Chapter 20
“Priya?”
The woman lying on the bed turned her head to his voice. It was not clear if she could see but her eyes were open. She reached towards him. Preston fell to his knees and hugged her. She appeared to be Indian, of East Indy descent.
“Preston? Is it really you, after all this time?” Priya asked.
“It’s me,” Preston said.
Priya cried. “I am so sorry. I failed you.” “You never failed me,” Preston assured her.
“The loneliness was unbearable,” Priya said. “I could not wait. I incarnated.”
“It’s okay,” Preston said. “I did, too.”
“I kept trying to find you but every time, I was either too soon, or too late,” Priya said. “I missed you.”
“We’re here now,” Preston assured her.
“Too late,” Priya said. “I’ve invested too much elsewhere to sustain this vehicle further. I have to let it go.”
“No, I just found you!” Preston said.
“I made commitments. I must keep them,” Priya said.
“Had I known, I wouldn’t have unlocked you before you completed your contracts…” “It is my fault,” Priya insisted.
“Not a fault,” Preston said.
“I love you so much.”
Preston kissed her. She touched his face.
“I am sorry,” Priya said. “I made a huge mistake.”
And then she was gone. Preston wept, laying his face on her bosom for the longest moment. When he finished, he stood, held out his hands, one palm up, the other palm down, closed his eyes, and levitated Priya off the bed. She was enveloped in light. He body glowed. She brightened to the point only a human form could be discerned. In an instant, she was reduced in size to an ember, an intensely bright point of light. It cooled to reveal a purple diamond. It dropped into Preston open hand. He closed it, returned to the living room and sat down at the community table. Cheery, expressed mournful concern.
“I thought you believed in immortality,” Toril said.
“I do. I still experience sadness and loss,” Preston said, not looking at her. He put the diamond on the table. It reflected light. He spun it, levitating it with the power of Vril. “And maybe, when my emotions have calmed, I might be able to speak to her again, in whatever form she has taken elsewhere. But what we were, that is now gone.” “Your daughter?” Eloah asked.
“No, a fellow Vrillian Knight. Once dark, now light. She died light.” “Priya,” Eloah said. “She’s the one who trained me!”
“I saw evidence of that in your fighting stance,” Preston said.
“She said she made a mistake,” Toril said. “What does that mean?”
“It couldn’t have been a mistake to incarnate. It would be unreasonable for her to go two billion years locked in stone,” Eloah said.
“Incarnating wasn’t the mistake,” Preston said, touching the diamond.
Preston called a new Soul Sword into being. He opened it revealing the inner chamber that was complete except for the crystal. He inserted the diamond, then closed the device.
“How do you do that?” Toril asked.
“I will teach you. All Knights must be able to create their own Soul Sword,” Preston said.
He stood up, made sure everyone was clear, then channeled energy through the hilt. A torus field extended visibly from the hilt, encapsulating him.
“Show me the mistake,” Preston said. He disappeared.
♫♪►
Jacob Smith, mall security, loved his job. Especially nights, walking the mall. He liked the quiet of it. He liked feeding the ducks in the central fountain. He walked the mall at nights, incorporating a fantasy life, mixing artifacts and mannequins and by the end of his night, he was usually quite content to open the mall and head home. He lived alone. He existed on TV dinners and his weight reflected his sedentary life style. He slept days. The year in which his life on Earth would come to an end was 1986. There was a noise as if someone had driven into the mall. He paused the movie he was watching on VHS and six televisions held the image. ‘Weird Science.’ When he could find no evidence of a crash, he simply passed it off as an Earthquake. Earthquakes and cars slamming into a building felt very much the same.
Jacob decided to walk around the outside of the building, just to make sure. He stepped out to a brilliance that didn’t make sense. He looked up. A bell shaped disk was hovering. It was wobbling. Lights tracked in two directions around the edge. He dropped his flashlight and ran back into the mall, straight way to his desk, and lifted the receiver to the rotary phone and dialed, 911.
“911. How may I assist you?”
“This is Jacob Smith, at the North Stall Mall,” Jacob said. “We are being invaded by aliens!”
“Jacob, have you been drinking?” the operator asked.
“No! Never. Oh my god…”
“Are you injured?”
“End the call, Jacob.” A naked women stood before the help desk. There were no shadows around her. She displayed her breast proudly. She smiled brilliantly. She looked like the actress in the frame that was frozen on the television sets. He did a double take. She smiled.
“Sorry, I probably just got spooked by the earthquake,” Jacob said. “No problems at the mall. Sorry I called you.”
Jacob hung up the phone.
“Come here, Jacob,” the woman said. Jacob came out and around the desk.
“You know my name?” Jacob asked.
She smiled. “It is on your name tag, kind Sir.”
“Oh,” Jacob chuckled. “I thought maybe you can read my mind.”
Her smile broadened, and her eyes fluttered in a pseudo modesty. “I am pretty sure I know what you’re thinking.” He blushed. “What if I told you we’re on the same page?” Jacob forced himself to breathe, his mouth coming open.
“This is private property,” Jacob stammered. “I can’t allow you to take anything…”
“Oh,” she pouted, touching his collar. “So well spoken. Very courageous of you, considering. I have come such a long way. I doubt I have the currency of this land. But I am willing to trade with you.”
“Trade?” Jacob asked. He swallowed. “Like technology?”
“I will let you fuck me,” she said. She came closer, draping her arms over his shoulders, placing hands behind his head. “You can even cum twice. But then you must allow me take one item from the mall. Just one, tiny, little item.”
Jacob’s eyes were wide. His mouth an ‘O.’
“What do you say, Jacob,” she asked, enunciating a hard ‘b’ through pouty lips.
“Okay,” Jacob said.
Jacob immediately began to undo his belt buckle. She stopped him. He didn’t have the sense to be confused. Her hands were behind his head and yet gripping his wrists at the same time.
“Shhh,” she said. “Slowly. We have all night. Let me help you. Let me taste you.” He didn’t say okay only because her lips went to his. She unbuttoned his shirt while kissing him, and holding both sides of the shirt, pulled him tighter to her. Two hands on his face holding his mouth taught against hers. Two hands holding his the sides of his shirt. He was so overwhelmed by her aggressive sensuality, he didn’t notice other hands coming to play. His ‘wife-beater’ t-shirt was pulled free. “Shoes off baby,” she spoke into his ear, into his head, as she pulled his shirt down, pinning his arms behind his back. He kicked out of his shoes. She eased down to her knees, drawing her tongue down his chest and belly as she went. She pulled the shirt off and released it. She pulled his trousers down, catching the underwear with it. In an eagerness he danced trying to free his legs from the pants.
“Let me taste you,” she said, taking him into her mouth. Two hands gripped him, two hands held his butt, and two hands removed socks, one foot at a time. She received him with an enthusiastic auditory response, came back to her feet, and kissed him, which he resisted because he didn’t want to taste himself. She forced the issue. “Oh, that’s just one. The trade isn’t over yet!”
She turned him around and put her butt on the desk, exposing her goods. She drew him in, three sets of hands pulling and pushing. Her mind in his kept him aroused, kept him just off the brink of a second orgasm until she had had her fill. Her orgasm was splendidly tight and wet and released a fluid that doused him and the floor and continued to stream down him even as they both caught their breath. She sat up straight, hugging him closer to her bosom, allowing his head to rest on her shoulder for a spell.
“Shhh, baby, baby,” she whispered. “Aww that was just what I needed. Thank you. Thank you.”
Jacob was speechless. She positioned him in front of her, her knees to either side of him, legs locked behind his knees, squeezing, hands holding his sides, his arms, his cheeks. She smiled into his face. He smiled back.
“And now, I may have whatever I want from the mall?” she asked.
“Yeah. I’ll pay…”
Her jaw unhinged and her mouth kissed his entire face and she slowly sucked his whole head into her mouth, and she continued straight down his body until he was consumed entirely. She pushed into the floor, yoga dolphin diving, into her own wetness, and rolled up and out, her breast glistening with wetness. He continued to move further down into the depths of her belly as she crept forwards. He literally didn’t move, but she moved around him. The human shape was visible in the length of her body for a moment as she stretched out her full length, then coiled back.
“Sex and a meal,” she said, perfectly content. “What more could girl ask for?”
♫♪►
Robert in full battle gear entered the teleporter room, yawning. His call side was ‘Ironman.’ The squad was gathered. None of the squad had call signs. They were too inexperienced. None of them had names. They went by numbers. Number one was youngest, least experienced. Number six was a few missions shy of earning a code name.
“What do we got?” Robert asked.
“A mall cop called 911 saying there was an alien invasion in progress,” the OOD said. “Seriously? You woke me from a dream date with Farah for this nonsense?” Robert asked. “I am going back to bed.”
“He hung up. A squad car was sent, and they report a UFO hovering over the mall,” the OOD said. “San Antonio, North Park Mall.” “Let Lackland handle it,” Robert said.
“They’re not equipped for this,” OOD said.
Number four complained. He hated San Antonio.
“What’s wrong with San Antonio?” Six asked.
“Nothing. Except all the damn aliens. And I am not talking about the Hispanics,” Four said.
“North Park. Isn’t that the mall with the giant boots outside?” Robert asked. “Yeah.” Four said. “I hate fucking giants, too.” “Ever fucked a giant?” Robert asked.
“You know what I mean,” four said.
“Say what you mean,” Robert said.
“You been to this mall before?” Six asked.
“Don’t recall being there, but…” Robert said. “Déjà vu all over again. Alright, let’s do this. I don’t want to keep Dream Farah waiting forever.”
The squad took up position on the various interlinked teleporter pads, were pulled into streams of light, stretched like taffy lights, which mostly shot into the floor and ceiling, with a few concentric, rainbow rays and sparks expanding outwards. The Officer of the Deck recorded the time of transport and handed them off to the ‘angel’s’ in the war room. He checked his badge for rad dosage.
♫♪►
Preston arrived at the mall and found the snake woman trying on blouses. She turned and smiled at him.
“Ahh, Preston,” she said, cooing. “So nice to see your lovely face again, and in the flesh to boot.”
Preston frowned, unable to determine if she was a doppelganger or the real thing.
“You’re looking quite well,” Preston said.
“I have eaten well,” she said.
Preston followed that, frowned. “You ate a mall cop? You can’t be eating people, Lilith.”
“It was a fair trade,” Lilith said. “He got exactly what was coming to him.” “I doubt there was any fairness in the equation,” Preston said.
“I am collector. I collect things. I collect poor, lost souls that need a home, and no one needed a home and love more than that poor, lonely mall cop,” Lilith said, pouty lips. “He wanted this.”
Her dreadlocks ended in viper heads, and they scowled menacingly. One snickered. A new hair formed, with a little snake man asking for help. Other snake head hair bit down on the new comer, making him fall into line. She petted back her hair and smiled.
“He’s a mall cop! He didn’t have the IQ to understand,” Lilith said.
“He was a bit shy on intelligence. And it is definitely difficult to get good help these days. Apparently, mall cops come and go all the time,” Lilith said.
“I want you to come with me, now,” Preston said.
“I am quite satiated at the moment, but thank you,” Lilith said.
“I am not talking about sex…”
“Is there any other conversation? I can tell it’s been awhile for you, too,” Lilith said. “I am not saying no, mind you. I just want to wait till the meal shrinks down a little.” “You are too disruptive a force to be on Earth unsupervised. Leave with me now,” Preston said.
“Or what? You’ll make me?” Lilith asked, her face was smiling, contemptuously.
“The use of force always ends badly for everyone,” Preston said. “But I so love it when you force it,” Lilith said.
“I would never…”
“You can’t!” Lilith snapped, tired of the foreplay. “You can’t do anything to me I don’t allow. I am stronger, faster, more flexible. You can’t outthink me! I am smarter,” Lilith said, pushing towards him. She expanded her chest, and her breast popped buttons and freed themselves from the blouse. “You can, however, wait until I am hungry again, and then I will fuck your brains out. Then eat them.”
“I know better than to fuck you again,” Preston said.
She leaned closer. “You know you can’t resist. No one can. You will give in like all the other times before. There are others here. We could fuck and I could eat one of them instead.
Which means, we could do it more than once. Knights make really good fucks, but no one fucks better than a Waycaster. Certain starship captains being a close second…”
Preston tracked the presence of others in his mind and found who she was talking about. “Fuck me.” The circle was now complete, and he was only beginning to make sense of it all, but full clarity had not arrived in time to stop the train wreck. The Space Force Squad came around the corner. Chaos ensued.
♫♪►
The squad arrived in the mall, weapons coming up and ready. They all spun, ensuring a full circle of safety. This was the quiet before the storm. This was the interlude between movements in classical music where no one is supposed to clap. Contact lenses provided heads up display.
They approached the help desk.
“Looks like someone relived themself,” Six said.
“Angels, we’ll need a hazmat team down here once the area is secure,” Robert said. “Can you identify the substance?” This was the lead angel; everyone heard him. Code name Michael. It sounded like John Travolta.
“Yeah,” Robert said. “Female ejaculate.” “You can tell that by looking?” One asked.
“I can tell that by smelling,” Robert said. “That, and the pheromones are making me horny.”
“Oh,” Two said. “Is that why I have a hard on?”
“And I thought you just loved your job,” Five said. She was the only female on the squad.
“Any signs of the mall cop?” Michael asked.
“Negative,” Robert said.
“Aliens really have sex with humans?” One asked.
“If he’s lucky, that’s all it was,” Six said.
“What does that mean?!” One said.
“It means cool your jets, stay focused,” Robert said.
“That’s why they call you Iron Man?” Two asked. Five laughed.
“I know this one guy who fucked an alien and she deposited eggs on him and when the babies hatched they ate him alive,” Four said.
“Really?” One asked.
“Fucking newby,” Five said.
“You think I’m making that shit up?” Four said. “The egg laying bitches irresistible without pheromone specific antidote.”
“Eggs or not, I’d fuck one. I hope she looks like Mathilda May,” Six said.
“Who?”
“The alien in ‘Life Force,’” Six said. “Best breast scene ever. Movie is total crap except for them breasts I can’t get out of my head.”
“Focus!” Robert snapped.
“Hey! That looks like you,” Five said, pointing her weapon towards the televisions.
“Ironman! You’re a star! A real star and not just a porn star.”
“Oh, fuck me,” Robert said. “I told them I wanted the ‘royalty’ package. Michael?! I was promised the royalty package.”
“I am not in charge of that, Sir,” Michael said.
“If they make me a drug addict, I am going to reenlist as a general and kick some ass,” Robert said.
“You are so not prince material,” Six said.
“I could see you as a princess,” Two said.
“Is that your hard on speaking?” Five asked. “Focus!” Robert pleaded.
The squad came around the corner. Someone said ‘fuck me.’ An explosion of wind knocked everyone off their feet. A man was hurled through the air, breaking through a display at the far end of the mall. Windows shattered all along the mall. This ‘breaking’ extended out into the parking lots causing some of street lights to burst. A snake woman came for them, three sets of arms opened wide, long tongue tasting the air. Mannequins came for them. A loud report echoed, as Preston brought his personal Soul Sword into play, cutting a mannequin in half, severing arms that reached for him. Cutting them in half merely slowed the objects down. Torsos dragged themselves. Bottom half of the torso ran around like the proverbial headless chickens. Robert was tripped as arms embraced his legs and a mouth-less face tried to bite him. He hit it off with the butt of his weapon. A porcelain white hand ran on fingers and leaped into the air. It clamped onto Two’s mouth. Only Preston and Robert made a connection to the mov