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

by K. N. Banet

  “You can trust me, Kaliya—”

  “I’ll believe it when I see it,” I retorted, walking out of the room into the kitchen. I grabbed a plastic container, a bit of cloth, and a rubber band, putting it all together before walking out. I thrust it at my uncle. “Milk those.” He took it from me, which gave me a chance to go back and grab a syringe for him to get a blood sample and nullify the dangers of his venom. He was looking at the container in distaste when I walked back in.

  “I don’t milk my fangs like this,” he said indignantly. Disgust consumed his features as if the prepped container made him ill.

  “I know for a fact, the prison made you do it like this. I do it like this. In my house, this will continue. I won’t have a walking weapon in my fucking house when I have other things to worry about.” I wanted him to milk because it made it less likely for him to attack Raphael. He would want to save that last drop to protect himself if it came to that, not threaten me.

  He was glaring as he opened his mouth, and his long fangs dropped. I knew he had spent centuries with my aunt, and they had used each other to control their venom. I knew the textbook reason why mated couples did, the aphrodisiac effect those truly immune to naga venom received when bitten by their partner. His mate, however, was dead. The only thing he could do with those fangs was kill people, and if I was going to use him, I couldn’t let him stay too deadly and unmanageable.

  Why am I not just killing him? He fucking deserves it. He’s here, practically asking for it by sitting on my couch, defenseless. It’s my damn job.

  I turned to Raphael as Nakul finished up.

  “Can he have your room?” I asked, hoping to lock Nakul in there. I had ways of locking off each area of the condo and intended to use them. It would help with the conflicted shit I was feeling.

  “Yeah, you want me on the couch?” Raphael leaned on the wall, crossing his arms. “It’s fine if you do.”

  “I’ll take the couch. You take my room.” It would put me in a good position to protect him, even if he didn’t want that. It wasn’t his lack of power I worried about. He just didn’t know everything, and that lack of intel would get him hurt, adding in the problem there just wasn’t time to teach everything to him.

  He raised his eyebrows.

  “I’m not making you sleep on the couch in your own condo,” he replied, shaking his head. “Not going to happen.”

  “Then we share, but I want you in a secure room,” I said, hissing a little at his chivalrous attitude. Just like Cassius in that respect. He never let me sleep on the couch as it somehow made him feel like he was treating me poorly. It’s how I got my own room at his place to begin with. I never really liked sleeping all night next to him or anyone else.

  With that settled, I pointed at Nakul and gestured for him to follow me. Part of me was still dying to kill him, do my job, and end his miserable existence before someone like Adhar or one of the Tribunal found out I was harboring him. I knew my bosses would want me to kill him. I knew Adhar would want me to keep him alive. At the moment, I was sitting in limbo, not sure what to do with him. I had a responsibility to my own kind to keep our numbers as strong as possible, and Nakul had vital information. I had a responsibility to the Tribunal to kill any inmate that illegally left the prison’s compound.

  I’ll lock him in here and not let him out. That way, I’ve at least contained him. That will have to do.

  “Thank you for this,” he said softly as I grabbed several of Raphael’s clothes from the drawer, so my roommate wasn’t stuck in the same thing for however long this took.

  “These are all mostly spelled for Raphael, so don’t put them on. We’ll find you something. Or you can stay in your jumpsuit since you’ll be going back eventually,” I replied sharply, trying not to look at him. I was aware of him. Like me, his body temperature fluctuated a little, and now that I was aware of his presence, I would never lose that awareness, not with my life riding on keeping him where I could see him. I couldn’t afford to forget about him.

  I left the room and opened my phone once the door was closed. Engaging the locks and the security for the room, I watched a second metal door come down from the top of the door and shut.

  “Kaliya!” Nakul yelled from inside. “What is the meaning of this?”

  “Protection. For both of us,” I answered loudly.

  “Wow,” Raphael muttered, walking up beside me with a plate of food. “I didn’t know it could do that.”

  “Yeah, I don’t tend to tell people about my security measures.”

  Shoving his clothing at him, I walked off toward my room, listening as he followed slowly. I went into my bathroom and sighed, knowing I couldn’t hide in there all night. Turning the water on for background noise, I washed my face again.

  How the hell am I supposed to survive a night in the same room with him? Of all the fucking things I need to deal with in the next ten hours, this just feels like a cherry on top of a shit sundae.

  I could hear him finish off his meal and change as he mumbled to himself, but not what he said. I had the bathroom door closed and inched closer to it, curious and wondering if he felt the same way I did. I was always curious when it came to him. The desperate need to know what was going on in his head never seemed to abate for long.

  “Should go sleep on the couch,” he muttered. “At least the bed is big…”

  I tried not to snort and roll my eyes. Of course, I would have a king-sized bed. Did he really expect anything else? What I heard next is what surprised me.

  “How the hell am I supposed to keep being a gentleman when I’m sleeping in the same goddamn bed?” He sounded so exasperated. His voice dropped as he continued to mumble to himself, but with my ear pressed against the door, I could still catch it.

  “My life’s a fucking joke. Hot snake woman saves my life, offers to sleep with me, and I turn her down, only to end up in her bed anyway, and now without the sex. Shit, does she even realize what she does to me? I spend my fucking days trying not to think about her, and now I’m in the perfect position to fucking embarrass myself.”

  I was stunned. For months, I had no idea what he thought of me. Now, I knew more than I bet he would ever want me to. My heart pounded as my biology, the need to bite him and mate him, jumped tenfold in a matter of seconds. He was attracted to me, and that made him fair game.

  No. No, it doesn’t. He’s into a hot body, but he doesn’t know who the hell I am or what I’ve been through. He’s not going to want a woman with so much baggage. No guy does, not in the long run.

  The two sides of my internal conflict continued to argue for what seemed like forever. The biological need had a strong argument. He was out there, getting into my bed, and I could have him before the hour was up. It wouldn’t be hard.

  My logical mind and personal feelings, however, saw things differently. He would hate me if I tied him to me forever. Physical attraction was just that, physical. I didn’t want to mate a guy who would hate me for it. I’d never even wanted kids; still didn’t, for that matter.

  Breathe, Kaliya. Put the fangs away. Get some shut-eye and keep on task. Deal with all of this, then deal with the new information and the mate.

  Potential mate. Not mate. He’s not mine. Gods damn it.

  It took a while, but I left the bathroom and looked him over, feeling much more in control. Maybe not in control enough because my eyes lingered places they shouldn’t have, taking in the muscles of his thighs, peeking out from under the clean pair of shorts. The shirt rode up, revealing his solid abdominals. He didn’t notice me, still setting up stuff on the bedside table. He straightened out and stretched his arms over his head, and my pulse jumped again.

  I need to stop this show before I lose control.

  “You haven’t showered,” I pointed out, seeing dust in his hair. “Don’t get into my clean sheets until you do.”

  “Is that really something you’re worried about?” He seemed more exasperated than the situation warranted, but since
I knew what he had just been mumbling to himself, I gave him a pass.

  “I want to preserve some level of cleanliness in my bedroom, yes. Plus, if I wake up smelling smoke off you, who knows what I would do?” I shrugged one shoulder nonchalantly, but we both knew it wasn’t a light topic. I was the killer in the room, and he knew that.

  “Fine.” He started to leave the room, but I clicked my tongue to get his attention.

  “Use mine,” I ordered, nodding to my bathroom. “I have extra stuff.”

  “Thanks,” he said, stomping into my bathroom.

  When he came out, he smelled a little like me. My fangs dropped in my mouth at the sight of his wet hair falling over his eyes and the way the black shirt was stretched over muscle, slightly damp as if he hadn’t dried off well enough. He settled into the bed, fully clothed and over the blankets as far from me as he could get.

  This is my life now. Endless torture.

  11

  Chapter Eleven

  It ended up with me staring at the ceiling for two hours instead of trying to get whatever sleep I could. It took an hour before I trusted Raphael was asleep. Another hour and I got out of the bed, my skin too hot from his radiating heat. I was anxious, exhausted, and strung out but unable to do anything. Between Raphael being in my bed, yet untouchable, and the incident I had just lived through, I couldn’t sleep. It was impossible, and it was too late to take anything to help the matter without risking missing an important phone call.

  I can do something.

  The thought struck me fast, and I couldn’t get past it. I crept out of my bedroom and to my office in the condo. It wasn’t like my office at home with The Board, but it would work. I had a corkboard up just in case I ever needed it, and tonight, I needed it.

  Everyone always said I had the mind of an Investigator. I should have been doing Cassius’ job, but I liked the power and protection I was given as an Executioner. It let me go on the offensive where an Investigator had to keep their head down for the most part while they made their case. I could shoot first, ask questions later. Cassius couldn’t.

  Tonight proved everyone was right. I got onto my laptop and started printing every picture I could find of key individuals. I requested access through email to the prison’s records, so I could use those later as well. As everything printed, I started pinning up pictures and articles to the corkboard, then wrote notes and stuck them on as well.

  In the center, the prison breach. Everything radiated from it.

  I found a picture of Eliphas and Kartane and put them up, writing out what I knew. They didn’t get along. Kartane attacked Eliphas. He wouldn’t be able to take the Warden position since Eliphas survived and could report it to the Tribunal through me, but Kartane was still dangerous.

  Next, I put up Tarak and his current status: deceased. I put Korey next to him, writing ‘new Alpha’ on that notecard. Possible betrayal? I didn’t know and couldn’t assume, but I knew the thought would be in the back of my mind until this all settled down. If Kartane betrayed Eliphas, there was a case where Korey betrayed Tarak—a chance there was a coordinated effort to change the leadership. Why, I didn’t know. Being a Warden was a shit job.

  Finally, I got to the fae, who were a can of worms unto themselves. Cassius and Sorcha, who I had wedding pictures with, were the only two people I hoped and prayed weren’t involved. Cassius, I was certain of, but I didn’t really know Sorcha, and that made her unpredictable. There was Dian, in the fae lands. His second was probably there as well since I had not seen the guy while I was there. I had seen fae guards, so the grunts weren’t in on this—hopefully.

  I didn’t bother yet with the inmates I knew escaped. I wanted access to the prison for that. Instead, I put myself on next. I knew they wanted to kill me. Erline and Levi tried. Erline was dead, but knowing my luck, Levi would try again.

  Finally, I put Raphael underneath me. I went back to the fae and put Ardghal, connecting them. Ardghal was my connection to Mygi, and I really hoped it wasn’t them. This was bold and stupid if it was too obvious. Everyone who was privy to the situation would look at them with suspicion.

  I have no way of connecting Mygi and the prison. I’m sure I’ll find something sooner or later. There are dozens of people who would love to see me dead—time to get them on here.

  I grabbed the next set of pictures that had finished printing. One was a mob boss I pushed out of the territory several years ago when I moved in. When several of his known criminal enforcers and employees started dropping, he knew I was onto him and had cleaned house. He never came back.

  But he could use recent events to exploit a weakness.

  There were a few others, including my very own resident vampire Mistress.

  Then I had to wonder if this was an attack on me as a naga—the last adult female. I got to tack on the adult distinction now because one of the guys revealed their wife was pregnant with a girl. That was a good thing.

  In a few more months, I’ll be one of two. Small blessings, I guess. If I die, there’s some hope on the shoulders of a little newborn girl.

  I probably shouldn’t get myself killed.

  I put up pictures of my people. I had no idea who was behind the extermination of the nagas. I always wished I could just pin it on black market behavior, but it was never just that. Adhar thought I was insane for thinking that, but I knew he was just trying to protect his own peace of mind.

  I wasn’t paying enough attention, so when I turned away from my board and saw Raphael, I nearly jumped out of my skin. There was no way in hell Nakul escaped, and no one could get in my condo, so I had let my guard down.

  “What are you doing here?” I demanded.

  “You were gone, and I got worried. I could hear you mumbling to yourself when I got close. What’s this?” He nodded to my corkboard of pictures, articles, notecards, and string. I hadn’t even thought about putting the string connections, it was just second nature.

  “My…mind map, I guess,” I answered, shrugging. “This is how I put things together and see how the world works. It helps me organize my thoughts.”

  “Nakul isn’t up there yet,” he pointed out softly. “Should he be?”

  I snapped my fingers, then rushed to my computer, quickly printing an old photo I had of my uncle. I put him on the board, connected to me, the prison, and the rest of the nagas, represented by a picture of a snake.

  “That’s better,” I said when I was done. “Thanks. He’ll get connected to whoever approached him to kill me once this is over.”

  “This is really intense.” He took in every little detail, hovering over my picture, then his. He followed the connections like a professional, though I knew he wasn’t. I was self-conscious about him seeing how I did this, wanting to see something in him that probably wasn’t there.

  “I know it seems craz—”

  “It’s really helpful. Hopefully, you can keep working on it. I’m starting to see why you can be so…paranoid,” he finished carefully, looking over at me. “Maybe that’s not the right word. Thoughtful? When I met you, I heard you talking about things and people I didn’t understand. Cassius made it seem like you were making leaps of logic, but now I get it. You think like this.”

  “I’m always looking for the connection,” I agreed, nodding slowly. “I know it looks batshit insane.”

  “It…lends itself to that impression, but I don’t think it is. It’s a good tool.”

  You haven’t seen The Board. You’ll think I’m crazy then. You’ll be like everyone else, trying to pretend it doesn’t exist.

  That thought hurt more than it had any right to.

  “Look, why don’t you head back to bed—”

  “I’m not leaving you alone,” he said quietly, staring at the work. “Maybe I can help with this, even if you just want me to put stuff up for you.”

  “I’ll be fine—”

  “I didn’t mention it earlier because everything was happening, then Nakul…but I think that redcap was tr
ying to kill you, too,” he said, cutting me off again, his words dropping like a heavy stone on my chest.

  “Dunter tried to kill me?” I asked in a hushed, harried way. “Raphael, are you positive?”

  “He knocked me off you, probably thinking the hit would take me out, but I was already nearly healed from the blast. You were really out of it right after the blast, so you missed it, but he nearly took your head in his hands. His focus was on you, and I was able to pull him away before he got his hands on you.” I watched my not-human roommate rub his hands together before simply staring at them.

  “Don’t feel guilty,” I said gently. “Please. He—”

  “I don’t,” he said sharply. “I don’t feel guilty. Don’t worry about that.”

  “What’s bothering you, then?” I knew something was.

  “How easy it was,” he whispered.

  That made the blood rush from my head, but I didn’t let that stop me from remaining calm and composed.

  Easy? He thinks it was easy to kill a redcap? Really? There’s not many who can do it on a good day, much less when something akin to a bomb goes off right behind them.

  “He was surprised by how strong I was. I figured I took him off guard but thinking back…”

  “Dunter would have been at his top strength the moment the magical wards and protections failed,” I said, sighing. “Look, we don’t know what you are, and that’s going to come with surprises. Redcaps are considered one of the most physically strong creatures among the supernatural. They’re a type of fae, but…there are different types of fae. Not all of them are like Cassius, Sorcha, and Alvina.”

  “Human looking, you mean.”

  “Exactly. In reality, very few look human…including Cassius, Sorcha, and Alvina. They all use glamours to fit in with our world.” I shrugged. “Most pure children of Titania and Oberon look like what humans call elves. Long pointed ears, unearthly, and slightly alien. The clan-fae, those mixed with human, look more human, their features more balanced but still off. I’m so used to it, I barely even register whether they have their glamours up or not. Cassius always just looks like Cassius to me. Then there are the species of fae, the creatures. The idea of what fae are is a complex one.”