Table of Contents
Chapter One: Daffyd
Chapter Two: Brooke
Chapter Three: Drakka
Chapter Four: Ankh
Chapter Five: Mason
Chapter Six: Daffyd
Chapter Seven: Romulus
Chapter Eight: El Flamenco
Chapter Nine: Drakka
Chapter Ten: Atticus
Chapter Eleven: Madison
Chapter Twelve: Daffyd
Chapter Thirteen: Mason
Chapter Fourteen: Daffyd
Chapter Fifteen: Romulus
Chapter Sixteen: Daffyd
Chapter Seventeen: Jack
Chapter Eighteen: Romulus
Chapter Nineteen: Daffyd
Chapter Twenty: The Jade Emperor
Chapter Twenty: Mason
Chapter Twenty-Two: Romulus
Chapter Twenty-Three: Verona
Chapter Twenty-Four: Brooke
Chapter Twenty-Five: Romulus
Chapter Twenty-Five: Madison
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Mason
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Jack
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Mason
Chapter Thirty: Daffyd
Chapter Thirty-One: The Jade Emperor
Chapter Thirty-Three: Madison
Chapter Thirty-Three: Jack
Chapter Thirty-Four: Edison
Chapter Thirty-Five: Daffyd
Chapter Thirty-Six: Jack
Chapter Thirty-Seven: Romulus
Chapter Thirty-Seven: Victor
Chapter Thirty-Eight: Mason
Book 1: The Missing Queen
Book 2: The Ripple Effect
Book 3: The Lost Tiro
Book 4: The Long Journey
Book 5: The Final Leg
Book 1: Cole
Book 2: Alexander
Book 3: Peter
Book 4: Nicholas
Book 5: Spencer
A New Dawn
The Vampire Touch 3
Sarah J. Stone & Ryan Boucher
Copyright and Disclaimer
Copyright © 2017 by Sarah J. Stone
In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved.
This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is entirely coincidental. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Website: www.sarahjstone.com
Contents
Title Page
Copyright and Disclaimer
A New Dawn
Witch Academy Box Set (1-5)
Dragons of Umora Box Set (1-5)
Special Invitation
More From The Author
Chapter One: Daffyd
It was a simple trap.
Abraham Van Helsing stood no chance against my scheme. I had been informed of his repeater crossbow by one of the negligently escaped victims from one of his raids. A weapon that stopped my master and one that I would not fall victim to.
As planned, he came through the door alone. It was here that I rested on a step, waiting for him. How arrogance could be so predominant in one man I could not understand.
A victim of pride without knowing.
We shared words. They went along the lines of how he dreamed of the day to find the veil. My own was only to inform him that the others he brought to survey the area and wipe the others they could find from existence would not be found.
It was him and me.
A single handed, repeater crossbow. A beautiful marvel of engineering. Firing one shot, pulling on a lever to make the firing string taught and a barrel below that could house numerous bolts.
Had I not been aware, I may have found this weapon quite the challenge.
One by one, he fired.
One by one, he missed.
Each one precisely where my heart was a second before. Had I been any slower, I would have been dead. Then I was upon him. My hand through his chest, gripping his heart, allowing him a few more seconds of life as I pumped the blood through his veins.
And then I crushed it.
This brought no contest when I stood to claim the crown. The Council declared me instant victor, sentencing my opponents to their fates: death.
***
Reading through my old notes, the wide swinging doors from the end of my throne room distract me. Mason walks in, with Hamish at his tail, blabbering about how I would not want to see him today. How wrong he was.
“Hamish, you can relax,” I gesture him off with a flourishing wrist. “Mason is here on important business.”
And if Hamish paid closer attention to the heads in Mason’s hand, he would notice that they were the all too familiar heads of the Council. He says nothing, throwing the heads at my feet. This is where, in a past life, I would have Hamish bring him his payment. Now, things seem to be changed around.
“I do believe Brooke has your payment?” I’m uncertain of the details revolving around the payment for the Council, but I don’t care too much for it either. This simple gesture puts me at the top of the pyramid from now until the new Council is enlisted, and even then, they are my own men and women, hand-selected to be the puppets I want them to be.
“Yes,” Mason replies, “I will take those matters up with her as soon it’s necessary. Tell me, Daffyd, what do you have in store for this world?”
I can’t help but chuckle. “World peace, curing world hunger, you know…the altruist’s handbook.”
Mason knows I’m lying. I can see it in those cold, red eyes. Still, he nods in agreement. “Then so be it. A better world for all.”
“Yes. A better world for all, but some get it a little better than others, right?”
“Yes. It seems so. There’s always got to be one of us at the top.”
His arrogance outweighs my own, but I can never tell if he’s being serious or just trying to rile me up. I shrug it off.
“You’ve done a good thing here, Mason,” I give him the credit he deserves.
“Have I?” he questions. Then, silence. A comfortable silence. Something unknown to us. “What are you reading there, Daffyd?”
His question takes me by surprise. Mason has always been the kind to either know precisely what is going on or the kind not to care enough.
“I’m reading the notes I wrote years ago. You remember? The days of the Shredder? Mattheus and the establishment of a vampire hierarchy that only found its founder’s death.”
“Must be an interesting read,” he says. Neither of us can recall those early days, I suppose. My own memories extend to around the mid eighteen-hundreds. Everything before that has been erased from memory. That is why, as I read over these notes, I wonder why it changed. Who did I become? A man that gave up on his master’s rules to become his own master. A master of nothing. An empire of nothingness. I call the shots but I do not rule those who are beneath me. They fear me. Mason seeks nothing but payment. This is not how a king should lead.
“It is. I have just gotten to my induction to the crown. Did you know, once long before you ever entered my world, I killed Abraham Van Helsing?” I wonder how he would react to the comment. Again, I find myself thinking about how the drive and courage to slaughter Van Helsing himself was reduced so much to handing over every simple task to an Ancient Vampire. Or an underling. When... How did I become so lazy that I would drop my own self-respects to be
just another useless monarch?
“I did not, but who can remember those days anyway?” A sly comment. These were my own thoughts exactly. Those days are long behind us.
“Agreed.” Something about Mason is perplexing. He is not the same as he always is. Perhaps he has changed in his absence. Seeking a new home. There’s always a place for him here, so long as he bows down to the crown.
“Did you ever write any of your own life stories down?” I put my writing back into a pile and give my full attention to him. I do believe that if he ever did write down his life story, it would be tragically fascinating. A tale of the ages.
“No.” I can’t help but admit I am disappointed in his answer. “I have other ways of remembering.”
Chapter Two: Brooke
“Are you truly going to dump Torrine Castle on the wolves just because someone you don’t know sent a letter? Don’t you think that’s a bit foolish, Daffy?” I know he hates that nickname. Ever since our early years of courtship, when I first gave it to him, but he bared with it for all these years, so why not just keep it going?
“I don’t expect you to understand,” he replies, paging through his old notes. He’s been reading them a great deal lately. I wonder why…
“Well then, try and explain it to me. You’ve lost nothing but a few tunnels,” I put down my own book and look over at him. We are in bed. The same bed we share daily. No matter what happens between us, there has always been some spark. It may not always show itself, but I knew it. I can’t say I love him any longer. No, that ship has sailed, but that doesn’t mean that there was never anything there.
Once upon a time...
“They have the castle already. We have no daytime troops. We don’t have the witches’ spells protecting us anymore. The problem is not Torrine Castle. It’s the day trade that has been stripped from us. If we build, they will break. Whoever’s sending these letters has got us by the balls.” He places his notes on the bedside table.
“How does he have us? He’s taken out one route that linked us. That’s where the problem lies. Our tunnels should not branch to one and then to three. They should go from here to dead ends and nonsensical places. The ones they destroy have a chance of being our true trade, but how will they know which are the ones we move on and which ones are pointless?” He contemplates my words. His mind is racing.
“Then what do you propose?” There have been times in the past where Daffyd would ask my opinion. They were done so seldom that I let go of any thoughts that it would become a standard between us. Not that I don’t have a strong voice among the vampire people – no, not that – but because he always kept his world secretive. It is the way he is, claiming that there is no need for me to worry myself over these matters, but again, I am his queen. I must know the dealings of my king. This is where the rift between us grew.
I was never good enough to be a part of the decisions, and he became too serious. Not the young, dapper king I met all those years before with the stars in his eyes and a vision of a better future.
Sad how time changes us.
“I propose you send them their letter. A letter telling them precisely what you think of them. We have killed the Council. You are going to be the true high king of the vampires. There will be nothing stopping you in your endeavors and takeovers. Do not let yourself seem weak by dropping Torrine…” I sit up in my bed, pulling myself closer to him. “Show them that you are fearless and they will have no sway over the king of vampires,” I take his right hand in mine and squeeze it tightly.
His eyes glow with the promise of these words. And how promising they are.
“Then I will tell Hamish, and we will cancel this treaty. The wolves will bow to our kind sooner than they expect.” Yes. This is precisely what I want. The thrill of him becoming the man he used to be.
Maybe then I will feel bad when I have him sentenced to whatever Mason has planned…
“And what about your deal with Mason? Has payment been made?” As if he could hear my thoughts, he asks this question. A simple question, sure, but one that has been built and dedicated on a mountain of lies.
“Yes. He has been compensated well for his task,” I reply.
“And what exactly was it that he wanted?” The foulest intentions lace this question. I know what Daffyd is thinking. Payment in sex. Defiling the queen. Something, I assume, he would consider.
I laugh.
“I am a woman of a higher standing, and he is a gentleman. You can set your mind at ease on any of those notions.” I fall back to my side of the bed, shaking and bouncing as the springs squeak beneath me.
Just like Daffyd to ruin the moment.
Chapter Three: Drakka
“Che Hernandez as I live and breathe. What brings El Flamenco to my neck of the woods?” I know precisely why he is here, but I need to keep up appearances. To the bar goers, this man is a noteworthy assassin among our kind. To my understanding, he was a close colleague of Verona – the shifter whose death brought me my exuberant empire.
“I’m looking for work, man.” He was briefed on how to react when he entered. By far an eccentric man, wearing white chinos, brown shoes, a white button-up, short sleeve shirt which can’t be less than two sizes too big, all brought together with a beige fedora to match the peculiar ensemble.
“You look like you’ve strolled in from Miami beach,” I tease, placing a glass full of milk stout on top of a sheet of paper holding his instructions. I use it as a coaster. He sips, slipping the paper off the table and into his pocket. “Sadly, I don’t have any work for you, my friend.” The long sip continues until it is finished. He places the glass down and stands up. Slipping his hand into his pocket, he pulls out a few dollars. Enough for the drink with a generous tip.
“Then that is all, cabron.” He spits, walking to the door. Business continues as usual from here. Not that his entrance made it slow too much, but with a reputation as dark as his, not many would be willing to make a move that would be considered stepping out of line.
As mentioned, it is a high-value target.
Mason, the ancient vampire.
A dock worker has a dagger.
From what my spies have found on it, this single dagger was created to kill the ancient vampires.
Research has been extensively done.
Find the dock worker in the Elephant Bar.
He will be there tonight.
You will receive the discussed amulet once it is done.
Come to my home when you are done.
Good Luck.
Flamingo
Chapter Four: Ankh
“Thank you for coming here.”
We’re in a park. It’s night time. Small lights hang from trees, illuminating the way down a path. Further up is a small pond. Once beautiful, it is now littered from those who frequent the park. Some even call it home. Those who have nowhere else to go. Jack and Madison are here with me. Mason has been doing business. No doubt the uproar I’ve been hearing among the vampires. Rumors circulating of the Council that has been killed.
“I know it’s a far way out to come, but as I’m sure you can understand, these meetings are to remain private. With word spreading the way it does, you never know who’s listening.” Jack nods, his face illuminated by one of the lights dangling from the trees. Madison is quiet. She’s been quiet all night. I wonder if there’s a reason to this. Maybe the way Jack looks at her. Her discomfort from his affections. Maybe she’s just got something else on her mind. After all, a girl has gone missing.
“Yeah, no worries, bud,” At this point, we are not, as he just assumed, buds. I am going about my business as an informant of sorts. One that is in the loop with the Forsaken. After all, they are the ones who included me in this. I may have known about the disappearance of the girl before they came, but together we worked on it to find what was going on.
“You were there with Mason that night. You know the girl was a deity. I’ve got more,” I speak. Madison still stands behind Jack quie
tly.
“And? What do you have to tell us?” I’m not quite sure how to put it all. So, I take a moment to consider the actions and implications of what I am about to share. After all, this is Forsaken business. The Agency has nothing to do with regards to my kind. The reason for this? They don’t have the potential to rule the Forsaken. They never have and they never will. So, trusting them with this information is futile. They will use it and share it around like whatever meme is circulating at this point. A virus circling their world and ours. The problem is, this is bigger than ourselves, and if my people cannot see that, then they are blind. Rash decisions follow our kind. So, this one is no different.
“The man who killed the young girl is named Victor. I was there when they sentenced him to the Darkness. I watched and witnessed as they imprisoned him.” Jack looks into my eyes.
“I sense a ‘but’ coming along,” he says. Madison gives a forced chuckle and looks onward. It’s here that it strikes me. She is scared. Similar, problematic issues have followed her before, and now it seems they are resurfacing just as she does.
“But he has freed himself.”
I give them a moment to digest the information.
“What do you mean?” Madison finally asks. A glimpse of hope stripped from her with my words. The trembling fear in her voice strikes a chord with me. I say nothing on it. We are here for business. Not for false words to cower behind.
“To understand the intricacies of a prison cell in the Forsaken realm, you will have to understand the magic we produce,” I begin. “We do not work with restraints in the ways that you do. They are primitive, archaic. Our bonds are manipulated matter, binding and bonding you through a force of energy.” I raise my hand and wave it in the air to demonstrate. Jack’s hands are forced together without his consent, yet try as he might, he does not pull them free. I release him. “Now, I had the ability to restrain Jack because he was unsuspecting. My abilities in that front are not all too good.” This being true, he will not have been able to escape if I did not release him either. I simply do not want to get into a pissing contest now. “The stronger the Forsaken, the greater this ability. It was my own father who sentenced Victor to the Darkness, and it was my father who bound him. These bonds seem to have been shattered with dark magic I do not understand.”
The Vampire Touch 3: A New Dawn Page 1
