Sergey: Love Me Harder (12 page)

Aran pivoted and walked towards the house. He met Dante on the porch and began talking to him in a lowered voice.

Lorali stood up. “What is your theory?”

“The military had no reason to even suspect this house existed, yet they found it. The created could care less about spending his resources to find a house with women he has already terrorized. Like you said earlier, he could terrorize a mall of females if he wanted to.” Sergey responded.

“So if no one on the outside is looking for them, then someone on the inside must have reached out.”

“Yes. I believe it could only be one person.”

“What will happen to her?”

“Before you.” He shrugged. “After you, leniency.”

They walked into the house to find one of the women crying as she was looked at by all present in the room.

“Why?” Dante asked, the scar on his face making him look like an alien thug.

The woman cried harder. Her shoulders shook, the tears coming down her face like torrents of rain.

Sergey leaned over Lorali and whispered in her ear.

Lorali walked over and sat by the crying woman. She placed her arms around her. “Did you love him?”

The woman cried harder and nodded her head yes.

Chapter Nineteen

Lorali held her closer. Rejection, no matter the reason, was devastating. Tina cried until her tears turned into loud hiccups, then faded to soft ones. She sat back and wiped her eyes, taking in all the face’s surrounding her.

“Tell them what happened.” Lorali was still touching her, rubbing her back in small comforting circles.

“I thought.” Tina’s voice came out small and tentative. “No, I needed to believe he cared for me. That his love or desire for me made him do it. He didn’t even remember.”

Her tears flowed again. This time they were a silent testimony of a woman who was violated and couldn’t find an answer to what had been done to her.

Aran walked over to Rena. He lowered his voice talking to her. When he was done, Rena walked over to Dee. The two of them then gently took the other women away.

Dante came a little closer, then crouched down. He was far enough away that Tina wouldn’t feel threatened by his presence.

“When did you remember?”

“A week ago for sure, but I’d been having nightmares before that. I see monsters in my sleep. I hear a voice calling me names, telling me I’m good for nothing, except to breed. Then I remember what it felt like for him to touch me. So very cold. I find myself pretending it didn’t happen like that. I’m sorry. I called Vance. I had too, I felt like I’d die if I didn’t.”

“Cold, as in impersonal?” Lorali asked her softly.

“Yes, but so much more. His touch was cold. I remember shivering, thinking why was I so cold when my heart was racing and adrenaline was pumping through my body? Every place he put his hands or his body on me shut down like death. What’s going to happen to me now?”

“We’re going to move you. Take you somewhere else safe.”

Tina lifted her eyes to focus in on Dante. “What if I call him again?”

“Trust me. You won’t.”

“Lorali, will you go and help her pack?” Sergey urged.

Lorali led Tina out of the room.

“That’s impossible.” Sergey said out loud.

“Which is more impossible? The earth woman telling us a story she shouldn’t know, or that someone messed with the scientist ‘s drugs?” Dante asked.

“How could this created have gotten to that particular scientist’s drugs?” Aran asked. Looking for answers.

“He was sent on a mission to look specifically for us.” Dante replied, his voice lethal.

“It’s not you he’s after. He’s coming after my family.”

Dante stood and came to face Aran. “Listen, you simply drew the biggest straw. Make no mistake. When this created is finished with you, he’ll come after us.”

Aran nodded his head in agreement. The scientist in question wouldn’t relax until they were all dead.

“What about the others? We aren’t the only two groups that chose earth. Then there are the rest of our kind who were sure they had found our mother’s planet. They went there.” Nicolas spoke up. He’d been standing in the doorway, listening as Tina spoke.

“We came here because we took a vote as a family on where we wanted to go. That planet was in the pool of planets we had to choose from. Our brothers wanted to go home. That’s how they thought of the planet. We’re older. Our biological makeup demanded we find mates. We weren’t going to find any there. To delay our migration and subsequent assimilation into the earth ‘s population, would’ve been a dangerous risk.” Nicolas’s eyes flicked to Aran who was the oldest brother.

Sergey nodded, while Aran looked thoughtful.

“So where does that leave us?” Aran asked looking, at Sergey with concern.

“There’s a drug that the scientist who oversaw our creation liked to use. I believe it would’ve produced the effects Tina spoke of in a human.” Nicolas said.

“I think it does more than that Nicolas. I should’ve known if she was remembering. I picked nothing up from her. That concerns me.” Dante said.

“Do you think she has a trigger?” Aran asked, focusing on Dante.

“Yes. Whoever this created is, he was given the tricks of the scientist who created him. What triggered her is the question. Could it have been the simple act of remembering or was he able to put it on a system that allowed it to activate on its own?” Dante said.

“Dante it would’ve taken hours to implant a mental trigger in her. The method is complicated and advanced.” Niko said with a hard voice.

“Niko, is it more complicated than creating us?” Dante’s voice was soft and deadly.

“Outside. Take it to the street.” Aran gave the command. They followed him out the door. There was a reason their houses were huge and the rooms the brothers met in felt like outdoor arenas in their size.

Shoulders relaxed immediately as they took in large breaths of air.

“That’s better.”

“I agree.” Dante clapped Niko on his back and the two began shoving like brothers. The tension that had been ratcheting up began to dissipate.

“I can see the fissure in her mind. I’m already working on it. We won’t have to worry about her calling Vance again. I can also brew something up to counteract what happened in her body. It would help if Nicolas would share what he knows about the drug.”

Nicolas nodded and they walked off together.

Sergey leaned back against Aran’s jeep and looked at both of his brothers before speaking.

“The immediate problem has been answered. Tina called Vance, which set off this chain of dominoes. How did the military know she was here, unless they were watching Vance also? They must have his phone or his surroundings bugged. The bigger question is why would they care about him and the female he violated?”

“Is it possible that the created is in contact with them?” Aran asked.

“Aran, can you really imagine the military dealing with this created? ‘

“No, but I can imagine the men who we’re talking about dealing with him. Remember, the man who tried to take us out wasn’t sanctioned by his military or his government to create that drug. I’ve often wondered where they got that specific formula from. It would’ve wiped us out if Nicolas hadn’t identified a weakness in our genetics, insisting that each of us go through the treatment.”

“It was done on the ship here.” Niko spoke up. “Nicolas insisted on doing Dante and his brothers the minute we came into contact with them. There would be no way for the scientist responsible for our creation to know that we had plugged that genetic default.”

“Agreed. He must have been in touch with them, which means they have reached out to him again. What do they want is the question.”

Sergey looked at Aran. “Lorali.”

He strode off, avoiding the grass as he made a beeline for the house.

“Does everyone have everything they want to take with them?” Rena asked, as she walked around, checking drawers and cabinets.

Each head nodded, looking confused and feeling less than safe. Tina looked shell shocked, her things only half packed.

“What if I bring the wrong thing?” Tina asked as she looked over her shoulder to see one of the males standing in the doorway. She had to fight a flood of tears.

“He won’t hurt you. Believe me, I’d vouch for him any day.” Tina nodded at Lorali and began stuffing clothes in a bag. A snow globe fell out.

“What’s that?” Lorali asked.

“A snow globe. It has a pretty picture in it.”

“Do you collect them?”

“Nope, I hate them.”

“Then why did you bring one of them with you?”

“I didn’t, but I like this one so I’ll take it.”

Lorali held up her hand, signaling for everyone to stay silent. “Let’s get it packed then. We need to leave soon.”

Lorali picked the snow globe up and placed it roughly in a bag by itself. She went to Tina and looked through everything she was going to take. She took several things out and packed them in that same bag.

Silently she motioned everyone to head for the door. She picked the bag up and tossed it over one of the marks on the yard as she exited.

She spoke when she got into the jeep. “They made contact with Tina. She doesn’t remember. They gave her a possession to take that would allow them to follow her.”

Dante walked over. “Tina, is there anything in your bag you desperately want?”

She shook her head no. He took her bag out of her cold fingers and gently laid a hand on her shoulder.

“I promise everything will be alright.” He caught her when she passed out.

“What did you do to her?”

“I sent her into a deep sleep, Lorali. I don’t want to risk compromising their new location. Mick, one of my brothers, will meet us there with the antidote.”

“You’re always coming to the rescue.”

“Why Lorali, I think you have me confused with one of your angels.”

Laughter, both male and female, could be heard flowing on the wind.

Chapter Twenty

“I thought we were going to do this another day?” Lorali looked around and her eyes sparkled. She honestly couldn’t remember the last time she’d been in an amusement park.

They had spent the day relocating and making sure all the women were safe. The day had been better than she’d anticipated. All of the brothers had come out, and despite the urgency of the situation, they had made it a fun, light hearted day. The women, who should have been terrified, laughed and joined in.

In the end, she’d been impressed by who they were. Maybe, more correctly she thought, she’d been impressed by what they weren’t. They hadn’t been standoffish or too proud to learn something they didn’t understand or even to ask questions. She didn’t know about the rest of the galaxy, but she’d pick the created any day.

Kennywood. Pittsburgh’s amusement park. She liked it. Couples walked around holding hands. Children ran from ride to ride. Parent’s shook their heads and grinned like idiots when they caught sight of their child.

The lights were ablaze in the darkness. She could smell the different foods competing with each other.

Sergey reached out and took her hand. “This way to the Jack Rabbit.”

“Jack Rabbit?”

“One of the popular rollercoasters here. I think we’ll start off with a beginner one.”

“My big strong male, scared of an itty bitty rollercoaster.”

He nodded his head and tried to make those brown eyes look soft and scared. She laughed. She couldn’t help herself.

“Will you protect me?”

“Always.” She choked on the word and looped her arm around him.

The line was long despite the fact that darkness had fallen some time ago. “I want ice cream after this, and potato patch fries.”

“How do you know they have those things here?” He asked.

“I looked up the park earlier when I thought we were coming.” They were standing in line, holding hands. “I like this. We look like we’re on our first date.”

“What makes you say that?”

She lifted theirs hands showing off her light one in his darker one. “This. The holding of hands. The coming to the amusement park. It’s all first date material.”

“What about what I plan to do to you later? Is that first date material?”

“No, the way you do it, makes it stay with me forever material.”

“Nice to know I’m doing it right.”

They moved up in the line. Lorali listened to others’ conversations. She listened to a couple of teens who were excited about their last year in high school. Had she ever been that young?

There were ninth graders who were getting into a heavy debate over high school lunches and which days they should bring a lunch. Had she ever been that carefree?

All around her were excited conversations from teens and twenty-somethings and on up. All excited about the life they had in front of them to live.

She dropped her eyes one more time to their linked hands. Turns out, she was excited too.

She climbed on the ride, looking forward to it. She was left little room as she sat next to his big frame.

“So here are the rules. When you reach the top of the hill, you have to put your hands up and holler for all you’re worth as it goes plunging down.”

“Are you sure this ride is safe.” He asked looking around.

“I’ll protect you, remember?” She grinned at him.

“Yes. I’ll protect you too, always.”

The voice of the employee operating the ride had stopped and they were creeping out of the loading bay.

She reached over to give him a little shake, letting her joy be seen. “This is going to be so much fun.”

She could feel the roll of her stomach as they approached the first hill, slowly moving up it. The excited voices around her increased her enjoyment. They crested the first hill and began to roar down the other side. Her hands went up high and the loudest laugh scream came out.

Lorali’s pure joy encouraged Sergey to raise his hands and scream out loud. Well, he moderated his voice. No sense scaring the humans. The next hill had his other side looking out for a peek. Together they enjoyed the antics of riding a rollercoaster.

They rolled into the dislodging bay. “Did you enjoy it?”