Chapter 104
Michael hardly felt Wyteeah’s gentle kiss on his cheek as she left him in Max’s hands when he returned to their rooms and she kissed her son’s forehead goodnight. She backed out, her eyes reluctant to leave the sleeping boy and Max couldn’t help feeling jealous. Either she wished Michael were her son or that her son were like Michael. ‘Sad news, mother, if you’re waiting for such a miracle, let me tell you they rarely happen, specially to a hybrid who is not supposed to exist at all!’ Max regretted his mental outburst right away, because on second thoughts, he couldn’t blame her at all. When she finally closed the door, Max turned to Michael and waving his clothes away, lay beside him, gliding his hand up and down his back.
- Max…- Michael whispered in his sleep.
Max took him in his arms and pressed the boy to him, loving the way he responded to him, rolling a little towards his side so he could push his butt against his lover’s lap. Max could feel how deep he was sleeping and wanted him to stay that way. He felt his cock rising between Michael’s thighs as he opened them for him. He waited until he was slick with precum and slowly slid it into Michael’s tight ass. The boy moaned and let his lover invade his body, as pain and pleasure fought for control, neither wining nor losing, just merging together as Michael accepted them both, as part of the act itself. His response was as drowsy as Max’s was gentle, so once it was all the way in, they lay there, just softly rocking to maintain the deep connection. The feeling was amazing, their pleasure sublime. Their orgasm took forever to come and even their hot sperm shot out in slow motion. Their aftermath was so unusually relaxed, that Max woke up after his typical three hours’ rest to find he was still inside Michael, his erection just beginning to wane. Michael whimpered, wishing it could stay inside him forever and Max kissed his shoulder after nipping it playfully.
- Sleep, baby, I’ll watch over you. - He whispered against him and he pictured in his mind Michael’s smug smirk.
- Do it again…- Michael asked in a slurred voice, husky with sleep.
- As soon as I’m able to. - Max breathed into his hair.
Michael sighed with impatience, writhing to make Max’s burning juices slosh inside him and keep him in an ecstatic, almost coming feeling as he waited to be filled again. It wasn’t long before Max felt his cock rising inch by inch, which pressed as he was against Michael, entered him at the same exasperating speed, with a frame by frame-like progression. Michael purred and shivered as it bloated into him and once it was all inside, he growled at the incredible amount of ‘forbidden’ pleasure that made him shudder with delight like nothing else could.
Michael was fast asleep after their last orgasm and though Max had already rested all he needed, he just kind of dozed with Michael in his arms.
“Awesssome…” Went the familiar voice and Michael blocked it away from Max immediately.
“Nicholas?” He slurred sleepily, not sure if Max was ready for a direct contact of this kind yet with their ex alien enemy. “How did it go?”
“Well, as you can imagine, your father was far from convinced and your lover here, stared at me with a scared shitless fascination, ready to jump behind his uncle if I did as much as blink my eyes. How was it you used to call him? Fearless leader?” He cackled.
“Knock it off, Nicholas, I’ve told you he’s changed. Go on!” Michael demanded.
“Ok, ok! Max totally surprised me blabbering something about the deals with the scavengers and I was about to ask him how could he possibly think Khivar was so stupid to have them drop the mercenaries anywhere even near the galaxy, when your sneaky father, with the speed of a snake reached out and grabbed my head. I couldn’t believe I had been tricked like a child with such a stupid distraction as the one Max had just provided! Ramthis definitely got his answers and must have liked what he saw because he immediately changed his ‘I don’t trust you’ attitude and began asking sensible questions about Khivar that none of his spies could have found out for him. Even Max also changed his ‘I’m still the king’ butt face and listened, instead of opening his mouth to make a fool of himself. So I’m included in the recovery party tomorrow, actually today, later on, as I’m the only one who knows all about the castle and the citadel as it is now.” He nodded with satisfaction at being useful.
“Are you up to it? I mean…” Michael began.
“I know what you mean and yes, of course I’m up to it! I’m finally free of that bastard!” Nicholas exclaimed.
“We’ll have to get rid of his body…” Michael reminded him, tentatively.
“No you won’t, I’ll do it, please, let it be me that pulverizes him and gather his ashes to drop them in the latrine of the mercenary camp where they deserve to be! And I want you guys with me so you can see where he ends!” He snarled.
“Sure Nicholas, whatever you want, but let me sleep, ok? Max has just…” Michael winced.
“I know, why do you think I said: Awesssome? You’re awesome kid, really!” Nicholas’ eyes were clouded with lust.
“I should’ve known! I felt you there from the beginning but I thought you were just enjoying the show.” Michael chuckled.
“I was, from inside and out. I thought you knew me by now, how could I lose such a chance?” Nicholas grinned wolfishly.
“Yes, of course, I guess I just wasn’t thinking…you know, it’s hard to make sense with…” He hesitated to use a reasonable description giving Nicholas the chance to interrupt him again.
“Max’s bludgeon up your ass?” Nicholas giggled, finishing for him.
“Whatever, now are you going to let me sleep? Or I’ll tie you to a chair and leave you here while we dispose of your ‘dear cousin’”. Michael bluffed, knowing he wouldn’t do it.
“Sleep, kid, I’ll hold you with Max and get some rest myself. I want my full strength to pull his essence to me for his final farewell. Where else would he go? That’s why I’m sure he will try to skip his right to it but I’ll make sure he can’t and I’m the only one left he can go to. I want the satisfaction I was denied to let him know I was the one who was spying on him for you while he was still alive, I’m gloating at the thought of his face when he finds out. It’s the only thing that can make up for the lousy life I’ve had by his side. Who do you hate that much, Michael, to want the same revenge?” Nicholas asked. “Tell me and I’ll let you sleep.”
“No one Nicholas, even if you find it hard to believe.” Michael scoffed with a sad look in his eyes.
“I can’t believe you! What about that bastard of a stepfather?” Nicholas suggested.
“Nah, I made my peace with him, and he was the closest one to Khivar’s behaviour with you.” Michael shook his head in denial.
“Jesse! What about the Ramirez creep? That would make your day!” Nicholas smiled from ear to ear in triumph.
“He’s not worth my losing a second with him. He’s just a wretched retard with one hell of an inferiority complex. That would just bring me down to his level. That’s not me. Khivar would be my choice, but he’s yours, I won’t take that away from you.” Michael smirked.
“Great! That’s something we share! We’ll both do it! We’ll do it together!” Nicholas was bursting with genuine enthusiasm.
“Cool, we’ll do it then, now let me sleep as you said you would if I answered your question, and I have, huh?” Michael pleaded.
“Fair enough! Sleep, kid. Can you feel me holding you too?” He said slipping back into Max’s head, totally undetected.
“Yes, don’t let go of me. Feels so good…” Michael was also letting himself go back to his deep sleep from where Nicholas had forced him out.
Nicholas took control, keeping Max dozing and absolutely unaware of who was using his body to caress Michael’s as he watched him sleep, loving how safe Michael now felt in his presence.
Max sat up startled at the loud insistent knocking at the door. Nicholas was rudely awakened simultaneously, fleeing from Max’s head, and returning to his physical body which was also reacting to the same exasperating banging at his door. At Max and Michael’s door, it was Ramthis, and at Nicholas’ it was Shenti following Ramthis’ orders. The small man bounced up and readily followed the beckoning messenger. Ramthis went to his son and with Max’s help, gently aroused the sleeping boy.
- Oh shit! We have to go, right? - Michael growled.
- Yes Michael, you have to, and by the way, I’ve already figured out what that alien word you two keep using means. Would you kindly don’t do it in my presence or your aunt’s, out of respect? - Ramthis bit down the words, visibly controlling himself.
- I’m sorry, father, I won’t do it again. It might slip out accidentally for which I apologize beforehand, but I promise I’ll try my best. - Michael whispered contritely just as Wyteeah appeared at the door.
She walked up to her nephew and embraced him warmly, pressing their cheeks together for a few seconds to then turn her head and kiss him.
- You always do your best Michael; you don’t need to promise it. - Her words caressed his cheek as she spoke them against it.
She was surprised at Max and Ramthis bursting in laughter, and she stepped back to see Michael was trying hard not to imitate them.
Michael explained to her what he had been talking about and Wyteeah frowned at Ramthis, shaking her head.
- You let the boy be, Ramthis. We sent him to Earth so live up to it, whether he curses in Antares or in whatever the Earth language is called, it’s our doing so we’ll just take it like it or not. - She smiled at him and patted his cheek.
Michael grinned a challenge to his father and also at Max, just in case.
- Well, I’m awake, what are we waiting for? Hey, Shenti, is my horse ready? - Michael gloated at the wary look that was evident in Max’s eyes.
- Yes Michael. And the other one too, but will just another one be enough? - Shenti knew just what was going on and he did exactly what Michael expected him to.
- I’m not riding! - Max said, miserably failing at his attempts not to pale.
- I’m not either! - Nicholas echoed him, making his presence known.
Michael had felt him arriving at the door just as he asked for his horse and couldn’t help playing a joke on them which he knew would scare the crap out of both.
- Don’t worry, the other horse is for me, you two can take the cart, of course. - Ramthis put them at ease and scoffed as they regained some colour and relaxed.
- No father, you don’t need to do this. I want you to see the castle and citadel as you should, after we clean it up and bring it back to the splendour you were used to. Please, allow us to do that for you and you too, aunt. - Michael pleaded.
- Thank you Michael, that’s just what we expected from you. We shall wait here until you decide it’s reasonable for us to join you. - Wyteeah said quickly, silencing Ramthis who was beginning to protest.
The ex-warlord’s face was darkening dangerously so the three involved rushed out of the room before Wyteeah lost control of the rapidly rising explosion he was managing to hold back. She grasped her brother-in-law’s reluctant hand, which was struggling to break free and impose himself on the younger group.
When they reached the yard by the training field, they were laughing together as they jogged along. Then Max and Nicholas saw just the two horses and stopped dead on their tracks, their eyes going from the horses to Michael’s, wide with fear.
- Didn’t you just hear my father say that the other horse was ordered for him, you wuzzes, can’t you see your ride coming behind them? Shit! Oh fuck! What the hell, they can’t hear me! - Michael exclaimed remembering his promise to his father about that word. - Shenti isn’t much of a horseman either so he’ll be your driver. He can manage that, right? -
- Yes, that’s fine. Hop on. - He said to Max and Nicholas who complied, as boneless as gelatin.
Michael rolled his eyes as he rode in front of them, leading the way. When the castle came into view, they couldn’t help shuddering, each for their personal reasons: Nicholas dreaded to see his cousin’s dead body again, not from repentance, but afraid he might have somehow faked it and they would find him alive and threatening again. Shenti, because he had never belonged there, just being an ex-enemy, willingly joining the reason for his admiration of the young warrior. Max, because it reminded him of the unfair things he had done there in that other life Serena had so vividly shown them, specially to Rath-Michael. And finally Michael, because just as Max, it reminded him of all he had suffered in that other life, at the hands of his father, his cousin and his enemies, which somehow included the deals he had had to close for his people, with men insane with lust for his blood, much like the ones he had faced in battle, but at the same time, he also remembered the lusty encounters with Vilandra, Geehan and even Zan, when he was in a decent mood. They stopped and stared at the familiar silhoutte in the distance, just as they remembered it but at the same time so different. There was no warmth about it, it just looked abandoned, lifeless and threatening in its new secrets, of which they knew very little of, except for Nicholas. What an irony! They approached it with just as mixed feelings, one of home for Max and Michael, because that’s what it had been for a whole lifetime, already gone, for Nicholas, a forced home at the end of that period of his life, and for Shenti, a foreign place where most of its important inhabitants had tried to make him feel at home, except for Zan who always treated him as still an enemy in his jealousy over Rath-Michael. They were all eager to rush to it but dreaded it at the same time, making their progress slow, responding to the latter of the two feelings, due to those conflicting memories. When they were finally in front of it, the three in the cart descended waiting for Michael who just couldn’t take his eyes from it.
- Michael…coming? - Max asked softly, not sure what was going on behind the boy’s misty eyes which were streaked blue with gandarium from the emotion of being where he had dreamt of for most of his second coming.
Michael shook his head as if he were waking from a dream and dismounted to join them. He preceded the group and once inside, they were shocked by the silence of a place they all remembered bustling with the energies of it occupants, possitive or negative in the end. Michael stalled, feeling a strange crackling energy travelling up the inside of his thighs to his most active sexual area, then creeping up his spine until it reached the spot between his shoulder blades, where it burst throughout his whole body. It was as if he had been literally and physically kicked from behind. He pushed on with such long strides which gave him a speed that made the others have to come close to jogging to keep up with him. He broke into the room where Khivar had been left lying dead, his head detached from his lifeless carcass, but it wasn’t there. The outline of the body was made in dust, but the head had simply disappeared without the slightest trace of its whereabouts. No trailing dust to show it had been taken, or where to. Nothing.
- What the hell!? - Exploded Nicholas, looking all around the room in dismay.
- Are you sure you had nothing to do with this? - The tone of Max’s voice showed clearly his distrust.
- Wasn’t I always with you? I know there was a guard at the door of the room you appointed to me! I can’t be in two places at the same time! - He protested, turning to Michael, who was the only one who knew he could do just that, but that he had been with him, and he couldn’t betray that secret.
Still, there could have been a time lapse on the mental plane after Nicholas was scorted to his room to the time he reached Michael’s side, because after that until the knocking at their doors, the Royal boy knew he had not left him. Nicholas took it from Michael’s mind and he shook his head answering the silent question which could only be understood by the two of them.
“That’s the time it took me to concentrate and go to you!” Nicholas sent to Michael. “My mind is open to you. Come check it out!”
“I trust you.” Those three words brought grateful tears to Nicholas’ eyes, which had Max and Shenti realizing something was going on between him and Michael but it was just for them, and reluctantly, the other two were forced to respect their reasons.
Michael glared at Max who shrugged helplessly, admitting his defeat.
- I’m sorry, you have to understand what you have meant to us for a very long time. You must give me sometime to get used to this new side of you. - Max felt he owed it to the small man, in spite of everything.
- It’s alright. I would have felt the same way if it had been the other way round, I’m sure. - Nicholas nodded, truthfully.
- Well, we have to find out what the fuck happened here! - Michael said, and reached out for his partners.
Max and Shenti rushed to grab his hands before Nicholas could, though neither of them was very enthusiastic about feeling the short man’s hands in theirs. At least, one of Michael’s was reassuring enough to cope with the other. The surge of energies coming from Michael’s Royal blood and Nicholas’ powers coursed through all of them and they were astounded to see a slight shadow had been responsible for breezing around the crime scene and tampering with the evidence. It glided all around the place and seemed to emit some unintelligible buzzing sound, like a bee, when it was near the body, as if it were speaking to it, but they couldn’t make out anything comprehensible. Then it half crouched, half hovered over the head which wasn’t part of the body anymore and then it was gone, but the head was still there. What had happened to it then? ‘Wait! Watch!’ Nicholas warned them and after almost a minute, when they were about to give up in spite of Nicholas’ insistance, the head vanished without a trace in front of their astonished eyes. Michael yanked his hands away from Max and Shenti’s.
- Who or what was that? - But although he wasn’t looking at anyone in particular, they all knew the question was obviously for Nicholas.
The small man’s aura exuded fury and helplessness at the same time, as the only possibility dawned on him: the demon had returned for her whip! There was nothing else left for him to guess.
- Tell us! - Max demanded, adopting again a very unpleasant Zan-like attitude.
- You know what that was! You can’t deny it! -
- I’m not. It’s a long story, but you need to know every detail. We don’t have the time so let me show it to you. - He reached out and Michael took one of his hands, his eyes shooting fire at Max to take the other one as he grabbed one of his. Shenti was actually glad to be left out, glad to think it would be Michael who passed the information on to him eventually. The trio seemed to glow for just seconds before they were back from their information trip, remaining in silence while they digested the whole thing under Nicholas’ close supervision, as if expecting questions which would not come, having definitely all been answered already at whatever had been going on between them.
- Dammit! - Michael shouted and repeated it. - Dammit! -
- What is there to do? - Max said, in a trembling fearful voice.
- Unfortunately not much. This being has been dead for a very long time, it’s out of our hands. - Nicholas frowned.
- But you brought the chrone back from the dead! You should be able to do it with this demon! - Max demanded, almost ordering it.
- Because I had been able to reach her mind for a scant second before she destroyed herself. This demon was far before my time. That puts me at a complete disadvantage because I have nothing to hold on to, to be able to reach it and force it back. Plus it now has again the powerful murder weapon: the whip which spilled Royal blood. Nothing can surpass its power. Believe me, nothing! -
- That means she can summon Khivar to her own status, but if she’s dead, that’s where he would end at. That’s nowhere near us, it’s like another dimension. How can they touch us, if they’re not physically here? - Michael deduced.
- I don’t know, that’s what scares me most! - Nicholas admitted. - But those two together at the same place, is the most frightening thing I can imagine, with their united hate for Royal blood. -
- They will come after me. - Michael admitted without doubts.
- No, Michael! There must be something we can do! - Max turned hopeful eyes towards Nicholas who looked lost for once, making Max and Shenti feel as lost as he was.
- There’s nothing else we can do here. Let’s move on. - Michael waved his hand over the room and left it completely empty.
All the evidence of Khivar’s invasion of the place gone, not a single vibe, weak as it could be, was left at all. They proceeded to clean up the whole castle the same way until they were satisfied they could now start from scratch, returning it to its past glory, the two cousins concentrating on their memories to bring back every beloved item that had adorned it. They wanted their father and mother to return home, not to a menacing environment, but to the safety they had been used to feel there. That’s exactly how it looked like, though they couldn’t be sure it would really feel the same. Ramthis of course, would get the impending threat through his Royal blood, so it was up to Michael to make sure he got the whole deal, to know what they were up to, and what he had to be carefully aware of, to be able to defend himself and his family. The other problem they had to face was the fact that although she lacked Royal blood, Wyteeah’s female intuition came much too close to it and was unfailing when having to detect the smallest sign of worry in the members of her family so she always guessed what was bothering them with such accuracy, that it was uncanny. Michael could easily block himself out from her, but not the others, and her closeness to Ramthis made it almost impossible for him not to be accidentally caught with some telltale sign, no matter how small. It would be practically out of the question to try to hide the issues from her, so Michael decided he would be the one to tell her.
The Calm Before the Storm - Epilogue - 10/24/07
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ñusta
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the calm before the storm
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ñusta
- Obsessed Roswellian
- Posts: 510
- Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2004 10:52 pm
- Location: heights of Machu Picchu
the calm before the storm
Chapter 105
- Fine, let’s go. - Michael headed for the door leading outside through the infamous yard where their bodies had been exposed after their previous lives ended.
- Michael, you should have this. - Nicholas hurried to catch up with Michael as Max fell behind.
- What’s that? - Max asked, rushing not to miss anything.
Michael was holding what looked like a ring.
- It’s the Amanthin Khivar was planning to kill himself with before Michael did, but apparently in his fear, he totally forgot. It had rolled under a chair, that’s where I found it. - Nicholas said.
- The what? - Michael asked, intrigued.
- It’s the extract of a plant from the Andes people that with just a drop, you’d be dead in 3 seconds tops. - Nicholas explained.
- But it’s a ring! - Max frowned.
Nicholas reached over and pressed the stone making it flip back and disclose a miniature soft vial.
- He only needed to put it in his mouth and his body temperature would immediately and automatically dissolve it to release the poison. - He shook his head.
- How did he get it? Who gave it to him? - Michael asked.
- He had an Andes spy, I only saw him once, accidentally. I wasn’t supposed to see him at all or even know of his existence. I think I can recognize him, he was oldish. - Nicholas assured him.
Michael waved it away and they rode back in silence. As they were reaching the entrance to the main tunnel which was crowded with eager faces, Michael rode his horse close to the cart.
- I said I’ll deal with this, ok? - He nodded. - Not a word about the spy until I say so. -
The others just nodded back.
Michael had barely dismounted when he has engulfed in his father and aunt’s arms.
- Our home’s waiting for you. Fill in what’s missing, what we couldn’t remember, I just hope we didn’t miss much. - Michael smirked. - Max, I want you back home right away to get everything ready, just give me some time here, say an Earth day and I’ll join you to find out their decision. I want to make sure things here are as they should be before I leave. -
Michael had felt there was something more that Nicholas didn’t want to disclose in front of Max for some reason, so he followed the game. He could sense Nicholas approve his decision because it wouldn’t be fair to Max keeping him away while they tended to it. It was arranged for a ship to take Max home as soon as it was ready to go, so Michael connected with Serena and told her to send Stuart and Kyle to the outskirts of the city in a cactus area which was shunned by everyone because of the rattlesnakes. That’s where the ship had picked them up, but it had to be dark. They coordinated the time perfectly and it was settled.
Serena broke the circle as Michael was crossing the door of the castle leading outside, followed by Nicholas and Max.
- Everything seems to be fine now. - She sighed.
- Let’s hope so, I don’t want any more unpleasant surprises. - Isabel shuddered.
- Your mother and Uncle will have everything back to normal as soon as they can, so now it’s up to Michael to come back for your decision about the babies. - Serena had not spoken to either Maria or Isabel on the issue waiting to be sure everything was alright back on Antar.
Isabel took hold of Maria’s hand before she answered.
- I think Michael would want us to have them there, because it’s easier on us and it will be faster too. The problem is he’s already been away close to three months and we’re still not showing so how will we be able to give birth there? Even if we left right away, whatever it is on Antar won’t be enough to have the babies ready to be born. - Isabel wondered.
- Don’t worry, the second you arrive there, they will start growing at the Antares normal speed, which if I’m right, you’ve only been pregnant there for barely a few days at the most, I think. Things will work out fine, you’ll see. - Serena smiled.
Suddenly she went silent and her eyes closed as she went in a trance. They tried to touch her but they were repelled by electric sparks that didn’t burn but kept them away. As soon as she came out of it, she told them Max was coming back right away and she called Stuart and Kyle to coordinate the exact time and place to pick him up. They just stayed there relaxing and watching TV as it was already close to dusk. Max should be back in a couple of hours approximately. After a two hour long oldie about King Arthur, a soft knock at the door reminded them they had told Anita and Sylvia where they were.
- Come in! - Laurie invited and watched the door open to let the two women carrying each a tray with a pot of tea and some cookies, as Laurie had called them when they were getting dinner ready to tell them Kyle and Stuart would take a little longer because they were getting Max from the airport.
Anita stared at the previews of old movies showing at that moment and sighed.
- Just look at that! Michael reminds me of a young Marlon Brando but much better looking, mind you! - The trailer of “The Wild One” ended and one of “Psycho” began. - And that creepy Anthony Perkins looks so much like…-
She turned to look at Liz, trying to remember her husband’s name.
- Max. - Liz provided.
- Oh yes, Max. He does too! - She insisted in case there were any doubts, regretting to have mentioned the word ‘creepy’, though she considered it the closest to the truth.
- Si mamá, c’mon, let’s go, you made your point. - Sylvia took Anita by the elbow and stirred her out of the room, rolling her eyes.
- She’s right, you know? - Liz said so seriously that she had everyone burst out laughing.
They were still nibbling on the cookies when the guys arrived and they all stared at Max remembering what Anita had said.
- What? Anita and Sylvia were peering at me just like you are! What’s going on? I thought you knew I was coming! Didn’t Michael get in touch with you? I hoped you would be glad to see me! What’s wrong, do I look different? - Max exploded, not very pleased, having expected a warm welcome as he had got from the guys, sure that his eyes were back to normal, as neither Kyle nor Stuart had seemed to notice any change in him.
- You look like Anthony Perkins. - Ava said as seriously as Liz had been, making them start laughing all over again and running to finally give him the welcome he should have got.
- Yeah sure, just what I needed! I look like the “Psycho” murderer! Liz? - He turned to his wife with pleading eyes as soon as they all let him go.
- Well, you kind of…do look like him. - She said as gently as she could.
- Alright, I need a shower. - He left the room banging the door and the laughter started all over again.
- I better do something about it. - Liz said, getting up and leaving to console her husband.
- That was kind of mean, you know? - Serena shook her head making them all feel bad.
- We’ll make it up to him, let’s go and make everything he likes for supper and bring it over to his room. Liz will be making sure he’s quite welcome in spite of everything and we want to hear it all from him first hand. - Laurie suggested, and they all raced down the stairs to do just that.
Liz arrived at their room to hear the shower so she took her time to check a small bag she found on the bed. All it contained was a weird looking container of a clear liquid that looked like water, so she let it be. She was about to go to the bathroom when the sound of the spraying shower stopped and Max came out in a towel. “He looks so thin!” Was the first thing Liz noticed.
- Yes, I’ve lost some weight, but I’ll be able to eat all the great things Anita has for us without regrets, so it’s not so bad. - He smiled and Liz was glad to see he was back to normal, the frown gone from his face.
He quickly waved fresh clothes back on him hiding the gauntness he had lately acquired, which reminded him how ashamed of it he had been before he started working out.
- Then you’ll be fine in no time because they’re getting all you like ready for your special supper. Oops! It’s supposed to be a surprise, so please do act surprised when they bring it to you, ok? - Liz laughed.
- Sure, no problem. - He plopped down on the bed, and sighed.
- Max, are you alright? You look so tired! - Liz asked worriedly.
- I’m exhausted! Waiting for the battles and then during them, waiting for the outcome has been the worst experience ever in my life! Of course I trust Michael but I had this very realistic dream, no nightmare! I was right beside him througout a battle; I must’ve been invisible because no one acknowledged my presence and I could see the murderous intent in every face that tried to kill Michael, the way they hurt him, how they didn’t give a damn if they got killed themselves as long as they got to stick their weapons into him! You can’t imagine what it’s like until you’re there, and even then, you find it hard to believe anyone can hate so much to want to cause such damage, death itself! Liz, it was sickening! I still feel like puking when I remember it. - He shuddered.
- Why did Michael send you back? We had expected you guys coming back together, so it kind of doesn’t make sense. - Liz wondered.
- He said he needs to know Maria and Isabel’s decision on their giving birth, which he hopefully expects to be on Antar, to make it as easy to them as possible. - He answered, but Liz could detect a shadow of a doubt in his voice.
- You bet that’s just what they want, why should he doubt it? He could easily get in touch with them and get his answer. - Liz told him sensibly.
- I know. There seemed to be some kind of issue about the disappearance of Khivar’s body that he wanted to clarify and it seems the one able to do it is obviously Nicholas, so I think he guessed it would be a little trying for me to see him paired with our ex enemy in that, with no place at all for me there. He knew I would be much better off here with you guys than sulking on Antar by myself. He’s right as usual, what can I say? - Max could feel the corner of his mouth twitching. - I find it hard to trust Nicholas, but he’s given solid proof of the contrary. -
- I know what you mean, we all feel the same way too, but there’s nothing we can do about it. It seems they have been in touch for quite some time without our knowing. To think Nicholas was spying for Michael, scared as he was of Khivar, shows he was truly on our side. - Liz nodded. - Hey, what’s with the water, because that’s what it is huh? -
Liz just had to ask as she watched Max reach for the bag, fetch out the “bottle” and take a swipe.
- Yes, it’s just Antares water. There were a few containers in the craft that brought me back so I took one to remind me of home. Sorry, maybe I should have taken more so you could try it, but you’ll find no difference with our water. It’s just a definitely psychological thing, I can assure you. - He said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
- Don’t worry, it’s all yours! - Liz quipped, making him smile in an ‘everything’s fine’ way.
That’s when they heard the footsteps right before the soft knocking on the door and Max waved the door open to reveal a procession lead by a finally smiling Anita, giggling Sylvia and the whole gang right behind them, everyone carrying a tray.
- Hey, I’m going to bloat like a beached whale if I eat all that! - Max laughingly complained.
- It’s for all of us! - Kyle stated. - We haven’t eaten yet! -
- Then it will be an honour eating all together again, but wouldn’t we be more comfortable at the dining room? -
- Whatever you say. - Said a very disappointed Anita, making it clear Max was back to his original killjoy status as far as she was concerned and she began to turn back the way she had come.
She bit out the words in a crisp and stern unaccented English, which proved how angry she was and the effort she was making trying not to show it.
- Anita, Anita! Wait! Thank you so much for taking all this trouble for me, I didn’t mean to be rude, it’s just that I thought…- Max began.
- You’re right, it will be better at the dining room. - She didn’t even turn towards him to answer and led them all back downstairs.
Max looked at Liz and shrugged, feeling bad about never being able to please Anita, and she rolled her eyes hooking her arm in his to wrap up the descent to the dining room. By the time they were all wolfing down the food, Max was glad to see Anita standing with Sylvia at the kitchen door, with big smiles on their faces.
When they returned to their bedroom for the night, Max wondered after the fifth sip of the Antares water, if Michael would be back the next day or the following one, according to the different time lapse. He kept reminding himself to ask him to bring as many containers of their water as he could because it gave him a high like nothing else did.
When Michael hugged Wyteeah goodnight after a quick supper, he felt her tremble as her instincts told her Michael was about to drop the equilvalent of a bomb on her with the news of Khivar’s joining with the demon for their ultimate revenge, but he had to let her know as gently as he could.
- Ahmee, don’t worry, we still don’t know how and if they will be able to do anything at all. Nicholas and I will go to Amaru as soon as I wake up to see what can be done to stop them or render them useless. We’re stronger than them, you’ll see. - He felt his aunt clinging to him with all she had and sobbing against his chest. - I need to sleep, alright? -
He gently pulled away from her and his heart broke to see the fear in her eyes.
- I want to stay with you, to watch over you as you sleep, I need to. I won’t be able to sleep at all if I’m sure you’re safe from those fiends. Michael, please! - She begged and he didn’t have the heart to deny it to her.
They walked to his room with their arms so tight around each other that they could have easily been taken for lovers, the difference in their ages barely evident in their close embrace.
Michael waved his clothes off leaving on a pair of soft sweat shorts for his aunt’s sake though she was quite used to seeing him naked. He lay down and rested his cheek on his forearm while Wyteeah took his free hand in both of hers making herself comfortable in a sort of easy chair she had had Geehan get for her. It had been placed close to the bed, practically along its side so that she was reclining and able to hold Michael’s hand at the same time. Michael sensed Ramthis arriving to keep vigil with his aunt and was able to let go, now feeling his father could keep her safe while he slept. When he finally woke up next morning, he was surprised to notice three persons looking at him and the third one was Nicholas.
- Michael, Amaru is waiting for us. - The short man said.
Michael nodded, got up, waved himself clean and dressed before his aunt’s stern look had him eating what had been brought to him on a tray. Then he went to hug and kiss her sending her a mental ‘thank you’.
- The credit goes to Amaru of course, but I think I do deserve the hug and kiss anyway! - She kissed him back. - Go child, Amaru should be able to help, let me know how it went as soon as you can. -
- You know I will, Ahmee. - He smirked and left with Nicholas.
- I have to admit you do have a lot of patience with that woman! She’s as smothering as my mother and aunts were! I just couldn’t stand being in the same room with any of them for more than a minute before I fled as fast as I could! - Nicholas shuddered.
- What are you talking about? I love her, I love the way she cares for me. You’re an idiot, you know? - Michael shook his head and headed outside, so though he couldn’t see it, he knew Nicholas had shrugged and rolled his eyes.
Michael thought that if Nicholas had felt smothered by all that female love when he was a child and hadn’t learnt to appreciate it yet, since he didn’t have it any longer, then he was really an utter idiot, emotionally retarded as far as family ties went. What he would have given to have that on his miserable human childhood! It seemed that nobody got what they wanted or needed on that just as miserable planet! Hell of a choice to send him there! Just for him, not his cousins thankfully.
Amaru was quite ready for them and led them to a small secluded chamber in a cave that barely held the three of them. There was a fire in the centre with a cauldron held above it by a thick chain and white vapour-like smoke seeping from several slits all around it. They sat cross legged around the source of the fumes which definitely looked like a large incense burner. Michael was reminded of River Dog’s sweat session that got him so sick, and he was about to cough when he realized he had no physical reason for it. Quite the contrary, it was proving very relaxing, making him want to start right away. Amaru noticed his eagerness and had to chuckle, mostly to mask the fact that he could see nothing good coming from the whole thing. How could anything positive come from the liaison of two such evil characters? The first thing he had to do was discover who the traitor was so he got Nicholas into a retrospective trance sending him back to that moment when he saw Khivar’s spy. He could recognize him immediately as the son-in-law of the Grunter chrone, who else? He just couldn’t believe he had not guessed it! Could his fear of Khivar have clouded his thoughts to such extent? Yes, of course it could, but no longer, now that he was finally dead! Now the next step was finding where the bastard was hiding and bringing him out in the open to be caught and dragged in for a most thorough interrogation.
- I would like to kill him the second we get our hands on him, but we need to get a lot of answers out of him first. - Nicholas said, gnashing his teeth like a rabid dog, but he stopped when it reminded him of Jesse’s canine looking partner, making him shudder at the thought of the disgusting woman.
- I will contact the three deceased involved in this order: the Grunter witch, Khivar and the spy. Trust me, I have my reasons. - He locked eyes with Nicholas who reacted immediately.
- Yes! Because I can help there! - He fished inside his robe and brought out a small square of rustic material fastened in string which hung from it with its two endings torn where Nicholas had yanked it off his waist. - This is a powdered lock of the witch’s hair which she gave me before she disappeared to make sure there was an emergency link with her. I was left with a feeling that it could only be used for an extreme life threatening situation, so I think this is it. -
-You mean you didn’t use it when you were left alone with Khivar although you felt your life was at risk when he found your betrayal? - Michael couldn’t believe it.
- I didn’t need to because I felt you coming and anyway Khivar was too scared for himself to even remember I was in the same room with him. He didn’t give a damn about my safety and if I was there with him, he could only regret that, both our lives being at stake, I was too small to make a proper body shield! My just being there assured him we were in the same boat, as the spineless coward I’ve always been. I wouldn’t have the guts to be there with him if I was planning on betraying him and to be honest I still can’t believe I could. He totally bought it because I was scared stiff and couldn’t move! But I could feel you, Michael, coming for me and to kill Khivar, that’s what kept me alive! I’m kind of disappointed though, that Khivar died without the chance of finding out about me. It would have given me such pleasure, but I’ll gloat when he finds out once we contact him, now that there’s no chance of doing anything about it with Michael here present! I’ll never be able to thank you enough for trusting me when no one else would. - Nicholas actually had tears in his eyes which he wiped away with the back of his hand. - Let’s summon the witch! -
- Fine, let’s go. - Michael headed for the door leading outside through the infamous yard where their bodies had been exposed after their previous lives ended.
- Michael, you should have this. - Nicholas hurried to catch up with Michael as Max fell behind.
- What’s that? - Max asked, rushing not to miss anything.
Michael was holding what looked like a ring.
- It’s the Amanthin Khivar was planning to kill himself with before Michael did, but apparently in his fear, he totally forgot. It had rolled under a chair, that’s where I found it. - Nicholas said.
- The what? - Michael asked, intrigued.
- It’s the extract of a plant from the Andes people that with just a drop, you’d be dead in 3 seconds tops. - Nicholas explained.
- But it’s a ring! - Max frowned.
Nicholas reached over and pressed the stone making it flip back and disclose a miniature soft vial.
- He only needed to put it in his mouth and his body temperature would immediately and automatically dissolve it to release the poison. - He shook his head.
- How did he get it? Who gave it to him? - Michael asked.
- He had an Andes spy, I only saw him once, accidentally. I wasn’t supposed to see him at all or even know of his existence. I think I can recognize him, he was oldish. - Nicholas assured him.
Michael waved it away and they rode back in silence. As they were reaching the entrance to the main tunnel which was crowded with eager faces, Michael rode his horse close to the cart.
- I said I’ll deal with this, ok? - He nodded. - Not a word about the spy until I say so. -
The others just nodded back.
Michael had barely dismounted when he has engulfed in his father and aunt’s arms.
- Our home’s waiting for you. Fill in what’s missing, what we couldn’t remember, I just hope we didn’t miss much. - Michael smirked. - Max, I want you back home right away to get everything ready, just give me some time here, say an Earth day and I’ll join you to find out their decision. I want to make sure things here are as they should be before I leave. -
Michael had felt there was something more that Nicholas didn’t want to disclose in front of Max for some reason, so he followed the game. He could sense Nicholas approve his decision because it wouldn’t be fair to Max keeping him away while they tended to it. It was arranged for a ship to take Max home as soon as it was ready to go, so Michael connected with Serena and told her to send Stuart and Kyle to the outskirts of the city in a cactus area which was shunned by everyone because of the rattlesnakes. That’s where the ship had picked them up, but it had to be dark. They coordinated the time perfectly and it was settled.
Serena broke the circle as Michael was crossing the door of the castle leading outside, followed by Nicholas and Max.
- Everything seems to be fine now. - She sighed.
- Let’s hope so, I don’t want any more unpleasant surprises. - Isabel shuddered.
- Your mother and Uncle will have everything back to normal as soon as they can, so now it’s up to Michael to come back for your decision about the babies. - Serena had not spoken to either Maria or Isabel on the issue waiting to be sure everything was alright back on Antar.
Isabel took hold of Maria’s hand before she answered.
- I think Michael would want us to have them there, because it’s easier on us and it will be faster too. The problem is he’s already been away close to three months and we’re still not showing so how will we be able to give birth there? Even if we left right away, whatever it is on Antar won’t be enough to have the babies ready to be born. - Isabel wondered.
- Don’t worry, the second you arrive there, they will start growing at the Antares normal speed, which if I’m right, you’ve only been pregnant there for barely a few days at the most, I think. Things will work out fine, you’ll see. - Serena smiled.
Suddenly she went silent and her eyes closed as she went in a trance. They tried to touch her but they were repelled by electric sparks that didn’t burn but kept them away. As soon as she came out of it, she told them Max was coming back right away and she called Stuart and Kyle to coordinate the exact time and place to pick him up. They just stayed there relaxing and watching TV as it was already close to dusk. Max should be back in a couple of hours approximately. After a two hour long oldie about King Arthur, a soft knock at the door reminded them they had told Anita and Sylvia where they were.
- Come in! - Laurie invited and watched the door open to let the two women carrying each a tray with a pot of tea and some cookies, as Laurie had called them when they were getting dinner ready to tell them Kyle and Stuart would take a little longer because they were getting Max from the airport.
Anita stared at the previews of old movies showing at that moment and sighed.
- Just look at that! Michael reminds me of a young Marlon Brando but much better looking, mind you! - The trailer of “The Wild One” ended and one of “Psycho” began. - And that creepy Anthony Perkins looks so much like…-
She turned to look at Liz, trying to remember her husband’s name.
- Max. - Liz provided.
- Oh yes, Max. He does too! - She insisted in case there were any doubts, regretting to have mentioned the word ‘creepy’, though she considered it the closest to the truth.
- Si mamá, c’mon, let’s go, you made your point. - Sylvia took Anita by the elbow and stirred her out of the room, rolling her eyes.
- She’s right, you know? - Liz said so seriously that she had everyone burst out laughing.
They were still nibbling on the cookies when the guys arrived and they all stared at Max remembering what Anita had said.
- What? Anita and Sylvia were peering at me just like you are! What’s going on? I thought you knew I was coming! Didn’t Michael get in touch with you? I hoped you would be glad to see me! What’s wrong, do I look different? - Max exploded, not very pleased, having expected a warm welcome as he had got from the guys, sure that his eyes were back to normal, as neither Kyle nor Stuart had seemed to notice any change in him.
- You look like Anthony Perkins. - Ava said as seriously as Liz had been, making them start laughing all over again and running to finally give him the welcome he should have got.
- Yeah sure, just what I needed! I look like the “Psycho” murderer! Liz? - He turned to his wife with pleading eyes as soon as they all let him go.
- Well, you kind of…do look like him. - She said as gently as she could.
- Alright, I need a shower. - He left the room banging the door and the laughter started all over again.
- I better do something about it. - Liz said, getting up and leaving to console her husband.
- That was kind of mean, you know? - Serena shook her head making them all feel bad.
- We’ll make it up to him, let’s go and make everything he likes for supper and bring it over to his room. Liz will be making sure he’s quite welcome in spite of everything and we want to hear it all from him first hand. - Laurie suggested, and they all raced down the stairs to do just that.
Liz arrived at their room to hear the shower so she took her time to check a small bag she found on the bed. All it contained was a weird looking container of a clear liquid that looked like water, so she let it be. She was about to go to the bathroom when the sound of the spraying shower stopped and Max came out in a towel. “He looks so thin!” Was the first thing Liz noticed.
- Yes, I’ve lost some weight, but I’ll be able to eat all the great things Anita has for us without regrets, so it’s not so bad. - He smiled and Liz was glad to see he was back to normal, the frown gone from his face.
He quickly waved fresh clothes back on him hiding the gauntness he had lately acquired, which reminded him how ashamed of it he had been before he started working out.
- Then you’ll be fine in no time because they’re getting all you like ready for your special supper. Oops! It’s supposed to be a surprise, so please do act surprised when they bring it to you, ok? - Liz laughed.
- Sure, no problem. - He plopped down on the bed, and sighed.
- Max, are you alright? You look so tired! - Liz asked worriedly.
- I’m exhausted! Waiting for the battles and then during them, waiting for the outcome has been the worst experience ever in my life! Of course I trust Michael but I had this very realistic dream, no nightmare! I was right beside him througout a battle; I must’ve been invisible because no one acknowledged my presence and I could see the murderous intent in every face that tried to kill Michael, the way they hurt him, how they didn’t give a damn if they got killed themselves as long as they got to stick their weapons into him! You can’t imagine what it’s like until you’re there, and even then, you find it hard to believe anyone can hate so much to want to cause such damage, death itself! Liz, it was sickening! I still feel like puking when I remember it. - He shuddered.
- Why did Michael send you back? We had expected you guys coming back together, so it kind of doesn’t make sense. - Liz wondered.
- He said he needs to know Maria and Isabel’s decision on their giving birth, which he hopefully expects to be on Antar, to make it as easy to them as possible. - He answered, but Liz could detect a shadow of a doubt in his voice.
- You bet that’s just what they want, why should he doubt it? He could easily get in touch with them and get his answer. - Liz told him sensibly.
- I know. There seemed to be some kind of issue about the disappearance of Khivar’s body that he wanted to clarify and it seems the one able to do it is obviously Nicholas, so I think he guessed it would be a little trying for me to see him paired with our ex enemy in that, with no place at all for me there. He knew I would be much better off here with you guys than sulking on Antar by myself. He’s right as usual, what can I say? - Max could feel the corner of his mouth twitching. - I find it hard to trust Nicholas, but he’s given solid proof of the contrary. -
- I know what you mean, we all feel the same way too, but there’s nothing we can do about it. It seems they have been in touch for quite some time without our knowing. To think Nicholas was spying for Michael, scared as he was of Khivar, shows he was truly on our side. - Liz nodded. - Hey, what’s with the water, because that’s what it is huh? -
Liz just had to ask as she watched Max reach for the bag, fetch out the “bottle” and take a swipe.
- Yes, it’s just Antares water. There were a few containers in the craft that brought me back so I took one to remind me of home. Sorry, maybe I should have taken more so you could try it, but you’ll find no difference with our water. It’s just a definitely psychological thing, I can assure you. - He said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
- Don’t worry, it’s all yours! - Liz quipped, making him smile in an ‘everything’s fine’ way.
That’s when they heard the footsteps right before the soft knocking on the door and Max waved the door open to reveal a procession lead by a finally smiling Anita, giggling Sylvia and the whole gang right behind them, everyone carrying a tray.
- Hey, I’m going to bloat like a beached whale if I eat all that! - Max laughingly complained.
- It’s for all of us! - Kyle stated. - We haven’t eaten yet! -
- Then it will be an honour eating all together again, but wouldn’t we be more comfortable at the dining room? -
- Whatever you say. - Said a very disappointed Anita, making it clear Max was back to his original killjoy status as far as she was concerned and she began to turn back the way she had come.
She bit out the words in a crisp and stern unaccented English, which proved how angry she was and the effort she was making trying not to show it.
- Anita, Anita! Wait! Thank you so much for taking all this trouble for me, I didn’t mean to be rude, it’s just that I thought…- Max began.
- You’re right, it will be better at the dining room. - She didn’t even turn towards him to answer and led them all back downstairs.
Max looked at Liz and shrugged, feeling bad about never being able to please Anita, and she rolled her eyes hooking her arm in his to wrap up the descent to the dining room. By the time they were all wolfing down the food, Max was glad to see Anita standing with Sylvia at the kitchen door, with big smiles on their faces.
When they returned to their bedroom for the night, Max wondered after the fifth sip of the Antares water, if Michael would be back the next day or the following one, according to the different time lapse. He kept reminding himself to ask him to bring as many containers of their water as he could because it gave him a high like nothing else did.
When Michael hugged Wyteeah goodnight after a quick supper, he felt her tremble as her instincts told her Michael was about to drop the equilvalent of a bomb on her with the news of Khivar’s joining with the demon for their ultimate revenge, but he had to let her know as gently as he could.
- Ahmee, don’t worry, we still don’t know how and if they will be able to do anything at all. Nicholas and I will go to Amaru as soon as I wake up to see what can be done to stop them or render them useless. We’re stronger than them, you’ll see. - He felt his aunt clinging to him with all she had and sobbing against his chest. - I need to sleep, alright? -
He gently pulled away from her and his heart broke to see the fear in her eyes.
- I want to stay with you, to watch over you as you sleep, I need to. I won’t be able to sleep at all if I’m sure you’re safe from those fiends. Michael, please! - She begged and he didn’t have the heart to deny it to her.
They walked to his room with their arms so tight around each other that they could have easily been taken for lovers, the difference in their ages barely evident in their close embrace.
Michael waved his clothes off leaving on a pair of soft sweat shorts for his aunt’s sake though she was quite used to seeing him naked. He lay down and rested his cheek on his forearm while Wyteeah took his free hand in both of hers making herself comfortable in a sort of easy chair she had had Geehan get for her. It had been placed close to the bed, practically along its side so that she was reclining and able to hold Michael’s hand at the same time. Michael sensed Ramthis arriving to keep vigil with his aunt and was able to let go, now feeling his father could keep her safe while he slept. When he finally woke up next morning, he was surprised to notice three persons looking at him and the third one was Nicholas.
- Michael, Amaru is waiting for us. - The short man said.
Michael nodded, got up, waved himself clean and dressed before his aunt’s stern look had him eating what had been brought to him on a tray. Then he went to hug and kiss her sending her a mental ‘thank you’.
- The credit goes to Amaru of course, but I think I do deserve the hug and kiss anyway! - She kissed him back. - Go child, Amaru should be able to help, let me know how it went as soon as you can. -
- You know I will, Ahmee. - He smirked and left with Nicholas.
- I have to admit you do have a lot of patience with that woman! She’s as smothering as my mother and aunts were! I just couldn’t stand being in the same room with any of them for more than a minute before I fled as fast as I could! - Nicholas shuddered.
- What are you talking about? I love her, I love the way she cares for me. You’re an idiot, you know? - Michael shook his head and headed outside, so though he couldn’t see it, he knew Nicholas had shrugged and rolled his eyes.
Michael thought that if Nicholas had felt smothered by all that female love when he was a child and hadn’t learnt to appreciate it yet, since he didn’t have it any longer, then he was really an utter idiot, emotionally retarded as far as family ties went. What he would have given to have that on his miserable human childhood! It seemed that nobody got what they wanted or needed on that just as miserable planet! Hell of a choice to send him there! Just for him, not his cousins thankfully.
Amaru was quite ready for them and led them to a small secluded chamber in a cave that barely held the three of them. There was a fire in the centre with a cauldron held above it by a thick chain and white vapour-like smoke seeping from several slits all around it. They sat cross legged around the source of the fumes which definitely looked like a large incense burner. Michael was reminded of River Dog’s sweat session that got him so sick, and he was about to cough when he realized he had no physical reason for it. Quite the contrary, it was proving very relaxing, making him want to start right away. Amaru noticed his eagerness and had to chuckle, mostly to mask the fact that he could see nothing good coming from the whole thing. How could anything positive come from the liaison of two such evil characters? The first thing he had to do was discover who the traitor was so he got Nicholas into a retrospective trance sending him back to that moment when he saw Khivar’s spy. He could recognize him immediately as the son-in-law of the Grunter chrone, who else? He just couldn’t believe he had not guessed it! Could his fear of Khivar have clouded his thoughts to such extent? Yes, of course it could, but no longer, now that he was finally dead! Now the next step was finding where the bastard was hiding and bringing him out in the open to be caught and dragged in for a most thorough interrogation.
- I would like to kill him the second we get our hands on him, but we need to get a lot of answers out of him first. - Nicholas said, gnashing his teeth like a rabid dog, but he stopped when it reminded him of Jesse’s canine looking partner, making him shudder at the thought of the disgusting woman.
- I will contact the three deceased involved in this order: the Grunter witch, Khivar and the spy. Trust me, I have my reasons. - He locked eyes with Nicholas who reacted immediately.
- Yes! Because I can help there! - He fished inside his robe and brought out a small square of rustic material fastened in string which hung from it with its two endings torn where Nicholas had yanked it off his waist. - This is a powdered lock of the witch’s hair which she gave me before she disappeared to make sure there was an emergency link with her. I was left with a feeling that it could only be used for an extreme life threatening situation, so I think this is it. -
-You mean you didn’t use it when you were left alone with Khivar although you felt your life was at risk when he found your betrayal? - Michael couldn’t believe it.
- I didn’t need to because I felt you coming and anyway Khivar was too scared for himself to even remember I was in the same room with him. He didn’t give a damn about my safety and if I was there with him, he could only regret that, both our lives being at stake, I was too small to make a proper body shield! My just being there assured him we were in the same boat, as the spineless coward I’ve always been. I wouldn’t have the guts to be there with him if I was planning on betraying him and to be honest I still can’t believe I could. He totally bought it because I was scared stiff and couldn’t move! But I could feel you, Michael, coming for me and to kill Khivar, that’s what kept me alive! I’m kind of disappointed though, that Khivar died without the chance of finding out about me. It would have given me such pleasure, but I’ll gloat when he finds out once we contact him, now that there’s no chance of doing anything about it with Michael here present! I’ll never be able to thank you enough for trusting me when no one else would. - Nicholas actually had tears in his eyes which he wiped away with the back of his hand. - Let’s summon the witch! -
ALIENS FULL TILT!
-
ñusta
- Obsessed Roswellian
- Posts: 510
- Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2004 10:52 pm
- Location: heights of Machu Picchu
the calm before the storm
Chapter 106
Nicholas handed the small packet over to Amaru but he shook his head.
- It’s your privilege to summon her, Nicholas. She identifies with you because you were the last contact in her life. If I do it, she might refuse and we’ll lose a precious chance. You’re in charge! - Amaru nodded.
Nicholas proceeded to do the ritual and invoked the witch. Amaru and Michael boosted Nicholas’ energy with theirs but without interfering in the act itself, their eyes closed in full concentration. Suddenly, the small cave was filled with this typical sweetish odour of the old, and as they opened their eyes, some kind of manifestation in a corner at the back stone wall was evident. In front of their astonished eyes, these shimmering particles appeared out of nowhere and started shaping into a small person. Her hair was grey, but almost all white and brittle, her emaciated body was covered in a tunic of the same coarse material which wrapped the remains of the lock of her hair. The thick material failed to conceal what little there was to cover and it went all the way down to the floor.
“Aylok!” She rasped and cackled with a hollow sound, as if she were gargling with sand.
“Yomar…” Nicholas chuckled with her, sending both Amaru and Michael a mental explanation of the words.
“The beast is finally gone! So you’re free now, and in much better company! None other than my peer, Amaru and Royal Blood! Prince Michael, my lord!” She did a courtesy the best she could.
Michael tried to get up and steady her, afraid she was going to keel forwards, but was unable to move at all.
“Thank you, my beautiful one, no need, I’m fine, so honoured by your concern, that’s what makes you who you are. I apologize for having been forced to bring you here to be trapped in the infamous harem, you know it had nothing to do with me but this little imp here, trying to save his skin giving his sick cousin something to play with and stay away from him! It was my doing though, enabling him to be undetected in that monster’s head and enjoy you just the same with me right there too. That’s something I’ll never forget! Made everything worth it! Ahhh! If I could come back to life and be again a pretty girl, I wouldn’t let you go! Or just have access to the brains of your two lovely women when you enjoy each other! I would give anything to be able to do that, but all my powers are gone now, alas!” She hung her head and sighed.
“Does that mean you can’t help us?” Nicholas exploded in fear and disappointment.
“That I can, but it will be my last deed, it will be the true end of me, but I’ll go happy if there’s anything I can do for you! I have my limitations, you know, so ask!”
“I know for certain that my rat of a cousin made some kind of deal with the demon Supay through the use of her whip to carry on a revenge on Michael if he got killed by him. I am afraid they have now joined in death to carry it on and we desperately need to know how exactly they are going to do it to be able to prevent it from happening.”
The crone then shocked them when her eyes rolled back into her head and started gagging. Her wrinkled spotted hands snaked around her throat and controlled her condition, as she took a deep rattling breath and her eyes opened again, red and teary.
“Yes, the two fiends are together. We are too late to stop their revenge as it has already been put in motion. It’s Sinchi, his Andes spy who has all the answers but they have cunningly kept the source that they have used to make it happen away from him by erasing it completely from his brain by totally destroying most of it. They are the only ones who have those answers and as you can imagine, they are inaccessible. I know you plan to summon Khivar but I do not recommend it. He still has not made use of his last contact counting on what you are about to do, and he will be able to use his right, resulting disastrous. Don’t give him that chance.” She shook her head violently, as they waited for it to detach itself and fall to the ground.
Nicholas and Amaru shuddered thinking they could be chosen by Khivar to bid this life goodbye, and she watched Michael smirk, knowing they had nothing to fear, because he would be the obvious choice.
“Yes my child, you’re right. Of course he would choose you, so Amaru and Nicholas, stop trembling like women, Khivar has no interest whatsoever in you two! Nicholas, good news, you can gloat because he threw one hell of a tantrum when the demon informed him of your treason, specially since she couldn’t warn him about it thanks to the lack of knowledge during his life from my spell. Only his death could release him from it and that’s how and when she found out. You were his first choice for his last goodbye, but Supay made him change his mind and not lose his time with you. Prince Michael is the target but due to his Royal Blood, it can only happen if he allows it. If he doesn’t, then Khivar has decided to keep his possibility waiting for a breakthrough. I has to be in life, because Michael’s death will take him directly to the Granilith and Khivar will have lost his privilege altogether, unable to use it on anyone else for daring to target a Royal Blooded and failing to do so.” She cackled again making both Nicholas and Amaru blush deeply in shame.
“My apologies, my prince.” Amaru looked so humbled.
“No need to.” Michael assured him turning to the chrone. “Where is Sinchi?”
“Hidden away inside a watery prison by Supay’s powers. He is held prisoner in an underwater capsule that only allows a source of fresh water to run across his feet and brings him algae and fallen leaves on which he feeds and drinks to keep him alive. Any attempt at reaching him will result with the capsule tearing and drowning him in a fraction of a second, because of his feeble underfed condition. It’s useless anyway, what they left of his brain has turned him into a retard barely 3 years old, he had no knowledge of what he has done or even who he is.”
“Then why do they keep him alive if there’s no hope for him and he can’t betray them?” Michael wondered, making no sense of it.
“Because he suspected they were planning to silence him so he could not be accesory to the destruction of their plans. He asked for my help and being my son-in-law, I could not refuse. He used my dead drowned daughter to force me to comply. His only request was to keep to himself the secrets he knew, because he didn’t want to risk anyone else’s safety with that mortal knowledge. I had to accept thanking him for his concern. I helped him put a curse on those who would take his life, cutting off completely their possibilty of ever contacting any living person, doomed to stay isolated in the realm of the dead, whatever powers they had been able to keep with them gone forever and shunned by all souls. So he is held there for eternity, because if his death is accidental, as it will eventually be, Khivar and Supay will be cursed just the same. The only alternative they had left was for Supay to assure his safety by relinquishing her beloved whip using it to form the capsule, making it impregnable to any race of intelligent beings, so they can have an everlasting afterlife.”
“So, there’s no hope there…” Michael scoffed.
“Like I said, accidents do happen, a random animal could be empowered through magic to bite through the security of the whip, but that is now beyond me, and the whip sends a distress signal to Supay if anything large enough to pose some kind of danger comes too near. It’s almost hopeless, anyway, it would have to be very carefully planned and that would take too much time, which you don’t have. I am so sorry!” She sobbed, surprising them with such a display of sorrow.
The same shimmering that had led her to materialize began again, and she gave them a last piece of advice:
“Don’t lose hope, work on destroying Khivar and Supay anyway, small things aren’t usually given the importance they deserve and the cause of Michael’s death will ironically also be the way to destroy them. That’s all I am able to disclose, because it’s all I know. I will see you again, my gorgeous Prince, when you are received by the Granolith in all your glory, as the most powerful warrior and protector Antar will ever see. And all your wishes will be granted because you deserve them, so rejoice!”
The shimmering particles separated and she was gone leaving more questions than they had wanted. Nicholas was so pale you could almost see through him as he pounced on Michael and clung to him, weeping uncontrollably.
“Hey man, we’re not eternal, we’ll all have to die someday, at least what she said at the end was quite inspiring. There, c’mon, let go and sit down, we have still a lot to do.”
Nicholas obeyed, shaking and sniffling like a child. Amaru remained with a total lack of expression, his face a complete blank but his hands were struggling not to shake and give himself away. He managed quite well until an unexpected sob escaped his lips which he had failed to seal as he would have wanted to. Michael decided to break the gloomy mood and went into action.
“Much to my regret, Khivar is out of the picture. Even out of curiosity, I can’t risk his last goodbye to enable him to hurt those I love, which he now knows in death, it’s my greatest fear and of course, that’s where he would attack. So no way. Now Amaru, what about Sinchi, do you think it’s worth giving it a try? Khivar and Supay will be warned of a physical approach, but a mental one? Do you think there might be anything left in him to give us perhaps even the smallest hint?”
Michael had barely finished talking when he felt Nicholas’ ice cold hand on his thigh, and turned to see him still ghostly pale, with eyes wide open, staring at the place where the witch had disappeared. On the sand, the words had formed in big block letters, so the message couldn’t be missed or misunderstood. It read:
YES DO IT KOLYA
The last word left them no doubts that it was the crone’s, using Nicholas’ Russian nickname which only he and the witch knew about. Khivar had not been summoned or invited by Michael so even if he had found out in death, he had no way to get to them on his own or even with Supay’s help, blocked out by Michael’s powerful Royal Blood.
“I’ll summon him, he is my race, so he will respond to me.” Amaru said, sounding quite confident.
He searched in his pouch and threw a handful of herbs into the cauldron, prying it open with a stick. The fumes changed to a yellow sheen, with streaks of white and purple, and the visibility was almost gone for about a minute when the place regained its original clarity.
“What’s that smell?” Nicholas started rising in alarm, having a flash of the soft vial in Khivar’s ring. “It’s poison!”
“No, Nicholas, it’s the Amancae flower, it turns into poison when mixed with Anthinin, which is the nearest word in Antares for the pulverized cactus from our highlands on Earth and that’s what changes the sweet smell of the flower into a bitter one. The flowers can be white, yellow or purple but the yellow one is the most used. It flowers in the middle of the year and is used for fever, malaria, diabetes and the women’s monthly visitor…” He chuckled. “The cactus alone, gives you amazing hallucinations and our people used it to predict the future, but when mixed, the results are very dangerous. The poison acts so quickly that it takes just a few seconds for the strongest ones to drop dead. It’s easy to detect because of the bitter smell and taste of course, for those who don’t survive it. Calm down, this is about life, not death.” Amaru had Nicholas sitting down again as Michael seemed lost in thought, ignoring Nicholas’ outburst, trusting the Shaman completely.
“I chose it because if there is anything usable in Sinchi’s brain, this will take him to his childhood, when all families went to pick the flowers and keep them for medicinal purposes. There is no Andes person who doesn’t know about it. It’s our only chance to awaken what nothing else can. Now let me concentrate without any further interruptions, please.” Amaru closed his eyes.
Nicholas mumbled his apologies and Michael nodded to him so they again sent all the energy they could muster to help the Shaman on his purpose.
Soon, the shimmering began again but this time it materialized into water, slowly forming what served Sinchi as both tomb and refuge. They saw this Andes small oldish man, sitting on soft sand with his typical colourful robe, his feet in the water and his hands fishing around for the vegetable source of his puny diet.
“Pretty fish, pretty fish…” He chanted and took to his mouth whatever he caught.
His head tilted back as he sniffed the air and his eyes went from blank to alert.
“Amancae!” He whispered, and that was Amaru’s cue to make the contact.
“Sinchi!” Amaru sent into his almost empty head but the man didn’t respond as he went on chanting.
“Yellow flowers, they must be yellow, not white of purple, must be yellow…” He went on and on, so Amaru’s only chance was to wait patiently until he ran empty.
His voice started losing strength, as if his volume was being turned down, and he was finally quiet.
“Sinchi…” Amaru’s voice changed into a softer tone, soothing and gentle, a woman’s voice, which made the man look up again, gurgling like a child.
“Mamitai?” Even his voice sounded like a child’s.
The conversation that followed was in Quechua and Amaru courtly translated it mentally for Nicholas and Michael:
‘Mother?’
‘Sinchi…have you been a good boy?’
‘Yes mamitai, I have picked the flowers, look, only the yellow ones as you told me.’ Sinchi extended his hand to Amaru offering him a handful of weeds.
‘You’re hiding something from me, you’re not a good boy…’
‘No mamitai, I’m not bad, I don’t tell lies, not to you…’
‘What have you been playing with, what did the bad man made you do?’
‘Nothing mamitai, I know no bad man, I only play with what you give me…mamitai, why are you angry with me? I’m a good boy…your son…mamitai, don’t be angry with me, it makes me so sad…mamitai?’
Amaru shook his head, and looked defeated.
“It’s useless, his knowledge is gone, he’s back to his childhood memories, that’s all he has left. I’m so sorry!” He ran his hands through his hair and muttered in his native tongue.
“It’s alright Amaru, at least we did try. The witch said there was a way, so we just have to find it and we will, don’t worry, we’ll find the way, you’ll see.” Michael consoled the Shaman.
“Of course we will, but you’ll be dead! The witch said what killed you would be the way to get to Sinchi, didn’t you hear her? Because Amaru and I did!” Nicholas exploded, screaming to make his frustrated voice echo around the small cave.
Sinchi was now weeping in fright and Amaru made him vanish.
“It’s not his fault. He’s paid enough for it already.” Amaru scoffed and Michael nodded, agreeing with him.
A wave of the Shaman’s hand stopped the spell and they returned to the sad present. They left the cave silently, not knowing what to say. Michael went straight to the castle as Nicholas insisted on staying with Amaru and try giving him all he had in his brain during his conversations with Khivar, to see if they could make something came out of them.
They went through every single word spoken by them but got nothing.
- If Khivar kept Sinchi so well hidden away from everyone, even you, how was it that you saw him? - Amaru asked.
- It was an accident. We were discussing heatedly and he banged the wall in anger activating the small secret door and it began to open. He immediately closed it but though I barely had a couple of seconds at the most, through the sliver, I was able to see Sinchi and recognized his clothes as Andes. Of course I pretended to turn to leave so Khivar didn’t even suspect I had seen him, because when he looked my way, I already had my back to him heading out of the room. I know, I’ve always been sneaky…that’s the way I survived. - He chuckled.
- Well I’m glad you were, or we would have never found out who his spy was. - Amaru said.
- No, that’s not true. Yomar would have given us that information anyway, because she already knew. - Nicholas told him, sad that he hadn’t been the real key to the mystery as he would have wanted.
- Still, that helped a lot anyway. We would have never found out anything if you wouldn’t have been able to summon the witch. She wouldn’t have come for me, with all my magic and powerful spells. Summoning the dead is not that simple, even for me. I’m glad you were sneaky enough and quick thinking to reach for her during her last seconds alive. That’s what did it…you did it and if it doesn’t save Michael’s life, at least he will have his revenge when Khivar and Supay are cursed forever with Sinchi’s escape. - Amaru tried to make him feel better, though under the circumstances nothing would, not for Nicholas or for him either.
- It’s not fair! I hate this! What is the point of risking his life so many times for his people, to suffer so much for them, to protect those he loves to be murdered when he has finally managed to reach his goal? To hell with the Granilith! He would rather be with us than immortalized for his deeds. Damn stupid destiny! Where’s the justice in it, huh? This is just crap! I’m sick of it, nothing makes sense anymore! I wish I’d died with Khivar so I wouldn’t have to see this shit of a world! - Nicholas turned and walked away from a surprised Amaru, returning to the castle as the Shaman wished he could have voiced his angry feelings too. He just decided to keep his energy to go on striving for a solution, if there was any.
When Michael arrived home, now that he could finally call it that again, he found his father and aunt waiting for him on a corner of the large hall past the main door. Thankfully his aunt was facing away from him, so it was his father’s eyes he met first. It just killed him to see the hope in his eyes and when he got the message from his son’s, he unwittingly conveyed it to Wyteeah who was getting up staring just as hopefully at Ramthis’ face. She faltered and had to try standing up from her chair again.
- No, Michael! NO! - She wept as she rushed into her nephew’s arms.
- We’ll find a way, Ahmee, it’s just that we haven’t found it yet. At least I know who will be attacking me so I can defend myself and be ahead of them. - Michael smirked.
- Them! There’s more than one? - She said in a trembling voice.
- They are a couple, he was the human married to Vilandra and his new mate. Khivar has them homing on me, turning them into human tristels with the help of my blood. I don’t know her personally but I know him. He’s vicious and abusive but a coward and from what I’ve heard, she matches him in everything. But they’re still just human and fight with human weapons with which I am quite familiar, so I’ll be very careful. I must return to Earth now, because staying away will not help at all. It might anger them and go for my friends and family there, with no one to protect them. Amaru and Nicholas will work together here to find a way to stop them and they will be constantly in touch with me. I’m sorry, but I really have to leave. Father, could you please get me a ship right away? I need to contact Max to warn him while I’m on my way. - Michael was clearly determined.
- Yes son, of course. Excuse me. - Ramthis hurried away before they saw the tears flooding his eyes.
Wyteeah was wetting his shirt with hers and wouldn’t let go.
- Ahmee, I’m so sorry to leave you like this, but I really need to go. Please try to understand me. Even if I die, it will be only me, remember you have four babies on the way to help raise and take care of them. For me? You’ll do that for me? -
He squeezed her gently in his arms and felt how bad she was shaking. - Vilandra will soon be back and you will have quite a family then to keep you too distracted. You won’t miss me. -
- How can you possibly think that? How can you even dare say it? Forget you? Only when I’m dead! - She simply was unable to utter another word.
- Everything ready son. - Ramthis said, returning to them as Michael carefully placed his aunt in his father’s arms. - Take care of her, you know how much I love you both. -
He rushed out of the room because he knew that in the next second they would be able to convince him to stay, and that was something he would regret every second of the rest of his life. As he walked through the castle, he instanly communicated with Max, telling him he should be back soon, and to go wait for him at the same place he was delivered. Max told him they would be there, just the guys of course, and to PLEASE! Bring all the vials of Antares water he could get his hands on for him. Michael arrived at the gate at the back of the castle that led to the field where his ship was waiting, and the pilot was right there to meet him. Michael told him about the water supply and the man saluted and ran towards the ship. Michael almost zapped the small figure that came out of the shadows and smashed into him from his left as he headed for the ship. He felt it was Nicholas just in time.
- Michael please don’t go, I’m begging you! You don’t stand a chance with the tristels, they will kill you! - He sobbed and shook as bad as his aunt had.
- Nicholas, I have the advantage of knowing who they are and how they will attack. I’m sure my powers are enough to detect them in time and kill them first. - Michael reassured him.
- No Michael, the victim of the tristel never sees it coming, not even after its first attack, knowing it will not stop until it leaves him dying. That’s why they are so effective. And they are two! Even if by some miracle you manage to see one of them in time, the other will take advantage of the distraction to attack you without mercy. - Nicholas blabbered like Maria did when she was scared.
- You don’t know them but I do, well at least Jesse, and that’s my advantage. I know the cowardly jerk he is, and even with the tristel thing, he’s scared to death to face me so he’ll probably lurk while she causes the distraction. And from what we know, they are both ready to use the other one as a human shield for my blasts, so that makes my advantage soar over theirs. Keep in touch, Nicholas, and remember I’m the good guy. Didn’t you learn on Earth that the good guy always wins? - Michael tried to chuckle to put Nicholas at ease but it came out like a growl that made the small man take it the wrong way, freezing him with fear.
Michael was then able to extricate himself from Nicholas’ grip and loping like a feline, he climbed on the ship.
Nicholas handed the small packet over to Amaru but he shook his head.
- It’s your privilege to summon her, Nicholas. She identifies with you because you were the last contact in her life. If I do it, she might refuse and we’ll lose a precious chance. You’re in charge! - Amaru nodded.
Nicholas proceeded to do the ritual and invoked the witch. Amaru and Michael boosted Nicholas’ energy with theirs but without interfering in the act itself, their eyes closed in full concentration. Suddenly, the small cave was filled with this typical sweetish odour of the old, and as they opened their eyes, some kind of manifestation in a corner at the back stone wall was evident. In front of their astonished eyes, these shimmering particles appeared out of nowhere and started shaping into a small person. Her hair was grey, but almost all white and brittle, her emaciated body was covered in a tunic of the same coarse material which wrapped the remains of the lock of her hair. The thick material failed to conceal what little there was to cover and it went all the way down to the floor.
“Aylok!” She rasped and cackled with a hollow sound, as if she were gargling with sand.
“Yomar…” Nicholas chuckled with her, sending both Amaru and Michael a mental explanation of the words.
“The beast is finally gone! So you’re free now, and in much better company! None other than my peer, Amaru and Royal Blood! Prince Michael, my lord!” She did a courtesy the best she could.
Michael tried to get up and steady her, afraid she was going to keel forwards, but was unable to move at all.
“Thank you, my beautiful one, no need, I’m fine, so honoured by your concern, that’s what makes you who you are. I apologize for having been forced to bring you here to be trapped in the infamous harem, you know it had nothing to do with me but this little imp here, trying to save his skin giving his sick cousin something to play with and stay away from him! It was my doing though, enabling him to be undetected in that monster’s head and enjoy you just the same with me right there too. That’s something I’ll never forget! Made everything worth it! Ahhh! If I could come back to life and be again a pretty girl, I wouldn’t let you go! Or just have access to the brains of your two lovely women when you enjoy each other! I would give anything to be able to do that, but all my powers are gone now, alas!” She hung her head and sighed.
“Does that mean you can’t help us?” Nicholas exploded in fear and disappointment.
“That I can, but it will be my last deed, it will be the true end of me, but I’ll go happy if there’s anything I can do for you! I have my limitations, you know, so ask!”
“I know for certain that my rat of a cousin made some kind of deal with the demon Supay through the use of her whip to carry on a revenge on Michael if he got killed by him. I am afraid they have now joined in death to carry it on and we desperately need to know how exactly they are going to do it to be able to prevent it from happening.”
The crone then shocked them when her eyes rolled back into her head and started gagging. Her wrinkled spotted hands snaked around her throat and controlled her condition, as she took a deep rattling breath and her eyes opened again, red and teary.
“Yes, the two fiends are together. We are too late to stop their revenge as it has already been put in motion. It’s Sinchi, his Andes spy who has all the answers but they have cunningly kept the source that they have used to make it happen away from him by erasing it completely from his brain by totally destroying most of it. They are the only ones who have those answers and as you can imagine, they are inaccessible. I know you plan to summon Khivar but I do not recommend it. He still has not made use of his last contact counting on what you are about to do, and he will be able to use his right, resulting disastrous. Don’t give him that chance.” She shook her head violently, as they waited for it to detach itself and fall to the ground.
Nicholas and Amaru shuddered thinking they could be chosen by Khivar to bid this life goodbye, and she watched Michael smirk, knowing they had nothing to fear, because he would be the obvious choice.
“Yes my child, you’re right. Of course he would choose you, so Amaru and Nicholas, stop trembling like women, Khivar has no interest whatsoever in you two! Nicholas, good news, you can gloat because he threw one hell of a tantrum when the demon informed him of your treason, specially since she couldn’t warn him about it thanks to the lack of knowledge during his life from my spell. Only his death could release him from it and that’s how and when she found out. You were his first choice for his last goodbye, but Supay made him change his mind and not lose his time with you. Prince Michael is the target but due to his Royal Blood, it can only happen if he allows it. If he doesn’t, then Khivar has decided to keep his possibility waiting for a breakthrough. I has to be in life, because Michael’s death will take him directly to the Granilith and Khivar will have lost his privilege altogether, unable to use it on anyone else for daring to target a Royal Blooded and failing to do so.” She cackled again making both Nicholas and Amaru blush deeply in shame.
“My apologies, my prince.” Amaru looked so humbled.
“No need to.” Michael assured him turning to the chrone. “Where is Sinchi?”
“Hidden away inside a watery prison by Supay’s powers. He is held prisoner in an underwater capsule that only allows a source of fresh water to run across his feet and brings him algae and fallen leaves on which he feeds and drinks to keep him alive. Any attempt at reaching him will result with the capsule tearing and drowning him in a fraction of a second, because of his feeble underfed condition. It’s useless anyway, what they left of his brain has turned him into a retard barely 3 years old, he had no knowledge of what he has done or even who he is.”
“Then why do they keep him alive if there’s no hope for him and he can’t betray them?” Michael wondered, making no sense of it.
“Because he suspected they were planning to silence him so he could not be accesory to the destruction of their plans. He asked for my help and being my son-in-law, I could not refuse. He used my dead drowned daughter to force me to comply. His only request was to keep to himself the secrets he knew, because he didn’t want to risk anyone else’s safety with that mortal knowledge. I had to accept thanking him for his concern. I helped him put a curse on those who would take his life, cutting off completely their possibilty of ever contacting any living person, doomed to stay isolated in the realm of the dead, whatever powers they had been able to keep with them gone forever and shunned by all souls. So he is held there for eternity, because if his death is accidental, as it will eventually be, Khivar and Supay will be cursed just the same. The only alternative they had left was for Supay to assure his safety by relinquishing her beloved whip using it to form the capsule, making it impregnable to any race of intelligent beings, so they can have an everlasting afterlife.”
“So, there’s no hope there…” Michael scoffed.
“Like I said, accidents do happen, a random animal could be empowered through magic to bite through the security of the whip, but that is now beyond me, and the whip sends a distress signal to Supay if anything large enough to pose some kind of danger comes too near. It’s almost hopeless, anyway, it would have to be very carefully planned and that would take too much time, which you don’t have. I am so sorry!” She sobbed, surprising them with such a display of sorrow.
The same shimmering that had led her to materialize began again, and she gave them a last piece of advice:
“Don’t lose hope, work on destroying Khivar and Supay anyway, small things aren’t usually given the importance they deserve and the cause of Michael’s death will ironically also be the way to destroy them. That’s all I am able to disclose, because it’s all I know. I will see you again, my gorgeous Prince, when you are received by the Granolith in all your glory, as the most powerful warrior and protector Antar will ever see. And all your wishes will be granted because you deserve them, so rejoice!”
The shimmering particles separated and she was gone leaving more questions than they had wanted. Nicholas was so pale you could almost see through him as he pounced on Michael and clung to him, weeping uncontrollably.
“Hey man, we’re not eternal, we’ll all have to die someday, at least what she said at the end was quite inspiring. There, c’mon, let go and sit down, we have still a lot to do.”
Nicholas obeyed, shaking and sniffling like a child. Amaru remained with a total lack of expression, his face a complete blank but his hands were struggling not to shake and give himself away. He managed quite well until an unexpected sob escaped his lips which he had failed to seal as he would have wanted to. Michael decided to break the gloomy mood and went into action.
“Much to my regret, Khivar is out of the picture. Even out of curiosity, I can’t risk his last goodbye to enable him to hurt those I love, which he now knows in death, it’s my greatest fear and of course, that’s where he would attack. So no way. Now Amaru, what about Sinchi, do you think it’s worth giving it a try? Khivar and Supay will be warned of a physical approach, but a mental one? Do you think there might be anything left in him to give us perhaps even the smallest hint?”
Michael had barely finished talking when he felt Nicholas’ ice cold hand on his thigh, and turned to see him still ghostly pale, with eyes wide open, staring at the place where the witch had disappeared. On the sand, the words had formed in big block letters, so the message couldn’t be missed or misunderstood. It read:
YES DO IT KOLYA
The last word left them no doubts that it was the crone’s, using Nicholas’ Russian nickname which only he and the witch knew about. Khivar had not been summoned or invited by Michael so even if he had found out in death, he had no way to get to them on his own or even with Supay’s help, blocked out by Michael’s powerful Royal Blood.
“I’ll summon him, he is my race, so he will respond to me.” Amaru said, sounding quite confident.
He searched in his pouch and threw a handful of herbs into the cauldron, prying it open with a stick. The fumes changed to a yellow sheen, with streaks of white and purple, and the visibility was almost gone for about a minute when the place regained its original clarity.
“What’s that smell?” Nicholas started rising in alarm, having a flash of the soft vial in Khivar’s ring. “It’s poison!”
“No, Nicholas, it’s the Amancae flower, it turns into poison when mixed with Anthinin, which is the nearest word in Antares for the pulverized cactus from our highlands on Earth and that’s what changes the sweet smell of the flower into a bitter one. The flowers can be white, yellow or purple but the yellow one is the most used. It flowers in the middle of the year and is used for fever, malaria, diabetes and the women’s monthly visitor…” He chuckled. “The cactus alone, gives you amazing hallucinations and our people used it to predict the future, but when mixed, the results are very dangerous. The poison acts so quickly that it takes just a few seconds for the strongest ones to drop dead. It’s easy to detect because of the bitter smell and taste of course, for those who don’t survive it. Calm down, this is about life, not death.” Amaru had Nicholas sitting down again as Michael seemed lost in thought, ignoring Nicholas’ outburst, trusting the Shaman completely.
“I chose it because if there is anything usable in Sinchi’s brain, this will take him to his childhood, when all families went to pick the flowers and keep them for medicinal purposes. There is no Andes person who doesn’t know about it. It’s our only chance to awaken what nothing else can. Now let me concentrate without any further interruptions, please.” Amaru closed his eyes.
Nicholas mumbled his apologies and Michael nodded to him so they again sent all the energy they could muster to help the Shaman on his purpose.
Soon, the shimmering began again but this time it materialized into water, slowly forming what served Sinchi as both tomb and refuge. They saw this Andes small oldish man, sitting on soft sand with his typical colourful robe, his feet in the water and his hands fishing around for the vegetable source of his puny diet.
“Pretty fish, pretty fish…” He chanted and took to his mouth whatever he caught.
His head tilted back as he sniffed the air and his eyes went from blank to alert.
“Amancae!” He whispered, and that was Amaru’s cue to make the contact.
“Sinchi!” Amaru sent into his almost empty head but the man didn’t respond as he went on chanting.
“Yellow flowers, they must be yellow, not white of purple, must be yellow…” He went on and on, so Amaru’s only chance was to wait patiently until he ran empty.
His voice started losing strength, as if his volume was being turned down, and he was finally quiet.
“Sinchi…” Amaru’s voice changed into a softer tone, soothing and gentle, a woman’s voice, which made the man look up again, gurgling like a child.
“Mamitai?” Even his voice sounded like a child’s.
The conversation that followed was in Quechua and Amaru courtly translated it mentally for Nicholas and Michael:
‘Mother?’
‘Sinchi…have you been a good boy?’
‘Yes mamitai, I have picked the flowers, look, only the yellow ones as you told me.’ Sinchi extended his hand to Amaru offering him a handful of weeds.
‘You’re hiding something from me, you’re not a good boy…’
‘No mamitai, I’m not bad, I don’t tell lies, not to you…’
‘What have you been playing with, what did the bad man made you do?’
‘Nothing mamitai, I know no bad man, I only play with what you give me…mamitai, why are you angry with me? I’m a good boy…your son…mamitai, don’t be angry with me, it makes me so sad…mamitai?’
Amaru shook his head, and looked defeated.
“It’s useless, his knowledge is gone, he’s back to his childhood memories, that’s all he has left. I’m so sorry!” He ran his hands through his hair and muttered in his native tongue.
“It’s alright Amaru, at least we did try. The witch said there was a way, so we just have to find it and we will, don’t worry, we’ll find the way, you’ll see.” Michael consoled the Shaman.
“Of course we will, but you’ll be dead! The witch said what killed you would be the way to get to Sinchi, didn’t you hear her? Because Amaru and I did!” Nicholas exploded, screaming to make his frustrated voice echo around the small cave.
Sinchi was now weeping in fright and Amaru made him vanish.
“It’s not his fault. He’s paid enough for it already.” Amaru scoffed and Michael nodded, agreeing with him.
A wave of the Shaman’s hand stopped the spell and they returned to the sad present. They left the cave silently, not knowing what to say. Michael went straight to the castle as Nicholas insisted on staying with Amaru and try giving him all he had in his brain during his conversations with Khivar, to see if they could make something came out of them.
They went through every single word spoken by them but got nothing.
- If Khivar kept Sinchi so well hidden away from everyone, even you, how was it that you saw him? - Amaru asked.
- It was an accident. We were discussing heatedly and he banged the wall in anger activating the small secret door and it began to open. He immediately closed it but though I barely had a couple of seconds at the most, through the sliver, I was able to see Sinchi and recognized his clothes as Andes. Of course I pretended to turn to leave so Khivar didn’t even suspect I had seen him, because when he looked my way, I already had my back to him heading out of the room. I know, I’ve always been sneaky…that’s the way I survived. - He chuckled.
- Well I’m glad you were, or we would have never found out who his spy was. - Amaru said.
- No, that’s not true. Yomar would have given us that information anyway, because she already knew. - Nicholas told him, sad that he hadn’t been the real key to the mystery as he would have wanted.
- Still, that helped a lot anyway. We would have never found out anything if you wouldn’t have been able to summon the witch. She wouldn’t have come for me, with all my magic and powerful spells. Summoning the dead is not that simple, even for me. I’m glad you were sneaky enough and quick thinking to reach for her during her last seconds alive. That’s what did it…you did it and if it doesn’t save Michael’s life, at least he will have his revenge when Khivar and Supay are cursed forever with Sinchi’s escape. - Amaru tried to make him feel better, though under the circumstances nothing would, not for Nicholas or for him either.
- It’s not fair! I hate this! What is the point of risking his life so many times for his people, to suffer so much for them, to protect those he loves to be murdered when he has finally managed to reach his goal? To hell with the Granilith! He would rather be with us than immortalized for his deeds. Damn stupid destiny! Where’s the justice in it, huh? This is just crap! I’m sick of it, nothing makes sense anymore! I wish I’d died with Khivar so I wouldn’t have to see this shit of a world! - Nicholas turned and walked away from a surprised Amaru, returning to the castle as the Shaman wished he could have voiced his angry feelings too. He just decided to keep his energy to go on striving for a solution, if there was any.
When Michael arrived home, now that he could finally call it that again, he found his father and aunt waiting for him on a corner of the large hall past the main door. Thankfully his aunt was facing away from him, so it was his father’s eyes he met first. It just killed him to see the hope in his eyes and when he got the message from his son’s, he unwittingly conveyed it to Wyteeah who was getting up staring just as hopefully at Ramthis’ face. She faltered and had to try standing up from her chair again.
- No, Michael! NO! - She wept as she rushed into her nephew’s arms.
- We’ll find a way, Ahmee, it’s just that we haven’t found it yet. At least I know who will be attacking me so I can defend myself and be ahead of them. - Michael smirked.
- Them! There’s more than one? - She said in a trembling voice.
- They are a couple, he was the human married to Vilandra and his new mate. Khivar has them homing on me, turning them into human tristels with the help of my blood. I don’t know her personally but I know him. He’s vicious and abusive but a coward and from what I’ve heard, she matches him in everything. But they’re still just human and fight with human weapons with which I am quite familiar, so I’ll be very careful. I must return to Earth now, because staying away will not help at all. It might anger them and go for my friends and family there, with no one to protect them. Amaru and Nicholas will work together here to find a way to stop them and they will be constantly in touch with me. I’m sorry, but I really have to leave. Father, could you please get me a ship right away? I need to contact Max to warn him while I’m on my way. - Michael was clearly determined.
- Yes son, of course. Excuse me. - Ramthis hurried away before they saw the tears flooding his eyes.
Wyteeah was wetting his shirt with hers and wouldn’t let go.
- Ahmee, I’m so sorry to leave you like this, but I really need to go. Please try to understand me. Even if I die, it will be only me, remember you have four babies on the way to help raise and take care of them. For me? You’ll do that for me? -
He squeezed her gently in his arms and felt how bad she was shaking. - Vilandra will soon be back and you will have quite a family then to keep you too distracted. You won’t miss me. -
- How can you possibly think that? How can you even dare say it? Forget you? Only when I’m dead! - She simply was unable to utter another word.
- Everything ready son. - Ramthis said, returning to them as Michael carefully placed his aunt in his father’s arms. - Take care of her, you know how much I love you both. -
He rushed out of the room because he knew that in the next second they would be able to convince him to stay, and that was something he would regret every second of the rest of his life. As he walked through the castle, he instanly communicated with Max, telling him he should be back soon, and to go wait for him at the same place he was delivered. Max told him they would be there, just the guys of course, and to PLEASE! Bring all the vials of Antares water he could get his hands on for him. Michael arrived at the gate at the back of the castle that led to the field where his ship was waiting, and the pilot was right there to meet him. Michael told him about the water supply and the man saluted and ran towards the ship. Michael almost zapped the small figure that came out of the shadows and smashed into him from his left as he headed for the ship. He felt it was Nicholas just in time.
- Michael please don’t go, I’m begging you! You don’t stand a chance with the tristels, they will kill you! - He sobbed and shook as bad as his aunt had.
- Nicholas, I have the advantage of knowing who they are and how they will attack. I’m sure my powers are enough to detect them in time and kill them first. - Michael reassured him.
- No Michael, the victim of the tristel never sees it coming, not even after its first attack, knowing it will not stop until it leaves him dying. That’s why they are so effective. And they are two! Even if by some miracle you manage to see one of them in time, the other will take advantage of the distraction to attack you without mercy. - Nicholas blabbered like Maria did when she was scared.
- You don’t know them but I do, well at least Jesse, and that’s my advantage. I know the cowardly jerk he is, and even with the tristel thing, he’s scared to death to face me so he’ll probably lurk while she causes the distraction. And from what we know, they are both ready to use the other one as a human shield for my blasts, so that makes my advantage soar over theirs. Keep in touch, Nicholas, and remember I’m the good guy. Didn’t you learn on Earth that the good guy always wins? - Michael tried to chuckle to put Nicholas at ease but it came out like a growl that made the small man take it the wrong way, freezing him with fear.
Michael was then able to extricate himself from Nicholas’ grip and loping like a feline, he climbed on the ship.
ALIENS FULL TILT!
-
ñusta
- Obsessed Roswellian
- Posts: 510
- Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2004 10:52 pm
- Location: heights of Machu Picchu
the calm before the storm
Chapter 107
Michael checked the water vials and went straight to the small room at the back of the ship to lie on his side on the narrow bunk. He closed his eyes and went over the events of the last day. He knew he should be hungry because he hadn’t eaten anything in hours but he wasn’t. Food had been the last thing on his mind those last hours on Antar and his father and aunt’s concern for him had erased the issue from their minds, specially hers which was quite surprising. At least his hunger was of a different kind, he craved to be back on Earth and then maybe he would go for a pizza? He chuckled thinking how he could almost taste it. Suddenly his thoughts went to the Antares vials of water. There was usually a set of 8 bottles in each of the smaller crafts, two per capita for the crew of 3 and two more in case of a passenger. He had found the original pack missing two vials and two complete packs. He sensed that by some coincidence this was the same craft that transported Max but he had told him he had just taken one bottle and two were missing, so maybe he was wrong. Then he remembered this was the best of the small crafts in their fleet, it was the fastest and used only by his family or very important visitors, so of course it had to be the one that had taken Max back. After all, like it or not, he was Wyteeah’s son and had been their king on that previous life. He concentrated and pictured Max climbing on the ship and sitting on the bunk across from the one he was lying on. Max got dizzy spells and nausea at the beginning of these trips but they didn’t last long. Michael saw the pilot, which was the same one, as he was designated to fly this craft, peek into the room and find Max sitting with his head between his knees, looking very much like an ostrich, struggling to control the nausea. ‘Are you alright, sir?’ The pilot asked him, not quite sure of how to address him and not very willing to use the term ‘lord’, much less ‘my lord’. Max explained his ordeal in a shaky voice and the pilot left and brought him a vial of water. ‘Here, this might help you.’ He handed Max the water and he reached out blindly for it so the man placed it in his searching hand. ‘Thanks.’ 10 minutes later, the pilot returned to check on his passenger and found him still sitting and the vial a little over half full. His colour had returned and he was able to speak without feeling sick, so he just let him be. Michael shook his head and realized he had solved the mystery of the missing bottle. Max had drunk it during the trip and swiped the other one to take it with him to Earth. That was his last thought as sleep claimed him until the pilot came to tell him they were barely 5 minutes away from the meeting place.
He was trying to make himself comfortable in the narrow bunk when he felt it widening and getting very soft.
“Do you like it like this?” Said a soothingly familiar voice, with a hint of sadness in it.
Michael opened his eyes to find Geehan sitting beside him and he could sense Shenti and Nicholas somewhere behind him.
“Just the kind of dream I need!” Michael chuckled.
“It’s not a dream, don’t underestimate my mental powers. Remember I brought the witch back from death, twice!” Nicholas clarified.
“You didn’t say goodbye to us.” Shenti said, with disappointment.
Michael realized that he might not see them again and understood what they were feeling because they had made him feel the same. The urgency of his return to Earth had made them lose the opportunity to enjoy a last time together so Nicholas was giving it just the same.
“What about the part of me that’s sleeping in the ship?” Michael inquired.
“You just said it: it’s just a part of you and it’s sleeping. Your true essense is here with us, fully materialized.” Nicholas assured him.
“What if the pilot touches me?” Michael insisted.
“You’ll feel solid but you won’t wake up. Don’t worry, they’re used to that, it’s not the first time you fly with that crew.” Nicholas wished he could say it wouldn’t be the last one either. “You’re here to enjoy so relax and let us pleasure you. This is for you from us.”
Michael felt them all over him and was in a constant state of ecstasy from the first touch to the last penetration. It was as if they were all inside him together yet he could separately identify each caress, each feeling that made him shiver and moan, the different ways each one had to enter his body, sometimes separately and sometimes at the same time. The wet warm tongues and prodding, scratching fingers, travelling up his thighs, mostly on the insides, sliding between his buttocks, nibbling at his ass, gently or bruisingly hard to make him squeeze the bloated organ inside him, the deep areas of his body that were reached as well as the extremely sensitive ones were taking him right where they wanted him to go so he just went wild, reaching a shuddering orgasm signed by Geehan. Another hallucinating orgasm and Michael could tell this one had been Shenti’s and by the time the last one came, Michael was ready to pass out. Nicholas outdid himself to the point that Michael could not even describe what he was feeling, it was just too much, massive, devastatingly wonderful, impossible to describe. He was left gasping and sobbing with the magnitude of it.
“Rest, Michael, our prince, our hero, you’ll have time enough to be ready for the pilot to come and wake you up. Don’t you ever forget us, like we never will.”
He was covered in kisses which gave him the peace he needed to comply with their wishes.
Max had noticed he was unusually aroused since he came back. He had sex with Liz a couple of times mostly because his condition was quite obvious to her and he didn’t want her to feel disappointed or left out. But it hadn’t done it for him at all, He craved and lusted for Michael and couldn’t wait to have him back with him again. Liz noticed a slight burning as she passed water both times after she had sex with Max but it was just a little uncomfortable and it didn’t happen again so she just gave it no importance. The parasites had been desperately looking for their appropriate feeding tissue but they hadn’t been lucky and ended flushed down the toilet to oblivion, undetected because of their still miniscule size.
The pilot and the other two of his crew had been expecting Michael to join them as he usually did, but the boy went straight to a bunk after he checked on the provision of water. He checked on him once they were safely on course but he found him lying with his eyes closed and presumed he would probably rest for a while to still join them before they landed. Somehow, a strange incident involving the water vials came to his mind. If it had happened on Earth, it would have been labelled a case of haunting, as the reason was never clarified. After the news of Khivar’s demise reached the underground shelters, everyone came out and returned to their true homes, the crafts were immediately flown to their original fields and their appointed crews stood guard by them. The pilot and one of the other crewmen heard this weird scratching sound coming from inside the ship so they rushed inside to follow the noise to the space where the water vial were stored. The second they stepped into the deposit area, sound stopped. The pack seemed to have been opened and one of the vials was lying on the floor. He picked it up and replaced it closing the pack again. They looked all over the craft and found nothing out of normal. They were leaving the craft, mystified, and the scratching came on again but stopped long before they arrived at the same place where the sound had originated and seemed to be coming from exactly there again. The pilot could have sworn he caught a small shadow on the ground, out of the corner of his eye, disappearing behind the pack of water, so he moved it aside and searched behind it but there was nothing and nowhere anything even that small could have gone and hidden. Both the pilot and his partner went back outside to stand beside their ship commenting they had been reminded of a plague of vermin that had come with a group of mercenaries and ended tearing and eating the sacks of crops with which the Andes people provided the whole population of the underground city. They were the size of mice but hairless with just holes for ears. Being night predators, they had no eyes but an unfailing sense of smell, they only needed to be stomped on their heads to be terminated on the spot, but they were so many! The pilot had told his partner that when his father paid them visits during the weekends, his two little girls would beg him to do his imitation, and the old man gladly complied going into character. Being a small, frail man with a pointy nose and whiskers, he did it quite successfully and had them all laughing long after the performance had ended. The little girls had even started to call him ‘grandpa wookie’, using the name the locals had given the vermin before they were exterminated completely before the month was over. He was hoping to tell this same story to lighten the mood when the prince joined them but it didn’t happen. If he had, Michael would have laughed to think such puny things shared the same name of the huge hairy character of Star Wars. The pilot wondered how the incident had been totally erased from his mind and apparently his partner’s too until Michael’s concern with the water had made him recall it. He had been checking on the boy constantly during the flight, once finding him facing away from him on his other side and then face down precariously near the edge, so he went to him and shook his shoulder, but he was fast asleep. He still hadn’t moved when the pilot went to tell him they were about to arrive. He shook him more violently this time, calling to him: ‘my lord, my lord…’ and the urgency in his voice catapulted Michael down from his dreamworld, making him jump up. He ended on his hands and knees between the two bunks sending the pilot flying backwards to end up sitting on the opposite bank. ‘Shenti?’ Michael whispered turning to the pilot and taking a couple of seconds to place his face. ‘My lord, it’s alright, we’re arriving on Earth in just a few minutes, I just wanted to tell you to get ready to ease you down!’ ‘Sorry, I don’t know what I was dreaming about. I’ll be there right away.’ The pilot left, and Michael got up, stretched and went to put the whole provision of water in what looked like a burlap sack. He pulled it up, feeling how heavy it was and thinking Max could even have a bath with it if he felt like it. He went to look out of the cockpit and soon detected the cactus area with the midnight blue SUV close by, almost invisible in the moonless night. Max, Kyle and Stuart were already looking up, although this alien craft would go undetected until it beamed its passenger down. ‘Cool,’ Michael grinned. ‘Beam me right in front of the ‘three stooges, ok?’ ‘My lord?’ Michael remembered the man had no way of knowing what he was talking about. ‘Sorry, I meant right in front of my three friends, I want to see them jump and scream!’ ‘Yes my lord.’ The pilot smiled, and hugged him goodbye.
And jump and scream they did when Michael materialized suddenly and unexpectedly right in front of them.
- SHIT!!! - Came the three voices together and Michael smirked and greeted them.
- Hey, guys. -
They all pounced on him and Michael forcefully got them into the SUV as fast as he could.
- Let’s go, we can’t be found here. Hurry up! - Michael insisted, and Stuart took off silently into the night.
Stuart took the wheel with Kyle beside him, his upper body twisted towards the two aliens at the back. Max was sitting with his back against the shotgun seat, so all Kyle could see were his legs straight out from the knees down. Michael was lying on his side behind Stuart, facing Kyle and Max so he was mostly visible. The conversation on the way back to their current home was light and carefree, so Michael was grateful that Max had respected his wishes to let him be the one to inform the others what he would be facing from now on. He was glad he was the tristels’ target, because the predators would only home on him, ignoring anyone else that got in their way and managing to easily go around the distractions without as much as even touching what was not their concern.
- So, how have things been around here? - He asked casually.
- Well, what can you expect with two future mothers taking it very seriously from the next day after you left? - Stuart chuckled.
- They have us wrapped around their pinkies, on our toes getting them all their inexisting cravings which began right away, and which might just be beginning to be justified. - Kyle scoffed.
- Yeah, I’d like to see you pregnant! - Michael smirked.
- Wouldn’t he look funny? - Max giggled.
- Like a walking muffin or some kind of cupcake…- Michael grinned.
- Hey! Why do you always take it out on my size? Can’t you use some of your powerful magic and make me grow? - Kyle grumbled.
- Snap out of it, neither is possible, you’re staying a smurf and you’ll never get pregnant, so relax, man, we’re just kidding! - Michael shrugged.
Kyle watched Max’s arm snake towards Michael and his hand cupped his chin as he bent to kiss him. The back of Max’s head covered the view, but when he moved away, Kyle could see the way Michael’s lips were wet and red, his eyes shining as his lashes parted to let them open again and his breath coming short.
- Would that be my Antares water? - Max asked as he pointed to the sack on the floor behind Michael.
- What else would it be? - Michael teased as he reached back and pulled out a vial from the pack and handed it over to him.
Max opened it and drank thirstily.
- What is it with that water? This selfish bastard has treasured his blasted funny bottle and hasn’t even had the courtesy of inviting us a miserable sip so we can find out how wonderful it is! - Kyle protested.
- Here, have one. - Michael took another vial and tossed it to Kyle.
- No! - Max complained as Michael tapped another one against Stuart’s arm and he reached back to take it.
- C’mon Max! You’ve got enough to fill the jacuzzi, you may have been the one to ask for them but I’ve brought them for everyone. - Michael disliked that side of Max.
- Sorry man, you’re right! Cheers! - Max corrected himself as soon as he sensed what Michael was feeling and invited the other two drinkers to toast with him.
- To us! - Kyle and Stuart said together and started laughing.
- Aren’t you having any? - Max asked Michael as he joined in the mirth.
- Nah! What for? It’s just like Earth water. I don’t get what you see in it! I’m not thirsty but I’ll dry-toast to that too. - Michael smiled, not wanting to think of how they would all react when he gave them the dire news.
They drove on silently as three of the passengers chugged their vials of water down nonstop.
- So, do you guys find any difference in it, or is it just Max? - Michael wondered, amused at their look of satisfaction.
- No, I guess you’re right, it’s just like the imported expensive Earth water from European springs, and no way we can have it analyzed for differences, huh? - Kyle said.
- No, I guess we can’t, but I find it just a tad more refreshing than our own, that’s the only thing I’ve noticed. - Stuart put in.
- Right, that’s it. You’re right! You feel great after just a sip, Earth water doesn’t do that, not even the fancy ones that have just a little extra zest. This one is definitely better. - Kyle had to agree.
- Ok, we’re here, brace yourself, Spaceboy! - Stuart announced as they cleared the fence into the Dupree property.
Stuart stopped the van and got down as Kyle did the same. When he opened the side door to the back, Kyle clearly heard Max whispering to Michael:
- I want you tonight, no matter what! -
- Yes, I need you too. - Michael answered just as secretly over his shoulder as Max pushed him out of the van.
“Oh I’ve got to see this! Michael has still no idea what a pregnant fit Maria and Isabel will throw if he’s not with them and chooses Max instead. So that’s what you have to do to get some service! Demand! Cool. Give him a couple of days and my turn will come.” Kyle felt Stuart’s eyes on his and when he looked towards him, the doctor nodded, making it clear they shared the same thoughts, so he nodded back with a sly smile.
Yes, their turn would come now that they were also ignorant accessories to Michael’s destruction.
The front door burst open and a shrieking avalanche fell on Michael making him almost go down under their combined energies. Everyone was there, even Javi, Michael observed, feeling quite honoured.
- Hey, wow! Thanks guys. - Michael’s voice was husky, showing how deep it had touched him.
The two Latino couples were used to join in the contagious enthusiasm of the group, but of course they didn’t have the first idea of how much Michael’s safe return meant to his “family”. Only they knew it was about a phenomenal triumph over what had taken their lives before, about their original world coming back to life because of his courage and the final chance to be able to share it with him.
The girls were crying openly, the pregnant ones blaming their crazy hormones and the other two because of their sibling status. Serena looked awed, staring at Michael as if he were an apparition from beyond, even Anita and Sylvia had tears in their eyes. Rubén and Javi stood smiling and nodding, glad the boy was back so maybe life there would go back to normal, without having them moping and sighing. Somehow, this charismatic boy was the one that wrapped the group together, no one else there could do it like he did.
- Michael, are you hungry? - Anita asked with an innocent look.
- What have you got for me? - Michael asked hopefully, though no matter what they had whipped up for him would probably not be what he wanted, ready to be disappointed but not show it at all.
- Pizzas! Every kind possible, I think! - She beamed proudly.
- Huh? - Michael went, amazed at what he had heard, he could hardly believe it, he hadn’t connected with anyone during the trip, how could they have guessed.
- I hope you’re ok with it, but Maria and I have been having this craving right after lunch, so we ordered them to be hot and ready by the time you arrived. - Isabel and Maria locked eyes with him as they stood side by side, giving him a secret smile.
Of course, that was the subtle connection. He automatically blocked out what could be negative for them, but not what brought them pleasure. So it was really him sharing their craving, it hadn’t been his at all but now it was.
- Just what I wanted! Honest! I guess I have a right to have cravings too. - Michael bit his lip and had his wives drooling.
Stuart went to put his arm around Isabel’s shoulders, winking at Michael who got the message, as Anita and her family thought Isabel’s baby was the doctor’s. The news of two sets of twins was still not shared because it would be too much of a coincidence and anyway, they were hoping they would be out of there before it became too obvious.
They wiped the table clean in record time and then the girls started begging in a chorus for pots of chamomille tea which came to them right away.
While they waited to be able to get up, the conversation turned to Michael’s trip, using ‘Roswell’ for ‘Antar’ and he was able to give them a general idea of what had gone down using their kind of secret language. By then, they said their goodnights and headed for the main bedroom for the real thing.
As soon as they arrived and closed the door, their expressions changed, having detected in Michael’s delivery there was much more to it and not of the kind that would make them happy. He patiently and as mildly as possible informed them of the weird turn things had given, totally out of his hands but that both Nicholas and Amaru were doing everything in their hands to find the solution.
- Nicholas! Of all people! Who would have thought? - Ava asked, rhetorically, having met him indirectly through Tess, who had been suspicious of Lonnie and had mindwarped her conversations with the Alien and her plans to leave with him. - Michael, are you sure you can trust him? -
- I wouldn’t be here without his help against Khivar. You can’t come close to imagining what that army of mercenaries was like. Those poor persons had become almost animals, killing machines, that’s all they were good for, after losing their worlds and their hopes. They would have hacked me to pieces if Nicholas hadn’t thought about the breathing gadgets, and he was right there in the same room with Khivar when I faced him, not hiding, but very scared. If he hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t have known one of Khivar’s last blasts had bounced off the wall and was coming towards me from behind. I do owe him my life this time. What can I say? - He shrugged.
There was no way to put into words the shock they were going through; it was evident in their silence and the expression on their faces. Serena, particularly, looked devastated; she sat there shaking her head and unable to utter a word.
- I’m going to start a constant communication with Amaru to see what we can do, I hope I can contribute in some way. - She finally said, her voice shaking as she took Uncle Derek and Wayne’s hands and bid them all goodnight, the two men were as pale and shocked as she was. Michael got up from where he was sprawling in the middle of the bed and found his way over to them, getting hugged by the three of them at the same time. He could feel them weeping inside, holding back by some miracle part human on the men’s side and part alien on hers. She knew it wouldn’t do, specially her. If they saw her break down, it would be taken as hopeless and their reaction would be terrible to see. She wasn’t giving up no matter what. She would even join Nicholas and fight with him and Amaru for Michael, they should be able to find some clue, they were three after all! Michael thanked Serena and made it obvious he had felt her thoughts as she clung to him and kissed both his cheeks. She nodded and left.
Michael returned to flop back on the middle of the bed and felt all their eyes on him, feeling quite uncomfortable for making them sad.
- This can’t be happening! No, it’s not possible. My powers and Ava’s should be able to help Amaru and…Nicholas…- She spat. - Let’s get in touch with them and tell them to count with us…-
Michael pushed up and took Isabel in his arms.
- They know, Izzy, but Khivar and Supay are dead, in a different dimension totally inaccessible to us. Our powers are no good there. Maybe yours could have a chance with Sinchi, though I doubt it, but he’s out of our hands as long as he’s held prisoner with the whip surounding him. Only Amaru could get through to him because he can speak his native language and he confirmed he’s almost mentally dead. He can’t remember anything after his very early childhood. Please, I need to sleep, I promise that as soon as I wake up we’ll get to it. -
He closed his eyes and their silence told him they had agreed.
Michael checked the water vials and went straight to the small room at the back of the ship to lie on his side on the narrow bunk. He closed his eyes and went over the events of the last day. He knew he should be hungry because he hadn’t eaten anything in hours but he wasn’t. Food had been the last thing on his mind those last hours on Antar and his father and aunt’s concern for him had erased the issue from their minds, specially hers which was quite surprising. At least his hunger was of a different kind, he craved to be back on Earth and then maybe he would go for a pizza? He chuckled thinking how he could almost taste it. Suddenly his thoughts went to the Antares vials of water. There was usually a set of 8 bottles in each of the smaller crafts, two per capita for the crew of 3 and two more in case of a passenger. He had found the original pack missing two vials and two complete packs. He sensed that by some coincidence this was the same craft that transported Max but he had told him he had just taken one bottle and two were missing, so maybe he was wrong. Then he remembered this was the best of the small crafts in their fleet, it was the fastest and used only by his family or very important visitors, so of course it had to be the one that had taken Max back. After all, like it or not, he was Wyteeah’s son and had been their king on that previous life. He concentrated and pictured Max climbing on the ship and sitting on the bunk across from the one he was lying on. Max got dizzy spells and nausea at the beginning of these trips but they didn’t last long. Michael saw the pilot, which was the same one, as he was designated to fly this craft, peek into the room and find Max sitting with his head between his knees, looking very much like an ostrich, struggling to control the nausea. ‘Are you alright, sir?’ The pilot asked him, not quite sure of how to address him and not very willing to use the term ‘lord’, much less ‘my lord’. Max explained his ordeal in a shaky voice and the pilot left and brought him a vial of water. ‘Here, this might help you.’ He handed Max the water and he reached out blindly for it so the man placed it in his searching hand. ‘Thanks.’ 10 minutes later, the pilot returned to check on his passenger and found him still sitting and the vial a little over half full. His colour had returned and he was able to speak without feeling sick, so he just let him be. Michael shook his head and realized he had solved the mystery of the missing bottle. Max had drunk it during the trip and swiped the other one to take it with him to Earth. That was his last thought as sleep claimed him until the pilot came to tell him they were barely 5 minutes away from the meeting place.
He was trying to make himself comfortable in the narrow bunk when he felt it widening and getting very soft.
“Do you like it like this?” Said a soothingly familiar voice, with a hint of sadness in it.
Michael opened his eyes to find Geehan sitting beside him and he could sense Shenti and Nicholas somewhere behind him.
“Just the kind of dream I need!” Michael chuckled.
“It’s not a dream, don’t underestimate my mental powers. Remember I brought the witch back from death, twice!” Nicholas clarified.
“You didn’t say goodbye to us.” Shenti said, with disappointment.
Michael realized that he might not see them again and understood what they were feeling because they had made him feel the same. The urgency of his return to Earth had made them lose the opportunity to enjoy a last time together so Nicholas was giving it just the same.
“What about the part of me that’s sleeping in the ship?” Michael inquired.
“You just said it: it’s just a part of you and it’s sleeping. Your true essense is here with us, fully materialized.” Nicholas assured him.
“What if the pilot touches me?” Michael insisted.
“You’ll feel solid but you won’t wake up. Don’t worry, they’re used to that, it’s not the first time you fly with that crew.” Nicholas wished he could say it wouldn’t be the last one either. “You’re here to enjoy so relax and let us pleasure you. This is for you from us.”
Michael felt them all over him and was in a constant state of ecstasy from the first touch to the last penetration. It was as if they were all inside him together yet he could separately identify each caress, each feeling that made him shiver and moan, the different ways each one had to enter his body, sometimes separately and sometimes at the same time. The wet warm tongues and prodding, scratching fingers, travelling up his thighs, mostly on the insides, sliding between his buttocks, nibbling at his ass, gently or bruisingly hard to make him squeeze the bloated organ inside him, the deep areas of his body that were reached as well as the extremely sensitive ones were taking him right where they wanted him to go so he just went wild, reaching a shuddering orgasm signed by Geehan. Another hallucinating orgasm and Michael could tell this one had been Shenti’s and by the time the last one came, Michael was ready to pass out. Nicholas outdid himself to the point that Michael could not even describe what he was feeling, it was just too much, massive, devastatingly wonderful, impossible to describe. He was left gasping and sobbing with the magnitude of it.
“Rest, Michael, our prince, our hero, you’ll have time enough to be ready for the pilot to come and wake you up. Don’t you ever forget us, like we never will.”
He was covered in kisses which gave him the peace he needed to comply with their wishes.
Max had noticed he was unusually aroused since he came back. He had sex with Liz a couple of times mostly because his condition was quite obvious to her and he didn’t want her to feel disappointed or left out. But it hadn’t done it for him at all, He craved and lusted for Michael and couldn’t wait to have him back with him again. Liz noticed a slight burning as she passed water both times after she had sex with Max but it was just a little uncomfortable and it didn’t happen again so she just gave it no importance. The parasites had been desperately looking for their appropriate feeding tissue but they hadn’t been lucky and ended flushed down the toilet to oblivion, undetected because of their still miniscule size.
The pilot and the other two of his crew had been expecting Michael to join them as he usually did, but the boy went straight to a bunk after he checked on the provision of water. He checked on him once they were safely on course but he found him lying with his eyes closed and presumed he would probably rest for a while to still join them before they landed. Somehow, a strange incident involving the water vials came to his mind. If it had happened on Earth, it would have been labelled a case of haunting, as the reason was never clarified. After the news of Khivar’s demise reached the underground shelters, everyone came out and returned to their true homes, the crafts were immediately flown to their original fields and their appointed crews stood guard by them. The pilot and one of the other crewmen heard this weird scratching sound coming from inside the ship so they rushed inside to follow the noise to the space where the water vial were stored. The second they stepped into the deposit area, sound stopped. The pack seemed to have been opened and one of the vials was lying on the floor. He picked it up and replaced it closing the pack again. They looked all over the craft and found nothing out of normal. They were leaving the craft, mystified, and the scratching came on again but stopped long before they arrived at the same place where the sound had originated and seemed to be coming from exactly there again. The pilot could have sworn he caught a small shadow on the ground, out of the corner of his eye, disappearing behind the pack of water, so he moved it aside and searched behind it but there was nothing and nowhere anything even that small could have gone and hidden. Both the pilot and his partner went back outside to stand beside their ship commenting they had been reminded of a plague of vermin that had come with a group of mercenaries and ended tearing and eating the sacks of crops with which the Andes people provided the whole population of the underground city. They were the size of mice but hairless with just holes for ears. Being night predators, they had no eyes but an unfailing sense of smell, they only needed to be stomped on their heads to be terminated on the spot, but they were so many! The pilot had told his partner that when his father paid them visits during the weekends, his two little girls would beg him to do his imitation, and the old man gladly complied going into character. Being a small, frail man with a pointy nose and whiskers, he did it quite successfully and had them all laughing long after the performance had ended. The little girls had even started to call him ‘grandpa wookie’, using the name the locals had given the vermin before they were exterminated completely before the month was over. He was hoping to tell this same story to lighten the mood when the prince joined them but it didn’t happen. If he had, Michael would have laughed to think such puny things shared the same name of the huge hairy character of Star Wars. The pilot wondered how the incident had been totally erased from his mind and apparently his partner’s too until Michael’s concern with the water had made him recall it. He had been checking on the boy constantly during the flight, once finding him facing away from him on his other side and then face down precariously near the edge, so he went to him and shook his shoulder, but he was fast asleep. He still hadn’t moved when the pilot went to tell him they were about to arrive. He shook him more violently this time, calling to him: ‘my lord, my lord…’ and the urgency in his voice catapulted Michael down from his dreamworld, making him jump up. He ended on his hands and knees between the two bunks sending the pilot flying backwards to end up sitting on the opposite bank. ‘Shenti?’ Michael whispered turning to the pilot and taking a couple of seconds to place his face. ‘My lord, it’s alright, we’re arriving on Earth in just a few minutes, I just wanted to tell you to get ready to ease you down!’ ‘Sorry, I don’t know what I was dreaming about. I’ll be there right away.’ The pilot left, and Michael got up, stretched and went to put the whole provision of water in what looked like a burlap sack. He pulled it up, feeling how heavy it was and thinking Max could even have a bath with it if he felt like it. He went to look out of the cockpit and soon detected the cactus area with the midnight blue SUV close by, almost invisible in the moonless night. Max, Kyle and Stuart were already looking up, although this alien craft would go undetected until it beamed its passenger down. ‘Cool,’ Michael grinned. ‘Beam me right in front of the ‘three stooges, ok?’ ‘My lord?’ Michael remembered the man had no way of knowing what he was talking about. ‘Sorry, I meant right in front of my three friends, I want to see them jump and scream!’ ‘Yes my lord.’ The pilot smiled, and hugged him goodbye.
And jump and scream they did when Michael materialized suddenly and unexpectedly right in front of them.
- SHIT!!! - Came the three voices together and Michael smirked and greeted them.
- Hey, guys. -
They all pounced on him and Michael forcefully got them into the SUV as fast as he could.
- Let’s go, we can’t be found here. Hurry up! - Michael insisted, and Stuart took off silently into the night.
Stuart took the wheel with Kyle beside him, his upper body twisted towards the two aliens at the back. Max was sitting with his back against the shotgun seat, so all Kyle could see were his legs straight out from the knees down. Michael was lying on his side behind Stuart, facing Kyle and Max so he was mostly visible. The conversation on the way back to their current home was light and carefree, so Michael was grateful that Max had respected his wishes to let him be the one to inform the others what he would be facing from now on. He was glad he was the tristels’ target, because the predators would only home on him, ignoring anyone else that got in their way and managing to easily go around the distractions without as much as even touching what was not their concern.
- So, how have things been around here? - He asked casually.
- Well, what can you expect with two future mothers taking it very seriously from the next day after you left? - Stuart chuckled.
- They have us wrapped around their pinkies, on our toes getting them all their inexisting cravings which began right away, and which might just be beginning to be justified. - Kyle scoffed.
- Yeah, I’d like to see you pregnant! - Michael smirked.
- Wouldn’t he look funny? - Max giggled.
- Like a walking muffin or some kind of cupcake…- Michael grinned.
- Hey! Why do you always take it out on my size? Can’t you use some of your powerful magic and make me grow? - Kyle grumbled.
- Snap out of it, neither is possible, you’re staying a smurf and you’ll never get pregnant, so relax, man, we’re just kidding! - Michael shrugged.
Kyle watched Max’s arm snake towards Michael and his hand cupped his chin as he bent to kiss him. The back of Max’s head covered the view, but when he moved away, Kyle could see the way Michael’s lips were wet and red, his eyes shining as his lashes parted to let them open again and his breath coming short.
- Would that be my Antares water? - Max asked as he pointed to the sack on the floor behind Michael.
- What else would it be? - Michael teased as he reached back and pulled out a vial from the pack and handed it over to him.
Max opened it and drank thirstily.
- What is it with that water? This selfish bastard has treasured his blasted funny bottle and hasn’t even had the courtesy of inviting us a miserable sip so we can find out how wonderful it is! - Kyle protested.
- Here, have one. - Michael took another vial and tossed it to Kyle.
- No! - Max complained as Michael tapped another one against Stuart’s arm and he reached back to take it.
- C’mon Max! You’ve got enough to fill the jacuzzi, you may have been the one to ask for them but I’ve brought them for everyone. - Michael disliked that side of Max.
- Sorry man, you’re right! Cheers! - Max corrected himself as soon as he sensed what Michael was feeling and invited the other two drinkers to toast with him.
- To us! - Kyle and Stuart said together and started laughing.
- Aren’t you having any? - Max asked Michael as he joined in the mirth.
- Nah! What for? It’s just like Earth water. I don’t get what you see in it! I’m not thirsty but I’ll dry-toast to that too. - Michael smiled, not wanting to think of how they would all react when he gave them the dire news.
They drove on silently as three of the passengers chugged their vials of water down nonstop.
- So, do you guys find any difference in it, or is it just Max? - Michael wondered, amused at their look of satisfaction.
- No, I guess you’re right, it’s just like the imported expensive Earth water from European springs, and no way we can have it analyzed for differences, huh? - Kyle said.
- No, I guess we can’t, but I find it just a tad more refreshing than our own, that’s the only thing I’ve noticed. - Stuart put in.
- Right, that’s it. You’re right! You feel great after just a sip, Earth water doesn’t do that, not even the fancy ones that have just a little extra zest. This one is definitely better. - Kyle had to agree.
- Ok, we’re here, brace yourself, Spaceboy! - Stuart announced as they cleared the fence into the Dupree property.
Stuart stopped the van and got down as Kyle did the same. When he opened the side door to the back, Kyle clearly heard Max whispering to Michael:
- I want you tonight, no matter what! -
- Yes, I need you too. - Michael answered just as secretly over his shoulder as Max pushed him out of the van.
“Oh I’ve got to see this! Michael has still no idea what a pregnant fit Maria and Isabel will throw if he’s not with them and chooses Max instead. So that’s what you have to do to get some service! Demand! Cool. Give him a couple of days and my turn will come.” Kyle felt Stuart’s eyes on his and when he looked towards him, the doctor nodded, making it clear they shared the same thoughts, so he nodded back with a sly smile.
Yes, their turn would come now that they were also ignorant accessories to Michael’s destruction.
The front door burst open and a shrieking avalanche fell on Michael making him almost go down under their combined energies. Everyone was there, even Javi, Michael observed, feeling quite honoured.
- Hey, wow! Thanks guys. - Michael’s voice was husky, showing how deep it had touched him.
The two Latino couples were used to join in the contagious enthusiasm of the group, but of course they didn’t have the first idea of how much Michael’s safe return meant to his “family”. Only they knew it was about a phenomenal triumph over what had taken their lives before, about their original world coming back to life because of his courage and the final chance to be able to share it with him.
The girls were crying openly, the pregnant ones blaming their crazy hormones and the other two because of their sibling status. Serena looked awed, staring at Michael as if he were an apparition from beyond, even Anita and Sylvia had tears in their eyes. Rubén and Javi stood smiling and nodding, glad the boy was back so maybe life there would go back to normal, without having them moping and sighing. Somehow, this charismatic boy was the one that wrapped the group together, no one else there could do it like he did.
- Michael, are you hungry? - Anita asked with an innocent look.
- What have you got for me? - Michael asked hopefully, though no matter what they had whipped up for him would probably not be what he wanted, ready to be disappointed but not show it at all.
- Pizzas! Every kind possible, I think! - She beamed proudly.
- Huh? - Michael went, amazed at what he had heard, he could hardly believe it, he hadn’t connected with anyone during the trip, how could they have guessed.
- I hope you’re ok with it, but Maria and I have been having this craving right after lunch, so we ordered them to be hot and ready by the time you arrived. - Isabel and Maria locked eyes with him as they stood side by side, giving him a secret smile.
Of course, that was the subtle connection. He automatically blocked out what could be negative for them, but not what brought them pleasure. So it was really him sharing their craving, it hadn’t been his at all but now it was.
- Just what I wanted! Honest! I guess I have a right to have cravings too. - Michael bit his lip and had his wives drooling.
Stuart went to put his arm around Isabel’s shoulders, winking at Michael who got the message, as Anita and her family thought Isabel’s baby was the doctor’s. The news of two sets of twins was still not shared because it would be too much of a coincidence and anyway, they were hoping they would be out of there before it became too obvious.
They wiped the table clean in record time and then the girls started begging in a chorus for pots of chamomille tea which came to them right away.
While they waited to be able to get up, the conversation turned to Michael’s trip, using ‘Roswell’ for ‘Antar’ and he was able to give them a general idea of what had gone down using their kind of secret language. By then, they said their goodnights and headed for the main bedroom for the real thing.
As soon as they arrived and closed the door, their expressions changed, having detected in Michael’s delivery there was much more to it and not of the kind that would make them happy. He patiently and as mildly as possible informed them of the weird turn things had given, totally out of his hands but that both Nicholas and Amaru were doing everything in their hands to find the solution.
- Nicholas! Of all people! Who would have thought? - Ava asked, rhetorically, having met him indirectly through Tess, who had been suspicious of Lonnie and had mindwarped her conversations with the Alien and her plans to leave with him. - Michael, are you sure you can trust him? -
- I wouldn’t be here without his help against Khivar. You can’t come close to imagining what that army of mercenaries was like. Those poor persons had become almost animals, killing machines, that’s all they were good for, after losing their worlds and their hopes. They would have hacked me to pieces if Nicholas hadn’t thought about the breathing gadgets, and he was right there in the same room with Khivar when I faced him, not hiding, but very scared. If he hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t have known one of Khivar’s last blasts had bounced off the wall and was coming towards me from behind. I do owe him my life this time. What can I say? - He shrugged.
There was no way to put into words the shock they were going through; it was evident in their silence and the expression on their faces. Serena, particularly, looked devastated; she sat there shaking her head and unable to utter a word.
- I’m going to start a constant communication with Amaru to see what we can do, I hope I can contribute in some way. - She finally said, her voice shaking as she took Uncle Derek and Wayne’s hands and bid them all goodnight, the two men were as pale and shocked as she was. Michael got up from where he was sprawling in the middle of the bed and found his way over to them, getting hugged by the three of them at the same time. He could feel them weeping inside, holding back by some miracle part human on the men’s side and part alien on hers. She knew it wouldn’t do, specially her. If they saw her break down, it would be taken as hopeless and their reaction would be terrible to see. She wasn’t giving up no matter what. She would even join Nicholas and fight with him and Amaru for Michael, they should be able to find some clue, they were three after all! Michael thanked Serena and made it obvious he had felt her thoughts as she clung to him and kissed both his cheeks. She nodded and left.
Michael returned to flop back on the middle of the bed and felt all their eyes on him, feeling quite uncomfortable for making them sad.
- This can’t be happening! No, it’s not possible. My powers and Ava’s should be able to help Amaru and…Nicholas…- She spat. - Let’s get in touch with them and tell them to count with us…-
Michael pushed up and took Isabel in his arms.
- They know, Izzy, but Khivar and Supay are dead, in a different dimension totally inaccessible to us. Our powers are no good there. Maybe yours could have a chance with Sinchi, though I doubt it, but he’s out of our hands as long as he’s held prisoner with the whip surounding him. Only Amaru could get through to him because he can speak his native language and he confirmed he’s almost mentally dead. He can’t remember anything after his very early childhood. Please, I need to sleep, I promise that as soon as I wake up we’ll get to it. -
He closed his eyes and their silence told him they had agreed.
ALIENS FULL TILT!
-
ñusta
- Obsessed Roswellian
- Posts: 510
- Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2004 10:52 pm
- Location: heights of Machu Picchu
the calm before the storm
Chapter 108
Michael wasn’t surprised when he felt Max’s arms around him as he kissed his hair and whispered against it.
“I told you you would be mine tonight, no matter what!”
“You got Isabel to dreamwalk us together? No, impossible, I didn’t feel her.” Michael sighed with anticipation.
“No, we’re just inside my shield. No one can get to us or stop us.” Max giggled.
“Hey man, but if anyone wakes up and they do the bathroom thing at least twice a night, I know that much, they will see us. Are you up to it? I don’t mind, but…” Michael wondered.
“They’ve seen us many times before, what’s new? I have to be inside you, I can’t hold back any longer or I’m going to start dripping in my clothes!” Max insisted. “I’d rather drip inside you.”
“Max…” Michael moaned, almost feeling the hot drops sliding into him.
Max pushed his hands under Michael’s hips, pulling him up against him as he knelt behind him. Michael shuddered as he felt Max’s steel hard cock which was upright against his stomach, sliding between his buttocks as Max’s hands held him apart and rubbed it against him. And yes, it had to be really dripping to get that slick.
“Max…please…” He begged, dying to feel it inside him.
Max gave his the silly giggle that had lately become his trademark, and pulled back to aim it at him. Michael held his breath and pushed his hips back, bracing himself. He felt Max’s fingers digging into his ass, his short nails drawing blood as he held him where he wanted him. Max rimmed him, smearing him with his lubrication but Michael knew that whatever he used, he would anyway feel Max tearing him inside as he drove mercilessly into him. The out of proportion head plunged in and stopped, making him grunt and then growl as it was screwed through his tightly clenched sphincter muscles, forcing its way in. Michael could feel the bloated head ploughing into him and teasingly prodding his prostate on the way in, the promise of pleasure helping him cope with the pain. His extremely sensitive inside tissues took it, as they always did, until it stopped so deep inside him when Max’s belly rammed against his butt and his balls hit his own and the chains. The electricity from the piercing shot up his gut sheathing Max’s cock all the way in and sending Michael into shudders that gave the communion of pain and pleasure a new dimension each time. Max held him in his arms knowing he was as far inside as he could possibly go. Michael’s hips were pushed back and Max’s, as much as he could get them forwards under him, had the upwards curve of his organ in normally impossible depths. The only other male that could do it was Geehan, with Kyle and Shenti right behind them but an inch short. Michael started swiveling left and right, hinting he was ready for business, so Max retreated very slowly to begin sliding in and out of him. The way Michael moved drove Max out of his mind and the way Max timed his penetrations had Michael going wild. Max went to tease his G-spot again and the circular clockwise motion changing to counterclockwise every three seconds had Michael exploding and crying out Max’s name. Max held back as he usually did, keeping up the maddening stimulation until he knew Michael was finishing, then he shoved it all the way into him in one savage thrust, making him gasp and sob. He felt it pulsing as it was Max’s turn to come making him keep coming with him until Michael felt the last drop coat his throbbing insides. With a mostly alien move, Max was able to kiss the small of Michael’s back, snaking his tongue down almost to where they were connected. Then he sat back on his heels and watched how tightly he was gripped, carefully straightening one leg after the other under Michael so that the warrior was now kind of straddling his sitting lover. His slightly bent knees kept him in a position to still give Max a perfect view as he wrapped his arms around Michael’s thighs to keep himself upright enough for it. The aftermath was so different, it was as if Max’s juices were bubbling inside Michael, as one by one, the bubbles seemed to burst into him and disappear, leaving behind each one a pleasant itch that had him squeezing and writhing to relieve it. He had never felt that before, so he welcomed the new exciting sensation, enjoying it until it was gone. As they came out of it, Max felt Michael relaxing while he felt himself beginning to deflate. He could have flipped them on their sides, so that he could stay inside him much longer with their bodies glued together, but instead he let himself slide out as he started feeling they weren’t alone. Max waited until he was completely out to take a look around them and find they were all sitting around the bed watching them. He swallowed, gulping a little too loud, and vanished his shield to return meekly to his place beside Liz. He just lay back and closed his eyes, covering himself with the sheet after he waved himself clean. The movements on the bed told Max they were all lying back too, once the porno show was over, and going back to sleep.
Michael slept on as all the others walked around the room impatiently. Serena sat by him, holding his hand and monitoring him without interfering. When he was about to start his eleventh hour of slumber, he began to moan and squirm to everyone’s delight.
- Oh, finally! - Was heard coming from different sources sharing the same thoughts.
- Michael, dear…- Serena whispered gently.
- Ahmee? - Michael asked sleepily, and kissed Serena’s hand.
- No child, sorry, you’re back here on Earth, remember? It’s Serena, we have to talk, we’re all waiting for you…- Her voice was soft and soothing.
- Serena…yes…I’m sorry, you should have tried to wake me up. - Michael began to move, wincing and stretching to roll onto his side. - Alright, let’s get to it. -
Isabel’s daily attemp to contact Suzanne Duff had finally been successful that morning after a couple of idle weeks. She couldn’t believe how she had just considered those past two weeks, which had included Christmas and New Year. Everyone had been expecting her to go into her Christmas Nazi thing, perhaps a little dulled because of Max and Michael’s absence, and she was the most surprised to realize she didn’t even want to be reminded what time of the year it was. It had come and gone just breezing over the festivities mostly for Anita and Sylvia’s sake because of all the treats and Xmas tree they had put up for them. Their smiles and apparent joy had just been on the outside, because nothing could fill the void they felt inside. It didn’t cease to amaze her how much had happened on Antar in such little Earth time. That morning, the second working day of the new year, she had informed the FBI agent the horrid news, making her very sad.
“Jesse and Lala’s behaviour is beginning to make sense, they have been very restless lately and yesterday, out of the blue, they had decided to take together their vacations that had been due for a while and they had kept postponing them, probably waiting to make them worth it. Why they didn’t take them for the holidays is beyond me. They’re obviously up to something. Be careful, today may be their last day at the office before they take off, so I’ll be specially on to them as much as I can. I hope I can have more specific news tomorrow. -
Isabel thanked her and also asked her to be extra careful around those two.
- Can you feel it too? - Jesse asked with a lusty grin.
- Yeah! It’s awesome! Is it for real or are you just playing with me? - She snarled.
- No baby, it’s the real thing. Wow, the things we can do now! I just can’t wait to start the hunt! I can’t believe the scents I’m getting, this is amazing! - Jesse said enthusiastically.
- The boy’s so hot! There’s so much lust…- She began as she sniffed the air.
- Enough Lala, I know what you mean, let’s get our stuff ready. - Jesse became bossy and she scoffed but complied.
Suzanne Duff began to seriously worry when it was almost 10:00am and she still hadn’t found or seen any of them. It was quite by accident, as she went for some coffee, that she heard they had left early that morning to do some cross-country travelling. The worst was that there was no way to contact Isabel now, and she was sure next morning would be too late to warn her. She thought of taking a risk and e-mailing her using her secret id, but there were no guarantees that it would reach her in time either, so she just had to wait and hope for the best. She was anticipating one hell of a day, worrying about Michael’s confrontation with those creeps and trying to keep up with her job at the same time.
They had gone over every single piece of information and details even if they didn’t seem related at all, until Michael had nothing else left. Each time they thought they were up to something, it turned out to be just a hopeful false lead, useless any way they looked at it. By 2:00 pm, they didn’t know what else to do, so Serena insisted they needed to eat, to keep up their strength, and they had to agree though no one was that hungry. After eating sparsely for what he was used to, Michael got up and asked for some time alone to think. He checked out to make sure they were alone before he waved on riding clothes and left.
He had been gone almost an hour and half when Liz began to get restless.
- Shouldn’t he be back by now? - She said, frowning, though she wasn’t getting anything wrong from him and she told them so.
- Maybe he’s riding both horses…- Laurie said as a possibility.
- Let’s go and find out. - Serena decided, and they left through the pool terrace.
Michael had ridden Sundown first, taking it easy and going through most of the stuff again. Then he changed to Moonshadow and shared the horse’s eager enthusiasm for a good workout. He went back to the trail around the lake and when he felt the horse was quite warmed up, he returned to the schooling ring and the course. As he was arriving, he heard the faint sound of a helicopter and thought of Uncle Derek. Maybe he was coming home. Then he saw the whole group coming around the house and settling on the grassy steps to watch him. He started going over the course, both him and the horse enjoying themselves and hearing the chopper getting closer. He saw from the corner of his eye that they were all also looking up at the sky and some were getting up. Probably Serena was also suspecting it was Uncle Derek and she was making sure. The craft was almost over him as the horse rose over a hurdle and when Serena noticed it stop and hover, she got a very bad feeling. She saw what looked like a stick shining in the sunlight protruding from the window and she screamed.
- MICHAEL! -
Suddenly everything seemed to come together: the chopper going standstill over him, Serena screaming at the top of her voice, and the sickening pain exactly over the scar of his broken ribs. His keen senses told him he had not been hit once but twice, almost simultaneously. He had no recollection of how he had landed at the other side of the fence still on the horse, and by some miracle of balance, had managed to stay on, with his arms wrapped around the animal’s thick neck.
The horse sensed something was wrong, but there had been no frightening noise to trigger his defensive instincts to run, so he just slowed down to a gentle trot and kept going waiting for Michael’s orders. Forgetting their fear of horses, Max and Kyle ran into the pen and waved their arms like they had seen Rubén and Javi do, bringing Moonshadow to a stop in front of them.
They were confused by the fact that they had seen a second barrel pop beside the other one and spit fire, but there had been no sound, obviously using powerful silencers for that kind of rifles. They ran towards the horse slowing down on approaching him not to scare him, and Laurie, who was more familiar with him, took hold of the reins making sure he wouldn’t move.
It was only then that they noticed the bloodstain growing on Michael’s back.
- It’s not bad! - Liz said, calming them down. - Let’s help him down. -
Michael was breathing in gasps, hurting with every intake of air.
- Michael, it’s a graze, the bullet is not in you. - Liz assured him.
- There were two…- Michael whispered.
- Well, neither is, trust me. We’ll help you down, ok? Let’s see what we can do. -
She couldn’t understand how she could be so cool, getting the vibes she was getting from what had just happened, but she also knew that if she didn’t, they would all go berserk.
Kyle and Max slowly pulled Michael towards them, sliding him off the horse until his feet were on the gound and he was leaning on the animal’s back.
- Is he alright? Moonshadow! Is he hit? - He felt the horse was fine, but he needed to hear it.
- He’s fine, Michael, not even scared, just confused. That’s all. -
- What happened? - They heard Rubén calling as he came running towards them.
- Michael has a bad stomach ache. Too much Pizza…- Isabel smiled, hoping he bought it.
She immediately stepped behind Michael covering the blood not to create panic.
- Would you please walk Moonshadow a little before you take him back? - Laurie asked him, also smiling not to alarm him.
- Of course. - He smiled back taking the reins from her hand and tugging gently at them to make Moonshadow follow him.
Laurie raced up the stone stairs to catch up with them and going as slowly as they could, they got Michael to his bed. Once they eased him down on it, Max waved his shirt away and saw the nasty bleeding tears, going from right to left, looking very bad, but they were not deep. The bullets had ripped the flesh dipping between two ribs each, and scraping painfully the periosteum of both of them, but without breaking or even cracking any of the ribs, just ploughing between them deep enough but not to compromise the lung either. They had been meant to hurt, but not kill. It had been an almost unbelievable feat of marksmanship with Alien help, of course.
Max placed his hands over the wounds and healed them without a scar, as there was now no reason to leave one. Their last night connection was full strength and the damage wasn’t massive to require it.
- Yes, that’s the trystel’s behaviour. They don’t go for an immediate kill, just a long term torturous one. - Serena confirmed.
- So they’re already here, huh? The hunt has begun. - Michael groaned.
- You said that kind of killing was because they were too small to actually inflict a wound larger than their small mouths allowed, but these ‘trystals’ or whatever Jesse and his partner are called now, don’t have that problem. They’re using the very sophisticated latest weapons anyone can get their hands on, so they could kill him if they wanted. - Maria came out of her silent stupor, which had everyone worried, and threw that at them.
- In theory, yes, they could, but the trystel’s behaviour is controlling them completely. Their human side knows they can, but their alien predator one won’t let them act any other way. -
- How long does it take them to bring down their target? - Ava gulped, hating to ask that question.
- Depends on the number of wounds they get to inflict. Usually the victim is attacked where it can get no assistance, which is not the case here, so I think we have more time than usual. - Serena told her.
- What can we do? How can we defend him if we are safe from them? Are we really? - Isabel doubted.
- Yes, we are all absolutely safe, accidents are out of their programme, not even the scantest margin of error exists for them. They never strike unless there are 100% sure they will hit their target. That’s why they were chosen as unfailing. - Serena nodded. - As for defending him, we’re going to do everything we can, but these beasts are cunningly able to get through and over anything to do their thing. I’m not being pessimistic, I’m being totally frank, I couldn’t give you false hopes or hide anything from you. -
- I must leave. I don’t want Anita and her family to live in constant fear because of me. I don’t want them to know what’s going on, even twisting the truth for their sakes. I leave tonight, as soon as it’s dark. - Michael decided.
As a chorus of protests began, Serena’s voice rose above it.
- You’re not leaving alone, you stand a much better chance with us: a lot of lookouts so you can sleep, and a healer when they get to you, to keep you going. The only reasonable excuse to go alone and leave us behind would be if you were endangering us, which you know you’re not. So, like it or not, we’re not letting you go. No way, and you can’t escape, because we’re not leaving you alone for a second. -
- I’m an idiot! I shouldn’t have said anything and just done it! - Michael closed his eyes tight and bit his lip in frustration.
- If I could track you down to those savages that kidnapped you once, what makes you think I can’t do it again? Much easier here with the help of all our energy, even if you block yourself out, and specially now, that our connection is so strong. It would have been useless and you can’t imagine how much it would have offended us to be left behind. So don’t you dare, Rath-Michael! - Serena ended addressing him by his real and formal name for emphasis.
- Alright, I see your point. Call Stuart, we’re leaving tonight. - Michael smirked.
As they packed and got themselves ready, Michael decided it was about time to clear out a couple of things that had been haunting him. He went over to where Serena was sitting with such sadness in her eyes that it broke his heart. Michael saw a hint of a smile on her lips as he approached her and knelt on the floor in front of her, wrapping his arms around her waist and laying his cheek on her lap, like a child. She pushed her fingers in his soft hair and her other hand made circles on his back, glad to feel him relaxing under her ministrations.
- What is it, child? - Because that’s he still was to her, her best and dearest friend’s child.
- Serena, once, sleeping by your pool, I dreamt of the final battle and I thought that’s how it would be, but it was so different. - He sounded disappointed.
- Michael, dreams aren’t always meant to come true, most of the time, they are just what we would like to happen, and sometimes they turn into nightmares showing us the opposite, what we dread to happen. You can’t trust them completely, because though I have to admit that they sometimes do come true, it’s not always so. - She soothed him with her words and hands.
The others kept eyeing them but respected their privacy and continued with their packing.
- Remember that DNA sample you retrieved from me of Khivar? I know the witch didn’t recommend contacting him, but would it be of any help? - He wondered.
- I don’t know, honey, but now that I think of it, let’s hope it might. I’ll let Amaru know what we have and what good use he can find for it. - She didn’t want to sound enthusiastic, but they may as well give it a try.
- How could we have forgotten about it? Did it happen on purpose? - He insisted.
- It would make sense. I’m surprised Nicholas didn’t think about it…- She hated to suspect foul play on the one who had helped Michael get rid of Khivar and saved his life.
- He doesn’t know about it, I never mentioned it because I had forgotten it completely too. - Michael informed her.
- Well, I guess it’s time to see what we can do with it. - She couldn’t help sounding hopeful, she wished he was right.
Michael felt a slight tremor taking hold of her body and he knew without having to look up that her eyes had closed and rolled back in her head. The effective communication barely took a few seconds and Serena told Michael it was now in Stuart’s hands to provide with the sample for her to get it in the Shaman’s hands. Serena suggested they kept it between the three involved, not to add to the others’ anxiety and Michael agreed.
Stuart came rushing out of the SUV as soon as Rubén stopped, and hurried to the house where Serena met him and told him their plan and the obvious reasons to keep it quiet. He nodded and went to the minibar in his bedroom to retrieve it from under the pad in the cap of a bottle he had expressly asked both Anita and Sylvia not to even touch it because it was a very toxic substance that was harmless unless it was opened and came in contact with the air or too much light, that’s why it was as far back in a corner as possible and wrapped tightly in a black plastic bag. ‘Smart!’ Serena thought, appreciating Stuart’s cunning idea for its location. The second Serena had the sample in her hand, she went into a trance again and provided her find to Amaru.
- This is great! - Nicholas said, full of enthusiasm. - How could they get it? -
But he only had to touch it to witness the whole story and he shuddered with the memory.
Michael wasn’t surprised when he felt Max’s arms around him as he kissed his hair and whispered against it.
“I told you you would be mine tonight, no matter what!”
“You got Isabel to dreamwalk us together? No, impossible, I didn’t feel her.” Michael sighed with anticipation.
“No, we’re just inside my shield. No one can get to us or stop us.” Max giggled.
“Hey man, but if anyone wakes up and they do the bathroom thing at least twice a night, I know that much, they will see us. Are you up to it? I don’t mind, but…” Michael wondered.
“They’ve seen us many times before, what’s new? I have to be inside you, I can’t hold back any longer or I’m going to start dripping in my clothes!” Max insisted. “I’d rather drip inside you.”
“Max…” Michael moaned, almost feeling the hot drops sliding into him.
Max pushed his hands under Michael’s hips, pulling him up against him as he knelt behind him. Michael shuddered as he felt Max’s steel hard cock which was upright against his stomach, sliding between his buttocks as Max’s hands held him apart and rubbed it against him. And yes, it had to be really dripping to get that slick.
“Max…please…” He begged, dying to feel it inside him.
Max gave his the silly giggle that had lately become his trademark, and pulled back to aim it at him. Michael held his breath and pushed his hips back, bracing himself. He felt Max’s fingers digging into his ass, his short nails drawing blood as he held him where he wanted him. Max rimmed him, smearing him with his lubrication but Michael knew that whatever he used, he would anyway feel Max tearing him inside as he drove mercilessly into him. The out of proportion head plunged in and stopped, making him grunt and then growl as it was screwed through his tightly clenched sphincter muscles, forcing its way in. Michael could feel the bloated head ploughing into him and teasingly prodding his prostate on the way in, the promise of pleasure helping him cope with the pain. His extremely sensitive inside tissues took it, as they always did, until it stopped so deep inside him when Max’s belly rammed against his butt and his balls hit his own and the chains. The electricity from the piercing shot up his gut sheathing Max’s cock all the way in and sending Michael into shudders that gave the communion of pain and pleasure a new dimension each time. Max held him in his arms knowing he was as far inside as he could possibly go. Michael’s hips were pushed back and Max’s, as much as he could get them forwards under him, had the upwards curve of his organ in normally impossible depths. The only other male that could do it was Geehan, with Kyle and Shenti right behind them but an inch short. Michael started swiveling left and right, hinting he was ready for business, so Max retreated very slowly to begin sliding in and out of him. The way Michael moved drove Max out of his mind and the way Max timed his penetrations had Michael going wild. Max went to tease his G-spot again and the circular clockwise motion changing to counterclockwise every three seconds had Michael exploding and crying out Max’s name. Max held back as he usually did, keeping up the maddening stimulation until he knew Michael was finishing, then he shoved it all the way into him in one savage thrust, making him gasp and sob. He felt it pulsing as it was Max’s turn to come making him keep coming with him until Michael felt the last drop coat his throbbing insides. With a mostly alien move, Max was able to kiss the small of Michael’s back, snaking his tongue down almost to where they were connected. Then he sat back on his heels and watched how tightly he was gripped, carefully straightening one leg after the other under Michael so that the warrior was now kind of straddling his sitting lover. His slightly bent knees kept him in a position to still give Max a perfect view as he wrapped his arms around Michael’s thighs to keep himself upright enough for it. The aftermath was so different, it was as if Max’s juices were bubbling inside Michael, as one by one, the bubbles seemed to burst into him and disappear, leaving behind each one a pleasant itch that had him squeezing and writhing to relieve it. He had never felt that before, so he welcomed the new exciting sensation, enjoying it until it was gone. As they came out of it, Max felt Michael relaxing while he felt himself beginning to deflate. He could have flipped them on their sides, so that he could stay inside him much longer with their bodies glued together, but instead he let himself slide out as he started feeling they weren’t alone. Max waited until he was completely out to take a look around them and find they were all sitting around the bed watching them. He swallowed, gulping a little too loud, and vanished his shield to return meekly to his place beside Liz. He just lay back and closed his eyes, covering himself with the sheet after he waved himself clean. The movements on the bed told Max they were all lying back too, once the porno show was over, and going back to sleep.
Michael slept on as all the others walked around the room impatiently. Serena sat by him, holding his hand and monitoring him without interfering. When he was about to start his eleventh hour of slumber, he began to moan and squirm to everyone’s delight.
- Oh, finally! - Was heard coming from different sources sharing the same thoughts.
- Michael, dear…- Serena whispered gently.
- Ahmee? - Michael asked sleepily, and kissed Serena’s hand.
- No child, sorry, you’re back here on Earth, remember? It’s Serena, we have to talk, we’re all waiting for you…- Her voice was soft and soothing.
- Serena…yes…I’m sorry, you should have tried to wake me up. - Michael began to move, wincing and stretching to roll onto his side. - Alright, let’s get to it. -
Isabel’s daily attemp to contact Suzanne Duff had finally been successful that morning after a couple of idle weeks. She couldn’t believe how she had just considered those past two weeks, which had included Christmas and New Year. Everyone had been expecting her to go into her Christmas Nazi thing, perhaps a little dulled because of Max and Michael’s absence, and she was the most surprised to realize she didn’t even want to be reminded what time of the year it was. It had come and gone just breezing over the festivities mostly for Anita and Sylvia’s sake because of all the treats and Xmas tree they had put up for them. Their smiles and apparent joy had just been on the outside, because nothing could fill the void they felt inside. It didn’t cease to amaze her how much had happened on Antar in such little Earth time. That morning, the second working day of the new year, she had informed the FBI agent the horrid news, making her very sad.
“Jesse and Lala’s behaviour is beginning to make sense, they have been very restless lately and yesterday, out of the blue, they had decided to take together their vacations that had been due for a while and they had kept postponing them, probably waiting to make them worth it. Why they didn’t take them for the holidays is beyond me. They’re obviously up to something. Be careful, today may be their last day at the office before they take off, so I’ll be specially on to them as much as I can. I hope I can have more specific news tomorrow. -
Isabel thanked her and also asked her to be extra careful around those two.
- Can you feel it too? - Jesse asked with a lusty grin.
- Yeah! It’s awesome! Is it for real or are you just playing with me? - She snarled.
- No baby, it’s the real thing. Wow, the things we can do now! I just can’t wait to start the hunt! I can’t believe the scents I’m getting, this is amazing! - Jesse said enthusiastically.
- The boy’s so hot! There’s so much lust…- She began as she sniffed the air.
- Enough Lala, I know what you mean, let’s get our stuff ready. - Jesse became bossy and she scoffed but complied.
Suzanne Duff began to seriously worry when it was almost 10:00am and she still hadn’t found or seen any of them. It was quite by accident, as she went for some coffee, that she heard they had left early that morning to do some cross-country travelling. The worst was that there was no way to contact Isabel now, and she was sure next morning would be too late to warn her. She thought of taking a risk and e-mailing her using her secret id, but there were no guarantees that it would reach her in time either, so she just had to wait and hope for the best. She was anticipating one hell of a day, worrying about Michael’s confrontation with those creeps and trying to keep up with her job at the same time.
They had gone over every single piece of information and details even if they didn’t seem related at all, until Michael had nothing else left. Each time they thought they were up to something, it turned out to be just a hopeful false lead, useless any way they looked at it. By 2:00 pm, they didn’t know what else to do, so Serena insisted they needed to eat, to keep up their strength, and they had to agree though no one was that hungry. After eating sparsely for what he was used to, Michael got up and asked for some time alone to think. He checked out to make sure they were alone before he waved on riding clothes and left.
He had been gone almost an hour and half when Liz began to get restless.
- Shouldn’t he be back by now? - She said, frowning, though she wasn’t getting anything wrong from him and she told them so.
- Maybe he’s riding both horses…- Laurie said as a possibility.
- Let’s go and find out. - Serena decided, and they left through the pool terrace.
Michael had ridden Sundown first, taking it easy and going through most of the stuff again. Then he changed to Moonshadow and shared the horse’s eager enthusiasm for a good workout. He went back to the trail around the lake and when he felt the horse was quite warmed up, he returned to the schooling ring and the course. As he was arriving, he heard the faint sound of a helicopter and thought of Uncle Derek. Maybe he was coming home. Then he saw the whole group coming around the house and settling on the grassy steps to watch him. He started going over the course, both him and the horse enjoying themselves and hearing the chopper getting closer. He saw from the corner of his eye that they were all also looking up at the sky and some were getting up. Probably Serena was also suspecting it was Uncle Derek and she was making sure. The craft was almost over him as the horse rose over a hurdle and when Serena noticed it stop and hover, she got a very bad feeling. She saw what looked like a stick shining in the sunlight protruding from the window and she screamed.
- MICHAEL! -
Suddenly everything seemed to come together: the chopper going standstill over him, Serena screaming at the top of her voice, and the sickening pain exactly over the scar of his broken ribs. His keen senses told him he had not been hit once but twice, almost simultaneously. He had no recollection of how he had landed at the other side of the fence still on the horse, and by some miracle of balance, had managed to stay on, with his arms wrapped around the animal’s thick neck.
The horse sensed something was wrong, but there had been no frightening noise to trigger his defensive instincts to run, so he just slowed down to a gentle trot and kept going waiting for Michael’s orders. Forgetting their fear of horses, Max and Kyle ran into the pen and waved their arms like they had seen Rubén and Javi do, bringing Moonshadow to a stop in front of them.
They were confused by the fact that they had seen a second barrel pop beside the other one and spit fire, but there had been no sound, obviously using powerful silencers for that kind of rifles. They ran towards the horse slowing down on approaching him not to scare him, and Laurie, who was more familiar with him, took hold of the reins making sure he wouldn’t move.
It was only then that they noticed the bloodstain growing on Michael’s back.
- It’s not bad! - Liz said, calming them down. - Let’s help him down. -
Michael was breathing in gasps, hurting with every intake of air.
- Michael, it’s a graze, the bullet is not in you. - Liz assured him.
- There were two…- Michael whispered.
- Well, neither is, trust me. We’ll help you down, ok? Let’s see what we can do. -
She couldn’t understand how she could be so cool, getting the vibes she was getting from what had just happened, but she also knew that if she didn’t, they would all go berserk.
Kyle and Max slowly pulled Michael towards them, sliding him off the horse until his feet were on the gound and he was leaning on the animal’s back.
- Is he alright? Moonshadow! Is he hit? - He felt the horse was fine, but he needed to hear it.
- He’s fine, Michael, not even scared, just confused. That’s all. -
- What happened? - They heard Rubén calling as he came running towards them.
- Michael has a bad stomach ache. Too much Pizza…- Isabel smiled, hoping he bought it.
She immediately stepped behind Michael covering the blood not to create panic.
- Would you please walk Moonshadow a little before you take him back? - Laurie asked him, also smiling not to alarm him.
- Of course. - He smiled back taking the reins from her hand and tugging gently at them to make Moonshadow follow him.
Laurie raced up the stone stairs to catch up with them and going as slowly as they could, they got Michael to his bed. Once they eased him down on it, Max waved his shirt away and saw the nasty bleeding tears, going from right to left, looking very bad, but they were not deep. The bullets had ripped the flesh dipping between two ribs each, and scraping painfully the periosteum of both of them, but without breaking or even cracking any of the ribs, just ploughing between them deep enough but not to compromise the lung either. They had been meant to hurt, but not kill. It had been an almost unbelievable feat of marksmanship with Alien help, of course.
Max placed his hands over the wounds and healed them without a scar, as there was now no reason to leave one. Their last night connection was full strength and the damage wasn’t massive to require it.
- Yes, that’s the trystel’s behaviour. They don’t go for an immediate kill, just a long term torturous one. - Serena confirmed.
- So they’re already here, huh? The hunt has begun. - Michael groaned.
- You said that kind of killing was because they were too small to actually inflict a wound larger than their small mouths allowed, but these ‘trystals’ or whatever Jesse and his partner are called now, don’t have that problem. They’re using the very sophisticated latest weapons anyone can get their hands on, so they could kill him if they wanted. - Maria came out of her silent stupor, which had everyone worried, and threw that at them.
- In theory, yes, they could, but the trystel’s behaviour is controlling them completely. Their human side knows they can, but their alien predator one won’t let them act any other way. -
- How long does it take them to bring down their target? - Ava gulped, hating to ask that question.
- Depends on the number of wounds they get to inflict. Usually the victim is attacked where it can get no assistance, which is not the case here, so I think we have more time than usual. - Serena told her.
- What can we do? How can we defend him if we are safe from them? Are we really? - Isabel doubted.
- Yes, we are all absolutely safe, accidents are out of their programme, not even the scantest margin of error exists for them. They never strike unless there are 100% sure they will hit their target. That’s why they were chosen as unfailing. - Serena nodded. - As for defending him, we’re going to do everything we can, but these beasts are cunningly able to get through and over anything to do their thing. I’m not being pessimistic, I’m being totally frank, I couldn’t give you false hopes or hide anything from you. -
- I must leave. I don’t want Anita and her family to live in constant fear because of me. I don’t want them to know what’s going on, even twisting the truth for their sakes. I leave tonight, as soon as it’s dark. - Michael decided.
As a chorus of protests began, Serena’s voice rose above it.
- You’re not leaving alone, you stand a much better chance with us: a lot of lookouts so you can sleep, and a healer when they get to you, to keep you going. The only reasonable excuse to go alone and leave us behind would be if you were endangering us, which you know you’re not. So, like it or not, we’re not letting you go. No way, and you can’t escape, because we’re not leaving you alone for a second. -
- I’m an idiot! I shouldn’t have said anything and just done it! - Michael closed his eyes tight and bit his lip in frustration.
- If I could track you down to those savages that kidnapped you once, what makes you think I can’t do it again? Much easier here with the help of all our energy, even if you block yourself out, and specially now, that our connection is so strong. It would have been useless and you can’t imagine how much it would have offended us to be left behind. So don’t you dare, Rath-Michael! - Serena ended addressing him by his real and formal name for emphasis.
- Alright, I see your point. Call Stuart, we’re leaving tonight. - Michael smirked.
As they packed and got themselves ready, Michael decided it was about time to clear out a couple of things that had been haunting him. He went over to where Serena was sitting with such sadness in her eyes that it broke his heart. Michael saw a hint of a smile on her lips as he approached her and knelt on the floor in front of her, wrapping his arms around her waist and laying his cheek on her lap, like a child. She pushed her fingers in his soft hair and her other hand made circles on his back, glad to feel him relaxing under her ministrations.
- What is it, child? - Because that’s he still was to her, her best and dearest friend’s child.
- Serena, once, sleeping by your pool, I dreamt of the final battle and I thought that’s how it would be, but it was so different. - He sounded disappointed.
- Michael, dreams aren’t always meant to come true, most of the time, they are just what we would like to happen, and sometimes they turn into nightmares showing us the opposite, what we dread to happen. You can’t trust them completely, because though I have to admit that they sometimes do come true, it’s not always so. - She soothed him with her words and hands.
The others kept eyeing them but respected their privacy and continued with their packing.
- Remember that DNA sample you retrieved from me of Khivar? I know the witch didn’t recommend contacting him, but would it be of any help? - He wondered.
- I don’t know, honey, but now that I think of it, let’s hope it might. I’ll let Amaru know what we have and what good use he can find for it. - She didn’t want to sound enthusiastic, but they may as well give it a try.
- How could we have forgotten about it? Did it happen on purpose? - He insisted.
- It would make sense. I’m surprised Nicholas didn’t think about it…- She hated to suspect foul play on the one who had helped Michael get rid of Khivar and saved his life.
- He doesn’t know about it, I never mentioned it because I had forgotten it completely too. - Michael informed her.
- Well, I guess it’s time to see what we can do with it. - She couldn’t help sounding hopeful, she wished he was right.
Michael felt a slight tremor taking hold of her body and he knew without having to look up that her eyes had closed and rolled back in her head. The effective communication barely took a few seconds and Serena told Michael it was now in Stuart’s hands to provide with the sample for her to get it in the Shaman’s hands. Serena suggested they kept it between the three involved, not to add to the others’ anxiety and Michael agreed.
Stuart came rushing out of the SUV as soon as Rubén stopped, and hurried to the house where Serena met him and told him their plan and the obvious reasons to keep it quiet. He nodded and went to the minibar in his bedroom to retrieve it from under the pad in the cap of a bottle he had expressly asked both Anita and Sylvia not to even touch it because it was a very toxic substance that was harmless unless it was opened and came in contact with the air or too much light, that’s why it was as far back in a corner as possible and wrapped tightly in a black plastic bag. ‘Smart!’ Serena thought, appreciating Stuart’s cunning idea for its location. The second Serena had the sample in her hand, she went into a trance again and provided her find to Amaru.
- This is great! - Nicholas said, full of enthusiasm. - How could they get it? -
But he only had to touch it to witness the whole story and he shuddered with the memory.
ALIENS FULL TILT!
-
ñusta
- Obsessed Roswellian
- Posts: 510
- Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2004 10:52 pm
- Location: heights of Machu Picchu
the calm before the storm
Chapter 109
- This is not going to be easy, we have to go through a very serious preparation just to find out if it’s possible to go through a communication with that world without any harm to us. That wouldn’t help Michael at all but make things worse if he finds out the risk we took. You know him. - Amaru told Nicholas. - We have to cleanse our bodies with a diet and purifying herbs to make sure we can communicate safely with the dead, immune to their powers as such. We can’t face Khivar alone, we shall need a mediator from his dead status on our side, and that’s where you come in. -
- The witch will be on our side, you can be sure of that. - Nicholas nodded, guessing who the Shaman meant, without the least shadow of a doubt.
- There’s one problem though, and it’s totally out of our hands. I don’t know how long it will take for us to be ready, it’s not as fast or as easy, just a little slip in the diet and we go back to begin all over again. And anyway, there are no guarantees we will be able to be ready on time or at all. - Amaru said sadly.
Laurie spoke to Anita and her family informing her that Michael had just received a call saying he had to return to Roswell immediately. He had got tired of waiting for some papers he had to sign on his former foster situation so he had returned until they were ready. He should have waited just a little more but they knew how impatient Michael was. She asked Anita and Javi if they could take care of Uncle Derek and Serena’s place staying there while they were away because they were coming with them, which of course, they were glad to comply. She told them they might be gone for a week but they weren’t sure, so she would keep in touch.
They hurriedly got in the SUV with all their stuff and took off after quick goodbyes and thankyous to the two Latino couples, whose relaxed life had gone through such changes lately that they were almost ready for the unexpected at any time now.
They had no sooner left the city limits when Stuart stopped the van and they all turned to Michael.
- Where are we going to? - Stuart asked him.
- To the outskirts of Roswell, to the cave where we were…born. - Michael said.
- The Pod Chamber! Of course! We should be safe there! - Isabel aggreed.
- The Granilith’s power can seal you in there, it’s been there before so it knows the place, and not even the trystels can compete with that. - Serena assured them.
- Alright. - Stuart got a map and checked out the best route before he started driving again.
Jesse and Lala’s heads shot up as their necks stretched up as far as they could go, looking like prairie dogs sniffing for prey, which was almost exactly what they were doing.
- They’re moving, let’s go. - Jesse said and Lala nodded.
On her lap she had a large photograph of Michael’s body from behind, with every single spot where he had been hurt in both lives marked in blue for Earth, green for Antar and red where they had already got him: over his lower ribs on the left side. The back seat and trunk of their car was covered with weapons, of the most sophisticated and latest kind, they were the newest technology in high power rifles with telescopic sights and the most effective silencers, bullets that would go through anything, even bullet proof cars and vests. They knew that once they went through the metal frame of a car, the bullets would be blunted, making the impact on a body more painful and devastating. Of course, they wouldn’t go for anything vital, because anyway, Max was there to heal Michael, but they also knew that the pain would remain, just weakening him until they received new orders. With their FBI ids they could go anywhere without any problems because their boss had put them in charge of testing out all those new weapons.
This time it was completely different because they had nowhere to hide from the trystels. They could find them wherever they were, but they weren’t stupid either, attacking Michael when they couldn’t be seen or detected by others. It didn’t mean that Michael couldn’t blast them to kingdom come, so they had to make surprise attacks with the speed of lightning, not giving him the chance to defend himself. That meant they had to keep changing cars, not to be recognized or suspected. Their victims could also alter the colour of their van and plates, or even change vehicles too, but they were at a disadvantage because of their enemies’ unfailing tracking system. No matter what they did, the trystels knew exactly where Michael was, and that’s all they needed. Their eyes could detect living creatures like a blur through anything, but only their intended victim stood out crystal clear to them, that’s why they couldn’t fail. The race had begun, and so had the hunt.
The road they took was not a highly transitted one, and less so at night. They had only encountered three cars, two going a little slower than them in the same direccion. As they overpassed them they could see one carried a bunch of guys on a joyride, another was crowded with a family of mostly elders and the other one, going the other way, had a couple with the girl on the guy’s lap. Half an hour later, they saw another set of headlights heading to Tucson. They seemed to be going fairly slow too, but as they came near enough the dark windows had them barely making a lonely driver in spite of the darkness. The car had just passed by them, when a crackling metallic sound was heard and Michael jerked and cursed:
- Shit! Dammit! -
It had sounded as if the other car had gone over an empty soda can, so they turned to check what Michael was about and they saw Maria under him trying to get up as she peered over Michael’s shoulder and saw a red patch spreading on the seat of his pants.
- Oh my god! - Screamed Liz and rushed to them.
Michael and Maria had been lying on their usual place on the back seat and Michael was over her, facing the front with half his body against the back of the SUV completely covering Maria. Max overtook Liz as Maria managed to flop on the floor and sat there looking confused. Max momentarily forgot his powers and yanked Michael’s sweat pants all the way down to his thighs to find a jagged tear across the middle of his ass that had ripped him over both brands.
- Maaaxx…- Stuart went in a shaky voice.
Max turned towards the front and saw Stuart pointing to the top of the dashboard where the bullet had ended. Isabel looked pale as she climbed to the back to go to Michael, joining Serena and Derek. Michael lay shuddering and wincing with his teeth clamped on his lip. Max had no problems healing the messy flesh wound, frustrated with the impotence of being sitting ducks to Jesse and his mate.
- Can’t we do anything? - Isabel screamed, breaking the silence, her eyes full of tears.
- That’s why I wanted to leave alone, so this wouldn’t happen! - Michael whispered.
- You wouldn’t have lasted a day without Max healing you. They would have attacked you every hour or sooner until you were slowly bleeding to death and too weak to defend yourself, then they would have pounced on you and finished you off just as slowly while you lasted alive. You can’t imagine what these beasts are like! - Serena said, shaking her head. - And you can see we’re in no danger. The bullet was meant only for you. They are forced to take it easy because they’re too many of us with you, and they can’t risk even touching any of us. -
- I don’t understand it, why? - Maria was exasperated with the situation.
- In the case of the animal, it seems his nature adjusts automatically to be able to safely consume the victim from where the first blood came from. If they taste the blood of a different victim while the original one has not yet been eaten, they will be poisoned and slowly choke to death. Although Jesse and his woman are not real trystels, their implanted instincts tell them that if they as much as touch a different target, it will be the end of them, and survival is the sole purpose of that species. - Serena explained. - They’re like the Tasmanian Devils. They’ve been almost exterminated, but they are still a few random ones left, that’s why they need to survive. -
- At least I’m glad they use human tactics, can you imagine them loping after Michael like the real animals and biting chunks out of him? Gross! - Kyle shuddered, and disgust was clear on everyone’s faces.
- If at least we could know when they’re coming! - Derek exploded, so unlike him.
- They have no problems shooting from inside their car but they had to shoot through the window of the helicopter…maybe we should head to the nearest airport and take a plane! They can’t shoot Michael if he’s in a plane because it will mean someone else could get killed too if the shooting brought the plane down and they can’t risk that, right? - Liz said, enthusiastically.
- I can call and have a small plane ready for us! - Derek told them.
- Ok, let’s see, where’s the nearest airfield…got it! - Stuart passed the map to Derek and after a couple of calls, he was able to get what he wanted.
- Now we have to get there, and it’s not that close. - Derek scoffed.
They took the next road to the right and headed for the airfield. Unfortunately, Jesse and Lala also had maps and were able to easily guess what they were about to do. They drove off the road and turned their lights out, racing to catch up with them unseen. Half an hour later and about halfway to the airfield, the car came from the right and cut in front of them, making Stuart step on the brakes not to crash. Everyone was wearing seatbelts except Michael and Maria, who ended sprawling in the middle of the van. Michael had clung to her, and as he rose to his hands and knees, she started sitting up, but Michael was over her and he pushed her down. He did a kind of lunge with his left leg leaving the other one stretched behind when the bullet struck him on the exposed inside of his thigh. He went down over Maria who began to scream her head off. Stuart saw the car disappearing towards the left in a cloud of dust and was gone. Max waved his seatbelt away and was by Michael in two leaps.
- Where? Where? - He yelled. - Maria, please! Shut up! -
Maria obeyed, hugging Michael and sniffling against his shoulder.
Michael reached back to his right thigh and Max squeezed his hand and gently pushed it away. He rolled him on his right side so Maria could get up and eased him back down kind of sideways so the inside of his right thigh was exposed again and drenched with blood. Max placed his hand over it and felt Michael’s Royal blood rejecting the bullet and pushing it out of him. He growled with the pain as the crushed chunk of metal found its way out of him. Max felt it against his hand and was about to melt it when Isabel grabbed his wrist and stopped him. He gave it to her and proceeded to heal Michael. He barely made it and knew they would have to connect asap.
- Michael, you stay on the ground, we’re all sitting around you so the only way they can get you is from the air or the ground, and if we hear anything that spells aircraft, we will all be over you. - Serena instructed them.
Michael was hurting so much by now, that Stuart surrendered the steering wheel to Kyle and materialized his black bag to use some of his personal ‘magic’ to ease some of Michael’s pain.
- That was kind of fast, as if they guessed what we are about to do. - Liz said.
- That’s their m.o. - Serena nodded. - It’s unexplainable, but trystels seem to be able to anticipate what their victim’s next move will be. That’s one of the many things that make them unique. -
- Michael, I hate to have to do this, but we need to know every place you have been wounded in both lives. They seem to be following a pattern…you’ve never been hurt in the front, right? - Liz asked.
- Uh uh. - Was Michael’s denial.
- Good, you’re safe as you are then, they won’t try anything from underneath, so all we have to worry right now is an attack from above. Now, I need a piece of paper and a pen. Kyle, get them from the glove compartment, will you? -
Kyle found what she wanted and passed it back.
- Alright now, this is Michael from the back. - She said as she sketched the outline of a person. - Now, I need every wound you received in battle or otherwise, on Antar and on Earth. -
By the time Liz had the map of Michael’s body, similar to the one Lala had, the lights of the airfield became visible in the distance. Michael had begun by the ones on Earth and then gone to the ones on Antar in chronological order, informing Liz of what he was doing.
- Well, they’re just taking random choices, not in the same order, which of course would help, so probably they’re doing it on purpose to put us off or maybe just as the chance arrives. I’ll take the last one, because it’s easier for them than going for a specific target which may not be available right then, so better take the one they can manage without mistakes. - Liz was quite sure of herself.
- Ok, then, cross off the ones that have already happened, and we’ll have to guess which will be the next one. - Serena rolled her eyes.
A cell phone started ringing and Derek fished his out of his pocket. It was Wayne, who had been away on some business and had just arrived home to find out they had left for Roswell. Derek told him to pick up the SUV from the airfield and drive to Roswell right away. He would meet him there to explain everything to him hinting that they were not on a safe connection.
They arrived at the airfield and Kyle took Derek’s place around Michael so he could go and get everything ready. He told the person in charge of the place that he was responsible for transporting a family under witness protection and they had already been attacked on the way twice, so he had to park as near the plane as possible so they could make a run for it. The man looked a little worried but agreed to let them park just by the stairs leading up to the plane. Derek went back in and told them what he had achieved. It was decided that on three, the girls would rush in front of Michael and the guys behind him all the way up, trying to keep him covered all the time. Michael wasn’t very convinced but there was nothing else they could do. It was a rather busy place and they could hear aircrafts of all kinds arriving and leaving, which wasn’t very reassuring.
The door burst open and they did as they had planned. When they had almost reached the door, a glider passed over them and Michael faltered as it swooped. They all helped him up and closed the door to have him sprawl on the floor. They could see the insignificant looking aircraft rise again and disappear in the sky. Michael had now been shot in the left shoulder exactly where Grant Sorensen had.
- Ungh! - Went Michael as the bullet came out through his front and dropped to the floor.
Max reached under him and retrieved it. Then he looked around frowning.
- Alright, we know, go ahead, we’ll give you some privacy. - Serena herded the girls and her husband to the seats at the back of the plane, so Michael wouldn’t have to move until he was healed. Kyle and Stuart stayed with them using their bodies as screens to provide the privacy Serena had suggested. Max made the connection and was surprised how satisfying it was, this new bubbly quality had begun since he returned from Antar and it was really sublime. Michael had also found it left him with this subtle itching inside which made him crave for more.
- How are you feeling? - Max asked him once it was over, caressing his cheek and bending to kiss him.
- Kind of sore, but also still kind of horny. - He shrugged, smirking. - Max, do you mind? -
Michael signalled with his eyes towards Stuart and Kyle. Max was surprised but no, he didn’t mind, if that’s what Michael wanted or seemed to need.
Max went to take the place that was about to be vacated, but it seemed the two friends couldn’t decide who would go first. Michael reached out blindly, looking the other way and his hand closed on Kyle’s sleeve, so he went to him, looking at Stuart apologetically.
- It’s ok, dude, I want Stuart too when you’re done with me. - Michael turned and winked at Stuart, who gave him a big smile back.
Michael wondered what it was, but Kyle’s sperm had the same bubbly quality and then so did Stuart’s. After the three had taken turns with him, Michael was left writhing and purring with pleasure, wanting them all over again, which of course, would not happen as he could feel Maria and Isabel, with Liz and Serena waiting for it to be over to go to him. At least they could take a break under the short lived security of the flight. It would have been great if the plane could have landed as close to the Pod Chamber as possible but it would take a chopper to do that, and anyway, they couldn’t risk anyone knowing where they were, and that included the pilot who would fly them there, so it wasn’t going to happen. They would have to land at the Roswell airport, which was the closest and risk a drive over to their destiny. They could hide the car without any problems. Derek called the airport to rent a van right away so it would be waiting for them.
The women surrounded Michael as they watched the guys chugging away at Max’s precious vials of Antares water, their latest vice. They offered a vial to Derek but he declined.
- What is it with that water? I’ve tried a sip and it’s just like our water, there’s no difference though they say there is. - Maria said.
- I’ve tried it too, have you Liz? - Isabel asked.
- Yes, I see no difference either. - Liz assured her.
- That’s right, it must be a ‘guy thing’. - Isabel shrugged.
- No way, cause I agree with you, it’s just like Earth water, these guys are nuts. - Michael scoffed.
- It might boost their powers, could be that, so it’s kind of instinctive without really knowing consciously what it is, maybe interacting with their alien side and partly their male hormones, at their sexual active age that’s why we females find nothing to it. That’s why Derek hasn’t felt the need for it either, being totally human and at an older age, while Michael doesn’t need any boosts because of his Royal blood. - Serena considered the possibility
Serena had lived many years on Antar so she knew the water better than anyone there. She had tried a sip from one of Max’s bottle to make sure there was no foul play involved, but had tasted just Antares water.
As they got nearer to Roswell, they started getting jumpy, with this feeling of vulnerability and defeat, their powers useless because of the element of surprise, and the fear of using them to mistakenly lash out at innocent people had them in complete restrain. Their enemies could only be recognized beyond doubt when it was too late to counterattack them. It was so frustrating!
Jesse and Lala had the glider in total control, somehow knowing where the perfect and fastest winds were, keeping the plane they were homing on within sight all the time. Suddenly they locked eyes, and a silly grin curved their lips, making them drool.
- They’re mating. We have to let them be. Too many people with him, we can’t risk bringing the plane down and killing any of the others, for our sakes. They’ll be landing soon, we’ll have our chance then. - Jesse felt this need to mate, but with Michael, not with Lala or even Isabel.
They found a swift gust of wind and shot forwards at an amazing speed, as they watched the lights of the plane which was higher than them disappear into the clouds. By the time they caught sight of it again, they were so far ahead that they would arrive at the Roswell airport with time to spare.
Amaru arrived at the small cave where their ritual would begin to take place that very day. He filled the cauldron with the herbs he had personally picked, and covered them with water as he started the fire under it. Two hours later, it had simmered down to one cup of a thick reddish brown concoction. He used a closely knitted cloth to strain it into a deep decorated clay cup, and let it cool. Nicholas arrived at the appointed time and Amaru had him sit beside him. He took the clay cup and drank half of the tepid contents, passing it to Nicholas.
- It’s bitter so you must swallow it quickly. There is no aftertaste, but this sweet flower will make you forget it. -
He watched their new ally down the liquid with his eyes shut tight and grimace as he put the cup down. He shoved the flower into his mouth and chewed, to manage a smile soon after.
- That was foul! - He said, shaking his head.
- Now we must meditate for 2 hours before we can eat. - The Shaman closed his eyes and began to chant, reaching out for Nicholas’ hand. Amaru sensed the other man’s doubts and summoned a very clear image of what Michael and the others were going through on Earth. Nicholas gasped and began to repeat the chant after the Shaman.
“We can’t help them from here, but this might help us find a way to protect them.” The Shaman sent to Nicholas mentally, without breaking the chant.
Nicholas nodded, hoping he was right.
Jesse and Lala landed on Roswell and went straight to the officer in charge of the airport’s security. They flashed their FBI ids and informed him a plane would soon land and a very young and innocent looking group with an elder couple pretending to be under the witness protection programme would try to board a van and flee. He told him they were really very dangerous drug dealers and this was a golden opportunity to finally catch them and bring them to justice. He said he needed all he security personnel to hold them at gunpoint while they interrogated one of them, who was the most wanted. He demanded a room that would enable them to do so with absolute privacy. The man had no reason to distrust them so he took them to a small room with just one window which had blinds on the inside, a table and two chairs. ‘Perfect!’ Jesse thought and nodded. The man left to round up all his crew and on the way, he called the head of the airport and gave him a detailed description of the situation. He was told to proceed until he received different orders while he checked on the identities of the agents and confirmed their mission. The whole security team was forming outside the building waiting for his orders. That’s when Jesse and Lala’s keen senses told them the plane was arriving.
- That’s it! - Jesse pointed at the flickering lights of the plane as it approached the landing strip.
The security officer ordered his men to pull out their guns and be ready for the dangerous group. When the plane stopped, the whole team of airport security was waiting for the door to open with their guns in their hands.
- This is not going to be easy, we have to go through a very serious preparation just to find out if it’s possible to go through a communication with that world without any harm to us. That wouldn’t help Michael at all but make things worse if he finds out the risk we took. You know him. - Amaru told Nicholas. - We have to cleanse our bodies with a diet and purifying herbs to make sure we can communicate safely with the dead, immune to their powers as such. We can’t face Khivar alone, we shall need a mediator from his dead status on our side, and that’s where you come in. -
- The witch will be on our side, you can be sure of that. - Nicholas nodded, guessing who the Shaman meant, without the least shadow of a doubt.
- There’s one problem though, and it’s totally out of our hands. I don’t know how long it will take for us to be ready, it’s not as fast or as easy, just a little slip in the diet and we go back to begin all over again. And anyway, there are no guarantees we will be able to be ready on time or at all. - Amaru said sadly.
Laurie spoke to Anita and her family informing her that Michael had just received a call saying he had to return to Roswell immediately. He had got tired of waiting for some papers he had to sign on his former foster situation so he had returned until they were ready. He should have waited just a little more but they knew how impatient Michael was. She asked Anita and Javi if they could take care of Uncle Derek and Serena’s place staying there while they were away because they were coming with them, which of course, they were glad to comply. She told them they might be gone for a week but they weren’t sure, so she would keep in touch.
They hurriedly got in the SUV with all their stuff and took off after quick goodbyes and thankyous to the two Latino couples, whose relaxed life had gone through such changes lately that they were almost ready for the unexpected at any time now.
They had no sooner left the city limits when Stuart stopped the van and they all turned to Michael.
- Where are we going to? - Stuart asked him.
- To the outskirts of Roswell, to the cave where we were…born. - Michael said.
- The Pod Chamber! Of course! We should be safe there! - Isabel aggreed.
- The Granilith’s power can seal you in there, it’s been there before so it knows the place, and not even the trystels can compete with that. - Serena assured them.
- Alright. - Stuart got a map and checked out the best route before he started driving again.
Jesse and Lala’s heads shot up as their necks stretched up as far as they could go, looking like prairie dogs sniffing for prey, which was almost exactly what they were doing.
- They’re moving, let’s go. - Jesse said and Lala nodded.
On her lap she had a large photograph of Michael’s body from behind, with every single spot where he had been hurt in both lives marked in blue for Earth, green for Antar and red where they had already got him: over his lower ribs on the left side. The back seat and trunk of their car was covered with weapons, of the most sophisticated and latest kind, they were the newest technology in high power rifles with telescopic sights and the most effective silencers, bullets that would go through anything, even bullet proof cars and vests. They knew that once they went through the metal frame of a car, the bullets would be blunted, making the impact on a body more painful and devastating. Of course, they wouldn’t go for anything vital, because anyway, Max was there to heal Michael, but they also knew that the pain would remain, just weakening him until they received new orders. With their FBI ids they could go anywhere without any problems because their boss had put them in charge of testing out all those new weapons.
This time it was completely different because they had nowhere to hide from the trystels. They could find them wherever they were, but they weren’t stupid either, attacking Michael when they couldn’t be seen or detected by others. It didn’t mean that Michael couldn’t blast them to kingdom come, so they had to make surprise attacks with the speed of lightning, not giving him the chance to defend himself. That meant they had to keep changing cars, not to be recognized or suspected. Their victims could also alter the colour of their van and plates, or even change vehicles too, but they were at a disadvantage because of their enemies’ unfailing tracking system. No matter what they did, the trystels knew exactly where Michael was, and that’s all they needed. Their eyes could detect living creatures like a blur through anything, but only their intended victim stood out crystal clear to them, that’s why they couldn’t fail. The race had begun, and so had the hunt.
The road they took was not a highly transitted one, and less so at night. They had only encountered three cars, two going a little slower than them in the same direccion. As they overpassed them they could see one carried a bunch of guys on a joyride, another was crowded with a family of mostly elders and the other one, going the other way, had a couple with the girl on the guy’s lap. Half an hour later, they saw another set of headlights heading to Tucson. They seemed to be going fairly slow too, but as they came near enough the dark windows had them barely making a lonely driver in spite of the darkness. The car had just passed by them, when a crackling metallic sound was heard and Michael jerked and cursed:
- Shit! Dammit! -
It had sounded as if the other car had gone over an empty soda can, so they turned to check what Michael was about and they saw Maria under him trying to get up as she peered over Michael’s shoulder and saw a red patch spreading on the seat of his pants.
- Oh my god! - Screamed Liz and rushed to them.
Michael and Maria had been lying on their usual place on the back seat and Michael was over her, facing the front with half his body against the back of the SUV completely covering Maria. Max overtook Liz as Maria managed to flop on the floor and sat there looking confused. Max momentarily forgot his powers and yanked Michael’s sweat pants all the way down to his thighs to find a jagged tear across the middle of his ass that had ripped him over both brands.
- Maaaxx…- Stuart went in a shaky voice.
Max turned towards the front and saw Stuart pointing to the top of the dashboard where the bullet had ended. Isabel looked pale as she climbed to the back to go to Michael, joining Serena and Derek. Michael lay shuddering and wincing with his teeth clamped on his lip. Max had no problems healing the messy flesh wound, frustrated with the impotence of being sitting ducks to Jesse and his mate.
- Can’t we do anything? - Isabel screamed, breaking the silence, her eyes full of tears.
- That’s why I wanted to leave alone, so this wouldn’t happen! - Michael whispered.
- You wouldn’t have lasted a day without Max healing you. They would have attacked you every hour or sooner until you were slowly bleeding to death and too weak to defend yourself, then they would have pounced on you and finished you off just as slowly while you lasted alive. You can’t imagine what these beasts are like! - Serena said, shaking her head. - And you can see we’re in no danger. The bullet was meant only for you. They are forced to take it easy because they’re too many of us with you, and they can’t risk even touching any of us. -
- I don’t understand it, why? - Maria was exasperated with the situation.
- In the case of the animal, it seems his nature adjusts automatically to be able to safely consume the victim from where the first blood came from. If they taste the blood of a different victim while the original one has not yet been eaten, they will be poisoned and slowly choke to death. Although Jesse and his woman are not real trystels, their implanted instincts tell them that if they as much as touch a different target, it will be the end of them, and survival is the sole purpose of that species. - Serena explained. - They’re like the Tasmanian Devils. They’ve been almost exterminated, but they are still a few random ones left, that’s why they need to survive. -
- At least I’m glad they use human tactics, can you imagine them loping after Michael like the real animals and biting chunks out of him? Gross! - Kyle shuddered, and disgust was clear on everyone’s faces.
- If at least we could know when they’re coming! - Derek exploded, so unlike him.
- They have no problems shooting from inside their car but they had to shoot through the window of the helicopter…maybe we should head to the nearest airport and take a plane! They can’t shoot Michael if he’s in a plane because it will mean someone else could get killed too if the shooting brought the plane down and they can’t risk that, right? - Liz said, enthusiastically.
- I can call and have a small plane ready for us! - Derek told them.
- Ok, let’s see, where’s the nearest airfield…got it! - Stuart passed the map to Derek and after a couple of calls, he was able to get what he wanted.
- Now we have to get there, and it’s not that close. - Derek scoffed.
They took the next road to the right and headed for the airfield. Unfortunately, Jesse and Lala also had maps and were able to easily guess what they were about to do. They drove off the road and turned their lights out, racing to catch up with them unseen. Half an hour later and about halfway to the airfield, the car came from the right and cut in front of them, making Stuart step on the brakes not to crash. Everyone was wearing seatbelts except Michael and Maria, who ended sprawling in the middle of the van. Michael had clung to her, and as he rose to his hands and knees, she started sitting up, but Michael was over her and he pushed her down. He did a kind of lunge with his left leg leaving the other one stretched behind when the bullet struck him on the exposed inside of his thigh. He went down over Maria who began to scream her head off. Stuart saw the car disappearing towards the left in a cloud of dust and was gone. Max waved his seatbelt away and was by Michael in two leaps.
- Where? Where? - He yelled. - Maria, please! Shut up! -
Maria obeyed, hugging Michael and sniffling against his shoulder.
Michael reached back to his right thigh and Max squeezed his hand and gently pushed it away. He rolled him on his right side so Maria could get up and eased him back down kind of sideways so the inside of his right thigh was exposed again and drenched with blood. Max placed his hand over it and felt Michael’s Royal blood rejecting the bullet and pushing it out of him. He growled with the pain as the crushed chunk of metal found its way out of him. Max felt it against his hand and was about to melt it when Isabel grabbed his wrist and stopped him. He gave it to her and proceeded to heal Michael. He barely made it and knew they would have to connect asap.
- Michael, you stay on the ground, we’re all sitting around you so the only way they can get you is from the air or the ground, and if we hear anything that spells aircraft, we will all be over you. - Serena instructed them.
Michael was hurting so much by now, that Stuart surrendered the steering wheel to Kyle and materialized his black bag to use some of his personal ‘magic’ to ease some of Michael’s pain.
- That was kind of fast, as if they guessed what we are about to do. - Liz said.
- That’s their m.o. - Serena nodded. - It’s unexplainable, but trystels seem to be able to anticipate what their victim’s next move will be. That’s one of the many things that make them unique. -
- Michael, I hate to have to do this, but we need to know every place you have been wounded in both lives. They seem to be following a pattern…you’ve never been hurt in the front, right? - Liz asked.
- Uh uh. - Was Michael’s denial.
- Good, you’re safe as you are then, they won’t try anything from underneath, so all we have to worry right now is an attack from above. Now, I need a piece of paper and a pen. Kyle, get them from the glove compartment, will you? -
Kyle found what she wanted and passed it back.
- Alright now, this is Michael from the back. - She said as she sketched the outline of a person. - Now, I need every wound you received in battle or otherwise, on Antar and on Earth. -
By the time Liz had the map of Michael’s body, similar to the one Lala had, the lights of the airfield became visible in the distance. Michael had begun by the ones on Earth and then gone to the ones on Antar in chronological order, informing Liz of what he was doing.
- Well, they’re just taking random choices, not in the same order, which of course would help, so probably they’re doing it on purpose to put us off or maybe just as the chance arrives. I’ll take the last one, because it’s easier for them than going for a specific target which may not be available right then, so better take the one they can manage without mistakes. - Liz was quite sure of herself.
- Ok, then, cross off the ones that have already happened, and we’ll have to guess which will be the next one. - Serena rolled her eyes.
A cell phone started ringing and Derek fished his out of his pocket. It was Wayne, who had been away on some business and had just arrived home to find out they had left for Roswell. Derek told him to pick up the SUV from the airfield and drive to Roswell right away. He would meet him there to explain everything to him hinting that they were not on a safe connection.
They arrived at the airfield and Kyle took Derek’s place around Michael so he could go and get everything ready. He told the person in charge of the place that he was responsible for transporting a family under witness protection and they had already been attacked on the way twice, so he had to park as near the plane as possible so they could make a run for it. The man looked a little worried but agreed to let them park just by the stairs leading up to the plane. Derek went back in and told them what he had achieved. It was decided that on three, the girls would rush in front of Michael and the guys behind him all the way up, trying to keep him covered all the time. Michael wasn’t very convinced but there was nothing else they could do. It was a rather busy place and they could hear aircrafts of all kinds arriving and leaving, which wasn’t very reassuring.
The door burst open and they did as they had planned. When they had almost reached the door, a glider passed over them and Michael faltered as it swooped. They all helped him up and closed the door to have him sprawl on the floor. They could see the insignificant looking aircraft rise again and disappear in the sky. Michael had now been shot in the left shoulder exactly where Grant Sorensen had.
- Ungh! - Went Michael as the bullet came out through his front and dropped to the floor.
Max reached under him and retrieved it. Then he looked around frowning.
- Alright, we know, go ahead, we’ll give you some privacy. - Serena herded the girls and her husband to the seats at the back of the plane, so Michael wouldn’t have to move until he was healed. Kyle and Stuart stayed with them using their bodies as screens to provide the privacy Serena had suggested. Max made the connection and was surprised how satisfying it was, this new bubbly quality had begun since he returned from Antar and it was really sublime. Michael had also found it left him with this subtle itching inside which made him crave for more.
- How are you feeling? - Max asked him once it was over, caressing his cheek and bending to kiss him.
- Kind of sore, but also still kind of horny. - He shrugged, smirking. - Max, do you mind? -
Michael signalled with his eyes towards Stuart and Kyle. Max was surprised but no, he didn’t mind, if that’s what Michael wanted or seemed to need.
Max went to take the place that was about to be vacated, but it seemed the two friends couldn’t decide who would go first. Michael reached out blindly, looking the other way and his hand closed on Kyle’s sleeve, so he went to him, looking at Stuart apologetically.
- It’s ok, dude, I want Stuart too when you’re done with me. - Michael turned and winked at Stuart, who gave him a big smile back.
Michael wondered what it was, but Kyle’s sperm had the same bubbly quality and then so did Stuart’s. After the three had taken turns with him, Michael was left writhing and purring with pleasure, wanting them all over again, which of course, would not happen as he could feel Maria and Isabel, with Liz and Serena waiting for it to be over to go to him. At least they could take a break under the short lived security of the flight. It would have been great if the plane could have landed as close to the Pod Chamber as possible but it would take a chopper to do that, and anyway, they couldn’t risk anyone knowing where they were, and that included the pilot who would fly them there, so it wasn’t going to happen. They would have to land at the Roswell airport, which was the closest and risk a drive over to their destiny. They could hide the car without any problems. Derek called the airport to rent a van right away so it would be waiting for them.
The women surrounded Michael as they watched the guys chugging away at Max’s precious vials of Antares water, their latest vice. They offered a vial to Derek but he declined.
- What is it with that water? I’ve tried a sip and it’s just like our water, there’s no difference though they say there is. - Maria said.
- I’ve tried it too, have you Liz? - Isabel asked.
- Yes, I see no difference either. - Liz assured her.
- That’s right, it must be a ‘guy thing’. - Isabel shrugged.
- No way, cause I agree with you, it’s just like Earth water, these guys are nuts. - Michael scoffed.
- It might boost their powers, could be that, so it’s kind of instinctive without really knowing consciously what it is, maybe interacting with their alien side and partly their male hormones, at their sexual active age that’s why we females find nothing to it. That’s why Derek hasn’t felt the need for it either, being totally human and at an older age, while Michael doesn’t need any boosts because of his Royal blood. - Serena considered the possibility
Serena had lived many years on Antar so she knew the water better than anyone there. She had tried a sip from one of Max’s bottle to make sure there was no foul play involved, but had tasted just Antares water.
As they got nearer to Roswell, they started getting jumpy, with this feeling of vulnerability and defeat, their powers useless because of the element of surprise, and the fear of using them to mistakenly lash out at innocent people had them in complete restrain. Their enemies could only be recognized beyond doubt when it was too late to counterattack them. It was so frustrating!
Jesse and Lala had the glider in total control, somehow knowing where the perfect and fastest winds were, keeping the plane they were homing on within sight all the time. Suddenly they locked eyes, and a silly grin curved their lips, making them drool.
- They’re mating. We have to let them be. Too many people with him, we can’t risk bringing the plane down and killing any of the others, for our sakes. They’ll be landing soon, we’ll have our chance then. - Jesse felt this need to mate, but with Michael, not with Lala or even Isabel.
They found a swift gust of wind and shot forwards at an amazing speed, as they watched the lights of the plane which was higher than them disappear into the clouds. By the time they caught sight of it again, they were so far ahead that they would arrive at the Roswell airport with time to spare.
Amaru arrived at the small cave where their ritual would begin to take place that very day. He filled the cauldron with the herbs he had personally picked, and covered them with water as he started the fire under it. Two hours later, it had simmered down to one cup of a thick reddish brown concoction. He used a closely knitted cloth to strain it into a deep decorated clay cup, and let it cool. Nicholas arrived at the appointed time and Amaru had him sit beside him. He took the clay cup and drank half of the tepid contents, passing it to Nicholas.
- It’s bitter so you must swallow it quickly. There is no aftertaste, but this sweet flower will make you forget it. -
He watched their new ally down the liquid with his eyes shut tight and grimace as he put the cup down. He shoved the flower into his mouth and chewed, to manage a smile soon after.
- That was foul! - He said, shaking his head.
- Now we must meditate for 2 hours before we can eat. - The Shaman closed his eyes and began to chant, reaching out for Nicholas’ hand. Amaru sensed the other man’s doubts and summoned a very clear image of what Michael and the others were going through on Earth. Nicholas gasped and began to repeat the chant after the Shaman.
“We can’t help them from here, but this might help us find a way to protect them.” The Shaman sent to Nicholas mentally, without breaking the chant.
Nicholas nodded, hoping he was right.
Jesse and Lala landed on Roswell and went straight to the officer in charge of the airport’s security. They flashed their FBI ids and informed him a plane would soon land and a very young and innocent looking group with an elder couple pretending to be under the witness protection programme would try to board a van and flee. He told him they were really very dangerous drug dealers and this was a golden opportunity to finally catch them and bring them to justice. He said he needed all he security personnel to hold them at gunpoint while they interrogated one of them, who was the most wanted. He demanded a room that would enable them to do so with absolute privacy. The man had no reason to distrust them so he took them to a small room with just one window which had blinds on the inside, a table and two chairs. ‘Perfect!’ Jesse thought and nodded. The man left to round up all his crew and on the way, he called the head of the airport and gave him a detailed description of the situation. He was told to proceed until he received different orders while he checked on the identities of the agents and confirmed their mission. The whole security team was forming outside the building waiting for his orders. That’s when Jesse and Lala’s keen senses told them the plane was arriving.
- That’s it! - Jesse pointed at the flickering lights of the plane as it approached the landing strip.
The security officer ordered his men to pull out their guns and be ready for the dangerous group. When the plane stopped, the whole team of airport security was waiting for the door to open with their guns in their hands.
ALIENS FULL TILT!
-
ñusta
- Obsessed Roswellian
- Posts: 510
- Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2004 10:52 pm
- Location: heights of Machu Picchu
the calm before the storm
Chapter 110
The pilot opened the door and was surprised at what he saw. The beam of a strong flashlight hit his face as as soon as his eyes could see again, the head of security beckoned to him to leave the plane so he went down the stairs and followed the officer’s orders to walk away. Then a loudspeaker told everyone to come out of the plane.
The whole group, preceded by Derek and Serena appeared at the door blinking at the light, and when they got used to it, they saw the men aiming at them, making them gape with complete confusion.
- What is the meaning of this? - Asked Derek, refusing to believe his eyes. - I am Derek Lavoisse, of the Lavoisse Foundation of Tucson. What are you doing? -
- Come down from the plane please! Let us see your hands! - The officer ordered.
Derek with Serena slowly obeyed, followed by the five terrified girls and then Kyle behind them with Max and Stuart helping Michael between them with his arms around their shoulders and one of each around his waist. Stuart’s drugs were gone now and the pain of the four wounds was back full tilt. Michael’s hands were visible over his friends’ shoulders and everyone’s hands were in the air.
- What’s wrong with him? - The officer asked.
- He’s been hurt. I am doctor Stuart Davis of Tucson’s Medical Centre. We have no weapons, here, you can check this, what’s it all about? - Stuart identified himself and surrendered his black bag.
Max used his powers to return the evidence of the freshly healed wounds on Michael’s body, sending the information to Stuart through the contact of their arms over Michael’s lower back.
- Who is Michael Guerin? - The officer asked, returning Stuart’s bag to him after rummaging inside it.
- He’s Michael Dupree, he used to be Guerin when he lived here in Roswell in a foster situation. His sister found him and took him back home. - Stuart explained.
- He’s wanted for an interrogation here in the airport. I must take him right away. - The man walked up to them as they descended on the landing and stood in front of Michael. - You must come with me, can you walk by yourself? -
- Yes. - Michael said, shrugging Max and Stuart’s arms off from his shoulders and stepped away from them.
- Look! We’ve been attacked several times on the way here by this Latino couple who are FBI agents on leave. We’re not lying! - Stuart exclaimed as he reached out and pulled Michael’s t-shirt all the way up his back, showing the officer the wounds over his ribs and shoulder. - There are two other ones under his pants. -
The officer stared open mouthed at the red angry scabbing wounds.
- Is anyone else hurt? - He asked.
- No, it’s a personal revenge on him. The man was my fiancée’s ex-husband and has it in for Michael because he used to be her boyfriend. - Stuart told him.
- I have nothing to do with your personal issues. This is official business until I have different orders. Come with me, son. - He pulled down Michael’s shirt and placed his hand in the middle of his back, pushing him in front of him and addressing the group. - You will be taken to a room where you can wait until we need to question you. -
They watched helplessly as Michael was taken away from them as they were led to a brightly lit room where there were chairs for them to sit on and the door was kept open with the armed men outside standing guard.
When Michael arrived at the small room and was pushed inside, he was faced with Jesse and his bitch, sitting there and waiting for him, smiling and nodding when they saw him come in. The room had a single bulb hanging from the middle of the ceiling, sending eerie shadows on the walls. Michael’s hands itched to blast them, but the officer was right behind him watching the scene.
- Are your men watching over the rest as we asked you to? - Jesse asked the officer, smugly.
- Yes sir. They have orders to shoot at the least provocation. - The man answered.
- Good, can you communicate with them from here? - He asked.
- Sure. - The officer showed him a walkie talkie.
- You stand guard outside while we question the boy, and if you hear either of us say ‘now’, you order them to shoot them all. Is that clear? I need your cuffs. - He extended his hand to him and received them.
He pushed Michael over the table and cuffed his hands together under the table, away from them.
- Alright, we’re taking over, you may leave the room and stay by the door, but don’t come in unless we explicitly ask you to. Is that clear? - Jesse ordered.
- Yes sir. - He did as he was told and stood outside the door with his gun cocked and ready in his hand.
Jesse bent over Michael and whispered nastily:
- You do anything funny and I order all your friends dead in a second, so you may as well behave! - He chuckled, as he pulled his sweat pants all the way down and over his boots so he could spread his legs.
Then he placed his hands on his thighs and pushed them apart. Lala went to stand by Michael’s hip as she watched Jesse open his fly and ram his fully erect cock into him. Michael couldn’t help moaning at the excruciating pain of the dry fuck. Jesse pulled back and as he shoved into him again, Lala ripped the wound across Michael’s ass open with her long pointed nail. Michael bit his lip hard but when she did the same on the wound on the inside of his thigh with Jesse’s next thrust, he hissed with pain. Lala giggled and pulled up his t-shirt doing the same on the two wounds on his back and shoulder. Jesse had become a fucking machine, pounding into Michael and working on his own satisfaction, while Lala crouched under the table with the blood spattering both of them with every penetration as Jesse’s bloody cock pulled out to plough back in again. Lala pushed her finger under the chains of the piercing and tugged at them in time with Jesse’s thrusts. She stared at the place of action mesmerized, wishing she had a real cock to take Jesse’s place when he finally finished and his then useless organ slid out of Michael followed by the boy’s blood.
When the time came, it took her just a couple of seconds to strap the huge ribbed and studded dildo on her and bury it into Michael, watching his body go tight with the new bout of torture she was submitting him to. She had to admire the boy’s firm strong muscles in his back, butt and thighs as her hands kneaded them lustily throughout the ordeal. Jesse was now the one under the table, roughing up the piercing to make Michael clench with each of the dildo’s cruel onslaughts. Michael’s cock and balls were pressed against the table adding to his torment, exposing only the piercing and his ass to his enemies. Jesse came from under the table and signalled Lala to stop as he went to the door and opened it just a sliver.
- Do you have ice? - He asked the baffled officer.
- Yes, there’s an ice machine around the corner. - He answered.
- Get me a heap. - He demanded.
The man raced to the next corridor and was back before a minute was up with a small bucket brimming with ice, to hand it to a grinning Jesse who shut the door in his face before he got inquisitive.
Jesse saw the ice was shaped in balls, perfect! He nodded to Lala to go on until she came, shaking her hips every which way, so that when she pulled out, Michael was bleeding very bad. Jesse pushed Lala away and started inserting the whole bucket of ice balls into the boy making the bleeding finally stop.
Isabel finally managed to calm down enough to come up with a great idea. She dialed Suzanne Duff’s number at the FBI and sent her plan to Serena who asked Ava to mindwarp the nearest security guard and have him discover what Isabel was doing. The officer outside the improvised interrogation room was becoming suspicious because of the weird sounds coming from the room instead of voices, when they were supposed to be questioning the boy. His cell phone rang and he went to the room across, closing the door but checking through the open blind. He was informed by one of his guards that he had caught a prisoner dialing a number on her cell phone and gave it to him. The officer called the number and was surprised to have Agent Suzanne Duff answering and identifying herself. He briefed her on what was going on and she got very agitated, telling him those agents were quite dangerous and to try not to provoke them. She asked for his number and told him she would talk to her direct superior right away and would call him back. He was about to leave the room when his phone rang again and a man identified himself as Agent Duff’s boss wanting to know exactly what was going on. The security officer told him about the two FBI’s ordering him to capture at gunpoint the group of passengers in the small plane and who were now interrogating Michael Dupree or Guerin in what seemed a rather violent way from the sounds that he heard coming from the room he had made available to them for that purpose. The FBI confirmed that those agents were not currently active but on leave, and were suspected of holding a major grudge on the said victim, having made it their purpose to carry on a personal revenge on him, but to keep it to himself because of the prestige of the institution. He asked him to tell them he had been ordered by his superiors to arrest the group, getting them out of the two derelict agents’ hands, telling them their presence was required at their Washington DC Headquarters asap and to have them call him immediately, but not to mention Agent Duff’s name or she would be their next target. He asked him to call his security crew to him to back him up and just leave one outside the door of the group, who were not dangerous at all, for their protection. He was then to rescue the boy from the Latino couple, having the doctor in the group take care of him if he was hurt, as he suspected, and to let them go.
What he didn’t tell him was that he was quite aware of Jesse and Lala’s obsession with aliens, and Agent Ramirez’s claim that the Guerin boy was one, having once already made a mess of things, although he was endangering the institution with his zeal to prove his theory. He had played along with them while they were useful but he just had had enough of it and of them.
The security officer agreed and alerting his team, left the room to knock discreetly at the closed door, knowing his men would be there in a minute at the most.
- What is it? - Jesse asked in an angry voice.
- I’m sorry but I have just received a call from the head of the Airport. - And the man repeated verbatim what he had been instructed to say.
Jesse and Lala looked very agitated when they opened the door, but noticed the large group of security guards holding guns and beginning to crowd behind their boss. Their instincts kicked in and they agreed with the officer saying they would contact the Bureau right away and board the next plane to Washington DC. The security officer nodded to his men and they let them walk away.
Then he was finally able to focus on Michael whose sweat pants had been pulled up by Jesse before he opened the door. The sound of the boy’s erratic breathing had the officer quite concerned, but he wanted to get rid of the real danger before he showed any interest in him, not to provoke them, remembering Agent Duff’s recommendation. As he approached Michael, he could see the seat of his pants was beginning to acquire a deep pink hue bordering on red. He turned to the nearest guard and told him to rush over to the rest of the group and bring the doctor on the run. As he reached Michael’s side, he placed his hand on his thigh and gave it a gentle squeeze.
- You ok, kid? -
The boy moaned and the officer felt the strong muscles under his hand go steel hard. The stain was growing and was now disturbingly red. This didn’t look good but he was terrified to pull the kid’s pants down and actually see the damage.
- Hang on, your friend the doctor is on his way here. - The man said soothingly.
- My friends…haven’t done anything…it’s me…they’re after…- Michael whispered.
- I know, I talked to the FBI, the Agent said she knew you and to be careful of the Latino couple because they were after you for personal reasons. She had their boss call me and give me the instructions on what to do to get rid of them and then to let all of you go. But I must make sure you’re alright first…-
The sound of running steps interrupted him and the guard let Stuart and Max into the room.
- We’re both doctors. Max, here, is his cousin too. - Stuart told the officer, answering the question in his eyes at Max’s unexpected appearance. - Michael has a recessive genetic defect in his blood that is also called a bad chromosome, it runs in the family and his sister has a mild case of it too. We know how to treat it. -
- Alright, take care of him. - The officer gave his approval and waved his men out of the room.
- Do you have the key for the handcuffs? - Max asked the officer, unable to do it with his powers in front of the man.
The officer produced the key from his pocket and crouched under the table to free the boy’s hands.
- Could we please be left alone? It won’t be pleasant, we need some privacy. - Stuart asked as courteously as he could.
- I am sorry, at least one of us has to stay and I’m in charge of security so it has to be me. I regret the fact that the FBI Agents were way over my head and I was forced out of the room so I couldn’t stop or prevent the violence that occurred to him. I’ll go and stand by the door, it’s as far as I can go. - He informed them.
Max and Stuart nodded, understanding. They waited until the man had backed up and went to stand on either side of Michael. Max reached out and caressed Michael’s cheek as Stuart tousled his hair. Michael turned his face and kissed Max’s hand as he felt Stuart’s hand on his and he held it tightly. The officer watched the interaction, noticing the tenderness of the doctors towards the boy.
- Ok, Michael, we’ll take care of you. - Stuart said, gently pulling away from his grip.
Michael grabbed the edges of the table and visibly braced himself, obviously knowing what was coming. Stuart opened his black bag and handed Max a rubber glove which he donned and then a tube of lubricant. Stuart expertly filled a large syringe and wet some cotton wool in alcohol, the smell reaching the officer’s nose all the way to where he was standing. The man was desperately trying to close his eyes or to look down, or anywhere except at the scene in the middle of the room, but he just couldn’t, he was like hypnotized with a sick curiosity.
Stuart and Max peeled Michael’s sweats from both sides together and the bloody condition of his ass and thighs was totally exposed. Max spread Michael with his left hand and proceeded to insert the index of his other hand into him. The officer couldn’t see the rubber material covering Max’s finger disappearing with his powers as he entered the boy, or the white healing light which was safely out of sight. Michael’s body language spelled out pain, and he jerked and gasped when Stuart drove the needle into his butt as Max kept pushing into him. Stuart emptied the syringe in five different sites and Max started pulling out making the rubber finger materialize again as he came out.
- Better? - Max asked softly and Michael nodded his answer.
Stuart inserted a thermometer as Max massaged the infiltrated area. He wet some gauze in alcohol and cleaned the blood away from Michael, making sure no evidence was left on the table. The officer could see the angry red slash across the middle of Michael’s butt, cutting across what he took for elaborate tattoos, and another healing wound high up on the inside of his right thigh. That’s what the doctor had been talking about when he disclosed the two other fresh scabbing wounds on his back and shoulder as the FBIs took the boy away from his friends. He was sure the Latino couple knew about them because they were the ones that had given them to him and he stupidly had put the boy in their hands again. He had no doubts that what was being healed right in front of his eyes was the result of a savage sexual assault and it was all he could do not to be sick. Something told him the woman had also participated in the raping of the boy, but he didn’t want to even think how she had done it and what she had used in him. Stuart pulled out the thermometer and shook his head with a slight frown but Max nodded reassuringly, and Stuart scoffed. They pulled up Michael’s sweat pants and helped him up.
- He’ll be fine. The shots I gave him will control his fever. We need to take him home to some relatives we came to visit. We have rented an SUV which should be waiting for us at the parking lot. - Stuart informed the officer.
- Shouldn’t you be taking him to a hospital? - The man wondered worriedly.
- It’s the same, I work at Tucson’s Medical Center and all except Michael who’s still in high school are medical students. - Stuart didn’t need to elaborate on Laurie’s status because the age in her id would confirm that she should be in college with the rest, being the eldest after him.
- I will escort you to your vehicle, to make sure you arrive safely. - The officer smiled, feeling at ease now with his former prisoners. - I can get him a wheelchair if it will help. -
- I can walk, thanks. - Michael barely hid a wince and placed his arms around Max and Stuart’s shoulders with their arms around his waist.
The officer had a déjà vu of the first time he saw the three of them appearing at the door of the plane exactly as they were now. The boy had obviously been quite hurt already so this addition to his suffering had been absolutely unnecessary, and he felt terribly guilty for it.
As they reached the room where the rest of the group was impatiently waiting, they all rushed up to Michael and covered him with kisses and caresses, the other guy clinging to him from behind as the boy couldn’t hide a wince but took it for his friend without complaining. They proceeded to the parking lot, with all of them around him and easily found the rented van in the pale light of dawn. Derek signed the papers and they boarded their ride, taking off after thanking the officer. They headed for the desert as the day was breaking, sure that the trystels were already on their tracks, but unable to know how, when and where they would attack.
Jesse and Lala rented a large motorcycle, to have all the maneuverability they would require, now that their victim had all his friends on the look out for them. The helmets covered their whole heads, with a full face of the darkest polarized thermoplastic resin protection. No one could recognize them though they were expecting them. Lala had taken several courses on such bikes and was an expert on them, so Jesse rode behind her. They had to summon their newly acquired instincts to take them to their target because they didn’t know the desert like the ex-Roswell natives did. They could tell they were still quite far from the group’s chosen final destination, so they trusted they would be able to hit on them more than once before they were forced to change their tactics. They sensed their victim was heading to a place where he would feel safe, but that simply didn’t register because to them, the meaning of ‘safe’ didn’t exist, their victims, once claimed, were destined to die in their hands. That was the only possibility. 15 minutes later, they saw the cloud of dust and they smiled as they located the van. Their got a mental picture of their target lying on the floor in the middle of the vehicle and surrounded by the other persons. As they started getting nearer, the group of persons suddenly crouched all over their target, covering it almost completely…almost. Jesse found a few flaws in the human shield, but only one that matched the chosen spots on Lala’s ‘map’.
- They’ve seen us coming, that’s why they are trying to protect him. - Lala sent to Jesse.
Moving as a trystel would, he flexed his knees and placed his feet on the seat behind Lala. He stood up, found his balance, and crouched again placing his rifle against her back, pointing to the sky. Lala swerved the bike so that they were exactly behind them closing in on their blind side because of the dust. They didn’t need their sight, only their instincts and mental picture to know where everyone was. Jesse placed the barrel of the rifle over Lala’s shoulder, aimed and fired.
A fraction of a second before Michael grunted and jerked, Liz felt the heat as the bullet found its way through the small triangle between her ear, forearm and upper arm. Her elbow was sharply bent and her face rested on the back of her hand. She jumped up followed by the rest of them, catching a glimpse of the two black clad riders as the bike passed by their left side full speed. Stuart saw them materialize on his left mirror and tried turning to run them over, but the bike was going too fast. He hit the steering wheel with his fist in anger and hit the brakes.
He yelled for Kyle to take his place and keep them moving as he stayed on the lookout in case they came back. He rushed to the back where he was needed.
Max was already kneeling by Michael with his hand over the damaged area. Stuart could see the white light glowing under his palm as Michael moaned and tensed. Max pulled his hand away and showed the bullet in the middle of his palm.
- It’s just a small caliber bullet. It didn’t go too far in, but it was meant to hurt. - He said.
He was about to make the piece of metal vanish when Isabel demanded he gave it to her.
- What! Are you collecting them now? Where’s the other one you asked for? - Max said in a not too gentle tone.
- Max! - Serena scolded, shaking her head.
- It’s already gone, now, give me that one too! - Isabel insisted.
- Are you going to vanish it? - Max asked.
- Of course I am! - Isabel answered, indignantly.
- Then why don’t you let me do it? - He wondered.
- Because I want to do it! Is it too much to ask? - She said in a shaky voice, sounding ready to break down and cry.
Max remembered his sister was pregnant and realized it had to be the cause for her erratic behaviour, so he surrendered the bullet to her.
She took it in her hand and made it explode in a zillion minute particles as she finally broke down and wept bitterly, joined by Maria.
Max noticed Liz was standing absolutely silent, very pale and trembling, holding her arm close to her body.
- Liz, are you alright? - Max asked, quite alarmed.
- I’m fine, Max. It’s just that I felt the heat of the bullet passing between my arm and my ear and I couldn’t help remembering that day at the Crashdown.
Max rushed to her and took her in his arms.
- Michael? - Stuart brushed the boy’s hair out of his eyes as Laurie and Ava held his hands in theirs.
Stuart gasped when Michael opened his eyes and they were completely blue with Gandarium.
The pilot opened the door and was surprised at what he saw. The beam of a strong flashlight hit his face as as soon as his eyes could see again, the head of security beckoned to him to leave the plane so he went down the stairs and followed the officer’s orders to walk away. Then a loudspeaker told everyone to come out of the plane.
The whole group, preceded by Derek and Serena appeared at the door blinking at the light, and when they got used to it, they saw the men aiming at them, making them gape with complete confusion.
- What is the meaning of this? - Asked Derek, refusing to believe his eyes. - I am Derek Lavoisse, of the Lavoisse Foundation of Tucson. What are you doing? -
- Come down from the plane please! Let us see your hands! - The officer ordered.
Derek with Serena slowly obeyed, followed by the five terrified girls and then Kyle behind them with Max and Stuart helping Michael between them with his arms around their shoulders and one of each around his waist. Stuart’s drugs were gone now and the pain of the four wounds was back full tilt. Michael’s hands were visible over his friends’ shoulders and everyone’s hands were in the air.
- What’s wrong with him? - The officer asked.
- He’s been hurt. I am doctor Stuart Davis of Tucson’s Medical Centre. We have no weapons, here, you can check this, what’s it all about? - Stuart identified himself and surrendered his black bag.
Max used his powers to return the evidence of the freshly healed wounds on Michael’s body, sending the information to Stuart through the contact of their arms over Michael’s lower back.
- Who is Michael Guerin? - The officer asked, returning Stuart’s bag to him after rummaging inside it.
- He’s Michael Dupree, he used to be Guerin when he lived here in Roswell in a foster situation. His sister found him and took him back home. - Stuart explained.
- He’s wanted for an interrogation here in the airport. I must take him right away. - The man walked up to them as they descended on the landing and stood in front of Michael. - You must come with me, can you walk by yourself? -
- Yes. - Michael said, shrugging Max and Stuart’s arms off from his shoulders and stepped away from them.
- Look! We’ve been attacked several times on the way here by this Latino couple who are FBI agents on leave. We’re not lying! - Stuart exclaimed as he reached out and pulled Michael’s t-shirt all the way up his back, showing the officer the wounds over his ribs and shoulder. - There are two other ones under his pants. -
The officer stared open mouthed at the red angry scabbing wounds.
- Is anyone else hurt? - He asked.
- No, it’s a personal revenge on him. The man was my fiancée’s ex-husband and has it in for Michael because he used to be her boyfriend. - Stuart told him.
- I have nothing to do with your personal issues. This is official business until I have different orders. Come with me, son. - He pulled down Michael’s shirt and placed his hand in the middle of his back, pushing him in front of him and addressing the group. - You will be taken to a room where you can wait until we need to question you. -
They watched helplessly as Michael was taken away from them as they were led to a brightly lit room where there were chairs for them to sit on and the door was kept open with the armed men outside standing guard.
When Michael arrived at the small room and was pushed inside, he was faced with Jesse and his bitch, sitting there and waiting for him, smiling and nodding when they saw him come in. The room had a single bulb hanging from the middle of the ceiling, sending eerie shadows on the walls. Michael’s hands itched to blast them, but the officer was right behind him watching the scene.
- Are your men watching over the rest as we asked you to? - Jesse asked the officer, smugly.
- Yes sir. They have orders to shoot at the least provocation. - The man answered.
- Good, can you communicate with them from here? - He asked.
- Sure. - The officer showed him a walkie talkie.
- You stand guard outside while we question the boy, and if you hear either of us say ‘now’, you order them to shoot them all. Is that clear? I need your cuffs. - He extended his hand to him and received them.
He pushed Michael over the table and cuffed his hands together under the table, away from them.
- Alright, we’re taking over, you may leave the room and stay by the door, but don’t come in unless we explicitly ask you to. Is that clear? - Jesse ordered.
- Yes sir. - He did as he was told and stood outside the door with his gun cocked and ready in his hand.
Jesse bent over Michael and whispered nastily:
- You do anything funny and I order all your friends dead in a second, so you may as well behave! - He chuckled, as he pulled his sweat pants all the way down and over his boots so he could spread his legs.
Then he placed his hands on his thighs and pushed them apart. Lala went to stand by Michael’s hip as she watched Jesse open his fly and ram his fully erect cock into him. Michael couldn’t help moaning at the excruciating pain of the dry fuck. Jesse pulled back and as he shoved into him again, Lala ripped the wound across Michael’s ass open with her long pointed nail. Michael bit his lip hard but when she did the same on the wound on the inside of his thigh with Jesse’s next thrust, he hissed with pain. Lala giggled and pulled up his t-shirt doing the same on the two wounds on his back and shoulder. Jesse had become a fucking machine, pounding into Michael and working on his own satisfaction, while Lala crouched under the table with the blood spattering both of them with every penetration as Jesse’s bloody cock pulled out to plough back in again. Lala pushed her finger under the chains of the piercing and tugged at them in time with Jesse’s thrusts. She stared at the place of action mesmerized, wishing she had a real cock to take Jesse’s place when he finally finished and his then useless organ slid out of Michael followed by the boy’s blood.
When the time came, it took her just a couple of seconds to strap the huge ribbed and studded dildo on her and bury it into Michael, watching his body go tight with the new bout of torture she was submitting him to. She had to admire the boy’s firm strong muscles in his back, butt and thighs as her hands kneaded them lustily throughout the ordeal. Jesse was now the one under the table, roughing up the piercing to make Michael clench with each of the dildo’s cruel onslaughts. Michael’s cock and balls were pressed against the table adding to his torment, exposing only the piercing and his ass to his enemies. Jesse came from under the table and signalled Lala to stop as he went to the door and opened it just a sliver.
- Do you have ice? - He asked the baffled officer.
- Yes, there’s an ice machine around the corner. - He answered.
- Get me a heap. - He demanded.
The man raced to the next corridor and was back before a minute was up with a small bucket brimming with ice, to hand it to a grinning Jesse who shut the door in his face before he got inquisitive.
Jesse saw the ice was shaped in balls, perfect! He nodded to Lala to go on until she came, shaking her hips every which way, so that when she pulled out, Michael was bleeding very bad. Jesse pushed Lala away and started inserting the whole bucket of ice balls into the boy making the bleeding finally stop.
Isabel finally managed to calm down enough to come up with a great idea. She dialed Suzanne Duff’s number at the FBI and sent her plan to Serena who asked Ava to mindwarp the nearest security guard and have him discover what Isabel was doing. The officer outside the improvised interrogation room was becoming suspicious because of the weird sounds coming from the room instead of voices, when they were supposed to be questioning the boy. His cell phone rang and he went to the room across, closing the door but checking through the open blind. He was informed by one of his guards that he had caught a prisoner dialing a number on her cell phone and gave it to him. The officer called the number and was surprised to have Agent Suzanne Duff answering and identifying herself. He briefed her on what was going on and she got very agitated, telling him those agents were quite dangerous and to try not to provoke them. She asked for his number and told him she would talk to her direct superior right away and would call him back. He was about to leave the room when his phone rang again and a man identified himself as Agent Duff’s boss wanting to know exactly what was going on. The security officer told him about the two FBI’s ordering him to capture at gunpoint the group of passengers in the small plane and who were now interrogating Michael Dupree or Guerin in what seemed a rather violent way from the sounds that he heard coming from the room he had made available to them for that purpose. The FBI confirmed that those agents were not currently active but on leave, and were suspected of holding a major grudge on the said victim, having made it their purpose to carry on a personal revenge on him, but to keep it to himself because of the prestige of the institution. He asked him to tell them he had been ordered by his superiors to arrest the group, getting them out of the two derelict agents’ hands, telling them their presence was required at their Washington DC Headquarters asap and to have them call him immediately, but not to mention Agent Duff’s name or she would be their next target. He asked him to call his security crew to him to back him up and just leave one outside the door of the group, who were not dangerous at all, for their protection. He was then to rescue the boy from the Latino couple, having the doctor in the group take care of him if he was hurt, as he suspected, and to let them go.
What he didn’t tell him was that he was quite aware of Jesse and Lala’s obsession with aliens, and Agent Ramirez’s claim that the Guerin boy was one, having once already made a mess of things, although he was endangering the institution with his zeal to prove his theory. He had played along with them while they were useful but he just had had enough of it and of them.
The security officer agreed and alerting his team, left the room to knock discreetly at the closed door, knowing his men would be there in a minute at the most.
- What is it? - Jesse asked in an angry voice.
- I’m sorry but I have just received a call from the head of the Airport. - And the man repeated verbatim what he had been instructed to say.
Jesse and Lala looked very agitated when they opened the door, but noticed the large group of security guards holding guns and beginning to crowd behind their boss. Their instincts kicked in and they agreed with the officer saying they would contact the Bureau right away and board the next plane to Washington DC. The security officer nodded to his men and they let them walk away.
Then he was finally able to focus on Michael whose sweat pants had been pulled up by Jesse before he opened the door. The sound of the boy’s erratic breathing had the officer quite concerned, but he wanted to get rid of the real danger before he showed any interest in him, not to provoke them, remembering Agent Duff’s recommendation. As he approached Michael, he could see the seat of his pants was beginning to acquire a deep pink hue bordering on red. He turned to the nearest guard and told him to rush over to the rest of the group and bring the doctor on the run. As he reached Michael’s side, he placed his hand on his thigh and gave it a gentle squeeze.
- You ok, kid? -
The boy moaned and the officer felt the strong muscles under his hand go steel hard. The stain was growing and was now disturbingly red. This didn’t look good but he was terrified to pull the kid’s pants down and actually see the damage.
- Hang on, your friend the doctor is on his way here. - The man said soothingly.
- My friends…haven’t done anything…it’s me…they’re after…- Michael whispered.
- I know, I talked to the FBI, the Agent said she knew you and to be careful of the Latino couple because they were after you for personal reasons. She had their boss call me and give me the instructions on what to do to get rid of them and then to let all of you go. But I must make sure you’re alright first…-
The sound of running steps interrupted him and the guard let Stuart and Max into the room.
- We’re both doctors. Max, here, is his cousin too. - Stuart told the officer, answering the question in his eyes at Max’s unexpected appearance. - Michael has a recessive genetic defect in his blood that is also called a bad chromosome, it runs in the family and his sister has a mild case of it too. We know how to treat it. -
- Alright, take care of him. - The officer gave his approval and waved his men out of the room.
- Do you have the key for the handcuffs? - Max asked the officer, unable to do it with his powers in front of the man.
The officer produced the key from his pocket and crouched under the table to free the boy’s hands.
- Could we please be left alone? It won’t be pleasant, we need some privacy. - Stuart asked as courteously as he could.
- I am sorry, at least one of us has to stay and I’m in charge of security so it has to be me. I regret the fact that the FBI Agents were way over my head and I was forced out of the room so I couldn’t stop or prevent the violence that occurred to him. I’ll go and stand by the door, it’s as far as I can go. - He informed them.
Max and Stuart nodded, understanding. They waited until the man had backed up and went to stand on either side of Michael. Max reached out and caressed Michael’s cheek as Stuart tousled his hair. Michael turned his face and kissed Max’s hand as he felt Stuart’s hand on his and he held it tightly. The officer watched the interaction, noticing the tenderness of the doctors towards the boy.
- Ok, Michael, we’ll take care of you. - Stuart said, gently pulling away from his grip.
Michael grabbed the edges of the table and visibly braced himself, obviously knowing what was coming. Stuart opened his black bag and handed Max a rubber glove which he donned and then a tube of lubricant. Stuart expertly filled a large syringe and wet some cotton wool in alcohol, the smell reaching the officer’s nose all the way to where he was standing. The man was desperately trying to close his eyes or to look down, or anywhere except at the scene in the middle of the room, but he just couldn’t, he was like hypnotized with a sick curiosity.
Stuart and Max peeled Michael’s sweats from both sides together and the bloody condition of his ass and thighs was totally exposed. Max spread Michael with his left hand and proceeded to insert the index of his other hand into him. The officer couldn’t see the rubber material covering Max’s finger disappearing with his powers as he entered the boy, or the white healing light which was safely out of sight. Michael’s body language spelled out pain, and he jerked and gasped when Stuart drove the needle into his butt as Max kept pushing into him. Stuart emptied the syringe in five different sites and Max started pulling out making the rubber finger materialize again as he came out.
- Better? - Max asked softly and Michael nodded his answer.
Stuart inserted a thermometer as Max massaged the infiltrated area. He wet some gauze in alcohol and cleaned the blood away from Michael, making sure no evidence was left on the table. The officer could see the angry red slash across the middle of Michael’s butt, cutting across what he took for elaborate tattoos, and another healing wound high up on the inside of his right thigh. That’s what the doctor had been talking about when he disclosed the two other fresh scabbing wounds on his back and shoulder as the FBIs took the boy away from his friends. He was sure the Latino couple knew about them because they were the ones that had given them to him and he stupidly had put the boy in their hands again. He had no doubts that what was being healed right in front of his eyes was the result of a savage sexual assault and it was all he could do not to be sick. Something told him the woman had also participated in the raping of the boy, but he didn’t want to even think how she had done it and what she had used in him. Stuart pulled out the thermometer and shook his head with a slight frown but Max nodded reassuringly, and Stuart scoffed. They pulled up Michael’s sweat pants and helped him up.
- He’ll be fine. The shots I gave him will control his fever. We need to take him home to some relatives we came to visit. We have rented an SUV which should be waiting for us at the parking lot. - Stuart informed the officer.
- Shouldn’t you be taking him to a hospital? - The man wondered worriedly.
- It’s the same, I work at Tucson’s Medical Center and all except Michael who’s still in high school are medical students. - Stuart didn’t need to elaborate on Laurie’s status because the age in her id would confirm that she should be in college with the rest, being the eldest after him.
- I will escort you to your vehicle, to make sure you arrive safely. - The officer smiled, feeling at ease now with his former prisoners. - I can get him a wheelchair if it will help. -
- I can walk, thanks. - Michael barely hid a wince and placed his arms around Max and Stuart’s shoulders with their arms around his waist.
The officer had a déjà vu of the first time he saw the three of them appearing at the door of the plane exactly as they were now. The boy had obviously been quite hurt already so this addition to his suffering had been absolutely unnecessary, and he felt terribly guilty for it.
As they reached the room where the rest of the group was impatiently waiting, they all rushed up to Michael and covered him with kisses and caresses, the other guy clinging to him from behind as the boy couldn’t hide a wince but took it for his friend without complaining. They proceeded to the parking lot, with all of them around him and easily found the rented van in the pale light of dawn. Derek signed the papers and they boarded their ride, taking off after thanking the officer. They headed for the desert as the day was breaking, sure that the trystels were already on their tracks, but unable to know how, when and where they would attack.
Jesse and Lala rented a large motorcycle, to have all the maneuverability they would require, now that their victim had all his friends on the look out for them. The helmets covered their whole heads, with a full face of the darkest polarized thermoplastic resin protection. No one could recognize them though they were expecting them. Lala had taken several courses on such bikes and was an expert on them, so Jesse rode behind her. They had to summon their newly acquired instincts to take them to their target because they didn’t know the desert like the ex-Roswell natives did. They could tell they were still quite far from the group’s chosen final destination, so they trusted they would be able to hit on them more than once before they were forced to change their tactics. They sensed their victim was heading to a place where he would feel safe, but that simply didn’t register because to them, the meaning of ‘safe’ didn’t exist, their victims, once claimed, were destined to die in their hands. That was the only possibility. 15 minutes later, they saw the cloud of dust and they smiled as they located the van. Their got a mental picture of their target lying on the floor in the middle of the vehicle and surrounded by the other persons. As they started getting nearer, the group of persons suddenly crouched all over their target, covering it almost completely…almost. Jesse found a few flaws in the human shield, but only one that matched the chosen spots on Lala’s ‘map’.
- They’ve seen us coming, that’s why they are trying to protect him. - Lala sent to Jesse.
Moving as a trystel would, he flexed his knees and placed his feet on the seat behind Lala. He stood up, found his balance, and crouched again placing his rifle against her back, pointing to the sky. Lala swerved the bike so that they were exactly behind them closing in on their blind side because of the dust. They didn’t need their sight, only their instincts and mental picture to know where everyone was. Jesse placed the barrel of the rifle over Lala’s shoulder, aimed and fired.
A fraction of a second before Michael grunted and jerked, Liz felt the heat as the bullet found its way through the small triangle between her ear, forearm and upper arm. Her elbow was sharply bent and her face rested on the back of her hand. She jumped up followed by the rest of them, catching a glimpse of the two black clad riders as the bike passed by their left side full speed. Stuart saw them materialize on his left mirror and tried turning to run them over, but the bike was going too fast. He hit the steering wheel with his fist in anger and hit the brakes.
He yelled for Kyle to take his place and keep them moving as he stayed on the lookout in case they came back. He rushed to the back where he was needed.
Max was already kneeling by Michael with his hand over the damaged area. Stuart could see the white light glowing under his palm as Michael moaned and tensed. Max pulled his hand away and showed the bullet in the middle of his palm.
- It’s just a small caliber bullet. It didn’t go too far in, but it was meant to hurt. - He said.
He was about to make the piece of metal vanish when Isabel demanded he gave it to her.
- What! Are you collecting them now? Where’s the other one you asked for? - Max said in a not too gentle tone.
- Max! - Serena scolded, shaking her head.
- It’s already gone, now, give me that one too! - Isabel insisted.
- Are you going to vanish it? - Max asked.
- Of course I am! - Isabel answered, indignantly.
- Then why don’t you let me do it? - He wondered.
- Because I want to do it! Is it too much to ask? - She said in a shaky voice, sounding ready to break down and cry.
Max remembered his sister was pregnant and realized it had to be the cause for her erratic behaviour, so he surrendered the bullet to her.
She took it in her hand and made it explode in a zillion minute particles as she finally broke down and wept bitterly, joined by Maria.
Max noticed Liz was standing absolutely silent, very pale and trembling, holding her arm close to her body.
- Liz, are you alright? - Max asked, quite alarmed.
- I’m fine, Max. It’s just that I felt the heat of the bullet passing between my arm and my ear and I couldn’t help remembering that day at the Crashdown.
Max rushed to her and took her in his arms.
- Michael? - Stuart brushed the boy’s hair out of his eyes as Laurie and Ava held his hands in theirs.
Stuart gasped when Michael opened his eyes and they were completely blue with Gandarium.
ALIENS FULL TILT!
-
ñusta
- Obsessed Roswellian
- Posts: 510
- Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2004 10:52 pm
- Location: heights of Machu Picchu
the calm before the storm
First of all, thank you for reading, and my apologies for the delay in posting. Partly computer problems just before national holidays on the 28th of July, so I, the translator, since it would take some days to get back online, decided to take a trip to visit the author in Cuzco, and joined in the festivities enhanced by the celebrations of Machu Picchu becoming one of the new 7 Wonders of the World. I shall be posting the next chapter sometime today.
ALIENS FULL TILT!
-
ñusta
- Obsessed Roswellian
- Posts: 510
- Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2004 10:52 pm
- Location: heights of Machu Picchu
the calm before the storm
Chapter 111
- Serena, should this be happening? - Stuart asked the seer. - Look at his eyes. -
They were all following Stuart’s eyes to Michael’s.
- What? - Michael asked, not sure of what it was about.
- The gandarium has covered your eyes completely. - He confirmed. - Do you feel anything unusual? -
- Apart that I’m horny as hell, no…- He tried to make it sound like a joke but it came out quite serious.
Serena had noticed Michael’s libido had easily jumped from 1 to at least 7 after he returned from Antar, and it was definitely with men. Of course he didn’t neglect Maria, but kept using her pregnancy as an excuse for being moderate with her, not that she was by any means merciful with him, possibly only suspecting what was going on, as Michael had surely blocked it away from her not to get in worse trouble than he was already in. Isabel, although she was also pregnant with his offspring, was out of bounds unless Stuart consented, which of course, he would have no problems doing it, if Michael only asked, but the boy expected Isabel to do that, out of respect for his human doctor.
Intergalactic issues were certainly complicated, Serena was thinking as Kyle’s suddenly swerving not to hit a rock, had them all dreading another attack.
- Don’t worry, just a rather large stone. - He sent back, putting them at ease.
Triggered by fear, something clicked in Serena’s brain and she felt like kicking herself for having missed something so important.
- Have we all become retarded with worry here, or what’s going on? Why haven’t you used your shields to protect Michael and why has none of us thought of it so far? - She asked, suspecting some negative influence had somehow found its way to them, to make Michael more vulnerable.
The looks on their faces made Serena immediately regret her words. Something was terribly wrong.
- Of course I’ve tried, but it isn’t working. - Max said with defeat. - No one else’s is. -
- What? And you’ve never even discussed it? Why didn’t you tell me? - Serena’s disbelief had them all looking down, feeling guilty but without understanding why.
- The three first times Michael was attacked, we had no time to even think of it because by the time we realized he had been hit, it was useless and too late. But the next time, as we were climbing into the plane, when I saw the glider swoop, it just came to me and I tried to activate it but nothing happened. I was about to ask the others to give it a try too but I didn’t need to because I saw them trying and going through what I just had. They all turned to look at me, as if I had the answer, but I shook my head and shrugged, letting them know mine wasn’t working either. I guess I just forgot about it until you just brought it up. - Max looked totally frustrated.
- Try it, right now. - Serena encouraged him.
Max opened his hand and the shield covered him completely. One by one, they all managed it successfully, but the second they tried to use it for Michael it just didn’t work.
- It’s him. - Serena concluded. - His Gandarium levels have reached abnormally high levels due to his anger at not being able to defend himself, that’s why the shields aren’t working for him. The increased amounts of Gandarium in his body are neutralizing the composition of the shields as they focus on him. Amaru might tell us what to do. -
She closed her eyes and went into the trance required to summon the powerful Shaman. In just a few seconds Amaru appeared with a worried look clouding his eyes.
“I’m aware of Michael’s problem, but he’s the only one who can control it. He’s experiencing the kind of frustration he went through with his foster father, but with a different issue. He accepted Hank because his instincts told him it was the training he would need for the warrior he would become in the future, and he wouldn’t get it on Earth as the original Rath-Michael had on Antar. So he somehow knew he had to learn to live with it to survive and get stronger though he wasn’t completely aware of the whole picture. Rath-Michael had been conditioned for the life he would have and since Michael was cloned from him, he ‘inherited’ the same traits.”
“What exactly did he ‘inherit’ from the original Rath-Michael?” Serena watched Amaru take a deep breath and nod.
“When Ramthis gave the good news that his wife, Lady Ish’Mandra was pregnant, the scientists prudently waited for a week and then summoned me to make the first contact with the new life. They were in charge of the physical side, and yielded to my people the spiritual area, the mind, knowing we could use our powers to see the future. We placed our hands on the mother’s stomach and I was given the priority to see what would be needed for the child’s future. I was immediately enveloped in a flash where I saw the child was male and would become the best warrior Antar would ever see, he would be required to sacrifice his body to close the political deals, he would suffer cruelly in his healer’s hands, because of the latter’s lack of blood compatibility and he would die an untimely and unfair death after a long undignified torture to be reborn and return to free his people. That was all I was given. I communicated my vision to the scientists, who like myself, were confused not to see a king, but a warrior. So it seemed his father’s history would repeat itself, but we were not allowed to disclose it, just to make the best of it. So the scientists planted in his genes the extra endurance to pain he would need in battle, to balance the ultra sensitivity to it that his Royal blood cursed him with, then the masochism he would need to take the suffering he would encounter in the healing as in the political field and bear it like the hero he was. Of course, all this came with Michael too. The precocious sexuality was imposed on him as it had been on Rath-Michael, so that just happened, by some weird coincidence, if such thing exists, which I seriously doubt.” Amaru informed.
“Didn’t you see the other boy? Couldn’t you tell there were twins?” Serena asked.
“No, maybe because twins were unheard of on Antar, I just found a source of life, and saw what the future would bring, so I guess I instinctively went for the right one, the stronger one, the one that would actually have a future. I didn’t even register the other child, probably because its life would be too short to be of any importance. The news of the double birth came as a sad surprise to us, already knowing only one would survive, so we didn’t insist on another examination of both children, out of respect for the one that would not make it. When almost three months had passed and they were both still alive, we started wondering if we should be doing it, but then the tragedy struck and we were glad we had just let it be. We wouldn’t have liked to have to tell the powerful warlord Ramthis what would happen to his wife and son, because it would have been our duty and it would have been already too late to do anything to prevent it. I am sure these high levels of Gandarium must have happened before, with what Michael has gone through in his life on Earth.” Amaru knew he was right.
“His eyes got a pale blue when he went through that incident after the sweat ritual with River Dog, so I warned him to keep them closed and placed dark glasses over them to make sure no one saw them, but by the time we reached our friend’s house, they were back to normal.” Max remembered. “And with Hank, as far as I know, he always took him from behind, so there was no way he could notice the difference.”
“That time with the two…football players…” Maria skipped Kyle’s participation on purpose. “I noticed something weird was happening with the eye that was visible to me the few times he raised his face from the bed, but I thought it was just a reflection of the light. Now I know it wasn’t.”
“And that time they got accidentally drunk with the spiked dessert, I only caught a few glimpses of Michael’s face from where I was, but yes, I also thought it was the light that was giving his eyes that weird blue hue.” Liz contributed, keeping her eyes away from Max’s.
“But when he got the seal on his chest and he came at me, it didn’t happen at all…” Max said, confused.
Amaru reached over and placed his hand on Max’s head to recall the incident.
“Because that wasn’t the real Michael or Rath-Michael at all, it was Nasedo’s manipulations taking the upper hand.” Amaru told them. “You should be glad that travesty had no real Royal blood or you wouldn’t have survived it. What little of Michael managed to get control for seconds, made the creature’s attacks ineffective and saved your life. Michael was back the second you made contact with the seal, but he never told you, because he knew you wouldn’t believe him.”
“Is there anything we can do?” Serena asked, not very hopeful.
“Like I said, it’s in his hands. Right now, his anger is focused on what that man and his woman have done to him, because they have no right to touch him, they’re so beneath him. Yet they have dared abuse his body, that’s what’s causing him to rebel against that affront which insults his Royal blood. He’s seething with fury and can’t do anything about it, and he can’t let go because he would probably blow the whole place up with all of you and himself included. His protective side is too strong and holds him back, but it doesn’t help much in the way he feels. This may sound funny, but you should be able to get some help from your original protector, with his influence in some humans who can count, and your friend, Kyle’s father, who can pull some strings in the right places, specially where the two ‘pseudo-tristels’ are concerned. Get in touch with them as soon as you can.”
Amaru had just finished talking, when Kyle’s loud wail as he hit the brakes to step on the gas hard right after, had the spell broken and the Shaman disappeared.
The damn bike had cut right in front of the van from between a mass of boulders on the left as Kyle instinctively stopped, later wishing he would have done the contrary and ran them over, but when he reacted, they were already heading in the opposite direction along the other side of the SUV.
The attack was so fast, that even though they were expecting it from the second Kyle’s warning had reached them, it still took them by surprise. They had expected a shot to ring out but what they heard was a metallic screech followed by a harsh hissing sound and a thud, wondering why they would need a silencer in the middle of the desert. Michael had been lying kind of sideways with his back towards the front of the van. They were all mostly around his upper body, only Isabel was sitting at his side with one arm over his thighs and her hand on the floor behind him, holding herself up. She jumped feeling the tug on the loose sweatshirt under her arm and was shocked to see the gaping hole going through the garment, between the sleeve and the right side seam. Michael lay panting on the ground as they pushed Isabel away to see the trajectory of the bullet. Only it wasn’t a bullet, what they had shot was an arrow which had followed Nicholas’ chosen torture both on Antar as on Earth. The tip of the barb had stopped a hairline away from tearing completely through the third fold of the sigmoid colon, as it had happened when Isabel had Nicholas let go of the rod and just before Sheriff Valenti had disposed of Nicholas’ human body. The shaft protruded out of Michael’s sweat pants as his blood quickly began to soak the whole area. Max seemed to fly over everyone as Stuart took Isabel in his arms, her mouth working but no sound coming out. As if on cue, they all held Michael down while Kyle desperately sped through the sand as his eyes went from one mirror to the other and to the next, making sure they were not being targeted again, though so far the attacks had been the typical cowardly hit and run.
“Is he alright? Is he alright?” He kept asking, not daring to look behind.
“I’m with him, just keep going!” Max shouted back, reassuringly.
He grabbed the shaft and found out it was metal, so it was one of the modern weapons, not the old fashioned wooden Indian ones but a sophisticated kind for efficiency and top performance, what else could he expect from the two derelict FBIs? No wonder it had penetrated up to exactly the same depth as the one they were copying, the attack being programmed to the last detail. Damn them!
- Michael, I have to…I must…- Max faltered.
- Just do it Max! - Michael growled, ready for what was coming as he always was. - I’m lying here…fucked by a freaking arrow…bleeding to death…so don’t lose time…-
Max looked up at the other ones and nodded. Michael felt them literally pressing him against the floor as Max knelt painfully on his thighs to hold him still. Then the healer put all his power in it and pulled. The sickening sound of tearing flesh did nothing to conceal the barely suppressed moans and grunts coming from Michael’s lips. He writhed in a double agony as the parasites buried deeper into him to flee from the threat of the retreating barbs. Max tossed the offending weapon aside and waved his fly open, using the rush of blood to help him make the connection, which though it wasn’t necessary to activate the healing light with the sexual activity of the previous days, it was to keep Max’s energy in peak condition to the end. Max could feel that Michael could have sent them all flying with the unending amount of energy coursing through his body allowing him to deal with the otherwise unbearable pain. He sensed him shuddering to keep it inside him and not to let it lash out of him, knowing what would happen to those restraining him. They could feel Michael was holding back protecting them from something they couldn’t understand, but Isabel and Serena knew what was going on, and Liz’s empathy gave her a clear idea too, but she kept it to herself not wanting to worry the ones who didn’t get it. By the time Max finished, he was drenched in Royal blood which was gone with a wave of his hand. At least Kyle had good news.
- We’re almost there! - He shouted and laughed.
The gloomy mood changed momentarily as they all rose to check out the unusual rock formation that held the cave where they had been born into this world. It stood out clearly in the distance a little to their left.
- I hate to be the killjoy here, but I’m sure they’ll be back before we arrive and remember we have to run up the hill to get there. - Max hated to have to say it but they all had to agree with him.
- I’m not completely sure how their senses work but just in case, try to block out anything until we’re safe inside the cave. If they realize we’re about to reach safety they’ll go nuts and perhaps try to end it before they had planned to. Take a deep breath and blank out your minds, not to give them any hints. All I know is they home on the blood of the chosen victim, so this goes specially to you Michael, because they’re focused on you. - Serena suggested.
- I’m too wired to blank my mind, but I’ll think of something they can’t hold on to, like water, and sunlight and the wind. -
Michael’s voice had a dreamy quality, which to those who knew him well, it meant he was tired, but he wasn’t giving up, that wasn’t in his nature.
As their goal got nearer, they were all following Michael’s example and as they were all finding trouble blanking out their minds, they concentrated on his ideas.
Jesse and Lala felt the change in their victim and those around him. They looked at each other quite confused.
- Why is he relaxing? No one under constant attack does that unless they feel safe. How can he feel safe in the middle of nowhere and with us on him? We’ve shot bullets and arrows into him, damn his healer! It doesn’t make sense, unless he knows something we don’t…I understand sunlight and wind out here, but water in the desert? Is he trying to find a source of water? I remember one around here, but they’re not going in the right direction. They should know that, so what are they doing? - Jesse wracked his mind trying to come up with something useful, but Lala was just eager to follow his lead without much effort.
- Give me the ‘map’! - He demanded and she got out of her pocket the picture of Michael’s back area.
He concentrated in water and connected automatically with the two wounds made by the canes. He chuckled and pointed them out to her.
- Alright, you take this one and I’ll take that one. -
They rushed ahead of them away from their sight and took their stand behind some large boulders half covered in dunes.
They were about a mile away from the cave and there was no way anything could have alerted them from the silent attack, lacking the visual warnings of the ones they had got used to. Jesse and Lala just popped up from the rocks and shot. The reinforced metal blend of the arrowheads pierced the van as if it was made of butter. They already knew Michael’s position to make it happen according to their plans. Maria’s loose sleeve was pinned to Michael’s thigh and Stuart’s ankle was pressed to Michael’s butt as the arrow went through the slight flare of his pant leg. The bastards had realized the barbs were more painful and did more damage on the way out than the bullets did.
By the time Max had taken care of Michael, Kyle was stopping under the steep way leading up to the cave. The bike came from the right this time but Kyle was faster and charged it pinning it to the hill. They all rushed out of the SUV and raced up towards the hidden entrance, wondering why it was so silent behind them. They weren’t stopping to find out until Max stepped up to open the rock door. They took quick looks towards the bike but it was still pinned by the van and neither Jesse nor the woman were nowhere in sight. Had they fallen under the wheels and were crushed to death? Was that why there was no sound at all from them? As they waited anxiously for the slab to roll open, they crowded on Michael’s left side ready to push him in first when the hissing sound made them turn to see the two figures clad in black shooting with impossible speed a succession of arrows over the hood of the van. Michael crashed against the side of the makeshift door and they ducked, half pushing half dragging him inside.
Jesse and Lala thought they had finally snapped and gone out of their minds to turn into sitting ducks on the road to nowhere. They couldn’t believe their eyes when the whole group disappeared into the hillside and the strong signal they got from Michael’s blood suddenly was gone. They had simply vanished in thin air. They ran up the way they had seen them go, but found nothing, the track simply ended, there was only the steep rocky side all the way down. A gust of wind made them shield their eyes and when they looked down, the van shimmered and was gone, leaving only their useless wrecked bike sliding down on the sand from lack of support.
Serena opened her eyes and told them what she had done. Amaru had not only made the van invisible at her request, but also unsubstantial, so that the only way those two could leave the desert was walking.
When Max finished with Michael, he knew the boy was about to pass out. Even if he had healed him, the physical torture he was going through was too much. Every breath made him shudder with pain and he desperately needed a break from it. They could all sense his struggle to stay with them and not sure he would make it.
Serena knew what Michael needed and Amaru came once again to his rescue. He knelt by the boy and opened his pouch.
“Rest still, my prince, I shall ease your pain and make you sleep to regain your strength. You’ll just feel the sting of my spines, which is not new to you and nothing to what you’re hurting right now. Then you’ll just let go and rest until you’re ready to open your eyes again.”
They watched Amaru’s expert hands work on Michael, quickly and efficiently slipping in a spine where the bullets and arrows had entered his body.
“He also had an arrow inside him…you know?...” Maria didn’t know how to put it.
“I know.” Amaru smiled at her kindly. “I can’t put spines in there but I have another way.”
He produced what looked like a transparent tube punched full of holes for about ten inches on one end and a vial of a brownish liquid which he inverted and attached to the other end of the tube. The liquid started sliding all the way to the tip but Amaru stopped it from leaking through the holes yet. He slowly and carefully pushed it into Michael and rubbed the tube just outside him. They could see the liquid in the vial start to flow down the tube and Amaru left it suspended in the air to allow it to empty into the boy. Michael began to writhe and moan as the parasites once again buried deeper to stay away from the herbal potion that didn’t seem to agree with them.
“What is it child?” Amaru asked, perplexed.
“It stings…” Michael whispered.
“It shouldn’t, but it must be because you were so badly hurt in there, it will pass soon, you’ll see.” Amaru soothed him.
Then he skimmed his fingertips all over the sound parts of Michael’s body and they saw him relaxing, his eyes closed and soon he was sleeping.
Amaru stood up and took out two more vials from his pouch giving them them to Serena. He told her he would be back after each one to replace it and check out the spines until the last one was over so he could take them out. Each one would last five hours so Michael would sleep for fifteen hours. He took some small vials and called Max and Kyle, putting his arms around their shoulders and leading them as far from Michael as was possible.
“You will drink one of these each which will last one hour. It will make you invisible but due to your human quality, it won’t make you unsubstantial. I’m taking that away from the vehicle too so you will go down and you’ll be able to see it, being in the same condition as you are. You will be able to use it without any problems, just remember you can be touched and even damaged accidentally so be very careful to stay out of the way of those who can’t see you. This is what you’ll do:”
- Serena, should this be happening? - Stuart asked the seer. - Look at his eyes. -
They were all following Stuart’s eyes to Michael’s.
- What? - Michael asked, not sure of what it was about.
- The gandarium has covered your eyes completely. - He confirmed. - Do you feel anything unusual? -
- Apart that I’m horny as hell, no…- He tried to make it sound like a joke but it came out quite serious.
Serena had noticed Michael’s libido had easily jumped from 1 to at least 7 after he returned from Antar, and it was definitely with men. Of course he didn’t neglect Maria, but kept using her pregnancy as an excuse for being moderate with her, not that she was by any means merciful with him, possibly only suspecting what was going on, as Michael had surely blocked it away from her not to get in worse trouble than he was already in. Isabel, although she was also pregnant with his offspring, was out of bounds unless Stuart consented, which of course, he would have no problems doing it, if Michael only asked, but the boy expected Isabel to do that, out of respect for his human doctor.
Intergalactic issues were certainly complicated, Serena was thinking as Kyle’s suddenly swerving not to hit a rock, had them all dreading another attack.
- Don’t worry, just a rather large stone. - He sent back, putting them at ease.
Triggered by fear, something clicked in Serena’s brain and she felt like kicking herself for having missed something so important.
- Have we all become retarded with worry here, or what’s going on? Why haven’t you used your shields to protect Michael and why has none of us thought of it so far? - She asked, suspecting some negative influence had somehow found its way to them, to make Michael more vulnerable.
The looks on their faces made Serena immediately regret her words. Something was terribly wrong.
- Of course I’ve tried, but it isn’t working. - Max said with defeat. - No one else’s is. -
- What? And you’ve never even discussed it? Why didn’t you tell me? - Serena’s disbelief had them all looking down, feeling guilty but without understanding why.
- The three first times Michael was attacked, we had no time to even think of it because by the time we realized he had been hit, it was useless and too late. But the next time, as we were climbing into the plane, when I saw the glider swoop, it just came to me and I tried to activate it but nothing happened. I was about to ask the others to give it a try too but I didn’t need to because I saw them trying and going through what I just had. They all turned to look at me, as if I had the answer, but I shook my head and shrugged, letting them know mine wasn’t working either. I guess I just forgot about it until you just brought it up. - Max looked totally frustrated.
- Try it, right now. - Serena encouraged him.
Max opened his hand and the shield covered him completely. One by one, they all managed it successfully, but the second they tried to use it for Michael it just didn’t work.
- It’s him. - Serena concluded. - His Gandarium levels have reached abnormally high levels due to his anger at not being able to defend himself, that’s why the shields aren’t working for him. The increased amounts of Gandarium in his body are neutralizing the composition of the shields as they focus on him. Amaru might tell us what to do. -
She closed her eyes and went into the trance required to summon the powerful Shaman. In just a few seconds Amaru appeared with a worried look clouding his eyes.
“I’m aware of Michael’s problem, but he’s the only one who can control it. He’s experiencing the kind of frustration he went through with his foster father, but with a different issue. He accepted Hank because his instincts told him it was the training he would need for the warrior he would become in the future, and he wouldn’t get it on Earth as the original Rath-Michael had on Antar. So he somehow knew he had to learn to live with it to survive and get stronger though he wasn’t completely aware of the whole picture. Rath-Michael had been conditioned for the life he would have and since Michael was cloned from him, he ‘inherited’ the same traits.”
“What exactly did he ‘inherit’ from the original Rath-Michael?” Serena watched Amaru take a deep breath and nod.
“When Ramthis gave the good news that his wife, Lady Ish’Mandra was pregnant, the scientists prudently waited for a week and then summoned me to make the first contact with the new life. They were in charge of the physical side, and yielded to my people the spiritual area, the mind, knowing we could use our powers to see the future. We placed our hands on the mother’s stomach and I was given the priority to see what would be needed for the child’s future. I was immediately enveloped in a flash where I saw the child was male and would become the best warrior Antar would ever see, he would be required to sacrifice his body to close the political deals, he would suffer cruelly in his healer’s hands, because of the latter’s lack of blood compatibility and he would die an untimely and unfair death after a long undignified torture to be reborn and return to free his people. That was all I was given. I communicated my vision to the scientists, who like myself, were confused not to see a king, but a warrior. So it seemed his father’s history would repeat itself, but we were not allowed to disclose it, just to make the best of it. So the scientists planted in his genes the extra endurance to pain he would need in battle, to balance the ultra sensitivity to it that his Royal blood cursed him with, then the masochism he would need to take the suffering he would encounter in the healing as in the political field and bear it like the hero he was. Of course, all this came with Michael too. The precocious sexuality was imposed on him as it had been on Rath-Michael, so that just happened, by some weird coincidence, if such thing exists, which I seriously doubt.” Amaru informed.
“Didn’t you see the other boy? Couldn’t you tell there were twins?” Serena asked.
“No, maybe because twins were unheard of on Antar, I just found a source of life, and saw what the future would bring, so I guess I instinctively went for the right one, the stronger one, the one that would actually have a future. I didn’t even register the other child, probably because its life would be too short to be of any importance. The news of the double birth came as a sad surprise to us, already knowing only one would survive, so we didn’t insist on another examination of both children, out of respect for the one that would not make it. When almost three months had passed and they were both still alive, we started wondering if we should be doing it, but then the tragedy struck and we were glad we had just let it be. We wouldn’t have liked to have to tell the powerful warlord Ramthis what would happen to his wife and son, because it would have been our duty and it would have been already too late to do anything to prevent it. I am sure these high levels of Gandarium must have happened before, with what Michael has gone through in his life on Earth.” Amaru knew he was right.
“His eyes got a pale blue when he went through that incident after the sweat ritual with River Dog, so I warned him to keep them closed and placed dark glasses over them to make sure no one saw them, but by the time we reached our friend’s house, they were back to normal.” Max remembered. “And with Hank, as far as I know, he always took him from behind, so there was no way he could notice the difference.”
“That time with the two…football players…” Maria skipped Kyle’s participation on purpose. “I noticed something weird was happening with the eye that was visible to me the few times he raised his face from the bed, but I thought it was just a reflection of the light. Now I know it wasn’t.”
“And that time they got accidentally drunk with the spiked dessert, I only caught a few glimpses of Michael’s face from where I was, but yes, I also thought it was the light that was giving his eyes that weird blue hue.” Liz contributed, keeping her eyes away from Max’s.
“But when he got the seal on his chest and he came at me, it didn’t happen at all…” Max said, confused.
Amaru reached over and placed his hand on Max’s head to recall the incident.
“Because that wasn’t the real Michael or Rath-Michael at all, it was Nasedo’s manipulations taking the upper hand.” Amaru told them. “You should be glad that travesty had no real Royal blood or you wouldn’t have survived it. What little of Michael managed to get control for seconds, made the creature’s attacks ineffective and saved your life. Michael was back the second you made contact with the seal, but he never told you, because he knew you wouldn’t believe him.”
“Is there anything we can do?” Serena asked, not very hopeful.
“Like I said, it’s in his hands. Right now, his anger is focused on what that man and his woman have done to him, because they have no right to touch him, they’re so beneath him. Yet they have dared abuse his body, that’s what’s causing him to rebel against that affront which insults his Royal blood. He’s seething with fury and can’t do anything about it, and he can’t let go because he would probably blow the whole place up with all of you and himself included. His protective side is too strong and holds him back, but it doesn’t help much in the way he feels. This may sound funny, but you should be able to get some help from your original protector, with his influence in some humans who can count, and your friend, Kyle’s father, who can pull some strings in the right places, specially where the two ‘pseudo-tristels’ are concerned. Get in touch with them as soon as you can.”
Amaru had just finished talking, when Kyle’s loud wail as he hit the brakes to step on the gas hard right after, had the spell broken and the Shaman disappeared.
The damn bike had cut right in front of the van from between a mass of boulders on the left as Kyle instinctively stopped, later wishing he would have done the contrary and ran them over, but when he reacted, they were already heading in the opposite direction along the other side of the SUV.
The attack was so fast, that even though they were expecting it from the second Kyle’s warning had reached them, it still took them by surprise. They had expected a shot to ring out but what they heard was a metallic screech followed by a harsh hissing sound and a thud, wondering why they would need a silencer in the middle of the desert. Michael had been lying kind of sideways with his back towards the front of the van. They were all mostly around his upper body, only Isabel was sitting at his side with one arm over his thighs and her hand on the floor behind him, holding herself up. She jumped feeling the tug on the loose sweatshirt under her arm and was shocked to see the gaping hole going through the garment, between the sleeve and the right side seam. Michael lay panting on the ground as they pushed Isabel away to see the trajectory of the bullet. Only it wasn’t a bullet, what they had shot was an arrow which had followed Nicholas’ chosen torture both on Antar as on Earth. The tip of the barb had stopped a hairline away from tearing completely through the third fold of the sigmoid colon, as it had happened when Isabel had Nicholas let go of the rod and just before Sheriff Valenti had disposed of Nicholas’ human body. The shaft protruded out of Michael’s sweat pants as his blood quickly began to soak the whole area. Max seemed to fly over everyone as Stuart took Isabel in his arms, her mouth working but no sound coming out. As if on cue, they all held Michael down while Kyle desperately sped through the sand as his eyes went from one mirror to the other and to the next, making sure they were not being targeted again, though so far the attacks had been the typical cowardly hit and run.
“Is he alright? Is he alright?” He kept asking, not daring to look behind.
“I’m with him, just keep going!” Max shouted back, reassuringly.
He grabbed the shaft and found out it was metal, so it was one of the modern weapons, not the old fashioned wooden Indian ones but a sophisticated kind for efficiency and top performance, what else could he expect from the two derelict FBIs? No wonder it had penetrated up to exactly the same depth as the one they were copying, the attack being programmed to the last detail. Damn them!
- Michael, I have to…I must…- Max faltered.
- Just do it Max! - Michael growled, ready for what was coming as he always was. - I’m lying here…fucked by a freaking arrow…bleeding to death…so don’t lose time…-
Max looked up at the other ones and nodded. Michael felt them literally pressing him against the floor as Max knelt painfully on his thighs to hold him still. Then the healer put all his power in it and pulled. The sickening sound of tearing flesh did nothing to conceal the barely suppressed moans and grunts coming from Michael’s lips. He writhed in a double agony as the parasites buried deeper into him to flee from the threat of the retreating barbs. Max tossed the offending weapon aside and waved his fly open, using the rush of blood to help him make the connection, which though it wasn’t necessary to activate the healing light with the sexual activity of the previous days, it was to keep Max’s energy in peak condition to the end. Max could feel that Michael could have sent them all flying with the unending amount of energy coursing through his body allowing him to deal with the otherwise unbearable pain. He sensed him shuddering to keep it inside him and not to let it lash out of him, knowing what would happen to those restraining him. They could feel Michael was holding back protecting them from something they couldn’t understand, but Isabel and Serena knew what was going on, and Liz’s empathy gave her a clear idea too, but she kept it to herself not wanting to worry the ones who didn’t get it. By the time Max finished, he was drenched in Royal blood which was gone with a wave of his hand. At least Kyle had good news.
- We’re almost there! - He shouted and laughed.
The gloomy mood changed momentarily as they all rose to check out the unusual rock formation that held the cave where they had been born into this world. It stood out clearly in the distance a little to their left.
- I hate to be the killjoy here, but I’m sure they’ll be back before we arrive and remember we have to run up the hill to get there. - Max hated to have to say it but they all had to agree with him.
- I’m not completely sure how their senses work but just in case, try to block out anything until we’re safe inside the cave. If they realize we’re about to reach safety they’ll go nuts and perhaps try to end it before they had planned to. Take a deep breath and blank out your minds, not to give them any hints. All I know is they home on the blood of the chosen victim, so this goes specially to you Michael, because they’re focused on you. - Serena suggested.
- I’m too wired to blank my mind, but I’ll think of something they can’t hold on to, like water, and sunlight and the wind. -
Michael’s voice had a dreamy quality, which to those who knew him well, it meant he was tired, but he wasn’t giving up, that wasn’t in his nature.
As their goal got nearer, they were all following Michael’s example and as they were all finding trouble blanking out their minds, they concentrated on his ideas.
Jesse and Lala felt the change in their victim and those around him. They looked at each other quite confused.
- Why is he relaxing? No one under constant attack does that unless they feel safe. How can he feel safe in the middle of nowhere and with us on him? We’ve shot bullets and arrows into him, damn his healer! It doesn’t make sense, unless he knows something we don’t…I understand sunlight and wind out here, but water in the desert? Is he trying to find a source of water? I remember one around here, but they’re not going in the right direction. They should know that, so what are they doing? - Jesse wracked his mind trying to come up with something useful, but Lala was just eager to follow his lead without much effort.
- Give me the ‘map’! - He demanded and she got out of her pocket the picture of Michael’s back area.
He concentrated in water and connected automatically with the two wounds made by the canes. He chuckled and pointed them out to her.
- Alright, you take this one and I’ll take that one. -
They rushed ahead of them away from their sight and took their stand behind some large boulders half covered in dunes.
They were about a mile away from the cave and there was no way anything could have alerted them from the silent attack, lacking the visual warnings of the ones they had got used to. Jesse and Lala just popped up from the rocks and shot. The reinforced metal blend of the arrowheads pierced the van as if it was made of butter. They already knew Michael’s position to make it happen according to their plans. Maria’s loose sleeve was pinned to Michael’s thigh and Stuart’s ankle was pressed to Michael’s butt as the arrow went through the slight flare of his pant leg. The bastards had realized the barbs were more painful and did more damage on the way out than the bullets did.
By the time Max had taken care of Michael, Kyle was stopping under the steep way leading up to the cave. The bike came from the right this time but Kyle was faster and charged it pinning it to the hill. They all rushed out of the SUV and raced up towards the hidden entrance, wondering why it was so silent behind them. They weren’t stopping to find out until Max stepped up to open the rock door. They took quick looks towards the bike but it was still pinned by the van and neither Jesse nor the woman were nowhere in sight. Had they fallen under the wheels and were crushed to death? Was that why there was no sound at all from them? As they waited anxiously for the slab to roll open, they crowded on Michael’s left side ready to push him in first when the hissing sound made them turn to see the two figures clad in black shooting with impossible speed a succession of arrows over the hood of the van. Michael crashed against the side of the makeshift door and they ducked, half pushing half dragging him inside.
Jesse and Lala thought they had finally snapped and gone out of their minds to turn into sitting ducks on the road to nowhere. They couldn’t believe their eyes when the whole group disappeared into the hillside and the strong signal they got from Michael’s blood suddenly was gone. They had simply vanished in thin air. They ran up the way they had seen them go, but found nothing, the track simply ended, there was only the steep rocky side all the way down. A gust of wind made them shield their eyes and when they looked down, the van shimmered and was gone, leaving only their useless wrecked bike sliding down on the sand from lack of support.
Serena opened her eyes and told them what she had done. Amaru had not only made the van invisible at her request, but also unsubstantial, so that the only way those two could leave the desert was walking.
When Max finished with Michael, he knew the boy was about to pass out. Even if he had healed him, the physical torture he was going through was too much. Every breath made him shudder with pain and he desperately needed a break from it. They could all sense his struggle to stay with them and not sure he would make it.
Serena knew what Michael needed and Amaru came once again to his rescue. He knelt by the boy and opened his pouch.
“Rest still, my prince, I shall ease your pain and make you sleep to regain your strength. You’ll just feel the sting of my spines, which is not new to you and nothing to what you’re hurting right now. Then you’ll just let go and rest until you’re ready to open your eyes again.”
They watched Amaru’s expert hands work on Michael, quickly and efficiently slipping in a spine where the bullets and arrows had entered his body.
“He also had an arrow inside him…you know?...” Maria didn’t know how to put it.
“I know.” Amaru smiled at her kindly. “I can’t put spines in there but I have another way.”
He produced what looked like a transparent tube punched full of holes for about ten inches on one end and a vial of a brownish liquid which he inverted and attached to the other end of the tube. The liquid started sliding all the way to the tip but Amaru stopped it from leaking through the holes yet. He slowly and carefully pushed it into Michael and rubbed the tube just outside him. They could see the liquid in the vial start to flow down the tube and Amaru left it suspended in the air to allow it to empty into the boy. Michael began to writhe and moan as the parasites once again buried deeper to stay away from the herbal potion that didn’t seem to agree with them.
“What is it child?” Amaru asked, perplexed.
“It stings…” Michael whispered.
“It shouldn’t, but it must be because you were so badly hurt in there, it will pass soon, you’ll see.” Amaru soothed him.
Then he skimmed his fingertips all over the sound parts of Michael’s body and they saw him relaxing, his eyes closed and soon he was sleeping.
Amaru stood up and took out two more vials from his pouch giving them them to Serena. He told her he would be back after each one to replace it and check out the spines until the last one was over so he could take them out. Each one would last five hours so Michael would sleep for fifteen hours. He took some small vials and called Max and Kyle, putting his arms around their shoulders and leading them as far from Michael as was possible.
“You will drink one of these each which will last one hour. It will make you invisible but due to your human quality, it won’t make you unsubstantial. I’m taking that away from the vehicle too so you will go down and you’ll be able to see it, being in the same condition as you are. You will be able to use it without any problems, just remember you can be touched and even damaged accidentally so be very careful to stay out of the way of those who can’t see you. This is what you’ll do:”
ALIENS FULL TILT!
-
ñusta
- Obsessed Roswellian
- Posts: 510
- Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2004 10:52 pm
- Location: heights of Machu Picchu
the calm before the storm
Chapter 112
Amaru took a break to look in Michael’s direction and make sure he was still sleeping and unaware of what he was planning. He knew Michael would not approve of anything that might mean the slightest risk to his friends but this was fairly safe and it could save Michael’s life, so he hoped he would be forgiven.
“Max, you must get in touch with Gleykan and…” Amaru began.
“Who?” Max asked, confused.
“I’m sorry, I’m not that familiar with your protector’s human name…” The Shaman apologized.
“Oh, you mean Kal Langley! But he won’t take my calls.” Max said, discouraged.
“Can you let him know Michael’s been hurt and needs his help? It’s the truth.” Amaru said bluntly.
“You’re right! I’ll send him an urgent text message and wait for his answer.” Max was sure that would work.
“Fine, tell him what’s been going on, if he knows people in important places he might find a way to stop the predators. That’s where your father comes in.” He turned to Kyle. “This area is in his jurisdiction, right? It definitely concerns him and the safety of the people under his care. Maybe that agent you know could help too. Gleykan can make the problem known to stop them and Kyle’s father can make it happen with a nudge from the agent at the source where they could be controlled.” The Shaman instructed.
Max and Kyle stared at him open mouthed at the man’s perception of Earthly things. They saw Amaru’s eyes roll back in his head and let him do whatever he was up to until he was back again.
“I’ve moved the vehicle back from the smaller one of the predators because its now material weight would cause it further damage and if they go back to it they would get suspicious to find it in worse conditions than it was before.”
“We need to get food and stuff if we’re going to stay sheltered here while their siege lasts and we can do the shopping without actually going into Roswell, where we are known and would immediately involve our families. We’ll wait until we’re visible and leave the van safely out of sight. Then we will drink another vial to go invisible again to return, but what about the van?” Max didn’t have that very clear.
“Don’t worry, it will stay invisible until I change its status. You’ll only see it when you’re invisible too, though of course you can find it by tact. If you go inside, you will be rendered invisible automatically without having to take anything, but you will be seen when you come down. Don’t stick your heads or arms out of the windows because it will be weird to see only the parts of you that are exposed.” Amaru chuckled, imagining it but Max and Kyle made faces, thinking it gross and dangerous.
“What about the shopping? The bags will seem to be floating up to the cave…they will surely see them.” Max looked worried.
“As long as you’re invisible and touching them, they will become so too, just be careful not to lose contact in any way, like dropping them because that would end the spell on them. Keep in mind that whatever you or the van touches as long as you’re under the invisibility spell, will also become invisible until the contact is lost.” Amaru assured him.
“Must we wait for a whole hour to get visible again? Maybe half an hour would be more than enough because the place where we’re going is only about twenty minutes away. We could take ten minutes out of sight to check around and make sure we have what we need not to lose too much time and return to the van to get visible again and do the real shopping.” Kyle said sensibly.
“Give me the vials.” Amaru reached for them and held them tight in his hands before he gave them back.
There were now four vials, and smaller, obviously half doses.
“They’re half the time each now. I think you know all there is to it. Keep always a vial in your pocket just in case and make sure no one is watching when you disappear or reappear. Now go, it’s kind of bitter, but think of the benefits.” The Shaman nodded and grinned when he saw their eyes pop out as they swallowed.
It was the first time Amaru watched it work in humans and he was almost laughing as they didn’t disappear all at once like they did. Or Michael, who took longer because of the automatic resistance of his Royal blood and the fact that he couldn’t drink it, but when it kicked in, he went out all together. With Max and Kyle it was different. Their hair was the first to go, leaving them bald as newborns, the eyebrows and lashes were also gone, so that meant all the body hair too. The flesh was the next, leaving two skeletons with their jaws working as they laughed watching each other but their frame was also gone in seconds.
“I was about to ask you to let me go with you so I can meet Wayne with the SUV but do I have to do that too?” Derek asked, not too enthusiastic.
“Just take hold of their hands and you will be invisible until you get into the vehicle. Once inside, you will be invisible anyway until you step out without any contact with either of them.” Amaru told him.
“Fine. I just need to take a taxi to wherever Wayne is waiting for me.” Derek went to kiss Serena goodbye and told her they would be in touch to see how they could help. He felt two hands in his and he was tingling all over knowing what had happened.
“Alright, we’re off.” Amaru heard Kyle say and then the slab rolled open just enough to let them squeeze through and closed again.
They went down the slope as fast as it was reasonable for Derek, careful not to make a sound and saw the SUV waiting for them. They turned the engine on hoping they wouldn’t be heard, which they doubted because it was almost silent. Bless modern technology! Checking out their watches to make sure there were no blunders, they ironically headed for the store by the motel where Michael had been held hostage and tortured by Nicholas with his three human puppets, because it was the nearest. They remembered it was quite well stocked and they would find most of what they needed. The girls would probably have a large list ready for a second outing by the time they came back, but there had been no time for that then. As soon as they took off, Max sent Kal the text message and he called back almost immediately.
“All right Max, spit it all out!” He said in the rough tone he saved for the ex-king.
Max gave him a detailed description of the last traumatic days, from the moment Michael was shot as he rode until their current ordeal.
“Hang on! I have at least five owners of important nation wide newspapers who owe me big and they will love to have the ‘exclusive’ even if they will be at each others’ throats when they find out they all had it on the front page at the same time. That will be my laugh. The head of the FBI will have the two jerks’ heads in a platter in no time. Just wait and see what the power of the press can do! I wish I could get my hands on those bastards! I’m glad the Shaman is helping you. He is very powerful and totally reliable. The very best, send my regards to him. Keep me in touch, you hear?” And the connection was cut off before Max could utter another sound.
Meanwhile Derek had gone to the back of the van and called Wayne to arrange their meeting. Wayne was staying at a small motel by the airport waiting to hear from him so Derek told him to stay put and he would catch a taxi to meet him there.
Just in time because Kyle had found a thick copse with trees behind the motel where they could safely park unseen. Derek got down first and came out of the trees completely visible, after they made sure there was no one to see them. Then Derek went with the invisible pair to the store and Max used his powers to make the telephone ring so the woman behind the counter would be looking the other way as she took the call. They slipped beside Derek when he opened the door and got what they needed, staying away from the front aisle as their friend looked around, bought a newspaper and then went to the cafeteria around the corner where he found a couple of taxis right in front of it. He would tell them what he and Wayne would do through Serena, because with the two trystels sieging them, Max had decided it would be safer for Derek and Wayne to stay away until they could get rid of the predators. Meanwhile the woman was going through some quite colourful obsenities at whoever stayed silent at the other side and hanged up returning to her magazine looking quite pissed. Very carefully, Max and Kyle found everything they needed and materialized out of her sight at the back aisle. When they saw Derek leaving in a taxi through the window they breathed in relief and Max made the phone ring again to divide her attention from them. She glared at the phone but didn’t answer it so they walked nonchalantly up to the counter.
- How much is this? - Kyle asked, looking as innocent as he could muster.
- Shit! Sorry, where did you guys come from? - She asked, flushing red.
- You were having a fight with the telephone. - Max smiled and nodded towards the still ringing appliance.
- Sick bastards! I hate the breathers! - She smiled back and took the receiver off the hook and slammed it back again. - Alright, what do we have here? -
They paid and left quietly, arriving at the van and finding the door without any problems, so they climbed in leaving the windows closed to stay safe. Max now used his powers to send Jim Valenti a mental message to meet them at the outskirts of Roswell behind the infamous trailer park where Michael had spent his childhood. He specifically told him to park between the old well and the abandoned warehouse asap. About ten minutes after they arrived, they saw the police van parking where they had asked him to and Jim walked out. Kyle opened the window after he made sure they were alone and whistled, pushing his arm out and beckoning to him.
- What the fuck! - They heard Jim whisper with wide open eyes.
He approached cautiously, knowing it had to be alien, and recognized his son’s hand the second he was close enough. He reached out and grabbed it to be pulled towards the invisible SUV.
- Watch your step dad, you’re climbing into a van. - Kyle also whispered.
Jim felt the metal step against his shin and stepped up. He leant forwards unknowingly poking his head inside the van and was finally able to see Max and his son grinning at him from the front seat of the SUV.
- Hurry up and close the door. - Max ordered.
Once inside, Max drove the SUV until it was fender to fender with Jim’s van, rendering it invisible too. Max explained what he had done and waited while Jim embraced his son and then bear hugged him too. Then they formed a circle to brief Jim on everything that had happened to them since their last contact. Once over, Jim’s concern for Michael took over.
- Let me know how I can help and I’ll do it. - He said angrily, through gritted teeth.
- I have an idea. No one but us knows yet that those two creeps are out in the desert waiting for us to reappear, so since they are heavily armed, you can say you heard gunshots as you passed by that area. You went to investigate and you were shot at too, but luckily neither you nor your van was hit. You’ll have to invent a reasonable excuse for being there when you arrive at the station, because I think the whole thing about the airport fiasco and the fact that some invented witnesses saw them attacking us and lurking where they are now, will coincide with your story and get the Roswell police department rushing to find them. Of course the FBI will be all over the place as fast as you guys, so when they don’t find us, they will just presume we managed to get away after luring our attackers into an area we are familiar with and they aren’t. - Max told him.
- I have another idea. I was supposed to visit the Matson’s farm after they were victims of an invasion of vagrants a couple of days ago, to make sure they are all gone. It happens to be in the perfect spot, so I’ll say I was stopped by these hikers on the way over. They said they heard shots and they saw these weird couple dressed in black shooting at the rock formation where your cave is, describing it in detail. When they saw them, they aimed their way so they took off as fast as they could. They managed to reach their car and get away unscathed and were heading to town to report it to us but found me. When I went to call the station from my van, they shouted they didn’t want any problems so they were just heading back home to Colorado. They scrambled into their car and took off. The plates were all smeared in sand and dirt so I could only make the last two numbers which I think were…05 but I’m not that sure, could’ve been 83 or 38, whatever. It wasn’t clear through the smudges. They were obviously scared shitless so I saw no reason to follow them but went to the place they said they had been shot at. I saw no one, so probably they were hiding after having been discovered, and the last thing they wanted was the cops on them. All I found was a bike, quite battered and useless beside the hillside without plates so it must still be there. Then I’ll say I consider it kind of risky going back in the dark with the possibility of armed people there so tomorrow we could go back with a couple more guys for back-up. Of course, as you say, the news by then will be all over and the FBI on the way if not already there. That ok? - Jim arched his eyebrows, waiting for approval.
- Perfect! You’re the cop, no doubts about it! - Max patted Jim’s arm fondly.
- We better go now. We must be very careful not to get too close to anyone and since they can’t see us, it’s quite risky. - Kyle gave his father another hug before he pushed him gently out of the van when Max made sure it was alright. Max backed away from Jim’s van making it reappear so he could leave before them. As soon as they were alone, they toasted with the brew and took their time to reach the highway safely, hurrying back to the cave. They parked around the corner behind a cactus thicket far enough from where the bike was to avoid accidental contact with the SUV in case the area would be crowded the next day. Max surrounded the van with the spiky columns to make sure it would be impossible to touch it. Then they carefully carried the bags all the way to the door and again, opened it just enough to let them through. This time, though, the trystels must have been more alert because the second the slab started closing, they heard the impact of bullets against it and the hillside. They must have managed to sense Michael through the open space but they were luckily not fast enough or their signals not that clear because of the short time they were exposed to their victim’s scent. Soon after, they could hear them shuffling around just outside their shelter, trying to find a way in but unable to find one. They were shouting at each other angrily until they gave up and left back to their lookout behind a rock, where all their weapons were hidden.
It was a long night, as they all camped around the sleeping warrior. Max and Kyle had brought food and water for a month, a large cooler and warm clothes and sleeping bags. The Antares water was still only drank by Max, Kyle and Stuart, and when Amaru appeared five hours later to check on the spines, Max was the first to ask him for more Antares water because they were beginning to run short, telling him the vials on the ships were perfect for keeping it from spilling and making him promise to get them for him. The Shaman had always considered Max as weird as they came so it was probably one of his quirks and thought it wouldn’t do any harm to indulge him, so he said he would. Then he went over to his patient to check out the spines, giving each a gentle nudge with his fingertip and eliciting a soft moan from the still hurting boy with every touch. He patiently waited until the last drop of the rusty liquid left the vial to replace it with the new one and make sure it was working as he expected it to.
“I’ll be back in five hours.” He whispered softly, as if Michael could hear him and the way the boy smirked in his sleep confirmed he had.
“Take good care of him, let him feel you’re here with him, keep in close contact, that’s what he needs most of all.” Were his last words before he vanished.
- He’s doing fine. - Serena said, pressing her lips to the boy’s cheek to find his body temperature was practically normal, the touch of fever quite justifiable. - We have five hours to sleep before Amaru comes again, and I’m sure we all need them, even us aliens. -
They made themselves comfortable in the warm clothes and sleeping bags, their body heat providing Michael with all he needed: the warmth of their love. A few minutes later, Serena suddenly sat up and had them all asking her what was wrong.
- Don’t worry, it was Derek communicating with me. He met Wayne and they were going to take a room in a hotel in Roswell, but I told them it would be better if they returned to Tucson and made sure things were ok there. They’re going to return the SUV here and take a flight to Tucson right away. He’ll let me know when they’re back home. - Serena said. - Ok, back to sleep, now! -
The energy announcing the Shaman’s visit had them sitting up to welcome him and watch him take care of Michael with all the love and respect he felt for the boy.
His next visit found the girls making breakfast and getting ready for whatever the new day brought. He started easing the spines out as he waited for the last vial to go empty. Michael squirmed and whimpered throughout the whole thing bringing everyone running to be with him.
“The spines have done their job, but the internal damage will require three more vials.” He said, producing another one to replace the empty one.
Michael took a deep breath and let it out with a wince. His insides seemed to be bubbling with acid as the uneasy parasites kept twisting and turning restlessly under the threat of the herbal medicine.
“I have added an extra herb that’s very astringent and it may sting a little, but it is necessary. His internal tissues are still quite raw so I’m providing a stronger healing source. I’ll be back in time to change it. Oh, this is for you!”
The Shaman waved his hand and three packs of Antares water vials, one for each of Michael’s lovers, undetectably contaminated, materialized on the ground and Amaru vanished before he could be thanked.
Max reluctantly handed Kyle and Stuart a pack each, but their thirst had gone down to almost nonexistent since Michael was in no condition to have sex with them. Now they were just normally hungry and waited for the girls to bring them breakfast. That’s when pandemonium broke loose outside.
When Agent Suzanne Duff saw the headlines on the newspaper she got from the lobby as she was leaving her building, she knew just what it meant. She took a taxi to get there faster and read about the shocking behaviour of the two FBIs at the airfield and the attacks narrated by accidental witnesses, though no names were mentioned for their protection except the ones of the culprits. She arrived at the headquarters to find the place had turned into a madhouse. Her boss was running around the place screaming orders to everyone who came in sight and went: ‘YOU!’ pointing at her the second he saw her.
- A chopper has already taken our elite snipers to the Roswell desert and I want you to be on the next one which should be arriving any minute now. You will get in touch with the Valenti cop you worked with on that kidnap gig and who seems to be the only one who knows what’s really going on. Get into appropriate clothes right away, you hardly have time! Go, go! GO! - He shouted and urged her on. It was going to be one long day, she kept telling herself as she ran to her office and changed into the kind of uniform she would need for what lay ahead of her. She had barely stepped into the heavy duty field boots when she heard the helicopter ready to touch down on the roof of the building that acted as an emergency airfield. She had to race up several flights of stairs to get there and was one of the last ones to board the large chopper, full of armed men. Jesse and Lala had reached the point of no return and it was over for them…at last! She hated to admit she actually felt relief to be rid of them. By the time her group arrived at the siege site, it was already over. One of the snipers had the courtesy of informing her that the pair of idiots had stood up and opened fire against their own when requested to lay down their weapons and come out with their hands in plain view. They were down before they could take their next breath, thrown backwards with the impact of a bullet between the eyebrows, like the third eye of Lobsang Rampa. Now her private quest for the aliens began. She had explicit instructions to get in touch with the restituted sheriff Jim Valenti and try to find out the true story behind the whole hoax. Of course she would, but only for her. For the rest of the Bureau it would be just that: a big hoax created by the obsessed mind of Jesse Ramirez and his equally demented partner. They were all better off without them.
Very discreetly and outwardly quite professional, she approached the Roswell sheriff and left with him in his van. The interview was private and for their ears only. They would later put on tape what she would take to the FBI for their records.
- They are inside the hill, but the access can only be opened by them. There may be a way for us to go to them, but we have to be very careful not to give them away. I’ve memorized Max’s cellphone, but we must buy one of those cheap untraceable ones like his to get in touch with him. Michael is undergoing a serious healing process after Jesse Ramirez and his partner have been attacking him with bullets and arrows all the way until they managed to hide in the hill. I haven’t seen him, but I met my son and Max and they told me all about it. - Jim wasn’t about to disclose to Suzanne that his lately waking powers allowed him to communicate with Max mentally, though still very weakly and not totally reliable, so it was better to use the cellphone ruse. Jim dropped Suzanne at his place where Amy was happy to lend her some clothes that wouldn’t identify her for what she really was. Jim had told her all he knew but made it clear he couldn’t risk taking her with them. Suzanne had bought the cellphone they needed at the shopping centre a few blocks away, so when Jim arrived home a couple of hours later, they took his old van from the garage and headed for the highway. Jim called Max who had Serena answer as he didn’t know the phone number of the caller, ready to say it was the wrong number, but Serena smiled and passed the phone back to Max with the caller’s id.
- Sheriff! Is it true they’re dead? We didn’t dare take a look because even invisible, we would have had to activate the door and it could have been seen, but we heard the choppers and a lot of shooting before it was quiet. We got some news on a radio I got yesterday but the signal was not that clear and it kept stalling and coming back again so we got it in snatches. - Max’s voice was full of tension.
- Yes, they’re dead, shot by the FBI snipers. The idiots opened fire instead of obeying the orders to come out with empty hands and had to be taken down. Agent Suzanne Duff is here with me. She wants to see you if you will allow it. - Jim informed him.
- Of course! Where are you? Is it safe to come out? - Max asked.
- My people have all cleared out and returned to base after looking all over the place and finding nothing. We’re on the highway in Sheriff Valenti’s old van. - She told him when Jim handed her the phone.
- Tell him to take the old road to the dry creek, we’ll meet you at the mill. - Max instructed her and when he heard Jim’s voice on the background saying it was alright, he cut off the communication.
Amaru took a break to look in Michael’s direction and make sure he was still sleeping and unaware of what he was planning. He knew Michael would not approve of anything that might mean the slightest risk to his friends but this was fairly safe and it could save Michael’s life, so he hoped he would be forgiven.
“Max, you must get in touch with Gleykan and…” Amaru began.
“Who?” Max asked, confused.
“I’m sorry, I’m not that familiar with your protector’s human name…” The Shaman apologized.
“Oh, you mean Kal Langley! But he won’t take my calls.” Max said, discouraged.
“Can you let him know Michael’s been hurt and needs his help? It’s the truth.” Amaru said bluntly.
“You’re right! I’ll send him an urgent text message and wait for his answer.” Max was sure that would work.
“Fine, tell him what’s been going on, if he knows people in important places he might find a way to stop the predators. That’s where your father comes in.” He turned to Kyle. “This area is in his jurisdiction, right? It definitely concerns him and the safety of the people under his care. Maybe that agent you know could help too. Gleykan can make the problem known to stop them and Kyle’s father can make it happen with a nudge from the agent at the source where they could be controlled.” The Shaman instructed.
Max and Kyle stared at him open mouthed at the man’s perception of Earthly things. They saw Amaru’s eyes roll back in his head and let him do whatever he was up to until he was back again.
“I’ve moved the vehicle back from the smaller one of the predators because its now material weight would cause it further damage and if they go back to it they would get suspicious to find it in worse conditions than it was before.”
“We need to get food and stuff if we’re going to stay sheltered here while their siege lasts and we can do the shopping without actually going into Roswell, where we are known and would immediately involve our families. We’ll wait until we’re visible and leave the van safely out of sight. Then we will drink another vial to go invisible again to return, but what about the van?” Max didn’t have that very clear.
“Don’t worry, it will stay invisible until I change its status. You’ll only see it when you’re invisible too, though of course you can find it by tact. If you go inside, you will be rendered invisible automatically without having to take anything, but you will be seen when you come down. Don’t stick your heads or arms out of the windows because it will be weird to see only the parts of you that are exposed.” Amaru chuckled, imagining it but Max and Kyle made faces, thinking it gross and dangerous.
“What about the shopping? The bags will seem to be floating up to the cave…they will surely see them.” Max looked worried.
“As long as you’re invisible and touching them, they will become so too, just be careful not to lose contact in any way, like dropping them because that would end the spell on them. Keep in mind that whatever you or the van touches as long as you’re under the invisibility spell, will also become invisible until the contact is lost.” Amaru assured him.
“Must we wait for a whole hour to get visible again? Maybe half an hour would be more than enough because the place where we’re going is only about twenty minutes away. We could take ten minutes out of sight to check around and make sure we have what we need not to lose too much time and return to the van to get visible again and do the real shopping.” Kyle said sensibly.
“Give me the vials.” Amaru reached for them and held them tight in his hands before he gave them back.
There were now four vials, and smaller, obviously half doses.
“They’re half the time each now. I think you know all there is to it. Keep always a vial in your pocket just in case and make sure no one is watching when you disappear or reappear. Now go, it’s kind of bitter, but think of the benefits.” The Shaman nodded and grinned when he saw their eyes pop out as they swallowed.
It was the first time Amaru watched it work in humans and he was almost laughing as they didn’t disappear all at once like they did. Or Michael, who took longer because of the automatic resistance of his Royal blood and the fact that he couldn’t drink it, but when it kicked in, he went out all together. With Max and Kyle it was different. Their hair was the first to go, leaving them bald as newborns, the eyebrows and lashes were also gone, so that meant all the body hair too. The flesh was the next, leaving two skeletons with their jaws working as they laughed watching each other but their frame was also gone in seconds.
“I was about to ask you to let me go with you so I can meet Wayne with the SUV but do I have to do that too?” Derek asked, not too enthusiastic.
“Just take hold of their hands and you will be invisible until you get into the vehicle. Once inside, you will be invisible anyway until you step out without any contact with either of them.” Amaru told him.
“Fine. I just need to take a taxi to wherever Wayne is waiting for me.” Derek went to kiss Serena goodbye and told her they would be in touch to see how they could help. He felt two hands in his and he was tingling all over knowing what had happened.
“Alright, we’re off.” Amaru heard Kyle say and then the slab rolled open just enough to let them squeeze through and closed again.
They went down the slope as fast as it was reasonable for Derek, careful not to make a sound and saw the SUV waiting for them. They turned the engine on hoping they wouldn’t be heard, which they doubted because it was almost silent. Bless modern technology! Checking out their watches to make sure there were no blunders, they ironically headed for the store by the motel where Michael had been held hostage and tortured by Nicholas with his three human puppets, because it was the nearest. They remembered it was quite well stocked and they would find most of what they needed. The girls would probably have a large list ready for a second outing by the time they came back, but there had been no time for that then. As soon as they took off, Max sent Kal the text message and he called back almost immediately.
“All right Max, spit it all out!” He said in the rough tone he saved for the ex-king.
Max gave him a detailed description of the last traumatic days, from the moment Michael was shot as he rode until their current ordeal.
“Hang on! I have at least five owners of important nation wide newspapers who owe me big and they will love to have the ‘exclusive’ even if they will be at each others’ throats when they find out they all had it on the front page at the same time. That will be my laugh. The head of the FBI will have the two jerks’ heads in a platter in no time. Just wait and see what the power of the press can do! I wish I could get my hands on those bastards! I’m glad the Shaman is helping you. He is very powerful and totally reliable. The very best, send my regards to him. Keep me in touch, you hear?” And the connection was cut off before Max could utter another sound.
Meanwhile Derek had gone to the back of the van and called Wayne to arrange their meeting. Wayne was staying at a small motel by the airport waiting to hear from him so Derek told him to stay put and he would catch a taxi to meet him there.
Just in time because Kyle had found a thick copse with trees behind the motel where they could safely park unseen. Derek got down first and came out of the trees completely visible, after they made sure there was no one to see them. Then Derek went with the invisible pair to the store and Max used his powers to make the telephone ring so the woman behind the counter would be looking the other way as she took the call. They slipped beside Derek when he opened the door and got what they needed, staying away from the front aisle as their friend looked around, bought a newspaper and then went to the cafeteria around the corner where he found a couple of taxis right in front of it. He would tell them what he and Wayne would do through Serena, because with the two trystels sieging them, Max had decided it would be safer for Derek and Wayne to stay away until they could get rid of the predators. Meanwhile the woman was going through some quite colourful obsenities at whoever stayed silent at the other side and hanged up returning to her magazine looking quite pissed. Very carefully, Max and Kyle found everything they needed and materialized out of her sight at the back aisle. When they saw Derek leaving in a taxi through the window they breathed in relief and Max made the phone ring again to divide her attention from them. She glared at the phone but didn’t answer it so they walked nonchalantly up to the counter.
- How much is this? - Kyle asked, looking as innocent as he could muster.
- Shit! Sorry, where did you guys come from? - She asked, flushing red.
- You were having a fight with the telephone. - Max smiled and nodded towards the still ringing appliance.
- Sick bastards! I hate the breathers! - She smiled back and took the receiver off the hook and slammed it back again. - Alright, what do we have here? -
They paid and left quietly, arriving at the van and finding the door without any problems, so they climbed in leaving the windows closed to stay safe. Max now used his powers to send Jim Valenti a mental message to meet them at the outskirts of Roswell behind the infamous trailer park where Michael had spent his childhood. He specifically told him to park between the old well and the abandoned warehouse asap. About ten minutes after they arrived, they saw the police van parking where they had asked him to and Jim walked out. Kyle opened the window after he made sure they were alone and whistled, pushing his arm out and beckoning to him.
- What the fuck! - They heard Jim whisper with wide open eyes.
He approached cautiously, knowing it had to be alien, and recognized his son’s hand the second he was close enough. He reached out and grabbed it to be pulled towards the invisible SUV.
- Watch your step dad, you’re climbing into a van. - Kyle also whispered.
Jim felt the metal step against his shin and stepped up. He leant forwards unknowingly poking his head inside the van and was finally able to see Max and his son grinning at him from the front seat of the SUV.
- Hurry up and close the door. - Max ordered.
Once inside, Max drove the SUV until it was fender to fender with Jim’s van, rendering it invisible too. Max explained what he had done and waited while Jim embraced his son and then bear hugged him too. Then they formed a circle to brief Jim on everything that had happened to them since their last contact. Once over, Jim’s concern for Michael took over.
- Let me know how I can help and I’ll do it. - He said angrily, through gritted teeth.
- I have an idea. No one but us knows yet that those two creeps are out in the desert waiting for us to reappear, so since they are heavily armed, you can say you heard gunshots as you passed by that area. You went to investigate and you were shot at too, but luckily neither you nor your van was hit. You’ll have to invent a reasonable excuse for being there when you arrive at the station, because I think the whole thing about the airport fiasco and the fact that some invented witnesses saw them attacking us and lurking where they are now, will coincide with your story and get the Roswell police department rushing to find them. Of course the FBI will be all over the place as fast as you guys, so when they don’t find us, they will just presume we managed to get away after luring our attackers into an area we are familiar with and they aren’t. - Max told him.
- I have another idea. I was supposed to visit the Matson’s farm after they were victims of an invasion of vagrants a couple of days ago, to make sure they are all gone. It happens to be in the perfect spot, so I’ll say I was stopped by these hikers on the way over. They said they heard shots and they saw these weird couple dressed in black shooting at the rock formation where your cave is, describing it in detail. When they saw them, they aimed their way so they took off as fast as they could. They managed to reach their car and get away unscathed and were heading to town to report it to us but found me. When I went to call the station from my van, they shouted they didn’t want any problems so they were just heading back home to Colorado. They scrambled into their car and took off. The plates were all smeared in sand and dirt so I could only make the last two numbers which I think were…05 but I’m not that sure, could’ve been 83 or 38, whatever. It wasn’t clear through the smudges. They were obviously scared shitless so I saw no reason to follow them but went to the place they said they had been shot at. I saw no one, so probably they were hiding after having been discovered, and the last thing they wanted was the cops on them. All I found was a bike, quite battered and useless beside the hillside without plates so it must still be there. Then I’ll say I consider it kind of risky going back in the dark with the possibility of armed people there so tomorrow we could go back with a couple more guys for back-up. Of course, as you say, the news by then will be all over and the FBI on the way if not already there. That ok? - Jim arched his eyebrows, waiting for approval.
- Perfect! You’re the cop, no doubts about it! - Max patted Jim’s arm fondly.
- We better go now. We must be very careful not to get too close to anyone and since they can’t see us, it’s quite risky. - Kyle gave his father another hug before he pushed him gently out of the van when Max made sure it was alright. Max backed away from Jim’s van making it reappear so he could leave before them. As soon as they were alone, they toasted with the brew and took their time to reach the highway safely, hurrying back to the cave. They parked around the corner behind a cactus thicket far enough from where the bike was to avoid accidental contact with the SUV in case the area would be crowded the next day. Max surrounded the van with the spiky columns to make sure it would be impossible to touch it. Then they carefully carried the bags all the way to the door and again, opened it just enough to let them through. This time, though, the trystels must have been more alert because the second the slab started closing, they heard the impact of bullets against it and the hillside. They must have managed to sense Michael through the open space but they were luckily not fast enough or their signals not that clear because of the short time they were exposed to their victim’s scent. Soon after, they could hear them shuffling around just outside their shelter, trying to find a way in but unable to find one. They were shouting at each other angrily until they gave up and left back to their lookout behind a rock, where all their weapons were hidden.
It was a long night, as they all camped around the sleeping warrior. Max and Kyle had brought food and water for a month, a large cooler and warm clothes and sleeping bags. The Antares water was still only drank by Max, Kyle and Stuart, and when Amaru appeared five hours later to check on the spines, Max was the first to ask him for more Antares water because they were beginning to run short, telling him the vials on the ships were perfect for keeping it from spilling and making him promise to get them for him. The Shaman had always considered Max as weird as they came so it was probably one of his quirks and thought it wouldn’t do any harm to indulge him, so he said he would. Then he went over to his patient to check out the spines, giving each a gentle nudge with his fingertip and eliciting a soft moan from the still hurting boy with every touch. He patiently waited until the last drop of the rusty liquid left the vial to replace it with the new one and make sure it was working as he expected it to.
“I’ll be back in five hours.” He whispered softly, as if Michael could hear him and the way the boy smirked in his sleep confirmed he had.
“Take good care of him, let him feel you’re here with him, keep in close contact, that’s what he needs most of all.” Were his last words before he vanished.
- He’s doing fine. - Serena said, pressing her lips to the boy’s cheek to find his body temperature was practically normal, the touch of fever quite justifiable. - We have five hours to sleep before Amaru comes again, and I’m sure we all need them, even us aliens. -
They made themselves comfortable in the warm clothes and sleeping bags, their body heat providing Michael with all he needed: the warmth of their love. A few minutes later, Serena suddenly sat up and had them all asking her what was wrong.
- Don’t worry, it was Derek communicating with me. He met Wayne and they were going to take a room in a hotel in Roswell, but I told them it would be better if they returned to Tucson and made sure things were ok there. They’re going to return the SUV here and take a flight to Tucson right away. He’ll let me know when they’re back home. - Serena said. - Ok, back to sleep, now! -
The energy announcing the Shaman’s visit had them sitting up to welcome him and watch him take care of Michael with all the love and respect he felt for the boy.
His next visit found the girls making breakfast and getting ready for whatever the new day brought. He started easing the spines out as he waited for the last vial to go empty. Michael squirmed and whimpered throughout the whole thing bringing everyone running to be with him.
“The spines have done their job, but the internal damage will require three more vials.” He said, producing another one to replace the empty one.
Michael took a deep breath and let it out with a wince. His insides seemed to be bubbling with acid as the uneasy parasites kept twisting and turning restlessly under the threat of the herbal medicine.
“I have added an extra herb that’s very astringent and it may sting a little, but it is necessary. His internal tissues are still quite raw so I’m providing a stronger healing source. I’ll be back in time to change it. Oh, this is for you!”
The Shaman waved his hand and three packs of Antares water vials, one for each of Michael’s lovers, undetectably contaminated, materialized on the ground and Amaru vanished before he could be thanked.
Max reluctantly handed Kyle and Stuart a pack each, but their thirst had gone down to almost nonexistent since Michael was in no condition to have sex with them. Now they were just normally hungry and waited for the girls to bring them breakfast. That’s when pandemonium broke loose outside.
When Agent Suzanne Duff saw the headlines on the newspaper she got from the lobby as she was leaving her building, she knew just what it meant. She took a taxi to get there faster and read about the shocking behaviour of the two FBIs at the airfield and the attacks narrated by accidental witnesses, though no names were mentioned for their protection except the ones of the culprits. She arrived at the headquarters to find the place had turned into a madhouse. Her boss was running around the place screaming orders to everyone who came in sight and went: ‘YOU!’ pointing at her the second he saw her.
- A chopper has already taken our elite snipers to the Roswell desert and I want you to be on the next one which should be arriving any minute now. You will get in touch with the Valenti cop you worked with on that kidnap gig and who seems to be the only one who knows what’s really going on. Get into appropriate clothes right away, you hardly have time! Go, go! GO! - He shouted and urged her on. It was going to be one long day, she kept telling herself as she ran to her office and changed into the kind of uniform she would need for what lay ahead of her. She had barely stepped into the heavy duty field boots when she heard the helicopter ready to touch down on the roof of the building that acted as an emergency airfield. She had to race up several flights of stairs to get there and was one of the last ones to board the large chopper, full of armed men. Jesse and Lala had reached the point of no return and it was over for them…at last! She hated to admit she actually felt relief to be rid of them. By the time her group arrived at the siege site, it was already over. One of the snipers had the courtesy of informing her that the pair of idiots had stood up and opened fire against their own when requested to lay down their weapons and come out with their hands in plain view. They were down before they could take their next breath, thrown backwards with the impact of a bullet between the eyebrows, like the third eye of Lobsang Rampa. Now her private quest for the aliens began. She had explicit instructions to get in touch with the restituted sheriff Jim Valenti and try to find out the true story behind the whole hoax. Of course she would, but only for her. For the rest of the Bureau it would be just that: a big hoax created by the obsessed mind of Jesse Ramirez and his equally demented partner. They were all better off without them.
Very discreetly and outwardly quite professional, she approached the Roswell sheriff and left with him in his van. The interview was private and for their ears only. They would later put on tape what she would take to the FBI for their records.
- They are inside the hill, but the access can only be opened by them. There may be a way for us to go to them, but we have to be very careful not to give them away. I’ve memorized Max’s cellphone, but we must buy one of those cheap untraceable ones like his to get in touch with him. Michael is undergoing a serious healing process after Jesse Ramirez and his partner have been attacking him with bullets and arrows all the way until they managed to hide in the hill. I haven’t seen him, but I met my son and Max and they told me all about it. - Jim wasn’t about to disclose to Suzanne that his lately waking powers allowed him to communicate with Max mentally, though still very weakly and not totally reliable, so it was better to use the cellphone ruse. Jim dropped Suzanne at his place where Amy was happy to lend her some clothes that wouldn’t identify her for what she really was. Jim had told her all he knew but made it clear he couldn’t risk taking her with them. Suzanne had bought the cellphone they needed at the shopping centre a few blocks away, so when Jim arrived home a couple of hours later, they took his old van from the garage and headed for the highway. Jim called Max who had Serena answer as he didn’t know the phone number of the caller, ready to say it was the wrong number, but Serena smiled and passed the phone back to Max with the caller’s id.
- Sheriff! Is it true they’re dead? We didn’t dare take a look because even invisible, we would have had to activate the door and it could have been seen, but we heard the choppers and a lot of shooting before it was quiet. We got some news on a radio I got yesterday but the signal was not that clear and it kept stalling and coming back again so we got it in snatches. - Max’s voice was full of tension.
- Yes, they’re dead, shot by the FBI snipers. The idiots opened fire instead of obeying the orders to come out with empty hands and had to be taken down. Agent Suzanne Duff is here with me. She wants to see you if you will allow it. - Jim informed him.
- Of course! Where are you? Is it safe to come out? - Max asked.
- My people have all cleared out and returned to base after looking all over the place and finding nothing. We’re on the highway in Sheriff Valenti’s old van. - She told him when Jim handed her the phone.
- Tell him to take the old road to the dry creek, we’ll meet you at the mill. - Max instructed her and when he heard Jim’s voice on the background saying it was alright, he cut off the communication.
ALIENS FULL TILT!