Ascension

CLICK HERE FOR CONTENT WARNINGS!!

• Blood
• Blood Play
• Knife Play
• Turn religious belief upside down
• Explicit violence/gore
• Death
• Character Death

Chapter One – Excerpt

Peace and quiet.

It was hard to come by, but I was doing my best to try to find it—even if just for a moment. Security was as tight as ever and I hadn’t had a moment alone in days. I knew it was for my own good, but with so many people inside the house to begin with—and all the additional security personnel added to that—I was a little on edge. I’d begged for just a moment outside to get a fresh breath of air and a small sense of freedom.

After the attack three nights ago that ended with Caleb being shot, our security teams performed a sweep of the entire grounds. Once declared free from any enemy, additional cameras and infrared beams were installed in a perimeter around the mansion. The Council had sent in several snipers, and we’d assigned them to the most advantageous positions possible on a twenty-four-hour rotation. 

Now, it was virtually impossible for anyone to get close enough to do us any harm. Well, not without attracting a hell of a lot of unwanted attention first. Coven and pack members who didn’t live on site were told to stay away until further notice and those that did live on site were forbidden to leave.

Leland, my shadow for the evening, stood a few feet away near the private entrance, watching me closely. I turned away from him and walked a short way down the sidewalk, then looked up at the night sky. It was clear and cold, the stars shining like diamonds against the blue-black backdrop.

I let my gaze fall to the line of trees in the distance, wishing I could shift and take a run. Considering the number of snipers hidden in those very trees surrounding the property, it was probably safe enough to do. But as we’d recently found out, nothing was as safe and secure as it appeared. 

Nervous energy filled the air, and I glanced back at Leland. He might have been part of the security detail, but he was on edge tonight, too. No doubt he was itching to shift and hunt just as much as I was. All our werewolves and vampires likely felt just as trapped. Those of us that were dead to the world during the daytime hours had it easier than everyone else. At least we got a welcome reprieve from the lockdown.

Bright, white light streaked across the night sky, drawing my attention upward again. The single light exploded in a cascade of colors. An almost perfect star formed before the snap and crackle of the charge followed only a second later.

Leland made a happy, wistful sigh. “Man, that’s pretty.”

“Yeah, it is.” I watched as another firework went off, followed by two more. As the colors fizzled, I looked over at him. “Is it New Year’s Eve already?”

“Yep.”

“Wow,” I said softly. “We just sailed right through Christmas with all this shit going down, didn’t we?”

He nodded. “Yeah, not one of our better ones.”

That kind of made me sad. For years, I’d been on my own for holidays and hadn’t really celebrated. Simon had gone out of his way to bring in the holiday spirit last year, but this year there’d been none of that. So much had changed in such a short amount of time. So much of it my own fault.

I sighed and pushed away from the brick wall of the mansion where I’d been leaning. “Well, here’s to a less shitty year than the last one.”

“It gets a little easier as the years go by,” he said. “First few are the hardest.”

I nodded. “I’m going up to have a little quiet time on the roof. Don’t tell anyone where I’m at, okay?”

“Will do, sir.”

After making sure no one else was watching, I walked along the side of the mansion until I found one of the outside units for the central air. I hopped up on it and proceeded to climb my way up to one of the ledges. The spot I’d found two days before was nestled between two windows on the third floor, with a view to the east. It was nice and level with hardly any slope. A perfect place to hide.

If only I could hide from my own thoughts.

It wasn’t only the danger we faced from outside the coven. Things within it were just as fucked up. Lucien still had no answers as to why he couldn’t sleep during the day or why he was eating and craving human food. All of Doc’s poking and prodding had him moody as hell and he wasn’t picky as to who he decided to snap at. At any moment he could be calm, cool, and collected, and the next… he’d just lose it. His anger never lasted long, but his outbursts could be fierce.

He was itching to go out and hunt down the master of this invading coven of vampires and, at times, it was all Nikolas, Sabaan, and me could do to keep him inside. He snapped at us more than anyone else. I knew he was doing his best to do it behind closed doors. We couldn’t allow the coven to realize that he was compromised in any way.

That we were all compromised.

Because the pack was in no better position. Xander wanted to resign as leader. I wasn’t sure if he truly didn’t want the responsibility anymore or if it was something deeper. With the bond between us still broken, there was no way for me to really gauge his motives. But the thought of taking over the pack terrified me. I couldn’t afford to keep fucking up and putting other people’s lives in jeopardy.

Like Simon’s.

I was still trying to find a way to tell him that I’d gone ahead and asked for a hearing regarding his wings. And that he’d also been granted one and could, very likely, be stripped of whatever remained of his powers because of my interference. He’d asked me to leave it alone, but I’d done the very opposite.

Good god. 

How many things could I afford to fuck up around here?

And then there were these random murders. My fucking father going out of his way to draw me out—or take me out—who knew. Daniel and the Council of Elders hadn’t left us alone and never let me forget that I was about to join their merry old gang of assholes…

Happy fucking New Year.