Heart's Prisoner (Dark World Mates Book 1) Page 6

  "And you think that something is you?"

  Lana barely noticed his mouth twitch. "Yes...but your kind weren't even on our radar. At least not until you made yourself a target for..."

  "For?" Lana leaned closer.

  Xerus' head tilted to the side and he eyed one corner of the room. Then he turned back to her. "You fear death," he said. "But you will welcome it when you learn that there are things far worse. Death is your bright sphere now, and the darkness moves ever closer."

  Lana sat back, confused. "I don't understand." What had they made themselves a target for? And was he threatening them? Or was it a warning?

  "In time you will. When it's too late."

  "Xerus," Lana tried to plead, wanting straight answers, but Xerus provided her none.

  "As for you," Xerus said, his voice growing deeper, his eyes darkening. "I admit you are an enigma compared to the other so-called 'doctors' forced on me, but I haven't decided if it's because it's my first encounter with a human female or if it's just...you. You try to act like them but you are different from them. You want to earn my trust but you want to follow the rules they've placed on you. You trust too easily."

  "Ah, I was unaware we were theorizing personality traits," Lana mumbled.

  "Physically," Xerus continued, standing up and beginning his usual pace along the window, "It's obvious you are weaker than the males, but you act like you are not, which is good. It shows you aren't timid or meek. You keep up a brave persona despite your fear."

  "Because you can smell it, right? My fear?" Lana asked.

  Xerus stopped to look over at her as if it were obvious. "Yes. And by the pounding of your heart," he said.

  Lana nodded. "Anything else?"

  Xerus seemed to think about it. He edged over to the side near his bed, looking down at it curiously, then his eyes flicked over to her. "You are alone."

  There was a hint of uncertainty in that theory and Lana herself didn't know what he meant by it.

  "Sound theories," Lana said, forcing her expression blank. She wouldn't admit how true some of them were. "Maybe more will come to light the next time we meet."

  Xerus grunted, turning back toward her. "Yes, we shall see."

  Chapter Five

  After her first couple of days, Lana started to fall into a simple but effective routine. At night she worked on new methods to reach Xerus, organizing her notes, and writing journals about the sessions she had. She knew Cole recorded everything but she wanted to have her own personal take on the situation, in her own words.

  She didn't see Xerus every day for several reasons. Some days Cole wished her to work with other biologists on studying the different assets in the facility. But deep down Lana knew it was to give her time away from the devilish alien. Cole didn't want her exposed to him too often in fear she would lose her mind and leave as the others had. She couldn't blame him for that and, in a way, she knew it was for the best. Because, when she did see Xerus, she was never sure what sort of day they were going to have.

  Some days went better than others. On the good days, Xerus would cater to her whims, if barely. Allowing her to ask him simple, non-invasive questions by showing him basic objects as images displayed on the window. His answers were always vague but sometimes she was able to gauge what he did and didn't know. The more she showed him the more she suspected he had at least some modern tech of his own though different than a human's. She still couldn't decipher what his home was like; if it was even on planet 421. But she stuck to her theories that it was someplace dark and someplace warm.

  Eventually, Xerus ran out of patience with her "amusing little picture game" and refused to do any more.

  "I tire of these meaningless questions," he had hissed. "If I have to look at one more of your damnable images and play guessing game one more time, I might claw my eyes out."

  This was their fifth session together. As much as she had expected him to cut her short, she was at least surprised and grateful that she had gotten any answers out of him at all even if they revealed almost nothing.

  With that method out the window, Lana had to weigh out other options to get through to him.

  She planned out these few options on his worst days; when Lana dared not go to him at all. His moods were always ever-changing and, though most session days he was in a decent enough mood (His usual cranky demeanor calming briefly when they talked), some days he would go into the blackest temper imaginable, one that she couldn't even quell. She would watch him on the monitors on these particular days, sit and watch in terrified, tight-lipped silence as the intelligent being she had been talking to for several days turned into a savage beast before her very eyes.

  Like a monster on a rampage, he roared and snarled, his tail whipping around, slamming into the walls. He clawed and ripped and bit at anything and everything, leaving marks she hadn't noticed before over every surface.

  It was when he began to attack the window and received an electric shock from hitting it so hard that she sprung from her chair and implored Cole to let her see him.

  "I'm sorry, Lana, but it isn't safe for you to go near him right now," Cole had said, shaking his head.

  "But maybe I can calm him if just a little."

  "I don't think he's even there right now. It's best to just let the storm pass on its own."

  "But he might hurt himself," Lana had nearly shouted.

  "He will recover," Cole had said calmly.

  Fuming, Lana had no choice but to return to her lab desk and watch helplessly. By the door to Xerus' unit, Officer Torrence and his band of guards kept close with guns drawn, laughing and joking as they watched Xerus rage.

  "Fuckin animal, ya think it needs a muzzle to shut that thing up," one of the guards had said, wheezing. "Look at it go." He started to mimic Xerus, making shrieking noises and crouching low as if ready to pounce.

  The others had laughed, all except for Officer Torrence whose lip only curled up slightly, and Lana was a breath away from snapping at them to be quiet.

  Eventually, the storm did pass and Lana was safe enough to go back into unit three. When she did, she did so with extra caution.

  "Will you play a game with me?" She asked Xerus after sitting quietly for a long moment just to observe him and gauge his emotions. She was beginning to learn some of his body language which helped her better understand his moods, more so than watching his face.

  Xerus paced slowly alongside the window, his tail barely moving, his body upright. He was calm. For now. His eyes traveled over to her. "You are fond of games aren't you?"

  Lana shrugged and Xerus looked away and exhaled a long breath. "Well seeing as I'm filled with nothing but free time. I'll indulge you. But it better not involve any more images."

  Lana smirked. "Promise it won't be anything like that." She opened an app on her tablet and used the controls to have the game be displayed on the window between them. Xerus gazed at the checkerboard with the little figurines on either side with a blank stare.

  "It's called Chess," Lana said. She explained the mechanics of the game to him and showed him how to move the pieces on the board. Using the controls for the window, Lana was able to allow the alien to move his pawns on his side of the glass.

  "Seems simple enough," he said.

  They played a couple of games as a sort of tutorial and Lana was pleased with how quickly he picked it up, asking very few questions. He seemed entertained enough by the game, at least for now.

  "Let's play again but I would like to raise the stakes," Lana said. "If I win I get to ask you a question–-any question I like. I promise it won't pertain to the whereabouts of your people or anything too revealing about yourself."

  Xerus tilted his head down and flared his nostrils. He thought about it, then locked his eyes with hers. "And if I win?"

  Lana smiled. "You can ask me anything you like as long as it doesn't endanger myself or those around me or, " Lana said, "you can request something from me."

  Xerus seemed to per
k up at that. "Request something?"

  Lana nodded.

  "Like what?"

  "Like...a favor."

  Xerus snorted. "And how exactly are you supposed to perform favors for me from beyond my holdings?"

  "Well..." Lana said. "Firstly, I hope that someday you will be free."

  Xerus' expression looked a little stunned, as if to say 'You honestly want that? Are you so sure?'

  "And secondly," Lana continued. "I can perform favors even with you here. I know we already talked about changing your...diet. But maybe there's something else you want? At least something I can give you to make your time here better. Or it can be something I can do for you when you're free."

  Xerus gave her a doubtful look. "There's nothing you could give me that I want except to be free. And, anyway, how could I trust you to keep your word?"

  Lana thought it over. "Well, humans usually shake on it as a promise. But since we can't shake hands...perhaps something your people do to tie a deal?"

  Xerus scratched his jaw, thinking. "Come to the glass." He gestured.

  Lana hesitated, then rose from her chair. She walked cautiously up to the glass, standing before him. Xerus lifted one hand and placed it on the glass and motioned for her to do the same. Lana did as told, placing her hand in position with his.

  "Repeat after me," Xerus said. "By Rikasha and Veradis I take this vow and if I should break it may they who I chose to serve take from me what is owed. By blood or by life as is the exari of this vow. By their strength let it be so."

  Lana paused, looking at him wearily. Then slowly repeated the words. The vow sounded much more serious then what she was offering, but she made do. Hoping she didn't just agree to some lifetime vow of servitude, she released her hand from the glass and cleared her throat, turning back to her seat.

  "Ready to play then?" she asked.

  Xerus dipped his head and she noticed his mouth widen a little.

  The first serious game they played, Lana won but only barely.

  "So I get to ask my question," she said, straightening in her seat, trying not to smile. Xerus' tail swayed lazily behind. "Fine," he said.

  Lana looked down at her lap thinking for a long moment, then her gaze drew back to him. "What position do you hold amongst your kind?"

  Xerus clacked his nails against the ground. "Position?" he said.

  "Like...what do you do for your people? Are you a hunter? A gatherer? Or do you specialize in something? A farmer? An engineer?"

  Xerus let out a low breath, closing his eyes then opening them again slowly. "My position is...complicated."

  Lana arched a brow. "How so?"

  "Because it is ever-changing."

  "Oh..." Lana frowned. "Well, what is it currently?"

  "A Destroyer."

  Lana's frowned deepened and pursed her lips. "I take it then that your job goes with the namesake?"

  Xerus tilted his head in a sort of shrug. "It is given to warrior castes when they are at war."

  Lana's eyes widened. "So you are a warrior?"

  "For now..."

  Lana tapped her fingers against her workpad. "And what will you be after this...war?"

  Xerus' mouth widened. "That is more than one question."

  Damn, but she was so close. Finally she was gaining some traction. But she had to play fair.

  "Let's play again." Lana refreshed the board.

  This time the game took longer and Xerus won.

  "The first thing I want is the lights changed. It's giving me head pain."

  Surprised, Lana brought up the controls for the light but hesitated before changing them. "I'll have to verify it's alright with the others first."

  Lana called Cole from the lab. He discussed it over with others then agreed to let her change the lights but only from red to a mild orange. The orange light made Xerus shake his head and blink several times revealing a second set of white transparent lids that covered his eyes briefly, opening and closing from his outer eye to his inner. Lana jotted down a few notes on her pad while he adjusted.

  "Better?" she asked.

  "A little," he said.

  They played two more games. The first Lana won (and again only barely) and the second went to Xerus.

  "What will be your position after the war?" Lana asked again.

  Xerus locked eyes with hers. "If we win and I go through my Rite. I will become a Predomis."

  "What is a..." Lana cut herself off when Xerus' eyes narrowed at her. Right, too many questions.

  "My next request is I wish to not be recorded," Xerus said abruptly.

  Lana stiffened. "How do you know we are–"

  Xerus growled loudly, making Lana jump. "If I give you any more answers while we play your games they will be between you and me."

  Lana sat back in her chair, her heart doing a quick little flip as Xerus' anger rose to the surface.

  "Alright," Lana said softly. "I will...see what I can do."

  Chapter Six

  It took a great deal of time and convincing to get Cole to allow her to stop the recordings at any given interval. Lana implored Cole to see that if they were going to get any information from Asset X they needed to gain his trust. Eventually, they agreed that for five minutes only Lana was allowed to shut off the recorder. Any information she gathered was to be put into a report. The video feed, however, would not stop. Under any circumstances.

  Lana was slowly beginning to find out that getting through to Cole with anything was a challenge in itself. Despite his polite and calm demeanor, he really could be a hardass at the worst times. Any sort of negotiating was hardly that, making her feel more like a little girl trying to beg her stubborn father for a toy.

  "You're learning quickly on how things roll here," Dahlia, one of the biologists, told her. "If you wanna get anything outta the big man you'll need at least half the staff on your side. And even then good luck."

  If there was anyone he seemed to listen to more it was the engineers and Officer Torrence for some unfathomable reason.

  Obtaining certain information was also equally frustrating. If it didn't pertain to her work, Cole seemed to think she didn't need to know. He would put his hands in his pockets and give her that irritating smile and tell her with the most indifferent air possible that she just needed to focus on her work and not worry about the rest. And when it did pertain to her work, it wasn't serious. When she finally confronted him about contacting the previous behaviorists, he merely shrugged, saying there was no point in finding and talking with them and that all the information she had was what they kept.

  His aloofness and disregard for her interests were infuriating and, quite frankly, offensive.

  The more time she spent in the facility and fought him the more she was beginning to realize that her level of importance wasn't as high as she thought. And the way Cole ran the place and his methods for dealing with the specimens within, made her deeply suspicious that his goals may not be aligned with her own. The aliens were subjects and experiments to him and he regarded them as such just like Torrence regarded them as merely animals and nothing more. If she didn't know any better she would have believed that their mission to have Xerus or any of the other aliens converted into their society was just some kind of front. Level twelve wanted to learn about these beings but they didn't seem particularly interested in actually understanding them. With this depressing prospect, Lana began to feel very much alone, wondering why they had her there in the first place.

  She voiced her concerns with Nicole. Meeting her this time at one of the fancy bars in the city sector per Lana's request.

  "I 'm beginning to feel like a joke," Lana said, taking a sip of her vodka tonic.

  "You can't say that. It's only been two weeks," Nicole said. "You can't know that they don't care about what you're trying to do. We do have you here for a very important reason, Lana. It's just that everyone's caught up in their own work is all."

  Lana peered down at her glass, swirling the contents.
"It's just...I thought their whole goal was to convert these beings. But I feel like just some odd side project. Even when I'm helping the others, I don't get what they are trying to find."

  "There are many things they are trying to discover. These projects take time," Nicole said.

  "Or maybe they are so sure I'm going to fail. That I'll give up just like the others had, so they don't want to bet all their chips on me," Lana said.

  "You've been doing great work, Lana." Nicole's eyes were sympathetic.

  Lana laughed. "I'm not so sure. Getting anything out of your uncle is one thing. It's frustrating, sure. But it doesn't compare to..."

  Nicole looked at her squarely. "Asset X is giving you a hard time."

  Lana pursed her lips and nodded. "No surprise, I know, but..." Lana shook her head. "It's like when I feel like I'm so close to getting through, Xerus surprises me and then I feel like I've gotten nowhere."

  "But you have made it so far, Lana. Cole mentioned you've gotten the alien to open up more in that last few days then most of the other behaviorists did in their whole time working with him."

  Lana shrugged. "I might not make him as angry as the others did. And for some reason, he finds me amusing. But it's like he's toying with me. And he won't take my questions seriously, always giving some cryptic response." Lana crossed her arms and watched the people around the bar. "And now I think I made a big mistake in making any sort of deal with him..."

  "What deal?" Nicole asked, looking a little concerned.

  Lana gave her an apologetic glance. "I..." Lana sighed. "I was trying a new method to get him to tell me...well anything really. We play these games and if I win he has to answer my questions honestly, and if he wins..."