Legends of the Damned: A Collection of Edgy Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance Novels

by Lindsey R. Loucks

  At her node, he scans her eye, then the other.

  Then seals the information in with his own retinal scan.

  "There," he says. "All set. For the next forty-eight hours at least, you are safe to move around. But remember, anything more and you risk exposure. Risk being thrown back—"

  "To where I came from. Yeah, I get that." She says this while looking straight at Jai.

  He refuses to take the bait. Refuses to feel sorry for her. She’s good at that, getting under his skin. Making him want to feel for her. Ask her to stay on longer. With a faint shock he realizes that is exactly what he wants. When had that happened? Him wanting even more of her?

  They’ve been staring at each other for a while, the tension crackling between them. Hell, the sexual chemistry is such that it’s a wonder Gilbert hasn’t been turned on himself, he realizes.

  And that sends a spurt of anger through him. As if Gilbert’s been privy to something very intimate, something innocent, yet deep, and seductive that’s been bubbling under the surface all this while.

  His eyes flick to Gilbert, who flushes. He gets the message, though. With a hasty, "See you at the pier," he leaves.

  When the door closes, she turns to him.

  "So, now I’m in the system?" her voice rises. "And safe for the next two days? Just like that?"

  She folds her arms over her chest, stance belligerent. In her eyes a look of disbelief.

  And he realizes then what he's done.

  He's given Aria the one thing all those refugees covet, that they would die for. That many have already died for on the dangerous journey to this city.

  And then he sees himself as she must. The privileged son of the most powerful man in this city. One who can use that power to get anything.

  But he's never acknowledged that. Never used that power before. Not till today.

  And he's used it for her.

  And that thought takes him by surprise. He's not quite sure what it means. Doesn't even want to acknowledge the implications of what he's done.

  When he speaks, his features are stiff, formal. Giving no hint of the emotions twisting inside.

  "Isn’t that what you wanted? To stay on for a little while?" He asks, his voice calm, almost cold.

  "I don’t know anymore." She sounds puzzled.

  And her honesty disarms him even more. Despite all she’s been through, something about her is still innocent, child-like. It makes him want to hold on as if she were a light that'd lead him to the future. A future he can’t yet see.

  Her voice cuts through his thoughts, "I mean," she hesitates. "I’ve heard so much about this city. About how it’s our one hope to the future. And yet…a place where you need to be leashed to a system, where you can be pulled up at any time for a mistake…I don’t know if that’s what I want, either."

  Her thoughts hit too close to home, mirroring the kind he sometimes has in his darkest moments. And he decides then to push them away. Not now, he can’t think about this now. Not when his mind is already in turmoil trying to understand his own reaction to this girl who’s dropped into his life.

  No, he isn’t ready to question his very identity, his reality just now.

  When he next speaks, his voice is final. "Well if you are not interested in coming out—"

  She puts up her hands then, in a gesture of "I give in" though that doesn’t fool him either. But he’ll take it for now.

  "I’ll be ready in five," she says, already rushing towards his bedroom.

  He hears the sound of the shower starting up.

  Turning, Jai walks to the balcony. Sliding the doors open, he leans out, taking a deep breath of the sea air. All the while swearing under his breath – at himself, at her, at the entire goddam city.

  Chapter Eleven

  They’ve been traveling for half an hour in Gilbert’s little boat. He’s standing at the wheel in calf-length shorts. Like Jai, he wears his gun hooked to his waist. He also has his sword.

  Jai’s sprawled on a small bench at one end, legs stretched out, mirrored shades hiding his eyes.

  Aria stands next to Gilbert. She doesn’t have her sword. That had been one of the conditions of her staying on, that he keep the sword in a safe place. Away from her.

  Not that he doesn’t trust her. It’s just a precaution. He chuckles as he recalls the look on her face as she'd reluctantly parted with her sword. Then all other thoughts go right out of his mind as the wind shifts her sundress to reveal a glimpse of her creamy-brown thigh. Soft skin. Skin made for touching and kissing and—

  "Come on Jai, come over and join us." She yells above the sound of the breeze.

  Ignoring her, Jai slides lower, his shoulders hunched up. Folding his arms over his chest, he watches them from behind his sunglasses.

  "How much further?" she asks.

  "Another ten minutes," Gilbert replies.

  "So we’re going to Elephanta Island, right?"

  "Yes, one of the two islands off the coast of the city. The only other one to survive the tsunami is Ambu Island." He waves in the general direction of the land they’ve left behind.

  Jai shifts, trying to make himself more comfortable on the hard bench, as Gilbert continues, "There’s a very interesting temple there, one of the only three to have survived the tsunami."

  "I’d love to go there," she exclaims.

  Jai stiffens. Why is Gilbert calling attention to that island and that temple? It’s the last place he wants to go. As far as he’s concerned, it’s a pity the tsunami did not sweep away that island too. After all it’s here that it all started. Where Ruby had touched her sword to the altar and changed their futures.

  She’d done what she had to do.

  And now it’s his turn.

  A shiver runs down his back and the hairs on his forearms stand on end. A forewarning; a harbinger of things to come. But of what?

  He pushes the thought out of his head and says loud enough for them to hear him over the wind. "The temple on that island is in ruins. But we could go to the Shiva temple," he says. "It's on top of a hill on the other side of the city."

  She hesitates. "The Jungle has a temple too. Many of the refugees pray there."

  "They pray at a temple?" Gilbert asks intrigued. "But most of them—"

  "Would have never been to a temple, no," she agrees. "They’ve probably never even been to a church their entire life. But the things you see in the Jungle make you want to believe in something. Hope. That’s what the temple offers the refugees. And it doesn’t matter that they are worshipping a God from a different faith." She laughs, a bitter sound.

  "And you?" Jai asks. "Did you go there to pray too?"

  "No," she says. "I believe in making my own destiny."

  Silence.

  Jai feels her muscles go rigid, feels the sadness that grips her. But he’s unsure how to console her. After all, he’s one of those responsible for the Jungle being created. And it’s not that he agrees with the treatment of the refugees. It’s just that he hasn’t cared enough to speak out against it. To stand up for what he believes in.

  For the first time since Aria showed up at his home, he wonders if he’s got it all wrong. His responsibility includes making sure that the shifters don’t hurt the people in the camp, and that the refugees in turn are kept away from the city. He has never questioned those orders. He'd never felt more than a passing guilt at the conditions of the refugees in the camp.

  Not till now.

  Not till she had turned up and saved him from certain death. And then she’d appeared at his doorstep and completely threw him. And she’d had the chance to shoot him and run but she hadn’t.

  Why?

  Why has she stayed? Is it the chemistry between them, this feeling of something which binds them together? But it’s not just that. There’s more, he’s sure about that. She’s hiding something and Jai is going to find it.

  The silence stretches.

  When they are close to shore Gilbert announces, "Almost there, n
ow."

  The boat slows and jolts a little, then he throws a rope tethering the little vessel to the pier.

  "No one knows when these caves were hollowed out," Gilbert replies to Aria’s earlier question.

  The three of them are in the main chamber of the caves on Elephanta Island. Facing them is a floor-to-ceiling statue of the three-headed bust of Shiva in the roles of destroyer, preserver, and creator. Carved into the hillside, the statue stands there silent, looking on as the humans destroyed themselves, then rebuilt a new world. And now as they try to figure out how to balance the old with their new way of life.

  "It’s so beautiful…" Aria breathes.

  Her small nose sharp in profile, she’s looking up at the statue. The sun shines off that creamy skin, drawing Jai’s eyes to her angular cheekbones. Blade thin, they look sharp enough to cut him if he gets too close.

  She turns her head, and blue clashes with amber.

  And there it is again.

  That something between them which makes his heart slam against his ribs. Makes him catch his breath. Forget what he’s thinking. He wants to go to her and touch her. Jai takes a step forward, when a growl at the entrance to the cave has him reaching for his gun.

  Chapter Twelve

  Jai leaps in front of Aria, trying to shield her with his body. In the same move, he fires at the shadow hovering at the cave entrance. Gilbert mirrors his move so they are shoulder to shoulder. They form a human shield facing the wolf, which darts aside, its movements a blur.

  Without drawing breath, Jai moves towards the beast. He fires again. And a third time.

  The bullets scream past the shifter. And then Jai's not four feet in front of the creature.

  It bares its teeth and springs forward, its body vibrating with the speed.

  Swearing, he drops the gun, pulls out his sword and slashes the blade down. The blade finds its mark, opening up its chest. Blood spurts out but the half beast still stays standing.

  It looks past Jai, and before he can react, springs over his head at Gilbert. Blood flowing in its wake in an arc, it brings Gilbert down with a crash that vibrates through the space.

  Covering the distance in just a few leaps, Jai swings his sword down on the wolf’s back. This time the sword goes clean through the animal.

  With a groan of effort, muscles bulging under the strain, Jai pulls out the blade, holding it aloft. And with it the blood fountains out, drenching Gilbert, spraying Jai’s clothes scarlet.

  The shifter topples to the side.

  Before its body has even hit the floor, Jai is sinking to to his knees next to the fallen Gilbert, blood-stained sword still in hand. But Ariana is already there.

  "Hold your palm on it, apply pressure," she tells Jai, her voice calm, authoritative.

  Jai stares in surprise as she tears out a strip from her sundress.

  Her movements are quick as if she’s done this before. She has done this before, on the road, on the journey from London, that he’s sure of.

  "Do it," she snaps.

  Her voice cuts through the noise in his head. Dropping his sword by his side –big mistake– he presses his palms over the bleeding wound.

  "You OK, man?" he asks the now pale Gilbert, who nods shakily. Only to groan when she roughly shoves aside Jai’s palm and presses the cloth to Gilbert’s wound and tells Jai to hold it down.

  The moment he does that, she jumps to her feet and runs out of the cave taking his sword.

  "Ariana!" Jai yells after her but already she’s gone.

  Jai swears aloud, his throat closing with fear.

  He takes Gilbert’s right palm, pressing it over his injured side and tells him to apply pressure. Before the other man can finish nodding, Jai has run out of the cave.

  Jumping over the fallen wolf he runs into the bright sunshine where she’s facing off another shifter. This time in human form.

  She holds up his sword and with that same war yell, the one that’s still echoing in my ears from the first time he met her she leaps.

  Except this time, the shifter steps aside and she goes crashing to the ground, losing the sword.

  Jai’s never run so fast in his life. Reaching her, he hesitates. For one split second. Then making up his mind, he picks up his sword first. And that costs him. By the time he’s reaching for the fallen Aria, the shifter has already swung the girl over his shoulder. Turning around, the shifter runs. With her.

  Swearing aloud, Jai gives chase, but the shifter is fast. Inhumanly fast. For the first time Jai realizes the true extent of their strength. They are powerful. Far more than humans realize. And the only thing still keeping the city safe are their relatively small numbers. Which is also why they are targeting females in the refugee camps. To mate with them, to increase their numbers.

  Which is why they have taken Aria.

  The thought sends a jolt of fear running through him, spurring him to run even faster. But by the time he reaches the pier, it’s only to find a boat pulling away. Hair swirling in the breeze, she turns towards Jai, her hands now twisted behind her back by the same shifter who has taken her. She’s trying to say something but he can’t hear the words. Then the shifter cuffs her on the side of the neck and she goes down.

  With a yell of anger, Jai dives into the water.

  His pulse pounding in his ears he kicks, reaches forward and pushes the water back. He kicks again, propels forwards and pushes back. And he wants to keep swimming but already they are pulling away, the boat fading into the distance, heading back to the mainland.

  Weakness grips his legs, which go stiff with fear.

  Terror claws through him, till it's a shrill scream in his ears.

  Breathe. Breathe.

  They’re going to kill her.

  No! If they so much as touch her he will…will…a shudder runs through him.

  He must find her.

  Turning, he swims back to the pier to find Gilbert already in the boat; he also has Jai’s sword.

  Jai clambers on, and before he’s completely on board, Gilbert guns the little vessel forward.

  The boat leaps over the choppy waves and they make it back to the mainland in half the time it took them to get here.

  Sword held out in readiness, Jai jumps off and onto the rocky beach before they come to a complete stop. Where are they? He looks around but there’s no sign of them. Not even the boat.

  Where could they have gone?

  He runs up the beach, wet sand flying up behind him, the bitter taste of fear in his mouth.

  "Here! Jai!"

  Gilbert points to drops of scarlet in the sand. Dropping to one knee he touches the drops of blood.

  Her blood.

  Terror pounds through his veins. The acrid taste of fear fills his mouth and he bites down on it. And, below it all, he's berating himself. For choosing the sword over the girl.

  But he didn’t have a choice, did he?

  And that twists his gut, sending a surge of loathing through him so strong it makes him wants to puke.

  He pushes that thought away. Pushes all emotions away. Locking them in a corner of his head, the way he’s done so many times before. Letting that calm steal over him. Searching and locking onto that icy center inside which makes him the lethal fighter he is.

  "Let’s go," he bites out.

  Jumping to his feet, Jai follows the blood trail, Gilbert right behind.

  Chapter Thirteen

  I look past General Vishal, who sits ramrod straight in the chair opposite. Look over his shoulder, to the window behind. To the city spread out there. A glorious mix of past and present.

  From here, I can see into the guts of New Bombay, this so-called "Shining hope of the East" and I want to laugh.

  Tall towers, unfinished skeletons of iron and steel with concrete being poured into the black space between them, to join them up, to anchor them to the new world.

  And in between low bungalows with slanting red roofs, the only structures to have survived the tsunami.
<
br />   "So, we meet again," the General smirks.

  His voice cuts through my thoughts, and I react before I can stop myself.

  "How dare you do this? And without even warning me?" I burst out.

  In reply the General slaps me so hard my head snaps back.

  Anger bubbles up but I bite the inside of my mouth. I stay where I am, fingernails digging into my closed palms. Trying not to react. Not to let the panic bubble over.

  He’ll find me. Jai will. He’s looking for me just now. He must be, right?

  Why should Jai search for you? He wanted you gone since you snuck into his house. And now you are here facing down the General. A man who only sees the future he wants. A future that’s been denied to him again and again. And he’s going to use you to make it happen.

  "What do you want?" I ask.

  I don’t look at the General. Keep my eyes trained on the bent necks of the cranes at work in the distance.

  "You, Ariana," he says, voice hard with intent.

  And I jerk back to look at his face. He stares, unblinking. Tanned skin scarred like a crusty loaf of bread.

  He smiles, a baring of white teeth, enjoying the terror that leaps into my eyes. I want to reach across and plunge my sword into him, but I can’t.

  I hang my head and wait.

  Wait.

  Wait for him to continue and he finally speaks, "You’re falling behind on your promise and I thought a reminder was in order."

  At that, the shifter standing next to him steps forward. The one who’d snatched me up and run with me like I didn’t weigh anything. He’s tall, almost twice my height, massive shoulders, and forearms thicker than my thighs. Gripping my collar, he hauls me up to eye level.

  I dangle there, hands tied behind my back, my legs waving uselessly mid-air, and when he leans closer, his breath rakes over my skin. I want to puke, from fear, disgust and something worse. A feeling of cold uncertainty that this is the end. That I am helpless and at their mercy, and they can do anything; anything and I can’t stop them. I squeeze my eyes shut, blocking the terror inside.