Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. All characters in sexual situations are 18 or older. Thanks for reading!
It was good that Anna had chosen to wear dark colors for their sortie. She tucked her legs up into her shortened skirts so that her alabaster calves wouldn't stick out amongst the oak's verdant foliage. She also tried to keep her head out of sight from below. Both her pale face and blond hair would surely contrast with the darkened room.
The creatures prowled the large, forested area for what seemed like eons. She knew it was indeed a long time, because her adrenaline left her while the creatures remained.
I'm shaking like a... well... like a leaf on a tree.
Maybe it was a good sign that she could still make jokes. Her husband was a monster, and she didn't know if her children had survived. But she'd always been indefatigable. La Belle ÃŽle en Mer didn't change that. She cast dark thoughts aside and worked on affirmations. Her children were alive, and she would see them soon. Her husband... maybe she could get him help. They would find the eye and leave. Anna put a bit of her bodice in her mouth to keep her teeth from audibly chattering.
The thump of heavy footsteps sounded on the boardwalk below. The ivory creatures grunted and snarled, their vocalizations echoing off the floor-to-ceiling windows. It didn't sound like language to Anna. They made the noises of dumb beasts. Maybe they weren't even individual animals. What had her husband said about the "collective?" Maybe the creatures were all part of the Newest Guest. Whatever in Hades that was.
Even after the creatures left the arboretum, Anna stayed in the crook of her oak tree. She was thirsty, tense, and completely wrung out. But she kept sleep at bay. Eventually, she felt safe enough to whisper, "Océane, open up a communication to George Zaal. Only audio. Keep the volume quite low on my end. I don't want to attract attention."
"Trying him now," Océane whispered.
"Hello, Mom?" George sounded worried.
Relief flooded Anna's body.
My son is alive.
Her muscles relaxed so quickly that she nearly fell out of the tree. "I'm okay. I'm in a tree in the arboretum. Are you okay? Is Lillian? Can you come get me?" Anna was so excited by his voice, she could barely keep hers to a whisper.
George told her that Delores was gone and that Kapnos had saved them all with her light. They were supposed to meet Nossy at the top of the tower. Lillian was in the autodoc with internal bleeding, and it would be no less than twelve hours before she would be well enough to leave. Anna processed all this.
Twelve hours is a long time to hide in a tree.
When he finished the debriefing, there was silence on the line for several beats.
"Stay with your sister. Make sure she's protected." Anna didn't have any weapons. Should she leave the tree? Would the creatures come back and do a more thorough search? "When she's well, cut that hardline and come get me. We'll go up the tower together. I'll stay safe. I love you, sunshine."
"I love you, Mom." George's voice faded away as the connection was cut.
"Okay, now how do I climb down this thing?" Anna bit her lip as she eyed the tree. After a moment, she left the crook that had kept her hidden.
~~
"It feels insane just sitting here." George paced in the autodoc waiting room past the barricade he and Constance had placed on the door leading into the hall. "My mother needs me. At the very least, we should cut the power line while we're waiting on my sister." His pistol was in his hand, his trigger finger tapping against the barrel.
"Firstly, you're not sitting anywhere. You're pacing." Constance sat in a waiting room chair, her long legs stretched out in front of her. She was slouched a little, trying to relax. Her gun belt hung from the chair next to her. "Secondly, your mother told you to stay with your sister. Thirdly, she's right. We can't leave Ms. Zaal. We need both guns ready if the creatures find us here." She nodded at his pistol. "You can put yours away, though. I don't believe there is any imminent threat, and you're making me nervous."
"Gods... I'm sorry." George holstered his firearm and sat near Constance. "Dream vacation, huh?"
"The fabulous and inimitable Belle ÃŽle." She lilted her voice like she was selling timeshares. She cleared her throat and regarded him. "It was a nice hotel until
that
guest arrived." She paused before asking the chief question bounding about her mind. "Mrs. Valentine isn't like the Newest Guest, is she? I mean, I'm not sure what happened to her. But it wasn't... normal. She went up like a supernova."
"She's not like the Newest Guest." George shook his head.
"But she's not human. Some sort of security bot? Is she here to protect us all in deep space?" Constance wasn't sure she wanted the answer. Maybe it was best not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Not that Gwendolyn was a horse, far from it.
"She's an alien, Mrs. Haversham. She can mimic people she touches. She loves people. She's nothing like the Newest Guest." George shrugged. Kapnos would forgive him for outing her. It was inevitable at this point. He continued, "It was her bad luck, and our good fortune, that she was here when this all happened. I call her Nossy. She saved all our lives with that light show."
"Oh, I'm well aware that she saved us." Constance thought things over. How odd that she would discover life from outside Earth. That hadn't been how she'd imagined her legacy. "We'll be famous when we return to Earth."
"You can't tell anyone! They'll put her in a cage." George tensed, he reached over and squeezed her muscled leg.
"Okay, I won't tell." She put her gloved hand on his bare one. "But it is an odd coincidence that we should find two unparalleled life forms here. If indeed the Newest guest is alive. It's a bit like finding two needles in a haystack."
"We never would have found Nossy without the Newest Guest's arrival." George withdrew his hand from Constance's leg. "It's like the Newest Guest burned down the haystack, and there was Nossy left all alone. A shiny, lovely needle." He ran his hands through his hair. "I just wish I could go get my mom now." He unbuckled his gun belt, took it off, and hung it next to Constance's. "This wait is going to kill me."
"I admire how close you are to your mother. I was never that close to mine." Constance pointed her toes, flexing her calves. Her hemmed skirts showed them off nicely. She watched his eyes wander toward her legs. She knew she had first-rate calves, so she flexed them a few more times. "We're stuck here for the moment. We've eaten. We've rested. How will we pass the time while your sister heals?"
George gazed up her body, settling on her clear, green eyes. Her meaning was plain. "Gods, I'm such a slut, Mrs. Haversham. You're proposing to me again, and I'm considering it."
"As I'm sure you know from that bit of eavesdropping you did so long ago, I often roleplay with my husband." Constance ventured a smile. It was faint, but it was something of an act of defiance aimed at the darkness they'd all been through. "I'm taller than him, so I... well, you know."
"You pretend to be his mother?" George did indeed remember the shock of hearing their roleplay.
"You're close to your own mother. Would you like a little roleplay? I wouldn't pretend to be her, exactly." Her smile broadened ever so slightly. She could see he was considering it. Having sex with a handsome, eighteen-year-old would be as close to reality as her maternal fantasy would ever get. Especially since this might be the last time she ever had sex. Their odds of surviving had diminished dramatically with their failed sortie. "I could really use the diversion, Mr. Zaal."
"I wouldn't want you to be my mother." George finally returned her smile. "You're nothing like her. I'd want you to be yourself. You're Constance Haversham. You're a wonder of a person. My mother is my mother, and I'll be with her again when we find her."
"By 'be with her again', are you speaking of filial proximity? Because you and I seem to be discussing the terms of coitus, and you mentioned your mother on the same level." Constance's suspicions calcified.
"I... um... I think..." George glanced at the closed door where the autodoc was fixing his sister.
"If you need permission from your mother, you can send her a message." Constance spread her legs and pulled her skirts up, showing leg to just past her knees. "Honestly, that a teenager even needs to deliberate my offer bruises my ego."
George rubbed his chin and stared at her legs. She was beautiful. And he was stuck there for hours.
"You relish the act of good deed accomplished. I've seen that time and again." Constance slowly unbuttoned her bodice. "Consider this a favor to your good friend, Mrs. Haversham. I need to get even with my ne'er-do-well, cheating husband. I need to feel alive and to pretend like death isn't breathing down our necks. I need to find out what you've got in your trousers that would cause your own mother to break her marriage vows and some of society's most cherished taboos."
"Not my mother." George slid off the chair and crawled over to her. He placed himself between her legs and ran his hands under her skirts, along the insides of her firm thighs. She trembled delightfully at his touch. "But, I did have sex with an alien."
Constance laughed. "Very funny, Mr. Zaal." She looked deep into his brown eyes. "Is it true about your mother? Did you, or didn't you?"
"If we're going to do this, I'm going to make it worth your while." He tucked his head under her skirts and breathed in. His nose was met by the scent of sweat, of course. They had both perspired like crazy in their escape down the service stairs. That scent was earthy and strong.
This is what she smells like during one of her matches.
Although that wasn't quite right. As he took in another heady breath, he detected the tangy scent of her excitement. Constance Haversham was wet for
