by S. O. Green
Lailah reclined on her settee and folded one milk-white leg over the other.
“Are you Faithful?”
“What, just because I don’t want to be an asshole? The two aren’t mutually exclusive.”
“No, I suppose you’re right. But morality is a priority only for those who believe in a reward for their…” Her eyes twinkled and Ness couldn’t tell if it was mirth or malice in those forest shades. “…struggle.”
“The reward is being able to live with yourself.”
“Eventually, one tires of living only with themselves, wouldn’t you agree?”
Ness kept her silence, but she couldn’t disagree. She’d promised herself, after what had happened, that she’d go it alone, keep everyone at arm’s length. Less chance other people, good people, would get burned if they weren’t in the line of fire.
She’d become a Sin Chaser for that reason, until the day Chip had found her lying under an overpass, gagged and bound, and taken her to a doctor he knew. They’d shared a car for months, years. Now she was driving a little girl cross-country and actually starting to like her.
So much for keeping them at arm’s length.
Whatever Lailah was, she wasn’t alone. She held out a delicate hand and one of the men who formed her entourage placed a champagne flute between her fingers. She didn’t even look over at him and Ness marked the tightness in his jaw. Her harem were all handsome and well-built, dressed in the kind of luxury threads that had died with the old world, but most of them bore all manner of mutilations—laceration, burns, even missing extremities. Punishments? Or just cries for her attention?
Lailah stared at Faith, curled up in an armchair reading a book the woman had presented her with, and trying not to notice the proximity of two of Lailah’s boys, standing close at hand. Paradise Lost was printed on the cover in gold. The frown on Faith’s face suggested she didn’t know how to feel about it. Any of it.
“The girl is quite sweet,” Lailah said, and it might have been a trick of the light, but Ness thought her eyes glowed a deeper green, just for a moment. “And there is something special about her, isn’t there? I am sure she would fit right in here, among my children.”
Ness caught herself before she could agree. Talking with Lailah was difficult, tiring. If she didn’t focus, watch her words, she found herself agreeing with—and to—everything. The light of her smile dazzled.
“Who the hell are you?” she demanded, slowly and carefully. “Not the leader of some luckier-than-average group of survivors, that’s for damn sure.”
Lailah smirked and tucked a cigarette between her lips. She didn’t offer one to Ness, like she could taste the withdrawal burning in the back of her throat. Like she wanted her to be jealous.
“You were going to Archangel, were you not?” she asked, tapping Harlon and Marie’s letter to their daughter, lying on the low, glass table between them. “A long trip, with such an unrewarding destination. Is there nothing here that calls to you? Safety and security? The promise of fresh food, clean water, warm beds? The sense of belonging, family, a lover? Is there nothing we have that you want?”
“I just want to get the girl to Archangel.”
“Why?”
“Her…family’s there.”
Faith glanced up from her book and Ness hoped she wasn’t judging her for the lie. She couldn’t tell Lailah the truth, that she was special, important. Or they might never get away.
“I will let you go, my dear,” Lailah said, leaning back to let one of her men light her cigarette. She blew a smoke ring that hung above her head like a crooked, disintegrating halo. “But first, you must give me something that I want. Since you do not wish to be a thief, fair and equitable trade is the only reasonable solution.”
Actually, given that they were prisoners who’d been taken against their will, the only reasonable solution was escape. And to set a few fires on their way out the door.
“You are a violent woman,” Lailah noted, “and skilled. So I will make use of you. Fight for us. Entertain us, and you will have your freedom.”
Ness scoffed. “You fight here?”
“Oh, have I intrigued you? Does that mean we have a deal?”
“Depends. Are you going to hold up your end?”
“I always honor a bargain,” Lailah said, tone becoming grave. “Always.”
It was hard to take the other woman at her word, but Ness didn’t see that she had much of a choice. At the very least, she had to do something to keep from winding up in a ditch out back with a bullet in her head.
And a fight? In a place like this? How tough could it be?
Chapter Six
Monster
They’d built a cage in the grand ballroom—chain-link and steel—and Lailah’s residents sat at round tables covered in clean linen and champagne glasses. The atmosphere was cordially electric, a far cry from the fighting pits Ness had seen and competed in. No one was cussing or spitting or drinking straight from the bottle, but Ness was under no illusions. Each and every one of them wanted to see blood.
They’d given her a set of pristine road leathers to change into and an armored metal chest piece that no one in the wasteland would ever have worn. She wondered if this was how they thought people looked outside their hotel walls.
When she stepped out of her dressing room, Lailah was waiting for her, an enigmatic smirk curling the line of her lips. She reached under Ness’s arms and tightened the straps on her armor. Stronger than she looked.
“Put on a good show for them, won’t you?” she asked, and trailed a finger down the back of her neck as she walked past. “And for me.”
She retired to a table of her own, surrounded by her sinister children and doting lovers, and Faith, who was dressed in an elegant frock that probably belonged to one of the ferals. She looked a lamb stumbled among the wolves. Ness shot her a meaningful glance. One fight and they were done. Gone.
A guard with a swollen eye and a vicious scowl showed her to the cage door. Ness flashed him a smile. No hard feelings. It seemed he didn’t share the sentiment, because he took no small delight in locking her in.
Her opponent hadn’t shown yet. She waited and wondered what kind of champion a place as soft as this could produce.
Then a door slammed somewhere in the bowels of the hotel and the genial conversation tapered off into an expectant hush. Ness heard overlapping footsteps, barked orders, the sound of a struggle.
The ballroom doors burst open. Four of Lailah’s guards emerged, dragging a towering shape that had to duck to fit through the frame. They’d lassoed its neck with snare poles, the kind old world animal control would have used on rabid dogs, pulling it in all four points of the compass to keep it leashed. It twisted and bucked, snarling behind the muzzle buckled around its lower jaw, muscles bulging under its straitjacket. It threw its head back and howled, so loud it made the crystal chandeliers rattle. The audience gasped, then let out titters of nervous laughter.
Just glad they weren’t the ones who had to fight it.
Ness looked to Faith, tried a grin and a thumb’s up. The girl didn’t look convinced.
Fair. Ness wasn’t much convinced either.
The crimson sheen in the Beast’s eyes could only mean it was a Reaper. She didn’t know if it was too many souls or too few that turned them feral, but this one hadn’t gotten the dosage right.
And she was going to be locked in a cage with it.
They dragged it to the door and her buddy from the road stepped forward to unlock it. The Beast twitched and grunted, eyes rolling and roving, feverish and insane. Some Reapers could pass for human in the right light, but this one? Not a fucking chance.
They wrenched the door open and shoved the Beast through. It stuck in the frame, shoulders too broad, and spat a garbled burst of noise. Then it kicked out, hit one of the guards square in the ch
est. The blunt force shattered ribs and sent him cannoning back into the guy with the keys. The others wrenched back on their snares, trying to keep it under control. The Beast burst into the cage, and two of the guards let go rather than be dragged inside. The third wasn’t so lucky. He flew through the door and tumbled over on the marble floor, on the wrong side of the fence.
The guards outside did much as Ness expected. They slammed the door shut and locked it.
The Beast fixed its bloody eyes on her.
“Come and fucking get it, asshole,” she spat.
It roared and charged. Ness had never stood in front of a freight train before, but she thought maybe this was what it felt like. She tucked and rolled at the last second, and the Beast slammed into the cage wall. The whole construction moved under its weight. Ness wondered how, exactly, Lailah wanted her to kill this thing.
Or maybe she didn’t. After all, what happened if Ness died? Her residents were entertained and she got another daughter to add to her collection.
“Shit…”
It ran at her again. She slip-stepped and side-kicked, heel snapping the floating rib under its right arm. It grunted and staggered, so at least it felt pain. Then it rounded on her, eyes murderous, and she realized she’d made a mistake.
It kicked at her, bare foot bigger than her torso sailing past as she dodged. The force of the kick tossed her hair, it was so close. She pivoted and stamped through its knee. It was like trying to kick through rebar. It swung around and clubbed her with a massive shoulder, sending her tumbling.
She rolled to her feet, fists up. There was a murmur of appreciation from the audience. She could smell cigarette smoke, but it was a little early for pillow talk.
Three shots tore the air. Ness ducked, before she realized it was the guard who’d been locked in the cage with them. He’d drawn his gun and knife and were holding them cross-gripped. Unfortunately, three 9mm slugs in the torso hadn’t done much more than piss it off.
It charged again. The guard had time to unload four more rounds and then the Beast kicked him into the cage wall. He fell, knife skidding away. One arm curled around his chest as he coughed, spattering the marble with a fresh coat of blood. The other raised his pistol, trying to aim as the Beast loomed over him. It lifted its foot and stamped his head into the floor. His skull fractured, a look of horror frozen on his compacted face.
Ness caught the knife under her boot, then flicked it into her hand with her toe. Impressive party trick, but not much help in this situation. She was now the sole focus of the Beast’s rage.
Lucky her.
It powered towards her, screaming behind its muzzle. She danced aside, grabbed hold of the straps on its back and hoisted herself onto its shoulder. She drove the knife down into the side of its neck, sawing at flesh and muscle, sinew and artery. Thick, black ichor gushed, staining her hands and the front of its asylum overcoat. It bucked under her, trying to throw her off so it could crush her underfoot. She heard fabric tearing, buckles straining, and prayed its jacket would hold up.
She kicked off its back, grabbing the top of the cage and clinging on. Her body swung against the fence, the steel frame hitting her like a body blow. She took a breath and scrambled up.
The Beast thrashed, seeking her out. When its eyes turned up and locked on her, it slammed its body into the cage over and over, trying to knock her down. Ness looked for something to use and saw the lighting rig hanging from above, covered in heavy spotlights. It was messy work, secured with rope and repurposed seatbelts, but no one looked behind the curtain around here.
She started sawing through the nearest rope, just as her opponent ripped its strait-jacket off with a roar. Its bare torso had hardened into a chitinous shell, and its gnarled arms ended in what were more knives than fingers. One swipe and it would turn Ness into red confetti.
This thing wasn’t just feral. The demon had bedded down into the body so deep it had started to change it, twisting its physiology into the kind of nightmare you’d only have seen beneath the surface of the earth before the Reaping.
How long, exactly, had this thing been alive?
It leapt onto the cage, reaching the top in a single bound. Ness wobbled, trying not to lose her balance and split her skull on the unforgiving marble below. She sliced through a length of rope and another stretched belt as the monster began to drag itself up towards her.
It slashed at her. She pulled away, then kicked it in the face. It reeled back, giving her the opening she needed to cut one final tether. The rig collapsed, weight tearing it from the ceiling and turning it into a pendulum. It smashed the Beast off the top of the cage and sent it tumbling to the floor with a sick crunch. Then it tore through the other side of the cage, tearing fence and toppling struts. Residents scurried out of the way as it all began to tumble down.
Including the part Ness was standing on.
She rode the cage wall down, heart rising into her throat. She jumped at the last moment, hit one of the tables and skipped like a stone, rolling to the floor wrapped in the tablecloth.
“Bury me now,” she groaned, then sat up and threw the premature shroud off.
The residents had retreated to the ballroom’s far corners and the guards were approaching, rifles drawn. The lighting rig sparked and smoked, dangling from the last of its moorings. Under the wreckage of the collapsed cage, the Beast twitched.
Then it pushed itself up, shrugging off the tangle of chicken wire like it was nothing heavier than the linen Ness had been covered with. It staggered, head lolling. Its hateful eyes locked on Ness as she clambered to her feet and it launched into another charge.
“Ness!”
She turned at Faith’s voice. The girl had broken from the safety of the room’s outer reaches, carrying an old fire axe in her dainty hands. She tossed it and it clattered to the floor at Ness’s feet. She kicked it into her grasp.
The Beast swung for where she’d been standing. She’d already dropped, chopping low, and took its leg off at the knee. It hopped, overbalancing, and dropping onto its hands. Before it could swipe at her, she lifted the axe and brought it down on the Reaper’s bulging neck. She stamped on the side of its head, freeing the blade, and swung again.
And again and again and again.
And again.
The Beast hadn’t moved in a few minutes by the time she stopped. She’d just been butchering it. Chopping dead meat. Its blood speckled her cheeks like pepper freckles and stuck her boots to the floor. Her breath came hard, ragged, seething with pain and anger, resentment and fear.
The only good Reaper…
“You wanted a fight!” she snarled, throwing down the axe in the pervading silence. “You got a fucking fight!”
The moment stretched. Then someone began to applaud. Lailah, striding forward to stand at Faith’s shoulder, eyes flashing emerald and lips curled in a satisfied smirk. Her children were on her heels, joining in the congratulations like a host of grinning marionettes, copying her every move. Slowly, her residents followed suit. It was the most polite round of applause she’d ever received for murdering something.
Under the sound of her curdled victory, Ness hissed to Lailah, “Remember the deal.”
The other woman just nodded. Ness stalked back to her dressing room, and tried not to see the quiet horror in Faith’s eyes.
Chapter Seven
Trying Times
She’d changed out of her costume and sponged herself off with water from the sink when Lailah swayed into the room. She couldn’t have said what she expected, but she definitely didn’t expect the other woman to drape around her shoulders and kiss her neck.
God help her, she could have fallen into that moment as it stretched into eternity. After all, they were alone now, weren’t they? Privacy held promises.
Instead, she summoned the strength to push her off.
“What the
fuck are you doing?” she snapped.
“Congratulating you on your hard-fought victory,” Lailah said, not even remotely offended at her reaction. “I could feel their envy as you fought. Your skill, your power, your fearlessness. They watched as you dismantled that creature and wished they could do the same. They saw the defiance and the passion in your eyes and they longed to have that fire. The weak will always envy the strong.”
Ness scoffed. She stared at the bruised and battered shape in the full-length mirror, clad only in its underwear. Old scars and ill-fitting skin. She’d ridden herself like a stolen car all her life and it showed. How could anyone be envious of her?
She pulled on her old shirt—she wanted nothing from Lailah, not even a new outfit—and reached for her pants. The other woman watched, eyes fierce.
“I almost want to keep you, but…as I said, I always honor my bargains.”
“Great.”
She snatched the truck keys out of Lailah’s grasp when she presented them, and shrugged into her battered, old jacket.
“Are you sure you won’t stay? We have everything you could ever wish for here. Safety from the Big Seven, running water, good food, drink, fine clothing. Company. I haven’t had a woman to share myself with in quite some time. I promise I won’t leave you to languish in the lower levels with the other servants. You could live in the penthouse with my family. You and Faith both. She would have so many brothers and sisters to play with and learn from.”
Ness shook her head. No matter how tempting it might have been to find a safe place for Faith, leaving her with Lailah and her nightmare children was a bad idea. As for herself, this wasn’t where she belonged. She needed to be out there, trying to make a difference.