by Zara Zenia
“I can leave anytime I want.”
“Then, why don’t you? Do you have some sort of sick fetish to watch people get tortured? Is that what gets you off?”
He was about to say something when the large double-doors opened and Vega walked in, his breathing labored under the heavy weight of his obese figure. When his eyes landed on me and saw my proximity to the case, he glared at Anthony. I quickly stood up and moved away from it, cursing my luck under my breath. This wasn’t going to be as easy as I thought.
“So, you wanted more of me, sweet thing?” he huffed, dropping into the chair and making the wooden platform groan under his massive weight.
“Um, no,” I shot back. “I know when I am defeated though. I want to strike a deal.”
He laughed at me, “What kind of deal, you’ve got nothing.”
“I’ve got myself. Don’t think I didn’t see how you watched me. You want me, don’t you?” I asked.
Vega snorted. “So? You think that gives you some kind of bargaining chip?”
“I do. I have friends and family, you know. They will come looking for me unless I tell them to stay away.”
“I’m not scared of any of you pathetic outlanders. You are nothing to me. My men could wipe out all of you within days.”
“I didn’t say anything about outlanders.”
His eyes grew wide, “Dragselians? I don’t believe it.”
I shrugged my shoulders and turned away from him, “Fine, suit yourself then.”
“You are bluffing.”
“Are you really willing to risk that? You have what? Like fifty men? That’s nothing for my people. You would be wiped off the planet before you knew what happened.”
“Please, we are over a hundred men strong. So, you are offering yourself for what? To set your boyfriend free? Fine.”
“No! All four of them!” I demanded.
“Over my dead body. Call in the Dragselians then and we will see who dies. I promise your pretty little head will be the first one to roll after I have my fun, of course.”
“You are disgusting. Zaruv and the others will never let you get away with this,” I hissed.
His cheeks flushed and he stood up, “I do not like to be threatened. It looks like you’re gonna need to be put in your place. Davidson! Take her to my bedroom and keep an eye on her.”
“I’ll die before I let you touch me!” I screamed at him.
Vega took another step forward, “You won’t have the chance.”
He raised his hand up to hit me and I stumbled backward, almost falling down the steps before Anthony caught me. I thought I was going to feel the powerful blow of his hand across my face but instead, I felt Anthony let go of me and I opened my eyes. Vega had turned bright red, his face ballooning up. I could tell that he couldn’t breathe and for a brief second, I thought that he was going to die. Then, it hit me. The case must have something he needed in it!
I ran past Anthony who was screaming for help, “Get away from him! What the hell are you doing?”
“Do you know what’s wrong with him?” I asked quickly.
He shook his head, “No! We don’t have any doctors around here. We go into the city to find help!”
“He needs something, quickly! Give me some room, I am a doctor,” I lied.
I quickly flipped open the case and saw two rows of syringes, each one filled with a clear liquid. Without thinking about my own fate, I grabbed two and reached for Vega’s convulsing arm. He couldn’t control himself and in a flash, I was flying across the room. I cradled the syringes and landed on my back. Pain shot through me as Anthony ran to help me.
“No! Hold Vega down!” I yelled at him. “Whatever this is, he needs it and I can’t do it without your help.”
Anthony nodded and helped me to my feet before running back to Vega and wrapping him in a bear hug. By this time half a dozen other guards had heard his yelling and they all rushed in. Anthony quickly told them the situation and they held the large man down as I found a vein and quickly shoved one of the needles into his arm before emptying the clear liquid into his body. Within seconds the convulsions stopped and Vega’s breathing returned to normal.
I stumbled backward and sat down away from the throne on the floor, trying to compose myself while carefully checking that the second syringe was safely tucked into my bra. It seemed intact, though I would have to be careful. There was no way of knowing what was in it but whatever it was, Vega needed it to live. I pulled my attention back to Vega and went to him. His pulse had returned to normal and the other guards were now giving me enough room to work after seeing me save their boss’ life.
After a few more minutes, Vega looked at me in shock. “How did you know to do that?”
I shrugged, “I am the medic in my outpost. It comes with the territory.”
“You could have let me die,” he muttered.
“I still need your good graces. Plus, killing you isn’t my endgame. I just want my freedom.”
“You’ve earned that I think, but not that of your friends. I still have a business to run.”
“Then send me back down because I’m not leaving without them,” I said stubbornly.
He eyed me suspiciously before shaking his head and talking over me. “Davidson!”
“Yes, sir?” Anthony said, still obviously shaken from the ordeal.
“Take her to the kitchen. Get her something to eat and see if she changes her mind. If not, stick her back in the cell and let her stew for a while. You’ve been offered your freedom for saving my life, but I won’t offer it again after today. I suggest you think about it.”
“And I suggest you get a doctor on staff.”
He laughed, “If you don’t leave them behind, then I will have one. For the rest of your life.”
I glared at him as Anthony took hold of my arm and drug me back through the large doors. As they slammed shut I thought about everything that had just happened. I didn’t want to get food, I wanted to get back downstairs and be with Zaruv. Maybe he would be able to offer some insight into what the syringe was. Or at the very least I could stick him with it since apparently not much killed his kind.
“Just take me back down,” I muttered. “I’m not hungry.”
He shook his head, “Sorry, but I’m not risking my ass for yours. He said to feed you, so that’s what’s going to happen. If you want to get back down to your boyfriend, then I suggest you eat fast. Vega isn’t a generous man, I don’t know how long it will be before he changes his mind about sending you to the cell and not his bedroom.”
“Oh,” I muttered.
It wouldn’t do anyone any good if I was taken there. I would die before letting him touch me. As Anthony led me through the mansion I looked for any exits that I could, mentally making a note of the twists and turns that we followed. The kitchen was elaborate, with two people that I could see working in it. One of them, a large and angry-looking woman, dropped a plate of fruit in front of me without another word.
Anthony watched as I ate slowly, “How long is this going to take?”
“How long do I have to pretend to eat before you’ll take me back to my cell?”
He rolled his eyes and nodded his head. Silently, I followed him out a different way than we came and before long, he was locking me away again. Zaruv stuck his hand through the bars and I took it into mine, leaning my head against his through the metal.
“I was so worried about you,” he whispered as Anthony walked away.
“You had no reason to be, I can take care of myself.”
I looked around and pulled the syringe from my shirt, passing it to Zaruv and explaining to him where it came from. “Do you know what it is? Is there any way to find out?”
He shook his head for a second then squirted a small amount onto his finger. One sniff and he jerked away. I saw his eyes change to the same bronze that I had seen before when he was really angry.
“What’s going on?” I asked urgently.
Our eyes met
and I knew that something had changed. “Ragal, we have a problem.”
“What?” he asked.
I cleared my throat, “You better tell me what is going on. I’m the one who just got that after all.”
He held up his finger to the cell that Ragal was in and the princely brother jerked away. “Well, son of a bitch! I can’t believe it. I guess it all makes sense now that I think about it. That’s how he knew so much about us, they all do.”
“They who?” I screamed, getting fed up with the lack of information.
Zaruv turned back to me and shook his head, he was enraged. “Vega, he’s more like us than you, it would seem.”
I rolled my eyes, “You better stop talking in riddles or I might take him up on his offer to get the hell out of here.”
“That would be a mistake, Infernians never let any prize go.”
I swallowed back the lump in my throat. “What?”
Our eyes met, “Vega is an Infernian.”
Chapter 15
Zaruv
“I don’t understand! How is that even possible? Didn’t you say that Infernians weren’t like you? The humanoid form is natural for you, but not for them, it’s not like he’s running around with horns on his head. If the government knew this, even Vega couldn’t stop them from coming down here and making an example.” Jennifer hissed.
Ragal was pacing in his cell, “I don’t know how he got ahold of this but whatever it is, it's keeping him in his human form. It can’t last forever though. Mavic said he came to town five years ago.”
“So? Maybe he just sneaks off and changes into his other form.”
I shook my head, “No, we would have caught him if that had happened. We have sensors that expand far beyond this place that alerts us when an Infernian is near humans. However, he got this, he brought it with him and has been using it the whole time.”
“How is that even possible? Doesn’t your kind need to shift every once in a while?” she asked.
“Yes, I’m surprised that he’s lasted this long in one form. It’s a wonder he hasn’t slipped up yet.”
“Well, he almost did today,” Jennifer muttered.
We both looked at her in the dim light and she quickly filled us in on everything that had happened. I knew she regretted helping him, maybe if she hadn’t, the others would have seen what he really was and scattered. There was no way to tell when he would need another dose. Still, something bothered me about the whole situation. I found myself pacing the same way I had been before. She watched me as I moved back and forth.
“He wasn’t expecting it and neither were his people. They don’t know what he is,” she muttered, working through what was going on.
“If I had to guess,” offered Ragal. “I would say that his tolerance to the medication is started to wear thin. He won’t have long before he’ll need another dose. We need to get a plan together and fast.”
“What is it that he’s using anyways? I’ve never seen anything like it,” asked Jennifer.
I shook my head, “I guess we have the time now, do we? You know that the Dragselian and Infernians at one time were the same race, right?”
She nodded her head, “Yeah, you told me about that and the war.”
“Good. The planet that the Infernians were banished to forced them into their dragon state. They tried to fight it for many decades. In the end, though, the result was a mutated, but smaller, version of what you saw us shift into the other night. Infernians can’t hold their human form for very long but this serum can.”
“I get all that, but what is it made of?” she asked.
I saw Ragal shudder from the corner of my eye. “It’s not something we talk about, it’s too horrifying. The serum is created from the spinal fluid of sentient beings, with the best coming from Dragselians.”
“Oh, my God, that’s terrible. Is that why he plans on keeping all of you?”
“I believe so. Without the serum, Vega would revert back to the state of an Infernian pretty fast.”
“You don’t think that there are others out there who still do this, do you? You said you keep track of them.”
“Some,” offered Ragal. “But not all of them. This galaxy is too big for us to patrol all the time. We generally only watch certain ‘high risk’ locations.”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“I mean that we watch over our own, and those we trade with but even the Dragselians have their squabbles. There are certain colonies that are on the outs with our kingdom. The Infernians have raided many outlying colonies.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah. They like keeping their Dragselian captives in stasis and harvesting their spinal fluid, then allow them to regenerate and do it all over again.”
“I see why you want them wiped out now,” Jennifer muttered. “What are we going to do?”
I looked at her, the worry in her eyes, broke my heart. As I reached for her hand, I made her a promise. “We are going to get you out of here and come back for our brothers. You promised that you would follow my orders and that’s what they are. The situation is worse than we ever could have imagined. You aren’t safe anymore.”
To my surprise, she nodded her head in agreement. “So, what’s the plan?”
A scuffle down at the end of the corridor pulled all our attention away from the conversation. The two guards were fighting someone off, but I couldn’t tell if they were winning or losing. After a few minutes of grunting and groaning, we heard a loud crack before the telltale sound of bodies falling to the ground ended the commotion. Silence fell over the cells as we waited to see what had happened. I pushed Jennifer behind me as best I could to protect her as one of the men came into view.
“Lee?” she called to him. “What’s going on?”
My mouth fell open when I saw him unlock Jennifer’s cell. There was the same young guard that we’d met at the outpost at his side. They both seemed less than thrilled to be there as the older man glared in my direction. To my surprise, he tossed me the keys and I quickly freed myself then my brother. The men kept some distance between us, I didn’t know if they were friend or foe until Jennifer threw her arms around the young man’s neck.
“What are you two doing here, Hardin?” she asked him.
He looked warily at me, then to his commanding officer before turning back to Jennifer. “Well, we couldn’t let you go without knowing what was really going on. We heard that one talking about a possible Infernian problem.”
Jennifer rolled her eyes, “That one, as you call him, is Zaruv. That is his brother, Ragal and you heard right. We’ve got a big problem and you just put yourself in the middle of it. You shouldn’t have come, it’s too dangerous!”
I held out my hand to Lee, “Thank you. I don’t know what changed your mind but we could use the help. The Infernian is parading around as a man named Vega. He runs the town and has a hundred men under him. We need to find my brothers and get out of here fast. If you would take Jennifer, I would forever be in your debt.”
Jennifer spun around, “Hell, no. I’m not leaving here without you.”
My mouth fell open in shock. “Two minutes ago, you were fine with leaving! What the hell changed?”
“Keep your voice down,” she hissed. There are five of us now.”
“Yes, but two came to save you, not us,” I retorted.
“I just don’t want to see our technology fall into the wrong hands, so you are all coming with us. If that means getting your brothers out first, then fine. Anything to get you off my planet,” muttered Hardin.
“Hardin!” Jennifer scolded.
I took her hand, “No, Jennifer, it’s okay. Your people have been terrorized by Infernians for far too long. I expect there to be a bit of hostility toward our kind. Many don’t know the difference. Either way, we have to get to my brothers, and standing here fighting won’t do us any good. Stay behind me, do you understand?”
She nodded her head and silently followed behind myself and Lee with
Hardin and Ragal at the back. I knew the men were still unsure of us. Their division in numbers was all the proof that I needed. It didn’t matter at that moment though, they were working to help us and all I could concentrate on was freeing Karun and Pavar.
Jennifer tugged on my arm, “This is the way to the kitchen. I don’t know where they are keeping the pods.”
“It’s okay. We will find them but I think it’s best if we split up. It might give us a better chance.”
She looked surprised but nodded her head. I couldn’t tell her the truth as I pulled Ragal aside and talked with him while the others waited a few feet away. I wished we were in our other forms and could communicate without speaking but as it was, we spoke in Dragselian dialect that I knew none of them would understand. It was the only way to keep Jennifer safe, whether she liked it or not. She was too precious to me to lose.
“You have to get her out of here,” I told him.
He shook his head, “I am not leaving here without you.”
“I need to find Pavar and Karun but I can’t risk her life. Please brother, follow me on this one. You take her and the young one. Neither of them is ready for a battle if it comes to that.”
“And what about you? Even you can’t take on a hundred men with weapons. If you get caught, it will mean your death.”
“I would rather my death than hers, can’t you see that?”
His eyes widened as he realized the true depth of my feelings for Jennifer. It was a secret I hadn’t shared with anyone yet, the truth only dawned on me when Vega had threatened her life.
“I need to know that she is safe. My life means nothing without her,” I said softly.
He put his hand on my shoulder and nodded his head, “I will keep her safe. You have my word.”
“Thank you, brother,” I told him.
“Jennifer, you go with Ragal and Hardin. Search for a way out. Johnson and I will find the others and meet you.”
“How will you know where to find us?”
I looked at Ragal, “I can follow your scent, all of yours actually. It won’t be difficult.”