Grai's Game (First Wave) (4 page)

Grai stood and walked to one of the screens showing a map of the United States. Pointing to the many red dots on the map, Grai explained, “These are all of the locations of your safe houses.”

“These are all of the locations of our safe houses and storage facilities.” Grai said pointing out the blue dots that were right next to each of the red dots.

“
My forces are a mix of the different races enslaved by my father, trusted Relian’s that believe the way my brother’s, and I do, and the gifted and hybrid women we have been able to rescue over the years.” Grai paused when Banatar began to sputter as if ready to start screaming again.

“Banatar silence!
” Ivint hissed in irritation and gave a knowing look to Reven. This is one time; he thought, where having the ability to communicate through the Shengari’ would be incredibly useful.

Without warning, the door opened slowly to three of the girls
who had come in from locations that were close by. Ivint struggled momentarily to remember their names.

“Sir?” A heavily armed, dark blonde woman with short hair asked questioningly.

“Drew? You were not called in here. Please go back outside. Jane and Bree, go with her.” Banatar told the three woman, who did not even look in his direction when he spoke.

Ivint watched the women curiously as they continued to ignore Banatar and remained standing near the doorway. Noticing the surprised look on the faces of Dread and Viper, Ivint realized what was going on.

“They are using the Shengari’ aren’t they? These are a few of the girls you rescued?” Ivint asked Grai, already knowing the answer.

“That’s a lie! We found Drew and Bree over twelve years ago! And Jane seven years ago.” Banatar
interrupted; his chest puffed out as if offended.

The rest of the room paid much more attention during the brief silence that followed Banatar’s outburst. The three women tilted their heads slightly towards Grai, as if listening to something he was saying, before nodding and turning to the room.

“Grai rescued me from one of his father’s camps twenty years ago when I was five and Bree was three. We were raised to know who we were and where we came from. And to be proud of that.” Drew began before Bree interrupted her.

“We learned more about Valendra from Grai and Koda than we learned when we got here.” Bree said with a quick glare at Banatar.

“So you betrayed me! You betrayed your own!” Banatar sputtered in rage, beginning to stand; his hands braced on the table.

He didn’t get far before Ivint had him pinned against the wall, one hand on his throat and the other on his chest keeping him immobile.

“Listen to me now! Look around this room!” Ivint growled lowly at him as he turned his head to look at the screens showing his ships surrounded, all the safe house locations surrounded. And a still burning Relian ship.

“None of this is as it seemed! NONE OF IT!
I, for one, am tired of being ten steps behind in this game. I want to know what is going on. The truth! And I want our people safe. If you do not put your emotions aside and pay attention, so we can learn, I will have you removed from the room.” Ivint continued to hold Banatar until he saw the resignation in his eyes.

Ivint could understand his anger, everything he thought was real seemed to be a well-orchestrated fabrication created by Grai. What concerned him, and what he was trying to find out, was why.

When he felt Banatar’s muscles go lax, he let him go and gave him a moment to pull himself together before turning back to Grai and nodding his head at the man.

“When Koda and I first began rescuing the girls from my father’s
camps; we attempted to raise them the best we could. Like Banatar, we trained them to fight and defend themselves. That included the beast bond.”

“When they were old enough and trained
well enough, we sent them to Banatar to learn more about their people and help protect the others. At the time, it seemed like a good idea, since his group was much smaller back then, and they needed the help. Colored contacts enabled them to hide their beast bonding.” Grai explained quietly, as if embarrassed by his kindness in helping to fortify their defenses.

“What was the purpose of this?” Reven interjected, gesturing to the screen showing their safe houses close to Relian buildings.

“That was two-fold and where my mate, Tricia helped the most.” Grai gave her a gentle smile and patted her
trembling hand that he still held in his lap before continuing.

“We knew that at some point if my father didn’t find you, my brother Dagog would.
Tricia helped me buy large expanses of properties all over the planet. When we secured the area and had provisions ready, she would go to Banatar and tell him about this great property she had found for another safe house.”

“We would sell the property to them, as is, so that the provisions would be there for them. With our locations so close by, it was easy to keep them stocked with what they needed and lend support if necessary.” At the startled looks on the faces around the room, Grai decided to switch gears to speed things up.

“Let me go further back for you. When my father first allowed me on the planet almost two hundred years ago, I was to learn the ways of the people, infiltrate and destroy from within. His typical agenda when the planet is rich in resources, and he wants to use the inhabitants as slaves.”

“My mother, my brother and I had other plans. I learned, and
built my own empire behind his back. A business empire. One that employed all of those that were not loyal to my father. One by one, we smuggled the captives from other planets and hybrid Relian’s that were loyal to peace, and we brought them here.”

“We gave them jobs and let them lead real lives again. And in order to protect those new lives, they would fight their own
when they had to in order to protect it. At the time that was all we wanted. To live in peace. Away from the brutality of my father and those loyal to him.” Grai explained, trying to downplay what he had gone through over the years in order to build a normal life for them all.

“I learned from my father, so I could set up his most loyal of followers and pretend that I had caught them in some act
of treason that would make my father angry. It may seem cruel, but it served two purposes. It made my father believe that I was loyal, so he would give me more responsibility, and it eliminated another danger to our new lives here.”

“The company I founded is Freedom Enterprises.” Grai said to the groans and muttered curses of Risk, Jax and Banatar.

“I don’t understand.” Ivint said with confusion, looking to Risk and Jax for answers.

“We’ve been doing business with them for over seventy years. In fact, we have always considered them to be loyal friends and allies. They always went out of their way to get us what we needed almost before we asked for it. They said it was because they had warehouses all over the country. Now I see it was because they were right next door to us.” Risk explained, his surprise clearly written on his face.

“What kind of business?” Ivint asked, looking between Grai and Risk for an answer.

“They think it is just Freedom Enterprises
. However, through the legal expertise of my mate, and all the subsidiaries and shadow companies she’s helped us create; we actually provide your food, clothing, bedding, furniture, electronics, weapons and gear. Among other things. Each is a separate company that provides something different for you. And for our own people.”

“We own farms where those who can’t or won’t fight
against my father and Dagog, grow uncontaminated food for all of us, including all of your safe houses. Through our defense divisions, we create weapons and tactical gear to help keep us all alive. Not human gear, but gear that can save their lives in a fight with one of my father’s men.”

“Specialized gear like your eye lens. Night vision is not the only thing it helps you see. We developed
it, specifically so that your people can see the Dark Ones. For those of us who have beast bonded, our heightened senses allow us to see the light spectrum in which they are only visible. Your people and some of the other Relian captives we released were defenseless if ever faced with one. Show them Traze.” Grai said, looking to his brother.

“
Gimme a sec… there!” Traze worked his fingers over the device Grai had given him earlier and within moments, another screen came up.

It looked to be a view of a large empty room. There was nothing in it at all that could be seen. In
fact, the only clue that something was not right was the inhuman growls and snarling that could be heard. And the blessing of protection uttered quietly by Viper.

“Where did you find such an abomination?” Dread asked quietly, his eyes never leaving the screen.

Gibly stood in the middle of the table, his fur standing on end, claws extended, his body shaking as he growled deeply at the screen. Ivint wondered what the hell they were seeing that he wasn’t.

Without a word, Drew, Bree and Jane took off the
ir headgear; they were wearing that came equipped with the lens that Grai had been speaking of, and they handed one to Reven, Jax and Ivint.

Ivint looked hesitantly at the head piece for a moment before putting it on and looking to the screen with the empty room. Jax and Reven following suit.

Jax immediately pushed back from the table and reached out a hand in front of her. “Oh my God! What is that?”

Ivint watched in horror as the eyepiece that fit securely over his left eye allowed him to see clearly what a dark one was. Going by the size of the door in the room, he estimated their height to be at least
seven feet.

Their bodies had no defined shape, consisting of what looked to be nothing more than a thick black smoke. Their eyes were a burnt orange color that seemed to glow from within.

Covering his left eye, he viewed the room through only the eye not using the lens and again saw an empty room. Uncovering the lens he could clearly see the dozens of dark masses gliding around the room.

Removing the headgear he handed the set to
Banatar, so he could see, Jax and Reven did the same, handing theirs off to others in the room.

“This is our biggest worry.
” Grai continued when he knew he had the High Councilor’s attention again.

“
They are most deadly because they cannot be seen without the lens unless you are beast bonded and because of their speed and strength. To answer your question Dreadhawk, this abomination was created by my father.”

“On yet another planet that he destroyed, he found a species that lived solely underground and in the shadows. He captured a
few and used them in his experiments until he created that.” Grai gestured to the screen with the empty room, which they now knew was not truly empty.

“It looks like what we would call a demon or shadow person.” Jax said quietly, still staring at the screen with the dark ones
on it.

“The dark ones are not the first time that dear daddy has unleashed his experiments on the planet and its people. We have spent years trying to capture and contain them all. Koda and Grai came up with a way to count and track them and their trips to the planet.
But hundreds of dangerous ones have escaped since daddy got sick, including some of the dark ones.” Traze interrupted, pulling up what looked to be census data on one of the screens.

Ivint couldn’t help but think the smart young man kept the screen with the dark ones up as a reminder as to the seriousness of the situation they were in. Although seeing the creatures had
been more than enough of a startling realization to all of them.

“They seem to be a soulless species. They live to inflict pain and death. There is no reasoning with
them, although they seem to comprehend languages. The records regarding the original species have long been lost along with their planet, but we’ve not only found a way for others to see them, but to kill them.”

“All of the
ammunition rounds that we supply you with, come embedded with the only chemical, we have found that kills them. Surprisingly enough, its sodium. Your regular, everyday table salt will kill them. Or any projectile through an eye. Knife, bullet… hell even a pencil if you can get it in far enough to pierce their brain.”

“That is one of many containment cells on my brother’s ships. It is where he keeps most of them, and there are thousands.
Because Dagog took the DNA, he can create more, but it takes time for each to mature. Usually six months from birth to what you see, and he can create fifty at a time.” Grai explained, gesturing back to the screen with what appeared to be the empty room.

“Why?” Reven asked, looking straight at Grai as if to try
to judge his honesty by his expression. Grai almost laughed out loud at that. He’d grown up learning very quickly that the wrong look, that showed how you truly felt, could get you laid up with broken bones around his father.

Grai had become so good at hiding his thoughts and emotions that when he had first started to build his
businesses, he’d gotten most of the money by gambling. He had the best poker face for it, the talent almost seeing him dead more than once during much earlier and more dangerous times on the planet.