Sense of Duty (CC/UC,M/M,ADULT) Ch 21 - 03/14/05 [WIP]

[Ninlil]

CHAPTER 21

The room exploded into a frenzy of voices.

A piercing whistle broke up the commotion. “Everyone quiet!” Then Michael turned his fierce scowl on Larek. “You, explain!”

Larek sighed deeply. “There’s a very good possibility that Maria possesses the knowledge of how to build a Granolith.”

“What do you mean build one? Isn’t the Granolith… unique?” Kyle asked curiously.

Larek shrugged. “As far as we know it is the only one, at least in this galaxy and the galaxy of our home worlds, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t created.”

Isabel stared at him uncertainly. “Okay, but why in the world would Maria know how to build one?”

“Maria is Telana’ra.” Larek furrowed his bushy reddish brows. “Well, that’s our best guess anyways.”

“Beloved warrior? What does that have to do with anything?” Ace asked, exasperated. The name wasn’t new to him and he was all too aware of how much his best friend disliked her honorary title.

Larek glanced at the poised shapeshifter at his side and nodded his head for him to explain. “It’s not solely an affectionate term. Not in her case anyway,” Ra told them, his gaze and tone both softened. “Telana’ra literally means ‘of warrior blood’. Over the ages it has become a title for our best leaders. But the term used to refer to an ancient race, the Telana, that lived in the highlands of Antar. Our scientists are still looking for explanations on what happened to them, they seem to have just disappeared. It was so long ago that no one knows, but we do know they are the ones that built the Granolith.”

Ace shook his head. “Again, what does this have to do with Maria? What are you trying to imply here… that she’s an alien?”

“Excuse me,” Amy said incredulously, her eyes narrowed. “My daughter is not an alien! I think I’d know.”

“Well, she is and she isn’t, and that’s all speaking hypothetically based on what little evidence we’ve uncovered. Zi’al neche kianaska te’en divashan ‘ra kayoto salo zatan. Rikeen ‘ra grano sapela likree verisea Telana.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Ace asked, his voice edged with obvious frustration. He could barely keep his mind focused on what Larek and Ra were saying. It was hard enough controlling his emotions, the ups and downs of the past twenty-four hours had been chaotic and frenzied, one moment he felt like holing himself up in a dark room to grieve and the next he felt that he should be doing something instead of just sitting around talking.

“It’s an ancient Telana verse recovered from engravings discovered on the base of the Granolith during the reign of the Royals. Roughly translated it seems to state that the knowledge of the Granolith will be carried on in the blood of the ancients.”

Clenching his jaw, Ace snapped, “Uh-huh… Okay, I’m still not getting what this has to do with Maria!”

Rashen looked at Ace with sympathy and understanding in his eyes, he never imagined having to put all of this on him all at once, and if there was one person on this world that he did not want to disappoint it would be Ace. The attraction he felt for him wasn’t just physical, Ra greatly admired the young man. He took a deep breath and continued, “I never really believed in all that stuff about the Telana just disappearing. I always thought that they just integrated with other races on our planet, and so like most people I thought that the engravings they found on the Granolith were just nonsense, just a long forgotten mystery. I wasn’t even really sure that they had ever existed. That was until I met Maria.”

“The first time you met Maria was when I was trying to drag her out of that infernal hospital,” Ace murmured, still trying to wrap his mind around this new information.

Rashen nodded, not taking his eyes off Ace.“Yes, I had been sent to Earth to keep an eye on Lonnie and the shifter you called Nacedo. We knew they were after the Royals, but since we didn’t know where the Royals were our best bet was to follow Lonnie and Nacedo and make sure they didn’t find them first. I couldn’t get very close, so I didn’t know what they were doing, but when I lost track of Lonnie I went back to the hospital to see if Nacedo was still there. That’s when I found you and Maria."

"I don’t know how much the rest of you know about that time,” Ra said, looking at the rest of the group. “But, when I came across Maria, she had a large gaping hole in her chest and I knew she’d die if I didn’t try to heal her. My skills in healing aren’t very adept, but I had to try and after convincing Ace that I was on his side, I did my best. What I saw shocked me to my core. She had the Telana seal. I think Nacedo must’ve seen it as well because it was obvious he’d broken down all of her innate defenses, otherwise I don’t think I would’ve seen it. I wasn’t able to heal her completely, but it was enough so that we had time to get her to one of our doctor’s and put some blocks around the seal to conceal it from anyone else who tried to connect with her.”

Amy rubbed her temples, feeling a surging a headache coming on. “That’s impossible, Ra. Maria is not an alien. I gave birth to my baby girl, and though my own mom was admittedly strange at times I’m pretty sure she was human.”

“We have no idea what happened to the Telana. For all we know they might’ve come to Earth or maybe they started from here. Heck, there might be hundreds or thousands of people on Earth that have the blood and locked away knowledge from that ancient race.” Rashen’s dark brown eyes gazed over the entire group. “All we know is that out of all the people we’ve tested none of them have come back with the same DNA markers that are unique in her blood.”

Larek added, “That includes you, Amy.”

Amy pointed her finger menacingly at Larek. “Oh no you don’t! If you’re going to tell me that Maria’s not my daughter, I’ll make sure you regret ever coming here.”

“Not at all,” Ra rushed to reassure her. “But, we think it may have come from her father’s side and since we don’t know where he is, we can’t say so conclusively.”

At that moment the door opened and Jim walked back in, immediately going to his wife’s side. She was rubbing her temples, and looked like she was on the verge of either breaking into sobbing hysterics or a screaming rage. Neither would be good.

Amy felt the comfort of Jim’s presence, and her red, troubled eyes met his. Pushing her chair back, she slowly stood. “I’m going to go…” She trailed off, not really sure of where she was going to go, all she knew was that she needed out of the room. Her eyes met Alex’s. “You’ll call?”

He nodded and watched as Jim escorted a dazed Amy out of the room. He understood exactly how she felt - he was just about ready to run screaming out of the room himself.

Liz leaned forward, fascinated by this new revelation. “Even with the Telana seal, how can you be so sure that the knowledge to build a Granolith is also there?”

“That’s a good question,” Ra replied, smiling at the pretty brunette. “We don’t know for sure. In the connection, while I was healing her, I touched the seal, and although I didn’t understand what I was seeing, I do know it was technical data, schematic in nature. I didn’t have time to try and figure it all out since we needed to get her medical attention right away, so I can’t say whether it was necessarily blueprints or not.”

“What is important here is that the enemy never discovers that it’s possible to create another Granolith,” Larek emphasized. “We got lucky with Nacedo in that he died before he could tell anyone what he found.”

Max asked, “Why didn’t you, the Allied Forces, try to get the information? If it really was there, you could make a new Granolith or even a hundred of them? Khivar wouldn’t have a chance against that much fire power.”

“Besides the lack of knowledge of what that would do to Maria, we want to help save Antar not destroy it,” Rashen replied with a hard stare. “Even America, with its mass quantities of nuclear warheads, is not immune to attack. What good would it do us to have the most weapons? We wish to rule for the good of our galaxy not by a show of force that would murder millions of innocent people, and Khivar would never believe a threat he knows we would never carry out. Furthermore, if Khivar knew that we had the instructions to build our own Granolith, he would never stop until he had them as well. Then where would we be? You see that we thought very hard about the consequences before deciding to keep this a secret.”

Michael swept his hands through his hair angrily. “What the hell! Why the fuck didn’t she tell me… any of us?” He turned to Alex. Knowing how deep their friendship went, it was even stranger that Alex hadn’t known either.

“Because she didn’t know,” Ace blurted out as the realization dawned on him. His grayish-blue eyes held Rashen’s. “Isn’t that right?”

Slowly, Ra nodded. “For her own safety. We encouraged her to stay with us, so that we could covertly protect her, but neither of us ever guessed that she would take the path that she has. When she started moving up in the organization, we couldn’t stop her without an explanation to her and the Council, and by then it was too late. We had to keep the secret.” He hesitated before he went on, “We have tested her over the years on the premise of training exercises and it seems that besides the ability to pick up other’s emotions, she also helps bring out other’s abilities and intensify them. Most of you have probably experienced this, though it may not have been noticeable at the time.”

Michael’s brows knit together in a deep scowl, and raking his hands through his hair, he blew out a heavy breath, “This is crazy!” But his mind was already rushing through memories.

***

Isabel looked at Michael. “Try holding the key again,” she suggested.

Michael held onto the key tightly, trying hard to bring forth a vision that wouldn’t come. “Nothing,” he said disappointedly. The key found in Jim Valenti’s office that had provided his first vision was his whole reason for coming to Marathon, Texas, it had to open something. It had to!

Maria walked over to stand by his side, her arm brushing against his side. “Try it again.”

He knew it was pointless, but she’d said it so determinedly that he had to try again. As he closed his eyes, he could feel an energy he hadn’t before, and suddenly in his mind he could see a blurry image of a hidden room. “There’s something here. A room…”

***

In agony from the bullet hole in his shoulder, Michael ran down to the old bunker. He breathed a heavy sigh of relief when he saw that Maria and Laurie were okay. “Everyone out. Come on.”

“Okay, whatever you’re gonna do, do it quick! That thing looks pissed!” Maria exclaimed as she walked to his side, her hand reaching out to rest on the small of his back, thankful that he was alive and knowing that he would protect her and the others.

Michael agreed, he needed to get rid of this thing fast, but hurting like he was, he wasn’t sure if he was strong enough. Maria’s faith in him gave him strength and he raised his uninjured arm to the ventilation shaft by the door. His powers seemed to coalesce and separate from the pain in his body, quickly finding a balance that allowed him to draw all the air out of the bomb shelter causing the Gandarium Queen to suffocate.

***

He threw down the wrench and watched dejectedly as it skidded across the floor. It was hotter than hell this summer and he desperately needed his window unit working. “I need another job,” Michael told himself. Of course that meant he’d have to actually get out there and look for one, right now there was no school and plenty of time to spend with Maria. Speaking of…

“You home?” Maria called out as she let herself into his apartment. “In here,” he shouted back from his bedroom. “Hey. What’s going on?” She pulled at the neckline of her uniform. “It’s hot in here.” Michael stayed in his slumped position on the floor, it was too hot to move. “I know. I can’t get the stupid window unit to work.”

“Why don’t you come over? You know mom likes having you there.” Ever since he’d taken care of both of them when Alex died, he and Amy had developed an understanding, and her mom no longer seemed to mind all the time they spent together. “That sounds good, but eventually I’ll have to come back to hell,” he remarked wryly. “Did you try doing your magic thingie?” He didn’t bother to tell her that it wasn’t magic, she wouldn’t listen anyway, and he was beginning to suspect that she did it just because she knew it bugged him. Instead he shrugged his shoulders. “Tried. Didn’t work. Tried with tools. Didn’t work.”

Maria moved down onto the floor with him. “Ugh, it’s even hotter down here!” she exclaimed, her hand resting on his knee. “Try it again, one last shot. If that doesn’t work, we’ll see if mom has any fans in the garage. At least that way you can have some air circulation.” Michael was ready to be somewhere else, anywhere else, but he put his hand over the top of the unit anyway and thought about how nice cold air would feel right about now. His powers were more focused this time, probably out of an innate instinct for survival, at these temperatures it’d only been a matter of time. The unit roared to life and they both sighed with relief at the cold air coming out of it.

***

Michael shook himself out of his daze. “Whatever. We don’t have time to deal with this crap right now.” His eyes flicked over Larek and Rashen. “Unless you know of a way we can find her, this is all useless, there are other things we should be doing.”

“It’s not useless, Michael.” Larek told him sternly. “It’s very important. We must do everything we can to ensure that they never get their hands on that information. No matter what, even if it costs us.”

The magnitude of what Larek was implying began to register, but his mind refused to even contemplate that kind of a scenario. He would get her back, and there was nothing more that needed to be said. Ignoring Larek, Michael turned to Talia. “What about spies? Do you have anyone close to this group of Skins? Anyone that could tell us where she is?”

Talia shook her head. “Probably nothing that will do us any good right at this moment. I’ve already sent out some coded messages, but as these agents are deep under cover, it might be awhile before we get a response. And even then, I’m not sure they would know.”

Ace quietly sat there staring down at the polished table. There was this niggling thought in the back of his mind and no matter what he did it wouldn’t come to the forefront, yet every word uttered by the others seemed to bring it closer and closer, only still just out of reach.

“Michael, what about this connection? Can’t you tell us where she is?” Max asked.

Michael’s fist banged loudly against the table and his mouth twisted angrily. “I can feel her pain, Max. It’s not a goddamn GPS!”

Isabel had been watching Alex closely, he’d been looking like he was about to have a meltdown at any moment for some time, but suddenly he got a funny look on his face. Worried, she asked, “What is it, Alex?”

Deep in thought, he didn’t hear Isabel’s question, but instead rushed out of the room. They all looked at each other for a moment, and then were out the door, fast on his heels.

They followed him into a room across the hallway a couple of doors down. When they got there he was already sitting at a bank of computers.

“Alex, what the hell is going on?” Michael demanded.

“Wait! Hold on, let me check. So stupid! I can’t believe I forgot about it. Come on, Come on…” Ace’s fingers rushed over the keyboard, screens flashing across the monitors too quickly for anyone else to figure out what he was doing.

Talia activated her comm. “Rath. Sean. Get in here. I think Ace has something.”

A few short minutes later a panting Rath and Sean skidded to a halt just inside the room just as Ace shouted, “YES! HA!” He turned around, grinning goofily, to the bewildered group of friends. “I’d just given her a new watch not too long ago, and because she kept losing the previous ones I’d given her, I put a tracker in it.” He smacked his own forehead. “I’m such an idiot for not thinking of this earlier.”

Ava moved to his side, rubbing his shoulder. “Sweetie, don’t be so hard on yourself. Besides, it’s highly unlikely that they allowed her to keep her watch if they went to all the trouble of taking out her biochip.”

“I know, I know, but I was hoping that a soldier or someone picked it up for a souvenir thinking it was only a watch. If so, then maybe it has gone with them to wherever their new location is. And, look, it’s moved! We’ve found her!” he said excitedly.

Max stepped closer into the loose circle that had formed around Alex. “I hate to be the antagonist here, but how do we know it’s really her? If one of the Skins did pick it up along the way, who is to say that it went to the same place or that they didn’t just throw it out and someone else picked it up? There are a hundred scenarios of how that watch could’ve moved locations.”

Ace frowned and turned back around to his computer screen, muttering, “Maybe… just maybe…” In the background he could hear the others arguing about the validity of his theory and Max’s reasoning that had thrown a wrench into the situation. Michael, Rath and Sean wanted to storm the place immediately while Max and Larek disagreed saying that it would be premature to act without knowing for sure if she was there.

“Hold up!” Ace interrupted, and everyone turned their eyes on him. “There’s a short video signal that was recorded. Satellite’s receiving…” he said, restlessly tapping his foot. “Okay here it is…”

“What is it?” Liz asked, turning her head to the side in an effort to see if it would improve the picture. “Oh, it’s a hand!” she realized. The picture was blurry, but they could just make out a pair of hands flittering around the view. The picture tilted and they could now see a pair of legs. “Is that Maria?”

“It’s her!” Michael and Rath claimed simultaneously.

Michael growled.

Rath rolled his eyes, they may no longer be together, but like his dupe could really expect him to forget a pair of legs like that. In truth, though it was standard practice to strip away, literally, a hostage’s dignity in such manner, the fact that her legs were bare bothered Rath more than he could say, and he imagined that it was just as bad, if not worse, for Michael. The black and blue patches of flesh were not at all reassuring either.

At the identical looks on the two strong-headed men’s faces, Liz felt like she could’ve laughed had the situation not been so serious.

There were gasps around the room as the picture suddenly went black. Then just as quickly it came back on.

“That’s my girl,” Ace muttered, “Looks like she turned the camera on accidentally. I don’t think she knew that she was doing it, she was just looking for the tracking chip. That little blip is where she took out the battery and it took a moment for the backup to come online. Amazing!” he exclaimed, shaking his head. “She remembered the tracker.” Maria never listened when he was talking to her about tech stuff, or at least, until now, he’d thought she hadn’t been listening. He really needed to stop underestimating that girl – she was making him look bad.

They watched as her toes entered the view, then there was a downward movement and as the picture steadied again, they could just make out her standing with two guards on either side of her. It was a few minutes before they saw two people enter the room, and as they moved closer, Isabel gasped seeing her villainous counterpart. The camera was at an awkward angle, but they could see that Lonnie was talking to Maria while the man beside her stayed silent.

Michael snarled as the guards stopped Maria from moving any closer towards Lonnie.

“Zoom in there,” Rashen requested, pointing to a spot on the screen. The picture zoomed in on a hand with a large ring on the middle finger. The setting of the ring was engraved like the walls of a fortress and on top sat an engraved, oval gem of such dark, blood-red color that it almost looked black. “No, it can’t be.” He turned to Larek. “Are you seeing what I’m seeing?”

“Khivar!”

“WHAT?” Michael and Rath exploded.

Calmly, Ava asked, “How would you know that?” She remembered what Khivar looked like from her past-life memories, and that wasn’t it.

“The royal seal on his ring. He would never tolerate someone else wearing it.”

Rath didn’t want to believe it, but it fit. “That’s why there were so many more Skins – he brought them with him.”

The room was jarringly silent as they watched until she was dragged away. After Maria was gone from the screen, the room exploded into a bustle of activity.

“Get an ID on that location.”

“How ready are the troops?”

“We go in with everything we’ve got!”

Larek’s hand closed over Michael’s arm preventing him from leaving the room. “Michael, I need you to understand, you must do whatever it takes to ensure that Khivar does not get his hands on that information. I don’t like it, but if it means sacrificing one person to save millions, then that’s how it must be.”

With eyes narrowed and barely contained anger, Michael shrugged out of Larek’s grip and walked out the door, unwilling to even entertain the possibility of Larek’s suggestion.

Alex rushed to catch up with Michael, Rath and Sean who were racing through the halls. He finally caught up with them in one of the hangars where they were readying their gear. Bent over with his hands on his knees, he gulped in air, disgusted that three of them looked as if they had just taken a stroll through the park. Finally he was able to get out, “I want to go with you.” He stopped them before they could interrupt. “Please, I need to go. It’s my fault.”

“Your fault?” Sean asked, incredulously.

“I should’ve checked the watch sooner. I should’ve –”

Sean cut him off. “It’s thanks to your genius that the tracker was in the damn watch in the first place, and that you made her listen to you about it being there when she hates tech. And, you did check it. Now, because of you, we have a chance of finding her. But, I’m sorry, you can’t go.”

“But, I could help –”

Rath laid a heavy hand on his shoulder. “I know you could, but I need ya back here. ‘Sides, you’s the only one she entrusted with the coordinates. You know she’d kick your ass if she knew ya broke that trust by gettin’ yourself in ta trouble just to get her out of a lil’ scrape.”

Alex nodded dejectedly. Damn her! She always knew how to keep him from getting hurt without it overtly seeming like she was doing so.

~~~

He carefully studied his captive knowing that there was something she was keeping from him. The coordinates of where they had taken the Granolith would be helpful, but considering how easy it was for him to acquire it the first time he had no doubt that it would be just as easy to acquire it a second time. Even if she didn’t have that specific information, which if his enemies had any morsel of intelligence then she shouldn’t, surely it would still be worth his time to find out what valuable information she did have to offer. It was just too bad that with the blocks she had put up during the last interrogation that he was no longer able to retrieve information from her unconscious mind. Though not as much fun, it would’ve been easier. “Wake up!”

A loud but controlled voice… a cold voice filtered into her subconscious. She was being reluctantly pulled to the surface, forced to leave the comforting darkness. Maria’s eyes cracked open only to find his eyes staring at her, glittering with madness. Her head swam and her focus wavered. Despite the pull to go back to the murky waters of unconsciousness, she knew she had to use the pain to force herself to stop zoning in and out of consciousness. He had gotten information from her once while she was out. She refused to let it happen again.

“Strong blocks they’ve taught you. You must carry some very valuable information. Hmm, maybe the location of those Royal pretenders?”

Well, at least he hadn’t gotten that information from her. Time to see exactly what kind of being she was dealing with here. Inside, her heart hammered away and her stomach felt like it was made of knots, but with great effort she controlled her voice, her face and her breathing. “So tell me, how does it feel for your all powerful weapon to be stolen right from under your nose?” She laughed mockingly. “And you thought it would be safer here on Earth. You have underestimated us, Khivar!”

The muscles of his neck pulsed with rage, and his insidious smug smile melted into fury. His hand shot out with lightning speed, jerking her head back as his fingers tightened around her forehead.

Maria reeled from the impact, vainly struggling to get away from his fierce grip as her head rang with that blazing contact of him trying to enter her mind. It felt like searing beams plunging like daggers into her head. Blurs passed in and out of her vision, and she was afraid that he was taking her memories. Her head screamed and her body shook, but somewhere she found the strength to yell. “Get! Out! Of! My! Head!!!” Then, although her body ached everywhere and pain still beat through her mind wave upon wave, she could tell that he was gone… at least for the moment. Through blurry eyes, she thought she saw a flicker of pain cross his face.

There was silence for a moment then his face hardened and his icy eyes drilled into her. “You have no idea. You sit here making judgments on something you know nothing about. I liberated Antar from its oppressors. I made Antar safe, I made our galaxy safe.”

“Through tyranny?” she asked with gritted teeth, her voice taut and hard. “What does safe matter when you can’t have a differing opinion without fearing for your life?”

“Oh, so you think you know? Who are you to say how my worlds should be run? A human? From a race so weak and technologically retarded that they don’t even believe in life on other planets, much less know that they’ve already been infiltrated by beings from another galaxy?” he scoffed. “You know nothing! The Granolith should never have been in the hands of the Antarians in the first place. They’re an inferior race that needs to be controlled, much like the human race of this backwards little planet.” Unexpectedly she was stronger than he guessed her race to be, there was something different about her, but to his delight he could also see pain and anguish on her face and profound exhaustion in her eyes. It wouldn’t be long before she broke.

She did not answer, merely glared at him with undisguised hatred in her eyes. His way of keeping control of Antar, of making it “safe”, was to wipe out entire cities, killing millions of people. To think that he though he was righteous in doing so made her sick. He had to be stopped.

Without warning, he lunged against the barriers of her mind once again. Her face contorted with pain, but she fought. Tightness settled on her chest as if someone was standing on it, and choking and gasping for air, Maria strained to focus on both objectives of breathing and keeping him out. Then, suddenly, clarity broke through like rays of the sun through dark clouds, and she knew what Khivar was doing. He was causing her asphyxiation, wanting her to concentrate solely on getting air so that her attention was diverted from keeping him out of her mind. Knowing that he wanted her alive, at least until he got something from her, she gave up the struggle for breath and determinedly directed every sliver of her strength to blocking him from her mind. It was a gamble, a risk with her life on the line, but really the only choice. The moments ticked by, and just as she had begun to think that she had bet poorly, that he really was going to suffocate her, he let go.

“Why do you not give up? This is senseless. We both know that it will only be a matter of time. Think of it this way – you already owe your life to me. I was the one that stopped Lonnie from murdering you, the one that requested the Nela’kin to save your life. You would not be alive if it weren’t for me. Where’s your appreciation? You should be swearing your loyalty to me.” His voice was cool and dispassionate.

“You –” She coughed fitfully, her throat raw and voice hoarse, but she lifted her chin insolently. “You are a seriously disturbed being.” And a sadistic bastard, she added silently.

His thumb and forefinger pinned cruelly into her neck sending her into another spasm of coughing. His face remained hard, unyielding then broke into a wide, maniacal grin, his whole demeanor metamorphosing between genial and madman. “Ah, I see, I remember how it works here on your planet. I give you information then you will give me information back.” He laughed. He could tell her anything and it would not matter since the dead could not tell secrets. “Let’s see… I know, I bet you’ve been wondering how I am here when your little spies think that I am still on the throne.”

Maria snorted skeptically. Yeah, right, like he was going to tell her something that important. On the other hand, maybe his ego was such that he didn’t think anything he said could hurt him. After all, she certainly wasn’t in a position to use or pass on the valuable information.

“Because I like you, I will tell you the secret.” Khivar smiled at her affably, his voice confiding, as if they were on the same side. “I have my very own clone. A much better clone than those of your friends,” he said, spitting out the last word derisively. “No, this duplicate is directly controlled by me. It thinks what I tell it to think, does what I tell it to do. So, you see, as well as being here, I am still on the throne.”

He was obviously deranged, and had lost all touch with reality. Believing himself untouchable, he was gorged on power that was blinding him to the inception of his downfall.

“Tell me, do you like my husk. It is very attractive by your standards, is it not?” he asked, switching subjects maddeningly. “Of course, I had my scientists create a much better husk, one fit for a King. No more ridiculous seal in the back where anyone can get to it. This husk is indestructible.”

“Gorgeous,” she spat sarcastically. Curbing her anger, her eyebrows lifted with a genuine look of inquiry. “Where’s the seal?”

“I like the way you think, and it is cute that you would think I’d tell you,” he mocked. With a faraway look in his eyes, he continued, “Not even my dear Vilandra knows. And, the little scientists that made it no longer live. You see, there was a bit of an accident and their lab burned to the ground, sadly with them still in it.” His words trailed off as his face creased with paranoia.

Maria felt her blood running cold, he didn’t look at all sad about the deaths he’d caused.

“Not into sharing? Well, I guess it’s back to work.” Once again, he looked scornful, and she knew what was coming.

‘You goddamn bastard!’ Maria wanted to scream at him, but she could no longer even do that as she felt the roaring pain that had been ebbing increase ten-fold. Her eardrums rang as explosions went off in her head. Over and over again, he tried to steal information from her. Cracks were starting to form in her barrier, and it was costing her more each time to patch it. Delirious with pain, it seemed an eternity had passed, not knowing where the next attack would come from. The continuous violation of her mind sent her into a paralyzing despair. It was worse than any of the misery and despondency she had felt after Lonnie’s mind games that sent her to the hospital, mind games that were ordered by this asshole, she reminded herself. All she wanted right now was to curl up into a small ball and hide away. She just wanted it to stop.

In this agony, she all of a sudden left her body, viewing the scene from outside of herself. Numbness possessed her body, and the overwhelming fear lessened. Her defenses weren’t going to hold up much longer, the only thing to do was to go on the offense. Harnessing every last bit of energy, she did so with surprising force and felt his shock and distress as she smashed through his rudimentary blocks with seeming ease.

Khivar pulled away abruptly, looking at her sharply. How? It shouldn't be possible.

His attention was diverted as the door opened and Lonnie entered the room.

Lonnie swallowed hard, this was not something she wanted to tell him. “We have a problem.”

She had been instructed not to bother him unless it was urgent so Khivar knew he was needed, but he was anxious to be in this human’s mind. Logic told him that he should just kill the girl now, but there was still a chance. Chemical assistance would hinder her efforts to retaliate, and might even make it easier to gain access. And, every instinct was telling him that there was something from her that he needed. Instincts that had gotten him to where he was today.

Calling to the guard to take her back to her cell, he pivoted and stalked out, his long coat swirling around him.

TBC