Shadow's Chosen (Dark World Mates Book 3) Read online

  He'd think about it later. For now, he needed to get back. He climbed down and stopped on the street when he caught something passing by. Or several large somethings. Some sort of stray beasts by the look of them were chewing up scraps of another animal nearby. Nezka watched them for a moment, taking note to avoid them before slipping away.

  ***

  "You can't honestly be serious about this," the human said as she looked over the holographic map lit up before them by Nezka's techband which was laid flat on the ground so that they both could see it properly.

  Nezka thought that an odd statement. Of course he was serious. "Why would I not be serious?" Nezka said plainly.

  The human sighed, rubbing her head again. He wasn't sure yet if it was because her head still hurt or if it was a normal human sign of frustration. "We can't finish the mission," she said. "We are the only ones left. The plan should be to get out of the undercity, not go farther in. We might as well let ourselves get caught."

  "We won't get caught."

  The girl shook her head. "This is insane. No, actually, it's suicide. I won't go."

  Nezka rubbed the side of his neck. "I have to finish the mission. If you won't come..."

  She sighed again then took another sip from the canteen he had stolen. She grimaced as she swallowed, though he had made sure the container had been filled with water and not something poisonous or undrinkable by her kind's standards. Clearly, water didn't suit them either. Or she was just being fussy about it. "Why, though? Why go? Why not wait for more to come?"

  "No one is going to come. There's no point waiting for help," he explained.

  "The drogin will surely bring more forces," she said before taking another sip.

  "You think so? Do you have that much faith in them? You think they will sacrifice more of their own just to save a small group of humans?"

  She frowned, saying nothing.

  "Besides, I know a better reason for you to go." He tapped at the map, bringing the energy deposit where the humans were said to be into focus. "If some of your team lived then they were likely taken by the attackers. I believe those same attackers are the ones who took the other group of humans."

  Her eyes widened. "So you think they would be together?"

  He tapped his ear, and she looked at him, confused. "Yes," he said.

  Her eyes shifted over the map, her expression growing troubled. "If they are, then...I guess we have to go." She gazed up at him. "But how exactly are we supposed to get out after?"

  "That...you will have to leave up to me." In other words, he didn't know yet. "But I can say the likelihood of them having ships is high."

  "But I thought ships couldn't get down here."

  "Only if there are outage barriers or shields in place," he stated. "But if they needed to leave or escape for whatever reason I'm willing to bet they have a way to shut it off."

  "That's only a prediction. You can't possibly know."

  "True," he said. "But the only way to know is to go and see for ourselves. Other forms of escape might present themselves in time, and who knows...by then, the drogin might actually come to our aid."

  She didn't look entirely convinced, but he knew she wasn't about to say no if it meant getting back to her people.

  "All right. Say they do have my team and that there is a clear way to escape once we save everyone. How the hell are we going to get there without, I don't know, being seen? Or caught?" She threw out her arm for some reason, and he watched her hand curiously as she pointed at nothing. "Obviously, I know there are other species walking the city besides drogin, I've seen them. They might think you're just another odd immigrant. But we don't know who is friend or foe, who might be working with who. And if those men are looking for me for whatever reason, if the wrong kind of person sees me, they might go running to those responsible for the attack."

  "You're not wrong. And I have...ideas."

  "Like?"

  Nezka tilted back his head and smirked. "Besides just throwing down anyone who looked at you wrong or taking out every single person who got in my way? A disguise, if that's even possible. Or,"—he tapped the map again, bringing up the wider area and highlighting a route.

  Her brows lowered. "What path is that?"

  "It's an old tram system. One which traveled underground."

  Her brows rose. "You want to walk the abandoned tram tunnels?"

  "That's the idea."

  She shook her head, and he took that to mean she didn't entirely like the idea. "That could be the very path the gangs are using to get around."

  "Maybe," he said. "Maybe not. And even if they are, there's several paths to use. Unless they are squatting in there, which I doubt."

  She laughed softly. "And even if they are, you'll pummel them all, right?"

  "Exactly."

  She rubbed her head again. He wondered if she'd got hit there worse than he thought.

  "I guess...it'll have to work for now." She got up slowly, and he watched her pick up her gun, holster it, then go for the bag he'd brought her.

  "Where are you going?" he asked.

  "If we leave now, we can get to the first station by the next gate before it gets dark."

  Now it was his turn to laugh. He closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Woman, you are entertaining at the worst and best of times."

  She threw out her arms again. Strange. "Are you...serious? There's still plenty of daylight left. We should make headway now, while we can."

  He tried to give her a stern gaze, but he couldn't help smiling, which didn't help. "As much as I feel your urgency to go, you are in no position to do anything, at least today. You'll need your strength if you want to keep up with me”—she murmured something in her language and he could guess what it was—"and I'd rather not have you slow me down. Or do we need another lesson on how you’re not in a weakened state?"

  She clenched her jaw then turned from him, dropping her bag to the farther end of the room and hunkering down against a pillar. "Tomorrow then."

  "We will see."

  She reclined against her bag and closed her eyes then, after a moment, opened them again. "I'm not 'woman,' by the way."

  "How's that?" he asked.

  "I have a name."

  "Oh?"

  She wrapped her arms about her and turned her head to look out over the darkened room. "You should probably know since...it's Elise."

  "Elise?"

  She nodded, and he took that to mean yes. "That is all?" he said.

  She looked at him oddly. "Elise Stirling...not that you need to know my last name," she murmured

  "Sorry, did you say Starling?" He really wasn't sure he heard her correctly with her human accent.

  "Stirling."

  Hm. Pity. He liked Starling much better. "Nezka," he said, placing a hand against his chest.

  "Is that all?" she said in a strange tone. Sarcasm?

  He smiled. "Nezka...Voidstorm."

  She snorted. But then seemed to look guilty for laughing. "It suits you."

  He took that as a compliment. "Eat. Rest. If you can walk tomorrow without stumbling over yourself, then we will go."

  She gave him a dirty look and closed her eyes. Then, after a pause, she unclipped her gun and rested it on her lap, gripping it tight, eyeing him again with clear distrust. "Just in case," she said and closed her eyes once more, pretending to sleep.

  Nine

  The rest of the day had passed by slowly and the night had been excruciatingly long. Elise fell in and out of sleep several times, waking up periodically to eat one of the tasteless bars from her bag or to find another part of the building to use as a bathroom before once more trying to fall back asleep. Sometimes the hunter Nezka was there when she woke up, sometimes he wasn't. Every time she awakened, her heart would jump in her chest and her gun would instinctively rise, but when she found him nowhere near her, she calmed considerably. She knew she was going to have to learn to trust him. She knew she didn't have much of a choice.
Still, she eyed him every so often in the dark, pretending to be asleep, watching as his back was turned, as he looked over something on his wrist band or while he inspected the gun he had likely stolen along with all the other items. She should probably be upset by that fact. Soldiers didn't steal from citizens. But in this instance, she couldn't bring herself to worry or care. There were more important things to think about.

  At one point, she caught him with a pair of blades she had yet to see on his person, hidden in some pocket of his armored suit. He trained with them, using one of the broken pillars to spar with. The blades sliced through the metal and concrete like butter, and Elise found herself shivering at the thought of him using them on someone, cutting through muscle and bone like it was nothing. She noted how swift and agile he moved, how his limbs shot out and struck as quick as a viper, how he stepped and circled with ease. When he seemed bored of that, he started through the blades, aiming at random targets, making his mark every time without fail. He was good, she couldn't deny that. She wondered in one of her half-sleep states who had trained him, where he was from. Eventually, she fell asleep again, the sounds of his blades drumming in her head as she fell from reality and into nothingness. Then the dreams came—the crashing of waves, her sister smiling, a drogin dead on the ground, twin fires blazing in the dark, a blade cutting her open—and she'd wake again with a start, her gun aimed at nothing.

  When dawn finally came, Elise was up and feeling groggy but still much better than the day before. The headache had subsided, and she didn't get dizzy when she stood or walked. She was no longer dehydrated or in need of food for energy and was deeply confident she was better and ready to move on.

  "What the hell do you mean one more day?" Elise said as Nezka seemingly ignored her while reorganizing the things in his bag. "I said I'm fine."

  He looked up and studied her from where he crouched and didn't appear convinced. "Just because you can stand and walk without issue doesn't mean you are better."

  "Let's have a test then." She holstered her gun and walked several feet away before stopping and turning back. "Come at me, and you will see."

  The alien stared at her then turned away to let out a low hiss of laughter.

  "I'm serious!"

  He stopped laughing then slowly stood and twisted around. "All right. Follow me."

  She did so hesitantly. They made their way out of the building to another right across. Elise gazed above at the bridges and towers overhead as they walked, noticing bits of debris and garbage falling every so often, smashing down on the streets below. Disgusted, she followed Nezka into the next building that stretched long like a warehouse. Near its center was a wall half broken at the top. Nezka stopped just at the entrance and tapped something into the screen of his wrist band. "You've got thirty seconds. Run across, climb over the wall, and return in that time and we will go."

  Elise opened her mouth then closed it. Arguing seemed pointless. Thirty seconds was a short amount of time and certainly didn't seem like enough to make it to the end and back. She was about to say how unfair that was when suddenly she thought of her father. "Don't whine at me. Just do it," he would say. And if she ever complained, he only made the training harder until she completed it. This was no different.

  "Fine." Elise took position.

  "When the timer goes, begin. Ready?" He lifted his band, and Elise bent her knees, her eyes zoning in on the broken wall.

  As soon as she heard the sharp ring from his band, Elise kicked off with all her strength and sprinted like her life was at stake. No, not her life, her team’s. She made it to the wall and dashed up it, climbing over then jumping down the other side. She rushed for the end then, pushing off the wall to give her momentum, she quickly turned and made for the other side. She climbed up the broken wall, hopped down and charged forward without slowing, sliding only as she came to the entrance.

  She hadn't heard the timer go off, so she looked to the hunter for clarification as she huffed, leaning against the wall. "Well?"

  He looked down at her, studying her carefully. "You seem greatly out of breath."

  "Did I make it or not?"

  Nezka watched her a moment longer then tapped once at his band. "You succeeded."

  Elise smiled as she wiped sweat from her brow. She was a little lightheaded, but she wasn't about to tell him that. "There then," she said, still breathless. "Let's get going." She saw his mouth curve ever so slightly before she left and made her way back to their building to start packing their things. That run, she knew, had made her sweat under her armor and suit, but she didn't have time to think of a bath. She just wanted to get out of this place and closer to where her people were waiting.

  They readied their bags and checked their gear. Elise noticed with disappointment that her gun's charge was already less than half full, and she had one charging clip left, the others lost to her in the attack. She would have to make do until she could find another gun. They had enough provisions to last them at least a couple days but who knew how long it may take them to reach the energy deposit at this point. Now that they had no vehicle to take them and were forced on foot, what should have only taken a day would now possibly take days maybe even a week, and that was only if they weren't stopped several times along the way. Elise knew better than to think they wouldn't run into trouble. She was expecting it. Even if the tram tunnels were unoccupied, at some point they would have to leave them. And then there was getting into the stronghold of this gang they called the Red Blades. Planning that could take time. Elise was just thankful they were finally setting out. Every day they wasted was a day that could be her team's last.

  Elise secured her bag over her shoulder and kept her gun on ready-fire. She looked to Nezka, who waited close by with his bag across his back and gun at his side, watching her for any sign of weakness. When he didn't seem to find any in her (or decided now was too late to question her about it), he moved across the room and headed for the exit. "Stay close and do as I say. If I tell you to run, run. If I say hide, hide. Don't try to be a hero and shoot every threat you see. Think you can do that?" he said.

  "Yes, I can follow orders. I was trained for that, you know," she said from behind him, glaring at his back.

  "We'll see." She didn't see his face but knew he was probably smirking or something. He stopped just before the doorway to look around. When he deemed the area clear, he stepped out and moved quickly across the road with Elise following close by his side.

  ***

  They ran into a small gang of drogin not long after they left. Thankfully, Nezka had noticed the group in time before being seen, and they hid themselves in another building nearby as the drogin ran around, barking and hollering and shooting their guns off for no particular reason. They seemed to be getting around on some kind of vehicle made out of used parts. It reminded Elise of the dune buggies her family had out at their second home in the desert, only this one was much more misshapen and had lights underneath for whatever reason, maybe just for show. It also had writing on its side, but she couldn't make out the words. Perhaps the name of their gang. They disappeared as quickly as they came, but Elise knew they were only the beginning.

  The closer they got to the station that led to the tramway, the more drogin and otherkin they saw. Every time they encountered someone, they hid and waited till they passed, watching them carefully, hands at their weapons. Most seemed harmless if a bit unhinged. It was later that Elise realized that they were mostly just bums, scrapping around for parts to sell. One lone man looked like a mangy cat, his fur all knotted, some even missing. He looked like the same species as one of the hunters on Nezka's team. Nezka told her he was called a lygin.

  "They’re from your world?" she asked as the lygin moved away.

  "Same worlds," he said, looking at her. "They come from the same territory."

  Elise remembered what Toni said. She had said it was an empire. They had called it Xolis. Elise was curious about it, but now was not the time to ask.

>   They moved on, weaving through buildings and climbing over a few walls until they reached a path that took them to the entrance to the tram station. The entrance was nothing more than a tunnel that led down into the earth below. Above the entrance was a statue of a tram carved out of metal and a sign that must have lit up at one time but had long since been shut off. Blocking the tunnel was another sign. One clearly meant as a warning to not enter as it had a huge X at the top. Below the text were more words, drawn rather crudely, but Elise couldn’t identify them.

  "What do you suppose that means?" Elise asked after a moment of staring at the sign with uncertainty.

  Nezka studied the sign for a second longer then started forward.