Iridescent Chaos: (Enchanted Chaos, Book 3)

by Sorensen, Jessica

  Iridescent Chaos

  (Enchanted Chaos, Book 3)

  Jessica Sorensen

  Iridescent Chaos

  Jessica Sorensen

  All rights reserved.

  Copyright © 2018 by Jessica Sorensen

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The author holds exclusive rights to this work. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited.

  No part of this book can be reproduced in any form or by electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without the permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer who may quote short excerpts in a review.

  Any trademarks, service marks, product names or names featured are assumed to be the property of their respective owners, and are used only for reference. There is no implied endorsement if we use one of these terms.

  For information: jessicasorensen.com

  Cover design by MaeIDesign

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  1. Skylin

  2. Hunter

  3. Skylin

  4. Easton

  5. Foster

  6. Foster

  7. Skylin

  8. Skylin

  9. Easton

  10. Skylin

  11. Hunter

  About the Author

  Also by Jessica Sorensen

  Skylin

  Every night that I close my eyes, I fall into dreams filled with one of two things: nightmares of darkness or dreams of the Porterson brothers. While one obviously seems better than the other, it’s not always that easy. While my dreams of darkness frighten me, my dreams of the Porterson brothers make me feel extremely uneasy. And I constantly worry that I do have a dream seer ability, which means they could actually be visiting me in my dreams. And that means they might just be able to see all the… strange stuff that fills up my mind when I close my eyes.

  Take for instance, right now. I’ve become very aware that I’m in a dream with all of the Porterson brothers, so much so that I feel as if I’m awake.

  We’re sitting in a room made of tree branches and vines are hanging from the ceiling.

  “I feel like we’re in a tree,” I say to no one in particular.

  I’m sitting in the center of the room, on the floor in front of a stone fireplace. The six of them are sitting in a circle around me, all of them similar yet at the same time so different.

  “That’s because we are, silly,” Foster says with a teasing glint in his eyes, a small detail that reveals I’m indeed in a dream, since in real life Foster’s eyes are usually haunted by sadness.

  I start to smile when one of them purrs.

  “She always looks so adorable when she’s confused.” Porter’s lavender gaze burrows into me, an amused smile quirking at his lips.

  “No way,” Easton disagrees with a wink. “She’s most adorable when she blushes.”

  I roll my eyes. “No, I’m not.”

  “Wanna bet?” With a smirk, East begins to pull up his shirt, revealing his rock solid abs.

  I roll my eyes again, but feel my cheeks warm, and he grins.

  “Guys, you’re both wrong,” Hunter interrupts with his golden eyes fastened on me. Then he kneels up and moves in front of me, wetting his lips with his tongue. “She’s the most adorable when I bite her.”

  Confusion whisks through me as he leans forward and presses his face against my neck, inhaling deeply. I feel as if I should move—run—but I remain frozen, bound to him by an invisible force—by the altered link.

  “You smell so good,” he whispers against my neck. “I bet you’ll taste even better.” Then he sinks his teeth into my flesh.

  I gasp, feeling as though I should scream, but instead I relax against him as he sucks the blood from my vein, devouring me until there’s nothing left—

  My eyelids pop open and I suck in a huge breath, my hand darting to my neck. It takes me a few calming breaths to realize it was just a dream, that I’m okay, that Hunter didn’t turn all vampire on me and drink my blood.

  Luckily, tonight, Foster slept on the couch, something he occasionally does. If he had been in here, I probably would’ve woken him up and then had to explain what was going on. Not that I’d ever tell him what I just dreamt about because, um, yeah, that’d be embarrassing.

  I rub my neck, peering around at the bedroom blanketed by darkness, trying to convince myself that it was just a dream, that Hunter isn’t a vampire. But as my fingers graze along my neck, I swear I feel two pin-size holes marking my flesh.

  Panicking, I jump out of bed, turn on the light, and rush over to a mirror hanging on the wall. Then I sweep my long, wavy brown hair to the side and frantically scan over my neck. But the skin is smooth and bite free.

  Strange…

  Releasing an exhale, I stare at my reflection. My lightning blue eyes stare back at me and appear bloodshot, probably from the lack of sleep I’ve been getting. Not that all of my dreams are that intense, but with me having questionable dream seer ability, I constantly wonder what’s real and what’s not. Then there’s also the worry of others seeing what I dream.

  Will my life ever be normal?

  I sigh, knowing the answer is probably no, and head back to bed to try to get some sleep and attempt not to think about why the hell I dreamt that Hunter was a vampire, or how it felt when he drank the blood from my veins—how it felt to briefly die when he drank the life from my body.

  But it’s all I can think about as I shut my eyes and drift into the darkness.

  Hunter

  There’s always this constant craving plaguing my body, a slight nibbling that ticks inside my chest, but usually, I have pretty good control over it. Right now, though, I’m struggling, have been for a couple of weeks, which coincidentally is around the same time as the link we created with a merging enchantment between me, my brothers, and Sky got altered. Okay, maybe it’s not coincidental, but I’m trying not to think about that at the moment, think about what it means in a broader context. But eventually I’m going to have to deal with it. And I will, but after I take care of the issues with Sky and the link.

  “I’m not sure I can fix it.” I pause, waiting for my brothers to flip out, because I know they’re going to.

  Well, most of them are. Porter usually only goes crazy over one thing and that happens only when he’s starving.

  “What do you mean, you’re not sure if you can fix the link?” Max says as he paces the length of the living room of the home we grew up in.

  The house is in the human world and for the most part, has always been a safe place. But ever since Sky entered our lives, danger has been lurking around every corner. Not that I blame her for what’s happening. This is in no way her fault. And it’s not like I usually mind danger. In fact, I crave it. It’s why I’ve become known as the rebellious twin. Although, it probably doesn’t help that Holden usually does the right thing.

  A couple of times I’ve questioned if he is my twin, if instead him and Max are since they’re more similar, at least when it comes to their personalities. In a lot of ways, I’m more like Porter. Like for instance, I’ve felt this shadow of darkness stirring inside me, begging to be let out. But unlike Porter, I’ve been this way for a long time. I’ve never told anyone about it besides Porter and Max, and don’t plan on doing so, because it’s fucking weird, and I don’t want to be the bad one and the weird anomaly.

  When I was younger and I first felt the darkness I wondered if maybe I was an elemental protector of darkness, which is why I kept the feeling a secret at first. Later, though, when my powe
r of fire manifested, I realized there was something else wrong with me. Even Porter was normal back then, well normal for him, and the perfection of my family made me worry that my imperfection meant I was broken. For years I carried the secret around, ignoring the hunger constantly purring under my flesh. But one day I became painfully aware that I wasn’t going to be able to ignore it anymore. It was the day I almost ended up biting someone’s neck. It was a strange craving that scared the hell out of me. I was fourteen years old and the first time I made out with a girl all I could think about was sinking my teeth into her vein.

  I didn’t feel comfortable enough going to my parents for help, so I went to Porter, who had just went through what we refer to as his change. After I told him what was going on with me, he brought me to the fey world and introduced me to Camille, a faerie with the power of being able to read creatures and energies. When she saw me, she looked right into my eyes and said, “You’ve been cursed with a blood thirst.”

  “I don’t… I don’t understand,” I’d replied. As far as I knew, blood thirsts only existed amongst vampires.

  Apparently, I was right too, something Camille confirmed a moment later.

  “Blood thirst only exists in one type of creature,” she said calmly, as if she was informing me about the weather. “But considering how pale you look, I assume you already arrived at that conclusion.”

  “I hadn’t completely, but now I have.” I shook my head in shock. “I don’t understand how. I mean, I haven’t been bitten and this hunger… It’s existed for as long as I can remember. If I was a vampire… Why do I age and how did I become one?”

  Her indifferent expression had softened a bit, emotion radiating from her blue eyes. “Just because you have vampire blood, doesn’t mean you’re a vampire. It’s like your brother,” she gestured at Porter, “While he carries the burden of another creature’s blood inside him, he’s still an elemental protector at heart, which is why his elemental powers still dominate and why he still ages, but underneath his elemental blood, certain urges exist that he has to tend to. You are the same way, and like Porter, you’re going to have to learn how to feed these urges or else they’re eventually going to consume you.”

  My heart had thudded inside my chest so loudly it echoed in my head, but beneath the panic, a bit of relief emerged. Maybe it was from the fact that I’d finally figured out why I felt so... hungry all the time. Or maybe it was the vampire blood that existed in me. I wasn’t really sure. Just like I wasn’t really sure how I turned out this way.

  “I still don’t understand how,” I said. “How I ended up like this.”

  She searched my eyes with her head tilted to the side. “From what I can tell, something happened to you when you were born, but the details are hazy.”

  And so once again I was back to trying to figure shit out. “So how do I find out for sure?”

  She shrugged, reaching for a goblet of faerie wine. “That’s an answer I can’t give you. But you can ask your parents or find another way to look into your birth more.”

  Deciding to take her advice, I went home and asked my parents about my birth without giving away that I knew I had vampire blood in me. The story my parents told me, though, didn’t help a bit. It was all rainbows and sunshine, my mom referring to the day of my birth as “one of the most wonderful days.” So, either they were keeping something from me or they didn’t know I was different. Over the years, I realized it was probably the latter. Just like over the years I’d learned to control my blood thirst the best that I could. I also told Max about what I am, but only because I got wasted on faerie wine and babbled my heart out like a pathetic shit. Other than Porter, Max, and Camille, no one else is aware I’m cursed with a thirst for blood.

  “Hunter?” Max says, drawing me away from memory lane. “Did you hear what I said?”

  I shake my head. “Nope, not a word.”

  He sighs, slowing to a stop in front of the fireplace. “I asked what you meant when you said you weren’t sure if you could fix the link.”

  “I mean exactly that—that I’m not sure if I can fix the link.” Gods, how many times do I have to repeat myself before he understands?

  “How can you know that for sure? You haven’t been around Sky long enough to try it?” Holden stares at me questioningly, his face almost a mirror image of mine.

  The resemblance is the only reason I believe we’re actually twins. Although, I once came up with a theory that I’m a doppelgänger along with being part vampire and an elemental protector. But I’m still working on proving that.

  “That’s not true. I tried right after the link was altered, when Porter, Max, and I drove her back to the house,” I explain to Holden, sinking down onto the armrest of a chair. “And I could tell something was blocking my powers from being able to fix it. I tried to get around the block, but couldn’t. And I’m not sure I’ll be able to with how strong it felt.”

  “That happened two days ago.” Max stands in front of the fireplace with his arms crossed and irritation in his eyes. “Why didn’t you say something back then?”

  I give a shrug. “Because right after it happened, I went with Porter to feed. And then I got distracted with burying Brody’s body.” I shrug again. “I told Porter, though.”

  Max lowers his head and pinches the brim of his nose. “Like that does any good. Porter probably doesn’t even want the link fixed.”

  “Now, now, little brother, there’s no need to insult me.” Porter enters the room through the doorway with an amused glint in his eyes. The glint is typically there, a façade to cover up what he’s really feeling.

  “I’m not insulting you.” Max lifts his head and arches his brows. “But can you honestly tell me that you don’t like the feeling of Sky’s power leaking down the link?”

  Porter presses his lips together and shrugs. “It has its benefits, I guess.”

  Max rolls his eyes again. “You’re constant indifference is starting to get annoying. I know you like it. I could tell when you freaked out in the car and nearly devoured her.”

  “You don’t know everything, Max. And FYI, your self-righteousness is annoying.” Porter slants against the doorjamb with his arms crossed.

  Holden heaves a weighted sigh. “Lets not get off track. We need to focus on fixing the link because it’s the right thing to do, even if some of us want it to stay the way that it is.”

  I mentally roll my eyes again. There he goes with his do-gooder attitude. My annoyance makes the darkness stir inside my chest. I want to feed, which is a bit strange since I just did a handful of days ago when Porter went to feed as well. And while Porter feeds off of living things, I get my blood from the undead underground black market. In fact, I’ve never actually drank from anything living. Not that I haven’t thought about it. I have. A lot. And I came close to doing so once, the day right after the link was altered and Sky was lying on my lap. It was as if the link magnified the scent of her blood and Gods, I wanted a bite.

  As my throat burns, I shove thoughts of Sky and the scent of her blood out of my mind the best that I can. “I might know someone who can help me figure out why my powers aren’t fixing the link,” I say to no one in particular. “But to talk to them, I’ll have to go to the fey world.”

  Holden and Max frown at the mention of the fey world, but Porter’s eyes light up.

  “I’ll go with you,” Porter offers, pushing away from the doorframe and strolling toward the center of the room.

  “All right.” I rise to my feet, figuring Max and Holden will stay behind since they aren't fans of the fey.

  “I’m going too,” Max announces, surprising the hell out of me. When I lift my brows, he adds, “I want to make sure this is done correctly.”

  “What? Don’t you trust Porter and I to do it?” I ask with a hint of amusement.

  “No,” he replies then glances at Holden. “Are you coming?”

  Holden lets out a tired sigh. “I guess if everyone else is.”

 
Grinning, Porter rubs his hands together. “I guess we’re taking a little family vacation to the fey world.”

  I smile, but it’s a bit forced. Deep down, I have this unsettling feeling I might not be able to fix the link. And then what? All of my brothers and I will have to remain permanently linked to Sky, a girl none of us besides Foster can ever really be with. Yeah, that’s going to work out fantastically.

  And besides, I don’t want to be tied to anyone. Not that I want Sky to be unprotected, but the link was supposed to exist simply to protect her. Now it’s all messed up, the energy unbalanced and our powers and feelings are more connected to Sky’s than they should be and vice versa. It’s complicated everyone’s feelings toward her, mine included, and it’s making me crave her in a way that makes me feel very uncomfortable, as if I could lose control at any moment. And the more I feel this way, the more the darkness—the thirst living inside my veins wants to devour her. I’ve never felt this out of control over my curse and it’s pissing me off. I want things to go back to how they were, where I rarely let myself feel anything, where I knew I wouldn’t end up biting someone.

  Where I didn’t think about biting Sky all the damn time.

  Skylin

  My main goal in life used to be trying not to set off my powers. But ever since I met the Porterson brothers, my new main goal in life is… Well, where do I start? Attempting to learn how to open up a controlled portal? Controlling my temper when Easton gripes for the umpteenth time that we’re being “sooo boring.” Or, and the most strangest, trying to figure out why I feel guilty every time Foster tries to kiss me. He’s only done it twice, and both times I felt so guilty that I had to stop the kiss while trying not to look like a spazz, but I’m certain he’s starting to wonder what’s wrong with me. I know I am.