K: The Awakening (The Shadow Chronicles Book 1)

by K. R. Fajardo

  Citera was both shocked and frightened at the conversation taking place. And yet she found the idea that K was somehow responsible for the Enforcer’s strength fascinating. How could one person “create” another, especially one as powerful as the Enforcer, and what could it mean for her father and K’s plans to change him? Intrigued, she continue to watch silently as the two intimidating intruders stood almost in fear and definitely with a somewhat healthy respect for K.

  An eerie, relaxed look came over K. Slowly the red faded from her eye, returning to its crystal blue luster as a smile of recognition crossed her face. “My, my, Jarod, you have grown. You were nothing more than a scrawny, scared little kid when I saw you last. Glad to know the blood I gave you has been put to good use in the service of those who betrayed me.” She spoke softly and with control, her tone more intimidating. “So let me be sure I have this straight, while I have been rotting in that cave, one of you has drank your fill of blood from those who would question the Shadows rule and prospered under their wings, while the other has done … what? Hidden himself away, allowing them to continue to grow in power, suppressing the Full-bloods and turning them into weak creatures such as him?” She gestured toward Rigar.

  “My lady, I beg your forgiveness. I swear it was never my intention to break your arm.” The Enforcer bowed his head slightly, appearing somewhat unsure of himself. “And as far as my service to the Shadows, I have only served them with the hopes that I would one day find you.” The three of them watched from the corner in disbelief as the imposing figure cowered under the stern gaze of the frail girl who held so much contempt for him. “And now that I have, I am yours to command, I will do whatever you wish of me.”

  A twisted smile grew on K’s face. “And I suppose I am to take you at your word, like you haven’t spoken these very words to the Shadows as well. Let’s say I decide to test your dedication, what if my first order to you was to let these three take their revenge for what you have done to them and their friends, then what would you say.” The words snapped Citera to attention. Surely she wasn’t serious.

  The Enforcer, however, remained dauntless in his commitment. “If you are truly the one that we are looking for and that is what you wish of me, then so be it. I will do whatever you ask, as I said my dedication is to you and it has always been to you.”

  The smirk on K’s face remained as she continued, “Then the two of you come and see what it is you seek. Then we shall see how truly willing you are to show your loyalty.”

  Jaron and Jarod approached the bed with caution as K leaned forward and allowed them to pull up the gown to expose her back. Silently the pair carefully examined her. Finally Jaron looked over at Jarod, and with a slight nod confirmed what they had already known. With their doubts satisfied they lowered the gown and moved away.

  “So did you find the answer you seek?”

  They said nothing. And while Citera and her friends watched with mouths gaping, the pair returned to the foot of the bed and dropped down on one knee, bowing before K. Citera looked to Rigar and Dirik, who both appeared nonplussed. None of them knew or understood anything that was happening in this room. While Citera was struggling to make sense of it, K turned to the three of them, her blue eyes shining. “He is yours. Do whatever you wish with him, he will not fight you,” she stated, glaring down at the Enforcer, “will you?”

  He remained on his knee, his eyes locked on the floor, “No, my lady, I will not.”

  Jaron rose to his feet. “My lady, if anyone should have to pay for the crimes committed over his years of service to the Shadows then it should be me. I am the one who sent him out into the rebellion, I told him to remain in the Tower, and it was me who risked his life in the off chance that he could stay amongst the Shadows as a spy.” He looked down at the massive man still kneeling on the floor. “Please, I beg you, let me shoulder this burden. Neither of us knew what he would become nor what the Shadows would choose to do with him.”

  K gave his words a moment of thought, but shook her head and waved him off. “No, you are mine to deal with. He knew as well as you that I would have never permitted nor condoned the terrorizing and torture of innocent people. Then to claim it was for me, it is the worst form of insult.” Disgusted, she turned and addressed Citera again, “So I leave it to you to decide his fate. You can deal with him yourself or let one of your friends do it for you, either way it doesn’t matter to me.”

  Citera broke out in a cold sweat, terrified by what she was being asked to do. Trembling she turned to Rigar for guidance. “It is your decision, you know how I feel, and if I am not mistaken Dirik feels the same. Either of us will be happy to do whatever you want us to.”

  She was more than aware of how they felt, both of them would be delighted to rid the world of the Enforcer once and for all. But in the recesses of her mind her father’s voice had returned, the one that screamed in her head telling her this was wrong. Here he was, the Enforcer, the unstoppable, merciless killer, bent over on the floor, unmoving, and willing to sacrifice himself because K had commanded him to. This was nothing like the Enforcer she had always imagined, the monster who swept through towns killing everyone in sight and laughing at their suffering. Suddenly the words Jaron had spoken only moments ago replayed over again in her head. “He is under their control, just like the rest of them.”

  K watched her silently, and sensing her turmoil motioned for her to come closer.

  “What is wrong?” K asked in a quiet calmness, her voice and presence making Citera feel as if she could tell her anything.

  “I don’t know what I am supposed to do,” she answered honestly, gazing into those calming blue eyes.

  K looked over to the Enforcer still kneeling at the foot of the bed. “Well, let’s start by you telling me what he has done to you and your friends.”

  Citera didn’t have to think hard to answer this one. “He took Janil, who I am sure has already been executed, he has threatened and terrorized Dirik on multiple occasions, he beat Rigar and threatened his family.” She paused, and looked at the Enforcer still bent over on the floor, as anger began to brew inside. “And because of him denying our town the vaccinations we so desperately needed during the Black virus, many people in our town died, including my mother.”

  “So now that we have his crimes listed, I ask you again, what do you think should be done with someone like him? Better yet, what do you think he would have done to someone who had done these things to him?”

  Citera glanced back to the corner and pictured the expression on Dirik’s face when he saw the Enforcer, remembering how he had described the way he had terrorized him the day of the inspection. She then turned her attention to Rigar still battered and bleeding from their encounter in the hallway, and the more she thought about all he had done, the angrier she became. Slowly she walked to one of the bedside tables, and after studying the instruments on top, picked up one of the long surgical knives. Taking a moment to admire the clean, shiny blade, she then headed across the room to stand next to the kneeling Enforcer.

  Glancing over her shoulder at Jaron, she could clearly see that he cared for the man the world had grown to hate, as his eyes pleaded with her to stop. He wanted desperately to interject and save his friend, but either fear or respect for K held him back. She looked back to the Enforcer kneeling before her, completely submissive and unmoving with his eyes locked on the floor below. K remained impassive, watching her every move. Carefully she reached around and placed the knife against the Enforcer’s neck and pressed it firmly against his jugular. She used enough pressure to break the skin and still he remained motionless and obedient to K’s command, even as his blood began to trickle onto the floor.

  Leaning over, Citera whispered in his ear, “You will bleed for my mom and Janil, both of whom have died at your hands. Then Dirik will have his turn for all the torment you have put him through. But only once you are too weak to move and your life is slipping through your fingers, will Rigar grant you the mercy of a
rapid death by snapping your neck and finishing you off.” She paused and waited for a reaction, but he remained obedient and still, as she continued. “No one will mourn your death, Actually, I suspect we will all be celebrated as heroes for finally put an end to your years of tyranny.”

  He kept his eyes locked on the floor in front of him, not of a twitch of a muscle to hint any form of resistance to what was happening. All eyes were on the two of them as she stood there staring at him, blade against his throat, blood dripping steadily to the floor. “That is what I should do,” she continued as she dropped the knife to the floor and kicked it away, “but that is not who I am and that in not how I was raised. My father taught me every life is important, even one as despicable as yours, and I will not disgrace his name by taking the life of another person while he lies in the other room dying.”

  Thoughts of her father and all his years of working to save the people no one else would, had tears flowing down her cheeks, and landing on the floor next to the Enforcer. She hoped he would be proud of her and what she was doing. “Besides, seeing you here like this gives me the satisfaction of knowing there is someone that even you fear more than the Shadows, and it gives me hope that one day this will all end.” This last statement struck a chord with him and she could see his head drop ever so slightly lower as he closed his eyes.

  K, who had watched the whole thing intently, addressed Citera, “Are you sure that is what you want to do? Free this man who has caused you so much pain. Don’t you wish to revenge the wrongs that he has done to you and your family? An opportunity like this will surely not arise again.”

  Citera looked down at him, then at her own hand covered in his blood. “I don’t want revenge,” she answered shaking her head. Turning back to see Rigar and Dirik in the corner, she added, “all we have ever wanted is to be left alone and allowed to live our lives in peace.”

  K leaned back into the bed; appearing satisfied by Citera’s answer, she returned her attention to the still kneeling Enforcer. “Well it appears you have had your life spared by a child, a child that has proven herself far wiser than the both of you combined. Now get to your feet.”

  The Enforcer obeyed, silently rising until he stood once again towering over Citera, who suddenly found herself extremely uncomfortable with her close proximity to the man she had just threatened. Glancing down at the puddle on the floor then up at his neck, she got a better look at the slit she had made with the knife and realized, that though it was not her intention, she had managed to cut him extremely deep and was shocked at how much blood he had lost and was still losing.

  But she didn’t have time to worry about him, her primary concern was her father and how much time she had already lost. Looking to K, she was about to ask how to get the process of awaking her father started when the Enforcer announced, “Perhaps I can return the favor, if my lady would be so kind. A life for a life.”

  “And how do you propose to do that? You know as well as I that you can’t cross blood, it must be mine, the blood of anyone one else will kill him.”

  Citera suddenly felt dizzy. So that was how it worked, K would drink her blood and then her father would drink hers. A wave of nausea flooded into her stomach at the thought of her father consuming blood, coupled with the image of him turning into a creature such as the Enforcer, it was all she could do not to pass out. Her head began to feel light as the room around her spun out of control. Desperate to steady herself, she reached her arm out and grabbed ahold of the first thing her hands came in contact with and held on with all her might. Closing her eyes she fought back her body’s urge to go down, but it wasn’t until her head stopped swimming and her eyes reopened did she realize that she had grabbed ahold of the Enforcer’s coat and was leaning against him for support. He watched her silently out of the corner of his eye, as she jumped back. “Oh,” she said quickly letting go and brushing his jacket back down, “sorry.”

  He continued to talk, completely ignoring her, “No, not blood mixing. If he has been bit and it is not already too late, then the red formula can be used to revive him without changing him.”

  Rigar immediately protested from the corner, “No. You can’t give formula to a Terrian, it is poisonousness to them.” Turning to Citera he added, “He is trying to trick you. You should have killed him while you had the chance, now he will repay you by finishing off your father.”

  The Enforcer glared at him angrily over Citera, slight flashes of red twinkling in his eyes. “Don’t think I don’t know who caused that,” he accused, pointing at K’s wounded eye. “I would gladly deal with you myself for beating a woman that way.”

  “But you will do no such thing. Have you not heard anything I have said?” K demanded. “It is not your place to decide who is and who is not to be punished. That temper of yours is a problem and you had best get it under control.” He relaxed his posture somewhat, but the tenseness remained as K continued to address him, “Now back to the subject of the girl’s father, how do you know giving him this ‘red formula’ will work, seems to me a strange concept.”

  “I have done it before on several occasions and had excellent results.” He responded still glowering at Rigar.

  Citera couldn’t believe what she was hearing as K addressed her once again, “It is up to you, child, he is your father. Is this something you would be willing to try?”

  She looked up at the Enforcer, who had turned his attention to her; blood from the wound she had caused still dripping down, saturating the front of his shirt.

  “How am I supposed to trust you?” she asked, unsure of what else to say.

  His answer was simple and without emotion, “I could care less whether or not you ‘trust’ me. But I have done this before and more than once.”

  She found herself once again at a loss on what to do; on one side she could let K finish what she started and risk her father turning into something like the Enforcer, or she could take a chance, trust the Enforcer with her father’s life and let him use the formula not knowing if this was all a ploy to get back at her for cutting his throat.

  All the possible outcomes were running rampant through her mind. Confused and frustrated, she began rubbing her hands up and down her arms when Jaron decided to speak up, “If I may put my opinion into this. I can testify that he has brought back many Terrians using this method. As a matter of fact, he brought one back only a few days ago, just before we came here.” He was addressing her and K both at the same time, as he continued, “Of all the times I have seen it done, I have never seen any ill effects on the Terrians he has helped.”

  “How can I know if the two of them are telling the truth?” Citera asked K, longing for help.

  “You can’t, either way there are risks. You must choose the path you believe is the most appropriate for you and your father.”

  Citera looked up at the Enforcer again, then at Jaron, before taking a deep breath and sighing. “All right, I suppose I have no other choice, I will try the Enforcer’s method,” she said, sulking toward the door. “Follow me, I will take you to him.”

  With a nod of approval from K, she lead the Enforcer out the door and down the hall the short distance to her father’s room, then slowly opened the door leading him inside. Returning to her usual spot at his side, she took a deep breath and held it, praying she wasn’t too late. She had never been a religious person, but as she reached to take up his hand she found herself reciting one of the childhood prayers her mother had taught her. To her overwhelming relief and delight, though his skin was still cold to touch, she managed to find his pulse once again.

  The Enforcer silently approached from the other side and studied Mikel carefully. First he removed the dressing she and Dirik had worked so hard to apply, studying his stitches closely before reaching down and opening one of his pupils. Looking somewhat doubtful, he next picked up Mikel’s other wrist and held it, his expression silent and flat.

  “Do you think it is too late?” she asked after a moment, unsure she rea
lly wanted to know the answer. He stood there like a statue, frozen and without emotion, showing no signs that he had even heard her. Frustrated, she blew a loose piece of hair from her face and returned her attention to her father. She had all but given up on the notion of receiving an answer when he spoke.

  “It’s hard to say, I have never waited this long to try and revive someone,” he replied, reaching into his jacket and pulling out a vial filled with a bright red liquid. At first glance the contents looked like blood, sending that uneasy feeling back into the pit of her stomach. But as he removed the lid to pour some of the contents into her father’s mouth, she could see it was clearly red formula since the consistency was much too thin to actually be blood.

  Once he had poured what he felt was a sufficient amount into Mikel’s mouth, the Enforcer recapped the vial and returned it to its pocket. Then they waited, and waited, and waited. It felt like hours, though she was fairly certain they hadn’t passed more than a quarter. Finally, Citera couldn’t stand the waiting anymore and decided to try and find out more about this Enforcer, who had apparently been saving some of the people he was charged with killing. “Have long have you been doing this, saving people, I mean?”

  “The less you know about these matters, the safer you will be.”

  It was the type of answer she should have expected to come from him, aloof and dismissive. “I’m only trying to break this intolerable silence, and since when are you concerned for my safety?” She slumped down mumbling to herself, “I don’t know why I even bothered.”

  She reached over and lifted her father’s hand, and was delighted to find the warmth had returned. In her excitement she turned to call to Dirik and Rigar, but instead noticed the Enforcer had picked up a bandage from one of the tables and was pressing it to the wound on his neck. He wasn’t paying any attention to her, and for the first time she could see past the illusion that was the Enforcer. This was not an invincible man. Huge and intimidating, definitely, but underneath the bulk of muscle and brawn, hid a man weathered and defeated. A man’s who overwhelming exhaustion read like a road map of the suffering he had endured.