Covetous: An Urban Fantasy Romance (The Marked Mage Chronicles, Book 2) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1: I Put A Spell On You

  Chapter 2: Bad Romance

  Chapter 3: Raise Hell

  Chapter 4: Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing

  Chapter 5: Everybody Wants to Rule The World

  Chapter 6: Sweet Dreams

  Chapter 7: Killing Strangers

  Chapter 8: Addicted

  Chapter 9: The Bird and the Worm

  Chapter 10: Tornado

  Chapter 11: Battlefield

  Chapter 12: Dangerous Woman

  Chapter 13: Slow Dancing In a Burning Room

  Chapter 14: Make It Rain

  Chapter 15: Control

  Chapter 16: Kill For You

  Chapter 17: Take Me Down

  Chapter 18: Familiar Taste of Poison

  Chapter 19: Shameless

  Chapter 20: Demons

  Chapter 21: Way Down We Go

  Chapter 22: Build God, Then We’ll Talk

  Chapter 23: Mad World

  Chapter 24: I Write Sins, Not Tragedies

  Chapter 25: World Outside

  Chapter 26: Gods and Monsters

  Chapter 27: Another Way to Die

  Chapter 28: Echo

  Chapter 29: Mercy

  Chapter 30: Thank You For the Venom

  Chapter 31: Getting Away With Murder

  Chapter 32: Knocking On Heaven’s Door

  Chapter 33: The Wars To Come

  Chapter 34: Rise Up

  Chapter 35: Night of the Hunter

  Sneak Peek: Cursed Of The Claimed

  COVETOUS

  THE MARKED MAGE CHRONICLES

  VICTORIA EVERS

  Copyright © 2017 by Victoria Evers

  http://victoriaevers.blogspot.com/

  This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to real people, real locales, or historical events are used fictitiously. Other characters, names, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual locales, events, or people, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The author holds exclusive rights to this work. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Thank you, and happy reading!

  Cover Art By: CivilAnarchy

  Table of Contents

  Title

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1: I Put A Spell On You

  Chapter 2: Bad Romance

  Chapter 3: Raise Hell

  Chapter 4: Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing

  Chapter 5: Everybody Wants to Rule The World

  Chapter 6: Sweet Dreams

  Chapter 7: Killing Strangers

  Chapter 8: Addicted

  Chapter 9: The Bird and the Worm

  Chapter 10: Tornado

  Chapter 11: Battlefield

  Chapter 12: Dangerous Woman

  Chapter 13: Slow Dancing In a Burning Room

  Chapter 14: Make It Rain

  Chapter 15: Control

  Chapter 16: Kill For You

  Chapter 17: Take Me Down

  Chapter 18: Familiar Taste of Poison

  Chapter 19: Shameless

  Chapter 20: Demons

  Chapter 21: Way Down We Go

  Chapter 22: Build God, Then We’ll Talk

  Chapter 23: Mad World

  Chapter 24: I Write Sins, Not Tragedies

  Chapter 25: World Outside

  Chapter 26: Gods and Monsters

  Chapter 27: Another Way to Die

  Chapter 28: Echo

  Chapter 29: Mercy

  Chapter 30: Thank You For the Venom

  Chapter 31: Getting Away With Murder

  Chapter 32: Knocking On Heaven’s Door

  Chapter 33: The Wars To Come

  Chapter 34: Rise Up

  Chapter 35: Night of the Hunter

  Sneak Peek: Cursed Of The Claimed

  2 Samuel 22: 38 – “I pursued my enemies and destroyed them, And I did not turn back until they were consumed.”

  PROLOGUE

  Sprawled naked across the musty cement floor, the bloodied man merely coughed. The simple effort propelled the unspeakable agony in his fractured ribcage only deeper. He didn’t even bother attempting to sit upright, even as the footsteps echoing across the cellar walls drew nearer. Eighteen hours. That’s how long he’d been down there. He knew this, because the beatings came in bihourly intervals, and he was about to receive his tenth. He wondered if they would break his nose this time. It would be a welcomed relief, not having to smell the pungent odor of mildew permeating the dank crypt, not to mention the added putrefaction from what he could only assume was the decay of a rodent. At least, that’s what he hoped it was.

  “Well, well, well. Look at what we have here.”

  The unfamiliar lilt in the stranger’s voice forced the man to incline his head, if only slightly. He still couldn’t see out of his left eye, as it had swollen shut hours ago. Through the bleary gaze of his remaining eye, he could only make out a blur of brown hair and fair skin from the other side of the bars.

  “Bring him to me.”

  The cell door clanked open, and beefy hands seized the bloodied man by his biceps, prying him off the filthy floor. It took everything in him not to cry out as broken bones seemed to shift from head to toe. The two brutes holding him up didn’t bother setting him on his feet as they dragged him across the cellar to the lone iron chair seated in the center of the room. They didn’t even trouble themselves with putting restraints on him anymore. After the last beating, he’d lost the feeling in his legs, and the bone protruding from his left forearm wasn’t helping him either. One more strike to the area, and he knew it would pierce through the skin.

  The stranger laughed, discarding his tweed jacket. “I must say, you have definitely looked better, mate.”

  With the singular light bulb dangling overhead and the haze lifting from his vision, the stranger’s features at last came into focus as the bloodied man was thrown into the chair. The Englishman spoke as if he knew him, but there was nothing remotely familiar about his face, which meant one thing.

  Demon.

  More like parasite.

  And he was the worst kind. Demons couldn’t possess human vessels for any long length of time, so even though his features may not have been recognizable, the assertive saunter and iniquitous smirk never changed.

  “Raelynd.” The simple declaration had the prisoner choking on the blood slipping down his throat.

  The Englishman merely smiled as he plucked out a cigarette from the pocket of his tailored vest. Taking in a long drag, he strolled over to the other end of the room, only to return with a folding chair in hand. He propped it open and took a seat, not the least bit tentative about being within strangling distance of the man. It only served as a cruel reminder to showcase how pathetic of a shape he was in.

  “Are you finding your new living conditions to be hospitable?” the demon cooed.

  The man answered with nothing more than a bloody spit on the floor.

  “Then let’s not waste anymore of our time, shall we? Just tell us what we want to know, and you can be back on your merry way.”

  Despite the effort stretching the cut in his busted lip, the prisoner laughed. “As if you of all people would let me walk out of here.”

  “Killing you would serve no purpose. Why give you a one-way ticket to Eternal Paradise when things are about to get so much more interesting down here?” The demon leaned forward, pressing two fingers down on the protruding bone in the poor man’s a
rm.

  White flashed in his vision as the man doubled over, biting back the scream threatening to break loose. He wished he could say it was because he didn’t want to give Raelynd the satisfaction, but he knew better. That kind of strain to his cracked ribs would have them puncturing into his lungs.

  “Altruism doesn’t suit you, Gabriel. Why protect a woman who couldn’t give a toss about you?”

  Unable to mask the agony, the man’s entire body convulsed. “You don’t know shit!”

  “She rejected you, had another man’s child, and yet you still choose to be her whipping boy? Now, forgive me, mate, for saying so, but that’s just sad.” Raelynd only laughed harder, prying Gabriel’s chin up to look him in the eyes. “Where is Katalin’s daughter?”

  “Fuck. You.”

  The demon sighed, resting back in his seat. Upon waving a dismissive hand at his cohorts, the other men filed out of the room. Raelynd rose up from his seat, retrieving his discarded jacket, and removed the cell tucked inside an interior pocket. “Tell me, was she really worth losing your wings over?”

  Gabriel didn’t dare answer.

  “I figured as much. It doesn’t exactly take a genius to work out the details. If you were willing to fall from grace in order to protect her, using physical brutality to get answers would be a long shot. That’s why I took extra measures, just to be certain.” The demon strolled back over to him, seemingly far more interested by his phone than the very man in front of him. “I must say, you certainly seemed to have moved on rather quickly after your banishment. Not two months later, you found a new ladylove, and based on my calculations, already had her with child.”

  What little color that remained on Gabriel’s face paled away.

  “Handsome young man, your son. Looks just like you.” Raelynd gave the beaten man another onceover. “Well, on a better day, that is. What’s his name again? Reese, I believe.” He didn’t need confirmation, seeing the man before him tremble. “Ah, yes. And by the exquisite artwork decorating his arm, he’s quite the Mage as well.”

  Gabriel could barely bring himself to look at the screen as the demon paraded it in front of his face. Indeed, the young man was a damn-near reflection of him, merely on a twenty-year delay, down to the coffee-toned hair and amber eyes. “What do you want with her?”

  “With Katalin? Nothing. Our only interest is with her daughter.”

  “Why?”

  “Let’s just say there’s a Prince waiting to meet her.”

  “None of the dukes’ heirs have ascended,” Gabriel scoffed. “Except one, and we know how well that ended.”

  The demon no doubt frowned at the mention. “Yes, well, that was unfortunate, but we’ve found an alternative. A better one, in fact. Stronger, and dare I say, even more attractive. Quite the catch for whichever one of the lucky ladies he chooses to be his bride. He is proving to be rather finicky though. But something tells me that any spawn of Katalin’s would no doubt be fetching. And trust me, she’ll be in far better hands with him than with Samael.”

  Raelynd admired whatever image was on his screen, and as he turned around, Gabriel caught a quick glimpse. It was not of his son, but another young man, with raven black hair and pale blue eyes. His heart thundered at the sight. The new Crown Prince…

  “You feeling alright, mate? You don’t look so well,” the demon taunted.

  “I don’t know where she is,” Gabriel muttered.

  “You sure about that? Because we can always bring your boy down here,” the Englishman offered, pulling out the dagger holstered inside his vest. He admired it under the harsh light, allowing the angel to observe the encrusted brown residue staining the blade. No doubt dried blood. “Perhaps it’ll help freshen your memory, watching my Hounds peel the flesh from his bones.”

  The external agony was nothing compared to what brewed within the beaten man. Gabriel forced his eyes shut, letting the tears burning behind them to pour down his face.

  “Ah-ha.” The demon outright simpered at the sight. “Have we come to a compromise, then?”

  Chapter 1

  I Put A Spell On You

  “Can you go any faster?” I pleaded, choking on the billowing herbal cloud. “This is gonna set off the smoke detector.”

  Reese laughed. “Relax. It’ll only take another minute.”

  He continued to wave the smoke around me and the rest of the sunroom, eventually pressing the bundle of burning sage into a heat-proof container. I handed him the drawing he’d brought, watching him reproduce the symbol on the page with salt across the floor around me.

  Satisfied with the outcome, Reese joined me in the middle of the makeshift protection circle just as his watch sounded off, declaring it midnight. “Ready?”

  Following each step as instructed, we both took a seat and added the ingredients into the very same container with the burnt sage. A sprig of rosemary, one ginger root, a stem of devil pod, and a dash of paprika. He nodded.

  I looked at the sheet in front of me, and rolled my eyes. “Why do these things always have to rhyme?”

  “Just read it,” Reese insisted, unable to resist a small smile.

  “‘Thy enemy of mine. Thy evils that bind. Hear these words to banish your Rite. Undo this prince’s hex, the spell undone. Break thy unholy bond that forever unites us as one.’”

  I took the candle Reese just lit, letting the flames flicker over the section of parchment in my hand. I dropped the burning paper into the container, watching the name SITRI, the official name of Hell’s Crown Prince, slowly blacken over with soot as it set the other ingredients ablaze as well.

  Reese took hold of my hands, both our eyes focusing on the burning pot until everything was reduced to a pile of ash. Neither of us breathed as he finally released his grip, letting me unfold my left hand.

  I immediately groaned, practically collapsing onto the hardwood floor. “This is hopeless.”

  Reese bit the inside of his cheek, clearly unhappy with the results—or rather, lack thereof—as well. “Madsen did say these things don’t always enact immediately. It could take a few minutes, or even a few hours.”

  “Yeah, if it worked at all.” I rubbed angrily at the skin on my ring finger. That blasted “mating rune” was still tattooed there, just as black and permanent as ever.

  “Just give it a little time—”

  “Who are we kidding, Reese? We’ve already tried over two dozen different casts, and it’s the same damn outcome—nothing. I’m still linked to that…monster.” It had been two months since Blaine had bitten me, infecting me with the demonic virus that had turned me into not only a Dark Mage, but also his eternal Mate.

  Yep, I was officially his Runaway Princess Bride from Hell. Mere months ago, I was just a normal seventeen year old. Now, I was up to my ass in demonology and covered in ancient rune tattoos. After that bastard bit me, fang marks weren’t the only souvenirs he gave me. With the demonic virus in my blood now, my runes were far easier to enact—particularly on accident. They were controlled purely by emotions, so anytime I’d get angry or upset or even too happy, my arm would light up like a freaking Christmas tree! And it was anybody’s guess as to what would happen. I’d ripped doors clean off their hinges, shattered drinking glasses with a mere touch, and even set off every car alarm in a hotel parking lot with a flick of the wrist…

  And if Dr. Madsen’s research was correct, I couldn’t risk triggering any of them. Since my runes were linked to Blaine’s, they could act as a homing device, leading him right to me. I’d finally settled into a new home, and I didn’t want to have to uproot again just to keep running.

  But it didn’t end there. I’d gained what I later learned was referred to as clairsentience. I could now sense people’s emotions, smell them even. If someone was upset, a faint metallic scent would waft in the air. Anger was bitter. Happiness was floral. And lust…lust was by far the sweetest, like apple dipped in sugar.

  The last proved the most problematic. It appeared to be the most com
mon sin, which seemed to trigger my own new pair of fangs. As soon as the tang hit my nose, I knew to close my eyes and cover my mouth, or else risk having others see my elongated canines and glowing red eyes.

  And you thought you had problems…

  Plus, you know how in all those movies and television shows where a vampire can’t come inside someone’s house without an invitation? Yeah, well, I quickly learned the hard way that the same went for anything demonic, including me. Only once someone told me that I could come in could I. Otherwise, it felt like hitting a brick wall.

  At least it wasn’t as bad as I feared. Seeing how other demonic creatures like Hellhounds and demons acted—crazy, murderous and without empathy—I thought for sure after being infected that I’d wake up one morning, having turned into an evil bitch. Yet, eight long weeks had gone by, and I had yet to turn to the “Dark Side.” And although I may have been part ‘vampiric,’ given my fangs and whatnot, I hadn’t yet suffered from blood cravings, and I didn’t burst into flames when I stepped out into the sun. Silver linings, I supposed.

  But this…thing. This damn mating bond, I had to—had to—find a way to break it. Not only could Blaine use it to possibly track me, but it linked us. Our lives were tethered together, which meant that if I died, so would he. And vice versa.

  How could you defeat an enemy like that? How could you overcome someone who would keep hunting you down till he claimed you as his own? If he’d use you to awaken powers confined to Hell? How could you eliminate such evil if you couldn’t kill it?

  Reese and I crashed into my bed after cleaning up the salty mess in the sunroom. The heat of his body warmed my back as we lay beside one another on the plush mattress.

  “What time do you have to go?”

  “We still have a few hours,” he assured, pressing a kiss to my shoulder blade.

  “I wish you could stay longer.”

  “I know.” His lips trailed up into the crook of my neck. “We’ll break the bond soon enough.”

  “That won’t change things though with Mr. Reynolds,” I murmured. “Every Reaper on the east coast is probably out looking for me. Even without the mating bond, I’m still a threat to them as long as I’m infected—”