Chapter Six: Kyla
Kyla reformed her body from the water of the surf as she stepped onto the beach. Fists clenched in rage, she walked naked toward the Parrot Dice Bar and Grill on the other side of the road. It had taken hours for her to flow through the pipes and sewers of Key West. Hours spent learning more about the people of the city than she ever wanted to know. Hours that delayed her revenge on the human who thought to possess her.
A few early risers were on the the beach as the sun boiled just below the horizon. Seeing a nude woman walking across the beach wasn’t such an odd occurrence, but people still stared at her. Kyla ignored them all as she passed around the side of the bar to the stairs that led up to her tiny apartment.
The hidden key above the door let her into her one room apartment, then she slammed the door shut behind her. Veto would have a long time to think before she let him die. She would teach him the very lesson he sought to teach her. Perhaps she could force him to understand as she filled his lungs with her living water. She would choke the life out of him slowly, giving him just enough breath to remain conscious until the very end.
She dressed in shorts and an old t-shirt before slipping on some sandals. The trappings of humanity would be necessary to blend in so she could take him by surprise. He might be able to overpower her physically, but Kyla wasn’t limited to her physical strength. No one could grasp water long enough to escape its relentless power. She was like the tide in that way—never tiring, never stopping, wearing down hard rocks until even the mountains crumbled before her.
And Veto would crumble. She pulled her loose auburn hair back in a tie and glared at her reflection. She would make him beg before she let him die.
A sudden explosion of sound startled her before her apartment door burst open. Tomas fell to the floor in the doorway. His face was bruised, his lips torn, and his left eye swollen shut as he groaned on the floor. In the doorway stood Veto with a smoking gun pointing at Tomas.
“You may not fear what I plan to do to you, but do you fear for Tomas?” he asked as his unblinking eyes scanned her face.
In all her years, Kyla had never been overly concerned about individual humans. Years passed quickly for her and all the people around her seemed to age unto death overnight. They were fragile creatures, often dying from small cuts or coughs. And yet, here was Tomas who was suffering only because he knew her.
“I’m sorry,” he wept as he rolled on his back. “I’m so sorry.”
Kyla knelt beside him and touched his wounded face. She had never known him intimately, not even a kiss, but now her fingertips wiped away tears from his eyes. A knowing stronger than any she’d felt before ripped through her.
He had offered her friendship without reservation when they met, and now she felt him offering her something even more precious. It felt like a bright sun melting the fog at dawn and suddenly she knew his love. It suffused her being and filled her with a longing she could not name. His offering hung there, but nothing about it was forceful or intrusive. She could choose to accept it or not.
She looked up at Veto and for the first time in her life she knew fear. Not for herself, he was right about that. For Tomas. Veto could forever take him away and she would never know what this new thing she felt meant.
“Fine,” she whispered. “I’ll go with you if you leave Tomas here.”
“Ah, but that will never do,” Veto said as he relaxed at her acceptance. “Why would you stay with me if I don’t possess him as well?”
Tomas leapt to his feet and rushed Veto. He knocked the gun out of his hand and pushed him down the stairs. He reached for Kyla’s hand and yelled, “Come on!”
She ran with him, not knowing what else to do. Killing Veto was no longer as important as keeping Tomas safe. They rounded the edge of the bar and Tomas faltered, so Kyla put her arm around his back to keep them moving.
“Hurry,” Tomas gasped. “I can get us away if we can make it to my boat.
They made it down the road to the entrance to the marina before she heard the first gunshot ring out. As they reached the key-coded gate the the docks, Kyla moved her body to shield Tomas from other potential shots. He quickly punched in the code and pulled her through. The gate slammed behind them, shutting Veto out.
Just as they reached his boat, another gunshot fired and Tomas stumbled. Kyla glanced back to see Veto aiming his gun through the chainlink fence, and she pushed Tomas into the boat. She’d gone out with him often enough to know how to cast off while he stumbled up to his pilot chair and started the engines.
Moments later, the boat was powering out of the marina and into the open water. Until that moment, Kyla hadn’t noticed the blood cascading out of Tomas’ upper back.
“Tomas!” She ran to him slumped over the wheel. “Tomas, we have to get you help.”
“It’s too late,” he whispered, barely audible over the engines and the wind. He turned his head to give her a weak smile. “At least you’re safe. When I’m gone, take the boat and go far away. It’s yours.”
“Stop it! I don’t even know how to drive this stupid thing,” she said as unfamiliar feelings battered her heart.
Tomas had no way of knowing she was never in danger. Glancing around the horizon, she extended her senses into the water to find anyone who might help them. There were other ships nearby. She had to go get him help!
“I’ve loved you since the first time I saw you.” The sincerity of his words struck her like a blow. “My only regret is that I was never brave enough to tell you until it was too late.”
“I’ve known all along,” she whispered and kissed his bruised lips. The rush of knowing came again as she tasted his tears and blood. He wasn’t just offering his boat; she knew he was offering her his soul, just as openly as he had given his friendship. She could taste the intensity of his life. This moment made her own long existence pale by comparison. She’d never truly known her own life until she kissed his tears.
The magnitude of what he was offering filled her with terror for the first time in her life. If he should die, part of her would die with him. This memory of him dying would never fade like the rest of her memories and these new memories would torment her for eternity. She had to save him.
“I forbid you to die,” she shouted at him and turned to leap off the boat. Her clothes fell to the deck as she transformed into her natural state. Like living quicksilver, she splashed into the ocean and raced towards a large boat miles in the distance. She could only tell it’s size, and she hoped it would have someone who could help Tomas.
When she reached the white and red vessel, she transformed back into her human form to call out to the men on deck.
“Help! Help me! My friend has been shot and is bleeding to death!” She waved her hands and continued to shout until the engines cut and men lined up along the deck to throw her a life ring on a line. Ignoring their open stares at her nudity, she climbed aboard the boat.
“Someone’s been shot, ya say?” one of the men asked.
Kyla pointed unerringly towards Tomas. She could feel him like he was part of her. “His name is Tomas and he’s over there in a charter boat.”
“I don’t even see a boat,” the man said as they brought her a blanket to wrap up in. “You’d have to be a really strong swimmer to get all the way over here.”
“You have to trust me,” she begged. “He’s going to die if we don’t reach him soon.”
“Take her up to the wheel house and see if she can lead us there.”
When the large vessel came within sight of Tomas’ boat, Kyla was completely overwhelmed. She’d never had emotions batter her like this before. She’d watched humans try to handle these feelings for much of her existence, but it gave her no help in how to deal with them herself. She wept openly as their boat came alongside Tomas’, and she continued weeping as the men boarded his boat to help stop his bleeding.
Knowing he was still alive and that someone would look after him, Kyla turned her new emotions to t
he man who threatened her and nearly killed Tomas. She would make Veto pay a price that no man had ever suffered before. Slipping away from the sailors who were focused on Tomas, she dropped her towel on the deck and leapt into the ocean.
Racing through the water back to the bar, the sea boiled around her. Kyla had never been so consumed with rage before, causing the water to swirl and froth around her. Focused on revenge, she burst from the surf with steam echoing her fury. She realized the raw energy pouring out of her was making the water burn white flames as she stalked onto the beach.
She ignored the gasps of humans around her as she walked across the sand leaving glass footprints in her wake. She didn’t bother going to her room because she knew where Veto would be waiting. The bar wasn’t busy at breakfast and Veto sat alone at the table he’d used the night before. He had a pleased smile on his face when he recognized her.
“I knew you’d come back to me,” he said. “Fate brought us together.”
Focusing her rage, she prepared to shift her form to drown the smug look off his face. His eyes followed her but his smile slipped as she approached. A worried expression escaped his control and he lifted a pistol from beneath the table.
“Stop,” he commanded, but she ignored him. She was invulnerable and eternal. And Veto was going to die.
The loud gunshot filled the bar with an acrid smoke. Kyla felt like someone had shoved her and looked down to see a bubbling red hole in her chest. Puzzled, she lifted a finger to the wound as she paused. Confusion shuttered her thoughts as a harsh feeling grew out of that ugly hole that marred her breast.
“What?” she whispered to herself.
“Hey, what’s going on here?” Old Mitch yelled as he came out of the back with a large shotgun.
He took one look at Kyla bleeding and immediately blew a chunk out of the brick wall by Veto’s head. Veto ran for the door while Kyla struggled to understand the horrible sensation she felt in her chest.
“Mitch?” she gasped, her hands shaking as he ran to her. “What happened to me?”
“That sonovabitch shot you,” he announced and immediately pulled out his cell phone. “Lemme call for an ambulance. You sit down right here. Why are you naked?”
“Tomas,” she said as her connection drew them together again. He wasn’t breathing so she reached out to breathe for them both. “I need Tomas.”
“And won’t he be glad to hear that,” Old Mitch muttered as he put the phone to his ear to call for help.