Lord of Discipline (Hearts of Amaranth #2)

By J.M. Parry

Cast out of his Moscow home, Daniil Arkadyovich Levin arrives in the small Siberian town of Kurgan at the dawn of the 19th Century. Formerly the strong arm of his father's trading business, he uses his knowledge and money to establish himself as the village's lord and protector. Soon, he finds himself in over his head as a mysterious series of murders terrorizes Kurgan and the town leaders look to him for answers.

Daniil finds refuge in the arms of a beautiful servant girl, who understands his brutality like no one he has ever met before. But he is destined for another time and another place, for he will become something more than human: the Gospel of Discipline.

Two hundred years later, Daniel Levin is the mayor of Unified St. Louis, and again finds his city shaken by the appearance of a stranger, an immortal named Kait Selias. Kait threatens the balance of power in St. Louis, and her presence risks destroying everything Levin has worked for since his days as the lord of Kurgan.

Daniel must convince Kait that he is not her enemy before she chooses to side with the forces of chaos who have opposed him for centuries.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J.M. Parry
• Release date: Jul 14, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301359899

Book preview

Lord of Discipline

Hearts of Amaranth #2

by J. M. Parry

Copyright 2013

SMASHWORDS EDITION

Published by J.M. Parry on Smashwords

This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

Chapter One

Daniel Levin adjusted his tie as he stepped out of his car onto the street. He smoothed out his gray jacket and buttoned it as he walked towards the door of a nearby house His hands were shaking. He was nervous. It was an unfamiliar feeling.

As the mayor of St. Louis City, Levin was accustomed to being in control. He was a thin man with a wiry frame, but he didn't need a powerful stature to get his way. His eyes, and more importantly his voice, were more than enough to dominate all around him. Daniel Levin was a Gospel, one of six immortals who had walked the earth for over two hundred years. As such, he possessed the power of the vox dei—the voice of god–which allowed him to manipulate and control the minds of mortal men and women.

His power wouldn't help him now. What he wanted couldn't be compelled from the people around him. He needed to be punished, and he was the only one who could give himself that satisfaction.

Taking a deep breath, Daniel approached the door. He pressed the doorbell and waited. After a few long, agonizing seconds, he heard footsteps from inside the house. Then the door swung open. A disheveled, middle-aged woman was standing in the foyer of the home. Her eyes were swollen and red. She had been crying all night. Daniel already knew that.

Mrs. Smith? Daniel asked. The woman nodded. My name is Daniel Levin, I'm the mayor of--

I know who you are, Gina Smith replied. What... Why are you here?

Daniel forced a sympathetic smile. I heard what happened to your husband, Mrs. Smith, he said. And I came to offer my condolences.

Gina stood in the doorway for a moment, paralyzed. Daniel wondered what was going through her head. She was confused. She was scared. And she was probably thinking about how terrible she looked. Even though it was less than a day since her husband's murder, Gina was undoubtedly charmed by Daniel's presence.

The Gospels possessed a seductive aura that transcended the explicit influence of the vox dei. Beyond that, Daniel was a very handsome man, with perfectly coiffed blonde hair, high cheekbones, and skin like carved marble. His hazel eyes could calm a raging storm and he was impeccably dressed in a gray three piece suit. He would forever be thirty-six years old, the age he had attained when he began his immortal life. Now, nearing the end of his tenth year in St. Louis, he wore light makeup that simulated the lines of age, but they did nothing to diminish his elegant charm.

Y-you didn't have to do that, Gina said, stepping back into the foyer of her home and allowing Daniel to enter. Do you visit the family of anyone in St. Louis who is...

Her voice trailed off. She couldn't speak the words to continue. She couldn't say that her husband had been murdered.

No, but Spencer's case is particularly tragic, Daniel replied. To be betrayed by one of his own clients, it is truly unspeakable.

Gina looked away. It tore at Daniel's heart to see her so hurt. But that was what he wanted to see. It was what he needed to see. He needed to feel her pain, and to know how the death of her husband devastated her.

In truth, Spencer hadn't been killed by one of his clients. Daniel had pulled the trigger, gunning him down in a St. Louis church the night before. It was a mistake—an act of confusion and desperation—but regret did not change anything.

Yesterday, Spencer Smith had been an unwitting witness to the appearance of a seventh Gospel. A woman named Kait Selias jumped from the top floor of the courthouse, smearing herself across the sidewalk. Despite suffering fatal wounds, she awoke minutes later in the ambulance.

It had been over a hundred and fifty years since the original six Gospels discovered each other. They had long thought they were alone. As mayor of St. Louis, Daniel acted to protect the fragile secrecy of their existence. He had Kait sedated at the hospital, but her power stretched beyond unconsciousness. A resident at the hospital freed her and she fled out into the city. Without any memory, she could not control the dangerous influence of the vox dei. She recruited Spencer Smith to help her escape Daniel.

Daniel believed that Spencer knew about the Gospels. He believed that he had learned the secret of their immortality, and that he was a threat to their safety. That was why he killed him. He didn't think there was another choice.

There was always another choice. Daniel should have known that, but Kait's sudden appearance had put him under so much stress that he wasn't thinking clearly. Now Kait hated Daniel. She'd already picked up another young man to follow her around—the doctor who woke her from her chemically-induced coma. Undoubtedly, she was already working with the Obshina and the Chaos Gospels to plot her revenge.

None of that was the worst part. The worst part was the guilt. Spencer Smith was dead at his hands, and it had been a meaningless death.

I just want to know if there is something I can do for you, Daniel told Gina. First, I would like to tell you about a charity that works with the families of the victims of crime in the city. It works with the Ecumenical Church to support those who have been left behind.

Gina stared at him. You want to...pay me? For my husband's death?

Daniel choked on his words. Why had he brought that up now? Spencer's body was barely cold, and Daniel was trying to give her money. Of course she was horrified.

Maybe that was what Daniel wanted. He wanted her to yell at him. He wanted to make her angry. That was why he came here, after all. He wanted to punish himself. That's right, Daniel said