Killing Time

by Elisa Paige

  I don’t know how long I would’ve remained there but for Koda’s arm at my waist, drawing me away. My body shook so hard, only keeping my jaw clenched prevented my teeth from chattering.

  We fled down the alley and spilled out onto the sidewalk, with me staggering along and Koda keeping us moving at a steady rate. After we’d gone a few blocks, he bent his head close to my ear and growled, “How far do you intend for me to carry you?”

  Anger and pride stiffened my spine and I pulled out of his hold, barely remembering in time not to let go of his hand. I glared up into his dark eyes. His hooded expression was one of satisfaction, like he’d gotten the response he’d aimed for and the knowledge that he’d had to snap me out of my trancelike state was humiliating.

  We went another half mile, invisible to four firetrucks and two police cars, all with sirens screaming as they made their ear-splitting way down the street toward the blazing highrise. Koda and I turned left on a broad avenue and hooked a right on a busy side street before I felt it was safe to unshade us, that there were enough humans around for us to blend in. Tugging Koda into the shadows of a doorway rather than become visible out in the open, I let go of his hand and relaxed my hold on our forms, locking my knees so I wouldn’t collapse to the sidewalk. Leaning against the building’s cool gray stone, I gulped air and fought to get my pulse rate back under control.

  Without comment, Koda slipped my backpack off my shoulders and dug around inside. I wanted to fuss at him for messing with my things, but was too preoccupied with trying to breathe. When he turned me back around, he held out a hand, a dozen jelly beans resting on his palm.

  Unaccountably blushing, I scooped the candy into my mouth and stood chewing, watching the humans strolling past a few yards away, returning the occasional polite smile as our presence was noted. It never failed to surprise me how friendly Texans were, just one of the reasons I enjoyed spending time in the state. So friendly, it was a good thing they couldn’t see past my illusion to the soot and filth coating Koda and me or we’d be inundated with help we neither wanted nor needed.

  “Who was the child?” Koda asked, watching me intently as I went rigid.

  I shook my head, not wanting to talk about it, but he pressed me against the wall, his greater bulk hiding me from pedestrians’ view.

  “You said to expect a trap when we left the building, a diversion to break your concentration.” His voice a furious whisper, he lowered his mouth closer to my ear and I shivered at his proximity and the heat of him. “I saw how you reacted, Sephti. That wasn’t just a diversion. That was devastation I saw on your face. Now answer my damn question!”

  “When I spoke of a diversion, I was expecting fae hunters, not…” I licked my lips, startled anew to see his eyes track the movement, to feel his hands tighten on me. Squeezing my lids shut, struggling to get my thoughts in order, I surprised us both by resting my forehead on his shoulder for the briefest second. Jerking back when I realized what I’d done, I muttered, “Unwot prefhdai… there isn’t time—”

  “Make time—your English is slipping. What’s shaken you up so badly?”

  I shuddered at the hated memories he insisted I recall. Despising this weakness, and furious with him for making me face it, I stiff-armed him away from me. Lifting my chin, I scowled as the words came tumbling out. “Tihr’luim! You want information? Ta! Fine! But to explain the child, you have to know something about my kind. To know that we were engineered to be khul shaktis, living weapons. The four Takkat-nai…the, um,” I paused, dragging in some much-needed air as I forced my mind to translate. “The four kith lords have their own stable of bitterns, each genetically linked to its royal master.”

  Koda looked appalled. “Like clones?”

  I nodded, trembling with helpless fury and grief. “The lord masters target anyone who pisses them off, anyone who stands in their way or anyone they just feel like fucking with. Once a bittern is activated and set on a target, he or she is unstoppable. In every way, khul shaktis. The targets, those around them when the attack happens, plus the bittern—total destruction.”

  “Activated.” Koda echoed and I could practically see him remembering my berserker frenzy. “So bittern have no control.”

  “None.”

  “Or memory, I’d wager, since you had to ask if you’d killed anyone that first night.”

  I shook my head. Turning to watch the humans walking along the sidewalk, enjoying the pleasant autumn day and totally unaware how close to them death stood, I resolutely avoided Koda’s sharp gaze.

  He stirred, coming close enough that I could feel the heat of his body—an all-too-real reminder of that stunning moment in the highrise’s stairwell. “And your scent is so like a fae’s because—”

  “We’re genetically engineered by them, using their DNA as a foundation.” I swallowed hard. “From my first moment, I was suk’urai. Difficult. Instinctively, like a wild creature. I resisted the conditioning the lord masters and their handlers drilled into us. Because we had no way to mark time, I don’t know how long it took, but my mind finally became clear. I began to have thoughts and ideas that the damn fae hadn’t first put into my head.”

  Koda made a pained sound in his throat. “Sephti…”

  Hating even the idea that he pitied me, I pulled further away from him, deeper into the alcove’s shadows. “One night, mis Tak’nar, my lord master, sent me to annihilate one of his court rivals. The manor’s security was no match for me—they were just kela-maaren, simple house guards. Dealing with them didn’t waken the berserker rage. But they kept me…occupied. For a while.” I passed a weary hand over my face. “It was well past midnight when I sifted into the family’s private quarters. A young girl…”

  My voice faded as memory threatened to swamp me. I almost levitated when Koda reached out to squeeze my ice-cold hand. Tightening my hold on his broad, warm grip, I made myself speak the words. “She saw me. The girl. I was covered in…from the guards. My clothes, my hair. I saw the child’s terror, knew she’d scream, she’d alert everyone. My mission would fail, my lord master would be furious. But I suddenly didn’t care. Seeing her fear, seeing how she reacted to the sight of me, it was like I’d been stabbed in the gut. I knew I should kill her before she could warn anyone, but I couldn’t. Jiach nenavut warnomh. I just…couldn’t.”

  Koda pulled me against his chest, his arms strong and reassuring. Startled, I tried to pull back, but he tightened his hold. “It’s all right, Sephti. It’s all right.”

  I shook my head violently, whether at his words or trying to erase the memories from my mind, I didn’t know. “I backed away. From a harmless child, I backed away. Then she started screaming and it took me a second to realize she wasn’t screaming because of me. There were more. Nalai toyenasén! More of us. My lord master had sent half the stable. I knew then that he didn’t just want his rival dead, he wanted the entire bloodline eradicated. A junior male, Oht—you would call him Twelfth,” I babbled, the words flowing from me now, “was already in a frenzy and he went for the child. I stopped him, just like I stopped the others behind him. But they kept coming, more and more, until I couldn’t hold off my own rage any longer. The last thing I remembered was the girl standing there, just like you saw her today. Bleeding. Injured. When I came to, I was far from my lord master’s stables. I’ve never gone back.”

  “And now your people call you Nomad,” Koda murmured into my hair, understanding coloring his tone. “That wasn’t a child in that alley today. Someone who knows far too much about you dressed that creature up to resemble the girl from your memories.”

  “Creature?” Forcing my grip on his sweater to relax, I pulled back, trying to regain my equilibrium. He let me go, but his gaze was like a soothing caress.

  “We call them weh yetar, the little ones. They’re shapeshifters. They were once the bane of my people’s existence. I thought my brothers and I had killed them all. Knowing the fae sent one after you tells me where at least some of the vicious things w
ent.”

  My heart gave a lurch. “That wasn’t the girl? But that means…” Then my brain shifted into overdrive. “How did the bastards know? Of all my targets, how could they know that seeing that particular child would…would…”

  Koda’s face was grim. “And how did they find you?” Shaking it off, he muttered, “We’re not likely to figure it out now and the weh yetar is still too close for comfort. Let’s get out of here.”

  Still shaken, I nodded, joining him as he stepped out onto the sidewalk to mingle with the humans heading toward the West End and the Arts District. Allowing ourselves to get swept up in the crowd, I watched the couples and families, studied the ease with which they communicated their love for one another. A young male pulled a heavily pregnant woman into his arms and kissed her soundly, grinning as their friends cheered him on. The toddler at their knees squealed with pleasure as another man swept him up onto his shoulders and an older boy pretended to retch at the grownups’ displays of affection. An unaccustomed pang twisted my stomach into knots and I tore my stinging eyes away, focusing instead on a man walking a Great Dane and a poodle, the little dog’s tiny strides rapid-fire and frantic next to the bigger animal’s rolling gait.

  All around us, humans were chatting and laughing. Music thumped from the open windows of a car stopped at a red light just down the block. Two girls skipped past us, one of them brushing against me as she hurried to keep up with her twin sister. Smiling, I ducked my head to avoid her balloon sailing past, the thing made to look like an Egyptian pharaoh.

  I realized that Koda was watching me, his expression unfathomable as he took in my reaction to the humans around us. When he saw me glance up at him, his gaze tracked over my features, but he said only, “No one seems to notice we’re covered in soot or that we stink of smoke.”

  I wasn’t sure if I should be amused by his apparent effort at diplomacy in not mentioning my eyes and ears, or offended that he’d thought it necessary. “It’s a combination of humans ignoring what doesn’t make sense and a little nothing-to-see-here effort on my part.”

  “Why not stay invisible?”

  “It burns too much energy. Besides, a little camouflage goes a long way. To the mortals, you and I are a nondescript couple walking down the street. They can see us, but the odd bits don’t register.”

  We went several blocks before he spoke again. “Why are you so determined to talk with Jack?” Koda asked the question like he was curious and genuinely wanted to hear my reasoning.

  Thrown, I looked up at him. “You’ll believe me?”

  His lips twitched. “Try me.”

  I thought about it for a little while, surprised he seemed content to wait for an answer and even more surprised by my own inclination to give him one. “How much about the vampires’ civil war do you know?”

  “This is about their in-fighting?” he asked, surprised.

  “Only up to a point, but bear with me.”

  Koda shrugged. “I know what James has told me. Their Ancients want vampires to remain hidden, relegated to myth, in keeping with a treaty they signed with Rome’s Church centuries ago. Earlier this year, a renegade named Philippe broke away from their Ancients’ dictates and violated the treaty, setting the Vatican’s slayers after all immortals in retaliation. Now Philippe and his lieutenants are going city to city, changing gang members into vampires and setting them loose to kill at will. The Ancients and their seconds-in-command, the Elders, are so busy trying to destroy the psychotic changelings and dodge the slayers’ squads that Philippe is left to pretty much do what he wants.”

  “Which is where I come in,” I said, pleased that Koda knew so much. It meant he really was close to the vampires, since they didn’t share information about themselves lightly. “The fae king, Cham Reiden, is fueling Philippe’s anarchy. He’s also supplying him with bodach to deal with opponents like your friends, who are too powerful to annihilate head-on. In exchange, Philippe supplies Reiden and the four lord masters with vampire security. Every one of their castles is guarded by a troop of immortals, with at least double that guarding the king’s.”

  Koda’s head whipped toward me, his face darkening.

  I held up a hand, silencing what looked like a torrent of angry words. “I can’t get near any of the bastards while they’ve got vampire security. But if I kill Philippe, his followers will abandon the fae altogether since there’s no love lost between the two races, despite their leaders’ business arrangement.”

  His jaw muscles working, Koda asked, “How does Jack fit into your plans?”

  “He was once loyal to Philippe, so he knows his patterns, where he hangs out, who his closest friends are, what his security arrangements are like. Jack will know the best time and place I can find Philippe and kill him.”

  Koda pulled me to a stop, his hands hard on my shoulders. “Then what?”

  “Leaderless, the vampires will abandon their posts, leaving the lord masters and the king with only their usual contingent of guards.”

  His glittering eyes staring into mine, Koda said in a harsh voice, “So you can kill them too.”

  I bared my teeth. “Every last one of them, right up to the king himself.”

  “And when they’re all dead?”

  I looked away, wresting myself out of Koda’s grip and continuing down the street.

  He caught up in a few strides. “What happens after you kill them, Sephti?”

  I shoved my hands in my jacket pockets and kept on walking.

  Koda swore and pulled me to a stop again. “You’re not planning to survive this, are you? You figure you’ll live to take out the lords, but the only way to get the king is to go berserker and die in the effort.”

  I shrugged. “He has better security than the lords do. I can get in and get past them, but once the alarm is raised, getting back out will be impossible.”

  “You’re talking about suicide!”

  “It’s what I was created for!” Jerking free of Koda’s grip again, I glared up at him. “Reiden, himself, once called me his race’s greatest creation. So isn’t it rich that the last thing they will see is what they, themselves, brought into being? How perfectly ironic to use everything they engineered into me to destroy the lords and king who caused it all to happen. Who did this to my kind and to me.”

  Koda flinched like I’d burned him. “Does your life have so little value to you?”

  Turning my back on him and continuing down the sidewalk, I muttered, “What life?” I felt rather than heard him following, the strength of his outrage palpable from several feet away.

  Three blocks later, we entered a huge parking lot packed with cars. Walking to the far side, Koda strode ahead of me, pulling keys out of his jeans pocket and pointing the fob toward a gleaming black-and-chrome four-door pickup truck. He went to the front passenger door like he intended to open it for me, then stopped and turned to face me. Whatever he’d intended to say died on his lips as he saw that I held his knife.

  In a soft voice, I said, “Now you understand why it’s so important that I talk with Jack.”

  “You’re quite the pickpocket, aren’t you?” Koda shook his head. There was anger in his dark gaze and something else I couldn’t identify, but it set my heart thundering in my chest. “There’s a hole in your plan or else you lied to me.”

  “No, the plan is perfect and I told you the truth.”

  He lifted a brow. “The fae don’t reside on the mortal plane and you can’t shift. How are you going to get anywhere near them?”

  I grinned, triumphant. “Five weeks from now, at midnight on Samhain, what you call Halloween, the walls between the planes will fall. I can slip across then.”

  “Leaving you trapped in the fae world when dawn comes.” He barked a humorless laugh. “Ah, that’s right. It doesn’t matter since you don’t plan to survive.”

  For some damn reason, I had the urge to apologize. But for what, I had no idea—I’d put this plan together meticulously, long before I’d met Kod
a. He had no place in it. And as demonstrated by the highrise’s inferno and the weh yetar’s presence, he would be safer the sooner we parted ways. Even if the thought of leaving was strangely repugnant.

  Which meant it was definitely time to go.

  Before I could talk myself out of it, I slipped the blade through the binding on my left wrist. Even as the keen edge sliced through the soft leather, Koda roared, “No!”

  I felt the beginning of a jolt of unfathomable power explode from the bracelet, then Koda’s hand closed over my wrist. The energy flowed up his arm and slammed into him, spinning him around into the side of his truck. His head rocked forward into the passenger window, making a spiderweb of cracks on the glass as blood flowed from his forehead.

  I cried out, dropping the knife and reaching for him. Staggering under his weight, I managed to catch him before he collapsed to the ground, barely supporting him against the truck’s shining flank.

  “Dammit, Koda,” I whispered, pressing my ear to his chest, alarmed at how weakly his heart beat. “What did you do?”

  Maneuvering his limp body so I supported him against my hip, I struggled to open the pickup’s back door. The guy was huge and solid muscle and I thought I’d never get him inside the truck. I managed to lever his rear end against the backseat and sorta tilt him, letting gravity do the rest. Running around, I opened the other back door and caught him under his arms, tugging his inert form across the seat. I winced when his head lolled, leaving a bright red streak that was immediately absorbed by the fine-grained, pale gray leather—the immaculate Koda was going to be incensed when he saw the mess.

  I shut the door and jogged back around to the passenger side, tucking up his booted feet before closing him in. Bending to pick up the truck keys he’d dropped, I raced to the driver’s seat and climbed in, only then pausing for breath. The whole thing—Koda’s collapse and my stuffing him in the backseat—had taken only a span of minutes. Between the short timeframe and his having parked on the packed lot’s far side where we were sheltered by enormous SUVs and pickups on jacked-up struts, the entire episode had apparently gone unseen.