The Return of the Gods (Children of the Sun Book 1)

Kaleth had been prepared for a lot to happen tonight. He usually did since it was almost a job requirement. But randomly running into a member of the terrorist group they’d been hunting down wasn’t something he’d thought could happen.

He had been doing paperwork when his teammate Rayni walked into his office and dragged him away to get some coffee. Apparently, he’d looked like he needed it, and he couldn’t say that he didn’t enjoy it. However, he still had work to do. Work which he could do while drinking the beverage.

He and Rayni had had a difference of opinion there, though, so now he was sitting in a café, staring out the window at the dark, empty street to his left. This part of the city was refreshingly quiet, he had to admit, but it also made him a bit tense. He just wasn’t used to this kind of silence in a city as large as Enbrant. He could barely hear the rumbling of cars in the distance here.

“You’re not listening to me, are you?” Rayni asked, her eyebrows drawn into a worried frown as she snapped her fingers in front of Kaleth’s eyes. He blinked as he focused on her again, noting that she’d almost finished her sundae already, but that wasn’t really surprising since she ate twice as fast as the average person. There was a small splatter of whipped cream on her cheek, a stark contrast to her brown skin.

“Apologies, what were you saying?” Kaleth asked, taking another sip of his coffee. It was the strongest kind they had at this café, but it wasn’t really helping him be more alert. At least it had only cost him five aurens, and it was drinkable. He was used to paying about four times as much.

Rayni pointed a finger at him. “See? You have trouble concentrating. You need to get some sleep.”

“I sleep at least twice a week, just like it’s recommended for us.” Kaleth made sure to lower his voice even though there wasn’t anyone there to overhear them. The only other person in the café was a barista who had headphones over her ears. Not surprising given that it was past midnight already. Honestly, the fact that the café was still open was strange on its own.

“It doesn’t count if you only get four hours of sleep in total!” Rayni exclaimed through a mouthful of thawing ice cream, and Kaleth cringed. Gods, she was loud.

Since she wasn’t wrong and Kaleth was too mentally tired for this, he just stayed silent and gave her an exasperated look.

“Don’t look at me like that.” She tried to look stern, but since she kept eating the sundae, it couldn’t be taken seriously. Kaleth almost started laughing but managed to disguise it as a cough. Maybe he really was exhausted if something like this was so funny to him.

“Well, it’s been a few months already, and I’m perfectly fine,” Kaleth said. Rayni scoffed, clearly not agreeing with that, so Kaleth continued. “I’m not tired. I just have a lot on my mind. Besides, Relioth told me it was possible for us to go without sleep altogether.”

Rayni’s frown turned genuinely angry at the mention of the politician’s name, which was a rare enough sight that it shut Kaleth up. He knew Rayni didn’t like Relioth, but he hadn’t thought she disliked him that much.

“Yeah, I talked to Kara and Al about that,” she said. Kaleth scowled, wondering what Rayni was talking about. “I don’t think you should listen to that guy. He’s an ass. And he always looks at me funny. It creeps me out. Not to mention his stupid vendetta against Irithara.”

Kaleth sighed and finished his coffee. He’d known that Rayni wasn’t very fond of Relioth, but she hadn’t voiced her opinion like this before—at least not to him, and not this strongly. “He might not be the nicest person, but I highly doubt he has any ill intentions. Besides, he’s at least half the reason we’re still getting funding from the government, so I wouldn’t….”

Kaleth trailed off as he noticed a man walking out of the hardware store that was opposite the café and pulling a hood over his head. That in itself wouldn’t be that odd, but the man kept looking around and behind him nervously, pulling his sweatshirt around himself tightly while keeping his head down.

Kaleth focused on him, trying to reach into his mind to see if he was up to something. He couldn’t read minds exactly, but he could read feelings, which was usually enough to determine if someone had ill intentions. This man, however, was giving off absolutely nothing. Kaleth’s mouth formed a thin, displeased line.

“What’s up?” asked Rayni, trying to see what Kaleth was looking at.

“An Umbra.”

“What, out there? What would one of them want here?”

That was a good question given that they were at the very edge of Enbrant. Few people lived here, so it would hardly be a good place for an attack.

But Kaleth didn’t really care about the details. Whoever it was, the man was an Umbra. They were the only people who used this kind of cloaking technology, and if he was here, it meant something bad was going to happen. At least they always worked alone, so Kaleth wouldn’t have to worry about being attacked from behind.

He didn’t waste any time and walked out of the café, Rayni right behind him. She had already drawn her gun and was following the hooded man with her eyes, clearly having noticed the cloaking as well by now.

Kaleth pulled his own weapon out of the inside pocket of his suit and started following the Umbra. It might be useful to see where he was going and why he was going there, but Kaleth didn’t think it was worth it. If they didn’t stop him immediately, he might complete whatever mission he had, and that would lead to people dying. It always did.

They kept their distance and avoided walking directly under streetlights, staying close to the walls of the various shops and houses the street had to offer instead. It seemed to work because the Umbra hadn’t started running yet. It made Kaleth suspicious, though, because he must have noticed him and Rayni already, even if he couldn’t get a good look at them. There weren’t any other people around here right now. Maybe the Umbra thought they were civilians, and therefore nothing to be concerned about.

Finally, an opportunity presented itself as the man turned right into a small alley that was barely lit. Good, they didn’t need any witnesses—especially not if the Umbra refused to cooperate and they would have to shoot. Something as loud as a gunshot was bound to draw attention. Kaleth really should start carrying around a silencer at all times.

Rayni, being faster because unlike Kaleth she was wearing sneakers, ran further down the street so she could run around the block and intercept the Umbra from the other side. Kaleth had no idea how she was so certain there wouldn’t be something in her way that would stop her progress, but since she had picked the café, maybe she knew the area.

Kaleth continued following the Umbra, but he had sped up so he wouldn’t lose sight of him. Thankfully, the man had slowed down now that he was in the dark alley, though Kaleth couldn’t help but wonder why.

A second later, the man turned around, finally noticing Kaleth, who raised his gun and aimed it at the Umbra’s head. The man froze, his eyes wide as he stared at Kaleth. Kaleth expected him to try to make a run for it, but before he could make a move Rayni appeared on the other side of the alley, pointing her gun at the Umbra as well.

Knowing that there was nowhere to go, the man slowly put his hands up and hung his head. Kaleth went closer to him, narrowing his eyes at the plastic bag the Umbra was still holding in his raised hand.

“Take off the hood,” Kaleth told him quietly, not bothering to try to be intimidating because the Umbra’s hands were shaking enough as it was. Though Kaleth still suspected it was all an act. At least until the man did as he was told and revealed his face.

The Umbra looked twenty-something years old, but they aged slowly, so that didn’t really tell Kaleth much. Messy black hair fell into the man’s amber eyes, but the terror in them was still jarringly clear, even though he was doing his best to avoid eye contact. There was something else there, too, though—resignation maybe.

Kaleth felt like he understood the situation less with each passing second. This was an Umbra, surely. No one else Kaleth knew of could cloak their minds the way this man was doing it. And yet he’d never seen an Umbra look scared, let alone this much.

Could this be a deserter? Kaleth had been fighting the Umbra for over a decade and he had never come across anything like that, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t possible, of course. Still, he was having a hard time believing it.

“What’s in the bag?”

“J-just some parts I bought to fix my TV,” the man said in a shaky voice and flinched when Kaleth took the bag from him.

Kaleth frowned down at the contents, wishing that there was better lighting, but from what he could see, it seemed the Umbra wasn’t lying. There were a couple of wires, an old-looking circuit board, and some batteries. How old was this man’s TV exactly?

Rayni walked over to them and looked at Kaleth with a raised eyebrow, silently asking if what the Umbra had said was true. Kaleth nodded at her, and she narrowed her eyes.

“And you just happen to go looking for that at one in the morning?”

The Umbra lowered his gaze further. “I was afraid a Luxarx agent would find me if I went out during the day.”

Kaleth swallowed and put his gun away. He didn’t like how this situation was making him feel. He was just doing his job, but it felt more like he was harassing an innocent person. “I wouldn’t have found you if you weren’t cloaking yourself.”

“I don’t want the other Umbra to recognize me,” the Umbra replied, lowering his arms a bit.

“Why?” Rayni asked, her tone distrustful. Clearly, she didn’t believe a word the Umbra was saying, but to Kaleth he didn’t seem like a good enough liar to pull that off. He was about to say as much, but then the Umbra spoke again.

“Raynimara?” he breathed, staring at Rayni with a mix of shock and horror. Kaleth blinked in surprise, but he didn’t let that stop him from using that moment to slip his phone into the Umbra’s bag. He made a mental note to ask Kara to remotely delete all the data stored on it later.

“What did you just call me?” Rayni asked, her tone and expression bewildered. How could the Umbra know the full version of Rayni’s name? If Kaleth hadn’t been involved with the leadership of Luxarx, he probably wouldn’t even know it himself. Luxarx agents were encouraged not to share personal information with their colleagues, though some of them ignored that—especially Rayni, who sometimes shared a bit too much. Except for her name.

“I-I’m sorry, I thought you were….” The Umbra shook his head, looking very upset. “It doesn’t matter. I was wrong.”

Rayni raised her gun a bit higher, aiming it at the Umbra’s forehead. The man looked somehow even more terrified now as he took a small step back away from Rayni. “What did you think?”

Kaleth didn’t think he’d ever seen Rayni like this. She wasn’t fond of this kind of interrogation, or any interrogation, for that matter. Concerned that she might actually pull the trigger, Kaleth decided it was time to step in.

“Put the gun down,” he said, but Rayni ignored him.

“I-I thought you were someone I knew,” the Umbra whimpered, his terror slowly turning into sadness, and he lowered his gaze. “But she’s dead. And besides, she’d never join Luxarx.”

Kaleth couldn’t help but feel a little offended at how hostile that last part had sounded, but he ignored it for now along with the many questions he had. Instead, he turned to Rayni, whose eyes had started to glow with a bluish-purple light.

“Put the gun down,” he repeated, this time a little more loudly. He didn’t like yelling, but he was prepared to do so if she didn’t listen to him.

“Are you serious?” she asked incredulously as she finally looked at him, the light in her eyes losing its intensity. Kaleth said nothing, only letting his stare get the point across, but it was enough to make Rayni follow the order. Before she could say or do anything else, Kaleth gave the Umbra the plastic bag back and nodded toward the end of the alley.

Both the Umbra and Rayni stared at him in shock. The Umbra recovered quickly, though, and with one last grateful look, he bolted, running away before Rayni could do anything to stop him.

“What the hell, man?” asked Rayni harshly, sounding like she couldn’t believe what Kaleth had just done. “That was an Umbra. We catch those, remember? I know we haven’t done that in a while, but they are still a problem. Now he’s gonna hurt someone.”

“I highly doubt he will. He was terrified of us.” Kaleth said, frowning. “If you want to know where he is going, track my phone.”

Rayni raised her eyebrows, but she still looked angry. “You put your phone in his bag? Well, then at least I’ll be able to find him and ask just how he knows my name.”

“Why did you react so strongly to him knowing it?” Kaleth wasn’t confident that it was a good question to ask considering how uncharacteristically furious Rayni had been a moment ago, but he had to. Rayni just blinked as if she didn’t understand what he was talking about.

Kaleth raised an eyebrow at her and looked pointedly at the gun she was still holding in her hand. Rayni stared at it for a moment, first with realization, then horror. She quickly put the weapon away and ran a hand through her hair.

“Gods, I...I almost shot him, didn’t I?” she whispered in disbelief, her rage now a distant memory. “When he said my name, I just got so angry.” She shrugged helplessly. “I didn’t even think it was weird until you pointed it out. What is going on?”

Kaleth rubbed a hand over his mouth and sighed. Whatever was going on, it couldn’t be good.