The Other Side of Life (Book #1, Cyberpunk Elven Trilogy) (7 page)

Nin gave a crooked smile. He already knew
that.

“
Is that true?” Anya had
joked about it to Leticia. She didn’t really think the government
had decided to go that far.

The elves nodded in unison.

“
Stick to your basic cell
phone models,” Nin advised.

Leticia looked to Anya when they were ready
to go. They were both facing Leticia’s bag on the counter. They
felt the same way—that they needed to do the right thing.

Leticia passed the golden cup over to Nin.
“I suppose this belongs to you.”

“
We can find something
else,” Anya added, charitably. “Another dream catcher,
maybe.”

Nin’s smile was brighter than the sun. “My
deepest thanks.”

He replaced the cup onto the counter,
treating it like it was made out of fragile glass. Then he
proceeded to escort the two girls back outdoors, to the halfway
mark of the train tracks. His mind was fixated on one thing the
entire time: what Anya had said.

“…
because you asked me
to.”

The words echoed in his mind. What if he had
asked her to murder someone for him—would she have agreed too? He
pondered over it. He seemed to face less resistance from her, the
longer they spent with each other. He’d only known her for a half
hour, but was beginning to feel like he could tell her things most
wouldn’t even care to discover.

“
Are you really doing it,
because I asked you to?” Nin suddenly asked, in a low whisper to
Anya.

He was speaking to her only. Leticia was
walking a few paces ahead.

Anya blinked a couple of
times, before chiding herself for marveling at his flawless
skin.
Surely there are a gazillion more
pressing matters to consider, right now?

“
I guess so…” she replied,
“…since you seem to need me, more than I understand.” She paused
for a second. “Need my help, I mean.” She didn’t know if she was
making any sense at all.

Nin wanted to know her better. She seemed to
be a free, fiery spirit who lived by her own rules most of the
time. She really had no reason to be so compliant with him.

But the girls had to go now.

“
Tenna’
tul’re
,” Nin whispered into Anya’s ear,
before he turned to leave. “See you tomorrow.” His cool, soft lips
brushed against her skin. It sent another shiver through her. It
woke something up in her—a glimmer of hope, that love would not be
something she would never experience.

“
Goodbye,” Anya said
quietly, keeping her cool on the surface. She would be mortified if
Nin noticed her blush. She was used to showing her soft side only
to the tiny fraction of people she was very close to.

Attentive, gentlemanly
sorts are a rarity
, she
rationalized.
They’re a disappearing
species, if they haven’t already vanished a long time
ago.

Nin quickened his pace slightly, when he
felt a slight ache in his heart. “A thousand times the worse for
me,” he had almost replied out loud, “to watch you go with the
fading night.” They were lines from an Elven poem, and while it was
midday, Nin started to panic when the words came up in his mind,
the moment Anya said “goodbye.”

Anya turned back once, to steal a glance, as
Nin headed back to The Velvet Underground. She and Leticia walked
the rest of the way to their bikes, in silence.

“
You okay?” Leticia asked
Anya, as they stood beside their weather-worn bikes.

Leticia watched Anya, a little suspiciously.
Anya was usually chattier, and a little less absent-minded.

Anya had to snap herself back to reality.
“Yeah, I’m good,” she almost snarled. Feeling vulnerable was
something she loathed with a vengeance. It was a sign of weak will,
to her. As a thief, she knew that no tactical operation ever went
well if a person wasn’t clear-minded and alert.

She got onto her bike and kicked it into
gear. If she managed to sleep at all that night, Anya was sure her
dreams wouldn’t be as uncanny as what she and Leticia had just
encountered.

But her mind was already
set on the next time they would be back at The Velvet
Underground.
That
gave her more of a buzz than the planned break-in. She didn’t
know why she wanted to see Nin again. What was he to her? What was
she to him?

Anya turned on the stereo audio system
located inside the fairings of her motorcycle, wishing to zone out.
The speakers blared with the lyrics to the latest song by a misfit
indie rock band called The Darker Romantics. The band was
well-known for their eclectic redheaded frontwoman’s soulful,
emotive vocals.

“
I don’t know if I want
you…or if I need you…but I know I’d put my life on the line to find
out.”

So much for music to space out to.

Chapter 4:

Dresan kicked back his heels, now that the
elves were by themselves again in their dwelling place. Tavia had
joined him on the soft-cushioned couch. Her feet were stretched
out, resting on the surface of the low tabletop before them.

“
We’ve
never
brought humans here before.”
Dresan was beginning to feel a dreadful sense of uneasiness. It was
only just sinking in.

“
They weren’t
exactly…intruders,” Tavia mused, steepling her fingers. She
finger-traced the tattoo on her inner wrist, of a Celtic circle
swirl design. “Though I do wonder if we let them in a little too
easily.”

“
It’s too late,” Dresan’s
voice was barely audible. “What if they tell everyone they know?”
His worrywart ways were in full gear.

Tavia looked at him for a couple of seconds,
then faced forward again. She appeared comfortable as a cat about
to curl up and take a nap. “You think too much.”

“
When my mind stops
working, I stop working...” Dresan quipped sharply. His intellect
was his strength and he hated anyone making slight of
it.

“
They left the goblet.”
Tavia signaled to the golden cup, which was still on the counter as
Nin had left it. “And let me keep my dream catcher,” she concluded
with an air of triumph, along with a glint in her eyes.

“
Mizuno…” Dresan said in a
playfully jeering tone, before rolling his eyes slightly. “He’d
have made you another one, if you asked.”

“
I don’t want to trouble
him.” Tavia was tuning out—she was busy imagining herself as Akira
Mizuno’s future muse, and favorite model on the runway. Daydreaming
about this always made her lips curve in a slight smile.

“
Don’t forget karma.” Nin
had been listening to the conversation all along, as he pored
through some blueprints of The Gilbreth Institute. “I have a good
feeling about those two.”

Tavia and Dresan nodded, both slumping and
slouched over on the couch. Their way-past-midnight investigative
work of the previous day had left them sleep deprived. Still, they
trusted Nin, who always seemed to make things work at the end of
the day.

Nin was half-listening to their
conversation, and half-absorbed in his own thoughts. Cyberpunk
elves were on par—if not more advanced—with the rapid changes in
technology, a core aspect of the human species. He questioned the
ever accelerating progress of technology and changes in the mode of
life. Was anyone emotionally happier? Were they better off than
their ancestors, who lived simpler lives?

Nin was acting in the
moment, operating on intuition, that liaising with Anya and Leticia
wouldn’t be a bad move.
Don’t trust
humans,
Nin had been advised by one of his
contemporaries who hadn’t broken off from the Elven
establishment.
They’re damaged souls whose
actions are steeped in violence and hatred.

“
What was it Anya said,
about stealing your heart?” Tavia slurred, eyes
half-closed.

“
Don’t look at me,” Nin
responded, still appearing to be absorbed with the maps.
Focus,
he told
himself.
We cannot afford anymore mishaps
at the institute.
At the same time, he was
thinking of the soft, sweet note in Anya’s voice, when she had said
goodbye. Her courageous, lively spirit warmed him.
She’s like a wild vapor of sweet
champagne.
He felt a slight tightness in
his throat.
Romantic balderdash—I think
I’m losing my mind.

“
A high elf with a common
human?” Tavia wefnt on in an artificially high, shrill voice,
oblivious to her cousin’s inner thoughts. “Unheard of! As I’m sure
you know.”

“
Hrmph,” Nin muttered,
pretending to agree. He wasn’t sure if he was semi-elitist himself.
He and Tavia had been High Elves, after all. “It’d be a deviation
of epic proportions.”

“
That’s not to say it won’t
happen…”

Whose side are you
on?
Nin almost asked Tavia.

“
I saw your hand, on Anya’s
back…” Dresan pointed out, tilting his chin up as he waited for
Nin’s reply. “Working your charm to get your way…”

“
One of your many talents,”
said Tavia, looking at Nin insouciantly, as though he’d planned it
that way.

“
One can always get what
they want, through charm and personality,” Nin replied, justifying
his actions.
Anya didn’t flinch at my
touch…
he thought to himself.
In fact, I think she enjoyed it.

“
That’s not…possible
though, is it?” Dresan mused, drawing random figures with his hand
in the air. “Stealing another person’s heart, I mean.
Metaphorically, I suppose it could be done…”

Nin smirked. He had yet to fall head over
heels in love with anyone, let alone a human. It seemed to be an
endless game that was more trouble than it was worth. He had to
look no further than his cousin, Tavia, to view the effects.

Nin wondered if Anya would’ve been as bold
if she knew he was of noble blood. In Elven lore, elves were a
higher order of the human race—with High Elves right at the top, in
the order of social structure. That was his status, by
birthright.

Social status.
Nin reacted with vehemence, to the words. A strict
adherence to the laws of hierarchy didn’t seem to work for humans
or elves. It always resulted in a stratified society marked by
inequality, by differences among people that were regarded as being
in a “higher” or “lower” class. Nin dreamed of a utopia, where
happiness was more important than financial gain, where both the
human and Elven races took responsibility for their actions, and
practiced peace and kindness because it was morally right, not
because they were “following the rules.”

But he knew that was being too
idealistic.

* * *

Anya headed off to the nearest train
station, alone—Leticia had her own plans.

Anya alighted several stops later at Le
Marr, in the outskirts of the other side of town, away from the
bright lights of Zouk City. She held a small, brown paper bag in
one hand. In it was a cardboard gift box, with the diamond orb she
and Leticia had taken earlier in the day.

She received a text message on her cell:

Up escalator—left side.

She did as she was told. A medium-built
bearded man dressed in drab business attire casually greeted her
with a nod. He looked like he had been wearing the outfit
throughout his entire career. Only his watch stood out, a red gold
luxury timepiece—and that’s because Anya was told to look out for
it.

The man walked beside Anya, out of the
station. Dust swirled under the sullen sky. He kept in stride even
as he shook off a crumpled page from a magazine that the wind
slammed against his lower leg. He brought her to a narrow alley a
few steps away, a blind spot which was hidden from view. Anya was
careful to avoid getting cut by broken bottles, or tripping over
other potentially hazardous forms of debris which littered the
dingy pathway.

“
Here it is,” she said to
him, when they came to a stop.

The man beamed when Anya opened the lid of
the cardboard box. He handed her a chic organic cotton bag he was
holding (which had the “A : Mizuno” text logo on one side—Anya
considered if she should save the bag for Tavia). She snuck a peek
inside—there were two large envelopes packed with hundred-dollar
notes inside.

The man gave a formal bow, then left without
a word. Anya wouldn’t even have known if he truly was mute.

Anya sent a quick text to Leticia:

Got it. 2 e’s. C ya l8r.

Two envelopes—one for Anya, and one for
Leticia. They shared the money amongst family members too. Leticia
had a big family, and a few young siblings.

Anya decided to pay her mother a quick
visit, at Ashmore’s Seafood & Steak Diner one block away. The
area looked seedier and more rundown than Anya remembered, from the
last time she visited. Anya detected the faint odor of rancid oil
in the air long before recognizing the diner’s signboard.

In fact, she thought she was witnessing a
robbery right there in front of her. A hooded, menacing man was
talking to the owner of the 24-hour convenience store beside the
diner, while a young couple walked out of the store with a couple
of six-pack beers in hand. Anya knew they hadn’t paid for their
items when the bald owner shouted an expletive and came running out
of the store. He had a handgun in one hand, and a dirty sock in the
other (the gun’s ‘case’, presumably). The guy with the hood dashed
out and slapped the back of the store owner’s head, before taking
off down the street in the opposite direction of the young couple.
Were the three of them in league?