Araton

by Brenda Trim

  Araton

  Dark Warrior Alliance Book 22

  Brenda Trim

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Authors’ Note

  OTHER WORKS BY Brenda TRIM

  Copyright © May 2020 by Brenda Trim

  Editor: Chris Cain

  Cover Art by Fiona Jayde

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writers’ imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction of this work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  All rights reserved. With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the authors.

  Created with Vellum

  “Never forget where you came from, but never let that hold you back from where you want to go.”

  Chapter 1

  “Why the hell do they always pick this house to have their weird rituals around?” Lia asked her partner rhetorically.

  The LaLaurie mansion on Royal Street was a cop’s worst nightmare and a tourist’s dream. People from all over the world came to New Orleans for many reasons. And Lia swore ninety percent of those that visited her city eventually hoofed it one block from Bourbon Street over to the corner of Royal and Governor Nicholls.

  Most were drunk as she and Ben, her partner on the New Orleans Police force discovered when they climbed out of their patrol car. A native of NOLA, Natalia grew up on ghost stories and accounts of the hauntings at the LaLaurie mansion.

  The origin of these stemmed from the tragic events that caused the hauntings in the first place. Depending on who you talked to, the original owner of this massive home was a demon disguised as a woman. Delphine LaLaurie.

  Madame LaLaurie as she was known later in her life was recognized as a Creole socialite and serial killer. The accusations of torture and murder continue to this day almost two hundred years later. Natalia had no doubt the woman was pure evil. The stories existed for a reason, after all.

  It is said that she broke the bones of some slaves and set them to heal at odd angles so that the women looked like a crab. Reports of hearing scratching steps are numerous.

  Other stories involved her skinning her victims alive. There are accounts of the gruesome sight of slaves with their muscle and bone exposed while they gasp for breath and pray for death. And, stories get worse about her drilling holes in their skulls. Whatever the truth, there was a whole lotta nasty mojo in the house and earth beneath.

  Yeah, natives of New Orleans believed in all sorts of paranormal mumbo jumbo like the soil being tainted. There were rituals most performed when they purchased a house to cleanse the area of malevolent energy.

  “What I want to know is why there are still so many people out on the streets,” Ben added as they started down the street toward the house in question.

  That was a good point. There was a pandemic taking over the world at the moment. A virus, COVID-19, had appeared a couple months ago across the globe and in a few short weeks had spread to nearly every country on earth.

  Natalia had never seen anything like it. What started like a common cold with a fever and coughing was claiming thousands of lives everywhere. Doctors and hospitals couldn’t keep up with new cases thanks to the disease transmitting at break-neck speed. Like a freight train that lost its brakes and keeps barreling down the tracks despite the numerous cars placed in its way.

  As a result of the virus most areas in the country have issued a shelter in place order asking people to stay at home to stop the spread of the disease. There was no way the group congregated around the mansion were all essential workers.

  Guiding a ghost tour of the French Quarter was by no means a necessary service. The restaurants and bars were closed to patrons, but they did have order pickup available. This shit was never going away unless people started to listen and stay the fuck at home.

  COVID-19 was no joke. It was killing more people than the flu did every year in a matter of weeks. Lia wasn’t taking a chance with getting sick. Police were needed now more than ever with vandalism, fighting and various other crimes on the rise. Being cooped up would do that to a person.

  Tugging her face mask over her mouth and nose, Lia slipped her leather gloves on before she reached the crowd. As they got closer, she realized this was a small crowd for the quarter.

  Especially when you consider people were wall-to-walling it in the streets a month ago for Mardi Gras. That was no doubt the reason their area had been hit so hard in the past few weeks.

  “Break it up,” she called out to the group.

  “No gatherings allowed. You know that,” Ben Turner added in a loud voice as he took several steps ahead of her.

  Several women in the group turned their heads to look at them and Lia’s heart stopped. Their eyes were straight outta Supernatural. Red, glowing and freaky as fuck. The energy surrounding the gathering was dark and malicious.

  Two of the four guys present jumped into action and ran straight for them. Training and instinct made Lia jump to the left and dart behind a parked car. She pulled her Smith and Wesson and poked her head around the bumper.

  The two men reached Turner and tackled him to the ground. Muffled popping sounds had her pulling back. She had no idea if it was Ben or one of the other guys shooting a weapon, but she wasn’t going to take that chance.

  “Shit,” she cursed under her breath. Another look told her Turner was the one that discharged his firearm. If the guy gasping for breath off to the side of him was anything to go by.

  The remaining man had Ben’s arm in his grip and was bending it backwards. Natalia took aim, but before she managed to pull the trigger a loud snap followed by a crack echoed through the area.

  Ben kicked the guy and Lia lost her shot of the fucker attacking her partner. Ducking back behind the car, she pressed the radio on her shoulder and called in a 10-999 to get an ambulance to Ben right away.

  The sounds of fists hitting flesh told her they were still fighting. Getting to her feet, she held her gun in front of her chest with straight arms. A boot slammed into her hands before she managed to take a step in her partner’s direction.

  One of the women must have heard her call in for help and had come to take care of her. Lia lost her grip on her weapon and it went flying out of her gloved hands. Breathing heavily, she turned with the momentum of her body and ducked as she spun.

  Catching the woman off guard, she kicked out her foot and swiped the lady off her high-heeled boots. Unease raced up her spine when the perp landed on her back and she didn’t make a sound as her skull played bouncy ball with the cement.

  The woman jumped to her feet and snarled at Lia. She charged toward her and tucked her hand behind her back. Good thing she’d grown up fighting her two brothers. Lia was prepared for the sharp and shiny the perp pulled out a second later.

  Not that her brothers threatened her with knives. But they always had something behind
her back to torment her with, so she grew up jumping out of the way before anything really registered.

  The first time they’d pulled this trick with her she stood there staring and got a face full of super worms they fed to their bearded dragons. The second time she was covered in slime. The third time she’d jumped out of the way.

  Jumping onto the hood of the car, Lia was in a perfect position to kick the woman in the head. The perp’s hand completed its swing. Two things happened at the same time. The sound of metal scraping metal was loud in the night and Natalia’s foot hit a cheek resulting in a loud snap.

  The woman’s head flew to the side and she fell to the ground. Lia jumped from the hood and landed on the woman’s head but couldn’t stop to wonder how much more damage she caused. Another guy was headed toward her with a loud shout.

  Lia ran away from the gathering and down Royal street. The man chased after her. The yank on her shoulder turned her into a ballerina pirouetting as if her life depended on it.

  Left to her knight stick, she yanked it from the loop on her belt and swung as she twirled. A fist connected with her face with enough force to make her see stars.

  Before the stars in her vision stopped twinkling warm bands wrapped around her like she was a present. “Not today, Satan,” Lia snarled.

  “Lucifer isn’t here yet. My master is summoning him as we speak,” the guy replied. His rancid breath warmed the side of her face and made her gag reflex do push-ups in the back of her throat.

  Swallowing the moisture pooling in her mouth, she turned her head to try and see who had her. Her eyes halted on the site of Ben lying in a pool of blood ten feet away. Her partner’s fingers were twitching in her direction but based on the amount of red surrounding him she wasn’t sure if he would make it.

  The guy holding her grabbed hold of her mask and pulled it from her face. “Asshole,” she gritted as the elastic wrapped around each of her ears to hold the white cup in place scraped her skin. It wasn’t as if it hurt all that bad. And the least of her worries at the moment was the virus.

  Her stomach joined in the reflexes making her gag. As they ping-ponged around and sent bile surging up her throat, Lia realized she wasn’t likely going to make it out of this alive.

  Refusing to give up so easily, she pretended to give up and went limp in her captor’s arms. He turned with her and faced the mansion on the corner. They hadn’t made it more than a few feet. She got a view of the other side of the house.

  A sting on the side of her neck registered and she cried out in pain. A sickening sucking sound told her the guy holding her was drinking her blood. The warm trickle that rolled down her neck confirmed that theory. Fuck that noise.

  She had been willing to wait for the right moment to break from his hold. Losing patience, she reached up and clawed at his face. Her nails scratched over his face, making him lift his mouth away from her and curse.

  “You aren’t to feed from the tributes,” one of the other males chastised the guy holding her. “Bring her inside.”

  “Looks like you got lucky…well, for now,” the voice growled in her ear. He shifted and took a step toward the residence. It was then that she noticed a red light glowing in one of the front windows of the LaLaurie mansion.

  It consumed her attention for several seconds while she watched the four other men and remaining woman entered the open front door. A lightbulb went off in her head. It was more of a neon marquee that said: YOU GO IN THERE YOU WILL DIE.

  Warm liquid trickled down her neck and under her uniform top and Kevlar vest. The flow increased as she wiggled and kicked and fought to get free. She hoped her call for help meant her fellow cops were on their way to help her.

  Dread was a thick soup in the air as they crossed the threshold into the house. The guy carried her to a room on the right that felt as if the devil himself were living there.

  She’d always felt a sense of malicious energy surrounding the building, but this was that times a million. Her heart stampeded against her ribcage when she saw the massive creature standing in the middle of the room.

  The scent of rotting meat had her stomach churning like a washing machine on the spin cycle while pained moaning echoed around the space followed by growls and cries. The combination made her skin pebble with goose bumps while her heart raced in her chest.

  When she focused in the darkened room all she could initially see was red eyes. Exactly like they men and women had. Okay. Not exactly like theirs. This beast’s eyes radiated power that felt like knives against her skin and made her heart skip several beats.

  The massive thing had gray skin, bright red hair and sharp black horns on its head. Her first thought was that this was the devil. And her second was that he was summoning more of his kind from Hell.

  When she was carried through the arched entry and into the room, she saw more details. Whatever was happening here was going to be even more of a game changer for the world than COVID-19.

  There were symbols scrawled in blood on the floor in a circle not three feet from her. No doubt they’d used the blood of the people bleeding all around the pentagram on the wood floor.

  There was so much blood in the room she tasted copper in the back of her throat. Or maybe that was just bile. Her gag reflex was working out so much it lost its extra weight around the middle.

  The guy holding her dumped her on the ground. She landed in a puddle of blood. It splashed onto her face from the force of her impact and made her lose the battle with her stomach.

  Turning to the side she opened her mouth and threw up the red beans she’d eaten for dinner. “We need more blood to break the spell on Lucifer. Use her,” the demon barked at someone.

  She wanted to get up and run but she was busy being sick. When hands grabbed her, she threw her arms up in defense. A blade slashed through her arm as it covered her neck and head. The hand holding the blade lifted and removed the knife from her flesh.

  On the return she didn’t move fast enough and cried out when the weapon plunged into her side. She kicked her leg out and rolled to get away. A foot stomped on her shoulder then kicked her in the skull.

  Darkness dotted her vision threatening to take her under. She fought with all her might and forced herself to remain still. If she continued fighting, they would keep stabbing her.

  Agony shot through her side. She had no idea how to tell if she was mortally injured but figured her best bet at this point was playing dead. When hands grabbed hold of her, she went completely limp and bit her lip to keep from crying out when her side protested.

  Electricity zapped her when she was dumped on top of the symbols. The demon thing started chanting in a foreign language and wind started ripping through the room. Someone must have opened the window.

  Or not, she thought as she watched the red lights turn black. The pentagram brightened and smoke drifted from the center of the circle. It was all she could do not to cough against the stench that now filled the room.

  It was as if roadkill was tossed on a roaring fire. Keeping her eyes partially closed, she watched as forms shifted inside the symbols. The chanting increased along with the winds. The entire time Lia felt her blood pumping from her veins and running into the circle.

  Her life’s blood seemed to feed whatever the demon was doing. The electricity intensified to the point she almost crawled away from the source. Thankfully, she was able to adjust when the wind moved all of the bodies.

  With a hand now clamped over her side to stem the flow, Natalia watched in horror as a massive figure rose from the smoke and lights. It was an angel. Not, she corrected he just looked like an angel.

  There was nothing peaceful about the evil that flowed from his presence. Massive black wings stretched wide behind his back and a smile broke over the handsome face. She couldn’t see the color of his eyes, but thought he had black hair.

  “Earth is finally mine,” the devil purred. “I will enjoy killing my father’s favorite pets…what? No!” The roar shook the windows a
nd made the front door slam shut. She had no idea what was happening, but the second the devil tried to step from the circle he was sucked right back inside.

  A blast of malevolent energy exploded throughout the room. It was so powerful she had no doubt it traveled for miles outside the walls. The demon in the room roared and was pulled inside the circle with the devil.

  The second both were gone the remaining people looked around the room bewildered. Lia swore they had no idea what to do now that their master was no longer there.

  She shifted to get up. Or tried to. She’d lost too much blood and couldn’t move. Her limbs felt like cinder blocks and weighed her down. The sound of sirens kick started those left behind. As they took off, Lia tried one more time to crawl to the door.

  She couldn’t move. Not even to press the button on the radio at her shoulder. Every small move she made caused her hand to move slightly and the flow of her blood to increase.

  Suddenly it was all just too much. The black spots expanded in her vision and her heart stuttered in her chest. Her last thought before she succumbed to the darkness was that she hoped her colleagues found her so her parents could bury her. She didn’t want them to worry about where she was.

  Chapter 2

  Araton lifted the rocks and two fingers of Lagavulin to his lips and listened to the females in the room talk about making the homecoming perfect. Why the fuck would they worry so much about making her return a happy event? The child would be ecstatic to be home with her family.

  She’d lived without most of her relatives and even her parents at the end of her stay in Khoth. Something happened. That was what the whispers and tense atmosphere was all about. He had no idea what exactly happened. But knowing how important it was for her parents to keep her safe from the demons hunting her…it had to be bad.