INCARNATE
BIANCA SCARDONI
THE MARKED BOOK FIVE
COPYRIGHT © 2020 BIANCA SCARDONI
All rights reserved. No part of this ebook may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without express written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in an article or book review.
Thank you for purchasing this ebook and for respecting the hard work of this author.
All characters and events depicted in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
ISBN: 978-1-9993874-5-7 (paperback)
ISBN: 978-1-9993874-4-0 (kindle)
To Tricia Simpson,
You were the first to read Inception,
and you’ve read every book since then.
This one is for you.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
COPYRIGHT
DEDICATION
1. INTO THE WILD
2. DEAD MAN WALKING
3. NO GOOD DEED
4. FORGET ME NOT
5. FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS
6. PARTIAL RECAL
7. RISKY BUSINESS
8. TALK OF THE DEAD
9. PROMISES TO KEEP
10. KISS IT BETTER
11. GIRL TALK
12. THE HURT LOCKER
13. RUNNING INTERCEPTION
14. RUNNING ON EMPTY
15. ON THE ROAD AGAIN
16. A LOOMING STORM
17. A SIGHT FOR SORE EYES
18. EIGHTEEN CANDLES
19. BATHROOM STORIES
20. A DATE WITH THE SHE-DEVIL
21. PLEASURE AND PAIN
22. OUT OF SORTS
23. LAST CALL
24. WHEN DARKNESS FALLS
25. IN THE ARMS OF AN ANGEL
26. TEMPTED TO TOUCH
27. HERE COMES THE VEIL
28. NO MAN’S LAND
29. SIX COLD FEET IN THE GROUND
30. BREATHLESS
31. BEAST OF A BURDEN
32. ANGEL EYES
33. ALL NIGHTER
34. THE POWER OF THE FOUR
A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
GLOSSARY
ANAKIM INDEX
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Some fight the darkness;
Others will become it.
1. INTO THE WILD
A light mist peppered the windshield as Tessa steered the black Cadillac Deville into a lowly gas station just off Highway 1. We were less than twenty minutes away from Hollows Hills; not quite home, but close enough that I could feel the anxiety slowly building in the pit of my empty stomach. It had been months since I’d stepped foot in Hollow Hills. Months since I allowed myself to think of the war that had been waged there, to mourn all of the things I had lost in it. But now, as we fueled the Cadi one last time before we made the final stretch home, it was all I could think about.
I’d spent the last nine weeks on the road with my sister Tessa, hunting demons and sealing Hellgates all over the U.S. and Canada. I had been too busy then to grieve, too busy to ruminate on my losses. There had been so much road to cover; so much work to be done, and I had immersed myself in it wholly and without regret.
But I was all out of road now. Out of time. Out of distractions. The life I’d left behind was about to catch up with me and there wasn’t anything I could do to slow it down.
“You want anything inside?” asked Tessa as she unclicked her seatbelt and popped open the driver’s side door.
I shook my head and sunk deeper into my seat, a small sigh escaping my lips.
“Cheer up, buttercup,” she said, leaning into the car with a teasing smile on her lips—still a rarity even after all the time we’d spent together this summer. “We’re less than twenty minutes away. You’ll get rid of me soon enough.”
“I’m counting down the seconds,” I jabbed back, not wanting her to know the real reason why I was on edge. Besides, Tessa and I had come so far over the summer. She was finally seeing me as her equal and not just her little inept sister. I wasn’t about to bulldoze all the progress we’d made by admitting that I was afraid to go home.
She perked up her middle finger and laughed before shutting the door and making her way around the car to gas up.
Needing something to distract myself with, I picked up my phone from the dashboard and checked if I had any messages. I let out another sign when the screen came up empty. I’d texted Dominic more than an hour ago when we stopped for a drink in Hanover and let him know that we were close. As tired as I was from being in the car for the last—I don’t know how many—hours, he was still the first person I wanted to see. With everything that was coming my way, I could use a little something to distract myself with, and if Dominic was good for anything, it was a distraction. And lord knew, I needed it now.
I was about to come face to face with the ashes of the life I’d burned to the ground.
Of the boy I put in the ground.
And I wasn’t anywhere near ready for it.
“Alright, Hollow Hills here we come,” said Tessa as she climbed back into the Cadi and started the engine.
I smiled back at her but didn’t say anything after that as she pulled out of the gas station and veered back onto the service road that would take us back to the highway.
The final stretch of road home was long and winding and mostly filled with silence. A sea of fog hovered over the road as though steam were rising from the asphalt and my heart all but leapt into my throat when the WELCOME TO HOLLOW HILLS sign finally came into view. But it wasn’t just the sign that had me on high alert. It was the black Audi that was parked next to it, and the tall, handsome blond man dressed in black that was elegantly leaning against it.
“Looks like your welcome wagon’s already here,” said Tessa as she slowed the Cadillac down and then veered onto the shoulder to park behind Dominic’s car.
My heart puttered around in my chest as my eyes met Dominic’s through the front windshield. All of my anxiety disappeared as I took in my beautiful dark angel. How long had it been since I’d last laid eyes on him? Since I touched his skin or felt his lips pressed up against mine?
Too long, I decided, even though we’d seen each other plenty of times throughout the summer.
Plenty, but not nearly enough.
“Thanks for the ride,” I said speedily as I snatched my bag from the floor bed and threw the passenger side door open.
I didn’t exactly bother waiting for an answer, but I did hear here loud and clear when she leaned over the armrest and shouted, “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
I turned back and cocked an eyebrow at her. “Which would be what?” I asked since I’d witnessed more than my fair share of Tessa’s sex-scapades over the summer to know that line in the sand had become almost nonexistent for her.
“Good point. Don’t do anything I would do,” she amended with a smile on her face.
“Yeah, that’s more like it,” I said as I shut the door and straightened. “See you later, Tess.”
“Mm-hmm,” she sang, the grin still plastered on her face. “See you later.” The Cadi kicked up pebbles as it pulled from the shoulder and then carried on into town without me.
I watched the taillights diminish for a moment before facing my welcome wagon in the flesh.
“You’re late.” Dominic smirked as he pushed off from his car and straightened. His hands were tucked into his front pockets and he was wearing his long black trench
coat even though it was still quite warm outside.
“We stopped for a drink. A few drinks.” My bag was hanging lifelessly beside my leg, holding on only by a fingertip. It was the only thing anchoring me to the ground at that point. My body was swaying like a pendulum that only wanted to go one way—directly into Dominic’s arms. Yet, I didn’t move.
Honestly, I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction.
His smirk spread into a slow, knowing grin. Knowing because of our bond. I already knew he could feel my desire for him battling fruitlessly against my need to keep a cool even head. It was a losing the battle and we both knew it, but it didn’t stop me from taking a swing at it.
With his grin still plastered on his face, he withdrew his hands from his pocket and started to move towards me, drinking me in with every step he took. His eyes darkened, making them seem boundless against the starless sky as he closed the distance between us. My heart, always the betrayer, pranced tirelessly in my chest the closer he got, and then exploded in excitement as he stopped in front of me and slipped a hand around my waist.
He tugged me forward, and I stumbled into him, bracing myself against his chest and then looking up at him under my lashes. His face was smooth, clean shaven and lined only with the hard edges that always seemed to jump out at the moon to catch its light.
“Celebrating without me again, love?” His voice was like pure honey, sweet and sticky as it poured over every cell in my body. “Haven’t you done enough of that over the summer?”
“If by celebrating you mean travelling the coast and slaying demons at all hours of the night, then yeah. I got my fill.”
“I was referring to the part about being without me,” he drawled.
I licked my lips at his words and his gaze immediately dropped down to my mouth.
“I got my fill of that, too.” My words came out low and breathless like fluttering butterfly I couldn’t catch.
A low rumble sounded at the back of his throat and my body arched into his like a magnet. “Did you miss me while you were gone?” he asked as his other hand came up to my cheek and gently stroked it with the back of his knuckles.
He knew damn well that I’d missed him. I schooled my features, unsure of what was ticking me off more: the fact that I was total putty in his hands or the fact that he knew it and so easily used it against me.
“I didn’t have time to miss you,” I said evenly, deciding to keep a level head about it, though the truth was, there weren’t enough words in the English dictionary that could articulate how much I had missed him while I was away.
Every day without him felt as though I were wandering lifelessly in a desert, fighting for my survival, slowly dying of thirst and knowing that there was only one thing—one person—who could quench that need. And yet that person forever remained just outside of my reach.
Basically, it was hell.
“I think you’re lying, angel.” He lowered his face to my ear, taking in the scent of my skin as he brushed his lips against my neck. “I think you were counting down the minutes until you could see me again.”
I clicked my tongue at him. “Always so cocky.”
“And never tongue-tied.” He simpered and my cheeks blushed.
“True, but you talk entirely too much,” I pointed out, being that we were still on the side of the road talking.
“Is that right?” He bent forward, his teeth grazing against the edge of my ear and sending waves of heat down to my belly. “Is there something else you’d prefer I be doing right now?”
Yeah. Me. “Maybe you should take me back to your place and find out,” I suggested.
“Is that a challenge, angel?” he asked lowly, whispering against my neck as he marked me with his kisses.
“No,” I said simply, my legs weakening as I fought to keep myself upright. “It’s an invitation.”
“To do what?” he asked as his hand slid down my waist and then over my hip, mapping my body as though he didn’t already know ever crease and crevasse.
I knew I was playing with fire, taunting the flames with gasoline and a matchstick, but I couldn’t seem to care. All I could think about was that ache inside me that longed to be engulfed by his inferno. “Anything you want.”
His head snapped up as another low sounding growl rumbled in his chest. “Anything?”
I met his eyes like a succubus on a mission. “Did I stutter?”
The corner of his lips dug into his cheek. “Oh, how I’ve missed that mouth of yours.”
I licked my lips purposefully and then smiled back at him. “Then prove it.”
His nostrils flared as though he were working very hard to keep himself composed. “You ought to be careful what you say to me, angel,” he warned, stroking my cheek with the back of his hand again. “I’m liable to take you on your word.”
“Well, that’s good,” I answered, leaning my frisky body all the way into him now, “Because I’m counting on it.”
His eyes darkened into rich, malt liquor as he gazed down at me, probably imagining all the things he could do to me. All the things I’d let him do. And then, just like that, he steeled himself and dropped his hands.
Umm, wtf? This was so not the way I’d seen this playing out in my mind.
“What just happened?” I asked, confused as hell.
He rolled his neck and met my eyes. “As much as I’d love to take you up on your offer,” he said and then dropped his voice dangerously low, “and believe me, angel, I’d love to take you up on it over and over again—”
“Then what’s the problem?” I cut in, splaying my hands against his chest, not wanting the moment to leave us.
He caught my wrists and frowned. “Unfortunately, we have some business to tend to first.”
I jerked back from him. “I know I didn’t hear that right.”
“Angel,” he chided, his voice grim without a trace of its usual silky-smooth tones. “We need to talk.”
I looked at him like he was a raving lunatic. Because he obviously was. “I just gave you carte-blanche for the night and you’d rather stand here and talk?”
“That’s hardly what I’d rather do.”
“Then why are we still standing here talking?” I barked and took a brazen step toward him.
He exhaled sharply and caught my wrists again as I tried to wrap my arms around his neck. “We are standing here talking because of the simple fact that you refused to do precisely that all summer long, and now—”
“We talked plenty over the summer,” I said and yanked my hands away.
He cocked his eyebrow. “Did we now?”
I mean, okay, so we didn’t exactly have too many conversations standing upright or fully lucid. But we talked. I definitely remember talking. Sort of. What the heck did it matter anyway?
“Dominic, stop messing around and take me home.” I practically purred the words at him. If that didn’t get him going, I wasn’t sure what would.
His back straightened as though he were working doubly hard to control himself. “Angel, can you please focus for a minute? This is important. A lot has happened while you were away and there are things you—”
“Dammit, Dominic!” I cut in roughly, anger seeping into my veins. “I already told you, I don’t care what happened while I was gone! I left this place for a reason. Why are you trying to drag me back into the past? Why can’t you just let it die?”
“I’m not the one having trouble staying dead, love,” he muttered under his breath.
I jerked at his words. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. What happened that night at All Saints…it wasn’t—”
Oh, hell NO! A volcano erupted at the center of my stomach and before I knew what I was doing, my palms slammed into his chest and shoved him backwards.
He staggered back a couple of steps but quickly caught himself, confusion marring his expression.
“Don’t you dare say another word, Dominic! I mea
n it. What happened that night had to happen. I get that now, but it doesn’t mean I’m okay with it or want to talk about it. With you or anyone else for that matter. Just leave it the hell alone!” I snapped, my skin boiling hot as though the blood in my veins had been replaced with lava.
He exhaled sharply and grimaced. “You don’t even know what I was about to say.”
“I don’t care. If it’s about that night, the subject is off-limits. End of story.”
He shook his head, the grimace never leaving his face. “Your stubbornness is absolutely insufferable.”
“Well, the feeling is mutual.” I cracked a small smile in an effort to lighten the mood. “Now can we be done with this and enjoy my first night home?” Though technically, I had yet to step foot into Hollow Hills. If it were up to Dominic, we’d be hovering on the edge of town until kingdom come. “Come on, Dominic. Take me home,” I pleaded.
He looked down at me for a moment as though sizing me up; reading me the way only he knew how. “Very well then, angel. We’ll do this your way. Get in the car.”
Finally! Now we’re getting somewhere.
I marched around the back of his car and then climbed into the passenger seat, watching as Dominic slid into driver’s side. He ran a hand through his pale tightly curled hair and then started the engine. Within seconds we were back on the road and on our way to the Huntington Manor. At least that’s where I thought we were heading; however, it quickly became apparent that we were headed into town instead.
Talk about insufferable stubbornness. “This isn’t the way to your place,” I pointed out.
“Correct.” His mischievous smirk was back with a vengeance. “I see you’re as sharp as ever.”
I glared at him. “Where are we going?”
“All Saints,” he answered without meeting my eyes. “We need to make a quick stop.”
“Seriously, Dominic?” I threw my hands in the air and gave up.
Apparently, I’d lost my some of my mojo over the summer because while I was chomping at the bit to get my hands on him, he was concerned about everything but that.
Incarnate: A Dark Paranormal Romance (The Marked Saga Book 5) Page 1