by Maia Starr
“You’re in poor spirits, friend,” Jareth said, seeming to remember somewhat late that I’d come to him with a problem. He spoke slowly, with a nasal drawl. He was an eager, scatterbrained genius. But still a genius.
He continued to lay out various gadgets and tech onto the matted table, toddling slowly across the office. “What seems to be troubling you?”
“My commander,” I breathed.
His red eyes went wide, and I could tell he wanted to smile, but he didn’t.
“Best not to say that too loud,” he offered shyly.
“Let him hear!” I yelled: my voice echoing across the lab.
“Temper, temper!” he swatted a tall finger at me. “Now, what’s the problem?”
“The humans,” I said.
He blinked. “Well, is it your commander or the humans?”
I chuckled, taking a seat in the tiny, swirling stool at the counter. “It’s both.”
“Ah. The humans.” Jareth look startled, running his hands along the weapons over and over again like he was nervous about something.
“The humans. The humans,” he hummed. “Hm. I feel like the humans… the humans are doing something.”
“Here I thought there were no humans left,” I muttered. “Yet, poof! They keep appearing like magic and our commander, our Voth, wants nothing more than to…”
I paused and tried to test the word or terminology with my tongue, but nothing would come out.
“Mate with them?” Jareth said, finally taking his eyes off his weapons long enough to look up at me with pursed brows.
He was standing, fully erect on the stool next to me, yet he still seemed so small.
I smiled, flushed, then waved him off.
“Not even them,” I scoffed. “Just her.”
“They make me sick, all of them,” Jareth mumbled in a simple manner, as though I couldn’t be sure whether he was just agreeing to appease me, or if he really had an opinion on the humans.
“I’m absolutely fascinated with them,” he said suddenly in a tone that went up near the end: absent-minded but truthful. “But sick.”
“I feel a rage here, Jareth,” I said carefully. “This foreign soil makes me feel… unnerved.”
Jareth handed me a long, glowing rifle and secured my hands on it. I looked down at its purple hue and then back to him, puzzled. In response, he grabbed the back of my head and forced me to look down the sight of the barrel.
“It’s good,” I affirmed, and he snatched the weapon from my hand, setting it back down on the table and removing several new guns and swords from a thick cloth buried in his armpit.
“I think I know why,” Jareth said, still not looking at me. “Something’s coming.”
“That’s ominous,” I scoffed with a laugh. “More humans?”
Jareth tapped his chin but didn’t seem willing to give me a proper answer.
“I’ll give you a clue, Jareth. They’re already here!” I tilted my head back and felt my limp spire drape against the tiled floor, and I began to sway it from side to side, agitated.
The Yaclion slapped another weapon into my hand, a laser sword, and steadied the grip in my palm before hitting a button on the handle that shot out a laser blade; black heat was radiating at me.
Instinctively, I held the weapon far from my face and extended both my hands forward, feeling like an idiot.
Jareth shook his head, unsure what weapon he should give me that would get a satisfactory reaction.
He scurried to the other side of the room before making a slow return back to our seats. Then, with an outstretched arm, he placed a strange little gun into my palm. Small, hot, and wiry.
“Apparently, pockets of them just keep… cropping up!” I exclaimed.
“I feel something,” he said with suddenly narrowed brown bones; his smooth skin was taking on a rough texture and dotting with black spots. A sign of worry or irritation.
“I feel a headache,” I said, rubbing my temple with my free hand. “So, what does this thing do anyway?”
“It’s a heat projectile,” he said, turning the weapon in my hand and showcasing with his fingers how it might be used. “It bursts forth flames. Good for hunting, heat, h—”
“You know we inhabit their houses, right?” I laughed. “Temperature’s regulated.”
He narrowed his brows, as though he had just remembered he was trying to tell me something. Then he looked at me and announced, “I feel something.”
“So you keep saying,” I said, bored. “About the humans?”
“It’s a deep unnerve,” he explained with some confusion. “Yaclion are more attuned to empath relations. I trust that you will feel it too, eventually.”
“Good to know,” I chuckled. “For the humans? You’ll feel it when they’re near?”
The blue creature smiled widely, all but calling me silly. “It doesn’t work like that.”
“Yet you’re smiling?” I nipped. “Well, whatever it is you’re feeling must be shared by the Voth. Anyone who seems to come into contact with those humans loses their will.”
“To what?”
I blanched. “To… what?”
Jareth just stared then; blinked. “Their will for…?”
“Oh,” I blinked and shook my head. “Their will to fight. You should see the look in Araxis’ eyes. It’s like he’s lost his mind. There is no… drive, anymore. One he was willing the death of the human race, and now he’s feeding one. Literally, feeding. With his hands!” I exclaimed, raising my hands to the air.
Any signs Jareth was listening went out the window as his eyes widened and he reached for the heat weapon that I had nearly flung into the sky, scooping it out of my hands and setting it back down on the table with ease.
“It’s despicable,” I continued. “He was the one who used to slaughter them in the first place.”
“I remember,” Jareth finally said. “Perhaps life here has given him a change of heart.”
I rolled my eyes. “Or she has.”
“Tessoul,” he said, seriously now. “Let me know if you feel anything.”
“About the humans?”
“You…” He sighed and set a ginger hand on my arm. “Need to stop talking about the humans for the night. You’re making me feel scattered.”
“Yeah.” I felt resigned. “They seem to have that effect on people.”
I stood from my chair and wiped off the pauldrons of my armor; dusted down my legs and then did a big stretch. Then my eyes shot to Jareth’s.
“Hey, wait… the Voth… they sense heat, Jareth.”
“So? And? Yes?”
I blinked. “So, if this weapon comes into the hands of the humans, can’t they…” I twirled my fingers, searching for the words. “Use it against us?”
“Oh, of course. But what makes you think they’ll get ahold of it?” he said quickly and efficiently. “I can assure you our security if the top of–”
“Alright, alright,” I waved him off with a laugh, giving one last unsure assessment of the heat gun. “Just keep this locked up tight, alright?”
Chapter Five
Sidney
It didn’t take us long to get from the trailer park to the mountainside; a week at most. Baxley told me he’d spotted the same Vithohn scouting the nearby fields and valleys by this location for some time now. Said the thing kept coming back, though he couldn’t say for what reason.
My commodore told me that the creature didn’t gather food or meet with anyone; he just stared off. I couldn’t fathom why, but I had an unsavory feeling we might be walking into a trap.
We being myself and Lele.
Baxley called her a robot, believing she was entirely machine-built. I knew he was right, but referred to her as a cyborg anyhow, preferring to think she was my friend and not a blind follower.
She was modeled after a beautiful Native American woman, with intricately long braids, tan skin, and a stunning profile. Her forehead dipped in far at the eyes and then protruded in
to the most graceful nose I had ever seen, like a ski slope.
“You ready to be brave?” I asked as we crouched behind a valley of tall boulders, watching and waiting for the beast to appear.
“I was not programmed with real fear,” she said with a snarky tone and then looked over at me. “Though if you like, I could bite my lip with perceived worry.”
I could never tell if Lele was being sarcastic in nature or if she truly said things with a lack of feeling due to being robotic. I liked to think it was the former, and for that reason, Lele and I got along swimmingly.
“Even better then,” I said.
Like mine, Lele’s body was heavily armored with plating and wires, though she was patronizingly small in frame. She was petite and perfect by design.
Her chin was small, too small for her face, and her lips large and pointed. They made me jealous.
I always considered myself plain; or worse than that, a redhead. Fair skin, freckles—someone who stands out. I used to hate that as a kid, but now I ran with it. Standing out meant I’d never be forgotten, and I liked that feeling a lot.
“There he is,” I pointed and immediately regretted volunteering for this job.
Lele looked out at the creature and blinked, the blue shimmer of her eyeshadow catching the moonlight.
“I’m ready,” I whispered, cocking my gun, drawing in a big breath as I stood.
To my surprise, Lele grabbed my arm and pulled me back ever so slightly.
“Please be careful, miss,” she said lowly and worked herself into a frown before wandering out into the grasslands.
The alien noticed her immediately, his big eyes darting in her direction.
He was definitely a Vithohn. I could tell by the limp spire that sprouted from the back of his head and lay dead down his backside.
Lele opened fire on the beast, doing her best to look lost and robotic and succeeding.
The Vithohn whipped at her with his tentacle and went rabid almost immediately; his eyes glazed over with fury as he pinned her to the ground and began scratching at her thick armor, beating against her.
His long face held a scaled texture across his extended forehead and down his nose. Beyond that, his skin was smooth all around with a glowing green hue. The color was especially vibrant around his scales and running down the tentacle that came down the back of his head.
I swallowed hard at the sight of him and suddenly couldn’t believe I was thrusting myself into his path.
“I’m sorry!” I screamed, running toward him and firing a warning shot into the air. “That’s my machine,” I said, pointing to Lele. “Please, let me take her, and we’ll both get out of your way. Please.”
The alien was tall: much taller than me. He had broad shoulders and a body almost entirely covered by armor and medals. The way he led with his chest told me he was proud of whatever those medals represented: that I should be impressed somehow.
I thought he might cock his head or turn to speak, but he didn’t He merely looked me up and down and then thrust himself toward me with snarling teeth.
He pinned me to the ground, and I quickly shot into his arm, causing him to lurch back in surprise. He traced his hand over his shoulder and looked at the blood that covered his fingers with shock.
“Relax!” I screamed and managed to squirm away from his grasp.
This was a bad, bad, shitty idea.
I doubled back and ran, not bothered any longer to look back and see where he might be. The snow began to fall, and I hoped that it might serve as a distraction for him, or at least a blinder.
I bolted toward Lele but felt his spire wrap around me, slithering up my leg and pulling me to the ground with a hard, muddy fall.
“I’m getting a little sick of you,” he said, and the sound of his voice startled me more than the attack did.
He pulled me toward him and crouched down to meet my face.
The man had four hooped nose rings that clasped horizontally across his wide nose bridge. Beyond his skin and long face, everything else seemed like other Homo sapiens. His eyes were pale blue and an exaggerated almond shape that still seemed human somehow, even as his ears folded flat onto his skull, waiting to perk up at the slightest noise.
“I’m not so fond of you, either,” I literally spat.
Driven by instincts alone, I began punching him in the nose, feeling the hard weight of his nose rings against my knuckles and raging out a scream as I hit him.
“Good job, miss,” Lele said with her muted tone.
Her voice was crisp and cut through the wintery air clear enough to make the creature stop and laugh.
Actually laugh.
Obviously, he didn’t think I was doing as good a job as Lele did, but it was enough to disarm him.
Lele looked at me then, and with her adorable tone, she said, “Might I suggest you take advantage of this opportunity to move in your womanly wiles?”
I breathed inward and looked up at the creature. He met my eyes with confusion, and I winced, leaning up and kissing him.
I set my hands on either side of his masculine face and surprisingly, he let me. His lips were soft and smooth: large and kissable.
And as simply as that, the creature seemed immediately calmed.
The Vithohn exhaled a long, hot breath and turtled his neck from me. “What was that?” he asked sharply, needling his brows.
“It’s called…” I stammered nervously and then offered him a sheepish grin. “A kiss.”
The man looked at me, and a nervous energy exploded between us as he leaned back down and took my lips in his once more, testing me out: tasting me. His mouth danced against mine softly until his tongue teased and flicked my teeth.
I felt a pulse in my middle that made me thrust upward toward his body, pushing myself deeper into the kiss.
He pulled away again, looking down to examine me and I let out a flirtatious laugh.
“A fan of that, are we?” I said wryly.
He cocked his head to the side and loosened his grip on me, though not letting me go.
“Why did you disarm me?” he demanded; the softness I just gleaned from him suddenly gone. “What did you do?”
He shook me then, and I felt the strength of him; I felt his anger return. He pushed me down and stood from me, pacing furiously. He held his head in his hands and looked between Lele and myself with a confused, angry stare.
“I just wanted to…” I blanched.
Want to… what?
Was I supposed to tell him that I heard I could control the Vithohn, or at the very least quell them by offering up my body?
No way in hell.
“I was afraid,” I finally summarized.
“I see,” he said dismissively, whipping around once more to look me up and down. “And you felt that would help keep you from my people?” he scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Where did you come from?” he demanded, stomping his foot in my direction as the snowflakes fluttered between us in a hurry.
I pulled my coat closer to me and shivered against the wind, wincing back as the creature shouted, “Who are you working with?”
It was then I was assured that his people were still mostly oblivious to the pockets of human militia that they had failed to wipe out. That fact made me want to bust out with a big grin, but I didn’t.
Before I had the chance to respond, he grabbed me, gripping his large hand around my wrist and pulling me forward.
“You’re coming back with me,” he seethed.
“Please,” I begged, pulling away from him. “I was with a small group of people, but they’ve all died from…” I looked around quickly and then pointed skyward to the snow. “The elements. It’s just me and Lele here; please, let us go, and we’ll never bother you again.”
“Le…” Seeming to forget about Lele, the creature whipped around to regard her and then surmised, “Ah.”
“I don’t want to die,” I said with a whimper, still pulling away from him. “Please.”
; “You humans seem to be cropping up in the strangest places,” he said, towering over me and squinting down at me suspiciously. “You’ll be coming back to our barracks. That’s my orders.”
“That’s what brought you out here?” I scoffed.
We stood there, blistering in the mounting snowstorm and I could see his lips going blue.
He seemed to consider my question and, still with his hand fastened around my wrist, he said, “What are you insinuating?”
“It just seems odd that you’re out here,” I needled. “You’re without any sort of crew; like I was invading on something… personal?”
“No,” he snapped, a little too quickly.
“Please,” I offered again. “Give me one night before you give me to your people. I’m begging you.”
“Why? So you can sneak off and alert your people as to where they can find us?”
“First of all, it’s no secret where to find you. Second, I would be doing more harm than good by going back to my people even if they were still alive, because you’d probably just follow me.”
Lele blinked rapidly at my rant and took a single step toward us, oblivious to the winter’s elements.
“Aggression has an eighty-percent failure rate with the beast,” she said swiftly.
The Vithohn looked at me with widened eyes, infuriated now. “The beast?”
“The Vithohn, the Vithohn!” I insisted. “She's smart, but it takes her a while to scan your genetic makeup. She's an older model.”
A lie, of course.
Lele never got it wrong.
“My apologies,” the girl said evenly.
The creature breathed hard through his nose and let go of me with a hard toss of my wrist. “Beast,” he scoffed.
I swallowed and tried not to smirk. “Sorry about that.”
“Lifeform identified as a Vithohn,” Lele spouted off; her eyes turned to information mode. “Lele will now persist in calling the green beast by his accurate DNA.” Then she looked at me and offered me a private wink.
Was she purposely trying to piss him off? I stared at the beautiful girl, and my eyes went wide, causing me to burst into a belly laugh.