Nial saw the dog bounding across the front lawn of one of the houses they were passing. It was wound up over all the noise and movement, and thought there was a threat to its house. Nial sensed its distress as it passed him. It was confused and afraid. It launched itself right through the spread line of police and latched onto the nearest protester, snarling. The guy screamed.
The police stepped in to help. Nial saw the closest one raise his baton, to fend the dog away from the bleeding man. That was all it took. Others saw the baton raised and lowered, and heard the man screaming and a riot was born.
The rally halted and protestors surged around the wounded man. They leapt at the police, screaming insults. They didn’t seem to care that they were without weapons or armor. They threw themselves upon the police, using the weight of numbers to their advantage.
The police were forced to defend themselves. They clustered together, then tried to cut off the riot by spreading out through the crowd, calming and quelling. There was a lot of force being used.
Nial dropped his camera, letting it hang around his neck. Sebastian was on the far side of the riot, caught on the edges of it. The police pincer movement would fold him into the center, where the police would beat down any more resistance.
He wasn’t aware of the decision to move. He ran for the edges of the riot, where the police were all facing inward. He could work his way around to the back. If he could get to Sebastian before the police net closed in, then he could pull him out. Sebastian wouldn’t be aware of the danger that Nial could see from his outsider’s viewpoint.
In a crowd driven by a common emotion like anger, perceptions were often hazy at best. Nial used that to his advantage. He was able to use more of his strength to physically push and sometimes throw people aside, forcing his way through the crowd as quickly and as directly as possible. He lost sight of Sebastian, but steadily worked his way to where he had last seen him.
The police were there before him. They were closing into their circle now and could see that they had momentum on their side. They were swinging batons with furious energy. Sebastian had dropped to the ground and was trying to crawl between them, unnoticed. There was blood on the back of his head, a sharp contrast to the blond hair.
The police were trying to contain the chaos. The two beside Sebastian bent and flayed at him with the batons, forcing him back into the circle.
Nial leapt over shoulders, backs, all the bodies that were in the way. He stepped over Sebastian and straight armed the officer on the left, his hand ramming into the man’s throat. The officer choked and grabbed at his throat, folding over. He had lost all interest in rioters.
Then Nial turned and swung the same arm in a fast semi-circle and drove his stiffened fingers into the officer’s side. He would have preferred a front attack, but they wore body armor these days. His fingers sunk deep and the officer staggered, clawing at his side.
Then Nial bent and picked up Sebastian and dragged him backwards, out of the crowd. This side of the street was lined with stores and small businesses. He looked for an alley or an open doorway, but all the doors were shut up tight. There was a narrow space between two buildings and he half-dragged and half-carried Sebastian into the slender space. As soon as the danger of being seen was passed, he bent and picked up Sebastian properly and carried him the length of the alley and out into a wider lane that ran behind the stores and offices.
Cars were parked along the edges, leaving a barely wide enough space for other cars to pass. Nial moved between two of them and lowered Sebastian to the ground. He propped him up against the brick wall. Sebastian’s eyes were closed.
Nial checked the back of his head. There was a lot of blood, but whatever the injury had been, it had healed over now.
Relieved, he sat on the ground beside Sebastian and waited.
After a moment or two, Sebastian groaned and reached for the back of his head. His fingers probed and he grimaced as he looked at the bloody tips. Then he focused on Nial. His expression didn’t change. “You followed me here.”
There were lies Nial could speak that would take away the hard light in Sebastian’s eyes, but he found he couldn’t do it. “Yes,” he said, finally. “But not to stop you.”
From the narrow alley, screaming and shouting filtered dimly.
“You just can’t help yourself, can you?” Sebastian said dryly.
Again, the justifications, the easy lies, rose to his lips and Nial thrust them aside. “I just wanted…no, I needed to watch out for you. Surely you can’t blame me for that?”
“I can look after myself, Nial. I’ve survived nearly two centuries already. But you’re never going to let me live my life, are you?”
He had expected anger for Sebastian, but this dry coldness was frightening. It was like all the anger had been drained out of him.
Finally, he tried to defend himself. “I didn’t stop you,” he pointed out. “I didn’t manipulate anything. I just came to watch and make sure you were okay.”
“I’m okay,” Sebastian said flatly.
Nial sighed. “We’re going to have to start over again,” he pointed out. “There were cameras, lots of cameras besides mine. Someone might have taken both our photos. I wasn’t very discreet, getting you out of there.”
Sebastian nodded. “You’re right. This life is at an end.” There was a terrible finality in his voice that made Nial’s heart slip loose and run hard. He looked at Nial. “We’re going to have to start again, but I’m going to do it alone.”
Nial tried to encompass what he was saying, but it was too large. Too horrible. “You don’t mean that,” he said stupidly.
“Unlike you, Nial, I mean what I say.” He dug in his jeans pocket, wincing as he moved. Then he tossed something on the ground between them. It was a plastic plug, with screw threads, just over an inch in diameter. There was a small, neat hole in the middle of it and the inside of it gleamed with viscous, dark oil.
“What is that?” Nial asked.
Sebastian rolled it over with one long finger, so the hole was clear. “You have always said mechanics was never going to be a natural talent for you. I didn’t even think you knew how to put oil in the car. But I think you’ve got enough self-interest to figure out what you needed to do, just this once. You’re smart enough to know that a slow leak of oil would stop the truck, once the oil ran out. I was lucky some other protestors picked me up.” He got to his feet, and spun to face Nial, throwing out his hands. “Christ, Nial is there nothing you would refuse to stoop to?”
Nial curled his hand over the plastic cap. Anything he could think of to say would just incense Sebastian more. So he said nothing.
“Tell me,” Sebastian demanded. “And don’t lie. I’ll know if you’re lying. After all this time, I can finally tell when you’re trying to con me.”
Nial couldn’t say the words. He knew the consequences that would come with them and he wasn’t sure he could speak. There was something gripping his chest, stopping his breath and his heart. Something painful.
Sebastian hung his head. “You’re breaking my heart, Nathanial.”
“Everything I’ve done, I did because I love you.”
Sebastian shook his head. He looked Nial square in the eye. “Vale, Nathanial.”
Goodbye, Nathanial. Latin, his mother tongue.
Sebastian turned and walked away, and for the first time in his life, Nial didn’t have the strength to follow.
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The next book in the Blood Stone Series
Blood Stone
Survival becomes a deadly game where lovers might be enemies.
Nial orders Calum Garrett to get close to Hollywood producer Kate Lindenstream. Garrett reluctantly complies for he has held himself apart from humans for centuries. Kate doesn’t fall into Garrett’s arms, either. She already has someone for that. Roman Xerus -- whom Kate knows as Adrian -- and Garrett go way back to the sixteenth century Scottish highlands, but they parted bitterly two hundred years ago.
With Roman’s support, Kate battles Garrett in wills and business as he methodically forces himself into her life. However, on the closed-in movie set in the Californian desert, Garrett’s calm, orderly world crumbles for Garrett is drawn to Kate. He has begins to experience real, human feelings.
Kate doesn’t cooperate in the chess game Nial orchestrates, despite being unaware of the strategies swirling around her film set. Demanding and expecting only the best for her movie, Kate’s agenda forces Roman and Garrett to work together to protect her and keep the humans around her ignorant of the Pro Libertatus, the anonymous and all-powerful vampire group who nearly killed Nial, Sebastian and Winter, and shield Kate from the excesses of the League for Humanity. But could Roman really be with the Pro Libertatus?
There’s hidden intentions everywhere, and centuries of repressed feelings, along with at least two different groups that mean them harm. Then there’s the rumours that Kate has found the mythical Blood Stone, the key to unlocking vampire history and lifting their curse. Who is Kate, really? Because once Garrett begins to notice, things about Kate don’t quite add up, either...
__
Reviewer Top Pick. Blood Stone is a brilliant, awesome and a fantastic read! The secrets were shocking. With so many different ways the story could play out it was exciting and I found I couldn’t put it down. After I finished I couldn’t stop thinking about the story and the characters! I cannot wait for the next installment and will be waiting impatiently for it! Night Owl Reviews
Get your copy of Blood Stone now: https://books2read.com/BloodStone
About the Author
Tracy Cooper-Posey is a #1 Best Selling Author. She writes romantic suspense, historical, paranormal and science fiction romance. She has published over 90 novels since 1999, been nominated for five CAPAs including Favourite Author, and won the Emma Darcy Award.
She turned to indie publishing in 2011. Her indie titles have been nominated four times for Book Of The Year. Tracy won the award in 2012, and a SFR Galaxy Award in 2016 for “Most Intriguing Philosophical/Social Science Questions in Galaxybuilding” She has been a national magazine editor and for a decade she taught romance writing at MacEwan University.
She is addicted to Irish Breakfast tea and chocolate, sometimes taken together. In her spare time she enjoys history, Sherlock Holmes, science fiction and ignoring her treadmill. An Australian Canadian, she lives in Edmonton, Canada with her husband, a former professional wrestler, where she moved in 1996 after meeting him on-line.
Other books by Tracy Cooper-Posey
For reviews, excerpts, and more about each title, visit Tracy’s site and click on the cover you are interested in: http://tracycooperposey.com/books-by-thumbnail/
* = Free!
Vistaria Has Fallen
Vistaria Has Fallen
Prisoner of War
Hostage Crisis
Freedom Fighters
Casualties of War
V-Day
Scandalous Scions
(Historical Romance Series – Spin off)
Rose of Ebony
Soul of Sin
Valor of Love
Marriage of Lies
Mask of Nobility
Law of Attraction
Veil of Honor
Once and Future Hearts
(Ancient Historical Romance—Arthurian)
Born of No Man
Dragon Kin
Pendragon Rises
War Duke of Britain
High King of Britain
Battle of Mount Badon
Abduction of Guenivere
Downfall of Cornwall
Vengeance of Arthur
Grace of Lancelot
The Grail and Glory
Camlann
Romantic Thrillers Series
Fatal Wild Child
Dead Again
Dead Double
Terror Stash
Thrilling Affair (Boxed Set)
Scandalous Sirens
(Historical Romance Series)
Forbidden*
Dangerous Beauty
Perilous Princess
Go-get-‘em Women
(Short Romantic Suspense Series)
The Royal Talisman
Delly’s Last Night
Vivian’s Return
Ningaloo Nights
Blood Knot Series
(Urban Fantasy Paranormal Series)
Blood Knot
Southampton Swindle
Broken Promise
Vale
Amor Meus
Blood Stone
Blood Unleashed
Blood Drive
Blood Revealed
Blood Ascendant
The Sherlock Holmes Series
(Romantic Suspense/Mystery)
Chronicles of the Lost Years
The Case of the Reluctant Agent
Sherlock Boxed In
Beloved Bloody Time Series
(Paranormal Futuristic Time Travel)
Bannockburn Binding*
Wait
Byzantine Heartbreak
Viennese Agreement
Romani Armada
Spartan Resistance
Celtic Crossing
Kiss Across Time Series
(Paranormal Time Travel)
Kiss Across Time*
Kiss Across Swords
Time Kissed Moments
Kiss Across Chains
Kiss Across Deserts
Kiss Across Kingdoms
Time and Tyra Again
Kiss Across Seas
Kiss Across Worlds
The Kine Prophecies
(Epic Norse Fantasy Romance)
The Branded Rose Prophecy
The Stonebrood Saga
(Gargoyle Paranormal Series)
Carson’s Night
Beauty’s Beasts
Harvest of Holidays
Unbearable
Sabrina’s Clan
Pay The Ferryman
Hearts of Stone (Boxed Set)
Destiny’s Trinities
(Urban Fantasy Romance Series)
Beth’s Acceptance*
Mia’s Return
Sera’s Gift
The First Trinity
Cora’s Secret
Zoe’s Blockade
Octavia’s War
The Second Trinity
Terra’s Victory
Destiny’s Trinities (Boxed Set)
Interspace Origins
(Science Fiction Romance Series)
Faring Soul
Varkan Rise
Cat and Company
Interspac
e Origins (Boxed Set)
Short Paranormals
Solstice Surrender
Eva’s Last Dance
Three Taps, Then….
The Well of Rnomath
Jewells of Tomorrow
(Historical Romantic Suspense)
Diana By The Moon
Heart of Vengeance
The Endurance
(Science Fiction Romance Series)
5,001
Greyson’s Doom
Yesterday’s Legacy
Promissory Note
Quiver and Crave
Xenogenesis
Junkyard Heroes
Evangeliya
Skinwalker’s Bane
Contemporary Romances
Lucifer’s Lover
An Inconvenient Lover
The Indigo Reports
(Space Opera)
Flying Blind
New Star Rising
But Now I See
Suns Eclipsed
Worlds Beyond
Non-Fiction Titles
Reading Order
(Non-Fiction, Reference)
Reading Order 2017*