“Attention: possible gang moving at top speed through the western district toward the northern gate,” DAWN announced.

Escott eyed his father. The man seemed intent on taking this new job seriously. Heading the law enforcers meant a desk job for life.

That was surprising.

Despite the reports blasting through his father’s shoulder badge, the man continued to address the small crowd of new recruits. And while Escott glanced in the man’s direction, those blue eyes studied him in kind.

The dark confines of the sublevel garage hadn’t bothered Escott in the beginning. At first it looked cool to be ushered down there quietly with the others. Now...now he felt foolish.

“Any questions about how these vehicles work?” his father asked.

Escott was tempted to raise his hand, but he resisted the urge.

The man waited and when he was convinced by the silence, he said, “A Newbreed crew is a dangerous experiment. Made all the more scary by the fact that your imp fathers would come down here and literally eat each and every law officer if anything happened to you bunch of bastards.”

His second in command, a slender blonde, leaned in to whisper, “Sir, you can’t call them bastards.”

“What’ll their dads care?”

“It’s not their fathers I’m worried about. It’s the aristocrat mothers who are prone to get litigious.”

“Streets cleared in the northwest. Suspects seem intent on scaling the wall,” the computer said.

The second in command glanced at the badge. She, too, wore one, but it didn’t sound. “Maybe you should turn that off.”

Escott’s father ignored that suggestion. He told the crowd, “Now, a lot of you would rather be here than farming in the fields and I get that, but this isn’t really a job I want for kids.”

“I’m nineteen,” Escott muttered. Not saying more took effort.

The man waited before continuing. “Due to the manmade efforts used to create your fathers and by extension you, you lot grow fast, but maturity isn’t the same as numbers and I need you to understand that you won’t be seeing all the good in the world. You’ll be seeing scum.”

Escott waited, wondering if all this nonsense was going somewhere. There must have been a reason they were assembled well after hours, in the dead of night, in secret.

And then it came, his father unhooked a hand-held radio from his hip and fiddled with the dials, adjusting the frequency. Before it sounded, he turned to the recruits and said, “Let me remind you lot what you’re going up against.” He pressed a button with his thumb.

“Good people of the Fan,” a woman’s voice chimed. Karen Blackwell.

Nobody moved but even Escott unintentionally tensed.

“I have it on good authority, the enforcers are planning something underhanded. The imbeciles, lacking proper new enforcers, are attempting to enlist Newbreeds. Actual Newbreeds. For those of you freshly returned from stasis, I’m sorry to inform you of the changes to the world while you were trapped in that void. But Newbreeds, half imp, half human abominations may look more like us, but they are in essence, animals, just like their imp fathers—”

The chief, Escott’s father, twisted a knob on the device which quieted, sucking all sound from around them. Nobody moved.

“We all know Karen Blackwell,” he said, scanning them to make sure he’d made his point. “And she’s ratcheting up this hate campaign against you, armed with one little radio show. It’s not against me, a Yule, or the Elementals, and not even the imps themselves, but you lot. The Newbreeds—the proof that despite appearances, imps are still in essence human, too. Something nobody wants to be reminded of. So we’re gonna go slow. And we’re not making any mistakes. All right?”

A loud engine cut through the air, echoing against the walls of the garage. Escott knew that scent anywhere.

“Lilah’s here,” he said with a smile. “Knew she’d come.”

The bike came to a stop and Lilah hopped off. Helmet in hand, she took her rightful spot as the third in command—also a new promotion.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” she said.

“That’s okay,” the second whispered. “What with your family and—”

“Yes, ma’am. Thank you.”

Her badge sounded along with Escott’s father’s.

Escott held out as long as he could. “How come we’re not going after those guys? Huh? Aren’t they heading for the northern gate? And,” he mimicked his father, “‘by extension’ the Guardians?” His voice returned to normal. “Hiding away in some garage from a hypocrite madwoman with a soapbox is dumb. Screw Karen Blackwell. We can outrun anyone. You wanna show us in a good light, then let us show that good light. Everything imp related should be our territory. What’s the point of recruiting Newbreeds if the farthest we get is a damn garage?”

“Language,” his father reminded him.

Smiling hard, Escott muttered back, “Yes, sir.”

“Does have a point, though,” one of the weaker recruits added. “I’m mean with a scythe if that’s the worry. And most of us are used to catching full blown imps that sneak up from the underground. Why aren’t we out there helping to catch this gang? At this rate, they’ll hit the northern gate in about ten minutes. In which time, one of our Guardian imps will awaken and swallow one if not more of said gang members whole.”

He fell silent so suddenly that everyone shared a glance.

Escott’s father cleared his throat. “We’re staying put. You ain’t even official cadets yet.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sakes, old man,” Escott said. “What’s the fucking point? Two weeks. Two damn weeks I go without cussing around you, playing nice, and what the fuck did that give me? Are we getting out there to see some action or are you going to pat our heads and send us home? ‘Cause I’ll tell ya, going up against someone about to eviscerate me and eat my entrails beats this handholding stroll on the promenade.”

“Try it,” his father warned. “Say fuck one more fucking time and see how fast you’re back shoveling shit at dawn.”

Lilah stepped in before they could go head-to-head. “Sir, Escott’s...gruff way of saying it be forgiven, he does have a point. Newbreed farmers have by far the most dangerous job. They’re our first line of defense if anything sneaks in. I’m...not sure that the cautionary procedures are necessary. If one of our Guardians awakens, it’ll be hell getting him back to sleep again until he’s done feeding. Meaning we are likely to lose nearly all—if not all—suspects.”

Good ole Lilah, always coming to the rescue.

Escott tried to meet her gaze but with little success.

“Permission to take them along just to observe,” Lilah asked.

She received a sigh, and Escott knew that sound all too well; his old man was going to say no.

Lilah offered, “And of course, sir, you should come along. You know, as a last mission before your retirement from active duty. They could learn a lot from you.”

The gears in Escott’s father’s head turned for a short moment until he said, “I suppose looking won’t hurt.”

Groaning, the second in command said, “Sir, I really don’t recommend this.”

“Five more minutes before those idiot gang members find out the hard way that we’re surrounded by these Guardians for a reason,” the weakly cadet warned.

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“Fine. Suit up.” Escott’s father rushed to the oldest bike in the row. “Essy, you’re with me.”

Escott cringed. “No way. I’ll go with Lilah.”

But before he could approach, she mounted her own bike and put the helmet on.

“Sorry, Es. I just...I just can’t right now. Ride with your dad and try to make it there in one piece.” Lilah revved the bike and told her bosses, “I’ll take a shortcut underground and beat traffic.”

She met up on instant opposition. “That’s not a good idea. At least let Essy ride with you if you’re taking that much of a risk.”

But Lilah sped off, turned the bike sharp and barreled out of the open door.

Most of the Newbreed recruits got as far as the cars before they had to stop. They weren’t used to traveling unless on foot. Escott thought to help whoever he could, but his father’s smug smile discouraged him.

Escott wasn’t having it. He raced to his father’s bike and gave it a slap as he hurried by. The machine followed. It gave off a click, click, boom before it powered up. Escott jumped on.

“Essy! Es,” his father called. “This is no time to be an asshole.”

Escott yelled back, “Learned from the best. Try not to die getting there, you old fuck.”

A bus zipped by, nearly clipping Escott in the process.

He steadied himself and joined traffic. Their city, The Fan, grew almost daily thanks to the people returning from stasis. Bright lights stretched out before him, but that was nothing new in a city with zero visible sunlight beyond the farm.

The Fan lay in perpetual darkness, the way everybody liked it.

Few jobs for returnees meant gangs were on the rise. Escott, who knew this place from top to bottom, found it comfortable rather than scary. Still, to be chasing someone down—the blood certainly started pumping.

In the last nineteen years, the Fan, once no more than a few random buildings scattered in a desert, flourished into something amazing. Though Escott ran wild in the city during his childhood, that all came to a stop when they figured out how to bring people out of stasis. He told himself not to resent those coming back from the portal but he did. Three races settled the Fan, human Yules, Elementals, and imps. Newbreeds weren’t planned.

Back then, they all had to band together to fight off starvation and death, then literal hostile slavers. Now, as safe as the Fan had become, the balance between those races was...delicate. All thanks to those damn returnees. Oh, and Karen Blackwell wasn’t helping.

This enforcer job had to work. Escott was tired of seeing ungrateful bastards come back from stasis, staring at him and his kind as if they were the ones out of place and time.

At this speed, the northern gate closed in, and the giant imps along with it. The Guardians. Today he wondered just how many of them surrounded the entire city, fast asleep, using their bodies to fuel the forcefield that kept everyone safe.

Such a sacrifice. To see this piece of shit gang, anyone for that matter, disturb them was unforgivable.

He’d reach the northern gate long before the others.

The vid screen on the bike came to life. “Return to base right now and give me back my bike.”

Without answering, Escott put his hand over his father’s image and gained speed. “Not now, fogy. I left mine at home and I’ve got something to prove.”

Lilah shot out of an alleyway, barely missing him. This behavior was unlike her. She always played it safe—and not just in her job.

The tight row of thirty-foot, green bodies closed in. One wrong move and instead of protecting them, those Guardians could easily devour a nearby district. Keeping them asleep was a must.

And then Escott saw the idiots. Four men, piled into the back of a small open car, struggled to keep a box from falling. And they were headed right for the Guardians. Idiots.

A large body landed before Lilah and she turned sharp. Her bike dragged her a good distance, and Escott slowed. He yearned to check on her, to take that helmet off and see if she was okay.

But he couldn’t because that body that startled her moved like an imp but was pale. It was a Newbreed. He couldn’t imagine a Newbreed alive who would join a gang. He hoped to see the asshole’s face, so he’d know who to punch in the field tomorrow.

A hiss closed in, and Escott came to a stop and turned to punch without mercy. He connected.

The Newbreed dropped. Whoever it was had muscle, but that was about it. Escott was slow to dismount. He didn’t want to startle the bastard. A Newbreed himself, he knew what to look out for. They were easily agitated when adrenaline came into the mix.

But this was it. He couldn’t get any luckier. A high-speed chase in his first month on the job—and fighting a weak opponent no less. He glanced up to make sure a few cameras hovered close. His father was watching.

This was it.

He grabbed the Newbreed by the back of the cheap leather jacket and hoisted him up.

Why’d he have to do that?

“Lander...?”

The face to greet him was one he knew well. “Let us down, Essy, will ya?”

But putting him down wasn’t really an option.

“What the hell are you doing, idiot?”

Lander’s pale skin darkened. At least he had the grace to blush.

“Let us down, nuh?”

Escott dropped him in a manner he hoped his bosses would view as forceful.

Even in Escott’s wildest dreams, he never imagined he would arrest someone he knew.

Lander.... He hadn’t counted on Lander and he would have charged at him but, how could he? The green tint of his skin meant he hadn’t eaten properly in weeks. Those large earrings in the arch of his ears made them flop over. Not to mention the other metal piercings that littered his face. Just looking at them made Escott wince. The guy was in a bad way.

But this was Escott’s job.

Thoughts settled on Lilah. Two other roofless cars zipped past, still heading for the gate. Between all three of them, Escott wasn’t sure what he should do. Standing around talking wasn’t really an option.

“Just let me go,” Lander whispered. “Yeah?”

Escott’s heart raced, but it was no longer for the thrill of the ride.

Boom.

Lilah rammed Lander hard, picking him up off the ground. When she threw him down, her fist glowed blue and Escott cringed.

Crack. Pop. He could only imagine how many broken ribs his friend would have to contend with in the morning. Lander easily doubled Lilah in size. She jumped on his torso, though, punching him in the chest without mercy.

Enforcer tanks wailed down the street. The others had arrived, finally.

Escott should have run to catch up on the remaining boneheads heading for that gate, but he feared Lilah might actually kill the bastard.

“Stop,” a familiar voice said. Escott’s father exited the metal framed car and rushed to help Lander up. “Stop. You can’t pound on a Newbreed with green skin. It’s cruel.”

Whatever power trip Lilah was on, she wasn’t letting it go any time soon. A swipe of her hand along her pant leg produced a thin plastic film which she wrapped around Lander’s neck. A moment later she affixed both hands to it, leaving the injured Newbreed on the ground, neck constricted, hands bound to the collar.

And then she jumped up and picked up her bike. She was gone before Escott even blinked.

There weren’t many things fatherly about Escott’s dad. It wasn’t really fair to say that. He tried hard, but he just wasn’t good at it, as far as Escott was concerned.

Today was the first time the man earned that title of father. He looked Escott in the eye as he sat down beside Lander.

“Go ahead and go. We’re already out here and people are patching into the feed. Jan and I’ll look about Lander.”

Sure enough, his second in command, Jan, dismounted the car and ran to help Lander up. She was tender when she said, “Oh geez, Lanny, your father’s gonna raise hell. Come on.”

“No. Don’t pick him up like that,” Escott’s father said. “Let him stand. We’ll get him off the street before the news broadcasts get at him.”

Escott felt at ease watching them. There were many Newbreeds who abused their physical advantages to an almost criminal level; Lander was different.

Rushing to his own bike, Escott gave a speedy, “Fucking took you long enough, you old bastard,” as he mounted the thing and took off.

He wasn’t sure where to go until he saw the explosions.

Enforcers weren’t supposed to use weapons on gangs. Escott had read that in the manuals. With returnee numbers so shaky, it was forbidden.

It wasn’t a cannon, though. As Escott closed in, dread filled him. It was Lilah and she fired several balls of fire from her fist. One struck, tipping the car upside down, and everyone in it.

The manual said to stop and check and apprehend, but she zipped past them, heading for the other two.

Newbreed recruits slowed at the wreckage, all equally as confused as Escott. They looked to him for guidance even though he was also at a loss. That was common, though. As Escott was the oldest—the first Newbreed of their community—others often turned to him for help.

“Bag ‘em,” he said. “Use the same restraints as you would for Newbreeds since we don’t know if any of ‘em are Elementals. And whatever you do, don’t spit on them.”

By the time Escott reached the rest of the would-be suspects, a firefight broke out—right in front of one of the Guardian imps.

It was that moment Escott knew something was wrong with Lilah and it was big.

Cables fell from the sky and he looked up as regular enforcers zipped down and held up their transparent shields.

“Warning: you are standing close to our border. Should you touch an imp of this size, we cannot help you. Please fall back,” someone said over loudspeaker.

Through all the chaos, a small crowd gathered, whispering. Escott considered them idiot onlookers but something else caught his eye. Two of the men from the crowd focused on a large container in the street. One, head covered by the hood of a robe, seemed intent on making a dash for it.

“Has everyone lost their fucking minds?” Escott grumbled. That box was huge and made of wood, too. How far did they expect to get with it in this madness?

Escott jumped in front of them before one of them, a bald dark-skinned man, could make the biggest mistake of his life.

“Don’t fuck yourself,” Escott warned. “Get back on the sidewalk.”

The man’s blue eyes stood prominent in contrast to his dark features. He seemed determined to try, but Escott showed his teeth.

“Move the fuck back, meat sack. You must be new here.” Escott calmed once the sirens faded and the firing stopped.

His father walked through the crowd, yelling orders. One of them he repeated again and again, “Newbreeds, get that imp back to sleep.”

“Actually, as my father’s a sentry, too, I think it’s best that I handle it,” the weakly Newbreed attested and walked away. It didn’t take him long to break into a run.

Sure enough, five minutes later, one of the imp Guardians, who appeared restless, calmed. Escott kept his eyes on that Newbreed, curious about a few things. One thing was how the guy touched the imp and that was enough to soothe him. The other was...how the hell did his mother get pregnant by a thirty-foot imp.

A shudder tore through him, but his blood ran cold as he focused on Lilah, flanked by four enforcers, taking the verbal beating of a lifetime.

When his eyes settled on Lander, he felt even sorrier for himself.

Escott raked his fingers through his hair. “First day on the job, Essy. Way to choke.”

The wooden box was a bigger problem, though. Several enforcers flanked it and pried it open with metal. What they discovered sent the badge buzzing with chatter.

Uncertain he heard right, Escott went to see for himself. Two pale eyes stared back at him, listless and still. It was a body, pale and white with no pigment. The gang had been transporting a woman.