Chapter 16
They all needed to die.
Nitochi
Ihad found Wendy too close to this place not to take this opportunity. If the human man was still searching for her, I had to take a look.
Hearing voices coming from the ground, I knew I had been right.
I landed discreetly in a tree, making sure to fold my wings close to my body as I went down, branch after branch.
The fools never looked up once. Not that they would have seen much; it was the middle of the night, and my skin color made me invisible to the untrained eye.
“They’re all dead, sir.”
A man stood out from the others. He was wearing dark fitted clothes that did not look like they would bring much protection in case of an attack. The others were covered in something thicker and held weapons—guns, I had learned they called this.
“Do you know what killed them?” the man asked.
His soldier brought a hand to his neck, looking uncomfortable. I slid down lower. “I don’t know, some kind of animal maybe?”
“Maybe?” the man drawled. “That’s all you can give me? Maybe?”
“Well, they’re…shredded.” So the animals had had a feast after all. Good. Hopefully they would not get sick. “Hard to find the exact cause of death when their limbs are scattered around.”
The man hummed, looking unfazed by what he had just learnt. “It’s a shame. Is the girl part of the losses?”
Anger boiled in my veins. Alessio. It had to be him.
“We can’t say for sure yet,” the soldier answered. “We’re still searching through the corpses.” He fetched something from his pocket and handed it to the man that was soon going to die. “We found this, though.”
Alessio grabbed whatever it was the armed man was handing him and frowned. “What are these?” he asked, disgusted. “It’s covered in blood.”
“We found them with what we assume is George’s body.”
“How do you know it’s his body?”
The soldier swallowed audibly, shifting on his feet. “Because the bloody flask has his name on it,” he said, pointing at one of the objects in his hand. “And I assume the shiny thing belongs to the girl.”
Alessio dropped one of the items to the floor with a grunt and brought the other closer to his face, inspecting it.
He wiped it with a white tissue that quickly turned red, revealing its shine.
“I think you might be right,” he mused. “It’s a hair brooch.
But if you found it on George’s body…maybe the girl—Wendy—isn’t dead. ”
My grip tightened on the branch I was standing on. Wendy. My Wendy. So she was right, and the man was after her.
He had to die.
But I needed to take care of his armed soldiers first. Isolate him. Reduce his chances of being assisted.
I climbed back up, holding the angry growl threatening to break free from my throat, and circled the area from high in the trees, scanning the ground and the men patrolling.
The beasts had done a great job, feasting on the corpses and making a mess. At first glance, I counted about twelve soldiers, all isolated, searching their own little parcels of land.
I descended on the first one, careful not to make a noise that could alert the ones nearby. Although I wanted to take my time, to rip all of their limbs from their bodies, I forced myself to kill them quickly. Fast, silent, and efficient.
It took eight soldiers to end up dead for the rest of their team to realize something was hunting them. And yet, they still did not look up.
Wings folded tight against my back, I landed on the ninth one, snapping his neck to the side and letting him drop limp on the floor before I jumped back up, taking advantage of the high branches and the night concealing me.
Tenth and Eleventh were more careful, staying close to each other like it could somewhat save them to stick together.
Like I could not kill both of them in a heartbeat. I could. Instead of snapping their necks, I only had to crush their skulls against each other.
The noise alerted Twelfth who ran to my position, his gun ready, and arrived just as I disappeared into the trees again.
I was not afraid of them but I knew that even though my skin was thick, it would probably not stop one of their bullets from breaking it.
Baelor had dragged me to the human classes with him and I had learned all about their weapons.
The history of their planets and how they had conquered more lands using said weapons, killing and controlling the people blocking their way.
We had been taught that they were different now, and yet, looking at the men that I had just killed, I was not sure it was true.
It might not have been to take our planet from us, but they would have killed me to get Wendy.
My Wendy.
Mine.
And that was why they all needed to die.
When number twelve—the one that had been talking to Alessio when I first found them—bent over to inspect my last two kills, I let myself fall one last time. My feet landed on the back of his neck and I let my weight crush and break the bones.
The forest was dead silent around me, all of the soldiers now dead. I scanned my surroundings, making sure Alessio had not strayed away from the center of the destroyed makeshift camp.
I made one last circle of the area through the trees and locked in on my prey. The one that made my Wendy look terrified. The one who was here to steal her away from us.
He was still standing near their shuttle, surrounded by the remnants of the camp Wendy’s captors had previously made. The fire they had lit illuminated his face enough that it only made my rage grow stronger. He held the brooch in his hand, caressing it with his thumb with a thoughtful look.
“Where are you, Wendy?” he asked out loud to himself. “Playing cat and mouse, are you?”
His other hand found his crotch and he grunted, rearranging himself in his clothes.
Sick human monster.
The damn fire hurt my eyes. I needed to put it out before I pulled his organs out of his gangly body. Maybe I would use his innards to strangle him and hang him to the nearest tree. It would serve as a warning for the other humans thinking it would be a good idea to come after our female.
She was ours. I was the lead of our union, and also the one meant to protect her. Protect them. Every living soul coming after her or any of us would not stay alive long.
This time, when I jumped down, I let my wings spread wide behind me. The moment my feet met the ground, the motion of my wings beating the air around me sent a powerful gush of wind. Strong enough that the fire died out, plunging us into darkness.
Alessio startled, turning around abruptly, eyes wide as he tried to see through the night only to be faced with my face, inches away from his.
“Wh-what is it?”
He looked around. Unseeing.
I tilted my head to the side. Could he not see me right in front of him? Were humans’ night vision this bad?
“Toni?” he asked. “Da-daniel?”
No one answered. How could they when they were all dead?
“It is only you and I,” I said darkly and Alessio jumped back, eyes widening so much that they could almost fall from their sockets.
“Wh-who’s there? What d-do you want?” he stuttered.
His gaze finally landed on me, narrowing to try and make out my features better. He must have succeeded as he took another step back with a yelp, his foot catching on a root a second before his ass met the ground.
“You are not welcome here,” I said.
“Wh-what? I-I don’t understand, I—what do you want?” His arm moved in a circle in front of him, the brooch in his hand almost stabbing itself in my chest. “Stay back!” he yelled.
Like Wendy, his translator must not be updated with our language. I did not care. It was not an obstacle to me killing him.
My hand found his throat and I squeezed, relishing on the sight of his face turning purple and his eyes bulging. On the feeling of his blood pumping in his veins. On the air being stuck in his lungs.
So much that I did not notice the device in his hand. Did not see him press on it before it was too late and the shuttle exploded.
I stood through the pain and ripped the debris stabbing my skin with a groan. Fire. There was fire everywhere. So much light that I struggled to see.
I stumbled away, trying to find some darkness in the forest when a pained moan caught my ear.
Alessio.
The bastard survived his own cowardice.
I followed the delectable sounds of pain. The smell of burnt skin that was not my own.
There he was, crawling on the floor, his legs broken and bloody.
“What did you even try to do?” I mumbled as I took a hold of his ankle and pulled.
He screamed, half in pain, half in terror as he rolled onto his back and stared at my dark eyes. His blond hair was now brown, matted with mud and blood. His strange clothes shredded and covered with dirt and burnt holes.
“Wh-what do you want?” he yelled.
Right. He did not understand me. Why was Wendy so terrified of this man? He soiled himself before I even grabbed him. Was so terrified that he had chosen to go up in flames rather than let me kill him.
I pulled a sharp shard of their shuttle that had lodged itself in my thigh and pushed it through his chest, ignoring the blood gushing from my wound. I pushed it deep enough that it dug into the earth at his back. Only when his eyes turned empty did I step back, stumbling on my feet, head dizzy.
The fire behind burned hotter. Shit. We needed to take care of that before it spread too wide. Maybe the brightness already alerted other night Gemins patrolling around…
After a couple of steps, I fell to my knees, groaning in pain from various wounds and burns on my body. This damn…scrawny man had blown up his own fucking flying vessel. I never would have guessed he was this mad.
My parents’ hive was too far. I was losing too much blood and my head was still ringing from the damn explosion.
I looked over my shoulder, considering the other option.
Shit. I really did not want to do this. But I had no fucking choice.
“Nitochi?” John—the human scientist also known as my uncle—said as he opened the door before I could even knock.
“What’s going on? Do you have something to do with the explosion and the fire?
” I narrowed my eyes, looking at him. Full exploration gear.
He was getting ready to head out and deal with the damages. “Dear heavens…Are you okay?”
His bag fell to the ground with a soft thud and he slid his arm under my shoulders. “A human decided to blow up his own shuttle rather than facing me,” I grumbled as he led me inside his home. “He is dead now.”
John paled. “Dead?”
“Yes, dead. He was here to take Wendy away. She was scared of this man.”
He nodded absentmindedly and helped me sit on a cushioned seat. “Dear god, your mother will have a fit…”
“You do not have to—”
“John?” Shit.
My aunt stepped out of their bedroom and froze at the sight of me. “Nitochi?” Double shit. “What has happened?” she asked and kneeled in front of me. “Was he touched by whatever exploded?” She turned to John. Her husband.
“Please do not tell Anyi…” I pleaded. “She will make a scene and worry for nothing. I’m—”
“You want me to lie to my sister?” my aunt scolded. “Do you know what she will do to me if I do this?”
“Just go and get Xantu,” John told her.
“Come on, I—”
“Would you rather we get Kosae?” I winced at the thought of dasume coming here and dealing with this mess. At least, dasu probably would not make a fuss…
“You were reckless,” dasu said, his dark eyes boring into mine as he stitched me up. Although his voice was soft, I could tell he was annoyed. “You should have come to us. We would have come with you.”
I scoffed. “Like dasume would have agreed—”
“I would have come with you. You know this.”
I grunted. I did know. The truth was, I had not been sure what I would find. Whether the humans would be here or not. Whether this Alessio man would be alone or with a team. By the time I got to them, it was too late to go back and ask for back ups.
“In my defense, if the madman did not choose to blow up his flying vessel instead of accepting his fate, I would have been perfectly fine.”
“Can you blame him for trying to survive?” John muttered as he cleaned another of the wounds.
“It was hardly an attempt at survival,” I countered. “He was as close to the blast as I was. When I killed him, both of his legs were shattered, he would not have survived the night.”
Dasu stayed quiet while John hummed. He was human after all. Maybe he knew why Alessio had acted like this.
“How is Wendy?” he asked instead, apparently opting for a change of topic.
Safe now, I thought. “Baelor is looking after her,” I said instead.
“She seemed like a nice young lady,” John remarked. “Hopefully, next time I get to meet her, you won’t snarl at me like an animal.”
“I did not—” My words died in my throat at his pointed look.
“You can fool your father but not me, Nitochi. I was there.”
I mumbled an apology under my breath. At this moment, the only thought I had in my mind was Wendy and the fact that I had just claimed her as mine. Having another male enter our safe space other than Baelor had just…displeased me.
“Apology accepted,” John said with a chuckle.
“You are all patched up,” dasu interrupted as he stood up from his seat next to me. “We will help you get to your guest nest.”
Help me? Great…