Since it's been four years since my first Slayer book came out, I figured it's time for me to finish the sequel. Well, I'm happy to announce that I've written it. Here's the first few pages to give you a sneak peek!
Pre-release starts on Kindle Vella May 1.
Prologue
The year was 678 BC and no one quite knew how the small events in one single nation were going to affect the rest of life for all of history. In Syria, they had just surrendered their territory to the Persians and had given up all they had been fighting to win for centuries, including their freedom from the wicked Persian ruler, King Corvis, who was a ruler like none other and was also a man of great power and great wealth. Even the people of Syria hadn't known what the actions and events of their nation would bring to the world and what the surrender of their nation to King Corvis would do to all of mankind for all times to come. Had they known, perhaps something could have been done to prevent the events which had taken place.
When King Corvis was at the height of his reign in Syria, seeking the destruction of many people all over the land, the time came for him to choose a wife. At this point, he was still a relatively young man of 45 years or so with many attractive qualities, which caused his confidence to boast that any woman would want him, and his assurance overwhelmed him, making his attractive qualities seem far less appealing to any reasonable woman.
“Pantsis,” Corvis said to his lead advisor on a morning when he’d grown especially tired of his loneliness. “I’ve spent all my days lonely. I require a wife. You are my most trusted advisor. Find me a woman worthy of marriage. She must be beautiful and wise but also young. I also want her to be from Syria and not a Persian so the Syrians will not grow angry and think I have betrayed them.”
“Most certainly, Majesty. I will see to this most diligently and will draft notice straight away. I will search all the kingdom to find the perfect woman.”
Pantsis studied hundreds of women until he found just the right one whose beauty surpassed all the other young maidens in Syria. She had hair that was darker than the night sky and her skin was not tarnished from working in the fields in the sun. Pantsis felt her eyes were like light browned chestnuts and knew King Corvis was partial to the darkened color of chestnut eyes.
When Pantsis reported back to the King the woman he had found, Corvis was pleased and commanded to see her and inspect her himself.
“I want to see this young rose that you say is to be my bride. What is her name and what is her age?”
“A young woman of 19. Aeliana Kattan from Syria.”
“Wonderful. She is to be my wife. Bring her to me at once.”
As the King was a man to be pleased with only his eyes, he was satisfied at her pale skin and nice figure, and he cared nothing for Aeliana’s disposition or manners; he spent little time getting to know Aeliana and merely saw that she was of lovely adornment, making arrangements for them to be wed at once, much to the young woman’s dismay. Aeliana was a woman of passion and excitement and was led by her heart, not her reason. When she was told she was to marry for obligation, she was devastated.
“My dearest, he is the King and you must obey orders. You must marry him,” said Aeliana’s aunt as they packed her very few belongings.
“I do not love him, nor could I ever.”
“Marriage isn’t about love, especially not to the king.” Aeliana's aunt kissed her and said goodbye as palace guards escorted her out.
When Aeliana arrived at the palace, King Corvis greeted her in the throne room, and she was surprised by his handsome face but was turned off when he spoke.
“Welcome to my palace. You will be pleased with your rooms as everyone who visits my palace is pleased with the measures taken. My palace is quite extraordinary.”
She gave no response to his arrogance but only curtsied and was shown out the side door to her room. On her way past, her glance caught notice of a man she found particularly attractive and her eyes stayed fixated on his flowing dark hair and relaxed face.
“Hello,” she said and nodded.
His eyes followed her as she walked by but he said nothing in return as a conniving smile appeared on his face.
Later that evening, while the new queen was readying herself for bed, a knock came to her door.
“Your Highness,” her visitor whispered.
Unknowing of who it was and still nervous to be in this new and uninviting place, she slipped into her robe and cracked open the door, peeking her head around.
“Oh, good evening,” she said, seeing the face she’d been so drawn to earlier, who was also one of the king’s most loyal friends, Delino.
Delino took her hand and brought it to his lips as he studied her beauty. He looked into her eyes and brushed her long brown hair back from her face.
“Her Highness’s comfort is my highest priority,” he responded and entered her room.
After their affair had gone on for many months, Aeliana became with child. She did her best to hide her state the best she could and stayed away from the King as often as she could and was ashamed of her condition. When the King summoned the presence of his queen one day, she sent word that she was unavailable to him as she was unable to hide her condition from him any longer; the King was enraged.
“I demand to see my new queen at once!” he ordered from the palace servant who had given him word that the queen would not be joining him that morning.
“Your majesty,” the servant knocked. “The King demands your immediate presence in the throne room.”
“You may tell His Majesty that I am unwell this day and I shan’t be joining him.”
The servant curtsied and went away. The queen’s continued refusal to see the King caused King Corvis to go to her chambers himself.
“What is it that ails you, my queen?” Corvis asked as he stood outside Aeliana’s bedroom chambers and knocked.
“I have fallen ill. There’s no reason for alarm.”
“I shall send someone to assist you in your illness.”
“Truly, that is not necessary.”
“Someone will come to you first thing.”
Afraid he would find her condition, knowing they had not been together for some time, she devised a plan to remove him from her life forever. Later that evening, when her lover made his usual visit, she explained everything that was happening.
“I do not want to be his queen anymore. When he finds out about the child, he will surely do away with us or send us away! This child belongs to you,” she whispered to Delino. “Will you help me find a way for us to be together?”
He leaned over her, bringing her lips to his. As they kissed, he said, “I will do whatever my Queen demands of me.”
“I have a plan to murder the king.”
“Murder? But he has not wronged us.”
Aeliana kissed Delino as she said, “Are you more faithful to him or me?”
“You.”
Unbeknownst to her, unfolding amid her plan was something more powerful than she. The King’s advisor, Pantsis, had a vision of the plan she was brewing and informed the King.
“Sire!” Pantsis called out as he rushed into the throne room the very next day.
King Corvis stood from the throne, taken aback at the state of his advisor, and he called out to him. “Pantsis, what ails you? Hurry at once.”
“I have seen the future.”
“Tell me, my trusted one, what is it you see?”
“Your death. You will be betrayed by the ones you hold most dear.”
“They must be punished!”
“Their actions cannot be stopped now, Sire, but they will be held accountable for what they have done and will do, my lord.”
“And what will be their punishment?”
“Because of the evil that is within their hearts, henceforth from this day onward, every woman born into their bloodlines shall be cursed to slay all the evil that walks the earth and every man born into their bloodlines shall be cursed to the night and the two shall be separated all of their days.”
2019
“Delius? Why are you here?” Satan said and walked away from the Beast’s cage. “Don’t even think you’ve come back for my prized possession again.”
“No. I’ve come to strike a bargain with you.”
“Bargain? Me?” Satan laughed for a moment. “Actually, go on. I’ve been known to strike a deal now and then.”
“Good, because you have something I want.”
“And what would I get from this arrangement?”
“The Slayer.”
“Ooh, this does intrigue me. I had her once down here locked in a cage, but that didn’t last long. We all know Aldestine is calling dibs on her soul.”
Delius chuckled.
“Well, I can pretty much guarantee it this time.”
“Fabulous. What do you want me to do?”
“Release Tom Barclay.”
Satan groaned. “No can do.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t have the power.”
“He did?”
Satan walked down the corridor into the lower Hell cavity, motioning for Delius to follow. Satan pointed to the Demortusmaros—the Sea of the Dead Souls. “Demetrius does. He’s the guardian of Hell’s souls. There’s only one being higher than him when it comes to releasing souls.”
“But I don’t need a soul. I just want a vampire.”
“Either way, you need Patrick or Demetrius. Besides, he already left.”
“Damn,” Delius said. “When did he get out?”
“A few weeks ago.”
Delius began walking out of the lower Hell chamber to the main gates.
“Delius, what on earth do you want with that pain in the ass anyhow?”
Delius turned back to look at Satan and grinned.
“Big plans are in the making. Prepare to be amazed.”
Satan watched as he walked up the mile-long entrance to Hell and disappeared into the city streets above.
“What did he want?” Patrick asked as he approached from the darkness behind where Satan stood.
“Your son.”
“Which one?”
“The more dislikable of the two.”
“And?”
“Young Barclay isn’t down here,” Satan said and approached where Patrick stood at the gates. “He left not a few weeks ago, actually.”
“Who let him out?”
“Beats me. You act like I care about who comes and goes down here.”
“You bloody demon! That’s your job!”
“Hold that thought.” Satan turned away and used his rod to shoot a fireball at someone, incinerating them on contact. “That’ll teach you. I have only a few rules down here and you just broke one of them! Does anybody else want to break the three rules? Let me see a show of hands. I didn’t think so. Get back to your business.”
Patrick laughed. “What’s your rules?”
“No spitting. That’s a vile and disgusting habit. Let’s at least show a little decorum. No pissing on each other. We have to live here. We may not have morals, but civility we can have. Plus, there’s no maid service. I’m not going to clean up the mess, are you?”
Patrick smiled, let out a small laugh, and shrugged, agreeing. “What’s the last one?”
“No one drinks my liquor. No one.”
“Ah. I see. Who supplies the condemned with their liquor?” Patrick pointed to the barrels and to the many, many drunkards.
“The demons fetch it.”
“Of course.”
Satan turned and walked toward his isolated corner where sat his throne of dead serpents. A four-foot-long preserved serpent made up each arm and rows of seven-foot-long serpents made up the back, extending down to the bottom.
“I wish I could help you, but as I said, young Barclay isn’t here. Plus, I really don’t like you. The last time you were here, you made me give back two humans to Aldestine.”
“They didn’t belong here!”
“I was just having some fun! You never let me have any fun.”
“Don’t do it again. Demetrius is the guardian of the souls, not you.”
Patrick walked away from Satan, frustrated that now he was going to have to find Tom.
“That wretched demon is never any help to me. I should cast him into the Sea with all the trapped souls and be rid of him once and for all,” Patrick mumbled as he walked up the dark stone stairs.
SUPRISE CHAPTER
Without warning of his arrival, Tom broke down Antonius’s front door and entered.
“Tom! What’s with the grand entrance? Glad to see you alive…eh, glad to see you out of Hell and walking the soil again. To be honest, I didn’t think that the Sheriff had it in him,” Antonius responded as Tom approached and his eyes reddened.
“How much have you known?!” Tom yelled in a fury.
“Don’t be daft, Tom. I don’t even know why you’re here. The involvement between you and that Slayer is not foremost on my mind.”
Tom’s fury overtook him and he lunged at Antonius with all of his strength, pummeling him to the floor with a loud thud, shaking the mine, thus causing Claudine to emerge from her bedroom.
“Tony? Tom? What’s happening? What did Tony do now?”
“No need to worry, Claudine. Tom’s only pissed because I might’ve known that Demetrius…”
“You bastard!” Tom yelled. Tom’s anger overwhelmed him once again and Tom laid into Antonius with a couple of fierce right hooks.
“You bitch! You made me bleed!” Antonius yelled back as he wiped his bleeding lip.
“You deserved it! How could you not do something about this?”
Antonius pushed Tom off him. Standing and straightening out his clothes and wiping blood from his lip as he waited for his lip to heal, he said, “Take a deep breath and think for a moment, Tom. Why would I intervene? You wanted out of Hell. Demetrius was going to be a way to get your ass out of Hell, like it or not.” Antonius motioned around the room. “And thanks to him, you’re out of Hell!”
Tom paced the room for a few moments trying to keep his cool to not completely lose control on the one other vampire he could actually tolerate
“Why though? Why would he resurrect me?”
“How the hell do I know?! Maybe he wanted to win points with your human. Why does it even matter?”
“It matters because now I owe him or he will see it like that.”
Antonius smiled and crossed his arms. “That’s not why. This is a pissing contest. You think he is more powerful than you and it threatens you.”
“I’m not threatened.”
“Ha! You are so threatened that if you weren’t already dead, it would be killing you right here and now! You can’t stand that Demetrius has the upper hand with your human, especially when you are so used to having control.”
Tom walked away to the other side of the room, hands running through his hair.
“You don’t have to do this, you know,” Tom said.
Antonius smirked and shrugged as he took his time walking over to his supply of vodka. “Of course I do. It’s who I am.”
He held out a shot, offering one to Tom.
“Arlington knows?”
Tom nodded. “I ended up on his kitchen floor.”
“That’s interesting. Why wouldn’t Arlington just bring you out of Hell himself?”
“I never know what Arlington is up to. He only claimed he wasn’t powerful enough to do the job. He also said the order came from above, whatever that means.”
“Maybe your father made him do it.”
“That doesn’t track. Patrick has the power to pull me out of Hell himself if he had wanted.”
Antonius blew out a breath as he tilted his head back and drank down a shot. “I don’t know, man. Your family is screwy.”
Tom also splashed down a shot of vodka as he agreed to Antonius’s statement. “Don’t I know it. This whole thing seems off though. Arlington doesn’t even want me near Abigail right now. None of this makes sense. You’ve been around a long time. Tell me what you know about Demetrius.”
After pouring them both another shot, Antonius sat on a barstool and said, “Demetrius? Other than him being desperately in love with your human, I don’t know too much.”
Tom stared blank-faced at Antonius and said, “Are you incapable of being serious for even two seconds?”
“Lighten up. I am being serious. I know that he is born into different families and lives out the lives of various humans. He has a human form up here, but near the Demortusmaros, he looks like something else, though I don’t know what because I’ve not seen him down there. It’s possible only Satan and your father have.”
“Tell me what else you know.”
“Hm… well, his eternal form is immortal, but his human form can be killed.”
“You’re telling me that the sheriff can be killed?”
“As far as I know, if the sheriff dies, Demetrius just takes on a new human form. It’s his way of balancing his eyes into the Sea of Souls.”
“Hm… this could be of use to me.”
©Meg S. 2023
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