Page 14 of The Edge of Dawn

“You. Why are you here?” she blurted, feeling like she was losing her grip on reality. She was talking to an imaginary alien-man in her unwilling unconsciousness, and she was beginning to suspect that he might actually be real.

The magnitude was almost too much for her to comprehend.

Why me?

“Why are you here?” he countered, an irritating half-smirk hovering on his pale lips. “In an old, dusty tunnel, alone, in a state of forced unconsciousness?”

“Are you just here to taunt me about my inadequacies?” Her surprise turned into a snarl. “You’re not being helpful at all.”

His smirk turned into a cryptic smile. “Maybe I can be of help.”

“How? What could you possibly do in this situation? You’re just a ghost in my mind.” She clung to her denial for just a little longer.

“Am I?”

“Ugh.” Jade crossed her arms and glowered as a terrible sense of urgency overtook her. Maybe this dreamlike state was her subconscious’s way of dealing with the situation. “If you’re going to do something, then you’ll have to do it soon because these people are going to take me away, and once they get me into their treatment program, it’s all over for me—that’s if any of this even matters to you.”

“Oh?” That infuriating half-smile was still there. It made her want to punch him in the teeth. “So they want to lock you away, to give you treatments against your will?”

At least he was actually listening to her.

It was the first time anyone had ever taken her situation seriously. Jade didn’t know how to feel.

If he was real, then…

He was the only one in the Universe who could save her right now.

Well, wasn’t that a pain in the arse? Having to trust a total stranger who just so happened to be a member of the most dangerous alien species in existence?

She absolutely detested that she was even in this situation, but by running, she was just delaying the inevitable.

“I can help you… perhaps,” he said quietly. “But on one condition.”

Hope flared in her chest. “What?”

“What I’m going to do will require total cooperation from you. There’s no room for even the slightest refusal or hesitation. Do you understand?”

She didn’t understand a thing. “W-what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to take over your consciousness. So I can control your body.”

Jade became acutely aware of her true form, slumped helplessly on the ground. How could she be inhabiting two realities at once? “But what’s the point of that? Let’s say you were able to wake me up and control my body or whatever. I still wouldn’t be able to fight off two men on my own.”

His smile turned sharp and vicious. Good lord, he had fangs. “If it’s me controlling your body, you won’t have any trouble. I may destroy you in the process, but that can be fixed.”

She shook her head in disbelief. Destroy me? Well, at least he’s honest about it. “And that’s supposed to convince me how?”

“I am just making you aware of what to expect. It’s insignificant in the greater scheme of things. If you want to escape, you have to make a temporary sacrifice.” His tone softened a fraction. “My people have tech that can heal any physical damage. I’ll do only what’s necessary. Quickly now, decide. They’re nearly here.”

“How can you tell?”

“I can sense them. Can’t you?”

Jade shook her head. She couldn’t sense a thing.

But then…

She felt a faint, invisible touch at the edge of her consciousness. She didn’t know how she could feel it, but somehow, she did.

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