When Fate Prevails Read online

  When Fate Prevails

  When Fate Prevails

  A.K. Koonce

  When Fate Prevails

  Copyright 2017 A.K. Koonce

  All Rights Reserved

  First Kindle Edition: 2017

  Cover design by Premade Book Covers by Andreea

  Editing by Red Ribbon Editing Services & Varankor Proofreading and Editing

  The content of this book is protected under Federal Copyright Laws. Any unauthorized use of this material is prohibited. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without express written permission from the author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales are entirely coincidental.

  For Raelyn…

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1 – Meet Her Maker

  Chapter 2 – Feed the Hunger

  Chapter 3 – Capitalize on Love

  Chapter 4 – You Shouldn’t Have Come

  Chapter 5 – Love

  Chapter 6 – The Capitol

  Chapter 7 – Shame

  Chapter 8 – An Abomination

  Chapter 9 – Jealous

  Chapter 10 – Pleading Mercy

  Chapter 11 – Helping You Forget

  Chapter 12 – A Queen

  Chapter 13 – A Terrible Vampire

  Chapter 14 – Iron Fist

  Chapter 15 – Training

  Chapter 16 – Denial

  Chapter 17 – Surviving Isn’t Living

  Chapter 18 – Love and War

  Chapter 19 – The Infinity Witch

  Chapter 20 – A Gift

  Chapter 21 – The Last Remaining Vampires

  Chapter 22 – Calming Waves

  Chapter 23 – Rain

  Chapter 24 – A New World

  Epilogue – One Month Later

  About the Author

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter One

  Meet Her Maker

  Asher

  The witch waits for my request. I came to her with a sense of desperation clinging to my every breath. The person staring back at me physically makes me sick; the feeling twists and turns until vomit burns up my throat with a vengeance. I’ve avoided the Infinity witch all this time because of its appearance.

  It looks just like me. They appear as our darkest hopes and dreams … my hope is to one day see my brother again. My twin, my mirrored opposite. He assesses me, unaware of how he looks.

  He isn’t real, though. He’s dead. Because of me.

  “Say what you came here to say, hybrid.”

  Dark eyes glisten in the moonlight, sparking to life. I woke the witch the moment we returned from the Red Hills. After hours of hiding in the shadows of the cursed land, Fallon was finally able to walk away from the vampire’s lair once nightfall came. They made her one of their own, and it hurt me to watch her cower where they once cowered. And although I didn’t say it, it pains me to see her in her newly changed form.

  As a vampire.

  She said she wouldn’t be accepted in the Wanderer’s community anymore; that she’d be better off alone. Honestly, she might be right, but I’ll never let that happen. I’ll always accept her, and she’ll always have me.

  “Change her back,” I say through gritted teeth, but the witch already knows why I am here. This is the mystic who cast the curse on the last remaining vampires, and I know she feels it. The witch had to have felt it the moment it was broken.

  The unnatural glare in the witch’s eyes makes my skin crawl, but I can’t back down. A shine glints through my brother’s dark brown irises changing from gold to silver to white.

  “Careful. I am not someone you make demands of, hybrid. Who do you think created the Crimson Sword that gives you so much courage? Do you think you stumbled upon a second one in the Red Hills by mere accident?” The image of my brother leans closer to me, his lips tensing into a thin line as forced composure pushes through his lean body. With a confidence I’ve never seen a mystic possess, he runs his finger along the blade of the Crimson Sword at my waist. “I like Fallon, but you and I both know I can’t change her back.”

  The two of us stand outside the witch’s home; a teetering stack of a towering house that reaches high into the dark heavens. What lies within the unnatural walls of this home? Loud and complaining creaks come from the structure with every strong wind that rolls in off the Emerald Ocean.

  “Then tell me how to fix it. Tell me what to do, and I’ll do it.” My heart pushes painfully against my chest, wishing to escape its prison. My lungs search in desperation for air, but every breath isn’t enough.

  The witch’s eyes settle back into their warm chocolate color, sadness pulling at my brother’s solemn face.

  “Have you ever thought this is what the Fates destined her to be? If I told you you’d have to trade your soul for hers, would you?”

  “Yes.”

  It’s that simple to me. It isn’t even a question. Rip my soul out right now and fix this injustice.

  The Infinity witch’s thick brows rise high; a rarely seen look of shock crosses the witch’s face.

  “Interesting …” Relaxation calms his features as he stares out into the crashing waves. “That isn’t the price, but it’s still interesting.”

  All my life people have told me how utterly interesting I am, how spectacularly unique and interesting hybrids are. Right now I don’t give a damn about any of it.

  “What’s the price?”

  His attention drifts over every single wave, calculating each reaction of the sea. In this moment, I can see the centuries of time this witch has lived despite his youthful appearance.

  “Fallon must meet her maker.” A chill shudders down my spine, dropping my heart through my stomach. “She must … destroy the one who made her.”

  That doesn’t seem so bad. We can do that. Irrational optimism is all I can manage to find within my anxious mind.

  “The vampire must die by her hands.”

  Eagerly, I nod at the witch, understanding and realizing how easy it will be. Then, my brother stares back at me with terror in his eyes.

  “Not a drop of blood can touch her hungry lips. She cannot feed, or she will be cursed in this form for the rest of her long and endless life.”

  The breath forces from my lungs as my mouth falls open. Helpless fear crashes through me like bursting glass. Without another word, I’m running to her; to the young vampire who I know has only one thing on her mind.

  Blood.

  Chapter Two

  Feed the Hunger

  Fallon

  The world is different now. I’ve changed, but it hasn’t … maybe it was always this way, and I was just too naive to see it.

  Creatures lurk deep within the darkness. Glittering eyes light up the night. Scuttling noises scratch at my mind in a relentless choir of unseen chaos. The darkness that once lulled me to sleep every night pulls at me; waking me, gnawing at me to strive to be who I might have always been.

  A monster. One of the last remaining vampires.

  When we arrived back at the Wanderer’s community, Asher tucked me in, making me recoil away from him as he pressed a sweet kiss to my lips. I held my breath until he left, choking on the scent of his blood.

  The moment the heavy door closed behind him, I was tiptoeing across the room. I was running through the forest before my mind could even fully process the thought.

  Hunger.

  Now the shadows welcome me, caressing my skin, pulling me into it; sinking its claws into my mind, body, and … what was once my soul.

  Careful, quiet steps ar
e taken through the dry leaves, my body shrinking down to find the restless prey I know is safely sleeping within the trees. Swaying movements catch my attention. The darkness bends to my vision, allowing me to see through it and around it in an unnatural and rippling effect of sight. How did I ever survive within the wild as a mortal?

  Within the time it takes me to bring the image into a hazy focus, my boots soundlessly carry me toward the target. Tree bark bites against my palm as I lean into it and lower myself down, crouching to see the source of the heartbeat singing through my ears.

  Kaino and Shane stand before me less than two yards away. Angry whispers carry their argument through the breeze, spoken in a low rush of words.

  “Now isn’t a good time? Really? Then tell me when there might be a better time?” Shane glares at the Commander, pushing calm into his shaking voice. “She married a hybrid! Do you know the last time that happened? Never! It’s never happened, Kaino. A mortal girl had the audacity to admit her feelings for the lowest creature on our planet, and you don’t even have the balls to admit you like me. Am I really that repulsive in your eyes?”

  Impassiveness rests where heartbreak and concern should show. Kaino reveals zero emotion to the man who’s falling apart before him.

  I assess the two of them. Kaino’s massive form and Shane’s corded and lithe body. The two of them are a little too large for me to take down. If Kaino was to walk away, Shane would be an easy kill.

  My stomach twists with the thought, but my mouth salivates thinking about the blood slipping against my tongue. The hunger within me is more dominant than my sensitive feelings that barely even register in my mind.

  “Shane, I can’t—“

  “No, you won’t. You have the ability to tell your father how you feel about me but not the courage.” Shane takes a daring step closer to Kaino. Kaino’s fingers twitch at his sides, like he might touch him... but he doesn’t. His shame filled eyes shift to the ground, appearing more as a beaten dog than a hulking werewolf.

  If Kaino walked away right now, I could rip through Shane’s body without a sound, without a drop of blood wasted.

  “Do you care about me at all? Do you like me at all?”

  Not a second passes before Kaino replies, “I love you.”

  As I take a step closer to them, silence falls around us. I’m shocked by the simple statement that lingers in the darkness. My feet stumble back, tearing myself away from their private words.

  Kaino pulls Shane to him without further discussion and kisses him like it might be the last time he ever gets the chance.

  Taking another confused step back, I bump into someone. Their heartbeat pounds against my spine, filling my crowded thoughts with the sound of their existence pumping through their veins. Stiffly, I turn my sweeping gaze on the stranger, my spine extending to my fullest height … which isn’t much.

  The moonlight shines against silver eyes as Asher looks down at me in astonishment. He clears his throat as he whispers, “You didn’t hurt them.”

  A shaking breath fans across my face as he closes his eyes, his hand sweeping out and pulling me against his hard body. I stand there in his arms, unmoving as the thrashing of his heart floods my senses. I can feel it pumping beneath my cheek, coursing life through this beautiful mystic with every steady beat.

  I push him away so hard he stumbles back; his eyes widen as he stares down at me. The astonishment that flashes across his features is enough to make me want to cry in confusion and anger.

  Without a word, I force myself to walk past the blood source; away from the thing my starving hunger demands of me.

  My eyes water, emotion swelling up and ready to burst within me. Too many emotions pull at me, and all I want is to feed the hunger. If I could just eat, I know I’d feel better. I’d feel more like myself.

  “Fallon, wait.” He rushes to my side, the one person I care about most in this ever changing world – the one person I can’t stand to be near right now. Not in this state. “The witch told me how to make the change.”

  He shouldn’t be here. I don’t want him to be here. Not when I’m like this …

  My eyes lock on his, and I try to grasp the way it felt when Atticus’ power slipped over my mortal mind. The way he captivated me with just a simple entrancing look. His silver eyes study me, seeing me as he always has, but I’m afraid of what he might see now. I’m not strong enough to keep things from him. It would be so much easier if I could just push him away without him knowing. My jaw locks tightly, and I focus on trying to keep his attention, trying to communicate with just my thoughts.

  Please leave.

  The simple words storms through my mind as I hold his gaze, my breathing accelerating as I concentrate.

  His beautiful eyes shift, confusion etching his brow as he stares at me.

  Is it working?

  “Fallon, are you listening?”

  A defeated sigh falls from my lips and I keep walking, trying to put space between us. All I can muster is a small glance toward the hybrid as he matches my pace step for step. He pushes his hand roughly down his face as we continue striding through the forest. Everything is alive. The world has been a shuddering and swaying mass all these years, and I never noticed …

  “You have to kill Atticus.”

  I hum a response. Murder isn’t exactly on my priority list right now.

  “And you can’t feed. I know that’s why you’re out here. I know it’s what you want more than anything right now. But you can’t feed. Not until you’ve killed Atticus.”

  My attention pulls from the prey I see all around me. I focus completely on the hybrid now.

  “Why?” It’s a simple question.

  He pauses, his eyes roaming over my body to realize what I noticed the moment I woke up in the Red Hills. The deep jagged scar that graced my ribs for more than a year is healed. Smooth and even flesh was all that met my fingertips. The thin line that adorned my palm, from the first time I really met the hybrid — the time I offered him my blood — it, too, is gone. Nothing more than a fading memory.

  “Because you’ll be cursed in this form forever if you feed, Fallon. You’ll complete the transformation the moment blood touches your lips.”

  The logical part of me is terrified of a future stuck in this unnatural state. But the need for blood is more demanding.

  “Hmm …” There was a time I put my life in his strong hands. It’s my life, though. Not his. He stares at me, hanging on my indifference, as I begin to walk away. I consider lying. I consider telling him everything will be okay. Instead I say, “Then I guess it’ll be a long life.”

  Chapter Three

  Capitalize on Love

  Asher

  Defeat is a heavy mountain to carry. It pulls at my shoulders, and my once assured actions are now stumbling and confused.

  She avoids me like a bad omen. Ruby red eyes sparkle my way from time to time, the two of us passing like gentle waves among a building hurricane. Just waiting for the destruction …

  “What the hell is she eating?” I ask Gabriel with an irritable sigh.

  “No idea.”

  I sit in the dirt with my arms flung across my knees as I watch Fallon snack on something. She munches cheerily while she speaks to Luca as if it’s popcorn.

  An orange hue casts across the dry land, dancing and toying with the skyline, the rays of the sun threatening us with each passing second. I’m more tired than I’ve ever been in my life. The sedation of the compound would almost be welcoming at this point. I don’t even know where she’s been staying. All I can do is give her space and hope she sees me for the husband she married less than a month ago.

  “It’s carcass bones.” Declan walks up next to us, watching the charming vampire as well. His black boots are dirty and unlaced, a careless and distracting appearance that holds my attention for a moment too long.

  “What?”

  I push my head back and glare up at the hybrid that threw us all into this downward spiral
in the first place.

  “She came to me the other night and said she needed something to steady the hunger. Something other than blood.” He shrugs his shoulders, not meeting my eyes. “Bones help with the hunger. I boiled them to remove the blood, but the scent’s still there. It helps – it … helped the others.”

  My jaw tics; a throbbing need to murder the traitor where he stands burns through me. She went to him instead of me.

  “That’s … disgusting,” Gabriel says, nudging me with his elbow until I turn away from Declan.

  Instinctively, I begin to stand as Fallon waves to Luca and starts to walk into the woods. Desperation claws at my lungs, my chest growing tighter as I watch her walk away.

  One destructive step is as far as I make it.

  “Don’t do it, Ash.”

  Gabriel pushes his hands through his short red hair and then down his face, his tired white eyes meeting mine for an instant. Then, the forest pulls my attention back to it.

  “Just give her time. Luca says she needs time. I think she’s right.”

  The thick and dry terrain is all I can focus on; the spot where she was just moments ago. Her quiet footsteps can still be heard as she hikes far into the woods. I close my eyes for a long moment knowing he’s right. Her whole world’s been flipped upside down. She just needs time to adjust. It’ll be fine. We’ll be fine …

  “I think we should make a trip to the Capitol.”

  Declan’s irritating voice snaps through my thoughts. I turn to him and realize he, too, is staring off into the woods just as I was.

  My blood boils looking at him. The hazy morning sunlight clings to his pale blonde hair. It emphasizes his youth, his light features, and the recklessness that glints in his silver eyes.

  “That sounds like the worst idea I’ve ever heard.”

  “Ayden’s here.”

  I try to follow his circling statements. “Her friend’s here? Why?”

  With his bionic hand, Gabriel dusts the dirt off of his dark jeans and stands to join us, seemingly curious as well.

  “He wanted to speak with Fallon. Probably to make sure her new husband hasn’t ruined her life yet.”