by JL Terra
“You saved my life. That’s a good thing.”
“I’ll tell you what I think we should do.” The girl kept her attention on the world below. “I think you should teach me how to be like you. To use the sword to take out this high lord guy.” Mei didn’t miss the wince at the end of words.
“We don’t have to rush into anything, Bella. It’s fine to go slow and let the team take the bulk of this one.”
Any amount of training took time. It never paid to rush somebody into something they weren’t ready for, especially with stakes as high as they were right now.
“We’re all trained professionals. With years of experience under our belts.”
“But I’m supposed be this chosen one.” She turned and looked at Mei, her chin lifted. “Don’t you want me to become what I’m supposed to be?”
“That’s not why I’m hesitating. I’m exercising caution, because every time I rush into things, they inevitably go wrong. At least in some way.”
It was a hard thing to admit, but the last thing she wanted to do was make a mistake with Bella. The best route to take right now was to glean everything she could from the teen. Stash her somewhere in a safe house with a protective detail, go with her team/family to take the high lord down, and successfully dismantle his drug industry.
“Do you know where he works from, Bella? Any of the smallest details could be helpful. Places he might be other than at the house? Maybe somewhere Ricardo went often to meet up with him? Even just once.” Anywhere you can think of?”
Bella turned away again and shrugged. There was so much teenage angst in her body language that Mei almost couldn’t hold back the chuckle. Too bad nothing about the situation was funny. However, she could see now what her mom had always said about teenagers. Especially hormonal girls.
Not that Mei would ever admit to having been a typical, emotional, hormonal teenager. Those days were long past, and she would stab anyone who dared bring it up. It was bad enough she was mooning over Malachi. The man wanted nothing to do with her or this situation. She should just forget all about him.
“There’s a place,” Bella said. “It’s a nightclub in Queens where Ricardo goes. One time, I was so mad at him I dressed up and went there to see what he was doing.” Her cheeks reddened. “I kissed the bouncer, and he let me in.”
It surprised Mei that the girl actually blushed. Perhaps Bella wasn’t as worldly as she’d previously thought.
“Was he cute?”
Bella rolled her eyes. “Not really.”
“What was it like inside?” The fact a fourteen year old—possibly younger when it’d actually happened—had been inside a nightclub was insanity. But it was definitely not unprecedented, considering the way the world was now. Teens often looked more mature and dressed older than they were. Add a little makeup. She could see how Bella might’ve made it inside the club.
Mei couldn’t say she’d never done it. Getting attention was a potent thing when it seemed as though no one ever saw you. But the predators in the world looked for girls exactly like Bella. Those no one would necessarily miss if they were suddenly gone from their lives.
“It was noisy and smoky. Kind of gross. Plus you can’t really hear anything because the music is so loud. I couldn’t even get to the bar for a drink because it was so crowded.”
“But you think that might be where the high lord is?”
Something shifted in Bella’s body language. “I saw him there.”
There was more to it than that. Mei was sure of it. “What happened?”
Bella shook her head. “It doesn’t matter now. Things are too far gone to turn back and try for something else. Unless you teach me how to use the sword.”
“Things can always change. If you want something different, then we’ll make that happen for you.” Because Mei was never going to let Bella be in another situation where she was helpless and trapped. She’d been in that type of situation too many times before and knew how horrible it felt.
Bella shrugged one slender shoulder. “Okay.”
Inside the car, Mei’s phone began to ring. She went to retrieve it, glancing back over the top of the car as she moved. Bella stared at her with a look that was chock full of malice. As though everything inside her hated all that Mei was, and all that she stood for.
Then she blinked, and the expression was gone, replaced with the teenage angst and mild curiosity over the ringing phone.
The call coming in was from the community center line. She swiped to answer, “Hello?”
“Mei. Everything’s gone crazy. There are so many people here—”
“Han?”
“—they’re all trying to take us. You have to come help.” The line went dead. The caller had been the same young man who had stood with her a few days prior when the man stumbled into the community center.
What on earth was going on?
Mei scrolled to her list of recent, incoming calls. She had to at least try to get Han back on the phone, but then something snagged her attention. Something wasn’t right about the last outbound call. She had asked Bella to call Malachi, but Malachi’s number wasn’t one of the outbound numbers. The last call was to...Bella. What on earth?
Realization dawned on Mei. Bella had called herself and only pretended to call Malachi. But why?
“We have to go. Get in the car,” she told Bella.
The girl took her sweet time, but Mei wasn’t about to leave her here, and she didn’t want to let on that something wasn’t right. But something definitely wasn’t right. Something told her she needed to keep this girl close.
“What’s going on?” Bella’s voice had a cavalier tone.
She tried to study the girl in hopes that some ulterior motive would pop out at her, but, nothing. “The community center is being ambushed. The kids are in trouble.”
Mei had to wonder if she was bringing even more trouble with her.
One that would only make the situation worse.
Chapter 18
Malachi watched them pull up from his spot across the street. As the two climbed out of the car in front of the community center, he got that same weird vibe he’d had since he first saw Bella. But that wasn’t his biggest problem right now, so he couldn’t worry too hard about it. Besides, Mei could take care of herself.
He knew that, and yet still kept an eye on her from across the street. She wouldn’t be super happy if she knew. But he figured she would probably understand. Maybe someday.
Now that he knew that it was his own brother who was the high lord, he had to figure that his brother was also looking for him.
And if he wanted to do damage to Malachi, he only needed to target Mei. She was a serious vulnerability to him.
Malachi had no intention of waiting for his brother’s next move. Not when it put the lives of his family in danger.
The high lord had already sent men to attack the house. What more would he do when he found Mei and Bella.
As he watched the two women head for the front door of the community center, he realized that Bella held the sword. Why she felt the need to carry it into that place, he didn’t know. Mei was still the guardian whose responsibility was to teach Bella how to handle the sword. Surely Bella hadn’t been cleared yet to use it? Malachi pocketed the keys to his car and jogged across the street, pulling down a ball cap in an attempt to cover his face.
Nothing good would come of a teen carrying a sword into a youth center.
The two women hurried, as though desperate to get inside. They pushed through the front doors, Malachi not far behind them. He stopped to the side of the door, still outside, and waited.
When Mei turned around to close the door, he held up a finger. She disguised the surprise on her face, but gave him a small nod and left the door open. She turned back to the room. “We got a call. What’s happening? Han said you all were under some kind of attack.”
No one responded. A couple of the kids were playing some kind of computer game on the big screen
TV. Neither one, or any of their friends, for that matter, looked up as they entered the room.
Mei turned to Bella, “If you let go of the sword, it should disappear before hits the ground.”
“But what if I need it?”
Again, that same strange sense came over Malachi. Something about Bella was off, though he couldn’t put his finger on what it was.
“It’s a little conspicuous,” Mei said.
One of the kids turned, a delayed reaction to their conversation. “Did you guys say sword?” His eyes widened. “Bella has a sword you guys.”
The rest of the teens turned as well, apparently this was a worthy spectacle that, for once, actually compelled them to turn from their addicting game. They stared at Mei and Bella. The sword.
Mei took advantage of their attention and said, “Where’s Han? He called and said this place was basically under attack.”
“Yeah.” One of the teens slapped him on the shoulder. “Under attack from Axis guys in Call of Duty.”
They all erupted into laughter.
“Mei!” A matronly woman strode across the lobby in short heels, a look of furious ire on her face. “Your work here appears exemplary, considering you’ve brought Bella back. With a sword.” She folded her arms across her chest. Sarcasm dripped vividly from her tone, prompting everyone to look.
Mei let out a sigh. “Sheila. We were led to believe this place was under attack.”
Sheila turned to Bella. “And you were planning on defending us with that weapon? You know the rules here about bringing such items. This is supposed be a place where people can feel safe. Not in danger.”
“It’s a movie prop.” Bella waved the sword a little. “Not even sharp.”
If her speed of retort was any indication of her ability to lie, she was a pro at it. Malachi felt his eyebrows rise as he studied her. This was a teen well versed in the ways of the world, and how to get exactly what she wanted. Which, by the sound of it, involved manipulating everyone around her.
“Well then,” Sheila said. “I suppose that’s okay. But please, at least be careful with it. And come to my office, I’d like to speak with you.”
Bella looked at Mei, who nodded. The teen went with the community center administrator, still carrying the sword with her.
Mei spun to him. “You’re just going to hide out there, creeping around like I don’t know you’re following me again?”
He didn’t say anything. Just shrugged.
“Nice disguise.”
He touched the brim of his ball cap self-consciously.
“It’s cute. It’s just not exactly your style.”
Thousands of years on the earth, and he still found his cheeks heating with a blush.
“That. That’s cute, too.”
He needed to stop this right now. “We’re getting a little off topic here. Maybe you can focus on your plight of preparing Bella defeat the high lord.”
“That’s what I’m trying to do. You’re the one who went AWOL right before the house was attacked. Am I not supposed to find that suspicious?”
“The house was attacked?”
She nodded, but he could tell she was using all her restraint to keep from rolling her eyes at him. “Whether you find that suspicious or not, I had nothing to do with it. You can’t possibly think I’m the one responsible.”
“Dude. I know you’re not the high lord.”
Okay, well that was something. “He’s my brother, though. And I promised I would never kill him the way Cain killed Abel. Surely you understand that though I can’t be the one that takes him down, I can help the team do it.”
“Good.” She lifted her chin. “Because we’re going to need all the help we can get considering Bella isn’t exactly being honest with me.”
He frowned. “And you sent her in the office with that Sheila woman? You don’t think she might hurt her?”
Mei flinched, realizing at that very moment how foolish she had been. She let out a noise of frustration and spun around to run back inside the community center. She couldn’t believe she’d been so stupid as to be distracted by Malachi. Flirting. In her defense, there was a lot going on right now. But if anything happened to Sheila, there would be no defense.
Malachi followed her off the foyer, down a hallway. The office was at the end of the hall to the right.
Mei yanked on the handle and flung the door open, rushing inside as she did so.
Chapter 19
But it was too late.
The smell permeated from the room, wafting down the hall. A tang that meant bloodshed and the waste that partnered with death. Mei knew what had happened even before setting eyes on the gruesome scene.
She felt the touch of Malachi’s hand on her shoulder but shrugged him off, stepping even farther into the room.
Sheila had been stabbed in her stomach. While Mei was down the hallway, giggling with Malachi about his ball cap and how he cute he looked, Sheila had taken her last breath, clutching her stomach in horror as she bled all the way out.
Mei stumbled out, down the hall and toward the nearest EXIT door. Panic set in and she started to rush frantically, looking every which way for Bella.. She had to find her.
“Mei.”
She shook her head and kept going, scanning the walls for anything. A smudge. A dent. Some sign Bella had come this way in her attempt to run away from what she’d done. Or, maybe she hadn’t rushed at all. Maybe she’d felt nothing at all, cold and unconcerned as she calmly walked from the building.
It just now occurred to Mei that she barely knew the teen at all.
Around the next corner she could see the EXIT door at the end, not quite latched shut, with a strip of light edging the right side of the frame from top to bottom. Bella must have exited through those doors. With the sword.
Between her and the door, a teen boy was slumped against the wall.
Mei crouched beside him. She’d seen him around before, but didn’t know his name. She patted his shoulder. “Hey.”
She was aware of Malachi right behind her. Given her giant mistake of negligence, she didn’t want to see the look on his face. It would only make her even more disgusted with herself. How did she mess this up so badly? She fought the overwhelming guilt, but still, a rare tear formed in the corner of her eye, threatening to spill over.
Mei swiped the offending moisture away, but not before the giant glacier of her heart cracked. It was like a piece that held all her emotions intact broke off, allowing the tears to travel down her cheeks and leading the way for to fall.
Malachi put his hand on her shoulder. She was glad he didn’t say anything. She wouldn’t have been able to answer without sounding like a blubbery mess.
The kid moaned.
She quickly wiped the sides of her face off with the sleeve of her sweatshirt, and willed the emotions away. Now was not the time to lose it. Kneeling closer, she patted his cheek. “Wake up, Buddy.” Her voice sounded thick.
His eyes fluttered. “What…” The word was little more than a moan, as though he couldn’t get his mouth to move enough to form the word.
When he said no more, she patted his shoulder. “What happened?”
He blinked, but couldn’t seem to focus on her. Mei didn’t like the glassy look in his eyes.
“There’s something wrong.” Mei said this aloud, as much to herself as she did to Malachi. She grasped the kid’s hand. “It’s okay buddy. We got you.”
Malachi crouched down beside the kid, on the other side, touching Mei’s back between her shoulder blades as he did so. He used his free hand to feel around the back of the kid’s head. His fingers came away bloody. “Could be a concussion.”
“Or it could be wor—”
Before but before she could finish, his eyes rolled back in his head and his body began to convulse.
She gasped. “He’s having a seizure.”
“He needs a doctor.”
“That will take too long. He could die!” She spun to face M
alachi. “You can give him your blood.”
He said nothing, his expression blank while the kid continued to seize between them.
“He’ll die.”
“That’s not how this works, Mei.”
“Please.” It was her fault this kid was like this. She had no other ideas, and this wasn’t going to get better. It would only get worse. Blood began to trickle from the kid’s nose. She winced. “Please, Malachi. He’ll die. There’s no time for a doctor.”
His lips opened a tiny amount, and she heard a puff of air escape, a sigh. His nostrils flared, and he scented the air. Latching onto the blood. He lifted his hand to his mouth and Mei could see that his canine teeth had lengthened. He sliced the tip of his finger with the sharp teeth.
Mei shuddered, even though she knew she had nothing to fear from him.
He touched the broken skin of his finger to the boy’s tongue.
Half a second later, the seizing stopped. The kid went completely still.
“How long until we know if it—”
The boy sat up right then, gasping, as though awoken from a dream. Had he seen deep into Malachi’s memories—the same as Mei had seen when she drank Malachi’s blood?
“He did not.”
She didn’t look at Malachi, afraid he would see into her eyes and know all the other things she was thinking. She shouldn’t be jealous, as if sharing his blood was something Malachi did often. That was ridiculous. She’d asked him to give this boy his blood. They only did the right thing to save his life.
“What’s going on?” The boy glanced between them, trying to back up even farther up against the wall. “Who are you guys?”
Mei didn’t answer, only asked, “Did you see Bella? Tell me what happened.” His eyebrows shifted to a frown. “She came up behind me and hit me with...something.” He shook his head and winced, apparently still a little sore. “I saw her as I fell. She just left me there. And she was carrying a sword.”
Mei stood. “You need to see a doctor. And the police need to take care of Sheila.” She held out her hand, and the kid clasped it. Malachi helped him steady to his feet. “Make sure no one goes into Sheila’s office, and no one touches anything.”