She turned around to face the road in front of her, putting the horror of the past few days where it belonged, burning behind her. Micah was dead, Sue was dead, they were all dead. As terrible as that was, it meant she was alive. Not only alive, she now had a wonderful man by her side.
She wondered how much he made a year. Did he even have a job? Heck, she hadn't even asked him. Was he wealthy or was he a bum? She tried not to laugh out loud at her own doubting thoughts. Daddy had given her a trust fund for just this eventuality.
Funny, she'd never imagined she could meet someone like Noah and this could ever happen to her, but here they were, together at last. Mated for life. She hunkered down into the leather passenger seat of her Alfa, and drifted off into a deep and restful sleep.
The End
About the Author
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Adrienne lives in the Poconos, hates the cold but loves the mountains. Unabashed cat lover and writer of fantasy. Feed her coffee and chocolate and she'll write forever.
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Afterword
Continue the Misty Cedars Series in book two, The Necromancer’s Curse… coming soon.
The Necromancer’s Curse. Sue - A Veil of Mists
Pain. It was a forgotten sensation. For the longest time I had felt none, but this sudden reminder was brutal and cruel.
I pulled my ankle away from the flickering flame, as curious about the smell of my newly scorched flesh as the feel of it. All around me the fire burned, and embers crackled and dropped from the church beams above, like malevolent fireflies.
The stone beneath me was warm, and with trembling arms, I pushed myself up. How weak my limbs were, how... human. My vampire strength was gone, and it was all I could do to look around me.
I remembered the girl—Holly—the flash of steel before it penetrated my chest—and then, nothing. Instinctively I put my hand to my breast, but if I had been skewered, there was no wound to show for it now.
So, Micah must be dead then. There could be no other explanation for it. Thoughts of his passing cut more deeply into my heart than any mere lick of fire. From somewhere, deep within the confines of charred embers before me, I heard a low wail, more woeful than the most pitiful wretch in Hell. I realized that awful wail was coming from me. I wrapped my arms about myself and tossed back my head, howling like a malcontented wolf, indulging my wretchedness as I grieved for my lost love and master.
Above me, the roof was beginning to collapse. Let it. What did I care? I was mortal now, so the fire could consume me and be damned. What was the point in living without Micah beside me? But I had one consolation: being mortal, I could rejoin him easily enough. Ironically, all I had to do was play dead, and soon enough, I would be.
I resolved to do just that, when I heard a deep groan come from one of the broken vaults behind me. Had I been wrong? Maybe Micah was still here after all, and there would be another explanation for my loss of strength. With a heart full of hope, I dragged myself up, choking on the wall of hot, demonic smoke that now engulfed me.
I wafted hopelessly against it, tears streaming from my eyes as the vapors burned into me, filling my lungs, nose and ears, choking me. I could see nothing. Perhaps I'd imagined it after all. Surely, if it was Micah, he would have revealed himself to me by now?
My foot kicked something metallic on the floor. It was the wrong sound, it didn't belong here. Groping about blindly, my fingers touched something hot and sharp. So, Holly had left her sword. There was no time to think anything of it, but my fingers found the hilt and I grasped the sword, determined not to leave it behind.
At last, almost overwhelmed by the smoke, I fought my way over to the narrow stone steps of the crypt. I stumbled blindly upward, clinging desperately to the wall as I tried to get to the main part of the abandoned church. The fire was most violent here, and as I reached the top step, I was greeted by the sound of shattered glass as the inferno punched through another window.
If there was a God, he had truly abandoned this unholy place. In a moment, so would I, but in my desperation, I ran to the only window not being seduced by flames. I pushed my head through the opening to the outside world and gasped, desperate for air to fill my lungs.
And then I saw them. They were still here, embracing like lovesick fools, leaning against their car. The bile rose within me, and if there had been any vampire strength left in my body, I would have taken the katana she had so foolishly left behind and relieved Holly of her pretty little head. But I was vampire no longer. And the fire had sapped me of all my strength. All I could do right now was watch as my enemies climbed into their car and drove away.
I felt sick to the core. They had slain my love and were getting away. Anger grew within me, and I raised the sword I knew had killed Micah.
"I swear, on the dark soul of my dead love, I will not rest until every drop of your blood is leached from your body. You will feel my torment, Holly; you will know pain as I have known it. I will not rest until your soul knows all the horrors of Hell. I so swear it." With that, I slashed the blade across my palm, ignoring the pain as it cut deep into my flesh. I raised my hand high toward what would have been the altar, my gaze determined as the blood dripped in heavy droplets onto the unconsecrated church ground.
An evil wind blew through the church with such force, that it drowned the roar of the flames. I was slammed flat against the wall with such force, it knocked the breath out of me. What strange magic was this? The fire still raged about the building, but in this protected vortex, there was only me, the wind, and my freshly drawn blood on the floor.
I couldn't move, and even as I wondered what it all meant, the stone floor in front of me heaved and cracked open. A black-blue mist spewed from the fissure created on the very spot where my blood had fallen. It twisted and turned, and I heard a shrill, agonizing shriek as it contrived itself into an unnatural shape. Could it be my master, returning from the dead? My heart leapt into my throat as I waited and hoped.
It was not Micah. Instead, through the heart of the malignant mist, I saw the body of a woman form before me. She was the most beautiful being I had ever seen. She had the toned and curvaceous body of a seasoned temptress, with full lips that begged to be kissed. Along with these sultry attributes, she also boasted two, curly black horns that suggested she was some kind of demon. The bottom of her feet I couldn't see, for they were still shrouded in the dense mist. Her skin had a deep blue tint but looked soft and inviting. Her long, blue-black hair covered her flesh and her black, oval eyes gained focus and turned to me.
"Why have you summoned me from Hell?" Her voice was deep and sultry, though right now her tone was tinged with malice. "I did not wish to be disturbed. Why did you call for me?"
I hardly knew myself. "I cursed my enemy and shed my blood, and then you appeared."
The demoness's eyes narrowed, and she sniffed at me like a curious dog. "You are a necromancer?" I did not know how to answer her. She did not wait for me to do so.
"It is no matter, for I know that you are. Your shed blood is proof of it."
She began to pace in front of me, examining my face and body, and I could smell her sulfurous scent, even above the burning timber of the church.
"I am Empusa."
Empusa said this with meaning, as if I was supposed to suddenly understand everything, which I did not. But I wasn't ready to display my ignorance just yet.
"I am Susan," I replied.
"You were Susan," she said with meaning. "A former vampire. I know." Empusa said this with some distaste, as if my return to grace was, in itself, unclean. "And you have summoned me to help you fulfill a curse." She smiled, as if indulging an innocent child. But then her look hardened. "Ve
ry well, Necromancer. I am yours to command. For the time being."
"I have so many questions," I said.
"As I have answers. But now is not the time." Empusa looked beyond her veil of mists and out toward the deadly inferno they protected us from. "You must get out now or perish in the flames that will soon engulf you. Remember your newly won immortality." Her lips formed into something like a sneer. "But fear not, Necromancer, for I will come again."
Even as she spoke, a wooden rafter crashed down from the church roof, and although I cringed, Empusa's magical vortex protected me. I knew I should run, but my curiosity had yet to be satisfied.
"But I want to know," I cried.
Empusa raised a hand, and smiled so sweetly, it disconcerted me. "We wait for a better time. If you survive." And then her face faded, and she became the swirling, black-blue mist once more. The wind grew loud again, and her form was sucked back down into the open fissure. She was gone, leaving me to my fate. And all around me the fire raged. My lungs were filled with choking black smoke; I couldn't remain here any longer. I grasped Holly's katana, and dashed past the roaring flames, out into the safety of the night.
Coming soon….
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Also by Adrienne Blake
Spelling Bee
Tamed by the Alien
Taken by the Alien
Tamed by the Rancher
The Rancher’s Runaway Bride
The Cardinal’s Whores
London Lady
The Duke’s Daughter
Blood Curse (Misty Cedars - Vampire Edition) Page 13