I Am the Storm
The Night Firm, 2
Karpov Kinrade
http://KarpovKinrade.com
Copyright © 2019 Karpov Kinrade
Cover Art Copyright © 2019 Karpov Kinrade
Edited by Joseph Nassise
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Published by Daring Books
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First Edition
ISBN-13: 978-1-939559-58-6
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Book License Notes
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Disclaimer
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author's imagination, or the author has used them fictitiously.
To Lind
My soul friend through and through
Let’s make worlds
<3 Lux
Contents
Preface
1. The Festival
2. The Crime
3. The Fight
4. The Past
5. The Dragon
6. The Brother
7. The Beggar Queen
8. The Flame
9. The Ball
10. The Bidding
11. The Darkness
12. The Secret
13. The Party
14. The Lie
15. The Goodbye
16. The Sacrifice
Afterword
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Karpov Kinrade
Preface
Before you begin, did you know we also make music? You can listen to a fantasy soundtrack inspired by this series while you read. Check out I AM THE WILD music on iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon, Google Play and more.
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The Festival
When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about. ~Haruki Murakami
"Adam?" My heart races as my mind tries to process what I'm seeing. My knees dig into the ground, mud from the recent rains soaking into my blue gown. Tears wet my cheeks, and I make no effort to wipe them away.
With shaking legs, I stand to face the man before me.
To stare into the eyes I thought I'd never see again.
The same blue eyes as my own.
My brother cocks his head and smiles crookedly. It's such a familiar gesture that my heart lurches and I take a step forward. Surely, I'm imagining this. Or it's a trick? There's still so much I don't know about the Otherworld. Could someone be impersonating my twin for some cruel reason?
"I know what you're thinking," he says, his long, black coat whipping in the wind as he runs a hand through his dark hair. "But it really is me. I'm sorry, Evie. Sorry about everything."
I narrow my eyes at him, pieces of the past clicking together into a troubling picture. I've seen this coat before. At Lilith's mansion. While I was shopping one day in town. He's been following me, and I never got a good enough look at his face to realize it was him. All this time I've been seeing my brother in every stranger's face I pass, but I failed to see what was right in front of my eyes.
He reaches for my hand, and as we touch a small jolt of power shoots up my arm. We both widen our eyes in surprise, but we don't let go of each other.
"How?" I ask, my eyes burning with tears. "You were dead. I have your ashes on my fireplace mantle. I mourned for you. I still mourn for you," I say through a heavy wave of emotion, my voice cracking.
He pulls me closer to him, into a hug, his arms wrapping around me, and I lay my head on his chest and hear his heart beat. He feels strong, healthy. The smell of him, of cinnamon and honey catching on the wind, brings me back to childhood memories I had forgotten. Skipping stones on the river. Playing hide and seek by the willow tree. I want to hold onto him forever. To bask in the familiarity of his arms. But then I remember the Memory Catcher.
Mary.
The baby.
And I pull back, shaking, all sense of security shattered. “You’re not my brother,” I spit, the rage at this deceit boiling up within me. “My brother would never kill anyone. Especially not a child.”
He bows his head in the way that always meant he was sorry, and my heart cracks at the familiar gesture. “I had to, Evie,” he says, voice soft and yet cold. “The child could not be allowed to grow up.”
“What are you talking about?” I ask, tears stinging my eyes. “He was just an innocent baby—”
“No,” Adam cuts me off sharply. He speaks quickly, his eyes darting around as if he sees something I do not. “The boy would have killed thousands. On his twentieth birthday, his mother, Mary, is murdered for copulating with a vampire. Murdered by her own fellow humans. Dracula seeks revenge against the killers—destroying them and their families. Anyone who was part of it. But that's not enough for Mary's son. He is the most powerful vampire ever created, and he deems all humans to be treacherous, weak beings. He begins to slaughter them by the hundreds. And those he doesn’t kill, he enslaves, like sheep in a pen. His sister tries to stop him. She fails. Then…” He pauses, his voice growing pained as he meets my gaze with bloodshot eyes. “You try to stop him. You fail.”
He reaches for my hand, but I pull back, and catch a glimpse of the hurt in his eyes.
“How can you possibly know this?” I ask.
“After I died,” he says, “I came back. I don't know how. But when I woke, I was not only healed, but… different. Our father was right, Evie. We do have powers. Mine just took longer to manifest than yours.” He sounds excited, like the little boy I remember. The boy who stayed at my side as fever took me after my flashes. “Now I see things,” he continues. “Things that have yet to pass. They flow past my eyes like ghosts. Like the future and the present are layered over one another. Both for me to discover. To change for the better.”
My jaw clenches. “How could you do it? You…who used to save bees from the hot tub? Who took spiders outside of the house on a napkin?”
He cries then. And despite myself, I wrap my arms around his shoulders, and let his head rest in the crook of my neck.
“Evie,” he whimpers, his tears running down my skin. “I see horrible things…things I would not wish upon anyone. They are like nightmares, but I can never wake. The only way to stop them…is to change things.” He pulls back to look at me. “The girl, Alina, will have a better life now.”
At the mention of Liam’s baby, my voice softens. “You fool,” I say, shaking my head. “You're my best friend. My twin. I was cut in half without you. Why the fake ashes? The hiding? Why didn’t you come to me?”
“I wanted to,” he says quickly. “But you had to believe I was dead. Otherwise, you never would have gone to work for the Night Firm. It’s…important…what you’re doing. What you will do.”
“What am I going to do?” I ask.
He sighs. “If I told you, it would never happen.”
His words would sound ludicrous
if I didn’t have visions of my own. If I didn’t know things I had no right knowing. I thought my brother had been spared from that fate, but it seems his powers were just biding their time.
“Whose memory was that?” I ask, holding up the Memory Catcher. “Someone watched you through the window.”
He nods. “You’ll meet them in time. For now, just remember…” His eyes drift away, landing on the large iron clock on the tower across the town square, then flick back to me. "I will always protect you, no matter what."
Footsteps.
The shuffling of grass.
“There you are,” says Sebastian, emerging from behind the trees, carrying two glasses in one hand and a plate piled with treats in the other. "I heard raised voices," he says. "Was someone bothering you?"
My throat clenches, unsure of how to explain this. I turn back to Adam…but he's gone. Vanished as quickly as he appeared. Even his footprints are gone.
My eyes dart to the forest behind me, but there's no sign of my brother. My gut tells me I'll see him again, though. He still has questions to answer.
I turn back to Sebastian, doing my best to look festive despite the worry I feel. "Dracula was here," I say casually. "He wanted to say goodbye and thank me for my help exonerating him." It's not a lie, but it's not the whole truth, either. "Thanks for grabbing the drinks."
Sebastian smiles, his forest green eyes crinkling around the edges. Every time I see him, he steals my breath. You'd think I'd get used to it, to his earthy sexiness, his aristocratic features, his sculpted muscles and tall, lean body. But the earth Druid turned vampire has an animal magnetism that always catches me off guard. Tonight, he's wearing a black leather jacket and black pants with a white tailored tunic that does nothing to diminish his chiseled body. And his pink tie adds a splash of charm to his badass look.
He hands me a plate piled high with food—brightly-colored pastries, éclairs stuffed with chocolate and cream, and an oddly shaped set of donuts with not one but two holes in the center—and one of the drinks. His is red—blood most likely, probably mixed with liquor. Mine is a pretty blue color and I sniff at it. Blueberries and honey.
I take a sip, following Sebastian to a stone table where Elijah, Liam, and Derek are already sitting. Liam lifts a crimson bottle to his baby, and I raise an eyebrow at it as I take a seat across from him.
"Do I want to know why Alina's milk is red?" I ask, shuddering to think of the reason.
He turns to look at me, raising an eyebrow at my muddy and disheveled state but apparently too polite to ask what happened in front of everyone else. When I refuse to answer his unspoken inquiry, his golden eyes narrow momentarily but then goes back to feeding his daughter. "She's half vampire," he says, a flock of auburn hair falling across his forehead. "She needs milk and blood. It's a special mix the Ifrits put together."
"Yum," I say, picking at my own food but not actually eating any.
Liam frowns, then winks, and my body heats up at the memory of his kisses, his hands on me, his passion teasing my senses. Our gazes are locked onto one another's as he admires the sapphire blue gown that hugs my curves and I notice the way the emerald green of his cloak brings out his eyes.
But then the bottle slips from Alina's mouth and a trickle of milky blood stains her pink dress. Liam breaks eye contact with me to tend to her, and I mentally fan myself to cool off from the memories of his body pressed against mine.
Elijah, who sits next to Liam, sips at his blood cocktail and smiles, his silver-white hair swept back in a tie, his top hat covering most of it. He's very dashing in a fine black coat with purple buttons and silver walking stick. "We should buy her red clothing, to hide the blood stains," the air Druid says. "There is much research to be done on raising a hybrid child. We've never had an infant in the family." As if his own comment inspires him, he pulls a book out of his breast pocket and begins to read. I just chuckle and sip at my drink.
"You've hardly touched your food," Sebastian says, with a nudge to my shoulder. "Not to your liking? I can get you something else?"
His attentiveness is touching, and I smile warmly at him while inwardly I wince. "I'm just not very hungry," I say. Seeing my dead brother has sapped my appetite, I want to add. But I can't. Not yet. I trust the Night brothers. I do. They've become my family. But they're lawyers, sworn to uphold the law. And my brother…my brother is a murderer. Who let another man take the fall for his crimes. He may be justified in his actions, or he might be insane. He could be lying, but that seems the least likely. I can't imagine him evil. Not that. Anything but that. But either way, I can't risk the Nights turning him in while I'm figuring out what to do. I already lost my twin once. I won't lose him again.
Derek, sitting on the other side of me, wraps an arm around my shoulders and leans in to kiss my head. "Don't drink too much without food in you. Matilda has tonics ready for us all after tonight, but they take time to work, and you're not going to enjoy the taste."
The charismatic water Druid stands, adjusting his red scarf as he scans the crowds. "I'm off to mingle. Don't get too crazy," he says good-naturedly.
Elijah stands as well, tucking his book into his jacket. "I will join you, brother. Ifi and Elal look like they could use a few drinking companions."
I glance to where he's pointing and see the Ifrits engaged in some kind of elemental drinking game. Derek grins and they leave together, greeting the two men with laughter and back slaps.
Around us the festivities continue. Lily is dancing in her long green gown with other dryads, their movements flowing like leaves in the wind, their true forms flashing in and out as an elf plays a fiddle and a woman who looks part mermaid with scales lining her skin sings a haunting song in a strange language. It's entrancing.
Liam stands with Alina, catching my gaze as he cradles her in his arms. "I'll see you in a bit?" he asks. I nod and he heads to a nearby fire pit where the two gargoyles, Okura and Akuro are perched, talking softy. Well, softly for gargoyles. When Liam reaches them, Okura—the female gargoyle who recently gave birth—pulls her baby out of the pouch so the two newborns can meet. Maybe they'll grow up to be friends. What a lucky childhood Alina will have.
I don't see Matilda, and I wonder briefly if she went home.
Everywhere there is laughter and great anticipation for the night that is to come. Even Lilith is here, her long dark hair slick and shiny as she raises a glass in toast with Kana, the Kitsune who helped us untangle the mysteries surrounding Mary's letters.
Beyond the town center, towering over the stalls and booths, is the courthouse. Large enough to accommodate dragons and all manner of magical creatures, casting a long shadow across the town with its gothic architecture and grey stonework.
Sebastian and I are the only two left at the table. He is my rock, my foundation in a very strange world, and as he lays a hand on mine, I want to unburden my soul. But instead I pull away, fighting every urge in me to grab onto him and not let go, to hold him close and feel his strength embrace me and erase my fear and worry.
"Everyone looks to be having a wonderful time," I say, hating myself for making small talk with Sebastian of all people.
"That does appear to be the case," he says. "But are you? You seem lost in thought."
Before I can answer, we're interrupted by the arrival of someone intent on saying hello to Sebastian. The newcomer is short, with the upper body of a man—and a very hairy one at that, given that he isn't wearing a shirt and I can still see the thick mat covering his chest and back—and the lower body of a goat. Thankfully, his lower half is covered by a pair of bright purple pants. Sebastian reluctantly engages in conversation with him, and I'm left a bit dumbstruck at the thought that I've just met my first faun.
I say a brief hello and introduce myself, then turn my attention to the party. I search each person, looking for Adam's face in theirs. Looking for my twin. But I know he's gone. The real question is, will he come back?
I'm distracted from thoughts of my brot
her when someone catches my eye, a beautiful man gliding through the crowd, dressed entirely in black to match his hair. When he looks my way, I suck in my breath, but I can't turn away. His eyes are dark as night, void of any color. The blackest eyes I've ever seen. And I feel a compulsion I can't explain. I want to be closer to him. To never stop looking at him. To touch him.
He stops to stand in front of a bonfire like a shadow in the flames, mesmerizing. His eyes don't leave mine and his expression is curious. He smiles and I melt inside.
I'm about to stand and walk towards him. Power beyond myself compels me to do so, but then the clock tower clangs loudly, pulling my gaze from his for just a moment. When I look back, the man is gone, and I feel a bitter disappointment.
But his image is seared in my mind, and I kick myself for not bringing my sketchbook tonight. My fingers are itching to draw him. To capture every nuance of his look and expression on paper.
The clock tower continues to chime, and as it does, an overwhelming sense of wrongness takes hold within me. A flash grips me and I stand and follow its pull towards the woods. If I don't move, if I don't obey the compulsion, I will be too sick to function. It has happened before.
Sebastian realizes I'm leaving and grabs my hand. "Are you well?"
But when he sees my face, he frowns and walks away from his conversation with the faun "What's happening?" he asks urgently.
"Something's wrong," I whisper, but it's hard to speak. Hard to form words. I just have to…move. "We have to get out of here."
I Am the Storm (The Night Firm Book 2) Page 1