Scion's Freedom (Siren Publishing Classic)
Page 1
Scion’s Freedom
As the Scion of the House of Dracul, vampire princess Cassy Daniels just wants a simple, royal-free life in New Atlanta. It’s been thirty years since The Fall, when the world’s economy collapsed. Although supernatural creatures are helping to rebuild society, Cassy remains in hiding to avoid an arranged marriage.
When her journalist bodyguard and best friend, Erica, is assassinated, she flees for her life with the help of Detective David Ashe. He’s reluctant at first. She used him a few weeks prior. However, she’s the sole survivor of a serial killing and his only lead. Something about David is magnetic and Cassy falls for him hard.
Can they find Erica’s killer before he finds them? Can David forgive her past enough to love her? Can the Council of Crones, a coven of elder witches, provide more insight as to who is hunting Cassy and why? Will she survive the assassination attempts and still hold on to the man she loves?
Genre: Contemporary, Paranormal, Vampires/Werewolves
Length: 47,063 words
SCION’S FREEDOM
J. Annas Walker
EROTIC ROMANCE
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Erotic Romance
SCION’S FREEDOM
Copyright © 2012 by J. Annas Walker
E-book ISBN: 978-1-62241-397-3
First E-book Publication: September 2012
Cover design by Jinger Heaston
All cover art and logo copyright © 2012 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Letter to Readers
Dear Readers,
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DEDICATION
Thanks to my husband, Derrick, my sisters, Jennifier and Kate, and Aunt Rita, for being such great cheerleaders.
SCION’S FREEDOM
J. ANNAS WALKER
Copyright © 2012
Chapter 1
Click-click-clack. The dead bolt slid home. Her purse and briefcase hit the floor with a heavy thump. Leaning against the door, Cassandra Daniels, Cassy, pulled off one high heel and then the other only to give them a toss toward the living room. Her tan dress suit jacket soon followed. She inhaled deeply, held it to the count of three, and let it out slow. Snagging a ponytail holder off the counter, she pulled up her waist-length chocolate-brown tresses. It was Friday at long last, and the work week was at an end.
She could tell her roommate was out of the apartment. It was as quiet as a tomb. Everything was neat and clean. The sofa cushions were plumped and ready for her to come home. The two-bedroom flat was plain but comfortable. Erica Jordan had been a well-trained lady’s maid back in the day.
Cassy snagged the remote off the ottoman and turned on the news. Without looking at the flat-screen television, she wandered off to the kitchen. There was almost nothing in the refrigerator. The cold white wire shelves held only a box of baking soda, a couple of canned drinks, and a bottle of red wine. Frowning, she pulled out the wine and debated not bothering with a glass. In the end, the glass won out. You can take the girl out of the manor house, but not the manor house out of the girl.
Seated on the couch, Cassy watched as inane chattering about this celebrity or that winning some award or wearing a certain designer passed. The cut-and-pasted reporters all looked the same, fake. She sipped her wine through the weather report with her nylon-clad feet on the ottoman and did her best not to think. It had been a hard week.
Cassy owned an employment agency specializing in locating work for members of the nighttime paranormal community. Nocturnal Staffing usually did a great deal of business. However, with the softening economy, job orders were not flowing as freely as they once did. It broke Cassy’s heart to have to turn someone away. Not every supernatural creature was wealthy. Even the undead or inhuman had to work for a living, so to speak. This week she only received nine orders with two hundred applicants plus those already on her books, including the humans.
Out in the hall, Cassy could hear keys jingling. The brass locks clicked and clacked free. The door swung in, banging into the small eat-in bar that separated the galley kitchen from the small living room. A box-toting Erica strode in with a huff to blow a long, loose curly blonde lock out of her face. Her purse straps were trapped in her teeth. She dropped it on the floor with as heavy a thump as Cassy’s had.
“Honey! I’m home!” A playful smile curled her lips. Her steel- gray eyes hinted at something mischievous. “So, are you going?” She sat the box down on the counter and leaned on the sofa arm. “Hummm? Are you?” Like Cassy, Erica pulled up her mid-back-length hair into a ponytail with a soft band from her pocket. Her hair was so curly that as she walked it bounced as though it were alive.
“I don’t think so. Don’t you think at our age it is a bit silly to dress up and party?” Cassy was tired. Erica was a journalist. She didn’t have to spend every night around sad people sucking the energy out of her. “I just want to go to bed.”
Erica clasped her hands together and put them to her chest. “Samhain Night is tomorrow. You have to come out and celebrate. Please? Pleeeeeease? Just think about it.”
“I don’t know. I don’t have a costume, and it’s a bit late to get one. Besides, I could use a night’s rest,” Cassy explained. She had never embrace
d the modern version of Halloween.
“You could borrow one of mine. When was the last time you went out and got loose? I’m not saying you have to be reckless. Just come out for a drink or two. Who knows? You may even have a good time. We live in an apartment building. You know every kid in a three-block radius is going to come banging on the door. You aren’t going to get any rest with them knocking like a SWAT team.”
“All right. I’ll think about it.” Cassy caved. Erica was right. There would be no peace, regardless of where she was. Erica’s smile spread even wider. She knew the battle was won.
“Yeah! I brought home dinner and some files from work for safekeeping. Do you mind warming up the food whilst I put away my treasure hoard?” Erica giggled. The box’s contents made her very happy. Cassy could only surmise someone else was about to be very unhappy when whatever it contained made the headlines.
“Sure. Let me change into a pair of sweats. No reason to ruin a good suit with food stains.”
In her room, Cassy dug out a pair of black jogging pants and her favorite oversized T-shirt. Socks replaced the nylons. She washed the makeup from her face. The base gave her the appearance of being more alive, a trait that helped to settle the human clients’ nerves. The mirror reflected back her pasty pale skin and silver-gray eyes. Her high cheekbones and Romanesque nose lost some definition with the powder and paint removed. The chocolate hair made the paleness of her skin seem more stark white than creamy pale.
Cassy went to the kitchen to heat the takeout. She watched the microwave whirl around and around. The last generic white foam container appeared to twirl in place. Beeping signaled dinner was ready. Food smells filled the kitchen, causing Cassy’s fangs to drop down in anticipation and drew Erica from her bedroom.
“Oh, good. I’m starved. I skipped lunch.” Erica laughed, showing her fangs.
“I didn’t, but smelling this is having the same effect as if I did. Where did you go for this?”
Erica pulled spoons from the drawer. “Bloody Mary’s.”
“What’s Bloody Mary’s? Sounds like a bar,” Cassy asked.
“What’s Bloody Mary’s? It’s only the hottest new restaurant in New Atlanta. We really need to get you out into the world more,” Erica smiled.
“I like my world just fine, thanks,” Cassy sniffed.
She had almost always lived in the same place, even before The Fall. Atlanta was a bustling city before the world had gone all to hell. Tall buildings, smog, and terrible traffic were the norm. Since the economic collapse and the horrors that followed, New Atlanta had risen from the ashes. Not every city had. These days the tall buildings were mostly empty or in need of demolition. Rebuilding was taking place, but the pace was slow. Technologies were coming back into use, increasing the slow pace as they came on line.
With no money and not enough skilled tradespeople, the country was in dire trouble. The supernatural communities approached what was left of the government and offered to help in exchange for full citizenship and acknowledgement of their right to exist. An agreement was struck and every branch of the supernatural came into the light, or rather the nightlight. Most kept their schedules to the dark hours and left the daytime to the humans. Cassy’s agency had placed many stonemasons and carpenters with centuries of experience for night projects.
Specialty businesses started cropping up before the ink on all the legislation had had time to dry. The Pampered Moon catered to werewolves and shape-shifters. Devine Fields looked like an enormous greenhouse but was really an indoor complex for brownies, sprites, fairies, and gnomes. The staff was almost exclusively elves. Restaurants and bars opened all over town to help one group or another meet their needs. The latest to offer up its services to the vampiric crowd was Bloody Mary’s.
Cassy lifted the lid on the container of black soup and poured it into two bowls. She topped it with blood sausage and a packet of hot sauce. Erica dropped in the spoons with a heavy plop. The two friends stood by the counter, bowls in hand, and ate.
“So, how was your day? Ruin anyone we know?” Cassy sipped her soup.
“I don’t know. This disk showed up in the mail with a thumb drive and a sticky note with just an address on it. I went to the address with my camera guy. It was one of the burned-out shells from The Fall. In the doorway was the box I brought home. I haven’t even had time to open it,” Erica said. For years, any building unlucky enough to catch fire went up. Sometimes whole blocks were taken out. The Fall had left scars like this in every city and town in the country.
“Did you get to look at the disk and the thumb drive?”
“Disk, yes. Thumb drive, no. It was a bunch of documents and some photos. I didn’t have time for the IT guys to put both through the virus scanner. I’ll check out the disk better this weekend. There’s a lot to go through. It’ll take a while to make sense of it all. Enough of my day, what did you do?”
“I turned away more people than I care to count. I only had nine orders to fill this evening,” Cassy said, frowning.
“Ouch. How long can you keep this up?” Sip, slurp.
“I don’t know. Even the regular clients aren’t regulars anymore. It’s like the precursor of The Fall all over again,” Cassy despaired.
“Well, let’s not dwell on that for now. I know! Let’s decide on where to go tomorrow night and what you are going to wear,” Erica trilled. She loved any excuse to go out. She was like a toddler playing in its dress-up box. It was not unusual for her to have every outfit she owned scattered all over the room in search of the perfect one.
“I still haven’t said yes,” Cassy reminded her.
“Oh, for the love of night, Cassy! We both know you’ll go. Fine. I’ll pick a place and a costume. You’re going to love it!”
Cassy sat down her bowl and tossed her spoon into the sink. The sun was pressing against the horizon. The UV-blocking windows in the little apartment prevented its harmful rays from entering, but Cassy still wanted to be in bed before it lit up the place.
“Right now the only thing I’m going to love is my bed.” She yawned. She made her way to her bedroom door.
“Oh, okay. Happy dreams,” Erica called to her.
“You, too.” Cassy yawned back. She crawled into bed, flopped down on the pillow, and fell into a deep sleep.
She awoke just before full sunset the next night. The foil-lined shade was still down. The last light of dusk filtered in around a tiny crack along one side of the shade. She pulled in a deep breath and listened to the quiet. Erica was not up yet. Dark shapes made outlines against the walls and in her open closet. She reached over to flick on the lamp. The dim light flooded the room. Laid out across the foot of her bed were a hot pink skirt, a white halter top, and a matching hot pink, long, curly wig. A glance off the edge of the bed told Cassy a pair of white knee-length go-go boots with a side zipper sat on the floor. On her nightstand lay a faux-silver dangling belly ring with clear and pink crystals. She could wear it for the evening and then remove it. Her skin would be healed in only a few minutes.
A frown ticked across her face. Erica could have given her any costume in the world. Why did it have to be this one? More skin would show than would be covered! It was clear Erica planned to party and feed.
It wasn’t against the law, provided the human in question was of legal age, a willing participant, and received something in exchange. Nothing in life was free, not even blood. Every vampire had a right to eat. Most chose blood-based products, donated blood, or restaurants, but fresh human blood was a nice change on occasion.
Cassy got up and shuffled to the kitchen. In the next room, she could hear Erica stirring. A peek into the refrigerator revealed no leftovers. Breakfast was going to consist of a canned soda. She swiped the gold and red can with an unenthusiastic pawing motion and closed the door.
“Hey! Did you find your costume?” Erica came in stretching and scratching her head. The curly locks tussled around in a messy mass. She pulled out a can and popped the top. Sippin
g, she waited for the right response.
“If that was mine, what must yours look like?” Cassy downed the sticky red liquid in two large gulps. She hated sugary carbonated blood drinks. It couldn’t be heated without making a mess of the sugar, and the bubbles disappeared.
“I am going as Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile. I found an outfit with slits up each side nearly to my waist! It will be really sexy. I can’t wait to see what it reels in!”
“So, where are we going to land these fish? Please tell me it isn’t going to be some company party,” Cassy sighed. Time had proven more than once mixing business and pleasure was a bad idea. Feeding at a party where most of the guest worked together fell neatly into the mixing category.
“No. I thought we would go to Trysts. You know the vampire nightclub in the Underground? Any humans who enter are automatic legal feeds. It’s posted on all the doors,” Erica said. She downed her soda and tossed the can at the recycling bin. “Now let’s hurry up and get ready before all the good ones are taken!”
An hour and a half later, they were pulling into the parking deck across the street from Trysts. The deck replaced an old burned-out museum. Since the building wasn’t worth saving, it became parking for the old Atlanta Underground, a haven of clubs and restaurants. There were a few shops at ground level, but they would be closed. Erica hung the parking permit on the rearview mirror.
“I’ll meet you back here before sunup, okay?” Erica gave Cassy a wink. The black straight wig gave her eyes a charcoal look. “Come on. Let’s go have a little fun.”