Dark Possession - Aja James Page 0,65

chickens that used to run around the monastery (yes, monastery, not nunnery, long story) in which she grew up had the ugliest feet, which the monks used to eat along with every other bit of the bird when they grew too old to lay eggs.

She squinted one eye open and looked up at the giant eagle legs, leading down to the monstrous talons that held her in place.

Yup. Still unattractive. Not as ugly as chicken feet, but…

Eveline sighed and tried not to dwell on it.

What had become of her well-ordered life?

A few days ago, she’d been abducted and delivered to the Dark King to be his Blood Slave, which she negotiated down to a Blood Contract. Then, he’d gifted her with the most explosive sexual experience of her life—twice—before making her, the woman who never cried, weep buckets full of tears over his unequivocal rejection. Now, she was dangling thousands of feet in the air from a giant eagle’s talons, on their way to crash a royal Challenge.

Eveline had always thought of herself as the sort of female who wouldn’t be in such precarious, dramatic situations.

Well, now she thought—

Fuck it.

A whole new Eveline was about to come to town.

“Humans view Immortals as either gods or monsters. Dark Ones and those Gifted with Animal Spirits are the most obvious, given the physical manifestations. Pure Ones and those Gifted with Elements are much less so, their powers easily hidden. In the latter case, ‘magic’ or ‘sorcery’ are terms used to describe the ability of a Pure One to never age, our enhanced healing abilities, and our strength. Elementals have an even broader array of powers, each Gift unique from the next, like snowflakes. When an Immortal is also possessed of a Gift, all limits are imaginary…”

—From the lost oral histories of the Zodiac Scrolls

Chapter Twelve

Ramses stepped to the edge on the west bank of the American Falls after clearing the forest through which he, Maximus and Ariel had hiked through.

The night was eerily quiet, save the crushing deluge of the falls, the surrounding area within a two-mile radius deserted. At about two o’clock in the morning, this was not surprising.

Dark, looming clouds hid a low-hanging yellow moon, casting the falls in a pale, ghostly light that made the mists appear to rise into the air like sulfurous smoke, reminiscent of humans’ portrayal of the Devil’s lair, full of fire and brimstone.

A poetic setting, in other words, for the Challenge that was about to take place.

Upon Ramses’ orders, Maximus had arranged for Devlin and Grace to hack into the proximate security and lighting systems to shut off all video surveillance and the multi-color lasers that usually lit up the falls. If there were any accidental human passersby, they wouldn’t be able to see two feet in front of them in the veiling darkness. And if they had a flashlight, the vampires would be forewarned of their presence well in advance.

Even so, to ensure the secrecy of the race (something Queen Anya and her alliance of Dark nobles were less concerned about), Grace and Devlin were also tasked with remotely monitoring and redirecting any traffic that might come their way.

“Stand by.”

Ramses heard his Second-in-Command give the gruff order through his wrist-com to whatever reinforcements that had been assembled, probably already scattered throughout the forests at their back. Then, Maximus and Ariel took their positions a few yards behind him, protecting his rear while he stood on the edge of the bank, looking across the two-hundred-fifty-meter length of the falls to the far side.

Waiting.

But not for long.

Right on time, three figures exited the woods on the other side and strode purposefully toward the falls. Two forms were obviously females, given their builds, though they were both relatively tall. They appeared small in comparison, however, to the giant of a male behind them.

Ramses narrowed his eyes and sharpened his vampire vision.

He could not yet make out clearly what the male’s features were, but there was something dangerously familiar about him. In the way he moved, his very aura, which Ramses could sense even from a distance away.

At the edge of the falls, the opposing contingent stopped.

Because of the deafening rush of the waterfall, there was no use trying to communicate with spoken words. Instead, Queen Anya reached out with her telepathy.

Ramses himself was not a strong telepath; it was not his Gift. Those Gifted with the Elements Air and Water were the strongest telepaths. Those Gifted with Earth and Fire, like he was, made the strongest