Part 10 (1/2)
”Let's head out then,” Jared spoke up. ”We've still got a lot of ground to cover after that.”
I wiped my cheeks. There would be time for tears later. Jared was right. We needed to bury our dead and move on. The living were counting on us... at least, I hoped they were.
Chapter Seventeen.
XERXES.
I walked down the row of cells where the soldiers had locked up the Lycans caught in the raid. One of the Djinn stood guard in the black uniform of the SECR. He was still a low ranking soldier. Most of the Djinn in the SECR had been pushed by Manda into officer positions.
His blueish eyes caught my scrutinizing gaze, and he looked to the floor. Only the smallest hint of lavender showed through the special contacts, making him invisible as an Other to the humans around him.
I had Djinn hiding in a dozen different SECR units along with Manda as the Secretary of Defense for the entire Republic of the South East Coast. Her position was the only reason I hadn't retired her rebellious a.s.s to a quppu box and thrown her in a closet. She was too valuable an a.s.set in their government.
I shouldn't be surprised. She had a military mind. She did lead her people for nearly two thousand years before I took over. But she should have hidden her father better. With him as my puppet, she had no sway over her people. They would always answer to their king. And he wore my enchantment, which meant he answered to me.
Manda wore the same enchantment now, but I knew that b.i.t.c.h still tried to sidestep my orders when she could.
Like what had happened at the attack on the bridge.
They were supposed to kill that b.i.t.c.h of a vampire, Eira. But instead, she'd only brought me angry wolves. None of them would desert their pack. None would ever work for me. They knew too much. And they were loyal to that blood-sucking b.i.t.c.h.
Without Eira to help them sneak in and out of the SECR, the Masons were just a bunch of dogs scurrying around for sc.r.a.ps. I wanted the Lycans still living in the SECR to be enlisted into my private army. Many had already agreed and joined, but the Masons kept sneaking them away.
Slowly but surely, I would replace humans with supernaturals until I had complete control of the entirety of the government. The broken-up United States was the perfect breeding ground for building a new empire. Europe was already controlled by too many powerful supernaturals. It would be a bloodbath not even I was willing to take on, but here... here in the SECR, I could gain a solid foothold.
h.e.l.l, I already owned the Secretary of Defense. The presidency wasn't far behind.
I stopped in front of one cell and stared at the man behind the bars.
His brown eyes glowed yellow, and a growl rumbled from his chest.
I raised my hand and grabbed his neck with my magick. The woman in the cell to his right screamed for me to stop. A younger brunette to his left cried out in protest. These were Eira's personal friends. The Mason alpha pair and their daughter ... Charlotte.
The alpha didn't struggle against my magick. Resignation burned in his angry yellow gaze. He knew he was about to die, yet he refused beg for his life.
His indifference was irritating. He knew who I was, and still he didn't quake in my presence. Fine. I'd just have to use a different tactic to break him down. I enjoyed pain and suffering whenever possible. It's what made me an excellent guard dog in Babylon. I relished a good fight. Enjoyed killing those who tried to enter the temple of Shamesh without permission.
I glanced away from him, dropped him to the floor with a thud, and turned my attention to the sobbing woman in the cell on his right. If he wouldn't beg for his life, perhaps he would beg for hers. A smile tugged at my lips. Perhaps a little fun could be had from this situation after all.
”You will lose this war, Xerxes,” the alpha Lycan growled, climbing back to his feet.
I stepped to the right and motioned to the Djinn guard at the end of the hall to open the cell. ”What war are you fighting, Lycan? Because from where I'm standing, it certainly appears that I'm winning.”
The guard slid open the reinforced steel door, and I stepped inside with the alpha female.
”Mom!” Charlotte screamed from her cell. ”You leave her alone, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d!”
The woman in front of me trembled, but said nothing. Strong and stubborn like her mate.
I lifted my hand and took a deep breath, feeling my magick wrap around her, a constrictor crus.h.i.+ng its prey. Her heart raced, and her breathing was rapid and shallow. She might not be screaming for her life, but her body was. I pulled a long knife from the sheath at my waist.
”Please.” His voice was broken and choked with emotion.
There it was.
He would beg for his wife.
”Please? You brought your family to my doorstep, Lycan. You handed me your pack, pulling them from the relative safety of their homes into my territory.” I slid the knife down her throat, pressing in just enough to slice the top layer of skin. Crimson flowed in rivulets down her white neck where they disappeared beneath the collar of her black s.h.i.+rt. ”You did this to her.” The words tasted so good coming out. I glanced back at the male and felt a flutter of satisfaction. His expression was pained and desperate now, even a bit guilt-ridden.
The female growled and snarled, but didn't have a chance in h.e.l.l of slipping loose from my magickal straightjacket. I raised my hand, levitating her off the floor, and pus.h.i.+ng her arms up so they extended over her head.
”Please, kill me and let my family and pack go. They will stop coming into the SECR. They'll disappear and you'll never see them again.”
”'Let my people go'? That's original.” I turned toward him with a smile, pulled the knife away from his wife's neck, and then plunged it deep into her stomach.
The male lunged for me, reaching through the bars in a desperate attempt to pull me off his wife. The girl screamed and called me some names I hadn't heard in years. The sound was music to my ears. They would pay for their interference, and then that b.i.t.c.h of a vampire would pay, too.
I turned to the female alpha. Blood darkened her black s.h.i.+rt, and clung to her abdomen where I'd stabbed her. A pool spread across the floor as well.
”I really don't like people meddling in my business. You dogs thought Manda was your ticket in and out without being touched. Well, guess again. Manda belongs to me.”
I jammed the knife into her stomach again, twisting the blade. The scent of her punctured bowels smelled of sweet, agonizing death. Pulling the weapon free, I shoved it into her lower diaphragm. Once, twice, again. Her moans mixed with the sound of her choking, the wheeze of punctured lungs, and the exhale of b.l.o.o.d.y gasps. Her werewolf DNA and magick attempted to heal her body, but eventually, the wounds would be too much.
”Let her go!” the male snarled again. ”My love, I'm so sorry.”
”I l-love you,” the bleeding woman choked out.
”Oh f.u.c.k, isn't that sweet?” I drew the knife across her throat, cutting deeply, and released her from my hold. She fell to the floor with a thud, and I stepped out of the cell as her blood spread across the floor to the cells on her right and left. ”Now it's your turn,” I said, pointing the b.l.o.o.d.y knife at the enraged man.
Glancing down the row, I noted that Charlotte was curled up on the floor in the corner of her cell, sobbing. But she was the only one. The other Lycans in the cells up and down the aisle shouted obscenities and rattled their doors.
It was utterly useless. I could care less if they howled for hours. Their pain brought only pleasure to my ears. No one could hear them outside of this soundproofed concrete room.
Chapter Eighteen.
EIRA.
I knelt beside the still body of Chad and cursed away the tears that threatened to fall. His body was not the only lifeless on the ground. The entire field was soaked in the blood of Lycans I'd called friends for so many years.
My fingers feathered over his open gla.s.sy eyes and closed them so he could rest more peacefully. The initial bullet wounds in his chest should have been something he could've recovered from, but the darts had incapacitated him enough for the soldiers to slit his throat.