The Regenerates (22 page)

“I’m not so sure I believe you, little man,” said Cross.

“You don’t have to believe me. I’m just telling you what I know.”

Cross glared at him and turned to his men, fiddling with his golden revolver. “Go stand watch outside. If no one shows up in the next ten minutes, I’ll have to take Eaves’ place in giving this one a talking to.”

That hadn’t been part of the plan. No one was coming and Ven was in no position to fight off an armed gangster. Still, he had bought them ten minutes.

“I don’t have ten minutes, Cross,” said Gennus.

“Relax, my friend. You’re going to get your due, I promise. I’ve just never met a Coran before. I want to see how they fight. We may as well kill some time.”

Cross seized Ven by his hair and cut the cord around his wrists, then handed him a long, strange-looking knife.

“I want you to pick one of us, and fight us to the death.”

“What?”

“No, wait. Change that. You have ten minutes to kill your opponent. If you fail before the ten minutes is up, this one is going to end up like that woman from Muran,” he said, nodding his head in Coralie’s direction. “I’m sure Gennus won’t mind.”

Heat filled Ven’s lungs and his legs went numb.

“I’ll do it.” Coralie looked up at Cross, her eyes steely.

Ven turned sharply to her. “Coralie, I swear–”

She ignored him and focused on Cross. “Let me, please.”

“Well, you’ve put me in a bit of a bind,” he said. “But who am I to say no? This is even more interesting. It seems the women in Cor aren’t as meek as everyone claims.” He reached down, untied her, took the knife back from Ven and handed it to her.

“Alright, then, pick someone.”

Ven rushed forward to stop her but Cross punched him in the stomach.

Ven watched helplessly as she scanned the room. Her eyes fell on the woman brandishing a knife, but Coralie didn’t pick her. Instead, she pointed to the youngest man in the room. He appeared to be Kayn’s age.

Smart – she’s going to imagine Kayn’s face when she’s slashing away at him.

Her opponent grinned. His shoulders were oddly hunched and his arms were covered with tattoos. His cheekbones were horribly narrowed and his hair was matted and dark.

“I sure hope you didn’t pick Neesh just because he’s bony,” Cross laughed.

“No,” said Coralie. “I didn’t.”

They squared off for a moment. Ven’s breath had become short. He wanted to tear his eyes away and yet he had to watch.

After what seemed like a millennium of silence, Neesh lunged. Coralie expertly dodged his raised arm and ducked, slashing at his calf and drawing blood. Eyes blazing, Neesh grabbed her hair, but she drove the knife into his leg and sliced upwards as he pulled her. He yelled in pain, but succeeded in slashing the arm that had already been injured by that beast in the mining cave. Ven watched Coralie fight back tears as she aimed for Neesh’s face. But Neesh was ready for her. He grabbed her throat and began to squeeze. As he did so, he lifted his knife with his free hand and brought it slowly towards her eye. Coralie took her knife and tried to slash away at his wrist but he ignored the pain this time and squeezed tighter and tighter. Her face was beginning to turn blue.

“
Stop!”
Ven yelled. “
They’re just supposed to fight!
”

Cross stared on, amused. “Let go, Neesh. We’ve already lost one. We need at least two of them or Gennus is going to throw a fit.”

Neesh reluctantly let go and Coralie fell to the ground, coughing and wheezing. Before either of them could make another move, a thundering boom echoed around them.

“What was that?” said Cross. He suddenly looked at Ven. “I guess you weren’t lying about backup, then, were you?”

Ven tried not to let his shock appear on his face. Had Kayn actually gone for help?

The men Cross had sent to stand guard came bursting into the room, frantic. “It’s Seer and his Esoteric freaks. I don’t know how they found us.”

Fear flashed across Cross’ face. “No…that’s not possible. We changed our location. There’s no way they could have found us.”

“It’s them, alright,” said his friend. “I’d recognize Rogin anywhere.”

Cross cursed. “Tie them up again and get them out of here,” he said, gesturing to Ven and Coralie. “No matter what you do, don’t let Seer–”

A deafening explosion blasted the large basement doors apart. Ven threw up his arms and shielded his face, feeling a rush of dust engulf him as he ducked. He coughed, squinting his eyes. When the dust cleared, four figures emerged from the smoke. To Ven’s surprise, the largest one was carrying an unconscious Kayn over his shoulders.

“It’s nice to hear that Seer’s very name sends shivers down your spine, Cross,” said the one carrying Kayn.

“I’m not afraid of that monstrosity,” said Cross, a vein twitching in his temple. He clicked his revolver and aimed it at the other man. Before he could fire, the revolver flew out of his hand and landed at the other end of the room.

Ven glanced at Coralie, whose eyes were wide. Should they try and make a break for it?

“That’s not very nice,
grandpa
,” said a drawling voice. Standing in front of the large man carrying Kayn was a boy. He looked around twelve and had messy black hair. What struck Ven the most were his eyes. They were a bright amber and very narrow.

Cross began to retreat, and looked to his companions for backup. The boy grinned.

“Seer,” Cross said. “Still omnipresent, are you?”

“Of course,” he said sweetly.

Out of nowhere, a woman appeared in front of Ven and Coralie. She raised a dark gloved hand, grabbed Neesh and flung him with stupendous strength to the other side of the room, where he landed with a crash in a pile of metal. She lifted Coralie to her feet and smiled at her, taking her back to the others. Cross’ companions fell back, their eyes wide. A slightly plump man wearing a silk black and white suit aimed a gigantic brass rifle at the one holding Ven and sent him flying. On seeing his men dropping like flies, Cross let out a roar.

The plump man led Ven to Coralie and the woman, and another man.

“We would really recommend you don’t bother us as we leave,” said Seer, grinning. “Because if you take one step, I’m going to rip your eyeballs out of their sockets.”

Cross shot him a look of deepest hatred. Seer turned to Ven and Coralie, who stood in stunned silence.

“Let’s get out of this smelly dump.”

Just as they turned to leave, Cross lunged towards Seer and grabbed the back of his jacket. Seer wheeled around. He pulled Cross down to his level, grabbed his face between his palms and began to squeeze. Cross began to scream in pain as a strange, hissing noise came from his face. All the while, Seer’s amber eyes were growing wider and wider and his grin more prominent. Ven had never seen a more frightening child.

Seer released Cross, raised his leg and kicked him. Cross shot backwards, crashed into a wall far behind him and crumpled to the ground. Ven backed away. Seer’s maniacal expression calmed down. He turned to the others.

“Now we can go. Sorry about that.”

The woman who had helped Coralie whispered in Ven’s ear. “He can be pretty terrifying, I know, but he’s really the cutest kid.”

Ven looked at Coralie, who had a dumbfounded expression on her face. He didn’t think he had ever seen anything less cute in his entire life.

“I
hope you don’t mind a little adrenaline,” said Seer. The strange group of people left the destruction they had caused behind them and headed back to Crion’s busy streets.

“Uh, how did you–” Ven pointed to Kayn slung over the large man’s shoulders.

The man carrying him laughed. “Your hot-headed buddy here was about to get his face reshaped by Eaves, so we put a stop to it.”

“I had to knock him out, though,” said Seer. “He was trying to stop us from taking this.” Seer pulled the Magistrate’s Dagger out from inside his jacket. Ven opened his mouth angrily but Seer held up his hand. “Relax, we’re not here to steal it. You should really be more careful with this thing. Do you have any idea how important it is?”

Ven looked at Coralie, narrowing his eyes.

“Wait, who are you people?” she said. “How do you know what that is?”

“Let’s wait till we’re inside,” said Seer.

They stopped in front of two small cruisers. Their structure was fascinating. They looked like a slightly larger version of the transport pod Ven and Kayn had stolen, except that it was polished silver. The wheels were lined with gold molding and an elaborate metal design adorned the side. Ven had never seen anything so advanced.

Seer jumped into the front seat of the first one.

“Not likely, Seer,” said the woman who had helped Coralie. Ven had only just now realized how beautiful she was. She had sharp, pretty features and large blue eyes. Her hair was chestnut brown and fell to the center of her neck. “The last time we broke the rules and let you drive, we almost died. Get out.”

Seer scowled. “That’s not fair, Shen. This idiot tried to cut me off mid-flight.”

“I don’t care,” she said sternly. She scooped him up and flung him out of the driver’s seat, then turned to Ven and Coralie.

“Get in,” she smiled. “Actually, girly, could you take the other one? It looks like this one’s full.”

“Oh,” said Coralie. “Sure.”

She shrugged at Ven and hoisted herself onto the other cruiser farther away. Disappointed, Ven peered inside and spotted an unconscious Kayn and the large man who had been carrying him already buckled into the small space. Ven fastened his own safety belt and grabbed on to his seat as Shen took off with tremendous speed.

“What’s wrong, kid? Never flown in an air cruiser before?” said the large man.

“No.” He gripped the armrests tightly.

“Don’t worry, we’ll be fine. As long as Seer isn’t flying. I’m Rogin, by the way.” He held out his massive hand for Ven to shake, and Ven took it. Beside him, Kayn teetered and bonked his head onto the glass.

“I’m Ven,” he smiled. “Thanks for that, back there. How did Cross know who all of you were?”

“Cross and his thug friends make money off of selling illegal entries into Crion to other gangs. They fight for who will get the biggest reward from the authorities when they turn them in. It’s a pretty sick business, but you’d be surprised how many people try to sneak in without papers, which are hard to get, by the way. We’ve become infamous for stopping their hideous transactions over the years, so they’re a little spooked by us. No one scares Cross more than Seer, though. That kid is a piece of work.”

“Why do people try so hard to sneak into Crion?”

“Life in Crion is ideal,” said Rogin. “The rich are filthy rich, and even the poor don’t stay poor for long. Crion has a policy that involves receiving contributions from every single citizen in some way, shape or form. If you have a talent, no matter how strange, you have a duty to share it, to contribute. Take Shen, for instance. She and her partner, King, are a famous acting duo. Dorian back home is a singer and a dancer, and very popular with women. As for me, I may not be much in the looks department, but my strength sure goes a long way.”

“And Seer?” said Ven.

“Seer is a crazy case,” Rogin chuckled. “I’ll let him tell you more about himself when we get home. Oh, if you’re not afraid anymore, why don’t you look out the window?”

Ven looked outside and his mouth fell open. The sun was beginning to peek out in between the massive buildings, sending a golden ray of light that reflected on the glass and steel structures. In minutes, all of Crion had become a city of gold. He had never seen something so spectacular. All of a sudden, he thought of home. How much had they missed out on because they had kept to themselves? Had Cor always been so dark?

“Quite the sight, isn’t it?” said Rogin.

Ven didn’t reply and gazed out the window. He wondered if Coralie was seeing this.

Shen flew the cruiser up to the top of a large skyscraper and softly landed on a steel platform. Rogin helped Ven to the ground, then scooped up Kayn and slung him over his shoulder once more. Beside them, Coralie hopped out, followed by Seer.

“Welcome to home,” he said, pointing behind him.

Ven let his arms fall to his sides. A palatial penthouse towered in front of them. It was made up of steel, white marble and glass. On the large doors, a mosaic of different colored crystals glimmered in the rising sun. Coralie appeared beside Ven, gaping at the structure in front of them.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” said Shen, throwing her arms around Ven and Coralie. “Let’s go inside.”

Once inside, Seer led them to a beautiful sitting room.

“Someone wake him up. I’m worried I killed him by accident,” said Seer, pointing to Kayn, who was out cold on a couch.

Shen lifted him up and slapped his cheeks with both her hands. “Time to wake up, honey.”

After a few moments, Kayn’s eyes flew open. He glanced around the room.

“Hey, was that always there?” said Shen, pointing to the scar on his cheek. Coralie looked down at her toes.

“What the hell is going on?” said Kayn. He looked at Ven and Coralie with his usual disgust, then back at Seer. “What did you do with my dagger?”

“It’s safe. And like I told you back there when we saved your precious face, I’m not trying to steal it. Now that you’re awake and all three of you are here, we need to talk.”

Kayn scowled.

“So are you going to tell us who you are, then?” said Ven. “And why you brought us here, and how you know about that dagger?”

“Yes,” he said. “This is going to be a long discussion, though, so let’s get something to eat first. You’re probably famished after that last ordeal.”

“I’ll get it,” said Shen cheerfully. A few minutes later, she returned carrying several plates of cake, tea and buns which she placed in front of each of them. Ven and Coralie dove in, but Kayn refused to touch his plate.

“Now, then,” said Seer, chewing on a piece of cake. “Let’s introduce ourselves first. I’m Seer, this is King and his partner, Shen, and the big one is Rogin. Over in the corner is Meares and his sister, Renny.” A young man in a blue sweater and a girl with long, blonde hair smiled at them. “And lastly, that handsome, stoic one with the tousled hair over there is Dorian.”