by Anna Carven
“Oh?”
“Such matters are best dealt with by the organization. It’s best you don’t worry about it, ma’am.” They swooped down, skimming over a tract of land filled with dense vegetation. It was shrouded in darkness, but Zyara, with her Kordolian eyesight, had no trouble making out the detail.
The hover-car started to slow, descending over the treed area until they came to a place filled with orderly, low-set structures. Amidst the chaos and disorder of Darkside, this place appeared to be a small pocket of tranquility.
They glided over a high wall bristling with monitoring devices, beyond which was a grove of swaying, leafy trees. A door slid open in a low square-shaped building. Its construction was typically Human, all sharp angles and straight lines.
The hover-car glided easily through the door into a well-lit space.
Banri set it down on glistening white floors, killing the engine. A small contingent of Humans stood on the sidelines, awaiting them. They all wore the neatly tailored dark suits that Zyara was beginning to recognize as the uniform of this ‘organization.’ There were four of them in total; two males and two females. As the doors slid up and Banri exited the car, they bowed.
Zyara stepped out, blinking under the harsh glare of the artificial lighting. Banri barked at the subordinates, speaking in some unintelligible Earth language. They bowed deferentially, three of them rushing off to carry out their orders. That left one female, who glanced at Zyara curiously.
Clearly, there was some sort of hierarchy going on here.
Kainan was at the top. Banri deferred to him, but the big, stoic man was superior to these people who had greeted them.
Was this the equivalent of a Kordolian Noble House? But what kind of Noble House fought dirty street battles?
The female who remained nodded towards Zyara. She looked young, but there was a hard glint in her brown eyes that spoke of a childhood lost too soon. “Please, follow me, ma’am. I will show you to the guest wing, where you can take refreshment and make use of the facilities.”
Ever curious, Zyara could do nothing but follow the woman as she led her out of the brightly lit dock and down a dim, tastefully lit corridor, leaving Banri standing in the dock.
Zyara felt as if she’d entered some kind of surreal dream.
Humans were definitely more complicated than she’d first thought.
CHAPTER FIVE
Kai sat and waited for news of Melia. The emergency team hadn’t wasted time. She’d been taken straight into surgery, and all he could do now was hope for the best.
He loosened his tie and leaned back in the chair, allowing himself to close his eyes for a rare minute.
Back on the Glory Strip, a battle was being fought, and his people were finally overcoming the enemy.
Kai let out a short, bitter laugh. In any other part of Teluria, peacekeepers would have been swarming all over the place by now.
But peacekeepers didn’t come to Darkside. They had no jurisdiction in the so-called ‘grey zones.’ Here, order was upheld by his people. They were the enforcers, the providers, and the rulers.
They’d been called many things in the past; gangsters, mafia, triads, yakuza. Over hundreds of years, they’d evolved, becoming unified and developing complex power structures as the borders between countries were discarded, and countries were dissolved into the Unified States. In the modern age, all nations came under the jurisdiction of the Federation, but the Federation didn’t control everything.
In the grey zones, gangsters ruled, and Darkside in particular was carved up between three particularly vicious groups.
His clan, the Urubora, controlled the North, Central, and East Wards, including the Glory Strip. But the borders were ever changing, and everyone wanted a piece of the Glory Strip. It was where humanity came to purchase their vices, after all.
Sex, drugs, bliss, escapism, violence. All the best Human sins could be bought on the Glory Strip, for a price.
It was where the money was.
Kai mentally accessed his inbuilt datafeed, sending a command to his neural implant. The chip had been surgically implanted against his will on the orders of his Boss, and it allowed him to access footage from any of the organization’s cameras.
Show me the vid-feed from Entropy.
Images of the street battle were transmitted to him as tiny electrical impulses, activating areas in his occipital lobe. He could see the footage even with his eyes closed.
His people had forced the Jinkai back. Men lay bloodied and battered in the streets, some unmoving, probably dead. To his relief, the Kordolian soldiers had left the scene, and several bot-cars had arrived to retrieve the wounded.
The reinforcements he had called for had done their job.
His cold rage returned. The convoy transporting Melia should never have entered the Glory Strip. Someone had fucked up, either intentionally, or through colossal stupidity. Kai suspected the former. In Darkside, such things didn’t happen by coincidence.
He would get to the bottom of this.
Footsteps echoed down the hall, and Kai’s eyes shot open. He killed the datafeed and stood.
The female doctor who had greeted them in the dock appeared before him. She eyed him cautiously. Kai offered her a brief nod. “You have news?”
“She’s fine,” the doctor said. “We’ve replaced part of her brachial artery with a stem-graft and restored the blood flow to her arm. She lost a massive amount of blood, but that’s been replaced. She’s very lucky to be alive.”
Kai closed his eyes briefly and sighed with relief. “Any permanent damage?”
“No. We’ve repaired the nerve damage. She’ll regain full use of her arm.” The doctor paused. “The, uh, Kordolian lady, the first responder, she probably saved Melia’s life.”
Kai nodded. He knew that already. “As did you. Thank you, doctor.” He offered her a deep bow. “When can I see her?”
“She’s still heavily sedated, and she needs rest.” The doctor glanced at her link-band. “Come back later in the morning.”
“You understand she will need to be guarded?”
The doctor brushed a strand of tightly curled hair from her face, a momentary look of disquiet crossing her features. “This is the North Ward General Hospital. We’ve dealt with your kind before.”
Kai gave her a pointed look. She sighed. “Make whatever arrangements you need to. It’s not as if we have any say over it. Just make sure you don’t bother any of the other patients.”
“Of course.”
A small comm device attached to the doctor’s ear started to beep. “I have to go,” she said, turning to leave. She almost seemed relieved to be given an excuse to escape Kai’s presence.
He wasn’t offended. He knew his appearance intimidated ordinary citizens.
That was just the way of the world.
But the Kordolian woman hadn’t seen him any differently. If anything, she’d been curious. He’d found her bold stare strangely irresistible, and back there on the dock, he’d become momentarily lost in her sunset-colored gaze.
In another time and place, he might have taken her back himself; he might have expressed interest in her in a different way.
But they were from different worlds, and he doubted the Kordolian knew anything of Earth’s underworld.
So he’d asked Banri to return her, and unless something drastic happened, he wouldn’t see her again.
It made more sense that way. With trouble brewing, he couldn’t afford any distractions, especially when they were of the exotic, alien kind.
CHAPTER SIX
Zyara found herself in a dimly lit suite lined with darkly paneled walls. The twin connecting rooms were filled with simple but luxurious furnishings. Her Human escort had graciously shown her around, making sure she understood how to operate the various controls and devices before leaving discreetly through a side door, giving Zyara time to clean herself up.
There was a washroom to one side. It was deep and inviting, its
walls lined with gleaming black Jentian stone. In the centre of the room was a large bath, and at the end was a long shower cubicle, framed by a floor-to-ceiling window. The view through the window was clear; she could see a carefully manicured garden beyond it.
One would assume that was one-way glass.
A range of exotic perfumed lotions and soaps and creams were lined up on the counter alongside a shelf stacked with large, fluffy sheets; she assumed these were for drying.
How luxurious. She hadn’t expected to find such opulence amongst the dirty streets of Darkside.
She’d become unaccustomed to such things. Zyara’s experience of washing was purely military; her usual routine was two sivs in the wash receptacle, a blast with the auto-dry, and then back into her medic’s uniform. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d pampered herself.
She slipped out of her dirty clothes, allowing them to fall to the tiled floor. It was warm underfoot, like everything in this place. She unclipped the concealed belt at her waist, where her comm device was hidden, and put it on the counter. Her Callidum dagger was missing. She’d dropped it in the midst of the fracas. Zyara entered the shower cubicle and set the temperature to freezing cold, the way she liked it.
She activated the shower and water fell from the ceiling in a soothing torrent. Zyara took her time, indulging in the silence and the space, rare luxuries she remembered from another time and place, before she had joined the military. She looked out of the window at the serene gardens, enjoying their quiet, understated beauty.
She’d started the night reluctantly, not knowing what to expect. Never could she have imagined that she’d end up in a place like this.
Zyara scrubbed the blood from her hands, wondering what had become of the girl she’d rescued.
She prayed to the Goddess for her survival.
Once she was clean, Zyara wrapped herself in one of the thick, sumptuous drying sheets, walking barefoot into the bedroom, where clothes had been laid out on the gigantic bed.
They were her clothes, or at least, they were a perfect copy of her clothes; she saw the same umber-colored tunic and high-waisted black pants she’d just discarded. They were perfectly pressed and tailored.
How?
Someone had gotten them made. These Humans were too much.
Zyara dried herself and dressed. The fabrics were a little different, but the clothes fit perfectly. It was a little unnerving, how accurate these Humans were at replicating things.
How had they picked her size?
She glanced out the window and saw that the sky was beginning to lighten. Soon, night would give way to the hot, blazing sun.
It was time for her to go. The night was over, and this dreamlike scenario was about to end.
But there was something about being clean and refreshed and relaxed that made Zyara feel languorous. Perhaps it was also the effect of the alcohol, still circulating in her system.
She lay down on the bed, closing her eyes.
It felt so good.
Just for a moment, she told herself. Then she would contact Rykal and Kalan and prepare for the trip back to the middle of the desert, where her people had constructed their base.
She knew that if she spent any more time away from the Kordolians, there would be serious trouble, and these strange Humans, with their secret, complicated hierarchy, wouldn’t be spared.
Just for a moment.
The night was almost over.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“What do you mean, she’s still here?” Kai glared at Banri, who shifted uncomfortably on his feet.
“She, uh, fell asleep,” the big enforcer said. “We thought it best not to wake her.”
Kai ran a hand through his dark hair, sighing in exasperation. “We need to get her back to her people,” he said. “These Kordolians are dangerous. You saw how those soldiers reacted when we took her away. You think they’re going to sit back and wait for us to return her? From what I’ve heard, they respect the rule of law on Earth as much as we do.” He gave Banri a pointed look. “You know what that means. I’m surprised they haven’t already shown up at our doorstep to retrieve her.”
Kai stared up at the sky, which was fading to a light mauve color. Morning was arriving, bringing with it the sounds of birdsong and the distant roar of downtown traffic.
The night had left thirteen of his people dead and eight seriously injured. To his intense relief, Melia had been brought back from the brink of death by the combined efforts of the Humans and the Kordolian female.
For some strange reason, Kai sometimes believed in fate.
Thank Jupiter Melia had been saved.
He was not looking forward to formally delivering the news to the Boss, although he was certain the old man already knew what had transpired.
If he were able-bodied, the Boss would be at the hospital right now, by his daughter’s bedside. Instead, Melia was under heavy guard, protected by soldiers Kai had carefully selected for their loyalty.
They knew he was monitoring their every move. He had set up a cameras around her room, connecting them to his neural implant.
The implant in his brain was insidious and highly illegal. It had been implanted against his will, back in the good old days, before the Federation had cracked down on the more dangerous forms of cerebral augmentation.
Neural implants were known to cause psychosis.
Kai didn’t think he’d succumbed to madness. At least not yet.
The implant gave him an unnatural advantage. It gave him power, and made him into something slightly more than Human.
Kai’s hidden eyes were all over this town. He monitored everything that went on in the North Ward. It was a trait that spooked some people, to the point where a ridiculous rumor had spread that he was a devil in Human form.
In the wild, mysterious, seething mess that was Darkside, superstition was alive and well. Even in the twenty-fourth century.
What nonsense.
“I’ll wake her up myself,” he growled. He left Banri in the garden, striding down the polished wooden verandahs until he reached the guest quarters. The doors slid open in response to his biological signature and he crossed the threshold, removing his shoes as he entered the dimly lit room.
The Kordolian was sprawled on the bed, her legs akimbo, one arm outstretched, the other resting on her belly.
Her lilac hair, still damp from the shower, was arranged around her face in a messy halo, and her chest rose and fell in an even rhythm as she slept.
Kai froze, startled by the sight.
He’d known she was beautiful, but back at the hospital he hadn’t taken much time to study her. He’d been too preoccupied with Melia’s condition.
Now that he had the chance to look at her properly, he realized she was breathtaking.
Her perfect features were intimidatingly aristocratic. She had a high, noble forehead and long, elegant eyebrows. Her cheekbones were razor-sharp, and her dark lips were full and sensuous. Pointed ears peeked out from underneath her lush mane, giving her an elfin appearance.
Dark desire stirred in Kai. He had a sudden urge to keep her here, to take her for himself.
He shook his head. Such thoughts were dangerous.
Kai couldn’t take his eyes off her as he reached her side. It almost seemed a pity to wake her. She looked so peaceful in sleep, but it had to be done.
He bent over and gently put his hand on her shoulder.
Orange eyes snapped open as she grabbed his wrist with an iron grip.
The next thing he knew, Kai was being flipped over and thrown to the floor with great speed and force.
He landed on his back with a grunt and found himself looking up into her fierce, burning eyes.
As his cock went hard, he smiled.
This beautiful Kordolian had claws, after all.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Zyara stared at the Human in disbelief. Was he laughing? She narrowed her eyes, breathing heavily as she straddled him. It hadn’t tak
en her much effort to bring him down, but she got the feeling he hadn’t really been trying. “Do you always sneak up on your sleeping guests like that?”
“Do you always attack like that when someone tries to wake you?” He crooked a dark eyebrow, laughing again. Zyara caught a flash of white teeth. His black eyes held mirth… and something else.
“I don’t get woken up by strangers all that often,” she said dryly, “and my combat instructor always taught me to rest lightly and feign sleep if an enemy approached. A takedown was just the next logical step.”
“I see.” He regarded her with obvious interest. Zyara became acutely aware of his nearness. She was poised above him, after all. One of her hands encircled his wrist. The other was pressed lightly against his neck, ready to crush his windpipe should he attempt to move.
His skin was warm underneath her fingers, and she could feel the steady beat of his pulse. He was calm and still.
This was not the reaction she’d expected from a Human who’d just been forcefully flipped on his back.
He made no effort to fight back, his intense gaze roaming over her. Zyara studied him in turn. He was a good-looking Human, with sharp, angular features and midnight-black hair. His hair was shaved on the sides and longer on top, giving him a rakish appearance.
His scent surrounded her. It was rich and masculine and slightly intoxicating.
Damn this ridiculous Human. Was he toying with her? How could he appear so comfortable when he was pinned underneath her? It was impossible. She was a Kordolian. Humans weren’t used to her kind.
But she got the sense he was enjoying this.
The thought made Zyara uncomfortable. She came from a planet where females were treated like goddesses, revered simply because of their gender. There were so few of them, after all. Before she was cast out of House Sirian, she could have had her pick of any of the males on Kythia.
Instead, she’d severed her family ties and joined the military.
