Dark Princess: Shadows (The Children Of The Gods Paranormal Romance #89)

26. Kian

26

KIAN

K ian had managed to go over two more contracts when another knock sounded on the door.

Onegus was right on time for their meeting.

"Chief," Kian greeted him, rising to his feet. "Perfect timing." He reached into his drawer and pulled out his box of cigarillos. "I've been waiting for you to get here to go on the roof and indulge in a smoke. You don't mind, right?" He pulled a small bottle of fine whiskey from another drawer and put it in the pocket of his jacket. Two shot glasses went into the other.

Onegus chuckled. "You should get yourself a bar up there. Somewhere you could store your vices without having to carry them in your pockets."

"Good advice." Kian started toward the door. "I'll tell Shai you suggested that." He headed toward the stairs.

The fleeting levity of the moment eased some of the weight of what he needed to talk to Onegus about. What he was about to propose wasn't conventional, and it was morally gray, but it had to be done.

The rooftop of the office building offered a panoramic view of the village, the lush greenery stretching out in all directions.

Kian sat down on one of the lounge chairs and pulled the box of cigarillos out of his pocket. He flipped it open and offered it to Onegus.

The bottle of whiskey went on the table, followed by the two shot glasses.

As they lit up, Kian poured each of them a finger of whiskey. The ritual gave him a moment to gather his thoughts and find the right words for what he needed to tell the chief.

Onegus took an appreciative sip of the whiskey and put his glass on the side table between the two lounges. "Are we here just because you wanted to smoke or because you wanted this conversation to be confidential?"

Kian took a long drag on his cigarillo, letting the smoke curl around him before exhaling slowly. "You know me well, Onegus. I don't like keeping secrets from Shai, but for now, I would like to limit the number of people who know about this. Although, given what I'm about to propose, I don't know how long we are going to keep it from the Guardians, especially those directly involved in the mission."

Onegus regarded him with amusement in his eyes. "This must be huge for you to talk in circles. You are usually as direct as a bullet."

Kian took another puff of his cigarillo. "Ell-rom might be able to kill with a mere thought." He narrowed his eyes at Onegus. "Is that direct enough for you?"

"What do you mean, 'might be'? Can he kill with a thought or not?"

Kian explained what had happened with the junkie who had attacked Jasmine, Ell-rom wishing him dead, and the guy obliging.

"Julian couldn't find anything that pointed to the cause of death. The vagrant's heart might have stopped for no reason, or maybe his brain short-circuited when he saw Ell-rom's fangs and glowing eyes, but since Ell-rom dreamt about using this ability as a boy, we should assume that it was he who killed the attacker."

"That's quite something," Onegus said. "He could be useful to us if he is willing to be used in that capacity."

Kian took another sip of whiskey. "Right now, he is terrified of his ability and relieved that my mother bound it with her compulsion so he won't misfire accidentally. Nevertheless, he's agreed to test the extent of his talent. We need to understand what he's capable of and to help him learn control."

"How?" Onegus asked. "Hunting animals?"

That was actually not a bad idea, but Ell-rom would have almost as much trouble with that as killing humans. The guy was incredibly softhearted for a born killer.

"No, not animals. Even if he can enter their minds somehow, and I'm not sure his talent would work on them, we need to test him on humans, or rather subhumans." He leveled his eyes on Onegus's. "Remember your comment about going after the end users? Pedophiles in particular? The scum of the earth who prey on the most vulnerable, those who subject children to such suffering do not deserve mercy. Not from us. We can enter their minds and verify their crimes. I want a team of Guardians dedicated to tracking them down and bringing them to the keep. I want several such demons in human skin to test Ell-rom's ability on."

Onegus was silent for a long moment, his cigarillo forgotten, burning between his fingers. "Let's ignore for a moment the morally gray area, which is a complete departure from our normal mode of operations. Do you have any idea what it would do to Ell-rom? It would destroy him."

"I'm not sure it would." Kian puffed on his cigarillo. "Our Guardians had no problem tearing apart the monsters in Mexico with their bare fangs. No one needed to talk with Vanessa to ease their conscience after that, because they knew what those demons had done to defenseless people. I think Ell-rom will develop a taste for it despite being a vegan."

Onegus burst out laughing. "Now, that was funny."

Kian smirked. "I know. As a vegan, I can empathize with Ell-rom. But, after all, I don't avoid animal flesh for health reasons or because of an aversion to killing. I just prefer not to end the lives of animals unless I have to in order to avoid starvation. Nevertheless, I have absolutely no qualms about ending the lives of monsters. On the contrary, it's my duty to do so whenever I can. Every monster we kill means less suffering in the world." He took another sip of his whiskey. "Ell-rom agreed to the testing on the condition that we wait until he learns to thrall so he can verify the guilt of his targets. I promised him that it would be done in accordance with his wishes."

The silence that followed was thick with tension. Kian could see the conflict playing out on Onegus's face—the Guardian's law- abiding moral compass warring with his deep-seated desire to protect the innocent.

Onegus sighed. "That might be even worse for Ell-rom. What he will see in the heads of those abusers of children is horrific."

Kian hadn't considered that. "You are probably right, and Ell-rom is like a kid in a lot of ways. Because he doesn't remember his life before entering the settler ship, he hasn't developed emotional resilience yet."

Onegus took another puff of his cigarillo. "You mean apathy?"

"No, not really. We wouldn't want him to be totally lacking in feeling or indifferent. He just needs to learn to take that anger and rage that he'll feel and channel it toward a positive result. So, let's call it resilience. Ell-rom will have to grow up sooner or later, and given that he is terrified of his ability, he is eager to learn to harness it." Kian stubbed out his cigarillo and pulled out a new one from the box. "Besides, every monster we take off the streets means potentially dozens of children saved from a lifetime of trauma. We should do that regardless of Ell-rom's testing requirements. And if it helps him to learn control and enables him to use his ability for good rather than letting it consume him, it's just the cherry on top."

Onegus let out a heavy sigh. "You are right, and even if you weren't, you're the boss, and I take my orders from you. I'll put together a team."

"What are you going to tell them? Only a handful of people know about Ell-rom's ability, and I want to keep it that way."

Onegus shrugged. "As far as anyone else is concerned, we're simply expanding our efforts to combat child exploitation."

"That's good." Kian lit up his second cigarillo. "Do you have anyone in mind to head up this new unit?"

"That depends on how large you want the operation to be. We have our hands full with the traffickers. This will take away from those efforts."

"Not necessarily." Kian emptied what was left in his glass. "We can involve more of the Kra-ell in the rescue operations and gradually move some of the Guardians to teams that will combat the buyer side of the equation. That being said, we should start small to test the waters, and once we get the hang of it, increase our efforts."

Onegus nodded, stubbing out his cigarillo. "I'll start working on selecting the first team. We'll need individuals with strong stomachs and even stronger moral compasses. This kind of work can eat away at a person's soul if they're not careful."

"I trust your judgment," Kian said. "This isn't just another mission. It's a whole new frontier."