Uendeligt: An Infinitely Forever Novel

by S King

  Tucked away in the mountains, the view of the city and a glimpse of Springcrest further across the ridge made up for the backdrop I had the luxury of waking up to either morning or afternoon. But my new house and the view weren’t the only luxury the promotion had provided me.

  Gone were the days were I had to walk from my house to the city limits in order to not leave a trace of my presence behind. Now, I had the ability to drive a new Hummer and get to where I needed to go in less than half the time my feet could carry me.

  Of course, being aware of what was around me and the possibility of assassination from former guard members and hellbent rebels were still a problem. But if worse came to worse, I could just run the idiot over and keep going about my business.

  Getting in the Hummer, I pressed the start button and backed out of the driveway. With a hesitant mind, racing heart and an undeniable need to fight something, I rolled the windows down and focused my mind on something light.

  §§§§§

  “This bunch is the elite of the elite,” Alexi grumbled as he shuffled through several stacks of papers on the bench.

  To say he was my mentor when I needed it was an understatement. As soon as my confirmation arrived, and I was about to be presented he was the only judge to offer me a word of advice.

  Fondly, I remembered his words to me as we waited for Roxy to bring in the elite members of PG.

  “Come in,” I answered after the faint knock whispered through my new office.

  Judge Sirideán Alexi walked into the office, closing the door softly behind him. Looking at me through the mirror I stood in front of, he took in my black robes.

  “You have made great strides to become who you are Demir Losett.”

  “Thank you sir,” I wasn’t going to boast about how I had gotten to where I was.

  It had only been three days since I drove that fucking dagger through Luminous’s stomach and told her to wait for me. Granted, I had made the promise with the hopes she wasn’t going to die as soon as she hit the water. A fucked up after thought, I’d admit. But I was hoping things—for once—played in our favor. Just once.

  “You regret?” Judge Alexi cocked his head to the side as he considered me.

  “In what way?” I asked, adjusting the robes for the tenth time in five minutes.

  The damn things felt suffocating against my throat and constricting against the rest of my body. All the while I was thinking about what I could do to save Lumi after the position was ingrained in the court’s logs.

  With the promotion I’d have more power than I had as a sect leader. And with the additional power, maybe just maybe I could find Luminous. Pack everything of any value between the two of us and get the hell out of dodge before the sun broke over the horizon. It was a stupid plan and an ignorant positive line of thinking, but it was the only thing worth holding onto.

  Turning my attention back to Alexi, I waited for him to clarify his question.

  He raised a brow at me, “killing her.”

  My hand stilled on its twisting routine and sent my brain into a rapid tailspin of memories.

  “To love and be loved in return is the greatest promotion any of us can wish for.” He continued, crossing the floor in a silent fashion. He stopped in front of me and took over the adjustments I was screwing up on the robe. “I’ll admit this isn’t something I would’ve wanted for my own children and especially not you two.”

  “Meaning?” I breathed as I stared at my reflection above his head.

  “You two were dealt a difficult hand, one in which it couldn’t be avoided.” He tightened the tie on my robe to a comfortable knot and stepped back, “you did what you had to Demir Losett.” Looking at me a shadow of regret passed over his face for a fleeting moment. “If you were smart and remembered your training, you know you didn’t kill her in that moment.”

  My eyes snapped to him. How in the hell had he known I wasn’t going to kill Luminous if I could avoid it? Was his ability to read in between the lines of fate? Could he see into my mind like Dristan? I had to ask, even if he wasn’t going to tell me outright.

  “What did the scientists curse you with?”

  A ghost of a smile lifted the corner of his mouth, but as expected he didn’t answer the question. Instead he simply handed me a piece of advice I wasn’t prepared to receive. Especially from a prominent judge like Alexi.

  “If you’re smart you will find a way to get yourself and your love out of Castlehedge, away from Colorado and find the sanctuary so few of us every receive in this lifetime.”

  What the hell? As in, what in the actual fuck was I hearing right now? The only thing I had ever heard from any of the judges was to be proud of my accomplishments and remember all of this—the orders, the trainings, the scientists were apart of making a better society.

  However, Judge Alexi was telling me to run. The word flee had never been taught or instilled in any of the experiments. In fact, if anyone within any guard tried to get away from the damning lifestyle we were forced to live the very courts I was a part of right now would issue out a Black Diamond Order and not think twice about it.

  “Demir, you will become one of the greatest judges this court has ever seen as long as you play by the rules.” He started for the door. “Another thing,” he didn’t bother looking at me over his shoulder or turning to face me, “Judge Sadvidge doesn’t have any trust or feeling toward you. If you make a mistake, know she will have your head for dinner. Do I make myself clear?”

  “Yes sir,” I swallowed.

  Pulling my mind from the past, I took a deep breath. Alexi and Sadvidge were on two different sides of the very thin rope I was on. Each of them waiting for me to fall and make a stupid decision. But for whatever reason, I knew Alexi would do anything—within his power—to help me when I truly needed it.

  “Here,” he handed me a stack of papers to memorize before the PG presented themselves to the courts. “You’ll need to know everything about each member before they introduce themselves.”

  “Giving the infant judge tips are we, Alexi?” Judge Sadvidge emerged from her door and narrowed her eyes on the older man.

  “Don’t worry about what I’m doing. After all, I’ve been assigned from the top to train him properly.” Alexi said in a bored tone as he rolled his eyes and sat back in his leather chair.

  “Is that why you switched the name placements?” She took residence in her seat three chairs down from me and Alexi.

  Slowly, he turned his head and stared at her, the former warrior he had been coming to the surface. “I would never do something so despicable.”

  She grunted softly and crossed her arms over her chest as the other judges emerged and started taking their own seats.

  “Do not allow her to get under your skin when this starts,” he whispered to me, nodding to the other three judges.

  I didn’t bother answering him. His warning was enough to set the tone for how this meet and greet was going to go. Like at the table vote last night with RS, it was going to be best if I just kept my mouth shut and gathered what I needed in order to make my next move.

  There was no way on this green earth that I was going to allow anyone to capture Luminous and send her off to some God forsaken lab. I’d make sure to throw up roadblock after roadblock to keep the Platinum Guard members and other guards from finding her. Even if that meant I’d never see her again.

  “It’s starting,” Alexi sat straighter in his seat as he adjusted his robes.

  I followed his lead, turning my attention to the opening black marble doors at the other end of the room. There they were. The unknown members of a guard even more elusive than a ghost.

  “Presenting the members of Platinum Guard.” One of the flunky guard members announced from his hidden location in the chambers.

  One by one, the members lined up in the middle of the floor, standing shoulder to shoulder. Five men, five women. All of which looked like they had better things to do than introducing themselves to the
honorable judges of Onyx Elite.

  “Introduce yourselves one by one and your location as well,” Judge Sadvidge looked over the rim of her glasses with narrowed eyes. “Starting from left to right.”

  The first member was a man easily in his early twenties but looked as if he had lived a thousand lives.

  “Efrain, from Springcrest.”

  Another guy easily pushing the hell out of thirty didn’t bat a lash as he introduced himself.

  “Baeyoon, Castlehedge.”

  “Cá, Rosemarble.” The next stated, looking nervously at the judges.

  “Taemin, Castlehedge.” He was a cocky son of a bitch, I thought to myself as I narrowed my eyes on the last man in line.

  I didn’t like the way he was standing or how he was looking like he could easily take everything from the judges and walk away scot-free. From his blue black hair that brushed his shoulders to the deathly black of his eyes.

  Maybe I was mad at him for thinking he was something worth cowering back from. Maybe I had wanted to knock his teeth through his skull because he reminded me too much of myself and Lovett. Whatever the case, I didn’t like the kid—who was the same exact age as me.

  In a voice that would’ve had Luminous, and Karina go weak in the knees he introduced himself to the judges.

  “Shang, Springcrest.”

  The female standing next to him cleared her throat and tried to smile. As if that were going to save her should she fail in apprehending Luminous.

  “Suzi, Rosemarble.”

  The next woman didn’t even try to cover her disgust for being in the position she was in. Like the pompous jackass otherwise known as Shang, she had black eyes that mirrored death. Ice blonde hair cut in a blunt bob while thick black eyebrows pinched to almost resemble a unibrow.

  The closer I looked at her, the more I could see the resemblance between the idiot at the end of the male’s line and her. Subtly I flipped the pages of the information on the guard members and found the answer I had somewhat already figured out. Shang Wylan and Meril Wylan were twins.

  “Meril, Springcrest,” she said in a bored tone.

  Well wasn’t that just perfect. Two jackasses in one room, in the same guard and on the hunt for the same target. Perfect, I snidely rolled my eyes internally.

  “Talay, Springcrest,” the next woman said forcing my eyes toward her.

  She had a voice like honey but looked like a character from one of those first-person shooter EA games. Gold ringed black eyes and a head half shaved of the long light brown locks while the surviving strands were braided in a complicated style. She was beautiful, I’d give her that much, but I didn’t care for the way she was meeting my glare with one of her own.

  It was almost as if she knew something I didn’t and had all of the cards in her hand. As if…she were harboring a secret begging for release. The type of secret I would amputate my own arm off in order to make the secret mine.

  “Members of Platinum Guard,” Judge Sadvidge handed off the Platinum Diamond Order with Luminous’s information on it to Roxy and another flunky before addressing her attention to the members.

  “You are hereby ordered to fulfill the Platinum Diamond Order on Luminous River, former Sect Leader of squadron eight of Silver Guard. She is to be captured alive,” Sadvidge made it a case and point to enunciated the word like if everything else was forgotten the members needed to remember that one word.

  “At which point, she shall be delivered to the courtyard of Onyx Elite. Is that clear?”

  The look was fleeting but I saw it. Shang and Talay shot each other warning looks; either look saying something completely different than the other. What the hell were the two of them hiding?

  Still, they acted as if nothing happened and me seeing them was nothing more than a figment of my imagination. Along with the eight other members, Shang and Talay answered the question with a solid.

  “Understood.”

  A satisfied look crossed over Sadvidge’s face as she closed her portfolio and leaned back in her chair. “Dismissed.”

  “Yes ma’am.” The members answered before turning in a unified way and left the chambers in a single file line.

  “You did well kid,” Alexi whispered as he pushed away from his chair and made like a baby, heading out first.

  The other judges left after him, leaving me and Sadvidge the only two within the chamber. Of course, she wasn’t going to miss the chance to stab at a sleeping bear.

  “You don’t have anything to say against the order?”

  I glanced at her, gathering the papers Alexi had given me. “Should I?”

  “Well, if you consider the history you and Luminous share, one will think you would be against her capture.”

  I closed my own portfolio and turned to her, “I killed her on that cliff. We’re in the mountains, Judge Sadvidge, I would think a woman of your academic accomplishments would know there is slim to no possible way she could’ve survived this long in the wild.”

  Her face lost all sarcastic humor and became hard with anger, “excuse me.”

  Tapping the end of the portfolio on the bench, I got up and tilted my head at her. “I’ll admit I may have felt something for the sect leader once upon a time. But now?” I smirked and shook my head, “if she is alive, she’ll get what she deserves. After all, this is for the betterment of our society.” Nodding once, I left her to stare at my retreating back with the same stupid look she had when I told her the truth.

  When I was safely behind the walls of my office with the door locked, I had to take several deep breaths in order to stop the bile from coming out.

  Lying in the face of a judge was a dangerous game, but lying and having the audacity to challenge the authority of the same judge? I was just asking for my own execution.

  Looking at my watch, I tossed the portfolio down on my desk and ditched the robes. Ripping Shang’s profile out, I sent a text out to Dristan and Slade before leaving the OE behind for another night. For now, I just wanted to return to my old days and there was only one way to do that.

  §§§§§

  “I don’t like him,” Dristan looked at the profile of Shang from the corner of his eye as Slade shook his head.

  “Why?” I asked, grabbing my beer.

  Dristan took the profile from Slade and frowned, “I’m with Slade on this one.”

  “Ok, but why?” I asked both men, looking between the two of them.

  Slade made a face and rubbed his hands together, “he’s like the fucking Mona Lisa. I mean his picture looks like he’s laughing at me or knows something I don’t know.”

  Dristan snapped his fingers, pointing at Slade as he looked at me, “that’s what it is.” Holding the profile up, he shook it at me, “he’s got an air about him that comes through the picture. I don’t like him, and I don’t trust him either.”

  I rubbed my forehead and sighed, “well, then both of you will be excited to know he has a twin sister.”

  “What?” Both looked at me like I was the one with secrets.

  I ignored their screwed looks and shrugged an idle shoulder as I looked out the window. We had been having a private conversation at Mad Devil for the past two hours about nothing of any importance until now.

  “There’s something more to this kid,” I said and tilted the bottle up.

  “Where is he? Maybe I can get a read on him.” Dristan offered.

  “Thanks,” I sat the empty bottle down and crossed my arms over my chest, “but he’s in Springcrest and the courts have already passed down the order.”

  “Wait a minute,” Slade looked between me and Dristan, “isn’t there a way that the courts can issue out a joint order?”

  “Meaning?” I asked, frowning at him.

  “Remember last year?” Dristan and I nodded, “ok, when Luminous and you,” he pointed at me, “got framed. And both of you went to bat for each other. In some screwed up twisted fate, the judges decided to make Silver and Gold work together on orders. Can’t they
do the same thing with PG and Gold?”

  “If the Honor idiots weren’t able to get Luminous, what makes you possibly think they’re going to trust us with the job?” Dristan challenged.

  Unfortunately, he had a point. But it wasn’t just that; if either Dristan or Slade decided to come to the OE and ask for a joint order, all of the attention would be directed toward me. And I didn’t need Sadvidge’s ignorant comments to come any harder than they already were.

  Slade shook his head and waved a hand at his sect leader, “not what I’m saying. I’m simply suggesting we find out where exactly Shang Fang is and then you can work your magic.”

  “In other words you want to break into Sadvidge’s office and find out where his tracking thing is?” I challenged.

  He smiled that smile that had always gotten under my skin. “Worth a shot, right?”

  “Do you know what’ll happen if you get caught?” I shot back.

  “Yeah, Slade, I’m not feeling that plan.” Dristan shook his head.

  Slade narrowed his eyes at the other man, “you’re just nervous about facing the judges without focusing all of your attention on Demir.”

  “Facts, bro. And I’ll tell you right now, I’m not going to do it. The less time I spend around the OE the better.”

  “What about Demir?”

  “He’s my brother first,” Dristan waved a bored hand in my direction and shot down Slade’s theory.

  “Whatever, the point is that’s one way we could get things done. I mean after all, how many people do all three of us have a bad feeling about at the same time?” Slade look between me and my best friend.

  I opened my mouth to agree with him when Karina walked in.

  “Hey babe!” Dristan snatched the profile from the table and smiled like there wasn’t anything suspicious about how he had just acted.

  Narrowing her eyes, she stared at him, “what was that?”

  “Nothing, nothing at all,” he slapped Slade’s shoulder.

  “Right!” He jumped and cleared his throat, “aren’t you on rotation right now?”

  Raising a brow, she looked between the three of us, “I am, but I needed to eat something first.”