Taken (Many Lives Book 2)

by Laxmi Hariharan

Jai snaps, "I will not be forced to use the power unlocked by the sword." The sting in his voice makes me jump.

  "If you don’t, then who?" The other man asks, his voice firm. "You, the only surviving descendant of Catherine of Braganza," he adds. "Her blood runs through your veins. Deny it as much as you want but it gives you the ability to invoke the power of the sword at the time of the tetrad. The only other person who could have helped us with this is gone. You are our only hope, Jai."

  "Enough!" Jai’s voice thunders through the locked door.

  It has me taking a step back without even realizing it.

  Tetrad. Sword. Power. And who is this other person who could have used the sword? The questions whirl around in my head.

  In contrast there’s silence on the other side of the door. No voices. Nothing. As if the two are locked in a battle of wills.

  Jai does have a temper but how well he keeps it hidden. I’d thought him to be easygoing, even relaxed, sometimes dreamy…and perhaps he still is all of that. But scratch the surface and there’s fire and steel. I don’t want to get on his bad side. No, I definitely don’t want to be at the receiving end of that whiplash of temper.

  Then, I hear something crash as if Jai’s thrown something at the other man. Or the other way around. Sounds of a struggle and then low male laughter.

  They are play-fighting. Like wolf cubs.

  Jai’s voice rumbles out something but I can’t make out the words. Dropping down, I place my ear against the door.

  My knees are cushioned by the plush carpet. A carpet?

  I’ve forgotten what it feels like to feel something other than mud and stones under my feet, to be surrounded by something other than dust and the desperation of people who want to be anywhere else but there.

  Who want to be here, in this city.

  And now I am here and hoping I’ll never have to go back, and already I’m feeling guilty.

  Guilty that I’m only thinking about myself. What about the refugees who’ve risked lives and lost family to get here? And those I’ve left back home, promising to find a way out of their daily misery? Left them with the hope of a new world and freedom.

  And I’d believed that too, had hoped for a place where things would be different. But, now? Now I am not so sure.

  Desperation chokes me. These guys on the other side of the door have power. They can influence the mayor. Jai can help the refugees. I must get him to help us.

  This is not why I’ve come here but now that I’m in his house, under his roof, I have to at least try. Hearing the sound of footsteps coming towards the door I leap back towards the couch.

  10

  When Jai walks into the living room, Aria's still asleep. The covers are flung half on half off. Her T-shirt shows damp splotches as if she’s been sweating, running away from nightmares. The electricity had gone off at night as it usually does, for even in this, the "world’s most liveable city’, electricity must be conserved to be used in life-threatening situations. Or for war.

  Aria stirs, restless, and then, just like that, as if aware of his gaze, she’s awake and staring at Jai.

  Their eyes collide and he can’t look away. The breath leaves him and he takes a step forward, moving towards her, when a touch on his shoulder reminds him that Gilbert is still in the room.

  "We’re not done yet, Jai," Gilbert warns. Throwing a last warning look he turns to Ariana and says, "If it isn’t the hybrid killer in the flesh." His voice is not unkind. Not welcoming either.

  "Who are you?" she asks, voice still husky from sleep.

  It makes Jai want to tell Gilbert to leave immediately. As if his just being here and seeing her all soft from sleep is an intrusion he cannot tolerate.

  As if he can’t bear for anyone else to see her like this.

  As if he wants to keep these little moments just to himself.

  He wants her.

  "Gilbert," he introduces himself, "I’m Jai’s right hand in combat."

  Neither moves to shake hands or greet each other further. They don’t know what to make of each other yet.

  Then Aria surprises both of them. "And do you write poetry too?" she asks.

  He chuckles and just like that the tension in the room dissolves.

  "Afraid not," he says. "I leave the more creative pursuits to the sensitive souls." He nods to Jai. "The only soldier-poet you’ll find here is him."

  Aria’s eyes swivel to his, the blue in them so pale they glitter silver in the morning light. She looks straight through him as if she knows all his secrets. As if she’s stripped him bare. A twist of desire unfurls inside and he wants to go to her. He wants to pull her up and let her brush against his hardness. He wants to lean into her and touch his lips to the base of her neck. Find out if it tastes as soft as it looks. He wants to—

  She yawns and stretches, golden brown limbs slicing through the air, glowing in the rays of the rising sun. The cover falls off her shoulders to reveal a thin vest that stretches over her breasts, outlining her nipples. Before she can get up from the couch, walking up to her, Jai picks up the sweatshirt flung on the floor.

  As he bends over to give it to her, he’s very aware of her nearness, the way the vest molds to her curves. He hears the breath whistle through her lips. Close enough to see her pupils dilate. They grow even lighter, as if there’s a storm churning inside. And this thing between them, the connection he’s felt since he’d first looked into her eyes, intensifies, shimmers between them. It presses in on him, heating his skin. He can smell that just-awakened, warm, vanilla and coffee of her skin. And he just wants to push her back and cover her skin with his. Absorb that essence of her calling out to him.

  Pulling at him.

  Desire springs in his groin…and intensifies when his hand brushes hers as she takes the sweatshirt from him. A shiver runs through him, slamming against the already coiled heat in his groin.

  In that second he forgets where he is, who he is, that there’s someone else in the room with them. Forgets even that she will be gone in a few days. And then he knows that something inside had recognized her that first instant, out there when she’d held up the bloodied sword and cried out in exultation. Right then he’d felt the life force that ran through her and known it was his. That she was his.

  His gut has known since then, but only now is it sinking in.

  And he’s not ready to accept this. Accept her. What he’s feeling for her.

  What are his feelings for her?

  He’s not sure.

  The thoughts whirl around in his head and Jai jerks upright, letting go of Aria so quickly she's thrown off balance.

  All through this drama Gilbert’s been watching them. Now he turns to Jai, a look in his eyes that says he’s noticed how Jai feels about her.

  Jai shakes his head. Just a short move that only Gilbert notices. He gets the message.

  "I should get going, running late to meet the General," Gilbert says, his eyes darting to Ariana meaningfully, at which Jai nods. The last thing he wants is for anyone else to know about Aria being here with him. But he can trust Gilbert with this secret.

  "Get ready, we’re heading out," he tells her. His tone indicates that he’s not ready to explain what the earlier conversation with Gilbert was about.

  "Out?" She frowns.

  "You wanted to see the city didn’t you? Well, this is your chance."

  The wrinkles on her brow straighten out. When her eyes widen, the indigo in them deepening to an impossibly dark blue, Jai knows then that her mind has kicked into gear, thinking forward.

  "And what if someone finds out I’m illegal?" she asks.

  "They won’t," he says, his voice confident. He nods at Gilbert, who steps forward. A flat, palm-sized machine of some kind in his hand.

  Stopping in front of her, he holds it up in front of her right eye. "May I?" One side of his lips lifts in a half-smile.

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

  Then seals the information in with his o
wn 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.

  11

  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, now."

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

&nbs
p; "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.

  12

  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.