by Iaz Grant
“I need you to draw a trajectory from Polentia. He didn’t just vanish with Helena; they went somewhere, and I want to know where. Lock into coordinates, I want to know what planets are occupied, I want to know who the occupants are, including those on the Islands. I want you to do what you do best, do not leave any stretch of land unaccounted for.”
“Understood, sir.”
“I can assist Tyler,” Joyce spoke up “I am not half bad at using those things Tyler plays with,” She said, referring to his many devices. He nodded his head; there might as well be an extra hand because that was no easy task for one person and he couldn’t afford any discrepancy.
He watched Tyler pick up one of his many devices and get to work immediately, along with Joyce.
“Karliah…”
“Work every of our contacts and find out if anyone knows a Chubbob, the conqueror. Where he lives, what he does, who he is friends with and everything there is to know about him.”
He could do nothing but smile. It didn’t surprise him that Karly had accurately preempted him before he even said anything. She was extraordinary at itemizing her roles and what needed to be done. Not for the first time, he thought how lucky he was to have her at his side.
“I’ll get us something to eat,” she turned around and moved towards the eating area where ready to eat food was kept.
He, on the other hand, would go through similar documented cases that had happened in the past, in distant places. Maybe he could find a connection somewhere or maybe pathways to follow.
Karliah returned, her arms laden with snacks and drinks which she passed out to everyone, including the Brakoni and then she took her seat, ready to get to work. From the corners of his eyes, he saw Sordana stand up and move in Karliah’s direction. It looked like she was asking if there was anything she could do to help. He expected Karliah to brush her aside impatiently or at the very least be rude and haughty but to his surprise, she nodded her head and motioned Sordana to a seat. Who would have thought?
He was trying hard to keep his mind occupied and not think about Helena and what could be happening to her at that moment.
With a sigh, he hoped she knew he would never give up until he found her.
Chapter Nine
Helena woke up in the room she had been taken to yesterday by Cora.
She felt disoriented and confused. The events of yesterday slowly trickled into her mind. She had no recollection of walking back to her room from her unfortunate stint with the beast. The last memory she had before everything was blank was sitting down on the floor in a corner of the room and mulling over her predicament.
How had she gotten back to this room?
She hoped beyond anything that it had been the man who had come for her earlier yesterday that had returned her back. Granted, he wasn’t her friend, but he was a step up from the beast. Anybody was.
Sitting up in bed, her gaze combed the room. Even without the lights, it didn’t look much more different than what she had seen yesterday.
“Good, you are awake, I checked in on you earlier, but you were sleeping. Understandably so, you must have been exhausted”. Her head came up, and she saw Cora bustling into the room. She busied herself with drawing the drapes to allow sunlight and fresh air into the room.
Helena’s mouth felt wooden, and she couldn’t seem to form an appropriate reply, although Cora didn’t seem to mind. She went right on.
“You should take a shower and I’ll have someone bring in your breakfast in a moment.” She continued, finally taking a seat opposite the bed where Helena sat.
Was she always this cheerful? Helena couldn’t help but wonder how anyone could be chirpy so early in the day and that too, under such unsavory conditions. She wondered exactly what Cora’s job was, apart from well, the obvious. She seemed so at home and in her element. She wanted to ask questions, but she had only just met Cora yesterday, and ingrained manners dictate that she not pry. They didn’t know each other, and she was loathed to anger her caretaker.
“I imagine you would be bored out of your mind, there are some indoor games you could play” and then, she went ahead to list all of them. “You can also stay right outside if you feel the need for air and space; no one will bother you as long as you don’t stray away from sight.
What about the beast? She hoped she didn’t have to see him today, or any other day. He was probably out somewhere buying some innocent woman; she reflected bitterly.
“I’ll check on that breakfast,” Cora said, and then she was alone again.
It would do her no good sitting in bed all day. It certainly wouldn’t help her figure out an escape route. She might as well get on with the day.
She swung her legs over the side of the bed and pulled herself up. She went into the adjoining bath and discarded the torn satin nightgown she had on. The ritual of brushing her teeth and having her bath seemed like a chore but she managed to get through it.
She drained the tub after bathing and cleaned it up the best she could. She didn’t want anyone picking up after her.
She re-entered the bedroom and went to the cupboard Cora had told her had clothes and other things she might need. She leafed through the cloth on each hanger, her fingers lingering to feel the nature of the fabric. Everything there looked so glam, like something you would hear at a dinner or a classic night out with friends. She couldn’t wear any of these. She combed through the items of clothing until she saw a loose-fitting blue ankle length gown. It had a few embellishments too but it was the simplest she had seen, and it would have to do.
After putting on the gown, she was wondering what she was supposed to do next when a young girl of about 13 came into the room bearing a tray. Where had she come from? The house was so silent; she had assumed it was just herself and Cora staying on this side. Now, she had met a man the previous day and then, this girl.
The girl dropped the tray she was carrying on the table and without raising her head up, she exited the room.
She might as well eat; she thought to herself. She would need all of her strength when she had an escape plan.
There had to be an Achilles’ heel somewhere, and she was going to find it.
Chapter Ten
Sleep had eluded Zebb.
Even though he had been physically and mentally drained, his brain had refused to shut down. It just kept on in a continuous loop of recycling information.
Karliah came awake first, the same way she did everything else, quickly and with complete awareness. No moments of confusion or groggy incomprehension with Karliah.
Tyler, Joyce, and Sordana came awake in varying degrees too. It was the dawn of another day.
“You didn’t get any sleep, did you?”
He had expected that she would notice the signs, Karliah observed everything. He couldn’t have kept his sleepless night a secret from her if he had tried and he hadn’t. There had been dots to connect and sleep would have simply been a waste of a good time.
“No, I didn't.”
She sighed. It was useless giving him a lecture about adequate rest about better performance.
Yesterday, while they had each been carrying out their assigned tasks, Tyler and Joyce had found that of the twenty planets that existed outside the Alliance, only five was currently inhabited. The remaining fifteen were wastelands that couldn’t support life in any form, so it was safe to count them out as options. That left them with five planets to work with. Of the five, two had a higher percentage of alien to human habitation while the remaining three tended towards an equal percentage habitation.
Karliah had reached out to their core and loyal informers. They didn’t want to trip Chubbob up with whispers that people were after him just yet. The smaller the circle was, the better at the moment. They had not gotten any feedback yet, but it had been only a few hours since they sent out the chatter. He was going to be optimistic about this one.
According to what Sordana had said, he looked different. Someone like that would stick
out like a sore thumb, and he doubted it would take long.
He was going to enjoy killing him…slowly. For daring ever to put his hands on his Helena and everything in between.
But, enough with the bloodthirsty thoughts. He stood up and stretched.
Time to get on with the business of the day.
----- End Of Book 2 -----
Beyond
Book 3
Iaz Grant
Copyright © 2016 by Iaz Grant
All rights reserved. No part of this guide may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
Published by Grant Publishing
Chapter One
Helena jerked up suddenly from her bed like a bullet shot from a pistol. She took in her surroundings groggily, still trying to wake up fully from her drug-like induced sleep. Slowly and inevitably, the events of the previous night came crashing like waves through her now conscious state, and the memories that came through were not pretty.
She recalled vividly being summoned by the beast. Cora had made sure she was dressed in one of the regal clothes from her new wardrobe. She also styled her hair into a chignon, leaving wisps on the side. Helena caught her reflection in the mirror as she was leaving. On another day, in another place, she would have felt regal, like a queen. But given her present condition, she only felt like a sacrificial lamb being prepared for slaughter.
When she heard a voice saying “Ma’am, it is time to go.” she straightened her back, raised her chin, and injecting as much steel into her voice, said, “Let’s go.”
On getting to the beast’s room, it was the same as the last time she was there, except now, the girl was a different one. Despite the fact that the lightening in the room was dim, Helena could tell that the other woman had beautiful olive skin, and hair the color of midnight, with a tinge of gold that went past her waist. She was a gorgeous lady. No wonder the beast has her, she thought to herself, as it is common knowledge the beast went after women of beauty. The beauty he was devoid of, both inside and outside.
He rose from his reclining position on the plush velvet chaise chair, and he walked with as much grace as a hippopotamus towards her- naked of course. Helena had thought that after the last time she saw him naked, that she could not be shocked again, or even possibly be more repulsed. But boy was she wrong! The sight of the beast before her, with his stiff member leading the way sent waves after waves of repulsion through her so bad that she tried to throw up, but she only ended up dry heaving. The beast laughed, no, cackled at the sight of the finely dressed Helena trying to control her repulsion towards him. It felt to Helena that her very discomfiture brought him joy.
“My precious,” he said, more like hissed out, for that was what he sounded like to her. In the past -for she had to regard her life before her abduction as her past -when she was called “precious,” she took it as a compliment and it brought a smile to her face. But hearing it now from the mouth of the beast, it sounded wrong and left a bitter taste in her lips.
“Watch and learn my precious, for when the time is right, I want full value for my newest acquisition,’’ he said to her, regarding her with a hungry look. Helena swallowed hard and tried to detach her mind from her present surroundings. The beast roared with laughter, and with a flick of his wrist, the woman came sauntering towards them like a well-trained pet, or rather, a well-trained sex machine.
He fondled her breasts hard, all the while looking at Helena as if to say,“This should be you.”Helena worked harder at detaching her mind from the gruesome and debasing scene she had to witness when the beast grabbed the girl’s hair with the gentility of a tornado and used it to direct her mouth towards his male member. “Harder!” he shrieked, and the girl continued sucking like her life depended on it. At that point, Helena was filled with all sorts of emotions, but the principal one was an annoyance, how can a woman be so compliant to such a degrading act? She thought to herself. At that moment, a picture of what she did with Xander came unbidden into her mind and the fact that some part of her liked it made her annoyance turn to self-disgust.Who was she to judge another?
“When do you complete your lady business?”
The question was directed at her, the beast regarding her with eyes glazed over with lust, for the girl was still sucking him.
“That is none of your business.” Helena spat at him, injecting as much hatred as she could into it- Hatred fueled by disgust, fear and a lack of hope. Her period would end that very day.
The beast flared up at this, and he shoved the girl blowing him away. He rose to his full height, striking a very imposing figure and said, “You will answer any question I ask you. You will do anything I tell you to do. You will obey my every command, and every breath you take will be to satisfy me!” He loomed over her, and his cold voice sent a shiver of fear, and then some down her spine.
“Yes sir.” she said with submission she didn’t even have to force.
“Good girl.” he said, smiling- if it could be called that, for he looked so hideous when he smiled, even more, hideous than his already hideous face, which is saying a lot.
“In fact, I think you have learned enough. Suck me.” he said. He was referring to Helena.
“No, no, no, no. Please god, no, don’t let this be, don’t let this be,” she thought to herself.
“Suck me,” he repeated, with a not so subtle tinge of impatience. He had the look of a man that mustn’t be crossed, for if he were, he could make thunder strike you dead. He shoved her to the floor, and using her hair to hold her; he pushed himself into her mouth. She had a quick recollection of what Xander felt like in her mouth, and decided immediately that this wasn’t like it, that no part of her body was going to like this- and she didn’t. Tears streamed down her face as he continued to push his rock hard member into her mouth, and whether or not he felt her tears, he gave no indication.
Helena closed the gate to the memories and tried to revive her damaged hope, for that was all she had.
Chapter Two
Tyler was staring hard at the monitors in the monitor room of Juliet Seven, but the activities of one monitor, in particular, held his attention. What he saw rocked his world so hard he didn’t even realize his jaw was hanging open, not until he heard a voice.
“You might want to close your mouth before you start drooling all over the instruments,” Karliah said, in her usual slightly bored tone.
“Take a look at this.” he said to her.
“What is it now?” It was the same bored tone, not that it was any surprise to him. Nevertheless, she left what she was doing to stand beside him, in a bid to see the causal agent of the shell-shocked look.
“By the gods!” she hissed out through her teeth. Anger and fear chased themselves across her face as she processed the horror she saw on the screen.
“Do not let Zebb see this, understood?” she whispered softly. All Tyler could do was a nod, for he was still reeling from the view on the monitor.
“Do not let Zebb see what?” As if conjured, Zebb intoned from the doorway.
He folded his strong arms over his chest and wore an exhausted expression. His face looked gaunt from lack of sleep and enough food. He definitely sounded like a broken man, but for his eyes. His eyes told a different story- A story of resilience, of a man that refused to be broken by the obstacles life throws at him, of a man who would relish killing the unlucky bastard that dared to go with his Helena.
“Err, nothing!” Karliah and Tyler said at the same time, cutting off his view of the monitor.
Zebb looked first from one to the other with a look of amusement on his face. When did the two of them become close partners in crime? He thought to himself, but out loud, he said: “You two move out of my way, let me see what you are up to.”