Taken

The Watchers Trilogy Novella

Taken

KARICE BOLTON

Copyright © 2012 Karice Bolton

All rights reserved.  No part of this book may be reproduced in any printed or electronic form without permission from the author.

This is a work of fiction.  Names, places, and events either are the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.  Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Cover design: PhatpuppyArt.com

Typography: BB Designs ~Bookish Brunette

DEDICATION

Since this is a Watchers Trilogy prequel,
I wanted to give a shout out to a few of the amazing bloggers who
were the
first
to take
a chance on me with my very first series
!
I
couldn’t
even attempt to contain my excitement
when they responded that they’d review Awakening
because
I knew how many requests they received.
I was
so grateful
,
and I learned
so much from them. So thank you
guys for being
some of the first to read and review Awakening! It meant a lot and always will.

Danielle @
BookwhoreBlog

Erika @ Moonli
ghtBookReviews

Diayl/Heather
@
Mother/Gamer/Writer

Mandy @
I Read Indie (AKA Twimom101Book Blog)

Giselle @ XpressoReads

Once Upon a Twilight

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I want to say a simple thank you to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and all of the other avenues available for the indie publishing world.  It allows the art of storytelling to continue to flourish in unexpected ways!

BOOKS BY KARICE BOLTON

THE WITCH AVENUE SERIES

LONELY SOULS

ALTERED SOULS

RE
LEASED SOULS (Coming Jan 2013
)

THE WATCHERS TRILOGY

TAKEN NOVELLA (A Watchers Prequel)

AWAKENING

LEGIONS

CATACLYSM

TO CONTACT THE AUTHOR PLEASE VISIT HER WEBSITE AT

WWW.KARICEBOLTON.COM

http://Blog.Karicebolton.com

OR

EMAIL

[email protected]

OR

FOLLOW HER ON FACEBOOK
and
TWITTER

@KARICEBOLTON

C
hapter 1

The golden light of the afternoon came through the
kitchen windows
brightening up the already cheery floral wallpaper. Unfortunately it did little to
lift
my mood.
Christmas was right around the corner, but all I could focus on were these
endless
premonitions.

“You’ve gotta
quit pacing,” Athen replied. “We’ll get a hold of them.”

I wasn’t sure he believed it. Athen’s sister, Arie, had a habit of getting sidetracked.

“What if we don’t?” I asked, looking into his green eyes.
“I’ve got
to get to
the hospital tonight. With everything I saw in my visions, I don’t have time to wait
for Arie and Cyril
.
”

I walked past Athen, but not before he wrapped his arm around my waist
and pulled
me into him.
His gaze was intense, and i
t was hard to resist the energy running between us
. Even after all of these centuries together there was
something about him that stopped me in my tracks.
He knew the effect he had on me and used it to his advantage as often as he could.

“I don’t want you going
in there by yourself.
And you really can’t do anything until dark any
way.”
His eye
s sparkled with mischief, and my eyes were
drawn to his delicious mouth.
His mouth
quirked
, and
I
knew I
fell
right into his plan
again.
Darn him!

“
Nice try,” I whispered, wriggling out of his grasp. “Back to business.”

Athen laughed and shook his head.
“
All right. So
i
f they’
re forming a Mavet
assembly, it’ll take more than one of us
going in there
to ensure we come out alive,” Athen whispered, touching my chin softly. “You promise
me
you won’t sneak in
to the hospital
?”

He knew me too well.

I looked away quickly and started
fidgeting
.
Time wasn’t on our side.

“You’re biting your lip, which tells me you have no intention of listening to me.” He
sighed
.
“Ana, w
e’ll get there tonight. I know my sister
and Cy
will show up.”

“To your point, if
the dark demons
are forming a Mavet assembly,
they’ll probably perform
rituals tonight.
If we could see how they’
re going about it our chances would be helped tremendously,
” I replied
, letting my finge
rs glide along his neck. Athen
smiled at me and shook his head.
He wrapped his arms around me a little tighter.

“
“I’m not letting you out of my sight,”
he whispered
lovingly.

“I agree
it’s not the best idea to go
there by myself, but if it has to be done —”

“What aren’t you telling me?” he questioned. “This went from something to keep an eye on to a complete emergency within a few days.”

I looked up at him unsure of how to tell him what the latest images were
that
had
flooded my mind
.

The front door clicked open, and I stiffened until I hea
r
d Arie’s voice
ring through the air
.
I hated being this on edge!

“
Anybody home?”

“In the kitchen,” I hollered back,
regrettably
leaving the comfort of Athen’s embrace.
Matilda woke up from her sound sleep and began barking and running in circles.

“Told you
they’d
make it.”
He
flashed me his beautiful smile, and I couldn’t help but feel warmed up inside.

I lightly smacked Athen’s arm as Arie and Cyril came into the kitchen
.

“Looks like you two were up to something,” Cyril’s voice echoed through the tiny kitchen.

“I wish,” Athe
n joked, as my cheeks flushed giving us away.

Cyril reached down to greet Matilda, and
Arie gave me a big hug and relief began spreading through me. My family always
came
through. I don’t know why I panic
ked
.

“I’ve been holding Ana back from going to the hospital without
you
. She gave up hope that you guy
s were going to make it
today
.” Athen stood behind me
,
smiling as he wrapped
his arms around me.

“You think it’s that bad?” Cyril asked, setting the bags down in the kitchen.

I nodded and glanced quickly at Arie. She was dressed in a fitted red wool dress and her hair was pulled back in a chignon. Leave it to her to look dynamite, even in times of potential
crisis.

“The latest vision that I received last night points to a death covenant being
assembled
at the hospital.” I
started
.

“Whoa,” Cyril whistled.

“A Mavet,” Arie
stated
, moving toward one of the kitchen seats.
“This isn’
t good.”

“
No. It’s not.
I think they’re using the patien
ts to begin the process, and we need to get in there and disrupt it
,” I said. “I think they’re trying to...”

“Open the gates to hell,” Athen finished for me.

As soon as the words were said the tension in the air multiplied.

“
I think
eventually
you and I are going to have to go in there as workers to
see what’s going on
.
”
I looked at Arie.

“They’ll be able to sense that we’re there though,” Arie b
egan, raising an eyebrow
at me suspiciously.

“I know.” Avoiding Athen’s stare I continued. I knew he wouldn’t be pleased with this option, but it was the only way. “
W
e’ll
have to perform the
mortas
process
before we try to get hired there
.
”

Cyril sighed and stared at Athen. I knew what they were thinking, but it wouldn’t be the
first time Arie and I took on
mortal persona
s
.

“Do you have any idea who’s running this operation?” Cyril asked
, his voice gruffer than usual
.

“No. Not yet. I know you both only got here, but I think we need to plan on heading there tonight.”

“Agreed,” Arie replied, reaching across the table to grab my hand. “Have you been getting much sleep?”

“Not since the visions.” I shook my head. I knew I felt exhausted, but I didn’t know I looked as bad as I felt.

“I loo
k that ravishing, huh?” I joked, getting up from the table.
I almost tripped over my own feet and was thankful I caught it before anyone saw me go down.
Maybe I did need some rest.

“You look beautiful,” she objected.
“
Just a little tired.”

I laughed and grabbed a cup from the cabinet to get more caffeine in my system. It was going to be a long night. Cyril grabbed their bags and took them down to the guest room.

“The
Christmas
tree looks amazing.” Arie’s voice was bubbly
. “I’m glad you took my advice and put it in the front window.”

Regardless of the situation, I couldn’t help but get in a festive spirit with Arie around.

“Your advice, huh,
” I laughed.

“When’s my brother gonna get up on a ladder and hang the lights for you?” she asked, following me
to
the living room.
“Cyril already has ours up.”

“Hey,
” Athen t
eased his sister. “Don’t put tho
se thoughts in Ana’s head.”

“Things really have a way of turning upside down in our world.
I
was really hoping for a calm
holiday season
this year. Last year was brutal,
and it’s been so quiet the last few months I actually thought we had a
chance
at it.” 
I
slumped
on the couch, admiring the beautiful bubble lights that Athen
had
draped around our tree.

“Your ornaments look gorgeous.” Arie was touching a glass ginge
rbread man. “Are s
ome of these new?”

I nodded and pointed to a couple
of
packages under the tree.

“You guys should open those
before you leave
. I made a few for you to take home.”

“That’s so sweet of you.” Arie found the glitt
ery packages with her name on
the tags
and took
the pile
to the couch. “Cy, come out so we can see the latest glass
pieces
Ana made for us.”

“That’s very nice of you, but it’s not
that
big a deal,
” I replied. Arie always had
a
way of making anything and everything extra special.

“Please!” she retorted.

Cyril came from behind and
hopped over the couch to sit
, bringing a smile to Arie’s lips.
She began tearing through the wrapping paper.

“So
like
I was saying,
I’m thinking if Arie and I scale the building and see which floors are affected, you guys can stand guard in case anything goes wrong and—”

“Let me have a moment of peace!” Arie exclaimed as she examined the
glass
gingerbread house
I made for them. “This is
exquisite
.”

Athen squeezed my hand,
and I started laughing
.

“I’m glad you like it.” I smiled and attempted to calm myself down. Between lack of sleep and the caffeine I was probably amped up far more than I
needed to
be.

Cyril opened another package revealing a blown glass ornament that had his and Arie
’
s
initials
on it.

“These are really lovely,” Arie replied, looking at the ornament Cyril was holding.

“Thanks.”

“Barring Ana, do you guys want any coffee or anything?” Athen asked.

“We’re set, but it looks like Ana’s about to explode so we better get planning.” Cyril grinned and shook his head.

“Finally!” I let out
the
breath that I didn’t realize I was holding in. “Okay
,
so if Athen takes the front entra
nce
and Cyril takes the back entrance
,
we should be
covered
for any interference
that the dark demons might try. If we can gauge how many demons have infiltrated the staff there before we go in
as mortals
that will help our chances. If we can’t well then…”

“We can’t,” Arie finished
for me
. “Whatever’s meant to happen will happen.”

“True,” I whispered, looking away. I hadn’t told Athen all the details from my vision from the night before. I was planning on it, but the moment never felt right.

“So did your visions
give a hint of
where the entrance to the underworld might be
?” Cyril prodded.

“No. Not other than somewhere in the building.” I replied, “And
there’s
this other situation that I haven’t mentioned.”

“What’s that?” Arie asked.

I took a deep breath in and placed my hand
on
Athen’s knee.

“I think they’re targeting one of us.”

“Who?”
Cyril’s gaze was full of worry as he grabbed Arie’s hand
.