Free Embrace The Dawning (The Covenant Series Book 1) by Betty Shreffler Page A

necessary. The Covenant would undoubtedly fear losing their control over vampires. A new species would be created, and the vampires would not take well to that. Believe me, I know. Witches are responsible for the creation of werewolves.”
    Kayci’s emotions ranged from surprise to curiosity.
    Rosemary continued. “More than a millennium ago, a sorceress used a spell to create a weapon against vampires that consequently created what we now know as werewolves. There was a time when vampires and witches were equally being threatened by humans. Vampires decided the best way for them to avoid persecution was to increase the humans’ fear of witches and to align themselves with humans by aiding them in battles. The vampires made themselves a part of major societal alliances. Blamed the witches for sickness, the loss of crops, the loss of battles, infertility, and anything else the humans were gullible enough to believe. After years of utilizing witches’ gifts, the humans turned on them quickly and painfully. The vampires, now regarded as great allies and warriors, headed the witch hunts themselves. Many witches were persecuted. Some of them were dark witches, but most were not. Even innocent humans were murdered because they were mistakenly believed to be witches.
    “The death of many witches was not taken lightly and fueled the wrath of a powerful sorceress by the name of Kresimira. She belonged to a tribe called the Neuri peoples. Angered by the fact that some of her own coven and tribal members had been persecuted by the vampires, Kresimira sought to create a weapon that would end the vampires’ tyranny. Kresimira used the moon’s power and energy to create a dark spell that would transform the men of her tribe into wolflike creatures during each full moon. The men no longer appeared human. They now shared characteristics like the wolf brethren they envied. They became stronger, developed longer, leaner legs for swift running, grew longer and sharper nails from their enlarged hands, and now displayed the head of a wolf that gave them the teeth and ferocity to tear into the flesh of vampires. Each full moon, the dog-headed men, as they were often referred to throughout history, would turn into the wolflike creatures and slaughter as many vampires as they could find.”
    Kayci cringed from the violent images that danced around in her mind.
    “Vampires had gone years without any kind of opposition in regards to strength, stealth, and ferocity. This new predator worried them. This is how the Covenant came to be. Older, wiser vampires came out of hiding and developed the Covenant to organize and lead vampires to ensure their existence was not exterminated and that the feud with the witches came to an end. The Covenant requested that Kresimira end the spell and eliminate the wolfmen, and in exchange the Covenant would execute the vampires responsible for the witch slayings and guarantee that no witch would be harmed by a vampire ever again.”
    “Did she?” Kayci asked, her curiosity apparent.
    Rosemary nodded. “She agreed to a certain point. She altered her spell so that the wolfmen would no longer change every full moon, but would instead change once a year for a few days, near and during a full moon, as assurance that if the Covenant fell back on their word, the witches would still have their protection. After a timely debate, the Covenant finally agreed. Yet neither knew what the consequences of Kresimira’s spell would be. Time passed on, and so did Kresimira and her Neuri peoples. However, the descendants of the Neuri’s carried on the attributes of their ancestors. The power of the spell did not die with Kresimira. The power of the spell remained and continued to be fueled by the energy of the moon itself. Each generation, the descendants of the Neuri peoples were born stronger, faster, and more fierce. What’s more is that they no longer transformed once a year. They now were able to transform at will. They