by Mandi Casey
Uphir stood still. Kieran put his hand up. “Andras. Whatever business you have with me, it does not involve the Selected. Let her go so we can end this.” Kieran took his mask off. There was no emotion on his face. I had no idea what he was thinking.
Andras threw out his other arm, shooting another lightning bolt at Kieran. Kieran moved with such speed I lost sight of him in a blur. The lightning demon hissed with fury when he missed his target. The Elder didn’t flinch or move from where he stood.
“I don’t think so, vampire,” Trevor said. “You deserve what I have in store for you. The Selected was as much a part of tricking me as you were. Now you both get to pay.”
Footsteps sounded on the tiled floor behind me.
“Andras, you said you would let her go. Sydney wasn’t supposed to get hurt.” Liam stepped into view, his voice almost whiney. He had blood running onto his chin like a gluttonous pig.
“Liam? You’re the betrayer?” Disbelief flooded my already aching head. My mouth hung open. I couldn’t believe how badly I’d been duped. My heart clenched. I thought Liam and I had become close friends. So did that mean Aaron wasn’t the bad guy, but Liam was?
Shame crossed his face. The entire time I’ve known him he had pretended to be my loyal friend. I went out with my sister and agreed to have him and Shane be our bodyguards for the night. I trusted him with the safety of my family. He betrayed me. He betrayed Kieran and the entire coven.
I glanced at the coven leader. Kieran’s face was still blank of expression. If he was as surprised as I was at Liam’s treachery, he did nothing to show it. I felt bad for Kieran. A vampire he had taken into his own home, brought into his most inner sanctum, had gone behind his back and tried to ruin everything.
Liam walked past me and Trevor to stand in front of Andras. “You said you wouldn’t hurt her. The deal was you get to kill Kieran, and I get the Elder. Sydney wasn’t supposed to get hurt. She was only supposed to be used as leverage.” Surprise was written all over the bastard’s face that the foul demons would go against their word to him. What an imbecile.
“Silence, you fool.” Andras turned to Liam. “You are so ignorant, boy. You are a disappointment to me. I hoped after this we would be partners in my world. I was willing to give you so much, but your attachment to the Selected proves you are not worthy of being bestowed the powers only I could give you.”
Andras shot a lightning bolt through the door Liam stood in front of with a flick of his wrist. Liam didn’t react quickly enough. The door splintered, and a chunk of wood struck Liam in the chest, embedding itself under his collarbone, near his heart.
Liam placed one hand on the wooden stake as he fell to the floor. He reached his other arm out toward me while he said, “Sydney, please forgive me. I’m so sorry for whatever happens. I didn’t mean for you to get hurt.” His words weakened with every breath.
I couldn’t face him anymore. The disgust I felt at his betrayal hardened me. I almost felt that he deserved the wooden spike in his chest. Almost.
Trevor kept his grasp on my arm, making it impossible for me to move away from him. I needed to get to Liam and pull the wood out of his chest. He had major issues, but I didn’t think it was enough for him to deserve to die. I could not believe it was Liam. I totally thought that out of anyone, it would be Aaron to betray the coven for power.
“Kieran, I will kill her if you don’t do exactly what I tell you to do. I don’t give a damn about your Elder. He can go now.” Andras waved a dismissive hand in the air. He clearly believed that because he had no business with the Elder that the ancient vampire would just up and leave. Lightning demons had serious issues with narcissism, even more than vampires did.
Uphir looked at Kieran with a gleam in his red, dead eyes. The Elder didn’t plan on going anywhere.
“If it’s a fight you want, demon, I have no problem with giving you that.” Kieran took a step toward Andras.
Andras motioned to Trevor. The demon squeezed my arm and took a step forward.
“Let go of me, you bastard.” Trevor tightened his grip. I thought he was going to snap the bones in my arm. Tears formed in my eyes from the pain. I was the only mortal in the room, and I was pretty sure tonight was going to be the last night of my life.
Something moved so fast out of the corner of my eye, all I could make of the object was a furry growling blur. The blur went halfway around the room, redirected itself, and was coming straight at us. Trevor didn’t notice until it was too late. The blur slammed into us hard, knocking us over like bowling pins. The abrupt impact forced Trevor to let me go.
I was falling backward. I braced myself for another impact, covering my head to protect it. I never made it to the floor. I was plucked out of the air before I slammed onto the hard surface. I didn’t think my body could handle another impact. My head still ached from Trevor bashing it against the wall in the coatroom.
“Get her out of here, now.” Through a faint buzzing in my ears, I heard Kieran speak, but I couldn’t see him. I stared into the eyes of the man who held me gently against his chest. The heat coming from the man’s body was so soothing it began to ease the pain coming at me from all over my body. His heat was comforting.
I looked into familiar gold-bronzed colored eyes and smiled with relief. “Blake.”
He smiled back and placed a gentle kiss to my lips. “Hello, my love. Did you ever notice danger seems to find you wherever you go?” Blake nuzzled his nose against mine. I closed my eyes at the loving gesture.
Taking his thumb, he wiped the tears away from my cheek.
“And you seem to always be here to save me,” I whispered.
“Blake! I said get her out of here. We’ll take care of Andras.” Kieran sounded pissed. I would be, too, if someone I cared about were willing to set me up and have me killed so they could exact their revenge on someone else.
Blake gently set my feet on the floor. Andras was still facing Kieran. I dropped my gaze to the floor where Trevor had landed. A vial of white powder stuck out from his chest pocket and had cracked open. White, shiny particles slowly began to move through the cracks in the glass vial. They shimmered as they moved and spread over Trevor’s body, slowly disintegrating the flesh.
Trevor lifted his hand and pointed his finger at Blake. “This isn’t over, wild dog. I’ll make you pay.” He turned his attention to me. “I’ll make you both pay.” Lowering his hand, he rested his head back against the floor as the particles finished sending him back to the Hell he came from.
Blake put his arm around me and tried to turn me toward the main doorway of the ballroom.
“No, Blake. I’m not leaving Kieran.”
“Sydney, don’t be foolish. If Andras has his way, he’ll kill Kieran, and then he’ll come after you. I need to get you somewhere safe before that happens.”
“No. I’m not leaving.” I pushed away from Blake and staggered over to where Trevor’s body was. The second vial of anti-lightning demon powder Aunt Judith had given me was in his jacket pocket. I took the vial, uncapping it as I approached Andras. “If you harm Kieran, I’ll not only kill you, I’ll hunt Lisa down and do exactly to her what happened to Trevor. So I suggest you and whoever else you got to betray us leave. Now.”
I was shaking inside. I was not a confrontational person, and I wanted nothing more than to go home with Blake, take a hot shower, and snuggle in my bed for the next week. But I had to do this. I wanted Kieran to know that no matter what, I had his back. He’d proven himself to me. He’d saved my life by giving me his blood. I felt obligated to prove myself to him. I wouldn’t be any part of the betrayal he was enduring, and I wanted everyone else to know it.
Uphir stepped in front of Kieran to address Andras. “Demon, you have dared interrupt the party this coven leader has so meticulously planned. I agree with the Selected. You will leave now, on
e way or the other.” Uphir rotated to Kieran and said, “I wonder where your dear brother is? I see you did not hide when trouble began to brew. I believe you exhibit the types of qualities a leader needs, the type of coven leader we would like to have assigned to this city. We will have to reevaluate your brother’s position as coven leader of Chicago, however.”
Kieran bowed. “Thank you, Most Respected One. But I must ask, what is to happen to Sydney?”
The Elder moved his hands. As they turned and swayed, ribbons of light flowed in trails behind his fingers. Andras groaned in pain and fell to his knees on the cold tile floor.
“You will pay for this, vampire.” Andras spit as he spoke. Lightning sparks began to crackle along his skin. “What did you do to me?”
Uphir glided over to the demon. No emotion reflected from the Elder’s eyes. “I made it so when you are thinking of hurting a vampire you will suffer immense pain until the thought leaves you. We will always know when you intend to do us harm, demon. Never doubt. I hear you are expecting a child, congratulations. If you so much as threaten another vampire again, your offspring will be an orphan. Do you understand?”
“Yes, I understand. You will pay for this.” Pain gripped the demon again as he must have envisioned the pain he wanted to inflict upon the Elder. Andras vomited what looked like black blood onto the floor.
“No, I don’t think you do understand. But you will. The pain will make you understand.” Uphir turned his back on the demon, no longer seeing him as a threat.
“Kieran, you have proven yourself more than capable of taking care of the coven, and the Selected.” He gestured toward the colorful masquerade decorations set up around the ballroom. “If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, I would love for you to host the next Blood Rites Ball. You have a knack for such things.”
Kieran bowed his head. I was pretty sure I heard a slight groan of exasperation before Kieran finished his salute of respect to the Elder.
Uphir glided out of the room and left the three of us staring at Andras.
Kieran strode over and placed a kiss on my forehead. “Sydney, thank you. You should rest now. It has been a long day for everyone.” He turned to Blake and reached out a hand. Blake took it after hesitating, as if suspicious of what would happen if he, a werewolf, touched a vampire. Vampires and werewolves didn’t have a good track record of being comrades-in-arms, let alone friends.
Kieran walked over to Andras and grabbed a hunk of the white hair on the demon’s head. Andras screeched. He obviously had yet to learn to keep his contempt at vampires from his mind. They blinked out of sight. Kieran was transporting the demon somewhere, hopefully where he wouldn’t be able to cause trouble for a while. It surprised me that Uphir didn’t kill the demon. The Elder’s tolerance for such a betrayal wasn’t what I had expected. Maybe he let Andras live to be an example to the other demons what will happen when they go against the Elders.
Aaron flew down from the balcony and walked over to Liam as Blake and I watched. Liam turned his head to Aaron, gasping for air as he did. “How did you know?”
“We’ve known for some time that a Knight was betraying the coven. It took a while, but we narrowed it down to you. I have to say you are a disappointment to us all, Liam. Kieran took you in when you had nowhere to go, gave you a respectable position in his household, and this is how you have repaid him. You deserve to die a dishonorable death. Lucky for you, it is not up to me. If it were, you would be drained dry of every drop of blood in your body as you do not deserve to live, or to call yourself vampire. Kieran will deal with you upon his return.”
Aaron nodded toward Blake. “Wolf. You have our thanks. Without the information your pack master gave to us, we may not have been able to catch the rogues outside before they entered the mansion. Despite our differences, we worked well together. Please give your father our gratitude.”
Aaron stood silently. It probably wasn’t easy for a vampire, full to his eyeballs with pride, to admit there was a rogue amongst them, on the inside of their most sacred circle.
“Hey. No problem. We’ll do whatever it takes to keep Sydney safe.” Blake gazed into my eyes with love. He was definitely growing on me by the second, even though I didn’t know how that was possible.
“I’m glad it all worked out. It is unfortunate a vampire was behind this betrayal. It shames us.” Aaron tipped his head toward the floor in an unusual show of humility.
I bet it did shame them.
“I think there are rogues on both sides that would do us harm. But look how well you all worked together for a common goal,” I said, smiling at both of them. Maybe, just maybe, I might have found my purpose in being the Selected. All I had to do was somehow keep getting the vampires and werewolves to work together. The more they spent quality time with one another, the more they’d realize there was plenty of room in Kenosha for both of them.
Blake mumbled under his breath, “Don’t count on that happening anytime soon, Selected.”
Aaron showed his fangs. “I have better hearing than you, wolf. I will admit he’s right, Selected. Don’t count on us ever becoming one happy family. That will never happen. It is just not meant to be.” Kieran’s second-in-command spoke like Spock on Star Trek. He was all about logic.
“We’ll just have to see about that, now won’t we.” Throughout the entire time I’ve been the Selected, I’ve finally found a way to use my abilities toward something meaningful, to everyone.
“Whatever,” Aaron and Blake said in unison. Aaron stepped toward Liam who lay still on the floor. He grabbed Liam’s hand and made a twirling motion with his other hand. They blinked out of sight.
I met Blake’s tender gaze. He gently wrapped his arms around my body. The heat radiating off him was one of the best sensations I’ve ever felt. He let me stand there for a moment and held me. Then he took his hand and traced his finger on the cut along the top of my scalp.
Peering into my eyes, he said, “Now, about what happened in your storeroom.”
“Blake, do we have to talk about that right now?” My body stirred as he placed his hands around my backside and pulled me roughly against his erection. The tuxedo he wore accentuated his muscular frame and broad shoulders. I groaned. “How could you possibly be in the mood with everything that’s happened tonight?”
He wiggled his eyebrows. “It wouldn’t matter if the world was ending, my dear, I would still be in the mood.” Blake closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. “And you, darling, are just as naughty as I am.” He smiled, forcing a wry grin from my lips. I couldn’t help it. I used to not like the idea that Blake could detect the scent of my arousal with his werewolf sense of smell. Now it just turned me on even hotter.
“Seriously, though,” I said, “I wanted to say thank you for saving me. Again.”
“I would do it again and again, Sydney.” Blake took my face in his hands and kissed me. His lips were soft and insistent. When they opened and his tongue entered my mouth to graze my tongue with his, I felt myself swell down below, my panties wet with need and anticipation. I inched my face away from his. “Blake, have I told you that I love you?”
He appeared stunned. “No, you haven’t.”
I gave him a saucy wink and kissed him quick on the lips. “I will.”
See Sydney’s beginnings in the first book
of the Tales of Sydney Sedrick series:
Bizzare Life of Sydney Sedrick
After a rogue werewolf attack triggers her latent powers as the Selected, Sydney Sedrick is reluctantly dragged into a war of vampires and werewolves, both battling for total species domination. Each try to use her as their pawn and are willing to use any force necessary to gain control of her special gifts. For her protection, Sydney is armed with only her grandmother’s journal and Blake, the sexy werewolf who insists they are meant to be together.
&n
bsp; In order to succeed, Sydney must embrace her destiny and join the battle to protect both sides from genocide. Caught between two very different worlds, belonging to neither, Sydney is forced to risk it all, or lose everything and everyone she holds dear.
Sydney’s powers grow as tension builds
between the vampires and werewolves
in the third book of the series:
Fanged Fury
Sydney is cursed by a lust spell forcing her to work with unsavory characters to find a way to break it before doing something she can’t undo, like sleeping with her sexy-as-sin, half vampire-half fate demon bodyguard. Complicating matters, a new werewolf comes to town, investigating the Midwestern Werewolf Pack, and Sydney must figure out a way to keep the local wolves from killing the newcomer before the entire Alabama pack come calling, ensuring chaos and bloodshed.
