V'Let and D'Las are twins and the last of their kind. They also have been destroying planets since they were ten. Under the thumb of corrupt Council members, they are sent to Earth, a planet that is protected above all others. However, Earth has secrets of its own, including a planeswalker and the vampire that protects her. Underneath that, V'Let discovers something very wrong.
Galaxy Killers
Living Planets: Book OneBy Amber WokatyAuthorHouse
Copyright © 2011 Amber Wokaty
All right reserved.ISBN: 978-1-4567-5703-8 Chapter One
V'Let knelt down to the earth, sad eyes watching the horizon. The name of the planet was irrelevant, as its fate had been sealed. They had landed here almost a full year past, directed as such by those that had control over them. The dominant species had been judged to be below the Council's standard, bearing a malevolence that could lead to forceful and dominant actions once they had achieved space travel. By the Council's own bylaws, they could not be allowed to evolve that far.
Allowing her eyes to focus farther along the horizon, she spotted a shimmer on the air. It was very small, almost indistinguishable against the autumn sky, but she could see it almost too easily. Her brother would arrive soon with their spacecraft, allowing her to escape this act of finality. If he didn't, she would die with the planet and he wouldn't, couldn't survive that.
Plant the device, sister, D'Las's firm voice echoed through her mind. It's time.
I wish we didn't have to, she murmured to him before doing as she was bid. She reached into the many folds of her robe and pulled out a small gold mechanism that was barely large enough to fit in the palm of her own slender hand. It was three-dimensionally elliptical and covered with angry red numbers and dark black buttons. She punched in a complex series of buttons, making the numbers shift slowly until they read (OO:45). She then spun a dial on the bottom and plunged the device into the ground as a deadly electrical spike emerged from the dial.
She watched as the device became the color of no color, watched as the void machine grew at an exponential rate, soon to envelop the entire planet. V'Let glanced up to see her brother in their small spacecraft speeding toward her, the rear hatch open for her.
Grabbing onto the edge and rolling inside, she punched the large button to close the airlock just before the planet completely disappeared beneath her feet. She sighed roughly, pulling herself to her feet. The death of yet another planet pulling at her heartstrings, she headed for the bridge.
As she passed through the far edge of the cargo area, she reached out with her mind and flicked very slightly. Across the room from her, a panel flashed white and then red as a series of numbers scrolled across its screen.
"Successful destruction of Planet Barti, residing in Galaxy Dark Sun in Alpha Sector. Sending report to the Intergalactic Council, care of Military Elder, Media Elder and Tactical Elder."
She sighed again once she was on the bridge, watching in discontent as they traveled farther and farther away from that empty spot. Slowly, everything that had been controlled by that planet's gravitational pull began to readjust to the new amount of room, filling into the space as if an unwelcome guest had finally left.
D'Las pulled up the navigational guide, obscuring V'Let's view with a different brightly-colored screen. "Let it go, Letta. It's gone. We have to move on."
"But it hurts, Lasso. It hurts when they all blip out like that."
A scowl covered his face, paling slightly. "I wouldn't know, sis."
"Sorry." She smiled gently, trying to cover her gaffe. "You could, y'know. If you opened up to everything."
His scowl turned upwards into a sad ghost of a smile. "Your pain is knowledge enough."
V'Let didn't try overly hard to get D'Las to uncover the power that was under his severe suppression to feel. The last time he unsnapped his control over their natural abilities, the resulting seizures had nearly killed him. She'd felt like someone had broken her in half when she'd used her own enhanced powers to knock him unconscious. She'd cried almost nonstop for two days, telling herself she would never hurt anyone again, especially her own blood.
Looking back, it had turned out to be quite stupid to make that promise to herself, considering what they did for a "living". Shaking her head at herself, she looked at her brother, willing the sadness to seep away. "I'll be in my bunk, brother dear. I'll take the next shift."
D'Las grinned at his sister. "It'll get better, I promise."
Her eyes darkened. "You can't promise a thing until they decide to let us stop." She turned on her heel and left the bridge. She felt his grimace even though she could not see it.
They'll never let us stop, she heard him think downheartedly as she drifted down the corridors of the ship, gracefully entering her bunk and walking straight to the wash station.
Sighing, she peered at the mirror on the wall. She poked at her violet skin, grimacing when the shadows under her bright blue eyes seemed to stretch in response to the slight physical touch. She knew she needed sleep. It seemed so difficult to find rest on the last legs of their missions.
She leaned closer to the mirror, examining her eyes. Her dark pupils were slightly dilated across the blue of her irises, denoting her exhaustion. Her eyelids narrowed slightly and she forced her pupils to dilate even further, causing them to expand and stretch across her irises. She lost her ability to see for a moment but she endured it, watching a mote of dust float between her and the mirror. When her pupils retained their normal size, a mere pinprick of black in a sea of blue, she noticed that the deep stress lines and bloodshot veins in her eyes had completely gone.
She pulled back, taking in the sight of her face again. The shadows were still there. No power in her brain could make the pain of judging a whole people go away. Thus, the shadows ...
She turned away from the mirror in disgust and flopped tiredly on her bunk.
D'Las? she queried across the impenetrable link with her twin.
Yes, dear sister?
I don't want to kill anymore. Then she finally turned her mind toward sleep, finding her way there on a trail of tears.
Chapter Two
"Bloody stubborn wench! I know you see it!"
Rosalie rolled her eyes up at the intimidating creature that had forced his way into her very personal bubble. She arched an eyebrow at him and he took the required three steps back. "See what, Erik?"
Erik thrust his hands into the air. "That thing!" He pointed sharply but quite vaguely behind his person. "That overgrown marble you made. It went all ... FWOOSH!"
The eyebrow stayed up, quickly joined by its twin. "First of all, I didn't make the orb. Second of all, 'fwoosh'?"
He sighed roughly. "Yeah, you know! It lit up real bright and I ..." He looked down at the floor boyishly, seeming shy for half a second before regaining his composure. "I thought it was going to blow up."
Rosalie grinned. "It can't."
Erik was flabbergasted. "What do you mean, 'it can't'? Everything can blow up or melt or be otherwise kaput."
"That 'overgrown marble', as you so eloquently put it, is affected by neither temperature nor stress. It doesn't exist in this realm."
"But it's here, you moved it here."
She smirked. "What can I do that you can't?"
Erik pretended to think, his face echoing her smirk. "Lots of things, actually."
"That no one else can do? At least, not that I've encountered anyway."
"You mean, the planeswalking?"
"Yeah, that."
"Oh." Erik sat thinking for a moment. "But why did it do what it did? Something had to have happened to cause that. Right?" He paused for a moment, his...
