Kaliya Sahni: Volume One (Kaliya Sahni Volumes Book 1)

by K. N. Banet

  “Let’s get back down the stairs and get the fuck out of here,” I ordered, forcing my feet to move.

  “Kaliya—”

  “We’ll talk in the car,” I said with more snap than necessary.

  I started jogging, deep, unsettling fear forcing me to move faster and faster until I was flat out running, Raphael barely able to keep up.

  I liked to think of myself as powerful and capable, but there was only so much one person could handle in a day. With the amount of powerful, dangerous people kept in the prison, I knew this was a losing battle on my own. Korey was right. Eliphas was right. I needed to get the hell out and onto my own turf. I needed to organize the other Executioners on the outside to help clean this up. There was no way in hell I was going to be able to take them all down on my own.

  Hopefully, she was the only one hunting for me. Hopefully, none of them were as smart as her to find a place where she was able to use her magic. Incredibly unlikely but fucking hopefully.

  I found the stairs again and went down, three steps at a time, and burst through the door. Without slowing, I ran through the halls, and this time, I found the exit. I didn’t bother stopping to check with the two guards standing there or stop to consider the dead bodies lining the hall. The guards stepped out of the way, and that was all I needed.

  I struggled to get my keys out of my pocket, looking back to make sure Raphael was there as I unlocked the BMW. He jumped into the passenger’s seat as I got behind the wheel.

  “What’s next?” he asked seriously. “Korey said Code Black. Who do you need me to call?”

  “We need to get out of the prison’s territory before either of our phones work.” I appreciated his enthusiasm to help, but there was still work to be done. I got the engine running and backed out of our spot. “I want you to try to get anyone from Cassius’ place once we’re clear, Leith or whoever. I don’t care. He needs to know what’s happened, and they’re our best bet at finding him. I can get everyone in Phoenix on a group call. Then I need to call someone from the Tribunal. Hopefully, the security system here got something out, or everyone on the outside is in the dark.”

  I hit the gas and pulled out of the parking lot, hitting fifty. On the long road out of the prison, I reached seventy. I flew past the unmanned guardhouse, not paying its emptiness any mind. They must have been called to help with the breakout. Korey was right; I needed to turn my thoughts to who got out, not who was being killed and detained on the inside.

  “Kaliya?”

  I didn’t know why he sounded confused that my eyes focused on the road. I didn’t want to end up rolling in the desert, so I needed to stay on track.

  “Kaliya!” There was more urgency.

  “What?” I growled.

  “Look!” I saw him out of the corner of my eye and how he was hunched over to look out the top of the front window. I followed his eyes up and saw the storm brewing.

  “Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I muttered. The sky had been clear earlier, not a cloud in sight. Now, there were dark clouds brewing, and lightning flashed as I watched. “Levi.”

  “Levi?”

  “Leviathan. His real name is fucking Levi. He’s a witch proficient in weather magic, and the only one who knows how to summon it on such a mass scale. The reason he was being kept alive was so others could figure out his techniques. Witches don’t like when people die, and they’re the only ones who know how to do something.” I had my qualms with why most of the northern cell block inmates were allowed to live.

  “Tornadoes don’t happen naturally in the desert, do they?” he asked softly. I narrowed my eyes on the sky and noticed the swirling as well.

  “They’re not common, no.” Fury and fear coursed through my veins like a drug, creating a trip I didn’t want to be on. “Hold on. Make sure your seatbelt is on.”

  I took my hands off the wheel quickly and clipped myself in before grabbing the wheel again. We watched the tornado touch down just to the north side of the road, two hundred yards ahead of us.

  “Kaliya…” I never thought I would hear Raphael genuinely afraid of anything because of his rapid healing, but it was there. No one wanted to get tossed hundreds of feet by a tornado while in a metal death trap.

  “Let me focus,” I said, trying to blank out my emotions. I needed to keep a level head. “I can get us around it, and once we pass it, it won’t catch up. Promise.”

  I saw him nod jerkily, even got the chance to note how pale his tawny skin was looking. I could only imagine I looked the same.

  I floored the gas, holding the wheel so tight that my knuckles went white. The tornado swirled, picking up cacti and other vegetation from the dusty desert. One hit the front end of my BMW, but it didn’t throw me off course as it smashed into thousands of pieces.

  I veered right as the tornado drew closer, desperately hoping my wheels stayed on the ground. I went off the road, bumping over the rocks of the Arizona landscape. I was going over a hundred now, and losing control would be easy. Once I tricked Levi into sending his tornado off the road again, I turned back toward the road and found the pavement again. We bumped roughly as I turned to head down the road again, the tornado storming after us.

  “Are you sure you can outrun it?” Raphael asked, looking through the back window once we were on the road again.

  “Yes.” I kept my foot on the gas and let the speed climb. One-twenty. One-thirty. One-forty.

  My BMW would only hit one hundred and fifty-five miles an hour if it was standard. Mine wasn’t standard. I could push it to nearly one-eighty, having taken off the limiter most German cars had.

  I reached one-seventy when Raphael sank into his seat and relaxed. We flew through the barrier, barely noticing it, and I knew we were free from the current warzone.

  “Do you think we’ll see any more on the road back to Phoenix?” he asked. I could hear a shake in his words, but there was no faulting him for that. He was very well composed otherwise.

  “No,” I answered softly. “We’ll be home in about an hour and a half if I keep speeding, maybe faster. They won’t have vehicles, but they’ll move fast. Dawn tomorrow is probably when we’ll see them pop into the city. Thankfully, that gives me time to lock the city down.”

  I reached out and started hitting names in my contacts with my touch screen dashboard. Once I collected as many as I could think of—leaders of different species factions to business owners with no allegiance—I hit call.

  They all started answering within a ring.

  “Why are you calling me, Kaliya?” the vampire Mistress snapped.

  “What’s going on?” Paden asked at the same time. There was a moment of silence as they realized they were in a group call.

  “What’s wrong, Executioner Sahni?” the thick, deep voice of the Phoenix werewolf Alpha asked next, taking his chance. He and I had no real opinion of each other, so it was always professional between us.

  “Hold on, I’m waiting for more to answer,” I said quickly. I looked at Raphael and mimed texting with my fingers, then mouthed Cassius. He nodded and got his phone out to reach out to our only friends.

  “Well, well. Never thought I’d get a call,” a fae said with a laugh. “What’s going on?”

  Others answered and quickly realized they were all in the same call. There had to be eight people on by the end, and I knew a few of them didn’t like each other, but it wasn’t common that the local Tribunal Executioner reached out en masse. Not everyone was even on the call. I didn’t know phones could only allow so many people at once.

  “Okay. Here’s the deal. I need all of you to help spread the word. Phoenix is going Code Black—”

  “Who got out of the prison?” Paden demanded sharply.

  “Who didn’t is a better question,” I said quickly. “Both cell blocks were breached. In the mayhem, most of the northern cell block inmates were smart enough to just disappear. I’ve only encountered three of them since the initial breach, and only two of those have been taken out.
The guards of the prison are handling the containment, but the southern inmates were essentially starting a war on the grounds when Korey told me to get out. Communications went down, and someone needed to make sure everyone was ready for the coming storm.”

  “Oh gods,” someone said in a hushed, disbelieving, somewhat frantic way. “Oh, gods. Love, lock—”

  “Wait for me to finish,” I growled. “Send everyone to their homes and lock the doors. They’ll be getting to the city probably by dawn. Some might get in faster. I don’t know what the Tribunal knows yet, so I need to let you go with that and get ahold of them. Once they’re in the loop, expect news from them as I’ll probably be on the front line, cleaning this up.”

  “Of course. Godspeed, Executioner Sahni.” The werewolf Alpha hung up without another word. Most quickly said goodbye after that, hanging up to get ahold of their people and lock their doors. Some would work all night to redo and strengthen their magical protection. Most would make sure their weapons were close.

  I knew a foolish few would try to run. If they flew in the next two hours, they would be able to evacuate the city, but the rest were going to get trapped in a city with no real idea what kind of storm might hit them—literal or figurative.

  “No one is replying,” Raphael said, still texting.

  “Just give them time. They’ll hear about this soon enough from their other friends if we can’t get to them.”

  “Should we go to them? Cassius’ house is safe, right?”

  “It is, but so is my condo, and I want to be at my own place. If things get hairy, we’ll head there.” I didn’t tell him it irked me that the thought of going to Cassius’ mansion and hiding was a better idea than anything I had planned.

  Does he think I’ll be allowed to hide during this? I guess the answer to that lies with calling my bosses.

  I looked through the Tribunal contacts I had, wondering which one I should go to with the news. I needed someone I knew would answer and take this seriously. They all would, but something was beginning to bother me, and I couldn’t put my finger on it.

  I tried Alvina first, my favorite of them all.

  “Alvina’s office—”

  I hung up when I got her secretary. I wasn’t sure why. It was instinctive. I didn’t want to talk to a secretary. I wanted to talk to a member of the Tribunal. There was a difference.

  I scrolled through the names, realizing Alvina was the only one I was comfortable calling outright but considered Hasan’s name when I saw it. His son, Hisao, had trained me and pointed me towards being an Executioner. That little fact had amused Hasan the only time I’d met him. I trusted the son. Hisao was one of the very few people who terrified me, but I trusted implicitly with my life.

  I hit Hasan’s name, taking a chance.

  “Hasan speaking,” he said, honey practically dripping off the words. The old werecat oozed sex in two words, and that annoyed me.

  “This is Kaliya Sahni, North American Tribunal Executioner—”

  “What can I do for you?” he asked, his tone more professional. He hadn’t let me finish my sentence, another annoyance. “Has something happened to your charge?”

  “No, something has happened, though. Tonight, I went to the prison for a review…” I trailed off as everything started to click together.

  9

  Chapter Nine

  “Kaliya? What happened at the prison?” Laced with worry, Hasan’s voice didn’t fall on deaf ears. I heard him just fine.

  I still didn’t answer for a long time, staring at the empty road ahead of me in the dim light of sunset. It was a wild assumption, but I was certain the breakout was planned to get me and Raphael killed. Certain enough, I didn’t trust telling the man on the phone. Certain enough, I assumed the only person I could trust was already in the car with me.

  “Kaliya, answer me, or I’ll consider you compromised and send in someone to find you,” he finally snapped.

  “There was a breakout,” I finally answered. “A breach on a massive scale. Both cell blocks were breached, and doors were opened. Tarak was killed, and Korey was the new Alpha by default when I got out. Eliphas was injured,” I explained, leaving a lot out for my own reasons. “I’ve already put Phoenix on a Code Black because their safety is priority.”

  “Let me make some calls…” He sounded nearly as shocked as I had been the moment the wall was breached. “Good call on initiating Code Black. Is there anything else you can tell me?”

  “Raphael was with me…because Cassius was called to the fae lands only a few days ago…” That filled me with dread. Once I got home, I planned on walking myself through the timeline, just to make sure I wasn’t insane. I didn’t feel insane. I knew I was in for a fight. The breakout didn’t kill me, but that didn’t mean the cleanup wouldn’t.

  “There’ve been some challenges between the clan leaders. Leadership was called back due to the internal politics of the matter. There’s also going to be a wedding and however many funerals they need by the end of it.”

  “How do you know?” I demanded, my hands shaking. Did I trust the father as much as the son? I needed to call Hisao. Having someone I could trust on the Tribunal would be a boon when I had no idea who else I could turn to. The problem was, asking Hisao could offend him and offending that werecat was probably worse than offending his father.

  “I’m Hasan, leader of the werecats,” he answered enigmatically. It was answer enough. He had sources, and he wasn’t going to make me privy to them. “Get home, go on lockdown with your city. If this is the scope you make it seem, there won’t be much you can do to stop them all in Phoenix. I’ll make a plan of attack with the rest of the Tribunal. It’ll probably be a global effort.”

  “I can tell you who wasn’t able to get out,” I finally offered. “I killed one of the werewolf twins in the northern cell block. You’ll need Korey to verify which one. Raphael and Dunter tangled. Raphael won. He’s dead, right?” I directed that last one at my new survival partner.

  “Yes.” Raphael kept it short and sweet, all I needed.

  “And we killed Erline before getting out. She tried to hunt us down,” I finished. “Injured Levi, but he tried to take us out with a tornado before we made it off the prison’s territory and through the security barriers. He’s definitely an active player in whatever the hall is going on.”

  “And everyone else in the northern cell block is unaccounted for?” If I was Hasan, I would also be sounding a little shaky hearing this for the first time, so I didn’t hold it against him.

  “Yeah.”

  “Okay. Get home, lock down, protect yourself. Hopefully, most won’t stay and cause trouble in Phoenix. If they try to go to ground, well, we’ve caught them once, we can catch them again.”

  “Do you really think I should hide?” Part of me wanted to do my job, even knowing this was too big to do on my own. There was no way I would be able to catch all of them and survive to tell the tale. There were other Executioners and Investigators out there who could help. Part of me wanted to hide. A very small, smart part of me knew this was bigger than I could manage, and I shouldn’t try to do it all.

  “Yes. Now, I’m going to let you go. I’ll send word when I’ve briefed the Tribunal and we’ve contacted the Wardens. Any updates I get, you’ll get.”

  He hung up on me. I wasn’t annoyed by that.

  “What now?” Raphael asked softly as we watched the sun go down and leave us driving in the dark.

  “We hide and weather the storm,” I answered. “Raphael—”

  “You think this had something to do with us,” he finished for me. “So do I.”

  “I’m glad we’re both paranoid enough to get to the same conclusion. If Cassius gets back to us, we tell him nothing, is that clear?”

  “You don’t trust him?” That confused my partner more than I wanted. I had hoped he would understand.

  “I trust Cassius. I don’t trust his wife. I don’t know her, and I’m only just learning what sort of r
eputation she has with her own people. On top of that, let’s put some things together. Dian, the fae Warden, wasn’t here for this. Next, our two local noble fae were called back only a few days before I was asked to go. A breakout of this scale had to take months to plan, or it would have been impossible. Next, it was definitely an inside job. We know that Eliphas’ second in command took his eyes.”

  “Really?”

  “Kartane is his second, yes. Moving on, Tarak was killed. Now, I don’t know if Korey is part of this, but she sent us into the building, and that’s where we ran into Erline. Levi tried to kill me twice, and you once by proxy being in this car. I don’t know who we can trust right now, and I’m not taking any chances. If Cassius gets back to us, we tell him we’ve locked down and leave it at that. We won’t go to his house; we won’t be vulnerable around him. We don’t know who might be watching him or who he might think it’s safe to report to. I trust his loyalty and honor, but those things aren’t exclusive to me.”

  “So, we’re in this on our own,” Raphael finished, looking away.

  “From what I can tell. If this was planned just to kill us as collateral damage and ties into something else, we’ll get out of it easily enough. That’s what I’m hoping for, but…”

  “But we need to watch our backs until we know for sure.” He nodded a couple of times before turning back to me. “I’m with you all the way.”

  “Thanks.”

  We drove in silence as I tried not to let what he said touch my heart. He was probably considering his own survival, and I had already proven my skill at keeping him alive, even if I couldn’t fucking save anyone else.

  When we entered the city, I drove by different venues I knew of. The Jackalope was closed, windows dark. I hoped Paden was already home. I drove by the vampire nest and the club they ran, thankful the club was dark as well. Even the entrance to The Market was missing. Not just locked to outsiders, but completely gone.

  Finally, I pulled into the parking garage for my building and sighed.

  “Is there anything we need to stay inside for a few days without dying?” I asked him, not turning off the car yet. “I’ll run and get it while you get inside.”