by S King
As he ripped the chair away from him, he was greeted with my booted foot. A roundhouse kick and a shovel-hook later, Shang was laid out on the dining room floor holding his jaw as blood began pooling in the corner of his bottom lip.
Stepping back from him, I stared into his dark eyes, “I’ll take my whip now.” It wasn’t a request and considering his position, he really had no grounds to argue with me.
I had more than proven I was healed and recovered. Why he wanted to keep me here was a mystery. And one I wasn’t in the mood to try to figure out. Demir, Karina and maybe Dristan were waiting for me.
Shang wasn’t one for defeat, however. Obviously from the way he jumped off the floor, spat some blood on the coffee table and snapped the chair in half. Splintered wood flew widely in the air while the only solid piece, the seat, came spinning toward my head in a frisbee twirl.
I knocked the thing away, but it had done its job. All Shang needed was for me to look away from him for just a second. Within a matter of seconds I was getting speared through the stomach and forced backward.
“You grimy son of a bitch!” I roared as glass shattered around us and the cool afternoon air made its appearance into my senses.
When my back hit the hard ground and Shang rose above me, prepared to let his fist fly. I did the only thing I could do in this situation. He hadn’t scooted high enough on my chest and his precious jewels were right where my knee could have a first-class ticket to getting acquainted with the assets that made Shang a man.
Just as his fist started coming down, I made my move. In a split second, I rammed my knee as hard as I could into his package and shoved him off of me before he started falling.
Instinctively, he grabbed his junk and clawed at the grass available to him. I took the chance to roll away from him and take in a deep breath. I was back in the open, which meant I could get away. All I had to do was get to my feet and run. But the feeling of air brushing across something wet made me look down to observe my injuries.
Nothing on the front. Ok, not so bad. But what was bad…I twisted my head around and found the culprits of feeling air where I shouldn’t have felt air. Lodged in my shoulder blade and right above my butt were shards of glass from the backdoor.
“Damn it,” I breathed and let my head fall on the hard grass. This wasn’t supposed to happen. I was supposed to be halfway back to Castlehedge by now without any new injuries acquired.
Forcing myself in an upright position, I tried to stand up but just the move of twisting and bending my body made the shards of glass dig deeper into my flesh.
“This is what happens when you don’t want to listen,” was the only thing I heard before stars exploded into my mind and I felt my body fall away from me.
§§§§§
Was I the only one who felt like every time I took one measly, micro step forward the fates had a way of picking me up, slap me around a few good times, slam me against a wall and throw me in a crushing machine before tossing me back to the starting point? Maybe I was just unlucky. Maybe I wasn’t being smart about my moves.
Yeah, that’s what it was. I wasn’t smart with my moves or my strategy. Instead of making a run for the backdoor when Shang was down, I had made the rookie mistake of opening my mouth and egging him on about my whip.
Now, here I was with a jack hammer playing a complicated symphony on my head. While the heart in my back added some much needed percussion to the bang, bang, bang going on in my head.
There was no need to open my eyes. I knew where I was. Back in the same bedroom I had been in for the past three and a half months. I knew better than to run my left hand over my face. But as I went to lower my right arm, I was greeted with a whole lot of scraping.
“This is that bullshit,” slowly I opened my eyes and turned my head to confirm yet another fact I already knew to be true.
“Do you want to listen to reason, now?” Shang’s all too familiar, all too deadly voice whispered through the room.
“You put me in fucking handcuffs!” I tried, unsuccessfully, to pull my arm free of the metal. But naturally, nothing came of the move, other than more scraping.
“You’re going to learn how to listen while you’re here, Luminous, even if it’s the last thing you do.”
“You arrogant asswipe!” I bolted out of bed and turned my back on him.
“Sit down!” He roared, scaring the hell out of me. For once in my life I didn’t argue or back talk. Instead I sat down and didn’t look in his eyes.
“As I was saying,” he said through clenched teeth. “You aren’t going anywhere unless you want to die.”
“Are you talking about a Black Diamond Order being issued on me?”
He clenched his teeth again and narrowed his eyes, “it’s much worse than that.”
I snorted in disbelief and rolled my eyes, “there’s nothing worse than a BDO, Shang.”
“You’d be surprised,” he grumbled and kicked off the dresser. “Look just stay here and wait until the fire dies down on your new order.” He crossed the floor and reached for the door.
“Wait, you’re just going to leave me here!”
“Yes,” he glanced at me over his shoulder, answer the unasked question, “just hold it until I get back.” With that he, closed the door with a soft click and me to my own little room in what felt like a prison.
I didn’t want to. God knows I didn’t want to, but I was desperate and with the fucking secrets floating around Shang and his…whatever Talay was, I needed to get the hell out of here and fast.
“Fefe!” I hollered at the closed door and strained my hearing to listen for her soft footsteps. After two minutes passed I ignored the pain and took a deep breath.
“Fefe!” Again nothing. Did Shang really leave me here? Alone?
He knew if Fefe heard me screaming she would come rushing to my aide. Shang wasn’t stupid and probably bribed her out of the house when I was passed out. Sitting on the side of the bed I tapped my fingers against my forehead.
“Think, think, think,” I started bouncing my legs and tried to think of a way to get out of the fucking cuffs.
If it had been Karina in this situation, she’d have been hot and bothered about the BDSM thing. Knowing the man at the foot of the bed had her in a position of submission would’ve probably brought a completely different side of her out in the open. At the thought of my sister I felt a pang of loneliness.
Sure, I missed Demir like crazy and wanted desperately to just see him again for a minute at least. But Karina? I missed her like a sunset on a beach. We had been through pure hell together and somehow we had remained friends thanks to the darkness that had taken over our lives.
Resting my head back on the headboard, I flicked away a tear from my eye. Oh what I’d give to see my own little screwed up family again.
I let my head roll to the side and frowned. Sitting there, tucked away in a neat display case was a custom pocket knife. One with a thin enough blade that I’d have no problem getting the cuffs off with. Straining to see if the box was opened, I felt my heart surge with excitement. This may very well be my chance to get away from Springcrest, Shang’s nasty attitude and whatever hidden secrets I hadn’t had time to figure out.
Perking up, I stretched as far as my free arm would reach and grabbed the pocket knife from the display case. Flipping the thing open, a manic giggle ripped its way from my throat. On the blade was some foreign symbol I didn’t recognize.
“Later,” I whispered to myself as I pulled the cuffs tight and started picking the lock. All the while giving Shang a big fat fuck you.
In exactly thirty seconds my wrist was free while the metal cuffs bounced against the bed post. Last year I had belittled my talent for picking locks and said the talent wasn’t as effective as Karina’s. She would be able to get into any building, fortress and otherwise with her C4 and dynamite. Granted the latter wouldn’t be of any use right now.
I still hadn’t cleared the question on whose house exactly I wa
s staying in. Sure, Shang had said it was his but that didn’t mean he was the one to pay for it. Besides, Fefe didn’t do anything for me to destroy the property and in truth. I didn’t want to give her a bad reason to think of me after I was long gone.
Looking around the room I rubbed my wrist. What did I need to take for the trek back to Castlehedge? I’d worry about clothes as soon as I got back home. Personal hygiene products? I wasn’t going to be taking a break long enough to use them. A pillow and blanket? Worthless, considering I was going to take as little time as possible to get back to my hometown.
With another scan of the room, I had convinced myself I didn’t need anything outside my jacket and the note Demir had written to me with his rings. Rushing to the closet, I grabbed the note from the coat that still had dried drops of my blood on it and the jacket I had worn after learning how to walk again.
When the zipper fell against my flat stomach and I was sure I didn’t need anything else, I raced from the room and didn’t look back.
My whip. I needed my whip. Stopping short of emerging from the hallway, I spun around and stared at the four walls. I had just come out of the first door on the left which meant one of the remaining three rooms was Shang’s. Why couldn’t a blueprint of the house been out for open view, I cursed internally. With a deep breath I tried to logically think about everything I somewhat remembered about the house. Not that the information available to me was anything worth making note of. Still, I had to find my lucky door in order to reunite with my beloved whip.
“Ok, think,” I whispered, looking from one door to the next. I only had one chance to get this right and if I didn’t? Well, I’d have to figure out how to get a replacement whip and stop wasting time in Springcrest.
Shang had said he heard me fall against the toilet which meant he heard me through the wall. Mentally, I tried to think of how he would’ve heard it if he weren’t in a bathroom of his own.
“Fuck it,” I growled, racing down the hall.
I grabbed the second door knob on the left and turned the thing in. Thankful it wasn’t locked, I pushed my way through the open door and knew to my core, this was definitely Shang’s room.
A king sized bed with a black duvet and eight pillows cased in matching black covers sat at my right. There was no TV or clothes on the floor, but Shang’s familiar cologne lingered in the air. Two upright dressers sat on either side of the headboard. While a buffet dresser was positioned comfortably under the window on the east facing wall.
Narrowing my eyes, I wished I had the ability to sense energy from items. Granted, I’d never heard of anyone being able to do it, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t possible. Shaking my head of the rambling thoughts I advanced on the closet and threw open the double doors.
“Anal much?” I whispered looking at the color coordinated shirts and rows of jeans organized by designer and style. “Wow,” I gently pushed the shirts out of the way, careful not to disrupt the order they were in.
No hidden doors or shelves rested behind the methodically organized shirts or pants. Not even a safe to keep a backup weapon.
Closing the doors to the closet, I spun around and looked at the bedroom. Any logical person wouldn’t hide someone else’s weapon in the bathroom. Then again, Shang wasn’t a logical person and nothing about this situation was normal. Moving swiftly across the floor, I wished I had my phone for the flashlight. Then again, the last thing I needed to do was tip someone off in case Shang had a flunky watching his house.
Narrowing my eyes against the blackness, I searched for the whip under the counter, behind his toilet, the ceiling. Still, nothing.
I walked back into the bedroom, I took the chance to look in the dresser closest to me. Much like his closet, the drawers were organized in a methodical way, color coordinated socks and boxers. Moving to the next drawer, I felt the surge of excitement wrap its way around my veins.
Daggers, like the one I had given Demir were laying in neat rows starting from smallest to largest against black foam padding fitted to the drawer. However, as pretty as the daggers were, my whip wasn’t in there.
Moving to the next, I marveled at the craftsmanship of the daggers. These weren’t like the standard straight bladed daggers that had been in the last drawer. No, there was a pearl blade with an intricate design on the handle. An ebon blade in black like the military. An ogun blade done in slate finish. And finally, a Materia blade with a garnet gemstone in the handle.
I’d admit, I had seriously considered taking the Materia blade from its cushion and say forget the whip. But I wasn’t as good with the sharp and pointy as Demir, Dristan or Shang. Closing the drawer I sent a futile prayer to the top heavens and opened the last drawer in the dresser.
Sitting there next to a recurve blade was my beautiful whip in all of its rattlesnake leather glory. Somehow the razor wire was just as shiny as if old man Lemon had just added the links.
Stopping the reminiscent thoughts about the man who had been something of a grandfather to me. I grabbed my precious whip and kicked the dresser shut before bolting from the room and essentially the house.
I didn’t bother to see if Fefe was anywhere in the house or had left a note on the table. Right now, I was just trying to get back to my home turf. I’d have to worry about her later and hopefully, she wouldn’t be dragged into Shang’s temper when he came back home.
Running up the side of the riverbank, I followed the passing river before angling my body just right. Jumping over the small gap between the drop off and the hill Shang’s house rested on, I tucked in on myself and rolled as gravity pulled me forward.
My newest injuries protested against the gymnastics routine I was forcing my body to go through. However, I’d worry about it later. When I was home. When I was with my family. Just the thought of being back in Demir’s arms and Karina’s sarcastic humor made me jump up and take off in a full sprint toward what I’d hope was the right direction.
As I ran and ducked through the trees and jumped over the fallen logs, I thought about everything I would do as soon as I was back in Castlehedge’s not so warm embrace. Sure the thought of Shang’s words came crashing into my mind and wouldn’t relent.
You can’t go back unless you want to die. He had said. Talay had said the same thing when they thought I wasn’t listening to them.
There are worse things than a BDO, Shang had said. What the hell could be worse than a Black Diamond Order? After all, Demir and I had survived the attempts on our lives with the very orders that had been deemed the worst of the worst.
I skidded to a stop to catch my breath, looking around the woods. The more I thought of Demir, the more I tried to convince myself he wouldn’t have faced any punishment for doing what he had to. That was the deal. Either I was to kill him, or he had to kill me. But if the courts had issued…
“He’s one of them,” I breathed aloud.
There was no way Demir had escaped the fate of the courts. Considering that HG and the top members of Gold and Silver had witnessed my demise they would’ve told the presiding judges of Onyx Elite. Demir would’ve been drug in front of the bench with only two options to choose from. Either join the judges or meet me in the afterlife. I knew the latter to be untrue, thanks to Shang mentioning Demir in his not so hushed debate with Talay.
Demir Losett had become a black courts judge and had signed off on the order Shang was somewhat trying to protect me from. But why? Granted, I didn’t know how the judges operated behind the closed doors of the feared court. Maybe there was a vote or something and Demir had shot down the order when it was his turn to vote.
Nodding at the thought, I took another deep breath and started forward. That’s what it was. Demir wouldn’t have promised me his return if he had planned all along to just have someone else kill me…right?
What if he did? My mind coughed up the thought like creating doubt was going to make me turn around and go back to the safety of my little room in a house I wasn’t familiar with and people I could
no more trust than a starving wild beast.
“No, not going there,” I whispered to myself as I climbed over several fallen trees and slid down the slick incline.
My ears perked as the sound of footsteps sounded through the area. Stopping, I slowed my breathing and turned in the direction of the sounds. Uncurling the whip, I prepared my muscles to fight whoever was trying to divert me from my destination.
Leaves rustled in a flurry as the footsteps grew, creating a rhythmic pounding into the ground.
“Five,” I whispered, timing the speed of my target.
“Four,” they cut right and kept gunning for me.
“Three.” I tightened my grip on my whip.
“Two,” I planted my feet in the ground.
“One,” without thinking twice, I spun, letting the whip fly through the air as it cracked once in warning before making contact with the target.
The big body dropped to the ground followed by a grunt of pain. I twisted out of the way of whatever weapon he held and snapped the whip across my shoulder, slashing the person in the chest.
“Luminous!” The voice was too familiar for my comfort. Too comforting in its own right. But I didn’t stop, I wouldn’t give them the chance to catch me off guard. I had made the mistake of trusting this person before and it hadn’t played in my favor.
Stepping back, I cracked the whip and allowed it to wrap it’s long tail around the sword reflecting the white light from the sky. With a quick tug of my wrist, I jerked the weapon way and sent it flying through the air.
“Would you just give a chance to explain!” The voice was strained with agitation and a hint of fear hanging onto each word.
“You don’t need to, I know everything,” I snapped, dodging the attempt to grab my wrist. Spinning out of the way, I allowed the whip to catch an ankle and pulled the thing tightly.
“You’re seriously going to do this? After everything we’ve been through?”
Narrowing my eyes, I jerked the whip tighter against the ankle and stared into the sea foam green eyes that had been so gentle and protective of me over the years.