Bloodlines Trilogy Read online

  Contents

  Title

  Copyright

  Title

  Copyright

  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

  Author's Notes

  Acknowledgements

  Title

  Copyright

  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

  Author's Notes

  Acknowledgements

  Title

  Copyright

  Chronicler's Note

  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

  Author's Notes

  Acknowledgments

  Bloodlines

  Trilogy

  Chronicles of the Seventh Realm

  By NAK Baldron

  Bloodlines by NAK Baldron

  Published by Aconite Cafe

  P.O. Box 63

  Marble Falls, TX 78654

  www.AconiteCafe.com

  www.NAKBaldron.com

  © 2020 NAK Baldron

  All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. For permissions contact:

  [email protected]

  Cover by Aconite Cafe.

  ALCHEMY VISIONS

  Chronicles of the Seventh Realm Book 8

  Aether Walker 1

  By NAK Baldron

  Alchemy Visions by NAK Baldron

  Published by Aconite Cafe

  P.O. Box 63

  Marble Falls, TX 78654

  www.AconiteCafe.com

  www.NAKBaldron.com

  © 2020 NAK Baldron

  All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. For permissions contact:

  [email protected]

  Cover by Aconite Cafe.

  PROLOGUE

  Wednesday, May 18th

  THE COUNCIL—AN ANCIENT AND SECRETIVE ORDER—sat within the chambers of an Italian estate, the sun slowly setting behind the softly rolling hills of the Tuscany region bathing their meeting room in a warm glow. Summers in Southern Italy could grow unbearably hot, but once the sun sets—and wine begins to flow—a cool breeze rolls into the valleys.

  For thousands of years—long before the Egyptians built their great pyramids—The Council oversaw the safety of humanity. Three times within the order's history a rogue member went public with their knowledge and each time an empire fell as They attempted to hunt The Council's members into extinction. They came close, but thankfully for the human race, They lacked a centralized authority to organize their attacks.

  Secrecy became the central creed of The Council.

  "This can't leave the room," Cara DiNapoli spoke in her native Italian.

  "Agreed," the seven council members spoke in unison.

  The council sat in the center of a long dining table—capable of seating thirty.

  "Bring in Walter," Cara ordered the bodyguard by the door.

  Walter walked with a limp in his right leg—he'd fractured his ankle on his last mission, and the seal he wore against his skin hadn't finished knitting the bone. Only an hour earlier he'd needed a cane to walk, and the night before he couldn't place any weight upon it. In a day or two, it would be stronger than ever.

  The council members sat to one side of the table with their backs to the windows. Walter caught the last rays of light before the sun disappeared entirely behind the hills. At the same moment the chandelier overhead burst into light—an automated light sensor tied into the central computer for the estate, every light on the property could be controlled by that computer. Walter could recall when The Council shunned technology and relied solely on magic, but those were darker days when the two world superpowers threatened to destroy the entire planet with nukes.

  "Do you understand what we're asking of you?" Cara asked as Walter took a seat directly across the table from her.

  "I'm afraid not," Walter said and looked down the table to Lorenzo Ghita. "Signore Ghita told me I'd be traveling through the void to another world in search of Them, but I don't understand that at all."

  "We've been in communication with a group, much like ourselves," Cara said. "But they live on another world. Two years ago, one of our agents discovered a voidgate which allows us two-way communication. Turns out someone from our world has gone to this new world."

  Walter looked up and down the table for any sign that this was some elaborate prank. He'd expected special recognition for his last assignment. Perhaps even the right to choose his next placement. What he wouldn't give for a permanent desk job.

  But no.

  The Council wasn't joking. They never did.

  "What ... What do you need from me?"

  "You're to go on our behalf. We've agreed to send a representative to assist with their problem. Turns out that the person who went ahead of you, has been setting himself up as king of a small nation on their world.

  "Your assignment is to find out if this traveler is one of Them, and report back your findings. If it's not, then find out who this person is."

  "Yes, chancellor."

  "Do you have questions?"

  "No, chancellor."

  A lie. Walter had hundreds of questions, but he knew better than to ask. The assignment had been given, now he was to follow through. Any assignment details he needed answered would be done so through his handler at a later time. But he damn well wanted to know how many of Them there might be.

  "Actually, just one," Walter interrupted just before he was dismissed. "How many of Them do you suspect there are, on this new world?"

  "Intelligence suggests one, but you should be on guard just in case. We don't expect you to fight, only to discover if it's true. We're prepared to support this new council if it turns out there's more than one of Them. But we're not going to send an army to figh
t humans."

  "Understood."

  "If there's nothing else?"

  "No, chancellor."

  "Dismissed."

  Walter's limp was less noticeable as he left The Council to their meeting. The pain in his ankle barely noticeable.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Friday, August 19th

  KANDICE WATCHED FROM ASTRIDE HER MOPED as an Aether Walker led their prey south from 6th Street—the prey was in fact a handsome man in his late twenties, too drunk to walk a straight line. The typical target for this type of Aether Walker, Kandice thought of them as spider-women. Not exactly a clever name, but quite apt given it looked like a woman with the head of a tarantula. Where there should have been a pair of human eyes were instead a set of four solid black eyes. Giant pincers protruded from its mouth and clicked rapidly from excitement.

  Then there were the spider minions.

  Tiny spiders that swarmed out of the Aether Walker's dress, down her arm, and climbed into the victim's ear as they walked side-by-side toward the parking garage. Those tiny spiders were how the victims fell under the control of the Aether Walker—Kandice had seen it time and time again.

  Kandice still wasn't desensitized, despite hunting Aether Walkers for the better part of six months. She wasn't arachnophobic in her previous life, but ever since she began hunting them, she wasn't sure anymore. If only she could turn a switch in her head to not care she would.

  They turned into the parking garage which towered above the street. Kandice rushed to the entrance they'd used, while doing her best not to draw attention. The last thing she needed was a crowd of drunks asking questions.

  Oh yes, excuse the unconscious woman and clearly intoxicated man, Kandice thought. There's nothing to see here.

  That would be a sure-fire way to spend the night in jail, if not the next ten years.

  On the bottom floor was a small room where customers could avoid a storm after parking. Occasionally a homeless person would try to camp out under the stairwell, but the police usually cleared them out by morning.

  The elevator door was closing as Kandice stepped into the waiting room. Without wasting a second in hesitation, Kandice began to climb the stairwell, two stairs at a time. All the lunges Master Monroe had made her do over the year were paying off. She pushed aside the sensation of her thighs burning, instead focusing on the man she was there to save, and the damn Aether Walker she planned to beat.

  From the 5th floor of the stairwell she saw them walking down the row of cars. To anyone else, they would have looked like a normal couple on their way home from a night at the bar.

  Kandice burst through the door and found the Aether Walker mounting the man on the ground. Hidden in plain sight appeared to be two drunks about to fuck, but Kandice saw through the ruse. The Aether Walker fed off the lifeforce of her victims, and this man was her latest. Come morning he'd have the worst hangover of his life.

  But he'd live.

  "Get the fuck off him!" Kandice yelled. Not the most harrowing of lines but affective.

  The spider-woman screeched as Kandice interrupted and began to run toward the back stairwell.

  Great, Kandice thought, more running.

  Short of breath, Kandice gave chase. It was still early enough for the Aether Walker to find another victim. She couldn't stop them all, but she'd be damned if she would let this one get away.

  Kandice's chest tightened as she closed the gap between them.

  Inside the back stairwell she did a quick hearing check and identified the Aether Walker was running down toward the street level. Kandice jumped four stairs at a time—something they practiced regularly at her dojang—to close the lead the Aether Walker had on her.

  "You're most vulnerable in transitional spaces," Master Allen always said. "Your opponent chooses the time and place of the encounter. You must always be aware and prepared."

  What would he say if he knew how I was using his lessons now?

  Kandice closed the distance by the 3rd floor, and used a flying roundhouse kick to strike the spider-woman directly in one of the eyes on the side of her head. Any normal woman would have been knocked out, but this Aether Walker was far from normal. Instead she lunged at Kandice, leading with her pincers.

  What happens if I'm bit?

  In the months Kandice had been hunting, she'd never actually seen a spider-woman bite one of their male prey. In fact, she'd never seen any of the Aether Walkers permanently harm their prey. She followed up with the first few victims she saved, only to find they all made a full recovery and remembered the night of their attacks as nothing more than a bad drinking experience. "Worst hangover ..." was a shared sentiment.

  Kandice managed to land another kick—this time to the spider-woman's lower torso—and used the momentum of the kick to twist her body to land another blow to its head. Throughout the encounter, Kandice continued to drive the Aether Walker down the stairwell, closer and closer to the street level, where any passer-by could see.

  Halfway between the 2nd and 1st floor, Kandice landed a solid strike to the spider-woman's nose—or at least where a nose should have been, instead it was a brown fur patch—and it screeched in pain as Kandice continued to land blow after blow, avoiding the fangs she presumed were venomous.

  The spider-woman collapsed under the borage of kicks, and slid down the stairs to the small landing where it lay unconscious. Kandice used the camera on her phone to photograph the unconscious Aether Walker. On film, it looked like a white woman in her early twenties, with dark walnut hair, only slightly lighter than Kandice's own—though it was straightened where her hair stayed tightly curled. Kandice's first impression was that it looked like a sorority girl. It would fit in on campus. Bruising was already visible on its face, and there was a small cut above its eye.

  Kandice strolled down the stairs and back to the street, where she casually made her way back to her moped. Drawing attention to herself would be ill advised, but she wasn't nervous. After a hundred nights of hunting, it had become second nature.

  It hadn't been her best night, but it would do.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Saturday, August 20th

  Kandice snuck back into her Aunt's house: first by using the unlocked garage door, taking care not to lift the door higher than needed to slip under—beyond the second panel it made a loud click which might wake her aunt; once inside she entered the kitchen and peeked at her aunt's bedroom door through the living room; before, silently walking on the balls of her feet as she crept across the kitchen tile to the staircase; avoiding the creaking boards by taking two at a time, once she stood upon the top landing and let out the breath she'd been holding.

  Her bedroom door was nearly within her grasp when Blake opened his own and asked, "Are you just getting home?"

  It was nearly two in the morning and while there wasn't a curfew per se, her Aunt Jackie expected them home and in bed at a "decent hour". Getting caught sneaking back in again wasn't on Kandice's list of fun ideas.

  Kandice fought the urge to jump—her heart beat as fast as when she'd fought the spider-woman—she turned around to face her brother. "Why are you still up?"

  Her late-night adventures were often a topic of heated conversation, but Kandice refused to discuss her whereabouts out of principle and for obvious other reasons. Honestly, Kandice felt her aunt was more upset about the secrets than the actual sneaking in at this point. She was nearly nineteen years old, of course there would be secrets, parties, and whatever else college kids did. But good luck to anyone who tried to convince Aunt Jackie that going to college meant more freedom.

  Blake pointed through his doorway toward the desktop monitor—their aunt had insisted on the room layout, no doubt thinking it would make him less likely to watch porn, knowing a person who opened the door would see. "I had another raid."

  For the better part of five months—ever since he got out of the hospital—all her brother did was play video games and sleep, with the occasional meal thrown in to keep hi
mself alive. Blake had become a total recluse, which he'd never been before they moved into their aunt's house. Kandice didn't understand the appeal. But then again, she spent all her time hunting and doubted he would understand that either.

  "Okay. Well, have fun." She opened her bedroom door, "I've got to get some sleep." She fought down a yawn toward the end.

  Her room was barren, and the walls had been painted hospital white. Jackie refused to allow either of them to put anything up—heaven forbid they personalize their living spaces. Apparently, her aunt cared more about the drywall than their happiness.

  Kandice undressed in front of the full-length mirror she'd taken from her mother's closet. The removal of her hoodie revealed a giant bruise forming on her upper arm, which she scrutinized. An extra session of practice blocking with Master Monroe was going on her to-do list for the week.

  As she pulled her shirt over her head, the muscles in her back spasmed and she almost lost her balance. Out of habit, she placed her hands behind her head and breathed in slow and deep—the pain in her ribs brought tears to her eyes, but she refused to give in and focused on breathing. The new purple tint spread over the top of pale green flesh from older bruises—hard to see at first glance upon her sepia skin. This time she might have broken a rib.

  Despite years of sparring in Taekwondo, she still bruised easy.

  As the pain subsided, she relaxed her arms and her gaze settled on her face—there was a clear resemblance to her mom, except around her eyes which favored her father. She cringed and looked away. With a quick pull of the long string from the overhead fan, the lights clicked off, and Kandice fell into the cool embrace of her pillowtop bed.

  Kandice ran through the night's events in her head, trying to determine any room for improvement—each hunt needed to be better than the last.

  Perhaps she should have let the spider-woman run away after saving the man, but her anger had gotten the better of her. Now there would be yet another Aether Walker who knew what Kandice looked like. Anonymity was her most valuable weapon in the fight against them. While fighting the Aether Walker tonight all she saw was the face of the one that killed her mom. That fury fueled her.