Novel Excerpt: Nakita

This is an excerpt from my written novel "Memoirs of the In-Between." I will be providing snippets here and there for your reading pleasure. My goal: Make you want to read my book from start to finish. I hope you enjoy!

Once upon a time, in the middle of a chapter in the middle of my book somewhere...

“We purify them. Everyone, get to work. Nakita and Yuzuki- you start from the west. Racheal, Ivan, you two start from the east with Kora. Elliot and I will head up the north. I will call for help.” He said, taking Dennahay from her holders and turning. I couldn’t help the small smile of appreciation that twitched my lips upwards. He was a leader who didn’t mind doing the same dirty work. My respect for him was growing every day. I noticed then, the dark woman was staring at me, her eyes were intense, looking me up and down.

I immediately felt alarmed. What was she looking at me like that for? I understand what I just did was unorthodox and perhaps a callous thing, but it had proved that we could release them didn’t it? When I caught her stare, she nodded at me and gave me a graceful hand gesture that did not seem to be rude before turning and setting off. I was slightly confused about why Leon didn’t station me with him - however, I needed to get to know others of my new found alliance, didn’t I? It would allow me to figure out who I worked well with. It was understandable though a part of me longed to stay with Leon. Partly because he was familiar, and partly because I wanted to ensure he was okay.

I gave Leon one more glance as I set off after the dark lady named Nikita. He had his strong face on, determination making his features set and rigid as he began speaking into the comm that was detailed into his uniform. I knew then that he was fine. I paid attention to my steps, as Nikita and I made our way to the western side of the village silently, I would occasionally dip my blade in an exposed heart as we passed them. We finally reached the edge of the village, our work really started. Nakita reached up to a quiver on her back and closed her eyes. The quiver was empty, and naturally, I stared at her as she did. As soon she pulled her hand up and out of the quiver, in her hand, an arrow seeming to be made of energy shimmered in her fingertips. It was pure white, and Nikita swung her bow up and put it in the empty quiver. I watched as instead of shooting the arrow, she knelt down and dug the arrow deep into the chest of a stray corpse. I blinked as the body faded away, the soul shot out and Nikita looked up at me.

“What you looking at, Mouse?” She asked in a snapping voice, and I jumped, immediately turning to begin to work. I grit my teeth and cringed as Estrakulius buried himself deep into the heart of a young girl. I made the mistake of looking at her face. Her mouth was open her eyes wide with shock and rolled to the back of her head. I cringed and decided not to look too closely at my job again. But as Nikita moved forward to another, and knelt down doing the same again with her arrow, she turned her face to me.

“Don’t you know how to talk? I 'ave hear nothing from your lips since you appear by de side of ze Chief.” She pried and I sighed, knowing that silence was not going to get me far today.

“I know how to talk,” I responded, looking up at Nikita, deciding she was better to look at than the next corpse I impaled. “I was simply curious because your quiver was empty. And then I was wondering why you would choose to stab them instead of shoot the corpses. The feel of a corpse on my blade is not particularly favorable.” I said, speaking as I worked. Perhaps silence was not the way to go about it in the first place. This job was gruesome - even for me. Nikita gave an audible snort as she continued to move. Between the two of us now, there were seven flowers, and I couldn't help thinking that the pressure of the wrong atmosphere would surely go away the more souls we released.

“So you are a cat then, not a mouse. Curious, observant. I see. It is part of my Soulmate abilities. Her name is L'Aquila. The arrows zat come are from our own shared spirit and soul. I can make whatever I want. I can make arrows to purify, arrows to poison, arrows to paralyze, or even blind my enemy. But since zey come from me, I must conserve my strength. Lots of corpses round ‘ere, whatever may come our way I must be prepared for. So I do not want to waste my strength.” She answered.

Her voice was deep and rich, strong. I childishly thought that if she began to sing, these spirits would be purified on their own. It was beautiful and powerful, and loud. I began to realize this strange woman was intimidating. She never faltered in her movements, staying on bend knee, walking from a balanced crouched position so she did not have to waste time standing than stooping. I had found my own rhythm, though it was still painstaking. But her explanation not only entranced me because of her voice but because her weapon was so unique. “Are you Chief Leon’s new Brave?” she asked then, taking me by surprise.

“No. I am new. I transcended here. So all the Chiefs have been taking a special interest, to train me themselves.” I explained as I pushed the blade through another corpse, swallowing hard as I had to give extra effort. It was a big broad man - his thick body was more difficult to get through. Nikita gave me an interested look then as she released another soul.

“So you are za one I hear all the gossip about then. You are Yuzuki Kobayashi, the mysterious girl who awakened on ze day she awakened here.” Nikita said grinning, and I sighed. I hated that everyone knew me for that. Or the fact that people knew of me at all. But her next words amused me. “Za one I hear so many other little birds complain about, The one who spend so much time with za most coveted man in za Warrior City. HAH! Little birds don’t know zat a puma will want another puma, not a parrot for a mate.” I turned my eyes to Nikita, letting out a half-laugh, a half exasperated snort, before purifying another soul.

“It’s nothing like that!” I said though I could feel my cheeks heating up.

“Parakeet cheeks tell no lie, girl! Besides, even if not, then when you have grown powerful enough to take a position, you will be his Brave. You two have a strong bond, that can be seen from the contact he allows, the closeness of where you stand. The man is like a wall to most unless he’s confident you’re worth being soft too. You sure you are not his kitty cat already?” I let out a little groan, glaring over at the woman, then shook my head when I saw her wicked grin back at me. It seemed callous of us, to talk and be amused as we did the arduous task of releasing souls from corpses, but it was better than dwelling on the actual deed, I looked back and realized our conversation had lead us to almost 30 amaranths together. I let out a little smile at the flowers… they were a symbol of peace and progress.

“I am no one's pet. Or puma. Or mate.” I said, each clarification, causing a guffaw of amusement from the loud lady. It was then I noticed my talking sword was glowing and I paused.

“Nikita?” I asked, indicating the sword and she stopped, nodding. Her own bow in the quiver was glowing a blackish green, that almost made it impossible to see that the original bow was pure white. She had glanced up over her shoulder at her quiver to make sure.

“The mistakes of zis life I suppose. We are treating them like Tisin, our Soulmates must be too. It won’t be as potent as a Tisin, but your Soulmate is soaking up their mistakes, and purifying them as ze soul moves on. Your Soulmate… he will have gained power from this task. I suppose I am glad I was paired with you. You did not falter. After you had stabbed ze first one, I figured it out too, the logic behind your action. It is not often I find one who I respect immediately. Ze audacity you had to test out the theory - I respect zis courage because sometimes we forget to not be too soft. Zis is the first time we have ever encountered such an event, we do not interact with the souls enough other zen each other.” Nikita explained, and I nodded, as I continued forward once more with my blade.

I understood she’d complimented me, but she seemed the type to be very careful how she handed such things out. I felt strangely honored.

“I am still very fresh from my own living existence. Some parts of me are still stuck in my past - and I suppose that is where I gained the coldness to actually go through with it. But, I am glad it ended up being the act of kindness I thought it would be.” I simply responded. Nikita turned to me and opened her mouth to respond but suddenly a shriek of the trees made us turn. A bird had issued a warning call and all of a sudden, the sky was filled with birds, and they all seemed to be flying rapidly away from something. My heart jumped to my throat as I bounded to Nikita, who had made her way to me, pulling out L'aquila as she did so. We seemed to be in sync as she ran past me, and I her, then pressed our backs together. As her warm back pressed to mine, it was hard not to notice how much bigger than me she was. Memories of my brother on dual assignments, standing back to back as we fought surged forward, memories I had almost forgotten. It hurt my head and I winced, one hand leaving Estraklius to hold my temple, though it didn’t last long as the memories faded.

An eerie scream erupted from the trees behind the village, in the direction I was facing. I could hear the others shouting throughout the small village of carnage, orders flying out. What was it? What was it? The trees began to shake and my gasp caused Nikita to turn her head, and her own olive green eyes widened as the tree canopy separated and I couldn’t help but drawback, fear running cold through my veins, freezing me cold and paralyzing me.

Like what you read?

This is an excerpt of my novel "Memoirs of the In-Between." It is still in the publishing process. Leave a tip below to help pay for publishing costs to get the book on the shelves and into tablets faster!