‘You said it didn’t have a name, the thing she sent through.’ Blake ran fingertips across the crown of her head, doing little to tidy the uncharacteristically untidy ponytail she’d bound her jet-black hair in. ‘I figured your boss wouldn’t mind if I named it.’
‘Named it after the angel of death?’
Blake shrugged. ‘It seems as good a name as any. These things are coming here to kill someone, aren’t they?’
A catch in her voice caught his attention. Since the days of university when they’d studied together, he’d only ever seen Blake’s emotions swamp her once – the day she’d stared down at Kira’s broken body, fresh from the wreck that had taken their father. As she’d watched her sister’s life ebb away with the blood they couldn’t stop pouring from her busted organs, Blake had shed a couple of tears, but minutes later she’d been unreadable again. Everything had been locked away.
‘Well, yes. But not this one.’ He wanted to say something that would clear the darkness from her face. ‘Not Azrael. He’s a test run, a prototype. And just think of where this tech will –’
‘Tamas, it’s okay. A deal’s a deal, and I’m holding up my end.’ Blake pulled the folds of her too-large blouse tighter around her. ‘I simply need some processing time after last night. So if your boss is done, I’d like to tidy up here and get some sleep before the next stage.’
Tamas’s answer was decided by the arrival of a lab tech, a young woman with short-cropped red hair and full cheeks. She knew better than the cleaner. She didn’t say a word to Tamas, just gave a slight nod to acknowledge him, and then she moved to the back of the tech room, busying herself with a laptop at a standing desk. Blake ushered Tamas outside, leaving no doubt that his time was up. She spoke to him as she walked him out into the chamber, but Tamas could barely make out the words through the shocking rush of tinnitus filling his skull. The goddess, his boss, was indeed done. Ereshkigal slipped from that place she coveted in his mind, just as Blake turned and left him. Neither spared a thought for the flesh-and-blood man stumbling his way across the empty cavern, his now-godless head filled with thoughts of a time when he would not be so invisible.
Kira - 4
Kira stepped out of the service elevator behind Rossiter and dry-retched. A giant industrial bin stood to their left, lid up, cavernous innards empty.
‘Fuck me, that stinks.’ Kira placed a palm over her mouth and tasted sambuca against her skin. ‘Oh Jesus, I need a shower.’ She tried to run her fingers through her mop of curls, but one knuckle deep, the journey was thwarted by giant knots. ‘Shit, balls, shit.’
Rossiter waved a giant paw at her. ‘Keep it down.’
There was nothing Kira loved more than being shushed after no sleep and with veins still full of booze. She opened her mouth, ready with a few choice morsels, but caught sight of the main chamber of level eleven through the narrow glass panes on the door ahead. The words slid back down her throat. Her sister stood with Tamas by the world’s lamest spa. Some mouldy old well that was supposedly super important, full of rare extraterrestrial water. Or some crap. Her guts leapfrogged as she watched Blake. The weirdest thought of running to her and giving her a hug crossed Kira’s mind. Yeah, right. That would go down like a lead balloon. There had been no hugs since . . . oh fuck it. Hugging was a bad idea. Kira could count on one hand how many times she’d been down here. One hand too many. It was just wrong to be this far underground, this was a domain for burrowing creatures, groundhogs, or whatever things burrowed. Not humans. Fitting, she supposed, considering down here was all about aliens.
‘She looks like shit.’ It wasn’t a whisper, but it was as close as Kira could be bothered to get. ‘So does Tamas. Seriously, those two need to get out into daylight more often. Oh my god, is that what she’s going to tell me? Blake’s a vampire? I knew my sister was a freak.’
She punctuated her words with a slap of her hand against Rossiter’s shoulder. Might as well have slapped a mountain. He glowered at her, narrowing his dark eyes to the barest slits, and pressed a finger against his lips. Seriously, why the hell had she been summoned down here if she was supposed to hide out with the garbage? There were much better things, and people, to be doing on a Saturday morning. Speaking of which, the bulge in Rossiter’s pants was mesmerising. Sure, she’d never go there, ’cause yuck, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t impressive. Didn’t steroids usually kill that kind of hardware?
‘My eyes are up here,’ Rossiter hissed. ‘Focus, will you? Try to at least act sober.’
Behind them, the elevator doors closed with the barest brush of sound. There was a clunk and a whir, and the elevator drifted upwards. Kira swallowed hard, trying to block out the sound as it grew more distant. They were a long way down, and right now, there was no immediate escape. It pissed her off, the way that thought made her fingers shake. Although, it could have been the line she’d shared with Liam that made her tremble like a jellyfish, not the enormous amount of dirt and rock that stood between her and sky.
‘Lead the way, giant man.’ Kira swept her metal arm in a flourish, and the oversized buckles on Perry’s vinyl jacket clinked with the movement.
‘I told you, we’re waiting till Tamas leaves. Blake doesn’t want anyone to know she’s brought you down here. We weren’t expecting him, not after…’ Rossiter’s words dissolved in the air as his fingertips tapped out an uneven beat against the brickwork. Kira considered asking him
