“There,” he said softly, “you now have your voice.”
“Water,” she croaked.
Never had her mouth felt so dry, and her throat was tickling.
“This is what you need,” he said, slipping a clear lozenge in her mouth.
The thick tablet had no flavor, like a piece of ice that wasn’t cold, and she sucked on it fervently. It melted against her tongue, and in just seconds, the tickling disappeared, and her thirst was quenched.
“What was that?”
“It was… what you needed,” he frowned. “It takes care of the need for water and alleviates an uncomfortable throat.”
“Does it have a name?”
“Ah, a label, yes, it is hydorite.”
“I’ve never heard of it… wait… why the hell am I asking you about some stupid tablet?”
“Emotion,” he said, frowning down at her. “You must keep your promise.”
“What do you expect?” she snapped, then immediately regretted her outburst. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she said hastily, “but you can’t blame me. You said I’m safe, but how the hell can I feel safe if I can’t move,” she exclaimed, “and where am I? Who are you? What do you want with me?”
“First,” he said patiently, “you absolutely must settle down.”
“But this is making me crazy. I know if you were going to hurt me you probably would have by now, but I can’t damn well move, and it’s not helping!”
“Do you wish me to take away your power of speech?” he asked, his voice suddenly stern. “I will if you do not behave.”
“Shit! This is so not fair.”
“You are so delightfully human,” he remarked, his frown abruptly changing into a look of amusement.
“I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean,” she glowered, “but I will not settle down until I—”
His hands touched her throat, but it was her alarm that stopped her mid-sentence.
“Okay! No! Stop!” she shouted. “I’ll behave! I’ll be calm! I will! I swear!”
“That was not calm,” he said pointedly. “I could turn you over and administer a vigorous punishment spanking,” he warned. “I believe that will be just as effective, and I rather enjoy listening to you yelp.”
“I’m sorry. I’m trying, I am,” she said quickly, “but who are you? Why am I here? What do you want with me?”
“Much better,” he nodded, as if talking to a naughty girl who had just seen the error of her ways. “I will tell you my name, and a little bit more, and if you behave, I will let your arms move.”
“Just my arms?”
“For the moment, and if you’re a good girl, you’ll receive more favors. Favors? Wrong word. You will be rewarded. I know you can be violent.”
“Violent?”
“Yes, you wave your arms about and kick and yell, and sometimes you punch and slap.”
“You slap my backside,” she quipped.
“That is not angry violence, as well you know.”
“I promise not to do any of those things.”
Staring into his incredibly bright eyes, she realized the smart thing to do was to play along until she could figure out where she was, and what he wanted.
“This is very simple,” he said firmly. “I make the rules, you follow them. If you don’t, you are punished, just as it was in the dreamscape. I am affording you great leniency at the moment, but as time goes by, that will change.”
“What time, how long do you intend to keep me? Please, I need answers. I’m trying really hard not to totally freak out. You put your hands on my throat and suddenly I can talk. I mean… what the hell?”
“I do understand your fear and confusion,” he replied, his voice softening. “My name is Valodar.”
“Valodar? So, you must be foreign, but your English is almost perfect. Are you Scandinavian? Your complexion is so pale.”
“No, I am not Scandinavian,” he said with a grin. “I am from a place you may have heard of, though you certainly won’t believe me.”
“I already don’t believe any of this,” she frowned. “Why should the name of your country be any different?”
“I am not from one of your nations,” he said. “I am from a place called Xanadu.”
“Xanadu? What is this, some kind of joke? Xanadu was a frickin’ song by Olivia Newton-John… wait… I vaguely remember it also being name of some place in Mongolia centuries ago. Xanadu? You seriously expect me to believe that?”
“It was mentioned to that tribe by our ancient travelers, and the tribe then used it to name their great city. I heard that the city was indeed beautiful, but sadly, it fell. More recently another visitor from my world spoke of it to one of your great poets in a dreamscape.”
“Dreamscape?”
“The dreamscape is where you surrendered to me, where you were able to be who you really are.”
“I don’t understand any of this,” she muttered. “Is this all about drugs? Is Xanadu the name of a drug, and dreamscape what you call the trip?”
“No, no,” he replied, shaking his head, “and now I am distressing you.”
“Without meaning to upset you,” she said tersely, “and forgive me for repeating myself, but what the hell do you expect? You’re talking in riddles, and nothing you’re saying makes any kind of sense. Why don’t you just let me go and we’ll forget this ever happened. I won’t tell anyone you broke into my house, repeatedly, in the middle of the night, and why would I? How embarrassing would that be? Hey, Mr. Police Officer, I had unbelievably erotic, kinky sex with this—”
“Perhaps I should be more direct,” he muttered, cutting off her diatribe. “Clearly this method isn’t working very well.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to carry on,” she apologized, hoping she hadn’t completely blown it. “Perhaps you should, and you should also give me back my body. I promise, I will not chuck a berserk.”
“Chuck a berserk?” he said, shaking his head. “What is chucking a berserk?”
“Going crazy,” she said impatiently. “I will not go crazy.”
“If you go crazy, now or later, I will spank you,” he solemnly warned. “You have felt the discipline of my hand. You know I will punish you. We have had this conversation many times.”
“You mean, when I thought I was dreaming?” she murmured, still finding it hard to believe.
“In the dreamscape,” he corrected her. “Don’t you recall having a sore bottom for several days?”
“Of course,” she said softly, unexpectedly feeling a twinge of submission. “How could I forget? I couldn’t figure out how it could happen. I assumed it was the power of my mind.”
“We digress, though it will validate what I’m going to tell you.”
“Then will you give me something so I can move again?”
“Perhaps. If you don’t… what was it you said? Chuck a berserk?”
“Fine, just frickin’ tell me,” she snapped. “Sorry, sorry, but this is getting ridiculous. I’m beginning to think this is nothing but another one of my lucid dreams, and any minute now I’m going to wake up.”
“Listen to me carefully,” he said sternly, leaning over her and bringing his face close to hers. “I am not from Earth. I am from a planet called Xanadu. It is a magnificent place, and though, like Earth, we have many tribes, we live in peace. Throughout the galaxy, worlds live in peace, and Earth is one of the few whose inhabitants pillage their neighbors, where beings are filled with a lust for power, and have yet to learn the higher lessons.” Studying her eyes, he saw his truth had registered, but a fresh panic was stirring. “Yes, Ellie, though it is a shocking revelation, it is a true one.”
Her heart had begun to race again, and a chill was rippling through her. She almost believed him. It was insane, but she almost did.
“Let’s just say that’s true,” she said breathlessly, determined to control her rising terror. “Why am I here? Why did I dream about you?”
“You did not dream about me.
We spent many hours together in the dreamscape. You were semi-conscious, and everything we shared was real. Had you fought me, it wouldn’t have happened. You surrendered because you wished to, because how you were with me, it was… it is… in your nature.”
“In my nature to…?”
“To surrender. To feel protected and safe… and to be taken.”
“Taken,” she repeated thoughtfully, her fright beginning to wane.
“Dominated,” he said softly, “and do not deny it. There is a false pride humans carry, not just women, but all humans. It is not attractive.”
“What you’re saying is… good grief, what you’re saying is unthinkable. You’re an alien? From a planet called Xanadu? That’s just… well, it’s hard to wrap my brain around, I mean, it’s unimaginable.”
“But that doesn’t make it not so, and in spite of your protest, I see you are beginning to accept that what I’m saying is true.”
“If, for argument’s sake, I am,” she said slowly, thinking a show of resignation, sincere or not, would get her answers, and possibly even control of her limbs, “why am I here? You still haven’t told me what you want with me.”
“This is the most important question of all,” he said warmly, moving his long fingers across her forehead. “It is time for me to be paired.”
“Paired? Do you mean, have a wife?”
“In Earth terms, yes. I am a monitor, which I will explain later, but it is an important position, and I have several females who wish to be with me, but it is you, Ellie, to whom I am drawn. You don’t know me yet, but I can offer you an exquisite life, and if you’ll allow me to, I can show you a glimpse of that life over the next few Earth days.”
“You’re serious, you really are serious,” she breathed. “Holy crap. Is this for real? Holy crap.”
“Ah, now you are in a better state,” he said softly, “so I am going to return motion to your limbs, including your legs. Wait until the sensations leave before moving.”
“Thank you,” she murmured, gazing up at him.
She sort of believed him, though it was incredibly difficult to wrap her brain around it, and why, if it was true, did he look so human, though his eyes were different. They were bright, and a strange shade of aqua.
He straightened up, and as he began to travel his tingling fingertips across her shoulders, she suddenly noticed he had six fingers, and his hands were large, out of proportion to the rest of his body.
“Lift your arms,” he said smoothly, stepping back.
“They feel perfectly normal,” she declared, controlling her bewildered state as she raised them in the air.
“Good,” he nodded, then moving back to her, he repeated the treatment across her torso and down her legs.
“Thank you,” she said with a sigh, bending her knees, then turning her head, she moved her eyes around the room; it was dark, making it impossible to see anything around her. “What if I said I want to leave?”
“If you wish to return to your habitat you can, and this will not even be a memory. Any recall you might have will seem like a dream from long ago, and the details will be hazy, but if you wish to know more, and to stay with me for an Earth week, that would make me very happy.”
“And then?”
“Then you will face a choice; stay with me for at least another Earth year, or return.”
“Let me get this straight. I can leave now, and that’s it, or stay for a week, and you’ll show me what life with you would be like, but then I can still go home?”
“That is correct,” he nodded, “and that week we will share many things. The pleasures you had in dreamscape will be far more enjoyable because you will be wide awake, as you are now.”
“Far more enjoyable,” she murmured, feeling a sudden flurry of desire. “I can’t imagine it, but… honestly… I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t still freaked out. If you really are from—I can’t even say the word,” she muttered, shaking her head.
“Try.”
“Okay, if you really are—good grief—from another planet, why do you look so normal?”
“Ah, you mean, human,” he smiled. “I am as you wish me to be. This,” he said, stepping back and opening his arms, “is pleasing to you, though my true appearance is not dissimilar.”
“Yeah, it’s definitely pleasing,” she nodded, gazing at his beautiful face and perfectly toned body, “except for those six fingers, though what they can do…”
“You wouldn’t want me to change that,” he chuckled. “My other state of being, it is more mature, and my body is far more developed. I can make myself look younger to you, and it is what you wanted, so I did.”
“Wow. You have a fountain of youth? Now that’s almost as amazing as everything else you’ve just told me.”
“It is temporary, but your comfort is the most important thing. Who I am inside myself, what you would call my character and my nature, is what you were attracted to, and I can sense you still are.”
“But in the dreamscape, that was all about sex.”
“No, Ellie, the intimacy that made the sex so powerful and exciting, that came from our connection, our chemistry. That is very real. You would not be here were it not so.”
“I admit,” she said softly, “as I look at you, I can feel the same pull to you that I felt in my dreams.”
“Dreamscape,” he said, correcting her again. “You weren’t dreaming. Dreams are not real, and I am so pleased you said that, and I’m also very pleased you’re not embarrassed.”
“Embarrassed?”
“You’re completely naked. Earth females have been taught to hide their bodies.”
“Valodar, you know every part of my body!” she exclaimed. “Why would I be embarrassed?”
“You are eminently adaptable,” he nodded. “Excellent.”
She paused, staring at him, her smile fading.
“Maybe, but I’m not a lab rat,” she quipped, “and whatever this is,” she said, waving her arms around, “you won’t get very far with me if you treat me as one.”
“It was a compliment,” he said quickly. “It was praise.”
“It still made me feel like a lab rat. Is that what I am?” she demanded, suddenly feeling defensive and angry and having no idea why. “Have you brought me here to study me?”
“I just told you why I brought you here,” he frowned. “Was I not clear? I am very—”
“I know what you told me,” she said, cutting him off. “A scientist can be sweet to a lab rat, but it’s still a lab rat.”
“Would I do this to a lab rat?” he growled, a deep frown crossing his brow as he gripped her around the waist, effortlessly lifted her off the table, and plonked her onto her feet.
“What are you—”
His lips were suddenly crushing hers, his oversized, six-fingered hands were tingling their way across her naked body, his long fingers slipping into her pussy from behind. She let out a muffled moan as a finger plunged inside her, and a current of sensation sent her headlong into a series of orgasmic spasms. As he broke their kiss, she cried out her shocked pleasure, then fell limp against him, the scintillating spasms ending as abruptly as they had begun. With a heavy sigh she opened her eyes and gazed up at him.
“I care for you deeply, Ellie,” he purred, gazing down at her. “You’re no lab rat!”
“Honestly, at this moment,” she panted, “I wouldn’t care if I was.”
Chapter Three
Gently releasing her, Valodar touched one of the bright gemstones on his multi-layered silver necklace. The purple glow from the light began illuminating the room, bringing into view a table against the wall; Ellie spied her pale pink T-shirt. It served as her nightgown, and it reminded her that he had somehow transported her to wherever she was, directly from her bed. It was all so much to take in.
“I must now return you to your habitat,” he said softly. “Please dress.”
“But I’d like to stay and, uh, see more,” she said, surprised by his decree
. “I thought that’s what you wanted.”
“It is, but if you are to be away for several of your Earth days, you need to make certain arrangements, do you not? Surely there will be alarm if you suddenly disappear.”
“This is so weird,” she muttered. “What am I supposed to do? Tell my boss I have an alien in my life and I need some time off?”
“Progress,” he grinned. “You now believe I am what I say.”
“Not necessarily,” she said, shooting him a glance. “I don’t know what’s happening, but I do believe you won’t hurt me, at least, as much as I’m able to, given these bizarre circumstances.”
“You will shortly believe everything,” he said solemnly. “When I take you back, I can allow you to stay awake for the journey.”
She stared at him, then suddenly burst out laughing.
“Oh, my gosh, I really am losing my mind. This is completely absurd.”
“A natural response,” he said, watching her carefully. Sometimes when humans began laughing, it could turn into an unfortunate state of uncontrolled hysteria. “Take a breath, and return to your acceptance place.”
“My acceptance place?” she repeated, staring into his glistening eyes. What color were they? She’d thought them aqua, but now they seemed almost blue. “Accepting that this is actually happening to me, is not the easiest thing I’ve ever done.”
“I am fully aware that this is difficult to, as you say, wrap your brain around, but we really must go before the dark time gives way to the light of the sun. Please put on your clothing.”
“I can see how that might prove problematic,” she grinned. “Zipping over the M1 in a spaceship might cause some unwanted interest.”
“Your humor is…”
“Is what?” she asked, walking across to pull on her T-shirt. The floor was spongy, but firm, and felt extremely kind to her bare feet. “You’re not smiling, so I guess that joke doesn’t work for you.”
“Work for me?” he frowned. “Ah, yes, now I comprehend. You have many meanings for the same words or phrases. It can be confusing. It does amuse me, very much in fact. Your wit is one of the many qualities I find so appealing.”
The Alien's Rules Page 2