“And you will train,” Olezka said.
My mind went blank, and I blinked once. “What?”
“You need a basic skill set in order to protect yourself.” From the stubborn tilt to his chin, I realized this was not a request.
The longer we sat and talked, the more the aches and pains from the past several nights came back. Unfortunately, I didn’t heal like the rest of them, and my pains didn’t magically disappear. The sun was high in the sky when we first started discussing plans and theories with Z and Kallan, and now it was almost evening.
Ana and Kallan started discussing her training schedule. He didn’t look too pleased when she mentioned needing to work around her schedule at the para bar, Xibalba. Ana peppered him with questions about fae magic, but Kallan remained vague. Anubis jumped up onto the couch next to me and placed his head on my lap. I petted him while I tried to keep my eyes open.
The last couple of days had been taxing. My mind sensed I was finally in a place of safety, which allowed my body to relax. I snuggled a little deeper into the couch, and the heat and weight of Anubis on me lulled me further to sleep.
My eyelids drooped as I tried to keep my attention on the conversation, but the couch was so comfy, and my body needed rest. My stomach clenched with the desire for more food, but that could wait.
I’d take a baby nap. Yup. Just a little one.
****
“Ana is concerned about this.” Kallan’s voice drifted in through the haze around my mind. I stirred, snuggling closer to the warm pillow and enjoying the spicy scent.
“She need not be. My mate does better if I remain with her. Even if she does not want to admit it yet.”
“The human will be a liability.”
“She will not be. And don’t forget the one you wish to claim as yours is half human as well,” Olezka growled.
I felt the rumble through my chest. Hmm. He must be sitting with me on the couch, I mused. How many times would I wake up like this with the sound of Kallan telling everyone what a liability I was? I tried to keep my breathing even so I could hear more of what he had to say.
“I don’t claim her as mine,” Kallan retorted, “but even if she is half-human, her blood is purer than most full fae.”
“Leave. You are disturbing my mate.”
“Food will be here soon. I suggest you wake her, or Anastasia will.”
After Kallan left, it became so peaceful, and I was so comfortably warm that I snuggled closer against my warm pillow and fell back asleep. “Mmm, my pchelka. What will I do with you?” Olezka whispered.
“Trebovat' yeye,” a deep, familiar voice echoed through the room.
“You need to leave while Kallan is here,” Olezka warned his brother darkly.
“Da, I will be out in a bit. But you need to keep her close, Z. I’ll see you soon, brat,” Timur said.
“Did he give you that nickname when you were a kid?” I muttered, teetering between the brink of wakefulness and sleep, pressing my face deeper into my pillow. Usually, I liked my pillows extra soft, but this firm one was unusually warm, and I really liked it. When I pressed my hand against it and felt it slowly lift and fall, I realized Olezka was my pillow.
“Nyet. brat means brother, my pchelka.”
“Why are you on the couch with me?”
“We are not on the couch.”
“What?” My eyes shot open, and I pulled out of his warm grasp. When I blinked, my eyes felt like sandpaper, and I realized I had fallen asleep with my contacts in again. I needed them out immediately. I missed my glasses. Crouching over, I pulled out one contact and then started on the other. A strange sound came from behind me.
Blinking several times, I glanced back at Olezka. We were in a bedroom, which I guessed belonged to him since it was the same room where he’d taken me before. I held my contacts in one open palm while squinting at him.
“What’s wrong?”
The look on his blurry face was extremely comical, but the way he scooted away from me and glared at my hand had me snorting loudly. I couldn’t contain my laughter, even if it was the furthest thing from sweet and delicate.
“Not a fan of contacts?”
“You just pulled things out of your eyes.”
“My contacts. They help me see. I don’t wear them often, and I shouldn’t have worn these as long as I did. I needed to get them out of my eyes.”
Olezka gagged again, which sent me into another fit of laughter.
“So, the big bad Russian is scared of a little eye probing,” I said with a smile. He relaxed as his gaze focused on me. The five o’clock shadow he sported had gotten thicker as the day wore on, and honestly, it did silly things to my insides.
“Krasotka.”
“What does that mean?” I asked, even though I had an inkling of what it meant from his tone.
“Nothing. Sixx, will you allow me to take you on a proper date?”
“Umm…”
“Take some time to think about it. Ana and Kallan ordered food, and it just arrived. Best to eat it before it gets cold.”
I nodded because I didn’t know how to respond. I knew it was silly because he’d already told me he wasn’t with Sasha, the girl from the club. And he made it very clear that he saw me as his mate. It was definitely no secret that I found him attractive. Looking back on all of the situations we had been in together so far, I had to admit he’d never been cruel or mean. He was protective and secretive, but not without reason. Even during the sort-of-fake-date we had, he was truly kind and attentive.
Olezka got off the bed and walked around to my side, holding out a hand to me. I took it and slid off the bed. He kept ahold of my hand, which I appreciated because, in addition to my blurry vision, I didn’t know how to maneuver around this place.
Suddenly, Olezka tugged me flush against him. I peeked up. He lifted his hand, brushing his knuckle across my cheekbone before tucking a wayward strand of hair behind my ear.
“Okay,” I whispered.
Flames flickered in his amber eyes. “Okay, what?”
“I will go on a date with you.”
His smile grew, and his chest swelled. I shook my head, still smiling.
“But I’m really hungry, so maybe we can…”
“Yes, pchelka. Come.” He led me out of the bedroom and down the stairs. Questions roamed in my head as I thought about his brief conversation with both Timur and Kallan. Once Ana and I got some time alone, we needed to get each other up to speed. For now, I just wanted food.
At the bottom of the stairs, the spicy smell of Chinese food led me to where Ana and Kallan sat at the dining table with Anubis curled up at their feet. Both fae looked content, and oddly I felt… safe. Even more confident now that Ana and I had potential allies.
Ana turned in her seat and smiled at me. I still had my contacts in my other hand. I walked over to the trash can and cringed as I popped open the lid and tossed them out. So much money. Another reason I wore them very rarely and often took care of them religiously.
“How are you feeling?” Ana asked.
“Better. Sorry I fell asleep.”
“You didn’t sleep long, but it gave us time to plot out a schedule. Olezka insisted that you train with us a couple of days a week. Ana will assign your schedule as we know you still need to go to work and research the drug,” Kallan said.
“I mean, do we really think training me is necessary? In most cases, I wouldn’t be able to fend off a para anyway.” Also, the idea of working out with anyone more intense than Ana gave me hives.
“Yes. Every second counts, Sixx. You will attend, and I will be training you,” Olezka said as he rounded the table and pulled out my chair. I gulped.
Fudge.
I sat down. Talk of training and other work-like subjects dried up after that. Instead, we ate in a strange sort of silence that almost felt like a truce. Things felt weird like we were all friendly, but an undercurrent of uncertainty lingered.
Chapter 20
&n
bsp; My hands shook, and my vision blurred as I continued to type and run software on my computer. I had drunk almost two pots of coffee by myself and tossed in a couple of energy drinks to give me the stamina to work practically nonstop. Since Ana’s and my training sessions had begun, it seemed we kept missing each other. I started to think Olezka and Kallan planned the scheduling for that very reason, to keep us out of trouble. The only time I saw Ana was during our shared torture sessions. Or – add mental eye-roll – my training sessions. Olezka laughed the first couple of times I called them torture sessions, but now he insisted I run laps or spar with him each time I let it slip.
Every moment I wasn’t working, I came back to our apartment to do research, ensuring both mental and physical exhaustion. So far, I’d deduced who the potential manufacturer was by the markings on the pill. Then I spent hours researching the company that originally made the drug I believed Dreamscape had been modeled after to see if I could trace its ingredients. The only problem was the drug’s designs were decades old and used for drugs that didn’t even exist anymore. With the help of what I heard over the police scanners, I started to narrow down the similarities.
Even though I tried not to get frustrated, it felt like every step I made forward was still at least ten behind. Knowing who the manufacturer was would tell me where to look for information about the company, but what it wouldn’t tell me was what the drug was made of.
My best theory was that Dreamscape began as an opioid designed to treat pain, but it failed testing and was supposed to be shelved because the side effects were deemed too dangerous. The company that originally created it went under almost a decade ago once all the opioid overdose lawsuits hit. Then, they couldn’t produce another drug in time to pull them back from the brink of bankruptcy. When they went under, another company bought all their pharmaceutical rights and trials, but I’d been unable to pinpoint who this mystery company was. Now, Dreamscape was on the streets and being produced by this new company, but they were doing it in secret to get around FDA requirements and making a killing by selling it to street gangs.
Honestly, it seemed absurd, but Olezka’s words from our little chat almost a week ago echoed in my head. If the drug affected humans the way Olezka and Kallan said, then I needed to see it in action. It would take some research of the paras to know exactly how their DNA worked. Could their powers be passed from a pill to a human? It gave me something to think about.
I bit my lip and considered asking Olezka but quickly dismissed the idea. He had been pretty absent since I agreed to go on a date with him. He only showed up for my training days where it was all business as he worked me through the wringer.
Glancing at the clock on my bedside table, I groaned and reached back to tighten my ponytail. Three A.M. How did it get so late? Dimly, I realized there was a steady pinging sound coming from my computer, which signaled that one of my constant running searches caught something. I clicked on the program and pulled up an article from a small-time journalist who had a passion about the opioid crisis.
I scanned the article and found that it discussed a lot of the information I already had. Then, my eyes snagged on something new, and adrenaline dumped back into my veins.
The article mentioned that the pharmaceutical company that originally produced the drug that Dreamscape might be modeled after had recently been sold to a company called Nova. Now I had a name.
Wired and restless, I stood up and ran through my options, deciding my next course of action should be to see if I could hack into Nova’s systems. Unfortunately, I wasn’t the most skilled hacker, and Nova’s systems were fairly difficult to penetrate. I could wade my way through their program, but I worried about someone noticing my sloppy work. I cringed but decided to run another software program to download any information that contained the keywords I typed in. Knowing it would take a couple of hours, I thought I would try to get some rest while it ran in the background.
Try as I might, I couldn’t push down my wakefulness. Having my body full of energy drinks and coffee certainly didn’t help, but now that I finally had a viable lead, excitement itched me toward euphoria.
Little known fact: Sleep-deprived Sixx didn’t make great decisions. Ana discovered that when we decided to stay up all night for a sleepover. Around this time of night, I thought it would be a great idea to start and complete a five thousand-piece puzzle.
Ana and I can check out the Nova complex later today. No nefarious plans unfold in bright daylight, after all. Determination solidified my hair-brained plan.
I went to Ana’s door and knocked. She didn’t answer, so I poked my head in to see her empty bed. I frowned, wondering if she had to work late at Xibalba. I didn’t know her schedule at the new bar yet, and I hadn’t heard her come in since I was in my room working with the door shut. Once I got started, I became so entranced with my research that I lost all concept of the world around me.
Maybe I could just do a quick drive-by tonight to see if there’s any activity at Nova. If anything is going on, I’ll leave immediately or call for back-up.
Checking the address listed online, I realized the building wasn’t too far away. Decided, I left the apartment in my sweatpants and a thin sweatshirt. I got into my car, plugged the address into Google maps, and drove over to the city’s industrial business park.
It didn’t take long to get to Nova.
I parked across the street from the building. From the outside, it looked like every other business on the street – tall, with lots of windows, but it looked vacant and boarded up. Deflated, I leaned my head on the steering wheel. I didn’t know what I had been expecting.
“Stupid, overworked brain,” I muttered, lightly pounding my head against the steering wheel. Movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention, and I twisted to look over at the building. The front door opened, and two men in suits walked out. Hmm.
The two figures exited the building and walked in opposite directions. I frowned. If there were two of them in there, maybe there were more? Since I came all this way…
I climbed out of my car and looked both ways before crossing the street and trotting over to the building. Luckily, a bus stop with an awning sat close to the building. I tucked myself inside. Tugging on my hood, I scooted to the edge of the bench and peeked around the awning. I sat for twenty minutes, bouncing my legs to keep myself warm before I heard the door open again. This time, when I peeked around the awning, the moonlight mingled with the city lights helped me recognize both people who exited.
My heart dropped to my stomach.
Erebus was there, which oddly didn’t surprise me. What did surprise me was the man who stood with him. With the same build as his brother but with vast differences in the degree of warmth, Timur stood with Erebus.
“I need to see results! I’m getting impatient. Things are different now that they are on the scene. I need you to make this problem disappear,” Erebus whispered harshly. I stood up from the bench and shuffled closer.
“Olezka is close to it; I will wait in the wings while he figures it out,” Timur answered. “The best chance for this to end neatly is to have his team working on it and pin it….”
I couldn’t hear the rest of Timur’s words. I peeked around the half wall to see that Timur had turned away and was speaking softly to Erebus. I gave a mental curse.
“Do not let Olezka find out about this. I have plans for him, and I refuse to have him compromised because of this.”
Timur growled at Erebus’s sharp tone but answered, “Don’t worry; my brat will be none the wiser, moy korol'.”
“Good. I have other business I have to attend to. An annoying Light fae has been causing issues at my club,” Erebus snarled. With that, he disappeared in a dark veil of smoke.
Unable to hold back my gasp, I cringed and flung myself back farther into the awning. What felt like hours passed as I sat with my eyes shut, hoping Timur hadn’t heard me.
“Oh, kroshka. What have you done?”
I peeked up at Timur from where I sat on the bench. I held the wood of the bench seat in a death grip, kicking myself and wishing I’d thought this through. “Um, I’m waiting for my bus?”
“Da? At 4 A.M.?”
“I like to be early,” I said, tilting my head up, stubbornly keeping to my lie.
“Da. You forget, kroshka, I have my brother’s nose.” He tapped his nose as if to emphasize his point.
“What are the chances you’ll believe I couldn’t hear a thing?”
Timur pressed his lips together and crossed muscular arms over his broad chest, giving me a slight shake of his head.
“Didn’t think so,” I muttered, dropping my gaze.
Timur sighed heavily, his chest expanding. He uncrossed his arms and took a step forward. I flinched, fear rushing through my veins. His nostrils flared much like his brother’s did. “Fear not, kroshka. I would sooner cut off my own hands before I harmed you.”
“Those are big words, considering you just caught me spying on you,” I squeaked.
“You are Olezka’s mate, his life. I would never break my brat like that. You are sem’ya.”
“Then what will you do?” I asked. My stomach clenched, fearing his answer. Paras were powerful with unlimited resources. Would he take me somewhere where my memories would be altered or erased?
“Kрошка, I must put my trust in you. You must know I do not ask a light favor from you. Nor do I have much right.”
I shook my head, already denying what he was about to ask me. There was only one thing he could possibly ask me for, and I knew I didn’t want to accept.
“Do not shake your head, kroshka. I cannot explain what you saw here tonight, and you are too new to our world to understand. So, for now, I need you to trust me. Whatever your worst thoughts are, they are not what is happening. My brother must not know about this. You would put him in great danger,” Timur warned, leaning his head back onto the rail of the awning.
The Sidekick Chronicles: Sixx and the Hellhound Page 13