Defiance

by R. S. Broadhead

  “That’s enough, honey,” I said, causing both of them to jump.

  She bared her teeth and flared her nostrils.

  “Unless you want to die, I suggest you put your clothes on and get out. This is between me and him.” I motioned to Theo who hadn’t taken his wide eyes off me. His pants were around his ankles, leaving him in only his underwear.

  The girl did as she was told, grabbing her clothes and rushing from the room without another word.

  “I heard you got out. Didn’t figure I’d run into you like this,” Theo said, waving a hand in a downward motion toward his bare body. The tattoo on the outside of his forearm caught my eye. It seemed to pulse as I stared. Grim’s blood coursed through it like mine did before it was drained. “So, what do I owe the honor for this visit? By the way, nice change to the standard uniform.” His voice was thick with sarcasm as he flicked his greasy black hair back from his eyes.

  “Believe me, if I had another choice I wouldn’t be here,” I said, poking the sharp tip of the metal with my finger before looking back to the tattoo on the inside of his arm. “Hold him down.” Ryker, giggling and glassy-eyed, stumbled forward, dropping to his knees beside the chair Theo sat in.

  Theo’s mouth dropped and turned up into a wide grin. “You’re kidding, right? What in the hell would you need the Demoral symbol for? Where are you going?” I didn’t answer him as I started forward. “Wait…there would only be one reason why you’d want this. You know where she is, don’t you?” When I didn’t answer again, he took my silence as confirmation. “You won’t get away with this. They’ll find you and her, and we’ll get to finish what we started all those years ago.”

  “He’s in the last room, down there on the right,” someone said from the hallway.

  Theo’s laugh erupted. “See! I guess they found you sooner than you thought, huh?” With only seconds until someone would join us, I stabbed the metal into his arm, causing him to scream out in pain. The blood rushed to the top, like it was aching to be released. Not wasting any time, I stabbed my arm where my dormant tattoo had sat for years, useless. I placed my arm on his, absorbing the blood from his wound. The power filled me like an intoxicating poison, awakening something I hadn’t felt in years. I’d missed this more than I had realized. Theo’s head dropped against the back of the chair. I knew the feeling. Losing this piece of you was worse than having a limb torn from your body.

  “It’s not finished!” I cried as the thundering sound of feet came closer from the hallway. “It has to finish.”

  Ryker stood, seeing that holding Theo was no longer an issue. “I’ll hold them off as best as I can.” Before I could stop him, he tore from the room, burping as he pushed past the curtain.

  “Oh, he’s in there. This is the piece of shit that helped him escape,” Paradan’s voice seeped in, closer than I liked.

  “Oh, ladies, why don’t you just turn around and get a drink from the bar? Or take one of these fine ass lady wolves into one of these rooms for some private time like your friend we’re just having a chat with. Looks like you’ve got some blue balls anyway from the weird ass way you walk…or…wait a minute, maybe you go the other way. I hear those werewolf guys are so big, it practically hits their knees when they walk!” Ryker said. His voice slurred every word, and I could imagine he was probably using the wall for support.

  “One of you please shut this disgusting Grudger up. I don’t know why he thinks he’s good enough to talk in my presence,” Paradan said.

  Something hit the wall, making the shelf full of lotions and gels fall to the floor and splatter. A low grunt came from Theo, who was very close to unconsciousness.

  “Come on out, Cade, unless you want your little friend here to die.” Ryker was shoved into the room with a Demoral holding a curved sickle to his throat just as the last bit of Grim’s blood entered my tattoo and sealed. Blood cascaded down the side of his face from a cut across his forehead. Two more Demorals came in, leading the way for Paradan. He looked down at Theo, his tattoo, and then me. “Going someplace, Cade?” His eyebrows arched as if enjoying some inside joke.

  “That’s none of your business,” I said as I slowly reached for the curved piece of metal that sat beside my leg on the floor.

  Paradan rolled his eyes and let out an over exerted sigh that seemed to drag longer than it should have. “She’s more my business than you think. You see, we need her.”

  The thought of him needing her made me furious. I wanted him nowhere near her. I hurled the piece of metal toward the Demoral holding Ryker, the point stabbing him directly in the eye. Instantly, he fell back into the other two and hit the ground, unmoving. I jumped up onto the back of Theo’s chair, grabbing the sides of his head with my feet before twisting through the air onto a table nearby, snapping his neck. I grabbed a near-by blade as the other two Demorals started to pull their weapons out, running forward. Ryker fell to his knees, tripping one of them. He then crawled on top of his back and wrapped his arms around his neck to squeeze. The other slashed his hand sickle down toward my mid-section. I dodged to the right, only being grazed by his weapon. The burning from the wound made my adrenaline pump even more. I swung the knife forward to catch his forearm from the block. Paradan grabbed my neck from behind, lifting me from the ground. The other Demoral came forward with his weapon, prepared to slice me from one end to the other. As soon as he was close enough, I kicked his chest with both legs, sending him crashing back into the wall. Using that force, I propelled over Paradan’s shoulder, breaking the hold. Before either of them had another chance to attack, I grabbed Ryker by the shirt and drew the Reaper symbol in the air. The portal exploded in front of us with a power that made us take a few steps back. After regaining our balance, we both jumped in.

  Paradan grabbed a knife from his officer and hurled it through the air. I couldn’t help but feel deja vu. The knife screamed toward my heart. Paradan meant to kill with the throw. Time seemed to slow as I watched it come closer and closer to end my life. One second before it hit its target, I used the guard on my forearm to stop it. Paradan’s gasp was a sweet sound. The last thing I saw before the portal closed, was the flick of his wrist, halting the other Demoral from coming after us.

  Eight

  As soon as we stepped out into Earth’s atmosphere, my stomach churned so violently, I doubled over and threw up. I had forgotten how traumatic going through the Reaper’s portal was on the body. It felt like being squeezed through a tiny vacuum hose at impeccable speeds that defy nature. Ryker was on his hands and knees, back to me, dry heaving. We were in a dark hallway with concrete walls. Colorful pictures, words, and symbols decorated the walls, while the floor was carpeted with balled up paper, food containers, and dirty clothes. Overhead was a constant roar and a sporadic horn blast beat down.

  “A little warning would’ve been nice. I mean, it wasn’t like I just got my head pounded on, and not to mention, the alcohol. I feel like I just need to lay down and take a breather,” Ryker said. He looked around at all the pollution and wrinkled his nose in disgust. “Where the hell are we? This place is nasty as shit. I’ll just take my nap another time, I guess.”

  “There isn’t going to be time for a nap anyway. And to answer your question, we’re under a bridge, in New Orleans to be exact.” He shrugged in a sarcastic way, before flinging his arms out. “A bridge is something the humans drive their cars on, and by cars, I mean their way to get from one point to another,” I answered, fighting the urge to draw the Reaper symbol again and shove him somewhere other than here.

  “Thank you. I’m not like you. I haven’t been here before. Although, I think I could fit in nicely here.” He laughed as he pointed at a spray painted drawing of a man firing a machine gun and a penis hanging out of his mouth. “Gotta love and appreciate cock art.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh at him and the ridiculous picture he was now imitating, minus the penis in the mouth. “I’m surprised you didn’t know everything about this place since you’re so in
formed on their movies. What was that you said I left on your bathroom floor?”

  “Just because I bootlegged Star Wars doesn’t mean I watched a ton of them. Hell, I thought that was how Earth looked with all those flying things and little cool ass robots. Obviously, I highly underestimated their intelligence with masterpieces like this being hidden away from sight.” He laughed so hard it ended with him wheezing.

  “You okay?” I hadn’t noticed before, but he was pale with sweat beading on his brows and upper lip.

  He coughed a few times and ran a hand over his mouth. “Yeah. I think maybe that portal kicked my ass.”

  I nodded and didn’t reply. I had never seen going through the portal do that to anyone, but I didn’t want to worry him over something that might be nothing. The fact was a Grudger had never been to Earth, so this was a first for both of us. I hoped I didn’t make a mistake by bringing him here. “Come on. We need to get moving.”

  Dodging pockets of sunlight through the cracks of the ceiling, we kept to the shadows as we moved. We were weaponless. I used the homemade one I had to defend us at the bar, and in the commotion, left it. Not that I was worried about having to defend us against humans, I’d just rather stay under the radar.

  After making a few twists and turns, we came to an opening. To my right sat a group of guys playing some type of dice game. Their hoots and hollers greeted me with an unsettling taste. Judging from their ragged clothes, these men made their living hustling the streets and the people who roamed them. Perspiration trickled down the side of my face as I tried to ignore them and keep moving.

  “Hey! Don’t ya hear me talkin’ to you?” When we didn’t respond, an ear piercing whistle screeched, practically bouncing off the supporting columns of the overpass. A few more guys appeared in front, stopping us in our tracks.

  “What are we gonna do, Cade?” Ryker wheezed behind me. His breath seemed to be coming in short spasms. There was no way he would be much help in a fight against all these guys. There were at least ten of them now, circling us, and spatting off curses in our direction.

  “We don’t have any money or anything you’d want,” I said, trying to reason with them without bloodshed.

  A pale guy with a beanie pulled low across the eyes stepped forward, pulling a gun from the back of his jeans. “Why don’t you let us be the judge of that, homeboy?” He pressed the barrel of the gun to my head. The metal was cool, but resonated a deadly feeling as it pushed harder the longer he held it in place. “Yo, Skeet, check these fools’ pockets.”

  “You really don’t need to touch us,” I warned. I was at my breaking point of trying to get out of this reasonably.

  His toothless grin grated against the last bit of sanity I was desperately trying to maintain. “What you think you gonna do? I could splatter yo’ brains all over your friend here. You wan—” He didn’t get to finish his threat. His reflexes were nothing compared to how fast I was.

  Before anyone could react, I snapped his arm with a single twist, causing him to drop his weapon. My elbow then crushed into the side of his temple, sending him forward to eat my knee. He dropped to the ground, his face a bloody mess. When I looked up, we had several more guns pointed in our direction.

  “Are you sure you boys want to play?” I asked. Fear was in each of their eyes as I looked around the group. I could smell it in the air like the sweet aroma of power.

  “No-no-no! Dat be no ordinary man. Dat be Death.” I turned to find an older man, leaning heavily on a knotted wood cane. The whites of his eyes had yellowed like his teeth. He shook uncontrollably as he stared, wide-eyed, at me.

  “Dad, go sit back down. You know you shouldn’t be up,” one of the group called out.

  He didn’t move. He stood, his eyes never leaving me. “I will not until you leave dis man and his friend alone. I don’t want to see ya die today, son. Please, do dis for me,” he pleaded.

  “Bro, just ignore the old man. We can’t let ‘em get away. Look at what he did to Sledge,” someone said.

  “Nah, we go. My old man knows what he’s talkin’ about. Something ain’t right with these dudes. Let’s go.” Two of the guys came forward and grabbed their friend under the arms and pulled him away as all of them walked away from us, back to the spot where they were playing their game.

  “Come on,” I said to Ryker. He nodded and started to follow me.

  “Whateva ya be here for, it can’t end well. Ya put everything at risk. No good can come from anything ya do. Just go back to where ya came from before it be too late to change it.”

  The old man’s words stopped me. Sophia’s face flashed into my mind. He was right. I do put everything at risk. What was I doing here? Izzy got away. She had done fine on her own all these years. What if I changed that? Without turning around, I changed directions with him still screaming warnings after us.

  Ryker trotted up to my right side. “You know he’s just a crazy old man, right? I mean, yeah it was weird he called you Death, but you’re really not Death. You’re just a Reaper. He must’ve just got some weird feeling about you.”

  His reasoning and attempts were not making me feel any better. I didn’t think anything could at this point. The rain drizzled down over the two of us. It seemed to cause steam to seep from the earth, making it even more humid than it already was. It stuck to me like a second layer of skin.

  “Crazy, huh? Well, that crazy man wasn’t that farfetched.” I darted in front of a taxi that was accelerating due to the change of the traffic light. Its horn sounded as the wheels screamed to a stop. I slapped the top of the hood as the driver cursed out the window and gave me the finger. It was weird being visible to everyone, having to avoid the crowds from running us over, but Ryker didn’t have the option of being invisible like me. Grudgers were never meant to be here.

  “How do humans stand this ratcheted ass weather? I’m gonna have to do some major work to get my nuts unstuck from the side of my leg,” Ryker said.

  His voice was higher than normal due to his whining attempt to change the subject. He was sobering up from the numerous drinks he had and was beginning to feel all the wounds that had been numb. He had somehow managed to clean the gash across his forehead and gotten it to stop bleeding as he chased after me through the streets. I ignored his question because I didn’t want to hear him speak again. Whining grated on my nerves, and it made me want to turn around a punch him dead in his mouth to add to his wounds.

  “I think I’m getting sick with this new weather change.” He sniffled and coughed a few times. “Where are we going?”

  I stopped and turned around to face him with such swiftness that he nearly fell down. “Look, if you want to go back, I can make that happen.”

  His brows pulled together. “I don’t want to go back. I came here to help. Besides, it isn’t like I could even if I wanted to. They’d have me killed. Remember, I helped a prisoner escape?” He crossed his arms as he eyed me.

  I rolled my eyes. “Fine. Just stop asking so many questions. I’m just dealing with a lot right now, and it’s getting on my nerves.” I hated to take my emotions out on him. After all, I wouldn’t be here without him. He was the only one willing to help me after everyone I knew abandoned me. Then something hit me and made my insides hurt so bad it brought tears to the corners of my eyes. No one needed me. No one loved me. In the cell I experienced what humans would call guilt, and I thought that was bad enough, but this was on an entirely new level.

  We walked silently into the gates of Audubon Park just as the sun had settled for a night’s slumber beyond the horizon. Torn wisps of clouds blanketed a full tranquil moon, while thousands of tiny stars shone as if they were cracks in heaven’s floor. A light breeze swayed thick, low-lying moss back and forth like a porch swing from the oversized tree limbs that turned and tangled into each other. Following the brick pathway deeper into the city’s touch of nature, I veered off before crossing a bridge. Carefully avoiding overly saturated grass, I managed to find a dry place to sit, j
ust under the cover of the bridge.

  Resting my elbows on my knees, I looked up to the sky. All the times I had been here, I never stopped to marvel at Earth’s true beauty, something Nekroun Earth lacked, or at least the parts I’d seen. “Ryker?” I paused, listening to his raspy breaths, waiting to see if he was still awake.

  “Yeah,” he finally squeaked out before erupting into a fit of coughs.

  I tried to keep my voice as even as possible. “What made you help me?” A Reaper in their normal mind would have stayed as far from me as possible. It was like signing a death warrant the moment you engaged in any type of communication with me, let alone do something like Ryker dared to do. Defy the law.

  He grunted and sat up, running a hand through his hair that stuck up in every direction. “Don’t really know. I guess, since you’re the only one that’s stood up against the law, I figured you’d be the one that set things right somehow. Don’t ask me how I came to that conclusion, I just did. It’s a nice thought to have things fixed, so don’t ruin it for me by saying you’re not the person for the job.” He smacked at his arms and scratched them harshly. “Gah, I’m glad I’m allowed to talk again. What the hell are these things buzzing around me? They’re eating me alive!”

  “Hardly eating you alive, but they are sucking your blood. I bet it taste a bit strange for them,” I answered, containing my chuckles to a minimum.

  “Vampires?” he questioned with such seriousness I fell to the side laughing. “Glad we don’t have them at home, but one thing I am curious about and will do before we leave…”

  I gasped for air, repressing my laughter. “What’s that?”