Chapter 2: New Friends?

Rachel noted that she was very warm and comfortable when she woke up, opening her eyes to see she was in a room that had walls painted a rich purple that was pleasing to the eye and the bed was very comfortable. She sat up suddenly as she remembered that she had been hypnotized. Worried now, she got up, gasping when a knock came at the door. "Rachel?" A deep voice she recognized asked.

Quickly, she got under the bed, trying to be quiet as the door was opened and she could see feet that looked like a moonless sky, which told her that it was the same being that had caught her and held her as she had been hypnotized. She kept quiet, hoping to escape.

Zeus looked around before looking at the bed and chuckling as he sensed her hiding there. He went over and kneeled down, gazing under the bed to see her watching him with blue eyes filled with fear as she backed away a bit. "Don't be afraid," he said gently. "I'm not going to hurt you."

She didn't look reassured and he could see that as he rested on the floor so that he could talk to her. "You have your mother's eyes," he said, smiling.

Rachel blinked at him. "What?" She asked.

He nodded. "I knew your mother," he said. "She was a good friend of mine and a fine lady." He chuckled. "She could talk a war-raging tyrant into declaring peace and could make even the most hostile of alien races come to the table to discuss a peace treaty."

She looked at him, seeming intrigued before her face hardened. "What was her favorite perfume?" She asked. "And her favorite color?"

Zeus smiled, seeing the girl was cautious. "Vanilla rose," he said. "And her favorite color was golden amber."

She looked surprised and he smiled again. "She often spoke of you and your sister, Sasha," he said. "She hated that she had to separate you two to keep your father from finding you."

Rachel remembered that day, though she had only been four years old at the time and her mother had died two years later. "She had to," she said softly.

The being nodded. "Will you come out?" He asked gently. "I promise you're safe here. We would never hurt the daughter of our best friend."

"We?" She asked.

"The aliens you saw at the house and were running from," he explained before holding a hand out to her. "Can't blame you for being startled by us. Honestly, we didn't expect to run into you, but we had been keeping our eyes open for in case we found you and Sasha."

Rachel looked at his hand, which he continued to hold out encouragingly. Biting her lip, she slowly reached for his hand, pausing for a moment before turning her face away and shutting her eyes before taking his hand. Chuckling gently, Zeus gently squeezed her hand and gave it a gentle tug.

Turning her head back to look at him, she noticed his eyes seemed to be smiling at her and were kind. "Come on," he said gently, guiding her out from under the bed and she let him, crawling closer until she was beside him and he stood up, helping her up too.

Someone else came in. "Ah, she's awake," said the ghost with the purple eye.

Seeing him, Rachel moved to hide behind Zeus, who chuckled and gently moved her to stand beside him. "Don't be afraid, young one," he said gently. "That's Phantasmo, a good friend of mine. And I am Zeus."

The ghostly alien came closer and smiled gently. "I'm sorry we scared you last night, young one," he said, gently brushing his clawed hand over her head, being careful he didn't hurt her. She flinched a little, but didn't move otherwise. "Hmm, she's still nervous."

"Perhaps we should show her she had nothing to fear," Zeus said.

The Ectonurite perked up. "Yes," he said. "A tactic that always works with young ones."

Rachel looked at them. "What are you two talking about?" She asked, confused before yelping in surprise as Zeus picked her up and gently set her on the bed before his hands moved to her sides and began tickling her. Giggles erupted from the girl as she tried to escape, squealing when she felt hands tickle her stomach and something else tickling her knees and feet.

"Well, well, look at that," the Celestialsapien said with a chuckle.

"She's got her mother's laugh," Phantasmo said, also chuckling.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAAHAHAHA! STOHOHOHOHOHOHOP!" The teenager pleaded with them, squealing again when the Ectonurite gently untucked her shirt and lifted it up to the bottom of her ribcage and blew a giant raspberry right over her belly button.

Her laughter drew the others and they came in. "I hope we are invited to this tickle fest too," said Vampiro, the regal Vladat.

"But of course," Zeus said. "This young one could use a good dose of laughter."

"Then let us join you," said Whampire, the Vladat with the green wings as he swooped in, going for Rachel's underarms and making her squeal louder. Vamps joined him as they each tickled an underarm while Vampiro tickled Rachel's neck, Ghostfreak tickled her knees, Apollo joined his father in tickling her sides, and Alien X captured the girl's feet in energy cuffs before tickling them.

The girl squirmed to get free, but her captors were too strong, but she noted that they were also gentle with her. "Look at that smile," Vamps said, smiling.

"Just like her mother," Vampiro said, smiling too before noticing Rachel was getting tired. "Alright, she's had enough."

They stopped and the girl collapsed against the bed, laying still as she took several deep breaths. She felt a hand rubbing her back and she opened her eyes to see the same vampire that had hypnotized her was in front of her and she quickly covered her eyes, making him chuckle. "It's alright," he soothed. "If you stay put and listen to us, I won't hypnotize you."

She looked up at him, uncertainty in her face, but she nodded in agreement. "Good. Now, introductions." He sat down beside her. "I'm Vampiro, and these are my sons, Vamps and Whampire," he said, gesturing to the two that looked just like him and they each waved when he said their names.

"You know me as Phantasmo," said the purple-eyed ghost before he gestured to the green-eyed ghost beside him. "This is my son, Ghostfreak."

"And you know I am Zeus," said the green-and-white eyed Celestialsapien who now gestured to two others. "And these are my son, Apollo, and our good friend, Alien X."

Rachel noted that Zeus had three gold bands on his arms and Apollo had two. She looked at them all before taking a deep breath. "So...why did you kidnap me?" She asked.

Vampiro gently smiled. "We made a promise to your mother that if we met you girls, we would take you in," he said. "And now that we found you, we'll see about locating your sister."

"Do you know where she is?" Alien X asked.

The teenager shook her head sadly. "No, and I miss her," she said.

"We'll find her," Whampire promised.

Zeus nodded. "Meanwhile, let's grab some food. I can tell Rachel is hungry," he said.

Right on cue, the girl's stomach growled and she blushed in embarrassment, but Apollo hugged her, rubbing her back. All of a sudden, she clung to the alien, tears pouring form her eyes as her shoulders shook in silent sobs. "Is she alright?" Phantasmo asked in concern.

Zeus' eyes glowed for a moment. "She's happy to have someone who cares about her and it's been a long time since she's been hugged," he said.

"Well, you're going to get plenty of hugs from us, little sister," said Vamps with a smile.

Rachel began to calm down, giving the black-masked Vladat a grateful look as her tears slowly stopped falling. "You'll never be alone again," Vampiro promised. "We know you won't trust us right away, but we speak the truth about keeping you safe."

She looked at him and reached a hand out to him. He took her hand and felt her squeeze his hand, to which he smiled gently, taking this as a sign that she was willing to let them earn her trust.

As for the teenager, perhaps it was because she hadn't been around people who cared in a long time or she was starving for affection, but she didn't want to leave Apollo's hug, feeling safe for the first time in a long time.

Looks like Rachel just might start trusting the aliens. :)

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GoldGuardian2418