Dakota

by Vicktor Alexander

  “My, my. Don’t we have an overactive imagination,” Razvan said with a smirk in Dakota’s direction.

  Dakota’s eyebrows rose and he looked back and forth between his parents.

  “Oh, don’t look at them. They can’t help you with this. I have a connection to you because of your mate and I have a connection to him because of his parents. It really was quite fortuitous for me that Abraham and Georgia-Anne were so distressed by their son’s slight against polite society. It gave me the perfect opportunity to use it for my own personal gain,” Razvan said with a grin.

  “Did you make them kick him out?” Dakota asked with a growl.

  Razvan laughed. “Oh no, no, no. Humans are quite capable of that level of hurtfulness towards their offspring and family members without any help from me at all, I assure you. As a matter of fact, selling their grandson was all their idea as well. I was quite astounded to tell you the truth when I found out. However, when I discovered that their precious Nishon was your destined mate well, it was I who told them that a reconciliation was in order. So I think I should be commended for that.” He lifted his eyebrows at Dakota. “No? Well, aren’t you just an ungrateful one.” He shook his head and tsked. He snapped his fingers and the doors to the dining room opened. A dozen people filed in, and when Dakota sniffed the air, he could tell they were all zombies. He looked over at his father and his mother, both of them hissing before turning to face the zombies who were growling back at them.

  Unlike the movies, zombies were humans who offered their blood to vampires and drank their blood as well. They were stronger, faster, lived longer and healed faster than other humans. The only problem with them was that after a while they no longer thought for themselves, they weren’t able to do anything for themselves. They started to rot because they had to be told to shower, eat, use the restroom and their vampire masters were often too busy to tell them to do it, so the zombies began to smell and eventually they wasted away to nothing. They didn’t need weapons to fight, they could rip a regular human apart and two or three zombies against one full grown vampire could bite, and pull until they eventually killed the vampire.

  Dakota and his parents could be in some serious trouble.

  “So, I see you’re a coward,” Dakota said as he and his parents put their backs against one another, forming a circle. “You can’t fight us yourself, so you send a bunch of zombies to do it for you.”

  Razvan growled. “I don’t need a handful of altered humans to do shit for me. But I’m also not stupid enough to fall for your trick, boy.”

  Dakota smirked as he looked at his uncle. “You may be able to fight all three of us, but you apparently need all three of us to be on the brink of death in order to be able to do so. That’s fine. If I was as old as you are, and had been locked up for as long as you had been, I’d probably need the same thing. Not to mention if I was faced with the woman who had rejected me for my little brother? That has to suck ass.”

  Dakota felt himself flying through the air and then pain rocketed through his spine and the back of his head as he was slammed repeatedly against the wall. He grunted, struggling to keep his eyes open as he observed his parents fighting the zombies, all the while watching as Razvan devoted the entirety of his attention on Dakota. He tossed Dakota around the room, roaring and screaming obscenities. Dakota could only hope Razvan kept his attention on him long enough for either Decebal or Adelina to finish with the zombies so that they could take Razvan out because if he was busy focusing his energy and magic on Dakota then he had none left to defend himself.

  Which was what Dakota was hoping for.

  § § §

  Nimo winced as he watched Razvan toss Dakota across the room and slam his head into the wall, right through the drywall. “Oh God,” he said, pressing a hand to his stomach. There was a full scale war going on around him and Zay and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

  “Daddy!” Zay said, tugging on Nimo’s shirt. Nimo glanced down at his son, wiping his eyes.

  “Yes, baby?”

  “You have to go and help Daddy Dakotuh,” Zay commanded him.

  Nimo shook his head. “I don’t know how,” he confessed. “Besides. I can’t leave you here all by yourself. I won’t leave you here all by yourself. You are the most important thing in the world to me.”

  Nimo was so torn. What was he supposed to do? Dakota was his lover, his mate, his sufletul pereche. The person he was created for. The person he loved. Wait… what? When the hell had that happened? Nimo shook his head. This was so not the time for him to be having an emotional epiphany. Not while Dakota was literally being tossed around like a rag doll by some crazed vampire hell bent on revenge. He had to figure out how to save his mate.

  “You have to do something, Daddy. He’s going to die if you don’t. I sawed it,” Zay said, sniffling.

  Nimo looked at Zay, his eyebrows lifted high on his forehead. “What?” When Dakota and his family had been explaining to him about forziqs they hadn’t said anything about them being able to see the future. Was Zay just having nightmares, was he special, or was there something about forziqs that the Sevions didn’t know?

  “When we wuh sitting at the table and the bad man tuwned off all the lights. I cud see in his head. I saw him killin evwyone and takin’ gwandma wit him to a cave and makin’ huh have babies wit’ him. Then when Daddy Dakotuh stuck us back heuh I saw him bein’ thwon acwoss the woom like he is now and he was huttin weal bad and then he died and you cwied a lot and then the bad man killed you and made me watch and then he took me wit’ him.” Zay shivered. “You awe the one that has to stop him, Daddy.”

  “But I’m just a human, Zay. I can’t do anything,” Nimo said, shaking his head, trembling from fear.

  “Nuh-uh. You not just a human. You is the mate of a vampiyuh and you is my daddy. That makes you supuh special.”

  Nimo smiled at his son and looked around the room. He acknowledged that while some of the zombies were dead there were still more alive and fighting Decebal and Adelina. The two of them appeared to be weakening from the bites and bruises all over their bodies. He noticed that the dishes from the dinner were all over the floor, broken into pieces and as he looked over at his parents he saw something very strange between them and Razvan. Whenever Razvan lifted Dakota from the ground, every zombie in the room seemed to lift marginally, and when Razvan twisted, they all twisted.

  “They’re all joined to him,” he said softly. As he continued to watch, wincing as Dakota was tossed once again into another wall, weakly standing to his feet which only caused Razvan to growl and lift him again in order to toss him, Nimo realized that his parents seemed to be guarding Razvan’s right side and his back. “That must be where he’s weakest.”

  Looking around on the floor, Nimo lifted a shard of a broken plate before setting Zay on the floor behind him. “Don’t move,” he told his son. Moving up onto his knees, Nimo pulled off his belt, and settled the piece of broken plate in the middle of the belt and stepping around the china cabinet, he swung his belt around quickly, around and around before releasing one end. He watched with satisfaction when the shard of the plate embedded itself in Razvan’s right shoulder where the vampire stood dozens of feet away. Razvan grunted and Dakota crashed to the ground halfway across the room, while half of the zombies exploded into ash.

  Nimo rushed back around the china cabinet, gathering Zay into his arms, coughing as Razvan roared and Abraham and Georgia-Anne tried to help him.

  “You fools! It’s too late!” he yelled.

  “What’s happening, Daddy?” Zay asked.

  “I think Razvan has a weakness baby.” Nimo said with a smile.

  “You think you’re smart don’t you, little human?” Razvan growled. “Well, let’s see how smart you are now.”

  Nimo gasped out as he felt a vise like grip wrap itself around his heart and squeeze. He clutched his chest and collapsed against the wall. His face flushed hot and a buzzing noise rang loudly in his ears. He cou
ld hear Zay crying his name and he wanted to reassure his son that he would be okay, but he couldn’t do that.

  He could see Razvan’s feet walking towards them and though it was distant, Nimo was aware of Adelina and Decebal still fighting the remaining zombies, though it sounded as if they were gaining the upper hand. He looked down and saw a section of his parents’ crown molding had come loose. Grabbing it in a firm grip, he ripped it and held it in his hand.

  “You think you’re tough because you mated with a vampire and your son is a forziq, but you’re still just a puny human,” Razvan spat in Nimo’s face before reaching past him to grab Zay. Nimo wanted to stop him but he was wracked with pain that stiffened his limbs and caused his entire body to shake with convulsions.

  “Daddy! Help me, Daddy!” Zay cried.

  Razvan chuckled. “Your Daddy can’t help you, Little One. You belong to me now.” He turned to leave and Nimo wanted to weep. He had failed his son and his mate. Regardless of what he’d accomplished before, when it counted he had let them both down.

  You could never let us down, Dakota’s voice came through their bond, soft but clear, not if you never give up. Knowing instinctively what his mate was telling him and feeling a surge of adrenaline through his mating bond, Nimo leapt to his feet and stabbed Razvan in the back with the section of wood he held in his hand.

  Razvan let out a loud roar, dropping Zay to the ground who instantly ran to Nimo. Nimo watched in horror as his parents and the rest of the zombies exploded into ash and screams. Razvan tightened his fist and Nimo screamed as he felt his heart being squeezed to the point of death before Razvan’s hand fell open and he vanished in a puff of smoke.

  Nimo gasped and collapsed onto the ground, struggling for air. The last thing he saw before the darkness took him was Dakota’s battered face as he stumbled into his line of vision. His mate smiled and said, “You did it.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Dakota opened his eyes and hissed as pain raced up his side.

  “Easy there, baby brother. From what I hear, you were tossed around like a chew toy,” Jersey said, amusement evident in his tone.

  “No, no. I heard it was a rag doll,” Tennessee said.

  “You’re both wrong,” Washington interjected. “He was tossed around like a Frisbee.”

  “You idiots,” Carolina said. “You’re all wrong. It was a baseball.”

  All of his brothers laughed and Dakota groaned even as he smiled, knowing that he must be out of the woods because there was no way his brothers would be teasing him if they were worried he was going to die. They weren’t that uncouth.

  “None of you have any class or decorum,” Nimo’s voice came from the other side of the bed and Dakota turned his head to see Nimo lying next to him with a small smile on his lips, his hair brushed back from his face, dark bags under his eyes, looking as if he’d battled death and barely survived, which was true.

  Dakota thought he was the most gorgeous creature in the world.

  “I was there. He was most definitely a football. He was tossed from end zone to end zone and spiked as Razvan continuously got a touchdown,” Nimo deadpanned.

  The room was quiet for a long moment before everyone exploded into laughter, even Dakota. He rolled over and tugged Nimo into his arms gently, placing a soft kiss on his lover’s forehead, before he released him and pushed himself up into a seated position against the headboard. He glanced around the room and realized he had no idea where they were. They weren’t in his bedroom or in Nimo’s. He would ask Nimo about it later. Shaking his head, he smiled and stared down at Nimo affectionately.

  “Was it really that bad?” he asked.

  Nimo winced and nodded. “Let’s just put it like this. I’m glad that I don’t watch sports, because I’m pretty sure that if I did I wouldn’t be able to watch football ever again after watching that jerkwad toss you around like a pigskin the way he did.”

  Dakota rolled his eyes. “So what happened? I remember you stabbing him in the back and all of the zombies exploding and Razvan disappearing…”

  Nimo nodded again. “You crawled over to me and told me I did it then promptly passed out right after me, according to your dad. Your brothers showed up right after that. They searched high and low but couldn’t find Razvan anywhere. All they found was a bunch of ashes, piles of money, clothes and deeds to land and property, all belonging to the zombies that were apparently there that they’d all signed over to him.”

  Dakota’s eyebrows lifted and he whistled. “Wow.”

  Nimo grinned. “Thing is, there is no Razvan Sevion. The last known Razvan Sevion died centuries ago. Apparently what Razvan had planned to do was kill your father and take over his identity.”

  Dakota’s eyebrows lowered. “How do you know that?”

  Arizona held out a handful of documents and Dakota looked through them, laughing as he saw the name on them all. “They were all signed over to a Mr. Decebal Sevion,” Nimo said.

  Dakota shook his head. “So what’s Tată going to do with all of this property?” he asked.

  “He’s got Nimo’s friend trying to find out if any of these people had any family and if so he’s going to sign it over to them. If not, then he’s going to turn it into a sanctuary for those who need a place to go in case they’ve been kicked out by their parents or their community,” Michigan said.

  Dakota nodded and looked over at Nimo, his eyebrows lowered. “What about your parents’ place? You would be the beneficiary of their place. Are you going to live there?” He wanted to ask if they were going to live there, but he didn’t want to invite himself to live with Nimo and Isaiah when he hadn’t been asked, especially since they hadn’t even said the “l” word to each other yet.

  Nimo shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean the place is not welcoming at all, but I’m wondering if that’s just because my parents made it that way. I’m still trying to figure it out. I’ve asked Zay and he loves the pool out back and the huge backyard and the really huge bedroom he would have, but at the same time he’s scared that Razvan will be able to get back in there since he did before.”

  Dakota nodded. It was a genuine fear, Razvan knew how to get into the home, and no doubt knew every nook and cranny of the place. However, he also knew that the Sevions lived in Loweston, Mississippi and he was devastatingly charming, so he could no doubt get in wherever he wanted. Besides his charming personality, Razvan was extremely powerful and had herculean magic, a kind Dakota had never seen before, nor had he ever heard of before, they weren’t really safe unless they stuck together. While they were all living in the same neighborhood now, they weren’t really “together,” at least if they stayed collectively in Nimo’s childhood home, they would all be in the same house.

  That’s exactly what I was thinking, but I have no idea how to bring that up to your brothers. Any suggestions?

  Dakota looked at his mate and shook his head.

  “Hey now, you two can’t do that!” Utah said, crossing his arms. “That’s very rude. Using mindspeak in mixed company.”

  “Jealous?” Dakota said with a smirk.

  “Very,” Utah said, nodding his head.

  Dakota felt guilt shoot through him. While some of his brothers had already met their sufletul pereches, they hadn’t completed the bonds apparently and he didn’t want to flaunt his happy mating in their faces. He could see the thirst starting to take its toll on some of them, and while vampires, matings and the entire paranormal world had been explained to Nimo’s friends, apparently they were just as skeptical as he was about the whole thing. Dakota’s euphoric bonding was no doubt salt in the wound for some of his brothers. Especially in front of the ones who hadn’t even met their destined mates yet. He opened his mouth to apologize when the bedroom door swung open and Isaiah came in.

  “Daddy Dakotuh!” the little boy exclaimed and raced over to the bed, jumping up onto it. He crawled across the mattress until he’d climbed onto Dakota’s lap and wrapped his arms around Dakota’s neck. �
�I’m so glad you opened yo’ eyes. Gwandma was so wowwied!” Isaiah said with a happy sigh.

  “Really?” Dakota said with a smile as he lowered his head and kissed the top of Isaiah’s curls. He glanced around at his brothers and noticed they suddenly appeared sheepish. “What happened?” he asked.

  “They all found out everything,” Nimo said as he rested his head on Dakota’s shoulder. “I told them everything and they are all extremely angry with your parents. To the point that they won’t let them see you. They contact me on your status.”

  Dakota looked at his brothers and finally at Arizona. “Dude. Really?”

  Arizona sighed. “They’ve lied to us and withheld information for our entire lives, Dak. Don’t you think they deserve a timeout? Just like they used to give us?” He shrugged and grinned. “It’s not permanent, just for a little while, just long enough for them to think about the consequences of their actions.”

  Dakota shook his head and laughed. “I think they already have. Remember, they were the ones in the room with me, Nimo and Isaiah, their only grandchild, fighting off zombies and Razvan, while you all sat with your thumbs up your asses at home.”