by Leyton, Bisi
“Right.” Brushing past her, Bach laughed and entered the washroom. “I’m going to pass on your suggestion, but feel free to run it by Karvas or any others. You might find some takers.” He shut the door.
“Are you out of your mind? Do you not see I am beautiful—Bach?” she yelled.
His washroom was completely covered with deep blue mosaic tiles and in the center sat a ten-foot pool of almost boiling water in which he bathed daily. Before he could take off his trousers, the door opened and Maniko appeared again, still barely dressed. “D’cara, Maniko.” He gasped. “Why are you doing this?”
“You were right. I have been imprisoned with Beraz and the brethren for so long I am desperate to feel someone who has not been tormented for hundreds and hundreds of years.” Slinking toward him, she tried to undo his trousers.
“Stop!” Bach yanked her hands away with such force he inadvertently flung her into his bath water.
“Maniko.” Furious, Beraz now appeared at the door. “What is this?”
“Beraz.” She climbed out of the bath completely soaked, her short slip clinging to her frame. “This isn’t any of your business.”
“You’re mine, so this is my business.” Moving toward her, Beraz heaved her out of the water. “You’ll suffer for this, both of you.”
“Unless you’re prepared to declare a rabja, there’s nothing you can do.” Maniko struck as she wiggled out of his grip. “And seeing how Bach pounded you into the ground in Jarthan, I doubt you can face him.”
“You want me to declare a rabja over Maniko?” Beraz asked Bach. “You do know what a rabja is, right? Seeing how you grew up among the Dogs, I’m not sure how much of our culture you were exposed to.”
Bach remembered what he’d heard from the tales growing up. “Rabja is where you fight over a girl or something.”
“Not over something, but over a mate. It’s a fight to the death,” Beraz corrected. “And unlike before I’m ready for you. Do not—”
“I am not fighting you over Maniko or anyone. I yield. You win. Take her and keep her away from me.” Unenthusiastically, he raised his hands in the air.
“Vadda.” Marching up to Bach, she slapped him while digging her nails into the side of his face and stormed out.
“This isn’t over Bach,” Beraz seethed.
“Go.” Bach pointed to the door. “Unless you actually have real business with me?”
“I do want to show you something you might like.” Beraz broke into a run. “Try to keep up.”
Bach raced after him.
They dashed through the halls, out of the castle and down Sable Mountain to the villages below.
Hours later, they reached a village built into the foot of the mountain. In the rocky clearing, sentinels were erecting a wire fence. Several of them froze, petrified when Bach and Beraz appeared.
“They look like they want to run away.” Beraz chuckled.
“What are they doing?” Bach asked.
“I wanted you to see the first Terran cleansing center.”
“And now I have.” Bach started back to the castle.
“I thought you would beg me to stop.”
Bach kept walking.
“I’ve heard stories from the empirics that you kept a Terran or what do you say human?” Beraz remarked. “I wanted to see if you were milk-hearted. Of course I knew that wasn’t true.”
“I heard stories you were all tricked into sealing yourselves in Ajana by the First Pillar.”
“We were not tricked into going to Ajana.”
“Or was it the humans of the First Pillar who defeated you? If that happened to me I would be too ashamed to leave Ajana.”
“If you want me to beat you down, ask and I will oblige you.”
“Like you, I don’t listen to the Family’s stories, but if you want to fight me, fine. I’m happy to beat you down again. As long as you don’t think this has anything to do with Maniko. You can keep that crazy girl.”
Beraz’s face turned red and his eyes darkened. “I haven’t fully recovered from my time in Ajana. If I did, you would not try and speak to me that way.”
“Well, when you are 100 percent, nothing will change.”
A sentinel approached the pair and knelt in the mud. “Eminent, sorry to be so forward.”
Beraz paused and turned to the sentinel. “What is it?”
“We will start gathering the Terrans here shortly, but would it not be more effective to destroy them immediately rather than waste resources transporting and housing them?” the sentinel asked.
He made a valid point.
“Thayns know all your secrets. We will destroy them once we have gotten all we need from them.” Beraz answered the man to Bach’s surprise.
“I feel honored you were not offended by my question—” The sentinel bowed.
Beraz plunged his dagger into the man’s chest. “Pity, he seemed like a bright Dog.” He wiped the blood off the blade on the lifeless sentinel’s shirt.
“No, no, no.” A small dark haired Famila woman ran toward the clearing. “You killed my brother. You killed Vicenc.”
Suddenly, an older woman bolted out and dragged the first woman back.
“He killed Vicenc, why?” she continued to wail.
“Let’s go before I have to put her out of her misery too,” Bach remarked watching the distraught woman. She seemed eerily familiar to him.
Returning to his chamber, Bach was glad to find Maniko gone. He’d figure out how to deal with her another time. Right now, he needed to be alone. Taking off his shirt, he headed into wash. After he finished, he saw the doors to his balcony were open.
Someone was in his chamber again.
Bursting into the balcony, he found the dark haired girl from the village sitting on the floor with her hands and legs in chains. He knew her. Her curves and plump lips called to him, begging him to love them and even though the perfection meant he existed even higher above humans, he needed to be with her. “Wisteria,” her name escaped from his lips. Edging toward her, like a timid mouse opposed to an invulnerable Dy’obeth, he fought the urge to touch her.
“Please, don’t hurt me,” she cried weakly. “I didn’t mean to disrespect you or Sen Beraz.” Her frame quivered as he neared her. “I’ll do whatever you wish of me, just don’t hurt me.”
He stopped.
Her scent was off and this girl’s eyes were green—she wasn’t even human. She stood taller and thinner than his Wisteria, but the resemblance was uncanny. However, the more he stared, the clearer it became she wasn’t his. “How did you get here?”
“He—he—said to give this to you.” Shaking, she held out a crumpled up piece of paper.
Taking it from her, he scanned it. It was a note from Felip.
Cousin, I hope you enjoy the gift. Granted she is not Wisteria, but she is as good a copy as you are going to get, unless you get her yourself. Do have fun with her. Beraz murdered the last of her bloodline as you saw. No one will miss her, but get rid of the evidence. You don’t want the Dy’obeth overlords to think you are weak. You are welcome (and now you owe me one), Felip.
Bach disintegrated the note with his pulse. Kneeling beside the terrified girl, he broke of the chains.
“What are you going to do with me?” she whimpered, but didn’t look him in the eye.
“What are you called?”
“Me?”
“That’s what I asked.”
“Um, Dolors.”
“Leave this place.” Toying with her might be Felip’s idea of a goodtime, but not Bach’s. He expected the darkness in him to tell him to throw this girl off his balcony, down the side of the mountain, but it said nothing.
“I can go?” She rubbed her wrists and slowly rose.
“Get out before I change my mind.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me.” He grabbed her back. “The next time you ever see a Dy’obeth you won’t survive.”
“I—I—” she stammere
d.
“Leave,” he yelled.
She scrambled out through the balcony.
You should not have let her leave alive, the dark whispered. We needed this. “No, this is not what I need,” Bach said aloud.
Chapter Eleven
You shouldn’t have come back
The Isle Of Smythe
Garfield walked Wisteria to the gates of Amanda’s house after her shift that night.
“You didn’t have to come with me.” Wisteria adjusted the sword she kept strapped over her back. “I’m not completely helpless. Unless you want a reason to see Amanda?”
He forced a smile. “Have you decided what you’re going to do?”
“It’s clear I can’t stay in Smythe, but I don’t want to leave.”
“Well, wherever you’re going I’m going with you.”
“Garfield, you can’t leave with me. Your life’s here. Amanda and you have to sort this out—”
“There’s nothing to sort out. Life in this town is going to get boring if you’re gone.”
“So, this is about you then?”
“Yeah, I’ve got to look out for number one,” he joked.
The light in the house came on.
Flustered, Amanda opened the front door. She smiled at Garfield. “Hi, how are you doing?”
“Bye, Wisteria. We’ll talk in the morning,” Garfield muttered and left.
“I was meaning to stop by the wall to see you, Wisteria.” Amanda walked out to the porch. “I need to warn you—”
“Why? What’s up?” Wisteria made her way up the steps.
“We have a couple of guests.”
“My Mum’s here?”
“No, nothing like that.”
“Okay, I’ll stay out of the way.”
“Steven, stop. You’re breaking up with me? I won’t allow you to,” Hailey hollered from within the house.
“Hailey, that was over a month ago. I came because I heard about what happened to your father,” eighteen year-old, Steven Hindle shouted back.
“No, you’re trying to bang Wisteria. You’re so transparent and pathetic,” Hailey mocked. “Everyone in town’s laughing at the way you run after that fat loser.”
“Opposed to a girl who murdered her father,” he responded. “The whole island’s heard about that too.”
“That was an accident,” Hailey screamed at the top of her voice. “I did what I had to do. I’m a good person.”
“No, you’re not.”
Wisteria heard Hailey slap Steven.
“Your sister—” Hailey wept.
“You took Lexie’s gun and shot your own father. No one forced you,” he stated.
Infuriated, Wisteria glared at her friend. “Amanda, why are Hailey and Steven here? Tell me this is a joke.”
“Town hall kicked her out of her house and she has nowhere to go,” Amanda explained.
Wisteria backed away from the house. “Then, I’m going.”
“No, you don’t have to.” Amanda hurried down. “It’s only for a couple nights and she’s promised to behave.”
“Behave? Don’t you remember the way she’s always treated me? You were there when she and her friends attacked me and cut my hair. Everyday, she makes my life hell and you bring her here?” Wisteria fumed.
“I was being a decent person. Calm down,” Amanda pleaded
“Don’t tell me to be calm,” Wisteria unbolted the gates. “I refused to get in the middle of you and Garfield and David, but I should’ve—”
“This is my home. You can’t tell me who I can or can’t have here.”
“I thought you were my friend.”
“We are, but I’m her friend too.”
“I’m going home.”
“Wisteria, you’ll never get home before curfew,” Amanda called out. “Coles won’t let you get away with it this time.”
“Please don’t pretend you care.” She marched down the street.
“Ria, you can crash with me.” Steven spun her around to face him. The blond haired teen gripped her waist firmly. “That way, I’ll be sure you’ll be all right and calmer.”
“First, don’t call me Ria and second I’m fine.” While Enric’s advice to eat more acidic foods helped, it hadn’t cured all her symptoms.
“I’ll walk you home or you can stay with me, but I’m not letting you wander out here at night.” He stroked her neck. “Let me help you.”
“Steven.” Wriggling, she tried to get free. “Don’t.”
“Ria—Wisteria, we need to discuss what’s going on between us.”
“I’m not going to go into this with you again. There’s nothing going on between us. Go back to Hailey—your girlfriend is waiting.
“I came here to see if you were okay, not Hailey. I guessed you wouldn’t be thrilled learning she was staying here.”
“And you wanted to offer an alternative?” She snorted suppressing a laugh. “I’m not that thick anymore.”
“You were never thick. You were intense back then, but you’ve change loads.”
“Oh, I was thick.” She chuckled bitterly. “I was an idiot when—”
“When you liked me.” He ran his fingers down the side of her arm. “Come on, I was the idiot.”
“We’ve gone over this tons of times. It’s all in the past, and doesn’t matter.”
“Then why did we break up?”
“Because you wanted me to get pregnant.”
“Yeah, that was me being an idiot—again. Maybe I wouldn’t have said it if I thought you really cared about me.”
“Steven—” Biting her lip, she closed her eyes. She’d tried to care for him not because she loved him, but because she felt guilty for using him to break up with Bach and more importantly, because of his father’s death.
Two years back, the Family came to Smythe and turned several people into Thayns, among them was his father, Tom Hindle.
She felt responsible for not warning the town sooner. As a result, Steven’s father lost his mind and eventually dying when the Famila who renewed him died.
“Focus on being there for Hailey. She’s going to need it and leave me alone,” she told him.
“Ria—Wisteria, I hate Hailey. Seriously, she was a bitch before she murdered her old man. I’m surprised you and your stepfather brought her back alive.”
“If Coles killed Hailey, Lexie wouldn’t have come back either.”
Pausing, he smiled. “So, you do care about me, or at least my family.”
“I never said I didn’t care. I can’t give you what you want.”
“Because you’re afraid. I swear this time I’m not going to hurt you.”
“It’s not about you Steven,” she admitted.
“Bach’s gone. Let him go and move on.”
“You don’t understand.”
“Wisteria, if he cared about you even a little wouldn’t he be back now?”
“Don’t talk about him.” The last thing she needed was her ex-boyfriend disparaging the one true love of her short life.
“Unless—he’s dead.”
Angrily, she pushed him away causing Steven to fall back. “Get lost.”
“The guy somehow manages to travel through the biters unaffected and proceeds to take you to the United States for a vacation or something. But when you get back, and you’re dying and he doesn’t show? It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to realize that he’s either a douche or dead.”
“He...” She only wished it were that simple. “Good night, Steven.”
“Wait.” Pulling her back before she could get away, he drew her to him. “You deserve someone better, someone who can make you happy. With all the hell around us, don’t we both deserve a little pleasure?”
“There are—” before she could finish, he kissed her. “Are you crazy?”
“Wisteria stop playing games. You want to be with me. Don’t fight it.”
She jerked her head back. “What are you—?”
Before she could finish, he kis
sed her again, cradling her head between his hands. “You’re beautiful.”
“Steven, stop. I’m not doing this.” Pushing him off, she stepped back.
“Hey, calm down. I’ve stopped.” He raised his hands up. “Fine, but I’m still walking you home.”
“No.” She miss-stepped and fell over. As she scrambled to her feet, someone helped her up. “Let go of me Steven.” But it wasn’t him. “Bach?” Her heart leapt when she saw him, but he seemed odd.
His dark hair was speckled with grey. His eyes were no longer green, but now were bright yellow with no trace of warmth or kindness. Grimacing down, he wasn’t pleased to see her—almost as if he didn’t recognize her. Fixated on Steven, Bach stepped toward him.
This hadn’t been the first time he caught Steven and her together, but it was the first time she genuinely felt Steven’s life was in danger. Bach could kill him with absolutely no effort.
“Bach, I can explain—” She tried to block his way.
“You’re back?” Steven forced a chuckle as he moved away. “How are you doing man?”
“You have touched her for the last time.” Shoving Wisteria aside, Bach charged at Steven.
“Don’t,” she yelled.
Without being told to leave this time—Steven sprinted down the street.
Bach raced after him, almost catching up with the human in three paces, but before Bach reached him, someone jumped on him, knocking him down. With his supernatural strength in full force, Bach threw his attacker off and flung him past Wisteria.
While the unknown man sailed overhead, Wisteria saw it was Jason Webb, Bach’s half-brother.
*****
Bach had come to The Isle of Smythe to retrieve Wisteria, but seeing that human on her again, made him decide to kill this man. He’d gotten rid of the green haired man who’d tried to stop him and now Bach scanned the empty street for Steven Hindle. He spotted the pathetic human scampering over a fence. He was about to race after him, but his feet gave way under him and he fell.
“You shouldn’t have come back.” Lara Kuti kicked him onto his back as she kept a dart rifle trained on him.
“Stay out of this human.” He seethed. “Or your blood will be the next I spill.”
“I’d like to see you try, once I’ve completely saturated you with more bean vine.” Then she opened fire, shooting something painful into his chest.