Forstaken by Kerri Nelson Read Free Book Online Page B

existence and why your parents saw fit to abandon
you, their only child.”
    “No,” Nadia
said, a sudden calm coming over her. She didn’t know exactly how she was going
to handle this, but she now knew Dagger was not exactly who he claimed. At a
minimum, he was not someone she could ever trust.
    “But we are
only a few steps away from reaching our goal. I can show you things about your
parents. Things you’ve longed to know all your life. Didn’t you like regaining
all those memories earlier this evening?”
    Nadia eyed
him. He suddenly seemed a little nervous, and his speech had quickened into a
rapid release of words, not unlike the rapid rat-tat-tat firing of a weapon.
    “Why do we
need to go to the top of this cliff on this particular night? Why can’t I go
home first, and we can visit again tomorrow?”
    He seemed
unsure of how to proceed, but a flash of anger passed behind his eyes. She saw
it then, and her suspicions were confirmed.
    She saw the
evil inside him. He wasn’t taking her to this cliff under this full moon to
show her anything about her parents. He was taking her there to kill her. She
didn’t know why. Maybe she’d never know why, and maybe she’d have to live with
not ever knowing; but she knew she’d never get to live at all if she didn’t get
out of this and now.
    She turned,
planning to run, but then he was instantaneously behind her. It was if he’d
read her mind and moved through space and time to be waiting on her before she
could even take another step.
    “No. No. No,” he
said, as if scolding a small child.
    “Nadia!” Byron’s
voice broke through the confusion and fear in her mind, and she turned and
looked upward.
    At the top of
the cliffs stood the love of her life. He’d never looked more powerful,
majestic, and safe. She grinned broadly and then ran up the path as fast as her
muscled legs would take her.
    They found each
other in a warm embrace for only a moment before Dagger had her by the hair,
tugging with such force she swore she could hear the hair ripping out of her
skull.
    She shrieked
in pain.
    “Let go of her,”
Byron’s voice was unwavering..
    Dagger laughed
heartily.
    “I don’t know
how you found us here, or why you’re not dead, but you’ll be back at home, in
the sea before you can count to three.”
    Dagger raised his arm and made a
motion as if casting Byron aside. But a crunch of gravel sounded behind them as
the lanky cowboy came out of nowhere and sliced a chunk of Dagger’s arm off
with one swift motion.
    Dagger’s high-pitched
squeal pierced Nadia’s ears, and the surprise of Shadee’s attack was enough for
her to squirm free of Dagger’s grasp.
    Byron pulled
her out of harm’s way, and Dagger turned to face his attacker.
    “What are you
doing here, Shadee?” The wound on Dagger’s arm was already healing.
    Nadia shivered
in Byron’s arms and noticed he was carrying a long sword in his right hand.
    “I’m here to
protect the Forstaken. I’ll not let you kill her and kill us all, no matter how
powerful you are. Everyone has their weakness.”
    Dagger was
fully healed now and back to his manic grinning, his black cloak flapping
wildly in the breeze.
    “Oh, dear
redneck brethren. You might be right, except that I’m the last of the only pure
vampire line, and there’s no way you and a…” He paused and turned to pierce
Byron with a steely glare. “An aquatic underling could ever take me down.”
    Nadia closed
her eyes. Byron leaned in and whispered in her ear softly. She nodded.
    She already
knew. Her mother had told her long ago. One day, she’d come face-to-face with a
demon. Her uncle. Her mother’s only brother and the one who’d turned against
her family long ago. One day, she’d be the only one who could kill him.
    That day was
today.
    Shadee swung
the sword at Dagger, but it was deflected with a brief shake of Dagger’s head.
Shadee dove for Dagger’s throat, but the ancient demon was suddenly out of
reach and five