Immortal Essence Box Set: Aligned, Exiled, Beguiled (32 page)

“You’re doing great,” the woman whispered, handing him two water bottles.

Michael winked. Better if everyone believed he was getting the information for
them
.

“We’ll have you both some food in a while. K?” She twisted her ponytail with one finger.

He knew from experience she was flirting. “Great. I’m starving.” He backed away from the invisible wall. She swiped her badge again and the electric current returned. At his cot, he handed a water bottle to Venus through the bars.

“Thanks,” she said, working to open the lid.

“Let me do it.” It pained him to watch her struggle.

She handed it back. “I’m not usually such a weakling. On Kelari, I was quite strong, and not that it matters, stealthy, too.”

“Stealthy huh?” Michael twisted off the cap and stuck the bottle through the bars. She leaned up on an arm and took a sip, replaced the lid and lay back down. Her eyes closed and he watched, listening to the unnatural sounds coming from her with
every inhale
and exhale. Michael needed a plan. For now, he wanted to keep her alert, awake. “So what’s irrihunter?”

She looked at him, her vivid blue eyes sad. “An irrihunter is my favorite animal. They’re sacred and amazing.” Tears filled her eyes again.

“What’s wrong?” He reached through the bars and touched her hand. Her fingers were icy. Freezing. “Oh, man. You need a blanket.” He still had on his jacket. Pulling it off, he pushed it through the bars. “
Here.
Use this. It’ll keep you warm.” She took it and held on, but didn’t move to cover herself. “Let me help you,” Michael said, working to cover as much of her broken body as his denim jacket allowed. “I’m so sorry,” he said so quiet she seemed to strain to hear him.

“Thank you.” She tucked her hands under his jacket. “This helps a lot.”

“So, what’s amazing about these animals? Do
they
turn into two-headed monsters?” He smiled, hoping to get one out of her. She complied, barely.

“No. They’re . . .” she trailed off, her teeth tugging her bottom lip. “Imagine a shiny black horse, but with the head and temperament of a panther. And their teeth look more like the extinct cat of your planet, called saber-tooth.” She paused, staring into his eyes. “You got that?”

“Yep.”

“Okay, now add large, clawed paws to the feet instead of hooves, a mane and . . . gigantic wings.”

“Wings? What kind? Butterfly? Bird?” The animal sounded amazing all right.

This time she laughed. “No, more like a bat’s.”

“Oh, wow.”

“Right! And their eyes are a dazzling violet. They have fur, but it’s super short and so soft. Their ears are the same shape as a horse, but they have whiskers like a big cat.” 

“How cool. Can you ride them?”

“I can,” she said with a bit of her old attitude back. “But no, most kelarians won’t go near them. They’re dangerous creatures and can be very vicious, if not handled with the proper respect.”

Michael tried to imagine her on the back of one.
The wind in her hair.
Then he remembered the images he’d seen when they kissed. That’s what she’d been riding. It looked exactly as she’d described. Michael remembered how strange, yet right, it’d been to see such a little person sitting on such a large, ferocious beast. Before he realized what he was doing, he blurted, “I think I saw you riding one.”

She leaned up. “How?”

Now he’d have to explain it.
Crap!
Michael cleared his throat, pushed his hands through his knotted hair. “You know, when we, ah . . .” Crap, he’d try again. “Well, I saw some things when we k-kissed.” Michael would’ve called himself an idiot if he were
her
.

Idiot
.

She let out a nervous laugh, but her eyes sparkled. “It was a very memorable kiss, wasn’t it?”

He scratched his neck, working to keep his face from turning beet red. “Yeah.”

“I’d no idea you saw anything. Why didn’t you tell me before now? It’s . . . unusual. But, I’m glad.” She paused, gauging his reaction. “What did you think of her? Beautiful, right?”

“That was a
her
? She looked terrifying.”

Tears fell onto her cheeks. She sniffled, wiped her eyes and laughed at the same time.

“I’m an idiot. Sorry.” Michael had no idea what he apologized for, but he knew he’d do anything to keep her from crying.

“Oh, it isn’t you. She was my irrihunter and she was killed. Murdered. Her baby, too.” She wiped away her tears. 

“Venus, I really am sorry. Why would someone do that?” Michael wanted to find them and hurt them—for her sake.

“I don’t know.” She shook her head, suddenly vicious. “Whoever it was should die. I wanted to be the one to find them. Now, though—” She broke off, a sob escaping her.

“Why not now?” he asked, hoping this time she’d tell him.

“Michael, be serious.” Anger flashed across her face. She sat up, crossed her legs. “I’m in here and I’m not well. You know as well as I do, this place will be my grave.” The last words were said in a hushed manner.
So full of grief.

Michael wanted to correct her, tell her it wasn’t true. They were going to escape. But if he said or acted differently, they’d know. His father would know. And he needed to keep Frank—especially Frank—in the dark about his true feelings. So, he clenched his jaw and ground his teeth. Swallowing the words he wanted to say and responded, “Maybe not.”

She lay back down. “You’re lying. It doesn’t matter though.”

Ugh, it did matter. She mattered. Nothing and no one had ever mattered more. Escaping. Helping her. That’d become his priority. After his father and Abe left for the night—if they left . . . They’d better leave. He’d figure out a way to get Venus out.

“Will you tell me a story?” 

Venus’s body burned, the medicine wearing off. She resisted the urge to cough and tried to imagine herself back on Kelari, free of
this
awful place. Death seemed to be the answer, the only way.

More than anything she wanted justice. For her family! Her irrihunter and the unborn baby! Instead she sat in a cell, at the mercy of this atmosphere, and these people, including Michael.

It was obvious he felt bad about his part in capturing her. It didn’t change the fact that he’d done it. Taken her from Zaren, forced her to endure their torturous tests. Confined her to this evil, stinking place. 

Michael wanted a story. Fine, she’d give him a story. “Sure. It’s a long one.”

He smiled. “The longer the better.”

She took a small breath. Not that it did any good, but she needed to clear her mind.
Three. Two. One.
“Before kelarians existed, there were others, called
gethniovians
.”

“
Gethni
. . . others?” He sat up, directly across from her. Crossed his legs as Venus had hers and placed his arms across his lap.

“Yes.
Back then
,
Kelari was full of division
. Six different tribes roamed our world. The
Ertherns
,
Winbeys
,
Firclees
,
Watrets
,
Monobians
, and the
Suraeys
.”

“Okay.”

She stifled a giggle. They were kelarian words, but since English didn’t have duplicates, they’d have to do. “The
Suraeys
were the largest tribe. They also believed they deserved to rule our world. Of course, though the other tribes were smaller; they had their own reasons for thinking they should rule. Every year or so, one tribe would war against another. The biggest reason was always to conquer, but smaller reasons usually started the war.
A fight for more land, insidious threats, or lies.
Ridiculous reasons, really. The war that brought extinction to nearly all of the tribes and begins my story, happened over a piece of fruit.”

She watched him raise a brow. “You’re joking?”

“Nope. I’m not.”

“Well, wars begin on our planet for stupid reasons, too.”

“Oh, I know. Maybe even more than you do. See, we kelarians have been around a lot longer than humans. Our race has studied your world and its inhabitants for hundreds of thousands of years. The similarities between our planets, the idea that we look so much alike, that we have land and water similar to Earth, has kept us intrigued. You need to realize our kind make the change into immortality at the age of sixteen. Forever is a long time.” Venus waited for that information to sink in. There wasn’t any doubt Frank and possibly that scary guy, Abe, were listening.
Well, let them listen.
There wasn’t a thing they could do with the information.

“Really? Tell me about an incident I wouldn’t already know—about one of our wars.”

He’d challenged her and she accepted.

“Okay. You know the war called The Civil War?

He nodded.

“The war was important and would’ve happened anyway, but it began because Jefferson Davis lost a game of poker.”

“No it didn’t.”

“Afraid so.” Venus chuckled quietly.

He looked doubtful and the history lesson wasn’t getting her story anywhere. She decided against further discussion on the matter. Regardless of the fact that her father happened to be on the planet at the time, and a close, personal friend to Abraham Lincoln, and her mother, a dear friend to his wife, Mary Ann. That information didn’t need to be announced, especially not here, with a room full of listeners. They might kill her for lying instead of because she was an
alien
.

Venus leaned forward and, in a whisper, said, “Let’s just say, my mom and dad were here when the war began.” He looked astonished, but she put a finger to her lips. “Another time.”

“Count on it,” he whispered back.

Louder, she continued, “The
Watret
tribe leader accused the
Firclee
leader of stealing a
gnuff
off a tree in one of his groves.”

He slapped his forehead, which forced a giggle out of her.

“It’s a fruit which looks like an orange, tastes like a plum and is the color of a banana. When you peel it, the fruit is the consistency of a plum, too.”

“
Gnuff
is a great name for it. Your explanation was
gnuff
to give me a headache,” he said with a smirk.

“Ha. Ha. Do you want me to tell you this story or not?” Venus pushed down the tickle in her throat.

“Yes, please.”

“K. Now, whether he actually committed the crime or not doesn’t matter. What’s important is that the course of all life on Kelari altered after that war.”

“What happened?”

“The
Watret
and
Firclee
tribes asked the other tribes to join them in their quest for dominance, making promises, creating secret organizations, planning assassinations and changing leaders faster than you change your underpants.”

Michael laughed. “I change my underpants at least three times a day. You sure they were switching leaders that often?” His laugh was nice to hear.

Venus joined in. “Well not quite that much.” Sweat covered the back of her neck. In a matter of minutes she’d gone from freezing cold to hot. She needed to get her hair up. Quickly, she spun her hair into a knot at the back of her head and tucked it in a bun. Michael’s jacket slipped. She wrapped it further around her legs and knees. It smelled of him, a hint of cigarette smoke, but mostly of earth and sun-kissed pears.

She felt natural talking to Michael. If she had to die in this awful place, having him with her would make it better.

She smiled again. “Finally the
Watret
tribe convinced three other tribes to join them. The
Ertherns
. The
Winbeys
.
And the
Monobians
.
Though it seemed the
Firclee
had a disadvantage, the fact was, the
Suraey
tribe was gigantic. They were also violent. Kind of like the Huns of your planet’s history—very large and bred to be killers.”

Venus paused at the sound of
clack-clacking
. The woman had returned. She walked past Venus’s cell without even a glance in her direction, and moved on to Michael’s. In the woman’s hands were two bags.
Some sort of fast food.

“Hi, Michael. I brought you and
her
hamburgers and fries. Hope you like pickles?” She zinged the electric current off. Clearly, she eagerly anticipated time with Michael.

Michael climbed off his cot and walked over. “Oh, pickles are fine.” He touched her hand as he took one of the bags from her. “Thank you for thinking of us, uh, what’s your name?”