The sun was starting to light up the sky, and as the golden orb peaked up from the hillside behind her house, she could see their bodies lit up from behind.
Zander folded his arms in front of his chest and leaned against the door jamb. He was so tall, his frame barely fit through the doorway. The ends of his long blue hair danced and fluttered on the breeze that was starting to pick up.
He looked like a god from some fantasy land.
Next to him was the short squat ogre, and fluttering beside the ogre was the tiny bat man.
"Oh my God!" Mira breathed a whoosh of air as a clue-by-four hit her squarely in the face. "You guys aren't even human!"
For a second, the men stared at her with blank expressions on their faces, and then they both laughed out loud.
"Why are you laughing?" Mira asked, slightly irritated. She felt as if they were sharing some private joke that she was not privy to.
"I will explain in the future." Zander Tamien slapped the ogre on the shoulder. "Introductions first. This portly fellow is Captain Daran Duluth, of the 32 Division Ground Combat. The chiro beside him is called Quill."
He held out a hand to Mira. "Daran and Quill, this is Mira Lee, of Earth. She is also our gracious hostess for the duration."
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Lady Mira Lee of Earth." Daran Duluth, gave a stiff bow.
Quill fluttered and gave a mid-air bow. "At your service."
Mira grinned and nodded her head. "Hello Captain Daran Duluth, of the 32 Division Ground Combat." She turned to tiny batman, "Hello Quill. Welcome, all of you, to my home."
Daran nodded in acknowledgement, his dark brown eyes twinkling. Turning to Zander, he asked. "How is Erick Rashak?"
Zander Tamein gave him a worried look. "I am still trying to stabilize his body. It will take awhile before I can completely detoxify him." He looked around Mira's living room. "It is a huge blessing that we have been given a brief respite so Erick Rashak can recover from his wounds."
Mira bit her lip. She hadn't said anything about allowing them to stay at her home, but with a wounded man lying on her couch, she could not throw them out. They seemed as if they had nowhere else to go, but before she could accept them fully into her house, there were some questions that she needed to ask them, and their answers had better be good ones. It was very important for one reason.
She lived alone.
Ever since her parents passed away in a tragic auto accident three years ago, Mira had continued on, living in the two-story tudor by herself. She had no siblings, and her grandparents were no longer alive. At the age of 24, she did not need a guardian. As a result, she became disconnected to the rest of her distant family, and aside from a few friends at her part-time temp work, she knew no one else.
The house was large. Too large. In an effort to keep the cleaning, not to mention the heating and cooling costs, down to a minimum, Mira had closed up four of the five bedrooms and moved into the downstairs master. If it wasn't for the sizable fortune her parents left to her, Mira would have never been able to finish school and keep her family home. As it was, she only worked the part-time nursing job to keep herself occupied, and in fact, if she simply lived a normal life without being too extravagant, she never needed to work another day in her life.
But that would be too painfully lonely.
Living alone had some disadvantages, but one of the biggest advantages was that she could do whatever she wished without having to ask anyone for permission. There would have been absolutely no way in hell that her parents, if they were still alive, would have allowed three alien males to enter their house, let alone spend the night, with their unmarried daughter still living at home.
Lost in thoughts, Mira followed the tall man, the short man, and the bat man into the house, and sat on the love seat while they stood next to Erick Rashak and continued their discussions.
He was still passed out, and lying in the same spot, without any movement other than the steady rhythmic breathing that indicated he was still alive. Daran and Zander had worried looks on their faces as they stared down at him.
Quill did not look all that concerned, as he flitted around the room looking at all her family photos and the upright piano in the corner.
"Why don't you burn more of that incense that you used to wake me up? It might work on him too." Mira suggested faintly.
Zander sighed. "I tried that already. It did not affect him at all. You were the only one who responded to that drug."
"Well, it is still early. I could make some food for all of us. He's going to need something to eat when he wakes up. The both of you also look like you could use a little bit of rest."
"We're fine. There's no need to bother." Zander refused with a wave of his hand. Daran glanced at both of them without saying a word.
"No. I think you all do need to take a rest." Mira suggested firmly. "You look exhausted, and you could use a shower as well." She bared her teeth in a smile that did not reach her eyes. This was not a suggestion. It was a command.
The one thing Mira learned from working at the clinic was that she quite often had to bully patients into eating, taking medicines, and accepting painful shots and treatments. This was going to be no different.
Seeing her firm insistence, they reluctantly agreed, and Mira led them upstairs, where she assigned each of them a spare bedroom. Then she gave them large soft towels and showed them the bathrooms where they could use to wash up.
Just for laughs, she showed them how the hot and cold water faucets worked, and how the showers and toilets functioned. Mira did not trust that these Ashryans would know how to handle the basics of daily life in modern-day Earth.
For the little batman, she filled a small basin with warm water and left him alone in one of the bathrooms with a huge soft bath towel for him to use as a bed.
Then, she left them to their own devices and went back downstairs to make breakfast.
Within an hour, she had prepared rice soup, a whole roasted chicken, and enough steamed vegetables for four people. It was quick, nutritious, and fail-proof.
She laid out the food on the dining table, covered everything with foil to keep them warm, and then she went to take a peek at the man who was still lying on her living room sofa.
Erick Rashak was in the same position they had left him, an hour before. His long teal hair spilled out over the sofa and onto the floor, looking like splayed peacock feathers. His eyes, with dark lashes so long that they tickled the bottom of her heart, were closed, his breathing, quiet.
Mira leaned in to take a closer look at his face.
Suddenly, his eyes sprang open. At the same moment, his hands shot up and grabbed her neck in a strangle hold.
Oh God! She was going to die!!!