Claimed In Sin

By Devlin Chase

Book 7 of the Vengeful Elements series.

With the Saligian Prophecy nothing more than a hollow lie, vampire Jacen de la Corte’s world has been shattered. Faced with the prospect of never finding his own salvation he’s left with no option but to retreat...or mount his most devastating and desperate campaign yet.

Sonia Hawkwood has returned home, hoping to be with her new family and to discover who – and what – she is becoming. Within hours she is held captive by Jacen, who has no idea how important his prisoner is ... or what she’s capable of.

Driven to the brink of madness by both his failure to capture a Ligata and his sudden desire for the innocent beauty in his clutches, Jacen will have to face the most brutal of tests in order to find what he seeks the most...

... before it’s too late and all hope is lost.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Devlin Chase
• Release date: Jan 22, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301046041

Devlin Chase

Devlin Chase lives in Port Elizabeth, South Africa with her husband and their furry pal Sam. After running a successful organic farm for many years, they have recently returned to the coastal city and are now blessed to wake up each morning to the sound of the ocean.Devlin has been writing novels for the past decade and has created South Africa's first paranormal romance series with The Vengeful Elements.Devlin has also written several apocalypse-themed novels under her real name...this name's a pseudonym.

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Copyright

Claimed In Sin - a Novel of The Vengeful Elements

Devlin Chase

Copyright 2013 Devlin Chase

Smashwords Edition 2013

This ebook is for the personal use of the purchaser only. It may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or if it was not purchased for your use only, then please visit www.smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Claimed In Sin is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Cover Credits :

Jacket Design : Brent Swart

Photography : Louis Daniel Botha

www.devlinchase.wozaonline.co.za

Email the author at [e-mail]

Dedication

Nadeen and Gerlu

You both are truly Stars –

In the best and most wonderful of ways.

Acknowledgments

Finally we reach the last book in the Vengeful Elements and I realize just how many wonderful people have been influential in bringing the series to life and who deserve thanks.

Johan – it never would have happened without you.

To my beta readers – Corné, Chrysanthe and Jakkie – you guys are the best.

O – my shining light and the one I always look up to.

And finally you – Dear Reader – for travelling the road with me.

Stories never die – even when the series ends – and sometimes even angels get a second chance.

So join me in the next adventure – I dare you.

Chapter 1.

Birds were singing and the sun was high overhead by the time the taxi dropped her off in front of the imposing wrought iron gates.

Thanking the driver, Sonia passed over a wad of notes and stood back as he hauled her suitcase out of the trunk. Then she turned and headed for the gates, pulling the suitcase on its wheels behind her.

She keyed the intercom, hoping that either Galena or Cassie were home and could open the gates from the main house. But there was no reply and she wracked her brain for the entry code, punching it in and sighing with relief when the gates finally began to swing open. She’d hardly ever needed to open the gates and was pleased that she still remembered the code.

The decision to come home had been an impetuous one; and one that Marguerite had not approved of.

In fact, there’d been a great deal of opposition to her decision and she’d spent a good part of the flight from London to Johannesburg mulling over the reasons that had been presented in an effort to keep her from leaving.

Firstly had been the argument that it just wasn’t safe for her to be there. Jacen was a danger to everyone in the Obscura’s Pretoria mansion and it was just not safe for her to be there.

Secondly, there were still too many questions about what was happening to her to put her in harm’s way.

Thirdly, those same changes still needed to be analysed and understood before they could determine whether she posed a danger to herself or those around her.

She was an unknown equation in this whole saga.

Something completely different.

Blah. Blah. Blah.

The arguments had gone back and forth, between Marguerite, Claude and Theresa. Sonia had largely been left out of the picture as the others decided what would be best for her.

She knew they meant well, but Theresa hadn’t known her for very long and Marguerite...well, let’s just say she put a whole new spin on the word grandmother.

Technically speaking she wasn’t actually her grandmother. Darien was not her biological father; no more than Catherine was her mother.

But she was now their daughter and Marguerite seemed to think that entitled her to her new role as the doting grandma. A job she’d been performing admirably since she’d brought Sonia to England following Darien’s coma and subsequent recovery.

As she pulled her suitcase up the long, curving driveway, Sonia had to admit that it had been the best decision at the time. There had been far too many things for the Saligian vampires to deal with at the time and a girl who kept changing every couple of months wasn’t really helping things.

But she missed her mom and dad. That was the bottom line and what had driven her to make the decision to return home.

As a newly appointed Obscura Council member and Marguerite’s new protégé, it was to be expected that Theresa would agree with the Hawkwood matriarch.

But it had been Claude who’d defended Sonia’s decision to return home and who’d been the one to drive her to the airport. She’d hugged him at the gate, thanking him with her tears before rushing through the boarding gate before he could change his mind and drag her back to the Hawkwood mansion.

The driveway curved again and the house came into view. Sonia marvelled at it, as she always had, taking in the sheer size of the home and the beautiful gardens that surrounded it.

The house had once been an embassy, modelled along classic colonial lines. But there the resemblance ended, although casual onlookers would never notice the modifications that had been made.

The downstairs windows of the three storey building were fake. Behind the glass lay brick and board, making the structure impervious to the glaring African sunlight.

Only the windows in the upper levels actually allowed sunlight to penetrate, and that was for the benefit of visitors and the Wakeling staff who catered to the vampire occupants.

Approaching the wide steps that led up to the front doors, Sonia caught a glimpse of herself in the plate glass that fronted one of the windows-that-wasn’t-a-window. She paused, struck as she was of late, by the changes that had occurred with her last transformation.

She doubted even Cat would be able to recognise her now.

Gone was the eight year old girl who’d arrived at this house as an orphan.

Gone was the young, pre-teen who’d thrown such a fit in the kitchen with her first transformation.

Gone was the adolescent who’d desperately wanted to rebel, seeking comfort from a drag queen interior designer with a sharp wit and an even sharper tongue. Wow, she and Brent had gotten into so much trouble for that one!

But those were the changes they’d all witnessed and helped her through. The subsequent transformations had both taken place under Marguerite’s careful observation, the older woman calmly taking everything in stride and making the transitions as smooth as silk. It was what had made her such a powerful Council member and Sonia would always love her dearly for the caring way in which she had eased her through it.

But it was time to come home. The girl she’d been was gone and it was time begin her life as the woman she was now.

She stared at her reflection a moment longer. Her hair was still long, falling almost to her waist in a sheer dead straight drop of platinum blonde. She’d always wished she’d had hair as dark as the night, just like Cat’s. But hey, a girl had to roll with what she was given...

Dark lashes and brows framed eyes that were wide and a startling shade of pale blueish grey. They sparkled in the daylight and she smiled, her full lips widening to display perfect white teeth.

Her complexion was pale and she was sure that it was probably due to the English weather she’d endured. She lifted her face, feeling the sun kiss her cheeks.

God, it felt good to be home.

She climbed the steps to the front doors, knowing that they hid a vestibule; a double locking system that allowed the outer doors to seal before the inner doors opened. It was a security feature that once again ensured no sunlight penetrated the house.

Reaching out she gripped the door handles, marvelling once more at how things had changed. She was still willowy and slender, but where the handles had once been at chest height they were now much lower. She had her five feet eleven inches height to thank for that now.

The door didn’t budge beneath her touch and she turned to the intercom alongside, pressing the buzzer and waiting for Cassie to open the door as she had so many times before.

It hadn’t been all that long ago, either. From the time she’d arrived at this house as an eight year old barely a year had passed in the world at large. All of her transformations had occurred in the past six months, changing her irrevocably from a child into a woman of twenty six.

Thank God for small mercies; her mind had changed along with her body and she was a mentally healthy twenty six as well.

There was still no answer at the door and she had to think for moment again, recalling the code and punching it in before pushing on the handles and entering the vestibule.

Once inside the house she stood in the large, tiled entrance hall and smiled.

She was home.

Parking her suitcase near the door she hurried into the passage leading to the kitchen, sure she would find someone there.

It would probably be Brent, she mused as she approached the swing doors. He’d be perched in one of the chairs at the huge old oak table, one bare foot propped up on another chair while he read the morning paper. Early edition, of course.

But the kitchen was empty and she stood in the doorway, only stepping into the room when the doors slapped her in the butt.

Weird, she muttered, glancing around. The coffee pot, always full and on the warmer plate, was empty. A drying cloth was draped over the mixer taps at the sink and all the chairs were pushed in under the table.

This is seriously weird.

Retracing her steps she grabbed her suitcase and made her way to the staircase and the suites of subterranean rooms below the house. Her black skinny jeans and calf-high Doc Martens might have been great in the cool English climate she’d left but they weren’t really conducive to an African summer and her long sleeve t-shirt was starting to make her itch.

A shower and a change of clothes. Then she’d start looking for the others.

The passageway was silent, all of the doors to the suites closed. But that wasn’t surprising; vampires slept during the day. She’d had to adapt to that fairly early on and was so used to it now that her own rhythms had changed and she usually slept during the day too.

An hour later and Sonia was showered and dressed in loose black pants and a strappy t-shirt that showed of her high, firm breasts and flat stomach. Her hair was still damp and she’d tied it back in a simple ponytail. Her feet were bare.

Not really the best way to greet her family but a hell of a lot better than sweating in front of them.

Roaming the house made her realise how much she’d missed Cat and Darien. They were her parents and she’d suffered all the angst of a teenager while away from them. In some ways she still felt like the eight year old orphan she’d been, desperate for a mother’s love.

Boy, were they in for a surprise.

Heading back into the kitchen she opened up cupboards until she found the tin of Kenyan blend that Cat and Darien favoured and got the coffee machine going.

Then she sat at the table and waited for one of the Wakelings to arrive.

Two hours, and half a pot of coffee later, Sonia knew that something was wrong.

There was no way in hell Cassie or Galena would both be gone from the house for so long, especially with the others asleep downstairs.

She paced the kitchen for a few minutes, unsure of what she should do.

Then she left the room and marched down to the bedrooms.

She had meant her arrival to be a surprise. As such she’d left her cell phone off after she’d landed in Johannesburg. Now she considered getting it out of her handbag. But first...she had to know.

Reaching the door to the suite shared by Cat and Darien she paused. She’d always been taught it was rude to waken people when they were sleeping, especially vampires and Ligata who’d been up all night.

Sonia took a breath and knocked.

No call to enter. Nobody came to the door.

Frowning, and with a nervous thread of unease winding in her stomach, she opened the door.

Along one wall stood an enormous bed, the quilted silk cover neatly tucked into place. All the cupboard doors were closed but the door to the en-suite bathroom stood open.

The room was empty.

The realisation struck Sonia hard and she hurried out of the room, moving quickly to the suite Brent shared with Paula.

Also empty.

Room by room she moved along the passageway, finding each one empty.

There was no trace of anyone in the house.

Backing into the passageway from the last of the suites, Riley’s room, Sonia pressed up against the wall, feeling the cool plaster against her shoulders.

This couldn’t be possible. Where had they gone? What had happened to them?

Knowing that she might have been too hasty in wanting to surprise everyone she hurried back to her room, grabbing her handbag from where she’d tossed it onto the bed.

She pulled out her phone, needing to press the button several times before the tiny phone came on, her fingers were shaking so badly.

There was no signal here in her room so she ran upstairs, pushing into the kitchen with the phone raised in her hand. Finally the device picked up signal and she waited, jumping when the phone beeped.

Text message.

From Cat.

Please phone me the moment you get this Urgent. You’re in danger. Mom.

Danger? The phone beeped again. Another message, this one telling her she had several voice messages. She had to force herself to breathe as she got her trembling fingers to key in the voicemail code.

She pressed the phone to her ear.

Cat’s voice, making a smile flit around the corner of her mouth and tears prick the back of her eyes. God, how she’d missed her.

Then the smile was gone as Catherine’s words finally penetrated.

Darien and I flew back to England to see you. But you’d already left. We didn’t know.

There was a pause, and a sniff. Sonia could hear Darien’s voice in the background, murmurs of comfort.

Cat’s voice came back on the line, full of panic.

Whatever you do, don’t go to the house. Book into a hotel near the airport and call us, but just don’t go to the house. The prophecy was a lie and Jacen’s gone mad. He’ll go after anyone in the house...

Another pause followed by another sniff.

Please, baby, just stay away from the house. Call us. We love you and we’re on our way back.

Again there was the murmur of voices then Cat’s voice, indistinct this time and Sonia knew she was talking to Darien.

What if Frankie and Angelo don’t get there in time?

The line went dead and Sonia gripped the phone tightly, backing up until her butt hit the swing doors, feeling them press against her shoulders as she backed out into the hallway.

The scent of violets hit her nose in the instant before strong arms banded around her, one hand covering her mouth and the other sliding across her upper chest and shoulders.

She dropped the phone, hearing it clatter to the tiles as she was hauled back against a hard, impossibly tall male body.

The arms tightened and she struggled futilely to break free, immobilised within bands of what felt like steel. Mocking laughter filled the air and she was pulled back tighter into his embrace.

Jacen.

Sonia had never met the vampire before but she knew all about him. True, Cat and the others had tried to shield her as much as possible, never telling her very much. But Marguerite had done a stand up job of filling in all the blanks.

She struggled harder, desperate to break his hold but his arms just tightened, wicked laughter floating down to her.

He bent his head - she could actually feel the air vibrate with the movement - and his lips brushed the shell of her ear.

Again there was a hint of violets, sweet and heady in her nose and Sonia breathed the scent in, deep into her lungs, on her frightened breath.

I warned them...

His voice was deep, with a resonant, sophisticated cadence that made her flush with heat, despite the chill sheen of perspiration breaking out all over her skin.

I warned them, he repeated, pulling her up roughly against him.

Something pressed, rock hard and huge, against the upper curve of her butt and her eyes widened. She might be an innocent twenty six but she knew he was sporting an enormous erection.

So not a good thing.

Neither were the words he whispered then, the sweet summer scent of him like a cloud around her head.

Everything started to go hazy around the edges and she had the desperate urge to tell Cat that no, Frankie and Angelo weren’t going to get here in time after all. Whatever Jacen was doing, it was slowly robbing her of her consciousness and within seconds she couldn’t even muster the strength to fight any longer.

She slumped in his arms, vaguely aware of the world tilting as he lifted her into his arms.

They took what was mine. Now I’m taking you.

On those words, whispered so softly in her ear and with such wicked malice, Sonia surrendered to the dark and let it claim her.

Chapter 2.

The first thing that hit her was the faint smell of damp in the air. Sonia kept her eyes closed, adjusting to the sounds of the room around her.

Or at least she thought it was a room.

The dampness came to her again and she had to fight to keep from opening her eyes.

It wasn’t that the scent was bad, only that she was unfamiliar with it. There was something like the faint odour of stone behind the smell, something that made her think of digging in the garden, as she’d done many times before with Cassie, tending to rose bushes and gathering the blooms that proliferated throughout the mansion’s gardens.

Taking another shallow breath, she left her senses roam further.

She was lying on something soft, most likely a mattress of some kind, her hands bound behind her back. The angle was uncomfortable and she was getting pins and needles thanks to her involuntary and slight movements.

She couldn’t