2

“Holy shit,” I breathe, taking in the sight of one of my worst enemies… who probably just saved my life. He’s got a new scar, stretching from his lower lip to his jawline, but his eyes are the same; stark, icy and analyzing. They bore straight through me. “Why did you…”

“You just got captured by Qiara and burst out. You escaped Qiara’s headquarters… well, nearly at least.”

“Yeah so?”

“Do you think anybody’s done that before? Kallix, you figured out where the Raven’s Nest is. You’ve evaded my capture time and time again. Now, you’ve freaking escaped Qiara’s headquarters. That’s not something that just anybody can do.”

“So?” I demand. “What do you want? You know there’s no way in hell I’m becoming one of you Swifter bitches… if any of them are still alive of course.”

“Oh they are. A lot of them.”

“No they aren’t. If you had the man power, you would’ve sent some lowly, invaluable worm to do your dirty work. You’d never show up yourself, let a lone with…” I peer into the front of the car… “Dainin driving it. Isn’t he your beloved gay lover or something?”

With the speed of a tiger, Zorikan’s iron grip clamps around my neck. “You forget the fact that I can and want kill you right now.”

“But… you… can’t,” I wheeze.

He releases me. “Correct.”

“The Swifter’s have been stripped to their skeleton,” I continue, fearless. Every word I say hurts my injured jaw, but despite the steel mask he wears, I’m sure it hurts Zorikan more. “You used to be a god of the underworld, but Qiara’s gone straight ahead and snatched the title right from underneath your ass.”

His eyes twinkle. “Which is why she needs to die.”

I gaze at his chiseled face for a moment.

“You want Qiara to die, she’s your enemy,” he states.

“Yeah…”

“I want her to die, she’s my enemy.”

“Alright…”

“The enemy of my enemy is a…?”

“You’re not my friend.”

“No, but I might be an ally,” he lifts his hand before me.

I stare at him with a vile cocktail of emotions sizzling inside me, most of which are still the pain in my jaw.

“Take it,” he orders. “We’ll bring her down, I assure you.”

I lift my hand the slightest bit and he grabs it, squeezing so hard that my knuckles are nearly crushed.

“And don’t forget that we’ve got a common enemy, so it’s in your best interest if you-”

Oblivion encloses around me as a deafening, time slowing smash rips the car from the ground. I see Zorikan being jolted aside, just before I am. Shattered glass flies into me. Zorikan’s elbow hits my shoulder. The car rolls over again… and again.

Like a ragdoll I’m flung left to right, up to down, side to side.

A sickening crunch reaches my ears as the SUV skids to a halt, with me inside it. I open my eyes, one of which only sees red, and pry my face from the ceiling of the car, which has now become the glass shattered floor.

Blaring car honks and blinding lights render me unable to respond as a hand reaches through the smashed window and drags me out of the car. Broken glass scrapes my chest as I’m pulled onto the wet concrete and forced onto my knees.

Red and blue flashing lights. A semi-circle of rigid standing men.

A face is before me, lightly slapping my cheek.

Kaloaan.

He’s saying something to me. Wallick? Hallick? Kallix!

“Kallix are you ok?” he demands.

Would be better if you hadn’t slammed into me like a kamikaze bomber, is what I want to say, but I only manage a disgruntled nod. Through my hazy vision, I see Zorikan and Dainin being forced onto their knees to my left, and Kaloaan moving in front of them. He leans over so he’s closer to them and says something I can’t hear.

Like a chained bear, Dainin launches himself forwards, bellowing so loud I can hear it over the wailing sirens. In a single, swift motion, Kaloaan pulls out his handgun.

Surprisingly I don’t hear the gunshot, but I do see Dainin’s hefty body drop like a sack of dirt in front my brother. Kaloaan grimaces, but turns, pointing the gun directly at Zorikan.

I do hear this gunshot.

~

“Kallix… we need you to go to a hospital,” Kaloaan says, squatting down in front of me. I’m cramped into a chair in the police department waiting room, a trauma blanket draped over my shoulders. Luckily for them, I’m in too much trauma to escape.

“Wouldn’t have needed to…” I wince at the pain in my jaw. “If you didn’t slam into me.”

“I told you that we didn’t know you were there,” Kaloaan says. His voice isn’t sorry or comforting. No, he’s stern and authoritative. Something’s changed about him. “Why were you in that car?”

“I don’t… freaking know,” I say. My voice is hoarse with shock and nasal from the drying blood in my nostrils.

“You don’t know?” he asks, leaning closer. “That isn’t an answer. You did know, you always know.”

“Not this time, chump. You know Qiara, the bitch that’s been killing everybody?”

He nodded. “Don’t tell me…”

“Yeah, I found her.”

Kaloaan erupts into a laugh of triumph, breaking his eerie sternness. “Ha! I tell you you’re brilliant my man! How’d you do it? Where is she?”

“See that’s the thing, she actually found me. Drugged me at a party. I woke up shackled in some cell, about to be experimented on or something. Not really sure.”

“And then?” he asks, shifting so he can move closer to me.

“I broke out, obviously,” I bite my cheek at the thought of Amethyst. She’d wanted to help me, hadn’t she? She was going to help me get out. Why didn’t I just go with her? “But it must’ve been a five floor drop.”

“Not much for you, I assume,” he says.

I shake my head. “Barely managed to get a hold at all. The last floor was a faceplant,” I rub my jaw joint beneath my ear. “That’s why I got messed up.”

“You fell a story, face first, then got up and ran?”

I shake my head. Ah, there it is. I was wondering where my tension aches had gone. “No. After half a minute of dying, I opened my eyes to see myself surrounded by Qiara’s men. Then some SUV pulls up, all of the men are gunned down, and I’m hauled inside. Next thing I see is Zorikan’s face, and after that I’ve been hit by a car. Make sense to you?”

“No. Not at all,” he shakes his head in frustration. “Zorikan saved you? Why?”

I shrug. “He saved me, you shot him. Tit for tat, right?”

“And where did you say Qiara’s building was?”

“No idea. No bloody clue, I told you I woke up in there. But you know who does…?”

“Zorikan,” Kaloaan sighs.

“Too bad he’s dead too, right?” I say, my voice saturated with sarcasm.

“No. I shot him, but he’s not dead. I beat the crap out of him while I was at it.”

I stare at my brother, unnerved, yet oddly relieved. Don’t feel pity for that shark

“He deserved it after what he did to dad.”

“Did?”

“Yeah. Yeah I… found him. One of his Swifter’s ratted Zorikan out, for the right price. We found the place and shot it down. Killed most of them, but Zorikan escaped. We’ve been tracking him ever since. We’ve got him now at last. King Rat in a cage.”

“You’re insane,” I mutter, pinching the bridge of my nose. “I literally cannot believe you.”

Kaloaan’s brow creases. “What? Are you… do you feel for that monster?”

“No!” I shout, standing up.

He stands as well, towering above me.

“There’s a freaking mafia lord on the loose, slaughtering activists! You’re meanwhile concerned about the Swifters? Coagulating enough of your forces for a full-scale assault on their headquarters?”

“Our dad was being tortured,” my brother says, looking at me in shock.

“And other people’s dads are being killed. Other people’s mums, children and siblings are being killed,” I retaliate.

“We had no idea where she’s located,” he defends. “Nor did we have the manpower to deal with her.”

“That’s bullshit,” I hiss. “You told me that you couldn’t deal with the Raven’s Nest because Qiara was your top priority.”

“We have more than one threat at a time,” he says, stone faced. “We got an opportunity to deal with one, so we did. Effectively too, so that we can concentrate properly at the greater task at hand.”

“You know… your brain works like a textbook,” I tell him.

“What?”

“You can’t think outside your own…” I pace away from him, making annoyed hand gestures as I try to find the right word. “Bubble. You’re stuck in your own bubble and you can’t think beyond it.”

Kaloaan’s stoic appearance switches to a mix between concern and interest. He’s genuinely intrigued to see what I have to say. “What do you mean?”

“There’s a solution… a near brilliant one, right in front of your face, but you can’t see it. You can’t see it because you’ve been raised by a policeman manual or something. You’re ingrained into thinking that…”

“What is it?” he cuts off. “What is your genius solution?” he asks, slightly ticked off.

“You need allies!” I shout. Ideas click together in my mind like gears as I find myself thinking more and more like Zorikan.

“Point?”

“You’re not strong enough to take down Qiara alone, so you need allies. An ally is like a friend. The enemy of my enemy is my…?”

“Who else sees Qiara as an enemy?”

“The bloody Swifter’s you idiot!”

Kaloaan blinks. “The Swifters are…?”

“Yes! Yes they are! You’d know that if you’d tried goddamn speaking to them instead of shooting them all!”

He lets out a hollow laugh. “You expect the police to work with petty thieves?” he asks incredulously.

“The Swifter’s aren’t petty thieves,” I say, unintentionally quoting Deqar.

“Doesn’t matter. I could not… even think of working with that… slime.”

“And you’d rather all these people die than stoop your ego?”

“It’s not like that… you know what he’s done,” Kaloaan protests.

“No it is like that! Why don’t you talk to him? Arrange something? Work together like freaking humans!”

“Because I can’t goddamn talk to sharks!”

I sigh. “This is hopeless.” I rub my jaw. All this shouting’s aggravated the pain.

Kaloaan sighs, and slumps into the waiting seat. “Why don’t you talk to him, since your so chummy nowadays.”

I haven’t half the energy to make a snark comment back. “Fine,” I breathe standing up. “Where’re the cells?”

My brother cracks his neck. It’s disturbingly loud. “Take Havar, he’ll show you the way.”

“No,” I slice. “I don’t trust your men. Take me yourself.”

Kaloaan’s nostrils flare. I may have poked a nerve there. He stands, rolls his shoulders, and strides out of the waiting room. I tag along after him.

He leads me through a buzzing lobby and into a crowded lounge. Men and women in uniform fill my vision, all of them lounging around, sipping coffee or munching on donuts. I’m at first astounded at the sheer man power the police force has, but my astonishment is quickly superseded by contempt. All these officers just relaxing, biding their time as the real criminals of West Side bathe in their riches.

He makes a left, waving at a couple officers standing lax by a blue metal double door. “Hey chief, ‘s ‘ere a problem?”

“Not at all, just showing my brother around.”

I can literally see the guard blink as his mind registers the comparison between Kaloaan and I.

I’ve been to the prison before. I’ve already been locked in a cell. Tremors of claustrophobia tickle down my spine as I walk.

Kaloaan stops abruptly before the final door.

“You’re not coming with me?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “I’ve already killed one man this week. I don’t intend to kill another.”

My brother the killer. How dandy.

“You’ll see Garner inside, just tell him that I sent you. Cell 14C.” He gives me a brief nod, then turns on his heel.

I watch him for a moment, then turn to the door. I push through, trip and nearly crack my skull on the ground. “Shit,” I hiss, picking myself up. I look over my shoulder and see the still form of a hefty officer sprawled in front of the door. Sure enough, his nametag says Garner. “Shit.” I repeat.

I take off, blitzing down the hall until I reach cell 14C. It’s needless to say, but the cell’s empty and the door is wide open. God dammit the bastard is more of a weasel than I am. I continue down the hall, unsure how to contact Kaloaan the fastest, when I see a figure slip out of the corner of my eye. I spin on my heel and barrel down the hall, with no plan in mind. If I find him, he won’t kill me, but I don’t think he’ll let me talk to him.

“Stop!” I holler uselessly I barely miss the figure round a corner. I’m tearing down after them, making millisecond sized gains as I run. As I careen around the last cell, my jaw goes slack and I stumble to a halt. “Rieka?” I ask in surprise.

She’s in a dead end, nothing but plexiglass walls on each side of her. She looks at me like a cornered dog. “Go away,” she demands.

I nearly laugh. “The hell are you even doing here? You broke him out?”

“That’s none of your concern,” she hisses.

I take a step towards her. She scuffles her feet. Unarmed, perhaps, but still dangerous. “Hey, I’m not going to have you arrested, alright? But I… I need to talk with Zorikan.”

“Too bad he’s long gone!” she shouts, rocketing forwards.

She zigzags, confusing me, then launching herself at the wall and kicking off it, forcing me to duck or get a heel to the forehead. She lands with a beautifully performed roll and takes off, with me scrambling after her.

How’d you let that happen? I thought parkour was your thing.

“God damn, Rieka I just want to talk!” I shout.

She leads me back to the still body of Garner where she drops to one knee and pulls the baton from his belt. With an outstretched arm, she swings it at me, directly aimed to crack my temple.

I force myself backwards, dodging by a hair’s width and landing hard of my ass. She practically pirouettes over the downed officer with her momentum and flees out the door.

I slap myself across the cheek before heaving myself to my feet and barreling after her. She’s dangerously close to the mess hall. Weasel or not, if I manage to alert them, she’s done for.

Then I see her, near the end of the branching hallway and tearing towards a dead end. At first, I’m confused, then I see her leap onto a coffee cart, use that as leverage to launch herself onto a fridge and then towards a small, wide window at the top of the wall. She grabs it with a grunt, opens it and scrabbles through.

Parkour is my thing. That was an amateur move.

I leap onto the cart, anticipating it’s roll, spring onto the fridge and practically dive through the tiny opening. I fall like an Olympic diving champion into the grass, using my hands to push myself forwards, shifting my weight so I roll diagonally. I’m on my feet in an instant, calculating how on earth Rieka is already scrambling onto the roof of the nearest building.

My finally fed, muscles don’t disappoint, and I’ve scaled up to the roof. I literally dive after her accelerating figure tackling her behind the knees. We tumble into each other, entangling like a bowl of spaghetti dropped off a cliff.

She wreathes like a ferret, nearly squirming out of my grip when I wrap my hands around her waist, bear hugging her. Just as I think she’s about to give up, I feel a knee ram my teeth together. She scrambles to her feet, and I to mine.

“My jaw was injured, you know,” I huff, bringing my bloodied forearm to beneath my ear. I can hear the symphony of asphalt ringing.

Rieka backs up, reaches into her pocket and flips out a switchblade. “Stay the god damn hell back.” She jitters like I’m a trident armed demon or something.

“Woah… put the blade down. I’m not going to hurt you.”

“What do you want,” she hisses, jerking the blade. I notice now that the bags under her eyes are larger, her cheeks are hollower and her face is dirtier. She no longer looks like a typical high school teenage, rather like a raggedy street fox.

“We need to talk. Qiara’s too damn powerful for Zorikan to take on alone. I’ve seen her manpower first hand. The police force can’t do it either.”

“So then?” she demands.

“We’ve… you’ve got to ally. The Swifters and the police force need to work together.”

“You’ve turned to him?” she asks incredulous.

“What?”

“You’ve brother. You’re conformist sheep string puppet of a brother. He’s brainwashed you at last…”

“No!” I shout. I stride towards, her dangerously close to the outstretched blade. “You know that’s bullshit. I’m unbreakable and untamable… but sometimes the cowboy and the horse have got the same goal.”

Rieka blinks in confusion. “You’re making no sense.”

I step closer to look her in the eye, but I quickly feel the cool metal edge press to a gap between my ribs.

“I move this in two inches, and you’ve got a punctured lung.”

“Rieka you have to trust me, I swear I-”

“No!” she hollers. “Both of us… the two of us… we’ve both messed up, except I did it first. No, actually I didn’t even screw up, you just took it that way, but I still apologized because I knew you were different, I knew we had a connection, but you tossed me in the trash like a goddamn plastic wrapper. Then you come to me… after all the shit you’ve done and ask for my help?”

“Rieka I was going through some shit. I wasn’t… I didn’t mean to…”

“You were going through shit?” she asks with a choked laugh and tears logging her eyes. “Do you think I goddamn wasn’t? That’s not a freaking excuse Kallix, everybody’s going through shit! Everybody manages to hold themselves together. I don’t know why you think you’re so special.”

I hold out my hand. “Rieka I-”

“You look like shit, Kallix. You fix yourself up, get a life. If it’s on the streets or at a desk, I don’t care, just stay out of my life.”

I blink.

She’s a blur and grace and parkour, weaving from rooftop to rooftop like a failed opportunity.

I sigh and run my blood caked hand over my face.

Why is being alive so much damn work?