Chapter 20
"Thank God that is over." Kim wiped her brow with the back of her hand and smiled at her friend. She thought she would never see her again.
"You don't know how great I feel about being out of there." Terre winced and held her stomach. "Though I don't feel all that good…"
"Are you hurt?" Kim saw her hands and where they were. O oh. "Is it…the time?"
"No. I am not bleeding or anything. This isn't normal…it hurts too much…" she sniffled and Kim hooked her arm around the shoulders of her friend.
"Hay, you've grown. I used to be taller than you. Now you're the same size as me."
"I hadn't noticed." For a moment, Terre simply smiled weakly at her friend. But sadness returned to her dark eyes as she spoke again. "I thought you were dead..."
"And I thought I would never see you again. We were both wrong." Kim chuckled. Terre closed her eyes and smiled, glad to be in the protective arms of her sister like friend.
Kim however wasn't looking at Terre. She was watching Katel and Damon playing 'who can stare the biggest daggers' game. Katel was to her right, and Damon further to her left. The two girls were the only thing separating them in the hallway. "So, this Damon guy. He saved you from…you know…"
"Yeah. And other things too."
"Right." Kim left Terre and walked slowly towards Damon. Damon watched her fiercely and Katel tensed. There was no way that he was going to let his guard down around her. Didn't the hunter say this was his mate? Then she couldn't be trusted. Not even if his Queen did. "Then I am in your thanks. Before I was…before I came up here. I was the one who looked after Terre."
"Then you were the one who left her. Coward." Terre would have frowned, but she didn't hear him. She was busy looking over their large, heavily armoured 'saviour'. He was at least 7 feet tall, had lots of nasty looking armour on, a mask covering his face and a large, threatening spear in his hands. But Terre could see from his legs that his skin was a dark brown with cream patched over his legs. Katel shifted from one leg to the other against the wall, not comfortable about the Kim's friend was sizing him up. It was almost like…no. He was imagining it.
"I can't say that I was willing to leave her…" Kim looked over her shoulder at Katel, but smiled at him. "But if I hadn't, then none of us would be here. So to Katel I am grateful."
"Hunters whore…" Damon hissed under his breath. He was crouched down again and not liking this one way conversation. The meat bag couldn't understand him, only his Queen could.
"So basically, I am in your debt. Thank you." Kim slowly reached out to place her hand on his shoulder, but a low hissing made her retract her hand. "I didn't mean any harm…"
"He will not trust you Kim." Katel pulled away from the wall and started towards her. "He sees you as a hunter and a threat to his Queen…I wish I could say the same…"
"What are you saying? You don't still want to hurt them do you!"
"Of course! They are hard meat and should be dead now. If it wasn't for the fact that you refused to leave them behind, they would both be dead. Like they should be…" Katel placed his hand on her shoulder, and winced as she pulled away from him. Terre felt very out of place and saw the squabble between the 'hunter' and her friend, and a very pissed off looking Damon. She sat on the floor, looking on at the argument like a young child, which she was in her own right.
"Katel. How many times do I have to tell you this? Terre isn't evil, Damon is her drone and will not hurt us, she isn't pregnant and will not be a leader of a colony."
"Hive." Terre corrected her, surprising herself.
"What?" Kim turned to look at her. She looked like a small child, still in a nursery from the way she sat with her legs crossed and the naïve, goofy smile on her face. Just like she remembered her, other than the black jade eyes…
"Hive…the Queen is the head of the hive." Kim raised her eyebrow and Katel folded his arms. From the look she was getting, Terr felt like she said something wrong. "Damon told me…"
"And what else did the hard meat tell you?"
"Don't call us that. We are not 'hard meat'."
"Us?" Katel repeated the word and looked to Kim, who felt like he was trying to insinuate something or prove a point. Terre however, hadn't caught on.
"Yeah, I would think…shadows would be a nicer name. So much better than 'hard meat'. Don't you think?"
"I like it my Queen." Damon shocked everyone by jumping down from the ceiling and landing behind Terre.
"Wow! Don't do that!" Kim clutched her chest and smiled, glad it was only D.
Only D…
"Yeah, you made us all jump…other than tall and grumpy." Terre giggled from the way Kim smirked, and Katel growled angrily.
"You know, I think I said the exact same thing when I first met him. Grumpy was the exact same word I used…" she chuckled, but Katel didn't find it amusing.
"This is my ship and I will be respected!"
"Oh calm down. Terre and I have this sort of odd humour." She turned to Terre. "Hay Terr, lay off him with the funnies k?"
"Sure thing."
"But you were so accurate in your observations."
"He he, thanks." Damon sat behind his Queen, like his usually does in the position of a sitting lion, but with his hands at either side of her so he towered over her smaller form almost…protectively.
"Huh?" Kim felt like she had missed something.
"Oh, Damon basically agreed with me." Terre leaned back against his chest and smiled as Katel seemed to look at them…enviously?
"Oh, never mind. Katel?" He snapped out of his trance and looked to Kim. "Could we get them somewhere to stay? Because we are not going to hunt them right?" Kim ordered him more than asked, and he didn't like it. But what could he do? If he refused, she would just help them anyway and the last thing he wanted, was for her to let them sleep…in her room…while she was in it. But he could get something out of this…
"There are only two rooms on the ship."
"Then Terre and her drone can have one room, we'll have the other. Oh and by the way, I and Katel are involved, so don't worry about making me share a room with him." Terre's obsidian eyes glistened and she beamed up at them.
"About time you fell for someone. Even if they're a hunter he he. Go you!" Terre chuckled and saw her blush. "So…you've been sleeping in his room…mmmm…" Kim blushed even more as Terre teased her further.
"Ok, yes. Once….or twice…but."
"You have my approval and go ahead." She chuckled, and got to her feet.
"Why would she need you're approval or go ahead?" Katel hissed, taking Kim's arm possessively.
"Because of the golden rule Katel. For a girl to have a relationship with a guy, her best friend has to approve of him first. And my best friend just approved. Of you." Kim chuckled and smirked at his silence.
"Thank you by the way." Terre held her hand out to him, but Damon pulled her back. "Damon?"
"You may trust me Queen. But you're shadow does not." Katel clattered and left to his room, and stopped. "Here are the rules of my ship. You are to stay far away from the training room, the trophy room and the bridge. And the departure bay and the pod room. You are not to stay together other than when either I or Kim is present. I will not have any hard meat Queens reproducing on my ship…as I have been forbidden to hunt you…" he cast a glance back at Terre, and she nodded respectively. "But do not think that I will hesitate even once in killing you if either you, or the hard meat lays a claw on my…on Kim." Damon raised his head at the end of Katel's threat. Why didn't he call her mate like he did last time…unless she is not yet his mate? He he. "And so I will have to say that I will hear anything you do from Kim's room. So." He looked directly at Damon. "Don't try anything." Katel put emphasis on anything and added one last thing. "And do not get comfortable. Once we find a suitable planet, I will soon be rid of you." He walked away and to his room, leaving Kim with the two 'shadows' before she could object.
Kim smiled and looked to Terre. She knew just how to change Katel's mind about dumping her friend on the next planet…
"So, you hungry?"
"Starving!" Terre jumped to the chance of food and followed her friend to the 'kitchen'. Damon, of course, followed her like her 'shadow'.
That's where she got the name from.
"You look like you haven't eaten for days!" Kim sat at the grand table as Terre wolfed some smoked and dried meat.
"No, I ate the other day…kinda." Terre guzzled a large, Viking sized chalice of water and made Kim laugh.
"Must not have been very nice."
"No, it wasn't." Damon looked away, not wanting to see the look Terre was no doubt giving him right now. "Not at all..."
"I said I was sorry." he countered, under his breath.
"What did he say?" Kim was finding it more than difficult to understand Terre's dark protector as he spoke to Terre. All she got was a load of hissing and growls. A lot different to how Katel speaks when he talks his native tongue, but just as foreign to her ears.
"Nothing. I'm done." Terre stood up and looked down at her bra and shorts. "You wouldn't have a change of clothes up here with you, would you?"
"Fed up of the tramp get up?" Kim smirked. It was nice to have their little sarcastic banters again. Like old times.
"Like you can talk. A skimpy loin cloth and boob tube. Mmmm, not tacky in the slightest…"
"He he." Kim heard the hard meat hiss softly and his shoulders bounce slightly.
"What did he say?"
"He was laughing." Terre looked at Damon. She took her collar off and cleared her throat. "I don't mean to be rude, but is it alright if you are more visual than audible with your replies?"
"Is that because you want me to, or because it is better for the meat bag?" For Kim, this was more than uncomfortable for her. They were both speaking in an alien tongue, literally in Damon's case, and she couldn't understand a hiss of it. And the odd thing was, this creature looked capable of ripping them both in half with one swipe of his claws, and yet he looked more than submissive towards Terre. Must be because she is a Queen she thought.
"Please don't call her that."
"Would you prefer trapper?"
"Cut it out!" Terre stamped her fist on the table and made Kim jump. This wasn't the Terre she knew. Terre was, although innocent, a coward that gave in to others and their wishes. Yet here she was, barking and snarling at someone over twice her size and more deadly than any human. She really has changed…
Damon lowered his head and bowed.
"I apologise. But you must understand that I will not be pleasant with the hunter and his…and with the human. They are a threat to you and I will not rest until you are safe. I have said it once, I say it now and I will say it until you understand. I want you to be free to rule your hive and."
"Look, I know what you want. But I am not in danger here. We are among friends."
"…You are among one friend. The other is a fierce hunter whom loves nothing more than hunting our kind…Queen's especially."
"Damon…we are safe here."
"For the mean time…"
"Erm, hello?" They both looked to Kim and Terre fitted the collar around her neck, wincing as it tightened.
"The conversation is over D." she turned to Kim. "Sorry about that. But it is easier to talk to you in human, and to Damon in hiss."
"No problem. Do you want to get changed now?"
"Sure." Terre began to follow Kim out the room, but turnd to Damon as Kim got out of ears reach. "You have been real patient D, thanks."
"Anything for my Queen." She winked at him and skipped off after Kim.
…did she just…wink at me? Damon grinned madly and ran after her, his spirit lifted once again.
Terre found Kim's room and sat on the bed. Kim was about to close the door, but she saw Damon sitting behind his mistress.
"Erm, Damien. This is where you leave."
"Damon. And what?"
"Damon, I am getting changed. You need to leave." Damon looked to his Queen, hoping she would reconsider, but alas she didn't.
"If she tries anything, I will be through the door quicker than she can breathe."
"Thank you." Damon skulked out of the room and Kim gladly shut the door on him.
"Man he makes me uncomfortable."
"He doesn't really like you much. I will work on that though."
"Thanks, I think." Kim went through her new clothes (thanks to Katel) and spoke to Terre. "I know the answer to this question, and forgive me for asking…but…"
"No." Terre brushed her bangs behind her ears. "I am not involved with Damon."
"I know, but you have to understand that I ask."
"I know. With grumpy pants walking around, you needed to ask me."
"He isn't all that bad. He just doesn't know how to behave socially very well. It took a while for me to get through to him. He used to hurt me really badly, even when he didn't mean to."
"Sounds like a man."
"Since when were you anti men?" Terre began changing as Kim brought her an identical outfit to the one she was wearing.
"Since I was held captive by them and…never mind."
"Oh…sorry."Kim should have known better than to forget that. "So, you were kept in a cage?" she sat down and looked into her friends dark eyes.
"Yes. The same one the old Queen used to be held in…is it me? Or is it really cold in here?" Terre shivered, even now she was dressed in a brown hanging cloth and boob tube, her skin was littered with Goosebumps.
"Are you cold?" Kim raised her eyebrow.
"Freezing." Terre crawled under the bed covers and shivered there. "Has no one ever heard of heat?"
"But…it isn't cold…it's really warm." There was silence for a moment, and then Terre spoke.
"My pains are back." She winced and held her stomach.
"Do you have any idea what could be bringing these pains on?"
"No." Kim laid ontop of the covers next to her friend and stroked her hair. "But I wish they would go away."
"Still intolerable of pain then huh?"
"Oh yes. Grrr." Terre pulled her knees up and rested her forehead on them.
"It will pass. Maybe you should try and sleep it off?"
"Yeah…Kim?"
"Yes?" Kim smiled; glad to be the one in control again. She couldn't help but feel that with Katel, she was the helpless one. But with Terre, she had always been the stronger one who gave the advice and looked over her. This is why it felt so strange for her to be in Terre's position, and so normal to be the one being looked up to again.
"I haven't seen you for a long time. What happened to you? After I went down to the basement I mean."
"Well." Kim told Terre of how she was soon thrown into the holding bay with the two Predators, who she learned to be Katel and Maktel, brothers. Terre laughed her head off at how they bickered. But not nearly as much as she did when Kim told her of how she ended up underneath him after a braw. Terre was very quiet as Kim told her of the even in the hall with the marines as she helped liberate the Predators and for some sick reason, wanted to laugh at how they were slaughtered so easily. Kim however, didn't notice this and soon changed the mood with giggles. "And then I said do you have anything for me."
"You sly cow! I bet his eyes fell out of his head!"
"Oh they did. He cursed and ran for it. oh it was so funny."
"I wish I was here to see his face." Outside the door, Damon listened in very carefully and had to stifle a hiss. So, the hunter is bashful…
"So, what happened to you while I was up here?"
"…" Terre looked back to her knees and the smile faded from her face. "I didn't have as much fun as you did…"
"Tell me…it will help." Kim pulled Terre close and held her like a mother would a child.
"…They basically wanted a hive for test subjects…no matter how they got one. And after I became the Queen…" tears glowed in her eyes and she was quiet, not wanting to go on.
"Terre?" she tried to get Terre to look at her, but she just looked away. "Terre, talk to me moonbeam." Terre chuckled from their childhood nick names. She was always the one who looked at the glass as half full, with a smile on her face and her eyes to the stars. So she was moonbeam. Kim was Zena, for obvious reasons. Strength, guts, courage and above all, the skill in kicking ass no matter what the odds.
"Alright, Zena." They chuckled. But Kim grew silent as she sensed that there would be nothing funny in what she was about to hear. "When I became the Queen…they put me in the same cage as the old one. They didn't know just what had happened to me, so they sent the last remaining drone from the old Queen in with me, just to see what would happen."
"Was that big and spiky?"
"Damon isn't spiky, just big."
"If you say so." Kim chuckled, getting under the covers like they were at some sort of sleep over…in an alien vessel orbit of Earth's orbit, with one alien outside the door, and another one only God knows where.
"He is so sweet. He scared me at first."
"He did me too. He still does…"
"You don't know him like I do. He is actually really sweet. Really loyal and caring. You can imagine how he must have felt, fining out that his Queen was a human."
"I would have thought hungry." Terre rolled her eyes and elbowed Kim playfully.
"He was loyal to me from the start. He protected me from anything those trapper bastards threw at me and protected me from another shadow they shipped in, just to let it…" Terre bite her lips and looked away. Kim thought she better step in here.
"Listen. Your not the first none hard meat to become a Queen like you have. It has happened to one of Katel's kind. I know what the other hard meat will have tried to do to you…and why."
"Good. Because I never want to talk of it again." Terre whimpered and jolted out the bed, wrapping her arms around herself. She could still feel its teeth sliding along her neck and the tugging sensation of her clothes being ripped. The soreness in her back reminded her of how she was slammed on the floor, and her aching wrists screamed at her from all the strain she put on them, ripping the warriors tail in two. She sniffled, and felt two large, muscularly large arms wrap around her.
"Hush my Queen. You are safe." Kim saw him come in like a lightning bolt, bit didn't stop him. Somehow, she knew he wasn't a threat to Terre. Not his Queen. "You must rest my Queen."
"I think I will. Kim? Can I pleases get some sleep?"
"Sure…will he be with you?"
"No. He will sleep in the training hall." All three of the room's occupants turned to see Katel in the door way, still clad in his armour. "Follow me hard meat."
"Tell that overgrown meat bag, that I will not be leaving my Queen under any circumstances." Damon was stood on his back legs, had his arms around Terre's waist and his face nuzzled her neck. Terre turned to Katel and smiled weakly from her saddened state.
"He will not go. And please don't make him…I want him here…with me…"
"Tough."
"But!"
"My Ship, my rules. Be glad I don't send you both out the docking bay. Now he may not look to want anything hive wise from you, but I will not risk it. Tell it to follow me or I will remove it…in pieces." Katel lowered into a fighting stance and tensed his wrists, extending his wrist blades. They had bright green markings on them and not his usual blades. As these, were acid proof.
"No need!" Terre turned in Damon's arms and looked straight up at him. she pulled off the collar and put it on the side. stroking his forehead, he purred and pushed his face into her hand. "Damon, I need you to follow the hun, I mean Katel. I will see you in the morning an I promise to get some rest."
"I will not."
"Damon. Please, for me?" He growled and rubbed his face over hers.
"Do I have to?"
"Yes. Thanks D." Damon lowered to the floor and crawled over to Katel. Katel simply blanked him and walked off to the training hall. He cast one last glance at his beautiful Queen, and followed the last person in the universe that he wanted to.
Terre sighed as she returned to the bed. Kim had been quiet since Katel's little interruption and decided to make her own little decision.
"Hay Terre. If you don't want to be alone tonight, I could stay with you."
"Really?"
"Yeah, sure. I mean, it will be just like old times. And I really don't want to see Katel any time soon. Not after how horrid he was about you keeping your drone with you. And he wants to just dump you on a strange planet, and then probably let you get hunted and I will not stand for it. so I will make a stand against him! so just to let him see how serious I am, I am not going to leave this room." Kim crossed her arms and grinned smugly.
"Yeah, a real stand. Holding a sit down protest in your room." Kim opened one eye and looked towards the smirking Terre.
"Yeah…in a way…"
"Well I'm sure that."
"That is not going to happen."
"Do you like, ever knock?" Terre raised her brow at Katel for the second rude entrance like he owned the place… ok so he does own the place. But he should still knock!
"This is my ship. I will do as I please." Katel made a bee line for Kim, who was sat in the bed with a death scowl.
"You even touch me, and I will make your life a living nightmare!"
"I would love to see you try." Katel took her wrist and pulled her out the bed. He dragged her out and slung her over his shoulder. Terre simply folded her arms and rolled her eyes.
"You were right. He has no social manners."
"PUT ME DOWN!"
"Doesn't that sound familiar?" Katel chuckled and locked Terre in her room. Of course Terre didn't mind, she needed to get some rest anyway.
But it was Kim that was not impressed.
"Put me down! Oh you are in so much trouble when I get my hands on you!"
"But that sounds fun." He clattered.
"You arrogant son of a OUCH!" Katel dumped her on her backside on the floor and continued walking to the armour stand.
"Don't try running for the door. I locked it on my way in." Katel began to pull away his armour and smiled beneath his mandibles as Kim ranted like a fury.
"And another thing! What makes you think you can just dump Terre on any old planet you can find, without even asking me about it!"
Katel placed his chest piece on the stand and resisted chuckling at her anger. "She is my best friend and you can't just, tear me away from her when you see fit!"
"I can do I please." Kim had been arguing so passionately, that she didn't even see how far down the line Katel had gotten unchanged. But she did now. His naked for silenced her and his stalking form began to come towards her.
"Oh you can, can you!" He yanked her against him and sealed his mouth to hers. She resisted at first, and even tried to pull away. but pretty soon she became enthralled in the heated kiss and lost all recollection to what she had been saying, or shouting.
"Yes, I can."