Gathering Darkness: A Paranormal Romance Collection

by Anna Zaires

Mia nodded slowly. “He said that he’s an engineer, that the company he works for made the ships that brought them here to Earth.”

  “An engineer? That’s rich.” John let out a humorless chuckle. “He’s one of the most powerful Ks on this planet, Mia. He owns the ships that brought them here—his company, in fact, has been the driving force behind them settling on Earth.”

  Seeing the look of sheer disbelief on her face, he added, “He’s part of their ruling council—some even say he runs the council. His company provides everything for their Centers. Without him, there would be no K Centers and no Krinar on Earth.”

  “I don’t understand,” Mia said in confusion. “If he’s all that, then why is he here? And what does he want with me?”

  “He’s here because, for the first time since K-Day, we actually stand a chance against them.” John’s eyes glittered with excitement. “Because he knows that we’re very close to being able to give them a fair fight. Because he wants to stamp out the Resistance before we go any further.”

  He took a deep breath. “As to what he wants with you, it’s pretty obvious. Do you know what a charl is?”

  Mia shook her head, feeling overwhelmed.

  “The literal translation of charl is one who pleases. It’s the term they use for the human slaves they keep in their settlements. The purpose of the charl is to provide Ks with pleasure. As you may or may not know yet, they enjoy drinking blood during sex. So they keep us as captives, locked up in their high-tech cages, and use us whichever way they want.”

  Mia felt hot bile rising in her throat. “You’re lying. Why would they do this? We’re intelligent beings.”

  “They don’t necessarily think of us that way. Most of them regard us as pets that they bred explicitly for this purpose—little better than the primates they’d hunted into extinction on their planet.”

  “So what are you saying? That Korum wants to keep me as a slave?” Mia asked incredulously. “That’s bullshit. If he wanted to keep me locked up, I wouldn’t be here, now would I?”

  He sighed. “Mia, I don’t know exactly what game he’s playing with you. Maybe he finds it fun to give you the illusion of freedom for now. It’s not real—you understand that, right? If you tried to leave New York instead of staying here and going to him whenever he wants, I don’t know what he would do, whether your family would ever see you again. You’re a smart girl. You sensed that, right? That’s why you haven’t been exactly avoiding him. That’s why your roommate was so scared for you, why she came running to Jason even though they haven’t spoken in three years—because she said you were in way over your head.”

  Mia wanted to throw up. If John was telling the truth, then her situation was far worse than she’d imagined. He was right; her subconscious must have realized the danger of running from Korum because she had never seriously contemplated leaving town. Her brain buzzed with a million questions, even as a hopeless pit of despair grew in her stomach.

  “So what do you want from me?” she asked bitterly. “Did you come all the way here to tell me that I’m screwed? That I’m going to end up as an alien’s pet, locked up somewhere and used for sex? Is that what you’re here to say?”

  “Yes, Mia,” John answered calmly, his expression oddly flat. “There are no good options for you. If he gets tired of you, then you might be able to resume your life—particularly if you’re still in New York at that time. Of course, you might also catch the attention of some other K and never be seen again. That’s what happened to my sister—that’s why I’m doing what I’m doing, so that other innocent young women can have a normal life.”

  Mia looked at him in horror. “Your sister? What happened to her?”

  His mouth twisted bitterly. “What happened is I gave her a trip to Mexico as a college graduation present. She went with her girlfriends and met a handsome stranger on the beach. Turns out, he wasn’t exactly human . . . The night before they were supposed to return home, Dana disappeared from her room. For the longest time, we had no idea what happened—just suspicions that the K was somehow involved. That’s why I started fighting the Ks, to avenge my sister. It wasn’t until a year ago that I learned she’s still alive and is being held as a charl in the Costa Rican K Center.”

  Mia’s eyes welled up with tears as she pictured his family’s suffering. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry,” she said. “Is there any way you can get her back?”

  “No.” He shook his head with angry regret. “Even if we succeeded in rescuing her from there—an impossibility in and of itself—she’s been shined, like all charl. They will always know her exact whereabouts—there’s no way we can reverse that procedure.”

  “Shined,” Mia said. “Like all charl—like me.”

  “Like you,” John agreed.

  She wanted to scream and cry and throw things. She settled for asking, “So why did you come here today?”

  “Because, Mia, although we can’t really help you, you are actually in a position to help us. If we succeed, not only will you get your life back, but you will also have saved countless other young women—and men—from my sister’s fate.”

  “I don’t understand . . . What are you asking me?” Mia said slowly, her pulse picking up.

  “We want you to work with us. To notify us of Korum’s whereabouts, what he likes to eat, how he sleeps, any weaknesses that he might have. And if you happen to come across any information that might be even remotely useful—any passwords, security measures, anything at all—to convey that information to us.”

  “You’re asking me to spy for you?” Mia’s voice rose incredulously.

  “I’m asking you to make the best of your admittedly unfortunate situation. To help yourself and all of humanity. All you have to do is keep your eyes and ears open when you’re with him and occasionally report your findings to us.”

  “And you think I will be able to pull this off? With no training of any kind and no acting skills? Somehow fool one of the most powerful Ks on this planet? What makes you think he’s not already aware that you’re here, particularly if his goal is to crush your movement?”

  “This apartment is not bugged—we checked. He would have no reason to spy on you here if you don’t do anything suspicious and continue to play along. He doesn’t know that we’re here—if he did, we’d already be dead. Look, we’re not asking you to be James Bond or some kind of femme fatale. You don’t need to try to get close to him or seduce him or anything like that—just continue your relationship with him, such as it is, and occasionally give us information.”

  “How? And what would that accomplish anyway? What makes you think you have a chance in hell when all the governments in the world with their nuclear weapons were completely helpless in the invasion?” The whole thing was insane, and Mia had no intention of becoming a martyr in the name of some hopeless cause.

  “The how—leave that up to us. If he still gives you a similar degree of freedom, it will definitely be much easier. If not, then it gets more complicated, but we have our ways.” He paused for a second, apparently debating the wisdom of his next words. “As to why we think we can win, let’s just say that not all Ks are the same. They don’t all share the same beliefs about human inferiority. I can’t tell you more without putting you in danger, but rest assured—we have some powerful allies.”

  Human allies among the Ks? The implications of that were mind-boggling.

  “I don’t know,” Mia said, trying to think it through. “What if he catches on? What will happen to me then?”

  He said truthfully, “I don’t know. He may choose to have you killed or punished in some other way. I honestly don’t know.”

  Mia let out a short bitter laugh. “And you don’t care, right?”

  John sighed. “I do, Mia. More than anything, I wish that things were different. That I wasn’t asking you to do this, that the only thing you had to worry about were your midterms. But we don’t live in that kind of world anymore. If we are to regain our freedom, we have to risk ever
ything. You are our best chance to get close to Korum. You can really make a difference, Mia.”

  Mia walked over to the table and sat down, closing her eyes for a minute so she could think. She had no reason to trust John, and she had no idea if anything he had told her was the truth. Still, she was somehow inclined to believe him. There was too much pain in his voice when he talked about his sister; he was either the best actor in the world, or the Ks really were abducting and enslaving humans who caught their eye. The way she had inadvertently caught Korum’s.

  Another question occurred to her. Opening her eyes, she asked, “What if Korum knows that Jason is Jessie’s cousin, and he is already suspicious of me?”

  John shrugged. “It’s a possibility, of course. But Jason is Jessie’s third cousin, so the connection is very distant. Also, he’s a nobody in our operation—he has barely been involved in the last two years. He only came to me today because Jessie had called him about you. We can’t completely rule out this possibility, but the odds are in our favor. Also, don’t forget—Korum is the one who has been pursuing you, not the other way around, so he really has no reason to suspect anything.”

  “All right,” said Mia, “let’s pretend for a second that I do decide to spy for you. How do you expect me to go to him tonight, knowing everything you’ve just told me, and act like nothing has changed? He’s thousands of years old—he can read me like an open book. I don’t stand a chance.”

  “I don’t know, Mia. At this point, you know him far better than we do. I know you’ve never been tested like this, but I believe in you. Your biggest advantage may simply be the fact that he likely underestimates your intelligence. As long as you’re just his charl, he may not see you as a threat.”

  Mia had finally had enough. She stood up, a feeling of exhaustion washing over her.

  “John,” she said wearily, “I understand what you’re trying to do, and I do sympathize with your cause. I can’t promise you anything. I will not put my life in danger to report to you on Korum’s whereabouts and what he had for dinner. But if I do happen to come across any information that could be material, I will do my best to get it to you.”

  He nodded. “That’s fair, Mia. If you need to get in touch with us, just talk to Jessie—or if that’s not possible, send her an email with ‘Hi’ in the subject line—we’ll be monitoring her account. That way, if he decides to keep tabs on your email—which he probably will—he won’t get suspicious. You’ll just be saying hi to your roommate.”

  Mia nodded in agreement, wanting nothing more than to be alone. Her head was pounding with a brutal headache, and she gladly locked the door behind John as soon as he left.

  Making her way to her room, she collapsed on the bed.

  She felt sick, her stomach churning from John’s revelations. It just couldn’t be true—she didn’t want to believe it. Yes, Korum did seem to ride roughshod over her objections, and he really hadn’t given her much choice in their relationship thus far. But to actually keep her as a very real sex slave? To take away all her freedom and keep her locked up somewhere within a K Center? If the existence of the charl was anything more than a figment of John’s imagination—and Korum intended to make her one—then he was definitely the monster that she’d accused him of being.

  Mia felt nauseous at the thought that she would see him tonight and feel his touch on her body. And probably respond to it, as though he were really her lover. That last part made her want to throw up again. How could her body want him when he didn’t even regard her as a person with basic human—or rather, intelligent being’s—rights?

  She was also terrified about spying on him. If she got caught, she was sure that she would probably be killed—perhaps even tortured first, for information. Anyone who kept slaves likely wouldn’t blink at torture.

  She shuddered.

  In fact, if he found out about her conversation with John today, she might be doomed.

  She tried to imagine him intentionally inflicting pain on her. For some reason, it was difficult. For the most part, he had been very gentle with her. Even her loss of virginity this morning—as traumatic as that had been—could have been much worse if he hadn’t tried to control himself. In fact, some of his actions were almost caring—feeding her, making sure she was warm and dry, healing her (well, maybe not that one, given what she’d just learned)—and that hardly jived with the villainous image John had painted for her. Then again, she wouldn’t want to hurt a kitten either, but would have no problem keeping said kitten locked up in her house. If that was truly how he saw her—as a cute pet that he just happened to want to fuck—then his behavior made perfect sense.

  Mia tried not to think about the implications of it all, but it was impossible. Her future had always seemed so bright, and she had enjoyed thinking about it, planning out the next few years of her life. And now she had no idea what the next few weeks would hold—whether she would even be alive, much less still attending NYU.

  The thought that she might end up as Korum’s charl in an alien settlement was devastating, especially if she started thinking of her family’s reaction to her disappearance. Would he at least let her tell them that she was alive, or would she vanish without a trace?

  A wave of self-pity washing over her, Mia felt the hot prickle of tears behind her eyelids. Unable to contain her battered emotions any longer, she buried her face in her pillow and sobbed at the bitter unfairness of it all—until her eyes were red and swollen and she couldn’t squeeze out another tear.

  Then she got up, washed her face, and began to pack her things for tonight as per Korum’s suggestion.

  ***

  At 6:45 p.m. she took the subway down to TriBeCa and entered Korum’s building at 6:59. Mentally patting herself on the back, Mia thought that she made quite a punctual spy.

  He greeted her with a slow sensuous smile, looking as gorgeous as ever in a pair of light blue jeans and a plain white T-shirt. Even after John’s revelations, Mia’s heart skipped a beat at the sight. Her inner muscles clenched, and she felt herself starting to get wet. His smile got wider, exposing that damnable dimple. He could obviously sense her arousal.

  Mia cursed her body. It had gotten conditioned to respond to him, despite everything. Then again, if she was literally sleeping with the enemy, she figured she might as well enjoy it. Now that she knew the truth about his kind and his probable intentions toward her, she was fairly certain that she could keep her emotions in check, no matter how many screaming orgasms he gave her.

  The dinner that he prepared was outstanding as usual. Tender roasted potatoes with wild mushrooms, dill, and caramelized onions were the main course, preceded by an appetizer of spinach salad with poached pears. The dessert was a platter of fresh fruit, cut in various unique shapes, with a sweet walnut dip. The entire meal was served by candlelight. If she didn’t know better, she would have thought he was wooing her with a romantic dinner. The more likely explanation was that he simply enjoyed great food in a beautiful setting, and she was the beneficiary of that.

  Still, this hardly fit with the evil overlord image John had painted.

  Despite Mia’s initial concern, she found it easy to act naturally with him—perhaps because she didn’t have to pretend to like him or be calm in his presence. He knew her feelings toward him perfectly well from this morning, and he wouldn’t expect her to be anything but nervous, snarky, and reluctantly turned on—all of which Mia genuinely was.

  Dinner flew by, dominated by light banter—she learned that he really enjoyed American movies from the early twenty-first century—and delicious food. As the meal drew to a close, Mia’s anxiety levels began to rise at the thought of what awaited her later in the evening. Despite the gel he’d used on her, she still felt a slight discomfort deep inside and was not looking forward to experiencing sex again any time soon—even if, theoretically, it would hurt less the second time. She doubted that it could ever be completely pain-free, given the size of his cock and her own supposedly unusual narrown
ess. Still, her body did not appear to care as warm moisture gathered between her legs in anticipation.

  After dinner was over, Mia helped Korum clean up, stacking the dishes in the dishwasher and wiping the table. It was a disconcertingly domestic task—something that she might have done with a boyfriend or husband in the future—and it made her even more aware of the strange turn her life had taken. It was difficult to believe that just four days ago, she was dreading her Sociology paper and worrying that her dating life was in the dumps. And now she was trying not to get caught spying on a two-thousand-year-old extraterrestrial who likely wanted to keep her as a sex slave.

  Once the clean-up was done, Korum led her to the bedroom.

  At this point, Mia felt like a nervous wreck, fear and desire fighting with each other in her stomach. Noticing her obvious apprehension, he said, “No intercourse tonight, I promise. I know you’re still sore.”

  Mia’s anxiety ratcheted up another notch. What exactly did he intend to do if intercourse was out of the question?

  They entered the bedroom, and he led her to the familiar circular bed, now covered with a fresh set of blue and ivory sheets. The room was lit with a soft yellow light, and some kind of sensuous music was playing in the background. Sitting down on the bed, he pulled her closer to him until she stood between his open legs. In this position, Mia was nearly at his eye level. Trembling slightly, she stood still and tried not to look at him as he pulled her shirt over her head, revealing a plain white bra that she had remembered to wear this time. “You’re so beautiful,” he murmured, holding her gently by her sides while studying the body revealed to him thus far. Inexplicably, Mia blushed, her insecure inner teenager absurdly pleased at the compliment.

  Bending toward her, he pressed a warm kiss to the sensitive spot where her neck met her shoulder. Mia shivered from the sensation, goosebumps appearing all over her body. Apparently pleased with the reaction, he did it again, and then lightly blew cool air on the damp spot his mouth left behind. Mia gasped, her nipples hardening from the pleasurable chill. He smiled, eyes gleaming with gold. “Still no mouth-to-mouth?” he asked softly, and Mia shrugged, remembering what happened the last time she set that condition.