by Tigris Eden
“We will be,” Diamond said back.
Phyr looked into his scope, checking to see what else they were up against. Farther back in the ranks, he was able to make out a cage. There were people inside. Phyr had no clue what Nadya’s family looked like. He had nothing to go on.
“I can confirm there are prisoners among the group. But there aren’t just two. More like ten.”
“You got eyes on Nadya and the Reapers?”
Phyr swung his rifle around and peered through its scope.
“Yeah, they’ll be rounding the block in about two minutes. Attia will be on you before they will.”
“Got it. Remember. No one fires until I give the signal,” Diamond ordered.
“What the fuck is the signal?” Amethyst said via her comm.
“You’ll know it when you see it.”
Phyr looked through his scope again. Attia and her team had stopped across the street from the Quarry. Her riders lined up directly behind her. She looked up and smiled, giving Phyr the finger.
She knew he was there. Fucking bitch.
V
The Reapers were getting restless. Nadya could see the Quarry now. It was dark, the moon casting an eerie glow on the pavement and buildings as they passed. Fursay still hadn’t let go of her hand. His thumb absently rubbing across her wrist as they walked. It was annoying.
“Enough of that”—she yanked her hand from his—“I can take care of myself.”
Adrenaline was coursing through her system, giving her bursts of energy. Her breathing was short, and her chest hurt from the strength of her heartbeat, as it pounded rapidly against her ribcage.
“I only meant…” Fursay tried to speak. The Reapers behind her became more and more agitated.
“Doesn’t matter. Let’s keep moving.”
Funny thing, she wasn’t in a hurry to rush headlong into a battle. She was concerned about settling scores. There was Diamond, Lindy, Anna, and of course Marius. She blamed him for Rory’s death. It didn’t matter that it was by her hand. She’d cared for Rory in her own way, but it was Marius who held his strings, pushed him to his death. Yeah, Marius was now added to the list of people she had beef with. Fursay would be first if he kept up with the grabby hands. A small voice claimed she still cared for the old woman and her daughter. Maybe. She’d let them live, along with Phyr and Emerald. Although, the two males would try and kill her the moment she ended Diamond. Her limbs loosened. She was ready to settle up.
A fight was brewing. She could feel it. The air was saturated with high-octane testosterone. It poured out of the males inside and around the Quarry. She and Fursay were to get to the Quarry, await instructions from Diamond, and go from there. Nadya planned to be a big fucking wrench in those plans. She had no intention of listening to anyone. She wasn’t following orders or staying quiet for anyone anymore. Right as they reached the entrance to the Quarry, Diamond, Emerald, and Onyx stepped forward. She sized all three men up. Diamond saw her first, his eyes wide as he took in her appearance. He’d never really seen her for who she really was. He saw her now. Nadya made sure of it. She grabbed Fursay’s hand as a taunt and smiled.
Diamond looked to their entwined hands and grunted.
“You may want to let her go, boy. Your father and I have an arrangement.”
“I’m well aware of the arrangement. Nadya stays with me at all times. If she moves, the Reapers will take her for their own. They’ve followed us the entire way here, they expect a reward, and right now, the lot of them have their sights set on her.”
She’d eat those fuckers for breakfast if they even thought they could piss on her. Still, she didn’t say a word. She turned and took in the female atop her horse.
Attia stared down at Nadya with searching eyes.
Nadya pulled herself and Fursay towards Attia. Her eyes searched for Anna and Dominika. She didn’t see them in the crowd.
“Where are they?” Nadya demanded.
Attia looked down at her from her mount and smiled. There was something different about the woman. Something not right. She was missing a breast. Her hair was dyed a pitch black, and instead of legs, she had what looked to be blades.
“Do you mean Anna and Dominika?”
Nadya sharply nodded her head. “If you have them, release them to me.”
Attia threw back her head and laughed.
“You think I want them? It’s you I want.”
“I know this already.”
“You do?” Attia asked as she dismounted her horse.”
“Yes?”
“You agree to come with me?” Now it was Nadya’s turn to laugh. She wasn’t going with anybody.
Attia watched her closely. Her eyes a mixture of confusion and uncertainty.
“Lavarious. You have no idea what’s going on here. You and your men should leave this matter to me and the girl.”
“He stays,” Nadya said.
“What she said.” Diamond took a step in her direction. He had no clue what was going on. But he still thought he had the upper hand.
“Nadya, you are coming with me.” Attia said. Her confidence was almost offensive.
“I know you think that, but going with you was never an option.”
“How do you figure?”
“Because I know.”
“Know what?”
“Bring the old woman and her daughter or things will get ugly.”
“We’ve only started getting ugly, Nadya.”
“That’s not my name. But you knew that already. Didn’t you, Senna. Or should I call you Mother?”
Attia stepped back. Diamond cursed, as did his other men.
“How did you—?“
“How do I know? I’ve seen your picture a million times. Esa showed me. I know exactly who you are.”
Fursay, the dumbshit tried to reach for her hand again. Nadya turned and yanked her arm away from him.
“You don’t want to do that,” Fursay growled.
Nadya ignored him. The Reapers made clicking sounds at her back. Nadya took a step towards the woman who’d given birth to her. The woman who, by all accounts, should be dead.
“You’re very unfeeling, Nadya.”
“I mastered Locking a long time ago.” It had taken her years to learn to Lock her emotions away; she’d even hidden her ability from Esa. Back then, she was still a novice, but she’d been able to Lock her feelings away in short bursts. Too afraid of what it would mean if they knew she could Lock any part of herself away. After all, she shouldn’t have been able to do it as a half-breed.
Diamond interrupted their reunion.
“What the fuck is going on here?”
“Family reunion. Senna, my mother, who you know as Attia, is trying to figure out how I learned to Lock my emotions away.”
“Who the fuck cares.”
“You should,” Nadya sneered.
Killing Diamond now would be to her advantage. She owed him. If it weren’t for him and his men, she’d have never gotten into the mess she was in now. She’d be drawing out the Grid, mapping out her next. Move. Memory loss was a bitch and a half. It was Diamond who’d thwarted her original plans. Taken years from her.
“Bring the old woman, Anna, forward,” Attia said to one of her riders. Nadya’s mother turned back in their direction. “If you’d accepted my offer, things would have had a different outcome,” Attia explained.
“Doubtful. As it is now, things are right where they need to be. I came to the city for a reason. Diamond and his band of idiots fucked that up for me. Long before you came into the picture.”
Anna was ushered to the front, her frail body sagging as she stood looking at Nadya with wide eyes.
“Nadya,” Anna’s voice was weak.
The memory of being attacked and captured by Diamond’s men sailed to the front of her mind. It had been Anna who’d pointed her out to one of the guards at the Quarry. Anna herself was there for trade. She’d been there to offer her daughter into Diamond’s services, but
had been turned away because Nika was too young. Nadya was there on the pretense that she was a member of the Quarry’s guard. Anna made a comment in passing about having her daughter put into his guard if he was now allowing women. That hadn’t gone over too well with Diamond’s men. She’d been taken in for questioning. The body of the guard she’d killed was found, and Diamond was too busy to see her, so her torture was left up to the skull-wearing male she still hadn’t placed. But the torture, that she remembered.
Bones were broken, her chest caved in, and her head busted open with a bat. She’d been tossed out into the streets and left for dead. It was Anna who found her. Anna who’d nursed her back to health. But none of that mattered now. Her feelings for the woman were so dull now, she felt next to nothing.
“Save it,” Nadya spat. “I just wanted to see your face. Wanted to look at your frailty and see if I felt anything for you.” She walked towards Anna, her hands on her hips. “You know something, not caring is a lot easier.”
“Nadya,” Anna sobbed, reaching forward to hug her. Nadya let her. She didn’t reciprocate. She felt numb. The older woman was the reason for her torture and capture. Once it was clear she didn’t belong at the Quarry, Nadya had been subdued by a group of males. When she’d woken in the streets days later, memory gone, it had been the old woman and her daughter there caring for her. Misplaced trust. She didn’t need a recap of what had happened to her, she remembered it all, and she wasn’t going to re-live it. Nadya pushed the old woman from her and stepped back.
“Please,” Anna whispered. “Don’t do this.”
“Do what? Reveal your nasty truth? Hate you? Kill you? You were the one who jumpstarted this entire ordeal. I should have suspected, but with my memory gone, I was weak. Not anymore. Not ever again.”
Nadya lunged forward, pulling her blade out and aiming for Attia’s chest. But she was thwarted when the other woman leapt back and kicked out, cutting Nadya’s arm with her bladed foot. Nadya almost dropped her sword, her arm going numb from the poison she knew now coursed through her system. There was momentary discomfort before she only felt a twinge of pain.
Diamond stepped forward with Emerald and Onyx at his side.
“I wouldn’t try that again. Next time, it will be your entire arm and not just a cut.” Attia looked to Anna, who sat on the ground, sobbing uncontrollably. “Get up, Anna,” Attia yelled.
“Don’t cry, Anna, it will be okay,” Nadya crooned. Her voice low and purposely inflected with malice.
“Esa was foolish to send you,” Attia sneered.
“She didn’t send me to do anything. I came on my own. I wanted to see for myself.”
“What? What did you want to see?”
Nadya didn’t respond.
“Where is the other girl?” Diamond asked.
Amazing, he still didn’t know who she was, but then again, he’d been too busy to give her an audience that first time.
“Around,” Attia said.
“You coming with me or not, Nadya?” Attia demanded.
Her mother was relentless.
“Not.”
“Adya,” Diamond growled. As if she would respond to his nickname.
“Sorry, Lavarious,” she said in a sweet voice. “Not going with you either.”
“You bitch.” Her emotions were Locked, but her keen senses weren’t. Nadya moved before Diamond’s arm reached out to grab her by the hair. Spinning, she pulled her dagger and stabbed him in his left palm.
No one moved.
Not Diamond, his men, or Attia.
“Don’t fucking come near me! You make me sick. Did you really think you had me under control? The moment I realized who and what you were to me, you became nothing more than a check on my to-do-list. I can check you off now, or later. Your choice.”
“Why are you doing this?” Emerald asked, speaking for the first time. He’d been silent and on guard. She kept him in her sights—there was no telling what the giant male was capable of.
“Because I can.” Nadya looked at Onyx. For the first time ever, he wasn’t wearing his trademark shades. There was something vaguely familiar about his eyes. Where do I know you from?
“Hand over your weapons,” Onyx said, pointing his gun at Emerald.
Attia had a smug look on her face. It was then that Nadya realized two things at once. Onyx was working with Attia, and he must have been the one to give the female bomber the information on the camera locations inside the Quarry. It had to be how she dodged security check.
“Motherfucker! I will kill you,” Diamond yelled, his left hand dripping blood onto the concrete.
“I’m tired of licking your ass. You turned this city into a shithole with your greed,” Onyx bellowed. His anger clear for all to see. She didn’t take him for a person who cared about the city, or its inhabitants. But then, she didn’t really know him. But those eyes. They were so familiar, but at the same time, not familiar. She just couldn’t place him.
“Traitorous bastard, I will end you,” Diamond spat.
Nadya whistled, getting both males’ attention. She was going to use everything she had to her advantage. Onyx playing for Attia’s side was just the in she needed.
“You two can kill each other later. Right now, I want everyone to hand over their weapons.”
Emerald didn’t move.
“I really liked you, kōtiro.”
“Yeah? I still like you. Want to stay breathing, you stop talking.”
“I knew you’d come around.” Attia smiled in her direction, but Nadya didn’t reciprocate. She wanted Attia to think she’d won.
The guards stepped forward. Attia had them in her pocket, as well. They took the weapons from Emerald and Diamond.
“Watch them,” Attia, said to the guards as she turned to face her war party.
The Ibanez brothers stepped forward. Nadya knew them instantly. Maddox, bald except for the small patch of hair on top of his head, wore a coat with some sort of fur covering the collar. His face was covered in black paint that made his colorless eyes stand out like beams of light. Heavy chains hung around his neck with huge locks on the end. His entire chest was bare, except for the large tattoo of two axes that crossed at the handles. There were scars and knife wounds on his abdomen. His pants looked uncomfortably tight, and a knife was strapped to each thigh.
Martinez had shocking white hair like Lindy’s, only Nadya knew he wasn’t a Sub-dweller. He wore a re-breather over his face that filtered the air he breathed. It was attached to the hood of his sleeveless jacket. Nadya knew it connected to the pack at his back. He didn’t wear pants at all, but rather hakamas. They were the billowy pants that Samurai warriors wore over a thousand years ago. Martinez rounded out his outfit with metal fashioned into swords, two long blades and one short sword.
“It’s good you got your memory back,” Martinez said as he stepped closer.
“Yeah, why is that?” Nadya asked.
“Because when I kill you, you’ll know why.” Martinez removed his re-breather and Nadya realized the male had no lips.
Fuck.
She had been the cause of that particular injury. He was the guy at the Red Door three years ago who’d attempted to take her container of Wave.
“You asked for it, but if you’d like to take me on, I can add you to my list.”
“No one is killing anyone,” Attia said, taking a step towards Martinez, her metal legs clicking against the pavement.
Nadya watched him closely. His eyes drifted towards Attia before going back to her. He knew her mother was serious. The Ibanez brothers were idiots. They played at war, not understanding the repercussions or fallout it caused to others.
Time to get the party started. Diamond and Emerald had given their weapons over to the guards. Onyx had a smirk on his face that changed the way his eyes were shaped. The black squinty, and his whites non-existent. It was Onyx, she realized belatedly. Another memory surfaced of the guy in the skull mask. Onyx. He’d been the one to lead the torture s
ession. He’d been cold and calculating the entire time. And when he’d realized his tactics didn’t have lasting effects on her, he’d stepped up his methods tenfold.
Nadya never hesitated, she pulled her saw from her thigh and lodged it in his throat, taking him down. Warm blood from his jugular misted the night air. Collateral damage and justice. All at the same time. He was the distraction she needed. In the same moment, Attia walked toward Fursay, her bladed legs clinking against the concrete as she moved. The motion she made was smooth, and no one would have thought it deadly. She bent at the knees then sprung in the air, extending a leg to slice off Fursay’s head. Two deaths, one by her hand, the other by her mother’s. Well, her leg anyway. Fursay’s head fell to the ground. Blood sprayed in all directions, splattering the front of her shirt and decorating both Ibanez brothers. Attia was completely covered, and Diamond and his men who stood closest to Fursay had blood on their garments, as well. The only sound that could be heard after the horrific display was the neighing of the horses. Their riders temporarily jostled as they tried to get their animals under control. The Reapers, who’d been stationed a few feet back, were motionless for maybe thirty seconds before they sprang into action. They scattered, effectively surrounding their group. Attia called out orders to her men just as Diamond did the same with his. Everyone was on the defensive, Nadya included. It was Attia’s distraction that threw everyone off balance.
Anna, still on her knees, looked around wide-eyed, two dead males now lying on either side of her as everyone tried to get the Reapers in their sights. The Ibanez brothers yelled loud war cries before pulling their weapons and charging forward.
It was dark, but for a Reaper, that was nothing. They didn’t have eyes, so they used their sense of smell and hearing to zero in on their prey. Attia wasn’t the only one they were locked in on. Every female, including Nadya, was now in their sights.
Dominika. Shit.
“Anna, where is Nika?”
“The cages. She’s in the cages with the others.”
Nika was the only true innocent. Nadya’s emotions were Locked, but not so tightly she wouldn’t give Nika a chance to get away. It was the least she could do.
