NEWBORN: Book One of the Newborn Trilogy Read online

  “Shut up, wizard!” Mortimer cries, waving his torch threateningly.

  Exiting the longhouse, Jack hurries into view. “Sire, I have an idea! The attackers are wizards and we have a wizard tied up! Let’s do what we already did. Threaten to kill if they don’t surrender their wands!”

  “Genius!” Mortimer exclaims. “Excellent! I knew I bit you for a reason!”

  Something hits the back of my stake. Blinking in the dying light, I try looking around. But I can’t bend enough. Did somebody throw a rock? I mean – seriously – how low is that? I’m about to be burned alive and they’re throwing rocks at me! How about human decency? Geez, that’s right – they’re not human.

  “Ouch!” I yell as something strikes my finger.

  The vampires don’t hear. They’re distracted.

  “How do we stop them?” Mortimer asks his second in command. “In order to say we have a wizard?”

  A pause.

  “White flag?” Jack suggests.

  Mortimer says, “I don’t think we have a white fla –”

  “Sumio decimate!”

  The right side palisade wall explodes in roaring smoke and rocketing timber. Hands over my head, I duck to avoid the debris. Then I realize. I’m free! Turning around, I see enormous amber eyes staring up at me from behind. The owl is perched on the kindling and looking extremely expectant.

  “Oh – right!” I say to Merrifeather. I hasten to undo the others’ bonds.

  “Vampires to me!” Mortimer is screaming. “Vampires to me! Get down here from those towers, fools!”

  I understand why he’s frightened. The curse blew an enormous hole in the palisade wall – a hole large enough to walk through – and now Mortimer is alone in the stockade’s courtyard except for…

  Jack is sprinting to the hole in the palisade. Dodging vampires fleeing the towers into the parade ground, he squeezes through the hole into the forest on the other side. Where’s he going? He’s getting away!

  “I’m after him!” Gabriel yells as I free him. “Jack knows who the Newborn is – we can’t lose him, Nora!”

  “No!” Wolf barks, newly freed. “Stay, Gabriel! Protect Nora! I’ll get him!”

  There’s no room for argument because Wolf is already running after the vampire. Jumping high in the air, he lands on paws – not hands. Speed doubling with additional legs, Wolf leaps through the hole and out of sight.

  Now it’s Gabriel, me, and Merrifeather against ten angry vampires. They approach us, their bright eyes narrowing into slits and their teeth hungry. Mortimer’s in front. “I warned you, conjurer,” he cackles, “you would not escape with your life! So nearly saved!” He charges Gabriel, teeth bared and bloody.

  “Sumio decimate!”

  The palisade wall on the left explodes into the evening – pieces of it flying high and far. “Sumio decimate!” Splintering amid billowing smoke and cracking wood, a sentinel tower begins collapsing outward. “Sumio torgi!” The remaining tower bursts into flames, tearing the sky with screams.

  Dodging flying wood and timber, Mortimer misses Gabriel. Screeching like a rabid creature, Merri flies for his head. I know what’s coming! So – it seems – does the vampire, for he covers his eyes with his arm. Merri collides with the side of his robes and takes off again, this time over Gabriel.

  Who catches his wand.

  “Nora!” Gabriel shouts. “We have to run for it!”

  I don’t need telling twice. Punching a vampire in the face, I speed in the direction of exploded palisade. Gabriel is right behind me.

  “Stop them! Stop them!” Mortimer cries. But soon he’s distracted.

  A voice yells, “Sumio torgi!”

  The longhouse bursts into flame. “No! Put it out!” Mortimer is screaming. “Put it out! Put that fire out! Put it out!”

  We are out.

  Through the hole in the palisade wall and in the forest, we are surrounded by trees. Merrifeather lands on Gabriel’s arm but quickly launches again as we hurry through the forest, away from the flaming, ash ridden stockade.

  “Gab –”

  “There they go!” A voice is shouting in the distance. “Kellan! I found them!”

  Swiping his blond hair to the side of his forehead, Gabriel stares me dead in the eyes, the turquoise of his own unflinching. “We have to run,” he says, “I can’t fight two Releasers. Try and dodge their spells. Run!”

  We hurtle through the forest at a breakneck speed.

  “You knew they’d find us!” I gasp at the wizard. “How?”

  Gabriel keeps pace. “Magic, of course!” he exhales. “The Puridites have magical monitors in place to recognize when a wizard and Immag have been intimate. It’s a complete invasion of privacy!”

  I can’t help it. I have to ask. “What will they do to us?”

  “Nothing positive!” Gabriel gasps. “Faster!”

  We are flying over the loam, our feet hitting the dirt and Merri flapping above.

  Gabriel’s ivory robes catch on a branch. He pulls but they don’t budge. The owl hoots a warning. Discarding his robes, Gabriel grabs my arm and we continue forward. Looking like two Immags.

  Amber eyes are swiveling backward. Merri hoots again, louder and more insistent.

  I can’t help it. I look back. Oh no! Oh no!

  “I see them!” I gasp at my wizard. “They’re coming!” My voice is stricken with fear. “What do we do?”

  His hand in my back, my wizard pushes me forward. “Run faster! We must stay out of firing range, Nora!”

  A voice from behind yells, “Nullify!”

  Zapping purple light misses Gabriel by inches. “Duck!” We throw ourselves down. Gabriel aims his wand. “Decimate!” The shooting red light misses one of the charging wizards. “Run!”

  We’re off. Sprinting through the woods.

  * * *

  From danger to danger is the only transition we seem to make. Trouble is I know what’s at stake now. A life of dreams is so close I feel it. A life with Gabriel White as my husband. A life with the possibility of a child. A wondrous life. A fantastic life. A beautiful life. A life where I learn the meaning of magic.

  A happy life is at stake.

  In order to have it – in order to live it – we must survive. We must escape our trackers. Problems abound. Our hunters are Gabriel’s equals this time. Wizards – Releasers of the Bureau of Beast Control – and there’s two of them and one of him. Despite me and Merri, Gabriel can’t take them both.

  There is one solution.

  To run!

  “Nullify!” The purple light misses me. “Nullify!”

  Throwing myself forward, I pound my weary limbs. Come on! I have to run! Stick with me here! I feel the wizards gaining from behind. Their curses are coming more frequently and more accurately.

  “Torgi!” A tree in front of me bursts into flames.

  Screaming, I hurtle away from it. “Wrong way!” Gabriel yells, stopping short. “This way, Nora! Run!”

  But the lapse is enough to aim one more curse at us. The shout comes from behind. “Annihilate!”

  I turn in time to see white light leave the wand. As it’s shooting right for me, I hear Gabriel’s voice in my head. Remember this just in case: You can come back from the purple light in good health. But red and white are serious. Especially white. If you see the bright white light, death is near.

  White light is speeding at me. Then it’s blocked out by white.

  It’s over. I know I’m dead. I can’t have survived. Not the white light – not Annihilate – the kill curse. Soon I will drift into bliss… Feeling a breeze against my face, I realize my eyes are closed. I open them.

  Merrifeather is lying on the ground by my feet.

  Dead.

  Two wizards are staring at me. Dressed in robes. Their expressions stunned.

  “No!” Gabriel screams, his voice agony itself. “Not Merri! Not Merri!” He’s beside me, his wand pointing at the wizards.

  “Put down your w
and!” orders one of the Releasers. “You’re under arrest!”

  Gabriel’s wand is shaking. His face inhuman. “Annihilate!” White light explodes from the end of his wand and hits one of the wizards square in the chest. Nothing happens. Then the wizard falls forward.

  The remaining Releaser shouts, “Decimate!”

  Gabriel is lifted from his feet and thrown into the air. Missing the burning tree, he smashes to the ground, his wand spinning away. He either doesn’t notice or care his wand is gone. Instead, he dashes to Merrifeather and – picking up her lifeless form – cradles her in his arms like a baby. Tears are falling onto feathers, making white plumage glisten like stars in the pressing night.

  I’m shaking all over. This can’t be happening. None of it. I don’t believe it. Merri. Dead. Gabriel. Lost his mind with grief. I’m defenseless. At the mercy of a Puridite Releaser. An unknown wizard.

  The Releaser is kneeling beside his fallen comrade. Murmuring something I can’t hear under his breath, he closes the wizard’s eyes. Standing, he’s ungainly, but points his wand at Gabriel resolutely.

  “You,” he begins, voice so hoarse he has to clear it before resuming, “you will stand, Gabriel White.”

  Gabriel continues cradling Merrifeather, ears unhearing.

  “Stand!” The order is sharper and louder this time.

  Limbs shaking – tear soaked turquoise eyes staring down at his owl – Gabriel stands up. He does not look at his fellow wizard. Nor does he acknowledge him any further. Instead, he continues petting Merri’s gorgeous white plumage. Refusing to believe those huge amber eyes have closed. Forever.

  On the ground, I see something that looks like a compass. I pick it up. A Vampass. Must have rolled from the Releaser’s pocket when he fell. Opening the device, I see the familiar, sharp-toothed needle swinging around everywhere. Until it comes to a stop pointing behind me. Strange.

  “Look at me, Gabriel,” the Releaser orders. “Look at me!”

  Finally, Gabriel looks up, the turquoise of his eyes sodden. “You killed my best friend,” he says quietly.

  The Releaser talks over him. “You share my profession, Gabriel White,” he says, his voice loud and serious. “I know the Bureau of Beast Control assigned you to Washington. Being a Releaser yourself, you can be expected to know our code and our license. We have a license to kill, maim, and torture sub Purids. And wizards who have committed murder against a fellow wizard!”

  I don’t like where this is going. Not at all.

  “Kellan and I were assigned to find you,” the Releaser continues. “It came to light at the Bureau you were engaging in sexual relations with an Immagical. Upon investigation here,” he adds, looking at me, “I recognize that’s not the case. That charge is dropped. But now you’re charged with murdering a fellow wizard. So – by lawful permission with the license granted me by the Bureau of Magic’s Bureau of Beast Control – I am going to execute you. Gabriel White, you are being executed for the murder of Kellan Wiley. May peace find your soul!”

  The Releaser raises his wand. “Anni –”

  It rips from inside me.

  An unrestrained fury.

  And an unrelenting thirst.

  Gabriel saved my life once. I must save his.

  Dropping the Vampass, I throw myself on the Releaser and sink my teeth into his throat. He screams, dropping his wand. Blood pours from his throat, drenching both of us and finding its way to my mouth.

  It’s so, so delicious!

  So incredibly tasty!

  And I’m so hungry! Like I haven’t eaten in years.

  Next thing I know the Releaser is writhing on the ground, clutching his throat and yowling in pain as though poisoned. I awake in my own body, realizing what I’ve done. Turning, I stare into Gabriel’s face.

  Fucking shitballs!

  A stampede of disbelief is running across his features, his expression incredibly aghast. Oh no! Oh no! I can’t believe I did that! Can’t believe this is happening to me! Can’t believe any of it!

  But I do believe it.

  And Gabriel will have to.

  I told Jack my blood tastes good. I would know…

  Gabriel is stunned. Disbelieving. Shell-shocked all the way to his core. Annihilated. “You can’t be,” he says quietly, turquoise eyes never leaving mine. “Your eyes. Your smell. They – they aren’t…”

  “Vampire,” I breathe.

  I think somewhere – extremely deep down – I’ve always known. Since I arrived at Evergreen. The knowledge grew closer with every meal I skipped and every second of pained nausea I experienced, till the lone ingredient making me hungry became blood – whether on sheets or in a dream or anywhere – didn’t matter. Doesn’t matter.

  “The Vampass,” Gabriel states. “Broken. Both of them.”

  I realize aloud, “These aren’t my real eyes.” Lifting my fingers, I swipe out my contacts – both of them. Blurring my vision.

  Gabriel gasps.

  I know what he’s seeing. The strange, luminous brightness of my eyes. The brightness I first noticed a week or two before school began. That must have been when Jack bit me. I have no memory of his attack.

  “Perfume,” I explain to Gabriel’s incredulous gaze. “It covered my scent. Gabriel, I’m not even an Immag!” I’m wiping blood from my mouth. “That’s why he said they got it wrong. I’m not an Immag! I’m a vampire!”

  A long pause.

  A longer pause.

  An extremely long pause.

  Part of me can’t believe I’m a vampire. Part of me can. Both halves are hoping Gabriel will accept me. That he will realize not all vampires are evil, parasitical creatures that must be destroyed. All of them. The men. The women. The children. Because I need Gabriel. I need him because I love him.

  At long last, Gabriel puts Merri’s body to rest in the loam. Standing tall, he looks at me. “Run,” he tells me.

  I’m staring. “What?”

  “Run,” he says, louder this time. “You are the Newborn. I am a Releaser.”

  This isn’t happening. Can’t be happening. It’s madness brought on by grief for his owl. Gabriel can’t kill me! Of course he can’t! Can he? Panic is filling my every pore, soaking me with adrenaline.

  My tears are stronger. “Gabriel, I –”

  “Run!” Searching around the smoldering tree, he finds his wand. He aims it at me, the turquoise of his eyes blotching red with tears. “You get a ten minute head start,” he says to me, “then I’m hunting you.”

  “It’s me, Gabriel!” I scream at him. I can’t keep the tears back. Great huge drops are falling to my cheeks. “It’s Nora! Your Nora! You can’t kill me! You said you would never stop loving me!”

  Turquoise eyes glisten and I realize he’s crying anew. “I – I did,” he gasps. “But you’re not you! You’re one of them! One of my archenemies!” He wipes his tears resolutely. “I – I can’t love a vampire!”

  I’m shaking my head. No. This isn’t happening. Can’t be happening. Not to me! It’s a nightmare. “Gabriel, please!”

  “Run!” Gabriel screams in my face, his wand held high. “Run from me before I kill you! Run! Run!”

  So I run.

  For my life.

  Or from it.

  I can’t tell.

  But I run.

  * * *

  Weeping uncontrollably, I run through the trees. My tears are endless, drenching me. I run and run and run. Never looking back. Doing my best to avoid obstacles despite my blurred vision. I can’t believe any of this happened. Is happening. The pain is too much. Too much for me to handle.

  For I know now. I understand the truth. The life I dreamed us having is impossible. Always has been. Gabriel can’t love a vampire let alone marry her. Even if I’m carrying his unborn child. Getting into Magasant School of Magic – a pipe dream from the beginning – will never happen now. Even though I can do – and did – some magic. I would need Gabriel’s blessing. Despite the magical moments Gabriel could hav
e given me, none of it boils down to the cold, hard truth.

  The spell that hurts the most is his love.

  No charm will heal me from its loss.

  I know that now. Always will.

  My feet pound earth as I run. My breath is coming in rasps and I’m clutching a stitch in my side. I have to stop. I’m exhausted. Emotionally and physically. Emotionally, mostly. Coming to a halt, I breathe the forest air.

  Geez, that Releaser tasted good. Wish I could have finished him.

  Will Gabriel finish me? Can he murder somebody he loved? Loves… I can’t know. Can’t begin to answer the question. I dearly hope he can’t. Supposing he can… I need to get moving again!

  It comes.

  A sound crashing through the forest behind me. No! Don’t kill me, Gabriel!

  Charging forward, I bolt around trees and over bushes. No curses issue forth – no purple, no red, and most thankfully, no white. Despite this, I hear my tracker gaining speed behind me, his movements growing louder with each passing second. Not daring to look around, I throw on an extra burst of speed. I’m sprinting now. Running for my life. I can make it! I can make it! I can –!

  Hands grab me around the middle.

  “No!” I scream. “Please don’t kill me!”

  I’m whirled around by my chaser. “Nora!” Wolf exclaims, his bark turning to a laugh. “I lost Jack but I’m glad I found you! I would never dream of killing…” His words trail off, dropped by an astonished russet face. Black eyes are staring into mine, tearful and luminous in the failing light.

  Closing bright eyes, I wait for it.

  I can’t escape him. I’m caught in his muscular grip. At his mercy. Will he kill me? Werewolves, too, are the mortal enemy of vampires. But they only kill vampires when the vampire has killed a… Oh no! I’ve done it! The deed! The future of my life is in Wolf’s hands. Literally.

  Full maroon lips open wide, revealing sharp teeth. “Run…”

  Preview of AWAY WITH ME

  “Away with me.”

  Holy geez…

  I’m staring at him.

  Through blurred vision.

  Russet hands still grasping me.

  “What?” I ask in disbelief. He can’t have – couldn’t have meant what he just said. Not Wolf – not after Gabriel… well, not after Gabriel reacted how he did. I must have misheard him. Must have. There’s no other explanation. “What?” I ask again.