by S King
Clenching my teeth, I steeled my nerves and just stared at him.
“Look,” Dristan went back to breaking Sanjay like a pretzel, “I’m not saying you have to marry her, or you have to protect her at every turn. All I’m saying is your secret is safe with me. Ok?”
Turning my attention back to the alley opening, I stayed silent. Dristan wasn’t far off from the truth; hell, he had been my best friend since we got into high school together. Of course, our high school was totally different from that of someone currently working a nine-to-five, but still.
We trained together and had even been lab partners when the scientists were testing our strengths and weaknesses. So, did it really surprise me that he knew I felt something—whatever that may be—for Luminous River? Absolutely not. Did I appreciate him for being honest with me about keeping his mouth shut on the subject outside of ourselves? Hell yes.
Still, I didn’t want to think about what the night had brought on, because in reality the only beneficial thing that had happened was getting Luminous’s word on defending me in the courts. Granted, I did get to see her.
“You ready? Or do you want to keep standing there daydreaming about her?” Dristan asked, having already stuffed Sanjay in a compact body bag meant for a child victim.
“You’re skating on thin ice,” I warned, pushing off the brick.
“Yeah, but I look good skating on the ice,” he wiggled his eyebrows at me.
I shook my head at him, falling silent. This was yet another night of Dristan being the same clown he had always been and was trying to perk my mood up.
By the time we had ditched Sanjay’s body and cleaned up anything that would have a connection to us, Dristan had gotten the bright idea to go to a nightclub for a drink, or two. Even though I wasn’t in the most pleasant of moods for clubbing and drinking, I had agreed and followed him down the beaten path toward the only nightclub.
Nine Lives Nightclub was a place only the experiments were allowed into. The owners, Maggie and Travis, didn’t care for the college crowd or horny raging twenties crowd from the daytime. So, to avoid the obvious drama with both crowds, the happy couple had spent nearly a lifetime finding a private location that couldn’t easily be found and keeping their business under the radar.
Thankfully, after a lot of time, money, and protection deals Nine Lives Nightclub was born and hasn’t gone anywhere in the last fifty some odd years. Black steel walls protected the fifty-seven-hundred-foot interior with only two doors being the only points of entry. At the front of the building, retired honor guard members stood on either side of the entrance, ensuring nobody from outside the guards or courts passed through the iron double doors of the front.
Unlike a normal nightclub, there wasn’t a line wrapping around the sidewalk or patrons loitering outside waiting to go in. Instead, the guard members just had to flash their badges and go in. Thanks to the courts abilities to hand down orders and the senior members of the three guards, the club never reached capacity and was never so crowded fights broke out.
Weapons were allowed, but as soon as anyone looked like they were going to start some kind of shit the retired guard members advanced and showed no mercy.
Ash gray walls, gun metal silver trim, black flooring and a speckle spattered black ceiling with inlaid disco lighting allowed the bright colors to bounce around the building at their own will. While a fifteen-foot long bar stretched from one end of the building to the other.
Maggie and Travis believed in employing retired members of the guards to keep the fighting spirt busy during conscious hours. At least ten bartenders manned the bar; five DJs were on staff, dancers spinning around in bedsheets above the dancefloor entertained those sitting in the small cut out alcoves and the waitstaff was never short. All in all, the club was a nice getaway from the violence we faced every night.
Dristan and I flashed our badges to the men at the door and nodded to them in respect as they waved us in. Inside, techno-pop music blared throughout the building while the disco lights flipped and danced in all directions. Off duty guard members danced and thrashed their bodies on the dancefloor, forgetting their duties for the night or celebrating their victories for a job well done. Others leaned against the bar, talking to members of their own sects or just passing the time with idle conversation to strangers.
I led the way to an empty booth tucked in the back corner of the club, close to the DJ booth. Even though we were off the clock and had done what we needed to do for the night, I still wanted to keep a weathered eye on the comings and goings of people within the club. Drama wasn’t in my vocabulary and I wasn’t about start using it now.
“What’ll it be D and D?” Jazmine, a Silver Guard secretary, smiled sweetly at us as we took our seats in the plush black cushion of the booth.
“Tequila and keep em coming,” Dristan slid his black card across the table after cracking his knuckles.
“No problem,” she smiled sweetly and scampered away with a flirtatious skip to her step.
She was cute in an innocent type of way and didn’t strike anyone as the violent type. With ice blonde hair, staggering gray-gold eyes, and a body that would be featured in an 80s rock n’ roll video, she was at least ten years my junior and had the mindset of a bright-eyed child. Still, that didn’t stop Dristan from staring after the girl even when she was across the floor and back at the bar.
“Why don’t you just ask her out?” I grumbled, watching the crowd of people on the dancefloor.
“Too innocent, if I had to take a guess, she’s still very much untouched.”
“And you don’t want to be a cradle robber,” I supplied catching sight of a woman on the dancefloor with waist length ash gray hair and a toned body that hinted at her ability to fight.
“Of course not,” he scoffed leaning back into the bench with contentment. “I need a dirty woman, one that’s going to make me sleep with one eye open.”
I frowned, tearing my eyes away from the watered-down version of Luminous and looked at my friend. “What?”
He smiled, staring at nothing, “I like my women crazy, the kind that’ll stab you with an ice pick just to get away with murder.”
“Have you lost your damn mind?”
“I don’t know, man, something about a woman who can go from zero to a thousand in a few seconds flat.” He blew out an excited breath, “I like my women on the brink of certifiable. The crazier they are, the better they are in bed.”
I rubbed a hand over my face and stared at the ceiling for a moment, “so you’re saying you want to be afraid of your woman?”
“Yes,” he said definitively. “Great sex, a woman that can fight, keep me on my toes? I’d never get bored.”
“No, you’d probably get dead.” I commented, nodding to Jazmine as she sat the bottle down on the table with shot glasses.
“But what a hell of a way to go,” he said snatching the glasses and bottle.
I shook my head and rubbed a hand over my mouth, tracking the woman who looked like Luminous. She was beautiful within her own right and I had to give it to her, she could dance.
But what was she really like? Did she have the same temperament as the one I really wanted? Could she fight? Was she scheming by nature? Or cruel by circumstance?
“So, apparently,” Dristan slid me a shot glass and leaned on the table with his elbows. “Svenia is up for a promotion.”
“In what way? She defied the treaty.”
“According to Ken-y, she took her punishment like a true soldier and didn’t complain. In turn, she finished her administrative duties in record time. And” he shrugged, “she hasn’t caused any problems outside of that little hiccup.”
“So, he thinks she’s a good fit for a promotion?”
“Deputy Sect Leader to be exact.”
I choked on the tequila as it went down and pushed the glass away as my body rejected the liquid fire. When the burning and blockage cleared, I stared at my friend.
“What?”
“Surpr
ised right? I was too, then again for the time being, all of that is simply a rumor.”
“On whose green earth thought of that?”
“Like I’m supposed to know,” he poured another shot, “if anything, I thought I would be the new DSL but if Ken-y and the others are looking at her.” He shrugged, “what the hell can I do about it?”
“The final word has to come from the courts. For now, there’s nothing to worry about.”
He grunted in acknowledgement and threw back his shot, “so, what’d Lumi say?”
“About?”
“Anything, I’m sure you two didn’t just fight.”
“Nothing important,” I started throwing back the alcohol one after the other and didn’t take a break.
He barked out a laugh, “did she try to execute your Diamond Order?”
I swallowed the hard liquor and stared at the dancefloor, “she said she was going to defend me to the courts, like I did with her.”
It was Dristan’s turn to choke on his liquor. When he cleared his own throat, he stared at me, “what?”
Lifting a shoulder, I rolled my eyes, “we’ll see if she does it.”
“What’d you give her in return?”
“I’d let her handle the red orders she was given.”
“You realize she can easily say she wants your DO, right?”
I shrugged, running my tongue across my teeth. “We’ll see.”
He shook his head, leaning back into the booth seat, “and you talk about me being into crazy women. She’s top of the list.”
“I take it you want her then?” I raised a brow at him and waited for his smartass remark.
Shaking his head, he closed his eyes, “no, man, you can have that one. She’s too much even for me to handle. I mean, the looks are there, but” he tapped his head, “she’s not right in the head.”
I smirked, staying silent.
At least, he was right in that sense. Luminous River wasn’t one to be trifled with on a good day and when she was in one of her moods, I had to wonder whether or not society would be safe without someone supervising her. Either way, she was gorgeous and no matter how much I didn’t want to admit it, I knew I could handle her.
Brushing the thoughts aside, I returned my questioning mind to the person framing her and me for the murders of our superiors. Someone was trying to make a statement and get a message across between the guards and courts. The questions now were simple, who and why?
Looking out over the dancefloor, I narrowed my eyes at nothing in particular. I was looking for a phantom, the biggest problem? Luminous and I were the ones fully exposed and for the time being, we couldn’t do anything but sit and wait for the culprit to reveal his or herself.
As we continued to sit in our booth a crazy idea came to me, the thought morphing a sly smile on my face. Maybe there was a way to bring out the person responsible for this shit show.
“Do me a favor,” I leaned over to Dristan and whispered my request in his ear before pulling back and staring at the dancefloor.
He raised a confused brow at me and crossed his arms over his chest. “Have you lost your fucking mind?”
I shrugged, “possibly. Are you going to do it?”
Shaking his head, he grabbed the bottle and downed half of the thing before coughing. “Yeah, I’ll do it, but I don’t think this is a good idea.”
“Well, you know what they say about karma and what not.”
“It’s a bitch and then you die,” he raised the bottle to me in salute and laughed as he finished off the thing in one gulp.
Chapter 7 Mountains Moving, Duties Changing
Several weeks had passed since my little run in with Demir and Dristan. Of course, it hadn’t been lost on me what I had promised the Gold sect leader. So, this morning I got the bright idea to make my way to Onyx Elite and stand in front of the judges to plead my case about Demir.
I had known what I was getting into when I had crossed over the threshold and started spewing my bullshit about how Demir couldn’t have possibly done what he was accused of because of X, Y, and Z. And when I was done? I was greeted with the complete opposite of what I was expecting.
To my surprise, the judges had regarded me with a somewhat look of appreciation type glint in their eyes. Whether it was due to my boldness to point out the fact they had tried to use the same trick on me just a few weeks ago or because they had never seen someone as crazy as me before, was up for debate.
However, no matter the rhyme or reason behind the looks, thanks to my psychotic arguing, Demir was no longer under the threat of a Black Diamond Order. In turn, he had promised to leave the orders assigned to Silver alone and swore he’d keep Svenia in line long enough for my sect to handle the jobs. A surprise, I’ll admit, but even with the granted peace headed my way, I knew better than to get excited about not hearing anything for the GG idiots.
The so-called peace I had been silently hoping for between Silver and Gold was shot to shit as soon as I looked from one face of the judges to the next. They regarded me with amusement after I answered a few questions and from their looks, I knew I had just opened pandora’s box.
In the split second it had taken me to let out a relieved breath, Judge Holt had handed down an order that would make me regret ever agreeing to Demir’s stupid plan.
“Since Miss. River would like to come to bat for the other guard, I feel it best to allow Silver and Gold to work together.”
“Fine idea,” another judge nodded in agreement.
“Miss. River, your point has been made and the judges will take into consideration your defense. However, given the nature of the crime along with your presence here, Onyx Elite has deemed it necessary for Silver and Gold to be on the same page, so to speak.”
“Meaning?” I didn’t want to shift on my feet—didn’t want to show just how bad their words were affecting me, but I couldn’t help it.
A tick of a smirk lifted Judge Holt’s lips for a second as he handed something off to Bobin Roxy, an Honor Guard senior member with a temper out of this world.
After Roxy took the order, Judge Holt leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers as he stared at me. In a tone of complete indifference mixed with a slight challenge, he said.
“From this day forth, you, Miss. River, and your guard will be working side-by-side with Demir Losett and his Gold Guard. During which time, the two of you will be required to find evidence to prove both of your innocence. Should either of you fail,” he took the opportunity to lean forward on the bench and smiled wickedly at me. “Both of you will serve a severe punishment. Do I make myself clear?”
I wasn’t stupid and could pick apart the underlining meaning behind his words. If Demir and I couldn’t prove we didn’t kill anyone unwarranted, we were going to be deader than our seniors.
Swallowing hard, I gave a curt node and a single response. “I understand.”
Snapping my mind from the memory of my conversation with the honorable judges and shaking off the feral smile Roxy had had plastered on his face when I took the order from him, I took a deep breath.
Thanks to making a deal with the devil fueled judges, here I was with Karina on the top of a parking garage looking over the edge at Demir, Dristan, and Svenia standing at their respective points on the street waiting for the cult leaders to make their grand debut on the sleepy streets of old town.
“You know what I find so attractive,” Karina frowned at the C4 pack and started digging through her duffle bag of goodies.
Raising a brow at her for a second, I looked over the edge again, “what’s that?”
“A man’s biceps when he’s above you.”
“What?” Taking a break from looking at Demir, I turned to her.
Zoning in on the bomb with her tools she nodded, “the way their muscles become strained to hold their weight up while they’re…” her gaze became glassy as she looked up and bit her lip. “The definition, how hard they are…” in a matter of seconds the C4 pack in h
er hand snapped in two.
Throwing my hands up, I grabbed my whip, “now look what you’ve done.” Scoffing, I stood up and shook my head, “if we didn’t need to handle this, I’d tell you to take a cold shower.”
Snapping herself out of her lust filled fantasy she cursed under her breath. “Damn it.”
“Exactly, now come on. We have more important things to handle right now.”
“I don’t know why we have to be on a damn rooftop anyway.”
“Because it’s better access.”
“To what? The grave.”
Rolling my eyes, I stepped on the ledge, “will you just come on?”
“No thanks, I value my life.”
“Karina.”
“You know damn good and well, I hate heights and you brought me up here anyway. Now you want me to jump off the ledge with your crazy ass? I think the fuck not. You’re on your own home girl.”
Taking a deep breath, I pointed to the roof access door, “just meet me down there.”
“Jumping off the damn ledge like I’m a damn bird.” She packed her things up and slung the strap over her shoulder, “you’ve got me twisted like Keith Sweat and I don’t even listen to R&B.”
“Ok, now come on,” I didn’t wait for her to continue her tantrum as I stepped from the ledge and let gravity take my weight.
I never understood how she could do everything she did but was afraid of a little jump off the roof. If she had paid attention during our aerial training, she’d know the move was nothing to be panicked about. The advantage we had with our current situation was the ladder welded into the side of the building. All she would’ve had to do was let the thing catch her weight.
Just to prove a mental point to her, I grabbed the ladder three levels below the ledge silently and slid down the rest of the way. Thank fuck for leather gloves. In thirty seconds, my feet were landing soundlessly on the snow-covered sidewalk below.
Demir and the others were still in their respective hiding spots and didn’t flinch as I leaned into the cement wall, waiting for Karina to emerge from the fire escape door a few feet away.