Tuesday Tales - Happy

 

Welcome to Tuesday Tales! This week's word prompt is “happy”. We are back with Dani in my new Sci-Fi story. 

Be sure to check out the other Tuesday Tales by clicking here!

Dani gaped at him for a second. Then she didn’t need a written invitation. She scrambled off her stool, knocking it over in the process. She knew every eye in the place was on her as she scuttled backwards through the place. She watched as Ezra slowly, methodically rose from his seat. His steps were almost robotic as he followed her. 

That was her sign to turn and run. She sprinted out the door into the Boston nightlife. 

She sucked in a breath, hoping it would soothe her lungs. They felt like they were on fire. “I should have listened to you earlier. I’m sorry, Bobo.”

She was certain she heard him huff. Was he pouting in her head?

Dani dodged a slow-walking gent on the street. If she knew she would be running for her life that night, she would have worn better shoes. “Listen, I know you told me not to go,” she muttered to him. “Clearly, I am not happy with my decision…”

She stopped suddenly as something cloudy and opaque rushed past her. She struggled to find her voice as her chest heaved. “What was that?”

“Our end.”

The phantom spun back. It must have realized it overshot its target. “Be more specific,” Dani urged. “How is it our end?”

“It is one of Grarkiel’s minions,” Bobo explained, his voice barely a whisper. “When the Vigvuth drains the blood of their victims, they take their essence as well. Those spirits are kept captive inside the Vigvuth and become minions to fight. And kill.”

The minion charged at Dani, parting the people on the sidewalk as it sped towards them. She glanced over her shoulder. Ezra was stalking towards her as well, determination in every step. She searched frantically for anything, any place that might give them a safe haven. 

“We are doomed,” Bobo wailed. 

“Not today,” Dani replied. “Cover your ears. It’s going to get loud.”

She hopped out of the minion’s line of sight. She wedged herself into a group of barely dressed women. It was pretty clear they were looking for a good time. The sound of pounding music encased them as they all slid inside the nightclub. 

Tuesday Tales - Can

 

Welcome to Tuesday Tales! This week's word prompt is “can”. We are back with my Sci-Fi story. 

Be sure to check out the other Tuesday Tales by clicking here!

Dani pulled free from his grasp and laid the hand he touched in her lap. What was going on? Ezra was never this forward before. “Let’s just see where the night goes. Okay?”

“Suit yourself.”

Dani squeezed her eyes shut as she felt Bobo bouncing around his skull. He was practically hissing in her eardrum. Maybe he was really a cat after all. “Leave. We must leave.”

She grit her teeth, hoping the subtle action would keep her voice low. “Why?”

“Look at his eyes. Can you trust him? You cannot. Flee.”

“Is everything alright?” Ezra interrupted her conversation with the extraterrestrial in her head.

Dani’s eyes flew open. She gazed into Ezra’s. Instead of the warm, chocolate brown she was used to, they were almost glowing lunar blue.

Oh crap.

She gave him a weak smile. “I think I’m getting a headache. There’s a lot of pressure in my head.”

The smirk that had been on Ezra’s lips since she arrived disappeared. The scowl he now possessed sent a jolt of terror through her. “I bet you do.”

“I apologize. I may need to cut our night short.”

“Go, now. Please,” Bobo whispered.

“Why? It’s just begun. I promise you that it will be a night you will never forget.”

Dani opened her mouth to respond. A thousand excuses flooded her brain. For once in her life, she was grateful for all the romcoms her mother used to force her to watch. She clamped her lips shut as she watched Ezra wince. He clenched his eyes shut as all the muscles in his face contracted. It looked like he was struggling against something that clearly had him in its grip.

She didn’t have to answer for herself what it was. Bobo did it for her. “Grarkiel.”

She barely heard the words that Ezra spoke over the noise of the bar and grill. He muttered them so low they were almost lost. “Run. Now.”

Tuesday Tales - Water

Welcome to Tuesday Tales! This week's word prompt is “water”. We are back with my Sci-Fi story.  Be sure to check out the other Tuesday Tales by clicking here!

Dani tapped on the screen. “Where do you want to meet?”

She didn’t realize she was holding her breath until it escaped when the answer appeared on her device. “Michael’s. That’s the bar and grill we ate at that first time. See you in an hour.”

She gripped her phone tightly as she returned to the living room. She slipped it back into her purse and turned for the door. 

She paused. Without turning, she spoke. “Are you coming? I think I’m going to need you.”

“Of course.” 

Dani could hear the squeaking patter of latex on her coffee table. Then there was the tickle in her ear and pressure in her head. 

“Ready to go?” she questioned.

“Yes. Let us depart.”

She gave a quick smile as she reached for the doorknob and twisted it. She tugged it closed behind her then hurried down the hall to catch the bus. 

The journey back to the library felt like an eternity. Dani squirmed in the plastic seat as she gazed out the window at the setting sun. The closer she got to Ezra, the higher her anxiety rose. She could feel her nerves reverberate inside her. 

This was going to be the night of her life or it was going to go very, very bad.

She barely made it into the restaurant before the hour was up. Ezra was sitting at the table they had been at before, a pint of beer already in his hand. His grin was a little crooked as he waved her over. 

“Hey beautiful,” he greeted. “I’m glad you could make it. Margarita?”

“No.” Dani turned to the waitress now standing beside her. “Water, please.”

The girl scribbled her request down on the pad in her hand then scurried off to get the glass.

She climbed onto the stool as Ezra took a sip of the brew. “Ah, no fun tonight?” He reached out to caress her hand with his free one. “I was looking forward to having a little fun.”

Tuesday Tales - Maroon

 

Welcome to Tuesday Tales! This week's word prompt is “maroon”. We are back with my Sci-Fi story. 

Be sure to check out the other Tuesday Tales by clicking here!

It had been a long day. Dani slipped off her maroon colored cardigan and draped it over the chair in her living room. Yes, Boston was toasty in the summer. She had sweat buckets the whole way home. The air conditioning in the bus did little to cool her down.

She was too self conscious to dress for comfort. In her bulky sweater and long skirt, she blended into the crowd. No one noticed her. She would suffer from overheating to be essentially invisible.

Her head felt like it was imploding. She held her breath for a moment. Couldn’t he hurry up?

A moment later, her new little roommate popped out of her ear onto the couch, bouncing from cushion to cushion like a real life cartoon.

“More reading tonight?” Boboneth inquired once he finally came to a stop.

“I’m going to warm up a frozen pizza but then yes,” Dani replied.

Bobo cocked his balloon head. “Pizza? I’ve heard of this wonder. May I have a…”

“Slice?” Dani finished his sentence. Or at least she hoped she did.

His translucent body reared back a bit as if alarmed or offended. She sighed. With his limited knowledge of the English language, slice could mean other things. “Slice. When you get a piece of pizza, we call it a slice. It is a triangular shape most of the time since normally a pizza is round.”

“It’s not violent, like the slash of a blade?”

“Nope. Just pizza.”

Bobo’s head nodded slowly. “Slice, yes. I would like a slice or two.

“Coming right up. Since you are new to this, let’s try cheese. Once I know you can handle something spicier, we will move up to pepperoni.”

She shuffled to the kitchen and yanked open the freezer door. She pried up the first pizza then the second. Before she could tug free the icy cheese disk, she heard the tone of a text message come from her purse. She let the door of the freezer swing shut then hurried to her bag in the living room. Unzipping it, she reached in to fish out the device. She read the three words on the screen

“Meet me tonight?”

She wasn’t sure how to feel about the message she read. Her heartbeat sped up a bit. Why wouldn’t it? She’d be lying to herself if she denied being attracted to Ezra. At the same time, something was off.

Tuesday Tales - Soon

 

Welcome to Tuesday Tales! This week's word prompt is “soon”. We are back with my Sci-Fi story. 

Be sure to check out the other Tuesday Tales by clicking here!

Ezra swallowed hard. “No. Forget it,” he muttered to himself as he glanced around. Great. No one heard him talking to himself.

“Did you tell me no? You will do what I command.”

Ezra ripped a random book from the shelf and shook it open. Great. Italian architecture. “Let it go, Grarkiel.”

“You know you have no choice. Soon, the fever will set in.”

“Don’t.”

It was too late. A drop of perspiration beaded on his forehead and drizzled down the bridge of his nose. Granted, it was the middle of summer outside. However, the air conditioning in the library left the temperature a degree or two above arctic freezing. He would have to do some hardcore exercising to break a sweat in here.

“Please, leave her alone,” Ezra pleaded.

“And have her discover our secret? I can’t have that. My kin won’t allow that. There is only one solution. Eliminate her.”

His heart picked up its pace, pounding like a drum against his ribs. He sucked in a deep breath then let it go slowly. He had to stop this. He couldn’t let Grarkiel take over. For a brief moment, the image of Dani, her body just an empty husk, filled his mind. He couldn’t be the cause of her demise. He refused.

The alien’s voice was a purr in his mind. “Don’t fight it. I vow to you that I will make it brief.” She will never know what happened.”

A tug in his belly shot down to his groin. His vision grew fuzzy. Control was slipping away from him no matter how hard he tried to hang on. He slowed his inhales and exhales to an even pace. Fight. Don’t surrender. For the first time since this cursed existence began in that forest outside his grandparents’ home, don’t give in.

“Too late.” Grarkiel growled the two words, his ancient voice reverberating against Ezra’s brain. An icy shiver ran up Ezra’s spine. A tear slipped from the corner of his eye and mingled with the sheen of sweat on his cheek.

“I am so sorry, Dani,” he murmured. It was the last thing he remembered before the fever consumed him. 

Tuesday Tales - Write

Welcome to Tuesday Tales! This week's word prompt is “write”. We are back with Dani in my new Sci-Fi story. 

Be sure to check out the other Tuesday Tales by clicking here!

The binding of the books he read over and over was as familiar to him as his own skin. That wasn’t a good thing. He had been studying Egyptian archeology since he was ten, not long after his disappearance. At this point, he could write his own novel without stepping foot in a dig site. 

To be honest, Grarkiel researched it through him. To this day, his personal parasite never told him why. He and the other voices in his head told him to shut it and mind himself. Then Grarkiel usually caused him some sort of excruciating pain. 

Ezra quickly learned to stop asking questions after that, 

He scowled as he ran his fingers across the smooth, glossy, somewhat wrinkled dust covers a third time. A few of them were only enough to have wear spots on them, 

There were some missing. All of them were the ones he was working with last night. He let out a huff then chuckled to himself. 

Of course. Someone probably found them lying on the floor and put them on a cart to be reshelved later. If anyone could find them, it would be Elise. She could find anything in the old building. 

Ezra trudged his way back to the circulation and forced another grin on his face. The one Elise returned was more than likely genuine, “Can I help you with something?” she asked.

“I apologize,” he began. “I left a pile of books on the floor yesterday. I forgot I had an appointment. Could you see where they might be?”

“Do you have the author or the titles?”

“Yeah, hang on.” Ezra reached his hand around him and slipped it into the back pocket of his jeans, he tugged out a folded piece of paper. He carefully unwrapped it and handed it to Elise. He hoped and prayed she didn’t read the notes in the margins. It would be crazy talk to her. 

He reached over the counter and pointed to a row of type. “That one.”

“Okay. Let me look it up.” She typed on the keyboard for a few seconds. Her brows knitted as she stopped. “It’s been checked out.”

“By who?”

“I’m not supposed to give out that information.” She paused. “However, you could probably ask when she will be done with them. Dani has them.”

Ezra swallowed hard as his heart plummeted into his stomach. He could already hear Grarkiel growling in his brain. “Thanks. If I see her, I will ask.” 

He gave Elise a brief wave as we walked back towards his familiar corridor. He barely made it past a shelf when Grarkiel snarled against his eardrum. “Kill her. Bring her to me and I will feast on her.”

Tuesday Tales - Beat

 

Welcome to Tuesday Tales! This week's word prompt is “beat”. We are back with Dani in my new Sci-Fi story. 

Be sure to check out the other Tuesday Tales by clicking here!

All the people who hung around the library made Ezra uneasy. It felt like everyone was staring at him. They knew his secret. His heart beat out of control as he pulled back the hood of his hoodie and glanced around the spacious room. It was surprising he hadn’t dropped dead of a heart attack yet. Of course no one was staring at him. They were busy with their own things. It didn’t make it better though.

He forced a smile on his face as he approached the information desk. The way Elise beamed at him when she saw him made the guilt twice as hard to take. “Hi, Ezra. Nice sweatshirt. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you wear one. Especially since it is so hot outside.”

He shrugged. “My air won’t turn off. I’m still trying to warm up.”

“Well, that sucks. I’m sorry.”

“Eh, no reason to be. Hopefully the apartment manager will have it fixed before I get home.”

“I hope so too. If you need anything, let me know.”

“Will do.”

He gave her a brief wave as he shuffled off to his usual spot. Hopefully his books would be nearby where he abandoned them yesterday. He hated to lie but how could he possibly tell Elise the truth? It was bad enough that Dani knew everything. There was that knife turn of remorse. He cut her off and walked away from her when she wanted to tell him something important to her. He wanted to stay. He wanted to hear every syllable that left her perfect pink lips. It was one more thing they shared. He just knew it.

Except for the fact that Grarkiel and his minions had been literally and figuratively losing their collective shit ever since the Prince disappeared. If Dani would have gotten out what she had to say, more than likely Grarkiel would have learned of his royal highness’s new whereabouts. 

The alien who possessed would have forced him into a fever, sent him off to find the poor librarian, and lured her into a trap just like all the others. He wouldn’t stop until his royal highness was back and Dani was dead. 

Ezra sighed as he shuffled through the stacks for his reading material. He sighed. Good for Boboneth. He was finally free. At least one of them escaped this hellhole

Tuesday Tales - Ride

 

Welcome to Tuesday Tales! This week's word prompt is “ride”. We are back with Dani in my new Sci-Fi story. 

Be sure to check out the other Tuesday Tales by clicking here!

“We did not learn much,” Bobo commented. His cat’s eyes narrowed against the glare from the overhead fixture. 

“That we did not,” Dani concurred as she crossed her arms over her chest. “The Vigvuth are looking for something. It’s Egyptian and has to do with books. Somewhere along the line, they wrote clues along with hieroglyphics. It could have been when the pyramids were built or.” She picked up the top book and opened the front cover. She closed it again with a small thud. “1999. We don’t know.”

The alien cocked his head at her. “What do we do now?”

Dani gnawed on her lip as she thought. “Ezra always sits in the library and reads these books. He must be looking for clues to the same thing. Well, Grarkiel is through him. Maybe the system at the library has a list of the books he’s requested. I can check tomorrow while I am working.”

Bobo’s eyes widened to the size of a literal plate. “I get to go for another ride?”

“In my head?” Dani countered. One day of having him stuffed around her brain was enough. She was pretty sure she would never get used to it. 

“Yes.”

“Really? I am certain you would be fine here. I can even leave these books for you.” She waved her hand towards the stack like she had seen the models in game shows do.

“But Grarkiel…”

There was that whimper in his voice. This exterrestrial was playing her like a fiddle. “Fine. Tomorrow you can go with me. Until then, I need to find something to eat and get some sleep. I need to prepare for tomorrow’s migraine.”

She glared at him for a moment then spun on her toe to her minuscule kitchen. 

“May I join you? I am hungry,” a voice called out. 

Dani bit back a sigh. “Of course. Come see what looks good.”

She was nearly knocked down by the streak of magenta that raced past her for the refrigerator. Somewhere between the sofa and the appliance he switched back to his balloon figure. He blinked rapidly at her. He must have been excited. It only confirmed Dani’s suspicions. It was going to be a long night.

Tuesday Tales - Sharp

Welcome to Tuesday Tales! This week's word prompt is “sharp”. We are back with Dani in my new Sci-Fi story. 

Be sure to check out the other Tuesday Tales by clicking here!

Bobo hopped onto the floor, his balloon shapes jiggling as he did so. A second hardly passed before the cat-like alien appeared. He searched the room uncertainly as he bowed his head against the ceiling.

“Is there a problem?” Dani questioned. She fought back the sharp tone in her voice. In her defense, it had been a crazy, long day. 

“I..” Bobo snapped his lips shut into a thin line. The gaze from his gold and green feline eyes darted around the move. With soft, deliberate steps, he shuffled around the table to the sofa. He rustled his robes like a mother hen ruffling her feathers as she settled on her nest full of chicks. Finally, he sat down on a cushion, the heap of books between them.

“Better?” Dani asked. 

“Quite.” Bobo reached for the book by his hip and picked it up. Setting it back down on the tabletop, he used the tip of a claw to pry it open. Dani watched over his shoulder as he flipped through the pages. There were images of gold riches and elaborate crypts on each page. He was nearly halfway through the tome when he stopped. A photo of a stone wall full of etchings appeared. 

“What do you see?” Dani leached over the tiny mountain of pages to stare at it with him. 

He raised a hand to stroke a tuff of neatly trimmed hair that grew there. “Curious. The words scripted into the stone at the bottom of these pictographs tell of a grand place that held many stories. It has long since passed on.”

Dani scowled, puzzled. “A library? A bookstore? Now I get why Ezra keeps checking out books on Egyptian archeology. But why is Grarkiel interested in books? His host surrounds himself with books everyday.”

“According to this, it seems this place of mystery holds more than just volumes of words. It holds the keys to the Vigvuth’s existence.”

“That sounds a bit dramatic.”

Tuesday Tales - Massive

 

Welcome to Tuesday Tales! This week's word prompt is “massive”. We are back with Dani in my new Sci-Fi story. 

Be sure to check out the other Tuesday Tales by clicking here!

Bobbling the massive stack of books on the bus was a challenge. Dani would have brought her backpack with her that morning if she thought she was taking them home. 

Then again, her morning was filled with all sorts of distractions such as a hangover and an alien living in her head. She could probably allow herself some grace.

Elise tried her best to stuff them in one of the handy plastic book bags the library offered to their patrons to take home their borrowed treasures. However, they were typically meant for the visitors who checked out items from the children’s section or only were interested in a paperback novel or two. They weren’t hauling a dozen large photo books and history tomes. The sacks split before Dani took a dozen steps from the desk, spilling the pages onto the tile floor. 

It didn’t help that Bobo bounced around her skull like a squirrel on crack. They would both be glad when he could be free of her head. Whatever he saw in that picture of the hieroglyphics hyped him up. Whether it was excitement or anxiety she couldn’t tell. She just wished he would stop. The latest dose of ibuprofen was wearing off. 

She murmured a thank you to the nice graying gentleman with a cane who held the bus door open until she could step out. She took a second to balance the pile again the best she could before she scuttled up the stairs to her apartment. It took another feat of grace to unlock the door once she arrived. With a sigh of relief, she opened her arms over the couch and let them gently topple onto the soft cushions. 

There was a pressure in her head, much like the one she felt before she left for work that morning. A moment later, a balloon figure shaped like a human toddled across her coffee table. There was clicking like a chipmunk. A voice echoed in Dani’s head. “By stars, how am I to open these?”

“Hold on a sec.” Dani hurried to the windows. She stretched to her tiptoes to reach the fragment of a string tied to the blind. After a few failed attempts, she yanked it closed. She did the same thing with the second window. Flipping on the light, she turned towards Bobo. “You can change form now.”