by Ashley West
“That much is obvious,” Nina said. “You’ve been practically glowing. We just want to make sure that he’s good for you and isn’t some creep just trying to get in your pants. What do you know about him?”
It was funny just how little she could actually tell them about what she knew of Khaos. “This coming from the people who wanted me to just casually go start flirting with the florist across the street?” she asked.
“That’s different,” Christina insisted, joining Nina in the doorway.
“How?”
“It just is. This guy feels different. We just want you to be careful.”
Well, they were right about that. Khaos was definitely different, and Kayla hadn’t really stopped to think about using caution with him. Everything they did just felt so right, and she was loathe to stop and try to think of all the ways that it could go wrong, even though she knew that there were a lot of them.
“I appreciate your concern,” she settled on. “And you know me. Impulse isn’t really my thing. I know him pretty well.”
“Okay,” Nina said. “As long as you feel safe with him and he treats you well, we’ll leave it alone. If he starts being a massive jerk, then let us know. He’ll rue the day he messed with you.”
Kayla laughed and felt a surge of affection for them. “Thanks,” she said. “I’ll be sure to do that, but I really don’t think you need to worry.” From what she could tell, Khaos felt the same way about her as she did about him. They had been sort of thrown together by him asking for her help, and everything since then had just felt good.
Khaos didn’t come by that day, but it wasn’t really a surprise. She knew that he and the rest of the Kaspersi who were on Earth had a lot on their plates just then, trying to figure out what they were going to do about the whole thing with the Vekosh. It sounded like something out of a television show or sci-fi novel, but the more she thought about it, the more she hoped that everything would be alright.
Since Khaos was busy, she stayed late at the office that night, trying to get a head start on some things and wrap up some paperwork that she’d been putting off to spend time with Khaos. It was high time that she picked another doctor to come and help her out, and she had a pile of resumes to go through.
She was so engrossed in that, that she barely noticed the rest of the office clearing out. Christina called a good night to her, and she remembered answering and getting up to make another pot of coffee, but other than that, her focus was on her work.
Kayla wasn’t sure how much time had passed before she heard the sound of breaking glass in the waiting room.
Her head snapped up from where it had been bent over her work, and she glanced around, heart pounding. She knew the nurses would have locked up when they left, not leaving her alone in the clinic at night with the door unlocked.
She listened for a moment, wondering if maybe something had been knocked over in one of the others rooms because of a window being left open or something. There were plenty of explanations for glass breaking that didn’t have to involve an intruder, she tried to remind herself as she fought to regulate her breathing, but when the sound of footsteps because audible, her heart rate slammed into double time.
Apparently there was no use kidding herself.
The office door was closed, but there was no lock on it, and she didn’t have any way out of the office without going through the door. Whoever was out there didn’t seem to be in any hurry, and she wracked her brain, looking frantically around the office for something she could use as a weapon.
If someone was trying to hurt her, her best bet would be to try and get to her car somehow so she could get help.
Carefully she reached towards the phone on the desk, wondering if she could call 911 without making too much noise. Maybe whoever it was would assume there was no one there and leave after they’d taken whatever they’d come for.
Before she could so much as reach for the number pad to dial the number, though, the door to her office slammed open, splintering around the hinges from the force of whatever had hit it.
When she looked up, she could see a hooded, hunched figure in the doorway, and it appeared that it had kicked her door open.
“Ah, it’s the pretty human,” the creature said. It was male, she could tell that much, and his voice was whispery and cold. “I was hoping for the both of you. So careless of the champion to leave you here alone. Do you want to come with me, pretty human?”
Kayla’s blood ran cold, and she shook her head. “I’d really rather not. What do you want from me, Vekosh?” It was a leap, considering she couldn’t see anything but red eyes and a hunched form, but she was pretty sure she knew what this thing was, considering it knew who Khaos was and that she was something to him.
“Ohoho,” the Vekosh said, inching closer to the desk. “Such a smart human girl. Your champion has taught you well, but did he teach you to fear?”
“Why should I be afraid of you?” Kayla snapped, willing her voice not to shake.
He grinned, showing off rows of sharp teeth that glistened with what could only be the venom Khaos had told her about. If it was strong enough to kill the Kaspersi, then she didn’t even want to know what it could do to her.
“Because, little human, you aren’t safe here. Or anywhere as long as our king wants you. Your precious champion can’t keep you safe. He’s not even here to save you now I don’t understand why humans hold such power over more powerful beings,” the Vekosh mused. “Maybe we’ll figure it out when we take you.”
As much as she wanted to pretend like she wasn’t afraid of whatever this thing was going to do to her, she had to admit that her body was shaking. What did they want with her? It wasn’t like she posed any threat to them, unless…
Unless it was really Khaos they wanted, and they were planning to use her to draw him out.
Kayla leapt to her feet, eyes darting around. If she could get past him, she could run out and get to her car, maybe find Khaos and warn him before something happened.
She didn’t know if her intent was clear on her face or if the Vekosh just didn’t want to take any chances, but before she could so much as round her desk, her arm was caught in a strong grip, claws scraping her skin as she was yanked close enough that she could smell the rotten stink of the creature’s breath.
“Not so fast, pretty human,” he hissed right in her face. “You’re going to come with me, and then we’ll see how good the champion is at protecting his own.”
“Let go of me!” Kayla shouted, jerking and trying to remove her arm from his grip. “Get off!”
The creature sighed and drew back his other hand, smacking her hard in the face. Pain exploded behind her eyes, and though she tried to fight it, darkness consumed her vision.
Chapter 10: Come Hell or High Water
Being the champion of the Kaspersi turned out to be a lot less glory and a lot more dealing with things he really didn’t want to deal with, Khaos was finding out. Especially considering he was on his third holo screen call with Calin that week, trying to remind him that he had no idea of the Vekosh’s motivations and that, for the most part, they didn’t really matter.
“They want us dead,” he said for what felt like the hundredth time. “What more motivation do they need.”
“But why do they want us dead?” Calin asked, and Khaos had to work not to throw his hands up and storm out of the room.
“I promise I mean no disrespect, Leader,” Khaos began, feeling like his head was going to explode if he didn’t speak his mind. “But why does it matter why they want to kill us? Clearly they just do, and they aren’t messing around. People are probably dying right now while we’re sitting around talking about this.”
“Spoken like a true warrior,” Calin replied, looking calm over the holo screen. “But that is exactly why we must find out what they are up to and why. Their plan to poison us is already underway. They’ve already killed us in multitudes. What if there’s another plan waiting in the wings? We’v
e underestimated them already, for years, and look where that’s gotten us. If it was just a simple matter of wanting us dead, they could have done more. They could have attacked our homes and burned our factories to the ground. They could have poisoned everything we eat and drink. And yet they didn’t. They’re playing the long game.”
Calin’s words made a lot of sense, actually, but Khaos’ head was still spinning from the overload. He didn’t want to sit back and think about what was going on, he wanted to act. And since there was no way he could do that from Earth, he wanted to go to Kayla’s and rant to her for a while and then curl up with her. It never failed to make him feel better, but when he checked the time, it was late enough that he knew she was probably already home and in bed.
She didn’t get enough sleep that he could feel okay with disturbing her, so he sighed and resigned himself to a night spent tossing and turning alone in his own bed.
If he ever made it there, that was.
It wasn’t until the next morning that it registered that something was wrong. Khaos was in a foul mood brought on by not sleeping well and not having an outlet for his frustration. One of his fellow Kaspersi had suggested he use the gym in the building they were staying in, but that didn’t seem like a good idea to him. He wouldn’t be able to really let loose the way he wanted to without hurting someone or breaking something or raising questions he wouldn’t want to answer.
So he kept it bottled up, hoping that Kayla would have some time for him before she got started with her work day.
Usually when he showed up to the clinic in the morning, the parking lot was mostly empty, except for the cars of the nurses and Kayla, but now the whole thing was packed with cars and people and the flashing siren of the police.
Somehow, in the pit of his stomach, Khaos knew something was wrong and that Kayla was involved, so he hurried over.
“You!” one of the nurses practically snarled as he walked up. “Where is she?”
“What?” Khaos replied, frowning. “Why are you asking me? I just got here.”
He could see the scene better now, and it wasn’t pretty. One of the windows to the side of the door was completely shattered, glass littering the carpet inside the clinic. The door was wide open, looking like it had been blown off its hinges, and there were claw marks on the wooden frame that were oddly familiar.
“Who did this?” he murmured under his breath.
“That’s what we’d like to know,” one of the other nurses said, rounding on him. “No one can find Kayla. The clinic was like this when we got here this morning, and Kayla’s not answering her phone and her car is still here.”
“She never went home last night?” Khaos guessed. It made more sense that if someone had hurt her, they’d do it at night rather than first thing in the morning.
“She stayed late to go over some files. You didn’t know?”
Khaos shook his head. “I wasn’t here at all yesterday. I had some things to take care of.”
“Your ‘family emergency’?” the nurse asked, making strange motions with her fingers.
“Yes, that. I didn’t see her at all.”
“She didn’t call and tell you that she was working late?”
“I uh...don’t have a phone,” Khaos lied. At least not one that worked on Earth’s frequencies.
The nurses exchanged glances, and it was clear that they thought he was lying or that he had something to do with Kayla being missing. “Look,” he said firmly. “I know you’re probably blaming me for this, but I don’t have anything to do with it. I didn’t even know she was here last night, and I would never do anything to hurt her, okay? Never. She means a lot to me, and I care about her. So if someone would tell me what’s going on here, I’d really appreciate it.”
It was said more calmly than he felt because there was a sick feeling in his chest that made him think that maybe he did have something to do with this. Why would someone take Kayla unless they were trying to get something out of someone?
“Fine,” the nurse said, shaking her hair back from her face. “We don’t know much, and the police are inside looking for prints or more evidence. What we do know is that no one saw anything apparently and there are definitely signs of a struggle. Someone took her, and we don’t know who or why. Everyone loved her. She’s the best doctor in this city, and there’s no way someone would have tried to hurt her unless there’s something we don’t know.”
Khaos felt sick to his stomach. There were plenty of things that they didn’t know, and he didn’t even know how to begin explaining them. It hit him all at once why the claw marks looked familiar, and he clenched his hands into fists tightly.
The Vekosh.
It had to be. But how? There were very strict limits placed by the governments of Earth on who could enter from other planets and who couldn’t. He knew for a fact that Calin had made sure that the Vekosh were blacklisted, and there was no way they could have gone around him and made some kind of deal. They didn’t have the skills or the resources for that.
Unless someone was helping them? But that didn’t make any sense. No one trusted the Vekosh, and it wasn’t like they had anything to offer anyone in exchange for their help.
No, there had to have already been someone here. Some representative of the Vekosh who was still in contact with their king. And if that was the case, then things were much more complicated than any of them were prepared for.
And now they had Kayla.
Standing around wasn’t going to help anything, so Khaos took a deep breath and tried to come up with a plan. First thing he needed to do was talk to Calin. He needed to know that there were Vekosh on Earth and that they were clearly more organized than any of them were expecting.
“Where are you going?” one of the nurses called as he walked away.
“I’m going to find her,” he called back. “Don’t worry, okay? I’ll bring her back.”
They called questions after him, wondering how he knew where she was and what he had to do with this, but he didn’t have time for that.
Everyone looked up when he burst into the apartment that they used as their command center. Calin’s face was on the holo screen, which saved him the trouble of making a call.
“I need to talk to you,” he said, interrupting whatever briefing was going on.
“Good, because I need to talk to you as well, Khaos,” Calin said, voice clipped. “I received a message from the Vekosh today, and I think you will be interested in seeing it.” He pressed a few buttons on his end, and then a grainy video clip filled the screen.
The first thing he saw was the sharp grin of a Vekosh raider, and his blood boiled.
“Hello, leader of the Kaspersi,” the Vekosh said. “Greetings from Earth. You didn’t think you were the only one who could send people to Earth, did you? That would be foolish of you, and you’ve never struck me as a fool.”
The shot panned out, showing a filthy room that looked mostly empty except for the broken furniture and a chair in one corner. When the camera focused on the person who was tied to that chair, Khaos had to work hard to keep from launching himself at the screen.
“Does she look familiar?” the Vekosh taunted. “She wouldn’t to you, but ask your champion about her. Ask him what she means to him. And then ask him what he’s willing to do to get her back.”
The shot lingered on Kayla’s face for a long moment after that, and it was clear that she was unconscious, the side of her face red and swollen where she had obviously been hit.
Khaos didn’t realize he’d been clenching his fingers into fists until his bones started to protest as the screen went dim and then brightened again to show Calin’s face.
“What have you done, Khaos?” he asked. “This is not why I sent you to Earth.”
“No,” Khaos agreed. “You sent me here to try and find a cure for the Sickness, which is what I was doing. She’s a doctor, and I asked for her help. And now they have her. She wouldn’t even be in this mess if it weren’t for m
e, and I have to help her.”
“We can’t risk the lives of our people for one human woman, Khaos,” Calin said. “You know that. We are already facing an unknown threat from the Vekosh, and we do not need to make it worse before we know if we can stand against it.”
“So what are you saying?” Khaos demanded. “We should just leave her there? Let them keep her? Who knows what they’ll do to her!”
Calin shook his head. “It’s unfortunate, yes, but it’s out of our hands. Our loyalties are to our people, Khaos. You are the Kaspersi champion., and your first duty is to them.”
Rage boiled in him, and Khaos let out a messy breath through his nostrils. He wanted to throw something at the screen and tell Calin exactly what he thought of his loyalty. Kayla was hurt and in trouble because of him. Because somehow the Vekosh had found out that she was special to him and wanted... something.
They wanted to know what he was willing to do to get her back, and suddenly an idea formed in his mind.
“She’s bait,” he said quickly. “They’re using her as bait.”
“What’s your point, Khaos?”
“My point is that they obviously want something. It’s...it’s worth it to find out what, don’t you think? What their angle is? They wouldn’t have just taken her for no reason.”
He was breathing hard, but trying to keep his face impassive. Even if Calin told him to leave it alone, he was still going to find out what they wanted with Kayla, and he was not going to leave her with them. Not when he knew he could save her.
Calin appeared to be deliberating, and finally he looked up and nodded. “Fine. I will send something back asking what they want in exchange for the girl. But we are not risking our people to save her, Khaos, do you understand?”
“Yes,” Khaos replied. Because he did understand, but it didn’t mean he had to obey.
The first order of business was finding out where they were, which of course meant more waiting. Calin replied to the message, and then they had to wait for another message to come in response. It seemed like wishful thinking that they would just tell them where they were and what they wanted, and that proved true, but the advanced technology that they had was good enough to track the signal that the message had come from.