Blood (Sequel of Redemption) [ON HOLD]

Blood

Here goes sequel of Redemption!

A lot more bloody (yeah, I guess the title is a clue), slightly gorey by moments, and packed with much much more action! I really hope you like the characters as much as you liked the previous ones!!!! (There will be romance too, though.) The action is situated a century or two ahead from now. 

:)

Prologue

What I did was on every News channel.

I lay on the living’s room carpet, staring up at the ceiling and listening to the newsman deep voice, the rays of the setting sun creating delicate patterns all around me.

Today, they had invited two educational specialists, and they bickered like two old women over a juicy piece of gossip.

“And how exactly could an artificial intelligence program replace all the experience an actual person gathers all through his or her life? Teachers do not only pass on their knowledge to the young, they also all have their own way of teaching, and they often weave their own experience with their subject.”

“Today, our technology permits us to create a humanoid that would be capable to think as any other human can. It could also gain its very own experience, through its own senses, by analyzing everything it hears and sees and stocking it automatically in its memory.”

“No machine could ever be human. It could never replace a living, breathing person.”

“I have to disagree on that…”

“Why do you listen to that, Nina?”

My father’s voice burst my bubble as surely as a needle. I glanced at the doorway of the living room. He stood there, in his usual work uniform, a gray jumpsuit that flattered him about as much as a potato sack would.

“I like to keep myself informed,” I said flatly, my eyes returning to the ceiling.

“The seventeen-year old victim,” booms the newsman’s voice, “Whose identity has not yet been revealed, will not assist the process. Her lawyer has stated that she wished to remain anonymous. Many specialists agree that this might be the wisest choice. After all, it is the first case of sexual aggression of a student by a teacher to occur in years…”

“Off.”

The holo-screen dissipates at my father’s command.

“You should be getting ready for school,” he said tensely. “Don’t forget to take your medication tomorrow morning.  I’ll be already gone when you wake up.”

“I will, daddy,” I said softly.

*************

It would be an easy kill.

Even though I couldn’t use my gun (since technology had no effect on Zemians), they were no match for me, all three of them together.

As they counted the money of their transaction, I observed them, hidden in the shadows. Waiting.

Waiting for the humans to be far away enough so that they wouldn’t see what would come next.

The orders were clear. Let the human drug dealers alone. Regular police could take care of them. Get the Zemian ones.

The humans took their sweet time to get into their car and finally drive off. The Zemians were about to follow suit, walking leisurely toward their car.

I quickly surveyed the surroundings… no other humans in sight. If there were some I couldn’t see then I would do some damage control later. For now, I couldn’t wait any longer. My blood boiled inside my veins at the thought of the blood that just waited to be spilled.

I smiled to myself. I made every kill count. Every death I inflicted was art, a spectacle. No audience ever came out alive, but I always made it beautiful… After all, even criminals deserved to leave this earth spectacularly.

Concentrating, I felt myself fading into the strange space where all the dimensions met, a sort of crossing between worlds. I could see clearly the different worlds around me. I concentrated on the three men walking toward their car, until the other worlds faded slightly, becoming translucent. I took a few steps ahead of the men. I still wasn’t on earth, still was in that In-between –as I called it –and they could not see me.

And then, when they were only a few steps in front of me, I materialized in a burst of blue flames.

The first impression is always the one who remains engraved in one’s mind; the more sparkly and remarkable the better.

The opening act of my play was set.

I smiled lazily at the three men. Then I slowly raised my hand and ripped away the eye patch that covered my left eye.

The men’s eyes grew wider.

“Any last words before I get started?” I asked politely.

A heavy silence welcomed my question.

“I guess not, then.”

Let the fun begin.

In the blink of an eye, I was in motion. My sword appeared in one hand, while blue fire covered the other.

I lunged at the man the closest to me. With one graceful sweep of my blade, his head fell to the ground, black blood sprouting from the now headless neck before his lifeless carcass turned into ashes.

This seemed to wake up the two other men, who immediately took own their own weapons. I assessed them quickly. Mostly blades; a few knives, katanas, that sort of stuff.

I crouched down and my leg muscles contracted almost painfully. I waited for a few seconds, letting the tension grow. Then I leapt in the air. For a few moments, I seemed to hang mid-air. It felt as though I was flying, those few fractions of a second before gravity took over and I was hurtling back toward the earth. I landed on the second man, knocking him flat to the ground.

His companion jumped away, and threw a knife my way. I caught it by the blade, and the metal melted in my fire-covered hand. With my hand still covered in liquid steel, I plunged it deep into the second man’s chest, until it squeezed his still pumping heart. Sometimes, it took me a living proof to believe a heart couldn’t be made of stone. I closed my eyes for a moment, letting the warmness of his flesh and blood warm up my hand as he screamed. Then I jerked my hand away, with his heart still enclosed between my fingers. His screams died away instantly.

I stood up slowly. I threw away what was left of the Zemian’s heart. With my hand still dripping with his black blood, I watched as the third guy, who had until now watched the scene with growing horror, came to his senses and turned his back to me and began to run. He should’ve known better. After all, every predator instinctually chases after a prey that runs away.

I let tendrils of black smoke swallow me up, and appeared in his way in another burst of blue flames. With a scream, he turned around and ran as though the hounds of Hell were on his heels. In a way, it wasn’t totally false.

I ran after him at my full speed. Compared to my pace, he seemed to go in slow motion. I could see every detail of his movements when my brain kicked into overdrive like that. It was as though I was the only person moving at a normal speed in a slow-motion scene.

I blocked his way, and before shock even registered on his face, the blade of my sword was slicing through his chest, piercing his heart.

He fell to his knees, and I withdrew my sword with one jerk of my hand. His body collapsed limply, but before it even touched the ground, he disintegrated into a pile of ashes, the clothes settling down over his remains.

As always, I felt no regret. I didn’t question what I did, never. An agent who was too sensible about his kills would end up as a dead agent.

My profession did not allow mistakes.