The Sacrifice (33 page)

Vind
must be making specialized bullets
.

Somewhere behind him a twig broke. As he
turned to fire, a gun barrel jabbed hard against his back—directly behind his
heart.

“Move
a muscle and you
’
re dead,” a deep voice warned. “Toss your weapon,
remain on your stomach, and put your hands behind your back.” A heavy boot
landed in the small of his back.

Cy
did as he was told. The guy secured his hands behind him, then jerked him to
his feet and removed all his weapons. When he finished, he looked at Cy
’
s
face and his eyes widened. “I know you. You
’
re the commander
’
s
brother. Never understood why he made us memorize your picture. You
’
re
just like him.”

Cy
narrowed his eyes on his captor. “
I am
nothing
like him. My brother is a murdering psychopath,
who turned his back on his family and his people.”

The
guy
’
s lip curled. “From what I hear, you
’
re
a human in Sivadian clothes.”

“Where are the rest of my men?” Cy
demanded.

“The same place as mine. Dead.”

Cy
cursed. He knew better than to engage Vind
’
s forces with
compound guards at his back. They didn
’
t have enough
training for this type of situation. If it had been Protectors with him, this
would never have happened. He
’
d only wanted to see what they were up against
while he waited on Oz. It seemed like all of his training had leaked out of his
head the moment Riana went missing.

If
I die because of my stupidity, I deserve it. Those guards didn
’
t deserve to die.

Cy
’
s
captor placed a gun in his back, pushing him forward with the barrel. As they
reached the gate, the guard on duty did a double take. “Is that who I think it
is,” he asked.

“Yes it is,” his captor boasted.

“Damn, you should get a promotion out
of this.”

“To
hell with a promotion, I
’
m going to retire. Have you forgotten about the
reward for his capture?”

Moments later, Soren came around the
castle. Oz had fought him before, but Soren transported, jumping from one
location to another and managed to get away.

A
cruel smile crossed Soren
’
s face. “Cygan, how nice of you to come. Your
brother will be pleased,” he taunted.

“That
’
s
what I live for— pleasing my deranged, asshole brother.”

Soren
closed the distance, grabbed Cy
’
s throat and squeezed, cutting off his air. “Now,
now, Prince,” he growled, inches from Cy
’
s face. “You really
don
’
t want to piss me off so soon.”

Cy
clamped his jaws tight
and head-butted Soren
’
s
face.

Soren released him to catch the blood
pouring from his nose. “You will regret that,” he hissed. “Take him to the
cells before I kill him.”

His
captor shoved him toward the castle. Cy looked up at one of the windows. Relief
shot through him. Riana was inside that room. He sensed her essence calling out
to his soul, wanting, needing to join once again. He felt her emotions—fear,
sadness, and intense loneliness. Only one thing comforted him at the moment, he
couldn
’
t feel her physical pain. She was alive and
unharmed.

Two more guards joined them as they
reached the castle doors. Once inside the foyer, one of them entered a sequence
of codes into a security panel on the wall. The entire wall slid down as if it
dropped through the floor, revealing a stairway leading down. When they reached
the bottom, it opened up into a barren room with heavily secured doors leading
off in three directions. The guard pulled a lever and one of the doors opened,
revealing a long, dimly lit hallway.

With
two guards in front and two behind, they led Cy down the hall with cells on
each side. The scent of old blood and death hung heavy in the air. “If it takes
four of you to put me in a cell, I must be dangerous. Or maybe, it
’
s
because you
’
re all weak,” Cy said in a mocking tone.

The
feeder walking directly behind him punched him in the kidney. Cy
’
s
injured leg buckled, causing him to hit the floor. The guard
’
s
laugher echoed off the cavernous walls. “You got something else to say,
smart-ass?”

Cy
spun on his back and planted his boot squarely in the guard
’
s
stomach. He flew backwards, taking the one behind him along for the ride. As
the two feeders in front rushed him, Cy flipped around and repeated the same
move on them. He sprang to his feet and jumped over the first two guards still
sprawled on the floor. Their arms and legs flailed as they climbed over each
other attempting to grab him.

Cy
hit the stairs taking two at a time, ignoring the weakness and stabbing pain in
his thigh. As he reached the door leading to the foyer a herd of heavy feet
closed in fast. Cy backed up to the panel box, blindly attempting the code he
’
d
seen the guard use. His pursuers were already halfway up the stairs. The door
finally slid open at the same moment they reached him, knocking him to the
floor.

Their faces were red with fury. The
fact that all four of them had been knocked on their asses by someone in
handcuffs and a bullet in his leg had royally pissed them off. As the guards
circled him, the largest jerked him to his feet and held him firmly in place
from behind. The air left his body in a gush as each guard took their
vengeance, sinking their fists deep into his stomach. They beat him to the
floor, and then took turns kicking him until everything went black.

Cy opened his eyes and the room
tilted
. He was lying on the cold,
stone floor of a cell, barely able to breathe from pain radiating through his
body. As he pushed into a sitting position, his body trembled and broke into a
cold sweat. His head
spun
,
threatening to take him under again.

After a moment, Cy ripped open the
hole in his blood-soaked jeans to inspect the bullet wound. He needed to stop
the continuous trickle of blood. He jerked the T-shirt over his head and tied
it around his thigh. Exhausted, he leaned against the wall and tried to clear
his head.
I have to find a way out of
this cell and get to Riana.

Cy
’
s
eyes drifted closed. Visions of the past ran through his mind—visions of Vind
destroying his toys when they were kids—visions of their parents forcing him to
give them back, and Vind returning late at night to finish them off. Those were
just material things that didn
’
t matter. Now, he
’
d taken the one thing
that meant the most—his very soul.

If
Vind destroys Riana, he may as well come back and finish me off. I
’
ll never survive anyway.

As a
door slammed, Cy
’
s eyes shot open, and heavy footsteps echoed
through the cavernous basement. Vind, Soren, and two guards stopped in front of
his cell.

“Cygan,
we really must stop meeting like this. It
’
s rather ironic, don
’
t
you think? How quickly the tables turn?”

Cy’s lip curled at his brother’s
condescending tone. “What have you done with Riana?” 

“She
’
s
fine. However, she is the least of your worries at the moment.”

“You
’
re
wrong, Vind. She is
all
that matters. Now that you have me, I want you to
let her go.”

Vind
erupted into sarcastic laughter. “Oh you do, do you? And what you want matters
so
much.
” Vind glanced at Soren. “Remind me to get right on that.”

The
idiot was almost giddy with power. “My death and the throne are all you
’
ve
ever wanted. You knew where I was before we captured you. Why not just kill me,
and leave Riana out of it?”

“Now,
where is the fun in that?” Vind taunted. “
Besides, I
’
m quite taken with her. It seems we have the same
taste in females. Once I break that strong will of hers, we might actually get
along. Our girl can be quite the hell-cat when she wants. I
’
ve
waited too long for a female with her warrior bloodline. Everything fell into
place perfectly. I
’
ll have my heir, you will be dead, and I
’
ll
take my rightful place as king.”

Bile
rose in Cy
’
s throat from the picture Vind painted of Riana’s
future. He learned long ago to never let Vind know he
’
d
gotten to you. “You may strong arm the council, but the Protectors will kill
you before your coronation.”

A
cruel smile crossed Vind
’s lips.
“I think not. You see, in the last few hours my
army has taken out more than half of your Protectors. I set up fake sightings
all over the globe, knowing you and Oz would be desperate to find Riana.
Drawing in your Protectors was easy as drawing bugs to a zapper. It
’
s
all worked out quite well. Although I never expected you to walk right into my
hands. When the Protectors who survived figure out you
’
re
missing, it won
’
t take long to finish them off.”

Cy
snorted. “You
’
re delusional if you think any of this will work.”

Vind’s
head cocked to one side. “Maybe so, but, there
’
s one thing for sure,
dear brother. You’ll not be alive to witness the outcome.”

“What are you planning to do about
mother? Are you going to kill her also?”

“
Not necessarily.
After all, she did give me life. What kind of person would I be if I
took hers? Of course, she
will
step down. Then my people will take this
planet the way we should have in the beginning. We could have been gods here,
Cygan. If only you and mother hadn
’
t been such human
sympathizers.”

“You
don’t have to do this. We came here to co-exist with humans, not destroy them.
That was Father
’
s plan all along.”

“Father
is dead!” Vind shouted. “Even if he had lived, he would
’
ve
never bowed down to human cattle the way you and mother have. At least father
put our people first. He would have eventually come around to my way of seeing
things. We are the stronger species. My followers hold allegiance to me, and
together we will rule this planet.”

As
Cy forced himself to stand, a burning pain shot down his leg. “Your followers
only give you allegiance because they
’
re hooked on
adrenaline. They
’
re nothing more than addicts. Our clinics have
successfully converted some of them. They no longer kill humans, and are
productive members of this world. There
’
s always hope for
addiction, Vind. There
’
s just no cure for being an evil, narcissistic
bastard.”

Vind
snorted. “At least I
’
m not a weakling who turned his back on his
kingship. Unlike you, I will lead from a throne, not from the shadows.” Soren
unlocked the cell, allowing Vind to enter. “Every Sivadian and human will kneel
before me. Even the life-mate you love will kneel at my feet.”

Vind
’
s
remark about Riana enraged Cy, giving him an unexpected burst of strength. He
rushed forward, crushing his forearm against Vind
’
s
throat and pinned him against the bars. “If you harm her, I will rip out your
black heart and send you to hell where you belong,” Cy growled.

Soren grabbed Cy and threw him against
the rock wall.

Vind
coughed and wheezed through a large gasp of air. He straightened, stomped
toward Cy with rage in his eyes and a dagger in his hand. “You really shouldn
’
t
have done that,” Vind said in a raspy voice. He buried the knife deep into Cy
’
s
gut, and twisted the blade for maximum damage.

Cy dropped to his knees in agony.

“You
are weak and pathetic, Cygan. You should
’
ve learned long ago
you can
’
t defeat me.”

Vind turned to leave the cell, then
stopped and looked at Soren. A cruel smile crossed his lips. “Do whatever you
want to him. Just leave him alive, for now. I have further plans in store for
him,
and
his lovely
Riana.”

***

Riana
paced inside her room. Thirty minutes earlier, she
’
d
heard gunfire outside. Lily and Iggy had left hours ago. It couldn
’
t
have been them. Not knowing who was being shot at had caused strange things to
happen to her body.

Her heart raced the way it always had
when Cy was near. Then she experienced a terrible cramp in her left thigh.
After the symptoms finally improved, she convinced herself it was nerves from
worrying about Lily.

She picked up her book and lay across
the bed to read. Maybe it would take her mind off Lily and Iggy.

“Riana!
Riana!”

She
stopped
reading and sat up. Something tapped at the window. She rushed over and jerked
back the curtains. A large, black crow sat on the window sill.

“
Riana,
it
’
s me, Iggy
.”

“
Where
’
s Lily? Please tell me she
’
s safe
.”

“
She
’
s safe. One of the guards took her to the queen.”

Riana breathed a short sigh of relief,
until the next words Iggy spoke.

“
But I don’
t know where Cy went.”

“
What
do you mean you don
’
t know where he went?”

“He
made me bring them here so he could see where you were. We stopped at the
property line, but they must have spotted us. When they started shooting, I
shifted and ran to the closest gopher hole. When I came out everyone was gone.
I flew all the way back to town searching, but couldn
’
t even pick up a scent. It
’
s like they
just vanished. I found some dust that smelled like the guards. But none of it
smelled like Cy.
”

“
Are you positive, Iggy? Because the dust is where someone died.”

“Yes,
I
’
m positive.”
Iggy hesitated. “
Riana, I think Cy may have
been wounded. Cause he was lying behind a fallen tree shooting when I left, now
there
’
s blood on the ground in that spot.”

Riana
’
s
chest tightened to the point of pain. He was in some kind of trouble. The fact
that she
’
d sensed him earlier, and then it stopped, caused
a sense of dread unlike anything she
’
d ever known. With
their connection, surly she would know if he was dead.

 “
How much blood was there?”

Iggy hesitated before answering. “
Not much. I think it came from where his leg
would have been.”

A
sharp pain lacerated through Riana
’
s stomach. She
screamed and doubled over. Tears came into her eyes.

“What
’
s wrong?”
Iggy
yelled.

“
I don’
t know. It
’
s my stomach.”
She tried to breathe through the pain. It wasn
’
t
helping.

“Maybe
you should lie on the bed. You don
’
t look so good.
”

“
I
’
m okay, Iggy. How many Protectors were with him?”

“Six,
but one of them took Lily to the Queen. I don
’
t think they were Protectors, though. It said ‘Guard
’
on their uniforms.”