Chapter Twenty Six The pods. I rolled my eyes. I think I would almost rather take on the pissed off alien than be in this…Place. But yet, I couldn’t turn away, I wanted to, but I couldn’t. All the times that Michael had tried to tell me about his 'other' side and I blew it off was now biting me in the figurative ass. Chin up Guerin, this is where your husband came from. This is where he was born. Or hatched. Or whatever. This is it. This is the part of Michael that I refused and now I don’t have a choice except to embrace it. I don’t know if I let go of Kyle's hand or if he let go of mine, but suddenly I was in front of the pods, my face inches away. I reached out, convinced I was now under some mind control because I don’t think I would do this on my own, and touched the edge of the pod on the top left. It was Michael's. I don’t know how I knew that, maybe I could feel his essence, or maybe I was just going fucking nuts. "Maria," Kyle touched my arm, but for some reason I couldn’t stop fingering the edge of the pod. "Maria!" His voice was sterner now. "I'm okay," I don’t think I was lying. I felt a huge comfort touching that nasty pod. Knowing that Michael, my Michael, was born here was unnerving in a good way. I felt a little closer to him. Now if he would just show up and save me… "Are you sure?" Kyle looked over his shoulder obviously nervous. With good reason. "I'm good," I smiled at him. "This is where they were born." It wasn't a question; it was a total statement. "Uh…Yeah, I know." Kyle shrugged. I looked back to the pod and then promptly hurled. Fuck. A few seconds of coughing behind my hand and I was good. So much for the warm fuzzy stuff. This was a fucking pod! Michael was hatched from the nasty thing in front of me. I shuddered. I looked at Kyle, behind all that concern, he was about ready to laugh his ass off. One wise crack and I will beat him. I raised one finger up and whispered. "Not one word Valenti, not one word." I looked around frantically for something to drink or eat and was offered a roll of lifesavers from Kyle's pocket. Lifesavers. How fucking appropriate was that? I took one and savored the cherry goodness. "We have to get out of here. Fast." Kyle the Observant. "No shit," I looked back at the pods and closed my eyes for extended blink. Pounding footsteps coming from the other side of the drywall made us both swivel and stare. This was what I called a bad. A big fucking bad. I grabbed Kyle's hand and we trekked further into the freakish chamber-type place. Unfortunately, we hit a wall. "So, you're the Leader's bitch?" The voice came from behind us. We turned around slowly and low and behold, we found the MaxClone. He looked like Max, but his hair was slicked back against his head and the kindness that Max had in his smile was no where to be found. He did glance at my tits for longer than necessary, but I wouldn’t have expected anything else. "He talking to me or you?" Kyle whispered in my ear making me smile. MaxClone didn’t think it was very funny. Fortunately, I didn’t give a rat's ass what he thought about anything. "So, do you have a catchy little name too?" I asked. Why? Dunno. "I'm Zan." Zan? It didn’t make me giggle like Rath, but it still brought a little bit of a bigger smile to my face. "My sister," Zan said slowly, nothing but meanness leaking through him. "What happened to my sister?" "She fought the Maria," I placed my hands on my hips and tilted my head to one side. "And the Maria won," Kyle stepped up and mocked my stance. * * * The rescue group sat in the round on the small private jet that had been waiting for them at the airport. "You know, you two really fucked up." Max pointed at first his sister and then Michael. "We know," Isabel answered for them both. "We were just trying to figure it out and then Michael saw his double. Then Tess and Kyle announced their engagement" "This is not my fault!" Tess fought back while absently touching her engagement ring. "I know," Isabel words were soft. "I didn't mean it like that. We were wrong; we should have come to you both when I first got the vision-thing. I didn’t understand it and neither did Michael. Nothing really fit together until he saw his double outside of Section." "Then we understood that there were two sets of us and one set of us wanted to get home," Michael pointed to the window. "That home." "Why didn't you tell us? You put us all at risk." Alex joined the conversation with disdain. Michael turned to him quickly. "Do you honestly think that if we thought anyone was in danger that we wouldn’t have tried to prevent it? I don't know why they have Maria and Kyle. I don’t know what they need them for. They haven't contacted us for anything." Michael's thought process began to drift. "They know us, about us. But they took Maria and Kyle. Why would they need them besides to get to us?" A silence fell over the group as each person tried to find the answer they were all looking for. "What could Maria and/or Kyle have that they need?" Alex asked absently in a quiet voice. Michael's eyes widened. There was only one thing that Maria could have that no one else in the world could. "How long until we land?" Michael asked the pilot via the speakerphone next to his chair. He was answered and Michael faced the confused passengers. "I gotta go save my family." * * * Chapter Twenty Seven I didn't see it coming. Zan reached out and clocked Kyle in the face sending him reeling backwards. "Kyle!" I screamed his name and realized that Zan wasn't like his counterpart at all. He was nothing but evil. E-vil. I watched with nothing short of pure fear on my face as Zan raised his hand and using alien mojo threw Kyle into the wall and then made him ride up it; Kyle was already at least ten feet off the ground. This was going from bad to badder really fucking fast. "Stop!" I screamed and lunged at Zan. I knocked him to the ground, which forced him to drop his hold on Kyle. I heard the thud and knew Kyle had hit the ground. Zan had me by the arms and I couldn’t fight him. He was strong. Damn he was strong. I said some final words followed by prayers in my head for my husband and my unborn baby and then gave it all I had. I threw myself backwards and pulled Zan down with me. He landed on top of me and I prayed like I never have before that my baby was as strong as I was. So help me God, if this alien fucker hurt my baby…Fuck it. I was going to kill him anyway. “Asshole!” I grunted the word and kicked out with both of my feet. I connected, the only reason I knew that was because I felt vibrations run through my legs, Zan sure as hell didn’t mutter a word. Damn. I kicked out again and knew I wouldn’t be able to stop until one of us was dead. I was banking on it being him, but today just didn’t seem to be my day. “You’ll be able to visit your sister soon,” I smiled, our faces inches apart. I could feel his breath on my face. “Not likely,” he pushed me away. I went sailing about five feet away from him and landed on my ass. As far as I could tell nothing was broken but I may have to sit on one of those inflatable donuts for a while if, no, when we get out of here. I wanted to check on Kyle, but I didn’t have time. Damn if Kyle was hurt… Zan was back on me, I mean literally on me. His body was pressing me into the ground, his face about an inch away from mine. His forearm was across my neck cutting off my air. More praying and talking. I tried to explain to the baby inside of me how sorry I was not being able to save her. I tried to convey how much I already loved her. And how sorry I was that she had the unfortunate luck to be assigned me for a mother and an alien leader for a father. Then I changed my mind. She was damn lucky to have me for a mother because like everyone else I loved, I’d die for her. And to have Michael for a father was more than anyone could ask for. I quit apologizing and started promising that things would calm down before she was born. Once all the bad guys were gone. I couldn’t let Zan just kill me. Or maim me. I knew they had to keep me alive because of the baby. Or did they just have to make sure my baby was alive? Technically they could just keep my body alive just long enough until they could take her from me. Shit. None of these scenarios was sounding too good right about now. I gasped and pulled some strength from somewhere and kneed him in the balls. With a grunt he pulled away from me but it wasn’t long enough for me to make any headway on him. In seconds, he had me pinned down with his arms crossed over my chest. He was still in control but at least I could breathe now. So if I could breathe, I could talk. Ha! “So, why do you all have a hard-on for getting home?” Might as well find out what’s going on. “Home.” He said the word almost wistfully. I took a good look at him and the identicalness between him and Max was just as scary as the others. I missed Max. I didn’t give him enough credit, but I made another promise to myself that when we got out of here I would appreciate him just a little bit more. We. I hadn’t heard a sound coming from the direction of Kyle and now I was scared. My heart began to pound just a little bit faster. Kyle. I promised that no one was getting out of here except in pieces if Kyle was… I couldn’t even say it. He would have said something by now; if he could. Fuck! I tried to not think about Kyle for a minute and concentrated on getting away from Zan. “Yeah, home. Why do you want to go so bad?” I caught him off guard with my blatancy. Good. “From the way I understand it, you’re just along for the ride. Rath,” I bit back a smile, “Rath is in charge, Lonnie is, excuse me, was his second in command. Ava is his mate and you are…?” I shrugged as well as I could underneath him. I watched the wheels turning in his head and wondered if the hamster was getting tired yet. “I’m part of the family, my life there will be good.” “Oh, okay.” I wanted to smile but at that same second is when I realized my plan to piss him off enough to let me go had backfired. He tightened his grip on me and lowered his head until his mouth was even with my ear. “Maybe you’re right Maria. Maybe I don’t have anything to go home to. I guess that means that I can kill you right here, right now and it won’t really matter.” Fuck me. I shook my head as his hand closed over my neck. I wondered if he was going to strangle me or snap my neck. “Tell my sister I said ‘hi’.” I closed my eyes and said my goodbyes. This was not how the life and times of Maria DeLuca-Guerin was supposed to end. I wasn’t supposed to die at the hands of a psycho-alien. I waited for my final breath but instead I felt Zan collapse on top of me. When I opened my eyes I saw the most beautiful thing in the world. Kyle. And he was holding a really big fucking rock in his hands. One that had a pretty shade of crimson on the corner. “Tell her yourself. Asshole.” Kyle dropped the rock and pulled Zan off of me. I did a wacky ninja jump to a standing position and hurled myself into Kyle’s arms. * * * Chapter Twenty Eight I didn’t want to let go of the Kyle. I never wanted to let go of Kyle. But I did so I wouldn't smother him. I took a step back and held his hands; he smiled. I had been sure that I would never see that Valenti grin again. Thank God I'm occasionally wrong. I noticed something on his neck, running down his neck. It was blood. Shit. "You're bleeding," I stated the obvious. "I was dropped on a rock floor from like fifteen feet in the air!" Kyle gave me the look that stated I was a complete dumbass. I'm quite familiar with that look by now. "Are you okay?" "I'll be better once we get out of here and go home," he looked at my stomach. "Are you okay? You guys?" I grinned. "I think so. You saved my ass Kyle," I shook my head with admiration in my eyes. "He was going to kill me. Us. I thought he had already killed you and I was next. We were next." Those stupid tears were balancing on my eyelids but I was determined not to let them fall. "I thought you were dead, Kyle." He pulled me into his arms and kissed my forehead. I let my tears soak into his shirt. "Good thing I'm not, huh?" "Yeah Valenti, it's a good thing." I laughed. "So, I thought they had to have your baby to get home somehow, why was he going to kill you?" I opened my mouth to speak but Kyle interrupted me. "You had a plan and it backfired didn't it?" I nodded. So Kyle knew me just a little bit too well. "We'll talk about it later, right now we need to go back to what we were doing before we were so rudely interrupted by that," I nodded down at the motionless body of Zan before I looked at Kyle again. "Thank you, Kyle." He shrugged. "Hey, I don’t know how many times you've saved my ass Maria, turnabout is fair play." That it was. Now where the fuck was the rest of my team? * * * Tess leaned in a little bit closer to Michael after his announcement about saving his family. She noticed there was something different about him, something lighter, more alive and animated. Michael Guerin knew something. With a completely obvious motion, she cocked her head to one side and invited Michael to join her in the other part of the plane, right in back of the cockpit. Far enough way from the others to not be overhead, but close enough to feel their presence. "You know something," Tess whispered after the two aliens had taken seats on a bench that backed the cockpit wall. "I may," Michael smiled. "Share?" "It was what Alex said. What could Maria and Kyle have that they could possibly want?" He received a shrug for an answer. "There is only one thing in the world that Maria, and she alone, could have." Tess narrowed her eyes before widening them. "You mean…?" Michael nodded. "I think she's pregnant." "Oh!" Tess squealed and threw her arms around Michael's neck. "Congratulations!" She laughed and then drew away from him, concern weighing heavily in her eyes. "But…" "I know," Michael joviality was replaced with an overcast aura. "I guess I don’t know. If I'm right and she is pregnant, that brings about a whole new set of questions that we don’t have answers to. Can we mix? I mean, genetically combine and produce a healthy normal child? Can Maria carry this baby? Why would the others want her?" "Her?" Tess grinned. "Oh, I don't know where that came from." "You're going to be an awesome daddy," Tess reassured him. "But it's not the time for secrets right now, go tell the others." "I was going to, I just had to take a few minutes to let it seep in." With an honesty that he wasn't accustomed to sharing with anyone except for Maria he added, "I never thought I'd be a father. For a long time I never thought I'd be a husband or a part of a family. But now…" "You are," Tess squeezed his arm. "And it's an apparently growing family, but there's a few members missing and we have to concentrate on how to get them back safely." Darkness clouded her eyes. "Then why Kyle, Michael? Why would they take Kyle?" "Because they did their homework. Kyle is the one human who Maria would lay her life down to save." Tess was silent as she let the information filter through her somewhat disallowing brain. "So, they have Maria under their control because of her feelings for Kyle. She'd do whatever they wanted just to keep him safe." Michael nodded. "She would." Tess smiled and wiped her cheek as a new tear slid down her alabaster skin. "I hope to hell that everyone realizes how lucky we are to know Maria Guerin." Michael couldn’t speak. And he couldn’t agree more. "Come on," Tess rose and outstretched to her hand. "Let's go share your news." Michael followed the petite blond back to the others; all attention was on pale-faced Max. "What's wrong?" Tess looked from Max to Isabel. "I felt him die," Max smiled. Michael met Isabel's eyes and nodded. "Two down." "Two to go." Isabel smiled at him. * * * Chapter Twenty Nine The hallway was silent and I think that was more eerie than if I would have heard one of the others screaming they were going to kill me. Not that I wanted to hear anyone scream that they wanted to kill me, but the silence was…Silent. I wondered why. "Why is it so quiet in here?" Kyle asked I wondered when he had managed to sneak in the mind reading classes I wanted to take. I shrugged and noticed my hands were securely flattened over my belly. This was it. This was the way my life was going to be from now on, my number one priority had shifted from everyone else to my baby. "Do you think the others just…left?" Kyle asked with that hopeful innocence I thought he had abandoned a long time ago. I bet 'laying in wait' was probably more accurate. My eyes flew around the room. Room was too nice of a word, it wasn't a room, it was more like a cavern. Since I was alien-history dumb and was only going on bits of conversation that I had accidentally heard, the most I knew about this freak show was that we were in, like, big rocks. So yeah, I think cavern was adequate. Now, how to get the fuck out of the cavern… I looked around the hallway we had backed ourselves into. Then I looked at dead Zan on the floor. "They're going to kill us." I stated blankly. "No, they're going to kill me," Kyle smiled as much as I guess he could. "They need you Maria, they need your baby." I wasn't about to let anything happen to Kyle and he knew that, but the stakes had shifted and he knew that as well. We were now fighting for a new life, one that hadn’t taken her first breath yet. One that didn’t know about the horrors of the world. "Well, they aren’t getting her. And they're not getting you either." There I said it and I meant it. "You know the drill, Valenti. We both walk out of here alive." "Does one of us being carried out count as walking?" "Smart ass," I whapped him on the chest and straightened out the invisible wrinkles in my leather pants. That’s when I saw it. "Damn!" "What?" Kyle was alarmed. Oops. "I got a tear in my pants, probably from wrestling around with stupid here," I kicked Zan in the shoulder and felt morbid. Morbid, yet oddly good at the same time. I kicked him again. "Stop kicking the dead alien," Kyle said solemnly. Kyle was right; I shouldn’t kick the dead alien. But it just felt so damn good. I bet Kyle would think so too, but I didn’t mention that. After all, he was the one who killed him. Yay Kyle! "So," he cleared his throat and brought me back to the problem at hand. "Do you think the others have any idea of what's going on?" I didn't know. I had no fucking idea so I shrugged. "Beat's me. I can't even imagine how we got from DC to Roswell, you know? Is there a fucking spaceship parked out back?" I was bugging my eyes because I was scared. I was scared because I kept myself in the dark about all this alien shit and I now felt very stupid. Of course, Kyle just smiled at me. "I was thinking that Ava did a mind warp and we flew on a commercial airplane here. But hey, there could be spaceship outside." He shrugged and if I didn’t love him so much I would have decked him. I was going to have to remember the mindwarpping thing. I wonder if Tess ever mindwarpped me, like when she was doing my nails or something? Probably not. "Maria? You said Michael was acting strange, do you think he knew about…" He nudged Zan in the shoulder with the toe of his shoe, "About them?" Well, there was going to be some serious hell to pay if Michael actually knew about everything and didn’t tell. Of course, I guess one might also say that turnabout is fair play. I was keeping secrets too. However I was beginning to wonder if my secrets and Michael's secrets were the same secrets after all. I knew without a doubt that he would have found the note by now; I think I'm slick with him, but the truth of the matter is that sometimes I think he knows me better than I know myself. Of course that could be due in part that he studied the hell outta me before he met me. Honestly, I hardly even remember life before him anymore. "Do you think we should try to make our escape now, or wait until the wrath of Rath comes down on us?" "Do you think they'll just give up?" I cocked my head to one side as another pesky plan sneaked into my thinking. "Do you think if we make our escape that they won’t come after us again? They'll just hang out and be all like 'Oh, man, whew! They got away. Wanna go to the mall?' Or do you think they'll keep coming after my baby until they have her and secure their ride home? I can't leave until it's over, Kyle. You have to get out, but I have to see this through to the end." Kyle seemed to mull it over. I knew what he was going to say and as much as I wanted to get him the hell out of here and go for help, I needed him to stay. He was my right hand man. My vice-president. My assistant coach. He was my trusty sidekick Kyle Valenti and I wasn't sure if I could do this alone. I had a feeling that Lonnie and Zan weren't nearly as dangerous as the other two. Well Lonnie seemed dangerous enough to me, but for some reason I was able to overtake her without much of a struggle. That thought alone sent chills down my spine. Why? Why did that happen? I had a few ideas, but I wasn't ready to share them yet, frankly, because they scared the shit out of me. Zan on the other hand, seemed kind of lost. I almost felt sorry for him, if he wouldn’t have tried to kill me, I would have. Again, must give Max some more credit when we get back home. "So, I see the wheels spinning," Kyle shoved his hands in his pocket and nodded at the floor before looking at me. "You know the drill, Guerin." He cocked his head to one side in the perfect Maria imitation. "What's the plan?" Ahhhh… * * * "Pregnant?" Isabel's expression was mixed between elation and surprise with a little apprehension thrown in as well. Michael nodded, an unabashed grin on his face. "It makes sense. It seems like a plausible reason for Maria being taken. And Kyle." "Why Kyle?" Alex asked with a faint head shake. "Like I explained to Tess, Kyle is the one human that Maria would do anything to keep safe. They have her over a barrel, so to speak. They did their homework and they know what Maria would do to protect the people she loves." "So,'" Isabel ran her hands through her hair, "When I saw the other ones, and I got the feeling that they were looking for something that we had, it's not us that has it, it's Maria. They need your child." Michael nodded and licked his lips. "I can’t think of anything else that would make sense. They didn't come after us, they went straight for her." "How would they know she was pregnant?" Max asked. "You didn’t know, do you think she does?" Michael shook his head. "Well, I bet she knows by now, but I doubt she knew before. She couldn’t have kept that a secret form me." The unasked question of why they needed the child was left as that, unasked. The pilot made a brief announcement that landing would commence within minutes and for all passengers to fasten their seatbelts. The sound of metal clicking broke the silence as they each buckled in. "I'm going to be a father," Michael bit his bottom lip and fought back the wetness that was threatening to fall from his eyelids. * * * Chapter Thirty The discussion over who was driving was minimal. Michael handed over the keys to the black SUV that had been waiting for their arrival at the airport without argument. The ride was anything but smooth, but Max Evans handled the vehicle with ease over the familiar rocky landscape. "How long, Max?" Michael asked from the passenger seat. "Twenty minutes," Max smiled. "We'll get there, Michael. And we'll get there in time. Nothing is going to happen to either of them. I promise you that much." "We don't know what we're up against," Michael said absently looking out the window. "Yeah, we do. We're up against ourselves, no, a fraction of ourselves. Maria and Kyle already took care of part of them. I just keep waiting for you and Tess to feel what Isabel and I already have." Michael smiled and faced his once adversary. "Thank you Max," he looked over his shoulder into the backseat. "And Tess." "Don’t thank me for anything, Michael," Tess smiled at him from her position in-between Alex and the door. "Maria and Kyle saved us all, turnabout is fair play." Michael nodded and faced forward. A new look set firmly on his face. A look of determination. * * * My plan was weak. Even by Maria plan making standards, it was weak. Not really a plan at all. More like a suicide mission. Kyle knew it too, although he wouldn’t say it, the look on his face was enough to let me know he thought it wouldn’t work. "I don’t think it's going to work," he said and I stand corrected. "Got a better one?" With my hands now defiantly on my hips, I was nothing but authority. He shook his head. Ha! That's why I'm the fucking captain! "Then so be it, but I think it's stupid." Kyle kicked at some rocks. "And dangerous." I wanted to tell him my middle name was Dangerous, but he'd probably have a smart comeback and I wasn't in the mood. "And no," he grinned, "Your middle name is not Dangerous." I rolled my eyes. "Do you want to get out of here or what?" "No Maria, I want to stay here forever. I love this place. I love it so much I want to marry it and have its children." I laughed and covered my mouth with my hand. After a few seconds I felt better. We could do this, Kyle and I can do anything we want because we're fuckin' superheroes. First thing I'm doing when I get home is finding us some theme music. I reached to him and waited for him to place his hand in mine, I squeezed. I didn’t know what I'd do without Kyle; he was the brother I never had, the best friend I would die to save. Kyle was pretty damn close to my everything. I wondered if I ever told him that if I ever had alien children I was going to name them all Kyle? That might turn out to be a bad since I knew the baby inside of me was a girl. And I'm sorry, the name Kylie is out of the question, all I would ever think about was a washed up 80's pop star. I guess this was technically something I could figure out after we were safe. After we got home and I told Michael we were having a baby. After I hand dipped him in marshmallow cream… I nodded once and we backtracked the way we came, within minutes we were back at the pods. I managed to not shudder too much and keep my hurling at bay. This was something I should be embracing. Something that is a part of the man I love more than anything. Technically, it was a part of me now too, since I was carrying around this little… What's the right word? Right, this little baby inside of me. Standing in front of the pods, I placed one hand on my stomach and my heart ached. Michael would never know who his true parents were. He would never have the chance to get mad at them or buy them presents. He was borne from this thing; this egg shaped carrier that was in front of me. This broken shell that I can only imagine was filled with some nasty fluid. This is where my husband was born while our child was coming from inside of me. I was a pod. Okay, I can't go there again. Ever. I dropped Kyle's hand and leaned in closer to the pod. I waited for it to stink, but it didn’t. I felt fear and confusion but I wasn't sure if it was mine or the leftover essence of Michael. I was willing to wager it was both. I know I had that wild dog look in my eye when I swung around and faced Kyle. "Lift me up." "What you talkin' about, Willis?" I held back on the eye roll this time. "Lift me up Valenti." I pointed to the pod. "You want to go into the pod?" I nodded. I had to go in there. I don't know why, but I had to. I gave him the look and he grabbed me around my thighs and hoisted me up. I scraped my hands on the sides of the pod and tried to remember the last time I got a tetanus shot. I guess it didn’t matter, that probably wouldn’t really cover otherworldly germs anyway. So now I was in the pod. I had to scrunch up to fit in it, but I did. I felt along the sides of it, rough and uncaring, dried. I don't think I've ever felt closer to Michael. I leaned against the back of it and promptly fell through it. "Fuck!" I screamed as I landed on my ass. "Maria!" I heard Kyle scrambling on the other side as I just lay there, completely stunned. I propped myself up and then stood, my eye level was just high enough to see Kyle as he was headed over face first through the pod. "Jesus," he panted when he saw me. "Are you okay?" I nodded. "I think so, just surprised me." "What is this place?" He asked looking past me into the new room I had fallen into. I shrugged and turned around. It was still part of the cavern, nothing special about it. Nothing except that I was sure as shit that there was a ray of light coming from behind a jutting rock. Sunlight? My heart raced. This could be a way out, or at least a way to get Kyle out to find the others. As soon as we got through Rath. Fuck me! Nothing ever goes my way. "Hi," Rath whispered and smiled but it was anything but friendly. I looked away from the alien who could have been my husband and towards Kyle as he came through the pod and landed on his feet next to me. He saw Rath and took in a deep breath. This was not exactly part of the plan. Fuck the plan. New plan was needed ASAP. It turned into one of those slow motion movie moments. I looked at Kyle and smiled, he smiled back at me, and our eyes met with complete understanding. There was a long road in front of us, but together, we could do it, we could do anything. The force of the bond between us grew as the fear for our lives intensified. Fear ravaged me. I didn’t see her. Without warning, Ava was in back of Kyle. I could see blond hair peeking over his shoulder. Then I watched in horror as a silver blade raced across Kyle's neck. "No!" Someone screamed. I think it was me; right before I fell to the ground. * * * Chapter Thirty One I felt the rocky surface underneath me as sharp points bit through the leather on my knees. My head was pounding so hard and so loud I wished, no, I prayed that it would just explode and I'd float away. Kyle. Not Kyle. My throat began to hurt and I realized that I was screaming. I was screaming and tears burned my eyes. Nothing was important now. I quit screaming but only for a few seconds, then I started again. I was going deaf and hoarse, but I didn’t give a shit. I was done. This was my fault. “Shut up!” That was Rath. The shout was louder than my screaming and I wondered how that was possible. What? Did he have a megaphone in his pocket? I shut up and glared up at him forcing myself to not look in Kyle’s direction. “Don’t you ever shut the fuck up?” Rath was running his hands through his hair just like my husband does. That was a very leading question, under normal circumstances I would have smartassed an answer six ways to Sunday, but right now I wasn’t feeling too punny. “Maria?” Holy shit. That was Kyle’s voice. But it couldn’t be because I saw Ava slit his throat. It was a trick. “Maria?” I didn’t turn around, it was just a sick fucking joke and I refused to be the punchline. Fuck. That. “What’s wrong?” Rath leaned into me and sneered. What’s wrong? I can’t believe he actually just said that. My best friend was dead. That was what was fucking wrong! I met his eyes and gave him my best attitude face. “You want to know what’s wrong?” I could see I took him by surprise as his eyes widened. “Yeah, tell me.” “I’m having a dilemma. I was just trying to figure out exactly how I was going to kill you. There’s so many options and I’m just trying to figure out the one that would hurt the most.” I waited for the shocked stare but instead I got laughter. Oh man, I was so going to rip his tongue out and shove it down his fucking throat. “Maria!” That was Kyle’s voice again. “Shut up!” I screamed. “What are you doing? Are you high?” That really was Kyle. I looked over my shoulder and made a yelping sound as I scrambled to my feet. I was in Kyle’s arms within seconds. I hugged him and then ran my hands over his neck. He wasn’t cut. He was whole. He was Kyle, my best friend, and he was alive. “What is wrong with you?” He pushed me away just far enough to look at me. I looked past him to Ava and got a blank stare from her. Not that I expected any help, but still… “I saw her,” I pointed at the blonde bitch, “slit your throat.” Kyle reached for his throat, his eyes wide. “Say what?” I shook my head. What the fuck? “I was just standing here, Maria.” Kyle looked alarmed. “You started screaming and fell to your knees. Or maybe it was the other way around.” Again, what the fuck? I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and knew right then and there that I needed to remember who, or should I say what, we were dealing with. Of course, it was a second too late because that husband impersonating fucker had me around the waist in a death grip. I tried to fight him but it was useless. He was stronger than me, plus he had the added bonuses of alien powers. Me? I only had me. And Kyle. He pulled me against him and forced me look straight ahead at Kyle. I watched in sheer horror as Ava stepped in front of him and plunged a really big fucking knife into his heart. My jaw dropped as I watched Kyle fall to the floor, blood pooled from his mouth; a blood bubble formed in his open mouth and then popped. “No!” I fought like crazy to get away from Rath and all he did was laugh. “Maria!” That was Kyle again. I looked straight ahead and Kyle was just standing there. This was so not good. I didn’t like this one fucking bit, but at least I had an idea what was going on. I was being mindwarped by that little bitch and I was so going to kick her ass! “Okay,” I cleared my throat as Rath released me after a quick feel of my tits. I stepped back and faced the room. “That is enough of that. I know what you’re doing and now it’s over. Okay?” “No,” Ava giggled and she seemed so much like Tess it was insane. “It’s not over until I say it’s over.” I felt a surge of heated anger ripple through me and then something cool replaced it. Cool like in Michael. Cool like in the way my knight in black leather always seems to be. I was taking that as a sign that he was nearby. I must have started grinning because suddenly Rath was glaring at me. “What the fuck is so funny?” He demanded. I didn’t answer, frankly, it wasn't any of his damn business. “You know what I think is funny?” He asked. I didn’t answer, I didn’t care. “This!” He raised his hand and the next thing I knew, Kyle was about five feet up and plastered to the rock wall in back of where he had been standing. “Stop!” I screamed as Rath turned his hand to me and suddenly I was on the opposite wall. Stuck to it like a mouse to a glue trap. “Let me the fuck down!” Rath and Ava met in the corner of the room, they were looking back and forth between Kyle and I and laughing. I saw absolutely nothing funny about it at all. “Well,” Rath lowered his hands and I realized he was powerful. He didn’t need to keep his attention completely on us and still be able to use his powers. “Now, this is what I call comedy.” I looked across the room and met Kyle’s eyes. I saw the fear pass through him quickly, it was replaced with nothing but sheer anger. I smiled at him and winked. Then I hit the floor landing on my already sore ass. My eyes flew to Rath and I saw the disbelief on his face. He raised his hand to me again. Nothing. I stayed on my ass. “Something’s not right here,” I mumbled in that annoying singsong voice under my breath. Rath’s eyes were bulging and his hand was waving like crazy, and here I sat, on the ground. Oh, shit. “What’s wrong with you?” Ava demanded in a very high-pitched squeal. “Nothing!” Rath shouted and continued his frenzied hand waving. “Fuck!” I stood up and dusted my ass off. With raised eyebrows, I grinned. “It’s okay, it happens to all men. Or so I hear.” I heard Kyle chuckle from his position on the wall and without thinking, I looked over my shoulder. Not my sharpest moment. “Maria!” Kyle screamed my name and I knew what was coming. I braced myself as I was taken down to the floor. Familiar hands were on me, pulling my shirt up while I fought like the devil. “I think,” Rath whispered in my ear, “I think we should be able to take the kid now. Yeah?” Ava was at my side holding me down. Kyle was yelling from the wall. Rath was leering in my face. I was ready to open up a can of whoop ass. * * * “There!” Michael shouted and pointed to the exposed fender of 1972 black Caprice convertible from behind the base of the rocks that housed the pod chamber. “Nice ride,” Alex whispered from the back seat. “We have to get in and fast,” Michael was reaching for the door handle as Max slowed. “What’s going on Michael?” Alarm rang through Isabel’s voice. “I can feel her heat.” Michael left it at that. * * * |
| PARTS 26-31 |