by S King
Taking a deep breath, I found my way to the backdoor and stepped out into the evening sun. I’d admit the scenery was relaxing at best. But I knew to the core of my soul Luminous couldn’t stand to live here. She was a city girl at heart and needed the background noises of cars backfiring, shouts on the street from drunks making their way home. Sirens howling of an urgency unknown to the sleeping inhabitants of the apartment buildings.
She wouldn’t be able to stand living here for too much longer than she had to. After all, I knew my woman and I knew she probably had a taste of blood raging in her body. The targets? Well, that was simple, and I was the prime member of the group of people she wanted bleeding beneath her rattlesnake whip.
Not that I blamed her, I just wanted to be able to explain what was happening where she couldn’t see. Taking a deep breath, I kept my pace steady as I zeroed in on the two women walking ahead of me.
“I get it, but what’re you going to do?” Karina was saying as she looked at Luminous with a screwed look coming across her face.
“I don’t know yet, Rina. But I do know—” Luminous stopped talking as my foot came down on a twig and interrupted the peace they had been talking in.
Spinning around, both women assumed their attack stance before realizing there wasn’t really a threat they needed to extinguish.
Staring at Luminous, I asked, “can I talk to you for a minute?”
She narrowed her eyes but didn’t say anything. Her sister however was on the same page as me for a second.
Clapping her hands, Karina snapped her fingers before pointing to the house I had just come out of. “I need to make sure Dristan isn’t burning the house down. I’ll leave you two alone.”
I nodded to her appreciatively but kept my eyes on Luminous. I was lucky to have gotten all the way up the river bank without my legs failing me. I wasn’t about to try and engage in a fight with her if I could avoid it. God knows who would win that one.
When Karina was far enough down the bank and closer to the house, I sighed and looked away from Luminous.
“Let me explain,” I started only to find a gust of icy wind bite away at my face and neck.
“No need. You made your point perfectly clear when I was sitting at your fucking feet and you handed down the order for me to be a guinea pig.”
“Luminous, there are things going on you don’t know about. I had to play the role—”
“And you did just that, didn’t you? For a second I tried to tell myself none of it was real. How you casted me aside was nothing more than a sick joke and you’d come crashing into the transport van to stop them from taking me. But you never did.”
“Luminous—”
“You allowed—no you ordered your dogs to take me away and ship me off like yesterday’s trash. Do you have any idea what I went through in the span of three days waiting on you? Telling myself I was just having one of my episodes? Forcing myself to remember,” she took in short, sharp breaths as she spoke through clenched teeth. All the while trying to stop the crystal tears from falling.
“Telling myself I needed to wait just a second longer. One fucking second and the righteous, knight in shining armor otherwise known as Demir Losett was going to come save me. But guess what?”
“I was at the lab the morning you were taken!” I snapped, grounding my teeth together I stared at her, “I was fucking there. Do you have any idea what the hell I risked—what we all risked to get you out of there? Do you!”
“You made a fucking promise to me Demir! And like a child I ate it up!”
“What the hell do you want from me, Luminous!” My arms snapped out and my tone raised. “I’m straddling both sides of the fence for you and everyone else! There’s no winning in my shoes! I try to save you, keep you safe and away from everything, you’re pissed! I send you off knowing I was coming for you and it takes me longer, you’re fucking pissed! What do you want from me!” I roared.
She shook her head, the tears unable to resist the gravitational pull of falling and slipped down her smooth skin.
“Tell me so you can be happy!” My temper had finally reached its breaking point and now I knew why Karina just built a bomb and let the shit explode.
When she still didn’t say anything I scoffed and stabbed a finger at her. “Every God damn thing I do, did and plan to do is for your happiness! But you don’t seem to see beyond the fact things do not happen on your clock!”
“Then why bother saving me if I’m such a fucking problem?” She screamed so hard her voice cracked painfully. Added with the tears, she was just as furious as I was.
“Because I fucking love you!” I shot back, “and don’t you ask me why because I’m a little psychotic myself!”
A soft laugh broke across her face as she sniffled and looked away from me.
Blowing out a hard breath, I raked my fingers through my hair. We had too much stress and worry piled on the two of us. This fight was inevitable, but at least we were getting it out of the way now before I handed down the biggest problem we had thus far.
“Demir,” she cleared the distance between the two of us and tilted her head, so she was in my line of sight. “Let me ask you something and I want the truth, no matter how hard it is to tell me.”
I adverted my eyes from her, trying to read her mind. When nothing stuck out like a busted toe, I finally relented and looked at her with a raised brow.
Searching my eyes she whispered, “do you really do everything for me?”
There it was the last of my fire and rage had finally left me. Maybe it was her damn gun metal grey eyes. Maybe it was because our genes had been manipulated since before our birth. Maybe I was trying to fulfill her need to have a black and white movie play out. Whatever the reason was, I loved the woman standing in front of me. No matter what we had gone through or were going to go through, she was it for me.
My hand snaked into her loose waves, tightening to give her enough pressure.
“Everything is all for you,” I tilted her head back gently and smirked as I looked into the eyes that would be the death of me one day. “If you haven’t figured that out by now, I guess I’ll have to try harder.”
“Meaning?”
Without answering her with words. I kissed her as if my life depended on it and she were my only saving grace. Her body was an inferno, and I was the gasoline. But as the kiss deepened and those damned claws of hers dug into the back of my neck. I could not think of anything other than Shang’s warning. I needed to tell Luminous the truth and now was as good of a time as any.
I rested my forehead on hers and broke the kiss first. “I need to tell you something.”
“Can’t we just run away and be done with all of this? Karina and Dristan can come too this time.” Her voice was almost pleading as she cut me off.
I smirked, “where would we go that the courts don’t have access or methods to find us?”
“There’s other places outside of Colorado, Demir,” she pulled back and searched my eyes. Her own orbs filling with an undeniable fear that couldn’t be kissed away or shrugged off. “We could go to Staten Island. Or even Canada.”
This time I frowned, “you thought heavily on this haven’t you?”
“When you’re confined to a room with nothing more than your thoughts, what else is there to do?”
She had a point. Unfortunately, the only way to end this was to cut the head off the snake.
“Luminous, I need to tell you something and you’re not going to be happy about it either.”
A frown passed over her face before she stepped away from me. “What’s going on?”
I took a deep breath and tried to form the words. Naturally however, the same thing that always happens in this situation decided to happen.
“Demir, we’ve got company and I’m not sure how much longer Dristan can stop Karina from blowing my place to shit.” Shang came up the river bank with his thumb hooked over his shoulder.
I rolled my eyes, looking at him, “wh
at is it now?”
He looked between me and Luminous, settling on me with a sigh. “The courts have a way of finding anyone don’t they?”
My heart rate picked up. Tunnel vision became my best friend and the only thing I could hope for was getting out of this nightmare alive. Instinctively, I pulled Luminous behind me. Even though she was in better shape than me.
“What is it?” She asked from my elbow.
Shang narrowed his eyes on me, “ask Losett why there’s two judges about to be ash.”
My frown deepened for a second, “two?”
“Are you coming or not?”
“Yeah,” I kept Lumi behind me and followed the other man back down the river bank. In the back of my mind I knew the OE were a bunch of slimy sons of bitches and could do whatever they felt like.
But to come to a completely different city and in a Platinum Guard member’s home? Well the move was out of the ordinary for the prominent judges.
“What’s going on?” Lumi asked when we came closer to the house.
Spinning on her, I grabbed her arms, “whatever happens, don’t say anything. Do you understand?”
“Demir—”
“Yes or no, Luminous. Do you understand?”
Her brows slashed down in a hard line. A thousand and one different questions playing across her face. Still she said, “fine.”
Normally, I loved her fighting spirit and would do anything to see it in any other circumstances. But this wasn’t one of those times.
“Thank you.”
Taking her hand in mine. I took a deep breath and started for the house again. If life were really against us, Sadvidge would be in the living room with one of the other female judges. She’d likely say she was coming to personally execute several Black Diamond Orders on all of us.
After all, if I wanted to split hairs about the situation, I’d have said Karina’s bombs failed in leaving no witnesses. Someone had been hiding away in an underground cellar. A storm room. Somewhere where the explosions couldn’t touch the space. It would be next to impossible, but stranger things had happened.
Sure enough, true to Shang’s observation. When we stepped through the back door Karina was in fact being held back by Dristan. Of course, she was cursing worse than a sailor and drunk Russian. Promising to shove any type of explosive device and weapon through body parts that shouldn’t have anything in them.
Turning my attention to the offenders of the assault, my frown worsened.
“Alexi? Heaton?”
Standing close to the front door with their usual stock, neutral faces were the only people I trusted within the OE. Their attention turned to me and a wave of relief covered their faces.
“Losett,” Alexi nodded to me before shifting his eyes to Lumi. “Miss. River.”
Luminous River was never one to back down from a fight or pretend she was scared. Instead, she masked her emotions and stepped out from behind me.
“Your honors.”
She had the same business, professional tone as any other sect leader would have when it came to dealing with the judges. But I knew deep down she was terrified for the reason behind them being here.
Heaton nodded to Shang, Dristan, Karina and an older woman I hadn’t recognized. “Are there going to be problems? Or can we sit down and have a discussion?”
“Does shit stink on Wednesday?” Karina barked before being jerked back by Dristan.
“Would you shut up?” He hissed.
“You shut up!” She snapped.
Alexi raised a brow at the two before looking at me, “are they always like this?”
I glanced at the couple in question, “more often than not. But that doesn’t answer why you’re here.”
Heaton and Alexi nodded in understanding before turning their attention to Luminous. Alexi, however, was the first to speak and luckily he didn’t say anything about her parents being the master minds behind everything.
“We have a proposition for you Miss. River and one you’re going to need to take.”
Everything fell silent as all eyes turned to the prominent judges.
“Go on,” Lumi was just as intrigued as the rest of us and thankfully Alexi wasn’t one for the dramatics.
“We seem to be facing a problem—”
“What kind of problem? Me still being alive?”
“On the contrary, Miss. River,” Heaton shook his head and tried to smile. “The courts.”
She scoffed and tilted her head with that kiss me smirk playing on her lips. “You’ve got that right considering what they just subjected me too.”
“Would you like to take care of the main component behind putting you in such a situation?”
She raised a brow but said nothing.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Karina shoved out of Dristan’s arms and came to stand beside her sister.
Alexi took a deep breath and smiled, nailing Luminous with a mischievous stare.
“We want you to kill Judge Sadvidge.”
Chapter 19 Infinitely Yours
I had never been one to take the easy way out of things. God knows I preferred to just deal with the problem however it came. But one thing I didn’t know how to do was form a logical enough response to the men standing in front of me.
The first time being back in Castlehedge was a mind fuck within itself. What with Slade’s death, Karina getting promoted to sect leader and Demir telling me very little on the mess he and I had made. The entire trip was just a shit show. But now I was in Springcrest with my friends and my boyfriend. Staring at two prominent Onyx Elite judges that had somewhat befriended Demir in the months he had been one of them. Oh if the tables hadn’t turned.
Looking between Alexi and Heaton, I tried to decipher who was crazier. Me for wanting to involve myself with the judges who had forced me to go to that lab. Or them for being bold enough to come at me with an offer I was sorely tempted not to refuse. It was as if they admired my work on Sooter and Holt so much they wanted to see something similar happen to Sadvidge.
Sure she was a bitch and one that needed to be put to sleep as soon as possible. But what had she done—outside of the obvious—to piss off Heaton and Alexi? That was the question burning holes into my lips and needed to be answered before I let my mouth write a check my ass couldn’t cash.
It wasn’t until Karina started laughing I knew things were about to get even more interesting than when we stepped through the backdoor. All eyes turned to my best friend, waiting for an explanation which more than likely wouldn’t come.
Finally, I caught on to her train of thought and couldn’t help my own laughter from bubbling out of my throat. This was one for the books and I’d admit the way the tables had turned was more than laughable. I mean if we all were being honest with ourselves. Then who in the hell would possibly dare to think two judges would make the trip to Springcrest. Seemingly out of the blue, just to speak with me? The coincidence was next to nauseating and what was more was the fact I had to keep a poker face while the negotiations were ongoing.
“What’s happening right now?” Alexi asked as Dristan rolled his eyes and sat on the couch.
“It’s Wednesday,” he shrugged off the screwed look he was getting from Demir’s coworkers and crossed his arms.
Demir touched my arm, to which I simply waved him off. He knew as well as I did, this was only the beginning of the psycho train and he’d might as well get used to it. Afterall, he needed to take some part in the circus train when his turn came.
Sobering enough to form a straight face, I looked between Heaton and Alexi.
“You want me to kill Sadvidge?”
Karina snorted, falling into the couch next to Dristan.
Alexi raised a brow at her before addressing me, “that would be correct.”
“Why can’t you do it?” I asked, matching his stone face with one of my own.
“Although we’ve shared years together with her, we’re not so stupid as to think she would allow u
s to get close enough to kill her.”
“And so you want to hit her with the element of surprise?”
“More or less.”
“Isn’t that just rich.” I laughed and pushed my hair aside.
“Miss. River, I don’t think you understand what’s going on.”
“No, Judge Alexi, I don’t think you understand.” My tone became hard, “let’s take in the simplicity and complicated nature of this situation. First,” I ticked off the points on my fingers. “I’m charged with a Black Diamond Order for killing Holt and Sooter over something I didn’t do. Of course, you two know that. But we won’t stay stuck in the past. Secondly, the same court who had given me said order also forced Judge Losett,” I slapped Demir’s chest for show and smiled at the judges. “To either kill me or die himself. Naturally, you knew self-preservation would kick in and knew Judge Losett would save himself before he saved me.”
“Miss. River, we—”
“Save your vain apology,” I narrowed my eyes on both judges. “Thirdly, you ignorantly assumed Demir would actually kill me. Failing to realize that the scientists had designed us to be together. You never even thought about the possibility that I’d actually survive.” Rolling my eyes at the frowns being shot my way, I waved a dismissive hand. “Granted, I wasn’t supposed to survive the fall. But we’re not going to split hairs on the gravitational aspect of things. Fourth, you,” I pointed to Heaton, “voted for the Platinum Guard to be sent out for me.”
“Miss. River, there—”
“Stop, ok? I’m not in the mood to go back and forth about what happened behind closed doors. Now, we’re at the big finale. When I was sitting in front of all of you,” I motioned between Demir, Heaton and Alexi. “Not one of you, especially you two,” I pointed to the older judges, “did anything to stop it. And correct me if I’m wrong but I didn’t see either of you breaking me out of that lab. True or false?”
“Lumi, they did kind of tell us where to find you,” Shang mumbled, not liking the fact he was sticking up for the judges in front of us.
I rolled my eyes and plowed ahead, “the point is, the courts wanted my head on a silver platter for killing Holt and Sooter. Now, you want me to kill Sadvidge.” I shrugged, “how I see it, this is just another attempt to get me in the ground.”
