Eclipse of the Warrior: The Interdimensional Saga (Book 1) (2 page)

“Please forgive me miss, my name is Lancer. We are part of
an elite force sent here to protect the Earth. I can’t give you any more info
until we get back to HQ and you are cleared for more intel. And what is your
name?”

“Oh right… My name is B’Lana, and I’m human. So you are
admitting to being something other than human? Where is this HQ? I am still not
sure I should be walking with you guys anywhere. I have a feeling that I might
not ever make it back home if I do go with you.” I winced as I said that sentence;
I couldn’t believe I said it out loud.

While Lancer and I were having this conversation, one of his
guys went around to all of the dead rippers and cut off their heads, just to
make sure they were in fact dead. One of the warriors shot the last of the
rippers while I was learning Lancer’s name.

I was startled when the ripper I killed was beheaded and the
head rolled to my feet, face up with the scary red eyes looking up at me. And
silly me actually jumped towards the fae warrior. What a stupid girl move that
was!

“That is disgusting! Why would you do that? And why would I
go anywhere with a group of guys who are beheading dead…
things
in an
ally!” I started looking out of the alley hoping there might be anyone around
who could help me get out of here alive! Forget about safely, I knew that was
not going to happen, but I would be happy to leave alive.

“Oh funkity-funk! I am truly sorry miss, I didn’t think his
head would roll to your feet. Please forgive me for insulting you so.” The guy
who beheaded the ripper, said as he quickly picked up the head and put it back
with the body. “Please forgive me, my name is Nishni and I am part of Squad 1.
It is nice to meet you B’Lana.”

“Seriously? ‘Oh funkity-funk’? What are you, from the planet
‘Lost 70’s cuss words’? Where in the world did you get that saying? Or should I
say ‘Where in the Galaxy’?” I slowly relaxed my shoulders while laughing at
that ridiculous saying.

Since they were being nice to me, I hoped that meant I would
be able to leave.

“Forgive me, I have not been here long enough to learn what
words humans use when cussing. If I were to cuss in my native language you
would not understand a thing I said. What cuss word would be appropriate in
this situation in front of a lady?”

“Well, it’s quite rude to cuss in front of a lady. And I
don’t really cuss myself. Generally, I substitute the word ‘stink’ for anything
that might be considered swearing. So I suppose what you said was appropriate,
I have just never heard anyone say anything like that before. Who knows, maybe
you can start a new saying?” I was quite sure that if anyone else heard him say
that phrase, he would be laughed at. Especially if it were any of the local
gang members.

I wasn’t going to worry about his safety. I had my own
safety to worry about.

“Um, Ok so I need to get going now, have a nice night guys.”
I really hoped I could get away from them without a fight as I was pretty sure I
would lose.

“Not so fast B’Lana, you need to come with us to HQ.” Lancer
grabbed my arm carefully, as it was the same one the ripper scratched. This was
quite easy for him since I had jumped closer to him just a few minutes before.

Now I was distracted by his musky scent that seemed to be
banishing any of the alley’s disgusting scents. He had this earthy, sandalwood
scent that was messing up my ability to think straight.

I tried to get out of his grasp as he was steering me
towards the entrance to the alley. But he was too strong for me so I tried
kicking his family jewels, thinking it slowed down the ripper so maybe it would
slow down the warrior too.

I missed…

“Maliki, call for a van. I think we should drive back to
HQ.” Lancer called out while eyeing me warily.

I was about to start screaming when I felt a pinch on my right
arm and my body turned to jello. “Whath errsh yooth doingk?” Words came out of
my mouth but even I couldn’t understand what I was trying to say. It was almost
like I was drunker than a skunk, but I didn’t drink any alcohol that night, so
it couldn’t be that.

Lancer and his friends helped me get to the van once I
arrived. I think someone on the street asked them what was going on, and my
response was total gibberish.

How was I going to get out of this trouble?

“Oooowwwww, that light hurts,” I barely whispered. I started
to think I might have a hangover, but I didn’t drink anything tonight. Not even
when the waiter offered a nice Cabernet Sauvignon from Chile to go with my
steak.

So I wondered what happened to me. Looking around I noticed
I was in a small room with one door and no windows. The room looked to be about
ten feet by ten feet, I am not a great judge of room sizes, and so that was
just a guestimate.
Strange, I must be in a warehouse or something. What a
weird looking room. And a very uncomfortable cot.

The floor was concrete, and made me shiver when I put my
bare feet on the cold floor. The walls, if you could call them that, were just
sheets of plywood with maps covering them. And the ceiling reminded me of a
warehouse, with those big tubes that are generally used for the HVAC, and have
a grill every few feet pumping out cold air.  The room had a scent that
reminded me of stale clothes and old, decaying wood. Too bad they had not heard
of room fresheners, or scented candles.

“Oh come on! I’m already cold and you guys are pumping out
cold air in my prison room?” I hope I didn’t say that too loud as I wasn’t
ready for my jailors to come in just yet.

My jailers must have considered what I was laying in to be a
bed. It was a green cot with a somewhat comfortable pillow, but the sheets and
blankets did not make the green canvas cot cozy at all. My back was actually
aching.
How long have I been in this room
?

Slowly, my memories started coming back to me.

I remembered I had been in an alley with a group of what,
supernatural beings? They tried to force me to leave with them after killing
what looked to be another group of vampires? No, I remembered they were
actually called ‘rippers’ and I killed one, and the models I was following
killed the other 6.

I tried sitting up. “Seriously, what happened to me? Did I
get drugged or something? Where am I?” I muttered out loud. As I looked around
the door opened and in walked the most gorgeous guy I had ever seen.

“Wait, haven’t we met? Aren’t you Lancelot? Or Lucian? Or
something?”

Lancer gave me a smirk and said, “Yes, we met a few hours
ago, my name is Lancer. You are in HQ. I am sorry I had to drug you to get you
here, but you are safe and unharmed.”

“WHAT?????? YOU DRUGGED ME!!!!!!!!! I swear when I get out
of here I am going to make sure you and everyone in this building are arrested
for kidnapping and whatever else my attorney can make stick! How dare you drug
me and then kidnap me and take me to god knows where!”

I tried to get out of the bed, but my head began spinning
and I started to fall to the ground. Lancer rushed over and caught me right
before I hit the floor.

I really wasn’t feeling well at all by this point. I thought
I might throw-up and began looking for a trash can. No way was I going to spew
right in front of Hotty – McHotty. My stomach started roiling and an acidic
taste was in my mouth. “Oh God, please don’t let me be sick right now” I
quietly sent a small prayer to the Man upstairs.

I tried to get out of Lancer’s arms and crawled on my hands
and knees over to the trash can in the corner between the cot and the door.

Turned out Lancer was a bit of a gentleman. He moved me so
that I was sitting on the floor with my back against the cot facing the door.
And then Lancer put the trash can right in front of me before he went and
grabbed a cold wash cloth. If I hadn’t been feeling so gross and awful, I might
have thought he was kinda sweet.

“B’Lana, calm down and just breathe. The potion I used to
sedate you is almost worn off, sorry it was so strong. You should not have been
so out of it for the past few hours. Normally we use this when we come upon a
human who has been in the hands of the rippers. They need a stronger mixture in
order to be more compliant with our orders.”

“Why don’t you come with me and I will get you some water and
Tums. Then we can discuss the situation and I’ll tell you all about who we are
and where we come from. But I need you to be calm, and open to hearing what I
have to say. I promise you, no one will hurt you while you are here. We are
actually here to help and protect you.”

He helped me and we walked over to their conference room a
couple doors down from my jail cell. I still thought I was his prisoner, even
though he was being really nice to me.

As we walked down the hall I asked him how I got there and
what happened after I killed that ripper.

“You were trying to get away so I injected you with a
calming potion. You should have just been relaxed and open to listening to my
directions, but it seems it was a bit too strong for you. The past two hours
you have been going back and forth between singing 80’s love songs and yelling
at me for kidnapping you.”

“Well of course I was yelling at you, you did kidnap me. In
case you didn’t know, taking a woman against her will anywhere is considered
kidnapping here on Earth. Webster’s Dictionary probably says something very
similar if you were to look it up.” I couldn’t believe he thought it was fine
to drug me and take me against my will. What a jerk! Maybe he isn’t as handsome
as I first thought? Wait, why did I keep thinking about how good looking he was?
It hadn’t been that long since I went out on a date, had it? I really needed to
get these drugs out of my system so I could think better.

We walked into the conference room where a man who appeared
to be in his mid-forties stood at the head of the table and glaring at us both.
Oh great, it looked like I really was a prisoner after all.

Lancer directed me to sit in a chair on the opposite side of
the table from the door. “I guess you don’t want me to make a run for it, huh?”
It really felt like I was being put into a police interrogation room or
something. Even though the room was quite large, bigger than my jail cell, I
was feeling a bit claustrophobic.

“B’Lana, you are not a prisoner but we can’t let you leave
just yet. I promised you some answers if you came back with me. And that is
what this about, getting answers, for both of us.”

The man at the head of the table cleared his throat right
about then.

“Forgive me sir, B’Lana this is Commander Terra. He is the
head of our organization for the west coast.”

“Commander, this is B’Lana, the woman who killed a ripper
with just a piece of wood and a rusty nail.”

“Nice to meet you B’Lana, please have a seat so we can get
this interview started.”

“Nice to meet you too, Commander Terra. So I am not a
prisoner?” By this time I was just so confused as to what was going on. And
thirsty too, my throat was dry and scratchy by this point. Thank goodness I
didn’t throw up back in my room.

There was a pitcher of water on the table with four glasses,
but how could I be sure that the water wasn’t drugged? “Do you have any bottled
water that hasn’t been opened yet? I am rather thirsty and I only drink bottled
water.” I said with a bit of a scratch to my voice.

Lancer walked over to the wall next to the door and reached
into a mini-fridge and pulled out what appeared to be an unopened bottle of
Evian. After he handed it to me I tried to slyly check that the bottle wasn’t
tampered with. I turned it upside down and after not seeing any water drip out,
I slowly opened the top. Thankfully, it seemed like it was sealed.

I saw on one of those cop shows once that you could use a
tiny needle to puncture the top of the bottle and inject something into it
without anyone really noticing. I wasn’t sure if they had drugged the bottle
before I came into the room, but since no water came out, I decided to go ahead
and try it.

“Ok, let’s start with my questions first. Since vampires are
real - or rippers as you call them - are all of the mythological creatures
real? If so, are you guys fae warriors or something? What about werewolves,
pixies, witches…..OH! Are there real dragons flying around somewhere?”

I was getting excited thinking of all of the possibilities;
imagine
flying around on the back of a dragon? Or pulling a practical joke on your
friends by sending in a werewolf to shift right in front of them! Oooh, and
what about shaking a pixie above DeeDee’s head? Would she fly?
Ok, I admit
at that point I actually started snickering to myself and when I looked over at
Lancer he had a very confused look on his face.

I should have been more concerned with getting away from my
captors, but the thought of learning about the fantasy world these guys came
from was a bit too much for me to fight at that moment. My crazy curiosity was
definitely going to be the end of me one of these days.

“Um, B’Lana, what is a pixie?”
I think Lancer needs to
watch more of our movies
. I thought with incredulity. I couldn’t believe he
didn’t know what a pixie was.

“What, don’t you read our books or watch our movies? Just
last year a great rendition of the Peter Pan story was out at the movies, I
think it even hit number one on the movies charts. You know, the story about a
boy who never grows up and is best friends with a pixie named Tinkerbell? Sound
familiar?”

It appeared that they did not pay attention to all of the
costumed people who paraded around the streets of Los Angeles. Even though
there was a Cosplay event that had just finished up two weeks ago at the
convention center.
Surely there were several Tinks who participated in that
event
?

That was when the Commander spoke up. “We don’t actually
have time to watch TV. But yes, we are what you might call ‘fae warriors’.
While we don’t refer to ourselves as fae, your people over time have named us
such.”

“When we first arrived on your planet about 1500 years ago,
our warriors were out hunting in our forests and discovered a portal that
brought them here. They dis…”

“Do you mean to tell me that you come from another planet and
don’t have to travel by spaceship?” I totally interrupted what he was saying as
I was just so shocked to hear that they travel by portal.

“B’Lana, we don’t come from your universe. We come from a
different dimension. The portal is a way for us to travel from our realm to
yours.” When Lancer said this I was just speechless. I couldn’t believe we were
talking interdimensional travel.

“WHAT? Wait a minute… Not only do you come from a different
planet, but you come from a different dimension? How is that even possible?” I
was so shocked; I had chills going down my spine.

OK, maybe I wasn’t totally speechless…

The Commander said, “The only way to travel between
dimensions is to find a portal.” He continued to tell me that they had many portals
on their world that opened up to Earth. In fact, they had other units based all
over our world. They were on every continent, except Antarctica.

“Are there other planets and dimensions that you have
travelled to besides Earth?” I wondered if I could travel to other dimensions
as well.

“We have found one other dimension that I know of, but there
is only one portal to that world and it was deemed too dangerous for us to
travel there. Even the rippers won’t go there.” The commander got this far off
look on his face as though he was remembering an event that might have
something to do with that other dimension.

“Can you tell me about that world?”

“Maybe some other time, the important thing tonight is to discuss
why we are here on Earth and what we are going to do with you.” The commander
looked at me like I was nothing but trouble, and those pesky chills came back
all over my body. That look he gave me actually made me tremble it was so
scary.

Lancer seemed to sense my fear and was almost laughing when
the commander said. “OK, back to my history lesson, they discovered there were
new beasts to be hunted here and so they started to consider the Earth’s forests
as their new hunting grounds.

“It took over six months of hunting before they were
discovered by humans. But by then, our people had started to enjoy the taste of
deer meat. So we met with the local human representatives and negotiated a
hunting treaty. The forest was full of various types of animals which were
considered edible so the humans agreed to trade with our warriors.

“At that time, the humans were good hunters, but not as
efficient as our hunters. We decided that it wouldn’t hurt to teach them how to
hunt more effectively. We taught them how to create better traps based on the
size of the animal they were hunting as well as how to hide their scent better
from the animals.

“It was your people who shortened our name from Sennafae to
Fae.”

“Commander, where on Earth, did that rift open up?” It
sounded like they came over here about 500 AD; we had not yet populated much of
the earth. So there were many forests all over Europe that they could have
hunted.

“Our ancestors found themselves in what was once known as Eastern
Germany. At that time, Germany was much bigger than what it is today. And the
people of that forest were happy to trade their wild beasts for our hunting skills.

“But eventually we started to see more and more of your
people in the forests where we hunted. So our hunters stopped coming over here
and we almost forgot all about the portal.”

Lancer joined in the conversation with some history of his planet
at that point. “Our people were also starting to have large increases in population
and we were fighting amongst ourselves over land. The Sennafae and the Rippers
had lived together peacefully until just over one thousand years ago. By that
time we had explored the entirety of our planet and our two groups peacefully
coexisted.”

“Sounds like my people here on Earth may have been a bad
influence on your people. Did you have a history of war amongst your two
peoples before you spent time on Earth?” I got chills thinking that our
inability to get along might be what started the fighting among the fae and the
rippers over a thousand years ago. Could we have been such a bad influence on
an entire planet?