The Hunger Saga

by Tyranni Thomas

  “Shh,” Angel whispered, sneaking up behind him. He placed a kiss to one of Jay’s shoulders and ran a hand up the opposite side of his neck. When he reached his ear, he tilted his head, offering me that tempting vein. It was bulging and bounding and so, so fucking beautiful. Jay’s breath alternated between hitched and gasping.

  I waited long enough for Angel to wrap an arm protectively around his waist before I leaned in and kissed Jay’s neck. He lurched like I’d stabbed him. So, I reached up, and caressed his neck as Angel had done. He closed his eyes and trembled against my hand, surrendering his cheek to my palm.

  His whole body tensed, and he gave an initial cry when I sank my teeth in. I did my best to get the venom in him fast, even if I knew Dom would do no such thing. Jaysen didn’t know it yet, but his future master loved to feed off energy. The spicier the better. Jealousy, rage, greed, and—above all—fear were his favorite dishes.

  Once he relaxed in my arms, and actually started to hug me, I slowed down and really tasted him. He had strength, and heart, so much heart. I closed my eyes and swallowed his warmth and light.

  LIGHT.

  My eyes shot open, just as that sweet, syrupy power smacked me in the chest. Just beneath the surface of this beautiful harvest was a fountain of fae energy.

  I greedily drank and was flooded with the chilling images of the crown falling and dark blood on the floor. I could smell it. The soured iron. The essence of all that was defiled being released into the night around me.

  Then there was images of Dom and a flood of overwhelming emotions.

  I moaned against Jaysen’s throat, sending blood down his shoulder and chest.

  Fuck!

  A taste. A sip. That’s all I was supposed to do, but I couldn’t let go. Gods I couldn’t let go. I wrapped my hand around his throat to steady it, not that he was going anywhere, he was on the verge of coming.

  I’m pretty sure he did, before he passed out.

  Chapter Nine

  Jaysen

  The bite was worse than I ever thought possible. It was like she ripped a chunk of my neck out and left acid in its wake. Luckily, that faded as quickly as it had begun. I felt the sun on my cheeks and then that warmth shot down to my toes. Tingles grew until I was throbbing in places, I didn’t think were possible. I was aware that I came, but that didn’t matter, either. I wasn’t embarrassed or even bothered by it, I was lost in a cocooned of serenity and what felt like the sway of a hammock.

  It wasn’t really a hammock, it was her. Shushing and rocking. Bidding me back to life.

  “I’m sorry. Fuck, I’m so sorry!” Her eyes were wide and wild, and she kept repeating her apology.

  “He’s going to know,” Angel said, in a tone that chilled me.

  “No, he won’t,” the Oracle insisted, with far too much emotion.

  “You harvested him. He’s yours now,” Angel whispered, like the walls themselves might betray us.

  My eyelids felt so heavy, it was difficult to stay focused. I wanted to check my neck, but I didn’t even have the energy to reach for it.

  “Hey . . .,” Angel soothed, pushing a few curls away from my face. “You need to rest, Pa.”

  I turned my cheek toward the sound of his voice and gave in to the exhaustion.

  There was nothing refreshing about it. I still felt like shit when I woke up. Everything in me ached, aside from my veins. They were beyond that, they burned so badly that I couldn’t bear the thought of moving.

  Each breath became a focused effort that I feared I’d soon lose. I didn’t even have the energy to panic when my lungs fluttered and almost failed. I just became aware that I was losing the battle, but I wasn’t scared. Not anymore. I just smiled at him and drifted off again.

  It was light outside when I woke up. I couldn’t lift my head. My lips were so chapped, I swore I could feel them crack each time I drew a breath.

  “Why isn’t he getting better . . .?” Julie frantically cried.

  “You gotta call Talon . . . call Dom.” Angel’s voice ebbed with concern and seemed to rise with each word. Then he finally took a deep, shaky breath and started again in a much calmer tone. “It’s been two days. He ain’t better. I can’t keep answering the door and lying to his mom. She’s known me my whole life. She looked into my eyes and she fucking knew something was up.”

  “Oh . . . it’s all up. From the looks of it.” Dom snorted behind us.

  “Dom—” the Oracle began, but a loud roar stopped her before she could spit another word out.

  “You dare to thieve from me? You think because you can see that you can steal?” he raged, having flown toward her. He bullied with his body until she was curled in a protective seated position in front of him.

  Help her, I wanted to shout, but all I could do was glance to Angel.

  “Dom,” he kept repeating, only to finally hurl himself at his brother. They rolled across the floor in a magnificent display of power. Mostly Dom’s. It didn’t occur to me at the time, that Angel had to have been a familiar in order to summons enough power to do so.

  “I didn’t feed him. I swear he isn’t bound to me—” Julie began to plea.

  “Well, that’s your mistake. Clearly, something is wrong with him. He isn’t taking.” Dom bit his wrist and moved to place it over Jaysen’s mouth.

  “No!” Julie screamed so loudly I jolted. A drop of Dom’s blood fell into my open mouth. It was like lava on my tongue, I felt it roll all the way down my throat. Every centimeter. All I could do was howl through a parched throat, which made me sound like a wounded seal.

  “You’ll kill him,” she hissed.

  “Kill him.” Dom laughed on a scoff. “Of course, I’m going to kill him. He’s mine to harvest.”

  “No. I mean the real sleep. He will not survive the change. Your blood is too dark for him.”

  “Yeah, right.” Dom made a fist and started toward me again, but Julie caught his arm.

  We all stared wide eyed, even Dom. No one would ever dare dream of touching him so. He was the monster who forced other monsters to obey.

  “He. Is. Fae,” she whispered.

  Dom stood up and stared down at her before shaking his head. “You stupid bitch.”

  He licked his wrist and was gone, after a final growl, “Feed him or stack his pyre.”

  Fae. What the fuck was a fae? If I could actually keep up with their entire conversation, I might have pointed out that my oversized ass was far from Tinker bell. My head was pounding. A garden gnome . . . how terrifying was that? I was a dead man, whether Dom did me in, or someone else.

  What was a garden gnome to the Dark Ones? A fucking snack, that’s what!

  “You’re going to be okay,” Julie promised.

  I heard the snap of an apple. It wasn’t until she pressed her bloodied wrist to my mouth, that I realized the sound was actually her ripping her flesh open. I shifted my head, but it didn’t stop the thick metallic spurts.

  Chapter Ten

  Angel

  I thought I would be sick. I’d never seen anyone drained like that. The way his skin and lips had paled and then started to tinge blue for those few seconds was a reality check. I mean, I suppose we all are when the Harvest is complete and we joined the Coven, still, it was just one of those things that wasn’t really comprehended until it was witnessed firsthand.

  Dom stormed toward the door, and I forced myself to chase him. Big mistake. The minute I was through the cabin door, he turned on me and snatched me by the throat—instantly silencing me and leaving me in a state of sheer panic. The grip of his fingers on my windpipe was excruciating, and I couldn’t get a hold on his arms to balance myself, so all my weight was left to dangle.

  He was furious. Dom, the Executioner, was upset over a harvest?

  Just when the world started to go black on me, he dropped me in a heap at his feet.

  “Get the fuck up,” he flatly demanded.

  I tried, but my legs were fawning, and I was desperately gasping for ai
r.

  “Shh-she . . .,” fuck, it hurt to breathe let alone speak, “. . . didn’t.”

  “She didn’t.” Dom scoffed, before looking down at me with a disgusted scowl. “Well, from the state of my progeny, I’d say she did.”

  “Shh . . .” I shook my head unable to repeat myself. “She didn’t kill him. Only healed him.”

  “What?” The crispness he delivered that one word with made me stand up straighter. It was the first time I’d ever faced the monster that others feared. Sure, I’d seen him lose his shit, but it’d never been directed at me.

  “I’ll not have her leftovers,” he stated.

  He started back toward the Compound, only to stop and turn some ten paces away.

  “Get him dressed and get the fuck up here. I was cheated out of her; I won’t be cheated out of him, too. There will be justice.” He raged. The eyes I had known for two decades as my brother’s, were suddenly nothing but frozen jade.

  “Dom . . .!” I called, without any response back. “Fuck!”

  I ran my hand through my hair and darted back toward the cabin. Anxiety and fear grew in the back of my throat, until I was almost convinced, I was choking again.

  Inside the cabin, Julie was pacing the floor. Jaysen had the covers swaddled around him, he was sitting up, but had yet to test the waters by getting out of bed.

  “Can you walk?” I regretfully asked.

  His head slowly lifted up. It was exhausting just to see him manage it. He stared at me blankly for a long minute.

  “Uhm . . . yeah. I think,” came the outright lie.

  He placed a hand on the mattress, and I took ahold of his opposite arm, fully prepared to balance him if I had to. He was half dead, but he smelled so fucking good. I kissed his throat and whispered my greatest hope in his ear, “It’s gonna be alright.”

  Fuck, how I prayed to Nyx it was true.

  “What are you doing?” Jules asked, her makeup was smeared down her face in beautiful black streaks. “They’re going to kill him, Angel. Let him run. Let him try. Fuck!”

  Sheer terror was riding my spine like an elevator, leaving chills in its wake. All I could do was stare at her, unable to truly process what she was saying.

  “They can’t kill him. You said it was okay. You said to enjoy—” Who was I to speak to the Oracle like that? I couldn’t stop though, my anger just kept mounting. He was the only person who had ever been true to me, for so many years. My secret keeper and best friend. He was my family long before I fell in love with him. “You have to do something!” I paused then added, “Please!”

  She smeared more bloody tears and mascara about her temples. Anyone else would have looked like a lost cause, but on her, it looked like war paint.

  “I’ll try . . .,” she whispered, but it sounded like such a hollow promise.

  I’d never heard her sound like that, but when I looked at her face, I recognized the expression immediately. He had gotten to her, too.

  She was afraid of Dom.

  Every breath felt thinner and my mouth soured until I thought I’d be sick. The reality hit me like a mule kick to the chest . . . she didn’t know what was going to happen.

  I wasn’t sure how I was going to make it to the compound. My legs were shaking, and everything seemed surreal. Would Talon really sentence him to fate? I hoped his fondness for Danika would be enough to buy us a little mercy. At least where Jaysen was concerned.

  By the time we arrived at the compound, it was half full. A thriving nightmare that I otherwise might have enjoyed; the strobe-lights and deafening rock music. It all catered to the chaos. We moved through a sea of hands that made no apologies. Talon was on his throne. It sat on a lone stage to the right of the sound stage and left of the dancers.

  I clutched Jay’s hand and fought my way through the crowd. Talon’s blue eyes were burning into me, demanding we get our asses before him. His jaw was set, despite his lazed appearance with one leg over the arm of the chair.

  There was no warning, just a hot wet tongue running up the side of my face and a violent tug that jerked and secured me. I was anchored in the heart of the crowd, while Jaysen was urged onward.

  “Angel,” the Oracle warned, but it didn’t stop my struggles. No way would I let him face this alone. They meant to kill him, the fact that they were restraining me was all the hint I needed.

  My still half-mortal heart hammered, which only intensified the crowd around me. They started to frenzy, only calming when Dom stood up and stomped his foot on the metal grate a few times.

  It echoed viciously, stopping the music and the Dark Ones around me.

  “Good of you to come see me.” Talon quipped to Jaysen.

  He threw his leg off of the chair and stood up, betraying the fact that Jaysen’s mother, Danika was posted behind his chair. She made no effort to hide herself, nor the fact that she had panicked and reached for Talon when he stood and started toward her son.

  She had a grip on the chair that was tight enough to make her knuckles blanche, and tears streamed down her pretty face.

  “Talon please . . .,” she mouthed.

  “I’ve been asked to sentence you to fate,” Talon announced, ignoring her altogether. He had the voice of a king. It carried over the masses, and when he was pissed like he was now, it grabbed you right where it counted.

  “No!” I barked, only to feel an invisible hand over my mouth. It tilted my head to the point it started to pinch. When I still didn’t stop it gave a jerk and held, letting me know it wasn’t afraid to snap my neck right where we stood.

  Damn that Oracle and her magic! I shot her a look that said as much and dodged her hand when she tried to brush the back of my head.

  “His fate is tied to ours. You will annihilate your own people in the process!” the Oracle said, in the same ominous tone she used to share all of her visions.

  Chapter Eleven

  Jaysen

  I felt like I’d swallowed a hook. Despite everything in me screaming to run, I kept gravitating toward him. My legs shook so badly, they gave out. I tried to catch myself on my knees and make it look purposeful despite the crazy sound my weight made against the grate when I landed.

  All the while, my cheeks were burning with shame. There were at least a hundred people behind me. A hundred Dark Ones who knew that I had betrayed them.

  I’d spat on everything they held sacred and now there was nowhere to turn, except to Talon and whatever lay ahead.

  “Is that so?” Talon called over to Julie.

  His gaze fell on me again, and I swear I shook all the way to the bone. A chill that hurt and exhausted me.

  “So be it. I sentence him to fate.”

  “No!” I gasped over a sob, and tensed up, expecting the worst of lethal blows for such a defiant reaction.

  “Yes.” He growled, before dropping down and snatching me under the arms. I was violently jostled and jerked up until I was eye-level with him.

  “Because of the great love I hold for your mother, I sentence you to fate. Your original fate,” Talon said between gritted teeth. “You will go with the Executioner, and he will sire you.”

  My lips parted but my unspoken pleas dried before I could offer them. He was doing me a solid. I knew it, even if I didn’t want to accept it. On the other hand, Dom would kill me before he would offer me his blood. My head started to spin, and I inwardly cursed myself.

  Not in front of all these people. Do not faint like a fucking girl, in front of all these people.

  “Let’s go.” Dom growled, without taking his eyes off of Talon. He was old school enough not to question his better in public, but oh the things he said with that face of his.

  I wasn’t sure I could move. My cheeks were flushed, my heart was racing, and every time I tried to turn my head, I felt dizzy again.

  “Jaysen,” Talon spoke up, placing a hand on my shoulder just when I’d found the courage to follow Dom. “I did this for your mother. I took her as my Queen tonight, but that doesn’t
mean I won’t take her from this earth tomorrow if you insist on disobeying me. It isn’t personal . . . it is our way.”

  “Sir.” Was all I could manage.

  It was enough. He was used to paralyzing people with fear. The only difference in him and Dom, was that he didn’t enjoy it.

  Dom’s hand locked around my upper arm, and he jerked me down the stage steps, leaving me no choice but to jog along with him or be drug through the crowd.

  A hand in the crowd gave my shoulder a reassuring squeeze. I tried to turn back and see who it was. All I saw was a flash of crimson hair and a thousand outstretched arms. If I let go, they’d kill me. So, I closed my eyes and forced myself to keep going.

  It was raining and cold, but that didn’t slow him any. He marched me across the parking lot of bikes and through the forest. It was easy for him. He could see in the dark. I, however, was left to eat every shrub and sticker bush we passed. I was pretty sure he let go of a few of those branches on purpose. Especially the one that caught me across the cheek.

  I wasn’t sure if I was shivering from my cold, damp clothes or my nerves. Either way, I was a sight by the time we reached his cabin. My curly hair was saturated and hanging limply around my scratched face.

  He jerked the screen door open and sort of flung me when he released my wrist. I rubbed it and stared at him expectantly. The knot in my stomach doubled, even though he hadn’t done anything but cross the room and give me some space.

  I shut the door and surrendered my weight against it. I’d assumed it was Dom’s cabin. Everyone knew it was out this way, the problem was, the bastard kept it hidden. One of his witch lovers cast a cloaking spell on it before he killed her. Everyone thought it would fade away, or become cursed, but really . . . it was the Executioner’s lair, how much more cursed could it become?

  He leaned toward the mantle over his fireplace and did a jog out of his boots before looking back at me over his shoulder. He had his brother’s green eyes. Only Angel’s could never be so terrifyingly void of emotion. Staring into those eyes, was like staring into the abyss. Something was in there staring back, but no one had ever had the balls to call it to the surface.