A Toiling Darkness by Jaliza Burwell Page A

for the new tidbit of
information. Instead I made my expression look impatient. It was
easy to do since I didn’t want to be here when those humans finally
decided to check this area over.
    He paused, taking a deep breath as his mind
switched gears. His eyes grew empty as he recited the orders,
sounding like a robot. “First and foremost, I need to find a woman
and kill her for the wrongs she has done. While looking, if I come
across beings who bring injustice to humans, then to end them.”
    Just like I thought. He was meant to kill me
and it also explained why he was able to find the bloodborn who
killed the guy in the alley. He sensed it. And he was probably
already in the area because he was honing in on me, even if he
still doesn’t realize it. I shook the dread inside of me and
pointed to the body, keeping my expression neutral. “She was killed
by a human. You know your instincts are telling you this. This
wasn’t done by a being. Otherwise you would have known something
was wrong before you heard her scream. You would have sensed
them.”
    He stayed quiet as voices came from the
park. They were looking in this area now for the girls. We needed
to leave before we got caught and were forced to answer
uncomfortable questions.
    “Can you trust me enough to understand that
staying here right now is not in our best interest?” I asked and
grabbed his wrists. My small hands couldn’t even wrap around them
properly. He looked down at me and stayed quiet. “If you stay here,
you won’t be able to help that other girl. You’ll just be thrown
into jail for who knows how long.”
    “Fine.” He clenched his teeth and nodded. I
shook my head, wondering if he was always going to be so trusting
or if he lived long enough, would he grow as uncaring and passive
as me.
    I hoped not. His passion was part of his
charm.
    Since I had his permission, I was able to teleport
both of us out of the area. I pulled us into a dark shade of a
hedge maple, thought of a more peaceful, public area and enjoyed
the cold sensation of the shadows as it came alive and wrapped
around us. Kalen’s arm jerked uncomfortable with the foreign
feeling and then we were weightless, the laws of gravitation not
applying to us as we moved.
    We stood in the shade of a large tour boat
that floated next to a large wooden dock. The boat rocked gently
with the waves that sloshed against the dock and left behind small
puddles of water at our feet. I had teleported us to the harbor on
the south side of the city. New Rheems stood on the other side of
the water, all the tall steel buildings acting as a contrast to the
rest of the historic city. It was one of the reasons it was called
New Rheems instead of North Rheems. The business district has
become an imposing force against the old harbor, proof of the
future’s encroachment. The harbor itself was filled with life.
Large boats made their way in and out, yelling at each other with
their horns. Small yellow taxi boats zipped around in the water as
people paid for rides across the harbor or for a little tour. A
gentle breeze tickled my skin, bringing with it the smell of brine
and seaweed.
    I brought us here, to a public place, to
prevent any fights but there was only us two at the end of the
dock. There were others around, just not close enough to keep us in
check if we decided to fight. It was all up to Kalen. I knew I
wasn’t interested in fighting anymore. I went through a very long
phase of fighting and I was done with it now. These days, I only
fight to stay alive instead of going out to look for it. I expected
them still, I couldn’t help it. There was always a possibility of
fighting between any two beings. It could be something as serious
as being forced to do it like with Kalen or over the simple fact of
looking at someone funny.
    There was a very basic rule that most beings
followed. If you couldn’t handle yourself, then don’t look them in
the eye.
    I looked up at Kalen now as he briefly
glanced