The Mind Control Telepath Page 23

  People had started gathering at the Childers’s household when JoAnna arrived. Koel would be meeting her there. She stupidly sent him off to run errands, while she met with Jeryl Jarlyn. JoAnna immediately went into the common room and poured herself a drink.

  “This can’t be good,” Alex commented when she saw JoAnna.

  “No, it’s not,” JoAnna replied. “Let’s wait for everyone to arrive. Give me a couple of moments to compose myself.” She took a sip of whatever alcohol she had poured. It burned as it made its way down her throat. Her body immediately started to relax, as the liquor circulated through her system.

  “I will help Tolfer in the kitchen.” Alex quickly exited the common room, giving JoAnna the space she wanted. As people arrived, the little redhead directed them to the kitchen until JoAnna was ready to meet with them.

  When Koel arrived, JoAnna swallowed the remainder of her drink and instructed everyone to join her in the common room. All eyes were on her, waiting for her to drop whatever bomb she was going to let loose.

  “The Prime Ruler wanted to meet with me because he knew I had met Cassie Clark. He somehow found out she is his granddaughter and is demanding to know her whereabouts.”

  Her statement was initially met with silence. Eventually, a variety of colorful words were echoed. JoAnna was not surprised by the reactions she got to her news, they were all similar to hers.

  “So, it begins,” Alex said.

  Her oldest friend was right on. This was either the start of a new beginning or the first step to their destruction. JoAnna walked into the warm embrace of her soul mate. They would see whatever fate had planned for them together.

  The End

  Enjoy the beginning of ‘Nightshade’

  Book One: The Nightshade Saga

  Prologue

  The Nightshade Universe

  He was older than dirt, Drake thought after the lovely blonde who stood before him asked his age. How do you explain the unexplainable? Drake’s existence defied nature.

  This was one of the rare occasions he wished he was something other than what he was. His kind was a blight on any world they inhabited. A mistake, never intended to exist in this or any other universe.

  At the beginning of time, as worlds fractured across dimensions, a division went terribly wrong. A sentient energy was forged rather than coming to life organically. The oddity traveled between worlds, leaving holes of negative matter in its wake. These frequency pathways between universes were never intended to exist.

  As the energy mass traveled, it drew on the life-force of living particles. When it came across man, it claimed its first victim as a shell to occupy.

  After settling into the primitive brain and physiology, it evolved from draining a being’s life-force to drinking the fluid carrying the elements needed to regenerate the fragile biological cells, allowing the body to physically continue.

  Thus, the first vampire came to be.

  Drake had been one of the first men the vampire converted. For eons Drake traveled with this creature, living off the blood of others. Over time they converted worthy victims to join their family. Since women had the ability to reproduce, they only changed the male of the species. As a sense of ennui set in, more of the sacrificed were changed into vampires. The newly made helped to relieve the boredom of immortality.

  The vampires grew weary of being intergalactic nomads. Eventually they settled in the Nightshade universe. Satisfied within their own world, the knowledge to manipulate matter to travel between universes was lost. Thus, only the original retained the ability.

  There had been so many world divisions since his making, Drake had no idea which world had been his birthplace. It was best not to think along those lines. The ones he left behind had long been in their graves. Their progeny would no longer have known he ever existed. His life was now tied to his creator. The entity seemed content to stay in the Nightshade universe, while Drake had nowhere else to go.

  The numerous portals leading to the Nightshade universe provided enough unfortunate beings pulled into their world to offer ample sustenance. Blood was plentiful in those early days. The maker was comfortable living off the unlimited supply of blood, until a woman came through one of the portals and life as they knew it changed.

  She had a type of power over his creator Drake had never witnessed before. Her presence seemed to relieve the constant hunger the entity suffered. The master referred to her as his soul mate.

  Through their bonding, the master thought he would transform into whatever nature had originally planned. They would venture off together, sometimes disappearing for weeks. Finally, one day the master left through a portal with the woman, never to be seen or heard from again.

  After his departure, various legends related to their destined pairing began to be told. Over time, most vampires chose to ignore and ultimately forgot those stories. However, in Drake’s darkest times, the thought of one day finding his own soul mate made him persevere.

  Over several millennia the numerous portals started to close, until only three were active in the Nightshade universe. The vampire population had become so large, and the blood sources so scarce, most were shadows of what they once were.

  Now blood frenzied creatures, they slowly wasted away. No amount of blood could regenerate those beings back into what they once were. Only the vampires who had been created by the master, had been spared the horrible thirst. Their bodies were as they were when they were first transformed. Drake held on to what little humanity he had left, waiting for his soul mate to become reality. Through her, Drake could finally transform from the parasite he was.

  The woman in front of him was someone else’s soul mate. She had the ability to navigate portals using her telepathic abilities and a crystal. The woman, Shirl, had entered their world and was now being held captive. Drake took the opportunity to offer his protection, capitalizing on the opportunity to spend time with the beauty. He had abused his role as a guest within the Venture Hive, to possess the woman for whatever time he could have with her.

  Drake manipulated the telepathic bond that tied Shirl to her soul mate. Until he was forced to give her up, he would hold on to her with every fiber of his being. She was as close as he had ever come to finding his own soul mate.

  What little happiness he currently had would be cut short when the daughter of the Venture Hive’s master was exchanged for Shirl. Everything would be lost if Afton returned to the Nightshade universe.

  Coming Soon: Feral Nightshade

  Book 2: Nightshade Saga

  About the author:

  When Evelyn Lederman retired from her career as an insurance executive, she cheerfully anticipated the freedom to finally spend as much time reading as she’d always wanted. The twist in her story came when as-yet unwritten characters started cropping up in her thoughts, asking her to tell their stories. Now, she spends her days in Florida on the beach… with her laptop.

  ‘The Chameleon Soul Mate’, ‘The Crystal Telepath’, and ‘The Warrior Woman’ are the first three books in her paranormal sci-fi romance series, Worlds Apart. ‘Nightshade’ is the first book in her new series, The Nightshade Saga.

  Keep up to date with her at EvelynLederman.com or on Facebook. Contact her at evelynlauthor@gmail.com