THE ADVENTURES OF VANESSA FOXX// vanessa foxx & the monsters of earth xvii, part I
Things To Know: Vanessa, Drake and Noah are all Immortals. Evan is Noah's Paramore and also immortal. Vanessa obtained the Progeny from Jack Tararentine after he decided to settle down with his lover and make an honest living. Cory is a Vampire. Lexx was once Vanessa's Andriod but, when her body was destroy, Vanessa worked her into the Progeny's mainframe as an AI system.
Earth VXII, 2994
Alexander Milano is sixteen years old when his life turns on it's axis. Angela can't sleep, which is pretty common, so he gets out of bed to go to the kitchens to get some warm milk. (It never helps, she just drinks it and then sits with him until she falls asleep in his bed as he sings softly, old songs from decades ago. None of the new crap, not that there's been anything new since Ilona took over seven years ago.)
Alexander is sixteen years old and padding down the halls of his family's manor when he hears it, the quiet lilt of his mother's voice and the deep rumble of his father's, drifting from the open door way.
“Alexander is sixteen, it's time to start thinking of these things, dear,” his father whispers and Alexander hears the quiet clink of ice in a glass.
“Oh, I know,” his mother sighs, her skirts swishing as she crosses her legs. “It's just so awful to think about. Alexander is far too headstrong to ever be an acceptable host. The Monster would gorge itself and die within weeks. And Angela is always gushing about how she wants to be just like him. We're kidding ourselves if we think she's going to out grow that.”
“I know it's terrible,” his father murmurs. “But at least we know that they will serve a good cause. The Lady Ilona needs to feed and there are so few candidates these days. Alexander and Angela will be wonderful sacrifices. Angela's grief after losing her brother will keep the High Lady satiated for days.”
Alexander gasps quietly and presses his hand to his mouth. It's been seven years since Ilona Kelvaale took her rightful place as High Lady of the Monsters. He doesn't really remember the Before Time, all he knows is this, when you turn eighteen, you're receive your Monster, a mythical creature that lives within your body to enrich and prolong your life.
Apparently, he's wrong. When you turn eighteen, you either become a Host or a Sacrifice. And their parents were planing to sacrifice them.
Alexander raced along the halls back to his room, startling Angela, who'd half fallen asleep waiting from him. “Angie, go to your room and pack a bag. Quickly, we have to go.”
“Brother, what-” Alexander crouches down in front of her and takes her face in his hands. “Angela, you have to trust me, ok? We must leave as quckly as possible. Pack a bag and meet me in the library. Ok?” Angela nods once, eyes wide and fearful. He presses a swift kiss to her forehead before shooing her back to her own room.
Five minutes later, Alexander was ushering Angela down the secret staircase in the back of the library to the garage, where his car is waiting. Angela demands an explanation as he's loading the car, as he's buckling her in, as he's pushing the key into the ignition and roaring out into the night. He doesn't stop, doesn't explain until they're miles away, out of the Inner City and winding through back roads in the Outer Ring. There's been whispered rumors for years about an underground society for those escaping the thrall of the Monsters. Whispers that went against everything he'd been taught, that the High Lady was all powerful, that her happiness and pleasure was more important than anything, that they were all her loving subjects. Loving slaves, his mind murmurs traitorously and he saw the truth. The High Lady was nothing but a dictator, the Monster nothing more than a way to enslave the human race. They were puppets to her sick will and she had to be stopped.
Alexander turned the car towards Camelot, the whispered city of liberation, and drove.
Earth XVII, or Tuar Ceatha as it's been nickname, is a bright and colorful world. Alexander always found this amusing, since Tuar Ceatha meant “omen of a rain shower” and it never rained on XVII.
It rained that night.
Alexander sped through the back streets of the Outer Ring, heading towards Camelot as the rain poured from the sky. Angela slept soundly in the passenger seat as his head whirled with confusion and betrayal. He was so wrapped up in his own anguished thoughts, he almost didn't see the girl.
As it was, he had to swerve to avoid hitting her and even then it was a close miss. Angela jerked awake as he flung the door open and ran to the crumpled body. It was a girl, no more than eight - the same age as his sister - thin and pale with matted blonde hair streaked with magenta and blood. He pushed the hair off her face and cursed at the dark blood oozing from her hair line. He lifted her into his arms and carried her back to the car. Angela gasped in horror when she saw them and Alexander arranged the girl in the backseat. "Angie, i need you stay back here and keep her head straight," Alexander said and Angela noded mutely, climbing into the back seat to craddle the bleeding blonde's head in her lap.
It took them three hours to reach the gates of Camelot. They aren't weren't to look at, just rusted metal curling into swirls and crawling with vines. A man with spiked out teal hair leaned in through the open window and saw the bleeding girl in the back and waves them through. They drove around and parked in front of a building that looked like a clinic. A woman greeted with eyes like rain and hair like fire (and a chest like mountains, but that's besides the point) and took him aside as a team of medics pulled the girl from the car. The next few hours passed in a flurry of activity as the woman, Maria, explained what Camelot is - a refuge for people escaping the control of the High Lady - and what it means - you change your name and break the spell that has the world hypnotized. Alexander became Axel Rhodes and Angela became Lea Bells.
When the girl woke up, she shouted for Axel. "The man who rescued me!" she cried, gripping her nurse's hand. "Please." He came to her side and she gripped his shirt and cried. She couldn't remember anything, she said. Just blood and demons. And her name, just her first name. "Rebecca," she whispered as she fell asleep. "Call me Becks."
"Ok, Becks," he whispered, smoothing down her hair.
"You'll protect me, right?" she asked, eyes wide with more pain than any 8 year old should ever have.
"Always," he murmured. He doesn't know it then, but that will become the truest thing he'll ever say.
10 Years Later, the Progeny
“I hate you,” Vanessa hisses, glaring at Drake with fire in her eyes.
“Lies,” Drake trills, hand flicking across the board with practiced eased. “I win agan! Really, sister dear, you need to step up your game.”
“Fuck you,” she sighs, kicking her feet up onto the table and knocking the Gamorgan board to the floor.
“I am so bored. Evan!”
“I’m not sparing with you again,” he sighs from where he’s reading with Noah curled into his side. “I’m still bruised from the last time.”
“He’s no good to me broken, mother!” Noah cries. “Why don’t you check in with Christyal and see if she needs you for anything.”
Vanessa huffs and waves a hand. “Nothing has changed since you ask fifteen minutes ago,” Lexx intones form the monitors. “So don’t bother.”
Vanessa stands anyway, wandering over to fiddle at the controls over Cory’s shoulders. “V, stop it,” he growls, smacking her hands away. “Before we end up stranded on another destitute planet with no technology.” Vanessa ignores him and continues to poke at the controls until he elbows her in the stomach. “Vanessa, stop it. Stop-stop it. Vanessa!” He grabs her hands to stop her poking and glares at her. “Can’t you just enjoy the peace and quiet?”
“Cory, if there’s peace, I start thinking,” Vanessa mutters. “And that’s no good for anyone.”
Cory falters at pain in her eyes before she lunges over his should and smacks a random button in the middle of the console and the ship lurches. “Dammit, Vanessa, what did you do?”
“I have no idea,” Vanessa chirps.
The ship whirs and clicks as it hurtles through space and time until it screams and Lexx’s voice echoes through the room. “The Progeny has encountered some sort of forcefield around Earth XVII, also known as Tuar Ceatha. We’re crashing.”
“Fix it!” Vanessa shrieks and a loud, rattley sigh crackles through the speakers.
“I can’t, this is magic beyond our capabilities.”
“Dammit, Vanessa!” Evan swears, throwing his book onto the table. “Lexx, can you get us back up after we’ve crashed?”
“Should be able to!” Lexx says as the ship hurtles through the atmosphere.
“As soon as Lexx gets us up and running, we’re leaving!” Evan shouts.
There’s not much talking after that, mostly shouting and creaking metal as the ship slams into the earth, sliding across the ground, kicking up dirt and rocks, stopping just short of the twisted, rusted gates of Camelot.
Everything’s still and silent for five long minutes before Drake shouts, “Jesus Christ.”
“The fuck?” Axel Rhodes shouts as the world shakes. Beside him, Becks Glitter shoots awake with a cry of, “The tiger has the biscuit!” Axel shoots her an incredulous look as Lea comes bolting out of her room, eyeliner streaking down the side of her face in a crooked line.
“Are we being bombed?” Lea asks, rubbing at her cheek.
“The tiger has the biscuit?” Axel asks, staring at Becks.
“Loud noise,” Lea growls. “Ground shaking. Windows rattling. Glasses breaking. Let’s focus on that.”
Axel and Becks open their mouths and then close them before climbing off the couch and making their way to the door. All the other citizens of Camelot are crowding in the narrow street, staring at the huge, gleaming space ship that’s crashed at their gates. “Well, shit,” Becks breathes as a panel slides out and reveals a group of beautiful people looking annoyed, spearheaded by a grinning blonde with impossibly big boobs. Just behind her is a tall man with spiky black hair and the same skin tight leather outfit as the blonde. On his right is a tiny man with short brown hair and pale skin, a strange red mark on his cheek that matched the black one on the blonde’s. Behind him is a terrifying looking man with buzzed hair and bulging muscles. Behind them all was a deathly pale, dopey looking man with floppy brown hair and big, brown eyes.
Axel and Becks are pushed apart as Maria moved through the crowd, walking to meet the strangers at the gate. “Hi,” the blonde coos, sidling up to the gate and smiling eerily. “Sorry we crashed into your gates. Our AI system should have the ship up and running in a few days. Hope you don’t mind!”
Becks wants to punch her and shake her hand at the same time.
Maria smiles back easily and says, “Oh, we don’t mind at all, but you had best at least camouflage your ship if you don’t want it to be taken by the Monsters in the next patrol.”
“The who?” the blonde asks and behind her, the muscley one swears.