Forsaken Hunger

by Nikki McCoy

  “How did you become a Drakon?” Roshon asked bluntly, seeing no point in pleasantries after what they’d been through. When Saden raised a brow, he said, “You need our help, and I want to know what kind of man I’m working with.”

  Saden hardened his gaze and leaned back. “Gabriel was my uncle. At the start of his operation, he was discovered by a Drakon and tricked me into destroying his evidence. Three of the Djinn he was working with at the time were caught in the explosion. The bodies of their human hosts were found in the remains of the facility. I was charged with their deaths.”

  “So you have more reason than most to hate him.”

  “If you think I take no responsibility for what I did, you’re wrong. Because of me, he was able to continue his experiments and ruin the lives of countless humans. It is for that reason I have an interest in what happens to him.”

  Roshon glanced at Kent then back to Saden with newfound respect. It took a brave man to admit to his faults, especially when they held as many repercussions as Saden’s did. “I believe you. You wouldn’t be the first to take the blame for someone else’s actions. Sometimes I envy the humans their justice system, as wanting as it is. The Drakonem care nothing about fair trials or the truth of most situations involving humans.”

  Saden dipped his chin in acknowledgment.

  “What of the vigilante? What’s her reason for working with a Drakon?”

  “You’ll have to ask her. I won’t betray her confidence.”

  “It’s okay,” Daneya said. All of them turned to watch as she strode into the room to stand next to Saden. She was a striking beauty even with her hair mussed and a thin layer of plaster covering her. “I used to be one of the women we saved from the facility today. When Gabriel came after me again, Saden rescued me, along with my daughter and friend. We’ve been here ever since.”

  Roshon quickly pieced together the missing details of her story. The little girl was a byproduct, then, of Gabriel’s zeal to ensure the continuation of his race. It was no wonder she’d been adamant about freeing the captive females and putting her life in jeopardy in the process. “I’m sorry for what you must’ve gone through.”

  Daneya shrugged, her eyes trailing down to settle on Saden. “It hasn’t all been that bad.”

  Her tone belied the affection he knew she was trying to hide. It was apparent what the two had for each other was more than simple lust. Judging from their kiss earlier, much more.

  The blonde woman walked into the room, followed by the second Drakon. He might have looked as if he lived on the beach if it weren’t for his eyes. They belonged to the kind of man who had seen death and caused it.

  “This is Cherri,” Saden introduced. “A friend of Daneya’s. And Blade. He’s been watching over the house for me.” To Blade, he said, “This is Roshon, chief of the Thorien clan, and…”

  “Kent,” Roshon finished. “My second in command.” He glossed over the events of the day, including the reasons why he and his warriors had come. When he’d approached his close-knit group of friends about it the morning after Cai’s appearance, he’d made it clear that they were under no obligation to join him on this mission. Not a single one had blinked an eye. They were loyal to a fault and would give their lives in service to him, just as he would do for any one of them.

  Blade left then at Saden’s request and came back with a laptop which he set up on the coffee table. Saden filled them in on what he’d found at Gabriel’s mansion then paused. The weight behind his next words was no warning, but a promise. “What I’m about to show you can go no further than this room. If it does, I will hunt you down and kill you.”

  Roshon almost grinned. Saden had a way of cutting through the bullshit that he admired. “You have our word.”

  Saden laid out a stack of papers from inside his trench coat onto the table then inserted a thumb drive into the laptop. An Excel document came up with several columns of information. “This is a list of all the infants that have been born under Gabriel’s control and the individuals they were given to. Djinn and Vampyre alike. Some of the Vampyre names belong to members of the royal family here and high ranking officials of the leisonguarde.”

  Blade let out a low whistle. “Didn’t see that coming. Talk about a twist.”

  The implications of the new information weren’t lost on Roshon. In fact, he’d heard of entire clans of Rakshasas falling to similar situations. Unable to recover from the damage done, they’d been forced to give up their titles and submit to the reign of other clans just to keep the innocents caught up in the betrayal safe.

  Those hard decisions had been made by people truly loyal to the survival of their clans, however. Saden no longer owed such loyalty to a race that had repudiated him. Roshon was curious to see what course the Drakon would take now, or whether it affected him at all. From Saden’s grim composure, he had a good idea what the answer would be.

  “I don’t understand,” Daneya said, creasing her brow in confusion. “We should be celebrating, shouldn’t we? With this, we can justify the need for a full investigation. Everyone involved can be taken down, not just Gabriel.”

  Hesitation lined Saden’s face, a mark of where he stood on the issue, though it was Kent who answered. “This proves that the inner structure of the house of Avram has been corrupted. A disgrace of this magnitude can’t be dealt with quietly. Gabriel and his cohorts have completely disregarded all the laws the Vampyre race was built upon after their separation from the Djinn. Once word of this spreads, there will be civil unrest. The royal family here will be considered weak and could face disempowerment by the other families. It could take them years to recover, leaving them vulnerable to the Djinn.”

  Blade scoffed. “Fuck civil unrest. It could cause a revolt. Their pride would demand nothing less.”

  “Well, then, can’t you take this directly to the leader of the house of Avram?” Daneya asked. “Maybe he can work with the Drakonem and use this list to take out the guilty individuals discreetly.”

  Saden shook his head. “Lady Ilsa is only the figurehead. She can’t make this kind of decision without the majority vote of her council, and many of the officials on this list are also on that council. Besides, the list only tells us who received infants, not everyone that might be involved. Even if I were to find the right people, informing them could still lead to the division of the house.”

  “And informing the wrong people could destroy everything you’ve done so far,” Blade added. “It’s a violation of our rules for a Drakon to consult any outsiders on an assignment he’s given. Those people could claim that you fabricated the evidence and report your violation to the Drakonem. The case would be dismissed and you would be punished. Probably sent out of the country to another Drakonem.”

  Kent shifted in his seat. “It might not end there. The Drakonem don’t care about governing houses or the people who fall under them. If your master were to continue the investigation without you, he could end up doing more harm than good.”

  A heavy silence fell over the room. Roshon had to admit he was at a loss as to how to proceed. The only thing he was sure of at this point was the growing respect he felt for Saden. To look at the circumstances from all angles while knowing he could be held accountable—again—for something that was beyond his control had to be maddening. Yet, he hadn’t made one complaint about his lot. If the circumstances were different, they might’ve been good friends.

  The blonde woman, Cherri, broke their reverie with a sudden outburst. “So what if the Vampyres become weak because of all this! Daneya and I are members of the DCM, Saden and Blade are outcasts and you two”—she waved a hand at Roshon and Kent—“aren’t even Vampyres. None of us has anything to gain from helping them. And who knows, it could be a blessing. Obviously, if it was so easy to corrupt the officials of that house, it wasn’t strong enough to begin with. They can rebuild and come up with better laws.”

  “It’s not that simple,” Saden said gently.

  “I don’t gi
ve a damn what’s not simple for you! I want my life back! Daneya, tell him. This is not our concern.”

  Daneya stared at her companion with a mixture of doubt and disapproval. “Cherri―”

  The other woman threw her hands up in exasperation. “Don’t tell me you care about Saden so much that you would throw your life away. If Vincent found out about this, he would kick us out of the DCM. Is that what you want? You told me Saden swore to protect you years ago. Well, if he really wanted to keep his promise, he would let us go and face this on his own. He’s nothing but a selfish coward.”

  “Enough!” Saden’s roar echoed along the walls. After a visible effort to gather his patience, he said in a quieter tone, “Daneya’s welfare has never left my mind, nor Mckenzie’s or yours. Taking this evidence to my Drakonem and getting rid of Gabriel will only open the path for another to take his place. There’s no guarantee that his replacement won’t come after all of you to tie up loose ends. Risking the downfall of the house of Avram might not prevent that from happening either. One of the Djinn could assume control of Gabriel’s operation and find out that Daneya was involved.”

  “He’s right,” Roshon said. “Kent identified one of the Djinn at the facility as a servant of Forrest, a powerful Djinn who’s a leading general of his kind. I believe him to be behind the rise of Vanaras among my people. If he were to take control, there would be no stopping him. All of your lives would be in danger.”

  Tears welled in Cherri’s eyes. She ran from the room, followed immediately by Daneya. The tense aftermath didn’t last long. Blade grunted and started for the open doorway. “I think that calls for a beer. Anyone with me?”

  Kent stood with his geis at his side. “I’ll have one. Chief?”

  Roshon gestured a dismissal. After the two had left, he sifted through the papers next to the laptop. “What are these?”

  “Receipts of Vampyres paying Gabriel to be put on a list for an infant,” Saden replied. “Apparently, they’re in high demand.”

  He sneered in disgust then took a closer look at the man across from him. Saden seemed weary beyond the events of the day. There were shadows in his forlorn gaze and lines on his face that never aged. “What troubles you? Other than the obvious.”

  Saden let out a tired laugh and scraped his hair back. “This was supposed to be my last assignment. I could’ve welcomed death after this. Been pardoned my sins. Now, I’m looking at another ten, twenty years of service.”

  “You can still choose death,” Roshon tempted. “Take the evidence to your Drakonem and forget about the consequences.”

  “And prove everyone right, that I’m nothing more than a soulless killer?” He shook his head. “Not my style.”

  Roshon chuckled lightly. “Nor mine. I’ve found there’s a certain satisfaction in pissing people off. You have a gift for it.”

  “I’ll try to take that as a compliment.”

  “You should.” He sat forward, all joking aside. “It’s that kind of quality that gives you an edge over your enemy. It’ll also help you keep your woman safe.”

  Something indefinable passed through Saden’s eyes and was gone in the next instant. “She’s not mine. Never has been.”

  But he wanted her to be. The unspoken words were as clear to Roshon as if they’d been shouted in the still air between them. “She is…a dichotomy,” he ventured. “To fight the very things she loves so much. I’m assuming the DCM doesn’t know the truth about her daughter.”

  “Nor will they.”

  He held up a hand at the warning tone in Saden’s voice. “Not from me or any of my men. Her secret is safe with us. Personally, I think it’s good to see a vigilante who isn’t one dimensional. Do you have an idea of what you want to do about Gabriel?”

  Saden breathed a deep sigh. “No. While Daneya is my first concern, I can’t forget about all the human females who are still under Gabriel’s control. He’d get rid of them and start fresh if he thought he had to. It would take a united effort on the part of Drakons to get them free and I’m not sure that’s possible, let alone whether my Drakonem would allow it. There’s a reason why Drakons are sent to kill and not to rescue innocents. We can discuss it further tomorrow. For now, it’s late. I’ll show you where your men can stay.”

  He directed Roshon to two spare rooms on the first floor and three on the second. Just as they were about to go back downstairs, the little girl appeared from the room at the beginning of the hallway and went to Saden. She was timid, asking if everything was all right. Saden gathered her in a hug as a father would a child and reassured her with soothing words.

  It occurred to Roshon that Daneya wasn’t the only one the Drakon would protect with his life. Unfortunately, it wasn’t Saden’s life at stake. It was his death. Roshon found he could empathize with the man more than he’d thought possible. Every week, he put his life on the line hunting the growing number of Vanaras, knowing that the only prize would be a warrior’s death. If that were taken away and he somehow turned into a Vanara, he couldn’t imagine the shame of living through that. Of putting his family at risk.

  Quietly, he left Saden and the girl alone, taking comfort in the strength his geis offered through their link.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “He did what?” Gabriel yelled.

  The poignot trembled like a simpering imbecile in front of him. “Th-the Drakon broke into facility three. We don’t know how yet. Somehow, he managed to take six of the specimens with him.”

  “Was 4-7 one of them?” He’d had her transferred to the facility in Arizona along with the others in their first or second trimester. The rest he’d kept at facility four there in California, unwilling to risk the health of the fetuses with the stress of the trip.

  “I-I don’t know, sir. Rhys didn’t give me the details when he called. He said he was on his way to facility three—”

  “Gods damn it!” Gabriel swept everything from his desk, sending piles of papers and his computer monitor to the floor.

  This shouldn’t have happened. That cursed Drakon was supposed to infiltrate facility four, like Rhys had predicted he would.

  Their plan had been fool-proof. Lure the Drakon to the facility by making it an easy target then force one of the women to attack him. A leisonguarde with the power of illusion would have superimposed his image onto the woman, tricking the Drakon into wounding or killing her. By the time the Drakon realized his mistake, it would be too late. Gabriel could claim the criminal had gone insane and this whole mess would be behind him.

  Instead, his entire operation was in jeopardy. The Lady Ilsa and members of the other ruling houses would never accept his plans for the future of their race if they suspected he couldn’t control the females he was using. He had to take care of this without anyone finding out. Get those females back before they could leak out any important information.

  As it was, there was no telling what the Drakon had taken other than the specimens at facility three.

  “Finish cataloging the finances and clean this up,” he said to the poignot cowering in the corner of his library. “I’ll be at facility four.”

  “But, sir—”

  “Do it now!” He stormed out of his mansion to the separate garage on the side. When a pair of his leisonguardes tried to stop him, he told them to hold their posts and wait for his command. A short while later, he arrived at the facility and ignored the overabundance of guards and Djinn who’d been assigned to capture the Drakon. They were useless now. This Drakon was smarter than either Gabriel or Rhys had given him credit for. There was no way he would risk coming here after exposing himself at the other facility.

  Gabriel made his way to his office where he pulled up short at the sight of Rhys accessing the computer at his desk. The man was disheveled and reeked of smoke and sweat. Dried blood was crusted on the side of his face amidst a smattering of bruises. He stood up instantly. For the first time since Gabriel had met him, an expression of guilt played across his hard features.

&nb
sp; “You shouldn’t be here.”

  “Cut the bullshit,” Gabriel said angrily. “I think by now we both know the Drakon wasn’t sent to kill me. He just wants to ruin me. Tell me everything that happened.”

  Rhys’ jaw ticked nervously before he turned the monitor to Gabriel’s view. “We found the Drakon in your office at facility three. He’d turned off the security cameras in the building before we could get him on tape, but I’ve managed to pull up the exact file he accessed on your computer. It’s the production ledger with names and dates going back to the very beginning.”

  Gabriel nearly staggered back, the air punched from his lungs as he stared at the screen. It was impossible. The only ones who knew his password were him and Rhys. No one else would’ve been able to guess it unless they were aware of his intimate relationship with Daneya. Which again, didn’t extend to anyone else. Not even Forrest.

  He recalled the night he’d gone after Daneya over a week ago. How she, her daughter and friend had disappeared immediately after the two Drakons had interfered. Then there was the sighting of a dark-haired female at his mansion. At the time, he had assumed it was merely another Drakon working with the first.

  Now…

  What if it had been Daneya? Only she could’ve given the Drakon a clue to his password. Yet, it was inconceivable that she would involve herself with a criminal. The lowest of the very things she’d dedicated her life to destroying.

  “There’s more,” Rhys said. “The Drakon wasn’t alone. He had a female companion with him in your office. Five minutes after we engaged them, a group of Rakshasas appeared and helped them escape with six of the specimens. Seven of our men were critically injured.”

  “Rakshasas?” That was even more unbelievable. The race of shapeshifters would never intrude upon the affairs of Vampyres unless directly provoked. Forrest would’ve notified him if he’d had anything to do with this. “How can that be? Drakons are forbidden to work with others. Were you able to catch at least one of them for questioning?” If so, they might use that to their advantage.