by S King
“What?”
He nodded, taking a hard pull from his own beer, “I don’t know the particulars but when you sent us away, the order came in for one Inessa River.”
“Get me that order now.”
“Why?” He shrugged and looked around the private room, “it’s already done. You know how Svenia works, besides that, she left before you came out of the cell with Lovett.”
Grinding my teeth together, I stared at my best friend. I hadn’t known Luminous had a sister, let alone one that was capable of receiving a black order.
Diamond Orders were the worse for guard members and civilians that strived to be the most feared in society. But black orders? You had to be one satanic son of bitch that didn’t feel anything and had been able to get away with all of your crimes without even the highest of US daytime courts catching on.
I didn’t know what Inessa could’ve possibly done to get the black courts attention, but I knew one thing. If Luminous caught wind of GG executing the order, hell was going to rain down on the members of every guard and nobody would be spared from her wrath. Not even the precious judges of Onyx Elite.
“Damn it,” I hissed, pushing my way out of the private room and lifted my hood up. If it weren’t for Lovett sending me a single worded text, I would hightail my ass to finding Svenia in the hopes of stopping her from executing the order. Then again wouldn’t I just be opening myself up for more drama?
Pushing the thoughts aside, I marched my way through the sleepy streets toward the alleys facing Luminous’s apartment.
I didn’t need a GPS or a tracker to know where she lived; the courts had given me as much when they offered me an olive branch to save her. Not to mention I may have done a little stalking after the ball to see just where she laid her head and what she called home.
At best, the apartment was suitable for only her and in a somewhat decent enough neighborhood. But had I wished she lived in a house on the outskirts of town? Definitely, it would’ve made getting close to her a lot easier. Not to mention, I wouldn’t have to take a wild guess at what was going on in the hallways or stairwells leading up to her apartment.
Shaking my head, I cleared the thoughts away; I was getting in over my head with the entire situation and needed to focus on the problem at hand. Making sure Lovett fulfilled his end of the bargain.
I leaned against the wall, hidden in the shadows as I watched Luminous and Lovett stand outside of her apartment. I had chosen the alley closest to her building that would give me a front row seat to hear what Lovett’s excuse was going to be for breaking off the engagement. Of course, he wouldn’t say he had a Diamond Order on his head should he choose to do a stupid thing. Like tell his sect leader he had to save himself over getting killed. After all, Luminous didn’t know anything about the order and Lovett was on the selfish side by not telling her the truth.
A sick smirk covered my lips as I watched the elite member rake his fingers through his hair and look away from Luminous.
“What’s going on, Lovett?” Tonight, the woman in question wore her standard denim jeans, long sleeve tee shirt, knee high stiletto boots and leather duster. Her zircon gray ombre hair was pulled away from her face in a high ponytail and her face was free of makeup.
Lovett cleared his throat and took a deep breath, “I wish I were the one you wanted, but I’m not.”
Not surprisingly, Luminous stared at him wide eyed and tried to rush an explanation to what had happen between me and her at the club. “Lovett—”
“Just…don’t, Luminous, please. Just don’t, I see the way you look at him whenever we’re working on orders together and I know he’s the one you really want. Honestly, I’m not surprised, but I’m more hurt by the fact you think I’m that stupid to not notice.”
Now that got my attention. Standing straighter, I narrowed my eyes at Luminous; so, she had some explaining to do when it came to her feelings toward me. Granted, now that I knew she felt something I was able to understand why she didn’t throw a fit about defending me to BC.
“Lovett, listen—”
“It’s fine,” he shook his head and shoved his hands in his pockets. “I’m good, I just don’t want you to get hurt,” he nodded in my direction absentmindedly, “I’ll explain the rest to everyone and the blue courts. So, if they ask you for your side just tell them we decided against marriage due to the bylaws in place. Ok?”
Luminous bit her lip and stayed still like she was really going to fight for the farce engagement. Shockingly, she didn’t say anything as Lovett nodded once and spun on his heel, disappearing into the night without so much as another look backward.
Raising a brow at Luminous, I was waiting for her to chase after Lovett. It would only make sense; however, she simply let her head fall back on her shoulders whispering something before turning around and headed past me down the street.
Lovett had succeeded in his task and with it, made the Diamond Order disappear from the court’s roster. At least that was one issue adverted; unfortunately, now, I had to deal with the fall out of Svenia jumping the gun on the black order for Luminous’s sister. Great.
Chapter 13 Regrets of the Past
“So, Luminous,” my father looked at me over his wire thin glasses and raised a brow. “What is it the guard has you working on now?”
I stared at the steak knife in front of me and shrugged, “for now, I’m on vacation. I don’t know what’s waiting for me when I go back.”
He nodded, opting to say nothing else on the subject as my mother came into the dining room with a steaming casserole dish of something or another.
“What’s going on in your dating life?” My mother asked, sitting at the end of the table.
“Nothing.”
“Well how could she have a dating life, mother?” Inessa looked at me for a split second before staring at our mother. “She kills people that her courts feel are not worthy of living.”
“That’s not how it works, Inessa,” trying to keep my temper in check around my know-it-all sister was like trying to piss in a rabid dog’s face. Next to impossible and always ended in someone getting hurt. In our case, it was always my sister being the one to get hurt while I was the bad guy.
She raised a perfectly manicured brow at me from across the table, “you are a part of a team of dogs, assigned to kill people that have already gone through their due process in court. How is that any different than being vigilantes?”
Narrowing my eyes at her, I clenched my teeth and tried to bite back the details of some cases that had passed over my desk when I was still active. Instead, I simply stared at her.
“In my opinion, you and your team or whatever they’re called are no better than the people you murder.”
“Oh, look mom, the doctor wants to share her personal opinion because she’s seen and knows everything.” I rolled my eyes as I stabbed my fork in the green bean casserole. Maybe if I busied myself with eating this night wouldn’t turn to shit as fast.
Inessa had the genuine audacity to be offended by my words and stared at me, “that’s not what I’m doing, Lumi.”
“Yes, it is!” I snapped, “you always do this. Mom or dad asks me a question about my job or my life, I answer it and then you,” I jabbed my fork at her, “come along and try to tell me what an awful person I am. Or how I’m not better than rat shit in the gutter because of what I do.”
“Girls,” my father tried to warn, but a warning from him was like that of a newborn kitten asking for attention. Useless and easily ignored.
“I’m simply saying you and the guards don’t have the right to determine who deserves to live and die.”
“Oh really?”
“Inessa, Luminous,” my mother knew what was coming before it happened and dropped her utensils to prepare for the explosion.
“Is that what you think?” I said ignoring my mother and father’s warning looks.
“That’s what I know, Luminous. You could do anything and yet, you stalk the streets at
night like some,” she shook her head looking at the table, “like some thug in a gang.”
I barked out a laugh and smirked as I leaned forward and stared at her. “A thug? We’ve now reached the point of this argument to start name calling?”
“I’m not arguing with you, I’m strictly saying—”
“Calling me and my coworkers thugs and making judgements about what we do on a regular basis is starting an argument, Inessa.”
“How are you able to go to sleep at night when you’re killing people who have already seen the judge and jury?”
“Because the judges and juries don’t seem to be able to get it right with the cases I handle!”
“You’re not God, Luminous!”
“I never fucking said I was, Inessa!”
She threw her hands up and shook her head as she scoffed, “obviously you think that, considering the fact you take people’s lives in your hands with no regard to the facts. You’re no better than the devil himself.”
“You fucking bitch,” I clenched my fists prepared to fight her at the dinner table.
“That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”
“Isn’t it though? You seem to forget, when in doubt remain silent.”
“Who are you to tell me when I should remain silent, when you’re the one killing people!”
Narrowing my eyes, I felt the sick warning smile cover my lips before I laid into my sister. I knew better than to end this fight, especially in front of my parents. But I had had enough of her bringing up the fact I was doing something morally wrong.
Leaning on the table, I clasped my hands together and smirked at my sister as I allowed her into my sordid world just so she would understand why I was the way I was.
“You’re hung up on the fact I kill people for a living, right? Well, let me tell you sister dearest, about the last case I handled. Or rather,” I corrected myself, “person I killed who had gone through his due process. Forty-eight year old, male, never married, no kids and a sick son of a bitch out of this world. Take a guess at what his fetish was and why he faced death sooner rather than later.”
“Luminous, I didn’t mean—”
I shook my head slowly, shutting up her vain apology, “he was a not only a child trafficker, but he also raped kids—of both genders—under the age of ten before selling them overseas on the black market—”
“Luminous!” My parents snapped, unable to hear the brutal reality of what lived in the world they had tricked themselves into believing was a good place. Still, I continued.
“Not only did he get off on torturing people that are also your patients, but he liked to rape these kids in front of their parents and if he found them useless or if they screamed too much. Guess what? He killed them, then he went after the mothers, grandmothers, sisters, brothers, whoever he felt like going after. And when your precious justice system got the case because one of his flunkies got caught. Guess what happened.”
“Luminous, that’s enough,” my father warned, losing all of his color.
“Please Lumi,” Inessa had tears in her eyes for the very fallout she had caused.
“He lawyered up,” I pushed the limits of my mother’s nerves causing her to leave the table and run to the bathroom. “Those attorneys found every loophole in your golden book and he got off. So do not tell me I’m a monster for eliminating members of your society when those are the very kind of people you claim are getting their due process.”
I kicked out of the chair and stormed from the house, not bothering to apologize for the scene I had caused to my parents. I couldn’t stay here and listen to my sister’s preaching about something she didn’t know anything about.
Bursting out of the house, I took in gulps of air as the memories of everyone I had ever executed a red and black order on came rushing through my mind. The vividly, nauseating details of the crimes, how the person got off and how I was supposed to kill them, all of it was running on hyper speed in my mind’s eye. And thanks to the scientists, there was no shutting it off or hoping with a little more time the images would fade and blur to nothing more than ghosts of the past.
“Luminous,” my father’s voice made me jump as I tried to think of something—anything to take away the visuals I had been subjected to seeing and remembering.
Holding out my hand to him, I refused to meet his gentle eyes. “I’m not coming back in, give my apologies to mom, will you?”
Without warning he pulled me into a warm embrace and smoothed my hair down my back. “I’m sorry.”
His familiar Aqua for Men cologne mixed with the cinnamon cigars he occasionally smoked filled my nose as I closed my eyes on the apology.
He meant well, that much I knew, but the apology was a little too late. I was about to be thirty and didn’t have the type of stability and security my sister had in her life. Nor was I even looking for it. Honestly, I felt like a pawn in a massive game of chess and the only way to win would be my death.
Still, I didn’t want to worry my father on where my head was at and simply nodded, “I know.”
“Luminous,” he pulled away from me, searching my eyes, “you have to understand something. In order for us to live the way we live…the entire family had to make sacrifices.”
I frowned at him, what in the hell was he talking about?
“What?”
He cleared his throat and looked out over the lawn, “everything will reveal itself in due time. But” he looked at me, “your mother and I need you to know it was for the betterment of the guards.”
“What’re you talking about?”
“I can’t tell you right now.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s not my place, I may be your father but there are somethings I must keep from you in order to keep you safe.”
I opened my mouth for a second before quickly snapping it closed, “dad, I really can’t handle riddles right now. Ok?” I stepped back from him and raked my nails through my hair before hooking my thumb over my shoulder. “I’m gonna get going, I’ll see you in two weeks. Yeah?”
“Luminous,” he called after me as I turned away from him and pulled my coat closer.
“What?”
“Make sure he treats you right, ok?”
My steps faltered, forcing me to turn around to face him. Something was off, I had known as much when my mother asked about my relationships. She knew good and damn well I didn’t do relationships. I wasn’t the type to get the lovey dovey feeling and just didn’t see myself in something longer than a one-night stand.
Not to mention my father’s words only mirrored Lovett’s. He had basically said the same thing when he explained he didn’t want me to get hurt. Now with the only two men in my life mentioning the same thing, in the same night, I was beginning to wonder just what in the actual fuck was going on. I needed more answers now than I did for anything else in my life.
For one, who in the hell was this illusive he? Two, why was everyone worried about my so-called relationship with him? Was he really that bad? If so, why was I blindly going toward him? I shook my head, banishing the questions from my mind and tried to think of a nauseating riddle that would busy my conscious while I headed back home.
“Ok,” was all I said as I started to turn away from my father once again.
“I love you, Lumi River,” he said as if this were going to be the last time, we were going to see each other.
A smirk ticked on my lips for a second before a thought occurred to me. Spinning around on the sidewalk, I called out to him.
“Hey dad, do you know where I can find Inara Rasmussen?”
I had never seen my father lose all of his natural coloring, nor did I ever know him to hesitate when it came to answering a direct question. However, by the way he was staring at me, I knew he had information about the very scientist my mentor and second mother figure had mentioned right before her death.
A resolve settled over his face as he finally nodded slowly and said, “you’ll fi
nd him where the trainings commence every summer.”
With that, he turned back toward the house leaving me to stare after him and digest his riddle.
There was only place the trainings of new guard members would take place and ironically, I knew just the person to help me break into the lockdown facility.
§§§§§
I stared at my best friend as she wired up a bomb and waited for me to give her the all-clear to start dropping the things like flower petals.
“Um…Karina?”
She grunted, completely lost in her own thoughts trying to wire the explosive just right.
I made a face, motioning to her hair, “why is your hair…blue?”
She stopped what she was doing, pulling the strands of her ponytail forward and stared at them as if she had forgotten about dying her hair.
Snapping her fingers, she shrugged, “well you know, I did that god awful yellow and that didn’t go with my complexion. So,” she grabbed her skull spike and the bomb before standing up, “my stylist gets rid of the atrocity and gets it back to white. I told her to do what she wanted. She said what about blue? I said sure, because” she shrugged again as she looked at me with a sarcastic smile playing on her lips, “who doesn’t want to be a sexy, murderous smurf?”
I nodded, not wanting to find fault in her mermaid like hair.
“What you don’t like it?”
“Would you care if I did?”
“Not really,” she admitted and smiled at me.
I snorted and motioned to her head, “it goes with you, maybe it’ll calm you down.”
She barked out a laugh before lifting the air-duct vent, “right because that’s always the end goal.”
“Sounded like a viable idea.”
“True, so how’d dinner go?” She dropped the bomb into the vent and pulled out the remote to make the thing go.
“You don’t want to know,” I crossed my arms over my chest, looking over the rooftops at nothing important.
“That bad?”
“You know how Inessa is,” was all I said before the bomb went off and the front door went flying outward, creating the perfect entrance.