Darkness & Lies: A Brotherhood Novel (#1)

Darkness & Lies: A Brotherhood Novel

Printing History

2011

All
rights reserved © Copyright 2010
by Brandi Salazar

This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced
in
any form,

Without the prior

Written permission of the author.

ISBN:
978-1-105-07035-8

Acknowledgments

For my bestie who stuck by my side and rooted me on throughout the making of this novel. Thank you for all your input and constant pushing. Without you and your unfailing faith in me this book would still be tucked away in some dusty file on my laptop.

For my husband who read it, liked it, and pushed hard to help choreograph some of the more, um, enticing chapters. I swear I had no idea that one of the characters (you know the one) so closely resembled you. It’ll be our little secret.

More books by Brandi

Faerie Tales: The Misfortune of a Teenage Socialite

A Flash of Inspiration: A Collection of Very
Short Stories by Indie Authors

Available
FREE
at
www.smashwords.com

Midnight Masquerade

Available September 2011

Darkness and Lies

A Brotherhood novel

By Brandi Salazar

Prologue

950 B.C. 
Mount Hekla, Iceland

The earth growled ferociously, shaking homes to their foundations in a righteous fit of anger. Rock tumbled to the ground. Men, strong and brave, took to the streets gathering the women and children, hastily retreating from the threatening plumes of ash stained clouds looming just beyond the village edges, devouring what little light r
e
mained in the sleepy afternoon sky.

The ground shook violently, toppling buildings, d
e
stroying homes, knocking the frightened, scampering h
u
mans to their knees. They did not know what was happe
n
ing for they had never experienced such an event during their too short lives. All they knew was when their quiet existence was suddenly disrupted, and their sun kissed skies plunged into crippling darkness, that all was not well.

Erias emerged from the stone dwelling, his electric blue eyes frantic  as they searched through the throng of
bodies, friends, acquaintances
screaming in terror as they fled for their lives. He had never seen anything like
it; he
thought
,
glancing up at the looming snowcapped mou
n
tains. Snow that was now quickly melting as the air heated around it. Around them. 

The earth trembled
again,
and Erias had to brace himself against the wall of his home to remain standing. Beneath his fingers, the mud bricks he had made with his own hands, crumbled. Falling, Erias stumbled, grasping at air as the walls of his home fell apart as if it were merely dust. Landing hard, his linen pants tearing when his knees crashed onto the cobbled ground.

Picking himself up, Erias hardly noticed the blood soaking his clothes, hardly noticed the sting of his broken skin. His mind was elsewhere.

Where were they? Where was his wife? Where was his son?
Last he had known they had gone to
the temple
to make an offering to the g
ods. The greedy bastards were never appeased, no matter the gift. Erias had long ago lost his faith. If he could have his way, he would have torn down the building brick by brick until nothing was left standing.

With a direction in mind, he started forward, ba
t
tling his way through the wall of bodies pushing in the o
p
posite direction.

The growling of the mountain had long since b
e
come a constant, a promise of what was to come. What that was, he did not know nor did he much care
. His focus was single minded—
get his family and get out.

Golden brown rock peeked at him in the distance, its majestic columns rising to kiss the midnight sky. A peeked roof carved with angelic depictions. Cherubic faces gazing at him as his feet ate up the distance. Trees tall and strong, green, lade
n
with plump red apples, anchoring t
he building at its four points—
north, south, east, and west.

A cry of fear cut through his worried mind like a sword through bone
—
h
arsh, piercing. P
ainful. 

“Mommy!” the child wailed and pointed as he peered over his father’s shoulder.

For just a moment, caught in the forcefulness of the child’s terrified cries, the couple turned.
Instantly,
the color drained from their
faces.

The small woman cast a horrified glance up at her husband, grasped his hand and bowed her head, her lips trembling as th
ey made a silent prayer to the g
ods. Erias’s stomach knotted painfully as he followed their lead and looked up.

The mountain bore down on them becoming a li
v
ing entity, its force rocking the earth, promising death and
destruction.
The heavy clouds had long since turned black, slithering down the mountainside. They would soon blanket the village, suffocating its inhabitants.

With his heart pounding through his chest, Erias leapt into action. “Run!” he screamed at the young family held captive by the sight. “Run, get out of here!” he screamed again when they blinked slowly as if waking from a dream.

With a start, they heeded his warn
ing to save the
m
s
elves
,
and ran.

Erias himself continued on his path further into the heart of town with no worry for himself, o
nly his family.
Always,
his family. Without
them
life simply was not worth
living. 

Ascending the stone steps, Erias called out, becko
n
ing his wife and child to him, his voice becoming lost in the raucous thundering of the angry mountain. He called over and over, cupping his mouth with his hands to amplify his voice until his throat was sore, raw from overuse.

“Erias!” “Daddy!” Two of the sweetest sounds his ears had ever heard finally answered.

Spinning on his heel, he looked beyond the temple walls from whence he came
, his eyes falling on a long-
legged brunette, hair flapping wildly behind her. Her dirtied face streaked with dried tears, fresh moisture cutting new paths across her temples, soaking her hair as she ran toward him.

In her arms was a small boy, dark as midnight curly hair framed a rounded angelic face reminding him of the cherubs carved into the temple’s face. Blazing blue eyes bore into him as the boy clutched at his mother’s neck.

His family, he sighed in relief.

“Helena! Emile!” he yelled, his feet kicking into
gear and
carrying him forward quickly. He had not forgo
t
ten that danger loomed on the horizon. His heart
drummed a
new tempo born of new fear. Not of finding his family, because here they were, but one of
saving
his
family.

They had to leave now, before it was too late.

Running toward each other, Erias tried to ignore the increasing tremble beneath his feet. Before he could escape the sanctity of the temple walls, an explosion sounded roc
k
ing the earth so hard it caused them all to fall to their hands and knees.

Stones the size of his fist began dropping around him, pelting his legs, his back, his arms. Erias covered his head with his hands to cushion the blows
.
When he felt nothing else, he looked up, across the temple floor to the dirtied bodies curled on the ground outside.

Helena was using her body to shield their son. E
r
ias’s chest swelled with pride at the sight of her strength.

Pressing his palms to the
floor,
he pushed his now aching body to a stand. Just as one foot stepped forward, another boom rocked them, raining a fresh storm of rock and debris atop
him.

A grunt spilled past his lips when the back of his unguarded head was barraged. His vision dot
ted, blurring over, darkening
as all strength left him. Crumbling to his knees, Erias caught one last glimpse of his wife and son, their horrified blue a
nd brown gazes meeting
his resigned–regretful?
—
one.

Just before his vision winked out, he heard a screech so perverse it seared his mind, carving pain cell
deep.
Helena and Emile turned their faces upward as an impenetrable darkness enveloped them. Wings, sh
arp as a blade, thick,
black
and scaled,
entered his line of vision blanking out the last view he would ever have of his family again.

In a moment of pure despe
ration, Erias pleaded with the g
ods to spare his family, to do anything they wished with him, but leave them untouched.

A prayer
that
would
not go unheard as darkness e
n
veloped
him.

Chapter 1

Present day
 

“Does anyone even care that I am practically dying over here?”

Cheyenne exchanged a bemused look with Kris. They had been scaling the side of the mountain since dawn
,
only stopping for a quick water break every so often. It was now noon and although the sun was beating down on them
,
it did little in the way of warming their bodies against the subzero temperatures this high up.

Boots crunching on the snow packed ground, Che
y
enne turned back and settled herself on the edge of a bou
l
der. Dropping her pack into the snow between her feet, she rummaged through the contents and pulled out a small bag filled with
freeze-dried food.

“Take ten everyone,” she announced. “I want to hit the summit before sundown.”

The group immediately dropped anchor, plunging into their bags, grateful for the brief reprieve. Cheyenne tore into her jerky, sipping at her canteen of water to h
y
drate
it as she looked over her small
but dedicated group of friends.

Of the eight of them, Kris was the only one she had grown up with. She knew everything about him and trusted him implicitly. In turn, he knew everything there was to know about
her,
including who was
responsible for her first heart
break. Jeffery Rosenthal, the slimy
bastard.

Shaking her head to clear away the thought before she went on yet another mental tirade, Cheyenne focused on Tabitha’s hunched form as she rubbed her swollen a
n
kles. Tim was crouched in front of her, his stylishly trimmed chestnut brown hair hanging in his eyes as he i
n
spected the damage.