I catch it and look down at the ice blade, realizing my father had done far more than steal goods. He stole lives, tortured many, and helped put Elix’s species on the endangered list. A rage uncommon to me boils over.
“You do not get to speak!” My father fires at Elix, who caves. His shield sputters out. And he staggers, gasping for breath.
“Stop!” I shout at him.
“Why?” My father sneers, triumph shining in his eyes. “All beings must pay the price for their sins. His kind hoards healing medicine that could save us!”
He’s going to kill Elix. I know it in my heart as much as I see the final blast leave his gun and slam into Elix’s chest.
“No!” Mortification turns to fury that thrusts fire into my body. I open the sword and stab it toward my father’s middle.
Forgive me.
I’m not asking it of him but of the universe. I am not a killer; I have no desire to take any life.
As my father turns to me, lifting his gun, vengeance in his eyes, the blade pierces his shield, cuts through his armor, and buries in his chest.
His gasp of surprise paired with wide eyes makes my lips tremble. The room is suddenly silent. I cannot hear the drone of the distant gunfire or the engines of the cargo ships. I see only the blood leaking from his chest and Elix lying on the ground behind him.
“I’m sorry,” I squeak out. “I didn’t want to. But you’re a piece of shit!” I scream, my body shaking. “You’re also my father. And I know you’re like this because of your father.”
He wheezes, confusion contorting his face. “Why him over me?”
“Because he’s my mate. He’s saved my life. Protected me. Defended me. We survived because we stuck together. He has been everything to me that you should have been! Elix is everything you’re not.” My eyes fill with tears.
I wish I could kill him and not care. But there is something that breaks in my soul as his heartbeat slows. “And you are a poison I cannot endure any longer.”
“You’ve always been soft.” He coughs and takes a knee. “Like your mother.”
“At least I have morals and honor.”
“Those don’t get us anything in this life.”
“They are everything to someone with nothing.”
A puddle of blood forms beneath him on the tarmac, and I withdraw the sword.
“You don’t understand,” he wheezes.
“Keep telling yourself that,” I mutter as I walk around him to check on Elix.
Elix coughs and sits up. He has a charred hole in his leather jacket, but he manages to get to his hands and knees. Blood drips from his chest. “We need to get on board.”
I help him up as a ship’s thrusters rumble through the deep cargo hangar into the dock. People from both my father’s and brother’s teams fire at it. The shields disburse the shots like rain in a puddle as Elix leans on me and shakes his head like he can’t get his bearing.
The mysterious ship hovers in the shadows and doesn’t respond to my brother’s shouts. I can’t quite see its shape in the darkness.
“Should’ve picked a stronger mate,” my father chokes out. “I see you got my skill.”
“What?”
“Invisibility.” Color drains from his face. “That’s why I was good when I was your age. Mutation.”
My father rolls onto his back and stills. His eyes stare blankly up at the rock.
I don’t believe it; it’s why I can’t look away from him. All those years, the people’s lives he ruined, stopped by one blade, the one in my hand.
I choke, trying to swallow my hatred of him and now of myself for taking life from anyone. He was still my father. And now I’m a killer. Suddenly, revenge doesn’t feel as satisfying.
