Thirty-Seven (bxb)

Chapter Five

Danny and Vses continued to stare back at each other, their eyes locked with a mixture of fear and distrust traveling between the two. Neither one of them trusted the other, but both for different reasons. Danny didn't know who or what the strange-looking guy was, but he had a suspicion that he was anything but human. Vses didn't think he could trust the mortal, knowing how scheming they could be. It was the exact reason why every single one of Vses species that had traveled to the planet disappeared, was tested on, and ultimately killed. It wouldn't be shocking to Vses if the guy before him would do the same thing, turn them both in, which would eventually end in their enslavement and death.

Vses wasn't alone anymore; he now had another person to watch after. He couldn't just look after himself. Vses had chosen to protect the boy, ignoring all the side-effects of said decision. The boy wasn't safe in the hands of the humans, not with Vses's species genetics running through his veins, the powers the boy could control. But he was also partially mortal. He wasn't raised like the other mortals though unless they keep their youth underground until a specific age, which Vses was rather sure wasn't the case. No, this boy had been isolated, created in a laboratory where he had existed his entire life, surrounded by people like Vses, species, not from this planet.

Vses wondered if the boy had once seen his brother during his time underground. It wouldn't have shocked Vses if he had. Time worked differently from planet to planet, the time to travel to Earth could take Earth days or months, all depending on the routes taken. Vses's brother hadn't left but a handful of years previous, but Vses had no way to dictate whether or not the boy had been alive when Vses's brother arrived on the planet, as the few years could have been decades on Earth. He would ask when the boy was back to a healthier state.

Vses refocused his attention back onto the human sitting across from him, his gaze turning dark. Sure, the human was allowing Vses and the boy a place to remain for the night, but it had mostly been out of fear. Once the human snapped back into his senses, Vses knew the law enforcement or the scientists who had kept the boy prisoner would appear to reclaim what they thought was theirs. No one, not even an unknown alien species, deserves to be held captive in an underground lab for their entire existence.

"I don't trust you," Vses said calmly towards the human, which caused the little thing to flinch roughly, looking at Vses with wide-panicked eyes. Vses didn't expect the human to react so . . . submissively. Earlier, he had clearly been driven by fear, and you'd think now that he was within his own habitat that he'd be calmer. Based on his other human interactions, explicitly recalling the adolescent girls, most humans seemed dominant. The one in front of him was definitely male, and males, regardless of species, always seemed to be the dominant's of the species. So why was this one showing signs of the opposite? Vses shrugged it off, not entirely interested in the dominance and submission of the humans.

"You don't trust me?!" The human snapped, clearly taken aback, allowing fear and panic to rule his mind. The human stood from his chair, pacing across the area in front of Vses. If he continued, he'd burn a path onto the carpet below his feet. "I don't know you!" The human shouted at Vses, wanting to get his point across. "You are some stranger that came up to me on the streets demanding I lead you to my home, and you don't trust ME!!" Vses simply nodded, already knowing the facts. He had told the male to take him and the boy to his home, but that was beside's the point. The humans' eyes widened drastically at Vses's nod.

"You risk me and the child's safety," Vses admitted, knowing it probably wouldn't satisfy the human, but he knew that was all he could say. "I don't trust you, humans," Vses curled his nose, looking at the human up and down. So far, he was the most attractive one he's seen. Regardless of attractiveness, the male was a threat.

"I'm risking your safety!?!" The human said, shocked, repeating Vses's words. An annoying trait that the male seemed to have. "You should be lucky that I haven't called the police!" Vses tensed at the threat, his gaze sharpening into a glare in the humans' direction.

Why hadn't he? Danny didn't know. The guy before him was obviously not human, and Danny had a hunch that the boy wasn't entirely human either. Was that why the guy demanded that Danny allow them into his home? To hide from someone? Danny was never one of dream about alien species, but looking at the guy across from him, Danny was starting to think he should have. Once Danny noticed the glare on the guy's face, his throat went dry.

The guy stood up threateningly, crossing the distance to get to Danny. Danny tried to back up but crashed back into his chair. The guy didn't stop though, standing directly in front of Danny's chair, trapping him in place. "If you call your pitiful law enforcers, I will kill you," The guy said in the deepest voice Danny's ever heard, each word shaking Danny to his core, causing him to freeze in fear. "Understand?" The guy asked, and Danny could barely nod.

The guy backed away, walking out of the living space and into Danny's room. Danny couldn't breathe until the guy closed the door behind him. His body relaxed, and he calmed his breathing, placing a hand to his chest to feel the rapid beating of his heart. Calm down; you need to calm down. No one had ever made Danny feel that way, feel that scared. But at the same time, Danny hadn't necessarily been afraid of the guy, more afraid of his dominance that he practically oozed out in waves.

Hesitantly, and with shaky hands, Danny reached onto the coffee table, staring at his reflection on the phone screen. Danny sighed, placing the device back down, turning the volume off so that it wouldn't disturb him while he slept on the couch. His bed was too occupied for him to sleep in it tonight.

Walking around the rooms to turn the lights off, Danny let out small yawns, not realizing how tired he truly was. He didn't stop to think about what he had been doing before running into the guy and the boy. Lying down for the night, Danny didn't check his phone.

In turn, he didn't notice the AMBER alert that had been made for Thirty-Seven, putting him in a high school photo setting. A fake story that would have the whole city on a hunt down for him.