Called by Midnight, page 1
Called by Midnight
Fae Wilds Series, Volume 8
W.J. May
Published by Dark Shadow Publishing, 2023.
This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.
CALLED BY MIDNIGHT
First edition. July 10, 2023.
Copyright © 2023 W.J. May.
ISBN: 979-8223375180
Written by W.J. May.
By W. J. May
Copyright @ 2023 by W .J. May
THIS E-BOOK OR PRINT is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book/paperback may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the arduous work of the author.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual person, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
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Copyright 2023 by W.J. May
Dusk & Shadows, Book 7 of the Fae Wilds Series
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Have You Read the Kerrigan Series?
The Chronicles of Kerrigan
Book I - Rae of Hope is FREE!
BOOK TRAILER:
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How hard do you have to shake the family tree to find the truth about the past?
Fifteen year-old Rae Kerrigan never really knew her family's history. Her mother and father died when she was young and it is only when she accepts a scholarship to the prestigious Guilder Boarding School in England that a mysterious family secret is revealed.
Will the sins of the father be the sins of the daughter?
As Rae struggles with new friends, a new school and a star-struck forbidden love, she must also face the ultimate challenge: receive a tattoo on her sixteenth birthday with specific powers that may bind her to an unspeakable darkness. It's up to Rae to undo the dark evil in her family's past and have a ray of hope for her future.
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Fae Wilds Series
Twist & Turns
Curse of the Fae
Force the Truth
Crown & Glory
Enemy & Rivals
Light in the Dark
... THE SERIES CONTINUES...
Dusk & Shadows
Called by Midnight
Dark Memories
...THE SERIES CONTINUES...
Above the Curse
Myth and Muses
Chase and Hunt
Called by Midnight
NOTHING GOOD HAPPENS after midnight...
Stuck between a devilish imp and a vampire with cold eyes and a hot body, Hollie isn’t sure whether to laugh or to cry.
Right now, the vampire might be the lesser of two evils, but she can’t seem to spend enough time with him to confirm her suspicions.
Things go from bad to worse when she attracts the attention of a powerful woman who is bent on meting out punishment, but when two princes of darkness join the fight over her, Hollie isn’t sure even a vampire mate could get her out of the trouble she’s in.
Contents
Have You Read the Kerrigan Series?
The Queen’s Alpha Series
Find W.J. May
Fae Wilds Series
Called by Midnight
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Epilogue
Fae Wilds Series
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Prologue
HIS EYES TRACED THE path of the slug as it crept along the wall beside him. His Fae senses picked up every twitch of its muscles and the traces of slime it left behind, even in the dimness of the cave. As good as his eyes were, his ears were better.
“I’m surprised you didn’t wake every hidden beast in these mountains with your stomping,” he said as his companion rejoined him, settling on a boulder nearby. Although her face wore a sour expression, he thought that she enjoyed his teasing too much to complain.
“There are no beasts to report, so there,” she said with a smug tone, then stuck her tongue out at him. Phaedra might be one of the most talented warriors his people had ever known, but she was a goofball at heart.
“Just wait,” he replied, his eyes flicking to the small crack they’d managed to wiggle through to access their sanctuary. The cave system they’d stumbled into was a mystery to them, and he’d urged Phaedra not to get them lost.
“Would you rather be overrun by leeches?” she’d snapped while shoving him low and pushing him into the crevasse. “Because that’s what happens if we aren’t well hidden by nightfall.”
Now they waited to find out whether they would survive the night. “Syn, if they come, they come,” she told him, her voice resigned. “Watching that crack isn’t going to make a difference.”
He looked up at her gorgeous face and tried on a smile. She always seems to know how I’m feeling, what I’m thinking. I wish I had the same talent when it came to her.
Phaedra nodded her head. “That’s better. Look at the bright side. At least we’re not sitting in the dark.” She looked down at her bare arms, which were giving off a faint glow, the same as his. Fae were able to summon light when needed, and their skin could emit light as well. It was a trait of his kind, along with pointy ears, superior speed and agility, and a love of all things beautiful.
Including Phaedra.
It was true he’d been in love with the Fae female for as long as he could remember. They’d been friends since childhood, running through the forests of Valantia, chasing the wildlife they found there. Phaedra was more skilled than he at catching them, but he’d never once seen her harm any of the creatures she captured.
That was not to say that Phaedra wasn’t fierce. He’d seen her stake a vampire without blinking and rip the horns off a demon for looking at her sideways. As a prank, she’d once shaved a werewolf during a full moon. “Don’t ask me how I did it,” she’d said with a mischievous look in her eyes afterwards while passing him a piece of his foul-smelling hide as proof. “Let’s just say he’s learned his lesson when it comes to making fun of a Fae’s ears.”
Being stuck here in this dank cave with her wouldn’t be half bad, he thought, if it weren’t for the horde of vampires hot on our tails.
They were supposed to be the hunters. It was the reason they’d traveled to this far-flung realm to root out a horde that had been terrorizing the people of Valantia. Somehow, they’d managed to construct a portal into the realm without attracting the attention of the Valantian royal family.
Things had been different with the royals since the disappearance of the princess after the revelation of a prophecy that had branded her the harbinger of the apocalypse. The queen was inconsolable, her king obsessed with protecting his lady wife from her despair. Their son, Prince Eddard, had taken charge in their absence, and Syn wouldn’t call his rule anything other than adequate thus far.
On the prince’s watch, vamps had snuck past Valantian defenses to claim Fae victims. W hen an entire village was drained in one night, Eddard finally chose to do something about the invaders. Phaedra and he had been dispatched to gather intelligence once their portal was discovered. But, as usual, my partner got a little overzealous.
They’d found the horde’s lair and staked it out, watching the vampires’ movements secretly. Overconfident to a fault, Phaedra thought they could take the horde out themselves. “One day, two dozen stakes. In and out before nightfall.”
This wasn’t the first crazy mission she’d convinced him to tackle with her, and he hoped it wouldn’t be the last. Things had gone well at first. Locating their coffins wasn’t difficult. Like most leeches, they longed to sleep in the cold ground. On the lowest level of the lair, a dark crypt in moldy stone held their coffins. Syn knew that when they cracked them open, they’d find each one full of earth. And the coffin’s owner.
Phaedra had been eager to rip off the lids and start staking vampires. Syn’s heart thundered in his chest, not because he was worried about the leeches hurting him. It worried him the way Phaedra threw herself at trouble without a shred of fear. One day, he might not be there to have her back. It was that thought that frightened him enough to keep him up some nights.
The first coffin had revealed a bald leech, his eyes closed and body stiff, as was the way of those who bedded down at sunrise. Syn knew the coffins they found wouldn’t belong to the chief. They were reserved for underlings, younger and weaker vampires who served their chief and followed his or her orders. The chief, however, was generally much older and stronger and no longer needed to bed down in earth to regain strength.
All the chief needed was blood, and lots of it.
Fae blood, he thought, his heart hardening. This horde had come to their realm, had killed their people. All he felt as he watched Phaedra stake the leech through its cold heart was satisfaction. Good riddance.
They made their way through the crypt, Syn passing his partner stakes and Phaedra driving them through the chests of the sleeping vampires. Each one she touched would never open its cursed eyes again. They’d made their way through at least half of the horde when the crypt around them started to rumble.
“What is that?” Phaedra asked, wiping the black blood off the arm she’d used to drive a stake deep. “The chief?”
Syn shook his head. “He should be too weak during full daylight to draw on enough power. It’s got to be something else.”
The sound of footsteps on the stone steps that led down to the crypt made his eyes widen. “It can’t be vamps,” he said, drawing close to her and pulling out his onyx blade. “At least, not young ones like these.”
Phaedra stood at the ready, a stake in one hand and her sword in the other. “Whoever it is, I’m excited to meet them.” There was a feral smile on her face, and in that moment, he knew the woman had captured his heart for all eternity.
No vamps had descended the stairs. Instead, they’d found themselves facing a contingent of demons who set upon them as soon as they realized the Fae were responsible for exterminating so many of the pests. “You’ll pay,” the lead demon had said, his twisted horns sprouting with his sudden burst of anger. Skin mottled red, he pointed a finger at them. “Catch, don’t kill. Our master will enjoy skinning them alive too much to deprive him of that treat.”
The demons had done their best to follow orders, and with their strength and ability to teleport, it had been a close thing. He’d cut several demons to shreds while admiring his partner’s ability to run roughshod over the enemy. In the end, they’d left enough wounded to escape.
“A secret demon security force?” Phaedra had huffed, running full speed toward the ridgeline where they’d hoped to find safety. “Demons and vamps aren’t known to team up.”
“Coin can be pretty persuasive,” Syn replied. “And elder vamps are known to sit on piles of coin like dragons.”
“There,” Phaedra had said, pointing out a dark crack in the stone before them. “That might be a cave. We can hide out until morning.”
They’d pushed their way through until finding this chamber where they currently sat, waiting for the inevitable. As the hours crept by, Phaedra fidgeted more, unused to sitting motionless. Before long, she was pacing the small space, biting at her nails with a black expression on her face.
“They’ll sniff us out. Follow our trail and rip our heads off,” she grumbled, her hand tightening on the sword that swung from a belt on her hip.
“Is that fear I hear in your voice?” he asked, genuinely interested in her answer.
A scowl was all he got. “It’s not as if we have backup here,” she said, gesturing widely. “We’re the advance force. No one is coming to help us, and we missed our portal back to Valantia.” They’d been instructed to return to the spot where they’d left and read the scroll tucked in his jacket pocket. It had to be on the spot where they’d appeared, or who knew where in the Web they might end up.
“If I remember right, it was your idea to go staking leeches. We were supposed to gather intel and return home.”
“And let the royal guard have all the fun?” she replied, rolling her eyes. “I don’t think so.”
Syn chuckled, admiring her spirit. “Come on, Phae. You don’t actually think the horde chief and whatever underlings we left unstaked are really a match for you, do you?”
She ignored him, continuing her pacing. Syn rose from the rock where he sat and stepped into her path. Putting a hand on her shoulder, he looked down into her eyes. “We saw their chief, remember? The night they made an attack on the capital. You can’t honestly tell me a leech with a bowl cut is really going to spell the end of the ignoble Phae of the Fae.”
“Don’t call me that,” she said, shoving his hand away before breaking into a laugh. “His haircut is ridiculous. Did you see that tail coming down in the back to past his waist? It reminds me of a rat.”
“The only thing worse than a leech, huh?” He leaned in, his hand returning to cup her arm so gently he wondered if she could even feel it. “Tell you what. If he does come after us tonight, I’ll cut that tail off and strangle him with it.”
Phaedra smiled up at him, the glow in her skin increasing. In that moment, she was lovelier than any sun, moon, or star in the multiverse. I want to kiss her. No, I need to kiss her. Now. And until the end of time.
Her eyes turned liquid, and for a moment, Syn thought she wanted the same thing. He inched closer, his eyes on her plump lips. He felt her arm start to tremble and knew this was the moment.
Until Phaedra spun away from him, starting up her pacing once again. “Bad haircut or not, we can’t underestimate the vampire fiend. Especially with his own private demon army. And he’ll be at full strength.”
Syn held in a sigh, moving back to the cave wall and leaning against it, restraining the disappointment inside him like a dam holding back the deluge. “What’s a horde chief, his gaggle of underlings, and a demon host to you? I’ve seen Phaedra the Fearless tackle wimps like that in the blink of an eye.”
She arched a brow at him, but he could see a grin toying with the corners of her lips. “And what about Alysander the Animal? Everyone still talks about the day you slayed those rogue minotaurs that had escaped the traveling menagerie. How many were there, at least ten, right?”
Syn laughed, shaking his head. “Alysander the Animal?”
Phaedra shrugged. “Would you prefer Syn the Sinister?”
“There was only one minotaur, and I didn’t slay it. I captured it and returned it to the menagerie. It was a little long in the tooth and complaining about missing teatime.”
It was her turn to burst out in laughter. “Not as impressive as I made it sound. You definitely need to let me tell the stories of your victories. Otherwise, everyone will wonder how I got stuck with such a lame partner.”
“You’re killer enough for both of us,” he replied. “Just look at the way you handled those vamps earlier. You didn’t bat an eye at the sprays of blood springing from each stake.”
