Taboo (A Tale of the Talhari Book 1)

by Heather Elizabeth King

  There was no time to celebrate. Two more of the beasts were on her. One slammed a fist into her back. She knew she should have been knocked to her knees by the blow, but it only made her stumble.

  She kicked back at the monster as she swung the axe at the beast in front of her. As the head of the beast in front of her fell to the carpet, she swung the blade around, twisting where she stood, cutting the other creature’s head off, too.

  She couldn’t see what was happening with anyone else. There were so many of them. That warrior had been right. Far more than twenty.

  Alaric had also been right. Sydney was strong. Outnumbered as they were, the creatures were no match for her. She could take out three without much effort. It was like wrestling with her nieces and nephews when they’d been children.

  She chopped off another head, was turning to bring the axe down on another of them, but froze.

  The SG was walking out of the library, but not just walking. She looked over her shoulder, then ran out the back, as though she wanted to be sure nobody was watching.

  Sydney swung her axe, no longer trying to decapitate, instead looking to make a path to the back of the library. It took her a good five minutes to get there, but she managed it.

  Once in the hallway she looked down at her clothes and grimaced. She was covered in blood and guts. There was nothing she could do about that now except swipe the worst of it off. She wanted to know where the SG had gone. But really, that didn’t take a rocket scientist. Deciding to check the obvious, she cautiously made her way down the rear hall and up the stairs toward the SG’s office. She expected attack at any moment, but it seemed the fight had been kept to the front of the house.

  She could see the SG’s office at the end of the hall. The door was closed, but light glowed from beneath the door.

  She crept closer, trying not to make a sound.

  “You actually called in backup?”

  Was that Saul?

  “To ensure you didn’t double cross me,” The SG shouted back. “Which you have done. You said nothing about procreation.”

  Sydney froze. The SG and Saul. How was that possible?

  Sydney picked up the pace, walking until she could press her ear to the door, even though she didn’t need to. They were shouting so loud the whole house could have heard.

  “I provided you with test subjects,” Saul was saying, “as requested. This was your plan, not mine. If I wanted to destroy the Talhari I could do it without your assistance.”

  “I don’t want to destroy the Talhari and you know that. This is a purification. Murder no one,” she scoffed. Sydney could almost see the SG sneer at the words. “We’re vampires. That is what we do.”

  “Agreed.”

  “I don’t trust you.”

  “By allowing procreation I have made the plan better, tripled the size of our army. Can’t you see that?”

  “I see that I have you on the one hand and on the other I’m sure Alaric is on to me. I’m convinced of it.”

  “That is why I said he needed to be eliminated for our plan to work. Do you really think he’ll sit by and accept your new vision of what the Talhari should be?”

  “He will follow orders. He is one of the best warriors the Talhari has and I need him. We need him.”

  “You’re delusional.”

  “And what of the girl? Do you think I’m stupid? She was meant as your own, personal kill switch.”

  “She was supposed to break him, yes.” Saul sighed. “Unfortunately the two have managed to create some kind of bond. In just a few days. Can you imagine that? She has my blood running through her veins. That should have been enough to make the bloodlust control her.”

  “You underestimated her,” the SG said.

  “And you underestimated Alaric.”

  Saul sighed again. “I am the first. I could destroy him without breaking a sweat.”

  Sydney stepped back from the door. She knew the truth now. There had never been an escape. That’s why Alaric was never warned about it. Saul provided the SG with test subjects and the SG turned those test subjects back over to Saul once they were ready. They were planning to reshape the Talhari, make the order into an order of killers. Bloodsuckers and other undesirables.

  She had to find Alaric.

  Chapter Twenty

  She got to the stairs, nearly collapsed at the sound of fighting in the basement.

  She ran forward, her heart pounding. There were five teams down there, but already she could see fallen bodies, creature and Talhari alike.

  “Not Alaric,” she thought to herself, over and over again.

  She fought her way forward, bringing the ax down on any beast unfortunate enough to get close to her. All the while she searched for him.

  She heard the, “What the hell!” before she saw him, but the sound of his voice, that familiar annoyance, was like balm to her soul. He was at the end of the hallway, looking at her, mouth agape, eyes narrowed to slits.

  She gave him an awkward smile, then waved. A moment later, she drove the ax through a bloodsucker’s throat. She spied Paul nearby and tried shouting. “The SG is in it with Saul!”

  Paul turned to look at her, surprise in his eyes. “What?”

  “The bloodsuckers have reproduced.”

  “I’ve sorted that one out for myself.”

  Paul swung around, blade slashing the air, just as something clamped around her throat. She tried to bend forward to throw the beast off of her, but she couldn’t move. When she saw the leather sheathed leg, she knew why.

  “My lovely vampire child,” he said. “So insubordinate.”

  “Saul. You won’t get away with this.”

  “But I already have. And you will be at my side. After tonight, you’ll never see your Alaric again.”

  She struggled to get free of him, but even with his blood, he was too strong.

  “Stop!” He shouted suddenly.

  She’d thought he’d been talking to her, until the creatures, as one, turned to face Saul. The Talhari did as well.

  Alaric’s eyes fixed on hers, then widened when he saw who had her. He muttered something, but she couldn’t make out what.

  “Just stop,” Saul said, quietly this time. “There’s no need for all this fighting, as, you now serve me. All of you.”

  Alaric raised his sword at this.

  “Look around, Talhari. You’re outnumbered.”

  It was true. The bloodsuckers and undesirables far outnumbered the Talhari.

  “Throw down your sword and pledge your allegiance to me. Nobody else need die.”

  “Never,” said Rhonda, raising her own sword.

  “The SG?” Paul asked.

  Sydney felt Saul turn, then heard the clump of booted feet coming down the hall.

  “It’s a new era for the Talhari,” the SG announced, voice far more confident than it had sounded a few minutes earlier. “We are all creatures of the night. We were meant to rule this earth, not hide in the shadows.”

  Alaric took a step forward. “How can you say that? For centuries the Talhari has—”

  “Times change, Alaric. We are the new face of the Talhari. We have our own army. You were right when you guessed that they’d begun reproducing. They are legion now.”

  Alaric came forward, Joshua, Rhonda, Trina and Paul close behind him. The other warriors stared on, unsure what to do.

  “This is madness,” Alaric said.

  “It’s over, Alaric. Serve me or die.” Saul brought his arm hard against her throat. “Both of you.” He laughed humorlessly. “All of you. It makes no difference to me. I offer mercy due the pleading of your SG. But I’m keeping this one,” he pressed his forearm tighter against Sydney’s throat. “As a play thing. You can think about that as you die, Alaric.”

  Alaric stared from Sydney, to the SG, to Saul. “You will pay for this,” he told the SG.

  A warrior charged forward, sword held high, aimed at Saul’s throat.

  Saul moved so fast Sydney w
asn’t sure what happened. One moment the warrior was charging toward them, the next he lay on the ground, his heart in Saul’s hand.

  “There’s no choice,” Saul said, casually studying the heart.

  “You must be stopped,” Alaric said. “When you took Lavinia, when you made her into a monster I promised myself I’d stop you.”

  “Ah Lavinia?” Saul said. “Oh so beautiful, but oh so crazy.”

  “She wasn’t crazy until you got your hands on her. I’m not letting you do the same thing to Sydney.”

  Saul laughed. “Do you really think you have a choice? I am a god compared to you. My power is limitless.”

  “I will not serve you, beast,” someone shouted.

  “I stand with Alaric,” shouted someone else.

  “Get the SG’s head,” called another.

  Then everything seemed to happen at once. Warriors charged forward. Not one or two, but groups. Saul had no choice but to throw Sydney aside to defend himself.

  Sydney stumbled, then ran down the hall. She didn’t stop to explain what she was doing. She ran past the SG and down the side hall that Rhonda and Trina had shown her the day before. This time, however, she didn’t wait for permission to enter the hall of treasures. She pushed through the locked doors and ran inside.

  As expected, Alaric and the others followed her.

  As the door was closing she could hear the SG screaming for Saul. She knew what Sydney was going after. Unfortunately for the SG, Saul was occupied.

  “Secure the door,” Sydney yelled, rushing into the room.

  “What are you doing?” Alaric asked.

  “David controlled Saul with it once, why wouldn’t it work again?” she said as she reached the display case it sat in. The room’s light shimmered down from above, making a sort of halo appear around it.

  “That’s forbidden,” said Paul. “We’re not allowed to touch it.”

  Ignoring this, she elbowed the glass of the display case.

  “Stop her,” Paul said, but Alaric grunted something that silenced them.

  Something slammed against the hall door.

  “I don’t know how long that door is gonna hold,” Joshua said.

  Not long at all, as it turned out. Behind them, the door burst open. The creatures crowded into the hall, cawing and growling.

  Sydney reached into the case, clasped the harp. Her fingers tingled when they wrapped around the ancient wood. Touched by God, they had said, and she believed.

  She pulled the harp free.

  “Hurry! They’re close,” Trina shouted.

  At the door, more creatures entered the room, growling.

  Sydney pulled the harp to herself. She wasn’t an expert by a long shot, but had played the violin briefly in high school. This couldn’t be so different.

  The beasts came closer. Behind them, Saul stepped into the door.

  She plucked one of the strings, then a second. The effect was nearly instantaneous. The creatures closest to them fell forward. Behind those, the others dropped to their knees.

  “Keep going,” Alaric said. “It’s working.”

  At the door, Saul fell against the door jamb. “No!” he screamed.

  She kept playing, plucking strings.

  The creatures writhed on the ground, groaning. Their skin bubbled, as though boiling water lay just beneath the surface.

  “No!” Saul said again, then he turned and fled from view.

  The creatures couldn’t run, though. They weren’t as strong as Saul. But what they did have was the demon in them. The demon who was powerless against the music of the harp.

  She plucked another string, then, the heads of the beasts exploded.

  Nobody moved.

  Gore erupted out of the creatures, marring the display cases, ground, and splattering their clothes. But the creatures had stopped moving.

  Alaric stepped forward and walked to the closest of them. He crouched low. “They’re dead,” he said.

  Trina moved toward the door and peered out into the hall. “All dead.”

  The air swooshed out of Sydney in relief.

  “They’re all dead,” Trina said again. “Every last one of them.”

  Epilogue

  Sydney sat in the War Room. Trina and Paul were to her left, Rhonda and Joshua to her right. Alaric was at the board where he’d been speaking for the last hour.

  “I can’t believe you turned down the SG job,” Rhonda interrupted.

  Alaric pulled a hand through his hair. “I don’t want to sit in an office all day. I’m a warrior. I’ll always be a warrior.”

  “Who is this Gaia Knight person?”

  “She’s good. She was a warrior for nearly as long as me. I think you’ll like her.”

  Rhonda didn’t look convinced.

  “Can I continue?”

  She nodded. “Saul has gone to ground. With his entire army gone he has to figure out how to go forward. And the SG has been incarcerated.”

  Sydney knew enough about the Talhari to know she wouldn’t wish Endor Island prison on her worst enemy. It was in New York and housed the worst criminals in the Talhari world. A former Talhari SG would not be liked. It would be like a cop being thrown into the general population of a maximum security prison.”

  “She won’t make it, will she?” Trina asked.

  Alaric shrugged. “She should have thought of that before she aligned herself with the devil.”

  “What now? You know he’ll be back,” said Paul.

  “I know. We have to keep our eyes open. Be aware. Be ready.”

  Everyone looked at each other.

  “Now that we have our new historian,” said Trina, “that will be so much easier.”

  Sydney got a few shoulder pats, and welcome to the teams, then Alaric adjoined the meeting.

  When everyone had left the room, Alaric came to stand beside her. “Your room or mine?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Why can’t we share a room?”

  He pulled her from her seat and led her out of the War Room. He didn’t respond or wait for her to say anything else. “My room is nicer,” he decided.

  They went into his room. As soon as the door was shut he pressed her against it and bent to kiss her.

  “How can we be sure he won’t come for me again?” she asked when he pulled back.

  Alaric frowned. “His plan failed. He wanted you as a means to kill me. That didn’t happen. If he comes back at us it will be with a new plan.”

  “And we’ll be ready for him.”

  “If he comes back, we’ll fight him together. I plan on having you by my side for the rest of my life.”

  “Alaric, we’re immortal. Do you know how long the rest of our lives are?”

  He bent forward then, and kissed her. Then he smiled at her. “I know exactly how long that is. Forever.”