6. Vai

Iraced through the streets and leaped over parked cars.

A truck honked its horn at me and slammed its brakes as I zipped across the road and took off down a darkened alleyway.

I raced because my fated mate's life was on the line.

I raced because if Iav reached her first, I would never see her again.

In my ear, Computer gave me the directions I needed to traverse this unknown world and reach the police station first.

"Left," Computer said. "Scale the wall and walk along it. Drop down on the other side."

I took an even narrower alleyway and came to a dead-end.

Scale it? How was I supposed to scale it?

I didn't slow down.

Momentum was going to be my secret weapon.

I jumped, slammed my foot onto one side, thrust off it, and did the same on the other side, and performed the action three more times.

I sped up each time until the movement slammed me into the wall.

I was near the top.

I grasped with my fingertips and latched onto the edge.

I managed to reach it.

But only just.

I hung by a single hand.

I threw up my other hand but couldn't reach the ledge.

"According to my estimates, your Shadow has already reached the police station," Computer said.

"And you're telling me this now?" I said, grunting as I pulled myself up with my single arm.

"According to police scanners, he's opening fire on the police officers."

"I thought you were going to help me reach the station faster?"

"I did. But his lead was too big. We saved over two minutes during the chase. Although that lead is already beginning to dwindle. One minute fifty-nine seconds. One minute fifty-eight seconds. One minute—"

"You can cut the countdown," I snapped.

"Ample research suggests having a countdown increases the chances of successfully achieving a goal," Computer said defensively.

"There's even more evidence it annoys the fuck out of me."

"Your preferences have been noted," Computer said stiffly.

I tiptoed along a narrow wall no thicker than my thumb.

I held my arms out to either side to better keep my balance.

"Are you deliberately making me take the most difficult route?" I snapped.

"I am taking you the fastest route. It's not my fault it's the most difficult."

I groaned and slipped down the other side.

I found myself in a parking lot crammed with black and white vehicles with lights on their roofs.

"Now which way?" I said.

"We've arrived. We're in the police station's parking lot. You can find the back entrance over there. According to my reports, many of the cells and interrogation rooms are located at the back of the station. You will most likely find Emma there."

Bang!

Bang! Bang!

The noises were little more than pops from this distance.

"What's that?" I said.

"It's the recoil from a Glock pistol."

"A Glock?"

"Glock" was the name of fruit back home.

My all-time favorite fruit.

"What's dessert got to do with anything?" I said.

"Glock is the brand of a popular pistol here on Earth."

"Oh."

I approached the door and pulled on it but the lock was engaged.

I peered through the window.

Black lines crisscrossed the glass and through the latticework I made out a long hallway packed with uniformed earthlings clutching these "Glocks."

Their attention was focused on the opposite end of the hallway.

They aimed and opened fire.

Strangely named though they might be, these Glocks were powerful little weapons.

"Can you get this door open?" I said. "I don't think me smashing it open right now is a good idea. They'll think I'm part of the attack."

"Give me a moment."

After what felt like an eternity, there was an audible "click" as the lock slipped aside.

I shoved the door open and pressed my back to the wall.

I peered at strange white boxes arranged around the inner corners of the room.

They had glass fronts and followed me wherever I moved.

Odd.

I peered around the corner at the uniformed figures holding position and still firing at the blind corner at the opposite end of the hallway.

They had blown so many holes in it that it would give away any moment.

Not that destroying a wall or putting those bullets of theirs into Iav was going to help them.

The Shadow a.k.a. the Aror'm were as hard to kill as we M'rora.

The best method was to escape them.

Often, that was the only real method you had of survival.

Run and hide.

The thought churned me up inside to admit that but I didn't want to take the risk of losing Emma to this monster.

I peered down the hall at the officers firing at the far end.

My Shadow still wasn't in sight.

That was a good thing.

It meant I had a little time.

My Shadow might have reached the police station first but he hadn't entered through the best entrance.

I said in a hushed voice:

"Computer, locate the—"

I paused when I noticed the signs over the three doors closest to me.

INTERROGATION ROOM ONE

INTERROGATION ROOM TWO

INTERROGATION ROOM THREE

"Never mind," I said.

I glanced at the uniformed figures down the hallway again.

Their attention was taken up with the demon elsewhere in the station.

It meant I had some time.

Not a lot, perhaps. But some.

I took a deep breath and stepped out.

I edged down the corridor.

I heard heavy footsteps approach from behind and hastily ducked into the first interrogation room.

It was empty and there was no sign of Emma anywhere.

I didn't shut the door behind me but kept it open an inch.

I waited for the marching boots to pass.

Another contingent of officers.

Good luck, I thought. You're never going to stop him with those peashooters.

But they could slow him down.

I edged along the hall and resumed moving down it.

I peered through the next tiny window in the door and found interrogation room two empty too.

She had to be in the last room.

Of course she was.

I peered through the final window and found this room empty too.

I glanced back down the corridor.

Now the officers openly screamed and bellowed at the blind corner.

My Shadow was coming.

I didn't have time to waste.

"Computer?" I said. "Locate Emma."

"You lost her again? Are you sure you want to be with her? A fated mate is meant to be something sacred, not something you lose more often than you find."

"Can you just locate her, please?" I said, growing tired of Computer's uppishness.

"According to reports, she is being held in Interrogation Room Three."

"That's where I am now! She's not here. Find her!"

"I have checked every camera in the station. She was escorted into the room forty-eight minutes ago. They show no sign of her leaving. If she is not still in that room, she is nowhere."

With no other option, I shoved the door open and stepped inside.

"Hello?" I said. "Is anyone there? Emma? Are you—?"

Smack!

Something thick and heavy snapped across the back of my head.

I stumbled forward and fell to my knees.

A figure dumped the chair leg she'd swung at me and bolted for the open doorway.

I flung out an arm and caught hold of her ankle.

I tightened my grip and pulled her toward me.

Emma yelped as she fell face forward to the floor.

I grabbed her other leg with my free hand and yanked her back inside the room.

"Stop struggling," I said.

Emma punched me in the face and brought her knee up, catching me between the legs.

It made me feel as sick as a dog.

I wrapped my arms around her and pinned her arms to her sides.

"Let me go!" she screamed. "Help! Somebody! I've been kidnapped—!"

I wrapped a hand over her mouth.

"Will you be quiet?" I said. "If my Shadow knows I found you, he's going to tear us both to pieces!"

Emma froze and stared at me, her big eyes peering at me over my hand clasped to her mouth.

"I'm going to take my hand off and I don't want you to scream, okay?" I said. "I'm not here to hurt you."

She didn't say a word and stopped struggling.

I eased my hand off her mouth, ready to press it back over her if necessary.

She stared at me as I did, her breaths rasping in her nostrils.

I swear, if she made one more noise, I would hogtie her and carry her over my shoulder.

But she didn't make a noise.

Yet.

I eased back and released her limbs.

I got to my feet and moved slowly, my knees still buckling slightly from her solid blow to my groin.

I kept my hands open and empty for her to see I was unarmed.

But of course, I was armed.

I had no intention of going toe-to-toe with Iav when Emma's life was on the line.

"You need to come with me," I said, reaching for her arm.

"Go with you?" she said, pulling her arm from me. "Are you crazy? I'm not going anywhere! Least of all with you!"

I took a deep breath.

"We don't have time for this."

"You'll have to make time!"

Emma bit her bottom lip and the water in her eyes wobbled.

"Tell me what's going on. Why is this happening to me?"

"I will," I said calmly. "I promise. But I need to get you away from here first. My Shadow is going to break through the police barricade any minute and then we'll have to fight him."

"Fight him? Who?"

"The creature you picked up in the club."

Her eyes moved to the side, toward the chair leg on the floor.

"He's dead. You killed him."

"He's not dead. He's out there. He's the one attacking the police."

Emma ran her hands through her hair and made fists.

She was losing it.

"I thought you were the dangerous one."

"I'm not. I just want to keep you safe."

"Why?"

Boy, was that the heart of the matter.

Where did I even begin?

By telling her she was my fated mate and was destined to spend the rest of her life with me?

That she had no choice in the matter and her future was already settled?

That if she didn't go with me, she would suffer a fate worse than a thousand deaths at Iav's hands?

I couldn't tell her any of that.

Not yet.

She wasn't ready to hear it.

She wouldn't accept it.

It would put her in a panic and I would never get her to listen to me again.

Listen.

It was then I hit upon an idea.

"Listen," I said.

"I've done enough listening!"

"Not to me. Listen to the gunfire."

There were a series of pops from the Glocks and returning cracks from the Shadow's plasma rifle.

"So?" Emma said.

"So, they're still firing. That means I'm not the one fighting them. My Shadow is."

Emma's eyes moved to the side.

"How do I know you're not working with someone?"

"You don't. But you're going to have to trust me. I came here alone. To find you. I raced against my Shadow but he got to you first. I saw you together in the club."

"So why didn't you attack him there?"

"Because it would have caused a panic. And there was a chance you might have been hurt."

Despite trying not to show it, Emma was affected by my words.

I didn't want to take the risk you might have been hurt.

I extended my hand to her, the same way I had when we met in her bedroom.

"Trust me," I said. "Let me take you away from this place."

Emma eyed my hand cautiously before reaching out and taking it.

I felt her hand in mine, the softness of her skin… and the fear in her eyes.

There was terror there, a great deal of it, but there was also something else just beyond it.

The desire to keep going, to survive.

She would need it in the days to come.

"Come with me," I said.

We left the interrogation room and the stench of death as my Shadow battled the police officers, fully aware Emma was making a break for it out the backdoor and into the parking lot beyond.

He was not going to be pleased.