The Chosen (2 page)

No, this can’t be right. My mother can’t be gone.

His heart pounded heavily in his chest as his father’s agonized face looked up at him.

“Your mother bled to death. I…I should have been here for her.”

Aleksei could do nothing but stare at his father in shock. His father turned back to his mother and brought her limp hand to his mouth, giving it a gentle kiss. He stepped closer and was able to hear the soft endearments his father whispered.

“She seemed fine after the twins were born.” His father took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “She started to say she didn’t feel right, that something was wrong. I thought it was just because she had the twins mere hours before.” His breath hitched, but his deep voice continued. “If I would have listened to her, just listened, she would still be here. I left for only a few hours…she had completely bled out from the delivery.”

Aleksei stared in horror at what his father said. His father stood and gave his mother one last kiss.

“The doctors said the twins’ birth took too much out of her. It’s my fault. I should have been here with her.”

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Jenika Snow

Aleksei felt hollow inside, not wanting to believe his mother now rested in the
Shadow Realm.
His father just stood there, looking down at the bed, and continuing to whisper in the Old Language. His mother was gone, and he knew his father would follow shortly after.

Once a
Chosen
died, the mated Blood Breed soon followed.

* * * *

Five years later

Aleksei sat in the garden, the stars shining brightly against the black sky. Milo and Aniya threw rocks in the pond, laughing as the small pebbles skipped across the water. Looking at the pond always reminded him of his mother. It made him smile yet made his heart clench with sorrow. He couldn’t help but feel sadness when he looked at little Aniya. She was so small and fragile and resembled their mother so much.

Aniya turned toward him and smiled innocently. Her black curls bounced around her face, and her bright blue eyes shined with a happiness only a child knows. Milo, on the other hand, was busy searching for that perfect rock to throw into the water. His dark eyes were so much like their father’s, his hair so dark it blended with the night sky. One day they would ask—wonder—where their mother and father were. Every time he looked at the twins, he couldn’t help but remember the tragedy that had taken place five years ago.

No one had been able to find the king for two nights afterward.

After meticulously searching for his father, he finally found him in the woods that touched the castle walls. He wasn’t surprised his father had been drinking, but to find him completely drunk was a total shock. His father had, on occasions, drank to celebrate but never consumed so much that one could actually smell the liquor on him.

He wasn’t surprised, though—the loss of his
Chosen
undoubtedly broke his heart.

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13

He called out to his father, but only silence greeted him. It was at that point he knew in his heart his father was gone. His father slumped against the thick trunk of the tree with an empty bottle in his hand. His attention focused on the bright moon that peaked through the large tree branches. His father threw the empty bottle against a tree and then finally spoke.

“Tonight I have lost my heart, my soul, and my living breath.”

Aleksei watched as his father brought his knees to his chest and rested his head against them. Minutes later he lifted his head and stared at Aleksei.

“How can you live without those things, son? I have a hollow ache in me that hurts and will never go away.” His father waved him off, his attention going back to the sky. He walked back to the castle as he heard his father weeping softly in the night.

The following night, Aleksei walked back out to the large tree trunk. He wasn’t surprised at what greeted him when he got there. All that was left of his strong and fierce father was white ash that occasionally stirred when a slight breeze whistled through the trees.

His father let the sun take him without any regard for the children he left behind.

Bringing himself back into the present, Aleksei looked back at the children playing by the water. He thought about Luca and Dorian, as he frequently did, and hoped they were doing well. They had gone away to train as warriors, an age-old tradition all Blood Breeds completed.

It was necessary to know how to defeat the enemy, whoever they might be. War raged all around them, not only in the human world, but also in the
Otherworld.
Rogue males—
Bloodless
—started to infiltrate villages and kill innocent humans, making their mark and causing humans to speak of “devils” and “demons.” Their numbers needed to be strong if they were to defeat their rouge brethren and prosper. The
Bloodless
would know who their ruler was and would bow down and surrender.

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Jenika Snow

Stone Brooke, USA, present day

Lana rolled over and blindly grabbed for the ringing phone. She knew who it was calling at this ungodly hour because no one in their right mind but Kayla would.

“Hello?” Clearing her throat, she pulled the phone away as Kayla’s annoyingly chipper voice rang through.

“Rise and shine, princess!”

She pulled herself up on the bed and squinted at her alarm clock.

“Do you know what time it is?”

“Of course I do! You always act like I’m calling you at four in the morning instead of seven.”

“That’s because it feels like four in the morning when you call me.” Yawning, Lana grudgingly crawled out of bed and headed toward the bathroom.

“I have some news that will brighten you up, that is if you don’t have to work this weekend.”

“I don’t know, Kayla, there are things I should do at the house since I have some free time.”

“I swear, Lana, you are the most antisocial person I know. When you’re not at school, you’re either working or studying. You never do anything anymore. Please, will you go out this weekend? For me?”

Lana couldn’t help but laugh at the pleading in Kayla’s voice.

“Wow, beg much?” She really did need to get out relax. She had been so stressed with school she became a recluse. She breathed out,
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15

knowing Kayla already knew she had been convinced. “What could possibly be better than hearing your voice so early in the morning?”

“You’re hilarious. Anyways, my friend Nadia works at The Night Phlox and can get us in.”

“Who?”

“Nadia. You know, she hung out with us a few times. Long brown hair and really thin.”

“Oh, yeah, the one who looks like a runway model. Anyways, why would I be excited to go to this club? Isn’t it a members only club?”

“I thought we could celebrate you getting your BSN. Think of it this way, if we get too trashed, you can medically assist us.” Kayla snorted and continued. “I mean, who wouldn’t want to go to a place like that? Live like one of the ‘beautiful’ people. Besides, I already got the tickets, so you have to go.”

Lana couldn’t see herself going to a place like that. The reviews had been phenomenal, detailing the exquisite interior and posh amenities.

“I don’t know. What am I going to wear?”

“Oh, please. I’ll come over early Saturday, and we will throw something together. I’ll bring some dresses over if you can’t find anything. Besides, Kaleb has taken a short leave and said he would go out with us.”

Kaleb was Kayla’s twin brother and in the Special Forces. The three of them grew up together, and Kaleb was like her brother.

“So? Are you going to come out or be a party pooper?”

She could hear the underlying excitement in Kayla’s voice and decided, against her better judgment, to let Kayla lead the way.

* * * *

Aleksei leaned against the one-way mirror that lined the whole upper level of his club, The Night Phlox. Dawn was approaching, and
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Jenika Snow

he could feel it in his bones, that tingling feeling that told him of the rising sun. The last of the clubbers were leaving, and the staff was making the final preparations for closing time. He made his way toward his private elevator in his office and placed his hand on the sensor. A familiar buzz sounded, and the elevator doors opened silently. Stepping inside, he pushed the button for the basement. There was one level below the basement, and below that was a catacomb of tunnels that ran the length of the city. Back when he decided to branch out to the States, he built the tunnels when Stone Brooke hadn’t even been developed. Those tunnels were used by members of his kind to travel during the daylight hours.

He stepped out of the elevator and walked through the lightly lit concrete garage to the silver H3 that waited in the corner. All of the windows were completely tinted and wouldn’t allow any UV light to filter through them. All of the Blood Breed vehicles were built like this, and even though they would be protected in the vehicles, no one deliberately stayed out in their cars after the sun rose.

Getting in, he started the Hummer and turned up the stereo. The soft notes of Beethoven filled the interior. Pulling out of the garage, he could see the sun starting to rise in the distance as he headed to his home in the mountains.

Aleksei sat on the edge of his bed and ran a hand over his hair. He arrived home just as the sun was making its ascent into the sky. He could feel the heat and the UV rays from the ball of fire clear down to his bones. His skin felt tight and itchy, and his head pounded. He kicked his boots off and lay back against the rumpled silk sheets that covered his bed, and breathed out deeply. He hadn’t been sleeping very well and he was feeling it. He willed the lights off and closed his eyes, sleep consuming him almost immediately.

* * * *

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17

The dream always started off the same, the darkness so thick it
wrapped around him like a blanket. Aleksei knew it was a dream
because his eyes couldn’t penetrate the darkness like they should
have. Always in the dream he could never move or speak—like an
unseen being held him in place. A light penetrated the darkness, and
the scene change into one so familiar to him. He walked into a cave
and looked down at a large pool of blood.

They split up to hunt down the horde of
Bloodless
that wreaked
havoc on the neighboring villages. He didn’t know it then, but it had
all been a trap to separate the warriors and weaken the strength they
had together. He fell to his knees in front of the pool of blood, the
liquid so thick and red. He knew the blood was Dorian’s, knew that
his brother’s life had been taken. Even in the dream, his throat grew
raw at the image of his dear brother’s life being taken. He dipped his
palm into the blood and threw his head back, the next scene playing
through his mind in slow motion.

He could see it as if he had actually been there, witnessing his
brother’s death. It had been a trap. Unable to stand anymore, he
ripped his hand out of the blood and roared out so loud stones fell
from the ceiling. The room became dark once more, the scene
changing yet again. Another cave came into view with a dirt floor—

no blood, and rough, uneven stone walls.

He tried to move forward, but it was as if an unseen force kept
him rooted. Dorian stood in the center of the cave, his body tense and
ready for any threat. Rogue males
gathered around him in a tight
circle, their weapons held high. They didn’t attack all at once—no,
they fought Dorian one by one, giving him minor cuts and making him
slowly weaken from the blood loss. The injuries were small but
numerous—his body having a hard time healing itself. Dozens of
Bloodless
stood back, waiting for their chance to join in. Aleksei tried
to go to him, tried to yell, but he could do no more than watch in
horror.

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Jenika Snow

Dorian was a strong and cunning fighter, but the fact that he was
alone while dozens of the deprived males circled him proved to be too
much. Aleksei saw movement from the corner of his eye from a
darkened corner. A
Bloodless
walked out, power clinging around him
and showing he was the horde leader. He held a sword in his hand as
he stepped behind Dorian. He raised the sword high, the metal
flashing against the light of the candles, and swung it down. Just as
the blade would have made contact with Dorian’s neck, he ducked
and swiftly came up, bringing his own blade across the horde leader’s
face. The wound went from his forehead to his chin, blood making a
fast trail down his face. The horde leader hissed and raised his hand,
halting his minions from attacking. His features were distorted as he
smiled at Dorian, his teeth sharpened and stained.

Dorian and the horde leader clashed together, swords clanking
against each other and new wounds being created. All at once, his
minions swarmed in and took down his brother. Dorian struggled
fearlessly, but there were too many of them, and soon they had him
belly down on the dirt.

“Look at me!”

Dorian refused to look up at the horde leader and spit on his
boots. He squatted on his haunches and gripped Dorian’s hair,
making them face-to-face.

“It’s a shame you are not the king. No matter, though. Your death
will cause your brother great pain and us a small measure of delight.

Mark my words, Aleksei will soon be falling before my feet to lick my
shoes clean. And when I have him on the ground like you are now, I’ll
slice his throat like I am going to do to yours.”