Absolution of Fate (Fate Series Book 3)
Read Absolution of Fate (Fate Series Book 3) Online
Authors: S. Simone Chavous
Chapter 2 - Picking Up the Pieces
Chapter 4 - A Plan Comes Together
Chapter 6 - An Unexpected Transformation
Chapter 8 - Sex, Love, and Lies
Chapter 10 - The Price of Defiance
Chapter 12 - An Unexpected Ally
Chapter 13 - Family, Friends, and Antiserum
Chapter 15 - Blood and Bullets
Chapter 16 - Let There Be Light
Chapter 18 - Worth Fighting For
Chapter 19 - The Battle Begins
Absolution of Fate
✧
S. Simone Chavous
Copyright © 2014 S. Simone Chavous
Cover design by S. Simone Chavous
Proofreading by Kimberly Huther of Wordsmith Proofreading
ISBN: 978-0-9895701-5-2
eISBN: 978-0-9895701-4-5
Visit my website:
http://www.ssimonechavous.com
Like me on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/ssimonechavous
Follow me on Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/ssimonechavous
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, 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 the author.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media and events are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, events or locales, is entirely coincidental. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of 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.
To all my readers, for sticking it out to the end.
Contents
Family, Friends, and Antiserum
CHAPTER 1 -
The Aftermath
Ethan remained frozen, watching with eyes full of rage and torment as the woman who he’d known as a little girl only weeks before disappeared into the mist with a monster. With her went the last piece of his fragmented heart. Feeling the distance between him and his master grow, he let out a heavy breath and dropped to his knees. The weight of the past week’s events pressed down on him like a two-ton boulder. He bowed his head and let the pain wash over and cover him like a blanket of fire. In his mind, he deserved it all; he’d brought the wrath of a madman down upon everyone he loved. All because he was selfish enough to believe he had the power to defy fate, to change what was written in the stars. For his vanity, he was punished. He understood that now.
He could hear The Elite soldiers stirring inside but, as commanded, he laid down his weapons and waited. He secretly hoped it wouldn’t matter that he had laid down his arms, that they would see him for the monster he was end his miserable existence. He had nothing left; nothing but hate and the bone-deep desire to remove Lucias’s head from his shoulders.
He’d completely forgotten about Layla standing beside him until he heard her weapons hit the concrete. Like him, she was merely obeying the last command Lucias had given. Ethan looked at her as she stared out across the grounds, her face blank; completely devoid of any emotion and he wondered if she was like him. Was the person she used to be still trapped inside, constantly screaming commands at a body which was deaf to the sound, listening only to the call of its new master’s blood? Or had she let go and given herself over completely to the beast inside, no longer feeling guilt or remorse, instead just functioning on primal need and obedience. He’d looked into her eyes that night in Lucias’s playroom; he knew it was the latter and he almost envied her for it. Holding on to his humanity was the reason he suffered, but he would never completely let go. He couldn’t; Alexa wouldn’t want him to and, though she was gone, he refused to let her down again.
“GET ON YOUR KNEES!”
Both he and Layla obeyed the command shouted from the front door.
“Hands behind your head!”
The instant it was done, three Elite, armed to the teeth, appeared several yards in front of them. The heartbeats behind him let Ethan know there were five more there.
“Oh fuck; it’s Layla and they’re infected!” one of the men shouted with his weapon aimed between Ethan’s eyes. “Get cuffs on them now,” the same soldier said. “If either of you move a millimeter, we will put you down…permanently,” he hissed.
Both Ethan and Layla remained perfectly still as the silver handcuffs were locked on in a blur of motion behind them. Neither one even flinched as the cold metal burned into their infected skin. A second later, two loud pops sounded and Ethan felt a dart pinch his neck. While it wasn’t enough to knock an infected vampire out completely, he swayed forward as the tranquilizer spread through his body.
✧
“Get them both to the confinement wing now, and put them where they won’t be seen,” Commander Claesson ordered, stepping through the doorway. He paused, grabbing the doorjamb as his legs wobbled beneath him, a lingering effect of Chloe’s power.
With the powerful sedative pulsing through their veins, neither Ethan nor Layla struggled as the guards dragged them away. Of course, with Lucias’s last command, even if they wanted to resist there was no way they could.
“Until we figure out what we’re dealing with, no one, and I mean no one is to have any contact with those two,” Claesson whispered to one of his captains just before a group of Elite soldiers returning from patrol led by Dante sped across the lawn.
“Where is she?” Dante demanded, stopping only inches away from the Commander.
“Stand down, soldier,” Commander Claesson replied, knowing it was pointless to deny that Layla was back on the compound. Her undeniable scent clung to the humid air around them. Instead, he used every ounce of his slowly-returning strength to stand to his full height as he faced Dante’s wrath.
“She’s safe, but understand me, soldier, no one, including you is to have any contact with either of the prisoners without my approval.”
“So Layla’s a fucking prisoner now?” Dante responded, practically pushing his chest into the Commander in challenge.
The Commander sighed, but he didn’t back down a millimeter. “She’s infected, Dante. I know she means a lot to you, but until we figure out exactly what we’re dealing with, both Layla and Ethan are off-limits.”
Dante stumbled back as the reality of what the Commander said seemed to knock all the air from his lungs.
Martinez was behind him in an instant, catching his friend’s full weight before he fell to the ground. With the hypersensitive hearing possessed by all of his kind, he’d heard everything. He wanted to tell Dante it would be all right, that she would be all right, but like everyone else, he knew what being infected meant.
✧
Alexa slowly opened her eyes, feeling a bit disoriented as she pushed up from the cold floor of the training room. The others remained unconscious on the floor around her. Though she already knew that Chloe was gone, her maternal eyes darted around in search of her only daughter. The visions Chloe had shared were suddenly fresh in her mind as she moved to the door, desperate to find Ethan. Even without the benefit of Chloe’s clairvoyance, Alexa knew that Ethan was close by; she could feel him as surely as if his arms were around her.
She moved on unsteady legs towards the door, feeling stronger with each step. The minds around her began to stir, the sounds reminding her of a car engine trying to turn after sitting idle on a cold winter’s night. She reached for her father’s mind, searching for the security code before he was aware enough to erect his mental shields again. The panel light flashed green and Alexa was at the entrance to the residential wing before the door had even resealed. She moved with a speed she didn’t know she possessed, using only her bond with Ethan to guide her. She felt him growing closer with each step and her heart was swelling with elated anticipation; until she rounded the last corner.
“I’m sorry ma’am; no one is permitted through this door until further notice. Commander’s orders,” a soldier whose name she didn’t know drawled.
“Let me pass; I know my husband is in there,” Alexa demanded, full of determination to get to the man she loved.
“Alexa.” She turned to face Dante as he approached; his eyes full of agony that seemed to ease slightly at the sight of her. “I wouldn’t bother; he couldn’t let you pass if he wanted to. They’ve engaged the maximum security protocol. Only Commander Claesson can open that door now,” he stated as he pulled her into his arms to comfort himself as much as her. She relaxed into him, suddenly feeling the strain from the exertion of moving so quickly before she’d had a chance to fully recover from Chloe’s mind blast. While intimate, the embrace was only one of friendship and comfort.
“Come, you need to feed,” Dante said sensing Alexa’s weakness and leading her away. As a mirror, the longer her held on to her, the stronger his reflection of her psychic ability became. Though her mental shields were in place, he could still read her feelings.
“But I need to see him. He needs to see me alive; he’s in so much pain,” Alexa plead, her eyes welling up with tears of frustration and exhaustion.
“I know; I want to get in there as badly as you do. Layla’s with him and she’s been infected, too, but there’s nothing we can do for them until the doctors find a cure.”
“No, I can save him! Chloe showed me before she left, we need to renew our mate bond; it will free him,” Alexa said with desperation.
“What do you mean Chloe
left
?” Dante asked stopping. He turned her to face him and grabbed her shoulders.
“She went with Lucias, to save us; to save all of us. There were so many infected, we all would have died. She had a vision of it before they came. She gave herself up to keep us safe.”
“How could Claesson let her do that? How could
you
?” Dante asked, sounding more judgmental than he’d intended.
“I didn’t let her do anything!” Alexa snapped. “She knocked everyone out and left, but not before she showed me what I needed to do to save her father; so like I said, I need to see him now!”
“I know Claesson; he’s not going to let you in, vision or no vision. It’s too much of a risk to the rest of the compound. If an infected gets loose in here, we could all be lost. We’ll have to find another way,” he stated, opening the door to the refrigeration unit.
After tossing Alexa a bag of A-negative, he grabbed one for himself and sank down to the floor as he drank. “Will you be able to help Layla, too?” he whispered.
Alexa, already feeling much stronger, pulled the nearly-empty blood bag from her lips. She licked a drop of stray blood from the corner of her mouth before responding. “I’m sorry, Dante. Ethan and I are bonded. From what I saw in Chloe’s vision, that’s how I can save him. But Claesson has had a team working nonstop to find a cure, so don’t give up hope.”
Dante sighed and crumpled the empty plastic in his fist. “Our people have been trying to find a cure for that fucking virus for centuries. It’s stupid to think they’re going to suddenly figure it out now.”
Alexa didn’t know what else to say; she knew he was right, but she still had hope. After everything she’d been through and seen, she couldn’t help but believe in miracles.
CHAPTER 2 -
Picking Up the Pieces
“I need an estimate on the number of casualties now,” Commander Claesson barked into the phone while High Commander William Ryan and several Elite soldiers waited around the table in the pit. “Yeah, I got it. How many of those were human? And how many missing still unaccounted for? Okay, you call me back on this line the instant you know anything else or if anything else happens. No, cell communications are going to remain blacked out for now so it’s landline communication only.”