“No, we are one alien. We are called Thistle. What is your name, human?”
“You’re both called Thistle?”
“We are the same person, Light and Shadow.”
“Right…” her gaze flicks between Light and the open window.
“If you are done being confused, we need to catch Doug before he escalates his next shipment to now and we lose him. This is the third planet he has set up business from.” My hand fists. “And he has slipped by us twice before.”
She lowers the gun. “I am Officer Cadence Blake. I’m a cop. I knew something wasn’t right with him. I thought he was cheating on me.” Her eyes narrow. “Are you sure this isn’t some kind of April Fool’s joke? Did Gabby send you?”
“We do not know a Gabby. And this is not a joke. Doug is the head of a massive criminal enterprise.”
“Well, let’s go and catch him.”
“Shadow is trailing him. He will be going to his second place of business. Do you know where that is?” We ask. Doug is moving over roofs.
“He has an office, and I know where his laptop is.” She turns and disappears into the other room. After a moment she sticks her head back out. “I can’t break into the safe, can you?”
“Yes.” I follow her into the room, a bedroom that she appears to share with him. “Why are you helping?”
“Because I want to see the proof.” She pulls on a painting, and it swings away from the wall, revealing the primitive safe.
Shadow is better at opening safes than me. We press our hand to the lock, but do not pick it the way Shadow does, instead we use a burst of heat to destroy it. The lock clicks and the door opens.
As well as the human laptop and the more advanced liquid prism screen we are used to There is also a banned weapon, the destroys cell’s ability to retain water, so the victim leaks to death. We take the weapon and both computers.
“What is that? Is that alien technology?” She reaches to take it from me, but I draw back.
“Yes. I will take it.” It is evidence. I pause, as Shadow demands my attention. “Thank you. We will go now.” We reach for her, to knock her out for a few seconds. “When you wake up—”
Cadence steps back, avoiding our touch. “No. I’m going with you. I was sleeping with Doug. That thing.” She shudders.
“You are upset because he was unattractive?”
“I am upset about this whole thing. I wanted to break up with him. Now I find out he’s an alien and a criminal.” Her mouth opens and her eyebrows pull together. “If aliens are real. Why do you look human?”
“We are bending light to appear so. I must reunite with Shadow.” We are weaker when separated.
“Wait. What do you really look like? Are you also man-shaped, bright, green jelly?”
“No.” We drop the illusion so she can see us. We are breaking the rules for no good reason. We should be going after Doug and Shadow, but the damage is already done, and she knows we are not human.
CHAPTER3
CADENCE
One momenthe looks like a cop, the next his skin gleams green then gold depending on the light. His ears are pointed, angled to the back of his head, which is covered in close cropped dark hair, but it’s his eyes that are mesmerizing. They glitter like opals. He’s wearing coppery colored clothes that might be made of leather or metal or something else entirely.
“Happy?” Thistle asks.
I’m not happy. I’m not sure that’s possible at the moment. I’m grappling with too many things. Aliens are guys in costume and makeup. They aren’t meant to be real.
How the hell did I live with one for six months and never realize? My stomach rolls at the thought of all the times I slept with him. He felt human. But what I felt against me, in me, was the skin he shed and left on the floor.
My stomach bucks. Instead of vomiting, I snarl, “I want to catch that asshole.”
“Very well. Where do you think he is going?”
