Talon Read online

  “I wish I could protect you, my lady. I wish I could prevent it from happening again.” Kailani carefully watched this man still concealing her nature. She wanted him to remain unaware she was a vampire for a little while longer. “So do I.” She turned to him and used what strength she had left to cloud Bryson’s mind. This allowed her to begin the coercion she used for feeding to eliminate resistance. “You can help me still, though. I need food, Captain. Can you feed me?” Kailani pulled Bryson’s arm up to her mouth and pushed the sleeve back, exposing his very muscular forearm. She saw strong veins just beneath the skin. Her dry tickle of hunger burned the back of her throat, and she couldn’t fight the urge much longer. She had been too long without food, and this man was too close.

  Long incisors appeared; twin needle sharp points that dripped venom in anticipation of feeding. Along her lower jaw, two more teeth rose to sharp points, completing the image of a vampire about to strike. “Captain, you didn’t answer me,” she purred, adding more coercion to his mind. In order for him not to sour his blood with fear, she needed his acceptance.

  “Yes,” he mumbled. “Yes, I’ll feed you,” came a shallow reply that vaguely sounded like gibberish to the deepest recesses of his mind.

  Kailani savagely growled as her teeth slid through the skin and sank into the burning veins she so craved. The life that flowed through Bryson now pumped into Kailani, sending warm rivulets of strength through her core. She would survive another day.

  She only drank what she needed to keep going. If she killed Bryson, it would alert Kaen that she was stronger and more able to withstand him. No, she wanted to keep the element of surprise in her court, so released her teeth and licked the wounds seductively with her tongue sealing them closed.

  “Thank you, Captain Bryson,” she whispered to the dazed man. He would not recall this. Her venom acted not only as a numbing agent, but it also erased the mind of the encounter in order to protect her kind from discovery.

  Bryson shook his head, “I’m sorry, Miss, but what are you thanking me for?” he absently pulled her closer through the bars and wrapped his thick arm around her wasted upper body.

  “Your kindness, sir. You are warm.” She sighed into his side as she snuggled closer. “In return, I’ll pass on advice to you. Watch out for the rats at night. They come in hordes. If you hide your flesh, and tuck into a tight ball, they leave you alone. A few of the prisoners have lost eyes or fingers as they lay asleep.”

  “Thank you for the advice.” Good heavens, what hell did they live in down here? Bryson thought.

  * * * *

  Lainey was getting too bold, Dace thought to himself as he leaned against the wall watching her. They raided the palace three more times over the past few days. Each time they returned with a bounty that would provide for them and a few of the others who joined them since they began. “When are you going to accept that we have enough?” Dace finally spat angrily as she dressed in their tiny shack.

  She was obsessed with the raids and became driven to participate in each and every one, and then she planned for the next. Seeing. Seeing the results of full bellies had inflamed her greed and drove her to extremes. Lainey eyed him from the side as she buttoned up the last of the closures. He didn’t understand it, and had hoped he would.

  Dace tried again to stop her. He was furious and more so that she was brushing his concern off like it was of no bother. He didn’t understand why she was going out so soon after the last raid and didn’t understand why she wouldn’t listen to reason. Didn’t she understand their storeroom was full? They had clothes on their backs and proper materials to make their shelters more permanent and sturdy?

  He couldn’t deny the evil premonition that sat in his stomach like a rock. “This one is too risky. Don’t do this Lainey. I don’t trust the source.” Her target was the lower chambers, which they assumed held more treasures and coin. “I’m not comfortable with you going so deep within the palace. We agreed to only raid the rooms close to an exit.” This plan led her away from a safe escape and increased their chance of getting caught. The more he thought about it, he found he was a breath away from demanding she stay. That would infuriate her, because Lainey didn’t like being controlled.

  “Show a little faith, love. I can do this. We need the money. More arrive daily looking for shelter. We won’t have enough to last us through winter if they keep coming. Just a little more won’t hurt, and what I have in mind should set us up for awhile yet.” As she spoke, she was buckling on her dagger that attached to the thigh over her black pants. A tight fitting black shirt hugged her torso, and she tucked her curly black hair under a coif. She essentially blended into the shadows once she was fully disguised. Dace had to admit, even if he was spitting angry with her, she was stunning.

  Groaning, he turned his back to her and looked outside the partially open door at the pathetic village he now called home. “I do have faith, but I’m worried for this night. You’ve never gone that deep within those walls, and that is what has me worried. I haven’t yet found a way into the dungeons, and if you get caught, I’m not sure I can get you out.” The desperation buried him and Dace approached, forcing her to look at him by grabbing her shoulders. “Listen to me. I order you to stay behind this night. Let it go.”

  Her lips narrowed in anger, “Don’t order me around. Yell at me later when I return.” Lainey’s eyes flashed annoyance as he continued to pin her in place. “Release me, Dace. It’s time to go.”

  “Gladly.” With a flourish, he removed his hands to stalk away. She wasn’t going to listen to him. Damn her, then.

  * * * *

  Inside the palace was quiet and dark. Most of the occupants had long gone to bed. Only the night guards on patrol caused any sound as their armored feet clanked against the stone pavers as they passed.

  “Ready?” Lainey whispered to her partner, Quade. He was large for a man, well over six foot three, but very lithe on his feet.

  He turned his blond head in her direction and nodded. He was large for a man, well over six foot three, but very lithe on his feet. He was dressed in similar attired of black pants, tight fitted shirt and a coif that he wore around his neck. Just before he slipped around the corner, he pulled the coif into place and his blond hair bled to black and he essentially disappeared.

  “Go!” She ordered, and the two darted from the shadows to the next alcove down the hall to wait and listen. She met silence and then chanced a look down the hall—nothing. “That door should be here, near us. Search for it,” she whispered.

  Together, they proceeded to try each door until one was found open. When Quade explored it, he returned, “I found a door that leads down.” He used his head to indicate the direction of the door.

  Both moved to the door and slipped inside, shutting it behind them quietly. They slowly proceeded down the stairs into the underbelly of the palace. The halls were a labyrinth of tunnels, each intersection branching off into dark directions. There was no light, only the pathetic halo cast from the candle Quade carried. “Which way do you think?”

  “That maid said to the left. She’d only been here once, but she remembered the way,” Lainey replied and headed slowly in that direction with Quade following.

  Quite a ways down the dark hall, there was a heavily locked door, which was different from all the others that lined the hall. “This must be it,” she whispered and touched the lock to test the security. “Can you pick this?” The device was large and elaborate.

  Quade scoffed at her. “Of course. There is no lock I can’t get through. Move aside.”

  He shoved her off and claimed the lock in his hands. He then removed a pouch from his breast pocket where he kept his beloved tools. Within moments, he had two small picks embedded in the device.

  While he was working the lock, Lainey cautiously looked down the hall watching for trouble. She would occasionally look b
ack over Quade’s shoulder to check his progress. She trusted him, that wasn’t in question, but this was a dangerous game they played and she was nervous to hand the control over to someone else. If Quade failed, they were in serious trouble.

  To Lainey, it felt like eternity until she heard the tell tale sound of the latch released was heard, and the lock fell open. She resisted expelling a loud sign and patted his back instead.

  “See?” The look in Lainey’s eyes gave all the praise he needed.

  “Well done.” With a quietness that was near impossible, Lainey removed the lock and pushed the heavy door, which protested with a grating sound that echoed down the hall. She was eager to see what lay within when a sound from the room startled her. Two men dressed in dark clothing sprang forth from the darkness and caught Lainey and Quade quite off guard. There was no sign of a struggle because it happened so fast. One had Lainey pinned to the ground with a sword at her throat, and the other was pointing a crossbow at Quade, who froze in his tracks.

  “Gotcha! I see our ruse worked,” the man taunted Lainey.

  She looked around frantically, and her heart was suddenly filled with dread. The room was completely bare. Nothing. Not a coin, not a jewel, not even a speck of dust. Empty. They were lied to, tricked, trapped.

  “Take them away,” he ordered, but not before he delivered a sounding kick to her mid-section, forcing the air from her lungs.

  All she could think of was that maid’s face who had given her the information. Lainey had learned of her through a friend of a friend. Lydia was her name and she was desperate. Her desire to strike back at the royals touched on a chord with Lainey, which had originally gotten her attention. Lydia explained that her family was being held in the mines, working off their debt and offered information about this storeroom in hopes that Lainey would give her the amount needed to free her brothers and sisters from their hell. Lainey snorted at this memory and how well she’d been played. Lydia even cried when she told her tale. Lainey now cursed and her anger surged to the surface at her own stupidity.

  One of the guards leaned down and in sinister tones whispered, “Putting it all together, are ya? She was paid more to lead ye here.” His wicked laugh filled the chamber before she was hauled to her feet.

  Quade was being shoved roughly down the hall with Lainey forced behind him. Together, they were brought to the dungeons and shoved into the same cell without much ceremony. “King will want to see ya in a moment, so just sit tight. First off, you have an appointment with the Dûr Falas, so we’ll be back in a little while.” They locked the door and left.

  “What do we do now?” She could hear the panic creeping into Quade’s voice. Normally, he was calm and sturdy, but that was when they were sure of their success.

  Now, well…Lainey spun around taking in her bleak surroundings. Her panic ratcheted up a notch when she recalled Dace’s voice echoing in her head. He’d warned her of this outcome, and she knew that there was no hope of a rescue. He couldn’t get them out.

  “I don’t know, Quade.” Lainey looked around the cell and felt her hopes dwindle further. Stone walls, solid iron bars, and no windows anywhere.

  Oh, Dace. I’m so sorry! Lainey said to herself as her fear settled in her stomach. He was right, again. When would she learn to just trust him and not fight his every word? How many times could she be so stupid! The flash of anger heated her body and a blush colored her cheeks. Dace only loved her, cared for her well-being, and she challenged him to prove she wasn’t some weak woman.

  “Damn you, Lainey,” she cursed to herself.

  Kailani instantly took in two humans standing stunned in the center of the small cell. She watched them through her heavily lidded eyes and remained concealed until she was ready to announce herself. Both were dressed in black tight fitted clothing, which meant these two were probably from that renegade group she and her mate had heard about when they arrived. The youthful woman appeared worried and twirled the engagement ring on her finger around and around. That was telling to Kailani. It meant she had something to fight for. The man just appeared suspicious. He wasn’t the giver of that ring for sure.

  “Who’s there?” a small voice asked from the corner. The two turned in surprise to find a small woman huddled there. The frail woman raised her head and sniffed, turning in their direction. Silver eyes flashed and reflected the torchlight, and her dark chestnut hair was ratted from lack of bathing.

  “I could say the same of you.” Lainey replied but stepped away from the woman, “I’m Lainey. This is Quade.” She indicated using her thumb.

  “I’m called Kailani.”

  She was frail and tiny, wasted and thin, but her life force was strong enough to register on the human’s primal core. Lainey sucked in a breath when she got a full view of their cell mate. Her features were severe and angular with high cheek bones, a straight nose, and a narrow face. As Lainey looked closer, she realized she was staring at no human. The eyes watching her and Quade were not those of a woman, but a predator.

  “There used to be a man here named Bryson, but they took him days ago.” Lainey could see the sadness at that last statement and wondered who that man was. Husband? Lover? Friend?

  Swallowing her fear, Lainey felt compelled to approach and forced herself to move towards the woman, “I’m sorry.”

  “He was a good man, used to be the Captain of the Guard.” Her incisors extended at the thought of the captain, for he had been her food source the past three days. In her current state of mind, Kailani forgot to hide herself from the humans.

  The two new occupants shrank back from her and cringed. Lainey pulled herself together, seeing that the only bars separated them from this vampire. “Used to be? What the hell did you do to him?”

  Kailani sighed and leaned against the bars in the corner, still too weak to be much of a threat. Kaen had come for her last night, and she was still feeling the effects of his treatments. “I think they killed him.” Her voice was small and broken, not the voice of a killer.

  “They?” Lainey spat.

  “The Dûr Falas or King Ondre. Doesn’t really matter which, but it wasn’t me.” Kailani said defeated.

  The frailness of the voice touched Lainey, whose eyes squinted in thought as she worked through the terror of being caught and in the proximity of a hungry vampire. “Kailani, is it?” The tiny woman nodded. “What are you doing down here?”

  “Kaen’s entertainment, that’s what,” she whispered. “He did it to anger Talon and tempt him into attacking him.”

  “Talon? What is that?” Lainey chanced a step forward and was now inches from the woman.

  “My mate.” Her tortured moan hissed passed her lips. “My love.” She missed him and felt the despair she’d ever see him again.

  A tear slipped past her tightly closed eyes as the image of her love flashed in her mind and the searing pain in her heart flared once more at their separation. It had been years since the two of them were this long separated from one another. She fought the despair of that pain.

  Kailani knew it was her depleted state that only further added to the raw emotions. She swallowed and her sliver eyes snapped open as she looked at Lainey, canines extended long and dripping. “You have to get out or he’ll hurt you too,” she moaned.

  Centuries earlier, she gave her mate, Talon, her strong and valiant love. She was gifted to him, offered as a means to placate the wicked elven vampire who ravaged the countryside feeding, or so the villagers thought. Talon had actually walked through the village proper, and the Elder gave him his choice of virginal maidens. He pretended to search, but already knew what he wanted—Kailani. He told her later that he had watched her while she worked in the field earlier in the day. She could still remember feeling the fear of the announcement of the Elder when they came to her house later that night, demanding she leave immediately. Looking back, how sil
ly was she for feeling fear after the centuries of bliss he had given her? Silly.

  Lost in thought and centuries in the past, Kailani recalled the night the elders had tied her to a stake in the forest and waited for her death. She knew who Talon was and understood what her sacrifice meant. He would kill her and move on, just like the stories said. Talon was brutal, lethal and uncaring.

  Kailani cried while she remained suspended and waiting for her killer to arrive. Then out of the darkness walked the most gorgeous and stunning man she had ever seen. Her mind and soul recognizing him for what he was—her mate. All the fear and regret dissipated, leaving only a longing in its place. He smelled the scent of her arousal clearly as if a flower bloomed in the desert and responded with his own matched heat.

  “Fear me not,” he had said. “I play only the part of the killer.” He converted her that night; almost immediately turning Kailani to his kind in order to keep her with him always. Talon wasn’t one to waste a moment.

  The villagers didn’t understand was the evil causing the disappearance of so many. It wasn’t the result of Talon’s limited feeding schedule or the fear he generated by his presence alone. No, it was an entirely different sort of evil which remained cloaked in secrecy at the time. Talon knew of and hunted it. Kailani became the family he craved and together they spent the last two centuries tracking the evil in hopes of eradicating it completely.

  He hunted the Dûr Falas, a renegade coven who leaned to the more perverted and violent side of their turbulent personalities. The coven forswore the last shred of decency in their half-dead bodies and became a coven preferring death. That was the real threat to the humans, not the elven vampire out of legends who filled their hearts with fear.