by Caris Roane
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dear Reader
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Ascension Terminology
Thank you!
About the Author
List of Books
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RAPTURE’S EDGE 1
“AWAKENING”
CARIS ROANE
RAPTURE’S EDGE 1: The Awakening
By Caris Roane
Copyright © 2014 Twin Bridges Creations LLC
All rights reserved. No part of this eBook may be reproduced in whole or in part, scanned, photocopied, recorded, distributed in any printed or electronic form, or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without express written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.
Formatting and cover by Bella Media Management.
Dear Reader,
Welcome to the first installment of the Rapture’s Edge Series, “Awakening”. This story is part of my Guardians of Ascension series and launches several stories beginning with Warrior Duncan, three Militia Warriors, one Third Earth outcast named Merl, and finally, Luken, our gentle giant from the original series. For books 1, 2 and 3, both Endelle and Luken play a prominent role along with Duncan and Rachel.
I chose to continue the series in an episodic form, because it was the best way to tell the ongoing saga of all my hunky Warriors of the Blood and those Militia Warriors advancing to “What-bee” power.
RAPTURE’S EDGE “Awakening” comes right after THE DARKENING, a story that lets us see the romance between Warrior Samuel and his breh, Vela.
You’ll find a terminology appendix at the end of the book in case you want to look up the meanings of a few words here and there.
“Awakening” opens with Duncan caught in a trance by a powerful Third Earth ascender by the name of Yolanthe. You’ll be getting to know this woman well over the next few episodes since she’s the one intent on killing Rachel.
The breh-hedden (vampire mate-bonding) takes charge of Duncan and Rachel as it has for all previous eight warriors so far: Kerrick, Marcus, Antony, Jean-Pierre, Thorne, Leto, Gideon, and Samuel. And now Duncan.
Brief Synopsis of Awakening
He’s a warrior deep in his bones, but she wants only peace…
For decades, Warrior Duncan has had an on-again, off-again relationship with a woman opposed to his warrior lifestyle. When Rachel shows up in his life again, he wants to keep his distance, but the infamous breh-hedden, the myth-that-isn’t-a myth, bears down on him keeping him in a perpetual caveman-like state. How is he supposed to make war when he’s falling in love with a woman who only wants peace?
Rachel can’t believe Duncan is back in her life. She spent years getting over him, over all the fights they had about her dislike of the war and his love of being a Militia Warrior. The problem is, she never stopped loving him and the trance he’s stuck in has her out of her mind with worry. When the breh-hedden crashes down on her, she wants only one thing: Duncan … in her bed … now. But how is she supposed to stay with a man who represents what she hates most about their ascended vampire world?
Enjoy!
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Coming Soon: Episode #2 of RAPTURE’S EDGE, the continuing saga of the Guardians of Ascension, again featuring Duncan and Rachel. And we’re going to Third Earth! Check out RAPTURE’S EDGE on my website. http://www.carisroane.com/raptures-edge/
Coming Soon: Book #7 of the Blood Rose Series, Mastyr Zane’s story: EMBRACE THE WIND!!!
Be sure to check out the Blood Rose Tales Box Set – TRAPPED, HUNGER, and SEDUCED -- shorter works for a quick, sexy, satisfying read. For more information: http://www.carisroane.com/blood-rose-tales-box-set/
CHAPTER ONE
Love battles
Against the unknown.
Collected Proverbs – Beatrice of Fourth
Duncan’s captor laid it out. “All I want is your lover’s current location. Once you give that to me, I’ll let you wake up and we can move forward. But I really do need Rachel to take a big step back.”
Right over a cliff, no doubt.
Duncan was under no illusion; the woman, Yolanthe, wanted Rachel dead. She’d said so more than once in the early part of this bizarre captivity. Softening her word choice didn’t change the intention.
Caught in a two-week trance he couldn’t escape, Duncan once again tried to make sense of what he was seeing. Though he knew he was lying in a hospital bed on Second Earth, he was staring at a snow leopard that his captor held on a short, black leather leash. But he didn’t know how he could see either the leopard or the beautiful red-haired woman or her rust-and-cream marble home.
And how the hell could he be in two places at once?
Although, his gut told him he wasn’t, not really. It was just some kind of Third Earth power, a mental distortion maybe. Yolanthe had called it a voyeur window, but a Third Dimension variety, not the simpler kind found on Second. Endelle, the leader of Second Earth, had a voyeur window, so he knew the concept was viable.
For two weeks now, during his waking hours, the trance had kept him focused only on Yolanthe.
He wanted desperately to come out of this captive mental state, but nothing he’d tried had worked. The woman had power, more than he could fathom, which was why he could see her and talk to her while lying prone on a bed in Metro Phoenix Two. She was some kind of freakish princess on Third Earth, but more than that he was still piecing together.
When he’d first come under Yolanthe’s spell, or whatever the hell this was, she’d worn her hair in thick curls hanging down her back. Maybe she was trying out a new look, but for now she’d bound up her curly red hair in about two dozen thin braids, wrapping them around her head in an almost haphazard way. The effect was both unique and unsettling because at first glance it looked like she had snakes for hair.
She was beautiful in a strange way, with very light red lashes and brows, and pale blue eyes. Her white skin was flawless, not a single freckle in sight. Though tall, looking to be about six-foot-one, the woman needed some meat on her bones. She used a dark purple lipstick, bordering on black that emphasized her habitual pallor. She kept her short nails in the same Gothic shade.
Of course, she’d promised to release the trance if only he’d tell her one small piece of information: where Rachel lived.
She harped on her theme now. “Please, Duncan, just tell me where I can find Rachel. I have excellent plans for you that will one day involve ruling a large portion of this planet. And sharing the information would go a long way to convincing me that we can work together as a team.”
She had the Third Earth darkening grid operators hunting for Rachel, but the process was hit-and-miss, and could take weeks according to what she’d told him in previous conversations. He didn’t understand much yet about the grid, but it ran through the nether-space between dimensions and could move Third ascenders down to Second and the other way around. All highly illegal.
Apparently, Third Earth wreckers were used to busting holes in the grid to gain access to Second. None of it was good.
And right now Yolanthe was using the grid to search
for Rachel. Which meant, it was just a matter of time. Yolanthe would one day find Rachel, then what?
But like hell he’d give up Rachel’s location, or anyone else’s for that matter. He’d die first. “Thought I should warn you that you’re probably in for a long wait.”
She smiled, chuckling softly. “I know how to wait.”
Yeah, he got that about her. She’d shared a few pertinent details. She was nine-hundred-years old, for one, and had been waiting for Duncan for decades, from the time she’d had her first vision about him.
Unfortunately, she needed him unencumbered by Rachel.
He’d tried to explain that his on-again, off-again relationship with Rachel had been off for quite some time, that his ex-girlfriend was hardly a threat. But his explanation hadn’t moved Yolanthe even an inch.
Rachel must die.
How many times had he heard Yolanthe speak those exact words?
Yolanthe paced and the leopard moved with her.
She wore a long light green silk gown and a kind of elegant, sleeveless over-gown in pastel blue silk that had a short train dragging over the rust-and-cream marble floor. Even if he hadn’t heard her servants addressing her repeatedly with an obsequious ‘yes, Princess’, he would have known her as royalty by her movements alone.
What he couldn’t figure out was what she wanted with him, a Militia Warrior from Second Earth. He might understand if he’d been a powerful Warrior of the Blood like Luken or Zacharius, but he wasn’t. Sure, he had a couple of emerging powers, visions, for one. But in terms of the upper echelon of ability, Yolanthe would have been better off kidnapping a What-Bee instead.
While he was awake, she kept him with her like the leopard, always at her side, moving from room to room so that he’d seen the palace and her extensive gardens repeatedly.
Duncan felt like the leopard, like he was on a similar leash just as tight and commanding. And as a man used to doing and fighting, this level of inactivity kept his mind on edge.
The only time he’d seen Yolanthe even a little ruffled was when a servant had rushed in telling her that her father needed to see her at once. Even the servant had seemed upset.
She’d risen and put a hand to her chest, a sign that she was distressed; father issues, maybe. She’d left quickly only she hadn’t taken the voyeur window with her, but had left him to stare at an empty living room for hours.
Though appearing fully composed when she returned, Duncan felt certain she’d been in considerable pain. Her face was empty of expression, but there was a certain tension in the way she walked that hadn’t been there before. He decided the woman would be good at poker; she hid what she felt really well.
In that sense, he could relate to her, because he worked damn hard not to let anyone get a good glimpse behind his mask. But then he’d had all emotional displays beat out of him during a strict childhood. Raised solely by an abusive father, his internal walls were almost as cement-like as Yolanthe’s.
Hell. Maybe they were worse.
Rachel, the woman he considered the love-of-his-fucked-up-life, had once told Duncan that he could build a wall faster than any man she’d ever known.
But then he’d been well-trained.
Yolanthe stopped pacing and moved close to look at him. “Why don’t you just tell me what I need to know? Rachel is the only thing that stands between us.”
Again, he refused.
Though he hadn’t been to Rachel’s home on Mortal Earth, he’d heard she’d moved to the Seattle One Colony because of the simpler, more organic lifestyle. “Sorry, Yolanthe. Not giving anything up, not tonight, not ever.”
“I’m sorry to tell you this, Duncan, but I’ve come to a decision. Your refusal to give me the information I require has made it necessary.” She drew a deep breath and lifted her chin. “I’m going to have to do a mind-dive and it’s going to hurt. A lot.”
He poked the bear. “Is that how your father hurts you? Doing mind-dives?”
She lifted her right brow a quarter of an inch.
So, he’d surprised her.
She pinched her lips together, then said, “You’re not to speak of my father, ever. Do you hear me? Because I have chosen you to work beside me, I intend to treat you with great respect.” She cupped her hands in front of her, palms up, and slapped them together gently for emphasis. “This one thing I will require of you, however, you must not disparage my father’s name. If you disobey, I won’t hesitate to perform a violent mind-dive and ruin your capacity to reason forever. No one would be able to help you then and you’d be left to rot in that hospital room.”
He was right; Daddy was the issue for this Third Earth bitch-princess.
“And now, I’m going to retrieve the information I need.”
Duncan had never had anyone do a mind-dive before, but from what he’d heard from those who’d been on the receiving end, it was extremely unpleasant.
He braced himself as she stretched a hand toward him and split his mind open like a sharp knife to a cantaloupe.
He’d made war for decades. He’d been bruised, sliced up, had bones broken, and generally maimed in about every way possible, so he knew what pain was.
But what he felt right now, as the woman pierced his mind, was beyond anything he’d ever experienced in his life. Intense pain ripped through him, setting every nerve in his body on fire.
As she dove, his whole life opened up to Yolanthe, which meant very soon she’d find his memories about Rachel’s move to Seattle One.
Somehow, he had to warn Rachel.
~ ~ ~
Rachel stood in her garden, the tip of her shovel in the gravel walkway, her arms wrapped around the wood handle. She’d tried everything she could think of to help bring Duncan out of his trance. She’d talked to him, wept over him, and yelled at him. She’d rubbed his arms and legs briskly, she’d used a combination of resonance and telepathy to try to get even the smallest response from him mind-to-mind, and she’d even had him put him in an ice bath. But nothing had worked.
Horace, their most powerful healer on Second Earth, had brought his team in to work on Duncan repeatedly. He’d even used Fiona, mated to Warrior Jean-Pierre, who could amplify his power. But not even that had made a dent in his current, inexplicable situation.
He was healthy enough given he’d had a catheter for two weeks, a feeding tube, an IV for hydration and another one that carried her blood. She’d donated every day.
No stone had been left unturned.
Yet nothing had worked.
She was past the tears now and felt almost cold when she thought of him. Her frustration had stolen her compassion because her love and fear for him had about killed her.
And she thought she’d been over him.
Hah. Much chance of that.
Two weeks ago, Warrior Samuel and his woman, Vela, had rescued Duncan from a Third Earth torture cell. Some maniac called Sharav had abducted him from the New River Borderland and applied every vile technique known to human and ascended vampire kind in an attempt to break Duncan down.
He’d almost died in the process. But together, Fiona and Horace had brought him back from the brink.
Afterward, though he’d been brought out of harm’s way physically, he’d been left in a trance that not even the powerful Endelle, nine-thousand-years-old and the leader of Second Earth, had been able to pierce.
So, Rachel had donated repeatedly. Something she’d done just fifteen minutes ago, in an effort to keep Duncan alive. Now she was here in her Mortal Earth home to work in her garden.
She’d been so lost in thought, however, that she’d forgotten to change out of her dress, which made her smile. She glanced down. She loved this particular dress, a soft white cotton that ran mid-calf. Duncan had always liked her in dresses.
Her throat tightened. He’d kiss her and say, ‘Easy access.’ He was such a guy, but she’d loved it. Duncan had always known how to sex her up, then bring her to a roaring climax.
And here she was,
standing on the gravel path of her garden holding her shovel point down and wearing lavender leather ballet flats.
Her head hurt as well. The persistent ache was driving her crazy. She knew the source and that ticked her off because she’d promised herself never, never, to get involved with anything having to do with Duncan Wallace, or Militia Warriors, or the war ever again.
Now she felt like she was being sucked back into a relationship with the man who could build internal walls faster than he could blink.
To be fair, she had her own issues and no doubt consistently overreacted to Duncan’s repetitive efforts to create distance. But she really wanted to help, because – and here was her absolute hardest personal truth – she loved Duncan.
She rested her cheek on top of her folded hands, the shovel wiggling with the weight. She wished she could help more than anything, but at the same time resented the interference in her life.
For a long time now, she’d worked toward building a life for herself apart from the war. She’d landed in the Mortal Earth colony outside of Seattle One, perfectly content with her small woodsy home and the extensive garden that backed up to the Pacific Northwest Cascade Mountain forest.
Having added a microclimate, she was able to grow watermelons, tomatoes, and every other fruit and vegetable under the sun, at any time of the year. The co-director of the colony, Mei-Amadi, wasn’t exactly happy about the micro-climate, but she didn’t reject the fresh tomatoes either.
Rachel knew she was something of a hypocrite since she refused to use most of her Second Earth powers on principle. But when it came to her garden, she couldn’t resist.
The pain in the center of her head began to throb.
Then suddenly, she heard Duncan – or thought she heard him – calling to her telepathically.
It was very faint. Rachel. You’re in trouble. She wants you dead.
A terrible shiver went through her. Duncan?
But just like before, each time she’d tried to reach him telepathically, she received some kind of static in response.