“Little human, what have they told you about why the Vepar are on Earth?” he asked.
I studied him wondering why it mattered. “The Vepar are here because their planet is dying and it’s making their females sick.”
“Ever wondered why they seem to care so much about the health of human females?” he said with a sly grin. His question dug in deep to the issues that I had tried to push from my mind.
I said nothing and his grin widened. “The Vepar women are barren,” he stated in a matter of fact tone. “And even though the Vepar have long lives, so long that some would consider them immortal, their numbers are still dwindling without any hope of replacement.” My eyes widened. It had been something that I suspected ever since seeing the graphs in their basement room, but the way Corran had talked to me so earnestly had made me want to not question him. Corran seemed the most trustworthy of the three of them, but what if he was the best liar of them all?
I shook my head. Why was I even deigning to listen to anything that this creature was saying? A creature who had cruelly tortured me for no reason other than I existed.
“Trying to convince yourself that I’m lying?” he asked with a chuckle. “Your three males are three of the most powerful Vepar in their society. To get in that position, don’t you think there has to be something a little bit more special to make them stand out in a race that prides itself on superiority?”
My trembling grew. I didn’t know what was coming next, but I knew I was going to hate it.
“They’re going to breed you,” he whispered to me. “Corran discovered how to make a Vepar embryo be accepted into a human female. Thanks to you.”
“Thanks to me?” I said, my voice sounding horrified even to me. “Your blood had the magic touch,” he said with a shrug. “There’s a whole list of you with the same special chromosome that will allow for you to birth little Vepar.”
“You mean hybrids, right? Half human, half Vepar?” I asked, thinking that it wouldn’t be so bad if the three of them loved me and we wanted to have children someday.
He laughed. It was a dark laugh filled with glee over my ignorance. “No, little human. They plan on knocking you out and putting in embryos just like you humans do with surrogates. Then they’re going to keep you hooked on machines like true breeders until the birth of the Vepars. And then, when you’ve done your job and continued their race, you’re going to die.”
I stared at him, dread threatening to choke me. My mind was having trouble trying to fathom how what he was saying could even be real. An image came to my mind of me strapped with a pregnant belly on a gurney in a tank with tubes coming out of me. I wanted to throw up.
A shadow fell over our table, and I jumped in my seat, so on edge, I was ready to scream.
Corran towered over us, and relief crashed through me. But before I could take another breath, he grabbed the Khonsu by the throat and hurled him across the room. Our table lifted from the alien’s feet kicking in resistance and flew sideways.
And then, panic broke out.
Screams. People running toward the exit, fear gripping their expressions. Chairs and food flying across the room from where the two aliens fought. And this wasn’t just punches and fists, but a battle between two animals. They charged for one another, headbutting, throwing one another against the walls.
Each time Corran fell, I curled over, hugged myself, the idea of him in pain feeling like a blade to my heart.
Every inch of me trembled, and I sat in my chair, frozen with the chaos erupting in the restaurant.
Get out, my mind yelled. I finally leaped to my feet, my muscles high on pure adrenaline. I felt nothing but the urgency to escape drumming through my veins. The grip of panic pushed me, my brain synapses fired away scenario after scenario on how I could die here tonight, but it also came with the idea that this might be my chance to escape.
I felt horrible leaving Corran this way, drowning in a scuffle of grunts and snarls, of blood and aggression, but what could I do? I didn’t even have a phone to call the other two Vepar for backup.
So, I ran. It was something I was good at.
I pushed past the overturned tables and chairs, pushing myself into the bottleneck of people squeezing out the door. Cries of terror surrounded me, and my heart beat faster and harder listening to everyone panic.
I burst out onto the sidewalk with the horde, and I swung right, away from the direction of the shuttle. While I had no idea where I was going, I just knew I had to run. I shoved past people, my mind racing with the need to find a place to hide.
“Ella?” A female’s voice cried out, but I didn’t look back, I didn’t dare.
When someone grabbed my arm, I flinched around, hands fisted, ready to fight. But when I saw Cherry standing there, holding onto me, wearing a strapless dress, her hair curled, and dark makeup around her cerulean eyes, I let out a light cry.
My mouth gaped open at bumping into her.
“Shit, girl, where the hell have you been, and what are you wearing?”
My throat thickened, and despite our past, I leaped into her arms, not caring about anything as it felt incredible to see a familiar face, to feel some connection to the life I thought I’d lost.
She pushed me off her. “What’s going on? I’ve called you for days, and when I went to visit you, the landlord said he’d kicked you out and was selling your stuff to pay for your unpaid rent.” Gripping her hips, she glared at me, waiting for an explanation.
My heart sunk through me, but I didn’t have time for this. “Listen, can we go to your place now? I have so much to tell you, but I’m in danger.”