“Well, then, good for you!” Herakles quipped. “You’ll tell me all about it later, over dinner. Anyway, here we are!” he added, stopping in front of a greenery curtain. He pulled it aside, revealing a most incredible sight.
The earth sank into a small, bowl-shaped depression, smack in the middle of the jungle. Hundreds of trees guarded its borders, and fresh water sprang out from the bottom, forming a small pond before slipping between a bunch of jagged, blue rocks and back into the ground. Wildflowers and berries of all colors hung from the bushes, easy to pick. The surrounding tree crowns stretched over the depression, covering the area entirely.
Here, three dozen Faulties had found a new home, it seemed. They had several shelters made from sliced logs, tied up with strings of leather. My guess was that they gathered beneath them when the rain got through. This was a secluded slice of paradise, humid, yet not too hot.
The Faulties immediately turned their heads when they heard Herakles’s voice. The females lit up like Christmas trees when they saw him. Six of them broke from the group and rushed to greet him, but came to a grinding halt when they noticed us behind him. Amane did the smart thing and handed him one of the testing pens from the Draenir.
“Do us a solid and start testing them,” Amane said to him, her voice low as she gave him the rest of the testing kit—specifically, the disinfectant liquid. “Clean the needle with this, in-between.”
“Aren’t you bossy today,” Herakles grumbled.
“It’s only to protect the Draenir,” I said.
“Herakles. What… Who are they?” one of the females asked, measuring each of us from head to toe.
I couldn’t help but gawk at them. They weren’t too fond of clothes, from what I could tell, limiting their garments to slim rags around their waists and chests, leaving plenty of naked skin for the sun to kiss. Interestingly, they seemed to only have eyes for Herakles, who didn’t mind the attention one bit.
“They are our guests, Jezza,” Herakles said to the Faulty girl with lime-green scales on her chest and shoulders. “I trust you will all treat them as you would treat me. Before we proceed, however, I need to test you ladies.”
“For what?” Jezza asked, clearly confused.
“I’ll explain later, just do as I say,” he replied.
The Faulties didn’t object, and Herakles quickly pricked each of their wrists, cleansing the needles in-between the negative results. He then got a couple more testing kits from the Draenir and had one of the females do the same around the camp. She moved fast—I was impressed.
While the other Faulty ladies gathered around Herakles, swooning over him as if he were the single most precious creature in the entire universe, Jezza, on the other hand, upon a more in-depth survey of our team, and shortly after overcoming a brain short-circuit at the sight of our Draenir, Douma, and Amane, set her sights on Zeriel.
“And who might you be?” she asked, her voice sounding like liquid honey, as she sauntered up and over the depression’s edge to get closer to us.
My heart got twisted and tied up like a balloon animal, and it almost popped completely when I saw how wide Zeriel’s smile was when Jezza got dangerously close to him. She placed her palms on his chest, purring like a damn Bajang, completely ignoring the rest of us.
“I’m Zeriel, Tritone king of Calliope,” he replied.
“A king in our jungle!” Jezza exclaimed.
Two other Faulties were drawn to Zeriel upon hearing his title. Herakles snickered, and went down into the depression, accompanied by Omid’s crew and the remaining Faulty ladies. By the time I looked around again, the last of the camp dwellers were getting their tests. Given the shaking heads they were giving us, they were all bearers of good news—as in, no plague virus whatsoever.
“At least that’s out of the way,” Ben sighed.
He, Amane, and Ridan then took the Draenir down with them, closely followed by Dmitri and Douma.
I was left on the edge, standing there like an idiot and watching as Jezza and the other two Faulties had their hands all over Zeriel. It drove me nuts. I couldn’t bear the sight of him like this, and I didn’t know what I could possibly do to stop it, without making a fool of myself, or, worse, giving Zeriel the thought that I might be vulnerable where he was concerned. He had a way of weaponizing that.
“And what does a Tritone do, Zeriel?” Jezza asked, practically eating him up already.
Zeriel smirked. “A number of things,” he replied.
They gently guided him down and over the edge, headed straight for the pond at the bottom. I was left behind, simmering and doing my best impression of a straight, unaffected face. I wasn’t sure it worked, but Zeriel didn’t seem to notice. Then again, he was being ogled and hit on by three gorgeous Faulties at once. All of a sudden, I felt as though as I was… insufficient.
I huffed with frustration, then followed them down into the small depression, observing the others and making mental notes about each of the Faulties around. Herakles had managed to gather quite the diverse gang of characters. They carried different animal features, and they were all fierce and protective of each other. Interestingly, they also obeyed Herakles’s every word, as they proceeded to prepare a shelter for our group, gathering furs and fruit.
“You’re the outsiders, aren’t you?” Jezza asked, shifting her focus to me as I reached the edge of the pond and rejoined Zeriel’s side.
I gave her a brief nod.
“And what brings you here?” one of the other two Faulty females replied, constantly running her fingers up and down Zeriel’s arm. I would’ve loved nothing more than to break the ground open and have it swallow her whole.
“Well, we need your help,” Zeriel said. “You’re all crucial to Strava’s future, no matter what Ta’Zan told you.”
“Aw… You sound so nice!” Jezza cooed, resting her hands on his hips and gazing up at him. What really annoyed me the most was that Zeriel wasn’t doing anything to stop the Faulties’ advances. He wasn’t exactly responding, aside from the satisfied smirk on his face, but he wasn’t pushing them away. Jezza could practically drag him into the woods, and I had a feeling Zeriel wouldn’t object.
My heart was breaking, piece by piece, as I was unable to make sense of what was happening with him and the Faulties. We’d gotten closer over the past few days. We clearly tolerated each other, to say the least. The discomfort didn’t last long. In fact, it quickly turned into anger when Jezza took Zeriel by the hand and pulled him closer to the pond. One Faulty tried to take his weapon away from him, but Zeriel stopped her.
“You don’t want to touch this, honey. It’s not a toy you’d want to play with,” he warned, then handed the weapon over to me. He added a wink and a half-smile on top of that, probably just to piss me off. “You won’t mind taking care of this for me, right?”
In that moment, I figured out his game. He was doing this on purpose! He wasn’t rejecting the Faulties, particularly Jezza, because he knew it would irk me. The weasel!
The second Faulty took his backpack off, along with his belt and sword, while Jezza offered him a handful of fresh fruit. Zeriel tasted one fruit, and she watched him chew. There had to be something in the air in these parts of the jungle, because even I ended up staring at him—particularly at the small droplet of fruit juice rolling down his chin as he took a second bite.
“This is delicious,” he said.
“Mm-hm… How about a swim, huh?” Jezza giggled.
Zeriel didn’t get a chance to object, and I was too flabbergasted to even react. Jezza wrapped her arms around him and jumped into the pond, forcing him to join her. The other Faulties laughed and cheered Jezza on.
She was the first to come up to the surface, slightly confused as she looked around. She’d lost Zeriel in the water, but I knew exactly what he was up to. I’d seen him do it before, during some of our breathing moments by the ocean. I could even see his silhouette, his lower body morphed into his white-and-orange fish tail.
Jezza shrieked, then laughed, as Zeriel’s tail brushed passed her underwater. He shot out and performed a gracious backflip before diving back in, ripping gasps from everyone’s throats. Suddenly, all eyes were on him, and Jezza was even more into him.
“Do it again! Do it again!” she urged Zeriel.
He got out, instead, his tail shifting back to his two slender but toned legs, the wet fabric of his loincloth stuck to his skin. “Later, I promise,” he replied, smiling. He clearly enjoyed the attention, and it made me see red, all of a sudden.
“You’re something else!” Jezza said, jumping out of the water. Her scales rattled as she shook the water off, shaking like a dog from top to bottom. “Do you have a mate, Tritone king? If you don’t, I would love to fill that vacancy!”
Zeriel laughed, throwing his head back.
Before the other two Faulties could flank him again for another round of flirting, I did the unthinkable. My brain shut down and my heart took over, and I knew that I would no longer recognize myself afterward.
Zeriel stilled when he saw me close the distance between us. I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him. I’d wanted it to be a statement, to shock Zeriel and to push the Faulties away from him. Instead, my whole world was turned upside down. Then, it completely disappeared when Zeriel responded and deepened the kiss.
He held me tight, a low growl escaping his throat. My lips reacted, parting as his tongue darted and demanded to taste me properly. I gave up on my defenses, completely. I melted in his arms as we savored each other with hunger like I’d never experienced before.
My eyes peeled open. We were still on Strava, in the middle of a dark jungle. The moon shone somewhere above and beyond the trees, and Zeriel was holding me tight, his lips soft and pressed against mine. I pulled my head back, but it didn’t stop the planet from spinning a little too fast. I exhaled.
A long second passed in the most awkward silence.
“Sorry, ladies,” Zeriel murmured, unable to take his azure eyes off me. He didn’t let go. “It turns out I’m actually taken.”
I didn’t even care about Jezza and the other Faulties anymore. It didn’t matter that probably half of that entire camp was staring at us, and that somewhere out there, thousands of Perfects were looking for us. It made no sense to even think about anyone or anything, while Zeriel held me in his arms.
We’d just kissed—the result of my momentary lapse of judgment.
What the hell was I thinking?! I’d let jealousy get the better of me, and I’d done something I never thought I would. Funny enough, I didn’t regret it. Not one bit.
On the contrary.
I already wanted to kiss him again.
Elonora
I was becoming genuinely exhausted with fighting Ta’Zan’s winged and dangerously good-looking monster-warriors. Granted, we had the pulverizer pellets, but I didn’t want to go through our batch so quickly. Plus, this guy seemed different. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up straight, summoned by his mere presence.
The air was supercharged. I could almost feel the electricity pinching the tip of my tongue.
Cassiel was what Varga referred to as an “upgraded Perfect.” As if all the others we’d been dealing with weren’t good enough. Since we were still out here and still standing, despite these incredible killing machines hunting us, clearly, they weren’t.
I pointed my weapon at him, aiming straight for his head.
“I don’t have any time for this crap,” I said. “Leave now, or I’ll turn you into ashes.”
Cassiel chuckled, then looked at the rest of my crew, his attention temporarily grabbed by Varga and me. “You two are quite interesting. And biological siblings, too, if I’m not mistaken.”
“You’re observant. Congratulations. Ta’Zan didn’t screw up with you like he did with the others,” I said.
“Hey,” Raphael playfully scolded me, as if I’d offended him, too.
I gave him a sheepish smile. “You’re special.”
“Raphael. I’ve heard great stories about you,” Cassiel interjected. “My brothers told me about your strength and virtue.”
“You made friends?” Raphael retorted, his tone clipped.
Ten more Perfects emerged from the woods, all of them dressed for war—silvery chest plates, shin guards and arm bands. Their claws were extended, and their sneers told me all about how much they wanted to rip us to shreds, but couldn’t, since they probably still had orders to take us alive.
“Quite a few,” Cassiel said, grinning.
“Yeah, they’re not as scary as they used to be,” Varga replied, then gave me a devilish wink. My trigger finger moved, ever so slightly. I knew we’d talked about trying to reason with the Perfects before killing them, but these guys didn’t seem like they were willing to listen. On the contrary.
“Wait until I pull your entrails out while you’re still breathing,” one of the Perfects hissed.
Cassiel raised a hand to silence him. “Enough, Brother. We are to take them alive, remember?”
“They’ve been nothing but a headache to us and Father!” the Perfect spat. “We can’t possibly indulge him in this, not anymore. Cassiel, they must die!”
“Well, then, it’s a good thing that I give the orders here,” Cassiel muttered, his lips twisted with disgust. He shifted his focus back to Varga and me. “You should know that I was told to do my best to take you alive, unless the task proves to be too difficult. Will you make it difficult, Elonora?”
I rolled my eyes, already worried we’d be wasting more pulverizer pellets on these bastards. “I was never one to take the easy way out,” I said, then gave Raphael a sideways glance. “Think you can take as many of them out as possible, and we poof-poof the rest?” I whispered.
Raphael pursed his lips, then looked back at Cassiel.
“Listen, Cassiel, I don’t know you, and you don’t know me, but I’m pretty sure you’ll be—”
“Are we really going to do this, Brother?” Cassiel groaned, interrupting him. “You tell me I’m in over my head, I drone on about how much better I am than you, because Ta’Zan designed me as such. Then I tell you that there’s nowhere to run, that you’ve joined the wrong side. You point your snazzy weapons at me and probably turn me into ashes like you did with the others.”
I blinked several times, barely registering what he’d just said.
“Wait. You saw that?” I asked, my voice barely audible.
Cassiel laughed. “Yes. But they didn’t,” he said, then extended his claws and attacked the ten Perfects he’d brought with him.
We all froze and stared, while Cassiel sliced their heads off, one by one. When he was done, he shook the blood from his hands, and we exchanged extremely confused glances in a most awkward silence.
“Otherwise, they wouldn’t have joined me here. They would’ve flown back to base and alerted father about your nifty guns,” Cassiel continued, wearing a sly grin.
“What the hell is happening?” Kailani gasped.
“She’s asking for the whole group,” I added, unable to wrap my head around the entire scene.
Cassiel’s claws retracted to show his long and slender pianist fingers. He walked toward us, prompting Hunter, Nevis, and me to stand our ground and grip our weapons a little tighter. Raphael didn’t say a word. He was equally confused, but he was waiting to see how this played out.
I, on the other hand, didn’t have his patience. I’d dealt with enough Perfects to know that rarely did such encounters end in a positive outcome.
“I need to talk to you people,” Cassiel said.
“You can stop right there and start talking, then,” I replied.
Cassiel did as I asked, coming to a halt. He put his hands behind his back, settled in a relaxed stance. We didn’t scare him one bit. The weapons had absolutely no effect on his emotional state. He was well aware that I could turn him into dust, and yet, he didn’t seem to care.
“My father sent me out here to take you
all back to him. You, too, Raphael,” Cassiel said. “Though, frankly, I doubt he’d let you live if I did that. By taking the outsiders under your wing, you’ve crossed a line that most would never even think of crossing. For that, I commend you. It takes balls.”
Raphael smirked. “What’s your endgame here, Cassiel? You just slaughtered your aides, and you’re still talking to us. I’m pretty sure Ta’Zan was quite specific regarding the parameters of your mission, yet you’re all over the place.”
“Father and I don’t really speak the same language,” Cassiel explained. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m thankful that he created and educated me, but what he has to offer me is dismally insufficient. We don’t see eye to eye on a number of fundamental issues, including a Perfect’s role and responsibilities.”
“Cassiel, you’re not supposed to object to what Ta’Zan tells you,” Raphael replied.
“Shush!” I cut in. “Let the guy talk.”
I was definitely interested in what he had to say. He had me at not seeing eye to eye with Ta’Zan. The seed of discord was already there. All I had to do was water it, then watch Ta’Zan’s empire crumble.
“Point is, I don’t like what he’s doing,” Cassiel said. “I don’t like how he brainwashes my siblings into thinking they’re the only ones allowed to live in this world. I despise how he encourages bloodshed and pushes the Faulties farther out to the fringes. No matter what he says, I can’t possibly agree with what he wants.”
I breathed out, my shoulders dropping as relief washed over me. Cassiel had no reason to lie to us. There were at least three pulverizer weapons pointed at him—one was enough to completely remove him from existence. Looking at Varga, he seemed to be on the same page.
Cassiel smiled at the four Draenir, who’d quietly moved behind us. They knew he was more than they could possibly handle. He would’ve torn them to shreds and fed them to the turquoise tigers, if he wanted to.
“You four are a wonderful sight,” Cassiel added. “I’ve only seen photographs and videos of your species. I thought only four specimens remained on Strava, and those four are in Ta’Zan’s lab. I take it you survived the plague?”
A Shade of Vampire 65: A Plague of Deceit Page 14