Chapter Nine: Soften
Once they could walk again, they went to find a bed to lie down in. One of the good things about taking over a mostly abandoned building was that they could have all the space they wanted and there was no one around to stop them or question them about it. Still, Sorrin wondered if Abby found it lonely.
Her apartment was a floor up, but they stopped in one that had a bigger bed for the night. "Since you're so much bigger than me, and I care about your comfort," Abby had said with a cheeky smile.
"Thank you so much," Sorrin had deadpanned back, and Abby's answering giggle had been rewarding.
He'd been coming to know things about her in the time they'd know each other, which was admittedly pretty short. There was a fire in her eyes that he liked, a set to her shoulders, to her mouth that made him feel like she was more than the weak human she seemed sometimes. There was also a gentleness in the way she spoke and acted that called to him, too. She was so soft and pliable in the time after their coupling, sticking close to him, and smelling overwhelmingly of sex and him, and Sorrin couldn't bring himself to push her away.
In fact, when they got to the bed, he pulled her closer.
Abby rested her head on his chest, and he wrapped an arm around her, hand stroking down her back. Settled, he realized that she had left all her own clothes in that storage room and was wearing only his discarded shirt.
Something low and possessive tightened in him. Something he hadn't felt in years or thought he would feel again. It was primal, going back to the time when his kind picked their mates from the throngs of others and chose them to be theirs forever. Woe to anyone who tried to come between them. In that moment, Sorrin thought he'd rip the head off of anyone who wanted to try and take Abby from him. It was a disconcerting feeling. They hadn’t known each other long at all, and it was odd for such a connection to have been forged over that short amount of time, but maybe… Perhaps he’d just been waiting for someone. Perhaps he’d been longing for a connection this whole time. Not that he would admit that out loud, of course.
His hand kept moving, stroking down her back and then back up, fingers brushing through her hair just briefly before heading back down again.
Abby seemed to enjoy it, her head pillowed on his chest, one hand pressed over his heart as she snuggled closer. And honestly, he was having a hard time believing that the word 'snuggled' was something he was entertaining, much less the practice of it. But it was so nice, so comforting to have her close to him, and Sorrin was struck by just how alone he'd been.
Sure, there had been the random strangers in cantinas over the years who would feel sorry for him, sit down and have a drink with him before moving on with their lives, and there was Caldir, who hadn't gone away no matter how many times Sorrin had pushed. Amalda would have gotten close if he'd let her, but he'd kept a solid wall between them. Being with Abby felt something like being around Halphia, if there had been anything romantic or sexual between them at all (which there hadn't no matter what the gossips had insisted had to be going on). It was comfortable and almost...familiar in a way that he was coming to rely on. That was dangerous, but he couldn't bring himself to stop.
"How did you get taken?" he was asking before he could stop himself. That was really a problem lately. Usually he was much more controlled than this.
Judging from the sharp intake of breath that answered his question at first, Abby hadn't been expecting him to ask that. She fidgeted for a second, and Sorrin could almost hear how hard she was thinking. It made him furrow his brow in confusion. Surely it was a simple enough question.
"If you don't want to tell me, you do not have to," he said after several seconds of silence. "I won't push."
Abby licked her lips, and he felt her shake her head against his chest. "No. No, it's okay. I was just... I haven't thought about it in a few months."
"Not even when you were still with them?"
She shook her head again. "It was easier not to. I don't...I don't remember a lot of it, and that scares me."
Ah. That made sense. Living through it was one thing, but living through it with little memory of how it had happened was something completely different. There had been times when Sorrin had wished that he could forget what'd happened that day with the Camadors. He wished for a blow to the head or some kind of amnesia that would take the memories from him so he didn't have to relive them over and over again. But in the end, he needed to have them. He needed to know and remember what had happened, if only so he wouldn't let it happen again.
"What do you remember?" he murmured, dipping his head down to press a kiss to the top of her head. Hopefully that would be comforting in some way.
Abby let out a messy breath. "I remember them coming here," she said. "I was just...standing in the middle of the street. I don't even remember where I was going, but I was headed somewhere. Then, all of a sudden, something was blocking out the sun. Sometimes clouds pass over, and it gets shady for a bit until they move on their way, but this was different. It was this...great big upside down dome shape, and it passed right in front of the sun, casting this huge shadow. Everybody looked up." Her voice was soft as she spoke, and Sorrin kept stroking her back with gentle fingers.
"Were you afraid?" he wanted to know.
"Not at first. I was...confused, I think. You always hear people talking about how aliens have to be out there, but I'd never really..." She trailed off with a short laugh. "I'd never really put much thought into it. Look at me now."
Sorrin's lips curved into a smile. "Look at you now," he echoed.
"Anyway," Abby continued. "Some people thought it was a publicity stunt. You know, like some company had hired some kind of blimp or balloon or something and they were about to make this big spectacle. But then a ladder came down, one of those things-"
"The Camadors," he supplied.
"Right. One of the Camadors came down and said that we were all going to surrender or something like that. Some people were already panicking. Some people were just...shocked, I guess. I was somewhere in the middle. It's like...you know how they are. All gorgeous and perfect, but it's terrifying and kind of artificial the way they look. You just know there's no way they're as sincere as they want you to think they are. Something...dangerous is under those pretty faces."
She was perceptive, too, then, or maybe she'd just gotten a taste of the Camadors capacity for cruelty when she'd been their prisoner. At least Sorrin knew for sure he wouldn't have to waste time convincing her that they weren't to be trusted. "There is something dangerous," he agreed. "They're killers." He hadn't shared with her the full details of what had brought him to Earth, of course, that wasn't for her to know yet. It was enough for her to know that he knew how dangerous the Camadors could be.
"Right," she murmured. "I...there was this guy in the cells with us. He...I don't know. He got on their bad side somehow. One night they came and they took him out of the cells and he didn't come back."
"He's dead, most likely," Sorrin said bluntly. He didn't see the point in dancing around the fact.
Abby nodded. "I know that."
"How did you get put in the cells?"
"That's the part I don't remember so well," she admitted. "I remember the one guy coming down the ladder and saying we had to submit or whatever, but I don't remember what happened next. There was...so much chaos. People were kind of...almost spellbound before that, right? Just standing there staring, but as soon as he spoke, the panic started up again. Everyone was screaming and running, some people were praying, some were begging the Camador not to kill them. And then there was this flash of light, I think? It was bright, whatever it was. And that's all I can remember from before. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in the cells with the others."
A flash of light...
Sorrin furrowed his brow, thinking. He was familiar with the vast majority of the Camadors' powers and their effects, but this flash of light thing was new. He supposed it stood to reason that they would have been off developing new tricks in the four years that they were hiding on the edge of the galaxy or wherever they'd been. It was disconcerting to think that it had helped them capture several hundred humans and apparently also made them forget how they'd done it.
Something stood out to him as he mulled over Abby's words, and he kept his hand moving over her back as he pried a little more. "You were in the cells with other humans at first?" he asked.
"Yes," Abby replied, sounding a bit confused.
"When we met you were in a cell alone."
"Technically," she said. "I was in a cell with you."
Sorrin rolled his eyes. "You were alone before I got there, clearly. Why?" When she was silent for several seconds, he added, "Do you remember?"
"They just...moved us sometimes," Abby said. "They took Nathan and did whatever to him, and they'd isolate us sometimes. Maybe they didn't want us planning an escape? Maybe they wanted to keep us from getting too comfortable. I don't know."
"Hm," Sorrin hummed. "It's anyone's guess, I suppose."
"Right."
The room was silent for long minutes, and Sorrin wondered if bringing this up had been the right thing to do. Certainly it had killed whatever mood had existed between the two of them in the aftermath of their coupling. Surprisingly, Sorrin wanted it back.
"Have you heard of the galactic Senate?" he asked.
Abby startled at the sound of his voice. He could feel how hard her heart was racing with how close she was pressed against him, and he felt bad. Reliving her captivity was clearly hard for her, and with the amount of information he'd gotten from it, he regretted bringing it up now. Hopefully the subject change would work.
"No," she replied finally. "What's that?"
"They govern the Independent Colonies," Sorrin explained. "Have you heard of those?"
"No," she said again, but this time she sounded more interested.
Sorrin smiled to himself and began to talk. His voice was pitched low, to be more soothing, or so he hoped, and he explained it all to her. The way the colonies had broken off from the rest of their planets, how the Senators were chosen and served in ten year terms unless they put in for re-election. Briefly he explained that he'd served one such Senator, that she'd been his friend, and if Abby noticed that his voice changed when he spoke of Halphia and Gollen Par, she didn't press him about it, for which he was grateful.
He talked more that night than he had talked in the last four years, telling her stories of each of the colonies and their Senators and about how the rest of the planets in that system thought the colonists were jumpy upstarts. He talked until Abby's breathing had evened out, and she seemed to be asleep against his chest.
Silence reigned in the bedroom for long moments. Sorrin was still too keyed up to sleep, but he felt better than he had in days.
Apparently sex and companionship were good for that.
"Sorrin?"
Apparently she wasn't asleep, then.
"Yes?"
"Will you..." Abby hesitated, and Sorrin already knew what her question was going to be. It felt like it had been a long time since he'd talked about this, a longer time since he'd wanted to, but after what had happened that day in the warehouse, he supposed he owed her an explanation. She'd stopped him from murdering the Camador woman, something he had been angry about for the rest of the day, but he understood it now.
"Finish your question," he murmured to her.
"Will you tell me what happened? Why do you hate them so much?"
"Do you not hate them?" he asked her. "For what they did to you?"
Abby was quiet for a long moment, and he assumed she was thinking that over. He didn't see how anyone couldn't be angry about being held prisoner for months, but she didn't seem to be as brightly burning with rage as he was. Maybe because she didn't blame herself for what had happened to her and her people.
"I don't know how I feel about it," she replied softly. "I've been trying not to think about it."
"Does that work?"
"No. Not really."
Sorrin nodded and then sighed. "I will tell you," he said. "I've told you of the Senate and my place within it. I was to defend Gollen Par and Senator Halphia to my last. When the Camadors came, seeking to overthrow the Senator and take Gollen Par for themselves, I led the charge against them. We...we were not prepared."
"Physically or mentally?" Abby asked.
"Either. We had never fought them before, and didn't know enough about their powers to understand the danger we were walking into. It was...horrible. Most of us didn't survive. My people...my friends and comrades, they were slaughtered. I was gravely injured, and I made myself go back to the city. But it was burning. My family was killed in the fires. And once everyone and everything had felt the pain of their attack, they left."
"Oh."
"Yes. Four years ago, I watched them take everything I had ever cared for away from me. I resigned from my position as a warrior of the Senate, and I left. And I planned. And now I have my chance to get revenge on them for what they did to so many innocent people."
"Oh," Abby said again. She swallowed hard, and when Sorrin felt a strange dampness on his bare chest, he realized she was crying.
"What is it?" he asked her, alarmed.
"That's just...so awful. They killed your family, your friends. They..." She shook her head, overcome.
Sorrin patted her back gently, a little confused. "They did, but I intend to make them pay."
"How?" Abby asked. "You can't do it on your own. I know that's not what you want to hear, but you know it's true. You don't have any back up, and even if the humans help, they're still... They were able to..." She shook her head again.
She had a point, as well. Sorrin knew that. He wondered if perhaps he'd always known that. Believing he could do this on his own had kept him going for years, had kept him from breaking under the force of his hurt and sadness and disgust for himself and the Camadors.
But everyone who had told him that dying under their hand was a waste was right. If he let them kill him, then nothing would be achieved.
"I have a plan," he said, and meant it. "I know what I have to do. What we have to do."
"We?"
Sorrin nodded. He'd never let himself need anyone, but now... Now he was fairly certain he needed this human woman in his arms. "We. You deserve retribution for what they did to you as well. And it is your people who are in danger here."
"Oh." That seemed to be her refrain for the night. "Okay. I...okay."
"In the morning, I will call my friend," Sorrin said. "She is a Senator. She will send help."
He could only imagine how pleased she'd be to do it, too.
It would work. It had to work. They weren't going to let the Camadors do to Earth what they had done to Gollen Par and to Sorrin's fellow warriors.
He was adept at letting people down, but not this time. This time he would triumph, and the Camadors would feel the sting of defeat.
Determination filled him like it hadn't since his early days of warrior training, and for a moment, he felt like that wide eyed, jumped up young man again, ready to meet any challenge head on with his weapons in hand and his companions by his side.