Chapter Seven
Kadelyn
The telepod was… terrifying.
There was no other way to describe it. I felt my body go hot and light and then suddenly we were… somewhere completely different.
“There, that wasn’t so bad, now was it?” Zawara said in a babying tone.
I looked at him with a scoff in my gaze and shrugged.
We walked through the transporter to an abandoned town, plucked straight out of the fifties. Suburbs of whitewashed bungalow houses with yellow doors and white fences lined up in rows of adorably aligned homes.
About an hour passed as we walked through, exploring how life used to be for people. He talked about Axen, their friendship, their mission with the Kilari, and then asked me about my own family and friends. I was genuinely surprised by his interest, and while I wanted to share, I gave him vague-at-best answers that were so typically me.
“Look, I’m… sorry, about before,” he said.
“Yeah,” I said, hard as ever. “You said that.”
“No, really,” he said, grabbing my hand and halting me. “I want things to be different between us. Give me a chance to… change your mind about me.”
I looked into his velvety blue eyes and felt a tinge of compassion.
“Alright,” I said, extending a hand to his. “To new beginnings, where you aren’t a douchebag.”
“To new beginnings,” he said with a sly smile. Then he shrugged and said, “And to whatever that other part meant.”
Zawara opened the door to a nearby house for me, suddenly a gentleman, and I stepped into the time warp. I was astonished by the sheer number of things in the home that still remained intact. A dining table with six chairs, an old fridge with a glass door.
The handsome Vithohn walked across the rooms dressed in thick leather armor, a distinct contrast to the turquoise and burnt orange décor.
“Interesting,” Zawara said, strolling through the living room as though he hadn’t been there before. I began to wonder if the telepod really did lead to the same place every time. Perhaps he was just as confused as I was.
“Who are our neighbors?” he asked, twirling his finger as we both peered out the large bay window of the living room.
I leaned far over so that I had to use my hands to prevent my body from smushing into the window.
“Our neighbors?” I repeated, looking around the ghost town.
Then a sharp smile crossed his lips, and he put his head next to mine, whispering in my ear. “In pretend.”
“Oh,” I said, catching on.
“My friend Libby lives there,” I said, pointing to a dusty blue home across the street. It had a bright red mailbox at the end of the walkway and a white door with no peephole.
“Nosy neighbor?” he asked playfully.
“No, she’s cool,” I shrugged. Then I pointed to the house next door to hers, and looked up at Zawara cautiously. “It’s them. The… Winterbottoms. They’re the ones we have to look out for.”
“The Winterbottoms?” he repeated with a laugh, sliding his hand down my side.
“Nosy, always peering out the window. They’re influential, always trying to one-up us.”
“What else?” he dared.
“Mrs. Winterbottom? She’s a slut. I catch her staring at you when you come home from work.”
“From work?” he repeated again with interest. “I like that.”
I gave him a testing look, cocking an unimpressed brow.
“The work, not the… neighbor.”
I laughed. “Good. Because her and I had it out recently.”
“What did you tell her?” he whispered softly in my ear, breathing hot breaths onto my skin.
My body curved into his and I swallowed hard, then shrugged. “I told her if I caught her looking one more time, I was going to kill her.”
“Direct,” he said.
“That’s me.”
“I heard they’re moving anyway,” he said, turning us away from the window and back toward the kitchen. “So, she won’t be a problem.”
“Good,” I laughed.
We walked into the kitchen, me standing in front of the stove and him taking a seat at one of the countertop stools. He smiled at me and my stomach suddenly flipped, feeling a whirlwind of emotions flooding toward me since our strange meeting.
“What now?” I asked expectantly.
He nodded forward, looking toward the stove, dusty and turquoise with a big viewing window. Crossing his arms, he leaned back and suggested, “Cook me something.”
I grabbed a large pink, frilly apron off the hook on the nearby wall and threw it over my neck, pulling it tight against my body.
“Of course,” I said, pulling the back ribbon into an oversized bow. “My pleasure, dear. Let’s see what we have here,” I said, bending far over and looking into the fridge.
It was full, and still turned on, though I didn’t assume any of the food was any good at this point.
“How about…” I tempted, pulling out an old plastic container that clearly was some sort of leftovers. “Fungus?” I finished, raising the furry container to his eyes.
“My favorite,” he mocked.
I pretended to open the container and toss it into a frying pan on the bright, pastel stove. I pretended to flip the food in the pan and looked up at him flirtatiously.
“Let’s dance,” he said and stood from his stool.
“Let’s dance?” I asked again, laughing hard. “Here?”
“Isn’t this what humans do?” he offered. I wasn’t sure if he was serious. But if he was, he had an extremely romanticized idea of what life was like as humans. “I’ve seen movies,” he shrugged.
“Hm,” I said, unamused. “I haven’t.”
I’d heard about movies before; some of the old-world folk had talked about them before. We’d come across one once but had nothing to play it on.
Zawara nodded but said nothing, likely realizing he was coming across as the spoiled one in our scenario. Funny, I thought, how he had benefitted from human society since coming to Earth and I hadn’t.
I ignored the slight and continued to dance with him. “How romantic, my man,” I said, mocking as he twirled me.
He dipped me low, his hand dangerously close to my backside as it held me at my lower back. I felt tingles go through my body that only sped up as he neared my face.
His breath ghosted over mine, and I smiled, filled with lust, and he looked arrogant yet unsure. Then he smirked and whispered, “Dinner’s burning.”
Then he pulled me back up, and I gave an uninterested glance at the stove and our strange little pretend home.
“My, my,” I said, almost done with the farce.
“Bad girl,” he said, and I loved every implication of it.
We continued to walk from room to room with amused breaths and small laughs, summing up each of the dusty quarters with small sentences like:
‘Not much light in here, darling.’
‘Too cramped, too cramped. We should have sprung for the high-rise.’
‘A bit behind on the housekeeping, aren’t we?’
And then we reached the bedroom, and our laughter stopped. It was a small room with a large yellow bed, a tallboy, and a wide dresser with a mirror attached to the top.
“Well this one looks just perfect,” Zawara said, turning to me to gauge my reaction.
“Well, yeah,” I said, toneless. “The bedroom was the big stipulation for us. We needed it to be… just right.”
“Right,” he repeated, and I wondered if he knew what stipulation meant.
He grabbed my hand so hard I knew exactly what he was going to do. His pulse coursed from his hand through mine and down my body.
Leaning in, he kissed me. It was sweeter this time.
Romantic.
I pushed into it, desperate for the contact.
He pushed me onto the bed and stood before me, pulling my pants down, hooking my underwear with his finger before tossing those off as well. It was the first time I really had a chance to take him in. He was thick and long, muscles and tattoos across his gorgeous body. He got on all fours and lifted himself on top of me.
His body was glowing and warm against mine, causing a burst of heat to pass through me. He pressed his torso against mine so that my breasts bumped and squished against him and I began grinding up against him, slippery with excitement.
He kissed me and pulled my hair back.
“There’s so much I want to do for you,” he said as if he already knew me, could possibly have any idea of what I like.
“Yes, I see that,” I laughed.
“Not to you,” he said. “For you.”
“Better than this?” I repeated, full of lust. “I find that hard to believe,” I said.
I watched his blue eyes widen as he entered, pushed inside me with immense pressure.
It was the first time I had a hard time paying attention during sex. He thrust into me, slow and controlled and moaning—fondling my breasts and stroking my lips with his fingertips.
Yet all I could see was his eyes coming alive.
The moment Nevir had always mentioned. Coming to sanity.
I could see it now. It was the fastest I had ever climaxed during sex. I was never a terribly visual person in the bedroom. I didn’t need to see a particularly large or impressive piece of anatomy or watch the love or lust in my partner’s eyes. I didn’t need to connect. But this moment made me realize something incredible had just happened.
We had done something incredible together.
This was big.
As he finished, he rolled off me, and I exhaled loudly. “Your armor is a bitch to get off, did you know that?” I snipped.
“Is a… bitch?” he asked, confused.
I laughed and waved him off. “Never mind.”
“Was it… good?” he asked curiously.
I rolled over onto my arm and nodded. “It was amazing,” I said and was surprised I had even said that much. I wasn’t a big talker. Not about important things.
But this… somehow felt right.
“You seem pretty familiar with this neighborhood,” I said quietly, stroking my hand along his face and down his muscular arm.
“Yes,” he said, staring at me with sudden affection.
I raised my brows expectantly, waiting for a proper response or explanation to follow. I let out an amused sigh when nothing came forward and prompted, “You come here often?”
“Yes,” he nodded. “It’s where the transporter goes.”
“Right,” I said, nearly forgetting the magical transportation device and all we had been through today. “So… technically, we could be expecting others to come along?”
“Maybe,” he said. “Only the higher-ups know about it.”
“What are they for?”
“Transportation,” he simplified.
I laughed and rolled my eyes. “Thanks.”
“One leads to each of the Voth bases,” he said.
“And the Voth are like… the important guys, right? Like, your leaders or commanders or whatever?”
He smiled. “Something like that.”
“Huh… and you come here a lot so, what are you, a Voth?”
He blinked, almond shaped eyes and flecks of blue shimmering at me. “Yep.”
I felt a cold pulse of nerves fly through my body and I bit my lip. “Seriously?” For some reason, the thought made me nervous. Voths usually didn’t go for humans. Even in our camp, there was only a handful. They were some of the most aggressive of the Vithohn.
“So that means you have powers and stuff, right? Heat sensors, power shield, blah?”
He nodded. “That’s right.”
“Huh…”
His pink tongue rolled over his teeth, and his eyes flicked back and forth from mine. “Does that make you nervous?”
“Nope,” I said. But it did. If he was a Voth, why wasn’t he at his base? If he was really looking for the Kilari, why wouldn’t he have an army with him? If he really was their commander, his people would have to listen—have to accompany him. “What about Axen? Does he live here too?”
He nodded. “Down the street, last house on the left. But don’t worry, he’s not a nosy neighbor.” He winked.
“Good to know,” I said and then snuggled into his chest, tired and needing his warmth.
To my surprise, we stayed at the house in our fifties town for two weeks after that. It turned out that this was where Zawara lived. He took me to the house down the block
We moved all of the ‘movies,’ all of the electronics and the food he had collected over time over to the house in the middle of the block—our sex house. There was just something about it I liked better.
I dusted. Cleaned. Cooked.
We spent the nights watching old movies, couples dancing in kitchens and love triangles playing out in hilarious plot twists. I laughed at technology I never thought I would be a part of.
We spent nights making love, me screaming as loud as I could when I orgasmed, him holding my hands as I did so. We were a little old married couple, as far as I was concerned.
And for those two weeks, it seemed like no other life existed.
Then I realized that by playing house with Zawara, I had uncovered a secret desire. I wanted to play house forever—to be his wife in some capacity, to live with him and watch stupid movies and make meals and be together every day. And something even bigger than that: I wanted the Earth back, for real this time.
At that moment, I knew I had to take him back to my camp.
Back to Rowan.
Zawara
I took Kidd back through the telepod, leaving our little life behind, and was surprised to see that Axen was still waiting by the temple, ready to continue our mission.
He took sight of us immediately and nodded his head to the north. The same place we had been tracking the Kilari. He gave me a single nod, and I smiled; he’d progressed in our mission. Good.
In truth, I was surprised he was still waiting for us there. Axen was my superior, not the other way around. As much as he liked to encourage me to go after the high position, ruler over the Vithohn, the truth was the council wanted to give him the honor, and we all knew it.
He was brave, a fighter, fiercely loyal, smart, quiet. He was everything the people would look up to in our warrior race. The council loved him… and what’s more, he’d never gotten involved with a human.
Something that was still deeply frowned upon.
“You saw a little bit of home?” Axen asked in the perfect tone to describe him. Brotherly.
That was his perfect demeanor, strict but encouraging, quiet tone, watchful, but knew how to laugh. He was like an older brother. A Var’tousa, as the Vithohn might demonstrate to him.
“I did,” Kidd said, knowing intuitively that he was speaking to her and not to me.
“I hope you didn’t let him ransack my place,” he quipped, lighthearted as he approached us.
“It’s done?” I asked, and he looked at me with a warning glance not to say anything in front of Kidd. He gave another nod, and I looked at the ground, scolded.
“He tried,” Kidd said, looping her arm through mine. “But I had your back.”
“My thanks,” Axen said with a playful bow.
“Nice doormat, by the way,” Kidd teased, showing him a small grin as we walked passed.
“So you did go to my place,” he said with an irritated hum to his voice. Axen was ridiculously proud of the mat, like it was something he earned. I’d seen him take more pride in that doormat, a half a yellow lemon made with a bristling fabric, than he had from a thousand tournaments.
By the end of the day, we reached a formerly abandoned shipping yard that was fenced off in every direction, turrets, lasers, and facial recognition sensors at every entrance.
My eyes darted to Axen with surprise as Kidd ran ahead to greet her people.
“I thought this was just another station for the Vithohn,” Axen said with some surprise.
“So did I,” I mused. “I just figured nobody wanted to go here because of the sludge.”
We both looked around at the water that rimmed along half the shipping yard. We were told the waters were greened and filled with sludge, toxic chemicals spilled by the humans that made the place virtually unlivable.
We even had a representative head into the base once and came back reporting the miserable conditions. Nobody ever volunteered their services for that very reason.
“Huh,” Axen said with a hand to his pale chin. He laughed and turned to me as though we were thinking the exact same thing. “The representative was part of Rowan,” he said. “They played us.”
“Maybe,” I said, but he was probably right.
The representative came back, never speaking of any humans, and told them what a nightmare the trip had been. The details had scared us off from ever heading toward Rowan, especially for those of us who had come from Bolmore, the city of lights.
“So how did it go with Kidd?” Axen asked, and I wasn’t sure what to tell him.
She was… pleasant, it turned out. More than that. She was connected to me in a way I couldn’t deny. It’s like she was me in some strange way.
“Good,” I said dumbly.
He chuckled. “Just good?”
“She…” I said, still unsure how to finish.
“She’s yours,” he said, nodding toward me. “I understand.”
And that was all we said about it. He didn’t encourage me to betray her or tell me we had to continue with the plan to bring reports of Rowan back to the higher-ups.
Not now, at least.
And it was all the truth, about Kidd. I’d found her brash and cold, then I felt overwhelming guilt for how we had met, and then I felt a warmth like never before. I’d taken her to the neighborhoods to try and win her over, but it seemed like the opposite had happened instead.
Now I was worried about what she thought of me. I wanted to meet the people from her stories, hear her speak, make a good impression.
Those thoughts bothered me. My need to appeal to her. It was something I wasn’t used to. But it was a gnawing that I couldn’t shake.
Before long, the gates of the city opened, Vithohn guards with laser rifles stepping out, looking militaristic.
“His name is Zawara,” I heard Kidd’s smooth voice appeal as my brethren approached me.
I looked them up and down like enemies, incredulous that they would aim weapons at me. The only thing Vithohn ever fought were the humans and the Kilari—not each other.
“You’re with her?” the man said.
Five emerged with weapons, and I was almost flattered that they thought they needed that much firepower to take us down. I laughed at the sight and Axen shook his head to me, laughing as well.
“What about this one?” another Vithohn said to Kidd, pointing to Axen.
“He’s with me, as well,” she said, freely trusting him so long as I told her that I did.
“
As Kidd told it, he’d actually brought a host of humans with him, and they’d begun signing treaties with the human and Vithohn camps, bringing them together to form Rowan.
“Imagine that,” Axen said to me, his eyes perking up nervously. It was the first time I’d seen him genuinely tense in our many years traveling together.
“I wouldn’t worry about it,” I said, waving him off, though I wasn’t sure why.
We made our way into the camp, unsure what to do or say.
The city was made up of half shipping crates turned into stores, science warehouses, armories, and then a collection of shanty houses made with wood and other scrap the humans had likely collected from abandoned buildings and whatever had washed up on shore.
“Take them back to your place,” one of the Vithohn instructed Kidd, who nodded favorably.
It was where we were to be kept, locked away until further notice.
I met Kidd's parents, a lively bunch. They seemed more than excited to have us there. It was a strange feeling for us to be welcomed so warmly by her parents—to have humans who weren't afraid of us. Especially considering the hostile welcome we had just received from our own people.
There was a calming atmosphere that came from being in the little community. Not as cherished as my home back in the abandoned human neighborhoods, but still relaxing. At night you could hear the waves dive up against the edges of the city walls, soothing and blanketed.
We stayed there for days, told that we would have to meet with their Vithohn council soon. To be questioned.
Until then I was cooped up in Kidd’s room, a purple wallpapered bedroom with exactly one bed, one window, and a small, square dresser. It was nothing like where we had been. There were no movies, no tech. It was just… simple.
Kidd’s mom had taken to Axen more than she’d taken to me.
“I think you mom thinks you made the wrong choice,” I teased as we both watched him washing dishes with her mother. This sent Kidd into a burst of uncontrollable laughter while she dragged me upstairs.
She was… freer here, somehow. At home, were the right words. Kidd could come off so cold at times, so unfeeling, that it was hard to imagine her feeling at home anywhere.
It was in that moment, watching her laugh, that I decided I wanted to be that for her. I didn’t want to be controlled by her but… if we were really connected, pair-bonded, then I wanted to do it properly. I wanted to be her everything.
“I like you here,” I said, running my hand down the front of her body as we stood in front of her window.
“Is that right?” she needled, spinning around to face me. “You didn’t like me back at your house?”
“Oh no, I really, really liked you then,” I responded, pulling her body over to mine. “But you seem… alive, here.”
“Dead back at your place,” she deadpanned.
“No!” I laughed. “Can you not accept a compliment?”
“Sure,” she shrugged, flopping down onto her bed. “So what about Axen; is he pissed? Worried?”
I shook my head. “No, why should he be?”
“Things are pretty high-stress here sometimes about new people. They don’t want anyone to report back to their base or anything. You understand.”
I nodded, laying down next to her and worrying that the metal bed might buckle under my weight.
“Of course,” I said. “He’s not worried.”
“Good, because I think you’re both going to like it here,” she said and then slowly asked, “So… how did you guys… meet?”
“We met back on my home planet,” I offered. “We were just kids then. We had each other’s backs.”
“Sounds dire,” she teased.
“Well,” I shrugged, fighting off the memories. “It wasn’t easy. The Kilari attacked us, nearly made us extinct. When you go through something like that together…”
My words lilted at the end as my eyes caught sight of the window, and what was outside. Kilari.
I heard the screech bellow throughout the camp and knew they’d followed us in. We must have left some behind in the hive.
I swore and grabbed my armor, my gun, and raced down the stairs to get Axen. He was already suiting up, running out into the streets.
The Kilari swarmed the camp, just three of them, but it was enough to do some damage. They swarmed out of the ground, revealing their ferocious black fangs and screeching as high-pitched as they could.
Their cries echoed throughout the village, and it wasn’t long before the Vithohn were out in the streets, claws bared.
The Voth put up their forcefields, a heat shield that would protect them from the Kilari’s pounding attack. But the rest had to bear the brunt of the murderous creatures.
I watched as Kidd emerged from her home, gun in tow, and I screamed for her to get back inside. Like the true chosen one I had bonded with, she didn’t listen, firing off her gun at the creatures instead.
Her shot sent one scurrying by myself and Axen. We jumped on it as it tried to run from us, tearing into it with our claws and pulling at its watery eyes to try and blind the creature.
We watched as the Kilari continued to race through the camp like snakes on their bellies, taking out humans and Vithohn, crushing them. We went untouched, untargeted by the creatures, but chased after them anyway.
The fight wasn’t hard, a half hour at most, but it was frustrating. The Kilari moved so fast on land. Usually Axen and I had to one-up on them by storming their hives, small caves without much room to move around.
When it was over, the three Kilari were dead, and fifteen humans were missing. I couldn’t for the life of me think of what the Kilari would stand to gain by kidnapping them, or where they might have gone to.
But it wasn’t a good start to our new life in Rowan.