by Stella Sky
“What was your plan, Yul Pyre?” Jae asked, speaking calmly to try to keep the mood between us all as even as possible. He had always been a grounded and rational man; that’s why I had chosen to come to him when I’d come up with the idea for the opposition. Blaithe had always longed for the same power, but not only was his disease complex, but he was short-tempered and arrogant. He would never make a good leader.
“I want to get my hands on the Doyan’s serum. The one that will make her talk; tell us everything as honestly as possible with the most detail. It’s the only way to know whether she is telling the truth. The human is clever. She could just be saying things that would endanger us. If we use her formulas without double checking first, then we would be the foolish ones ending the opposition before it even began.”
Blaithe was glowering at me from over Jae’s shoulder, but the men were all silent as they considered the possibility that the human had given us faulty information. She would have nothing to lose for it, especially if she presumed that we would be rid of her after we got what we needed.
“We will give you two days, Pyre. And if you haven’t gotten what you need to know from her, we will handle this ourselves,” Blaithe promised, his eyes hard.
I looked around the room, at the men standing around us, staring at us as the tension mounted. I realized with a sudden cold wave of fear that if the opposition turned against me, I would be a man without a country. Worse yet, a man without a planet. Neither side would want me. Blaithe wouldn’t think twice about turning me in as a traitor to the Doyan and seeing me executed. In fact, he was just power-hungry enough to do it.
“Two days is all I need,” I said coldly.
I left the meeting, my blood boiling. How could they care so little about the well-being of the human? Sure, it was illegal to love them, but she was a living being, with thoughts and feelings, and a smile that made me want to kiss the corners of it again and again…
It didn’t matter what they wanted. I would not do anything to harm a hair on the human’s head. Even if that meant that I would make an enemy of the opposition, a group I had led through the harshest of times. I would do whatever it took to save Ariel.
***
“You’re not supposed to be here, Yul Juno. Leave now, or show me your clearance.”
“Relax yourself,” I said, digging out my clearance card. It had been forged, but there was no way that the guard would be able to tell it. The Pelins did intricate work, and since they were in charge of creating such things, Barvaa had been able to replicate one exactly for me. As long as I didn’t get caught by the Doyan’s special guard, I would be fine.
“I see.”
Lort Falen squinted at the card, almost as if he couldn’t decide whether or not it was legitimate, and a wave of relief washed over me when he finally handed it back with a small nod.
“Can’t fathom what the freg they would have you come back here for, but just make it fast. We’re closing up in a few minutes.”
I nodded. Even if I didn’t intend to use the serum on Ariel, it was better to have it. Instead of using it on the human, however, I intended to use it on the Doyan. Maybe then the Verian people would finally see just how brutal he was at heart. Their ignorance alone would be the opposition’s downfall, and if there was any way I could enlighten them, I would do it.
The lab was empty but for a Pelin sweeping the floors tiredly. I ignored him and walked purposefully to the small cooler where the serums were held, keying in the code that I had learned from one of the other undercover members of the opposition. He had been too afraid to do it himself, but he had been eager to volunteer any information that might be considered useful.
I thumbed through the small vials until I came across the one I wanted, then stuck it quickly in my pocket. I hesitated before closing the safe, and grabbed one other serum; it was experimental, like a steroid that lasted only a brief time for the men who were losing themselves to the disease. I might need it.
My stomach was in knots when I closed the safe again, then took a long look at the room around me. I needed a believable reason to enter the lab should any of the Doyan’s men ask, so I grabbed a sheet of paper that had been pinned to the wall. It had the names of the next humans up for abduction on it: scientists in high-ranking positions on Earth. Finally, I stepped out and gave the guard a jovial bow.
“Have a good evening,” I said, waving so that he could see the paper in my hand.
He nodded curtly, and I went on my way, eager to get back to my home, where Ariel was waiting alone in her cell with only the Pelin to guard her. I no longer trusted Blaithe and the rest of the opposition to follow my orders regarding her and knew that if I wasn’t careful, I would have to defend myself against both the men in the opposition and the Verian government. And on top of it all, my strength was failing miserably. How would I defend anybody like this? I would have to act fast, and act smart.
“Barvaa, how is the human?” I asked, pushing through the door of my home and walking frantically to the cell where Ariel was being held.
“She’s fine, Yul Pyre,” Barvaa said, following me as quickly as his little legs could move in order to keep up with my hurried strides. “She was just having her mid-day meal. All signs of illness are gone, and nobody has been by the home to disrupt our peace.”
I didn’t dare to believe it until I saw Ariel myself, sitting at the little writing desk, chewing meditatively on the meal of oka that the Pelin had prepared for her.
“Ariel,” I said, doubling over to catch my breath. Somehow, just standing up and moving rapidly to check on the human had nearly done me in.
“Pyre?”
Ariel stopped eating abruptly to come to me, reaching through the bars to touch my face.
“Open your mouth for me.”
I quirked a brow at her. “I’m fine!”
“Do it!”
I grumbled to myself in my native Verian and opened my mouth.
“Shit, that’s what I thought. Barvaa, please get him something to drink. And have him sit down.”
“I told you, I’m fine!”
But even as I spoke, the room was spinning. The Pelin was right behind me as I crumpled to the floor, and Ariel held tight to the lapels of my uniform so that I didn’t injure myself.
“Yul Pyre, you must rest now,” Barvaa said, dragging me laboriously to the sitting room. I crawled up onto the couch, resenting his help, and laid back, closing my eyes. How was I going to defend the human in this condition? The serum I’d stolen would only last so long. This was a nightmare.
“Use the formula I gave you!” Ariel shouted down the hall to me from her cell. “It will save you! Even if it can save nobody else I care for, it can save you!”
But my convictions were clear, and I had been raised an honorable man. I would never take something that hadn’t been freely given to me. I would not gratify myself of a formula extracted by force. If that meant I died trying to save the human, at least she would know that I hadn’t meant to harm her. I would never intentionally cause her pain.
By the time the Pelin returned with my drink, I was already beginning to feel myself again. I stood and crossed the room, and he held the tray up to me.
“Please, you shouldn’t be up yet, Yul Pyre.”
“Nonsense, Barvaa. Thank you for tending to me, but I am fine,” I said, downing the drink.
The Pelin looked at me doubtfully but said nothing.
“Do you hear that human?” I bellowed. “I’m fine!”
I heard an exasperated sigh come from Ariel’s cell, but I ignored it and made my way to the Red Room. All I really needed was some time away from everyone and everything. The stress of dealing with the opposition and the Verian government was just exacerbating the symptoms of the disease. If I could just center myself once again, I would be fine. But to do that, I would need to be alone.
I spent the rest of the night holed up in the Red Room, doing everything I could to gain my strength. Something bad was c
oming. I could feel it. And I had to do everything in my power to see to it that I was prepared. No harm would come to the human on my watch. Whether I was succumbing to the disease or not, she would be safe.
***
“Wake, human.”
Ariel sat up, looking at me through bleary, confused eyes.
“What are you doing in here?”
“We must prepare you for your journey.”
“My journey?”
“I am sending you back to Earth. The opposition will come to see to it that I disposed of you, but I am not going to kill you. I will send you home.”
Ariel’s face went from confusion to disbelief, then, bewilderingly enough, to anger.
“I’m not just letting you send me away! You’re unwell! I can help you, I swear it.”
“It isn’t safe for you here, and my health is none of your concern,” I said firmly, shaking my head. “You will not budge me on that.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Ariel said, setting her jaw stubbornly. “I can cure you.”
“Nothing will cure me, human. Least of all, you. I am not going to take anything more from you than I already have. This is my fate. So be it.”
I gripped her by the arm and led her to the opening of her cell. We walked in silence through my house, and then descended to my underground bunker. Inside was my pride and joy: the ship I used most frequently to travel back and from Earth.
“You can’t be serious,” Ariel whispered. “I don’t want to leave you like this.”
“It is no concern of yours,” I repeated. “I will show you how to take over the controls if need be. The Pelin will go with you; he knows as much about the craft as I do. Half of it is technology gifted by his people.”
Ariel was quiet as I began the tour of the ship, and didn’t speak until I had finished.
“You expect me to drive this thing to Earth without you?”
I hesitated. “The Pelin will come as well. He will ensure you land safely and make it back to your people.”
That was the end of the conversation, and we were silent the whole way back into the house, where the human rested back in her cell, and I resigned myself to standing guard over her for the rest of the night.
Chapter 9
Dr. Ariel Landon
“Let us see her, Juno! You have no right to keep the prisoner from us!”
My stomach sank as the voice of Blaithe Corra, the man who had brought me to Pyre’s home on his thuse, reached my cell. There was something about him I didn’t like at all, especially after forcing his way into Pyre’s home and mistreating the poor little Pelin who had been on guard to protect me.
“You have no right to this human!” Pyre growled, his voice terrifying despite his disease. I wished I had a better vantage point, but all I could see from my cell was the wall opposite to me. “Barvaa, now!”
The Pelin was soon in front of my cell, keying in the combination to the door. I ducked in terror as the sound of tremendous banging filled the house, and Barvaa led me as calmly as he could down to the underground bunker. He closed the door and stood against it, panting heavily.
“Perhaps it is time for you to return to Earth now. They have come for you. I fear it is the end for Yul Pyre now.”
“No,” I said, stamping my foot. “I refuse to go anywhere!”
“But Ariel! You must listen! He wanted you to–”
“I’m tired of doing everything everyone wants me to do! This is my life, Barvaa, and I choose to do what’s right, not what’s convenient or safe, all right?”
“But Yula!”
I felt bad for bodily lifting the Pelin man–who was much heavier than I thought he would be–and setting him out of the way of the door, and he scrambled behind me, trying to catch up to me as I ran down the hallway toward the source of the commotion.
“Got you!”
“Ariel! Why?”
I growled in anger and in pain when I was roughly yanked into Blaithe’s body, and he laughed maliciously.
“This is what you were trying so hard to protect, Juno? She is nothing! She is a tool! What happened to you? I thought you cared about the opposition!”
“I care about the human more,” Pyre said, his eyes flashing with fury. “She is mine to care for, not yours to dispose of!”
Blaithe let out another unkind laugh, and I cried out in pain as a knife tip was stuck against my throat. There were several other Verian men standing in Pyre’s sitting room, and all of the furniture was all but destroyed. Pyre was in the center, breathing heavily, his face bloodied and angry. He had certainly held his ground against this group of men; two of them were leaning against the wall, panting in pain.
“You’re a fool, Yul Juno,” Blaithe said, shaking his head. “She will be the end of the opposition. I refuse to let that happen!”
Just as Blaithe prepared to plunge the knife into my neck, Pyre emptied a small vial of liquid into his mouth.
Suddenly I was on the ground, and Blaithe was grunting in pain. I struggled to my feet, shocked to see Pyre’s body moving at a supernatural speed as he beat Blaithe to the floor. Another Verian started toward me and Pyre abandoned his task, leaving Blaithe’s limp body on the floor, and intercepted him, punching him so hard that he flew against the wall.
“You are a fool if you think you can make it past me to harm this human,” Pyre growled. All of the Verians left standing glanced uncertainly from each other to Pyre, whose eyes were bloodshot and frightening in his fury. “But you are welcome to try!”
It didn’t take much debate before the group was pulling Blaithe out of the house by his lapels and carrying the other man over their shoulders. Pyre stared hard at them until we heard the door slam closed and the sound of several thuses taking off down the dying streets of Helna.
“Are you all right?” Pyre asked me, kneeling down to the floor to help me to my feet.
“I am,” I said, though my voice wavered. He smiled kindly at me and nodded.
“Good,” he said. “We can rest for now, but we must leave before morning. I am no longer welcome on this planet. The opposition will surely out me to the Doyan. We are in mortal danger.”
I didn’t know what to say as Pyre, with startling calmness, began to pack his few prized belongings. He summoned the Pelin to help him move his things to the ship downstairs and then touched my cheek. A dull heat traveled from his fingers to my loins, and I bit my lip to keep from showing it on my face.
“All that matters to me is your safety, Yula,” he said, his otherworldly eyes glimmering beautifully. “And I will rectify my mistake, no matter what the personal cost.”
And with that, we headed to the underground bunker, as far as I knew, to never to set foot on the planet Helna again.
***
Underground was dark, but as the ship rolled forward, soon we came upon a shocking light cascading into the bunker, and then we were in the sky, the machine rumbling furiously around us and creating a surreal feeling as the sky began to grow dark and the small orbs of gas flew by the windows, stars up close.
“Are you all right, Yula?” Pyre asked me.
He was leaned back in the captain’s seat of the ship, and I was perched against the command center, staring out one of the port-like windows.
“I’m fine,” I said.
The air between us was quiet and comfortable. The Pelin had retired to his quarters at the other end of the ship long ago, and now it was just Pyre and me awake. I was too full of adrenaline to sleep, and Pyre was still feeling the effects of the steroid he had taken to save me from the opposition earlier in the day. I had studied the vial, shocked by the technology and the implications of it. The Verian government were trying to spawn super soldiers for one-time use attacks, only to leave them as weak distractions, easily killed in battle after they had served their purpose. It was evil.
“Dershalga,” Pyre said, his heart clearly heavy. “I never should have taken you from Earth in the first place.”
“Pleas
e, don’t apologize,” I said, walking to him and taking his strong hands in my own. It was nice to feel strength in him again, especially after seeing him collapse with fatigue. Even if it was just because of a steroid. Even if it was just temporary.
“I owe you more than an apology,” Pyre said, standing up from his chair to face me. “I owe you a life. A life free of violence.”
“Don’t be silly,” I said with a small laugh. “Nobody can promise that.”
Pyre looked down at the ground a moment, his eyes cloudy, but when he gazed back into my face, he was grinning.
“Nobody who does is telling the truth, anyway,” he sighed. “But still, I would do anything to try.”
“Why are you doing this for me?” I asked, shaking my head in exasperation. “You’re losing your home…all your allies…”
“If they were truly my allies, they would have allowed me to spare you. They are self-interested and cold. I’m better off without them. And as for why…” Pyre trailed off, his eyes stormy as he looked at me. “I care for you, Yula. I would die before…”
His hands were suddenly on mine, and I gasped in surprise as he pulled me closer to his body, an unexpected wave of pleasure coursing through my body at his touch. I had wanted for so long to succumb to the power of my attraction to him, surrender fully, and now that I knew he was truly a good man, there was nothing stopping me now. He was all I had hoped he could be, and he held me close, our lips just inches away from each other.
“I love you, Yula…I will always protect you, with all of my body and heart, I will protect you.”
I cringed, remembering how his body was breaking down, how a virus from Earth was going to take away yet another person I loved.
But the thought disappeared when Pyre tilted my chin up with one of his long, strong fingers and smiled at me, his eyes dancing.