Post 30: Rocket Scientist

            “It’s not that I love him, it’s that he wasn’t there for me. I don’t care how much I love him; if there isn’t trust there is no relationship.” Adrian huffed and crossed her arms across her chest. The soft plush couch that she sat on dipped as she brought her shoeless feet underneath her. As beautiful as the room was, she knew it wasn’t real. She was still held against her will and her mother was still in danger because of her. The room looked somewhat like the suite she’d shared with Chase at the safe house.

            “I know Adrian, I’m just saying. The telepathic bond between mates is the most intricate and beautiful thing you could ever share. However, in the beginning it is also vulnerable. While it can’t be severed it can be tampered with. Didn’t you say this…this Devlirus was stronger than you? He might be able to block Chase out of your mind or vice versa. You said as you were leaving you kept trying to get into the leader’s mind but he wouldn’t let you. Maybe it wasn’t his resistance you were feeling but the force field around your mind.” Annalise crouched next to her daughter, her hands resting on her knees and her head tilted slightly. Adrian could see the concern on her face but didn’t quite know how to respond. She might very well be right. Adrian wanted to believe it so much. She needed to believe that the group would fight for her, that Chase wouldn’t block her out and use her as bait, that at least one of them trusted her after all this time.

            “What do you think he wants from us?” Adrian asked.

            “I’m not sure. I think that initially it was about me. I’ve seen him before…don’t look at me like that. I didn’t know he was trouble. I don’t have your gift to read auras, remember?” She shook her head before rising and collapsing on the couch next to her daughter. She slid her feet forward and tucked them behind Adrian’s knees.  “He was the first actual date I’d been on since your father. He was nice, charismatic, charming in a mysterious way; if you will. Then he asked me about you and your father. He pressed me to find out about Anders. I didn’t really want to go into the topic and he kept at it. Eventually I knew it had something to do with the Dark Warriors and you. When I told him that it was uncomfortable how interested he was and he said it was not important. That he’d have you either way and with you; your father. I rose and pretended to use the restroom. Of course he is smart and he waiting for me outside along with five of his goons.” They giggled at the word ‘goons’, sharing an inside joke from years before. Lifting a hand, Annalise trailed a line from her daughter’s forehead to her chin. “Your father did that to me, when he left. He said he wanted to remember the contours of my face, always, remember my beauty. Adrian, no matter what happens…”

            “I don’t even want to hear it. I am stronger than they gave me credit for. I will find a way to get us out of here.” Adrian raised a hand to her mother and repeated the action. “To remember you always,” she whispered. Patting her mother’s knees, Adrian rose and crossed the elaborately designed room. The window that sat high above the shelves could fit the two of them but judging how long it took them to get to the room, escaping that way would lead to a very long fall. “I just had a thought, it’s not me that’s blocked. It’s the house, it’s protected. It holds a barrier. What if that barrier was broken?”  She studied her surroundings harder. Annalise rose gracefully from the couch and stood next to her daughter.

            “What are you thinking, how can I help?” She clasped her hands together, eager.

            “We need to bust that window. Maybe if the barrier is broken…” Adrian trailed off in thought.

            “What’s wrong? What is it”

            “If the barrier is broken, I can get a signal out. That would confirm or deny our theory. If I break the barrier and reach Chase, then we were right. But what if I break the barrier and he is shutting me out? I just don’t know…”

            “Listen to me,” Annalise grasped her daughter by the shoulders. “Whatever you have to do to get us out of here do it. Whether Chase is on the other side or not is up to him. Yes, you love him but he isn’t here. We can find another way to do this.” At that moment a soft knock rang against the wooden door across from them. They both stiffened and locked hands; unified.

            “Ahhh…I see you both have awaken. It’s been hours, I thought I’d let you sleep. We do have a busy day ahead of us.” Devlirus Malus walked smoothly into the room. His tall, lean figure dressed in a crisp Armani suit commanded the room. He stood straight, looking down his nose at them with a slight curve to his lips. “Now, for today’s agenda.” He turned and snapped his fingers towards the door. “We can’t have you looking like prisoners, can we?” Two women with blank expressions and stoic movements shuffled into the room, both holding a box tote in their arms. One motioned blankly to Adrian and the other to Annalise. They helped them change into their new dresses as Devlirus looked on. Adrian glared at him from beneath her lashes as he smirked at their undressed state. “Don’t worry, human women are of no interest for me. At least not…at the moment.” His hardy chuckle rang into the silence as he shook his head.

            “What do you want with me?” Annalise, who’d finished dressing before her daughter, met his gaze head on. She grimaced as his irises turned silver and a pain shot in the back of her mind. A shuffling, a scurrying feeling filled her and she tried to block him out.

            “I see I don’t have to sow confusing and mistrust. The two of you have done that already, humans.” He spat in disgust. “So emotional, too emotional for their own good. My dear Annalise, I’ve already told you. It’s not you that I want. It’s your daughter, you’re just an added bonus to enjoy with we watch the show.” He walked over to Adrian just as the silent woman zipped the zipper. Reaching up towards her, Devlirus smiled widely when she jerked away from him. “Come, we have work to do.” He turned abruptly and led them from the room. He stopped just in time to call out orders to the zombie like women.

            “You still haven’t told me what you want me to do.” Adrian followed right behind him to keep her mother as distant as possible.

            “Fine, you knowing won’t matter as much anyway. I’m sure you’ve had your experience with my men over the last few years of your life. You just didn’t know it. The unexplained disappearances and the catastrophic accidents. They’ve been attributed to by UFO legends and aliens in a far distant place. That is not the case. Well, in all sense of the word, we are aliens but we are here; on earth. My planet…Malvroy, is dying. At first, we thought we might take over earth and live here but the longer I stay on this blasted planet the more I hate it. I’d rather go home. In order to heal our dying planet we need the life of another.”

            “Earth.”

            “You are smart. I’m sure it wouldn’t have taken a rocket astronaut to figure that out.” He chuckled.

            “Scientist,” she whispered.

            “What?” He looked at her quickly.

            “The phrase, the human phrase would be ‘it wouldn’t have taken a rocket scientist to figure it out’.”

            “You should soon find, I don’t like to be neither interrupted nor corrected.” He’d stopped and stared down at her.

            “Well, if you didn’t want to be, maybe you should’ve thought about that before you kidnapped an editor.” Adrian stood tall, staring back at him, meeting his icy glare with her own. She didn’t say anything else and cleared her mind as much as possible. She didn’t want him reading her mind or taking control of her body. She lost.

            “If I were you, I’d be more concerned about the welfare of your mother than my grasp on your races grammar.” Leaning slightly towards her, Devlirus kissed her softly across the lips, his eyes wide. Adrian’s body nodded and leaned in to respond. He turned and continued his walk down the hall. Annalise touched her daughters hand and gasped as she found the skin cold. The body turned its head towards her, the eyes blank. Adrian was gone, she didn’t know to where but whatever it was had taken hold of her daughter’s body. The empty vessel grabbed Annalise’s arm and threw it away, causing her to stumble.

            “Your daughter isn’t here.” It spoke, the voice lower and yet musical to Annalise’s ears. She softened and smiled, unafraid of the danger. “You must help us. It’s the only way you and Dark Warrior Anders Culvert can be together; forever.” The soft tones rang through her eardrums and Annalise nodded.

            “Yes, yes I will help.” She followed the two before her out into a large field just behind the castle like house. Before them stood a tall white alter with small symbols much like the tattooed men from before had on their heads. Taking her daughters hand, Annalise led her toward the alter. They would do this and then all would be alright, they would be a family again. Anders, Adrian and her could live in peace; forever.

            “Now, we may begin.” Devlirus stated as he smiled at his two counter parts.

"The only way to be a writer is to write, write and write. The only way...is to write." -Jade Elyzabeth