Chapter Nine
Elise
“Where’s Kodyn?”
The husky voice of Nadirath startled me as I blinked, jolted out of my daydream. I turned to the muscular Vithohn, noted the way that the purple markings scattered across his smooth face.
“Dunno,” I said with a shrug.
Nadirath watched me with a curious expression and then smiled, leaning back in his chair. We’d assembled in a large dining hall in their immense fortress. It looked like a Medieval castle and a futuristic spaceport had a child together: its vast towers and crowned spires speaking of old kingdom’s, while the metal walls and brightly lit white ceilings marked obvious scientific architecture.
I loved the look of it here.
The people? Not so much.
Nadirath was okay, I’d found. The rest were easy enough to manipulate, though they clearly needed mates soon or I was about to get myself in trouble with them.
I’d taken to sneaking in a little time with him each day. He was respectful enough of my personal space and was able to make good conversation. He talked about his planet, Udrenahine, and his growing respect for us crafty humans.
“How unlike him to leave you alone,” the man said, scratching the stubble that grew around his very human looking face. The only thing foreign about him were his wider-than-average alien eyes and the tubes that scrawled out from his forehead and turned into tentacles as they reached his back.
Nadirath was extremely handsome. It certainly made it easier to talk to him, but I had no intentions of acting on the attraction.
“Why did you come here?” he asked, pushing back in his chair to lift his heavy boots onto the intricately carved table.
“Oh, I don’t know,” I breathed out wryly. “Beg for a truce, watch a man get ripped to shreds by his people.” I splayed my hands to him and made an over-exaggerated ‘Whatcha gonna do?’ face to the man.
He laughed and shook his head, crossing his legs. Then he went sullen.
“I couldn’t sleep after it happened,” he said slowly and then messed his face up, pinching the bridge of his nose. “What an odd sensation.”
“Yeah, me neither,” I agreed. “I just kept replaying that shit in my head.”
“I meant you,” he said, releasing his fingers. “An odd sensation you bring to our camp. Just like Fiona.”
I felt my hands go cold at the mention of her. I didn’t know if it was pure and simply jealousy, but I was getting awfully sick of the comparison of me to Fiona.
“Feisty,” he said. “She had different plans than you, one could assume.”
I flashed him a tired grin: toothy and full. I wondered if I should use the opportunity to ask about her: exactly how her plan different from mine, but thought better of it.
“What kind of truce were you thinking of?” Nadirath asked.
“Well,” I inhaled, sitting up straight for a change. I leaned into the table, propped up on both my elbows, and matched his gaze. “If the Kilari are really coming, then I want to protect my people, and I’m pretty sure you want to protect yours.”
I waited to see what he thought: if he believed in the Kilari rumors. It was obvious he did as he leaned into my thoughts, taking his boots off the table and hitting them hard on the ground. He slicked back his long black hair, and I blushed at the gesture.
“We can do so much more if we work together,” I said, suddenly feeling unsure of myself.
“Why would we need humans?” He laughed. “We’ve defeated them before.”
“Yeah,” I weaseled out. “But you knew the land back then. It was on your own planet. And plus, we have weapons.”
“As do we,” he argued.
“And we aren’t predisposed to the inability to see reason.”
He paused at that and tapped the tip of his nose thoughtfully.
“You seek humans, right?” I suggested, rolling my wrist as I spoke. “Why don’t you use us, then? I’ve been gathering treaties between the humans and—”
“Do you seek to be used?” he interrupted.
I felt my face go hot and I shook my head, flustered. “No, that’s not what… that’s not really what I meant. I meant that if we work together, we might be able to benefit each other. See, we have a lot of tech, different battle methods.”
“I find you intriguing,” he said smoothly and looked me over before turning his attention to the roaring fireplace in the center of the oversized and under-filled room.
I scraped my bottom teeth over my top lip, which I realized probably didn’t make me look any more alluring. “Thank you,” I mumbled, feeling suddenly frozen.
“You don’t stop,” he said. “Your bravery is…” He paused and thought on his words. “Ridiculous,” he finished with a laugh and then quickly added, “Yet fascinating.”
“Thanks?”
“You’re remarkable, and these…” he began and then leaned over, taking my unarmored breast into his hand and offering it a small squeeze. “They stir something in me.”
I swallowed hard and looked down at his hand, wanting to smack him away but wondering how to go about it without inciting his aggression. Without any better ideas, I moved my chair back so that my chest was just out of his reach.
“That’s why he brought you here, isn’t it?” he asked, sounding genuinely curious. “I’ve heard of you. You took Lanaraxx from us: sent him out as a pawn of the humans.”
I set my jaw, looking back at him with disgust. I remember Lanaraxx. He was my first recruit: the first Vithohn of five who had sought me out for sex: to regain control of himself.
“Thought you didn’t have a problem with my being here?” I snapped.
“I feel very good about you being here, actually,” he said smoothly, standing from his chair and walking up to me. “I would love to watch you get passed around between us.”
“How sweet,” I lamented, standing from my chair and walking backward away from him. “But that’s not—”
Before I could respond, I began to feel his tentacle crawl up my leg, spinning around me and squeezing like a boa constrictor. My leg throbbed and pulsed with blood that was begging to flow again. I could feel it going cold and white as he pulled me closer to him.
“Nadirath, don’t,” I said, still trying to maintain an air of levity. “I don’t do that anymore, okay? I’m with Kodyn.”
His tentacle crawled up my leg and loosened its grip until it was wrapped around my midsection.
“What happened to you being a gentleman?” I tried to laugh, pushing away from his chest more frantically then.
“I guess I stopped trying,” he said, giving into his baser instincts. He pressed himself up against me, and I could feel his hard dick against my stomach: massive and throbbing. I swallowed nervously: repulsed.
Taraxen entered the room, clicking the door shut behind him and watching as Nadirath reached his hand down the front of my pants. My eyes went wide, and I started screaming at the top of my lungs as I saw the new Vithohn enter, terrified by his mindless pull toward me.
Upon seeing the newcomer was interested, Nadirath kissed my cheek and released me to Taraxen, who grabbed me by my neck and buried his mouth against my breasts.
I kept screaming, pushing away from the creature, shocked at his immense strength. I reached for my gun, still holstered at my side, and Nadirath watched me carefully, wondering what I might do.
The cool metal of the gun hit my palm, and I pulled the hammer back, only to have it tossed from my hand with a sharp slap from Taraxen’s tentacle. The gun hit the floor and let off a loud crack as it fired off into the ceiling.
“I don’t think so,” he said quietly and pressed into me.
I screamed and pressed my fingers into his eyes. It was the only thing I could think to do. He threw me across the room, recoiling back in pain and cursing at me.
“Nadirath, please,” I begged, pressing myself into the corner of the room.
The Vithohn didn’t move. He watched me curiously, like a cornered animal, and then smiled.
“If you want to help us gain reason, have us all be like Kodyn, then this is the way to do it. No?” he asked coolly.
I felt the breath leave my body as Taraxen pulled his fists away from his eyes: the white of them now red and swollen.
My screams sounded off so loudly that my voice began to crack and the only thing that halted me was the sudden drumming from down the hall. The intense sound of boots on the ground that made my heart speed up even faster.
I watched Kodyn burst through the door and immediately lost my ability to stand. I slid down the wall behind me and pooled into a heap of sobs, listening as the Vithohn began their familiar battle.
Taraxen launched himself at Kodyn, and the two began grappling with one another, fighting for the high ground.
Nadirath grabbed Kodyn’s tentacle, wrenching him back and slamming him into the floor with a bone-cracking thud. The fight became more aggressive, with Nadirath holding Kodyn to the floor with his tentacle, lighting up his hand and spire in a bright purple glow and firing bursts of hot energy into Kodyn’s chest.
Kodyn screamed out, pinned, and Taraxen joined in the fray, beating Kodyn with his fists and causing blue blood to spurt from his nose and mouth.
I wanted to scream but knew I had to stay quiet if we were going to get out alive. I had to make a plan.
Taraxen continued to beat on the man until his fists were red and bloody. He protracted shallow black claws and ripped at Kodyn’s chest and arm as he struggled to get up, even cutting Nadirath in the process. I could see Kodyn try to release his shield, but he was too weak. The pink bubble flickered in and out like a broken screen.
That was when I noticed that while Nadirath continued to hold Kodyn down, he wouldn’t deliver the finishing blow.
Then I remembered, Kodyn was a Voth, and the only one who could differentiate a Kilari from a Vithohn.
Nadirath couldn’t kill him. He wouldn’t dare.
I scrambled for my laser pistol, crawling across the cool floor and grabbing the barrel of the gun with trembling hands.
Tears streamed down my face, and I could feel my throat closing, tensing against the sobs that ached inside me.
“Kodyn!” I yelled, just long enough to get Taraxen’s attention. I pulled the trigger on the pistol, sending a long line of blue laser fire directly into the attacking Vithohn’s shoulder.
Kodyn shot up then, using the opportunity to get away. He grabbed Taraxen by the face and began slamming him into the oversized fireplace, making use of its sharp corners. I heard the torturous sound of metal on bone and watched as Kodyn rubbed the man’s face back and forth into the jutting corner: blood spewing off onto his wounded chest.
I watched, shaking, with my hands over my mouth, and saw Nadirath simply standing back watching. He didn’t move to help Taraxen nor to stop Kodyn.
“That’s enough!” I yelled, but he didn’t stop.
With what stamina he had left, Kodyn fired off three balls of warm energy into Taraxen’ center. It warmed the room with an unmistakable heat.
Then Taraxen slumped to the ground, twitching.
Kodyn heaved heavy breath’s, turning to Nadirath with a show of dominance, tilting his bleeding head back with victory.
Nadirath nodded slowly at the show, looking over at me and then back down at the heap of body that was once Taraxen. Then, with a quiet parting of the lips, he said, “I suggest you run.”