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  Copyright© 2016 April Zyon

  ISBN: 978-1-77233-662-7

  Cover Artist: Jay Aheer

  Editor: Jessica Ruth

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  DEDICATION

  To my Evernight family, thank you all for your support and kindness. I couldn't ask for a better publisher or authors to be friends with. You are all amazing.

  BONDED

  Warriors of Light, 1

  April Zyon

  Copyright © 2016

  Prologue

  On a knee before the dais, the hooded figure whispered in a gruff voice, “We have another.”

  “Already?” Shock was clear in the words of the woman who sat in a golden shaft of pure light. “I thought we had eradicated the menace?”

  “We have failed you, m’lady.” Resignation and sorrow were evident in his tone.

  “No. No, you didn’t fail me.” Standing, the woman stepped a golden-shod foot from the dais and into the normal light of the golden chamber. “Rise, Guardian, you did not fail me,” she assured him with a touch of her hand on his shoulder. “However, this means that there must be more.”

  “I know, m’lady.”

  There was such heavy distress on his face that she touched his cheek. “You won’t be alone this time.”

  “I wasn’t alone last time.”

  “No, you weren’t. Still, you were outnumbered and … what is the word?” She tapped a finger to her apple-red lips, then said with a smile, “Outgunned.” Seeing the odd look on his face, she laughed. The term would not exist for about another hundred years.

  “I do not understand that word.”

  “And you won’t. Not for a very long time.” Standing before him, she pushed the cowl to his cloak back and whispered, “I am going to ask you a question. Weigh your answer with care, because this will change everything that you know … everything that you believe.”

  “What more could change for me, m’lady? I know of the monsters that haunt the night. I know of the evil that we had thought we had beaten.” Raising his glittering green gaze to her eyes, he added, “I saw it with my own eyes. What more is there?”

  She traced the scar that went from his hairline, across his eye, and down to his chin. “You have seen so very much, Guardian. Yet what I have to ask you, what I wish to give you, is so much more than you could comprehend.”

  “Will it help me defeat the monsters?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then ask your question. Ask the question you already know the answer to.”

  “Will you become the first? Will you search out guardians such as yourself? Will you start an army of your own to combat the forces that are gathering to end humanity? Will you accept my gift and pass it to each man that you come across deserving of the title guardian?”

  “Yes, m’lady.” He stood taller and his chin lifted in response to the praise.

  “Then you should call me by my true name.” She whispered close to him now. “For I am about to show you the truth of what you hunt, the truth of reality, the truth of your world. Mercury, I am about to show you the reason you were born and the reason the army you will raise is needed.”

  It was the first time she had called him by name. The look on his face showed his stark confusion, for he had never given it to her. “How?”

  “Oh, my dear, dear Mercury.” She smiled. “I am, or will be known, by many names. I am the Queen of Heaven, Mercury. Whether I be called Anat, Isis, Hera, or even Astarte.” She felt him startle. “I am life. I am more. I am all in one. There is another, however, because for every one thing, there has to be a balance of the complete and opposite thing. This is what we battle.”

  “But, but, you are…” The man was clearly stymied by these claims. Peering into his thoughts, she saw the questions he wanted to ask. He knew just who Anat was—a goddess. But she had touched him. She lived among their people. She was a part of their culture. He was simply wondering—how? How had this woman gone so long acting as a human and she was actually a goddess.

  So, she answered his unspoken question. “Because I am who I am. Because I am a goddess. I am a goddess who needs a royal army, a guard that will beat back the rising darkness. Will you lead my army, Mercury?”

  “And how do I know that you aren’t the cause of the evil?” The question was one that she would have expected. His confusion was reflected in his tone because he was trying to wrap his mind around the fact that a goddess was there before him asking for his assistance.

  “Because I have saved lives, and you have saved lives. What I am asking you to do will be more of the same, only on a larger scale. I asked if you could handle my question … was I incorrect in my choice?”

  “No,” he whispered with honesty. “How do I do this?”

  “With this.” She held out a small, golden medallion. “I warn you, there will be drawbacks, ones that I must tell you about before we proceed. Ones that may change your mind.”

  “Nothing will make me change my mind.” His tone was firm and unbreakable.

  She studied him for a moment. “Your sisters felt no pain,” she said, mentioning them for the first time. “I know that is why you fight for me, on the side of good. They felt no pain. They felt only the acceptance of the afterlife.”

  “Thank you.” He cast his gaze to the floor, then gave a deep breath and a sudden nod. “Tell me, then, m’lady.” He pulled his cowl up once more and went back to his guardian stance. “What are the drawbacks?” She watched as his stare fell on the medallion, on the marking of her brand—a star inside of a circle, with an infinity knot connecting them.

  “You have to die to become one of my warriors,” she whispered sadly. “And each man that you recruit must die, as well.” She held up a hand and smiled. “I would never take your life and give nothing in return. You would exist for as long as the Earth turns on her axis. As long as the sun warms the skies. Unless…”

  There was always a caveat. “Unless your head is taken. Or the medallion is removed from your body or shattered. Then your soul will return to the Wheel of Souls and won’t be allowed to return to Earth for a thousand years.”

  “And how will being dead allow us to fight the monsters?”

  “You will not be dead. You will still have your souls. You will not be monsters unless you allow your souls to turn to darkness. Only then will you turn into what you hunt.” She did not candy-coat it for him, knowing that would be pointless and unhelpful.

  “Bearing my medallion, you will have additional talents and the ability to wield the weapons that I will create for you to battle them. Weapons that you or one of your men will soon learn to create, as well. As time marches on, your minds will quickly adjust. You will learn to blend, and you will become so very, very much more than you are now. You will become the guardians of the world, because the darkness is growing.”

  “I understand,” he replied. She had given him a great deal to think about. He hesitated but when he looked back up to her and nodded, she saw the trust in his eyes. “How does this begin?”

  A blade appeared in her hand. “Now, I kill you, Mercury.” Her voice held true sorrow. “Then I will lay the medallion at the wound, and when you wake, you will understand. You are the first, Mercury. You will have access to all because of the medallion I gi
ve to you and only you.

  “The ones after you will not hold as much power, will not hold as much knowledge, because it will be up to you to teach them and help them learn their power.” She paused. “I will give you a book that will hold all of the powers inside. When you create a new guardian, have them place their hand upon a blank page, and you will learn all that there is to know about their medallion. Call it a download—again, a word you will understand one day,” she assured him.

  “One day.”

  She knew he did not fear death. If anything, he embraced it. As she slid the blade into his heart, she watched the life flee his body and whispered the necessary words.

  When he woke next, he would be alone and have the knowledge of the gods in his mind. Little did he know at the time, but they weren’t truly gods. They were beings from another world. A world far more advanced than Earth.

  When he woke, his real training would begin.

  Chapter One

  The years had been long and hard for Mercury. He’d fought as the goddess had asked him to fight. He had gained more warriors for the cause, but he had watched many a good man and woman fall. Give in to the seductive lure of darkness. It was unacceptable to him, the way that these men—whom he had handpicked—turned to the darkness so easily.

  There had to be a way around it. There had to be a way to save them.

  “There is.” A soft voice spoke from the shadows, answering his thought. “You have done so well, Mercury. You have done so very well, my knight.”

  Bowing his head, he whispered, “I’ve tried, but I feel like I’m failing more than helping. I’ve recruited men, brought them over and given them the power that is held inside of the medallions. Yet they keep turning to the darkness and that makes even more trouble for me.” He sighed. “Because then they take our secrets to the evil ones. Well, when I can’t find and stop them beforehand.” He hated that part. Killing the men he had given extra life to. Killing the men who had become like brothers to him.

  “That is why I am here now. I am unable to take corporeal form at this time because my energies are being used elsewhere, but what I can tell you is this—for each medallion, there is a second half. There is a being that is perfect for the warrior. It is time for those women to be found for the men. It is time to remind them what they fight for.”

  “And how are we supposed to do that? It’s not like there’s a dating service for us,” he snapped.

  Her laughter flowed around him. “No, there isn’t a dating service for you. However…” She took a long sigh. For a moment, he thought she had disappeared, but then she spoke again, softer, weaker. “These women are all unique. They are all amazing. And they will each bring their own set of skills to the table. They will help you in dealing with those that have been created by the darkness.”

  He could hear her smile before she added, “And they will bring new life to the warriors who thought they would never have what is so essential—family. Which is exactly what we are fighting for. Why we have to ensure that the darkness is beaten back.

  “Find the women with special talents, women who hide because they know, should they be caught, that they would be used for experiments. Use your contacts, Mercury—the men and women who are very high in the political and military worlds—to hear the whispers of these women.”

  “As you say.” Mercury was already thinking of what he would have to do, how he could possibly go about trying to find these women. “Goddess,” he called softly. “Will I see you again?”

  “Yes, dearest Mercury, you will. One day there will be a woman who walks into your life who makes you think of me. Then you will know that my daughter has been born and has come to you. When she does, protect her, because when she finds you, it is because the darkness has slain me.”

  “Goddess?”

  “I am able to be killed, my old friend. They will look for her next because she will inherit all that I am, all that I was, and all that I will ever be. Protect her, because she will be yours. That is all I can say.” In fact, it was more than she had ever told him before.

  “Until another time, Mercury. Begin your search for the women. Find them. Protect them. And know that your men will understand instinctively how to bond with them. Trust that these women will mean more to them than anything, and never, ever get between a warrior and his bride. It will not end well for anyone.” She whispered those words. Then he felt her leaving. It was as if a vacuum had opened and sucked out the air for a moment.

  “Fuck,” he muttered. Running his hands through his military-short hair, he turned his face up to the ceiling and sighed. He felt a rush of information via the medallion that was embedded in his heart. Rubbing at his chest, he nodded. “Thank you, Goddess.” Each medallion would have a soul keeper, a woman to balance the warrior. Every piece of information that was ever possible for him to need to know was in his mind now. The past, present, and even future were all rolled up in a mix, something he had to sort through. The information about the women that would be the light for the men was one of the first items he assembled in his mind. It was in that moment that he realized just how crucial this work was going to be. Finding these women for the men was the only way to keep them inside of the light.

  “Now, just to find them,” he murmured and went off to the central nervous system of the base—the computer and tech lab.

  Chapter Two

  Humming a soft tune, the figure’s movements came as if in a dance. There was a gleeful grin on the face of madness as the weapon was drawn from the ice chest. Pulling on a glove, the figure popped the blade free of the rubber mold and held it up to the blue light for inspection. A single word floated on the air. “Perfect.” The voice sounded neither male nor female, but simply mad.

  The time was now. The figure slid the knife back into the portable ice chest and covered it with a blanket of dry ice.

  Stepping out into the bright sunlight, the figure’s tanned and perfectly honed features turned up to give homage to the sun before starting out for a day at the beach.

  The selection was made easily. Only the perfect candidate would be the choice, and the knowledge of who that was could be seen very clearly and very quickly.

  “You little bastard.” The teenage girl kicked at the sand and the child who had spilled his red Kool-Aid all over her white bikini. “You are such a little retard,” she said haughtily before moving off and laughing with her friends, then settling on the lounge chair she had set up.

  Moving confidently, the figure grinned. The stage was set, and all it would take would be the singular, most perfect moment, which came far sooner than expected.

  The sun was at its apex. It was clear what needed to happen. A fine, upstanding citizen could only take so much of this vulgar, foul-mouthed wretch who had been let upon the world. Even the twit’s parents and siblings should be killed. Ah, that brought a smile to the figure’s face, as it stood to the left of the young misfit with the mouth of a sailor. He was thankful for his ability to become invisible at will, thankful for that twist of his genetic makeup that made him the perfect dispenser of justice.

  Standing just off to the side of the beach chair, there was a moment of time before the figure bent at the waist, as if listening intently to what the girl was saying even though no one saw him standing there. The knife, made of ice and laced with acidic compounds and paralytic agents, slid deep into the back of the twit’s neck from behind, just between the webbing of the chair. He ensured that it slipped just above the C1 vertebrae so that the death would be instantaneous, far more than the little girl deserved.

  There was no need to bleed her by pulling the blade out of her neck. Not when leaving the blade in the crevice created by the serrated and sharp edges of ice was enough. Too bad he had to make sure that the brat didn’t scream. His special cocktail would have killed the girl far more painfully than a simple stab, and she deserved it. For all the horrible blasts to everyone near, oh yes… This was a death well deserved, just as her parents’
and siblings’ deaths would be—the figure just had to wait for a tearful obituary.

  Walking off with cooler in hand, a whistle on the breeze all that signaled that he had been there, the killer was gone well before the body was found. Ah yes, it had been a good day.

  He intended to return later to watch the police as they canvased the area and talked to the airheaded idiots that had been on the beach with her. The best part of it all was watching the havoc that had been wreaked upon the community.

  After the tools of the trade had been put back, the figure stopped at the edge of a food truck that sat on the boardwalk, phased back into sight, then moved around to get a thick sandwich and a bottle of water. Moving to take a seat on the pier in perfect view of the scene, the killer took a bite and began to eat, watching, smiling as the girl was found to be dead. Her mother shook her to wake her, then began freaking out when the girl didn’t respond. It became clear to the mother a moment later when she lifted the brat and saw the blood staining the white chair.

  An elated smile tilted the figure’s lips when the first scream rent the air from the girl’s mother, who sobbed about her baby. As the shadowed figure took another bite of the thick Philly sandwich, the glee all but rolled off his body.

  The sandwich was finished and the water sipped as the killer took in everything—the police that arrived, the hawk-eye looks they cast around the crowd on the sand. He laughed. As if the killer that could create such a spectacular kill would be stupid enough to remain so close. While the words that the officers shouted to each other didn’t reach his ears, the killer’s eyes ate up everything that happened with joy.

  Once the beautiful, yellow tape was strung up around the body of the foul-mouthed hellion whose soul had been sent to Hell where she belonged, the killer stood. Ah yes, it was a very good day indeed. He tossed his trash away and headed off humming a tune.