Total pages in book: 18
Estimated words: 16094 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 80(@200wpm)___ 64(@250wpm)___ 54(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 16094 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 80(@200wpm)___ 64(@250wpm)___ 54(@300wpm)
I stumble back as the ache in my stomach hits hard and spreads through me. I gasp at the pain, unable to keep it under control. My dad catches me before I can fall and everything moves in slow motion. My body feels too heavy to react and I can’t breathe.
“Ariella!” my mom cries out.
I reach up, touching my cheek, and feel tears I didn’t know I’d shed. I fought so hard to keep them at bay these past weeks, but it’s all too much. The pain is growing and the tears are my undoing. When I pull my hand back to look at it, there’s blood coating my fingertips.
“No!” my dad shouts as he tries to hide me behind him, but again everything is in slow motion and he can’t move me fast enough.
As if time stands still, I look up and meet the blackest eyes I’ve ever seen. One look and I know instantly that he’s the darkness I knew was coming.
Death is here.
Chapter Two
Grim
I’ve been on the move lately and I knew this was coming. There comes a point when I get antsy with my surrounds and I’m not at peace no matter how hard I try. That’s when I know an immortal soul is getting close.
This is who am I am and this is what I do, but it’s never easy. It has to be done by someone, and I know that when I come to claim a soul it’s with compassion in my heart. There are those who are evil and who deserve the harshest death I can give them, but for the most part it’s a peaceful end to what can be a very painful death.
The soul that calls to me now is different, though. It caught me in the middle of the night and I couldn’t stop pacing. Normally it begins slowly, but this one came out of nowhere. I didn’t have a direction I was being pulled towards, however. That took time to figure out and even as I began the journey I didn’t know exactly where I was headed.
Not until I ended up on the doorstep of the very house I swore never to return to again. I shouldn’t be here. Ravana and Valen are mated, and I would know if one of them had died. There would be no reason why the mated pair won’t live until the end of time.
Selfishly I’d checked in on the vampire coven as the years went on and I’d heard that the human females that were mated to the vampires gave birth to children. It’s somewhat of a tall tale among the immortals and I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t met the family and known that they’d never lie about something like that.
As I’m about to enter I can feel the heartbeat of the person I’m here for inside my chest. This connection has never been so tight before and I’ve never experienced this heightened need to help someone. Heat inside me spreads and suddenly the need to get to the person on the other side of the door is greater than anything I’ve ever felt. I run up the steps and lower my shoulder as I barrel through and break it down.
I grip my axe tightly as the dust settles and the sight before me comes into view. Ravana is there in front, holding her hands out to stop me. I see Valen behind her shielding a young woman who I know instantly I’m here to collect.
My eyes scan quickly, but when her dark blue eyes find mine my chest tightens and I know everything I’ve ever done in my life has led me to this point. She’s the one whose soul calls to me. Not because she’s dying, but because she’s my mate. She called to me from the other side of the world and I came running.
“You’re not taking her,” Valen says as he widens his stance to protect the woman behind him. “You can’t have our daughter.”
“Your daughter?” I break eye contact with my mate and look over at Ravana, who is stepping closer. There’s a deadly look in her eyes and I know she’s a mother trying to protect her young.
“If you lay one finger on her, they’ll be sending a new Grim Reaper to collect your soul,” she says, and for the first time she looks at me with murderous rage.
I grip my axe with both hands now and hold it in front of me in warning. I don’t know how to tell them that she’s not dying, she’s in pain because she needs me.
“How is she your daughter? Female vampires can’t give birth,” I say, but when I look back at my mate I can see how she favors her family.
“We chose to keep her identity hidden from everyone else. She’s our miracle,” Valen says, not backing down an inch. “Our daughter is all that we have. You can’t have her.”