Bloodlust: Blood Prophecy Series

By Kathi Huggins

Jade thought she grew up with the best dad ever until she's kidnapped. Her life is turned upside down when she learns he has kept secrets from her for her own good!

There are 8 pure species of supernatural beings as well as mixed bloods, combined species. The purebloods feel they have superior bloodlines and look down on mixed bloods. Jade is mixed with most of the species; Vampire, Lycian, Angel and probably Succubus, knowing nothing of being Shifter, Faye, Demon, and Jinn the most powerful species, and that she would have a mate for each.

There was a war coming and she was at the center. Now it's wait and see what the purebloods will do when they know it's Jade they seek.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 9, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483676883

Kathi Huggins

Kathi Huggins lives outside of Calgary with her husband Truman, teenage children, William and Victoria, and her pet pug, Storm. Kathi loves to travel and see new places with her family and write in her spare time. Kathi is also the author of Bloodlust, the first book in the Blood Prophecy Series and the upcoming next novel in the series, Bloodrites.

Book preview

Prologue

WHY DIDN’T MOMMY want me?

He looked down at his daughter sitting on his lap, and for what seemed like the millionth time, he tried to explain about what had happened all those years ago and about the woman that gave birth to his daughter. He still to this day didn’t think he could hate her more if he tried.

OK, Jade, get comfy, and I will tell you what I can. Now you remember what I told you about your blood? Lou asked but knew the answer. She never forgot anything she had seen or been told; she was very smart.

I am seven now. Of course I remember. Jade huffed.

As Lou tried to decide where to start, Jade got herself comfortable. She turned around to face her dad so she could look at him as he told her the story of her life and why she never remembered seeing her mother. Every time he told the story, he tried to tell her something new so she would know a little more, but he had to remember that she was still very young.

As you know, a lot of the different species look down on the ones of us with mixed blood no matter how powerful we are. So any of us that are powerful enough to hide the less dominate side of our mix do so to be able to blend in with others. Lou was a very powerful demon; in fact he was their leader. No one would ever challenge him for the position even though most days he would give it up without a fight. It was a lot to deal with on a good day, but most days it was some other issue that took him away from his daughter.

Lou was a mixed species as well. He was a fire demon, an incubus, a vampire, and an angel. His father was a vampire with some dormant jinn blood, so Lou had jinn blood as well, and his mother was a fire demon with succubus and angel blood. He had the powers of all but the jinn, but he had the weakness of all as well. He needed blood and sex to survive, which was what had led him to Jade’s mother. His lust had been leading him that night. It had been too long since he had fed.

At no point did he ever expect a child from the experience, but he was glad he had her; she was his world. Jade’s mother was mixed as well. She was part angel—fallen if you asked him—and part shifter and were-tiger. He also suspected some faye in there somewhere.

So far, Jade had the powers of five of the eight bloodlines she was born from. The succubus would not emerge until puberty if it was going to come out, but Lou sure hoped it didn’t. This was his baby girl. There was also the chance of her faye or dormant jinn blood coming out. Then she would have all the blood types in her.

Daddy, Daddy, you are suppose to be telling me the story.

Sorry, baby girl, was lost in thoughts. He was never one to believe in or pay attention to prophecies, but it seemed his baby girl was reminding him of one he had heard sometime ago, something about a child being born with the blood and powers of all. No one but he and she knew how many species she had in her, and even she didn’t know about a couple of them.

It was eight years ago, late summer, and I was in Las Vegas with some of the guys when I had seen her. I noticed her right away. She looked like a angel.

Dad, she is an angel, or at least part, Jade interrupted.

Yes, baby girl, but at that moment I didn’t know that. He had to remember she was only seven years old, so he could only tell her so much of what had happened, but he could remember how as soon as he saw her his incubus was in control and he knew he would have her. So I went over to her and introduced myself and asked if she was there with anyone.

’Cause you wanted to make sure she was not mated, right? Jade asked with so much innocence.

Sure, you don’t mess with someone that is mated; and if you are mated but not exclusive, then you have to know that some are exclusive. Then that is the only person you are to be with. He was trying to teach her right and wrong, but he really only asked her mother if she was with anyone to know if he had to kill anyone. If he would have been honest with himself, mated or not, it would not have mattered to him.

Of course, I know that.

So after we talked for a while, I asked her to dinner, and she said yes.

Then you had a week of dates before she had to go home, right?

Yes, that is right. That was the very toned-down version of the week they had spent together. They had barely left the room; his incubus had never been fed so well. At the end of the week, he had woken up, and she was gone, never to be seen again, or so he had thought at the time. "She had to go back to her family and friends, which she did. All it was supposed to be was a fling while on vacation, never to be thought of again.

But then she called you, right?

Yes, it was very unexpected but very good as well. She asked if she could meet with me, so we picked a place and time for later that day.

Were you excited to see her?

I was cautious. I had never expected to see her again, so I was keeping an open mind. In truth every warning bell he had was going off; something in her voice was telling him something was very wrong. When we met, what she had to say was the last thing I was expecting. She told me she was pregnant with you.

But why didn’t she want me?

It’s not that she didn’t want you but that her people would never had let her keep you since it was a mix of blood. But he knew she had been hoping to find a powerful pureblood to attach herself to. She was a princess but made sure that people thought she was a pure angel. Unless you tasted her blood, you may never have known. Since he was a vampire, he had most definitely tasted her blood more than once while together. But at least she came to me to see if after she had given birth I would want to keep the baby to raise.

But really it had been almost four months since they had been together, so it was too late to stop the pregnancy, and her people would kill her just to stop the mixing of blood. So she had wanted Lou to hide her until the baby was born. Then she would go back to her family and never look back. He could never understand how she had done that but at the same time was glad she had come to him. He loved his time with his daughter and was glad to not have to share her.

So she really did it so her family would still love her?

It was cute the way Jade looked at it. She just wanted to see it in a way that she was not rejected. It was hard for him to defend the woman he hated the most so his baby girl would still be happy. He didn’t want her to have to know how unwanted she really was by the person who had given her life, should love her unconditionally. It is a little more complicated than that, but yes, her family would not have accepted the mixed blood.

But you don’t mind my mixed blood, and neither do Grammy or Pops.

She had called her grandparents grammy and pops for as long as she could talk. They didn’t live together but would still come to see their grandchild and loved her very much. They would spoil her on every holiday and help out anytime Lou asked, even took her on a vacation together.

Of course not. You are my perfect baby girl, and my blood is mixed as well. So is Grammy’s, and Pops may be mostly vampire, but he has some dormant blood in there as well, which makes him mixed. You have more powers than most species have, and you will be more powerful as you get older.

Jade sat and thought about that. She knew how much her dad and grandparents loved her, but she still wondered about her mom. Her dad made sure to put her in all sorts of self-defense classes and martial arts to be sure she could always take care of herself. Since they lived in the demon realm, most of the time there were all kinds of levels of good and evil and in between around her, so Lou wanted her safe. Some areas of the realm he would not even let her go until she was older and could be better protected, but he never really tried to control her life either. She knew there was so much more than her dad ever told her. She heard things from other people about when her mother was here before she was born. Her mother hated it here. She just wanted the thing out so she could go home. She stuck her nose up at everyone and had not gone near Lou again. A good witch had helped with the labor, and then she was gone. The witch brought the baby to Lou. Jade may be young, but even she knew that if her mother had cared at all, she would have tried to see her sometimes or even call or send her a birthday card. She liked that Lou still told the story as if her mother had no choice, but she knew better. She was amazed she was here at all. To her, it didn’t matter anymore. She had Lou and her grandparents. They were her world, and she didn’t need anyone else.

Chapter 1

Twelve Years Later

I KNEW SOMETHING WASN’T right as soon as we moved away from the portal. I could sense other beings around us, five at least, but someone was trying to block me. I turned to look at Stephan, and he was smiling, holding a type of gun I had never seen.

This gun was made by a witch to be able to destroy anything and any species, so do yourself a favor and don’t move, Stephan said.

I really need to listen to Dad’s feelings more. This one was about me, and it was the last thing I was expecting. I knew I could take him but never thought there were others waiting for us.

What are you saying?

Doesn’t matter. What is all this about? The only thing I could think of was they were trying to get to Lou.

I was hired to get you out of the demon realm and take you to the people that hired me, no more no less. As of right now, there are six others around this building. They want you alive, but that does not mean uninjured so you can come easily or I can carry you out. Which one?

I really wanted to try my luck with him. I knew I couldn’t escape the others outside, but I really wanted to hurt this guy. At the same time I could tell whoever was outside was very powerful, probably the boss of this group. He may like this guy, so I didn’t want to upset anyone here.

I could feel the power sliding over my skin, and something about it was familiar to me, but at the same time I knew I had never met anyone like this before. I knew I couldn’t go up against him and win so better to just go out walking and get some info on the situation and who they were and what they were after.

Wow, really, let me just think about that. I stood there like I was thinking about it. It seemed to be really pissing him off, so it was making me happy, but I didn’t want to press my luck too much. I’m good to walk out and see how this plays out. Let’s go.

Straight ahead and out the back door there will be a van waiting. We will go out, and you will get in without so much as a twitch out of place. Got it?

This guy was now really starting to piss me off. I had to fight to be able to stay calm. Lou always told me I had a quick temper, and as soon as I let my emotions get the best of me, my power would radiate off me. I didn’t understand how I did it, but I could block others from sensing my power level, which came in handy in a fight where everyone underestimated me. I was hoping for that right now.

I got it.

We headed toward the door, but he seemed really nervous about something. As we got closer to the exit, the power I had felt earlier was getting stronger. It was not enough to bother me, but I could shield myself from others’ powers. If I felt like this, then Stephan was probably in pain and having trouble staying upright. That thought made me happy.

Something about this power was calling to me, making me feel like I was a part of it. It did not feel evil or threatening to me in any way. If I had to describe it, I would think of it as protective. I knew that made no sense. I was being kidnapped after all.

After we exited the door, we stopped to see a black cargo-style van with rows of seats. The door was already open for me, waiting. I could see a demon in the back row of seats. From what I could tell, he was like quake and could control and destroy the earth. There were two faye standing by the sliding door, with one on each side, and it took all my might not to laugh. I swear they looked just like Legolas from Lord of the Rings. It might not be so bad being held captive by them.

Wow, I really needed to have a talk with my dad, He would not enjoy it. He had told me to watch out for signs that I was drawn to almost any guy around me, not just drawn to but wanting to feed off. I understood that feeling. I was part vampire and did drink blood, but wanting to feed was a different kind of feeling. He had enough to worry about, so I had been trying to keep this from him; but at the same time, I knew very little about succubi and would rather have as much info as I could get.

The driver was a were-bear. I thought with the feel of his power, he just sat there looking straight ahead. There was another were in the passenger seat that if I had to guess I would say cat but not sure of the type. None of these guys were the leader, but he was very close.

Get in, Yummy said.

A man of few words Great. I was naming them Yummy and Tasty at least until I knew their real names. I started to move forward when Stephan grabbed my hair and pulled me back against his chest with a knife at my throat. This was not going the way I thought it would.

She is not going anywhere with you until I get paid, he said it like he meant it, but at the same time, I could smell and taste the fear on him. Fear had a taste to a predator like me, and he tasted like dinner. He knew he was no match for anyone here; he had the lowest-level power. I may not thought of him as smart but maybe he was brave—that or very stupid. I was going for the latter.

One minute we were having a standoff, and the next there was someone right in front of us. He was the boss of this group since no one but Stephan and me were surprised to see him, or at least he was the owner of the power I had felt before. This guy was very dangerous and very powerful, he was not to be messed with.

You will let her go—now. His voice was so smooth I could feel it all over my body. I had never had this kind of reaction to anyone before. This guy’s power level was way more than I had originally thought, guess I was not the only one that could shield. He was mad and very dangerous.

I will. I just want to get paid, and she is the only insurance I got to seeing my money.

This was not the plan. You know how you are to be paid. You will have it in your bank account tomorrow. I will not change this. You can go with the plan, or you will not like how I change it.

He was so confident in all that he said that I would never had gone up against him. Well, maybe I would, but I was much stronger than Stephan. This was going to end very badly, not for the guy in front of me but for the one behind me. I just didn’t want to be caught in the crossfire.

I will not let her go until I have my money, so maybe I should keep her until tomorrow then. Yes, that seems fair. You can meet me back here once I have my money. He tried to pull me back to move away, but I was not going anywhere with him. I brought my right arm up to grab his arm that was at my throat; at the same time the guy in front of me moved forward faster than I could even see.

What the hell! Stephan yelled out.

This guy was good. He was holding Stephan’s wrist and holding the knife away from my neck. It had cut me some—I could feel the blood going down my neck—didn’t know how bad it was. He held his other hand out to me. I was not sure what to do. For some reason, I knew he would not hurt me. He felt right to me if that made any sense. I couldn’t walk away. Stephan still had my hair, but I did reach out to him.

Last time, let her go. There was a pause. Stephan still had not let me go. Then there was screaming. I could hear Stephan’s hand bones breaking. He dropped the knife, and then he released my hair. The man pulled me away from Stephan and into his arms of safety, Unlike Stephan’s, this felt right and safe.

Let me look. He moved my head so he could see the cut. It’s not as bad as it seems. You are already healing. It seemed that he was annoyed to be doing all this for me. I was probably just a pay check to him.

I was wondering where Stephan was, but probably it was better not to ask. I also was unsure of why I felt so good in his arms. I started to back out of his arms but was already feeling alone and vulnerable without him.

Let’s get something straight here. I am in charge, and as long as you do what you are supposed to, then you will be very safe. No one here will hurt you unless you bring it on yourself by trying to escape. Understand?

This was the best-looking guy I had ever seen. Not even Ian Somerhalder was this good-looking, and that guy was smoking hot. Yet again, I had to stop watching so much TV. I could barely think, let alone talk, while looking at this guy. He was also the most powerful being that I had ever come in contact with; not even Lou was this powerful. There was no way I could go up against him. I didn’t even know what he was he was blocking so much.

He was about six feet three inches with dark brown hair, almost black with very blue eyes. He was muscled but not overdone. Clean shaven and well dressed, he very much looked the part of the perfect bad-boy fantasy. At least he was fitting mine.

I understand. Can I ask what you are? There was something in his eyes that said he was wondering about me as well; something was a puzzle to him.

You are brave for a child.

Hold on there. I am not a child. I am almost nineteen, which is an adult; so whether I look younger or not, I am a adult. I hated being called a child; supernaturals aged slower than humans. Then depending on your species, you would either continue to age but slowly or stop aging at maturity or stop aging when you choose to. I looked more like I was sixteen but didn’t know which species in me my body would follow. Not all supernaturals were immortal, and I didn’t know if I was.

So sorry, but since I am more than two thousand of your years, you are a child.

OK, I am going to have to give him that one. OK.

Better, and you can ask anything you want, but I won’t always answer. What I am is one of the answers you can’t have, at least not yet. He seemed to be thinking of something when he said the last part.

I could understand that. Even Lou told me not to say what I was. It may then give my opponent the opportunity to know my weakness. He was powerful, smart, and very hot. But why would someone with so much power take me? He could challenge Lou and win. I didn’t understand any of this.

OK, how about what do you want with me?

That I will answer, but we will talk as we drive. Come. Get in. Are you hungry?

No offense, but I wouldn’t take anything from you, let alone eat it.

None taken. That is a smart move, but I was speaking of a drive-through on our way. You can pick. If you are not going to take anything I give you, then you should eat now. We could be together for a while.

I could eat. How about the A&W just around the corner? I knew everyone that worked there. Maybe if they saw me with these guys, they would call for help. It was just a thought, but I would take every chance I could.

Sure, sounds good. I will be sitting with you and cloak us both so no one will see or hear us.

He really did think of everything. I wonder how long he had been planning this. We got in the van, and he put me by the wall away from the door so there would be no chance of escaping. After getting food—I got way more than any five people could eat, let alone one—he started to talk.

Come. Get in. I will be right behind you.

I got in to where he told me to sit and started to wonder how my day turned out like this. Was there a point in the day where this could have been stopped? I went back in my mind to remember the day:

Take one of your guards with you. I am not kidding, missy.

Dad was always so funny when he got worked up about my safety. Six years ago someone tried to kidnap me, but they just barely made it out of the demon realm before Lou was there to stop them. Ever since, I have had more guards and was never alone.

When it came to humans, it was kind of funny. They had no clue what was living around them. I could never believe how sheltered they were. There wasn’t a single human that didn’t work with or live beside or was involved with a supernatural of some kind. Now some species did like to stick to their own. Lycians usually lived in a colony, so the pack was together. But most species were mixed in with the humans.

There were other realms that were alongside of the human one like the demon realm I lived in most of the time. I grew up there, but we also had a place in the human realm. He wanted me to have the knowledge of all the species, and since I was a mix of six species and carried powers of five, it made sense to learn all I could.

The demon realm was a great place to live. It never snowed, rained, hailed—nothing wet. It was always warm here but with no sun. There was light, but it was the glow from lava lakes and rivers and from the lights in the towns. There were no screaming souls all over, and no fires everywhere you looked. That was human myth, but I guess it would be the closest realm to what they called hell. It was full of demons, so maybe; but it was my home, and I loved it.

I was heading out to my mixed martial arts class. Although Dad was not controlling my actions, he was very demanding of my safety. I had six guards, not all at once but depending on where I was going.

Slade was a full-out fire demon of about seven feet six inches tall. Instead of hair, he had fire. He could cover his whole body in flames or have none at all; but he liked his hair to be fiery, and I had loved it since I was a kid. He didn’t really blend into the human realm, so he was out.

Justice is a faye/angel mix. She was all blonde and actually glowed, which may she could have passed off, but she was not a powerful angel. She could not hide her wings unless we were going to a Victoria’s Secret shoot. So she was out as well.

Spike was my vampire. That was not his real name but I grew up watching way too much Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Spike was my favorite. He never seemed to mind; in fact, he would now use it as his name when introducing himself to new people. It made me happy that he was my Spike. He could blend very well; he only looked to be about twenty, so he could pass as my older brother or boyfriend. Dad was now hating that part. He thought I should stay his baby girl. I liked Spike, but he never seemed interested in me as a girl, so I kept our relationship on a friendly basis.

Blue was a were-panther with eyes such a bright cobalt blue he had always fascinated me, yet again his name was not really Blue. He was my first guard. I was about four when he came. As soon as I saw him, I called him Blue. I didn’t even know his real name. He looked to be in his early twenties and could pass for a human as well. He was always more like a brother since I had grown up with him.

Fang was a mixed vampire/were-tiger but had the powers of both. He can blend as a human as long as he didn’t open his mouth. He had fangs whether he was in a tiger, vampire, or human form. His real name was Zander, but I still called him Fang. He looked to be in his early twenties as well, and we had a lot in common. He was very into martial arts like me. We seemed to have a closer bond, but I never really looked at it too closely. It was probably just a crush. He had also been the first guy I had kissed when I was sixteen, and it was something I would never forget. He kissed me back with such passion but stopped it before it went any further. He said he did not want to change our friendship, but now I wondered if it was because of my being succubus or my father. He usually went with me to my classes so he could take part with me.

Cam was a shifter with some dormant demon blood as well. I had always felt drawn to him, not sure if it was because he would change into a dragon when I was sad and take me flying. He was always there for me. He could change into anything living or not, so to me he was like a chameleon, so Cam it was. His real name was Damon. He could blend in anywhere, so he was also good to take. I was never really sure what his true form was, but it never really mattered to me. I had also kissed him. It was on my seventeenth birthday. He as well did kiss me back. We went further as to having our shirts off with a lot of feeling before he put a stop to it. He told me he didn’t want me to hate him for activating my succubus. He said he cared about me too much to risk that. He was one of my Fantastic Four. I really needed to stop watching so much TV.

Blue was my first; but Spike, Fang, and Cam had come to me over the next couple of years. I was closest to them. These guys were a part of my family. Whether they said it or not, they really cared about me, and I really cared about them. They were everything to me.

Of course I will. I only ever snuck out once, you know, and yet you make it seem like I do it all the time.

Something just doesn’t feel right to me. I don’t like you going out at all, but I will not close you in. I trust you to take care.

I don’t like it when you have those feelings. Something always happens when you do, and usually it’s bad. Do you want me to stay home? I asked and meant it. I liked to get out, but his feelings were never wrong. I never wanted the day to come when one of his feelings was about me.

No, it’s OK. You need to go to your class. Just take a guard or two with you.

I liked how he snuck in or two. Of course, I will go find my guys and see who wants to go on an outing. I turned to go, but Lou stopped me before I got to the