Alien Prince's Mermaid

by Zara Zenia

  “Good night,” I said to Davon, giving him a smile before venturing back through the living room. My dogs would need to go out to use the bathroom before I set off to bed for the night. Luckily for me, I wouldn’t have to emerge from beneath the awning in my backyard because I had a fence. Besides, my dogs would never leave unattended. They were trained and smart. Hopefully, they would just go do their business and race back to me before getting soaking wet.

  “Have a peaceful sleep.” Davon gave me a grin as he closed the bedroom door to the guest room.

  At least I wouldn’t have to wake up in the morning in anxious seclusion. Being alone with my thoughts was the most dangerous situation I could place myself in. Davon could be my temporary crutch, giving me pep talks to get me through this trying and difficult time. For now, it was time to get some rest so that I could wake up somewhat rejuvenated to press through with a new batch of energy to do it all over again in the morning.

  I woke up before any crack of daylight began to emerge from the sky and trickle through my bedroom window. I couldn’t sleep. I had tossed and turned all night under the milky glow of the moon. It had finally stopped raining at about two in the morning. I had achieved nothing more than a fitful sleep, but at five thirty, I finally gave up and wandered into my kitchen, fumbling through the darkness to turn on the light.

  I absentmindedly started going through the rhythmic daily routine, briefly forgetting the fact that Davon was still at my house, hopefully sleeping more peacefully than I had been able to.

  I silently began setting a pot of coffee to brew, then leaned my back against the side of my kitchen counter while my dogs silently wandered around me in a circle. Their little paws made shuffling, scratching noises against the tile floor. It was time for me to trim the nails back on their paws.

  “Are you hungry?” I whispered as I nuzzled my neck against their fur, scratching their backs while their tails wagged in blissful harmony.

  I set about my kitchen, shuffling through items to prepare my mug of coffee. I poured some dry dog food into their bowls and inhaled a deep breath of the Italian roast blend, the type of coffee beans I preferred over any other kind.

  I poured the delicious dark liquid into my favorite mug from veterinary school and took a glorious and refreshing sip. Now my senses could awaken with the crest of a new day.

  After a few minutes of checking my voice mails and work emails at my desk adjacent to the kitchen, I heard life stirring down the hallway. Davon emerged, still wearing the same clothes he had on the night before, but his shoes were off.

  “Good morning.” I smiled.

  “Morning.” He scratched the back of his head, looking even more awkward and sheepish than usual.

  “Would you like some coffee? Breakfast?” I offered.

  “Coffee sounds wonderful.”

  “I have a fresh pot still in the kitchen,” I told him. “It should still be hot too.”

  “Wonderful.” Davon trekked his way there and I followed behind him.

  He glanced over his shoulder. “Are you feeling any better about Darbnix and Ms. Teller today?” He asked, his voice in a tone that mirrored his simple curiosity and wish to strike up a casual conversation.

  “Not really.” I groaned.

  Davon smiled as he drew the cup of coffee up to his lips. He took a sip and I watched him swallow.

  “Might I tell you a story that could perhaps make you feel better about this whole situation?” he suggested.

  “Please.” I gestured with my hands out in front of me. “Be my guest. That would be great, actually.”

  “It’s a story about me and my wife,” he declared. I watched his features change to peace and harmony.

  “You are married?” I didn’t mean for my voice to sound so surprised at the realization.

  “I’ve been married for a number of years,” he stated dreamily.

  “Congratulations,” I told him, mainly because I wasn’t sure what else to say.

  “She is also from Earth,” he admitted. “Her name is Isabella and she is my whole world. She is exotic and beautiful. She has long, flowing black hair.”

  “Oh, wow,” I said, fully intrigued and prepared to immerse myself in his story. “She sounds amazing.”

  A glazed look of passion filled Davon’s eyes and he beamed with a look on his face that declared pure, unconditional love.

  “My parents did not approve of her,” he stated in a bitter tone. “They didn’t want me to be with her.”

  “Why not?” I frowned and leaned closer to him, waiting expectantly.

  Davon met my gaze and inhaled a deep breath. “She is not from Trilynia. It makes her impure in the eyes of my parents.”

  I chuckled and shifted my weight. “I think that’s a moot point now.”

  The edges of Davon’s mouth curled with amusement. “I suppose you are right about that. But this was back then, more than ten years ago.”

  “You’ve been married ten years?” I shrieked, surprised by the revelation.

  Davon smiled nostalgically. “Twelve, actually.”

  “Twelve years,” I stated dreamily, suddenly jealous of Davon, wondering if I had already lost my window for marrying my soulmate. In this case, the one person I believed to be my true match as far as connection and chemistry went was Darbnix.

  “They weren’t always blissful,” he clarified. “We have endured our fare share of trials.” A shadow cast across Davon’s features as quickly as the happiness had appeared.

  “Your parents didn’t approve?” I coaxed him.

  “Right.” He cleared his throat and stood up a little straighter, crossing his arms over his chest. “They told me that if I married her, they would not support me or the wedding.”

  “That’s terrible.” I frowned and placed my hand on his arm with sympathy.

  “I have not spoken to my parents in twelve years . . .” he trailed off with pain lacing his voice.

  I gasped in reaction. “Oh, my God. Are you serious?”

  There was struggle and grief reflecting like a mirror in Davon’s eyes as he finally made contact with mine.

  “They disowned me for marrying her. They said that I would be diluting their bloodline.” He stared at his shoes with contempt at the horrible memory of the situation that clearly gnawed at him.

  “I’m so sorry you are having to go through that,” I said in a sympathetic tone. “It just seems like such an unfair compromise. Especially because the Trilyn race is losing hope of reproducing and breeding among themselves.” It was the exact reason Darbnix and his brothers had to walk around carrying a genetic device, just waiting for the scanner to light up and pronounce their biological match.

  Davon game me a sardonic smirk. “Ironic, isn’t it?”

  I nodded, glancing down. “I suppose it is.” I was no closer to finding any answers than he was.

  “I just wanted to give you an example of the great lengths a man in love will go for the woman he passionately loves.”

  I gave him a heartfelt smile. “Thank you. It is consoling and reassuring on a certain level to know that there is still hope out there. Your story had a romantic ending, but it sounds bittersweet.”

  Davon smiled and glanced out the window. “Bittersweet, indeed.”

  Davon was right. Darbnix was just desperately clinging on to the one hope left to pursue. If he didn’t try to spy on Tia Teller in order to either get her to talk or infiltrate his way into discovering her flawed plan, then we would never get our answers. He would be forced to marry her with no questions asked. There was no indirect way of achieving the information without his getting close to her. There was no choice left in the matter for either of us. It was just something we would have to endure.

  “Is your wife here on Earth with you?” I asked, making small talk to keep the conversation going. I was afraid that if there were silence between us, I might go crazy from the frail mental state I was already in.

  Davon opened his mouth to respond when I he
ard a jolting boom bellow through my front door. I jumped and shrieked at the loud noise as it shook through my house like a cymbal crashing.

  I glanced at Davon, gauging his reaction. He seemed just as shocked and rattled as I was. “What was that?” I panted, gripping the side of my countertop.

  Davon stuttered, stumbling over his words. “I don’t know—”

  He made a brave stride toward the front of the house, stopping short just before the crashing noise came once again. There was genuine fear splashed across his face, making me realize that if this was an ambush or an attack, I could trust that he was probably not behind it in any way.

  In the next instant, Trilyn military guards wearing Darbnix’s house crest and wielding machine guns marched into my house, barreling through my front door as if it was a piece of plastic hindering their way.

  The door broke completely off the hinges and fell with a loud thud onto my front porch. I screamed and braced myself. I had no idea what they were doing in my house or why their angry faces displayed defiance and greedy power-hungry flashes of hostility.

  “What is the meaning of this?” Davon didn’t have a chance in his already awkward and lanky state.

  The men were too burly and strong. They pushed right past him as if he was a twig to snap under their boots.

  The frontrunner snarled at me with a devious sneer that curled his lips in a wicked way, making my skin crawl. I stifled a rising scream that bubbled in my throat, swallowing it down.

  “Who are you and what do you want?” I stated, holding my ground. This was my house, my dwelling ground. I would not be forcefully attacked in my own refuge.

  “Captain Henders of the 97th Wing Police Unit of the Continent and District of Noor,” the man stated with venom dripping in his tone.

  “What are you doing in my house?” I pressed again with more urgency. I glanced at Davon who was as pale as a crisp white sheet drying under the blazing sun.

  I balled my fists, prepared to fight off these men by myself if that’s what it took to regain control of the situation and protect myself.

  “We are sent here under direct orders of Prince Darbnix of the district and continent of Noor,” the captain, apparently named Henders, chanted almost robotically.

  “Is he coming for me?” I squealed, briefly cheered by the slim chance that he might have changed his mind about appeasing the sexy yet fake Tia Teller.

  Captain Henders’s jaw tightened and his eyes flashed with something furious, but he didn’t flinch or skip a beat.

  “We are here under the direct orders of Prince Darbnix to arrest you for the disruption of justice and tampering with private property, along with manipulation on behalf of a Trilyn prince.”

  “What?” I choked. The entire reasoning sounded false and preposterous. Was that even something real that held any ground or merit to arrest someone? Nothing this man was spewing my way made any sense.

  I glanced over at Davon, pleading with my eyes as I searched his face for some recognition, some kind of defense here. I needed him to come to my aid, if only for a few seconds.

  The men grabbed me by my arms, abruptly yanking me. My skin began to blaze and sting under the aggressive lock and grip of their gloved hands over my arms.

  “Stop it!” I shouted in desperation, flailing my body as I attempted to wiggle free. “Let me go!”

  “You have no right!” Davon finally shouted, coming to my rescue, or at least pursuing a favorable outcome to this chaotic mess we were in.

  “Tell it to the prince,” one of the guards snarled as he spat in Davon’s direction. “Come on, woman,” he said and tugged me in the direction of the broken front door.

  “Get off me!” I continued to shout. “You cannot do this to me! It is not allowed!”

  It was no use. There were too many of them and only one of me. “Let me go!” I wailed in vain.

  “There is no way these are Darbnix’s orders,” Davon called out cynically behind me. “Dr. Rand has Earth citizen rights which you are blatantly violating!”

  His protests became fainter and fainter as the guards pushed me through the grass. At one point, I fell to the ground, crumbling in a heap. I skinned my knee as I fell against the pavement, reeling in the searing initial pain.

  “Get up, woman.” One of the guards kicked me in the back, causing me to roar with pain.

  “Earth citizen rights!” I heard Davon’s panic-stricken voice still lashing out behind me, but there was nothing he could do. There was nothing anyone could do. I was going with these men against my will, whether I liked it or not.

  Chapter 17

  Darbnix

  The sound of Tia’s snickering, vicious laughter bellowed through the walls in my palace, sending the alarm bells in my mind flaring wildly out of control. There was something about the condescending sneering laughter that choked from her lips that made me realize something terrible must have happened, something horrifying that only a devious person like Tia would relish or appreciate.

  The rest of normal society would curl its toes if it knew the kind of unimaginable deviant she really was behind closed doors. Tia Teller was nothing more than a phony fraud beneath the pounds of caked-on makeup and the shimmering golden locks of hair floating with elegant grace down her back.

  The more time I was forced to spend with Tia, the more I began to realize how sinister she was underneath the drapes of her protective shield of emotions. She was a snake in the grass, just waiting to pounce on her enemies or anyone stupid or vulnerable enough to fall into her trap.

  Her false, small-town girl vibes were locked tight away behind closed doors, and I was a fair witness to the trials she would ultimately bring to me if I ended up actually following through and marrying her. It couldn’t happen. She would destroy the empire I had worked so hard to build on Noor without even batting an eye.

  I had to make sure that a marriage between me and Tia Teller never saw the light of day.

  I followed the sound of her shrill laughter as it carried through the hallways, crashing through my eardrums like a cymbal or a gong ringing out impending doom.

  “I promise, this is going to be the most hysterical and wonderful thing that has ever happened,” I heard her croon in her Southern drawl as soon as I got close enough to eavesdrop on her conversation.

  It appeared as if she was on the phone with someone. Her cellphone was pressed up to her ear and her blonde hair fell in waves down her back. She wasn’t facing me. For the time being, she was blissfully unaware that I loomed close behind her, inspecting her like a hawk.

  “Can you believe Darbnix’s foolish guards actually believed me when I convinced them that he was behind the snatching?” Her snickering voice made my skin crawl.

  I cracked my knuckles, urging myself to resist the temptation to pounce on her and force her to divulge what she was talking about. Instead, I kept my cool. I inhaled a deep breath and waited it out, just trying to listen for whatever other information she would sickeningly deliver.

  “I imagine the poor girl is just trembling with fright.” Tia laughed wickedly, swirling her French manicured fingernails through the air.

  That was the last straw for me. I couldn’t stand idly by and allow her to destroy my life any longer, and now it sounded as if she had involved Rose in some way. I would never stop trying to protect Rose. I would go to any length to ensure her safety. I would never allow this scheming bitch to get in the way of my true happiness.

  “What have you done?” My voice thundered like a lightning bolt pelting through an angry purple sky.

  I burst through the room like a thief in the night on a mission. “What have you done?” I roared again.

  Tia’s blue eyes widened with dread and horror. She looked like a deer in headlights, caught in the act of doing something sneaky and wretched. She jumped a few inches in the air and squealed in shock, dropping the phone in a blind haze.

  “What?” she stammered. She fumbled to a crouching position, immediately snatc
hing her phone back and pressing the receiver back to her ear. “I’ll have to call you back . . .” she trailed off to the mystery person on the other end.

  She punched the End Call button with her thumb and slammed the phone onto her bed. When she turned around to address me again, her eyes were like jagged daggers, slicing a hole through my spirit.

  “How dare you interrupt my private conversation,” she snarled maliciously. She bravely took a step in my direction, leering at me as if I was the one who was somehow at fault and in the wrong.

  I scoffed bitterly. “It looks to me, Tia,” I stated sardonically, “that you are the one who has some explaining to do.”

  Tia huffed and puffed, turning red-faced as she stammered for a way to weasel her way out of this one.

  “What did you do?” I asked more aggressively.

  Tia squared her shoulders defiantly. “I didn’t do anything,” she hissed. “Maybe you should check your facts before you assume something that you know nothing about. I believe it’s time for you to get your facts straight.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest and refused to speak another word about it, or who she was talking about. I had a right mind to detain her, to get her to crack, but she was right. I didn’t have enough evidence gathered against her to do anything about it. Judging by the twisted arrogant smug curled across Tia’s lips, she knew it too.

  Then, as if she were shifting gears completely and putting on a different face and demeanor altogether, Tia smiled. Her smile was seductive and blazing with superiority.

  “I was just talking to my sister,” Tia purred, seductively taking a few steps toward me while I did my best to subtly draw back to widen the gap between us. “I don’t know what you think you might have heard, but we were just talking about the wedding.”

  I didn’t know how she had recovered so quickly. I had to hand it to the woman. She was under the impression that she was fooling me when she wasn’t, but I needed to play along. It took two to tango, and in this case, I would just pretend to follow her lead.