by Celeste Raye
I walked up to her in the heat and took a seat next to her at a wooden desk where my crew had set up various vials marked and labeled with their contents.
“Hello, stranger,” Athena greeted, never looking up at me. Her tone wavered even with only four syllables to work with.
“Hey, I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever,” I said wholeheartedly, setting my hand on her shoulder.
I sat at the desk and began pulling out samples and setting them on the desk one by one until they created a small row of seven.
“So, how do we feel about our new company?” I asked with a small smile, unsure suddenly how to behave around my own sister.
She watched me, her eyes flicking around like a scanner. I hated being under her watch. “Oh, you know, just peachy. I love being hit on by dragon men,” she snorted, seeming done with her visual interrogation.
“I thought you were the one going on about how hot they were?” I said with a laugh.
“Eh,” she shrugged, twisting a finger around the vial. “It fades.”
“You seem to like Aurlauc,” I said enthusiastically. “Or, at least, not hate him.”
“I don’t hate them,” Athena argued. “I’m just happier on my own planet.”
“My little sister, fleeing from adventure? Who are you and what have you done with Athena?”
My sister laughed until her verbal expression turned to a dim sigh. “You know,” she began slowly, “Peter’s been asking about you. Says you’re always off with the prince.”
“Right,” I said, too quickly. “They call him D’nebu’a. That’s his title,” I gushed. “And yes, he’s been showing me around, as you know.”
“Riiight,” my sister taunted. “Well, doesn’t that just make you the royalest of them all? And what about Petey; you guys have a thing going yet?”
“He wishes,” I said, sticking my tongue out playfully.
Another pang of guilt flashed through my body from the back of my neck to my toes. I’d forgotten all about Peter. I sighed inwardly.
“‘Atta girl!” she announced loudly. “Never settle!”
The two of us stared at the samples in silence until the minutes became almost comically long. My breathing quickened suddenly, and Athena put her hand on my back.
“What is it?” Athena asked softly.
I looked up, and our eyes met, hers turning from stunned to concerned all at once. “What?” she repeated with less compassion. “What is it? Because I know you didn’t bring me here to gush about your science. I think you know me well enough to know I have no interest in this stuff. I’m not even a scientist!”
“I slept with him, okay?” I seethed in a whisper, my face scrunching up with pain and embarrassment.
Athena clicked her jaw shut and stayed still for long enough that I started to feel my hands shaking. I just wanted her to say something.
“I really, really, really hope you’re talking about Peter,” she snapped, not looking at me.
“Tredorphen,” I whispered again, my eyes flicking to the door to see if anyone was near our private conversation. The coast was clear.
The moments dragged on in painful agony, and I grinded my teeth together before pleading, “Come on, sis. Say something, please? Lecture me! Laugh! Just do something!”
“Okay,” my sister said slowly. Too slowly. “You wanted it, I assume? I shouldn’t be blasting this thing’s head off with my laser?”
I rolled my eyes, and a deep ruby flush crossed the apples of my cheeks. “I wanted it,” I murmured.
“Then there really has been a switch-up because suddenly you’re the impulsive one and I’m the only one left standing with any brains about the situation! The shifters aren’t charming, Rina! They’re totally messed up. They want something from us, and I don’t just mean an easy screw with you.” She huffed violently and spun completely on her boot before batting a glass off the table so it flung across the floor, my sample reduced to nothing. “Have you completely lost your mind?”
“Like I don’t feel bad enough about it already?” I whined.
“And what about Peter? I thought you liked him?”
“And I thought you hated him,” I argued.
She laughed in frustration and threw her hands in the air. “Do you like the guy or not?”
“I did,” I pleaded. “I do! I don’t know what happened. I’m playing him for information, that’s all.”
“No, no way. Nu-uh!” my sister projected loudly, waving a finger in front of her face. “If this was a mission thing, there’s no way you’d be telling me about it. Admit it; you’re looking for sisterly advice.”
“Fine!” I shouted, glaring at her. “I’m looking for advice!”
“Here’s some,” she spat. “Don’t be so damn stupid!”
I inhaled sharply and felt all of the emotion leave my face. “Well, I guess I won’t be getting any sympathy from you.”
“I’m just…” she turned back to face me and pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. “I’m a little… concerned. I thought you had a plan here?”
“Yeah,” I argued. “And my plan is working. We’re here, aren’t we? We got to Dobromia. We found a new species. We’re doing our job, and I got us here!”
“I’m not sure it counts if you’re sleeping with the guy, Marina.”
“It’s part of the plan,” I insisted. “The easiest way to get them on our side.”
Athena narrowed her eyes at me like I was an idiot and scoffed several times, unsure of what else to do. I knew she wasn’t going to like my news, but I didn’t think she would have this strong of a reaction to it. At the very least, I thought she might find it amusing.
“I think you’re being played, Marina. I don’t know how or what for, yet, but it makes me nervous. As your sister, I have top dibs on yelling at your ass. Got it?”
I faltered. “Got it.”
“Besides,” she rolled her eyes, stopping by the opening of the cave and leaned against it. “It’s not like you’re the only one. I’ve heard about five other girls who are banging the dracos.”
“Don’t,” I cringed. “Don’t phrase it like that and don’t call them that. They are shifters. At least be correct.”
Her eyes darkened. “Because that’s what I care about?”
“Look, I don’t want to fight with you. I just thought as my sister you should know what’s going on.”
Her eyes glazed over and I watched her annoyed expression soften, just a little. “So…” A curious smirk settled on her lips, and she exhaled, leaning off the wall and standing straight once more as she said, “What’s he like in the sack?”
Chapter 10:
Tredorphen
Making love had become a regular routine in my day, it seemed. In accordance with the King’s wishes, I continued to show Marina around the land, and the shifters helped her people get biological samples.
We approached the familiar ship with haste: myself, Aurlauc, Khrelan, and two other shifters my father deemed worthy to watch over us.
The Vulcana. It's purple letters scrawled across the side of the enormous vessel. I stared at it, unenthused by our mission, and I pulled carelessly at the door. They'd left it open, of course.
"Humans," Khrelan breathed with a wicked smile. "They are entirely too trusting."
"Right," I said with a roll of my eyes. "Let's just get this over with."
The lot of us walked in, but I turned to see Aurlauc waiting outside, staring off into the red abyss of Drogs and tentacles that had greeted us the last time we were on Ceylara.
"Coming?" I asked hesitantly, holding the door open for him.
I could already hear the startle of surprise from one of the human men as they caught sight of the other shifters. The soldier laughed nervously as the recognition washed over him. We’d all met before. Protected these people many cycles ago.
Then the screams came.
I pressed my eyes shut and then looked back to Aurlauc, raising my brows, still expec
ting an answer from him.
"No," he said, turning to regard the expansive planet. The wasteland that had failed to provide us food.
"Khrelan says there's food inside," I bribed; my tone still wavered between friendly and orderly.
"I'm not coming," Aurlauc spat. "You can tell the King what you like. Have him kill me if that's your wish, D’nebu’a."
He spat the last words out with such venom I was sure he'd been waiting to say them for cycles now.
"You're mad?" I asked with a laugh.
The dark shifter crossed his arms, the scales going down his bicep and down his bare chest shimmering against the red backdrop of the planet, a deep maroon sheen reflecting off his black scales.
He brushed his thick braids behind him and remained silent.
“So you’re not talking to me now?” I yelled to him. “You think I want to be here?”
“I think you’re the one who brought them back in the first place and you’ll be the one to kill them. Not me,” he spat, still unturned.
I nodded in frustration and slammed my hand against the side of the ship. “So be it,” I seethed, turning back into the ship and making my way through the perplexing white corridors.
How like Aurlauc, my mind bristled, to see my fault in things that were beyond my control. This was my punishment for trying to find my people food. To make for them an existence. To trust my father around pretty things.
I breathed harshly through my nose so I could feel the fire roaring through me. I shifted my wings so they spread and then brought them in tight to my back.
A deep-skinned human male caught sight of me and his eyes went wide with surprise.
"You're back," the man said happily. "Where are the girls?"
"The coordinates for your Earth," I said angrily. "Give them to me."
“I can’t do that,” he said with a deep, concerned frown. He raised his hands to me and begged, “Please, don’t hurt us.”
“I have no intentions,” I said. “But I can’t say the same for the dragons crawling through your ship right now.”
It was the truth. If I had it my way, none of these humans would shed a drop of blood, but I wasn’t so sure about my comrades. There was no point to it. The humans could do nothing to penetrate our bones; nothing to hurt us.
I picked him up by the neck and held him against the wall. The man choked and gripped his hands against my dragon's claw. The whites of my eyes flecked yellow, and the man tried to scream out in terror. I was done with these humans.
“Tell me,” I seethed a hot breath toward the man and tilted my head back.
The man stared at me and his eyes slowly glossed over to Khrelan as he entered the room behind me.
"Why? What's... what's happening?" the man asked. “Are the girl’s okay?”
“They’re ours now,” Khrelan said in a chagrined manner. “They have chosen to stay with us and abandon your cause. They will remain unharmed, with us, so long as you give us exactly what we want.”
“Tell us,” I warned. “Unless your secrets mean more than your life.”
The man looked at me, and I already knew his answer, just as he knew I was doling out an empty threat.
I heard a dull drumming of boots against the floor and a blond man emerged, his weapon aimed at Khrelan. “They would never do that,” the man spat. He narrowed his gaze at the navy shifter, and I bit my lip.
This was a thing he should not have done.
I watched the blond carefully and moved slowly until I picked the dark-skinned man up by his neck and slammed him into the wall. He grasped at his neck, striving for breath until I eased my grip. I looked to the blond with a confident tilt of my head to the side. My countenance read: ‘Just try it.’
Defiant, the blond fired his rifle and my ears shrunk back as I heard the beam sizzle against Khrelan’s skin, causing a roar that echoed like an eruption from the navy shifter.
Khrelan bared his fangs at the man, and the blond didn’t stop firing.
The shifter pulled his wings tight to his body and rushed toward him. He’d knocked the weapon from his hands with one careful flick of the tail. Khrelan grabbed the man's head in his beast-like hand, and with a tight-fisted motion, we heard the crack of bones within his grasp.
The blond went limp after that, and my body careened back in disgust. A scowl crossed my face as Khrelan met my eyes, his skin smoking and bleeding through from where the laser had pierced his flesh.
Perhaps we were not as indestructible as I once thought.
"Tell me," I warned the man in my grasp, his face twisted in shock and repulsion at what we had just witnessed. "Marina needs the coordinates," I instructed carefully, kneeling down to his level. "It is an emergency.”
"I knew this was going to happen," the soldier cried. "We all knew!"
"Get it together," I scoffed, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Tell me or do not. It is your life that hangs in the balance."
The human looked up at me in a panic, and slowly his body seemed to settle into a new knowledge. He breathed in sharply and shook his head. "Marina has the coordinates," he said with some confusion as his eyes flicked back and forth from mine.
I slammed my hand on the wall behind him and threw him to the ground. He was useless to me then. I cursed as I made my leave from him. Marina had tiptoed around the subject all this time, but it never occurred to me she was purposely keeping the information.
“She said…” the man gargled out a bodily shock overtaking him as he trembled on the ground.
“Marina?” I asked. “What did she say?”
“She said…” again the man on the floor went to finish his sentence but seemed to think better of it. “Just kill me,” he said weakly, resigned to his fate.
“What did she say?” I demanded, stomping my foot brashly against the ground so that the plates of the ship shook beneath us.
“Just kill me,” the man said, placing both of his arms over his head.
I snarled at the creature and bellowed a loud roar toward him. I heard screams from the room over: a bloody gurgle followed by rifle fire. I instinctively bent my knees, and my wings extended protectively, my senses heightened. The man on the floor looked up in terror.
Another shifter, Egeshoth, entered the room. Khrelan stared at the red shifter, and Egeshoth shook his head. No information.
I looked back down at the deep skinned soldier and raised my brow.
"Tell us your coordinates," Khrelan dared.
The man looked up at us and reached for his laser weapon. Egeshoth dove toward him but the man turned the weapon on himself, firing into his head before careening to the floor, a mess of gore surrounding his body.
I looked up at Khrelan in fury and balled my fists. This wasn’t what I wanted.
It soon became clear that the humans were not willing to share their resources: their greenery. We tried bargaining, tried threats; their lives; told them we'd kill their women. But the humans were surprisingly relentless. Khrelan had taken to bending their limbs, forcing their hand, but not one of them would give up what we most craved.
My eyes flicked up to Khrelan as he extended his claws and let out an angry cry, a furious roar that sent fire blazing from his throat down into the corridors. The crackle of the flames sizzled and bounced against the cold walls of the ship, and we heard the hallway flood with screams.
I met the navy shifters glare: a dare of sorts.
"That was extensive," I snapped."
“In case you've forgotten, we are on a mission here. It is our mission to get information.”
"Which none of them are giving!" I screamed. "Let us take our leave from here!”
"Look at me!” he demanded, pointing to the blood that leaked from him. "They are beasts! Come to take our women!"
I set my jaw. “We have taken their women.”
“You took their women, Tredorphen. I have yet to take mine. But I will.”
I raised my chin to the navy shifter, and we had a standoff. I fo
llowed limply behind as the three shifters continued to clear out the ship: clean it of any life. Empty it of life.
They torched their halls and scraped their metal, stole their foods.
My thoughts twisted and tore against my instincts. To fight. I knew the deep urge to hunt. The core of my body that screamed for me to be the great warrior. But we fought beasts: creatures after our lives. Not weak humans, begging to be spared.
I walked out to the thick and cold air that greeted me outside the spaceship and listened as they set the craft ablaze.
Aurlauc sat near a great rock formation that spun and crept around into a freestanding circle, a family of Drogs unusually silent as they lay together at the base of the structure.
I walked up next to him and sat down, both of our eyes searching the great beyond that splayed out before us.
The night was so silent; I could hear his breaths nearly masked by the flames that raged behind us.
This wasn’t an interrogation. It was a massacre.
Chapter 11:
Marina
My nights were racked with dreams of Tredorphen. I dreamt he got lost in space and I had to grow my own set of wings to find him. In the dream, I'd equipped a helmet and took to the skies with vigor. I'd woken up screaming. Not a frightened scream. More of a THIS IS AWESOME! Type of scream.
Excited.
Thrilled to go find my new favorite toy.
And that's when it occurred to me, early in the long night. He wasn't just a toy to me anymore. Not just a body to ride or a fantasy to use while touching myself. Maybe it started out that way but, I'd genuinely come to enjoy hearing his thoughts.
I loved his vision of what the Earth must be like and his endless fascination with our culture. I loved how he wanted to get to know me: every inch of me. My body, my life.
I loved him.
I was never the girl who fell in love after a month. I was always the girl who never did. The one who awkwardly shuffled the words out after my boyfriend has said it a hundred times with no response. It seemed the only times I ever said it earnestly was when the other people wouldn’t say it back.