Disclaimer: I do not own Lilo & Stitch or any of the characters therein.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN:
FLIRTING WITH DANGER
Vay lay quietly in the dark, listening to her thoughts and to the shallow breathing of Le'Kruune as he slept beside her. His thin lips held a smug smile as he dreamed about his latest conquest. The hour was late, very late. Vay was exhausted, yet her mind was too wired to allow her any sleep. The last several hours had been a feverish friction between two minds as well as two bodies. It had been a long time since she had let herself be taken like that. Her entire body was aching from the effort, and she knew it wasn't over yet. Le'Kruune had 'cordially invited' her to stay for the rest of the week, and by that he had meant that it wasn't an option. As long as Wendy was still held a prisoner on this ship, Vay would remain also, and she swore she would do whatever it took to free her son… and to avenge them both.
Her thoughts turned to Wendy then, and she sobbed silently. He was no longer strapped to the wall; Le'Kruune had called in a guard to remove him and escort him back to D7. He had also sent a physician down to tend to his new wounds. On top of all this, he had ordered a lavish feast prepared and had sent nearly half of it down to Wendy and had the rest brought up to his private quarters. Vay had no appetite. She picked at the food, only tasting it, but did not indulge herself like Le'Kruune. She had excused herself from dining with him and gone to lay back down on his bed, awaiting the inevitable.
Now, four or five rounds later, Le'Kruune was finally asleep, having worn himself out in a frenzy of passion. Seeing as he had done most of the work, Vay wasn't nearly as tired as he was, although the toll he had taken on her body in that short amount of time spoke otherwise. She did not take pity on herself, but she did not loathe herself for it either. She had only done what she had to, with no hesitation, because the life of her son was far more important to her than her own. Not that Le'Kruune had any intention of killing her. Far from it. She knew his lust for her was too great to allow any harm to befall her, and because of this, she was fairly certain that she could get away with murder and not have to suffer the consequences.
* * * *
About an hour after Le'Kruune had taken my mother into his bedroom, a guard was called in to remove me to my cell. There I was given a large meal and medical attention for my restraint wounds. For the rest of the night I was in agony; Mother remained with Le'Kruune, and my every waking moment was tortured with visions of what he was doing to her. I cried hard, nearly non-stop. I cried until I began to wretch, and I thought for sure I would succumb to dehydration. I cried and cried until at last I had succeeded in crying myself to sleep. Even then, I could have no peace. Nightmares filled my head, causing me to wake up screaming.
At the start of the morning cycle I was beckoned from my cell by a guard who informed me that I would be joining Le'Kruune and my mother for breakfast. I had mixed emotions at this news. I was both anxious and eager to see Mom; I dreaded how she might appear after a night with Le'Kruune, but was excited to see her again just the same. As for the prospect of sitting down to breakfast with that thurgabbah kurrish'ta, I was furious. I tried not to think about him as I was escorted back to his private suite. Instead, I thought about Mother, and the lengths to which she would go to protect me.
At the door to the suite I paused, suddenly afraid to go in. When it opened, I gasped. There was Mother, sitting on the sofa, with Le'Kruune sitting on her other side, a clawed hand resting lightly on one of her legs. My blood boiled at the sight. Fear left me just then, and I stormed into the room shouting, "GET YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF MY MOTHER!!!"
Le'Kruune looked up at me calmly, giving me a smug smile before removing his hand. My guard had followed me in, cannon raised, but Le'Kruune waved at him dismissively, so he left. Without hesitation I turned to Mother, throwing my arms around her and sobbing. For a minute she rocked me gently in her own arms, cooing to me as if I were a baby again.
"Sshhh, sshhh. It's okay, Wendy. I'm alright. Everything's going to be alright. Ssshhhhh…" During that time Le'Kruune had gotten up and gone to sit in the adjacent armchair. When I finally let go of Mother, I managed to get a good look at her. She looked exhausted. There was a dark circle under her eye, and she seemed pale. She was wearing a white, silky-looking robe over something black, and her hair was a mess. Other than that, she appeared to be okay. I had expected a lot worse, and was relieved. Le'Kruune invited me to sit down. I gave him the dirtiest look I could manage and sat down on the same side of the couch as before, between Mother and him. He snickered.
"Still up in arms, are we?" he asked, obviously amused by my anger. "Don't worry, my dear boy. I always take good care of your mother." He smiled demurely and I wanted to spit in his face. "You're just in time for breakfast!" he added happily, making a gesture at the table. He could have fed six people with all that food: a dozen flat cakes piled up on one plate, scrambled reweq eggs on another, an enormous bowl of various fruits (all native to Turo), and several other appetizers for which there is no clear description. It all looked positively delectable, and it smelled even better, but I had no appetite just then.
"Please, help yourself to some truulmesh." He heaped a large serving of something bluish-gray and curdled-looking onto his plate and proceeded to eat with gusto. Halfway through his meal he looked up, frowning. "Well, come on, eat up! This breakfast isn't going to eat itself, you know!" His eyes turned to Mother. "Eat, Vay. You know you want to. You didn't even touch your dinner last night. Surely you must be famished by now, especially after last night's strenuous exertions."
"Thank you, but no. I'm really not hungry right now. Maybe later."
Le'Kruune eyed her suspiciously. "Suit yourself." And he continued to pack away the food. I was amazed at how much he could eat in one sitting. When he had finished, he called in a servant to clean up. Afterward, he struck up another meaningless conversation. It was only when he made a lewd comment to Mom about one of her physical features that I broke out of my silence.
"WHAT did you say?" I demanded of him.
"I merely complimented your mother for her delectable curves. Surely as a man yourself you can appreciate that sort of thing?"
"Not when you're talking about my mother!" I shouted.
"But she is a woman first, and a mother second," he contended. "And I distinctly recall the look on your face when I showed you that picture. If that hadn't been your mother's face on that body you would have looked at it quite differently."
That did it. I couldn't take any more of it. I stood up, very slowly, and spat in his face. Le'Kruune cursed, wiping it off with the back of his hand before using it to send me flying across the room. I hit the mini-bar, and rolled off the counter, landing on the floor behind it. Mother screamed. Le'Kruune strode over and peered around the counter at me. I grabbed a large bottle of God-knows-what and broke it over his head. It shattered against his horns, doing him no harm, but now he was soaked with alcohol and furious. He seized me by the throat with one hand and lifted me up over his head. I gasped, but could not draw in any air. My windpipe was crushed. Screaming again, Mother flung herself at Le'Kruune, biting the arm that held me. He roared and dropped me on the floor. Mother still clung to him, attempting to tear his face off. Le'Kruune seized her with both hands and pulled. She let go of his face then just as he spun around and hurled her roughly onto the couch. Before I could catch my breath, Le'Kruune landed on top of her, pinning her down.
"NOOO!!!" I screamed, pulling myself up and jumping on his back. With little effort he reached back and grabbed hold of my foot. He swung me once before pitching me across the room again. This time I hit the wall. Hard. I was dizzy and in pain, and I couldn't see straight. Over on the couch, Mother was colorfully cursing Le'Kruune in several languages, some I didn't even know. He was pressed against her and smiling viciously, showing as many teeth as he could, laughing at her. I watched in horror as he kissed her, deeper and more passionately than before. I tried screaming, but my voice cracked, and I coughed. I tried to get up, but I was still disoriented.
Satisfied, Le'Kruune sat up, smiling sweetly at my mother. In an instant she was on her feet and rushing to my side. She hugged me hard, and I heard her sob. I looked up at her, and noticed that the belt of her robe had come undone. Underneath it I could see quite clearly what she was wearing: it was the same outfit she had worn in the picture! I groaned disgustedly and looked away. Mother made no move to fix her robe; she was still too worried about me. Le'Kruune stepped up behind her, and she turned around and glared at him furiously.
"You said you wouldn't hurt him!" she shouted.
"Yes, I did," Le'Kruune admitted. "However, that was provided that he didn't assault me first, and, as you just plainly saw, he did."
"Damn you to Hell with all your logic!!!" she spat. "You still didn't have to do that!!!"
"No, I guess not," he sighed, shaking his head, "but I don't doubt the boy has learned his lesson."
"Which is…?"
Le'Kruune grinned wickedly. "Don't annoy the sociopath."
"That's the understatement of the millennium," Mother snorted, turning back to me. Her soft hand felt cool against my burning face. She gently inspected me for damage, her eye full of pleading with me to understand something, to have patience and trust in her. I wanted to do those things, but I couldn't. I couldn't even begin to fathom the remarkable strength she possessed. SHE was the one who was suffering, not me, though she refused to allow any facet of herself to admit it. The look in her eye was tender, loving… still, I couldn't stand to look into it anymore. I cast my own eye down, and saw again the exotic attire Le'Kruune had forced her to wear. I felt sick, and I closed my eye tight, trying to shut out the image of her as his toy.
"He's fine, Vay. Do come back and sit down with me," purred Le'Kruune, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Pleakley can join us, too, if he promises to behave himself."
I grumbled to myself as Mom helped me up. A moment later we were all sitting on the sofa, Mom in the middle. I had tried to put myself between them, but Le'Kruune was too quick for me. He activated a holo-screen, which floated transparently in the air in front of us, and tuned it in to a local news broadcast.
"Just look! The two of you have made the headlines!" he exclaimed, sounding excited. Sure enough, there was the grand councilwoman, admitting to the press that extradited prisoner and former agent Wendy Pleakley had been abducted by the Kaizaxx, and that his mother, decorated first class agent Vay Pleakley, was also missing, and it was believed, though not confirmed, that she had met the same fate as her son.
Le'Kruune laughed delightedly. "Another fifteen seconds of fame for the illustrious Vay! And for Wendy, another fifteen seconds of shame." He used a tone of mock pity as he said that. I just sneered and continued to stare at the holo-screen. Le'Kruune started flipping through the channels.
"Over ten thousand channels on this thing and there's never anything good on!" He grunted irritably and put it back on the news. Now it was time for the meteorology report, and good God, was that boring! I could have fallen asleep to the forecaster's droning. I wanted to go back to my cell and lay down, but I said nothing. I couldn't leave Mother's side, not while she was still with Le'Kruune. I knew it would be impossible for me to stay… sooner or later he would have his filthy urges again, and I would either be chained to the wall or removed to my cell. I had no idea what to do. I had confidence in Mom… I knew she would not let him get away with all this. She was strong, but he was stronger. I feared for her, knowing that with her next attempt on his life he would not likely be so forgiving. All I could do was pray. I watched out of the corner of my eye as Le'Kruune's dirty hand snaked its way back down to rest on Mom's leg. I pretended not to notice, but I bit down hard on my tongues to suppress a scream.