The Renegades (The Superiors)

by Lena Hillbrand

  “I guess.”

  Draven drew her close, slid his arm around her waist and held her body securely against his. She submitted to his preference without comment or analysis. She’d worked in restaurants long enough to know that Superiors had as many different eating styles and preferences as humans did, maybe more. She’d gotten used to Draven, although she didn’t know if she’d ever get used to his stroking while he fed, or the way he kept his cold mouth on her neck for so long after he’d withdrawn his teeth.

  He finally finished cleaning her neck and pulled back. Her skin prickled with cold where his mouth left her wet. He slid both hands into Cali’s hair and pulled it back from her face. “I can’t bear him so much as touching you,” he said quietly. His eyes shone like polished black stones in his moonlit face. Without releasing his hold, he pulled her face closer until their noses almost touched. “When will you be ready for me?” he whispered.

  “You weren’t here yesterday,” she said, pulling back. Draven released her and wrapped his hands around the bars, leaning back into the empty space of darkness behind him. At night, Cali could see nothing but her own garden, as if the rest of the world blinked out altogether every evening, leaving only her small rectangle of light in existence. Only Draven’s appearance, as he slipped easily from the unseen world to the seen, proved that something waited beyond the bars.

  He studied her until she turned away. “I went swimming,” he said, when she’s gone back to poking at her garden, this time with the toe of her shoe.

  “In this cold?”

  “Yes.”

  She checked to see if he was pulling a joke, but he didn’t smile. “I guess cold doesn’t bother you.”

  “Not this degree of it. Although warmer is better.”

  Cali pushed a bit of loose soil around the cement patio. “What’s it like?” she asked, studying the half-moon pattern she’d formed from the dirt.

  “What?”

  “You know. Being out there.”

  “Come with me and I’ll show you.”

  “Draven, you know I can’t. I have a family here.”

  “I know.” He looked sad suddenly, and Cali almost wanted to apologize, although for what, she couldn’t imagine. He was the one who bit her every night.

  The breeze blew his feathery hair off his face, but he didn’t seem to notice the cold of it. Cali crossed her arms around herself and stared back at him, knowing Superiors didn’t like humans making eye contact so directly.

  “It’s quite…large,” he said.

  “What is?”

  “You asked how it is out here. It’s immense.”

  “Oh. I don’t know that word.”

  “Very large. Nearly endless. And you, little pet, look immensely cold. I’m sorry to have kept you. Please go warm yourself.”

  “Okay…” Cali said, but she lingered another minute, rocking back and forth while he studied her. He wasn’t like Shelly, so easy to talk to. But he knew so much, things she couldn’t even imagine. She wanted to climb into his brain and explore it for days. She had to stop herself from asking a million questions, one after another, every time she saw him. But his visits got shorter as the nights grew colder, since she couldn’t stay out in the cold very long.

  “Thank you for feeding me,” he said. Then he was gone.

  Every time he did that, Cali had the instinctive urge to throw herself at the bars and grab him. It always seemed like he just let go and fell, and she had a moment every time where she gasped in horror. Then she scolded herself for being silly. Of course he was fine. Superiors couldn’t die. Still, she couldn’t stop the jolt of panic at thinking that if she looked down, she’d see him flattened on the concrete below, though she knew he didn’t splatter, that somehow he could jump without getting hurt. And even if he did fall one night and splatter, she couldn’t see that far in the dark, anyway.

  Cali went inside, rubbing her hands together. She slid the door closed, then put her hands under her arms and turned to Shelly. “What?”

  “Girl, there ain’t nothing in that garden for you to do this time of year.”

  “I just like to be outside and make sure nothing else comes up.”

  “Uh huh. Sure you do.”

  “What? I really do,” she said, laughing half out of embarrassment and half out of frustration.

  “Mm hmm. I bet that’s what took you so long.”

  “Well, that Superior was talking to me. I can’t just walk off in the middle of a conversation. That would be rude.”

  “Oh, I know. I wouldn’t walk away from him, either. He’s so yummy I’d let him bite me, too. I might even bite back.”

  “Ew, Shelly. That’s rotty.”

  “Oh, don’t pretend like you haven’t had that same thought.”

  “Um, not even once. That’s just oddball.”

  “Hey, no judgment here. I’m just saying. But lords, I’d understand.”

  “You can just stop your words right now. There’s nothing to understand.”

  “There is one thing. How come you let some strange Superior come and feed off you every night? You know Master’s gonna feed off you, too, just like always.”

  “I know.” Sometimes she wished Draven would suck until there was nothing left for Master. She liked knowing how furious he’d be if he knew she fed someone else, that she had found a way to defy him, despite her brand and her chain.

  “So why you let this other one do it, too?” Shelly asked. “You don’t even gotta do it. He’s not your master, and he can’t reach you unless you let him.”

  “I know. Sometimes I just forget that I can say no to one of them.” Sometimes she didn’t forget at all, but she just couldn’t. When Draven looked at her, his eyes forced her to obey. Or forced her to want to obey.

  “Maybe you don’t want to,” Shelly said.

  “It’s not like that. I just feel sorry for him. He’s…you know. Lonely and hungry and stuff.” Cali tried to find the right thing to say to make Shelly understand. He’d always understood everything about her. But this time he had it all wrong.

  “Well, if he’s lonesome out there, I’m sure you can keep him all kinds of company,” Shelly said.

  “He came all the way here from back home, and he misses it like I do,” Cali insisted. “He reminds me of home, and I remind him. That’s all it is.”

  “Yeah, except he didn’t just happen to come all this way. You told me yourself he came here for you.”

  “I’m sure he’s just saying that.”

  “Whatever you say, girl.”

  “He is. No Superior would come all the way here to get one of us.” Shelly didn’t say anything. Cali looked up at him where he sat perched on the edge of the counter. “Right?”

  “Hey, it’s your business. I ain’t trying to interfere. I’m just saying…yum.”

  “You’re so rotty. You can’t think about them that way. We’re pets to them. He even calls me his ‘little pet.’”

  “Girl, he can pet me any old day.”

  “That’s so wrong,” Cali said, laughing.

  “I think someone’s in love,” Shelly said, ducking off the counter to avoid Cali’s swat.

  “You’re rotty.”

  “Don’t worry, I understand. And let me say again, in case you forgot, if your bloodsucker boy wanted to run away with me I’d say, ‘take me now.’” Shelly posed dramatically, and Cali laughed.

  Cali sobered and shook her head. “I’m not running away again. I couldn’t do that to you,” she said. “Besides, it’s not like we’d be running away together. I’d just have a different master. He’s no different from what I already have.”

  “Go on telling yourself that, girl. I think you like it.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like making him beg. That’s the way to do it, too. That’s what keeps a man coming back.”

  “He’s not a man, silly.”

  “I had a master like that once, remember, and believe me, he was all man. And I seen you out there le
tting that cute boy suck on your neck. Don’t pretend you don’t like it.”

  “There’s something seriously wrong with you, Shelly. How could I like it? He bites me.”

  “Mm hmm. I’ll bet he does. Just like this.” Shelly got up and flung his shoulders and his head back and started moaning and swaying back and forth until Cali punched him.

  “Stop. You’re making things up. I don’t look anything like that.”

  “You do from in here.”

  “Well then stop spying on me.”

  “Okay. From now on I’ll leave you alone with your lover-boy.”

  “That’s just oddball. We can’t love a Superior any more than they can love us.”

  “Oh, believe me, they can. And let me just say, it’s fantastic.”

  “That’s not even possible. It’s like saying a dog is in love with its master.”

  Shelly shrugged. “Who says it isn’t?”

  Chapter 13

  Meyer was lying in bed watching a vid about an evil villain who pulled Superiors’ laniary teeth as they slept when Byron contacted him. Meyer switched over to take the call. Though he’d been enjoying himself well enough, talking to the Enforcer always proved entertaining. The vid was pure rubbish, anyhow. Really, who wouldn’t wake up if their teeth were yanked out by the roots?

  “Hello there, Enforcer,” Meyer said. Byron’s face lit up the wall, supersized. Meyer used the controller to shrink it. He didn’t much like seeing anyone’s face wall-sized, and Byron wasn’t the most attractive specimen. “What a lovely surprise,” Meyer said, sitting up in bed. “Tell me, how is your investigation? Have you heard from my dear Herman?” Meyer hid his desire to laugh behind a friendly smile.

  “I’m sure your guess is as good as mine,” Byron said.

  “And how have you been? You don’t look as cheerful as last time we visited.”

  “Cheerful? I’m quite cheerful, thank you. The case is coming along well, I’m adjusting to mountain life.”

  “Ah, that mountain air. You’ve got to love it, don’t you? I’ll be up in a month, you know. I can hardly wait. Will you come by and visit with me again?”

  Byron grimaced. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

  “Nor would I,” Meyer said. This was such fun.

  “How’s your business? Making more pretty windmills?”

  “I’ve got a few ideas bubbling in the old brain-pot, as my mum used to say. Thanks for asking. Actually, we’re working on something that could be the next big thing in turbines. But it’s still in the conceptual stage. And you? How’s your family?”

  “Good, thanks. Yours?”

  “Well, I don’t have family. I think you know that.”

  “Ah, right. I forget that a child can live without parents nowadays.”

  Unable to hold back his delight any longer, Meyer let out a laugh. “Yes, it’s a splendid world. How are your saps getting along in the colder climate?”

  “Quite well,” Byron said in a clipped manner. He looked markedly stiff. “Yours? You let any more run away lately? That happens quite often with you, I’m sure.”

  “No, just the three. And one came back, of course. But you know what I always say—a happy sap is a good sap. You should test out my theory and see if it works for you.”

  “Thanks for the advice. I think I can handle my saps just fine.”

  “Ah, but your record is blemished.”

  Byron’s eyebrows drew together. “What does that mean?”

  “Oh, nothing. You had just mentioned last winter that you’d never had a sap escape. But that wasn’t true, was it?”

  This time Byron just stared into the screen and didn’t speak for a good minute. “I haven’t.”

  “Well, you did get her back, so you could deny that she escaped. But technically—”

  “How do you know about that?” Byron leaned forward, his eyebrows drawn into a fierce frown.

  Meyer adopted his most innocent, childlike face and shrugged. “Oh, you know. Word gets around. It has been such a long time ago.”

  “Yes, except that no one knows about that except Enforcers.”

  “Well, I’m sure you’re right. Rumors, I’d guess.” Meyer shrugged again.

  “What rumors?” Byron’s voice had turned thunderous.

  Meyer opened his eyes very wide. “No disrespect, sir, but Enforcers are people like anyone else. And people talk. I must have heard it in passing.”

  Byron glared. “Or perhaps from your ‘dear’ Herman. It seems your method of disciplining saps is still much less effective than mine.”

  “Oh, yes. I agree with that. But I’d take the expense of losing a few when the rest are so happy with me. Tell me, Enforcer, are your saps happy?”

  “I don’t give a damn about their happiness,” Byron exploded. After a moment, he regained control. “I’ll tell you what, I’ll be keeping eyes on you. And when I’m not, you can be sure someone else is.”

  “I wouldn’t expect any less from the best,” Meyer said, smiling sweetly. “I really must let you go. So sorry we couldn’t chat longer. I’m right in the middle of something.”

  He shut off the talk feature on his screen and lay back on the bed to delight in his victory. He sighed and closed his eyes. That had been the most fun yet. He knew the Enforcer didn’t like him. Most people didn’t. One thing you could say for sure about Superiors—they had egos the size of small countries. No one wanted to admit he’d been outsmarted by someone who had been a child at evolution, despite the fact that they were now only forty years apart. The inflexibility of others’ thinking accounted in large for his success.

  Overcome by glee, Meyer leapt to his feet and began jumping. He’d really gotten the better of the Enforcer that time. Oh, Byron had been furious. The more outraged he became, the more Meyer wanted to laugh. Just thinking about it made him laugh, so he laughed and laughed and jumped and flipped on his huge bed that covered three meters of one wall. He hadn’t had so much fun in years. Outsmarting an Enforcer—that was priceless fun, and he got it for free. He’d always excelled at economic calculations.

  Chapter 14

  Goddamn punk kid. Where the hell did he get off talking to an Enforcer like that? Byron ought to have him arrested for contempt of the Law. What a little brat. And how had he gained information on Cali’s escape?

  Enforcers talk my ass, Byron thought, pacing around his apartment. He’d find something on the kid if it killed him. If the boy had nothing to hide, he wouldn’t act so damn smug.

  Unless he just wanted to mess with Byron’s head…

  But why would anyone want to mess with his head for nothing? Meyer would have a reason. All the little coincidences had to add up to something. The two missing saps that had belonged to Kidd, the mention of one of them by a recaptured escapee, Kidd knowing about Cali. He knew, alright. He’d probably been there, sniffing around that creepy old movie theater, watching from above. For all Byron knew, Kidd had drained all the dead saps. It did make a kind of sense, now that Byron thought about it.

  Draven and Angel had been incapacitated. He’d paralyzed them with his Deactivator. Neither could have moved to take the steel spike from his skull. A third party had to have helped. Why hadn’t he thought of it earlier? Of course it had been Meyer. Meyer had removed the spikes, and Angel and Draven had escaped with him. He’d aided in the escape of two criminals. Finally, Byron had some hard evidence. Only he didn’t really have hard evidence. He just knew. Who else would do a thing like that?

  What were they organizing for? Some sort of government overthrow? That could mean war. Byron shuddered. No one wanted another war. No one sane. The last one had lasted a century. Who knew how long the next one would last.

  Byron knew he needed to get out and do something, stop obsessing about work. Being a naturally outgoing person who made friends easily, normally he would have gone to a restaurant to have a drink and play some games. But here in the mountains, people were different. They weren’t so open to outsiders, and B
yron hadn’t met a single person he’d call a friend. He genuinely despised the mountains. Not one good thing had happened to him since he’d arrived.

  He put on a jacket and headed for the door, thinking he’d go down to a bar somewhere. But at the last minute, he decided to eat at home to save a little money. Upon entering the sapien apartment, he found the male sitting on the bed cleaning its fingernails very delicately. No wonder the souldamned things hadn’t made babies. The male looked more female than the female.

  “Where’s your mate?” he asked. He grabbed the male, bit its arm and handed it a cup.

  “In the garden.”

  Byron stepped around the end of the bedroll and slid the door back. The female stood at the edge of the garden looking out through the bars. It turned with a start when Byron opened the door. It looked…something. Scared.

  The wind whipped its hair in its face, and it put her hand to its neck.

  “What are you doing out here?” Byron demanded.

  “Oh. Nothing. I was just…enjoying the night.”

  Not much of a night for enjoyment. The air was cold and had the sting of winter in it, and the wind didn’t help any. When it gusted again, the female had to take a step back with the force of it.

  “What’s wrong with your neck?” Byron asked.

  Its hand hadn’t fallen from where it had raised it when he came out. “Nothing. You scared me, and I turned too fast and got a cramp.”

  “Get in here so I can eat. And stop loitering out here. I can’t have my saps freezing to death because they don’t have the sense to know when it’s cold. Get away from those bars, too. There’s nothing out there you need to see. You get any more ideas about running away, next time I’ll cut your whole damn leg off.”

  The sapien came inside slowly, head bowed. Finally learning a little respect. About time, too. Byron bit its arm three times. He wasn’t in the mood to wait around for a meal. The female smelled sappy even before he bit it.

  “I gather you’re on your cycle,” he said with distaste. “It’s time I got you bred again. I’ll bring in a breeder from another farm next week. If you can’t give me a baby after three tries, I’ll have to find a female replacement for Shelton. I’m not ready to sell you yet, even though I ought to. I can rent a male easily enough. I’ll just have to get the new female bred.”