Authors: Maxi MacNair
Kallos accessed something on his bracelet, which, after a moment of pulsing white lights, projected a chart into the air. It relayed his vitals, but being opposite of it, Larisa had difficulties in reading the backwards text. A few seconds later, he tapped it off.
“Are you…” She didn’t want to bring herself to ask, but Kallos glanced at her in question. “Are you… going to die?”
He averted his gaze.
“Kallos…”
“We won’t be able to reach the capitol in time,” he said, his voice cracking. “Without care, I won’t last longer than a few hours.”
“That’s…”
“Without contact, Nillana will send a search party within a day. They’ll find you. Tell them what happened. Nillana will take care of you.”
“There must be something we can do! Isn’t there anything we can use or make that will help you until we get real supplies?”
Kallos’ face flushed.
“What?” Larisa leaned over him. “What is it? Tell me what I can do.”
“There is something… but I am afraid it won’t make sense to you,” he said, pointedly avoiding her gaze. “It’s rather unique to the Halpasen species.”
Larisa frowned, brow furrowing in frustration. All of what had just happened was finally settling in, making her heart ache. And now, on top of that, Kallos was going to be difficult like this?
“Just tell me,” she said.
He sighed. “Halpasens have a natural healing ability, but it requires the input of energy. An exchange or transmutation of energy, to be precise.”
“You can heal yourselves?”
“It’s not an evangelical degree of healing, but it can help strengthen the body. Stabilize the body, and buy time. But like I said, it requires additional energy…”
Larisa watched him with curiosity. “And… where does this additional energy come from? How do you use this healing power?”
Kallos met her gaze.
“It’s sexual energy,” he said plainly. “When a bond is forged between two beings, they become connected on multiple levels. Sexual contact when such a bond is intact allows for the transference of such energy.”
Larisa blinked at him.
“Yes. Through sexual intercourse.” He smirked and ran a hand across his temple, leaving a smear of blood. “I figured it’d be something beyond human comprehension. You don’t have such a thing, do you?”
Larisa shook her head. She couldn’t believe what he was saying.
“Well,” he sighed again. “That’s all there is to it. That’s why we mate for life. When this bond is formed our energies become linked and I can use your sexual energy along with mine to heal, but once they are linked there is no going back, and it’s a demanding experience I’m told. It won’t be like before in your room or just a little bit ago in the cave. From my inexperienced understanding, it’s not like normal sex. My body is going into survival mode and when that happens certain glands become ready to fire the chemicals needed to enact the self healing process There needs to be a legitimate build up of energy to initiate the exchange—a push. It requires intensity, both physical and sensual. Some report pain, dizziness, or the sensation of losing one’s breath.”
“I…”
“I will not force you,” he said. “It’s not something to be taken lightly. And as a human, you might experience more significant side effects. I can’t say for certain.”
He winced in pain as he adjusted his position on the bed.
“I… need to think,” Larisa said, turning away from him.
“So are you saying that we are already linked in this way because we have had sex?”
“No it’s more complicated than that. We have a choice to link ourselves to a certain extent, or at least, it just doesn’t happen with anyone. You probably noticed the glowing before.”
“That’s not just what happens every time you have sex?”
“No, I decided the moment I saw you that I wanted to be linked in that way with you. My body had the same idea it seems from the first time we were together.”
“So what about me?”
“I don’t know if your species physically shows the linking, but I have read enough about your culture to know you can love.”
“I need to love you?”
“Two bodies linked and exchanging this energy heals Halpeans.”
Larisa was shocked, she had a while ago resigned herself to the duty that she was presented with on Halpa with the Prince. Love though was such a distant thought up until now. Could she love another so soon after meeting someone? Could she love an alien species?
She walked over to him and kissed him. There wasn’t much life in Kallos’ kiss. Suddenly, Larisa was stricken with fear. She thought of a life without Kallos and started to weep. She wanted nothing more than for the life she knew existed in his kiss to return and to never leave her. Her kissing became more frantic and a faint glow started coming through the slightly pallid cheeks of Kallos, but there was not much else as far as movement from Kallos. Larisa pulled away at the shock of what all this meant. Love, real love, from Kallos.
She walked over to a small oval window that looked out onto a patch of forest. Kallos was silent behind her.
She reminded herself that she had been kidnapped into this. She could be free of the collar that still scratched at her neck when she couldn’t sleep at night. Perhaps, she wondered, she could be free of all of this. Perhaps she could flee and find a way back to Earth. Her and Kallos’ collars, and the syimondium they had just collected, would surely be worth something. She’d already have a ship, and only need a pilot to fly it.
Both her heart and mind felt torn in multiple pieces. He had given her Neiro, they had made love in her chambers, and just a short while ago. They had sat together in a harmonic silence, beside a waterfall and surrounded by dazzling crystals. Kallos had been kind to her, but he had still ordered her kidnapping. He was responsible for all that had happened, both pleasant and otherwise.
She tried to imagine what her life would be like if she returned to Earth, and for some reason, she couldn’t place herself anywhere. Not in her suburban house, not at her job, and not years down the road with a husband and children. As she stared out into the trees beyond the window glass, she realized she couldn’t picture any of it.
Larisa sighed softly, then turned to him. She pulled her hair over one shoulder as she approached him, and leaned in to kiss him again.
“Come, my love,” he said, smiling and holding out a hand to her. At least if this doesn’t work I’ll have my last moments alive be ones where I am looking at you.”
Larisa took his hand, hiked up her skirt, and crawled on top of him. She leaned down and kissed him tenderly on his lips. She pulled her gown off of her body and pulled her undergarment down off her. Gingerly, she removed Kallos clothes and got a cloth and some water to help soothe his wounds. The warm water wiped away the dirt from his skin, and cleaned the dry smears of blood on his chest, but the wound itself was something a simple cloth could do nothing for.
Larisa wiped the blood smear on his forehead and gracefully traced her pinky finger along the length of his ear bringing back the golden glow of his cheeks. As she did this she could sense some life start to stir inside of Kallos that wasn’t there a moment before. She could feel something stirring in herself as well. Suddenly, Kallos stretched his head up to meet her with a kiss. A kiss that was unlike what she had felt before. Larisa had known from her past two experiences with Kallos that there was an obvious sexual attraction there, but this was something more. She could feel the warmth emanating from Kallos now as the kiss deepened and she started to feel herself desire him again like she hadn’t had him in months. The glow of his skin intensified as his own organ started to come back to life. Soon his skin was outshining the natural light of the setting sun coming through the windows. His own body being the golden reddish glow of a sunset now. He slid inside of Larisa and she felt filled with something greater than just the physical sensation of their sex organs. Larisa could feel a strange heat emanating from herself in that moment as she looked down to watch Kallos’ wound start to dry up and turn to golden glowing skin. Kallos sat up and wrapped his arms around her as Larisa started orgasming. It was a feeling that she could feel building inside of her. So faint she could barely tell if it was real until it was too large to ignore, and too strong to hold back. She moaned and pulled at his ear with her lips as Kallos’ warm glow turned into a white heat that seemed to cover Larisa as well right before he launched into his own moan of pure release and pleasure. Larisa lost herself. She felt an emptiness. Things felt dark all around her until a faint circle of white light appeared. She could feel its distant heat and reached out for it. It widened and came closer until the darkness was completely covered by it. She felt herself burned by it, but soon it flashed and became a small beating coal of warmth in her chest. Her eyes blinked and there was Kallos embracing her.
Larisa cupped her hands around his cheeks and stared into his blazing green eyes. Life was behind them again now, but somehow brighter and more charged than ever before. He stared right into her and then suddenly collapsed.
~
“How are you feeling?” Larisa asked, joining Kallos in the cockpit carrying two glasses of water.
“Much better,” Kallos said.
He still moved slowly, but the bleeding had stopped and some of the color had returned to his face. The engines were firing up and he was working on programming the navigational system. Kallos looked up for a moment to take the glass from her. He took a long sip, the water cool and welcome against his lips.
“And how are you feeling?” He planted a soft kiss on her hand.
Larisa smiled. “Still trying to catch my breath, to be honest. I’ve never… done something so intense.”
“You saved my life,” he said, squeezing her hand. “You endured a lot for it, and I will be forever grateful.”
“Let’s not get too carried away,” she said. “We still need to get you back to the palace.”
“Yes,” he said, turning back to the console. “I’ve almost got this set. The user interface is a bit foreign to me—it’s been a while since I’ve last programmed a course myself.”
“Can you make it work?”
“I can. I just need a little more time to double check everything.”
“Well, let me know if I can help—somehow,” Larisa said, taking the copilot’s seat. “Though I’ll probably be more of a hindrance, I’ll do my best.”
“Don’t say that,” Kallos said, turning to her. “You’ll never be a hindrance. Not in my eyes.”
The color rose in Larisa’s cheeks and she smiled.
~
The Silent Night ascended into a dark velvet sky sprinkled with stars and watched over by two large, bright moons. Kallos leaned back in his seat, pleased, and more relieved than he cared to admit to himself.
“How long until we arrive?”
“Five hours and twelve minutes,” Kallos said to Larisa.
“Honestly, I’m a little surprised that it’s so long,” she said.
“Long? We’re across the planet.”
“I know—I mean,” she sucked on her lip and Kallos felt the sudden urge to lean over and kiss her.
“Go on.”
“I mean, you guys have spaceships, so I imagined travel would be much faster.”
“There are speed limits imposed for planetary travel,” he said. “It’s easier to coordinate flight routes if there are regulations in place.”
Larisa nodded.
“Come here,” Kallos said, swivelling his seat to face her and patting his lap.
Larisa stood up, but hesitated.
“You want me to sit on you?”
“Yes, come, let’s relax together,” he said. “You’re driving me insane right now, being all the way over there.”
“I’m five feet away from you.”
“I know.”
Larisa laughed, and came to stand in front of him. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. Why not?”
“Well, I’m not exactly the smallest or lightest girl around…”
Kallos scoffed. “You’re the perfect girl. In the entire galaxy. Now come, I want you in my arms.”
Larisa obeyed, and Kallos wrapped his arms around her. He kissed her on the cheek and breathed in the aroma of her hair. She smelled of waterfall mist.
“I know our relationship is more than a bit unorthodox,” Kallos said. “But you are the best thing that has ever happened to me. I could not imagine nor wish for a better partner to spend the rest of my life with—to rule Halpa with. I love you, Larisa.”
“I love you too, Kallos…” Larisa said, her voice a sweet melody in his ears.
“Do you? Truly?”
She turned to him, dark eyes latching onto his own and tugging at his heart.
“You’re still here aren’t you,” she said.
Kallos pressed his lips against hers and kissed her with all his passion. She kissed him back, her hands running over his hair and to the sensitive tips of his ears. Her tongue slipped into his mouth, and he wrapped his own tongue around hers. She moaned. The taste of her and the caressing of his ears sent his heart pounding against his chest.