decontamination Page 3

Pryce moved closer and I felt my breath hitch. He was this shining thing against the black space. I'd never seen him so beautiful. That naked, glowing, white skin begged to be touched, smooth and perfect from head to toe. I licked my lips in anticipation as he began moving closer and I felt positively giddy. Suddenly, I didn't give a damn about the world. All that mattered was us, and I wondered why I had hesitated before.

  He knelt before me, close enough that I could feel the surprising heat radiating from him. He was never that warm. Pryce held his hands up, palms facing me, silently asking for my touch. Slowly, I raised my hands in the same manner.

  He closed the space between our hands. Our palms met and it was like everything that made up Pryce spilled into me by the contact of skin. I swallowed hard, trying to suppress the groan that crept up in my throat. It was almost too much sensation, but he kept me close and continued to fill me. Those long fingers of his laced with mine, squeezing us together until I couldn’t help expressing my pleasure.

  "Where are we?" I somehow managed to ask between gasps. “Is this some kind of dream?”

  He smiled, soft and full of love, or maybe longing. Most likely a mixture of both.

  "We’re inside," he said as he tugged me onto my knees.

  One of his hands moved mine closer to his chest. Once there, his hand moved to my wrist so my palm rested on the spot where his heart beat. It throbbed, but slowly. Well, slowly to me, but I knew it was fast for him. I realized it was his quiet way of saying that it beat only for me. I couldn’t help being flattered.

  He moved an arm around my back, pulling me against him. My hand lay trapped between our bodies. I shuddered as his mouth crashed to my lips, taking them as though he owned them, or rather, owned me. I had no choice but to accept his demands on my mouth, parting my lips to let his tongue inside. Immediately, he plunged in and explored every part of me. A moan moved through my throat. He grunted in answer.

  His mouth moved from my mouth to the line of my neck. Teeth grazed my skin as he moved downward.

  "Where did you learn all this?" I asked as my eyes rolled in the back of my head.

  He pulled back long enough to whisper, "Instinct." His breath was a cool breeze on my wet skin, but he quickly returned to me, warming that spot.

  I managed to pull my hand free. Immediately, I put my hands on his shoulder as his mouth reached the mound of my breast. He played there a while, nipping and sucking the fleshy parts while ignoring my waiting nipples. They were both so taut they hurt.

  He pulled back and I whimpered in agitation. Pryce's deep-throated chuckle made me blush. I guess I must have given my need away. Gently, he pushed me to the floor of the sea of black. He stayed on his knees, looking down at me with something akin to awe. It embarrassed me-I mean, I'm nothing special, but I guess that's not up to me to decide.

  I finally looked at his body. All of it, I mean. His penis was a thin, long, almost living creature that wiggled at me eagerly. I assumed that meant he was aroused. I wondered how it would work and if I'd feel it.

  I sat up on an elbow while I stretched my free arm toward the excited member. I took him in my hands, exploring the feel of him. He wasn't smooth and solid like I was used to. He was soft and spongy with soft lumps lining the top and underside-two harder looking lumps on him would line up with a woman's clit, massaging it as he moved. The thought gave me a little buzz of excitement. Then, there was a pink-mouthed suction cup at the tip of the penis. When I traced it, it latched onto my skin for a moment in a delicate kiss. Pryce doubled over, crying out in a sound caught between pleasure and pain. Gasping, I pulled back, worried that I injured him.

  I didn't; I could tell by the look he gave me. He pushed me back to the ground more aggressively this time. Hungrily, he moved his face between my legs, sucking on the lips there with a groan. I spread my legs wider in an effort to make him touch the right spot. For now, he ignored it, teasingly, and I heard myself whimper, begging for his touch.

  One hand reached for my breast, while the other stroked between my legs with two fingers circling my clit. The hand on my breast stroked with a care I'd never experienced with a lover. It made me feel extra sensitive. I responded to each movement with a shaky breath, especially when he touched my nipple.

  The other hand parted the moist folds in front of his face, and he turned his body so that his lips lined up with mine. My leg draped over his shoulder, opening me that much more, and Pryce took his time before finally dipping his tongue inside. The tip of it darted along my sensitive spot so fast it reminded me of vibrations. The feeling tightened my stomach and jolted waves of pleasure through the hollow length of me. I felt myself squeezing, begging for something to fill that empty space. For the moment, Pryce responded to my silent request by inserting two fingers inside of my body. They stretched me until I nearly felt full. Still, I needed more.

  Even with that emptiness, my body edged closer to that release. My body grew hot as the pleasure overpowered me. I shuddered as I begged him to let me come.

  Just as my body touched that completion, but before it spread through me like wildfire, Pryce pulled away. I growled my frustrations at him, but I don’t think he heard it. His eyes were lit with uncontrolled passion, and it was all for me. For my legs so lewdly spread for him. For my breasts throbbing with my heartbeat. For my mouth that he'd so indecently ravaged earlier.

  He crawled up my body until his hip met mine. I could feel his member searching for its target, kissing along my pink slit, causing me to squirm beneath him. My body pleaded with his; I wanted the contact he promised. The penis found its mark, slithering into my heat with ease. I'd never felt anything like the phallic snake that crawled within me. I spread myself more, legs hanging in the air far apart so that the tiny suction mouth could touch my walls more. The lips constantly ran over a spot inside that made me feel like all my insides would gush between us.

  Pryce was gasping above me. He shook as though his body didn't want to hold him anymore, and his thin frame collapsed onto mine. I could feel the two nubs on his skin moving along my own.

  A hint of fear tagged grabbed me. I tensed as Pryce moved his arms under my shoulders. He looked at me with confusion.

  "Wait. Wait," I sucked in a breath. "We shouldn't be doing this."

  He smiled at me. That simple, loving and tender smile.

  "You've already let me in." He placed a kiss on my forehead. "We're safe. It's just us here."

  I let go of a little fear when he moved against me. All those wonderful wiggling bits of his were making me ache in a good way.

  "No war," he whispered as he kissed my eyelids. "No fear that closeness will lead to your damnation." He kissed my cheek. "No worrying about tomorrow." Finally, he kissed my lips. "It's just us. Just now. And I'm already in. I'm already in."

  With a thrust of his hips, he pressed our raised areas of skin together, setting my nerves on fire. I threw my head back, mouth gapped in the middle of a long moan.

  The wiggling thing inside of me grew straight and stiff. I felt disappointed that I could barely feel him anymore, but other things had me pleasantly distracted. Again, he had me riding the edge of orgasm. The sensation made me dizzy.

  Suddenly, I was so full, I thought I was about to split. He expanded inside of me like a filled sponge. I gasped as my eyes flew open. I wanted to ask about it, but he stole my breath as he throbbed inside of me, swelling then oozing and becoming smaller, only to do it all again. I could feel something wet and warm moving through me, waiting to drip out. I'd never felt anything like it.

  "Pryce… " I whispered.

  His answer was another kiss, slow and impossibly deep. I could barely breathe, but I didn't care if I did. I was lost in him. Lost in both our hungers.

  He began moving. His bumps teased my clit while his cock slid easily in and out of me though it was so big it almost hurt. My heart pounded. My breath sped up.

  "I love you, Maggie."

  I arched my back, pressing my breasts into him. He appre
ciated the gesture. I could tell by the delighted, drawn out groan that followed.

  "I'll always love you," he promised.

  I pulled my legs back toward my body, crossing them along his back. I felt myself at the edge. I moaned loudly. I shook beneath him, hoping that he'd finally allow me to cum for him.

  "Mmm, Mags, I'm coming."

  Hearing that allowed me to plunge over that edge as well. My walls spasmed around his cock, which now suctioned onto me, oozing as I squeezed him. His mouth crashed into mine as we both screamed out in that final pleasure. My head swam with unnatural delight. I smiled as this warmth tickled through me. I felt drunk or high or some combination of both.

  "Maggie… " his voice sounded like a whimper.

  I laughed at the sound. I don't know why it made me so damn happy. I felt myself nuzzling his face before I even thought to do it. He moaned happily as he held me tight. I felt him smell my hair, then kiss my face. I couldn't do anything on my own accord. At least, not right now.

  "If I don't leave now, we'll never escape this place," he said.

  I wanted to ask why, but couldn't pull myself together enough to ask a question.

  "It will only be for a little while, Maggie. At least, until we're safe for good. I promise, I'll wake you up."

  His warmth left my body. Inwardly, I swore angrily. On the outside, tears wet my face. I felt an indescribable anguish in me. He pulled me to him, holding me tight against his body, and I could practically taste the love radiating from him.

  "Don't cry. It won't be long now." I had my eyes closed, yet I could sense his smile. "I promise you everything you crave. I'll save you from the soldier's life, if you'll save me. Let me be a man and not a man-made monster. Let me love you."

  I couldn't speak. Somehow, I figured he knew that.

  And suddenly, he was gone. I could feel him close, but too distant to touch. It hurt me. It drained away all the good feelings I'd just had. I didn't want to be alone; I wanted what he offered as long as I didn't have to be alone. Tense with fear, I sat in the darkness and wept.

  * * * *

  I slipped from the grasp of darkness, creeping out of sleep to the smell of flowers. I hadn't smelled flowers in years; most of the stuff in the compounds and shielded cities were fake. It cost a pretty penny or service to get the real deal.

  With a small smile, I started opening my eyes. It was brighter than I was used to, so I could barely focus. When I finally did, I saw a little girl stood next to me, holding out a violet. My eyes widened as I tried to sit up. What the hell?

  The girl stared at me with inhuman eyes. They were just a little too large and a little too bright blue, but the rest of her looked so human. It made me worried that the government tried to perfect a hybrid series.

  She smiled at me. Such a sweet, innocent smile. I wanted to wrap her up in my arms and hold her. I couldn't help it. It wasn't every day that I saw a child of any sort, particularly a happy one.

  "My name is Zura. What's yours?" she asked, offering me the violet.

  "Maggie," I said. My throat felt impossibly dry. "Where am I?" I took the flower and sniffed it.

  "You're home, silly," she laughed as she skipped off.

  Without the distraction, I took a look around the room. Part of the room was metallic, the rest was embedded in rock, like they'd been fused together as one. The space was big enough for two, like an apartment, complete with closets, a bed, and other odds and ends. It looked lived in, but without a personality, like it was waiting for someone to take better care of it.

  I got out of the bed. I felt like it had been forever since I'd moved a muscle. Groaning from aches, I moved to the door Zura walked out of. It didn't have a handle, but when I pressed my palm to the door, it slid open.

  The hallway beyond the door stretched for at least twelve meters. Far away, I could see a light calling to me. I started down the path to see where it led.

  "We were wondering when you'd wake up."

  I jumped as the warm voice called out to me. I turned in the direction of the sound. I reached to my sides finding them empty of my usual artillery. I wasn’t in uniform like I remembered. Instead, I found myself in a long, white dress and I so didn't do dresses. It wasn't becoming of a soldier girl. Being weaponless didn’t stop me from fighting if I had to.

  The man patiently smiled, shaking his head. He was an older gentleman with long, peppered hair. At first glance he looked utterly harmless, especially as he held his hands up to show me that he meant no harm. I knew better than to trust that look and right now I had no reason to trust him.

  "My, you seem jumpy, kiddo." He laughed. "You're safe here."

  "Where is here?" I yelled at him.

  "Home,” he said gently. I stared at him blankly, prompting him to continue. "We aren't sure where here is, but wherever it is, it's home. This has been a safe haven from the war since as far back as I can remember. The humans and the O'okara are not aware of it. I believe this is a crashed spaceship that somehow partially melded with mountain."

  "Where’s Pryce?” I roared at the man.

  The old man's face went soft, especially around the eyes. "Hybrids always manage to dream of this place, what few of us are left. That young gentleman brought you. It seems he had a hard time. I'd never seen someone so red, black, and blue."

  Horror gripped my heart. Pryce… I stumbled back to the nearest wall, allowing it to support me. My legs didn't seem to want to. Slowly, I brought a hand to my pounding heart. I felt ill. I looked down at myself, feeling over my body as I recalled a lost moment between d-com and this. My fingers traced an area in my side. Through my gown, I could feel stitches. I wondered if this was the old man’s handiwork or Pryce’s. He might have stitched me up in the field as he’d done many times in our past, but there was so much blood, I had no idea how he’d kept me alive.

  "None of us know how either of you managed to survive so long," the man continued as though nothing had happened to me. "He wouldn't even allow us to offer help until you were taken care of. You weren't damaged nearly as much, of course, with just a few scrapes, bruises, and the wound in your side that he took care of along your way. But you seemed like you were in another world, blank or possessed. Once we had you situated, the young man who brought you collapsed."

  I slumped against the wall. Oh, God, Pryce…

  "He said, 'I promised-make sure she sees the sun.' Then he closed his eyes with a smile on his face as though the pain hadn't even phased him as long as you saw the sun."

  That fucking moron. He risked everything just so I could see the sun? If it was that important, I would have risked being contaminated again when we were outside the dome. And what had he done to me? Was that act of intimacy all in my blanked-out mind? Maybe it had been more. Pryce was much more than human, after all. Damnit, why was I thinking about that right now? It wasn't important.

  I struggled with my next words since I was terrified of the answer. “Is he dead?”

  “We aren’t sure where his path is headed, but we think that it depends on you to bring him home,” he said as he offered a hand, but I didn’t take it.

  “What the hell does that mean?” I growled at him. Still he smiled.

  I was beginning to hate that smile.

  “It means what it means. I can’t give you the answer. All I can do is to fulfill my promise to your friend. Allow us to do that.”

  I didn’t trust him no matter how honest his face seemed. The man appeared unaffected by my cold shoulder, which normally I would find impressive. He just sympathetically stared at me while he patiently waited for my cooperation. I figured I should go along with it; the faster I gave in, the faster I would get to Pryce. Right now, my usual stubbornness wouldn’t help.

  Hesitantly, I pushed away from the wall and took the man’s hand in mine, giving it a less-than-gentle squeeze. Again, he didn’t seem to mind my attitude and even though it aggravated me, silently, I had to commend him for his tenacity.

  ”This way,” h
e said as he turned. I silently and hesitantly followed behind.

  I don't know how long the man and I walked or the path we took and that surprised me. Years of training made sure that I was always aware of every bit of my surroundings, though I couldn’t focus. I mean, I was just… gone. All I could think about were snippets of the last six years of my life. My life with Pryce. And then there were those dreams. There was no forgetting the dreams.

  When I snapped to, people had lined the walls. Not just people like me, but also hybrids. And the children of humans and hybrids. I felt my jaw drop. These were happy people. People with welcoming, warm smiles. Glittering eyes that had not seen the war for a long time or, even more astoundingly, had never seen war. It was so peaceful. I passed Zura, who waved at me with a grin. I smiled back. In a place like this, could I have a child so vibrantly happy?

  I could feel Pryce’s lips on mine in a single comforting kiss that stole my breath. He wasn’t there, yet I could taste his mouth. It stopped me, causing me to grab my chest from shock. The sensation told me that he would think the same thing if here were here with me.

  Dazed, I continued to walk. Phantoms of the dream captured my attention, teasing me from inside my mind. Fearfully, I thought about never feeling that way again. It had been so easy to love him in that dark place. Now, he would be leaving me here, alone, with that love locked away in memories.

  Everything went bright. I brought an arm to my eyes, protecting my face. Slowly, I moved my arm from my face to allow my eyes to adjust to the light. The world came into focus.

  I stood on a field of grass in a very large, hollowed-out corridor of whatever this place was. I can't ever remember seeing wild flowers bathed by the sun. I felt a shudder go through me. The sun. He wanted me to see the sun, now here it was, warming my skin. I wanted to cry and I wanted to swallow it down. Though I didn't want to spoil the moment that had cost so much with tears, they still flowed down my cheeks. He’d given me this perfect moment, and despite the beauty of it, it wasn’t everything I’d dreamt. Pryce wasn’t at my side where he belonged. Where he had always belonged.