Tamar stood there as if rooted in place. Had she heard what she thought she here? "Not while I'm here." That's what he'd said only a few seconds ago. He'd said it so off the cuff, as if he had no idea what that simple statement would mean to her. The question in Tamar's mind was how long would he be here? Everyone else in her life had either wanted her to do something for them, or to do something to her. It was that simple. So no matter how nice he seemed right then, it was going to take more than nice words and a couple of assists for her to come even close to trusting him. Her heart had been smashed far too many times for her to take a chance again.
So she fell in step with him, not knowing what to do. She didn't want to be far from him, being that he was about the only thing keeping her alive, as much as she hated to admit it. At the same time, Tamar didn't want to get too close to him, so she decided to stay where she was, and see where this led.
"Why did you use me as bait?" Tamar asked when she caught up with Malachi.
"I knew something was following us, but I couldn't pin it down. Whatever it was, was using some pretty advanced cloaking tech, and knew how to use it to peak efficiency. I didn't want whatever it was to know I knew it was there, so I needed you to think I'd left. I knew that it would attack if it thought you were alone."
"I was alone. You left me standing there thinking you'd come back. I thought you never would." Malachi spun on his heels. His hands grabbed Tamar's shoulders holding her in place.
"You will never be alone. I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere. I'm sorry if I scared you, but it was necessary. It won't happen again without warning, okay?"
"That's fine..." Tamar's voice broke. "I'm a big girl... I can take care of mysel..." She swallowed hard to keep her voice steady, then broke away from him with a snarled.
"I really hate you sometimes, you know that?" She was so close to breaking down in front of him. Did he even know what the words he'd just spoke meant to her?
"You have a strange way of showing hatred. You know that, right?"
He knew. How did he know? Tamar stood there staring at him for a few seconds, shook her head, then as he turned back to the north, she followed him.
It was three days later that Malachi brought them both to a stop at the top of a slight rise. Below them stood a small town. Everything looked normal, except for the fact that there was no sign of habitation whatsoever. Not a vehicle moved, no one could be seen in the streets, and the biggest thing was that there was not a light on anywhere. It was late evening and a fine mist hung over the valley in which the small city lay. So if anyone was still there, they would have some lights on, unless they were smart enough not to want to attract any attention to themselves.
"We'll rest here for a few days."
"Can't we just keep moving? We can't be that far from the closest of those mines, can we?"
"We still have over three hundred miles to go, and you're having trouble putting one foot in front of the other. So I call a rest stop. I'm sure there are some nice rooms somewhere in this town."
Several hours and a little searching later and they were both in the honeymoon suite in one of the cities' several hotels.
"Have you ever seen a bed this big?" Tamar shouted while in mid flight. She landed on her back in the middle of the huge king sized bed that dominated one end of the room.
When Malachi didn't answer, she turned towards him.
"Well have you?" She huffed, hands on hips.
But he wasn't paying any attention to her at the moment. His concentration was outside, where his suits sensors were scouring the surrounding area for any sign of activity, alien or other wise.
"What are you doing, other than ignoring me?"
"I'm making sure you're safe."
"Oh, are you now?" She walked up beside him. "And how are you doing that, exactly?"
"Sorry, trade secret. If I told you, I'd have to kill you." His dead pan response sparked something in Tamar.
"Ha, not likely. You've went through too much trouble already to kill me now."
"Good point. Then I'd just have to knock you out and drag you around." He responded with no emotion at all, so it left Tamar wondering if he was serious.
"You wouldn't do that, would you?" He stood rooted in place for several more minutes, than turned towards her.
"No, I wouldn't, but I had you going, didn't I?"
"You are such a pain sometimes." Tamar picked up an old towel from the floor and chucked it at him.
"I know," he ducked the missile. All the while grinning, a facial feature that his suit turned into more of a psychotic leer than anything else.
"Now get some sleep. I'll keep watch. I have a feeling we might not be out of the woods yet."
"Sure we are. We're in the middle of a city."
Malachi looked at her for a few seconds. Not quite knowing how to respond.
"Oh, sorry, it was a figure of speech. It means we're not out of danger yet."
"Then why didn't you just say that?" Tamar sometimes wondered if this mans had all his brains, or if he used those he had.
"We are nine stories above ground. That should keep you safe enough." Malachi turned and walked to the sliding window leading to the balcony.
"Oh no you don't. You are not leaving me in one of these rooms again." Tamar stormed across the room and, before she knew what she was doing, grabbed his arm.
"Unless you want to ride on my back, you're staying here." He turned, then looked down to where her fingers were latched onto his arm.
The instant she realized what she'd done, her arm was back at her side.
"No, I'm not riding on your back. Thank you very much." She stepped back, put her fists to her hips. "I will stay here."
"I'm so glad you came to that decision." Behind his suit, Malachi rolled his eyes. "I'll be back in a few hours. I need to scout further out to make sure nothing's around." Before Tamar could respond, he lept from the balcony and instead of his wings deploying, Tamar rushed to the rail and watched him drop to the ground ninety feet below and race into the darkness.
"Now what do I do?" She muttered. Turning, she eyed the bed again. With a girlish giggle, she jumped into the air, rebounded off the vaulted ceiling she landed with a billow of dust in the middle of the huge bed.
"Oh wow, I never knew these things could be this soft." Groaning in comfort, she wiggled herself into the plush covers and was soon fast asleep.
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"Why are we out here? Our sensors covered every square inch of this ground out to two hundred miles. There's nothing moving out here that shouldn't be."
"I'm out here to clear my head. That girl drives me crazy sometimes, okay, most of the time." Malachi landed in the top of a large oak tree, his weight and momentum causing a heavy sway in the slim trunk.
"You could just dump her somewhere and be done with her. It's not like she could keep up with us."
"And what would that say of my honor? I've already told her I'd get her to safety. I will not be just another person who's lied to her." He watched his sensor scan sweep out from the center of his HUD with no contacts detected, and wondered why he was out there.
"Besides, there's something about her. I can't tell what it is yet, but the more I'm with her, the more I feel like I can look into her head and know what she's thinking."
"You're falling for her, aren't you? I'm not proficient at knowing human mating rituals, but..."
"Hold it right there. I am not interested in her in that way. Besides, she has hair all over her body, and those claws don't lend themselves to any type of soft caresses. No, I'm here to get here back to the ship, nothing more."
"Sure you are."
"Oh, shut up." Malachi turned back towards the blackened city. "We should be getting back. She's probably asleep by now."
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Tamar opened her eyes and looked around. Some part of her mind knew she was in a dream, but the more she saw, the more that part of her brain became smaller and smaller. Looking down, she saw and felt grass between her toes. The cool grass felt good as she looked around the tight stand of trees she stood in.
"You can't escape the darkness." The sound came from the trees, from the sky, the ground, everywhere. A whisper she had been trying her whole life to run from.
"It's everywhere. Where can you go? How fast would you have to run to get away from it?" Tamar turned and bolted. In a few strides she was at top speed, dodging tree trunks, diving under branches. She just ran, not caring where she was going.
Coming to a stop in the middle of a small meadow, chest heaving, she put her hands to her ears to block out the voice. But still, it invaded her mind.
"It clings to you because it's everything you know. You create the blackness from out of your very soul."
"NOOOOOOO!" Her scream shattered the silence, and off she ran.
She bounced off trees now, branches reached out to knock her off her feet. The farther she ran, the darker her world became, the darkness leaking all around her, driving her forward until her lungs burned and her entire body ached. Still she ran, she couldn't stop, she wasn't all blackness, her life was more than that. But her mind screamed that the sum of her was ebony, everything she touched was onyx, everyone around her would suffer, so she had to escape. She needed to be alone, only by being alone was she not a threat to anyone.
Out of the corner of her vision she saw a change in the current of the blackness. It seemed to be flowing from off to her left. A river of darkness slid past her from right to left. So Tamar turned in the direction and plunged into the light-less flow.
In the current, her mind raced as she realized the blackness in this flow was calming. It energized her like nothing she'd ever felt before. Not only that, it called to her, a soft gentle call like a lover calling their beloved to come and rest. Tamar didn't hesitate. She ran up stream into this flow, wanting, no, needing to see what was at its source.
The blackness near her tugged at her, telling her she was worthless, that she was rotten to the core, that her life was dangerous to all near her. But the gentle call she could hear, though softer and quieter, it pulled her forward with all the strength of a gale force wind.
After what seemed like forever, Tamar broke into an open field, the source of the glorious blackness stood in the middle. The darkness made making out its features nearly impossible, but the nearer she came, the more she could make out. The color was shrouded in black, everything here was colored black.
"Help me!" She screamed, but her voice was carried away in the flood of darkness.
Taking another step, she tried again.
"Hello, who are you? I need your help, please!"
The creature in the middle of the darkness seemed to hear her. Its head cocked to the side and began to turn.
"NO!" she screamed, once more on the bed. She struggled to move, but something held her fast. Something strong and warm. Then the breeze blew.
"Shhhhhhhh." She struggles harder.
"Shhhhhhhhhhhhh." It's okay, just calm down. You're safe.
It hadn't been the breeze she was hearing. Her eyes sprang open. She was staring into Malachi's eyes. The same red blazing eyes she'd seen in her dream.
"Shhhhhhhhhh, it's okay." Malachi's arms gently unwrapped from around her but for an instant she stayed right where she was.
It was a dream, it had to be a dream, yet it had seemed so real, and the eyes, they were just like those in her early dreams.
Rolling away from him, she sat up shaking her head.
"Get away from me," she shook her head so hard she almost lost her balance. "I can't, you can't be, I won't, I just won't."
"Won't what?" Malachi sat wondering what was wrong with Tamar this time.
"Are you gonna run away from me like everyone else?" Tamar's eyes had gone as steady as stone as she stared into Malachi's.
"Ah, no, not that I know of," he shook his head. "What brought this on?"
"That's not the point. I need to know that you're not going to use me, then leave me alone. Everyone in my life has done that and I'm tired of it."
"No Tamar," he gazed, his eyes fixed on the two pools of yellow looking at him. "I'm not going anywhere. I gave you my word, and my God will hold me to it, whether anyone else does or not. Nothing will happen to you as long as I'm alive. I once again give you my word."
Tamar still couldn't be sure. She'd never had anyone keep a promise to her. So for someone to actually mean what they said, and be willing to carry it out, was something new to her. So she shook her head and tried something new.
"So, where are you going to sleep tonight?" She patted the bed next to her while she stretched spread eagle on the bed.
"I'm going to take me a slice of couch. You can have the bed." He slid off onto the floor and walked to the large couch.
"You're no fun." Tamar pouted, but on the inside she was pleased. She'd been used before, and didn't relish any repeat performances.
She was curled up on the bed as the sun crept behind the horizon until its last rays vanished, leaving an ever increasing darkness. Looking across the room, she saw two red glowing eyes moving in the black.
"Does he ever sleep?" She asked herself, her fuzzy brain increasingly unable to form cohesive thoughts.
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