Unholy Night: A Paranormal Holiday Romance

by Karpov Kinrade

  My grandmother takes my arm, and we walk slowly together, trailing the others and enjoying the stillness of the cool winter night.

  "What if I fail?" I ask, the fear weighing heavy on my soul.

  I clutch at the vial that hangs around my neck and feel the warmth of it to the depths of my soul. I have collected a drop of blood from every villager and mixed it with the sap of the Sophos Tree and a crushed petal of a Fire Flower. Legend has it these bold red beauties were a summer flower before the curse, yet they continue to dot the snowy landscape of the mountains to the west even still, and are a symbol of the enduring persistence of hope. The last ingredient was my magic, infused into it over the course of a full moon cycle using a spell I created over many years; the most complicated one I've ever performed. It is now ready, and so am I.

  At least, I hope I am.

  "You will not fail," my grandmother says softly, her lilting voice a comfort as it has been all my life. "You have the sun's fire in your heart. It will guide you."

  We walk the rest of the way in companionable silence, the sound of music and laughter spilling out from the village square, audible even from this distance.

  A symphony of night birds sings from the highest branches of the trees, sharing their secrets with one another. What do you see, little birds? I wonder, glancing up into the canopy that shines with moonbeams and twinkles with starlight. What do you hear? And not for the first time I wonder, what will it be like to see the snow melt and the ice crack and then disappear, to see fresh flowers and leaves exposed to the sunlight, glowing in color, iridescent in their brilliance? What will it be like to feel warm from head to toe, without the aid of fire? How will our lives change when we can plow and farm and forage again? When we can support ourselves and use trade for mutual gain rather than survival?

  Our entire culture and way of life is oriented around winter, cold, snow. If I do succeed, our village—our whole kingdom—will need to adapt to entirely new lives. We've, of course, heard the stories of summers and autumns and springs in other lands, but those who venture from our village never return. And many of the elders fear an unspoken rule that we are not meant to leave. Few have dared to try since, and so we live on stories and hope.

  The year I was born, when it was clear I had magic of my own, the village began preparing for spring. They purchased seeds and wove lighter fabrics for new clothing. They made maps of the best lands for farming, raising cattle, and building on. They gave everything to the hope—the belief—that I would be their savior. Thus, my name. Adara means fire. Alexander is defender of human kind.

  It's a big name to live up to, but the moment I was old enough, I began to study the books kept in a locked library and guarded by my family for generations. Books left by the old ones who had magic running in their veins. Books that taught me everything I know about magic.

  My bag for tomorrow is already packed. I have a change of clothes, dried meats and fruits, wine, hard bread, and cheese. And I have my herbs, my potions, and my Grimoire. I would never leave home without them, despite taking up valuable space in my pack.

  There is nothing for me to do but wait out the night. Still, I must eat, and as we enter the town, the thatched roofs shimmering under the moonlight, the villagers dressed in their most colorful cloaks and scarves, fire pits burning at every corner for light and warmth, it all invites me in, to dine, to smile, to laugh, to enjoy one more night with the people who have bound my heartstrings to them.

  As people mill about, my grandmother pulls away to make her rounds and many stop to chat with me, to ask me how I am, to offer me words of support or gratitude.

  Conversations about the curse float around me as people share stories they heard from long-dead relatives.

  "I hear he sucks the blood from his victims to stay alive," the baker says, shaking his head.

  "He is a vampire of old, though they were thought to be long dead," the librarian says. "But thousands of years ago, the wicked prince was cursed with this ancient demon, and now he walks the nights devouring the souls of his victims along with their blood."

  I shiver and move away from that group. I don't need more horror stories filling my head. I've got enough of my own to keep my imagination active.

  While many continue to greet me, none stay and chat. I'm a bit of an oddity in the village.

  I had a different upbringing than others. While most kids went to the small schoolhouse and studied together, I was tutored in private, by my grandmother and others, for the one job I would have in this life.

  Now I smile as my combat instructor approaches. She is tall and lean with dark eyes, even darker skin, and is never without her bow and arrow, though she is just as deadly with a sword.

  "Adara, well wishes to you," she says in her thick eastern accent, holding out her forearm.

  I grasp it in the traditional greeting and nod. "Thank you, Kadere. I wouldn't be this prepared without your years of training."

  "You made a fine pupil," she says, then turns to leave.

  Kadere is from a kingdom to the east. She came here to train me for a season, then met a woman with whom she fell in love and never left. She's not one for words, but she's been a dear friend these many years.

  I watch as she joins her wife, their daughter spinning in circles laughing. The girl was an orphan whose father was killed by the beast on the mountain and whose mother died of heartbreak not a year later. Now she has a happy home, but that does not erase the blood debt the monster owes to my village.

  A tall, handsome young man rushes over to me carrying a plate of food and a goblet of wine, distracting me from my dark thoughts. "Adara, I was hoping you would come," he says, a blush rising on his cheeks.

  I've known Arthur since we were both crawling in mud with pigs. He hands me the plate and cup. "I thought you might be hungry," he says with a shy grin. "And thirsty," he adds quickly.

  "Thank you, I am." I sip the wine and try to sort out how to eat while holding both the cup and the plate. "Walk with me?" I ask as I tuck the plate into the same hand as the goblet so I can more easily pluck a chunk of honeyed ham from it.

  He falls into step beside me. "Are you scared?" he asks.

  "Yes," I say honestly.

  He raises an eyebrow in surprise. "I've never seen you scared before," he says.

  "Sure you have," I say, layering a bit of cheese and salami onto a cracker. "I get scared loads of times."

  "But you never seem it. You're always so sure of yourself."

  I shrug, licking my fingers and then dipping a strawberry into whipped buttercream. "I feel the fear, and I do it anyway. That's all you can ever do."

  He pauses, and we watch a group ice-skating on the lake under the bridge we stand on.

  "So that's what you're doing now? Feeling your fear but doing it anyways?"

  "Yes," I say, closing my eyes as I conjure up the thing that terrifies me the most and mentally stare it down.

  "I don't think I could do it," he says.

  I turn to him. "Do what?"

  He shivers. "Face the monster that killed my parents."

  A cold wind whips around me, and I stiffen my spine and look into the distance, toward the snowcapped Ice Mountains. "That's why I have to do it. He killed my parents. Now, I will kill him."

  CONTINUE READING HERE.

  FLUKES by Nichole Chase

  Check out FLUKES by Nichole Chase and fall in love with a new romance!

  *** This novel is not intended for young readers, due to language and sexual situations. ***

  Meena has a secret guarded closely by her family—a secret as dangerous as the sea and buried just as deep. When court-appointed community-service workers are assigned to Flukes, the family-owned animal sanctuary, everyone is on high alert. It doesn’t help that Meena finds herself attracted to sexy-as-sin Blake Weathering, one of the new workers. If he wasn’t so distracting, she might be able to land Flukes a much-needed cruise-line contract.

  Blake Weathering, the first
in his family to attend public school, has developed a tough image. Unfortunately, it lands him in trouble. Now banned from his high school graduation ceremony, getting his diploma is dependent upon a community-service gig cleaning up fish crap. No diploma, no trust fund fortune—and no way to escape his overbearing father. The last thing he needs is the distraction of a mysterious girl with teal eyes who pulls at his heartstrings.

  When Blake discovers Meena’s secret, they are both thrown into a desperate search for information about her past. Two worlds pull them in opposite directions, and they will have to fight to hold on to all that really matters.

  Chapter One

  - Meena -

  “There goes the neighborhood.” Violet stood on her tiptoes so that she could peek out of the empty tank. Her feet slipped in the soap on the wall and she scrambled to keep from falling.

  “You say that every year.” I couldn’t help but snort as my friend looked up sheepishly. Leaning down, I picked up Vi’s push broom and handed it back to her. I tried to not think about the fact this would be the last year she would be working the summer at Flukes. From now on she’d have internships for college every summer. And I’d still be here. Doing the same thing. I couldn’t help the sigh that escaped my mouth. Part of me really wished that I was going to college too, not the one being left behind.

  “Well, it’s true every year. They stomp around and glare at everything. None of them do a good job, and we end up having to pick up their slack.” Violet scrubbed at the tank wall with a vengeance, the lather from the soap spraying angrily into the air.

  “It’s better than having to do it all ourselves. Mom and Dad really need the help this time of year, and those kids have to work off community-service hours. It’s a win-win situation.” Stopping for a minute, I brushed the loose hair out of my eyes. “Besides, it’s only for a couple of months.”

  “Meena. I don’t want to spend my summer vacation with those flukes.” Violet looked at me as if I was crazy. “And this year we don’t even have customers to distract us for the first couple of weeks.” Dad decided to close the sanctuary to tourists so that we could try to get everything back into shape.

  “Flukes?” I frowned. When I heard my father’s voice addressing the arrivals, I looked up.

  “The outcasts, miscreants, freaks, flukes of society. Their whole lives are flukes. Kind of appropriate that they come here. Flukes.” Violet huffed. I didn’t say anything and she stopped, her eyes widening with apprehension. “I mean…”

  I looked away from Violet and bit my lip to keep from laughing. Let Vi sweat it out for a minute. Served her right for picking on the outcasts.

  “Meena, I didn’t mean… You know I don’t think…” Dropping her broom, Violet threw herself at my back and wrapped her arms around me. “I love you, Meen!”

  Pretending to ignore Violet, I bent over awkwardly and grabbed a handful of suds. Turning quickly, I worked the soap into Violet’s hair and laughed. Squealing, she tried to shove me away from her but only succeeded in sending us both to the ground.

  “You stupid fish!” Violet lobbed a handful of bubbles. Puckering my lips, I made a fish-face. Violet laughed and threw more bubbles in my direction. Grabbing the nearby hose, I pointed at Violet. She slid backward on her butt and made sputtering noises.

  “Meena! Don’t you dare!” Violet tried to scramble to her feet, but I twisted the dial and water sprayed out in a steady stream. Violet cussed loudly and ran for me with her arms outstretched. Yelping, I tried to back away but slid in the soap. Violet caught me in a giant hug, laughing hysterically as she wrestled for the hose. Once we were both drenched and soapy, we sat on the floor of the tank giggling.

  The loud roar of a motorcycle reverberated through the concrete walls, making us look at each other in interest.

  “No way.” Violet scrambled to her feet and peeked out of the tank.

  “What? Who is it?” Standing on the tips of my toes, I tried to see what Violet was looking at.

  “I can’t believe it. Blake Weathering is one of the flukes?” Violet’s eyebrows scrunched together in consideration. “I guess it was that fight in gym class last month.”

  “Blake who? What fight?” I watched the motorcycle rider swing his leg over the bike and pull at the clasp of his helmet. He was tall and tan, but it wasn’t until he pulled his helmet off that I understood why my friend was so interested. His dark, unruly hair curled around his ears and even from yards away, I could make out the stubble on his chin and jaw. His mouth was turned down in a disgusted frown as his dark eyes traveled over the worn sign for the sanctuary and took in the rusted gates. Immediately, my hackles went up, angry to see someone openly judge the sanctuary. It didn’t matter how hot he was; judging my family’s hard work pissed me off. When his eyes swung in our direction, Violet grabbed my arm and ducked back down into the tank.

  She pursed her lips. “How the mighty have fallen. Blake Weathering sent to do community service. I bet his dad flipped his lid.”

  “Why do you keep acting like he’s something special?” I fought the urge to look back over the wall again. There was something about him that caught my attention. Maybe it was the obvious disdain he seemed to have for life. I really hoped it wasn’t just because of his sexy eyes. “Besides, he’s late if he’s supposed to be with the other losers, I mean workers.”

  “Oh, come on. That boy is sex on a stick, but that’s not what I’m referring to. His family owns half of the major hotels in the area. His dad is a seriously scary dude, too. He came with Blake to my mom’s clinic when we were in grade school. Blake had broken his arm, but his dad acted like he deserved it.” Violet chewed on her thumbnail for a minute. “Blake is the proverbial badass at school. He’s always in trouble. Then there was that fight at the end of school. He beat the crap out of some dude in the locker room, but no one knows why. Probably just looked at him wrong or something.”

  The sound of flip-flops scuffing along the pavement had us both looking up with wide eyes. Blake’s stared down at us, his mouth quirked into a smirk. The pull of his mouth and dark brown eyes seemed to grab my attention and hold it.

  “Violet, what did you do to end up here?” His voice rumbled out of his chest in a pleasant way, but his tone set my teeth on edge, immediately breaking the spell I was under. Who did he think he was?

  “I didn’t do anything. I help out every summer.” Violet stuck her nose in the air and glared at Blake.

  “You actually want to spend your summers here?” Blake’s eyes left Violet’s and turned toward me. His gaze was long and thoughtful, making my skin erupt with goose bumps, desire warring with the anger that seethed just underneath. Violet ground her teeth at his words. “Who’s your friend, Vi?”

  “Blake, meet Meena. Meena, meet his royal assness, Blake.” Violet rolled her eyes at him before turning around to grab her push broom from the ground.

  Blake groaned good-naturedly and ran a hand through his hair. Something in my gut pulled when he smiled. I liked the look in his eyes, a little more relaxed and amiable, but I stamped out that response. I didn’t like the way he talked about the sanctuary. “C’mon, Vi. I haven’t stolen your dessert in years. You can’t still hold that against me.”

  Violet rolled her eyes, but I saw her lips twitch a little. I could understand how that peek of boyishness would make her want to smile. “My mom made that cupcake just for me! It was my birthday.”

  “Geez, we were eight.” Blake shook his head and looked back at me. It was almost as if he was memorizing my face. “So what school sent you to this hellhole?”

  “My family owns this hellhole.” And with that stupid sentence, I was back to feeling pissed. It was like he slapped me. My cheeks darkened in anger and my back stiffened. “And you’re late.”

  I didn’t get the chance to interact with a lot of the other kids my age on the island. I had been homeschooled and at this moment, I was actually glad. What would I have done if I had to spend time with jerks like this? I’d pr
obably be one of the weirdos trying to work off community service. The desire to punch Mr. High-and-Mighty in the jaw was so intense I actually considered it for a split second.

  He blinked slowly and frowned. “Talk about putting my foot in my mouth.”

  “Take the path down toward the big building. The rest of the miscreants are in there with my dad.” I glared at him, my skin itching with anger. He hadn’t even apologized! My family worked really hard to take care of the animals at Flukes. Sometimes that meant they neglected things like paint and landscaping. Which is probably why his words struck such a wrong chord. But all the animals were well-tended and happy. The cosmetic stuff was what the screwups were here to fix anyway. If they could get the place looking better before the cruise-line people came to inspect them, they had a real shot at scoring a contract.

  “Right.” Blake stood up and looked down the path toward the main building. “With the other miscreants. Got it.” His eyes swung back to me and I wondered what he was thinking. There was something thoughtful in his gaze. Not wanting to look like his smile had made things better, I continued to stare at him angrily, not caring if my face was red.

  He turned away and headed down the path with a nod of his head. “See you later, Vi. Meena.”

  Picking up my broom, I gave it a push against the tank floor before looking after him. I jerked when I realized that he was looking over his shoulder in our direction. Looking back down at the soapy floor, I scrubbed harder. Great. Not only was he a jerk, but he caught me watching him.

  “And that was his royal assness.” Violet shook her head and grinned almost apologetically. “He’s hot as hell and just as rude. I guess this summer is going to be a little more interesting than usual.”

  I couldn’t help it and looked back toward the main building where they housed the learning tanks and special displays. Interesting was probably an understatement.