A Shade of Vampire 34: A Sword of Chance
Bella Forrest
Contents
Also by Bella Forrest
The “New Generation” Names List
Prologue: Hazel
1. Hazel
2. Ruby
3. Hazel
4. Ruby
5. Hazel
6. Hazel
7. Ruby
8. Hazel
9. Benedict
10. Hazel
11. Ruby
12. Benedict
13. Hazel
14. Ruby
15. Hazel
16. Hazel
17. Hazel
18. Ruby
19. Benedict
20. Hazel
21. Ruby
22. Rose
Read more by Bella Forrest!
Also by Bella Forrest
THE GENDER GAME
The Gender Game (Book 1)
The Gender Secret (Book 2)
A SHADE OF VAMPIRE SERIES
Series 1: Derek & Sofia’s story
A Shade of Vampire (Book 1)
A Shade of Blood (Book 2)
A Castle of Sand (Book 3)
A Shadow of Light (Book 4)
A Blaze of Sun (Book 5)
A Gate of Night (Book 6)
A Break of Day (Book 7)
Series 2: Rose & Caleb’s story
A Shade of Novak (Book 8)
A Bond of Blood (Book 9)
A Spell of Time (Book 10)
A Chase of Prey (Book 11)
A Shade of Doubt (Book 12)
A Turn of Tides (Book 13)
A Dawn of Strength (Book 14)
A Fall of Secrets (Book 15)
An End of Night (Book 16)
Series 3: Ben & River’s story
A Wind of Change (Book 17)
A Trail of Echoes (Book 18)
A Soldier of Shadows (Book 19)
A Hero of Realms (Book 20)
A Vial of Life (Book 21)
A Fork of Paths (Book 22)
A Flight of Souls (Book 23)
A Bridge of Stars (Book 24)
Series 4: A Clan of Novaks
A Clan of Novaks (Book 25)
A World of New (Book 26)
A Web of Lies (Book 27)
A Touch of Truth (Book 28)
An Hour of Need (Book 29)
A Game of Risk (Book 30)
A Twist of Fates (Book 31)
A Day of Glory (Book 32)
Series 5: A Dawn of Guardians
A Dawn of Guardians (Book 33)
A Sword of Chance (Book 34)
A SHADE OF DRAGON TRILOGY
A Shade of Dragon 1
A Shade of Dragon 2
A Shade of Dragon 3
A SHADE OF KIEV TRILOGY
A Shade of Kiev 1
A Shade of Kiev 2
A Shade of Kiev 3
BEAUTIFUL MONSTER DUOLOGY
Beautiful Monster 1
Beautiful Monster 2
For an updated list of Bella’s books, please visit her website: www.bellaforrest.net
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Copyright © 2016 by Bella Forrest
Cover design inspired by Sarah Hansen, Okay Creations LLC
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
The “New Generation” Names List
Arwen: (daughter of Corrine and Ibrahim - witch)
Benedict: (son of Rose and Caleb - human)
Brock: (son of Kiev and Mona – half warlock)
Grace: (daughter of Ben and River – half fae and half human)
Hazel: (daughter of Rose and Caleb – human)
Heath: (son of Jeriad and Sylvia – half dragon and half human)
Ruby: (daughter of Claudia and Yuri – human)
Victoria: (daughter of Vivienne and Xavier – human)
Prologue: Hazel
I lay on the makeshift bed that my captor, Tejus Hellswan, had put out for me the night before. He’d brought me to the tiny energy stone room once I’d come to in his bedroom after the trials. Sleep evaded me once again, and there was nothing to do but stare at the dark ceiling and avoid looking at the eerie emerald glows from the haphazardly placed crystals that dotted the windowless room.
Exhaustion washed over me, but the events of the last few days were buzzing around in my head, worsening the dull headache that I was still experiencing after Tejus had siphoned off my mental energy for the trials.
I thought of my parents. Right now they thought that Benedict, Ruby, Julian and I were at Murkbeech Adventure Camp. And we would have been, if it hadn’t been for a group of supernatural sentries who had carried us off into another dimension to help them win a stupid contest, one that would result in the victor being put forward for the grand title of Emperor of Nevertide.
As far as I understood it, and from what I could glean from my not always forthcoming captor, there were six provinces of Nevertide—six kingdoms that would all put forward their chosen contestant to claim the crown.
The sentries who had taken us were sons of the current emperor. Desperate for his kingdom—the Hellswan kingdom—to continue to rule over all the others, he had devised a trial for his sons to determine who was the worthy Hellswan contender.
To keep the sentries’ minds sharp during the trial, they had come into our dimension and taken us—needing human brain power to help them overcome the deadly challenges their father had put in place. In the same way vampires needed blood to live, sentries needed mental energy to survive; the stronger and more independent the mind, the better it was able to sustain them—or so it seemed.
As we had all hoped, my sentry Tejus had won the trial—despite his own father clearly preferring the loathsome Jenus, his younger son. As Tejus had promised, when the trial was over my younger sibling and our friends had been sent back home as a repayment for our dedication to helping him emerge victorious.
Now I was truly alone.
I hadn’t even been able to say goodbye.
Crossing my arms tightly over my chest, I stared unblinking at the ceiling. I wasn’t going to cry.
Benedict, Ruby and Julian were on their way home—they would get help. I trusted that my family and the rest of GASP would find a way to locate the portal and get me out of here, no matter how long it took.
More importantly, the others were finally safe.
My mom had promised that we would end summer camp with survival skills. Well, I was learning those pretty darn fast. If I managed to survive this, I could survive anything.
I closed my eyes, imagining Benedict, my younger brother, safe at the kitchen table with my parents, shoveling cereal into his mouth as the bright morning sun rose beyond the boundaries of The Shade.
Hazel
I felt like I’d barely shut my eyes when the door to my room creaked open. Tejus stood in the opening, watching me impassively with his deep-set eyes.
“You are required to take breakfast with me. We have much to discuss.”
Good morning to you, too.
Clutching the coverlet, I sat up and frowned at him. His imperious nature was already irritating me, and the day hadn’t even begun.
I dragged my hands through my bed-mussed hair, feeling at a disadvantage—Tejus was already dressed in a plain black shirt and straight black trousers, with his long hair neatly restrained in the knotted leather clasp he habitually wore.
“I’m coming,” I grumbled.
I strode out past him into the sitting room, glad to be free of the cubby hole that I’d slept in and back in the large, airy chamber adorned with deep red velvety couches and rich tapestries, which went some way into softening the impenetrable gray stone of the castle.
Following him along the gloomy hallways, I kept an eye out for the door to the bathroom.
“I need a minute,” I told, rather than asked, Tejus.
If he was going to continue to use my brain power to assist him in whatever crazy trials were up next, he would need to start working on being more accommodating of my needs.
“Go ahead,” he sighed.
Head held high, I walked into the bathroom and shut the door behind me. After using the toilet, I located the metal basin with the small pot of minty paste that appeared to be the sum total of ‘dental hygiene’ in Hellswan, and, with my finger, ran the goo over my teeth and gums. It was the best I could do.
Feeling mildly refreshed, I went back out to join Tejus. We continued our way along the corridors without speaking. Something brushed against my leg, and I looked down to see Tejus’ smug lynx, Lucifer, padding along in near silence beside us. His yellow eyes gleamed in the dim light.
Tejus came to an abrupt halt at another doorway.
I was surprised. I had assumed we’d be dining in the main part of the castle, but clearly Tejus was still avoiding the rest of his family, and I wondered why.
The door was marked with two bronze-plated vulture skulls, both as large as my torso. Tejus pushed against them and the door groaned open, its hinges protesting at the weight of the thick wood.
It was brighter in here, and as soon as my eyes adjusted to the difference I could see windows covering one side of the wall, as they did in Tejus’s bedroom chamber. A long dining table, lavishly laid out, was situated in the center of the room.
Tejus gestured to a chair and I sat down. He took the chair opposite me, and as soon as he sat, a woman who’d previously escaped my attention appeared from the corner of the room.
She was dressed in the brown robes of a slave or servant—I still didn’t know which—and, without making eye-contact with either of us, she began to remove the steel coverings from the dining plates.
My previous meals in Hellswan had consisted of little better than gruel. Clearly I had been upgraded, as fresh fruit and a full hot meal with freshly baked bread were revealed.
“Eat.” Tejus gestured to the food and grabbed a crusty roll from one of the platters.
I gingerly picked up an apple and half-heartedly bit into it. I should have been starving, but each bite I took seemed to stick in my dry throat.
“I need you at full health and readiness for what is to come.” Tejus glared at my unsubstantial breakfast choice.
“I will be,” I retorted, defiantly taking another small bite.
“I have two more trials to complete. The first is for the kingdom of Hellswan, then the second—if I am fortunate enough to win—will be for the emperor’s crown… Sword fights are common in trials, though we cannot count on anything being quite so simple.”
That was an understatement, given the labyrinth test we’d just been put through. I looked at Tejus—his sinewy muscle and broad frame. I recalled his strength and speed as I hung onto his back through the twisting and turning paths of the maze. I couldn’t imagine him falling short in a sword fight.
“Do you know much of sword fighting?” he asked.
“No.”
It was a lie. Along with archery and spear-throwing, sword mastery was something that we were taught in The Shade—my own grandfather had given me lessons. I wanted to keep that private. I didn’t know what Tejus or his brothers might do if they found out that supernatural powers potentially ran through my veins.
“Well,” he continued, smoothing out the quick flash of irritation I’d seen cross his expression at my sullen response, “sword fighting is not merely a physical skill. It requires mental aptitude as well—predicting the move of your opponent, anticipating their thrusts and parries, and all the while keenly observing your surroundings.”
I nodded. I had heard all this before, and while my future depended on Tejus winning this trial and the next, I found myself almost unable to care.
“The mental aptitude is where you come in. I will need you at your sharpest, standing on the sidelines where I can easily siphon off your energy. I am facing hardened warriors, some of the best in all of Nevertide.”
I wondered if he was trying to scare me into paying more attention. It wasn’t going to work. After the utter terror of the first trial, I’d used up all my capacity to be afraid, and now I was under a thick smog of depression and anxiety.
Despite knowing that Benedict, Julian and Ruby would do everything they could to help The Shade locate me, my future looked bleak.
I looked at Tejus. His sword lecture seemed to have finished, and we sat in an uncomfortable silence.
We had been through a lot together already, working as a team as best we could to overcome the trials in the Labyrinth. So far he had kept his promises, and in rogue supernatural terms he’d behaved in a near-honorable way. But I couldn’t forgive him for letting my family and friends leave without saying goodbye, and I couldn’t forgive him for keeping me here for his own selfish purposes when all I wanted to do was go home.
At least they’re safe. That’s all that matters.
I repeated the thought over and over to myself till it became a comforting mantra. It was all I had to hold on to, and the only glimmer of hope on my horizon.
Ruby
After Jenus had thrown us in the back of a wooden carriage, his horses—or whatever creatures were pulling us along—had galloped along a dusty and bumpy road. When we arrived at our destination, we had been dragged out and thrown into our prison—a dark room filled with the stench of manure.
The smell was starting to get to me. I buried my face in the crook of my arm, inhaling the scent of the silk shirt I’d been dressed in for the trials, which admittedly had seen better days, but still smelt better than my surroundings.
I tried to block out the room: the lack of a window or any gap that let in light or fresh air, the sturdy wooden door that was bolted shut, the hay-strewn stone floor that was cold against my backside, and worst of all, the heavy trap door above our heads that had been slammed shut as soon as we entered.
I hazarded a guess that we were in some kind of root cellar or a storm shelter, as I couldn’t imagine this hole being used for much else. It certainly wasn’t for human inhabitants. We had no toilet, not even a rudimentary hole in the ground, and no access to water.
Julian and Benedict were both asleep, huddled together for warmth. Benedict groaned softly, and I rubbed his back the way I’d seen Hazel do when he murmured in his sleep—usually his nightmares came from stupid video games like Hell Raker. This time it was real. He was the youngest, only fourteen years old. I worried about him. I worried about us all.
My thoughts drifted to Hazel. She would be utterly miserable if she’d known that our efforts in the trials had been for nothing.
I knew that Jenus wasn’t too happy with the outcome of the trial. Clearly he was still set on taking the throne and the title of his father, despite failing the first hurdle the king had set.
I feared for Hazel. Her safety depended on Tejus’s success. If Jenus was going to play dirty, then both their lives were at stake.
The door opened. A tall figure stood in the gloom. I jumped to my feet, ready to rush whoever it was and battle my way through, but before I could take one step forward, I was halted by an agonizing pain in my head.
Jenus.
I had felt the pain before. It was completely debilitating, and I could do nothing other than clutch my head in agony, hoping the horrible, grasping sensation in my brain would come to an end. I was being siphoned—my brain power sucked by a sentry till I was completely helpless.
I could only watch as Jenus slammed the
door shut behind him as he entered the room. He strode forward and kicked Benedict awake.
Benedict gave a startled cry of agony, and Julian sat bolt upright. A second later they both clutched their heads as I did, withering with pain as Jenus worked his magic.
I could feel tears of rage and frustration escaping from my eyes—the last thing I wanted to do was give him the satisfaction of thinking he’d broken me, but they fell all the same.
“What the HELL do you want?” I demanded, trying to position myself in front of Benedict, hoping that might lessen the hold Jenus had on him.
“Just a mere token.” Jenus fixed his dark eyes on me, and I grimaced in response. “A little gift for your friend, to let her know that you’re still in Nevertide and haven’t crossed over to Earth’s dimension.”
No doubt something to use against Tejus in order to turn Hazel against him. I could see through his plan immediately, and it was a strong one. If Hazel thought that Tejus had broken his promise, there was nothing in this world that would convince her to help him.
“I don’t have anything. These aren’t even our own clothes!” I spat.
“You’ll have to do better than that. I’d hate to have to take physical proof of your existence. I wonder whose finger she is likely to recognize best?”
I felt such a strong wave of loathing that I felt sick. I put a reassuring hand on Benedict, and glared at the monster before us.
“Check your pockets,” Julian whispered, “we’ve got to have something.”
“I thought you might.” Jenus crossed his arms, smirking down at us as we scrabbled about on the floor trying to find something that would satisfy him enough to spare our body parts.
“Here!” Benedict held his wristwatch aloft. I recognized it as the five-dollar knock-off Rolex he’d bought on his last trip to Hawaii. He wore it as a joke, despite his mother complaining that it was turning his wrist green.
“This will suffice.” Jenus snatched it out of his hand and pocketed it somewhere in his black robes. He turned back toward the door.