Rakshasa Book I, Part #3: Tigerheart by Alica Knight Read Free Book Online

Prologue

    You Hurt Their Friends

    I gripped the receiver so hard the plastic creaked and I had to stop myself before I broke it. “Let Katelyn go. She’s just a human, she has nothing to do with this. It’s not her you want.”
    “You’re right,” the Champawat Tiger purred down the line, “it’s you . She means nothing to me, nothing at all, so don’t think for even a second that I won’t tear this little friend of yours to shreds and mail her remains to you piece by piece.” A pause, then, “If you want your friend to survive, you’ll do exactly as I say.”
    I looked into Ishan’s bright blue eyes. I could tell he wanted me to hang up, to let the Champawat Tiger do whatever he wanted to with Katelyn so I didn’t endanger myself, but I couldn’t do that. I just couldn’t.
    “Okay,” I said, inhaling slightly as I steadied my nerves. “Tell me what you want me to do.”
    A low chuckle through the speaker. “Excellent.”
    Ishan’s silent gaze told me he did not approve. ‘Hang up’, he mouthed, but I shook my head.
    “What I am proposing,” said the Champawat Tiger, “is very simple. I wish to exchange a life for a life.”
    I frowned at that. “I’m not going to rush to my death,” I said, “and I’m not going to kill someone else.”
    “Well now, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. You are going to kill someone else, either the person I tell you, or your friend by your inaction. Your fate has already been decided. All I’m asking you to do is choose.”
    It wasn’t a choice I could make easily, but when put in such black and white terms the decision was obvious.
    “I’m not a murderer.”
    A low chuckle from the speaker, throaty and deep. “Oh, silly fledgling, we’re all murderers. We kill every day with inaction. A child starves in Africa, a mother dies in childbirth from easily preventable complications, a man contracts HIV for lack of a fifteen cent condom, and what do we do? We drink fine wine at dinner, grumble about the cost of petrol, and our biggest health complication is obesity.” The Rakshasa’s tone became venomous. “Obesity . These humans created a society where they have so much excess that they gorge themselves to death, wilfully ignorant of those who have none. The humans are a species without compassion.”
    “You’re one to talk of compassion,” I said, “You murder Rakshasa fledglings. You kill your own kind, to gain power for yourself. You’re a monster.”
    “We both are,” he said, “I’m merely more aware of what I am.” He clicked his tongue. “But we’re not here to discuss philosophy, are we?”
    I blew into the receiver, closing my eyes. “No.”
    “Then let’s get started. At first light tomorrow head north, to Lake George. It is dry this time of year. Go to the wind generators on the far side right as dawn breaks, then await my instructions.”
    There was a faint click as he hung up, followed by the dull beeping of the dial tone. I moved the phone away from my head, replacing it on the phone.
    “You can’t be thinking of going,” Ishan said, his face close to mine. I reached up and cupped his cheeks, looking into his sky blue eyes.
    “I have to. Katelyn’s life’s at stake, here. She’s been my bestie forever. I can’t leave her to be killed.”
    “Katelyn said it was a trap. Even I could tell you that it is. The Champawat Tiger doesn’t want to bargain with you, or do any kind of fair deal. He wants us all dead so he can have the power of the Rakshasa for himself. Everything he does, every move he makes is a bee-line towards this goal. Even if he’s genuinely not trying to kill you this time, next time he will. It’s all he wants.”
    “I know.” I inhaled a lungful of air, held it for a second, then slowly let it out. “But for now, he’s got Katelyn, and we’ve got till sundown to figure out what the hell we’re going to do about it.”

Chapter I

    The Net Snags Both Ways

    It was 7:04pm. A quick Google on