Heart Blade: Blade Hunt Chronicles Book One

by Juliana Spink Mills

  “Not quite. But we may have bought you some breathing space. Come on, you two. Move it. I’ll lock up. Ash, we’ll call your teacher in the morning and work something out.”

  Del fell asleep on the way back to Hartford and woke up with her cheek stiff with drool. She wiped it away as they parked in front of a neat clapboard house.

  Inside, two men were waiting. One of them looked as young as Ash. A vampire, blond and broad-shouldered, who watched them enter with an alert, interested gaze. The other, an older man, was fast asleep on an armchair, his leg up on a stool.

  The vampire leaned forward in his chair, resting his arms on his knees. Tattoos covered every visible inch of his skin. “The Heart Bearer.” His voice was hushed, full of emotion. “Welcome. There are some of us who have waited a long time for this moment. A very long time, indeed.”

  Del walked toward him uncertainly. He made no move to get up; he just sat there quietly. But she sensed danger in him, too, like a caged predator. “You’re the one? From the Guild?” she asked.

  “I am. My name is Alex. Will you let us protect you?”

  “Please.” She looked at Ash for reassurance, but he was also at a loss for words.

  “Would you mind showing me?” asked Alex. His voice was still soft, but there was hunger in it, too. Del took Ash’s hand. The vampire saw her move and smiled a little sadly. “Do I frighten you?”

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  “Then you are smarter than most,” he said. “But I’m not going to hurt you. I don’t want your sword. It’s yours, you know? No one else can bear it. I have a different path ahead, although it tangles with yours.”

  In answer, she drew the Heart Blade. It was just as beautiful as she remembered, and everyone in the room drew a collective sigh. The vampire’s smile faded.

  “So it really is here. And the prophecy begins.” He leaned closer. “A spatha. That makes sense. Do you know who the last person to draw the Heart Blade was, if the stories are to be believed?”

  She shook her head.

  “King Arthur. Arthur Pendragon of myth and legend. He drew Excalibur from a rock, or so they say.” He gave Ash a shrewd look. “It seems as if you did, too.”

  Del let the Heart Blade shimmer out. The room looked dingier without it, as if the sword had stolen some of the light when it faded away. “I accept the Guild’s protection,” she said. “But I think I’d like to go to bed now.”

  Alex laughed. “Indeed. I think we all need some sleep.”

  Ash led her upstairs. He set her backpack on the floor. “You’re in my room. You’re sharing with Rose.” Deacon had given them a quick explanation of who everyone was. “I’ll be downstairs if you need me,” he said. “I’m on the pullout sofa with my dad.”

  He didn’t look happy about it. “Are you going to be all right?” she asked. “You know, you and your dad?”

  He considered this for an instant. “I think so. Maybe not at first. But we’ll get there.” He turned to go.

  “Ash?” When he turned back, she was already in his arms. He caught her and she kissed him, hard and fierce, not caring that his father was just a few steps away. For a moment, nothing existed except Ash.

  “I’ve got you,” he said when she finally released him. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  “And I’ve got you,” she answered. “You’re my rock, remember? And I’ll be yours.” Now he really did leave. But as she watched him walk downstairs, she saw he was smiling.

  She pushed open the door to his room, carrying her backpack in one hand. With the light from the hallway behind her, she had a vague impression of sports posters and a shelf full of trophies. The girl inside was awake. She turned on the bedside light. “I heard you come up,” she said. “I took the bed, I hope you don’t mind. You’re on the air mattress.”

  “The air mattress is fine. I’m Del, by the way.”

  “Rose.”

  Del dug around in her bag, looking for something dry and clean to wear. She got changed and lay down. Rose was watching her from amid a tangle of gold-brown curls, eyes heavy with sleep. She yawned and reached a hand to the lamp. “I’m going to switch this off now. Is that okay?” The room was plunged into dark, lit only by the faint sheen of streetlights outside.

  Del’s thumb found the raised bumps of her scars, and she traced the letters on her arm. Never. Somehow, her message to herself was tied in with Rowan’s story. And the vision she’d had of the witches. Ailith, Ethel. Gertie and Torr. And the wounded one, Ingrid. At least now she had names to research. It was a start. With the Guild’s help, maybe she could figure out what it all meant. She touched her chest. Inside, the Heart Blade pulsed steadily, a warm presence in her own beating heart.

  She woke up next morning to the creak of the bathroom door. She got up and opened the bedroom door to find Ash out in the hallway.

  “Sorry,” he said. “Did I wake you?”

  “No,” she said.

  He smiled. “Liar.” And then his eyes widened. “Come here.”

  He pushed her into the bathroom and closed the door. There was a full-length mirror on the back and he whirled her around to face it. “Your aura!”

  Del gaped at her reflection. All the demon lilac had bled away. Her new aura was a pale silvery-green. The color of spring, of new life amid the last of a winter’s snow.

  “It shines like the Heart Blade,” she whispered.

  “Del?” asked Ash in a strangled voice. “Take off your demon glamour.”

  “I’m not using it.” She turned away from the mirror to face him. “Why?”

  He spun her around again and pointed at her reflection. “Your eye, your demon eye?”

  He didn’t need to say anything else. Staring back at them from mirror-Del were two brown eyes. Dark brown, the color of molasses. And not a streak of silver to be found.

  Juliana Spink Mills was born in London, England, but moved to São Paulo, Brazil at the age of eight. Now living in Connecticut, USA, she writes fantasy and science fiction. Heart Blade is her debut novel.

  Sign up for her Newsletter to learn about new releases at www.jspinkmills.com

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  #

  CHAPTER ONE

  Sneak Peek at Night Blade

  Night Blade – Blade Hunt Chronicles Book Two is now out! Read Chapter One below or click the link to get it now.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Raze

  The motorbike raced along the deserted road, the engine a defiant roar in the dark. Bleak, empty fields whipped past, the bright sparkle of Christmas lights left behind along with the last of suburban Toronto.

  Raze tucked her cold face closer to the leather-clad back that rubbed against her cheek, tightening her arms around the lean waist as she screwed her eyes shut. The wind and the wild sang in her veins, tempting her, whispering. Let go, they said, join us. She smiled to herself — a grin that was all teeth and fierce pleasure — and ran her tongue over her chapped bottom lip.

  She tapped his shoulder as they drew near, and the bike slowed and pulled to a stop underneath a towering elm tree, bare branches stark against the cloudy night sky. Raze climbed down, boots crunching on fresh snow. The driver killed the engine and pulled off his helmet, watching her as she tugged off her black woolen hat and ran her fingers through tangled curls. His name was Dave, or Steve, or something. She hadn’t really paid attention.

  “So,” he said, “this is where you go to school?”

  “Yeah, pretty much.”

  He was cute, dark-eyed and dangerous-looking. She moved closer, right in his face. He had a small scar on his chin. She ran a gloved thumb over it, and then leaned in and kissed him, hard and fast. Then she drew back, already turning away as she jammed her hat back on her head.

  “Raze, you going to give me your number?”

  She gave him a wicked smile over her shoulder. “Oh, I don’t think so.” The
n she was off, running through the ankle-deep snow to leap at the high wall, fingers and toes finding purchase where most people would see nothing but sheer stone. She climbed higher and higher, until she threw a leg over the top and sat there, watching the boy on the bike speed away.

  Raze moved her other leg over and dropped. For one instant she drank in the thrill of falling. Then she shifted, clothes and skin and shoes and self turning to fur and packed muscle. She landed lightly and scented the night, the wolf’s senses coloring in everything that her human portion was blind to. And then she smelled him, and froze.

  “Raze? Is that what you’re calling yourself these days?” The vampire stepped out of the trees, his aura a faint red glow in the dark. She knew her own blue werewolf aura would be clinging to her fur like a cloud. She shook herself and shifted back, body prickling with cold from the sudden change in skin temperature.

  “Alex,” she replied, aiming for casual. “I was just out for a run.”

  “And biker boy was a chance encounter?”

  Crap. Raze hesitated, trying to gauge the vampire’s mood. She shrugged. “Okay. So I’m busted. Just how long have you been out here, anyway?”

  “I followed you when you left the building. Nice bit of climbing, by the way. I would never have imagined the girls’ dorm was so accessible.”

  “You’ve been out here for hours?” Damn, she really was busted.

  “You should count yourself lucky I caught you, instead of Daniel. Do you want to give your godfather a heart attack?”

  “No!” Her voice was too high and tight, almost a squeak. She took a deep breath and tried again, willing herself to sound reasonable. “Don’t tell Dan. Please? I don’t want to disappoint him. I won’t do it again.”

  Alex shook his head, but he was smiling. “Yes, you will.” He moved then, preternaturally fast, and pinned her to the wall with one hand, his brown robes swishing softly against the snow. He was still smiling, but it was a cold smile now, with a feral edge: a reminder that although the broad-shouldered monk with the shaggy blond mane of hair looked her age, he was in fact almost a thousand years old.

  “Raze,” he said softly, using the nickname she’d picked out for herself, her secret name, the one she hadn’t told a soul in the Guild’s Chapterhouse. “Don’t test me. This isn’t a game. Your parents died to keep you safe, and your godfather was almost killed protecting you.”

  She glared at him as she struggled to push him off, resentment flaring hot and finally breaking through the thin wall she’d built to contain it. “I never asked to be saved, Brother Alexander! And who cares? Really, tell me, who cares? The Guild kept me hidden in that abbey for seventeen years without telling me my true nature. I hated it, okay? I hated feeling different without knowing why. And then one day it all goes to hell, and demons are trying to take me, and then suddenly it’s ‘Oh, so sorry, Rose, it wasn’t you after all. You’re not who we thought you were. You’re not the girl from the Heart Blade prophecy. So have a nice life, Rose.’”

  Alex released her. Raze found she had tears in her eyes and she scrubbed them away angrily. “Then I get dumped here and left…,” she said, her voice dull and quiet, all fire gone and hating herself for the outburst, the stupid moment of weakness.

  “You weren’t dumped. We do care about you.” His voice was gentle, but she couldn’t read his blue eyes in the dark. “I care about you, and it has nothing to do with the Blade Hunt prophecies. And I thought you were happy here. I thought this was what you wanted: a chance to train, to learn about your abilities.”

  “I am happy here. I was, anyway. At first. But now, I don’t know. It feels like another cage. The Guild trapped me for years inside the abbey, and now you’ve trapped me all over again.” She shivered as the wind gusted down the neck of her jacket, skin still shift-sensitive. She reached out, fingers cold inside her gloves, and pinched the sleeve of his monk’s robe between her fingers, holding tight as though she could wring answers from the rough fabric. “I want more, Alex. I don’t want to spend my entire life in here. There has to be more.”

  “And so you sneak out, and do what?”

  She let go of him, her hands catching at each other and twisting against her body. “Mostly I turn wolf and run. Sometimes I go into the city. I just need to get out. Is that too much to ask?”

  Alex huffed in frustration. “When it puts the rest of us at risk, yes. Come, it’s late. I won’t tell your godfather just yet. But stick to the Chapterhouse grounds for a while. That’s not a request.”

  He hesitated, and then spoke again. “The Chapterhouse is still a safe haven. But outside, things are changing. These are dangerous times. Your parents had enemies who would be happy to take you and use you as leverage. What do you think your godfather would do if you were snatched? He would do anything to get you back. You need to be aware that there’s a war going on. And we don’t want to lose you to it, the way we lost your parents.”

  Raze had no answer. There was only silence, and the faint pulse of her heartbeat in the night.

  #

  Alex walked her back to her room. Her ears burned in shame, and she was glad the hallways were empty so that no one could see her being marched along like a prisoner. At her dorm room door she hesitated, fingers on the handle. Her keen shifter hearing had picked up conversation from inside. Her roommate was not alone.

  “I can take it from here,” she said, haughtily. “Or did you intend to tuck me in?”

  Alex shook his head, a grin ghosting at the corner of his mouth. “Nice try, Rose. I can hear them, too.” He knocked. “I’m opening the door,” he called out. “Consider this fair warning.”

  The door swung inwards, opened by Ash, his shirt rumpled and coppery hair disheveled. There were shadows beneath his honey-brown eyes, dark as bruises against his freckles. “We were just talking,” he said hastily, waving an arm at the brown-haired girl sitting cross-legged on the bed, blushing.

  Alex said nothing, just raised an eyebrow and waited.

  “Um. Yeah,” said Ash, looking awkward. He turned to the girl on the bed. “Goodnight, Del.” He pushed past, nodding at her. “Rose.”

  Raze shut the door behind them and leaned against it, listening to the footsteps retreating down the hallway. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to get you in trouble, too.”

  Del shrugged. The pale green aura she’d had since claiming the Heart Blade four months before was a faint sheen in the lamplight. “I don’t really care. Alex will have to start treating us like grown-ups soon. In a few more months Ash finishes his high school diploma. That was the only condition his dad made when he moved to the Chapterhouse. And he’s almost eighteen. If I were still human, I’d turn eighteen next year, too.”

  The words if I were still human hung in the air, heavy, weighted. Last summer had changed them both. Raze had lived in New York, an orphan at the Abbey of Saint Martin of Tours, oblivious to her preternatural nature. And then she’d been attacked by a vampire assassin, and her whole world had flipped upside down. The Guild of Saint Peter had spirited her away and removed the wards she’d worn since she was a baby, and Raze had discovered she’d inherited her mother’s werewolf blood.

  And Del… Del had changed, too. She’d been a half-demon on the run. And now her lilac demon’s aura had faded and changed, and no one knew exactly what she was, only that she was the Heart Bearer. The one who the myths said would lead the preternatural world into light, or darkness. Raze eyed her roommate as she sat quietly, staring down at fingers splayed in her lap.

  “Del?” asked Raze, breaking the silence. She pushed away from the door and took a step toward the bed. “Is Ash okay?”

  “Not really.”

  “The nightmares again?”

  Del nodded. “Nothing seems to make it better. I’ve tried, but nothing works.” She touched a hand to her chest, and Raze knew she was talking about the Heart Blade and the healing powers it granted.

  Del’s hand crept to her arm as it always did when she was anxious, h
er thumb rubbing the scarred letters on her skin that spelled out never. Her voice dropped almost to a whisper. “It’s not physical, it’s not something I can fix. It’s inside him, and only he can mend it. Dan says it’s some sort of PTSD. Post-traumatic stress disorder.Such a stupid, trite name for something that breaks a person up inside into a million pieces. And it’s like a puzzle, but I don’t have the key, and every piece I help him fit back, another slips out of place.”

  Raze sank onto Del’s bed. Del looked up, dark eyes full of pain. Ash wasn’t the only one who’d been hurt by this secret war between preternaturals. They all had, in one way or another, or they wouldn’t be here under Guild protection.

  “Maybe you’re not supposed to fix him,” Raze said. “Maybe you’re just supposed to be there for him. He needs you, not the Heart Bearer. Just… I don’t know. I don’t even know why you’re telling me this. I can’t help you. I’m lost, Del. I have no idea what I’m doing…”

  Her voice cracked and she let the words trail out. She had no answers. Not for herself, and certainly not for Del. She tried to find something to say, anything. Some sort of comfort. But in the end she just touched her roommate lightly on the arm and said, “We should get some sleep.”

  #

  CHAPTER TWO

  Also By Woodbridge Press

  Also By Woodbridge Press

  Explorations: Through the Wormhole

  Explorations: First Contact

  Explorations: War

  Explorations: Colony

  Journeys

  The Haunting of Lake Manor Hotel