In Too Deep
Authors: Brandy L Rivers
In Too Deep
Book 1: Others of Edenton
By Brandy L Rivers
Copyright 2013 Brandy L Rivers
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
This is the first book of
my Others of Edenton series. To stay up to date on new releases, please go to my official author website at
To my
loving husband, Alan, thank you for putting up with my insanity to get this book out of my head and onto my screen.
To my adorable munchkins
, thank you for providing me with tons of extra writing time by keeping me up late at night.
To my mother
who probably had to scrub her eyes after reading a few scenes: thank you for all of your love and support, your open mind and all of your advice.
To my sister in law
, Christy, I appreciate the time you took to read a couple earlier versions of the book and all of the enthusiastic input and encouragement you gave me.
To Staci Brillhart
, my excellent critique partner: thank you for some very awesome conversations, support and suggestions.
To Tony Duncan who
shared his knowledge about motorcycles with me.
To Miranda Johnson, for helping me catch mistakes I missed even after going through the document a zillion times.
The night was fitting. Cold and dark, just like her mood. She was finally leaving all the drama behind. Fallon had no clue where she was going but she had put an entire day’s motorcycle ride betwe
en her and all of Isaac’s shit.
Her phone vibrated in her pocket, but she was in no mood listen to Isaac beg her to come back. Because really, who else would
it be? The prick had only called about twenty times, and she had already heard all the weak-ass excuses she could stand from the weretiger.
Between trying to ignore her phone and weaving
a silencing spell, she didn’t see the dark creature streak out of the woods. Not until it slammed into her Harley. She managed to roll away, wrapping herself in a protective spell while her bike skidded the opposite direction with sparks flying. Her back slammed into a tree, but her shield absorbed most of the impact.
She picked herself up and looked at her broken bike. Even in the dark, she could see
how the frame and body had twisted and bent. Shit, she loved her bike more than she ever cared about Isaac. It didn't look like the best mechanic could put her girl back together.
With a sigh, she glanced over at the big heap of fur curled in on itself. It was too dark to see the creature clearly
, but he looked and sounded an awful lot like an injured werewolf.
Perfect, more wereanimals
.
Fallon knew she shouldn’t get involved, but she couldn’t leave the injured creature to fend for himself.
This was her fault. If she hadn’t silenced her bike and left the headlight on, he could have avoided her. She pulled off her helmet and tossed it and her backpack at her Harley before hurrying over to him.
He was in a half-man form. Only the most powerful wereanimals could do anything other than full beast. She couldn’t help wondering what he was running from.
The werewolf rolled onto his back as she approached.
Goddess, he was huge. Laid out, he was close to eight feet tall. His fur was dark with lighter patches around his massive feet and clawed hands. The hair at his chest and abs was thinner, showing off layers on layers of muscle.
“You better not make me regret this,” she warned as she knelt beside him to get a better look at his injuries. His shoulder was a wreck. It looked like someone, or something had tried to tear his throat out. His wrist was torn to shreds the way only an overzealous vampire can manage.
Well, this is just getting better and better
.
His big icy blue eyes went wide.
“Go, run…,” He let out a pained howl. “Not safe.” He tried to shoo her away, raising his injured arm to hold her back, but then his arm fell to the ground with a thud.
Shit. He was trying to send her away, which meant the vampires would likely come back for him. T
hat made him an unwilling snack while making the vampires greedy assholes.
She couldn't walk away from anyone in need,
especially not in his condition regardless of what was coming after him. Still, something stronger held her there, urging her to heal him. The feeling was instinctual and not one she wanted to fight.
“
Please, just go,” he panted, feebly trying to push her away.
Her eyes narrowed at him.
“All you werewolves think you’re the toughest shit out there. Just chill out and give me a minute.”
He sucked in a breath as he stared at her.
With a little effort, she focused her energy and imagined a circle of protection, an invisible wall wrapped around them. She gently covered each of the bites with her hands and softly sang a healing spell.
Odd, his skin knit together
way too fast under her touch. The wolf let out a ragged sigh, and then his breathing slowed as his body relaxed. “What are you?” he whispered as his big clawed hand came up to caress her face.
Fallon fought the impulse to lean into his touch, but couldn’t fight her smile.
“We can worry about that later. Now, this part is going to hurt like a bitch.” She almost felt bad as she climbed onto his massive chest, and placed both hands on his damaged shoulder and arm. With as much strength as she could summon, she shoved. His arm snapped into place with a sound like a baseball bat hitting a cement wall.
He howled into the night and rolled onto his side as she scrambled out of his way.
“Shh, now. You’re okay,” she murmured as she settled beside him. Fallon covered as much of the massive joint as she could and sang a spell to ease some of the pain.
It must have worked, because his body went lax, his breathing slowed, and his fur started to recede. Then he started to snore softly which came as a surprise. There was no doubt in her mind
that he would still need medical attention. She could close the wounds and dampen the pain, but she knew from experience that her healing wasn’t much more than a bandage and some mild painkiller.
Watching a wereanimal change
just creeped her out, so she stood and turned her back. Healing always chilled her hands but now they were like ice. She had to rub them together to get her circulation going.
Fallon stepped free from her shield and prepared herself. She could feel the dark menace of at least two Shadowstalkers, which were the most feared
of the vampire breeds. They could manipulate shadows and were more adept at mind control than other vampires. Their thirst for Other blood was like an addiction and they ignored the rules most vampires lived by.
She
had to wonder why the hell they were after the werewolf.
* * * *
A breeze stirred Brody out of his slumber. The pain was gone, the burning gone, and he was buck-ass naked on the pavement.
What the hell?
Then he remembered crashing into
her
bike, the angel who healed his wounds and gave him peace he hadn’t felt in years.
The vampires. Shit
. Brody slammed back into awareness and bolted upright as he searched for her. He had been outside the bar getting ready to run when he was attacked by a male and female. He hoped he killed them because he didn't want them going after his savior.
His gaze locked on her. Angel? Make that fallen angel because her motorcycle leathers fit her like a second skin. Her long red hair blew in the wind and she looked wicked pissed as she glared into the tree line. He couldn’t hear or smell anything
out of place, but she sure as hell sensed something coming and she looked determined to tear whatever it was apart.
A raven haired vampire streaked out of the woods and
ran straight for the woman with a blood curdling screech. Brody had twisted her head completely around. He couldn’t figure out how the hell she was up and moving.
He roared and ran for the vampire
, but slammed into a wall of nothing as he promptly slid to his knees. Desperate to stop the vampire, he threw all of his strength into beating his way through the barrier, and got nowhere.
The redhead didn’t even spare him a glance. She just dropped to her knees and brought her hands up over head as a wall of earth rose around her to form a dome. The vampire ran straight into the
earthen wall and fell back in convulsions as if struck by lightning.
Brody saw the crack in the wall the same time the vampire rolled to her hands and knees. She must have seen the weakness because she shot up from the ground and blurred straight for the crack.
Feeling useless, Brody shouted. “Watch out, she’s going to bust through.”
The dome shattered, but his angel was incredibly fast with a glowing blade, slicing straight through the vampire’s neck, sending the head rolling his way. He couldn’t figure out where the dagger had come from. There was no room to fit the blade under her leathers.
The severed head hit the invisible barrier with a wet thunk, and he glanced down to see smoke rising from the smoldering neck. When he looked up, the rest of the body disintegrated into ash, blowing away on the wind as the empty clothes fell to the ground.
Then he really looked at the redhead and his heart slammed against his ribs. Even covered in blood and ash, she was breathtaking. The light of the moon caught in her brilliant red hair when she tossed
it over her shoulder. Her pale skin glowed and her vibrant green eyes sparked as her gaze locked with his.
She walked back to him and dragged her foot through her barrier, breaking the spell.
“Sorry.” Her voice was like honey and smoke. “Wasn’t sure how long you’d be out, and I wanted to make sure you were safe.” She glanced away, the corner of her mouth twitching up. Damn, he found her attractive
.
“
Are you all right?” he asked as he took a step toward her. Brody wasn’t sure he would be, not after a motorcycle crash, and all the magic she threw around.
Before she could answer, her eyes darted back to the trees.
“You killed my Isabelle,” a second vampire screeched, the sound getting closer. Then Brody caught a glimpse of the shadow streak out the woods, heading straight for her before Brody could move.
That was the same male from before. Brody had ripped the bastard’s arms off, but now the limbs were reattached. His shirt sleeves were missing and blood covered his arms. The muscles jumped and twitched and his fingers spasmed.
His head was still misshapen, but not as bad as Brody left him.
“
You’re next.” The redhead smiled coldly as she spun out of reach. The vampire sailed straight through where she stood just a second before. He slammed into a tree with enough force to crack the trunk in half, and landed on his ass.
Brody’s mouth fell open—
the damned tree was a redwood in training.
She held her dagger to her thigh with one hand and brought her other up in a swirling flourish. A spark flashed to life in her palm, whirling and spiraling into a ball of dancing blue energy as the vampire sprang to his feet and charged at her.
She threw the spell which hit the vampire square in the chest like a fastball and knocked him to the ground. She gracefully ran to him and leapt onto his chest as she brought the blade toward the creature’s heart like she assassinated vampires on a regular basis.
Stronger and faster still, the vampire screamed and caught her wrists
, flipping her over so fast he couldn’t be sure if the blade hit its mark.
Brody damn near blacked out from rage when he heard her slam into the pavement. The bastard had pinned her to the ground, and closed his mouth over her throat. Brody burst into motion without a single thought. A roar rumbled from deep in his chest as he barreled toward the vampire. He wrapped his hands around the creature’s massive shoulders and ripped him off of her.
The vampire’s body crumbled, blowing away on the wind as his coat and shirt deflated and his pants fell to the ground. He dropped the clothes and heard the blade clatter on the pavement. Stumbling back, Brody choked on the thick cloud of ash. He couldn't see a damned thing.
* * * *
Sheriff Hayden Hunter sat at the bar and took the last drink from his beer. Jess was at the end of the counter talking with one of the customers. The pint-sized werewolf tucked a loose lock of blond hair behind her ear and nodded to his empty bottle.
Before he could respond,
she froze as her eyes drifted toward the hall behind Hayden. He looked back to find Clint rushing toward them.
Clint brushed a hand over his short brown hair and swung his green eyes back and forth between Hayden and Jess.
“What is it?” Hayden asked.
“
I need to show you both something,” he said, and motioned toward the door. Hayden’s eyes narrowed as his brow cranked down. It had to be urgent if a werewolf enforcer was coming directly to the sheriff and the alpha’s mate, instead of calling the alpha himself.
Jess came around the counter.
“I think I know what’s up,” she whispered.
Hayden stood and gave Jess a sideways glance. They followed Clint as he started for the back door. The smell hit him
the second they stepped outside. Copper and death. As an Earth Fae, his sense of smell was about as strong as the weres.
Jess paused and her nose wrinkled
before she looked up at him with wide eyes.
Clint turned toward them. He rubbed his hands down his thighs and started talking a hundred miles an hour.
“So, I was on my way home when I came out the door. I smelled this stench and followed it back to Adam’s truck where Brody’s clothes are. I don’t know what the fuck happened but it looks like a slasher movie back there.” He turned on his heel and hurried to the back corner of the parking lot
There was a lake of blood next to Adam’s truck.
Hayden looked to Jess, who was ghostly pale. She blinked up at him with wide eyes. “I need to call Slater.” Then she rushed back to the bar.
He
was curious what she knew, but he turned back to the scene to look for clues. That much blood had to be vampire, but he scented two, not one. Brody had definitely been back there. His clothes were in the truck just like Clint said. It looked like Brody had planned to shift and run, which Brody did often enough.
