Eternal Darkness (A Novel of the Amagarians Book 1) (6 page)

Drawn by her misery, Drac appeared by the side of the princess within seconds. He fought for restraint as he took in her bloodied, shattered limbs and pale face.
Kill, let us devour
. The hiss of his beast raked at him, the bitter taste of the princess’s terror fueling the need
to kill.

Gidon, Talon and Lachlan had followed him immediately, and the three Darkans that had attacked her were now kneeling before
their king.

Kill!

Drac bellowed, slapping a palm to his forehead as splinters of pain stabbed inside his mind. Rage moved beyond his grasp and madness started to haze
his vision.

“Drac!” Lachlan bent the shadows to
subdue him.

Drac saw Lachlan through distorted vision, and met Lachlan’s attack with a viciousness he had never turned on a friend. He distantly noticed the surprise that flared in Lachlan’s eyes, and then the implacable resolve that
filled them.

Blades appeared in his hands, and a growl rumbled from Drac’s throat. He glided around Lachlan with a speed he could not track. Drac grasped Lachlan by the throat, tightening his claws to rip his neck from his body. Pain sliced through Drac’s head as his beast slammed against his barriers, and the psychic leash shifted. Evil pulsed into Drac’s consciousness and bled out into
his
chakra
.

Gidon’s roar of rage echoed in Drac’s mind, and he absorbed the treachery that seeped from his king. He flung Lachlan aside and met his King’s blow with unremitting strength. A foot slammed into Drac’s chest pushing him away. Twin blades appeared in Gidon’s hand, and before he could attack Drac appeared before the three men who were attempting
to
shiktre
.

“No!”
Talon shouted.

They attacked, and Drac punched through the chest of the closest man with both hands, tearing out his chest cavity. Crimson blood and body parts spewed in
an arch.

“Remove the other warriors from his reach, Talon. Take them to the dungeon,”
Gidon ordered.

Red eyes that glowed with bloodlust tracked Talon’s movements as he melted away with the remaining Darkans. Drac gritted his teeth as inky darkness entwined in his mind, their needs melding
as one.

Slaughter all that brought
her harm
.

Drac licked the blood that splattered his face and he accorded with his beast.
They must die
. He made to pursue Talon, and a garbled whimper of stark fear came from the princess. It captured Drac’s attention like nothing else could, and he
shiktred
before her. An unbidden desire erupted to devour her essence. The temptation, one he’d never before experienced seduced man and demon. He hauled the princess to her feet, and plunged his fangs deep into
her neck.

He heard Gidon’s roar, felt the tremble of the earth and darkness lick at Drac’s skin as evil manifested in the form of Gidon’s
Cerja
— his tattooed demon, contracted, and a Cerberus launched itself off Gidon’s skin with
chakra
swirling around it
with menace.

A rough chuckle filled with malevolence rumbled from Drac as he absorbed the pitilessness that came from Gidon’s three headed monster. It stood ten feet tall on four legs, fangs bared, eyes the color of pewter, reeking of ferocity and cunning. The three heads snapped, and muscles bunched as he growled and crouched with grace and intent, analyzing
the situation.

Kill.

“Gidon, wait!” Lachlan shouted hoarsely. “If your beast attacks he may rip
her throat.”

“What the fuck is wrong
with him?”

“His eyes reflect a madness we
cannot reach.”

“I have never seen Drac in such a state,” Gidon rasped. “But do not suggest that we cannot
reach him.”

Gidon’s Cerberus circled around Drac stealthily, looking for a moment of weakness to attack, and Drac kept it in his sight, anticipating
the battle.

“His beast
chakra
has subsided; he is regaining control,”
Lachlan said.

“We need to get his fangs out of her.” Gidon’s voice vibrated with rage. “Anything can cause him to rip her
throat out.”

“Probably not,” Lachlan said. “It is apparent that it was her fear and pain that caused him to
lose control.”

With his fangs buried in the princess’s throat, Drac tracked the movement of the predator that circled them, his cadre voices were to him only a distant drone. His beast slammed at his mind, weakening his psychic shield even further. Drac closed his eyes, uncaring of the danger. He only wanted to immerse himself in her taste. The feel of her soft skin against his lips centered him. He finally sucked, unable to bury the need. Blood, hot and spicy rushed down his throat, more intense and pleasurable than the consumption of negative energy. He groaned, his gut tightened, his beast howled in ecstasy and triumph. Her taste ran over Drac’s lips, and he shuddered at
the bliss.

He pulled strongly at Saieke’s neck, a hiss slipping from him as her dread increased. They did not like the metallic taste of her fear, beast and man recoiling from
its repulsiveness.

Protect
, the sibilant voice hissed and
Drac stilled.

No
...He growled, hating the
very idea.

Mine
, another whisper echoed across
his soul.

He retracted his fangs from her neck and swiped his tongue across the twin punctures. He ran his tongue over his teeth, savoring the sweet taste of her blood. Gidon’s Cerberus growled as it prepared to launch at him. Before it got a chance he
shiktred
with her to the castle with the king and the rest of the cadre
keeping pace.

***

Drac placed the Princess gently on the bed in her chambers. Gidon and Lachlan appeared behind him within seconds, ready if he were to make any sudden move toward her. The very thing he dreaded had sneaked upon him, and he’d have to deal with the consequences. Was this how it had been for his brother when Vlad lost his mate? He’d not willingly give over to his demon, but control had been wrested
from him?

“The ones who hurt her?”
Drac questioned.

A lengthy silence ensued. He knew the reason lay in the distortion of his voice. Two voices spoke, his and the sibilant hiss of
his beast.

“Talon took them to the sheriffs in the castle. They will be placed in the dungeon under guard,”
Lachlan responded.

All of Drac’s focus rested on the Princess in the bed.
Ours
, his
beast whispered.

She lay bruised and battered. Blood soaked her caftan, purple splotches marred the perfection of her skin, and her chest rose shallowly. His gaze rested on her neck. He had feasted on her blood, a primitive desire from his beast, and he had acted on it without thought. The punctures were healed over from the venom he swiped with his tongue, but her throat still looked tender
and raw.

He did not relish her pain, it was repugnant to him.
Why?

You know why.
A voice filled with
malevolence sang.

Drac wove back the pattern, reinforcing the shield to keep his demon suppressed. And even then he could hear the echoes of cruel laughter in
his mind.

“Our healers have been summoned, and they will be here shortly to examine the princess,”
Gidon said.

Drac heard the curiosity that underlined the king’s words. He did not respond as he looked at Saieke, willing her to consciousness. What could he say? He had tasted her pain and lost mastery of his self? Like
his brother?

His gut twisted in hard knots, and evil brushed against
his senses.

Like your brother...relinquish rule to me and I will make you King of Amagarie.
Drac ignored the hiss. Though he bonded with his demon and accepted the brutality embedded in him, his beast never let an opportunity pass to try and seduce Drac to let him have free rein
to devour.

There was a rustle of sound, and the door was flung open to admit Talon and two of their most proficient healers. They had their baskets, cloths, and basins of hot water scented with medicinal herbs. Drac rose from the bed to stand beside his king and give the healers space. He felt Gidon’s stare, but his gaze did not
leave her.

“My King,” the head healer said. “If we could be offered privacy for the princess, we are going to remove her caftan. We will set her shoulder and leg and give her a healing draught to help with the pain and provide a restful sleep.” She kept her head slightly bowed as she waited for
his response.

“I cannot leave until she wakes.” Drac could not explain his behavior or the knowledge that if they tried to remove him from her presence with knowing how she fared, the leash on his darkness would slip another fraction. Drac did not know what his king saw, but he inclined his head and
shiktred
from the room with Lachlan
and Talon.

Drac sank in the great chair closest to the bed, watching the healers every move, willing her
to consciousness.

***

Saieke woke slowly. She shifted and hissed from the pain that slashed through her ribs. Her hand flew to her throat, feeling for torn flesh, and encountered smoothness. She scanned the chamber and her eyes collided with dark and fathomless ones. Saieke swallowed nervously as she eyed Drac. He said nothing, just sat in the great armchair by her bedside. She tried to lift herself and let out filled moan at the hurt that
it caused.

“I will alert the healer.” There was no particular inflection in his voice to give her an inkling of his thoughts, and his emotions
were leashed.

Why was he in
her chamber?

“Please alert no one. I will attend my needs,” Saieke replied, wanting him to leave the room. She needed to be alone and not in the presence of
any
Darkan.

“You have a fractured shoulder, several cracked ribs, a broken shin and hip, and have lost several pints of blood,”
he countered.

Saieke shivered at his distorted voice. She lifted her fingers to her throat feeling for her pendant. It was gone. “My pendant …if you would locate it for me, I would be
most grateful.”

He rose fluidly to his feet and then disappeared. She reared back when he appeared at her bedside. “Ahh...”
she groaned.

He crouched so that she looked down at him. “What can
I do?”

Saieke blinked at him in bewilderment.
He was concerned?
“If you could locate my pendant …”

He dangled it in front of her with the vial. She grasped it, and he still did not move. She clutched it to her chest and glared at him balefully. “Why are you in
my chamber?”

She tried to hold his gaze, but after a few seconds, lowered her lashes as the memory she was trying very hard to repress brushed against
her mind.

“Do not fear me,”
he ordered.

Clearly an absurd command. She opened her mouth and closed it several times. It was impossible to not feel fear. In fact, she was terrified. She needed to be out of the Darkage and away from him. “I...” she could not give voice to the images and thoughts in
her mind.

“Speak so I may lay the fear that beat from you so powerfully to rest,” he
said flatly.

“I was attacked…and I saw something…” Saieke held her breath as anxiety seared her. “It had three heads, and the eyes of the king, but not the king’s. It came from his …out of him and the feelings that came from it are not to
be borne.”

Her fear spiked as he
got colder.

“Let the image burn from your mind, Princess. Your attackers were arrested and await trial in the dungeon.” A grimace twisted his lips. “The taste of your fear is repulsive,
control it.”

She glared in stupefied amazement. “You believe that if you order me to not feel fear, it will vanish?” Saieke took a deep calming breath and then winced. She could feel that their healers tried to mend her, but it was primitive work
at best.

He watched as she painstakingly uncapped her vial and took a mouthful. The healing elixir rushed through her with warmth, like a soothing balm. Saieke’s bones pinched, reconnected, and vessels that had burst repaired themselves. Vitality flushed her skin and made it glisten. Within a minute, she was restored to full health
and energy.

He observed it all with an inscrutable expression on his face. “You are still consumed with fear, Princess.”

“And you will simply live with the taste,”
she snapped.

Disbelief scythed through her when amusement gleamed in
his eyes.

She sat against the headboard of the bed. “What did
I see?”

“You saw my king’
s
Cerja
.”

“What
is it?”

There was the slightest of hesitation, then the corner of his mouth tightened. “Every Darkan is born with a
Cerja
—a tattoo of a beast that lives in us inked on our back. What you saw was my king’s beast. He summoned it for
your protection.”

The memory of Drac’s fangs, the cruelty that lined his face, red eyes, and the blackest of
charka
all around him rose in her thoughts. She sucked in her breath, her hands flittering to her throat. He had bitten her. The king had thought to protect her from him? “He called forth his beast for
my protection?”