Help! My Lover's an Alien - 10. Chapter 10

The investigation led to one dead end after another. Dillon was going mad being confined to the compound.

Lor tried his best to keep him calm, but Dillon wasn’t having any of it.

“Why hasn’t anyone taken the credit for this?” Dillon raged one afternoon, two weeks after the explosion. “Why can’t they find any leads? Why won’t anyone tell me what’s going on? Why hasn’t anyone been able to find Harry? There are rumors going round that Harry is responsible, but that can’t be true. It can’t, can it? Oh God.” Dillon clapped a hand over his mouth and ran for the bathroom.

Lor rushed after him and rubbed gently on his back until he had emptied the contents of his stomach and there was nothing else to come up.

“You have got to calm down, my mate,” Lor said softly. “You are making yourself ill by worrying about things you cannot change. “I know you are worried about your friend, but Vincent is doing everything he can to find him and clear his name.

“Should you not see someone to check this illness?”

Dillon shook his head. “I’m fine. As you said, I’m just worried, and this cold is lingering because I’m run-down. There’s nothing a doctor can give me for a cold; they still haven’t found a cure for it, even now.”

Their conversation was interrupted by the computer console in the room coming to life. Lor helped Dillon to rise and handed him a damp washcloth as he led Dillon to the couch. Both of them looked at the screen and the breaking news that had caused it to activate.

“An explosion has rocked the president’s house just hours after the president left for his annual vacation. So far no fatalities have been reported but at least four people have been taken to the hospital with minor injuries. Police have closed down the city and handed over control to the military. The military is saying they will be investigating, but there is no danger to the city. They are calling for citizens to not panic and to please stay in their homes as much as possible.

“In a message to the press, a group calling themselves ‘People Responsible for Independence and Citizenship’ has taken responsibility for the bombing and another that apparently happened on a military compound…”

The broadcast continued as Lor dropped onto the couch next to Dillon. His mate had gone even paler at the mention of the group taking responsibility.

“Dillon, love? This is good, is it not? Now the military have a lead to follow. You wanted someone to claim responsibility.”

Dillon shook his head. “Why did it have to be this group?”

“Why, what is it about this group?”

Dillon looked at Lor and Lor was shocked to see tears running down his normally strong mate’s face.

“That group was set up by and is run by my father, Trevor Stewart. I used to shorten it when I was younger. If you take the first letters of the main words it makes the word prick, just without the K. I always thought it was a good name for a group of idiots and bigots. It won’t take long for the military to make the connection. When they do, I will be the first one suspected of passing information and probably even of setting the bomb here.”

Lor sat back in shock. “But you were nearly killed by the bomb here. How could they think you would set a bomb to detonate when you would normally be in the place it was being set off in?”

“But I wasn’t in the place. I was conveniently not where I would usually be that day. By setting that bomb off at the president’s home when he wasn’t there, the group is basically saying, they don’t want to kill anyone, just make a statement.

“What doesn’t make sense is this isn’t like my father. He is usually spouting off about how all military and government officials should be lined up and shot. In the last few decades, the group has included gays, aliens, and technology companies in the list. They believe that without technology, the Earth wouldn’t be able to contact any alien worlds, and therefore, we would be left alone. In the case of gays, that purist argument has been going on for centuries. The groups official line is as old as time; they believe gays are wrong because they can’t reproduce naturally and therefore what’s the point of the relationship? Relationships are to repopulate the Earth.

“This is a setup.” Dillon finished dropping his head to his hands.

Lor was appalled; how could humans be so advanced and yet so backward at the same time?

“We will work something out, my mate,” he said, hoping he wasn’t making promises he couldn’t keep. “You should go and rest a bit and then try and eat something. You are still very ill, and I am worried. I will contact Vincent about the group.”

Dillon nodded tiredly and slowly made his way to the bed. After he was settled, he held up his arms, “Hold me, please?” he asked. Lor’s heart broke a little at the pleading tone, and he settled beside Dillon to hold him as he fell into a fitful sleep.

****

Lor watched Dillon sleep. He couldn’t believe that any parent could put a youngling— even an adult one— through this trauma.

His thoughts were broken into by the buzzing of Dillon’s cell going off on the bedside cabinet.

When Lor saw the name he quickly answered. “Harry, Dillon has been so worried about you. Are you okay? Where are you?”

“Stop talking and listen. I don’t have long.” Harry sounded terrified. “You need to meet me at three twenty-four Tenth Street. Don’t tell anyone where you’re going and don’t bring anyone with you. I will be there in half an hour. Be there and maybe we can get Dillon out of the mess he’s got himself into.”

Before Lor could say anything in reply, Harry had cut the signal.

Lor looked at the blank screen. What should he do? He could get out of the compound, that wasn’t a problem. Looking up the address was easy too. But should he go alone? What if it was a trap? Would his magic be enough of a defense? What would happen if he took someone with him?

He finally moved to the computer console and looked up the address Harry had given him. The location was estimated to be within fifteen minutes walking distance. He didn’t have long to make up his mind.

After a few more minutes of thinking, Lor had made a decision. He sent a message to Vincent telling him exactly what Harry had said and told him to meet him near the gates immediately. He received the acknowledgement as he was heading out the door. At the last minute he remembered to leave a note for Dillon. He simply said he had gone to visit Mora and would be back soon.

Vincent was waiting for him, and Lor muttered the spell he knew would make them both invisible. After sneaking past the guards, Lor used a spell to unlock the gate and they slipped out.

Vincent knew a shortcut, so Lor hurried along beside the fuming man. For an older man, Vincent looked like he could and would kill anyone who got in his way anytime soon.

When they arrived, they saw Harry straightaway, but Vincent stopped Lor from dropping the spell.

“Let’s look around a bit first. I want to make sure he is alone and that this isn’t a trap.” Lor nodded and they walked the perimeter. After they found nothing, Vincent spoke again, “Okay, drop the spell on yourself but leave me invisible. If he tries anything, I will have the advantage.”

Lor agreed and positioned himself right next to Harry before dropping the spell.

“Argh,” Harry yelled when Lor suddenly appeared next to him. “You freak. Why’d you have to do that?”

Lor was taken aback by the vehemence in the human’s tone. He knew Harry was a good friend of Dillon’s, and so he had assumed they shared views on the alien visitors. It was looking like that assumption was wrong. This meeting was starting to take on a whole different feeling.

“Where have you been? Dillon has been worried sick about you,” Lor said, trying to reach the part of Harry that was Dillon’s friend.

“Like I care what that alien-loving slut worries about. I was sent here to give you a message. I was told to tell you: If you want to save your human plaything, you’re to gather up him and all the visitors you came with and leave this planet, never to return. Also you’re to send out a message to all the planets you’re in contact with telling them Earth is not welcoming visitors any more. Any ships seen in Earth’s airspace will be shot down. And just in case you’re wondering how, we now have operatives within the military. By the time you send out the message, we will have control of the planet’s weapons.”

When Harry was finished, Lor was doing everything he could to control his magic and anger. He wanted to wring the neck of the stupid, bigoted— he had learned some new words being mated to Dillon— small-minded bastard.

Harry must have seen something in Lor’s eyes because he took a step backward in fear. But he came up against an invisible wall.

“What—” he started but was cut off by a blow to his head that sent him plummeting to the ground.

Lor dropped the spell on Vincent and saw the furious male standing over the unconscious form on the ground and rubbing his knuckles. “Damn, he has a hard head,” Vincent muttered before kicking Harry and turning to Lor.

“We need to get back to the compound; this was a trap,” Vincent said.

Lor frowned. “Even if this was a trap, it did not work. I am fine and you were here to stop him from hurting me.”

“He wasn’t here to hurt you. He was here to get you away from the compound. That can only mean they are going after Dillon.”

Lor thought about it as he picked up Harry under Vincent’s instructions and recited the invisibility spell again to cover them all. How could anyone get to Dillon? The compound was locked down; no one could get in or out— well except him, but he had magic.

As though he had read Lor’s thoughts, Vincent started talking, “As soon as I saw the broadcast this morning, I knew there was some sort of setup in the works. That group was set up by Dillon’s father and that man never did anything good. Just getting Dillon and your group to leave Earth would never be enough. He has wanted Dillon dead since he found out he was gay. If he can set Dillon up to take the fall for these bombings, then Dillon will be arrested and put in military prison. His father has enough of his group inside the prison— most of which I had a hand in putting there— that he would be able to ensure Dillon would be dead within days of being shut away.”

Lor quickened his step; every second he was away from his mate was a second when the enemy could get to him. Especially with how much he had worried himself sick over that traitor Harry.