Rise of the Assassin (Child of an Alpha Series Book 1) Read online

  Rise of the Assassin

  Child of an Alpha Series

  Kaitlyn Taylor

  Book 1

  Rise of the Assassin: Child of an Alpha

  Book 1

  Copyright © Kaitlyn Taylor 2020

  All Rights Reserved

  First Published in 2020

  Taylor, Kaitlyn

  Rise of the Assassin: Child of an Alpha Book 1

  1st Edition

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by an electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Chapter One

  My eyes fluttered as I began to wake, the room still dark, making me wonder what time it was. I lifted my head off the pillow and searched the room, adjusting to the darkness surrounding me. Catching the crack in the curtains showing the smallest amount of sunlight telling me morning was here and it was time to get out of bed, I rolled over onto my back and stared up at the ceiling, dreading the removal of the blankets.

  I had a busy day and a chaotic evening ahead of me. Most of the villagers didn't celebrate their birthdays. I wasn’t completely sure why, but whatever the reason, I wished my parents would follow their lead. It's not that I didn't appreciate that they wanted to celebrate my birth, it was the ball they planned every year that got on my nerves. Why did we have to have a huge gathering with everyone from Medova? What was wrong with a nice family dinner?

  I didn't want to sound ungrateful, but sometimes I couldn’t help it. I got annoyed easily especially around this time of year when my mother started planning everything. Thankfully, it would all be over after tonight. We would endure the ball, socialize with all the villagers who took the time to attend, and then move on to dreading next year's birthday celebration.

  Just as I was about to rip the blankets off, a knock interrupted me. Instinct told me to let them in, but I wasn't ready for interactions just yet, no matter who was standing on the other side of the door. It looked like I didn't have a choice, because the door opened and before me was my father, the alpha, holding a plate in one hand and a glass in another. I smiled as I watched him cross the room towards my bed, sitting down in front of me as he handed me the plate. I wasn’t thinking about food until he put it in front of me. Suddenly, I was starving.

  "Don't tell your mother," my father said gently. I glanced up at him and saw my own silver eyes staring back at me, his smile making everything better, even though nothing was wrong. He just had a way of assuring you that everything was going to be okay without saying a word. "She said if you wanted food, you would've been downstairs for breakfast like the rest of us."

  "I just woke up," I told him as I pushed a strand of my jet-black hair behind my ear before taking a bite of the eggs.

  "Even if you hadn’t, I wasn't going to let my baby girl go without a meal." He giggled as he reached his palm over towards my cheek, cupping it as he said, "Happy birthday, Luna."

  "Thank you." I smiled as he pulled away from me. He handed me the glass; the contents of it turned out to be blood. How did he know I was going to need extra strength to get through today? As a vampire, we needed blood to keep us strong, but we didn't need much. A glass at breakfast was more than enough. The blood came from the animals we had out in the barn, taking just enough to get us through the day. None of them were harmed in the process and we never used the same animal multiple days in a row. If anything, the animals in the barn were very spoiled. I wouldn't have it any other way, but sometimes I couldn't help but laugh at the lengths we went through to care for them. After taking the first sip, I realized it was cow’s blood, my favorite which I knew my father was aware of.

  "Are you looking forward to the ball later?" my father asked, even though he already knew the answer.

  "You ask me that every year," I said, my voice muffled as I tried to swallow my food and talk at the same time. It's a good thing Mother wasn't here to see that. She would've scolded me for bad manners. My father, on the other hand, didn't seem to care about such things.

  "Maybe I keep hoping you'll have a different answer," he chuckled. It always amazed me how my father could switch the alpha in him on and off. Whenever he was with me or my brothers, he was gentle and soft spoken, only raising his voice when we found ourselves in trouble. We usually deserved it, but I could tell he tried very hard to be understanding. When he was with the council, he spoke more harshly than he ever did around us and was much more demanding of them. It was easy to see that he was powerful but also respected.

  Well, the council was respectful to his face, but the second they were no longer in his presence their tune changed dramatically.

  "I think you'll be waiting a long time for a different answer," I told him as I dropped my head toward the plate sitting in my lap. I didn't want to look into his disappointed eyes as I said the words. I just didn't share the same excitement that he and my mother did.

  "You know we only do it because we want to celebrate your birth…" He repeated the same speech he gave me every year when we had this conversation. "That's how much joy you've brought into our lives."

  "No other alpha has done that for his children before," I reminded him. "Why did you decide to change it? I guess I've never really understood why you and Mom did the opposite of all the ones before you."

  "The alphas before me were seen as heartless and did not appreciate their sons the way they should have," my father explained. "To the alphas, their first-born son was the heir and the others after him were spares, nothing else. I didn't want my children to feel like they were replaceable by the next one in line."

  "You were an only child, you never really had that problem," I pointed out, thinking that might've changed the way my grandfather treated my father.

  "I was more protected than most heirs, but I was still just the next in line," my father said hesitantly. "I would go months without seeing my father even though we lived in the same castle. But it was actually a good thing. Had I spent more time with him, his influence would've rubbed off on me, and he is the last vampire I would ever want to turn into."

  "Well, unfortunately for you, you had a daughter and that daughter hates socializing with other people. Throwing a ball for an anti-social vampire is on the no-no list," I told him, trying to change the mood with my sarcasm. It wasn't really sarcasm; I meant every word of it, but I didn't like it when my father spoke of his upbringing. I could sense the sadness in him, and it killed me that his father made him feel that way. Luckily, my grandmother filled the hole my father had, acting as his mother and father. My father was devastated when she died. My brothers and I hadn't been born yet, but my mother had told us that our grandmother's death nearly broke my father.

  "Having a daughter has been the greatest gift the Spirits could've ever given an alpha," my father looked up at me as he spoke, taking the empty plate from my lap. "Although, you have been more trouble than your brothers."

  "Your life would be so boring without me," I countered, speaking proudly and with my head held high.

  "Yes, it would," my father agreed. He was quiet for a few minutes, but I could tell he was trying to tell me something or even ask me a question. He usually didn't hesitate this much, so whatever it was he was trying to discuss with me, he knew it might not go over well. A part of me wanted
to tell him to spit it out, but there was another part of me hoping he left it alone and didn't say anything at all. Since I'm nosy, the part wanting him to say whatever it was usually won, but the part of me that didn't want to deal with it put up a pretty good fight.

  "Your mind seems busy," I said, interrupting the silence that was beginning to feel haunting.

  "It is," he answered honestly. "I've been meaning to bring this up to you for a while now – and to your brothers as well – but I've been struggling with how to go about it."

  "Why don't you just say it?" I asked more bluntly than was intended. I tried to be the polite and respectful daughter that I was supposed to be, but sometimes the wild me came out instead.

  "What do you think of Declan?" he finally asked, his energy becoming nervous as he waited for a response. I was confused by his question, not sure how Declan fit into this conversation. He was closer to my brothers than he was to me, but he was one of my oldest friends in vampire territory.

  "I don't really know what I think of him," I answered honestly. "I haven't given him a lot of thought. Why don't you ask Levi? Those two are always together."

  My father laughed, my confusion growing even more, "Luna, Levi's opinion of Declan isn't going to help me with this one."

  "Well, I don't know what my opinion is going to do unless you're trying to—" I trailed off as I started to put the pieces together. My father had never spoken to me about Declan before, and the only reason he would be talking about him now would be because he was thinking of having me bind to him. "I'm eighteen years old! Why the hell would you be thinking about binding me off at such a young age?"

  Eighteen was the average age that women found themselves being bound, but I never thought my father would consider giving me away so soon. Neither of my brothers were bound yet, so why would I have to go through with it? Levi was the heir; he should be the one who binds first. This didn't make any sense.

  "Hear me out, Luna," my father begged as he stood up from the bed, backing away from me as if he were trying to get away from danger.

  "What do you mean, 'Hear me out?’ You bring this up on my birthday of all days? How could you do this to me?" I yelled, my throat feeling the strain of my raised voice.

  "You need to be protected, Luna," my father said louder but still in his gentle tone. "You know the danger in front of us. The more strength we have on our side the better. Declan comes from a strong family, and you seem to get along with each other. Plus, it would also help me having Declan's father on my side during the council meetings."

  "Vincent is an asshole and will never be on your side!" I shouted as I jumped off the bed, walking towards my father, pointing a finger up at his face. It was more like pointing a finger at his chest since he was so tall. "And just because Declan and I are civil with one another doesn't mean we should be bound."

  "Please just think about it, Luna," my father pleaded as he sat down on one of the couches in the middle of the room. He seemed stressed, which made me think there was something else going on in his head. I knew when he said I needed to be protected that it had to do with the prophecy, but I wish he would've started out with that instead of asking me about Declan.

  "Do you think it will happen again this year?" I asked, sitting down on the couch opposite from him. I could tell by his shifting on the couch that he was preparing himself for the conversation we had a tendency of avoiding.

  There was a prophecy written by the last vampire prophet, Matteo, who predicted the five alphas would have daughters who would save Medova from a evil who craved power. The twist in all of this was the part about the alphas having daughters. Medova's history goes back two thousand years, and not once did the alphas from any of the five races produce female children. Matteo was old and coming up to the end of his life when he wrote the prophecy, so the councils at the time chalked it up to insanity. Fifty years later, not only did all five alphas have a daughter, but someone began dropping bodies at the front gates of the castles in each territory. They knew it was a sorcerer because of the energy left behind on the dead bodies, but to this day we still didn't know why. In Matteo’s prophecy, he said the evil would want power, but that didn’t explain why he would want to kill people. Each year, a dead vampire was dropped at our gate, and the same happened to the other alphas. One of each race lost their life and we were still no closer to stopping it.

  The bodies didn't start to drop until after the alpha giant had his daughter, but my birth started it all. It was hard not to feel guilty when my birth triggered his appearance.

  "You ask me this question every year," my father answered, mimicking my answer from when he asked me if I was looking forward to the ball later tonight. "We spend all year looking for them or some kind of sign of them, but we always come up with nothing."

  "Eighty-five people have died since I was born," I said, staring at the table in between the two couches. "By the time Juda turns eighteen there will be ninety. I don't understand how this menace continues to get away with it. Where is he hiding and why is it impossible to track his energy even though he leaves it for us on the bodies?"

  "You're asking all the questions your uncles and I have been asking ourselves for the past eighteen years, Luna." My father leaned back into the couch, making himself comfortable. "We're supposed to be the strongest in all of Medova, but this one sorcerer has beaten us every time we've come close."

  He paused, thinking about something as if he just discovered it for the first time. I wanted to know what it was, but I didn't want to interrupt. I moved from the couch over to the curtains, where I pushed them over to the side and wrapped them around the hook, letting the sun in. It was much brighter than I cared for, but it was almost the afternoon and it was about time my room showed it. I waited for my father to speak. He seemed puzzled now, but the silence was killing me.

  "Sometimes when you bounce your ideas off of somebody else, you tend to come up with answers," I muttered as I grabbed a pillow and hugged it against my chest, digging deeper into the couch.

  "He has to be getting help from someone," my father finally said, refusing to look me in the eye.

  "That would make sense if there was someone more powerful than you and the other alphas—but there's not," I reminded him.

  "The Spirits are more powerful than us," my father mumbled.

  "Why in the hell would the Spirits help a murderer?" I asked, my voice harsh and loud. "They created the alphas to stop things like murder. Why would they go and change their minds?"

  "I know it doesn't make sense," my father continued without focusing on anything in particular. "But it's the only way this sorcerer would be able to stay hidden."

  "What if he's getting help from someone in Purgatory?" I asked, thinking along the lines of my father's thoughts.

  "Purgatory doesn't exist, Luna," my father reminded me as he stood up from the couch.

  "Only because no one has ever found the door," I argued with him, forcing him to turn back and face me. "Technically, we've never seen the Spirits, but we still believe in them."

  "We believe in them because the original alphas encountered them and documented it," my father sighed. "There is no documentation about Purgatory."

  "Maybe we just haven't found it yet." I moved the pillow from my chest and leaned forward towards the table. "I'm just saying, there are things in this world that don't make sense, and sometimes the craziest idea turns out to be the answer."

  "Like what?" my father asked. He suddenly was in an argumentative kind of mood and I loved it. It was challenging, and I couldn't help but be addicted to anything that made me think.

  "Like an alpha having a daughter," I barked at him. It might not have been the best example, but the council still thought my existence didn’t make sense. They referred to me as if I was a myth standing right in front of them. Sometimes I thought they were actually afraid of me. I heard them whispering in the halls about how I was a threat to the royal line. They acted like I was going to destroy my fat
her and my brothers and take the throne for myself. If only they knew I wanted nothing to do with being the alpha.

  "Maybe you have a point." My father smiled and quietly laughed. "I'm not saying Purgatory is real, but we do need to keep an open mind."

  He moved towards me and bent down so that his lips could press against the top of my head. He then moved back towards my bed and grabbed the empty plate and glass before walking towards the door. "You should get yourself ready. The alpha families are portaling in at midday."

  "I'll be ready," I promised him.

  I waited for the click of the door shutting and then I moved from the couch to the bathroom. I thought a lot about the discussion with my father. Mostly the part about Declan. I could not believe he’d decided to spring that on me on my birthday. I know he meant well, and he did try to bring it up in the best way possible, but he seriously couldn't wait a day? I trailed away from my anger as I pictured Declan in my mind. We had always been friends, but we were never close. Considering the rest of the council children were only friends with us to gather dirt to take back to their fathers, Declan was the only one who didn't seem to care that we were the alpha's children. He and my brother, Levi, were best friends, and spent most of their time together whether they were training, shadowing the council, or causing trouble somewhere in a nearby village. I didn't have any negative feelings or thoughts about him, but I didn't believe I had ones that would justify binding to him either.

  My mind was so busy that I couldn't enjoy the warm bath that was drawn for me. I finished cleaning myself up and then I left the tub, wrapping the towel around my body, and sitting down on the chair in front of the counter, a looking glass hanging from the wall above it. I placed my elbows on the counter and dropped my face into my palms as I tried to forget about the stress that came with a binding ceremony. I thought I only had to worry about getting through the ball, but now I had to think about a ceremony that took just as much planning. What did Declan have to say about all of this? Surely my father at least brought it up to him. He wouldn't really go behind Declan's back and plan the entire thing without telling him, would he?