The Beast In The Castle

by Daniella Wright

The tears that fell from her eyes were angry ones, hot as they ran down her face. Perhaps she wouldn’t be able to get off the planet… But certainly she could figure out a way to keep herself alive and well.

  She had purpose, she decided. And it was to survive.

  ~*~

  Kira lost track of time. There was little for her to do, or to plan, until she finally got a look of the planet Ka’thon. She slept. She woke. At some point, she realized that she was hungry, but her captor had not returned since coming in to see her, and she didn’t expect that he was going to anytime soon. He had said that they would arrive soon, but she had the feeling that her idea of soon and his were two completely different things. It was this cycle – the restless sleep and the hungry, foggy awake – that kept her company as she waited.

  Her reprieve came in the form of the ship shaking, and the whoosh of her cell door sliding open once more. Kira looked up, her eyes red from the lack of decent sleep and they narrowed in suspicion. He seemed unperturbed by her discontent, and leaned against the wall. His eyes stayed on her, gaze unwavering, pondering almost. She wondered if he was as curious and wary of her as she was of him. Did he wonder what she was like as she did of him, considering the purpose that he had taken her for?

  Their stalemate lasted moments, the two of them keeping their eyes on each other. The alien’s gaze was penetrating, unnerving. Kira steeled herself against the onlooking creature, and didn’t speak up.

  He did instead.

  “We’re descending into the atmosphere,” he said, in that rough voice. “You will accompany me to my clan. You will be silent until you’re spoken to. You will remain with me.”

  Her brows furrowed then. So that was her place, then. A subservient role. She didn’t like that, not at all. She averted her eyes for a moment, thinking.

  “Why?” she asked, turning her eyes back to him once more. She wanted explanation.

  For a moment, she thought that he wouldn’t give it to her. His head tilted at her, and that pondering look remained on his face. He approached her, then, walking close to her. She stared up at him apprehensively as he leaned over her, and that scent that wafted off his skin tingled at her nose pleasantly once more.

  She flinched when he took her face in one of his hands, but he didn’t hurt her despite the firm grip with which he held her. Warmth radiated from his fingertips, and rose an interest in her that she couldn’t quite place. A flush bloomed upon her skin, and that seemed to please him as he smirked in response.

  “Because you are mine; the bond doesn’t lie.”

  ~*~

  The bond doesn’t lie.

  That was the phrase that the alien uttered to her, every time she asked him to explain to her what he meant. The bond doesn’t lie, he would say, and then go about her cell, opening panels, pressing blinking buttons, sliding his fingers over touch-pad surfaces. What he was doing, she had no idea, but he was in no mood to tell her, that was for certain. It ate away at her curiosity – curiosity that she knew she should control, given her situation and what he had told her she was taken for – but she couldn’t help it. It was in her nature.

  Perhaps it was that strange feeling that came over her when he got close to her and she could pick up his scent once more? How strange…

  After a while, the creature left. With no windows in her cell, there was no way for her to see what was going on outside her bleak confines. She could feel the vibration of the ship, though, and stiffened a little when the whole thing jostled a bit.

  Were they landing? Had they finally gotten to Ka’thon? What’s more… what awaited her when they departed? Her caution wove in and out of the curiosity she felt – curiosity over the man who had taken her, where they were going, the bond he claimed that they had. That one was the most persistent, and she couldn’t place it as to why. So she simply continued to lay against the slab, knowing that she would not get her answers until the alien man returned. He did so, a few moments after the strange jostling that she experienced.

  “We have arrived,” he said, confirming her suspicions. “If you try to run, I will stop you.”

  He didn’t need to tell her that for her to know it, but she watched him as he began to undo her bindings. He started with the ones across her chest, and arms, moving down to the binds that were at her legs. She remained perfectly still, only moving when his bare skin managed to touch hers and the warmth of him tingled against her. She wasn’t sure if the feeling of it should make her uncomfortable, but it gave the same effect as his scent did. She watched him, his movements. They were strangely fluid despite the solidness of his body and the sheer size of him.

  The creature stood back when he was done, and Kira took this as a sign that she was allowed to sit up. She did so, wincing a bit; her back was stiff from how long she’d been strapped to the slab, and she rolled her neck, loosening herself up a little. With the light that was now in the cell, she could see herself reflected back at her in the surface of the black metal. Her bright red hair was a mess, and she was glad that her image was at least a little distorted in the metal. She didn’t want to know just how rough she looked, and she ran her hand through her hair a bit in an attempt to tame it.

  Kira could feel the eyes of the alien on her as she did so. Despite the creeping red blush of heat that went up her neck, she chose to pretend to ignore it. She swung her legs over the side of the slab with the intention of standing on her own. The creature was at her side in an instant – did he think that she was going to run?

  “I just wanted to stand up on my own.” She stepped a little away from him, and he took a step toward her. She tilted her head, silently measuring how much she was allowed to get away with. “Am I not allowed to walk?”

  “Do not run,” he repeated.

  “I wasn’t. I’m standing. Not running. Where am I going to run to, anyway?”

  He seemed pleased by her assertion that she had, truly, nowhere to go at this point.

  If she had expected the rest of the ship to be brighter than her cell, Kira would have been woefully disappointed. The hall was lined in the same black metal that her cell had been, and the only source of light came from strange, illuminated orbs that floated in the air of the hall.

  She took in as much of the ship as she could, on their journey down the hall, but there was truly very little to see. All of the walls were the same smooth paneling that her cell had been. Every few feet were panels of blinking buttons, and she could only assume that there were rooms on the other side – perhaps more cells. She wondered idly how many women from other worlds had been taken and boarded on this ship, and she decided that she’d rather not think about it, save for the hope that maybe there’d be women like her, that perhaps she wouldn’t be so alone, that maybe she’d be able to learn a little more given her captor certainly wasn’t one to willingly offer up information.

  They came to the back of the ship quickly. The creature’s strides practically drug her along; his legs were considerably longer than hers. He placed one of his large hands on a touch-pad along the smooth expanse of the ship. Kira watched, mouth open in awe, as the entire back wall of the ship dematerialized before her eyes. In preparation for the flood of light from the outside, she squinted, though the action was unnecessary.

  It was night.

  Darkness encompassed the outside, and she opened her eyes fully when she realized this. She could see the faint glow of light from more of those strange lit orbs. She wasn’t given much time to consider this, as the creature started to walk forward, taking her with him.

  From what Kira could make out with the light, they were at the edge of a village. Stepping onto the ground from the ship, the terrain was rocky. Further ahead, where there was a higher concentration of those shiny orbs, and Kira could make out large, high-reaching shapes against the blackness of the night.

  Her captor didn’t let her have much time to take anything more in. His hand gripped her forearm, and he pulled her along a rocky path, leading towards the dark shapes and
the concentration of the shiny orbs giving off light. Her eyes strained to make out much else, but she could hear the sounds coming from the group of strange shapes. She could have sworn it was talking, but it didn’t sound like any words that she had heard in her life.

  Kira was led down the path, into the first grouping of the buildings. They were tall, black things, jutting up from the ground like sharp slates of the same kind of metal that the ship was made of. The rocky path gave way to a smoother kind of stone beneath her feet, along these stone walkways tread more creatures like the one who held her then.

  They were all male. Kira couldn’t make out a single female in all the silvery-blue-skinned men around her. They were all as tall, some slimmer and some just as thick as her captor, but they were all of the same race, that was certain. They turned interested, shining eyes towards the two of them, and spoke in that strange language that Kira didn’t know – couldn’t even make out perhaps a single, earthen English word. She felt totally exposed, their continuous, open, unashamed gazes making her feel as if she were walking among these people completely nude, devoid of any covering or modesty.

  Instinctually, this caused her to press close against her captor, as if he would protect her. She felt as though there was more to their looks than mere curiosity; there was a hunger there that she could not place, and her mind went back to what she had been told she’d been taken for. Was it because there were no women here? Her mind went back to what her captor said, and what she knew of Ka’thon. Certainly she wasn’t meant for… all of them?

  As they continued to walk, bypassing the first cluster of those strange jagged buildings and the smooth stone streets, one of the others approached Kira and her captor. He was as large as her captor was, with thick hair on his head. He wore the same dark, conforming clothing that her captor did. Oddly, the newcomer was more intimidating than he was, and she found herself pressing closer to the one who held her arm, once more lulled by the scent around him.

  The two exchanged words. More than once the newcomer gestured to her, and Kira could only imagine that they were speaking about her. The newcomer eyed her an awful lot as they spoke; her captor didn’t seem to like that at all. She didn’t, either. The way he leered at her made her feel even more exposed, and the fact that her captor was displeased with this fact made her feel only marginally safer.

  Kira noticed, the more they spoke, the more their tones rose and the more people stopped among the buildings to stare, gather around. Kira began to feel herself get lightheaded. So much heady scent was all around her, so many pulsing hormones. It was like alpha against alpha and the more the two argued back and forth, the worse it got, the more she pressed into her captor’s side –

  Kira didn’t know that she had fainted, until she opened her eyes. She was no longer in the middle of the cluster of buildings, but rather in one, she assumed.

  It was not big – at least twice as large as the ship, but no more, and the walls were just as black. There was a considerable amount of light though, from those strange glowing orbs hanging from nothing in the air, and the scent of cooking permeated the air in a sweet beckon that had her sitting up on something soft, and plush – a bed! Thank god for that, that it wasn’t another cold, unforgiving slab. It was one thing that wasn’t cloaked in complete darkness, and as she got her bearings, she allowed herself to stroke her fingers along the strange, almost-silken material of the red cloth that adorned where she had been laid.

  She looked around, curious, even in her situation. The bed was in the center of the area she was in. A single, red-wooded chest rested at the end of it, and a large mirror was across from it. All along the wall, hung a number of weapons. Sharp and wicked blades, and blasters the likes of which she’d never seen, but they made her curious to their uses and firepower nonetheless.

  The wall behind all of these contraptions was smooth, like in the ship, and there was a large rectangular opening there that she could see led out into a hallway. She imagined that it functioned much like the paneling of her captor’s ship, and noted the hand-sized panel to the side of it, indicating that she was right.

  Kira saw hide nor tail of her captor, however, and wondered where he must be – and if she should get up and look for him or remain in place. She had no idea why she had passed out during his argument with the other – nor had she any explanation for the strange way that his scent affected her so. It had been all that raging testosterone-fueled arguing that had made her all lightheaded. But that was so strange…

  She shook her head. It had to be some weird alien thing. They were obviously the more… instinctual sort of creatures. She was also quite sure that she knew the reason that the two of them had been arguing over her in the first place.

  A sound from the hall has her looking up, and she was surprised to see her captor – at least surprised to see that he was carrying a tray with something warm and steaming for her. Food? Kira eyed him with a wary caution that he seemed to pick up. He frowned at the untrusting furrow at her brow.

  “You are awake.”

  “I am.” He stared at her a moment before setting the tray down beside her. She didn’t look at it, rather kept her eyes cast up at the man. He wore nothing on his chest anymore, and it would be a lie to say that she did not stare at him.

  “Eat,” he said after a moment. His tone spoke little for wiggle room by way of refusing. Reluctantly, she looked down to her tray. There was a single bowl with a reddish-brown liquid and a plate with a slab of strange, stripped meat. It didn’t smell unpleasant, but it didn’t look like anything that she had ever seen before, either. She glanced back up at him, and saw him watching her intently. Given he had not given her utensils to eat with – something that struck her as odd, he had an interstellar ship but no forks? – she took the bowl first, tilting it to her lips.

  She was pleasantly surprised to find that the broth wasn’t bad. Nice and warm, it had a strange spice that tingled against her tongue. It was a reminder that she had been feeling particularly starved since the trip. She hadn’t eaten anything since the morning she was beamed away from Earth, and who knew how long ago that had been by now? She drank the soup down hungrily, ignoring for the moment that she was being watched. Even as a few of the juices dribbled down her chin, she didn’t stop drinking down the liquid until it was gone.

  “That was… good…” she said. Her tone mimicked her surprise; she was almost disappointed that there was no more for her to have. She licked her lips, tongue darting out to catch a dribble on her mouth.

  And then the alien leaned forward, licking at her lips as well.

  That strange electric warmth bloomed upon her skin when they touched. Her surprise caused her to freeze, caught off guard at his gesture. The lick was proceeded by a kiss, quickly pressed to her lips as the alien took her face in her hands. It wasn’t the action that was so odd to her – it was the fact that she did not stop him once he started.

  He tasted savory, when he slipped his tongue between her lips. It made her want to taste him more, and she pressed herself close against him without thinking, without caring. That muscle-relaxing, obedience-inducing scent was all around her once more, beckoning her, encompassing her. She let out a sigh that turned to a sweet moan as their kiss deepened, and she could not control the heat that rushed hot through her body, like an intense wave that threatened to burn her through her very core –

  Kira pulled away suddenly. What was she doing?! She had resolved to survive, but that didn’t mean playing into the ‘purpose’ that she had been given, no matter her curiosities on the matter. And yet here she was… allowing him to kiss her as if it were something that she actually wanted.

  But… it had felt like she’d wanted it.

  She made a point of scooting away from the alien man before he could react. His expression was a mixture of confusion and agitation, brows furrowed as if he were trying to process that she had stopped him. She prepared herself for anger, for a backlash.

  Instead, the agitation s
lid from his face, and he stood. He took the tray off the bed, and left her alone once more.

  ~*~

  Kira was running

  She had taken the chance when she had gotten it. The man had left her alone – perhaps to go off to brood, maybe to think of how to punish her, something. Her mind ran wild with the possibilities, and as her mind ran, it came to the conclusion that that’s what she should do, as well. She had taken one of the blasters hanging on the creature’s wall, not knowing exactly how it worked, nor how powerful it would be. It hadn’t mattered when she’d aimed it at him, nor when she’d pulled the trigger as he turned around from putting away her unfinished dinner. Whether she’d killed him or stunned him, she didn’t know. She saw him go down after a blast of green, catching the surprised, if not angry look on his face as he went down twitching.

  All she knew, was that she was running. She could not stay there with him. Her curiosity be dammed, it frightened her, the way that he made her feel after so little time.

  She could hear footsteps behind her. She knew that it was a few of the alien men of the village. They had spotted her when she had thrown herself out of the home of the one who had captured her. One had tried to grab her, speaking to her in the language that she did not know. With sheer will she had wretched herself from the man, ending up with his nails leaving scratches in her forearm. She’s cut away from him, running in the direction that the alien had brought her in, away from the strange village with its barbarous men, and into the thick forest that lay beyond.

  They chased her, and were never far behind her. She could hear their shouts and the crunch of the ground beneath their heavy-beating feet. She was a fast runner, had done track all through high school and college, but even this was a challenge. They were large, but they were fast – and they were right on her tail.

  She made the mistake of looking back behind her as she ran. She wanted to see if perhaps she was making them lose ground behind her. It was a brief glimmer of triumph that she felt, seeing the distance between herself and her pursuers was getting wider and wider –