Soul-Bonded to the Alien

Chapter One




What Paige needed was plenty of snow. She tugged on her overstuffed coat and fidgeted in her seat wishing the Greyhound bus would go faster. The warm sunshine of a few days ago had given way to a sky laden with dark clouds foretelling bad weather ahead. The further she got away from sunny California, the better she felt; soon she hoped she’d be able to breathe and stop looking over her shoulder.

She grimaced. There was no way she was going to stop looking over her shoulder. Monsters existed and she had proof. Even now she didn’t know what possessed her to walk down that alleyway, her normal sense of self-preservation usually didn’t let her do anything that stupid.

It had been such a beautiful November night, crisp and clear. All she wanted was to get home, snuggle up in her bed, and escape the fact that the next day was Thanksgiving. When you had no one to share the holidays, they just weren’t as joyful. Sadness sat on her like a cloak as she thought of the family she never got to know before they were taken away from her.

A noise brought her back from the edge of loneliness. It was more like a squeal of pain that was quickly cut off, that’s when her self-preservation kicked in and she quickly hid behind several big dumpsters. There’s nothing like the smell of trash at the end of a long day. Her stomach immediately revolted causing her to gag. What are they throwing away in this alley? Dead things was the immediate cynical thought that went through her head.

Not hearing any more sounds after finally getting her stomach to calm down, she took measured steps from behind the dumpsters. Peeking her head out she saw the alley was filled with men. Big men, the kind that made her hot in a club but filled her with dread in a dark alley. She was filled with horror as a poor man stood in the middle of them begging for his life.

“Where is she?” one of the males asked in a loud voice causing her to shake.

Without conscious thought she reached for her cell phone. It was natural for her to take a picture of what was unfolding, just part of her everyday routine. Take a picture, upload it, and share it with the world.

“Go to hell,” the man between them shot back. “I’ll never tell you where she is, but don’t worry, after tomorrow morning there’ll be no need to look for her. We’ll get rid of your kind one at a time.”

The man spat at one of the men, hitting him in the face. She flinched when she saw the huge man raise a hand to wipe the spittle away. Here it comes, they are going to beat that man to a pulp.

“I will ask you one more time. If you value your life, you will tell me where she is.”

“You’re going to kill me anyway so why would I tell you. Besides I like the thought of her screaming for mercy as they take her apart inch by inch. Don’t worry though, no one will touch her any other way,” he gave a crude suggestive laugh. “Who knows what diseases you filthy creatures carry?”

The man must have a death wish. He taunted them more as they asked again for the location of this women. Whoever she was, she must be important to them. Paige’s body coiled hearing what the man and his friends planned to do to some poor women, it made her stomach revolt.

“We’re out of time,” one of the men in the background spoke up. “Do it.”

“No!” the man screamed.

“You gave us no choice.”

A different man reached out and lifted the suddenly frightened man with one hand. The muscles that tightened in his arms had her full attention. Quickly turning on her phone, she needed a picture of that for, well, personal reasons. She snapped the picture taking several when the male changed. She stopped to review the scene replaying it in her head. Yep, the male had changed. One moment he was super-hot and the next he was a huge alien whose eyes were emitting a beam. Captured by the bright light, the man he was holding spoke woodenly as he spilled an address.

The monster dropped him and Paige stood frozen with her hand over her mouth to keep from screaming out, her knees knocking. Stay still, was the rant going through her head. They would kill her if they knew she was there.

“I hate doing that.”

The super hottie was back now as if he never became a monster.

“It was either him or her,” the original man spoke. “He can make a full recovery, but he will come after us again.”

The man in question was curled on the ground in a fetal position with his hands wrapped around his head.

He said something much too low for her to hear.

“They already have her,” super hottie replied to the man. “She is safe. You should worry about yourself.”

The man reached down and pulled a gun out of his boot. “Someone will die tonight.”