PROLOGUE



1045 AD

Wessex, England

“No!” Cadegan shouted as he found himself trapped inside a dark, grayish hell. Furious at the betrayal, he tried to break the looking glass that served as his window into the human world he’d just been violently sucked out of.

Forever.

“Leucious! You can’t do this to me! I’m your brother!”

But the words had no effect on the cold heart of the bastard half demon who stared at the glass without mercy or pity. And when those bright blue-green eyes locked with his, Cadegan knew for a fact that Leucious heard him.

And didn’t care.

For centuries, Cadegan had given everything he had for Leucious. He’d served him loyally and with complete trust. Only to be damned without the benefit of a doubt. No questions asked.

Just misassumptions made against him, over an action he’d been forced to take to protect himself.

His beautiful features stern, Leucious splayed his hand on the glass that separated them. “God have mercy on you, little brother.”

Still bleeding profusely from his wounds that Leucious hadn’t even acknowledged, Cadegan snatched the conical helm from his head and slammed it against the glass. It made no impact whatsoever.

A single tear slid down Leucious’s cheek. He wiped it away with an angry hand before he covered the glass with a black cloth. And consigned him to hell.

“Leucious!” Cadegan tried again. He kicked at the glass. His chain mail and spurs jingled, but again the glass held fast. “Thorn!” he tried one last time to reach the brother who’d betrayed him. “Thorn! Come back!”

It was no use. Like everyone else in his life, and against his own promises that this would never happen, Leucious had abandoned him.

“For crimes against Our Lord, for breach of my trust, I condemn you to the shadowed lands of your mother. No more are you to walk this earth as a living being. You will spend eternity remembering what you’ve done, and regretting your actions. You are no longer one of us. For that, you are sentenced and banished from the world of man. Forevermore.”

Leucious’s words haunted him as Cadegan gnashed his teeth.

“I will escape this hell one day, brother. And when I do, yours is the heart I will claim first. A life for a life. Blood for blood! If it takes me a thousand years, I will be free and you will pay for this. So vows Cadwgwn Maboddimun! Your death, Leucious. My life! I swear it!”





1



New Orleans, Louisiana

September 18, 2014

“You know, Selena, there’s a fine line between important to me, and dead to me. And you’re currently stomping all over it.”

Standing in the hallway, next to a stack of boxes, Selena Laurens laughed at her cousin’s surly tone. “That’s all right, Jo-Jo. Just remember with our Cajun-Romani blood, even if I’m dead to you, in either realm, you’ll still be able to hear me. I will haunt you forever.”

Josette Landry cringed at a childhood nickname that had always made her feel like a yappy Pomeranian. Normally, she’d correct Selena’s usage, but at this point, she was too tired and soul-sick to bother. “Look, the only thing I want to summon right now is a trip to Baskin-Robbins. So unless you’ve got a quart of creamy goodness in your purse, stop talking and start driving.” Jo gently tugged Selena toward the door and ignored the bells that jingled from the hem of Selena’s silver and purple broomstick skirt. A self-proclaimed fortune-teller, her cousin bought into the weirdness of their gypsy heritage lock, stock, and both flaming barrels.

Jo paused as she swept a glance from the top of Selena’s long, curly brown hair, white peasant blouse, and loud, statement moon necklace to her Birkenstock sandals.

Take that back. Selena didn’t buy into it, she rolled around in the bad stereotype like a happy piglet in a mud factory.

Selena snorted. “Drowning your problems in Rock ’n Pop Swirl sherbet isn’t going to solve anything.”

“Forget sherbet. This day calls for Strawberry Cheesecake with fudge sauce … triple scoops. Now mush!”

“You’ll hate yourself in the morning.”

“I hate myself right now. At least let me hate my life with the happy memory of yummy, frozen happiness in my bulging belly.”

“Fine,” Selena groused. “I’ll even pay for it.”

“Of course you will.” Jo pulled her tattered messenger bag over her shoulder. “I’m broke.”

Selena snorted again as she dug her huge, fluffy key ring out of her hippie wicker handbag. “You’re not right, are you?”

“I’m genetically linked to your branch of the family. Of course I’m not all right. I’ll never be all right.”

Shaking her head, Selena waited while Jo locked her apartment door, though why she bothered, she had no idea. The only thing of value was her three dogs. And if the burglars were toting Beggin’ Strips, they’d happily abandon her without a fight. Evil drooling canine snots.

Jo caught a glimpse of the boxes she’d been packing through the window and winced. If her lifelong run of bad luck didn’t change soon, she would be out on the street and she’d be forced to turn her beloved dogs over to a shelter.