by C. R Corbin
I only grunt in response.
"A word of advice before I go....take care not to fall in love too deeply Jzarian. That human girl will mean more to you than you know, I think she already does in fact. Love is a curse, a weakness that breaks people like us, people made to hurt, to damage. Don't let it cloud your judgments." she said.
She fades back into the shadows and the eyes of her men disappear in the blackness of the artificial night. The warm, moist air flowed between my hairs and I sighed, these people were more like demons than actual mortals.
"I suppose I should." I grumbled and turned on my heel, I step out of the alleyway and sighed as I stared at the glimmering towers in the distance. Time to find this Gruen.
....
Helen
My eyes flutter and I stay wide awake. Just the thought of him being out of my sight and somewhere else disturbed me, it made me restless. I sit up and stare at Kagi who was leaning against the wall in the corner, sharpening his knife and glancing at me with those hard red eyes. I hold back a gasp and lean back under the covers, he only sighs.
"I'm not angry at you human. We know the risks of this job....if anything i'm angry at myself." he said.
"....I'm sorry about your brother. You two seemed close." i said.
"We were close....but that's the life of a merc. It was bound to happen sooner or later." he said, kicking himself off the wall and walking over to the bed beside mine, sitting on it and resting his face in his hands.
"And I suppose Osorn is going to leave me too. He's going to leave me behind for you." He said.
"What?" I asked.
"He's your mate, it's been sealed. He's going with you no matter what he says. I don't think he can bear to return you to that sleazeball so consider yourself lucky. You found one hell of a warrior for a man." he said.
"But he said....he said that I would get returned. My life wouldn't be that bad would it? It wouldn't be like last time, that prison was the worse." I said.
"No.....but it would be a massive downgrade from the life he could offer you....Jzarians are only motivated by one thing, passion. A passion for war, a passion for someone else, that's the only thing that gets us out of bed, too bad that's the thing that usually gets us killed. In your case the crazy bastard might see things differently and treat you like his queen, I wouldn't know, mating time has yet to come for me." he said.
He sits there for a while, only quietly contemplating his surroundings and glancing over at me occasionally to see if I had fallen asleep. I didn't want to say anything to him in fear that he might lash out in anger but it seems that he calmed down quite a bit. What he said shook something in my core, what it meant to love in human terms was not nearly as definite as what it meant up here. Here they were bound for life, bound completely.
"Does he realize that i'm his mate?" i asked.
"I think he has the inkling." He admitted.
"And if he does....then we're bound for life? You sure you don't hate me? I think I just broke up your entire team." I said.
"I don't....my respect for him is greater than any ill will I might hold. He came along at a time when I and my brother were scrappy youngsters and gave us a way out. For a merc he had real honor, something that is sorely lacking nowadays." he said hanging his head with his back against the headboard. He fiddles his hands and sighs.
"What was he like when he was younger?" I asked.
"Quiet, proud, professional. If there was a moment of weakness he did hide it quite well but there were....flashes. There were moments when those eyes would flash and I would see joy. He did grow up in the worst slum of Jzar though, that will make a man strong, make him hardened." he said.
"I didn't grow up anywhere like that....I had a normal life. I can't understand such a life, even if you are aliens there should be some commonalities but.....I don't know." I said.
"Maybe that's why he likes you so much. He can sense the innocence, a way out after a lifetime of struggle." he said.
"A way out....." I said to myself.
Was I really that sheltered?
I did the traditional suburban kid route of life. I went to school got a job, dated a few boys here and there but not that many due to my curvy body. My parents were loving enough, that is until they passed at least. Being here now, it revealed to me how much sorrow and pain was locked into these stars, into the fabric of time and the universe itself. Perhaps when he looked at me it was with eyes of envy, wanting my innocence, the knowledge of the joy of life....but perhaps he felt a bit sorry, maybe he thought that I was like a child, groping for light in the dark, trying to search for hope when the world thought differently.
Maybe.....
#
Osorn
"Target acquired." I said to myself, muttering as I snuck on all fours over the rooftops. I heard that his compound was nearby, I had two ways to do this and I hadn't the foggiest idea on which one to take.
I could take him out from the rooftops but that would require a rifle and one of his sentries could shoot me.
Then again I could also fire on him from his compound after sneaking in through the sewers...but that might take too much time and he might get away.
Guess i'll have to improvise.
I sit there under the piles of cloth, to the untrained eye I might have just looked like sacks of goods hidden under a tarp on the rooftop. I keep my binoculars in place and I feel the droplets start to fall. Every so often the city would pump water onto the artificial skies and let them fall to simulate rain. Here it drowned out the smell, it was one of the few things Kaiso did out of the good of his heart. It appeared that even he wanted to see the rainfall, he wanted to see the majesty of his horrid creation drowned out. That's why he wanted her blood, whoever got a human just got one step closer to being the richest person in this sector of the city. If that were true then Tursia was inevitably next in line for that title.
I see him approaching in the distance, sliding his car into the concrete compound and shutting the doors. The dull grey slab shone in the sun and I looked around for snipers before I came out from under the cloth.
I grip my knife and inch closer and closer, I hug the rooftops and use the camo feature of my battle suit to hide. Only now do I see the variety of sentries planted around his compound, I climb down from the roof and pretend to loiter on the street while I think of the possibilities.
And then it hit me, he was an Izom, a race of creatures that hated Usia acid, something that I had plenty of in my acid grenade, it was relatively minor for everyone else, sure it would give you burns but the main thing was that it made the eyes water, upon contact with an Izom it would be like molten metal being poured onto flesh. It was a small detail I learned on my travels that not many people knew about, I had to kill an Izom one time with the same trick. Good thing the water mains led the same way on this street, they all lead to his room, the bastard wanted the best water to lead to his palace while his people were relegated the cities shittiest tap water.
"That's it." I said to myself and pulled out one of my acid grenades, I slipped the cap open and the noxious fumes begin to fizzle out.
I open up one of the manhole covers and find one of the water mains. There were some guards down here to check for poison so I stick to the shadows. I hug the pipes on the ceiling and hang from them, dropping down occasionally to stab one of the guards. I make sure to do it quietly, once i'm sure that I was mostly alone I find the main water pipe and open it up. I spend the next couple of minutes pouring the acid into the streams of water, hoping that the bastard would take a shower or take a swig of water and absorb some of it.
I run out of the sewers and return to my place on the rooftops, hiding and listening in carefully. I crawled out from my spot and watched his compound closely, minutes after, some of his men were running out onto the streets, frantically searching for the man responsible, piling down the manhole covers and shifting wildly while I heard some of his Izom
guards shriek in pain. From the way they spoke about how he looked, how he had practically melted, I knew there was no hope.
Mission accomplished.
I wander back to the hotel, hoping that something hasn't happened while I was gone. hoping that Tursia hadn't gone back on her word or that Kaiso didn't find her and had her back in that prison. I was about halfway there when I saw a couple giggling out of the corner of my eye, her hands were on his chest and he was smiling.
Love.....
This feeling that was spreading through me, this instant connection I felt with her, this instant amount of gratification I felt by being with her, it was so strange. I didn't know what to make of it and I could tell that she didn't know either....perhaps we were both fools. I slid my hands together and breath into them, my eyes fog over and I don't remember much of the trip until I get back to the hotel.
She was waiting for me.
"Oh....you're back already. I thought that it would be longer." she said, Kagi was standing in the corner, leaning against the wall, he shot me a small grin.
"Good to see you back in one piece." he said.
"Likewise....I have everything we need. We'll be able to get out shortly, all I need now is for Tursia to contact us." I said.
"Well....since you're back i'm going to wash up, get ready for whatever may come in the coming days." said Kagi as he pushed himself off the wall and walked into the bathroom, leaving me alone with her.
"I found some troubling details....." I said.
"What is it?" she asked me.
"Do you know why they captured you? Do you have any idea at all?" I asked her and she shook her head.
"No, none." she said.
"Apparently human blood is a....how would I say this? It's a commodity here, it gives people visions, gives them pleasure when they drink it, when they inject it." I said.
"If that's true then why hasn't a mob torn down half the town to search for me yet?" she asked.
"Because they don't know. It's a highly guarded secret, that's why they're fighting over you." I said, quickly remembering that I had to return this girl soon and that by telling her this I was basically informing her of her less than ideal fate.
"So...i'm going to be a blood bank for these men?...." she whimpered.
And when I looked into those eyes I couldn't lie to her again.
"Yes, i'm afraid so. I'm sorry." I said.
"Is he nice at least? Will I be comfortable? Please don't take me back to him!" she whimpered, she looked into my eyes for that protection I always offered her but I could muster no soft glance this time. I grit my teeth and growl.
"You're going to go to him. We will all die if you don't." I said.
"I just want...I just want my life back. Please. I want to go back to just being me. I don't want to stay here anymore." she whimpered.
I can only frown as she enters her hysterics.
A massive part of me wanted to hold her, to tell her that everything would be alright and to tell her that I would protect her but I knew that it would be false hope. Not of that was true, I couldn't hunt both of these mob bosses down, could I? They were big fish, I was a killer of the small, of the helpless, of the decrepit swindle the puddled near your feet while bums spat into it. To be honest, when I looked at her when I saw those tears, I grew jealous. I had forgotten what it was like to cry, to see the blue in the sky and feel your skin tingling, to care for something so deeply that you would want to...protect it. That innocence, that ability to have a normal life, I hadn't known it since I had been shipped off the planet, abandoned to a life of...this.
"I just want to go home." she whimpers.
CHAPTER SIX
Helen
I try to calm myself and put up a presentable front but it isn't working. His glance is piercing, those red eyes shining in the shadows of the still morning. The curtains blow over his battle armor, all of the scars and chips from battle hidden under the blue light of dawn, at this angle he looked like a knight, my knight.
That was why it tore my heart out when he kept on refusing my pleas.
"Please don't take me back to him! Please!" I said.
"Do you know what will happen if I don't? I'll have him and Kaiso on my ass human!" he barked.
"I know you care at least somewhat, I can see it under that rugged exterior. Under those rough eyes, you feel something for me, your mate. I'm your mate so start treating me like one!" I shouted and he slammed his fist onto the room's desk.
"You are not!" he snarled.
"Your eyes say otherwise." I said.
"I don't have a choice, I will not relegate us both to death, I will not." he said.
"You don't' know that. I don't know that. At least try. You're one of the best warriors anyone has ever seen. You were able to break into one of the most heavily guarded prisons in this city and get me out with a great deal of success so just...believe in yourself. I know that life has treated you badly, I know that it has battered you and shown you the dark but you have to learn to hope again. Please.....if not for me then for that voice in the back of your head. Do it for you. I know you hate working for these men so strike up a deal with the crime boss, whatever her name is. Just don't give me up!" I cried.
He takes a moment to glance me over, his eyes flicker in the darkness and he bared his fangs. His grey lips smack together and he rubs his black hair, sighing while he walked over to the other bed and sat down. He bites his lower lip and looked over at me, shaking his head before turning away.
"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked him.
"Rest, we'll be leaving soon." he said to me and I wanted to slap him, to tell him that he couldn't do this to me, that I had a right to live. But perhaps what Kagi had said was right he didn't see things the same way. In his mind, there was no hope, no point in fighting the greater powers because they would inevitably beat you.
"The universe is more rigid than you think girl. There's an order that I can't even defy, none of us can break it, we're all meant to have a spot and to break it would mean pain....sorrow. I don't know what it's like back on Earth but from the way you speak it sounds like you don't believe in order, you think that you might actually have an effect on this world but not up here. No up here.....you survive." he said.
"So what? You're never going to try and seek something better than the life of a merc? You just want to stick to working for people you hate?" I asked.
"Didn't you have the same life and now you're criticizing me? Back on Earth, you told me about that job, how it was so dour, so boring." he refuted.
"I didn't hate it like you do. Unless it is true that you love killing innocent men, widowing wives." I snarled.
"Shut up." he grunted, his eyes flashing a dangerous shade of red.
"No....I know there's good in you. I know you won't leave to that bastard, I know you care deep down, maybe even more than that. That's why i'm not going to kick and scream, i'm going to wait for you to make your judgment.
"We'll see about that. Don't think me so soft-hearted that I would just let you go." he said.
"No, not soft-hearted...but good." I said.
His philosophy that there were simply realities that we had to accept was understandable but at the same time...it boggled me how a man that was so strong could just bend over and let life run over him like this. Like he didn't even care in the slightest about where he was headed, only what his next meal was going to be. When he gazed at me I could see the doubt, I could see it pulling him closer and closer towards my side of things.
"If you give me away.....we can never be mates." I said.
"You're not my mate." he said.
"Kagi said the seal doesn't lie. We're definitely stuck together." I said.
"Kagi is a fool and my subordinate. Do you really think he knows? I don't need a mate girl, I don't need anyone to carry on my blood." he said.
"Is this why you refuse to fight? Do you hate yourself? Why? Did
someone hurt you when you were younger? Is that it?" I asked him.
"I see no need. What's the point in a family if they all leave you? What's the point?" he asked.
"So what's the point of living in general?" I asked.
"......To...." he started but couldn't finish.
"Why fight? Why struggle and why try to get something better for yourself? According to you we might as well all lay down and wait for death? Why do you take on these contracts then? To help your men? Well, then that's the first flaw...if you believe we're so hopelessly doomed to horrid lives then why help your men? Why try to make a living? And why try to hope to build a home back on Jzar if you can't even protect the things you care about? If you can fight then so can I." I declared and he rolled his eyes, I could tell that he was struggling to come up with a reply.
"You don't understand.....this isn't about me, it's about you. You're just deflecting." he said.
"Am I? I can hear it in your voice you know, the passion." I said.
"I....I don't know what you're talking about." he said.
"Kagi told me that when you looked at me....you saw hope. You saw a regular life away from this merc work and that you were going to take me home, you were going to be an honest man for once in your life instead of taking backwater contracts. I notice that same look in your eyes now, I see it and I want you to know that I feel the same. I'm grateful for you saving me but more so......I just feel this connection to you, it's not biology, it's that energy that flows through the stars, the ground, even through the void. I feel like i'm beginning to care for you like i'm beginning to love." I said.
"Love me? You just met me four days ago girl!" he snarled.
"And in that time you've been nothing but kind. Maybe it's not love but....whatever it is you're feeling I get the impression that i'm experiencing the same thing. Don't run away from this, this could be your only chance." I said.
"And if you are my mate and if you do "love" me? You really think we can take these men on together?" he asked.