Rebirth (Cross Book 1)

by Hildred Billings

  “We’re working on the assumption that the house is empty, and that the ring is inside. Get in, get the ring, get out.” Troy patted Danielle’s shoulder. “Congratulations, you finally get to poke around Hottie’s bedroom. Too bad you ain’t gettin’ any in the process.”

  “Shut up before I rip your groin out through your ass.” She covered her hair with a black ski mask. “Seriously, am I robbing a bank or what?”

  “Hey,” Devon continued, his head craned around the front seat, “we’ll all be right here to help you if you need it. Just say the word and somebody will come back you up. Okay?”

  “Jesus, I’m just going to steal a ring and be right back out. The trick is to not be seen by the neighbors or trip the house alarm.”

  Troy scoped out the rest of the neighborhood. It was dark, save for the stoic streetlamps every three or so houses. “Looks like everyone is asleep. School and work tomorrow.”

  “Great. Well, wish me luck. I’m about to bust in her door.”

  “Careful that no alarm goes off,” was the last thing anyone said as she climbed out of the van and slid the door shut behind her. The next thing either Clyde or Devon saw was her black-clad figure racing across the street like a cat burglar.

  Danielle snuck onto the property, hopping across the small, maintained yard and onto the steps leading up to the front door. “Thank God she doesn’t have a dog,” she muttered. Troy laughed through her ear buds. “Should I go straight for the front door, or…? There’s no light, but it might be too conspicuous.”

  Nobody answered. Danielle made one last assessment and decided to go for it. She ducked down and raced along the hedges by Miranda’s front porch until she reached the stoop. The front door awaited the fingers flexing in her gloves.

  To her amazement, it was unlocked. The alarm panel was dark and unresponsive.

  “Did you get in?”

  “Yeah.” Daniele pushed the front door open. “What’s it doing unlocked?”

  “Weird. Be careful,” Troy said. “We think she’s gone, but maybe she went to bed early.”

  Clyde reminded everyone that Miranda’s car was not parked in the driveway. Besides, who went to bed without locking the door and turning on the alarm?

  “How is it?”

  “I can’t really see.” Danielle held up a pocket flashlight. “This house is kinda small, though.”

  If architectural illusions were the flavor of the day, then Danielle would be further interested. But she did not have time to admire Miranda’s things, nor did she have much time to figure out how to navigate past the couch and coffee table to get to the curving staircase.

  “I’m kinda surprised,” she eventually muttered. “You’d never guess a smoker lived here.” She was careful not to put her hands on the railing.

  By the time she reached the top of the stairs, Danielle fell silent. After all, it was possible Troy was right and Miranda went to bed early. Danielle had no desire to find out what happened when Miranda awoke to the sound of a burglar in her house. She made sure the mask was secure on her head before proceeding.

  “How goes it?” Devon said into her ear.

  Danielle stood on the other side of the bedroom door – the sweet scent of vanilla wafted through the crack. She peered in, making sure nobody was in the large and neatly made bed.

  “I don’t think anyone’s here at all.” She opened the door.

  “Good. Now find the ring.”

  “Thanks, Captain Obvious.” Danielle opened the door far enough to slip into Miranda’s bedroom. She searched the darkness for any place that might store jewelry.

  Although the master bedroom was adequate in size, Danielle fumbled past the bed and gagged on the perfumes permeating the room. If there was any doubt regarding Miranda’s stance in the “Are candles an adequate replacement for airing out a room?” debate, it could be put rest by bottling up the scents and throwing them like a grenade. The only thing missing from the princess palace was a mountain of stuffed animals on top of the already sparse cream-colored bedspread.

  Danielle stumbled upon the dresser. The top of it was lined with trinkets, photos, and a small TV. There was some jewelry along the mirror, but nothing beyond the usual necklaces and rings Miranda wore. “At least she keeps a clean house,” she muttered.

  Her companions were silent. Danielle resigned herself to checking drawers. The bureau was full of nothing but clothes and dusty photo albums. Danielle made no comment when she found the lingerie drawer. If she did, she would have to admit she stared at Miranda’s underwear.

  When she pushed the last drawer shut again, she got up and looked around. The end table. That was the only logical place left.

  Nothing on the right side, besides tax documents and a few books. Danielle walked to the left side. She wondered how much time she had before Miranda returned.

  She opened the top drawer.

  A large white box.

  A small white box on top of it.

  “Hello, there.” Danielle picked up the cardboard ring box in her hand. Even before she opened it, her wrist ached with ancient magic.

  She flicked her thumbnail beneath the wedge and flipped the top open to reveal the set of blue stones. The scent of musk grew heavy in her nostrils. She did not hear breathing on the other end of her communicator.

  But she did hear breathing behind her.

  ***

  “Holy shit, we’re being mugged!”

  Devon and Troy looked up from the electronics. Clyde pointed out the windshield. The three of them dropped their mouths as a gun waved back at them.

  “Fuck!” Devon tried to duck, but the blackened figure holding the gun made a gesture that implied he really should not do that.

  “Open the back door.” Syrfila’s voice was unmistakable. Had she been watching her accomplice’s house the whole time? “Open.”

  Troy slid the door open. The gun appeared next to his head.

  “I think it’s time we go for a little ride.” Syrfila clicked the gun in Clyde’s direction. “Start this bitch up, boy. I wanna see how you drive.”

  ***

  Danielle sucked in her breath at the sound of someone behind her; she clenched the ring box in her hand as if it would disappear. Although nothing moved, the hairs on the back of her neck still stood to attention. She craned her head around, expecting a swift death.

  It had been three days since Danielle last saw this feminine figure, and even though Syrfila was nowhere around, Danielle still did not feel any safer. In her frozen terror, she did not have the foresight to run. Instead, she stood like a petrified plank as she remained resolute to keep the ring box in her hand.

  “That doesn’t belong to you.” That voice was low and forgettable, but sending the hairs on the back of Danielle’s neck into full formation. The firearm was raised to Danielle’s face.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  The other woman lowered her gun and tapped Danielle’s clenching hand. “Not yours.”

  “Don’t you know what is happening?”

  “I know that someone is stealing something that does not belong to them.”

  Danielle shook in frustration. “Look, you’re the same person that helped me at the warehouse the other day, right? Surely, you are on my side.”

  “I’m on my own side.”

  “All right.” Danielle uncurled her fingers to show the ring box was safely in her hand. “What does your side want?”

  “What do I want?” The gun clicked as it readied to fire. “For all of this to be over.”

  The air shot through Danielle’s nostrils in hot, sharp wisps. “Then we want the same thing. Let me take this.”

  “It’s not about the ring!”

  “Then what is it about?”

  “You don’t even remember what this is about.”

  A jolt of anxiety made Danielle shiver beneath her black façade. “How would you know anything about that?”

  The bitter moment exuding through th
e bedroom was laced with more than mutual confusion. Danielle waited for a response from her assailant, but all she got was more stunned silence and a gun barrel pressed ever-so-close to her nose.

  Before Danielle could blink, the other woman lowered her gun and cast her eyes to the side. Danielle breathed a slight sigh of relief. The gun thumped on the carpeted floor.

  Hell was unleashed.

  The blow of a fist hit Danielle’s right cheek when her adversary struck her with enough force to topple a horse. A shriek of surprise echoed in the bedroom as Danielle bounced onto the bed. She rolled over before another more sadistic blow could follow. She had a second to make sure the ring box was still in her hand before she made a break for the bedroom door.

  A hand snatched the back of her black shirt and pulled her, casting Danielle’s body aside and into the wall like a dirty ragdoll. The force of hitting the drywall made one of Miranda’s framed pictures crash to the floor, a movement Danielle soon followed by stumbling and falling to one knee. Her ears rang.

  “You don’t deserve it. You don’t even remember it.”

  Danielle huddled on the carpet as she searched for breath. The other woman bent down and snatched her by the slim collar, preparing to deliver another blow.

  The door wasn’t too far away. Danielle broke through the threshold with a lunge, but the shadowy figure was faster, beating her to the staircase and letting out a high-kick intimidating enough to scare Danielle back toward the bedroom.

  With the gun on the floor, Danielle saw a slight chance of not only escaping with the Third Piece, but also proving her own prowess as well.

  The other woman threw her hands up in defense as Danielle unleashed an assault with her curled right fist. For two minutes, they scuffled in the hallway, Danielle’s fists jabbing, her assailant’s body bending and twisting to avoid the punches. Eventually, the shadowy woman jumped back and kicked her leg into the air, forcing Danielle to duck and admire the fierce high-kick. Just like the sparring match with Miranda a couple weeks before.

  The other woman spun around on her mounted foot and thrust the sole of her boot in Danielle’s direction. She pushed her free hand out and snatched the woman’s ankle. It was out of her hand soon enough. Danielle ducked. She knew what would come next.

  And when the fist launched for her face, her left hand caught it between deft knuckles. She shoved the woman aside with a thump that rattled the wall and the framed sketches of butterflies adorning it.

  “What are you, a one-trick pony?” Danielle’s breath was still stuck in her lungs. “I’m taking the ring. You can thank me later when you’re still alive.” She attempted to walk by.

  She almost made it when she saw the woman’s shadow across the wall before her. Yet when Danielle attempted to speed up, a forceful arm was upon her, throwing her against the wall again.

  “Be cocky all you want.” Miranda’s breath was beneath Danielle’s nose, smelling like cigarettes and feeling hot against her upper lip. “But remember that you are fucked if you refuse to look behind you once in a while.”

  “What are you talking about? Let me go!”

  Miranda shoved Danielle’s hapless body toward the staircase. She grabbed hold of the railing. Danielle barely had time to collect herself before she dashed for the front door.

  The van was gone.

  Danielle jumped into the bushes. Worrying about her comrades could come after she caught her breath.

  ***

  “Pull up here, kid.”

  Clyde pulled the van to the side of road about two miles away from the house. It was the longest five-minute drive of his life, his hands clammy upon the wheel and the wrong side of a gun pressed against the back of his head. The motor died with the turn of a key.

  “Well, boys, it’s been fun.” Syrfila checked the number of bullets in her gun. “But now it’s time to say goodbye.”

  Panic was quick to settle. “Man, we’re gonna die, aren’t we?” Clyde’s face contorted into a fearful frown. “I’m gonna die!”

  “Uh, yeah?”

  “I don’t wanna die!”

  “Then don’t fucking associate with my enemies, you dumbass.”

  Devon and Troy remained silent. Clyde began to cry.

  “Oh, for fuck’s sake!”

  While Syrfila pivoted her attention toward the wet-in-the-pants red-head, Devon whipped his hand behind him. He snatched the end of Syrfila’s gun and yanked it out of her hand. She gasped in alarm as Devon turned the gun back around at her. Troy flinched.

  “What are you doin’?” He slapped the back of Devon’s seat. “How did you do that?”

  Devon cleared his throat while Syrfila continued to stare in incredulous disbelief. “Danielle taught me. A thousand years ago.”

  “Do you even know how to use that thing?”

  “Yes.”

  “Oh, well, okay then!” Troy flung himself back in his seat. “Why did I even bother to join the military?”

  “Watch yourself,” Syrfila warned. “You don’t know if I’m mortal.”

  “So? One shot and you’re still debilitated enough that we can get out of here and go find Danielle.”

  “One shot, and I call in a favor with the local government and you’re arrested. Your prints are on that gun and everything now.”

  “You call your favor and I’ll call mine.”

  “You think your old man is gonna rescue you?”

  “You think yours is too?”

  Syrfila gave a cheeky smile. “Touché, boy. But I’m a killing menace to the galaxy. What makes you think that’s the only weapon I have with me?”

  “I don’t.”

  “Put the gun away!” Clyde sobbed again, his face swollen from childlike tears as if he were still trapped in a thrilling nightmare. “Crazy bitch or not, put it away!”

  “Yeah, put my gun away.”

  Her hand eased toward the inside of her jacket. Troy seized the element of surprise and beat her to the punch: he drew out his own concealed firearm from its holster and shot her.

  As Clyde continued to squeal, Syrfila’s body slumped over. Troy put his gun away.

  “You fucking shot her!” Devon shouted.

  “She was going to grab another weapon!” Troy shoved Syrfila’s arm aside and pulled her jacket open, revealing a smaller gun inside its seams. “It was either you or her!”

  “You fucking shot her!”

  Clyde finished screaming long enough to say “Oh my God, there’s going to be blood all over the place! This isn’t even our van, dude! It’s Serge’s!”

  Troy pulled Syrfila’s head up. Her eyes were closed, swollen, and a large hole in her flesh at the base of her throat gurgled in disturbance; however, there was no blood. “That ain’t right.”

  “She’s not bleeding?”

  “Nope.”

  “What kind of alien is she, anyway?”

  “Do I look like I know?”

  “Dump her!”

  “What?” Both Devon and Troy gaped at Clyde as the boy started the van up again. “Dump her body, man! What if she’s some super freak and wakes up totally pissed off! We better get out of here!”

  “Right, we’ve gotta go back for Danielle. If this one came after us...” Devon did not want to finish his thought.

  “Fuck Danielle! Get rid of the crazy psycho back there!”

  Before Clyde could cause further chaos, Troy unlatched the sliding door to shove out Syrfila’s unconscious body. Once she hit the pavement, sprawled out like a wounded eagle, Troy closed the door again and signaled for Clyde to take off.

  The van careened down the street. The body left behind cooled in the summer moonlight.

  She opened one eye, cursed the wound in her throat, and focused her energy on finding her cell phone. Nothing hurt quite as much as trying to call her boss from the middle of a quiet street.

  ***

  Danielle sneaked back into her apartment, cell phone in hand as she tried to contact either Devon or Troy for the fifth time s
ince barreling out of Miranda’s neighborhood. She bolted like a greyhound back to her own building. What else was she supposed to do?

  “Come on, answer!” She snapped her cell phone shut and made sure her doors were locked tight. She now faced a new dilemma – finding a place to stash the ring since it was too dangerous to take it back to Marlow.

  As she wondered if there were any hidden compartments in her apartment, her cell phone rang. A glorious ring that heralded Devon’s number.

  “Thank fuck you’re alive!” she shouted into the receiver. “Where were you guys?”

  The sound of screeching tires echoed in the background. “I’m so sorry, but we got hijacked by that crazy shithead.”

  “Who, the Marine?”

  “God, yes!”

  “Oh my God, are you all right?”

  “We got rid of her. What happened to you? Did you get the Piece?”

  Danielle opened her hand. “Yes, but not without my own problems. I had my own crazy shithead to deal with.” She refrained from mentioning more. “Where are you guys now? We need to rendezvous and figure out what to do with this thing.”

  “Yeah, we’re almost to your place. We’re going to ditch the van nearby and run over, so you’d better be ready to let us in. I’ll knock three times in a row, so you know it’s us.”

  “All right, I’ll be waiting.” Danielle hung up.

  For five minutes she paced, for five minutes she rearranged shelving, and for five minutes she even considered stuffing the ring in the kitchen sink. If somebody like Syrfila, who had years’ worth of experience getting what they wanted, managed to go through Danielle’s stuff...

  She threw open drawers in her bedroom. Oh my God, she thought. This is it. Danielle removed something from her nightstand and dumped two batteries out of a small compartment.

  “What in the world are you doing?”

  “Christ!” Danielle nearly dropped what was in her hand before she realized the boys had wandered into her bedroom. For all her worries about security, she had forgotten to lock her damned door.

  “Do you have the ring?”