Daughter of Anat Read online

  Daughter of Anat

  lBookFourl

  Marked like Me Series

  o

  Cyndi Goodgame

  Also by Cyndi Goodgame

  (Fey Court Trilogy)

  Deception Book One

  Tainted Book Two

  Betrayal Book Three

  Guardian (Companion to Deception)

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  (Marked Like Me Series)

  Orion Book One

  Son of Ra Book Two

  Scorpion Book Three

  Shadow Queen Book Five

  Protector (Companion Novella to Son of Ra)

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  Mary Never Had a Lamb, She Was the Lamb

  (Twisted Nursery Rhymes for the Paranormal)

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  (Goblin’s Kiss Series)

  Denial Book One

  Yield Book Two

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  (Under Cover Series)

  Under Cover Book One

  © July 2013 Cyndi Goodgame

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without prior written permission of the publisher. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be 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. Acknowledgements go to the various authors of classic fiction who wrote so eloquently that their words have become easy to quote in today’s written word.

  ISBN:

  [1. Supernatural-Fiction. 2. Vampires. 3. Werewolves. 4. War. 5. Prophecies. 6. Gods and Goddesses. 7. Constellations. 8. Destiny.9. Valkyrie 10. Orion]

  Email Cyndi at [email protected]

  You can reach Cyndi on Twitter at www.twitter.com/scgoodgame

  You can reach Cyndi at her website/blog at http://goodgamebooks.wordpress.com

  Follow Cyndi Goodgame on www.goodreads.com where she blogs weekly and reads as much as she writes.

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  Acknowledgements

  Thanks to my quote worthy writers and just plain worth quoting people of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Evel Knievel, Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Victor Hugo, Charlotte, Bronte (put too dots over e), William Shakespeare, John Keats, Abraham Lincoln, Robert Frost, Winston Churchfield and George Washington.

  The best editing gals on the planet. Whitney and Ellen.

  Summary:

  Allies. Spies. Traitors.

  They are all loyal to someone. When Borgon gains a new ally to aid in his endeavors to end Stace, the goddess girl known as the Shadow Queen, it isn’t just an old enemy. Nara is the one debt Lord Cross owes to his maker. He vowed to never follow through with that debt. Betrothed to Nara at his sired change, he has spent all of his Vampire life trying to make up for that debt he refused from the start.

  Now she’s after the one he loves.

  Stace and the marked ones continue to train using their combined powers to follow through with the plan the gods ask of them. It seems impossible at times, but not just the enemy has the ability to gain an ally.

  Appendix A:

  End of second book analysis of characters and copy of letters to the Marked Ones from their respected godly parental units.

  Chapter One

  Out of the darkness there arose such a clatter...

  I thought I woke up and heard Cas, but somewhere in the back of my sleepiness I knew it wasn’t real. He whispered in my ear, and his warm breath and sweet words made me want to haul him into a dark, empty corner and kiss him madly like he did me so often.

  But I didn’t, because it was only a dream. A really, really good dream.

  When I woke and met Cas for breakfast, his smile was too big walking in the dining room where he sat in wait. Nothing sat in front of him, so I took that as he had already had his breakfast. He still drank “blood” out of my eyesight and I was determined to make him more comfortable with it. If he could accept my supernatural oddness, then I could accept his.

  I tried asking what he was so happy about and all he replied with was, “Did you have sweet dreams?”

  I blushed heavily and nodded a yes anxious to change the subject. He didn’t need to know I had steamy dreams about him.

  We had a great practice at the warehouse with Maze as our target. She figured out fast she was new meat and it was an exciting thrill for all of us except her.

  Cord was back to his cordial self making me think that my “pep talk” was more persuading than I thought. I didn’t mean for it to be.

  The usual male sarcasm floated on the air, but it was well noticed that our girl invasion was clear and noted. Maze and I did a few lithe movements through the air that suggested limber legs were an asset. Cas was moody about it at first with the way the boys watched us, but with Maze solidly beside me he let it go.

  Could you save that for other activities?

  I tsked him out loud.

  Once when Cas whispered that I should cool it and maybe focus on sparring with Maze and they would give us pointers, he changed his mind when Cord stepped in as my partner.

  I laughed internally but halted when Maze informed me that the animalistic way these boys fought for my affections was hot for her to watch. Feeling like a piece of meat suddenly, I closed off from Cord and stayed near her. Is that how Cas saw it?

  Before we ended the practice and had the large room tidied up, Maze also informed me of her insights into me and Cas. This I had to hear.

  “You two are...drawn together like the room is getting smaller every time you get too far and yank back. You get closer without even realizing it. He crosses the room just to be sure your less than five feet from his reach.”

  “He does?” I threw a hand up to my cheek and watched him a second. He was all the way across the room putting up the loose arrows when he seemingly looked out of the corner of his eyes to where I was. He didn’t move in my direction, but his eyes caught mine and I felt him signal in like his mind wanted to know what I was thinking. I was trying to block him out the best I could when Maze was talking.

  “Maybe your right?” I told Maze. He hadn’t been listening with his super Vampire hearing either I decided.

  “I know I’m right. Your different with him than you were with Calum,” Maze wiped her own bow down that she’d brought with her.

  “What does that mean?” I had to ask.

  “Don’t think I’m weird or that I’m looking or anything but it’s just...” she seemed almost to blush, “it’s just that your body seems to move towards him too. Like you want him so bad you can’t stay away. Lustful, but different. Protective, but cautious. You just both look like you truly want each other that bad. With Calum, you were friendly. Kind. But it was all normal teenage flirting. Nothing hot like the two of you.”

  We’re Cas and I really that obvious in front of others? That could be very embarrassing.

  When she left, she drove her tool based butt off in a happy mood nonetheless. I told her I’d text her soon, but she laughed at me. When I asked, she said her cell phone was dead and she needed a new one. Her mother was still living in the dark ages and refused to step into the “Devil’s tools” of technology and buy her a Smartphone. Her old cell phone was so archaic that some of the other students didn’t recognize it as a phone. And texting on it had been murder.


  I laughed with her and told her to text me when she had a new one but she thought it unlikely. I made Calum promise to bring her with him next time.

  I worked through ten more minutes of bow practice to get my head on straight. Maze still knew very little about us. I vowed to tell her more. Maybe everything. No one could I easily talk to about any of this so I needed an out.

  Chapter Two

  ...I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.

  More training. Without Maze.

  This time they boarded up the warehouse and removed all the weapons. The lights were diminished.

  “You want me to do what now?” I asked Szar.

  He puffed out air at me, “I want you to stand in the middle of the room and survive the darkness.”

  “No, you want to watch me make a fool of myself and act like a donkey afterward. Imagine your surprise when I take all four of you down.” I hoped I could do this.

  “Prove it, sis. Educate me.” The incendiary look in his eye gave me the kick in the butt I needed to not accept defeat.

  The lights dimmed. It took at least fifteen withering seconds to adjust my eyes. I heard them form a circle around me. Szar knew I’d done this before. He knew I came back from seven men in the ring with the lights on, but never in darkness. If it was being challenged I’d hoped for, it had come.

  I did however let my instincts from the not so distant past kick in. I knew a half second before Szar came at me since I knew his moves better than any. He landed the same side kick intended for the head that he always started with and somehow I knew he’d done it on purpose. He was warming me up in his eyes giving me something to get my blood boiling. How kind!

  Calum’s brute sized body came from the side. I could feel the air stir around his titan form telling me it was not any of the other three for that reason alone. I countered his measured back fist to my shoulder with a block remembering he did this a lot in the gym at the Hunter school. It hurt like the devil to block his arm but I did nonetheless. I bent low sensing a flailing arm sweeping above. I dodged it and came back with a blow to the arm that grabbed my wrist. This is where it got tricky. I wasn’t all BadA-Chic-a-dee when it came to manhandled fighting. I had the strength, but four?

  I wasn’t that versatile.

  I launched into Szar as he came back with his double armed bear hug he loved so much. He knew my weaknesses unfortunately. You would think by now I’d be a little more jaded, tougher in my endeavors. Of course, the more Borgon attacks me and my loved ones, the less I see reason in having mercy.

  “You lose, brother,” I whispered to his face. I kneed him right where the very weakness he’d left open keeping me in the game. “Sorry, Bro!”

  He cursed and dropped to ease his pain.

  I assessed my still tightly held arm and told the assailant, whom I had to guess to be Cord, that he was weak and then I used every ounce of my strength to pull my foot up using my limberness as my defense. He sailed backward and grunted as he hit the wall. I heard a not so soft growl that gave me reason to worry about what Cord form would be visible when the lights came back on. I worried enough with this that I bridged several feet over Calum hovering on the ground and hit the light switch in one swoop. If the lights had been on, it would have been awesome to see. I took less than a second to adjust my focus.

  Cord was still sprawled across the floor after hitting the wall, but his form sure enough, was not his own. I could have, should have, would have moved in for an attack if this had been any other person lying like he was with wolf fangs bared and claws sharp as nails. He wasn’t so “pretty” now. He was wicked scary and I knew enough to fear him. I took a step towards him making his hand closest to me fly to the air.

  A gruff sound choked out of him, “Stay away.”

  Would he hurt me? Not that he could I decided letting my own arrogance get the best of me. I probably need a good old-fashioned reality check but not by him.

  Suddenly, I heard a noise behind my back move in closer and forcefully cover the entire front of me. Cas. Except it wasn’t Cas. The instinctive low growl of a Vampire that I was fairly familiar with left his lips and closed in some type of man cage around me. Seems to be his defense often I thought to myself.

  Blocking him out wouldn’t be useful right then if it meant I could calm him down, so I let down my barrier and told him to back off. He looked halfway to me keeping his face hidden. I could see the side of his profile where his hair had fallen into his eye and made certain to note that his lips were reared back.

  Like a snap of a twig I came to my senses.

  “Cord, Cas, get control of yourselves. I will walk away right now if this is the outcome of our future. Fighting and practicing are two different beasts. I won’t do this again for anything. You boys can have your way with each other. I’m out.”

  I knew the second I finished I had exactly ten seconds to get out the door and lock them in. I was off on my count.

  Eight seconds later, the door was blown apart and four steaming boys were staring me down as I waltzed back inside and retrieved a water bottle from the fridge. I stood sure of myself and turned to them with the bottle upturned and sweat rolling down my face and too many other places. Once in, they all stood with placated faces in an Xmen kind of formation uncannily around the center of the room where they had me placed minutes ago.

  “What?” I asked. “Did I win?” I needed to be sure Cord was under control and more importantly if Cas was controlled enough to not tear him apart.

  They all pouted a bit and spread in four directions. I stood where I was and watched their animated retrieval of hidey hole weapons. Once all of them felt satisfied they’d found their stashes, I picked up my much missed set of knives and went to the target board before any of them could comment or man-huff in my direction.

  No escaping it seemed, Cas came over and grabbed the knives when I’d finished and brought them to me.

  If he had a point, he dang well needed to just make it.

  “Are you going to just ignore me?” I scanned the side of his face quickly enough hoping he didn’t see me do it.

  “What’s there to say?” Cas finally said, his jaw line more pronounced and clicking in and out fighting back what he really wanted to say. His face was his own again, as well as Cord who never fully changed. I wondered now if that's why he kept a stack of jeans in the cabinet below the snacks.

  “Nothing I guess,” I replied with little feeling. I knew he was holding some form of anger. Spidey sense told me that much.

  You make them weak.

  I can’t say why I did what I did next or what exactly came over me, but afterward I was in a mess of pain. The second Cas had the last word through his thoughts I pinned him to the ground straddling his hips and beat the living daylights out of his chest and shoulder blades. When I reached the conclusion he wasn’t going to move, I jumped off him and left the watching hen party for a second time in the night. Just great!

  Not wanting any more of their advice I fled the whole dang scene and started walking in the woods. Overcoming obstacles was for the birds. Who cared about being a people person anyway?

  I thought I’d made it pretty far away when I found a little creek with wonderful sounds of fast running water and slurping noises from the many fish that were jumping around. I sat and watched the magic of how they seemed to get along with each other so well.

  I worried greatly about the effect it had on me seeing Cas for the second time with his Vampire guise on, but I had my own hypnotism. The fangs unnerved me, but it didn’t disgust me. I trusted him. It terrified me. I was as powerful as he was so there was nothing to fear, right? We were both abominations of a sort.

  I hated admitting I was scared when they both supped out on me because of something I did. He was right, I made them weak.

  I heard the steps and felt the same stomach pings as always. His fingers brushed the back of my neck sending sensations that no other has ever done before. I wanted to be mad at him
but I more wanted to know what he meant.

  I meant that as a compliment, Kissa.

  “A compliment? Now you’re just trying to brown nose. Save it,” I let my ice form inside my head and heart.

  “No, it was a compliment and you’ll hear me out,” he sat beside me and interlaced his fingers through mine. “I think we are all in agreement that you have some mad skills that force all of us to question your beyond skill level abilities. We all acknowledge who and what you are, but Anastacia, you are the leader. You’re also a woman.”

  “Thanks for that assessment. Glad you noticed.” Cas ignored my crass attitude and continued.

  “You are capable of defending yourself and possess an innate concentration that the four of us naturally want to protect. You shouldn’t get mad at this nor fight it.”

  I made a stupid little girl noise at his male sort of thinking and did say, “How is that weakening any of you?” I sounded all girl!

  “Because they needed to see that they, including myself, still underestimate their opponents and that we are not all that,” Cas smiled at me from the side with his mouth in a half grin.

  “Well, I wouldn’t say that.” I felt better though I knew full well the implications of what Cas really meant. I was a woman as he said, not a man. And that meant all kinds of hurt in their egos. I felt bad for that. Just a little.

  “So are you saying that we shouldn’t practice together anymore?” I looked sideways at him where he watched the water.

  “No. We have too. We need to know how each other’s moves and reactions to predict each other in a fight. To work completely as a team and in sync we need cohesiveness.”