Destiny's Shift (7 page)

study of Earth that this season was called winter. A pang of homesickness hit her as she

recalled the constant mild and comfortable temperatures of home.

She looked around at the vast open land that was so different from SR44’s lush

forests and golden buildings.

And it was awkward to not have anyone to wait on. On the plane, before she fell

asleep, she found herself looking around for something to do, but reminded herself that

she wasn’t in servitude anymore. It was the strangest feeling having another serve her.

She struggled to recall her memories, and she couldn’t remember a time where someone

waited on her, except her
moha,
her mother
,
and that was at a very young age. When she

was young enough to stoke the fires or serve the food, she was tasked to help her mother

do it.

She remembered when she had become old enough to serve in the house, she had

laid out the rugs wrong while she helped to set up a party. Her sire had not said anything,

yet her mother had given her a tongue-lashing.

“You must pay attention to what you are doing, child!” her mother said in their

native tongue. “We are here to serve, and we must do so with perfection! No go and study

how the rugs must be arranged for the royal entrance to lavish events.”

Liberty recalled how upset she had been, and how she had sworn that she would

be more careful in the future.

And she had been. Her life had been devoted to doing her duties, and doing them

well. That had been her life, her existence, her home.

This is your home now
, she thought.
There is no other
.

She would simply have to acclimate.

Jovan and the other male came toward her. The other male stood about the same

stature and height as Jovan, which could simply be called large. He pushed his dark hair

off his forehead, then jammed his hands into pockets of clothing that looked very warm.

“Hey, Liberty,” he said. “I’m Cohen. You ready to make like the wind and blow

out of here?”

What?

“Come on, Liberty,” Jovan said, taking her elbow. “Let’s get you into the car and

out of the cold.”

She nodded and let herself be led over to the black vehicle, then settled into the

soft black leather of the back seat.

As they drove, warm air streamed out of the vents, and it felt wonderful. She

leaned her head back and watched the small city turn to desert.

“So, Jovan says you’re an SR44 female,” Cohen said, looking at her in the

rearview mirror.

“Yes, Warrior.”

“You can call me Cohen.”

“Of course, sir.”

“Um . . . okay. Yeah.”

“Liberty,” Jovan said, turning in his seat to look at her, “you can call him Cohen.

It’s the same rules with him as it is with me, okay? With all the Warriors you are going to

meet. Forget the formalities.”

She shut her eyes. It was a difficult transition from being in servitude to being an

equal. On SR44, there were only four people in her small life that she didn’t address with

deference: her
moha,
and three others who served under the same royalty as she did.

Someone flipped on the radio, and music wafted around the car. The grating male

voice told of love in an elevator.

Love. In her life on SR44, there would never have been opportunity for love

because of her stature. She was the physical property of another being, although her sire

had been quite kind to her.

Although her new life was terribly scary, and she didn’t understand much of what

was going on, she reminded herself that this new life had the ability to present her with

opportunities she never really thought about. Her entire destiny had been set on the

course of her existence. Now, that course was hers to create, and it was a little daunting

and quite frightening. But with this new life came the opportunity to find love. She had

never experienced it and really hadn’t witnessed it. The royal family she served had been

a powerful couple, but she didn’t believe they were in love. For the sire to practice the

custom of servitude was a good indication of such as far as she was concerned.

An hour later, she felt the smooth road turn bumpy, and she opened her eyes. The

car came to stop at a gate, and it slid open. The same thing happened at a second gate.

The drove a minute longer, and there stood a dome-shaped structure.

She got out of the car and followed Jovan and Cohen up the stairs where Cohen

punched in a code on a keypad. The large door gave way, and they went down a flight of

stairs where Cohen repeated his actions. The door swung open and she followed them in.

Her nerves hummed, her stomach felt a little ill. As the two large men walked into

what looked like a kitchen area, she followed directly behind them. She couldn’t see the

people who belonged to the voices that were greeting them beyond the large wall that

their shoulders made up.

The voices were friendly, and she heard both male and female. Jovan stepped

aside, and she met the eyes of the people in the room. When they saw her, the silence

became almost deafening.

Glancing over them, she was surprised to see females, as well as a child. One of

the females had brown, wavy hair that fell to her shoulders, the other had waves of red

hair that fell to her waist, while the other female, who was blonde, held a baby in her

arms. All looked very kind, but confused.

The males were large as Jovan and Cohen were, and all eyes were on her. When

she realized that she was standing in the room with the Six Saviors, she felt she should

drop to her knees in deference. As nervous as she was, her knees felt as though they

might give out whether she wanted to fall to them or not. Her whole body began to shake

and she stared down at the floor, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Jovan,” the Warrior with the wavy, brown hair and red shirt said quietly, “what

the hell is going on here?”

“This,” Jovan said, indicating in her direction, “is Liberty.”

The male shut his eyes, pinched his nose with his forefinger and thumb, and

shook his head. “Jovan, I don’t even know what to say. I mean, shits at critical levels

around here and you’re just making . . .”

“Noah,” Jovan said, “Liberty is an SR44 female.”

Liberty glanced up to see what the reaction would be.

The male called Noah opened his eyes, shock crossing his face, and no one said a

word.

Chapter 13

A moment later, all hell broke loose as Jovan’s words finally registered. Everyone

started asking questions, and he could see it was making Liberty uncomfortable as she

tried to track the words being directed at her.

“Hey,” he said above the din. “Let’s all sit down, and we can hear Liberty’s story,

okay?”

They nodded, and he took Liberty’s hand, noting that he couldn’t feel any emotion

coming off her, and followed everyone to the dining room. The large oak table could seat

twenty, so there was plenty of room for everyone to grab a chair.

Neptune, Abby’s fat, black cat announced himself with a loud howl. He

immediately went over to Liberty and sniffed at her feet. Deciding he liked what he

smelled, he jumped into her lap and curled up.

“This feline is quite large,” Liberty said, stroking Neptune’s back while he purred

loudly.

“Your being kind,” Jovan said. “He’s just plain fat.”

Once everyone was seated, Noah asked, “How are you certain this is an SR44

female?”

“I watched her light up last night. That’s why I called you, but you were too busy

with the FBI stuff. I figured I’d tell you when I got here.”

Noah turned to Liberty. “Liberty, my name is Noah, and I’m in charge around

here.” He then went around the table and introduced everyone else.

“Why are you here? How long have you been here? Are there others?” Noah

asked.

Liberty nodded and fixed her eyes at a spot on the table, her hand moving

methodically over Neptune. “Yes, Warrior, there are others, and I have existed here on

Earth for approximately two weeks where I worked in a place where females disrobed

their fabrics for money. I lived in an abandoned building, which I shared with a man who

used a barb to shoot liquid into his arm. He called me his angel, as he knew that human’s

eyes don’t glow. He said that I was of such beauty, both my eyes and my human form,

therefore I must be his angel.”

She turned to Jovan. “May I have something to drink? Perhaps some of that

whiskey I consumed on the plane?”

Jovan smiled and the others around the table laughed.

“You’ve already corrupted her,” Rayner said to Jovan.

“I’ll grab some bottles and glasses,” Hudson said, standing. “Rayner, give me a

hand. Don’t say another word until we get back,” Hudson said with a wink to Liberty.

They returned minutes later, and Hudson poured Liberty a glass. “Jovan?” he said,

indicating the bottle.

“Nah, I’m good.”

Jovan watched Liberty take a sip of the amber liquid, and the subsequent shiver it

caused. There was silence as everyone who wanted a cocktail poured and sipped.

After another swallow, she said, “I shall like to continue my tale now, if that is

satisfying to all of you.”

There were rumbles of agreement around the table.

Liberty took a deep breath and began talking.

Chapter 14

After the Six Saviors left for Earth, a calm overtook SR44 as certainty reined that

the Six Saviors would be able to make quick work of catching the Colonists and would

return in short time. The Colony was again secured so there wouldn’t be any more

escapes.

Liberty hadn’t been born yet.

One hundred and fifty years after the Six Saviors left, Liberty came into the

world, a child of servitude.

“I was born of royalty,” she stated.

“Who was your sire?” Rayner asked

“My sire is the same as yours, Noah.”

All eyes turned to Noah, who looked like he had just been kicked a good one in

the nuts.

“Servitude?” he practically yelled, and Liberty jumped, sending Neptune to the

floor. With another howl, he left the room. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Noah,” Abby said quietly, putting a hand on his arm, “stop it.” She then turned to

Liberty. “What exactly does being born into servitude mean, Liberty?”

Liberty explained that when the royal sire of the home joined with one of the

servants, as Noah’s father had done with Liberty’s mother, it bounded the servant to the

royalty, and the servant would forever remain the property of the royal sire. If a child was

produced, the royal sire then had the option of keeping that child to serve in his

household or selling the child to another member of his family.

“Oh my God,” Abby said in horror. “That’s like slavery here on Earth!”

“Truly, my sire was kind,” Liberty said. “He allowed me to stay with my
moha
,

and when I was old enough, I began serving in the house as well.”

“Did he touch you? Did you join with him?” Noah bit out as Abby ran her hand

over his forearm.

“No, he did not,” Liberty said, taking another sip of whiskey, her eyes on the

table. “Although, of course, if he had wished to join with me, I would have done so.”

Noah put his head in his hands, and Jovan wondered if the guy was relieved or

going to be sick.

“What happened next, Liberty?” Hudson asked.

Two hundred years after the Saviors left, Noah’s father declared that it was time

to mourn the Saviors, and at that point the world accepted the loss and went into

bereavement.

All households hung a colored flag—orange, red, green, blue, yellow, and purple

—the color of each of the Six Saviors. The flags hung for ten human years, as was

customary on SR44 when a family suffered the loss of a loved one. The world of SR44

had suffered the loss of their Saviors.

During the mourning, Liberty noticed that Noah’s father seemed to lose his

mental facilities. Poor decisions were made regarding household procedures, and she

heard the arguments when all members of the Royal Congress met to discuss the military.

Noah’s father believed that the military should be scaled back to something close

to zero as they had been preparing for a war for thousands of years that never came.

“Many thought that his thinking was due to the fact that he believed he lost his

somah
, his son, to a war. Although it wasn’t a war on our homeland, but a war

nonetheless. The general consensus was that he didn’t want others to experience the loss

he had.”

That bad feeling in Jovan’s gut got a little worse, and he felt the contents of his

intestines begin to liquefy.

A large disagreement occurred within the Royal Congress, but eventually all had

listened to Noah’s father, and the military was scaled back over a number of years.

Jovan’s father was also a member of the Royal Congress, and Jovan couldn’t

believe they would allow the military to be scaled down. They had always believed in

being battle-ready, even though the existence of peace had stretched for centuries.

“From that point on, it seemed as though the mood of our planet changed. Our

pride seemed to slowly seep away, and crime increased. More of our people were sent to