We Shall Rise (15 page)

Kaden gently wiped the tears away from her face as he pulled her close. If only he could wipe away these painful memories that still haunted her. Reysa pulled back and faced him her eyes blurry from moisture. “I went to Uganda, Burundi, Tanzania and every other nearby place hoping there would be a sign of them, but I never found them. Their bodies were probably among the masses of unmarked graves. I know that logically, but sixteen years later, here I am still waiting for Celestine’s call. I still hope for it. I know it’s stupid, but I can’t let go. And now it’s happening again, but this time I will be there for my friends, for my family, and for everyone I love. I won’t wait for a call this time.”

There were no words of solace. She was drowning in a torrent of regret and Kaden felt powerless to save her. Kaden comforted her the only way he could. He kissed her gently, reverently, making sure she knew that he would be there for her. She would not face this challenge alone.

A loud knock at the front door disturbed this tender moment. Reysa pulled away, instantly bereft from the loss of the sheltering warmth of Kaden’s arms. As much as she tried to convince herself to stay away, her heart would not allow it. It chose him and her mind could not talk her out of it.

Kaden walked to the door and cautiously opened it. What looked like a bedraggled human male of twenty-five was a demon of indeterminate class and age. The black soulless eyes peering into Kaden’s as if challenging the stronger vampire. “Are you the one who allowed that beast to kill my sisters?” the demon shouted his voice echoing in the club.

Kaden watched him curiously as Reysa moved to stand next to him. He blocked her from getting to close. His poor appearance could be attributable to mourning the loss of his sisters, but Kaden had a feeling this look was the norm. He didn’t trust this demon. He smelled of trouble.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Reysa spoke. “I don’t know the lycan boy who harmed her, but I can assure you that the boy was not in his right senses. We suspect he was drugged and that caused him to react in such an unusual violent manner.”

The demon spat clearly disgusted with her words. “Don’t defend that beast to me. Lycans think they are better than the rest of us. They may be stronger, but the stronger don’t always win. Those dogs will pay for destroying my family.”

“Sir, the lycan boy responsible for this is dead as well,” Reysa assured the demon.

“One dead lycan does not make up for three dead demons. It doesn’t make up the devastation my mother is feeling. I’ll never forget her agonized words as she tried to explain to me over the phone how my sisters were brutalized by a damn dog. No. One dead lycan isn’t enough. That’s why I came here. To warn you and your pets. There will be hell to pay. Starting with your lycan boy toy.” The demon regretted the words as soon as they escaped his loose lips.

The demon’s face paled as it turned to flee, but Kaden was faster. He grabbed the demon by this throat.

Reysa’s puzzled expression quickly turned to fear. She grabbed her phone and dialed Christian. She heard his ringtone coming from the demon’s pocket. She reached in and grabbed the phone. It was Christian’s. It had a picture of her and Tatiana on the home screen.

“Tsk, Tsk!” Kaden nodded disapprovingly at the demon. “Really stupid move, dude. Weren’t you just saying how much smarter the demons were? I hope for the sake of your kind you’re not the one of the so called geniuses.”

“That was a mistake,” the demon muttered.

“You think? A very costly one for you.”

“Where is he?” Reysa demanded.

The demons bulging eyes turned to Reysa. “In a better place than my sisters, for now at least.” Still being defiant when his life was so close to ending.

Reysa’s eyes turned a dangerous red. “It was foolish for you to come here and threaten me. No one hurts those I love. You have the gall to come to my door boasting about taking my Christian away. You better hope your friends don’t hurt him. If he suffers, you all will suffer ten times worse. Your mother will have to add you to the list of butchered children she’ll have to bury.”

“Y-you kill me and you’ll never find him.”

“I’ll find him. You’re going to tell me everything I need to know.”

The demon looked nervous but Reysa would not relent. “I swear, I don’t know exactly where he is.”

Reysa thrust her arm into the demons chest clutching his rapidly beating heart. The demon howled as his heart beat in Reysa’s tightening grip. “One last chance. Tell me where he is now or I pull.”

The demon tried to catch his breath. The fear and agony preventing him from uttering a lie. He gave Reysa the location. She looked satisfied with the response.

“Do you think that’s the truth?” Kaden asked.

“It’s the truth. I can tell by the way his heart was beating. This is like a lie detector test. My hand can tell whether he is lying by how quickly his heart races. He speaks the truth.”

“P-please let me go,” the demon begged.

“You can have what’s left of your heart back for now,” Reysa offered as she released her iron clad grip, “but you’re coming with us to get Christian back. You better pray, demon, that your friends haven’t hurt him or I will gift wrap your black heart to your mother.”

Kaden watched as Reysa calmly set her plan in motion. She made several phone calls asking for reinforcements to meet her at Sierra Nevada where Christian was being held. Kaden almost felt sorry for them, as he could sense that Reysa was not going to peacefully extract Christian from their clutches. He had never seen her so enraged. Despite her wishes for peace, hurting her loved ones was a declaration of war that she would accept.

She took a few moments to calm a distraught Tatiana. Although they had tried to keep the truth from her, she woke up screaming. A nightmare that her father was gone left her hysterical. Reysa tried to reassure her, but Tatiana somehow knew and there was no pacifying her. She huddled in the corner of her room refusing to talk to anyone. Kaden tried to reach out to her, but nothing worked. Alejandro’s calming voiced eased some of her fears, but the only thing that would truly help would be to bring Christian home safe.

Julian and Corinne agreed to stay behind and watch Tatiana. Broderick would stay as well to protect their home in case another silly demon tried to attack. Alejandro refused to stay behind and Reysa wouldn’t try to convince him otherwise. She needed him there. He was the only one who could save her before her rage consumed her. If she lost Christian, there would be no coming back from the violent storm that would overtake her.

Reysa wanted to dematerialize to the site where Christian was held, but she needed a link to the place in order to find it. Hopefully, the girls she called to meet her there had arrived. She could use their voices to find them in no time. She dialed Anastasia, the quasi leader of this group of warriors. “Stasi, are you there yet?”

“We just got here. I smell lots of soon to be dead demons,” she purred in her heavy Russian accent.

Reysa closed her eyes and using Anastasia’s voice, she was able to dematerialize herself, Kaden, Alejandro and the squawking demon in front of Anastasia. The journey drained her a bit, but nothing would get in her way of saving Christian.

Kaden looked around to see about eight women barely over five feet tall dressed in leather miniskirts and high heeled boots. All but one carried swords. The other seemed to prefer what appeared to be a hedge clipper. These were the warriors Reysa called for backup he wondered. If the goal was to seduce the demons into submission, they could work, but they didn’t seem like fighters despite their choice of weapons.

“What’s the plan, Rey?” the one called Anastasia questioned. Her long jet-black hair far surpassed the length of her skirt. Her eyes were as dark as the night sky. A lovely contrast to her pale skin that was barely covered by her tube top and mini.

“It’s simple,” Reysa responded. “We demand that they release Christian to us unharmed. If they refuse, we take him by any means necessary.”

It didn’t seem like much of a plan to Kaden, but the girls were excited. Some were even salivating. They were itching for a fight. Kaden realized he underestimated them. If these demons did the same, they would pay for their ignorance with blood.

“Violence is the last resort, girls,” Reysa reiterated making it clear that she didn’t want bloodshed if it could be avoided. Reysa would not hesitate to kill to save those she loved. There was a time for peace, but sometimes war was the only option. If the demons gave her no choice, she would eagerly eliminate them.

The girls nodded, their disappointment evident, but they followed Reysa as she led the charge to a hidden cave buried deep within the Sierras. It was a smart location as it would be nearly impossible for a human to discover this and the unfortunate one who did would likely not live long enough to share the story.

There were seemingly no protective barriers. “This seems too easy,” Kaden surmised and he stepped in front of Reysa. He looked down and saw a flash of red light.

“You set off the alarm,” Alejandro noted.

Kaden muffled a curse, but Reysa seemed undisturbed. Her eyes focused as if she were unaware of Kaden’s mistake. She looked up quickly with a devious smile on her face. Her mind was able to focus on the panicked demons sounds in the building. That’s just what she needed. “Everyone hold on to each other. We’re going in.”

After a flash, they landed in a room several floors up. There were twenty or so demons stood with guns and knives standing between two long stairwells. Kaden watched as Reysa confidently approached the demon hoard. Considering they were outnumbered, she didn’t seem the least bit worried. He was worried for her safety. He tried to restrain her from stepping any closer, but she shook him off. He reached for her again, but this time Alejandro stopped him.

“Let her handle this. Trust that she knows what she’s doing.”

Kaden’s instincts were to grab her and get her out of this place. He could not care less about Christian, but he knew Reysa would not leave without him and Kaden couldn’t leave without her. He was forced to play this her way, but he would protect her whether she liked it or not.

“You should leave while you have the chance,” one of the demons warned. A stocky demon with beady black eyes who wore his arrogance like a badge of honor.

“We will leave when you return Christian to us.”

The demon laughed along with his friends. Kaden wanted to incinerate them all, but he would let Reysa handle this for now.

“Look darling, take your band of whores and pimps and leave here while I’m feeling generous enough to let you go alive. However, if your girls want to service us, they are welcome to stay.” He grabbed himself crudely as his fellow demons laughed.

Kaden wanted to burn this pig’s balls off, his anger increasing the temperature of the room, forcing the demons to break out into a sweat.

Reysa spoke in a lethally calm voice that indicated the dam would soon burst. Either the demons complied or there would be hell to pay. “Last time, demons. Give me back my Christian or I will not be held responsible for the carnage that results. It’s your choice.”

The demon perused her closely, openly admiring Reysa’s body. “I choose you on your knees with my cock in your mouth. If you whores do a good enough job, maybe I’ll let you see your boy one last time before I kill him.”

“Oh no, he didn’t,” uttered one of the female warriors standing next to Kaden. “Reysa’s going to go ABW on his ass,” she warned Kaden.

“ABW?” Kaden asked completely unfamiliar with that term.

“Angry Black Woman. An ABW human is scary, but nothing is more terrifying and lethal than an ABW immortal. This is going to fun.” Kaden watched as the woman licked her lips barely hiding her excitement. She wasn’t alone. All the women seemed oddly excited about the impending bloodshed.

Kaden focused his attention on Reysa. He could see the ire reverberating off her skin. As much as he wanted to protect her, he knew that these demons were the ones in serious trouble. Reysa was in full ABW mode.

“You chose poorly,” Reysa responded as her blades extended from her jacket. With a menacing sneer, she suddenly disappeared.

The startled demons searched for her. A sudden screech from behind and they turned around in unison only to see the severed head of their leader rolling at their feet. They unsheathed their weapons, holding them tightly in their trembling, sweaty hands as they searched for the warrior who had seemingly vanished. They could not fight what they could barely see.

Within a blink of an eye, another demon fell to the ground slain by Reysa’s blades. She repeatedly disappeared and reappeared in a stunningly mystical swirl of death as she severed demon heads with speed and lethal efficiency.

After several minutes, the screams were replaced by a haunting silence.

Reysa skidded forward, her blades puncturing the stomachs of the two demons who stood by the railing. She stood up, pulling out her blades and quickly sliced off their heads as they fell over the railing landing in front of more demons that stared up at her with terror in their eyes.

“Save some for us Rey,” one of the women complained.

“Yeah what are we supposed to do now?” Anastasia asked not hiding her disappointment that she had yet to shed blood.