Before she could ask, he asked, “Where do you hurt the most?”
Cara looked at him in mild surprise and then replied, “My leg.But it’s from a previous injury.”She swallowed thickly.“I’m sore pretty much everywhere to be honest.”
Devix pressed his lips together for a moment, thinking.Cara couldn’t help but notice that he wore a dark green shirt that day, made out of what looked like suede.It molded to his chest and wide shoulders like a second skin.
Cara cleared her throat and forced herself to look at his face.Not like that’s hard either, a little voice inside her thought.
“An Azatian’s weakest point is here,” Devix began, demonstrating by placing one claw about five inches down from the base of his throat.“They usually wear heavy metals as protection, but on occasion the metal will slide and you can pierce it with the right angle.”
“Pierce what?” she asked quietly.
“The heart,” he answered.“They only have one and it lies close against the flesh.You can see it beneath their skin if you look close enough.”
Cara sucked in a breath.“That’s the only place?Not, um, their genitals or something?”
Devix’s brow twitched, or at least she swore it did.“Their genitals retract into the protection of their bodies.”
“Um…” was all Cara could say, eyes wide, face flaming.
“Nix, you cannot attack them there,” he said, as if she needed further clarification.
“Right,” she said.And then, she wondered if Devix had a cock that ‘retracted’ into his body and then her face turned even redder.Jesus.
“Their eyes are also sensitive.Bright lights blind them.It is eternal night on their planet, so they are unused to it.”
Eternal night?Darkness, always.Panic rose.She couldn’t be in the dark, not again.
Devix watched her process this information and then he said, “Stand away.Against the wall.”
Cara did as he asked and then he retrieved a short, silver blade from a hidden sheath at his waist.With a tap on the band around his forearm, he widened his stance, holding the blade in front of him.
Cara wondered what the hell he was doing when the hologram appeared, the same one she’d caught a brief glimpse of yesterday when she’d first peeked into that room.She’d barely registered it before, but now she studied it.
Her first impression was that it looked like the Baquarian.Like a snake, with slitted eyes and a flat nose.And scales.Its head was smooth and bare, but its body was cloaked in metal.A long, lizard-like tale jutted out from behind, brushing the metal floor.
It was so realistic that Cara recoiled.She had to remind herself that it was just a hologram.
And somehow, she knew that he was showing her an Azatian.
Cara held her breath when the hologramattackedand she realized why Devix needed the blade.When it jabbed at her alien with a long spear, he dodged easily and quickly, and then he blocked another with his blade, the weapons connecting.
Not a hologram, she thought, shrinking further into the wall, trying not to be seen in case it turned that spear on her.
Devix positioned his body between them and then said, “Do you see the place, Cara?”
Hearing her name focused her and she sought it out, five inches down the Azatian’s chest.Its heart was protected by a red, glowing medallion.When the hologram twisted to strike Devix, the medallion lifted slightly and she saw it.The heart.It was glowing a light blue and, like its skin was translucent around it, she saw it throb.Then the medallion shifted back into place and the sight was lost.
“Yes,” she said.
Suddenly, the hologram’s eyes were on hers.Before she had time to even comprehend it, or move, Devix plunged the blade up beneath the medallion.The Azatian roared and then the hologram disappeared completely.
Cara was frozen against the wall, hardly daring to move.
“Is it gone?” she asked, her voice sounding hollow.
“Tev,” he said, unwounded, replacing his silver blade.“It is.”
“That…that was real,” she said softly.
