Vindicta (The Liquidator Wars Book 1) Read online

  Peering over into Brynn’s face she quickly motioned to Calyx and Tarren to lift Brynn’s head and shoulders up slightly. Brynn’s shoulder was still gushing, sending rivulets of blood over the stainless steel surface of the gurney and into the trenches.

  Natalia clicked her thumb and forefinger together, and a plume of violet smoke appeared under Brynn’s nostrils. As she breathed it in she coughed and choked and her eyes fluttered open.

  Natalia wasted no time once she saw Brynn was awake, if not exactly alert.

  “Brynn, Daughter of Electi,” she said in a commanding voice, “You are dying from a hellhound bite. Unless you accept the blood of this being standing before you, and quickly, you will die. Do you understand?”

  Brynn’s crimson eyes seemed to move to her left and focus on Creed’s face.

  “Oh,” she said in a small voice. “You.”

  In spite of the severity of the circumstance Brynn’s voice caused him to smile.

  “Brynn. Brynn, you must drink from me,” he crooned, his deeply masculine voice rumbling in her ears. “Natalia says it is the only way you can live to fight. Your family needs you. Your people need you.”

  At that moment, Natalia had had enough of talking, and she rudely grabbed Creed by the back of his neck and shoved him down so that Brynn could access his jugular vein.

  As Brynn reacted almost instinctively, driving her fangs into Creed’s neck, he trembled and finished his comment with a sentence that only the two of them could hear,

  “I need you,” he sighed against her.

  The sensations that he experienced as Brynn fed on him, weakly at first and then with surprising vigor, were inexplicably erotic. At once, he felt full of purpose, aware that a part of himself, his mongrel blood, flowed into the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. That she was drinking him into herself, forming a mysterious connection that frightened and excited him at the same time.

  At last, she pulled back. Seeming to focus as she looked at the faces gathered around her, her eyes finally coming to rest on Creed’s face.

  “What the Hell?” she said, pulling her small knee up to shove her booted foot against Creed’s chest, catching him off balance and pushing him backward, “Have you all gone mad? I feel fine.”

  Bayn, Tarren, and Calyx exchanged relieved smiles. Not only was the Warrior Daughter of the Electi back, but she was back in rare form.

  Tarren briefed Brynn as she ran to gather more weapons from the racks in her chambers, passing some of her finest out to the others. Natalia grabbed Creed’s chains and led him out of the room. He attempted to catch Brynn’s eye, but she never noticed, as she was completely preoccupied with the crisis at hand.

  “Wait. I want to fight,” Gwenyth called after Brynn as she left with the others.

  Brynn whipped around and fixed her sister with a glare that froze Gwenyth in her tracks.

  “No. You are not ready,” she barked, adding, “and don’t think I didn’t notice where you came from and who was with you after I was bitten, sister. You have a lot of explaining to do.”

  Nodding to the chamber Guard, she added, “Make sure she goes nowhere.”

  ***

  Brynn looked grimly at the horizon toward the north. The smell of frying Liquidator flesh, a scent of sulfur mixed with dog shit, assailed her nostrils.

  Her first thought was twofold: if they had had to use the lightning nets to drive them back there had to be hundreds of them, so this was a massive effort by the Liquidators.

  Her second thought was that they must have been invoking dark magic in the form of a shield or a curtain because the scope of the battle was definitely outside the grounds of the Manse.

  “It’s urban warfare this time,” she told the others. “Bring everything you have at your disposal. Including the Zoo. Now fly.”

  As the others flew off, knowing that Brynn with her speed would overtake them before they reached the front lines, Brynn turned to Calyx who had known instinctively to remain behind.

  “Brynn, I still have your back,” was the first thing out of Calyx’s mouth as they faced each other. “You must believe that.”

  “I do not question your loyalty, Calyx,” Brynn told her soberly. She saw trails of tears silently cascading down Calyx’s beautiful face, and there was anguish in the fairy’s eyes.

  “I know,” Calyx told her, feeling guilty suddenly for some of the thoughts she’d had of late, “but I fear for you, Brynn. There is something between you and our prisoner Creed, a kind of dark cord. I am of the Fae Folk. I know that that means your destinies are somehow entwined. In our tongue, it is called a Fulcra. I know that means that you will never be rid of him, and that frightens me!”

  Brynn sighed, and as the two women embraced she whispered in Calyx ear. “The Fates are fickle, but I love you better than a sister, and I need you by my side. I would have died countless times if not for you. Do you think I do not carry these memories with me always? If you are right about the Chimera then so be it. It has nothing to do with our connection with each other, and if it is true, I will need you to be by my side more than ever, won’t I?”

  As she felt Calyx nod, Brynn knew it was time to overtake the Phalanx that had gone out before them, and the two of them took to the air resolutely, determined to defend what was theirs.

  ***

  Gwenyth sat at the end of her beautifully appointed bed, kicking at the carpeted flooring with one bare pedicured toe. Even though the sleeve she had on her withered arm was the white silk one and her dress was short sleeved, she still felt hot.

  In the distance, she could hear the noise of the far-away battle. Judging from the direction that the war cries, booming sounds, and the ear-splitting crackling noise of the lightning nets were coming from, Brynn, Tarren, Bayn, Calyx and the others must have pushed the Liquidator forces back into the city, certainly Fountain Avenue and probably all the way to Echo Park.

  When she heard thumping and familiar shrill cries on the roof, she quickly jumped up to run out onto her balcony. Backing up so that she could see the roofline better, her heart began thumping wildly.

  It was the ‘Zoo,’ the part of the Electi forces that Natalia had been in charge of developing, and she had cloned many of the creatures long thought to be extinct.

  Each was implanted with a tiny transmitter to control them en mass to strike on command. From what she could make out, as several of them took short turns around the manse to stretch out their leathery wings, there was mostly the genus known as Pterosaurs, including many Pterodactyls. Some had massive jaws and long fang-like teeth. Others had pronounced claws and curved sharp beaks.

  All of them could fly. That must be the point, Gwenyth reasoned. She involuntarily shivered with the thought because that meant that this attack was larger and more vicious than any they had seen in the space of a year.

  She started as the terrace of the balcony shook directly behind her, but instead of a Pterodactyl, she found herself facing Ryder.

  He immediately gathered her in his arms, kissing her mouth with the fervor accorded to those preparing to charge into battle.

  “How?” she asked him when he finally let her up for air. “How are you still here?”

  “I was left behind to ready the Zoo,” he told her smiling. “So I thought I might check on my girl. That was certainly a rude interruption we had earlier I have to say.”

  Gwenyth smiled back at him, but it was a worried smile.

  “Ryder, I think Brynn knows. I was hoping in all the confusion she wouldn’t wonder what we were doing in the garden, but she has never been slow on the uptake, and I am convinced that after they have run the Liquidators off again, she is going to have a lot to say to me. I am not looking forward to it,” she finished breathily.

  Ryder kissed her again.

  “Not even the Warrior Queen Brynn, Daughter of the Electi, can keep us apart, Gwenyth. You are a grown woman now, capable of making your own decisions. What’s she going to do? Make you wear a chastity belt?
Keep that beautiful quim of yours under lock and key?”

  Gwenyth giggled, “You are right, my love. But you know how intimidating she can be. And she has a temper too. She always ends up shutting me down, and I hate it.”

  “Look, my precious,” Ryder told her kissing her again as he fondled her breast. “We need no one’s permission. Now or ever. So talk to your sister and see what she has to say. If she is reasonable, we will play by her rules. If she is not, we will play by ours.”

  Gwenyth knew he had to go, so she hurriedly kissed him.

  “Show me,” he said sternly.

  Gwenyth lifted the chain from between her bosoms and showed him the gift he’d given her.

  “And show me the other,” he said, smiling a sexy smile and making her melt. “Show me the gift you will give me, Gwenyth.”

  Shyly, Gwenyth raised her dress in the front, just high enough so that he could glimpse the deep valley of her femininity.

  “Ah,” he said in a throaty voice. “Mine.”

  And in a wink, he was gone. Gwenyth heard him shouting orders overhead again. Her heart fluttered in her chest watching him leave amid the rustle of giant leathery wings and shrill cries of giant flying reptiles bent on destruction.

  What if he were hurt? What if he didn’t return to her?

  Not even the Gods could be so cruel, she decided.

  ***

  Bayn ordered the others to use the lightning nets to their advantage, taking out large droves of Liquidator soldiers in the process. Now the air smelled like shit and rotting meat, and all of them were covered in their black blood, their skin slick and warm. He still had not figured out how they had breached the walls, but they had, and they had one Hell of a battle on their hands. With the Zoo coming, it would mean more magic to cloud the human minds that would most likely hear or see the action.

  Bayn was not only driven by adrenaline, but by the fact that Brynn had nearly died and was brought back to them by the blood of the Liquidator mutt. It sickened him, but he took his job within the Electi ranks seriously and would not let it deter his loyalty.

  Three soldiers dressed in leather slacks and long coats approached him, and he removed his sword from its sheath, willing to take them head-on on his own while the others were preoccupied with their own horde. They had brought another Hellhound that seemingly contained the same type of magic or poison that nearly killed their leader. He was certain Brynn would want to take the Hellhound on herself. Maybe even take one of the Liquidators prisoner for information about their purpose here tonight.

  Bayn approached the men that came toward him, swirling his sword in the air in an attempt to intimidate them, but it didn’t seem to have the desired effect. They ran toward him, and he slashed out with the blade, slicing one just across the belly, his intestine spilling to the ground in a display of black and pale pink gore.

  He lashed out at the remaining two that had come for him but missed them even with his accuracy as he was slightly distracted by the blood-covered Daughter of Electi fighting close by. She fought valiantly and as graceful as always, her beauty never once marred by the look of murder in her eyes.

  He struck out with his sword again and impaled one Liquidator in the heart with the blade, moving onto the next, which he quickly dispatched with a blow to the neck that nearly decapitated him. He chanced a glance at Brynn and their eyes met, his own twin brother fighting in the background behind her as the high-pitched screech ripped through the air signaling the ‘Zoo’ had arrived.

  ***

  Brynn looked up into the air and smiled as she spotted one of the creatures Natalia had brought back from extinction and magically altered to help build their army, knowing they would need reinforcements when a large number of Liquidators came calling. Blood had begun to dry on her skin and her clothes uncomfortably, but the sweat from her battle caused it to become slightly liquid again. Her hair dripped down into it, enhancing the red streaks already running through her blonde locks.

  Her crimson eyes glowed in the darkness as Brynn took in the appearance of the creature as Ryder ran outside to greet them, coming from inside the mansion as more of the Electi soldiers continued to push the enemy back.

  “The cavalry is here,” Ryder proclaimed as he pulled his own blade its scabbard and ran down to where they stood.

  One of the monstrous beings swooped down and picked up one of the Liquidators that came running at them again, the man screaming into the night as the monsters giant claws clutched him. The creature bent down with its massive head and snapped off the head of the Liquidator, squeezing it between its dagger-like teeth like a watermelon. Brynn heard the cracking sound as black blood spilled onto the ground.

  A maniacal laugh left her lips as she watched the bloodshed and planned to inflict more of her own.

  She felt wonderful, rejuvenated by Creed’s blood and she knew it was because of the Angel blood within him. And she felt as if she could take on the world with her bare hands. She ran to toward the wall that had been breached, and a couple of Liquidator soldiers emerged from the near dark beyond it and a sly grin spread across her lips.

  “Oh, yes,” she muttered to herself as they made their way toward her.

  One ran back through the massive hole when he spotted the creature, and the other pushed forward, coming at Brynn with his sword raised.

  She approached him and kicked out, striking him square in the belly, but he didn’t double over, and he didn’t stop. He raised his sword again and brought it down, Brynn moving hers up to meet his. A clang of metal sent sparks flying at the sheer force of the strike. A shock moved through the metal, and both dropped their blades to the ground with a startled cry and, while the Liquidator made a grab for his sword, Brynn continued to strike him with her bare fists. She lashed out, and her fist connected with his temple, sending him to the ground in a heap. He jumped up, and she came at him as he backed away from her, his back meeting the stone wall that had been erected when the Electi built the house in the greater city of Los Angeles.

  Her hand gripped his throat, and she squeezed with all the strength within her muscles and, once she heard and felt the crack of not only his spine but also his larynx, she laughed even though blood flew from his open mouth to land on her face. And it didn’t bother her. Without a second thought, she dropped his thick body to the pristine lawn and stalked through the rubble of the wall and out into the street where she had seen another Liquidator run, spotting him not even twenty feet away as the light from the street lamp illuminated her. He weaved in and out of traffic, but he was no match for her.

  Brynn reached backward and removed a throwing knife that she had shoved into the waistband of her pants, throwing it into the air with a flourish and catching it all for show. She focused on the back of the Liquidator, but before she could throw it, she felt a jolt move through her entire body and stumbled back a few paces. Her knees shook and nearly gave out on her as she stood in the middle of oncoming traffic. Horns honked in shrill shrieks around her, and the Liquidator was getting away.

  “Fuck, what the Hell?” she cried out as another wave of something powerful and magical moved through her and came to settle in a place she didn’t believe was even possible during battle.

  Her muscles clenched, and her belly tightened as arousal took over. As soon as her feet hit the concrete of the sidewalk that would take her back to the mansion of the Electi, Bayn came out of the foliage. His eyes met hers and it was like the same electric zap of energy moved through him as he stared at her, his lips parting and his breath coming quickly as she watched his muscles clench before her. After all that time she had never once seen Bayn in a sexual light except that one night in the garden, but something inside of her moved her to near agony as a mysterious energy ran through her entire body.

  As it would seem, it did through him as well.

  Chapter Eleven:

  Wanton

  Moving in synchronicity to an unspoken plan as though they were in a dream state, both Brynn
and Bayn entered the manse through a side door, pushing past the sentries as though they were invisible, their boots echoing in the wide hallways. There was no conversation because there was no need of any.

  Their trajectory was mutual.

  Brynn kicked open the door to her own chambers with one boot soaked with black Liquidator blood. She kept walking toward her pristine bed resolutely, toward the piles of damask and silk.

  A cut on the side of her cheekbone was slowly healing itself, though a trickle of crimson flowed down her neck to her bosom. She shucked off her boots, tore off her battle-worn clothes, dropping it on the floor as Bayn stood closely behind her.

  When she was completely naked, she moved around, fixing him with the luminous look in her crimson eyes.

  “Now you,” she said as he stared at her beauty, her beautiful tip-tilted breasts were still heaving with the exertions of the battle.

  She was soaked in sweat from her exertions, oozing a fragrance that was beyond intoxicating, some blend of musk and tiger lily. Bayn could feel raging lust coursing through his veins as he ripped off his battle tunic, his suede boots, and his breeches.

  There was nothing to say, so he said nothing as he picked her fragile, though lush, body up in his arms. Bayn placed her on the huge bed, pausing only greedily to take one of her orangey pink nipples in his mouth, then the other, in a way he had only allowed himself to imagine over the years as he yearned for her and yearned to be close to her.

  They were kissing then, and their prolonged kiss took him back to the night in the garden when they had kissed for the first time. He had recalled that moment many times since on nights when sleep eluded him, reaching down to pleasure himself as he imagined taking the fantasy further in his mind.

  Now he was beside her, both of them shamelessly naked. To his surprise Brynn reached down and ran her fingers over the length of his manhood, pausing to caress the cobra-like head of his appendage, smiling and searching his eyes.