Alien Apocalypse: The Complete Series (Parts I-IV)

by JC Andrijeski

  “I thought all of the tapes of those old Retribution matches were destroyed?” Jet said, glancing at Laksri. “Is there any way he could prove who Laksri really was?”

  “We don’t know, pet,” Richter said grimly. “But I’d be willing to bet, proof or no, that he’ll eventually uncover enough to figure out that Laks knew exactly who he was...long before he was ‘discovered’ in a random genetics test for fertility. Trazen won’t buy the Queen’s story for long after that, and he’ll know we’ve all been colluding...even apart from the deal we just made with the usurpers, who are probably more his people than ours. If I’m judging him correctly at all, Trazen will dig until he finds out the truth. He’ll also probably eventually uncover who Laks here worked for in the intervening years...which means me, kitten. Which means he’ll know you’re a plant, too, if he doesn’t already.”

  “What does that mean for us?” Jet said. “Would he go public?”

  “He may not have to,” Richter shrugged. “He could try threatening the Queen, but I think it’s more likely he’d go to his pals in the other factions. Get one of them to discredit Laks and make a bid for the throne. He could get rid of the rest of us however he wanted after that.”

  “Could he do that?” Jet said, puzzled. “Put a whole other family on the throne?”

  Richter shrugged. “Wouldn’t be the first time the bloodline of succession changed. Half of those family trees have some b.s. sprinkled in them, either to cover up some scandal or to legitimize a kid born outside the bloodlines. They rearrange the map every so often to suit their purposes, too. Happens every few thousand years or so...right, Laks?”

  The Nirreth continued to study Jet’s face carefully as he nodded.

  “Yes,” he said.

  Jet looked between them. “So what’s the bottom line? Win the match with the mutant? Or...what? Laks here gets killed in his sleep?”

  “Or while he’s awake,” Richter said, giving her a wan smile. “They’ve done public executions before, too, love. Nirreth love a good blood sport, as you know...whether in the Rings, a Retribution match, or in the town square.”

  Jet only nodded, again biting back what she would have liked to say. She knew Richter was deliberately baiting her, probably to keep her from asking the questions she should be asking. She’d never in her life met anyone so adept at misdirection.

  As if he could read some portion of her thoughts in her eyes, Richter chuckled.

  Again, the laugh was warm enough to throw her.

  “Are you saying you can’t beat the throwback, Jet?” Richter said teasingly. “Tell me, if so. I’ve got money pending on the first one-on-one with the two of you.”

  Jet leaned back in her chair, expressionless, while Richter laughed again.

  When she glanced over at Laks, that worried look hadn’t left his eyes, however.

  THE INCIDENT

  Jet stepped into the chambers of the First Son of the Royals and sighed, hands on her hips. She’d known this room in a different context before she started sharing the space with Laksri. It had been Ogli’s room once, before the little prince was sent away.

  Before Jet murdered his parents.

  Feeling a flicker of nausea in her gut, she pushed the thought away.

  Since that time, Laksri had most of the previous furniture removed. The carpets had been changed out as well, along with most of the wall-hangings, which had been more appropriate for the child Ogli had been, not a grown male Nirreth who spent most of his adult life working the way Laskri had. Sometimes, it was difficult to even remember what the space had looked like before, with Ogli’s brightly-colored clothes and mechanical toys spread all over the carpet, and his pet otter, Scampers, sleeping in the largest of the walk-in closets.

  Even so, Jet had to fight the residual images out of her mind.

  She would have chosen a different room to sleep in, all in all...but the room had undeniable advantages, too. Advantages shared by no other rooms in the palace.

  The big one was the lack of surveillance. Surveillance of any kind was illegal in the royal chambers of the First Son. A security team comprised of Nirreth and humans, overseen by Richter as well as Laksri himself at times, swept the chambers at least twice a day.

  Jet glanced at Laksri, wondering at his silence.

  He remained standing by the door, his normally unexpressive face tighter than usual. Turning away from rather than meeting her questioning stare, he began hitting through controls on one of the wall panels, pausing to scan news and security lines with a methodicalness that belied the unfocused look in his eyes. As Jet continued to watch him, it occurred to her that he wasn’t paying attention to what he was doing at all.

  If she didn’t know better, she’d think he was stalling.

  “Laks?” She quirked an eyebrow humorously. “Something up?”

  There was a pause.

  He turned to face her at the end of it and his dark eyes had re-focused somewhere in that silence. She saw the tension in his body and face dissipate slightly as he studied her face, as if remembering her relaxed him for some reason, too.

  Even as she thought it, he averted his gaze. Immediately, his eyes grew distant once more, and that tension slowly began to return to his posture and expression. He clenched his long jaw, his elongated features turning to stone as he flicked his tail in a rough curl behind him.

  Then he walked directly to where she stood.

  He moved quickly enough that Jet flinched back...barely.

  She didn’t take her eyes off him as he approached. She also didn’t step backwards, even when he moved right into her space, looking down at her with those star-flecked, obsidian eyes. The lighter, blueish bits of color looked brighter than usual, and she found herself thinking it had been awhile since he’d stung her.

  The truth was, they’d been running pretty much nonstop since that night after her first Rings match. They’d shared a few interludes since then. Most had been brief, and for some reason, Laksri had chosen not to go all the way with her, even when Jet made it clear that she wanted to. So really, they’d only been together-together the one time.

  Laksri told her, not long after that night, that he wanted to wait before they did it again. He said he didn’t like that they’d been pushed into doing it prematurely for strategic reasons. He said he wanted to wait until things happened more naturally between them.

  What he hadn’t said, but what Jet felt off him at the time––since he’d stung her recently enough for her to feel a good chunk of what he’d been thinking––was that he wanted Jet to ask him. He wanted her to invite him formally into her bed. Or, more or less formally, anyway. Nirreth formal. She didn’t get the sense Laksri was insecure, but he seemed to want things to start on the right foot with her.

  It wasn’t the first time Jet had gotten the impression that he was thinking long-term about the two of them...probably more long-term than Jet let herself most of the time. Laksri acted more like someone courting than someone who’d just acquired a human pet. That should have reassured Jet, and maybe it did...but it also made her nervous.

  Remembering their one and only real night together didn’t help.

  As the images and sensations tried to swim to the forefront of her mind, Jet felt her face warm, right before she looked up, meeting his gaze.

  “What’s wrong?” she said, giving him a careful smile. “You still pissed off at Richter?”

  “Not him.”

  “Then who?”

  “Trazen.”

  Jet nodded, still holding his gaze. She could see more behind what he was saying...or maybe what he wasn’t saying. She wasn’t sure if she should press the point, though.

  “Well?” she said. “What do you think we should do?”

  He didn’t answer. His eyes remained tense, even as he settled his three-fingered hands with their jointed thumbs around her waist on one side and her hip on the other, pulling her closer to him. As if to emphasize the point, he coiled his tail deliberately around he
r waist, his eyes still on hers. His dark eyes gauged her reaction in the pause after he did it...right before his tail abruptly tightened, pulling their bodies nearly flush with one another.

  “Can I?” he said, his voice gruff.

  She blinked.

  “Can you what?”

  “Sting you.”

  She felt her face warm a little more. “Sting me? Is that all you’re asking me, Laks?”

  “No,” he said, blunt. “I want to have sex.”

  Hesitating a few stuttering heart beats while her brain caught up with his words, she felt her face flush hotter. She studied his eyes, fighting her breathing, and her own facial expression.

  “Why now?” she said finally. “I thought you said––”

  “I know what I said.” His mouth firmed as he looked at hers. “But I’ve waited for you to ask. You haven’t asked. So I am...” His voice turned to a mutter, even as he averted his gaze, his mouth firming to a darker line. “...Before I get too drunk and do something I regret. Something you’re less likely to forgive me for, Jet.”

  She held his gaze, feeling a flutter in her belly, in spite of herself.

  They weren’t connected through the venom, not then, but she recognized the look on his face, well enough to understand the meaning even without the venom to aid with translation. She might have understood it even without how tightly his fingers and tail held her, or the set of his jaw when he began caressing the bare skin of her arm.

  When his black eyes flickered over her again, the flutter turned into a denser warmth, until she found herself averting her eyes, blushing harder as another memory hit her of their one and only night together. He watched her stare at the door, as if waiting for her to think through his question...but his tail tightened gradually around her waist until she could barely breathe. He continued to study her face, right before his fingers slid around the back of her neck, caressing the muscle gently as he pulled her hair off her shoulder, stroking it away from her face and neck so that it hung down her back. A rumbling purr left his throat, as if involuntarily.

  “What is your answer, Jet?” he said.

  Swallowing, she looked up. Raising his eyes from where he’d been once more staring at her mouth, he glanced around them, his eyes harder, but holding an overt meaning.

  “There are no cameras in here. You can say whatever you like. I will do whatever you ask. But be clear with me, Jet...or I’m liable to try again. And again.”

  “And if I say no?” she said. “What then?”

  He narrowed his eyes, his long face expressionless. “If you say no, I will go down to the human settlement tonight and find a female who wants me,” he said.

  Wincing, Jet tried to fight the anger off her expression and failed. Pushing at his chest until he loosened his tail, she stepped back, folding her arms across her chest to force more distance between them. He let her go, but she felt his fingers tighten on her skin before he did it.

  “This angers you?” he said.

  She clenched her jaw. “Don’t flatter yourself.”

  His fingers tightened at his sides. “Don’t lie to me, Jet.”

  “Yes.” Her eyes shifted up, holding his defiantly. “Yes, it angers me. All right?”

  “Why?” he pressed. “Why does it anger you?”

  She fought another surge of anger. “You’re threatening me.”

  “I’m not threatening you.” He exhaled in a slow hiss, looking away from her. Briefly, some of the tension left his face, and his voice. His fingers loosened out of fists. “...The opposite, actually,” he said. “I don’t want you to worry about me forcing myself on you. I can go elsewhere...I will go elsewhere. You don’t need to worry about me.”

  “Worry about you?” Incredulousness reached her voice. “I’m not supposed to worry that you can just coerce some other slave into your bed? How am I supposed to feel about that? I’m human too, Laks. Or had you forgotten?”

  He stared at her, his black eyes flint-like.

  “I won’t need to coerce anyone, Jet,” he said. “Which you would know, if you were paying the slightest bit of attention.”

  Closing her mouth with a snap, she felt her frown deepen, that time without her willing it.

  “Of course,” she muttered. “You’re a prince now. You have groupies.”

  “That is not what I meant.”

  “But it’s true, isn’t it?” she said, looking up at him.

  He exhaled in another irritated purr. “Yes. It is. But even before, it was not difficult. There are humans who like being stung. There are those who seek it out. Every Nirreth knows this. Every Nirreth knows where to go, if they want such a thing. It is not difficult, Jet...it never was.”

  Jet nodded, fighting to keep her expression still. She avoided his eyes, but when the silence stretched, she found herself looking up, unable to help herself.

  “What if I don’t want you to sleep with someone else, Laks?” she said, clenching her jaw. “Are those my only two choices? Sleep with you now or you’ll find someone else?”

  “What would you have me do?” he said.

  She shook her head, feeling her fingers tighten into fists. “I don’t know. But I shouldn’t have to feel like this is my fault. It’s not like I’ve slept with a ton of people, or...” Trailing as she realized what she was saying, Jet felt her face grow hotter. “Do you want me to find someone else, too? I’ve gotten offers. Samurai of the Rings, and all that...it wouldn’t be all that ‘difficult’ for me, either, Laks.”

  “I’m very aware of that,” he said, eyes blazing. For the first time, he looked genuinely angry. “I’ve been offered sums, Jet. Large sums, if I would share you with others of my kind.”

  “So? Do you expect me to thank you for not selling me, Laks?”

  He exhaled again, that time sounding more frustrated than angry.

  Unwinding his tail from around her entirely, he flicked it behind his back in a few whipping arcs, his mouth in a hard line. After another moment, he released her with his hands, too, stepping back from where she stood. He folded his own arms, looking down at her, his legs slightly apart as his dark eyes met hers. He looked like the soldier again, like how he had when she first met him. The stance had a flavor or suggestion to it as well, or maybe she was imagining that part.

  “I told you,” he said. “It’s not a threat. It’s not meant to be coercive. I am merely telling you what I would do. What you decide to do with that information is up to you, Jet.”

  She looked up at him, feeling her face harden more.

  She didn’t speak, though.

  “What would you like me to say?” he asked her.

  She bit her lip. Shaking her head in anger, she hesitated, then said it anyway, not looking at him as she squeezed her ribs with her arms.

  “I thought you liked me,” she said. “I thought we were friends, Laks...that it wasn’t just about the sex thing with us. But if you’re going to go sleep with other humans whenever I say no, or whenever you catch me off-guard...then...” She trailed, not sure how to finish that thought, then just stood there, staring at the floor. “Shit.” She ran a hand through her long hair, fighting to think. After another pause, her jaw hardened. “...Forget it, okay? Just go find some human in the city, if that’s what you want. I’ll find somewhere else to sleep tonight. Okay?”

  She started to walk away from him, but his tail wrapped around her without warning.

  Before she could think, he pulled her against him, closer that time, until her breath got stuck in her chest. She grabbed hold of his arms once she’d regained her balance, looking up at him. At the expression in his eyes, she hesitated. His eyes looked sad, not quite bright, but filled with more emotion than she’d ever seen, at least without his having stung her.

  “What?” she said. “What do you want me to say, Laks?”

  “Are you afraid?” he said, speaking as if she hadn’t spoken. “Are you afraid of me, Jet?”

  She shook her head. “No!”

&nbs
p; “Are you afraid of sex with me?” he persisted, his dark eyes unmoving. “You were stung many times before. Are you afraid, when you are not stung?”

  She stared up at him, frozen briefly in place by his words.

  She tried to think about them, but her hands only tightened on his arms. She grew aware somewhere that he was stroking her hair again, watching her face.

  “You are afraid,” he said.

  It was no longer a question. He let out another purring sigh, and that time, it rumbled through her chest. She heard an apology somewhere in that, too.

  “Jet, I am sorry. I had forgotten. I had forgotten you were new to this.”

  She shook her head, feeling her face burn in embarrassment.

  “It’s all right,” she said, low. “It’s stupid, right?”

  “No.” His voice was softer too. He purred after he spoke, stroking her hair and then her shoulders, his fingers gentle. He pressed more closely against her, tightening his tail around her. After a pause, he was kissing her neck, one hand in her hair as the other rubbed the small of her back. He touched his cheek to hers before raising his head again, studying her eyes.

  “Apart from this fear, what are you memories of this thing?” he said. “Are they pleasant, Jet? What do you remember?”

  She shrugged, still gripping his arms as she tried to keep her expression level. “Pleasant. Yes.” Hesitating, she glanced up at him. “It was great, Laks.”

  He nodded, but a faint smile quirked one side of his mouth. “So, you just wish me to wait? To not sleep with other humans, but to wait for you to be comfortable with this again?”

  She felt her jaw harden, even as she shook her head. “Laks, no...it’s not that...”

  “It’s not?” His expression grew quizzical. “Then what?”

  “I get that you don’t want to do that,” she said. “I get why. It’s okay.”

  “I did not say I would not do that.” His voice carried a faint warning. “I said I would not avoid sex if you did not want me. I said I would find someone else...someone who did want me. But if you want me and are afraid, I will wait.”