Kaliya Sahni: Volume One (Kaliya Sahni Volumes Book 1)

by K. N. Banet

  The hand went limp, and I fell as the wolf did. I groaned as I hit the roof and was covered in freezing water and blood. I groped the wall next to me and pulled myself to my feet, knowing this wasn’t over until I killed Levi. It wouldn’t stop the storm immediately, but it would help the natural weather systems push it out and let it die.

  I made it three steps, hissing as I picked up my sword. My lungs hurt. I wiped the blood from my eyes.

  I just needed to make it to Levi and kill him. Raphael could keep the other wolf busy. Even with my ears ringing, I heard the deadly fight between him and the second twin.

  I made it another two steps, having to pass by the dead werewolf when something grabbed my ankle.

  I was pulled down, trying to break the fall with my elbows, sending pain radiating up and down my arms. A string of curses ran through my head as I struggled to turn and see what was holding me.

  I was rolled over, and a wave of dizziness hit, along with a healthy dose of pure fear. The werewolf I had just unloaded into crawled over me. Blood still poured from his wounds, but I could see them healing—just as fast as Raphael.

  “Good try,” he growled, this time grabbing my neck with both hands. I still had my sword, but the angle was awkward. As he choked me out, this time both satisfied and pissed off, I started cutting into him. He was bleeding so much, but he didn’t let go.

  I was nearly gone when a distant, muffled howl distracted him. He released just a little, enough for me to grab one of his hands and pull it to my mouth, sinking my fangs deep into him—one bite, one pump of venom.

  Be enough. Please, for the love of the gods, be enough.

  He yanked away, nearly taking my fangs out of my head. He looked at the hand as he moved away, his eyes growing wider and wider. I was too beaten up to move for that drawn-out minute, so I watched.

  I watched with my own sick satisfaction as blood began to well up in his tear ducts and run out like tears. I watched as he shook his head, and blood splattered out of his ears. I watched as he stood, staggering. I knew then the venom was already starting to its job. As long as my venom stayed in his system, healing was going to be very, very hard.

  “Brother,” he croaked, blood coming out of his mouth. He vomited, and there was more of it. “B-b-b…” He never said it a second time as he dropped, his eyes wide. This time, I knew not to believe he was dead, but he was in hell. His body would fight my venom until one of them gave out, and that could be a long time.

  I stood and groaned as the door to the roof burst open. I wasn’t surprised to see Wesley was now on the scene. He sniffed the air, and I saw as he turned to me.

  “Hey, Wesley,” I croaked. “Did you really have to track me here? Right now?”

  I was obviously not in the right mind, having an out-of-body experience. I knew I needed to run, find another gun, or pull out my silver dagger. Any of it would have worked, but as I stood there, swaying in the winds of Levi’s storm, I was just tired, and nothing I said to myself got my feet to agree to action.

  He walked slowly to me, growling—this poor wolf. I didn’t want to kill him like the twins. He was just a guy under a really bad spell, and the unfairness of it broke my heart.

  I kill bad guys, not…

  Wesley was right in front of me, raising a large hand. It all felt so slow.

  “Get down!” a sharp order broke through.

  Recognizing the voice, I turned. Seeing Nakul, I stepped closer to him and gasped, but the gasp could have been from pain as Wesley’s claws raked across my back, taking me down to the ground again.

  The older naga rushed forward, picking up my sword as he went.

  “I’ll hold him off while you kill the witch.” Those words didn’t sink in for a second. “Kaliya, go kill the witch,” he hissed. “Go!”

  Levi. I pushed myself up, a renewed sense of purpose. A roar of victory sounded off in the background, and a mangled head rolled across the rooftop in front of me. It wasn’t human enough to be Raphael. I turned for only a second to see Raphael standing over a headless body, his face so covered in black veins, there was very little of his warm, tan skin. His Latino heritage was unrecognizable. His hair seemed longer, and he was hulking. He roared again, and I saw the sharp, animalistic teeth in his mouth.

  There was a monster inside him. He still wasn’t letting it all the way out, but it was there.

  “Help Nakul hold Wesley!” I called out, not slowing and putting aside my observation. Levi was on the far end of the rooftop, his focus on the storm. I needed to finish this, so I could make sure Wesley was secure, and those other two werewolves didn’t find ways to put themselves back together.

  Levi saw me coming before I wanted, thanks to the shouting, but I hit the ground and held on as a blast of magic tried to knock me back. Every move made my head spin, and blood made my eyes sting. I ached, and my body protested getting back up, but I couldn’t fail now—not myself, not the people behind me, not the werecat who trained me to fight through even the most fatal of injuries.

  Go down with your sword, Kaliya. Make them earn it. The pain is temporary. The pain can be beaten. Don’t let it rule you and stop you from giving your enemy hell before you fall.

  It had been lesson number one from Hisao, the Assassin. That title didn’t mean much to anyone outside of the werecats and werewolves, but there was a small group of us who knew how to kill as assassins and Executioners, and it was thanks to him. He probably never saw me in this scenario, which was hands down the worst thing I had ever dealt with, but that didn’t mean I could throw everything he taught me out the window.

  I tackled Levi to the ground, using the moment he was dazed to grab my last dagger from my boot. I brought it down hard, hitting his heart as he used his last moment to send another powerful wave of magic at me point-blank. I yanked the dagger, taking it with me, and let the blast send me ten feet away.

  I hit the roof rolling and slid to a stop at the edge. It was a full minute, a very long minute, before I could get my body to stand and move, the dagger still in my hand, my knuckles white.

  The first thing I looked for was Raphael. He was holding Wesley to the ground while the wolf struggled and snapped the air in anger. My roommate didn’t budge. Nakul was gone, just disappeared into thin air, my sword on the roof.

  I stepped over a head and walked for my sword. Another howl could be heard, this one close. I didn’t need to move to the edge to see. I knew exactly who was coming.

  Another two minutes later, as I stood there too tired and hurt to function properly, werewolves, this time normal ones, burst through the roof door and entered the scene. Some were in combat gear, some in wolf form. There was shouting and pointing.

  “Executioner Sahni,” a deep voice greeted. I blinked, and the werewolf Alpha of Phoenix came into sight. His styled blond hair and somewhat boyish face were at odds with his reputation. He was an old bastard, predating the Tribunal and the War of the werecats and werewolves. His voice carried maturity and age, but his face seemed ten to fifteen years too young. Today, there were bags under his eyes, and the look on his face was so severe, I wondered what I had done to piss him off.

  Wait. No. I’m the one allowed to be pissed off today.

  “Took you long enough,” I snapped. “Raphael is holding Wesley—”

  “We have an armored truck to haul him in,” Wagner said. “The bodies…”

  “Levi is over there.” I used a thumb to point over my shoulder. I knew he was dead. Witches didn’t come back from knives to the heart. “The other two…” I started walking again, going to the one staring into space, blood still coming out of his eyes. There were now long, dark tear tracks where he continuously bled. I offered only a little mercy, bringing my sword down and ending him by cutting off his head. There wasn’t anything that could come back from that.

  “Burn these bodies with their heads separated from their bodies. They had a nasty tendency to heal through fucking everything.”

  “Of course. Do yo
u need medical assistance? We brought medics—”

  “Yes, but not from you.” I knew where I was heading after this. With the big threats dead for the moment, I could hunker down and heal while planning my next move in the investigation of how all of this happened.

  “I can smell another naga here. Is it who I think it is?”

  “I’ll deal with him,” I promised, not trying to lie by saying something more exact because Wagner would be able to smell it. “He’s not your business. You get Wesley, then get off the streets.”

  He gave a soft growl, then looked at me. I had ordered an Alpha werewolf to do something, and he needed a moment to come to terms with it, so I politely ignored the growl.

  “Of course. Anything to help you, Executioner.”

  Catching Nakul could wait a few fucking hours. I was half-dead on my feet and knew it was pointless to go out and do anything at this point.

  “Thanks. And thank you for getting Wesley.”

  “Thank you for not killing him. He’s—”

  “Not in his right mind,” I whispered. “I know.”

  I turned back to Raphael and Wesley to see some of the werewolves, still in human form, were chaining the poor out-of-control werewolf with a silver-steel mix many used to control werewolves and werecats. Raphael slowly released control, and the black, whatever it was, retreated. His eyes met mine as they became warm chocolate brown.

  “Where do you want me to drive?” he asked, walking to me, ignoring the wolves giving him strange looks. I saw Wagner’s face pinch in disgust. Raphael didn’t give it any visible thought, reaching out to touch my still bleeding head.

  “Head wounds bleed fast, but it’s fine. I won’t drop dead just yet,” I promised. “I’ll tell you where we’re headed at the car.”

  I tried to take two steps, staggered. Before I tripped, I was swooped up.

  Now the man was carrying me.

  “Are you going to put that away?” he asked softly. I looked at my hand.

  I was still holding the dagger.

  “No,” I mumbled, leaning into him as another wave of dizziness washed over me. He started walking, leaving the wolves behind. No one said a word. The silence was respectful.

  21

  Chapter Twenty-One

  The storm was already beginning to die down when Raphael got me to the car. Once there, I made it known I wanted to be put down.

  “I can get in the car on my own,” I said, somewhat indignantly. “I’ll admit, I needed the help here, but I can sit down by myself.”

  The noise that came from him wasn’t human. The deep, guttural growl made his chest vibrate, making me do the same. When I looked up at him, his eyes were black.

  “I’m amazed you’re not dead. Do we have anything in the car we can put on your head?”

  “Yeah, in the trunk.” I kept a small emergency kit for first aid. I wasn’t a complete fool. Normally, when I got injured on the job, I was the only one around. I had to be able to handle the small shit to get myself home to handle the big stuff. Or to a healer who would charge me out the ass for services, some worse than others, depending on who was available.

  He put me down, so I hobbled to the passenger’s side, fumbling to get my keys out of my pocket, amazed they were still there. Once I got it unlocked, I fell into the seat, trying to ignore the throbbing pain. The ointment was either completely gone or totally ineffective at this point.

  Raphael came around with the very item we needed, and I was glad I didn’t have to find it for him. The red bag was red for a reason. I needed to be able to see it among all of my black bags, and red normally meant medical. It was easy to remember.

  He said nothing as he put the bag on my lap and opened it. I sat patiently as he grabbed several items—first, the alcohol swabs, which stung as they always did, then bandages and gauze pads. The pads went on first, the bandages next, then he got a fucking ace wrap and used that.

  What I wasn’t expecting was when he pulled his shirt off, making my fangs drop. I blinked several times as rock-hard muscle entered my vision. Beautiful, tawny skin was marred by light scars that seemed older than they probably were, but even those were attractive to me.

  I could fucking melt into that fucking body, and he just carried me to my car.

  It took me longer than I cared to find the words to address the elephant in the room about his now shirtless appearance.

  “What are you—”

  I didn’t finish as he grabbed my chin and wiped off my face with his soaking wet, freezing cold shirt. I shoved it away, glaring.

  “I’m not four,” I snapped. “Put that fucking thing back on.”

  “I’m not driving you through the fucking city with blood all over your face and neck. If I wipe that off, we can tell a cop that you were just coming home from the hospital after slipping in the rain or something. Covered in blood, they’ll think I fucking beat you. Fuck, they might think that anyway, but you can at least try to make this easier for me,” he snarled. “I’m not in the mood for that kind of trouble.”

  I grabbed the shirt from him, mad because I hadn’t thought of it. I was normally alone, so it was never a problem, but with the storm slowing down and the sun being high above us, I knew his concern was valid.

  “Fine. Get in, and let’s get going.” I wiped my face off as he slammed the trunk closed. He jumped into the driver’s seat, making the car bounce. “Are you okay?” I asked, looking at him as he took the keys off the dash where I left them.

  “I’m fine. You are a mess,” he answered, a growl punctuating the end. “I thought you were dead there for a minute, Kaliya. When Levi blasted you away, and I was holding Wesley…I thought you were dead, and that there was nothing I could do about it.”

  I didn’t know how to respond, so I turned away, closing my door. He started the engine and turned the heat on, but we didn’t pull out. He sighed.

  “I’m not dead, though,” I finally whispered. “It’s really hard to kill me, and I don’t plan on dying for a very long time.”

  “Yeah, but…”

  “Raphael, I don’t know why…” you care.

  “Because you’re all I’ve got, and that makes you important to me,” he answered softly. I hadn’t been able to stop myself in time. He knew. “I bet that makes you really uncomfortable because you have never seemed like the type who’s good with emotion. You seem to actively avoid it, really. It’s made talking to you about anything the last four months impossible because I’m actually not scared of emotions. I like that I still have them. They ground me in being human.”

  I weakly chuckled, leaning back in the seat.

  “I’m not scared of emotions,” I said, rolling my head to look at him. “I’m scared of what happens after everything falls apart.” When I rolled my head away from him, I jumped as I saw a figure standing twenty feet away. Instinctively, I reached for my hip, looking for a weapon. “Shit.”

  Raphael leaned over and frowned. “Is that Nakul?”

  I narrowed my eyes, trying to make out the figure. I blinked a few times, trying to focus through the rain. Sure enough, as the silhouette walked closer, it was my uncle. He stepped away from the vehicle, but he was obviously waiting on an invite to follow.

  “Do we trust him?” my roommate asked.

  “He’s survived this long, and he might be the key to breaking this wide open. Why not? But that doesn’t mean I’ll be stupid.” I reached into the glove box and pulled out a set of handcuffs.

  “Really? And you think I’m kinky for being called Dom.”

  I gave him a small smile before opening the door and showing the handcuffs to my uncle.

  “You’ll lay down on the backseat and wear them, or I’ll get a bag and zip you in as a snake. Your choice. I’d feel safer with the snake option.”

  “Snake, so no one sees me, human or otherwise,” my uncle answered.

  I nodded at Raphael, who jumped out and opened the trunk again. A bag was emptied, Nakul shifted, got inside it, then
was promptly zipped in. I didn’t have ratty equipment, so there would be no holes for him to get out. Raphael then left the bag in the trunk.

  “Perfect,” I said as he sat beside me again. “Now, let’s get out of here before any other wanted criminals show up.”

  He hummed in agreement and pulled out of the parking lot. Once we were on the road, I punched in the address for Raphael.

  “We’re going to Cassius’ house,” I said as he took the first turn.

  “Thank God,” he mumbled. I reached out and hit his arm, unable to find a witty remark in turn. “And now she turns to violence. I’m wounded.”

  “I’ll show you wounded,” I hissed.

  “I’m pretty sure you already are,” he fired back. When I turned to glare at him, he disarmed me with a small smile. Seeing my glare, it faded away, but then so did my glare, thanks to his smile. He wasn’t trying to be an asshole. He had wanted to joke around, and I had missed it, gone right over my head. It wasn’t like Cassius wouldn’t make a similar joke. Even Paden would have taken that opening.

  “Sorry. I’m tired.” I turned away from him.

  “It’s okay.”

  The drive felt longer than it should, but when we pulled up to the gate, it let us in without incident. Raphael parked in front of the main entrance and got out first, going around the front of the car. I fumbled with my seatbelt and got it off in time for him to open the door for me.

  “You’ve got to stop with the cute stuff,” I told him as I gingerly slid out of the BMW.

  “I’m a gentleman,” he reminded me. “I wasn’t when we met, but that’s because I was an angry prick. I’ve had time to get over that. You can say you’ve given me a new lease on life.”

  “Ha.” Or a death sentence.

  I let him run to the back of the BMW to get Nakul, watching the front door. Normally, Leith ran out to greet visitors. I walked up to the door and for the first time in a few decades, rang the doorbell.

  Leith answered, peeking outside cautiously.

  “Hey,” I greeted, trying to smile. Raphael came up behind me with the bag of deadly snake. Leith only had eyes for me, taking in every inch of me, then cursing.