Lightly Wicked: Book One

By D. C. Phillips and K.G. Phillips

Time changes nothingnot in your world, not in mine. Actions are what change, and even that fails. For Emilia Manescu, time seemed endless, for her kind lived far longer than humans. Time never erased the death of her family, her pack, her friends, and multitudes of strangers that she could not save from her evil twin sister, Rebekah. And time could not keep Rebekah from awakening again, hell-bent on resurrecting an even greater evil by name of Sebastian. Time was even running out for Emilia as death and destruction followed her dark twin, and this time, Emilia was afraid that Rebekah would succeed in her mission for Rebekah had a new trick up her sleeve. Will Emilia and her new family stop Rebekah before time runs out and Rebekah brings Sebastian back to life, or will Rebekah succeed and watch as the world burns around her?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jul 24, 2018
• ISBN: 9781984519412

Book preview

Copyright © 2018 by DC Phillips and KG Phillips.

Library of Congress Control Number:           2018904026

ISBN:                 Hardcover                   978-1-9845-1943-6

                            Softcover                     978-1-9845-1942-9

                            eBook                          978-1-9845-1941-2

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This 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 any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 04/09/2018

Xlibris

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

774681

Contents

Acknowledgments

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Epilogue

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

S O, AS I am typing this, I realize that there are too many to thank for the possibility of this book. First, though, I would love to thank the Big Man Upstairs. Thanks, Lord.

Next would be my partner in writing this, K. G. Phillips. Thanks for hashing out the ideas and listening to me read, make weird noises, and laugh as I wrote this book. Also thanks in large part to my other helper, Alaiyah, for giving her input and laughing when I laughed. Both of you rock in your understanding and help and with your undying compassion for even the hardest characters to like.

Thanks to the Hubby, RJ, for making the bet and helping me get motivated to get this done. Thank you for your input and me oftentimes telling you of my character family and the moods that go with them. You rock!

A huge shout-out and thanks to Lauren and Nick Hilstrom for the artwork. It turned out beautiful. Especially to Lauren for your patience and acceptance of the many concepts and ideas that were hashed out and the work you did.

Thank you, Danny, Cathy, and Luke Cooley, for your undying support and invaluable advice. Love ya!

Thanks to the entire team that made this happen at Xlibris Publishing. Hope this works out well for all of us.

To Grandpa Buck, dinner is on!

Thanks to Tracy Newbold for your flexibility and excitement over this.

Thanks to the Daily Grind for keeping me sane and always giving me that little extra.

Thanks to all of those that read, reread, and read some more to get this just right.

And thank you to the Military, Armed Forces, First Responders, Police, Firefighters, Caregivers, and anyone else doing good for others’ behalf. You are my Guardian. My family and I salute you!

Dedicated in large part to you, all of you. . .

Sometimes, the Monsters in my head speak louder than the light in me.

PROLOGUE

F URY AND AGONY boiled beneath the dark earth as simmering pale blue eyes snapped open. A wrathful cry tore from a raw throat only to be drowned in silence beneath the ground. Long pale hands curled and formed into grotesque sharp claws as the creature beneath the earth began to scrape and claw the rich dirt above her. She could hear someone calling to her, ordering her to rise and finish what she had started so long ago, but at that moment her mind was busy fighting the furious emotions that tried to consume her. Grunting and growling, she continued to dig her way to the surface, ignoring the dirt threatening to suffocate her. She felt a burst of triumph as her hands broke the cool surface of the earth, her full lips curling back into a heinous snarl as she pulled her starved body out from her very own grave. As her head broke the wretched surface, the cool air hit her starved lungs and filled her with a renewed energy, giving her more strength to pull herself out of the treacherous ground. Pausing only a moment to pull more of the refreshing oxygen into her hungry lungs, she grunted and clawed as she pulled more of her body out to finally collapse onto the cool, torn grass and dirt that had covered her. Rolling onto her back, her chest heaving with the effort of her climb and the lack of sustenance that bereft her for so long, she let her icy pale eyes gaze up at the darkened sky, the stars blinking back at her joyfully. Hissing rudely at the happy blinking lights, she closed her eyes and began to settle her breathing, her long raven hair splaying out around her like a thick curtain coating the grassy ground. She lifted a corner of her mouth in a slight warning as the one that had called to her, awakened her, pushed his masculine voice into her mind.

Rise and finish your task, Dark Wolf! he commanded. She let a low growl reverberate in her chest, her irritation at being commanded evident as she forcefully shut him out of her mind. She had not recognized the telepathic path or the voice that had awakened her, and that unsettled her deeply. Opening her eyes, she slowly began to scan her surroundings as she rolled back to her hands and knees. She didn’t remember much, but she knew her memory would all come back in a short time. What she did remember made her blood boil with outrage. Snarling angrily, her pale blue eyes flashing with a brewing, dark storm, she pulled herself up into a standing position, her body slightly wobbly with lack of use and sustenance.

Her memories of what happened, and how she was placed in the wretched grave, flooded her and shook her. Her own sister and her sister's foul mate had placed her in the earth, leaving her to rot for who knows how long. Her body began to tremble violently with hatred and hurt as she remembered the betrayal of that dreadful night. Shaking her head, her raven locks flying around her as dirt fell away from her scalp, she cleared her thoughts and pushed for one single thing to reside in her mind.

Brushing her hands down on her long black dress, cleaning the dirt off her now beautiful pale hands, she pursed her full lips. She needed to feed, and soon, so that she could gather her strength and kill the one that had put her into her grave. She looked around and frowned deeply at her surroundings, her large eyes narrowed in her heated emotions. She was near the cottage her twin sister had resided in before she had placed her in the ground. On closer inspection, she saw that she had literally risen from a graveyard, rotting tombstones scattered around her in their tight rows, moss and overgrown rosebushes seeking to reclaim the cold earth. Tapping out a little rhythm with her fingers along her heavy dress, she looked for an exit off the rotting property. Obviously her sister was no longer living here. Pity, she would have loved to return the favor to her sister in placing her in the earth, perhaps the very spot she had burst out of. Spotting a crumbled-down corner wrought iron and stone, she made her way to the exit. She would get her revenge on her once-beloved twin, and while she was doing that, she would bring back the one she had fought so hard and long for. She would then finally be free of the eternal burden this task had placed on her, and free of the one that had placed it on her, the Dark Witch. Once she was free, she would then be able to seek out her twin and destroy her in the most delicious manner that she could come up with. She almost laughed as she made her way through the thick woods, bright lights in the distance calling to her, her thoughts going down a dark and twisted path. Oh yes, the things she was planning for her twin were very delicious indeed.

CHAPTER ONE

T HE SMELL OF disturbed earth penetrated the night air, the stench reaching those with heightened senses, making them wrinkle their noses as they looked out onto the lush overgrown grounds. Obsidian eyes gazed at the crumbling stone house. A stone fence covered in ivory with wrought-iron spikes ran along the border of the property, either to keep trespassers out or the occupants in. Slender white hands rested against the rusty spikes, and dark eyes slowly looked to each window. A frown began to form on what was a naturally smooth heart-shaped face, full red lips quirking down as frustration made the large dark eyes narrow to slits, long thick lashes almost hiding the emotion from any that saw.

The woman with the dark eyes tapped an eloquent finger on the spike, her foot tapping with the rhythm of her finger and heartbeat. Her hourglass figure was cloaked in a soft black camisole; her black jeans snug to her shapely hips and long legs. Her boots reached to midcalf, the silver buckles holding the soft leather tightly to her legs. A golden cross hung gently in between her full breasts, her matching earrings swaying with the soft breeze. Long blonde, almost white, hair was pulled back into a swaying ponytail, matching the rhythm of her earrings and the wind.

There was something she was missing here. She just had to find it. The windows of the crumbling cottage were devoid of glass or life, shadows dancing on the faded walls. There was a soft stench of decay and time, ivy and overgrown flowers adding to the aged smell. She looked at the broken oak door and studied from afar the intricate designs carved into the ancient wood. Serpents wound their way up to the brass knob in a design of protection.

She sighed heavily as her gaze wandered to the unkempt grounds. A snort of impatience sounded on her right side, and she slipped a dark glance to her impatient companion.

Her companion was pretty, in a slender and wild kind of way, with tawny-colored hair that only reached her shoulders and amber eyes that always seemed to shift in a nervous pattern, always wary of everything around her.

I understand your impatience, Eve. But I must see what I am missing. Her voice came out soft, almost in a whisper. That was how her voice usually was. Rarely, if ever, did she have to raise it.

Eve rolled her eyes and cocked her hips but remained silent. She knew never to question something when it was important.

She turned her black eyes back to the ruins around her.

How did she come back? she almost whispered to herself more than anything.

Someone that was obviously stupid brought her back, her tawny-colored friend replied snidely.

Or desperate. She turned her dark eyes to look at her other companion, to her left, that had spoken.

The small blonde kept her head lowered, but her green eyes were sharply watching the grounds around them. The girl looked so young, and she was by most Supernaturals’ standards, but she was far more powerful than she seemed. Her small frame was almost childlike save for the slight womanly curves that graced her tiny body.

Desperate would have to be it, Ashley. Another snort followed her comment, but this time she ignored Eve, her eyes still resting on little Ashley.

You sense desperation? she asked her young friend. The blonde nodded once.

"And something else. An evil, but not Rebekah’s. I don’t know, Emilia. This feels as though her energy was here, but it wasn’t alone. Definitely it is what brought her back though," Ashley replied softly, almost shyly.

The one called Emilia narrowed her black eyes at the mention of her twin sister’s name. Rebekah was back and bode ill for everyone and everything. She turned her gaze back to the house. She could hear Eve shift her weight restlessly, as if the grounds made her edgier.

Who would be dumb enough to bring Rebekah back, Emilia? Eve asked irritably, her amber gaze dancing around in an attempt to catch any and all movement around them.

Someone who obviously does not know her, or at least ignores the price she exacts from them, Emilia replied menacingly. A shiver went down her spine, but she pushed the cold aside.

How did they find her tomb? Ashley asked quietly. Her demeanor always resembled her size. Soft, shy, and quiet.

"Someone had to have told whomever it was that brought her back," Eve snapped back, irritated and edgy.

Ashley ignored Eve’s attitude. It was always the way the woman was. Irritable and edgy. The only time the woman displayed any other emotion was around another of their companions, Kit. The two were in an eternal bickering match that bordered on insanity and play.

Well, we are finding nothing else here. We have to call the others and start the Hunt, Emilia grossed out, frustrated with the whole thing.

Whoever had released Rebekah had to know what they were doing and where to look and must have had a purpose that required the Dark Wolf. There was not one good motive that Emilia could fathom that would require her twin sister’s existence. She knew, somewhere in her mind, that she should have just killed her sister a century ago, but she couldn’t then, and she knew she couldn’t now. No matter how evil her sister was, and her sister defined the word evil, Emilia knew somewhere deep inside her sister was a spark of goodness. Her deep faith in this made it impossible for her to kill her.

They aren’t going to be happy that she is freed, Eve grossed softly. Emilia whipped her dark gaze irritably to Eve.

"I understand this, but I am not the one who brought her back," Emilia whispered back menacingly. Eve met Emilia’s dark gaze with her own stormy amber eyes. Emilia always saw the cunning predator in Eve through those piercing eyes, always at the surface, ready to come forward and pounce at a moment’s notice.

No, but she should not have survived either, Emilia. We warned you this could happen.

"Could. . ." Emilia lowered her voice an octave in warning.

"Would!" Eve snapped back.

Ashley snuck in between them as if she could possibly break up the two tall women. She tilted her blonde head to the side slightly as if offering the sight of her neck in peace to Emilia.

Emilia, we are not blaming you for Rebekah’s return. She glared at Eve when the woman snorted again.

We are just nervous that she is back and we are not sure on the how or why of it. Emilia looked down to the little woman who offered her neck in submission. She could hear the pulse beat steadily, showing that the blonde woman was not afraid of her. She looked back up to Eve, the woman’s amber gaze fiery with her annoyance. She narrowed her dark gaze at the slender woman.

I understand your annoyance with this, Eve. I do. I understand they will not be happy either. But killing Rebekah was and still is out of the question. For now. She made the last statement a decree, drawing up to her full height.

Eve narrowed her eyes and pursed her full lips but bowed her head in acceptance of Emilia’s decree.

Emilia took one last look at the ruined cottage and grounds. The taint of evil still lingered on the night air. She looked to little Ashley grimly.

Make sure we have no wanderers on this property, Ashley. We do not need unnecessary accidents here. Ashley nodded her head, her blonde curls swirling around her as she turned swiftly to face the grounds.

Raising her small pale hands, palms outward toward the grounds and home, she began to chant a warding spell. Her hands glowed softly as the spell grew in power, her green eyes flashing with heat. The grounds burst into a white light briefly, and then an eerie silenced followed. Ashley nodded and turned toward the two tall women.

It is done, Emilia, she spoke out confidently.

Emilia nodded and strode forward, knowing the other two would follow without her asking. That was the way of it. Though they did not always agree, as oft happened between Eve and herself, she knew without any doubts they would follow her lead.

She crossed the quiet road to where they parked their small red car. Ashley, though shy and quiet, loved vibrant colors, and her little car was no exception. The red exterior was bright and very noticeable, and the interior was a bubbly pink.

Emilia folded her tall frame into the front passenger side and waited until the other two crawled in, Ashley at the wheel. Eve grumbled as she buckled, hating to be in the back. She did not like other people driving her, but Emilia hated Eve’s road-rage way of driving. Ashley was a much safer, calmer driver and didn’t push Emilia’s stomach to the limit.

She took one last glance at the property, almost wistfully, hoping to see the memories that always threatened to surface. She choked back her wayward emotions and faced forward. She had to find out who brought her sister back and why. Her frown deepened.

She also had to find a way to put her back, because Rebekah on the loose was ill for everyone in the vicinity. Although Rebekah was Emilia’s twin, that was where it ended. They had been close when they were children, so long ago. Emilia inhaled the memories and let them fill her mind gently, piece by piece, as Ashley took the roads safely to their shared home.

No, Rebekah had not been born evil. Different, but not evil. She remembered her vibrant and ofttimes defiant dark sister. Their personalities were different as night and day. Where Emilia had been a mindful, quiet, and controlled youth, Rebekah had been rebellious and so full of life. Even in looks they differed. Where Emilia was fair, save for her black eyes, Rebekah was dark, with icy-blue eyes that ofttimes shimmered like mischievous gems. Even in status and power they were different. Emilia, destined to be a leader of her people, was in control of her powers early on. Though she was more of a serious child, Emilia had always been kind and caring to those under her charge. She never condemned those who were weaker or not of her species. She had always been a natural Guardian, something her kind took great pride in.

Rebekah had been powerful and mischievous. She was always flitting about, wanting to learn everything, starving for more and more knowledge. She was a quick learner and absorbed everything. But she could be ruthless to those that gained her ire. Patience was never a strong suit of hers, and she never stayed in her teachings for long periods of time.

Emilia closed her eyes as a forbidden memory edged its way to her consciousness. It was the day Rebekah had changed.

The day was cold and dark. The wind whipped at everyone’s clothes and howled in everyone’s ears as if crying out from pain and sorrow. Emilia had been out looking for her wayward sister again as rain pelted down angrily at her; her cries faded out against the thunder. She had just tripped over a fallen log, hot tears streaming down her frozen cheeks. Lightning had streaked hotly against the sky, illuminating everything around her in a nightmarish light. That was when Rebekah came into her view.

Emilia felt her heart break, as it did each time the memory came up.

Rebekah, in her dress torn and ripped, her black cloak swirling around her, her midnight hair whipping fiercely with the wind, walked brokenly toward her sister. Tears had been flowing tragically down her ethereal face, her icy-blue eyes dilated so far they appeared black. Blood was trickling down the side of her mouth and chin. A large scratch tore angrily down her pale chest. Emilia called out to her, knowing her sister had not seen her yet. Rebekah stopped instantly and jerked her head up, her midnight hair obscuring her features for a moment. When her hair was once again clear of her beautiful face, Emilia saw it. Fear and anger and something bordering on hatred filled her pale features. Emilia had cried out again for her sister, terror seizing her broken heart. Rebekah’s lips moved as if she was speaking to her, and she raised a slender hand, palms facing Emilia. White searing light flashed out toward her, and Emilia’s world went black.

Emilia jerked awake as the car came to an abrupt stop. She darted her dark eyes toward Ashley, the responsible driver, and glared.

What in the Gods’ creation, she began but stopped at Ashley’s shocked expression, the girl’s green eyes staring straight ahead.

Emilia turned her head forward at the same time she heard Eve swear very unladylike in the backseat. They were literally right in front of their home, but in the road ahead of them stood an amazing, jaw-dropping, beautiful woman. Her long mahogany hair had an intricate design of braids, curls, and straight loose strands that fell over the top of her head and down to spill silkily around soft tan shoulders and over slender arms to reach a very tucked-in waist and rounded hips.