Strong Blood: Last Moon Rising, #2

By Dale Ibitz

The second gripping book of the Last Moon Rising young adult fantasy series.

Cruel lies. Sinister secrets. A destructive war between nature's gods. Haley, descendant of the God of Air, has survived it all… so far.

But Haley’s battles are only beginning as two men continue to threaten her. Ian, the Fire God’s descendant bent on destroying Eyidora and turning himself into a god. Tuggin, the stone-faced Eyidoran witch paid to protect her, and who’s also been assigned to kill her.

Haley takes comfort in new friend Luke, a descendant of the God of Land with undeniable strength. She bonds with him, and he is both a shield against danger and a confidant to her insecurities and fears. But has she put her trust in someone who may be just as dark and dangerous as Ian, the Fire God descendant himself?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dale Ibitz
• Release date: Oct 13, 2013
• ISBN: 9781502297112

Book preview

This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

STRONG BLOOD

First edition. October 13, 2013.

Copyright © 2013 Dale Ibitz.

ISBN: 978-1502297112

Written by Dale Ibitz.

Strong Blood

By Dale Ibitz

Published by Dale Ibitz

Copyright 2012 Dale Ibitz

Editor, Katy Sozaeva.

Cover Design by Tara Anand.

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty One

Chapter Twenty Two

Chapter Twenty Three

Chapter Twenty Four

Chapter Twenty Five

Chapter Twenty Six

Chapter Twenty Seven

Chapter Twenty Eight

Chapter Twenty Nine

Chapter One

I hated my dreams.

I stood in my bedroom, shivering in my white nightgown, my bare feet cringing from the cold seeping through the rug. My teeth chattered, and I clasped my arms around my chest. Dreamstate shadows smudged the mauve-striped curtains, obscured the gray walls, and caressed the back of my neck with a damp kiss.

Nomer, the Land Eyid, glared at me with his hands on his hips, his gray beard quivering and his gut exploding over his belt. Because I was Eyid-emos, descendant of the Air Eyid, the gods of nature were free to come and go inside my head: sometimes snarky, sometimes pouty, and usually demanding.

I wondered if Nomer planned on staying long; the gods were a power-drain, leaving me sick and wobbly if they stayed too long inside my head. My stomach muscles clenched, anticipating a bout of nausea.

Git to Tamoor, girlie, Nomer barked. And find it.

Where...?

Before I could finish my question, he snapped his fingers and vanished, his cackle echoing back from the shadowy depths of wherever it was the gods went after their head invasions.

My eyes snapped open and I shivered again, even though I was tucked in my bed in Allaire Hall, buried under a mountain of quilts. I exhaled, and my breath ignited into a cloud of vapor in the frigid air. Dying coals winked a few last breaths amidst a pile of ash in the fireplace. I blinked a few more times, letting the reality of waking up on a globe called Eyidora instead of my bed on Earth sink in, just like I’d done every morning for the past several months. Though I loved nature-bound Eyidora, its medieval state really sucked on winter mornings.

While I wiggled my cold toes and contemplated running across the stone-cold floor, the dreamstate shadows drew back their hazy curtain. Dawn’s sleepy light poked its rays through the window, laying the rosy-patched groundwork for another sunny day across the floor. A spasm clenched my gut for a moment, and then vanished. Thankfully, Nomer hadn’t stayed long, and that little spout was about as sick as I was going to get.

I sat up and inspected the vacant spot where Nomer had been standing. Nomer? I called, though I knew the god of land had winked out of my head as quickly as he’d winked in.

I climbed out of bed, and the cool air of the Airey Mountains sifted beneath my nightgown and clawed up my legs like an icy-nailed cat. I rubbed my arms, casting my gaze around the room for my slippers, which I’d misplaced... again. Abandoning the search, I checked over my shoulder to be doubly sure I was alone, and then yanked my nightstand away from the wall. Using a haircomb, I pried away a loose board, reached into the shadowy space, and pulled out a necklace.

I had no clue where Tamoor was, but I had a clue what ‘it’ was.

I sat on the floor, the cold stinging my butt through my nightgown, and caressed the milky stone of power, the Air Eyid stone. ‘It’ had to be an Eyid stone. I’d bet that Nomer had just ordered me to find one of the missing Eyid stones in Tamoor. I’d also bet that Tamoor was in Lak ‘Heika, the region of land.

I needed all four Eyid stones — land, water, air, and fire — to complete the Web of Harmony, stop the war between the Eyids, and bring harmony back to nature. The war took its toll on both people and the globes: lightning storms, earthquakes, fires, tornadoes, and drought. In the past few months I’d almost been crushed by boulders and trees, zapped by lightning, and set on fire. I’d seen people die. And, supposedly, I was holding the key to stopping the war. My face suddenly felt as cold as my butt.

It looked like I would have to go to Tamoor.

I gazed into the creamy depths of the stone of power lying heavy in my palm. I had the Air Eyid stone.

Ian, descendant of the Fire Eyid, had the Fire Eyid stone.

Slipping my necklace over my head, I jumped to my feet and paced the length of my room. I’d thought Ian, with his sexy, dark hair, eyes sharp as jade, and a Jersey Boy-jacked body, had been a hall god on Earth. He’d duped me into thinking he liked me, and tried to dupe me into giving him my Air Eyid stone. But his heart was as black as his hair, with a burnt-out, corpse of a soul. I swallowed to lubricate my parched throat. And I, in my pathetic innocence, had almost given him my Eyid stone.

Then he’d revealed his plan to me, a plan that would eliminate the Water Eyid, turn Eyidora into desert, destroy humanity, and devastate all seven globes in the planetary chain. He planned to become a new god in this new Eyidora. And then he tried to kill me. Just because I didn’t agree with him. Just because I refused to let him to destroy Eyidora. Just because I refused to hook up with him.

Now we were working against each other, each trying to find the other two missing Eyid stones before the other. A tremble worked up the backs of my legs and skittered up my spine. I shuddered once, violently, and then took a deep, calming breath. If Ian caught wind of where I was going... and why... My swallow clicked in my throat.

He would hunt me down and kill me.

I straightened, dug my nails into my palm, and lifted my chin.

I’d beat him once. In fact, I came close to killing him. I could beat him again.

It was hard keeping secrets from him, though. The gods weren’t the only ones who could ransack my head while I slept; other Eyid-emos could connect with me through dreamstate as well. And Ian was a constant nightmare, alternating between taunting me about trying to save the globe and trying to persuade me to join him. The guy was numb-nuts crazy.

Still, part of me was glad he wasn’t dead. I’d been called a lot of things — childish, selfish — but I wasn’t a killer, evil soul or not, and I was relieved not to have the weight of murder pressing my chest.

But would the globes be better off if I had killed him?

I didn’t want to think about that. I closed my eyes, and the still-childish part of me longed for my mom. There was one place I could go to feel close to her. I bolted from my room and scurried down the hall. Head down, focused on reaching the Portrait Hall – where I hoped I could sort out my nightmares and insecurities – I rounded the corner and smacked into a very firm, very warm obstruction.

An exotic, coconut scent invaded my head and warmed my veins. My breath evaporated in a tiny gasp, a mental sigh popping like a bubble inside my head. A tongue of electricity caressed my spine, and my stomach muscles spasmed. I didn’t need to lift my gaze to know what I’d just run in to.

Tuggin.

I stepped back. We stared at each other in the cold hallway, and that faint buzz of electricity I felt whenever I came into contact with Tuggin skittered over my body. My conflicted feelings about him battled in my chest, taking a couple of nicks at my heart. While my body initiated a melt-down sequence when I gazed at his ice-blue eyes, longish, dirty-blond hair, and over-all Greek Godiness, my brain registered several shortcomings in the demeanor department. Emotionally he was a void – a zero, a big, fat nothing – and snarkier than a hornet trapped in a used pee cup. Not to mention that he disliked me. Immensely.

His black tunic brushed against muscled arms and wide chest, which narrowed down to a pair of solid hips and long, strong, legs. I bit my lip, trying to not think about what lay beneath those clothes. I tried to douse the heat slipping through my gut, but the flare of nostrils indicated Tuggin had already spied the taint of my infatuation. I sucked my lips between my teeth. Damn, but he was serious hall-god material.

Tuggin leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. His gaze held the warmth of a glacier and the softness of boulder. I tried to meet him glare for glare, the trickling warmth that had ignited my spine a moment ago icing over.

As my Menta-protecter, Tuggin always knew what I was feeling, and what I was thinking. Mentas were trained to fight, to influence people’s thoughts, and to read emotions. Those powers made them pretty well-suited to protecting Council members and Eyid-emos. That was, of course, before the war had erupted generations ago, and those Council members and Eyid-emos who weren’t killed went into hiding. At that point, the Mentas took control of Eyidora.

Those powers also enabled Mentas to become very adept at assassination.

And Tuggin was dammed good at his job; he’d saved my ass on more than one occasion.

I lifted my chin. I was descendant of the Air Eyid, and I had the same powers as Tuggin. And I was learning to use them. Uncle Sal had been teaching me to block lunta intrusion so that no one could force me to do anything against my will. Hiding my emotions, however, was impossible. My emotions always seemed to erupt, no matter how hard I tried to empty my body of feeling.

Tuggin’s gaze melted down my body like butter, then slid back up, coming to rest on my necklace. Goose bumps collided against my skin. I wrapped my arms over my chest, aware that my nightgown didn’t hide much, and wished I’d at least grabbed a bathrobe. And why hadn’t I used the comb to brush my tangled hair rather than pry the board from my wall?

Going somewhere? he asked.

I sighed in response to his lilting voice; an alien, seductive voice that had the power to seduce a nun from her convent. Realizing I was melting, I straightened my spine and lifted my chin. Again.

Concentrating on even breathing, I was glad that he’d asked an innocent-enough question, one that I could answer easily. At least he wasn’t grilling me about dreams and Eyid messages, which I liked to keep secret. It was extremely difficult to lie to Tuggin.

The Portrait Hall, I said, and licked my lips.

Tuggin raised an eyebrow. You have been in dreamstate. What message have you received from the Eyids?

How did he know these things?

I chewed my cheek for a minute, debating whether to answer him. His alleged duty as a Menta was to protect me, so wherever I went, Tuggin went; whatever I knew, he demanded to know. And whatever I thought, well... he could mind his own damned business.

I kind of thought that whole protection racket was an excuse to spy on me or, as I’d been inclined to believe, neutralize me. Whatever that meant.

I tucked my hair behind my ear. I’m going to Tamoor to find it.

Find what?

I shrugged.

"Do not be obtuse, tenya."

I clenched my teeth. I’m not a little girl.

Then do not behave as one. Besides, you are not of age.

I waved a hand. So, I won’t be eighteen for a few months. Who’s counting?

Tuggin’s eyebrow shot up again.

I finally answered his original question. To find an Eyid stone. Happy?

"Net."

Well, duh. Tuggin was never happy. I doubted Tuggin felt any emotion at all, except annoyance and anger, usually directed at me.

I said, The question was rhetorical.

Tuggin considered me for a long moment. We depart in three days.

He brushed past me, my body reacting on automatic-tingle-pilot, which annoyed me. I gave his back the finger as he strolled down the hall. Then I sped down the corridors until, breathless, I reached the Portrait Hall.

The high ceiling accommodated life-sized paintings of my ancestors, who all seemed to stare down their noses at me, as though I was insignificant, a failure, a loser.

Ignoring them, I stopped at the painting of my mom, and caressed her name: Effy Allaire.

I didn’t remember my birth mom. I didn’t remember being whisked to Earth when I was two years old. The only thing I remembered was the Earth-kin woman I’d called Mom until my seventeenth birthday, when I’d tumbled unceremoniously back to Eyidora and been forced to take up the mantle of Air Eyid-emos, which entailed a butt-load of responsibility, like finding the Eyid stones and stopping a war.

My adoptive mom had vanished.

There were no paintings of my dead father.

There were no paintings of my missing brother, Axel.

My fingers shook, and I clenched them behind my back.

Mom? I whispered, my voice echoing in the grandiose hall. Am I good enough to beat Ian? Am I strong enough to find the Eyid stones and stop this war? I hesitated. Do I have what it takes to be Eyid-emos?

The hall’s answering silence deafened me.

Chapter Two

I clung to the edge of the sleipnir-drawn sleigh as it whipped through the snow, bounced over moguls, and sheered around trees. Tuggin’s lips were tight, eyes hard and squinty, fingers clenched around the reins... no doubt channeling the grim reaper, because he was most definitely trying to kill us before we reached the bottom of the mountain.

The wind chewed my cheeks and iced my eyelashes, yet my palms were sweating inside my mittens. I alternated between closing my eyes against the wind and snapping them open to watch this Tuggin-induced horror ride. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to see it coming if I was going to get up close and personal with a big-ass tree.

Elana, Tuggin’s hall-goddess twin, Menta, and my former best friend from Earth, sat between us, still as stone, seemingly unfazed by Tuggin’s suicide mission. Her blonde hair escaped her furry hat, whipping past her rosy cheeks to trail behind her like kite strings. 

I huffed a loud sigh when the sleigh slowed, but it took a minute to unclench my fingers from the wood sides. Tuggin pulled the reins and the sleipnir – those strange horse-like creatures with eight legs – halted. They stamped their hooves, snorting white puffs into the air.

I moved my stiff joints enough to jump to the ground without falling, though pins and needles erupted from my feet and shot up my calves. Wow, afternoon already?

Elana landed in the snow beside me. You were so quiet; it was almost as if death had taken you.

I waded through the deep snow in order to ease my cramped leg muscles, glad of my knee-length boots made of thick animal skins. I was thinking.

Other than finding the Eyid stones before Ian, and harmonizing the Web before the next Quadralune — which was my priority, since the harvest season would arrive in nine short months — I had to find my brother before Ian made good on a threat to kick his ass. I also worried incessantly about my mom, who’d disappeared from Earth, thankfully, before Ian made good on a threat to hurt her as well.

I’d say that was enough to keep me quiet for a day or two.

Elana added, And Ian is pursuing you in dreamstate.

Tuggin narrowed his eyes.

My last nightmare seemed so real that I’d been turning around all morning to make sure Ian wasn’t chasing us. In fact, I did it again — just to make sure — but saw only the pristine, snow-shrouded Airey Mountains, where our home in Sabina lay hidden.

I studied the snow-covered mountain instead of Tuggin’s hard face. Had Ian been corrupted because he held an Eyid stone and felt its power, or did he want the Eyid stones and increasing power because he was already corrupt? I rubbed my hands down my thighs. I’d felt the allure of power; I’d harbored a thought or two about reining in the Eyid stones’ power for my own selfish purposes. And I’d been so into Ian, the thought of giving him my Eyid stone and hooking up with him had been all kinds of alluring. At first.

Could I become corrupt, too?

I voiced the question that had been nagging me for months. Are people born evil?

Tuggin went to the back of the sleigh and rummaged through one of the packs. Is it your belief that an infant would be evil at birth? He handed Elana grain for the sleipnir.

I shifted from one foot to the other. No.

Tuggin eyed me with that squinty look that meant he was trying to read my emotions. I cleared my throat, and gelled my brain into picturing an hourglass emptying of sand, but unease still tingled my stomach.

Finally Tuggin said, Are you certain you were not searching for Ian in dreamstate, tenya? 

I let out a breath. I can’t stop Ian from connecting with me in dreamstate. I’m not mooning over him or anything.

What is this mooning?

It means that you like someone and daydream about them, you know, you can’t stop thinking about them.

Your Earth-kin expressions are pointless. You are Eyid-emos. It is time you acted so. Dreamstate is for receiving messages from the Eyids, not for... mooning.

I straightened my shoulders. I’m not mooning. I’m looking for the Eyid stones.

You failed once before.

Tuggin’s words stung like a swarm of bees in the face, because it was true.

Elana interjected. It is not entirely Haley’s fault that she failed to bring the four Eyid stones to the Caves of Xenia and harmonize the Web, and that the Eyids are still at war.

And it’s not like I’m the one that started this war in the first place, I added.

That I did not say, Tuggin said.

Elana continued. Haley did stop Ian from turning Eyidora into desert.

I admit that is truth, Tuggin said. However, she lost the Eyid stones as well.

My heart tapped repeatedly against my ribs, and heat flashed across my cheeks. I bowed my head, hating Tuggin for reminding me that I was a failure, and hating myself for caring what he thought.

Do not listen to him, Elana said. You stopped Ian from rearranging the Eyid stones and creating a Web of Disharmony. Because of that, Fire does not control Eyidora. All is not lost.

Yet, Tuggin said.

Tuggin and I warred with our eyes. He blinked, and I thought I detected a waver in his rigid face.

The wind blew the hood off Tuggin’s head, and his hair ruffled in the breeze. I had a vision of running my fingers through those soft strands of gold. My fingers tingled at the thought. Tuggin’s brows lowered. I clenched my fingers inside my mittens and held my breath, booting thoughts of Tuggin’s hair from my head.

Tuggin said, I will see that we do not fail again.

I

Reviews for Strong Blood

[eisah-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a non-reciprocal review.(This review will contain spoilers)."Fire in the Blood" is a nice little fantasy adventure.I think the second half of the book is much stronger than the first half. The first half is slow. When Haley ends up in the next world she doesn't know where Tuggin is taking her, what he wants, or anything. And she doesn't ask. She doesn't ask him or the other people she meets, and this is a consistent problem through most of the book.I'd say the second problem is that Haley's sole connection to the male characters throughout the majority of the book is that she finds them attractive, and that is repeated over and over again. It would have been fine to mention her attraction to either of them about a third or a fourth of the time she did, but the book gets overloaded with her telling the reader how hot they are. Throughout the first half of the book many paragraphs can be summed up as, "Tuggin is hot. But he's a jerk."The other parts work much better. I liked the descriptions for the water and air eyids. The action picks up after she breaks away from Tuggin and takes her own path. Although I was confused by the path she took (even if she didn't want to be caught by someone else, I would think she'd still hesitate to choose the "fiery desert death trap" path) it did get more exciting at the end.I think a good editor could clean up a lot of the repetitive parts and strengthen other parts really well. For example:(Slightly changed to take out stuttering and such)."Some have killed for it, betrayed for it. Some have even broken their promises."In this instance I would swap "killed" and "broken their promises", because killing someone is a lot harsher than breaking a promise to them. An editor can easily tweak things like that to give them more oomph.Other descriptions worked really well. When she was describing Ian using his powers, I liked things like this:"Ian's lips moved a half-second behind his words."It made for a great imagery.I was fine with Haley saying she was sick of following everyone else, but I was wondering when she would remember that not creating harmony would likely get her mom burned to a crisp. She seemed to forget things like that and she doesn't seem to consider who might be lying about what. She'll believe one person is lying over another person and, even as the facts fall apart around her, won't reconsider what is a lie and what isn't.At the end of the book she thinks this: "I should just ask them and find out for sure, rather than believe anything that came out of Ian's mouth."I practically cheered at that line because I had been waiting for her to finally question what was really true. But then she drops the subject and never asks. She doesn't ask Tuggin or Elana, or anyone else who would know.Another spot for me that was both good and bad was Tanner. I liked Tanner. I think she worked as a character, and in particular I liked this line from her:"I kick him in vulnerable thpot. Hurry"The problem with Tanner came more from Haley's side. Haley is well aware that Tanner is part of a society where women are slaves. She's also fully aware of mind control. However, when Tanner was helping Ian because he promised to be with her, Haley considers her a traitor. That would be fine for an immediate reaction, but knowing that women are slaves and that there's mind control, she should take into account Tanner's position. She knows that Tanner probably didn't have much of a choice in anything she did.I was disappointed there wasn't more effort in trying to save Tanner. Haley didn't have to successfully save her, but trying to grab her or something would have helped. Tanner just took lightning for her, she deserves a little bit of effort! And after she's gone she's pretty much forgotten.I would have liked Haley to have come to a better understanding of where Tanner was coming from. She saw what women were being put through in their society.The whole "she betrayed me" idea is a problem Haley has several times in the book. If any other woman is attracted to a man that Haley is also attracted to, Haley has issues with them. In the beginning her friend Elana appears to be speaking to Ian on friendly terms, and because of that Haley determines that Elana has betrayed her. It's an overreaction.Later on, a character seems to like, or at least be friendly, with Tuggin. Haley reacts badly to that, too, constantly having an attitude that he can 'run to her arms, as if I would care'.The third time is with Ian and Tanner, as I mentioned above.Haley reacts really poorly to other girls who so much as act friendly towards men she's attracted to.Like I said at the start of the review, I think the book ended stronger than it started. At the beginning I was waiting for something to happen, and at the end I wanted to see what would happen in the next chapter.The battle between Haley and Ian was good. I liked when Haley started realizing she had powers and using them. More experimentation would have nice, but I also understand that the ending happened over a short period of time and she didn't have much time to experiment with what she could do.I do like that Haley understood that Ian was not a good person to be attracted to. It would have been nice if she lost some of her attraction to him because of his personality. People do become more or less attracted to others because of how they act.At the end Haley decides to go check on her mom - but instead of going home and forgetting that the worlds might be destroyed (which would include her mother dying), she says she wants to check and she'll come right back.The last chapter is also the first time I felt any sort of connection between Haley and Tuggin. In the first half of the book we keep getting told she's attracted to him, but that doesn't really make a connection.The world was well built up by the end and there was an understanding of what was going on. I liked Tuggin more in the last chapter, and Haley was starting to make her own decisions.I wouldn't mind seeing where the series goes from here, and if someone is looking for a fantasy adventure it's not a bad book to pick up, and I hope the next book continues to improve from where she left off on this book.