Chapter 11
Ryker
To say I was confused would be a colossal understatement. In just a few short hours, my entire life had been thrown in a blender and turned up to its highest setting. First, my best friend is murdered over something as trivial as… diabetes? From everything I had gathered, I think these bastards killed him over dia-freakin-betes. Then the rest of humanity was either killed off or sucked into one of these ships. My thoughts couldn't help but settle on my parents and everyone I had ever known. The whirlwind of emotion started to solidify into a familiar heat in my stomach.
Then, without me realizing, Amy had shuffled next to me and cupped my right hand. As suddenly as the fire had ignited, she had doused the flames, and I felt my emotions settle. She looked up at me with a concerned gaze, and I decided that I wouldn't allow myself to lose control, and would use those feelings as fuel in the engine that pushes me to the top. I would do anything and everything within my power to free my people.
First things first, Ruby was still leering at me, and I needed to figure out what was up with that. I leaned over to Amy and whispered, “Is it just me, or did Ruby just give me... the look?”.
Amy stifled a laugh and flashed me a shit-eating grin. “I think you're right... I am a little shaky on how A.I. human relationships work, but I think you got a decent shot.”
I rolled my eyes at Amy and looked up to find Ruby standing nose to nose with me. Startled, I leaned back as far as I could and lost my balance. I windmilled my arms in a futile attempt to regain my balance and fell on my butt. Ruby was just floating in the air, laughing her ass off while clutching her stomach and rolling around as if she was on a solid surface.
By the time I got back to my feet and dusted myself off, Ruby had regained her composure and said, “I am glad to see my breathtaking beauty wasn't lost on you, but you won't woo me so easily, Ryker... I am a complex being of immense processing power and have more knowledge and wisdom in my pinky toe than your entire species combined... you will have to try harder than that... oh who are we fooling! HOLD ME CLOSE, LOVER!” The dominative demoness threw her arms around my neck and squeezed! I had imagined she was some kind of projection or a fancy hologram but I was caught off guard by the sensation of warmth she gave off as she nuzzled her head into my shoulder.
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I threw up my hands and looked around with a panicked expression on my face. “Ruby, I don’t know what you're thinking but I am not attracted to children!”
I felt her perk up at that and she unwrapped me from her embrace and leaned back. She had a predatory smile on her face and winked. “Oh? Well, how about this then?” Next thing I knew, she pulled her feet up to my chest and used me as a springboard to vault into the air and execute a triple back flip. Mid-rotation I saw a shimmer and her body rippled and grew. She stuck a perfect three-point superhero landing right in front of me and slowly rose.
The cute 8-year-old looking girl was gone and what now stood before me was a full-grown demon with all the trimmings. She had the same subtle characteristics that made up Ruby’s appearance but… much more… mature. She stood roughly 6 feet tall and had long sleek
horns where her nubs once resided. She had long slender limbs with obviously well-defined muscle tone and more than enough curves to put any Formula One driver into the wall.
“Is this more to your taste, lover?” Ruby’s Cheshire grin was just a little too wide and gave me a manic vibe.
Luckily, Amy was there to come to my rescue. “Ruby!” She admonished. “This is hardly the time for you to be playing with Ryker. We have a shitload of questions that need answering. Save the hanky-panky for later, we have work to do!”
To my surprise, Ruby’s chin fell to her chest and her shoulders drooped. The A.I. looked wholeheartedly cowed by the woman glaring up at her. Ruby sighed and said, “you're right of course… I'll answer all your questions now if that is okay with you, Amy.”
Ruby slowly rose into the air as if a giant invisible hand picked her up by the nape of the neck and placed her softly in the middle of the group again. I saw in the corner of my eye a small red hand materialize behind Amy and tap her on the shoulder then disappeared. Amy wheeled around to see what had touched her and in that split second the hand reappeared in front of me, daintily placed a folded-up piece of paper in my breast pocket then stroked my chin before fading away. My eyebrows rose all the way to my hairline as I pulled out the note and read it. “Your A Cutie! Love, Ruby.” The cursed parchment was covered in hand-drawn hearts and had xoxo outlining the text. It even had a lipstick stain in one corner.
Ominously I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up as I heard Amy say, “what do you have there, Ryker?”
My mouth went dry, and I could barely stammer out “uhh nothing… just… uhh... some trash I found.” Amy gave me a dubious look then shrugged it off. I met eyes with the alledgely mollified demoness, and one corner of her mouth lifted and revealed one of her long sharp-looking canines, and she shot me a mischievous wink before reverting back to her subservient demeanor.