by Ali Vali
Synopsis
In book two of the Forces series, Kendal and Piper return to New Orleans, both now immortal. The peace along the Mississippi River is short-lived with the arrival of Kendal’s old friends, Morgaine and Lenore. They come with an order from the Genesis Clan for Kendal to return with them to face judgment for mixing the elixir of the sun for Piper without their consent. Their presence, though, wakes the seer the elders have waited centuries for.
The small band of immortals along with Piper’s grandparents must work to prepare for what their future holds with the return of one of Kendal’s oldest enemies. The battle of forces begins when the new queen of the vampires joins forces with this new threat, both set on destroying not only Kendal, but the woman she loves.
Battle of Forces: Sera Toujours
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Battle of Forces: Sera Toujours
© 2013 By Ali Vali. All Rights Reserved.
ISBN 13: 978-1-60282-999-2
This Electronic Book is published by
Bold Strokes Books, Inc.
P.O. Box 249
Valley Falls, New York 12185
First Edition: November 2013
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Credits
Editors: Shelley Thrasher and Stacia Seaman
Production Design: Stacia Seaman
Cover Design By Sheri ([email protected])
By the Author
Carly’s Sound
Second Season
Calling the Dead
Blue Skies
Love Match
The Dragon Tree Legacy
Forces Series
Balance of Forces: Toujours Ici
Battle of Forces: Sera Toujours
The Cain Casey Saga
The Devil Inside
The Devil Unleashed
Deal with the Devil
The Devil Be Damned
The Devil’s Orchard
Acknowledgments
Thank you first to Radclyffe for your support and advice, and for allowing me to follow my imagination with these characters. Any time your boss encourages you to put a swordfight in your work, that’s a sign of an awesome job.
Once the words are written and the story is finished, the editing begins, and I’m grateful to Shelley Thrasher for all the hard work and time she puts into each book. Thank you, Shelley, for your patience, your friendship, and for everything you’ve taught me.
Thank you to the BSB team who all work so hard to bring every book to print: thank you to Stacia Seaman for your final edits and comments, Sheri for another great cover, to the other authors who are always there to offer encouragement, and to my beta readers. All these years later and Connie Ward and Kathi Isserman are still saying yes when I ask them to read something new. Thank you both for your input and for keeping me on track.
Thanks to you the reader for all your support and great emails. Everything I write is always done with you in mind.
Life is always changing, and while every day is different, for me there is always one constant. Thank you, C, for loving me and for making me laugh even when it’s the last thing I want to do. You sure have made my life a fun adventure, and I’m always looking forward to what comes next. You’re my best friend, my joy, and I love you. Verdad!
For C
A lifetime is not enough
Chapter One
“Do you promise you’ll bring me back here one day?” Piper Marmande stood on the balcony of Kendal Richoux’s Venetian home and stared out over the water. She’d enjoyed the view for the last six months, but every day she found something new and beautiful in the postcard-worthy scene.
“Time isn’t a problem for either of us, so I’ll bring you back whenever you like,” Kendal said from the doorway. The casual clothes had been put away and Kendal was wearing the type of business suit Piper had always seen her in when they’d met. “Thank you for the memories you’ve given me of this place.”
“I’d say we’re going home, but my home will be wherever you are,” Piper said as she walked toward Kendal and put her arms around her waist. “Until I met you, I never thought I’d say that to another soul because I didn’t trust anyone that much with my heart.”
“The car is ready, signora,” the maid said from the hallway.
“Tell them to wait, please.” Kendal returned her full attention to Piper. “Your heart is safe with me. You’ve brought someone who can’t die back to life, and I’ll spend eternity trying to give you the same happiness.”
Eternity—the only meaning that word had ever held for her was fluff that sappy people wrote on cards, but she had drastically changed her interpretation in six months. In that short time, she and her grandparents had been about to lose their family business, so she’d made a deal with a man she detested to keep it out of Kendal’s hands. When her grandfather Mac had mentioned they were in Kendal’s sights, she’d become frantic to save everything her family had built through generations.
She’d been so hostile and immature in their initial meetings that she was still surprised Kendal hadn’t lost patience with her. When she’d finally let her guard down she’d found not only a savior, but love. Kendal gave her what she thought was the most important thing to her—only it wasn’t Marmande Enterprises, but the raider who’d tried to sink it.
“What are you thinking so hard about?” Kendal whispered.
“The day I realized I’d fallen in love with you was the night you faced Henri. At least it was the first time I’d admitted it to myself.” Kendal’s brother was as old as her slayer but, unlike Kendal, he’d chosen the darkness. He was a powerful vampire who’d killed their father to torture Kendal’s soul, but their fight had finally ended at Kendal’s house outside New Orleans. “When Henri drove that sword through your chest I knew I’d be alone until I died. I didn’t want anyone else.”
“Do you have regrets?” Kendal’s voice was still soft and seductive.
“Regrets about spending eternity with you?” she asked as she tugged Kendal out into the sun. “My regret started the second I thought you’d died. You were gone and I hadn’t told you how I felt about you.” All that blood and that sword sticking out of Kendal’s chest had dropped her into a hell of her own making, and she thought she’d be trapped in it until death came for her. The only relief she’d find was Kendal waiting on the other side.
“I should’ve given you more time to decide.”
Piper heard Kendal’s remorse. “Let me finish before you get all glum on me.” She took Kendal’s jacket off and pointed to the double chaise lounge they’d spent their mornings on. “My regret and despair were my salvation, so as painful as that night was, I’d relive it continuously because it proved to Morgaine and Lenore how much I loved you.”
Piper hadn’t known what to expect when she stepped into the large library located over a bar in New Orleans. There she’d met Lenore and been trusted with the secrets of the Genesis Clan and their greatest achievement—the elixir of the sun. Lenore was their chief archivist and had read her the story of the Clan’s best slayer, Asra, a soldier born during the reign of the only female pharaoh over three thousand years before.
“It sounded so real, tho
se stories in your book, but I didn’t want to let myself believe them,” she said as she stretched out next to Kendal. “To believe it was to hope, and to hope for anything always ended in disaster for me.”
“What changed your mind?”
“Morgaine,” Piper said with a smile.
The beautiful Morgaine, who’d delivered the Elders’ invitation to Kendal, had mixed the elixir for Asra and trained her, but broke the rules when she fell in love with her recruit. That wasn’t part of Lenore’s story, but Piper knew the instant Morgaine spoke about Kendal. “Your watcher was so adamant I make up my mind right then to either come here or be locked out forever. It scared me to gamble with my heart like that, but I had no other options.”
“Your longing led you here, but what happens when the darkness that’s dominated my life for so long comes back? Death holds no power over us, Piper, but the elixir you drank won’t protect you from things like Henri.”
“The people who’ve known you the longest say you’re the best slayer they have, so I’m not worried.”
Kendal finally laughed. “It’s that easy for you?”
“At first it wasn’t because I thought you were all crazy, but seeing you sitting in a field of daffodils that’ll never die brought me back to life. I still find it a little crazy, but I haven’t needed to sleep in three months, and I’m a woman in love.”
Kendal smiled, and Piper was sure that same smile had melted hundreds of hearts throughout the years. Kendal’s generosity and her gentle nature had been the core theme of Lenore’s tales, and no amount of fighting or aging had dimmed either.
“You’re the woman I’ve waited for.” Kendal kissed her as she lowered the zipper of her dress.
“Do you think the maid will come back to tell you about the car again? Or maybe to show you her cleavage one more time on the off chance you might want to see it up close?” Piper asked, but didn’t stop Kendal from undressing her.
“Not if she wants to keep her job.”
They stood to make it easier to get naked except for her underwear, since Kendal liked to strip those off herself, and it still amazed Piper how quickly her body reacted to Kendal’s touch. One long look and her nipples got hard, and Kendal’s fingers anywhere on her body made her wet. “I can’t blame her for the crush she has on you. You’ve made me a maniac, and I never really liked sex. I can’t imagine what you’d do to someone who undresses you with her eyes every chance she gets.”
“You do know how to flatter, my love, but you don’t have to worry about the maid or anyone else.” Kendal unfastened Piper’s bra with one hand and squeezed her breast as soon as she got it off.
“Practice really has made you perfect in this arena, and I don’t ever want to disappoint you.” They’d made love every day since her arrival, but she still cursed her inexperience. Worry over that always made her think about all the women who’d shared Kendal’s life and her bed.
Kendal must’ve picked up on her insecurity because her touch went from teasing to nurturing. “You sweet idiot.”
“Don’t tell me that’s my new nickname,” she said as she tried to look away.
“It will be if you doubt my loyalty and love. You’ve got nothing to fear.”
“The way you touch me doesn’t make me afraid,” she said with her face pressed to Kendal’s shoulder. “I don’t want us to have secrets, so I hope you don’t mind a few of these crazy conversations along the way. I don’t doubt your love. I just wish I knew more so I could make you as crazy as you make me.”
“You’re making me crazy now.”
She snorted at Kendal’s sense of humor, which encouraged her to go on. “In a good way, Asra. Not a pull-your-hair-and-howl-at-the-moon crazy.”
“Skill’s only important in swordplay,” Kendal said as she moved so she could see Piper’s face. “How I touch you isn’t about technique, but about how much I love you. My past holds a mixture of good and bad memories and experiences, but not one of them makes my heart pound like it does when I feel you against me. All that’s important to me is today and every tomorrow I’ll have with you.”
“You are sweet, but I might as well spill all my insecurities before we go back to real life.” Piper tried her best to maintain eye contact. “It’s your last chance to run screaming up the hill of indestructible flowers.”
“I’m old, not insane, so let’s hear your list. The only way I’m leaving is if you tell me you’re in love with the maid.”
“You’d be okay with that?” Piper narrowed her eyes to slits.
“Only if you’d be okay with me planting our maid under all the indestructible flowers.”
“I’m being serious,” she said, but laughed anyway as she pressed her head to Kendal’s shoulder.
“You can tell me anything, so be honest.”
“Throughout your life you’ve had one constant no matter what you were doing,” she said, not really sure how to go on.
Kendal moved so they were facing each other, their joined hands between them. “Can I tell you a story before you say anything else?” Piper nodded and appeared relieved. “When you got here, did you come for eternal life?”
“You know better. I came for you, and only you.”
“When Morgaine visited me the first time, she told me my father was dead. After the shock of losing the one person in my life I loved and trusted, she told me my brother Abez had killed him. Like you, I never knew my mother, so my father was my whole world. He taught me the sword, about honor and commitment, convinced the pharaoh of my worth, and then in a moment of horror he was gone.”
“At least I had Gran and Pops,” Piper said, then kissed Kendal’s knuckles.
“When I saw what Abez had done, and what he’d become, I accepted the cup Morgaine mixed for me. I drank only for a chance at avenging my father’s murder.” Kendal closed her eyes and thought back to that oasis she’d shared with Morgaine all those years. They’d made love so many times, but it didn’t compare to being totally and hopelessly in love with the woman in her arms.
“Finding Abez drove me from the day I reentered the world, but he proved an elusive adversary, so I made a decision that I felt would honor my father as much as killing Abez.”
“You’d already chosen immortality. What else was there?”
“I chose to find things to enjoy. The world had become a wondrous place, and I reinvented myself like Abez did numerous times. But I did it so I could enjoy the changes in the world, not find dark corners to hide in. Through the years Lenore told me I had an adventurous heart, and she was right, but it kept me sane. In time I learned as much as I could, and with Lenore’s help I found out about the Elders and the Genesis Clan. The lessons and the adventure kept me going until I found the monster that once was my brother.”
“Thanks for sharing that with me, but what does it have to do with the crazy stuff in my head?” Piper shrugged. “It makes me sound juvenile, but the Viking goddess loves you and she’s been in your life so long that I get insanely jealous when I think about it. I can’t ever share you or this,” Piper said as she lifted their hands.
“I told you because you need to realize how we got here. You drank for love, and I drank for vengeance, not because of my love for the Viking goddess, as you put it.”
“So Morgaine doesn’t matter?”
“I’ve only mixed the elixir twice, for you and Charlie. But only you mattered enough to me that I didn’t want to go on without you. Charlie begged me for the same reason I decided to drink,” she said of the man who’d come into her life as a slave at Oakgrove. “He wanted revenge, but you simply wanted me, so Morgaine isn’t someone you need to worry about.”
“You forgot the daffodils outside,” Piper said, and moved to straddle her hips.
“I was smart enough to know the right woman would come along and appreciate them.” She ran her fingertips along Piper’s shoulders. “I love you, and because you’re here I’ve sent word to the Elders that I’m done. I’ve given them what the
y wanted, and Ora and Abez are dead. All I want now is peace and to enjoy my life with you.”
“Are you sure?” Piper grabbed her hands and squeezed. “Will they let you do that?”
“They can try to keep me, but no soldier is worth his sword when forced to fight.” Piper smiled as if she wanted more than anything for what she was saying to be true. She’d enjoyed that relaxed smile all winter as they walked through the streets of Venice and the surrounding countryside. They’d talked and she’d told Piper stories of the things she’d witnessed, but she’d balanced them with her hopes for the future. She’d been honest about her life so Piper would be sure about her decision.
“You won’t be sorry?”
“Did you fall in love with me for my slaying abilities?”
Piper released her and ran her hands down her own body until they were between her legs. “I fell in love with you because you’re a sexy beast who makes me wet.” She brought her hand back up and ran her fingers around Kendal’s lips, painting them with her desire and making Kendal groan. “I never thought I’d be the kind of person who craved sex, wanted to be romanced, and ended up with the kind of partner I didn’t think existed, but my patience paid off.”
“You are the definition of desire.” Kendal moved her hand between Piper’s legs and curled her fingers from the slick opening of Piper’s sex to her hard clit. Piper tipped her hips forward and jutted her chest out. Her nipples looked as hard as the small stone under her fingers, and Kendal sucked the one nearer to her mouth.
“Do you mind being late?” Piper asked as she tugged her head back by the hair.
“With a chartered plane I can make love to you as long as I want, and we won’t miss it.”