Chapter Six
Kodyn
We made our way back up to Elise’s room and, to my surprise, I crawled into my bed and scooped her into my arms: my hands resting on her breasts as we lay in silence.
There it was: we’d slept together.
I had felt the pull to have her ever since I saw her face. I hated myself for it, but I’d already given in just days after I lost Fiona.
I felt disgusted but satisfied.
Besides, I was already thinking of ways I could use this new bond to my advantage.
We lay in silence for some time before drifting off to sleep that first night. And to my surprise, the nights that followed were exactly the same. Our relationship was all sex: all body and desire and lust.
I was at Scarlet Heights for just over a week when I’d finally come to enjoy her small breasts: became endeared to the small hills and valleys of her body.
Every moment we were alone was another moment she wanted to crawl on top of me: find ways to make me hard while acting coy. She had me with a look, it seemed. One flick of her green eyes: angry, playful, it didn’t matter. Her eyes put me in a trance of lust. I had to have her.
It wasn’t until our fifth night together that things became different. The morning we woke up and she seemed surprised that I was still there: still enveloped in her body.
“I want to leave,” she said suddenly, as though we were continuing a conversation.
I paused for a minute and realized she didn’t have to expand. Scarlet Heights was where she meant.
I nodded. “I know.”
“How do you know?” she asked, delighted but quiet.
“I know a runner when I see one,” I said.
“Because you are one?”
I smiled against the crook of her neck as we lay side by side. “Not quite,” I said. “Why run?”
“We need allies,” she said. “We’ve been traveling around for years looking for other crews to help us: to form an alliance with the Vithohn for when the Kilari come. And what do we have to show for it? A couple of camps.”
“And you can’t do that here?”
She raised a lazy shoulder. “Once we found Scarlet Heights it’s like… we gave up. It’s not our mission to get anything back: the Earth, our rights. It’s not our mission to form an alliance anymore. All anybody cares about is protecting Scarlet.”
“And what would you do differently?” I asked, genuinely curious.
“I would… do it right! I want this on a bigger scale. I want tech and videos and a real production. I want to launch a campaign, I want—”
I laughed, interrupting, “A lot of things, apparently.”
“I want a call for war and a proper alliance.”
“You’d have women offer up their bodies?” I asked.
“Willing ones,” she offered. “Yeah.”
I thought about what she was saying and couldn’t help but jump on it for selfish reasons. If she wanted to leave her militia, then I would happily oblige her.
“I’m in,” I said, pulling away from her side.
She rolled onto her back and looked, green eyes wide, and her pointed chin, angling skyward to look at me.
“In… what?” she asked.
“If you want to leave, then I think you should,” I said, kissing the bulb on the end of her nose. “What do you need?”
She scoffed, laughing into her hand. “You’re serious?”
“Yes,” I nodded. “What do you need?”
“I mean, ideally we’d need supplies, obviously. Willing girls. We’d need to get out of here without Bossman finding us out.”
Her ‘cute’ nickname for Liam Broderick. I hated it.
“I mean, it’s not a spur of the moment thing, Kodyn,” she lectured. “Not a ‘get up and go’ deal.”
“You need treaties, right?” I offered. “From the Vithohn?”
“Well,” she shrugged. “Yeah.”
“And you need Vithohn willing to come along,” I led her.
“Right,” she said.
I rolled my eyes and set my hand on her stomach, gesticulating with it as I said, “Then you need to come back to Tenizi.”
Her eyes beamed up at me. It was as though she’d been waiting for me to ask all this time. She wrapped her small arms around me, and before I knew it, it was all she could talk about. She spoke endlessly of what to bring and how great she was at presenting herself to the Vithohn all the way down into the breakfast room.
It was a strange area of the hotel where all the humans gathered to eat. On my planet, meals were not a social gathering. The Earth culture seemed to be the exact opposite.
“What’s going on?” Daxarus asked as he approached us with watered-down brown liquid the humans referred to as coffee.
“Just recruiting,” I said, trying to solidify our leaving.
Daxarus looked between the two of us, unbelieving, and I continued, “I know enough of the Vithohn who are terrified of the idea of the Kilari coming. They’d be willing to join your cause.”
“I thought you said the opinion was split?” the chocolate-colored Vithohn questioned.
“I said some thought it was a conspiracy,” I corrected smoothly. “That doesn’t mean there aren’t those who hold a different opinion. In fact, the level to which they take the threat of Kilari is… alarming, to say the least.”
Daxarus tilted his head back, taking a seat with us. Rebecca soon followed, looking just as perplexed to be in our company. Up until now, we had hidden ourselves away since we’d coupled up, eager to be alone.
“I see,” Daxarus said, and I could tell he didn’t believe me.
This was one of the times I wasn’t lying.
“Then… I’ll go as representative?” Elise said, as though it was just occurring to her now. She looked at Rebecca and then to Daxarus for their approval. “With Kodyn, I mean,” she swallowed.
“If that’s alright,” I offered hesitantly, irritated to be asking permission.
“Can’t see why Bossman wouldn’t let her go,” Rebecca offered to her lover. “That’s kind of her job, you know.”
She was, of course, referring to sex.
“Charmed,” I said, narrowing my eyes to her.
“You want backup, Elise?” the auburn-haired woman offered and Elise quickly shook her head.
“No,” she reaffirmed. “I’ll go with Kodyn and then bring some of the Vithohn back here.”
“You’ll have to clear it with Bossman,” Rebecca said stiffly.
I bristled. “I thought you said he wouldn’t have a problem letting her go?”
“Well, no,” Rebecca cut in. “But she still has to let everybody know what the plan is. It’s not safe for her, going alone.”
I set my hand over Elise’s hand and looked back to Rebecca, daring her to question me again. “She’s not going alone.”
“Oh, what?” she scoffed, looking to Elise and then back to me. “You’re her protector now?”
Daxarus watched my eyes and searched my intentions. Feeling his woman getting fired up, he set a hand out in front of her, his gaze never leaving mine. “It’s okay,” he warned.
“No, it isn’t,” Rebecca argued, crossing her arms and falling back in her chair.
“We’ll deal with Liam,” he said. “You guys gather the treaties, and we’ll be here when you get back. We still have some girls who aren’t mated.”
I turned my glance to Rebecca, and we became deeply invested in a standoff. If Elise was willing to take me on a pilgrimage to different human camps, I sure as hell wasn’t going to let Rebecca ruin it for me. This could be my best chance to take revenge for Fiona: to find the army who slaughtered her and destroy them.
Rebecca was the first to back down from our staring contest, looking down to the table and never meeting Daxarus’ glare. She was a woman who did not like being told what to do.
Elise, for her part, seemed oblivious. She beamed at the table, happy to have started something. To kick-start a real goal for the humans.
We took our leave from Scarlet Heights soon after, taking supplies with us and starting the hike toward Tenizi.
If I could get her across the camps, I could find out who killed Fiona.
It was about a day’s walk. Most of which Elise spent talking, undeterred by the desert heat. We’d stopped only once to rest, to kiss, and to drink water. The closer we got to the Tenizi fortress, the less like a desert it became.
Sand and rock mountains turned into a dark city, walled off from the rest of the world. We made sure to build high walls as soon as we had taken over the fortress.
It was an immense stone structure that had many spires: an old human castle. We made use of everything there: the kitchens, the weapons, the technology. We had turrets surrounding the base, laser tripwires, an army of mech.
I thought, if anything, that my camp would be excited that I had brought Elise back: a human female willing to stay amongst our kind.
As soon as we entered the building, I realized Elise would be the last thing on anybody’s mind.
We walked through the metal drawbridge, and I watched as it flapped up behind us, locking us in the Vithohn society. A fight had broken out between my people, several of them beating on one man and drawing blood, shouting a battle cry that sent waves of sick memories through my shoulders.
I watched, one hand on the small of Elise’s lower back, as they viscously attacked the Vithohn.
Before I had the chance to turn around, a Vithohn approached.
“What’s this then?” the man said, pointing to Elise with a deep curiosity.
I nodded toward the man. “Nadirath,” I acknowledged.
He was tall and muscular: heavily armored. He was one of the only other Voth in my crew. He was also one of the first Vithohn to suggest Earth as our main target for takeover. He was the one who reported back to Udrenahine, our home planet.
“Well, well, well, look who came crawling back. And just in time, too,” Nadirath laughed: his tentacles twirling around behind him from the buzz of the fight.
I cocked a brow. “What’s going on?”
“It's Ordyt,” he spoke of an old friend before waving me off absent-mindedly as he said of Elise, “Who's this? Where's Fiona?”
I set my jaw and grabbed her hand. “This is Elise.”
“Hello,” she said with a polite wave.
“No Fiona?” he asked with a small smirk trickling up the corner of his crooked mouth.
“No,” I tensed.
“I see,” the Voth said slowly. I could see he was trying to control himself: could see him struggling to contain the lust and violence that surged through him: the same core in his body that was once in mine. The part of him that screamed: take her.
“What's going on with Ordyt?” I asked, redirecting his attention as I gestured toward the scuffle.
“A Kilari,” he said direly. “Possibly.”
“What?” I offered a deep scowl. “Impossible.”
“We want you to connect with him,” he said slowly, watching my expression carefully.
Elise frowned, unsure what was going on, and squeezed my hand. I didn’t look at her, but I could already feel her eyes reaching for my attention.
“That's dangerous...” I said, confused by the order. “How do they think... how is that possible? He's been with us since the takeover.”
He set his fingers against his chin and drew us further into the fortress. He shook his head as we walked along the black stone floors. “Form enhancement, they’re saying.”
From his tone, I could tell it was just a guess.
“A shapeshifter?” Elise repeated quickly: her tone going up at the end like a little child. “The Kilari? I've never heard of such a thing.”
Nadirath laughed at her, looking at me as if to say ‘Isn’t she cute?’ and I grit my teeth.
Nadirath reached a hand out and touched Elise: tickled a long finger up her arm and then grabbed at her wrist, violently. “The Voth have everyone so paranoid about an attack,” he laughed and then released her. Then he looked at me, and I knew what he wanted. “It's either kill him or Onoxulate.”
“Then I'll join with him,” I said, pushing Elise behind me.
“I see. Then I'll... see to it that you're accommodated. I'll tell the Voth.” Nadirath sounded just as surprised as I did by my response. He turned once more before leaving and pointed to Elise. “You'll have to explain this woman’s presence at some point, I hope you know.”
I waved him off, and he began walking toward the fight.
“Why are they asking you to figure all this out? What's up with that?” she said, pulling my hand and tugging me toward her.
“I'm the Exerott,” I breathed, hoping that would explain things to her.
I smiled, and she blinked and shook her head in frustration. “Sorry?”
“The interrogator,” I expanded.
“Really?” she said, chomping away at the minty gob she liked to keep in her mouth. “And what is Onoxulate?”
I swallowed and turned around, pointing to the tentacles that lay limp behind me. “They want me to connect mine with his to see if he really is a Vithohn.”
She blinked in surprise. “I didn't know that was a thing. The shapeshifting, I mean.”
I exhaled uncomfortably. “Neither did I.”
“So how will you know?” she said, now seeming transfixed by our surroundings. Her head tilted back as her eyes followed the oversized walls that guarded our fortress. “What difference does it make?” she continued.
“I'll be able to sense it,” I said.
She nodded slowly. “And what do I do?”
I wanted to tell her to go into my quarters, but as I looked around the square, I could already sense the Vithohn getting aggressive: ready to take her into their beds. Take her right on the stone floor.
This was exactly why Fiona wanted to leave. I tried so hard to keep her away, and yet here I was, inviting another woman in to get attacked.
“You'll be with me,” I said firmly.
A part of me felt bad for bringing her into the interrogation room: to bring her into such a mess on her first day in Tenizi.
My first day at Scarlet Heights, I was served a hot meal and something amazing that Elise called ‘cookies.’ Her first day in Tenizi, she would watch a man get tortured.
We stepped into the small boxed-in room; metal walls and a myriad of cameras were set up.
“Kodyn, please,” Ordyt begged.
“What are they saying, Ordyt?” I said uncomfortably, trying to read his eyes for any sign that they might be wrong.
“You know how it is here. The paranoia is rampant. All they talk about are the Kilari. Now they're saying I'm one of them.”
I’d known Ordyt since I was born. The thought that he might be one of those… things sent a shiver through my core. My eyes flicked to Elise, and she stepped back from us, pressing her tiny body into the cold wall behind me.
I shook my head to my friend. “It's crazy,” I reiterated.
Ordyt’s eyes flicked up as he spotted the white-haired woman behind me. “Who’s this?” he asked.
“Elise,” I said and then studied him.
Ordyt looked at her with a sad smile and then offered me sympathetic eyes. “No Fiona?” he said and quickly followed up with, “That’s too bad.”
We had a long stare: an unspoken exchange that made me sick. I watched him look at Elise and felt uneasy. I knew he’d never been with a female; he never had that aggression. I couldn’t see it before Fiona, before I was awakened.
But I saw it now.
“Things are out of hand here, Kodyn. I can't say I blame you for leaving. Not like before. It's the humans... they've gotten in our heads.” He blanched: stopped and regarded Elise uncomfortably.
“She's hard to offend,” I said.
Elise shrugged, and I could tell she wanted to make a joke. Instead, she said, “It's true.”
“I wish I’d left with you,” Ordyt said.
We had been close friends for so long. I had never questioned his loyalty. In fact, when I left with Fiona, he was the only one I told. He supported the decision: wished me well. He had been my brother.
“I’m sorry you didn’t,” I said, pained. “But I still have to do this.”
Ordyt blinked back in surprise, looking horrified. “You think I'm one of them?”
“I have to do it,” I repeated, cold.
“So this is what it's come down to?” Ordyt spat. “Didn't we shed blood together? Take over this planet together? Kodyn, please.”
“We did,” I said firmly and reached my tentacle over to his. He screamed and struggled against me, shouting into the air with gut-wrenching cries. He screamed out, ‘Please, no!’ over and over, scrambling to get away from me. They were the tortured sobs I knew I would hear over and over after this night.
I focused my energy in my spire, feeling it go purple and pink and light up the room with its power before I pelted him with a small blast of it. He was stronger than I remembered.
The force sent him careening back into the floor, and I raced to get on top of him, forcing my spire into his and connecting violently.
Our connection lasted for only a second before I pulled away. I ripped my spire away from his, feeling the heat of him in my body somehow. I used both my spires to whip his body to the ground.
It was then I knew we had bigger problems than the humans and the Vithohn