Banished To Earth Book One (17)

“She’s the best.” Chase chimed in.  “If you are not a bad man, you’ve nothing to fear.”

   “Or a dumb, horn, ah, not nice teenage boy.” Beth quickly added. Her tone sharp with disapproval. She was seated now. The back of the couch afforded her some small pretence of safety. “And what are you?” Beth demanded, her eyes narrow and incisive.

Chase reached out and pulled Pry to his chest. “A Hunter.”

“Not from Earth, I assume.”

 “Born and raised here. They changed me to Hunt her and those like her.”

“They?”

   “The uh, galactic judges of the universe, or something like that. Anyway, they are powerful and apparently see themselves as some sort of Gods.”

  Beth looked away, then down at Nikki. “Okay, that’s enough for now. Think I got the picture. We’re in trouble.”

   Chase smiled down at Nikki, taking it all in but obviously not grasping the horror that awaited them.

   “Oh yeah, that portal thing. We can teleport, have superhuman strength and heightened senses, and probably a bunch of other powers. All this is new to me, too. But I don’t think my change was normal. Normal, huh, anyway we’re …”

“Our only hope.” Beth’s words were glum. “The other Hunters, what are they like?”

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     Pry shrugged. “They are people, Earth people.”

“Oh.” Beth said, clearly not comforted.

“We, ah, have a spare bedroom.” Chase interjected.

“That’s nice, oh. You mean?”

   “Please,” said Pry. “We do not know when the others will arrive, and they will be after me as well, so maybe your being here is not a good idea…” She gave Chase a worried look.

  “Pry, we can sense them. And we can both shift. I think they would be safer with us. When the Fall happens, things are going to go bad fast.”

  “There are no perfect options.” Pry’s hair sagged, “At least you will have something the others do not have, protectors.” She turned toward Chase, “What about your Mother?”

  “She can’t travel. But I can’t just leave her. I don’t know. We still have time. I sense no immediate threat, no Hunter or Monster presence. And the sight of me still enrages her.”  

  “What?” Beth’s eyes softened.

  “Long story. Look, I need to get my truck and Pry’s new things, and I’m know you want to get clothes and stuff from your house. Maybe you and I could just pop back to Wal-Mart…”

   “No Chase,” she glanced over at Pry, “why don’t we all just go back. Together.”

“You don’t trust me with Nikki?”

“Pry, I …”

  “You do not know me, and I am a monster.” Pry waited for Beth to reassure her. Beth said nothing, even though she could clearly see the hurt on Pry’s face. What she could not see was the alien vampires' resolve to win her trust and even her love and sisterhood.

Chapter 10

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    They knew the worst of it now. And of course, Nikki, being a child, didn’t really appreciate the threat, no doubt having perfect confidence in her new super friends. He only hoped her confidence in them did not prove unfounded.

    All things considered, Beth seemed to be settling into their new reality much faster than he could have hoped. Which was surprising because Pry had taken it upon herself to tell Beth everything she had done since her arrival on Earth, including the lake attack. At least she had waited until Nikki was sound asleep to confess to the killings. Funny, Beth seemed almost pleased to hear his wife had shredded two would be rapist.

    It was never his intent to go around rounding up the unchanged. He hadn’t really given it much thought. He knew he wasn’t Superman, and this new reality, as strange as it was, was no comic book. Happy endings were hard enough to find on old Earth. But this new Earth was nothing but a big black question mark.

   Still, if he could at least save one little family, maybe he could wring a few drops of good out of the nightmare the Transit Authority was determined to unleash on Earth.

   He managed to push those dark thoughts aside as he sat about solving delightfully simple mundane problems. Getting their new guest settled in, proved a welcome even comforting distraction…

   Beth’s bright red Honda Accord spent the night beside Chase’s big silver Telluride. Chase’s little beach house hummed with life and noise, and maybe just a spark of hope….

    The rising sun found Beth and Nikki curled up together in Chase’s guest bedroom. Their essentials had been neatly packed away. They were safe and comfortable as Chase could make them.

   He lay awake, cuddling next to Pry. His mind churned. Had he saved them, or blinded them with false hope? What was he to do next? Just how bad was the Fall going to be? Memories of old Godzilla movies blossomed in his mind. ‘This is not a movie…’ he thought.

    He looked down at Pry, her tiny frame sleeping peacefully on his arm. He smiled at the sight of her lovely bosom, delicately adorned with white lace, rising and falling with her every breath. Her face glowed in the morning light. Leaning over, he kissed her sweet, sleep-wrinkled cheek and let his heart fill with joy, hope and resolve.

“My little monster,” he whispered as he stroked her face and let her hair gently coil around his fingers.

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    For the first time in his life, he was happy. The end of the world was looming over them, and he was happy! He knew it was borrowed stupid happiness. He felt like a man watching his house burn down on a dark, cold winter night, taking comfort in the heat and the light