by S. E. Smith
“Me?” she asked at last, her voice dripping with doubt.
“Yes, you, Victoria. You are my soulmate.”
Shards of bright pink shot from her aura, testifying to her happiness; yet, she shook her head in denial.
“I do not expect you to understand or even accept what I’m saying right now,” I said in a conciliatory tone. “Humans do not have the ability to see auras or perceive certain links as we do. But does it not strike you as odd how effortlessly you and I have become at ease with each other? We only met this morning, and yet, here I am, sharing your bed, fully naked. Are you afraid I might hurt or take advantage of you?”
She shook her head.
“Would you have been this comfortable with any of my brothers?”
She shook her head again and bit her bottom lip. Fighting the urge to kiss her, I ran my thumb over her lower lip.
“When we’ve eliminated the Kryptids, I request permission to properly court you in the hopes that you will return with me to Khepri, my homeworld, as my bonded mate—or my wife, as humans would say.”
Victoria gaped at me, her beautiful aqua eyes flicking between mine. “You are serious!”
“We do not play about this,” I replied in a serious tone. “As I said, we bond for life. No other female in the entire universe will ever be able to awaken my bonding glands. Only you. All that I am is yours, Victoria.”
She licked her lips nervously and looked at me with wonder laced with a possessiveness that made my skin warm and my hearts soar.
“That’s … that’s kind of amazing,” she said with a nervous laugh. “So, hmmm … What do those glands do? And what’s the deal with your fangs?”
“The bonding requires that I bite you. I will inject you with some of my essence, which will increase your lifespan to match mine, make you less vulnerable to diseases, accelerate your rate of healing, and make you compatible to bear my offspring.”
“Whoa,” she said, eyes widening.
“Do not fear. It will not change your appearance. My hormone will merely enhance you. If you bond with me, the expectation is that you will live about two hundred years, and you will keep your youthful appearance until you are one hundred and fifty.”
“You drive a hard bargain,” Victoria teased, probably to hide how overwhelmed she must be feeling.
“It’s a lot to digest. But don’t worry. There’s no pressure. Like I said, once the war is over, you will be properly courted, as you deserve to be.”
She smiled, tension uncoiling from her shoulders. “I think you’re growing on me, scales and all.”
I chuckled. “And it’s only the beginning, my Red.”
“So … All those enhancements sound nice. But do I get to do that telepathy stuff, too?” she asked.
I hesitated. “Hmmm, not from our bonding, no. However, Dr. Xi intends to approach your people to ask for volunteers in trying out an enzyme which will develop their psychic abilities.”
“No way!?” she exclaimed, torn between shock and excitement.
“Yes way,” I responded, most pleased by her enthusiastic response. “Our creator believes humans could become the most powerful psychics in the Intergalactic Coalition. We couldn’t approach you before because of the Prime Directive. But now that the Kryptids have made first contact, we can finally open discussions with your world leaders.”
“You can sign me up right now! I’m totally volunteering.”
My hearts swelled with affection for my woman. “I was hoping you would say that. I cannot wait to touch minds with you, my beautiful mate.”
Leaning forward, I captured her lips in a tender kiss. Victoria responded in kind. Within seconds, my mating glands began to throb, and my fangs ached to descend. Despite my hunger for my woman, I wouldn’t rush her.
With much reluctance, I broke the kiss, before either of us got carried away, and held her tight. She cuddled against me, and I pulled the blanket over us.
“Cinnamon,” she whispered, her head resting on my chest. “Cinnamon and ginger …?”
“It is the scent of my pheromones,” I admitted, feeling slightly embarrassed. “They kick into action every time I kiss you, and I have to rein them in.”
“Why?” Victoria asked, her thumb absentmindedly caressing the scales on my chest.
“Because they act as an aphrodisiac. So, I will spare you from them until later when you’ve gotten to know me better. I have a few other surprises you will definitely enjoy,” I said in a voice full of promises. She lifted her head to look at me and ask a question, but I pressed a finger to her lips. “No, I’m not telling you anything else, or it will ruin the surprise. Sleep, my mate. It is getting late, and I suspect we will have to be up early.”
I hated how that brought back a sliver of the worry Victoria had temporarily shed during our banter. Hopefully, all would go as planned in the morning, and she would be safe until we eradicated the vermin infesting her planet.
Hopefully.
My arms tightened around my mate, who cuddled even more closely with me. I closed my eyes, a contented smile on my face.
Chapter Five
Victoria
I woke up with a start, kicked out of the best naughty dream ever featuring a tall and sexy golden alien. The tense look on the face of that very alien, who now towered over me, erased every remnant of my lustful haze. My senses immediately on alert, I jumped out of bed at his urging. Doom had already donned his weapons attachments.
“My motion detectors have been triggered,” Doom explained. “Only a Kryptid or a Drone would have set them off. They are moving in this direction. Legion and the others won’t be here for at least half an hour, maybe more. You must leave at once.”
I’d no sooner finished shoving my feet into my shoes than he was dragging me towards the entrance. I cast a desperate look towards the stairs to the basement as we passed them.
“You’ve done all that you can for them. I’ll lock the door. The Swarm will likely pass right by this place. They are mindless Drones.”
My heart ached for my patients, but staying here to die with them would be pointless. The drug wouldn’t be out of their systems for at least another twelve hours. Stran stood at the entrance, the sharp, dagger-like darts protruding from beneath the scales of his back and tail. Teeth bared, claws out, the Creckel was ready for combat.
Doom checked the scanner on his armband before opening the front door. Stran burst out into the street, running on all fours. Still holding my hand, Doom pulled me after him, forcing me to jog to keep up with his long strides.
“There are a few rations and a couple of bottles of water in the hoverbike’s carriage,” he said while helping me onto the bike. “Go back to the church. Legion confirmed that area is clear. Wrath will send a shuttle to get you.”
My blood turned to ice in my veins when I realized he intended to stay behind.
“No! Come with me!” I exclaimed, clinging to his forearm. “You can’t face them alone!”
“I have to stay with Stran and hold them back for as long as possible,” Doom said, gently but firmly freeing himself from my grasp. “Go. I need to know you’re safe.”
“You’re going to die,” I said, tears pricking my eyes. “Please, come with me. I just found you. I can’t … I can’t …”
“Hush, my love,” Doom said, cupping my face in his hands. “I will always come back to you. Always. Trust me.” He crushed my lips with a desperate kiss before pulling away from me.
His head jerked right to look over his shoulder, and he appeared to strain his ears to hear something. I looked past him at the empty street, wondering what he was listening for. Then I heard it. A distant clicking sound like heavy rain falling on a window. Faint at first, it rapidly grew louder.
“They’re coming. GO!” Doom ordered as he began to shift into his battle form.
Swallowing a choked sob, I started the engine.
“However long it takes, I swear I will come back to you, my Red. Go!” Doom repeated
.
“I will hold you to it,” I said with a shaky voice.
Through blurred vision, I forced myself to take off. A series of shrill screeches rose behind me, giving me chills. Through my side mirror, I saw Doom run at an impossible speed away from me … toward the Swarm. Before he even reached the intersection, a sea of nightmarish black creatures poured into the street like a tsunami. I’d estimate each to be six feet tall, looking something like a giant mouse spider with the upper body of a beefed-up praying mantis. Stran crashed through them like a bowling ball amidst living pins. He crushed countless Drones while simultaneously shooting darts.
They’re not going to make it.
There were too many, far too many. All the ones who fell were quickly replaced. I forced myself to look ahead at the road the minute they closed in around Doom. He had grown too small in my mirror anyway, and I didn’t want to see him die. A searing pain lacerated my chest as the distance grew. By the time I reached the church, I had grown numb.
I had left my heart behind.
I never got to enter the church. A small shuttle decloaked a few meters ahead while completing its landing. I nearly jumped out of my skin. Even after I recognized the Xian Warrior ship, my heart continued to try to pound its way out of my chest.
I stood shaking by the hoverbike while a familiar silhouette stepped out of the vessel. It took me a second to remember his name: Wrath. He jogged the short distance between us, a concerned look on his perfect face.
“Are you hurt?” he asked, giving me a quick once over.
His words registered, and I meant to answer them, but different words spilled out of my mouth instead.
“Save him! There are too many. Please. Please save him.”
Tears flooded my eyes, and I couldn’t hold back the sobs. I barely knew Doom, and yet my heart was being shredded to pieces as horrible visions of those nightmarish creatures devouring him alive played in a loop in my mind.
I was vaguely aware of Wrath drawing me into his embrace. He wore a look of compassion on features so like my Doom’s and yet so different. The world tilted as he picked me up and carried me inside the shuttle. Another presence retrieved the hoverbike.
“He promised he’d come back to me,” I stuttered between sobs, “but there were too many. So many …”
“Hush, Victoria. Do not fret so. Doom always keeps his word,” Wrath said in a soothing voice. “However long it takes, he will come back to you.”
I heard his words and knew them to be meaningless. As a doctor, I’d too often had to speak empty words of encouragement to desperate families. Unseeing, I stared out the shuttle’s window as we took off. A part of me had died out there with Doom and Stran—who also had carved a place in my heart.
After a short flight, we landed inside the docking bay of a larger vessel where Wrath dropped me off before leaving again on another rescue mission. Within, an impressive number of Hulanian females seemed to be running the show. I looked for Shoyesh in vain. As Doom’s assistant, she would certainly know whether he’d made it out alive. I’d been so lost in my distress that I’d forgotten to ask Wrath to try to mind-speak with Doom to find out if he still lived. But I wasn’t given much chance to dwell on any of this.
One of the Hulanians escorted me to a massive room crammed with human refugees. The vessel was on its way to one of the safe camps to unload us. Within minutes, I’d volunteered to examine and tend to the people with medical conditions. Burying myself in work would help me forget what I had lost before I ever truly had it.
Camp 485 was one of the busiest in the area but just a temporary way station for most of the displaced. I’d elected to stay, at least for the time being. It was located in a human military base where many of our fighting troops were also stationed. Refugees transited through here before transferring to the remote camps much farther away from the hotspots.
A week had gone by since Doom’s passing, and Xian Warriors were constantly dropping by, but I saw them from a distance. Just as the man from the supermarket had foretold, medical doctors were a hot commodity for our human troops. Even with the golden aliens taking the brunt of the damage by thinning the herd, our troops coming in behind still managed to get injured, some of them badly.
I’d seen a few familiar faces here, one of them Father Robert from Our Mother of Mercy. He'd also elected to remain and provide spiritual comfort to those who sought it, regardless of faith. I had missed Andy who had moved on to one of the other camps further north where our patients from our makeshift hospital had also been transferred. They had all survived thanks to Doom and Stran’s sacrificing themselves to lure away the Drone Swarm. There had been no news of Laetitia or Johann. I tried not to imagine the fate that had befallen them.
“Hey, did you see this?” Isabelle, a friendly nurse, asked, startling me. She slapped a flyer down on the table and plopped herself into the folding chair next to mine in the large mess hall where I’d been ‘enjoying’ my break.
“What is it?” I asked, taking a sip of my watered-down coffee.
“That thing you’d been asking about,” she replied, tossing her black hair over her shoulder before tapping the flyer with her finger. “They’re looking for volunteers for some experiment. Our government approved it. I don’t buy this bullshit about it making us psychics.”
I grabbed up the flier and scanned it: Room 24A. I jumped to my feet so abruptly my chair toppled over.
“Thanks,” I said, fervently but distractedly, before rushing off.
She called out my name, sounding flabbergasted, but I didn’t have time to chitchat, especially considering how long-winded she could be at times. I felt slightly annoyed with myself that it had been posted, but I’d missed it. Tons of people would likely volunteer, and spots would no doubt be limited. I needed this. Although my head knew Doom had died, my heart refused to let go. If this telepathy business worked, I could try to reach out to him, or to Legion, or Wrath.
I entered Room 24A, a classroom repurposed temporarily as a sort of clinic. To my disappointment, only humans greeted me there, not even a Hulanian. I didn’t know any of the medical staff administering the treatment. They had apparently arrived just yesterday. They gave me a thick pile of documents to read and sign, discharging them of any responsibility. The list of potential side effects was surprisingly short and unalarming. The worst thing they mentioned were mild to severe headaches, temporary dizziness, or blurred vision in the hour after receiving the enzyme. All such side effects were expected to fade within a couple of hours with no risk of recurrence unless the tester was exposed again to the alien enzyme.
I signed up.
Doom promised he would get back to me, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t meet him halfway.
Chapter Six
Doom
Pain—mind-numbing, excruciating. My world was a deep well of agony.
The Drones impaled me with their spear-limbs, tearing me to pieces. Some of them bit into my flesh in their greed to feed, even as I hacked into them with my scythes. There were too many, even with the help of my loyal Stran. The moment I’d heard the motion detectors go off, I’d known keeping my Red safe would be a suicide mission. Not only would we have failed to outrun them with both of us on the hoverbike but, we’d have lured them north where the final evacuations were still taking place.
Right before I succumbed to my fatal wounds, I sent a telepathic message to Stran to lure them further south and remain in his curled form, which essentially made him invulnerable. Mindless as they were, the Drones would keep climbing over each other, uselessly hacking away at the Creckel’s shell for hours, giving my brothers a chance to descend upon them and take them out.
I had forgotten how debilitating physical death could be, having managed to survive in this Shell for five years—an all-time record for a Xian Warrior like me, constantly on the frontline. It saddened me to lose my scars, the battle trophies that gave testament to my prowess in combat. But the trauma of death quickly wiped away such pet
ty thoughts. My soul leaving my body felt as if my spine was being savagely ripped out.
To my shock, instead of the quick journey into Shoyesh’s psychic vessel, my soul trudged along a psychic pathway, sluggishly advancing as if attempting to run through quicksand. This shouldn’t be happening. Had my Soulcatcher already burned out? But how? I hadn’t required her services for years. Was she simply rusty from lack of use?
Then I could feel her tug at my soul, trying to reel me in, but it was too slow. My spirit was slowly unraveling. Physical death had been excruciating, but nothing could compare with the agony of spiritual death. My soul felt submerged in an ocean of acid. For the first time, I felt true fear. However, it wasn’t the prospect of my imminent and ultimate death that terrified me but the thought of breaking my promise to my Red to return, leaving her to face the threat of the Kryptids.
My silent screams of agony seemed to drag on for an eternity. Then a powerful force drew me in. Within seconds, the blissful shelter of a psychic vessel closed around me. The pain instantly vanished. I floated, weightless in a dark void surrounded by the tender, nurturing, and protective emotions of a Soulcatcher. It wasn’t Shoyesh. It took me a second to recognize the psychic signature of Jennuo’s mind. That Wrath’s Soulcatcher had needed to rescue me was distressing confirmation that Shoyesh could no longer perform her duty.
But my soul, battered from nearly unraveling and without a physical brain to form and hold a coherent thought, fell into hibernation while waiting for rebirth in a new Shell.
“There, there, Doom,” Shoyesh whispered in a gentle voice.
Hunched over the side of my bed, my stomach and throat ached from another severe bout of dry heaves. I collapsed to my back, my head pounding and my skin burning. I didn’t recall rebirth sickness being this brutal or lasting this long. From the moment Jennuo had transferred my soul into a new Shell—a new body grown in an incubator using my DNA—I’d been in and out of consciousness with only brief moments of lucidity drenched in agony. It was normal for a soul to struggle to adapt to a new corporeal form, but this felt wrong. Something had gone terribly awry.