by E. M. Moore
Of Blood & Twisted Roots
Rise of the Morphlings, Book One
Beth Hendrix
E.M. Moore
Cover Art
Victoria Schaefer & Brittany VanLanen
Edited by
Kaila Duff
Contents
Other Books by the Authors
Dedications:
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Beth Hendrix
E. M. Moore
Other Books by the Authors
The Story Continues…
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental
Copyright © 2018 by Beth Hendrix and E. M. Moore. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact E. M. Moore or Beth Hendrix.
Manufactured in the United States of America
First Edition August 2018
Other Books by the Authors
Beth Hendrix
Demon Exchange Series
Hoodwinked
Losing Alyanna (Can be found in the What goes bump in the night Anthology)
Underworld Falling Series
Nightmare (Can be found in the All Hallowed Tales Anthology)
E. M. Moore
Ravana Clan Vampires Series
Chosen By Darkness
Into the Darkness
Falling For Darkness
Surrender To Darkness
Ravana Clan Legacy Series
A New Genesis
Tracking Fate
Cursed Gift
Coveted by the Dark Series
Thirst For Her
Order of the Akasha Series
Summoned By Magic
Tempted By Magic
Ravaged By Magic
Indulged By Magic
Chronicles of Cas Series
Reawakened
Hidden
Power
Severed
Rogue
The Adams’ Witch Series
Bound In Blood
Cursed In Love
Witchy Librarian Cozy Mystery Series
Wicked Witchcraft
One Wicked Sister
Wicked Cool
Wicked Wiccans
Dedications:
Thanks to LLS for bringing us together. This book wouldn’t have been possible without it.
Also, huge shoutout to Victoria Schaefer, Brittany VanLanen, and Kaila Duff for all their hard work! And to Nicole Dunton for giving us the inspiration behind the guys!
If you want to stay up to date with Beth Hendrix and E.M. Moore, join their facebook groups. You can chat directly with them, and get first looks at their new books/series.
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Prologue
It is said that many, many years ago, Artemis, the goddess of all wild animals, fell so in love with her creatures that she turned them human for one night and mated with them one by one, making their offspring shifters.
First it was the panthers, her chosen skin. Then it was the owls and so on until Actaeon, the god of the wilderness, became jealous of Artemis for claiming all the creatures as her own. In revenge, Actaeon used most of his powers to make the Morphlings, those who could change into any being. More special than the goddess’s animal shifters, they took on the powers of any animal they chose to turn into. They were the ultimate being, even born with abilities the goddess Artemis could never have. But even worse, they favored their creator, Actaeon, instead of her.
When Artemis found what Actaeon had done, she mated with the wolves, infusing them with her remaining powers. Though they were not equal to the Morphlings, they were similar to their kind. If they killed and stole pieces of an animal shifter, they too could take on the skin and powers of the other animals.
Artemis and her new army of wolves revolted against the Morphlings, hunting and killing them one by one. She recruited all her offspring to fight with her and her new special pets against the Morphlings, punishing those that refused. However, the other animal creatures coveted the Morphlings, and had grown tired of Artemis’s fickle nature as she turned the once animal world into hybrids. In the end, they rebelled against her. Seeking Actaeon’s help, they infused his waning powers, along with their own, into a moonstone to put Artemis the panther to sleep.
They knew their magic would not hold forever, but Actaeon told them that when the time came, a Morphling would rise. And though it wouldn’t be equal to Artemis’s power, it would be smart and cunning, able to put Artemis to sleep once more, keeping the balance of the animal world in place.
Chapter One
A tingle of awareness shot up my spine. A quick check on the sky told me all I needed to know.
It was getting dark. Clouds filtered in and out of the dark blue horizon. The moon hovered just over the treeline and climbed higher and higher the longer the evening dragged on. Soon, stars would dot the sky and the moon would become even more prominent against the stark darkness.
I needed to get somewhere safe, and fast.
I immediately picked up the pace. Nerves made my fingers tremble as I checked my surroundings, pretending just to be another young female walking in the seedy area of town right before dark.
It was the same every full moon. The eyes in the shadows. The feeling of someone or something watching. Everything was out to get me, and it wasn’t paranoia either.
Absentmindedly, I touched the inside of my elbow where a scar ran jaggedly against my otherwise perfect skin. It never went away no matter how I tried to change my appearance. It was a constant reminder of the past. A dark reminder that I was never really safe.
No, it wasn’t my imagination. Not at all.
During every full moon, I was hunted.
I took a deep breath and pulled my long blonde hair over my shoulder. My shoulders were starting to feel the weight of the backpack I kept my life in. No home, no family, and, not even a body I could call my own.
I was an anomaly.
The long blonde hair I fingered technically wasn’t mine. Neither was the size four waist or the perfectly upturned nose. No, I wore these things as a necessity. No one wanted to help homely girls. It was a lesson I learned long ago.
It had been so long since I first changed skins that I barely remembered what I looked like before. I remembered corkscrew red hair, and a face dotted with freckles. A face so ugly, no one wanted me from the orphanage. I waited and waited while girls of every other type got adopted out while I still stayed behind like the ugly red-headed step sister. Literally.
That’s when it
happened. I wished for a different skin, thinking if I just had a different color hair or a perfect smile, I'd be adopted next. Then, right before the mirror, I turned.
In the place of red hair was long, sleek black hair like Katie whose adopted parents had just came to pick her up. In place of my usually speckled nose was flawless pale skin. It only lasted a few minutes. Long enough so I understood it wasn’t my imagination, but too short to use it to my advantage. Soon, I was back to being red-headed Anika again.
Except, now I knew I was different. I was a genetic freak who could change my appearance at will.
The ability to change my features never helped me get foster parents like I originally planned. Instead, the headmistress of the children's orphanage hid me away until I could control what I looked like all the time. For the first few years, I slipped in and out of different “characters”, as I called them, without meaning to. The other children began to be afraid of me. Up until I was a teenager, the headmistress, Millie, was my only friend.
Nowadays, I changed my appearance whenever I wanted. Especially during the full moon. At times like these, I changed every hour or so. If those hunting me couldn’t recognize me, then they wouldn’t be able to find me. At least, that had been my plan.
A cold breeze came up and tracked strands of hair across my face, sending a shiver up my spine. I pulled it back behind my ear reminding myself that next time I’d go for a cute pixie cut. This long hair bullshit looked pretty, but it wasn’t manageable. At least not for me.
I didn’t know why I waited so long to find some place safe. I could kick myself. I took a deep breath and let it out, trying to figure out my surroundings. The buildings and houses around me were familiar, yet strange to me at the same time. It was like I strolled through a TV show set. I knew the houses, the people, but I also didn't know them.
I was an actor in my own life. Never really participating, but on the outside looking in. I watched life go on in this small town, but as an observer.
I had no idea why I’d been feeling nostalgic lately, yearning for a place that was never really mine to begin with. But as alone as I was, I’d thought about the only home I’d ever known. Before I knew it, I found myself gravitating back toward the orphanage I ran away from all those years ago. I’d gotten sidetracked in the town, eating at the local cafe I used to go to and walking through the parks. In actuality, it wasn't even being sidetracked, it was avoiding the one place I came here to see. Before I even realized it, nighttime had started to fall, and the familiar eerie feeling worked its way through my body.
Stupid. I knew better than to push it. Especially with the ever-growing moon.
Eyeing the warehouse I slept in the first night I ran away from the orphanage, I picked up the pace. It had kept me safe once, it would keep me safe again. It was surrounded in metal, the one thing I knew helped keep my hunters at bay. A simple bracelet Millie had given me at the orphanage had scared the first monster away. The monster had limped away, leaving me writhing in pain and bloody, but the bracelet had saved my life.
The warehouse loomed ahead. My body started to relax the closer I got. Safe again, I promised myself. It was my biggest rule. I may have been a freak, but that didn’t mean I didn’t deserve a life. It was all I ever wanted.
After having such a shitty childhood, I deserved it too.
Scratching on the pavement caught my attention. I stopped in my tracks and looked around, eyes darting into the shadows surrounding the abandoned warehouse. An overturned dumpster stood on one side and grass as high as my waist on the other. I pulled on the bracelet and waited. It could’ve just been my imagination… I tended to be a little jumpy on full moon days.
I took a tentative step, still peeking around me. The air was quiet, still. My shoes crunched against the old gravel as I crossed the weed-dotted parking lot once more. I was literally ten feet away now. I thought I could make it before I felt the eyes on me.
My heart hammered in my chest, reminding me that I would not ever cut it so close again. It didn’t matter whether I was being nostalgic or not, it would be hard to live out my nostalgia tomorrow if I ended up dying tonight.
A loud crack echoed through the night.
I stopped again, my ears intent on the sounds around me. The air still echoed the slamming sound as if one of the old warehouse doors had just given away after years of rust and disuse. The sound filled the night air until it finally dissipated.
I swallowed, trying to calm my nerves. I’d scoped the place out earlier, set up my little “home” to pass the night in. It was safe, and I even had about seven different snacks waiting inside for me. My “last night” snacks, I called them. I took every food I loved and ate it on a full moon night in case it was the last thing I ever ate. Chunky bars, Skittles, popcorn--
A muffled sound ricocheted through me. Awareness skittered up my spine. The eyes. They were on me. I squeezed the straps on my backpack and took off at a run toward the warehouse door as fear opened up a pit in my stomach.
The ground shook. I clenched my jaw and tried to ignore the way my footsteps absorbed the vibration from the thing behind me, sending goosebumps pricking my skin. A loud snort moved the hair at my ear and I yelped before tripping and tumbling to the ground.
Immediately, I turned just in time to see the shape of a wolf standing over me. His lips pulled apart, baring white teeth and pink stained gums. His lips pulled up, making it look as if it laughed at me, its gaze narrowing at the same time.
Asshole.
I crawled back, my fingers and heels digging into the decaying parking lot until I backed myself right into the door, my head hitting it with a bang.
My fingers closed around a handful of dirt. I threw it at the wolf’s face. It shook its head, its mane fraying out in a gray blur until it settled right back into place.
It stepped closer and let out a menacing growl.
I was trapped. All I had was the bracelet on my wrist. I held it out, and the wolf cocked its head.
My arm started to itch, then burned like crazy. The wolf’s eyes narrowed once more, and then he yelped. He sat back on his haunches and let out a devilish howl into the night air.
I gasped as his hair started to fall out in clumps before me. Its pink, stretched skin gave way to pale human skin. Its snout shortened, and teeth retracted until the face of the wolf morphed. Disbelieving human eyes replaced the wolf’s beady black ones.
My heart slammed against my rib cage. I used the door as leverage and pulled myself up. Turning on my heel, I ran.
An animal howl echoed through the air until it turned into a human cry of agony.
My feet hit the sidewalk, and I didn’t turn back. I’d lost my backpack, but my legs carried me away still. My breaths sawed in and out of me until my chest burned as I fled. When I finally looked up, I saw the house I’d been avoiding all day.
Gray siding with green decrepit shutters. It was home, yet the furthest thing from a home I’d ever had.
Right now, though, it was the only thing I had.
I burst through the front door, my head spinning. Slamming the door closed behind me, I leaned against it.
Ten years ago, I swore I’d never come back to Millie’s orphanage.
I was wrong. Very wrong.
Chapter Two
In an attempt to calm my racing heartbeat, I took big, slow breaths. My surroundings came into focus and the wave of pain that hit me from it almost brought me to my knees.
They hadn’t changed anything from the puke green walls to the ugly grey shag carpet. Creeping slowly forward, I could see the stained-glass windows were even the same. I had spent my whole childhood here.
This was the place that had shown me what a freak I was and just how different I was from everyone else. Maybe I could hole down in the basement without anyone seeing me.
I made my way down the hallway to the door that would take me to the place I always used to seek solace from the other children here. Shuffling sounded behind me. I turn
ed quickly and lowered into my fighting stance.
“Anika dear, is that you?” a voice asked. As she came into the light the window provided, I realized it was Millie. Dropping my stance, I took a second to look her over. The ten years I had been gone had not been nice to her. Her face was now completely wrinkled and pale. Her once golden hair had turned into a dull grey, even her eyes had lost their spark.
“Yeah, I just needed a place to hide for the night,” I replied, trying to keep the disdain out of my voice as I spoke. I had never forgiven her for not being there for me when I needed her.
There was a time when Millie was the one person who was always there for me, and the only person in my whole fucked up life that had loved me. The night before I left though, I had gone to her to learn more about the people who’d dropped me off on her doorstep.
Instead of telling me or even just saying she couldn’t say, she kicked my ass out with only my backpack and a wad of cash. After that, I turned bitter and vowed to never return to this place. However, life had a funny way of fucking you when you least expected it, so here I was.
