“Who are the Khonsu?” I shuffled in my bed in the mansion, pulling the blanket to my chest. Thane had flown us both back to their place in the helicopter after exchanging blood with me. Derrian needed to attend an urgent matter in another country so he hadn’t returned home yet after he had been assured by Thane that I was safe. I suspected Derrian was an ambassador for his home planet, even though he had refused to tell me what his position was while I was with him. But it would explain why he seemed to be so damn important. I wished he would hurry home so that I could ask him more questions. Despite how my relationship had changed with the Vepar, I still wanted to know all about them and how the hell I could avoid them and the Khonsu for eternity.
“You need to get some sleep for the blood to fully heal you,” Thane insisted, staring down at me, his strong arms folded over his chest. I couldn’t help but stare at where his biceps bulged. With his short, dark hair, he could easily pass for a god. He looked like he was almost built of stone, and ready to battle any monster.
I lifted my arm and wiggled it. My wounds had healed to thin marks on my skin. “Looks pretty good to me. Your blood is like magic. You could help so many humans with it, you know.”
He studied me, and I wasn’t sure if he intended to burst out laughing or scold me. “My blood is toxic to anyone who isn’t compatible with our kind.”
There was that word again. Compatible. The way he said it made it sound so robotic. But why was I special to the Vepar? I gained healing from them, but what did they get from me? I tried not to think too hard about the fact that Derrial took the chance to exchange our blood, knowing if I wasn’t compatible, I’d die. We would be talking about that later. I’m just glad their hunch that I was “special” from the beginning had been true.
“Khonsu,” he began, and I shoved all other thoughts aside, focused on his words. “They’re a race that inhabit my home planet, Veon.” He paused for a moment, the wheels of thinking spinning behind his gaze. He sat on the bed’s edge, facing me. “I’ll try to explain using Earth terms. There are over 400 billion stars in the Milky Way, and all kinds of races exist there. But Veon circles a sun that is the closest to your Solar System. Your scientists call it Proxima Centauri.”
I nodded, wishing I had my phone to Google all of this. I tried to lock it in my memory for later.
“The Khonsu aren’t originally from Veon. They arrived after the sun near their home planet died. They apparently came from one of the rings of stars that circled the Milky Way. Their kind had to either escape or die, and we accepted them onto our land.”
I nodded, wondering if there was more to these Khonsu then what had first appeared. I couldn’t imagine what it would have been like to get up one morning and leave a planet forever.
“At first, they settled on the isolated side of Veon, but soon, Vepar started going missing, and we later discovered the Khonsu were hunting our kind, killing us in masses, to take the planet for themselves. We also found out we weren’t the first race to have them attack in this manner. And now we hunt one another on Veon, and it’s unsafe for anyone.”
Engrossed, I almost forgot to breathe. “Holy shit! So, what the hell are they doing on Earth?”
He exhaled loudly, his shoulders sagging forward. “Some stowed away on our ships when we came to Earth.”
I recalled Derrial’s threat about the dog-like creatures escaping from the vessel. I still didn’t know if those creatures were real, but the creature that I knew for sure had escaped was a million times scarier.
"You should get some sleep now." He pulled the blanket to my chin, but I didn’t want to sleep. I had so many questions, so many things I had to understand.
As he turned to leave, I grabbed his wrist. "Please, don't leave."
He stared at our connection, at my hand so pale and small against his tanned skin, his strong arm. When he met my eyes, an expression I didn't understand fluttered across his face, and his breathing quickened. His reaction made my pulse start to race as the heat from where our skin touched spread over to me.
I released my hold, and he sank onto the edge of the bed, pulling a bent leg between us as he faced me.
"Nothing will harm you in this home. It's reinforced, and you're safe."
"Why did the Khonsu come after me?"
With a deep inhale, he sighed. "We never should have let you go to the Summit, but we didn’t know the Khonsu had infiltrated the meeting. Or maybe they didn’t infiltrate it, and they just happened to see you while you were outside."
I swallowed hard. "That doesn't answer my question."
"Just like we sensed there was something different about you, so can they."
"Is that why you brought me to your house in the first place? That Khonsu said I glowed and that I was easy to detect to your kind."
The corners of his mouth tightened. "He's not our kind," he snapped, then inhaled sharply. "We are different races, but share some abilities, like blood bonding. For us, it's about finding our forever mate, but for them, it's a feeding frenzy as others’ blood heightens their energy. It makes them stronger, feeds their adrenaline, and not even one of your human bullets would stop them. They have one purpose. Take over worlds and hunt down as many compatible females to feed from."
"Crap." I paused for a moment. “Wait! Why wouldn’t they attack men for their blood?” I pulled my knees up under the blanket and hugged them.
“Only females carry the pheromone.”
I swallowed the boulder in my throat because this told me the women on their planet were in danger, and the men would have had to step up to protect them, save them.
"What's stopping them from going out there and finding another compatible woman to drink their blood?"
"You're the only one we've found so far on Earth, and we've been watching your planet for years."
I studied him for a long pause. "So, you came to search for compatible females?"
He paused and the way the features on his face morphed into an expressionless one, I suspected there were more reasons for their interest in Earth, and not something he'd just offer up.
"You're special, Ella," he said.
I choked on a forced laugh. "If being special means attracting the attention of a blood-sucking monster, then count me out. I don't want any of this."
He looked at me with pity in his gaze, but that wouldn't help me. What was I going to do? Hide out in this mansion forever?
"How do I stop them from coming after me?" I pleaded, my voice coming out barely a whisper.
This time, he took my hand in his. "If we knew that answer, we would have eradicated them from our planet long ago."
His confession sat in my gut like concrete, spreading, dragging me into a sea of fear because it meant I was stuck. These things that snuck onto Earth now saw me as a means to make themselves stronger, and I wasn't a fool to ignore what that entailed.
Me imprisoned.
For life.
Tortured and whipped.
Drained of blood but kept alive so they could keep taking and taking.
I could barely take a breath as I pictured myself locked up for life by these things.
Thane's thumb caressed the back of my hand in small circles. The move was slow and tender, and it made me glance over at him. He must have seen the fright on my face because he leaned closer, his arms reaching out and looping around my back. He pulled me against him. Embraced by his strength, I let myself melt against the rock wall that was his chest, my ear just above his heart.
Bang. Bang. Bang. It thumped.
"We'll be by your side always."
But my mind refused to make sense of his words because all I heard was forever, and that terrified me. How could they stay with me so long? And then they mentioned the whole being bonded to me forever. What the hell did that mean? Forever until I died of old age? I couldn't live a life without freedom, without the chance to make more friends, to maybe even get married and have kids. Not that I wanted that now but wasn't that what people did? Maybe that wasn’t possible in our world now with the Vepar here.
On one bright side, if the Khonsu couldn't find another compatible person, they wouldn't have to kill anyone. Maybe they'd leave this planet, or perhaps the Vepar had already put into motion a means to eradicate them from our planet. I didn't know the answer to anything, I just wanted to survive. To not be miserable, or be dragged down with fear, and definitely to not be tortured.
This was a new world we all had ventured into and the unknown was like an ominous cloud over all our heads.
Were the Vepar really here as a potential backup home in case they couldn't remove the Khonsu on their planet or before all their females were killed by the Khonsu? But then why would they bother bonding to me? Or did I have it all wrong and they bonded to many females, which begged the question of what they got out of the connection? Dozens of questions circled my mind, my head buzzed, and didn't want to face any of this because things seemed so much more complicated than I anticipated.
Thane rubbed my back, his breath washing through my hair, his arms were like lifebelts wrapped around me.
"Will I ever have my normal life back?" I finally broke the silence and glanced up.
He stared down at me, his blue eyes glinting. "You will always be safe with us," he said again.
I couldn't find any words to say to him as he had basically just admitted I would never be returning home. I pressed my cheek back against his chest, seeking comfort even though he was partially the cause of all my problems. The dreaded answer I knew all along was now confirmed. Normality was gone for me, and only uncertainty lay ahead. While so many other questions poured through my mind about where I'd live such an existence, and if they intended to stay on Earth forever, I didn't ask them. I couldn't bear to hear the answers because holding myself together now was hard enough as I trembled in his arms and tears pricked my eyes.
Everything I knew would change.
Any dreams I had were gone forever.
I curled further into Thane.
He nudged me slightly as he shuffled further onto the bed and climbed in under the blanket with me. Taking me into his arms once again, we lay together, tears sliding out of the corners of my eyes. Everything was happening so fast, and now I couldn't even be angry at the three Vepar. If they found me glowing, then the Khonsu would have done so sooner or later and I would much rather be with the Vepar than the Khonsu.
"Everything will be alright," Thane whispered softly, his voice as light as a caress. He kissed the top of my head and I couldn’t help the warmth that spread over me.
I'd be lost without their protection, because nothing would ever be all right again. Not a single thing.
I woke with a start, my pulse jumping beneath my skin, my heart banging in my ears. A droplet of sweat rolled down the side of my face, while the room spun around me. I could have sworn I had just experienced the worst nightmare of my life, but somehow, I couldn't remember a single thing that had happened in the dream. Only the darkness lingered in my chest, that ominous feeling that told me danger lay near.
When I pushed myself up in bed, I shuddered at the sight in front of me.
This was my bedroom in the mansion, except it wasn't. Instead of the walls and ceiling, lofty trees crowded together, grand ones with busy branches covered in the greenest leaves. They swayed and the rustling flooded the room, yet I felt no wind.
What the hell was going on? I rubbed my eyes, but the trees remained.
In slow motion, I crept out of bed, almost tripping from the sheets tangled around my legs. Tugging on the blanket, I finally freed myself and stumbled, teetering on my feet and falling against a tree.
I glanced up into the canopy covering the ceiling. Everything seemed so real, but I didn’t understand how it could be. I felt a nearby tree and pulled back immediately in surprise. The bark was rough and bumpy under my hand.
A fogginess clung to my mind as I tried to think straight, work out what exactly was going on. From across the bedroom, a shadow shifted in the far corner, and my heart hit the back of my throat. Sliding across the wall of trees behind me, a scream pushed through my lungs as the darkness flitted across the opposite wall as if mimicking my actions.
Was this some kind of Vepar thing, or had the Khonsu found me? Thane said I'd be safe here, that the mansion was protected. But then where the freak did the trees come from? My head felt like it was swimming in fog.
I reached for the door handle and opened it in slow motion. Barely able to breath, I turned and sprinted out of the bedroom.
The hallway blurred around me, everything fuzzy and jumpy, but I didn't care. Not when dread crept up the back of my legs and there was a monster in the house.
More trees flanked the passage as I ran faster than possible toward the stairs.
A quick glance back, and the shadow emerged, a lofty figure with piercing red eyes.
My earlier scream tore past my throat, and I darted down the steps, moving too fast. Everything felt strange, like I was moving in slow motion and I couldn't run faster. It was going to catch me, just like the Khonsu. And I doubted I'd survive this time.
A thundering sounded around me, getting louder, closer.
Panic gripped me, and my feet tangled over one another. I tripped, the world racing up toward me. Everything was happening too fast, and my sight was blurring in and out.
Something huge raced up toward me from the kitchen. There were more of those creatures?
I cried out louder as I fell, my arms fluttering outward for something to grab onto.
I hit the ground; except I didn't hit the wooden floorboards like I was expecting. I landed in someone's arms, soft and strong at the same time. It had gotten me. I wasn’t going to go down easily, so I started to kick and punch, digging my nails into whatever I could.
"Ella!" Thane's voice found me.
"Help," I shouted, thrashing, my vision still a wash of blurs and shapes.
Someone grasped my hands and legs, carrying me as if I were a sacrifice. Two figures hovered over me. I kept blinking, shaking my head to clear the fuzziness, the tears making it worse.
Finally, I was laid on something soft, the hands releasing me.
I scrambled backward into a corner, rubbing my eyes, and slowly the view in front of me cleared. It seemed to still be blurry, but as I stared up, I could see well enough to realize that Thane and corran were in front of me, both wearing worried expressions.
"There is something upstairs," I blurted frantically, pointing to the stairs.
Corran stared up, following my pointed finger, while Thane suddenly had a glass of liquid in his hand. He pushed it into my grasp.
"Drink."
I did. It had a sweet fruity flavor that I didn’t recognize. But I was so thirsty that I gulped down the whole glass, drenching the heat consuming me. "Why are there trees upstairs? Is that some weird Vepar technology?"
They exchanged glances before looking down at me once more, Thane's mouth spreading into a grin.
"Pet, there are no trees upstairs, no monsters either. You're safe."
I stared at him for the longest moment, then glanced up to see the branches of a tree sticking out from the hallway. Looking back at the men, I couldn't remember if I had responded to them. They were staring at me as if I'd lost my mind. We continued to stare at each other. I wasn’t sure how much time was passing without words, but I couldn’t seem to form any. It felt like fifteen minutes had passed, maybe more before I could finally find my voice. I said, "It's up there, go and see."
Running a hand over his face, Corran collected the empty glass from my grip while Thane headed upstairs, right past the trees without giving them a glance.
Was I imagining this? I kept shaking my head, unable to dislodge the feeling I was floating on air. Was I still dreaming? Staring at my hand, it seemed to shine. Wow, this was new.
"Ella?" Someone touched my hand and I looked down to find it was Thane, crouching in front of me.
When had he come back downstairs? "You're hallucinating, pet. It's a normal reaction from the poison on your wounds from the Khonsu."
I shook my head, and the room tilted around me. "Whoa, did you feel that?"
"You just need to sit here and let that drink get through your system." Corran flopped down next to me. He looped an arm around my back and brought me closer. I lay on my side, with my head on his lap. His hand stroked my hair so gently, it lulled me into a calmness, my raging pulse easing.
My eyelids closed and I let myself fall under his touch.
I had no idea how much time had passed, but when I opened my eyes, the sunlight had dimmed and now Thane shared the sofa with me. We were alone, and he looked down at me, caring for me, holding me tight. But something felt different inside of me, an emptiness and barren feeling I hadn’t had before. I was lost in a world that was meant to be my home, or was it that I felt trapped?
“I think something’s wrong,” I murmured. “I feel wrong.”
He smiled and pushed a lock of hair out of my face. “What can I do to aid you?” And with those words, a mischievous grin split his lips.