Revenge Read online

  “Please take your seats in the lounge area. I’ll be right with you.” Byron went up the stairs.

  I glanced over at Zach, who shrugged.

  “I guess we should take a seat,” Zach said as the butler gestured to the room. Once we were inside, the butler bowed and left our sight. Apparently, offering refreshments was only for those with stature. That didn’t matter. I had enough to drink.

  The room was a dark green, which contrasted the entry’s red theme. There was a globe in the corner that marked the different zones on the continent that was Mu. Mu housed the five races and the rest of the world we were on, Maldek, which was mostly ocean or areas that weren’t habitable. There was one fairly large island, but that was where the Pleiadeans lived, and they didn’t like visitors, nor did they like leaving their home. They were similar to monks and wanted solitude, but at the same time, they would try to kill any who came close. It made no sense.

  My eyes drifted some more, and I found used whiskey bottles, maps, and books littered the shelves along the walls. I tried to calculate how much they all would be together but lost count. Sitting on the green leather sofa, I took a deep breath. The air smelled of cigar smoke.

  “I don’t think we’ll be able to afford his information, Ellie,” Zach whispered. “And I don’t think he’ll give it to a charity case like us.”

  “I’ve been saving up for this day. Don’t underestimate me.”

  “You’ve been holding out funds from me?”

  I shrugged. “Here and there. Helps you stop buying such expensive drinks.”

  “But they are so good.”

  I rolled my eyes. But he had a point—the drinks he liked tasted like candy. I still preferred hard liquor, however, as for some reason it never left me with a hangover. It didn’t make sense, but I decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

  “Do you really think he has the information we need?” Zach asked as he leaned back and sighed. “I mean, after all this time? Did we finally find someone who has the answer to what we are searching for?”

  “I think he does.”

  Zach glanced over at me from the corner of his eye. “And are you going to kill him when you find him?”

  I clutched the ring that hung around my neck. That was the plan—I would take revenge on the man who betrayed me—who betrayed our kind. There was no repenting for what he’d done.

  “I—”

  “Sorry to keep you waiting.” Byron came back into the room. Both Zach and I stood, but the man waved us to sit down. “You don’t need to be so formal.”

  “Look,” I began. “I don’t care for small talk. What do you know and how much?”

  Byron grabbed a pipe and filled it with some ingredients and lit it. “It isn’t a matter of money but more of what you will do for me.”

  I glanced over at Zach, and he nodded.

  “Who do you want us to kill?”

  CHAPTER THREE

  ZACH

  Byron smiled and took a few puffs of his pipe after Ellie asked her question. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of this guy. He seemed prim and proper, but we all knew that was a facade. The rich in the Human Zone were more corrupt than in any of the other zones—other than Silurians, of course, but that more had to do with them not caring about any race other than their own. This man before us probably had a lot of secrets—ones that not even Ellie nor I could dream of, and that was saying something.

  He took the pipe out of his mouth. “It’s not that simple.”

  I glanced over at Ellie, who had assumed the same thing I did, that he wanted an enemy dead. Anytime we asked for information from someone, it was either a sizable sum of money or some poor SOB in a coffin. We waited for Byron to go on, but he took his time as if trying to pick out the right words.

  “I’m part of a society of sorts. Exclusive, naturally, and by invitation only. We have members from all the zones.”

  I looked over at Ellie, checking to be sure she wouldn’t make any remarks. I could tell she was biting her tongue. Kausians were never invited to these so-called societies. They were simply a bunch of rich assholes getting together to see how they could rule over the planet and cause problems for anyone under them just to make some extra cash. It was despicable.

  Byron went on. “However, there is a new gentleman who is trying to come into the society and has already gotten the favor of some of the higher-ups. I’m afraid that he might succeed.”

  “So you want him to disappear? As in… kill.” Ellie more stated than asked. He had said it wasn’t that simple, but I agreed with her. It sure sounded like he wanted us to kill the guy.

  Putting his pipe down, Byron crossed his legs and rested his hands on his knee. “I don’t care what you do as long as he doesn’t win. He shouldn’t be part of our society. He is… not someone I want in the group. He’s what you might say not of pure blood.”

  I smacked Ellie before she made a comment. She rubbed her arm and shot me a look with her golden eyes but didn’t say a word. I could tell by how the corner of her mouth lifted that I had been right. She would say, Wasn’t that what they all did?

  Byron let out a cough. “I have information on him. The vote is in two weeks up on Zynon. I’m hoping you will deal with the situation before then?”

  Ellie nodded, her lengthy auburn hair bouncing as she did. “Yes, we can.”

  I responded in agreement.

  “Good.” Byron stood up and grabbed a pile of papers that had been on his desk. “His name is Gabriel Pickett. He is also a human and easy to pick out in a crowd. He is young, about your age, has black hair, brown eyes, but don’t let that fool you. He is half Sirian.”

  I looked at the photo on top of the stack of sheets he gave us. He was right—he did not appear Sirian-like other than how his eyes and face structure appeared. But he didn’t have the sharp teeth nor full black eyes like a Sirian. I would have thought he was completely human if I had bumped into him on the street.

  Not that it mattered.

  Having spent years dealing with the prejudice of not only being a Kausian but also a half-breed, I knew what this kid was going through. Not even my home of Kaus ever accepted me. Except for Ellie and Cor. But even then, Cor betrayed us, so really all I had was Ellie.

  “And once I hear word that he is no longer a problem”—Byron sat back down—“then I’ll give you the information on the whereabouts of your Cornelius Adams.”

  After seeing where he lived and now knowing that he was part of the society, I didn’t doubt that he knew where Cor was. He not only had the resources to know where people were at any given moment, he also had more than enough money to hire people like us. Which meant we could probably get some cash with this as well. Score.

  I was the one to ask the next question. “What if we kill him right before the meeting? How do we know you will still get us the information before you head up to Zynon? It’s not exactly a place the two of us can go to.”

  “I’ll leave it with my servant of this house. She’ll have the papers for you. Don’t worry. You will get your information. I guarantee it. Do you have any other questions?”

  Flipping through the pages, I double-checked everything. It seemed straightforward—go in, kill the guy, come back. The target wasn’t that high in society, at least not according to his information, so getting to him wouldn't be an issue. All my inquiries had to do with how he got info on Cor, but that wasn’t information the client ever liked to answer or even get asked. I guess I would just have to keep my mouth quiet for the time being.

  I glanced over at Ellie, who was biting her lip. It seemed she had a question.

  “We will need bullets,” she commented. “If you didn’t know, Kausians like us have a little trouble buying any weapons. I mean, we can find some through our sources, but that will take a little time, and I have a feeling you want this done sooner rather than later.”

  “How many bullets do you need?” Byron asked as he grabbed his pipe and took a few more puffs.

/>   The side of Ellie’s mouth curled up. “How many you got?”

  “I can’t believe you got him to give you five cases of bullets. This will last us a long while. Hopefully.”

  Ellie and I were walking back to our hotel, which was also in the Quarter as only human-run hotels would let the likes of us inside. It was still pretty run-down and disgusting, but it was better than camping outside the city. Well, kind of.

  “He wanted to make sure we get our job done. The info doesn’t cost him anything, and I doubt the bullets cost him that much either, at least comparatively. He doesn’t have to spend much money, get this guy killed, and we get what we want. Easy peasy.”

  Yeah, right. What we wanted.

  It had been three years since someone betrayed our zone and gave out the codes to let down the shields. Ellie and I barely made it out in time, and the only reason we did was because Cor knew what would happen. Because he was the one who gave the info to the Silurians. At least that was what we concluded. Then he bolted, knowing we would have turned him in for his crime.

  Instead, he got away without a scratch, and gods only knew where he was hiding.

  I guess this Byron guy knew where he was. I wondered how he came upon the information and how he learned about Cor in the first place. It wasn’t like many knew he was the one responsible. The only reason we noticed was because of that day…

  Ellie tugged on her hat. “So we will feed our horses and head out in the morning? I don’t know about you, but I want to get this job done with as soon as possible.”

  She was definitely not the only one.

  I looked up at the sky. The stars were shining enough for me to see them through the city lights. It was so much different from nights in Kaus as we didn’t have enough to keep lights on at night—we all could barely afford candles. Although it was inconvenient, our eyes gave us the ability to see in the dark if we needed—however, so could Lyrans, and yet their city was lit up at night. It was too bad, though, as the stars could be so beautiful.

  “The papers Byron gave us said he is in the Human Zone, right? That right there is a week’s ride. We better not screw this up.”

  “When have I ever screwed anything up?”

  I gave her a look, and she shoved me.

  “Shut up! You know what I mean!”

  I knew what she meant. When it came to our job, she was quick and efficient. I was more just backup and made sure there weren’t any surprises along the way. The secret was there were always surprises, and there was always someone in the back, ready to shoot. The natural solution was to always shoot first if you wanted to survive. And I suppose that’s what we truly desired—to survive. We had gotten our hands dirty—covered them in blood—just so we could stay alive. And get our revenge, of course.

  “You sure we can’t go to another bar? There has to be one open around here somewhere…” I peered around, wanting a sweet drink.

  “No, you have had enough. And I’m not dealing with hungover Zach in the morning. Hungover Zach does not know how to ride a horse. Last time I had to tie you to your saddle and then lead the horse while riding my own!”

  I laughed. “Yeah, yeah, fine. I get it. I guess with all this talk about finally getting the information about Cor—” I cut myself off, not wanting to bring him up.

  “Yeah, I know. But we will get our revenge. Then all this can be history and we can go live our life somewhere pleasant.”

  I scoffed. “Pleasant? For a couple of Kausians?”

  “Yeah, why not? We could find a tiny house in the middle of nowhere, have our horses, get more horses, grow our own food, and say goodbye to the rest of the world.”

  I shook my head. “You know as well as I that won’t work. Someone will come across us, and they will destroy everything. They always do.”

  She was silent, knowing I had a point. This bounty hunter/assassin business was not our first choice. We tried to stay out of trouble. We tried to be normal. But it was no use. There was always someone who came along and destroyed everything we built up just because of where we were from.

  And we were sick of it.

  So we grabbed the guns we grew up learning how to use, for obvious reasons, and we set out into the world to do the thing everyone expected us to do: disguise, sneak in, and kill. It was what we were good at, unfortunately. But I didn’t want it to be our life, and neither did Ellie.

  Laughter came from one alleyway we passed, and I quickly peered away as I did not want to see two people going at it. Sex wasn’t something I felt comfortable around, whether it was other people discussing it or when it came to one’s own needs. Ellie, I knew, lost her virginity to Cor when we were teens, and it made me realize I didn’t have the desire, whether the other person be male or female. I felt there were more important things in this world, and I focused on those instead.

  Like staying alive and not getting killed by bandits or law enforcers or both at the same time.

  We arrived at our hotel and went next door to the horse stalls. My horse, Charlotte Hunkerbink III—Char for short, was a beautiful female Morgan horse with dark brown hair. She had been with me through thick and thin, and she meant the world to me. As I stepped up to her, she nuzzled me a bit.

  “Who is a good girl, huh? Are they taking care of you here?”

  “They better—we are paying a lot of money for them to stay here,” Ellie commented as she patted her horse, Kevin. Just Kevin. He was a speckled Marchador that had been with us as long as Char. He also helped us out of all the scraps we found ourselves in.

  After giving them a good-night kiss, we made sure they had plenty of water and grass to munch on. Satisfied they were fine, we headed up the back stairs into our room.

  Ellie was the first to collapse on the bed with a loud thump. Comfort came with money that neither of us had. We also never had enough cash for more than one bed, so we would cozy up. We had been friends since we were born and had plenty of sleepovers growing up. The past three years had simply been one sleepover after another.

  “Ugh, move over. I want some bruises to wake up with too,” I said as I set down the bullets and acted like I would collapse on her.

  She laughed and moved over quickly. “Stop it! Don’t lie on me.”

  I fell on the mattress next to her, but purposefully draped my arm and leg over her. She giggled some more and pushed me off. I rolled over and stared up at the ceiling that was stained with water spots and gods knew what else. I tried not to gag thinking about it.

  “I should probably check to make sure there’s no one hiding in the shower. Again.” She sighed as she got up.

  “Make sure to kill them promptly this time,” I called after her. “We don’t want a repeat of last week.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” She stuck her head into the bathroom. “All clear. We are good to go.”

  “Or at least as good as it can be.”

  “You got that right.” She jumped on the bed again.

  “Hey, aren’t you going to change?” I asked as she pulled back the blanket.

  “Ugh, do I have to?”

  “I don’t want to sleep next to someone covered in filth.”

  She rolled back up. “Fine, but you need to change too.”

  I chuckled. “What are you talking about? I’m clean as a whistle.”

  “Yeah, right. Get your dirty ass off the bed.” She grabbed my arm and pulled me up. I moaned as I stumbled over to my bag and pulled out my shirt and shorts I normally slept in.

  “Next stop, I think we will have to do a laundry day. All my clothes are either caked in sweat, dirt, blood, or all the above.”

  Ellie slipped on a tank and her loose shorts. “Yeah, after we get the mark, we can go find a place to wash our clothes.”

  “Good.” I put my own night clothes on and tucked my dirty clothes away. “I’m pretty sure you have worn that shirt five times.”

  “Like you are any better.” She collapsed back on the bed and slipped under the blanket.

  I
turned off the light and hit my knee straight into the wooden table they’d placed in the middle of the room.

  “Son of a bitch,” I said as I stumbled into the bed. “Why do they always put the furniture where I will run into it?”

  “Because they want to hear you cuss.”

  “Apparently,” I whimpered.

  She slapped her hand on my injury. “There, there, you’re fine.”

  We lay there, silent. The sounds of either mice or the ghosts of all the people murdered in this hotel, or both, scratching at the wall made me wish we had a little more money to spend on lodging. I could hear Ellie’s breath slow down as she was drifting into sleep. I turned to her, watching her mouth twitch in the city light that came in through the rips scattered across the blinds.

  She looked at peace when she was asleep, completely different from when she was awake. We both had faced such betrayal at the hands of our best friend—the person who was supposed to have our backs. Instead, he brought all this down on us. We could have been safe in Kaus if the shields had held up. But they didn’t, and it destroyed everything and everyone we ever knew.

  I intertwined my hand with Ellie’s. I wouldn’t ever betray her like he did. I would stay by her side until the very end. Whenever that might be.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  COR

  “Royal flush.”

  The dealer, a human woman with curly black hair, moved the chips to my side of the table. She wore the same uniform that all the women dealers had on—a light blue dress with black fringe. This parlor really liked blue, I supposed. Then again, I had noticed most parlors picked a color theme and stuck to it religiously.

  I smiled at the five others who sat around the table. They all glared at me as some rubbed their faces and the others threw in their cards. One human male stood up and walked off, leaving his three chips. He had completely given up. All that remained now were two other humans, a Lyran with gray fur, and a Sirian woman who kept winking at me even though I was taking all her coins. Perhaps she was hoping to seduce me to get them back. That’s not how I rolled, however—I was the one who would get paid in that scenario.