ASCENDANCY THE RISING DARKNESS
BRADFORD BATES
Contents
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
Acknowledgments
Also by Bradford Bates
Copyright © 2016 by Bradford Bates
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CHAPTER 1
JOHN, NINETEEN YEARS AGO
Life could be an odd thing. Whenever you felt as if you had it all figured out, life liked to toss you a giant curve ball. I never expected to have a child, but now that he was here, I couldn’t imagine life without him. Six months ago, Jackson came kicking and screaming into our lives, making us the first parents to a hybrid child in a millennium.
Jackson was the most important thing in the world to me. Even now, sitting with my wife across the table, my eyes continued to drift to his crib. Every time the baby moved, every time he made a noise, I wanted to jump from my chair and rush toward him. Nothing was going to hurt my child.
It took me a moment to realize that Sarah had started waving her hand in front of my face to get my attention. “I’m sorry dear, were you saying something?”
“You won’t be able to protect him from everything, John.”
“Damned if I can’t.” Jackson made a noise in his crib, and I laughed gently as my wife’s ear twitched gently, turning toward the sound. It seemed as if I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t relax.
“It is nice to get out of the city for a while. A few days away from the Ascendancy will be good for us.”
“I don’t know about you, but I’ve been getting tired of Adam watching over us. When he had to leave on business, it seemed like the perfect time to slip away.”
“Oh, you didn’t say that he was gone.”
“He said something about a call from the Council. I’ll never understand why he continues to speak with them after what they did. We’ve protected this country without their support for over a hundred years now.”
“You know it’s hard for him to let go. The Council was supposed to be his legacy. Now it’s been twisted into something he can barely recognize.”
It had to be hard to swallow for him. To see his beloved Council turn into the thing that he hated most. Money and power seemed to have that effect on people. Once they started earning enough of either, they never wanted to let go. Eventually the decisions they made became more about keeping what they had than looking out for the people they were supposed to protect.
The Council had tried to keep Sarah and me apart. After Jackson was born, they threatened to harm us. We were safe as long as we stayed in the United States. Adam had eyes and ears everywhere, even inside of the Council itself. If there was an actual threat, we would be able to handle it.
“You’re right, as usual.”
“Well, thank you for recognizing that fact,” she said with a knowing smirk.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself; I still get about one out of ten.”
“So you’re trying to say I’m not perfect.”
I stood up and grabbed the bottle of wine, tucking it into my arm like a waiter in a fancy restaurant. Walking around the table, I picked up her glass. It struck me then just how different we were from the humans we protected. A human woman who was breastfeeding wouldn’t be able to drink unless she pumped her milk afterward. With Sarah, we didn’t have that concern. Her body broke down the wine faster than it could enter her system. We drank solely for the taste of it.
When her glass was full, I offered it to her. She took it out of my hand, and I held out my glass for a toast. “To the most perfect and beautiful woman that I know.”
She smiled up at me and clinked my glass. I could have fallen into those eyes and stayed there until the end of time. How had I ever gotten so lucky? A relationship that should have never been considered had bloomed into a family I couldn’t live without. Looking into her eyes, I was reminded of just how much she meant to me.
“You keep up that sweet talk and you might just get lucky tonight.”
“If you replace might with will, then we have something to talk about.”
Sarah stood up and wrapped her arms around me. She pressed her head into my chest. I pulled her tighter against me, never wanting to let go. When she tilted her head back, my mouth found hers, and a simple kiss bloomed into more. She felt so good in my arms. Who knows, if I played my cards right, maybe we would be blessed with another baby. The first one had been a miracle; a second would be just as priceless.
I bent down for another kiss, and the alarm for the entrance to the property beeped. Sarah let out a little growl, wondering just who had the gall to disturb us on our vacation. Grabbing the remote, I flipped on the TV screen to check the camera. Probably just someone from the office who thought they had a problem that couldn’t wait. There wasn’t cell service out here, and I had pulled out the land line for dinner.
Four black SUVs rolled over our broken gate and onto the property. The windows were tinted, and there was no way to know who was in them. A feeling of dread curdled in the bottom of my stomach. We had to leave. Now.
“Take Jackson and run.”
“John, come with me. You don’t have to do this.”
“Fuck that. I’ve had enough of these bastards threatening our family. It’s time they learned just who they are screwing with.”
Jackson started crying at the sound of my raised voice. I immediately regretted letting my emotions get the best of me. Running to his crib, I scooped him up and kissed his pudgy little cheek. “Don’t worry. Everything will be fine, little one. Your dad’s just going to teach these men a lesson.”
“We can still leave together.”
“I won’t be able to do what I need to unless I know that you’re safe.”
“Fine. But so help me, if you die John Blackthorn, I will find your spirit and make sure you suffer for all of eternity.”
Sarah quickly stripped off her clothes, giving me one last glimpse of the creamy tan flesh that I loved so much. The change happened quickly, and after a few moments, I was handing my son over to an eight-foot-tall werewolf. She cradled him gently against her chest with her paw. I opened the back door for her, and she took off down the side of the mountain at a speed that was impressive even for one of her kind. Sav
ing Jackson was the most important thing, and she knew it.
Closing the back door, I moved to the front of the house and out onto the porch. I sat down in one of the chairs as the four SUVs made it to the top of the hill and skidded to a stop. Four men came out of each vehicle, and one man moved to stand in front of them.
Gregor. I hated that bastard. He had been calling for my head since I started dating Sarah over a hundred years ago. He had stood in front of the Council every day since, advocating for the opportunity to kill us. When he found out that we had a child, he nearly lost it. If he was here now, it meant the Council had finally given into the pressure he continually placed upon them and had finally sanctioned the hit. Boy, were they going to be surprised at the result.
“Gregor, I’d say it’s a pleasure, but we’d both know that I was lying.”
“Just bring us the woman and the abomination. If you do that, I promise to let you live.”
The chair creaked gently as I stood up. The abomination. He was referring to my son as the abomination. The fact that he was here to murder a woman and a child must have been completely lost on him. “I’ll give you one chance to get back in your cars and go. I’d hate to spend the rest of my vacation cleaning up body parts.”
Gregor laughed. The fucking bastard laughed at me. It had been a long time since anyone from Europe had felt my power. Apparently too long if they had reached the point where they would dare to laugh at me.
“John, I have fifteen men with me. Just do what we are asking of you and you can walk away from this.”
The power came to me when I called it. I could feel it swirling around me. A few of his men must have felt the pull of it, because they stepped back a step. Who did this man think he was? Coming to our home and demanding the life of my wife and child. They would make a good example of what happened. If I made it messy enough, the Council would never dare to send anyone after us again.
“What kind of man would even consider what you’re asking? I’ll be declining your offer.”
“Then you leave us with no choice, John.”
“So be it.” The words came out as a whisper, but I doubt they ever heard them. My hands were moving even as I spoke them. The four SUVs burst into flames, and with a thought, I tossed them forty feet away to crash into the pine trees at the edge of our property. They were stupid to have come here. It would have been better to wait until we were leaving. The entire property was warded to make me stronger and to weaken the magic of others. That and I had a few traps set around the house.
I sent a wall of flame at the men as I ran off the side of the porch. The earth rumbled as I sent my magic deep into it, calling forth the golems I had hidden there. They slowly dug their way out of the ground and marched toward the men. The flickering light given off by the burning SUVs gave me just enough illumination to get to work. The only way to fight this many of the Gifted was to keep them off balance. I planned to give them hell.
Dodging a bolt of lightning, I cast out with a ball of ice. When it reached the middle of the men, I detonated it, showering them in shards of ice. None of them fell, but it took their focus off of me, allowing me to kill two of them with spears of rock I thrust up from below them. One of my golems ripped down a massive pine tree and swung it in a vicious arc. Two more men were crushed by the tree. Gregor cried out as my golem swung the massive tree at him. With a word from Gregor, the tree exploded in a shower of splinters. So far I was unimpressed. Gregor had been careless picking such untrained fighters to help him. Already he had lost a fourth of his men, and I was just getting started.
Gregor screamed at me, spittle flying from his mouth. He started to charge forward, but one of his men pulled him back, sending four others in his place. Two of my golems had been reduced to rubble by the other men, while two continued to keep them off balance. With a thought, I gathered the remains of the two destroyed golems and encased two of Gregor’s charging men in them. I pulled the rock tighter against them until I felt their shields snap under the pressure. Scratch two more off the list.
Crushing the men had taken me longer than expected, and the two other men had reached me while I had been distracted. They worked in tandem, striking out from different sides and at different angles. It was easy enough to block their punches and kicks, but I couldn’t make any headway. I didn’t have time for this. I had to keep these men busy. If they realized Sarah had fled, they would stop fighting and go after her.
When the next punch came, I dodged it and shifted the ground underneath us. When the punch sailed wide, I took the off-balance fighter and tossed him toward his partner. The kick he had been aiming at me slammed into his friend. Both of them fell to the ground in a heap. I summoned fire around my hands and shaped the bright blue flames into blades. The men tried to move as I brought my hands down, but neither of them were quick enough. My blades sliced effortlessly into their skulls and sizzled on the way out. My eyes locked with Gregor’s, and this time it was me who bellowed a challenge.
Some of his men backed away, but he marched slowly forward. At some point, he would start to wonder why Sarah wasn’t fighting by my side. I couldn’t let it dawn on him that she might not be here anymore. All he wanted was to kill my wife and son. Nothing else mattered to him. Gregor knew enough about us to know that neither of us would leave the other to fight this kind of battle alone. I imagined the wheels turning behind those steely blue eyes. I had to do something quickly to throw him off.
The insane idea popped into my head as I dodged a spell cast toward me. It was so simple that I didn’t know why I hadn’t thought of it before. Sarah was going to be pissed that we had to rebuild the cabin, but it would be worth it if it worked out. I cast an illusion. Using the clothes she left behind when she shifted made it easier. Something about using an object tied to the person you were making an illusion of somehow made the spell more powerful. Gregor was turning, shouting for his men to search the woods, when they turned and started pointing toward the house.
When I looked, I almost thought Sarah had come back the spell was so perfect. She stood in the doorway, cradling Jackson in her arms. Gregor turned and saw her. He howled a command, and all of the men started to focus their combined efforts on the house.
I had to make this look good, and I wasn’t done making them pay yet. Three more of his men fell as I rushed to the house, screaming for her to get inside. I managed to block most of the attacks, but I let one of Gregor’s fireballs smash into the roof. The house started to burn, and I could see the look of triumph on his face. One more of his men fell under my assault as I reached the patio and started slowly backing into the house.
They kept attacking, and I let more and more of their attacks hit our home. Huge chunks of the walls were blown away under the relentless assault. I moved inside and closed the front door, moving toward the center of the house.
“See, I told you! John Blackthorn is just a myth. No one could be that powerful,” Gregor shouted, trying to rally his remaining men.
Tell that to the twelve men I just killed. It was now or never. Focusing, I built a shield around myself and then started feeding the flames that had engulfed our home. When the flames were burning high enough, I screamed and pulled the house down around me.
The shield filtered the air and the heat. All I needed to do was maintain it long enough so the wooden beams wouldn’t crush me. I hoped he wouldn’t stick around long enough to sort through the rubble. If he did, I would have to kill them all, and my little charade to help Sarah escape wouldn’t mean a thing. Gregor was a slippery bastard. I had no doubt that he would flee, leaving his men to die. Then we would end up right where we started in a few more months. This had to work.
Through the crackling flames, I could hear them laughing and celebrating. There would be time for payback later. I wouldn’t go after Gregor’s family, but he would die. It wouldn’t be a quick death. That was too good for him, and I preferred to make it last. When I was done with him, he would be begging me for his relea
se from this life. He would never know that I lived through this until he woke up strapped to a table. If I could track down any of the men who helped him, they would suffer the same gruesome fate.
I would make an example out of them that people wouldn’t soon forget. There had been a time I tortured information out of people for a living. It was time to see how much of those skills I could remember. Torture was like riding a bike, right? Once you learned how to harness the perfect set of skills, you could never really forget how to do it.
The weight of the fallen roof pressed against my shield, and all thoughts of revenge floated away. Every ounce of my strength was focused on keeping my shield together. I could hold it. I had too. There was no question of if I would fail. I would live through this to hold my wife and son in my arms again.
CHAPTER 2
STILLMAN
Jesus, just what I fucking needed. A summons to Adam’s office. Hadn’t I done enough for the old bastard since I joined him all those years ago? Every day I walked a thin line between the Council and Adam. Sometimes it felt like he didn’t understand what could happen to me if they ever found out that I was feeding him information.
It also seemed like every time the Council made a move and I didn’t know about it, he took it as a personal affront. There was no way I could know everything. It wasn’t as if I had access to the Council’s meetings. All I could do was pass on what my little birdies told me, and what orders the Council had sent for me to accomplish. The information I purchased didn’t come cheap, and it wasn’t as if Adam paid me very well.
I kept grumbling to myself as I left the house and got into the car. The driver waited for my signal, and then we took off through the gate. It would have been easier to portal into his office, but I preferred to travel the old-fashioned way whenever possible. It gave me a chance to read the paper and check on my investments instead of just sitting in the lobby, waiting on Adam to see me.
The car ride over was relaxing, mostly due to the fact that I wasn’t driving. We seemed to move seamlessly through traffic. I sat back and sipped on a cup of tea, wondering why everyone didn’t travel like this. It seemed like I had just settled into the paper when the car pulled to a stop. The driver tapped the glass, signaling that we had reached our destination.
The Rising Darkness (Ascendancy Legacy 5) Page 1
