Chapter 19: Chapter 19

Shane slipped out of the bedroom as quietly as he could. Rai had only questioned him once the night before. With a huff, she had fallen asleep, leaving Shane to stew in his thoughts.

She totally knows…

Swallowing hard, he stepped into the living room, ready to find the pie and devour it before she woke up.

He froze when he saw a looming figure standing near the end table.

“Shane?” Reginald grumbled.

“Yes, buddy?” Shane asked, his voice an octave higher.

“Why is there a pie here?”

Stepping up to Reginald’s side, he hummed. “That’s a really good question! Who would dare bring a pie into this house!”

Sniffing the air, Reginald scanned the room before settling on him. “You smell like cat…”

“Shit,” Shane mumbled.

Picking up the pie, Reginald moved towards the kitchen. He paused near the door and glanced back at Shane. “Coming?”

Shane’s frown changed as he hurried to join the big man. Together they sat at the small table and grabbed forks.

“We only have a few minutes to get rid of this,” Reginald grumbled.

“Can we eat the entire thing that quickly?” Shane asked, stabbing his fork into the pie.

“We have to.” Reginald stabbed the pie and pulled out a flaky bite of crust and blackberries.

Shane smiled. “She has good taste. This is one of the better pies.”

“Who is she?” Reginald asked. “Does she have a name?”

“Zila,” Shane answered before stuffing his face. Around his mouthful, he mumbled, “She let me brush her.”

“You brushed the cat?” Reginald snorted. “Did you have a death wish?”

Shane shrugged. “It’s not as bad as when she sat on my lap.”

Reginald paused, his fork halfway to his mouth. “She sat in your lap? That’s not normal.”

“It isn’t?” Shane questioned. Taking another bite, he added, “She seemed like she was at home sitting on me.”

Shaking his head, Reginald grunted. “How does a cat already have that kind of trust in you? Do you have some sort of magnetism I should be worried about?”

“It’s the face,” Shane stated.

Reginald raised one brow. “Really?”

“I’m too handsome for my own good.” Diving back into the pie, Shane smiled. “She couldn’t stop herself from falling for me.”

“Rai is going to kill you,” Reginald said. “She’ll ask me to dig the grave.”

“Bury me with a pie.” Shane laughed lightly.

The large man rolled his eyes. “We better hurry. Rai won’t sleep much longer.”

Shane glanced towards the doorway. He couldn’t hear her moving, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t awake.

Scooping up a large chunk of pie, he shoved it into his mouth. “She’ll kill me quickly, right?”

Snorting, Reginald shook his head. “I doubt it. Are there knives in the house?” Looking around, he paused. “She’ll use her claws. She might remove an arm first, or a certain body part you so enjoy.”

Shane crossed his legs. “It’s time for happy thoughts.”

Reginald rumbled a laugh. “Who are you going to bond with next?”

“Probably Zila,” Shane admitted. “Honestly, if I don’t, she might kill me in my sleep.”

“That’s not…false,” Reginald grumbled. “Can you see what she looks like?”

“Of course!” Shane chirped.

“How?”

Shane’s excitement died. “What do you mean?”

Lowering his fork, Reginald’s demeanor turned serious. “Shane. Dark Descendants are hidden by their shadows from everyone. Nothing can pierce their veil. Some don’t even know what they themselves look like.”

Shane also lowered his fork. “I can see through her shadows though. She’s strikingly beautiful.”

“I don’t know why you are so gifted, Shane,” Reginald said softly. “But we need to protect you. Your abilities… It’s hard to put into words.”

“Is the pie clogging your thoughts?” a voice hissed from the doorway.

Shane dropped his fork. “Rai! How good to see you on this wonderful morning!”

Rai stepped into the room and slammed her hands down on the table. “Why is there a pie in here?”

Shane pointed at Reginald. “He bought one!”

Reginald raised a brow. “It’s not my fault you were too scared to talk to the baker again.”

Crossing her arms, Rai glanced between the two of them. “Then why does it smell like cat?”

Shane crossed his arms and glared at her. “Why do you know what cat smells like? Are you cheating on me?”

Rai stared daggers at him with an open mouth. “Excuse me! Are you really trying to turn this conversation back onto me?”

“Yes!” Shane said defiantly.

Reginald continued to eat the pie.

Shaking her head, Rai pulled up a chair. “Seriously, Shane. What was she doing here?”

“Her name is Zila, and she’s very friendly. She let me brush her.”

“She sat on your lap,” Reginald grumbled.

“What?” Rai shouted.

Shane raised his hands and gestured for her to lower the volume. “We don’t want people checking on us.” Turning to Reginald, he added, “So much for having my back…”

Reginald snorted. “Enforce those rules, Shane.”

I still have to come up with them! he growled in his head.

Rai drummed her fingers on the table. “So, this Zila, visited you last night and brought you a pie? How did she know to find us here?”

“Oh!” Shane said excitedly. “She’s been following us since we met her. She’s getting information on the town for me.”

Frowning, Rai asked, “She’s willingly helping us? A dark essence cat is helping us? And she, what? Wants to bond with you?”

Shane nodded. “She does. I’m going to make her mine soon.”

Running a hand down her face, Rai groaned. “I need to talk with her. Her and I are going to have to come up with a system.”

Reginald finished off the pie and stood. “What’s our plan for today?”

Shane smiled. “We are going to make a distraction. A very big distraction.”

“Why?” Rai asked warily.

“Because my new partner-in-crime asked me to. She brought me a pie, so I couldn’t refuse.”

Closing her eyes, Rai’s head slumped to the table. “I bonded to an idiot…”

***

Rai stood with Shane on top of a nearby apartment building. The roof was cracked and partially collapsed, but the man was holding the structure together with the slight use of essence.

How does he do that? Rai wanted to shake her head.

“Will you watch over me?” Shane asked.

Rai nudged him with her elbow. “I’ll do a better job than your cat friend.”

“It’s not a competition,” Shane reprimanded her. “We all need to work together as effectively as possible. Even if that does mean sharing.”

“Isn’t it every little boy’s dream to be with multiple women?” Rai snarked.

“Those boys don’t have the fate of an entire city in their palm,” Shane said coldly. Raising his hand, he balled it into a fist. “Did you know she said she’s never been loved before?”

Rai felt a pang in her heart. I won’t hate her, she told herself. If anything, she will be a good addition and help keep Shane safe. I wish I understood how the essence was changing him.

“Will you love her?” Rai asked softly, hoping he would say yes.

He nodded. “I will. It won’t be the same that I share with you, but she deserves my best, and I’m going to give it to her.”

“I’d be upset if you didn’t,” Rai said. “Are you ready?”

“Yeah,” Shane said before closing his eyes and sitting down. “This is going to hurt.”

“It always does.” Rai took his hand and guided him to the ground.

Essence started manifesting visibly over Shane’s body as he released some of Reginald’s power into himself. His skin split and bled with the influx, his mouth open in a silent scream.

“It’s only going to get worse with each one you bond with,” Rai whispered. Wiping a tear from her eyes, she monitored him.

Brown energy wrapped him in a cocoon, holding his blood in place as his body healed. She could feel the life returning to him as the turbulent force settled.

“When will he wake?” Reginald asked as he stepped onto the roof.

Rai shook her head. “I don’t know. At least when he bonds with the energy when he’s asleep, it isn’t this bad.”

Reginald kneeled by her side. “The fact that he can merge in his sleep is an impossibility that I’m still getting used to.”

Touching her mate’s cheek, she said, “I know. But he just pushed more essence into his body than he ever has before. If he does this again, he might finish bonding with your essence.”

A pulse of essence washed over the building. The structure felt more solid as Reginald took control of the weakness and the strain their bodies were putting on it.

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“I don’t think it’s the tails,” Reginald grumbled.

“What?” Rai asked.

“The tails for you and Zila. I don’t think he sees you as another species. He sees you both as people that need him. He wants to make your world a brighter place, even if that kills him.”

“It is killing him,” Rai growled.

“It won’t matter to him,” Reginald said. “All that matters is that we stand by his side. He may have started out as a random life raft, but there’s something more going on that we need to understand. It’s my belief that he was always meant to bond with one of our kind.”

“That just isn’t possible,” Rai reasoned. “No human has ever been able to bond with us so seamlessly. And yet, he defies all of that. He should have died when I bonded with him. He was so weak, and yet…”

“He shouldn’t have been able to bond with me at all,” Reginald agreed. “Humans may have the ability to bond with more of our kind, but their bodies can’t hold the capacity of essence. When Zila bonds with him, we might finally see him break.”

“We need him to bond with others as well,” Rai reminded him. “What happens if he doesn’t survive?”

“If he doesn’t survive, then we have no other choice.” Reginald stared out over the city, his expression falling. “We run, and we hide.”

***

Zila watched from the shadows of the building across the street. Are you safe, Shane?

She only let her thoughts distract her for a moment before she turned north. Her future bond would awaken soon, and she needed to get to her position. She had also stopped by the bakery on her way into the city.

A fresh pie was waiting at a temporary safe house for when she presented the information to Shane.

Is pie the way to his heart? she asked herself.

***

Shane roused slowly as a little man chiseled his way out of his head.

“That sucked,” Shane muttered. His mouth felt like he had chain-smoked a carton of cigarettes.

“You’re alive,” Rai pointed out.

Looking around, Shane found Rai and Reginald kneeling by him. The sun was high overhead, casting down a calming heat that was both reassuring and foreboding as winter drew closer.

“How long was I out?” Shane asked.

“A couple of hours,” Rai said. “I expect your new kitty friend is likely waiting for your big show.”

“I’ll see if I can appease her on the first try.” Rolling onto his stomach, Shane pushed himself slowly to his feet. “The good news is I have quite a bit more power now.”

“You do,” Reginald agreed. “Not the most gradual way of accepting power.”

“Who needs gradual when you have charm and wit?” Shane asked before glancing over the edge of the building.

“You didn’t mention your looks,” Rai said. Smirking, she poked his cheek.

Shane turned back to her with an impish grin. “You’re finally starting to give into the handsomeness. I knew you lost yourself in my dark eyes.”

Rai groaned and stepped up to the edge of the building. “I’m going to jump now.”

Shane grabbed her arm. “Back into your tattoo, young lady. We have a jailbreak planned.”

Reginald cracked his knuckles as he got to his feet. “I’ve been waiting for this all day.”

“I thought the pie was the greatest part of the day?” Shane questioned.

“I can have more than one great thing,” Reginald grumbled. “Is there going to be more pie after this?”

Shane turned to Rai. “Will there be?”

Rai glared at him before bursting into a mote of light and disappearing into his arm.

Reginald rumbled a laugh before doing the same.

Left alone, Shane stepped off the edge of the building and fell to the ground.

His heavy body crashed down like a hammer, leaving a small crater in the old pavement. The essence running through him absorbed all of the damage and only left him with the dust cloying in his senses.

“Dramatic, much?” Rai asked.

“Shush, you,” Shane muttered.

He could feel Reginald roll his eyes.

“No respect for their elders,” Shane grumbled out loud.

“We are both older than you!” Rai growled.

“Meh.”

A grumbling laugh filled his head as Reginald shook his head.

Smiling to himself, Shane started towards the jail. As he walked, he transformed his clothes into the military-style outfit he wore to the warehouse. He wasn’t sure why he did it, but first impressions always mattered.

“Second impression,” Rai reminded him.

Ignoring her and her ability to peer into his thoughts, Shane left the slums. The jail was only a few blocks away from his entrance onto the main street.

When he arrived, a dozen guards were on duty. The snuffling of a hound echoed out of the jail’s main entrance, making Shane frown.

“They have Marked this time,” he told his companions.

“Not a problem,” Reginald assured him. “The little pup won’t be able to hurt you. Just kill it quickly if it gets in the way.”

“I don’t want to hurt a little puppy,” Shane admonished.

“Shane…” Rai groaned.

“Fine! But neither of you two have taught me how to fight with a weapon yet. Am I supposed to just pummel the beast to death?”

“You weigh enough,” Reginald commented. “Just lie on it.”

“I’m not fat,” Shane muttered under his breath.

Both of his companions laughed in his head before settling down.

Forcing himself to stand straighter, he put a sneer on his face and brushed back his hair. With a flick of essence, he held it in place, giving him a look of arrogance.

Marching up to the guards, he stopped when they lowered their spears towards him.

“I don’t want to fight, gentlemen.” Shane examined the guards. “And lady,” he added. With a nod in her direction, he trained his gaze on the spears. “We all know you can’t take down a Marked. How about you just let me inside? I kill the man I want. And then we go our separate ways.”

“You’re the one that burned down the industrial sector,” the lone woman stated.

Shane turned to her. She had strikingly decent features, or at least he would have thought that if he hadn’t surrounded himself with Descendants. Now, he didn’t even care what her hair color was, despite bits of it showing from below her helm.

“Technically, I didn’t,” Shane stated. “That was an associate of mine. Do you honestly think a little Marked like me can summon flames?”

Rai snorted.

“That’s not really a Marked ability,” Shane reminded them.

“You’re just here to kill someone?” another guard asked.

“That’s my job!” Shane chirped.

His false arrogant display didn’t last as long as he wanted.

A man dressed in leather armor stepped out of the jail. “We aren’t letting you through, abomination.”

“That’s a little hurtful,” Shane said. “Couldn’t you come up with a better name? Like Captain Awesome, or the Firebender?”

The new man flexed his arm, his tattoo rippling with power. A wolf larger than the standard car stepped out of the entrance. Its maw was bloody and dripping with fresh gore.

“You didn’t kill my man, did you?” Shane asked.

“You have no one here,” the Marked stated.

Scratching the side of his nose, Shane shrugged. “It’s the best story I have.” Stepping forward, he pushed a spear aside. “If you don’t mind, I’m just going to go in.”

The wolf howled, shaking the air with power.

The Marked stepped forward to stop him, pulling a sword from behind his back.

Shane creased his brows in thought as he kept moving. The Marked thrust the sword at his chest, and everyone sucked in a breath.

Glancing down, Shane frowned at the sword poking him in the chest. “Is it dull?”

The Marked pulled his weapon back and looked at it. “I just sharpened it.”

“Performance issues,” Shane surmised. “It happens to the best of us. I won’t take it personally. If you want to try again—”

The man slashed into his arm, cutting through his jacket.

“Rude!” Shane pulled the blade off his arm. Pulling the jacket apart, he looked at his unblemished skin. “You know, they used to make pills for performance issues.”

“Kill him,” the Marked growled.

The wolf lunged forward, and Shane acted. The world slowed around him as he ducked under the open maw and razor-sharp teeth. Bringing up his fist, he felt the bones of the wolf’s chest shatter as he willed every bit of force he could into the blow.

The world returned to normal, and the wolf exploded backward from the force, smashing into the jail’s wall. Blood splashed across the stone before the beast fell to the ground like a limp doll.

The Marked looked between Shane and his Summon before backing up. “Kill him!” he ordered the guards.

Shane glanced at the guards. “Really? We’re doing this?”

Before anyone answered him, the Marked took off running towards the residential district, bond breaking into motes of light to follow him.

“That should raise the alarm,” Shane muttered.

A spear jabbed his stomach.

Grabbing the weapon, Shane snapped the blade off the metal rod. “Really? I thought we could move past the violence.”

The woman was the first to break rank and drop her weapon. She ran away, and a moment later, the other guards followed.

“Free reign,” Shane muttered.

“It’s time,” Reginald reminded him.

“Yeah, yeah,” Shane groused.

Holding out his hands, he felt the stone that made up the walls of the jail. Reginald’s tattoo started to glow as he pulled on essence for what was coming.

Slowly, the front wall of the jail cracked, and segments broke off. A thunderous boom filled the air as the roof began to collapse and the entire wall was torn free.

Stepping back, Shane lowered it to the ground. “That didn’t feel like it used much essence.”

Reginald grumbled but didn’t answer.

Shrugging, he strolled into the jail. He had people to free, and he didn’t have much time.

***

Zila heard the roaring boom in the distance just before the ground shook.

What the hell did he do? Looking around the foyer, she watched as the guards and Summons streamed out. He’s definitely the threat. Zila chuckled to herself.

Once the coast was clear, she moved to the hidden compartment and pushed her essence into the seams. It only took her a moment to find the latch and trip it.

Pushing the door inward, she watched the dark interior of the hidden room brighten from the candlelight of the nearby wall. It was only enough to show outlines of a desk, bookshelves, and several cabinets. But to Zila, it was everything she had hoped to find.

Her ability to see through darkness let her find the scattered papers over the desk. She wouldn’t be able to read them without a little more light, but she’d make do.

Stepping inside, she tuned her hearing into her surroundings. The guards were still running down the streets, leaving her with plenty of time to search through the room.

Checking the cabinets, she found science equipment that she recognized from some of the labs she infiltrated. She didn’t know what they were for, but they always led to bad ends for her kind.

Pursing her lips, she moved to the bookshelves. Pulling out a few of the books, she moved to the doorway to read their titles. They all covered the same range of topics. Genome sequencing, bloodwork and applications, and anatomy.

Zila returned the books and frowned. What are they working on?

At the desk, she picked up papers and shifted to the light.

Descendance Year: 7

The long years of work have finally come to fruition. Hundreds of Descendants have been gathered and studied, and yet only the blood from one was found to bind the components we need.

The young fire fox is the only one we’ve found on the planet. The old morse code networks still work in most areas, and we have scoured nearly every corner of the world. Thousands have died in the pursuit of finding another compatible beast.

Alas, I have the only one.

Her blood will be harvested every few days for trials. We need to push the project forward and bind the natural essence of a Descendant with the human component. We will evolve humanity into a new breed. One that can stand above the beasts and the threat that is still coming.

Zila lowered the first sheet. Rai…

Glancing into the distance, she frowned. She had no way of knowing that Rai was the source to all of the problems their people had been facing. Now that very same Descendant was bonded to the one man that might be able to save their people.

Picking up the next sheet, Zila started to read.

Descendance Year: 12

The fire fox has escaped.

No.

Released.

The traitor was captured just as she finished destroying the last of my test subjects. Years of effort wasted. More bodies will need to be prepped and the fox hunted down.

Undere betrayed her own kind, and she will rot with the very beasts that she is so fond of. Someday, she might even start to beg like them. Only then will I kill her.

Zila froze and dropped the page. Shane’s last name is Undere…

Swallowing hard, she picked up the sheet again and stuffed everything she had into her pockets. Returning to the desk, she grabbed the rest of the notes and left the room.

Shutting the door behind her, she slipped out of the house and drew a deep breath. What are you going to think of all of this, Shane?

***

Shane collapsed a wall behind him as Marked flooded the broken jail. The prisoners had already been released, and he was making his final stand among the muck and filth that they had lived in.

“You can escape any time now!” Rai yelled.

“Not yet,” Shane said. “I just need to buy a few more minutes.”

“Time’s up,” Reginald rumbled. “If you don’t drop right now, they will follow you.”

Shane snarled as they spoke the truth. “I’m sorry, Zila. This is as much time as I can buy you.”

“She’ll understand,” Rai whispered.

Throwing out his hands, Shane spread flames across the collapsed walls and bent bars. Stone melted from the heat as he did what he could to buy himself more time.

Focusing on the floor beneath him, he created a hole. Dropping straight down, he landed in the subfloor of the jail and sealed the hole above him.

“Time to get out,” Shane stated.

A pulse of essence washed out of him, mapping the underground layer. The entrance to the subfloor had collapsed long ago, giving Shane ample time to find his way out.

“Sewer just ahead,” Reginald pointed out.

Shane nodded and touched the wall. The concrete wall parted for him, and the smell of old sewage washed out.

Having spent most of his life surrounded by the smell, he wasn’t fazed. Instead, he stepped inside and sealed the wall behind him.

Holding out his palm, he summoned a small flame that thankfully didn’t ignite anything. With his path lit, he ventured further into the city.

“How far are we going?” Shane questioned.

“I’ll tell you when to stop,” Reginald announced.

“I’m glad I don’t have to smell anything right now,” Rai voiced.

Frowning, Shane shook his head. “Did we buy enough time?”

“She’ll be fine,” Rai assured him. “Nothing is going to stop your pussy cat from getting back to you.”

Rolling his eyes, Shane plodded along the stone tunnel. The sewage had long since dried, but the remnants were not the most pleasant. Sewage crunched underfoot as the cloying smell burst into dust to mingle with the air. The sounds of the city dimly reached him through the layers of stone and pavement. Cracks in the tunnels nearly made him trip as they were hidden beneath the muck.

“You’ve gone far enough,” Reginald announced.

Looking around the tunnel, Shane found a broken ladder leading up a manhole.

“Where are we coming out?” Shane asked.

“A side street near the market.”

Nodding, he jumped up, grabbing the lowest rung and pulled himself up. The cover was easy to shift, and with a quick glance, he found that he was alone.

Slipping out, he flickered flames over his body, burning off the smell that he had gathered. Changing his clothes to the more standard worn pants and crude cotton shirt of the locals, he covered the hole and prepared to merge with the market.

“We can’t stay in the slums,” Shane announced.

“We’ll move in the morning,” Rai agreed. “We’ll find the basement of a shop or something.”

“Agreed,” Reginald grumbled.

Weaving through the crowd, Shane meandered among the stalls. More than once, he slipped coins from a pocket on his way through.

“Going to buy me something nice?” Rai asked.

“Dinner,” Shane said. “I need to leave the market with something.”

With that said, he started his actual shopping. Chaos in the distance could be heard among the stalls as guards and Marked stormed through the streets. The fire from the jail extended high into the sky.

He didn’t know what had become of the prisoners, but they would likely be captured again if they didn’t find a way to blend in. That wasn’t Shane’s problem though. He gave them the best chance he could.

“Avoid the meat,” Rai suggested.

Shane chuckled. “I’ll send Reginald out to get us some fresh meat for dinner.”

With an approval from Reginald, Shane finished his shopping.