you must act like…what is that phrase you humans use?” His face
was smiling, showing that he could remember the phrase perfectly clearly, “Like a damsel in distress.”
Anger took over her, and Ashley kicked up, knocking her knee squarely against the alien’s perfect cheekbones. Martin stumbled, and she flew out of his arms. The last thing she remembered was the unimaginable speed of the wall as it sped towards her.
My nightmares had it all wrong. This is how I die. At least I was-
Chapter 8
Her eyes fluttered open, and immediately she shut them again.
“Ow.” She mumbled at the ceiling. She opened her eyes a crack and saw Martin’s face sitting beside her. His expression changed from intense concern to relief at the sound of her voice, but he said nothing.
“Martin, why does my head hurt so badly?”
The voice was cold and calculating, much more robotic than…her memories flooded back, but she continued to wait for his response.
Instead, she heard the chair get pushed back. “Very good. Your memories are back so I won’t have to rehash your stupidity for you. Enjoy reliving that one.” His voice dripped with sarcasm at his final remark. “I’m so looking forward to your next insincere apology and attempt to sleep with me.”
She placed a hand across her eyes, “That is never going to happen again.” When there was no response, she decided to clarify, “The apology or the advances. You threw me against a wall! What kind of man…” she tried to peek out and see how Martin was reacting but one of the servant was walking into the room. The man she wanted to talk to was gone. “Oh great, another robot to keep me from arguing.”
“I can go get one of them if you prefer.”
Ashley’s eyes shot open and then she forced them closed as her head throbbed at the vast amount of sunlight streaming into the room. She moaned, and then opening her eyes a little, she looked at the servant. He wasn’t human. He wasn’t bad looking, but he definitely came from somewhere else that wasn’t Earth. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were a real person, or alien. I’m sorry, what should I call you?”