Blade of Forever
Scarlett Dawn
Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Afterword
About the Author
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
BLADE OF FOREVER
All rights reserved.
Copyright 2016 (c) Scarlett Dawn
Cover: Shoutlines Design
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Editing: RMJ Manuscript Service
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Cover model: Darren Birks
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Photography: Darren Birks Photography
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Formatting: Jennifer Stevens
Proofread: Jennifer Stevens
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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher.
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Harley never expected to fall into the arms of her enemies.
Much less their bed.
But the stars align when two all-powerful Giants, with supernatural ‘swords’, flip her galaxy upside down. The Complex is one messed up place to find your mates, except when it occurs, there’s no stopping it. Not even when you die.
So what happens when a crafty President, a raging Death bringer, and a snarky Human collide?
One galactic, laugh-inducing, sexy good time.
1
Arrival Day
January 1, 4 AS (Ama Seldova)
The grand experiment was here. And I was part of it. I had signed over my life for the next two and a half years, all for the money. My life was always about the money since P-Extinction, the war between Humans and Metas, had begun…and then ended.
My parents were dead. My sister was dead. The fighting had taken them all. And the six inhabited planets were war-ravaged in the Seldova solar system, only now beginning to rebuild after the twelve-year long war. Peace was precarious.
So the experiment on the uninhabited planet, Lorn, was underway, and the new government was determined to make this work. Harmony would be a reality. The optimistic administration of Humans and Metas had changed even our calendar year. The Seldova solar system was starting over, bad memories tucked away in the past—or they hoped. So when the new ruling government, Ama Seldova, had offered one hundred thousand Seldova Coin (S-Co) for any Human or Meta to live inside the innovative Complex on Lorn…
I had signed up.
I was dying.
I needed the money.
Healthcare was all but non-existent unless you had profited from the war. Not many had profited. Only the influential were flourishing. Only those with padded pockets.
I was not influential. And my pockets had holes.
I was a twenty-four-year-old Human woman. Alone.
War had been my sunrise.
Death had been my sunset.
Both embraced me in the cruelest of childhoods.
My family was mere unidentifiable bodies amongst the carnage. But I could now handle myself in the most extreme of situations. War and death had taught me that I could only depend on myself.
I had to make the hard choices.
Harley Amber Boyd.
Me. And only me.
If I didn’t want to die from the irritating disease I had contracted, I needed money. The Complex would give me that.
I would be whole once again.
“Five minutes until we land,” the Climintra officer announced over the speakers. He piloted the jetter taking other Humans and me from our home planet of Emalo to the barren planet of Lorn. The one bag we were each allowed sat on our laps, our most precious of possessions bundled in one pathetic carrier. He stated in a crisp tone, “Prepare for descent.”
My lips trembled as I tried not to laugh. I glanced at the silent—and scared—individual sitting next to me, and whispered, “Do you think we’ll crash?”
The man’s brown eyes widened and sweat glistened on his forehead. “I certainly hope not! These are the finest space vessels in the Ama Seldova.” He nodded his head admittedly, firm in his words. “We’ll be just fine. Don’t you worry.”
I couldn’t help myself. I continued, “I felt a little shimmy when we took off, though.”
His throat worked as he gulped down his worry. “I’m sure we’ll be fine.”
I patted his leg, ignoring how he pulled his bag tighter against his chest. “I bet you’re right.”
The frightened were so easy to fuck with.
And steal from.
I winked and peered out the window, watching as Lorn came into view. The pills I’d heard rattling around in his pocket were now firmly in my bag. Medication was always in demand, no matter where you went.
But while Humans were easy, the Metas were not.
I squinted as a bright light hit my eyes from the planet’s ground. My jaw started to drop, and I pressed my forehead to the window to get a better view. There was no way I could look away.
It was the Complex. The place was massive.
It was all silver and shimmering like a beacon of hope from a desolate land.
I knew the real truth, though. It was a no-brainer. The Complex would house many diverse residents, Metas and Humans alike. From the rich to the poor. To upstanding individuals to criminals. People hiding pasts. Some trying to rectify their past sins for pardons by the AS. Some would be there to help sick siblings, bribed by the government for extra care. No one truly wanted to live in the Complex, but the perks the AS had given were too vast to pass up.
We were the experiment.
The reason for the Complex was simple. To gather a diverse group of Metas and Humans in one location to achieve unity, and then, after two and half years, those individuals would be sent to the six habitable planets to become Ambassadors for the AS. Metas and Humans living together. With enough S-Co in their account to be influential to the majority of the Seldova solar system populace.
All in the name of peace.
It was a genius plan. As long as it worked.
I tapped my fingers on the window, attempting to count all the jetters on the ground next to the Complex. I gave up when I hit fifty-five. Those were just the space vessels touching down outside the landing areas. All day long, more would be arriving, a long string of flights to the ‘promise land.’
Our touchdown was seamless, no shimmy as I had lied about.
The man next to me heaved an exhale so profound, I could smell the burnt fish he’d had for breakfast. My nose crinkled, but I didn’t comment on his foul breath. I was more than ready to enter the Complex as I tri
ed to keep from bouncing on my seat. As soon as I entered the structure, half of the one hundred thousand S-Co would be transferred into my account. The other half would be gifted at the end of the two and half years. My contract with the AS guaranteed as much.
I would be rich just by walking into a building.
I couldn’t leave said building—unless I were kicked out. But that didn’t matter.
My illness wouldn’t kill me for another five years. My body could last until this experiment was over. The Complex would be my saving grace.
If the residents of the Complex didn’t kill me first.
2
The rust-colored dirt and sporadic patches of brown sand crunched beneath my boots with each step I took, gradually getting closer to the Complex. The lines to get inside the domed building were the longest I had ever seen—even including the free food lines for the homeless on my home planet. The attacking heat from the sun baked my forehead, leaving my long brown hair sticking to my head and sweat drenched shoulders. I wiped the perspiration from my upper lip with my free hand, my other hand gripping my lone bag down by my hip, and then I peered up to the sky.
I glowered at the sun.
With the way the line was moving so slow, it would be hours before I stepped a foot inside the Complex. The wisps of clouds were no barrier against the sun’s brutal rays. My fair skin would be pink and stinging by nightfall.
A man whistled in the line next to mine.
I lowered my eyes from the unforgiving sun and blinked away the spots left behind in my vision. My brown eyes didn’t avert to the asshole catcalling in my direction. I kept my attention forward, aimed at the back of a Human woman’s head in front of me. I didn’t hiss at the jerk as I wished to.
I was beautiful. I knew it.
Anyone with working eyesight knew it.
My striking features, curvy body, and tall frame drew eyes all around. My looks had always been a problem in the kill-first-ask-questions-later solar system I had grown up in. During P-Extinction, my beauty had even been harmful to my well-being. I had literally lost count of how many times war-crazed men had tried to rape me. Luckily, none had succeeded. Those rapists ended with a knife in their groin, forever wishing they hadn’t set eyes on me, unmanned as they now were.
One “lovely” businessperson had even tried to kidnap me for her ladies of the night brothel.
She no longer had eyes with which to see.
I wasn’t an innocent virgin, but I sure as hell wouldn’t have my free will taken away. Not by a dick that could easily be cut off. Or shredded. Burned. Occasionally ripped off with my bare hands.
Or even skewered.
I’d had fun with that last one.
The weasel’s screams had been a frenzied melody.
That was what I called pure beauty.
The Climintra officer dressed in black and sweating more than I was, searched my bag. I had finally made it to the front of my line. The sun was beginning to set, and my feet were numb from standing on them for so long. My leg muscles cramped, and I swayed where I stood.
But damn if I didn’t have a smile on my face.
Fights had broken out during my four-hour wait.
A few Humans and Metas had died.
I’d spent twenty minutes standing in a pile of someone’s intestines at one special point while waiting.
Moreover, I had behaved the entire time.
I was extremely proud of myself.
The Intra officer smirked. She lifted the bottle of pills I had stolen on the jetter. The name scrolling around the bottle in neon green was definitely not mine. She laughed and shook her head. “Naughty, naughty.”
My nose wrinkled as she tossed them into a litterbin nearby. I hadn’t really thought I could get away with them in the search, but it had been worth a shot. “Yeah, I have no idea how those got it there.”
“Sure you don’t.” She winked at me, her eyes lingering on my ample chest. “I think a full body search is in order.”
My gaze lifted to the sky as I sighed. “Seriously?”
Her grin only grew. “And I’ll be the one to do it.”
“Of course, you will.”
She handed my bag back to me and then gestured for me to come near. “I don’t bite.”
I snorted. “I’ve heard that before.”
Nevertheless, I moved closer to her—her nametag read Kelly Green—and held perfectly still as her scanner ran over me from head to toe, a red glow hovering over my body. The contacts in her eyes allowed her to see all of me.
As in, all of me.
“Very nice,” Kelly murmured quietly.
I ground my teeth together, biting back my comment.
The red glow blinked off a minute later, far too long for her to only search for anything hidden under my clothes—or inside my body. Just another pervert in an occupation of power over others. I had met many people like her in my life.
She finally handed me a small translucent reader that held the district name I’d be living in, my apartment number, my new job inside the Complex and a map.
“You’re approved to enter, Ms. Boyd.”
I nodded and walked around the Intra officer.
My smile returned as I passed the breach doors.
I was now fifty thousand S-Co richer.
3
The Complex was…complex.
The Main City was enormous. Glyders and zippers transported individuals to their destinations. The streets were filled with Metas and Humans. Buildings lifted as high as the eye could see on any given street, even while smaller buildings sat directly next to those. It all glittered with the newness that many hadn’t seen in years—if ever.
The black dressed Intra were out in full force, breaking up fights and helping individuals find the districts where they would be living. Maps were wonderful if you knew how to use them. Most individuals had no need for maps on their home planets with destroyed streets, and now it was a clusterfuck of confusion as they were initiated with directions on their readers.
I was one of them.
It took me another dreadful two hours to find my apartment. The room was sterile and bland, enough to drive anyone insane. It was worse than a jail cell, all white to the point of extreme overkill. The Uni logo was splattered everywhere I looked—on the gifted clothes, mugs, rugs, doors…everywhere. The Uni company had their name stamped on everything.
Including the business I was to manage.
The Uni Sweet Shop.
Why in the galaxy the AS had decided I would be a good fit to run a candy store was beyond me. I sure as hell wasn’t sweet. I didn’t like most people, rarely smiled at someone with genuine delight, and I didn’t even like manufactured sugar.
Perhaps they thought I wouldn’t steal from the business if I didn’t eat the shit.
That sounded right for their manipulative asses.
I dumped my bag on my one table and flopped back first onto my bed. Landing on my mattress was another story.
“Ow!”
My eyes narrowed as I lay stunned on my bed. It was rock hard, only gradually conforming to fit my frame with technology I had never experienced before. It was either really old or really new. Either way, I was pretty sure the AS were assholes as my body sank almost all the way down into the bed. I couldn’t even move to roll over.
“Help.” It was pathetic to my own ears.
Of course, no one answered.
I sighed and closed my eyes, cocooned in my mystery bed, only my head above the mattress now. I was going to have to call someone for real. My bed was like quicksand.
I managed to wiggle my fingers on my right hand enough to press the microchip in my palm.
I grouched, “Call Intra inside the Complex.”
Instantly, a hologram of a man appeared at the foot of my bed. He was an Intra officer in his black uniform…and it was a recording. “If this is an emergency, please say ‘Yes.’ Otherwise, hold for the next available officer. Your current wait time is three
hours—”
“Yes!” I hollered, my head now beginning to sink into the Harley-Woman-Eating-Bed. “It’s an emergency!”
The hologram faded, and a new one appeared. It was the Intra officer who had searched me. Kelly Green stared at the situation I was in before speaking.
“Ms. Boyd, how did you manage that?”
I growled. “I don’t fucking know! Just get me out.”
Even if it was her, I didn’t care at this point.
The bitch actually chuckled. “On my way.”
The hologram disappeared.
My brows puckered. I was betting Kelly had scanned my microchip so all my calls for assistance went to her—and my location. She may be a depraved individual, but she was conniving and smart.
She would be a decent ally to have here.
I would try not to piss her off too much.
The fact that I was having issues with something as simple as my bed in the Complex wasn’t a good sign. I would need to make more contacts here, just as I had on Emalo. The worst criminals were the best friends to have.
4
The lines the next morning to get on board a zipper were ridiculous, but they were steadily moving. The red uniformed Intra, part of the transportation section, kept the zippers flying as if they were used to this much traffic. It was a drastic change to their unorganized actions yesterday—probably having their asses handed to them by their bosses. By the red cast to their eyes and slumped shoulders, they had been up all night doing drills in preparation for today’s activities.
When I stepped onboard, I pressed in the destination my map showed for my new business, the Uni Sweet Shop, and then moved aside quickly as more Humans boarded the zipper. With ten destinations punched in, the black zipper left the portal, flying us to our end points in the Main City.
Naturally, I was the last dropped off.
It afforded great views of the city, though.
Blade of Forever (The Complex Book 0) Page 1