Page 13 of A Darkside Interlude

Whoa! Butterflies fluttered in Mari’s stomach. That was unexpected. His grip was firm, but not hostile. “You are hurt.”

“So are you.” She eyed the wound in his shoulder. An alarming amount of blood had seeped through the fabric of his jacket. His left arm hung limply by his side. “If you need to get to a medical facility, I can help—”

He gave a sharp shake of his head. “Left side.”

“What?”

“Reach into my jacket. There’s a utility pouch and a dagger secured at my side. Take the dagger and gently slice through my clothes at the site of the wound until it is fully exposed. Then remove the finger-sized tube from the pouch and press the red-tipped end against my wound.”

Huh. That was a lot of trust to put in a stranger. He wanted her to help him? “What makes you so sure I won’t turn around and stab you?” Surprise made her blurt the question before she had time to think.

“If I get the feeling you’re even half considering it, I’ll drop you like a stone. If you made a real attempt to kill me, I would snap your neck, but you won’t do that, will you?”

She didn’t doubt his threat for one second. “I promise I won’t try to kill you. I’ll do exactly as you say.” In this situation, appeasement was the best strategy.

“I know.”

“Y-you know?”

Unexpectedly, his tone softened. “You aren’t a killer. Far from it. Take the damn knife, human. Quickly, or I’ll bleed out and you won’t have a leg to stand on.” Despite the sudden urgency in his tone, his voice still held a note of command. Mari got the feeling this stranger was used to bossing people around.

“If you bleed out, you won’t have a leg to stand on either. I could just do nothing and wait until you collapse.”

“Trust me, you don’t want to try that. There are a great many things I could do to you before we reach that point, and in the unlikely case that something were to happen to me… you do not want to have my people coming after you.”

No, I most certainly do not.

Who the hell was this guy?

She could almost imagine the vicious expression on his face, but what did he look like? What color were his skin, his eyes, his hair? Did he have three eyes, or a mouth full of pointed teeth, or scaly skin?

The curiosity was almost strong enough to burn away her fear.

Almost, but then the alien stiffened. “If your friend back there tries to retrieve his weapon again, I will do something bad.” His voice rose slightly as he mentioned that last part, as if he’d observed something with eyes in the back of his head.

Mari looked over the stranger’s broad shoulder and saw Jeff slowly withdraw his arm. He’d been reaching for his other gun. She glared. “Don’t try anything stupid,” she mouthed with a sharp shake of her head. “I don’t want to die. Let me handle him.”

“P-point taken,” she said aloud, her attention returning to the rather large-and-deadly problem in front of her. Her hand trembled as she put the alien’s precious pendant—the thing that had caused all this damn trouble in the first place—back in her belt-pouch, freeing up her hand. She reached inside his jacket and searched for the things he’d described, guided by feel alone.

How surreal, that the man who had relentlessly chased her through the streets was now supporting her as she balanced on damaged feet.

As Mari slid her fingers across the stranger’s torso, she became acutely aware of his warmth. It seeped through the thin fabric of his undershirt, turning him into so much more than a scary, faceless pursuer.

He was a living, breathing creature; a being of flesh-and-blood who felt pain and anger and became… aroused, just like a human.

The defined contours of his abdominal muscles rippled underneath her fingertips. His lean stomach moved up-and-down in time with his slightly rapid breathing—the only sign of his discomfort.

Considering the circumstances, he was magnificently composed. Too composed for someone who had just been shot in the shoulder. Did this alien—whatever he was—not feel pain?

Who the hell are you? Mari didn’t dare ask. Instead, she found what felt like a hilt. Gingerly, she drew the knife, revealing a viciously sharp black blade.

Alien metal. The same as his pendant.

“Slide the tip beneath the fabric and make an opening.”

Breathlessly, Mari did just that. It took all of her self-control to stop her hand from shaking as she made several small incisions in his clothes, separating the layers from the skin underneath.

Stupid Mari. Don’t fucking cut him, whatever you do. The threat of death hung heavy in the air. She was petrified, and yet there was something oddly reassuring about this man’s intimidating presence.

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