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What was I supposed to say to that? Nothing would undo this; the best we could hope for would be that no one knew they’d be here. That they’d just go missing, and no one would investigate the house.
We couldn’t keep them in the house, but we also probably shouldn’t dump them in Q’on’s ship, with no food or water or … Jesus, was I even considering that?
“I don’t know what to do. God help me, I don’t know …”
While I contemplated my future in prison, Evan groaned again and rolled over on the floor. He ended up nose-to-nose with Ryan’s mangled wrist. I watched in a strange kind of detachment as he started to thrash and scream, trying to work his way free of the ropes Q’on had bound him in. I knew I should have felt bad, felt guilty, but all I could make myself feel was disdain. Disgust. He had driven Ryan out here to kill me—knewthat Ryan wanted me dead—and he’d gone along with it anyway.
Maybe Q’on had a point. Maybe Ryan and Evan deserved what they got. Maybe they deserved imprisonment on Q’on’s ship, at least until we figured out what to do with them.
“Q’on?”
He turned back from Evan’s gyrating form on the floor. “Yes, Amber?”
“Can you take them to the shed out back?”
“Yes. Anything for you, Amber.”
I looked up into his yellow eyes. “We’ll lock them in there. Let them keep each other company.”
It was cold of me, but I saw no other choice. I still couldn’t bear the thought of Q’on being captured and taken by the AARO to have God-knows-what kind of experiments done on him. Did he really deserve that when all he’d done was try to keep me safe?
Q’on took my hands and kissed them, then turned to Evan, who was still screaming bloody murder on the floor. It was a good thing my closest neighbor was clear on the other side of the lake; I’d hate to have to deal with someone overhearing that ruckus on top of everything else. The last thing we needed was a witness.Anotherwitness.
As my alien lover hefted a body over each shoulder and strode out into the snowy night, I worried for his safety more than anything. What if one of the AARO agents was hiding out there, waiting for evidence of an alien? He’d be walking right into it.
Then again, if they were hiding outside, we’d already be doomed. No one would miss Q’on tossing a car on its roof with his bare hands, or him tying up Evan and dragging him back to the cabin. I’d just have to trust that nobody saw anything. That was the only way I’d stay sane.
While Q’on took care of the two troublemakers—and Evan’s car—I grabbed a towel from the linen closet and wrapped it around the knife Ryan had dropped, careful not to touch the handle. I noticed a large spot of pooled blood where Ryan’s bones had broken through the skin when Q’on snapped them. He was probably at risk of a dangerous infection out there in the shed, but it was the only place I could think of to stash him for the time being. I went to the kitchen for some cleaning supplies and set to work.
I was still kneeling on the floor, scrubbing my knuckles raw, when Q’on reappeared.
“What are you doing, Amber? I should be doing that. It is my responsibility.”
I paused mid-scrub, amazed that he’d even consider cleaning this up himself. I guess I was so accustomed to the human convention of “the woman does the cleaning” that I didn’t think he’d bother with this. “You’d do that? Clean all this?”
He knelt next to me and took the scrub brush from my hands. “I should be doing that. You should never have to get on your knees to clean up my mess.”
The sweetness was too much. I burst into tears, and Q’on scooped me into his arms.
“What if they come and find something we missed? They’ve got ways to find even the smallest traces of blood … We’ll never get it completely clean …”
I sobbed into his shoulder as he stroked my hair and made softshushingnoises. “It will be all right, Amber. I will get it clean. No one will ever find a trace of Ryan’s blood in your home. You have my word.”
“How—?”
He held up a small, metal box and grinned. “Nanites do more than translate. We have them for this purpose. For cleaning.” He opened the box, and a small blob of what looked like molten metal oozed out onto the floor. I watched with amazement as the blob expanded over the bloody spot left by Ryan, completely covering it. Then, after a brief buzzing sound, the blob slithered back into the box—leaving the floor completely spotless. I think it even got out the wine stain I left there a few years ago.
“D-did it get everything?” I asked, still somewhat in shock. “I mean, if they do forensic testing, will they find anything?”
“Nothing. The nanites, for lack of a better term, ate all the organic material on the surface of your floor. There is nothing left to find.”
“What if they get ahold of your box there?”
Q’on shrugged. “The nanites ate it. There is no evidence left.”
No wonder he wasn’t freaking out about the blood. He had a solution the whole time. I stopped to think about our options. “Q’on, do you still have the device that healed my ankle the other night?”
He nodded. “Yes. Were you injured?”
