by Maia Starr
“What do you want with us, Commander Triq?” Kavik said trying to pull the focus off of me.
“I do not want anything. You should have never come here. Coming here means the end for both of you. But at least I get a very tasty human out of it,” he said.
As the bolt of electricity held my muscles in a spasm, I still tried to get loose. I struggled in the chair. I was beyond angry as I thought about Commander Triq trying to push himself onto Reena. I would die for her, and now I was not going to be there to protect her.
“Ready my ship. I am going back to Kelon to get something that is rightfully mine. Watch these two. Do what you what you want with them. Have your fun if you must, but don’t kill this one yet. I want him to have to watch what I am going to do to the human female. That will be the best torture of all,” Commander Triq said as he turned toward the door.
This was enough. I’d had enough. I stood up with the chair still attached to me. “You fucking traitor! Stay away from her! Don’t touch her! I will kill you!”
Another bolt of electricity shot through me, and I fell to the ground in convulsions. My tongue was limp in my mouth, and I could no longer talk. I heard Commander Triq laughing as he walked out the door and down the hall. I willed my body to move, but it would not. I tried to use my mind power to raise me off the ground, and it did not work. I tried to use it to stop Commander Triq in his tracks, but it didn’t work.
“Dekario…Dekario?” I heard Kavik say, but I could not answer him. I moved my leg to push myself on the floor, but I could barely move it. I heard a sinister laugh and knew that it was Temuk’s laughter. Then another bolt of electricity hit me, and my body convulsed violently until suddenly I blacked out.
When I awoke, I was on the floor still. It was darker in the room, with a small light burning in the corner. I coughed as my dry throat got used to being able to swallow again.
“Dekario?” I heard Kavik say.
I tried to answer but only coughed more and more.
“When you are done coughing, I could use a little help here,” he said. I swallowed as much spit as I could and moved my head toward Kavik’s voice. He was on the ground tied to his chair, and he was on top of Temuk.
“What the hell?” I said in a scratchy voice.
“The bastard is paralyzed, but as soon as I stop touching him he will only be paralyzed for ten minutes or so, so I just stayed on top of him. But I’m getting exhausted. This is a lot of energy use for me,” Kavik said.
“Impressive,” I said.
“Yes, but exhausting and I don’t know how long it will be before his buddies come looking for him,” Kavik said.
“All right, give me some time here. I need to get out of these restraints,” I said as I rolled over. The metal restraints holding me were strong, and I could not bust out of them, especially in my weakened state.
“Are there keys on him for these restraints?” I asked Kavik. Kavik looked over him and then said, “It looks like there is something in his gun holster, but I can’t reach it.”
“I’ll check,” I said as I looked at Temuk’s boot and pulled out the contents of his boot holster using my mind power. The keys rattled as they came out. I moved them in the air to Kavik’s restraints behind his back. “Hold steady,” I said.
Then I moved the key into the slot and turned it. The restraints fell from Kavik.
“Thank you,” Kavik sighed. Then he pulled off his restraints and rolled up from the ground. He grabbed the keys and moved over to me. I looked at Temuk still paralyzed on the floor.
“You said we have ten minutes or so before he comes to?” I asked.
“Yes, unless I hit him with another dose, but I think I need my energy to help us get out of here,” he said as he pulled the restraints off of me. I groaned as I got up.
“You all right?” he asked.
“Yeah, I think I will be alright, but that electric device really knocked the shit out of me,” I said.
“Yeah, he got me once, and then I charged him and paralyzed him. Once was enough for me. I knew it hit you good cause you’ve been out for a while,” Kavik said as we pulled Temuk’s weapons from him and tied him in the restraints.
“How long?” I asked.
“Almost two hours I would guess. Maybe longer,” he said.
“Shit. That means that Commander Triq is two hours ahead of me. We need to get out of here now,” I said as the rage came back to me as I remembered that he was going after Reena.
“Yes, we do,” Kavik said.
I grabbed the electrical device and pointed it at Temuk. I was ready to do to him what he had done to me and enjoy it.
“Don’t do that. It will bring him out of paralysis and he will shout and such. We have about another seven minutes of him being unable to move and I think we should take advantage of it,” Kavik said.
“Shit, you are right. Damnit. I was going to enjoy that,” I said moving to the door.
“How many?”
“Two was what I saw when Commander Triq walked out. One of the right and one on the left,” Kavik whispered.
“I will take the one on the right,” I said.
“I got the left. Then we head straight down the hall. It opens out to the courtyard and we can shoot straight into the air from there,” Kavik said.
“Good. We will split up from there and head back to the ship. Remember where it is?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Good. Shifting,” I said as I shifted into dragon form. Kavik did the same.
“Go,” I said as we quickly pulled open the door. I took out the guard on the right with an electrical shock from the device. Kavik hit the other guard on the head with the blaster gun. Both guards fell to the ground. We looked around. It was quiet. The maneuvers we used to take out the guards did not cause any commotion. The door at the end of the hall was closed, giving us plenty of cover.
“Go,” I said as we quickly walked to the door. Bam! I kicked it open and flew straight into the air. Kavik followed. Then we heard the commotion and shouting below, but it was commotion of them trying to figure out what was going on. No one looked up and in no time Kavik and I were well behind the wall of the building with plenty of cover.
“I’ll go right,” I said.
“I’ll go left,” Kavik said.
“Stay low, between buildings,” I said. He nodded. Then he flew in the around toward the outside of the small village and I flew around the outside of the other. As soon as I was out of the village, I headed toward the ship. I looked behind me and didn’t see anyone following me. I looked across in the distance and could see a black dot traveling at the same speed as me. It was Kavik. I looked behind him, and his tail was clear. We were not being followed. Minutes later, we arrived at our ship.
“Anyone follow you?” Kavik said as he landed next to me.
“No, you?”
“No.”
“Let’s get ready for launch,” I said, anxious to get going. Commander Triq was in a ship that was faster than the ship that we were in, and he had a couple of hours head start. This was not working in my favor. I worried that he would harm Reena, but I worried more that he would kill her because she would fight him as much as she could. I had to get to her as fast as I could.
“Counting down!” I shouted.
“Wait til I am buckled in at least. Shit, I didn’t get to do the proper checks,” Kavik said as he quickly buckled into his seat.
“There is no time for it. Launching,” I said as I hit the lever forward and pushed the ship straight into the air. We moved straight up into the sky and into the blackness of space.
CHAPTER NINE
REENA RHODES
I had been spending a lot of time with Luka since Kavik and Dekario left on their mission. She had insisted on seeing me every day and doing a quick check-up. She was a doctor after all, and this was what she did. We had become closer than ever now that we were both pregnant with hybrid aliens. Only we could confide in each other about what we we
re going through. We really wanted to ask some of the other human females that had already given birth so many questions. But we had decided not to let anyone know until we told our lovers. It was the best thing, but because we had these secret babies that we were hiding together, we became so much closer. It felt great to have that support.
“Since he’s been gone, I now know,” I said to Luka as I sat in her hut.
“I understand that. It hasn’t been easy on my nerves that Kavik is gone. I can see how having Dekario gone would make things clearer for you,” she said to me as she placed her hand on my wrist to check my pulse.
“Yes, that is true,” I said.
“So what is it? Don’t keep me in suspense. What did you decide?” she asked.
“I want to stay here too. I think that I love him, that I am in love with him. I want to be with him and create a family with him. I know that it is dangerous here, but so is Earth,” I said smiling.
She jumped over to me and gave me a big hug. “I am so glad. Now all three of us want to stay. You and Phoenix and I we are all now part of the Draqua population,” she said.
“Yes, that is something, isn’t it? I never thought when I arrived here that I would be making this my permanent home. It is almost hard to understand how things changed so fast for me,” I said.
“Yes, but just think. You can do as much work as you want here. There is much to learn for the both of us. I am very excited to try to analyze and understand all that is happening here. It is miraculous,” she said.
“Yes, that is true. That does get the scientist in me very, very, excited,” I said laughing.
“So, should we tell the king then that our plans have changed and we wish permission to stay here among the Draqua?” she asked.
“Yes, but I think that we should wait until Dekario gets back. I would like to tell him first before we tell the king. He might take offense of the entire village knowing this choice before he does,” I said.
“Yes, that is a good point. The same with Kavik, as he is also a warrior and they can be quick-tempered, if you have not noticed,” she said arching a brow at me.
I thought about how he raged into my hut when he found me with Commander Triq and said, “Oh yes, I do know. I have seen as much.”
“So, for now, we keep all the news between us three. They should be returning soon I hope,” she said as she poured me a glass of water with a slice of fruit.
“I think you are right. They have been gone long enough. Not that I know how long these missions take. It will be hard to live with them doing their warrior assignments, but I guess it is just like being married to a soldier on Earth,” I said suddenly feeling an extreme longing for the father of my child.
“Cheers to us, the new mothers of the Draqua hybrid and residents of Kelon. We have become aliens,” Luka said holding up her cup of fruit-infused water. I held up my cup and bumped it against hers. It was a defining moment. We had decided that the rest of our lives would be lived out far from Earth and with a strange alien race. Still, I knew in my heart that it was right. Now I just had to wait out the hours to tell Dekario what I had decided and hoped that he wanted me as his long-term mate out of love and not out of the simple necessity to create offspring. It was something that worried me in the back of my mind.
Luka made me stay with her until very late. She wanted to make sure that I wasn’t getting too dehydrated if the nausea came back. But it had mostly passed. She would place her hand on my forehead every now and then to check my temperature. She was definitely in doctor mode most of the time. It was adorable.
Later that night I could not sleep after saying my decision out loud. My heart was racing from the anxiety of telling Dekario. But I was still happy about it. I laid in my bed with the open window allowing the ocean breeze to caress my skin and hoping that the crashing waves would put me to sleep.
Then out of sheer happiness of being in love, I started to sing a little lullaby. Then I put my hands on my belly and sang to the child that was living there. Tears came to my eyes as I had the first experience of truly acknowledging that I had a child inside of me. It was the first time acknowledging that at some point this child was going to come from me and be an actual being that I could talk to and care for. It would be my heart. I laughed as I thought about this.
“So unreal,” I whispered as I rubbed my belly in soft circles. Then I continued to sing. I felt very calm, and it was just what I needed. I started to drift off to sleep as I felt this overwhelming sense of joy. I could not wait for Dekario to return. Then, as if I had willed him to me, I heard a thud. The sound was distinct and woke me up. I knew that sound all too well by now. It was Dekario landing on the veranda outside the hut. I sat up and smiled. “Dekario,” I whispered.
I jumped out of bed and fixed my hair. I took a sip of water and then pushed my cloth into place under the sheer blue dress that I wore. I was so happy that I would not have to wait at all to tell him. He was here, and I was going to tell him, and then we would make love in celebration. I longed for him to touch me and kiss me. I moved to the door and opened it with such momentum and a smile. But I was not prepared for what was on the other side.
“I see you were expecting me,” Commander Triq growled at me.
“What are you doing here?” I asked in anger but trying to hold in my fright.
“I came to finish what we started,” he said as he stepped toward me. I stepped back as fast as I could, retreating into the hut.
“Get away from me,” I said.
He laughed, “Don’t think that I don’t know that Dekario is not here to protect you this time. I know all too well.”
“How do you know that? He is here. He went down to the village to gather some food. He will be back any second,” I tried to be as convincing as I could be.
Commander Triq laughed a hardy laugh that sent chills up my spine. His dark eyes looked crazy to me. I wanted to hurt him. I looked around the room for something to defend myself. There was a small knife on the table near the board I was using to cut fruit. I slowly stepped sideways as I kept my eyes on him.”
“I know this because I have him. Dekario is not here on Kelon. He is not coming to rescue you. You are mine,” he sneered at me.
I stopped in my tracks. “What do you mean you have him?” I was terrified of what the answer was going to be.
“I have him chained up. He was dumb and came snooping around me and my work. He should not have done that. Now I have no choice but to kill him,” he said.
“No!” I screamed. “Don’t touch him.”
He laughed and said, “Funny, he said the same thing about you when I mentioned I was coming for you. He did not like that one bit. I liked making him squirm by telling him that. But first I promised him a show. I promised him that I would take you back to Tiok with me so that we can perform in front of him.”
“I would never let you touch me like that in a hundred years. You will let him go, and you will leave us alone,” I said as tears formed in my eyes and fell down my cheeks. I could not believe that Commander Triq had Dekario, and probably Kavik too. This meant that I would never get to tell him that I was pregnant with his child. He would die not knowing what we had created. That thought burned a hole in my heart. No, I could not give up. I was not alone in this tree, and I was not going to let this psycho dragon take me without a lot of commotion.
“You have no choice. I will touch you if I want,” he said as he lunged toward me. I ran as fast as I could to the table and picked up the knife.
“No! Phoenix! Luka! Help! Help!” I screamed over and over at the top of my lungs. Commander Triq stopped in his tracks and growled at me. Then in a flash, he shifted into full dragon form. He was not hybrid, he was full dragon, and as it stomped toward me, I was filled with fright. I was screaming as loud as I could.
“Reena!” I heard Phoenix shout in the distance. I was relieved to know they had heard me. But suddenly I was in the arms of the dragon. I tried to slice it with the knif
e, but the hard dragon scales simply bent the knife. Whoosh! He flew straight out the window with me in his arms. I was still screaming, trying to wake up the village. The dragon growled. He knew that my screaming was a problem. We flew over the port, and I knew that he was trying to get to a ship. But my screaming had caused many warriors on the port to stir and come out onto the launch pad. The dragon saw this and roared as he flew fast straight up into the sky so that my screams would go unheard. This frightened me.
Then he moved out over the ocean away from the village. “Stop! Put me down!” I shouted as I kicked as hard as I could. The dragon roared again. He was not happy about what was happening. I knew that he had wanted to take me to Tiok and that planned had been foiled by my screaming. By now Phoenix and Luka would be in my hut. Maybe they even saw the black dragon taking me. They would alert the king and there would be forces launching to search for me. I only hoped that the dragon didn’t kill me by then. Right now I knew that he was making up his plan as he went along. But where were we going? We had flown in a direction that I had never been in before. The few times I had flown with Dekario, we always went over the ocean that was in front of the village beach. This time we flew over the interior of the island and off the edge of the backside over the ocean. I was frightened that no one would find me in this direction.