Rebirth (Cross Book 1)

by Hildred Billings

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  CROSS//Rebirth

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  The First Death, Part 2

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  The First Death, Part 3

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Some Time Later

  Author Bio

  Special Preview: CROSS//Revenge

  CROSS//Rebirth

  Hildred Billings

  BARACHOU PRESS

  CROSS//Rebirth

  Copyright: Hildred Billings

  Published: June 28th, 2018

  Publisher: Barachou Press

  This is a work of fiction. Any and all similarities to any characters, settings, or situations are purely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, copied in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise transmitted without written permission from the publisher. You must not circulate this book in any format.

  CROSS//Rebirth

  This story is set in a universe parallel to our own, with its own quirks, conventions, and views of their world. What is true in our world may not be true in theirs.

  Of course, this may not always be our shared reality.

  --- THE FIRST DEATH, Part 1 ---

  The humidity of the jungle hung in the air like a suffocating cloud. With the sun descending behind the canopy, the breeze died and the crickets chirped in silence. The only disturbance in the otherwise tranquil world was a woman rushing through on a horse.

  She pushed her stallion as far as it could go, urgency overriding her common sense to stop and find cover in the brush. Her horse stumbled through the unkempt pathway. A clear road lay only two miles to the west, but it was dangerous, and the parcel she carried required the upmost protection.

  “Just a bit farther,” she muttered. “Come on.”

  Sulim was exhausted. They both were. She had pushed animals to their limits before, but never with such panic. With each leaf brushing her scalp, another phantom hand crept up Sulim’s spine. She clutched one hand around her parcel and kept the other on the reins.

  The jungle foliage cleared enough to show that she neared her destination; however, relief was fleeting. The sun was near gone from the canopy. Shadows danced around Sulim in a whirl of dread.

  She had to make it back before dusk.

  A turret came into view above the trees. If she were on the main road, she would be at a sentry post by now, flashing her credentials as the chief’s bodyguard. Yet this was her territory, a road she traveled a hundred times in both dangerous times and peaceful. There were guards on this road, too, but they were closer to the fortress. Dead, by now.

  “Come on!” Sulim shrieked over the horse’s last stumble. If it fell now, she was not sure she could run the remaining distance without collapsing.

  The canopy darkened. Ten minutes was too quick for dusk to descend.

  The horse came to an abrupt stop in a small clearing, rearing high and knocking her off. Before she could get up, the horse ran up the road in fright. At least she still had the parcel.

  “Damnit!” She pushed herself onto her knees to catch her breath. She would have to travel the rest of the way by foot.

  “That’s mine.”

  Sulim hung her head at the sound of another voice.

  “This belongs to no one.”

  The man behind her laughed. “What are you going to do, child? I will kill you.”

  “Nobody’s managed to kill me yet.”

  “You will die today, whether it is here or with the rest of your brethren.”

  “Not if you don’t get this.” She held up the parcel.

  “What were you going to do with that?” Nerilis Dunsman stepped forward, his thick coat and lined hat a strange fit for the blistering jungle heat. “Take it back to your leader? Like all the other trinkets you took?”

  Sulim tilted her chin up in defiance. “You can’t do anything without all of them.”

  He pulled a trinket from his pocket. A cheap bauble to the untrained eye, but she recognized it instantly.

  The symbol of a people, of a martyr who died protecting the existence of an entire planet. Sulim’s kind had made pilgrimages to pray over it for hundreds of years. Within its mundane material burst the soul of an entire nation, a spiritual force grand enough to use in a destructive incantation.

  “How did you get that?”

  Nerilis closed his coat. “Doesn’t matter. All I’m missing is the trinket in your hand.”

  “Why are you doing this?”

  “None of your concern. You’ll be dead soon, anyway.”

  Sulim pulled out a firearm. Her impeccable aim would be no match against such an ominous sorcerer. “If you want to get to her, you’ll have to go through me first.”

  “Naturally. As a guardian, you must protect your charge until the very end.”

  She knew it was futile, but fired her weapon anyway. The ammunition should have blasted between his eyes – but the bullets dropped to the ground like candy. Sulim threw down her useless weapon.

  “Now we can do this the easy way, and you give me the trinket...”

  She sneered.

  “Or the hard way, and I kill you for it.”

  They stared each other down. Under the onus of rank humidity, Sulim’s body sweated beneath her leather and armor. Dehydration was the least of her concerns. There were more pressing things to worry about, such as a job left unfinished.

  She ran away, knowing he could do whatever he wanted with a snap of his fingers. Her heart beat furiously in her chest. Her feet tramped foliage. The parcel remained stiff in her hand.

  The force that knocked her to the ground was not of any world Sulim knew. Her voice carried on the wet air as breath escaped her body, and she found the soil once more.

  Feet appeared next to her, then a body bending to snatch the parcel from its spot in the soggy ground. Nerilis inspected it before opening the outer layers, revealing a golden bracelet as innocuous as the beetles now crawling on her legs.

  “Dying isn’t so bad, child. Your soul returns to the Void, and that is that.”

  “You’re a monster.” Blood caked the ground.

  His eyes appeared beneath the brim of his hat: a bright, shining blue reminding her of opaque seawater. There was almost a glint of pity in his pupils, but Nerilis turned away before she co
uld be sure. Her stomach hurt.

  Nerilis took the bracelet and disappeared, leaving Sulim to die on the jungle floor that would no longer exist in the coming hours.

  Sulim knew she would die, even though she could not see the blood spilling from her side. Soon, everyone else would die. As the madman made off with the pieces of her planet’s soul, all she could see in her mind was the woman, the room, the ring that would destroy everything in the end. Sulim closed her eyes and pretended that she could not feel the humid air leaving stagnant kisses on her cheek.

  ONE

  Earth; May 11th, 2007 (Federation Year 5614)

  “Do you know why you’re in here?”

  The clock ticked. A drizzle splashed against the glass. The heater kicked on, clanging out of sync with the heart beating in Danielle’s chest. She met her captain’s eyes from across the desk, a war already brewing between them. “I dare you to defy me, Lieutenant.” vs. “Kiss my ass, Captain.”

  “Because I’m late, ma’am.”

  “Because you’re late.” Folders shuffled between Miranda’s hands as she cleaned up the mess left there overnight. “Again.” Her office chair squeaked every time she slightly turned. “That’s the fifth time this year.” Would anybody daresay that Danielle wouldn’t be late again if her commanding officer left this unchecked? The leniency she already showed Lieutenant Danielle Cromwell was unheard of in other departments.

  “I have reasons!” Danielle bit those words back, because her only excuse for being late that Friday morning was because she slept through her alarm. Twice. “My sincerest apologies, ma’am,” she said with a nod of her head. “It won’t happen again.”

  “Isn’t that what you said last time?” Miranda spared Danielle one hard look as she aligned her keyboard with her monitor. Her polished nails clacked against buttons, then the wood of the desk, then her own skin as she flicked debris off her uniform. “It must have been. And the time before that. And the time before that…”

  She folded her hands on her desk and faced Danielle, their eyes meeting for the first time that morning. Bright brown irises that exuded a certain maturity… wasn’t that what attracted Danielle the most? Except a Friday morning reprimand was not the time to have the hots for the boss. Even if she had the smoothest tan skin in the office and hair that framed her face so well.

  The mutual attraction between them was legendary, though neither would openly discuss it. To each other? Blasphemy.

  “Yes ma’am. But those other times…”

  “Those other times weren’t your fault, I know.” Miranda picked up the top folder on her stack and flipped it open to a picture of Danielle in her formal dress. “Still, I can’t let something like this go unchecked. You may no longer be stumbling in late because of medical reasons, but you’re still late today.”

  Danielle could come up with a million excuses. Her car wouldn’t start, she spilled coffee on her uniform and had to change, and she was caught in traffic. The drizzle outside turned into a shower as she went through the possibilities and dismissed each one. “I have no excuse, ma’am. I’m just late.”

  They entered a staring contest that Danielle couldn’t win. Miranda didn’t become a captain because she backed down from staring contests. Yet Danielle couldn’t look away. Not if she wanted to keep some of her volatile honor intact.

  “I’ll let it go this time.” Miranda put the folder back on the pile and leaned her elbow on the desk. “But if it happens again, I’ll have no choice but to employ discipline.”

  The way she said “discipline” made Danielle shudder. Discipline around those parts could mean anything, from a hundred pushups, to cleaning duty, to being stuck in that chair for ten more agonizing minutes. “It won’t happen again, ma’am.”

  Miranda stood, forcing Danielle out of her seat too. “I think we’re done here.” The captain motioned to the closed office door. “I’ll follow you out.”

  Danielle thanked her. “I’ll get right to work.”

  “That won’t be necessary.” The door opened to a scene of chaos. Other lieutenants bustled around the office, stacking papers, sharpening pencils, screaming on telephones, and even going off on a computer with a three-hole punch. Danielle slipped into the throes of her normal workspace and moved to her cubicle on the left side of the gigantic room filled with bland and dreary boxes befitting the military. Copies of their certifications were the closest thing to individuality in any of their cubicles. “I’ve got another assignment for you to do today.”

  She waited until they were at Danielle’s cubicle to say that. “Assignment?”

  “You and James are needed for university recruitment.” Miranda stood between Danielle’s cubicle and the one behind her, where a young man appeared, bemusement swarming his face. “Got a call earlier asking me to spare a couple of officers for the pleasure. The materials are already set up down there. Go get some warm bodies for the general.”

  “Oh, fun. Frosh hunting.” Troy James leaned against the partition between his and Danielle’s cubicles. “C’mon, Danielle, let’s go recruit some underlings for our glorious government. Sounds better than sitting around here punching stuff into computers all day.”

  Danielle’s left eye twitched. “That means I’ll have to wear my hat. And see kids.”

  “The hat is the best part of the uniform,” Miranda said, backing away from the cubicle. “You two behave yourselves. I don’t want a call from the Marines saying you made an ass out of us. They would enjoy that way too much.”

  She disappeared among the cubicles, her bobbed brown hair a beacon for the dozens of other lieutenants in the room to follow with their wary eyes. Not that they had anything to worry about. Miranda had already filled her quota of punishment for the morning. Going to disperse recruitment information? Punishment.

  Troy patted Danielle on the shoulder. “Let’s get going. Maybe we’ll find another college student for you.”

  “Another?” Danielle grabbed her jacket and pulled a drawer in her desk open. “You’re still on about that, huh?”

  They didn’t have far to walk to the elevator, but they were stuck waiting. “When I met you, that little college girl was following you around like a cute puppy. It’s ingrained into my mind, Danny-Lynn. You and college girls are like you and… Hottie.”

  The door dinged open. Good thing it was empty, because Danielle had some words to share the moment they were alone in the elevator. “Hottie? Are you fucking with me?”

  “No. I know you don’t like guys half as much as you like the ladies. So how about that Hottie, huh? You dating her yet?”

  Danielle shot him a look. “Our captain? No, I’m not! That would be…” She looked forward again. “Grossly inappropriate.”

  “You’ve been eyeballing her goods since you got here. I have it on good authority that she eyeballs your goods. Come on. Buck up and do that shit lesbians do.”

  “I’d rather die.”

  “Well, that’s dramatic.”

  “This is Fags and Freaks,” Danielle said, dropping the derogatory nickname their office had in M-Town, the region’s largest military district. “Everything’s dramatic.”

  “See if we invite you to the next office musical.”

  The elevator reached the parking garage. Danielle put on her hat, adjusted her badges and nametag, and stepped out before Troy had the chance to bother her some more.

  “Whoa!”

  A large flash of golden light exploded in front of them. Danielle jumped back, shielding her eyes as Troy shouted in surprise behind her. The glow receded as quickly as it appeared, and the two of them were left to stare at the dark and dank parking garage beneath their building.

  “The fuck was that?” Troy shoved Danielle aside. “Sun flare?”

  “In a garage?”Once Danielle had her vision back, she caught her friend staring at her through two dark eyes. “What?”

  “Someone got a new friend.”

  Danielle glanced at her shoulder and saw a small yellow i
nsect perched there. “Eugh!” She leaped back, knocking the butterfly off her shoulder.

  “Sure, you made it through Basic Training, but God forbid a butterfly…”

  Danielle made a beeline for the department vehicle halfway on the other side of the garage. By the time Troy caught up to her, she muttered about inconvenient infestations.

  ***

  The air on campus was still frigid as students hustled to class, some wiping their brows in relief while others bit their nails in anxious anticipation of their upcoming finals. As the fog came and went, some students were unable to navigate where they were walking, skateboarding, or riding their bikes. After many near misses and some half-hearted apologies, somebody finally slammed into Devon outside the University Center.

  “Hey, watch it!” He grabbed hold of his bag.

  “Sorry! It’s impossible to see out here.” The other young man cleared his throat before casting another side-glance toward Devon.

  “Clyde?”

  Bushy red hair raised into the air. “My man Devon! Well, fancy that! Sorry about freakin’ out on you. I just got back from my chemistry final and I somehow managed to blank out a whole half of the Periodic Table. What are you doing here?”

  “Gotta drop a couple of forms off at the registrar’s office before getting some lunch. You?” Devon shuffled his backpack between his shoulders as dew slid off his hair.

  “Just chillin’ until my history final this afternoon.” Clyde withdrew a stick of gum from his front shirt pocket. “Let’s go inside before we get lost in this fog, man. It’s one of the last days you’ll get to eat campus lunch, so we should make the most of it.”

  The two of them headed through the sliding doors of the University Center. As a senior of average standing, Devon was finishing up the last of his schooling. His friend Clyde, on the other hand, was still a junior, and while none of these events were new-hat to them, studying and racing to classes were as tiresome as when they were freshmen. Anxiety spiked in Devon like mercury on a hot day since he was unsure of his grade in Advanced Psychology, and the impending final did nothing to soothe his nerves. If he failed that class, his status would be on the line since he barely had enough credits to graduate. He should forget lunch. Too stressed to eat.