The Spider Queen

"How are you feeling?" Cleo asked with concern evident in her voice.

"Honestly…I feel like… shit," Sophie chuckled softly but soon her fits of giggles turned into painful coughs that racked through her chest.

It took a few minutes for the coughs to subside and by the end there were spots of blood on the floor.

Sophie looked at the droplets of blood in confusion before suddenly realising that she must have coughed up blood.

Cleo gently rubbed her girlfriend\'s back as she reached into her storage bag with her free hand and took out a small syringe.

Without hesitation the princess jabbed the needle into Sophie\'s body and the hybrid girl once again felt a few seconds of relief.

"Thanks, but… my body breaks down the pain medication…" Sophie gently whispered as her face contorted into a painful wince.

"How long does this usually last?" Cleo asked quietly as her brows furrowed.

"The average is around thirty minutes…" Sophie replied with gritted teeth.

She could feel her body start to tremble as fresh burst of pain ravaged her organs.

"I\'m going to take you home," Cleo spoke calmly.

Her calm voice did not have any space for complaints. There was a steely determination in her plain tone that made the words of protest in Sophie\'s mouth vanish.

She could tell that her girlfriend cared and was worried about her.

Sophie summoned all the energy left in her system and slowly pushed herself up using Cleo\'s body as leverage to move.

She could feel her muscles scream out in protest, but she clenched her jaw and fought through the white-hot pain.

Cleo held out her hand and Sophie gladly looped her arm around her body.

She leaned slightly on her girlfriend as they half-stumbled and half-walked out of the bathroom.

When the pair left the bathroom, they ran into Astrid and Qiana who had apparently been just about to look for them inside.

"Sophie! Are you okay?!" Astrid hurriedly asked as she rushed over with her tail drooping ever so slightly behind her.

"Yeah… just feeling a bit sick… sorry girls… I might have… to…" Sophie couldn\'t finish her sentence because she started coughing once more.

Cleo quickly interjected and explained the situation in vague terms since they were in a public place.

One could never be too cautious especially when it was impossible to know who was listening in.

"Get some rest… I\'ll handle the bill and the orders," Qiana calmly spoke as she stepped forward to give Sophie a hug and then took a few steps back.

Her words were brief, but Sophie felt the warmth hidden inside them.

She really had good friends and it made the pain suddenly feel a lot more bearable.

"Thanks… we\'ll pick up another day," Sophie replied with a thin smile.

She leaned on Cleo\'s shoulder and the pair made their way out of the café and to the hovercar waiting outside.

Cleo tapped her palm against the side of the car and entered a series of numbers on the input device that popped up.

Two sets of doors swung open.

One led to the driver\'s seat while the other led to the back of the hovercar where several seats were lined up to create a bench of sorts.

Sophie made her way to the backseats and then plopped her exhausted body down. She curled up into a ball and flinched as she felt a warm object fall on her body.

Cleo had placed a fluffy white blanket on her while she was squirming around uncomfortably on the seat.

"Take a nap… we\'ll be home as soon as you wake up," the princess gently spoke as she leaned down to plant a soft kiss on Sophie\'s forehead.

"Thanks babe… I love you…" Sophie whispered quietly as she forced herself to close her eyes.

It was difficult to fall asleep with the sharp bursts of pain that occasionally flared up but somehow, she managed to drift away into nothingness.

The last thing that Sophie could recall was the gently rumble of the hovercar\'s engine as the vehicle roared to life.

Cleo glanced at her girlfriend fast asleep in the backseat and finally allowed the tension in her shoulders to melt away.

How could she hide something like this from her?

Obviously, she wasn\'t going to bring up the matter now, but Sophie was going to be in some big trouble when they returned home!

And she would not be forgiving her so easily! Well… unless…

No! No!

Be strong!

A fierce red blush surfaced on Cleo\'s face as certain memories flashed across her mind regarding all the times Sophie decided to make things up to her whenever she got angry.

It usually involved… a lack of clothes…

Cleo drove those distracting thoughts from her mind as she focused her attention on the road ahead.

She was currently travelling through Newron City. It was on the outskirts of the main campus but was still quite well built.

Most of the homes were a bit old fashioned and in the style of the Mendolesa culture so they more resembled tribal huts than proper buildings.

Still the roads were well paved, and the air felt fresh and clean.

There were even a few skyscrapers rising up towards the heavens however they were few and far between.

One could set the hovercar\'s AI unit to automatically drive the vehicle, but Cleo enjoyed driving manually.

Maybe it was because she was mech pilot but anything to do with machines… it felt better to rely on human touch than the cold logic of artificial intelligence units.

​ A silly thought but… it was one that brought Cleo comfort as she stepped on the metal pedals and the hovercar accelerated.

The surrounding buildings soon became nothing more than fast moving blurs as she zipped through the city at just below the legal speed limit.

Well… maybe slightly above…

But the local police hadn\'t stopped her yet so… was it really a crime?

A naughty smile flashed across Cleo\'s face as she allowed the worries in her mind to just wash away.

She pressed a button and the window next to her slowly moved down until she could feel a cold breeze.

The princess enjoyed the peacefulness of the journey as she drove the hovercar towards the familiar sight of the elite student housing complex.

It took a few hours and her girlfriend had not woken up once. Clearly, she had been more exhausted from her travels than she had let on.

Cleo drove the hovercar towards their mansion and then parked the vehicle in the garage outside.

She powered off the engine but kept on a bit of power to keep the circulatory systems running properly.

She looked in the rear-view mirror and saw Sophie still fast asleep. Cleo let out a light sigh and unbuckled her seatbelt.

She brought down her chair until it converted into a sort of mini bed. She wasn\'t cruel enough to wake up her girlfriend from the long nap that she so clearly needed.

The princess checked her communicator lazily to pass the time and saw several new messages from the same unknown number.

She was still using her compromised wrist communicator in order to not arouse the suspicion of the blackmailers.

However, when inside the apartment she would place the device in a far away room and use her spare one if she had to contact anyone about sensitive information.

Cleo clicked on the messages and saw that they contained a series of pictures.

The pictures were… horrifying.

Cleo\'s eyes narrowed as she saw a woman who looked identical to her mother shivering naked on the floor with several angry red lines across her fair skin.

Whip marks…

Another picture showed the woman with all her fingernails and her toenails removed as well as pieces of flesh from her upper thighs.

Even though she knew that the person in the pictures was not her mother… a small part of Cleo could not help but think…

What if her assumption was wrong?

What if her mother was the one who was captured?