Chapter 14

“A Last Secret Revealed.

A Test of Faith, Love and Trust.

Intuition, Wisdom and Courage.

The Waxing Moon in the Sky.”

- The Prophet of Truth

Sarah woke up from the drowsiness that had taken over her with a soft kiss on her shoulder, a sleepy smile of contentment stretching her lips. Opening her eyes the world seemed simply perfect as she gazed at Alexis peaceful expression, their bodies still glued together, the taste of his mouth still lingering on hers, and her intimate parts still throbbing pleasantly from the many times they’d made love throughout the night.

“The sun has just risen,” he informed her, placing another kiss on her naked skin, and she smiled at him.

“Good morning, then,” she replied, playing with him, and he wrinkled his nose.

“Days are boring and monotonous,” he complained and she caressed his face, snuggling against his chest. The arms that surrounded her were warm and firm, leaving her with the sensation that there was no other place in the entire world where she belonged the way she belonged there.

“Alexis, tell me about your dream,” she asked him softly and felt him tense up immediately.

“It’s nothing, really,” he replied in a dry tone and Sarah placed a kiss on his chest, trying to appease him.

“Was it about the time you were held captive in that place?” she guessed and was sure she’d been right when he didn’t answer. “Tell me …” she insisted and he sighed heavily.

“There’s not much to tell. They’re just memories that refuse to stay forgotten.”

“Why did they keep you for so long? What did they want?” she asked, painfully aware of the suffering that subject brought him. And yet, that was an event that still had a hold on him, and she couldn’t push away the sensation that she needed to know about it, in order to better understand him.

“They did tests, and experiments …” he replied, clearly wishing she’d just let it go. “Everyday they’d measure me, weigh me, take my blood … injected me with new serums, new chemical formulas …” he went on, his tone growing increasingly distant, and Sarah raised her head to look at him. With a weight in her chest she couldn’t help notice how much his expression now looked like Aaran’s constant empty and distant demeanor.

“Chemical formulas?”

“Yes. To test my reaction … my tolerance. Always looking for the perfect combination that would allow them to destroy me. Me, and anyone from our Race,” he declared and his glass-like gaze was filled with a deep anger that made Sarah squeeze her embrace a little bit stronger.

“But I thought you’d been captured by one of you.”

“And I was. But Farran isn’t all that tolerant with those who think differently from him. He intends to destroy all who won’t agree with his vision of conquering and occupying the material world. And what better way to get rid of all of us than by developing a mortal poison that actually works? That’s the reason why he gathered the team of scientist working in that warehouse.”

“A team of Human scientists,” Sarah added, painfully understanding the resentment he held against her entire Race.

“No one understands matter better than those whom inhabit it.”

“But how did they keep you? How did they prevent you from simply disappearing into the shadows, like you usually do?”

“The daily exposure to sunlight would have been enough,” he declared and Sarah recalled horrified the small window on his cell, on the wall directly opposed to the one he’d been chained to. “Every single day, in a controlled fashion, just enough to render me practically unable to move. Never enough to end my existence,” he added ironically and Sarah leaned her forehead against his chest, feeling sick at how deep his pain still ran. “As if that weren’t enough Deborah felt a special pleasure in torturing me, spilling my blood and watching it run down the drain as if I were some animal.”

Sarah felt a shock course through her body at the mention of that name.

“Deborah?! Deborah Rayleigh?!” she asked urgently, sitting to look at him, and Alexis frowned in an expression of pure threat.

“You know her?” he asked in a mix of surprise and accusation and Sarah felt her heart jump.

Know her?! Of course she knew her! Deborah Rayleigh had been her colleague, back in College. They’d worked together in numerous projects! She could still clearly remember the tall, blond girl that, besides being a brilliant student, had practically won over the entire male population right from the first day of classes. However, and just like herself, Deborah had never been one to be interested in partying or other gatherings, much less romantic relationships. And it had been her almost absolute dedication to studying that had ultimately led them to work together.

Nowadays her name was famous amongst the scientific community, and if she wasn’t mistaken, she’d been recently invited to lead one of the teams at the Hillman Cancer Center, dedicated to cellular structure analysis. She still remembered the rumors that had circled around, at the beginning of the year. Some said she’d refused the position, accepting to work with them only as a consultant. Others admired her, since she could actually easily refuse a position that most would have practically killed to attain. As for Sarah, she’d never looked for her, or had actually met her at work. But she could hardly deny that they were presently working colleagues. And yet …

The feral hate emanating from him made her swallow hard. She was afraid that should she tell him the truth, even if unconsciously, he’d turn part of that resentment towards her. After all, Deborah and her were practically the same. Both Human, both scientists and now both working at the same place. And right then Sarah just couldn’t stand feeling him hate her again. Because the aversion he felt associated to that name was almost visceral. Alexis wanted to make that woman suffer, and preferably at his own hands. He wanted her dead. Above all, he wanted revenge.

“I … She’s rather well known in the scientific community,” she finally replied, feeling guilty for her own cowardice, although she hadn’t actually told him a lie. “She has two published books about the scientific advances of cellular biology,” she tried to justify and ended up lowering her gaze, regretting having ever brought up that subject. “I’m really sorry, Alexis …”

He smiled lightly and placed an uncertain hand on her cheek.

“I’m not … Because I’d probably have never met you if I hadn’t been captured in the first place,” he told her in a much softer tone and she laid her head on his chest, searching for the safety of his embrace. “In any case, she’s one of the Humans I have to find. I burned everything down before I left that place. I also destroyed her apartment. But I’m sure she has the results of her experiments stored somewhere else.”

Sarah had no way to disagree. As a scientist she knew all too well the number of copies and backups they constantly made in order to prevent the loss of data. Deborah should have everything stored in her personal computer. The strange thing was that he still hadn’t been able to find her.

“Are they hiding her?” she deduced and Alexis caressed her hair.

“During the night, at least. But not for long,” he added in a dark threat that made her shiver and took a deep breath. “But you don’t have to worry about any of this.”

I can’t! I refuse to live in the shadow of your protection, pretending I don’t know what’s really happening, she thought but didn’t dare say it out loud.

A fleeting gaze towards the bedside table made her jump again, startling him.

“I have to go!” she declared, sliding out of bed, searching for what was left of her clothes.

“Go?!”

“It’s almost ten,” she declared as if that was enough justification and the arm that enveloped her waist stopped her from getting up, making her laugh. “Alexis! I’m serious!”

“I don’t want you to go,” he declared, kissing her shoulder, and Sarah turned to hold his face between her hands.

“I have to. Selena must be up by now and I have to have a talk with her. Besides I need a bath, and real food!” she added, quickly kissing his lips that were now pouting. “Anne never comes here?” she wondered with a second thought, imagining how embarrassing it would be if they were found out like that.

“No one ever comes here, except Aaran,” he replied and she sighed heavily. Not that that would make it any better.

“But isn’t she curious about where that door leads to?” she insisted, putting on one of his satin pants, since hers had been rendered completely useless, and had to knot them at the waist band, to stop them from falling down her legs. Maybe she doesn’t even see it, she thought looking for her sweatshirt. And there was an unpleasant notion. With Alexis' ability to easily control other people’s minds, how much of what she saw was actually real?

“In the beginning, yes. But the shadow on the stairway always made her go back upstairs. Of course she found it strange and started spouting nonsense like the house being hunted and stuff like that. And so I told her that this was my personal wine cellar and that I didn’t want anyone coming down here without my permission. I then brought her here once, so that she could see it with her own eyes and erase all that ghost talk from her head. And, since she actually saw a bunch of wine bottles, that was the end of it.”

“That shadow always returns people to the living room?” she asked, surprised, and he nodded a confirmation. “But I had no problem coming down here!”

“Apparently, even though at the time I still refused to believe it, she actually recognized you as my Hridaya and let you through,” he informed her with a proud smile.

“And the murmurs? They’re kind of scary,” she complained and he laughed lightly.

“I guess it would sound like that to you. In reality what you hear is the equivalent of a heartbeat. You should hear her when she’s scared or feels she’s in danger. It’s almost deafening,” he added with a grimace.

“She’s alive, then,” Sarah concluded, trying to accommodate the concept.

“But of course. You can say that she’s like … a huge guard dog,” he declared and she took a deep breath suddenly feeling very tired. It was one thing after another and her skeptic, rational mind sometimes seemed about to blow a fuse. “Sarah?” he called her again, capturing her attention, especially since his tone was no longer light or playful. “Promise me that you’ll be upstairs, when I get out of here.”

The insecurity marking his voice made her smile.

“No,” she replied leaving him at a loss. “That would just take too long,” she added and an expression of relief took over his face. “I’ll come back as soon as I take care of things upstairs.” She gave him a quick kiss so that he wouldn’t be able to grab her again, which would have certainly made her give up on the entire having-to-leave thing. “I promise I won’t take long.”

“If you do I’ll just have to go upstairs and kidnap you again.”

Sarah would have laughed if she didn’t know he’d actually be crazy enough to do it.

“Don’t you even dare, you hear me? Just stay here and rest. Or your eyes won’t ever recover.”

“None of that is more important than having you by my side.”

She looked at him and couldn’t help feeling immersed in happiness.

His hair fell in black strands over his shoulders. His stormy eyes stared straight at her, although she knew he couldn’t see her. And his soft, thin lips seemed to call her, asking her to kiss them. Sarah forced herself to memorize every little detail of that picture, certain that she’d miss him terribly the moment she walked out the door, and ended up taking a deep breath.

“I promise I won’t take long,” she reaffirmed and, opening the door, exited to the small cave-like hall lit by what seemed to be eternal burning torches.

She climbed the stairs feeling tempted to greet the shadow occupying that narrow space, and carefully opened the door as she reached the top, peering outside. She didn’t really want to be caught leaving what was supposed to be a wine cellar. Especially taking into account the time of day, which would certainly lead to a storm of embarrassing questions. Realizing the room was empty, she rushed towards the stairs that would lead to her bedroom. She was just about to open the door to safe grounds when a small, joyful, but terribly mischievous voice made her freeze in place.

“Well, good morning!”

Sarah felt her heart jump and her cheeks blush. Still she put on her best smile and turned to face her sister, trying to act natural.

Selena had dressed up as if she were about to go out at any moment. Her white pants, with a line of small embroidered flowers running down her left leg, fit her perfectly, matching the orange blouse that seemed to have shrunk length wise, showing her bellybutton. She’d tied her hair up, into a ponytail, highlighting the elegant curve of her neck, and long shiny earrings hung from her ears. Even at her young age, Selena’s body already showed more female curves than she’d ever possess, and her sense of aesthetics and good taste guaranteed that everything she wore fit her like a glove.

“Morning, Selena. Sleep well?”

Selena smiled and folded her arms over her chest, leaning against her bedroom door as she gave her a long once-over, from head to toe, making her blush even harder.

“I did. What about you, Sarah?” she asked with fake innocence and Sarah knew in that moment she’d never escape her sister’s scrutiny. “Oh, aren’t those pants a bit too big for you?” she noticed with an expression of false concern and Sarah took off one of her sneakers, she hadn’t even had the time to tie up, and threw it at her sister. Selena jumped back nimbly, laughing hard, her cheerful voice filling the entire house.

“Just stop it!” Sarah tried to admonish her, although she too couldn’t stop smiling, and entered her room, certain that she’d follow her.

“I guess you had quite the night,” Selena went on, still laughing, and Sarah took out her other sneaker, starting to undress.

“This is no matter for young girls your age.”

“Oh, come on! You sound like an old lady,” Selena declared indignant and followed her towards the bathroom. “So, you like him?” she asked, repeating the question from the day before, and Sarah stopped for a moment, her hand on the shower tap. A smile took over her lips and her cheeks blushed again.

“I do. I like him a lot,” she confessed, turning on the water, and stepped into the shower, closing the guard behind her.

Selena sighed and leaned against the sink.

“So, does that mean you’ll be living together?” she wondered and Sarah stuck her head out to look at her.

“Jeez, Selena! I’ve known him for what? A week?!” she replied, which was the complete truth, and yet … She couldn’t help feeling as if she’d known him her entire life.

“What's wrong with that? In your case, dear sister, any man you actually like, and that you’re able to kiss without throwing up, is a keeper! If I were you I’d marry the guy tomorrow,” she argued in an all-knowing doctoral tone and Sarah stuck her tongue out, returning to her shower.

“In anyway, things aren’t that easy …”

“Because of the people coming after him?” Sarah froze in place again and Selena sighed deeply at her sister’s silent answer. “You don’t have to try and hide it from me. Aaran told me everything,” she declared and Sarah felt her heart skip one beat.

“What do you mean?”

“He already told me that Alexis, some Hale guy and him are something like secret agents working for the department of defense. That you helped Alexis escape when he was captured by terrorists and that’s why you’ve become a target as well. He even told me you were in an accident, which I’d much rather you’ve told me about, instead of making up excuses for not being able to go and get, like we had agreed. He also said that, because I’m your sister, I’m also in danger,” Sarah took a deep breath, leaning her forehead against the cold wall tiles. Well, between beings from other dimensions and secret agents and terrorists, the latest was probably a more plausible explanation, as far as the common mortals were concerned. Still, it was such an unbelievable story that she could only picture it as a plot of some action movie, although the facts themselves weren’t all that far from the truth. And yes, she had to agree with Aaran’s choice. Taking into account the need to explain Selena the reasons behind their current situation, that wasn’t such a bad story at all. “He told me we’re safe here, because the house is under surveillance. But that I mustn’t go out, especially after sunset,” she went on.

“I’m really sorry, Selena, for involving you in all this mess,” Sarah told her in all honesty and turned off the water, pulling a towel from the rack and wrapping herself in it.

“It’s okay.” The girl shrugged. “I don’t care about any of that, as long as I can stay with you.”

Sarah left the shower and gently caressed her sister’s face.

“As you can see, things are rather complicated as they are. And, as if that wasn’t enough, there are still other matters we need to attend,” she added with a sigh and Selena frowned.

“What do you mean?”

“Come. I need to talk with you,” she told her, going back to the room, and Selena followed her with an intrigued expression. “Sit down.” Selena obeyed and Sarah sat by her side.