He grinned at the way she stumbled over the foreign word she’d never heard before. “It’s very different from the religion you grew up with.”
“Yet I’ve seen you at kaltrium every week. You’ve never missed a single prútscype, or even been late.”
“Because Maten church is mandatory for us, and if you’re late, they take it personally.”
He spoke those human terms so effortlessly along with their native tongue that the two languages blended seamlessly together. Yet she knew the instant he used a human term by the harshness of its sound and the fact that it was completely alien to her ears.
Just as his species was.
It’s your species now, too.
That thought made her want to hyperventilate. Worse, it made her claustrophobic. The walls around her seemed to shrink as her world crashed in again.
And with that realization came another more startling one. “I can never go back home again, can I?”
“This is your home now. Sorry. Frayne saw to that the moment he turned me in.”
Not to sound selfish, but… “What has that to do with me?”
He gave her a look that questioned her intelligence. “Think about it, Daria. Your maternal grandmother was fully human. She wasn’t able to blend in with the Matens. Ever. So when your mother wanted to leave behind the colony where she’d been sheltered as a girl, it was my mother’s family who forged your mother’s papers and took her in so that she could adjust to, and enter, Maten society.”
Which meant that as soon as the authorities began investigating his family and their history, they would have uncovered that connection to her mother, and immediately homed in on her and her parents. Something Frayne wouldn’t have known, and a fact Daria hadn’t thought about.
One that terrified her even more as she realized what she’d been spared. The Dawners were merciless in their pursuit of the humans. Ruthless to a level that didn’t bear thinking on. They’d have shown her no pity, or any restraint, because of age or gender. Not even her high-ranking family ties would have been able to spare her their torture as they sought information about Josiah and his followers. Her Maten family would have all distanced themselves as best they could, and thrown her and her parents to the wolves for the feast.
And because she knew nothing, they’d have eventually killed her and put her remains on public display.
I owe everything to Xared’s psycho uncle.
But she’d never admit that out loud.
And as she sat there, mulling it all over, another truth slapped her hard. One she couldn’t deny and it crushed her soul beneath the weight of its shame. “I did this to us all. I’ve ruined our lives!”
Murdered them, in fact.
“Don’t you dare start whining like a human.” Xared used the Maten phrase he no doubt knew would shock her out of her fragile state. “Frayne was behind this. It’s his burden to carry. Not yours.”
She glared at him for his insult. “I shouldn’t have taken my position in HELL.”
“Stop it, Daria. This had nothing to do with that. Frayne used you as a means to get under my skin and cut me deeper. Had it not been you, he’d have gone to someone else.”
“How do you know?”
Xared sighed heavily. “I was an obstacle he wanted out of the way. Nothing would have stopped him from removing me. Had he not found my necklace, he’d have fabricated something. I just happened to make it easy on him.”
“Why would he hate you so?”
“Because I found out what’s being done with the humans they round up, and Frayne wanted to make sure I was discredited before I told someone the truth behind his family’s wealth.”
A chill ran down her spine at his ominous tone. “What are you talking about?”
His gaze burned into her with a sincere honesty that was haunting. “Last night when Frayne was supposed to meet you ...”
“He said he was sick.”
Xared scoffed. “Yeah, he had that part right enough. Only, it’s more mental than physical.”
His angry disdain confused her as a sick feeling of dread rose up. “Pardon?
He ground his teeth before he answered. “They got in a new batch of humans to review. He wanted me along so that he could brag and show-off his importance.”
Her stomach tightened at the way Xared said that. He was both hiding and trying to reveal something. “What do you mean?”
His skin had a greenish cast to it. “The Dawners raided our colony in Phoenix, Daria. What do you think they do with the people they find?”
Honestly, she’d never given it much thought at all. But there was one obvious answer. “Execute them.”
Xared laughed bitterly. “That would be far, far kinder. But it’s not that simple. Humans they deem attractive are a viable commodity. A highly valuable one. Exotic attractions they keep for their private clubs and collections.”
She shot to her feet as she struggled to hold back a wave of nausea. What he was talking about...
No. It was outlawed! Trafficking of Materians had been illegal for centuries.
But then, humans weren’t Matens. To her race, they were animals, unprotected by their laws ...
No one would care what high-ranking officials did with their human captives.
Her stomach pitched violently at the thought. This was sick and disgusting! Not even humans should be subjected to such a thing!
“And the ones they don’t find attractive?”
“They’re biologically compatible to us, and most Matens consider humans to be nothing more than mindless animals. Unfit even for menial work. There’s only one use our people would have for them.”
Spare body parts.
This was more than she could handle or accept. Her stomach pitched violently, and she heaved faster than she could blink.
Out of nowhere, a bucket appeared just in time for her to give in to the sickness she felt at what her race was doing to the humans.
Mindless, animals, or otherwise, the humans didn’t deserve to be enslaved or worse, used as inanimate replacement parts.
While she’d heard of Materians who sold organs and limbs they’d scavenged from felons or impoverished donors they’d underpaid for the service, those practices were frowned upon and often brought up for prosecution.
What Xared was talking about...
She looked up as her stomach finally settled down. “You’re serious?”
Xared nodded glumly. “They have no qualms about it. My mistake was having a reaction only slightly more violent than yours.”
“What did you do?”
“Punched Frayne in his smug, arrogant face and left before I throttled the rank dog.” Somehow Xared made the bucket vanish as he sighed. “I was caught off guard by the sight of the survivors and their wretched state, and Frayne and his crew laughing about their plans for them. Normally, I can hide what I’m feeling. Just as I can hide who and what I really am. But last night . . .” His skin tone faded until he was the same tawny color as Josiah, and his thick curly hair turned a deep, dark brown.
Talk about being caught off guard! Daria gasped at the last thing she’d ever suspected about someone she’d known the whole of her life. “Xed?”
He bowed his head sheepishly. “I’m what’s called a Shif, Daria. I can change some of my appearance at whim. My hair color, eye color and skin tone. But I have to keep a rein on my emotions or I default back to my birth appearance.”
“Looking human?”
He nodded.
She winced as she finally understood completely. That would get him killed in the wrong company.
Or in most company.
“When I saw the state of the survivors and heard Frayne laughing without pity, I felt my control slipping, so I had to do something to distract him. Slapping his ass silly seemed like a fair compromise. Made me feel exponentially better and got his attention on his bleeding nose, and not on whatever part of me might not appear Maten.”
“You’re an idiot.
”
“I will not argue that. Especially since Joey called me much worse when he found out what I’d done. That man really needs to work on his vocabulary. If there was a Ph.D. for innovative uses in the F bomb, he’d hold the highest level of it.”
“F bomb?”
“Kollen ti.”
“Oh.” She scowled as she attempted to conjugate that in their language and failed miserably. “Guess it’s harder to do that in our language.”
“Little bit.” He brushed his knuckles against her cheek. “So… you ready to leave the room and begin your new life?”
Hardly. Daria bit her lip as she considered what might be on the other side of these walls waiting for her. “Are there humans out there?”
He nodded.
The very thought made her even more ill. The last thing she wanted to do was meet more of them. In truth, she’d had more than enough already. Her goal had been to avoid them for the rest of her life, not embrace them as neighbors.
“Remember, Daria, you’re human, too.” Xed looked down his body. “As am I. . . and your maja. They’re as much a part of you as the Matens. And you’ve known us all of your life.”
Yeah, but she liked that part of herself.
The human part...
It was alien and terrifying.
Worse, it was hunted and outlawed.
Xared held his hand out for her. Just as he always had. Her heart fluttered at that action, and the fact that she’d always taken him and his loyalty for granted.
Trembling and unsure about any of this, she took it and braced herself for the coming nightmare that awaited her. At least she had one steady constant by her side.
Xared would always be her home base.
“Okay. But if something goes wrong with your diabolical plan, you’ll be the first one I feed to a Remnant.”
With a charming laugh, Xared offered her his arm before he did whatever it was that he did so that they teleported from the tiny room into another that was some sort of gathering hall where a large number of humans were lounging about in recreation.
Loud and boisterous, they were a terrifying sight, and she would have fled had Xed not placed his hand over hers to keep her at his side. Two humans to her right shoved at each other, while four more sat in a corner in front of a monitor and shouted at a small box for some reason she couldn’t even begin to comprehend. It might be for play or war. Or even some sort of mating ritual where they called out for partners. With humans, who knew? Their war, mating and play were basically indistinguishable from each other.
It really was like watching primates in a zoo. No wonder the original Maten ambassadors to the planet had been so unimpressed by their species. It was impossible to believe they’d accomplished as much as they had before Maten arrival, if this was how they’d behaved whenever they congregated.
Daria covered her ears as more noise erupted into shouting at what was either revelry or war, and someone turned up loud music to drown it out.
Xared tsked at her reaction. “It’s okay, Daria. They live unrestrained and there’s nothing wrong with that. You’ll get used to it.”
Doubtful. “Restraint is good!”
He smiled as he caught some object a human threw at them, and returned it with a toss at the woman who’d tried to hit her. “Sometimes. But cutting loose also has its merits.”
She frowned. “Cutting loose?”
“Having fun.”
Fun and pain must be synonymous in the human culture. Which explained a lot, now that she thought about it.
“Who’s the Drab, Xed?”
Xared growled at the handsome teen male who eyed her with disdain. The human wore his long straight back hair pulled back into a messy ponytail, and was dressed black on black in clothes that were crumpled and peculiar in style. Had he been attacked by another of his species?
The sleeves of his shirt and jacket seemed to have been ripped off by someone or something, though why he’d choose to continue to wear them after his attack, and not seek replacements, she couldn’t imagine. Was that some sort of badge of honor among their culture?
“Careful, Coyote. Your inner asshole’s showing. Better rope it in, buddy, before it takes over your entire personality.” Xed tsked. “Oh wait, I’m too late. It already has.”
Coyote snorted. “Why should I, when I’m the only other person I ever get along with or like? Besides, not like I called her a puta.”
Daria had no idea what that was, but as the human walked off and Xared drew back as if to strike him, she had a feeling it must be some sort of insult. Especially when another girl caught Xed’s hand and tsked.
“Diego’s not worth it, zaychik. Don’t let him skin you.”
Xared’s features softened in a way Daria had never seen them do before. And she wondered why as she stared at the strangest looking girl she’d ever seen. Her skin was so pale that it practically glowed. And like her skin, her hair was snow-white. As if neither had any pigment whatsoever. More than that, her eyes were the same pale color, only they weren’t exactly white. Rather the iris and pupil were crisscrossed with tiny, faint black lines that formed a geometric pattern. A pattern that was almost hypnotic to look into.
Daria blinked so as not to be captured by those eyes or to stare at her peculiar coloring. Coloring that only made her already beautiful features even more exotic.
Alluring and distinctive.
“Zaychik?” Daria asked Xed for an explanation of the word.
“Little rabbit.” Xared actually blushed. Clearing his throat, he turned toward the girl. “And I think you mean under my skin, kroshka.”
She smiled warmly. “Da. Of course.”
Xared took the girl’s hand and led it toward Daria’s. “Daria, this is my girlfriend, Zoya.”
Girlfriend? That term hit her a lot harder than she’d have imagined. And it left her stomach twisted with an unexpected cruel jealousy she didn’t want to think about.
Zoya let out a soft heart-felt sigh. “This is the Daria?”
“The same.”
Zoya grabbed her into a tight hug. “Is so great to finally meet you, mishka! Xared has talked so much about you that I feel as if we are family already.”
Yet he’d never mentioned her to Daria. Not even in passing. Nor had he mentioned that he had someone else in his life.
And she noticed that Zoya touched her as if she were using her fingertips to see her features. “Are you blind?”
She bit her lip at Daria’s question. “Not exactly.”
“Zoya sees in a different light spectrum.”
“That’s a polite way for saying that she can summon and see the dead around us, but that our features are blurry to her sight.” Lobo moved to stand next to Zoya. “In our little cocoon of freaks here, Zoya is royalty.”
Zoya chided him. “You are scaring our new friend, Jesse.”
He grimaced at Zoya’s words. “Lobo, if you please. You know how much I hate that other name.”
“Forgive me.” Zoya inclined her head to him, but her tone brooked no apology.
Suddenly, Daria became aware of the number of heads that had turned toward her in sudden interest. Their eyes penetrated her skin and seared her soul with mutual hatred and disdain.
Swallowing hard, she stepped closer to Xared. “What’s going on?”
An empty shoe flew at her head, and would have struck her had Xared not deflected it, too, just in time. “Hey!” he shouted.
“Hey, nothing,” a tall black-haired boy snarled. “Have you seen the feed?”
Xared shook his head.
“We just lost an entire team because of her.” A girl stood and acted as if she was about to launch a chair in their direction.
Xed lifted his hand as if he controlled the chair from a distance. “Pardon?”
The monitor the humans were playing on switched channels to show the news. It took Daria a moment to understand what she was looking at—the smoldering remains of some kind of vehicle that had been bomb
ed beyond all recognition.
“Again, for those just joining us. The human who calls himself The Crow posted more incendiary rhetoric online last night. Today, it’s incited numerous riots that have resulted in this latest attack on one of our military convoys as it moved through the Czazan Sector.”
The camera panned to show the wreckage behind the reporter, then flashed to show Frayne’s mother as she addressed the news crowd with her well-rehearsed speech.
“Have no fear. This is but a pocket group of rebels, and they will be dealt with swiftly and mercilessly. We’ve already found the sympathizers who were aiding them, and they are in custody. I assure you, no one will escape our justice and there will be no more civil war between Matens fought because of humanity.”
Daria gasped as she saw images of her parents on the screen.
“Any Stazens found among us must be reported immediately for interrogation as they are now deemed a national threat and allies to our enemies. Note that we will not tolerate such behavior! From anyone! Humans are a plague upon this entire planet and we are here to make sure that we eradicate all such threats from our society, and that their aggression and species will not be allowed to thrive or survive among us. We are a peaceful race and if we must kill for our peace, we will do so. We didn’t want to resort to their level of violence, but we will not shirk from it. Crow declared war on us, and so we answer it with our own proclamation. Humans take note—we will not rest until the last of you is gone from our planet. Your days here are finished. Accept your fate and our supremacy.”
Suddenly, Daria felt the hatred and disdain of every human in the room roll toward her like a tangible flood. Overwhelming. Bitter.
Terrifying.
It threatened to drag her under and swallow her whole. Bile rose up in her throat as everything swam. Fear paralyzed her entire body.
Xared placed his hand on her shoulder to steady her.
“She’s not your enemy.” That deep, resonant tone shocked her as she realized it wasn’t Xared’s hand she felt. It was Josiah’s. He was the one standing there, keeping her upright.
Keeping the others from attacking her.
His unexpected defense startled her and left her reeling. Why would he do such a thing when he hated her kind as much as she hated his? It made no sense. Yet there he stood without hesitation.
Insurrection [Nevermore] Page 4