Secret Legacy
Authors: Anna Destefano
Tags: #Science Fiction, #Contemporary, #General, #Romance, #Fantasy, #Suspense, #Fiction, #Paranormal
“This new urban fantasy has an attention-grabbing plot and interesting characters that provide excitement and suspense. And the psychological tension provides a satisfying head trip. . . . The story line satisfies and leads to a cliff-hanger conclusion.”
—
RT Book Reviews
on
Dark Legacy
“
Dark Legacy
combines Gothic overtones, secret government technology, a psychic heroine, a brilliant and charming hero and a lightning-fast plot to create a sure winner.”
—
New York Times
Bestselling Author
Lori Handeland
“Anna DeStefano’s remarkable stories of the healing power of love touch the heart with hope. One of the genre’s rising stars . . .”
—Gayle Wilson, Two-time RITA
Award–winning Author
“DeStefano’s chilling, mesmerizing tale draws readers through a horrifying mental nightmare and brings them safely, if not unscathed, to the other side. Fans of psychological suspense—especially the clinical kind—may find this especially fascinating.”
—
Library Journal
on
Dark Legacy
“
Dark Legacy
is a spine-tingling blend of dark suspense and a paranormal romance that explores the deep powers of the human mind and heart. . . . Anna DeStefano keeps the reader poised on the very edge until the last page as danger upon danger arises, as image upon image builds to the final confrontation and shocking revelation . . .”
—Merrimon Book Reviews
“Ms. DeStefano has crafted a complex and compelling tale that encompasses a lot of ‘What Ifs.’ You will be wondering till the end. . . . And you will enjoy pretty much every page of this wonderfully written tale.”
—Night Owl Romance
“. . . My top Genre Bending must read fiction book for this year . . . it’s edgy . . . real edgy.”
—
Rochester Writing Examiner
on
Dark Legacy
“Ms. DeStefano provides readers with an entertaining reading experience. . . .
Dark Legacy
combines the dark draw of power with a danger-filled paranormal adventure of revenge and romance.”
—Darque Reviews
“If you like your thrillers with a dash of the paranormal and a bit on the Gothic side, this is the book for you.”
—Fresh Fiction on
Dark Legacy
Legacy
A
NNA
D
E
S
TEFANO
DORCHESTER PUBLISHING
May 2011
Published by
Dorchester Publishing Co.,
Inc. 200 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10016
Copyright © 2011 by Anna DeStefano
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, without the written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
ISBN 13: 978-1-4285-1111-8
E-ISBN: 978-1-4285-0962-7
The “DP” logo is the property of Dorchester Publishing Co., Inc.
Printed in the United States of America.
Visit us online at
www.dorchesterpub.com
.
To Leah and Michelle.
Your vision thrives in the dreams you nurture.
To Andrew and Jimmy.
Fantasy and imagination are only possible
because you remind me to play.
To Anna Adams,
for the memories that knowing you
has gifted back to me.
To Nina Bruhns and
the Low Country Romance Writers.
Secret Legacy was conceived in
the footprints I’ve left on your unforgettable shore.
To everyone who believes in
just a little more than we should.
Faith opens doors and worlds and futures,
promising a tomorrow to heal each yesterday.
Secret
Legacy
Twins will be born to the line. And with them, great good to commence. Or great evil, should darkness descend. Through them, another will come, to spread light far and wide. Or to cast the ultimate shadow on a lost mankind.
—The Temple Legacy
Specto. Tego. Asservo.
—The Watcher’s Creed
HAPTER
O
NE
There was a magnificence to the ocean’s embrace, violet blue perfection hinting at secrets below. Cool channels wrapped Sarah Temple in velvet, promising her redemption. Luring her deeper. Dream currents caressed as they charmed, beguiled, seduced her into believing that tonight her search would end.
She’d agreed not to come. She’d made them believe she couldn’t. Dreaming alone was reckless. But what she had to do was too important, too dangerous, to let them follow. They would have stopped this to keep her safe.
But there was no “safe” for Sarah. There was only the truth, and setting it free. And freedom wouldn’t come until she faced the insanity of her nightmares.
As she rushed through the welcoming sea, deeper than they’d ever let her go, acceptance wrapped around her. She drank it down, drowning the doubt that whispered through her dream. She wasn’t crazy. She was terrified of her mind’s darkness. But conquering the nightmare was the only way to stop the pain. And to make them believe her. To find the proof that would protect everyone. She wouldn’t allow another innocent to suffer because she was too weak to face the truth.
Richard would be furious. He’d never fail her again, he’d said. He was determined to guide her through this. As if Sarah
could trust him after what he’d done. As if there were another path for her besides this one.
Streaks of color pulled from every direction. Ribbons of red and pink bleeding into crimson. It was a beautiful display. Terrifying and tempting and drawing her closer to the soul-deep cry that needed her here.
Then the colors became a voice.
And the voice was calling to her.
“
Help me
. . .
” it whispered.
Loneliness ripped at Sarah, dragging, shoving, pushing her toward the nightmare’s hidden heart. It was a baby’s cry, she realized. It was a whimper. A little girl’s pain. It was the shriek of a woman full grown, betrayed by every indecent thing that had been done to her. Demanding that Sarah hear. That she keep swimming.
She’d gone too deep to breathe or see clearly. The colors had lost their vivid hues, abandoning her to a watery tomb.
“Help me
. . .
” she cried.
Then the water, too, was gone.
Sarah’s head spun as she staggered down a twisting tunnel that echoed with taunting pleas that no one believed were real. There was nowhere to stop. No place to rest. The light she needed to guide her wasn’t there. Nothing was revealed by the dream’s next turn, or the next, except her growing fear that she would fail.
She looked back before she could stop herself. Her gaze lifted to the surface where Richard’s raven had always waited, poised to protect her if she’d let him. There was no shadow there tonight anticipating her call. No warrior in the world beyond the dream, fighting to protect her. Sarah had made sure of it
. . .
HAPTER
T
WO
Colonel Richard Metting stood in the control center of the Watchers’ underground bunker, studying a wall of monitors and hiding the fact that he could feel Sarah’s sanity splintering. The cries that she heard in her nightmares were screaming through his mind now, too. Along with flashes of his dream symbol—a raven—circling above an angry sea.
She was dreaming.
Alone.
If her recklessness was discovered, the council of elders presiding over the Brotherhood would command that her legacy be neutralized. Richard’s job would be to execute the order. She’d be exiled to an irreversible coma.
“We’ve observed only routine activity due to shift change,” Mike Donovan reported from the surveillance team monitoring the Trinity Psychiatric Research Center. “Only vetted staff entering and exiting the building. There are no doctors or medical personnel on-site except those assigned to existing cases. Hourly sweeps detect no psychic activity, no dream projections.”