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