Fanged Fury (The Adventures of Sydney Sedrick Book 3) (5 page)

My chest felt heavy with love for Blake, a love beyond forbidden. Never before moving to Kenosha had I thought I’d meet the man of my dreams. Blake was pushy and overbearing, but that could be worked on. He cared for his family with a fierceness I respected. He was fun to be around, when he wasn’t trying to initiate the life-mate bond, and our friendship held great importance to me. Truly being with Blake would mean turning my back on the vampires, the people that had been so important to my grandmother, people who had become important to me. More than that, the vampires and werewolves would use my being with Blake as a reason to wage another all-out war between them. My conscience weighed heavy on my thoughts. I couldn’t think about being with Blake without contemplating the aftermath sure to follow between the Others.

I wouldn’t allow them to use me to kill one another.

Closing my phone, I stared until the neon light on the front of the screen went blank. Someday I would figure out what to do. Until then, I wouldn’t make any final decisions.

Grabbing Grandma’s journal, I began to read.

Dear Granddaughter, You may find yourself overwhelmed at times. I know I certainly did. Being the Selected is full of responsibilities, many of which you will abhor at times, and other times? You’ll love the gifts you have been given by divine choice
.

You see, the vampires and werewolves may have their prophecies, but the Selected comes with knowledge passed on only from one Selected down to the next.

The Selected is not one female at a time, but four.

What?
There were four Selecteds in the world? Questions bombarded my brain.
Why hadn’t I been told this before?
I kept reading, hoping to find out more about my Selected sisters.

This information is not well known to the vampires and werewolves. I never told my beloved Kieran. I feared he would alert the Elders to their existence.

Unfortunately, the Selecteds are not able to tolerate being in the same city as one another.

The reason is twofold why I have not revealed their existence to the vampires. The Selecteds are in faraway lands. They possess their own sets of problems without having to deal with the ones we have here in Kenosha. The other reason is because, regardless of the truth, the vampires and wolves would seek the women out to fulfill their prophecies. What they would not be able to accept or understand is that once a Selected leaves their birth-land that they are bound to oversee, their Selected gene becomes inactive. Should a Selected ever find themselves in your area, their blood would be rendered inactive, meaning they would not be able to fulfill the prophecies of either the wolves or the vampires.

Speaking of prophecies, both the wolves and vampires will do anything they can to keep the absolute truth about them and your part in their fulfillment from you. Dear daughter of my daughter, the prophecies are written in layers. I’ve only begun to scratch their surfaces.

Trust me, prying information from a vampire or werewolf when they don’t want to give it is near impossible.

Closing the journal, I set it next to me on the bed while staring across the room out into the night. There were four Selecteds. Scattered so far because we couldn’t be anywhere near each other. Talk about design flaws. Then another thought crossed my mind. Maybe it was survival instinct that we had to stay away, ensuring we remain in our areas taking care of whatever it was we were supposed to?

Already having figured out that part of my purpose as the Selected in Kenosha was to design a way to make the vampires and werewolves live peaceably in the same town, I realized the benefit of making the Selecteds stand clear of each other. If there were only four, it would not serve well to have them all in one place. Whoever the creator of our Selected abilities was, they had sights on a bigger plan. I just wished I knew what that plan was.

Pushing the blankets away, I dragged the chair to the window. Staring out into the night, I admired the twinkling stars. The thin slice of moon high in the sky lit the night with a soft, eerie glow.

The information from Grandma’s journal put me in a state of awe, but it also posed more questions than answers. What did she mean about the prophecies being layered? Kieran and Blake both disclosed what their prophecies entailed, but what her journal said made me think they were both withholding key details.

Pulling my knees up to my chest, I placed my arms around them to ward off the chill in the room. Grandma was right, at least in part. There wasn’t anyone is my new, bizarre life that I could fully trust. She must not have had as much faith in Aunt Judith as I did. She was indeed someone who deserved to be trusted, more so than anyone else, including my own mother.

Thinking of my mother, I cringed. It was better that she lived far enough away to keep her from meddling in my life, now that I knew I was the Selected. I wasn’t so sure she would be a big part of my life even if she lived in town. She wasn’t when I lived back home in Chicago.

The truth of what the journal revealed made my decision about Blake more complicated than it already was. It was obvious they were both hiding information from me, but was one of the vampires or werewolves more justified in doing so than the other? I couldn’t say for sure either way. I was determined to do more than just scratch the surface of their layered prophecies as Grandma said she had done.

If Blake truly believed we were life-mates, then he would have to participate in full disclosure.

I was tired of being left in the dark.

It was time for this girl to play a little hardball.

Chapter 4

The door chimes jingled while I teetered on an old rickety ladder, dusting the top shelves holding the more ancient tomes in the store. Even though they were heavy and cumbersome, not many customers asked to see them. Besides their size, the hefty price tags made them less likely to be purchased. So I decided to keep them away from those who were just curious about the Celtic arts. The contents of the tomes revealed powerful spells. People who didn’t know what they were doing shouldn’t be aware that they even existed.

Whoever came through the door wasn’t a werewolf, because the store temperature didn’t grow warmer. It wasn’t a vamp because it was way too sunny out. I couldn’t see the front of the store, but I could tell the person was an Other because whoever it was gave off a buzzing sensation.

“Where oh where is my little Selected hiding?” Kasdeya’s sarcastic voice filled the otherwise empty store. She was a Judge, one of the vampire king’s demon assassins.

Great, now what trouble was she interested in causing?
“I’m over here. I’ll be down in a second.” I climbed down the ladder, one rung at a time, hoping the wooden legs stayed in place until I reached the floor.

Making it all the way down with both feet on solid ground, I blew out a sigh, not realizing I was holding my breath the entire way down. I turned to find the demon standing so close to me a scream stuck in my throat. “Demon, don’t do that again.”

Kasdeya stood, pinning me between her and the ladder. I sidestepped around her to put distance between us. King Alexander wouldn’t let his servant hurt me, at least not in the current stage of the grand scheme, not that I knew what the game was about.

But I would.

Her sneer didn’t make me feel warm and fuzzy toward her. She smiled, exposing the silver, razor-sharp teeth lining her jaw. “Selected, do I scare you?”

Ignoring her question, I went over to the register. Taking a seat behind the counter, I said, “So, Kasdeya, what evil intentions bring you to my humble store? You don’t seem like the type that needs spells or totems to help focus your energies. So what gives?”

The demon stepped to the center of the store where the sun shone through the windows of the front door. The sunlight caressed her skin, making the silver patterns along her black-as-coal skin appear iridescent. The patterns thrived and shifted, soaking up every ray.

That’s when it hit me. “Kasdeya, are you dependant on the sun for your powers?”

She rolled her head from side-to-side. The silver patterns continued to swirl, achieving a pattern only to shift again to form another. When she was done enjoying the warm rays of the sun, she came over to stand in front of the counter.

“Sydney, I am a fire demon, so the answer to your question is ‘no’. I’m not dependant on any external source for my demonic power. But I do love the feel of the sun beating down on my body.” Kasdeya lifted her palms skyward as if her movement made her explanation more clear.

I didn’t bother trying to delve further into the mysterious demon’s power source. “Well, what brings you by?”

The store chimes sounded, alerting us to a customer. I glared at the demon, silently telling her I didn’t want any trouble in my store.

Kasdeya rolled her red eyes. She brought up her hand, motioning for me to take care of the customer.

The woman didn’t stay long. She came by to pick up her special blend of sage-cedar incense for a health spell she was working on. The customer never glanced at the demon even though Kasdeya leaned against the counter next to her while I rang up the purchase. I was grateful the demon hid her presence from the human. I didn’t know what I’d do if the woman went screaming from the store because she saw a fire demon. I didn’t need the word getting around that I had dangerous Others haunting the store. On the other hand, it could be good for business. I’d have to think about that.

Once the woman was gone, I turned back to the demon. “Are you going to tell me the reason you came today? Because I really have a lot to do.”

Kasdeya traced her pointed, chrome-colored fingernail, that was three inches too long, on the glass countertop. She tilted her head to the side and looked me in the eye. “I have troubles of my own, human. I need, a person, that I can trust, to talk to.”

The demon struggled to get the words out. It was obvious she needed to confide in someone, but she didn’t like that her only option was me, a human she despised.

A smile broke on my lips. Kasdeya obviously felt uncomfortable talking about anything other than violence and the vampire king she served. “Are you telling me you think we’re friends? Because you threaten my life every chance you get. Friends don’t do that, not where I come from.”

I couldn’t believe she stood in my store, expecting me to be her BFF. Holding my breath, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to hold the laughter bubbling inside me.

Kasdeya’s eyes narrowed in irritation. “Yes, Selected. I was, hoping, that out of anyone, you would understand man troubles. But I see my mistake. My fault.”

Not waiting for a response, she turned to leave the store.

“Wait, I’m sorry. I couldn’t help it. We haven’t exactly had the best relationship.”

She stopped her path to the door, circling back toward me in a huff, stomping her high-heeled leather boots as she moved.

I inclined my head. “I’m here to listen, if you still want to talk.”

Kasdeya eyed me for a moment, deciding whether or not to spill whatever she was keeping to herself. She nodded, cascading her straight black hair down the front of her leather bra. “Yes, I will talk with you. The other Judges, well, they don’t need to know about my personal life. The king has other things to worry about, so I’d rather keep what I’m going to tell you between us. That means I don’t want your wolf knowing, either. Do we have a deal?”

My mind raced as I tried to think of all the different scenarios that could possibly have the Judge so upset that she actually
wanted
to confide in me. None formed in my mind so I didn’t know if my agreement would anger Blake or not. Still, I nodded, too curious to pass this up. “Deal.”

The demon spun around on her high-heeled, black leather boots—they went well with the strapless bra and black leather skirt she wore—and strutted to the sofa next to the fireplace. She took the seat closest to the fire. I guess she really did feel better being near the heat from the flames.

I took a deep breath, acknowledging the fact that I wasn’t going to get anything done in the store until she left.

A vision of Blake’s warm heat soaking into my body as he pressed me against the cushion I was sitting on while kissing me flashed before my mind. I tamped the image down fast. Now was not the time to think about Blake. I told myself I wouldn’t let him get to me. Memories of us being intimate would not be allowed to explode into my conscious thought whenever they felt like it. I didn’t want to need to run to the phone and dial his number in hopes I’d hear the deep burr of his voice, but that’s exactly what I yearned to do.

“Okay, you have my full attention, what’s up?” Crossing my legs, I clasped my hands together, putting them on my lap. I could act like a therapist. That’s what the demon seemed to need, which I totally thought was very odd. It wasn’t in the fire demon’s nature to want to chitchat like old friends, especially not with me.

“Word has it my ex-lover, Rage, has employed mercenaries from the Underworld to travel to Earth to find me.” From her expression, she was quite annoyed by the news, maybe even a wee bit concerned.

“Why would he want to find you? I thought you two broke up because he betrayed you?” The thought of Kasdeya’s ex searching for her made me shiver. The demon was known among the Judges for his cruelty. I’d heard Rage had a penchant for mind manipulation, and just the thought made me queasy. Nothing about the demon made me want to have anything to do with him.

Sighing, she sagged against the back cushion of the couch with a defeated posture. The silver patterns began to move along her skin faster as she became more irritated. “I took something from him that he wants back. But I don’t have it anymore.”

Her problem seemed pretty easy to solve. “Just tell him whatever you took is no longer in your possession. He’ll stop bothering you.”

Kasdeya scoffed, staring at me like I was a silly human. “Selected, dealing with demons is not simple as it is with humans. Rage will want compensation for what I took.”

She still wasn’t making it clear why it was such a big deal. “So, pay him. How hard is that?”

“My ex-lover is not going to accept cash, Sydney. He will insist I pay him with service, as is our way. He will make me suffer for every second his precious artifact has been out of his possession.” She laid her head back against the couch, closing her eyes.

“What are you going to do if his mercenaries find you?” The Judge seemed worried, making me nervous. Kasdeya was strong; she was a fire demon. There was a time when she and Blake had had a physical altercation. She could have killed him if she chose. She owned the ability to kill the heir to the Midwestern Werewolf Pack, she was that powerful. Kasdeya’s worry over her ex made me realize I shouldn’t have agreed to keep the information to myself.

Shaking her head, Kasdeya peered over at me. “I don’t know, Selected. I really don’t know. For now, my location has not been revealed to him. If he wants to find me, I gather that he will. It will only be a matter of time.”

“I don’t get it, you guys broke up. Why would he demand that you be his slave if he doesn’t want to be with you?” It was obvious I didn’t have all the details.

“Sydney, I left him, not the other way around. A girl doesn’t just go dumping Rage without being punished.” Kasdeya laughed, shaking her head at the predicament.

“But how can he make you go back to the Underworld with him? You have a contract to the vampire king I thought couldn’t be broken?” The Underworld must be a terrible place for her to have left, considering it had been her home for so long. Or was it Rage that was so terrible?

She stood from the couch, raising her arms up in the air to stretch. “Sydney, my father and Rage are still working together. My father will do whatever Rage asks of him. That includes coming to Earth to secret me back to the Underworld. It is not likely King Alexander would send the Judges back there to retrieve me. The Judges would then have to renegotiate the contract. I imagine centuries of service would be added, or some such change would be made due to my absence.”

“Is there anything we can do?” I couldn’t believe those words came out of my mouth. I didn’t much care for the demon. I was pretty sure the feeling was mutual. But now that she had confided in me, I wanted to help her anyway I could.

No one should have to be a slave, not on my watch.

Her shrill laughter pierced my ears as she threw her head back, laughing for all she was worth. “I appreciate your human sentiment, Selected, but I can’t employ your assistance, not that you would be effective in any manner that would help me.”

“So what is it you want from me?”

“I want one less person I have to worry about sticking a knife in my back while I’m in this realm. I want there to be peace between you and I, we are kindred of sorts.”

“Well, if there’s any way I can help, let me know. I really think you should consider telling the king. Maybe he or the other Judges could help you.”

She nodded and headed for the door. “I will consider it. Thank you for your time.” The demon left without another word.

In an odd way, I felt sorry for her. Kasdeya was stuck having to deal with the crappy life she was dealt. Other people’s decisions directly affected her, no matter that she didn’t want them to.

In a way, she was right. We had more in common than I thought.

I jumped when the door chimes rang again, bringing me out of contemplative mode. It was always startling when humans came into the store because I couldn’t sense their approach. Not that I didn’t want them to come to the store; they were regular paying customers. The Others didn’t seem to ever have the need to buy anything. They just stopped by to make my life more complicated than it already was, or so it seemed. When the Others approached, my Selected senses alerted me to their coming so I had advanced warning. I could usually tell what kind of mood they were in before they ever crossed my store’s threshold.

Meredith gave me a bright smile, but her forehead creased with concern. “Sydney, I can only spare a few moments, but I just have to bend your ear.”

It seemed I was the girl to talk to today.

“What’s wrong, Meredith?” Normally my aunt’s best friend didn’t come in needing anything but supplies for the secret wards I knew her and my aunt worked on, despite their denials.

“Have you noticed anything unusual about Judith? I mean, I think something’s going on she’s not telling me about. I’m a bit concerned.” Meredith rubbed the chill from her hands as she stood anxiously awaiting my response.

“No, not really. She does seem to have lost some weight, but she’s not acting weird or anything.”

“That’s exactly what I’m talking about. She has meetings that she has to go to. She wouldn’t tell me what they’re for, so I followed her.” Her guilty expression made me wonder what had compelled her to do such a thing.

“What did you find out?” I was concerned about Aunt Judith’s weight loss, but now I worried it could be something more serious.

Meredith set her bag on the counter. “I followed her to the hospital, Sydney. I didn’t go into the building for fear she would catch me. I don’t want her to know I invaded her privacy. I think something’s wrong with her health but she’s not saying what it is.”

My heart sank. Normally I like to be right. This wasn’t one of those occasions. “I’ll ask her about it tonight, after work. I’ll just say I’m worried because she’s thinner than usual.” I wasn’t sure Aunt Judith would tell me, but now that her friend had confirmed my aunt had a health issue, I needed to find out what was going on.

Relief washed over Meredith’s face as she said, “Thank you, Sydney. I don’t want to burden you with this, but I couldn’t keep this to myself for a second longer. You are so dear to Judith. I know you feel the same about her. If my best friend needs help, then that’s what we’ll give her, whether she likes it or not.”