REIGN FALL
A Demon Princess Novel
by
Michelle Rowen
Copyright 2012 Michelle Rowen
Smashwords Edition
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portion thereof, in any form. This ebook may not be resold or uploaded for distribution to others.
This is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
THE DEMON PRINCESS SERIES
REIGN OR SHINE
REIGN CHECK
REIGN FALL
Prophesies, demon slayers, dragons, homework…
It’s going to be a hell of a week!
It’s been a dangerous ride for Nikki Donovan since she first learned she’s a demon princess. And the ride isn’t over yet!
She’s just found out that her best friend is a demon slayer in training, one who doesn’t know that Nikki is exactly the prey she’s sworn to hunt. Nikki’s demon king father has signed her up for lessons on how to master her erratic half-demon powers, and that’s on top of her regular homework! Also, she’s torn between two boys—Rhys, the faery king she’s prophesied to marry, and Michael, a Shadow whom she’s forbidden to love.
To top it all off, a dark force is haunting Nikki, something mysterious and evil that wants the demon princess dead…but who—or what—is it?
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thank you so much to everyone who helped me to make this third Demon Princess book possible: Eve Silver, Jennifer Black, Bonnie Staring, Cecily Cornelius-White, and Lori Devoti.
You all rock!
And thank you to every single reader who e-mailed me wanting a book three. You guys were kinda relentless. I like that! This book would never have happened if I didn’t know there were awesome readers out there who wanted to read it. I appreciate your love for the series more than you know and I hope you think it was worth the wait!!
Intro
My name is Nikki Donovan, your normal, everyday sixteen-year-old.
At least, I was normal until a month ago when I found out the truth.
I’m actually a princess.
A demon princess.
I know. It’s hard to believe. But it’s all true.
When I turned sixteen, I finally got the chance to meet my estranged father, a demon king, who is stuck in his castle and can never leave. He rules over the Shadowlands, another dimension which sits right between the light and the dark worlds. If it wasn’t for my father, the dark worlds
—the Underworld and Hell—would be able to spill over to the light worlds—the Faery and Human ones.
I learned that some demons really wanted to visit here. Or, in other words, dominate, enslave, and destroy the Human world. Not necessarily in that order. That was what the Shadowlands worked to prevent. No demon could get through to the light worlds without permission from King Desmond, my father.
Since I’m only half-demon that makes me something called a Darkling—the first of my kind in a thousand years. Half-human/half-demons aren’t welcomed with open arms in the dark worlds. Or any other world for that matter.
I just wish I could tell my mother that my father hadn’t purposely abandoned her when she was pregnant with me—he had absolutely no choice in the matter. And that he loves her to this very day. He refuses to admit it, but I know he does.
He, of course, has sworn me to secrecy about all of this.
I’m kind of getting sick of keeping secrets just because I’ve been told to.
We’ll have to see what happens next...
Chapter 1
It’s not easy being best friends with a demon slayer.
Not when you have a secret like mine.
In the hall by our lockers, Melinda looked...upset. Seeing her so unhappy made me unhappy.
The first day back at school after the winter break was turning out to be worrisome, and first class hadn’t even started yet.
I’d last seen Melinda on New Year’s Eve. Instead of going to a big party, she’d been asked to babysit her cousins, five kids all under eight. She’d agreed, which was my first indication that something was wrong. The Melinda I knew would have made any excuse to get out of that obligation so she could go to a party instead. Since I wasn’t really feeling in a partying kind of mood myself, I’d stopped by and helped out, putting the kids to bed by eleven and then we watched the new year ring in on TV.
She’d looked at me then and said, “This is going to be a good year, Nikki.” It wasn’t said with enthusiasm. It sounded way more desperate than that. Like she hoped against hope that things would be better. It made my heart break.
Then I said something I had a feeling I would come to regret. “You know you can tell me anything, Mel. Right? Anything at all. No matter how difficult it is.” She stared at me so long that it began to make me nervous, like she could see right through me and know what I was holding back from her. She reached over and clutched my hand so hard it made me flinch.
“You’re my best friend in the whole wide world, you know that?” Her voice broke a little as she said it.
“And you’re mine.”
I wanted to help, but I knew I couldn’t be honest with her about my own problems. If a demon slayer—even one still in training—found out her best friend was half-demon, things wouldn’t end very well.
So that was my little secret she didn’t know.
But I knew hers. And that made life complicated for me.
I also knew she’d recently stopped her intense training sessions, uninterested in the commitment it took to follow through. I didn’t understand how it worked, really, but I knew her decision wasn’t acceptable to her trainer, Patrick. He’d promised to come back and try to convince her otherwise. For all I knew, he’d been successful.
So here we were, back to school. Back to normal.
Only...I wasn’t totally sure what normal was anymore.
“What are you doing Friday night?” Melinda asked as she grabbed her binder for first class from her locker.
“Friday? No plans so far. What are you thinking?”
“Sleepover. At my place.”
I shrugged. “That sounds like fun.”
“Brittany and Larissa are coming too.”
It was getting less fun by the minute. Brittany and Larissa were two of Melinda’s long-term friends. Two friends that didn’t approve of my sudden inclusion to their social circle—although Larissa had been way more vocal about it. I was still the new girl here and had only moved from the States to Canada and enrolled at Erin Heights High School in the fall. Some people resisted anything new and unfamiliar—and Larissa had resisted me. She’d mostly ignored me lately, deciding the part of “Melinda’s best friend” would be up for grabs again very soon.
If Melinda ever found out I was a little bit demonic, it would be. Because I’d be dead, either by Melinda’s hand or by her trainer’s.
Let’s not think about that.
Hard not to. My life used to involve homework and trips to the mall. Now it involved deception and potential destruction. And stress. Lots of stress.
“Okay, here he comes,” Melinda said nervously under her breath. I think she was speaking to herself, not me.
I turned to my left and tensed immediately at the familiar form moving down the hallway toward us. Tall and very cute, with chestnut-colored hair and chocolate brown eyes, he looked vaguely uncomfortable in a casual T-shirt and dark jeans. They were human clothes, after all.
And Rhys, the king of the Faery Realm, was
n’t all that used to playing human.
And yet he still tried.
Rhys’s parents had recently been murdered, which meant he had to become king at sixteen without having any say in the matter. Then he learned about me, the demon princess who was prophesied to be the “destroyer of worlds.” That prophecy had thankfully turned out to be false, manufactured to get me in serious trouble.
Last month, he came here to investigate if I was a threat. And also enjoy life as a “normal” teenager before taking over his throne full-time.
I hadn’t seen him since the last day before school break, which was almost two weeks ago. It was the day he decided he and Melinda were going to officially start dating. She’d had a crush on him from the moment he started here as a “foreign exchange student.” Melinda had no idea this meant he came from a different world, one that had to be accessed through a magical gateway. It was a place where there were a lot of trees, a lot of bubbling streams, and at least one unicorn wandering freely about.
But he was back. I wasn’t totally sure he would be.
“I’m glad to see you. You look beautiful today,” Rhys said.
I opened my mouth to reply, but he leaned in and...kissed Melinda.
He hadn’t been talking to me.
“Thanks. You look great, too,” she said when they parted. She pushed her light blonde hair back over her shoulder and jostled her binder and book in her arms.
Then Rhys glanced at me out of the corner of his eye as if to gauge my reaction to his public display of affection.
I just stood there placidly. Patiently. With what I hoped was a very “who cares?” expression.
His eyes narrowed and it felt as if we had a wordless conversation.
Jealous? his eyes asked.
Not even remotely, my eyes replied.
Seen your boyfriend lately?
Not for a while.
Too bad. I know you think you two are meant for each other. You know, if you don’t take our prophecy into consideration.
The prophecy that you wanted to ignore?
You can’t ignore prophesies, Nikki. Not forever.
If that’s so, then why are you stringing my best friend along and trying to treat me like crap?
Ditch your Shadow boyfriend and maybe we’ll talk.
Since I wasn’t a mind reader, and Rhys and I weren’t bound by any telepathic abilities, this was all just my imagination talking. But still, given our history, I didn’t think I was too far off.
“Talk to you later,” Rhys said to Melinda and gave her another quick kiss before he took off to first class without a backward glance. The entire time, not counting our intense eyeball exchange, he hadn’t said a word to me. Not even a “hello.” He was so annoying, I couldn’t even believe it. He wanted to make my life more difficult than it already was.
This was a different prophecy than my “destroy worlds” one that stated that the faery king, namely him, would one day marry the half-demon princess, namely me.
Since faeries hated demons, he hadn’t been happy to hear this. Neither was I. Not only wasn’t I interested in him like that, we were both sixteen years old. I wasn’t marrying anyone for a very long time. Period.
My mother had been married four times. That example alone was enough to turn me off the prospect of saying “I do” in the foreseeable future.
Besides, I was seeing someone else. Sort of. I had a complicated and completely forbidden relationship with Michael, a guy I also hadn’t seen since before Christmas. But, for me, the difference between Michael and Rhys was a big one. Just the thought of Michael made me miss him desperately and wish he was here.
Michael was a Shadow, a servant to demonkind. My personal servant, to be exact, assigned to me by my father for protection and guidance. Of course, Michael was also completely gorgeous and I fell for him before I learned such feelings were forbidden. Let’s just say, demons have a lot of stupid rules and interspecies dating was a big no-no with some nasty penalties if anyone found out. But just because we couldn’t be together officially didn’t mean we couldn’t be together unofficially.
At least, I thought we were. It had been a long two weeks.
I suddenly realized Melinda hadn’t said anything after Rhys walked away. Her face was haunted.
I touched her arm. “Hey, you okay?”
She seemed to snap out of whatever trance she was in and gave me a weak smile. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
“So, you and Rhys, huh? You’re officially together?”
She blinked. “I don’t know.”
I frowned. “What do you mean, you don’t know? Two weeks ago you were head over heels for him. Now you two are...together, right?” I only winced a little saying it out loud.
“He’s using me,” Melinda said, as if she’d read my mind.
I tried not to gasp out loud. “What?”
“He doesn’t really like me. He likes you. I’m not stupid, Nikki. I can see that for myself. He’s using me to make you jealous.”
Oh boy. My stomach churned. “He doesn’t like me. And I don’t like him. Not like like.”
“If you say so.”
“I do.” I cringed at my bad choice of words when wedding prophesies were involved. “So...I don’t understand. You just kissed him. You’re still going to date him, even feeling this way?” She shrugged. “Sure. For now. I want people to think I have a boyfriend. Maybe then...” Her expression shadowed. “Maybe then he’ll finally leave me alone.”
“Who are you talking about?”
Melinda shook her head. “Forget it. It’s nothing. I...I’ll see you at lunch, okay?”
“Yeah, okay.” I watched her walk away. It didn’t take me too long to clue in to who she was talking about. Patrick, her trainer. He seemed very possessive of her when they’d been together
—almost as if he was an older, overbearing boyfriend. Being with Rhys might get Patrick to keep his distance. Was that what Melinda thought?
The bell rang, which meant I was now late for class. I grabbed my books, shut my locker, and hurried to my right—
—only to bash right into someone.
I clutched my books tighter to my chest and looked up with surprise—and dismay— at who it was.
Chris Sanders stared at me, his brows drawn tightly together. He didn’t move, he didn’t speak.
He just stared.
When I first came to Erin Heights, Chris was the most gorgeous guy I’d ever seen in my life.
Dark-blond hair, blue-gray eyes, a killer smile, broad shoulders, a fantastic body. He was a year older than me, a senior. Absolutely perfect.
And, total shocker, he’d asked me to Winter Formal, during which—while drunk—he showed me just how non-perfect he really was when he tried to attack me in the back seat of a limo. He thought he could get whatever he wanted, whomever he wanted, whenever he wanted. But he couldn’t have me.
I’d managed to shift to my “Darkling” form, which was the term for a half-demon/half-human like me. Let’s just say: wings, horns, and about twenty times more strength than I normally had.
Plus I could throw energy balls—both destructive and great self defense against drunk dates who outweigh you by seventy pounds. I’d kicked his butt and chased him away. Later, however, I’d been afraid he’d tell everybody my secret.
He hadn’t. Chris, too, had a few secrets of his own. His mother was a dragon oracle—a dragon-shifter who could foresee the future. This made Chris half-dragon, something he hadn’t known. I wasn’t sure if he even knew it now. But the side effects of being half-dragon were beginning to weigh heavily on him.
Gone was the perfect appearance he’d had before. Now he looked...crazy. And scattered. His very unfashionable gray sweatshirt had a rip in the sleeve. The old Chris never would have worn something like that.
I had no idea what was going on in that brain of his, but it wasn’t good and it wasn’t anything he could control. That his mother was also a licensed psychiatrist didn’t seem to be help
ing matters at all.
“Chris—” The halls were empty except for the two of us. “How are you?”
“You’re in danger, Nikki.”
I blinked. “What?”
He drew closer and I forced myself to stand my ground. “You need to be watchful. Wary.”
“Two things I am lately, so don’t worry.”
He shook his head. “I see it. Sort of see it.” He brought his hands to his temples. “It’s coming.
And it wants to hurt you. You have something it wants.” A shiver went down my spine. “What? Who?”
He glanced over his shoulder. “I need to go. But I have something for you. I dreamed it and I drew it. It’s fuzzy and I can’t see anything clearly, but it might help you.” He pulled something out of his back pocket, a dirty piece of paper that had been folded multiple times. He pressed it into my hand.
“What is—?”
He clutched my wrist and my eyes shot back to his.
“Destroyer of worlds,” he whispered, “you must survive. No one else can find the truth but you.”
And then he let go of me and walked away, disappearing around the corner at the end of the hall.
I stood there in stunned silence. Destroyer of worlds? That was a false prophecy; knowing that gave me closure and confidence. But Chris had seen it in a vision. Him just saying the words out loud had been enough to trigger a sick feeling in my gut.
Shifting my books to tuck them under my arm, I unfolded the piece of paper Chris had given me. Cold fear slithered through me. It was a roughly drawn sketch of a dark figure with large black wings stretching out behind it. I didn’t know what it meant, but it felt like something I shouldn’t just ignore, even though I desperately wanted to do just that. What Chris had said repeated in my brain, over and over again, even though I desperately wished I could block it out.
“It’s coming. And it wants to hurt you. You have something it wants.” So much for this being a shiny new year.
Chapter 2
Biology was one class I couldn’t skip, but I wished I could. Rhys was in it with me.