Page 52 of Her Alien Neighbor

“A mess of horrors,” Mylo says, finishing his thought.

“Yes!” Kyan exclaims. “A mess of horrors. We do not want it.”

“We came here for the freedom to find mates, Vanessa,” Axil says with a sigh, clearly sick of his brothers being part of this conversation. Or he’s exhausted by the events that took place this evening. I’m not sure which. “Love. That is all we wish for,” he says, his voice lowering to a whisper. “We are not like natural-born draxilios, you see. Each of them is guaranteed an eternal mate, a partner to spend their days with. But we were genetically modified in a laboratory, so by societal standards, we were considered peasants. On a completely different plane of existence.”

I want to focus on the love part, but the mention of genetic modifications causes my mind to spin.

Mylo nods, adding, “Our handlers were given free rein to tinker with the makeup of our cells, giving us abilities that natural-borns do not have. These abilities made us fierce warriors for our king. We were his special little army,” he says, his tone darkening at the end. “We served our time as the king’s henchmen, and at a certain point, we were allowed to retire. But retirement for the podlings,” he turns to me, “that is what we were called by everyone else because of our otherness. Retirement for us simply means entering a life of isolation and very few rights. In order to earn enough credits to retire comfortably, we needed to showcase our talents differently. The podlings who came before us mostly fought in an arena for sport. The battles were broadcast, and the crowds were huge.”

“These abilities,” I begin, “you mean it’s more than just changing into a dragon?”

“Draxilio,” Kyan corrects haughtily.

“That is correct,” Axil replies to me. “The masking we mentioned before, our ability to change our skin color and hide our horns, is an ability we were given.”

“And all of you have that ability?” I ask, looking between the three of them. They all nod. “So the natural-borns can’t mask, but you can. Can the other podlings mask as well? Or is it just you guys?”

“The podlings are birthed in groups of four, five, and six,” Axil explains. “There were four original podlings: Nirossanai, Bexossanai, Alussanai, and Kulissanai, and each underwent a calcification procedure where part of the brain that processes emotions is destroyed. For example, Alussanai was modified to lack fear, so the part of her brain that registers fear was calcified, making her incapable of feeling that emotion.”

“Jesus” is all I can say. It’s too much to process, and I can’t imagine what it would even look like to live without fear.

“We were the thirteenth group of podlings to be birthed, so our modifications were quite different,” Mylo explains calmly. “Our handlers did not alter our emotions in any way but focused more on our physical abilities: enhancing our speed and agility, allowing us to become invisible when we take flight, and being able to camouflage, in a way, to match our environment.”

A smile tugs at my lips. “Wait. Is that why you turn into white guys when you mask?”

Axil seems surprised by my amused tone. “Yes, when our pods crashed on Earth, we landed in the middle of the woods in a suburb outside Boston. A quick flight above the city indicated the population was largely white. We chose that skin color in order to hide more effectively.”

I can’t help but chuckle at that. “It is one of the whiter cities in America, that’s for sure.” Then I think back to one of the first conversations we had. “So when I asked you where you’re from and you said ‘near Boston,’ that’s why? Because that’s where you crashed?”

“Yes,” Axil replies, his cheeks darkening to a navy blue. “It was not a lie, technically.”

The taste in my mouth turns bitter at that comment. “Compared to all the other lies, it was certainly one of the smaller ones.” A lie by omission is still a lie, and for him to have sex with me without giving the slightest indication that he’s an alien from another goddamn planet is a major red flag. With this, my plan for make-up sex feels completely foolish, and I can’t begin to see what this means for us.

“We were sentenced to a life of loneliness on Sufoi by existing just how we are,” Axil says through gritted teeth. “That is not something I would wish on anyone.”

Adding to that, Mylo says, “The podlings, all of them, got together in secret and began searching for planets we could travel to with inhabitants we are capable of procreating with to begin our lives anew. Once Earth was chosen as the destination, the five of us immediately volunteered.”

“How did you land here? In New England of all places?” I ask.

Axil shakes his head. “Our ship exploded just outside your planet’s atmosphere. We had no control in choosing where our escape pods crashed. If we had, we probably would have chosen a warmer climate.” He holds up his hands. “No disrespect meant, of course.”

I laugh. “None taken. Why do you think I moved to Los Angeles?”

“And you like it there? In terms of the weather?” Kyan asks, resting his chin in his hand.

“No,” I admit. “I found the constant sunshine kind of boring. It hardly ever rained, and it never snowed. I missed that about this place,” I say, remembering the hopeful change I felt during the first snow of the season. “There’s a special kind of magic in unpredictable weather patterns. It reminds you to respect nature, to give it room. It’s humbling to exist around the weather rather than assuming it will stay the same and accommodate you.”

“That’s a lovely way to look at it,” Mylo says with a grin as he pushes his glasses up his nose.

“Do you actually need those to see?” I ask.

“No,” he chuckles. “It is part of my human costume.”

And I laugh along with him. It’s not long before Kyan joins in too. Axil doesn’t, though. He gives me a half-smile, but his gaze still swirls with sorrow.

“Vanessa,” he says, taking my hands in his. “You are my mate. You are the love I never thought I would find.”

I can see Mylo shaking his head out of the corner of my eye, silently telling Axil to stop.

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