However, everyone around her was far from winding-down. It took her longer to acquire a drink as she brushed her hair over her ear, ensuring the earpiece was hidden.
She felt her anxiety peak a little in the close proximity of others. She never liked being surrounded by so many people. It was an uncomfortable situation. “So, how’s it going?”
“There are 15 male bouncers. Height: 5’7” to 6’ and weight: 85 - 120kg. All right side dominate,” she said back. Than a sharp screech pierced her ear, her hand pressed against the earpiece attempting to silence the noise.
She groaned in frustration and caught the eye of a confused bartender, faking a smile she ordered her drink before squeezing her way through the crowd. “What happened?” she asked after the earpiece reconnected.
“Interference you must be close. Relayed the hostile profile to the Trackers. Don’t blow your cover.”
Ignoring her Squadron Commander’s comment, she scrutinised the club. It was smaller than she expected but understood the high demand for security. There crowds of people and she hated how many people there were. She glanced up, her eyes lingered over the neon green railings lining the upper levels.
She’d hoped her target would be on the upper level and moved through the crowd.
Where ever she went, people all of which either gave her envious seductive glares or nasty remarks. Ignoring everyone expect a few men who purposely slid his hand beyond the hem of her dress. Effectively, she quickly elbowed him in the face before disappearing into the crowd barely avoiding the bouncers.
She focused her mind on her target. An image of his or her features flashed behind her eyes, but it was just her mind assuming what it would look like. At the end of the day, she had no idea what that person would look like, but she knew what to look out for, a person who appeared the least intoxicated.
With a discouraging sigh, Gothalia realised once she reached the top of the neon lined stairs was surprised by how many people in the upper level appeared to have very little alcohol. Great, she thought before making her way to the bar in the upper level.
Later that evening, Gothalia waited outside the club. Leaning against a wall opposite the bar but out of sight. Then she spotted her.
A woman who mingled with people she’d met throughout the night.
It was the woman’s deceitful behaviour that made Gothalia struggle against her resolve to walk away. Regardless, of how ill equipped the woman’s performance or the random topics of their conversations.
Even, if the evening had merely culminated over half-an-hour ago, it hadn’t persuaded the woman who dawdled with her friends down the street, to head home straight away. A feat that irritated Gothalia more than she’d ever admit.
She was certain the woman hadn’t touched her drink throughout the night, but it was only an hour before she noted how she quickly pretended she had. For what purpose? Gothalia needed to know.
She’s not getting a taxi, Gothalia pondered, scanning the taxi ranks then the nearby roofs. The Trackers were hidden from view but her eyes sharper than a human made out their forms easily within the shadows.
It was the woman’s pretending that gave Gothalia enough reason to stuck around. “She shouldn’t have to pretend to be drunk.” Then, she recalled overhearing conversation in the bathrooms and of the same group, that sat out just beyond where the music could touch them.
“Found the contact yet?” Danteus asked.
“Maybe, not sure yet.”
Danteus didn’t say anything, accentuating the mute line.
The brunette woman travelled from the shop then parted with her group before wondering down a street.
Quickly, Gothalia moved after the woman. After a few turns here and there. Gothalia heard the woman, then the catcalling of men. Gothalia chased after the woman only to stumble upon their bodies lying dead on the ground with their skin blue and cold. With, no blood coating the grey tarmac alley.
Gothalia whistled into the darkness, one that mimicked the cry of bats in the evening sky. She placed her finger to her earpiece, “I think I found her. The Contact.”
“Her?” Danteus replied.
“Yes her.” Gothalia snapped back. “She left Human bodies behind. I’ve informed the Trackers. I’m on her tail.”
Quickly, Gothalia ran after the woman. Her heels echoed along the ground. Grateful they weren’t too high. “Stay on her,” Danteus ordered.
Gothalia dug into her bag and pulled out a silver black head guard. She pressed the button on the side and pushed it back on her head. Providing a live video stream for Danteus. “I’m trying as you can see.”
“Visual’s good,” he replied, ignoring her frustration. She rounded another corner than stopped, the street she entered was empty and quiet.
A few people she’d recognised from the club stumbled around the corner at the end of the street before disappearing into the shadows. Other than that, the street was vacant and stagnant. Thinking quickly, she tapped the side of the head guard and it covered her eyes with a black screen.
“My lady.” a voice replied.
“Kronos. Run thermo-printing analysis now!” Immediately, footprints lined the ground before her. She narrowed her eyes in frustration. The woman, she was roughly her height and her weight. “Narrow scan to seventy-eight kilograms and one hundred seventy-five centimetres.”
The surrounding footprints imprints that didn’t meet the requested range faded, leaving those within the parameters and those she was after.
Gothalia glanced behind her. Two men curled over the bodies in the alley—the trackers. They’d assess the bodies and determine if they’d need to remove the evidence, even if no one knew. The worst part about their job. Making people disappear, especially when there’d be people who’d ask where they were.
Her eyes lingered over the footprints near the Trackers and that trailed underneath her feet. “Thanks,” she called to the Trackers and followed the heel imprints. They led straight head, along a road that ended at the street she passed. Her heels were loud against the concrete ground, but she figured no one would be paying much attention to a woman running around, even if this surface world classed it as odd behaviour.
That is until a man stumbled out of the shadows, his gaze on her. “Well this is something you don’t see every day.”
“Krono deactivate thermo-printing,” she muttered under her breath. She gritted her teeth. The man probably noticed she was wearing protective glasses.
“What do you want?” Gothalia questioned as he approached her. Purposely, blocking her path. Her brows furrowed in frustration as her right hand tightly gripped her bag.
“Oh, nothing much. Just to talk,” he replied.
Gothalia laughed, then spat sharply with a dangerous glare. “I doubt men who hide in the shadows want to just talk.”
“What you think I’m going to hurt you?” he teased, sounding hurt.
“I don’t have time for your pointless games,” she replied, irritated and continued to walk ahead. He’d get off easy if he didn’t... Then he grabbed her wrist and her body tensed, in response. He smiled at her reaction.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Immediately, she felt the threat behind his words and slipped her hand out of his tight grip with ease and kicked him away. “Now, you’re going to regret that,” he snarled and moved to her.
Gothalia dug into her bag and threw the round lip balm container. The readily loose lid slipped, erupting into an explosion of tear gas. Covering her mouth with a cloth, rushed past the man avoiding the area as much as she could.
Her eyes stung a little, but she continued after the footprints Krono had provided.
A metal bar, swung at her and she rolled over her shoulder, avoiding the attack. Her dark eyes gazed onto her attacker with spite. The woman dressed in blue was barely noticeable amongst the shadows, until she ran towards Gothalia who climbed to her feet beneath the shop light.
A blond-haired woman, with thick curls ravelling over her
shoulders and cladded in a blue midthigh evening dress, glared with the intention to kill. She moved to strike. Gothalia readily disarmed the woman and kicked her away. Then readied herself for another assault only to stop when Danteus’s voice cut through rushing blood pumping through her ears.
“Police. Get out of there.” he warned in her ear. Gothalia ran from the unconscious woman as if a bomb had exploded before vanishing into the shadows of the street.
Gothalia gripped the grapple hook and aimed it at the nearby branch. She allowed it to propel her silently off the ground and against the wall. Then pressed her feet against the wall to aid in it pulling her up to the tree line.
Lightly, she climbed on a branch before moving carefully onto the roof before the police slowed, who recognised the unconscious woman on the ground. “Well done you drew attention.” Danteus remarked with sarcasm before adding, “This is not going to make it easy to find her now. Return to base.”
“What no!” Gothalia answered. “I must be close otherwise why else would she and that man try and stop me. Or do you agree he’s just some creep too?”
“The chances of you finding her, when her guard is down is zero. What do you intend to do, now knowing that?”
“To find her, anyway. If I follow the trail, it’ll lead us to her and whoever else she’s meeting or where she’s going that’s a lead is it not?” She knew if Danteus wanted he could write up a report about her recklessness and recent encounters while adding they never found the person who threatened their existence, on top of it.
However, she took the chance to press the issue knowing she’d get on his bad side. “Come on. You can’t pull me from this—were so close.” She added.
Reticence teemed the line.
“Fine but no more than necessary. Understand?” Danteus asked though she knew even though it sounded like a question. It wasn’t. It was an order, but she was happy regardless.
“Got it.”
“Good. You’re lucky I’m here and not you know who...”
She had a gnawing feeling in her stomach at the thought of Anaphora in her ear. If she’d witnessed this, Gothalia would be set back months. Her hard work, ruined.
She knew Danteus was angry, but she knew he also had faith in her, even over the silence of the radio. “Guess, I shouldn’t let him down.” She’d promised herself then was on the move.
It hadn’t taken long, until the footprints she shadowed, led to a house a few streets over. Gothalia paused and observed her surroundings. She hadn’t heard anything from Danteus and figured she wasn’t going to hear anything from him, for a while.
To her surprise a sharp pain burnt her arm. In the darkness, she couldn’t make out what it was but activated Kronos and sought refuge beneath a truck. “My lady, I wouldn’t consider this to be a safe place?” Kronos proclaimed in her earpiece.
“Quiet, I’m trying to concentrate,” she growled, in response. The anxiety of survival at her fingertips. “Activate thermo-seeker!”
Gothalia listened for any cars and any loud sharp sounds that alerted danger. Immediately, she rolled out from beneath the truck, on her knees and with a short dagger in hand. Her eyes scanned the area around her, seeking the heat signature of a living being; alien or otherwise.
Blood slipped between her fingers and to the cold hilt of the short blade. If it weren’t for Krono’s immediate warning, Gothalia knew she’d feel the full brunt of that strike. Not that it matters, the pain is bearable for now just stay alive, she thought.
Quickly, her feet shuffled to avoid the random attacks while her dagger deflected the unavoidable strikes. In the darkness, steel against steel echoed along the silent street. The flash of metal in the darkness called a sharp shriek with each strike.
The enemy was fast, she noticed, cladded in a dark leather jumpsuit. It hid her core temperature well but not too well. Luckily, Krono wasn’t limited. Gothalia didn’t need to ask. He automatically recalibrated and the woman’s form was strongly outlined to Gothalia as dodged and blocked each assault.
With a backflip, she avoided the final attack that reinforced her fears—it wasn’t a human but an Excelian. Everyone was right.
“You’re quick,” a female voice stated. Gothalia pulled herself from a kneel and stood ready to fight, regardless of how parched her throat was or how desperately her lungs cried for air. Even the cool night breeze couldn’t suppress the heat slithering out of her pores.
“So, you’re the Xzandian Contact?” Gothalia asked than seethed with malice. “Show your face, traitor.”
“Huh? You don’t scare me, little princess. I wonder how much they’ve told you.” The woman mocked and glowered at Gothalia. There was a rather deadly smile on her face accompanied by a knowing contemplation that Gothalia really didn’t like. “Heiress of the Valdis clan, yes? That is if you were born first but you weren’t... were you. So, you have no right to act all high and mighty. Rumour has it, you can’t control your flames daddy gave you out of pity, let alone your demons.” she trilled a dangerous laugh then added, “A pathetic excuse for a Centurion let alone one of the higher echelons.”
“Enough of your insults!”
“Oh no, I’m just getting started, princess. So, my question remains, how much have they told you about me? That this was a mission and you had to assassinate me. Did they tell you about your family? Or rather what happened to your mother?” Gothalia didn’t say anything but glared dangerously when the woman mentioned her mother.
The woman smiled in response, pleased she struck a nerve. “Your silence tells me everything. Do you know, the reason... do you want to know the reason?” And pulled out a weapon, one Gothalia was completely unfamiliar with at first until she peered closely at it. Shock enveloped her.
“That’s an Xzandian rifle.” Gothalia uttered.
“Goodbye little princess.” she smiled. “Princess...” She uttered the declaration deliberately. Testing the sound of it on her tongue. Gothalia didn’t like how, her look returned to one of criticism, “No you’re not a princess. You were never pampered nor sheltered but hated and cursed. You’re more of a duchess... The Duchess of Execration. Has a nice ring to it don’t you think?”
“As if I’d listen to anything you say.”
“But you’re still here, aren’t you?” she questioned, her tone full of mockery. “Anyway, you’d probably want information before you killed me—yes? How about, Humans will be benefiting greatly from the upcoming war by increasing their military arsenal with something a little more dangerous...” The purr of her voice caused an appeal of goose bumps to swiftly run along her arms and back. She wanted to shrug her shoulder and rid the feeling but didn’t, she allowed it to run all over her.
“Like what?” The woman smiled at her Gothalia amused by the question.
“Like, for starters... the Xzandians your people are attempting to remove from this planet and their technology and military tactics.”
“What do you mean my people?” Gothalia spat. “You’re not like them. You’re Excelian or have you forgotten?” At that note, Gothalia didn’t speak to accompany her silence, a fire erupted like electricity within her armed palm. She threw her blade forward, as to cut down the woman and fire extended beyond the blade, stretching over the street.
To Gothalia’s frustration, she avoided it. “You think that’s going to take me out?” she called through the shadows, the ground where the enemy once stood melted in the shape of her sword. “An attack like that wouldn’t work. I’d know, that’s how your father tried to take me out protecting your whore of a mother...” Anger she’d never heard blossomed from her lips, “The sight of you disgusts me.”
Gothalia avoided her attacks. “Why bother you not fast enough? You don’t have enough power.” Gothalia mocked, noticing her attacks were driven by pure anger.
The woman paused a meter from her, accompanied by a trill of laughter that caught Gothalia by surprise, “Yes and no. Humans seek power. Unlike them and you. I have it and we’ll clea
nse this world with it. Starting with your home!” A strong flare of light blinded Gothalia.
She felt the energy force her away like the winds of a vicious hurricane, as it moved her back, but her feet remained rooted into the ground when she fought against the current. Digging her feet into the ground, the smear of her boots peeled the road.
The unsecured earth, she had uprooted during the fight, ascended into the air and paused almost taunting her.
Fear gripped her and she knew by the enemy’s confidence, it was going to get worse. She could feel it. Before it would toss her across the road or obliterate her on the spot.
Within seconds, she was forced out of the way. The two trackers that trailed her and shared the mission, shoved her out of the way.
The last thing she remembered before their entire existence was dissolve in front of her, was the fire emblems on their backs and the swirl of the Valdis crest on their shoulder. While she remained, protected by a ward they set up. “Maximus! Anton!” she screamed, tears budding the corners of her eyes. They were only kids when they all had met, they all had grown up together in the presence of L’Eiron and Anaphora.
Maximus glanced at Gothalia with a smile and his words haunting, “Not everyone fears you my lady.”
When the energy retreated, silence befell the street and they were gone.
The once sturdy houses, ran with thick black cracks that fissured up the side of the buildings, along the ground and shattered glass the windows. Screams and voices of the residents echoed the roads. She didn’t care about the street, she only stared at the two piles of white power at her feet that fluttered away in the evening wind.
“Gothalia!” Danteus called. “What happened?”
“I’m fine. She was stronger than I thought and others...” Gothalia proclaimed, through sobs. She didn’t care if she was a Centurion, she cared about losing her oldest friends, “It’s all my fault.” When Gothalia returned to the Fire Reserve she didn’t speak to anyone other than who she required to speak to.
The journey from the surface world, to the Cetatea and back to her family home was a blur. She’d climbed the stairs like a zombie; numb to her emotions after she’d cried her eyes out. She moved to her room and climbed on her bed where she sat for the next few hours. For her, it only seemed like minutes.
Midnight Eclipse Page 6