Hope (Other World Protection Agency Book 1) (11 page)

Looking over at Paul she wondered
how he was still standing. It felt like they had been doing this forever. She
had lost count of the times she had thrown her lasso out and played tug of war
with the loser falling into the big black hole. This should be the last time. Their
appeared to be only four caught and these were the last of them. Unfortunately,
one of them was smiling. He wasn’t even resisting. Did he just wink at her? She
would show him. She tugged just a little bit harder wanting to end this. Just
before he fell through the hole he mouthed see you soon. Everything went black.

This was becoming a habit she
wanted to break. Once again she was lying on a hard floor with an aching head
after everything had gone black. Why was she lying on a floor? This was not
where she had opened her gate. This was definitely not where she had
transported everyone. Cracking open an eye, she flinched from the artificial
light in the room. Turning just a little, she saw Paul waking up. Had she
brought him through with her?

“You’re awake. Good.”

Opening her other eye, she
adjusted to the light before trying to seek out the voice. Lifting her head
slightly, she took in the shoes. Hard black dress shoes. Definitely male.
Although men’s shoes weren’t her fetish, these had to cost a lot. Slowly going
up, she took in the unmistakably tailored pants. Gangsters are us much? The
blue pinstripe pants weren’t something she was used to seeing unless one
watched old movies. Moving up she saw a nice pressed white dress shirt over
what had to be a hard chest. What she saw behind it made her breath catch.

Spreading out from the shoulders
of the gangster mafia male in front of her was a pair of black wings. He was
unmistakably Demos. She was screwed. They were screwed. If Paul’s the sharp
intake of breath meant anything, he had come to that same conclusion.

“Sorry to leave you where you
lay. Not a sign of a good host, but I was rather sure that if I had you moved,
it would be unacceptable. Please get up and join me.”

Pasting a smile on her face, she
took Paul’s outstretched hand. He had gotten up calmly as if nothing was out of
place and helped her up with a smile that seemed to say ‘Hang on. We will get
out of this.’

“Introductions are in order. I am
Tayrel. I of course know who you are.”

Now that she was standing up and
the shock of seeing a Demos dressed like a gangster was over she completed her
observation. He was tall, six five if she had to take a guess. His features
were sharp. He had a nice chin with a point on the end and a blade for a nose. His
lips were stellar if you wanted to kiss a Demos. They were slightly thick with
a soft look that said come hither. The eyes were scary, although if they had
been a drawing or a painting you would be attracted to them. Slightly slanted
and definitely silver with black pupils. But it was the hair that drew
everything together. It was silver, but in no way dull. In fact it glowed as if
it were alive.

This man would attract every woman
he looked at. He would attract or repel them. Either you loved to live
dangerously or you were a mouse who feared what went bump in the night. She
took another look at the wings and became envious of the mice of the world.

“You seem to have an unfair
advantage over us. We have no idea who you are.” Paul’s voice came out sounding
like he was not a bit worried about their host. Tara found herself trying to
hide her smile.

“He must work for Raimel.” There
was no way he worked for someone else, but when you had no weapons you
improvised.

“Ah, Tara you jest.” His laugh
came out warmly, but his eyes were cold. “Please take a seat. Can I offer you
refreshments?” He poured what looked like brandy into a small sniffer before
offering it to Paul.

“No thank you. It’s much too
early for a drink.” Tara nodded her head in agreement.

Taking a seat, she looked around.
She was in a room that she imagined would be in the home of a millionaire. There
were Exquisite pictures on the walls, furniture made out of the finest wood,
sturdy, but exceptionally well made. It was also beautiful, soft, warm and
inviting. It was conceivable that you may never want to leave a room like this.
It was open and bright with an airy feel to it. Tayrel definitely liked his
creature comforts.

“Why are we here?” Paul had
chosen to sit on the large loveseat next to Tara and now he was subtly starting
to attack.

“I brought you here, of course. I
was amused by your solution to the problem in your dimension. It was quite
advanced for your level of training. Your solution brought you to my attention.
I simply diverted your gateway at the last minute to bring you both here.”

“Where is everyone else?” Tara
needed to make sure her gateway worked and they were safe.

The smile was pure evil. It sent
chills down her back. Smiling back, she ignored the threat, deciding to wait
and hide under her cover when she got home. If she got home.

“At first they were on that
barren rock you picked. Excellent job by the way. I am impressed you found it
since it was hidden. It would have been a slaughter you know. There was no way
that Demos and friends could have won. I decided to give them a fighting chance
and redirected all of them to a different Earth reality. Now there can be a
real fight.”

Was he insane? A real fight? What
had the last couple of years of her life been? A tutoring program for when the
real trouble starts? Those kids and the staff would have been innocent
casualties of a stupid war if the Demos had gotten free. There was no way they
would have spared their lives. It was killed or be killed and she had decided
to live, so she wanted them dead.

“Where are we? I guess that’s the
most compelling question.” She looked over at Paul after asking it. She was
looking for a clue as to how he might want to proceed.

“Yes, that is the question. Right
now you’re in my house. I brought you here with hopes of ending this war before
it began.”

The smile on Paul’s face was
beautiful. It was distracting her from what Tayrel was saying. How come she had
never realized just how handsome he was or how he made her heart race? Hearing
her name was enough to bring her back to the present.

“Tara and I would be happy to
iron out an agreement that would put an end to all of this. Why don’t we go
back to considering the Earth a closed world? That way we can all live our
separate lives.”

She had to smile at that. Paul
did seem to have a way of upsetting people while making his request seem
perfectly legitimate.

“We are way beyond the Earth
being quarantined Paul. The birth of you and Tara, more importantly the power
of your gifts, will draw every species within this galaxy to your door.
Consider yourselves a beacon, broadcasting loudly, that you’re ready to play
with all your galactic neighbors.”

“Sounds like we will have to turn
those beacons off.” She gave a slight smile with that statement. How the hell
could they get out of here? Exactly where was here? “If you do not work for
Raimel, why are we here?”

“Raimel has a grudge against you,
with you being hope and all. His murderous feelings towards you will end with
your death. How dreary to let a perfectly good feeling of hatred drop with a
single death. He is simply a convenient worker in a system I created. Think of
him as a gangster and myself as the Godfather.”

She wasn’t sure if she was
choking or laughing at that last statement. Here she thought she was
certifiable. “Exactly what do you know about the Godfather?”

“We have watched how you
chronical your history, your wars and the way your people act and react. Hours
upon hours of Earth time have we watched those which you so diligently put on
what you call television.”

Paul and Tara looked at each
other and shrugged. God save them from aliens that watched television.

“So you’re the Godfather,
directing all the actions of the others?”

“Yes I am in charge.”

“Go ahead and say it.” Tara
smiled at him while she waited.

“Say what?”

“You know what I am talking
about. You’re dying to say it.”

He seemed to ignore her as he
looked down at the desk in front of him.

“You may never get another chance
to say it.” She taunted him, knowing it was never a good thing, but needing to
anyway. She needed to find a crack that she could manipulate later.

“Amazing that you’re still alive
with an attitude like that.”

“Just trying to give you a chance,
but your right it’s such a cheesy statement. I wouldn’t say it either. So are
we your prisoners or are we free to leave?”

“You’re my guests and as such I
am sure you’re not ready to leave yet. You just got here. Before you ask, you
will be free to leave as soon as your army is eliminated. They will get no more
help from you.”

“Why don’t you just kill us?” He
was tired of playing games and wanted some real answers.

“If you die right now all the
pieces on the board reset.” He hit a button on the desk and the door opened. Two
Demos came in and waited, standing at military attention. “Escort my guests to
their room.”

Standing up, they followed the
guards to the door.

“Tara.” She stopped and turned to
look at Tayrel. “I would have made you an offer you couldn’t refuse.” With a
smile on her face she turned and followed the guards out the door.

They were led out of the room and
through a nice hallway until they reached a beautiful staircase. Scarlet O’Hara
anyone? On the second floor they were led to a beautiful room that felt like a
gilded cage. There was a sitting room that led into a bedroom with a bathroom
off one wall.

“It’s beautiful.” Tara said
looking around.

“I would trade it for the
warehouse in a heartbeat.”

Smiling Tara nodded. “So would I,
but at least it’s not a dark cell or a basement lined with cuffs that we will
soon be attached too.”

“Ok that’s a good point. How do
we get out of here?” Paul paused for a minute before adding “What was the
goading about downstairs. Do you think we are being listened too?”

“I don’t think they were big on
bugging rooms when the Godfather was made. I doubt we are being listened too.
Although I am sure that the galaxy as a whole has more things than we can
imagine, so a listening device is really low on the list of things to be
worried about. Next, if he thinks he’s the Godfather then there has to be a
list of lines he has picked up from watching television that he wants to use.
Who else in the galaxy will understand him besides us?”

Paul, sank down onto the couch
next to Tara in the sitting room. “Ok, but how did you guess that and why that
line.” 

“Come on. Think about it. How
many great lines have you heard? If you could slip them into normal
conversation, wouldn’t you? Then you would just sit back and grin as you
watched the people around you react to the line.”

“Point taken. I can think of a
few nice ones. Why that one? Was it the one you were expecting?”

“It was. It’s just so polite and
yet almost evil. More importantly when he said it, he showed a crack, a small
insignificant one. Maybe with time we will be able to widen it and use it
against him.”

“Now what?”

“Now we find a way out of here.”

“Right this way.” They walked
over to a window and drew back the curtains. The window was made out of
something that they had never seen before. It was unbreakable and it would not
open. Although from the view below breaking it would have been a death
sentence.

They were in their city or what
looked like their city. Demos walked up and down the streets while others had
stopped to chat. Some had children who were walking behind them or flying in
the air, but the truly frightening sight was the humans. They were being
treated like chattel, hauling packages and running to do whatever they were told.

Those who did not move fast
enough were being punished on the spot. No one reacted to the punishments and
no one lifted a hand to help those in trouble.

“Where are we?” She could hear
the horror in his voice as he checked the location.

“Pittsburgh?” She was grateful
she had missed dinner. The nausea she felt from the sight below her would have
never been contained otherwise. How could this be Earth?

“No way. Last I looked we were
not slaves.”

“Paul can you let me into your
shield?”

“Yes.” Closing his eyes he let
out a sigh. “You’re in. It was much easier this time.”

She reached for the door to their
home. “The door home is blocked. It looks like it has been sealed shut. In fact
the doors to all the other planets I know have been locked. What do we do now?”

“Let’s just think. We came up
with something earlier.”

“Where are we? This is definitely
not Earth.” Tara hated when her voice started to sound thin and reedy. She
could hear it going in that direction. She took a deep breath not wanting to
panic.

“What if it is Earth? Ok just follow
me for a moment. If it looks like Earth and it quacks like Earth then it must
be Earth. Right?” The smile he cast her fell flat leaving her to take deeper
breaths.

“What? Like planet of the apes
when you see the statue of liberty in the sand? Future Earth?”

“Can’t be future Earth it looks
too much like our time line.”

“What if it is our time, but not
our timeline? What if we are in a dimension that is parallel to ours? For all
intense and purpose it is our time just a different dimension.” She raised a
brow liking it better than the future earth theory.