When she questioned Raj about why he was dragging her off to hide, Iya was shocked at the serious expression Raj wore as he faced her to explain. “You’re going to hear some things, about me, about who ever. Just stay quiet where nobody can hear you and I will explain it all when I come back. Stay here, ok?”
Iya could only nod back.
He freaked her out and Iya couldn’t really speak to answer him then. Boy, he wasn’t lying. Standing in that bathroom Iya thought it sounded like an episode of animal planet outside. Iya had planned to stay in the bathroom until he came back for her but then she heard something else that worried her beyond all the logic in her staying where she was: Dae was in trouble. Trouble she probably started but trouble nonetheless. There was no way she was staying in the bathroom now.
And all that crap about Dae not being human? Iya would have to figure out what that meant later after her roomy was safe. Iya focused her concentration on her gift of finding Dae and her Lightness within. Iya felt the Lightness filling her chest. It began to slowly spread to her limbs down to her fingertips. She had only done this twice in her life –always with her parents– but there was nothing that was going to stop her from finding Dae.
Iya focused on Dae’s face as the Light filled her insides and made her start to shine.
Iya could hear her mother’s voice whispering to her, “Focus on the Light Leniya, feel the love, let it wash over you…” How was it possible to miss her mother more after all these years? It took all her concentration to keep her body in the Light; to tell the truth Iya always had an easier time with the Dark. It made her father proud then but Iya knew the Dark wouldn’t help her now.
It didn’t help her then when all she felt was the hate when they came for her parents. Her Light started Darkening so Iya locked her thoughts up on the present.
Iya continued focusing on Dae and soon she was floating…
Twenty
Mission Eighty-six the Sidekicks was a success. Dae should have been celebrating, dancing in the alley she was walking down.
She was all alone like she wanted. Like she needed, Dae told herself. Dae was the champion! She had no time for losing! Dae began humming one of her favorite Queen songs (We Are The Champions) as she walked to make herself feel like she won. But for some reason, Dae started to think she lost in the end… No, that’s crazy talk. Dae prevailed against all odds, that was the very definition of winning.
It was almost too easy to slip away once she got the Sasquatch distracted. Raj was all wrapped up in Iya so she didn’t have to worry about anyone coming after her for a while. Raj wouldn’t leave Iya, he would keep her safe. Koda would realize Dae was gone sooner rather than later but without a nose, what could he really do?
And that was a good thing, Dae reassured herself. The stupid nagging pains and chest aches were some weird sickness Dae caught. Probably from the Sasquatch.
Damn that egotistical chauvinistic shameless flirting bastard! She did not miss him. She did not.
Dae made sure to make loud scuffling noises with her Timbs as she hummed. Beady-eyed grease man and his partner –who had no name– had been following her since she left the Roadhouse. For convenience, Dae decided to call no-name Douche-bag. It fit and gave her more joy than calling him no-name.
Both of them were on the roofs, which gave them the upper hand should they decide to jump down on her before she made it to her destination. Dae had a feeling they could if they wanted to, without incurring any injury to themselves. She felt it in her gut. Dae was having many feelings she wasn’t used to.
Damn Sasquatch sickness.
Maybe this was a bad idea… but it had been her only idea. Dae had to get away from everybody who could get hurt to get some answers. Dae could handle this, like she handled everything else.
Iya couldn’t. Iya was so sweet and innocent. Dae talked crap to Iya about her naïveté but it was one of Iya’s most genuinely likeable qualities. There was no way Dae would want Iya hurt because of her. Dae was doing the ‘wasted’ walk all the way down to the dead end she knew was coming up feeling relieved that Iya was somewhere else safe.
There was one other way out of this area and Dae was confident they didn’t know about it. That’s why Dae thought to lead them there; if things went south she could easily escape. Right? As easy as Sunday morning.
Dae reached the point of no return and couldn’t help giggling. Adrenaline was pumping through her veins, as Dae anticipated beady-eyed grease man jumping from the roof of the warehouse to her right. Beady-eyed grease man was going to distract her while Douche-bag came silently from behind.
Dae turned just as beady-eyed grease man landed.
“Wow, you’re like superman or something! Tell me, are you faster than a speeding bullet too?” Dae smiled as she heard the light plop of Douche-bag’s feet hitting the asphalt behind her. He was 10 feet away and closing.
“Yes. I am.” Beady-eyed grease man replied walking towards Dae, obviously satisfied with the fake drunken awe Dae’s voice projected.
“Sheesh I never heard someone be so proud of never having pleased a woman. I almost feel bad for you.” Dae heard Douche-bag 5 feet away from her. One more foot…
“Bitch, you’re going scream a different tune–”
Before beady-eyed grease man could continue, Dae ducked as Douche-bag came rolling over her now crouched form intent on grabbing her. At the same time, Dae lifted one of her sharpened screwdrivers straight up in the air. Dae felt the tug from the handle as it sliced through his neck and chest before he even realized what was happening. Dae kept her grip firm in those milliseconds as the handle became moist with his putrid blood.
Douche-bag flipped himself over and landed sprawled on his back clutching his wounds. Dae chucked two of her throwing blades before beady-eyed grease man was able to land on her crouched form while she twisted away to straddle Douche-bag. When Douche-bag finally realized what was happening he tried to twist away too late and Dae caught him with her favorite double-sided four-inch blade at his throat.
Beady-eyed grease man was ripping her throwing blades out of his arms as Dae yelled, “Not so fast or your friend’s last breath will be from the hole where his head used to be.”
Beady-eyed grease man paused looking amused. Shit! That wasn’t a good reaction at all. Dae miscalculated something. Somehow, some way, somewhere Dae fucked up.
“Not my friend baby cakes, but you will be.” Beady-eyed grease man chucked her own throwing knives at her and before she had time to move completely away, Douche-bag grabbed her arm. The knives entered her shoulder and right arm that held the blade to Douche-bag’s throat. Her hand weakened and the knife slipped.
Douche-bag then flipped her on her back as Dae snarled at him. Douche-bag placed her knife against her own damn throat.
Sonofabitchwhorefuckingbastardcocksuckingmother–
This was not the night she envisioned. Damn stinky bastards don’t do anything the way their supposed to! Douche-bag was losing blood fast but it seemed not to bother him as much as it should. The blood was dripping down him onto her like a faucet as his perv-y gaze raked down her body.
“Yoink! I got first!” Douche-bag sneered at Dae. Dae felt horrified, she couldn’t get away from the pervert’s ever!
Godsdammitsonofabitchmotherfucker!
And these bastards smelled like decay, taint, deception and sulphur. It had been clogging her nose since they started following her. Dae started to panic and it seemed they knew. They both grinned enjoying themselves.
“I don’t think so, she smells so sweet she’s mine first.” Beady-eyed grease man demanded.
“I said yoink!” Douche-bag snarled.
“I don’t give a shit!” Beady-eyed grease man snarled back making Douche-bag cower.
Oh Gods, these disgusting ass perv’s were arguing over… the bile rose in her throat as her whiny stupid self pushed images into her head.
HELL FUCKING NO!
Dae pushed past her panic and let her crazy self kick in
to gear. Dae felt her fingers’ itch as she growled. The two perv’s looked at her and then grinned.
“Two legs or four baby cakes doesn’t matter to us.” Beady-eyed grease man started removing his clothing and that was it for Dae’s sanity.
Dae bucked her torso not caring about the knife wound she would get in her throat. The force of her bucking surprised Douche-bag and he tipped over. Dae already had her hands on her emergency screwdrivers as she stabbed Douche-bag in the heart. The crunch of his sternum echoed through the night air.
Dae knew she probably wasn’t getting out of this alive but she didn’t care. Her instincts took over and had her flipping out of beady-eyed grease man’s arms before he trapped her in them. Dae landed on her feet as she growled waiting for beady-eyed grease man to charge her like a bull. She refused to throw anymore of her weapons at these guys. She needed to get up close and personal with them to do damage or she would lose her advantage.
She eyed him in challenge, not caring about her wounds, just the kill before her. But beady eyed grease man didn’t move, he looked up at Dae and he paled. His eyes glazed and widened at something. It didn’t make sense to her.
The fear scent rolled off his stinky form in waves and Dae was close to gagging as she held her throat were she was bleeding profusely on the ground. Then beady-eyed grease man ran. He ran! Dae felt like laughing but everything was getting blurry and she couldn’t figure out why.
Dae heard the roars and growls and wondered if there was a zoo nearby. But Dae didn’t care because as the breeze shifted in her favor she scented the most wonderful scent in the world: winter snow, wild forest, mountain laurel, very angry man and home.
Dae smiled as she felt strong arms come around her and she was brought face to face with an enraged Sasquatch. Hmm. That was just how she liked him too. Koda howled as a large black wolf with a single white paw came by his side. This thing was hu-u-ge with a set of teeth unlike any canine she’d ever seen before. Dae lifted her hand and touched Koda’s face as the scenery started moving around her.
Dae noticed a stampede of exotic cats chasing after beady-eyed grease man in her peripheral vision. She saw black jaguars, lions and even a jackal or two. Weird. Trying to keep the vertigo at bay, Dae decided to focus on Koda’s handsome face. He was a real looker. Koda’s face was so warm against her cold hand. Koda started growling down at her and Dae couldn’t understand why… Oh she shouldn’t have used that hand. Now she was bleeding all over the place. Dae couldn’t use the other hand to touch his face; Dae couldn’t feel that arm anymore.
Maybe it was because Koda was clutching her to his chest so tightly.
Dae took her hand back feeling a little sad. She just wanted to be warm. Then Dae started choking and the scenery started passing by even faster. Dae heard the thrum-thrum of animal feet hitting the pavement as clearly as she heard Koda’s bare feet hitting the asphalt. Silly man, what happened to his shoes? And he wasn’t wearing a shirt either.
The choking was getting worse and Dae needed Koda to stop but she couldn’t tell him. Dae was feeling… nauseas. Douche-bag cut her throat almost all the way through and Dae knew she was reflexively swallowing the blood. Koda had to stop before her stomach convulsed but she couldn’t figure out how to say it. Her throat itched and her crazy self demanded to be put down.
Dae’s head was spinning so fast she couldn’t take it anymore!
She had to jump, no matter how nice it was here, no matter how warm. Dae felt her stomach jerking and did the only thing she could think of to get free: she clawed at Koda’s face. He immediately froze and Dae flipped herself out of his warm arms onto the pavement. She landed hard but still tried to regain her balance. He was already at her back, trying to scoop her up.
Didn’t he understand she needed to get away from him!? How could she make him understand? Dae pushed him away as hard as she could with a claw. She was shocked he let her; maybe he was getting it in his thick head finally. She slid a foot away, holding her throat in one hand and her balance in the ground with the other.
Dae backed up as Koda watched her with black eyes. Then Dae felt it, her stomach convulsed as all the blood it had been collecting began to expel from her. It came in bursts and Dae felt disgusted. Better to just die; was this what it was like to throw up? Dae did not care for it. Not at all. Her weak arm buckled as the blood washed the pavement under her hand.
Before she made contact with the bloodied asphalt, she felt Koda’s strong arm around her back and waist. His other hand put pressure on her throat and Dae realized she had dropped her left hand once her stomach demanded attention. That was the one that buckled under her weight. Her right hand was useless. How was she going to fend for herself with one working hand?
Dae was freaked out and thankful at the same time; this experience was not one she’d ever want to repeat let alone share with anybody but since ‘anybody’ was Koda…
Dae felt embarrassed as the last of the blood expelled from her system. She leaned back into Koda as her throat wound finished healing the outer derma. All Dae needed was for him to keep pressure on it and she would be fine. Dae still couldn’t speak so she held Koda’s hand to her throat hoping he understood.
Dae was going to have a helluva time explain thing this one.
Tomorrow, Dae would worry about it tomorrow… Raj’s face popped into her vision and Dae desperately wanted to yell at him. Why was he here? He was not supposed to be here! He was supposed to be taking care of Iya! What was wrong with him? Dae was going to kill the big stupid dumb ass before her and if she died in the process she swore she didn’t care!
“Shhhhh calm down. It’s ok. Shhhh.” Koda whispered into her ear as Dae felt like screaming!
It’s not going to be ok if Iya’s hurt!
But Dae’s inside voice was the only one that worked. Silent fireworks started going off in the sky and Dae was still fighting to get free. She couldn’t talk; she didn’t know how to make Koda understand! The fireworks got closer so very fast as Dae growled Iya’s name into the night. Raj, clearly the slow dim-witted oaf of this bunch looked up instead of going to find Iya!
The growling somehow made more of her blood choke her and she was heaving up again all over the asphalt. Maybe this wound wouldn’t heal after all…
“Shit.” Raj sounded awed at the fireworks.
Godsdamnfuckingpieceofshitmotherfucker!!!!
Was that the light people talk about when the death comes? But Dae didn’t want to die. Iya wasn’t safe, so Dae couldn’t die.
She was done throwing up for the moment and she would have gladly welcomed death had Iya been protected.
Gods, Iya where are you? Be safe, please be safe..
Koda still didn’t let her go and the light was so close Dae could see the white and gray color of it.
This was no fireworks Dae had ever seen; it was something else all together. It was so pretty! Dae couldn’t focus on it anymore because she started choking on the blood again. Koda leaned her over as he held her throat with his hand, never moving its position even when she fought to be out of his arms.
How Dae wished she hated him…
“What the heck –HOLLY DAE!!!!” Dae heard the shriek that could have only been one person. Iya. Iya was here. Why was Iya here? Raj was getting skinned alive and nobody was going to stop her. Dae was also going to have to tell Iya to stop announcing her government name to everybody in the world. That was if Dae lived. Reality started getting wavy and she wasn’t sure what was real and what was her imagination.
Dae twisted to be free but Koda’s arms refused to let her go again. Koda rocked her like a baby growling low in her ear. Dae was having those auditory hallucinations again because it sounded like Koda kept asking her to stay with him over and over again.
It was a nice delusion still.
But she saw that Iya was safe, alive, and in one piece. Dae felt as though she could relax. She leaned back into Koda’s arms as her head flopped to rest into the crevice of his neck betw
een his chin and collarbone. He smelled so good! Koda twisted her back so she lay on her bleeding side across his chest.
From the corner of Dae’s eye she saw a naked Raj (why the hell was he naked?) hugging a shrieking Iya for dear life in a massive hug. Raj spun Iya around in all his nakedness and Dae was thankful that Iya’s body blocked his manly junk.
That was not an image Dae wanted in her mind whether it was Raj’s delusional man junk or his real man junk. Later if Dae lived through this, she would strip Raj’s skin off piece by piece.
Hopefully he would be clothed by then. Dae’s crazy self-separated from her sane self, leaving Dae confused again. But Dae was so tired… Dae swore she saw Iya knee Raj in his dangly bits.
Oh, this had to be a dream. Only in Dae’s dreams did Iya kick ass like that. Dae snuggled close to Koda, not caring at all that she shouldn’t. Dae stopped thinking about how bad it was as the blackness took over. There was nothing but Koda’s scent there; Dae swore if she died with his scent as the last thing she smelled she wouldn’t mind going quietly into the night.
Twenty-one
Koda was going to kill her. That was it. As soon as Dae was healed, he was going to kill her so help him Gods. Why was she so damn stubborn! Didn’t she realize that she could have been killed had he not been there? And he would tell her that too as soon as she woke up. Koda’s rational mind thought that wasn’t such a great idea but Koda had been running on adrenaline and fear for hours.
It seemed like it took Dae an eternity to fully heal. The slightest movement had her bleeding from one wound or another once he got her back home. So he held her close to him as still as he could on the floor until it was safe to move her. She was unconscious throughout that whole time. Koda wished she was just sleeping, not the limp sleep her body needed to heal.
Koda held her for hours before Iya reasoned with his wolf that she needed to be cleaned up. His wolf couldn’t comprehend that so he rocked her, begging for her to heal. Her eyelids never fluttered and she was so pale.
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