by Mallory Rush
At least, as a human should. His disappointment in the other diners gave way to growing approval as another pair of hands joined in. Eva's. And then she was joined by a child and his mother. Many more hands than were needed, but he took solace in what it symbolized.
The server profusely thanked them in broken English, yet the language of her heart was universal. Tears welled in her eyes. Searching them, Urich perceived the goodness in her; but she had not been treated well by life.
While the other diners, save Eva, returned to their seats, Urich claimed the tray.
Gone was the animated chatter in the restaurant. All were watching: The server tug at the tray he refused to give up. Urich towering over the little man who was contemplating his revenge once he had the woman alone.
"You're cruel," Urich said again. With a mental twist of his hands, the worm convulsed and its diseased owner's eyes bulged. "You owe her an apology. Do it."
As if seized by apoplexy, he sputtered, "S-s-sorry."
"And now, to the rest of us for spoiling our dinners with your distasteful behavior."
"Din-dinner's free."
Greedy as the bastard was, Urich knew he'd be hurting even more tomorrow than he was now. His brain was squirming, gasping for a malevolent breath.
"Take this." He shoved the tray into unwilling hands. Every instinct the man possessed rebelled. He lacked even a particle of sympathy or humbleness.
Urich decided a lesson in both were in order.
The man grabbed his crotch and there went the tray, bang to the floor. Scratching, scratching furiously with both hands while he hopped from one foot to another, his polished shoes slipping and sliding amongst noodles and sauce, reminding Urich of a "this is your brain on drugs" commercial he had seen.
He discreetly held out an empty palm, closed then opened it to reveal a fortune cookie. Cracking the brittle shell, he read the message planted within:
"Confucius say: He who treat other like dog will be thrown like bone to wolves."
His grin ominous, he snapped his wolverine incisors then tucked the message into its recipient's pocket. Hands divided between furious scratching and flailing them as if warding off the evil eye, he hippity-hopped backwards until disappearing through swinging doors.
A thud and a yell was proof enough that they'd smacked him in the face as directed. Satisfied, Urich turned to the speechless room of diners.
"Ants in his pants," he explained.
A snicker was followed by a chuckle and then guffaws of laughter. Hooking his arm around Eva's shoulders, the sound of clapping trailed them out to the street.
She nuzzled close as they walked aimlessly, giggling a block's length before she asked, "Did you really put ants in his pants?"
"Just the sensation of them, a vivid image in his mind, and ample welts to remind him of his lesson."
"I hope he doesn't take it out on that poor woman."
"He won't. I made sure of it."
Stalling him beside a curio shop she anxiously whispered, "What did you do—besides ants and magic cookies?"
"Let's just say that I impressed on him that if he wants to keep the bone in his pants, then he'll treat her kindly. She'll be receiving a generous leap in her salary in order to support the child she's been struggling to feed."
"Urich, Urich," Eva sighed. "I don't know whether to hug you to pieces or lecture you on playing God."
"I'm not a deity and I would never wish to take that weight on my shoulders." Too much weight there already, he longed to unburden himself on her. "Hug me to pieces," he advised, needing that human comfort.
Hug him she did, tighter than tight. He wanted to hold her and never let her go; but go soon he must to meet with those who meant to take her from him. Gripping her, he was seized by more than his primal urgings. He wanted to make love to Eva, wanted to be a man. He wanted them to be bound by human vows and all else that was denied them.
He couldn't think of it; frustration engendered anger and he lacked mastery over such blinding emotions. Fearing he would snap her spine with the force of what he struggled to contain, Urich called upon the tenderness she summoned.
Love was tender as his kiss and heedless as her own. Kissing him, kissing him. Madly, completely, until he was consumed with the urge to shear her clothes. It was the animal within that he battled now; it was the man he so wanted to become that harnessed the wolf and gently broke the kiss.
"You're a witch. A witchy woman who's got me under her spell. I'd give you the world if I could, Eva. As it is—" he gestured to a red silk shawl scrolled with a golden dragon displayed in the curio shop's front window, "I can't even buy you a gift. Maybe I should get a job. Now that would be an experience—a lucrative one."
"I have a better idea. You can help me out with my work. We'll be a team and that means I share my paycheck with you."
"But I'd give you anything for free. Even the means to converting matter."
"Much as I appreciate that tempting offer..." She shook her head. "I have to do it on my own. Discovery has to take its natural course, just like relationships, and it would be a mistake to get where I'm going before I'm ready to be there."
What a marvel she was. Urich nodded more than his understanding, more than his approval. "You're very wise. Is it any wonder that I looked the universe over and didn't see a one who could compare with you."
"Huh?"
"Never mind," he said abruptly, going for the door. "Let's find a special something to celebrate the night. And my new job. I'll buy—against the wages I'll be earning."
As they roamed the store filled with aromas and objects and humanity, Urich wondered how he could ever leave this world so different from his own. Deducia seemed more and more an alien nation that he did not belong in. Belonging, what an indescribable feeling it was. So many feelings he was experiencing. Simply watching Eva glance longingly at the shawl, he felt a quick stab of longing for her. He wanted to possess her, shower her with every luxury in the store.
Money. He suddenly wanted a lot of it and he didn't want to take Eva's. Greed. Pride. Possessiveness. He definitely had the makings of a human with his own share of flaws. Add that to the beast he could be, and Eva wouldn't have the energy to even look at another man.
One was looking at her now. Jealousy. Staunching the impulse to send the admirer flying through the store's window, Urich seized the shawl and draped it over Eva's shoulders.
"This is yours," he pronounced, then loud enough for everyone in the store to hear, he said firmly, "And you're mine."
Eva flushed, looking both embarrassed and pleased with his proprietary announcement. Stroking the shawl, she whispered, "it feels almost as sinfully fine as your chest."
He wanted to tell her if she thought his chest was sinfully fine the rest of him would be hell incarnate and she'd have more than the devil in her bed.
"I'll let you play with it tonight," he whispered back. When her gaze darted to his fly, he quickly drew the line above his belt. "With my chest, that is."
"Fair being fair, I'll let you do the same."
His eyes slid from her bosom to the neck he lightly stroked with his thumb. There was one way to stake his claim and protect her from the very reason he was here...
A monumental decision, not to mention Eva would have to agree. And what she would be agreeing to would take more courage and commitment than any human woman could imagine in her wildest dreams.
Urich licked his teeth. He could taste her already.
"I'm hungry. Let's go." Clamping an arm around her waist, he made for the register. But as they passed the man who had been admiring his woman, Urich discreetly bared his teeth in warning. Coupled with his ferocious glare, the man had the good sense to take to the street.
At the counter, Eva rummaged in her purse. Before she found her wallet, Urich asserted, "This is my gift to you and that means I do the paying."
"But you don't have any—"
"Here's the money," he said, pulling a wad of bills from
his pocket then handing them to the clerk. Before Eva could protest, he said, "Keep the change."
"But sir, there must be a thousand dollars here and the shawl's only a hundred fifty."
"Would you like some more, Eva?" He waved at the store's entire contents. "Or anything else? Anything you want, anything at all, it's yours." He took her grinding jaw as a definite no. "In that case, we'll just take this. Come along, dear," he said, trotting her out before she made a scene to rival the one in the restaurant.
Once on the street, she flung the shawl at him. "I can't keep this! Take it back in, say I decided I didn't want it and get that counterfeit money back."
"But it's not counterfeit. I borrowed it from one of your government money supply houses. I'll rematerialize it once I've earned some of my own."
Hands on hips, Eva huffed out, "That's not how it works. What you did was wrong, Urich."
"Wanting to give you a token of my affection is not wrong. Your rejecting it is. And that makes me feel... hurt. Yes, hurt, that's what I'm feeling." And more, so much more. The blaze of her eyes, the scarlet color of her cheeks and lips worked like a stimulant. His system reacted, released the pheromones that attracted females and triggered their instincts to breed.
Eva sucked in a temper charged breath. Suddenly, her senses were assaulted by that scent she couldn't resist. Urich smiled knowingly as she leaned in, struggling to stay mad and losing the battle before it was started.
"You... you really shouldn't have borrowed that money. Promise you won't do it again?"
"Only if you accept my gift and thank me with a kiss."
She latched onto his neck and was about to kiss him like mad when another woman passed, stopped in her tracks, turned.
Eva watched as the woman all but slithered her way over. She was joined by several more, all of them moving in, threatening to edge her out. Her reaction was immediate. She pushed Urich away from her rivals and hissed.
The hiss was still sliding through her teeth when Urich said, "uh-oh," grabbed her from behind and with a snap of his fingers, got them out before she started clawing.
A second later, the sound of lapping waves and distant laughter from Fisherman's Wharf blended with his sigh of relief.
"Sorry, Eva. We'll stay by the bay until my hormones reach a safe level. It shouldn't be long after that scare." Pulling the shawl around her, he laughed as though he'd gotten a charge out of her primal show of ownership.
"I—I was ready to claw their eyes out," she gasped. His scent was indeed fading and she was glad for it. "What is that?"
"Nature's perfume." He ran a blunt nail up the side of her neck. "It's what male animals emit to lure a female."
"Well, you don't have to emit anything to lure me and I'd rather not feel like such an animal again myself."
"I'd rather that you did," he said into her ear. A nip of her lobe and she felt his teeth rake a light path over her jugular. "The animal within, Eva. Nurture her. She's your strength and you'll need her to survive the animal in me."
Chapter 11
She saw them once more in the chamber, remembered how ferociously he'd reacted to their first kiss. Urich's first real kiss; amazing as that was, it surely had nothing on "his way" of getting cozy in bed. They didn't kiss; the women apparently didn't have breasts. Just what did they do and with what did they do it?
The moon's watery light cast an eerie glow on the incisor he tongued. Eva's throat, the one he was staring at, went dry as she asked, "Is that what you really are? An animal?"
Her growled softly and she instinctively stepped back.
Urich sighed heavily. "We'll talk about it some other time." He swiped up a small stone and pitched it over the bay. It seemed to sail straight for the big white globe lighting the night and shimmering on graceful waves.
"That's quite an arm you've got there." She patted it and, hoping to restore their easy companionship, said lightly, "boy, would the Dodgers like to get their hands on you. You could pitch a fast ball that'd blow a hole through the stands. Heck, I'll bet you could hit a homer to the stars."
"The stars." With a snort, he dismissed them. "I don't want to go back there."
She didn't want him to go back there without her. To actually think of traveling through space, exploring brave new worlds, new civilizations, to boldly go where no man had gone before—whoa, Star Trek move over!
"Where is your other home?" she asked eagerly.
His hand slid over hers and he led her to point at the brightest glimmer riding high on the night. "Just past the North star, over the envelope and into the Black Hole."
"Then there really is one!"
"Of course." Tilting her face to his, he smiled indulgently. "Your excitement is such a joy to me. In all my years, I've never been blessed with gifts like you give me."
So many gifts he'd given her, not even a thousand shawls could come close to an intangible one. She stroked the embroidered dragon that ran from shoulder to elbow and was reminded of Urich. Sleek and lethal, compelling in its fiery beauty, but seeming to hold the wisdom of the ages in its taloned grip. "Just how old are you?" she asked.
"In your linear measure of days and years, I'm close to ancient." Then he hastened to assure her, "But not very old in our parallel universe. Thirty-something like you."
"You mean time's different there?"
"It's... how to explain this? Think of it as a seamless fabric, something like my old clothes, so while we live in our present tense of time, we can go exploring—backward, forward, sideways. I've seen my share of history."
"What about the future? Have you seen it?"
"Variations of what might be." His face clouded before something resembling hope chased it away. "We create destiny as we go, with the decisions we make. Even pure logicians aren't immune to changing their minds." Significantly, he added, "or having them changed by a single, fateful meeting. The future, Eva, can and does change. That much we do have in common with Earth, despite our different measures of time."
"But different as they are, how did you find me?" Why did you find me? Eva didn't bother to ask yet again, knowing that he'd give her an answer that was there but not quite, pat and yet amorphous as the future he had described.
Into the air he drew the shape of a square, glowing lines bending with the wave of his hand. "Imagine a flexible window. I looked through it and there you were, close as a sideways step. Like minds on either side of the envelope, separated by almost everything but time."
Eva passed her hand through the holographic image he had created without the single beam of a laser. "Amazing, absolutely amazing."
"Not nearly as amazing as you."
It was really just too much. Except for her IQ, she could have been Ms. Average USA—heck Ms. Average Earthling for that matter. Her tastes were marginally refined, she spread herself too thin, bought on impulse only to decide what she'd purchased made her butt look too fat, pigged out on chocolate when she got depressed then guzzled diet sodas to make up for all the calories that went straight to her hips.
Yep, if there was an Everywoman, she was it.
"That's part of your allure," he murmured.
"Urich..." she said warningly.
He offered his wrist. "Slap it if you want to."
Slap it she did. Only for him to slap hers back.
"Hey!" Shaking her stinging hand, Eva demanded, "What was that for?"
"Consider it a Deducian kiss. Just a peck, but I could go for a good one. C'mon, have at me." When she didn't move, he chuckled and said, "here, I'll give you some incentive."
Incentive enough, he gave her a small push. Eva stumbled back, wobbly on the heels that buckled, then flat on her fanny she went. Urich laughed heartily, then laughed even harder when she crouched and lunged.
Throwing her weight against the chest he slapped in invitation, Eva took him on. The bigger they were the harder they fell and big as Urich was, he hit ground with enough force to qualify for an earthquake tremor.
He cau
ght her atop him and said with approval, "very good. That's one helluva pucker you pack."
Flush with the tussle, Eva panted, "don't tell me this is how you guys make out."
"Let's just say that when it comes to mating, we return to our roots. And I must say there is some logic to it. Adrenaline's a potent arouser." He bumped her hips with his, leaving no question as to the potency of his arousal. "So, was it as good for you as it was for me?"
Eva was surprised to realize he wasn't the only one reacting to an adrenaline rush. "Strange, but it is pretty exhilarating. How about another 'kiss'?"
"The kiss I want to give you..." He studied her for a bit then shook his head. "Too much, too soon. Like discovery, we'll get where we're going when you're ready to be there." A lick to her chin was followed by the graze of his teeth. "But you're a quick study and we'll get there soon enough."
Hesitantly, she asked, "Get where?"
"For now..." His lips on hers, she heard the snap of his fingers. And then she heard voices all around, felt the support of his arms around her, planking beneath her feet.
Urich lifted his lips and she realized they were standing on a Fisherman's Wharf pier. No one in the crowd seemed to notice that they'd been joined by a kissing couple who had materialized out of nowhere.
"Ahh," Urich breathed. "Just smell all the teeming humanity. Except... ugh. There's some bad company we don't need around." A yell and a splash later, he sighed happily. "That's that. His date won't get raped tonight."
"Urich, you have to quit messing with—"
"Would you rather me let something terrible happen instead of doing what I can to stop it?"
"Of course not, but—"
"But what?"
No ifs, ands or buts about it, he was impossible. Absolutely, marvelously impossible.
"I'm crazy about you, too," he murmured, offering his arm. "Let's go have some fun."
Strolling the wharf, Eva's only real fun was in Urich's elation over jugglers and musicians playing for what landed in their instrument cases. As for herself, it wasn't exactly peachy being with a head-turning hunk. She wasn't sure if she felt closer to strutting like a peacock or running around like a chicken with its head cut off, knocking each and every drooling female over the railing to join the soggy dregs that Urich had pitched in.