Marked by Courage Read online

  Marked by Courage

  By W.J. May

  Book 3

  Of the

  Blood Red Series

  Copyright 2016 by W.J. May

  Marked by Courage

  Copyright © 2016 by W. J. May

  Cover Art by Book Covers by Design

  Printed in the United States of America

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  Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Thank you for your purchase, for comments, or to obtain further copies, please find us on the web at www.wanitamay.yolasite.com, on Face Book at Author WJ May, or contact the author direct at [email protected].

  Description:

  What if courage was your only option?

  Some days are good days. On other days, your pureblood protector gets captured, your father is going to get drained nearly dry by rogue vampires, and you’ve been turned into some sort of weird vampire hybrid no one’s ever seen before. Oh, and no one knows just which of your supposed allies is actually trying to kill you.

  You know… normal Tuesday stuff.

  Kallie has no shortage of problems. Her father is slowly but surely losing his grip on reality, the woman she thought was her mother is really her aunt, and her actual mother is at the center of a plot between the Watchmen and the rogue Reds. To top it all off, her only ally who hasn’t been incapacitated is…a Blue.

  But Kallie isn’t about to let that stop her. She might be outmatched, and in over her head, but she’s also stubborn as hell.

  Blood Red Series:

  FREE!

  Courage Runs Red

  The Night Watch

  Marked by Courage

  Book 4 – COMING SOON!

  Series

  Find W.J. May:

  Website: http://www.wanitamay.yolasite.com

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  Contents

  Description:

  Blood Red Series:

  Find W.J. May:

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Blood Red Series:

  More by W.J. May

  Hidden Secrets Saga:

  Find W.J. May:

  Chapter 1

  His right eye fluttered open, and his gaze locked instantly on Kallie. She turned to Liam, and he reluctantly removed his hand. Then they both looked back at the trapped prisoner. Her heart leapt as Caleb stared at her, his red eyes clear but full of fear. She wanted to tell him everything would be okay. But she didn’t know how to express her thoughts to him. To offer some sort of assurance.

  Caleb’s head jerked as he thrashed weakly. Then, suddenly, he burned one clear thought into her mind. She heard her maker’s voice ring out loud and full of fear.

  “Kallie, run!”

  ***

  Liam’s hand was instantly on her arm, pulling at her desperately. Kallie could see the pleading look in his eyes, the same wish Caleb had made. She had to go, Liam’s look warned. They were outmatched—the bouncers were twice her size, bigger even than Liam, and though they all might be vampires, Kallie had a sinking feeling that the bouncers had been chosen, not just because of their size, but because of their unusual speed and strength.

  She should go; she should follow Caleb’s order. The words were heavy in her mind, almost dragging her feet away. He was her maker, and he had commanded her. Every fiber of her being wanted to obey him, and she could hear her father’s words in her head once more: we’re animals. Animals with instincts that Kallie did not yet understand. She was bound to Caleb in ways that she could not begin to guess. She felt herself pulled back, wavering.

  Like hell was she going to run and leave him here to be fed upon and tortured, or who knew what else it was they had planned for him. Kallie jerked her arm from Liam’s grasp and glanced around the room desperately. She had no idea how to get into the room where Caleb was trapped, but once she was there… she’d still have no advantages. None. She curled her fingers around the grate and bent her head, feeling tears squeeze from between her closed lids.

  Caleb, I’m sorry… I don’t know what to do.

  “Kallie,” Liam’s voice was low, hardly a breath in her ear. She turned her face and let him see the tears in her eyes and on her cheeks. To her surprise, though he knew she was crying for Caleb, there was understanding on his face. He raised his hand to brush the tears away. “We’ll come back for him,” Liam mouthed.

  “We can’t just go.” He might not have caught every word, but he understood the way she shook her head.

  Liam’s face hardened. He glanced back at the Rogue Reds, and she saw a muscle jump in his neck. Had it looked like this when they took his family? Had he seen the same agony that he saw now in Caleb?

  “I swore to protect you,” he said at last. The Red Bloods should have turned at the sound of Liam’s voice, but they were too absorbed in their feeding to hear. “So did he, Kallie. I don’t claim to understand it. I can’t help but hate him for what he is and who he trusts—but he wants you to live. We’ll come back for him, I swear it. He’s stronger than you know. They won’t kill him.” Liam’s beautiful face twisted with pain. “But we have to go. We have to keep you safe. You can…you can bargain with Petra to get him back.”

  She wavered. To go back now would be cowardice, a little voice whispered. But it would also be smart. She didn’t know what abilities she had, and if it was going to take a few fights to get used to her skills, this would be a suicidal way to go about learning. Damn it! She was justifying running just so she could survive?

  “Well, well, well…” purred someone. The voice was cruel, and Kallie jerked her head around to see the rogue Red who had trapped her in her bedroom. He and some others strolled toward her.

  Guess running wasn’t an option now. Part of her was glad.

  “She’s been turned by one of our own, I’d say, but here with a Blue? That’s a puzzle, isn’t it, witch’s brat?”

  Kallie swallowed, looking down. They couldn’t see her eyes properly in the dim light. Even she didn’t know what was going on inside of her yet. There was no way she was showing them what she was until she understood. Liam’s hand was pulling her back,
toward the sewers, but she knew beyond a doubt that it would only prolong the fight.

  She was not going to die in a sewer.

  “You’re pissed at my mom. I get it.” She studied her nails, trying to look as if she were bored by this confrontation. “What? Were you in the running to be the day-walker? You angry she didn’t pick you?”

  One of the rogue Reds hissed, an instinctive sound of rage that should have made Kallie want to flinch. But she wasn’t human anymore, even if she was shaped like one. New instincts ran in her blood, and she felt herself respond to the challenge before she had time to stop herself. She hissed back, a sound she hadn’t even known she could make.

  And then she struck. She moved before Liam could stop her, before she even realized she’d made the decision to attach. She jumped, launching herself at the pack of rogue Reds with speed she didn’t even know how to use. She bowled one over and gave a quick glance up and around, trying not to let them see her eyes before she dropped her eyes down again. There were three of them, one woman and two men.

  “You captured the day-walker?” Her hands were around the woman’s throat as she heard Liam throw himself into the fray with a primal howl. She shook her opponent by the neck, feeling the woman’s feeble attempts to get away. Savage satisfaction pulsed through her. Whatever Kallie was, whatever she had been turned into, she was strong. Like Hulk- or Thor-strong.

  Okay, maybe not that strong.

  Her opponent, however, was older and cannier. Her fist lashed out, finding a weak point on Kallie’s torso. Pain blossomed, and with it came fear. When it came to fighting, Kallie knew about necks, eyes, and groins, but what did she really know about hurting a vampire? She’d never fought one. Stumbling away, hand over her chest, she only just had the presence of mind not to show her eyes. Think, Kallie, think!

  “You want to fight, witch’s spawn?” The woman kicked her and Kallie slumped to her knees. “You’ll be dead before this night is through.” Her voice dropped, almost a caress, “Have you fed yet? Or are you pure?” Her voice rose to a hiss. “Look at me, bi—”

  “Kallie!” It was Liam’s cry, ending in a choked yell of pain. “Kallie, run! Run!”

  He was going to die. It was that thought that snapped her into action. She might not know what she was, she might not understand how to fight, but if she didn’t figure it out right now, Caleb and Liam were both going to die.

  Logic set in, as if it had just been waiting for her to realize she needed it. First, these three, then get into the room they were holding Caleb, then fight off the bouncers.

  One problem at a time.

  She came up, knee driving into the woman’s sternum with all the strength and speed she had. There was a choking scream and Kallie hissed her pleasure into the darkness.

  “I know I’m powerful.” Her fist lashed out, faster than humanly possible. “I know you’re a traitor to your kind.” Another kick that broke bones. “I know I’m going to destroy you.” Her hands grabbed the woman’s shoulders and held her in place for another knee to the sternum. She went down with a scream. Another kick silenced her.

  It wouldn’t be forever, but it would have to be enough for the moment. Kallie turned and ran to where Liam was just barely holding his own against the two men. They were well-fed, confident, and freakishly huge, but he was used to fighting on his own. He was used to being outnumbered. He wasn’t backing down, and Kallie felt a rush of emotions that she could barely untangle. Pride was some of it, and something that felt uncomfortably like love.

  There was no time to think. Grabbing one of the men by the shoulders, she wrenched him over backwards and turned her face away quickly as he fell in front of her. She knelt to deliver a punch to his prone body and leapt up for a kick. At one time, kicking a man who lay defenseless in front of her would have seemed dishonorable, but they were past honor now. With every kick and every blow, Kallie reminded herself of what these men had done to Caleb—what they would have done to her, and Liam, and her father, and the woman she still thought of as her mother. These men did not deserve honor. She was snarling as she snapped her fist down, hearing bone crunch and the howls of pain.

  The damn woman was up again, rushing at her in a fearful rage. Howling and screaming enough to wake the dead.

  The rogue Reds knew something was wrong. They had come here as hunters, and they would leave as prey—if they left at all. It was clear they had been expecting a fight; they just weren’t prepared for the force of power that met them.

  Kallie sent the woman flying with a shoving kick behind her, without looking at the woman, and then slammed her fist against the guy attacking Liam. She nailed him right on the back of the head. He went down and she swayed, her breath coming in heaving gasps.

  “What the hell?” Liam’s eyes were wide.

  “What?”

  “I’ve…” He shook his head. “I’ve never seen anyone fight like that! Did your dad teach you?” He glanced down at the three bodies on the ground not moving. “I don’t know if it was being turned by a pure vampire, or…I don’t know.”

  “Kallie!” The voice was weak, a breath of sound.

  “Caleb!” Kallie dropped to her knees, fingers wrapped around the grate and her eyes locked on his through the bars. “Caleb, we’re going to get you out.”

  “No…time…” He managed to shake his head, though it was more of a weak twitch than a real movement. “They…heard you. Going for…backup.” He heaved for breath, one lip cracked. “Go, Kallie. Run.”

  “Not without you.” Kallie seized the grate and hauled with all of her strength. She heard metal scream in protest and felt it begin to twist.

  “Listen to me!” Caleb’s voice was a command, and her head snapped up. “Go now! Your father... they took him to the storage units outside town. But they won’t…” he panted as if in terrible pain. “They’re not going to let him live this time. Revenge… for Petra. They know who he is now. You have to get to him. They’re going to leave him outside… for the sun.”

  Fear gripped her. “Nooo!” she wailed in an almost silent whisper.

  Caleb managed a weak smile, his eyes still locked on hers. “Listen to me. You can save him. I can survive this. Go with…” She saw him take in her amethyst eyes and he almost smiled. “Go with the Blue. I’ll get to you.”

  “Caleb…” It was a whimper.

  “Go. Go after those who took your father. Find your own revenge.”

  Caleb was right; there were too many coming now for Kallie and Liam to fight on their own, and if she didn’t get to the storage units in time, her father was going to pay the price for his allegiance to Petra. The taste of a hunt made her decision for her.

  Unexpectedly, Kallie felt a surge of anger. Petra should have helped. She should have given the man she loved protection. Instead, now it was her daughter who would do it. She’d never let her father die.

  “I’m coming back for you.” She met Caleb’s eyes one last time and held his gaze. “I’ll be back. I promise.” Then she allowed Liam to drag her away, into the sewers and back toward the open streets.

  Chapter 2

  Liam, thankfully, asked no questions as they approached the old storage units. Kallie could feel the tension and pain vibrating through him, but when she glanced at him, he only gave her a determined look. He wasn’t going to back down now, she sensed, or any time soon.

  Just before they made to climb the fence, however, he laid a hand on her arm.

  “You don’t have to do this.” He didn’t smile, and his face gave away nothing. “I’ll go.”

  “You’ll die.” It was a blow to his pride, but she did not care. She had seen the way her father came back from those meetings—even one more person could not possibly help her father.

  Two, though—when one was some strange new hybrid—it was possible.

  “No. We go together.” Kallie realized, however, that she didn’t care at all whether it was possible. Or if they stood a sliver of a chance. It didn’t matter. She wa
s here because this was her father. Because she loved him. She was not going to let him die. Nor was she going to let Liam die.

  He swallowed. “I…”

  “Why are you trying to talk me out of this?”

  “Because you don’t understand this world!” The words were ripped from him. “You don’t, Kallie. It’s all new to you, and you’re so determined to be brave that I’m afraid I’ll see you try to take on too much. And…”

  “And what?” she asked softly, looking into his face.

  “And I can’t imagine what this must feel like,” he said at last.

  “It feels like my father’s going to die if I don’t help him! What would you do?” She knew what had happened to his family and how hard he had tried.

  “It’s not that.” He reached out, brushing the backs of his fingers against her cheek.

  Despite herself, Kallie yearned toward him. She could feel desire heating her blood, liquid and seductive, calling her to—What? She didn’t know. She only knew that this felt as primal as the instinct to fight her enemies. That desire seemed to be the core of who and what she was now. If humans knew what it meant to be a vampire…would they run away, or would they beg to be turned?

  Kallie swallowed, trying to pull away from his touch. She couldn’t deal with this now. She needed to focus. “What, then?”

  “I told you how I was turned.” Liam shook his head, biting his lip with front teeth that looked startlingly normal and human. “I won’t pretend the Blue Bloods always approve of my decisions, but they would never, ever hurt me. Until I heard your stories, I couldn’t even believe some of the things the other Blues told me about the Reds. I know how Caleb and your father feel about me is instinctive, but…shouldn’t the others feel the need to protect them? How can they possibly do this to their own? And doesn’t it hurt you to watch it? Your own kind?”