He looked closer. It was then he found the first scar. A faint line about the width of his thumbnail encircled her entire wrist. He studied it for a moment, then grabbed her other hand. An identical mark was just visible. He knew what it was; she’d been tied and suspended from something. Tied tightly enough to scar the skin of a Dardaptoan. Dardaptoans rarely scarred, only the most extreme injuries left a mark.
Who or why would someone do that to her? He lit another hell-light, then instructed it to hover a foot above his head. He studied every inch of her front closely, but found no more marks.
He rolled her on her back.
He hissed at what he found. Her lower back was a mess of scars, white lines that he readily identified. Someone had sliced her delicate skin in more than two dozen places. Most of the lines were a minimum of three inches in length. The worst started just below her shoulders and ran down her spine, ending above her tailbone.
Why?
This was systematic torture. That was the only explanation for how the wounds had scarred. He traced each line slowly, wanting to sooth the long ago hurts. If he found the monsters responsible for such abuse he’d rip them into a thousand pieces without breaking a sweat. Even a demon knew women were to be protected, cherished. Where were her men folk when this was happening?
He touched one globe of the most feminine backside he’d ever seen, smoothing his fingers over the flesh. A blemish caught his eye, located on the bottom of her cheek. He leaned closer, then recoiled in horror.
Tattooed across her skin, more on the top of her leg than her backside, was ‘T.I. Specimen Number 211.’.
****
Kindara woke, disoriented and naked. Her eyes popped open and immediately caught on the demon sitting three feet away from her, stirring a small pot over some sort of battery-operated burner. At the smell coming from the pot, her stomach rumbled. Though she needed blood to survive, she only needed it once or twice a month. The rest of the time, Dardaptoans ate meals similar to humans.
He still wasn’t dressed. He turned to her with a smile, yet the expression didn’t quite reach his eyes. Memories of the moments before she’d slept crashed in on her. Jierra, in the hands of a Taniss. Kindara sat, dislodging the natural grass blanket. “My daughter...”
The demon frowned as he continued to stir. “Is fine. I flashed to Rand to check on her while you slept. She’s fine; he was feeding her fish.”
“Flashed? You can do that?” Of course he could, hadn’t he moved to block her from leaving the cave earlier? “Can you take me to her?”
“No. It’s too far away to take you safely. Flashing a second person is incredibly dangerous, to begin with.”
“Has he...” Kindara shivered as she remembered the things the eldest Taniss had done to her, to Iavius. “Has he hurt her yet?”
“Definitely not. Rand won’t hurt a female. Ever.” The demon sounded offended that she’d even suggested it. “What do you know of the Taniss family that frightened you so badly earlier?”
****
She sank back to the pine bedding, then pulled her knees to her chest. “That they are evil. More so than you...at least the men are.”
Rathan stopped stirring for a moment. “None of the ones I’ve met are anywhere close to evil.”
“They are.” She pulled the blanket over her, huddled under it. “They are evil killers who will stop at nothing to get what they want.”
“Who’d they kill?” The stew was finished and he carried it and his canteen of water to her side. He’d feed her first, then finish what was left. “Do you have proof?”
“Proof I have to look at every day.”
“Who hurt you?” Rathan pulled the blanket over her exposed shoulder, then leaned her into his chest. He held the camping spoon to her lips. “Eat, pet.”
“I’m not hungry.” She pushed the spoon away, but he knew she was lying. He easily felt the hunger in her mind.
“Starving yourself won’t get you to your daughter any sooner. Now eat.” She needed to eat, if she didn’t, he’d compel her to. “Then we’ll talk.”
He fed her until she pushed the spoon away. “No more.”
He ate the remainder. “Tell me how you got those scars. All of those scars. Even these.” He ran a hand down her back.
“Thirty years ago, Leo Taniss took me and my Rajni to his laboratory where he tortured and killed my Rajni and nearly did the same to me. Had my brother not arrived when he had, I’d be dead. The end.”
Her summation chilled him. “I’m sorry.”
Rathan knew Leo Taniss—Rand’s grandfather—was not well-liked. In fact, the man was hated by most of his family, including Rand. But to capture and torture two Dardaptoans was no easy feat.
“The tattoo...what does it mean?”
“Taniss Industries Specimen 211. Can’t you figure it out? He branded us like cattle.”
“Why 211?”
“Because I was the 211th Dardaptoan held and tortured in his lab. My Rajni was number 210.”
“But why?”
“He drained us of nearly all our blood, then refused us more. To make a drug he’d invented. D-Palitren, used as a damned vaccine for humans since the seventies. Worse, he wanted to study us like rats. He’d cut me, with a knife he’d dipped in something to make it scar, then stand there and watch me scream. Watch Iavius try to get to me as I bled and bled. And then it was my Rajni’s turn. And I watched.”
The flat voice she delivered her tale in chilled him the most. Rathan didn’t think, he scooped her into his lap and pulled the blanket tighter. He placed a kiss on her forehead. “I’ll kill him for you. This I swear. And I will make him hurt as you have hurt.”
Her tears were hot against his skin as she turned her face into his neck. Rathan did something he’d never done before—he comforted a woman.
****
What was she doing? She wrapped her arms around the demon’s neck as she asked herself that question over and over again. But had anyone held her since that day? Since Cormac had stormed Taniss’s compound and found her still clutching Iavius’s body? Since her partner Barlaam had tried in vain to save her unborn babe?
She couldn’t remember.
He rocked her, and she sensed the movements were unnatural to him. He’d not held many upset women, that was evident. Still, it touched her that he’d even try.
Maybe demons weren’t the evil monsters Cormac painted them? “What did you plan to do with us? In exchange for what you think happened to Mickey and the others?”
“Not harm you. Never harm you.” He shook his head emphatically. “Just keep you until we could lure them to us. That is all.”
“I see.” And she did. They were the bait, in a cycle that would never end. “And when they came for us, you would kill them. Including my brother.”
“If he is the king’s adviser, then yes.”
“Even though they’ve not killed, or harmed, the Taniss women in any way?” Although they had been converted and mated.
“Even though. Have they harmed them?”
“No...”
“But there is something you are not saying.” His hands tightened on her arms and he pulled her back slightly to stare at her.
“The Taniss women have been converted into Dardaptoan. They have all found Rajni, as well. Emily is the Rajni of our king, even. They have not harmed them, I swear.”
“I see.”
“So you can take me to my daughter then let us go.” Kindara heard the pleading in her voice again.
“I am taking you to her.” He shook her chidingly. “I have sworn that. But it will take time. Whether or not he lets you return to your people so quickly will be up to Rand. It is his vengeance we sought.”
“Even though his sisters and cousins were probably taken for our people’s vengeance? Leo Taniss has killed nearly a thousand of our people now, did you know that? So what if my brother took his granddaughter? Doesn’t he owe our people something? And it’s not like they killed them! Cormac
didn’t hang her from a wall and cut her, drain her dry!”
“Cormac is your brother? Which Taniss woman is he mated to now?”
“Josey.” Sweet Josey, who Kindara thought would be a perfect partner for her hard, harsh brother. Kindara had had a difficult time reconciling the sweet young woman with the evil grandfather at first. But if Josey could make her brother happy, Kindara had decided to welcome her into the family. “It is good because he can read her mind and speak to her in her head.”
****
Rathan nodded. That was good, for Josey was deaf. But it changed nothing. Rand’s territory had been invaded, his females taken. But if they were true Rajni to these men, killing these men would not be wise. It would only hurt Josey and her cousins to lose their mates.
Like this poor little creature had. “We must sleep now. I want to start out again as soon as the sun is set. You need rest, my pet. It has been a long day for you, and I will need to feed before we go.”
He didn’t miss the little catch in her breath or the stillness of her body. “I see.”
“Part of our bargain, was it not?”
“Yes...”
“Come then, lie down. Do you wish me to assist you in sleeping?” He motioned to his horns.
“No. I don’t like you doing that.” She slid down on the pine needles, looking up at him with clear vulnerability on her face. He settled beside her, something he’d never done with the women he’d fed from in the past. Had he ever slept beside a woman for a full night—or day, as the case may be? He didn’t think so.
Still, it was cool in the cave and she’d need his body heat. He’d gladly give whatever she needed. He pulled the blanket over their bodies, then pulled her onto her side. Her blonde head was pillowed on his chest and he kissed the silky strands again. He held her to him. “Kiss me good-night, pet.”
“My name is Kindara, not pet.” But she obliged him, kissing him quite sweetly before pulling away. He didn’t insist on more, knowing that if he did, he’d take her again. And again. And she truly did need to rest.
“Ah, but I love petting you.” Rathan demonstrated once before tucking his hand into the curve of her waist and snuggling his captive closer. “Now sleep, understand.”
Chapter Five
He’d forgotten to utter the protection spell.
Rathan mulled that over several hours later while leading his little captive up the rocky terrain of the mountain. Without that spell, she most likely already carried his spawn. He’d never forgotten to use birth control, not in twenty-three hundred years. Yet he knew that nestled within her tiny belly his spawn was taking root. It was inevitable and it tied her to him forever. Despite the vow he’d made, he’d have to find a way to keep her with him.
Unlike many of his brethren, he’d never spawned before. His first child, after all, would be the king or queen of his people. And not just his tribe, but of all the demon tribes. He was the High King. He’d never taken that knowledge lightly. The child would have to be born of a female worthy of being the queen. Was she? She’d been brave, protective, and intelligent since he’d taken her from the highway. That was a plus.
But how would she react knowing she carried a demon child? Would she care for his child as much as she did the daughter she’d shared with the Rajni she’d obviously loved and adored? Would she fight and protect this babe?
Or would she hate the child because it was not of her choosing or of her kind? If it were male, it would be Incubus. If female, Dardaptoan like her. That was the way with the humanesque beings and the Demonkin. Halflings took after the same gender parent, with only a few traits of the other parent mixed in. But would she hate and resent it because it was his? Like his mother had hated him for being his father’s? He would not let that happen to his spawn, he wouldn’t. That was a vow he’d made centuries ago.
He pulled her closer, keeping a guiding hand on her back. He could not have her falling, not while carrying the spawn. It could be dangerous for her even though demon spawn were extremely hardy and almost always guaranteed to survive birth. Mothers weren’t so guaranteed, especially of other species. Demon babes were often too large, too demanding to go full-term, especially for delicate-built females like her.
That worried him more than he wanted to admit.
He lifted her over a fallen log, his hands lingering on her waist. What would she look like, her belly swollen? “Are you tired, pet?”
“No.”
“Let me know if you need to rest. We will stop as long as you need.”
“Why are you hovering? You’re the most solicitous kidnapper I’ve ever heard of.”
Rathan stopped. “I prefer to think I am not just your kidnapper.”
“What would you call it, then?” She stumbled on some loose leaves and he grabbed her, pulling her hard against his suddenly rapid heartbeat.
“I prefer to call it...lover. I am your lover, not your kidnapper.” Rathan set her back on her feet, as carefully as he could. “And a lover is supposed to care for his woman.”
“I’m not your woman.”
Yes she was, but Rathan understood why she wouldn’t realize it. It would become clear to her in time. Hopefully before the spawn made his or her appearance.
****
She wished he’d keep his hands to himself. Every brush against her, every helping hand he gave her made her burn with remembrance of what he’d done to her before they’d begun hiking. It had been fast, and hot, and she’d screamed twice before it was over.
He grabbed her hand when she stumbled again. “Careful, pet.”
She wasn’t used to moving through the darkness. No stars were overhead, and the moon was just a sliver. The sandals on her feet were woefully inadequate for a mountain hike. “I’m fine.”
He stayed close, not giving her breathing room. “Where are we going?”
“The family has a vacation compound seventy-five road miles east. There’s two hiking paths that run directly to it, and cut that distance by a third.”
“And once we’re there?”
“I will take you to my rooms where you can have a bath and rest, if you wish.”
“What’s your obsession with me resting?”
“You are a delicate Dardaptoan female.” He seemed surprised at her question. “You aren’t as able as I to withstand hard physical demands.”
“A three day hike is nothing new to me, though it has been three decades or more since the last one.” Kindara remembered it well--Iavius, his brother Nalik, and Cormac on the trail of a young band of warrior demons. She’d not wanted to be separated from Iavius, so she’d followed the men. It had proven a good thing, as there were more demons than they’d expected. Her family had had a wonderful time battling them, but Kindara’s healing skills had definitely been needed by the time they were done.
“Who let you?” Anger coated his words and Kindara bristled.
“What do you mean ‘who let me’? I am over four hundred years old. I can and always could do what I wanted.”
“To take a Dardaptoan female on such a journey was highly unwise!”
“Yet you’re doing just that, with me and my daughter.”
“Out of necessity!”
“Out of a need for revenge. Like little boys on the school grounds. Yet none of you--demon, human, Dardaptoan, or Lupoiux have stopped to think of the women involved in your stupid, senseless war!” Kindara realized she was shouting when birds took off from their perches overhead. She stopped walking and took several deep breaths. “Yet it is the women who suffer the most. Look at my daughter. My gods, she teaches at an elementary school! Yet now she’s hostage in some sort of revenge plot. And Josey...gods, poor Josey.”
“It’s not my revenge. It’s Rand’s.”
“And that makes it better?” Kindara struggled not to shout again. “At least if it were your own, you could justify the cause. So do you serve him?”
“I serve no one!”
“Not even your demon king, or demon queen?�
� She knew from her brother that there were twelve demon tribes, each with a king or queen.
“I am the king of my people.” He kept walking, tugging on her hand until she followed. “But I am bound to Rand, as well.”
“How?” She hated speaking to his back, yet he gave her little choice.
“He and some of his pack saved my life after a particularly nasty ambush ten years ago. I swore an oath to protect him and aid him for the entirety of our lives.”
“And help him kidnap women?”
“Help him protect, defend, and vindicate his family.” He stopped, and the sudden movement had her stumbling into his broad back. He spun to face her, both hands grabbed her upper arms and tightened bruisingly. “Poor Josey? You said, ‘poor Josey’! Tell me now, what you mean by that.”
Kindara hesitated. He looked deadly in the little moonlight there was, and she didn’t doubt that he was just that. “Half a dozen Lupoiux from a rogue pack attacked her and Emily in the gardens a little over a week ago. Josey couldn’t hear them coming...”
“Does she live?” Panic and fury mingled in his question, and Kindara did not doubt that the revenge he sought was just as much his as the Taniss wolf’s.
“Yes. She is weak, but healing well. I treated her myself.”
“You?”
“Yes, me. I am the Chief Healer for my people. And Josey is now my sister-in-law.” Kindara felt a rush of worry. How would Cormac be able to track her and Jierra, with a Rajni who needed him at home? But Dhar Rydere, king of their tribe, would also not stop until she and Jierra were found. Someone would come for her and her daughter. It was just a matter of when. “She is doing surprisingly well. She still possesses some human antibodies that helped her fight any infection.”
“And the Lupoiux? What pack? What became of them?”
“Dhar Rydere and his advisers slay them during the attack. We don’t know any more about them. Mallory’s Rajni is charged with hunting the pack down.”
Awakening the Demon's Queen Page 3