The True Ruler, page 22
part #5 of Worlds Apart Series
Now that he was fully seated inside her, Darden withdrew and drove back into her core. With each withdrawal and re-entry, he increased the speed of his thrusts. Cassie met his rhythm with each change in his tempo. They made beautiful music together.
He knew she was on the edge of an orgasm. This time he was not going to deny either of them the rapture possible when soul mates came together. He entered her mind through their telepathic channel so he could feel her climax both physically and telepathically. Her breathing now matched his own. They had come together to be one. Darden needed to hold on a little longer, waiting for her to fracture.
When Cassie cried out her passion, Darden released his seed in her body. Holding her closely, he imagined a child who resembled Cassie. Today they had secured the future for their children and generations to come. There was still so much to do, but right now they would rejoice in each other. He was not ready to lose his mate to the demands of the Troyk people.
Chapter 24
It had been two weeks since her grandfather’s death. She and Darden had conceded to Benko and Chartail’s request to stay in The Palace with them. Since Chartail was the sixth woman of legend, Cassie felt she needed to make a real effort to get to know Chartail as a person and stop dwelling on the fact she was sleeping with her father.
They redecorated the greeting room with warm colors and now dubbed it The Palace’s Common Room. Leenea was called upon to help it resemble the room in their home where family and friends gathered. They intended to do their best to turn the fourth floor into a home. A place fit to raise their children and have intimate celebrations among their extended family.
Benko’s first act as Prime Ruler was to call for new elections. The Prime Council would now be elected without any of the mind control telepaths influencing people’s decisions. Although a new crop of candidates came forward, a number of Prime Representatives who were mind control telepaths ran for office. They believed they could work with a transitional government without using their powers to influence others. Benko placed himself on the ballot to give the Troyk people the freedom to choose another leader. Her father would run unopposed.
The six women of legend gathered in The Palace’s Common Room to plan the first official royal ball during Benko’s reign. Mated couples started coming out of the woodwork after the announcement admitting soul mates were real. Their soul mates were present, figuring it was their duty to make sure the male participants of the ball were represented.
“Oh my God!” Alex exclaimed. “The baby just kicked.”
Tarsea moved to kneel by his soul mate and placed his hand on her abdomen. He closed his eyes and concentrated on feeling his daughter move within Alex’s womb. Cassie could not wait until Darden did the same when her time finally came. When she glanced at Darden, Cassie noted he was staring at her. She wondered if he had the same thought while watching the two.
“It’s your imagination,” Candy said. “The earliest the book said you could feel the baby move is thirteen weeks.”
Candy had Darden go back to Gingko Terra and bring back every baby book he could get his hands on as soon as she found out she was pregnant, too. The two Childers brothers sure proved to be virile. Since Darden was mated to a mind control telepath, he no longer got headaches when he traveled to Gingko Terra. He continued to make trips to her former world to gather as much of the gingko biloba herb as possible and pick up items she and the girls could not find in the Troyk universe.
“I was the first to come through the portal,” Alex said. “It must have been at least thirteen weeks since I’ve been with Tarsea.”
“Nope,” Candy replied. “Shirl arrived shortly after you disappeared, while for me it was two weeks. I’ve lost track of time, but it has not been three months, Alex.”
“Actually,” Cassie interceded, “as of tomorrow, it has been twelve weeks since Alex was dragged through the portal. And who knows what a telepathic child is capable of doing. Star has already made her presence known through the feelings she pushes to Alex. I think we should use these books as more of a guideline, not as absolute fact in some cases.”
“I cannot believe all our lives changed in such a short period of time,” Shirl said. As usual, Starc was by her side.
The crystal telepath’s mother’s amethyst was once again around her neck. Cassie knew how much that stone meant to Shirl, so she had searched Jeryl Jarlyn’s office for the necklace after his death. She would never forget the look of pure joy in Shirl’s eyes when it was returned to her. Shirl also wore a number of crystals; the birthday presents Cassie had given her over the years.
Shirl had taken many of the crystals that were housed in this room. The rest of her grandfather’s collection was moved to Crystal Telepathic Headquarters. Both Cassie and Benko wanted them out of their home.
“Koel and I are going to visit my father in Gingko Terra after the ball,” JoAnna said.
“I miss watching the thunderstorms coming in across the Gulf of Mexico,” Koel said. “Since Darden can now come and go without adverse effects, Cassie, we would love you both to join us.”
Cassie was sad that Shirl, Candy, and Alex could not return to Earth without suffering severe headaches the polluted air caused. They left no ties in that world. Until they entered the Troyk universe, they only had each other. Now they had soul mates and a world to help heal.
“One day Darden and I will join you,” Cassie said. “There is too much to do here for the time being.”
Cassie met with groups daily, trying to bring people together. She was going to prove her grandfather wrong. It would be possible to get things done without sacrificing other important programs.
“I would love to see Benko’s home in Scottsdale,” Chartail said. “We will need some time to relax and recharge when things have stabilized.”
“What plans do you have to bring about the Troyk Universe’s Golden Age, Chartail?” Tolfer asked. “If you need any assistance or recommendations, I am happy to help.”
“Thank you, Tolfer,” Chartail said. “I was thinking about approaching you in regards to a pre-school curriculum focused on telepathic training for toddlers and teaching the instructors. Our children should not have to suffer as their telepathic channels open.”
Chartail worked as hard in the last two weeks as she had in the Troyk penal world. Koel had set up a plan to evacuate people from the Troyk prison world. There were people throughout that world they wanted to welcome home, in addition to all the other dimensions Tarsea and other Gatherers found dissidents hiding. Tarsea organized efforts to find homes for the refugees.
The Prime Council also had to deal with the prison below The Palace and the people who were mistreated there. Although Benko had a long list of items the council had to handle, her father joined them for breakfast and dinner each day. He refused to sacrifice his family life while rebuilding the world he left twenty-two years ago.
Darden moved from the spot he stood chatting with his twin. He knelt before her and took her hand. When Cassie looked around her, all the men in the room knelt before their soul mates. She directed her attention back to Darden, knowing what was coming next.
“Will you marry me?” Darden asked her.
The same question echoed through the room, as each man asked their legendary woman the same question. She listened as each of her friends and Chartail replied they would marry their mates. Darden patiently waited for her response.
“Why don’t you ask me again in our room,” Cassie said as she rose. “Continue without us. Darden and I need privacy.”
She could feel how nervous Darden was through their channel. Cassie did not want an audience when she accepted her mate’s proposal. As soon as the door to their room was closed, Cassie removed her tunic. She would answer Darden’s question when they reach their rapture together. Darden rewarded her with a smile as he started to undress. Maybe they would skip their first dinner with her family this evening, after all.
The End
‘Nightshade’
Nightshade Saga Series: Book One
Prologue
The Nightshade Universe
He was older than dirt, Drake thought after the lovely blonde who stood before him asked his age. How do you explain the unexplainable? Drake’s existence defied nature.
This was one of the rare occasions he wished he was something other than what he was. His kind was a blight on any world they inhabited. A mistake, never intended to exist in this or any other universe.
At the beginning of time, as worlds fractured across dimensions, a division went terribly wrong. A sentient energy was forged rather than coming to life organically. The oddity traveled between worlds, leaving holes of negative matter in its wake. These frequency pathways between universes were never intended to exist.
As the energy mass traveled, it drew on the life-force of living particles. When it came across man, it claimed its first victim as a shell to occupy.
After settling into the primitive brain and physiology, it evolved from draining a being’s life-force to drinking the fluid carrying the elements needed to regenerate the fragile biological cells, allowing the body to physically continue.
Thus, the first vampire came to be.
Drake had been one of the first men the vampire converted. For eons Drake traveled with this creature, living off the blood of others. Over time they converted worthy victims to join their family. Since women had the ability to reproduce, they only changed the male of the species. As a sense of ennui set in, more of the sacrificed were changed into vampires. The newly made helped to relieve the boredom of immortality.
The vampires grew weary of being intergalactic nomads. Eventually they settled in the Nightshade universe. Satisfied within their own world, the knowledge to manipulate matter to travel between universes was lost. Thus, only the original retained the ability.
There had been so many world divisions since his making, Drake had no idea which world had been his birthplace. It was best not to think along those lines. The ones he left behind had long been in their graves. Their progeny would no longer have known he ever existed. His life was now tied to his creator. The entity seemed content to stay in the Nightshade universe, while Drake had nowhere else to go.
The numerous portals leading to the Nightshade universe provided enough unfortunate beings pulled into their world to offer ample sustenance. Blood was plentiful in those early days. The maker was comfortable living off the unlimited supply of blood, until a woman came through one of the portals and life as they knew it changed.
She had a type of power over his creator Drake had never witnessed before. Her presence seemed to relieve the constant hunger the entity suffered. The master referred to her as his soul mate.
Through their bonding, the master thought he would transform into whatever nature had originally planned. They would venture off together, sometimes disappearing for weeks. Finally, one day the master left through a portal with the woman, never to be seen or heard from again.
After his departure, various legends related to their destined pairing began to be told. Over time, most vampires chose to ignore and ultimately forgot those stories. However, in Drake’s darkest times, the thought of one day finding his own soul mate made him persevere.
Over several millennia the numerous portals started to close, until only three were active in the Nightshade universe. The vampire population had become so large, and the blood sources so scarce, most were shadows of what they once were.
Now blood frenzied creatures, they slowly wasted away. No amount of blood could regenerate those beings back into what they once were. Only the vampires who had been created by the master, had been spared the horrible thirst. Their bodies were as they were when they were first transformed. Drake held on to what little humanity he had left, waiting for his soul mate to become reality. Through her, Drake could finally transform from the parasite he was.
The woman in front of him was someone else’s soul mate. She had the ability to navigate portals using her telepathic abilities and a crystal. The woman, Shirl, had entered their world and was now being held captive. Drake took the opportunity to offer his protection, capitalizing on the opportunity to spend time with the beauty. He had abused his role as a guest within the Venture Hive, to possess the woman for whatever time he could have with her.
Drake manipulated the telepathic bond that tied Shirl to her soul mate. Until he was forced to give her up, he would hold on to her with every fiber of his being. She was as close as he had ever come to finding his own soul mate.
What little happiness he currently had would be cut short when the daughter of the Venture Hive’s master was exchanged for Shirl. Everything would be lost if Afton returned to the Nightshade universe.
Enjoy the first chapter of the YA Sci-fi adventure
‘Selected’
Zaratan Trilogy: Book One
THE INVASION
Chapter 1
Barrow, Alaska was gone in a blink of an eye. The small town north of the Arctic Circle had disappeared. Although there was no rubble or nuclear fallout, the United States pointed their finger at the Russians. When the same thing happened to an isolated settlement in Siberia, both governments looked to the heavens.
With the world in turmoil, everything in Kara Howard’s life turned upside down. She had thought her parents invincible. For the first time in her life, she saw fear in their eyes. They became engrossed in their respective jobs as a means to replace abject fear with a more familiar anxiety. When home together, the family was glued to the television, expecting all their questions to be answered. Cable and network news filled their programming by reporting the same stories, but with slightly different slants to keep their viewership.
She and her brother, Kyle, attended school as usual, but their classrooms were half full. Parents were removing their children to spend what little time they had left together. Classes were combined since many of the teachers did not report to work. Everyone tried to create a sense of normalcy in a world on the brink of unknown destruction. They failed miserably.
When a third city was destroyed in China, a satellite captured a beam of light coming from deep space. Its origin was unknown, but it was proof Earth was being invaded by aliens. People around Kara were so wrapped up in their own uncertain fates, they did not mourn the Chinese citizens who no longer existed.
A week had come and gone since the attack on Barrow. As far as she knew, the aliens had not contacted any government. Kara joined her father on the couch, his gaze never leaving the television screen. Father and daughter would spend another night sitting together, while he surfed every news channel in search of some explanation for the alien’s actions.
He wrapped his arm around Kara. “How are you holding up, baby?” She was the youngest and fourteen, but her father still used the endearment. There was comfort in the name and the way he said it.
“I’m scared, Daddy. Why haven’t they told us what they want?” Kara thought it was silly to keep a brave front at this point. The world was panicking, so why shouldn’t she?
“I wish I knew.”
It must have cost her father a lot to admit not being able to answer her question. She had always gone to him for explanations when she could not find answers on her own. Her father had always been the one she ran to and confided in. There was nothing her father did not know until this point. Regardless, he was still her hero.
They sat in silence as, channel after channel, none of the news anchors could answer her simple question. Heads of state addressed their nations with no concrete explanation given. Radio signals were broadcast into space so the aggressors would know we were aware of their presence and what they had done.
Her mother returned home from work each evening, then locked herself in her bedroom and cried. Kara could not understand how she functioned at work only to return to her family an emotional wreck. Shouldn’t she make more of an effort to support her family, rather than the strangers at work? Her father often tried to lure her out of their room, but all he ended up doing was starting an argument. As far as Kara was concerned, her mother should have stayed at work.
Kyle, unable to handle the friction at home, stayed out with his friends most of the time. She had no idea what they did when they were together and Kara figured she didn’t want to know. What good were rules and regulations at this point?
On the tenth day, a message was broadcast to the citizens of Earth. Kara was home watching television when the message came through. She had stopped attending school. It seemed senseless to show up for class when only a handful of students and teachers were present. Her parents didn’t seem to care either way.
The aliens had hijacked the world’s communication networks to share their message with Earth’s population. A man with a slight violet tint to his skin appeared. In the background were symbols Kara did not recognize. The set looked odd, like they may be three dimensional, but her flat television did not adequately display the alien cyphers.
One of the images resembled a bolt of lightning on a purple background. The other contained various stripes crossing what appeared to be a planet or a moon. Earth’s technology did not seem to adequately handle the telecast. The being stared into the camera and Kara leaned forward in her chair to get closer to the screen.
He appeared to be human, except for his light purple skin. The alien had light brown hair and the camera was too far away to make out the color of his eyes. Even his ears appeared normal.
When he first spoke, all she heard was gibberish; and Kara felt stupid that she had expected him to speak English. A translation finally came through in a tinny monotone, a computer obviously translating his words to the innumerable languages of the Earth’s diverse population.
