After several moments, he got his rage under control. He must stay out of human conflicts. Those were his own commands to his warriors. Once again, he wished he had a reason to claim Kara Johnson, make her his mate, and maybe even his bonded. His thoughts were interrupted by the communication channel opening. “Commander,” a young trainee under Varnis commed.
“Yes, Nuvan,” Joran responded.
“Sir, there has been a break-in reported at a store that sells food in the town you are in. We are searching buildings that they could hide in easily.”
Joran used his access into the law enforcement database to look up the new report himself. Nuvan was correct, the report stank of Shara involvement, but they were getting desperate and were starting to make mistakes. It was a bad combination for the Shara to be getting desperate and making impulsive decisions. The human population in this town would be in grave danger. His thoughts caused him to freeze. Kara and her friend Laura were going to be out in the very town the Shara were hiding in. He closed his eyes to try and remember the plans Kara and Laura had made. It was too close to the area they believed the Shara were in. He had to find her, now. Where did she say she was going? The other female wanted to go to an entertainment facility with her. He would find her to ensure she had recovered from that asshole, as the deputies called him, and watch her. He would keep her safe and not expose himself as an alien to this world, yet somehow complete his mission, too. He was a warrior of Dareen and he would act like one.
* * * *
Kara held onto Laura’s arm as they walked across the street, giggling. Good thing it was a pleasantly warm night, so the walk home would be enjoyable. She figured she lived only about half a mile from the bar. She would put Laura in her guest room and get her car in the morning. She had a nice buzz without being drunk. Laura, on the other hand, was drunk, completely unable to drive. Drunk. Kara still wore a smile from watching Laura flirt with every man with tight jeans and a nice ass. Laura had been served a lot of alcohol by men who were only too happy to buy her a drink. The end result was Laura getting so drunk she could not drive her car. Kara knew she also had too much to drink to drive, although she could still walk in a straight line, unlike Laura. She had been singing and stumbling along, making Kara laugh at her silly drunk songs. Another reason Laura was her best friend, she was a fun drunk. She didn’t get stupid or angry or become a drama queen. Just a bit silly.
It was late. Or rather, early, since it was now after midnight. The streets were deserted. One nice thing about small towns was that they were shut down, except the bar, by ten at night.
“I thought Edmond’s closed already.” Laura squinted over at the closed-down store. Kara could see a faint light coming through the front door as well.
Kara’s anger rose. Someone was in there robbing her dear friend, Tom, of the last of his store’s product before it could be auctioned off. “They did.” Kara replied, looking over at the store with a frown. Normally she knew better than to look into things by herself without calling it in at least, but she had just enough alcohol in her to make her foolish. Kara decided to go and have a look. If there were thieves, she would call into the station and get the assholes arrested. Kara’s heart raced at the thought of confronting thieves, but she would be damned if she stood by and did nothing while a friend was harmed.
“Let’s go see who is in there. If it is thieves, I can call it in.” Laura patted her back pocket. “Damn, I left my phone at the bar,” she slurred. At the same time, Kara was planning how to check out the store.
“You can get it in the morning. Besides, I do not think they will understand you. I can barely understand you.” Kara fully expected to find Tom in there doing some cleanup before he sold the building. “I have my phone in my purse anyways, if it is thieves and not Tom working late getting ready for the auction.”
“Shhhh,” Laura whispered over dramatically. “It is probably Tom, and we can scare him.” Laura had a goofy grin on her face while they crept over to the lot the store sat on. “We’re ninjas,” Laura said happily, then burst out laughing. She tripped over an unseen rock in the grass and landed on her back. She spread her arms out wide and laughed even louder when she accidently pulled Kara down with her.
“I am so drunk,” Laura slurred happily.
“Yes, you are.” Kara giggled, getting back up to her knees. “Lucky for you, I am not, so I can get us home in one piece.”
“I am so glad you came out with me,” Laura told her. She looked at her friend and smiled again. “We both needed to get out and have some fun.”
“I am glad you invited me, I really—” Laura’s mouth opened, but nothing came out. Her face twisted in fear and had gone pale, and she stared past Kara at something that seemed to terrify her.
“What?” Kara asked, then turned her face, not sure what to expect.
Kara let out a scream of her own. A monster was standing over them. Laura rolled one way and Kara lurched the other. Both just barely missed the massive fist that had come crashing down to try and smash Laura in the face.
Laura screamed as she tried to run, but she was too drunk and panicked to run. She kept tripping over her own feet and every unseen rock and stick on the ground.
Kara skidded to a stop when she realized Laura was not with her, and turned around to help her. There was not just one, but three monsters. They were huge, at least six and a half feet tall and their brown, leather-looking armored suits still managed to show off how the monsters were solid muscle. They may have looked like big men, but their faces were terrifyingly monstrous. The monster had dark-gray skin with deep ridges on its forehead. Its eyes were sunk in and were bloodred. It only had two holes in the center of its face instead of a nose, and the one that was snarling showed off a mouth full of needlelike fangs instead of normal, human-looking teeth. One stuck its tongue out, and it was forked like a lizard’s. They all had white hair on their heads that gave them an even more terrifying appearance.
Kara stood there frozen with her mouth open, yet too frightened to scream. Laura, on the other hand, lay on the ground screaming as the snarling one approached her. The other two were hissing at each other, but standing back as if they were keeping watch for anyone to show up. It reminded her of the sound of pressure being released out of propane tanks when they were overfull.
Kara’s need to help her friend warred with her dread and desire to run. For a second she thought that if she ran, she could call the police once she was safely away. No, if she ran they would get Laura, and with those teeth, they would rip out her neck easily. Terror made her legs feel numb and hard to move but she still managed to take a step, then another, toward Laura.
The monster grabbed Laura and put its gloved hand over her face, muffling her screams. Laura thrashed around in its arms, trying to break free, but it had an iron grip on her and snarled again, sounding like a demon from hell.
“Let go of her,” Kara screamed. She swung her purse, taking aim at the monster’s head. She managed to hit it right in the back of the head, but all it did was turn its enraged focus on her.
“Oh shit,” she said out loud and knew she had made a mistake. She did not stun it at all. It had not dropped Laura or even loosened its grip enough for her to wiggle free. All she had done was draw attention to her from all three of the monsters. “Fuck,” Kara squealed, realizing too late that her cell phone was in the purse she just threw at the monster. Now she could not even call for help.
She slowly backed up toward the part of the hardware store that led to the back parking lot and alley. She kept her eyes on them while she stepped back slowly, one step at a time. The four of them just stares back at her. Their hate-filled, snarling faces suddenly turned to vicious smiles. She was confused as to why they would go after Laura and let her escape to get help. She backed up another step, then hit something solid. Suddenly she knew why. There were more of them behind her.
She didn’t look, she just pushed off of the solid mass to run. Her legs moved, but she
didn’t get anywhere. There was more hissing behind her, some of it menacing, while other hissing sounded like laughing. Somewhere in her panicked thoughts, she wondered where all these monsters came from.
She let out a scream, but a cold hand pressed on her face and the scream came out muffled. She tried to breathe, but she couldn’t. Panic set in almost immediately. She couldn’t breathe. She kicked her feet and pulled at the hand that had an iron grip around her face, but it was useless. It was as if the hand had bonded itself to her skin, sealing off her air.
As her vision started to haze over, she saw Laura already go limp in their arms. Tears filled her eyes, knowing her closest friend was gone. They had suffocated her, just like she was being suffocated right now. This was supposed to be a fun night out. Instead, they were both dying.
* * * *
Joran walked through the entertainment facility. He had tracked the spending card the human female had used to this location. It was late and close to the facility’s closing time. There were a few humans left dancing to the country music that played over the speakers. A few more sat at small tables finishing their drinks and preparing to go home.
Kara and Laura’s scent was still lingering, although very faded, as if it had been a long while since they left. If he had taken much longer to hack into Kara and Laura’s work accounts, he may not have had enough of a scent left to track them. His tracking ability was nowhere near Varnis’s, but he could easily pick up Kara’s scent.
He was about to leave when he overheard a man yelling angrily over the music playing. “The stupid bitch locked me out of my own damn house.”
The bartender looked over at the angry drunk unsympathetically. “Ryan, I think you need to go home and sleep if off. You screwed another woman and she threw you out. Deal with it.”
It took a moment for Joran to realize this was the same Ryan that had spoken so hatefully to Kara over the phone. Joran stalked over to the man. He could not allow the chance to pass him by to teach the moontar some manners.
“You,” Joran hissed coldly. The rage built in him when Ryan spat on the floor before looking up at him. This human was a disgusting excuse for a mate.
“Do I know you?” Ryan asked after taking another long drink of his beer.
“I overheard your conversation with Kara. How dare you speak to a female in such a way?” Joran snarled while he towered over Ryan.
Ryan’s features twisted in disgust. “What is the bitch saying about me now? Did she try to tell you some sad story? She is a fucking liar.”
Joran’s fist impacted Ryan’s face. Ryan fell backward out of the chair. He landed on the wooden floor that had peanut shells strewn all over it. The conversations and dancing in the place stopped and everyone turned to watch. “You are to never speak to Kara again. I would stay and make sure you learned some manners. Only a filthy coward would attack a woman over the phone,” Joran thundered menacingly. He was tempted to beat on the human more but Kara’s safety was more important to him at the moment.
Joran turned to stalk out of there before he lost Kara’s scent. The people standing by the door moved out of his way. They watched him pass with wide, frightened eyes. Joran heard whispering behind him but he did not care what the humans thought or said. He needed to find Kara.
He was thankful it was a clear, warm night with no breeze to disrupt their scent. The scent crossed the street and he followed it between two buildings.
What he smelled next had him growling in rage and instantly on guard. Pain, terror from the human females, and the sickening lust of the Shara all mixed together in the grassy area next to the building. He pulled his weapon out and opened a communication link to the main warship that was in orbit.
“Commander Joran to Captain Aster. I have located the scent of Shara. They are mixed with human female. I believe they have taken the human females captive. I can sense their terror.”
“Fuck, this is what I wanted to avoid. The Shara are even more dangerous now that they are cornered in an area with so many humans. Use every resource to find them as soon as possible. Shit, I wanted to avoid involving any humans.” The captain continued to cuss into the link.
“I believe it is only two females, and I have every intention of finding them alive,” Joran stated.
“Do that, Commander. Find them and then we must bring them up here. Alliance laws are very clear though. I am loath to having their memories wiped.”
“I will do everything in my power to find them and limit human involvement.” He wanted to run and follow the scent of the Shara and his terrified human, but to track them alone would be foolish. He knew he could easily handle three Shara on his own, but they tended to travel in packs of at least ten.
He opened a new channel to his lieutenant, “Sunter, I need a full security team, fully armed and ready to track down here at my location, now.”
“Yes, sir,” the lieutenant replied formally. Joran could hear him opening communication links on the ship to activate the security teams.
Joran trusted Sunter fully. Not only was Sunter a truth seeker like Joran, he was also a tracker. Both he and Varnis spent years training him, so when a situation came up, he could simply give the order and trust that Sunter would assemble the finest warriors. With that little bit of information, he would get the warriors with the finest tracking skills. The scent was fading even more as he waited, and he would need warriors that could pick up trace scents easily. “Great Mother, I should have been more urgent in my search for you, my little human,” he whispered into the deadly still night air that still carried the scent of her fear.
Chapter 4
Kara woke up hearing grunts and hissing. Laura was crying. She tried to see, but her eyesight was blurry. It smelled so musty she knew she must be in the basement of Edmond’s old hardware store. She had been down here plenty when she was young and earning a bit of extra money helping Tom to clean up, or with inventory.
Laura let out a scream. She sounded like she was in pain. She tried to stand up, but a chain attached to both of her wrists kept her from being able to stand. She yanked on them, but they would not give, and she could not pull her hands free no matter how hard she pulled. All she had done was cause her wrists to bleed.
“Laura!” Kara screamed, but all she did was cry out in pain. The hissing grew louder and the snarling was deafening. It grew so loud she could barely hear Laura’s cries. Kara stood on her feet and used her body to pull on the chain as hard as she could. The pain was horrible and caused spots to form in her vision. She fell to her knees on the concrete, sobbing in pain and fear.
Kara’s vision cleared of the spots and she looked over. She instantly wished she hadn’t seen it. The monsters were taking turns beating and raping Laura. She had screamed herself hoarse before Kara had woken up. Now Laura’s mouth was open in a scream but she did not hear any sound. Kara looked away and tried to block out the sounds of the monsters. She sobbed and pulled again on her chains, desperate to get away. “Oh no. Please god, help me,” she sobbed, almost incoherent in her panic. She ignored the searing pain and pulled, but the cuffs on her wrists were too tight.
Suddenly, her feet were yanked hard. Her chin hit the concrete floor. She cried out as pain shot from her chin through her jaw. She was turned roughly on her back and pulled hard, making her arms pull tight over her head. Several had noticed she was awake now. The hissing was so loud that she barely heard her own scream as she kicked and tried to roll away. One of them kicked her hard in the stomach, forcing the air out of her lungs. Blazing pain flared in her abdomen, making her wheeze as she tried to suck air in. More blows hit her over and over as she tried to draw a breath to scream. She felt her shirt rip away from her as the monsters laughed at her grunts of pain and attempts to scream.
A new pain seared on her breast. One of them leaned down and was biting her. “Someone help me, god, it hurts,” she screamed, and tried to twist away from the burning pain.
Her jeans were sliced off of her. Kara felt
the knife slicing her skin as well as the fabric of her jeans while blows kept coming at her from fists punching her and feet kicking her, robbing her of breath to scream.
Her legs were pried apart. Despite the pain from kicks, punches and bites, she fought. She was not going to lie here and let them rape her without a fight.
“No!” she cried. This could not happen to her. She could not be raped and beaten to death by some monsters in the basement of a closed-down hardware store. She tried with all her strength to pull her legs free, but the monsters’ hold would not let her go. It’s going to happen, just think of something else, she tried telling herself as she prepared herself for the pain of rape. One of the monsters stepped between her legs, his sex sticking out from his body, looking huge and misshapen. It was bad enough to be raped, but by something that huge…. Kara cringed and tried to squirm away. The other monsters held her in place.
A roar of what sounded like a slew of bears echoed off the cinderblock walls. Hisses turned to squeals and new snarling that sounded more like wolves fighting instead of the demon-sounding snarls of the monsters that filled the basement. Her legs were dropped, but the searing pain from the cuts made it hard to move. She felt sticky wetness running down her legs and forming pools under her. She hoped she had wet herself in her fear and that it wasn’t blood.
Kara blinked, then looked up at a savage roar. Surely, she was seeing things. Men, big men, were in there looking like the wrath of God filling the room. They wore some sort of armor and helmets covered their heads. The air exploded with a strange blasting sound and orange-colored lasers came out of black devices that looked like guns, but they shot glowing orange bullets instead of lead bullets. The orange laser hit a monster in the head that held a huge knife to Laura’s throat and had started to slice. The monster flew back, squealing like a demon being exorcised. It thrashed around, clawing at its face, seeming to die slowly and painfully. Loud explosions made her ears ring. Whenever one of the orange glowing lasers hit the wall instead of flesh, it exploded into a ball of sparks. The basement walls shook with the sounds of the blasts.
Starlight [Warriors of Dareen] (Siren Publishing Classic) Page 4
