“Keva!”
“No Ava, no one is listening to me. This fight won’t drag on someone probably more than one someone is dying tomorrow. Either way, the showoff tomorrow will end things one way or the other. It feels like the OK Corral to me, the Hatfield’s and McCoy’s. Someone is not going home tomorrow, and it could be us. This planet is not theirs and they don’t want it. It’s off the beaten path of the universe, but they are upset and destroying this place will make them feel good. Do they want to conquer another planet or the galaxy? I don’t know. I do know they hate us. They called me out, and they weren’t afraid to make sure I knew they would kill Kelly whether I showed up or not. So yeah, we’re going out. There is a key staring me in the face, but for the life of me, I can’t find it. One more day of being in my head isn’t going to make a difference.”
Keva walked out leaving the others to stare at her.
“You’re that sure they are bringing the war to a close with a final battle,” Kayden asked her when they were in the SUV.
“I am. I can feel it in my gut as well as in my head. They plan to kill us, that’s why they are using the theater I perform in for their final battle.”
“What about this key you were talking about?”
“Mira told me her story, then Ava told me hers. They didn’t have to reveal themselves, but they did. That was deliberate. Why do it? Did they just discover Mira when Tristan did? No, that Shadow watched her for some time. So, why? It comes down to you. I mean the Kur’iks. I feel like it’s right in front of me, but I can’t see it.”
“There’s nothing special about us Keva,” He pulled into a parking spot on the Southside. They walked around for a bit until a tattoo place caught their eyes.
“Otherworld tattoo’s?” Kayden read.
“Let’s go in. With a name like that this place must be amazing.” They walked in to find the waiting room nice and sparsely furnished with cute if not inspiring pictures on the wall. Keva was disappointed.
“Come in, come in, we’ve been waiting on you.” The man who greeted them was maybe five feet tall with dark hair and eyes. He was ordinary if not short.
“We were just looking—”
“No, these are not for you. They are for how do you say it. The little people? No, what you want is back here. Come don’t tarry we don’t have all day.” He rushed to the back leaving Keva and Kayden to follow.
Keva walked through the curtains and almost threw up. The world flip right side up and her head went with it. When it finally stopped throbbing, she wasn’t sure where she was, but earth probably wasn’t it. She was already sitting in a chair.
“Finally, you’re back. They always take so long to wake up. Now pick a tattoo.” They were in front of her hanging in the air with dazzling colors as she watched them change rapidly. They were beautiful, but she didn’t want a tattoo. “Hmm, none of these work for you. Alas, you cannot leave without a tattoo. Wait, I have an idea.”
The male jumped down from the chair except he was no longer short. His dark hair was long with highlights in it that made her jealous with want. His eyes were so beautiful that it didn’t seem fair.
“I must dim my natural beauty on your planet.” He walked over to Kayden who seemed frozen in place. “The Kur’iks are not allowed here. This was the only compromise I could find. I knew you would not come or stay without him.”
He pushed Kayden’s shirt up running his hand down his spine. The dark patches of skin on his back took shape in the air around her. They flowed together with a design that was so beautiful she struggled not to cry.
“That is what I sensed on him but could not see.”
“His makers buried half of it in his skin. Strange what we will do to keep someone from knowing their potential.”
She didn’t think it was strange at all. She’d seen it happen too many times.
“Is this the design you want?”
“Yes.”
“May I recommend your arm it will be more helpful there?”
“Thank you.” She sat back in the chair closing her eyes, this was going to take a while. When she opened them again, they were standing in front of the register.
“Your tattoo is done, I sped up the healing you’re welcome. Normally, I might demand your firstborn, unfortunately, they will be part Kur’ik so I couldn’t keep them. I thought about an organ, but human organs aren’t worth much. So, I’ll settle for money. Diamonds?”
“Dollars,” Kayden opened his wallet and pulled out two one-hundred-dollar bills.
“You Kur’iks are so cheap. Look at the skill that went into her design. And she’ll be able to use it. You’re welcome. Go, before I regret helping this planet and its people.”
“What’s your name,” Keva asked when they got to the door.
“This,” he waved the money around, “is not enough for a name.” His laughter followed them out into the night.
“What happened?”
“I’m not sure I know.” They got in the car with Keva checking the time. “It’s past eleven. Wherever we were at, he said Kur’iks weren’t allowed. He froze you so you weren’t awake. I knew you were unharmed I could feel your presence in my soul.”
Kayden parked the car behind the house before Keva took out her phone and turned her flashlight on. She used it to show off the tattoo that ran down her arm. There were the multicolored blocks she had seen on Kayden’s spine but there were also green branches that were thin. They ran through the design some sprouting off what looked like alien flowers others ending in sharp points that made her think of daggers. The colors and the complexity of the design was amazing. How had he done it in a handful of hours?
“That’s magnificent. I recognize the basic pattern from my back.”
“This is all from your back. He said that part of the design was embedded in your skin to keep you from seeing it.”
“That’s impossible,” He didn’t argue as they walked into the house. Everyone was sitting in the living room waiting for them.
Keva told them what happened then showed them the tattoo on her arm.
“Take your shirt off Kayden,” Cade demanded then he made Tristan take off his as well as Locke.
Tristan didn’t have a design down his spine. They checked everyone else who had one. They didn’t check Ven, and he didn’t volunteer.
“I know this design,” Taris allowed his hand to hover over Keva’s arm. “It was at the top of the city gates.”
“You’re right it was. How did it get on Kayden’s back and what does it mean?”
“Is the design on all of your backs the same or different?” Ven asked.
“The closer we get to the answers the further away I feel. I’m going to go to bed, tomorrow is already dawning.” Keva stood making her way out the room to her bedroom. Tiredness dragged her limbs. She had a tattoo that had been healed supernaturally by a male that she was sure wasn’t supposed to exist. What else would happen before she made it to the theater tomorrow?
“Are you going to tell me not to worry? She asked Kayden as he came into the room.
“As if.” He picked her up and took her to the tub. “First, we soak, then I’ll wash and dry you. After that, I’m going to hold you in my arms all night.”
She liked that idea. It would have been nice to make love, but she needed to be held, cared for, cherished. Tomorrow was a long way off and as close as a blink of an eye. Either way, it wouldn’t be easy. If she died, she wanted to do it remembering she was loved.
Chapter Twenty-three
“Keva, I’m going to have to leave soon to open the theater.” Kelly’s hands were nervously rubbing together.
“Not this time. Taris is going to open the theater he’s into all things tech so it will be in good hands with him.”
“I don’t know—”
“I do,” Keva cut her off taking her hands. “Your family needs you. Taris can handle himself and as for the rest, I do show’s all the time. What can go wrong?” she gave her a smile befo
re giving her a brief hug. “Now hand over those keys.”
“Are you doing all right?” Kayden leaned down to give her a hug and a kiss before sitting next to her at the table.
“Nope.” She gave a deep sigh before placing her hand in his. Kelly was in the backyard with her family. Stray laughter drifted in bringing a smile to her face. “We fight for people and for our planet, the only world we know and inhabit. I have my priorities straight. I’m fighting for you and our family. What I don’t have straight is the missing piece. Will it sound dramatic to say I think we’ll die without it?”
“I don’t think much can be considered dramatic after all we’ve gone through.”
“You might be right,” one hand played with the keys she took from Kelly. “We have Shadows that didn’t make themselves known until after Tristan took an interest in Mira. That brings us back to the Kur’iks being the key.”
“The key to what? The death and destruction of the Shadows. The first step in their maniacal game. Not any Kur’iks the made ones.”
“What if they followed you to the earth?”
“That’s impossible?”
“Is it,” Tristan walked into the kitchen. “The Shadow I fought that night specially mentioned us being in the compound and away from what was happening the world.”
“There were too many of us to draw our attention?”
“Maybe,” Cade was behind Tristan. “Remember where we were before we left the compound.”
“In the ground,” Kayden answered. “Coming to your planet was hard on us all when you factor in what happened to the first human females, we didn’t feel needed after our people were settled. We went to ground.”
“If we assume that the Shadows have been here the whole time then waited until Enigma One left the compound.” Were there other groups of Kur’iks hiding in the ground? She didn’t want the answer to that at least not today. This was enough to fry her synapses.
“Why would they follow us?” Ven asked. The kitchen now held them all as they tried for a Hail Mary as the clock ticked down.
“Maybe it has something to do with the tattoo on your backs,” Ava said sliding her hand down Locke’s spine.
“They’re not all the same,” Locke told her.
“That makes it more reasonable that they have something to do with this. What if they are the key, but how do we use them?”
“We don’t, we use Kayden’s along with your tat. That is the only one that has been revealed to us.”
“Mira you’re asking us to put our faith in some mysterious male,” Kayden told her.
“You’ve put your faith in us. None of you questioned Ava’s ability as a psychic or her connection to the Shadows. No one questioned me or Keva. We turned out to be your mates, but you didn’t know that when you first met us. I didn’t meet this guy, but he seems to have done more for us than anyone not connected to us.”
“She’s got a point,” Ava looked around the room.
Keva straightened her arm running her fingers up and down her tattoo. There was a slight hum underneath her fingers just enough to let her know it wasn’t the flow of her blood or residual pain from the tattoo. A frown sat on her face as she tried to place what she was feeling.
“Can I feel?” Kayden held his hand out. Keva moved her arm closer as his fingers swept up her arm. The tattoo’s felt like they were shifting position almost like runes being lined up. Which made no sense, she knew nothing about runes and if they could even move.
“What if this is really the first act and not the last?” Keva stood to walk to the window. Kelly and her husband were lying in the hammock while their son played with his grandmother. “What if the people of earth are collateral damage that started in a war a galaxy away?”
“A war between who?”
“The Shadows and whoever left the enzymes with a big sign ‘free warriors here,’” Keva replied.
“I want to argue, mostly because you're implying that this was inevitable,” Cade told her.
“But you won’t?”
“No. A few of these things are becoming unarguable. The design on our spine is different from our brothers. If the past is what I thought it was, it’s what let us know we were a specialized group within our ranks. The Shadows did not find earth by accident. They could have left. I’m not convinced they need a ship to travel in space. I also don’t believe they just started taking over humans because they were bored.”
“I have seen them take over another species. They don’t need any help.” Kayden told them.
“That means they don’t need the government, but I’m still not ruling them out.”
“Keva, you and your strange thoughts about the man.”
“Ava, you need to walk streets late at night in the wrong neighborhood. Everyone thinks it’s the people. I guarantee you what’s hiding in the shadows is worse than the guy trying to get home with his dime bag trying to enjoy a high with his baby before morning comes and the grind goes on.”
“I’ve walked those streets, Keva has a point. Not that people can’t be bad, they can, but there is worse out there,” Mira shivered.
“Mira, my new best friend!” Keva teased. Ava stuck her tongue out at her. “Hey, don’t point that weapon at me. I can only imagine where it’s been.”
“Eww, don’t be fantasizing about my tongue.”
“I think it’s a female thing,” Tristan said in a whisper. The males stood before slowly backing out the room. The women laughed until tears rolled down their faces.
*~*~*~*
This was the last time she would have to perform here. Keva walked the stage pacing it off. This was one of her pre-performance rituals. Then she walked the auditorium making sure there was nothing hidden on the floors. She sent her energy out now that she wasn’t afraid of depleting herself before her show. She kept thinking of it as a show to keep from freaking out.
The audience would be filled with Shadows, she knew that. Tonight’s fight mattered she still didn’t know why or what the tattoo meant. The only thing that should matter was her own talents and those of her family, but she knew better. This tattoo held a story that would be important tonight. A beginning or an ending, that she didn’t know.
When everything was in place, she went back to her dressing room. For her final performance, there wouldn’t be any makeup. She would wear one robe a special one she had made years ago when she thought she had a chance at the big leagues. Television appearances riches and fame out the wazoo with adoring fans, especially males wanting autographs.
“Would you sign my dick? It’s for my son, I swear.”
Maybe she had some thoughts that were X-rated. She was only human.
Kayden was sitting on the low couch waiting for her.
“Where is everybody?”
“They’re doing one more sweep of the building then Taris will open the doors. Mira offered to man the snack center and make popcorn.”
“Umm, why?”
“We’re treating this as your last great performance. Then you retire to a life of luxury.”
“I like the retirement and luxury part,” she took a seat on his lap kissing him. “We should have done more of this last night.”
“Let’s make a date to do more tonight and tomorrow. Better yet, let’s sleep in tomorrow, take breakfast in bed. Make sure the shower, the tub, and the bed have been broken in properly. Then we’ll eat lunch, take a nap, and do it all over.”
“I think you plan to have more energy than I do, but we’ll give it a try.”
“I love you, Keva. Win, lose, or draw I will always love you.”
“I love you to Kayden. You’re the mystery I thought I’d spend my life dreaming about, but you’re here, real and in the flesh. Whether I survive this or not, I will always love you.”
There was a knock at the door interrupting their kiss. Ven walked in taking a seat in the chair next to them.
“Taris opened the doors, they are coming. Some of them are nothing but Shadows some
have more substance. A few are in humanoid shape. There are more of them than we thought. Taris won’t let them in without paying. You're making out like a bandit.”
“They’re actually paying?”
“They asked for a show, not a showdown. So yeah, they’re paying.”
“I want to go shopping for another couch and chair set for the room. Maybe a new bed.”
“Just let me know when.”
Keva pulled out her robe, it was a beautiful blue that shone in the light. It accented her skin to perfection. On each sleeve, there was a cluster of diamonds. They help her to focus her energy when she found it hard to concentrate. Underneath she was wearing a cami that left her arms bare. It flowed down her body caressing her curves. Her pants were a black stretch material that looked like they could be worn in an office. Comfort and style.
She dressed and made her way behind the curtain with Kayden at her side.
“If we can all quiet down.” Keva recognized the voice of the Shadow who tried to kill her. “Thank you one and all. Before we bring out tonight’s entertainment, I want to tell you a story. Most of us know, but some are ignorant of why we exist.”
She heard the distinct sound of someone walking across the stage and knew the Shadow was pacing. There were murmurs of dissatisfaction coming from the audience.
“Yes, they must know. There can be no victory if they don’t know. Settle down now.” The crowd was silent before the Shadow went on.
“Time is a relative matter in the universe unless you’re talking about the first races that we know of. One of them has been extinct long before our lifetime. Their name has been lost in the embers of time, but they left a remembrance that long outlasted them. A grouping of Enzymes that some say came from the race themselves. The most impressive minds mixed with unbeatable warriors were combined in those enzymes, so says the rumor.
“What we do know was that there was always a fight between them and another race. They were opposites, the darkness against the light of the others. Joy against the sadness of the others. They clashed many times over the years until their final battle wiped them out. The other race not wanting to go down in one last victorious battle also left behind genetic material to be combined with other races and rise victoriously from the ashes. Their reign, their desire to take over the universe will never happen until the others, the light, is extinguished for the good of humanity.”
The Wolf & The Pretender Page 14
