by Zara Novak
“To find one that could ignore the greed of ultimate power and demonstrate complete selflessness. To find a human that was truly worthy of holding the ultimate power.”
Halo looked at me. “To find, a successor. One to take over.”
“From a god?”
“Even gods need to retire,” Halo said with a smile. “So, what do you say?”
I just stood there, unable to think. “I am not a god.”
As I said the words Halo’s angelic visage faded away. With the golden light no longer flowing from her body she looked like a regular woman. She had curly blonde hair and dull green eyes.
“Once upon a time, neither was I. I was one a girl from a small tribal village here on earth, thousands of years ago. My name was Yara, daughter of Grennet.”
“I don’t know who that is,” I said honestly.
Halo just laughed. “No one does. I was just a regular girl, just like you. But I found the amulet, just like you, with the help of my mate. A vampire named Leonidas.”
Just then Hunter faltered. “Wait, the Leonidas? The Leonidas that started the Guardians?”
“The very same,” Halo said with a genial smile.
“You see,” Gaia said, “you can think of most gods as gatekeepers. Souls deemed worthy to look after great power. I realized fairly early on that even the gatekeepers need guardians. That’s why I created vampires. Every goddess has a vampire guardian. You, Doctor Stone, are no exception.”
Hunter and I just looked at one another, blinking as we tried to process everything.
“I am not a god,” I repeated.
“Maybe god is the wrong word,” Halo said. “Maybe angel might make more sense to you. I am currently Halo, the gatekeeper of the sun, but my powers are nothing like Gaia. She is a true god.”
Gaia laughed. “Well… in the eyes of some. So, Doctor Stone. What do you say? Do you want the job?”
I didn’t know what to do.
“I… I like my life,” I said. “I like working at the museum. I like research. I like… being with Hunter. I’m not sure I want to give that all up to hide in a tomb for the rest of eternity.”
Gaia and Halo laughed. “Very little has to change about your life,” Halo said. “You can go on living as normal. Most of the time you’re just a vessel for the power. I only hide in these tombs now because mortal life became a little repetitive after several thousand years.”
I looked at Hunter. “What should I do?”
“That’s your choice. But I’ll tell you this: whatever you end up picking, I’ll be here by your side. I’m your guardian, whether you take the job or not.”
“What about him?” I said to Halo and Gaia as I looked at Harkin. The new dark god was still frozen in place, his face a contorted picture of eternal fury.
“Ah,” Gaia said. “Well I suppose this is your fist assignment. What would you have done with him?”
“Death seems too harsh,” I said. “He definitely shouldn’t be a god. His mind is too dark. Is there any way to remove his memory of this last week? Can we undo all the damage this journey has done?”
“There’s only one way to find out,” Gaia said with another smile. “Do you want the power or not?”
I looked at Hunter one last time. Knowing he was there by my side no matter what made this decision a lot easier. “I’ll take it,” I said.
As I said the words golden light suffused the air and flowed into my body, starting at my fingertips and working up my arms until I felt it fill every atom of my soul.
A blinding white light filled the dark cavern until the only thing I could see was white.
I took Hunter’s hand and held it.
Then there was nothing.
Epilogue
Rachel – One Week Earlier
The blinding light slowly faded and as I opened my eyes, I realized I was standing back in the atmospheric chamber at the museum.
The Shén Tiàoma, the thousand-year casket that we had opened one week ago, was right in front of me, still sealed. I had a chisel and a hammer in my hand. Looking up I saw Juniper, Dr. Turner, Harkin, and Barry.
“Barry!” I gasped. “You’re alive!”
Everyone looked over at my overweight colleague, who stared back at me with marked confusion. “Uh… yeah?”
“Are you going to take all damn night?! Give that here!” Harkin roared as he snatched the chisel and hammer from my hands.
I got an overwhelming feeling of Déjà vu as he started hammering around the edge of the sealed crypt. Looking through the glass walls of the atmospheric chamber I saw a familiar figure standing guard at one of the doors leading out of the room.
Hunter was wearing one of the museum’s security guard uniforms. He was standing still, with his hands clasped behind his back. He looked back at me and winked.
“There!” Harkin said as he finished chiseling open the seal. He was about to hurl the lid up once again before I stopped him.
“Stop right there!” I said, practically jumping on the tomb’s lid. I was determined to protect the artifact this time. This tomb was still a priceless piece of ancient history, and I wasn’t going to let him damage it again. “We extract the lid, carefully.”
“Then hurry up!” Harkin scowled.
We carefully removed the lid using the hoist that Juniper had prepared earlier. As soon as it was up in the air everyone rushed forward to look inside the crypt.
It was empty.
“Talk about a waste of fucking time,” Harkin said as he started pulling off his hazmat suit. “I’ll be billing the museum for time, and as for you Doctor Stone.” Harkin turned and looked at me.
“Yes?”
“Don’t ever waste my time like this again. It’s too valuable. You hear?”
“Oh, don’t worry,” I said. “You won’t be hearing from us anytime soon.”
With that Harkin and his goons stormed out, leaving Juniper, Doctor Turner, Barry and I alone in the atmospheric chamber.
“Well that’s rather disappointing,” Doctor Turner said. “Are you okay, Rachel?”
“Oh, I’ll get over it,” I said through a massive grin. “I’m sure we’ll find the Halo Amulet one day.”
“Come on,” Juniper said. “We can have a spot of tea in my office and debrief. Doctor Stone is right. This is just the beginning.”
The group made its way out of the room. I was at the back. Hunter peeled away from his station and started walking with me.
“Do I know you?” I said playfully.
“Oh, I’m new here, miss,” he joked back. “I’m on the security team. Did you find what you were looking for?”
“Unfortunately, not. It seems my prediction was incorrect.”
Hunter looked at me seriously for a moment. “Any idea where the amulet really is?”
I watched the trio ahead of us and then pulled the amulet out from under my blouse. Hunter’s eyes opened wide upon seeing it. I slipped it back into hiding.
“Safe and sound,” I said with a smile.
“You know if we’ve gone back a week in time,” Hunter said, “that technically means we haven’t had sex yet.”
“Well we might have to remedy that fact rather quickly,” I said. “Is this new security guard asking the research doctor out on a date?”
“Date might not be the right word,” Hunter said. “I’m proposing we get out of here straight away so I can fuck your brains out. Are you free?”
“I might just have a space in my diary,” I said.
We leapt across rooftops and through the night. This time we weren’t running from the threat of death, we were running towards our future.
Our journey ended at a different apartment this time.
Mine.
I was the one to open the door, but Hunter ordered me inside and locked us both in, his bright red eyes devouring me with lustful impatience.
“Strip for me,” he commanded.
I took my clothes off as fast as I possibly could, pausing as I no
ticed a faint trace of golden light shining underneath my fingertips. Hunter came up to me and took my hand in his, brushing his fingers over mine.
“Goddess…” I whispered to myself.
“My goddess,” he growled. With a flash of movement, he tore clothes from his body until he was standing naked, just like I was. We came together in a clash of passionate fury. He picked me up off the ground. I wrapped my legs around his waist.
We fumbled our way through the dark apartment and moments later we were crashing against my bed. Hunter’s lips breathed fired over my neck as he kissed me.
“We find a place together,” he said, his lips breaking away momentarily to utter the words.
“Together?”
“Together,” he growled.
I felt the burning tip of his cock spear against my wet pussy. I gasped at his sheer size and raked my nails over his broad back, my own body arching away from the mattress as he thrust deep inside me.
“A palace for my queen. A temple for my goddess. Anything you want. You get it.”
“I like the… sound of that,” I panted, barely able to keep hold of myself as he started to fuck me hard. His muscular torso tensed and rippled with each powerful thrust. He was hypnotic. He was unbelievable.
He was mine.
My tight little pussy trembled around his rock-solid shaft. He fucked me hard, his hips digging deep as he punished my tender sex.
“You’re mine,” he said. “Forever. Mate. Always.”
Always.
The words melted me.
My thighs trembled as fire burst through my body and shattered through every atom. I tensed, gasped, shook and rasped against him, praising his name and always wanting more.
“I love you,” he said.
“I love you too,” I said back breathlessly.
We came together, our sweating bodies shaking and tensing against one another. He flipped me over, mounted me from behind and took me all over again, spearing me with thrusts that were primal and fierce.
I quickly lost track of time.
Our weekend quickly spiraled into a never-ending blur of maddening lust. The weekend became a week, which became a month, which… well you get the point.
His love for me never seemed to fade, and neither did his libido.
We ended up getting a place together in the city. I could never have dreamed of owning real estate myself. I liked my apartment, but I had always rented, and always assumed I would. A researcher’s salary is not bad, but it’s an expensive city.
Guardians paid well though, apparently, and Hunter had been in the job longer than most people had been alive. Not only did he have enough to get us a place in the city, but we had a ‘small’ cabin in the countryside which we used on weekends.
Sometimes I’d even come and stay over at Guardian HQ just to see the rest of the guys. They were all meatheads, but they were fun to be around.
And my powers?
Some things had changed. I felt much more in tune with the sun. For the first few weeks I wouldn’t have said much was different (apart from my fingertips glowing every now and then).
For the most part I was just aware of this new energy inside of me. It was hard to explain. It was like I could sense this phenomenal power but couldn’t quite understand how to access it.
Things became a little clearer when I received a message from Gaia, a few weeks after everything had settled down. She had come to me in a dream, explaining that ninety percent of my newfound power was as simple as holding Halo’s energy in my soul.
I was Halo now. The spirit of the sun was inside me. I was the beacon for the golden aura.
“One day you may need to draw on that power to help others,” Gaia explained. “Hopefully that doesn’t come soon. For now. Enjoy your life as you normally do.”
And so, I did.
Hunter was lying beside me in bed when I woke, just like he always was. He had a huge smile on his face.
“What’s so funny?” I asked.
“Oh, I was just thinking… it’s sort of ironic.”
“What is?”
“A vampire fell in love with the goddess of the sun. What’s that all about?”
“I guess that is kind of funny,” I said. “I’d never thought about it that way before. I guess I should pass all household chores onto you. If you disagree, I can burn that sweet behind of yours with my magic sun powers.”
Hunter laughed, rolled over and pulled me towards him.
“Oh darling. The only behind getting punished here is yours. That sassy little mouth of yours, its gonna bring a lot of discipline your way.”
I just smiled and bit my lip.
“Bring it on,” I said.
I couldn’t wait.
The End
Also by Zara Novak
Vampire Guardians
Broken
Dark Vampires
Punished (Book 1)
Ravaged (Book 2)
Damaged (Book 3)
Tales of Vampires
The Vampire’s Slave (Book 1)
The Vampire’s Prisoner (Book 2)
The Vampire’s Mate (Book 3)
The Vampire’s Captive (Book 4)
The Vampire’s Servant (Book 5)
The Vampire’s Fate (Book 6)
The Vampire Dream (Book 7)
The Vampire’s Shadow (Coming Soon)
Standalone books
The Vampire Game
Trapped with the Vampire
Blood Lust
Mailing List
Join my mailing list to stay up to date. It’s for new releases only, no spam:
http://eepurl.com/b5tmt5
Follow me on Facebook for updates and general chatter:
https://www.facebook.com/TalesOfVampires
Or just drop me an email:
[email protected]