Snared (Kaliya Sahni Book 2)

by K. N. Banet

  “Niece,” Nakul whispered so softly, I almost missed it. He was on the other side of the cell and walked closer, giving me a look of hopefulness and deep concern. I knew the stare, but I hadn’t seen it since I was a child. “How is your work? Are you well?”

  I didn’t respond, staring at him for a moment. He had deep brown, nearly black—just like mine—eyes that seemed endless. He looked healthy, not a day older than the day his wife and son died. Not a day older than the day I caught him. There was over a century of history between us, a lifetime for me, but I grew up and changed, becoming the woman I was. He stayed the same. He was centuries older than me.

  “We need to speak today,” he said, leaning on the door, his long black hair falling to cover his face. “Please.”

  “What could you possibly ever say to me?” I finally asked. “Would you apologize for the killing?”

  “You kill too,” he said with a sigh. “Don’t—”

  “I don’t kill children,” I hissed. “You did. Would still be doing it if not for me. I kill criminals like you, not children. Never children.”

  “I wasn’t…”

  “I don’t need to hear it. Be quiet.” I started walking to the other cell. “I’m only here for a standard review and—”

  “That’s why we need to speak—”

  “NOW!” someone roared.

  I was turning back to him, ready to lay into him, practically foaming at the mouth when the world turned red from the overhead lights, and a screeching sound pierced my ears. Mechanical noises could be heard everywhere, and someone started shouting as I grabbed Raphael and felt him grasp for me as well.

  I pulled him back just in time to stop a cell door from slamming into him, backing up into the bars as all the doors began to open. His arms wrapped around me, pulling me into his chest for some reason as if he wanted to protect me. Then an explosion blew out the wall to the yard and sent us into the wall.

  7

  Chapter Seven

  I didn’t have time to think as my back hit concrete before I fell to the ground. For a moment, I was too dazed to understand what had just happened. I was numb and paralyzed, uncomprehending. It took a moment to notice, but I finally found something to latch onto, a sensation I could never ignore, even when I tried—Raphael over me, his body my only indication I was alive. I could feel the heat radiating off him, and it held me in the moment and reminded me something was wrong. I tried to breathe, getting a lungful of dust and debris. My seizing lungs were even more of an indication I wasn’t out of the mortal plane yet. Thinking of dust and smoke gave me the last piece I needed to figure out, even dazed, what the hell had just happened.

  “Kaliya?” he groaned. My vision was blurry and obscured, but I could make out the rough angles of his face, the dark hair, and the rough size of him. Much after that was hard since my head hurt, and the thick smoke was making my eyes water.

  “Raphael, move,” I said, gasping for air. He wasn’t heavy on me, but between him and the smoke, I needed air, and I wasn’t getting enough. On top of that, we were in a bad position—a very bad position.

  “What—”

  I didn’t hear the rest because he was suddenly gone, a blur of his body moving away all I could see. I blinked several times, trying to clear my vision, wondering who was standing over me. My ears were ringing, but dark shapes danced in front of me. One was taken out by one. Then a third showed up. I needed to move, but before I could find my feet, something slammed into my ribs, and I was sent over rubble and into a flat object. I scrambled to grab onto anything, finding a handle to a cell door to use as leverage and pulled myself to my feet. I was able to make it to my feet this time, but it didn’t prepare me for a mean right hook that sent my head into the concrete wall. My ears rang painfully, but I was able to get a view of my attacker. I didn’t have any bad blood with the werewolf except for the fact I was an Executioner, and he was a high-security inmate. By the look on his face, he wanted me dead during the madhouse and was willing to see it happen.

  Ducking, I was able to dodge his second swing and pulled out a dagger. It was sloppy, but I was able to shove it into his gut as I stumbled away from the door and wall. Desperate, I stabbed him repeatedly, glad I carried silver at all times, just in case. Silver and iron were the two things every supernatural needed.

  Blood poured on my hand, hot and fast, but I kept stabbing, hoping I hit something vital as the werewolf screamed and brought an elbow down on my back, knocking me down. He was able to stagger away from me, but when I looked up, I saw my job was done. He fell in front of me, bleeding out fast. With that over, I knew what I had to do, and I needed to do it fast.

  I needed to find Raphael.

  I tried to steady myself on my feet as another explosion rattled the building, but it was further away and was quickly followed by a second.

  I started running for the stairs and tripped over several objects, mostly debris. When my foot hit something soft, I looked down, and my stomach dropped for a moment at the black pant leg I saw under a rock. I followed the leg to find who it was attached to and saw Tarak, wide-eyed and in shock.

  “Fuck,” I muttered, realizing running for my life wasn’t an option. I threw a glance over my shoulder, saw no one, then started to pull stuff off of Tarak. “I’ve got you. I’m going to free you then we need to get the fuck out, Warden. Do you understand me? You, Raphael, and I are getting out of here. I’m not dying here. Neither are you.”

  His eyes found me, and something passed through them, but I didn’t know what, unable to decipher whatever he was feeling other than pain.

  A roar was the only thing that pulled my attention away from Tarak, and I spun to see Raphael locked in a fight with a fucking redcap who didn’t have a glamour up. Towering to nearly seven and a half feet, I knew the fae-type, but not well. What I did know was this particular redcap was much larger than most, and he was a fucking monster.

  “Raphael! Get away from him!” I screamed as the two brutes threw punches at each other. Blood flew, but I didn’t know whose.

  “You should worry about me,” someone said softly. My pulse jumped as I slowly moved my gaze to the right and saw another escapee.

  “Why should I do that?” I asked softly, seeing the very angry witch with a fanged smile. Every single tooth was sharpened to a point like a mouth of shark teeth. Some witches went off the deep end. This one was a clear example. To amplify his own power, he had sacrificed supernaturals and somehow turned himself into something strange and unique. The reason he wasn’t executed was everyone wanted to know how and what he'd done to himself.

  Levi was a fucking monster.

  He didn’t answer. By the way he was raising his arms and the words coming out of his mouth, I realized the physical protections weren’t the only thing down. Prisoners couldn’t normally use their magic.

  Well, now they can, Kaliya. Maybe I should hurry up, stop being shocked, and just start killing them.

  The idea was sound enough, so I started doing just that. I didn’t wait for Levi to finish. I reached to my holster and pulled my sidearm. His eyes widened as he realized I was very much armed and deadly. He jumped off the ruined walkway before his spell was done, and I started firing. I didn’t know if I hit him, and at that moment, I didn’t have a chance to care. He was gone, and I needed to help a werewolf Alpha. I turned back to Tarak, finally able to help him again. Reaching out, I touched his neck, trying to find his pulse. It was so faint. I put that aside and tried to move the last rock off him.

  Move, you fucking rock. I need to get Tarak help. He’s going to die. I can’t let someone die right now. Not here. Not like this.

  He stopped me with a single, gentle touch, putting a hand over one of mine.

  “Crushed,” he whispered.

  I paused for a second, letting that single, weak word penetrate the madness of my thoughts.

  “Tarak,” I gasped, pulling back only enough to really take in the last rock. It was on his pelvis, and…I coul
dn’t find his pelvis. There was only a lot of blood, and I realized what he meant.

  There was only so much supernaturals could heal from. If he was a vampire, giving him blood would help him heal while moving the rock. As a werewolf, he healed fast but not that fast. He would bleed out sooner or later, but that was the only option. In the madhouse of a massive prison break, there would be no way to get him the help he needed to possibly survive. Even with the help, there wasn’t much hope. His pelvis wouldn’t heal right due to the injury. He’d be wheelchair-bound in human form and crippled in werewolf form. He’d never be able to hold a pack and as an Alpha, he would get fought constantly.

  It was a death sentence. Even if I saved him from this, he was a dead man.

  He lifted his head slightly and began to howl quietly. It was echoed, though. Somehow, his pack heard and howled.

  I grabbed his hand, squeezing it, knowing I needed to sit and stand witness even as my heart grew cold and hard. I couldn’t get emotional now. I had my survival to think about.

  He took another breath and died, his song trailing off like the end of a beautiful song.

  “Kaliya?”

  I turned slowly to Raphael and saw the blood covering him. His eyes were black as night, and the black veins radiating from them extended down his throat, over his chest, abdomen, and arms. He seemed bigger than normal—taller, wider.

  “Did you kill him?” I asked softly.

  Something terrible passed over his face as he nodded. I knew he hated killing, but I could only be grateful he knew what was at stake.

  “Did you see where any of the others went?”

  “Most ran out of the cell block—”

  A chunk of the building’s ceiling fell, and I realized why they hadn’t stuck around.

  “Shit.” I jumped to my feet, ignoring the wave of dizziness and the pain. There was no time for either. Just because the body hurt didn’t mean it couldn’t function, and I only needed it to function. “We need to move. Let’s go. Into the yard before this fucking building comes down. Let’s go.”

  I staggered the first couple of steps, but Raphael grabbed my elbow and helped me steady by the time we made it to the stairs that were covered in debris like the walkway. We jogged down the stairs and made our way out of the building into the yard, watching guards and prisoners fight all around us.

  It was war and that meant it was pure chaos. By the look of it, the southern cell block also had a breach. The smart criminals were running for the border of the compound. There weren’t enough guards. The werewolves had just lost their Alpha, and I knew Korey was probably reeling as she took over the pack and tried to stop this at the same time.

  “What’s the plan?” Raphael asked. I heard a gun cock and looked down to see him with his sidearm out in his free hand. “Do we run, or do we help?”

  “We help,” I said, coughing again. I must have breathed in another lungful of dust and smoke. Someone yelled, and I watched as Raphael grabbed a prisoner running for us and tossed him out of my sight.

  “How much do we help?” he demanded, looking down at me.

  “They’re officially escapees if they left their cell. We kill them.” Straightening, I pulled my sidearm and looked over the yard. I took a shot at someone wearing a prisoner jumpsuit and watched them go down.

  “That’s it?” Raphael was still next to me, staring at the mayhem around us. There was so much going on, our appearance outside had gone mostly unnoticed.

  “Kaliya!” a woman yelled. I turned to see Korey running for me, followed by several of her men, all decked out for war with both modern and ancient weaponry. “Tarak is—”

  “I know,” I said, gesturing back to the northern cell block remains. “His body is in there. I was with him until the end. Tell me where you want me.”

  “I don’t want you here,” she answered, looking past me for a second. “There’s already been breaches of the outer barrier. Our communications are down. We’ll be lucky if the Tribunal even got a message saying there was a security breach on their systems. I need you to get to your car and get out of here. Put Phoenix on Code Black, large scale breakout.”

  “Can do. How’s inside?”

  “Bad, but probably safer than out here. You were in the northern cell block when it happened…how are you still alive?” She seemed confused for a split second. Truthfully, I had the same question. Before I could say anything more, she shoved me aside and raised her gun, firing twice. “Get out of here. Until they leave the compound grounds, they’re ours to deal with. Hopefully, we can manage this, but you’re going to be needed on the outside.”

  “See you on the other side,” I said, nodding sharply as I turned to see what she had shot. A southern cell block prisoner lay dead ten feet from us. Whether he had been coming after us or not, I didn’t know. “I’ll make sure the word gets out and call in backup.”

  “Thank you.”

  I grabbed Raphael’s shirt and pulled him to follow me toward a guard gate in and out of the yard. Testing the halls was going to be safer than the war zone outside, something I agreed with Korey about. Prisoners were going to be thinking about escaping, not storming the fucking castle.

  The gate was unlocked with none of its normal security to slow me down. I tugged Raphael through the door and checked my weaponry while we had a moment.

  “Get to the car and get out. Those are our new objectives. If we run across any escapees, we’ll provide assistance and take them out. Clear?” I looked up at his black eyes, seeing he was still channeling his non-human abilities. His face was nearly black from the concentration of the veins radiating from his eyes. I was over getting freaked out by his magic, or whatever it was, but it was still disconcerting to see. At that moment, it didn’t faze me at all.

  “What’s Code Black?” he asked, keeping his cool better than I would have guessed. I was glad he understood the severity, not that it was hard to miss. More importantly, he was willing to do what was necessary, something he had already proved by the blood covering his arms and chest.

  “Lock down the city and surrounding area.” I started checking myself for injuries once I was satisfied that all of my things were on me, not lost in the rubble of the northern cell block. I wasn’t moving until I knew what my limitations were, and we were somewhat safe for the moment. I explained while I worked.

  “Phoenix will be the first place escapees hit because they can’t travel through the desert and live to tell of it. There’s a scale, based on the danger of the escaped prisoner and how much we consider them a public threat. Code Black is the order to shut everything down, lock your doors, and hide. We’ve never had to call it because we’ve never had anyone from the northern cell block escape.” I was finally satisfied and looked up at him.

  “Let’s get moving. The sooner we get out of the prison’s territory, the sooner I can call back to Phoenix and let everyone know what’s happened.” I started walking for the other end of the small hall, normally where guards would prep for their time in the yard.

  “Let me lead,” he said sharply, grabbing me before I could move out of the small guard hallway. When I turned to hiss at him, he slammed a hand over my mouth. “I heal through it all, remember? I’m less likely to die. Just tell me where to turn and how to get out of this fucking place.” He removed the hand once I nodded.

  “Don’t ever do that again,” I snapped.

  He chuckled darkly and opened the door at the end of the hall, checking the next hall before going out. I followed him, leaving only a foot between us, constantly checking over my shoulder. There was no such thing as being too cautious.

  “Jog,” I ordered softly, and he picked up the speed. “We’re close to the northern cell block. Head for administration signs, those offices are closest to the exit.”

  “Roger,” he said, pointing down the hall to a sign, leading us into a sharp left, then a quick right. The prison could be a little bit of a maze of rooms and offices—administration, interrogation rooms, medi
cal wing, and even living quarters for most of the guards, though the living quarters were on the second and third floors. I didn’t think we’d have to go up there, but with everything happening, who knew.

  “Left here,” I sharply ordered, causing Raphael to veer down another hall. I ran into the back of him when he stopped. “What the—”

  I looked around him, and something threatened to eject from my stomach at the blood covering the hallway. I recognized Eliphas from behind, his scraggly long blonde hair, his signature black trench coat with symbols around the bottom. I’d seen that ugly trench coat enough to know no one wore it like him.

  “Eliphas,” I exclaimed, jogging past Raphael. I couldn’t blame Raphael for not coming closer. He didn’t know who the warden was by a simple glance. “Hey, Eliphas—”

  The witch turned around, and for a moment, his wavy blond hair blocked my view of his face.

  “Run,” he said softly as he finished his turn. “The magical wards are down…”

  “Oh, gods,” I gasped.

  Where the witch’s eyes should have been were gaping holes.

  “I’ll live,” he said slowly. “Protected now. You need to get out.” His words grew clearer and stronger with each sentence, and I noticed the waviness, the lack of opacity around his edges. He was projecting himself.

  “Where are you?” I demanded.

  “It doesn’t matter. My fellow Wardens will be able to find me. You need to get out. Tell the Tribunal what’s happened—”

  “Who took your eyes, Eliphas?” I snarled.

  “Kartane,” he answered. “He tried to kill me, but the power transfer wasn’t completed, so he failed. Don’t worry. I’ll find him and win, even without my eyes.”

  His second in command attacked him. That had serious repercussions.

  “Why did you project here?”

  “I was trying to reach you. It worked, not exactly, but it worked. You’re the only person allowed to leave—”

  “I hear talking. Is there anyone here?” a singsong voice called from the hallway Raphael and I had just left. I quickly pulled an old, pure iron knife from my right boot, knowing it was possible I might have to use it.