Darkside Blues: SciFi Alien Romance (Dark Planet Warriors Book 4.5) (12 page)

How romantic.

When he was thoughtful like this, how could Zyara resist?

Kai was nuts. The Council of Families was after his head, the Boss was dying, Melia had been stabbed, and some kid had just hit him in the neck with an unknown sharp object.

A few nights ago someone had hacked his bio-sig, and he still hadn’t figured out who.

He had his suspicions, though.

And here he was, contemplating a night out on the town with a beautiful alien.

Fuck it. His world was going to shit, and an angel had appeared right in front of him. How could he let her slip out of his grasp a second time?

He’d questioned the kid, whose name was Truman, about the weird object that had pierced his neck, but the kid had known nothing.

The kid had the lean, hungry, wild look of a son of the streets, and there was a desperation about him that Kai knew all too well. His minders had been smart enough to keep him wanting and yet they had told him nothing. Kai would get nothing further out of him, but he’d decided to keep him around, for now.

For some reason, the kid reminded him of himself at a younger age.

Except that when Kai had been picked up by Vadim, he’d been twelve years old, and he’d just killed his first man.

In his wisdom, or madness, or whatever it was, the Boss had pulled some strings and secured him a spot in the Federation Academy.

And look how that had turned into a fucking disaster.

Kai fastened his second cufflink, straightened his tie, and absently rubbed the grazes on his knuckles. After returning to the compound, he’d encountered the two thugs from earlier. Banri’s people had located them, trussed them up, and thrown them into the basement.

Before meeting Zyara, there had been a swift interrogation, involving the strategic use of Kai’s fists.

They hadn’t known anything either.
 

The metal device that had penetrated his neck now lay in a small black dish on his dresser. Kai used a pair of tweezers to pick it up, grasping it with forensic precision.

It was a star-shaped object, no larger than the end of his thumb, with tiny spikes protruding from one end. In the center was a tube-shaped extension. The gleaming metal was stained with Kai’s dried blood.

It was like nothing he’d ever seen before. It certainly didn’t look Human; perhaps it was off-planet tech.

What had it injected into his body? A pathogen? Poison?

Whatever it was, he wasn’t feeling any different.

A gentle chime alerted him to the fact that someone was at his door. Kai accessed the security vision through the feed of his neural implant and saw a familiar face.

“Come in, doctor,” he said, activating the voice node in his link band. The doors slid open to admit a tall man in a white coat. A medical porter-bot trailed behind him, carrying all kinds of equipment.

On the street, people like Doctor Samson were known as ‘company doctors.’ The various arms of the Syndicate employed doctors who were Federation registered, but available to do grey work at short notice.

Samson had forged a reputation as a talented trauma surgeon, and over the years, he and Kai had formed a relationship of sorts. One might even say they were friends.

“Please don’t tell me you’ve been in another fight, Kainan.” Samson’s deep, booming voice echoed throughout the cavernous space. He frowned at Kai. “As I have frequently told you, you’re getting too old for that sort of shit. But then again, when have you ever listened to me?”

 
“I always take your advice, Samson,” Kai replied, sitting down in an upholstered leather chair. “I might just interpret it differently from time to time.”

“In all my fifteen years of being a doctor, you’re the worst patient I’ve ever had. You don’t listen to advice, you ignore pain, and you seem to think the best cure for fresh wounds is to go out and get into a fight.” Samson ordered the porter-bot to idle beside Kai’s chair. He pulled up a stool, shaking his head as a stern expression crossed his dark face. Even when seated, he cut an intimidating figure with his large six-foot-six frame, closely cropped hair, and stern, elegant features. He was built like an athlete, with thickly muscled arms and impressively wide shoulders. Every year, he disappeared for a month, traveling to the bustling freelands of New Nairobi to visit his family.

He was the only doctor who’d been able to hold Kai down when he’d become delirious and agitated after a dose of bad sedative.

That had been a long time ago. Ever since that incident, he’d been Kai’s first choice whenever he’d required medical treatment.

“So,
Sandama,
what’s the problem? Are you hiding mortal wounds underneath that expensive suit of yours?”

“I’m not injured,” Kai said. “I wanted to get your opinion on this.” He reached across to the dresser and passed the black dish to Samson.

The doctor glanced at the object, his brown eyes narrowing. “I’m a doctor, not a tech-head. What are you asking me for?”

“It’s an injecting device of some sort. I believe it was used to deliver some sort of substance into my body, I just don’t know what.”

“How long ago?”

“Several hours.”

“Any symptoms?”

“None whatsoever.”

“Hmm.” Samson stared at the thing. “Looks alien. I can take it down to the biosci labs if you like, get it analyzed.”

“No. I’ll get our people to look at it. I don’t want Federation hands anywhere near it.”

“Suit yourself.” Samson didn’t even question Kai’s decision. Hidden in the Denki Town district of Darkside were some of the most brilliant technological minds on Earth. The Syndicate Families did a roaring trade in dark technology, selling anything from illegal body enhancements to banned subversive AI. They charged exorbitant prices and spent billions on research and development.

Someone in Denki Town would be able to crack this device.

“I need to do a full check-up on you. If something’s been released into your system, we need to find it. It could be a virus with a long incubation period, or a slow-acting toxin.”

“Do what you have to do, doctor.”

“I need a blood sample.”

Kai shrugged off his jacket and rolled up his sleeve, revealing his vibrantly inked forearm. A twisting, scaled dragon’s tail wound its way amongst brilliantly colored cherry blossoms and bold, fanlike black patterns.

Samson attached a monitoring device to his finger and retrieved an auto-collector from his porter-bot. A faint needle-prick was all Kai felt as the machines did their thing, collecting a blood sample and performing an instant analysis.

Samson activated a holoscreen, and minutes later, data began streaming across it.

The doctor shook his head. “All the readings are completely normal. No toxins or pathogens detected. According to my data, you’re too healthy for your own good. I don’t know what the hell that device is, but the plan wasn’t to kill you.”

“Well, that’s reassuring,” Kai said dryly. “Then I have no choice but to wait. Their intentions will become clear with time.”

“You’re awfully calm for someone who possibly has a time-bomb hidden in his body. You should come down to the labs and get a full-body scan.”

Kai shook his head. “I’m not ready to surrender my data to the Federation just yet. I don’t know who’s behind this, but if they wanted me dead, I’d be dead already, so I’ll take my chances.”

Samson gave him a long hard look. “As I said, my worst patient doesn’t listen to sensible advice.”

“I have more pressing issues to deal with right now,” Kai growled. “I’ll send you a comm if I start dying.”

The world was falling to pieces around him, and Kai had a date booked.

This was his last chance to experience the North Ward in all its decadent, crumbling glory, because everything was about to change.

And with what Kai was planning, Darkside would never be the same again.

“Let’s walk.” Kai took her down the garden path, which was now illuminated by soft, glowing lights.
 

The notion of
walking
somewhere was a novelty to Zyara. Like every modern citizen of the Universe, she was used to taking some form of automated transport.

They walked side-by-side as the path wound deeper into the dense vegetation. Beyond the perimeter of the main buildings, the plants were allowed to grow wild and thick.

Earthly fragrances and the sounds and smells of life surrounded her. It was as if she was walking into a mythtale, one of the impossible stories her father used to tell her when she was a child.

Before she’d been taken away and pledged to House Sirian, Zyara had loved escaping into her imagination, inspired by tales of far-off planets and distant universes.

And now she was as far away from the cold, barren, lifeless plains of Kythia as she could be.

“Are you sure it’s safe for us to go out there like this?” She felt like a girl again, discovering new things for the very first time.

“These are my streets, Zyara. I have people everywhere. There is probably no safer place on Earth for you right now.”

“That wasn’t the case the other night, on the Glory Strip.”

“The Glory Strip isn’t part of my territory. I have no jurisdiction there. But here in the North Ward, I know everything that goes on.”

“I find that a bit hard to believe.”

Kai just offered her an enigmatic smile as they came to a nondescript side-gate. He pressed his palm against a panel and it opened into a small alley. “Come.”

Zyara stepped across the threshold and found herself in a quaint stone-paved street. The sky stretched out above them, the glittering belt of stars the Humans called the
Milky Way
diluted by the background light of the city.
 

To one side, a tall, stark building made of metal and glass rose up to meet the sky, abruptly cutting it off.

Some of the windows were illuminated with gentle light, creating a checkered pattern of darkness and light, the only sign of Human habitation in an otherwise deserted space.

In contrast to the crowded chaos of the Glory Strip, it was quiet here.

“Welcome to Darkside, Zyara.” Kai moved closer to her. She could almost feel the heat radiating from him, and her sensitive nose picked up his intoxicating, masculine scent, a combination of woodiness and spice and sensuous musk.

He wore his usual black suit, this time mixing it with a black shirt and tie. His outfit was austere, and yet it somehow gave off an impression of luxury and taste.

“You look good,” she blurted without thinking. This sudden freedom, combined with the fresh night air and Kai’s overwhelming presence, made her feel as if she’d been transported to some surreal alternate reality.

“You look incredible,” Kai murmured appreciatively. His simple compliment stirred a strange emotion in her.

Zyara was more than comfortable in her own skin; she was a soldier, a medic, and a proud Kordolian, but it had been a long time since she’d felt this way.

Here, with Kai, she was free of any responsibilities or constraints.

She was free to be herself.

But this moment hadn’t come without a fight.

Her battle with the three Kordolian warriors to allow her out into Darkside with Kai had been fierce. Zyara had been adamant, her demeanor reverting to that of an imperious Noble daughter.

They hadn’t quite known how to deal with that.

Zyara never, ever asked for anything for herself, but she had finally decided to put her foot down. A long and heated argument had ensued. A discussion of that nature would
never
have been permitted on Kythia.

It was about more than just the
Simavir
.

Halfway through the argument, she’d realized there was more at stake. Freedom, autonomy, trust. She didn’t want to be a prisoner on Earth, even though the warriors only meant well.

After what had happened to the General’s wife, the Kordolians had become especially wary of Humans.

To her surprise, it had been the General who had finally acquiesced, over the comm.

“If Zyara trusts this Human, then she must have good reason to. She has seen and experienced the same things as us in the Universe. Let her go. She is not a fool. She knows what is at stake. We did not risk everything to come to Earth just so we could live in a bubble. Life must exist in spite of fear.”

Zyara had been floored by the General’s sentiments.
 

What was happening here?

Planet Earth did strange things to people.

“You are thoughtful,” Kai remarked, as they rounded a corner and walked down a wide street. He reached out and twined his fingers into hers. His touch was deft, sure, and warm. His hand was scarred and rough, and surprisingly gentle.

Zyara’s first instinct was to pull away. Although she was used to touching others in the examination room, this kind of intimacy was unfamiliar to her.

For once, she wasn’t the one in control.

“I was thinking about life, existence, and freedom,” she replied, a hint of amusement coloring her voice. “I have you to thank for that.”

“Oh? How so? I’m not exactly the philosophical type. I’m more the practical sort. Higher thoughts are better left to higher life-forms like you.”

Zyara laughed. She couldn’t help it. “Don’t believe all the stories you hear about Kordolians.”

Kai shot her a sidelong glance. “Your people possess superior technology, know how to work advanced metals, have colonized a great proportion of the known galaxies, are stronger and faster than Humans, are immune to cold, and see perfectly well in the dark.”

“You seem to know a lot about us, Kainan. We also burn easily in ultraviolet light and have lost our ability to reproduce. We lack creativity, we are unreasonably cruel, and we are dependent on other plants for our resources. Have we really transcended your people?”

Kai grinned, his perfectly white teeth flashing in the darkness. “That’s a difficult question to ask a simple street thug like me.” They reached a section of the street lined with eating places; delicious smells wafted out into the cool night air, and the scent of roasting meat made Zyara’s mouth water.