by Anna Carven
They reached a large black structure which was virtually indistinguishable from the other buildings. Noa didn’t see the entrance until it unraveled, revealing the dark interior. On cue, Zyara flipped on a handheld light for her benefit, passing it to her as they made their way inside.
Instantly, she was bathed in Ashrael’s familiar aura. The bond was there, always there, but whenever she got close enough, she could feel the strange, thrilling energy that radiated from him.
At first, she’d found it terrifying. Now, it was comforting.
You are here, he murmured suddenly, interrupting her thoughts. Surprise radiated through their bond, but then he went quiet.
As they headed towards the place where he was kept, Noa wondered if she was making a mistake by insisting on seeing him.
What if he didn’t want anything to do with her?
There were sentries everywhere, silently watching them as they passed. The warriors escorting her didn’t acknowledge them, not even with a simple nod of recognition. In their dark armor, they seemed to blend with the shadows and the very substance of the structure itself.
A chill ran down Noa’s spine. She would never get used to the Kordolian way of doing things. If not for Zyara and the two guards shadowing them, Noa would probably have had an attack of claustrophobia.
“He’s in the stasis tank,” Zyara informed her as they entered a room decked out with monitoring equipment. “He’s sustained several nasty wounds, but his use of the ka’qui seems to be accelerating the recovery process.” She peered at a holoscreen. It showed a large glowing tank, but in the dim light, Noa couldn’t make out the occupant. It didn’t matter. She knew he was there. She could feel him with every pore and fiber of her body. “Ever since last night, he’s been unexpectedly co-operative. Judging from the way he acts around you, I doubt he’d do anything to harm you, but we’ll send these two in just in case.” She nodded in the direction of the two silent guards. “I’ll stay here and watch his vitals through the monitors, if he gets agitated, I’ll just pump him full of sedative.” She shot Noa a sly look. “I know you both have the ability to speak without speaking. You may communicate through mindspeech, but if he does anything inappropriate, you must let us know straight away.”
“He won’t hurt me,” Noa said with absolute certainty. Somehow, she knew it beyond a shadow of a doubt. “If he really wanted to, he would have done so already. He saved my life last night, Zyara.”
One of the guards shook his head wryly, murmuring something under his breath in Kordolian. Noa raised a questioning eyebrow, but said nothing. Part of the wall unraveled, revealing a rounded chamber dotted with softly glowing blue lights.
Noa’s skin tingled. Her breath caught. Without waiting, she stepped forward, drawn towards the glowing blue tank in the center of the room.
Hello, Human. His mindvoice filled her head. It was as smooth as silk and loaded with satisfaction, reminding her of a cat’s purr. I am pleased to see you.
Ashrael… she began, her words cut short as she caught sight of him, her small handheld light illuminating the dark cave-like room.
She froze, her jaw dropping.
He was floating in a column of blue liquid, and he was completely naked. Well, almost completely naked.
They hadn’t warned her about that. Damn Kordolians!
Heat rose in her chest, spreading up her neck, reaching her cheeks. She cleared her throat nervously, and unable to help herself, she stared. And stared. And stared.
Because he was the most magnificent thing she’d ever seen.
His body was chiseled, sculpted perfection. Even though he was covered in nasty looking wounds and old, faded scars, and even though he was connected to countless lines and tubes, she couldn’t help but admire the hard contours of his muscular frame.
His shoulders were broad and powerful, and his chest could have been carved from living stone. His stomach was flat and sculpted, the hard ridges of his abdominal muscles giving way to the tapering muscles of his groin. To her astonishment, he seemed to have re-grown his left arm overnight. A perfect limb extended from his left shoulder, although it looked a little different from the rest of him. There were hundreds of tiny black - she squinted; were they veins or wires? - extending underneath his skin, forming a pattern of fine branches.
Amazing. The limb wasn’t entirely natural.
Her gaze traveled further downwards, and…
Oh… Oh!
Thankfully, or perhaps disappointingly, he was wearing a pair of tight black trunks. They revealed his obvious erection, his hardness straining against the flexible material.
Noa’s knees turned to jelly.
She hadn’t been expecting this, not at all.
Flustered, she forced her attention back towards Ashrael’s face, resolving not to look anywhere else for the time being. His features were clearly visible behind a transparent face shield, a helmet of sorts that provided oxygen whilst he was submerged. His sightless eyes were wide open, and even though she knew he couldn’t see her in the traditional sense, he seemed to stare straight through her.
Without realizing it, Noa had taken a few steps forward. She was now close enough to be able to reach out and place her hand against the thick transparent wall of the tank. Directly in front of her was a large rounded patch of slightly discolored material. It seemed to have been welded or melted to the rest of the tank, as if the thing had been recently repaired.
She wanted to touch him. He was larger-than-life and oh-so tempting, drawing her into his mystery and his darkness with such compelling power that she was unable to help herself.
Just like an addictive, dangerous drug.
His dark lips split, revealing his slightly curved, pointed fangs. He was smiling.
As I said, I am pleased to see you, Human.
Noa, she said, tracing the outline of his face onto the glass, my name is Noa.
Ah. He digested that information, seeming to savor it. At least now I can put a name to you whenever I think of you.
He thought about her? She shuddered, a pleasant sensation traveling through her stomach and down to her core.
I’m sorry you were hurt on my behalf. I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I wanted to thank you for saving me.
You did not have to come all this way. You could have reached me with mindspeech.
He was right. She could have sat in her guarded little room and conversed with him from afar. Mindspeech came to her more naturally now. With every passing day, she got better at using her gift.
She’d always been a quick study.
I could have, she admitted, but it just isn’t the same as being in the room with you. I would think it rather rude to keep my distance, especially after you saved my life.
Hm. His expression turned serious. Are you aware, Noa, that our connection continues to deepen? Whenever I see you, whenever we touch, whenever we use the mindspeech, our bond strengthens and grows.
I feel it, but I’m not entirely sure what’s happening. She pressed her palm into the glass, wishing she could touch him. In frustration, she lost control and spoke aloud. “I still don’t know anything about what’s happening to me. I have no choice but to let it happen and hope for the best, but nobody seems to know anything.”
That’s because people like us have been largely lost to the Universe. The ka’qui is an ancient, mysterious gift. Some say it is a throwback to a time when the Gods walked on our planet and procreated with Kordolians. That is why they call us ‘touched.’ Because of my gift, I have been forcefully broken, damaged, and enslaved. I will never reach my full potential. You, on the other hand, are pure, and far more powerful than I. With the right training, you could do great things.
“Training?” Her thoughts were spinning. Ashrael was saying profound things. Surely she wasn’t as powerful as he seemed to believe. “I thought Elgon was…”
The old man knows a little more than the rest of us, but not enough to do justice to a talent like yours. Even my
Mistress would secretly be terrified of you, although the old hag would never show it.
“Mistress?” Noa didn’t like the sound of that. What had Ashrael had to endure to become a Silent One?
He ignored her query, pinning her with his liquid obsidian gaze. His aura became heavy, causing the Kordolian warriors to move forward, for surely even they felt it.
He wrapped her in his warm psychic embrace, and for a moment, Noa felt as if she were floating. A pleasant shiver ran down her spine, and the back of her neck tingled.
I am yours now, whether you want me or not. That is the nature of a bond between sarien.
“What exactly is this sarien thing everyone keeps talking about?”
I thought it was a myth, but now I have seen it and felt it for myself. It is the moment when two beings discover that their ka’qui is perfectly compatible, almost to the point that they become one. It is natural and inevitable. It is the will of the Universe.
Noa closed her eyes as his energy swirled around her, caressing her.
I do not deserve you, but I will protect you with all of my skill and power. We are beyond the point of no return, my Noa. The Universe has decided, and who am I to question her wisdom?
Noa took a deep breath as his words sank in. The ground underneath her seemed to shift and become more solid as the fear and uncertainty of the past twelve months melted away. Looking up, she peered through the transparent wall and saw Ashrael staring at her, his alien features terrifying and beautiful.
He looked like a techno-demonic version of a powerful guardian spirit, the lines and monitors attached to him at odds with his otherworldly appearance.
As I said, our bond is strengthening. It is inevitable.
Everything else had faded into the distance. Noa no longer paid heed to the guards in the background or to Zyara, who was watching them from the other room. She ignored the crushing, oppressive walls of the room. She forgot that last night, she’d been lying in the rain with her hand on Ashrael’s chest, fearful he wouldn’t survive.
A wave of power rose up within her, wild and unbidden. She was on the verge of losing control. Her skin was on fire. Her breath came in quick, fervent gasps. The heat unfurling in her core spread to her pussy and she trembled with need.
What are you doing? She tried to hang on to the last vestiges of her control. Part of her wanted to jump into the tank and curl herself around Ashrael. She wanted to kiss his wounds and soothe his aching body and tell him that she didn’t think he was unworthy at all. But she suppressed those thoughts with all her might, because she didn’t want the Kordolians to sense the nature of their exchange. It was… scandalous. People are watching us.
Let them stare, Ashrael responded, his voice imbued with a savage kind of delight. You know, there are other ways to strengthen our bond. Physical touch is a very powerful way of channelling the ka’qui. I could teach you…
Noa suppressed a whimper as desire coursed through her. He looked so scary and serious, but behind his impassive facade, he was hiding sly amusement. Clearly, he was a master at concealing his emotions, but what filtered through their bond was most revealing. Perhaps he intended for it to be that way. Not now, Ashrael, she snapped, more than a little flustered. Aren’t you supposed to be injured?
I am injured, but wounds heal. Pain is only temporary, and when combined with pleasure, it can take on a special quality of its own.
This was happening too quickly. He’d gone from being a terrifying presence in the back of her mind, a malevolent spirit trying to control and dominate her, to a fierce, alluring protector.
Her world was crashing down all around her and re-shaping itself into a reality where aliens, telepathy, and distant worlds were just a day-to-day occurrence. Impossible things were solidifying, and for the first time in her life, Noa began to feel grateful for what the crazies had done to her.
Ashrael’s ka’qui rippled with warmth, giving her just a taste of what was to come.
I see you, he whispered in her mind. I have seen you by touch and through the second sight, and you please me very much. I am in the process of bargaining for my freedom, and as soon as I get out of here, I will come for you.
It wasn’t a request. It was a simple statement of intent, and it both frightened and thrilled Noa. It wasn’t that she was afraid of Ashrael. She was just scared that once she opened herself up to him and allowed herself to fall completely under his spell, she would be forever lost.
Their bond sang, crying out for their bodies to touch. It was painful and exhilarating and Noa couldn’t stand it any longer - especially in front of all these spectators - so she turned on her heel, glancing back at Ashrael. You know how to find me, she said in parting as the thread of their connection stretched taut, thrumming with tension, turning the air thick with the weight of their desire.
The guards followed her out, not saying a word, although she was acutely aware of their pointed stares.
Thank Jupiter for mindspeech. They had no idea of what had just passed between Noa and Ashrael.
“I told you he’d behave himself,” Noa said to Zyara as she returned to the monitoring room. She couldn’t help but smile at the half-truth, because Ashrael had been anything but behaved. “I don’t think he’s as bad as the stories make him out to be. He’s just… misunderstood.”
“Oh?” Zyara raised a lilac eyebrow. “We still don’t trust him, but it’s a start.” As she leaned closer to Noa, her voice dropped to a whisper. “I was watching the physiological monitors,” she said conspiratorially. “His change of heart clearly has something to do with you. Were you aware of this?”
“I’m discovering a great many things,” was all Noa said in reply, not wanting to divulge too much.
The aftertaste of Ashrael’s aura rippled all over her, making her toes curl. “Will I be allowed to visit him again?”
“That will depend on whether he decides to co-operate.”
Chapter Eighteen
“We can take you out of stasis now,” Zyara announced, her hollow voice jolting Ashrael out of his half-sleep. He rarely ever truly slept, preferring to exist in the mindspace halfway between wakefulness and unconsciousness. In truth, he’d been trying to reach Noa in his semi-dreaming state, but their connection hadn’t yet reached the point where he could enter her dreams.
Gods, he wanted to enter her on every level. He wanted to possess her. They were destined to become one. When she’d walked into his presence, her ka’qui crackling with desire, he’d known it with absolute certainty.
And therefore, he had made his decision. He suspected the General had understood what was going on before anyone else. The bastard had allowed them to meet again on purpose, knowing what the likely outcome would be.
“I’m going to drain the restoration fluid now,” the medic informed him. “Your wounds aren’t completely healed, but they’re no longer so severe that you need to be in stasis. The General requires you to attend testing.”
“Testing?”
“You’ll see.” The medic was in some external control room. “I’m activating the drainage function now.”
Ashrael waited as the fluid level slowly dropped. He drifted downwards until his bare feet touched the lower surface of the tank. When the tank was empty, he removed his breathing helmet. The wires and tubes attached to his body automatically disengaged, falling to the floor.
He ached in places, but he felt better than he had in a long time, especially with his left arm re-engineered and intact.
He was no longer a slave of the Empire. His mindbond was broken, and he had a new body.
And he had a sarien.
All because his Mistress had commanded him to go to Earth, assassinate General Tarak al Akkadian, and capture his Human mate.
All because he’d failed, defeated by a biologically engineered monster with an unfair advantage.
The Universe had a strange way of balancing out injustice.
“Time for me to pay my dues, huh?” Ashrael flexed his
left arm as a hatch at the front of the tank opened, allowing him to step through. “What do you want of me, Akkadian?” Of course, he sensed the General’s presence before he entered the room.
The door to the medical bay opened to reveal the General and Elgon. Akkadian was clad in his combat armor, and he walked straight up to Ashrael, scrutinizing him. “You heal fast,” he said.
Ashrael shrugged. “Not as fast as you.” Monster.
“No, but fast enough.” He produced a small throwing dagger and held it out to Ashrael, hilt first. “Try your new arm. Aim for the point on the wall just above the Qualum door.”
“You’re not worried that I might aim for your heart or take him out?” He nodded towards Elgon. The old man stared at him impassively, his ka’qui unreadable.
“If you were under compulsion, you already would have tried to kill me, and you would gain nothing by killing the Patra now. Deception isn’t part of your skill-set, is it?”
“No.” It was with disbelief that Ashrael took the throwing knife from the General with his left hand. In a swift, fluid motion, he aimed for the point above the door and threw it.
It landed in the obsidian wall with a thunk, well clear of its mark. Ashrael studied the throwing knife in surprise. It jutted out from the wall, buried to the hilt, but he’d missed.
He never missed.
“Too much power,” Akkadian said, but there was an element of satisfaction in his tone. “The cybernetic framework will take some getting used to. We will try again in the training facility.”
“Training?” Ashrael inclined his head, regarding the General and the Patra cautiously. “I haven’t agreed to anything yet.”
“No, you haven’t.”
“I have my terms.”
“Do you think you’re in a position to dictate terms to me?” Akkadian smiled dangerously. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, katach.”
“You want to know how the Silent Ones evaded your surveillance systems? How they managed to evade your men and get close enough that they could have taken aim at your mate and your offspring? How they managed to elude even me?”