Evernight Publishing ®
www.evernightpublishing.com
Copyright© 2015 Michelle Roth
ISBN: 978-1-77233-390-9
Cover Artist: Jay Aheer
Editor: Lisa Petrocelli
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.
This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
DEDICATION
This is dedicated to freaks, geeks, nerds and outcasts that hang out on the fringe. Embrace the weird. It's what separates you from everybody else.
THE DARKNESS CALLS
The Transfigured Ones, 1
Michelle Roth
Copyright © 2015
Prologue
1886, The Great Reckoning – Northern Ontario – Somewhere in the Boreal Forests
Talan McKenna wiped the blood from his mouth and slung the lifeless soldier to the ground. Somewhat revived, he raced toward the deepest part of the forest. He could feel the sun beginning to rise. There was a prickling tightness to his skin already. He dared not fight anymore. Not tonight. He needed to go to ground before the sun rose.
For the last eleven years, his kind had been at war with the humans. Which wasn’t to say that the humans were any more human than his kind were. They just didn’t need to drink blood to survive. That single distinction set them worlds apart. He put down his satchel and gun, then began to dig.
As he dug the shallow grave, he thought of the stories they believed about him. About his people. According to most they were ghoulishly undead. Monsters that lived only for human flesh. Depraved souls living for the suffering of others.
This, from the people who desecrated the graves of the dead mercilessly. They set fire to anyone or anything they could during the day. His kind, for the most part, took only what they needed to survive, as they had done for centuries.
In his lifetime, which had spanned some three hundred years, he’d done things he wasn’t proud of. In his infancy as one of the others, as he liked to think of them, he had killed. Even in war, he found it distasteful, and he certainly wasn’t proud of it. The memories still haunted him. When he thought of her, he could still see the little girl’s eyes staring vacantly up at him as her life slipped way. He had taken other lives, but hers was the only face that haunted him.
He had never been a cruel man, but he had known hunger. During those first days when his body was changing, he hadn’t been able to control himself. His family long since dead from famine and disease, he’d had no one to rein him in. Learning to survive was something he’d done on his own. There had certainly been some missteps along the way, though.
Over the years he had learned to take only what he needed. He tried never to kill. Humankind wasn’t exactly a renewable resource. If they drank to excess, they could technically bleed their food source dry, which would destroy them all.
He settled his body into the hole and covered himself as best he could with no assistance. He tucked his satchel and gun into the grave beside him, along with the shovel, then settled in under the moose hide he’d fashioned. It was covered with leaves and dirt—not the best cover, but it hadn’t failed him yet.
With any luck, it would snow again tonight. Or maybe it wouldn’t, and his grave would be discovered. He was beginning to think maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad idea. He had wandered alone for centuries now. He knew others like him but didn’t feel any particular allegiance or love for them.
Talan was tired of the violence. He was tired of the war and the fighting. He was just plain tired. Perhaps tomorrow would be better, he thought, as the darkness called to him. Perhaps tomorrow would be better.
Chapter One
Present Day – Toronto, ON – Foxwood Casino and Spa
Lilly Ferguson pulled her coat more tightly around her slim frame as she quickly made her way to the car. It was brutally cold outside. The thick coat did little to protect her from the frigid winds. By the time she made it to her car in the employee parking area, her hands ached from the cold. Why, oh why had she forgotten her gloves in the car?
She heard the shuffling behind her only a moment before someone ripped at the strap of her purse. She whirled around and struck out blindly at her assailant. She was wrapping up a twelve-hour shift in which she’d been cursed and spat on by a drunk when she’d cut him off. Lilly didn’t have much. There was no goddamned way she’d let some little tweaked-out punk steal her money.
When her attacker landed a blow on her cheek, she felt her head snap back and crack into the roof of her old sedan. She let loose the loudest scream she could muster and gouged at the attacker with her keys. She landed a blow and heard him grunt in pain. Lilly continued to struggle, slashing out at the man until she heard a car coming up the row.
The attacker looked up at the approaching vehicle, then took off running in the other direction. As she watched the man run away, she slumped against the side of the car, clutching her bag. Adrenaline raced through her system as the security officer jumped out of the SUV.
“Miss. Miss? Are you okay?” he said as he approached her.
Lilly held a hand up to her cheek and said, “He tried to steal my bag. I wouldn’t let him. I think I stabbed him with my keys.”
She looked down at the blood that coated her car key and said, “Hopefully I got something vital. Asshole.”
The security guard shook his head and said, “If only,” as he eyed the mark on her face. “Are you otherwise okay?”
She stepped away from the car and said, “I think so,” as she started to sway.
He took one look at her and then said, “No you’re not. Come inside…Lilly,” as he took in her name tag. “You’re swaying back and forth. Come back inside with me. Are you cut anywhere? Did he have a weapon?”
They moved slowly toward the SUV, Lilly leaning heavily against his side. She said, “I think I hit my head. No cuts though. The bastard.”
Before she could protest, she found herself being scooped into the passenger’s side of the SUV. It was probably for the best anyway. Her head was throbbing.
As they sped back toward the employee entrance, the guard radioed ahead, calling for the concierge doctor. Lilly raised her eyebrows. An on-call doctor? Wasn’t that fancy?
Within ten minutes, she was surrounded by two security officers and a doctor. He gently prodded at the knot on the back of her head, while she held ice against her throbbing cheek. As he started to shine a small flashlight into her eyes, she heard a deep voice in the hallway murmur, “Where’s the girl? Was she seriously hurt?”
When he stepped through the door, she realized it was the owner of the casino. She had seen glimpses of him on occasion, but she’d never actually spoken to him. His eyes swept the room and landed on her.
She blinked in surprise as he knelt down next to the doctor, so he was eye level. His eyes settled on the bag of ice she held against her face. He didn’t speak. The small tic in his cheek was the only reason she could visibly tell that he was upset. Otherwise, his facial expression gave away nothing.
His voice was devoid of any emotion when he spoke. “Miss...” he paused, prompting her for her name.
“Lilly. Lilly Ferguson.”
He nodded and continued, “Miss Ferguson. You’re okay?”
She nodded, and then winced. “I hit my head. He hit me in the face. Otherwise, I’m fine.”
His eyes swept over her, as if he was trying to v
erify for himself. His eyes took in her bag. The strap had a tear, but for the most part it was still intact.
Lilly followed his line of sight and took in the torn bag. “That was a casualty of war, too, I guess,” she said with a smirk.
A slight smile curved his lips as he said, “I’m sorry for your loss. I’m surprised you didn’t just give it to him, though.”
“I’m not willing to part with what little I own, Mr. McKenna,” she answered honestly.
He nodded as if he understood.
Lilly stared blankly at him. She had serious difficulty thinking he’d be able to relate to her in any way. He was one of the Transfigured. Rich as Croesus, he owned the casino, and was a huge power player among his kind.
Her thoughts must have been written all over her face because he said, “I’ve had almost five hundred years to become who I am, Little One. I can still remember when I had nothing. When I was nothing. I admire your spirit.”
She swallowed, uncertain.
“Will you be okay to drive home?” he asked.
The doctor cut in from the other side of the security office. She hadn’t even realized that he’d moved. He said, “I wouldn’t recommend it, Mr. McKenna. She needs to rest in a dark, quiet room at the very least for the next eight hours. She’s showing signs of a mild concussion.”
“Very well,” he said, addressing the doctor. He turned to face her and said, “Someone from the hotel will ensure that you get home safely.”
“But,” she asked. “What about my car?”
“It can be delivered to you. When do you work next?”
She blinked, trying to fight the fuzziness in her mind, and said, “Tomorrow afternoon.”
He shook his head and said, “We’ll reassign your shifts for the next two days. Take the time off.”
“Thank you,” Lilly said. She couldn’t imagine doing much of anything except laying under her blankets, if her head persisted in feeling like this.
“Keys,” he prompted.
She picked them up, then she winced as there was dried blood caked on the car key. She gingerly removed it from the ring and said, “Sorry. It may need a rinse. I managed to gouge him a couple of times.”
His eyes widened incredulously for a moment before he reached out and took the key from her. He didn’t seem to have an aversion to the bloody key. It was, she supposed, his meal of choice. A slow smile, a genuine one, pulled across his face. He said, “Yes, Miss Ferguson, I do admire your spirit.”
Despite the throbbing in her head, she felt a distinct shift in the energy of the room. Before she could say anything, he continued, “When you’re ready, there will be a car out front.”
“Thank you,” she said automatically.
“You’re most welcome,” he said, and then he took his leave. As his voice faded away, she could hear him arranging the car for her.
When she focused back in on the people around her, she noticed they were all looking at her strangely. The security guard said, “That’s the most I’ve heard him say, and I’ve been here for five years.”
The doctor nodded as he packed up his things and said, “He was rather chatty.”
After a few last-minute instructions for her, he took his leave.
Lilly gathered her somewhat tattered purse and said, “Thank you, again,” to the security guard. “If you hadn’t come along...”
“You would have stabbed him a few more times with your keys, and he would have run off,” the guard finished her sentence, smiling.
For the first time since the attack, she grinned. She had been kind of a bad ass, hadn’t she?
By the time she made it out front, after being waylaid by several of her coworkers on break, the doorman was waiting.
“Miss Ferguson?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said.
He gestured toward the limousine that was idling in the entryway and said, “Your ride awaits.”
“Seriously?” she asked.
A moment later, the driver popped out of the car and circled around to open the door to the backseat.
Cautiously, she slid into the back. He had sent her home in a limo? She reached into her purse and texted her roommate Marissa the moment the driver shut the door.
Fingers flying over the virtual keyboard, she said, “Holy shit, I’m in a limo right now.”
When the driver slid into the front seat, he asked, “Where can I take you, Miss?”
She quickly rattled off her address and then slumped back against the cool leather seat. Her head was pounding. There were two aspirin and about twelve hours of sleep headed her way. Luckily, she didn’t have any classes tomorrow.
Her phone lay next to her on the seat, buzzing with incoming texts. She was sure Marissa was asking a million questions, but it just felt so damned good to close her eyes. Lilly promised herself she’d only drift for a minute.
She was jarred awake when the car shut off. She blinked and began to gather her things when she realized they had arrived. As she reached for the door handle, the driver opened the door from the outside.
When he caught sight of the bruise on her cheek, he frowned. God knows what the man thought. His boss called and demanded limo service at three in the morning for some woman who was obviously not a guest of the hotel. Then Lilly had shown up looking as if she’d been beaten. She could see the direction of his thoughts already.
There was no way she could allow him to think that Mr. McKenna had either done this or was in collusion with anyone who had. It was the least she owed him. He had been...kind.
Lilly explained, “Someone tried to mug me earlier tonight after work. Mr. McKenna provided a way home since the doctor said I shouldn’t drive.”
He relaxed visibly for a moment and then his eyes widened. He asked, “Are you okay?”
“Nothing a dozen hours of sleep and some pain relievers won’t fix. Thank you for the ride.”
“You’re welcome. Feel better,” he said.
She gave him a wave and headed toward the front door of her townhouse. She let herself in and walked up the stairs into the main living area. Marissa stood there in rumpled pajamas.
“Holy shit, honey! What happened?” she screeched as she took in the mark on her face.
Lilly set her bag down and moved to the cabinet to get some aspirin. She tossed them back with a swig of orange juice right from the jug before she answered.
“Classy, babe,” Marissa said, cringing. “Now what happened?”
“I almost got mugged in the parking lot after work. I ended up getting hit in the face, and then I hit my head against the car. I stabbed the guy with my keys. Rat bastard. He tore my bag.”
“That’s crazy, Lill. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I think so. I mean, the doctor said I had signs of a mild concussion, but basically I have a giant headache and a torn bag.”
Marissa studied her and said, “Do I have to wake you up every hour on the hour? I saw it on television once.”
“I will straight up murder you. I’m so freaking tired right now. I just wanna close my eyes,” Lilly said.
“Just one more question and then you can sleep. How did you end up in a limo?”
Lilly sighed because she knew as soon as she explained it, there would be several more questions.
“Security showed up, took me inside. I met Talan McKenna, by the way. He said he’d have someone deliver my car since I shouldn’t be driving, and then sent me home in a limo.” She tried to make it sound very matter of fact, but if Marissa’s reaction was any indication, she had failed miserably.
“What?” she screeched. “You met the boss man?”
Lilly gripped her head as the sound set off another wave of pounding in her head.
Marissa winced and then softly said, “Sorry, sorry. I totally lied. I’m not done with the questions. You met the boss?”
Marissa worked in the cash area in the casino. That’s how Lilly had been able to score a job there as a bartender. It made sense that she’
d be interested. He was pretty reclusive. She’d been there for a few months now and had only seen him twice until tonight.
Lilly went over the entire interaction, leaving nothing out.
“Wow. I’ve been there for a couple of years now. The most I’ve gotten is a nod. Maybe I oughta get jumped in the parking lot. He’s hot, right?”
“Yeah,” Lilly admitted. “He’s even hotter up close. And that voice. It’s smooth, deep, and incredibly precise. I don’t know if that’s the word—it’s hard to explain.”
“The type of voice you wish would whisper filthy things in your ear?”
“Yes. Absolutely,” Lilly agreed. Jokingly, she added, “And on that note, I’m going to take a cold shower and go to bed.”
Marissa gave her a knowing smirk and said, “Try and keep it down.”
Shooting her the finger as she left, Lilly made her way upstairs. She briefly considered the shower but decided that sleep was far more important. Tomorrow.
As she stripped out of her clothes, she thought about Talan McKenna. He’d been kind. That wasn’t a trait she often associated with the Transfigured. Her opinion was incredibly biased for both obvious and much more personal reasons.
She settled under her covers and closed her eyes. After a few moments, the throbbing in her head became more dull. Today had been fucked up. Tomorrow would be better, she decided.
****
When Lilly awoke the next day, her head hurt, but it was only a dull ache, thankfully. A glance at the clock informed her that it was 2:19 p.m. Man, when she slept in, she did it right.
She eventually made herself get out of bed and wandered downstairs. She saw a key sitting on top of the white box along with a note and an envelope on the kitchen counter.
She read the note first. Naturally, it was Marissa begging to know what was in the box. She smirked and pushed the mass of tangled curls out of her face. Now, the envelope.
The Darkness Calls Page 1