Free Jaded Touch (Vesper) by Nola Sarina Page B

dozing when a sound rang out from the front of the train and I sprang to my feet, ready to fight.
    Rachel stared back at me impassively from her seat, a small white rectangle in her hand. It was some kind of device playing a song, and that was the sound I heard.
    Festus snickered under his hand and the Child glared up at Rachel with a what-the-hell look. Rachel flashed me a mock-sweet smile and I listened to the lyrics.
    Red swept across my vision and I vaulted over the bench in front of me and stalked down the aisle toward Rachel. Her audacity knew no bounds.
    “What’s wrong, little blind mouse?” Rachel asked. “It’s just a song. It’s called 3, and it’s by a pretty little human named Britney Spears.”
    “Where’d you get the iPhone?” Another Maid piped up from the back. I didn’t care who. All I could see was Rachel, locked in my raging sights.
    “Off a meal. I wanted to play a song for Three. Just to make sure she knows what she’ll never get to do with anybody, because she’s such a damaged commodity.” She made a show of peering around me, as though checking out my scars.
    Rachel’s antagonism was bad enough in front of my sisters. In front of Sychar, my secret best friend, this was just too much. I stomped forward.
    Hirah jumped to her feet and tried to stop me, but one deadly glare changed her mind. All I saw was red. Rachel dared to mock me here, in the Defensor? In front of the men? She knew what a risk it was to cast a sexual light on me at all because my creator was male, and I was susceptible to the permanent ownership of any Gent who decided to force himself upon me. To play a song with such suggestive lyrics... it was beyond appalling, and my blood boiled. Hirah stepped aside.
    I snarled at Rachel, and Festus’ eyes lit with anticipation. He loved a good fight at the expense of anyone. But the little iPhone silenced with a crunch I didn’t see coming, and before I knew it I was at the back of the passenger car, away from Rachel, and Sychar stood between the two of us. He’d moved me out of the way so fast I didn’t even notice his touch.
    “Enough,” he said. “Neither of our masters would approve of a fight this close to her.” He gestured to the Original Child, who sank into her seat with relief. I scowled. Sychar was right.
    “You’re such a fucking buzz kill,” Festus said.
    Rachel whipped the remnants of her stolen phone across the train at me. Sychar slapped them away midair and they clattered to the sides, missing me altogether. A few Maids shrieked as pieces hit them unexpectedly, and I took a steadying breath to help the red recede from my vision. I nodded at Sychar and he tossed me a salute. A leather cord dangled out from his sleeve, and my heart flipped over once that this unlikely brother of mine wore the bracelet I gave him for Samantha, rather than just carrying it in a pocket until he saw her again.
    “Ooh, protective are you, Psycho?” Rachel sneered.
    Festus glared at her and shook his head. “I hate to admit when the Psycho’s right as much as anyone, but he’s not wrong. Your Lady might be rather gentle. Levitiqas, on the other hand... let’s just say I’d like to avoid a royal ass-kicking for encouraging this.” He shuddered at a memory, and I relaxed. Festus was the oldest in the train. If he said the fight was off, it was off.
    The Original Child huffed as she rose to her feet and flicked her wrists in the air, shooing us all to our seats. I grinned at her mannerisms: so similar to her mother’s. Sychar flashed out of her way and reappeared in his bench, and the Child paced across the train to the hogger she selected to stay with us on the journey.
    His job was to serve us however we needed him to serve. And he did his job well as the Original Child motioned for him to stand. He smiled at her with friendly curiosity, and she smiled back. Then, she sprang into the air and wrapped her legs around his waist. Shock widened his eyes. She tore her fangs