Janelle projected the image of extended hands in my mind just as she raised her own before stumbling forward towards me. Her knees buckled, and I rushed to her, catching my mate before she would hit the floor. I picked her up in my arms and carried her to the room at the back from whence she had come.
The female Creckel rushed ahead of me to reassure the young that had huddled back inside the room. Under different circumstances, I would have fawned over how adorable they were. But I headed straight for a metal chair propped next to a small table: the only two things that looked sturdy in the large room. It was odd how the beyond scarce furniture consisted of the table, an old cot, and a small storage desk that were all grouped in the center of the room.
I sat down on the chair, that whined slightly under my weight, then settled Janelle sideways on my lap. Anger and sorrow filled my hearts feeling how skinny she felt through her oversized coat. She tried to hold herself up, but her head mostly rested on my shoulder, needing the support that was rightfully hers to claim.
“I’ve got you, my darling,” I said gently, flipping open the lid of the water bottle. The nozzle was in fact an integrated straw which made it easier to drink. As always, Jessica had thought of everything. “This is going to help you. It has some salt and sugar to help rehydrate you. But you must drink slowly, or you will be sick.”
Janelle lifted a shaky hand, having barely the strength to do so. Her fingers closed around the bottle, and her cracked lips parted as I brought it to her mouth. As expected, she sucked greedily on the straw, moaning with almost painful joy as she did.
“Slow down, sweetheart,” I said repeatedly before pulling the bottle away, hating to deprive her of what she so desperately needed. She whimpered, her hand tightening around the bottle. She cast a frightened and betrayed look towards me, as if thinking I was going to deny her the rest. “Don’t worry. This is all for you. I will give all of it to you. But you need to slow down. I know it’s hard, but the slower you go, the more I can give you.”
She projected the image of the sun in her chest growing outward. I didn’t know what that meant. But she went back to drinking, closing her eyes with an almost blissful expression. After a few more sips, Janelle abruptly straightened, her body contracting with a few dry heaves. For a moment, I feared she wouldn’t be able to stomach the liquid. However, after about a minute, my mate appeared to settle. She didn’t balk the other times I stopped her for drinking too fast, waiting eagerly for me to let her resume, occasionally stopping on her own when her stomach acted up again.
I couldn’t have said how much time had gone by, I’d been so intent on my woman. A scraping sound drew my attention. I lifted my head and was stunned to see the female Creckel dragging the cooler on top of her flat tail, the way Stran had often done with other things in the past. She had recurved the sides of her tail, the spiked darts lining them keeping the crate in place. The young Creckels surrounded her, their small tails tapping the floor with impatience. She lowered the spikes then wiggled herself free from beneath the crate.
I had always been impressed by Stran’s dexterity. Seeing that female sit on her hind legs, her tail serving as a counterbalance to keep her up, then reach in with her front paws to pick up a thick steak blew me away. Using her long, sharp claws, she sliced one of the pieces of meat in half before extending them to two of the young. They greedily caught the meat in their mouths then walked a short distance away to make room for the others. Imitating the seating position the adult female had taken, the little Creckels started eating with a hearty appetite. The purring sound of delight as they feasted drew a smile on my face.
Janelle’s consciousness brushed against mine before she once more projected the image of a sun expanding outward from her heart. Despite the weak and worn out expression on her face, the look in her eyes made me melt from the inside out. It shone with such awe and gratitude, I felt almost like a god. I had so yearned to be looked at this way by someone I could claim as mine and to whom I would completely belong. A fierce wave of possessiveness and protectiveness washed over me as I gazed upon my delicate female, so vulnerable in my arms.
“Your time of hardship is over, Janelle. You will never thirst or hunger again. You will never be imprisoned and afraid. As long as I draw breath, I swear to you that you will never want for anything.”
5
Janelle
I couldn’t keep my eyes off him. Even through my blurred vision, showing me barely a silhouette, I knew he was beautiful. My fingers still remembered the perfection of his features as his body had grown cold. I didn’t understand what he was. The arced horn on his forehead marked him as a Kryptid. Those evil insects had all possessed one, black and shiny, shaped like a crescent-moon. And yet, he wasn’t a bug. His face alone confirmed it. The scales on his forehead and on his cheeks had given way to such soft skin, with nice lips, a straight nose, big eyes—bigger than a human’s—and the softest hair. I wanted so much to touch his silky locks again, but I was feeling too weak. They had smelled so good. Everything about him smelled so incredibly good, it was intoxicating.
His strong, hard body around me, holding me, made me feel safer than I had felt in the past twenty years. I didn’t want him to ever let me go. And his voice was the sweetest music, like the bristling wind, the sweet humming of a mother putting her child to sleep, or the rumbling purr of a baby Creckel getting his tummy rubbed. And that beautiful voice spoke such wondrous words, with such depth of sincerity. No hunger. No thirst. No fear. And above all, freedom… Beyond the hallway, I could hear the sizzling sound of Reaper’s companions cutting through the rocks and twisted metal that kept us trapped here.
I was likely hallucinating. After all, I was still down here, in this crumbling base. The last poisoning from the bad water and bad vegetables was no doubt messing with my mind. But I no longer cared. If I was currently dying in a delirious fever, I couldn’t have dreamed of a better death. I wanted it to last, to be forever surrounded by his clean, crisp, delicious scent. It was warm and comforting like the smell of freshly baked bread slathered with melting butter.
The happy chewing sounds of my companions and the wondrous smell of clean meat filled my heart to bursting. Mother had been wrong. Reaper wasn’t the bringer of death, but the bringer of life. He was feeding my friends and me. He was our sun. My Sun.
I swallowed painfully, my throat still parched despite the insane amount of water I had already drunk. Normally, I would have rationed such a large quantity over nearly a week. My stomach still quivered, unsure as to how it wanted to handle such bounty. But it had settled enough for me to seek more of that wonderful water: slightly salty, amazingly sweet, and clean… so incredibly clean…
I instinctively projected an image of a water bottle inside me. Although I couldn’t see his face, his slight recoil and the way his body almost imperceptibly stiffened told me he had likely not understood. I mentally chastised myself for not using my words. It would be difficult to remember to use speech. I understood spoken words perfectly, but after decades not using them, I realized expressing coherent sentences out loud would be very demanding.
“M-more? P-please?” I whispered, my voice hopeful.
I had already drained the bottle he had brought. But he had said there was more, as much as I wanted…