CollectiveMemory (17 page)

Cayl grimaced. Harken wasn’t even a credible torturer.

The machine began to hum as if energy built inside it and
the woman on the table moaned. They had to move quickly. He grabbed the
extension cord and yanked it from the wall.

The woman’s moans turned to whimpers, soothed by Devin’s
words.

“We’re going to get you free.”

She reached up and started to untie the woman’s hands.

“No, wait.”

“We have to get her free. She’s terrified. And in pain.”

“Yes, but I must also stop Harken. Undo the clamps while I
think.” Cayl looked around. The woman’s hands were bound with a simple rope,
the fiber leaving harsh red marks on her skin. He stepped over to the table.
The woman flinched as he drew near. Cayl finally looked at her face. She looked
familiar. The waitress from the club the previous night. Jessica.

“I will not hurt you, miss. I want only to free you.” The
muscles in her arms relaxed a little. “Untie her legs first,” he commanded,
moving to her left leg as Devin took her right. The knots had tightened because
of Jessica’s struggles so it took them longer than he wanted to undo them.

Once her legs were free, Cayl walked back to the head of the
table. “I’m going to shift you just a little. I’m trying to make it look like
you got yourself free. Do you understand?” Tears fell from her eyes but she
nodded. He grabbed her wrists and pulled them up.

With her legs free, she was able to slide the few inches he
needed. He pulled the rope between her hands taut and rubbed it fast and hard
against the post that held her bonds in place. If the woman had tried this
herself it would have taken her days to break through, but once the rope began
to shred, Cayl added his strength to it, shearing the strands.

He continued to rub, leaving traces of shredded rope. Harken
had shown a remarkable lack of caution. He clearly didn’t believe humans could
break free from such a simple restraint pattern.

The rope tore between his hands. The woman groaned, her jaw
clamping down on the gag.

“Why is she making noise? She is free.” he demanded.

“Her arms are probably sore from being in that position for
so long.”

Devin helped Jessica sit up and removed the gag. It was
shaped like a small penis. “Humans are so confusing,” he muttered.

“Are you all right?” Devin asked, rubbing Jessica’s
shoulders.

“I-I think so. What’s happening?”

“We’re getting you out of here.” Devin lifted her head and
looked at him. “Right?”

“Yes, we should leave.”

Devin helped the woman to her feet and they started toward
the door. She whipped off her jacket and eased Jessica’s arms through the
holes. It wasn’t much but it would cover her enough to get to the car.

Cayl glanced around to make sure that he had removed their
presence and that he knew the room for his return.

Devin wrapped her arm around the waitress and guided her out
of the building. The only thing that gave her strength was the woman’s fear.
Her own legs trembled. In the years she’d spent in the field she’d never faced
an actual evil alien. Most of the aliens who came to earth were seeking refuge and
knew better than to screw up or they’d be sent home.

But whatever Harken was doing, it involved torture and
perhaps death.

She assisted Jessica into the car and turned to Cayl. He
seemed remarkably calm which just made her want to scream.

“What do we do now? How do we stop this bastard?”

Cayl’s head snapped back as if he was shocked by the
vehemence in her voice.

“We will stop him. First we must get the civilian away.”

“Should you wait here? For when he comes back?”

Cayl shook his head. “No. He would likely sense my presence
and run. I know where he is and we know he returns here at night after he has
chosen his victim.”

It took Devin’s beleaguered mind a moment to catch up. “And
he’ll have to pick a new victim now that this one has escaped.”

“Yes. We must assume he hasn’t drawn enough power yet to
launch his plan. We will return this night.” Devin nodded. “As I drive, you
will ask the woman what Harken did to her.”

“Me?” A squeak came out along with the question. What was he
thinking? She didn’t know how to interrogate someone, particularly not someone
who had been abused by an alien. But if she didn’t do it, it would be Cayl and
that would no doubt cause Jessica to panic even more.

Still in shock, she didn’t protest when Cayl snatched the
keys from her hand and went around to the driver’s side.

“Wait.”

He didn’t.

He opened the car door and looked over the roof at her.
“This is your first time on Earth and I know you haven’t driven since you’ve
been here. How do you know how to drive?”

“Do not worry yourself,” he said, his voice more soothing
than smug. The hair on the back of Devin’s neck stood up. He’d learned that
trick from Mace no doubt. “I can operate the vehicle. I will draw on our
collective memory.”

Another squeak tore from her throat but Cayl ignored it.

“All will be fine. You will see.”

* * * * *

“Why did you let him drive your car in the first place?”

Devin’s jaw ached from clenching her teeth. Mace’s question,
Mace’s
presence
, wasn’t helping. But she’d needed a ride. After all, the
tow truck would only take you so far.

“I couldn’t let him question Jessica.” The waitress had been
completely freaked out. Understandably to Devin’s way of thinking. “And he had
been doing fine.” She’d climbed in the back seat and talked with Jessica,
alternating between comfort and interrogation.

Jessica had said Harken had been at one of the tables in her
station toward the end of the night. She remembered him ordering his drink but
not much after that until she’d woken up naked and strapped to the table. Devin
didn’t push on what had happened to her after that. She knew enough. Harken was
a bastard and had hurt her. That’s all Devin needed to know.

They’d delivered Jessica to her sister’s house. Devin had
pulled out her government badge—not the one for IPC but a more generic, less
volatile, identification—and assured Jessica they were investigating the
situation and her attacker would be brought to justice.

Devin had also called her office and had an IPC doctor meet
them to sedate Jessica, maybe blur some of her memories. Who knew how much
Harken had told her? Cayl had wanted to continue, finding out every bit of
Harken’s plan but Devin had rejected the idea. The more Jessica spoke of it,
the more real it would become.

Besides, they knew what Harken was planning. They knew where
he hid out and they knew where he hunted.

They’d left Jessica with her sister and driven away. That’s
when Devin should have taken over the driving but she’d been thinking about
Jessica and had climbed into the passenger seat.

Cayl seemed to lose focus after that. She couldn’t tell if
he was thinking about Harken or sex. The way his eyes kept drifting to her legs
told her she would have been safer if she’s worn trousers. And so would her
car.

She stared at the crushed fender and wheel well and sighed.
She had to count her blessings. The car wasn’t drivable but either she or Cayl
had been hurt.

Cayl’s regret was momentary, made even shorter by Mace’s
arrival.

“We should get going.”

Devin raised her eyebrows in question.

“I thought you needed time to change.”

“For what?”

“Switch. Cayl says we have to go back.”

“What? Why?” They knew where Harken was hanging out. She
spun around and glared at Cayl. He looked back at her with bland eyes. He
wasn’t trying to fake innocence. He truly didn’t seem to understand why she
might object. “Can’t we just go find Harken? Wait for him outside that
warehouse?”

Any other man would have shrugged. Cayl lifted his chin.

“Would it not make more sense to collect him before he takes
another woman? Would we not have to explain to another woman that she was
abducted by an alien? I believed that you wished to keep this fact a secret. We
know he hunts at Switch. Since we have removed his current subject, he will be
looking for another. His equipment will demand more power. Jessica was able to
give us a much better description. We should be able to spot him in the crowd.
My logic is unassailable.”

“Yes but…damn.” She couldn’t go through another night of
being touched and kissed and licked and… Her pussy clenched and she crushed a
groan. Another night and if they didn’t catch Harken, she had agreed to go to
bed with both of them.

“Come.”

No doubt, she added in the silence of her brain.

“We will return to your dwelling and you may put on your
slutty clothes.”

As if that decided it, Cayl stalked toward Mace’s car.

Devin stood for a moment, not sure what to do.

She looked up at Mace, silently asking for some sort of
support. He just smiled and shook his head.

“Baby, if you think I’m going to pass up another chance to
see you in your ‘slutty’ clothes, you don’t know men very well.”

Chapter Nine

Cayl cocked his head to the side and watched the couple
before them with a critical eye.

Even after just two days Mace knew that look. A
question—something out of left field—was going to follow. They’d left Devin
alone at their table and Mace had led Cayl through the back rooms of the club.
Cayl had said he was looking for “traces” of Harken but he’d spent more time
watching the various pairs and trios fuck than doing any actual searching. Not
that Mace minded. He figured Cayl was insane anyway. Too bad he seemed to have
convinced Devin that his insanity was real.

“I must confess,” Cayl finally announced. “This has me
confused.”

“What?”

Cayl lifted his chin toward the two men. The big guy in back
slammed hard into the other male drawing a long, heavy groan from his throat.
Mace felt his own cock twitch. He’d been in both positions and enjoyed it.

“I was given to understand that the purpose of sex was
procreation and that a female needed to be involved.”

Mace nodded.

“Then why are two males engaging in this behavior?”

“Because it feels good.”

The leather daddy pounded his cock into the young man’s ass,
eliciting another shout-groan-plea.

Cayl glanced at Mace, his eyebrows angled in.

“Hmm.” With that clinical detachment Mace knew was only skin
deep, Cayl returned his gaze to the viewing window. “Having placed my cock
inside Devin, I understand the pleasure the larger man is experiencing but my
knowledge of human anatomy reveals no clitoris in the male being penetrated.
Why would he allow this to happen?”

“It’s something you kind of have to experience to
understand.”

“You have done this?”

“Yes.”

The light flared in Cayl’s wicked stare and Mace could read
the man’s mind. Curiosity as well as arousal made the idea intriguing. He
wanted to fuck. More importantly, he wanted to fuck Mace.

Mace’s lip pulled up into a half smile and he shook his
head.

“I have a rule…no one fucks me unless they’ve been fucked.
It’s a delicate process and I want someone who understands.”

Another shout rang from the viewing chamber and the young
man shot, his body sagging forward as the leather daddy drilled him again and
again, finally grimacing as he came.

“It doesn’t seem delicate to me.”

“All the more reason to experience it first.”

“Humph.” Cayl nodded and slapped his palm on Mace’s
shoulder. “Very well. If we do not catch Harken this night, we shall try it.”

He turned away and started back down the hall, no doubt
returning to Devin, probably announcing that he and Mace were going to be
fucking later. Damn, the man had no shame, no embarrassment. Part of him
appreciated that. Cayl seemed open to anything, everything—gathering
experiences for his “collective memory”—but he wasn’t sure he liked being used
as an experiment.

He watched Cayl’s butt as the guy walked away.

Then again, if it allowed him to fuck that ass, he could put
up with being a lab rat for a few more nights.

And maybe get fucked. He didn’t bottom for many guys, mainly
because he rarely found someone who could top him, really dominate him with
power, not brute strength. Something told him that Cayl—with his logical mind
and forceful demands—might be one of the few.

He followed Cayl into the main club area. Cayl had taken up
his position beside Devin—practically inside Devin. They kissed, Cayl’s mouth
on hers, his tongue no doubt in her mouth. His hand was up under Devin’s dress,
and from the slight distance between her thighs, nestled against her pussy.

Devin pulled away as Mace approached—the dazed, almost
drunken look in her eyes tugged on the strange bit of jealousy he wasn’t
expecting. But the question was—who was he jealous of? Did he want to be the
one ravishing Devin or be ravished by Cayl?

Either. Both.

Devin cleared her throat and shook her head as if trying to
reorganize her brain. “Any luck?”

“With Harken? No. With giving Cayl more ideas on ways he can
fuck? Yes.”

Devin blinked and looked at him. Mace shrugged and couldn’t
stop his smile. Alien or not, the guy was freakin’ sexy. And interested in sex,
which made him perfect for Mace.

Cayl lifted his head from kissing the space just behind
Devin’s left ear.

“Come, she enjoys us both. We must prepare her for taking us
later this evening.”

Devin might have been ready to protest but whatever Cayl did
with his hand between her legs crushed her words. She jumped and stared at
Mace, her eyes pleading, wanting.

He sank down beside her, taking his place at her right.

“Mace…I—”

“Shh, it’s okay, baby. We’ve got you.” He turned her head
and covered her mouth with his. The sweet submission of her lips clouded his
brain. She opened to him, moving into his embrace even as he reached for her.
They surrounded her, hands sliding across skin and material. Mace reached up
and undid the button of her jacket. The darkness and the flaps of material hid
her breasts from the rest of the world but allowed him and Cayl open access.