The Chronicles of Kerrigan Box Set Books # 1 - 6: Paranormal Fantasy Young Adult/New Adult Romance
Page 121
Rae edited with a careful smile. “My mother sends her love.”
He smiled reminiscently. “She was the most beautiful bride I had ever seen.”
Rae sat down on one of the pews and gestured him to join her. “So, you did marry them, then? Right here in this church?”
“Right here in this church,” he echoed. “I’d always hoped to see Beth again, but I haven’t heard from her since the big day. I saw your father, of course, but never your mother.”
A chill ran up Rae’s spine and she saw Devon shoot her a look. “You saw my father?”
“Yes, of course.” The priest was talking freely now, delighted by the memories and the company. “He often came in here with another woman.” His eyes clouded over. “I often worried. It was your mother’s maid of honor, I think.”
“Jennifer?”
“Yes, Jennifer! I always thought Jennifer and Simon were related. Cousins, perhaps? Delightful young woman. A real history buff.”
Rae leaned back against the pew, trying desperately to stay casual. “What makes you say that?”
“Well, it’s an ancient cathedral, it struck her fancy each time she was in,” Father Amos explained. “She was especially interested in the catacombs beneath the foundations in the cemetery.”
The catacombs beneath the cemetery?
Rae glanced behind her and her friends shared a tortured look.
Of course it had to be under the cemetery…
* * *
This time, instead of waiting for daybreak, the group waited for dark. The minute the moon came up from behind the trees, they hopped over the fence and ran to make their way into the cemetery. Their dark clothes blended in with the night, and they crouched beneath the ever-encroaching mist to hide themselves from the outside world as they came up with a plan.
“So, now what?” Molly hissed, glancing nervously at the crumbling headstones. “And please don’t say start digging.”
Rae shook her head. “They would have needed easier access. Maybe a tunnel going in through one of the mausoleums? Julian, can you see which one?”
He glanced around the darkened graves with a frown. “Imagine opening each one in turn, and I’ll be able to see the future that would provide.”
Rae turned around in a slow rotation, doing as he asked. She’d almost made it all the way around when he suddenly stopped her.
“There—that’s the one.”
They hurried over through the fog and came to a stop in front of the large tomb.
“Jacob Riesler,” Devon read aloud. “Anyone have any idea who that is?”
Luke shook his head. “None. But look at the dates. This guy had to be one of the first people buried in this cemetery.”
Rae opened her hand and a crowbar appeared inside. “And I hate to disturb his slumber, but…” She wedged the handle in a crack in the stone and pulled with all her might.
The tomb sprung open with a mighty breath, like an old man gasping for air. A cloud of dust blanketed the four of them still standing there, all except Julian, who had the foresight to step aside.
“Thanks for the heads up, man,” Devon huffed, coughing out a spray of dirt.
Julian grinned. “Don’t mention it.”
If there was one thing that turned out to be even creepier than breaking into a cemetery at night, it was slowly descending the stairs into the depths of a tomb. The flashlights did little to assuage their fears. Each time they whipped them nervously at a wall or down the darkened hallway, they half expected some undead zombie beast to be staring back at them. It wasn’t until they’d already walked a good ten minutes underground that Rae realized there were torches lining the walls.
“Wait a minute,” she whispered.
The group paused as she lifted her hand like she was blowing a kiss. The next second, a wave of fire lit the nearest one, which lit the next one, which lit the one after that. In no time at all, the dusty little hall was filled with golden torchlight, illuminating a strange-looking room just ahead.
“What is this place?” Luke asked quietly as they ducked inside, staring around in wonder.
“It’s him,” Rae answered grimly. “This is Cromfield’s lair.”
Luke shivered. “Like a bloody vampire.”
It was worse than Rae could have ever imagined. There were images lining the walls. Pictures of people at all stages of life, all with a hand-drawn representation of their tatù pinned to the side. There were maps and charts. Strings attached to pins that stretched out all over the world, landing in a dozen different cities in a dozen different countries. Worse still were the files that lay strewn about a worktable set up in the center, documents from both the Privy Council and the Xavier Knights. Reports on all their current agents, all their current missions. Rae stifled a shudder as she saw Devon’s face staring up at her from the heap. Perhaps the creepiest thing yet, was the half-drunk bottle of Coke sitting on a chair in the corner.
He had been here. Just recently. This was not some devastating place from the past, it was still in active use today.
“Rae…” Julian’s voice trailed off as he gestured to a stack of papers, looking grim.
“What is it?” she asked as she came to investigate.
He just shook his head. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
Rae glanced down in concern, and the next moment, she covered her mouth in a silent gasp.
They were experiments. The written record of over a hundred experiments performed throughout history. And judging from Cromfield’s notes—they were experiments gone wrong.
“What are those for?” Molly asked, clearly shaken as she wandered over. “Who are they?”
Rae’s voice was hoarse. It was like she was speaking from the darkest depths of her. “They’re hybrids.” She let the top file slip from her hand. “People like me.”
Hybrids were supposedly an abomination? Cromfield certainly didn’t seem to think so. In fact, from the looks of things, there was nothing he wanted more…
He’d kidnapped people, captured, brainwashed—who knows. All Rae knew for certain was that he was cross-breeding them, like they were animals. Trying to get the perfect hybrid child. From what Rae could see from his notes, not one of the children survived. In fact, most times, the mother died before she could even deliver—the child inside her was just too powerful. But that didn’t stop him from trying.
He must have thought himself quite the scientist. He experimented on people with all sorts of tatùs—looking for the perfect combination for the ultimate power child. That he’d single-handedly murdered hundreds of people didn’t seem to matter to him. Quite the contrary, the longer the hunt stretched on, the more he seemed to rise to the challenge. His notes became eerily hopeful, obsessively entrenched. He was firmly committed. Though why he wanted to create a virtual army of hybrids, Rae had no idea.
“What the hell is this?” Luke asked, snatching a piece of paper from the wall.
Rae took it from him without a word, holding it up against the map for context.
It was a list. A list of names with their corresponding coordinates listed on the map.
“What is that?” Luke asked again, staring at Rae with the utmost pity in his eyes.
“They’re more hybrids.” She hardly recognized the sound of her own voice. “They’re the next ones he’s after. He’s going to bring them here too. Experiment on them. Breed them. Use that lunatic serum we read about in my mom’s files. Who knows?” She couldn’t stop her hands from shaking. “Either way, they won’t survive.”
“Then we have to get to them first,” Molly exclaimed. “We have to warn them of what’s coming. Take them somewhere safe.”
“We will, Molls, we will,” Julian assured her. He glanced automatically at Rae. “You have some kind of plan, right? You know what we’re supposed to do next?”
She shrugged helplessly as the weight of his expectations and the responsibility of being the ‘one that got away’ fell heavy on her shoulders. What w
ould Cromfield do to have her in his sights right now? He’d surely heard of her, with all the information he’d gathered on the PC. He’d gone through the trouble of brainwashing her mother, for heaven’s sake. She was probably in a file down here with the rest.
A deep kind of rage Rae had never known simmered deep in her blood. The faces of each of his ‘failed experiments’ was burned into her brain, flashing before her eyes one by one.
He would pay for these crimes. Blood for blood. He wouldn’t get away with this.
“Rae,” Devon’s voice called from the next room over. “You need to take a look at this.”
She followed the sound of his voice, then stopped dead in her tracks as a piece of paper hit her in the face. “What the…” Her voice trailed off and she thought she might faint dead away.
It was her. A thousand times over.
Hand-drawn pictures of Rae hung from every inch of the room. Fluttering in the breeze made from the open door. Her jaw fell open as she took a step inside. Her own eyes stared back at her from every direction. Judging, wishing, asking questions she didn’t have the answers to.
A feeling of muted horror settled in the base of her skull and she sank to her knees with a soft gasp. Devon was with her the next second, holding on to her tight as the rest of their friends filed into the room. Strangely enough, it was Julian that gasped aloud, ripping one of the pictures from the wall.
“This is…these are just like mine,” he said in shock. “All those pictures I was drawing of you last year. I actually thought they were of your mother—you two look so much alike. But, no—it was you. They looked exactly like this.” He stared around the room in astonishment. “Are we channeling or something…?”
Devon tuned him out and kept his eyes fixed on Rae. “It’s going to be okay. We’re going to stop this.”
“How?” Her voice was faint. “How are we going to fix this?”
His eyes flashed. With desperation? Determination? She couldn’t tell. “I don’t know yet, but we’re going to find a way. I’m not going to let anything happen to you. I swear it!”
“Rae,” Molly knelt down beside her, holding out a folded sheet of parchment, “this was nailed to the door.”
With trembling fingers, Rae smoothed out the paper. As she glanced down at the bottom, a half-choked gasp caught in her throat. “It’s from him. Cromfield. It’s addressed to me.”
“What does it say?” Luke urged.
In a voice that was scarcely stronger than a whisper, she began to read:
My dearest Rae,
If you’re reading this, then you’ve already far exceeded my every expectation. I’ve travelled the world searching for the likes of you, but in all my hundreds of years, I’ve found none that can compare. You are truly extraordinary. I hope you realize this.
By now you will have come to discover that it was I who took from you both of your parents. I hope, in time, you will understand my reasons for doing this. You see, Rae, they had served their purpose. They created you. Any further intrusion from them would only serve to separate us, and that is something I cannot allow.
This is because we are meant to be together, my sweet. In a world overrun with a sea of worthless mortals, it is you and I who will prevail. Who will go on to lead our people into the next great age. An age where people with abilities no longer need to hide in the shadows, but can rise to power and rule this earth as they were intended to.
I know this may seem like a radical thought to you at your young age, but I know that when given time, you will come round to my way of thinking. Be it one year, ten years, a hundred, even five hundred—you and I will be together and ascend to our rightful place in history.
That’s all for now, my dear, but please know that there’s a special place in my heart just for you. I can’t wait for the day when I finally get to see you in person and make all these things known.
Be seeing you soon, my love,
J. Cromfield
A chilling silence followed her words—one that seemed to echo into the night. Devon hadn’t released her the entire time she’d been reading, and when she glanced down now, she saw his knuckles were white with tension. Although a part of her wanted to automatically comfort him, a greater part of her was spinning out of control, further and further into the abyss. “What does that even mean,” he murmured, his words sharp as a blade. “Even if it takes five hundred years? What’s he talking about?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I’m just like him, just like Cromfield.”
Rae pulled herself to her feet, staring back at a thousand of her faces staring back at her. A burning feeling in the pit of her stomach was growing heavier and heavier, pulling on her body like it was dragging her straight down into the pits of hell.
She wanted to die, right then and there. “I’m freakin’ immortal!”
~The End ~
Hidden Darkness
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B018SSJEZC
Hidden Darkness Description:
Hidden Darkness is the 7th Book of W.J. May's bestselling series, The Chronicles of Kerrigan.
A race against time, a sprint across the world.
The enemy has a new face now, Jonathon Cromfield. Except he's not really new, is he?
Cromfield has a plan, one that includes Rae whether she likes it or not.
Rae is terrified by the idea that she can't die. Everyone she'll ever know will move on without her and leave her all alone. Except Cromfield. She'd rather die than be with him.
The team of Rae, Devon, Julian and Molly must race around the world to find the hybrids before Cromfield does, they have to figure out what his serum really is for, and take it back to the Privy Council all before Cromfield can stop them.
Immortal or not, Rae doesn't have a second to waste.
Hidden Darkness is the 7th book in the Chronicles of Kerrigan series.
Book 1, Rae of Hope is currently FREE.
Follow Rae Kerrigan as she learns about the tattoo on her back that gives her supernatural powers, as she learns of her father's evil intentions and as she tries to figure out how coming of age, falling love and high-packed action fighting isn't as easy as the comic books make it look.
Note from Author
I hope you enjoyed END IN SIGHT. If you have a moment to post a review to let others know about the story, I’d greatly appreciate it!
I love hearing from my fans so feel free to send me a message on Facebook or by email so we can chat!
I am working on a Christmas Novella release on Simon and Beth. A bit of a prequel so stay tuned for details!
I am also working on Hidden Darkness and have high hopes to continue the series after. I’m in no way ready to give up Rae’s story. I feel like we are just starting to scratch the surface!
All the best, W.J. May
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A Novella Prequel
of the Chronicles of Kerrigan
A prequel on how Simon Kerrigan met Beth!!
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The Chronicles of Kerrigan
Book I - Rae of Hope is FREE!
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B1NNFR0
Book Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gILAwXxx8MU
Book II - Dark Nebula
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B46UWNO
Book Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca24STi_bFM
Book III - House of Cards
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LPIAFL0
Book IV - Royal Tea
Amazon: http://www.am
azon.com/dp/B00SGIN35W
Book V - Under Fire
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00YVNJECW
Book VI - End in Sight
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B015HGNL0C
Book VII – Hidden Darkness
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B018SSJEZC
Book VIII – Twisted Together
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01BPSQZFY
Book IX – Mark of Fate
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01C4TYUZU
Book X – Strength & Power
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CK8MBRE
Book XI – Last One Standing
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DYFPVAG
BOOK XII – Rae of Light
PREQUEL – Christmas Before the Magic
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0195ZSB3I
CoK Prequel!
A Novella of the Chronicles of Kerrigan.
A prequel on how Simon Kerrigan met Beth!!
AVAILABLE:
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More books by W.J. May
Hidden Secrets Saga:
Download Seventh Mark part 1 For FREE
http://www.amazon.com/Seventh-Mark-Part-Hidden-Secrets-ebook/dp/B00H17FQCC
Book Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-_vVYC1gvo
Like most teenagers, Rouge is trying to figure out who she is and what she wants to be. With little knowledge about her past, she has questions but has never tried to find the answers. Everything changes when she befriends a strangely intoxicating family. Siblings Grace and Michael, appear to have secrets which seem connected to Rouge. Her hunch is confirmed when a horrible incident occurs at an outdoor party. Rouge may be the only one who can find the answer.