8. Molly
Lana hadn’t been gone long before the door chime sounded. When Molly opened the front door to her suite, she found Commander Torus standing outside. In his hand, was an enormous silver duffel bag.
“Hello, Molly,” he said, bending down from his great height to see her better. “May I come in?”
“Oh, of course!” Molly stepped out of the way hastily and he came in, turning sideways and ducking his head to get through the doorway.
“How are you?” he asked when he had settled on her couch after she offered him a seat. It was Kindred sized, but still a bit small for him. Molly settled gingerly beside him, sitting on the edge of the cushion while putting some distance between them.
“Er…fine, I’m fine,” she said quickly. “Look, I really want to apologize to you about earlier,” she added, before she lost her nerve.
“Apologize?” He raised his eyebrows in obvious confusion. “For what?”
“For…for losing it. For crying all over you like that.” Molly could feel her face heating up again. She cursed her fair complexion—no doubt her cheeks were going red and splotchy, betraying her embarrassment.
“Don’t apologize for that,” he rumbled. “Your pain was too great to bear alone—I’m glad you were willing to let me help you bear it.”
“You…you are?” Molly bit her lip, looking up at him. His silver-gray eyes were calm and serious. She found she couldn’t meet them for long without blushing even harder. Quickly, she dropped her gaze.
“I have something for you,” he said, breaking the awkward silence that had fallen between them.
“Oh?” Molly eyed the enormous silver duffel bag with interest. Whatever was in there, it was bulky. The sides of the bag were distorted with all kinds of bumps and angles.
“Yes. Here.” Commander Torus opened the bag revealing a jumble of computer equipment.
Molly’s eyes widened as she recognized some of the pieces.
“Hey—those are Zach’s—aren’t they?” she asked, looking up at him for confirmation.
Commander Torus nodded.
“All of it belonged to him. Now it’s yours to do with as you like. I took everything that might have any of your, er, intimate moments on it,” he added and cleared his throat. “Of course, I know they’re still on the Earth’s Internet, but I think in time we can get most of them taken down—I’m going to start working on that immediately. And in the meantime, at least your ex-mate can’t post anything else.”
“I can’t believe Zach gave up his computer equipment!” Molly exclaimed. “He loves his tech.”
“Not as much as he loves his life, apparently,” Commander Torus said coolly.
Molly looked up at him with wide eyes.
“Does that mean…what I think it means?”
“I don’t know—what do you think it means?” He arched an eyebrow at her.
“I…um…” Molly shook her head. “What…what did you do to him?” she whispered. “Is he…he’s not…”
“Dead? No. But he may have to spend some time in one of your Earth Med Centers—horse-spitals, I think you call them?”
“Hospitals,” Molly corrected faintly. “Oh my God, so you actually went and found him and beat him up?”
“I extracted the vengeance you were unable to take yourself,” he said and raised an eyebrow again. “Does that upset you?”
Molly was surprised at the sudden surge of blood-thirsty joy which suffused her.
“No!” she exclaimed, squeezing her hands into fists. “No, if you only knew all the things he did to me! All the times he—” She stopped abruptly. Some things were too private to talk about…and too awful to think about. “I mean, I’m glad you hurt him,” she said in a low voice. “Because he hurt me—a lot. And not just by sending those videos.”
“I know.” Commander Torus’s voice was deep and quiet but his eyes blazed and there was a spark of red in their silver-gray depths again.
“Uh…you do?” Molly felt suddenly uncertain. How did he know? “Did…did Zach tell you something?” Had the big Kindred beaten some kind of confession out of her ex? And if so, how much had Zach confessed?
But Commander Torus didn’t seem inclined to answer her question.
“Tell me, what would you like to do with these things?” he asked, nudging the silver duffle bag filled with computer equipment with the toe of his massive black boot.
“Er…do with them?” Molly asked.
“They’re yours now. Do you want me to go through them and try to extract and erase every compromising video your ex-mate took of you?” he asked.
Molly thought of her boss seeing all the videos—there were so many of them and some were worse than the one he’d already seen! The bathroom had been the only safe space for her in the house when she lived with Zach and he had been recording her without her knowledge for years.
I thought it was safe, anyway, she thought sourly. How could I be so stupid?
But the idea of her boss seeing hours of footage of her touching herself intimately with all the different toys she’d had back then made her want to die of mortification.
“No, no!” she said hurriedly. She could feel her face heating up with humiliation. “No, please—you don’t have to do that!”
“Then do you want me to destroy it?” he asked. “Or maybe you’d like to destroy it yourself. There’s an ablation field in the belly of the ship, not far from the engines. It’s where all the ship’s refuse is disposed of. Would you like to take a trip down there and use it to get ride of this?” He nudged the bag with the toe of his boot again.
“Yes!” Molly said at once. The idea of destroying Zach’s most precious possessions the way he had systematically destroyed her life gave her a rush. “Can we do it right away?” she asked eagerly.
Commander Torus nodded.
“I’m at your service.”
“Er…thank you.” Molly risked a look up at him again and found he was looking at her steadily. She felt herself blushing again under his gaze and her stomach fluttered nervously as she remembered being held in his arms.
Trying to distract herself from her ridiculous feelings—because honestly, that was what they were, she told herself—she jumped up from the couch.
“Let’s do it, then!” she said and grabbed for the handles of the duffle bag. But when she tried to lift it, she found that she couldn’t budge it even an inch. She tried again using two hands but got the same result. “Oof! This thing is heavy!”
“I’ll get it for you.” Commander Torus rose to his full height and reached down to grab the handles of the duffle in one hand. He lifted it easily, as though it weighed no more than a feather pillow.
“Wow…” Molly watched him in awe. He really was strong. Which she guessed made sense, considering how big he was. But still, she’d never quite realized it before. Maybe because the office work they did in their department didn’t include lifting any kind of heavy equipment.
“Come with me,” Commander Torus told her. “I’m afraid we’ll have to take one of the service shafts down to the engine room—the tram lines won’t take us there.”
Molly followed him out of her suite. She couldn’t help noticing that he was definitely walking slower and trying to accommodate her much shorter stride. It was very considerate of him, she thought.
Her ex, Zach, had been considerably bigger than her too—though not nearly as big as Commander Torus. It was one thing that had made altercations with her ex so scary. But he would never lessen his pace for her—Molly was always trotting to keep up or just plain getting left in the dust whenever they went anywhere that required walking. It was nice to be with a guy who gave a thought to their size difference and acted accordingly, she thought.
After a few twists and turns they came to a tall, narrow elevator shaft tucked into a corner between hallways. The silver door was curved, making it look kind of like a tube.
“Wow, I didn’t even know this was here,” Molly remarked.
“I wouldn’t have either if I hadn’t studied a schematic of the Mother Ship when I first moved here,” Commander Torus rumbled as he reached down to press the button. “They’re hidden all over the ship, though they’re mostly for maintenance purposes. I’m afraid it might be a tight fit though,” he added as the curving silver elevator door slid open with a whoosh. “Are you claustrophobic?” he asked as they peered into the narrow, round space.
“I don’t think so,” Molly said cautiously.
“Let me get in first and then you can decide if you want to come in as well,” he offered. “I’m not claustrophobic—a good thing since all the spaces here are tight for me.”
He climbed into the narrow silver elevator tube, bringing the duffel bag with him. Molly watched as he stood the bag upright beside him so that it took up less space. Then he ducked his head down to look at her.
“Would you like to come in?”
“Sure.” Molly squeezed in beside him, feeling a little awkward since she was pressed against his long legs. The top of her head barely came up to his elbow, which he moved considerately so she wasn’t so crowded. “Thanks,” she said, looking up at him.
“You’re welcome,” he rumbled.
The ride down to the engine room of the vast Mother Ship took a little time and it occurred to Molly that this was the first time—besides yesterday when she’d been so upset—that she’d spent any time alone with her boss. Being in an enclosed space with him made her realize something—he smelled really good. Like cedar wood and dark, masculine spice. She wondered what kind of cologne he was wearing.
She was afraid she wasn’t going to know what to say at first, but then he asked her a work-related question and she answered and before she knew it, they were chatting like old friends.
Of course, talking when they were on two different levels was difficult, but Commander Torus did his best to bend down in the cramped space and Molly found herself standing on her tiptoes looking up at him to try to get more on his level. Maybe she ought to invest in a pair of stripper heels like Karen Geners always wore, she thought.
Then she pushed the ridiculous idea away—they weren’t dating. Commander Torus was her boss and he was doing her a favor—a really big favor, actually. She still couldn’t believe he’d gone down to Earth and found Zach and beaten him up! Not to mention gathering all his computer equipment so she could be sure he would never send another compromising video of her again!
“Why did you do all this for me?” The words just slipped out as the tube they were traveling in slid sideways and then continued on a downward track.
“Do what for you?” he asked, looking down at her, his eyebrows raised.
“I mean, you went all the way to Earth and you beat up my ex and forced him to give up his gear,” Molly said. “That’s a lot for a boss to do for an employee. Not that I’m trying to say you’re, uh, interested in me or anything!” she added quickly, realizing how what she was saying must sound. “I mean, uh…” Damn it—her cheeks were getting red, she was sure of it! Why had she asked him that stupid question in the first place?
“Don’t be embarrassed, Molly.” His deep voice was a soft rumble and he reached down and brushed her hot cheek lightly with the back of one long finger.
Molly looked up at him, her face burning.
“Sorry. It was a dumb thing to ask.”
“No, it wasn’t. I did what I did because I felt your pain,” he said simply. “And because no female should be treated as you were. Females are to be protected and treasured, not hurt and humiliated,” he added and there was a fierce glint in his silver-gray eyes. “I don’t know why the males of your species can’t seem to understand that.”
“I don’t either,” Molly murmured, looking up at him. “I wish human guys were more like the Kindred.”
At that point the elevator-tube finally came to a stop and the door slid open. Outside there was a huge, dark space filled with the deep hum of heavy equipment working. Molly stepped out and Torus was right behind her, carrying the duffle.
“Wow, this is amazing…” Molly looked around at the humming machinery.
“We are in the bowels of the ship,” Commander Torus explained. “This is where the energy collected from the artificial green sun that powers the Mother Ship is turned into other forms of power. And I think the ablation field is this way.”
He turned right and Molly hurried to keep up with him.
“Stay close to me,” Torus rumbled, looking down at her. “I’ve never actually been down here so I’m not sure if it’s completely safe. In fact, maybe you’d better hold my hand.”
He held out one massive hand and Molly slipped her own hand into it at once. Torus entwined their fingers and gave her a comforting squeeze.
“Good, let’s keep going.”
It seemed strange to be holding hands with her boss as they walked through the rows and rows of huge machines, but Molly felt secure with the Giant Kindred. It occurred to her that she wouldn’t have felt safe going into a dark, empty, unknown space with a human guy. She would have been afraid that she might get raped or murdered or both.
But she didn’t feel like Commander Torus was a threat—because he wasn’t. The Kindred were different, she thought. She’d never heard of a Kindred warrior hurting or raping a woman because they didn’t. Lana had told her that they called men who hurt or raped women “Broken Ones” and apparently if any Kindred showed those kinds of tendencies, they were executed or at the very least locked up for life.
Finally they reached a wall that was bisected horizontally by a long metal ledge. There were signs in the Kindred language that took Molly a moment to read. Thanks to the shot of Translation Bacteria she’d been given when she first came aboard the Mother Ship, the alien script soon resolved into English.
“Warning—Ablation Field behind these doors. DO NOT ENTER!” she read aloud. “Wow!” She looked up at Commander Torus. “Are you sure this is safe?”
“As long as you don’t put any part of your body into the field, you’ll be fine,” he told her. “Come on.”
Stepping forward, he pushed a button on the wall beside the warning sign. A loud alarm sounded—beep-beep-beep!—and a moment later the top half of the door slid upwards revealing a brilliant blue-white light inside the enclosed space.
Quickly, Commander Torus reached for a pair of safety goggles hanging on a hook beside the door and handed them to Molly.
“Here—we should have put these on before,” he rumbled, getting another pair for himself.
Molly put on the dark goggles and was able to look at the bright light without being blinded.
“How do we do this?” she asked.
“Like this.” Commander Torus unfastened the silver duffle bag and reached inside. Pulling out a heavy computer tower, he stepped up to the metal shelf and tossed it into the field of blue-white light.
At once, the computer tower was pulverized—it looked to Molly like a giant invisible hand was crushing it. Then abruptly it flew apart into what looked like a million teeny-tiny pieces—no bigger than gnats. A moment after that, all the gnats winked out of existence and there was nothing but the blue-white light again.
“Whoa!” she breathed, her eyes going wide behind the goggles. “That’s amazing! Is it gone completely? I mean, is there nothing left at all?”
“The ablation field destroys anything that enters it and then atomizes the remains,” Commander Torus told her. “So no—there’s nothing left. Would you like to throw something in?”
“Yes, please!” Molly reached into the duffle bag, looking for something small. What she found was Zach’s cell-phone—a golden iPhone with diamonds around the edges—she knew he had paid a pretty penny for it. Also, all his contacts and notes were in here. It was really going to hurt him to lose it permanently, she thought.
Feeling a surge of satisfaction, she hurled the expensive phone into the ablation field and watched it get pulverized and then atomized in a matter of seconds.
Commander Torus threw something else in too and then Molly reached for another piece of tech. Before she knew it, both of them were hurling the expensive gadgets into the brilliant blue-white light with reckless abandon. It surprised and delighted her to see that her big boss seemed to take as much pleasure as she did in destroying Zach’s most precious possessions.
“God, that felt good!” she exclaimed, when the last bit of tech had been pulverized and atomized. “He ruined my life for so many years and I’ve never—not even once—had a chance to get back at him!” She looked up at Commander Torus. “Not until today, and you made it possible.”
“I only did what any honorable male would do,” he rumbled, hitting the button to close the ablation field doors. He took her safety goggles and hung them up along with his own.
“That’s not true! You don’t know how many men—policemen…detectives… authorities, I talked to, trying to make him stop harassing me. Not a single one of them stepped up the way you did,” Molly told him. I could just hug you!” she blurted out and then felt immediately embarrassed. “I mean, just to show my gratitude—not because I’m coming on to you. Because I’m not,” she added quickly. “I mean, it’s a human thing, er, custom—hugging someone when you grateful for something they did for you, so…”
She trailed off, realized that she was rambling and only making things worse.
To her surprise, the big Kindred didn’t say a word. Instead, he dropped to his knees, which put them almost on the same level and held out his arms.
“I will participate in your human custom of gratitude,” he told her. “Unless it makes you uncomfortable,” he added, looking at her uncertainly.
“What? No—no, of course not. It was my idea, after all.”
Molly stepped into his arms, thinking how nice it was to be on the same level with the big Kindred for once. Torus enfolded her gently but firmly and she smelled his warm cedar and spice scent again as she put her arms around his neck.
To her surprise, the hug lasted awhile—not that she minded. She was able to notice things about him that she hadn’t earlier when he was holding her while she cried—mainly because she wasn’t distracted with sobbing her heart out.
For one thing, his hair was very soft—much softer than it looked—and it smelled as good as the rest of him. His big body felt good against hers too—he was quite muscular and she knew how immensely strong he was, but he was careful not to crush her—it made her feel safe in his embrace which was wonderful.
It was so different from hugging her ex—back when she and Zach were still together, she thought. He’d had a mean little habit of pinching her or yanking her hair or suddenly squeezing her so tightly she couldn’t breathe every once in a while. Then he would laugh and laugh when she cried out in pain or gasped for breath, as though it was a hilarious joke. Molly had never been sure when he asked for a hug if he wanted to hurt her or not, which made even casual physical intimacy with her ex a nerve-wracking affair.
Commander Torus wasn’t like that at all. She felt safe in his arms—like she could relax. He really was a gentle giant, she thought dreamily as she inhaled his warm, masculine scent and nestled her cheek against his. She even liked the rough scratch of his whiskers and the press of his broad chest against her breasts, though if anyone had asked her, after her time with Zach, she would have told them she never wanted to be this close to a man again.
But he’s not really a man, she reminded herself. He’s a Kindred—they’re different. They’re?—
“Forgive me, Molly, but I don’t know how long a hug of gratitude is supposed to last.”
His deep voice seemed to vibrate her whole body and she realized with embarrassment that he was probably just hugging her so long out of politeness—because he didn’t know what else to do.
“Oh!” she exclaimed, pulling back. “Oh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to, uh, over-hug you.” Which wasn’t even a thing, but her scrambled brain spit the word out before she could think of a better one.
“’Over-hug’ me?” A rare smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
“Well, I mean, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable—” Molly began.
“You didn’t.” He brushed a stray strand of hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear. “Your face is getting pink like it does when you’re embarrassed or upset. I hope I didn’t make you uncomfortable,” he rumbled. “I was afraid that I was the one who was ‘over-hugging’.”
“Oh, no—no, you weren’t,” Molly assured him.
“Good.” He rose smoothly to his feet to tower over her again and then picked up the empty duffle bag. “Should we go back?” he asked and held out a hand to her.
“Yes.” Molly smiled up at him and took his hand. This time she was the one who entwined their fingers. “And thank you again for this,” she added, nodding at the ablation doors. “For helping me get revenge.”
“You’re welcome.” The big Kindred’s eyes flashed red for a moment. “Your ex-mate is lucky it’s only his material possessions that were fed into the ablation field.”
Molly felt a little shiver run down her spine. She wondered again how badly her boss had beaten Zach up, and then decided she didn’t care. Her ex had gotten everything he deserved and she wasn’t a bit sorry for him!
She had no idea how much the vengeance Commander Torus had taken for her was going to cost both of them in the very near future.