Nero, p.13
Nero, page 13
“Sienna,” Jack said with a wide smile. “I hoped you’d find us here.”
She arched a brow. “I would have shown myself earlier except you looked a little...busy.” Her cool voice revealed her displeasure. “You’ve grown a little careless with your human, Nero.” She glanced around with disdain at the mansion. “And isn’t this place a little too obvious?”
“With your human?” Brynn repeated with a glower. “I’m not his pet!”
“That isn’t what I meant,” Sienna refuted with a heavy sigh.
“Isn’t it?” Jack asked. “This is our last chance to live our life, Sienna. If you want to remain single and alone that is on you.”
“And if you want to have another life on your conscience, then be it on your own head!” Sienna lashed out. She sucked in a breath and shook her head, looking instantly sorry. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I am jealous of this normal life you’ve carved out, this relationship you’ve formed while I’m constantly on the run and seeing shadows.”’
“It’s never too late,” Jack said gently. “We can’t let the Dronians dictate our life here on Earth, not completely.”
“Not even when they’re always one step behind us?”
Cat trotted into the room then and twirled around Jack’s legs. He bent and scratched the feline’s head. “I didn’t say we should stop being vigilant. Our stay at this house was always going to be a short one.”
Sienna eyed the black cat like it’d grown three heads. “Don’t tell me you’ve bonded with an Earth creature, too?”
“Cat found me and never left. I’m not sure that is what I’d call bonded. More like self-preservation.” Cat sat and licked his paw as if in agreement, and Jack straightened and asked, “Where is Jasper?”
Sienna tore her stare away from the feline. “We decided it’d be too risky if he came too and all three of us got together again.”
“What of the other rares?” he asked. “Have you seen any of them? Have any plans been made?”
Cat suddenly froze, his eyes going wide. He dropped his paw and crouched low, hissing even as his pupils dilated and the fur on the back of his neck stood on end.
“We’ve got visitors,” Sienna gritted out.
Brynn’s heart rate galloped. “Dronians?”
“Yes. I can smell their stench anywhere,” Jack said in a hard voice, stepping to the table to retrieve his sword, then wielding it through the air with some practiced sweeps.
Sienna pulled free her own weapon of choice from an invisible holster built into the outside thigh of her bodysuit. Some kind of thin rapier blade that gleamed under the chandeliers. “And here I was hoping for some peace and quiet.”
Jack looked at Brynn and nodded toward a recess in the wall where a tall vase with dried flowers took up residence. “Hide behind the vase, the wall will at least protect your back and sides.”
She wasn’t about to argue. She was no soldier, she’d never even done self-defense. When she had used a vase as a weapon against a Dronian, her so-called help had nearly gotten Jack killed.
She ran to the recess, Cat following her. He clearly didn’t want to use any of his nine lives, his self-preservation mode now in full force. If the situation wasn’t so dire she might have laughed.
She crouched behind the oversized vase, thankful for her smaller stature as she wedged herself behind it. Cat found a space next to her, his tail swishing and his eyes wide as he stared at Jack.
From her vantage point she could also see Jack and Sienna. They stood back-to-back, protecting each other. Seconds later the front door crashed open and Dronians poured in, at least two dozen of the bastards.
It only then occurred to Brynn that Sienna was blind to her enemy.
How the hell was she going to fight them?
Yet the two of them worked together, slashing and thrusting, with Jack calling out proximity whenever one got too close to Sienna. They stabbed and slashed probably half their enemy before even Brynn could see they were getting overrun.
“Sienna, now would be a good time!” Jack shouted.
The woman nodded once, pressed the bloodied fingertips of one hand to her brow, and screamed like a banshee.
Every last one of the Dronians froze, their bodies quivering. Then one of them exploded, its dark purple blood and chunks of its meat splattering its comrades. Another Dronian exploded next, then another, until the rest simultaneously burst apart.
An oily, rotten eggs stench filled the air, the smell beyond disgusting.
Jack hurried over to Brynn, the bloodied sword at his side. “We have to leave now. Before the Dronian cleanup crew arrives along with more of their soldiers.”
She didn’t need to be asked twice. There was no time even to grab their backpacks with their clothes. Scooping up Cat in one arm, Jack grabbed her other arm to lead her past the blood and gore and out through the non-existent door into the fresh air.
Sienna looked pale and fatigued as she followed last, as though protecting their backs. “To the river,” she instructed.
“What about Cat?” Brynn asked shakily, shock already setting in.
Sienna’s eyes flashed green in the gloom. “What about him?”
“Cats don’t like water.” Brynn was proud that she kept her voice even and normal sounding. “I’m sure he’ll be no different.”
Jack pointed to something that appeared to be floating on the river. “I can keep him dry if that helps. Either that or he swims back to shore. It’s his choice.”
Brynn squinted, realizing it was a log.
Jack placed Cat onto the ground as Sienna mumbled something unladylike while she hid her sword in a pile of leaves, then stripped. Jack put down his own sword and got rid of his clothes just as quickly, and Brynn had no choice but to follow their lead and strip too. By that time Sienna was already running toward the water, leaving them to follow.
Brynn was only thankful for Jack’s hand taking hold of hers while he used his other hand to clasp his sword as they waded after Sienna into the cool river. Brynn needed all the stability she could get after witnessing the bloodbath inside Sloan’s house.
Nothing in her life, not even the greatest sex she’d ever had—with Jack and Nero—could have prepared her for the emotional rollercoaster she was riding.
Cat meowed indignantly as he paced up and down along the waterline, while Sienna swam out to the log and gave it a shove toward the shore. Then she dove, disappearing into the inky black water as though she’d never been.
Jack waded into the river up to his waist, releasing Brynn’s hand to swim out the rest of the way and grab hold of the log before it lost its surge of momentum toward shore and continued its journey downstream. Placing his sword onto the log he floated it closer toward Brynn.
Mud and silt squished between her toes as she followed at a more sedate pace, the water cold enough to make her teeth chatter even before she was fully submerged.
As Jack went back for Cat, Brynn pushed off the river bottom and into the water, then grabbed hold of one end of the log. Seconds later Jack waded back into the river with the protesting feline in his arms, placing him carefully onto the log out of the water and away from the sharp blade.
His sharp and assessing eyes turned to Brynn. “Are you okay?”
Other than witnessing a massacre? She drew in a steadying breath, logic reasserting itself. It had been kill or be killed. Personally, she’d prefer to keep her heart beating over the Dronians. She clung onto the log and nodded. “It would take more than a bit of water to kill me.”
He arched a brow. “Water was what nearly killed you.”
She shook her head. “No, it was lack of oxygen.”
“And stubbornness.”
She shrugged, the water rippling around her. “Now you’re being picky.”
He grinned at her dry humor. “Hold on tight,” he instructed, then grabbed the other end of the log and dragged it with Brynn and Cat farther out into the river. Cat didn’t meow, hiss or growl, he crouched low, putting all his energy into sticking his claws into the log and holding on.
Brynn only wished she had claws to stick into the log too. Readjusting her grip, she glanced up at the sky. There were no lights that she could see, no sign of the Dronian mothership. Because surely only the biggest craft they had would have carried that many of the lizard aliens?
Sienna was nowhere in sight. She’d obviously shifted into her primary form which allowed her to breathe through her gills. Though Brynn couldn’t make out much more than shadows, she could see Jack’s blond hair. Then he slipped completely underwater and she felt a surge of power ripple through the river as he shifted. Not even a minute later his talk-stone gave out a blue tinge under the water.
She relaxed a little. His aquatic body with its fins and webbing would help them to escape from here before the Dronians returned, possibly with even more soldiers than before.
She shivered. They no longer had Sienna here to kill more soldiers by making them explode. Not that the rare probably had the strength to do so anyway. She’d looked pale and weak enough after killing off the first round of Dronians.
Either way, Sienna and Nero’s powers came at price here on Earth, where only the river rejuvenated them enough to restore their energy. Was it because Brynn was human who’d adapted on Earth thanks to her many ancestors that she didn’t tire after influencing others?
She might never really know.
A green glow lit up the water before Sienna’s head popped out of the river nearby. She was no longer human. Her eyes glowed faintly with green, as though reflecting her talk-stone, though Brynn suspected it was the other way around. Her scaly skin was a beautiful moss-green, her long dark hair now streaked the same mossy color.
Besides their coloring, the one striking difference between Sienna and Nero in their alien form was their height. Sienna wasn’t much taller in her alien female form as she was in her human body. Were all the females built smaller than their male counterparts?
What looked like sea-shells covered Sienna’s breasts, and Brynn suddenly giggled and said, “You look like a real life mermaid.”
Sienna sighed heavily even as Nero resurfaced, his silver-and-blue streaked hair glowing with a further tinge of blue thanks to his talk-stone. He looked from one to the other. “What did I miss?”
“Nothing important,” Sienna said drily. She got all somber then and down to business when she added, “What is important is us going our separate ways once again.”
Nero nodded. “It will help to confuse our enemy when they try to follow us.”
Sienna brushed some strands of dark hair behind her ear. “Yes, we need every advantage we can get. But first, I have some other important information to tell you since I didn’t have time to fill you in earlier.”
Nero nodded. “I’m all ears.”
“I did manage to find some of the other rares. Thanks to Epello, I learned the Dronians aren’t invincible and actually have a rather big weakness here on Earth.”
Nero expelled a sharp breath. “What is it?”
“It seems the atmosphere here impacts them badly. So badly it is quickly killing some of them off while slowly killing the rest.” Her white teeth gleamed green beneath her talk-stone. “To the extent that the majority of them spend much of their time out in space far away from this planet.”
Nero’s eyes glowed neon blue. “That might be the best news I’ve ever heard.”
Sienna nodded. “Without a doubt.” She glanced around, as though ensuring they were still alone. Then she added, “I hope to find all seven of us—and soon—so that we can meet somewhere noisy and unexpected.”
Nero’s eyes glinted like shiny blue stars, full of hope and light. “Creeds,” he murmured.
Sienna nodded. “Yes. At midnight, exactly one week from now.”
Brynn pushed back a sudden flush of optimism and turned back to Sienna. “With any luck the Dronians will all be dead by then.”
“That is my biggest hope,” Sienna agreed. “Either that or they might have fled Earth completely and turned their attention to another species...one who might annihilate them before they get to annihilate them first.”
Cat hissed suddenly, and Brynn’s stomach hardened. “Can we, ah, talk later? I-I’d like to get out of here.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
“See you in a week,” Sienna reminded, then she sank beneath the water, the green glow of her talk-stone disappearing right along with her.
Nero positioned himself so that he was lying face-up beneath the log, his hands gripping it from underneath. “Don’t let go,” he instructed.
Brynn gasped as the log jerked forward, then quickly gained momentum, her legs trailing out behind her. Holy crap. How fast were they going? It was like getting towed by a speed boat. Surely not even a dolphin could pull at this speed?
Cat had hunkered back down, almost impossible to see thanks to his black coat. But with his claws digging deep into the wood he wasn’t about to get wet.
Brynn estimated they’d been in the water for close to thirty minutes when Nero slowed his pace. She blew out a relieved breath. He might have done all the work by swimming all this time but her muscles were aching so badly she couldn’t have held on for much longer.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said in a scratchy, weak voice. She cleared her throat. “I’m fine. What about you?”
He chuckled. “I could pretend I’m fine, but I’ve honestly never felt gladder to leave the water.”
“But doesn’t the river recharge you?”
“It does, but I’m not a machine, I still need to rest. More so now thanks to the chemical spill in the water.”
“Chemical spill? Is that why you’re getting out?” she asked, desperate now herself to exit the water knowing she was floating in some kind of poison.
“It is,” he acknowledged. “We’re safer hiding out in one of these houses.”
He stopped swimming then, and she realized he’d put all his energy into shifting back into his human form. She wasn’t imagining that his shift seemed prolonged this time, as though his energy had flagged and he was having trouble becoming Jack once again.
She didn’t realize she’d been holding her breath until she saw his blond hair once again thanks to the solar lights on the shore they were headed toward.
The house he’d chosen had a lovely lawn that went right to the water’s edge, with a concrete path that led from the back door of the red brick house to a gazebo near the river. A wind chime tinkled sweetly in the light breeze from one of the lower branches of a gum tree. Too bad that same light breeze went straight through her naked body the moment she stepped out of the water.
Jack coaxed Cat from off his log perch and onto the lawn as Brynn hugged herself in an effort to get warm. As Cat prowled ahead of them Jack retrieved the sword, then stepped close and put his arm around her, his warmth a relief.
“We’ve got to put a stop to these late night swims,” he murmured. “You’ll catch some horrible cold at this rate.”
She shook her head. “Believe me, I’m tougher than I look.”
“You don’t have to convince me,” he murmured, before he kissed the top of her head. “Now let’s go get warm and dry.”
They didn’t try to break in this time, not when the Dronians were no longer obviously on their trail. He looked down at her as they approached the back door, where pots of miniature pink roses sat in barrels either side. “Do you think you have the energy to influence our way inside the house?”
She nodded. “Like I said, I’m tougher than I look. And using these newfound abilities doesn’t seem to drain me like they do you.”
He didn’t take it as a blot to his masculinity. Instead he nodded and said with admiration, “You really are special.”
“All thanks to you.”
He shook his head. “No, you were special even before you saw Dronians with your own eyes and learned how to influence others.”
He lifted his hand and rapped on the door, and a big, bearded man in loose shorts and a light flannel shirt swung it open. His crinkled brown eyes widened at seeing the naked strangers on his back doorstep. “Wer zum Teufel bist du?”
At the man’s foreign language—German?—Brynn resisted trying to cover up her nudity and instead looked at Jack with a frown. “How can I influence him if he doesn’t understand me?”
Jack smiled at her, then turned back to the homeowner and said, "Wir sind Freunde. Wir brauchen Kleidung und etwas zu essen. Wir brauchen auch ein Bett für die Nacht."
She blinked. When he’d mentioned his talk-stone deciphered languages, she’d had no idea he meant all languages!
The man inside the doorway gestured them in with a wide smile. “Bitte, kommen Sie herein.”
Cat pushed past their legs and strutted inside as though he owned the place. Brynn stayed motionless, though the warm and bright interior beckoned. She glanced at Jack. “What did he say?”
“You mean other than ‘who the hell are you?’”
“Yes, other than that.”
“After I told him we were friends who needed clothes, food and a bed for the night, he welcomed us inside his home.”
Relief filled her, but she was aware of Jack’s pale countenance. “You really do need to sit down and rest.”
He nodded. “The chemicals in the river made me worse instead of better—“
She blinked at his suddenly frozen features. “What is it?” she asked.
“That is something the Dronians would do. If that’s true, it means they’ll have a fair idea where we got out of the river, and therefore where we might have stayed for the night.”
“You think the Dronians spilled the chemicals deliberately?”
“They’ve done a whole lot worse.”
She winced. Of course they had. The sooner she and Jack were inside the house, the safer they’d be. She smiled back at the big German man as she stepped across the threshold and onto the tiled floor of what appeared to be a laundry and mudroom. “Thank you so much for letting us stay,” she said demurely.
