Lord of Capra (5 page)

Chapter Seven

Drake pulled into a
large parking lot and found a spot for his Harley.
Looks busy
, he mused
to himself, noting the large number of vehicles gathered close to the
building’s entrance. The sign read Longhorn Bar and Grill. He’d picked it
because it was close, the food was good, and most important, he liked the owners.
He turned the bike off, set the stand and looked back at his passenger.
Amazingly, she looked as if she’d taken a stroll in the park, not a hair out of
place.

He waited for Evana
to climb off first before he dismounted. He stood beside the Harley for a
moment, trying to tame his hair before taking her hand and walking in silence
toward the front door of the restaurant.

It felt good to
ride again. No, not just good. It was incredible, but he couldn’t quite figure
out why. Everything about it had seemed magnified. The sound of the motor was
more intense, the feel of the air whipping against him no longer a barrier, and
his own reaction time had seemed swifter than ever. If anything about the ride
had been a disappointment, it was that he felt constrained to hold his speed to
within at least ten miles per hour over the legal limit. There was one fact
that stuck out in his mind. He was able to ride. Only a few hours ago, he
couldn’t even stand.

Drake paused at the
front door to allow Evana to walk in front of him as he pushed it open for her.
She glanced at him uncertainly before she stepped through the entrance. Once
inside, he slipped a protective arm around her waist and guided her to the hostess
stand. He marveled at how natural it seemed to hold her against him, keep her
close.

“Table for two?” the
young woman in attendance asked perfunctorily.

Drake nodded. She
gathered a couple menus and motioned for them to follow.

“This way.” She led
them to a table against an exterior wall with a window. She placed the menus
down, and said, “Someone will be here to take your order in just a minute,”
before walking away.

Along the way,
Drake had stolen a look now and again around the seating area. He wondered if
all the staff had changed since he was last there. Once at their table, he
pulled a chair out for Evana, at which he had to motion for her to sit. Not a
clue, he decided and had to stifle a laugh. As he helped her adjust the chair
closer to the table a gravelly voice called out.

“Well, I’ll be
damned! If it ain’t Harry Drake!”

Drake cringed. He
hated the shortened version of his first name. He turned in the direction of
the voice and sure enough, as he’d already guessed, it was Jake Cooper, the
owner and part-time cook of the Longhorn.

“Hi there, Coop.”
Drake greeted him warmly.

The older man
scurried around the tables, making his way toward them. He was about sixty-ish,
and looked the same as always—scrawny and flustered. And right on his heels,
plowing her way behind, was Coop’s wife, Molly. Most things about her were big—her
hair, figure and heart.

“Molly,” Drake
added.

“Oh. My stars!”
Molly gasped as she reached their table. “You just have no idea how worried
we’ve been about you.” Apparently winded, she waved a paper napkin frantically
in front of her.

Drake grasped
Coop’s outstretched hand in greeting.

“Heard you was shot
up somethin’ bad,” the older man said while pumping his arm up and down. “Good
to have you back.”

In the meantime,
Molly sobbed into her tattered napkin and mumbled something about how sad they
were to hear about him being out of the Marines. News traveled fast.

Drake laughed
good-naturedly. He was genuinely happy to see them. “I’m fine,” he assured
them. “And it’s good to see you too.”

He noticed Molly
had dried her tears and tried to peek around him. He realized he blocked Evana
from their view. He stepped aside and pulled out his own chair.

“Jake, Molly, I’d
like you to meet a…friend of mine, Evana.” Drake made the introductions, hoping
like hell his “friend” would react properly. She surprised him by offering her
hand to Jake first.

“Very nice to meet
you,” she said, while shaking hands with him and then Molly.

“Nice to meet you
too,” they both replied in turn.

The older man turned
his attention back to Drake and patted him on the shoulder saying, “That right
there is a good reason to get well quick, my boy.”

“You’re just so
lovely.” Molly gushed over Evana before turning her attention to Drake. “And
how’d you manage to meet her, young man?”

Evana spoke up. “I
was his nurse.”

 Drake thought he
might choke. “Yes. That’s how we met.” He shot Evana a warning look.

She smiled
innocently back at him.

“Oh, what are we
thinking? The boy is hungry, Coop.” Molly flailed the now soggy, tattered
napkin at her husband. “Let’s go.” She herded him toward the kitchen. “Darla!
Come over here and take care of these two,” she shouted over the crowd noise.

Left alone with
Evana, for the moment, Drake removed his jacket and tossed it onto one of the
vacant chairs at their table before taking his seat.

“They seem very
fond of you.”

Drake nodded. “I
eat here a lot when I’m in town.”

Two glasses of ice
water arrived for them along with Darla.

“If Molly hadn’t
told me, I wouldn’t have recognized you sitting here,” she told Drake. “My
goodness! Look at that head of hair on you!”

“Hi, Darla.” Drake
laughed as he greeted Molly’s younger sister. The two women looked so much
alike they could have been twins, except Molly’s hair was bright red. Darla’s
was bleached blonde.

Darla studied him
critically for a few seconds, then declared, “I like it, but you better get
some meat on your bones if you want to wear that Viking look,” she warned and
readied her order pad to jot down their choices.

Drake glanced at
Evana and couldn’t tell if she were more confused by Darla’s conversation or
the menu. He pretended to look at it to give Evana a little time to decide.

“You go first,” she
urged him. “I’m not sure what I want.”

“Okay, Darla. Bring
me the chicken fried steak, cream gravy and french fries, then I want a bone-in
rib eye, medium rare, and a baked potato with everything on it.”

Darla wrote
furiously, and asked, “You want the rabbit food this time?”

“Nope. Save it for
the skinny girls. And sweet iced tea…big glass.”

Darla chuckled as
she finished writing. “Well, darlin’, I’m sure that appetite of yours will come
back soon.”

Drake gave her a
broad grin. Darla nodded toward Evana and raised her painted-on brows.

Evana stared at
him. Drake shrugged. “See anything you’d like to eat?” he prodded. She didn’t
answer. It suddenly occurred to him that maybe what she wanted to eat wasn’t on
the menu.

“Why don’t I just
order for you?” he suggested.

“I think that’d be
best,” she agreed, looking very relieved.

Drake thought for a
second, then ordered. “Small filet, medium rare, baked potato, and you better
bring the rabbit food, house dressing.”

“Got it.” Darla
headed toward the kitchen.

*

For the first time
in a long while, Evana felt overwhelmed. So many people around her, so many
unfamiliar smells and so much noise, it was almost more than she could sort
through. Everything about Earth had changed, as she’d feared. Even the humans
seemed alien to her. Most of the conversations were confusing, as she had no
idea what they were talking about. Thanks to the part of her that was Nemesis,
Evana understood the words they spoke, but not always the meaning. All she
could think about was escaping back to Drake’s apartment where they could be
alone and surrounded by quiet.

Pilot, you must
concentrate on your task.
A whisper in her mind
helped calm her rattled
nerves.

Drake must have
noticed she was uncomfortable because he asked, “Evana, are you okay?”

“Yes,” she stated
simply.

“You look like
you’re a thousand miles away.”

More like a couple
thousand years, she wanted to tell him. Instead, she said, “Tell me when you’re
able to think again, because I need to tell you some things. It’s very
important you know as soon as possible.”

Before he could
answer, Darla set a platter full of battered steak, gravy and fries in front of
him. Then she placed a glass of iced tea beside his plate and set a salad in
front of Evana.

As Darla walked
away, Drake grabbed his knife and fork and dug into his meal. Evana sighed,
picked up a spoon and moved the salad around the plate. Let him eat. His hunger
for food was a good sign. Maybe it’d improve his mood, she thought idly while
separating her salad into groups of similar contents. She glanced at him
occasionally to check his progress, amazed at how he could devour so much so
fast.

Just as he finished
his first plate, Darla delivered Evana’s filet and Drake’s rib eye.

“Let me know if I
can get you anything else.” She left, carrying Drake’s empty plate.

“The rest of the
cow, perhaps?” Evana whispered her suggestion to him.

“Okay,” Drake
chuckled. “But first, at least try your steak.”

Evana picked up her
knife and fork and sliced into the filet. The edges were cooked, but the inside
was red. Juices mixed with blood oozed from the middle. Uncertain, she looked
at him. He motioned for her to continue, and she made another cut, smaller this
time so she could taste a piece. She stabbed her fork into it and brought it
toward her nose to smell. Not unpleasant, she decided and put it into her
mouth. She chewed on it a few times, then forced it down her throat. She picked
up her water glass and swallowed a few sips. Feat accomplished, she smiled
expectantly.

“Well, how was it?”

“Tolerable.”

Drake shook his
head and continued eating. Between bites he managed to ask a few questions. “You
say you’re from out there?”

“Yes.” Evana was
relieved he’d at long last decided to talk.

“Then what is it
that you do out…there?” He practically whispered the question.

“Mostly, we
explore. And sometimes we find an enemy we must destroy.”

“We? As in the
entity you said found you?” At her nod, he asked, “So, what exactly is this
entity and does it have a name?”

Evana hesitated,
concerned about how he might react to the next information. “Well…she’s a life
form who has the ability to travel in space and her name is Nemesis.”

There. She’d told
him. He stared at her, his face blank, no expression whatsoever to indicate how
he felt about the information she’d just shared.

She held his
intense gaze with her own, unblinking. Finally, he looked away and went back to
eating his meal without comment.
Frustrating man.
She still wasn’t sure
if he thought she was lying or not. It seemed as if an eternity went by before
he spoke again.

“Nemesis, huh?” He
looked at her again, his expression thoughtful. “I’m familiar with the word,
Evana. To me it means an unbeatable enemy.” He shrugged. “It‘s an odd name.”

“Not an enemy, at
least to Earth, or any other planet, for that matter.” She tried to assure him.

“So you’re telling
me you travel…in outer space…exploring?” He waved his steak knife at the
ceiling. “And you and this Nemesis have enemies?”

Evana had to smile
at the absurdity of it all. It did sound like a wild tale, even to her when he
put it that way. His answering chuckle gave her hope.

Darla whisked by
their table again and dropped off a paper that Drake looked at quickly before
taking some other papers out of his pocket to give to her. Money, Evana
guessed.

“Keep the change,”
he told their waitress, then turned his attention back to Evana.

“Drake, I know it
sounds unbelievable, but let me take you to Nemesis. Let me show you my world
before you decide anything,” she urged, trying not to sound too desperate. “And
you’ll be safer there.”

“Safer?” His amused
expression turned to alarm. “Why do I need to be safer?”

Gods.
She should just
ask Nemesis to take him immediately and hold him in stasis. It’d be so much
easier to abduct him. Instead, she decided he deserved an answer.

“Nemesis believes
our enemy has been to Earth recently, and the abomination it left behind and
its creatures are still here. They’ll be drawn to me because of my blood. It
calls to them. They can’t resist. The very source of my strength is their
greatest weakness.”

“Sounds like you’re
the bait.”

“Bait?” Evana
mused. “Yes. I guess you could think of it that way.”

She scooted her
chair back from the table and stood. “Drake, we should leave. They’ll also be
attracted to your blood now.” She turned and walked toward the front door.