Free The Surien Series Blood Guardian by Mindy Majors

B.C.. The truth was that Atlantis was as old as time, but when the truth didn’t make sense or was too difficult to believe, humans always altered it to make it fit into their nice neat little idea of what was real; more often than not they would even disregard fact and overlook the flaws in their thinking in order to force logical explanations of extraordinary events.
    “The two of you must have been through a lot,” Symarah said.
    “I owe him my life,” Daire answered.
    “How so?”
    “About a century ago I was tracking a demmic, that’s Atlantean for fallen, and I was lead into an ambush,” Daire explained. “I was careless and it almost cost me my life. If Jareth hadn’t shown up when he did I would be dead.”
    “Did he kill the demmic?” she asked.
    “No, we barely made it out of there with our lives,” Daire told her. “Athena has the entire council looking for him.”
    “There’s a council?”
    “Yes, the surien council was set up to track down the most dangerous of the demmic, kind of like the FBI and their most wanted list,” Daire explained.
    “This demmic, it was Vaiden wasn’t it?”
    “Yes,” Daire reluctantly admitted.
    “If you don’t mind me asking, why does he want revenge against you so badly?”
    “Because I killed his soul mate,” Daire answered.
    Daire was hoping she wouldn’t ask that question. She would probably freak out once she knew the truth, but he had to tell her what happened; he owed her an explanation since this whole situation was his fault.
    “Back in the late 1400’s I was sent by the council to Bucharest, Romania to execute a demmic. The most merciless of all the fallen, he was known for impaling his victims. He drank their blood and was also rumored to have bathed in their blood as well. He killed indiscriminately, men, women, and children alike. In fact he believed that drinking the blood of infants would eventually break Poseidon’s curse.  His army had just successfully invaded Wallachia. After retaking the throne, most of his forces had returned to Transylvania, leaving him with little protection, but before I could complete my task a large Turkish army entered Wallachia, forcing him to march against them. Because his ranks were considerably depleted, he was desperate and willing to accept any recruit who was willing to fight. I volunteered and fought beside him. While everyone else was distracted by battle I seized my opportunity and beheaded him. When his army found him they assumed that he was killed in battle and his death was blamed on the Turks. There was one soldier who saw me kill the demmic but no one believed him, except Vaiden. He knew from the soldier’s description that it was me and he has devoted his life to exacting his revenge.”
    “Wait, are you talking about Vlad Tepes III … Dracula was an Atlantean god?”
    “Yes.”
    “Vaiden’s soul mate was Dracula? Didn’t Dracula have a wife who threw herself out of a window in the tower of his castle?”
    “Vlad pushed her out the window after she walked in on him and Vaiden in bed together and she threatened to tell everyone.”
    “But how could he have waged wars when he couldn't go out in the day?”
    “Vlad always did everything at night, including his battles.”
    “And no one ever suspected?”
    “He told everyone that he preferred to do everything under cover of darkness, making it easier to see and not be seen.”
    “So why is he picking on me?” Symarah asked.
    “I honestly don’t know, maybe he saw the books you wrote and assumed that we were lovers because you know so much about my life. I’m sorry you got dragged into this Symarah.”
    “It’s not your fault Daire, you were just doing your job; how were you to know Vaiden would go psycho and try to kill someone you don’t even know?”
    “Still, I know this is not easy for you,” Daire said.
    “It’s all so overwhelming; I don’t know how to handle it,” she admitted.
    “I promise that Jareth and I