Jacob's Ladder (String of Fate)

  String of Fate

  Jacob’s Ladder

  by

  Bianca D'Arc

  Table of Contents

  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

  Books by Bianca D’Arc

  About the Author

  A man on a mission…

  Jake can see the future and there’s a special woman on his mind. She needs his help and he’s just the man to help when danger stalks her every step.

  A woman with responsibilities…

  For Ria, being the Nyx—the leader of her people—comes with burdens that few can understand. Her special abilities make her a target of the Venifucus, an ancient faction that hopes to pervert Ria’s hereditary power to their own evil purposes. She’s lived her life on the run, but the time has come to turn and confront the bad guys on her trail.

  Can they stop the Venifucus from using the ancient power of the Nyx to return evil to this world? Whatever the cost, they must stop it, before it’s too late.

  Dedication

  This book is for all those who have stood by me for so very long. Especially my favorite Canadian, Peggy McChesney. Your support and willingness to be a cheerleader when I desperately need it are invaluable. And my friend, Anna-Marie Buchner, whose enthusiasm is contagious and much-needed. Thank you!

  And special thanks to Suzanne and Shanda, who have gifted me with their friendship, enthusiasm and energy. You gals are fantastic! (And a lot of fun to hang out with!)

  Special thanks to Dad for being my travel companion, goody-bag stuffer extraordinaire, and all around great guy. And to Mom for telling me years ago to “do what you love.” Better advice, I’ve never heard.

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Copyright © 2014 Bianca D’Arc

  Cover Art by Valerie Tibbs

  All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Chapter One

  Ria was in serious trouble. Information was sometimes slow to get to her, but from what she understood, she wasn’t the only monarch being targeted. No, someone was trying to take out all the shifter leadership around the world.

  At the moment, she was pinned down inside the warehouse complex she and her Royal Guard protectors had been using as a base of operations for the past week. Ria really hated being always on the move with no permanent home, but until she found a way to hide the very potent magical charm that was a legacy of her position, her enemies would probably keep finding her. Sometimes, it felt like she had been running all her life.

  In truth, it had only gotten really bad in the past few years. A few months ago, she had discovered one of the reasons why her enemies kept discovering her whereabouts. A traitor who had been ejected from the Clan for embezzling Clan funds had been selling information about her movements to the Venifucus—the ancient order that followed Elspeth, a fey witch who had been known as the Destroyer of Worlds the last time her evil was unleashed on the mortal realm.

  Elspeth was in exile now. Had been for centuries. But her minions survived, looking for ways to bring her back from the forgotten realm to which she had been sentenced so long ago, when the forces of good had triumphed over her evil. Elspeth couldn’t be killed. At least, nobody in the mortal realm during the last battle had known how to do it. She was at least part fey, with the fey’s intense magic and near-immortal lifespan. Add to that Elspeth’s extraordinary magic and she became close to unstoppable.

  Thankfully, she had been stopped all those years ago, and Ria, among others, were doing everything in their power to see that Elspeth remained in exile. Her return to the mortal realm was nearly unthinkable. There was no doubt she would try to pick up where she had left off, subjugating humankind and shifters alike, killing thousands—maybe millions this time—in her quest for power.

  And Ria, as Nyx of the pantera noir—queen of her people—held the secret to something that could soften the veil that separated the various realms of existence. As leader of the rare and deadly black panther shifters, she was also guardian of the intensely magical secret that had been passed down from generation to generation through her line. It was a secret the Venifucus somehow knew—or guessed. And it had made her a big, fat, favorite target.

  “They’re in the complex,” Shelly, one of her loyal Royal Guards, reported in a tense voice. “We have to get you out of here now.”

  Ria was all for that. Whatever happened, she couldn’t afford to be captured. If they got her, she wouldn’t have much choice. She would have to take drastic action. She would die before willingly giving up the secret her family had held for a thousand years. It was that important. That vital to every living being in the mortal realm and beyond.

  Though Ria was older than she appeared, she didn’t want to die just yet. She hadn’t even really begun to live. She wanted more time. Time to find a mate, fall in love and have little baby black panther shifters of her own to spoil…and to pass on the legacy of her line. That last bit sort of ruined the fairy tale, but she knew how important the guardianship was. Her ancestor had been chosen by the Goddess to be the guardian and Ria wasn’t about to mess up a thousand years of obedience to the Mother of All’s will.

  Ria ran as fast as her human feet would let her, surrounded by her Royal Guard. There were only a few on duty at any given time, but those few were forces to be reckoned with and had saved her life many times before. The Royal Guard had prepared for every contingency before even considering actually using this location. As a result, they had an escape plan in place and more than one route to get out of the area.

  Ria trusted her people to find her a safe passage, and if they came across any Venifucus soldiers, she and her Guard would take them out swiftly and silently.

  Unless they were taken out first. So far, that had never happened. Somebody always survived to help guide her out, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t lost a few dear friends along the way. The lucky ones retired with injuries that made it impossible for them to continue as Guards. The unlucky ones went on to the next realm knowing they had done their duty, and she prayed for their souls on the other side of the veil.

  Bronson was new to her Guard. He had come of age and finished his training just in time to replace her cousin, Cade. Though she missed Cade, she knew he had earned this time with his new mate, Ellie. Cade and his former fighting partner, Mitch, were both newly mated and now far from her side. She missed them dearly, but didn’t begrudge them their happiness.

  Ria had attended Mitch’s recent wedding in Iceland and was truly happy for her former Guard. At that very same wedding reception, Ria had met a striking, startling, altogether scrumptious human mal
e with a decidedly mystical bent. Ellie’s older brother, Jake, had come to the party specifically to meet Ria—or so he had claimed. They had shared a dance and a bit of conversation that had haunted her for months now. He’d said he wanted to meet her because he was going to help her save the world.

  Intriguing as that notion was, he hadn’t wanted to elaborate more than that. They had talked of many things that night, but had never returned to that rather outrageous claim. She had felt a bit like Cinderella at the ball. She had spent most of the night with Jake, as he’d told her to call him, but then, right around midnight, when the shifters began taking their furred forms and racing over the snowy, Icelandic volcano, he had disappeared.

  She hadn’t seen him since, but her thoughts had turned to him time and time again over the past few months. The simplest little thing would inspire memories of their few hours together and his delicious scent seemed to be forever embedded in her brain. She almost suspected…but no. He couldn’t be her mate. He was human. And weird.

  What kind of guy ran off like that? And what about that strange claim that he was going to help her save the world? Who spoke like that? She wasn’t sure if he was as incredibly appealing as she remembered, or just some random fruitcake who led women on with cryptic words and then disappeared into the night, never to be seen again.

  But if he was a fruitcake, why did she think of him almost every day? And why did she have this incredible urge to hunt him down? Why in the world did she want to see him again? He’d left her. Abandoned her like Cinderella had left the prince at the ball, holding nothing but a lousy shoe. Now that was some weird role reversal, wasn’t it? And she didn’t even have a smelly shoe to remember him by.

  She was doing it again. Thinking about that encounter with Jake all those months ago when she had more important things going on. Right now, she should be concentrating on fleeing for her life.

  She was following after Dorian, the point man of her small Guard detail as they headed for the closest of the pre-planned escape routes. Thank goodness her feet still managed to work even while her mind was on that damnable, disappearing man, Jake.

  Ria was doing her best to move as quickly and silently as she had been trained, following in Dorian’s wake. Shelly and her partner, Burgess, were on either side with Bronson bringing up the rear. And then Bronson cried out.

  Ria spared a glance behind her to see the young man go down on one knee, then pop right back up again—bleeding. He’d been shot in the leg and from the sound of it, the gun was sporting a silencer. That was bad. Pros used silencers.

  Bronson spun and began fighting hand to hand with the man who had come up behind him. Ria worried for the young Guard, but knew he was doing his duty and she had to do hers. She had to keep herself from being captured. It sucked being the black panther queen sometimes. Actually…all the time. Ria wasn’t exactly a fairytale princess and doubted she ever would be.

  For one thing, she was always on the run and had to watch her friends get hurt and even die protecting her and her legacy. Where was the fun in that? All it did was break her heart and make her live on pure adrenaline half the time, which was something she didn’t really enjoy.

  She ran faster, knowing Bronson was either already dead or gravely injured. His sacrifice would be for nothing if she didn’t manage to escape.

  Burgess fell back to take the rear guard position as the four of them kept running. They were in a long hallway filled with shadows. High windows on the left—an outside wall—allowed the weak moonlight to filter in from above, painting the scene with bizarre rectangles of light. Off to the right was the occasional connecting hall and a number of locked doors as they sped along. Her Guard knew which of the doors or hallways led to safety.

  And then the shadows ahead moved. Dorian didn’t cry out as he fell, but she knew he was down even as she heard Burgess engaging with more enemies behind her. Shelly moved in front of her and half-shifted to her battle form to engage with the enemy while Ria tried to look for another way out.

  She didn’t see any. No, they were well and truly trapped in the long hallway and this time, she truly thought her number was up.

  With a crash, sparkling glass rained down on her from above and a rope hit the wall beside her. They were coming from above now too? She looked upward and saw a black-clad man silhouetted against the smashed window several yards above her head.

  “Grab the rope if you want to live.” The male voice drifted down to her—a voice she recognized from her dreams. It couldn’t be… “Take the rope now,” he urged, his voice low and steady.

  Sizing up her choices, Ria realized there really was no other choice at the moment but to trust that her ears were not deceiving her. She reached for the rope.

  A moment later, she was airborne, being hoisted at incredible speed toward the window.

  Good thing she was a cat because when she got to the opening, she realized her knight in black armor was hanging upside down from the roofline. She jumped up onto the ledge of the window, twisted and then jumped upward once more, with her rescuer’s strength helping her up onto the roof with him.

  She caught a quick glimpse of his face and her breath caught. It was Jake. A Jake she had never seen before. Gone was the urbane man in a tailored suit, replaced by a tough-as-nails commando swathed in black.

  “Come on. I’ve got a ride waiting.” He dashed across the flat roof of the warehouse toward a ladder that led upward, Ria beside him.

  For a moment, her panther wanted to jump for joy, running beside the man it had taken an instant liking to all those months ago. Her ears hadn’t been deceiving her. This new Jake made her want to purr. He was tough and lean, muscled and dangerous. And he was here. Finally. Her very own male version of Cinderella.

  She kept an eye out for enemies as they ran along, but the roof was surprisingly clear. Had the attackers left out this area in their coverage plan? If so, that was amateurish. They should have at least posted a sniper up here.

  Then she saw a crumpled shape on the ground several yards ahead. As she neared, she saw that it was an enemy soldier. He looked unconscious and both his hands and feet had been bound with zip ties. Very professional work. Ria could only assume, as she kept on running, that Jake had downed the man on his way in.

  She saw several more downed and trussed men along their path until they crept upward onto another section of the roof, this one a bit higher. For a human, Jake was remarkably fast. He seemed to be having no trouble at all keeping pace with her, which was exceptional. Ria was fast, even for a shifter.

  Arriving on the upper level of the roof, she realized immediately why he had led her here. Twenty yards away was a small, black helicopter. Neither of them spoke as they raced for the chopper.

  The night was dark, with hardly any moon, but Ria still saw the glint of light off a metal barrel to their right a split second before Jake knocked into her, altering her trajectory a tiny bit. He’d knocked her out of the path of a bullet, she realized belatedly, and he was returning fire even as he continued to run beside her.

  She looked around, straining to see into the darkness. Even her cat’s natural night vision couldn’t detect anyone other than the single gunman, but she knew he would have friends on the way. They had to get out of there fast.

  The gunshots weren’t loud. No, both the attacker and Jake were using firearms equipped with silencers. She noted it with one part of her mind that wasn’t set on escape. They were almost to the helicopter when one of Jake’s shots hit its target. That attacker wouldn’t be bothering them again.

  Ria reached the chopper and climbed up into the small cockpit, while Jake did the same on the other side and quickly got the rotors moving. It didn’t take long, but it felt like an eternity before they were in the air.

  Gunfire followed them into the night, but Jake took the bird almost straight up, leaving Ria’s stomach momentarily far below. The sensation passed as adrenaline continued to pump through her system. She didn’t have time to feel s
ick at the dizzying speed at which he shot out of range of the guys on the ground with guns.

  He flew the helicopter up and outward, toward the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

  Jake felt triumphant. He had gotten there in time to save Ria. For once in his life, his visions had given him time to do something about the shit that was about to hit the fan. His gift was a fickle thing. It often showed him what was to come, but either it was too close to the actual event or too vague for him to be able to identify when and where.

  He had been seeing Ria in his visions of the future for more than a year now, though. He had been able to identify her at the wedding reception his sister had invited him to attend in Iceland. He still wasn’t sure why his newly-mated sister had thought to invite him to the wedding of the tiger-shifter king at his stronghold. Humans—and clairvoyants—didn’t usually mix with shifters. But his sister had married into the panther Clan when she’d mated with Cade.

  Oddly enough, Cade was Ria’s cousin. He had been a Royal Guard, protecting Ria, when he had crossed paths with Jake’s little sister, Ellie. He saved her life. She helped him keep Ria—the queen of his people—safe and Ellie and Cade had fallen in love and married soon after. Jake had been in Asia during that whole episode, freaking out that his sister was in danger and he was too far away to help her.

  That was one of the times his visions came too late to do any real good. He had tried to call and warn her, but communications had been very iffy where he’d been. When he had finally gotten through to leave a voicemail, it was after he’d already had another vision that showed everything working out okay. He had left that message but hadn’t been sure she’d gotten it until much, much later.

  Then Ellie’s childhood friend, Gina, had been revealed as a tiger shapeshifter. Jake had always known there was something a little different about Gina, but he had kept his mouth shut, knowing in his heart, Gina’s secret was nothing bad. Gina had a pure heart, and her parents were downright spooky on the mystical level. Jake had only met them once, but that one occasion had been memorable.