Wicked Revenge
Someone Wicked This Way Comes
Book 4
Also by DelSheree Gladden
The Handbook Series
The Crazy Girl’s Handbook
The Oblivious Girl’s Handbook
(Coming Dec 2016)
Eliza Carlisle Mystery Series
Trouble Magnet
The Catalyst
The Ghost Host Series
The Ghost Host
Escaping Fate Series
Escaping Fate
Soul Stone
Oracle Lost
(Coming Soon)
Twin Souls Saga
Twin Souls
Shaxoa’s Gift
Qaletaqa
The Destroyer Trilogy
Inquest
Secret of Betrayal
Darkening Chaos
Someone Wicked This Way Comes Series
Wicked Hunger
Wicked Power
Wicked Glory
Wicked Revenge
The Aerling Series
Invisible
Intangible
Invincible
The Date Shark Series
Date Shark
Shark Out Of Water
The Only Shark In The Sea
Shark In Troubled Waters
Wicked Revenge
Someone Wicked This Way Comes, Book 4
DelSheree Gladden
Smashwords Edition
Wicked Revenge
Someone Wicked This Way Comes, Book 4
Written by DelSheree Gladden
Copyright © DelSheree Gladden 2016
Cover Design DelSheree Gladden
Published by DelSheree Gladden
Names, characters and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author or the publisher. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means whatsoever, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher and/or author.
Printed in the U.S.A.
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
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Acknowledgments
I have to thank first and foremost all the wonderful readers who have been asking me for the last year and a half when this book was going to be done. Your prodding kept me from hiding behind my fear of finishing this series and kept me motivated when I wasn’t sure I was ever going to finish it. So, to all those who left messages on Facebook or Twitter or my website, thank you!
Thank you as well to my beta readers, who jumped in eagerly to help iron out the kinks and clean everything up. I know I can always count on you guys.
I also owe my kids a big thank you for dragging me away from my computer when I get too obsessed with writing. I love our talks as we walk along the river, and our adventures exploring new places this summer. Thank you to my husband, as well, for his support and encouragement, and being by my side through the last year of crazy changes and new experiences.
Dedication
For all my Wicked readers. Thanks for not giving up on me or the Roths!
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Epilogue
Also by DelSheree
About the Author
Preview of Life & Being
Chapter One: True Purpose
(Oscar)
“This place sucks,” I mutter under my breath. The dust is irritating, aggravating. Grime, everywhere. Dirt. Trash scattered around like my thoughts often are. It’s not like the hospital. I don’t want to be at the hospital, refuse to go back to that place, but it was clean, orderly, pristine. It smelled of chemicals, though. I don’t hate the smell of chemicals, but I don’t like it either. I can’t decide if it’s better than the mildewed, dusty smell of this place. Maybe it’s worse.
It’s not a good place for a baby, either way.
Thoughts snap like twigs, warning me not to think about him. Not yet. It’s too…frightening. Yes, too scary to think about him…my son. He’s safe for now. Because I’m not with him. Because he doesn’t know me. What I am. What I’ve done. He is still pure. I want him to remain that way as long as possible. Not be infected by the hunger, the power it promises so falsely, the addiction it breeds. No, he must stay safe from all of this.
“Oscar,” Zander says.
He doesn’t touch me. Because he knows I’m am struggling to hold my mind together in this place. He knows how important it is that I stay sane. He knows about them. I’m better than I once was, saner, more in control of hunger and obsession both. It will take time to be in control completely. Maybe too much time. It’s difficult to gauge time sometimes. Like right now. How long has it been since I killed David? It happened soon after he tried and possibly succeeded in breaking Van. Almost immediately after foolish, stupid Zander tried to kill him in my place. He thought he knew the secrets I had discovered years ago. A baby bird with no feathers trying to fly. He was an idiot to think he held enough pain. No one holds as much pain as I do. Not after killing my own parents, after being locked up with the insane, after being forced to abandon the only woman I knew how to love…and with her, our son.
Days. It has only been days since I twisted the consumed pain I held and turned it into a weapon. So much pain and suffering swallowed over the years, all unleashed on the man who tried to use my little sister, snap her mind and heart, crush her into subservience so he could use her…use her power. David has been dead two days and the rest of the Godlings are floundering without a leader.
No. They have a leader. Stupid lemmings. Power doesn’t equal leadership skills. They are too blind to see, or maybe care. I should not be leading anyone. My mind is too broken to lead. But they chose me. Because I killed David. I saved them. Or so they think. David was not the real enemy. A small one, yes. But not who they should truly fear. That is reserved for the soul-sucking power-whore known as Isolde Zara.
“Oscar,” Zander says again. “What do you think? Will this work for now?”
Scraping my thoughts back under control, I scowl. “It stinks in here. It’s a filthy place.”
Zander sighs. “Yeah, I know. We’ll clean it up. Will it work, though?”
Why is he asking me? What do I know about real estate? It will work as well as any other run down, abandoned building. I suppose it helps that it was once a school. The Godling
infants running around pretending to be adults and have knowledge on things are the ones who need a school. What else are they supposed to do with the real children bumbling around now? They can’t stay at the compound.
All those loyal to David ran as soon as I burned away his life and ended his reign. Those not completely twisted into sadistic, amoral, power-hungry lunatics, are trying to pick up the pieces. Get the students to safety before David’s cronies return and kill them all. Or take the children. I’m not sure what they plan. The compound is unsafe, regardless of what idiot plan the sheep of now-dead David intend to execute.
“It is not sufficient,” I say, possibly in answer to Zander’s question, “but it will work.”
Zander closes his eyes and breathes out slowly, as if I’m the one to blame for all of this. Am I? It’s hard to tell sometimes. My lips press together as I force my thoughts into order and ponder the question. No. This isn’t my fault. I may have helped escalate the madness, but I did not begin it. The true beginning is too far back to comprehend. The more recent beginning, that is less complex. David and Isolde are responsible. They are more mad than I will ever be. Were, in David’s case. His mind is now ash and no danger to anyone.
Isolde, however…
She is more clever than most. More evil, as well. Intelligent and vile is a bad combination. One of the worst. She will never stop until she has what she wants. Eradication. Every Godling life snuffed out like a spent candle. Most of these imbeciles running around, I couldn’t care less about. Even Zander, with him I am on the fence sometimes, but leaning toward the idea that he will one day be the man he is capable of becoming. He has made very good progress lately. The rest could rot and I wouldn’t be troubled much.
Van is different. Emily is different, though she’s not Godling. Joshua…he is most different of all. He is Godling and perfectly pure. People like Isolde have not yet had the opportunity to corrupt my son, and she will die before she has the chance.
The other Godlings, they all think I am the One. The person meant to save them and restore the balance. They are wrong. Killing David doesn’t make me a savior. It makes me a weapon. The pain must be twisted and bent to become a tool of destruction. That was not its original purpose. A handy thing, but not natural. Not meant. I am not the leader they need. But I am who they want…for now. Until someone else discovers the true purpose of the hunger and ends the killing for good.
After I destroy Isolde, that is. It would not do for the truth to be discovered too soon.
Chapter Two: Gifts
(Zander)
I have finals next week. Instead of studying, which I sorely need to do, I’m playing at being Oscar’s speaker. Why the Godlings think he’s sane enough to lead them, I’ll never understand. All you have to do is look at him to realize he’s on the brink of losing it.
In the weeks leading up to David’s death at Oscar’s hand—or more accurately, his power—my brother had been as close to sane as he’s been since before his hunger erupted. He was focused, clear-minded, perceptive, and deadly. He had to be. The need to protect Van, and to a lesser degree me, forced him to take control and do what needed to be done.
We still have very real goals, ones that need to be met in order to avoid a full out war and the deaths of potentially hundreds of innocent lives. I know he’s trying to stay focused on those. It’s not easy, though. Not when he’s facing the possibility of being reunited with Emily and meeting his son for the first time. Oscar is desperate to see them both, but afraid he won’t be able to protect them from our enemies…or himself.
Honestly, I don’t know if he’s capable of being the kind of person who can handle a relationship and raise a child. Not without help. I walk down a hallway littered with refuse, knowing help won’t be hard for him to find. I will do whatever I can to make sure Emily and my nephew, Joshua, are safe and happy. Van hasn’t met either of them yet, but I know she’ll be eager as well.
At least, if she survives what David put her through, she will.
“What did Oscar say?” Chris asks as I approach him.
I bristle as I face him. It angers me that he is the Godling I’m having to trust. He was the one who was supposed to train Van and keep her from falling into David’s hands. Learning he was one of David’s handpicked assassins didn’t go over well with me and devastated my sister. I don’t think I’ll ever forgive him for being the one to lead Van out on her first mission where she was manipulated into killing three Eroi leaders. He claims he didn’t know the whole thing had been a setup of David’s design. My trust in him barely extends past my nose.
“He said it’s not adequate, but it will work.”
“What does that mean?”
“How the hell should I know?” I shake my head. “I don’t think he cares where we house all the displaced Godlings. If this is available and can be readied fast enough, just do it. The Eroi will find us wherever we go. This place is at least defensible.”
Chris nods. “The funds to purchase the building are ready to be transferred on your order.”
“My order?” I scoff. “Oscar’s their leader, isn’t he? He’s the one they think is going to save them all.” Sighing, I lean against the wall. “Maybe he will. Who knows? Everything’s so messed up, he very well could be the answer to all the Godling’s problems. You probably have to be crazy to go up against Isolde and the Eroi.”
He hesitates, but reaches forward and grips my shoulder. “Zander, the lay Godlings may be clinging to Oscar because he has the power to protect them from the Eroi, but it’s you they expect to lead them.”
A scowl takes up residence on my face. “They all think I’m weak because I couldn’t kill James. They’d follow Van before they follow me.”
Chris frowns, then shakes his head. “They respect Van. They’re all fascinated by her and abilities, but she’s not a leader, especially not now.” His head dips and he looks away. Not quickly enough to keep me from seeing the shame and anger flash through his expression. “Maybe it took Van helping you to survive Ivy’s initial attack, but you’re the one who was strong enough and intelligent enough to see through the lies and find a new path for the Godlings. Oscar can protect them, and Van may very well be the Gift David believed her to be, but you are the one who will lead them back to a life of purpose and away from the pain and suffering we’ve endured for centuries.”
I don’t say anything for a long time. Knowing who to trust anymore is like throwing darts blindfolded. Everyone has their own agenda, their own motivations. Chris used to be one of David’s top assassin’s, traveling the world to take out Eroi leaders on command, like a trained dog. The only thing capable of bringing him back to the compound to train young Godling’s was the fact that vengeance for dead team members made him sloppy and he was caught on video taking out his target.
I think about that for a moment, because even though I saw the picture of him doing exactly that, it seems out of character for a man who teaches a lethal kind of control over body and mind. Everything he taught Van helped turn her into an assassin, yes, but helped her in so many other ways as well. She truly believed he cared about her, and as I think about how he spent weeks guiding her through the eruption of her hunger with the patience and kindness of a father, I find it a little harder to doubt him.
Plus, he’s the only high-up leader who stayed after David’s death.
But why?
“Why did you leave fieldwork and start teaching?” I ask slowly. “Even after blowing your cover, I find it difficult to believe David wouldn’t send you back out. You’re good enough to avoid detection even when people are looking for you.” Crossing my arms over my chest, I stare at him. “Which begs the question of why you were spotted in the first place. I’ve seen the images. It’s almost as if you were trying to get caught.”
Chris offers me a grim smile. “As smart as David thought he was, he never even considered that might have been an option. He came to the conclusion that the deaths of my team members enraged me
to the point that my hunger overpowered me and I lost control. It never occurred to him that he might be wrong.”
“Then you weren’t angry about losing members of your team?” I ask.
Sighing, Chris leans against the dirty wall. “Of course I was. I hate the Eroi and I do believe they need to be stopped, but I don’t believe in wasting lives. The mission I lost my men on never should have happened. It was suicide from the very beginning. I barely managed to survive, but I was the only one.”
The muscles of his forearms tighten as his mouth thins. “David knew the likelihood of success and sent us in anyway. Yes, I was angry at losing men, but that anger was directed at David for carelessly dooming them to die. I knew all too well how David reacted to failure, so I took my revenge on both the man directly responsible for the deaths of my team and the one who sent them into his hands.”
Not sure I completely understand, I’m forced to ask, “How did that get you revenge on David?”
“David had no choice but to pull me from the field in order to follow his own protocol,” Chris said, his mouth turning up in knife-edged smile. “He hated losing his best assassin, though, and hated it even more when I proved to be too valuable of a trainer to release back to fieldwork when my suspension was up. As much power as David held over the council, even he couldn’t force me back into action when they opposed him. They all thought I could find the Gift faster than David, and that trumped everything.”
It’s not that I think he’s lying, but I’m not sure I understand the assessment. “As important as this war with the Eroi is to the Godlings, I would think a highly trained assassin would be more valuable than a trainer.”
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