Chapter One
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Lily.
“Lily? Come out here.”
I hear my uncle’s voice calling through my open window and I scowl. I’m right in the middle of a painting. I’m wearing a paint-splattered white t-shirt and pyjama shorts. I can’t help what I’m wearing when inspiration strikes, I usually just grab my things and start without giving much thought to my clothes.
“I’ll be out in a minute!” I call back.
If my uncle is calling, it is no doubt because he wants me to meet someone. I put my brushes in a cup of water and quickly wash my hands. I swap my t-shirt for a clean cropped one and change my shorts into actual denim ones. As I’m walking out of my bedroom, I pull out the bobble keeping my hair in a bun and let the long dark tresses fall down my back. I comb my fingers through them to make myself look somewhat presentable as I shove my feet in flipflops and head outside.
I walk across to the main house, heading towards the patio, knowing that it is most likely where my uncle is. He loves doing business at the large outdoor table, it’s right next to the pool and he can perve on all his politician friends’ wives. I plaster a fake smile on my face as I reach the patio, but it drops as soon as I see who is gathered there.
My uncle, the Minister of Defence for the UK, is standing next to the MOD permanent secretary, the Shadow minister and two other people I recognise to be part of the Defence Ministerial team. If they’re all here and wanting me to join them, something big is going on. I swallow hard and approach them hesitantly.
“Hey…what’s going on?”
Uncle Ron is all pink in the face, clearly worked up about something. “We have a surprise for you. A raid was carried out this morning when we detected a portal in the national park.”
My stomach drops. A portal. This is the new normal for our world now and you’d think, after a year, I would have gotten used to it. Just over a year ago, the first portal known to man opened in Japan. It led to another world, another planet, another galaxy entirely separate from ours. One portal and everything as we knew it detonated and fell apart.
It turns out, humans really aren’t the only higher species in the universe. Over the course of a few months, with more portals opening across the globe, we learned of the Jalix. They are most similar to vampires for us due to their reliance on blood to survive, although they are very different to the monsters we write about in fantasies and fairytales.
Jalexus, the name of the planet they inhabit, is only accessible through portals. Humans have not yet discovered how to create portals, but some of the Jalix have the ability and that’s how they come to our world. It became clear after a few months that they were taken humans. The Government set about capturing Jalix to learn about their planet. They are taking humans to be their life partners -their mates- as our fertility is higher than theirs. They are trying to use our species to increase their numbers.
To most of the country, Jalix are something you hear about on the news and never meet. But to me, with my uncle and guardian being the Minster of Defence, I hear about them far too often.
“What surprise?” I ask cautiously.
“Bring him out,” Uncle Ron orders a few Army guards.
I gasp as a full-size Jalix is carried out of a reinforced prison van and shoved to his knees before us. I have never seen one in person before, I’ve only seen pictures and videos online. It is terrifying to see one in person.
Jalix are around six to seven foot tall on average. This male is enormous despite being on his knees. Their bodies are built much larger than ours and packed with muscle, they have very little body fat, probably due to the fact their only food source is blood. They have two sharp fangs like vampires, but do not have any aversion to sunlight.
Their hair is usually dark and kept long. This Jalix has his braided back, although some strands have come loose in the struggle. Their skin is the deepest golden, like at golden hour during a striking sunset. They have small pointed black horns that sit just back from their foreheads, nestled in their hair. The tips of their ears are pointed. They have no nipples, their chests smooth and free of hair. The black designs that weave across their chests indicate their rank, family and clan. All Jalix live in clans across their world, although I have heard that there is bad blood between clans and they rarely socialise with one another.
Due to the warm temperature of their planet, they wear nothing but loin cloths and this Jalix is no different. A simple leather-looking skirt protects his modesty between his legs. His body is covered in dried blood from the fight, their blood is dark blue in colour, but his wounds have already healed. Around his abnormally thick neck is a bulky silver band, like a collar.
“Uncle…what is the meaning of this?” I murmur, sounding horrified to my own ears.
The Jalix raises its head at my voice, its eyes meeting mine. They have very human-like faces, with noses and mouths and cheek structure similar to ours. Their jaws are sharper though and their eyes have no irises, just black pupils. I am struck by how handsome this Jalix is.
“This Jalix is to be the first protector of its kind,” Ron says proudly. “The collar around its neck has been specially designed for this purpose and we have been chosen to trial it.”
“I don’t understand,” I mumble, not taking my eyes off the Jalix, who is still staring at me.
“The collar will pass an electric current through the alien, shocking it if it tries to harm so much as a hair on your head, or any other humans. We are to monitor it for two weeks, then once we have confirmed that they are good protectors, we can capture more of their kind, collar them and use them for the army. They will be the newest soldiers in our arsenal.”
My mouth drops open in horror. They wish to enslave these aliens and use them for warfare?
“That is sick,” I blurt. “It’s barbaric! How could you agree to this?”
I’m met with disapproving murmurs from the Government officials but I ignore them. My Uncle frowns at me.
“This is why you are not involved in politics, Lily. You are simply to go about your usual daily routine, but you are to report back on anything you find out about the Jalix. He is your new bodyguard.”
I tear my eyes away from my sick uncle and turn back to the alien, shackled and collared at our feet. His eyes are narrowed on my uncle, although they relax a fraction when they turn back to me.
“And if I refuse?”
“You live in my home, under my roof,” Ron snaps. “You don’t have a choice in the matter.”
“Does he…” I hesitate. “Does he speak English?”
“All Jalix speak English and Mandarin fluently,” Ron says matter-of-factly. “They have eidetic memories and learned the most-spoken languages when they first infiltrated Earth.”
I did not know this. This information is clearly kept from the general public. I look down at the alien that can understand every word that we say and resolve to apologise the moment I am alone with him.
“He will stay in the guest house with you. They need only a few hours’ sleep so he will make a good guard. For the first few days, I will have patrols guard your house to ensure you are safe. You have the alarm on your phone to use should you need it.” My uncle frowns at me, his expression solemn. “They are the future of England, Lily. We are the first country to successful tame one of these beasts.”
From where I’m standing, it looks like we are the beasts.
“Uncle? A word alone,” I hiss.
He scowls and follows me to the side of the house, out of view of everyone else.
“What the fuck? This is sick, it’s torture,” I shout at him. “What about his rights?”
“What rights? He’s an animal, Lily.”
“No, he’s a sentient creature! You cannot treat the Jalix like this, we have so much to learn from them. From what I hear, they are a peaceful species.”
“What you hear comes from misinformed press, they are savages. They use swords to cut down each other during clan fights. That Jalix back there? He’s a warrior, he is trained to cause damage. We need to harness those skills to use them against our enemies.”
“You are disgusting, how can you justify using someone’s life like that? If my parents were alive, they would be ashamed to-”
“They’re gone, Lily,” he says coldly. “This is nothing to do with you. Do as I say or I will have you arrested for directly disobeying a Government order.”
That makes me snap my mouth shut. I have known for years that my uncle is a terrible person. He would have me arrested without blinking an eye. He only lets me live here to keep his conscience clear, he thinks my parents won’t haunt him if he ‘looks after’ their only daughter.
My stomach is roiling with nausea as the Jalix is heaved to his feet and ordered to follow. I cannot change my uncle’s mind, but I will find a way to help this alien. I lead them over to my guest house, a two-bed bungalow that sits a hundred yards from my uncle’s mansion, safely situated in his gated compound. I have lived here since I was seventeen, when my parents were killed in a boating accident and Uncle Ron became my legal guardian.
The Jalix doesn’t say anything, it merely follows us all into my house and looks around, taking in its surroundings. I wonder if it is studying them for escape, that’s what I would do in his position.
“We will bring blood bags for the Jalix twice a day at twelve and then at six. Tell us if you are going to be out and we will arrange a time,” one of the guards says.
The other adds, “We will also file down its fangs each day to ensure it cannot bite.”
“What?!” I shake my head. “This is barbaric.”
Both of them ignore my response. I rub my arms as I watch the guards release its shackles, leaving the collar intact. One of them raises a remote and presses a button. An electric current flashes between the collar and the Jalix’s neck with a crackling sound and I hear the deep grunt of pain from the alien as his back goes rigid and its muscles tense up.
“It’s working,” one of the guards says to the other.
He holds out the device to me. I glare at him and he grabs my hand, forcefully placing it in my palm. “Use this whenever you need to. We have not found an upper limit yet.”
This is torture.
“Leave,” I spit the word, anger burning through my veins.
They walk out of my house, seemingly unbothered by their own lack of mercy. I stare at them, my mouth hanging open as they leave me alone with a completely alien creature that has been tortured and abused simply for existing.
“I…” The words die on my lips the moment I turn back to the Jalix and find it glaring at me.
I resist the shiver of fear that threatens to rock me and rub my lips together. I look down at the device in my hand. There is no way in hell I am using it on him, I’d rather he kill me. I storm over to the bin and throw the remote in it before slamming the lid closed. I turn back to find the Jalix watching me with curiosity. I don’t think he was expecting me to do that.
“I-I’m so sorry,” I begin and grimace at how those words don’t do this justice. “I cannot begin to describe how much this disgusts me, how heinous this treatment of you is.” I take a shuddering breath. “What I can do is promise you that I will do everything to make this…easier for you. I will try and help you as best I can.”
His black eyes settle on me and don’t move. I don’t know what I’m expecting from him, maybe for him to shout or show some kind of hatred towards me. Instead, he just stares at me.
“Um, forgive me but I don’t know what your requirements are from a living space. This is the spare bedroom.” I open the door so he can see inside. “You are welcome to it. There is a bathroom at the end of the hall.” My words feel pathetic as I say them out loud. “The TV has lots of subscription channels so you can watch whatever you want, and I read a lot of books so there are loads of the shelves there.”
I try to point out anything he might need. It is difficult because he is giving nothing away with his stoic expression.
“If you need clothes, I can get you some. I know that our planet is colder than yours…” I trail off, wondering if there is anything else. “Oh, do you have a name? Something you’d prefer I call you? I’m Lily.”
He looks back at me, staring for the longest time. I shift awkwardly from one foot to the other, wondering if he does indeed understand me.
“Well, okay, no problem, we’ll think of something. I, um, I paint, so I’m going to return to my canvas because in all honesty, I’m freaking out and need to calm the hell down,” I tell him and point at my open door so that he can see the canvas I am working on.
He follows me into my bedroom. I clip my hair up as he watches. I feel his gaze on me as I pick up the brushes I was using, dab them and start painting again, my mind a mess.
Through my concentration haze, I hear one word. It makes me freeze. The soft rasp of his voice moves through me, bringing hairs up on my arms as he tells me his name.
“Zenaxor.”
