The Enemy Within (Daughters of the People Series Book 3)
Read The Enemy Within (Daughters of the People Series Book 3) Online
Authors: Lucy Varna
The
Enemy Within
Daughters of the People: Book 3
Lucy Varna
Published by Bone Diggers Press
Copyright 2014 C.D. Watson. All Rights Reserved.
Cover design copyright L.J. Anderson, Mayhem Cover
Creations
ISBN: 978-0-9907730-0-9
Description of
The Enemy Within
:
After fourteen years, Indigo Dupree returns to
Tellowee, Georgia, to face the past she left behind. She’s tried of running,
tired of hiding, and wants nothing more than to help her mother through the
final days of her pregnancy. What she doesn’t want is to become romantically
entangled, not even to the sinfully handsome Bobby Upton, whose kiss sent her
fleeing a decade and a half before.
Bobby is the son of the Blade and a ruthless warrior in his own right. At
sixteen, the age of manhood among the People, he tried to claim the woman he
loved and failed, and spent the next decade hacking his way through Uncle Sam’s
enemies. Now a successful businessman, he’s given the task of tracking down the
People’s enemies, including India Furia, the twin sister of his heart’s only
love.
Duty demands that Indigo atone for the sins of her sister by helping to bring
her in. India has other ideas, ones that draw Indigo and Bobby into a deadly
game involving the Prophecy of Light, forcing Indigo to choose between her duty
and her heart.
Daughters
of the People: Immortal Amazons unjustly cursed, struggling to save their
People, and their hearts.
The Daughters of
the People Series:
Look for
In All Things,
Balance
coming February 2015 from
Bone
Diggers Press
.
Also available
from Lucy Varna, The Witches of Cullowhee Series
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Disclaimer:
This story is a
work of fiction. Any resemblance of the characters to persons living or dead is
purely a coincidence.
Actual
localities and entities are mentioned solely for the purpose of adding realism
to the story.
Table of Contents
The Daughters of the People Series
Notes
from the Fab Four
Notes on the People compiled by
Tom Fairfax, Phil Walters, George Howe, and James Terhune, known at the IECS
unofficially as the Fab Four.
Aenkanien
. A tattoo inked into the left-hand shoulder blade
of a Son who becomes the husband of a Daughter. Once approval has been granted
by the mothers of both parties and the tattoo is in place, a formal marriage
ceremony is unnecessary; the two are considered married in the eyes of the
People, though many couples choose to undergo a civil or, less frequently,
traditional ceremony.
Amaetien
. The tattoo Sons receive on their sixteenth
birthday (the day they become men under the traditions and laws of the People)
to indicate their maternal lineage. Usually inked onto the upper left arm, the
amaetien
is a symbol of the mother’s eternal protection and devotion, and a warning to
any who would harm the Son.
Council of Seven.
The People’s ruling body, consisting of seven
women, one representing the line of each of the Seven Sisters.
Daughter
.
A direct descendant of one of the Seven Sisters, Daughters may be either
immortal (if they have not yet broken their own curse) or mortal (if they have
broken their own curse or are the daughter of a mortal Daughter).
Eternal Order
. A supposedly mythical group devoted to undermining
the ultimate goal of the People, to break the curse of immortality for every
Daughter through the fulfillment of the Prophecy of Light.
High Guard
.
Seven Daughters devoted to eradicating the Eternal Order. A highly secret and
deadly group.
Institute of Early Cultural Studies (IECS).
Located in Tellowee, Georgia,
USA, the IECS is the main historical research branch of the People and serves
as a repository for much of its history.
Kaetyrm
.
Sister, usually used in a formal situation, though not always.
Maetyrm
.
Mother, usually used as a term of respect for an elder Daughter and not
necessarily as a reference to one’s own mother. Teachers, for example, are
referred to as Maetyrm.
People, The
.
The name used by the descendants of the Seven Sisters to describe themselves.
The People include all immortal and mortal Daughters, Sons, and the mortal
descendants of all submitted Daughters to the second degree (i.e. through the
grandchildren of Daughters who have submitted their wills and become mortal).
Other descendants are not counted among the numbers of the People.
Prophecy of Light
. Issued by an unknown person at some distant point
in the past, the Prophecy of Light portends a way for the curse of immortality
to be lifted from all of the People, and not solely the Daughters who submit
their wills and become mortal. (See the
Daughters
of the People
website.)
Seven Sisters
. The progenitors of the modern People. The seven
women, all sisters, avenged the deaths of their parents by killing the men of
the People (the original band) and were cursed by the god An to live immortal
lives without the ability to bear sons. The curse was tempered by the goddess
Ki, who decreed that the curse could be broken by each one if she would submit
her will, in whatever way (except sexually), to the man she loved. (See the
Legend of Beginnings on the
Daughters of the People
website.)
Shadow Enemy
. The traditional enemy of the People.
Son
.
Usually refers to the child of a Daughter who has broken the curse and become
mortal, but may also reference the child of a Son or another male descendant of
a Daughter.
Tellowee, Georgia, USA
. One of the centers of the
People, located in rural northeast Georgia.
Indigo Dupree surveyed
the packing boxes strewn throughout her new apartment with a light heart.
Home
.
For fourteen years, she’d lived out of a suitcase, roaming from job to job,
never staying still for long. It was time, past time really, to put roots down
again, to settle somewhere. Time to stop running.
It was purely a
coincidence that growing roots landed her in Tellowee among the past she’d left
behind. Her mother lived here now with her new husband and a baby on the way, hopefully
the long-desired son. A new baby to spoil and love and cherish.
The yearning to push
life from her body, to become a mother and hold a babe of her own, whispered
through Indigo. She had few regrets in her life. Not having a child was one of
them.
Another regret,
a stronger one, tightened its grip on her, of a boy on the brink of manhood and
a kiss she could never forget.
She shoved the
memory away and picked up a box.
Being a Daughter
wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Near-eternal youth had advantages, true,
but it came with a memory that never faded, never blurred. The mistakes of a
long past piled up on one another like poorly stacked blocks, resting on the
sanity of the moment, waiting for one false move to send the whole stack
toppling.
What would it be
like to be mortal, worried only about things like finding a place to walk her
dog, if she had one, or saving up for a new pair of outrageously impractical
heels?
Indigo paused in
the middle of slitting open the tape of the box she’d chosen, turning the
notion over in her mind. Mortal women didn’t look over their shoulders, trying
to stay one step ahead of an ancient enemy. They didn’t worry about breaking a
curse or finding a lasting love. Ok, sure, they worried about love, but not the
way an immortal Daughter did. An immortal Daughter who couldn’t find a love
strong enough to take her heart and will was doomed to a restless life, always
on the run, never to find solace.
The doorbell rang,
startling Indigo into dropping the box she held. She frowned at the door. In
town less than a day, and already visitors came a-calling. Gossip spread
quickly in the sleepy Southern town. A handful of people knew she’d moved back
to Tellowee and she’d just left the house where most of them lived, all except
Dani Nehring.
Her frown lifted
at the thought of her friend, who lived only an hour away. When Indigo had
called the week before, Dani had sounded near rock bottom. Indigo had finally
teased enough information out of the suddenly tight-lipped Daughter to learn
that Dani had had a rough go of it since their time in Sweden, between falling
in love, becoming mortal, and finding, then killing, her long lost mother.
Indigo had invited her to come out, maybe have pizza and catch a movie, but she
hadn’t really expected Dani to take her up on the offer, not yet. Still, Indigo
hurried to the door, anxious to see her friend.
When she pulled
open the door, her heart skittered in her chest, then sank like a stone. Bobby
Upton stood at the threshold, a solid six feet of lean muscle, unruly chestnut
hair, and hazel eyes. His face was thinner than she remembered, his eyes
harder, but he looked strong and fit in a black, form-fitting turtleneck tucked
into low-slung jeans.
Her gaze drifted
unconsciously down his body and her breath caught in her lungs. He’d filled out
handsomely since the last time she’d seen him. He’d always been tough, with the
lean, quick build of his father. His shoulders seemed broader now, the muscles
more defined under his clothing. The cockiness he’d worn like a badge as a
teenager had mellowed to cool confidence, apparent in his loose stance and calm
gaze. He held himself like a man ready to handle anything thrown his way, not a
boy eager to take what he wanted.
The man before
her wouldn’t
need
to take anything. He’d simply have to ask and it would
be willingly given.
She sucked in a
breath, appalled at the direction her mind had taken, and jerked her gaze to
his face. His wide mouth was tilted into a smug smirk. A bloom of heat and
color worked its way into her cheeks and her mouth snapped into a thin line.
Ogling Bobby
Upton
.
Atta way to keep the upper hand.
“Indigo.”
His voice was
low and smooth. Awareness shivered up her spine and she closed her eyes against
it. Why had he, of all people, shown up at her door?
“May I come in?”
he said.
Her eyes popped
open as her skin went hot, then cold. She swung the door shut, anything to keep
him on the other side,
please, Goddess
.
His hand shot
out, catching the door in mid-swing. “We need to talk.”
“I don’t have
anything to say to you,” she said, and bit the inside of her cheek at the
breathless note in her voice.
His jaw
tightened. “This is business.”
She threw all
her weight behind her hold on the door, and glared at him when his one palm,
flat on the door’s surface, was enough to counter her strength. His smirk was a
little too smug, a little too knowing. Drat him. Fourteen years and he still
got the best of her.
She clenched her
jaws together and gritted out, “Still not interested.”
He shoved the
door hard, popping it out of her restraining hand, and stepped inside, a
dangerous glint in his eyes. Her heart raced as she scrambled back. The last
time she’d seen that look, bad things had happened,
really
bad things.
Or really good
ones, depending on the point of view. His hand skimming under her shirt,
teasing her skin with the soft, sure grazes of his fingertips. His mouth
claiming hers, demanding her surrender as he pressed her against an unforgiving
concrete wall. Her body melting under the onslaught of his heat, then voices
spilling out into the hallway and her jerking away, keeping them both from
making a terrible mistake.
She turned from
him, away from the stain of memory and regret. “What do you want?”
“I’m here about
India.”
Indigo stifled
an irritated sigh. Why did people always come to the good twin when the bad one
erred? “What has she done now?”
“Fallen in with
some very bad people.”
“India
is
very bad people, Bobby.”
“Ever hear of
Lilith Cæstus?”
She sucked in a
breath. Dani’s mother, the ancient Daughter who had wreaked havoc on the People
and anyone else she could lay hands on over the past couple of millennia, now
dead by her only surviving daughter’s hand. “Please don’t tell me India was
with Lilith when Dani stood against her.”
“Ok, I won’t.”
Indigo wilted
under the mildly voiced sarcasm. Hearing that would break her mother’s heart.
India had always been difficult, zagging when Elizabeth told her to zig,
lashing out at everything that came her way, good or bad. The reckless anger
had only grown worse as she aged.
“She’s just the tip,
Indigo,” he murmured.
His voice washed
over her like a caress, a distracting shiver of possibilities. She pushed her
reaction away. Duty was a hard mistress, duty to family the hardest, this one
in particular. Bobby Upton in her home. The things a woman did for family. “Ok,
fine. Come in and close the door. You can help me unpack while you fill me in.”
He shut the door
and locked it, and walked toward her in a loose limbed gait, like a man ready
to claim what was his.
Blessed Goddess
. Her breath caught in her throat
and her heart raced and his heat surrounded her as he neared, and she caught
his masculine scent and went dizzy with need. She steeled herself against it
and brought herself ruthlessly under control.
Bobby dug a
knife out of his pocket, picked a box, and carefully slit the tape holding it
closed. “It’s been a madhouse around here lately.”
“I heard.”
Indigo breathed out a silent sigh of relief when her voice sounded relatively
normal. “Have all the Sandby borg artifacts been recovered yet?”
“No.” He
unpacked china, set it on the counter, and dropped packing material onto the
pile she’d started. “The one Lilith stole from the warehouse in New York a
couple months back? That one we have, but as far as we know, the Shadow Enemy
has the others.”
Her hand went to
the spot on the back of her head where she’d been hit earlier that year, during
the theft of a cache of documents from the Swedish dig. “No word on the
original thief, then?”
At his silence,
she glanced up and caught him watching her with a peculiar expression on his
face, his eyes intense, his mouth set in a thin, hard line. Her hands trembled
when he stepped closer, and then his fingers sifted through her hair, probing
the back of her head with a light, firm pressure.
She pulled back
to escape his touch, to still the tremors in her body and the needy ache
pooling low in her gut. He clasped her shoulder with his other hand, holding
her in place while he examined the spot where she’d been hit.
“I was worried about
you,” he murmured. His breath warmed the skin of her face, and she steeled herself
against his nearness. He was so close, his heat and strength there if she
wanted it. She’d given in to him once for a few brief moments fourteen years
before. It had ended with both of them running as far and as fast as they
could. How could his mere presence chase that regret and memory away so easily?
“It was
nothing.” She tried to step back again and he let her go. “Long healed.”
His expression
closed as he turned away from her and opened another box. “Mom believes someone’s
actively working against the People, hiding the Shadow Enemy’s movements, maybe
undermining other common goals, like breaking the curse.”
She plucked at
the box she’d crumpled beneath nerveless fingers. “There are always a few who go
against the grain.”
“This feels like
a concerted effort. Organized.” He caught her gaze, holding it with the
intensity of his own. “It’s possible India picked up where Lilith left off. If
she did, she probably has at least a rudimentary control of Lilith’s followers.
If not her, then someone else, but our priority is finding India. I wouldn’t
ask for your help if I didn’t need it.”
“She and I were
never close.”
“But you
understand her in a way few other people do.” His gaze went hard and flat. “I could
always ask your mother for help.”
She gaped at
him. How could he even suggest that? “She’s pregnant.”
“Hard to miss.”
“And you would
ask her to go after India? Are you insane?”
“I have a job to
do, Indigo.”
“And you don’t
care who you hurt to do it, is that it?”
“I always care
who I hurt,” he snapped. “That doesn’t mean I can neglect my duty.”
“Duty,” she
scoffed. “You’re Rebecca the Blade’s son, all right.”
“You have no
room to lecture me about duty.”
She flinched
away from the harsh grate in his voice. “Bobby…”
He cut her off
with a dismissive slash of his hand. “I’ll find India with or without you.” He
pulled a business card out of his pocket and tossed it onto the top of the box
she held. “I’m briefing a team tomorrow morning at ten thirty. Be there if you
want to help.”
He stalked out
of her apartment, shutting the door firmly behind himself. She exhaled a shaky
sigh and slumped against a stack of boxes. Her first day in town and she’d
totally blown it. Bobby’s face popped into her head, the hot rake of his eyes,
the gentle pressure of his fingers sifting through her hair. She shivered as
the heat he’d stirred reignited. Why had she answered the door?
Right. She’d expected
anyone, anyone at all, other than Bobby Upton, the very reason she’d left
Tellowhee in the first place. If he’d come about anything but India, she’d
ignore him. She was good at that, but duty called, that wretched beast, and her
duty, if what he said about India was even halfway true, was to chase down and
contain her errant twin, whether she wanted to or not.
Her gut roiled
and the muscles around her spine tightened. Why did he have to be the one going
after India?
Indigo scrubbed
her hands over her face and pushed him out of her mind, determined to keep him
there as long as she possibly could.
* * *
The next
morning, the office hummed with activity as duties were assigned and discussed
alongside a hefty dose of weekend gossip. Bobby sat in his office with the door
open, listening to the hustle and grind with the satisfaction of a man invested
in it. When he and two of his closest friends, Hiro Okada and Drew Martin, had
started BDH Security & Protection Services two years before, they’d hoped
for success and never dreamed of achieving it so quickly. It was one of life’s
unexpected pleasures, kind of like seeing the woman of his dreams again after
nearly a decade and a half.
The night
before, he’d left Indigo’s more than a little frustrated and spent hours
afterward sweating her out of his system. A punishing run on the treadmill and
an hour in the pool swimming lap after lap as if the Shadow Enemy were on his
heels hadn’t been enough to purge her memory. He’d fallen into bed exhausted
and dreamed of her soft, lithe body all night long, of kissing her, of sinking
into her, of the little mews of pleasure she made when he touched her.