Forsaken Hunger

by Nikki McCoy

  When he was done, Lady Ilsa sat down slowly on the foot of the bed. “That’s why the Djinn agreed to a truce with us, isn’t it? Of course. It makes sense. Gabriel formed the truce just a few years after he claimed to have found a solution to our dwindling population.”

  “Your Highness,” one of the guards began. “You can’t know he’s telling the truth. This could all be some elaborate plan the Drakon formed to win back the favor of his master. He’s a disgraced murderer who probably seeks to bring down your house.”

  “Perhaps,” she said distantly. To Keefe, she asked, “When did you come into your power, boy?”

  Saden released the kid and watched his face turn a bright crimson. “Last year, my Lady. My parents told me to lie and say it had developed sooner. They said they were only protecting me from the shame of coming into it late.”

  “Half-breeds don’t fully develop until their teenage years,” she mused almost to herself. “I assume you have more evidence to back his claims,” she said to Saden.

  He pulled the papers from his trench coat and handed them to the Lady.

  The guard stirred restlessly. “Your Highness, please. This traitor is an insult to our house. Let us give him what he deserves.”

  “Unless you too have something to confess, I do not need your input,” she snapped. After skimming over the documents, she said, “Get Commander Weiss and korvaute Aikins. Tell them to come immediately.” When the guard left, she turned back to Saden. “We will confront him together. As you have brought this matter before me and not your Drakonem, I will have the final say in his sentencing if I find him guilty. And if I discover you have lied to me, I will contact your Drakonem and see that you and your companions suffer the consequences. Am I clear?”

  He bowed his head, already devising a contingency strategy in case this didn’t work. One way or another, Gabriel was coming with him and the facilities would be put out of commission. Even if he had to inform Vincent of their locations and let the DCM take care of it.

  The guard came back on the heels of an older Vampyre who outweighed Saden by about fifty pounds of pure muscle in breadth. His authoritative demeanor matched the iron lines of his visage and the only indication of his age was in his peppered hair and weathered skin. He took a quick assessment of the room then focused on the Lady. “What’s going on here?”

  “Thank you for joining us, Weiss. Where is korvaute Aikins? I sent for him as well.”

  “Aikins left ten minutes ago. Said he had some urgent matter to attend to.”

  Saden felt his insides grow cold. Had Gabriel detected his presence? The man could be on his way to the facility where Daneya and Mckenzie were being held. If he took off with them, there was no telling where he might go. Saden started for the door only to pause when the Lady’s voice cracked through the air like a whip.

  “Where are you going, Drakon? I didn’t give you permission to leave.”

  He spun around, reining in his impatience. “Gabriel is probably aware that I’m here and headed to his facility to destroy the evidence of his crimes. I need to go after him.”

  “I can send a troop of my guards to his laboratory now. It’s not too far—”

  Saden made a chopping gesture to shut her up. “Not the one on his land. He’s got four private facilities spread throughout your region and the closest is in this area. By the time you form a troop, he’ll be gone, and the only ones you’ll find there are Djinn.”

  “I can’t let you apprehend him alone.”

  “Lives are at stake and I’m not going to stand here arguing with you about it!” he yelled.

  Just as Weiss tensed to jump at him, the Lady raised her hand. “Stop. I’ll let you leave as long as you take Commander Weiss and my two guards with you.”

  “Lady Ilsa,” Weiss said in a warning tone. “I don’t trust any of this.”

  “Neither do I, but I’ve had my suspicions about korvaute Aikins and I want to see this put to an end. You will go with these men. I expect to hear from you before the sun rises.”

  Saden didn’t wait for the commander’s response. He strode swiftly from the room toward the kitchen entrance where they’d come in.

  Roshon emerged from a shadowed alcove and fell into step beside him. “I take it we’re leaving.”

  “The Lady’s on board so far, but apparently Gabriel left—”

  “Just after we entered this place,” Roshon finished. “My geis told me he saw a man fitting the Vampyre’s description at that time. I’m not sure if Gabriel spotted us. Lorna sent her eagle to follow him. I thought it best to inform you after your meeting with Lady Ilsa.”

  Saden flexed his fists in an effort to suppress the anger rising within him. Roshon’s discretion had been well placed. The Lady undoubtedly would’ve viewed shapeshifters in the mansion as an additional threat. He could already hear Weiss behind him demanding to know who he was talking to. Besides, with a winged geis on his trail, Gabriel couldn’t elude them.

  The female Rakshasa met them at the top of the stairs. “My geis tells me the Vampyre she’s following is headed in the same direction as the facility.”

  Saden nodded curtly then said to Roshon, “Phoenix, Blade, Demetrius and I will fly. I’ll need you to take the pompous ass behind us and his two guards with you and meet us there.”

  “Pompous ass and hemorrhoids. Got it. Any chance I can convince you to wait until we arrive?”

  He clapped the commander’s arm as they stepped outside. “Don’t worry. I won’t take all the fun. Watch your back and if you have to, pull your men out of there. You have families to go home to.”

  “And you have one to save, whether you want to admit it or not. We’ll be at your side.”

  With a faint smile, he turned around, ignoring Weiss’ questions. “Phoenix, Blade, let’s go. Demetrius, stay with me like I taught you.”

  They took to the skies with Saden in the lead. Thirty minutes later, they landed at the edge of the facility’s parking lot. Like the one in Arizona, it was located on the outer rim of a block of warehouses. The surrounding streets were empty at this hour. Every window in the facility was lit up from the inside, showing the silhouettes of several figures moving about through the cracks of their heavy drapes. At the back entrance, a truck was parked near the propped-open door. Two poignots in lab coats were busy loading boxes and what appeared to be computer towers onto its bed.

  The heightened activity confirmed Saden’s assumption that Gabriel had somehow become aware of his conference with Lady Ilsa. That left them with no choice but to go in full bore with only half his team. Otherwise, the hard evidence and the women could be gone by the time Roshon arrived with Weiss.

  He pulled up an image of the building’s inner structure in his mind. “I need a distraction while Demetrius and I take the emergency stairs through the access door on the roof.”

  “We’ll go in through the back door,” Blade said, jerking his head to Phoenix.

  “Meet us on the underground level when you can.” He gave Phoenix a critical look. “Are you solid?”

  Phoenix smiled grimly. “It’s what I live for, isn’t it?”

  The reply was more chilling than comforting, though it would have to do. They streaked across the parking lot, blending into the darkness where they could. Blade effortlessly crept up behind one of the poignots, snatched him from the truck bed and put him in a sleeper hold. Phoenix took a less subtle approach to the second poignot and bashed his face into the side of the brick wall. The assistant crumpled in a boneless heap to the ground.

  As soon as Blade and Phoenix entered the facility, Saden glanced back at Demetrius. “Remember to keep a weapon ready at all times. Use your gun as a last resort and always strike first. You need to be responsible for the death of at least one of these criminals to become a full Drakon. Don’t worry about Serrakus or the morals you were taught growing up. Let the heat of the kill come to you, and remember, these bastards have more innocent blood on their hands than you ever will. You rea
dy?”

  The young phantom nodded shakily, eyes dancing with both anticipation and dread. They flew to the roof and materialized in front of the metal door. Saden stilled in wait. If he knew Blade, there would be some sort of signal…

  A loud explosion just below them shook the gravel at their feet, immediately followed by the blare of a security alarm.

  And there it was.

  He sent a small blast of power at the lock on the door then yanked it open and rushed in. Two flights down, they entered a corridor identical to the one at the previous facility. A pair of leisonguardes was herding three full-term pregnant women at gunpoint toward the elevator in the middle of the corridor.

  “Get the women back into one of the cells,” he told Demetrius, then raced toward the clustered group. The female guard nearest him saw him first and aimed her gun at him. She let out a shriek and dropped it when Saden called forth a burst of flames at her hand. Just as he was almost on her, she turned and threw one of the women at him.

  Saden’s protective instincts kicked in and he twisted in mid-air to cushion the woman from the fall with his own body. He rolled the woman over delicately, careful not to lean on her distended belly, and let Demetrius drag her out from under him.

  In the next moment, stabbing pain ripped through his right arm almost before the blast of a gunshot rang out. High screams reverberated along the walls. He ignored the throbbing burn in his arm and jumped to his feet. The female guard swung at him in a wide arc. Saden grabbed her arm and used her momentum to flip her over his shoulder. As soon as she hit the floor, he cracked her skull against the tiles with a hard punch, knocking her unconscious.

  Something slipped over his head then and latched around his throat. A thin strip of wire that choked off his air supply as the other guard used it to yank him up. The wire dug into his tender flesh, crushing his trachea and breaking through the skin. A haze of darkness teetered on the edges of his vision.

  He shifted around then threw himself backwards, slamming the man behind him into the wall. At the same time, he butted his head into the guard’s nose and took advantage of the brief disorientation to pull free. The guard went down quickly after that.

  Saden took off his trench to alleviate the weight on his arm then swayed precariously and leaned on the wall, waiting for his balance to return. Demetrius came into focus before him with an anxious look on his face.

  “Are you okay?”

  He touched fingers to his throat and grimaced when they came away smeared with blood. “It’s nothing,” he said in a voice more ragged than expected. “The women?”

  “I put them in one of the unlocked rooms.”

  Saden nodded his approval then straightened when movement caught his eye from farther down the corridor. Fury shot through his veins like a flood of adrenaline.

  Gabriel emerged from one of the cells with Daneya’s limp body in his arms. She was dressed in a white cotton gown that emphasized the abnormally pale tint to her skin. It was only by her half-lidded eyes and feeble gropes of her hand at Gabriel’s chest that Saden was able to tell that she lived.

  A leisonguarde stepped from behind Gabriel and lifted his hand, palm out. Saden could feel the man’s power mounting around him, creating a vacuous space in the air. His lungs contracted in response as if they were being squeezed from the inside. He’d gone after a Vampyre with this kind of ability in the past. It was a slow-acting form of suffocation best used as a distraction or fear tactic. Also easily circumvented with another type of distraction.

  Especially if one was a pissed off Drakon with too much experience in handling torture.

  Saden pulled a knife from his trench, flipped it over then hurled it at the guard. The blade sank hilt-deep in the man’s shoulder. Air rushed back into Saden’s lungs as he gripped the man’s shirt and tossed him several yards away. The pathetic attempt to get rid of him so Gabriel could make his escape with Daneya only fueled his anger. He turned on his former uncle, barely resisting the urge to call forth the Drakonem power within and set him on fire.

  “Put her down.”

  Gabriel’s gaze flicked from Saden to the fallen guards in blatant calculation of his odds. Slowly, he laid Daneya on the floor. “I should’ve known it was you from the beginning. You still don’t know when to accept your fate, do you?”

  “Likewise. It’s over, Gabriel.”

  “Ahh, but I’ve already won. I know you spoke to Lady Ilsa earlier at Mazel’s mansion. One of my men spotted you going up to see her with that worthless official, Crenshaw. It’s too late, though. Even if she decides to reopen the investigation on me, there will be nothing left here to support your accusations by the time her guards show. I’ve given orders for all the facilities to be evacuated. You won’t have a shred of evidence to use against me.”

  “What makes you think I want to bring you in alive?” Saden asked with a malicious grin, half bluffing and completely prepared to follow through if necessary.

  Apprehension sparked in Gabriel’s eyes. “Your Drakonem dropped my charges. He couldn’t have given you permission to kill me.”

  “I never said anything about permission.” He jumped at Gabriel, feigning with his right arm then swinging an uppercut with his left. Gabriel folded at the waist and clutched his stomach. Just as Saden was about to smash his knee into the man’s nose, Gabriel snapped upwards to bash the crown of his head into the underside of Saden’s chin. Saden reeled back in shock as he bit through his tongue, mouth pooling with blood. Apparently, his former uncle had sharpened his fighting skills since the last time they’d seen each other.

  He was taken by surprise again when Gabriel landed a solid kick to his chest, sending him stumbling backwards. Gabriel charged him after that and rammed his shoulder into Saden’s gut. Saden leaned in then brought his elbow down in a piercing jab to Gabriel’s spine. The impact forced the man to loosen his grip, giving Saden the purchase he needed to throw Gabriel’s weight against the nearest wall. As Gabriel slumped down in a daze, Saden reared his fist only to pause at Demetrius’ loud bellow.

  “Saden, watch out!”

  He ducked in reaction just before a gun fired. Behind him, the guard who’d accompanied Gabriel dropped lifelessly to his knees then face-planted on the floor. In the middle of his forehead was a small, bleeding crater from the exit of the bullet. The knife he’d held in his frozen grasp clattered onto the tiles. Demetrius stood a few yards away staring wide-eyed at the body, a gun shaking in his white-knuckled hands.

  Saden shifted to stand when he felt a tug on his harness and looked down. Gabriel had seized his other knife and moved to strike at him. He leaped to the side, but not fast enough to avoid the blade. It sliced across his ribcage, tearing a searing line of fire into his flesh. Gabriel threw the knife then scrambled to his feet and raced down the corridor toward the stairs.

  As soon as he disappeared behind the door, Saden let out a curse and lifted his shirt to inspect his wound. The cut ran the width of his midsection and was deep enough to expose his bottom ribs. It wasn’t the pain he was worried about, though. It was the loss of blood from his injuries.

  All of that fled his mind, however, when Daneya stirred groggily. He returned his knife to its harness and rushed over to cradle her head in his lap. Her dark lashes fluttered open to display dilated pupils. Splotches of high color stained her otherwise pale face. The beat of her heart thrummed too rapidly beneath his fingers at her throat. He shook her gently, trying to get her gaze to focus on him. “Leisontee?”

  She crinkled her brow in confusion. “Saden?” His whispered name was barely a coherent murmur on her lips.

  Damn it! The son of a bitch must have drugged her.

  Blind rage suffused him as scenarios of what Gabriel might have done to her swam through his thoughts. This was his fault. He should’ve brought the evidence he’d obtained against Gabriel at the first facility to Serrakus immediately. He should’ve secured Daneya and Mckenzie at the DCM compound when he’d had the chance. Or, better y
et, taken them there at the start of all this instead of foolishly believing they were safer with him.

  No regrets.

  Her promise to him echoed through his mind. A conviction that was as empty now as the oath he’d made to always protect her. Because of his failure, she would have nothing but regrets, and more painful memories to add to her collection.

  “What do we do now?” Demetrius asked hesitantly.

  Saden reined in his self-loathing and bent forward to place a soft kiss on Daneya’s temple. “Take her.” He lifted Daneya in his arms and handed her over.

  Demetrius took her then glanced at the dead guard. “H-he was coming at you. I didn’t have a choice.”

  With a grimace, Saden squeezed the phantom’s shoulder for reassurance. In truth, he was lucky Demetrius was there. Never had he been so carelessly distracted by his target. “You did good. You got your kill. Now I need you to hide her somewhere outside and stay with her. I’ll find you when I’m done.”

  They started toward the emergency stairs. Just as they passed the elevator, a massive explosion rocked the building, centering from behind the elevator doors. Saden pushed Demetrius to the wall then took out his knife. When the doors were pried apart manually, smoke billowed out to the ceiling, surrounding a tall figure that rolled out gracefully to a standing position. It was Phoenix, covered in soot and coughing repeatedly as he waved away the smoke.

  Saden checked the interior of the elevator and found it empty and slightly tilted from the crash. Its roof contained a large hole where Phoenix must have blown the electric motor to disengage the cable. The maneuver was a smart one, leaving the stairwell as the only access point to and from ground level. “Where’s Blade?”

  “Coming,” Phoenix replied gruffly and gestured to the end of the corridor. “We got split up. Did you find your little girl as well?”

  He frowned at the odd phrasing. “Not yet. Will you go up with Demetrius to make sure he gets out safely?”

  “What about his goal?”