Blood Curse (Pulse #8) (18 page)

          Logan stepped forward to block Nereti from moving closer to the ring of ice.  He raised his sword that glinted wickedly from the small ray of light from the moon. “You, Dark Fey, and enemy to humans and fey alike, will have to go through me to get back to Feyland. I know your plans…you are seeking ultimate power of both Feyland and the Crystal Realms. I can’t let you claim that.”

          Jaegar stepped forth too, facing Nereti and crossing his arms over his chest. “Seems like I’m in agreement with the Wolf. I can’t let you do that, too, Witchy Poo. Trying to take over the human world is bad enough, but now that place of his, what do you call it? It appears a bit frosty there…”

          “Feyland,” Logan said.

          “Feyland, thank you,” Jaegar said to Logan before turning to face Neriti. “You do just a little too much of taking.  I know because I have always taken what I wanted, too, but no, not like you.  You make me look like a generous donor. All that greed you have…well, it’s time to start giving back.”

          Logan stared hard at Neriti as though he was able to see right through her. “No, it can’t be,” he said. “I think I remembered being told about you from fey history…the first fey to be cast out of Feyland…Pixie King Delano’s first wife who committed the most heinous crime that threatens the boundaries between all that is supernatural and human.  With all the murders that you committed of fey and humans alike in order to sustain your beauty and power, you created the curse which now this young vampire bears for eternity. Not only were you a Pixie Queen who put the idea into Delano’s head to start a war between the Summer and Winter Kingdom, but you opened the portals between  Feyland and the Dark Worlds to let the witches into Feyland where they practice their sith ways of deceiving the public with their lies, getting families and authorities to trust them and then slaughtering, sacrificing fey children and virgins to you.  So evil are you and your witches that you sacrificed your own children, offering their souls up to demons in order for you to keep your wealth and position.”

          “Holy Mother…” Jaegar let out a big breath. “I had no idea you were that evil…I mean, you take the cake in the holy grail of evil, Neriti.”

          Logan looked over at Jaegar.  “So you see, there is no way in hell this woman will ever get back into Feyland or any of the Frost Worlds,  or as you would like to call it, the supernatural world…if I can help it.”

          Nereti stood up straighter, her eyes glittering with mirth and arrogance.  “Too late, Wolf Prince. The thing about being a fey and a vampire? We can glamour and compel. We are faster than fey. And as a vampire, we can transport ourselves a great distance in a flash.”

          Logan looked over at the shattered wall of ice and saw a figure, dressed like Nereti running across the frozen waters of the Crystal River. He glanced back at Nereti, and in a flash, she was gone.

          He looked accusingly at Jaegar, who looked just as dumbfounded as he did.

          “I saw as much as you did,” Jaegar said. “And believe me, that came out of nowhere.”  He groaned as Logan shook his head and gave a great big wolf howl, alerting the Wolf Fey from the other side of the wall in Feyland about Neriti and got ready to jump through the wall to give chase to the running figure.

          Jaegar groaned. “I am getting too old for this, chasing rogue vampires around. Now Neriti’s escaped…how am I supposed to tell Kal and the gang back home I’ve let the biggest evil that ever walked the Earth out of my sight?”

          Logan grabbed Jaegar’s wrist and pulled him with him almost through the portal when Jaegar tried to fight him off. “Let me go now, Wolf!” Jaegar said.

          “No, I have to keep an eye on you, too,” Logan said. “Plus you know something about her that we can find useful.”

          “I say, let me go!” Jaegar struggled against the strong grip the Wolf Prince had on him.  “If you don’t,” Jaegar said after a few more attempts to free himself, “then this invisible being holding only my other wrist will get through and…”

          Logan sliced through the air between Jaegar’s other wrist and what appeared to be nothing, and heard a woman’s cry in pain. “Beast!” she spat, before materializing into Neriti.  “Looks like I have to fight against you two before I can get anywhere…”

          Jaegar and Logan looked at each other and turned their heads back to nod at Neriti.  “Yup!”

*****

This concludes Kalina’s Journey in the PULSE Series. Jaegar’s story and the rest of the PULSE family will continue in the spin-off, which also features characters from the Bitter Frost Series:

Beyond The Crystal River

*****

For your enjoyment, we are including a full-length novella, part of Bitter Frost, for Free here.  Thank you very much for taking the journey of PULSE with me, and I hope you will join me again for the Bitter Frost Series (Now Available) and also, Beyond the Crystal River (Coming in Spring or Summer 2014).

The Wolf Fey

A Frost Novella

kailin gow

The Wolf Fey

Published by THE EDGE

THE EDGE is an imprint of Sparklesoup Inc.

Copyright © 2011 Kailin Gow

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or  mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the publisher except in case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

For information, please contact:

THE EDGE at Sparklesoup

14252 Culver Dr. A732

Irvine, CA 92604

www.theEDGEbooks.com

First Edition.

Printed in the United States of America.

Feyland

T
he twilight ebbed like a purple and gold velvet cloak studded by tiny brilliant diamonds. I sat staring at the strange crescent moon, the colors of butterscotch and berries. The other moon, the colors of silver and cream hung to the East, showering moonlight over the Winter Kingdom. After many years of traveling back and forth across the Crystal River from the mortal world of Gregory, Oregon into the mythical world of Feyland, I should have been used to the sight of the two moons brilliant against the clear night.

But I wasn’t. It was stunning how beautiful Feyland can be, like the paintings of the most fantastic landscape, coupled with a light that gave off colors that pierced gently through stained glass. As the fragrant wind rustled through the meadow grass and the silvery leaves of glimmering trees, I heard the faint sounds of twinkling chimes, violin strings, and flute play out a melody into the endless night.

That was Feyland.

I had made this trek numerous times before, going back and forth, back and forth at times with my father, but most times alone. This time, it was with trepidation. I sniffed the air and smelled the scent of death and destruction, far bitter than the blackest bile. With it came the taste of change, which was bittersweet as bark root and honey. We had all tasted this change at the tip of our tongues – my father, my grandfather, and the brave men and women of the clan. For thousands of years, we have remained neutral, minded our own ways and lived a simple and peaceful life in Feyland. But with the tides of change, Grandfather would soon have to make a decision…

This decision would affect me in the most profound way for it will either take me away from Feyland or take me away from her. Her, the reason why I travel back to Gregory. Her. The pretty girl with the lavender eyes, creamy skin, and a bright smile. Breena.

************

Breena

I have never known a time when I did not loved her.

I loved her the moment I saw her running scared into the woods at the back of the school near her home in Gregory, Oregon. We were both around five or six at the time. She had been chased by a group of girls, led by a dark-haired girl named Clariss who teased her endlessly for her lavender eyes and thin willowy frame.

“Treena!” They taunted. “Come out and play with us.” Then they laughed. “Or you like playing with trees instead? Weirdo.” They laughed again before leaving.

I watched from afar behind the silvery trees, timid and nervous at first because I had just shifted back into a boy and was crossing the woods to get home. Timid at first because of her beauty. From the beginning, I sensed she was no ordinary girl. She had an otherworldly beauty unlike the other girls in school. She was human, no doubt, and smelled human, but those lavender blue eyes and creamy white skin and long silky honey brown hair glimmering with copper sunlight, made me think of Feyland. As I stepped out from behind the trees, and she fastened her steady gaze at me with both fear and curiosity, my heart skipped a beat, and I knew I could never stay away from her.

Chapter 1

Logan

M
y name is Logan, and I am a wolf. To be precise, I am a werewolf from Feyland. I say it like it’s a distinction, a badge of honor, like it’s something to be proud of, which I am sure my father and grandfather would agree it is. At the moment I am not. In fact, I am ashamed. I am ashamed of being a werewolf, and I am ashamed of being from Feyland.

Being a werewolf, no matter how touched by magic Feyland wolves are, is something I have to hide in Gregory. My mother would sympathize more with me than my father over this shame for she is human. It is from father’s bloodline that I was born a denizen of Feyland, one of the enchanted creatures. Father is the Wolf Prince of Feyland, and Grandfather is the Wolf King. Yet Father lives with my mother and I in quaint Gregory, Oregon like any other family. Only, Father makes his trek across the Crystal River into Feyland every so often to return to the wolf clan. He will be Wolf King one day when my grandfather is gone. We don’t know when Grandfather will cross over, but we suspect soon. Because of his human blood, he is more human than fairy, and will not live as long as a fairy. At the moment, Grandfather is nearly two-hundred years old, and Father, who is again from a human mother and a wolf fey father, is fifty years old. Because I have the most human blood in me than wolf fey, I age like a human. I am seventeen years old.

We
are
like any other family. I attend Gregory High and my parents work. My mother is a counselor, and my father is a lawyer. My parents are constantly working, which suits me fine since I mostly get to do a lot of my own things. Like play music, cook, play sports, write and compose songs, and hang out with Breena.

Breena does not know I am a werewolf or that I am from Feyland. There is so much she does not know about me, so much that I have to keep from her. It drives me crazy. Sometimes I want to tell her, yet I could not. I could not expose my kind to humans or let anyone who is not from Feyland know about this mythical world. It is a solemn rule among all denizens of Feyland that when we cross over the Crystal River to the Land Beyond, we will not let others know about Feyland.

It is a secret I must keep. It is a secret that keeps me from telling Breena I love her.

At the moment, we are sitting in her house all alone. As a wolf, my senses are heightened, and I could smell her. She smells like a bouquet of sweet jasmine, honeysuckle, and orange blossoms. She smells warm and full of life, like the sun. As a warm-blooded wolf, I am drawn towards that heat, especially living in a cold place like Gregory. I am drawn towards Breena in all presence.

Her mother Raine Malloy is an attractive woman in her thirties. She has the same coloring as Breena, except her eyes are blue. Raine is an art director at a children’s publishing house, and she’s constantly working as well. Years ago, when Breena and I were younger, I had asked Breena about her father. “Where is your father?” I had asked.

“My mother left him years ago even before I was born,” she said. “I don’t know him.”

“Aren’t you curious about him…who he can be?” I had asked.

“Of course,” Breena had said. “But I have my mother. She’s all I know. I mean, I would love to know and meet my father someday. But for now, Mama is doing a pretty good job raising me.” She smiled happily. I smiled back. “Don’t you think so?”

It occurred to me that I would not know what was normal, being from Feyland and living in both lands. “I guess so.”

Breena got in close to me and said confidently for all of her seven years, “I know so, Logan.”

I shrugged and nodded. For all that I adore her, she was Breena, and even at seven, she was stubborn when she set her mind on things. But that is one of the things I love about her – her spirit.

Chapter 2

Breena’s Dreams

“
Y
ou know,” Breena said, ruffling my wavy blondish-brown hair as we walked into her cozy cottage house right after school. “You really should hang out with people other than me once in a while. It could get you into the popular crowd…you know Clariss…” She crinkled her nose. “Not that I’d want to be part of that group.”

“What makes you think I want to be part of that group, too?” I asked, looking into her eyes, seeing if she was serious about even suggesting I would rather hang out with them than with her. I took her hand. “I like hanging out with you.”