Chapter 61 Friend or Foe?

Kyle looked at the creature standing opposite him. This woman wasn´t his sister any longer and it looked like she wasn´t even human. Although the appearance was normal, at least what one could call normal, but her aura was darker and colder, her eyes white and her hair straight long and black. She was as tall as Larek and he was one of the tallest in this room. The lack of clothes was disturbing, because she just wore a short brown leather skirt and a brown leather corsage with leather boots. Confused he noticed that the woman was stunned and was looking at her hands with wonder. Then she glanced up at the shocked faces staring at her. Immediately she made a threating step towards them, judging after her expression she seemed to be disorientated. Everybody backed away, feeling slightly scared about the person / goddess.

" What is this place? And where am I", her voice was like steel and seemed to cut through the tension filling the room. It sounded so unMaria like.

Larek, who made an impression like he wanted to be somewhere else, just not here, bowed deep down until his nose almost hit the ground. He didn´t know how to behave towards a goddess, but he knew how to act in front of royals, so he thought he went with it. " Your Highness, you´re on Earth. To be exact on a antarian military base".

The strange character raised a well trimmed eyebrow at him, wondering why he called her Highness and bowed before her. She wasn´t a queen. " Stand up, young man. And tell me why I´m here".

Larek arose in a standing position again and was a tiny bit freaked. He knew Maria was in there and she was talking so noble. The last time he heard that he was in the castle of King Salem and listened to him having a conversation with another King from another planet. " We don´t know. Our friend Maria was sitting with us until this white light appeared and blinded us all. The next minute you are standing at her place".

" I see. What happened before I came here", she looked around the frightened people and noticed one of them didn´t seem to be intimidated from her. On the contrary he appeared to be angry and his eyes were glowing dangerously. She stopped her glance on him and stared him down to get to know why he was so furious.

Larek noted that nobody dared to speak, so he had to be the one to carry the conversation. Stepping slightly forward, but still careful in case she would feel threatened. Even if he had the power to space shift, he didn´t want to be cursed for enternity because he offended a goddess. " Maria mourned the death of her lover", he pointed at the place Michael was lying peacefully, like he would be sleeping. " She lost him the second time".

The goddess eyed the boy and for a moment everybody thought a tiny bit of their friend was peaking through. But it went by quickly and she walked towards him. Looking down at the peaceful handsome face, she remembered her lost love and the pain she felt then, well everytime she lost her lover. She knew what it meant to see the man you love die over and over again. It wasn´t something you wished your worst enemy. Stroking Michaels white cheeks, she faced the people. " Her pain called me. There was so much misery, sorrow and a lot of rage".

" What did you do with her? Where is my sister?", Kyle didn´t care if she was god personally, he wanted to have Maria back, not this strange woman. She lost her early cold demeanour, but she was still weird.

The goddess turned to the boy daring to raise his voice in her presence. She had to admire his spunk, he openly showed her his disdain since she had appeared in this room. But now she understood it, after all he was the brother of the girl she possessed right now. " Don´t worry, she´s still there. Just under cover".

Tess left the security of her boyfriends arms and stepped closer to her. Her eyes were still glistening with tears and she was making herself as small as possible. The expression on her face was heart breaking. " Can you bring my brother back?".

" I´m sorry child. I don´t have that power", the goddess laid a hand on the cheek of the young woman in mourning and tried to give her a little comfort. It wasn´t much, but it was all she could offer. She would have been glad to ressurect the dead. But unfortunately she couldn´t do it.

Larek finally realized that they didn´t ask after her name. She could be anyone and until they didn´t know who was standing in front of them, they didn´t know what kind of gift she had. " What should we call you?".

The woman startled, not even noticing that she hadn´t told them her name. Slightly bowing at what her long black hair was falling forward and almost hit the ground. " You have to excuse my manners. My birthname is Nemetona, I´m the gallic goddess of war and goddess of tribe, destinied partner of war god Mars".

" Holy shit! I know you", Isabel hadn´t interest in much things, but she loved to read about heroic woman throughout the time. She found a book about witches, goddesses and pixies. Soon she developed an obssession with war goddesses. There was Macha the irish version, Nemetona the gallic version and Morrigan the keltic version. All three lead wars and they had been messengers for death and destruction. A few of them even were portrait as ravens, demons and other strange creatures.

Nemetona was take aback from the unproper use of speech from the young lady. It wasn´t usual for her to be talked to in that manner. " That is wonderful child. But you don´t have to be so loud about that".

Isabel was in the process to apologize, knowing that it wasn´t healthy to piss off a goddess, especially one who could kill you with the wave of her hand. Unfortunately she was interrupted when Nolak stormed into the room, clearly in a hurry and strangly rattled. " Where´s Maria? Nicolai want´s to speak to her".

" Uh, Maria´s not here right now, but maybe uh he would talk to her", Larek pointed at Nemetona, scratching his eyebrow nervously with the other hand. He didn´t know how his older friend would react to the news.

Nolak eyed the foreign woman standing in the middle of the room. Then his glanced wandered to the person lying on the bed. Shocked he saw Michael and momentarily the picture changed. Now he witnessed Rath dying all over again. Swallowing the lump in his throat he turned to the woman. " Welcome back home goddess Nemetona".

Everybody snapped their heads around and stared stunned at him, wondering from where he knew her name and how he even was aware who she was in the first place. Kyle pulled Tess back at his side, not trusting the older man or even the man he thought was a whacko owning a UFO-Center. Isabel grasped the hand of Alex tightly, hoping that they´re were done with surprises already while Max put himself in front of Liz in an attempt to shield her.

" Thank you, Argon. It´s a pleasure to see you well. Where´s Logas?", Nemetona was glad to see a familiar person, even if he was disguised in human form. But she could read his aura and those eyes she would never forget.

Nolak thought about his partners through all centuries. They went through every epoch together and even survived every disease spreading. But then they were sent to this planet called Antar and they were forced to part ways. While he took the role of a guard of the castle of King Salem, Logas had been head commander of Khivars army. " He died the last time".

Nemetona laid a comforting hand on his shoulder sharing his pain. Logas had been a great man and like a good friend to her. Contrary to Argon he had been kind and emitting warmth. " I´m sorry to hear that".

" He died doing his duty. We know what could happen with performing our job", Nolak lived with the thought that every day could be his last. It was part of his assignment, like a bodyguard was shielding his client from harm and put his body on the line, he was the same. He got older than he thought, he overstepped his 2000 years already. His father hadn´t even reached his 1000 years.

Nemetona nodded, having comprehension for him. They both had been risking their lifes to protect her for thousands of years. They had been at her side when she saw her loved ones die, every one of them. Logas had been the one comforting her, telling her that one day the curse would end and she could die in peace. Maybe then she would be joined with her beloved one again. Shaking her head she remembered that they weren´t here for small talk. " Enough of that. Someone wanted to speak with the girl inside me".

Nolak came into mind why he stormed into this room in the first place. Scratching his head uncomfortable he was berating himself for forgetting his duty for a moment. " Yes. The enemy wants to have a word with Maria and only her. Something about negotiations".

" Then we won´t let him wait", twirling one time around herself, Nemetona changed from the goddess to the human form of Maria. Brushing her hair back in place she looked down at her and was relieved to see the ground wasn´t so high anymore and she was wearing black high boots. " Let´s go".

The others stared with opened mouthes after her. The appearance was their friend, but the soul was still Nemetona. Hopefully Nicolai wouldn´t notice the difference or they were all screwed. Suddenly everyone got in gear and followed her out, fearing she would do something to them if she had to wait to long. Trailing after her, they detected that she was walking different than their friend, with more grace and self confidence. Not that Maria was walking like a boorish, but she hadn´t this commanding presence. Maybe that was part of being a goddess. After a few minutes of trekking down the barely lit halls, she stopped in front of a door that was guarded from two soldiers, both holding big weapons in their arms and stepping aside to let her enter the room behind it. The people at her back were too surprised to utter one word, they just trailed after her inside. Shocked they fell back when they saw what they entered. It was looking like a wide area office, computers and small monitors were lined at one wall with hectic appearing men sitting in front of them. Other men walked around with headsets, talking loudly into their microphones, seemingly upset. Papers laid on the floor or were spit out of printers.

Sean, having missed the goodbye from Michael because someone thought they could use his help, seperated from a few computer geeks and went towards them. His face was a study of misery and fear. Without saying something he grasped Marias wrist and dragged her in the direction of another door.

" What are you doing with me? I can walk alone you know", she didn´t hear the others breath out relieved when they noticed that Nemetona had obviously left the building for a moment. It was probably the presence of her annoying cousin to get the girl back into her own body.

Sean would have gladly started a fight with her, just to get some normalcy back into his out of control life again, but unfortunately he was ordered from some goon threatening his manhood to bring her into the conference room. What he did at the moment. " We don´t have time. I don´t want to lose my dick because you were too slow".

Maria grimaced not even wanting to understand what he was talking about. It was bad enough already to have two more persons in her mind telling her things, one belonging to Marianna and one to Nemetona, that she didn´t need to worry about the sanity of her cousin. " What are you yapping about?".

" Nothing important", Sean stopped in front of the heavy looking door with the strange knob in the form of a snake. " We´re here. Good luck and be careful", then he opened the entrance and pushed her inside before shutting her in the room.

Maria stumbled across the even floor and almost crashed against a chair standing in the middle of the space. Confused she looked around and wondered why her cousin had behaved so strangly. Not that Sean as normal in any kind, but he had been weird even for his standard. Noticing the table where a remote was lying she walked towards it curiously and took it in her hands. A little hesistantly she eyed it, checking it for anything dangerous. Thankfully she couldn´t detect anything and so she pushed the on button. Immediately a huge monitor was flickering on with a familiar face staring back at her. Now she understood what was going on. Angrily she tried to get her emotions under control, thinking about all the pain he inflicted on her and her family. Nearly biting her tongue off, she crossed her arms over her chest, fingernails digging into her flesh. " Hello Nicolai".

Her half brother smiled demonically at her, his grey eyes blazing with something like anticipation. He was sitting in some office behind a desk with interwined fingers. He seemd to be calm and collected, contrary to her. " Hello sister dear. Nice of you to join me in this time, you know mourning the loss of your lover. Such a tragedy. I was really pained to hear about his death, I really did".

" Cut the bull. What do you want? You know, I don´t have all day to talk to losers like you. In case you haven´t noticed we´re at war and I´m planning to kill you", the sweet tone in her voice and the grin on her face didn´t seem to fit the feelings inside her. She had to fight against her instincts to curse his existence and make threats against him. She knew that was what he wanted and she wouldn´t play in his hands.

Nicolai leant back and folded his arms behind his head, obviously comfortable to see her battling with herself. He enjoyed the agony behind her eyes, the rage burning there and threatening to break free from its restrains. He waited until the beast would rear its ugly head. " Well if you want it fast, fine with me. I just wanted to remember you about my offer. You know it still stands. You can join our side and reign at my side".

Maria almost choked on her laughter when she heard that. Who did he think she was? She wasn´t a traitor like him, betraying his beliefs just to have an advantage. She wasn´t like that, if she choose a side, she was standing with it through good and bad times and even the worse time. " Are you kidding me? How stupid do you think I am? No, don´t answer that question. You must think I´m really retarded to ask me this. I won´t and I never will fight side by side with you, against you yes, but never with you".

" Then you will go down like the rest of them. I wanted to give you an opportunity to change history. But you obviously care more about those lowly humans than you do about your family", for the first time his calm expression disappeared and his true face showed up. It was as ugly as his normal face, maybe even a little more.

Maria shook her head. That had been the most honest and the longest conversation she ever had with her half brother. Now she knew that she hadn´t missed anything. He was pretty boring and so full of himself. " You´re wrong. I care about my family, just that these lowly humans are my family. You in return are nothing but a waste of space and air. I will do the universe a favour when I get you out of the way".

Nicolais eyes started to sparkle dangerously and turned to an almost black color. His voice got cold and hard while his demeanour got more threatening. He tried to intimidate her. " We will see who´s the last standing this time. I killed you and your family before. I will do that again. In fact I did it already. By the way, how is your little sister doing? I had so much pleasure with her".

" You bloodsucking son of a bitch. I will kill you this time", Maria sensed so much power in her trying to consume her and take away her humanity, to make her into a monster like him. But she would fight it until her last breath. She had to struggle to keep the energy at bay and keeping her soul unstained from spilled blood.

Nicolai knew she was on the brink to turn evil, just like he wanted. He saw the beast lurking inside her, yanking at its chains and roaring to life. It was almost like an aphrodisiac to him and he felt something stir in him. Something primal and powerful was taking over him and he enjoyed it. " Why so angry? Did I strike a nerve? Then you will love what comes next", snapping his fingers, the picture changed and now the monitor showed two persons lying in white beds, obviously sleeping. By closer looking it was to see that it was Amy and Jim Valenti.

Maria finally lost her battle with her inner demon and let the monster in her free. But to her half brothers surprise, she didn´t turn evil like he expected instead she changed into her antarian form as Marianna. Opening her eyes, he saw they were red and seemed to burn with rage. " You go near my parents and I´ll make you dust, spacedust without blinking".

" Then you should come get me before I can harm them. I will expect you", with those words the monitor turned black.

Maria was left behind seething with fury. She felt different and yet like nothing changed. She had her memory together with that of Marianna and part of Nemetonas. It was like the three persons inside her had melted together and now she was one with them. And the power was more, darker and stronger then everything she had felt before. It was like she was invincible. " Oh you just made a damn mistake", looking at her hands which were crackling with fire she smiled satisfied. Moving out of the room she noticed everyone halting in their work and eyeing her stunned, even scared. " What are you looking at? Keep working, you´re not getting paid for staring", through her heightened emotions computers and other electric equipments blew a fuse, which resulted in chaos and burning stuff. Without paying attention to the hectic people around her, she walked towards the door and almost took it off its hinges without using her hands in the process. From there she marched determinedly in the direction of the elevator.

Larek rubbed his temples, not knowing which way to move first. But noticing that his smaller problem was taken care of, he stormed after his friend or the creature he thought was his friend. He didn´t know what happened with her in that room, but it had obviously brought something out in her that was neither Maria nor Marianna nor Nemetona, it seemed to be all three together. Detecting her near the elevator he started to break out into a run. " Stop! Stop this instant! Maria!"

" No. You can´t stop me anymore", she whirled around angrily, her eyes blazing and her nostrils flaring. Her hands were still flaming a little while her body took a fighting stance with him. Her message was clear and unmistakable. She wouldn´t let anybody hold her back now.

Larek grapsed her shoulders roughly, not caring if he was hurting her or not, but he had to do everything to keep her here. He knew the meeting with her half brother had been anything but enjoyable, but he couldn´t let her go without bringing her to reasons. " What do you wanna do? Hu? Walking straight in their base and blast wildly around?".

Maria pushed him away from her with a strenght that was unnormal, even for her standards. She wouldn´t let herself hinder from doing what she should have done the first time. Not even from her friends. " And? At least someone is doing something. We can´t just sit around and do nothing while people I love die around me, again!".

" Do you listen to yourself? You´ll be dead before you step one foot in there. They will kill you", Larek was desperate and on the brink to start begging her. If he had to he would chain himself at her body to prevent her from leaving.

For a moment the rage in her expression vanished and was replaced with a sad one. " I don´t care about that. I´ve got nothing holding me here anymore".

Suddenly Kyle, finally arriving with the others trailing after him, stepped forward. He had heard the last part and it made him mad. Mad that she was so indifferent to leave this world and leave him. " What about me? Or our parents and your friends? Your children? We all need you and you need us".

" I´m sorry, but I can´t. I love you all, but this thing is something I have to do alone", turning around again she walked to the elevator and put her hand at the panel. Concentrating hard on the wires she melted a few together and destroyed their only exit. Noticing the heavy door opening and closing over and over again, she knew that she had succeeded.

Nolak realized her intention, namely trapping them inside and keeping them safe. Immediately he wondered how she wanted to disappear if the only way out of this base was damaged. Just like she had read his thoughts she turned into flames. As soon as the smoke was gone, they realized that so was she.

Looking at the spot his sister just vacated and torn between being angry at her or bore a hole through all the earth to kick her ass, he faced Brody. " Do something. Go after her. Do your Jeannie thing or wiggle your nose".

" I can´t. This base is protected. Nothing alien comes in and unfortunately nothing alien can go out without using the elevator", Larek had to think quickly about something or this had been the last time he saw Maria alive. Straining his brain to work faster than usual, he exchanged a worried glance with Nolak, who he thought he knew. There was something going on not even he knew what it was.

Meanwhile somewhere else

Marianna reappeared in the middle of a hospital room, to be exact that of her parents. Gripping her head she tried to stop the spinning. It had been a long time that she travelled that way, hundreds of years actually. She had to get used to it again. Waiting until the dizziness went away she glanced around, searching for guards her half brother had put here, because he wouldn´t dare to be here where he was in disadvantage. But she knew he wasn´t someone playing with nothing, he had good cards or so he thought. He didn´t knew that she took a peak into them and was now one step ahead of him. Closing her eyes she tried to feel them through their dark auras. Within seconds she had them pinpointed. It were two and they were standing in front of the door, guarding it and waiting for her. They had probably thougth she would come from the entrance. Fools. Shaking her head she walked towards the hospital beds and stopped at the foot of it, eyeing the persons lying there. They both were appearing like they would be sleeping. Her mother was healing better than her father, who was bandaged from the waist upwards. Even the face was covered. Stepping closer to him she took his hand.

" I know you can´t hear me at the moment, but I just want to thank you for everything you´ve done to me, even if I fought you because of a few decision. I know you just wanted what was best for me and I understand it now. You were the best father a girl could hope for. I love you and I hope one day you will grasp why I did what I did", kissing his cheeks softly, she was sending him a few of her healing powers. Maybe he was strong enough to use it. She didn´t have time to heal him properly. Turning to the other side she did the same with her mother while telling her how much she loved her and appreciate everything done for her. Then she put her hands on both her parents before letting them disappear and keeping her fingers crossed that they arrived at the base without any harm. She didn´t want them out in the open and without protection.

She pondered if she should go outside and let those two idiots known that she was there without them noticing it. But she decided against it, she would save her glee for someone else. Snapping her finger she was gone again with no trace that she ever was here in the first place. Seconds later she was standing in the basement of her home, exactly in front of the gun locker. Very few of the citizen of Roswell knew that her father wasn´t just the Sheriff, but he was a really good hunter, too. He and Kyle often spent vacations at their small cottage in the middle of Frazier Woods, shooting wild animals or at least trying to, because they never hit something. Had probably to do with the fact that they both loved animals and couldn´t harm them. Unless they were annoying like insects and spiders, edible like cows, pigs, turkeys, fishes or chickens or at least dangerous to them. Eying the many weapons hanging at the rack or standing in their frames, she bypassed them. She wouldn´t need firepower, she had enough of her own. No she needed something better. Smiling at the sight of the ammunition of her fathers old winchester, she took a handful of the 308 Winchester 168 Grain Barns triple shock bullets, which could disable a outgrown elephant and placed them carefully in the pockets of her beige khaki pants. Snapping her finger again she felt the familiar feeling pulling her in the direction of Nicolai. Holding onto her rage, she landed on a sandy ground with her feet. Slightly swaying from the hard impact she glanced around to see where she was. Confused she noticed the old shanties standing side by side with the windows dirty and holes in a few spots. The wind was blowing sand through the air and the silence was eerie, almost scary. It seemed like she was in a western town, just without the cowboys, barmaids, easy ladies and the native americans. It felt like a ghost town and she was the only one here. But she knew that her half brother was near, because she could sense his presence. It was cold and dangerous. He couldn´t be too far from her now. Maybe she should draw him out of his hiding place. It wasn´t nice to let his guest wait so long. Starting her trek to the Crawford mine, she burned down every building besides her with a flick of her wrist.

" Come out Nicolai. I know you´re here", she screamed, already knowing it wasn´t necessary. He was already aware of her. Just waiting for the right moment to appear. " Come on out. I´m waiting for you. It´s pretty rude to keep me waiting".

Suddenly a small gust seized her from behind and she knew that she wasn´t so alone any longer. Putting on her poker face she turned around slowly and was stunned for a moment to see that not just Nicolai was there, but Lykus and Rath. " You called?".

Marianna tried to school her features in not giving away her surprise about the added visitors. She was sure that she could count on Lykus to be on her side, which was better than nothing. Rath, she didn´t trust much more than she did her half brother. He was the one behind killing her family and he would pay just as everybody responsible for her pain. " I didn´t know this is a party. If I had known I would have brought a few friends along".

" Oh I forgot how funny you can be in a crisis. I will miss your spunk when you´re dead", Nicolai nodded with his head at his two companions, giving them a sign to leave them alone.

Marianna kept her half brother in her sight and missed the encouraging glances from Lykus and Rath thrown her way. She just concentrated on the bastard in front of her, waiting to ram his pathetic excuse for a body into the ground so that he would come out at the other side of the world. " Are you sure you want to fight me? I mean you hadn´t been the strongest in hand to hand combat. Not even with your puny powers".

Nicolais smile threw her for a couple of seconds. She had expected an angry reply or even an attack. But not this amusement, like this was a joke and she was the only one not getting it. " So that´s the reason why you had to change back into your old form? Because I´m so weak compared to you".

" No. I thought it was more familiar, after all Maria has nothing to do with you, besides her seething hatred against you. Besides the fight is between us, nobody else", she pointed with her head to the two persons standing in the vacant space between two cottages, waiting to ambush her any moment, although she knew that just one would dare to interfere and attack her openly.

Nicolai turned his attention on his buddies he brought with him. He wouldn´t need their help, especially in the great plan he had. They were both replaceable and most likely dead when he wouldn´t need them anymore. " I wanted to do you a favour. How many people can say they died with the two loves of their lifes at their sides? Besides I wanted to give Lykus the opportunity to come to your rescue if something should go wrong".

Marianna steeled her expression to not give away that she was surprised about him finding out that one of them was playing for their side now. One wrong twitching in her face and he knew that he had her dead on. She couldn´t bring Lykus into this situation, even if she hadn´t exactly fuzzy feelings for him. " Why should he do that? Come on, he already abandoned me before I went to the enemy. Like he would risk his life for me".

" Don´t be so sure about that. I looked into his head and I found out a few interesting details. You wanna hear it?", Nicolai knew that his former best friend was fighting on the other side, besides his precious Marianna. That his feeling of guilt was plaquing him since he killed her and he offered his help to Nolak and his stupid side kick Larek.

Marianna was tempted to take a peek at Lykus. But she knew that she just would reveal that he was telling the truth about them. Great now she had to look after her former fiance, too. " Are we fighting today or are you trying to talk me to death with your boring voice? Because if the last is true I´ll come back another time. Sometime when you´re not in the mood to bend my ear".

Nicolai raised his left eyebrow while he eyed her face for any indication that she was trying to hide something. But he couldn´t see anything, not one nervous tic or blinking. She either was a good liar or she really had no idea what he was talking about. Shrugging his shoulders he would give her what she wanted. Shoothing his arm forward quickly, he let out a blast, which hit his half sister square in the chest. But unfortunately she was still standing without even swaying slightly.

" Is that all you got? I think you are getting old", she wiped the spot where the blast made an impact. Strangly it hadn´t hurt like it should have. It was just a tad bit uncomfortable for a second, but otherwise nothing. No blood, no pain and no injury. Maybe it was part of being a goddess. Grinning at her opponent she lifted her hand where a small fireball was hovering over her palm. Throwing it at him she was delighted to see him jumping aside scared.

Nicolai wondered how she did that, just fending off the blow like it was nothing without even doing anything. Had she gotten more powers and he didn´t know it? Had she sent some machine at her place? Or had he really lost his touch? Shaking his hands he felt the energy quietly humming inside him, strong as ever. No it wasn´t him. Looking up at her, he noticed for the first time it was not his half sister glaring back at him. The eyes weren´t black or even green, they were red. Her stance was more agressive and deadly. Definitely not her. " What are you?".

Marianna groaned annoyed. Now he wanted to talk? They were fighting for heavens sake and not gossiping. If she would have wanted a conversation, she would have stayed at the base and done it with Liz, Isabel or even Tess. " You´re worse than a girl. If you don´t wanna fight then tell me so".

" Fine, we´re done talking", Nicolai immediately shot another blast in her direction, this time he put more force behind it. With small satisfaction he saw her stumble backwards a few steps before she caught herself again.

Marianna rolled her eyes at him, okay that had been a little more painful, but still not dangerously or even close to it. It had felt like a hard shove from someone. Cracking her fingers she stretched both arms out and aimed her hands palm towards him. Instantly a a white light came out of them and hit Nicolai head on with the force of a truck. With a loud cry he flew through the air and landed ruggedly on the dusty ground and created a thick cloud of dust around him. She waited until her vision cleared and startled when she realized that he wasn´t there anymore. Confused she searched for him with her eyes. After a few seconds she detected him and knew it was too late. Worriedly she closed her eyes when the blast hit her and she was flung towards one of the shabby looking shack. Pain shoot through her body due to the crash with the old wood, which caved in as soon as she clashed against it. Falling on the floor in midst all the dirt, the splinters and the rusted nails, Marianna felt like her lungs had said goodbye to her while the rest of her anatomie seemed to be awol. Every bone was probably broken or on the verge of it. Trying to breath slowly she finally opened her eyes. The first thing greeting her was a missing wall. Turning her head to the side she jumped surprised, because millimeters from her head was sticking an old pickaxe. A little to the right and she would have impaled her brain on it. Shuddering at the mental picture, she suddenly heard foot steps nearing her. Acting like she was unconscious, she stayed motionless and waited for her half brother to bent over her. The moment she smelled his foul breath waving in her face, she kicked out with her left leg and hauled his scrawny ass down on the floor besides her. While he still reeled from the surprising assault she rolled around and sat herself on him quickly. Pinning his hands at either side of his head, she smiled happily.

" Didn´t expect that coming, did you?".

Nicolai had to admit, he was pretty impressed about her fast attack. But she wasn´t so good like she thought she was. Besides if he wouldn´t enjoy her position so much, he would have already blasted her off him. She had found the exact spot and she was rubbing it with her movement and it put a grin on his face. " Do it faster and maybe a little bit harder".

Marianna stopped struggling and stared at him with bewilderment. What did the troll talk about? Faster and harder? All at once she realized what he meant with his comments and jumped off him, wiping at her clothes to get rid of the dirty feeling. He was sick, just sick. " You´re disgusting! Ewwww. I think I have to spew".

" Why you´re making such a fuss? It´s nothing unusual when a man responds to a woman", Nicolai stood up from the ground and brushed off the dust from him while his glance swept over her, clearly checking her out. It had been such a shame that she hadn´t shown any interest in him. Maybe then everything would have went different.

Mariannas eyes widened and for a moment it looked like she wanted to say something. But nothing wanted to come out of her mouth, she just opened and closed it like a fish. Words were escaping her and even if, she didn´t know what could really describe the feeling she had right now. After a few seconds she could compose herself so that she at least could bring something out. " It is, when those people are related to each other. We have the same mother that means it´s forbidden. That would be like incest".

Nicolai exploded at that, well metaphorically speaking. His face darkened together with his eyes. His expression got grim and his jaw worked tightly under his skin. " Don´t you think I know that. Can you imagine how it was for me to lust after my sister? If anybody knew how badly I wanted you, father would have killed me. It would have broken our mothers heart if she had discovered the many times I observed you while you dressed or the fantasies I had when I slept with other girls, picturing them with your face".

" Stop. Don´t tell me that, I don´t want to hear it", Marianna covered her ears with her hands and shook her head in denial. She could still pretend to have misheared him. He didn´t just confess that he had the hots for her. No, that was her imagination playing tricks on her.

Nicolai stormed towards her and grasped her arms, getting her hands away from her head. He wouldn´t hurt her, not yet at least. He needed to get it all out before he would end it forever. It had been a long time that he kept all this inside with nobody to confide in. " No, you will listen to me. You never noticed anything, because you were so wrapped up in your life with Hewlik and Lykus and Marius that you not once noted my feelings for you. That I loved you like anyone else, maybe even more. But at the same time I hated you more than anyone else. You had been the only girl I ever wanted and could never have".

Marianna tried to wiggle her way out of his grasp. But he held on tightly onto her almost crushing her bones in the process. She just wanted to run away and be as far away from him as she could. He seemed to have lost his mind and was talking crazy. He wasn´t himself. " That´s a trick. You try to weaken me or distract me before you kill me".

" I´m telling the truth. Wait let me do something", Nicolai opened the siblings link they still had, which neither had used since they started talking as children. It was a little difficult at first because Marianna was fighting him all the way. But when he shared his memory with her, she broke it off. He showed her the quiet moments when he watched her talking animatedly with Lykus or Marius, the open adoration from both just to be seen with her. The wish to be in their shoes and just have her one time smiling at him for a second. The sleepless nights turning in his bed, hoping to get over the attraction towards her, fighting against his own desires or using some mindless, faceless girls. The few times he sneaked in her room to eye her sleeping peacefully with her sword at her side, hovering his hands over her beautiful face, tempted to touch her flawless skin. The many angry conversation with the mirror, being afraid that somebody could notice anything and to be disgusted with himself. It almost drove him over the edge and he hardened his heart against her, starting to plan to get her out of the way permanently. If he couldn´t have her, nobody could. And yet he always made a retreat, not having the heart to kill her.

Marianna managed at last to release herself from her half brother. Feeling slightly out of it, she stepped back all the while staring shocked at him. She couldn´t believe it, it was worse than she thought and she just couldn´t believe it. Now finally she knew the reason why he hated her so much, but she wished she wouldn´t know it. " Why did you have to show me that?".

Nicolai noticed the mixed emotions crossing her face and he couldn´t blame her. He just came and dropped this bomb on her while she still mourned the death of her lover. It was hard he knew, but it had been harder to hide this feelings all those years. " Because I wanted you to know the truth. Why I got the way I am today. Making peace with you and myself before everything is taking its end".

" I think that was all part of your evil plan", Marianna stumbled over the debris of the old cottage towards the outside. She wanted to be as far as she could from him. He had obviously lost his mind and was talking rubbish. But unfortuntately she forgot that he wasn´t alone and as soon as she stepped into the fresh air two arms shoot forward and gripped her shoulders. Startled she looked into the concerned eyes of Lykus. " He just told me that...he... I think I´m going to faint".

Lykus shook her roughly and made her head bob from one side to the other. " Get yourself together. You can faint when this is all over. But until then you will be brave and strong".

Marianna glanced briefly at him and realized his angry expression. Then she stared deep in his eyes and noticed that not her former fiance was looking back at her, but someone else. Someone she almost had forgotten, because he had kept himself in the background. Before she however voice her thoughts something touched the back of her head and darkness was engulfing her mind.

Base

Larek put his hand on the spot where Maria had done it. Concentrating for a moments he found the damage. Unfortunately he didn´t understand one bit about electronic or wires or something in that departement and he knew that he just would make it worse when he tried to repair it. He turned to the expectant faces waiting for his verdict and he was sure that nobody would love what he had to say. " Has someone knowledge about electronic or at least technic?".

Some groans were the answer to his questions. Then Kyle stepped away from his friends and faced Nolak, the only one in this building knowing what was going on at the moment. " Follow her, get her back".

" I can´t. I don´t have the power to orb myself away. I´m no god, I´m just a guardian".

Kyle seized the older mans collar and lifted him a little of the ground, much to the surprise of the others, but obviously the fear of losing his sister provided him with superhuman strenght. Or he shared the powers of Maria with their twin link. " I don´t care. My sister is out there and probably in the process to do something stupid and I´m stuck here with all this aliens with this great powers, who are unable to do anything".

Tess laid a hand on her boyfriends shoulder to calm him down. Threatening and cursing wasn´t helping them at the moment. " Kyle don´t. I know you´re worried, we´re worried, too. But getting violent isn´t the answer".

" I know that. But I can´t just wait for them to decide on something while Maria is in trouble and needs my help. You know how it feels to lose your twin, don´t let the same happen to me", Kyle hated to bring Michael into the play, especially after it wasn´t even half an hour when he passed away. However he couldn´t think clearly right now and the feelings from his bond with his sister wasn´t making it easier for him.

Tears were filling Tess eyes when she thought about her brother, lying alone in this cold room. He was never coming back and it seemed to finally hit her. It was the worse feeling in the world and she wouldn´t wish it on Kyle, too. He had already lost a sister and probably his parents by now, she didn´t want to add Maria to the list. " We´ll do something. All of us, but now let go of Nolak".

Kyle dropped the other man back on the ground immediately and went to his girlfriends side to wrap his arms around her. She was right. They were a group and they would work together. Too bad that Maria forgot that information. " What now?".

" Larek, Nolak. We´ve got a problem", a young soldier was fastly running in their direction with a black object in his hand. He almost tripped over a bump in the way, but caught himself in the nick of time. When he arrived at the stunned looking males, he shoved the black thing in Lareks hands before sitting down and breathing properly.

Everyone gathered around to see what that strange gadget was. Surprised they recognized it was a portable TV set. Looking closer they saw something that was shocking for all of them. There was Maria fighting with Nicolai in the middle of an old road. Suddenly a young woman with dark short hair and brown eyes dressed in a black blazer stepped into the picture. The right hand was holding a microphone. Larek turned up the volume to hear what the Lady had to say.

" Ladies and Gentlemen. We´re just getting witnesses of something spectacular. While my team and I were shooting pictures for our documentarfilm about abandoned towns from the time of the gold fever in america, we filmed this scene happening a few feet away from us".

The image changed and now Maria blasted Nicolai off of his feet with a huge energy ball. Seconds later she was thrown in the air and broke through a wall of an old shack. At that the reporter was coming back into the picture again.

" It seems like either we´re seeing the first real life superheros or the aliens have finally landed on earth and were now fighting their battles on our planet. Either way, we are the first to have it on film. We´re trying to get closer to see what is going on, maybe we manage to listen to them and find out what their deal is".

Suddenly a scream was heard and the camera fell to the ground. The last picture they saw was Nicolai, Rath and Lykus dragging a motionless Maria away before everything turned black. Larek put the tv out and threw it on the wall, where it shattered in thousand pieces while the others stared with shocked expressions at him, already mulling over what they should do with their newest problem.

TBC