Rue
Rue was fucked.
She had not anticipated the danger that the seven would put her through. But being kidnapped by a fucking monster zombie had not been a possibility that grazed her mind. Nor were the odds of being used as breeding cattle for a fucked-up insect race.
She awoke, panting hard to an odd scene with her hands trembling, fists clenched. She found herself in a small room, upon a bed with clean sheets, surrounded by cargo walls. There were no chains on her wrists, no dark caves, no ink. But there was a coldness in the air—a strange temperature far below the normal. Her eyes widened, confusion sparking.
An undercurrent droning sang from all around her, the hum resonating through the walls. She'd assume it was the sound of technology if not for the way it rattled slightly, quaking in a rhythm that did not resemble the thrum of an engine's core. The knock on the door had her rushing up to grab the nearest weapon—a glass of water that sloshed in her palm. The cup was oddly rough on her fingers.
Strange.
"Rue," the voice croaked out. A familiar face approached her – Altair, with tired eyes and a smile. Something shivered in her vision, and she blinked, almost squinting, his beautiful face seemed to smear and then smoothen. "Thank goodness. You're okay," he breathed, lips stretching into a grin, eyes forming twin moons.
His smile was too bright, too forced. His flesh almost jellied from the grin. Then he returned to normal, her vision sharpening into clarity. But Rue stared, disoriented, confused. What the fuck was that? She opened her mouth, and her voice came out slightly shaky. "Where am I?"
"On a ship," Altair said, a drawl twitching in his voice. Her chest was cold, her skin erupting into goosebumps. She felt shockingly aware of the lack of heat in her belly, the quiet of her Omega as if it no longer felt any need for the Alpha. Her eyes understood that her Eros stood before her, but something about him was off. A nauseating ache grew in her gut. "We found you in the cave, you're safe now."
"What happened?" she tested, grip on the glass still tight. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. "Where's the head?"
"It gave up," he told her, a bowl placed on the table at the side. Something inside sloshed as it steamed. "It died before it could take you away."
"But what was that?" she dragged on, breaking down his features, the weird coldness in Fake-Altair's eyes.
It was easy to tell that it was not him. Her Altair was bubbling warmth and all cheeky sweet lust. The thing tried to mirror his features and his voice, must have scooped out his likeness from her memories. But something in her chest seemed to know almost immediately that it wasn't him, pointing out the falsehood with a sharp ringing blare of metaphorical alarms.
"How could it have survived for so long without its body?"
"You should eat and rest."
"Tell me."
"When you've recovered, you will have your answers."
"TELL ME!" Her voice bellowed, and something in the world seemed to shudder. The scene jiggled almost as if she'd broken through a layer of the monstrosity before her eyes. Fake-Altair seemed surprised, going silent. She cleared her throat and tried her best to hide the quiver of her fingers. Fuck. "J- Just tell me what happened."
Fake-Altair pondered her words, a low rattling hum in his chest. "Rue, it was a titan."
"A titan?"
"The origins of the aliens you knew," Fake-Altair grinned, revealing almost too many teeth. "The Titans once controlled the universe, governing planets in hives. Each ruled with a queen bee and her drone pack. The Titans were powerful, just, and true. They were loyal to their lover, their mistress, their queen."
Rue felt the blood in her head roar. What the fuck was it talking about?
"Oh, but the people, the Olympians. They weren't happy." Altair's voice curled into a sing-song lilt. "They didn't like a woman standing as their ruler, they didn't like the control the drones had. They didn't like the power we had. So, they decided to kill the queen bees." There was a wildness in its eyes, a strange rage. "Murder them all by poisoning the air and the water."
"For power?" Rue pushed, eyes dancing over the shadows in the room, the lights. God, she prayed Levi and Kieran could find her. There was no fucking way this wasn't the damn insect, fucking with her head.
Fake-Altair blinked back at her. "Those scum wanted to rule the universe." His voice was rising in pitch, a sound like insect wings vibrating in the back of his chest. "They were jealous of the connection hives had with their queen. They were jealous of our power. The women died, but the men didn't. The Titans were enraged and lonely from the loss of their mates. But without a Hera, they were weak, powerless, and susceptible. So, they waited and waited for the genetics to flow, for the conditions to ripen, for their time to come. They waited for their strength to grow."
"All right, so you're telling me those rotting insects are old aliens with brains?"
Fake-Altair chuckled. "We didn't say those were the titans. Those were merely worker bees." His smile was fucking creepy. "Created from the dead in our hives. They are born to serve." Her mind swept, dissecting his words, eyes widening at his admission. That meant that every goddamn monster was someone they had killed.
"They were killed," she said.
"Only because they attacked," it explained. Its lies tumbling upon itself. It didn't bother keeping up the bullshit with a big smile, seemed to know that Rue had long seen through its disguise. "Hives have to grow to protect our queen bee."
"Fine." Rue swept her feet off the bed, making a move to leave. If it wanted to continue its goddamn show, she needed to scout the damn premises and figure out where the fuck she was. "Can you show me the bathroom?"
"Rue, you don't seem to understand."
"Well, I think I need to piss."
"You don't," it interrupted with a strange chatter in its voice. "Rue, we call our queen bees, Heras."
"Sure." She gave it a look, but inside she was fucking panicking. The thing was clearly insane.
"You're a Hera."
Her gut swirled, fear sparking. Bullshit. "Fat fucking chance. My Mom's human, my dad's some weak asshole."
"You're a Hera," it repeated. "And that is why you know I'm not one of those temporary drones you've created for yourself with those Olympians." The thing grinned. "That's why you can tell I'm fake. That is why you can harness the powers of the drones."
The illusion seemed to shatter, melting into the cave she was familiar with. A coolness perfused through her veins. The inky goop was all around her, sticky tendrils growing tight around her ankles. The glass cup in her hand melted quickly slamming her fingers to the ground. The room pulsed, something red flowing through the ink that seemed like blood.
The thing that stood before her seemed like a human man, an Alpha. It was as pale as snow just as the monster in the cave had been. But this one was different with long white hair that flowed to its waist and an awful beauty in its sharpened ghostly features. This one seemed healthier, with a plushness to its skin and youth to its face. This one appeared well-fed, and yet there was a strange hollow hunger in its eyes and a lunacy in its smile. A crown of rocks laid on its head, twisting through its hair. It grinned.
The leader.
The true king.
"You are a rare, rare gem thanks to the work of our male bees." The man tapped his fingers on his throne, legs crossed. "They spread our genetic material far and wide, hoping for one to take seed and bear fruit, hoping for a chance once again. A million tries, but only one success. And a success that we did not even know of." The man chuckled, teeth too damn sharp, eyes too fucking gold. Gold like her own. "You're our child, and now you will be our queen bee."
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