Kiziah's Reading

By Jory Strong

Carnival Tarot #2: A dream sent Kiziah to the carnival and the fortune teller's tent. But it’s meeting Cable that will draw her into a world of vampires and those who serve them.

The High Priestess, The Hermit, The Wheel of Fortune might depict her past, her present, her future, but it’s Cable’s card, The Lovers, that holds the ultimate truth--a night spent together will lead to both of them being claimed by a vampire lover.

Please note: A previous edition of this story was published by Ellora’s Cave. It has been extensively revised for this edition.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jory Strong
• Release date: Sep 9, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311139023

Jory Strong

Jory Strong has been writing since childhood and has never outgrown being a daydreamer. When she's not hunched over her computer, lost in the muse and conjuring up new heroes and heroines, she can usually be found reading, riding horses, or walking dogs. Her stories have won numerous awards, as well as been national best sellers. She lives in California with her husband and a menagerie of pets. She loves hearing from readers. Visit her website at jorystrong.com or contact her at [e-mail].

Book preview

Kiziah's Reading

Carnival Tarot #2

Jory Strong

2nd Edition, Copyright © 2015 by Jory Strong

Original publication, Ellora's Cave edition, Copyright © 2006 by Jory Strong

Smashwords Edition

A huge shout-out and thank you to Jennifer Kiziah for her help!

Cover design by Syneca Featherstone

* * * * *

Table of Contents

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

Thank You!

About the Author

* * * * *

Chapter 1

The scene was just like in her dream. Cheap carnival rides under a star-speckled autumn sky. The air brisk, chilled, loaded with the scent of hot dogs and cotton candy, filled with tinny music and the voices of carnies vying with each other to get people to play the games they manned.

Kiziah stopped in front of the fortune teller's tent. Madame Helki. She hadn't seen the name in her dream, but she'd seen the red hand painted on the canvas front, and above the hand, a spread of tarot cards.

You've come for your reading? an old woman questioned from the darkened interior of the tent, her voice sure, as if she'd anticipated Kiziah's coming to the carnival tonight, as if somehow she knew about the dream.

Kiziah touched her fingers to the base of her throat and traced the silver dreamcatcher pendant. It was the only link she had to the nomadic silversmith who'd died before she was born without knowing he'd fathered a child.

Her father's people, the Chippewa, believed all dreams came from external sources and not from the subconscious. That's why they'd originally fashioned the dreamcatchers, to trap bad dreams but allow the good ones to pass into a person's sleep.

Kiziah's hand dropped from the dreamcatcher. Her throat tightened and she blinked away the sudden burn in her eyes. Maybe her mother's spirit had sent the dream, knowing that today of all days, she'd be thinking about the past and aching with loss.

Come, hear your reading, the fortune teller said.

Kiziah entered the tent and sat, ignoring everything but the ancient fortune teller in front of her and the deck of cards in Madame Helki's hands. The cards were black-and-white with whirlpool-patterned backs. They were the only important thing in the tent. Everything else was there to create a mood.

Madame Helki handed her the cards, not asking for a specific question but waiting patiently. Kiziah shuffled them, opened herself to the message she was sure was the reason for the dream and her presence in the tent.

She stopped shuffling when it felt right. Cut the deck and restacked it, then returned the tarot cards to the fortune teller.

In quick succession, the old woman placed three cards on the table.

The past. The present. The future.

The High Priestess.

The Hermit.

The Wheel of Fortune.

Madame Helki leaned over the cards. Much of your life has been influenced by a woman who introduced you to the mysteries of a world that isn't often seen. She's gone from this world now, except in dreamscapes where spirits can sometimes touch the lives of those who are important to them. Because she is not with you in the physical world, you maintain a distance from others, traveling alone, living a solitary life, unconsciously looking for meaning and the place you belong.

Kiziah shivered, feeling exposed. The truth sounded stark and dreary and lonely. But it was the truth. The old fortune teller's words resonated like a struck bell.

Gnarled fingers touched the wooden table, underlining the Wheel of Fortune. Soon, very soon, an opportunity will present itself. A destiny not planned for, even by those who will draw you into their world. You are well suited to be part of that world. You need only to use the strength and courage you have gained and the wisdom bestowed on you by The High Priestess to grasp and hold what you will soon be offered by fate.

* * * * *

Warm water struck Cable Luske's body, chasing away the chill of having to dispose of the body. Fuck! He hadn't seen that one coming.

He would never have guessed that a fellow padrall—one whose family had served the vampire race for more generations than his own—would try to abduct a vampire's mate.

What insanity. What stupidity. His own reputation would probably go down the shithole if Matteo Cabrelli chose to make an issue of his failure to keep Sarael guarded. But how was he to know there was an enemy in their midst?

Cable tried to work up some concern at the prospect of being lectured by the higher-ups in his order, including his father, and possibly being reduced to errand boy for a while—but couldn't. Hard to care about that when the rest of his life was about to crash and burn, when things were coming to an end with Fane.

The fingers of future heartbreak reached back and jabbed him. Yeah, he'd get over the agony eventually. It was getting through it that he had to manage first.

He shouldn't have gotten involved with Fane to begin with.

But I did.

And now Fane's Transformation from dhampir to vampire was approaching. Cable had been around enough dhampirs to recognize it—even if he wanted to ignore it and pretend it wasn't so close.

He could sense the restlessness in Fane. The Hunger. The Heat.

Fane had become aggressive in bed, insatiable, dangerous. Multiple times he'd avoided being bitten only because Fane was underneath him, tethered or with his face pressed to the mattress to maintain control.

Heated need shivered through Cable and his hardened cock licked across his abs. He wanted Fane's fangs to pierce his throat, dreamed of the ecstasy of being taken while Fane fed, of taking Fane while being bitten.

It was madness. The consequences were serious for a padrall who became obsessed with that particular high. Nothing was as addictive as a vampire's bite when the one being bitten was allowed to experience it without the fog of enthrallment.

There were brothels where padralls who'd succumbed to the lure and the addiction were kept to service vampires and dhampirs who preferred their prey aware. The fallen padralls were never trusted again because of what they might do if they found themselves repudiated or replaced. A large number of them committed suicide once their looks had faded and they were no longer favored by the men who visited the brothels.

He'd avoided Fane's bite not just because of the possible consequences but because it would make him desire Fane more desperately.

What a dumb fuck. He should have stuck to women.

Cable closed his eyes and tilted his head back, wished the hot water could pound the desire for Fane out of him. He needed to put some distance between them. He needed to walk away from the relationship before Fane came to him and asked him to arrange for the creation of a kadine.

He hated that vampire practice. But who else would Fane trust with such an important undertaking?

And undertaking the task…

That would be a living hell, a hell that could extend for decades unless one of the women who were little more than breeders was selected.

Pain shredded Cable's heart. Fuck.

Would Fane expect the two of them to stay lovers until Fane claimed his bride and sexually bonded with her as he turned her into his kadine? And then what? Stick around, helping them raise their children, aging quickly while they aged over centuries?

That was not going to be his future! He wanted no part of it. No part of any of it.

He hated the entire concept of creating future brides, these days using artificial insemination or in vitro fertilization, and then raising those girls to be the perfect match for the vampire who'd made the arrangement with the espandral order.

If he could abolish it, he would. But he'd never be powerful enough to change the practice. And he'd never be able to escape the padrall system.

His family and all the others had prospered and gained power with each generation, but their livelihood and survival were irrevocably tied to the vampire race. There was no breaking the bonds forged so long ago that there was no written record of it. Betrayal—on any level—was a death sentence.

So where did that leave him? If he could go back in time, he'd still say yes to Fane that first time, and the second, and the third.

He took his shaft in hand and Fane's image was immediately there. Broad shouldered, chest and biceps and thighs muscled in the way of a major league baseball player, hair the same shade of brown as his own, growing lighter in the summer and darker in the winter. A mouth that knew how to deliver pleasure. A cock—

Cable moaned, pumped his hand up and down on his shaft. Fuck, he was horny.

The bathroom door opened and he knew without looking that Fane stood watching him through the glass shower stall door. He should turn his back, or smarter still, get out of the room and out of the house.

But he didn't.

What he felt for Fane went beyond sheer lust, though there was plenty of that. It was love. A hopeless, destructive emotion when it was directed toward a dhampir who would soon change into a vampire and need to breed, and who was consumed with exacting revenge against the Believers in general and the bomber who'd killed his family in particular.

The shower door clicked open and Fane's scent invaded the stall.

The shower door clicked closed and Fane was a hot presence behind him.

Cable tried to ignore him.

It was impossible.

A calloused hand covered his where it was wrapped around his shaft. A second cupped his balls, tightened, forcing out a moan as pleasure shot up his spine.

Fane knew just how much pressure to exert on another man's testicles, just where and how to touch him. Something's bothering you, Fane said.

So? That's nothing new. He kept his eyes closed and fought the desire to turn toward Fane.

He should pull away. He should leave the shower, the bathroom, the house.

Fane crowded closer, pressed his water-slick erection hard against Cable's ass and swamped him with a lust that had nothing to do with vampire pheromones.

Matteo won't make an issue of what happened with Sarael, Fane said. By now it's a done deal. They've made the third blood exchange. Her adaptation is complete and she's his kadine. He'll be content to take her back to Italy. If there's going to be fallout, it's the padrall orders there that will suffer.

Great, Cable said, the tone of his voice conveying how little he cared.

His continued failure to open his eyes and look at Fane was a subtle challenge that wouldn't go unanswered. It was insane. Pushing Fane's buttons would only escalate the situation.

Fane's thumb brushed over the tip of Cable's cock, making it pulse and leak as Fane's other hand stimulated the place behind Cable's balls.

Cable clenched his jaw against the pleasure of Fane's touch and closeness. Pull away. Get the hell out of here.

He opened his eyes and turned to face Fane, angry at himself, angry at Fane—and still he didn't turn his head to prevent the crush of Fane's lips onto his, couldn't stop himself from thrusting his tongue against Fane's.

He lashed out aggressively, venting his need, his frustration, his anger, railing against the future he saw coming—misery.

On a growl, Fane pinned him to the wall, their cocks rubbing, pressing, their tongues dueling and their hands relentlessly finding each erogenous zone.

It was a battle for dominance that in the beginning of their relationship had been safe, that in the beginning had been fought for enjoyment and to heighten the pleasure.

But now…

Fane's canine teeth elongated into fangs and longing outweighed fear. One slip-up, one careless movement and his tongue would bleed.

In that moment Cable didn't care, couldn't care though neither of them was ready to deal with the consequences. He wanted, even knowing where that want would lead.

Mine! Fane thought, grappling with primal compulsions programmed into his DNA.

The press and slide of Cable's tongue against his, the nearness of it to his fangs threated his control. His skin felt too tight. His cock pulsed in angry demand and his gums ached.

He wanted to fuck, hard and fast and without restraint. He wanted to fuck as he gorged himself on Cable.

It was primitive instinct and violent emotion combined with The Hunger and The Heat. And the sound of Cable's rapid heartbeat, the hint of fear coupled with the knowledge that Cable was trying to pull away emotionally only drove the lust higher.

The Transformation was close. Fane knew it. He cursed it as deeply as other dhampirs desired and welcomed it. He wanted Cable, not the complications and conflict that'd come with being vampire.

Fane thrust his tongue against Cable's. The scent of their combined arousal was as potent as the pheromones used to entrap and control prey.

He fucked against Cable's cock. Hissed when Cable's hand encircled both their shafts and pumped.

Exquisite heat shot up his spine and made his balls pull tight against his body. Turn around, he ordered.

The wildness inside him was growing along with the need to dominate. It was the very heat and hunger, the same violent need, that drove a vampire to take a kadine.

It's too dangerous, Cable said, his other hand grasping Fane's balls and pulling them against his own, fondling, squeezing, showing that he commanded Fane's body as thoroughly as Fane commanded his.

Fane grabbed the lubricant they kept next to the shampoo. Turn around.

The promise of violence was in his voice. He needed to fuck tonight, not get fucked.

Cable soaked in the sight of Fane's taut face and the tense, water-slick body and couldn't deny himself.

One last time, he told himself. Tomorrow he'd find the strength to end this.

He turned around and braced his hands against the wall, spread his legs, knowing that the sight of his balls hanging between his thighs would further inflame Fane.

The lubricant bottle dropped to the floor. Fane moved in, reached around and took Cable's cock in his hand, sliding up and down so Cable bucked and arousal leaked from the swollen head.

Fane's lubricant-slick fingers circled the pucker of Cable's ass. Slipped in and out, preparing him, making him harder, hotter, happy to ignore the future in favor of the wild pleasure of the moment.

And then Fane was there, working himself in as he continued to stroke Cable's cock. And there was no containing the sounds of pleasure and need.

Fully seated, Fane pressed his chest to Cable's back, soaked in the heat pouring off Cable's skin. His lips

Reviews for Kiziah's Reading

[ladyisis_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

We first met Fane Mercier and Cable Luske in Sarael's Reading. They were the men sent to guard Sarael until Matteo could arrive and claim her. These two have been lovers for the last two years and they have formed a deep attachment for each other. Unfortunately Fane is dhampir and he is close to the Transformation. One other problem that faces Fane and Cable is that Fane will need a kadine to help control his hunger and heat. The last problem is that Cable's family can't imagine a son of theirs being anything other than heterosexual. The addition of Kaziah would help Fane and Cable or that is a least what they both hope. This union isn’t unheard of in the vampire community of this reality it just hasn’t been done in a really long time. While these three are trying to work things out and stay ahead for Cable’s family there is also the threat of the True Believers.Fane is all dominant alpha male before he transforms into a vampire. He knows what he wants and he is determined to get it when he finds out that it can be done. His dark handsome looks help pull Kiziah to him when he meets her. Fane's connection to Cable insures that she isn’t going to fight him much. There are steps that have to be gone through to transform a dhampire into a vampire and we get a more detailed idea of what that entails. There are also the details for taking a kadine and a companion. I liked Fane and would have loved to learn more about the relationship that forms around him. Fane is also very good with knives just as Matteo was very good with fire.Cable is a padrall and he is in love with Fane. It is driving him crazy that he will soon lose the person that has come to mean so much to him. He never considered that there was a way to have Fane and the one thing that is missing in his relationship with the man. I didn't like Cable’s family at all. I didn't blame him for running from them when he had the chance. That family needs some serious counseling. It would have been nice to know if something could have been worked out so Cable could stay close to all of them. It is obvious that he loves his family even though they are all asses.Kiziah is alone in the world. Her mother was killed by a drunk driver. Since that happen Kiziah has traveled around in an Airstream trail going for psychic fair to craft fair selling her dreamcatchers. She has the ability to since when she is near supernatural beings but she isn’t able to locate the specific individual. Kiziah is very open minded and that helps her accept that vampires exist and that Fane and Cable have been lovers. She has been lonely for a very long time but just hasn’t been able to pull herself out of the rut that she has dug herself into. It was very nice to read about her finding people that could make her happy and keep her safe.I have enjoyed this trilogy so far and I am looking forward to the next book. This last book is going to be about Domino and I am glad that we will get to see him find a mate that he was not looking for. I was also very glad that Fane was able to avenge his parents and brothers. I dislike fanatics very much and to see one get the punishment he deserves is very satisfying. This is a quick and enjoyable read that fans of paranormal will probably enjoy.