Dark Promise Read online

  Dark Promise

  Book Thirteen of the Hayle Coven Novels

  Patti Larsen

  Smashwords Edition

  Copyright 2013 by Patti Larsen

  Find out more about Patti Larsen at

  http://www.pattilarsen.com/

  Smashwords Edition, License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  ***

  Cover art (copyright) by Valerie Bellamy. All rights reserved.

  http://www.dog-earbookdesign.com/

  Edited by Annetta Ribken, freelance Goddess. You can find her at http://www.wordwebbing.com/

  ***

  Chapter One

  I sucked at packing. Didn't matter how much time I had to tackle the task, my clothes always ended up scrunched and squished and wrinkled. If I stuffed in one more useless sweater the zipper on my long-suffering suitcase would bust. And I still had a week before I had to leave for Harvard.

  Restless, I went through my closet again, just in case I forgot something important. The sound of laughter from the living room downstairs drifted up and through my open bedroom door, enticing, but not enough to keep my slightly fractured attention. I could have gone down and sat with Gram and Meira. Sprawled for Sass to sit on my stomach. Privately giggled at how stiff and formal Charlotte held herself even when relaxing in front of a movie, but I just couldn't make myself sit still.

  The nightmares and sleeplessness weren't helping. I felt as though something lived under my skin, crawling around at the least opportune moments, giving me nuclear goosebumps at the mere thought of fangs and blood and cold stars... I shook myself and went deeper, digging through clothes I forgot I had that would probably fit Meira better than me. Funny, this was the first time our coven stayed put for as long as I could remember. No more moving suddenly in the middle of the night, forced to wipe normal's memories and running for the hills because someone in the coven let magic slip. Nope, I was tied to this house and to Wilding Springs for the rest of my life—or as long as the Wild Hunt slept in the backyard. Which, thanks to my immortality, would be about the same length of time.

  Sigh. No thinking. Just digging. I giggled over a pair of pale blue leggings with fur on the bottoms and tossed them over my shoulder, followed by a sequined halter-top and a pair of very ugly shoes with bows for toes. But even the unusual finds from my walk-in weren't enough to keep my attention for long. I finally shut the door and sank to the corner of my bed, shoulders slumped, heart beating a little faster than I liked.

  —clammy lips on my neck, the sharp jab of fangs, everything going dark—

  My entire body jerked as I sat up straight, both hands pressed to my chest as I forced myself to breathe slowly. Batsheva had almost defeated me, would have killed me if not for my slow evolution to becoming maji. Now Sunny was ensconced as the Queen of the Wilhelm clan, Uncle Frank beside her as her Prince, the squabbles of the vampires were over. Or, most of them, I hoped. And it brought me great comfort knowing the shell of Batsheva Moromond sat in my basement, probably gathering mold. Still alive. Suffering.

  Fantabulous.

  Still.

  I stood and paced toward my dresser, hands shoved in my pockets. This inability to relax was getting on my nerves. All I needed was one good night's sleep. Could it be I was so hooked in to trouble when things calmed down I couldn't handle it? I hugged myself, forcing my butt into my desk chair, wiggling my mouse to lose myself in the Internet for a little while.

  No thinking.

  Social media held zero attraction. Everyone I encountered seemed too damned cheery with their relationship statuses and stupid funny animal pics. My emails had been piling up, though, so I took some time to delete the countless offers for gambling, Viagra, and finding true love in a foreign country while writing back to my friends who took the time to check in on me.

  Tippy's lurid tales of her summer fun made me laugh out loud. The young witch I'd met in my first year at college never failed to amuse me. Better. Leave it to the sultry redhead to distract me. I answered her with the suggestion she take up writing romance novels before moving on to one from Quaid.

  Syd,

  Sorry I couldn't be at the wedding, would have liked to be there. Had a chance to go on an assignment and took it. I hope you understand. See you at school.

  Love, Q

  Understand? My temper sizzled through my demon's magic and almost fried my keyboard. Yeah, I understood. Sunny and Uncle Frank's recent wedding wasn't nearly as important as some random chance to advance Quaid’s budding career. The Enforcers and his life came before family. There was a time when our feelings on such matters were different, when all he craved was family and I wanted out of mine. And while he claimed the Enforcers were his family now, I wasn't buying it.

  Nothing mattered as much as the people I loved.

  And what was this “love, Q” business? I calmed down, drawing deep breaths, sitting back before my angry fingers could type a very pissed-off reply I'd regret later. I knew he loved me. I loved him, too. But there were times it seemed our priorities were just so out of sync we'd never get it right.

  Not that being with him long term was an option anyway. Which led my mind to the maji, my immortality, the vampires.

  Twitch. No. Thinking.

  I filed his email away for a bit, not ready to answer it in any manner that wouldn't start a fight I wasn't really interested in having. Instead, I clicked on the next in line, eyes flickering over the subject heading while my whole body went tense.

  Sydlynn,

  You still owe me for saving your life.

  Oh. My. Swearword.

  Ameline.

  Everything inside me screamed denial, from my demon's roar to Shaylee's shriek to my vampire's rumbling anger. Even the family magic bubbled and swirled in answer. No. Way. I didn't owe her anything. I didn't ask her to help me when Batsheva and her clan drained me, stealing the essence of my vampire from me. I was doing just fine on my own.

  Yeah. Just fine. Right, Syd. As much as it hurt, ached, burned, part of me knew Ameline was right.

  Damn her. Damn her.

  My eyes kept reading while my brain spun in furious circles.

  Despite the fact I'd rather take the debt directly from you at some point, I've discovered the means to balance the score without your participation. Consider us even.

  Best,

  Ameline.

  Um, what? Cold sweat leaped to the surface of my skin as my heart skipped once, a thudding beat bringing a moment of darkness. The email was time stamped only a half hour ago.

  What was she up to? What had she done?

  And why the warning?

  Panic gripped me even as I felt a surge of demon magic below me.

  Dad. Had to be a coincidence, right? Choosing this exact moment to call me when I'd just spoken to him this morning, and everything had seemed fine.

  Had to be.

  I ran out my door, down the stairs, pounding around the corner and to the basement door, while Meira called, “Syd, is that Dad,” her footfalls following me. Sassafras's mind touched mine, but I didn't have time to talk to him, to give him anything.

  Ameline couldn't have hurt Dad. He was on Demonicon. This was a fluke.

  Just a fluke.

  I skidded to a halt after almost falling the last three steps, staring in fear at Dad's diamond effigy. Mom covered it when Dad was forced to break their mat
ing after being tricked into taking Second Seat. But I'd been in steady contact with him since then, refusing to cut him out of my life.

  He was still my father.

  The demon magic hovered, wavering in the still air of the basement, directly over the pentagram outlined on the concrete floor. But no Dad. I reached for him, panic dimming a little. This was crazy. Ameline was messing with my head. I was right, just a coincidence after all.

  “Syd?” Meira stopped on the bottom step, a frown creasing her forehead as amber fire flamed in her eyes. “Was that Dad?”

  I didn't answer, turning back from glancing her way, focused on the magic I felt, the surge typically preceded his arrival. But no one called him. If it was Dad, why didn't the power floating in the dimness go to his effigy? I reached for it, let my demon sniff around the touch that brought me downstairs.

  The moment I touched the demon magic pooled in the quiet basement, the veil jerked open and powerful amber fire wrapped around me. I heard Meira calling my name, Sassafras, Charlotte's choked cry, only to hurtle headfirst through the tear in the barrier between planes and land on my hands and knees on cold stone. The sizzling crack of the veil sealing behind me was so loud I almost cried out, breathless enough I managed only a whimper.

  Thick black nails with red-tinted skin supported me as I pushed myself up, once again in demon form, and looked around, surprise making me dizzy. The large room was dark and chill, outlines of black furnishings familiar, as were the two massive windows I faced.

  Ahbi's room. My demon grandmother. It had to have been her power I felt. Anger bubbled as I let my temper burn away the last of my shock. How dare she just pull me across like that? My eyes roved the room, ready to give her hell for such audacity.

  My eyes continued scanning as I rose to my feet, feeling my demon surge inside, my vision improving immediately in the darkened room. My anger faded as I ran my hands over goosebumps rising on my arms. The room was silent, empty, the air dead and quiet. I turned slowly, tingling fear traveling up from my toes and making me shudder.

  I finished my turn with a gasp as I finally made out a large shape collapsed on the floor, sliver braid spun out behind her.

  “Ahbi!” I was moving before I knew it, stumbling to fall on my abused knees at her side, where my grandmother laid facedown. I reached for her, desperate to help her without knowing what was wrong, pulling her toward me, feeling something hot and slick on my skin. I jerked away on impulse, stomach knotted at the scent of copper now very familiar to me.

  Looked down.

  Choked on a sob of disbelief.

  My hands were covered in blood.

  ***

  Chapter Two

  No. This couldn't be happening. Ahbi was immortal. But even as I stared down at the hot wetness on my trembling hands, I heard her groan, her body trembling ever so slightly, pulling my attention from the life leaking from her to pool on the floor.

  “Grandmother!” My life with her flashed through my head, the short and tempestuous relationship we’d shared. How she’d manipulated me, my sister. My father. Forced me to stay on Demonicon and fight for status, all to create a situation where Dad would have no choice but to accept Second Seat. Her powerful will, pure political soul, all of it.

  Forgotten. Animosity fled, anger, all that had gone on between us prior to this moment. I reached for her yet again as I rolled her sideways, my world in a slow motion horror film of desperation, until she collapsed on her back, face turning toward me. The light of four moons shone through the window, lighting her eyes, though the life in them faded fast. Her fire died even as I watched, my hands searching her body, struggling to find the source of the giant pool of blood staining the front of her robes.

  “Sydlynn.” Her hissing whisper ended in a gasp as I fumbled over an impossibly large rent in her chest, through her elegant robe, through her flesh. I flinched from the touch of the wound before clamping my already drenched hands over the gaping hole on the right side of her chest. How was she still alive? Bubbles escaped through my fingers as her laboring lung gushed hot liquid over my skin. The scent of charred meat and fabric rose from the hole in my grandmother, tainted with the heavy tang of magic.

  “Hold on, Grandmother, stay with me.” I think I was sobbing. It was hard to tell as I fought to keep her blood inside her with my hands and my magic even as my mind reached for Dad. But Ahbi's wards, her safety and privacy, were too strong for me to break through, so old and with so much power invested, they didn't need her to sustain themselves any longer.

  Even with her dying in my arms.

  “Sydlynn.” Softer this time, but more insistent. Magic was getting me nowhere, the taint of whoever hurt her rebuffing all of my efforts to heal the horrible wound. I tried to rise, to run for help, my mind fighting me as panic jerked my attention from my grandmother to the door and her guards. Where were they? Why hadn’t they protected her?

  “Help!” My voice warbled as I tried to scream while Ahbi's hand grasped mine and her nails dug in, the connection between us tacky with her blood as she pulled my focus back to her.

  “Listen.” Flames flickered in her amber eyes, face collapsing as she faded from me. But her heart, her soul, refused to quit until her message was delivered. “Thought it was you. Witch magic.”

  Oh. My. Swear—

  Ameline.

  This is what she meant. Ameline tricked my grandmother into thinking she was me. And then attacked her.

  The. Bitch. Would. Die.

  “Find her.” My hand burned under Ahbi's grip, an amber tinted glow flaring between us as her hand tightened, the twitch of dying reflex and absolute refusal to fail. “Avenge me.” I cried out in agony as what felt like a lance of pure fire raced up my arm and jabbed me in the heart. Gasping for air, I collapsed over Ahbi's body, tears blinding me a moment as much as the pain. I blinked them away, chest heaving as the hurt eased, my lips brushing her cheek as she smiled, a tiny smile. “So proud,” she mouthed.

  And was gone.

  A heartbeat of silence followed before I hitched in a breath of disbelief.

  And then, a giant column of magic burst from her chest, rising into the darkness of the room, lighting it with the glare of a harsh Demoniconian sun before the power spun into a tornado of blazing fire and shot through the door, shattering the heavy wood in every direction. I ducked some shrapnel, hunched over Ahbi to keep her safe, though she no longer needed such protection.

  Would never need it again.

  Her personal wards hummed their own discord of agony and began to shatter, bursting into tiny flames around me as the power she’d given them followed her death. Fireworks of exploding shielding cascaded over me, sending me to once again fall over my grandmother in a vain attempt to protect her fallen body.

  I gasped for air, unable to move as the last of the wards died with her, rocking Ahbi’s body gently, frozen by shock and, to my surprise, real grief over her loss. She was a hard-assed politician, but she was also my grandmother.

  I almost missed the ghostly shape as it lifted from her cooling flesh, rising in a fog of amber magic, winding into its own mini twister of burning energy before slamming into me, rocking me back away from her empty shell. Demon magic raced through my veins, flooding me with power, her personal power. Ahbi's magic left to me, in the end.

  It was a struggle to sit up as my demon roared and swelled inside me, gathering the new magic to herself, fighting for possession of my body. Her rage battered my mind, her need to find Ameline and tear her apart so powerful she drove me to my hands and knees, trying to force me to stand before Shaylee and my vampire corralled my demon and allowed me room to breathe.

  Not much room as I bent over Ahbi and kissed her forehead, resting my cheek there a moment while I gathered my thoughts.

  I should have known the thundering magic of Demonicon rushing to find its new host would finally draw attention, but my mind simply wouldn't pull together in any coherence. Not until Pagomaris and a flood of Guards thunde
red through the shattered entry into Ahbi's suite, skidding to a halt and staring at me with open horror, all of them.

  “Ruler!” My grandmother's faithful aide wailed the title as Pagomaris rushed forward and collapsed beside Ahbi. She sobbed herself when she finally accepted the loss, knowing in one look at Ahbi’s damaged and empty body, her Ruler was gone.

  “Pagomaris,” I whispered, reaching for her, only to have the normally kind and efficient demon pull away from me with fury written all over her face.

  “Sydlynhamitra,” she half-snarled, half-sobbed. “What have you done?”

  ***

  Chapter Three

  I paced in my tiny cell, buried at the bottom of the Seat, deep under the mountain while my mind whirled and argued and fought for focus.

  Pagomaris hadn't given me even a second to explain. “How could you?” She gasped as I reached for her with Grandmother's magic, wanting her to understand I had nothing to do with her beloved Ruler's death.

  But Pagomaris took the touch the wrong way.

  “How despicable,” she hissed, hovering over the body as though I tried to take Ahbi's physical form away from her adoring aide. “Murdering your own blood and stealing her power for your own. You disgust me. Guards!” I trembled as I tried to put two words together, heart screaming “No!” while my lips opened and closed in silence even as a pair of giant demons in uniforms grabbed me and clamped stone shackles around my hands.

  The moment the restraints closed over my skin my whole magical world went dark. Every bit of it. No power. Where was my power? I fought them at last, screaming wordlessly, body twisting as they carried me away, still shrieking, mind contracting as I tried to make them understand while the loss of my magic drove me to the brink.

  Demons stared, some with rage, others with despair, a few with nasty smiles on their faces as I was tossed onto the elevator, sliding dangerously close to the edge. One of my feet impacted the humming shield surrounding the lift even as my mind, now overloaded with terror at the thought of falling added to everything else, completely shut down.