Immortal Essence Box Set: Aligned, Exiled, Beguiled (33 page)

“Sharon,” she answered, dazzling pink stinging her cheekbones.

“Sharon.” He said her name as though she were a decadent treat.

Oh, he’s impressive.

“You’re welcome, Michael. If there’s anything else you need, please let me know. I’ll be here all night.”

“Really?” he asked with a sexy lilt.

“
Cret
,” Venus whispered, trying not to remember what his mother had called him. Catherine’s words were seared into her brain. A man whore, that’s what she’d called him. He certainly had the skills.

“Yes, your father had to go out.” She lowered her voice and Venus didn’t catch what else she said.

Michael touched her forearm, a slight caress. Venus shivered in despair.

What’s he doing? Is he only using me to amuse himself? Ugh. Do I really care? No!

She now understood why she’d remained connected to him. Michael had told Cheverly he loved her, but either he didn’t mean it or he wasn’t
in
love with her. She wasn’t his true love. If she were, he wouldn’t be able to flirt so easily. At least Venus didn’t think so.

After a few more whispered words, Sharon stepped on the other side of his cell and turned the electrical wall back on. Then she walked away,
clack-clacking
, which wore on Venus’s nerves. She tried to ignore the jealousy rising up. Frankly, Venus was irritated. She’d be dead in a day.
Two at the most.
Whatever feelings she had for Michael were irrelevant.

As Michael climbed on his cot, he handed her a bag. “
Here.
” He crossed his legs again, a handsome, boyish grin playing on the corners of his mouth. Venus wanted to smack it right off his gorgeous face. There was a bigger part of her that wanted to kiss him. Taste the warmth of his lips again.

“Is everything okay?”

“Yes. Thanks for the food. It smells delicious.”

“I know. Right?” He stuck a fry in his mouth and paused, pulling the other half away. “You-you’re kind can eat human food?”

She opened the bag and popped a fry in her mouth. Then grabbed her throat with her hands, pretending to choke. “Ugh. Ack. Ugh. Oh, I’m melting. I’m melting.”

He yelled. “Help!”

Venus stopped, and finished chewing the fry with a smirk on her face. “All better.”

He looked stunned and unsure whether to yell or laugh. He laughed. “That. Was. So. Not. Cool.”

“
Oopsie
.”

“
Oo-oopsie
. What do you mean, ‘
oopsie
?’ I thought you were choking.”

She giggled.

“You really had me there.”

She put another fry in her mouth. He did the same. She was enjoying the look of amused wonder on his face.
That’ll teach you to flirt with another girl while I’m around,
ya
man-whore.
She thought it, but she didn’t really mean it.

His life had been horrible so far and it kept getting worse. If he wanted to flirt with a pretty girl, who was she to judge? Venus sighed. “Sorry.”

“I’m not. You helped me forget for a moment. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” She smiled.

“Would you mind finishing your story while we eat?” He took a large bite of his hamburger. Half of it devoured at once. He laughed. “C’mon. Please?”

Sniffing, she removed her burger from its wrapper. It smelled divine—greasy meat, toasted bun, pickles, lettuce, tomato, ketchup, mustard, and onion. Her mouth watered. She had to wipe it with the back of her hand to hide the drool. “Sure,” she agreed and took a bite.
Bigger than she’d planned.
A pickle didn’t make it all the way into her mouth. The sourness stung her cracked lips. She hurried and shoveled it in. “Where was I?” she asked around her mouthful of food. 

He swallowed. “The
Suraey
tribe was large and bred to kill.” He stuck a fry in his mouth. One. And chewed it slowly. “
Mmmmmm
.”

She admired the way his lips moved. Sensuous. “Right. Well, when the war began, everyone thought the four tribes would win. Not so. The leader of the
Suraey
tribe had the leader of the
Firclee
killed. The people of that tribe made the
Suraey
leader
their own
. They captured hundreds of irrihunters, tortured them and starved them.

When they were beyond hungry, they ate their own flesh. That’s when the
Suraey
fed them prisoners. The irrihunters gained a taste for their flesh and blood. The
Suraey
trained them with whips until they were beat into submission, giving their people the advantage from the sky and the ground.”

“So, you meant what you said before. You don’t have cars where you come from.” He leaned forward, still stuffing fries in his mouth. The burger had already disappeared.

“Well, yes and no. The Six didn’t have the technology for any kind of moving vehicle. Now, though, we do have transportation. They aren’t like the vehicles of this planet. Ours are way cooler than Earth’s.”

“I doubt they’re cooler,” he said, shaking his head in disagreement.

“Oh, they are. You know all of the smog and pollutants your world is suffocating in?”

“Yeah.”

“We have none of that. We’ve kept our planet clean. No fuel—gasoline, or anything else. Our world remains lush. Green. We live among the trees, mountains, the ground and the oceans.”

“Oh, how does that work? What about roads? Do you have stores?” He picked up the fry container and shook it. Two more fries fell out onto his pants. Michael popped them in his mouth.

“We do have roads and stores. Our cities are high above the ground. Super highways, super stores,
every
convenience—it’s like two different worlds. We keep them separate.” She paused and picked up a fry. They were getting cold. She took two more bites of burger and threw it down.

“You
gonna
finish that?” He pointed.

“No. Want it?” Venus picked it up and tried to reorganize the patty on the bun.

Michael flexed a bicep, rotating his fist back and forth. “Um, yeah. Growing boy here.” He stuck his hand through the bars. She handed it to him and watched as he took a huge bite, pushed it into his cheek. Then he asked, “What do your cars look like?”

While Venus brushed some of the salty fries back into their container and tried not to blush, she debated how she’d explain them. Different TV shows and movies she’d seen flashed through her mind. There were
The Jetson’s
, or
Star Wars
. Hers were more of a combination of the two. “Let’s see. Take Red and remove the tires.”

He nodded.

“Now make the underneath portion rounded and remove the metal?”

“Remove the metal? But that’s what makes Red—Red.” Michael looked shocked.

Venus let out a small laugh. The tickle had returned, but she ignored it. “It’ll still be the color red, even the same shape, if you want. Only the car isn’t made out of that heavy metal. It’s made out of a flexible metal called
absorticum
.”

“
Absorti
-what? Sounds kind of nasty.” He chuckled. Stuffed the burger and fry wrappings back in the bag. Wadded it up and tossed it behind him, onto the floor.

Venus pretended not to notice. “Why n-nasty? It isn’t. The stuff is great. Light. Bouncy. It takes on any color you can think of. And it always looks new. Plus, trycarciuss don’t need oil changes or break fluids. You never have to worry about rotating the tires or fixing a cracked windshield. They’re perfect.”

“The
trycarc
-whatever.” He laughed self-consciously and brushed off some invisible salt. “How do they move then?” Michael scrunched his eyebrows together as though he were trying to answer the question himself. 

“Kelari is a very big planet. We have two suns, each larger than yours, as well as two moons. Our suns and moons produce energy. We’ve harnessed that energy to make our trycarciuss move. The
absorticum
absorbs their energy.” Venus leaned back, suddenly feeling very tired. It wouldn’t be long now. Death’s door creaked open. “Hey, I’d better finish my story. That is if you’ll stop interrupting me,” she said, trying to sound sarcastic. In reality, it made her happy to see him interested in her home. And that he didn’t seem frightened or disturbed by her alien-ness. 

“Of course.” Michael stuck a hand through the bars and touched her face. His fingers cool against her hot skin. He lay on his side and scooted his face as close to the bars as possible. Then, so low she barely heard, he said, “Hang on, Venus. We’re going to get out of here. Promise.” His golden brown eyes searched hers.
A slight nod.

Loudly, he continued, “So, I believe all kinds of destruction was about to happen because of the
Suraey
tribe.”

“That’s right.” Venus lay down and closed her eyes, pushing back tears, allowing his fingers to roam her face. It felt good. She knew she shouldn’t allow this—
that
she ought to bring up Cheverly—continue to encourage him in her direction. But she didn’t want to. That he seemed interested in her, even if it was pretend . . . well, she felt comforted, if only briefly.

There was so much she still wanted to do, experience, become. Right now she’d finish the story of how kelarians came to be. “The
Suraeys
wiped out the
Firclee
tribe with the murder of their leaders. That should’ve ended the imminent war, but no. The
Suraey
leader wanted all of Kelari under his command. He believed
he’d been chosen by their Gods to rule
. On the morning the battle was to begin, both suns shone bright in the sky. They
wal
— ”

“
Cret
! I have another question.” His eyes twinkled at saying her swear word.

“Sounds great coming from a non-kelarian. What did you want to know?” Venus swallowed, fighting the sickness brewing.

“No. No. Never mind. Keep going.”

His thumb touched the edge of her bottom lip. Tingles shot through her body, like she’d been plugged into an electrical socket, except the power had been set too low. Little goose bumps rose on her skin. She cleared her throat.

“They walked onto the battlefield, met the
Watret
and the other tribes and the war was on. All in the name of power.” Venus swallowed, working to press down the pressure growing in her chest. “The battle went on for days which turned into weeks. And ended after many months. Blood soaked the ground, turning the dirt into a ruddy pool.
Soldier against soldier.
Woman against woman and finally child against child.

One day a large spark fell from the sky. A fire started. Without hindrance, it grew in size and intensity. Those few who were left stopped fighting each other and worked to fight the fire, but there wasn’t any stopping it. Everything and everyone in its path burned, sparing nothing. Animals, all of the tribes, and even the majestic irrihunters were destroyed.

After many months, the fire went out. Ash dusted the ground four inches thick. A heavy fog covered all of the land, making it impossible to see or breathe. When the fire died, there were very few tribes’ people who remained. With the ash and fog, those few were killed, too. The only warrior left was the king of the
Suraey
tribes’ youngest son. He searched for years to find others who’d survived. But he couldn’t find anyone. Finally he returned to the battleground where it’d all begun. The ash had vanished everywhere but on that field. Nothing, not rain, wind or snow lessened the thickness of the ash.
It clung to the ground, the air, with a viselike grip, so powerful and strong
,
it was impenetrable
.
Golath
, the king’s son, named the battleground Crying Ashes. He lived on the fringes of the grounds, foraged off the land, and wrote down everything that had, and would, transpire over the years. When he grew old, he lay down and died.”

Michael’s eyes were wide. “No one survived the war. What a waste.” He seemed to be mulling over her words. Venus waited for his next question. She knew what it’d be. “How did your people come to exist then?”

“From the thick ash a child arose.
The Goddess of Fire.
Or, Aetha.
Her skin glowed silver, as did her eyes. And she had white hair. She wore nothing except . . . Can you guess?”

He sat up. She could almost hear the wheels churning. Then she watched the light of knowledge appear and flicker. He’d figured it out. Michael glanced at the black glass before leaning forward, resting his forehead against the bars.

“The boots,” he whispered.

Happiness gurgled through her. He’d figured it out. “Yes, Michael. Aetha was our first immortal, the first kelvieri. The first of a new race.”