Awakening
RAPTURE’S EDGE 1
“AWAKENING”
CARIS ROANE
RAPTURE’S EDGE 1: The Awakening
By Caris Roane
Copyright © 2014 Twin Bridges Creations LLC
All rights reserved. No part of this eBook may be reproduced in whole or in part, scanned, photocopied, recorded, distributed in any printed or electronic form, or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without express written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.
Formatting and cover by Bella Media Management.
Dear Reader,
Welcome to the first installment of the Rapture’s Edge Series, “Awakening”. This story is part of my Guardians of Ascension series and launches several stories beginning with Warrior Duncan, three Militia Warriors, one Third Earth outcast named Merl, and finally, Luken, our gentle giant from the original series. For books 1, 2 and 3, both Endelle and Luken play a prominent role along with Duncan and Rachel.
I chose to continue the series in an episodic form, because it was the best way to tell the ongoing saga of all my hunky Warriors of the Blood and those Militia Warriors advancing to “What-bee” power.
RAPTURE’S EDGE “Awakening” comes right after THE DARKENING, a story that lets us see the romance between Warrior Samuel and his
breh
, Vela.
You’ll find a terminology appendix at the end of the book in case you want to look up the meanings of a few words here and there.
“Awakening” opens with Duncan caught in a trance by a powerful Third Earth ascender by the name of Yolanthe. You’ll be getting to know this woman well over the next few episodes since she’s the one intent on killing Rachel.
The
breh-hedden
(vampire mate-bonding) takes charge of Duncan and Rachel as it has for all previous eight warriors so far: Kerrick, Marcus, Antony, Jean-Pierre, Thorne, Leto, Gideon, and Samuel. And now Duncan.
Brief Synopsis of
Awakening
He’s a warrior deep in his bones, but she wants only peace…
For decades, Warrior Duncan has had an on-again, off-again relationship with a woman opposed to his warrior lifestyle. When Rachel shows up in his life again, he wants to keep his distance, but the infamous
breh-hedden
, the myth-that-isn’t-a myth, bears down on him keeping him in a perpetual caveman-like state. How is he supposed to make war when he’s falling in love with a woman who only wants peace?
Rachel can’t believe Duncan is back in her life. She spent years getting over him, over all the fights they had about her dislike of the war and his love of being a Militia Warrior. The problem is, she never stopped loving him and the trance he’s stuck in has her out of her mind with worry. When the
breh-hedden
crashes down on her, she wants only one thing: Duncan … in her bed … now. But how is she supposed to stay with a man who represents what she hates most about their ascended vampire world?
Enjoy!
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Coming Soon: Episode #2 of RAPTURE’S EDGE, the continuing saga of the Guardians of Ascension, again featuring Duncan and Rachel. And we’re going to Third Earth! Check out RAPTURE’S EDGE on my website.
http://www.carisroane.com/raptures-edge/
Coming Soon: Book #7 of the Blood Rose Series, Mastyr Zane’s story:
EMBRACE THE WIND
!!!
Be sure to check out the Blood Rose Tales Box Set – TRAPPED, HUNGER, and SEDUCED -- shorter works for a quick, sexy, satisfying read. For more information:
http://www.carisroane.com/blood-rose-tales-box-set/
CHAPTER ONE
Love battles
Against the unknown.
Collected Proverbs –
Beatrice of Fourth
Duncan’s captor laid it out. “All I want is your lover’s current location. Once you give that to me, I’ll let you wake up and we can move forward. But I really do need Rachel to take a big step back.”
Right over a cliff, no doubt.
Duncan was under no illusion; the woman, Yolanthe, wanted Rachel dead. She’d said so more than once in the early part of this bizarre captivity. Softening her word choice didn’t change the intention.
Caught in a two-week trance he couldn’t escape, Duncan once again tried to make sense of what he was seeing. Though he knew he was lying in a hospital bed on Second Earth, he was staring at a snow leopard that his captor held on a short, black leather leash. But he didn’t know how he could see either the leopard or the beautiful red-haired woman or her rust-and-cream marble home.
And how the hell could he be in two places at once?
Although, his gut told him he wasn’t, not really. It was just some kind of Third Earth power, a mental distortion maybe. Yolanthe had called it a voyeur window, but a Third Dimension variety, not the simpler kind found on Second. Endelle, the leader of Second Earth, had a voyeur window, so he knew the concept was viable.
For two weeks now, during his waking hours, the trance had kept him focused only on Yolanthe.
He wanted desperately to come out of this captive mental state, but nothing he’d tried had worked. The woman had power, more than he could fathom, which was why he could
see her
and
talk to her
while lying prone on a bed in Metro Phoenix Two. She was some kind of freakish princess on Third Earth, but more than that he was still piecing together.
When he’d first come under Yolanthe’s spell, or whatever the hell this was, she’d worn her hair in thick curls hanging down her back. Maybe she was trying out a new look, but for now she’d bound up her curly red hair in about two dozen thin braids, wrapping them around her head in an almost haphazard way. The effect was both unique and unsettling because at first glance it looked like she had snakes for hair.
She was beautiful in a strange way, with very light red lashes and brows, and pale blue eyes. Her white skin was flawless, not a single freckle in sight. Though tall, looking to be about six-foot-one, the woman needed some meat on her bones. She used a dark purple lipstick, bordering on black that emphasized her habitual pallor. She kept her short nails in the same Gothic shade.
Of course, she’d promised to release the trance if only he’d tell her one small piece of information:
where Rachel lived.
She harped on her theme now. “Please, Duncan, just tell me where I can find Rachel. I have excellent plans for you that will one day involve ruling a large portion of this planet. And sharing the information would go a long way to convincing me that we can work together as a team.”
She had the Third Earth darkening grid operators hunting for Rachel, but the process was hit-and-miss, and could take weeks according to what she’d told him in previous conversations. He didn’t understand much yet about the grid, but it ran through the nether-space between dimensions and could move Third ascenders down to Second and the other way around. All highly illegal.
Apparently, Third Earth wreckers were used to busting holes in the grid to gain access to Second. None of it was good.
And right now Yolanthe was using the grid to search for Rachel. Which meant, it was just a matter of time. Yolanthe would one day find Rachel, then what?
But like hell he’d give up Rachel’s location, or anyone else’s for that matter. He’d die first. “Thought I should warn you that you’re probably in for a long wait.”
She smiled, chuckling softly. “I know how to wait.”
Yeah, he got that about her. She’d shared a few pertinent details. She was nine-hundred-years old, for one, and had been waiting for Duncan for decades, from the time she’d had her first vision about him.
Unfortunately, she needed him unencumbered by Rachel.
He’d tried to explain that his on-again, off-again relationship with Rachel had been off for quite some time, that his ex-girlfriend was hardly a threat. But his explanation hadn’t moved Yolanthe even an inch.
Rachel must die.
How many times had he heard Yolanthe speak those exact words?
Yolanthe paced and the leopard moved with her.
She wore a long light green silk gown and a kind of elegant, sleeveless over-gown in pastel blue silk that had a short train dragging over the rust-and-cream marble floor. Even if he hadn’t heard her servants addressing her repeatedly with an obsequious ‘yes, Princess’, he would have known her as royalty by her movements alone.
What he couldn’t figure out was what she wanted with him, a Militia Warrior from Second Earth. He might understand if he’d been a powerful Warrior of the Blood like Luken or Zacharius, but he wasn’t. Sure, he had a couple of emerging powers, visions, for one. But in terms of the upper echelon of ability, Yolanthe would have been better off kidnapping a What-Bee instead.
While he was awake, she kept him with her like the leopard, always at her side, moving from room to room so that he’d seen the palace and her extensive gardens repeatedly.
Duncan felt like the leopard, like he was on a similar leash just as tight and commanding. And as a man used to doing and fighting, this level of inactivity kept his mind on edge.
The only time he’d seen Yolanthe even a little ruffled was when a servant had rushed in telling her that her father needed to see her at once. Even the servant had seemed upset.
She’d risen and put a hand to her chest, a sign that she was distressed; father issues, maybe. She’d left quickly only she hadn’t taken the voyeur window with her, but had left him to stare at an empty living room for hours.
Though appearing fully composed when she returned, Duncan felt certain she’d been in considerable pain. Her face was empty of expression, but there was a certain tension in the way she walked that hadn’t been there before. He decided the woman would be good at poker; she hid what she felt really well.
In that sense, he could relate to her, because he worked damn hard not to let anyone get a good glimpse behind his mask. But then he’d had all emotional displays beat out of him during a strict childhood. Raised solely by an abusive father, his internal walls were almost as cement-like as Yolanthe’s.