Death Before Daylight
Read Death Before Daylight Online
Authors: Shannon A. Thompson
Tags: #dark light fate destiny archetypes, #destined choice unique creatures new paranormal young love, #fantasy romance paranormal, #high school teen romance shifters young adult, #identity chance perspective dual perspective series, #love drama love story romance novel, #new adult trilogy creatures death mystery forever shades
Shannon A. Thompson
Book 3 in The Timely Death Trilogy
THIS book is a work of fiction. Names, characters,
places and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or
are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or
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Death Before Daylight
Copyright ©2015 Shannon A. Thompson
All rights reserved.
ISBN:
978-1-63422-089-7
Cover Design by: Marya Heiman
Typography by: Courtney Nuckels
Editing by: Kelly Risser
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To Alex – for dreaming up daylight in a dark
place.
1
“I’m leaving,” I shouted over my shoulder and
opened the front door, but I stopped before stepping outside.
“No, you are not,” my mother responded while
running out of the kitchen. Her blonde hair was piled on top of her
head, and the frizzy strands were as crazy as her bewildered
expression. “It’s too dangerous right now.”
It had been two weeks since the battle, two
weeks since we lost so many, and two weeks since the news called it
a mass suicide. The rumor said it was a cult of some sort. I hated
the gossip. I hated how people assumed Teresa Young—or Camille—was
a part of it. But I couldn’t tell anyone the truth. No one would
know she was a hero.
“It’s fine, Mom.” I was officially a
professional at faking a believable smile. “No one is in
trouble—”
“We don’t know that.” The frown lines around
her eyes deepened. “I don’t believe the news any more than the next
person.”
My smile was almost impossible to keep.
Luthicer, the only half-breed elder capable of mass illusion,
created the news. So far, Hayworth hadn’t questioned it. Not once.
But my mother was.
I shut the door, and the lock clicked into
place. “I won’t leave,” I said, but I wasn’t listening to myself.
My mind was too busy racing. Luthicer’s illusion was failing. It
never failed.
“Okay,” she breathed, leaning her back
against the wall. “Don’t you have homework?”
Winter break didn’t end until tomorrow, but I
still responded “Yeah” because something was definitely wrong.
“I’ll be upstairs.”
“Okay, Jessie.”
I didn’t look at her again as I raced
upstairs. I couldn’t. I had to focus on getting to the shelter. The
elders had been in meetings nonstop, and I promised Eric I would be
there. I was over two hours late.
When I pushed my bedroom door open, my heart
slowed. I felt his presence before I saw him, but I didn’t
recognize it. My hands sprang up, and my knees bent. I spun around,
ready to kick, but he leapt back and hissed, “It’s me.”
I froze.
His electric green eyes were like his name.
They pierced through me.
“Pierce.” I cursed and my muscles relaxed. My
chest rose as I sucked in a breath. “Sorry,” I muttered. “You
could’ve told me you were here.”
“I tried,” he admitted, tapping his temple to
signal his telepathy. “It isn’t working.”
I searched my mind, dipping in and out of all
the connections I had gained over the past year. They felt like
light switches, flipped off and stuck. My connection with Pierce—my
guard—had sizzled away overnight. “I didn’t hear a thing.”
“Like I said, it isn’t working,” he repeated,
his eyes searching my expression. “Are any of your other powers
changing?”
I stilled. I knew what was happening because
the elders hadn’t stopped talking about it. The powers were
shifting. While most of the Dark were weakening, one shade couldn’t
even transform anymore. The Light hadn’t even been around, but if
Luthicer’s illusion was dwindling, then we knew their powers were
ceasing as well. Neither side won the battle, but the battle had
beaten us all.
“What’s going on?” I asked without knowing if
I was asking him or myself. “This isn’t right.”
Nothing was.
“We have to go,” Pierce said, reaching out.
His palm faced me. “I have to admit,” he said. “I thought you might
have gotten in trouble when you didn’t show.”
I didn’t have the heart to tell him why I was
late. My memories were still restoring, and they paralyzed me any
time they did. One day, I remembered something, and the next, I
forgot it, but when a memory came back, I relived it as if it were
happening in real-time. This morning, I remembered how I had told
Eric I hated him. The realization made me sick. I hadn’t put on my
engagement ring since, but I was going to see Eric for the first
time in days.
“Hold on,” I said, stepping over to my desk.
I opened the drawer and pulled out the jewelry. When I slipped it
on my finger, I sensed Pierce’s stare. “Don’t tell him,” I managed.
“Please.”
“My duty is to you, Jess,” he said, but his
words were quiet.
Even worse, the telepathic communications
changed. A line in my mind shifted, but only one buzzed, quiet and
unused. Eric. Anytime I wore the ring, I could feel him. I had yet
to ask if it was the same for him.