by Candy Crum
“What’s happened?” I asked.
“She’s been taken. Arrested, to be more precise.”
Cass’ eyes widened. “She’s been arrested? How will she survive? She’s going to need blood. She needs to use those powers to break the hell out of there before she’s outed!”
Wendy shook her head. “It’s too late for all that. Two federal agents have her. They know who and what she is. They’ve known for a while. They’ve been watching Khanae…”
“The vampire queen, right?” I asked.
“Very good,” Wendy said, smiling. “They’ve been watching Khanae, the vampire queen, for a while. They are on our side, though. They know a war is brewing. There are humans all over the world that know. These men are serious. Kailah is accused of murder. There was a shooting and it was caught on video in a mall. They came to our home in Louisville, Kentucky and showed us respect. They explained the situation and what would happen if she did come, and if she didn’t. If she didn’t, it would more or less start the war early. Unfortunately, it would have turned out much worse. The war would have been vampires, werewolves, and other creatures that want to fight for humanity, turning on the very humans they want to protect in order to protect her. So, Kailah chose to go with them. If she surrendered, it would save everyone. But now, something has happened. We have to find her.”
“Oh, my,” my mom said, her hand over her chest. “I feel like I’m in the way in here.”
I felt bad for her. She always wanted to help, but she couldn’t do a thing here. Dad wrapped his arm around her shoulder and held her tight.
“Nonsense, Claire,” Wendy said. She was very kind and sweet. Nothing at all like I’d heard about Khia, her ancestor, from Tristan and Cass. “This is your kitchen. I’m grateful that you allowed me inside your home.”
“I’m going to get drinks for everyone,” Mom said.
“I’ll help you with that.” Dad followed her over to the cabinets to help gather several glasses.
“Wendy,” Tristan spoke. “I know that I promised you that I would aid in finding Kailah, but right now, my place is with my daughter. She, too, is a prodigy. She has already begun learning the early stages of telepathy.”
“She’s also mastered compulsion on single subjects, as well as feeding. She went on her own tonight for the first time, and I didn’t have to stop her. She knew exactly what to do, all by instinct.” Cass’ words were full of pride, and it made me smile.
Tristan’s eyes narrowed for a moment. I wasn’t sure if anyone else noticed it, but I did.
“I understand,” Wendy said. “Believe me, I do. If there is any help you might offer in the future, please let me know. Other than Kailah, you are the only person I know of that is capable of compelling a vampire. We will need any and all the help we can get.”
“Wait,” I said.
“What is it?” Tristan asked.
“My mission is big. To me, it’s huge! But this is different. This is a chance to save the world.”
“Mia,” Cass said. “Do you know what you’re saying? Tristan and I didn’t speak about you like we did because we think you’re ready for the war right now. We said those things because we wanted her to know how important you are, and that you will have a place at her side. At Kailah’s side, when the war comes. You still need a lot of training.”
“I know that!” I said. “But think about it. I want to save my city. I want to save my city from a slummy drug lord that is murdering people. Whose henchmen rape and kill innocent girls and bury them in basement floors. Why can’t we do both? We have Andrews. You know he’s crafty. Both of you know he’s great to have around. He knows what he’s doing. What if he could track down those agents? While we have Andrews looking at that stuff, maybe Wendy wouldn’t mind helping us. I’m sure there are a few things that I could learn from her, too.”
“She’s nothing like you, Mia,” Tristan said. “She wouldn’t be able to teach you much.”
“I’m sure I could teach her a hell of a lot more than you think,” Wendy said with a wink. She turned back to me. “So… You are asking for my help, and in return, you want to put this Andrews to work looking for Kailah and the two agents that have her?”
I nodded. “With you, nothing would stand in our way. We could track down Jay and all of his minions and save a lot of lives.”
“Tell me more about this Jay person,” Wendy said as she sat down at the kitchen table.
I smiled. She was wise, both in intelligence and power. I knew that I wasn’t anything like her, but I felt like there was so much that I could learn from her. So much had happened in the past few hours. Things were getting far more complicated. I listened to Tristan speak about why he’d chosen my mother. He told Wendy, and as always, it made me proud of her. He’d wanted me to be good. He knew that the war would erupt in this lifetime, and he wanted someone to fight alongside him. I remembered him mentioning in one of our first real conversations that the humans had become darker versions of themselves and the supernatural species had become increasingly violent. He needed someone to help him stop it. That person was me.
Chapter Nine
Hours were spent talking about Wendy’s situation with Kailah and the vampire queen, Khanae, and my situation with Jay and why he had to be stopped. We discussed Andrews and what he’d been through with Michelle. Poor Wendy. She was such a pure soul. She shed tears for Michelle and her loving uncle, both of whom she’d never met.
As it turned out, Wendy was a far better help than what I could ever realize. As an immortal, her powers were tied to the spirit world. Each person that dies is given domain over one of the four elements. Earth, air, fire, and water. As an immortal, she calls on the spirits to give her the power to move the elements. Because of this, she’s able to move any and all of them. Even at the same time.
Michelle was dead.
Killed by one of Jay’s men.
Wendy promised that she would try to locate Michelle in the spirit world to see if there was any information that we could give her. When she’d initially brought it up, I was fast to say no. It was instant actually. I told her that the girl had been through far too much already, but Wendy reminded me of something very important. She was murdered. That was one spirit that would want avenged. She would more than likely be very happy to help. That made me rethink my hesitation.
The following day, Tristan and I decided to take Andrews up on the prison date. We took Wendy with us, dropping her off with Andrews so they could look through photos and talk about their mutual situations. Andrews had never met an immortal before and was more than excited after he found out what she could do. Though Wendy told him that he wouldn’t physically be able to speak to Michelle again, at least until Michelle was strong enough to make herself seen, she told him that she would be the mediator between them if and when she found her. Not too bad of a deal. They hit it off nicely, which I was happy about. It seemed like things might start rolling very quickly with Wendy involved now.
“Are you ready for this?” Tristan asked. “At some point, this will probably get very… unpleasant.”
“Unpleasant?” I wasn’t sure if I liked the sound of that.
The first guest was brought into the interrogation room. Andrews kept watch so no other officers would want or need to be present.
“Jose Vasquez,” Tristan said, a very strange smile on his face. “So nice of you to join us.”
Jose laughed. “Pretty boy.”
He spat on the floor in front of Tristan, who calmly looked at the floor before looking back up at Jose. Tristan smiled.
“I don’t talk to snitches, cops, or fags.”
Tristan’s smile grew. Uh oh…
Tristan stepped forward his power emanating from him as he leaned over. His presence was far too much for Jose to even contemplate moving. I didn’t have even a fraction of that kind of power. To get them to listen I had to touch them. All Tristan had to do was exist!
He placed a gentle hand under Jose’s c
hin and lifted his face, their noses only a breath away from one another.
“I don’t like terms like fag,” Tristan said. “Everyone deserves to love and be loved. Don’t you agree?”
Jose was lost in Tristan. Like my biological father, I didn’t much care for homophobic people. I didn’t think that hatred could grow, but after turning it had.
“I think we are going to be great friends, you and I. Wouldn’t you say, Jose?” Tristan asked.
“Oh, yes. Yes, sir,” Jose said.
“Good boy,” Tristan said. “And now that you know what it’s like to feel lust for a man, perhaps you won’t be so quick to call someone fag. Now…” Tristan backed away, standing straight as he continued to speak. “This is my daughter, Mia. She has a few questions for you. It would please me greatly if you answered those for her.”
“Yes! Anything for you, Tristan,” Jose said.
While I knew my biological father’s interest was in women, I also knew that food was food to him. He would not turn down feeding on a man no more than I would turn down feeding on a woman if there were no other options. The strangeness in it was beginning to go away. I was beginning to get used to all of it.
“Mia,” Tristan said. “He’s all yours.”
“Do you know someone named Jay?” I asked.
Jose immediately turned nervous. He looked to Tristan for solace. Tristan merely nodded. Jose turned back to me then and nodded.
“I do, miss. I’ve worked for him for many years.”
“Exactly how much do you know about him? Family? Siblings? Places that he would call home? Anything at all would be helpful,” I said.
“Jay is a man with many secrets. He is a snake. He’s the one that got me locked up in here. He said that it was for the greater good, that he would get me a good lawyer and get me out, but he never did. I had to get one of those public attorneys. They ain’t worth a shit, lemme tell ya.”
I could tell through his accent that he natively spoke Spanish, but his English accent was damn near flawless. He’d more than likely grown up here.
“I know he’s a snake,” I said. “That’s why we are here. Do you know anything else?”
“He has many houses all over the country. It’s hard to say where he would go. All I can say is that he doesn’t stay that way for long. Especially right now.”
“Oh? Why is that?” I asked.
“Rumor has it, he is about to go to war with someone. Something, to be exact. The man’s gone off the deep end. He’s lost his mind. He thinks there’s a vampire coming for him.”
I smiled. “Oh, does he? That’s cute.”
Jose nodded. “Yeah. One of the guys that Jay has always thought of as a brother is in here. Jay got one of the cops to get him a message to call as soon as he got the chance. Jay told him all about it. He said he’s killed the bitch twice, but she just won’t die. He’s obsessed. He’s going insane.”
“He’s not that crazy,” I said.
“Oh, he’s crazy. A vampire?”
“Well, I’m not a vampire,” I said, allowing my power to flash in my eyes. “But I am coming for him.”
“Dios mío,” he said, his eyes wide.
“Tell me, Jose, why are you in here?” I asked, a smile on my face.
“Murder,” he said.
“Oh! That’s wonderful. I was hoping you’d say that.”
“You were?” he asked. “Why?”
“Because my father and I are going to meet every cop in this place and compel them to watch the inmates that have any ties or even the suspicion of a tie to Jay. Because you’re going to tell everyone that someone came here asking about him. About Jay. If you don’t know where he is, someone does. Someone will contact him and the cops will know about it. They will go straight to Andrews and tell him exactly where he is. That’s how we’re going to find him.”
“Why would I tell everyone that? Why would I try to piss him off more than he already is? What keeps me from telling everyone what you are and that you’re trying to get anyone involved with him killed? That’s it, right? That’s what you’re trying to do?”
Tristan stepped in, gripping the man by the throat as he stared down into his eyes. “You won’t say a word because I don’t want you to. You hurt innocent people, so this is what you deserve. You will do exactly as she says. If you do not, you will disappoint me. Do you want to know what happens if you disappoint me?”
“You’ll kill me,” he said.
“Oh, I’ll do worse than that. I’ll eat you. And I’ll make sure it’s the most painful thing you’ve ever experienced right up until the moment you die. Do you understand?”
Jose was terrified. He gave up everything that he knew. There were two houses, one in Florida and the other in Tennessee that Jay liked to vacation at. The one in Tennessee was a cousin’s house, while the one in Florida was his sister’s. It wasn’t much, but for someone that hadn’t been with Jay in a long time, it was the most we could hope for. We spoke to a couple of other people, but didn’t get very far.
It was close to shift change, which was what we’d really been waiting on. Shift change allowed us to gather all of the cops and have Tristan compel them to report any weirdness to Andrews. Anything suspicious at all revolving around Jay would go straight to him. Once the next shift clocked in, we repeated the process. Though it wouldn’t be everyone, it was a good chunk, and that was what we needed.
Things seemed to be off to a great start. I was on the right path to finding Jay, and it seemed that I was on the right path to learning a hell of a lot more than I anticipated. There was a whole world out there that I had no idea about. A whole world beyond my own.
Things had changed so quickly in such little time. I no longer cared about my own insecurities and my own worries. There were bigger things to worry about. Things like avenging girls murdered and buried in basements. Rescuing young girls sold to other drug cartels or into sex slavery. Past those things, there were even bigger things to worry about.
My life as a human had been full. I was grateful for everything and everyone in my life. My life as a succubus, however, had opened me up to find true meaning. I realized that I was never meant to live inside my own four little walls. I was meant to do something big.
It was becoming abundantly clear that my life had only just begun.
Important Author’s Notes
Hey everyone!
Thank you SO much for reading 13:17 and then picking up a copy of Wrath. First, I would like to say that I adore you guys for supporting the series. Paranormal is where my heart is, and I’m so happy to be writing it again. After writing a lot of Romance novels under A.M. Wray, it feels great to be back in paranormal! I apologize that this book was so short. Unfortunately, I ran into some health issues and had to have surgery which severely cut into my production schedule. I promised this book on 2/7 and had to push it back to 2/14. I didn’t want to push it back any further than that. So, I apologize that it was so short. The next one will be bigger!
Secondly – this is SUPER IMPORTANT!
Many of you are reading my books for the FIRST time. That means that you have ZERO idea who some of these characters are (Wendy, Khanae, Khia, Kailah). That’s why I introduced them in this book, so you’d get an idea. These characters are from The Eternal Series. These are books that I wrote years ago, but never got much traction because I had no idea what I was doing with marketing.
That being said, I have decided to re-release them the way they should have been all along. In doing so, I will be releasing one of them every two weeks to get everyone caught up.
This series (Time of Death series) takes place in the Eternal Series universe. They begin where the final Eternal Series books left off, with Kailah Clark heading to jail for a murder that she may or may not have committed… *wink*
I will be releasing the first of these novels 3/07/17. The Eternal Gift: Vol. 1.
Each book will be released exactly two weeks apart, so you can catch up fast. I want to do t
his in a BIG way because the final books in The Eternal Series are coming. So, if you enjoyed seeing the forsaken and learning about the immortals and seeing what they can do, make sure to keep up on this “new” series. It’s an oldie, but I’m making sure they look brand sparkly new. The war has begun and you DON’T want to miss it!
The Release Schedule is Down Below!
The Eternal Gift Vol. 1 Preview is also Down Below!
Release Schedule
The Eternal Series
3/7/17: The Eternal Gift: Vol. 1
3/21/17: The Eternal Gift: Vol. 2
4/04/17: The Eternal Gift: Vol. 3
4/18/17: Eternally Forsaken: Vol. 1
5/02/17: Eternally Forsaken: Vol. 2
5/16/17: The Eternal Echo: Vol. 1
5/30/17: The Eternal Echo: Vol. 2
6/13/17: The Eternal Echo: Vol. 3
6/27/17: Eternally Bound: Vol. 1
7/11/17: Eternally Bound: Vol. 2
7/25/17: The Eternal Throne: Vol. 1
Time of Death Series
3/28/17: Fury
4/04/17: Time of Death Box Set 1-3
4/25/17: Untitled Book 4
Memoirs of an Egyptian Goddess
(The first 5 chapters will release on my website, one per week for 5 weeks until the first book releases)
3/10/17: Khanae: The Eternally Damned: Chapter 1
3/17/17: Khanae: The Eternally Damned: Chapter 2
3/24/17: Khanae: The Eternally Damned: Chapter 3
3/31/17: Khanae: The Eternally Damned: Chapter 4
4/07/17: Khanae: The Eternally Damned: Chapter 5
4/18/17: Khanae: The Eternally Damned: Book 1 Releases on Amazon
5/02/17: Khia: Rise of the Eternal Beasts: Book 2 Releases on Amazon
5/16/17: Untitled: Into the Eternal Shadows: Book 3 Releases on Amazon