by D. C. Gambel
Obsidian
The Horsemen Chronicles
D C Gambel
Copyright © 2018 by D.C. Gambel
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America.
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval systems, without prior written permission of the author except where permitted by law.
Published by
D.C. Gambel
Edited by
Mina Torres
Cover image from
Canstockphoto
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
The author acknowledges the copyrighted or trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction: Twilight, Xbox, Call of Duty, X-Men, Alice in Wonderland, True Blood, Star Trek, Star Trek the Next Generation, Ford, Hyundai, Marvel, Amazon, Assassin’s Creed.
First Edition December 2018
ISBN-13: 978-1727347142
ISBN-10: 1727347145
Created with Vellum
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
The End
Also by D C Gambel
About the Author
Chapter 1
I groaned as Cam’s fingers fumbled with the button on my leather pants while white heat engulfed me. It shot through my body overwhelming my senses. I clenched my hands trying to absorb the sensation, but so far it was miles from working. My breathing was labored and nothing I did eased it.
“Stay still,” he demanded with a growl, giving up on the button and instead trying to yank the pants down my hips.
I winced struggling to do as he requested while my eyes rolled back in my head from the sensation igniting in me. I needed the leather pants gone, but they seemed seared to my skin.
“Fuck,” I groaned unable to keep from writhing. I gritted my teeth, rolling my hips while my back arched trying, but failing, to keep still. Tyler appeared crouching at Cam’s side.
“Here,” he offered assistance. Cam took the blade from Ty’s hand slicing the leg of my leather pants, careful not to touch the affected area or knick me in the process. I’d be upset over the tattered garment if I didn’t want them gone so desperately. I only owned two pairs since I despised shopping so much and it looked like I was now down to one.
“Shit,” Cam hissed exposing my thigh. Wind licked across my heated flesh doing little to cool it. “It’s already reached her skin.” His blue gaze sparkling with concern met my brown eyes briefly. It was long enough to see fear in the horseman’s eye. “Evie, baby, this is going to hurt.”
Gritting my teeth, I nodded, letting him know I understood. It wasn’t the first time pain was caused to help me heal. I wanted to look down and see what had him so worried, but I didn’t dare. If Cam’s usual confident exterior vanished, I knew there was definitely reason to worry. Hissing through my clenched teeth, my eyes went wide as Cam scraped the blade against the affected area. Derek grabbed me from behind wrapping his arms around my waist and chest as I struggled to remain standing through the waves of dizziness that engulfed me. I fought not to scream even though the searing agony was almost as excruciating as the acidic blood burning through my flesh. I didn’t want to make the task any more difficult for Cam who was only trying to help. My nails pierced my palms leaving crescent shaped marks behind but I barely noticed.
“Fucking blade demon,” Cam growled as he finished the task and I sagged in Derek’s arms when the pain dulled to a pulsing burn. Famine’s embrace was the only thing keeping me upright. Blade demon’s blood was like acid. It was why the team decided that my gift was the best way to eliminate it. Using Cam’s help to expand my power hadn’t seemed necessary since it’d only been the one demon. He’d held no weapons, so Cam cleared me an opening taking the brunt of the attack with Ty and Derek’s help. I used stealth to leap onto the demon, slamming my palms to his arms. Five seconds later he was dead, but not before his blood dripped from his eyes onto my thigh. It would continue to eat through my leg unless removed, which was why Cam cut the acid away. It was certainly the lesser of two evils. It didn’t make the pain anymore bearable.
Cam began wiping away the excess blood as he prepared to wrap my wound and a new panic shot through me.
“Ty?” I called out feeling Derek’s arms tighten having felt me tense. Tyler’s green eyes locked with mine standing out like beacons against his caramel skin as I silently pleaded with him. He tilted his head and widened his eyes in an are you serious way. My brow pinched and I bit my lip, as I pleaded harder.
Sighing exasperatedly, he tapped on Cam’s shoulder muttering, “I got it.” I practically howled with relief when Cam relinquished to him. “Lay her back.”
Derek eased me onto the damp grass that was heavy with dew. The moon was nonexistent in the night sky; the only light came from the rundown building behind us. It had been brighter and more modernistic before the demon’s battle with the horsemen.
Cam slid towards me, swapping places with Derek who moved to help Ty bandage my wound. I sighed against Cam’s chest. In his arms I found a comfort I had never known. Not only was there a relief to not worrying about poisoning him with my touch, but something much more all-encompassing. Loose strands of my hair were plastered to my forehead due to the sheen of sweat that now coated my skin. My labored breathing grew calmer as I stared into Cam’s concerned oceanic gaze. The gold that dusted them sparkled like stars in the heavens. They were serene and soothed me. I knew he hated hurting me, even if it was to help. It wasn’t the first time and I doubted it’d be the last, not with what we did for a living. But he never gave the task over to someone else and I respected him for that. He didn’t trust anyone to do it as well as himself. Whether it caused me pain or not, he would do it right.
“I’m fine. Go,” I smiled trying my best to be reassuring. We had a job to do. The death of the demon nor my injury changed that.
Cam shook his head swiping my hair back in place. Reaching for my hand, he noticed the crescent shapes on my palm. He wiped at them lightly removing any excess blood then placed a gentle kiss over them. I smiled feeling my heart swell. This man had a power over me that no one else could match. He’d been such a hard ass when I first met him, but after everything we’d been through, everything we almost lost, it clarified how important it was for us to find happiness where we could. And Cam made me extremely happy.
The blade demon had been protecting what we believed to be a coven of sirens that were under the protection of Asmodeus. They’d been disguised as a brothel luring human men into the building that sat just feet away and we needed to search it. I didn’t know for sure what they were doing with them, but if the brief glance of blood I saw that sprayed the walls when Ty went soaring through them, courtesy of the demon, along with the scent of decay that rode the wind towards us was any indication, it was nothing good. Stealth was no longer an option. Thanks to the battle with their s
entry, the sirens were well alerted to our presence.
“I got her, Cam. You and Derek go,” Ty stated. “We’ll be along shortly.”
Seeing the indecision behind his eyes, I cupped his jaw. “I promise I’ll be okay. Go.”
Taking a deep breath, I could see him struggling between his duty and his feelings for me, but he nodded. Standing, he made eye contact with Derek. Cam’s mask slipped securely in place transforming him from the Cam I knew to the Horseman of War. The two took off down the hall the demon had been guarding.
“You should tell him, Evie,” Tyler muttered slicing away the front of my pant leg and tossing it to the side so the demon blood didn’t touch either of us. I could still hear it sizzling when in landed eating through the blades of grass. This had been the same argument he’d clung to ever since I confided in him.
“I will.”
“You keep saying that. You’re pretty accident-prone. He’s bound to notice eventually and I won’t always be there to buffer.” He offered me a hand up. I winced putting weight on my injured leg. Ty kept a firm hold around my waist until I felt secure with my balance.
“I know. I just don’t want it to change anything.” Withdrawing my sword from the sheath on my back, Ty and I went in search for our fellow horsemen.
Keeping pace with me, since I was moving slower than normal, we moved sluggishly through the hall. The putrid scent of death mixed with the copper tang of blood engulfed the room making me want to gag. The deeper into the building we went the more blood and gore painted the walls. The draft from the outside was trapped in the outer hall making the air where we stood almost unbearable. I didn’t quite understand the power the sirens held to lure men, compelling them to ignore their senses to this extreme.
A high-pitched, ear-piercing scream, that almost seemed unnatural, rang through the air followed by the clash of metal. The sirens’ song didn’t affect us the way it did mortals. It was awful, leaving my ears ringing even after the song ceased.
“Sirens,” Ty hissed.
“Go,” I commanded.
Gripping the hilt of his sword tighter, he shook his head. His stance made it obvious that he wanted nothing more than to comply yet he refused. “Cam will kill me.”
“I’ll bring you back, but if something happens to them I might not be so inclined,” I spat. “Go!”
Indecision flickered over his face. Then with a grunt, he charged after the others. I followed, limping as quickly as possible. My wound wasn’t deep although it covered a large section of my thigh. Cam had patched it up in time. The damage was mostly skin-deep. Every flex forced my leg to argue. A year ago I’d never have fought so hard to join a fight. If I’d been injured, as I was now, I’d be laid up in bed begging Charlie to bring me liquor. Now, not only did I feel a sense of duty, but the men that had become like family were battling against an unknown number of enemies and I yearned to fight beside them.
I rounded the corner and saw a human man lying in a pool of blood. I was about to step over him when his eyes fluttered open.
“Shit,” I hissed, jumping back, almost stumbling from the sudden shift causing my leg to scream. He was still alive. His chest was exposed and covered in so much crimson that I couldn’t tell where it originated. I tentatively stepped back out of his reach. My right leg was pretty exposed. Helping him could risk killing him, but leaving him to bleeding out on the floor alone wasn’t an option. Bringing him back from death wasn’t something I could rely on since I didn’t have control over that gift. It tended to only work when my emotions were haywire caused by being distraught. AKA when I killed my best friend and when the man I lo—have strong feelings for—died before my eyes.
The man’s lips moved like he was trying to speak, but no sound escaped. Calling for one of the guys was out of the question since I could hear the battle raging up ahead. I doubted they’d hear me and I couldn’t risk what they might accomplish for one man that, by the appearance of all the blood surrounding him, was dead anyways.
I glanced around for something to use. My arms were exposed in my burgundy camisole. I didn’t wear my gloves into fights anymore. The supernatural community knew who I was. Touching me was done at their own peril.
“Help,” he croaked.
“Okay,” I muttered. Scanning the area, I found what I assumed was his shirt lying a few feet away. It was somewhat clean, so I grabbed it and knelt beside him using it to both help him and prevent him from touching me. Dabbing the shirt across his chest I was still unable to figure out where he was bleeding.
His lips fumbled over words, but even at this distance I couldn’t hear him. Leaning in to hear him better had been my mistake.
“Stupid girl,” he spat before lunging. Fangs dropped from his gums as he aimed for my jugular. Instinct took over and my sword seemed to rise on it’s own accord meeting the vampire as he impaled himself. Kicking him off of it, I sliced the blade through the air, removing his head fast and efficient enough to make Cam proud. It tumbled across the floor leaving a trail of blood in its wake.
Glancing down I noticed the spray across my shirt.
“Perfect,” I mumbled to no one. “At least it’s red.”
Righting myself, I silently groaned when out of the corner of my eye I saw another vampire.
“Well, fuck me,” I hissed under my breath, darting around the corner. He hadn’t seemed to detect me, but I doubted his friend’s missing head would go unnoticed. Taking a deep breath to calm my nerves only made me queasy when I inhaled the scent of death. The blood that coated my skin did little to ease the sensation.
“I can hear your blood, human,” the vampire growled. “It’s racing through your veins begging me to taste it.” I refused to budge. There were other beings in the building. I didn’t know how in tuned the vampire’s sense of smell was, if he could separate me from the others and pinpoint my exact position. With the scent of blood and death flourishing around the hall, I was sure it would help mask me either way. “If you come out, I promise I’ll be gentle. Hell, you might even enjoy it.”
Flashes of Asher pinning me to my bed, feeding from me, had my hand trembling around the hilt of my sword. I touched my neck where the injury had been, feeling the phantom pain that occurred every time the nightmare reemerged. It had been months and I’d already gotten my revenge on him, but I still woke up some nights in a cold sweat remembering how helpless I felt. On those occasions, Cam was there to calm my anxiety as it began to skyrocket, but I couldn’t rely on him in this moment.
Taking a deep breath, I stepped out from the safety of my hiding spot refusing to be a victim.
“You look familiar.” The vampire eyed me curiously.
“I use to do porn,” I stated without a hint of humor. He seemed taken aback. He was handsome with his shoulder length mahogany hair and matching eyes. Perhaps in another life I might have even thought him attractive. But in this one, I knew what he was and what he was capable of, which disgusted me no matter how pretty his face.
Cocking his head to the side he studied me intently. “Death?” When I stiffened, he glanced down the hall were the sound of fighting was still commencing. “That means…” He smiled wickedly showing his fangs. He knew the other horsemen were present but they were distracted and wouldn’t come to my aid. The vampire community was also aware that my gift didn’t affect them. Couldn’t bring death to those that were already dead.
The vampire charged at me in a blur that I couldn’t track. A shoulder slammed into my stomach tossing me against the wall where I hit with a grunt. My sword tumbled from my grasp. Landing, my ankle twisted and I crumbled to the floor.
“Rumor has it that Asher went missing after a rendezvous with you,” he said striding in front of me with a confidence that made me want to beat it out of him. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”
He didn’t wait for a response. I choked as the vampire lifted me by my throat. Moving my lips, I struggled to speak, but nothing came out. The vampi
re rolled his eyes and slackened his grip to allow me to speak. “What now?”
I spat through clenched teeth, “I hate vampires.” Lunging the knife I kept at my hip into his chest, he dropped me before stumbling backwards. Scrambling forward, I gripped my sword and sliced it nicking his knees, forcing him to the ground before slashing it again, and removing his head.
Warm blood sprayed across me making me groan revolted. I was thankful I remembered to close my mouth. It was something Cam had pressed on time and time again during our training and at the moment I was grateful. When I saw the vampire’s head lying next to his body, I sagged to the floor with a sigh keeping my hand firm on the hilt of my sword just incase anymore decided to show up.
“Evie!” A voice yelled in the distance.
I tried to call out, but all I could do was cough. It was loud enough that the horsemen were able to locate me. My eyes locked on Cam rounding the corner flanked by Ty and Derek. His brow knitted when he took in my bloodied state.
“What happened?” Cam asked rushing to my side sinking down next to me. He scanned my body taking in the blood sprayed across me along with the bruising appearing on my neck.
“Vampires,” I croaked.
He glared around at the two decapitated bodies.
Derek walked over to the nearest head. Crouching down he lifted the hair away from the neck with the tip of his blade revealing a branding that could have only been done while he was still mortal. It was a circle with several arrows coming out of it like a compass. “They’re Maya’s.” He stood facing the group. “Sirens working with blade demons and vampires?” Derek spat kicking the head away. “What the hell is going on?”
