by Naomi Lucas
“That is my true form. My other half that powers a third of my mind, body, and machinery. I’m a spider. A Cyborg. A man. And each part of me, each piece of me wants to control. My DNA is not human and the child I seeded inside of you will not be entirely human as well.”
Kat instinctively rounded her belly. “Will it be unwell?” The question tasted sour on her tongue. The thought of her baby being sickly scared her.
He crouched to his knees his arms rested over his thighs as he looped the cord around his palm. “No. It has nanocells running through its veins. Our baby will be perfect and if we’re lucky will have your hair and your eyes.”
Kat felt relieved and stifled at the same time. “I like your hair and eyes too.”
Dommik smirked up at her with a devilish twist. “Thank you.”
She released her breath and stepped away from him to wander around the helm. The panoramic view of the universe was left alone as she eyed the console and the captain’s chair with worn leather caved in. It was dark like the rest of the ship but was brightened by the stars and the same silver aura. The webbing was all around her but unlike the rest of the passageway, there were piles of unused rope about and cigar butts lying in a tray. Kat could feel Dommik’s eyes on her as she explored.
She turned full circle but was unable to find a second door. “How do your androids get to you?”
“They don’t. They can’t right now. The hallway is barred off and has been these past two weeks.”
Kat turned to him. “Because of me?”
“Yes.”
“I’m not sorry.”
“I know. I was hoping you would come to me sooner. The wait has been miserable but now...now you’ve seen all of me.” His hand waved around the room. “I have nothing left to hide.”
She looked around the space again and up at the intricate webbing. At the dips and grooves between numerous metal brackets and the bizarre geometrical shapes throughout. It was beautiful and dreadful. But as she continued to stare at it, she found that she wasn’t afraid of it or of him. It made her sad.
“Is this why you’re alone?”
Dommik stood up and came to her. “No.”
“Then why?”
“I hate the way people smell.”
Kat looked down at herself. “What? Do I smell bad?”
He laughed as he pulled her horrified form into his arms. “Stop asking that. You smell exotic, unusual, nice. I like it. I love you.”
Ugh. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” He lifted her chin to look up at him. His eyes hollow and hopeful. “Will you stay with me? Here, on this ship, and we’ll raise our child together. I’ll take the webbing down, take only the easy missions, I'll take care of us.”
Kat gnawed on her lip. “That’s just it, Dommik, I came to tell you I quit.”
Chapter Twenty-Three:
---
Kat watched as the hatch opened up to a dozen armed men and women. She had expected this, having seen it from the outside. She knew at this moment hundreds of people were watching the Monster Hunter unload his monsters and they’ll be watching her too.
It was different when those guns were pointed in her direction.
Dommik stood beside her with his hand on her back. A man in a black suit approached them with Mia by his side. A triumphant look on her face.
“Dommik,” the man nodded. “Katalina.” He took her hand and shook it. “It’s nice to finally meet you, although the circumstances could be better. My name is Mason.”
His hand was sweaty in her palm. “Nice to meet you too, Mason.” She wanted to wipe her hands over her pants but couldn’t without being rude. She turned to Mia who graced her with an irritated glance, tablet in her face. Mia led her off the ship, bag in hand.
Dommik left her side as he turned to the off-boarding of the animals and plants; ground vehicles backed up to transport them to the port’s quarantine facility.
Mia grumbled and waved her screen. “If I knew you were this easy to get rid of, I wouldn’t have put so much effort in sending you to the Trentians.” She turned and walked toward an aircraft, ushering her along. “We can finally put someone appropriate in the job. You have no idea how much more difficult you made things for me.”
“It’s nice to meet you too.” Kat smiled and took shotgun, her bag on her lap. They drove through the landing zone and into a concrete tunnel. She twisted the key-chip between her fingers.
“There’s nothing nice about this. Not only do I have to file all of your closing paperwork, I have to give you a fucking exit interview and for what? A month of mediocre work? Waste of my goddamned time.”
Kat shrugged, “Make something up. I’ll be out of your hair faster.”
Mia humphed as the vehicle came to a stop. “Fine. Get out and go through that door,” she pointed to a glass chamber where a series of guards stood by. “And fill these out.” Mia handed her thumb drive. “When you’re done hand it to Carl inside. Have a nice life, civilian.”
Kat got out just in time for the craft to speed away. She entered the chamber and sat down as the computer scanned her body for pathogens and any other volatile things she may have picked up.
Dommik had run them down prior to his ship entering Earth’s atmosphere. This second quarantine was to prevent the EPED to be liable for anything in between. Her foot tapped as the minutes passed.
“You’re pregnant!” A man called out from the other side.
“I know,” she yelled back.
“You get knocked up in space? Is that why you quit?”
Her foot tapped faster. “Yeah!”
“Sorry to hear that. You can come through now.” The second door opened to a man on the other side, a set of earbuds dangled from his ears. The music was loud enough she could hear from across the room. New-age rap.
“Carl?” she asked.
“Yeah, that’s me. I’ll set you up over here.”
Kat stretched her fingers and filled out the forms. She handed the drive over. “Done.”
“Is it an alien’s?”
“Is what an alien?”
“Your baby, is it a half-breed?”
She ignored him. “Where’s the exit?”
“Fine. Fine, I have a big mouth. Go through that door and up the elevator to get to the port’s entryway.”
Kat had a job to do and only a short amount of time to do it. The second the elevator closed, her body twitched with excitement. The first thing she saw when it opened was the giant sign.
Welcome to space, it said. Welcome to the gate to Hell, it meant. Let’s explore!
Yes. Yes. Yes!
Her eyes left it to land on the tea stand where her feet jogged too. A middle-aged man stood behind the counter, his eyes glazed with boredom as he wiped the same section of the counter over and over.
“Hi! John, right?” Kat couldn’t contain her excitement. The man turned to her slowly while still wiping.
“Like it says on my name-tag. What tea would you like today?” His boredom was apparent.
Kat blushed, “Oh right, yes. Is your boss here? The woman with the scarves?”
He cocked his head and yelled making her flinch, “Marcy, you have a visitor!”
A series of noises sounded after, flustering words, and fallen boxes only to reveal a round woman draped in colors, patting off imaginary dust.
“Hello deary, what can I do for you? Well, you look familiar, are you one of Linda’s girls? No, can’t be, they’re all blond. What has John done to upset you? I must say, he’s a hard-worker but straight to the point. No upselling or razzle dazzle from him.” Marcy shot him a look that could kill. “But a great worker nonetheless. How can I help you?”
Kat opened her mouth to speak–
“I remember you now! You’re that girl. Two months ago, isn’t it? Katie, Cassie, Kat! Kat, oh dear. Have you returned for the job?”
“No,” she responded quickly.
“That’s a shame. You see, my knees aren’t wh
at they used to be and John here, well, he doesn’t sell much tea. Great man that he is.”
Their faces opened up with surprise, startled and brilliant as they looked behind her. Heavy footsteps sounded. Her Cyborg’s steps.
“We want to offer you a job, both of you,” A hard, metalloid voice said. Kat’s smile became a grin which became a happy laugh. Dommik stepped up next to her.
“Yes! Will you come work for us?”
Marcy’s eyes went wide as she blatantly checked out the Cyborg twice over. Dommik straightened for her perusal.
“A job you say?”
“I need help on my ship. I could use two assistants and Kat here highly recommends you. You’ll be paid handsomely.” He reached down and took Marcy’s hand, kissing the back of it.
John stepped forward. “You’re that Cyborg, that Monster Hunter. We’re not monster hunters, how can two tea merchants be of any use to you? What’re you playing at?”
He was swatted away by scarves. “Oh dear, don’t mind him! He meant no offense. Tell us about the job.”
Kat looked around, noticing that they had a crowd, all staring at Dommik, all watching them. She took hold of his hand and gripped it. Mine.
He’s mine.
“I need help with the reporting, general maintenance, animal care, the works. You’ll get to see the universe and many of its habitable and even inhabitable planets, free of charge, and the creatures that exist on them.”
“What about aliens? Trentians. Will we get to see Trentians?” Marcy questioned.
“Possibly. Maybe.”
Marcy looked ready to swoon with excitement. “In. I’m in. Let’s do this. I want to find my alien suitor. Come on, John, let’s pack our things.”
Kat laughed as the woman began to close down the shop before her words left her.
“You don’t have an alien suitor.” Earning him a slap of a scarf. “But what about the Tea stand? We can’t just leave. We have shipments on the way, customers with orders, bills we have to pay.”
“We’ll buy it, everything, and it will be here when you come back. If you want to come back,” Dommik interjected.
Kat placed her bag on the counter and handed it over, all of the money she had left from her grandmother. She couldn’t stop laughing as Marcy and John blundered and packed, being hit over their heads with an adventure on the horizon.
“Mia’s going to be so pissed.” Her third-part spider, third-part Cyborg, and third-part man wrapped her up into his embrace. They shared a grin.
She turned into Dommik’s arms and kissed him with everything she had to give.
Epilogue:
---
Dommik sat back, unsure on how to move forward. The report sat like a dead weight on his screen, another obstacle, another possible stab at Kat’s heart.
They had left Earth several days prior and were now heading to Ghost City where he heard a rumor that Stryker was there and laying low. He still had his shipment loaded for him. Metal, Pyzian metal, enough to create one impenetrable mask.
He tried to hail him, tried to hail the other Monster Hunters but so far he was only able to reach Netto, and Netto was not much of a talker.
Dommik looked at his security feed. It showed Marcy and John within his empty menagerie. His stress typically equated to how many beasts he had housed on his ship but not this time.
He was going to be a father soon.
The news that sat before him would only bring up Kat’s past and that was something he didn’t want to do nor dwell on. Not when she was still recovering from the recent life changes he inflicted on her. Why shoot a dead horse? It’s not like it would die again.
Dommik rubbed his thumb across his lips.
No secrets. They would keep nothing from each other. No matter how hard it was to share. No matter who it hurt.
He called Bin-One to his side. He and Kat took down the ropes that had bled out into the hallway, leaving them in coils in the captain’s chamber, where he had begun to spin anew. Where they now both slept and designed the new space into a home befitting a Cyborg’s family.
It still caught him off-guard. He had a family, a mate and a baby on the way and hopefully many more in the years to come. Little monsters of his own making, little insects of his own. He hoped for a daughter. An Arachne to fill his heart.
Dommik felt himself evolve into something more than just a bestial machine.
“Tell Kat to meet me in the bridge,” he mumbled as he watched the stars fly by.
“Yes, Master.”
It wasn’t long before her scent reached his nose, breezing through the small corridor, he was addicted to it and still wanted to bottle it up for his own personal use. Her footsteps sounded next, light and quick, heading toward him without fear. It was her voice that had him swiveling around.
“Hey,” she breathed and smiled. “You called?” Her eyes laughed at him, wild and bright and filled with so much life, enough to feed the both of them.
Dommik grabbed her wildness and settled it in his lap. “I did.” He buried his nose in her hair. “I missed you but I also have something to show you.”
Kat turned in his lap and straddled him. “Oh? Is it something frightening? I’m beginning to like your scary.” She moved against him and he got caught up in her cute seduction.
“Is that so?”
“Yeah, that’s so.” She brushed her fingers through his hair, releasing it from its band to twirl and tug it. He closed his eyes.
“I’ll have to find more reasons to be scary, you’ve already seen the worst parts of me.”
“The best parts of you.” He felt the brush of her lips settle over his to place a silky kiss. Soft and sweet and everything he wasn’t.
“I love you,” he whispered between them.
“I love to hate you, unfortunately, I just love you too.”
“Good enough for me.” Dommik pulled her tight against his and relished the moment. That one moment when bliss is within your grasp and life, for all its rough edges, was good.
He spun his chair back toward the screen and let the moment slip away. The file was open for her viewing.
“This is what I want to show you. I received it today from Dr. Cagley. Apparently, she looked into your case files and found something about your grandmother that I don’t think you knew.” Kat tensed and turned her face toward the console. “You don’t have to read it if you don’t want too,” he hedged, hoping.
She was absorbed before he even stopped speaking. He held onto her as she read about her grandmother’s medical history, all of it out there for her to take in and whether she found it good or bad, he was going to be there.
Minutes passed by and Kat remained quiet on his lap, staring at the screen, and he smelled the trickle of her tears before they shed from her eyes.
“So. I’m crazy. Plain psychotic,” she wilted and looked away, then laughed high and loud. “I don’t care. I just. Don’t. Care.”
“I didn’t want to keep this from you…”
“She was immune. Immune! I didn’t know that and I thought...when she died. She couldn’t have had what my parents had.”
“They gave it to her to save you, Kat, they tested and treated her while you were locked up. They had you both locked up. Her immunity saved your life.” Dommik pulled her back into his embrace. Kat didn’t fight him. “You’re not crazy.”
She shook her head. “Why did she keep it from me?”
I wish I knew. I wish I knew everything for you. “Because she loved you.”
They sat there in the dim light of the bridge as the stars twinkled and the seconds turned into minutes. He held her as her tears dried on her eyelashes and her body softened against his. Dommik gave her his warmth as she drifted in and out of sleep. Even as messages pinged through the system and new missives went ignored. There was nothing but the two of them.
Kat awoke sometime later, turning her glassy green eyes up to his. “Thank you,” she said.
“For what?”
<
br /> “For...well, for everything. For taking me up into the stars with you.” Her hands went around his neck. “For showing me what’s beyond my walls.” Her smile returned. “I really do love you too.”
“Oh, good. I was worried.” Dommik smiled. “To the future?”
She nodded. “To the future.” Her wildness bloomed. Her wings restored.
“Well, then, let’s catch us some monsters!”
Author’s Note:
---
Thank you for reading Wild Blood, the spider and the cat, first in the Cyborg Shifter’s series. If you liked the story or had a comment please leave me a review!
If you love cyborgs, aliens, anti-heroes, and adventure, follow me on facebook or through my blog online for information on new releases and updates.
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Keep an eye out for Stryker’s story and BOOK TWO of Cyborg Shifters, coming soon! Turn the page for the blurb...
Naomi Lucas
Storm Surge
---
Everybody feared the man with the metal band over his mouth.
Stryker was part of an elite group of Cyborgs genetically enhanced with inhuman DNA. He was known as the Creeper, the quiet, the man with half a face. His fate was his own and his freedom hard-earned, having nothing to live for but the hunt and his perfect record. Until he encountered a distress call that changed his bleak existence. A distress call he couldn’t ignore.
“Please, oh god, please. Is anybody out there? This is Norah Lee, a scientist of Earth. I–I don’t know what to do. I think everybody...everyone is dead. Please if you hear this, please help us.
I can hear them outside. They’re coming…
I don’t want to die!”