Ascendancy Origins Trilogy

by Bradford Bates

  “Leave.”

  “Edward, please don’t.”

  “Leave me now while I can still stop myself.”

  Adam walked away and I felt the power inside of me call out for me to do more. Somehow I choked it down. I would want for nothing, he said, all I want is my wife back! That was something that Adam couldn’t understand. From all accounts he had never been in love with anyone but himself. He would be on my list as well; I would wait to take him at the end. After everyone else had paid and Adam knew that I was coming for him, only then would I let him beg me for a quick death.

  I shoved the plate of slop off of the table and picked up my pickaxe. It was time to get back to work.

  That night I heard the voice for the first time. It promised me power. It promised me the revenge that I craved. It called to me, whispering that all I needed to do was say yes and it would give me the power to do all that I wanted and more. There would be a price to pay but not until my lust for revenge was sated. It whispered into my mind and I felt myself let go.

  “Yes,” I whispered back. “You can have whatever you want from me as long as I claim my revenge first.”

  I felt the heat as the power rushed into me, it was followed by an intense pain as my blood seemed to boil. The voice spoke in my mind, this time much closer than it had been before. “It is done.”

  I felt my magic fully for the first time in decades. The runes no longer stopped me from being able to access all of my gift. I wondered how long it would take them to realize that I was gone. I needed to gather a few things and then I was going to be paying a few people a visit.

  4

  Sarah

  January 1924

  I was sick of lying in bed and walking around in what now felt like a prison but was really just our home. It was time to get back into the swing of things, and with John busy teaching Gavin there wouldn’t be anyone around to stop me. I dressed in loose and comfortable clothes. I wouldn’t be wearing them for long, but people around the base still reacted awkwardly to naked people walking around. So as a courtesy I donned the clothes to set an example for my pack. I planned on shifting as soon as I reached our training grounds; it was going to feel good to train with my brothers and sisters again.

  When I entered the facility everyone stopped what they were doing and came to say hello. It was a sign of true respect that they acknowledged my presence right away. I did notice that a couple of the pack members lurked a few steps back from everyone and I knew instantly that was something that I was going to have to deal with. It would probably be better to do it sooner rather than later but I needed a few days to get my feet under me. I made sure they noticed me watching them before I turned back to the people that were happier to see me return.

  “You look great,” Melonie gushed.

  “I wouldn’t go that far, but I’m tired of being stuck in the house. I’m ready to run.”

  “Well the course is set up if you would like to give it a go,” Jason said.

  Trevor stepped forward. “I’m sure she is as weak as a pup, maybe we should find something easier for her to do.”

  A growl escaped my lips even though I hadn’t shifted yet. I knew I was going to have to deal with this, but he couldn’t even wait a day to challenge me. “Mind your tone, Trevor.”

  “Or what, you’re going to go back to bed?”

  “Trevor, you’re an ass,” Melonie replied.

  “Actually a good nap does sound good, but instead I think I’d like to embarrass you in front of the pack yet again. What would your excuse be when you lose this time?” I dropped my voice into a deeper tone to mock the way he sounded. “I, uh, would have beaten her, but obviously she had some kind of magical help.” I let out a laugh. “No one buys that line of shit, Trevor. This time when you lose, you’re done.”

  This time it was his turn to growl. He stepped forward but Jason stepped in front of him. “Trevor, are you issuing a challenge?”

  “And what if I am?”

  “This will be your third attempt to take control of the pack. If you fail this time, it is well within her rights to take your life.”

  “You think I’m scared, scared of her?”

  “If you aren’t then you are stupid,” Jason said with no trace of insincerity in his voice.

  “If you had the guts you would have made it official as soon as I walked in. Instead you tried to insult my honor, as if your opinion mattered in the first place.” I made sure to press him and dripped enough disdain for his presence that if he backed out now I wouldn’t have to deal with him for a while. If he didn’t back down, I was going to be in for one hell of a fight before I was ready for it.

  “Maybe we should just take a step back. Sarah hasn’t been out of bed in over a month. To challenge her now would be pathetic at best,” Melonie said, joining Jason.

  “So now you’re fighting her battles and you dare to call me pathetic. Fine, I’ll make it official. I challenge you for control of the pack in one hour.”

  “I’ll see you in the ring.” I watched his back as he stomped away. There wasn’t too much on the line for me. If I lost then I would be able to reclaim the pack in a matter of weeks. As soon as I was healthy I would challenge him and end it with blood. Trevor on the other hand would lose it all if he lost today. It was a risky gamble on his part but he would never have a better chance to win.

  Melonie and Jason walked with me towards the side of the building. “Are you sure you’re ready for this, Sarah?” Jason asked. “None of us would think less of you if you refused his challenge now.”

  I looked between their faces and was pleased to find out that they truly cared about me. I tried to look at each of them so I could remember this moment. “Both of you go and call the pack. With this being Trevor’s last stand they should be here to see what happens.”

  Both of them nodded and left me right away. I walked into my private room and sat on a bench with my back against the wall. Just what in the hell had I gotten myself into? I hadn’t even shifted in nearly a week and today I was going to be taking on one of our deadliest warriors. There was a way to do this, and I had to be smarter rather than stronger. Maybe I could push him into making a mistake. I was going to spend the next thirty minutes shifting back and forth to prepare myself for the battle. I had an idea, I just wasn’t sure if I was gutsy enough to pull it off.

  Shifting that much left me feeling tired but it helped restore strength and health to my body each time that I did it. I didn’t know yet if it mattered but I felt the best I had in months. I dressed in the same simple loose clothes and strapped a sword to my back. I walked to the fighting ring alone. The entire pack had already encircled the challenge ring, leaving just enough room for me to reach the edge.

  I was surprised to see John and his student Gavin at the ring. He didn’t come to many pack affairs, and when he did he never brought company. He nodded towards me and I returned the movement and lifted a hand to him. His smile warmed me to the very soul; his calm demeanor filled me with confidence. He stood there knowing just how bad I had been hurt and still never wavered in his belief that I would win this fight. I love you, John, I thought as I jumped down into the ring.

  Pack battles or challenges were always settled in our ring. It was a hole set ten feet below ground level and was about thirty feet around. The pack crowded around the edges to watch the battle unfold. I had never asked my father about why challenges were settled in a pit. Maybe if he had lived longer I would have had the chance to do so. The battles had always been fought this way, since I was a little girl over two hundred years ago.

  Trevor was already waiting for me in the ring. He had shifted already, and was walking around in slow circles raising his hands to some cheers. I dropped down into the pit and the pack closed around the circle entirely. Trevor took in my still-human appearance and growled a challenge. I laughed as I looked up to the pack, basking in their applause. I was showing them just what I thought about the strength of this challenger, and it wa
sn’t much.

  “You think that you will beat me as a human?” Trevor’s words came out slow. He had finally mastered talking in his beast form but he still lacked the precision to do it well. The words came out grated and halting.

  “It seems you have forgotten how badly I beat you last time. I thought that this time I might give you a chance.” I made sure to smile when I finished, showing him I wasn’t worried in the slightest.

  Trevor growled again and charged, unslinging his massive sword from where it had been tied behind him. I fought the urge to change and moved to the side, letting his blade smash into the ground where I had been standing. I jumped over the low strike that came next, and landed a kick to his face before flipping backwards to create some distance between us. I hadn’t pulled my sword out yet, a fact that Trevor clearly hadn’t missed.

  “I’ll give you one last chance to back out of this.”

  Trevor silently stared back at me.

  “When you lose it will be death that takes you. Exile is too good for a worthless animal like you.” I stuck one arm out and made a come on already gesture.

  Trevor didn’t disappoint me, charging again, howling his fiercest battle cry. I dodged three strikes of his blade before finally being forced to pull my own. I stood toe-to-toe with a beast that outweighed me by four or five hundred pounds and easily had three feet of height on me. I used my smaller size and speed to continually brush his attacks to the side. Finally his blade glanced off of mine and hit me in the arms sending me flying sideways. I rolled back to my feet, and was surprised to see that my arm was bleeding.

  We used training blades during the duels; at least we always had until we eventually used our claws. Apparently Trevor was so tired of losing that he decided to break that rule. I held up my hand to show the pack the blood that had been drawn, and the cries of anger and rage rained down on us. Trevor only smiled back at me, and I could feel the anger I had kept in check for the entire battle start to rise to the surface.

  I was tired of being challenged because I was a woman. I was tired of being taken care of because I was injured. I was tired of John giving me everything that I ever wanted. I was tired of feeling guilty because John had put himself at risk to save me. I was tired of being looked down upon because of who I chose to spend my life with. I let that anger simmer for a moment and then it exploded.

  My sword slammed into the ground burying itself up to the hilt. A scream of rage and fury escaped my lips as Trevor started to charge at me. I felt my clothes rip as the change consumed me. I was whole before Trevor had cleared half the distance to me. With speed I hadn’t known that I possessed I darted past my sword, under Trevor’s aggressive strike, and snarled as my claws found purchase in his side. He screamed as my claws raked down the right side of his body. He turned to face me, throwing his massive sword to the side. That was a bad decision.

  I was done playing games with him.

  He rushed towards me again and this time I just waited until he slammed into me. I turned as he did, flipping him towards the ground as I blocked his first attack. I landed on top of him but instead of rolling away, I absorbed his next strike. The wounds healed almost as fast as he made them. I let him land a few more blows before I tore savagely at his arms. He lifted both of us off of the ground and I sank my teeth into the side of his neck and pulled back with everything that I had.

  Trevor’s screams turned into gurgles as part of his throat came away with my bite. Even that was a wound he could heal from given time, but his time was over. I raised my mouth to the sky and howled, plunging both hands into the wound. I ripped it open, taking his head away from his body in one quick movement. I held the head aloft to the pack and they cheered. Someone was coming towards me now and the beast called for me to crush the life out of them.

  A warm hand touched my arm bringing it down. I felt my finger release the gruesome trophy that I had been holding aloft. I looked at the man that was touching me and recognition flared, this was my mate. He sat there silently looking into my eyes, and I felt my self-control start to come back. He removed his coat and held it out. When I shifted back he draped it around my shoulders.

  “That was one hell of a fight.”

  “I’m not sure what happened. I’ve never lost control like that before.”

  “Let’s get you home and talk about it there.” He looked around, clearly watching the pack for any signs of a follow-up attack.

  He was right though, around the pack nothing went unheard by everyone. We had supernatural hearing and eyesight, and we could smell a change in someone’s emotional state. So secrets didn’t last long, most of the pack preferred to keep everything in the open for that simple reason.

  I let John guide me towards the edge of the ring and when we reached up hands clasped around ours and pulled us to the surface. The pack surrounded me cheering wildly, I could see a few of the members shaking their heads in sadness, but the majority celebrated my victory. John shoved his way forward with Gavin close behind and took me in his arms. My legs had finally given out in exhaustion. It seems as if maybe I hadn’t been ready for that fight after all.

  Before we left I whispered to John and he turned me around so I was facing the pack. “Remember what you witnessed here today. We are weaker now because one man let his pride come before the pack. Tonight we will celebrate his life, and remember the good that Trevor accomplished.”

  The pack cheered and danced around us as John held me. He gave them another moment or two to enjoy my victory and then we were headed home.

  5

  John

  February 1924

  Gavin’s training was over and today he would face his toughest challenge yet. I knew he was prepared for it but I still felt my hands clenching down on the railing as I looked out onto the training area. He was going to be facing three of Frank’s students at once. I had a feeling that Frank had picked his three strongest students, but maybe not the three that would have worked together the best. That was where Gavin was going to have to make his move. If they all attacked as individuals he had this fight in the bag.

  This was going to be his final test. If he passed he would be joining the Ascendancy, if he didn’t he would be allowed to try one more time. The odds of a person taking the trials a second time were astronomically in favor of them losing again. So he had to win now. He had everything that we wanted in a recruit, he just needed to execute.

  I felt a soft hand slide over the top of mine. “John, release the bar before you break it.”

  I looked over to see the love of my life looking at me with a smile on her lips and a hint of mischief twinkling in her eyes. “I can’t help it, I’m nervous.”

  “You didn’t seem nervous when I fought Trevor.”

  “I wasn’t. I knew you were going to win.”

  “You know that Gavin is the best prepared student facing their trial today. The last thing he needs is to see how nervous you are. Be his strength as you were mine.”

  My hands slowly released the railing in front of me, just in time for Gavin to look up at us. He smiled and waved, we returned the gesture. At least he didn’t appear to be nervous. I thought about how much he had changed since I first met him. He had been broken and beaten and about to wash out of the program. We had started training and I saw nothing of that man left standing in front of me today. Gavin was poised and if he could be, so could I.

  His three challengers came out and I could almost sense the smile spreading on Gavin’s lips. These were his three biggest tormentors and he had been looking forward to a little payback. His body looked loose and I could tell that he was ready. These guys weren’t going to know what hit them.

  I nudged Sarah when Gavin’s posture changed, he tried to make himself look weaker and intimidated. She smiled as she watched the other men strut around the yard full of confidence.

  “Did you teach him that?”

  “I thought it would work for him.”

  “It never works for you.”
<
br />   “Well yeah, but that is because everyone knows me.”

  “So you really think these guys will buy it?”

  “From the way they have been trained and what they have gotten away with, they will buy into it completely.”

  We watched as his three opponents moved to fan out around him. Gavin did his best to keep up appearances but I could see a little bit of the act break. He wanted so badly to beat them that it had to be hard to pretend he was still scared of them. He moved in a slow circle looking at each of them once before standing still.

  Adam’s voice carried out of the training circle. “You may begin.”

  All three of Gavin’s opponents struck at once; maybe I had been wrong about Frank and these guys having a strategy. They would be a lot harder to beat if they coordinated attacks. Gavin deflect all three attacks seamlessly. Not only that, he redirected all of them at the man he hated the most. Sean yelled out. From where we were standing I could see his mouth move as he said something to Gavin; my student shrugged in response and stepped out of his timid act and into a relaxed fighting stance.

  Shards of ice flew at Gavin from one direction and a fireball from another. He blocked both of the attacks again, and directed them back at the same Sean. I heard him shout as he deflected them and motioned for the other two men to step back. This was exactly what we had been hoping for, to get Gavin in a one-on-one situation.

  Sean rushed towards Gavin flinging mounds of earth at him. He continued to rip the huge rocks from the arena floor and hurl it in front of him while closing the gap between them. Gavin deflected the earth, piling up the broken remains of the rocks around him. Anything he couldn’t break apart he destroyed with his shield. He was acting on a purely defensive basis, but what I wanted him to do was attack.