Beckoned
Amanda K. Dudley-Penn
I dedicate this book with love and affection to my beautiful daughter, Constance Desiree Dudley. Thank you for supporting me. I love you and I’m so very proud of you. Thank you for helping me to dream.
Acknowledgments
I would like to give a special thanks to my husband, David Wayne Penn, who has now helped me through two books and my daughter, Isabella Kaylee Penn, who still asks me if my book is done yet. I would like to thank my son, Joshua Lee James Penn, who still teaches me to unravel the mysteries of the small things. Thank you for always being an unending fountain of support. I would also like to thank my siblings, Amber Dean Dudley, Kara Desiree Matthews-Wallace, Michael Lee Dudley and James Alan Matthews and especially to my baby sister Rosa-Ann Ruth Dudley for allowing me to use her pictures to create my cover. I love you all so much. Also a special thanks to my “brother” Robert Leighton Sanders and my “sister” Sandra Morris-Pressley. I want to thank my sister-in-laws, Roxanna Steele Matthews, Corie Green Matthews, Carolyne Graves and Amanda Johnson-Penn. I would also like to thank my brother in laws, Joe Wallace and Carl Penn and of course, my soon to be brother in law, Zachary Stafford. I would also like to thank my mother, Melinda Kaye Hirjak and Step-father, Paul Hirjak. Also, I would like to thank my step-mother, Melinda Dudley and my mother in law, R. Bell Penn and my father in law, Lee Roy Penn. I would also like to thank my Great aunt, Peggy Russell-Englant and my aunts Connie Sekulich, Becky Dudley, Amy Russell and Vickie Edwards and my cousins, Traci Coble, Catareena Taber and Valerie Russell, Rebecca Greisenhaber and Christopher Russell. I would also like to thank my grandmother, Mildred Hardy. Also, I would like to thank my uncles, Terry, Anthony and Jason Russell. I would also like to thank my friends, Nikki and Robert Ramirez, Bob Rosso, Robert Harry, Ann Kubicek, Raven, Mendy Nicholas-Millner, Alexis Millner and Alvin Craig, Tammy Laliberte and Mandiey Hill. A big thanks goes out to someone I love like a sister. To Christina Turrentine and especially, Hopi Lalibete-Craig, thank you for reading my book and helping me in the process of writing it. I love you all.
Prologue
My breath rushed in and out of my lungs, caressing my eardrums as the air entered and exited my body. The sound calmed me in the complete darkness. I listened until all of the air escaped through my lips before allowing the other sounds to come, softly at first and then, rising to their normal tones. The chirps of crickets and the rustle of branches and leaves moving against each other rose until the air around me became alive. My mind hummed as awareness of one fact entered my thoughts...I was not in my bed.
I forced my eyes open and my heart sank as I saw the evidence of the one thing I did not want to be confirmed. I had been sleepwalking…again.
I touched my chest with one hand. I could feel my heart beat a calm and steady rhythm beneath the tips of my fingers. I was surprised to find myself completely calm especially since I couldn’t help but to wonder if I was going crazy. Walking in my sleep five times in a month would certainly be proof of my insanity, wouldn’t it? Worse than worrying that I was going crazy was the distinct possibility that one day I would walk into my death, all while dreaming. I shivered with the thought.
I pushed the fear away and instead, looked around trying to determine my surroundings. My eyes widened as I looked up to find darkness lit with a moon so full that it seemed close enough to touch. Dry, brittle grass pushed uncomfortably into the soles of my feet.
I glanced around cautiously. My eyes landed upon a large forest on the far side of the field in which I stood. I had been walking toward it. Fear struck my heart causing it to suddenly beat harder in my chest. The thought of waking up in the middle of the dense trees with all manners of wild animals around me caused me to tremble.
I broke my gaze with the forest before fear could completely consume me. I had to find safety and I had to stay calm. Instinctively, I turned to see the motor home in which I had lived with my mother for all of my eighteen years sitting in the motor home park five hundred feet behind me. My eyes widened. I could not remember walking so far away before. The fact I had, caused the fear I had pushed back to rise up yet again, giving credence to my worry of harming or killing myself.
I inhaled again, trying to slow my breathing and not give into the unease prickling at the back of my neck. I winced as the heat of the Texas summer scalded my nose, making me wrinkle it slightly. Sweat broke out on my skin and began to soak through my nightgown as I carefully began my trek back to my home. I tested each step hoping not to receive any grass burrs in my bare feet on the way.
I had only moved a couple of paces when I paused. I frowned, thinking I had heard…something. I held my breath as I listened, tilting my head to the side. I stood very still as I strained to hear.
“Aurora,” a voice whispered so lightly I thought I might have imagined it floated through the air. I strained my ears further as I scanned the area around me. I seen no one standing near. I frowned looking around again and only confirmed that no one was around me. Maybe I was going crazy.
I shook my head; sure I had imagined the voice, especially since they had whispered my name. No one knew me except for my mother and the voice did not belong to her. It had been too deep…too masculine.
I took another step and stopped again, feeling as if there were a million eyes on me. The hair on the back on my neck stood at attention. I shook my head and began to tell myself how ridiculous I was being. Nearly as soon as the thought entered my mind a new sound filled the air, making me forget the voice that had called my name. In that moment, all of my nightmares entered my mind again. A mournful howl of a wolf rose so near my heart tripped over itself. Fear sent a chill down my spine as I turned and looked toward the forest. Dozens of glowing orbs shined between the trees. I swallowed, trying to push the metallic taste from my mouth. The appearance of two grey wolves proved that this was real. There was no way I was mistaken. I was in danger. I could die.
“Aurora!” I stiffened as I turned to look over my shoulder.
This time, the voice calling my name did belong to my mother. She stood within the doorway of our motor home in her nightgown. Fear was marked in her voice as she called for me again. I trembled as I turned fully around and seen how impossibly far away she seemed. I swallowed as I said a prayer that would only be answered if I were able to reach her before the wolves reached me.
I took a deep breath as I lifted my foot to move forward. Every muscle tensed. I was tempted to run but I forced myself to take slow and steady steps. I swallowed hard because with each step I took, the howls were getting closer and closer. I had to force myself not to turn to look at the two wolves behind me because I knew if I did I would run and I didn’t want to tempt them to hunt their prey anymore than I already had.
I closed my eyes as I stood ten paces from my mother so I wouldn’t look into her face and quicken my steps. It seemed to take forever but I finally reached my mother’s outstretched hand. She grasped me and pulled me in through the door as quickly as her small frame would allow. She straightened as she stared across the field. Her face blanched in terror as she looked past me, opening her mouth as if to scream but nothing came out. Only a single tear fell down her pale cheek.
“Emilian,” she whispered as a tremble shook her.
I frowned at her confused and turned to see a man standing ten feet away from us. I stared into eyes the same silver color as mine. Shock radiated through me as my gaze traveled to his hair…black also like mine. There were other similarities too…the full lips, the long, straight nose and the high cheekbones…all like mine.
“Close the door,” my mother said on a strangled cry, but I cont
inued to stare. I felt something secret trying to make itself known but staying just out of reach of my understanding.
My mother yelled with more authority, “Close the door, Aurora!”
Something in her voice broke the spell I was under and I blinked rapidly, breaking the trance I seemed to be under. The man must have noticed because he began to run. I had no knowledge of what he intended to do and I didn‘t want to find out. I reached forward and grabbed the door handle pulling it closed and locking it a second before hearing a resounding thud on the other side of the door.
My mother jumped and then, quickly made her way to the driver’s seat and landed in it as another thud shook the door. Another blow would break it down but a moment later, I heard the engine of the motor home roar to life. I turned my head toward her right before being thrown forward as she sped away from the man and the wolves.
Slowly, I rose feeling dazed as I carefully made my way to the passenger seat and sat down, buckling myself in. I looked at my mother with so many questions rising up in my mind but as I took in her face, I could see that I would have to wait for answers because for the first time in my life, fear shined in my mother’s eyes.
I frowned as I looked into the side view mirror meeting my odd silver colored eyes…eyes that I shared with this man…a man that my mother knew but was a stranger to me. Slowly, I looked back at my mother realizing that she had said his name…Emilian. I swallowed as I wondered why she had been frightened of him. Who was he?
I looked back into the side view mirror, seeing the similarities between him and myself again. I gazed into my eyes and trembled as a dark suspicion rose causing me to close my eyes to block out my reflection. Maybe I didn’t want to discover who he was after all…
Chapter One
Family
Hours passed before my mother seemed to calm. During that time, my mind returned to the man who looked like me. Even though I had seen him for only a moment, his face was etched into my mind. The fact that my mother knew him made me even more curious about him. I couldn’t help but to wonder who he was. My mind whispered the only clue that I had to his identity. The name my mother had whispered…Emilian.
I frowned as I remembered the look on her face as she said his name. She had been terrified. I swallowed as I wondered again why. Had he hurt her? My blood chilled at that possibility. I trembled as his face rose again in my mind, knowing that he could have harmed her but again, seeing our similarities and shying away from the idea. Who was he? More importantly, Did he have a connection to me?
I shook my head, pushing the thought away because it disturbed me more than my mother’s fear. It made me terrified because my mother might have lied to me and worse than that, it made me afraid of where I came from. It made me afraid of who I was.
Slowly, I looked at my mother, hoping that I would find her calmer. My heart dropped when I seen that she still drove with her blue eyes fixed on the road as if forcing her gaze away from me. She was rigid and every now and again I would see her tremble. It was almost as if looking at me would break her.
“Momma,” I whispered, brokenly. She stiffened as I finally gained her attention even if it was reluctantly. She turned, looking at me with wide blue eyes. Tears still stained her face and I found the sight caused a lump to form in my throat preventing me from speaking right away.
Her chin trembled as if the sight of me would cause her to burst into sobs again. Instead, she took a deep breath, closing her eyes before looking at me again.
“You should lie down until we arrive,” she croaked in a voice so different from the one I had known my whole life. The softness was gone. Only fear and deep sadness remained.
I was so focused on her voice that it took a moment to finally register in my too full brain what she had said. I blinked as I absorbed her words. She already knew where we would be moving. That had never happened so quickly before. In the thirty times we had moved since my birth, I couldn‘t remember one that had taken less than two weeks to plan.
I sat up confused. I ran my hands through my hair as I thought. There had been no planning with this move. It was instant. I could only remember stopping once and though my mother had made a phone call, the conversation had taken less than five minutes. What move could take such little preperation?
I tilted my head as I looked at her…really looked at her. She wasn‘t just frightened as I had first assumed. She was nervous. It showed in the way she shifted her gaze from me to the road and back again. My lips pressed together for a few moments before I asked, “Where will we be arriving?”
Suspicion was clear in my voice and my mother shifted in her seat uncomfortably because of it. Her eyes twitched as if wanting to find anywhere to look but at me. Finally, she took a deep breath and let it out, relaxing a bit.
“The safest place I have ever been,” she whispered as her eyes softened.
I rolled my eyes annoyed with the vague answers especially with so many mysteries around me. I felt as if I were losing my mind and she wasn‘t helping me, “And where is that?”
She glanced back at the road and bit her full bottom lip before answering with a small secret smile, “Timbly Mountain, Colorado.”
My eyes widened in shock. She had known that I would recognize the name immediately. I had been there before though I could not remember it, “Where I was born?”
My mother nodded as she raised a pale hand and brushed a strand of her long blonde hair behind her ear. I noticed that her hand shook. She was nervous again and I wondered why.
“Yes,” she said, “It’s where you were born and it’s also where our family is.”
I blinked at the word family. I had never heard my mother mention anything about relatives. To my knowledge, we didn’t have any. The fact that she waited to mention them until now made me even more suspicious. Something had happened for her to keep them from me. Something bad.
“Family?” I asked, knowing my shock and wariness layered my voice.
She shrugged, trying to seem unbothered but her eyes began to shift away from me again, “Well, as close to family as we have.”
I frowned as I looked at her exasperated with her non-answers and groaned. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath trying not to become annoyed. I let the breath out that I had been holding and then, opened my eyes and looked at her.
“Mom, will you please explain everything?” I asked through gritted teeth, finally losing all patience.
She sighed deeply and then, nodded her head and glanced back at the road a moment before speaking. Her voice was layered in so much sadness that my chest hurt and I wondered whether I really needed the explanation. Still, I pressed my lips tightly together and listened quietly.
“When my parents kicked me out at fifteen because I was pregnant with you, I was forced to live on the street,” she said, sadly. I looked at her feeling miserable for the girl she had been. I felt even worse that she had been rejected for keeping me. She smiled at me, knowing how I felt but it showed all of the hurt that her parent’s rejection had caused. She took a deep breath and continued, “I was eight months pregnant and afraid of how we would survive when a woman named Sophia found me living in a park. She took me in. She took care of me and made me part of her family.”
Suspicion whispered through me again and I narrowed my eyes, “If Sophia and her family are so wonderful, why haven’t you told me about them until now?”
My mother’s face tensed and I knew that I had hit on some clue to how everything fit together, “I don’t know…Maybe it was because I missed them and to talk about them made me miss them more.”
My mother had never been a good liar and I could see she lied now. The problem was I didn’t know how to uncover what had made her lie. It was still a mystery.
“But if they’re family, you should have mentioned them,” I said watching my mother tense further. I raised my brow. Something was definitely wrong, “I had a right to know about them.”
We stared at each other in a silent
battle. Finally, her face fell and she stared out of the windshield at the road for a few moments. Then, she sighed, “I know I should have told you,” she breathed as her shoulders drooped. Still, sincerity dripped from her voice, “but I can promise you this now…they are good people. They won’t let anything happen to us. They’ll protect us.”
I studied her face seeing the fear there and I knew who that fear was of and I knew that I had to ask about him even if she lied to me, “Momma, do you know the man who tried to attack us?”
A tremor shook her but she managed to nod her head, “Yes, I do but I will explain…later,” she said, looking at me with her eyes pooling with tears. I frowned suspicious and she continued, “I promise I will but right now, we need to be safe. That is the only thing I can think about. So, please sleep for now and I’ll tell you after we arrive…I-I promise.”
I frowned at her confused and worried but nodded my head. Obviously, the man terrified my mother and if she needed to be somewhere safe to be able to tell me about him, then, I would not take that away from her. I would allow her to feel safe.
She turned back, focusing on the road with a relieved sigh when I closed my eyes, but as I laid on the passenger seat of the mobile home, the fear she felt began to flutter around in my chest because I knew with absolute certainty that whatever had happened, it was worse than sleepwalking. Worse, I knew that even though my mother was frightened, I needed to find out why.
**********
The dream came nearly as soon as my eyes closed. My name floated across the air and wrapped around me, hugging me in its shadowed arms. I was entranced and I found I wanted to get closer to the one who called for me. I trembled with the knowledge. I didn’t understand how I could want to get closer to such danger when I had no doubt I would die if I gave into the impulse. Terror settled in my chest causing me to suck in my breath. With the action, the entrancement was gone…only terror remained invading me soul deep.
Beckoned (The Brazil Werewolf Series) Page 1
