.Vixens and Vore

Nigel spun twice as the pot hit his face just to the left of center. He shouted, "What the hell?" Earl swung again, aiming for the shoulder of the arm holding the knife. Nigel staggered forward. The knife skittered across the floor and under the table. "She's mine! I mean, ours!"

"She's not property!" Earl said. "You don't just get to claim people." Nigel pushed himself off the table and grabbed a chair. It made for a bulky, clumsy attack and Earl dodged it easily. He charged through its wake to hit Nigel in the ribs.

Nigel growled and tried to swing the chair back. Earl stiff-armed the pot into his face. He dropped the chair and staggered back. The kitchen window shattered at the impact of his skull.

He screamed and pushed himself at where he thought Earl was. Earl watched the disoriented man lunge past him, then swung. The steel hit the bloody spot on the skull. Nigel fell and slid to a stop on the floor.

Earl dropped the pot and sat down heavily on the floor. He idly wondered if the neighbors were home and if cops had been called. After that he wondered if he'd killed Nigel.

He looked up to see Sanyeel. She dropped the last bit of string and jumped down to the floor. He watched her touch Nigel's throat. She looked up and shook her head sadly.

"Eh," he muttered. "I'll tell the police it was defense of another. It's a deadly force thing. First one on the list. To save one's own life or the life of another, deadly force is authorized."

He held out a hand to invite Sanyeel over. He just then noticed that he was bleeding. He didn't remember being cut. When had that happened?

The other arm was okay, so he held that out. She ran around Nigel's legs and over to his unbloody arm. "Whew," she said. "That was a close one."

"Where the hell did you learn that?" Earl started to ask. He stopped and shook his head. "You've spoken English all along, haven't you?"

"Yes," she said quietly. He stared at her face for a moment. She was chewing her lip, waiting for his reaction.

"You weren't brought here by any sort of wish, were you?" She shook her head. He groaned and pushed himself to his feet. Their first aid kit was too big for the bathroom drawers so they kept it in the kitchen. He pulled it out and looked for something for his arm.

"I wish I watched more science fiction," he muttered. "All I can think of is that you're an advance unit for an alien invasion." He looked a question over his shoulder at her.

"We, uh, we're already here." She followed him over to the table and climbed up on it. He took off his shirt and started to clean the wound. She grabbed the gauze and took over.

"I know it's a cliché," she continued, "but we mean you no harm."

He glanced from the bloody gauze she held to Nigel's form. "I can believe that," he said. "All the harm done today... none of it's been you."

"Yeah," she said. She took the large bandage out of his hand and expertly prepared and applied it. "Yeah. We, uh, we are aliens. And we have the ability to blend in. We just...  Well, we test the waters every so often. See if humans will accept us as we are."

They both looked over at Nigel. "Whoops," he said. She nodded. He looked himself over for other wounds.

"So, your true form... what's that like?"

"This is it," she said. "My resemblance to that actress is purely a coincidence. She's not one of us."

"Us..." he said. "Who is 'us?' What's your word for your people?"

"Just us," she said. "We lost a lot in the crash. We're here, we're trying to survive, some day our kids and your kids will maybe find the way back."

He stared at her for a while. "Okay. So, I guess you can't be a witness when the police get here."

"No, Earl. I have to go. I've got my results, I have to make my report." She suddenly jumped onto his lap, stood on tiptoe and kissed him. "They want me back right away. Sorry. For what it's worth...  I am really glad I met you."

"Yeah," he said, forcibly chipper. "Yeah, me, too." She dropped to the floor and walked towards the wall. The air in front of her started to glow. "Sanyeel? Will I ever see you again?"

She shrugged. Then a small smile appeared on her face. "Roll for it!" she told him. Then she was gone.