So there I was… trapped alone in a cage, Vanessa and my daughter near me, unable to talk to me or hear me. I pushed at the bars, but they were unmoving. Of course, without touch, I could not bless myself free, so I was uncertain of how to proceed.
But then something odd happened. Instead of remaining in the cage, I found myself standing next to Vanessa and Alera and Dog almost as if in the blink of an eye. And then I worked out it — Alera had summoned me, just like she had with the stuffed toy. Cool. Without a word, Vanessa scooped my hand within hers and whispered something softly to our daughter. I blinked in shock when Luna and Lara vanished. Stepping around the cage together, we faced Leo, who began to grow irate at the absence of his sisters.
“What did you do to them?” He crossed his arms, making no motion that would be considered a blessing. Very wise of the man as if he had, I would have attacked him without thinking anything of it.
“My little girl, Alera is her name, has sent them just a few blocks away. She could have killed them, but did not. She could kill you without any words spoken, but will not. Do you really want to hurt this child?” Vanessa spoke boldly, lifting Alera up so that the man could stare into the gold and green eyes. He sighed, still not convinced. But when Luna and Lara dashed back inside of the warehouse, eyes wide in wonder, he relented.
“Fine. But it will have to be put before the councils of the sections.” Leo’s voice was one of resignation, but I trusted him.
“I have little doubt they will do the right thing.” I did not voice the rest of what I thought — that they would not have a choice as long as I was alive to help Alera remain unharmed and unfettered. I looked to Vanessa, who smiled brightly at me as we began to follow Leo and his sisters to their shuttle nearby, Dog with us, and felt a huge measure of relief that I did not have to kill her, that I could keep my daughter’s mind intact and sharp. As long as Vanessa and I could keep the girl from hurting anyone, then perhaps she could remain free. I vowed silently to the toddler that I would do everything in my power to see that she remained that way and was not controlled by anyone.
However, at the council section’s meeting, of which Vanessa, Alera and I were a part of, the situation got out of control fast. The elders of each section, selected by family members to put into the position, were shouting and insulting each other in regards to allowing Alera to even remain alive. I knew they couldn’t kill her but if they tried, it could be painful for the girl. And that, I would never allow to happen.
“Alex, son,” The man who had led the Stone section when I had lived in Sky City stood and faced the three of us, but addressed me. “Tell us in your own words how you were able to produce an offspring with a Curser?” Oh boy. Did they want details? All the gory details?
“Honorable father,” I addressed him formally, “We are uncertain of how we were able to produce Alera. Our union was apparently fruitful.” I felt my face heat up and glanced to Vanessa, who was turning a few shades of pink under her dark skin. I shook my head and addressed the council members. “This child is harmless. She is well behaved and very under control. All fears of the death of the world are unfounded. In fact, I have a feeling she will come to greatness.” I looked down at the little girl, who was patting Dog’s head softly, grinning an adorable little smile as she did. How could anyone think of her as a monster? How could they think of her as anything but simply sweet and wonderful? I shook my head again and sighed. She had me wrapped around her little tiny perfect pinky. That much was certain.
“You may rest now. Once we come to a conclusion to this, we will summon you all again.” The senior of the council, a wizened old man who hunched over as if he were permanently searching for something he dropped upon the floor, dismissed us with a wave of his gnarled hand. I knew that he had not reached such an advanced age by making reckless decisions — the council would be deliberating for hours. My main concern was for Alera, of course, and since I had already been banished for losing my Blesser skills, I did not have to worry about being punished for having sex with Vanessa.
“Come,” I took Vanessa’s hand within mine and we exited the open door to find Luna and Leo waiting for us.
“Alex, I’ll take you to your room. The Curser will follow Luna.” Leo’s words were soft, but hard around the edges and I could see how tense he was. But I refused.
“No.” I put an arm around Vanessa and Alera, ignoring the unhappy glare Luna gave me as I did. “I stay with them.”
“That’s not possible. The Council—”
I cut him off. “I don’t care what the Council said. I will not part with them.” I felt a measure of safety when I was with Vanessa and our daughter; no way would I give that up. When Leo stepped forward as if he were going to manhandle me, Dog began to growl under his breath. Of course all wounds had been blessed into healing, but that didn’t mean that either of us wanted to get injured again so he backed off.
“Fine.” We followed him to the same room I had used before and gave the request for a crib for Alera, who had fallen asleep from such a long day of waiting, waiting, waiting. Once the crib had been brought to the room, we put her down for the night. Vanessa and I stood side by side, hands clasped together, staring down at the beautiful little girl.
“I don’t know how I could survive without her, Alex.” Vanessa said so softly I could barely register the words. I pulled her in, wrapping my arms around her and kissed her forehead gently.
“I don’t know how I have survived without both of you.” I told her warmly, reaching down to press my lips against hers. When our kiss deepened, I felt a jolt of electricity weave itself into my bones and sighed in delight when her tongue found entrance to my mouth. Without a word, I scooped her into my arms and carried her to the bed, depositing her gently upon it. I had her borrowed dress pulled off and her underclothing tossed aside before I could think to stop myself. I was so hard! And this time, it was a normal erection caused by my extreme attraction to the woman before me.
“Alex,” Vanessa looked me in the eye as I removed my own clothing quickly. “We cannot—” I cut her off by kissing her deeply, unwilling to let her keep talking. I needed to make love to her and despite the pain when we climaxed, I was going to do it. But I never had the chance as alarms began to blare in our ears, causing us to gasp and dress quickly. Alera, started awake by the sound, began to cry fearfully until her mother gathered her into her arms and held her in an attempt to hide her from the loudness.
“Can’t we get a moment’s respite?” I snapped to the air as I went to the door. Before I exited, I glanced to the mother and daughter inside and asked them to remain in the room until I found what was happening. Vanessa did not like the idea of being separated, as we were unable to bless or curse, but agreed with a nod. I ran down the hall, buttoning up a borrowed white shirt as I did. I ran into a Blesser and they told me that Sky City was actually under attack. Cursers had somehow built contraptions to make it skyward and now were demanding Alera or a full attack would ensue. I cringed with the knowledge as I dashed back to the room. Not good.
When I opened the door, I had to bite back a string of curses when I saw that the room was empty. Where were they? As soon as I exited, I scanned the halls, but saw only Blessers running around to prepare for the attack. Panic threatened to overwhelm me. I couldn’t lose them after I had just found them! I heard a yapping noise and followed it to see Vanessa and Alera running forward, Dog following noisily as if trying to compete with the blaring alarm system. I pushed myself, not willing to lose sight of the woman and child and finally caught up to them at one of the large shuttle bays. Lara was with them, pointing to the shuttle entrance.
“What’s going on?” I queried, nearly out of breath, as I joined them. Vanessa stopped and turned to me, a frown on her beautiful face.
“They are sending us to the surface, Alex. They think Alera will be safer there.” I mirrored her frown. Why would they take her without me? I eyed Lara suspiciously, not trusting of her intentions.
“I’m going with you.” I did not give the Blesser any chance to argue and closed the shuttle doors behind us, watching a multitude of expressions cross Lara’s pretty face.
The trip was nerve-wracking, as we feared we’d get stopped or shot down or attacked the entire time we flew, but finally the autopilot landed us at the designated place, door opening in preparation of our departure. I felt bad for leaving Sky City, but what could I have done to help them? I could not risk Alera falling into Curser hands!
The moment we exited, we found ourselves surrounded. Dog began to growl and I understood why….
Cursers.
Now how did that happen? I had no time to say anything as they began to weave patterns to bind us with their curses. Clasping my arms around Vanessa, I opened my mouth and said “The ground beneath us is so wonderfully solid, don’t you think? Too bad the rest of the ground is like lava.” At the time I was blessing, Vanessa had been cursing and I barely heard her say, “Lightning in a dry sky is odd, but it falls upon you anyway, burning you and peeling your skin away from bone.” We turned to each other as the sounds of screaming came from the handful of Cursers before us. Thick lava had oozed from the ground, burning them from the feet upward as lightning fell from the sky.
I had never been that powerful! It had to be Alera. I looked at the wide-eyed girl, who whimpered in terror as she pressed her face into her mother’s shoulder. I turned, still touching them, not letting go for anything, and said, “What a pretty hovercraft. It will drive us far.” The piece of metal that I had focused on had suddenly taken shape in the form of a hovercar and so I slid into the seat with Vanessa and Alera beside me, dog squeezed in tightly between the three of us.
“Why are you bringing the animal with us, Alex?” I had not had a chance to explain Dog’s importance to me.
“I’m his dog, bitch.” The mutt stated matter-of-factly, which shocked Vanessa and caused me to glower at his mouth.
“Yeah, that.” It was all I said, as we began to flit across the dirty streets of Surface city. Beyond was a barren wasteland filled with danger and darkness, but in my eyes, it would be much safer than in the grasp of Blessers or Cursers, each with their own agenda for Alera. I did not stop the car until nearly a day later when we were hungry, exhausted, and mentally worn. We had to find shelter. None of us, no matter how powerful we were together, could remain awake and alert forever.
“There?” Vanessa pointed to what looked to be a large fence that had been kept up. It meant civilization. Perhaps if no one knew of us, we would be safe. I made a mental note to watch for the eyes. If the first person we encountered had glowing white or red eyes, we’d incapacitate them and continue onward. It was a young man that didn’t look old enough to bear facial hair. He waved a stunner at us and barked out orders for us to remove ourselves from the craft. We obliged and I glanced over to Alera, making sure she was still sleeping. Her eyes would give us away and we could not afford that. Not now. Not when we needed shelter so badly.
“State your business, strangers.” The kid barked, spine rigid as if trying to display to us just how tough he was. Dog was wise enough to remain silent, hunched behind us.
“We’re running from an angry band of Cursers. My woman and child and I would like to stay with your village for the night. Is that possible?” I mentally pleaded with the younger man, desperate to get off my feet and get some rest. I was like the walking dead, or at least I felt that way and knew Vanessa could not be faring any better. He held up a hand and went inside of the gate, discussing something with a man from the sound of the voice. Both men approached us, eyeing us warily.
“Eyes, let us check ’em?” The older man, face full of black and white hair, leaned in and studied each of our eyes, ignoring Alera. “Okay, you can probably come inside.” He motioned upward and I followed his signals to watch a ladder being lowered. How would we climb that with a child? But it was not for us. A woman, judging from the soft curves, climbed down to join us.
“Who is this?” She was blind in one eye but definitely not bad to look at otherwise. Her blonde hair held a reddish tint to it and she motioned for us to answer with an expression that told me expected a response quickly.
“I’m Alex. This is Vanessa.” I pointed to the sleeping toddler. “That’s our daughter, Alera. And our pet dog.” She looked at each of us in turn, seeing hopefully nothing but dirty, exhausted travelers. But she frowned as she studied us.
“You wear Blessers clothing.” It was an accusation. Like I had mentioned before, humans were very untrusting.
“We stole them. Our life has been very hard. We just want somewhere to stay. Somewhere safe. Please?” I pleaded, letting desperation flood my voice. I did not want to bring trouble to their village, but we could not keep running and being in the thick of battle in Sky City would be too dangerous. The woman shook her head and spat on the ground beside us. The sky was beginning to darken, which meant I probably had been on my feet for almost two days, maybe longer if you don’t count the small amount of sleep I had gotten the night before.
“I feel as if I am making a dangerous and terrible mistake, but you cannot go on. Come in.” She whistled a specific noise and the gate began to grind open. I got the impression it would take quite a few men to move it. I wondered if we’d be safe, despite the thickness. Following in, I was amazed at how clean the houses looked. They were all made of wood and stone and looked as if they had been there for a while. How could such a settlement survive without Blesser or Curser knowledge?
“Wait here and I’ll have a cabin cleared for you.” Her words were almost inaudible as fast as she began to walk away to get it done for us. I wrapped my arms around Vanessa and held on to her, mostly to distract myself from falling over.
“You look as bad as I feel.” I whispered to her, nuzzling her cheek as I did. Her reaction startled me as she twisted her head and captured my lips in a fierce kiss.
“Thank you, Alex.” I could see the sincerity in her face, which made me feel bad. I was, after all, the one who had made Tomas jealous enough to turn in his own mate. I tried to feel hatred for the man, but if I had been in his shoes, I might have been as bitter. I don’t think I could have given a little girl to Cursers though. Perhaps he had no dealings with them and did not know just how evil and conniving they could be. I stared a little longer at Vanessa with the same thoughts. I had seen her peel flesh from her fellow Curser’s bones. That was pretty cruel; perhaps some things were hard to change. I sighed softly, hoping that the woman would never have to curse anyone ever again.
A new man appeared before us, almost as if out of thin air, which caused me to start. How did he do that? And then I realized I had fallen asleep. I glanced at Vanessa who smiled at me, a wide grin splitting her face.
“Yeah, yeah,” I muttered good-naturedly as we followed the man to a cabin. He did not say much, but when he opened the door for us, his expression was apologetic.
“I am sorry, visitors, but this cabin is somewhat isolated and dusty from lack of use. The owners had an unfortunate run-in with a Curser patrol.” I sensed a sadness in his tone and wondered if he had known the occupants or if the settlement was that close knit.
“Lady ‘E’ will be summoned to greet you as soon as you’ve rested and are ready.” He bowed deeply and left us alone. The dust was thick inside of the cabin, but it was quaint and very private. I grinned at the thought of having Vanessa all to myself for once, with no prying eyes or ears nearby. She put Alera on a soft looking papa-san chair and wrapped her arms around my waist, staring up into my face. All traces of sleep were gone when our lips met. I pushed her gently into the bedroom, not even bothering to flick out the light the man had lit for us and our clothes were soon lying in two separate piles, our bodies intertwined.
“I love you, Alex.” Again the words I had never heard uttered to me before I had met her. No one had ever loved me. It was a shock to hear them a second time from her lips, and I wasn’t sure how to reply, so all I said was, “Me too.” I kissed her until I thought I would explode and began to explore her body. It was mine. In my mind, I claimed it. I wanted it. I let my tongue run circles around the areola of her right breast and then the left, grinning when she moaned lightly under my tongue. I knew she was aroused and I certainly was hard. I inserted my finger into her opening and went as deep as I could, bringing it out and in a few times to tease.
“Alex! I have to have you in me. Now!” Her need was as great as mine and I smiled with heavy desire as I drew close to her entrance. But just before I thrust inside, I paused. Would it kill us both this time? I glanced nervously at the closed door to the other room where our daughter rested. What would happen to Alera if either or both of us died? I hovered over her beautiful black body for a few seconds pondering this….
What should I do?
I simply could not decide… one more time could very well kill us.
Would I gain pleasure? Or would I gain death?
To be continued…