Forbidden Law (An Alien Love #1)

Chapter Twenty Nine

My eyes flew open. I saw nothing but splashes of sky blue and white for a second, then I blinked. Was I in Heaven?

No, the sounds of shrieks and clacks still ebbed on, but were softer now. The domed ceiling still loomed far above, the hatch of the escape pod now dark with...stars and darkness. My mind floated in clouds for a moment and I felt a lightening in my chest, as if some burden were now lifted that I hadn't realized I'd been holding. My skin tingled, kissed by a soft hum. I could sense people around me. Opening my lids was like peeling open the skin of a banana; I felt sticky with dirt and sweat, particles of rust and slime crusting my skin with a layer of...otherness. My brain tracked all of my senses tenfold now, compared to before, making me panic for an instant. It came at me in a wall of sound, feeling, taste of blood and sweat, smells of death and emotion...

I turned my head. Lirah was there, but her bare back was to me as she defended against the little gremlin creatures. The mouth spines that had attacked us the first time were now embedded into the nearby wall. They swiped their tentacle arms at her legs and stomach, but she somehow kept them at bay by keeping her two forefingers and middle fingers to her temples. There were five of them, all in a huddle of spindly black limbs and wiry, fuzzy bodies.

And there was Rowan, two daggers cutting the air as he killed two Sharves. The first by a blade to the forehead, and the second ended up armless and then ran through in the ribs. To my left was Jace. I don't think he had noticed my presence here yet, but he moved in a whirlwind of graceful strikes and parries. A corona of energy enveloped him, a gaseous mixture of green and gray that kept anything from attacking him from behind.

My heartbeat filled my head. It was quickening and slowing in irregular intervals. I couldn't decide if I was angry or tired or afraid. The tingling in my skin was crawling to my finger tips as I moved to my hands and knees, then pushed to my feet. This getting knocked down every five minutes was getting really old. I decided I was irritated. There. A sort of mean satisfaction mixed with it as I looked on the fighting that seethed around us all. There were more Morfilian than Sharve, thank God, but there were plenty on the ground as well. Dead. I was the observer looking through an imaginary glass window at a specimen.

My hands lifted of their own accord. White sparkles of light plumed around the tips. I cocked my head. How interesting. A bird-like curiosity got me to put my hands in front of me, palms facing each other. I thought of the Sharves, pinning them down like ants, so that they would just stop. They all froze in place. The Morfilians that had been fighting them froze also, but with shock instead of force. I smiled. Then I clapped my hands together.

All of the Sharves were swept to the center of the spacious hall, bundled into a group of their own with a resounding squeal as multiple wet feet were dragged. The Morfilians backed up, their eyes flying around. They figured it out real quick. in the corner of my eye, I saw Jace's pale form slowly approach, but he would break my concentration if I looked at him. I felt a familiar tightening in my chest, the sitting energy waiting impatiently for a purpose.

Change, I thought. My inner self nodded with approval, but my real consciousness was an observer.  It sat on the sidelines as it watched from it's high vantage point, analyzing and coldly learning with note taking.

I lifted my hands in a quick flick, like an aggressive prayer.  The Sharve bodies jerked, spasming and shrieking. Someone to my back stiffened. I sensed it, could smell the surprise and recognition of what I was doing. There must have been at least a hundred of the disfigured aliens left writhing in the group, combined with their little black minions. All of the features distorted, slowly morphing into something else. The gray skin veined through with dark red was melting into something different, patches of hair sprouting from their pores. The gremlins, already having been fuzzy, just grew it longer as the tentacles shortened and thickened.