A Living Dead Girl NovelThe line between good and evil is sometimes blurred.
Atlanta Hart learns that she's an Air Witch, the first discovered for centuries. Suddenly she and her friends find themselves immersed in a world of magick and magickal creatures, not all of which uphold their birthright to protect the human race.
This new world is on the brink of war, propelling Atlanta to embark on a journey to understand her powers in order to fight for her life and the lives of those she loves. With the help of legendary vampire hunter turned vampire, Sean Cameron, will she discover the truth of her past in time to save her future?
BUY THE eBOOK *** BUY IN KINDLE *** READ THE EXCERPT
Excerpt:
Prologue
Out in the Middle of Nowhere in the Quebec Province of Canada
Early September
1997
Valencia stood in the center of the circular outdoor chamber and tilted her head, lifting her face to the night sky. Her long, wavy red hair cascaded across her bare shoulders, catching the moonlight as it tumbled down her back and over the laces of the black corset. She closed her eyes, raising her arms into the night air and called to the wind. As a vampire the night caressed her, but as a witch, the wind spoke to her. It warned her that dawn approached; her time was running short.
“Ladies, are we ready?” Valencia asked her three witch sisters who had accompanied her to the chamber to conduct the experiment. Each wielded a different discipline. Where Valencia was gifted with Air, they were Fire, Water, and Earth.
“Yes, Mistress,” They answered in unison.
With a crash, the large oak and cast iron door that led from the fortress into the chamber burst open, slamming into the wall. Lowering her arms, the wind subsided as Jonathan, her lover and second in command, kicked a prisoner through the door. He then walked in after, graceful as a cat, the last of the wind tossing his long white-blond hair about.
Seeing the prisoner she’d hoped for stumble towards her, Valencia grinned. “You found him, how splendid! Glad you could join us Mr. Cameron.”
“The pleasure is all yours, I’m sure,” Sean responded, coldly. “Mind telling me what the fuck I’m doing out here? You know how I hate to leave the dungeon. Besides, it’s Bingo night.”
His cocky grin and sarcasm threatened to ruin her mood. “I am your Mistress and you serve me when I see fit,” she snapped. Goddess, his presence irritated her! Seeing him reminded her of all of her men he mercilessly killed before she’d captured him.
“Oh goody. You know I live to serve,” he said, his voice flat with sarcasm. He pulled against Jonathan’s grasp on his arm. “Let go of me you bastard! I’m shackled, where the hell would I go?” With one last yank, he escaped from Jonathan’s grasp.
Valencia fought a grin. Even withholding blood from Sean for the past few days, he was strong enough to pull away. Yes, her decision to use him in this experiment was the right call.
She may have been delighted with this, however Jonathan was not. He grasped Sean again. “Leave him be,” she scolded, “He’s right. Besides, it is time. Ladies? Attach him to the platform.”
The witches grasped Sean and laid him on the wooden square on the ground, quickly undoing the middle joint on each shackle that had bound foot to foot, and wrist to wrist. They reattached them to the platform, a limb at each corner, splaying him like a large X. Valencia slid the altar between Sean’s legs while the witches lit the candles that surrounded the platform.
Movement at the door drew her attention. Lifting her gaze, she recognized the head of The Superior Order’s army. The General lumbered into the space with a scowl on his face. “General McMasters, thank you for coming.”
“What’s this all about Mistress Valencia?” His gruff voice demanded. “Pulling me out of my bed at an ungodly hour? Bah! You best have a good explanation.”
“I do. Don’t I always?” She purred, her hand caressing Jonathan’s arm. She squeezed his hand lightly, “Lover, will you please go fetch Sean’s gift?”
“As you wish.”
Valencia addressed the group. Jonathan crossed toward the door, where the General still stood. “You all have been gathered here to witness how I plan take control of those self righteous peons who call themselves The Great Order.”
“This again?” the General mumbled.
Jonathan’s arm whipped out so fast it was a blur. Grabbing the General’s arm roughly he snarled, “Show some respect for your Mistress,” through clenched teeth. Holding on long enough to make his point, he let go and exited through the door, leaving it open.
Valencia sighed dramatically. She was sick to death of the General’s disbelief in her powers. If lucky, that would change here and now. Pulling out a silver ring from the pocket of her velvet cape, she held it up so the moonlight glinted off it. “This is the key. This creation of mine will ruin them.”
“Ooh, a ring,” Sean mocked sarcastically. “Nifty. Now can we tell me why the fuck I’m here?”
One of the witches, snapped, “Shut up and pay attention.”
Sean rolled his eyes but kept his mouth shut.
“This ring has the possibility to do amazing things, Sean. If this experiment works, I will have made it possible for vampires of my choosing to no longer be constricted to night travel only.” Valencia stared at the ring in her hand, entranced by her own work. “This ring is made of silver, sugilite, and clear crystal quartz. Sugilite is the most powerful protection stone there is. It aids in physical healing while silver aids circulation, strengthening the blood. Clear crystal quartz enhances a witch’s powers and thus the spell.”
“Blah blah blah—and?” Sean sassed.
She tilted the ring so Sean could see it. “Recognize this symbol? It’s a Celtic knot, called a Triquetra. Simply put, when combined with the correct spell this ring becomes a talisman of protection for the one who wears it.” Pulling her hand away she spun about once with a giddy cackle. “Protection from the sun.”
“Have you tested it out?” the General asked.
“No.”
Sean taunted her. “Then how do you know that it works?”
“That is what you are for,” she told Sean, looking down on him. “I’ll leave you out in this sun chamber with this ring on. When the sun rises, we’ll see if it works.”
“You’re insane!” he said with a strained chuckle. “Then again, all of us here know that. Look, you can go find yourself someone else to try your toy on. I’m not gonna help you. I’d rather take it off and turn to a cinder.”
Valencia walked around the altar to lean her face down toward his, their noses almost touching. “Trust me Sean, you don’t have a choice.” She stood up and raised her voice, “Jonathan, you can bring her in!” The glee bubbling in her as she saw Jonathan re-enter the sun chamber with an unconscious, young girl slung over his shoulder, was almost enough to make her dance. He shut the door and locked it, proceeding toward Valencia. She bounced once and gestured grandly. “Lay her on him.”
With a nod, Jonathan draped the young girl over Sean, placing her neck near his face, in reach of his mouth.
"Now Sean, drink,” Valencia ordered. “You need to be strong for the spell."
“No.”
Starved as he was, she knew it took everything he possessed to refuse. Though impressed she insisted, "You must feed!"
"I sure as hell will not!"
Valencia pulled out her black bladed ceremonial dagger, known as an athame, and stepped forward. Lifting the girl by her hair she smiled at Sean underneath, "You wanna bet?"
"Don’t do it," he pleaded.
She made a small slit in the girl's throat, letting the blood drip onto Sean's face, onto his lips. He shifted his face from the falling drops of blood. Valencia leaned over the body to study Sean, amazed at his will. She knew it wouldn’t last, seeing as the blood now dripped onto the side of his lips. "You cannot hold out forever. The bloodlust will win."
Sean’s natural instincts finally exceeded his will. His guttural yell exploded from him as Valencia witnessed his two canine teeth elongate. She smiled and took her cue, lowering the neck of the girl and pressing it to his mouth. Crying as he fed, Valencia gloated at his eventual loss of control. When he finished Sean let go of the young girl and screamed out again.
“Take it away,” she requested of Jonathan, who lifted her up and tossed her aside.
“You bastard!” Sean yelled. “She’s not dead. I didn’t kill her. You can’t just throw her around like garbage! She’s a human being!”
A cold smile spread across Jonathan’s face, making his white-blonde hair appear like pure ice in the moonlight. He stepped over to the girl, grabbed her by the neck, and snapped it. “Now she’s not.”
“Damn it!” Sean knocked the back of his head against the wood platform.
“Boys boys, can I have some focus here?” She interrupted in a calm tone, trying not to lose her temper. “We’re starting. Now get in place.”
Jonathan answered with a twitch of his eye and a nod, pulling the General back toward the wall so they would be out of the way.
Valencia pointed the knife at the sky. "I call on the Four Corners of the Earth to hear me!"
“North,” said the witch in green as she raised her blade into the sky.
"East," Valencia followed, raising her blade.
The witch in red brought up her blade. “South.”
Lastly, the witch in blue lifted hers. “West.”
"O Spirit of the North Stone, Ancient Ones of the Earth, I call you to attend this circle. Charge this by your powers, Old Ones!"
The next two women echoed the same words, acknowledging their corner, their element, requesting the attention of its vast power. They lowered their blades, and Valencia continued, "Air, Fire, Water, Earth, Elements of Astral birth, I call you now; attend to me! In the circle, rightly cast, safe from psychic curse or blast, from cave and desert, sea and hill, by wand, blade, cup, and pentacle, I call you now. Attend to me! This is my will, so mote it be!"
A moment of silence filled the air as Valencia stood still. She felt her connection to the three other ladies as they stood, hands raised up. Gazing down at her subject, she noticed Sean pulling frantically at his binds, causing his own blood to spill upon the platform.
"May the powers of The Ones, the source of all power—the goddess and Lady of the Moon, and the god—the Horned Hunter of the Sun bless this place and at this time. Know that I am with you and you are with me.”
Thunder crashed above and clouds began to roll over the night sky. Wind blew through the enclosed space, tossing the witches’ skirts and hair as Valencia held up the ring. "With this pentagram I lay Protection here both night and day. And the one who should not touch let his fingers burn and twitch. I now invoke the law of three. This is my will, so mote it be!"
Lightning scorched the sky, flashing like a slow strobe light while the air hummed of static. Sean and the ring became luminescent as the moon above, telling Valencia it was time. She moved from behind the altar to place the ring on Sean’s right ring finger. His skin felt warm, to almost a human temperature and with a flicker of hope that the spell was working she quickly finished it off.
"Horned Hunter of the Sun I call upon thee to see this man, this ring. I ask thou for the protection from the harm of your rays. May they be protected by your might, O gracious god, day and night."
As the three women chanted, “May they be protected by your might, O gracious god, day and night,” with Valencia, the air in the chamber became bright as day. Then, they all stopped and looked up, throwing their hands into the air. In doing so, the light surrounding them shot upwards. Like a bullet out of the chamber of a gun it hit the sky, spread out, dissipating the clouds and making everything clear once more.
"We must close,” Valencia instructed. “Daylight is approaching.” Standing in the East, she pierced the circle's wall with the blade at waist level. “Farewell Spirits of North, South, East, and West. We give thanks for your presence here. Go in power.” Moving clockwise around the circle, causing the power of it to dissolve, she let the outside world slowly regain its dominance.
Returning to East once more, Valencia set the athame on the altar, motioning to Jonathan to assist in cleaning up the supplies before stepping to lean over Sean. With a Cheshire grin, she put sunglasses on him. “So sorry to leave you, my pet, but we won’t be far.” She motioned to everyone else, “Time to go. Let us all retire to the viewing room. There’s still some time to kill until the sun reaches the floor of the chamber." She then walked out of the chamber without even so much as another glance at Sean.
LIKED THE EXCERPT?? CLICK HERE TO BUY THE eBOOK
No comments:
Post a Comment