“Sounds fun,” in the darkness of the doorway a man spoke, “can I get a beer first?”
Chapter 14
I twisted the cap off a Budweiser and placed it on top the bar in front of Jake McClain. The hunter looked the same as he had earlier, his blond hair cropped tight against his head, his eyes filled with mockery. I wanted choke the amusement from his face. “What are you doing here?” My eyes narrowed. “Did you follow me?”
He snorted. “Think highly of yourself, huh?”
“Then why are you here?”
Taking a long drink from the bottle clasped in his hand, he motioned to Nobody. “Who’s your one-eyed friend? Boyfriend? Lover?”
“He’s none of your business.” I wrapped my arms over my chest and pinned Jake with my finest ‘don’t fuck with me’ glare. In response he raised the beer to his lips and grinned. Stupid hunter. His smile widened, eyes falling to the swell of my breasts. I quickly dropped my arms.
Nobody caught Jake’s grin and rose. His eye steady on the hunter. “I didn’t catch your name?”
“I didn’t give it.”
Testosterone filled the room. So much in fact that my voice dropped an octave. “Nobody, this is Jake McClain. The hunter I told you about.”
“I see you didn’t take my advice though,” Jake said, pointing to my stained clothes and rat-nested hair. He waved a hand in front of his nose. “How is it possible that you smell worse than you did a couple of hours ago?”
I closed my eyes and practiced the art of deep breathing while listing the top reasons for not beating Jake to a bloody pulp. The list started with his saving my ass at the gate. I was out of rationales a second later.
“How Indeara smells is none of your concern.” Nobody stepped in front of the Jake, his face set. “She’s not interested in the likes of you, hunter.”
“Take it easy.” Jake held up a calloused hand. “I didn’t come here to woo your girl. Ivan and I have business.”
“What kind of business?” My heart sped up in my chest. Ivan knew as well as the rest of mutanity how dangerous hunters could be. They survived by betrayal and lies.
“My business.” Ivan stood, his skin vibrating. “Not yours.”
“But he’s a—”
“Friend,” Ivan said. The word sounded foreign on Ivan’s lips, like he hadn’t used the term in years. Thirteen years to be precise. “Go home, Indeara. I’ll call you in a couple of days. We’ll talk then.”
I didn’t have a couple of days and neither did mutantity. With each day that passed Resden was one-step closer to ridding the world of mutations.
“But—.”
“Go,” Ivan ordered.
“Fine. Goodnight.” I grabbed Nobody’s hand and together we left the bar searching the dark streets for HOA agents. A block up, I ducked into an alleyway.
“I knew you gave up too easy.” Nobody shook his head. “So what’s your plan?”
I flashed him a quick grin. “You wait here. If the hunter leaves before I get back, follow him. Don’t get too close.”
“I can handle myself.”
“Don’t be stupid.” I grabbed his forearm and squeezed. Nobody might be a giant, but he bled just like any other man. “I’m not messing around. McClain’s dangerous. Stay out of sight.”
Nobody’s eye flared, but he didn’t argue. “What are you gonna do?”
“Eavesdrop, of course.” I reached up and gave him a quick peck on the chin before disappearing into the shadows.
******
“I don’t want to see her hurt.” Ivan’s voice flickered through the rooftop air duct. The same duct I currently had my body halfway contorted inside, my ears straining to catch his every word.
“That’s not my choice.” Jake paused, his tone ugly. “It’s yours.”
“It’s not that simple, boy.”
“Don’t boy me,” Jake’s voice softened and a shiver ran up my spine. “I know firsthand what Resden’s capable of, and I’m fairly fucking sure, you don’t want your precious Indeara to find out.” He sucked in a breath. “Keep her away from me, from us, and she’ll be safe.”
“Easier said than done.” Ivan sounded older than I’d ever heard him. “But I’ll do my best. Maybe I’ll send her away. To London. She’ll be safe there.” I wasn’t going anywhere. Not until I found out what the fuck was going on.
“You think that’s wise?”
“I don’t think anything anymore.” Ivan coughed. “Now you watch your back. The HOA—”
Crack.
Underneath me the metal duct started to sway. Rusted screws and bolts snapped under my weight drowning out whatever Ivan said next. I yelp as the duct broke in half, sending me shooting down the shaft like a metal ball in a ghetto version of pinball. Preparing for a crash landing, I threw my hands out in front of me and screamed.
Was I supposed to tuck my head in my knees or keep my knees together and die like a lady? I wish I would’ve paid more attention in mutant-charm school.
My two-story descent took a couple of seconds at the most, but it felt like a year. I flew through the metal grate above the bar, and hurtled toward the ground. The floor rose up to meet my face as I braced for impact.
A foot from a busted skull and a huge dentistry bill, my free fall halted. Just stopped. Pieces of metal and plaster fell around me, covering my body in layers of dust.
“My luck must be changing. I expected it to take at least one date before you fell for me.” A laugh followed.
I glanced up, my eyes boring into the amused expression in Jake’s face. His thick arms were wrapped around my waist, and his hands cupped my chest in a way that was both suggestive and possessive.
I bit him.
He yelped and dropped me on to the dirty floor. Scrambling to my feet, I stood glaring at him. “Who are you? And don’t you dare lie to me.”
“Or what?” Jake chuckled, the whiteness of his teeth glinted from his dust covered face. He suddenly sobered and took an intimidating step my way. “This isn’t a game. Forget what you overheard. Forget Resden and the Resistance. Go find a nice mutant to marry and raise a brood of kids.”
Without thought, I marched closer to him, my eyes burning with rage. But something stopped me. Fear? An unusual sense of self-preservation? Or maybe it had something to do with the gleam in his mutated eyes. My blood heated, and I swallowed back an ugly commentary on his ancestry, anatomy, and arrogance.
He snickered. “That’s a good girl.”
That was it.
I pulled my fist back and sent a hard right toward his jaw. He twisted at the last second, leaving me swinging at stale barroom air. A muscular forearm enfolded around my chest, plastering my body to his. His laughter reverberated inside my brain, which caused my blood to burn.
Jake’s hand slipped upward, his fingers brushing the curve of my breast. My rebellious nipple hardened and a flash of desire flared in my stomach. What the fuck was wrong with me?
Leaning down, Jake brushed his lips across mine. When he pulled away his grin suggested he knew exactly what I was feeling. The rat bastard.
“Don’t patronize me. I’m not some little bit of fluffy happy to be fondled by a big, bad hunter.” I shoved him away. “Kiss me again and your groping days are over.”
“Look what you did to my bar,” Ivan said interrupting Jake and my interlude. I glanced around. Broken ceiling tiles, years of cigarette dust, and some type of asbestos lay scattered around us. My eyes met Ivan’s and I blushed.
“Sorry.”
“Sorry? Sorry!” He shook his rapidly growing red head. “That’s all you can say? How am I supposed to get this cleaned up in time for tonight’s match? What’s wrong with you, girl?”
“I’ll get the broom,” I said, and wandered off in search of a way to right the mess my life had suddenly become.
Chapter 15
A couple of hours later, covered in dried sewer gunk and smelling like pickled barroom eggs, I crossed the street and knocked on the front door of
a two-story brick house in one of the few decent sections of Mutant City.
A woman answered, her large green eye examining me from head to toe. The curl of her upper lip mimicked her disgust, but I hadn’t expected a friendly welcome from Nobody’s mother. In fact, in the hundreds of times we’d met in the past, she’d yet to call me by name.
“What do you want?” Her wrinkled hand clutched the doorframe, like at any moment I would force my way past and destroy her ghastly collection of clown figurines.
With effort my lips curved into a polite smile. “Is Nobody here?”
Her long, thick eyebrow rose. “When are you going to stop dragging my poor son into your Stannum drama? He’s a good boy.” My grin widened. Calling Nobody a ‘boy’ was like referring to the Big Bad Wolf as a harmless puppy with a taste for granny-steaks. Mrs. Nobody continued, “You’ve cost him his career, his friends, and the love of his life. What do you have to say for yourself?”
What I wanted to say and what I said was vastly different. I wanted to scream at her, to tell her the truth about her son, about the man I knew, the real Nobody, not the bullshit ideal she worshiped. But it wasn’t my place to out him. Not like this. Not this time.
As I’d repeated a hundred times before, I said, “I’m sorry for ruining Nobody’s life.” I paused. “So is he here?”
She huffed, discharging perfumed breath into the air between us, which was an improvement over the scent rising off me. “Nobody,” she called back into the house. “That Stannum is here again. Haven’t I told you to keep her away from my house? What will the neighbors think?”
The heavy tread of Nobody’s boots echoed in the archway. “Don’t worry. I’ll tell them she’s collecting donations for a cult,” he said as he pulled the front door open, and his mother disappeared inside the house.
“What happened to you?” he asked, waving to the front porch swing dangling to the right of the door. I brushed at my pants and sat. The swing swayed slightly under my weight.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
He shrugged his massive shoulders. “Fair enough.”
“That son-of-a-bitch.” I pounded my fist into my hand. “He orders me around like a child, and then dares to kiss me. If I ever see his sorry face again, I’m gonna—.”
“Ivan kissed you?” Nobody sat on the swing, sending it rocking dangerously backward. “I knew the old man had bad eye sight, but to try and kiss you?” He gave a shiver. “What was he thinking?”
I slugged him in the arm popping two of my knuckles. “Ow.” I rubbed my hand and smacked him again. “Shut up. You know who I’m talking about.”
“Yeah I do.” He grinned. “So what’s the problem? The hunter likes you. Use that, and find out what he knows. If he’s working for the HOA he might know something about the vaccine.”
“True.”
“And if he doesn’t, you’ll still get laid and stop being such a bitch.” He paused, the moonlight reflecting off his shiny teeth. “It’s a win win for us all.”
I ignored his attempt at humor. “I think he’s part of the Resistance. Or at least knows how to contact them.”
“That makes him more dangerous.”
I silently agreed. If Jake McClain held the secrets of the Resistance he’d do anything to protect them. Kill or die, it wouldn’t matter to him.
“But if he is part—,” I began, but was interrupted by the front door swinging open and Caren barreling through it. Her bright eyes shone like processed uranium in the darkness.
“Hi Indeara,” she said, dancing back and forth across the patio. “Did you find me mum?”
Damn. In all the recent drama I’d forgotten my promise to Caren. Mei’s extended absence suggested more than a one nighter turned weekend affair. That and our recent encounter with an annoying pack of smelly reptoes. I doubted Mei’s disappearance would result in happily ever after, but I would find her. I owed Caren that much.
Nobody patted the kid’s pale hand. “Not yet, sugar. But we will. Until then, you like staying here with me, right?”
“Yeah.” She shook her tiny shoulders. “But I wanna go home.”
I nodded. I knew the feeling.
“His mum smells old,” Caren whispered, glancing at Nobody. “And she doesn’t like me.”
“Then don’t like her back.” I winked at Nobody over the top of Caren’s head. He frowned, and shook his head in a ‘what the hell are you teaching that poor kid now’ gesture.
“Remember our rule?” Nobody grinned as he lifted Caren into his large arms. He hugged her tighter and tighter until she squealed with laughter. “Don’t ever listen to Indeara. It’s bad for your health, like eating roach-sugar.”
Bleep.
I glanced at Nobody and the annoying buzzing from his pocket. He frowned, and set Caren down before pulling a small handheld computer from his jeans. “Caren, why don’t you go ask my mom for some ice-cream,” he said, gesturing to the front door.
She looked at him, and then at me, her mouth forming the stubborn line of a preteen, but she did as Nobody asked. When the front door closed behind her, Nobody scanned his computer screen and let out a sigh.
“What?”
“Another message from Mutant L.” He pointed to the device.
“Oh, and how is your girlfriend?”
Nobody shook his head and shoved the handheld computer into my hand. “Not good.”
My eyes scanned his computer screen, noting the long list of names, and the heavy dark line through the first twenty of them. A hit list. A Resden Mutant hit list. Mutants captured and vaccinated by Resden. And those poor bastards they planned on capturing next.
“Not good at all.” I swallowed hard, fear turning my skin to ice. “Mei’s name is crossed off.”
Nobody nodded. “Keep reading.”
Four names later, a pain shot through my heart, nearly stealing my breath. “The HOA wasn’t after me tonight.”
“No.”
“What are we going to do?”
“We?” Nobody grinned. “We aren’t going to do anything. You’re going to stop Resden. And I’m going to do my damnest to help.”
“But—” I began.
“Forget it.” Nobody pulled me to my feet. “It’s time to go save the world.” He emphasized his comment by smacking me in the butt and quickly jumping back a few feet before I could react.
“Fine.” I pointed to the computer screen and the thick, black block letters that spelled his name. “But I’m going to kick your ass if you let them cross you off.”
“Fair enough.”
Chapter 16
I awoke the next afternoon, around noon, stretched, and smacked my head on a wooden sign hanging from the ceiling of Nobody’s childhood tree house. It read: No girls or humans allowed. He’d broken that rule in the fourth grade when he’d invited me to his tree house to clean up after I saved his ass from a group of annoyed ninth graders. A trend that continued most of our lives: Me saving Nobody, and him patching me up afterward. So I’d spent the night in a spider-moth infested the tree house, hoping to save his worthless ass one more time.
A few minutes before sunrise, I fell asleep watching Nobody and Caren through Nobody’s bedroom window as they slaughtered the last of the rainbow-colored unicorns in Cyborg 8 and move onto flesh-eating teddy bears in Cyborg 9.
The fear that had paralyzed me since seeing Nobody’s name on the mutant list faded sometime in the dark of the night replaced by single-minded violence. I’d kill every agent if I had to. Nobody would harm Nobody as long as there was blood in my veins. I glanced through the wood framed window of the tree house and into Nobody’s bedroom.
Nobody lay curled on the floor, his body tucked protectively across the threshold of his closet where a tiny Luna child slept. Nobody would be a hell of a dad one day, as long as I didn’t fail, and he stayed alive. I smiled at the thought of Nobody baking brownies for the PTA.
Some fates were worse than death.
Climbing down a frayed
ladder rope, I considered my options for the rest of the day. I had to find the Resistance and get them to help me destroy Quinn and his vaccine before it was too late. But first, I sniffed under my arms, I needed a shower, some fresh clothes, and coffee.
Lots of coffee.
An hour later, standing outside my apartment complex, I paused to scan the grounds for agents, reptoes, and any other creepy, crawly things out to do me harm. Seeing nothing, I carefully picked my way through the maze of broken concrete and termite-fly infested wood of the complex I called home and into my apartment. It had seen better days.
Clothes, furniture, and garbage lay strewn about the rooms. The HOA had searched everything, their anger mounting by the looks of the damage. I snatched up a pair of black cargo pants from the floor and a pink bra from the refrigerator. No sign of any t-shirts so I made do with a white tank top.
I took a quick shower, taking an extra minute to shampoo the fairy sewage from my hair. Squeaky clean and smelling like Nobody’s strawberry scented shampoo, I tossed on my clothes and stuffed my stocking-clad feet into my boots. Glancing in the mirror I decided my attire would do, for a nightcrawler. A cheap one at that. No help for it. I smashed my curls under a clean skullcap and headed for the coffee maker.
A missing coffee maker.
Shit. I searched the kitchen, living room, and bathroom before stumbling upon the wayward caffeine-giving device in a heap at the foot of my bed. I shrugged. Where else would it be? I plugged it in, fired it up, and sucked down a semi-warm cup of coffee grounds while contemplating the mess surrounding me. With any luck, the agents would return to burn the place down.
Finishing my coffee, I stumbled across the room toward my closet and its broken door. Ripping the busted frame aside, I slammed my boot-clad foot through the darkness, connecting with the back wall. Plaster shattered and a hidden cache of deadly weapons appeared. I picked up my M1911 and balanced its weight in the palm of my hand. It was a heavy weapon, deadly at close range. It would leave a hole the size of a grapefruit in anyone who fucked with me.
I shoved the gun in my pocket and grabbed a much smaller and lighter PM40 from its case. In a moment of desperation this gun would do the trick, but more importantly, it fit in the holster sewn into the pink lace of my bra. After adjusting my breasts to fit their deadlier roommate, I jammed twin dive knives into my boots and glanced in the mirror once again. I still looked like a hooker, but I now had twenty pounds of weaponry strapped to my body. It gave a girl perspective.
The Body Dwellers Page 6