“Shiit…” Taryn looked at the black screen of her cell. “What on earth is that all about?” The unease was making itself at home as it weaved into the muscles across her back. Taryn got up and went to the bathroom, a hot shower might help ease her tightening muscles, while her brain tried to sieve through the last few days at work to figure out what she’d done.
After taking her shower, she grabbed the towel as she rushed to turn off the water and get to her ringing cell again. A second before she pressed the green button she begged for it not to be her boss again. “Hi?” she asked a question tentatively into the mouthpiece.
“Hey bitch, what’s happening?” Kylee’s voice came booming through her phone.
Taryn sighed with relief. “Well, at the moment I’m all soapy and wet, trying not to slip on my naked ass as I make my way back to the shower to finish my rinse off.”
“I know I’m important, and as much as the thought of you slipping on your naked ass amuses me, you could have just called me back.” Kylee laughed.
“I thought it might have been my boss again,” she replied.
“Again?” asked her friend.
Taryn sighed “Yep. I have an early meeting on Monday to discuss whatever it is that I’m in the shit for.” Taryn stood looking in the bathroom mirror, a dark blue towel wrapped around her wet body, shampoo still in her hair, and suds sliding down her legs. She looked like a complete mess, and if the tone of her boss this morning was anything to go by, her life was about to get far worse.
“Fuck! Sounds heavy,” Kylee said. “Oh well, you have two days ‘til your impending doom then. Get dressed, and we will pick you up in fifteen minutes.”
“I don’t know…” Taryn started to say.
“Even the death row inmates get a last meal, Tazza. Get dressed and let’s go.” Kylee hung up without waiting for an answer.
The words ‘death row’ and ‘inmates’ caused a ripple of fear from her past to creep into her already tense shoulders. Taryn’s breaths increased slightly as she fought the panic rising like an active volcano about to blow. Turning on the water, she dropped the towel and hoped the high-pressure water would wash away more than just some dirt.
I need a full life cleansing, and before Monday morning would be great. Throwing her silent prayer skyward, she ducked under the water and got ready to meet the girls.
A knock at the door and Taryn grabbed her bag, had a last quick look in the mirror before she opened the door.
“Hey ladies,” she said with a smile that didn’t touch her eyes.
“Morning,” Payton said from behind Kylee’s shoulder “Wow! You look so different without all the…” pausing as she was seeking the right word, “… glitz.”
“So, we have hit the next phase of our friendship, huh?” Kylee teased as she looked Taryn up and down. “Don’t need to dress up for me anymore.”
Taryn looked down at herself, she was wearing a plain pair of dark blue jeans, a red singlet, and her hair was pulled back into a high ponytail. Taryn only had time to put some basic makeup on. Fortunately, she was blessed with naturally flawless skin. She had accented her face with an American colored bandana tied around her head, the tips forming a small red and blue bow just off center. Taryn completed her rushed look, and just slipped on some white connies and grabbed her black backpack.
“Sorry, girls, maybe I should just stay…” Taking a step back into her room.
“Fuck no. You look like you need girl time more than ever.” Kylee linked her arm, and the three of them descended the stairs two at a time.
“I’ve been waiting for this day for months,” Payton said. “I haven’t had some of these foods since we arrived here over a year ago.”
Kylee nodded. “I got my stretchy pants on for a reason.” She laughed. “We are in for a treat, ladies. A taste of the homeland.” Kylee had been on a countdown for this day. It was the #ForkYou - Food Truck Roll-Up, the first inaugural western food truck festival in Tokyo. Little did they know that western food had, had a surge in popularity in Japan over the past few years. They had advertised trucks cooking everything from their childhoods. The flyers promised culinary delights such as tacos, doughnuts, waffles, pizzas, poutine, burgers, pasta, and everything in between would be available. The festival organizers had booked some local bands to do western covers for entertainment. Kylee hadn’t eaten all morning with the vision of getting a shady piece of grass, flopping down the rug, and settling in for an afternoon of food, music, and hot man candy.
Turning the corner, Payton smiled brightly as she heard the music playing. She lifted her head and smelled the aroma floating toward them. The smell of food calling to them like a siren calling a sailor to his impending death. The girls quickened their step as their bellies answered the call.
Taryn sat down on the patchwork rug that Payton had laid on the ground. “Leave your stuff here, I’ll sit for a while.”
“You’re not hungry?” Payton tilted her head.
Taryn shrugged. “Maybe later. Right now, I’m cool to wait.” She waved them both off. “You both go and grab something. I can hear your stomach growling from here, Kylee.”
“I know right!” Kylee laughed. “Bitch needs to be fed.” Grinning. “I’ll grab you a drink.” And with that, Kylee and Payton took off toward the food trucks.
Taryn was happy to have a little time to just sit and gather her thoughts. They were still stuck with her early morning conversation with her boss. She couldn’t afford to lose her job, not financially, nor with her work visa. If she got sent back home… Taryn’s breathing hitched with the thought of what was waiting for her on home soil. Slowly exhaling she tried to slow her increasing heartbeat. She just wished she knew what she’d done, and to what degree she was in trouble. Until Monday morning, she needed to try and relax and enjoy her freedom, it might be her last chance.
Volos knocked on Attor’s door, and upon hearing a grunt he spoke through the closed door. “Attor, suit up, we got a job to do.” V walked off without waiting. He knew he was heard, dragons have exceptional hearing, and his brother wouldn’t be able to resist being involved in something official, even if it was just to keep an eye on him.
Attor’s footsteps could be heard coming up the walkway from his room to the common area. V was waiting for him as he turned the corner. V nodded as he acknowledged that Attor, had indeed, done as he was requested. He was wearing black leather pants, a white shirt and a black leather vest that was inlaid with extra protection from an array of weaponry. The vest also had a specially designed back section that allowed their wings to release if they required a partial turn into dragon form without destroying their clothes. When the brothers were all suited up, they were a very intimidating vision to behold.
“Where are we going?” Attor asked.
“A festival,” V replied as he walked off.
Attor followed, they reached the transference chamber together, both turning in unison. V reached out and pressed the button. The doors shut and the chamber started to fill with water from outside. It wasn’t until the water reached the roof, did the door on the opposite side allow them to enter the open ocean. When the brothers had enough space between them, they released their inner dragons.
Attor closed his eyes and called to his true self. Feeling his heart speed up as his brain registered the familiar pain of his shoulder blades snapping and reforming into wings. The skin along his neck split and formed gills allowing him to take a large breath, and complete the partial turn. Attor loved feeling his wings as they moved with effortless grace in the water. His wings were of a marbled blue, ranging from dark midnight blue closest to his body and out to lighter blues and even a slight golden fleck on the tips. All the brothers had similar coloring, except Jo, he was a unique and rare mutation of pure white and black.
Attor beat his wings a few times as he felt the water resist him. This was where he felt the most powerful, this was where he felt he was his truest.
‘Attor,’ the voice entered
his head, pulling him back from the euphoria he was feeling in his own skin.
Shaking his head slightly. ‘Hmmm,’ he answered. And started gliding through the water following his brother’s lead. When in dragon form all communication became a choice of vocal or telepathic. Of course, underwater, telepathy was the only way to go.
‘The festival we’re going to is an observation only job,’ V said.
‘Who are we observing?’ the reply came.
V paused for a few before he said, ‘Taryn Miles.’
Attor stopped in the water, forcing V to stop and turn to look at him. ‘Payton’s friend?’ V nodded, so Attor continued, ‘What on earth could we need to be concerned about with some weird friend of your mates?’
V expected this question and had thought of a number of excuses to give him. He considered keeping his brother in the dark, hiding important information, thinking that Attor might jeopardize what he thought was important. Volos, however, respected his brother too much to play childish games and had decided that honesty was the only way to go. Explaining to his brother that the woman in question was wanted for murder, not only that but the cryptic circumstances that surround the warrant, and what intrigued him most being the point of contact. V couldn’t get it out of his mind, something about the way it was set up made his scales twitch.
‘Murderer huh?’ Attor snorted. ‘Remind me to eat with a plastic fork,’ he mocked as they took off together. For a brief moment, the two of them shared a smile, a fleeting moment of forgotten camaraderie. Attor had spent so much time fighting his inner doubt of his brother, but perhaps he was wrong.
‘We are just observing. Payton doesn’t know about this woman’s history, I’m assuming neither does Kylee. So, stealth mode, yeah?’ V confirmed that while Attor was needed to watch, there was no act to follow.
Attor nodded to V at the same time as he nodded to his inner self that V’s leadership wasn’t to be trusted. If something needed to be done, he would break ranks and do it. No matter the cost to him personally because as far as he was concerned only the safety of the clan mattered.
Attor couldn’t hide the smile from his face as he read the temporary sign announcing they had arrived at the #ForkYou food truck rally. Stepping through the gates, Attor’s stomach growled loudly, the smells of a variety of foods had sauntered up, wrapped its tendrils of aroma round his balls and begged to drag him into an awaiting food coma. “Tell me we get to eat on this mission of observation,” Attor asked.
V raised his nose to intake the aromas dancing toward him on the afternoon breeze. “Well…” He grinned. “It would be very wrong of us to live here, and not support its festivals.” Looking at Attor. “Let’s find the women first, though. Then we can indulge lightly in the…” he swallowed hard as he fought against his own building hunger, “… offerings.”
Attor’s mouth watered as his eyes spied a truck sporting the name Taco My Way. “V, they have taco’s…” His lip quivered slightly. “I haven’t had a taco since we moved… I looove tacos.”
“Fuck…” V’s tongue crept out and slowly wet his lips as he remembered the taste of his favorite taco. Heavy on the chili, heavy on the sour cream, heavy on the guacamole. He swallowed hard as he struggled with the hunger. “Girls first… girls, then tacos… lots of tacos.” He laughed. “This might, of course, cause them to be swamped with two very hungry, taco-loving dragons, who are more than happy to eat them out of home and tacos.” V laughed lightly. “But I’m sure they won’t mind. Money is money.”
Attor snorted his agreeance as he scanned the perimeter for the females they were there to observe.
“Turn off the light,” she snapped.
The room went black as quickly as it had gone light with the click of a switch.
“Thank you,” she said quietly. “I find the light is hurting my eyes lately.”
The sound of a chair moving and air expelling from the cushion, signaled her visitor had taken a seat in the room. “Time is running short,” the guest said. His tone was deep and darkened far more than the room they sat in.
“You don’t think I know this?” she quipped. “I haven’t slept in months. People just don’t vanish.”
“This one did,” came the reply.
“She has to have had help. She was a dumb pin-up girl. People like her don’t have the brains to vanish. Our best evidence at nailing them, and it’s gone and disappeared off the face of the earth.” Her frustration was evidence of a carefully planned scenario that went wrong.
“The interest in her whereabouts is coming from many sources,” he said. “Some of the interested parties are running out of patience,” his voice crept across the ground like an inky sludge, contaminating everything it touched with a darkened shadow of evil.
“Are you threatening me?” she said incredulously as she moved fast to sit up in her chair. “Don’t walk your lower than a shark’s shitter life into my office and threaten me.” Her voice grew more forceful with every syllable that rolled off her tongue. “Get the fuck out of here, and take your domineering bullshit with you.”
The sound of a chair sliding back on the wooden floor signaled he’d stood up. “The clock is ticking.”
“If you stand here one more second, I’m going to shove that fucking clock up your ass so hard, even a proctologist would have trouble finding it,” she spat. “I will find the little bitch. I will deliver her to you. I’ve never failed, and I don’t plan to start now.”
“See that you don’t.” The door clicked shut.
She sat alone in her office once more. A chill slithered up her spine causing her to shiver. She knew even if she turned on the light now, the room would still be darkened from the blackened thunder that followed that man around. She hadn’t ever seen his face, she didn’t need to, she knew what he felt like. That was enough to give her nightmares for a lifetime.
The clock is ticking, his words haunted her ears.
“Fuck,” she shouted, picking up her mug and throwing it against the wall. A shattering sound of clay ricocheted around the room from the force, gave her a mild level of satisfaction. Hiding in human form was proving tiresome.
Not much longer, she said to herself as she opened her laptop.
V felt his woman before he saw her, it was like a beacon that called him and drew him closer with every step.
“There they are,” Attor said as he raised his hand and pointed to a checkered blanket, halfway up a small slope. The three of them seemed to be laughing and eating, a moment that radiated a carefree joy, a feeling he remembered but hadn’t shared in over a year. Not since the… giving himself a shake he chastised himself. V had actually brought him in on a job. Not a job related to clan security, but it was something and allowed him to keep his true agenda hidden.
V nodded and strode off toward them confidently.
“V?” Kylee’s head looked up as the shadows cast by the two men’s imposing size blocked the sun. “Didn’t know you were coming.” Opening her eyes wider as she looked at Payton. “I thought it was a girl only afternoon.”
“He just called…” Payton shrugged. “I can’t say no to this handsome mug.” She reached up and cupped his chin with her hand as V crouched behind her. The bristle of his short beard prickled against her palm. Placing a soft kiss on his lips as he positioned himself to sit behind her, it allowed her to lean back into his chest.
“Give me the phone next time, I have no hassle saying no,” she laughed.
V placed his hand to his heart and dropped his chin in fake shock “That hurts, Kyl’s. And here I was thinking you liked me.” He quivered his lips to add to the effect.
“Pffft,” Kylee scoffed. “Look, I guess I think you’re okay.” She shrugged. “I’ll keep you around… for Payton’s sake.”
“You’re so kind.” V laughed.
Kylee lowered her voice as she muttered, “Keep you in a dungeon with the aid of handcuffs, a cage, and a pee bucket.”
V turned his head. “I don’t need th
e bucket, I can use the drain. No splash back.” He winked as they both laughed. It was something V liked about Kylee the most, her ability to give and take the shit talk. It was a shame she wasn’t a dragon, she would make a great warrior.
“We found the girls, V,” Attor said impatiently, still standing slightly to the left of the blanket. “My willpower is running low.”
V laughed. “Go, get your tacos…” He hadn’t even said the last word before Attor was gone. “He’s a growing boy.”
Kylee snorted. “Any bigger and he’s going to burst.”
Taryn propped herself up from where she had been lying on the side. She had her bag squished into a makeshift pillow and had tuned out to the music being played. It seemed weird to be listening to Coldplay in Tokyo, but being surrounded by hot dogs, waffles and pizza were just as strange. Sliding her glasses off she looked to Payton’s boyfriend who had joined them. “Hi?” she questioned.
“I know, right!” Kylee laughed. “He’s always turning up uninvited. Such a rude prick.”
V scoffed at Kylee. “Good afternoon, Taryn, we just couldn’t resist the food.”
“Mmmm…” Taryn said. “Something does smell yum.”
“Yeah?” Kylee said. “Feeling a little better?”
“No… still feel nauseous, but that smell…” scrunching her nose up, “… makes me really hungry.”
“What food has you tempted?” V inquired with interest.
Payton triggered what she was smelling. “Wait…” she sat up, “… not here.”
“Huh?” Kylee asked, her face as confused as V’s with Payton’s sudden peak in anxiety about food smells.
Taryn was lost to the smell. “Lemon meringue pie…” She licked her lips, her eyes closing as she could almost taste the vibrant smell. “With loads of fresh cream.”
V’s head flicked around the semi-circle of trucks, scanning for the one that was creating such a unique scent. His eyes locked on Attor, coming back toward them, loaded with a tray of tacos with a grin so wide the Grand Canyon looked small in comparison. Not taking his eyes off his brother he asked, “Is there a truck that sells that pie here?”
Depth (Apalala Clan Book 2) Page 5