by Layla Stone
If words were punches, that one was a cross punch. Not nice but wouldn’t kill her. She wasn’t poor and regardless who the restaurant catered to – they would serve her.
The Pit was a simple name and made her think it was probably a fusion cross between Terran and something else – like Angny.
“I’m not going into The Pit for the food, I’m going to help my sister.” And with that she headed to the front door.
“Ryya,” he called, but she was out the door before she could hear the rest. She was halfway to the driveway when she heard another, “RYYA.”
This time it was sharp and threatening.
She turned her head, not her body.
“Come here.”
She didn’t move.
His eyes narrowed. “A Terran like you does not go to The Pit alone.” He took a step forward and let the front door of the house close behind him. “You want to put a stop to your sister’s stupid husband, then you talk to me. Someone like you will only exacerbate the situation.”
If she allowed Sorn to help, it might make Jay worse. Sorn may know what the Pit was, but she knew her bother in law.
“The thing about Terrans is that when things go bad, we call family to help. Things may get worse, but I will handle them like I always do. And not to be rude, but I’m not trusting a stranger who has issues with Terrans to take over this problem.”
She looked him up and down. “Jay does not know you and he won’t appreciate someone bigger telling him to calm down.”
Ryya turned on her heel and walked briskly to her Hampton Dwarf. It was only a two-seater, but it had speed.
From her periphery she saw Sorn followed her. Ryya opened the main driver side door, sat down and slammed it shut.
Sorn pulled open the main passenger side door a second before she was able to press the lock button. He narrowed his eyes at her, noticing her attempt and slipped in the seat next to her. He adjusted the seat back because he was much taller than her last passenger, her five-foot three mother.
“I don’t care if Jay doesn’t like me,” Sorn said leaning over the center console and claiming the air, the space and even her own seat with his presence.
Why was he so damn big?
“I don’t care about nips or what their problems are, but Jay’s problems have spilled onto you, which makes it my problem. This means you are going to do exactly what I say. You do not talk to anyone, look at anyone or interfere with getting your sister’s stupid husband into a Nack Krawler. ” He sat back in his seat and she watched his jaw clench. “And you do not call me by my name. I don’t want anyone knowing you’re with me.”
6
Ryya used her Minky pad to punch in the address from her sister location, still reeling from Sorn’s comment that he didn’t want anyone knowing she was with him.
As if the very thought that he would know or be with a Terran was enough to lower his reputation.
That burned. And wounds like that could make her do dumb things. Like tell an enormous Roth Demon no more than six inches away… “Don’t worry, I don’t remember your name, anyway.”
Sorn reached over, grabbed her chin and forced it towards him. “I could have let you walk into the Pit like the sweet-smelling dish you are; a juicy morsel just waiting to be plucked and consumed. But I’m not. I could have dragged you back into your house and made you call your sister and tell her to deal with her own damn husband like an adult. But I didn’t. Instead, I’m here, helping you. And you’re going to be grateful that I am.”
Ryya clenched her teeth and vowed to herself she would never be grateful for this.
The vehicle hummed to life and smoothly backed down her driveway, on auto pilot from the Navigation system.
He let go and sat back. The air was tense and silent, and she felt in on her skin, in her chest and stomach. She kept her eyes on the Navigations screen not bothering to cover the fact that she was ignoring him.
“If you’re scared of me, you’re going to be terrified of what’s in The Pit.”
She wasn’t scared of him. She was scared of something else. Something she didn’t have a name for.
“This is exactly why I don’t deal with Terrans, you’re a bunch of hot heads that think you can take on the planet,” he said.
That made her spine straighten. “You’re not dealing with a Terran. A Terran is dealing with you, and all your prejudice against my race,” she snapped. “I didn’t ask you to follow me and I’m not making you do anything. So, if you want to be pissed, you can be pissed at yourself.”
Sorn watched her for a moment and she waited for him to yell back at her. Instead he tapped the Minky next to the Navigation screen, added his non-Federation ID and voice called someone.
The Demon didn’t act like he was angry at all, he moved causally as if he owned the vehicle and they weren’t fighting. Sorn’s demeanor didn’t make sense at all.
She just snapped at him. Wasn’t he supposed to snap back?
It rang twice before accepted the voice only call. “Hey Sorn,” a male voice said with a loud humming echoing through the call.
“Hey Naff, I’m not going to make it back tonight. Got to help my roommate’s sister’s husband from starting a fight at The Pit. I’ll drop off the parts tomorrow morning.”
“Your roommate, Ryya?” Naff asked on the other end of the call.
It made her feel odd that Sorn talked about her.
Sorn didn’t look away from the screen. “That’s the one.”
“Need any help with that?” Naff asked.
“I should punch you in the mouth for insulting me like that,” Sorn growled.
“Fine, fine. I’ll see you tomorrow and we can finish setting up the gazebo.”
Sorn tapped the screen and rested his arm on his knee. When he looked at her, she had the decency to keep a straight face.
For three seconds. “You’re building a gazebo?”
“Figures that would be the first thing you ask about.” The words sounded irritated, but the twitch at the side of his mouth looked like he was amused. “I work on the side for Naff to help him fix up his apartment complex. He owns it.”
“Are you a carpenter?”
“More like an all-around worker. I pick things up fast.”
Made sense since he knew about her carpet and how to build a patio.
The topic died and she figured it would stay silent in the car, but Sorn asked, “What kind of guy is Jay? Terran?”
“Terran with upgrades.”
Sorn snorted. “Enough said.”
Ryya felt the insult as if it was directed at her. “Not everyone can be born six and a half feet tall with a hundred and eighty pounds of muscle and three hundred plus years on their life clock.”
Sorn’s head was against the back rest, and it stayed there as he rolled his face to look at her. “I’m seven feet tall and two hundred and ninety pounds of muscle. And you have an anti-aging chip, don’t you?”
“Yes,” she said and faced the forward windows which depicted a beautiful night sky and mountain scene. As they moved, so did the sky. It was her preferred program to watch when she traveled at night.
“Where did you get the work done?”
“Verrain, like every sensible person’s does.”
“Agreed, but not everyone can afford Verrain.”
That was also true.
Ryya didn’t look at him, thinking he was going to find some other way to insult her. Thankfully he stayed quiet. And she worried about what might happen when they arrived at The Pit.
Twenty minutes later the doors opened and they stepped out into a packed parking lot in a run down part of town. The building was an ugly faded burnt red. The walls had dark stains at the base that from years of males using it as a urinal. Or someone just relieved himself before they arrived.
Gross.
She followed Sorn to a dented heavy metal door. Raising his fist, Sorn hit it twice and then used his hand to back them up.
A tall, dark g
rey Angny stepped out. The male had thick off-white tusks protruding from his mouth. His eyes were dark, but sharp and he was looking at Sorn.
“Gladiator,” Sorn greeted the beast of a male.
“Troll. Heard you were headed this way,” the Angny said, stepping out and letting the door close behind them. The door didn’t have a key code opener which mean that it had to be opened from the inside.
Or maybe there was another door somewhere else. She didn’t know.
“Charlemagne called you,” Sorn said. It wasn’t a question.
“Said you were coming in to handle business for some Terran female,” the male looked down at her for a moment, then then tilted his head back to the Roth Demon. “Should I be worried about you doing something that will get the Federation guards called?”
“You’re not worried about the guards. You’re just being nosey.”
The Angny’s massive shoulders shrugged. “Maybe I am. But I still expect an answer.”
Sorn didn’t speak.
Neither did the Angny.
The silence dragged on.
Ryya glanced between the two. So, this is what it was like when two very dominate males were facing off. Unyielding to the end.
Figuring neither was going to talk, she decided it was easier to be the one to explain.
“My sister called me, asked me to help get her husband out of there before he started a fight.”
Sorn reached out, pulled her chin up and made her look up at him. He pressed a single finger to his lips. It held all the weight of a command. He let her go and addressed Gladiator. “There’s your answer, you going to let us in?”
“You’re here to help with a Terran family issue?” asked the Angny disbelievingly. “Why would you care? What are you getting out of it?”
Ryya didn’t get it at first, but then it came to her like being bashed with a cement brick.
Demons didn’t help unless they got something in return. If he did this for her, she was going to owe him. He was doing her a favor.
Damn. Damn. Damn.
Ryya snapped out of her head to see that Sorn had not answered the question. The Angny’s nostrils flared, but his tone was even when he peered over at her, “What race is your sister’s husband?”
“You speak to me, not her,” Sorn said and then added, “and he’s a Terran-cyborg.”
At that the Angny lifted he his head back and nodded slowly. “I know who you’re talking about. I was going to wait until he made a move so I could throw him in The Pit for some fun but taking him out early will also be good.” The male turned and hit the door with the back of his fist.
The door opened inward and the Angny led the way inside. The air smelt musty, with a sting of beer and leather mixed with wet moss.
Sorn followed next and she brought up the rear. As soon as she was inside, Ryya strained her neck to find her sister.
Gladiator pointed. “He’s near the south rear of the arena.”
Sorn lifted his chin and narrowed his eyes. “I’ve seen Angny females scarier than that nip.”
“Me too,” said Gladiator. “You see the shine in the cybernetic metal?”
“Idiot got his cybernetics from a moon.”
“Yep,” agreed the Angny.
Ryya remembered her sister said he went to Verrain to get it done. But she kept her mouth shut. She could see Jay buying discounted cybernetics and pocketing the difference.
Sorn didn’t move for several moments, then he turned back to her and said, “Be honest, if you walk over there and tell him it’s time to go, what do you think he will do? Argue with you? Or agree?”
She swallowed.
“That’s what I thought,” he said and looked at Gladiator. “Take her to the back, don’t let anyone see her, talk to her, or touch her.”
“You do realize I own this place, right?”
Sorn, didn’t say anything, he just held the male’s eyes. Gladiator looked over Sorn and smirked. “Do I get to offer her a drink?”
“No, we won’t be here that long.”
The Angny smiled, “Alright, I’ll keep an eye on her without touching or talking to her…or offering her a drink.”
Ryya didn’t like this. Sorn was taking over again. And this time it was with her family. She opened her mouth to object.
“Don’t argue with me.”
She grit her teeth, torn between her desire to tell Sorn off and help her sister.
He closed the small distance they hand, lowered his head and whispered into her ear. “If I have to pick that idiot cyborg up and throw him out the door, I will. I don’t want some other idiot joining the fight, inadvertently hurting you. This is me making sure you’re safe.”
“What about my sister?” she asked in the same whisper.
“I will try to be careful, but she will have to accept the consequences of her choices.”
Ryya didn’t respond because that sounded too damn logical.
“Go with Gladiator, Sweets.”
Ryya didn’t want to go with the Angny, she wanted to stay with him. Sorn touched the spot in between her eyebrows. “You’re worried. Is that for me or for Jay?”
Stepping back, she didn’t answer.
Sorn snorted. “Keep her in the back until I come get her.”
The Angny shook his head and waited until she was next to him to say, “He doesn’t seem to get that I run things, not him.”
She turned back to see Sorn before they walked through a side door. Sorn was walking slow, and directly. Like a male who wasn’t in a hurry, but also was giving his target time to run.
“I remember that walk… Troll perfected the fighting technique of slow and deliberate.”
The door shut and Ryya couldn’t help but respond to that comment. “He’s a fighter?”
The Angny tilted his head, very Sorn-like and answered, “If you don’t know, then he doesn’t want you to know, so I’m not sayin’.”
Maybe it was a dominate male thing to be so evasive.
Gladiator walked her to a room with a massive Minky screen. On it was several images that looked like a bar, a decent sized eating area with round tables, and a waist high barrier to an open fourteen-foot pit.
The Angny touched the screen and zoomed in to where her sister and Jay were standing. Jay was holding a glass in one hand and holding Wrey by the waist with the other hand cybernetic hand? Her sister winced and Ryya wondered if he was hurting her.
Sorn moved silently and as he approached the group, the males around Jay stepped back. One male, who looked Terran, covered his mouth, but she heard him say, “Oh damn, I thought you were dead.”
Jay turned at his friend’s comment and eyed Sorn up and down, “You used to be a fighter?”
His friend backed up again. “Jay, you remember the guy I told you about, the one who ripped out an opponent’s eye and ate it? This is him.”
Jay lifted his chin, squared his shoulders and released Wrey from his side. “Oh yeah, I remember you telling me about him. You didn’t tell me he was mute,” Jay sneered.
“He’s not,” the friend said looking wide eyed at Sorn. “But I wouldn’t insult Troll if I were you.”
“Troll?” Jay sneered. “That’s a dumb name for a fighter. No one is going to be scared of a troll.”
The friend cursed and said, “He doesn’t mean that, Troll. He’s just drunk and talking stupid.”
Jay stood taller and stepped up. “I’m drunk but I am not talking stupid. That is a dumb name, and you should have asked for a new one – oh wait, you can’t talk.” Jay pursed his lips arrogantly, “You know, cybernetics can fix all that. I know guy.”
Shocked, Ryya covered her mouth, wishing she could shut Jay up. Wrey had not moved from her spot. Standing next to her man.
In the control room, Gladiator pierced Ryya’s worried silence, his voice low, “I wish I could say don’t worry, Troll won’t kill him, but he’s got a lot of rage.”
Back on the screen Ryya heard Sorn’s response. “You k
now a guy?”
“Hey, I guess you can talk. Good for you. Slow on the uptake, can’t talk like a normal person, but maybe you got hit in the head too many times. But yeah, I could get you a deal… After you ask nicely and then get up out of my face.”
Sorn’s lip curled. “Ask you nicely?”
“I’m waiting,” Jay said pulling his hand together in front of him.
“You’re going to be waiting for a long time because Demons don’t get cybernetics. Frail ass Terrans do to compensate for the fact they’re smaller, weaker, and have a pathetically short life span.”
Ryya closed her eyes. Sorn’s comments hit her squarely in the gut. And that one was vicious.
Sorn didn’t stop. “Here’s my deal, you walk out of here and don’t come back and I won’t rip off all that shiny aluminum off your face.”
“Who the hell do you think you are? I’m not going anywhere.” Jay stepped closer, bumping his Sorn’s chest.
Sorn moved fast, so fast she wasn’t sure if she saw it or imagined it. The Roth Demon kneeed Jay in the groin, palmed his head and slammed it against the table. Jay’s body jerked and flopped to the ground.
He did not get up.
Wrey gasped and fell to her knees next to her husband. “You killed him!”
“He’s alive.” Sorn said unemotionally. He picked Jay up by the neck and dragged him towards the door. “But he’s going to need a system reboot before he wakes up.”
Wrey started to cry as she followed. “Why did you do that? He didn’t do anything to you!”
Ryya felt her sister’s pain knowing that Wrey was hurting because she was an idiot and there wasn’t anything she could do to help her husband.
The Roth Demon slowed down but didn’t stop. “You called your sister. You asked for help. I’m the answer to your call.”
At that, Ryya watched as her sister glowered. “How do you know Ryya?”
Sorn didn’t answer that as he walked out of the building.
Ryya watched on the screen as he shoved Jay in his vehicle and told Wrey to take him home.
As soon as Sorn turned to head back towards the building, his eyes caught the camera as if to say, I’m coming.
The Angny next to her inhaled deeply and said, “Might as well meet him in the back before he does something stupid like threaten me, and then I’d have to choke him out again.”