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“He’s a wolf,” I say, cautiously walking closer, ready to disarm her if need be. “Not a dog.”
“Are you like an android or something?”
“Nope.” I exhale. “Look, kiddo. There’s more to this world than society is ready to accept. I used to be ordinary. Turned into a vampire. Then did side duty as an angel of death. Now, I’m somewhere in-between. Kingsley’s a straight-up werewolf.”
“You’re a vampire?” She gawks. “But it’s daytime.”
“I am not undead. It’s complicated and you really don’t want to know.” I smile. “It would take a lot longer to explain than it would be worth.”
“Vampires… werewolves? Seriously?” She finally lowers the weapon.
“Seriously,” says Kingsley after reverting to human shape. He plods into the elevator and grabs his bag of clothing, opens it, then throws on some sweats and a t-shirt. I happen to know that’s a 5x extra large t-shirt... and it’s still stretched to the max at the shoulders. “You’d be happier not talking about it. People will think you’re crazy.”
Meredith laughs. “Yeah.Ithink I’m crazy. Is any of this really happening?”
“Afraid so.” I pat her on the arm. “Nice shooting, by the way.”
The teen peers down at the chrome-plated ‘device’ in her hand, then cracks up in nervous laughter. “I don’t know what to say. Can I go home now?”
“Yeah. It’s over.”
Kingsley approaches me. “You okay?”
“Yeah fine.”
“You’re bleeding,” says Meredith.
I peer down at myself. Looks like one of the aliens decided to let me borrow his knife—by sticking it into my abdomen. Wow, I must’ve been furious. Didn’t even notice it. Naturally, as soon as I look, it starts to hurt.
“Kids, don’t do this at home,” I say before pulling it out. “Impalement wounds bleed like crazy if you remove the object. Seek medical attention and don’t pull it out.”
Meredith blinks. “But you just pulled it out.”
I toss the space knife aside. “Yes. My body works a bit differently from mortals. I’ll be fine. Also, please forget you saw this.”
“Sure, no problem. As long as I can go home…” Meredith hugs herself, starting to shiver. “What am I going to tell my parents… my boyfriend? It’s been three months? If I tell them aliens kidnapped me, I’ll end up on freakin’ Jerry Springer… or in a mental hospital.”
I cringe. She’s not wrong. It really wouldn’t do anyone any good to be truthful here. “Best thing you can do is act like you don’t know what happened. Tell them you woke up in the forest and you think it’s the next day.”
Meredith rakes a hand through her dark red hair. “Yeah. Well. Itdoesfeel like the next day. I really was asleep the whole time. Memory’s so foggy.”
We take the elevator down.
The other abductees are still there just as we left them. No new alien corpses are in sight, so… if any Xiphos happened to be hiding in the engineering level, they’re still down below. Xaan returns from having imprisoned the other two.
“You sure you’re all right?” Kingsley brushes a gentle hand over my wound.
“Yeah. That little knife doesn’t hurt anywhere near as bad as having to wear these dorky clothes.”
He wags his eyebrows. “Well, you don’thaveto wear them.”
“Hah!” I laugh. “Luckily, my stuff is in one of those bins. Just have to go grab it.”
Xaan tilts his head at us.I thought humans preferred to encase their bodies in layers of artificial dermis, especially in non-private settings… except for geographical regions of high environmental warmth.
I smile at Kingsley, then look at the nice alien. “He’s flirting with me. Not being serious.”
“Oh, I’m completely serious.” He winks at me.
