Uendeligt: An Infinitely Forever Novel Read online

  S. King

  Uendeligt

  First published by S. King Books 2021

  Copyright © 2021 by S. King

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.

  This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

  S. King asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

  S. King has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet Websites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

  Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book and on its cover are trade names, service marks, trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publishers and the book are not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. None of the companies referenced within the book have endorsed the book.

  First edition

  Cover art by Hex Fox Designs

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  Contents

  Chapter 1 Hazy Memories, Torn Heart

  Chapter 2 Black Robes, Black Courts

  Chapter 3 Tears of Gold

  Chapter 4 Field Work for the Damned

  Chapter 5 What if…

  Chapter 6 Hawk’s Eyes, Crow’s Promise

  Chapter 7 Who Am I To Stand in Your Way

  Chapter 8 Level of Concern

  Chapter 9 Normal, Experiment, Otherwise

  Chapter 10 Shoddy Motels and a Heart Full of Hope

  Chapter 11 River of Promises

  Chapter 12 Notice from the Damned

  Chapter 13 Liar, Liar I Hate You

  Chapter 14 Red Room

  Chapter 15 Joker & Harley Quinn

  Chapter 16 Still We Danced

  Chapter 17 Dark Horse

  Chapter 18 Death to the Bloody Black Courts

  Chapter 19 Infinitely Yours

  About the Author

  Also by S. King

  Chapter 1 Hazy Memories, Torn Heart

  Paralyzing fear. I had become infinite friends with the feeling. In fact, it was almost a comfort that couldn’t be provided on a normal basis. When I had nightmares, I almost welcomed the feeling of waking up unable to move. Unable to turn my head. Unable to breathe like I was at peace. The point was simple, I was awake, and this small, almost insignificant relief was all that mattered to me.

  As weird as it were, my sleep paralysis was a constant reminder to the obvious. I had survived yet another night of being on my own. But I wasn’t alone not right now. Not in this unfamiliar room where I still had yet to figure out to whom it belonged to.

  Yet, somewhere within the four walls that had been my shelter for god knows how long, I heard movement. Feet shuffling across the floor in an unhurried fashion. Things moving around on a stable surface just several feet away from me.

  “You’re awake,” a husky voice was the key to snapping my body back online.

  In the past it wouldn’t have worked; then again, in the past I was always alone and in my own bed when I had an episode. There had never been anyone waiting for me to open my eyes. Never someone watching me sleep and knowing when I was at my weakest.

  Taking a deep breath, the phantom pain in my stomach pinched as the flesh dipped with each inhale and expanded on the exhale. Finally, I was able to move and now, after all of this time, I could sit up and see just who had been my savior.

  It’d be a lie to say I wasn’t hoping I saw Demir in all of his Gold Guard glory standing by the window. The sunlight would frame his silhouette and make him look like a fallen angel. Of course, a wave of relief would wash over his face and guilt would stain those damning eyes of his. But none of the latter appeared in front of me.

  Demir wasn’t anywhere in the room or sitting on the bed, holding my hand. He wasn’t mindlessly staring out the window or talking to me like I was really listening. A crushing weight fell upon my chest in a suffocating manner as my eyes found the one who more than likely had kept me company during my unconsciousness.

  “Who are you?” My voice was hoarse from lack of use.

  While the rest of me was feeling like a skeleton who had been forced to live a life that should’ve been over with ages ago. A damned mummy coming back from the dead, I internally griped. How befitting for the infamous Silver Angel. The mental thought was laughable at best, but I didn’t have time to think back on my former tittle. I needed to focus on my present situation and that included trying to figure out how in the hell I had gotten here.

  Sitting up, I looked at the man standing in front of the window. Black hair with a slight tint of blue laid in soft layers before fading out to his scalp at the nape of his neck. Eyes of a deathly shade of black tracked every move I made and looked as clear as crystal. Filled with danger. Warning. Malice. But it wasn’t just the feelings dancing around in his eyes which made me think twice of talking back to him. No, those black orbs were as alert as a starving panther about to pounce its prey. As if he were waiting for me to bolt from the bed just so he had a reason to snap my neck and toss me to the wolves.

  Getting lost in his eyes, I had almost ignored the rest of him. He wasn’t as tall as Demir, but he was pushing the hell out of being a runner up. With his broad shoulders and the muscles in his arms coiling of power, there was a shiver of excitement coursing its way through my veins. As to why? I didn’t know.

  Shifting my eyes lower, his waist dipped in an overly attractive V which hinted at his constant and meticulous workout regimen. I noticed through the black jeans he had the thighs of a soldier. Strong. Hard as steel. Powerful within their own right.

  But pushing all of those sweet details aside, it was his voice that snapped me from the assessment of the man in front of me. And brought my eyes back to his. Like the rest of him, his voice was of silk and smooth whiskey.

  “The better question is, who are you?” Pushing aside my question as if it were nothing more than an annoying gnat needing to be squished, he narrowed his eyes further on me.

  “Can I have something to drink first?”

  If he wanted to play the twenty question game and dance around the subject at hand. So be it. But I was not going to sit here, dried out like a bag of strawberry chips.

  His eyebrow ticked up for a second before he relented. Slightly turning to the side, he grabbed a bottle of purified water and tossed the thing on the other side of the bed.

  “Thanks,” I half snapped as I twisted to get the much needed hydration.

  Naturally, having to twist and lean forced my stomach to protest and sent a shot of pain through my side. Clenching my teeth, I grabbed the bottle of water fully aware of the over attractive jackass who was supposed to be caring for me.

  “Who are you?” He asked again, his tone taking on a harder tone than I cared for.

  “Luminous River, your turn.” I barked, nailing him with a hard stare.

  The aqua had done enough of its job to lubricate my vocal chords for the time being. I hadn’t wanted to start a screaming match with him but with his attitude and ego reigning supreme in the room. It was hard not to feel
my patience running thin and acting on the impulse had always been in my nature so why bother changing now?

  He remained silent for a moment. Considering me from his stance by the window. I’ll admit he was nice to look at in comparison to the images I had been trapped in for the past…how long had it been since I’ve been awake? When was the last time I showered?

  Although I couldn’t remember anything after being pushed off that damned cliff. I knew it had been long enough that I should be smelling like something from the side of the road. Gathering my shirt, I took a deep inhale of the fabric and frowned.

  Lavender and vanilla. Freshly washed. Raising my arm, I took a quick sniff and felt my frown deepen. Unscented deodorant. What the actual hell? Had I just hit my head and came to, and now I was just trying to recover a memory that wouldn’t form? It wouldn’t be unheard of. Hell, people had memory lapses all the time and they still lived normal lives without too much incident. The theory sounded plausible enough for me not to overreact, but even I knew that was not what this was.

  I strictly remember Demir on the edge of the cliff. The Honor Guard cornering us. Demir spinning on me and stabbing that damn dagger through my stomach. Why the hell did I give him a dagger? It was stupid on my part, I’ll admit that much. But Jesus. Using the very gift I had given him against me? That was a new low, even for him.

  Snapping my mind away from the crystal clear memory of hearing Demir’s final words to me right before the literal punch in the gut. I focused on the man still watching me like a hawk.

  “Hello? Do you not know how to speak now?” I asked, tilting my head.

  A humorless sound came from him, but his face remained an unreadable mask. “Shang.”

  “Shang?” I made a face and threw up my hands, “well, ok, Shang. Care to tell me where I am?”

  His eyes narrowed further for a second out of what seemed like irritation before they went back to just a normal stare of something I couldn’t decipher.

  “Yes? No?” I prompted.

  “You’re of an ungrateful nature, aren’t you?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “You have yet to thank me for saving your life.”

  My eyes closed slowly after the things rolled on their own, “thank you for saving my life.” I glared at him, “now, tell me where I am.”

  He kicked off the small dresser and crossed the room to the closet, “you’re in a small town called Springcrest.”

  Mentally, I tried to visualize the map of Colorado I had pinned behind my desk at the Silver Guard HQ. Springcrest was a know-nothing idiot town that had maybe five-hundred people in its population. Further north of Castlehedge, tucked neatly behind the mountain ridges and away from the prying eyes of city folks.

  Unlike Castlehedge, Springcrest had a talent for making the back roads of a southern country town look like the ends of the earth. From what I remembered of the map, Springcrest had exactly one street lamp, one grocery store and a hospital. Nothing special, nothing to boast about. Great, I had gone from bad to worse in a matter of however long I had been here.

  “Why?” I asked, trying to mentally draw a route on my map that would take me home.

  I needed to get back to Castlehedge and go after Lovett as well as be with Karina and Demir. And Dristan if I were being honest with myself. Something about the big guy made me happy and a little calmer too. A least when Demir wasn’t around. In truth, Dristan was like a brother in-law to me. What with his relationship with Karina and all. We had the type of friendship that seemed to flourish strictly because either of us refused to leave our significant other.

  Shang turned away from the closet, his face still closed off as he dropped a change of clothes on the bed and stood back.

  “Because you floated here.”

  “Water doesn’t travel upstream and neither do people.”

  “Then I guess you’re a koi fish, Luminous, because that’s the only anyone from Silver Guard is going to get here without going through the mountains.” He snapped, finally showing some form of emotion. Even if it was irritation.

  For a moment, I froze. There were no identifying marks on me to indicate my position within the Silver Guard. Or on any other guard member for that matter. Hell, the Black Courts and the scientists who had created us abominations had manipulated our bodies to have an allergic reactions to tattoo ink. So, I knew it wasn’t because I had some kind of brand on my body or dog tags like in civilized society. How the hell did he know I was from Silver? Unless…

  “What’s your ability?” I asked with my own eyes narrowed.

  A muscle in his jaw flexed, as a heavy breath left through his nose. “You don’t want to know.” Was all he said before leaving the room.

  He was one of us. Another experiment forced to live this miserable existence. Always having to hide away in the shadows night time provided. Looking over his shoulder, defending his life with every breath he took, he knew all of it. He knew what I had to go through and knew why I was so apprehensive in trusting him. It was understandable and sure, maybe I should’ve greeted him with more appreciation and admiration. But I was the type of person who, if greeted with an attitude. My own attitude would respond.

  Glancing at the clothes he had tossed on the bed, I allowed a heavy breath to leave me. How long had I been here? I mentally asked again. Of course, I didn’t get an answer to the question and was forced to draw my own conclusions.

  I had been in Springcrest, in Shang’s house long enough for him to get clothes to fit me. Not too loose and not too tight either.

  “Fuck it,” I grumbled and pushed my hair from my face. Once I got in the shower, things would be a hell of a lot better. At least, I hoped they would.

  Taking a deep breath, I ignored the phantom pain in my stomach before getting out of bed.

  “Well, shit!” I growled as my face became best friends with the hardwood floors. “Ow,” I looked down at my legs and sighed.

  Another component added itself into the problem I had been trying to solve since I opened my eyes. Losing the ability to walk normally started after three weeks. A month if you were lucky; well, I knew I had probably been asleep beyond a month. Considering the fact my wound was healed and I lost the strength in my legs, I was on the right path of becoming a commodity. Great. Just fucking great.

  “Would you like some help?”

  I had to cock my head to the side in order to see the older woman standing next to the dresser. For some reason, the sun burning through the windows had decided to envelope the woman in a heavenly glow. Unlike with Shang, the woman became the very embodiment of warm and welcoming.

  Maybe it was thanks to her genteel smile and her grandmotherly eyes, shining a bright blue. Maybe it was thanks to her snow white hair being smoothed back into a sleek ponytail. Whatever the case, I knew—somewhere deep in my soul—she had been my true savior.

  “Please,” I finally said.

  Another motherly smile kissed her lips as she lightly walked over to me and bent down to help me up. Of course, I tried to carry the bulk of my weight, but like my legs. I had lost almost all of my strength in my arms.

  “What happened?” I asked as she gently pulled my shirt over my head and grabbed the fresh shirt from the top of the folded pile Shang had left.

  “Well, darling,” she said with a heavy breath and shook out the fabric. “Shang was busy on a job, you see,” she took my hands in hers, strategically pushing the sleeves of the shirt up my arms. “And he found you, in broad daylight.” She stepped back and allowed me to do the rest before looking at me, “we’re going to do your bottom half now, ok?”

  I nodded, feeling completely inferior. How in the hell had I become so incapacitated that I had to have someone help me dress? As if my mind was on a kick of sarcastic crap so early in the morning, the damn thing flashed an image of Demir’s face.

  “Up we go,” the woman said, lifting me easily from the bed and pushed down my pants with ease before setting me back down on the bed.


  As she stooped to take my legs out of the pants, she continued to explain. “You were bleeding so much and mumbling incoherently about something. I will admit when Shang brought you in, looking like a little boy trying to save his favorite toy,” she looked at me, those bright eyes sparkling. “It was the sweetest thing I had seen in a long time. And when he looked at your wound, after I got you cleaned up—for the most part.”

  “Wait, Shang found me?” I asked, idly thinking about the cold man who had tossed the water at me like I was nothing more than a back alley dog begging for scraps out of a trashcan.

  She nodded, swiping the clean pants from the bed. Like with the shirt, she shook the things out and dropped back to her knees to help me.

  “He did,” she confirmed, “carried you all the way, didn’t even finish his job. Which probably explains why he’s so…” she trailed off, looking for the word to describe the barbarian of a man’s mood swing.

  “Hostile?” I supplied as she pushed the pants up to my thighs.

  “That’s an easy way to say it,” she smiled at me again before patting her shoulders, “up we go again.”

  I followed the direction, feeling my butt leave the mattress before the pants were pulled up to my hips and I was lowered again.

  “Anyway,” she said, taking the dirty clothes and depositing them into the laundry basket. “He was the one to stitch you up and care for you—with the exception of the bathing and other intimate tasks.” Turning back to me, she smiled again before going to the closet. “He refused to do such things namely because of who you are.”

  I frowned, watching her push a wheelchair from the closet. “How do you guys know who I am?”

  She sighed, the sound coming off as a sympathetic prayer to whoever was the highest power. “Funny how those of the night know each other, isn’t it?”

  She locked the brakes on the chair before sitting on the bed and handed me the water. A distant look came over her face, making her appear triple her actual age.

  “None of us asked to be created or brought into this world. Yet, we know who to be wary of. We know who can be somewhat trusted. We know who can’t.” It was as if she had lived a thousand lives and regretting each and every one of them.