White - Tempting Fate

Tempting Fate

Book Two

The ImmortalDescendants

April White

Copyright by April White,2014

Published by CorazonEntertainment at Smashwords

Smashwords Edition,License Notes
This ebook is licensed for yourpersonal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or givenaway to other people. If you would like to share this book withanother person, please purchase an additional copy for eachrecipient. If youre reading this book and did not purchase it, orit was not purchased for your use only, then please return toSmashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respectingthe hard work of this author.

Seventeen-year-old Clocker, Saira Elian isback on the run and being hunted by Mongers. The Descendants ofWar are amassing power in the 21st century, bent on controlling allthe Immortal Descendants. Their attempt to kidnap Saira, a rareDescendant of Time and Nature, reveals just how brazen theyvebecome. Archer, the vampire who has loved Saira for over a century,is willing to risk everything to protect her.

When a horrific vision reveals Ringo, thiefand loyal companion from 1888, being tortured at the hands of thebloodthirsty Bishop Wilder in a Renaissance prison, Saira andArcher realize there has been a ripple in the river of Time, andthey must travel to 1554 to find its source and save their friend.Their rescue mission lures them to the Tower of London, site of themost notorious executions in history, where they encounter themysterious Lady Elizabeth who is confronting a terrible fate of herown.

The time-traveler, the vampire, and thethief will need all of their skills and ingenuity as they raceagainst time to steal a document that could change the course ofhistory and put the Immortal Descendants at the mercy of theMongers. Can they stop a madman bent on collecting the blood ofhistorys most powerful Seer before the executioners axefalls?

May your coming year be filled with magicand dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books andkiss someone who thinks youre wonderful, and dont forget to makesome art write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can.And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself. Neil Gaiman

The ImmortalDescendants

Run!

I ran. Its what I did. To escape. To hide.And for the pure rush of freedom.

But this time they were tracking me.

Still a couple hundred feet back, butclosing in. From the footfalls I counted at least five bipeds andmaybe a Wolf, but it was the Monger with them made my skin crawl.Mongers had hunted me before I even knew such a thing existed, andI could feel them in my guts like the onset of food poisoning. Ipicked up speed and played the options out in my mind.

The sun was still high and glinted off theupper windows of St. Brigids school. I could head back to thesafety of the building, but that might put us all at risk. Besides,after three months here, I knew these woods like an old friend.Good trees with thick branches were obvious climbers, but Id gettreed if they looked up. I could cut down the pack if I scaled theold stone wall to my right, but not stop them altogether. The barnjust past the woods was good, but Id be trapped. Unless I was theone doing the trapping.

So, my best bet was camouflage.

I saw the low branch an instant before itwould have brained me. I ducked it and kept my path a straight lineso they wouldnt veer off course, then counted to thirty and waitedfor the first contestant in a little game I called Whats TheWorst That Could Happen?

Thunk. I winced at the yell behind me as thebranch took someone out - one of the normal humans that ran withthis pack. Assuming there was such a thing as normal in my worldsince I discovered I was a Clocker, descended from Time.

But that meant one down, four to go. And theWolf, which I sensed circling, trying to outflank me. Not good. Iswerved left across some soft ground. Leaves hid a three-foot-deephole Id dug out here a few weeks ago. Who would hit it? Who wouldbe contestant number two?

Crash! A yell, and another one went down.Not the Monger though. I could still feel him coming. TheDescendants of War were relentless hunters, which was why Mongershad proclaimed themselves enforcers of Descendant law. Id brokenone of those laws when I was born, but thanks to my Clocker momstrip forward in time, no one found out about me for seventeenyears. Until a nasty piece-of-work Monger named Seth Walters, orSlick, as I un-affectionately called him, found and hunted me rightinto the arms of an Immortal Descendant family I didnt knowexisted. For all I knew Slick was still stalking me, and thetwisty-gut sense this Monger invoked pushed me fasternow.

The fallen trunk of a massive Scots pinetree loomed ahead. Climbable, but the bark would be rough and fullof splinters. I dug deep, hit the highest branch I could reachwithout hands, and pushed off. I arched up and sliced the narrowgap between branches in a hands-and-head-first dive. Then I tucked.I hit the ground shoulder first, but the bed of needles thatlittered the forest floor took a painful impact down touncomfortable. Id survive the bruise.

I crouched, caught my breath, and preparedfor the final round all or nothing. To my left the big pine trunkhid a small ditch with a void under the trunk. An animal escapehatch. Perfect.

I flattened down to a belly crawl and pulledmy body into the cramped den, pretending those werent spiders thatskittered away in the darkness. I counted on camouflage to hide meand forward momentum to carry my pursuers far away.

Pounding feet split the silence and I froze.They padded over the tree without hesitation and continued on. TheWolf. No question. Then a second set went past. That was theMonger, his feet pounding the ground angrily. Then the Seer. I knewthem the way prey knows its predators. I could feel them in theblood that chilled in my veins. The Seer surprised me though. Hestopped on the fallen tree, searched, then called. Hey! Guys!

Crap. Game over.

The Monger shouted something in thedistance. The Seer yelled back, Over here!

Approaching footfalls and then the Mongerscrambled over the top of the tree trunk spewing very inventivecurses with each bite of the bark. He paused at the top of thetrunk. The Seer spoke.

Shes still here.

The Seer didnt know that. He couldnt.Unless hed Seen it.

Shes long gone.

No, you should have Seen her too. Yourenot using your senses.

Youre just mad I was faster than you.

I can beat you any day.

Oh good. Just what I wanted. A dogfight overmy head. Speaking of, where had the Wolf gone?

Thats it. Im out. The prickling in mygut diminished as the Monger trudged away.

What crawled up his butt? The Wolf haddoubled back.

Nice. You kiss your mother with thatmouth?

No, I kiss yours.

Punk. I had to fight the giggles.

Ass.

Nah, I leave the ass-kissing to you,too.

Listen, mutt. I know shes close.