Drawing Bloodlines (Book #2, PREVIEW)

Chapter 1.1 (Drawing Bloodlines, PREVIEW)

Author Note:

Thank you so much for taking the time to PREVIEW Book #2 in the Legend of the Firewalker book series on Wattpad!

Book #2, Drawing Bloodlines, is now available for purchase on Amazon.com

http://smarturl.it/drawingbloodlines

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Chapter 1.1

The memorial plaza to Grimm Cemetery was eerily quiet as several figures, dressed in black cloaks, bustled across its brick and mortar floor. In the graveyard down below, large chunks of stone from several of the weathered mausoleum walls continued to hit the ground without a sound. Along with several piles of smoldering ash, they were the only remnants of the battle that had just transpired moments earlier.

Abruptly, whooshing sounds echoed across the plaza as the last of the Scarlet Priests vanished through the surrounding plaza archways, followed by the remaining Shadow Guard. Silence fell upon the plaza again and all that remained was a lone figure dressed in a red cloak. Quietly, he sat at the top of the dilapidated stone steps with his head hung down low, as his luminous blonde hair dangled freely from beneath his elaborately decorated red hood.

The tall white obelisk at the plaza's center cast a dark shadow over him, revealing his fiery red eyes as he slowly raised his head at the approaching figure. "I caution you not to approach me so openly, Lauren," he snarled.

Caught off guard, Lauren quickly froze in her tracks, causing the train of her flowing white dress to bundle at her feet. "B-but Lucas, my love," she stumbled, as she slowly proceeded up the stone steps. "How were we supposed to be prepared - how were we supposed to know about the Firewalker?"

His red eyes seemed to burn through the darkness as he spoke through clenched teeth. "How could you not?" he asked. His voice grew angry. "You've spent all this time with them, Lauren!"

"But, my love," she pleaded. "Even Pius did not detect them."

"Lucius won't care for your excuses, Lauren!" he snapped, angrily.

Lauren's emerald green eyes suddenly filled with fear. "P-perhaps they never use their powers," she stammered, her voice trembling. She paused to catch her breath. "Otherwise our priest would have detected them."

"Don't be naïve!" shouted Lucas. "They are human, Lauren!" Tightly, he clinched his hands into fists before slamming them against the stone steps. "It is highly unlikely that they could refrain from using their powers; somehow they must have been cloaked!"

Silence fell on the plaza again as Lauren watched Lucas cautiously. He seethed. "My love," she said, while fumbling nervously with her hands upon her dress. "H-how are we to explain this to him? And about Pius?"

Lucas remained silent; it was as if he had forgotten she was there.

Lauren turned to look at Pius's remains, now nothing but a pile of smoking ashes. "Without Pius," she continued carefully. "How are we to detect the one we seek?"

"I'll handle my brother," he exclaimed, angrily. "You worry about finding that medallion!"

Lauren's face suddenly contorted. "The medallion!" she yelled. "You're worried about a stupid medallion?" She glared at him with such intensity that her entire body started to shake. "You know what this means if we don't find him, Lucas! You promised me you wouldn't let this happen - we have to find the one we seek! We must!"

He stared at her and a brief silence fell across the plaza again, but this time his eyes were an ocean blue. "Pius was inconsequential to the plan, my love," he said, taking to his feet. "We never needed him - it was the medallion." Lauren's face softened slightly as he took her into his arms. "The medallion augments the wearer's natural ability," he continued. "It was created for that purpose."

"So," she said, slowly. "After we find the medallion...."

"Any one of our high priests should be able to use it to channel the moon's energy to augment their own," he finished. "Then we'll be able to find the one we seek."

"Ha!" she cackled, her emerald green eyes sparkling again. "Then all is not lost - but wait!" She suddenly looked gloomy again. "What are we to do about the Firewalker?" she cried. "You know what this means, and what's prophesied to come. And my love, there were two of them!" She stared at Pius's remains again. "I've never seen such power from a human. Our priests and the Shadow Guards were all decimated; turned to dust!"

"Now is not the time to worry about that Lauren!" he shouted, pushing her away. "He'll want to know who is behind all of this; who is protecting them."

She frowned. "Protecting them?" she asked with a laugh. "They're just a bunch of teenagers, Lucas - kids."

"That doesn't settle well with me either, Lauren!" he growled. "What am I to tell my brother? That we failed at the hands of children?"

Lauren grew silent. "B-but who could be behind this?" she pleaded. She paused while Lucas stared at her with wide blue eyes. "What? The Order?"

"Who else is capable of keeping them hidden from us?" he asked, yelling at her. Slowly, his ocean blue eyes burned with a fire. "If the Order is behind this ... he will not be pleased."

"And what about our failure?" she cringed. She pulled Lucas by the arm and tried to force him to embrace her. "My love - he will not be pleased with us."

Suddenly, in the middle of the graveyard in front of them, a sliver of light appeared. The tiny blue light hovered in the air for a moment before abruptly elongating toward the ground and, in a split second, expanded into a bright blue, rectangular doorway. Instantly, Lauren's grip tightened around Lucas's arm when three tall figures dressed in red cloaks stepped forth from the blue light. The door vanished immediately behind them and so did the bright blue light, leaving behind only their fiery red eyes beneath their ruby red hoods.

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