Hallowed Destiny - Forged by Darkness Read online

  Hallowed Destiny

  Forged by Darkness

  Candace Blevins

  Contents

  Connect with Candace

  Blurb

  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

  Also by Candace Blevins

  Excerpt ~ The Dragon King

  About the Author

  More From Excessica!

  eXcessica publishing

  Hallowed Destiny – Forged by Darkness © January 2017 by Candace Blevins

  All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. 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 any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental. All sexually active characters in this work are 18 years of age or older.

  This book is for sale to ADULT AUDIENCES ONLY. It contains substantial sexually explicit scenes and graphic language which may be considered offensive by some readers. Please store your files where they cannot be accessed by minors.

  Excessica LLC

  P.O. Box 127

  Alpena, MI 49707

  To order additional copies of this book, contact:

  [email protected]

  www.excessica.com

  Cover design © 2016 Syneca Featherstone

  First Edition October 2016

  Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

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  Blurb

  It’s been a year since Destiny was abducted by sick demon worshipers who intended to use her as a human sacrifice. They’d already carved evil-looking symbols all over her body when she somehow managed to escape.

  Tonight is Halloween — the one-year anniversary of her abduction — and she’s determined to return to the woods where she nearly lost her life. She doesn’t expect to see a white lion waiting for her. Aren’t black cats supposed to be bad luck on Halloween? Perhaps a white lion will be the opposite of evil. Or, maybe she’s finally lost her mind, because lions are not indigenous to Tennessee and Georgia.

  Chapter 1

  Destiny

  I parked at a diner just outside the Chickamauga Battlefield and pulled my bicycle out of the back of my SUV. I made sure my phone was in one pocket, pepper spray in another, and felt my exercise bra to be sure my dad’s two-hundred-dollar flashlight was still secure. I hadn’t told him I was borrowing it because I didn’t want to answer all the questions about why I needed it. As far as my family was concerned, I was spending the night with a friend and staying in where it was safe.

  A year ago tonight — Halloween — I’d been abducted by sick demon worshipers, and would’ve been killed by them as a human sacrifice had I not found a way to escape. They carved symbols into the flesh of my chest, stomach, thighs, feet, and hands. I’d forever have to wear bangs to hide the scars on my forehead.

  On my eighteenth birthday two weeks ago, I’d had the first part of an extensive tattoo started on my chest. I planned to cover the horrible, evil scars with something beautiful, but it’d take a while.

  Dread pooled in my stomach as I pedaled toward the spot I’d been staked to the ground. They’d stripped me naked and spread me out so it was impossible to hide any part of myself from them. They’d apparently wanted a virgin to kill in offering to whatever sick deity they worship.

  To keep it from happening again, I’d planned to have sex with the first person who came along afterwards, but it hadn’t worked out. The asshole I’d been dating — the one who’d claimed to be a good Christian boy — broke up with me two days later because he was afraid the marks on my skin made me evil.

  Much to my parents’ chagrin, I’d turned my back on the church and started dating the star quarterback at the local high school — with every intention of giving myself to him at the first opportunity, though they weren’t aware of that last part. He lived two doors down so it hadn’t been difficult to sneak and see him when I told them I was going for a bike ride.

  Unfortunately, I’d freaked and started crying when he got my panties off, and he’d told me I was too high maintenance.

  So a year later I was still a damned virgin, and may end up staying that way. Those fuckers had messed me up in the head, and when the quarterback had undressed me, my only thoughts in were how I’d felt when my kidnappers had stripped me and staked me spread-eagled on the ground.

  My pastor’s wife told me I needed to find a way to put this behind me — to close the door on it and look forward. I wasn’t sure how to do that but figured going back to the scene of the crime on Halloween night was a good start. I’d researched the area on Google Earth and found what I hoped was the best spot to ride my bike into the woods. I looked all around to be sure no cars were near, and flicked my bike’s headlight off as I veered into the pitch dark of the forest.

  I stopped a few yards in because I couldn’t see anything, and I planted my feet on either side of my bike and waited for my eyes to adjust to the dark. My heart raced and my pulse thundered in my ears, but I assured myself no one else could hear it.

  Several long minutes later, I thought I might be able to pick out the trees, but not well enough to walk, much less ride. I propped my bike on a tree with a sigh, and turned the flashlight to the lowest setting. I hadn’t planned to use it this close to the road, but it didn’t look like I had a choice.

  Each step forward took every bit of willpower I possessed. I wanted to turn and run back to the road, but I just knew I’d never move past this unless I could face my fears. If I could walk into the woods on Halloween and stand in the spot I’d fought my abductors, perhaps I’d be brave enough to have sex with someone and finally lose my pesky virginity.

  I counted fifty steps before I turned the flashlight a little brighter, and I pulled my phone from my pocket and re-engaged the directions to the GPS coordinates I’d chosen. I hoped the location I’d found on the map would get me close enough so I’d be able to find the spot once I was nearby.

  I had crazy dreams about that night. It often felt more like I’d been rescued, but I also kind of vaguely remembered getting an arm free and grabbing the knife from one of the men, and then going to town on my kidnappers as I cut myself free. But then there was the dream where a woman levitated me up to sit on a tree branch while monsters fought monsters. Were there good monsters? Some of them looked half-human and half-animal, truly grotesque… and yet in my dreams they fought the evil men who’d abducted me.

  I had less than a quarter mile to walk, but it fel
t like I crept miles in the dark — carefully placing each foot and listening for sounds of anything larger than a possum while my own pulse thundered in my ears.

  When I finally arrived at the GPS spot, I turned my dad’s flashlight to full strength — all twenty-eight hundred lumens.

  And was shocked to see a white lion sitting fifty yards away.

  I couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. My feet were cemented to the ground as the lion looked down and away as the too-bright light must’ve hurt his eyes.

  Two seconds later he turned and gracefully leapt through the air, and within seconds he’d run off to the side and out of the beam. I turned the light in every direction but couldn’t find him again. Had I hallucinated him? Lions are not indigenous to Tennessee. Or Georgia. Crap, I was just over the line in Georgia. Didn’t matter. There shouldn’t be a lion.

  Chapter 2

  Zeke

  I shifted to human and dressed as quickly as possible. What the fuck was Destiny doing here? And what the hell kind of flashlight had she been using? She’d have never seen me with a regular flashlight, but I was in deep shit for letting her see my lion. Destiny was in deeper shit, though, unless I could convince her she’d seen something else.

  I laced my boots, stood, and ran my hand through my hair. I traced my fingers through the scraggly beard I always have when I came back from lion, and sighed as I followed my nose back to her.

  Her already racing heart began to beat even faster as I walked towards her, and she cautiously asked, “Who’s there?”

  I was ready for the bright light this time when it swung my direction, plus I could throw an arm over my eyes in this form.

  I smelled her relief a half-second before she asked, “Zeke? What are you doing here?”

  “Making sure the group those assholes are part of doesn’t bring someone else to the same place tonight. Why are you here?”

  She sighed as she turned her flashlight down and pointed it to the left enough so the beam no longer hit me directly. “I needed to come back. I don’t know why, and I can’t explain it.”

  “You need to face your fears, but you shouldn’t have come alone.” I should get bonus points for not adding you crazy-assed human to the end of my sentence.

  She gave a nervous laugh. “I know this sounds crazy, but have you seen… no. It’s stupid.”

  I walked with her as she headed toward the hill where we’d found her staked out on the ground. “How’d you know where to find the exact spot?”

  “I remembered how far we were from the creek and about how long it took to come out in the field near the tower. I wasn’t sure I could find the exact spot, but I remember that tree.”

  I followed her flashlight’s beam as she spotlit the limb Kirsten had levitated them to. She wasn’t supposed to remember anything supernatural, and yet she remembered the branch.

  I thought I was in the clear with her seeing my lion. I thought she’d convinced herself she’d imagined it, and perhaps I was right. However, I hadn’t expected her to look for signs of the lion, and my heart fell into my stomach as her flashlight landed on a tuft of my nearly-white fur. When I’d turned and leapt, some of my mane had gotten caught on a branch.

  Fuck.

  “I didn’t imagine him.”

  With a sigh, I sat on the ground and tried to look relaxed as I said, “That lion will never hurt you. Sit with me so I can explain?”

  She shook her head, and I straightened my legs in front of me and leaned back on my elbows. “I know you remember stuff that doesn’t make sense. I can’t explain any of it to you, but I can tell you about the lion. I need you to sit with me, though. Would I be doing this if I thought there was any threat at all? Fuck, Destiny — I took care of you and didn’t leave your side for days while you were in the hospital. Even after we’d contacted your family and got them down there, I stuck around to be sure you were safe. I’m not going to let a lion eat you now.”

  Finally, she sat beside me, and I sat up and said, “I’m the lion, Teeny.”

  “You can’t be, and don’t call me Teeny!”

  She’d looked thirteen or fourteen when I first saw her, and now at eighteen she could still easily pass as a young teen. She says she’s five feet tall, but if asked she’ll admit she rounds up from four feet, eleven and a quarter inches. I’m six foot five inches tall and built like a football player. In fact, I’d played football until I was bitten by a lion at fifteen.

  The Amakhosi wouldn’t be pleased I’d done this without consulting him, but I hoped he’d understand. I took a deep breath, found my center, and trusted the lion would be on board with showing himself in the least traumatic way I could think of.

  My left hand was in the dark since she sat to my right, so I changed it into a lion’s paw. When the transformation was complete, I pulled it around so she could see. “It’s just my paw. I don’t want to do a complete change and scare you. Shine the light on it and look. You can touch it if you want — just keep your hands on the top. My claws are sheathed but we want to make sure I don’t scratch you.”

  Her heart sped, then slowed. Her scent went from shocked and afraid to something close to relief. “I’ve dreamed of monsters fighting monsters. Why do I dream it, but I can’t remember?”

  “Why are you relieved?”

  “How do you know I’m relieved? The werewolves in the books I’ve been reading can smell fear. Can you smell relief?”

  “Yeah, Teeny. I can smell all your emotions.”

  “That’s how you took such good care of me while I was in the hospital?” She shook her head and looked off into the dark forest. “You knew when I was afraid or when I hurt, even if I didn’t tell anyone.”

  “How are your parents?” They’d been terrified of their daughter at first, afraid she’d been turned evil. I honestly think they’d have refused to let her come home if the bastards had gone so far as raping her. They’d treated her more like a stranger than a daughter until the doctor confirmed she was still a virgin.

  “They threatened to kick me out when I refused to go to church, but our pastor actually took my side and told them to give me time. We reached a compromise, and I have dinner with his family once a month, and spend an hour or two talking to his wife after we eat.” She shrugged. “They don’t know about my tattoo yet.” She touched her chest. “When it’s finished, it’ll hide the scars. I always wear high neck shirts so no one can see my scars, it’s just covering the tattoo now. I probably won’t show them until I can afford to move out.”

  For such a little thing, she was so fucking strong. I wanted to see the tattoo, wanted to know what she’d designed, but it felt too personal, so I asked, “You’re working?”

  “I’m doing okay teaching private lessons for piano, guitar, and violin. I’m at UTC this year — going for a business major, with a minor in music.”

  She’d been homeschooled and had graduated early, but I was surprised her parents were letting her go to a non-religious college. I decided not to bring it up, though. “How are you handling regular classes? You’ve never had to learn that way, have you?”

  “It’s okay. I was terrified at first, but I’ve learned it’s more annoying than difficult. Your hand’s back to normal.”

  “My hand’s back to human. It’s normal for me to be a lion sometimes.”

  “So, you’re a werelion?”

  I sighed. The night had gotten complicated, and it had the potential to go all wrong. “We usually say lion shifter, but werelion isn’t wrong. Humans can’t know about us, but I had no idea you’d have a flashlight brighter than the fucking sun. Since you know, there’s a procedure we have to follow to make it… well, legal, I guess. Did you drive?”

  “My car’s outside the park at a fast food restaurant, and I left my bike just inside the woods.”

  I pulled my phone out of my jeans and texted the Drake Security control room to let them know I needed someone to replace me the rest of the night, and I’d need a private audience with the Amakho
si — preferably well before morning.

  I watched as His Majesty prepared Destiny’s wine with a little of his blood in it. Her blood was already in a small glass of water, and we’d traumatized her all over again when we had to get it. The Celrau had decorated themselves with her blood, and there’d been no way to get some of hers into the glass without reminding her of what they’d done.

  She was a trooper though. It helped that she remembered His Majesty was one of the people who arrived to rescue her last year. Of course, her memory is of escaping and calling for help, and we were part of the SWAT team that responded. Never mind none of us were wearing uniforms. Hell, never mind most of us weren’t entirely human as we fought. Abbott had altered her memories, but I was wondering if the vampire had made a mistake when he wiped the parts she wasn’t supposed to remember.

  I hadn’t seen Destiny in over ten months, and yet I still felt this fierce need to protect her. She was seventeen back then — to my twenty-five — so pulling away from her was my only option. A seventeen year old looking to lose her virginity is like a ticking time bomb under the best of circumstances, and with my protective streak and crazy attraction to her, it hadn’t been the best of circumstances.

  His Majesty walked her through the binding ceremony, making it so she can’t tell any supernatural secrets. He was gentle and patient, answering her questions, soothing her fears, but firm about making sure it was done correctly. When the binding was complete and he’d tested it, he glanced at me before telling her, “Zeke tells me you’ve had dreams you can’t explain. He thinks they’re what made you go back into the woods tonight. I’d like you to tell me why you went.”