Page 27 of King from the Sky

Emily could not help noticing how gross it was that they were both naked and Alex was a good bit covered in blood, but she could see that a lot of it was his own. He had been scratched, but the cuts were healing right before her eyes. Although the fresh blood still remained; that was kind of gross, she thought.

“We have to go,” Alex said as he quickly put his clothes on.

Emily followed suit and they both left in a hurry carrying their few belongings. They just missed the crew that was coming up to investigate the noise as they hopped on the opposite elevator. Emily caught the hotel crew just coming off the hotel elevator a second before their elevator doors closed and they began to go down.

They made it out of the elevator and past the front desk without arousing suspicion. Emily realized that most of this was probably due to the fact that it was three in the morning and there were few people staffed in the hotel and few guests who were actually roaming around the place.

After quickly and easily getting out of the hotel they walked out to the parking lot where Alex pressed the electronic alarm button on the key fob he had stolen from the two shifters he had just fought and they found themselves driving a Mercedes.

Emily was a bit shocked; with all of the low temperatures and snow around she always thought a sports car like that might stand out like a sore thumb, but maybe they wanted to be recognized. Maybe the Russian government was corrupt and they were working for them. No one in their right mind would mess with those two guys because everyone knew what they did and who they were. But were they even working with anyone here? Or were they solo? They were obviously from Zuha, like Alex.

As the car sped down the road with the hotel getting farther and farther away in the rear view mirror, Emily began to feel a lot safer. The city was still relatively busy with the hustle and bustle of whatever some people liked to do at three in the morning. That had never made much sense to someone like Emily who deeply enjoyed her sleep.

“What the hell was that?” Emily asked after they moved away from the busiest part of town. She had no idea where Alex was taking them but she decided to go with one question at a time here.

“They were one of mine,” Alex said. “They were from Zuha. Both of them had the ability to shift.”

“That was crazy. Why would anyone from your planet try to kill you? And why would they travel all the way here to do it?”

“It’s my brother,” Alex said.

“What?”

“Since my father died a few weeks ago I was given the throne since I am his first born son. My younger brother, Josh is chomping at the bit to be King. He is only twenty-one years old and he is rash and bold like all kids his age. He also happens to be far more diabolical than I ever thought he was. I can’t believe that he actually sent assassins to kill me so that he can be king.”

“Your little brother did that? You don’t know— “

“I’d bet everything I have on it. There is no other plausible explanation.”

Emily was silent for a moment. She could not believe that someone’s own brother would be that evil. It was like something she might have caught on some of those late night Lifetime made for TV movies that she hated to admit she absolutely loved.

“Do you think he will send more?”

“I don’t know. If he sends too many people it will look suspicious.”

“They track that?” Emily asked.

“They keep pretty good tabs on me, especially since I snuck away. I imagine these guys were sent by the kingdom but my brother intercepted them and offered them higher positions if they killed me and left me here on Earth. Then they would just come back and say that I was dead by the time they found me. They’d blame it on your government.”

“How do you know all of this?”

“I’ve seen similar things happen before. I’ve heard rumors that couldn’t be proven about political leaders being assassinated when traveling, which is why it is forbidden for the King to take trips like this to foreign planets on the far reaches of the galaxy without telling anyone where he is going.”

“Wow, so what happens now?”

“We have to figure out why the Seplika is not working. We have to find somewhere secluded to really try this out. It tends to make a lot of noise and to cause flashes of bright light as its energy is released out into the atmosphere. That is why I didn’t try it out at the hotel, in case you were wondering.”

“No, I figured I somehow distracted you,” Emily flirted.

“Well, you definitely did do that,” Alex replied as he placed his hand on her thigh.

They were almost on the outer edge of the city when Alex pulled down a dark alley and then pulled up to an abandoned warehouse. He got out and quickly broke open the rusted lock on the outside of the door and slid it up to the top. He retrieved the high powered flashlights he had bought at an all-night superstore. Emily could not believe that Russia actually had those. The way that America had infested the world was kind of amazing.

They found a vacant, wide open area of the warehouse. Alex reached inside of the bag and removed the Seplika. He stumbled backwards as he held the Seplika out in front of him. It was glowing bright red now as he clutched it in his hand. The red light was shining over his hand creating odd looking shadows on the wall and making it look like demons were about to devour them. Goosebumps riddled across Emily’s skin giving her the sensation that it was trying to crawl away from her bones.

“Why is it glowing? Is it doing something?” Emily asked.

Alex was silent for a moment and then he looked at her with a look of confirmation in his eyes. He had figured it out.