Those Who Fear the Darkness (BloodRunes: Book 2)

Those Who

Fear the Darkness

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2011 Laura R Cole

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PROLOGUE

It all started out so innocently. Layna
cleaned the rooms and did her chores as Lady Jezebel demanded. But
she couldn’t help dream about the visiting Lord Gryffon’s handsome
face, his winsome demeanor. So when he started requesting that she
spend time with him she could hardly refuse. As a commoner, she was
supposed to listen to the noble class after all.

Unfortunately, through her involvement with
him she stumbled upon a secret about herself: The fact that she
possessed a great talent to manipulate the power, a talent that had
become a luxury of the rich in society. By law, she should have
presented herself to the priests to be tested and then either be
forced to pay for expensive classes to be trained, or if she
couldn’t afford the steep price, pay back her gift from the gods by
joining the Priesthood.

But Layna didn’t report herself, on the
advice of a healer and her future mentor, Mila, she hid the fact
that she had power and told only her noble friend, Lord Gryffon,
her terrible secret. Together, they vowed to hatch a plan to train
her discretely, but before they could do anything Layna’s mistress
and Lord Gryffon’s hostess, Lady Jezebel, lashed out at the two of
them in a jealous rage.

She dragged them through the court system,
forcing Layna to become a fugitive rather than gamble her life on
the whims of Lady Jezebel’s lapdog Devon, and in the process
Gryffon’s own secret is exposed: He is actually a spy from
Treymayne, the forgotten part of the country which was separated by
a magical barrier after the reign of the Dark King.

The two of them flee the fury of Lady
Jezebel, pursued also by an unseen force they later recognize to be
their recently coronated King, King Nathair. A mark that has
appeared on Layna’s neck turns out to be a symbol meant to let the
descendants of the Dark King recognize each other for the supposed
repopulation of the world of the superior race and it is this that
has drawn the King to her. Layna becomes increasingly worried that
the legacy of her bloodline will rule her future actions.

Though she and Gryffon are rescued by unknown
forces from the clutches of the King within the Dark King’s tomb
and the Lady Jezebel is torn apart by her own hellhounds, beasts
created by pain and blood of an art that was supposed to have been
left behind in the Dark Ages, they know that they have to warn
Treymayne about the danger that the new King poses.

He is reinstating blood-magic, planning on
starting a war, and seems to be repeating a history that everyone
would like to forget…

CHAPTER 1

Karl took a seal out of his desk drawer and
pressed it firmly on the soft wax. He held it there a moment longer
than necessary, lost in his thoughts, before carefully lifting it
off. It peeled away to reveal the imprint of two snakes intertwined
around a cross. He rang a bell for a servant and one quickly
scurried in. He spelled out his instructions slowly and clearly to
the man so that his dull brain could comprehend.

This could be a problem
, he thought to
himself as the servant carried the letter out of the room. Jezebel
had been missing for weeks now, and his attempts to contact her had
thus far proved fruitless.
Even that man Devon of hers denies
having any information as to her whereabouts
. He got up and
started to pace, but his limping gate soon forced him back into the
chair.

It had been a nuisance when she had refused
to give up the ridiculous council business, but Karl had hoped to
turn the whole mess to his advantage when he'd discovered a new
facet of mind control: Apparently bonds of blood were quite strong,
and when you knew how, they could be manipulated to influence the
thoughts of another sharing your blood. Hoping to regain control
over his wayward daughter, he had bought the necessary charms to
bind her and the knowledge of how to further influence her future
actions. Armed with this information, and the news that Lord Carlon
had added his support to her candidacy, Karl had decided that it
would be best to support her as well. But when she disrupted the
balance of power by naming herself First Advisor it turned into
more of a problem, further compounded by the breaking of those
bonds he had paid so handsomely to erect.
And now, with her
disappearance...
Karl left the thought unfinished, growling deep
in his throat. Her actions were slandering his good name.
I
should have carried through with the mission to cull her when I had
the chance.

It truly was a shame that the compulsion had
been broken. It had been the perfect plan to have her in such a
powerful position once he had her under his control. It would have
taken care of her and helped with the task of controlling the King.
And it would have worked too, if the
King
hadn't
somehow detected it and interfered!
The thought of the King
gave Karl another uncomfortable twinge.

Though their maneuvering to place a puppet on
the throne had been initially successful, the man frustratingly had
begun to pull his own strings. Karl had seen a canny gleam in the
man's eyes, and he had the sneaking suspicion that the King may
have his own agenda to follow. He may not be as easily swayed from
it as the old King had been from his.

Furthermore, the ease with which the man had
broken the bonds that Karl had placed upon Jezebel made it obvious
that his talent was not as weak as he had first portrayed it to the
council when petitioning for the kingship. That did not bode well
for their plans. Hopefully Jezebel would be rational when she
returned and they could find another way to use her to control the
King. If not, it may be better just to get rid of her.

Her sister had done her duty and married off
into a wealthy respectable family, but for some reason Jezebel had
bigger plans in mind and was not smart enough to see that they were
simply beyond her. Her pathetic squabbling for power was beginning
to grate on his nerves. Karl shook his head clear of the unhappy
thought. Things were spiraling out of control, and Karl hated being
out of control.

He rose from his chair and walked as briskly
as his aching joints would allow to the front door where his
carriage awaited, and he climbed into it carefully. He wasn't as
young as he used to be. He had recently wrenched his ankle, one of
many unlucky happenings that seemed to be occurring quite
frequently as of late. He had had a series of unfortunate events
recently and was worried that the fortune teller he had read his
cards had been correct in her prediction of impending doom.

The carriage ride was a short one, but it was
long enough to make his old bones ache stiffly as he limped his way
to the secret entrance. He made his way slowly down the steep
stairs, his thoughts returning once more to Jezebel. It really was
a shame that she had turned out how she had. He had had such high
hopes in the beginning, especially after she showed a propensity
for the talent, but that had only ended by causing him
embarrassment.

He had reported her mark to his Brothers
immediately, of course, and had been excited to set her up as a
potential breeder. Upon inspection, however, the Order termed her
unfit, and she consequently was put on the cull list. To blunt the
sharp pain of humiliation that her failure had caused, Karl had
volunteered to take the matter into his own hands. Inexplicably, an
order had come in the nick of time to stave off the carrying out of
his execution plan. He was curious just who had decided to give
such an order, and why. Recent events that had come to light made
him suspicious of the reasoning behind it.

Karl finally reached the bottom of the stairs
and paused to catch his breath, checking his watch to make sure
that he entered at exactly the right time. As the timepiece ticked
into place, Karl lifted a mask to his face and secured it before
stepping out onto the dais.

“Thank you all for coming,” Karl started from
underneath his mask once the crowd quieted upon his arrival. “I
realize that a conference such as this is dangerous to us all and
I'd like to assure you that the utmost secrecy and security is in
place to protect us.”

Each of the participants wore masks identical
to the one that Karl himself had on and even he did not know the
identities of all of them. Once he had their complete attention,
Karl went on.

“It has been brought to my attention,
however, that our worst fears may indeed be true and we need to
decide how to act, and quickly, so that we can avert this disaster
before it happens. Reports have been confirmed that there is indeed
a rogue specimen who has evaded our notice and worked his way into
a most powerful position within the Order. Unfortunately, his
identity still remains unknown to us, and therefore it is paramount
that we identify him as soon as possible to prevent any havoc he
may be intent upon wreaking. It is our belief that this man is
working not towards our own humble goals, but rather towards the
goal of eradicating all of the other's like himself, making him
that much more powerful.”

A murmur spread over the crowd as they
commented to each other at this news and he held up his hands for
silence. He was given it almost immediately and he went on.
“Furthermore, it has become apparent that our secrets have been
compromised, and therefore those of you who are secret keepers must
be made aware that under no circumstances are the books to be
revealed at this time and any attempt made to get to them should be
reported and dealt with accordingly. We are unsure how the specimen
has obtained the information that he has, but already several key
figures have mysteriously disappeared lending us some clue. First
credited to what the peasants called the 'back-alley killer', these
murders are now thought to be caused by the specimen due to
evidence and belief that these atrocious murders were done
purposefully and methodically, not to mention that it is a fairly
large leap for this serial killer to have jumped from murdering
vagabonds and miscreants to assassinating members of the Order. As
you know, we've been working towards steering the King towards a
war with Treymayne to open the door for new blood into the line,
but now it is our fear that rather than follow our prodding, he
will be swayed by our yet unknown foe into another agenda
altogether. We have no way of knowing how far this rogue’s
influence has spread throughout our ranks.” He paused once more and
allowed the people to murmur amongst themselves whilst he gathered
his thoughts.

“How do you know that it's a rogue specimen
doing all this?” someone with a high-pitched voice asked.

Karl answered with as much patience as he
could muster, recognizing the voice as belonging to a man he could
hardly stand. “Because the killings that were performed, as I said,
were methodical. When I say methodical I mean that blood-magic was
used, and in a degree that only one touched with the mark would be
able to do. There also seems to be evidence that he is using these
killings to further the research that the Dark King was dabbling in
at the time of his death. Since none in our program save those with
special leave to further our own research are allowed to use
blood-magic, it must be one which has inexplicably escaped our
supervision.”

“Do we have any leads as to how he obtained
such forbidden information and infiltrated into the organization?”
another asked.

“As I said, some key figures have disappeared
who may have been instrumental in the specimen obtaining the
information, but since the entire nature of our organization
requires secrecy even from each other, it is difficult to know
exactly what he may have gained from it.”

Karl glanced down at his notes in front of
him while the group spoke in low whispered voices amongst
themselves.

“What if he's one of us?” a man in the back
suggested ominously.

Karl strained to think of whose voice it was,
but it frustratingly eluded him.

The conference room buzzed with excited
activity once more and Karl did not bother to quiet them to answer
the man.
What if it was indeed
.