Darkbeam Part I Read online

  Darkbeam Part I

  The Rubicon’s Story

  Adrienne Woods

  Fire Quill Publishing

  Fire Quill Publishing

  First publish in the USA by Fire Quill Publishing.

  This is the first Edition published in 2017

  Darkbeam Part I: A Draconian Series Novel

  Copyright © 2017 Adrienne Woods

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN-13:9781947649057

  Typography by FQ Design

  Adrienne Woods asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of the work

  CONDITION OF SALE

  This book is sold to the condition that shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out of otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form, binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  To everyone who wanted more.

  Contents

  Acknowledgments

  Also by Adrienne Woods

  Part I

  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

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Part II

  22. Chapter 22

  23. Chapter 23

  24. Chapter 24

  25. Chapter 25

  26. Chapter 26

  27. Chapter 27

  28. Chapter 28

  29. Chapter 29

  30. Chapter 30

  31. Chapter 31

  32. Chapter 32

  33. Chapter 33

  34. Chapter 34

  35. Chapter 35

  36. Chapter 36

  37. Chapter 37

  38. Chapter 38

  39. Chapter 39

  40. Chapter 40

  41. Chapter 41

  42. Chapter 42

  About the Author

  Guardian of Monsters

  First and most importantly, as always, thank you to our Father in Heaven, for blessing me still every day.

  Without Your guidance, I wouldn’t have finished another novel. You were involved in this every day. You are my purpose of life and i will love You till the end of time.

  For the endless support of my family; my husband, Heinrich, and my two beautiful daughter. i would be lost without your loving support and your ability to keep me pursuing a new project each and every time.

  It takes a village to get a novel ready and a special thanks to everyone that helped me to get this novel ready.

  My editors; Hillery and Jess. Hillery you are still a true Paegeian and Jess, I fell in love with the love you have for your work. It shows in every manuscript you work on. I’ve learned so much as a writer from your guidance. Thank you for giving Darkbeam the wings it needed to soar.

  To Monique. Thank you for always delving head first into my novels. For the beautiful words you add and for all the reference checks and making sure that my characters do not stray from who they truly are.

  To Joemel Requeza for your beautiful design to another one of my covers. Your talent cannot be put into words to describe what your covers make me feel. I don’t have a favorite as all of them are perfect and unique in their own way.

  To Carlyle. I couldn’t have done this without you, as you always took a lot on your plate and never disappoint. You give me the amount of time to finish every one of my novels. You are my sister in a world filled with books.

  To Anika. My limbs. I cannot say enough thanks to you. You are the best assistant anyone could ask for and for taking care of anything I throw in your way with a smile and a positive attitude. I couldn’t have done any of this if you were not involved in my daily life. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

  And last, but certainly not the least. My readers. I truly hope that you are going to love Blake’s story. I hope I do the big guy justice.

  Thank you all for being part of my journey.

  Adrienne.

  The Dragonian Series

  Firebolt

  Thunderlight

  Frostbite

  Moonbreeze

  Starlight

  NOVELLAS

  Venom

  Poison

  All the above titles are available in audio

  via Tantor Media.

  DRAGONIAN SERIES SPIN OFF NOVELS

  THE BEAM SERIES

  Moonbeam

  Starbeam

  Darkbeam Part I-III

  Firebeam

  The Journal with Blake Leaf

  The World Of Paegeia

  Illustrated by Joemel Requeza

  DREAM CASTER SERIES

  LIGHT

  SHADOW

  MILLEU

  Part I

  Darkness or Light,

  The Rubicon will fight.

  He will succeed,

  But a rider he needs.

  Rider be brave and fierce,

  strongest bond in all these years,

  of Royal blood they be born;

  Fate of Paegeia is forewarned.

  I heard the words whispered above me and then a small ray of golden light seeped through.

  That moment had happened sixteen years ago. Why I’d thought about it today, I still didn’t know. Those few words or prophecy were what had been spoken when my egg hatched. But they had been a lie. Why the words were still black in the Book of Shadows, none of us knew, but they had given me hope, hope that maybe, just maybe, my true rider existed somewhere. Those words were all I had to hold on to now. They were what my mother held on to. And Irene.

  I remembered her words, ringing inside my skull as if they were spoken yesterday. I remembered them just like I could remember the temperature of my egg as my mother lay on it. Why she didn’t just trample on it and end all of this, I will never know. She knew what I was: a Rubicon. Only one was born every era. Two of us would annihilate this world, because we craved dominance. I’d been born almost a thousand years after Quitto, the last Rubicon, finally died.

  We were just so different from the other dragon races, all ten dragons combined, or so they’d told me.

  I had ten abilities, but I only knew of five. Or better said, only five had shown themselves to me. It was with these five abilities that I would fight the person who used to be my best friend later today. I had known him since I’d shed my first scales and he was in diapers. But the innocence of childhood never lasts.

  It had all changed three summers ago, when the darkness started speaking to me. It didn’t use words like humans did. It had no language. It was a darkness that stirred and boiled inside my core. It had wants foreign to me. It awoke a monstrous beast that wanted to kill. Thoughts, dark thoughts, erupted in my mind incessantly. It would drive me insane until I did its deeds. Then the beast would go quiet and I could breathe again, fight again, but those dark deeds would haunt my soul.

  No one could pull me from this. The beast that had awoken three summers ago was now too strong. Too strong for anyone but one person. A dark sorcerer trapped behind deadly snatchers. He was the only one who would be able to control me, to make me do things that would make every living soul fear him, and I would rejoice doing that. I would know that as every second ticked by, the beast would be growing stronger.

  Lucian told me to fight it. That I was stronger than this. That I was
good. But that was a long time ago.

  As I sat consumed in my own thoughts, a note landed on my table. I looked up and saw the Snow Dragon, Tabitha, a few tables away sitting next to the Green-Vapor and giving me her dashing smile. What does she want from me now? I’d thought my actions from a few weeks back would have made her back off, but some girls were pathetic. It was a known fact that Snow Dragons fell into that department. Still, her beauty somehow turned her cowardly streak into something I couldn’t put my finger on. I wasn’t in love with her; it wasn’t even lust. I was no longer capable of anything like that. Maybe I never was.

  I opened the note.

  Her handwriting was practically illegible, but I managed.

  “Tell you what, meet me in the Colosseum’s changing room before your claim, and you can show me how sorry you are.”

  How sorry I am? I wasn’t sorry about anything. My lips curled. Some girls would do anything not to be ignored.

  Fine, whatever. It would fulfill one of the beast’s carnal needs and maybe, just maybe, Lucian wouldn’t die today.

  Not many knew that the Prince of Tith and the Rubicon used to be best friends, except for my younger sister, Samantha Leaf, a Fire Tail and the biggest pain in the ass a brother could be cursed with. She would attend the Academy in two years and I was dreading it. She was also a Metallic—one of the good dragons who didn’t have to suffer beatings on a monthly basis to stay good. Those stung like hell, and I felt sorry for my father, as there would come a time when even he wouldn’t be able to tame my beast.

  It was one of the things I feared, killing my loved ones. I knew when the time came I wouldn’t care anymore, as even this part of me would be completely dark too. But I feared for him now. Just like I feared for this afternoon when I was going to face my first claim with the Prince of Tith.

  I’d had many claims, ever since I’d turned sixteen. Others had tried to claim me, but they’d failed. One almost died.

  The Prince of Tith, well, he’d just come of age and was keeping the promise he’d made three years ago.

  The memory of that day was an ever-present flicker in the back of my mind.

  It was right after a beating. We were both sitting on the stone wall back at the castle in Tith. It overlooked parts of Tith, and you could see the Creepers writhing in the distance.

  The beating was horrible. I remembered the fatigue that came with it, my two weeks of silence. The beast inside me was raving mad, but I was in control. In pain, yes, but in control.

  It was twilight. I gazed at a stellar sunset, colors of red, pink, and orange melting over a glow of purple. It was peaceful.

  My back stung.

  “If I were a dragon, I would give you my oath,” Lucian said.

  “Oath for what, to stop my father whenever I needed a beating?”

  “No, to find a way to claim you.”

  I stared at him. Was he deranged?

  He was grave. “I guess my promise will do.”

  “Lucian, you don’t know what you’re saying. Nobody can take part in a claim before their sixteenth birthday.”

  “Then I’ll wait.”

  “You have no idea what I will be like three years from now.”

  “Doesn’t matter. I know who you are now, and that is enough. I’m not going to lose you to darkness, Blake.”

  He dangled his arm around me. “You’re like my brother. Brothers don’t give up on one another.”

  That was then. We’d been tight like brothers. But that was before the light came. His light.

  I’d had no choice but to push him away. That pure goodness inside him clashed with my darkness, a darkness that was slightly stronger than his light. It made me sick.

  The best way to explain it was when someone eats too much salty and sweet at the same time. It was like that. A nauseating feeling that I couldn’t handle.

  I had no choice but to stay as far as I could from him. Today I was going to face that inside the Colosseum. It was going to rile up the beast while I had to deal with the nauseated feeling and try my best to not let the beast rip his head off.

  He had no idea what he was putting me through, and for what? A promise he’d made me that summer when that first glimpse of darkness had showed itself.

  He was going to die in that ring. I just hoped it wasn’t going to be this afternoon.

  The crowds were already cheering in the Colosseum, as I was busy feeding the beast. The Snow Dragon kept to her word. I found her wearing only her robe in my changing area where I would exit into the ring.

  It happened so fast. I wanted to fill a need, one of the beast’s needs. I kissed her fiercely. Her back connected hard with the wall as her legs curled around my waist.

  Her body was sculpted to perfection. Her white skin brought to mind an ice queen. She reminded me of winter; she calmed my yearning, and her cold touch calmed my own stirring flame deep inside.

  Her complaints filled my ears. It pleased the beast. When she begged for more, I gave her what she wanted.

  Lust and satisfaction numbed both the beast and myself. When we reached climax, my brain temporarily exploded into fireworks, blinding the darkness.

  Her laughter filled my ears, tired laughter. I could hear my name being called outside.

  “Ru-bi-con, Ru-bi-con, Ru-bi-con.” I didn’t know how long it had been carrying on. It was time to go.

  “Give him hell. Make him regret that he ever decided to try and claim you.” She touched my lips. The beast was calm. He was at peace. “You are untamable,” she said softly.

  My lips curved. I kissed her on the lips and left.

  The crowd was going insane. The Dragonians and the dragons. And of course the press.

  My eyes snagged on King Helmut. There was a warning in them.

  Don’t hurt my son. No, don’t kill my son.

  Your son shouldn’t have done this.

  Our gaze broke and I turned slowly around to see how packed the Colosseum was. Everyone was here because it was me and the Prince of Tith.

  I wasn’t a show pony like some of the other dragons. I didn’t rile up the crowds or put on a show for them. I was the Rubicon. A mere lift of my arms made them go wild.

  The song played.

  It was something stupid Dragonians did. And the one Lucian had chosen only amped me up more. Whether it was too much bass or the effect the electric guitar had on me. It rippled through my bones, clawed on my scales.

  The Dragonians hummed with the tune. The ground vibrated under my feet as they stomped in unison.

  My gaze found Lucian’s.

  He looked determined, with a rope wrapped around his arms and a shield in his hands. His eyes were narrow. Wearing his safety vest with combat boots reaching his calves, he looked more like a soldier who belonged in a futuristic story than a modern-day knight trying to tame a dragon. Especially a dragon who didn’t belong to him.

  Why the hell are you doing this, you fool? You haven’t even ascended yet!

  His light streamed out of him as he stared at me with so much compassion, it made me want to throw up. The beast was starting to reawaken.

  The Snow Dragon hadn’t been enough.

  I jumped into the air. The first part that broke out of my human flesh was my wings. The rest followed as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

  Deep, dark red and purple scales replaced human skin.

  A deadly tail.

  Four paws with sharp talons replaced my limbs.

  Rows and rows of pointy teeth and a mane of thick tendrils flapped with a shake of my head.

  I roared.

  Lucian stood his ground.

  I tuned in and found his heartbeat. It was elevated but not from fear. From adrenaline, admiration, and anticipation. He was ready.

  He steadied his shield in front of him and placed his free hand on the rope over his shoulder. “Let’s show them a claiming they will never forget!” he yelled in Latin.

  I started to chuckle. The beast was taking over. No
thing I did would protect Lucian from its wrath.

  “There will never be a claiming. You are not the royal the Viden prophesied.”

  I changed the scenery of the Colosseum to a swamp. I loved swamps; you could do and be so many things in a swamp. Set booby traps, drown enemies in mud, and they wouldn’t even see it coming. The beast was already clouding my mind.

  Remember who that is. No killing him! I roared. The beast gave a roar back; it sent shivers down my spine and straight into my soul. It was letting me know who was in charge. Today was going to be a fight I could have never prepared myself for. The one inside myself.

  Lucian looked dazed by the swamp that had suddenly appeared around us. Fresh terror lit his eyes.

  I stayed still, concealed like a boulder right in front of him. Then the beast took over completely. I was in way over my head.

  Don’t kill him. I’ll give you what you want. Just don’t kill him.

  The fight was hard. Not just against Lucian, but against myself too.

  I almost gave in. I hung on by a thread. Killing Lucian wasn’t an option.

  I had to stay in control.

  Lucian fought well.

  The swamp didn’t last long. He was really good, the only one truly worthy of being inside this ring with me, If I was honest.

  He finally lost his balance as I shook the ground stomping my feet.