Dragon Marked: Supernatural Prison #1 (28 page)

“I believe it’s near the Romanian prison,” he said,
without inflection. “In the Carpathian Mountains.”

Shit.

I locked eyes with him. “According to the pilots, that’s
where we’re heading.”

Judging by the expressions around me, we were all
thinking the same thing: What the hell was the sorcerer up to, sending us
straight into the mouth of the beast?

***

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you loved this book, could you do me a huge favor and post a review on Amazon
and/or Goodreads. Reviews are so valuable to independent authors and I’d
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Bestselling Young
Adult Paranormal Romance: Walker Saga

First World – A Walker
Saga Book 1

(free on all
retailers for a limited time)

A young adult paranormal romance series.
An epic journey.
If the Seventine are released, will anyone survive?
Abigail Swish might not love her life, living in gang-ridden New York in 2035
and training to fight and survive with Compound 23. But she is grateful for a
few things, especially her no-filter-between-brain-and-mouth best friend Lucy
and her escape each night into a dream world far different from her own.
In fact, sometimes she lives for the fleeting moments she spends at night with
the man who fuels every romantic fantasy she’s ever had. But each morning
reality returns. She could just cry. But she won’t. Tears don’t change a damn
thing.
Then without any warning, a month before her eighteenth birthday, everything
does change. A guardian finds her. He explains, in a strangely familiar accent,
that she was stashed on Earth for safekeeping and has been lost to her family
ever since. And it is time to return home. To First World; a land of unimagined
beauty.
Abigail and Lucy find themselves thrust from New York and into another world.
Day one: traversing through an unforgiving wilderness. Yeah, because that sort
of thing just happens every day. Luckily an unexpected savior arrives; the man
from her dream-world. Brace is six-and-a-half feet of gorgeous perfectness,
wrapped in an arrogance like no other. Unable to trust his assistance, and
unsure which of her instincts to follow - kiss him or punch him in the mouth -
Abigail eventually accepts his help to find her family.
And what a family. Enter Josian, her father, larger than life and apparently
not even human. He is Walker, a planet-less race revered as gods, causing
mischief and mayhem through-out this star-system. Unfortunately, there is no
time for a cozy reunion, since her return to First World is the unknown
catalyst, setting forth a chain of events which could spell disaster for all
worlds.
First World is book one in the Walker Saga, a seven-book paranormal fantasy
series.

Dronish
– A Walker Saga Book 6

Released
25
^th
March 2015

Chapter 1

Sapha

Home to
all of the fifty thousand Drones that remained after the last collapse, Arotia
was the last city left standing on the world of Dronish. The long-lived race
were energy consumers, vampires in a manner, needing constant renewal of their
life-force by taking that of others. Through their own greed and need, they had
razed the once strong, thriving world to the ground. Only the dregs of a
society remained.

Sapha lived her life in constant fear that she would be consumed by the
desperate people … fear that her secret would be discovered … fear that she
would always be alone. She had two weapons in her arsenal, and without them
she’d be dead ten times over. Her mother had protected her as a babe, but, in
the end, she’d succumbed to the urge and tried to kill her. Luckily, the attack
had come in Sapha’s ninth year and she’d been strong enough to fight back and
escape. She hadn’t seen her mother since.

Until today.                                                  

Sapha had snuck into the market square, had cloaked herself in shadows,
and in the half-darkness of Dronish, lit only by the sliver of moon that
remained. Standing in the long lines of those waiting for their daily
replenishment from the sacred mineraline crystals was the tall, slender form of
Cletia, her mother. Her primary gift: Sapha had no need of the crystals, her
energy was replenished with simple nourishment from the fungi that grew around
her cave outside Arotia. She’d only ventured into the square to keep a close
eye on her one friend. Marl was a youngling, ten and one year. He shared the
caves with her, and made the journey once a week into the city for his
nourishment.

Sapha was invisible to all at the moment, although seeing her mother had
caused her to almost lose control of her cloaking energy, her second ability. She
could use the shadows and camouflage herself. Sapha could only be grateful for
the fact her large source of power inside was somehow hidden from the Drones. They
would hunt her down and drain her. She had enough power to nourish the city of
Arotia for many half-moons.

Sapha did not remember Dronish when it was filled with the sun’s warmth
and five moons. It was long ago that the gluttonous nature of her people had
consumed the sun and all but a sliver of one moon’s energy. Those dead rocks
still littered their sky, but could not be seen in the darkness. She wouldn’t
even start on the cold. Luckily, between their layers of skin and muscle, they
had a thin coating of fat dense enough it kept them from freezing to death.

Marl was at the start of the line now. Seven guards surrounded the mineraline
stone before him. It was black, glittering in the dim light. Sapha lurked
closer as he opened his mouth and his throttle, or sucker, emerged. Unraveling
from where it rested inside his throat, the snakelike extension’s end attached
to the crystal, and as he absorbed the energy, Sapha was still amazed to see
the changes in her friend. His skeletal frame filled out slightly, flesh
actually encasing bone instead of just skin. His scaled and cracked hide filled
back in, and even glistened with some protective oils again. All drones had
lithe frames, but now Marl stopped swaying and stood strong and tall. His
large, single eye – which was one of the many differences between Sapha and the
rest of the drones – cleared of yellow and turned back to blood red. He looked
so much healthier. If only they could take this nourishment more than once a
week.

According to the market gossip, they were about to extend the waiting
period between feedings again. Many wouldn’t survive this. In the end, once a
week was only just allowing some to endure. One more day would be their death.
Marl would be fine though, she secretly fed him energy during his trance state
– not enough that it was noticeable, but enough that he would always survive.

Suddenly shouts could be heard, more than one voice and more than one
language. Sapha drifted away from the crowds, hugging the side of a building
where she could observe without anyone accidentally bumping into her. She was
cloaked but still corporeal. Marl was off to the side as well, so he should be
safe enough from whatever disturbance was coming. A male burst into view, tall
and thin like the rest but plumped out a bit more. He was one of the high priest’s
men. Kan, the priest, was the leader of Arotia, and his contingent always
seemed to be a little more nourished than the average inhabitant.

“Sound the alarm, a group approaches our city. Guard the walls and hide
the mineralines.”

Just like that, the guards snatched up the precious life-giving crystals
and were gone, their dark forms disappearing back into the palatial structure
where the priest, his harem, and the men were holed up praying for redemption,
or whatever they were calling it. Those who had still been in line, waiting for
their small sliver of energy, cried out. Their shrieks and wails were testament
to the pain and hunger plaguing the world. Sapha lost sight of her mother in
the chaos, which left her with an uneasy churning in her stomach. It was sad
that this was what their world had been reduced to.

It was over a thousand years ago that the Dronish civilization realized
their growth as a people, and their need for energy, was overtaking the world’s
ability to survive. The leaders of the time – for there had been many cities –
had tried to reverse that which had been created, but it was too late. Millions
perished in the fighting and wars which ensued. Everyone wanted to capture for
themselves whatever free energy remained, and more importantly one of the mineralines
which were able to provide renewable food. They had drained the crystals so
many times that the sun and moons eventually succumbed to the loss of energy.

When the dust finally cleared, all that remained were the dregs of a once-thriving,
cosmopolitan world. Those who had ventured out to explore told tales of a dusty
land filled with the skeletons of cities and civilizations. Arotia had the last
stores of crystals, and eventually all of the Dronish survivors made their way
here. But the energy continued to ebb away. The stones required the light of
the suns or moons to recharge, and there was only a sliver of moon left.

Sapha knew it was only a matter of time before there was nothing left of
Dronish. The world was on its last legs and they were all just waiting for the
final sword to fall. The priests tried their best. It was a death sentence to
take energy from anything or anyone now, except your allocation of crystal, and
it was the same fate if you procreated without permission. They allowed for
some new life, simply because there was so much death that if they didn’t have
babies, the Drones would have died out a long time ago. Her mother, of course,
had not received permission. She said that a foreign male, one who had much
power, seduced her with energy. She woke after the overload and she was with
young. Knowing Sapha would be different and easily detected, she left Arotia
and settled in an abandoned farmhouse outside of the city.

As a child, Sapha had been left alone while her mother went into town to replenish,
but otherwise they lived a very quiet, hidden life – until the day her mother
had tried to drain Sapha dry. It was just after they’d extended the feeding
period to three days. This time period proved to be too long for Cletia. She’d
been overcome by her need for sustenance.

Sapha rubbed at her chest. She could still feel the attached sucker, the
panic that had flooded her veins as the well of energy inside of her started to
drain away. There should be no greater love than that of mother and child, but
in the end the hunger had proved greater. No wonder the Drones couldn’t stop
themselves before they destroyed the world.

Sapha followed the crowds as they started to move toward the large
barriers that had been erected near the entrance of the city. She kept the
shadows wrapped tightly around her. She would be invisible except to someone
who looked really closely. No one had bothered to notice her before.

Except for Marl.

After his mother died from lack of energy, he’d been abandoned in the
market square. Tiny little thing, only four cycles old, he’d noticed Sapha as
she skirted the area, having come in for a tiny slice of companionship. Even if
no one knew they were providing it, she went a little crazy stuck in her cave
all the time. He’d had no fear coming straight up to her and asking her name.
They’d been together ever since.

Marl moved gracefully to her side. The small drone started trailing along
beside her; they moved with the crowd. “Sapha, you need to be careful. I saw
your entire body a moment ago.”

His words would have been difficult to understand if Sapha didn’t have so
much practice with the Drone’s strange way of phrasing words. The sucker made
it difficult for them to pronounce certain sounds.

“You only saw because you were looking for me,” she said, keeping her
voice low.

He snorted, his single eye flashing red in the mild light.

“What do you think is coming?” He was worried. Sapha could always tell by
the jitter in his voice.

“I have no idea, but surely nothing would have survived outside of the
city.” Sapha left the rest unspoken. If something had survived, who knew what
type of monster it might be.

Reaching the barriers, everyone paused before starting to climb. The
gates were high but there were handholds all the way up. Not all the Drones
climbed up, only the ones who had received their weekly energy. The others
would not risk any more of their strength.

Sapha stayed close to Marl, off to the side. Together they scaled the
fifteen foot wall. Sapha got her first hand on the top of the hold and paused
before she pulled her head up to see over. It was dark outside of the gates,
just a sliver of moonlight to break the endless night. She squinted, and then
as the scene came into focus she almost lost her grip on the fence and plunged
to the ground. It was only by sheer will that her fingertips stayed gripped to
the fence.

There was a massive group of Drones just outside the city barrier. Those
standing in the front held large poles with black mineralines tied to them. This
cast enough light to highlight their fierce expressions.

The Arotia Drones started to mumble amongst themselves. Sapha could hear
the fear, the worry, and maybe even the slightest hint of hope. There were
other survivors. The male who was next to Marl started to chatter. He was
wondering if they had stores of energy hidden away somewhere. Were they
saviors?

Sapha bit into her lip. She had a bad feelings about this. If these
others had lots of energy stores, why would they have journeyed to Arotia? They
were here for a reason, and judging by their massive group and hard features,
it wasn’t to form a community and celebrate life. A glance along the fence
showed that there were no priests or guards along the perimeter, no one to
defend the city. Where was Kan and his men?

“This is bad,” Sapha muttered.

A commotion had her spinning to the left. Finally Kan had emerged from
his home, and surrounded by guards was making his way to the watchtower over
the main gate. Despite her previous thoughts of his absence, his presence
didn’t exactly fill Sapha with reassurance. So far the high priest was proving
to be more than useless.

“We should go, Marl,” she said. That nudging sensation to flee was not
one she ignored; it had saved her life on more than one occasion.

Without hesitation, she scaled back down the fence, and Marl, who trusted
her implicitly, followed. “I want to know what’s going to happen.” He continued
craning his head as they started to backtrack away from the front gate and
through the town.

They didn’t speak again until they’d arrived at the piece of metal which
hid the hole in the fence they used to leave the city. Luckily, it seemed as if
the incoming foreign Drones were only at the front entrance, so they did not
have to sneak to their cave.

It took a little bit of time to cross the darkened planes. Sapha had
marked the route many years ago; she could have walked it with her eyes closed.
Both of their faces reflected relief as the thorny bush that hid the cave came
into view. It was always a good outing when they made it home without
detection. Scooting around the outer area, they made it inside the large rock
cavern. It was a huge single room, with an arterial that exited out the other
side. It was perfect because they had two ways to run if it ever came to that.

The moment Sapha was safe inside, she dropped the shadows that cloaked
her, revealing her tall, thin frame. She was not as shapeless as the average
drone, but still did not have much extra weight on her bones. Her long, dark
purple hair was secured to the nape of her neck with many twines of string.
Unlike the Drones, she had two eyes, but they were still red around the pupil,
darkening out to a gold on the iris. Her skin was chameleon-like, changing
color with her surroundings. But generally it was somewhere in a rich brown
tone.

Marl was striding around the sparse room. There was not much in the dark
interior besides a few padded surfaces for his meditation, some bones they used
for games, and tomes of information that Sapha had hoarded away. The moss
creatures which clung high to the wall cast shadowy light. Luckily the town
didn’t know about these light givers; otherwise they would have drained their
energy long ago. Sapha had never seen them in the city, they seemed to only
exist far away from civilization. In fact, she was starting to wonder now how
many other organisms might be out there, surviving, learning how to function in
the dying world.