Chapter 10
As we laid there in the bloody paradise of our own making, I saw that Thane looked pensive and a little bit worried. Not exactly the look I thought he would have after what we had just shared.
"What's wrong?" I asked, stroking his arm softly as I spoke, his skin slippery under my touch because of the blood that coated his flesh.
"I think it's time you met my mother," he said. I saw the guys exchange looks with each other. I rolled my eyes; they were never going to stop.
"I'm sure I know at least some of your secrets at this point, but you should probably just tell me why you want to go visit your mom now, while we are fugitives from the Vepar government," I said in what I hoped sounded like a fierce voice.
Derrial laughed at my attempt. "Okay pet, tell us what secrets you think we’re trying to keep from you," he asked in a patronizing voice.
"What about the fact that you think that the Council's experiments are making the Vepars lose control and go crazy. That wouldn't be why you wanted to visit your mother now, would it?" I asked Thane in a heated voice.
All of the guys’ jaws dropped.
“I heard you on the spaceship. I'm not telling you how, just in case I need to listen again, but I know a lot more than you think I do now."
Thane got up, took a towel out of a cabinet nearby and started to wipe himself down. I was pretty sure that wasn't going to even come close to wiping off all the blood coating him. We probably needed to shower several times and maybe just destroy this room; I didn't think it could get clean.
Before anyone began to answer any of my questions, Corran walked over to the far wall, and opened up a drawer next to the bed. I admired the way his taut muscles moved under his skin. He pulled out a small rectangular device that looked similar to a cigarette lighter. He opened up the top and pressed a button.
I watched in amazement as beads of blood started to rise up in the air from where they had been plastered all over the sheets, floor, our bodies, and the walls. The blood droplets gathered and zoomed towards the machine, disappearing into it somehow even though it was way too small to hold all the carnage of the room. After just a few minutes, the room, our clothes, and everything else was perfectly clean, like I had just imagined the mess we had just made.
"Better close your mouth, kitten. You wouldn't want a Daygar to get in," advised Corran with a laugh.
"What the hell is a Daygar?" I asked. "We say flies usually when we’re talking about closing your mouth, is a Daygar similar to that,” I asked, confused.
The guys were all openly laughing at me at this point. "The Daygars are monsters that eat your tongue while you are sleeping. They're not real, but we tell children that in order to get them to behave,” answered Derrial.
I thought about Bruda’s similar tale about parents telling the children about the Khonsu to keep them in line. Clearly these people had a different idea of appropriate stories to tell their children than humans did.
"I'm going to be closely monitoring any stories we tell our children," I announced to all of them.
Immediately there was a soft look in all of their eyes, you would've thought that I had just given them one million dollars or something like that. "What?" I asked suspiciously.
"That's just the first time you've really talked about actually having children with us," said Corran softly.
I stared at him. "I thought that was a foregone conclusion considering I could possibly be pregnant already. Although, I guess there's no chance the child would be one of yours though, is there?” I asked, a wave of sadness and frustration welling over me.
It was bad enough to be forced to be pregnant. But then to not even know who the father was? What if he was a monster? What if I was growing a monster's baby? What would we do then?
"We can't worry about that right now. And there's always the chance that it could be one of ours. Our sperm was used in the experiments since I was in charge of them," Corran explained.
He must've seen the confused look on my face, because he answered before I could voice my question. "That whole God complex that us scientists have. If we were going to create new life, I wanted that life to be because of me," he said, not sounding a little bit embarrassed about it.
A thin tendril of hope rose up in me, even though I knew that I should tamp it down.
"But I'm sure everything was labeled. There’s no way that the Council would've allowed one of your sperm to be used in an experiment with me after everything that's happened," I said, my hopes dashing into pieces at those thoughts.
"That's probably true," said Corran. "But there's still a chance that it could be one of ours if you are even pregnant.”
I nodded. If I believed that enough, maybe it would come true...right?
"Now that Corran has managed to clean us all up, let's get out of here,” Thane commanded, breaking the suddenly heavy silence.
"To see your mother?" I asked.
Thane nodded. "I want you to meet her. But… I also want to check in on her. I usually visit her once a month when I'm on Veon. I know that they've taken a lot of the affected Vepar to her facility, so I want to check on the security precautions to make sure that she's safe."