Vampire Curse: The Pendant: The Turning Series, #4

By April M. Reign

A pendant with a secret...
A four-thousand-year-old curse, cast in the land of gods, threatens Apollo's twins...

In a treacherous journey to break the curse of a pendant connected to his twins, Apollo travels to a land where vampires and werewolves were born—a land where good and evil, light and dark, collide.

 

With time against him, he seeks to understand and alter his children's destiny while he confronts his foes who possess supernatural powers he never knew existed. Now, Apollo must confront his past, face his present and make decisions that could alter his future. Will he save his children or lose them to the curse forever?
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dream Realms Press
• Release date: May 21, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224781485

Book preview

Vampire Curse

The Pendant

The Turning Series #4

By

April M. Reign

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Books by April M. Reign

The Turning Series

Bound to Darkness

Unleashed

Vampire Vengeance

Vampire Curse

Vampire Crimes Special Unit Series

Moon Hunt

Moon Gone

Moon Crimes

Moon Castle

The HASH Series

The Institute

Secrets of Startech

The Queen of Ceren

Disciples of the Damned Series

Season One

Dominic

Vypers

Slayers

Friend or Foe

War: The Horsemen

Season Two

Chari

Hunter

GSA Dead to Rights

Ransom

The Dhellia Series

Dhellia

Quest for the Keys

Trial by Fire

Quest for the Throne Series

The Enchanted Sisters

Vampire Curse

Published by Dream Realms Press

Copyright ©2014 by April M. Reign.

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by an electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without the permission of the author, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of this author’s imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, or to actual persons, past or present, is entirely coincidental.

BETRAYED BY BLOOD—AVENGED BY RAGE

About Vampire Curse

––––––––

A pendant with a secret...

A four-thousand-year-old curse, cast in the land of gods, threatens Apollo’s twins...

In a treacherous journey to break the curse of a pendant connected to his twins, Apollo travels to a land where vampires and werewolves were born—a land where good and evil, light and dark, collide. With time against him, he seeks to understand and alter his children’s destiny while he confronts his foes, who possess supernatural powers he never knew existed. Now, Apollo must confront his past, face his present, and make decisions that could alter his future. Will he save his children or lose them to the curse forever?

Dedication

To my readers, thank you for sharing this journey with me.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter One

We heard them coming.

In a matter of seconds, they’d be here.

The stampede of werewolves echoed through the west wing of the castle. The few items that decorated the shelves in our quarters shimmied off and fell to the ground. Some exploded into shards of glass along the cement floor. We knew they’d come. Hours after the birth of our infants, we waited.

Sophie held Maya and Nicholai in the crooks of her arms while she sang a lullaby to calm them down. She glanced at me. Our eyes met and with one nod, she told me she agreed with what I had to do in order to protect our children from the hands of the king.

My head swung back to glare at the door. The king’s minions were closing in on us. Deep in the core of my body, I felt a rumbling volcano of rage flow through my blood and infiltrate my cells. Each molecular cell morphed me into the hybrid creature that most had feared—and some would challenge.

The stampede stopped. I knew they were here—the pack of werewolves who had pledged their allegiance to King Alejandro Baraz. I could hear their heavy breathing; I could smell their offensive scent.

I shook my head to ward off the odor.

I waited for them to smash down the door.

My infants clung to their mother’s breasts as if they knew that their fate lay in the hands of the next few minutes.

Then the steel door that stood between the multitude of beasts and my family flew open, broke at the hinges and slammed into the cement wall, causing an avalanche of debris.

Maya and Nicholai wailed while Sophie tried to reassure them with her tender loving voice and the rocking motion of her arms. Fear in her eyes fueled the fire inside of me.

My mouth salivated. I had a desire to kill.

Three massive werewolf guards marched through the doorway, each snarling with their snouts pushed away from their teeth while they released a rumbling from the pit of their stomachs.

I growled back, reaching deep within my abdominal walls for the powerful rumble that would match theirs. Swollen muscles from my neck and arms caused my hybrid appearance to resemble theirs, but also matched that of my vampire culture.

One after another, shape shifters and guards piled into our room. My clawed hands trembled with the need to tear them apart. Saliva dripped from my canine teeth and fangs. Crouched and ready to attack, I waited for them to make a move.

One gray-haired older werewolf stood eight feet tall, his bare chest embellished with large, thick scars. He moved forward, his mutated ears alert, his eyes laden with far more knowledge than the rest of us had.

He was the messenger.

He’d be the first on my list to die.

His clawed feet clicked on the cement floor when he took another step toward me.

Apollo Shelley, you will release your infants to the king of this clan at his request. The baritone growl echoed through our room.

Anger consumed me. I’d give them one chance to leave our quarters, and after that, I’d kill them all. Get the fuck out of here. The growling words roared from my chest.

Your refusal to cooperate puts you under arrest to be held prisoner of the castle until the punishment is determined.

I’d heard enough. I released a piercing howl and took off toward the werewolf messenger. He didn’t move. I didn’t even notice fear in his eyes. Inches from his throat, I felt a thud against my body. Then I heard the sounds.

Three shots fired.

Each bullet pierced my flesh, giving the silver entry into my bloodstream. The vile poison attacked my virus-laden molecules and paralyzed me down on one knee in front of the enemy.

I couldn’t move. I couldn’t protect my family, and in this very moment of incapacitation, I watched those filthy beasts throw Sophie in front of the gray-haired werewolf. My infants’ shrill cries frayed my insides.

I struggled to free myself from the silver that had brought me to my knees. Instead, that useless servant to the king forced me to watch my children being removed from their mother’s arms and whisked away out of reach of both of us.

Sophie dropped to the floor and begged them to bring back Maya and Nicholai. I wanted to comfort her. I wanted to destroy the werewolves in front of me. I struggled to free myself from the silver, but two guards dragged me out of the room into the hallway.

The silver crippled me from glancing back at her. With an inward howling cry, I promised her, and my twins, that I’d bring us together again.

But the pain of her haunting cries of extreme despair gouged my insides—a mother torn from her children. As the guards moved me from the west wing, I heard Sophie’s sullen werewolf howl echo through the entire compound.

Chapter Two

Diego stood firm outside the cage where the king had kept me for two nights, nights during which I painfully ripped the three silver bullets from my flesh under cover of darkness. From the confines of my prison, I’d watched the moonlight bathe an area of the musty cave through a crack in the wall. Diego showed up unannounced. The torches bathed his body in gold, flickering light.

With his eyes narrowed, we glared at each other. The pure titanium bars reminded me of the lockup in Stockwood. The cold walls trapped me in their perception of death and taunted my destitute need to know what came next. Each prison created the same anxiety—and each time someone had thrown me behind bars, I had come out stronger than before.

I paced like a caged animal. My clawed fingernails clicked against the titanium bars, my fangs dripped with hot saliva and my deadly glare narrowed in on Diego, hoping to infuriate his sensibilities as a werewolf.

Provoking the inherent anger that caused vampires and werewolves to harbor animosity toward each other—that unspoken rule of rivalry, which started from the beginning—from the birth of our kind, I had not rested for two days. I would remain in a state of condemnation until I found a way to release my children from the power-hungry hands of the king.

Diego stepped closer. Apollo, listen to me. His face was mere inches from a gap between the bars. I’m not here to hurt you. Quite the opposite, actually. If you give the king what he wants, I’m sure he’ll release you.

My body slammed against the bars so fast that Diego flinched and stepped backward. The metal vibrated, sounding a resonance that bounced between the cold stonewalls in the cave. Do not ask me to give your king the pendant. Saliva sprayed from my gritted teeth.

Diego leaned closer, his shoulder almost close enough for me to plunge my nails into and cut through him. Listen to me! he pleaded. Nicholai has broken out in hives. There’s talk of a connection between he and the curse of the pendant. Besides, Sophie—

I growled. You are forbidden to mention my son’s name. I shoved my arm between the slats and reached for Diego with my long, spiked nails. How dare you come in here and ask me for a worthless piece of jewelry when your kind stormed into my home and stole my children right from their mother’s arms.

Diego grabbed my bicep and locked me against the shafts, twisting my wrist. He hadn’t turned and oddly, kept his composure. The position in which he held my arm gave him the power.

I told you, what they did was wrong. If I would have had anything to do with that, I would have stopped them. Diego glanced back toward the opening of the cave to make sure no one was near. My wife and I aren’t like them. We tended to Sophie when she was pregnant.

The steady rhythm of his heartbeat gave me comfort that he was telling the truth. He dropped my arm and let his hands dangle at his sides. I found comfort in his body language—the kind of support I needed when I considered everyone my enemy.

My sharp fangs retracted, and I pushed myself off the bars and further back into the cage. I don’t know why you would have a change of heart with your precious king. Yesterday, you followed him, but today you’re here to help me. I want my children returned to their mother. I turned my back toward Diego and took three steps into the shadows of my prison.

He won’t release them, Apollo. He needs the necklace that he saw around your neck in the arena.

I don’t have it.

"You had it when your sister was wheeled into the medical room. He knows you have it. If it’s a piece of worthless jewelry, why won’t you give it to him,