ZEBRA BOOKS

      Kensington Pubishing Corp.

       www.kensingtonbooks.com

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      This time there is only one entity upon which I would like to focus all my gratitude:

      To Kensington Publishing

      For all that you have done, for every single sector or group or individual who has had anything and everything to do with the creation of the Nightwalkers series as it stands on the shelves today and in the future.

      My special thanks to the sales force who made a first-time author come out with an astounding first-time print run with Jacob. You people are incredible and I dedicate this book, its beauty, and its successes to you. Every time you see it or Jacob on a shelf in the store, you should feel the outrageous pride that comes from a job not just well done, but done in splendor.

      To the art department, I LOVE THIS COVER!

      And Kate: You are a goddess, my ultimate cheerleader, and the driving force behind everything that is happening for this series. You baby me, spoil me, and scold me as necessary but you never, never once, lost faith in me or this series.

      Just so you know that I am aware I am the luckiest lady in the world.

      Thanks to all of you.

      Contents

      Prologue

      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

      Epilogue

      Prologue

      “We must enforce ourselves more strictly as the time approaches. In the age of the rebellion of the Earth and Sky, when Fire and Water break like havoc upon all the lands, the Eldest of the old will return, will take his mate, and the first child of the element of Space will be born, playmate to the first child of Time, born to the Enforcers…”

      —The Lost Demon Prophecy

      The Vampire eyed the Demon before him with a lengthy, contemplative gaze of midnight blue. The black centers of his eyes were slightly oval in shape, the contour just enough of an oddity to incite one’s curiosity, beckoning one to lean in closer, to gaze and study them just a little deeper, to stumble into them like a well-spun web. Since such temptations could not lure the Demon, the Vampire’s only intention of close study was strictly for scrutiny as he tried to decipher the silent figure’s purpose.

      With uncharacteristic patience and largesse, the Vampire leaned back in his chair and casually hooked an ankle over one knee as he did so. As usual, the Demon was biding his time before he began to speak about whatever it was that was on his mind, whatever it was that had brought the Ancient to the Vampire’s lair. It was always good that he put so much care of thought into his speech, the Vampire mused to himself, because when this Demon spoke it was often to lay brutal truths at the feet of whomever he was conversing with. As admirable a trait as that was, it was not so refreshing as one might expect it to be, particularly when it heralded pivotal occurrences in the lives of the Nightwalker races.

      Since time had begun, ages before the mortals had spread across this earth like an intemperate pandemic, there had been the Nightwalkers. The Dark Cultures. Those who basked in the moon for their daylight, and slept or hid from the sun when its acidic rays would try to touch their susceptible skins or minds. The clans had run with the wild beasts of Nature, their special gifts rooted in Her ways, keeping them connected to the soil, the free creatures, and the pulsing, magmatic center of Her heart. And though in the modern age the mortals were the dominant population by a dramatic percentage, the Nightwalkers yet lived. The Dark Cultures were preserved, each with its separate ways and traditions, and each had carved out niches in those places that remained isolative and usually too inhospitable for humans. Some had adapted and now lived on the fringes of human societies, emulating or enjoying mortal ways…or a careful facsimile. Almost every clan had carefully laid laws and beliefs about how far its members could go when it came to dealings with human beings.

      Time had not cut the Nightwalkers’ links with either moon or sun. Errors and enemies had severely thinned out the ranks of all of the different clans in one way or another, and yet they survived—quiet, unknown to mortals for the most part, and searching for ways to find harmony in a rapidly changing world. But the world had changed before, and would change again, and there would always be the Nightwalkers to dance beneath the moon and sleep behind the sun.

      “You have not come to visit in a great while, Gideon,” the Vampire observed in the capricious way of his people, no longer wishing to wait for the Demon to come around on his own time. “I had not expected to see you.”

      Gideon lifted his cool, silver eyes from the delicacy of the rare zebra’s milk he had been swirling