Читать книгу Kalindra - Sondrae Bennett - Страница 4

1

“Do you have to leave already? We’re just getting started,” Analise whined.

The two silver coins Kalindra tossed on the bar clattered against the wood. She slugged back the last sips of her one and only Dragon’s Breath brew before sliding off her stool. Using her claw, she pushed the chair awkwardly aside to make room for her wings.

Walking around with her claws and winged arms felt strange, especially in such an enclosed space. Proof positive that she’d been spending too much time in Inverness, as Outremers called the human world. Sure, when she needed to fight she’d change to harpy, but otherwise, she usually stayed in her human skin, just in case a human stumbled upon her. Not something that often happened on the deserted island where she lived, but she could never be too careful.

“Sorry, duty calls. Being this far from the gate makes me antsy.” It was making the gate antsy, too. She could feel its nervousness through her connection to the portal.

Ana pouted, her lower lip sticking out in a way that had every man in the room standing at attention. Of course, being a siren, Ana always had every male standing at attention. Usually a fair number of the females as well.

“Oh please, the gate will just teleport you back if there’s any trouble. Can’t you stay for just one more drink?”

She could tell Ana expected her to agree, and maybe part of her wanted to. But her life hadn’t been about what she wanted for a long time.

“Yeah, because if there is trouble, teleporting into a fight while roaring drunk is a brilliant idea.” Kalindra cringed at the sarcasm in her voice. She didn’t mean to be unkind, but Analise didn’t understand. Couldn’t understand. No one could. No one except her fellow gatekeepers. The three other pour souls who had the misfortune of being called into service.

“I feel like I never see you anymore.”

Her heart sank as she suppressed another cringe. Kalindra hadn’t been hanging out with Ana as much as she should. Hadn’t been hanging out with anyone. She couldn’t recall the last time she’d seen her family. Or done much of anything, besides guard the gateway between worlds.

But not like she had a choice in the matter. She was one of the “chosen,” otherwise known as damned. An honor, her ass. Still, Ana had been there for her whenever she needed her. The one person who never forgot her after she’d been in the human world for centuries. The least she deserved was an explanation.

“I can’t, Ana. But I promise we’ll do this again soon.” A promise she most likely wouldn’t keep.

“Okay. We’ll hang out in Inverness, next time.” The thought seemed to cheer Ana up, even as Kalindra frowned.

While technically Kalindra wasn’t supposed to let anyone through the gateway into Inverness, or Earth as the mortals called it, she’d made the mistake of allowing Analise to drag her to drinks in one of towns on the mainland in South Africa. The night had gone well until they left the bar, almost requiring Kali to fight the horde of men who’d followed them back to the boat. One intrepid young man had even tried to swim to her island. Thankfully his endurance gave out before Kalindra had to take drastic action. That was Analise. Inspiring the drunk and stupid to risk all in the face of lust. Kali had long since gotten over her annoyance about it. She couldn’t control it, and the men couldn’t control themselves with Analise around.

Few people in her world knew about the gateway, and she liked it that way. The fewer people who knew, the fewer who tried to cross. Kali never liked having to kill humans who stumbled upon the gate. Her job was to protect people. But sometimes it couldn’t be helped. Ignorance of the portal kept most mortals away.

She stumbled. When had she started to think of Earth as her world?

Sure, the past few centuries she’d camped out there. Had a home there. But Outremer was her world, her home, and always would be. Even if essentially she’d been exiled to Earth, Outremer was where she belonged.

Wasn’t it?

“I gotta go,” she said with a shake of her head.

Throwing her arms around Analise, she gave her friend one last squeeze before exiting the pub. The crisp night air swept over her face in a welcome caress. Closing her eyes, she drew the air into her lungs, savoring the cold burn in her nose and throat. Gods, she missed the weather here. Sighing, she raised her arms and soared into the night.

With the wind buffeting her face, she almost felt normal. As if she could let go of her problems and her duty and just…be. But she couldn’t just be. Never again. Because she’d been called for gatekeeper duty, and the only way out was death.

She sighed. This feeling sorry for herself wasn’t helping. After all, it wasn’t that bad. She had all the skirmishes she could ask for, and her own castle to live in. Besides, she’d been watching the crossing for so long, she didn’t know anything else. There was comfort in waking up and knowing her place in the world.

So what if she got lonely every now and again. The gate kept her company. And she wasn’t really tethered to it. Short distances were well within her ability. Ana hadn’t been joking about the gate teleporting her back if anyone tried to cross the barrier. A failsafe alarm system of sorts. No reason she couldn’t get away more. She really should plan a visit home.

Letting the moment guide her, she made a loop in the air, twirling one way and then the other. But jittery anticipation continued to churn in her stomach, growing stronger by the minute. The gateway was getting impatient.

“Alright, I’m coming. Jeez, you’re worse than my mother,” she muttered into the night at the anxiety in her stomach. She needed to get home.

With another sigh, she turned south and soared into the night. She wasn’t in any real hurry. No one could cross between worlds without her knowing about it. The portal was just being paranoid. Getting away more would be good for both of them. She’d been with the gate a long time, but it wouldn’t do for the gate to become attached.

A couple people below pointed up at her and dove for cover. Their fear brought a smile to her face. Not a lot of harpies in this part of Outremer, and her reputation as a fierce gatekeeper preceded her.

She knew some of the other Keepers allowed certain creatures to escape to Earth for one reason or another, but not her. She might not have wanted the honor of being chosen, even if she had since come to terms with it, but she took her role seriously. No one got in, and no one got out. Those were the rules she’d sworn to uphold. Better that way for both worlds.

By the time she saw the round stone archway filled with the glowing wispy blue light representing her gateway in this world, dread had tightened her gut and her heart pounded in fear. The gate was trying to tell her something, she just knew it. Felt it in her core.

Something was seriously wrong.

As she neared, something on the ground caught her attention. Shapeless blobs littered the ground around the portal. What were those? Squinting her eyes gave her no clue, but the blobs were immobile. Nothing moved. She flew closer to get a better look. Then she discovered how right she’d been. Something was definitely wrong. Something that resulted in three battered corpses lying around the gate, faces twisted in grimaces of pain.

She landed nimbly next to one and examined the body. Throat torn out. Blood coated the front of the body. Their skin glowed in the light of the moon, devoid of all color.

Someone must have placed them here. They couldn’t have been thrown from the other side. No one guarded the gate but her. Not to mention the blood on the ground around the bodies.

And she couldn’t imagine anyone would kill them so close to the doorway. A family of trolls lived in the area, but if they had hunted these men, they’d have taken the bodies back with them.

She took a deep breath, using all her senses to help determine what had happened. Shock struck her as the scent filled her lungs, forcing her back a step. It couldn’t be. But her nose didn’t lie.

Human bodies.

But how? Not possible. It simply was not possible. Unless these human had been in Outremer before she took control of the gate. Some creatures and objects had the ability to prolong life. Maybe these humans had been living here all that time. She stared at the bodies, looking for more clues to help her solve this puzzle.

Their clothes were modern to the earthen world. Which meant these were no slaves brought over in the early days before gatekeepers existed, and kept alive by magic. The scent of Inverness infused every part of them.

But how had they crossed over without her knowing? Why had she not been summoned?

She looked around expecting…well…something to help her understand. Her fellow gatekeepers maybe, playing a joke on her, or… gods, she didn’t even know. But something to explain how these humans came to be here. A sign that would make some sense of the situation.

A rock clattered far to the left. Roughly a mile, if she had to guess. Her ear twitched, detecting the sound. Normally, she’d ignore it. Even now, she doubted the sound came from anything more than the m’ra rats that inhabited this area of Outremer. But duty demanded she at least check it out. Maybe, just maybe, something would shed some light on this strangeness.

With a sharp screech, Kalindra soared into the air and took off in the direction where the noise had originated. Scanning the ground as she went, she searched for any sign of life or movement below. Plants swayed in the breeze, catching her focus. Here and there an animal skittered away from her gaze. Nothing big enough to cause the noise she’d heard.

“Pick up the pace, we don’t have all day.” A man’s whispered voice stopped her in midflight. She strained, needing more to detect the direction.

“You heard her screech. She might be headed this way.” A woman this time. “She’ll kill you, too. Don’t think she won’t. We have to move.”

Shadows moved against the horizon, a hundred or so meters ahead of her. Kalindra moved toward the sound, careful to keep out of view, her wings quiet as possible.

Until she determined exactly what she was dealing with, she’d hang back. These people could be nothing more than travelers. Or they could be behind the slaughter on her doorstep.

A scuffle sounded up ahead, followed by muffled voices. Curiosity got the better of her and she swung closer so she could see what was going on.

Three beings traveled up ahead. Two males and a female. At first, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Until one of the males tripped and fell to his knees, his hands still clutched in front of him. Something silver glinted in the moonlight. Handcuffs?

The other male dragged the fallen one to his feet. The obviously harsh manner made her wince. Wherever they were heading, that one clearly didn’t want to go. It didn’t look like he had a choice in the matter, either.

She debated turning around. This wasn’t her fight. Anything that took her away from her true duty should be avoided.

Still, Kalindra didn’t believe in coincidences. Their appearance so close to the slaughter, a prisoner in tow, required investigation. She couldn’t risk letting them go until she was sure they weren’t involved in whatever had happened at her gate. If she did ignore them, and they were responsible, her reputation would never be the same.

Pulling her wings closer to her body, Kalindra dove down, landing in front of the startled trio.

“Well, well, well, what have we here?” she asked.

Was taking immense pleasure in the horrified shock on their faces really all that wrong? Really? Being frightening made her task as gatekeeper easier. So no, she didn’t think so. A healthy dose of terror was good. And in her line of work, there was no such thing as too much fear.

Kali examined the group. The un-cuffed male and female were clearly vampires. The white skin and fangs were pretty clear indicators. But the prisoner wasn’t pale enough to be a vampire. Definitely some kind of humanoid. Maybe a werewolf or demon in his un-shifted form? Something about this whole situation reeked. And it wasn’t just the vampires.

After a moment of shock, the vampire male pushed the two others behind him. Brave. Foolish, but brave. His eyes swept over her from head to talon, and recognition lit his eyes.

Now things would get boring. First, there’d be begging. Then maybe a pathetic attempt at fighting. And finally, once he realized defeat was inevitable, which always came faster than Kalindra would like, there would be tears and prayers, followed by more begging. Always the same. Always more pathetic than the last time.

Kalindra examined her claws. A deceptive trick. Her focus never really strayed from the figures in front of her. Not because she thought they were a threat. They weren’t. But that didn’t mean she should loosen her guard. Getting sloppy would get her killed.

“This doesn’t concern you, gatekeeper. We mean you no harm.” The words were right, but the tone dripped with condescension and smugness. Interesting. Not at all what she’d expected. Almost as if he thought he had one over on her. Now her interest was piqued.

“Is that so?” she asked.

The woman nodded enthusiastically behind the man’s back. But the prisoner captured her attention. Bruises marred his face and a trail of blood dripped from his hairline to the rag stuffed into his mouth. She met his eyes, and something in them refused to let her look away. He looked desperate and terrified. But not of her. He gazed at her as if there was something important he wanted to tell her.

And then she smelled it. Smelled him. The unmistakable scent of human. The man was from Earth.

Didn’t concern her, huh? Bullshit.

“You know, I don’t like killing people, despite my reputation. Believe it or not.” She paused for effect. “But I’ve got a pile of bodies outside my gate. Human bodies. Ones that clearly came from Earth, on the Outremer side of my gate. Which is impossible, since I would have been teleported to the gate the second they crossed worlds. But I wasn’t teleported. Which tells me something strange is happening. Something I need to get to the bottom of.” She met the man’s eyes. “You two wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”

The woman frantically shook her head. Not exactly the cool, emotionless vampires one read about in the human stories. Amazing how many things human mythology got wrong.

The man continued to try and stare her down. As if he thought he could frighten her. The idea made her smile, which seemed to make him nervous. Nothing like a smiling predator to unhinge one’s confidence. Finally, he shook his head.

“So why are you here? A bit far from home, no?” There hadn’t been vampires in this area of Outremer for some time.

“We came after him. He’s nothing to you,” the woman declared, a quiver in her voice.

The man glared behind him until the woman’s gaze dropped to the ground. Interesting. If she had to guess, the woman seemed guilty. But the man seemed reluctant. Secretive. And if there was one thing harpies loved, it was secrets. Especially ferretting them out.

“Who is he?” Kalindra asked.

Whether or not they’d brought the humans here, she had no doubt they were behind the slaughter at her doorstep. But why kill the others, and take this one? What was so special about him? And how the hell had the humans gotten through her gate in the first place?

“A criminal.” The male vampire this time. Short. Brusque. Apparently he didn’t know the trouble he courted.

“What’s his crime?” She crossed her arms over her chest, her sharp nails tapping lightly against her arm. She wanted information. These two had better convince her they had some.

“Theft.”

Again with the one word answer. One would think they didn’t want to talk with her. She was hurt. No, really.

Fine. Kalindra was done playing with them anyway. She had better things to do, and she clearly wasn’t getting anywhere.

“See, I’d like to believe you. Really, I would. But that man there is a human. I can smell it all over him.” And damn if that man didn’t stand up straighter as if offended. Her voice rose. “Add in the fairly modern clothing, and the human corpses outside my gateway, and I’m led to believe you’re lying. And if there’s one thing I hate, it’s liars.” Her claws visibly grew a few inches. Three sets of eyes dropped to her hands, and she stretched them for effect.

Now the vampire male looked nervous. He reached for his sword, but Kalindra struck before his hand could grab the hilt, swiping her claws from shoulder to waist. The man fell to the ground. Not dead–yet–but no longer a threat.

“Now, are you going to answer my questions?” she asked the woman, blood dripping from one claw.

That was all it took. The woman dropped the prisoner’s arm and started to run. Guess she didn’t want to answer any questions.

“Stay,” she said, gazing straight into the prisoner’s eyes. He nodded cautiously.

With a sweep of her arms, Kalindra soared into the air. Foolish vampire. Everyone knew harpies could outfly anything on two legs. A couple four legged creatures could outrun a harpy, even some six legged ones. But her measly two legs were no match for Kalindra’s speed.

When she caught up to the woman, Kalindra grabbed her shoulders in her foot talons. In this position, the woman was helpless. Kalindra rose into the air, taking the woman with her, until she reached optimal height.

“Let this be a lesson to those who think to trick me. Those who think they can take from Inverness without consequence.” There was no one to hear, but others would know. When they found the remains, they would know, and the message would spread.

With that, she released the woman, and listened to her scream as she plummeted to the ground. The sickening crunch of impact filled the clearing. She stared at the remains from her position above.

Should she feel bad for taking the woman’s life so easily? Guilty, maybe? Or victorious? Surely she should feel something. Anything. But she didn’t.

She tried to tell herself the woman deserved it for what she’d done to the humans. That the woman had it coming for lying to her. But truthfully, Kalindra felt…numb.

Not a good sign. Losing her connection to the world was the first sign of madness. Madness and defeat went hand in hand. For a warrior like her, defeat equaled death.

She’d been keeper for too long. The restless feeling had grown stronger in the past year. No one could handle the life of gatekeeper forever. After awhile, the loneliness and constant struggle to hold the barrier drove keepers insane, if they didn’t die on the swords of the invaders first. And she’d been keeper for a long time. But for now, the duty was still hers.

Looking over her shoulder, she saw the prisoner still standing exactly where she’d left him, his head turned away. At least someone followed her orders.

In less than a minute, she stood over the fallen male vampire. His wound already showed signs of healing, but still bled. She’d cut him deeper than intended. Maybe now he’d be willing to answer some questions. He’d live. Until she decided he shouldn’t.

“What were you doing here?”

Blood stood out starkly from his teeth when he smiled up at her. “You can’t win. Others will come. They know what he is, and what he has, now. Every race in this world will kill, and die, to possess it for themselves. You and your fellow gatekeepers will all fall.” His bitter laugh ended on a wracking cough. Eventually, his eyes drifted to the prisoner. “You should never have come into this world. Now nothing can save you. Not even her.” His laughter turned maniacal, not stopping until Kalindra picked up his own sword and removed his head from his body.

She stared at the corpse for a long moment. Such senseless death. If he had never come here, he would still be alive, his companion would still be alive, and those poor humans would still be alive. Foolish.

Her gaze shifted to the human before her. He stood his ground, even lifted his chin, as she crossed to him. Somehow his bravery didn’t bother her like the vampire’s had. On the human, it was a novelty that appealed to the warrior spirit inside her. She removed the rag from his mouth and pushed it so it hung around his neck.

“Key?” she asked, pointing to the cuffs.

“Front left pocket,” he said on a cough, nodding his head toward the vampire on the ground. At least it hadn’t been on the woman. That would’ve been messy.

Once she’d located the key, she released the man, and watched as he rubbed circulation back into his hands.

Anger flared. The vampires had cuffed him too tight. But why did she care? In surprise, she realized she felt sympathy toward him.

“Why you?” she murmured.

“Sorry?” he asked.

“Why did they take you when they killed the others?”

The man shrugged, but his gaze drifted away. She recognized diversion when she saw it.

“Dunno. Maybe for food?”

Lies. This man knew why he’d been taken. What was he hiding?

“You saw what happens to those who lie to me,” she warned.

As she expected, the man shivered in disgust, or maybe it was apprehension. Most likely a mix of the two.

“How’d you get through the gateway?”

She heard the man swallow. Now, wasn’t that interesting? He hadn’t been frightened of her before. Cautious, yes. Frightened, no. But something scared him now.

“These two took us through.”

The quaver in his voice was barely detectable. But it was there. More lies? But what was the point?

“I think you’re lying.”

The man’s gaze met hers, and she knew she’d been right in her assessment. She didn’t know why, yet, but she knew the man hadn’t told the truth. “Until I get some answers, you’re coming with me.”

“Wha…” he started as she took off into the air, only to stop when she grabbed his shoulders in her talons. “No, wait.”

“Relax.” She sighed. “I won’t kill you until I get answers.”

“Somehow that doesn’t reassure me.”

The man’s hands swept over her legs. Searching for a grip, no doubt. But she had no intention of letting go. And not just because she sought answers, although she would get those.

Something about this man intrigued her. For the first time in longer than she could remember, she wanted. Until she found out the answers she sought, he could keep her company.