25. Chapter Twenty-five

Chapter Twenty-five

A melia staggered. She was a little dizzy and everything was black, but she remembered what happened. That was a win in her book.

"Your vision will return in a few minutes,"Vexar said.

"Thanks for clearing that up." Her snarky remark was meant to let him know his input wasn't needed.

"If you weren't such a convenient tool. Things could have been different between us."

"You mean like they were between you and Stacey? What did that get her? Thanks, but I like being on the winning side."

"Look where that got you."

"Yeah, look." She could finally see now. It was apparent that she was on a ship much larger than a shuttle. This could be a battle cruiser or a ship they used to haul their council around. Worse yet, it could be both.

The walls she could see were a dark gray, unrelieved in their darkness. There wasn't a hint of gloss or satin to these walls. She wouldn't even describe them as matte, they were simply an unyielding field of dark, boring gray.

"What happened? Did you guys run out of paint, or did you shrug your shoulders and go gray is good enough?"

The floors were gray, too. They were hard and cold, and her bare feet weren't appreciating it. She revised her opinion this wasn't a cruiser. It had to be a battleship.

"Vexar, I assume I'm on a battle cruiser."

"Call me general." Yeah, no way in hell was that happening.

"Thanks, no thanks." Amelia looked around again, waiting for the ship to brighten as her eyesight came back. After a few more minutes of looking, she realized this was as good as it got. Either the Tan-ge had excellent eyesight in the dimness or they don't care about seeing well. Either way, the room she was standing in wasn't getting any brighter.

Two Tan-ge were standing behind a console that was in the middle of the floor. They were trying to blend in with humans. Their deadly tails were whipping around legs that were angled wrong to be human. She could see how the bottom of their earlobes attached to their head with a strange red mark on them. They had black claws where nails should be and short, stubby horns on their heads. The shape of those heads seemed to be more triangle shape than the roundness most human heads were.

Now that she was standing in the room with unapologetic Tan-ge's, she could honestly say they were more alien than the Diza with their monstrous appearance. Why? She wasn't sure. It could be the fact that they had no problem killing a planet full of people to get what they wanted. They were the real monsters. She had fallen into a thought pattern that said looks made a monster. That wasn't true, actions made the monster. Why was she and the rest of humans ready to judge someone on how they looked?

"I can hurt you." Amelia's head jerked as she realized Vexar's voice was coming from the console. He wasn't in the room with her and that made her release the breath she didn't know she was holding. She still had a few minutes before she would have to see him again.

"What you mean is that you're going to try to hurt me no matter what I call you. If I call you general, will it get your rocks off? Do you masturbate in front of your crew or simply walk around with a hard-on?"

Vexar roared. The two Tan-ge at the console were shaking and looking like they wanted to hide.

"Stop it, you're scaring your crew. I'm the one who's supposed to be shaking in my bare feet. Although the cold of the floor is enough to make me shake."

"Kindly follow my guards." The door slid open and two Tan-ge both carrying a weapon walked in."

"Your hospitality sucks, Vexar. Your Yelp review isn't getting any stars."

One of the Tan-ge waved her out with what had to be their version of a gun. Darn it, she'd brought a knife to a gunfight. They made a Tan-ge human sandwich with her as the meat. Just what she needed. When the one behind her stuck the gun in her shoulder, she put both hands up and moved forward, going where they were taking her. Now was not the time to fight. She needed to play nicely and be compliant.

Wait, you didn't think she came here intending to die, did you? It could happen, but not if she had anything to say about it. What she needed to know was what Vexar thought she knew about him.

Vexar wanting her dead wasn't random. It didn't even have anything to do with Jenna or Bella. If it did, it would have been all over with. No, she knew something or heard something that put his plans in jeopardy.

"Who are you, Vexar, and what are you hiding?" She whispered it but wanted him to hear. The more desperate she could make him the better her chances for survival. How long had he been on Earth? How was he able to blend in at the mall? Why hadn't anyone questioned the apparent rich white male sitting in a mall that catered to a mid-level population? Not poor but nowhere near rich.

She could hear murmurs of Zylar's voice saying something she needed to hear. Then there were memories of her uncle talking, it was more like bragging. She'd been out of it for hours, but he was going on and on about how he was going to be rich and famous and have his own city. Why hadn't she paid more attention? Because he was a killer and a braggart who deserved to die. All she could do was imagine his death, which came at the hands of his… No need to go down that road.

The guards opened a room and shoved her inside of it making sure she hit the floor.

"Welcome to my playroom," Vexar said as she tried to stand. She winced when she felt a claw pierce the side of her neck. She looked, but all she saw was a small bead of red blood.

Amelia walked around the room, taking in the gray walls that were darker than the ones she saw on the ship. The floor was a rubbery type of surface good for using a hose to wash down blood quickly and efficiently. There wasn't any furniture in the room. There were two lights recessed enough to keep the prisoner away from them.

"There are no toys in here?"

"I love your sense of humor," He laughed. "I adopted the term playroom from your language. Let me be more specific and say this is where I play, not you."

"Ominous, am I supposed to shake?" There were no windows, not that she was expecting any. The door was tightly sealed like it never existed. The room was box-like, with no apparent escape. Simply put, it was a mind fuck.

"Why am I here? Don't give me that line about me being the one who got away."She took a seat on the floor, the ick factor going up a thousand, but standing wouldn't help her.

"You were always impatient."

"You're hiding something. I've figured that much out." Amelia was throwing her cards on the table. It was the only method she had for figuring out what was going on and possibly saving her life.

"Of course you did. Your uncle didn't know how to keep his mouth shut. He should have been my kill."The com shut off, making Amelia look around suspiciously. There was no way he brought her there to lock her in an empty room.

She looked at the ceiling. A muffled scream was all she got before a large, hairy black spider dropped on her. Amelia struggled to no avail. One of the spider's pinchers went into her skin, injecting her with a toxin that kept her from being able to move. Every fear she had was playing in her mind and right in front of her. When little black spiders tried to invade her body, her mind cracked.

***

"We meet again."

Amelia knew that voice, she was back in the place where words weren't really words but they communicated, anyway.

"Am I dead?" She thought to the person speaking.

"No."

A vision of her came screaming. The spider's web wrapped around her and it was invading her mind, trying to find something.Amelia was screaming and begging Zylar to help her.

"You would think he would try to help." Her heart hurt, knowing her mate wasn't helping to shield her from the pain.

"Quite true. He'd do anything for you if he was getting your pain. I deflected it. So, you ended up here with me."

"Why?" Once again, she was in the dark, unable to see anything. When the lights came on, she was blinded. Her hand went to her face to cover her eyes from the intensity of the light.

"Look at me!" The sweet voice of the goddess hardened, making Amelia's heart beat faster. She was sure a heart attack was coming her way.

Amelia hadn't realized until that moment that she was huddled on the floor with her hands over her head trying to protect her body. Why? Because her spirit was here, but her body was being abused and she wanted it to stop. It took everything she had to open eyes that weren't eyes and to stand. Her spirit, her soul, call it what you will was being bathed in bright light. When she looked up, she gasped.

In front of her stood a goddess, yes, but she was more than that. She was a Diza female. Amelia had never seen one and assumed they would look like the males. She assumed wrong. This female was beautiful, with luscious black hair and purple skin. She was jealous of her big breasts and shapely legs. Hell, even her feet were cute. The goddess was making Amelia feel like a poor relation who would never clean up well enough.

"Stop that and listen. The Tan-ge killed my people, my females. Now you and your cousins belong to me, and I refuse to lose anyone else. Are you listening?"

"I am." Amelia was stunned and gave a loose nod to her head. This goddess wanted to claim her, to make her one of her people. To assign worth to her. That's what was so shocking. When you realized the deity that was above you assigned worth to you.

"Listen, Amelia, time is running out. You have to figure out what Vexar is hiding, or the spider will rip it away from you and kill you. Only full knowledge of what's going on can save you, and it may still be too late. Don't let it freak you out or you're lost. Think, remember, avenge the females that came before you."

***

Amelia screamed as the spider dug into her mind. She tried to raise her shield but couldn't find her soul.

"Tell me your secrets," the dreamy voice of the spider insisted. Small spiders were crawling over her body and Amelia went back to the closet where her uncle liked to keep her as she crowed about the new world order.

He talked and talked and then it was Zylar telling her about conversations he'd had with his cousins. None of it made any sense. Her uncle was talking, and then Zylar talked about Rakha and then SaKura. It was all about what they experienced since coming to earth. There were so many things, but they had one thing in common.

It was impossible. That couldn't be it. She squeezed her eyes shut and went back to the closet. This time, she tiptoed to the door to hear her uncle better. He was just drunk enough to brag, but not drunk enough to slur his words or make up lies.

Zylar's voice washed over her as she questioned something his cousins told her. Holy hell, she knew what the spider was looking for!