A Dome of Blood Read online

  We had to go in regardless. This was the most difficult and dangerous stage of our mission. Like I’d told our people, there was no room for mistakes here.

  Kailani took a deep breath, waiting for me to give her the go-ahead to teleport us.

  “It’s time to go,” I said.

  A split second later, we were outside Ta’Zan’s colosseum. Elonora and I had to quickly pull up our hoods, as the sun had proudly risen over the island. Its rays cut through the surrounding jungles, and we couldn’t risk getting burned.

  The diamond structure was humongous from up close. It took my breath away.

  I stared at it for a couple of seconds, until the Perfect guards patrolling the grounds and the crystalline walls noticed us. They rushed toward us, ready to attack.

  I put my hands out and shouted, “We’ve come to surrender!”

  They hadn’t seen this coming, for some reason. They’d probably thought we’d sacrifice my mom to keep fighting Ta’Zan. Their brilliant minds had not yet ripened to the point where they could understand that we were perfectly capable of defeating Ta’Zan from the inside out—hopefully, provided we all did our part.

  They pointed weapons at us. I hadn’t seen them before, but they seemed designed after the original pulverizers. Whether they had the same deadly pellets or not, I didn’t know, but I wasn’t ready to risk it.

  “Ta’Zan wanted us to surrender,” I added. “So, here we are. Get him out here. We need to talk.”

  One of the Perfects stepped forward, wearing an arrogant sneer that made it difficult for me not to charge him and rip his throat out—if I could do that. Perfects could dodge much, much faster than I could hit, in the absence of their blood.

  “What would you need to talk to him about? You’re surrendering, aren’t you?” he asked.

  “The terms of our surrender need to be discussed,” I replied.

  He laughed hard at that one. Hunter growled behind me. I motioned for him to keep his reactions under control. The last thing we wanted was a brawl outside the colosseum. We wanted clean and easy access into the diamond dome. Nothing more, nothing less.

  “There’s nothing to discuss, you savages. Just get down on your knees and beg for mercy, like you’re supposed to!” the Perfect spat, then aimed his weapon directly at Raphael. “I look forward to beating the daylights out of you, in particular!”

  “Don’t be an idiot,” Raphael said. “You’re a lousy guard. I could pick my teeth with your bones, if I wanted to. Now, get cracking and bring us Ta’Zan. He won’t be happy if you try to process us yourself. He hates incompetence, remember?”

  The Perfect was boiling. I could tell from the way his lips twisted. He would’ve loved nothing more than to skewer us right then and there, much like his other colleagues, but Raphael made a good point. Ta’Zan was going to be furious if they didn’t notify him of our arrival.

  He cursed under his breath, then pressed a small button on his tunic sleeve and spoke into it. “Get Father out to the southern gate. The outsiders are here,” he grumbled.

  Raphael and I exchanged glances. Despite the circumstances, he was thoroughly amused and didn’t seem to want to miss out on any opportunity to mess with his lesser brothers. After all, he did have a point. Ta’Zan didn’t assign his strongest and bravest to guard the gates. He was well aware that no one would be foolish enough to try to invade his colosseum, so the guards were, more or less, just for show. The real fighters were inside, ready to destroy anyone who did dare come in uninvited.

  “Waiting for the big kahuna to show up, huh?” Dmitri whispered. “Hopefully, he’ll be happy to have us and not anyone else.”

  “Raphael, Douma, Amal, and Amane are the morsels he truly wants,” Ben muttered. “He just wants the rest of us contained. They might be enough to distract him and get his mind off Draven and Serena’s crew.”

  “Don’t hold your breath,” Raphael said.

  The air seemed to turn cold around us when Ta’Zan walked out through the main gate. Chills ran down my spine, as if I was facing death itself—personified. His long, gray hair poured down his back in what looked like a silvery cascade. His slim nose was in perfect symmetry with his high cheekbones and strange eyes. I was finally beholding the source of the Perfects’ superb irises, one blue, one green. By all possible definitions, Ta’Zan was a most beautiful creature.

  But, like his own creations had said, his soul was decisively rotten. Still, his presence demanded our full attention and even some of our energy. Just looking at him weighed heavily on my shoulders, while my stomach tightened into a small and painful cluster of anger and anguish.

  He’d done so much harm to us, to my family and my closest friends. His reckoning was long overdue, and I sure as hell was ready to kickstart it.

  “It took you long enough,” Ta’Zan said, measuring each of us from head to toe with clinical interest. “For a second there, I thought you were prepared to let your mother die.”

  “Our mother will outlive you all,” Ben said, his fists clenched.

  “We’re here to surrender,” I answered, while the irritating guard moved back.

  “Are you, now?” he murmured. He looked to his side, just as Cassiel showed up, holding my mother by the back of her neck. My heart jumped in my throat, but quickly subsided. She seemed immune to the sunlight, to my relief. I remembered dad mentioning Ta’Zan’s pills and how he’d made them take one prior to going outside. This had to be why she was okay and not bursting into flames.

  Mom lit up like a firefly at the sight of us, but quickly softened when she remembered where we were and what was about to happen. I could hear Ben’s pulse quickening.

  “Stand your ground,” Nevis whispered, as if sensing that we were about to do something.

  We weren’t, but I had quite the urge to just dash forward and slit Ta’Zan’s throat. Looking at my mom, however, I knew I couldn’t. She seemed okay, just like I’d last seen her before she and Dad took off for Strava. There was sadness in her eyes, and a painful grimace fluttered across her face whenever Cassiel squeezed her nape.

  I recognized him from the Merinos attack. Elonora had specifically pointed him out—the traitor.

  “The collars connect through small needles to the spine,” Amane murmured. “The way he’s holding her is painful.”

  That explained the look on my mother’s face. She was calm, refusing to give anyone the impression that she was under any form of duress. I narrowed my eyes at Cassiel.

  “You’re a colossal piece of trash, you know that?” I asked, albeit rhetorically.

  Cassiel shrugged. “I serve my maker.”

  “Obviously. It doesn’t make you less of a turd, though,” Elonora retorted.

  “Enough,” Ta’Zan interjected. “We have a problem.”

  Cassiel brought a slim blade up to my mother’s throat. She stilled. Ben and I froze. Hunter and Dmitri both growled behind us. Tensions were running high, and I worried we might get a… bumpy entrance. Ta’Zan was not an idiot, and Cassiel was as conniving as they came. Dread curdled my blood at the sight of that steel blade threatening to draw my mother’s blood.

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “There’s not enough of you,” Ta’Zan said, a muscle ticking in his jaw. “You must think I’m an idiot.”

  “We don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ben replied, frowning.

  “Now you’re insulting me,” Ta’Zan snapped. “I made my terms clear. Either you all surrender, or your mother dies. What part of that wasn’t clear?”

  He knew about Serena and Draven. Of course he knows. He’s got Cassiel on his side, doesn’t he?

  Cassiel pressed the blade against my mom’s throat. She hissed from the pain, as a droplet of blood trickled down and blossomed into an irregular red rose on the hem of her white, silken tunic.

  “Don’t hurt her!” I shouted.

  “You’ve got what you wanted,” Ben said. “You have us. You have your precious twins back. Raphael. Dou
ma. What more do you want?”

  Ta’Zan smirked as he first looked at Ben, then at Amal and Amane. “It’s good to have you two back,” he replied. “We will have words later. As for you, Douma, Raphael… Well, I’m deeply disappointed in you, but, like I said… I’m counting fewer outsiders than I was told there were.”

  He sneered at me. It made my blood boil.

  “I’m confused,” I said, trying to spare Draven’s crew. “I thought you wanted us to surrender. We’re all here.”

  “No, you’re not,” Cassiel retorted. “Your swamp witch, your Druid, your fae prince, the Maras… Come on, Rose, don’t be foolish. I saw them all. I know who you’re hanging out with. And they’re not here.”

  “Either they all come in, or she dies,” Ta’Zan added, nodding at my mother.

  At least we’d tried. My mom gave me a weak smile. There was a lot we wanted to say to each other, but first we had to get this circus out of the way. Unfortunately, Draven and Serena’s group was doomed to come in with us. Our hopes thus rested on Araquiel’s shoulders.

  Elonora

  Sofia’s life was still on the line.

  I would’ve given anything not to have to do what we were doing, but we had no other way. I was already mentally preparing myself to pay Cassiel back in kind for his duplicity and nauseating treachery—I’d syphoned enough energy from Nevis just in case I had that opportunity. Still, his aura was confusing. He was worried and angry, but most of it flared whenever he looked at Ta’Zan, as if he didn’t really want to be here, doing this. Nevertheless, he was doing it. He was complying with Ta’Zan’s orders. To me, that was unforgivable.

  Branches broke somewhere to my right. The Perfects stiffened and pointed their weapons in that direction. Their auras flared yellow—they were afraid! They were afraid of us! They must’ve heard about our pulverizer weapons; otherwise, they wouldn’t have opted to carry their own, similar guns. They knew about the destruction we’d caused and the Perfects we’d killed. They understood that we were not to be messed with.

  I found that somewhat flattering, given that they’d scared the daylights out of us in the beginning. Up until a week ago, they’d seemed indestructible to us.

  Draven and Serena came out, accompanied by Avril, Heron, their wards, Bogdana, Lumi, Bijarki, and Taeral. They all had their hands up in a defensive pose. Ta’Zan grinned at the sight of them. Bogdana’s expression and her multicolored aura confused and alarmed me at the same time—specifically, the threads of gold intertwining with yellow, as if she both loved and feared him. From the moment I’d learned about her connection to Ta’Zan, I’d known she could either be a risk or the ultimate weapon against him.

  She’d carried him in her womb, after all. He wasn’t her son, per se, but there was a link between them, something that couldn’t be broken. Whether that would be useful to us or not, we didn’t know yet, but this was definitely the right time to find out.

  “There they are. The rest of your merry crew,” Ta’Zan exclaimed sarcastically.

  “Can’t blame us for trying,” Draven replied dryly.

  “What of the others?” Ta’Zan asked. “Your allies. My children. The filthy Draenir. Why haven’t they joined you?”

  “They scattered as soon as your demand came through,” I said. “The Draenir are weak and outnumbered. They’re hoping to hold out in the woods, rather than come here to certain death. The same can be said about the Faulties. They were with us until we decided to surrender.”

  Ta’Zan thought about it for a while, as if processing my explanation. He sighed. “Oh, well. I suppose my Perfect children will have to hunt them down one by one. It’s fine. They need the exercise, anyway.”

  Bile rose up to my throat, my stomach turning itself inside out. I looked forward to breaking every single bone in his body, because I hated him with the fire of a thousand galaxies.

  “All right, I suppose I’ll make do with you,” Ta’Zan then added. “Have the outsiders collared and taken to the diamond dome. Have Sofia join them as well. I suppose she’s suffered enough.”

  Several Perfects came out from the colosseum with shock collars hanging from their arms. One by one, they mounted them around our necks. I flinched when the needle pierced my flesh, but accepted the outcome. I could no longer say or do anything against Ta’Zan. Varga had taught me how to keep my mind focused, to stop the circuits from heating up and, most importantly, to avoid getting myself electrocuted.

  “At least you won’t be wasting my time with your megalomania,” Sofia spat. “You’re a terrible leader, Ta’Zan, and you will go down in flames. Mark my words.”

  “Sofia, be thankful that I’m allowing you to go back to your husband. I’m not the merciful kind. You should know that by now,” Ta’Zan replied, then smiled at Douma and Raphael. “You two will be held separately, until I decide what I’m going to do with you. And you will wear collars, too. They may not kill you, but they will hinder any thoughts of rebellion you might get.”

  The Perfects snapped shock collars around Douma’s and Raphael’s necks. Douma gave Dmitri a brief, over-the-shoulder glance, followed by a faint nod. They’d talked about this already. They’d known they might get separated.

  “What about me, Father?” Amal asked. “I had nothing to do with these people. They took me!”

  “I know, my darling. You will join me once more, because you’re the only one I can fully trust,” Ta’Zan replied, then looked at Amane. “What about you? Will you further oppose me, like a wayward child, or will you come to your senses and help your sister serve me?”

  Amane took a deep breath. “I’d rather be with my sister than locked up or killed. I’m not foolish or suicidal.”

  “Amane, don’t!” Ridan said. “Don’t help him! Don’t make things worse!”

  She gave him an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry… But I have to think about my survival. We’re over.”

  “Ah, yes, you and the dragon.” Ta’Zan chuckled. “Don’t worry, Amane. If you prove yourself to me, I will let you visit him once in a while. I understand the need for a pet.”

  My jaw clenched. Ta’Zan had no idea what he was in for. From this point on, we had to focus and do everything seamlessly, according to the plan. We’d set up all the details, every possible scenario and potential outcome. This… This was just a decent theater play.

  “I’ll burn you alive,” Ridan grumbled.

  “Careful, dragon. That collar delivers quite a punch,” Ta’Zan retorted, clearly amused. He motioned for one of the Perfects. “Put one around Amane’s neck.”

  “But… I said I’d work for you!” Amane objected, her brow furrowed.

  “That doesn’t mean I trust you,” Ta’Zan replied, pursing his lips. “You’ve already betrayed me once, Amane. I’m not going to let you fool me again. The collar will come off when I feel like I can trust you again. Not a day sooner. It’s either that, or a glass box. Your choice.”

  Amane exhaled sharply, then offered a nod in response. The Perfect snapped a collar around her neck, grinning like a little kid. “I find it ironic that you’re finally getting to wear your invention,” he whispered.

  I stifled a laugh, wondering if either of them had thought about what Amal and Amane had done, in terms of cheats and backdoors in every piece of technology that they’d created for Ta’Zan. Sure, we had collars around our necks, supposedly forever. And, if we dared to conspire against him or the Perfects, we’d get electrocuted.

  As Ta’Zan turned around and went back in, accompanied by Cassiel, Amal, and Amane, and as the rest of us were herded in after him, flanked by Perfects, I was quietly content with our situation so far. Amane and Amal had created these shock collars—and they’d given us all the codes we needed to disable or take them off, at will.

  The Perfects escorted Douma and Raphael to a separate enclosure, somewhere to our left, on the ground floor of the colosseum. They took us to the diamond dome, where we were going to be reunited with our people.

  My hea
rt felt heavy. Lead settled in my stomach. Fear gripped my throat. We were risking a lot to do what we were about to do. One look at Nevis, and my resolve came back with the strength of a cosmic storm. We were in the right place, and we were about to systematically take down the greatest enemy we’d ever faced.

  Ridan

  If someone had told me weeks ago that I’d fall in love with someone like Amane, I would’ve conked them on the head. If they’d told me that I’d feel so miserable watching her walk away with Ta’Zan, I probably would’ve laughed. But I wasn’t laughing now. I was bruising on the inside, uneasy and downright stressed out, knowing the kind of trouble she’d willingly gotten herself into in order to help us.

  Then again, she was also helping herself and her sister. Ta’Zan had to be stopped, and our feelings for each other took a backseat on this one. I managed to look away as Amane and Amal walked quietly behind Ta’Zan toward what had to be his labs, while four Perfect guards took Douma and Raphael to another hall—their private prison, from what I’d understood. Having them kept separate from us hadn’t been part of the plan, but it wasn’t a deal breaker. We’d find our way back to them, eventually. They were our friends and allies, even though they belonged to a species that had been brainwashed into hating us.

  The rest of the guards marched on both sides of us, escorting the entire group to the diamond dome. Looking around, I noticed that no one was comfortable with the shock collars—and I couldn’t blame them.

  “It’ll take a little bit to get used to the pins in the back of your neck,” Varga said quietly as he walked by my side.