Aura couldn't even find words with which to respond to that particular statement of Ilian's. Instead, she just turned away silently and headed back in the direction of the living room. Ilian gave her a sad look before stepping into the bedroom, softly closing the door behind him.

  Adan looked more than a bit uneasy as well, understandably so. He took a moment to find any kind of response. Once again, he resorted to sarcasm and an attempt at humor, dark though it was. “So, you're saying we're all just a bunch of happy hybrids now, huh?”

  “Happy?” Ilian responded with a crease of his brow as he moved toward the bed.

  “Thought you got sarcasm now,” Adan mumbled. Though he said nothing more, as his pained breath caught as Ilian reached the side of the bed.

  “Sorry, a bit distracted,” Ilian said softly. “I guess we should have a look,” he gestured toward Adan's shirt.

  “Trying to get me outta my clothes again?” Adan continued his attempt at covering his actual misgivings behind more humor. “Not sure I'm really up to that tonight.”

  “We need to see how much damage was done, don't we?” Ilian continued, not dissuaded by Adan's deflections.

  “Then what?” Adan replied shortly.

  “So I can determine if I can actually heal you,” Ilian stated, having assumed that his intention was clear already.

  “Heal me?” Adan scoffed, not able to look up into the eyes so similar to his own.

  “Of course. You know I was a healer, before,” he added the last word more quietly.

  “Just can't help wondering what your idea of healing actually is, Ilian,” Adan replied, trying to soften the bitterness in his voice with a lower volume.

  “Why do you sound like you don't trust me anymore, Adan?” Ilian asked worriedly.

  Adan covered another scoff, “Considering you made Aura have a miscarriage just by touching her, and your pal out there just tried to murder us? Are you really shocked?”

  Ilian needed a long moment to try to decide how to respond. “She asked me to do that, Adan. And I did it in a way that would keep her from feeling any pain; or from being damaged by the event. Physically anyway. And yes, my former comrade did try to murder us. Us,” he stressed pointedly. “And he did it because I was out there trying to keep Aura from ever having to go through such a thing again. And to try and save anything that's left of your race,” he added for weight. “You know all this Adan,” he stated in a sad near whisper.

  Adan did pause then, but only momentarily. “Our race? Is that even true anymore? Are we even human anymore? Or did you make us into something else entirely, Ilian?”

  “No more than you made me into something else,” Ilian responded in the same soft tone. “And we all agreed to do that, again, to try and save your--- to try and save anyone still left out there from those that I've turned against. Again, you know all of this, Adan.”

  “I don't know what I know anymore,” Adan replied, though his words were barely audible as he cast his dark eyes downwards again.

  Upon returning to the living room, Aura cast a somber glance around her. Her eyes moved again to the abandoned bag on the floor inside the door. With a sigh, she moved to retrieve it, as any distraction from her thoughts was more than welcome right then.

  As she bent to pick it up, Aura noticed that it was partially open. And a portion of the contents easily caught her eye. She moved to finish unzipping it and looked over said contents. Inside were several white and light purple boxes, nearly an entire shelf's worth. She furrowed her brow and reached for one of the boxes, only to feel her breath catch as she turned it in her hand and read 'Plan B' on the label.

  Aura dropped it back into the bag and swallowed a lump in her throat. It was then that she noticed, underneath the pill boxes were a handful of white medical supply boxes. Taking another breath she reached for one of them and read the label with another gasp. The side of each of the half a dozen or so boxes read 'Levonorgestrel Implant (IUD).'

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  Letting the box fall back into the bag as well, Aura was frozen in thought for several long moments. She honestly wasn't sure how she felt about her discovery. Was she touched that Ilian likely risked his life to help do away with one of the biggest causes of her anxiety about her present situation? Or was she appalled that he had done so just for the sake of allowing himself and Adan to continue as her lovers? And most importantly, how did she feel about continuing to be Ilian's lover, even with these sort of assurances in place? And all of it was just now overshadowed by a million other things racing around in her head and making it impossible to even figure out what she did think or feel about any of it at all anymore.

  With a shake of her head, she quickly zipped the bag shut and moved to take it and stash it in the closet at the end of the hallway, past the bedrooms. She needed more time to sort through any of her own thoughts and feelings right then. And the knowledge of the existence of these precautions putting more pressure on her to figure out how she even wanted things to be with her companions any more, was just one complication too many for her to deal with on top of all the others right then.

  * * *

  When Ilian left Adan's bedside a little over an hour later, he slowly shuffled down the hall back toward the living room. There, he found Aura still seated, much as she had been for almost that entire day already. She still wore a somber expression, staring unwavering at the floor in front of her seat, protectively wrapping her arms around herself.

  Upon hearing his approach, she quickly looked back in his direction. “Is he going to be OK?”

  Ilian took pause at her brevity, though it was understandable. “I healed him as much as I could. As much as he would let me,” he added more quietly.

  “What does that mean?” Aura pressed.

  “Which part?”

  “Is he going to be alright or not?” Aura repeated impatiently.

  “It's hard to know that answer honestly, Aura,” Ilian stated apologetically, only allowing himself a few steps toward the couch she was now seated upon.

  “And is that something you're just saying to try and keep me calm, when the answer is actually a lot worse?” Her worry made her question into more of an accusation.

  “It means I honestly don't know,” Ilian stated as he took another step closer to the couch, trying to keep his tone even. “I told you what those weapons normally do to humans. On our kind, it would likely only stun us or slow us down, with a minimal amount of pain. Neither of those seem to apply to the effect it had on Adan though. So, like I said; I just don't know, with absolute certainty.”

  “Helpful,” she mumbled with equal helpings of worry and sarcasm as she looked away.

  Not able to continue trying to overlook Adan's and Aura's behavior toward him any longer, Ilian spoke up, “What has changed?”

  “What?” Aura returned, looking back toward him again.

  “When I left here to go out there and try and save what's left of your world...” Ilian shook his head before continuing, “and then, last night, what the three of us did...” he spoke more quietly, the statement causing her cheeks to redden as she looked away again. “I just don't understand what's happening here now. What is different now? Please, explain it to me.”

  Biting back any reaction to the pleading tone in Ilian's voice, Aura made hers work again, “I think we have more important things to worry about right now.”

  Ilian stifled a sound of frustration before replying, “I've done all I can for him right now, so what other things are you referring to?”

  Aura shook her head, still refusing to meet his eyes, “Well, for one thing, there's a dead fucking alien in our entrance hall. Don't you think something should actually be done about that?”

  Ilian furrowed his brow, though responded, “Fine, I'll take care of it.”

  Then Aura looked back at him at last when he moved in the direction of the steel doors. “How, exactly?”

  “In the best way I can,” was the only answer he offered before moving through the doors, trying to ignore Aura's cringe at the ever so brief glimpse of his dead former compatriot once more.

  Not able to push aside her anxiety inspired, if somewhat morbid, curiosity, Aura only managed a few brief moments before pushing herself up from her seat. She moved toward the steel doors he had just passed through and cautiously peered through the small window in one of the doors.

  As she looked through that thick glass, she was just in time to see his fingers then splayed across its eerie gray skin just the way they had been spread across her abdomen during the moments proceeding her miscarriage. The dead thing's body then shrank to nothingness and eventually crumbled to dust underneath Ilian's hands.

  Aura swallowed a gasp as she turned away, trying to process what kind of power Ilian truly had, and what he could actually do with it had he wanted to. Not to mention what the rest of his kind, still untainted by human DNA, could also do had they ever discovered any survivors who were still hiding out there somewhere.

  And once again, she felt more than a bit of fear at how truly alien they were. And worse for her than even that, was how to possibly reconcile that fear in her own mind, alongside everything else Ilian was to she and Adan both now. And what he may have made them both into now as well.