Soul Resurrected (Sons of Wrath, #2) (54 page)

Slumping to sit on the floor, Calla glanced around the room. Two of the nasty bat-like creatures—progenitors, Ryke had called them—hung upside down from the rafters. They carried the purest concentration of Sangexzha, which made them less human over time, and thanks to the ample supply of Alexi blood, they didn’t die off at the stage of infection that left them looking like white maggoty creatures.

They gave Calla the creeps.

She raised her arm, examining the healthy tone still coloring her own skin. Oddly, hers carried a slightly pink hue—though, in only a matter of time, it, too, would begin to pale, like the others.

Her gaze trailed back to the Alexi soldier. Deadened eyes stared past her, his body still alive only by the ‘miracle’ of the Lywa antibody, which allowed its host to survive horrific torment—that, and Ryke had some cocktail injected into them every evening.

Wrapping her arms around his legs, Calla lifted the Alexi’s limp body up and unhooked him from the chain. His upper half toppled over, tripping her backward a few steps. After a quick glance to check that the bat-things hadn’t moved at all, she carefully laid the Alexi down on the floor.

Muscles had begun to waste away on his form, but remained stiff and ice cold.

His fixed, staring eyes filled with tears, as she stroked her hand down his cheek. “I can change you. I can make you one and spare your life,” she whispered. “Will you let me help you?”

Those fixed eyes shifted in her direction. A tear finally spilled onto his cheek. “Kill me,” he rasped, his voice mutilated and weak.

A numb but familiar sensation moved through Calla.
Shame
. As though the disease she carried made her dirty. The expression on his face held the same repulsion as the Alexi males who’d shunned her because of Wade. The male would rather face death than become what she had. “I … I can’t.”

“Please.”

Her pulse hastened. She could drain him. That’d give him a relatively painless death.

Yet, the thought of drinking his blood twisted sudden knots in her stomach, and clutching her belly, she lurched to the side as the blood meal she’d just eaten spewed from her mouth.

Red spattered against the concrete floor and strung from her lips. She heaved, and more blood burst forth. Dizziness swept over her as she stared down at the mess
.

Oh, God
.

She couldn’t drain him.

Calla glanced up at the chain still dangling from the ceiling hook. Struggling past the nausea threatening to rise again, she clutched the bottom hook and flicked it high enough to unhinge the link from the one at the top. Knelt beside the soldier, she lifted his head and wrapped the chain around his neck, holding tight to the end of it.

A weak grip held her wrist. His eyes stared back at her, earnest and ready. “Do it.”

She gave a hard tug of the chain, and his body seized and stiffened. Body twitching, he reached a hand to his throat, horror dancing across his face as if he’d changed his mind.

Calla twisted the link with one hand and held his clawing fingers in the other, watching as death made a slow appearance.

“What the fuck is this?” Ryke’s voice from the doorway traveled straight to her spine.

Calla spun. “He … he got sick. I thought he might be contaminated with something. So I disposed of him.”

“Sick.” Hands on hips, he appraised the scene. “Funny, he’s only been exposed to Sang. And Sang don’t fucking carry human diseases.”

“I’ve … been feeling a little under the weather, myself.”

Ryke’s eyes drilled into her, swirling into a mesmerizing blue labyrinth.

The Alexi’s hand clutched her arm, and a shriek tore through her chest. The soldier convulsed as the chain bit into his throat.

“Finish him.”

“What?”

“Finish him off.
Mercifully
.”

“But … he’s sick.”

“You just said you’ve been feeling under the weather. Perhaps you passed something along to
him
.” Ryke crossed his arms. “You can’t get sicker off of what already afflicts you. Am I right?”

No
. She couldn’t feed off of him.

“Do as I said.”

Calla looked back to the Alexi. The furious pounding of her heart intensified as she peered into the terror in his eyes.

A hand gripped her skull tightly and shoved her toward the body. “Drink from him, or I will keep him alive long enough to swallow his own organs.”

She gulped and leaned forward, teeth clenched. The smell of him churned in her stomach. Calla’s lip quivered as she hovered over his skin, fangs elongating. “I’m sorry,” she whispered before her teeth sank into the Alexi’s flesh.

Metal and the flavor of stale, rotted meat filled her mouth. She coughed, sending a spray of blood up into her face, but kept her mouth at his bicep. Each pull brought her closer to the edge but a tickle in her throat forced her to pull away. The moment she dislodged from him, her stomach pushed what little she’d consumed up her throat and expelled it all over the floor.

“Want to know what I think?” Ryke said beside her. “I think you’ve got a secret.” He yanked her head back by her hair. “Is there something you want to tell me, little one?”

Shaking her head against his grip, Calla swallowed back another urge to heave. The acids burned her throat as they rolled back down into her stomach. “No. No secret.”

His hand snaked down her breast and Calla jerked back, but he continued down, down until he reached her belly. “I think there might be some congratulations in order here.”

“What?”

“Who’s the little bastard’s daddy?”

“Daddy?” The pull on her hair tightened.

“I’d be willing to guess you
fucked
a demon.”

Logan?
She’d only been with him once, weeks ago, when she’d first turned. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Let me make this easy for you. As you’ve experienced over the last few weeks, Sang don’t pass up a blood meal. Unless something forces them to reject it. And they can’t get pregnant. Unless they’ve had some potent cock recently that could impregnate a fucking corpse if the demon felt bonded to it. Seems your skin has a colorful glow these days.”

“I’m … pregnant?” Her body felt light in spite of the enormous weight bearing down on her right then.

“Congratulations.” He hauled her up by her hair. “Guess what, though … I don’t take in bastard sons of Wrath.”

Calla struggled against him, kicking and punching, before she went limp and closed her eyes, imagining herself in Logan’s room.

The bands at her throat tightened, damn near choked the breath out of her, and she opened her eyes to find herself being carried down a dark corridor.

“Try to remove your fancy necklace and you’ll disintegrate.” He glanced down at her while overhead lights flashed by.

Calla craned her neck in time to see the oncoming archway, threw her feet out, and braced herself against the stone arc, using the momentum to push back on Ryke. His grip to her midsection allowed just enough leverage to climb the wall and flip over his shoulder; landing behind him and crouching, she swept out her leg and knocked him right on his ass.

Spinning on her heel, she dashed off down the hall, scratching at the binds around her neck. Tighter. Tighter. Air seeped from her lungs and she fell to her knees, clawing at the bands.

“Oh. Did I mention? Your leash doesn’t steal breath. It’s a soul choker. What you feel right now is nothing compared to what could happen, if you remove it.” Ryke huffed and shook his head. “Stupid humans. Your value depreciates with every stupid decision you make. My clients were willing to pay top dollar for a
virgin
Alexi. Then you had to go and turn Sang. Still, you were valuable to me as a pure virgin Sang … up until you fucked a demon. Now, you’re nothing more than a cheap whore.”

Calla kicked the floor, scrambling to get away from him. A sharp clamp of her throat had the walls closing in. She fought the blackness, keeping her focus on Ryke.

He lifted her up once more and slung her over his shoulder. “Perhaps there’ll be a sympathy fuck later if you behave during the ceremony ...”

Ceremony?
What ceremony? Calla forced herself upright but was hefted back to a slump over his shoulder.

“I’ve kept my hands off of you for quite some time. But since the shit’s hit the fan with my woman, and it’s clear you’ve been dick-tainted, I’m thinking I’d like to explore that body of yours.”

Ignoring the panic in her chest at his words, she focused on his earlier ones and asked, “What clients?”

“I don’t discuss business with females. Just the chauvinistic bastard that I am. But know, that pretty ass of yours had dollar signs all over it. So, how could I resist tracking you down?”

“Tracking me?”

“Well, not me, exactly. That’s grunt work. I hired a hunter for that.”

Comprehension slapped Calla in the face and sunk to the pit of her stomach. The bounty hunter had been after—
no.
Zeke had stopped it from coming after
her
.

“Had I known you were slick enough to elude an Enforcer, I’d have come for you myself.” He shook his head. “You want to get shit done …”

Poor Zeke had been tortured because of her. The Enforcer hadn’t been hunting Logan or Calix, after all.

He’d been hired to track
her
.

Acids crept up her throat again. “Why? Why me?”

“You know, I couldn’t figure that out at first. The million dollar question, quite literally. My clients offered to pay some shiny coin for your pure, untouched ass. Even after you’d turned neck-biter, they were still willing to strike a deal to have their pure virgin Alexi.” He gave a disapproving
tsk
with a shake of his head. “I suspect they’ll be as disappointed as I was. Apparently, you’re useless to them as a whore.” He sighed. “Not like it matters. I had no intentions of turning you over. See, if the most powerful are willing to pay top dollar to
have
you, then
keeping
you for myself would make me the most powerful of all. Don’t you agree?”

“Who wanted me?”

“Calla, let’s just say your story has the most wicked plot of any Alexi.” He chuckled. “Your ass belonged to someone else the moment those wolves bit you. And you thought the almighty Wade was the sickest bastard that ever lived? Across all species, money is power and those who have it, gods. There’s a war on the horizon. If you can’t
be
the strongest, you create the strongest.”

“What do you mean?” She squirmed in Ryke’s grip, but he held her tight. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that if you happen to survive what I have in store for you—and don’t worry, I’ll see to it that your post op is the best money can buy—I’m going to have to consider some insurance on that ass. Shit’s going to fly when my clients hear it’s been tapped.”

Calla gave another kick that only resulted in a snort. “Just give me a name! What does it matter?” Desperation settled over her. She needed the answers. “Who hired you?”

“Ah, what the hell?” He set her down against the wall, holding her throat as he drew a circle on the wall with the chalk he pulled from his leathers. “Penwell.”

“The Pharmaceutical company?” She frowned, just before he hoisted her over his shoulder again. “Why?”

“To breed with the Sang.” He slapped her on the ass. “Keep the species alive and well. But no worries. You’re essentially worthless … to them.”

The distant sound of cheering reached her ears. Louder and louder the sounds rose until the noise bounced off the walls.

Calla craned her neck to see its source.

A curtain of clamor hit the air as the door swung open. The light gave way to darkness in an enormous theater packed with bodies, all standing, fighting, yelling. As if she’d walked into a boxing match.

Ryke carried her down a skinny path through the crowd. She jerked away from the brush of fingers against the backs of her thighs.

They finally reached an open area of light. A spotlight in the darkness. Deposited onto the floor, she scrambled away from Ryke, bumping against something behind her.

She turned to find an enormous cage. A beast inside, wearing a bull’s mask, charged toward her. She scooted away just before it hit. In one hand, he held a scythe. The other, mutilated hand reached out between the cage bars.

Ryke stepped in front of her, and the excited crowd hushed. “I apologize for the interruption, friends.”

Calla glanced back inside the cage. A man lay across a slab, sliced and bloody beyond recognition. Above him, an enormous pendulum hung at rest from the top of the cage.

“I have a very special treat for you tonight.” Ryke took a few steps to the left. “I think I’ve made it pretty fucking clear how much I hate those bastardly demon pricks, the Sons of Wrath. Have I made this clear to you?”