The Black Queen Card

chapter eight - machkie

Machyllyn

Machkie had the nameless guys over the Knights club where Chassie was there too.

"Didn't you hear me?" Her voice was impatient. "Didn't I explicitly tell you not to hurt him?"

"I got carried away." The halfie Japanese guy replied.

Machkie took a deep breath. She took small calculated strides toward him, so that they were standing face to face. She kept walking on forward that the guy had to step back until his back hit the glass pane wall. Machkie glowered at him. Her angry fierce eyes drilled holes in his head. She grabbed the neckline of his shirt and slammed him hard on the glass.

"I explicitly told you not to physically hurt him." It's not a question now, it's a declaration.

Before he could even respond, Machkie hissed, "That's not the answer I want to hear."

Machkie did not notice that Chassie had already sat beside her. Somehow, she knew the exact moment when Machkie was going to do something brash and stupid. Her temper had always been her Achille's heel. No one could handle her fiery temper as close as Chassie could.

Machkie's face dropped dangerously close to the guys' ear. "Did you know that I can command this glass window to disappear with simply my voice?" She didn't whisper it. She said it loud enough everybody in the room could hear.

His eyes widened and desperately searched for his friend's help. The halfie Chinese guy backed further away from the window and shook his head at him. Chassie's hand reached out to grab Machkie's black leather jacket in case she went for it.

The guy's Adam's apple bobbed up and down. His heart was thumping hard on her balled fist. He tried to get away from her grasp and trashed out but Machkie had his foot crossed on hers. She had him firmly and strategically pinned down. He may be strong but she matched his strength. Years of fencing training automatically kicked in. He could not move and he was visibly shaking.

"It's about a hundred fifty-foot drop." Yllie looked up from her kindle paperwhite.

Machkie smiled for one second but the guy did not catch it.

She slammed him once more, his eyes closed anticipating his inevitable fall. Instead, he felt himself thrown to the other side. He then managed to regain his balance before he could hit the floor.

"Get out!" Machkie yelled. She composed herself. "Get out of my sight." She said in her deathly calm but naturally aggressive sounding Swedish.

"Syrexa, open the goddamn window."

The glass plane split in the middle disappearing away so fast it was like it was never there. Cool breeze hit the whole club. Her terrifying stare never left the two cowering guys. "I never want to see both of your full faces ever again." Her gaze drifts off the inexistent glass wall. "Get out."

The guys scrambled to their feet and pushed the plush door and ran.

Machkie flopped on the bed and commanded the room, "Schedule me a meeting with the Chancellor."

Chassie sighed. Yllie wiped the inexistent sweat from her brow. Raffie looked at her questioningly.

"What?" Raffie raised her eyebrows.

"I'm just relieved we don't get to date crooks." Yllie acknowledged. Raffie grinned.

"You know we can trust Machkie to take care of her problems even before it's a problem for us."

~~~

Khraviell

Khrav was painstakingly attentive to his attorney professor for his Legal Techniques and Logic class when a delivery mailman entered the room and had him excused. He had the sickening feeling in his gut that this had something to do about Machkie again. The mailman handed him a box wrapped in dark silk with golden glitter wrapped in the art Japanese furoshiki. Ram gave him a questioning look as Khrav went back to his seat.

After a week, he still had a bandage over his cheekbones for the bruises he got from the mugging at the fountain. His wounds had not yet fully recovered. Nanay Selma freaked out when she saw him with the covers. He lied saying he'd been in an accident, in which a hoverbike had collided into him. It was not believable though but she bought it anyway.

He shrugged at Ram and proceeded to untie the silk wrappings of the box. It was a black box with the lid embossed on wax of a silhouette of four gold crossed fencing swords. Ram's eyes widened, almost backing away.

Khrav lifted the lid. It was a black card lying on a neatly folded gold fabric. A fresh stark black orchid shaped like a bat with whiskers, a perfect contrast with the gold color sat on the side. He lifted the card with utmost cautiousness. At first, it was a blank card, then golden circuit lines gradually appeared.

It was the Queen of Spades. In folklore, Khrav knew what a spade meant. Its intellect and death. In the middle of it was a crown with the same crossed fencing swords on the lid.

Khrav let go of the card in shock and it fell on the box.

Ram cringed and said, "What did you do to get that?"

It was the dreaded black Queen card.

Khrav took his head on his hands and pulled at his hair. Was that not enough?

He didn't fight the guys back and held onto his control when they kept punching him. Now he was wishing that he'd never followed Krash's advice to study here.

He was at the Library with Ram. Krash came crashing in the hallway and found them. Khrav looked brooding.

"What the hell happened?" She mouthed as she approached them.

Khrav's lips were pulled in a taut line. He stood up. "This immaturity and nonsense must be stopped."