Not quite human—not quite alien. We've become some other sort of hybrid being. We're not "pure blooded human" anymore. We are to be watched and guarded. We are not allowed to associate with the general populace. We have become aliens in our own lands.
Is this how the Pure Bloods of BloodDark felt after their ship crashed? Did they sense they could never return home again? Did they understand what life would be like for them if they returned, altered in their genetic make-up, the discrimination, the recriminations, the fear?
The dream shifted again. Olivia's words had struck home, or so she'd like to think. Probably the united effort of all the returned abductees emphasizing how they didn't constitute a threat and their families should be informed of their return had worn down their captors' patience. She'd never forget the sunny day when she spied the plain white school bus coming over the ridge toward the front gate of the prison as the detainees strolled the exercise yard. As the bus door opened and the people inside filed out, Olivia's heart leapt into her throat.
"Mom! Dad! It's me!" She had run into their arms and buried her head against their shoulders, baptizing them with tears of happiness. Wails of relief echoed across the mountain valley as spouses, sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, were reunited with their loved ones.
All except her African friend whose name Olivia could never quite pronounce.
"Where are her people?" she'd demanded as the guards escorted the families into the mess hall for a meal. "She has a family—she has a baby and a husband."
"We're working on it." The gray-haired military type she assumed was in charge gritted his teeth like the mere notion of speaking to Olivia made him uncomfortable. "Her people don't show up on any recent census records. It's a pretty remote area where her tribe lives, and there's not many speakers of her dialect."
Olivia stood tall and crossed her arms, staring daggers at him. She was not going to be brushed off. "You could have at least brought someone on the bus who speaks her language so she'd not feel left out of the reunion."
Military Type shrugged. "It's not up to me. Besides, no one is sure her family still exists. Maybe the vampires took the whole lot of them and they're still there—wherever there is."
As Olivia's parents hurried her away toward the mess hall, she realized what the gray-haired man had said to her. Vampire. Hernando? It sounded like they were no further along in deducing where BloodDark was than the day they had materialized at the U.N. as well. Had Hernando kept silent all this time? Why hadn't he tapped his bio-transmitter, sending the emergency signal to be retrieved?
The ruling council decided before they left BloodDark Hernando alone would have the Portal signal transmitter implanted, since none of the abductees expressed an overwhelming interest in ever returning. The ruling council had also decided Hernando would be the only BloodDark native representative to Earth and no others would transport to Earth until he gave the signal it was safe to do so. Sending a Pure Blood was out of the question, and the majority of Overseers were considered to be in the Pure Blood's camp and untrustworthy. A Quadsang such as Hernando was the best possible choice to act as ambassador.
Olivia thought his pointed canine teeth gave Hernando a sexy appearance and fit well with his handsome features, light brown skin and dark chocolate-brown hair and eyes. Little did she realize how upsetting his fangs would be to humankind at first sight.
Olivia had brought her parents to sit with her African friend, hoping their cheerfulness would break through the language barriers and help ease her friend's heartache. She vowed she'd see her friend returned home to her family before long. She vowed she would see Hernando again and establish him as BloodDark ambassador to Earth.
Eventually she did. Within three months, the abductees had all been repatriated and Hernando recognized as the first U.N. official representative from another world.
The images of the dream faded.
I know why the day the bus arrived stands out in my memory. It's because of the pure joy of being reunited with my parents and because after so many weeks I knew Hernando was alive and keeping the authorities on their toes. It kept me going. It kept me fighting. It kept me working on the blond guard until she agreed to mail a letter for me to a "friend of a friend" who I knew could get us out of that place, and it worked. The independent journalists arrived and the media circus broke the story worldwide. We were set free.
I helped one group of people break their chains of slavery on BloodDark, and then I helped us who were unjustly imprisoned on Earth to be released. I am a fighter. I am a solver of problems. I will solve this one.
Chapter Four
Her family would never forget this Thanksgiving ever. A regular Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? moment awaited them.
Olivia found it next to impossible to contain her excitement. Already this morning she had dusted and polished the furniture in the living and dining rooms, vacuumed the carpets and rugs, scrubbed the bathrooms until the porcelain surfaces shined, and helped her mother unpack and wash the family china to set the Thanksgiving table. This family reunion would be one for the record books.
A familiar chime on her cell phone made her squeal and almost drop the platter she was drying. "Sorry." She lay the precious antique plate down on the counter and darted out of the kitchen. She peeked through the front window sheers and watched as the limousine rolled around the corner and drove up the block to stop in front of their house.
"Are your
