Redemption Ch. 08

Devon and Ashriel struggled with the male. He had Dev against a cage, his tongue laving every inch of exposed flesh, hands fisting in Dev's phony white-blond hair. Ashriel tried to pry the man off, but he was wrapped around Devon like a nine limbed Truvidian Squibliee monkey.

Lucien was not going anywhere near that crazed alien.

"What the hell do you want me to do?" Lucien blurted.

The whites of Ashriel's eyes showed when he turned his head to look at Lucien. "Do something. Use your power."

Devon began laughing, "Fuck-fuck-that tickles—god-damn-it."

They weren't supposed to use their powers—any of them. The energy spike would be felt by the Master Guardians trying to hunt them down.

"Shit," Lucien huffed. Taking a deep breath, he concentrated. His mind touched the frenzied thoughts of the Gruesh male. Riigoube. That was his name. Using the power of his voice, Lucien called him sternly.

The Gruesh guard stiffened and turned to Lucien with fevered eyes.

"Let him go," Lucien commanded.

Riigoube slowly released his twin brother, tears streaming down his face—because the guy really didn't want to.

"I-I want him," the guard choked out as he stood trembling, but he remained standing in place, staring directly at Lucien. "Gods, but you're beautiful too." The man's eyes grew dreamy and he moaned, his erection clearly delineated in his dark blue coveralls.

Well—hell. His cambion traits still worked too. Lucien took a step back.

"Lucien," Ashriel hissed. "Concentrate.

Devon opened his lips to say something too, but Ashriel clamped a hand over his mouth. "Don't. The sound of your voice will only make it worse. Let Lucien handle this."

Devon nodded.

Lucien swallowed hard and frowned at the blue-skinned Gruesh male. "Whenever you look at me or my brother I want you to see your mother-in-law."

The man flinched and made a moue of disgust.

Lucien grinned, seeing the three-hundred pound, orange-skinned Chid female in the man's thoughts. She was mixed with a bit of Gorgundt too, so she looked more Ogre than Chid.

"That's right. We look like Hoogara, prickly lip hairs and all."

The Gruesh male began to wail, cupping his hands over his bulging erection.

Geez, Luke—Devon sent telepathically. That's fucking harsh.

"Shut up or I'll let him fuck you," Lucien answered keeping his eyes warily on the Gruesh.

Devon snorted.

Lucien cleared his throat and ordered the Gruesh, "I want you to make it warmer in here and make sure no one hurts our animals. You make sure they're well taken care of."

Riigoube nodded, but he looked distressed.

Lucien growled, knowing they were running out of time. He had to tone down his use of power. "What is it?"

"Th-the reason we keep it cold in here is to keep the animals subdued. They get sleepy and don't become agitated from being all together."

Lucien turned to look at Boy Rayne again. She'd slumped back down to the bottom of the cage. Anniel laid almost over her, covering her nudity. She'd keep her warm and safe.

"Fine," Lucien sighed. "Boy."

Boy's pout grew, but she looked up at him from beneath silvery lashes.

"I'll stay with you if you want me to. To hell with the rules."

Her only reply was to hug Anniel closer and turn her face into the she-wolf's black fur.

Lucien clenched his teeth. So be it.

"Let's go," he growled at Ashriel and Devon.

*******

The transports were inspected and docked within the immense starfreighter. They'd departed the Crimbregeere spaceport hours ago and were now scheduled to enter the Edenian solar system the next day cycle. They were given Gorgundt caps to have their minds reprogrammed for life on Earth.

Things had changed...allot.

They weren't allowed to bring any food with them and had the food replicators on their transports updated to include the specifications of the Edenian government.

Lucien knew the food they were ingesting now was spiked with some sort of psychological altering substance. They all had micro-chips inserted at the base of their skulls and were then sent out into the starfreighter. It looked more like a luxury cruise liner.

Lucien sat at a pub along with the others, mouth almost gaping at the amount of propaganda being streamed all around them.

The holoscreens above their heads showed a paradise-like planet with luxurious homes, and beautiful, smiling people. Everyone was happy, healthy, and prospering.

The trend on Earth was still on being thin. There were only two classes—very rich, or very poor. Luxury homes were mere frames of steel with glass walls and floors made from recycled materials. Nature was on display everywhere. The cities where the wealthy lived were architectural displays of light and art.

Lucien knew they were not headed to either of those scenarios. They were headed to the places the holoscreens would not show—the bowels of the city.

It was a one-world-order. Religions had been banished as well as currency. To have children, a person needed to procure a license after meeting the strict requirements of the government, part of which required the person take and pass a five-year-long course. Cybernetic enhancements were frowned upon, but genetic alteration was allowed and encouraged for all. Crimes were very low and those caught infringing it were reprogrammed.

Lucien grimaced when he took a sip of his beer. It wasn't really beer, just a poor substitute.

He pushed the mug away with a frustrated huff and watched with dulled eyes as the table absorbed the spilled liquid, like magic.

"She'll be fine," Devon sighed across from him.

Lucien bristled. "Easy for you to say. You've got your female right next to you," he spat.

Angel frowned at him. Devon was sitting in the darkened corner of the booth they all occupied. Leaning forward, so that the overhead lamp highlighted only his face, he stared at Lucien. He folded his arms on the metallic table, electric-blue eyes backlit in flame. "You know what? I don't know what else to fucking say to you, man."

"Good. Maybe now you'll just shut the fuck up," Lucien snarled.

Devon's eyes narrowed and a little growl rumbled in his chest.

When no one else said anything, Remi raised his wine glass and said, "here's to brotherly love," with a snicker before downing his pseudo drink. He grimaced and sputtered. "What the fuck. What the hell is this shit?"

Zak sniffed at his mug.

Lucien closed his eyes and leaned his head back on his seat.

"You know what I don't get?" Remi continued. "Why they locked Boy up, but let Seth walk free."

Seth was sitting next to Lucien, so he felt when the kid flicked his tail back and forth in agitation. The appendage smacked the back of Lucien's legs under the bench. The kid didn't say a word, just glared at Remi with a hint of fang. Lucien still fought to get used to seeing him in his half shift for such a long period of time.

"Well, we'll get her and my Anniel back tomorrow after we acquire our new dwellings," Ashriel said, folding his bulky arms over his stupidly massive chest.

He was the only one who hadn't eaten or drunk anything. Said he was fasting for a few days to garner spiritual strength.

Lucien just thought he was an idiot on steroids.

"In a few hours, the com-units in our quarters will come online and we'll be able to see what's for lease in the city," Natanael chirped. "I want a penthouse near Central Park."

Remi scoffed. "Central park was nuked during the war, dude. There's a nice big hole there now."

Natanael pouted. "Well that sucks. Is it a nice hole at least?"

Ashriel scowled. "It's off limits, and under water. The whole of Manhattan is under sea level now. They built the new city on a floating platform. Yuriel used to guard the portal there, but there's a new guardian now."

"Portal?" Rowie asked.

"One of the portals to Hell," Ashriel answered.

Lucien stood and climbed out of the booth.

"Where are you going?" Devon asked.

"A walk," Lucien snapped.

"Stay within this block," Ashriel warned.

Lucien kept walking. He knew he needed to remain in the sector they'd been assigned to. They were with the exotics—Vildminorian mixes, Fae, Were, and Seraph. They were considered high risk immigrants and needed observation.

Outside the pub, tucked into a curve in one of the massive tunnels within the starfreighter, the air was cold and smelled like metal and...roses. There were many vampires on this starfreighter. Lucien couldn't imagine why they would want to go to Earth. The sun wreaked havoc with their bodies, making them shut down in a death-like state until dusk. Rowie kept her virus' symptoms under control by drinking Remi's blood. The weredragon swore she was cured of the virus that had transformed her fully into a vampire, but she sipped from him time after time, especially now that they were coming back to Earth.

The sight of a pair of Merulians kissing a few paces away made him slow down.

They both wore their traditional silvery robes with matching leggings beneath. Both Merulians had the same slight build Boy had, arms toned and muscled, chests almost flat so it was hard to tell if they were more female than male. Their hair was pure white, opalescent. Even in the dim lighting of the massive corridor, Lucien could see the faint glimmer of pinkish-bluish streaks within the glossy white.

Lucien frowned when he noticed they had horizontal ridges on the bridge of their nose, two of them just between the eyes.

A pair of violet eyes narrowed at him. They parted and looked at him, one looking a bit annoyed, the other curious.

The annoyed one spoke to him in Cherubic tongue.

In shock, Lucien realized that the Merulian that spoke had a more feminine quality to her voice than Boy.

"I'm sorry," Lucien answered in his stilted Cherubic. "I have a friend who is mixed with Merulian. I didn't mean to stare."

The curious one, who was a bit taller than the other, smiled. "Quite alright. Irlanna didn't mean to be snippy." He, because it was obviously a he, grinned indulgently at his mate. "We just found out we're going to be parents, and she's just being possessive."

Lucien smiled at them. "Congratulations." Out of curiosity, he asked, "How did you find out?"

The female Merulian rolled her eyes. "Well it was obvious. He was just growly and erratic..." she grinned now, looking at her mate flirtatiously, "had the most beautiful set of titties imaginable when he went into heat."

The male flushed scarlet although he grinned evilly, "I'd never been hornier."

Lucien locked onto one word. "Did you say titties?"

Two sets of violet eyes locked on him.

"Yes," the more female Merulian replied. "When Dinileen went into heat, he grew breasts. It's how Merulians entice each other to mate and reproduce."

Lucien swallowed hard. "So only males grow breasts?"

They both chuckled. "We all grow breasts when we go into heat," Irlanna added.

Lucien tried to keep his unease tamped down. "Right. Because you really aren't just one gender."

"It's amazing when we both go into heat together, but that doesn't happen often," Dinileen sighed.

Lucien looked at Irlanna. "So how did you realize..." his stopped cold, remembering that Merlulians with more masculine traits were the ones who carried. His eyes went to Dinileen. "how did you realize you were carrying?"

Dinileen's eyes shown with a bit of masculine pride. His hands reached up and parted his long flowing tunic. The Merulian's chest was much like he remembered Boy's when he'd first touched him in the envirolevel, except that this Merulian's nipples were a darker shade of pink than Boy's, and his chest and abdominal muscles more delineated. In fact, the Merulian was downright beautiful. His mate caressed up his torso possessively, making his muscles jump. This male was pregnant.

They seemed to forget Lucien's presence when they began to kiss again. Lucien hurried past them, heading straight toward the kennels again.

He needed to see Boy.

"Shit," he cursed under his breath. "Fuck."

Feeling heat near his pseudo wings, he turned his head to see Zak and Remi following close behind.

"Where we headed?" Remi asked as both weredragons fell in step beside him.

Lucien ground to a halt and scowled at them. "I need privacy."

"The deal was no one wanders alone," Zak deadpanned, crossing his huge arms over his chest.

Lucien clenched his teeth looking from Zak's stony expression to Remi's grinning one. "Fine," he spat. "Just stay at the end of the corridor in the kennels."

Remi shrugged as Zak uncrossed his arms from over his chest and allowed Lucien to take the lead.

When they reached the entrance to the kennels, a vampiress stood guard. From the unfriendly look on her face, Lucien doubted she'd fall for his diluted cambion charm.

Her scowl grew as they approached.

"No one is allowed in the kennels after night cycle," she sneered, flashing her fangs.

Lucien felt the feathers on his implanted wings ruffle in agitation.

Before he could say anything, Remi stepped forward. The scent of fiery cinnamon became sharper. The female vampire's nose twitched and her mouth opened on a hiss. A little drool slipped out of the corner of her mouth.

"Hi." Remi smiled as he stepped up to her.

Lucien arched a brow when he realized Red looked like he was flirting.

The girl vampire sniffed deeply and hissed again. "Royal Red."

Remi chuckled seductively. "That's right, gorgeous. Dragon," he growled the latter in his beast's voice.

When the crazy red weredragon parted his tunic to bare his chest daring her to take a nip, Zak cleared his throat and blurted, "not a good idea, Red."

Remi's tunic fell off one shoulder and he cocked his head to the side, letting a curtain of deep hair slide over the other shoulder so that his neck was bare. The vamp just stared at the feast of exposed flesh hungrily. His nipple piercing glinted in the dim lighting and the dragon tattoo on his back seemed to move as if alive. The girl moved forward, one long-nailed finger tracing the black tribal scrollwork on his left bicep.

"You smell so delicious," she sighed coming closer, her eyes glowing in feverish blood-lust.

"Rowie is going to kick your scrawny ass, but thank you," Lucien huffed before making his way through the double metal doors into the kennels.

It was dark, just subdued red lighting at the end of each corridor. Lucien zigzagged through the maze until he came upon the cage where he'd left Boy. The blue Gruesh guard was slumped against the bars, snoring, and inside the cage, Anniel lay curled up asleep as well. Boy was nowhere to be seen.

Terror slammed into Lucien, and without thinking twice, he released his power to locate Boy's essence.

The sound of running feet brought him face to face with Zak and Remi.

"What are you doing?" Zak hissed.

"We felt that from all the way out there," Remi added with a frown.

Lucien found him, as well as other pulses of power nearby. Electric-like fingers of current tried to lock onto him, but he pulled his power back and ran in the direction he felt Boy's essence.

As they headed in the opposite direction of the way they'd come in, Lucien realized that all the animals in the kennels did not stir at their presence. They were in a deep sleep.

What. The. Hell.

His legs moved faster, wings folding back so that they wouldn't slow him down.

There was another set of doors about one hundred paces away.

"Luke, wait," Zak called.

Lucien ignored him and burst through the double metal doors.

They were in another segment of the starfreighter.

Insect-like aliens surrounded them. Many tuned to gape as Lucien raced by with the two weredragons following close behind.

Lucien headed down a few winding corridors until he came upon an arena.

"Hey, we don't have this in our area," Remi pointed out behind Lucien.

Insect-like creatures filled the bowl-shaped arena to the brim. The high-pitched chittering and clicking was deafening. In the center ring of the arena was a Minino female fighting with a strange creature. It looked like a mix of different species of tree people with gargoyle.

Lucien let his power out again, uncaring of the consequences.

He felt Boy.

Locking on her, he ran to the bottom of the arena, close to the ring.

His heart almost stopped when he found Boy lying on the ground, chunks of flesh missing, ears cut off...and in the throes of death.

Next to her was a group of Dreetles and a Gorgundt. Their backs were turned to him and they seemed to be struggling with another creature.

Lucien knelt by Boy, shocked, unable to react. He needed to see her eyes. Her body was different, her breasts had shrunken down and one torn up leg lay bent covering her groin.

"Baby," Lucien said with a choked sob, cupping her cheek.

Silvery lashes fluttered open. The pupils were wide, but her eyes were...green.

A single tear rolled down a pale cheek before her eyes rolled back and she breathed her last.

No.

A cry of anguish drew Lucien's enraged attention.

He stood. Without even thinking, he reached up, wrapping his fingers around the hilts of the swords his Dominatio always offered him. Power infused his entire being as he stared at the multitude of Dreetles before him. They moved back, clearly terrified of his presence and the flaming divine swords in his hands.

He would have massacred them all, but the sight of Boy—his Boy—bound and gagged on the ground between their midst had him freezing.

Boy stared at him with her wide violet eyes, terror clearly in them...as well as recognition.

"An intruder," one of the Dreetles hissed. "Call security."

Lucien snarled at the Dreetle. "What are you doing with Boy Rayne? She belongs to me."

A hush fell all around them.

"Project 30YR4YN is mine," the dreetle hissed, his antennae waving about wildly. "I created it along with my colleges, Tidikitidle and Groarg."

Boy shook his head, looking beseechingly at Lucien.

Lucien turned to look briefly at what he first thought was Boy. A clone. He felt bile rise up his throat. Poor baby.

He scowled at the group of Dreetles before him and marched forward, swords still drawn. They shrank back. Before he could even blink, Zak and Remi set to freeing Boy from her bonds.

The Dreetle's antennae wiggled wildly. "W-what are you doing?"

"She's mine," Lucien snarled.

"She? That's a Merulian mixed male in heat, you stupid fool," the same Dreetle hissed.

Boy began to snarl viciously once the weredragons had her loose, but they kept a tight hold on her.

"Easy kiddo," Remi told her.

"Luke, let's get out of here," Zak urged.

Lucien looked around, the sight of so many creatures, both humanoid and not, waiting their turn to be forced into combat...and die.

"What the fuck is this? As far as I know, these fights aren't legal on Earth," Lucien snarled.

Snickers and murmurs went around him.

"No. It isn't," said the hateful Dreetle. "Who are you going to complain to?"

Lucien let his power flow again. This time he used it to undo the mechanical cuffs restraining all the gladiators in the arena as well as disable their trainers' weapons.

"You're free," Lucien called out loudly. "Free."

The female Minino inside the ring roared like a tigress before pouncing on a fat maggot-like alien near the edge of the ring. Between her and her opponent, they turned the disgusting alien into a greenish-white mush.

All hell broke loose then.

Lucien turned and hacked his way out of the arena. Remi, Zak, and Boy fought their way out as well. The stench of bug guts was revolting, and once out in the corridor, Lucien bent over and retched.

Wrinkling his nose, he straightened. Gripping Boy's arm, they ran down the corridor and made their way past the bewildered stares of the more exotic aliens aboard the starfreighter.