by C. D. Gorri
She shook her head. “I don’t know...how…”
“That is not all.”
She nodded and sat upon the bed. She looked it over and recalled the moment Dorian drained her. She lowered her lids, then looked up to him once more.
“Mila came back.”
“Did she attack you?” Sophia felt a growl rumble in her chest.
Dorian shook his head. “No, actually, she came to fight. She was not the trader I suspected her to be.”
Her brows lifted to this. “Oh my God! I knew I was right about her!”
“What?” Dorian asked.
She shook it off. “It is nothing. Please, continue. Why did Mila help?”
“That is something we need to discuss at another time. For this moment, though, I need you to prepare yourself. Please, Sophia.”
Fear had not plagued her in the after light, but now, it pulsed through her with her newfound magic. She swallowed hard and nodded. “What happened?”
Dorian took her by the hands and pulled her to her feet. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close, then turned her to face the carnage of Gavin and Mila.
“No!” Sophia screamed.
Dorian grunted as he continued his hold on her. “Sophia, you did not do this!”
Gavin and Mila laid over one another on the floor, covered in blood, their bodies disheveled and Gavin mangled, Sophia pushed away from Dorian. She knelt to her friend and cupped his bloodied face. “Who did this?!”
“Gavin was injured in the fight.” He paused, then continued. “Sophia, I have to ask. Did you feel for him, Sophia? The way you feel for me?”
She paused, then released Gavin’s still face. She stood and turned to face Dorian, dead on. “Excuse me?”
“Did you feel for him the way you feel for me?”
Anger rose in her and with a powerful punch, she pushed hard against him, using her magic as her force. Dorian stumbled back and hit the wall behind him, then regained his footing. “How dare you! I will have you know I am in love with you, and only you. I loved Gavin as my best friend, but nothing more. So, Dorian, you will drop this right now. I lost my closest friend in the world.”
He lowered his head and nodded. “Please, forgive me. I…” he looked up to her and took a step forward. “I apologize.”
“Why would you ask such a thing?”
“I saw the way he looked at you. He held you high above anyone and anything else.” He stepped closer even more. “I apologize. I have found you after all this time, and I could not bear losing you again.”
She thought of the woman she was in the former life. After a moment, she conceded with a nod, then motioned to the floor. “Come. Let’s pick up their bodies and move them to the bed, give them some dignity on being found. You and I should not be here when the Doge’s guards arrive.”
Dorian nodded and walked over to Mila’s body. He bent down over her for a moment, and touched her forehead. “Ma bien-aimee',” he whispered. He pushed his arms under her body and lifted her. He settled her onto the bed and laid her hands upon her chest.
Sophia sat on her knees next to Gavin and bent down. She brushed his hair back from his face and found blood seeping from his neck. She pulled his collar back and gasped. He had been bitten. By Mila? By another vampire? No one would know. She lowered her head and moved back as Dorian lifted Gavin’s body.
A few minutes later, she looked up to a pair of hands before her. Dorian he pulled her to her feet. She took a few steps over to where the two laid upon the bed. Tears ran down her cheeks and she quickly swatted them away. Bending over Gavin’s lifeless body once more, she kissed his forehead.
“Good-bye, my oldest, dearest friend. I will carry you in my heart, forever. I love you.” She stood and reached for Dorian as he slipped an arm around her shoulders. She looked at Dorian, curious if he would want to say something to Mila as a goodbye. But he remained silent and stone-faced.
She accepted this and lowered her gaze as the two made their way out of the room. She paused as she considered something. “In the square, I was surrounded by two female vampires before Gavin found and saved me. He staked them and they turned to ash. Will Mila…” she trailed off, not having the strength to suggest the inevitable.
“In time, yes. She is already dead as a vampire. Once night settles, if she does not recover, then she will turn to ash.” He paused, then continued. “Sophia,” Dorian started.
“Yes?”
He turned to her, still stone-faced as he was a moment ago, but as he spoke, malice was not evident. “Mila will find us if she survives. We must clean ourselves and leave immediately. We cannot be found connected to what has happened.”
She shook her head. “No, I want to bury my friend.”
He took her face in his hands. “Sophia, this is what comes with immortality. We have to make choices for those who will be in our lives for a short time. We do not age, they do. We do not die, they will. This is a part of your life now. To survive in this world, you must abandon what you know, and leave everything behind. There are times it will be ugly, and sometimes beautiful.
“The guards will be coming soon. They will find a slaughterhouse. Gavin will be turned over to his mates. The others will be buried in the pauper’s graves.” He lifted a finger to her lips as she began to protest. “Shh...please understand, this is how it has to be.”
She lowered her gaze and gave a simple nod. When I have a minute away from Doran, she told herself, I will find my way back and I will bury you, Gavin. This, you have my word on.
Dorian lead her back through the Palazzo, taking jewels and money, finding clothes and travel supplies.
Sophia paused as she palmed a large ruby and glanced toward Dorian. Is he as rich as he claims to be?
“It is merely another part of immortality. Always take what you can. Valuables are the ultimate currency that withstand time and change. Besides, when night falls, he can't exactly go to the banks and offer his letter of credit.”
“I did not say anything,” she offered defensively.
“You did not have to. I can see it on your face. Now come, we need to run now, and having money and jewels is what we need.”
*.*.*.*
A strong wind pushed the boat and Sophia held onto Dorian’s body, his arms wrapped around her. Loose strands of her hair whipped around her face. The salt of the ocean stung her eyes. Tears slipped down her face as she cried for Gavin, for the life she left behind, for Dorian losing Mila, for everything they both lost in Venice.
“My love,” he whispered to her, “look toward our future. It is surely brighter than this past we leave behind.”
She nodded but kept to herself. She longed to hug Gavin once more, give him a rouse about the unnatural flip of his hair, the way his eyes would sparkle when he would be up to mischief.
“Come, let’s go down below. It is warmer and we can rest.” The sun had begun to set and the chill would only grow colder. Dorian pulled her alongside him and she allowed it.
The darkness of the cabin surrounded her as the door closed. Dorian lit a candle and led her further inside. He removed his cloak and hung it on the wall.
She unclasped her own cloak and laid it across a small sitting chair. Dorian curled his finger in a ‘come here’ motion, and she closed the distance to him. He cupped her face and tilted her head up, then kissed her.
“I love you, my Sophia.”
She sniffed and kissed him back. “I love you.”
Dorian kissed her again and using his body, he pushed her across the floor. “Let me take your mind away from all of this,” he whispered.
“Please,” she begged with a crack to her voice. “Take me away from this hell.”
He pushed her toward the small bed and laid her on it. He kissed her and she held him close, not wanting him to ever let her go.
Dorian mumbled something intangible, but to Sophia, it almost sounded like, ‘my past love’.
She decided for now, to ignore it. Curious, ma
ybe puzzled, but it was nothing. Right?
Right. Love tonight would be enough to get through this hell of a day.
Epilogue
Mila opened her eyes to the sight of Gavin crouched over her, pressing the tip of a bloody stake against her chest.
He looked terrible and she wondered if she had looked as haggard when Dorian first turned her.
Gavin’s eyes were bloodshot, and his pupils wide and black. The chalky pallor of the Thirst beneath his tan turned him deathly grey. His lips were cry and cracked, with dried blood on the small puncture wounds from his new, unwieldy fangs. He was breathing hard, a holdover mortal habit. She watched as each breath he took distracted him for a fraction of a second, assaulting his senses with a profound complexity of scent he had never experienced before.
“Listen once, and listen well,” he growled. “This will be the order of things between us now. You will help me find that creature that killed Sophia. You are not to leave my side or try to escape. I will hunt you down and end you if you do. You continue to exist at my sufferance. Consider it penance for the horror you have visited upon me.”
“You would rather be dead and unable to avenge your beloved?” The bitterness in her voice startled her.
“You have turned me into what I most abhor. You have condemned my soul to eternal damnation. I have nothing left to lose and nothing to gain. The fact that I can avenge Sophia’s death is the only blessing in this curse.”
“I would not see my Sire killed,” she said quietly, despair creeping through her starving veins, sustaining her with guilt and dread instead of blood.
Gavin laughed cruelly. “It is not as if you have a choice in the matter, my sweet Snow Maiden.”
He pulled her to her feet. The window showed the night was still deep and dark. She wondered where Fanti was, if he knew what had happened in his home this night. She noticed the faint tremors that wracked Gavin’s body and sighed.
Perhaps there was still a chance to right some of her wrongs. If she helped Gavin find Dorian, she might be able to warn him. But, for now, there were more important issues at hand. She gently reached out and took the stake from Gavin’s trembling fingers. He frowned at her and then at his hand.
“When I am ready, I will give this back you, and you will be the one to use it on me,” she said. “Until then…it is time for you to follow me.”
“Follow you where?” His voice was raspy with the Thirst and thick with distrust.
“To the streets of this city. To learn the first and hardest lesson of immortality. The kill.”
Gavin’s expression twisted in agony. Mila could not remember feeling conflicted herself about what she had to do. Then again, she did not remember much of those first days or the mortal life before it. She had no words of comfort to offer him, nor did she want to give any. But she had truth, and truth she would give him. In spades.
“Know this, Gavin Girard, fledgling of Mila, sired of Dorian,” she said coldly. “For every night you walk this earth, one mortal must die.”
She watched the agony fade from his face and his eyes turn hard and angry. He took the hand she offered him, cold flesh upon cold flesh, and together, they set upon the streets of Venice, filling its shadows with death.
Thanks for reading!
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Other Books By Julie Morgan
THE COVENANT OF NEW ORLEANS SERIES (Available Now)
The Concubine and Her Vampires (book one, also available on audio)
The Human and Her Vampires (book two, also available on audio)
THE DEMON AND HER VAMPIRES (book three, also available on audio)
The COVENANT OF NEW ORLEANS boxed set (contains books one, two, and three)
DEADLY ALCHEMY SERIES (Available Now)
DEADLY ALCHEMY (book one, also available on audio)
FATAL ALCHEMY (book two)
WICKED ALCHEMY (book three)
STAND ALONE STORIES
STONE OBSESSION
DRAGON MASTER
THE SASSY GODDESS
DICK (The Private Dick series)
FAIRYTALE CHRONICLES
THE BEAST UNDERNEATH
THE HUNTRESS
ELLA’S PRINCE
BOXED SETS
HEARTS UNLEASHED
SULTRY SHIFTER NIGHTS
SHIFTERS DO IT BETTER
IMMORTAL LEGACIES
ONCE YOU GO SHIFTER
FUREVER FREE
About Julie Morgan
USA TODAY and Award-winning Bestselling Author, Julie Morgan, holds a degree in Computer Science and loves science fiction shows and movies. Encouraged by her family, she began writing. Originally from Texas, Julie now resides in Central Florida with her husband and daughter where she is an advocate for Special Needs children and can be found playing games with her daughter when she isn’t lost in another world.
Sacred Shift By Theresa Hissong
Sacred Shift © 2021 Theresa Hissong
Sacred Shift
Sacred vows are to be followed at all costs.
Maverick Quinn opened his pride to two new members, knowing they were in dire need of a new alpha, but what he didn’t expect was for his mate to arrive alongside her elderly grandmother. When he scents her for the first time, not only does he know she’s his mate, but it’s obvious the female was a born an alpha.
Sora Weston had never learned to use her powers as an alpha, because of her father’s denial that she would follow in his footsteps. After an infection takes out her entire pride, she moves to Missouri with her grandmother, looking for a new home and an alpha to pledge herself. The instant connection with the pride’s alpha sets off a chain of sacred events with Sora and Maverick once they finally accept their fate.
When the news comes from Sora’s old home that vandals have destroyed the land where she was raised, her mate sends her back to Washington with Guardians to investigate.
What they find there will change everything.
Chapter One
Sora glanced to her right as her grandmother let out a sigh, alerting to her exhaustion. They were an hour away from the Quinn pride in Bixby, Missouri. They’d left their old home just north of Packwood, Washington, only six days ago, and Katrina Hudson was already showing signs of weakness without the blood of an alpha.
“Grandmother, you shouldn’t be exhausted already,” Sora groaned, clearing her throat. “Maybe we should’ve flown to the nearest airport to the pride.”
“No, dear,” Katrina denied with a small shake of her head. “I’m old, honey. This affects me differently.”
“You’re not old,” she reminded her grandmother.
“I’m seventy, dear.” She gave a slight chuckle. “That’s ancient in shifter years.”
“You’re not ancient, Gran,” Sora protested after rolling her eyes. “Your mind is that of a twenty-year-old.”
“My body disagrees,” she whispered as her eyes closed. “I think it’s telling me to nap.”
Sora watched her from the corner of her eye, hoping Gran was just tired and it wasn’t the lack of an alpha making her too weak. If they were away from their alpha for a long period of time, the shifter would eventually die. As soon as she heard her Gran’s soft snore, Sora pressed a little harder on the gas pedal, praying she made it to the Quinn pride sooner rather than later.
Thinking of their new home, she remembered the conversation she’d had with the alpha who ran the only cougar pride she could find that would take them in. Maverick Quinn’s voice still echoed in her head. She wasn’t sure if it was his deep baritone voice or the fact he was like her…an alpha.
Regardless, she needed him for her Gran. Sora didn’t want anyone knowing she had the alpha gene herself. In her pride, women weren’t
an alpha. It had been beaten into her by her father from a young age. Her father didn’t like the fact she could rule over him. If it wasn’t for her mother’s mother, Sora wasn’t sure what would’ve become of her.
She’d already resigned herself to the fact her father would’ve killed her one day. It was for the best that the small pride they’d been in had died out from a disease that only affected shifters. Her father, Paul Weston, was one of the first to go. Sora and her Gran never caught it even though they’d been the ones to care for the dying.
Their best Guardian, John Henry, was the last to go, and that was when she knew she had to make plans to join another pride. She’d found a phone number on her father’s desk with a note…
If we should all die, those left need to contact Maverick Quinn. He will take you in and help you survive.
The message wasn’t in her father’s handwriting, and she was still trying to sort out the mystery of who’d written it. There had been no hesitation when she’d picked up the phone at her old alpha’s desk and made the call, holding back tears as she explained everything to the stranger on the other end of the line.
There was something about his voice that just drew her in, and within forty-eight hours of her call, Sora and her grandmother had packed their things and left the pride. She wasn’t sure what would happen to the land and homes when she found a realtor on their way out of town, but Sora had made sure the bodies of the dead had a proper funeral pyre before leaving. She hated that her Gran had to help her make the platforms and the fire, but Gran assured her it was okay. Shifters had a lot of sacred beliefs, and if they’d just buried the bodies, they might not have been reunited with their loved ones in the afterlife.