Read Online Xander vol.1 Transmutation by Jaz Johnson - Free Book Online Page A

didn’t stop her, for he was curious
of the answer as well. Nora, eyes wide, almost scoffed at the
question as she looked over the woman’s body which had just moments
ago been the body of a lioness.
    “ What are you ?” Nora
countered.
    Loni hesitated against the
comeback as the grip on her weapon tightened. Xander placed his
hand on the gun, eyeing Loni warningly.
    “ Ladies …” he started,
glancing between the two fair-haired women. Mother help me , he thought to
himself. “We all have some explaining to do, okay? Why don’t we
just … put the gun down? Loni? And introduce ourselves,” Xander
suggested as he successfully lowered his guardian’s hand, taking
the gun from her.
    Loni and Nora stared each
other down as Xander slowly placed the weapon back in the pouch
that sat on the floor. He carefully placed himself between them,
keeping more of an eye on Loni than Nora.
    “ Right then … I’m Xander.
And this …” he gestured to Loni with one hand. “… is my guardian,
Loni. She can get a little protective when she sees someone trying
to kill me. So excuse her hospitality, or lack thereof.” There was
a short moment of silence before Xander continued, this time
gesturing his hand to Nora. “And you are?”
    “ Nora,” she answered
flatly, her eyes still glued on Loni’s tense body.
    Xander nodded, giving an
encouraging smile as he sighed.
    “ Okay. See? That wasn’t
–“
    “ What are you?” Loni asked
again, cutting Xander off. “You aren’t human,” Loni pointed out,
having heard it from Xander.
    This time, Nora hesitated,
anything but trusting of Loni. She glanced at Xander, seeing his
expression of admitted curiosity. Her lips fell into a hard line as
she averted her eyes. This wasn’t how she imagined exposing herself
and the operation that the doctor was running. But at this point,
she was in need of any help that she could get. And if Xander had
helped her once, maybe he as willing to do it again.
    “ He calls us
Chimera.”
    “ Chimera?” Loni
repeated.
    “ He?” Xander asked, more
interested in the man behind the curtain.
    Nora gave a hesitant nod
as she adjusted her back against the wall she sat against. Xander’s
eyes instinctively roamed her body, driven by curiosity. He
wondered how a mutation could be so subtle. He’d seen the humans –
plenty of them. And Nora, she didn’t look anything out of the
ordinary when he compared their appearances in his head. His eyes
narrowed as he analyzed again. She looked just like any other
human. Heck, she could pass as an Athenian whether or not she kept
her vines to herself.
    “ Chimera or not,” Loni
glowered, pushing Xander’s hovering arm away from her as she bent
down to pick up her pouch.
    They both watched her
carefully as she turned around and began stepping towards the front
door that had been carelessly left open.
    “ I want it out of
here.”
    “ Hey,” Nora complained in
response to being called out of her name. Loni spun on her heel to
pierce her eyes once again.
    “ It won’t be so easy to
stop me next time.”
    “ Loni –“ Xander
pressed.
    “ We don’t have time for
this, Xander,” Loni scolded. “You know this. Bring her back to
wherever you got her from, and get your work done. We didn’t come
here for this.”
    Xander kept quiet during
the foreseen scolding. He expected as much from Loni in regards to
anything other than research he mentioned. And admittedly, Nora was
a big anything.
    “ And keep this door
closed!” Loni shouted before slamming the door behind her. Nora
flinched at the abrupt volume, her brows furrowing as her eyes rose
to Xander’s face.

    Back at Clemming’s City
Mall, there were officers crawling all over the area of the broken
fountain, tagging and bagging anything they thought they’d need.
There was yellow tape all over what was left of the fountain, which
was crackled and crushed against its raised edges.
    The rubble was scattered
about the scratched and dusty floor.