He then opened his eyes for a minute, wondering if this could be a dream. The curse should have stopped him from this pleasure, and it clearly was not. Once his eyes got into focus, he noticed Ryback in the distance being thrashed and decapitated by a werewolf.

  Alec then knew it was not a dream. Ryback's spell was as dead as he was. A few droplets remained and were still flowing as Alec removed the lifeless body from his mouth. It was sucked dry by his ravish behavior. As he dropped it to the ground, he noticed that her pale features reminded him of Obsidian. His thoughts of her started to race.

  The connection to her is still so great. It is as if she were still here. Could she be? No. She was dead.

  Overwhelmed with grief, he did something he had never done before. The thought was silly to a vampire but relatively humane for a mortal. He closed the eyes of the prey's lifeless body. He then walked away.

  He wondered why thoughts of Obsidian were still plaguing him. She was gone. He saw her take her last breath, yet he could still feel her presence. It was almost as if she were right in front of him.

  Alec reached into the air, where he thought he could feel her presence, trying to grasp what little he could sense. It was a foolish thing to do, and he didn't believe in such ludicrous things. But the reaching made the want and need of her tangibility seem more achievable.

  He could never reach her, though, and that reality was setting in quickly. He had an eternity to mourn her. An eternity. It was an anguishing concept. There would never be a way of escaping the pain of mourning her. Damned to walk the earth forever, he had no escape or solace from the pain. The only thing he had left was the determination to find pleasure in his miserable existence.

  Revenge will be mine for the taking. All I have to do is wait because time is what I have a bountiful lot of.

  His thoughts turned again as he looked for his next prey and a white wolf stood before him on the mountaintop. He had never seen a white wolf before. Most of the ones he'd seen were a drab grey or buff-colored tan, and he had even seen a black one. That one went by the name of Keme Freeman.

  Keme was special in Alec's eye. He was an old wolf that lived longer than most and thought only about pleasing himself. It was almost as if he was cut from the same cloth as Alec. His color befits his demeanor nicely. The fur on that dog was something Alec could respect. The wolf he could not, but he could appreciate the coat's color.

  The white on this one was incredible, though. It piqued Alec's interest in discovering how pure the color truly was. He found desire rising up in his body again. This hunt would be magnificent because nothing would please him more than taint the purity out. A hue of crimson was a perfect shade to slay the immaculateness before him.

  Alec lunged forward and leaped off of the rock he was perched on. He outstretched his hands, tingling from the ecstasy of anticipation, and went for the jugular of the white one. The dog turned to look at Alec, anticipating his move, and shot an energy ball his way.

  Alec became paralyzed from the blow, but the werewolf's azure eyes made him feel more of a retraction to incapacitate his body. The mere sight of this dog's eyes made him shrivel in his thrill for the hunt. The eyes looked familiar to him, and he tried to place them.

  Was Obsidian truly back from the dead?

  Alec tried to shake his head but had failed miserably. He was still stunned and could not move, but even if he was not, the thought was impossible. Obsidian was not bitten by a werewolf. She was slain by one of her own—a witch from the Nuri clan. He saw it with his own eyes. There would be no way that this werewolf standing before him was Obsidian. She was dead. And not that long. Even the gods could not force a reincarnation so quickly. No, she was gone.

  Another ball of energy overpowered him. He could feel his dead body going limp again. He wondered if this was perhaps what death felt like. Of course, he was not sure. He had never really remembered dying himself. He was made by Lilith, the Queen of the damned, and she was the most powerful vampire to walk among the living and the dead.

  She discovered the veil between the two worlds during the times of Adam and Eve. Scorned by her first love, Adam, and her second love, Dracula, she retreated to the darkness of the Underworld with grief, waiting for that one day she could rise again. She found that chance in Alec.

  He tried to release his body, give in to the weakness, wishing that act could make him die. Death, though, was something he would never have. Lilith robbed him of that peace long ago because her insatiable love for him sealed his fate.

  Lilith, like all vampires, was selfish and did not allow all of her gifts to be passed to Alec. The gift she chose to keep for herself was the ability to walk among the living and the dead. The selfish gesture made him feel like the bastard child, never being or feeling accepted in either realm.

  What made it worse was that the gods didn't accept him either. He was born hard to kill, a master of magic and illusion, but doomed to an eternity of death among the living. Armageddon, a day most mortals fear, was a day that could not come soon enough, as far as Alec was concerned. He'd finally get his peace. The gods would absorb his essence, and he would cease to exist.

  Lilith was not spared either. She was doomed to live an existence without a mate. Her betrothed, Adam, the first man to ever walk the earth, rejected her. It was indeed a fate far more significant than his at the time. Sadly though, she brought this upon herself. She chose to be petty. And, against the gods' wishes, she sired Alec.

  He could never understand it at the time. He was only a fledgling drunk with power, but he now knew exactly how Lilith felt. Losing love was beyond hell, and he could clearly understand her lust for revenge against the gods. He also sympathized with her want of nonexistence. Life was miserable without Obsidian.

  A prick to his skin interrupted his morbid thoughts. The fangs from the white wolf dug into his arm. The pierce felt more like a prick rather than a puncture. But for him, it was always hard to tell. The dark gift never made him feel much pain. And becoming powerless from the energy balls was more reason for being unsure. His mind was cloudy, making it hard to comprehend what was happening.

  Alec closed his eyes for a few minutes, and when he opened them, he was in a cave. He could hear the sounds of the war still going on outside, but he could do nothing in response. His body still lay limp, and his mind was too dizzy for him to try and attempt to stand.

  He did have some sense about him. He knew that this white wolf was not what it seemed to be. It couldn't be because it spared him. If it indeed were a werewolf, it would not have done so.

  Werewolves, in general, did not like vampires. They couldn't understand them. A vampire would never die for their kind, nor would they help a fellow vampire in need. Not unless it suited them.

  Werewolves were loyal to the core. They'd do anything, even die for any member of their pack. This difference made it hard for the werewolf to trust a vampire. Vampires weren't completely untrustworthy, however. They would gladly align with other creatures if they saw fit, but that separated the vampire from the werewolf.

  A vampire was selfish to the core. They were considered the immortal family's teenagers because they had all the luxuries of mortal life. Gaining worldly possessions, thrills, and anything desired was easy, but it was all behind closed doors. They were loners in the darkness. Some were so good at hiding in the dark that they became famous writers in the mortals' world. There was talk of Edgar Allen Poe being a child of the night, but that had never been confirmed.

  Vampires, unlike mortal teens, were not self-centered by nature. They would, on occasion, please a mortal, but only if that pleased them in return. This was primarily due to law and really nothing more. Vampires had a strict set separate from every other creature's codes of conduct. They did this because they felt superior to the other races.

  "You should rest, Alec. You will be needed again soon by the clan."

  Alec thought he could hear the comment as plainly audible dialogue, but he saw no one in front of him, and the sound did not seem like it was uttered in his ears. He became confused.

  "Close your eyes." The voice from nowhere said.

  His mind wanted to ponder who this faceless voice could be, but he felt weak and entered darkness again.

  "That's it. Let the dark sleep take you into oblivion. We don't need to think about the love lost today. Let's just think about winning the war tomorrow." Whispered Lilith as she grabbed hold of him and dug them both six feet into the ground.

  It had been almost 17 years, and they had not seen any sign of him since The Were Rebellion, but that didn't mean that Skye stopped looking over her shoulder. Skye and Raine moved to Savannah, Georgia. It was easier to leave the past that way, especially after losing Obsidian. The mortals' World War also made it easy to pack up and leave everything behind. There was not much left after the soldiers had the pillaging sprees. They found a modest, stead ranch with enough land to live comfortably off. The added crops also brought in a reasonable price in the city.

  The days that turned into years were wearing comfortable. Thoughts settled in that perhaps Alec was not coming for them. Life became ordinary, which made Skye feel good.

  Each crick and crack of the house instilled a nagging away at the goodness. Skye would close her eyes and try and block out the negative noise, but visions of Raine's demise would soon follow. It was terrifying and left her frozen with fear on her worst days and looking over her shoulder on the good ones. Her visions had been wrong before, especially regarding the paranoia known as Alec. But before him, it wasn't all that often that she was wrong.

  She wished with her heart and soul that she could have seen more of the specifics in the vision. A day, or year, would have been nice. It would have made things easier, maybe even more apparent, because if she were sure that this would be their last day, the last kiss they'd share, she would have made sure it was more than just a good morning peck.

  The barley was plentiful this year, and she knew he wanted to get a jump start on the day before the heat got to the crop. It would be a long and hungry winter for them if he did not. That jump on the day robbed her of any recollection of her visions from the night before. In fact, the day seemed like any other.

  All seemed normal as she was going about her daily duties, and she gave no thought to Alec whatsoever. She even selfishly stole some daydreaming moments of being with Raine in bed that night while cleaning the coop.

  After cleaning the coop and collecting the daily eggs, Skye walked to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. She heard a bang. The broom on the opposite end of the kitchen fell to the ground, signifying unwelcome company coming. She quickly reached for the broom in a desperate attempt to cleanse the house, but before she could complete the task, a whirl of misty green light rippled around the kitchen. The light turned into balls and began to form a man's figure.

  It was too late because Alec found them, and there was no time to prepare for battle. It was not in Alec's nature to take them as prisoners, and he wanted them and every other Kersh witch to pay for Obsidian's death.

  She whispered under her breath, praying that the gods would be forgiving, but she knew better. The outcome of this war between them and the Vlad Clan wouldn't end well.

  Chapter One

  The alarm interrupted her nocturnal downtime for the third night this week. Skye was beginning to loathe her iTunes version of Bach’s Fugue in D minor. Fugue had gotten her through the college years better than any latte. But now, it seemed to lack its luster, grinding out her dreams instead of enriching them with sweetness.

  It was silly for her to attempt, but she felt obligated to try and remember them. She knew it was a desperate attempt to think that the recollection of such things would cure her fears of going insane. Her four walls seemed to be caving around her, and this uneasiness might never have happened if she didn’t meet Raine.

  Raine seemed to be a permanent fixture in her dreams and at the local haunt where Morgan took her every weekend. He had dark features with olive skin, and his toned muscles chiseled out broadness in his shoulders, biceps, and chest. The man boasted an eight-pack while wearing his skin-tight back tee to the bar. Not that she was always gawking at him, but she wondered what his sexy V looked like underneath his jeans. His face was soft and rounded, giving his tousled hair, dark brown eyes, and chiseled chin some contrast. And he appeared to be in his early to mid-thirties. An appealing age as opposed to the twenty-year-olds that were clearly just out of diapers.

  He was everything Skye wanted and couldn’t ask for better. He was the picture-perfect man of her dreams, which was probably why he starred in them. Raine had a lot going for him, and judging by how he carried himself on the dance floor, the guy knew it too. Skye hated that fact, but she had to admit he was gorgeous. A definite piece of eye candy she could get used to viewing while hanging out with Morgan.

  There was only one problem with her viewing delight. Every other girl at the local dive thought the same way. A side of green she hadn’t felt in ages crept up in her belly. Skye wasn’t into competing with other women because she was tired and thought it best to leave that game to the younger ones. Yet, she wouldn’t mind finding a little extra energy if she had a chance to turn his head in her general direction, which scared her.

  Skye shook her head as she crawled out of bed. She really had no idea what to make of him. There was nothing logical in her feelings that she could put her finger on. He seemed to be a nice guy, but Skye could only guess at that. Her stalking observations would only get her so far. She couldn’t tell if he was putting on the kind of front most men do when they want to get into a woman’s pants. Skye hoped he wasn’t like that, but given her age and wisdom, she knew her chances were probably slim. Her thirty-two years of age made her the perfect target for cheaters or sloppy seconds. After the Hunter fiasco, she wasn’t looking to score. She just wanted companionship.

  Skye wouldn’t have even noticed Raine if Morgan didn’t intervene. Morgan Walker was Skye’s tried and true friend of five years. A definite looker in her own right, Morgan had ebony hair, dark eyes that looked like jewels in the dim light of the bar, and her build was on the slender side with good muscle tone. Morgan really liked to work out, and it showed. She was five years younger than Skye, in her late twenties, which seemed to give her an edge when looking at life a little rosier. Skye, who viewed things more cynically, kept to herself and was alone at home most nights.

  Morgan was Skye’s only cheerleader, always there to give Skye the nudge she needed to live a little. This nudge, however, was starting to look like a slap in the face. Skye was infuriated with Morgan for even suggesting that she should hook up with Raine. She just didn’t have room for a frivolous and fruitless affair. Not now, not when the boss was talking about promotion.

  To make things worse, the bar’s entertainment for the evening was karaoke, a favorite pastime of men who wanted to impress the ladies. Raine was no different. He decided that Prince’s Raspberry Barrette would be the best-suited serenade for Skye since her choice of accessories for the evening complimented the song. Skye was not amused, especially when everyone in the bar began to stare at her as Raine descended the makeshift stage.

  “I bet you sing that to all of the girls.” she taunted back at him as he sauntered over to her.

  “No, just the pretty ones. I go by RJ, short for Raine Jacoby Thaler, but you can call me Raine.”

  Skye’s blood started to boil, her nostrils flared, and her dark brown eyes transformed into night’s ebony veil. He was besting her. She knew it. But she couldn’t let him win. Not today. Not after she had officially declared to swear off men. No. She had to give him a grand retort. Something that was bitchy to keep him at arm’s length yet, playful enough to possibly want him to come back for more. She needed time to think about this one because Hunter had her all screwed up in the head. It was a silly thought to want to string Raine along for the evening, but she just wasn’t sure what to do with him. The only thing Skye knew for sure was that he was making her tongue-tied. And she didn’t like that one bit.

  What could be memorable enough? And why did it really matter?

  Raine had the pick of the litter. The fact that she actually even cared about what he thought was making her nose itch. She instinctually rubbed it, trying to rid herself of the irritation.

  How will I get through this uncomfortable minute, let alone the rest of the night?

  “Hi, Raine. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Skye Falkland. “

  That was it. That’s all that Skye could muster. She had nothing, no line, no intellectual comeback, no retort. Raine left her dumbfoundedly speechless, which was hard to do. Especially when someone majored in English and minored in Journalism. Skye hoped this would not become a habit; if it did, she might have to reconsider her passion for words.

  As the night pressed on, Skye noticed that Raine’s stride seemed to glide slightly off the floor as he made his rounds from girl to girl. She would glance his way from time to time, hoping his gaze would meet hers, but her hopes were growing dim with each hug he gave to the ever-growing competition.

  Skye’s thoughts were interrupted by a floating microphone in front of her lips. The MC quickly and flatly stated to Skye that it was Kamikaze Karaoke Night, and Skye was the next victim. Singing was fun for her, and this interruption was gladly welcomed, but her singing enjoyment might have been hampered if she did not know the song.

  To some, that might be the most embarrassing thing that could ever happen in one’s life, but not to Skye. It honestly didn’t terrify her at all. She knew she was singing to a bunch of very happy drunks, and their liquid-filled minds would not remember her name much past the song’s first stanza, let alone the morning. Still, she hoped she knew some of it, so she didn’t look like a fool in front of Raine, the only other sober person in the room.

 

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