Angel of Darkness Books 6-10 Read online

  Angel of Darkness

  Books 6-10

  Mackenzie Morris

  Departed

  Angel of Darkness Book Six

  Departed

  Copyright © 2015 by Mackenzie Morris

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Chapter 1

  One Year Later

  Jaylen ran from the screaming down in the valley that echoed up from the hundreds of paladins and clergymen being burned at the stake, their pyres dotting the dark hills of the Wolfekin coast like a field of glimmering stars. His own injury from the guard's sword was soaking through the black wool of his cloak that he hid his identity behind, leaving an obvious and dangerous trail of red behind him on the patches of snow. The sticks and ice patches crunched under his feet as he darted between frozen creeks, boulders, and fallen trees in the darkness. Thorns penetrated the soft worn soles of his leather boots, but he continued running as fast as he could while the werewolves howled and barked, following close behind. They already had his scent and they could run much faster than he could, especially while injured. Even if he had his longsword, he wouldn't have been able to fight them all.

  He dove behind a large boulder to catch his breath as his lungs burned with a pain that felt like thousands of needles in his chest. Pushing his sweat-drenched blond bangs out of his bright blue eyes, Jaylen peered back around the rock to see the orange light of lanterns bobbing through the thick underbrush of the forest. He rested only until he was able to take off running again, narrowly avoiding a leaping black wolf that sliced its claws through the air just inches from his back.

  Sprinting towards the clearing up ahead, Jaylen shifted the canvas bag on his back that was clinking with the sounds of gold candlesticks, marble statuettes, and crystal goblets that he pilfered from the temple in the Wolfekin capital city of Fayng. He had managed to get in and get out without drawing much attention to himself as everyone had been distracted by the Paladin Purge where all the paladins and clergymen from the fallen kingdom of Vilyron had been rounded up and given a butchery of a trial just so they could be tortured and brutally killed. As the fallen king of Vilyron and a paladin himself, Jaylen was on the top of their list for execution. He knew it was a bad plan to sneak into town just to steal some random things from the temple, but he didn't exactly have much of a choice in the matter.

  The old black leather dog collar around his neck that had a new metal plate on it, engraved with the name of his new Master, and secured with a new tiny lock was enough to ensure that he had no control over his actions. It was the way he wanted it, free to let someone else take control of every aspect of his life. It was calming to know that he was protected and owned by someone else. After all, he was the one who insisted on the lock and actually gave his Master the key. But in this moment as he was running for his life, he wondered if his Master truly had his best interests in mind.

  Jaylen skidded to a stop when he reached the edge of a tall cliff. His boots sent pebbles and dirt careening down a hundred feet drop into the dark icy water that lapped against the jagged rocks. He was cornered. With one last surge of courage, or brazen stupidity, Jaylen dug in the pocket of his tight leather pants to retrieve the sky blue topaz amulet. He slipped it over his head then held up his magical left hand that appeared where the real one had been amputated two years ago when he was fifteen. A field of light began to shimmer on top of the frost-kissed dead grass. With a flick of his wrist, the light spread up towards the sky, forming a barrier and granting him a few seconds to weigh his options. This was it. Go with them and be slaughtered like his paladin brothers . . . or jump. While he wasn't the best swimmer, he had learned enough over the past few months to know that he could stay afloat until he made it to the ship. That was if he didn't hit the rocks.

  As his light barrier began to fade and the wolves growled, Jaylen took the deepest breath of his life then leapt from the cliff. For what seemed like an eternity, he fell until the breath he just took was knocked out of him as he slammed into the water on his back. Like knives, the icy water shocked his skin and caused an instant headache behind his eyes. He felt like someone had hit him in the head with a nail-covered board. The initial sensation was so overwhelming that he forgot to swim. His body was traumatized by the cold and the hard impact of the water. It wasn't until his lungs were practically screaming that he came to his senses and flailed his arms and legs until he was close to air.

  Once he broke through the choppy surface of the water, Jaylen gasped for the vital oxygen, but a wave overtook him and dragged him back into the undercurrent. His vision began to fade. With a flurry of kicks, he reached the surface again, this time coughing and spitting out water before he was able to draw a full breath. His ears were ringing, but he could still make out shouting nearby. With his eyes burning and stinging, he took off swimming towards the shouts. They should have been the crewmembers on board the old frigate nearby. It felt like an eternity of swimming before he heard his name and a rope was lowered to him. He grabbed on for dear life and did everything he could to hold on while he was pulled up over the railing.

  Once he was on the ship, Jaylen collapsed onto the deck. He ripped off the topaz amulet and used his last energy to shove it into his pocket so no one would notice it. That was all he could do before his body went limp and he stayed there with his face pressed against the slick wooden planks of the deck. He was so exhausted that the simple act of shivering from the cold was taking all of his energy.

  "Back. All of you, let him breathe. Get back to work or I will have you all on half rations for the remainder of the week." The olive-skinned young woman with black hair and brown eyes the color of spiced rum pushed her way through the rabble of sweaty men and stopped in front of Jaylen. Her knee-high black leather boots and brown ankle-length jacket glistened in the mage-glow that danced along the railing of the ship and up the masts to where the red sails were slack in the calm night air. She hoisted Jaylen up to his feet with her muscular arms around his waist, purposely burying his face between her breasts that peeked out from the top of her red lace corset.

  Jaylen was too angry to enjoy it. Instead, he focused on the tiny black key that she wore on a chain around her neck. The key to his collar. This woman was his Master, Captain Kato Vallen. He continued to cough up salt water until he stepped back and vomited at her feet. His chest and eyes were burning from the cold and the harshness of the seawater. All he wanted to do was pass out and forget about the past day.

  Kato grimaced then half-dragged Jaylen into the elaborately-decorated cabin they shared. She pushed him inside then locked the door behind her before she set about lighting candles on the dark wood table. "Strip. Those wet clothes will be the death of you in this weather."

  Normally, he would have been the good submissive slave he was supposed to be for her, but he was beyond furious that she would give him an order like she did today. She could have gotten him killed. So he stood there with his arms crossed on his chest and glared at her as a puddle of water gathered at his feet.

  She was obviously not amused. Kato slammed her fist on the desk, sending a half-full bottle of rum rolling onto the floor. "What is your problem, Jaylen? What happened to your undying obedience? You follow every order I give you for a year then out of the b
lue you decide to balk and challenge my authority today? Do you want me to whip you? Is that it? Have I been too lenient with you?" Kato sat down in the high-backed chair and pulled the red velvet curtains closed over the large window. She turned back to him and raised an eyebrow as she studied him. "No. It's not just unrequited disobedience, is it? You're mad at me."

  Jaylen rolled his eyes as he pushed his wool cloak onto the floor. He untied the laces of his black tunic and leather pants that joined the rest in the pile of soaked cloth at his feet. Once he was completely naked, he held out his arms. "There. What do you want me to say, Kato?"

  "I want you to tell me what happened." Kato tossed him a bundle of dry sleep clothes then picked up the rum and poured some into a glass. "Why did you abandon the plan? Wait, stop. Is that blood trickling down your leg?"

  Jaylen glanced down to see the dark blood that had smeared from the deep gash on his left hip. "That's what swords do when crazy Masters decide to send their slaves on pointless pillaging runs in the middle of the night when the entire Wolfekin Inquisition is on the hunt for vengeance."

  "What?"

  "Yes. The Inquisition was-"

  Kato interrupted him as she walked up to him and pushed him down on the plush silk-covered bed. She handed him the glass of rum. "Drink up. It will help warm you and help to dull the pain from the stitches I'm gonna have to put in that cut."

  Jaylen eagerly drank the rum then looked up at her with begging eyes. "More."

  "Fine." She gave him the bottle then waited until he had finished it before she rolled him over on his stomach and began to sew up the wound. "Now, please tell me what just happened and why we had to fish you out of the water like a waterlogged puppy."

  Jaylen twisted his fist in the blanket and groaned as the needle pushed through his skin. "I made it to the temple without a problem, got your loot, then got out. But as I was crossing through the back alley, the inquisitors were dragging the first of the paladins through the streets, all in chains and shackles towards the plaza. They were being led to their executions. I hid behind some crates, but they noticed me. I heard the horn being blown as they unleashed the wolves that immediately caught my scent. I ran."

  "But why did you jump off the cliff?"

  "Because they chased me through the woods until I was backed up on the cliff. I couldn't get down to the caves to the rowboat like we had planned. It was either be burned alive like my paladin brothers or jump. So I jumped. But I saved your precious loot."

  Kato dug the needle deeper this time and pulled the string through. "My loot? I couldn't care less about my loot. I'm worried about you. Your safety is my number one priority. You know that."

  He did. Jaylen did know that, but sometimes he questioned it. "I know, Kato. I know. It's just . . . it was hard to watch, you know? I saw the fires. They were burning . . . so many paladins and priests . . . all burning to death. Why?"

  "But you're different than those fake red paladins. You don't remember all the terrible things your beloved clergy did. They tortured people to death when they believed there might have been a chance of them interacting with demons."

  "Not all of them were evil. I never hurt people."

  "Unless you were ordered to hurt them. Face it, Jaylen. You grew up as a slave to Sola and now you're my little slave. You follow orders like you've been trained to do since you were a kid. You can't tell me that you never did anything questionable in the name of Sola." She snipped the string then rolled Jaylen over to look at him. She traced her fingers over the purple sun sigil on his chest while staring into his eyes. "Your eyes betray you, Jaylen. So, tell me. Is that what the soldiers would have done to you if they had caught you?"

  "You mean after they torture me, drained me of my magic, and publically humiliated me? Yes. I would have been tied to a metal pole, surrounded by sticks, and it would all have been set on fire. After devoting my life to Sola, only a heretic's death awaits me. Which is why I had to get away a year ago."

  "How long are going to play this round and round game of secrets?" Kato asked. "What are you running from? It's not the Inquisition. I know that much. Is it a person? Who are you running from?"

  That was something Jaylen didn't want to think about. This was his new life. None of that mattered. "It's a long story. There were some people who used me and I had to get away."

  "And they were so terrible to you that you decided to sign yourself into slavery to get away from them?"

  "Yes. It probably sounds crazy, but I did what I had to do. One year ago, I snuck out in the middle of the night while everyone was asleep. I didn't say goodbye. I went to the harbor in that little fishing town of Avendale where I saw your ship. Remember? I asked if I could join up and be a member of your crew, but you told me you weren't hiring. So, I did what I had to do."

  She took the tiny black key in her fingers. "You gave me this key and signed a slavery contract."

  "Yes. I was desperate to get as far away from those people as I possibly could. I figured that boarding a strange ship and travelling on the ocean was the best I could do, even if that meant submitting to some stranger who could harm me or abuse me."

  "You're not going to tell me the truth, are you? I could order you to tell me about your past and then punish you if you don't, but I'm not going to do that. You belong to me, we share a bed, you are my best friend, the first mate of my ship, and the absolute best man I have ever met. Yet all I know about you is that you used to be a paladin, you have only one hand for reasons you haven't told me, you love cinnamon buns, and you're a virgin even though you've broken every other vow you made."

  "That's true."

  Kato's eyes traced over his exposed body and she smiled. "Get dressed. I'm not going to make you tell me if you don't want to, but please let me know if there's something I need to know. If we are in danger because of you, then you need to tell me so I can figure out a way to help before things get over our heads, okay?"

  "Will do." Jaylen dressed in the soft yellow silk pants and tunic that Kato had bought for him from the elven city of Tivareshen a few months ago for the holiday of Starlight that celebrated the stars that always prevailed like Sola's love, even in the darkness. That was also the night they had shared their first kiss. He leaned back against the headboard and watched her while she went to her desk and started looking over a parchment map. "So, where are we going next, Captain?"

  "That is my information to tell you when you need to know. For now, you have a debt to settle, don't you?"

  Jaylen grinned, growing a little tipsy from the rum. "I don't know what you're talking about."

  "The crew is restless. You played dice two days ago and lost three hundred silver pieces, but you have yet to pay them. How are you going to gain their respect as first mate if you don't pay your debts?"

  "Fine. I'll do it first thing in the morning."

  "You hungry?" Kato asked, removing the pins from her hair.

  That was one way to put it. "Not for food."

  She smiled. "Oh?"

  "I'm struggling, Kato. I'm fighting with myself not to give in. Sola knows I need it. I need it so bad."

  "I can help you, you know?"

  "I know. But that's the problem. You're the problem."

  "And if this continues to distract you from your work, I will have to force you to do something. Don't forget that you're my slave, Jaylen. I can make you do things. What would you do if I forced you?"

  Jaylen's grin vanished as he watched the clock on the edge of the desk ticking away the silent seconds. "I would be forced to obey. I complain and I argue with you, but in the end you hold the key to my collar. I gave myself to you so you could make the important decisions and keep me steady. I can't do that on my own. I learned that a long time ago. I need structure and rules, or I go down a slippery slope that could kill me if I did it again."

  "That's why I have your pills back here where you can't get to them. Speaking of which, your jaw has to be hurting you by now." Kato opened a drawer then join
ed him on the bed. She petted his wet bangs lovingly then placed the two pills on his tongue. "There."

  He swallowed them. "Thanks, Kato. I'm exhausted."

  Kato undressed then slipped a thin pink nightgown on. She crawled into bed and fluffed the pillows. "You know I would never force that on you, right?"

  Jaylen nestled against her chest and kissed her neck. "I know. I will try harder to not let those thoughts get to me. I'm trying."

  "I know you are. I'm not angry or anything." Kato blew the candle out on the nightstand then pulled the blankets over them both. She drew Jaylen's lips to hers and they kissed before falling asleep in each other's arms.

  Chapter 2

  "Wakey wakey, Jaylen. We've got a full day of sailing today. Hopefully we can get through the Crimson Straight before high tide. That place gets a bit hairy with the waves. We don't want to get our sails caught up in the rocks. After we get her through there, we should have a week or more of smooth sailing in my favorite place on the planet. The Onyx Sea."

  Jaylen couldn't help but smile as he listened to Kato telling him the plans for the upcoming day. He rolled over and peeked out of the blankets at her. She was already dressed and ready to go. He spotted the plate of steaming food on the desk and frowned. "What's this? No breakfast?"

  "You've had cinnamon buns for the past month straight. Our cook has run out of sugar because of you. Now what are we going to do?"

  "I saw somewhere that you can make cinnamon buns with honey instead."

  "You're not getting any more cinnamon buns. You can have biscuits and salted pork just like everyone else, at least until we can get into port and resupply. Your breakfast is right over here. Please get up before I have to throw cold water on you."

  "There are other ways of persuading me to get up, you know?"

  Kato sighed then leaned over and kissed him on the lips. "There. That better?"