by D. N. Leo
“Richard.”
“Yes, you’ve called me three times, and I heard you each time. Can you tell me what’s going on?”
“You’re not supposed to open that box, Richard.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I put your perfume and the jewelry back inside. If you can’t tell me what’s going on, that’s fine. I understand. But can I see you one more time? Is there a way I can see your face? One more time, Casey?”
“It’s not supposed to happen like this, Richard. We’re not supposed to have any kind of relationship.”
“What do you mean by that? We can’t have a relationship? My wife passed away a long time ago. And you’re single…unless—”
“No, it’s not that.”
“So what is it? I know I should have revealed my feelings to you earlier. Do you know what it feels like waking up and being told you might go away forever? And when I finally got to see you on that hospital bed, I watched you fade away right in front of my eyes, and there was nothing I could do about it.”
“You’re not supposed to have any feelings for me, Richard.”
“The hell I’m not. And who was the man in the hospital room? Why did he say you traded a life for me? I swear I saw a falling rail backstage, and I pushed you out of the way. If someone was supposed to be dead, that person should be me.”
“No, Richard. That rail was for me. I was supposed to die. But I couldn’t let you die for me, so I traded a life for yours.”
Richard paced back and forth in the room, waving his arms in the air. “I don’t know what that means, and I’m not sure I want to. You’re supposed to die? For whom? Or for what? And who was the man in your hospital room? He’s too young to be your husband.”
“He’s my son.”
Richard stopped pacing. He composed himself and then nodded. “I thought he might be. He looks the same age as my Samantha.”
Silence.
“Maybe a little older. He can’t be older than his thirties. Otherwise you must have had him when you were ten…”
Silence.
“Casey, are you still here?”
“Yes, Richard.”
“Oh, you were a bit quiet. I thought you’d gone. Let’s not talk about irrelevant matters. Now that you’re around, there must be a way you can get back here and be normal.”
“I can never be normal, Richard.”
“I know there’s something magical or supernatural about this. I’m very open-minded. More than you would believe. So if you’ll just tell me what’s going on and what can I do to fix it, I will.”
“I don’t want you to be tangled up in this mess.”
“I already am! Maybe you can untangle me by telling me the truth.”
“You’re not ready for this.”
“Try me.”
Chapter 14
Leon leaned up against the window of the train. He was sure the magnificent scenery he was seeing was trivial to many humans living here, but for him, it was a once in a lifetime experience. Endless hillsides and forests flanked the road. The train crossed a hanging bridge over a river, and he had to hold his breath as he looked down. The speed of the train was incredible. He loved everything about this place. But as Zach had told him, Eudaiz was a million times better. He looked forward to going there.
The Babylonian court was beautiful. He lived close to the temple where he worked. He adored the golden architecture, the luxury, and the beautiful clothing people wore to attend court. But there were two things the court had never had. One was a feel of vibrancy and liveliness. People there were alive, of course, but it seemed as if they were alive only because they had to be. And the second thing was Mya. The liveliness. The energy. And the beauty of her.
Now, he had found a third thing the court would never have—Kirra. The lingering sensation and feelings Leon had whenever he was around her were addictive. He didn’t know if Zach could take Kirra to Eudaiz, but he knew he would really miss having her around. Hearing her voice, lilting in his ear like a song.
A chill ran down his spine as he heard a low growl. It was more like a hum of evil, echoing somewhere from the middle of the Earth. He didn’t know where he got that idea from. It was just there inside his mind, and he didn’t care for it.
The door connected to the neighboring cabin slid open, and he saw Casey’s son walk in. Leon sprang to his feet. He could kick the guy’s backside and turn him into a puddle of mud right now, but there were innocent people in the cabin, and Leon didn’t want collateral damage to stain the experience of his trip.
The man came over and sat down opposite Leon.
“I don’t want innocents to die if we fight in here. Your mother isn’t around. Nobody will beg for you.”
“I tied you up and held you in a basement before. Why do you think it would be any different this time?”
“Two reasons. I didn’t kill you when I had the chance. Even shapeshifters have a code of honor. You ought to pay me back. Second, you took me off guard because I didn’t think a big leopard like you would bite like a kitten. Now that I know, I won’t let you bite me. If we go one on one on level ground, I’ll kick your ass.”
The man chuckled. “One way to find out. The next station is Middle Land. We can go out for a run.”
“I’m sure we can do more than just running.” Leon sized up the man. He was tall, strong, and might be a skilled fighter. He hadn’t had a real fight with this man, but he was sure he wouldn’t beat him easily at his one hundred percent capacity. He’d love a chance to test his combat skill in this world. But he did remember he was here because of Mya. Until he sorted out that mission, he couldn’t go around picking fights.
“What’s your name?” Leon asked.
The man leaned back in his seat and looked at Leon with deep purple eyes. “Dex.”
“Why do you want to capture me, Dex? What do you want from me? If it’s about your mother, what do you want me to do for her?”
“Why do you want to help my mother?”
“She seemed like a good person apart from that fact that she killed the ticket man. But I guess that’s her job.”
“Don’t think you know everything just from a little conversation with her,” Dex growled.
“All right. I don’t know everything. So entertain me. What exactly do you want from me?”
“I want your blood.”
Leon chuckled. “Well, I don’t mind donating some blood if it’ll be of help.”
Dex shrugged. “Not some blood. I need all of your blood.”
Leon smiled. “I’m afraid I’m not that generous. And for your information, your mother called me a god, and she, although a soul trader, can’t trade my soul. That’s what she said.”
Dex arched an eyebrow. “You exchanged quite a bit of information in a little conversation with my mother.”
“Does the fact that she called me God change anything? Do you think my blood can still help her?”
“Are you afraid to fight me?”
Leon shook his head. “If we don’t fight, I can save your mother the heartache of your death, Dex.”
“You’re overconfident.”
“I’m just stating a fact. I am the head of the temple guards at the Babylonian court. I’ve been in combat for hundreds of years. What can you do except use your poisonous teeth behind people’s backs?”
The train slowly approached the station and stopped. As soon as the door slid open, Leon grabbed Dex and threw him outside, rolling out with him onto the train platform. Before the people there had time to react, Dex and Leon had run off the platform and darted down the hill.
Chapter 15
Mya leaned into Zach’s chest and snuggled comfortably in his arms. They were sitting in a cabin toward the back of the train heading toward Sydney. Kirra was right—this was a smooth means of transportation. The best thing about it was that she got to sit next to Zach, and he didn’t have to drive. She liked the feel of his warm body. She liked hearing his breathing and his heartbeat. The gash on his
left shoulder from the stab wound he had taken for Kirra had almost healed. He had told her if it happened in Eudaiz, he could go to his chamber, and the healing process would be instant. But it was healing now, so that was good enough.
She couldn’t wait to finish this mission. She wanted to find Leon and get the jar of potion back to Ishtar to pay off her debts. Then she could travel with Zach and Leon to Eudaiz, a universe she was sure had been designed for true happiness. She would never again have to count the balance of lives she saved and killed. She could get a job that had nothing at all to do with numbers.
“That’s Leon!” Kirra exclaimed from the seat behind them and pointed toward a stretch of woods a short distance away. Zach and Mya looked out the window and could see Leon and another man running and then fighting each other among the trees. It was quite a distance away, and most people wouldn’t recognize the shapes of the two men fighting. But for Mya, it was unmistakably Leon, his athletic body hopping up and down along the tree line.
She felt deliriously happy. He was alive and obviously doing quite well.
The train eased into the Middle Land train station. As soon as the cabin door slid open, the trio charged out to the platform and zoomed down the hillside.
When they closed the distance, Mya called out, “Leon!”
When Leon turned and saw the trio, he grinned. At the same time, the man who was fighting with him scowled. You’d better scowl, Mya thought with a smile. We’re here, and you’re a dead man. Four against one wasn’t exactly fair, but when they’d fought packs of leopards, a fair fight hadn’t seemed to be on the leopards’ list of game rules.
But before the grin could fade from Mya’s face, silhouettes of animal shapes appeared in the woods opposite them. They growled.
The man fighting with Leon took a step backward with a smirk on his face. He raised a hand and signaled. The leopards charged forward, and they would get to Leon first.
“Damn it!” Mya cursed and ran toward Leon.
“Don’t, Mya. There are too many of them. You can’t help!” Zach shouted.
She heard Zach curse behind her, but she couldn’t wait for him and Kirra. She had to give Leon a hand. She switched her deity mode on and ran like the wind across the open field of wildflowers and small shrubs, heading toward the thick woods.
She could see the edge of the woods. The animals moved closer, still at the far end. Leon had been quick enough to grab the man before he could get away. He landed punches and kicks on him without mercy. The man appeared to be physically bigger and stronger than Leon, but with Leon’s hundreds of years serving the court as the head of the temple guard and being a good warrior himself, the man didn’t stand a chance.
Leon could see the animals approaching him. Mya had no idea how he would be able to fight them all. Even if she was with him, it wouldn’t help. She understood now why Zach was cursing and why he kept saying she was impulsive. But the situation called for it, didn’t it? Maybe not. Perhaps she would be better off figuring out a way for herself and Leon to escape the storm of fur and claws heading their way.
“Leave him! Run, Leon!” She waved her hands frantically, gesturing for him to run toward her.
He ignored her and stomped more kicks on the man on the ground. It was unlike Leon, but he appeared to be royally pissed off with the guy.
“Come on, Leon. The leopards are coming. There are too many of them.”
Leon looked up and saw the animals approaching. He froze with his leg in the air mid-kick. That was when he realized it wasn’t just him facing the wave of animals—Mya was right there with him. He cursed. He grabbed the man on the ground and pulled him up, pressing the blade of the knife against his throat. Mya knew Leon was trying to make the man command the animals to withdraw. Smart move, she thought.
The man turned his head, and Leon immediately released him as if afraid. The man shifted into a gigantic black cat, roared, and leaped away. Leon stood, staring. On the one hand, there was a sea of animals approaching. On the other hand, Mya was there, ready to support him.
“Come here, Leon!” Mya called out again, but she knew Leon wouldn’t run toward her now. He could see the situation. She could run away fast. He couldn’t. And if he ran toward her, she would wait for him, and the animals would chase him. They would end up being a meat feast for the pack. But there was no way she was going to leave him.
Leon looked at her. Then he turned around and ran away from her.
“Leon!” she shouted again.
But he ignored her and kept running. The animals paused a second, seeming confused by Leon’s change in direction. Some of them turned immediately to chase him. But others stood, eyeing Mya. “Come on, who do you want? Leon or me?” Mya muttered.
Chapter 16
Zach pressed a series of buttons on his wrist unit. He wished he had paid more attention when Ciaran had tried to give him instructions on how to use it properly. It was too late now, so this had to work. He had to take care of the leopards using some means other than direct fighting. There were too many of them.
Zach looked up and could see Leon had run away from Mya. The ocean of furry animals was confused and stuck in the middle. His wrist unit wasn’t responding the way he wanted.
“Why don’t you use voice command?” Kirra asked.
“This is more accurate,” he lied. By using voice command, he would be giving out a lot of information including his passcode, his trigger pin, and some secret keywords that only he and his keyboard knew. Zach didn’t know who was listening. He tried to refrain from even thinking about the information just in case a mind reader tried to peek in.
He shook his head and entered more commands, cursing when the machine denied him. He looked up and saw that the group of animals had split in half. One half of them chased Leon, and the other half headed toward Mya.
Zach continued working on the wrist unit. It was the only solution he could think of at the moment. They heard a low growl from behind them. Without looking back, Zach cursed. “Oh, for fuck’s sake. If you want to bite me, come out. There’s no need to growl.” He turned around, and a furry black cat that looked like the one that had attacked him before came out of the bush.
The cat slunk back and forth, figuring out the best way to attack. Kirra pulled out her knife. “I’ll take care of it, Zach. You figure out your machine before the leopards eat Leon and Mya alive.”
“I can’t let you do that. It’s an enormous cat.”
“Watch me!” Kira said as she slowly approached the cat.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Kirra.”
“Shhh, it’s watching me. See, it’s not attacking. So calm down. Let me do the talking.” She looked at the cat. “Let me handle this. It doesn’t look aggressive.”
Zach stepped back and worked frantically on his wrist unit.
The cat and Kirra approached each other slowly. “Hey. Meow. Nice and gentle. Come here. What do you want, black cat? Do I know you? You look like the one I saw in the bush before.”
The cat actually looked less aggressive as Kirra got closer.
“What is that? Are you hypnotizing it?” Zach asked.
“Whatever it is I’m doing, it’s working. Now you focus on your job, or you’ll lose your two friends over there.”
Zach muttered some profanity as the machine kept foiling him. He glanced over at Kirra and saw her raise her hand up and then lower it.
In front of his astonished eyes, the cat sat.
“Good boy,” Kirra said. “I’m guessing you’re a boy, in which case you wouldn’t like being patted on the head. So what are you looking for here?”
Zach’s wrist unit beeped a happy sound. “I got it!” he shouted. He raised his arm, signaling to Mya, and spoke as he ran. “Leave the cat, Kirra.”
He ran a few more steps, but sensing Kirra wasn’t following, he stopped. “Kirra, leave the cat. Follow me.”
“It’s sitting. It might leap if I turn my back on it,” she said between her teeth.
“I can’t leave you here staring at the cat. Can you put it to sleep or something, given it’s hypnotized?”
“I don’t know how to put it to sleep. I didn’t hypnotize it.”
“So why is it staring at you?”
“I don’t know. I don’t even know if it’s staring at me or looking straight ahead. It’s obviously not speaking to me.”
Zach approached and gently pulled Kirra’s arm. “Step aside slowly.”
She did. The cat kept staring ahead.
“All right. So it’s not staring at you. It’s somehow frozen,” Zach muttered. “And you’re right, turning our backs to it might be a bad idea.”
“Sleep!” Kirra said.
The cat didn’t move.
“Nice try, Kirra… All right, I think I have to do this,” Zach said and pulled his knife out.
“It’s not attacking you, Zach.”
“It might if we turn around and it comes out of its coma or daydream or whatever status it’s in at the moment.”
“Please don’t kill the cat.” Kirra had tears in her eyes.
“We need to get to the other two now. If it leaps at us, we’ll be meat.” Zach pressed his dagger against the cat’s neck. It didn’t move, didn’t duck, didn’t even growl. He looked into its eyes. He thought they were green at first, but he could see a shade of purple in them now.
It was strange—he just couldn’t make himself slide the dagger to slit the cat’s throat. He’d killed many cats on the way here. This was just another one. But it was like an defenseless man, and he couldn’t bring himself to kill it.
“Stay. If you follow us, I’ll cut your throat for real.” The enormous cat looked at him. It was so close to him he could hear its breathing. It looked as though it had tears in its eyes.
“I mean it. Don’t think you can shed your cat’s tears and I won’t kill you. I think you’re the one that attacked me before. And I haven’t gotten even with you. So don’t you move an inch.”
