by Dawn Ibanez
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright © 2020 Dawn Ibanez
Dedication
Acknowledgements
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
The Hunt Begins
Also By Dawn Ibanez
About the Author
Tempered
Et Lapis Sanguis Book 1
Dawn Ibanez
Copyright © 2020 Dawn Ibanez
All rights reserved. This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission of the publisher, except as provided by United States of America copyright law. For permission requests, email the publisher, at [email protected]
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places and events are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblances to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ISBN: 9798618300629
Dedication
Trying to get this book out has been a whirlwind for me. Especially the last few months. This book is dedicated to someone that’s been my sounding board and the person I turn to when I need to vent about the world.
Ivy Quinn, you rock chick!
Acknowledgements
I want to thank those that have been by my side while I was in mad hatter mode while writing this. Not gonna lie, this book has been my main focus since right before Thanksgiving.
I know I’ve driven my family crazy. Between the late nights, overly sarcastic comments, I know I haven’t been the best person to be around. And for that, I’m sorry. It’s totally going to happen again, and again. More books are coming, and these are going to be at a faster pace, so yeah.
Stay tuned for more Crazy Dawn moments. They’re coming. Love you all!
Chapter 1
“Come on Tom, it’s closing time.”
The drunken man lumbered to his feet. He blinked at the woman in front of him and touched her steadying hand. “When are you going to give up this life and run away with me?” he asked.
She smirked as she guided him to the door. “You have the wrong sister,” she told him. “You want Mel to run away with you. I’m the one you’re supposed to be running from.”
He leaned in close and blinked at her. “Hell, Gus, you’re just as hot. I’ll run with either one of you.”
They went to the door, and Gus looked at the bouncer there. “Can you make sure he gets a cab?” she asked. When Henry moved to take Tom’s arm, the drunk man tangled his fingers with hers. She struggled with the urge to fight him off. He was human, and she never learned to pull her punches. “Come on Tom. You know the rules.”
He looked at her and blinked again. “Are you girls okay? I heard about a vampire that was rushed to the hospital this morning. Now you’re out here, and my Mel is hiding in the back.”
Gus extracted her hand from his. “We’re fine,” she said. She painted a smile on her face. “Mel isn’t hiding. She’s a professional student. She’s just studying for her finals.”
Tom nodded and let the bouncer nearly carry him from the bar. “If you need anything, let me know. I know people!” he called as the doors closed behind him.
Gus lowered her head for a moment. She wouldn’t take Tom up on his offer. It didn’t matter how well-meaning. He was a former Guardsman. Guardsmen inevitably led back to the vampires of the Glaive, and then to the top of the food chain, the Chevaliers.
She couldn’t ask for help from the very people she was supposed to be hiding from.
The music that had been nothing more than background noise suddenly went silent. She turned to the bar and saw her employer closing the cabinet. Shawn Clarke glanced over his shoulder as she approached.
“You aren’t thinking of leaving, are you?” he asked.
Gus went behind the bar and pulled the rag from her waist. “Not yet. I’m supposed to be cleaning up out here.” She moved past him and grabbed some of the glasses that needed to be put away before another load could go into the washer.
“I saw that look. Tom was on to something when he mentioned that vampire attack. You got spooked.”
Shawn meant well. She knew he did. But the secrets she and her sister kept needed to stay between them. “That vampire was attacked a few blocks over. That alone is enough to spook someone.” She turned her back to him and busied herself with cleaning the bar. Henry came back inside and gave her a business card with the scrolling filigree of an officer of the Glaive. “What’s this?” she asked.
Henry smiled. “He’s got a thing for you girls. He wouldn’t get in the cab unless I said I’d give you the card.”
Gus took the card and looked it over. She slid it in her pocket and went back to her duties. “This makes me feel better.”
“The sarcasm isn’t needed,” Henry said. He carried a tray of cups over to the bar for her. “There are a few people who are nervous after that vampire was found. People are saying that he was a disgraced Guard and shouldn’t have even been in the city. Now he’s laid up in the hospital, and the Chevalier has to decide what’s going to be done.”
Shawn frowned as he dumped the unused lemons. “Lord Elijah will probably give him some time to heal and then send him to a prison camp for a few months. After that, he may reinstate his banishment.”
Gus pressed her lips together as she finished putting the glasses away. She never liked getting involved with rhetorical situations. She was jaded in way not many would understand.
“What do you think should be done, Gus?” Henry asked.
She shook her head. “I don’t think about stuff like that. Since humans are the bottom of the chain, why would I try to think about what our brilliant vampire overlords would think?” When both Henry and Shawn frowned at her, she sighed. “What?”
“You don’t really think that,” Shawn said. He went back to throwing out unused fruits. “And I was starting to hope that you and Mel would have learned to trust us by now. You’ve been working here for what? Two years?”
Two years, one month, and seventeen days. Gus closed her eyes and sighed. Both men did their best to get her and her sister to trust them. Shawn knew of her aversion to vampires and anything dealing with them. While Henry knew that she could handle herself in a fight. Gus pushed her hair away from her face as she felt another chink form in her armor. “Fine. I’d kill him.” She looked at both men and leaned against the bar when they only stared at her.
“If he’s supposed to be exiled; he shouldn’t have been in the Sector.” She went on. “No one is going to find a vampire that’s been banished to beat up and leave in the center of a capital city. He was here on his own, so he broke the law. Vampires and Gargoyles live in a blood-soaked society. If the Lord Chevalier allows the transgressor to heal, then he’s showing a weakness and it will only be a matter of time before others start biting at their chains. He’ll get as much inform
ation as he can from the vampire and have him executed. Then the hunt will be on for the ones that attacked the offending vampire.”
She felt ill as she said the words. She and Mel needed to leave. Gus picked up a glass and frowned as she watched her hand shake. She put the glass in the dishwasher and rubbed her hands on her jeans. “I could be completely off base though.”
Both men shared a look. Their protective natures were coming to the forefront. But it was Henry that put another rack of glasses on the bar and spoke first. “I’ll finish cleaning up. Why don’t you take her home,” Henry said.
Gus shook her head. “No. Don’t do that.” When they looked at her, she shook her head. “I am not some helpless damsel that the big man has to protect. I can get home on my own.”
Shawn nodded at Henry. “She’s right. We shouldn’t be treating her with kid gloves because she was hired to be eye candy.” He turned his gaze to her. “I’m taking you home because you’ve been acting strange, and I want to check on your sister.” He smiled at Gus’s frown. “I need to make sure the real reason why people come here isn’t trapped in a dragon guarded tower.”
Gus rolled her eyes as she looked at the dishwasher. The machine was full again. She wanted to argue. She wanted to say there was nothing wrong and they needed to just let her do her job. She looked at the multiple tables that still needed to be cleaned. “Are you sure you want us to go?”
Henry nodded. “I got this. Go, hang with Mel. Tell her we missed her tonight.”
Gus felt the sides of her mouth tug. Her sister had a way of making everyone around her happy. Mel was virtually infectious with joy. “I will.”
Gus untied the apron at her waist and tossed it on her shoulder.
Shawn stepped back and let her go to the back room. She wouldn’t be able to get rid of him. He would insist on taking her home, and on any other night, that would have been perfectly fine.
But this wasn’t any normal night.
Gus entered the back room and sighed. She would have to get her stashes from their hiding places around the sector. It would take time, but it could be done in no more than two days. With thoughts of retrieval on her mind, she grabbed her bag. The familiar sound of her sister’s ringtone went off. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and answered the call. “I’m on my way home now Mel.”
Her sister’s voice was a whisper and garbled. “Gus, I’m trapped,” she whispered.
Fear raced down Gus’s spine. “What?”
“I went to the store. I know I wasn’t supposed to leave. But this guy followed me down the street. He was creeping me out, so I did like we always planned. I’m in the old warehouse district. I can’t shake him, Gus.”
Gus promised to do everything she could to protect Mel. Every choice she ever made was to that one goal. She wouldn’t break the promise she made to their father now. “Are you near the old printing plant?”
“I’m about three blocks away.”
She nodded as she placed her phone between her shoulder and ear. “You’re either near the old meat market, or a broken-down house.” She opened her bag and quickly found what she was looking for.
“I see the meat market.”
The dirks their father gave her were secure in their holsters. “Good. Break in and hide. I’m on my way.” She opened their wrappings and started to guide the straps through the belt loops on her jeans.
“Gus, I don’t think I can fight this guy. He moves really freaky.”
She cursed the fact that her sister didn’t practice hand to hand fighting properly. Gus would change that the moment Mel was safe. “Buy me ten minutes,” Gus pleaded. “Can you do that for me, Melly?”
A scream answered her. Gus dropped her own phone and ran to the front of the bar. She ignored both Shawn and Henry as she raced out of the door and to the street. She looked around to get her bearings.
The old meat market and slaughter-house was just over a mile away. She turned south and started to run. The few people she passed on the empty street moved out of her way as she surged past them. She approached the corner leading to the old warehouse district and turned down the street. Gus ignored the car horns being blown as she crossed headlong into traffic. She needed to get to her sister, and nothing was going to stop her.
The deeper she went into the district vehicular traffic went down. Foot traffic dropped completely. Only the dregs stayed down here. The vampires that became addicted to drugs and the homeless humans that needed anywhere to stay. Gus vaulted over a sleeping body as she passed a shop front that had been closed for years.
Panic started to rise when she reached the block of the meat market. She could hear the sounds of a struggle from inside the rundown shop. “Mel!” she called out.
Her sister’s scream echoed in the night. Gus ran down an alley and saw the door Mel used to get into the market. She drew one of her blades and opened the door.
Inside the meat market was dark. Gus waited a moment for her eyes to adjust to the darkness inside. Her lips curled as she saw the back area in shambles. “Mel!”
“Run,” Mel’s voice called out.
Gus’s lips pulled back in a snarl. It was her job to protect Mel, not the other way around. She approached the door that led to the front of the market. Before she could kick it open, a shadowed figure rushed through the door. Gus raised her blade and swung at the attacker. She felt the blade brush against flesh and drew her other edged weapon. The second blade was met with steel. Gus brought her foot up to kick the unknown figure, when she felt a solid punch to her chest. She stumbled back and spun. This time, her short swords were ready to claim any limb that reached for her.
Each blade was met with resistance. Either another blade or some sort of shield. Gus ducked down and kicked at the stranger’s knee and connected. As he stumbled, she pressed her advantage. She aimed another kick to his back and connected. She said nothing as he fell forward and slammed his head against the butcher block. She stood over the figure. If he got up again, she would continue their fight. If not, she would get her sister.
The figure didn’t move. Gus sheathed one of her blades and backed into the front of the meat market. It didn’t take her long to see Mel unconscious on the dirty floor. Gus went to her knees and pressed her fingers against her sister’s neck. “I’m here now, Melly,” she said softly. When she didn’t get a response, the panic she kept back rose again. Gus tightened her trembling hand into a fist. She gently pushed Mel’s shoulder back and inhaled when she saw the blood that covered her torso. Gus looked around the room but didn’t see Mel’s phone. She cursed as she stood.
“Gus!”
She turned to the window and saw Shawn and Henry searching for her. Her eyes filled with tears as she looked at her sister. “Call for help,” she called out. “Mel’s hurt, and it’s bad.”
Shawn looked at the window and pointed at her. Gus turned and swung her blade. The shadowed figure was just out of reach. Gus charged forward only to feel something punch into her chest again. This time she was thrown through the window behind her. As she fell to the street, she heard both Shawn and Henry call her name. She landed on the pavement and sprang to her feet. The shadowed figure was over Mel again. Gus transferred her grip from the pommel to the blade. As blood covered hands reached for her sister, Gus threw the long knife.
She watched as the blade flew end over end towards the shadowed figure. Before it could strike, the figure vanished. Gus jumped through the window and went back to Mel’s side. She checked on her sister, heedless of Shawn and Henry still outside. “Hang on, Mel.” She stroked her sister’s hair. Gus had to choke back a sob as her hand became saturated with blood. “Where the fuck is the ambulance?”
Shawn knelt next to her. He looked over Mel before turning to Gus. “Give me those things. I’m going to hide them in the car.”
She looked at him. “What?” When he reached for the blade on her hip, she grabbed his hand. “Do not.”
“Listen to me,” he said in a calm tone.
Gus wanted to tear into him. Her sister was bleeding at their feet. He had no right to be calm. “Gus, we had to call the Glaive. They’re coming. If you have those… knives on your hips, there’s no telling what they’ll say.” He reached forward and looked into her eyes. “You’re going into shock too. Damn it. Augustina, give me your weapons.”
The sound of her full name made her blink. She looked at Mel and quickly stripped both holsters from her hips. She went over to where the blade she threw was and sheathed it. “They’re sharp,” she mumbled as she gave her weapons over to Shawn.
She looked around and frowned when she didn’t see anything she could use to help stop the bleeding. Gus stripped out of her coat and reached for the bottom hem of her shirt. “I need to staunch what I can. Mel will bleed out if I don’t.”
She heard Shawn and Henry talking quietly at the store window but didn’t pay any attention to what they said. Her focus was on caring for her little sister.
Sirens blared outside soon enough. Gus brushed her fingers across Mel’s forehead again. “We weren’t supposed to be noticed,” she whispered. She then pressed a kiss to Mel’s forehead. “But anything for you.”
Moments later, Gus was being moved away from Mel. Members of the Sector’s Emergency Medical Unit came on the scene and started to work on Mel. One man stood with Gus. Shawn and Henry were outside and spoke with whatever members of the Glaive showed up.
It felt like forever before Gus was guided to the ambulance. She felt tears coming to her eyes as she looked at Mel. The young woman that was known to be vibrant and always full of energy was entirely too still.
“What hospital are you taking them to?” Shawn asked.
Gus looked at the man in the Glaive’s uniform. “They’ll be taken to Kilmer General,” he said to Shawn. He looked at Gus. “We’ll be able to get those cuts looked at too, Miss.”