The Chronicles of Koa: Netherworld (2 page)

Her heart began to thump in her chest. Her one day off, and someone decided to bother her. Raven lowered her head and waited back on the sofa.

Scaredy-cat
, Koa thought with a frown.

Koa softly tiptoed into the darkness. She now wished that she was properly dressed. She didn’t want someone catching her in her underwear. She sighed. She was probably overthinking things. Two-hundred-year-old French manors tended to creak in the night. Koa should have been used to the sounds after all these years of living there.

Truth was, Koa was still afraid of the dark and with good reason. She froze when something crashed to the floor. She quickly pressed her back against the wall and waited. One of the statues had broken.

Voices.

Koa cursed in her head. Someone was definitely in her house. Her breath quickened. Koa could hear Halston’s voice in her head, telling her that it wasn’t worth it…that she should run. She didn’t run.

Instead, she peeked around the corner of the wall and saw flashlights. The harsh, fluorescent light pointed in her direction. Two men. Bald and big. They were dressed in black with tattoos all over their pale white faces and scalps. They clutched silver barreled crossbows.

Koa’s face paled. Their black eyes searched her hallway.

No
, Koa thought with cold realization. Her skin crawled with dread.
It’s not possible
. “Syths,” she whispered in a hiss. They heard her. Four black eyes looked up and met hers.

Koa pulled back. Her pulse raced. These were creatures of folklore and mythology, but Koa knew the truth. Such creatures did exist. It was just that they shouldn’t be in the human world. She gulped. Something was definitely wrong. They should not be here.

“Shit!” No time to run now. Boots stomped down the marble floors. Dread washed over her, making her skin feel prickly.

Two Syths, equipped with crossbows. Koa knew what those arrows were laced with. Her stomach pumped with anxiety. Why were they in her house?

Koa saw Raven come around the corner and leisurely sit in the middle of the hall. Koa’s anxiety began to be replaced with fury. No one had ever invaded her home.

Koa glared over at Raven.

“Fine. Just sit there and let me do all of the work,” she said to the black cat. Koa yelped as a large hand reached for her long black and blue hair. She grabbed the hand and with a push off the ground, she leapt into the air.

Her feet climbed up the air as if by invisible stairs. With a surge of energy, she took flight. She grunted as she lifted the large man’s weight off the ground and flew upwards. He used his other arm to direct the point of his crossbow at her.

Koa’s eyes widened and she pursed her lips. She saw the red poisonous arrow ready to be released. The second Syth waited below as Koa went higher and higher up the tall vaulted ceiling. It was cold up there, and pitch black, but Koa could still see the Syth’s illuminated face.

An arrow zipped past her and she gasped. “Come quietly, Koa, and we won’t have to hurt you,” the Syth below shouted. “Our master doesn’t want you dead. He just wants us to bring you in.”

She snorted. “No thanks. I like my world just fine.” Koa looked down at the Syth whose hand she held. It was rare that she saw one of his kind.

His lips curled into a malicious grin. “Yes, come quietly, my pretty,” he whispered. His voice was like nails on gravel. “You know you don’t belong here with the humans…”

Koa gazed into those soulless black eyes and felt her stomach churn with dread. They were like small, black, beads. The tattoos around his eyes were inscriptions of a dialect that didn’t exist in this world. Someone was letting rogue nephilim out of the Netherworld.

“And neither do you,” she said and with an evil grin, she let go of his hand.

He cried out and fell nearly fifty feet. Koa heard a satisfying crunch of bones. She smirked. Still, it wasn’t enough to kill a Syth. Those bones were probably regenerating already. Koa hadn’t encountered many since she’d become a Netherworld agent, but Netherworld beings were extremely hard to kill.

Koa darted away from another arrow and into the darkness of her empty manor. She stood on the ceiling, upside down, yet defying gravity as she looked down at the two shadows below. She considered all of her options. She could fly out of that window ahead or she could go back and kill them.

Syths were dangerous. She couldn’t let them get away. But her weapons were in her vault. In order to reach her vault, she would need to go past the Syths. How silly of her to think that she was safe. Not even her home was sacred anymore.

Nearly five years as an agent in Halston’s Netherworld division, and Koa was still caught off guard.

Koa frowned. Halston was right. She should have moved a long time ago. She could already see Halston’s self-satisfied smile. She hoped she’d make it out alive to see that smile again.

Something caught her attention. A glittering light below. She saw Raven’s green eyes glow, and then she saw something else. Like a bolt of lightning, Koa shot through the darkness to Raven. Koa had a determined look on her face. She could make it. She had to.

Arrows flew all around her. The arrows bounced off the walls and sparked along the floors. Her heart pumped, but her face was set with purpose. She smiled when she saw her Lyrinian sword lying on the floor, like a beacon of hope in the darkness.

Raven stepped away from it. Koa grabbed it by its hilt. A jolt of power slammed into her palm and flooded her body. She gritted her teeth and embraced the euphoric pain the sword caused her. The blade shot out, lengthening from the size of a small dagger to that of a full sized sword. The jagged blade was a dark metal that was rippled with black engravings. Netherworld dialect.

Koa grinned. Once the initial pain subsided, the power made her feel invincible. The Lyrinian sword had been her father’s. He had trained her to use it when she was only a little girl. This weapon, was not of this world…and would not be put away until all evil was vanquished.

“Thanks, Raven.”

The cat seemed to nod.

Koa cried out as an arrow nipped her right cheek. The pain was surprising. It sizzled. Blood dripped from her face as her hand shot to cover the wound.

Her green eyes went dark. She balled up her fist and tightened her grasp around the sword. She narrowed her eyes and turned around. They pulled the triggers on their bows and heard an empty snip.

Koa gave them a cold grin and yet there was no amusement in her voice. “You’re mine, now.”

They were out of arrows. Both Syths skidded to a stop. Almost frantically, they reached behind them and into their quivers to reload.

Koa took a step forward and their eyes went wild…with fear of the small girl before them.

Koa held her sword’s black blade at her side. It pulsed with craving for blood. The blood of the evil ones would increase its power.

Koa charged at them. She was lifted to her toes and with a swirl of colors she slashed one of the Syths across his side. Her white teeth flashed as the blade burned an iridescent red at the first taste of blood.

The blade craved blood and she would sate it.

It didn’t stop at the bone. It didn’t even pause. It sliced through his spine with ease until the man was cut in half. It sped up only when it came through his other side and to the cold air of the manor.

The Lyrinian sword’s red light encased the black blade and she could feel its heat.

Koa didn’t stop there. She couldn’t stop even if she wanted to. Evil had to be vanquished. She clenched her jaw as the blade went cleanly though the other man, separating him at his waist. Their cries filled the entire manor as she sliced them to bits.

Both Syths lay on the floor in pieces. Koa kicked their crossbows away, not that they had hands connected to their arms anymore. Her chest heaved as she stood over them. Smoke rose from the blade of her Lyrinian sword. Koa watched their pale white faces, waiting. Blood pooled onto her floor. She watched it gather around her bare feet.

Raven sauntered over. She sat down and licked her front paw. Her green eyes looked up innocently into Koa’s matching green eyes. “Shall we leave now?” she asked, in her mother’s voice.

Koa’s shoulders slumped. She looked over at the cat. “Yes.” She nodded and looked down at the blood pooling between her white toes. “But first, I must clean up this mess.”

K
oa sat back in her wooden chair and watched as Halston entered the little bistro. She hid her smile as his eyes scanned the room. He was like a golden light, come to spread joy throughout the room. She wasn’t the only woman to notice him. Koa was very aware of the looks he got whenever he stepped into a room.

She sipped her coffee and sighed. She wasn’t ready to tell him about the night before, but Halston was more than her best friend. He was her boss.

Halston didn’t have to look long for her. Koa tended to stand out, especially in the countryside of Paris. Her pale face, green eyes, and long black and blue hair were a stark contrast to everyone in the room. The fact that she was half Korean didn’t help her blend in either.

Halston’s eyes met hers and a smile crept onto his lips.

How could anyone have a more perfect smile
? Koa thought. She would never tell him such a thing. Halston was already arrogant enough.

Always late
, she thought with an impish grin. For someone that loved rules and decorum, Halston never seemed to think twice about punctuality.

Halston checked his watch. He shrugged as if he just realized that he was thirty minutes late and it wasn’t a big deal.

He took off his navy fedora and ran his hand though his blonde hair as he crossed the small room. Halston stood before her. Perfect white teeth smiled at her. Perfect. Everything about him was perfect. He was literally created that way.

Koa’s eyes scanned the room. She secretly enjoyed the dirty looks the other women were giving her when they realized that this masterpiece of a man had come to see her.

“Good morning, Koa,” Halston said and reached over to take a piece of her bacon. Koa slapped his reaching hand.

“Hands off, scum bag,” Koa scolded as she hid a mischievous smile. “You didn’t even ask.”

Halston’s eyebrows drew in. “Geez,” he said, sitting back. “Someone’s moody today,” he grumbled and motioned for the waitress.

Koa folded her arms across her chest. “And someone’s late…” She loved to tease him.

That perfect smile returned. It should have made her grimace. Instead, it did exactly what he wanted it to do. It softened the lines in her face, making her smile in return.

“I apologize. Why couldn’t we meet somewhere familiar, like Lepicurien, or something?”