Hunting Julian

  “Wait.”

  She stopped and pulled away to face him, her steps cautious and careful as she wrapped tight arms across her middle.

  “Everything you said…about the planes and stuff. It’s the truth, isn’t it?”

  “I told you, I do not lie.”

  “Well, excuse me for not believing my kidnapper,” she snapped at him. The accusation made him wince, but he was quick to nod in agreement.

  “You are right. What I did was an abduction. I would have preferred otherwise, as I said, but it doesn’t change that you were brought against your will.” Julian moved a step closer to her, catching her around the back of her neck as he drew her to within a breath of touching against him. He let his heat and pent-up emotions flow softly and silkily over her, let them permeate her stubborn mind. “Had it been my choice, I would have shown you the ways of this world in slow, gentle days; I would have brought you the future in long, drugging connections you would have quickly become addicted to. I would have brought you to me again and again until you were bare and open and begging for me to take you…here.”

  Julian had almost lost track of what he was talking about as the sultry smell of her had quickly risen into his senses. He had spoken of the education and Conduction of a Chosen one’s passage, but for her, as his kindra, it would have been much, much different. He knew that, at the moment, she was so tightly walled away from him that she was not allowing herself access to the place within herself that craved and starved for him, her kindri. It rode him in hard ripples of frustration and irritation that he could be so close to her, and yet so unwelcome. But here was where he belonged. Here he must very soon make a claim if he was going to prove his announcement that she was kindra. Not that many would doubt him, but it had been tried before, someone making a false claim to kindra in an attempt to cheat the lonely Fates.

  “I hope you can forgive me the method but come to appreciate the opportunity and its unique pleasures,” he said softly.

  “You mean pleasures like falling out of the sky?” she retorted.

  “You wouldn’t have fallen if you’d listened and stayed inside where it was safe!”

  “Again, forgive me for not obeying my kidnapper,” she shot back snidely. “And when that twit in your kitchen pulled a knife on me, I figured I’d best take her up on her invitation to show myself the door!”

  Ariel.

  Julian saw a thousand shades of red rush into his vision all at once, and he locked tight hands around Asia’s arms when the entire village trembled on its deep moorings. The village rode the energy wave as it was designed to do, diffusing and distributing it evenly so no one was jolted too hard or thrown off balance. Asia grabbed on to him for stability. Julian heard the sounds of masculine grunts and groans as the power of the emotional outburst filtered through them.

  “Oh my God, this place is a deathtrap,” Asia gasped, clinging to him hard now as she began to tremble in nervous terror. Julian closed his eyes briefly as he tried to control his temper yet again. The last thing he needed was to feed every man around them hostile, aggressive emotional energy. The entire village could erupt into chaos.

  “Listen to me,” he rasped out against her forehead as he turned and pressed his lips against her in a brief kiss that made her stiffen in resistance to the affection, as small as it was. “This village has hung here for hundreds of years. The material we use to build it is almost indestructible. There are men here who do nothing else but see to the integrity of each level so everyone who lives here remains utterly safe. I would never allow you or anyone else I call kin to stay here for a single second if I thought it was unsafe.”

  “There are no rails. No ropes. What do your children do?”

  “I will explain all of that.”

  “When?” she demanded harshly, trying to pull away now that her initial anxiety had passed. “When will you explain Kenya?”

  “Now. All of it. But inside where you will be safe. Please,” he added, flooding her with the energy of his good intent until he felt her relax just a little, though she still stood warily in his grasp.

  “I thought you said it was safe,” she said, turning her head to look down over the edge of the walkway to see the levels below them. Asia swallowed hard and turned her cool blue eyes back to him.

  “It is…for those who were raised here. I took my first steps on these walkways. I was born to walk them and am native to the world that drops above and below it. You are not. It will take time for you to feel that same security and natural ease. Before long, you will not even notice any longer that there are no ropes or rails to hold on to.”

  She frowned even as she gave a reluctant nod. “I still don’t see why you don’t have them.”

  “You will,” he assured her.

  Chapter 6

  Asia was not so sure.

  Just the same, she didn’t see that she had very much choice in the matter until she learned the lay of the land a little better. The lay of the air, she corrected herself. She had never been afraid of heights before, but this was honestly asking a lot of even the bravest soul. Those clouds in the distant beyond below them would break now and again and she still saw nothing solid with which she could judge the distance to the ground. She had to wonder just how high they were that they were above a cloud line.

  Julian took her arm and carefully turned her to his side. He walked her to one of the weird conical clover houses nearby and entered. She instantly realized it was some kind of eatery by the smell of the place when she followed him in, the aroma of food surrounding her. But otherwise, despite the thick crowd of men at the tables all around the circular rooms, it was eerily silent.

  Or so she thought. Their entrance somehow made everything all the more silent as dozens of pairs of eyes became riveted to them.

  “Remind me to get you a decent dress to wear,” Julian muttered as he guided her toward an empty table.

  “How about I remind you why I have no wardrobe to change into?” she countered sharply.

  “Done,” he relented with a chuckle as he sat her down, the comeback actually making him smile.

  She had to admit, the building seemed very sturdy and it was easy to forget they weren’t on the ground. Again, there were no windows or visible light sources, but the room had a sunny feel to it all the same. She’d have to ask him about that. After she got more important answers first.

  “Okay, I’m listening,” she challenged him immediately.

  “You’re also hungry. I can tell you ate nothing I brought you.”

  She watched him turn to look for a server. A waiter at the counter saw him, but only stood where he was for a moment as he made eye contact with Julian. Then he promptly turned his back on him and walked away, ignoring his obvious need.

  “Well, that was rude,” she noted with a scoff. “So much for your kin.”

  Julian just gave her an enigmatic smile. Slowly, she became aware of everyone dropping their attention back to their meals and…well, there was still no conversation. There was no music or anything else but the sound of movement, eating, and dishes being touched or moved. There was, however, a strange little buzz all around her, sort of like a ringing in her ears. Asia wouldn’t be surprised if she’d given her head a good jogging when she’d hit that net and now her bounced brain was complaining about it.

  As quickly as she thought of the whole incident, she just as quickly pushed it away. It made her heart hurt to remember the harrowing free fall.

  “Okay, so talk. I guess I believe the whole plane thing. I mean, the colored clouds and bottomless pit kind of convinced me. Just tell me why I am here and why everything is so…weird.”

  “You think this is weird?” he countered. “You should try growing up this way and stepping into an Earth culture sometime. They are so vastly different from one another, too. From the primitive to the technologically savvy. The violence, prejudice, and hatred so many engage in so often is quite overwhelming. Debilitating, even.” He frowned at that. “Even
something as simple as walking on solid ground. I was raised to fear rock and soil under my feet.”

  Asia laughed at that incredulously. The sound of it seemed terribly loud to her in the muted room, but not many seemed to take notice of it. “But you find air to be safe?”

  “So will you, one day. Trust me. If you wish to survive in this world, you will keep off the grass. Keep off the ground.”

  “Why?” she demanded.

  “Think of it like this,” he said carefully. “This village is like a safety zone. Stepping outside of it would be like…like wading your way down your Amazon River; it is deadly, dangerous, and pretty much an act of suicide. It’s fairly impossible to achieve success, from what I understand. Think of why that is and apply it to the ground here.”

  “It’s dangerous because of the things that live in and around it. The animals and snakes and stuff.”

  “Also, the river itself. Poisonous flora. Sucking mud. Insects. The real danger, however, is that everything deadly that is there knows exactly how to hide itself. To the uneducated, the blend and blur of the jungle is just pretty to look at. In truth, predators lurk along nearly every inch. Even the bite of the tiniest mosquito can be deadly if it carries a disease like malaria. You can take nothing for granted.”

  “Okay, okay,” she breathed. “I get it. Don’t walk on the grass.”

  Just then, the waiter who had rebuffed Julian appeared carrying a serving tray full of hot, delicious-smelling dishes. He set them down as if he knew exactly who wanted what, then left without a word. Oddly enough, the setting reminded her of going to a Chinese restaurant. Strange but wondrous dishes steamed attractively. She didn’t recognize any of it, but it was colorful, hot, and fragrant enough to her starving belly for her to not really care so much about being unacquainted with the food.

  Julian reached to take a plate and she watched him fill it before he set it in front of her. Even the plate was unusually shaped, the curves of it in the shape of an eye instead of the conventional round or square she was accustomed to. Asia wanted to take umbrage at the way he served her without even asking her what she wanted or thought she might like, except everything he chose was exactly what she did want.

  “Let’s start with your sister,” he said as he picked up his own plate. He dished up something that was a brilliant blue color. She was glad she didn’t have any of that on her plate. Blue food just seemed wrong somehow. However, his proposal quickly made her forget about the color of the food.

  “Where is she?”

  “Visiting another colony at the moment. She will be back soon. I have sent for her and I expect she will arrive by midday tomorrow.” He regarded her as he picked up the dual-pronged fork by his plate. “It was the soonest I could manage. I hope you can believe that. Checking on the arrangements for her early return was why I left you just before. Otherwise I would not have abandoned you to your own devices.” He paused and a dark, dangerous expression passed over him. The activity in the room seemed to hiccup again, attention turning their way in uneasy glances of brooding eyes.

  “Okay, this lack of females thing is creeping me out,” Asia said in a sharp whisper. “And why isn’t anyone saying anything?”

  Julian raised one dark brow in surprise. He looked around the room and then seemed to recall she wasn’t from around there.

  “Actually, the room is rather noisy,” he told her. “Just not on the vocal level you are expecting to hear. There is much conversation, laughter, and other things like it. More than is usual,” he noted. “Everyone is feeling quite energized and excited by your presence here.”

  Asia gaped at him as if he had lost his mind. She looked around the room and tried to see and hear whatever it was he was hearing, but all she heard was the sounds of eating and that persistent buzz.

  “It will take time for you to hear it all,” he reminded her. “We speak in different ways here, although you will find a few who can use English and other Earthly languages. Most of my friends, in fact. We all work…” He hesitated and made a face that etched his handsome features with a hardness that seemed wry and almost bitter. “I should begin with telling you the nature of my people. You see, we look very similar to humans. Some slight differences are not immediately or always obvious.”

  “Ariel had pointed lobes,” she said as she stabbed at something that looked like meat on her plate. She shrugged off her leery sensations and ate it. It was actually quite sweet, although it was tart underneath after a moment. “But I have watched you for a while and you don’t seem different in any way.”

  “Don’t I?” he returned, looking amused. “And how long is a while?”

  “Nonstop? These past few weeks. Took me a while to catch up to you after I backtracked your trail all the way to Oregon. I didn’t get to see you nab your first girl in Lauderdale, but I knew when I saw the missing persons report that it was you.”

  “Holy shit.” Julian uttered the earthly profanity, looking completely shocked. “You were able to track me back seven months? How the hell did you do that?”

  “It’s actually easy…if you’re a bounty hunter and you know how to do it. Once I had tracked you back to just before you took my sister, to New Orleans, I had a feel for your routine. After that it was cake.”

  “A bounty hunter? You’re a bounty hunter?” He actually had the nerve to lean to the side and scope a look down her body, as if that had anything to do with anything.

  “Great. Even aliens are chauvinists,” she muttered, making an irritated dive at more food.

  Julian sat back and grinned at that. “This is a ninety percent male society, zini. It’s hard for us to be otherwise when we outnumber our women two hundred to one.”

  The ratio made her choke. She coughed into her hand as her wide eyes darted to the heavy male patronage around her. “I thought you said the women were indoors.”

  “They are. All fifteen of them, if I include you and discount the children beneath the age of sexual maturity.”

  “Fifteen?” Including Ariel in that count, that meant she knew almost a fifth of the female population already. “And this city has three thousand men in it?”

  “Give or take. I didn’t get a recent count yet. And it is the same in all of the colonies along the gorge. Some larger…some smaller. You see, this is one reason why I go to Earth plane, Asia. If I do not find very special women who are willing to trade away everything they know in order to come and help us, my people will be extinct in a matter of a few generations.”

  Asia paused mid-chew as that information sank in and choked her. She was on her feet in an instant and running for the heavy steel door that led to the outside. She didn’t even care about the nonexistent railings or the height or any of it. When the first man stepped in her path to impede her, her reaction was unthinking and automatic. She hit him and he contacted the floor hard, his breath leaving him in a satisfying whoosh even as she ducked under the grab of another male. She struck him in the throat and about a half dozen other soft spots before he fell away. After that, others quickly backed away from her.

  “Asia, stop!”

  Julian’s commanding bellow hit her just as her hands closed around the circular door handle. She did stop, panic burning in her chest but logic telling her there was nowhere she could run just yet. She didn’t know anything about where she was. She was a prisoner of her ignorance.

  A prisoner in a village full of men who needed women to breed with.

  “No!” he said sharply as he came up behind her. “It’s not what you are thinking. Not…not entirely.”

  “Not entirely?” she demanded as she turned to face him, still clutching at the door as her pulse pounded in her chest and temples. It was a nightmare! She’d been kidnapped by aliens so she could pop out babies for them. It sounded like a horrible sci-fi movie!

  “I won’t deny that there is an essential need for fertile women here. The evidence of that is right in front of your face.” He indicated the ring of men behind him who were all
staring at her in that creepy dark and silent manner. The ringing buzz in her head was getting worse and she was getting a headache. It was all too much for her to process and conceive of, even as she struggled to figure out how to survive the insane situation she found herself in. It only grew worse with every word he uttered. “But there is much more to it than that,” he said. “Certainly there is much more to you and to me.”

  “You and me?” she echoed, stunned and aghast. Mocking her captor while facing down a crowd of his friends was truly unwise, but she couldn’t help the snorting laugh of derision that escaped her. “There is no ‘you and me,’ you sick freak! You’re a psychopathic monster who stole me and my sister for…for…breeding stock! You and me? Sweetheart, I promise you now, the only ‘you and me’ will be the one where you are laid out dead on the fucking floor because of me!”

  Julian stood with his male kin at his back, looking like a king in command of a personal army as a shadowed fury whipped over his features and tightened into his clenching fists. Asia couldn’t help an anxious swallow when he began to stalk across the distance between them. The movement was precipitating action on her part. Survival instinct raged and screamed in the echoes of her racing heartbeats. He approached her, reached out for her, and she immediately struck his hands away hard. He reached again, dodging her defenses this time with awful ease and blinding speed and grabbing her lower jaw with the palms of both hands. Once he had her face cradled and firmly trapped within his hands, he jerked her forward into his body, even as he swooped to catch her mouth with his.

  Asia planned just how hard she would bite through his lip. She was even trying to decide between upper and lower when the unexpected scorch of his kiss slammed into her from all sides at once. In all of an instant, her entire body recalled what he had made her feel. Her mind recalled it best of all. The memory was vague about “how” it had happened, but the “what” was clear enough. Pleasure beyond anything she could have imagined. He had made her feel that. He had powered through her rigid, cold body, just as he was doing in that very moment, until she had melted and collapsed. Asia felt her entire body sagging against his as her knees literally went weak. Just from such a simple kiss.