by D L Blade
“That’s it,” I said out loud. “My blood allows a vampire to walk in the light, not because of some temporary power, but because it turns them back to a human. Roland knew it this entire time, too.” I smiled. “This was the reason for my existence. The power of Spirit brings light.”
I turned to Colin. “Your soul is your light. My blood reunites your body with your soul again.” I laughed and turned to Maurice. “Did you really think it was going to be this easy?”
“How is this possible?” Maurice cried and flung his hand toward my throat.
Dorian leaped toward us, but Noah grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him back before anyone else noticed.
Noah must know about us.
Maurice squeezed harder around my throat and threw me across the stage. I slammed hard against the wooden floor and winced.
“This is impossible!” he screamed.
Maurice slowly walked toward me as I lay on the floor in agony. “I did not wait centuries for you, just to be deceived.” He tightly gripped the bun on my head and pulled me up.
He held me high in the air. “I love being a vampire. Nothing is better than the strength I hold and the power I have over you pathetic humans. I will not have you destroy what we have built here.” He paused and composed himself. “How do you reverse it?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. I didn’t know my blood would do this,” I confessed.
Maurice released me, dropping me to the ground, and approached his brother with his fangs still out.
“Stop, Maurice,” Kyoko said fearfully. “You don’t know what will happen if you touch him. Don’t risk it.”
He paused for a brief moment and then turned back to Kyoko. “Kyoko, feed him your blood,” he demanded.
“Master?”
“Do it!”
Kyoko bit her wrists and Colin gladly drank from it. They all watched Colin as Kyoko backed away.
While this was happening, I looked around the room and saw several vampires eyeballing me and licking their lips. I knew not every vampire in this room desired to be what they were. If they had a chance to be human again, they’d take it.
There was broken glass on the floor from the window and I stealthily picked it up without anyone seeing. I went to slice my hand, but Dorian was in front of me before the blade could touch my skin. He shook his head. “Don’t, Mercy. Not yet.”
I looked down at his bloodied shirt. “Dorian are you okay?
“I heal quickly, too, remember. The branches never pierced my heart.”
“Dorian?” Maurice interrupted us. “Did you lose something?”
Maurice held up the key to my bracelet.
No, they can’t take him from me. Not again.
I grabbed his arm and held on, but Noah and one other guard grabbed Dorian by the shoulder and pulled him away from me. Noah looked down at Dorian. “Sorry my friend, I don’t have a choice.”
“Get him out of here,” Maurice commanded. They escorted Dorian out of the ballroom and Maurice went over to Colin again, grabbed his neck, and snapped it. Colin fell lifeless to the ground.
I jumped, shocked at the sudden impulse to kill his brother. They all stared at Colin for a few minutes, waiting for him to wake, but he didn’t move.
“Get up, Colin. Wake up!” But there wasn’t any movement. Maurice screamed and kicked his brother. “Wake up!” He shouted again.
“You see, if you do that to a human, they die,” I said to him with a slight smile.
Maurice screamed and moved toward me. He struck me across the face. Right at that moment, the lights in the ballroom went dark.
Someone came up behind me, covered my mouth, and pulled me behind the stage curtains. One arm was wrapped around my waist as another pulled around and placed a hand over my bracelet. I felt the sensation of burning around my wrist. I winced as the bracelet melted off and fell to the floor. The strong arm that wrapped tightly around my waist was familiar. It was Caleb.
I quickly turned around and threw my arms over his shoulders, holding him tight. “Caleb! Where is everyone?” There was panic in my voice and I tried to catch my breath.
“They’re safe. We were able to hide Shannon before they got to her,” Caleb explained as I released him.
Those words sent a wave of relief but there was still Cami. “And Cami? Has anyone checked on her at the hospital?”
“Joel sent Lily through a portal to the hospital so she could move her body. Don’t worry. She’s safe at your home, too.” I let go of the air I had been holding in. My friends were safe.
“They told me they captured her.”
“They lied. I’ll explain everything on the way.”
He grabbed my hands and led me off the stage.
“Wait! We have to save Dorian. They are going to kill him,” I said. “I can’t leave him.”
“We cannot save him right now, Mercy. We can come back for—” He stopped. The look on his face showed me that he knew I was aware he had lied to me.
I frowned at him. “Yes, the same Dorian. You lied to me”
His face grew grim. “I was just protecting you from a world of hurt. He joined this clan on his own. I wanted you to have good memories of him.”
“That’s a lie!” I said sharply.
“Let’s talk about this later. We have to go.”
We heard Maurice shouting orders to his men and I knew Caleb was right. We needed to leave, but I would come back for Dorian. I would come back for everyone behind these walls that didn’t want to be here.
It took us over ten minutes to find the back door that led out to the garden on the side of the property. It was so dark out that we couldn’t see where we were walking anymore. Caleb held up his hand and a flame lit on each fingertip.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“We need light.”
I followed closely behind him.
The air around us was refreshing as it entered my lungs. I took several deep breaths. We were free. Well, almost.
“How did Shannon escape?” I asked. “They said they got into the safe house.”
“Some of their men disconnected the power to the safe house and the door we had her locked behind was no longer secured. Abigail was able to get her out on time through another passage way through the sewers and took her to your house,” he explained. He opened up another door that led through the garden behind the property. “They were right behind them but Abigail is fast. She was able to make it on time to Joel’s portal.”
I sighed with relief, but my relief was short-lived as the flood lights turned on as we approached the property gates.
We turned our attention toward Maurice as he cleared his throat. Standing on each side of him were Noah and Kyoko.
“Going somewhere?” Maurice asked.
“It’s over, Maurice. You can’t stop us,” I said.
Caleb pulled his hand out and a ball of flames circled the top of his palm. He didn’t throw it. He just looked at Maurice with fuming rage.
“I know about the dagger. I’ll find it.” His threat didn’t faze me one bit. This blood sucker wasn’t going to win and he was no longer going to scare me.
“Then I’ll be waiting,” I threatened back.
Maurice turned around and moved to the side, letting us pass. I was puzzled as to why he would just let us go, until I saw Riley and Amber in their wolf forms, approaching the property. Caleb closed his hand, releasing the power of Fire.
Maurice and Kyoko looked terrified, still staring at Riley and Amber.
“Like I said, you can’t stop us,” I repeated as we crossed each other, slightly bumping my shoulder against his arm. “Goodbye, Maurice.”
Caleb and I picked up our speed and ran toward the pack.
Caleb led me to an open portal about a mile from the house. We were then teleported to the front porch of my home. Once I saw the house, I stood there, relief finally hitting me. My heart felt heavy. We were safe, but Dorian was not.
“Le
ah, Ezra, and Simon are here. We are finally a coven again. They’re excited to see you,” Caleb said.
I wanted to be happy in this moment. My coven was my family and I hadn’t seen them since I had died. They were a part of me and I a part of them. But I felt empty in that moment. I took one step forward and a bright light radiated on the front of the house, but it was coming from behind me. I turned around and the light was so bright I had to close my eyes.
The light slowly dimmed and a beautiful woman in a long, white dress stood in front of me.
I recognized the angel as she approached. Caleb stood between us. “Don’t come any closer.”
“I’m not going to hurt her,” she said softly.
“No? I find that hard to believe after she killed your son.”
“The world has one less monster. I came here to thank her.” Tatyana looked over at me with a gentle smile.
“Thank you, Caleb, for trying to protect me. But I’m not afraid of her,” I explained, hoping he would back down.
She walked around Caleb elegantly, and reached out her hand. I touched it and I felt warmth and power fill my body. I lowered my hand.
“Caleb, please leave us,” I ordered, but his hands clenched.
“Not a chance.” He shook his head and took a few steps closer to me, but I held my hands up.
“I’m not asking for your permission,” I snapped.
Caleb glared at me for a hard moment and threw up his hands. He walked to the side of the porch and plopped down on the rocking chair by the front door. He looked upset, but he apparently knew this wasn’t an argument he was going to win. After I saw he wasn’t going to protest anymore, I followed Tatyana toward the driveway, so we had some privacy to speak.
Tatyana turned toward me and smiled.
“Thank you for killing him. I couldn’t do it, but he had to die. He would destroy this world if he hurt you. You five are my greatest creation, especially you, Mercy.”
It was such a weird thought, that we had been created by an angelic being, to kill the very thing she created in the first place. I knew though, that without her guidance, I couldn’t do this.
“I need your help, Tatyana. I can’t do this alone.”
“Of course you can. All of you can.” Her voice was so calm and gentle, but that’s to be expected coming from an angel, I guess.
“Will you save Dorian from Maurice’s clan? Please? Save as many as you can from that place. He was taken for saving me. That is, if they haven’t already killed him.”
“I will try to save Dorian and take down that house. I will rescue those who want saving behind those walls, but it’s your mission to fight vampires, Mercy, not mine anymore. I failed once, and now it’s your turn to restore the balance that was lost because of my mistake.”
I turned to Caleb and then back to Tatyana. “How do I do this? How do I fight this fight?”
She smiled gently and walked closer to me. “You love them both, don’t you?”
I nodded. “Caleb is complicated and frustrating, but my heart aches whenever he touches me. And Dorian …” I paused and tears began to fill my eyes. “Dorian is the love of my life.”
She lowered her head to my ear and whispered. My eyes widened, and I couldn’t hold back the tears that stung my eyes.
I looked up at her again, nodding my head. “Thank you.”
She bowed her head, extended her wings, and took off into the sky.
“Roland is almost here,” Caleb said as he stepped down from the porch.
I wiped the tears on my face. “You can’t trust him. He purposely led me out of the vampire lair at the cemetery so I’d get caught.”
“I know.”
“You knew?” I said furiously.
“I didn’t know then, of course, but after he became human, he came back here to help us. He needed your blood to become a witch again. He’s a powerful witch and he needed to be human again to use the kind of magic we need in this fight. Maurice wasn’t going to let him leave if he didn’t give you up.”
“And Dorian … was he all part of this plan, too?” He was silent.
“You knew he was alive, Caleb. You lied to me.”
He walked up to me, hesitated, and placed his hand on my cheek. “Mercy, please don’t.”
I pushed his hand away from my cheek. “Stop, Caleb! You purposely kept me from him. Why?”
“Because I love you and I’m selfish. You and I had something special, and it was ripped apart by parents that didn’t understand the kind of love we had for each other. You met Dorian the day we were forced to stop having a relationship. You gave your heart to him.”
He stepped closer to me, causing me to have to take a step back so we weren’t touching. “I also thought keeping that secret would protect you from being in the arms of someone I never trusted. We have a chance to start over again. Dorian and you could never have what we had.” He put his hand under my chin and lifting it gently. “He’s a vampire, Mercy; he’s the very thing you were sent here to kill.”
I shook my head. “That isn’t your decision to make, Caleb.” I grabbed his hand and removed it from my chin. “Your father and Abigail are vampires and you still love them.”
“They’re my family.”
“And Dorian was mine.”
He backed up slightly. “I’ll fight for you.”
I filled in the gap between us and lightly touched his hand. “I do love you, Caleb. But I also love Dorian.”
I lowered my head but kept my hand gently in his, afraid of the words that I had to say next. They were words that he had to hear, and something I had to do to fulfill our given mission.
“Tatyana is going to rescue Dorian from that clan and anyone who wants to leave, but the fight isn’t going to stop there. There are more to clans to destroy and humans and witches to save.” I choked back the sobs that were threatening to escape.
Caleb stood there in silence, tears now filling his eyes.
I let go of his hand. “I can’t let my feelings for you and Dorian distract me from what we were sent here to do. Your father was right. We were never sent here to fall in love.”
“Please don’t, Mercy.” He reached for me but I held up my hands.
I closed my eyes as a ray of white light poured from my fingertips. I opened my eyes and formed a bright white ball with the light. The ball grew larger and brighter, my hands swarming around it, keeping it strong and bright. I whispered to myself the words Tatyana had spoken in my ear. I pulled the ball in toward my chest, almost falling over by the force of energy entering my body.
“What are you doing?” he yelled, taking a step toward me.
I looked up at this man that I had once loved. All the feelings I’d had for him in the past and in my current life were gone. I thought about Dorian and everything we used to have and the feelings I had when I had seen him again. Nothing was there. They were two beautiful men I knew cared for me, but the only feelings I had in my heart were memories.
“Mercy, what did you do?” he asked, panic echoing in his voice.
“The angel showed me how to take it away, Caleb. I had to take it all away.”
He moved back slightly and fell to the floor on his knees. He realized what I had done.
“I’m sorry, Caleb. But the only feeling I have now is the desire to kill every one of those blood sucking demons and purify our world once again.”
Acknowledgments
Thank you to all my beta readers, and my editor who acted as a mentor on several occasions.
I also want to give a special thank you to my husband, who supported me when I gave up my career in real estate to fulfill a dream I have: to be a published author. He has been such an incredible support, and I couldn’t do this without him.
About the Author
Diana Lundblade grew up in California and studied at the California Healing Arts College, going on to work as a massage therapist for thirteen years. Diana now lives in Colorado, where she worked as a real estate agent fo
r a time, before deciding to concentrate on her family and writing.
Diana always loved writing, concentrating on poetry rather than prose when she was younger. That changed, however, when she had a dream one night and decided to write a book about it.
In her spare time, Diana enjoys a wide variety of hobbies, including reading, writing, attending rock concerts, and spending time outdoors with her family, camping and going on outings.
In the future, Diana hopes that she can continue to write exciting novels that will captivate her readers and bring them into the worlds that she creates using her imagination.
The Dark Underworld
The Chosen Coven Book Two
Copyright © 2019 by D.L. Blade
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system – except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a magazine or newspaper – without permission in writing from the publisher.
Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Names, characters, and places are products of the author’s imagination.
Social Media:
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Editing by Christina Kaye www.xtinakayebooks.com
Formatted by Affordable Formatting
Photographs by Photographer Scott James Photography and Model Marcus Jorgensen
Book design by Redbird Designs
Printed and bound in the United States of America.
First printing edition May 2019.
Independently Published by D.L. Blade
http://www.dlbladebooks.com
This book is dedicated to my very supportive husband. He has been a rock throughout my journey in bringing this book to life.
