(Tana's POV)
V burst into the hospital room,
"Congrats sire!" The nurse said; since she didn't understand what was happening.
"Get out." V's cold reply stunned her but she at least knew better than to ask questions, so she left us alone. "You're... pregnant?" I searched my brain for excuses but none came so I said,
"That's right."
"Whose child is it?!.... Oh... wait... it has to be the smoke boy. The other two are flaming homosexuals. How could I not see it?!"
"Hey! Rytem is Pansexual and Netalai is technically bi but-"
"I honestly don't care. The fact is that they like f*cking each other more than f*cking you... It's Insinz's right?" I kept quiet until V laughed bitterly and punched a hole through the stone wall behind me, that's when I screamed. "Get rid of it... If you get rid of the baby now, I'll only kill him and spare the others." What is he saying?! This is the first child I was looking forward to loving and he wants me to kill it?! "You think I let them go without any failsafe? If the other Chosen don't come back by the time they're 20, an execution device I implanted in their neck will automatically go off... You know me, I always have a plan. You care about those little shits right? I don't mind starting over from scratch again. He has one too... so I can kill your boyfriend at any moment..."
"Don't hurt him!" I shouted so loudly it hurt my throat, Vetro's smile widened and he lightly grazed my cheek,
"I'll need to do something about you too... I was going to officially coronate you as my Queen but now..." He sighed, "I guess I'll have to remove those troublesome legs of yours after all..." He means it... I felt a chill and pulled from his reach then he yelled, "DAMN IT! I knew something was up when he... Wait... What the hell do you have on?!" He mumbled reaching out towards my necklace so I raised my voice again saying,
"No! Stop!" Instantly, a thick black cloud of smoke surrounded my body just as his finger brushed against the pendant, once the smoke vanished I found myself at the portal terminal, for Earth. Insinz was standing there waiting for me.
"Hey..." I looked around, seeing how we were alone and Insinz smiled saying, "Don't worry, I put all the employees to sleep."
"How did I get here?" I asked still in shock.
"I used the necklace to call you here... thank you for keeping it on." He said as he began inputting coordinates into the portal. Even from so far away I could hear Vetro rampaging through the Palace looking for me and I could feel the tremors through the ground.
"But how?! How are we outside the castle?" He paused and glanced at me,
"You've known I could leave the castle for years, long before I was allowed recess... way back when I first gave you the flower. I'm sure you realized it. I knew I could trust you. All these years and you never ratted me out." His comment made me blush
"Well, that's... because I didn't want to see you get hurt... Wait that still doesn't explain how you got ME out?!" The portal was activated.
"You're a part of me now so... I don't have enough time to explain, for now, I will just protect you and our daughter." Does he even know the gender?! Earth users, even subcategories always have deep insight into all life around them, so they can see things others can't like the first signs of pregnancy or diseases within the body. "You go to Earth... talk to Zai. I don't know if I can beat Vetro alone and if they don't hurry we'll all be in danger... see if they're willing to help. If not I need you to be safe. Both of you." He picked me up and placed me onto the transport pad so I said,
"Wait! Why are you sending me away? Come with me. There's still a lot I need to say..." Then he grinned and dispersed into over 20 clones, they spoke in unison and said,
"Someone has to keep him distracted." Then the one closest to me said "Be safe my love." before sending me away. The last thing I saw was one of him pulling a long thin glass shard from their neck and it turning into dust in his palm.
I was phased into the backyard of a house I can only assume belonged to Markis. It was a nice home, beautifully built but the yard was overgrown with weeds and the house itself needed a lot of maintenance... what do I do here? Do I knock? I stepped onto the porch and banged on the door.
"Markis open up!" I could sense he was home and it took 30 seconds for him to answer the door.
"Who the hell... oh... hey what do you need?" As soon as our eyes met his tone changed and he slicked his hair back. I frowned in disgust.
"Yeah... I'm just here to see Raijian, is he home?" He raised his eyebrows
"Wow, you know my brother? He hasn't lived here in over 10 years now. I'm sorry sweetie, it seems he gave you the wrong address... but..." He bit his lip and scanned me up and down. "After I tell my guests to leave, I can entertain you instead?" I mushed his face, pushing him out of the way and forcing myself in "Hey! The heck, bitch you're strong as hell?!"
"Everyone get out!" I yelled. The humans I saw looked weak and smelled of drugs. Upon seeing me they all rushed out instead of one girl hunched over in a corner, sleeping.
"This is my house!" He stated angrily so I turned to him and glared,
"The last I checked I paid for this house and you've let it get into this condition?" I folded my arms and he stared at me, a few seconds later his jaw dropped then he said,
"Tana?!... Oh wow... you're hot!"
"Shut up! Just tell me where RJ is!" After I yelled this the sleeping human perked up and said,
"Jey?" Markis sighed and without replying lifted her and took her into a room, he soon came back after closing her in.
"Sorry about that... To tell the truth, he got mad at me so we haven't been talking."
"That woman... does it have anything to do with her?" He grinned,
"Wow you're sharp... yeah he had gotten his first little girl friend... I just wanted to mess with him a little. He took it kind of hard."
"... wait... you haven't seen him in 10 years? How old is she?"
"... what does it matter?" He replied in a cold tone.
"Well... I just need to talk to Zai... it's kind of important." When I said Zai's name something clicked. Then he wrote down a number and handed the paper to me,
"This is Cera's cellphone number, he's been to their house before. I'm still cool with him at least."
"Oh... what's a cellphone?" My question made Markis laugh. Then he explained modern electronics to me, it still seems a bit behind the technology we have back home but the portability is enviable. "Thanks for explaining that... can I use yours?" He groaned and then delivered the device from his pocket. His wallpaper was a picture of himself topless with some woman in her underwear hugging his arm. I decided not to comment on it and followed His instructions on how to call Cera. Thankfully Cera was eager to give me the address along with landmarks and after I wrote everything down I thanked him and ended the call. I held the phone out to him and he grabbed my wrist and pulled me close.
"You're not leaving yet are you?" I put my hand on his chest and pushed him away.
"I am." He used his other hand to grab my hip and said,
"Shouldn't I get something for helping you out? Don't play hard to get, I know you've slept with everyone else." Then I punched him, sending him flying across the room into the opposite wall.
"Fine! I will stay!" I replied with a smile, "Please enlighten me as to why you're feeding off that human. And what exactly have you done to your precious little brother that you were supposed to be caring for?!" He coughed up blood and I walked towards him, "She couldn't be older than 26 so why does she look like she's 60? You're a disgrace, she wasn't just a human girl she was a child!" He wiped the blood from his mouth,
"What? I did him a favor, he was getting enamored with a human. I just needed him to realize they're nothing but food, the stupid bitch chose me over him, she chose to be here because she knows her place. You can't glorify a snack and make it think that it's your equal. I stopped him from being a fool, and he should be thanking me!" He explained, but his breathing was still shakey, "Wow... you hit me hard... I suppose this means your answer is no?"
"Of course, it's no! Do you know what V would do if I slept with you? I don't have a reason to do that." He closed his eyes and began catching his breath,
"Oh yeah... I almost forgot that you are his favorite toy." Instictively I grabbed him with my telekinesis and lifted him from the ground by his neck. He shot fire from his hands in my direction to stop me but it was too weak to penetrate through my defenses. 3 seconds passed and I regained my senses and let him go. I don't have time to defend this random human, Insinz is waiting for me... But imagining a young girl being swept away and manipulated by a much older and stronger man made me feel... a kinship with this frail human...
After I left Markis's house I withdrew all my funds from my Earth bank account. Then I got a hotel room in the city RJ lived in, so the girl would have somewhere to stay. I washed her and worked on repairing her aura. When an Afarian feeds on a human they use sex, or any physical connection to drain the life energy from the host. For some reason this draining is addictive and humans go through painful withdrawal symptoms without it so they have to be weaned off the process like it was a drug. A lot of times they fake interest, stealing energy through holding hands or kisses until the human mistakes this newfound addiction for love and becomes irrevocably attached to their new parasite, then the physical connection becomes more intimate. She's been with him for years so her aura will take a long time to repair and she barely speaks, except when I bring up Raijian. I have to call him Jey and then she'd smile weakly and whisper his name... but that's the only response. This does complicate things but it also makes it clear why RJ felt like he needed to leave Markis's guardianship.
"I will be back, there is food in the fridge, do not leave this room. Do you understand?" As I asked this she stared at the floor, while sitting on the bed but nodded weakly. I left, locking the door behind me, and then I made sure to get out of sight before cloaking myself and flying to the address Cera gave me. Okay... time to talk to Zai.
Zai wasn't there, and the person who opened the door was Raijian, seeing his face brought up horrible flashbacks but I tried to move past that and ask to speak to Zai. The way he was eyeing me made me feel uneasy... it was a similar look to the one V would make before forcing me down. After he realized who I was though, his perception of me slowly began to change. I had nothing to hide so I released the barriers protecting my thoughts so he knew he could trust me. We talked for a while then he revealed that Zai wasn't likely to go back with me. I thought back to Insinz... he mentioned Zai specifically and I know it's because if he comes to our aid the others will follow. The same can't be said for Raijian. I was in panic mode when I asked,
"Why?"
"Before I tell you... Tell me what happened to Aluma." I bit my thumbnail. An old habit I have whenever I feel anxious. Is he worried about the Infaniyan bride still? Of course, he would be
"She's alive... and she misses you." Something told me to bring her with me as a peace offering, but I left so frantically, there was no time.
"If you can bring her back to me... I'll help you meet with Zai, I'll even help convince him to help you." His response made me so happy that I began bouncing,
"Do you promise?!"
"I cannot lie, after all." I felt like dancing for joy, but... getting her from the Palace won't be easy... it was hard enough just getting here. Even so, I need to grasp any chance I have! Insinz needs me! I do need to figure out what to do with the human girl while I'm away though, I can't possibly drag her back with me to Afaria. For now I'll focus on getting her as well as possible.