Defender's Blood Alex's Destiny (An Urban Fantasy)
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Authors: A K Michaels
Defender's Blood
Alex's Destiny
Book 1
A K Michaels
© 2013 by A K Michaels All Rights Reserved
This book, or any portion thereof, may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission by the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Chapter
1
Chapter
2
Chapter
3
Chapter
4
Chapter
5
Chapter
6
Chapter
7
Chapter
8
Chapter
9
Chapter
10
Chapter
11
Chapter
12
Chapter
13
Chapter
14
Chapter
15
Chapter
16
Chapter
17
Chapter
18
Chapter
19
Chapter
20
Dedication
I dedicate this book to the person that has been with me for more of my life than I was on my own. He's been with me for highs, lows and all the stuff in between. My husband, the man I love with all my heart.
Chapter 1
What on earth was this human thinking, Zach cursed. She was wandering about in the middle of nowhere on her own AND in the bloody dark. Zach was watching this female closely and had been for a few days, obviously without her knowledge. However, this was the first time he truly felt she may actually be in danger, as he had been advised.
He had been on the verge of directly contacting the Witch in Canada who had reported her vision in which this petite human had been kidnapped, used for a very special ritual to unleash some extremely nasty surprises and then killed. He thought maybe the Witch had got things a bit confused, as Witches sometimes were prone to do, and in fact that this woman was not involved.
Up until a few minutes ago Zach did not even smell any magic or supernatural essence on her, however, he now felt something out of sync in the nature around them, so he would just have to see how this played out. He carried on following her, at a safe distance so she wouldn’t detect him.
*****
It was also getting dark and in Scotland it got dark a tad too quickly for her liking. It wasn’t raining – yet – but again with the Scottish weather the rain was usually never far away. Her sense of direction was terrible and she could get lost even when she could see where she was going, but being in the middle of the trees she had no idea which way to go. “Feck it!” she cursed, well it wasn’t really cursing in her mind that’s why she added an ‘e’ instead of a ‘u’! She about-turned and thought to just try and retrace her steps, hoping she was going in the right direction.
She was not the type of person to scare easy, wasn’t afraid of spiders, the dark, or any of the usual stuff. Once when her ex had jumped out and given her a fright she had actually punched him, square on the nose, on instinct alone. She was never quite sure who was more surprised, her or her ex, though certainly he was the one who was most upset.
However, as she carried on walking she started to feel something, not fear exactly, but well – she didn’t know. She stopped and listened in case she could maybe hear something that was getting through to her unconscious, but nope, didn’t hear anything out of the ordinary.
Wait a minute, she thought, I don’t hear anything? Nothing, no birds, no wee animals, no wind, nothing. That was a bit weird, but she was still not exactly scared, just curious. She was walking in a wooded area with branches, twigs and all sorts of stuff on the ground so she couldn’t just run anyway, she’d already tripped once.
She just resumed her walk, hoping she would be out of the woods soon. She took a nice deep breath trying to stop her heart from beating faster, though she didn’t know why it was misbehaving.
She had always had what her Aunt Mary called a ‘good sixth sense’ and she always told her to ‘heed it and do what it tells you, even if you think it’s silly’, and right at this minute it was telling her to move, fast, and get the hell away from where she was.
What the blazes is going on, she was thinking. This is ridiculous, breathe, walk, get to the car, she told herself, refusing to allow panic to set in. After all, she wasn't a kid, she was a grown woman, being alone in the dark shouldn't scare her. Christ she was nearly forty not some scared teen, get a grip woman, she thought.
*****
Zach continued following the human, trying to ensure that not only she but whoever else might be in the area did not hear, see or in fact ‘feel’ him. Over the past few days she had done the usual such as go to work, going to the gym a couple of times but not a lot else, so keeping her safe so far had been relatively easy. Until now that is.
Obviously if she was aware she may be in danger, she would not have gone for a night time walk in the middle of nowhere. She was not aware, however, and in fact she seemed totally oblivious of her surroundings, deep in thought about something.
Zach was not close enough to truly feel her emotions or read her, but he was of the opinion that something was troubling her. He once more studied the human. She was petite with strawberry blonde curly hair, with delicious curves in just the right places, not one of the skin and bones type that were all around these days.
He particularly liked her eyes – an unusual shade of green which complemented her colouring perfectly. I wonder what she’s like in bed. Whoa, where on earth did that thought come from? Zach never ever mixed business with pleasure and this was definitely business.
Zach worked all over the world but this was only his second time in Scotland, in this very picturesque rural area not too far from Glasgow, watching this petite human. He was beginning to become concerned. The longer he watched over her, the more he was sensing something. What that was he was unsure of but ‘something’ there most definitely was.
He sent out his power to see if he could sense anything that should not be in this countryside, or in fact any countryside, but again it was as if something was not right but he just couldn’t grasp what was out there. Hmm intriguing, he thought. He liked a good mystery to solve.
He continued on, keeping a close eye on the human. He was then distracted by the
pzz pzz
of his mobile and it started to vibrate in his jeans pocket. He was far enough behind the woman that she would not hear anything but he stopped to let her get a little bit ahead before taking it out, and was surprised to see the name of one of the higher-ups in the Council. He never got calls from them while on a mission.
What was going on? he wondered. “Zach here,” he whispered.
Thadius, a very old, powerful Werewolf and member of the Council, launched into talking. “Zach, I am so glad I have managed to reach you. The Council has come into some very important and disturbing information. I take it you are still keeping an eye on Alexina in Scotland?”
Zach frowned. Thadius sounded very upset and he was usually so cool and calm. “Yes, of course I am, but nothing is happening this end and I just don’t understand what this human has to do with anything magical? Maybe I’m wasting my time?” Zach replied.
“NO NO NO Zach. This information, if it is correct, has confirmed just how important Alexina is. You must keep her safe at all costs, and you need to get her on the jet and back here to Council Headquarters as soon as you can! Tonight if you can arrange it.”
Zach had never heard Thadius so agitated and certainly had never heard him raise his voice! What on earth was going on? “Okay Thadius, I will try and make contact with her without scaring her senseless and will advise E.T.A. as soon as I have that information.” Zach didn’t wait for goodbyes, he hung up the phone and replaced it in his pocket. Shit, he thought, what’s so important about this human female?
Zach realised that he had stayed stationary whilst he had been on the phone with Thadius, and Alexina (although she went by the shortened Alex, he much preferred her full name) had of course carried on. She was now quite a bit in front of him so he set off to catch up with her. How the hell do I ‘make contact’ with her out here in the middle of nowhere without scaring the living daylights out of her? he thought.
She was extremely easy to follow, between the noise she was making – which would wake the dead – and then, there was her smell! It was the most luscious smell he had come across, ever, and that was truly saying something.
He did not know when he had decided it was ‘luscious’, just that he now did and he was trying to work out just what was so different about this woman. However, he was nothing if not patient, and he would figure it out.
That is, after he figured out how to introduce himself first, then try to talk her into going with him, a total stranger and a Vampire to boot, halfway around the world from her Scottish home to the USA! Oh well, he thought, I will just play it by ear and see where it gets me. He chuckled, not the first time he dealt with things by the seat of his pants, so to speak.
He caught up to her so he wasn’t too far behind, close enough to keep an eye on her while he tried to figure out how to go about things.
*****
Shit thought Alex. “What the hell is happening to me?” she said aloud to herself. I can ‘sense’ the trees! What in holy hell is going on? Are they ‘talking’?
She stopped walking and tried to calm herself at the same time as trying to sort through what was happening to her senses and in her head. Godammit, I have finally lost it, time for a counsellor for me I think, she ruefully thought.
She took several deep breaths and tried very hard to empty her head of these senses, thoughts and words that were bombarding her brain. “Nope, that’s not bloody working. Okay just keep walking, block it out and WALK!” she told herself forcefully. She spoke aloud, hoping her words would make more of an impact on her brain.
“
A very large Jack Daniels and diet coke is definitely waiting for me at home!” she laughed aloud.
*****
Zach could hear what she was saying and feel her growing panic but he couldn’t figure out what it was that had caused her heart to nearly beat out of her chest.
He could sense that she was trying desperately to keep control and he felt a deep need to rush to her and comfort her. Again he thought ‘what the hell’. Why was he feeling like this? He had no idea but couldn’t shake the feeling and, as he was the master of controlling his emotions, this startled him.
In fact he could truly think of no other time in his life when he felt so out of control of his feelings, as he did now.
Just as they were nearing the end of the wooded area, Zach felt something tickle his senses – something is here, he thought. His senses told him it wasn’t another Vampire or even a Were but it was definitely something ‘Super’ or magical.
He went on high alert, every part of him coming alive, his strength building for what he thought was going to be a battle. He ran at full speed, which was faster than the human eye could follow, and was immediately behind the female.
He put a hand out to stop her and she turned around... “FECK!” she shouted, “Who...” and that was all she got out.
The air around them started to sizzle and they could both smell something rotten, something bad, something downright evil.
*****
Alex’s senses were now on overload. ‘RUN!’ the trees were telling her. Something was materialising in front of them.
There was black smoke and it seemed as if it was becoming solid, a shape! She didn’t get the chance to see what it was though, the stranger who had appeared out of nowhere suddenly picked her up and she felt the most incredible power emanating from him.
It did not feel ‘bad’ but the most overpowering feeling of strength that she had ever felt in her life and then the most amazing, totally unbelievable thing happened. All around her seemed to ‘shimmer’, that was the only word she could think to describe it, and then they were at the car park! The car park several miles away, she knew that because there in front of her was her car.
The stranger put her down and she stood very unsteadily on her own feet. Then she ... oops no no please don’t let me ...
“Oh God,” was all she got out before she bent over and threw up everywhere, she was sick as a dog and fell to her knees.
The strange man that had picked her up and got her here walked over to a very large SUV, got a bottle of water and brought it to her. “Here this will help, it’s always like that the first time you move,” he said.
“Move! Move! What in blazes do you mean? What the hell just happened? Who are you? What was that THING in the woods? How did you do that? Oh hell I’m going to throw up again!” Alex bent over and threw up some more, shaking and sweating and feeling as if she was in some extremely bad nightmare.
*****
“I will answer your many questions but we need to get out of here now!” Zach replied. He once more picked her up and carried her to his vehicle and placed her, very gently, into the passenger seat.
Dear God she smells so good, he thought, her blood is calling to me. He frowned, trying to sort through what was happening to him. No time now, got to get her to safety, he told himself.
He went round, got in the driver’s side and pulled out of the car park like a pack of wolves were after them. Never know, probably is, he thought, or something worse – much worse.
He turned towards the city and put his foot to the floor, they were going as fast as possible for him to get as far away from the area as quickly as he could. He wasn’t sure what that thing in the woods was, but he sure as hell knew it wasn’t delivering a bunch of flowers.
He turned to look at Alexina, she was pale and shaking, probably from the move, he thought. It wasn’t pleasant if you weren’t used to them, especially the very first time, so he knew she was probably feeling pretty crap right now.
Despite that, she was staring at him with a very defiant look on her face and he could sense she was going to let rip real soon.
Yup, here it comes, she looks like she is going to explode.
“
Just who the fuck are you and what the hell just happened?” Her face was beetroot red and he couldn’t stop a small smile from twitching his lips, she looked adorable.