Damonq tipped Elina’s chin up. Why didn't you tell me?I was going to. I needed to figure out what it all meant. I can't get that piece as much as I try. Day after day I would go out and find every passageway I could to try to find just how large his holdings were. I tried to stop dreaming at night.He went very still. Tried? You still dreamt at night?Sometimes, I couldn't help it.Did you have other encounters with Darkness?I would see him in the dream, close it down and the next time avoid that area. So yes, there were a few encounters, but I always woke up immediately if I saw him.Did he know about Sean and Claire?Elina didn't like where the conversation was going. I don't know what he knew about me, only that when we would meet in the dream there was always an exchange of something, I didn't even know what. I just knew I could feel him before he was there, stronger and stronger after each encounter. But he never got close to me. He certainly didn't take my blood.You were afrai
Elina knew Tensel wouldn't abandon San Diego, but once he knew what he was really up against, with the information she could provide, maybe they could find Darkness and plan an attack.She wouldn't be able to fight with the hunters, but she would at least feel as if she'd contributed something. She'd brought Damonq with her rather than tell him, so that there would be no question whether or not she was crazy and just having nightmares.She had taken him to the deep but thin ribbon of water beneath the ground that fed the lake Tensel’s compound bordered.She turned to swim back toward the main artery underground. As she turned, Damonq suddenly caught her by the arm and thrust her behind him. To her horror, a shark, mouth open wide, snapped at him, catching his upper arm, spinning around and streaking through the water with him. At once blood turned the murky water red, so Elina, rushing after them, swam through a red tunnel.She didn't dare end the dream with one of Darkness’s creatu
Elina found herself smiling at him. I can't swim. Not really. I'm afraid to be in the water because I know what's down there. It was a confession. She was slightly ashamed that she couldn't be like other human beings, swimming on a hot day--or night.I think you have enough courage for ten people, Elina. Any more and I would spend an eternity being terrified my woman would do something crazy.He made her feel whole and happy even in the midst of knowing Darkness and his army could move unseen throughout San Diego. How were they going to destroy him if they couldn't find him? If he had so many exits?That is the job of the hunters, Elina. You did your job. You have supplied us with valuable information. We can find and destroy all the places he has built here. There are many of us now, more than he knows. Thanks to you, we have places we can start. From those places, we will find trails to others.She took a deep breath. It is close to sunset. Just once, I would like to have a night wi
The breeze stirred the leaves on the ground, throwing them playfully into the air. Dirt, cement and debris were piled high in the alley just behind the deserted building. The entire block of empty stores looked like a ghost town. The slight breeze used the alley as a private playground, lightly touching the debris, rifling through it. The wind slipped across the dirty glass of the windows, as if peering in, looking to see what state the shops were left in when people abandoned their businesses.Damonq circled one way, using the breeze to carry him where he wanted to go. Sandu and Ferro moved around the outside of the buildings from the main street, each searching for signs of demon activity. Andor took the roof. The hunters were traveling in packs, spreading out through the city, following the underground map Elina had laid out for them. She'd given it to Damonq, leaving it in his mind after she'd pulled him into her dream.Tensel and Max stayed in the compound surrounded by the h
That rules out my twelve-inch wingspan, Benedik grumbled. I am going in by the back wall three shops down.Damonq’s heart clenched hard in his chest. He knew that entrance--or more precisely--exit. Darkness had used it after he had impregnated Elina. Be especially cautious. That leads directly into Darkness’s private lair.He moved into the pile of debris, floating in the steady breeze down through the crevice and into the hallway of the underground city. Rock and dirt covered the floor in great impassable mounds. One rock blocked the door to the chamber where May, Liv and, farther back, Val had been held. Live experiments with children had been conducted there. Children were fed to the flesh-eating puppets Darkness had created. Most of those children had been alive at the time. In hunt mode, he was grateful he'd put some distance from his emotions. As it was, the place turned his stomach and sorrow slipped in. He began to drift away, more than happy that there was no sign of Darkn
Damonq inched closer to the open door. Inside he could see a second female, and this one looked very young, maybe in her early twenties.She was chained to the wall and hadn't fared any better than the other woman, maybe worse. She'd been severely beaten. Her face was swollen and bruised. Streaks of blood were smeared at her rib cage and along her right arm, where there was a large cut.Eugen stomped back to the girl and grabbed her throat, his thumb forcing her face up. "If you don't give Levon the information he wants this time, I'm going to hurt you like you've never been hurt." A malicious smile revealed his spiked, stained teeth. "Or I'll tell him you've deceived him all this time and you don't know how to undo the mage’s spell."Damonq had continued floating, inching his way around Eugen, but that brought him up short. The mage should be Xav. The latter had been one of the most powerful mages ever born. He was wholly evil and had almost succeeded in stamping out the ancient pe
Before Damonq made a move, he had to determine just what was going on. He needed information. He would have to send for backup in case one of the demons escaped the chambers, but that required energy and Levon would feel it. He remained very still. If Levon tried to kill the girl he would have no choice but to intervene immediately, information, backup or not.Juliet made it to the stone table, her eyes on Levon the entire way. There was fear, but there was defiance. She was a fighter, this one, and she was angry.From the cage came waves of soothing peace. The feeling settled over all of them, demon beast, hunter and enraged female. Levon glanced up, his face softening. He smiled at Elizabeth. "I see you are determined to work your magic on all of us, my dear. You don't have a mean bone in your body. I would give you anything you asked, but this one continues to defy me. We must move you. We must find a way. Darkness wants this part of the city abandoned. If he knew I was returnin
Levon suddenly lifted his head and looked around the chamber, searching inch by inch. He looked up at Elizabeth, who kept her head down. He smiled at her. "You have earned another lesson, my dear. You know you deserve punishment for what you've done." He uttered the words very softly, his white teeth snapping together. Elizabeth shuddered and kept her eyes to the ground.He whirled back to the mage lying on the stone table. He slammed one long talon--spiked like a thick ice pick--right through her throat. Leaving it there, pinning her to the rock with one long dagger, he waved his other hand toward Elizabeth.To Dragomir's horror her body began to dissolve, to become part of the rock her cage rested on. "Keep her alive or you die," Levon said to his servants. "If she lives, the rewards are vast," and then he was gone. That fast. So fast Damonq couldn't see him move. He must have gone under the door of the chamber, or even through it, because he didn't open it. One moment he was t
Storm could feel her heart pounding hard, but it was more out of excitement than fear. She should be afraid, the bird was a true raptor, but it was magnificent. It had black eyes! Round, shiny, very intelligent black eyes. She stared at it for two full minutes. That wasn't normal, she was certain. Very slowly, so she wouldn't startle the creature, she backed across the room to the desk where she kept her phone. Still looking at the bird, she googled the images of the bird, biting her lips intermittently as she waited.Strangely, the bird was observing her just as intently, an intelligence in its gaze as it watched the phone beep occasionally. When the page opened, Storm glanced at the image of the harpy eagle. The eyes were round and shining with intelligence, but they were not black. The eyes in the picture were a bright amber with a black pupil. She let out her breath slowly. Something was wrong with her bird.‘You aren't blind, though, are you?’ She sent the words, not even kno
After Storm was done eating, she thanked Kaden, and let him have the plates when he stretched his hands to collect them. To hold herself from jumping on him, and demanding that he put her out of her sexual misery, she stood up from the bed and sauntered to the window to look at the forest, and clear her immoral thoughts. He had joined her to eat, and for each time his mouth had closed over a morsel of food, she had jerked subtly, as if the mouth was closing over her twin orbs. In a large oak tree, plenty feet away from her, a bird flapped its mighty wings, drawing her attention. A smile swept past her lips when she became aware that she could sight its distinctive features. She was not the same Storm of a month ago. She was different now, considering the amount of trainings she had submitted too.The bird had a round facial disk with a very pronounced ruff. It wasn't an owl but it was large. Very large. The unusual bird could easily weigh at least twenty pounds. She stared at it
Storm walked into Kaden's treehouse and was immediately struck by how it seemed larger than usual. The wooden walls, which should be plain and simple, were adorned with colorful murals and hand-painted designs. One wall even showcased a sprawling mural of a sunset over a peaceful lake, with vivid oranges and pinks blending into each other. And another wall had a charming depiction of a forest, complete with playful animals like squirrels and birds, all brought to life with bright, cheerful colors.The room was filled with natural light that filtered through the large windows, which had been decorated with flowing curtains in soft, earthy tones. The curtains swayed gently in the breeze, adding a sense of movement to the scene. The wooden floor was covered with cozy rugs that added warmth and comfort to the space.A large, comfy bean bag was positioned in one corner, surrounded by soft pillows. Next to it was a small bookshelf brimming with colorful books, their spines lined up neatly
Storm’s mind kept conjuring up provocative images, as she and Kaden walked hand in hand around the clan. The kiss they had shared in her room still tingled on her lips, still kept heat in her blood, still made her hunger for more. She inhaled sharply when Kaden turned and stared at her, his eyes brimming with the emotions that she was sure was playing out in her own mind. For a second, she feared that he might have peeked into her dirty mind, but then she remembered that they were not bonded yet, not in that sense. It brought her swift relief which came with a coating of abashed-ness seen in the coloring of her cheeks and necks, something that wasn’t lost on Kaden who was battling to hold on to his honor. He cussed at himself for closing her lips with his earlier, knowing what could happen from there. But she had been speaking, and her luscious mouth had been like water in a desert land; he had been parched so much that he couldn’t have been able to help himself. And now, the stirr
All through the week, Storm only concentrated on the books Kaden had given her, or rather on the first book she had collected from the pile. Jutul had done the same, concentrating on the second book he had picked. Both had only taken breaks when they wanted to eat or when they wanted to train with Casper for an hour. To assuage Kaden’s caveman jealousy, all the reading had been in the dining downstairs, and yet they weren’t close enough to whatever the books were on about. They weren’t close to the end either, and the transcribers were doing a poor job, despite Jiraq’s input sometimes. It was then that Storm had learnt that Jiraq wasn’t done with the book either. ‘What are you doing with one of the hardest books in the pile?” had been his first question when she had solicited for his help. He had gone ahead to pick up a smaller book, written in English, for her and Jutul to start with, but she had declined—she had grown attached to the old book. And she had vowed to bring it to a fi
Storm groaned tiredly; under the full weight of the knowledge she had been absorbing for the past four hours. Kaden had been true to his word, and with the help of Jiraq, had bundled more than thirty books which smelt of oldness into her room this morning, just before she dressed for school. “For those written in old language, Jiraq was kind enough to let you have his transcriber, so that you can better understand it. You can check them out after classes today.” Kaden had said, when he had stepped into her room with a fellow whom she knew went by the name, Micheal, Liam’s younger brother. She had found out right after Liam’s recuperation weeks ago, about the wicked action on the young fellow who didn’t look a year older than her. The first book on the pile had gotten her attention after the duo had left the room, and picking it up, she had decided to peek at a page, then return to her preparation for school. But a page had turned to two pages, and then five pages, until school was
Storm was chatting with Lucy and Justin, in their phone group , around a time when she should be sleeping, when she heard her name being droned in her ears. “S-t-o-r-m” She furrowed her eyebrows, and looked around the room she shared with Kaden sometimes. There was no one. The voice sounded familiar, and until she felt the eeriness in the room, she didn’t know who it was. The vampire.She got up from the empty bed, and sauntered toward the door, needing to get to Kaden as soon as possible, but the door wouldn’t budge. She stamped her foot on the floor out of frustration, as fear suddenly took root in her mind and body. Where was he when she needed him? Why hadn’t he spent the night with her? She wondered, never minding that she had been one to ask they sleep on separate beds tonight, after he had returned from his meeting with his people, after she had returned from seeing her friends off with Lent. The voice called for her name again, and she shuddered before she could help it, h
There was a stark naked silence in the room after Jutul’s declaration. So stark was it, that Storm felt her ears ringing with deep silence, deep silence and an unclothed unbelief. They were lying? If she didn’t know of Jutul’s gifts, she would have berated him for speaking against her friends. But she knew. She knew he was telling the truth—there wasn’t a need to lie. And she still was finding it hard to believe. Lucy and Justin had planned a lie, and had come to convince them of it? All for what? To gain information on what was going on in the clan? Was their school even on break? Then, the silence was broken by Kaden’s voice which had descended to a certain chillness that informed Storm that her mate was angry, very angry, at being made a fool of. “Lent, place a call to the school’s authorities, and find out if the school is really on break…” Lucy’s dark laughter interrupted his statement, and brought Storm’s attention to her. “So y’all would rather believe Storm’s newest friend
Of course they wouldn’t. Storm thought, looking at Lucy squarely for the first time since she had entered the room. Her friend was still bubbling in age-old anger, and was still carrying a grudge against her.And since, Storm knew she couldn’t do much about it—because what Lucy was demanding was unattainable—she let the latter think that she wasn’t bothered by it. It would help with them leaving earlier. Having seen what exactly was at play here, what evil forces were at play here, she wasn’t about to risk the lives of her friends. She wasn’t about to have their blood on her head, because she wanted them to be included in every facet of her life. It was better they thought she was against them; it was better they believed that she didn’t value their friendship.“So, why are you here, Lucy?” She schooled her face to a cold aloofness, unfazed when Justin let out a cuss word, whilst darting a glance between Lucy and her. There was a minute silence, where Lucy scanned Storm’s features;