Chapter 3 – Kalista
Chapter Three
Kalista
“Things are not always as they
seem, the first appearance deceives
many.”
- Phaedrus
I was replacing the gas nozzle after filling my bike, a black Kawasaki Ninja, when I heard the gunshots. They came from inside the gas station. I turned just in time to see the attendant fall behind the counter with a large bloody stain on his light blue shirt, just over his heart.
I palmed my gun and was sprinting toward the store when three other shots rang out.
It was after seven in the evening, closer to eight, and I had just come off more than twelve hours on the job with nothing more than a damn Snickers bar and coffee in my stomach. I really didn’t need this shit right now.
I barreled into the store in time to see four men running out the back. I could have run them down, but then I would be exposing myself to too many questions, especially since I knew that I had already gained an audience. Besides, I was used to running at a pace that wouldn’t draw attention.
With a swift glance about the store, I noted the attendant on the floor behind the counter in a pool of his own blood and three other bodies, one woman and two children. That pissed me off.
I was so going to kill those bastards. No prison time would be enough for something like this. They gunned down two children! Although the state of Nevada had the death penalty, the chances of it being implemented in this case were slim to none. There hadn’t been an execution since 2006.
It pained me, but I forced myself to move at normal human running speed back to my bike. Unfortunately, I attract attention wherever I go. Even while fueling my bike, I felt their eyes on me. Any pedestrian on the street, any other customer also fueling their vehicle, or even any car passing by, they stopped, or in the case of moving traffic, they slowed and looked. I noted all of this, not because I have eyes in the back of my head, but because I can sense their eyes on me and can even hear some of their thoughts. This has been my reality since I hit puberty.
Beautiful. Stunning. Gorgeous. Yeah, I have heard it all. And it didn’t matter if I wore my black hair long or boyishly short, as I was wearing it now. I wish I was tall, but I was merely five foot six even in a pair of four-inch stiletto black boots. They went beautifully with my skin-tight black jeans and form-fitting black leather jacket, which gave the illusion of height on my slender frame. I like black, so sue me.
Color on me attracted even more attention that I didn’t want.
I should have kept my damn helmet on.
I swung my legs smoothly over my bike and quickly covered my head with a black helmet. Although I had sunglasses, I pulled the dark-tinted visor over my face instead. It was quicker, and it would allow me to easily hit speeds necessary to catch these assholes. I had done this all within seconds, even being mindful to look more like a normal human, as I was forced to do on my job. With the assailant’s old gray Charger in my sights, I sped out of the gas station.
Damn, this was going to delay my visit to my mother, Monique, tonight. She had called me more than an hour ago, sounding urgent and demanding as usual. I wasn’t looking forward to this visit because my mother is a needy woman, convinced that everyone owed her something. It was never her responsibility, always someone else’s. This time she insisted that it was her loser boyfriend who had gotten them in trouble with a Russian crime family.
When have that idiot boyfriend and my mother not gotten in trouble with some half-baked scheme, gotten caught cheating while gambling, or worse owed a shit-ton of money to the wrong people. The only reason I still visit her when she calls in a panic is because of my younger half-siblings.
Tamara, Kayla, and Lincoln were only fifteen, twelve, and seven years old, and I refused to let our mother drag them down with her. Despite her boyfriend living with her and my mother working as a waitress, the only decent job she could find after being a stripper, and I suspect turning tricks when she was younger, I still paid for their apartment in a nice neighborhood so that my siblings could attend a decent and relatively safe school. In addition to my job with the city as a police officer, I also moonlighted with a private security company, providing bodyguard services to high-profile and wealthy individuals attending functions in Vegas.
I don’t really need to work, but I don’t think about that much.
As soon as I started following the gray Charger, I activated my Bluetooth to call in the incident. After giving my name, Kalista Black, and my badge number, I sent the units to the gas station and advised them of my pursuit. I was a little vague about where I was, because I needed some alone time with these bastards.
My bike wasn’t a police vehicle, so I didn’t have a siren. When the Charger blew through a red light, causing several vehicles to collide and block the road, I had to take quick evasive action and swerve my bike onto the sidewalk. No matter what they did, I was hot on their tail.
I was vaguely aware of a presence following me. I immediately dismissed it, thinking that it was impossible because the only beings I’ve ever met who could follow me so effortlessly have a distinct scent that I would recognize. However, this scent was different, but intriguing. I had to be imagining it because nothing was that enticing.
Also, I knew that my mentor, who also would sometimes surprise me with a visit, was dead. His family had insured that his death notice made it to national and international news. There had been no memorial, so I couldn’t show my respects, and I hadn’t wanted to intrude on his family. When he was alive, he never said that he didn’t want me to meet his family, but he also never invited me to meet them either.
Just then, the guys I was chasing turned onto a neighborhood street that I knew was a dead end. However, it was also the street that housed one of the deadliest gangs in the city. I was so looking forward to getting my hands on these bastards, but I knew there would be a lot of armed opposition around that corner. If I took them all on, it would raise too many questions. Questions I couldn’t possibly answer honestly.
I called for backup. Now, it’s not my fault if they take too long.
As soon as I turned the corner, I couldn’t help but think, this is the best day ever!
The Charger had come to a stop in front of a one-story wooden house with about fifteen men—a mix of white, black, and Hispanic young men—armed with semi-automatic weapons, all assembling between my approaching motorbike and the car. They were pointing the guns directly at me.
I grinned. I couldn’t help it. Questions be damned. This day just kept getting better and better.
I stopped my bike several feet in front of the armed men before smoothly sliding to my feet.
“If you know what’s good for you, you will get your ass out of here,” a large Hispanic man drawled.
I smirked. I guess I didn’t have to ask who their leader was.
“Leave the bike though. I’ve always wanted one of those,” the leader drawled confidently.
Four men climbed out of the Charger and assembled alongside their delinquent friends.
I took off my helmet.
“Dayummm!” the men exclaimed almost in unison. They started grinning and hooting as if they were in a strip joint.
I carefully placed the helmet on my bike and slowly peeled off my leather jacket to reveal the police-issued black T-shirt I usually wore under my uniform.
The men groaned on seeing the T.
That’s right, bitches. I’m SWAT !
Now they know I’m not an easy mark, no matter how feminine and fragile I look. I took a glance around, noting not just the other armed men spilling out of the house but also several women and children lounging about.
I sighed. Disappointment of how much I will have to restrain myself made me want to sulk.
“I am Officer Kalista Black, and I’m going to arrest those four gentlemen from the Charger,” I told them coolly.
The men laughed.
“I notice you ain’t flashing a badge and have no backup,” the gang leader piped up.
“In another few seconds you’re going to wish that I had backup so they could stop me from beating your asses,” I warned casually. I thought that I should at least give these assholes a chance to turn themselves in.
His men chuckled again.
“Are you resisting arrest?” I looked at the men who had climbed out of the Charger and were now leering at me from behind their leader.
“What are the charges, Officer?” someone asked belligerently from the porch. It was a young black woman with a baby, who looked about nine months old, anchored on her hip.
“Breathing while stupid,” I deadpanned.
“You have a smart mouth, Officer.” The leader leered. “I’m wondering what else that mouth is good at.”
This time I couldn’t hold back my smile as he reached to grab me.
Within seconds, I snapped his arm in three places and had him on his back while he squealed like a pig.
The rest of his crew rushed toward me with knives and spiked clubs in their hands.
I was glad that no one thought of using their gun. I may have enhanced abilities, but I wasn’t bulletproof. They probably didn’t immediately go for their guns because I am a woman and the men were thinking of restraining and then doing other things to me.
Good luck with that.
Moving at lightning speed, I agilely spun and twisted my body with lethal kicks, vicious punches, and even bitch-slapped a few of the pissants. Every snap of a bone, every bloodcurdling scream, and every frustrated curse were music to my ears. The idiots were still trying to capture me. I made sure that they regretted coming at me with sharp objects as well, because any object they wielded found a home somewhere in their bodies.
In mere minutes, more than half of their number were disabled on the ground, and the others stepped back in indecision.
I guess they were contemplating how far they wanted to take this assault on a police officer.
And then three F150 trucks, filled with what appeared to be more armed gang members, came barreling toward our little group.
A frigid breeze chilled the sweat on my body as apprehension filled me. I had seriously underestimated the numbers I would be up against. I shouldn’t have come into their territory without backup. How could I beat these fuckers without revealing what I was? I mean, not that what I’d done already wasn’t suspect, but my taking on so many and getting out unscathed would wave too many red flags.
Shit!
My mentor always said that my arrogance was going to get me in trouble one day. I guess today was that day.
At the same time the trucks were careening toward me—and I should have been solely focused on that—I felt that presence from before, even more strongly. The impulse to turn and investigate was riding me hard, but I resisted. And then suddenly, a huge male dropped, or seemed to drop, beside me.
“Perhaps I can be of assistance.” His sexy, gravelly voice reached me as if he were far away and not right next to me.
I looked up and then up some more. He was tall, almost a foot taller than me. His scent and his overall aura of other worldliness told me that he wasn’t human. I immediately trusted him, because my mentor hadn’t been human either. And there was something about his scent, sandalwood and red wine, that seemed familiar but, at the same time, more compelling than anything I’ve ever encountered.
And then my gaze finally took in his face. It seemed as if everything around me stilled, including my breath and my heartbeat.
It wasn’t only because he was one of the most gorgeous men I’d ever seen, but he was also the only man that I’ve ever met who fired every sensory nerve in my body. My eyes didn’t want to look away from his very magnificent form. He was encased in an expensive-looking suit that seemed custom made for him. His eyes were the color of blood-red crimson that glowed with dark intelligence and forbidden knowledge. Even the way he sounded, the sexy timbre of his accented voice, reached places and depths in me that I didn’t know existed until I heard him. The fact that he was a brother only heightened his appeal. I loved a clean-cut, suave, and elegant black man. He was all of that and more.
Everything about him appealed to me at a visceral level. And God the way he looked at me… As if he would devour me in one naughty sensual bite.
It was then that my breathing started again, fractured but still there, and my heartbeat was racing as if my heart would leap from my chest at any moment. Considering that I barely had a heartbeat to begin with, it was all quite alarming. The tips of my breasts were suddenly taut, and there was a mad pulsing low in my stomach and pelvis.
Nothing prepared me for the intensity of my desire. It was instant. It was fierce.
And his knowing smile and his smoldering gaze only turned me on more.
However, I didn’t have long to linger in the bliss of the myriad emotions bombarding me because the trucks of gang members surrounded us.
This all happened within seconds, but it felt as if time had slowed and I was experiencing everything in slow motion.
Several of the gang members jumped from the back of the truck and trained their guns on us.
My mystery savior stepped in front of me just as bullets started flying toward me. Simultaneously, something like flames shot back at them from his palms. I almost didn’t believe what I was seeing until several of the gang members were screaming as fire engulfed them.
Everyone froze, not only because of the fire but because my mystery man had brushed off the bullets from his jacket as they were lint on his clothes. And then a rapid succession of shots peppered the air, as several gang members opened fire on my mystery man again.
He wrapped his arms around me, shielding me with his massive body. And God what an impressive body. Beautifully and wonderfully chiseled. I should have been terrified, but I was too busy enjoying the incredible feel of his hard frame surrounding me. I turned in his arms and buried my face against the wall of his chest.
He smelled divine. Yes, he wore cologne, but with my heightened senses, I smelled his own unique male scent. It was the most appealing scent I’ve ever encountered. Now I knew what instant lust felt like. It was lethal.
He tightened his arms around me, aligning my body more fully against his.
I couldn’t miss his blatant arousal that was nestled against my stomach. He was built and seemed to be getting longer and thicker with each second that I remained in his embrace. An involuntary soft sound erupted from my throat that was a cross between a moan and a whimper. I closed my eyes and bit my lower lip, fighting the impulse I suddenly felt to curl my arms around his neck and feel his lips on mine.
I wanted his kiss in the worst way.
I was pulsing and mad with simmering lust despite the shit-storm going on around me. It was the craziest emotion I’ve ever felt in my life. A mix of inexplicable desire, desperation, and invigorating adrenaline.
My emotions were pure chaos.
It was long minutes before the loud sound of gunfire stopped and instead screams of pain filled the air.
Fighting to regain my senses from the fog of lust consuming me, I lifted my head from his chest to look around me. Not only had he moved us several feet away from the melee but it was utter pandemonium in the cul-de-sac.
People were running from their houses to help with the fire.
Shit!
My mystery man had set two trucks on fire, and everyone was frantically trying to get the men out of the burning vehicles before they blew. Because somehow the doors on the trucks were stuck and the men couldn’t open them. It might have had something to do with the huge dents that suddenly appeared in them.
“I was trying to teach them a lesson, not kill them,” I mumbled.
“No one is dead,” my mystery man said dryly, sounding almost regretful of that. “They will be in a whole lot of pain,” he drawled, “but not dead.”
I nodded absently, still too terrified of his overwhelming impact on me to look directly into his face again. He was too damn stunning.
Too soon the unmistakable sound of sirens pierced the air. I sighed in disappointment at not being able to punish these bastards more, despite the impressive pile of bodies writhing in pain on the ground around me.
“I will see you soon,” the masculine voice, which was catnip to my senses, said softly next to my ear, almost kissing my skin. He suddenly released me and left at a speed no human would be able to see.
With my heightened sight, I could track his vampiric retreat. I stared after him even after he had disappeared because something about him seemed familiar. He reminded me so much of the man who rescued me when I was little, but that is impossible. The man who rescued me was human, and Mom told me that he’d probably died that day. No one interfered with the Camorras’ business and lived to tell about it.
I was putting cuffs on the four men from the Charger, who were in desperate need of a hospital, and probably an orthopedic surgeon, when I saw the little boy, who looked no more than eight or nine years old, too late. His bullet grazed my side as I spun, trying to avoid it hitting something more vital. The hot burn of the bullet into my flesh hurt like sizzling acid on an open wound.
It was my turn to grit my teeth hard in pain.
Yeah, a bullet might not kill me, but it sure could hurt like a bitch. I might heal fast, but it didn’t mean that I liked being shot. Thank God I was wearing black. Otherwise, I might have had a lot of explaining to do.
I plucked the gun from the little boy’s hand and lifted him in the air with a fistful of his shirt. With his feet dangling off the ground, I spanked his ass with five rapid open-palm slaps. The boy was sobbing by the third strike, but I needed to get my damn point across. Yeah, he wouldn’t be able to sit for a few days, but hopefully he will remember this day and not become a flippin’ delinquent.
“If I ever see a gun in your hand again, you will get more than a spanking,” I promised, too pissed at being shot to resist setting his backside on fire. “I will put your little ass in the hospital next, and then in a cast if you don’t get the damn message after that.
“Yes, ma’am,” the boy mumbled tearfully.
His mother, or the woman I assumed was his mother, rushed toward us and pulled the boy back toward the house. She was scolding him but glaring at me. I gave her my own warning look, “yeah, try me, bitch.”
Five police cars pulled into the cul-de-sac just then.
Given the scowl on my sergeant’s face when he saw me, I knew I was in for a long hour of bullshit. I was determined to take it without complaint because I was desperate to get home and reminisce about every detail of my encounter with my mystery man.
The sound of his voice, his intoxicating scent, the way he looked at me as if I was the most beautiful woman in the world, and how incredibly stunning he was to look at… Never mind that I needed to get to my mother’s place at some point to sort out whatever crap her asshole boyfriend had dragged her into. My mother’s problems were going to have to wait though.