The Chosen Coven Series Box Set

by D L Blade

  Mercy had helped herself to the fireplace, and sitting next to her on the table was a cup of hot cocoa. She must have just made it as I eyed the steam hovering over the mug. I could smell the cocoa as I neared her laying on the couch.

  “Mercy.” I gave her a gentle nudge. She opened her eyes and looked up at my wall clock.

  “Hey, sorry. I was having a hard time sleeping, so I thought a warm cup of hot chocolate would help me sleep,” she said, rubbing her eyes.

  “It’s okay.” I watched her yawn and stretch her legs, still coming out of her sleep.

  “Truthfully, this house is a bit large and haunting to be upstairs alone.”

  I smiled. “This house can be a bit creepy.”

  I grabbed the blanket that had slithered off the couch and pulled it over her. I sat down with her and she snuggled closer to me, laying her head down on my chest. My fingers rubbed her arm gently, trying not to push too hard on her boundaries. I tested the waters by kissing her on top of the head. She looked up with a smile.

  I wasn’t sure why she was letting me be this close to her. Maybe she kept her distance knowing I still loved her, but now that I had told her I was moving on, she was comfortable with me touching her.

  “How was your date?” she asked. “You don’t ever dress up like this.”

  I only smiled at her. She loved to call me out, but I wasn’t ready to tell her who I had been with.

  Not yet.

  “Tell me what happened,” I asked, ignoring her question.

  She pushed herself up so she was sitting upright and sighed. “We had just gotten back from visiting a few of my father’s old clan members. They respected him, so they welcomed us without any trouble. No one knows who would be doing this. There are a few members who have been kicked out in the last decade for being traitors, so the only conclusion he thought of was that they’re trying to frame him. The other theory is that it might be a vampire who joined them last year whom I have a history with.”

  My eyebrows rose a notch. “Dorian?”

  “No. He would never do this.”

  I huffed, realizing she was right, but I still hated the guy. “Then who?”

  “Maurice.”

  My blood instantly boiled, and my hand clenched into a fist. If he were after her, he would torture her to make her pay for bringing down everything he created. “He joined them?” I asked.

  “In February, right after the treaty. He and my father have been civil since Maurice joined The Black Horse. That was, until Maurice found out that Alexander was my father. He told him he wanted to kill me, and was going to find a way, then he took off, and they haven’t seen him since. Our guess is that he’s trying to frame my father so I will take him out, then use me in my broken state to torture or kill me.” She shifted in her seat. “I know we don’t have the dagger, but the fear it will be found is always in the back of my mind.”

  I looked away, trying not to make eye contact with her. I knew the truth would eventually come out, but I didn’t want to ruin this moment with her.

  “What is it?”

  Shit.

  I can’t hide this. “Mercy, I have to tell you something.”

  I didn’t think she meant to do it, but her body seemed to scoot further from me as if she were avoiding our touch, knowing I was going to say something to piss her off.

  “Two weeks ago, I realized that, though Joel is a witch, he isn’t as strong as us. If a mind-reading witch were to get to him, they’d be able to read his mind to find the dagger, and it could kill him.”

  She squeezed her eyes shut as if annoyed with my words. “You moved it because you thought my father would use his power on Joel and go after the dagger.”

  She stood and paced back and forth. I didn’t try to calm her down. I let her be angry because she deserved to be upset with me. I betrayed her and the rest of the coven by moving the dagger without talking about it first, and not telling them after I did.

  “How many times do I have to tell you that my father isn’t trying to kill me? Do you really think I’d be standing if he was? I just spent three weeks alone with him, and all he wanted to do was get to know me and what my life had been like these last nineteen years.”

  I now stood and hoped my words would help her relax. “It has nothing to do with your father and everything to do with Joel. We are the only ones who should know the location of the dagger. I didn’t even tell Simon where I was going to put it after he helped me get it back.”

  “Simon helped you?”

  I huffed. “Look, Mercy. I was a fool to have Joel be the one to hide it in the first place. Once I realized it was going to be too dangerous, I had Joel teleport me and Simon to the Santa Barbara Mission. It was in a secured safe inside the walls.”

  Her body tensed. “And that is exactly where it needs to return.”

  “No, Mercy. Everyone by now knows about the dagger. We need to protect it. They can’t read our minds without us fighting back with our powers. They’d be fools to try.”

  She stopped pacing and looked back at me. It was as if the wheels were turning, but she couldn’t find the words. My eyes darted to her hands which were balled into fists. “Where did you hide it? And don’t lie to me. You’re telling me where it is.”

  “Upstairs,” I answered.

  “Just upstairs?” Her hands flew up. “That sounds safe.”

  I frowned. “It’s in a safe in my bedroom, under the floor boards. The code is 4575.”

  “You think that’s safe enough?”

  “We’re the only ones who know the code.”

  She averted her eyes from me again.

  I knew it wasn’t the safest place, but protected spells don’t last. Using a coded safe was the best thing we could do right now.

  “I should get to bed,” she said. “I’m meeting Lily in the morning, then I need to check on Laurie and take care of a few things in their home. I need to visit Cami, too. I haven’t been there since she was admitted.”

  I flashed her a warm smile and told her I needed to get to bed myself, but when I turned toward the stairs, she grabbed my hand.

  “Wait,” she called out. “The other day at the club, when you said what you said, did you mean it?”

  I nodded.

  “Thank you, Caleb.”

  “You’re welcome,” I said. I paused for a moment before saying, “Happy belated birthday.”

  She released my hand and headed upstairs without discussing more of what had happened between us.

  I crawled into my bed and tried to shut my mind off to get the first night’s sleep in the last three weeks.

  I can do this. I can let her go.

  Mercy

  I wrapped my hair into a messy bun and walked into the kitchen where Caleb was making breakfast.

  “Coffee?” Caleb asked, pouring me a full mug, and placing it in front of me.

  “Do you even have to ask?” I teased, grabbing the warm mug and placing it between my palms. “Thank you.” I took a sip and looked up at him. He moved back over to the stove to finish cooking what looked like tofu scramble with mock sausage and a side of hash.

  I giggled at how domestic he looked in the kitchen, and the fact that he was willing to eat a vegan breakfast with me. He wore plaid pajama bottoms which hung loosely from his hips and a white t-shirt.

  He turned, placed a large portion of scramble on my plate, and turned back around to grab himself one.

  After we ate in complete silence, my phone buzzed next to me. I looked down and saw a text from Dorian. Caleb eyed my phone as I opened the message. His mouth formed a straight line and he glanced down at his food. He seemed bothered.

  From my messenger app, I sent a text to Sarah, letting her know I was coming back to East Greenwich today. We had kept in touch the last few weeks. What happened at the club had freaked her out, but she was ready to join me back in crime solving mode the moment I needed her again.

  I looked back up at Caleb, who now stood next to me.


  “Dorian and Noah are following Maurice for us. He tracked him down a few days ago,” I explained. I waited for a response.

  Nothing.

  I cleared my throat and took a few more bites of breakfast. I couldn’t handle the silence anymore. “They’re helping us, Caleb. I think I may have spotted Maurice a few weeks back in Salem, but I wasn’t sure. He didn’t leave for the west coast like the rumors had indicated. He was here. Having Dorian and Noah on our team and helping us track him is a good thing.”

  He let out a subtle grunt, still chewing his last bite, and walked over to the sink, placing it inside and turning on the water to rinse it.

  “I don’t like him,” he confessed as he turned around. “I never have. But I’m thankful he’s willing to protect you and track Maurice for us.”

  I’m sure that took a lot of humility to admit, and that isn’t something that comes easy for Caleb.

  I studied his unreadable expression for a few seconds and said, “So, you won’t mind if I have dinner with him tonight?”

  His eyes widened, but he kept his cool. “Of course not.”

  I relaxed my shoulders.

  That’s a lie, but at least we aren’t arguing over it.

  I had to change the subject, or this was going to lead to awkwardness, and I was too tired for that. “Was your date with Melissa last night?”

  His mouth curved into a smile. “Actually, yes. We went to La Masseria. We had a nice time. She’s sweet.”

  Sweet? He avoided saying “beautiful.” She was definitely beautiful, and I knew he thought that. He needed to understand that I didn’t care.

  “That’s great,” I said before taking a few more sips of my coffee. “Mind if I use your shower to get ready? I don’t need the twenty questions at my house with the coven. I’ll call them to let them know I’m back in town, but I have too many things to catch up on now that I’m home.”

  “Of course. Clean towels are in the hallway closet. Roland gets back from his trip today, and I’ll let him know about the possibility that this could be Maurice.”

  “When do Abigail and Desiree get back from Hawaii?”

  “If they come back.” He smirked. “It’s been a while since they’ve been in the sun.”

  I smiled at that thought. Abigail and Desiree were the first vampires who stepped up to be changed back to their human form. They weren’t just human again, they had their powers back, which they had always yearned to have again. They never loved what they were, just like Dorian, though I couldn’t see him changing his mind any time soon.

  Caleb pulled me out of my thoughts by walking up to me and placing his hand on my fingers. He didn’t grab my hand, but his touch lingered on my skin, ever so delicately. “Have a nice date with Dorian tonight.”

  He smiled and walked away. I could have explained to him that Dorian and I weren’t dating, but I knew it was pointless. He had only said that to get under my skin.

  Caleb was Caleb again.

  I visited Lily for an hour, then stopped by Laurie and Cami’s to take care of a few household chores. I finished the rest of the day by getting groceries, since I had been gone for three weeks, and met with Joel for a light lunch before I took off again to meet Dorian.

  “Are you going to order food?” the same waitress from last time asked.

  “Water and your cobb salad,” I said.

  She smiled and left us to put in our order.

  It was nice seeing Dorian again. I did miss his company.

  “Glad you’re eating,” he teased.

  “You’re one to talk. How are you surviving these days without the clan’s supply?”

  He looked away as if ashamed to tell me.

  “You can tell me; I won’t judge you unless you’re killing people.” I half-smiled and he didn’t reciprocate.

  “Noah, actually.”

  My mouth gaped open.

  “He’s strong enough to have me drink from him when I need to feed.”

  From the first time I met him, he never liked what he was. In the seventeenth century, we didn’t have blood banks like we do today, and no one in their right mind would willingly give them their blood. I was too afraid the coven would find out, so I never offered him mine. If I did, he would have turned human, and he wouldn’t be sitting here in front of me now. Dorian had to take blood against people’s will back then, but he was weirdly polite about it, always apologized, and practically starved himself to death until he absolutely needed to eat to survive.

  After being rescued from Maurice’s clan, and before we went our separate ways, he explained how Maurice would let him drink the drained blood from those hooked up to the tank, who had tried to run. Maurice would have kicked him out for not blending in with the other clan members, but Dorian offered up his services to be one of his bodyguards in exchange for Dorian never having to pierce the skin of another victim. He had chosen not to own a human or witch and did his best to stay as invisible as possible.

  “How does that work exactly? He isn’t human.”

  “On the contrary. His DNA is human. He was born a shapeshifter, yes, but when a shifter changes, their DNA changes. As long as I drink from him while he’s in human form, I can survive on his blood,” he explained. He looked up at our waitress as she set our drinks down on the table.

  “Your salad will be right out,” she said, smiling at Dorian. He smirked in her direction but shifted his gaze back to me almost immediately.

  “How are you?” he asked.

  His question took me aback. How was I? I don’t even know how to answer that without lying or breaking down. I thought after everything I had been through since I found out my purpose here, I’d grown to handle most things, but finding out about my father being alive, Caleb finally letting me go, having Dorian back in my life after a year, and someone targeting innocents in order to get to me . . . again, was overwhelming me.

  “I’m fine,” I answered.

  He narrowed his eyes at me and creased his brows. “Are you?”

  “Look, Dorian, let’s just stick to business.”

  “Business?” he asked in a tone which revealed how confused he was by my formality.

  I can’t do this.

  “I just need to know about Maurice,” I explained as I grabbed my salad bowl from the waitress the second she had handed it to me. “Thank you.”

  I dug my fork into my salad and took a bite as Dorian smirked at me. “He was last seen on Derby Street. He was meeting with a few of the guys I recognize from the old clan.”

  “Could you hear anything they were saying? Like, maybe why he’s back in Massachusetts?” I asked after swallowing my bite.

  “No, we didn’t want to get too close, just in case they were listening, too.”

  I took another bite of my salad as a bell over the café doors chimed behind me. I turned around and spotted Noah walking in, in all his large and muscular glory.

  “Is she all filled in?” he asked Dorian.

  Dorian just nodded and tapped his fingers against the laminate table.

  “Hi, Noah, nice to see you, too,” I said.

  Noah smiled at my remark and leaned back in his chair.

  “How can we assist your coven?” Noah asked, holding his hands out and bowing.

  I rolled my eyes and said, “If you could keep watching Maurice and report back to me or Caleb, I’d appreciate that.” I looked over at Dorian. “Do you have Caleb’s number? You don’t always have to call me.”

  He snickered under his breath. “I’ll just call you.”

  Noah shook his head at us and chuckled again. “Let’s go, Dorian,” he said, picking up his cell from the table. “I spotted Maurice about fifteen minutes ago in Salem.”

  “You fly fast,” I said, remembering Noah in his eagle form the night he’d snatched me and took me to the lair.

  “I guess you would know,” Noah replied in a teasing manner. I crunched my face at him.

  I didn’t hate the guy, he was just doing his job back t
hen, and it was me who’d sacrificed myself in the first place. He was always kind to me in the lair, and he was Dorian’s best friend. So, if Dorian trusted him, so did I.

  “I’ll call you later.” He scooted toward the edge of the booth until he and Noah stood next to me and looked down. “You look beautiful.”

  Those were the words he left me with, and I won’t lie, it sounded nice coming from his lips.

  Mercy

  I’m no stranger to being followed. That was how this all began in the first place. I felt my skin prickle at the surface, while my heart pounded heavily against my chest. The leaves weren’t crackling beneath their feet. Whoever was in the woods must have known better. They were careful, but I still knew they were there. Maybe it was my Spirit senses and gifts that Tatyana had given me when I was born.

  I hurried into my house and secured the lock behind me. Leah and the boys were out getting milkshakes, according to her last text, so I would be alone until about ten tonight, unless they decided at the last minute to go somewhere else. I could have called Caleb, but did I really need him?

  I locked all the windows and placed the box I had found at the doorstep on my kitchen counter. I stared at it for what felt like fifteen minutes before I grabbed a knife from the drawer and cut through the tape.

  I pulled the flaps up and immediately stepped back.

  Well, I didn’t expect this.

  Inside the box was a tightly-sealed glass mason jar of what looked like blood. Folded around the jar with a rubber band was a small note.

  My heart nearly exploded, and my jaw dropped. I’ve seen my share of blood, but this was different. I was being threatened in someone’s sick game.

  I should probably call Caleb, now.

  I rang his line, but he didn’t pick up.

  Okay, I guess I’m calling Dorian.

  He, however, did pick up. I explained to him what I had seen, and he agreed to come over.

  He arrived at my house within twenty minutes, and my nerves had calmed down enough to where I had finally stopped pacing the floor.

  I let him in and gestured to the box. “I haven’t touched anything.” I looked up at him. “Is this human blood?”