by D. N. Leo
“I’m sorry. But I only work at the reception desk. They don’t have all of the information here. Why don’t you try the manager?”
“Are you challenging me?”
“Oh, no. I’m sorry. I’m just trying to help.”
“Good. So keep an eye out for those travelers. My people are watching you. Don’t do anything stupid. Just so you know, your baby is currently well-fed and being taken care of. You needn’t worry.”
She heard a sniffling sound. “Please…he’s only two. Don’t hurt him.”
“Have I told you he’s hurt?”
“No, no. I’m sorry.”
“So stop asking questions. Do what you’re told. As soon as I have the information I need, you’ll have your boy back. I don’t like children. I don’t want any of my own, let alone other people’s…”
“Okay, okay. I get it. Please don’t hurt him. The tourists are coming back in. I’ll see what information I can get from them.”
“All right,” Elanora grumbled and hung up. She leaned back in her chair and contemplated. She had never been this close to the deciding point of her power. So close she could smell it. She had made a promise to her father, and she would see this through.
Her clan didn’t support her because she was the first female alpha they had ever had. She knew they talked behind her back. She had inherited the role from her father and thus hadn’t had to go through a challenge. If she was incapable of following through with her role, however—or if she died—then the challenge would be opened to others.
She frowned at the thought. She had dived so deeply into justifying her rightful position in the masculine clan that she had totally overlooked the idea that the clan members weren’t just going to sit around and wait for her to prove herself. The strong males in the clan would most likely go out of their way to prove she was incapable of fulfilling her duties. Or they’d find a way to kill her.
She bolted to the door to call for her guards. But instead of the usual scene where a couple of guards and messengers lurked outside waiting for her orders, she found an empty corridor.
“Oh, no,” she muttered to herself and strode along the corridor toward the room where they were holding the receptionist’s son.
Chapter 30
Leon chased the animal. He would normally call it a big cat, but Mya had called it a shapeshifter before, so just to be on the safe side, he wouldn’t make any hasty assumptions. He was, however, quite sure it wasn’t simply a cat because a cat wouldn’t have taken the time to stalk him and then run away. And this cat was too quick. It had disappeared into the woods like a puff of smoke.
Leon heard footsteps behind him. He turned and saw Kirra racing toward him, weapons in hand. How can a woman run so gracefully while carrying weapons? he mused but then shook the thought out of his head. He was sure thinking about a woman without knowing her marital status was inappropriate in any civilized society. He did think about Mya all the time, but she wasn’t betrothed to anyone in court.
Kirra said something in English. It was too fast for him to understand. But by the tone of her voice, he guessed she wasn’t happy he had chased after the animal. In this world, she seemed to be in charge—kind of like a female warrior. He supposed that was why Mya had referred to her as a guide. That word sounded authoritative to him.
He smiled and shrugged apologetically as if he was in the wrong. If she could only see him in the Babylonian court, she would be impressed. There, he was in charge!
A few more sentences streamed from her mouth. She seemed to have realized he didn’t understand what she was saying, and she had slowed down her speech considerably.
She pointed toward the woods and waggled her finger, suggesting he was not meant to go in. He nodded.
He reached his hand out, wanting to borrow the strange weapon she was holding. She shook her head and said, “Weapon license.” She held up the weapon and said, “Gun.”
He repeated, “Gun.”
She nodded, jabbed a finger into his chest, then pointed at the gun and shook her head again.
He smiled and nodded. She had no idea he was a competent warrior. He shrugged again.
Before they could turn around to go back to the hotel, a couple of low growls came from behind the trees. He swiveled around quickly, knowing what was coming. The two leopards leaped out, both heading in Kirra’s direction. She had a weapon, but it wouldn’t be enough to deal with two large wild animals, let alone these strange leopards.
Leon pulled his knife and charged toward the one closest to him. He ran underneath the leopard’s body on its airborne path and swung his knife upward. He slit open the animal, and it dropped to the ground in blood and gore.
Kirra pulled a smaller gun and fired a dart at the other. She staggered back as the animal still charged, unaffected by the dart.
Leon turned toward her, lifted his knife, and threw it. The knife stabbed into the animal’s back, but it still ran straight at Kirra. He pulled his second knife and threw. The second one stopped the animal in its tracks. It paused and turned around to stare at him.
And then the leopard lunged at him. Leon saw Kirra do something with the larger gun, and it made a snapping sound.
The cat’s momentum continued to carry it forward even though Kirra had hit it. It clawed its front feet at Leon’s chest before dropping to the ground and lying motionless.
Kirra rushed over. She pulled his torn shirt down to his waist and examined the gashes on his chest. He was still standing and felt fine, but he had to admit there was a lot of blood. He frowned as he thought he saw a tear on her face. He didn’t quite understand why she cried.
His mind started to cloud. He must be tired. He pointed to his knives, still stuck in the leopard’s body. He wanted to go to his weapons, but his ability to move had slowed.
Kirra rushed toward the knives, pulled them out. She tucked them in her belt and then said something—he didn’t comprehend what it was—and slid her arm around his waist.
Is she trying to help me walk? He shook his head as his vision started to blur. There was no way he would let a female guide—whatever that meant—help him walk.
“No, thank you. I can walk by myself,” he said in Babylonian, but he was sure she understood. She let go of him. He could feel his body sway. What the hell?
She said nothing further but wrapped her arm around him and half-walked half-dragged him back toward the camp. He wanted to protest, but his body and mind wouldn’t obey.
He saw Mya and Zach hurrying toward them. Thank God! Finally, someone who spoke his mother tongue. He rushed toward Mya, towering over her. “Mya, I’m okay. I don’t want to go to the infirmary. Don’t let Kirra take me.”
“Leon, you’re injured. You’ve lost a lot of blood.”
“That’s…okay. I’m…okay…”
“Listen to me, Leon.” She held his shoulders.
“I…I’m listening…” And then he couldn’t hear anything else.
Chapter 31
Elanora shoved the dagger deep into the chest of a were-leopard messenger. Its dead body turned into a vile lump of blood and gore, its eyes still staring at her, questioning. She shook her head. She still hadn’t learned how to control her temper. And she knew that might be her fatal weakness. She crouched next to the dying leopard.
“You’re too young to die. But look at this as a good thing. I’m doing you a favor. We’re facing extinction. Dying at my hands is a lot better than at the hands of the nasty forces coming for us.” She glanced at the door. “Dex, you can come in now,” she called out and wiped her bloody hands on a nearby floral tablecloth.
The room darkened a shade when he walked in. It wasn’t just the size of him blocking the light from the small window which let in limited sunlight from the thick woods, but also the fact that his body oozed with an aura of darkness. She didn’t think he realized it, but she knew. She would never reveal to him that if he ever decided to exercise his innate dark power, he could be stronger than she was.
“He’s just a messenger,” Dex grumbled.
“I’ve done him a favor. Darkness is coming for us, and dying at my hand is a mercy.”
Dex chuckled. “I’ve never seen you scared before.”
“I’m not scared,” she said.
“Don’t hiss. It’s unattractive. You’re a future leader. Behave like one.” He approached her and lifted her chin. He looked down at her, allowing his lips to hover an inch above hers. It was both an inch too close and an inch too far.
A corner of her mouth quirked, and she gazed into his deep purple eyes in challenge.
He stared back then let go of her chin. “I cleaned up the mess in the woods. These two idiots attacked the humans there. They deserved to die more than he did.” He pointed at the dead leopard on the floor and bent down to pick up the body.
“That’s not your job,” she growled.
“My job is to clean up your mess. I can only hope your own body isn’t going to one day be a part of the mess.” He glared at her and began to carry the body out.
“We have a big job coming from Xiilok,” Elanora told him. “The Babylonian court sent people to dig up a jar of potion. We’re being paid to stop them from doing so.”
Dex stopped at the door and slowly turned around. The body of the dead leopard dangled from its position around his shoulders. His eyes grew even darker. “How many times have I told you not to take jobs from Xiilok?”
Frustrated, she waved her arms in the air. “As far as I’m concerned, you are not feeding the clan, Dex!”
“There’s better money elsewhere.”
“Money is money. There is no better money!”
“Is that why you sent them? To have those humans killed?”
She shook her head. “We need to locate the jar first. Then we must stop them from retrieving it. That’s the deal. Those idiots almost killed the Babylonians before they got to the jar.” She slammed her palms on the table. “Damn it! They haven’t done a proper job for a long time. I need you on it, Dex.”
Dex dropped the leopard to the floor. “I don’t kill humans.”
“The Babylonians aren’t human. They serve the court, the gods, and the goddesses. They’re minor deities. And I’m not asking you to kill them. Just don’t let them get the jar.”
Dex narrowed his eyes. “Is that all?”
She nodded.
He turned to leave.
“Hey! Who’s going to take care of the body?”
“It’s your mess. Clean it up yourself,” he said and kept walking.
“Dickhead!” she cursed, but he had already walked away and didn’t hear her. She pulled a tablecloth off a table to wrap the body in. She stared at the cloth, the flower pattern glaring back at her as if she were a naughty child.
She felt a lump in her throat, but she swallowed it down. She shoved the tablecloth on the shelves, deciding not to use it, and dragged the body out by the neck. She could wash the blood smear off her hands. But she didn’t know how to clean the bloody tablecloth.
Chapter 32
Being in the hospital as a human wasn’t easy, especially when she was accompanying a friend who had come from a different civilization, had traveled across dimensions, and spoke a language that could only be translated by Zach’s multiversal technology.
Mya was sure Leon’s makeup would be human, just like hers, even though they lived in a different world. But that was the problem. Because she was stationed on Earth, she had a human profile so that she could operate as a person with a normal life. But Leon had nothing in this human world.
God, she had never seen him hurt so badly. That thing in the woods had almost torn his chest open. Luckily it didn’t rip his heart out, or he wouldn’t have made it to the hospital. She knew he was the head of the temple guards, and in his line of work, there was a lot of physical combat. This surely wasn’t the first time he had been hurt. But it was the first time she’d seen him this way.
She shook the thought out of her mind. She felt an urge to switch on her deity mode to check to see if Leon survived. But she wouldn’t do that. First, she didn’t think he wouldn’t be on any of her systems because he didn’t live in this world. And second—and she feared this the most— she didn’t know what she would do if his name did come up on the dead list, the one that listed those she wasn’t supposed to save. Just like in Zach’s case.
She turned away from the emergency room and saw Kirra’s face soaked in tears. Mya had totally forgotten she not only had company but her company was a person oblivious to her magical world. She approached Kirra. “He’ll be fine, Kirra. I’ve known Leon for a long time. He’s been injured a lot in his line of work. And he always walked away from it.”
Kirra wiped the tears from her face. “It was my fault.”
“No, it wasn’t. Why would you say that?”
“I should have loaded the rifle. I was careless. I thought I knew that part of the woods.”
“It was Leon who chased the cats first, right?”
Kirra shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. It’s my responsibility. I shouldn’t allow anyone to get hurt.”
It was all too familiar to Mya. Once upon a time, she, too, thought she was responsible for everyone on her list. She felt as if she was responsible for every single soul she couldn’t save. Now here was this young woman, thinking the same thing.
“Listen, Kirra, you can’t think about your job this way. It’ll eat you up. I care about Leon. He’s a dear friend of mine, and I never want him to get hurt. But you can’t hold yourself responsible for everyone’s fate, especially if they’re not looking out for themselves.”
Kirra looked at her. More tears rolled down her face. “He was injured because of me.”
“No, I just told you—”
“No, you weren’t there. He slit the first leopard in half with that little knife of his. He could have handled the second one the same way. But he threw the knives at it instead because it was lunging at me.” She gazed into Mya’s eyes. “I’m combat trained, Mya. Almost joined the army. I might not know much about combat, but I know he made a conscious decision to let go of his weapon.”
Mya found herself speechless. She had forgotten the fact that Leon was doing all of this voluntarily. On the other hand, she was just trying to do her job and get out of debt to Ishtar.
“Mya!”
“Huh?”
“I just asked what Leon does for a living. He seems very skilled.”
“Uhh…” She cleared her throat. “Oh, there you are!” she said in a high-pitched voice when she saw Zach come into the corridor. She grabbed at him like a drowning person reaching for a lifebuoy.
“What’s up, Mya?” Zach raised an eyebrow.
“Kirra asked what Leon does for a living. Should I tell her he’s the head of the temple guard living at the Babylonian court?” she asked between clenched teeth.
Zach smiled. “Come on, you think she couldn’t handle that information? How did you handle the fact that I’m part Eudaizian?”
“But I’m a deity. She’s human… I don’t know how much she is open to this … this …”
Zach laughed. “There is only one way to find out.”
She nodded and was about to say something more when the operating room doors swung open. Mya took one look at the doctor and knew it wasn’t good news.
“Mya Portman?” the doctor called out.
“Yes, that’s me. I’m his emergency contact.”
The doctor glanced her up and down.
“What’s the situation, doctor?”
“I need to talk to his next of kin. I couldn’t find his information in the database.”
Mya looked at Zach. Zach tapped the doctor’s shoulder. The doctor stepped aside with him. Kirra approached, standing next to Mya. Zach murmured something to the doctor. Quickly, the doctor came back to Mya and Kirra.
“He’s lost a lot of blood. And he has a rare blood type. One I can’t find a match for in our blood bank. I guess
we’ll just have to wait this out.”
It felt as if someone had pulled the rug out from under her. “What…what do you mean by that?” Mya asked.
The doctor looked at her with compassion. “I stitched him up. The wounds were deep, and he’s lost a lot of blood. There’s no infection, which is a good sign. He has a very strong physique, which is also good. But losing that much blood and having no replacement is hard, even for a strong man.”
“What are his chances, doctor?” Zach asked.
“Are you sure there’s no match in the blood bank?” Kirra asked.
“We’ve done everything we can. Now we have to rely on the patient’s strength to pull him through this. I can’t even tell you the odds because this is unprecedented.”
“What do you mean by unprecedented? You haven’t seen anyone injured that bad?” Kirra said, tears streaming down her face.
The doctor looked at Kirra. “I haven’t seen anyone injured like that and having lost that much blood even making it to the operation room. I’ll keep you informed. He’s in the intensive care unit. No visitors allowed.” The doctor nodded a goodbye and turned on his heel.
Chapter 33
Zach took a drag of his cigarette and looked at the sky reddening in the corner of the hospital yard. Kirra was right—a gigantic dirt storm was coming, and it would be a very bad idea to be in the eye of it. He hadn’t smoked a cigarette in a long time. But it wasn’t hard for him to drop a poor habit such as smoking because he didn’t do it to satisfy a desperate need. He’d never depended on anything or anyone. There was once a time when he had been completely carefree.
It wasn’t the matter of taking on new responsibilities and the fact that many lives depended on him that weighed on his shoulders, it was the cause and effect of it all. Each action he took now had subsequent effects—those that were more significant than he cared for.