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  At her five-year anniversary, Max must relive the most traumatic moment in her life, her Turning Night.

  Max has lived as the Abomination for five years and this week is her anniversary. Like all vampires, she has to return to the point at which she was turned and relive her original attack and transformation. Max is prepared, but there is a little errand she must run for Gregori before the big night.

  A panther shifter has asked for a bodyguard for his sister, and Max agrees to watch the woman as long as she can bring two friends.

  Raven Dexter and Hellebore arrive in time to help the very pregnant shifter through a difficult labour while midnight elves wait to take the baby for their own.

  After that, Max’s Turning Night is a bit of an anticlimax.

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  Turning Night

  Copyright © 2013 Viola Grace

  ISBN: 978-1-77111-710-4

  Cover art by Martine Jardin

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

  Published by Devine Destinies

  An imprint of eXtasy Books

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  www.devinedestinies.com

  Turning Night

  A Nexus Chronicle

  By

  Viola Grace

  Chapter One

  Max sat at her desk and pondered the calendar. Five years. It was as clear as the nose on the goblin rep’s face; it had been five years since she had been turned into the Abomination. She wondered if they made a greeting card for that.

  Fifth anniversary, wood and silverware. She grinned as she imagined that party with a bunch of vampires. Two things traditionally used to kill them and they were obligated to offer them to her. Part of Max was delighted and part dreaded the party in two days.

  Anthony knocked on the doorframe. “Apprentice, the Guild Master requests your presence.”

  She grinned and got to her feet. “I really doubt that. Any news from Xander and Abby?”

  “They are doing well and have renewed their offer of a gnome to call your own.”

  Laughter bubbled up. “No, I think I will have to decline that offer. Gregori would probably try and eat it if it irritated him.”

  “I do not think that try would be involved.” Anthony sighed and his ears turned pink.

  “Is he whistling for me again?”

  The Guild Master’s Major Domo nodded with a pained expression.

  With a regretful sigh, Max pulled her earplugs out and tucked them in her desk. Her enhanced hearing was part and parcel of being the Abomination. The earplugs helped when Gregori was feeling particularly vocal.

  She passed Anthony and patted his shoulder. “It is almost time for some meal.”

  He nodded with relief and headed for the kitchen. It was the most soundproofed portion of the Guild Master’s estate.

  The windows were being opened to let in the sunset. Gregori had only mild sensitivity to light and Max had none at all.

  “Max!”

  “Coming, Guild Master.” She wrinkled her nose at the etiquette that she had to obey. He was meeting with a panther shifter with a rather primitive attitude toward women. This was not where she wanted to be right now.

  He quieted, so she knew he had heard her. He would have continued bellowing if she hadn’t answered.

  Calling this huge place home had taken some getting used to, but now, she navigated easily through the halls to the formal audience chamber.

  She paused in the doorway and inclined her head. “You called, Guild Master?”

  He was seated at the round table with the shifter. “You took your time, Max.”

  “I was not prepared for your summons.”

  The panther snorted. He looked like he ate nails for breakfast and he had been in at least two territory disputes that had scarred his face. “Apparently. I thought she had all the strengths of a vampire, including her hearing.”

  Max didn’t respond. She looked to Gregori.

  “She tends to use earplugs to block me out, Rithak. She needs moments to herself and tries to keep her use of the plugs to daylight hours.” His lips twisted in amusement.

  Rithak looked her over from head to toe. “She has been changed, but can she still breed?”

  That was it; Max was going to smack him. She moved in a blur of fury and was caught and held against Gregori an inch before she would have added to the claw marks on the panther’s face.

  “Calm, Max. Rithak wanted to see how fast you were.”

  “Fine.” She turned in Gregori’s arms, kissed his cheek, whirled and flicked Rithak out of his chair and onto his butt.

  Gregori tightened his arms again. “I apologize for her, Rithak. She has a temper.”

  She kept her face hostile while she glared at the interloper in her territory.

  “It is my apology that is needed, Guild Master. I should not have pushed that particular button.” Rithak got back to his feet and bowed toward Max. “Forgive me, Abomination?”

  She sighed. It was really a name she needed removed from her stationery. “Forgiven, Rithak.”

  She didn’t ask him to call her Max. Gregori was very protective of her name. Only the Guild Master’s household and Max’s personal friends were allowed to use it. All the emissaries addressed her as Apprentice or Abomination. It had taken getting used to, but five years into it, she hardly winced anymore.

  Gregori wisely kept her in his arms, which was her favourite place to be. “Rithak has asked for your assistance in a matter of some urgency.”

  Rithak rubbed his hand along the short-cropped black hair that covered his skull. “My sister is pregnant, very pregnant, and I have to attend a matter at Hotel Spectre. I do not wish to leave her alone and taking her out of her territory is impossible. I have asked the Guild Master for your services as bodyguard for the next thirty-six hours.”

  Max looked up at Gregori. He wasn’t happy, but he was letting her make the decision.

  “If he believes it would benefit his cause, I will do it without hesitation, but Rithak, I must ask one thing.”

  The panther was so relieved, he said, “Name it and it’s yours.”

  “I want to have a friend over while I babysit.” Max grinned and her sharpened teeth showed.

  “Is that friend a vampire?”

  Max shook her head. “Nope. Straight flesh and blood human with knowledge of the supernatural realms. Will you agree?”

  “She might be in danger. Raila is a little unstable right now.”

  “I will protect them both, from each other if need be. Now, give me the address, and I will make some calls.” She wiggled her fingers and Gregori released her arm.

  Rithak quickly dug in his back pocket and handed her a card. “Thank you. Give her this card, and she will know I have sent you.”

  “Does Raila know you are trying to send someone to her?”

  “She knows, she just doesn’t think she needs prot
ection.” He sighed. “The father of her child believes that he has the right to it. His clan is the problem.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “What kind of clan?”

  “Midnight elves. Dark, violent and positive that their way is the only way.”

  Max sighed. “It sounds like most species I have met. Right. I will need one more person if we might run into midnight elves. She is magical, of a sort. Don’t worry, we will bring our own food.”

  “I do not know if she will let that many strangers into her house.”

  “Oh, she will.”

  Gregori placed his lips against the curve of her ear. “I believe he wishes to know who your friends are, dearest.”

  The endearment melted her against him; it always did. “Raven and Hellebore. Hell can help me on defence and Raven…well you know what she does.”

  “Good choices. Shall I have Anthony make the arrangements?”

  Max shook her head, reached into the side of the fitted vest that she wore and pulled her phone out of the left side of her bra. She felt rather than heard Gregori’s deep sigh.

  She stepped out of her lover’s arms and crossed the room, speaking quickly to Raven and then answering questions for Hellebore. Since both women were invited to her anniversary gala, a little adventure two days earlier wasn’t difficult to fit into their schedule.

  Max finished her calls and turned to the two men who were waiting. “Well, I suppose I should be on my way.”

  With a quick kiss from Gregori and effusive thanks from Rithak, she left her home to babysit a pregnant feline who didn’t know she was coming. This was going to be tricky.

  Chapter Two

  Max arrived in her car and Raven was standing next to her guardian, boyfriend and transporter. He didn’t look happy about leaving her there.

  Max walked up to them. “Hiya, Raven, hi, Eyleno. Leave her with me, Eyleno. She will be fine, and I will call if anything arises.”

  He scowled, “You will keep your phone on?”

  “I will. If she is needed elsewhere, you need only call.”

  A motorcycle roared out of the woods. Hellebore grinned at Max as she removed her helmet. “That transporter was definitely eager to launch me here. What did you say to him?”

  “Anthony called him. I am sure that threats of some kind were involved. Now, are you ready to meet our charge?”

  The light was still bright enough to illuminate a lovely house, immaculate gardens and thriving roses. Max straightened and walked up to the door, ringing the bell and waiting.

  A woman with huge pansy-coloured eyes and midnight hair opened the door a crack. She sniffed slightly.

  Max extended the card to her. “Raila, my name is Max, and your brother sent me. This is Raven and this is Hellebore.”

  It wasn’t the right situation to stand on ceremony. Max could smell her fear. She could also smell something else and hear another adult heartbeat.

  “Raila, are you alone?”

  As silently as she could, Raila moved the chain lock from the door. “Of course. Without Rithak here, who else could possibly be here?”

  Damn. Max moved fast and slid past Raila with as little disturbance as she could manage. She scented the air and followed the smell of damp leaves to the kitchen. The door slammed, and she hissed, running after her prey into the woods. He was hiding and she smelled fear.

  Hellebore called out, and Max abandoned her hunt. She used speed to return her to the house, and she locked up securely as she closed the door.

  “What is it, Hells?” Max spoke softly.

  Raven was next to Raila, holding her and with her other hand on the woman’s belly.

  Hellebore spoke softly. “Raila is in labour. That man was the father’s cousin. He was here to claim the child. He tricked her into drinking spiked tea, and it started her contractions.”

  Max nodded and swiftly locked the front door. It wouldn’t keep out a determined shifter but that is why Hellebore was here.

  “Can you sing us a ward?”

  “Warning only. I can’t put that kind of power into a place I don’t live.”

  “Anything is good. I will carry her upstairs.”

  Raven looked at her with amusement in her red eyes. “She is pregnant, not crippled. She can and should walk around as much as she is able. Gravity is a helpful tool for labour.”

  Max bit her lip. “I don’t know much, but I will help where I can.”

  Raven beckoned her over. “Get the supplies from the car. She doesn’t have a midwife, so I will do what I would under normal circumstances.”

  Max nodded and exited the house with all haste. She grabbed the duffels from the car and returned to the neatly appointed home before the door had finished swinging shut.

  Raven had been precise on the phone. A good medical kit, foil blankets, lots of gloves and gauze and plenty of canned soup and tea. Surprisingly, Anthony had had most of it on hand.

  Max locked the house again and followed the scent of human and panther up the stairs. Hellebore was still humming wards around all the doors and windows.

  Max hauled the food into the kitchen before she took the medical bag upstairs. Rithak had struck a nerve. With whatever caused vampirism in her bloodstream, she was well and truly out of the gene pool. A child with Gregori’s dark hair and darker eyes haunted her dreams, but it was just that, a haunt. It was the ghost of an idea that had started when her cousin Tabby had had her first child. Gregori had held her while she cried as the truth sank home. Abominations couldn’t have babies, nor could vampires. They might live fairly indefinitely together, but it would be them alone.

  Raila was pacing and Raven was prepping the bed. She discretely went into the bag and grabbed one of the thermal blankets, slipping it between the sheets and mattress. Max caught on that it was to minimize the mess. That she knew. Birth was a messy process.

  Raila came over to Max, sweat beading her brow. “Thank you for bringing the midwife. How did you know?”

  “It was a precaution. Rithak made it clear that you were very, very pregnant, and I am not equipped to handle a birth on the fly. That and Raven is a good friend. It was an excuse to hang out together.” Max was honest.

  “Well, thank you for having a friend who is incorruptible by charms. I was terrified that I would be stuck with Henhin and that he would steal my baby.” Raila flinched and gripped her belly. “Gotta walk.”

  “You keep walking. I can hear you anywhere in the house.”

  “What is your other friend doing?”

  “Hellebore is a siren of sorts. She controls magic with her voice. She is setting up a perimeter that will slow down intruders. It will give me enough time to get to them while she tunes up for battle.” Max sat out of the way in a chair in the corner.

  “You are ready for an attack?”

  “I am ready for almost anything. Anyone who says they are ready for anything is a liar. It may be indelicate, but why is the father suddenly obsessed with obtaining the child?”

  Raila wrinkled her nose. “It was a one-night stand to try something new. I had never been with an elf before, never mind a midnight elf. You can see and feel the stars on their skin, you know.”

  “I didn’t know. They are fast and hard to catch. That I do know.”

  Raila laughed and gasped.

  Max counted in her mind. The contractions were two minutes apart.

  “Well, it was a one-night thing for him too until he heard I was pregnant. I guess they have a smaller birthrate then my kind do, so he suddenly wanted the child. The problem was I want it too.”

  “That isn’t a problem; you are the child’s mother.”

  Raven cleared her throat. “That isn’t precisely true. Midnight elves aren’t really elves at all. They are spirits. They reproduce by finding a suitable host for a piece of themselves and implanting it in that host.”

  “Implanting?”

  “Sex.” Raven brushed her snow-white braid over one shoulder. “I will explain how sex works later, Ma
x.”

  Hellebore came in. “Is Max asking about sex again? I thought you were going to have that talk with her, Raven.”

  Max drummed her fingers while Raila giggled.

  Raila stroked her belly and sighed. “Right, so I knew that the baby would be a midnight elf, but I want a child. This might be my only chance, so I took it. I told Hulorn that I was keeping it and he could get bent. That is when they started stalking me.”

  Max narrowed her eyes. “So, just to confirm, you knew you were an incubator?”

  “I did. This child will be named Danlorn, after my father and its father.”

  Raven moved around, but there was a worried pucker between her eyes.

  Raila kept pacing and her water broke. Raven checked on the progress, and before Max knew it, it was time for Raila to focus on bringing a new life into the world.

  Max sensed a shift in the energy outside the house. Something powerful was approaching.

  She beckoned to Hellebore. “Can I get through your wards without wrecking them?”

  “Sure. I cheated; it is a gender-specific restriction. I did that so I could put more power into it.”

  Max smiled to the room at large. “I will be right back. This isn’t really my thing.” She headed downstairs and out the back door, closing it carefully behind her.

  A handsome man made of dark skin and starlight stood there. “Hulorn I presume?”

  “Has my child arrived?”

  “I don’t know. I am not a courier. It is her child as well.”

  He waved that off. “It is mine, and we both know it.”

  “Yes, but I know nothing of the kind, and I will tear a hole in you if you set one foot near that house.”

  He crossed his arms over his bare chest. It was a little unseasonably cold to be wearing only trousers, but he pulled it off.

  “Someone must have told you what I am and how I reproduce.”

  “Yes, but no one told her body that. It has been nurturing, caring for and supporting a baby all this time. If the baby is taken, her body will mourn it and that can be fatal. She has no mate to comfort her. The loss would be great.”