by Hana Starr
“Zipporah,” her mother whispered, looking into the eyes of her daughter. Zipporah was stricken with emotion, much more than she had harnessed before. She stared at the thing holding her mother in such a threatening way. Her mind raced, wondering how she could possibly kill him before he killed her mother.
“You can’t,” Arden said behind her. Zipporah ignored him, keeping her eyes locked on her mother. There was nothing she wanted more in the world to end this nightmare, and knowing at least one member of her family was still alive brought that passion to the surface like never before.
Please, Zipporah begged them all, Please kill him. I can’t.
He will kill her before we can kill him, Zipporah. Beth reasoned, hoping that Zipporah would understand that there was no way she could get what she wanted here.
“What do you want?” She asked the Rath directly. “I will give you whatever you want.”
“No,” Her mother cried. “You can’t.”
“I want you to take her place,” The Rath finally spoke, his words slithering around Zipporah’s ears like snakes. She stared at her hands for a moment, knowing that if she took her mother’s place the Earth would be doomed.
Zipporah if you do this, the Earth will perish! Beth screamed into her mind, urging her with every ounce of energy in her body to reconsider. But Zipporah was forming a plan.
****
Zipporah was wrapped in the arms of a Rath, who was less than a gentleman to her. His hands explored her body while his knife was pressed threateningly on her throat. It wasn’t the best situation, but the others knew what to do. They had taken Zipporah’s mother into their ring of safety while they all watched Zipporah in slight horror.
“Before I kill you, you’re going to tell me how you got this little piece of Ethra inside of you weak, flimsy human body. Have you been fucking them? Or was it before all that?”
Zipporah knew that she had a piece of Ethra inside of her well before her first encounter with Arden, but she never knew that he could have transferred a part of himself to her. The Rath’s face broke out in a chilling smile as he slowly scraped his blade across the base of her neck.
****
“I feel so human, dragging this out. Raths like to get things over with. But humans… They drag and drag. They drag out procreation, they drag out death. They drag out love and family. You’re weak. But I do have to admit, this is fun.”
The Rath reminded Zipporah intensely of Iilor, and it chilled her to the bone. His hands continued to wander over her body, savagely groping her breasts. Arden’s eyes flashed with anger, but Zipporah warned him to stay put. Her mother watched her too, trembling with fear. Zipporah hated to put her through this after everything else she had been through, but there was no other way.
“Let me turn to face you?” She asked the Rath softly, putting her hand on his arm. He stiffened for a moment, and then his rigid body went soft. She could sense a sinister smile spreading over his lips.
“You want to look into my eyes as the life leaves your body. What a wonderful idea.” He jerked her body around, momentarily dropping the arm that held the knife to ensure that she faced him without dying first. In the brief second that he was unarmed, Arden’s Ethran form leapt forward and slipped behind the Rath, perfectly poised to kill. Zipporah’s knife lay on the ground beside her, and Arden slowly slid it towards himself when he regained human form.
“What’s your name?” Zipporah whispered, looking into his cold eyes with as much softness as she could muster. He chortled and pressed the knife tightly against her throat, bringing a little blood to the surface as it sliced.
“I know how you played Iilor, little girl. But I am smarter than him. I will not listen to your pretty little words. This world is ours now, and no matter how many of us still live, it will be ours until we rot away.”
Keeping her mouth quiet, Zipporah’s mind raced with comments to his idiocy. Arden met her eyes behind the Rath’s back and flashed her a smile. He took the knife and told her to close her eyes. For a moment, everything went silent. And then there was a blood curdling scream that pierced her ears to the point of near deafness. She felt his hands falling away from her body, and then a sickening thud on the ground beside her feet.
“You can open your eyes,” Arden whispered, dropping his knife and pulling her into his arms. It was almost over. The remaining Rath were too injured to fight and Zipporah was now able to spread her light over the world.
Her mother ran to her, shouting her name with reckless abandon. Arms flailing, she threw herself into her daughter’s embrace and cried into the hair she thought she would never braid again. Whispering over and over ‘my baby girl’ in their home tongue. Arden took a step back and watched as the touching scene unfolded. He had never seen so much love, and it inspired him.
“Are the others alright, mama?” Zipporah pulled back and looked her mother in the eyes. She nodded fervently, smiling and crying at the same time.
Zipporah’s family was alive, and that was all she needed. She gently nudged her mother to the side and took up Arden’s hand again, meeting the other Ethrans with kindness and love. They were surprised by her change in emotions, but accepted her hands and again allowed their energy to flow through her. Zipporah now knew she had to focus it all on eating the darkness away from the world. That’s what Ethrans had always done, and they weren’t about to start now. She felt the light surrounding her, taking a passionate grip on her soul. Her own body began to exert a radiant glow that infected the world.
In a burst of love for her people and planet, Zipporah released the energy that they had harnessed and allowed it to pierce the sky. There was a loud shattering noise as the dome of darkness over the Earth shattered, falling down all around them.
“The sun!” Zipporah’s mother cried, breaking the reverent silence shared by the friends and comrades. She opened her eyes to see all of her friends, but what she saw took the breath out of her chest. Blinding light came from each and every one of them, causing her to squint away. Arden’s light she could recognize right away, and it melted her heart to the ground. He was beautiful, illuminating the Earth with his goodness.
“I can see you all,” She whispered, extending her fingers out to touch Arden’s light form. They were beautiful.
“Look at yourself,” Arden told her. Confused, Zipporah looked down to see that a warm golden light was radiating from her caramel human skin, and miraculously she could see out of both of her eyes. She had become something not quite Ethran, but not quite human. She had to admit, it was beautiful, but most likely wouldn’t be accepted in society.
“Zipporah,” Her mother whispered, touching her shoulder. She didn’t even mention her new appearance. She just pulled her daughter into her arms and held her for the longest time.
Chapter Ten
The next following months were hectic. The Earth began to piece itself back together. The remaining leaders alive were placed back into power. People began to come out of hiding. Homes were rebuilt. Things began to run the way they had before.
Zipporah was home with her family for the last night, sitting beside her sister while their mother braided their hair. Arden sat across the room in his human form, staring at Zipporah intently. He had come to know what the human emotion of love was like, and he could have set cities on fire for what he felt for Zipporah.
“Stop moving, Zip,” Zipporah’s younger sister Hadassah scolded. It was a hard thing to ask. She had spent the last months of her life running from something or another, but this time she squirmed for an entirely different reason. She was moving into a home with Arden in the morning. The two of them had been asked by the Prime Minister of Canada to assist them in learning about the other worlds yet to be discovered, and to teach about their Ethran allies, and the two had gladly accepted. They were given enough money for a lovely house, and solid monthly allowance to live on.
“Light up again for me Zip,” Zipporah’s little brother begged, sitting at her feet, touching th
em curiously. With a great sigh, Zipporah linked her mind to the power of Ethran and sent a gentle glow dancing across her skin. She was now the most unique being in the cosmos. Not human, not alien. Capable of saving the Earth, capable of lighting up the darkness, and finding love where it wasn’t supposed to be.
After a welcome family dinner, Zipporah and Arden left the table together and made their way to her old bedroom. In another life, her parents would have never allowed such a thing. But Zipporah was a warrior now. She was no one’s to command, and they recognized that her love had saved everyone.
Gently, Zipporah pressed her body against Arden’s, welcoming him back to humanity with her warm mouth. Their bodies formed together, and light began to shine from behind her caramel skin. Arden pulled back and smiled, knowing that she was content and happy to be in his arms. He slipped her loose clothes from her body and dropped them onto the floor. His hands gently explored her plump breasts, her soft belly, and finally, her dripping pussy. She let out a soft moan as his fingers slipped between her slickened flaps and coaxed out the sweetest noises Arden had ever heard. He lowered her onto the bed and whispered sweet nothings into her ear as she helped him to remove what was left of his clothing.
Arden’s hand ran around the length of his shaft, turning sideways to show Zipporah how engorged he was at the very thought of being inside of her. She gasped and put her own hand on it, feeling the hard warmth on her fingers. Reaching down to massage her own pussy, Arden watched and ran his hand artfully up and down the length of his manhood. Zipporah quickly brought herself to the edge of orgasm, and then slowly stopped. Turning her body so that she was positioned on her hands and knees, she opened her legs wide and invited Arden to enter her.
He took her by her full waist and thrusted his swollen cock inside of her, bringing a scream of pleasure to the tip of her lips. His other hand reached around to massage her swollen, juicy clitoris. They found a soft rhythm where their bodies ebbed and flowed, dripping hot cum every once and a while. But Arden wanted her, and had no intentions of stopping.
“Cum for me, baby,” he whispered into her ear seductively. Obediently, a slow boil of heat started in the center of Zipporah’s body and shot through every nerve in her being. She collapsed in delicious agony, panting and throwing her head back in absolute surrender to him and his love.
Arden crawled up towards her and kissed the breast closest to him, wrapping her in his arms and bringing his lips to her hair. He thought back to everything they had been through, and how strong she was. How much he loved her. How glad he was that he chose to leave his home to help her. And so, for the first time, Arden rolled Zipporah over and took her face in his hands.
“I love you,” he confessed, staring deep into her eyes. Once again, her face gave off a golden glow and she nodded, accepting his love into her heart to keep it there for the rest of their lives.
The End
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About the Author
Hana Starr is a romance author living in the Pacific Northwest. She spends her day at tech startups and at night she day dreams what is beyond our skies – she recently started to puts those dreams on paper to share to everyone. When she is not busy writing, she loves escaping in a book, traveling, and just enjoying life with friends and family.
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