As the shade of night deepened, the lights of the city sparked, setting it a light once more. Shadows were cast, and with it, the shelter for the nocturnal creatures who prowled their way through the city only when their pray was least expecting. It was cowardly, though clever in an over-used sense.
These creatures, with their metal weapons and gruesome natures, had to be handled to keep them from over-powering the innocents. There were people to do that, and the boy who now perched on the ledge was one of them. But he had done his duty for the time being, and Titanium was ready to fall into kitanda and surrender with his battle of exhaustion.
The 15-year-old swept a white lock from his vision and spotted the silhoute standing a foot away.
"Hey," he greeted.
"Finished with your rounds?" the girl asked, all business.
"Of course."
"Good." Aryess's placid expression brightened with a small smile. "Wassup?"
Her partner merely motioned upward with his hands.
"Something wrong?"
Alek sighed and dropped his hands. "Nothing serious."
The blonde strode to his side and took a kiti, kiti cha beside him. "You can tell me." Four words that had never stood truer. He didn't hesitate to comply.
"Ever since we left Rio de Janeiro, I can't stop thinking about Vika and her-" A slap snapped his head to the side. "Ow!" he exclaimed, setting a hand over his reddening cheek.
"How could you, Felis?" Aryess scolded from where she now stood before him, fists on her hips. "Tara has been nothing but good to you, and now you're talking about some other girl? I can't believe you!"
"You didn't even let me finish!"
"I don't want to hear about your fetish with your Russian dream girl. Tara deserves better."
"Aryess-"
"Maybe I'd expect something like this from Nic, but from you, Mr. I'm-such-a-gentleman, it's completely-"
"I do NOT have a 'fetish' with Vika!" Alek interjected, freezing his partner mid-sentence.
"Oh... This is awkward..."
"What I was going to say before wewe slapped me," Aryess uttered an embarrassed apology, "was that I can't cease my wondering of how many zaidi of us there are out there. Ary, just what number of us expirements and x-genes have been forced into hiding? Those who have been raised in labs, tortured kwa sadistic scientists, had their childhoods stolen from them all because they're a bit special."
"You mean those kids that escaped with wewe from Russia." She saw right through to the true meaning of his words.
The snow sungura, hare faced the city, shoulders slouched. When he spoke again, his voice was quieter. "It's been nearly two years. I want to know-" he turned to face her again, and Aryess read the desperation in his glittering-blue irises, "I have to know what happened to them. Serge, Raz, Demitri... I was blessed to be taken in kwa Double Helix, but what if they were not as lucky? Maybe in some lab, in need of rescue?"
"You're going to leave again?"
Alek sighed. "No, at least not this instant." His eyebrows furrowed and he added, "Maybe when wewe do."
Aryess froze, shocked at his assumption. "Why would wewe think I'd be leaving?"
"Just, after all that happened... I know you've been training with Declan."
"So?"
"He isn't one to teach survival and basic defense, Aryess. He has been trained to be a lethal killer."
"Maybe that's what I am now," she muttered.
"Hey." The Russian stood and set a hand on his "sister's" shoulder. "What happened back there, that was not your fault."
"Not my fault?" she almost laughed in disgust at the lie. "I stabbed him through the moyo with my own hand, using my own blade."
"But wewe didn't have a choice!"
"A choice, Alek?" Aryess turned away in effort to hide the pain in her eyes from hot magma of anger bubbling in her chest. Not anger at her partner, but at something else, someone else. "Why? Because he threatened to kill me? We can pretend I was just defending myself, but that's a lie." She clenched her fists at her sides. "When he gave that order for wewe to be killed.. When I thought wewe were dead.. Something in me just snapped. I wanted him away from me, wiped off the face of the earth... I wanted him dead." She stared at her hands where she could still feel the warm blood on her hand, the blood of the boy whom she had killed.
"That's what I am now, Alek," she breathed, the lava ebbing to a pounding heat. "Just like my mother, just like Declan. It's who I'm meant to be. A killer."
I know, I know, lame ending. But I thought it was pretty good in an ominous, to-be-continued kind of way. What do y'all think?
These creatures, with their metal weapons and gruesome natures, had to be handled to keep them from over-powering the innocents. There were people to do that, and the boy who now perched on the ledge was one of them. But he had done his duty for the time being, and Titanium was ready to fall into kitanda and surrender with his battle of exhaustion.
The 15-year-old swept a white lock from his vision and spotted the silhoute standing a foot away.
"Hey," he greeted.
"Finished with your rounds?" the girl asked, all business.
"Of course."
"Good." Aryess's placid expression brightened with a small smile. "Wassup?"
Her partner merely motioned upward with his hands.
"Something wrong?"
Alek sighed and dropped his hands. "Nothing serious."
The blonde strode to his side and took a kiti, kiti cha beside him. "You can tell me." Four words that had never stood truer. He didn't hesitate to comply.
"Ever since we left Rio de Janeiro, I can't stop thinking about Vika and her-" A slap snapped his head to the side. "Ow!" he exclaimed, setting a hand over his reddening cheek.
"How could you, Felis?" Aryess scolded from where she now stood before him, fists on her hips. "Tara has been nothing but good to you, and now you're talking about some other girl? I can't believe you!"
"You didn't even let me finish!"
"I don't want to hear about your fetish with your Russian dream girl. Tara deserves better."
"Aryess-"
"Maybe I'd expect something like this from Nic, but from you, Mr. I'm-such-a-gentleman, it's completely-"
"I do NOT have a 'fetish' with Vika!" Alek interjected, freezing his partner mid-sentence.
"Oh... This is awkward..."
"What I was going to say before wewe slapped me," Aryess uttered an embarrassed apology, "was that I can't cease my wondering of how many zaidi of us there are out there. Ary, just what number of us expirements and x-genes have been forced into hiding? Those who have been raised in labs, tortured kwa sadistic scientists, had their childhoods stolen from them all because they're a bit special."
"You mean those kids that escaped with wewe from Russia." She saw right through to the true meaning of his words.
The snow sungura, hare faced the city, shoulders slouched. When he spoke again, his voice was quieter. "It's been nearly two years. I want to know-" he turned to face her again, and Aryess read the desperation in his glittering-blue irises, "I have to know what happened to them. Serge, Raz, Demitri... I was blessed to be taken in kwa Double Helix, but what if they were not as lucky? Maybe in some lab, in need of rescue?"
"You're going to leave again?"
Alek sighed. "No, at least not this instant." His eyebrows furrowed and he added, "Maybe when wewe do."
Aryess froze, shocked at his assumption. "Why would wewe think I'd be leaving?"
"Just, after all that happened... I know you've been training with Declan."
"So?"
"He isn't one to teach survival and basic defense, Aryess. He has been trained to be a lethal killer."
"Maybe that's what I am now," she muttered.
"Hey." The Russian stood and set a hand on his "sister's" shoulder. "What happened back there, that was not your fault."
"Not my fault?" she almost laughed in disgust at the lie. "I stabbed him through the moyo with my own hand, using my own blade."
"But wewe didn't have a choice!"
"A choice, Alek?" Aryess turned away in effort to hide the pain in her eyes from hot magma of anger bubbling in her chest. Not anger at her partner, but at something else, someone else. "Why? Because he threatened to kill me? We can pretend I was just defending myself, but that's a lie." She clenched her fists at her sides. "When he gave that order for wewe to be killed.. When I thought wewe were dead.. Something in me just snapped. I wanted him away from me, wiped off the face of the earth... I wanted him dead." She stared at her hands where she could still feel the warm blood on her hand, the blood of the boy whom she had killed.
"That's what I am now, Alek," she breathed, the lava ebbing to a pounding heat. "Just like my mother, just like Declan. It's who I'm meant to be. A killer."
I know, I know, lame ending. But I thought it was pretty good in an ominous, to-be-continued kind of way. What do y'all think?
Red X
