A/N: THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS. SORRY I DIDN'T UPDATE SOONER. I HAD
EXAMS AND THEN A NEW SEMESTER STARTED. IT'S BEEN A REAL CRAZY FEW WEEKS.
ANYWAY, HERE'S THE NEXT CHAPTER. ENJOY.
~*~
"What the hell?" Michael muttered as he walked to Tess' room and
noticed that three tall, dark men, dressed in all black were standing by the
door, looking very much like mafia bodyguards and that his friends were nowhere
in sight.
Aliens, he thought.
He cursed under his breath again when they spotted him before he could make a
run for it. Standing still in his spot, he watched as one of them approached
him.
"Rath." The man said as he nodded at Michael.
Slightly surprised and confused by the gesture and recognition, Michael said
nothing and waited.
"They're waiting for you inside." The man continued as he gestured
towards the room.
Michael watched him warily, not sure of what to do to. There was something
strangely familiar and trustworthy about the man so he did nothing and walked
to the room. He hoped that Tess was alright in there.
What he found surprised him even more.
Cramped inside the somewhat small room were five more men dressed in black.
They were circled around the bed where Tess was. A ceremony was taking place.
Michael glanced at Max who was standing by the corner, a gun threateningly
pointed at him, Isabel and the rest of their friends.
"What the hell are you doing?" Michael dared to exclaim at the man.
The man turned to him, his eyes soft yet threatening. He didn't speak in
English and strangely, Michael understood. Silently, he nodded and backed away,
letting them continue with what they came to do.
"Michael?" Isabel asked warily. He seemed strangely calm for someone
who was being held hostage.
"Quiet Isabel, they're praying." He said in a hushed tone and Isabel
turned to look at the group.
Pale and almost dead, Tess laid on the bed while the circle of dark strangers
surrounded her.
Suddenly the man raised a knife and Maria whimpered while Max moved to run to
Tess but Michael was quicker than he was and in an instant, he was in front of
Max, telling him no.
The leader of the strangers took the knife, dipped in a small cylinder filled
with blood. He then turned to Tess, took her limp hand and sliced her palm.
"Oh my God." Maria murmured in disgust as she clung to Kyle's arm.
The man continued his chant and a silver glow appeared on Tess cut and in a few
minutes, the scar was gone, leaving no trace that it ever happened.
The man abruptly stood up and the rest of his people moved away from the bed.
For what seemed like eternity, nothing happened and just when Max was about to
say something, Tess' body began to trash on the bed, her head rolling back as
her eyes snapped open. They could see that her pupils were gone, and there was
only black there.
Her fingers curled and she clawed at the bed underneath her almost ripping the
sheets as she struggled. Two men moved to hold her down, pinning her arms to
her sides.
She started to yell in their alien language and only the men in black and
Michael understood.
She fought, trying to break free as she continued to trash but she was weaker
and smaller. Ten minutes later, her seizures subsided and Tess laid on the bed
heaving and covered in her own cold sweat, her black eyes turn emptily to the
ceiling while blood trickled down her cheeks and from the corner of her mouth.
Her eyelids closed and her head turned to her side as her body relaxed. The
leader moved forward, motioning the two men to let Tess' arms go. They nodded
in obedience and moved away. The man sat next to Tess and wiped the blood from
her face.
"Rest well, your highness." He whispered in English. It was the first
thing in almost an hour that Max understood. The man then stood up and walked
over to Max but he looked at Michael and spoke in Antarian again.
Michael nodded when the man finished. "He says that now we wait." He
explained to Max who looked confused.
"Ask them who they are." Max told him.
The man's eyes snapped at Max and he glared at the younger man. "We are
servants to the queen." He said in English.
"Servants?" Max echoed.
"More like warriors, actually. Soldiers." Michael clarified.
"We serve the queen and her
alone." He stated firmly, his dislike of Max more evident. "Had we
not come here in time, you would have
let her die." He spoke to Max accusingly.
"It's a good thing that you came then." Michael interjected.
"Can you get your men out of here? It's getting a little too hot with this
many people." The man nodded, glanced at his people and they all
disappeared out the door.
"You should get rid of the humans." He said.
"No, they're with us." Michael answered for Max as he glanced at
Alex, Kyle and Maria who were still huddled in the corner. "What did you
do to Tess?"
"You mean Ava." The man corrected sternly. "She will be fine as
soon as the new blood mixes with her own."
"New blood?" Isabel asked.
"Yes, Vilandra, the new blood." The man said icily as he glared her
down. "The pure blood of the heir mixed with the cure of the poison."
"My son's blood." Max whispered as he walked over to Tess and sat
next to her.
"Yes, the future king. He has pure blood that can heal, like yours; mixed
with the cure for the poison, it saved his mother." The man answered.
"Where is he now?" Max asked, his eyes never leaving Tess.
The man sighed. "He's somewhere safe." He said curtly.
"Where is my son?" Max demanded angrily.
The man growled. "You will see your son soon enough!" He declared
firmly as he moved towards the door. The man stopped short. "While Ava is
asleep, I'm going to take this opportunity to tell you this. She spent her
whole life with the belief that she was meant to die for you, for all of you,
but the truth is without her, there would be no royal four. She is your
salvation. You don't deserve her." With that said he shook his head in
disappointment and disapproval and walked out of the room, shutting the door
behind him.
Max, Michael, Isabel, Kyle, Alex and Maria looked at each other in disbelief.
************************************************************************
"Sheriff, who are these people?" Liz asked as he glanced at the men
standing by Tess' room.
Valenti shrugged his shoulders, his eyes casting a worried look towards the
door. He and Liz had just gotten to the scene and it seemed that something had
happened inside but no one wanted to explain.
Micheal, Maria, Kyle, Alex and Isabel were still in the room. Once in a while,
Alex would pop out to speak to Liz and Sheriff Valenti who were instructed by
one of the men to wait outside.
"You're the human, who played guardian to the royal four, aren't
you?" One of them asked him.
Valenti glanced at the other figure and nodded. "Tess was like a daughter
to me." He said proudly.
The other man stretched his lips in an effort to smile. "We would like to
thank you for guarding the queen." He said.
"Anytime." Jim answered. "Do you mind telling me who you
are?"
"Kail. High General to the Council, protector of the queen."
Jim Valenti's eyebrow furrowed. "Isn't that supposed to be Michael or
Rath?" He asked.
"I'm the leading officer of the rebel forces based here on Earth. My
predecessor, Nasedo, died a few years ago and now I'm left to guard the queen
while she tries to kill our enemy herself." He explained.
Valenti nodded. Everything seemed confusing but things were falling into place
now. He didn't know whether to trust Kail and his men but they seemed sincere
enough and by saving Tess' life, Valenti approved of them.
************************************************************************
Kyle shifted in his seat as he tried to find a comfortable position in the
small reclining chair. He rubbed his eyes as he glanced at the clock. It said two o'clock in the morning.
"Jeez." He muttered as he looked around the semi dark room. Alex was
sleeping on the couch peacefully. I'm going
to have to wake him in an hour or so, Kyle mentally told himself.
It was already two days since Kail and his men came and Tess was still out of
it. Everyone else had rented a room to get some sleep somewhere comfortable. No
one wanted to leave.
Kyle glanced at Tess and decided to sit next to her. He could see the right
side of her face. It was pale against the soft glow of the moonlight that
seeped through the curtain that billowed by the window.
Kyle sighed as he quickly glanced at Alex who was still sleeping. He then turned
to Tess.
"I was thinking," He started to speak as he clasped his hands
together. "You should wake up now, Tess. You didn't fail. You won.
Khivar's gone, your son is safe and Max, well, he's waiting for you. I know
that maybe you're not waking up because Max is here and you don't want to see
him but you have to. It's killing him seeing you like this. It's killing all of
us." Kyle sighed and looked down at his hand again. "And I want to
see my nephew. I know that he's not really
related to me but you're pretty much my sister so I figured he's family too.
Anyway, it might be nice to have a family dinner again for Christmas. This year
I'll actually help out." Kyle chuckled. "Kail won't give him back
unless you're awake. He doesn't like Max. We can all see that. Hey, Tess, if
you wake up, I swear that I'll give you that jersey that you wore." He
smiled as he remembered the incident.
Kyle leaned forwards as he brushed a stray blonde hair from Tess' face.
Suddenly he was racked with sobs and he put his arms around her and hugged her.
"We really, really miss you Tess. Come home now, okay."
Suddenly a hand touched his shoulder and he jerked, startled. He slowly pulled
away from Tess and looked down at her.
"You almost suffocated me in my sleep." She groaned as her eyelids
fluttered as she tried to look up at him straight. They were still black but
traces of her blue eyes were becoming visible.
"If I knew that it would wake you up, I would have suffocated you a long
time ago." He grinned as he hugged her tighter. "I can't believe
you're back."
"Kyle, I need air." She groaned.
He loosened his hold around her and gave her an apologetic smile as he stood up
and shook Alex from his sleep. Alex muttered something under his breath as he
was ungracefully woken up.
"Tess is awake." Kyle declared happily and Alex leapt for his
position and ran over to Tess.
"About time." He said trying to sound stern but he was beaming from
ear to ear and he took his turn to hug her. "Welcome back. How are you
feeling?"
"Weird." She answered. Kyle was about to run out of the room to tell
the other the good news but Tess called out. "Don't." She said
weakly. "I'm not ready to see them. Not right now."
"But Max would-" Kyle said but Alex cut him off.
"We'll tell them in the morning." Alex declared firmly and Kyle
nodded. He went to Tess' other side and sat down next to her. "We were
worried about you." Alex said, glancing at Kyle who nodded in agreement.
Tess nodded. "I told you I can take care of myself." She smiled as
her hand went to his. "You never have to worry about me."
"Well, with the numerous close calls you had, I think Alex had the right
to worry. We all did." Kyle piped in happily.
"I'm going to take that jersey since you promised." She smiled at
him. Kyle beamed. Her face grew serious and the ordeal that she went through
became evident. Suddenly, she seemed old, not by appearance but in her eyes.
They looked tired and beaten. "Thank you, both of you. I owe you a
lot." She said and she opened her arms so they could both hug her. So they
did.
"Anytime." Kyle said when they pulled away.
"But don't do it again." Alex added half jokingly and Tess nodded.
"Get some rest, princess. You have a few hours left until everyone's
up." He said as he patted her arm.
"But I'm not tired." Tess argued as she tried to stifle a yawn.
"Sure you're not." Kyle said as he kissed her on the forehead.
"We'll be here. Yell if you need anything."
Tess nodded as she turned to one side, pulling the covers over her shoulders
despite the warm New Mexico weather. She heard
Alex and Kyle return to the couch and chair. For a long time, she didn't sleep
but just stared out of the darkness, her eyes focused on the lace curtain that
billowed like a ghost standing near the window. She listened to Kyle and Alex's
breathing when they finally fell back asleep an hour later. Tess sighed as she
pulled the covers tighter around her. She felt shivers run up and down her
spine, making her uneasy. She shut her eyes, knowing full well why she couldn't
sleep or rest.
In the morning she would have to face Max all over again.
~*~
A/N: YAY, I MADE HER WAKE UP. I KNOW THAT IM MEAN FOR NOT LETTING KYLE TELL MAX
BUT I FIGURED THAT I COULDN'T MAKE THEM FACE EACH OTHER NOW SINCE THE WHOLE
CONFRONTATION THING WOULD START ALL OVER AGAIN AND I ALREADY WROTE ENOUGH FOR
ONE CHAPTER. I WANTED SOMETHING MORE EXCITING FOR TESS' REVIVAL BUT ALL I COULD
THINK OF WAS AN INDIAN HEALER AND WELL, YOU KNOW HOW IT WENT. TELL ME WHAT YOU
THINK BECAUSE I SERIOUSLY WON'T PUT ANOTHER CHAPTER UNLESS THERE ARE ENOUGH
REVIEWS.
SO REVIEW ALREADY.
