The man with the hood returned. "She asked for the succubus."
"Well ...and the succubus asked for her." The bearded man waved with the humans smart phone and pressed to replay. "Lauren, hey, it's me, Bo. Again. Are you okay? I mean...I...d like to know if you...may be come over … for a drink or...something like that? Please ca..." The voice trailed off. "Is there possibly something we've missed? A relationship? May be?" he asked.
"A succubus with a human? Isn't that forbidden?" Eyes narrowed. "As if this would change anything." the older said. "I don't think she cares about such things anyway. She actually is unaligned." The man in the coat had taken a seat on the other side of the room and watched the younger man arriving. Hoody shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. "An unaligned succubus..."
"No rules, no boundaries, no limits. She can enter every territory she wants to..." the man in the coat paused to let his words sink in, then he went on. "...and causing an immense amount of trouble." Now he stopped and just stared at the hooded man. "We are living here for about 300 years undetected." the man told slowly and folded his hands. " I don't intent to change this." Hoody gulped and could just averted the older man's eyes by dropping his own head.
"You. Will. Fix. This." The younger man nodded. "Do you want me to kill her?" He heard a sound of huff.
"Do you know what a succubus is able to do?" he asked and read Hoodys face for some heartbeats, what felt like an eternity for the younger man. "Killing the succubus should be our last option. When she is involved with the human, we can use that."
"How?"
"Perhaps your Doctor Lewis could be convinced how poor our situation is and that her work is of immense importance for us..."
"What in fact is correct..." The coated man saw the anger in the dark eyes of his visavis but he simply smiled about that. "Of course it is."
"And then? We let her talk to the succubus." the bearded brought himself back to awareness of the other two men by this simple conclusion. "There is just one thing I am still wondering about. Why should she help us?" The coated man focused back on Hoody. "You picked her, you tell us."
The man with the hood thought a moment before he replied."Because … she is a scientist, she had sworn an oath and we'll make an offer."
"Do we? What kind of an offer?"
"To start a new life."
Lauren was laying at the bed, her arm covered her eyes and she really tried to find some sleep. But her thoughts were spinning around in her head. Why always her? How could she ended up like this? Where was the protection of the Ash? Where was Bo? She sighed frustrated.
Felt exhausted and lonely all of a sudden. Again. It's been the story of her life, well at least for the last 5 years. When Lauren graduated they called her a promise for the world of science. And here she was. In a cave. Surrounded by darkness. And darkness indeed because she had absolutely no idea where she was and what those people wanted from her.
The doctor sat up buried her face in her palms. Good lord.
"Doctor Lewis?" she heard her name called. "Doctor Lewis?" She looked at the entrance when a boy about 17 years old ran over, stopped and returned.
"Are you the human doctor?" he asked breathlessly.
"Ehm.. I think so, I mean, yes. I am Dr. Lewis." "You have to come with me. Hurry up."
Without a second thought she followed the boy. "Where are we going?" Lauren demanded to know. "Sickbay!" he said over his shoulder. The boy was fast but she could make it to stay close behind him just to ended up in a huge hall of...crying and screaming people. "What the …"
The next moment she felt a grip around her right arm... "This one." the man said and pulled her to a bloody body. Lauren kneeled down beside him. All she could see was blood. A wound was on his chest and a second one at his neck. "What happened?" "They went on patrol..."
"They? Where are the others?"
"It's just the two of them. We still don't know where the second man is but probably it's too late for him." the man spoke low but urgent.
"Why?"
"I'll tell you later...now please...can you help him?"
"I can try it, yes."
"Hey lady..." the bloody body spoke with a cracked voice, suppressing the pain. ".. be careful, this is my favorite shirt! Don't ruin it." "Well I try my best!" she promised honestly.
"It's actually the only shirt you have Sniffler!" the man next to Lauren gave him a warming smile.
"That too, man!"
Several hours later she sat in this hall. Still tired but … satisfied. Lauren smiled to herself. That's the part she loved at her job. To bring back some hope. Help people to survive.
"Coffee?" the man with the hood stood next to her holding two cups of black liquid in its hands just to offer her one of them. "It's not of the fine quality as in the compound but it will make it." She took it without another word and drank it. He was right. It will make it.
"Do you mind?" Lauren didn't look at him, but knew that he asked for the seat next to her. She shook her head. For a while they sat in silence.