Alien Protector: Sci-Fi Alien Invasion Paranormal Romance (6 page)

Chapter 4: Taking a Chance

Weekends were the only days Stephanie had off from the museum, and usually she took the opportunity to sleep in and do practical things like laundry and run errands. Sometimes she had lunch with her mother, sometimes she had dinner with Paul, but it was always her time.

On this particular Saturday, she woke up with another plan, getting out of bed and hurrying through her morning routine before dressing comfortably and heading for the museum.

What drove her was the fact that her boss often chose weekends for his own days off, and there was a large chance that Simone or Nate or both would be there and would let her see the sword again without her having to deal with Clive Dearborn being a pest. She crossed her fingers that this would be one of the weekends where he did whatever it was he did when he wasn’t there making her life harder than it needed to be and made her way inside, finding Nate in the employee lounge drinking coffee.

“You don’t work on Saturdays,” he said when he saw her.

“I know. But I was hoping that…”

Nate laughed before she could finish. “Let me guess. You were hoping that Clive wouldn’t be here and that I would be so you could look at the blade again.”

Stephanie sniffed. “Am I that transparent?”

“I wouldn’t say transparent,” Nate replied. “Just I know you pretty well by now. As it happens, Clive
isn’t
here, and I’d be glad to let you have another look.”

“Thank you,” Steph gushed, grinning and bouncing on the balls of her feet. She tried to keep her excitement to a minimum while Nate finished his coffee, but as soon as he beckoned her to follow him, she was on his heels, shooting him rapid fire questions about the progress they’d made since the last time she’d been allowed to have a look.

“Not much new to report,” Nate told her. “We cleaned it up and it’s...well. I’d be really interested to find out what it’s made of because it seems to stay just as bright no matter what kind of light it’s under, and regular metals just don’t
do
that. Judging from the area it was found in and how long it’s been since it was disturbed along with some of the minerals that we pulled off the blade when we cleaned it, it’s been buried for at least a hundred years.”

Steph frowned. “But it doesn’t show any signs of wear. No rust, no tarnishing. Nothing.”

“I know. That’s what’s baffling us. It…” He trailed off with a strange look on his face. “It’s almost like something from another planet.”

That was hardly what she had been expecting him to say, and she glanced up at him with a furrowed brow. “You’re not serious, are you? Just because you don’t know what it is yet doesn’t mean it’s something from outer space. And how would something like that even
get
here?”

Nate shrugged, hands in his pockets. “Who knows? There are plenty of unexplained things on this planet, Steph. They all had to come from somewhere. I think it’d be pretty easy to get a sword to Earth if someone wanted to badly enough. Anyway, it’s all just speculation. The fact remains that we have no idea what we’re dealing with.”

His words were still buzzing in her head when he handed her a pair of gloves and put on his own before letting them into the room. No one else was there, and it was quiet as Stephanie walked closer, peering down at the shiny strip of metal in its case on the table. With careful fingers she lifted the lid and reached out a hand, immediately feeling that sense of power and warmth that she’d felt the first time.

This wasn’t an ordinary find, and she positively itched to know what it really was. Both to satisfy her own curiosity and so she’d have something to tell Draco if he came back.

He’d said he would, and Steph found herself hoping that he’d hold true to his words. The way he’d listened to her speak had made her feel...good. It hadn’t been the same as when other people on tours listened to her either. There had been an interest in his eyes that seemed to go beyond what she’d been talking about, and while she didn’t want to get her hopes up and make an idiot of herself, she had to admit that he’d been very good looking.

Tall and broad with features that managed to be both classic and striking at the same time. He had that strong jaw line that she favored and eyes that seemed almost muddy at first but then glinted with warmer, almost reddish tones in the right light.

And god, she’d only spent about fifteen minutes in his presence and already she was thinking dreamily about the color of his eyes.

It was definitely time to get a hold of herself, but she didn’t think there was anything wrong with her letting herself wish to see him again.

She was still telling herself that on Monday when she returned to work for real, back in her pressed pants and her blouse with her blue vest over it, smiling and leading a group of uninterested looking fifth graders through the exhibit on Ancient Greece. Not even talking about battles and showing them weapons seemed to perk them up, and Stephanie shrugged it off, giving them her best until their teachers returned and claimed them, ready to take them back to the bus.

A quick cup of coffee restored her energy, and she made her way back to the front, answering questions as she went and directing an older couple to the gift shop.

Her lunch break came and went and there was still no sign of Draco. Steph kicked herself mentally because it wasn’t like he’d said that he’d be back right away. Not everyone wanted to spend everyday in a museum looking at things from times past, after all.

It was a good mental reminder, but it served to make sure that she wasn’t really paying attention when Draco
did
walk in, an hour before closing.

She’d been showing arrowheads to a group of teenagers, but she excused herself and walked over to him when she spotted him, trying her best to keep her composure. “Hi again,” she said with a smile.

“Hello, Stephanie,” he said, smiling back. “How are you?”

“Doing well,” she replied brightly. “And you? Did you have a good weekend? See anything interesting?”

“I learned about cooking,” Draco said, voice a bit flat. “It was...eye opening. And dangerous. The...person I’m staying with here has a tendency to let things get too hot.”

Stephanie laughed at the mental image. “I had a roommate like that in college. Where are you from, actually?” she asked. “I don’t think you ever mentioned it. You know. When we talked that one time…” And honestly, could she be any more embarrassing?

“I didn’t,” Draco said. “It’s a place to the north. I doubt you’ve ever heard of it. No one has, really.”

“Small town?”

“Sort of, yes.” He stopped talking abruptly and then smiled. “I’ve lived there all my life, but I like to travel and see things. It makes coming back home even more special.”

She smiled at that. “I wouldn’t know. I didn’t really go very far from home. I grew up about an hour away from here, and I go back all the time to see my parents. I guess I never really got the urge to leave, even though I’d love to see things.”

“You should,” Draco replied, smiling back. “There’s a lot to see out there. And someone with your passion would love all the world has to offer.”

For a moment she was speechless, not really sure what to say to that. One of the reasons why she wanted to travel was to learn as much as she could and see things, and his words had resonated with her deeply. “Do you really think so?” she asked, voice soft.

Draco nodded. “I do. You remind me a lot of my best friend. He’s...in a position of power back home, so he can’t travel as much as he’d like, but I bring him things back from my travels and he hoards them and studies them and they make him happy.”

“It’s nice of you to bring him things,” Steph said.

“He’s been by my side since we were little kids,” Draco told her. “It’s the least I can do since he doesn’t have as much freedom as I do.”

Stephanie couldn’t help it. Every word he said was just making her want him more, and she bit her lip, fidgeting a little in place. It was right there on the tip of her tongue to say something stupid like
would you like to get dinner with me sometime,
but she kept it back, not sure if the fond smiles he was giving her were just his way of being polite.

Instead, she found something else to talk about. “So, I got to see the blade again the other day,” she said.

That instantly brought his focus back. “Did you find out anything new about it?”

“Just more dead ends, really,” she said. “I was talking to Nate, he’s one of the people in charge of doing research on it, and he was saying that they’re so stumped they’re joking that it might be something from another planet.”

Instead of laughing like she’d assumed he would, Draco looked thoughtful. “Is that so unbelievable? Logically, if it’s not something you can identify from your world then it has to be from somewhere else, right?”

“I...suppose so,” Stephanie said, chewing on her lip. “I just. Can we be sure there’s even anything out there to have made something like that?”

The smile on his face was indulgent. “Well, you almost certainly can’t be sure there’s not.”

“Point,” she admitted. “I’m not sure how we’d go about displaying something that came from another planet. How would we even be able to tell what planet it was from or who made it? Our knowledge is seriously lacking there.” Stephanie honestly couldn’t tell if she was kidding or not anymore. The thought of there being life on other planets and whole history to go with it was such a big thing to think about, but she knew that the second it was proven she’d want to learn everything she could about them.

Draco was watching her with a speculative look in his eyes, and she wondered what he saw when he looked at her. “I think you’d like it on other planets,” he said finally. “Assuming there’s life out there.”

And really, that was the last straw for her. She had to at least
ask.
If he said no, then she’d nurse her wounds and wait for him to go back to wherever it was he came from. And if he said yes, then…

Well, she’d deal with it.

“Would you like to get dinner sometime?” she asked him. “I mean. I know that we don’t know each other well at all, but I’ve really been enjoying talking to you, and I just. I think it would be nice. If you’re interested.”

He looked taken aback, but then he smiled. “Sure. I’d like that. You can show me what good food is like here.”

Stephanie felt so light with relief that she thought she might float.

Chapter 5: The Catch

It really was amazing to Draco that somehow he’d come to Earth to look for one specific thing and wound up with a date. That was another thing he could check off the list of things that had never happened to him before when he was looking for an Artifact. This was turning into the strangest trip he’d had to date, and that included the one where he’d ended up on a planet that was ninety percent water and inhabited by monsters with more tentacles than any living thing could possible need.

Presea had laughed herself silly when he’d told her (working up to telling Plintos), showing her sharp teeth and throwing her head back.

Draco still wasn’t sure what to make of her, but she hadn’t done anything to lead him to believe that she meant him harm, so he was treating her like a friend for the moment. After all, being on Earth was lonely since all of his friends were so far away, and he didn’t have to pretend to be human with Presea.

Still, when she was done laughing, he asked her for advice. She’d been living here for years, and he thought he could benefit from her help.

“Let her take the lead,” Presea had said. “She knows what she likes probably and you can just say you’re a tourist and don’t know anything about the area and she won’t suspect a thing. Also,” and she hesitated for a second. “Don’t lead her on. If you’re just using her to get close to the blade, then don’t give her false hope. That’s a really crappy thing to do to someone.”

Draco had nodded and taken that to heart. The last thing he wanted was to hurt her, even if he
was
technically planning on using her. She was just a nice and bright young woman, even for a human, and he didn’t want her to be caught in the middle of his need to get the blade and get back home.

They’d made plans to go out that weekend, after her shift on Friday, so there was plenty of time for him to get himself together.

Plintos managed to wait until Wednesday before calling again, and Draco answered him with good humor, pleased that he looked like he was at least getting more sleep when he saw his face on the comm screen.

“Hello, Draco,” he said. “How are you? How’s Earth? Do you see how I’m asking questions about you before I get to the inevitable point of this call?”

Draco laughed, leaning back on his bed. “Yes, very good, Plintos,” he said. “I’m fine, thanks for asking. Earth...continues to be baffling. I think I have a date, and no, I haven’t gotten or seen the blade yet.”

“What is taking them so long?” Plintos complained.

“Well, they don’t know what it’s made out of. In fact, Stephanie was telling me today that they were joking around about the idea that it might be from another planet.”

“Finally caught on, have they? Humans are rather slow on the uptake.”