Daemon Reckoning

By Mariah Ankenman

Hidden in the shadows of our world, supernatural creatures wage war for the fate of humanity. Euadaemons protect the innocent, Kakodaemons desire absolute power. Both have altered Krista Culver’s life. After spending the past ten years as a Drone for evil, she’s finally awake and doesn't want to waste another moment. No one will stand in the way of her kicking Kako butt. Not her sister, not her father, not even her incredibly tempting boss. Racine is about to go mad trying to find his evil twin brother responsible for the Kako uprising, but Rysis is in the wind. Adding to his problems, Krista returned from Enforcer training. Gone is the sweet girl. In her place is a fierce woman who stirs something deep inside. Something he thought long dead and buried. As their desires grow so does the danger surrounding them. The Kako threat is mounting and the time for a reckoning has come.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
• Release date: Apr 9, 2018
• ISBN: 9781509219766

Mariah Ankenman

Bestselling author Mariah Ankenman lives in the beautiful Rocky Mountains with her two rambunctious children and loving spouse who is her own personal spell checker when her dyslexia gets the best of her. Mariah loves to lose herself in a world of words. Her favorite thing about writing is when she can make someone’s day a little brighter with one of her books. To learn more about Mariah and her books visit her website www.mariahankenman.com

Book preview

Inc.

Why else do you keep such a distance from me?

That was what she thought? She assumed he kept his distance because of a crazy notion she was some kind of freak? If only the sexy little minx knew the real reason he kept his distance.

You think I don’t touch you because I believe you’re a freak? he asked again, disbelief boiling into anger. How could she think so little of him, of herself? Did she not see how hard he tried to resist the temptation she offered? Maybe the time had come for him to show her exactly why he kept his distance.

Placing his glass down on the bar, he stalked toward her. The woman had enough common sense to back up. He was sure he looked savage, because at the moment the word described precisely how he felt. Savage. Hungry. Ready to take what he’d wanted since the infuriating woman showed up on his doorstep no longer a girl, but a strong, fierce woman. Krista took two steps back until she bumped against the wall. Racine continued his advance, stopping inches from her body. He caged her in, his hands pressed flat against the wall on either side of her head.

I don’t touch you, you silly human, the words rumbled deep from within him. Because once I start, I won’t be able to stop.

Other Mariah Ankenman titles

available from The Wild Rose Press, Inc.:

Daemon Deception

Daemon Uprising (Golden Heart finalist, 2013)

~*~

The Peak Town, Colorado Series:

Love on the Sweet Side

Love on the Wild Side

Love on the Risky Side

Love on the Forbidden Side

Daemon Reckoning

by

Mariah Ankenman

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either 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.

Daemon Reckoning

COPYRIGHT © 2018 by Mariah Ankenman

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author or The Wild Rose Press, Inc. except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Contact Information: [e-mail]

Cover Art by Debbie Taylor

The Wild Rose Press, Inc.

PO Box 708

Adams Basin, NY 14410-0708

Visit us at www.thewildrosepress.com

Publishing History

First Black Rose Edition, 2018

Print ISBN 978-1-5092-1975-9

Digital ISBN 978-1-5092-1976-6

Published in the United States of America

Dedication

To all originals out there

who sometimes feel like freaks.

Your uniqueness makes you shine,

never dull your light.

~*~

And to my Prince Charming,

thank you for never doubting me

even when I doubt myself.

Chapter 1

Twenty-two months!

Close to two damn years since Racine had discovered his twin brother, Rysis, was the leader of the Kakodaemons. Twenty-two months of searching for the man he once called family. Six hundred and seventy days of nothing but frustration and dead ends.

The whole damn situation frustrating enough to drive a man insane. Good thing he wasn’t a man. Not technically anyway. As a Euadaemon who had lived over five centuries, Racine normally had more patience. In his vast experience, he knew the bad guys got what was coming to them eventually. But his patience ran thin on this one.

His brother—who he thought dead for over a hundred years—turned out not only to be alive, but also the High Master in charge of teaching Kakos how to make Drones out of human souls.

How the hell does Rysis even know how to do that?

An important question, but the more pressing matter? In an entire century, how did he not realize his brother still lived? Shouldn’t he have known deep down? They were twins, wasn’t there supposed to be some sort of intrinsic connection between them? Twins were supposed to have some instinctual link. One of them broke their leg and the other felt it from miles away, or something like that.

Truth be told, he had never been very close with his brother. Even as kids, he and Rysis tended to choose opposite activities. They may look identical, but the similarities stopped there. Racine had never really connected with his brother. He wasn’t sure why. Rysis never seemed to care much for him either. Strange, growing up looking at someone who was basically a mirror image, but with nothing in common.

Rysis was impulsive, loud, arrogant. He liked to be the one in charge and let everyone know it. Racine preferred to take his time deciding things. He enjoyed research, as evidenced by his massive library. He took the leadership position as head of council in region seven, but he did it only at the request of the council. Being a council head wasn’t a feather in his cap, but a great responsibility he accepted along with the serious burdens accompanying the role. He tried to be a fair and just leader.

From the stories he heard about his brother’s leadership over the Kakos, Rysis had once again gone in the opposite direction. Rysis ruled with fear and absolute control. So it didn’t surprise him at all the Kakos they had captured were more afraid to talk than they were of torture. Whatever his brother had done to those men and women was far worse than anything Racine could imagine.

He had little sympathy for them. They were Kakos after all. The bastards sucked the souls of humans. Right now hundreds of innocent people lay unconscious in hospital beds with no explanation for their apparent comas. The doctors were baffled. Racine knew the truth. They were Drones. Living batteries for the Kakos’ strength and retention of their intelligence.

Bastards!

And his brother started all of this. He needed to find Rysis and kill him, for good this time. He still had no idea how his brother survived the last time. Racine would have sworn on his parents’ graves that he watched the flames consume his twin. Standing there while his brother cursed him, gazing at the blinding red and yellow fire grow larger and hotter until it obliterated everything in its path; the hardest thing he’d ever experienced, but he ensured it was done.

It seemed he failed. Story of his life.

A ringing sound came from his pocket. Racine pulled out his cell. The screen flashed a name and picture of one of his most trusted Enforcers.

Hyde, tell me some good news.

The man on the other end sighed. Sorry boss, but he’s not here.

Racine swore. Another dead end, dammit!

But it looks like he might have been here not too long ago.

Not good news, but a little better. He could work with that.

What proof do you have or are you speculating?

I found some stuff. The sound of shuffling came from the other end. Not much, a few receipts, some old take out, and a coat. I had a local Witch cast a possession spell and she confirmed Rysis was the last person to wear it. Looks like someone left in a hurry. He may have gotten wind we were onto him and took off.

For months now, every council had worked to track down leads as to Rysis’s whereabouts. No one had found anything concrete. Until now, it seemed.

Bag everything you can find. I want it all analyzed by the lab.

Like all the councils, region seven had a top-notch lab in the basement facility. Most of the Witches worked in the lab. Weapons, healing medicines, and other research projects went on down there, too. If Rysis had been in that room in Argentina, the lab workers might be able to discover more information from the items Hyde brought back.

He hoped something would be revealed. They could really use a win right now.

I want you back ASAP. The sooner we get the stuff to the lab the better.

Hyde either discovered a trail to his brother or another wild goose chase. It better be the former. His legendary patience had run out weeks ago. Honestly, he barely held it together. His own brother was the root cause of so much evil. The blood running through his own veins also ran through those of a monster. Guilt threatened to consume his very soul. Something his twin appeared to lack. He wanted to spread his wings, take to the sky and hunt his brother down.

But he knew leaving half-cocked with no plan or idea of Rysis’s location was a fool’s errand. It also left headquarters and all his people exposed. They were strong men and women who could defend themselves, but his brother was cruel to his very core. No way would Racine leave his people exposed.

So he’d wait and follow every damn lead that came across his desk. Even if it slowly burned him up from the inside.

I’ll be back by tomorrow, boss.

The phone clicked and dead air filled his ear. Racine slipped his phone back into his pocket. Tomorrow. Not too long, but felt like an eternity.

Though he saw the fallacy in the logic, he couldn’t help feeling like this situation was his fault. Every Drone lying unconscious in a hospital with their souls used to commit unspeakable acts, every family mourning beside their loved one’s bed, praying for them to awaken, all those lives ruined. The blame lay on his shoulders. Because he failed to make sure his brother truly died.

When he found Rysis again, he would kill his twin. And this time, his brother would stay dead.

Chapter 2

A cool fall breeze rustled the orange and red leaves of the aspen tree Krista Culver sat under. She tucked her sweater closer around her, enjoying the crisp mountain air of Deer Creek, Colorado. Even though winter was on its way, the days were still nice enough to enjoy a little time outside in the afternoons.

She glanced around the scenic meadow, which was a part of Wildlife Animal Rescue. An animal sanctuary to the human public, a secret training and recovery home for the world of the Supernaturals. She’d called this place home for almost a year and a half now. A year and a half of strict training to hone her new skills.

Though her sister, Tabitha always had special abilities, Krista was born as human as they come. Until one day, a group of Kakodaemons attacked her and Tabitha. At the time, she had no idea what was going on. Her eleven-year-old brain thought they had fallen into some crazy vampire movie.

She wasn’t far off.

One of the Kakos, a disgusting Kako named Stryden, drained her soul almost to the point of death. She fell into a coma for ten years while Stryden used the power of her soul to do unspeakable things. Things that, at times, Krista had been fully aware of, but unable to prevent. Sometimes in the middle of the night, she woke screaming from the memories of the evil atrocities done with power of her soul. A weaker person might not survive, but Krista was no weakling.

Ten years of lying in a hospital bed, semiconscious, but unable to alert anyone, finally ended just shy of two years ago when her sister and a team of Enforcers cornered the Kako Stryden and cut his head off. Once he died, Krista’s soul returned to her and she woke.

But she woke up…different than she was before.

Krista woke in the body of a woman she didn’t recognize. She’d been semi-conscious the entire time, so she understood the passage of time, the changes to her body. But it had all been cerebral, like a dream or a movie that she sat back and watched. Going from eleven to twenty-one had been quite the shock. Her mind was catching up, but it wasn’t only her physical growth she had to deal with. Shortly after waking from her coma, she’d discovered she had new talents. Strength unlike anything she possessed before. Somehow, when Stryden died, his supernatural strength transferred to her. Not a fair trade for what he did, but a start.

So she wasn’t human anymore. Not really. She wasn’t truly a supernatural either. Poor Krista rested somewhere in between, an anomaly, a freak. A new species. One of the reasons Racine had decided to send her to Deer Creek. Not only to train, but also as a specimen for study. Thankfully, the doctors here treated her like a person and not a lab rat. Still, she saw the apprehension in others eyes when they looked at her.

She was different and different was rarely a good thing.

At least she was alive and in control of her life now. Niko, the man who ran the animal sanctuary and training facilities, was one of the kindest men she had ever met. He accepted her at once and treated her much like his younger sister, Lana, a sweetie and a riot to boot. Niko and the others trained her in various martial arts and weaponry. Now she could expertly kick some major ass if the need arose.

And the world needed it, badly. The Kako problem had only gotten worse, not better. The council needed all the Enforcers they could get. Krista fully intended to be one of them. She had the determination, strength, and now, the skill. She also had a lot of payback to dish out.

Hey, Krista. Lana’s cheerful voice rang out as the woman walked over to the tree.

Svetlana, or Lana as she preferred to be called, was a few years older than Krista. The woman stood slightly taller, but they both shared cool blue eyes and bright