Hello, alien lovers!

Amidst challenging mental health weeks, I found some joy watching the new Netflix movie, Kpop Demon Hunters.

Watching this movie, my anti-capitalist heart was like "ughhh," but my pop-culture heart was like "HELL YEAH!" My favourite song is What It Sounds Like because I love camp and badass women singing about being vulnerable. It was such a fun, well-made movie.

Kpop Demon Hunters was written and co-directed by Maggie Kang, a Canadian woman. It's yet another proof that we need fewer cis white men creating animation. In recent years, it's animated shows like Blue Eye Samurai, Jentry Chau, and The Second Best Hospital in The Galaxy that have brought excitement and joy to my screen. All are shows co-created and co-directed by women.

Welcome to Chapter 36!

I bet that "surviving a rocket" wasn't on Maple's bingo card when she lied to Ermett about getting Daphne back to the show. Is this book just alien smut or acutally a cautionary tell about lying???

Enjoy!
lunus 🩷

If you're new to the story, start with Chapter 1

If you missed the last chapter, Previously on Perilous Love Stars

Smoke filled Maple’s lungs amidst the sound of smashed glass. She briefly opened her eyes. Everything around her was fuzzy, smoke billowing from everywhere. It was pure chaos.

She closed her eyes again, her eyelids heavy. She felt herself lifted off the ground. She wanted to protest, to defend herself, but her limbs didn’t answer her commands, paralyzed by shock.

She heard Salvatore’s voice above the turmoil, a deep whisper. “I got you.” 

Hoping she wasn’t dreaming, Maple let herself be carried. She coughed and coughed, trying to shake the dryness in her throat. 

“Here!” someone shouted somewhere in the carnage. Was it Daphne? Maple wasn’t sure. Her ears were ringing. There were more shouts, another detonation. The ground trembled. Maple held on to whomever was holding her.

“Right this way,” the voice that could only be Daphne’s commanded. “Follow me.” 

The air became breathable again. Maple’s lungs expanded, greedily taking in all the oxygen they’d been deprived of.

“Is she hurt?” Daphne asked.

“Just dazed,” Salvatore responded. “But we need to get her to safety.” 

Maple opened her eyes again.

Her vision was hazy, darkness creeping at the corners. Daphne had swapped her bazooka for a handgun. Her red mane was a mess, and she had dirt and black smudges all across her face. Parts of her kimonos were missing, burnt and destroyed in action. 

The actress stopped in front of an old oak tree, tapping twice on the trunk until a panel revealed itself, just like it had in the library. Daphne typed a code on the pad and said in a hushed tone, “Let’s go.”

Maple blinked. Some of her vision sharpened, details coming back into focus. They were amongst the trees surrounding Daphne’s mansion, near the water. Salvatore was carrying her in his arms. His face harboured cuts and filth, his eyes were edged with danger.

The water below them rippled until it opened up to reveal a boat. The embarkation, a small motorboat, bubbled up to the surface. Daphne jumped on to it first, darting to the control board. While she busied herself engaging buttons, Salvatore strided off the ground and onto the boat, Maple still firmly in his arms. The second his feet touched the boat’s floor, the vessel rumbled, its motor roaring. 

“Hold on to your panties, sweeties!” Daphne exclaimed. 

The entire boat shook before it started, swaying and vibrating in rhythm with the water.

“Where are we going?” Maple asked Salvatore. He let her down, helping her sit. 

She was still groggy from surviving a rocket explosion and shook him away as soon as she made sure she wouldn’t fall right back down without his help. He may have saved her life once more, but he was still a liar. 

“We’re going to get what you came here for,” Daphne replied, wind blowing in her face as she navigated the small craft away from the island. “Charles’ work.”

“We came to bring you back to the show,” Salvatore said. 

“Oh, please, Alien Boy!” Daphne threw a glare at him. “I spent years enamoured with a professional liar. There’s no point in trying to hide anything from me. Charles told me he was an alien years ago. I knew he was studying alien diseases, I just didn’t know why.” Her voice lowered, sadness creeping into her tone. “When I saw you yesterday, it all became clear. All this time, he was trying to find a cure for you, for his son.”

Salvatore stayed silent, like he often did when confronted with his deceptions. Maple was glad nobody paid attention to her. She grabbed her head in her hands, concentrating on regulating her breathing. 

Daphne continued, “I’m not sure how you knew about his research, but—”

“Charles sent me a letter before he died,” Salvatore explained coolly, cutting her off. “He recognized me in La Saga De Emmanuel and wrote a letter, asking me to come to Sobriquet Lake. He said that together we could find a cure.”

“But you didn’t come. Not right away at least.”

Salvatore nodded. “I was afraid. I never responded to his letter, and I wasted too much time. He died, and then…”

“And then you used the opportunity of acting in a silly, little Canadian show to get closer to the last place he’d told you to go. You hoped you’d find answers in Sobriquet Lake,” Daphne concluded for him with a smug smile. She glanced at Maple. “I bet you didn’t know, eh? That he was using you to get to me.”

Maple swallowed, her mouth tasting like ashes and dirt. “No, I did not.”

“Maple—”

“Cut it,” Daphne gestured at Salvatore. “She almost got shot because of you.”

“You shot at us yesterday,” he retorted. 

“Old news!” Daphne waved him off.

“I never meant for any of this to get out of hand, and I certainly never wanted Maple to get hurt,” Salvatore said. 

“You brought an army of mercenaries to my doorstep,” Daphne added. “You should be grateful I got rid of that nasty man for you.”

Salvatore turned to look at the island behind them. It grew smaller on the horizon, thick smoke erupting from various spots. Half of Daphne’s mansion was now in ruins. “The Professor isn’t dead.”

“He just took a rocket,” Daphne said, shaking her head. “I think he is.”

“Trust me. Nobody kills the Professor that easily. People have tried in the past. None of them is still alive.”

The assuredness in Salvatore’s voice sent a shiver down Maple’s spine. Flashes of the Professor repeatedly hitting his son with a shotgun flew across her mind. Salvatore had barely flinched, as if used to this kind of treatment. The violence had felt familiar to him. How much suffering had he gone through at the hands of the monster who calls himself his father?

“Why not tell me any of this?” Maple’s voice sounded weak. Her right arm throbbed where she’d landed on the ground after the explosion.

“I was trying to protect you,” Salvatore said. “The disease is making me weaker. If I find the cure, I can protect you against any danger.”

“The only danger around me right now is you.” She spat the words. “I want to go home.” 

Daphne let a hollow chuckle escape her lips. “Oh, honey. You are not going home. We can’t take any risk until we’re sure the parameter is secured. You’re staying with me and Alien Boy for now!” She pressed a button. A sleek, transparent roof slid over their head, encapsulating the boat. “You’re an alien expert. Tell me, what do you know about aliens and water?”

“A lot of them can live and breathe underwater,” Maple noted, slowly remembering information from her time in university, reading books and studies written by scientists and researchers who often refused to reveal their sources to protect them. She wasn’t sure how accurate any of it was. 

Many aliens on Earth had some type of alien abilities, with the majority of them being tied to water. Hydrokinesis was the most common alien power referenced.

She continued, “Some full-blood aliens have blue, translucent skin, webbed feet—”

“No webbed feet, just hands,” corrected Daphne. “They get a nice fin instead. Charles was only half alien, but he’d found the recipe for an elixir that helped him transform into his natural form. He loved to swim around the lake.” 

“Okay…” Maple’s thoughts were a shambles. She was too slow and didn’t understand what Daphne was getting at. “So, where are we going?”

“Somewhere, The Professor and his little army won't be able to find us. Under water, sweetie. That’s where the secret lab is!”

Daphne pressed another button. In one swift WOOSH, the boat disappeared under the surface.