Hidden Rage: Kindred Tales

“So because you and Mother Tizlah don’t care for her and she’s keeping me from watching over Zerlix and making sure he doesn’t fuck everything up, you want to kill her—kill the woman I love. And I’m just supposed to give her up because it’s a sacrifice I have to make as a good Clan member?”

The words were dry as dust in Dragon’s mouth. There was something stirring inside him—something huge—but he wasn’t quite ready to let it out yet, he thought. He was still in shock. Everything he’d ever been told his whole life had been a lie…a lie!

“Believe me, Son, I’m doing you a favor,” Komendant Vizlar said. “This girl is no good for you—no good for the family or the Clan—she only stirs up trouble.”

“Don’t call me that.” The words left Dragon’s mouth in a whisper but he felt as though he had shouted them.

“Excuse me?” The Komendant raised his eye ridges in apparent confusion.

“Don’t call me your ‘son’,” Dragon spat, his voice coming out louder this time. “I was never your son—I was a convenience—something you picked up because you thought I could benefit the Clan and your family.’

“Now, Dragon…” The Komendant took a step towards him but his Advisor put a warning hand on his boss’s arm.

“Watch out—now the memory’s block’s broken he could get dangerous,” dragon heard Rep. Yariz mutter. “Remember his Sire’s abilities—he might have inherited them.”

But it was clear that Komendant Vizlar wasn’t going to give up easily.

“Look, Son,” he said, speaking in that maddeningly calm voice he always used whenever Dragon had been upset over something as a child—something inconsequential or foolish, like Zerlix breaking his latest toy or biting the head off his pet. “I know this is a shock, but your Mother and I raised you to be a good, obedient son and to be loyal to our Clan. And now I need you to accept my decision. The girl has to die and you need to come back to Zerlix’s crew, so you can help him run things when I’m gone.”

“So you want me to just give Bobbi up—just let you kill her,” Dragon said numbly. “So everything can go back to the way it was before. Is that it?”

“Essentially, yes,” Komendant Vizlar said calmly. “Now are you going to be a good and loyal son and listen to your father?”

“I told you—don’t call me that!” Dragon roared. He could feel his eyes getting hot and a crimson curtain seemed to drop over his vision, turning everything a bloody red.

Kill them—kill them all! The dark, wild voice spoke up inside him and Dragon agreed with it completely. They had to die—all of them. Everyone that had hurt him—everyone who wanted to hurt Bobbi. He would protect the little feela and avenge his parents at the same time!

The numbness had worn off and he prepared to launch himself at the man who had murdered his family and raised him on lies. The man who now wanted him to sacrifice the only woman he had ever loved and just be “a good son” and serve the Crimson Blades Clan forever.

Already, his brain was cataloging weaknesses and the voice of the killer was speaking in his ear, detailing everything he had to do.

Sideswipe his arm and knock away the blaster, it told him coldly. He’s old but still strong, you’ll need to get behind him and—

“Dragon—watch out!” Bobbi shrieked, pointing. “He’s coming down the stairs—behind you! Behind you!”

Dragon started to turn but then he felt a sharp, burning pain in his back—a pain that went all the way through him. Looking down, he saw the bright, blood-streaked point of a blade protruding from the right side of his chest.

“Die, you fucker!” a familiar voice hissed in his ear

“Zerlix?” Dragon whispered. Turning his head, he saw the face of his Big Brother, twisted with hate.

“That’s right, Little Brother. And this is the last time I’m going to call you that!”

The Saurian twisted the knife, sending spikes of agony through Dragon’s back and chest and suddenly the wind was whistling in his lungs and he couldn’t seem to get enough air.

“You were never…my brother,” he managed to gasp and then he was falling forward—or Zerlix had pushed him—and the floor was rushing up to meet his face.

He was dimly aware of Bobbi crying his name and then…nothing.

61

“Dragon, no!” Bobbi wanted to run to him, but Keelah was holding her back.

“They’ve got weapons,” she whispered in Bobbi’s ear. “They’ll kill you, too, Bobbi—stay here with me!”

At the moment, Bobbi didn’t care about the blaster in Komendant Vizlar’s hand or the bloody knife in Zerlix’s grip. All she wanted was to get to the man she loved—because yes, she loved him! Despite everything, she loved him with her whole heart and she would have stayed with him forever—even here on Saurous, she realized.