Resurrection
Book 2 of The Guardians of Vesturon Series
By
A.M. Hargrove
Copyright 2012 A.M. Hargrove
Smashwords Edition
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Acknowledgments
I would once again like to thank my family for supporting me throughout this venture. I couldn’t have done it without them, especially my husband. I’d also like to thank my friends and the other readers that read Survival and were patient for Resurrection to come out. Without those kinds of fans and their encouragement, Resurrection would never have made it from my head to my Mac. And finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t thank my beta readers (Alexia, Tana and Terri) for giving me their honest opinions and suggestions.
For more information on The Guardians of Vesturon, please visit me at
www.amhargrove.com
www.amhargrove.blogspot.com
www.twitter.com/amhargrove1
www.facebook.com/guardiansofvesturon
For T.A.C. (since you felt left out of Survival and yes, in my next book, I will name a villain after you), for McIntyre (because I modeled Maddie’s singing ability after yours), and for Henry (just because!)
Contents
~ Maddie’s Rescue ~
Prologue
Maddie distinctly heard her father telling her, “Maddie, you must decide what you want to do. You may come with us, or you may return to your other place. You can’t delay any longer. If you don’t decide soon, the decision will be made for you, and there will be no turning back. But, if you want my opinion, I think it would be a wiser choice if you went back. Rayn is waiting for you, as well as his family. You also have your destiny to claim. There are great things awaiting you.”
“But, Dad, I want to do both…stay here with you and Mom, and go back to Rayn.”
“I know you do, but you must choose one or the other. You can’t have both. Besides, there is much for you to do in your world. There will be time for us later.”
Maddie sensed she was floating somewhere between her world and the world of the afterlife… pre-heaven, if you will. She had to decide quickly, before the choice would be made for her.
In that split second, she knew what she must do. Rayn was waiting for her, and she couldn’t imagine any kind of life without him. She must return…
********
Maddie knew she was dying. Her life started to flash before her. She had visions of running down the soccer field, scoring a goal, eating her mother’s yummy, homemade, sticky cinnamon rolls, standing in her foyer listening to the police tell her father that her mother had been killed in a car accident. Each vision was disturbingly clear—as if it was happening again.
She saw with clarity her father in the hospital shortly after he had died. She desperately wanted to reach out and touch him. It brought back the memory of the pain of losing him. Her tears were freely flowing, and she didn’t try to stop them.
Next, came her visions of Cat and her other roommates at Western Carolina University, and then, finally, Rayn—tall, dark, and beautiful Rayn, her kind and loving soulmate.
Her thoughts of Rayn were all consuming. He was the one she opened her eyes to when she regained consciousness in the caves of the Nunne’hi, the Spirit People who brought her back to life after her first encounter with the psychopath. Rayn was the one whose beautiful eyes helped to comfort her. Rayn was the one who brought meaning back into her life.
She saw him laughing while running with her and splashing in the ice-cold stream afterwards. Then, she felt his arms cradling her while he carried her to the healer on Vesturon after her injury. She saw them both at their favorite spot on the mountain, sitting by the campfire. Then, she felt his warm lips capture hers.
Next, her thoughts took her to the compound of the Guardians in the mountains of North Carolina. It is there that she met and fell in love with Rayn’s siblings. Therron was tall, more so than even Rayn, and he had a head full of shaggy brown hair. He was handsome—but in a carefree, tousled way.
Rykerian, another brother, was the most handsome thing Maddie had ever seen. His hair was stunning; it had every color in it known to man. Copper, bronze, blond, sienna and chestnut—it shimmered and glistened and was utterly mesmerizing. Rykerian was amazingly beautiful.
Then, there was Tesslar. He wasn’t quite as tall as the others and was of a slighter build, but he, too, was handsome nonetheless. His eyes were vividly blue, like Rykerian’s, his hair was dark, and he had an easygoing nature that was captivating.
The youngest of the brothers was Xarrid. He didn’t care much for Maddie because he blamed her for Rayn’s imprisonment. He thought Rayn had used poor judgment and put the family at risk.
Lastly, the only female of the siblings was Sharra. She and Maddie had become best friends. They shared everything and were nearly inseparable. Sharra was the most beautiful girl Maddie had ever seen. She was tall and lean with long, silken, black hair and eyes so blue that they looked like the sky on a crisp autumn day. As an only child, Maddie was in heaven with her newfound family.
Her thoughts took her back to Rayn, her lifesaver. He came for her after her first injury. He risked everything in his world to see her whole again. Her mind drifted back to when she fell off the mountain trail, crushed her spine, and severed her spinal cord. Rayn rescued her then and later took her to Vesturon, his home planet, to be healed. She chuckled when she thought of how he told her he was an alien and how she thought he was trying to pull a fast one on her. But… he wasn’t kidding. He was from a different planet, and she had a healed spine to prove it.
They were meant to be together; they both knew it. She had suffered great guilt for what he had done for her. He was now trapped in a prison on Vesturon awaiting trial. He had done the unthinkable. He had broken one of their most sacred covenants by taking a human to Vesturon. It was strictly forbidden, but he did it anyway—for her! He loved her deeply and couldn’t bear to see her suffer through life as a paraplegic. He knew the consequences of his actions, and the worst part of it all was that he was to inherit his father’s kingdom as the Great Leader of Vesturon. Now, they were both hoping they wouldn’t make him spend the rest of his life imprisoned.
How had this happened to her? She was now at the mercy of Darryl Carter, a psychopath that wanted her dead. This was the second time he had abducted her. The first time culminated in her severed spinal cord, not to mention the other injuries she sustained when he shot her with his crossbow. Here she was again, literally nailed to the ground beneath her and the tree behind her. He had somehow captured her again and used his nasty weapon on her. The arrows went through her thigh and chest. He had beaten her mercilessly. She knew she had internal injuries from the pain she was experiencing. Her only hope now was that Rayn had heard her thoughts as she called out to him. Maddie knew it was her last straw.
The fact that her soul had returned here, to her body, lifted her spirits. She must fight and cling to life. She was tough; her past showed her that. She could do this!
Suddenly, she became cognizant that Rayn was around her. She felt his presence and started hearing his voice in her head. She heard him screaming for his brothers! She knew help was on the way! She could hear his thoughts!
She had her confirmation moments later. In the distance, she saw the balls of light flying toward her. Seconds later, two of Rayn’s brothers, Rykerian and Therron materialized in front of her. She would survive! She would live to see Rayn again!
Chapter 1
Darryl Carter was watching her and enjoying himself immensely. Red—his nickname for Maddie—had been his best victim so far. She was so perfect in all her actions. He even liked those little whimpers and whines she was making. He’d let her sit like that for a while. He thought about his next shot and where he wanted it to be. He had already put one in her thigh and one above her clavicle. He laughed as he thought how ingenious he was… the crucifixion of Red! Maybe his next shot would be to her other leg; or better yet, maybe he’d stretch her arm up and put one in there right through to the tree. Yeah, he kind of liked that idea. She was lots of fun, this one. He loved that feistiness of hers.
The weirdest thing happened next. Two balls of light flew toward him from the distance. If he hadn’t looked up at that moment, he probably would have missed them. He was glad he caught them though as they were an awesome sight. Maybe they were falling stars—meteors or something. They soared across the sky with great speed. If Darryl could have known what they really were, he would have taken off running and never looked back.
Darryl was mesmerized. The bright glowing orbs were beautiful, and they continued to come closer and closer. Then, five feet in front of Red, the balls of light suddenly stopped and hovered there momentarily. Darryl was amazed and stupefied. He had never seen such a thing before. Suddenly, the two orbs elongated and turned into two of the biggest dudes Darryl had ever seen. Things weren’t looking so good anymore.
********
Therron and Rykerian materialized directly in front of Maddie. What they saw was bone-chilling. At first glance, they weren’t sure if they had arrived in time to save her. She did not appear to be breathing. Her face had been beaten to the point of distortion; it was swollen, bloodied, and unrecognizable. A few feet to the left of Maddie stood her abductor. His gaze snapped back and forth between the brothers. They made an impressive team—tall, dressed in the traditional black uniform of the Guardians, and fully armed with weapons of mass destruction unknown to any human.
They were dressed identically in solid black. Their shirts and pants were form fitting, and their boots came up to their knees. They wore long black capes, and their hands and wrists were strapped with unusual looking apparatuses. Darryl didn’t quite know what to make of them.
“Rykerian, take care of Maddie,” Therron growled with undisguised rage. “I will handle the human.”
Therron turned toward Darryl. “Tell me who you are and why you have done such a thing to her.” His tone was vicious.
“I’m a hunter, and it’s what I do. If I were you, I’d back away and leave here, or else, you might end up looking like her.”
Darryl was not backing down. His Red—as he liked to think of her—had gotten away from him once. That was NOT going to happen again.
“You do not know of what you speak. This female has done nothing to you, and yet your cruelty toward her is beyond belief. That is not acceptable to us. Now, tell me this instant why you have done this terrible thing to her,” Therron’s anger seething through every pore.
Darryl wasted no time. He grabbed his crossbow and fired a shot directly at Therron. What happened next defied all logic—in Darryl’s world, that is. The broad band went straight toward the target, hit directly in the kill zone and… bounced off and hit the ground right in front of them. It was almost like it hit an invisible wall.
Darryl was unaware that the clothing the two men were wearing was constructed of fibers unknown on Earth. They were densely woven, contained temperature-controlling sensors, and were impenetrable to any kind of weaponry on Earth. In other words, the men were completely bullet and arrow proof.
“What the…?” Darryl released round two. Same results. So he went for three. Now, he was looking at three broadband aluminum arrows lying in the dirt directly in front of him.
“Who are you? What are you?” Darryl asked with mounting fear.
Therron, tired of this game, grabbed Darryl by the throat lifting him off the ground and reached into his mind for the answers he sought. Along with incomprehensible strength, Vesturions were born with the preternatural gift of telepathy, so it was a simple matter for Therron to find out what he needed. What he discovered was a convoluted mass of depraved hatred, evil, and other thoughts that left Therron gasping. And, what do you know? Darryl was a serial killer. His vile mind was utterly warped with the violent acts he had committed.
Since Therron knew he would not get any straight answers from this monster, he decided to deal with him in a different manner. Using his preternatural talent of Command, Therron demanded answers.
“I command you to answer my questions. Who are you and why have you done these things to her?” Therron demanded to know.
Darryl, now under Therron’s influence of Command—another preternatural talent Vesturions possessed—just stared at the giant, like a deer in the headlights. He finally said, “My name is Darryl Leon Carter, and I’m with the Special Forces on a mission.”
“Of what kind of mission do you speak?” Therron asked, recognizing that he was dealing with a psychopath.
““I’m on a Special Forces mission for my commander,” Darryl shot back, annoyed at the questions.
“Who is your commander?” Therron demanded.
“I don’t know his name, but I am to meet him tomorrow.”
“Continue.”
“He paid me $10,000 to make sure she didn’t make it out alive.” Darryl started to laugh. “But he got taken because I would’ve done it for free,” Darryl said, laughing harder.
“Did he tell you why he wanted her dead?” Therron was still reeling with shock over this maniac.
“Nope… and I didn’t care. Like I said, I would’ve done it for free. She got away from me once, so she owes me.”
Therron put the pieces together and realized this was the monster that hurt Maddie in the past.
“Well, Mr. Carter,” Therron began, “I am here to inform you that your mission is now over. You see, that young woman is like my baby sister. You have not only hurt her once, but you have hurt her twice. I do not like it at all, Mr. Carter, when someone hurts my baby sister. Do you understand me? So, I am just going to have to do something about that,” Therron said viciously.
Therron extended his arm in Darryl’s direction and pointed to his shadar—the weapons that were strapped to his hands. “You see this? Well, Mr. Carter, right now, you are wondering what I am doing.”
“How did you know—?”
Before Darryl could finish his question, Therron interrupted him by saying, “Mr. Carter, I hate to tell you this, but I can read your mind. That’s right. I am aware of every nasty, disgusting thought you’ve had. And please, my baby sister’s name is not Red.”
Therron circled Darryl like a predator getting ready to strike his prey.
“Let me tell you something, Darryl Leon Carter. You should be extremely scared right now. Oh, I see you are beginning to feel a little fear, are you not?” Therron commented, delving into Darryl’s mind.
He held up his arm pointing to his shadar and continued, “Where I come from, this little device on my hand can wreak more havoc than the worst kind of weapon your military has in its arsenal. That’s right, Darryl. We are talking bigger than your nuclear warheads, and guess what? You are going to experience firsthand, exactly what it can do. Go ahead, Darryl. Try to run away. I know you want to. I can promise you, though that you shall not get very far,” Therron goaded.
Darryl made a move to try to run away from him, but Therron held up his arm and said, “Immobilize.”
A large, distorted bubble-like cloud was released from the shadar, the device that was attached to his hand and wrist. The cloud descended over Darryl, completely enveloping him. He could still be seen, although the bubble gave him a blurry, warped appearance.
“Now try to run, Darryl. Go ahead. Give it a shot,” Therron taunted.
Darryl found himself locked within the bubble, unable to escape. His panic gripped him like jaws of steel.
He started screaming, yelling obscenities, begging Therron to release him.
“It does not feel very good to be held prisoner, does it Darryl? No? I thought not. You know what we do to people like you? Where I come from, we tear them apart…piece by piece! So now, I just want you to think about all those young women you killed and their families you devastated. All the time you were having fun playing your sick games, people were suffering. Now, I want you to suffer, Darryl. I want you to squirm the way you made your victims squirm. It is not much fun, is it?”
Therron was still circling the bubble while he spoke.
“Now, Darryl, you know when I told you how powerful my little friend here is? Let me give you a tiny demonstration.”
Therron pointed his shadar at Darryl’s backpack and discharged it. A bolt of energy was released, and it hit his backpack, thoroughly disintegrating it.
Darryl looked on in horror. Never in his life had he seen anything like it. He had seen a lot of things too, since he been in the military. He’d seen bombs, missiles, heavy artillery, but he’d never seen a weapon that could literally dust its target, leaving nothing behind. He was in shock.
“I want you to think about how you are going to feel when I discharge my friend here on you.” Therron left Darryl to check on Maddie.
Chapter 2
Rykerian crouched down next to Maddie and got his first glimpse of her injuries.
“Great Deity, how could this have happened?” He was repulsed by what had been done to her.
Maddie felt something tugging her back from her hazy place. She heard words and then felt something softly touch her face. She once again heard that animal whining in the distance. She wished it would stop, because the noise was very disturbing to her.
“Maddie, it is Rykerian, and we have come to take care of you,” he whispered, stroking her cheek. Rykerian was unhinged by her appearance, and those whimpers she was making were taking him to the edge.
He quickly popped the cap off the syringe of pain medication and pumped the full thing into Maddie’s thigh. Her breathing was uneven and wheezy, and her moaning was unnerving. He didn’t dare touch her until the drug took effect, as her pain must have been excruciating. She was clearly unbalanced by it. She was still conscious yet unaware of her surroundings. The sounds she was making... Great Deity above, please ease her pain quickly, he thought. It was sickening him, and he was trying to fight it off. He needed to focus and assess her condition.
She had two arrows that went clean through—one in her chest and the other in her thigh. The problem was they were embedded in whatever was behind her, literally crucifying her to the ground and the tree. The arrows were the broad banded kind, so they couldn’t be easily extracted.
Rykerian had never seen anything like this done to another being. It was truly heinous. Rykerian was suddenly overcome with nausea and found himself becoming violently ill. Moments later, slightly recovered, he forced himself back to Maddie to assess her injuries.
Although he could barely hold his hand steady, Rykerian began the scans.
The holographic images that popped up from his shadar weren’t very promising. Her left orbital socket was badly damaged. Her face was nearly unrecognizable. The arrow near her clavicle was perilously close her carotid artery—any slight movement in the wrong direction would result an arterial rupture. It had also pierced the tip of the upper lobe of her lung, which was contributing to her difficulty breathing.
The arrow in her thigh had penetrated the edge of her femoral artery. Because of its location, it was stemming the flow of blood. If he moved it, though, she could bleed out in a matter of minutes. Two. Huge. Problems.
She had sustained at least 4 broken ribs and what also appeared to be internal bleeding in her abdomen. By this time, Rykerian was shaking with the horror of it all.
“Therron! THERRON… you need to get over here… FAST!” he screamed.
Therron rushed over to him after he had immobilized Darryl Carter, and asked for Maddie’s status.
“Rykerian, are you sure you can handle this? I know this is tearing you apart right now. I could get Tesslar to take over,” Therron asked. Therron knew how Rykerian felt about Maddie.
Rykerian was in love with Maddie, even though she was his brother’s mate by all intents. Rykerian hadn’t planned on falling in love with her… it had just happened, much to his dismay. There was no malintent on his part, just sadness for what could never be.
“No time. I will deal with it,” Rykerian said between clenched teeth. Suddenly, they found themselves thrown on their backs by Rayn’s thoughts. The intensity of his telepathy was jerking them around like puppets on a string.
“Divine Being, he is going to kill us if he does not cease doing that.”
Rayn was communicating with them via telepathy, but his emotions were so strong that his thoughts were very nearly exploding in their minds. The force of them was literally knocking them over. Rykerian immediately hit him back, giving him a mental update on Maddie’s condition.
“He is going crazy!”
“I know. He has every right to. He is helpless to do else.” Therron now had the scanner, and he was inspecting the images of Maddie’s wounds.
Shaking his head back and forth, he said, “Rykerian, we cannot fix her here. There is nothing we can do for her. If we try to move her, you know what is going to happen. She will have mere minutes before lights are out—permanently out. We do not have the capability to heal her.”
“How the bloody hell did this happen? How did that monster get through the veil? This is not supposed to happen... EVER! Our veil is supposed to protect us from any outsiders entering here. There must have been a security breach.”
“Now is not the time to dwell on that. We must focus on Maddie and get her to safety.”
At that moment, Tesslar, another brother, materialized.
“I just checked on Sharra. She is ok, but still asleep. Telecommuning as a mediator really takes it out of her.”
Sharra, Rayn’s sister, and Maddie had gone up to the mountaintop so that Maddie and Rayn could telecommune. Sharra had acted as their medium for two reasons. One, to circumvent the orders Rayn had received forbidding him any contact with Maddie, and two, as a human, Maddie had very limited telepathic abilities, so she would need assistance from Sharra. It was after this that Maddie had wandered away from camp when Sharra fell asleep and Darryl Carter caught up to her.
Given Vesturion technology, which was obviously much more advanced that Earth’s, all the property owned by the Guardians was veiled, meaning it was impossible for the human eye to detect. That was what was so disturbing about Darryl Carter’s appearance and him being able to find Maddie
“Tesslar, you have to go home. Right NOW. To Vesturon. You have to tell Julian to prepare the trauma room for Maddie. This is bad, beyond bad. It is critical. Her only hope of survival is with Julian on Vesturon.” Julian was the healer in charge of all medical facilities.
Rykerian gave Tesslar a quick rundown of her condition. Without warning, the three of them were blown away, landing approximately 10 feet away.
Tesslar exclaimed, “Damnation! Rayn has to quit doing that. We cannot help Maddie if he will not cease!”
“We know,” Therron replied, “but he is out of his mind right now. I do not blame him, which is another reason you have to go home. Go… now… straight to Julian. Once he has the trauma unit prepared, notify us, and we will bring Maddie. Then go to Rayn. He is going to need one of us when he realizes she is on Vesturon.”
“You realize what this means?” Tesslar asked.
“Yes, we know. We do not have a choice now, do we? Strange, I guess this is what Rayn faced six months ago.” He was referring to the covenant that forbade any human from visiting Vesturon. They could all be imprisoned for the action that they were about to take—which is exactly why Rayn was imprisoned.
“What about Sharra?” Tesslar was making sure all bases were covered.
“Call Xarrid and tell him to get back here. Let him know where Shar is so that he can teleport her home. I do not want to leave her up here by herself. When she wakes up, they can both go to work on figuring out how that beast got through our veil. Something is not right here. While you do all of that, we will care for Maddie. Go, Tesslar, NOW!”
Tesslar vaporized, and Rykerian turned to Maddie. Her one eye was swollen shut, and the other eye was duct taped. Rykerian wondered how much she’d heard or how much she could understand.
He approached her and softly asked, “Maddie, honey, do you know who I am?”
She barely nodded.
“I need to ask you some questions, so just nod to let me know your answers, OK?” At her nod, he continued, “Is your pain better, because I want to take the tape off your mouth.”
Again, she nodded the affirmative.
He reached for the tape, and, as gently as he possibly could, he pulled it off, knowing it was hurting her and hating every minute of it.
He placed his hand upon her face and gently rubbed his thumb back and forth over her cheek. “Little sister, you know we are here to help you. Do you trust us, Maddie?” Rykerian asked. He needed to know she didn’t fear them.
“Uh-huh.” She responded so quietly that he could barely hear her.
“This is really important. You have to stay as still as possible. I have given you a large dose of pain medication, but I know it will only do so much for you. Your wounds… I will not lie to you… your wounds are bad. They are in two extremely dangerous places, and it is most important that you do not move. Stay as still as you can. We have to take you to Vesturon so that Julian can heal you. Are you still with me?”
She nodded again.
Maddie started to speak, but her voice was so weak and raspy that they had to strain to understand her. “You cannot take me there… big trouble.”
“Do not concern yourself with that, Maddie,” Rykerian said.
Therron added, “We have to cut the arrows so that we can move you. And then we will go… as quickly as we can. I am sorry, but there is no other choice, I know this is going to cause you a great deal of pain, and I am sorry about that too. Maddie? Are you still with me?”
“Uh-huh.” The pain medication thankfully had her in its grips now. She was really woozy from it, but mercifully, it had eased her discomfort a bit.
“Good. You are doing well. Everything will be ok. Hang in there, Maddie. You are strong and brave. I know you can do this!”
Rykerian continued to talk to her, trying to soothe her fears. Rykerian was agonizing over it all. His feelings for her were clearly evident in all of his actions. It was killing him to see her like this.
In the meantime, Therron had gone back to Darryl to take care of that part of the equation.
“Unfortunately, Mr. Carter, you have lucked out. I have no time to play with you anymore today, so instead, I hope you enjoy your trip to hell, as I am quite sure the Deity will not grant you any mercy,” he said.
Therron aimed his shadar at Darryl and said, “Destroy.”
A beam of energy burst forth, and in a millisecond, Darryl had become nothing but a tiny pile of dust. All that was left of him was scattered away by the night’s wind.
Therron returned to Rykerian and Maddie and said, “Tesslar is with Julian, and everything should be ready in three minutes. That means we need to get to work. How are we going to do this?”
“We each have to cut the arrows so that we can move her. That means we are going to have to get underneath and behind her. Bloody hell! This is going to be bad, Therron. I do not know if I can get through this.” He looked at Therron with unimaginable sorrow in his eyes.
“Listen to me, Rykerian. I know you are in a difficult place, but right now, you have no choice on whether or not you think you can do this. If you want to see Maddie alive after tonight, you have to get through this and cut that arrow. Now, I need your strength and focus here. Can I count on you to hold strong for me?”
Rykerian looked Therron directly in the eyes, drew in a deep breath, and nodded. He said, “I will find a way to do this, my brother.”
“Good. Now, what are we going to use to get the arrow tips off?” Therron was relieved, albeit only slightly, at Rykerian’s response.
“The only thing I know of is to use a shadar on an ultra low setting,” Rykerian suggested.
“Will the beam not burn her?”
“Most likely, but we can treat the burn later. It will not kill her. The shadar will do it quickly, and we need to move her. Can you think of anything else?”
“No. No, I do not think there is any other way. Ok, which one do you want me to do?” Therron asked, letting Rykerian take his choice.
“You take her leg. That is the most critical one, and I will do the other. And remember, Therron, failure is not an option,” he said as they locked gazes.
Rykerian leaned into Maddie, took her face into his hands, and got her eyes to lock onto his. “Maddie, we are going to go to work now. I know this is asking quite a lot, but we need you to brace yourself and try your best not to move. Do you understand?”
As soon as she nodded, the brothers looked at each other with dread, and Rykerian said, “On the count of one—three, two, one!”
They both moved her and cut the arrows. At the same time, Maddie emitted a gut-wrenching scream. Even though they were efficient, blood starting gushing everywhere.
Rykerian scooped her up in his arms, screaming, “Now!” Therron entered their exact destination information in the pod, and they vaporized.
*******
They materialized in the trauma unit. Maddie was screaming, and blood was spurting out like a geyser. Therron and Rykerian were ashen, visibly shaken, and covered in blood.
As soon as they laid her down on a high-tech gurney, she lost consciousness. Rykerian collapsed, and Julian and his robomedics went to work.
It was an arduous process, and Maddie had sustained so many injuries that Julian had five robomedics working on her. She had lost a tremendous amount of blood, and she had many internal injuries.
They eventually had to make an incision in her thigh and surgically repair her femoral artery. They were pumping artificial blood into her veins as fast as she could take it.
Julian did a complete assessment of her condition and began to treat her other injuries. He and the robomedics would work into the night, as her condition was acutely critical, and he prayed for a successful outcome. If he couldn’t save her, his life would also be at stake, for Rayn would be enraged.
Chapter 3
By the time Tesslar reached Rayn, he was barely recognizable. He had all but destroyed his quarters and himself. He was cut and bleeding in several places with bruises already popping out. His arm was twisted at an awkward angle, and his eyes were crazed with fear and pain.
After some serious threats and arguments, Tesslar forced the guards to let him in. He went to Rayn, and it was several moments before he saw recognition in Rayn’s eyes. Tesslar put his arms around him and held him closely, calming him through his touch, another of their preternatural abilities.
“Rayn, she is here... with Julian now. They are in the trauma unit, and she is being treated,” he stammered as he continued to comfort his older brother, holding him tightly in his arms.
“Thank heavens! I didn’t know if I was getting through to anyone.”
“No need to say anything. Maddie is family to us, and we would do anything for her. You must know that. Now, we need to go to her. Rayn...” Tesslar said as he released his hold, “...she has been critically injured. You know how skilled Julian is, so all we can do now is hope and pray. Rayn, you are not going to recognize her. She was beaten pretty badly. I just wanted to prepare you. Do you think you can handle it?”
He was worried about Rayn’s stability right now. The helplessness he had endured in knowing he that couldn’t be there for her had taken its toll on him. Tesslar had never seen Rayn in such a distressed state of mind.
“I am fine, Tesslar. She lives,” he said stoically, pulling himself together. “That is all I need to know. I care not what her appearance is. Knowing that she lives is enough. I wish that I could have taken out the bloody monster that did this to her, though. I need to be with her.”
As Tesslar took a look around Rayn’s quarters and noticed all the destruction, he dryly commented, “You have certainly made a mess of things here. It looks as though a supernova exploded in here!”
As soon as the words left his mouth, their parents took form in Rayn’s quarters.
“What is happening? We heard you had become violent, Rayn. What is going on here?” they questioned him. “Your quarters look like a battle zone! What have you done?”
“Maddie was abducted again and is severely injured. We have brought her here for treatment,” Tesslar replied. “Therron and Rykerian are here as well. We will explain on the way to medical, but Rayn needs to go to her now. Rayn, Julian needs to look at your arm too.” Tesslar still had his arm around Rayn and was steering him toward the door.
“You two are going nowhere until we receive an explanation,” Rowan, their father, stated.
Tesslar stopped dead in his tracks, sending his father a blistering look. He turned to face Rowan and literally got nose-to-nose with him and sneered, “Father, have you not caused your firstborn enough grief already? The female he has connected with was tortured and is fighting for her life as we speak. Can you not, just for one moment, find it in your heart to understand that Maddie is Rayn’s amashan... his soulmate? She has suffered beyond anything you or I will ever experience... while Rayn was separated from her. Do you not understand? No? Will you not even TRY to understand this connection they have?” Tesslar took a deep breath. “You of all people should know. And for your information, the only reason she is alive is that she was able to call Rayn through her thoughts. How would that be possible, I ask you, if she was not connected to him? Now, I am going to take Rayn with me to the medical facility, and I suggest that you do not try to stop us,” Tesslar warned.
“Father, Mother, get out of our way,” Rayn growled.
They went to the door, and the guards moved aside, allowing them to pass, leaving Rowan and Annalise staring after them, dumbstruck.
They entered the trauma unit, and Rayn attempted to barge into the surgical suite.
“My lord, you cannot go in there.” The guard at the door barred Rayn from entering.
“Remove yourself immediately, or I will do it for you,” Rayn roared.
“My lord, they are performing surgery on her, and you will contaminate the sterile field. You cannot enter right now.”
“Then I suggest you tell me what I need to do because I have every intention of being by her side,” Rayn growled through clenched teeth.
“Yes, my liege. First, you must go into the decontamination chamber. When that process is completed, move to the next chamber and don the sterile garments that are available. You must place a mask over your face as well. One last thing, my liege, stay clear of the robomedics. They are programmed to treat the patient and will harm anyone or anything that gets in their way.”
Rayn moved into the decontamination chamber. His impatience was apparent as he paced around running his hands through his hair, waiting for the process to complete. Then he dressed in the garments as he was instructed and entered the surgical chamber.
He had not fully prepared himself for Maddie’s appearance. She was unconscious and barely alive.
“Julian, what is her status?” he gasped.
My lord Rayn, I do not want to give you false hope. She was nearly dead when she arrived. She had lost most of her blood, and her internal injuries are grave. If Therron and Rykerian had been seconds later, we would not be having this discussion. The robomedics are meticulous in their techniques, so I have hope that they can repair the damages that were inflicted upon her.”
She was still unconscious from her surgery. She had needles and tubes poking out of her and bandages everywhere, and Rayn thought how pitifully small she looked. She was scarcely recognizable, due to her bruising and swelling. There were five robomedics performing the procedures.
“Have they stopped the bleeding?”
“Yes, they have repaired both arterial tears. It was tricky for a moment, and they had to repair them through incisions. I had hoped they could do it through the wounds themselves, but the tears were too large.”
“What are they repairing now?”
“She had a ruptured kidney and spleen. They are healing them using the tissue regenerator. This is a procedure that requires great precision. Hopefully, it will go smoothly. If they can get both organs functioning properly and are satisfied with the outcome, they will examine her eyes, nose, and brain to see if she had sustained any damages there. The eyes and brain are my big concerns. My preliminary examination showed no brain injury, but they will have a better idea when they look inside.”
“How long before we know something?”
“It shouldn’t be too much longer.”
Rayn was pacing, forcing himself to remain as calm as possible.
“Can she hear me, Julian?”
“She is consciously sedated, and she has had a barrier placed on her nerve stimuli. She cannot feel pain. She cannot speak or respond in any way, but yes, she can hear.”
“May I approach her?”
“Yes, but do not get in the way of the robomedics, or they will blast you. It is most uncomfortable, Rayn.”
Rayn quickly moved to Maddie’s side.
“Maddie, I am here with you. I heard you calling me. Stay with me, Sunshine. You must be strong and fight this with everything you have. I will not allow you to leave me. Please, stay with me. I am not going anywhere. I promise that I will not leave your side.” Rayn kept repeating himself. He would be there until she was healed.
Alarms started sounding. Julian was at Rayn’s side, telling him to step away. The robomedics moved into high gear. Apparently, during the repair of her kidney, she began bleeding again. Her heart rhythm began to fluctuate, going into a lethal arrhythmia. The robomedics treated it immediately, but it sent Rayn to a greater level of anxiety.
“Julian, what is happening to her?”
“It is her heart. It was going into a lethal arrhythmia, but it appears they have gotten it rectified.”
Julian explained how risky everything was, but that Maddie was in the best hands right now. Rayn wasn’t sure if Julian was attempting to calm him or if she truly was in the best of hands.
Finally, after what seemed like eons, the robomedics completed the repairs on Maddie’s internal injuries and stabilized her.
Now the time had come to inspect her for a possible brain injury. She had sustained so many numerous blows to the head that it was imperative she be examined thoroughly.
The robomedics began their holographic scans of her head. There were several places that appeared to be bruised, but no swelling was evident. That was good news for Maddie, as well as Rayn. He was so agitated that Julian had begged him to wait outside. Rayn adamantly refused to leave her side.
The hours dragged on. Each examination was painstakingly detailed and seemed to take forever. Maddie had been in surgery for six hours, and the robomedics were on their last examination. They were scrutinizing her retinas and optic nerves to make certain they were healthy.
Finally, everything was completed, and now it was simply a matter of Maddie recovering from the trauma. The mending devices could make the proper repairs, but Maddie’s body still needed to heal itself. It would be several weeks of recuperating for her.
“Thank you, Julian, for saving her life.”
Julian took a long look at him and said, “I need to examine your arm. It looks as if it is broken. I don’t know how you are withstanding the pain.”
He scanned Rayn’s arm, and it was definitely broken. I am going to have to repair this for you. Come over here.
“It can wait. Right now I must attend to another matter,” he snarled as he left the chamber.
Rayn stormed out into the corridor to seek out his brothers. He had a murderous look about him. They were in the hall immediately outside the trauma unit talking amongst themselves.
Rayn took one look at the three of them and launched his attack.
“What the bloody hell do you think you’re doing?” he roared, his voiced laced with venom. “I leave her in your care, under your sworn oath of protection, and this is what happens? I ask you to watch over and protect her, and you cannot even carry that out! What the bloody damn hell are you doing over there? I want answers, and I want them NOW!” Rayn thundered.
Therron responded, “Rayn, we know you are distraught, but…”
“Distraught? You have no idea!” he responded in a lethal growl as he trembled with rage.
“Rayn, we are trying to figure out what happened,” Rykerian added.
“Stop ‘trying’ and make it so. Someone nearly took the life of my female on your damned bloody watch, and I WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING TO PROTECT OUR COMPOUND!” The walls were nearly vibrating from his thunderous words. Rayn was trembling with violence and fury, and his brothers suddenly became tongue-tied.
They had, unfortunately, attracted a rather large audience when they all noticed Rowan bearing down on them, robes flying out behind him. He made quite a picture of intimidation and power.
“Inside… NOW!” Rowan commanded.
They all followed him back into the trauma unit waiting area.
“What do you think you are doing, Rayn?” he exploded. “Your behavior is deplorable. You know better than to air your disputes amongst your subjects. You have just demonstrated to them that you are pathetically weak, and you have been an exemplary model of what severe lack of control is.”
Rayn seethed with barely controlled rage at this confrontation. He opened his mouth to vent and Rowan stopped him, arm extended. “I COMMAND you to silence!”
Rayn’s jaws clamped shut, and he all but turned into a pillar of stone, an unwilling participant in Rowan’s talent of Command. Rayn’s body was in complete lockdown.
Rowan jerked his head toward Therron, Rykerian, and Tesslar and continued, “And, you three, Rayn is right. Your incompetence is appalling. He is gone a matter of weeks and bloody hell breaks loose. It is your job and DUTY... in his absence... to continually scan the security of the compound, including the surrounding areas. You have failed completely and miserably. You have set a poor example of leadership, and I have a mind to send all of you back to the Academy for more training. Of all the...” It seemed that he had run out of fuel at that point. He stood there shaking his head at all of them.
Therron, Rykerian, and Tesslar remained ramrod straight at attention while Rayn was still under Rowan’s command of silence. The tension was palpable.
“Where are Xarrid and Sharra?”
“They are both at the compound, my Lord, scanning all the systems to uncover our... issue,” Therron explained.
“To say I am incredibly disappointed in all of you is a gross understatement. I expect ALL of your actions from this point forward to be nothing less than flawless. Are we clear?”
“Yes, my lord. It will be as you wish.”
“Make certain that it is,” Rowan said as he turned to leave. On his way out the door, he said, “Rayn, I release you from silence.”
Rayn dropped to the ground on his knees shuddering and stayed motionless for several minutes, recovering from being under Rowan’s control, while the other three looked on.
None of them had experienced that from Rowan for some time now. Therron, Rykerian, and Tesslar were surprised that he could have that much control over Rayn as Rayn’s own Power of Command was quite significant.
Rayn rose, and without a word, he entered the trauma unit so that Julian could repair his arm.
Julian mended the broken bone with the healing device and instructed Rayn to wear a brace for support for a week.
“Thank you, Julian. I am grateful for everything you have done for Maddie.”
Suddenly, they heard Maddie’s cries. She had awakened from sedation and was befuddled by her surroundings. Unexpectedly, she felt Rayn’s presence. She felt his hands on her and smelled his beautiful scent—the aroma of a forest of pines. She opened her eyes and immediately fell into her very own deep pools of emeralds. She reached out and touched his glorious face and danced her fingers through his extraordinary hair.
Maddie had been immediately enthralled by Rayn the first time she had laid eyes on him. He was quite tall, nearly six and a half feet, and his eyes were the most unusual shade of green, like iridescent emeralds. His black, wavy hair brushed the tops of his broad shoulders and his smile was simply arresting. He was the definition of male perfection—positively, drop-dead gorgeous. It would take a millenium before she could ever possibly tire of looking at him. On second thought, she knew with certainty even then it wouldn’t happen.
“Are you real? Or am I dreaming?” she asked, shaking her head, still groggy and trembling from shock.
“I am real, Sunshine, and I am glad that you are here with me. I would carry you off from here if I could, but I believe Julian would have my head if I did,” he whispered. She was keenly aware of his scent and warmth, and she felt the sweet caress of his breath across her cheek. She felt his intense depth of emotion rolling off of him and reaching into her soul. Her eye widened at the realization of what was happening.
“You heard me. You heard my pleas for you to save me, and you sent them to me. You saved me, Rayn. He was going to kill me. He’d been hunting me.” Her words continued to spill forth as if she couldn’t or didn’t want to stop them. “I got lost in the woods. It was dark, and I don’t know how I got so lost.”
The cries started slowly at first, sounding like a wounded animal. They quickly grew in intensity until Rayn thought his heart would break from her pain. She appeared so fragile, so helpless, lying there.
Rayn gathered her and cradled her closely to his heart, gently rocking her, “Shh... Maddie, everything is ok now, and you are going to be fine. He’s never going to bother you again. He is gone for good my love.
Then he spoke to her in the Ancient Tongue of Vesturon. “You are truly of my heart... my amashan. I died a hundred times thinking you were leaving me. I cannot bear life alone, without you by my side. You are my heart, my soul, my spirit, my love, my life, my forever. Stay with me always, Sunshine of mine.”
“I love you, Maddie, and you are safe now. You have suffered severe injuries, but Julian and his team have put you back together. You will be fine. I swear, my love, you truly test my patience!” he declared, smiling.
She was so happy to see him. She did not want to stop touching him. His vivid green eyes grounded her, holding her in the promise of safety.
“I didn’t think I would ever see you again. I truly thought… it was so awful. I think I did die for a time. I spoke with my dad, and he told me I needed to be here with you. I love you so much, Rayn,” she said, her words quickly tumbling out.
Maddie knew at that moment that Rayn would be a part of her forever. She knew when she had been lashed to that tree that she loved him without bounds and that if she survived, she would marry him. She knew without hesitation that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him by her side.
Rayn would be thrilled to hear this as he had asked her to unite with him, as they say on Vesturon. Maddie wasn’t completely sure she was ready for that when he asked, but now she knew it was what she wanted. Vesturions took this vow of unification, or marriage, very seriously, as there was no such thing as divorce on Vesturon. Vesturions also took vows of celibacy and only broke them upon unification. It was a much different place than Earth.
Chapter 4
Of the entire Yarrister family, Xarrid was the most technologically advanced. They were all geniuses in this area, but Xarrid could disseminate anything that had to do with electronics, computers, navigation systems, and the like. If it had any kind of circuitry, chips, codes, etc., Xarrid was the go-to man. Of all the brothers, he was also certainly the most headstrong. When he made his mind up about something, it took an act of the Divine Being to change it. The other important attribute of Xarrid’s was his undying loyalty. It could be the death of everyone sometimes, but he was absolutely loyal to those who had earned it.
Xarrid shared Rayn’s startling green eyes. Although he was the youngest of the males, he was the most outstanding in his fighting and competitive prowess. He was powerfully built and extremely athletic, and his defensive capabilities were awe-inspiring. He made Chuck Norris look like a novice. Fast, furious, and composed, he would always be the victor in hand-to-hand combat, with or without his shadars. You were considered most fortunate if Xarrid had your back.
Right now, Xarrid had the family’s back on his mind. He was feverishly working in the security center in the compound. It had everything imaginable in it—from both Vesturon and Earth. He logged into the Vesturion system, trying to uncover the fingerprint of whoever had hacked into their system. He had zeroed in on locations, but so far, he hadn’t had any luck with tracking the individual.
The locations he locked into were extremely disturbing. They came from various points in and around the main security station on Vesturon. Whoever had done this had top security clearance and access to every one of the governing board’s systems processors and compu-stations. This would be akin to someone hacking into the Pentagon’s national security system. This was big, really big, and most likely, it would be buried under layers and layers of protection. Whoever did this would not want to be discovered and would no doubt cover his tracks to the extreme.
For obvious reasons, Xarrid had begun to look for fingerprints—any kind of electronic activities—into the Guardian’s system. He then started to track the power levels of all the veiling beams. He saw fluctuations that occurred at regular intervals, going back several months, giving the hacker time to experiment with the system. Undoubtedly, the hacker was testing to see if his activities would be apparent to anyone at the compound on Earth. They hadn’t been. These fluctuations went back to the previous winter, approximately around the time of Maddie’s first capture.
Why would anyone want to go after Maddie though? She presented no threat whatsoever. Xarrid went behind the scenes of all activity in their home security systems, trying to find if someone could have entered their premises and attacked the system from inside. Everything was untouched and stable from this end.
So the deduction in all of his investigations had led him to Vesturon, and he was positive it was from an insider that had the closest of ties to the council and governing boards. Xarrid began to think how he would handle this discovery. He would certainly tell his siblings, but could he trust anyone else? What if this was being perpetrated by one of the Guardians that was stationed at home on Vesturon. That was a distinct possibility, because any Guardian with a leadership role would have a high level of security clearance. Who should be involved in this investigation? he wondered.
Xarrid made the decision to keep trying to uncover the actual fingerprint, or entry point, of the breech. He deduced that if he could pinpoint the exact location of that, his chances of uncovering the culprit would be even greater.
He thought about the veiling system then, and he decided that he needed to input another layer of unidentifiable codes into it, basically making it hacker-proof. He went to work on that, completely restructuring their security system. This would mean that the entire family, including Maddie, would have to be recoded, using retina scans, DNA identification, and body scanning.
He would implement every known kind of identifier, so even if someone could copy one or two of them, chances of copying all three were a billion to one. After all those changes were installed, he still didn’t feel one hundred percent comfortable, so he decided he would also install another layer using heartbeat modulation. Since everyone had a unique sound to their heartbeat, that would add an extra measure of safety. He was taking no chances and was taking the term firewall to a completely different level.
After all of the changes were made, he started to enter everything necessary that would inactivate the current system. When he was finished with that, his next step was to encode all of his personal data so that he had immediate access to everything, blocking anyone else from access, including the security departments on Vesturon. Xarrid had to be sure his sector was completely safe, and this was the only way he could accomplish this. All systems were go for him now.
He tapped into the veiling beams and activated the entire system, so now, all the property, including the house, had gone dark. They were safe on that account once again. Muting was also activated, so all was secure.
Now he had to think about everything that had happened. He jumped out of his seat and started pacing.
Who could have done this? More importantly, why would anyone want to have done this? If Maddie hadn’t been captured, they could have gone for weeks without uncovering this. That would have put them all at risk for some seriously dangerous scenarios. Xarrid didn’t even want to go there; the ramifications were just too great. Who on Vesturon wanted them in danger? That was the real question.
Xarrid went through each of the security and alarm systems on the premises. He concluded that all was intact in that regard. They had shield security here. Unlike infrared beams that the humans used, their technology allowed them to raise invisible shields that made it impossible for any type of mass to pass through. The shields had not been corrupted, so whoever sabotaged the system only did it so the veiling devices would be affected. Why would that be? If someone wanted to take down their entire security system, why not deactivate the shields as well?