Forstaken by Kerri Nelson Read Free Book Online

she could think of was
going home and waking up from this nightmare.
    “All in due
time.” He smiled and then exited the car, shutting the door behind him and
leaving her in darkness.
    She waited. Heard
him speaking in hushed tones to someone. She assumed it was the driver. Then she
began to chew her fingernails and waited. Her eyes closed, and she began to
replay some of the images from earlier.
    A pale-faced woman, with long dark hair. She bent over
Nadia and smiled. “You must never think of us. We’ll do our best to erase this
life from your memory, but if it ever comes back to you, you must forget you
ever knew us. You must live, sweet one. You must live for us.”
    Nadia watched the beautiful woman with the
caramel-colored eyes and tried to understand.
    “Why, mother? Why can’t I stay with you and father?”
    The woman kissed her softly on the forehead. Nadia felt a tear drop
onto her face. Her mother was crying. “Because you’re special, Nadia. You must
be protected.”
    ****
    “Okay, this is
bullshit.” Byron had listened to enough crap over the past couple of hours. He
was tired of riddles and mages. He didn’t know if he could take another minute
in the company of this vampire doofus. His frustrations had reached their limit,
and yet the vampire marched upward toward the top of the cliffs, ignoring
Byron’s requests for information, ignoring his protests for answers.
    Byron had had
more than enough.
    He unsheathed
the sword and whacked Shadee across the back of the legs with as much force as
he could muster. He used the flat side of the blade. His intent was not to cut
the man’s legs off but to get his attention.
    Obviously,
some of his sea powers were already returning, and the strength behind his blow
had been a little more forceful than intended. Shadee went flying forward about
ten feet and landed in a pile of weapons.
    The sound of
his landing was a sickening thud, but he was back on his feet, fangs lengthened
and his own blade drawn, in a matter of seconds. He faced Byron, his eyes
glowing in the moonlight.
    “Pull yourself
together. If you want to save your girl, this is the only way to do it.”
    Byron started
to feel the twangs of guilt for smacking the cowboy, but then he remembered
being nearly poisoned to death by this very same vampire earlier today; and the
guild subsided.
    “You know I do,
but I need some answers. You want me to back you up in a battle, and I don’t
know what the hell is going on. It is taking nearly all the energy I have left
to battle my flux, and you’re marching off to some war I have no knowledge or
insight into. You’ve got to give me something.”
    Shadee
straightened his arsenal and dusted off the knees of his jeans. He didn’t look
happy but seemed to be considering Byron’s request.
    “All right,
look. I know you’ve been living under the water for the better part of your
life, and I guess you’re out of touch with the whole supernatural world and
all. I don’t really have the time to go into all the details right now because
if we don’t get up here to this shrine and kill this Dagger motherfucker then
it will be the end to all of my kindred, and I can’t allow that.”
    Byron absorbed
the information, and it sounded like a great plan. Kill the asshole that held
his woman captive. But this was not enough information to go on. He was bound by
honor, trust, and the Code of the Sea-gods. He couldn’t exactly just start
killing people, even if they were ancient demons.
    “But you said
Nadia was the Forstaken. What does that even mean?”
    Shadee turned
and started walking. After a few steps, Byron followed. He took a deep breath
and exhaled loudly. Something about this entire thing wasn’t sitting right with
him, and he wasn’t the kind of man who walked into battle without all the
pieces of the puzzle.
    Then Shadee
spoke again.
    “The Forstaken is the one woman
who was born of two pure royal vampires. She is not a vampire. She holds no
real