Sunfall Read online

  Table of Contents

  Synopsis

  By Nell Stark and Trinity Tam

  Acknowledgments

  Dedication

  alexa

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  valentine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Epilogue

  About the Authors

  Books Available from Bold Strokes Books

  Synopsis

  In the final installment of the everafter series, Valentine Darrow and Alexa Newland work to rebuild their relationship even as they find themselves at the heart of the struggle that will determine a new world order for vampires and wereshifters. To survive, they must defeat the growing threat posed by Balthasar Brenner, who has been a thorn in the side of the vampire-wereshifter Consortium for centuries.

  The search for Brenner leads Val and Alexa deep into the heart of the Alaskan wilderness, where they must confront Brenner’s forces and either secure peace between the paranormal races, or die in the attempt.

  sunfall

  Brought to you by

  eBooks from Bold Strokes Books, Inc.

  http://www.boldstrokesbooks.com

  eBooks are not transferable. They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement on the copyright of this work.

  Please respect the rights of the author and do not file share.

  By Nell Stark and Trinity Tam

  everafter

  nevermore

  nightrise

  sunfall

  By Nell Stark

  Running With the Wind

  Homecoming

  sunfall

  © 2012 By Nell Stark and Trinity Tam. All Rights Reserved.

  ISBN 13: 978-1-60282-701-1

  This Electronic Book is published by

  Bold Strokes Books, Inc.

  P.O. Box 249

  Valley Falls, New York 12185

  First Edition: May 2012

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

  This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.

  Credits

  Editor: Cindy Cresap

  Production Design: Susan Ramundo

  Cover Design By Sheri ([email protected])

  Acknowledgments

  For the last four years, we have shared our lives with Valentine Darrow and Alexa Newland. While mostly amenable roommates, they have been at times stubborn and demanding. They have dictated how we spent our summer vacations and what time we went to bed at night. They have caused more than a few arguments between us. They have also inspired some rather passionate “apologizing.”

  We thought it would be bittersweet to bring Val and Alexa’s story to a close, but really, nothing has changed. They are still here, sipping chai at the corner Starbucks and jogging the pre-dawn streets of the East Village. Every new park and restaurant and curio shop we encounter in New York City inevitably inspires a conversation about whether or not it might be one of Alexa and Val’s haunts. They’ve wormed their way into our world and we’re grateful that you have invited them into yours.

  As we close the book on Val and Alexa’s adventures, we are first and foremost grateful to Cindy Cresap, who has helped us to weave together the many threads of their story.

  We are likewise indebted to Radclyffe for sowing the seed of this idea years ago, for her invaluable feedback on this narrative, and for giving us the opportunity to publish with Bold Strokes Books. We’d like to thank all of the wonderful, hardworking, and selfless people at BSB—Connie, Lori, Lee, Jennifer, Paula, Sheri, and others—for helping to put out and market quality product year after year. The members of Team BSB, including our many fellow authors, continue to inspire us and we count you all in our extended family.

  Finally, our thanks go out to each reader who picks up one of our books. This series is, above all, for you, and we hope you enjoy it.

  Dedication

  For Radclyffe—the Blood Prime of Clan BSB

  alexa

  Chapter One

  The War Room was in chaos, and I took comfort in the light pressure of Valentine’s hand at the small of my back as we entered. Crimson alarm lights flickered dramatically, and the digital marquee winding around the room proclaimed a state of “Code Red.” People either were milling about aimlessly or were huddled together in small groups, and the air hummed with their cumulative whispers. They darted frequent glances toward the large plasma screens that covered the walls, all of which were focused on one image: the starkly imposing façade of the front entrance to the New York City Four Seasons.

  In a matter of hours, Helen Lambros, Master vampire of New York, would walk to her death through that door. On the other side waited Balthasar Brenner, a powerful alpha werewolf who had vowed to destroy the vampire/wereshifter Consortium. Brenner was holding an entire delegation of vampires hostage, and his price for their release was Helen’s surrender. He had already declared his intent to imprison her in the penthouse suite and watch her die as the sun rose.

  Brenner’s vendetta against vampires had been centuries in the making. He considered them to be evolutionarily inferior to both humans and Weres, and his mission was simple: genocide. He had almost eradicated the bloodline of the Missionary, one of the seven great vampire clans, and the one to which Val belonged. For weeks, before she’d begun turning others, she had been the only surviving member and had claimed the titles of both Missionary and blood prime by default. Brenner had made three separate attempts on her life during that time, but she had always managed to foil him.

  It was no surprise that Brenner despised the Consortium, an alliance specifically designed to help both species work together toward common aims. As far as he was concerned, wereshifters and vampires had no common aims. Every shifter who associated with the Consortium was, by his reckoning, a traitor. Now he was trying to make a powerful statement by forcing Helen, the Master of New York and head of the Order of Mithras, to go willingly to her own death.

  If his plan succeeded, he would be able to claim credit for dispatching both the Were and vampire leaders of the most important Consortium base on the East Coast. Last month, Malcolm Blakeslee, Weremaster of New York, had been shot in the head by one of Brenner’s assassins. He had spent several days in a coma before suddenly shifting. Initially, the doctors had taken his transformation as a good sign—a necessary part of his healing process. But for weeks, he had been living in the arena as a lion and many feared he had gone feral. In his absence, his assistant and my good friend, Karma Rao, had taken over his duties.

  “There’s Constantine.” Val pointed to the glass walls of the small conference area across the room. Within, Constantine Bellande, the werepanther who had sired me, was locked in a heated debate with Leon Summers, the Consortium’s head intelligence officer. Even at a distance, I could make out the flush that suffused Constantine’s face and neck.

  “Let’s find out why they look so murderous.” I led the way, noticing several stares directed toward Val as we crossed the floor. Had it not been for Brenner’s deadly ultimatum, Valentine Darrow’s miraculous return to the sunlight would have been the news
monopolizing the rumor mill.

  After Val had been turned almost two years ago, I had chosen to become a shifter in order to sustain her forever. Not only were Valentine and I deeply in love, we were also attuned to each other at the deep chemical level. For her, my blood was special. The vampire parasite that had colonized Val’s bloodstream recognized my red cells as a substitute for her own, and so long as I was the only one who fed her, she would retain her soul and the ability to endure the sun. Unfortunately, thanks to Brenner, a wereshifter civil war had broken out while I’d been traveling in Africa over the summer, and I hadn’t been able to return to Valentine as planned. She had lost control, and the Consortium physicians had given her a transfusion. Thus began her descent into darkness, and for several agonizing months, I had believed her to be lost to me forever. But then, the discovery of an ancient myth had rekindled my hope that Val could recover. After traveling to Argentina and tracking down a legendary plant with miraculous healing powers, I had been able to restore her soul.

  I reached for her hand and she squeezed gently in reassurance. We’d had less than a day together before Brenner’s ultimatum had plunged the Consortium into bedlam. Part of me wanted to turn around and leave—to escape the city, drive into the mountains, and seclude ourselves in a cozy cabin where we could rediscover each other slowly and thoroughly. But a week of languid lovemaking was a luxury we’d have to indulge in after we solved this latest crisis.

  When I pushed open the conference room doors, both men turned to regard me with angry expressions. My inner panther growled in response, but I refused to let her distress show on my face. “Problem, gentlemen?”

  “Just a friendly disagreement about methodology.” Constantine’s voice was taut, the air around him fairly shimmering with tension. He was close to shifting, and I wondered how much of his volatility had to do with his personal feelings about Helen Lambros. I’d always suspected him of being at least a little in love with her, and now she was about to walk into a death trap with her eyes open. Moreover, she had just been reunited with a former lover, Solana Carrizo, whom she had believed to be dead for the past century. If my suspicions were correct, Constantine had multiple reasons for being on edge.

  At that moment, Devon Foster, the vampire head of Consortium security, barged through the doors. “She’s planning to leave in five hours. That doesn’t give us much time.”

  Val braced her arms on the table. “Run us through how the exchange will work. Will Brenner release the hostages when she arrives?”

  “‘Once she’s in custody,’ were his exact words.”

  Val grimaced. “That phrase is a semantic minefield.”

  I slid into the chair closest to her. “We’ll need two plans: one for extracting the hostages if Brenner doesn’t let them go and the other purely focused on Helen.”

  “If he doesn’t release the delegation,” said Constantine, “his terms are forfeit and we have every right to go in and take them. And Helen.”

  “His terms have nothing to do with this,” countered Summers. “That hotel is full of humans, and we’ll almost certainly be apprehended by their law enforcement if we turn it into a war zone.”

  Constantine snarled in frustration. “Who said anything about a war zone? Alexa is right. This is an extraction mission. It will have to be surgically precise to have any hope of success.”

  “Whatever we decide, we need a backup plan.” Val’s fingers drummed a quick beat against the tabletop. “Is there a building with line-of-sight into the eastern wing of the penthouse that’s also within sniper range?”

  Foster’s eyes narrowed. “What are you thinking?”

  “A sniper gives us two options: the ability to create a distraction and to perform a mercy killing if necessary.”

  Constantine swore colorfully in French, but no one disagreed with Val’s assessment of the possibilities. I tried to put myself in Helen’s place. As a Sunrunner vampire, she could withstand direct exposure to the sunlight for much longer than members of the other vampire clans. But in the end, she would still be burned alive, her increased resistance only serving to prolong what was undoubtedly an agonizing process. A shiver coursed down my spine as I imagined her slow immolation. I would want the quick death Val was offering.

  Summers was speaking into his phone, directing one of his staff members to find out whether there was a building that met Val’s specifications. At a light tap on the door, Foster opened it to reveal one of her staff carrying a large roll of paper.

  “Hotel schematics,” Foster said as she spread out the blueprints. For several minutes, we contemplated them in silence.

  “We’ll have to find a way in through the service entrance.” Constantine traced a set of parallel lines with his index finger. “From there, we can split into two teams, one creating a distraction in the elevator shaft while the other ascends the stairwell.”

  Summers’s upper lip curled in disdain. “In what universe would Brenner leave the back door unguarded?”

  Constantine’s knuckles whitened and the table creaked at the strength of his grip. “I’m well aware that—”

  “We can stow away on a delivery truck,” I cut in, hoping to diffuse the tension by keeping them focused on the plan. “At least we’ll make it through the perimeter that way.”

  For one harrowing moment, it looked as though they would come to blows despite my efforts. But then Summers’s phone rang, and he stalked toward the back of the room as he answered it. I turned my attention back to the others.

  “You and Leon should be in the elevator shaft,” Val said, looking at Foster. “No windows.”

  “That leaves Constantine and me to cover the stairwell.” I bent closer to inspect that part of the diagram.

  A frown creased Val’s brow. “And me. And Solana, if she’s willing.”

  Val thought I had forgotten about her. I rested my palm atop hers and stroked her knuckles with my fingertips. “You need to be the sniper.”

  “What?”

  That single syllable vibrated with tension. I took hold of her hand and pulled her into the corner, not wanting everyone else to be privy to our conversation. Val was reacting not as the blood prime or the Missionary, but as my lover, and I would need to respond to her as such. When we reached the far corner, I twined my arms around her neck and met the full force of her stormy gaze.

  “I’m not leaving your side, Alexa,” she said before I could open my mouth. “You just brought me back. Brought us back. This mission verges on suicidal, and if you think I’m going to sit around and twiddle my thumbs while you risk your life—”

  I cut off her tirade by pressing my mouth to hers. I meant the kiss to be gentle and comforting, but the sensation of her lips sliding possessively over mine fanned the embers of my desire. A groan welled up in my throat, and I twined my fingers in the short hairs at the back of her neck. When she finally pulled away, we were both gasping for breath.

  “Don’t you see?” she whispered.

  “Perfectly.” I managed a small smile. “But you know I’m right about this. You should take the shot. When you’re at full strength, your eyesight and muscle control are unparalleled. And the sunrise isn’t a death sentence for you anymore.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “That’s true of Solana, too.”

  “Solana would never be able to pull the trigger.”

  Her lean frame shuddered in a sigh, and I knew logic had won out. She pulled me closer, cradling my head against her shoulder, and gently stroked my hair. I let my eyes drift shut and savored the sensation of being held. Valentine’s arms were the eye of the storm.

  “Solana goes with you and Constantine,” Val murmured into my ear. “I trust her, and you’ll need someone at your back who can handle a weapon if you both end up having to shift.”

  I nodded against her chest and was about to reply when Summers’s raised voice captured my attention.

  “The thirty-eighth floor? You’re sure? Good.” An edge of anticipation had sharpened his word
s, and I reluctantly pulled away from Val to hear his news.

  “Who’s doing the shooting?” he said.

  “I am.” Val cast a sideways glance at me. “Under duress.”

  Summers bared his sharpened teeth. “My people found you a perch on the top floor of the Seagram Building. The angle of correspondence is small, but it’s the only option.”

  “I’ll make it work.” Val squeezed my shoulders briefly before moving away to confer with him.

  Constantine stepped into the space she had vacated, and my panther snapped awake as though he had called her name. His unspoken desire to grind Brenner’s spine between his powerful teeth was both palpable and infectious, and a rush of adrenaline flooded my bloodstream. The remembered stench of urine and wet fur assailed my nose as I flashed back to our imprisonment at Brenner’s hands. He had intended for Constantine and me to kill each other in captivity. He had unleashed a deadly virus on the shifters of New York. He had razed the vampire city of Sybaris, and his assassins had made three separate attempts on Valentine’s life. He had much to answer for, and we would make him pay.

  The hunt was on.

  Chapter Two

  We gathered at half past three in the morning in a small atrium just off the back door of Headquarters, a restricted area that had required Foster’s handprint to access. From here, we could leave on our mission without risking the speculation of passers-by. Brenner undoubtedly had spies inside the Consortium, and while he had to suspect the existence of some kind of rescue attempt for Helen, we needed to keep the specifics of our plan under tight wraps.