The Lost Siren: Rise of the Drakens Book 1 Raven Storm (books for 8th graders .TXT) 📖

Contents

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

FIFTEEN

SIXTEEN

SEVENTEEN

EIGHTEEN

Books By This Author

Books By This Author

Acknowledgements

THANKS

SNEAK PREVIEW

ONE

TWO

Copyright         2020 Raven Storm

All rights reserved

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

ISBN-9798702955742

Cover design by Amanda L. Matthews

amatthews@amdesignstudios.net

ONE

I didn’t ask to be kidnapped, but I wasn’t exactly protesting it either. That night I’d been having a good cry in the stables, my usual hiding place when Lord Crullfed had gotten too heavy with his hands or his cane. Not that I cared any; I was thankful the beating was shorter than normal. Crullfed had cut our time short, rushing off to see another one of the girls who was supposed to leave within the hour. I assumed he’d sold her, as was common with the prettier slaves.

The quiet of the night was soothing; the exact opposite of the breeding house, which was always filled with the cries and moans of women struggling to bring new human slaves into the world, only to have them ripped away and sold at auction to the training houses. The training houses would raise them, turning a tidy profit by renting or selling the humans as they got older. A vampyre or demon would pay top dollar for a well-trained human with the right lineage and looks. I had neither, as a human of unknown origin dropped on the doorstep twenty-two years ago. My unsuitability to be a broodmare or expensive slave was just fine with me; being a servant was much more of a life than many other humans could boast. Within the breeding house, I was mostly protected. Outside, humans were prey.

When the Overlord won the Demon Wars, he and his allies took over the entire continent, as far as I knew. Slaves aren’t exactly educated, so my knowledge is limited. I know our bit of land is called Dorea, but that is all. Hundreds of years ago humans had ruled, hunting down warring bands of lykos, wolven creatures that could pass for humans if the timing of the moon was right. We lived in fear of the vampyres, whose bloodlust was unquenchable, and the demons who kept finding their way into our realm repeatedly. Crullfed was lower ranking vampyre, but the demons found him useful with his wealth and lands. Other humans who had something to offer were left in peace if they cooperated. I know things weren’t always this way due to Clarice; the elderly nursemaid who looked out for most of the birthing mothers and younger servants. She claimed there was a time once when humans held dominion over the world and hunted down starving vampyres in packs. There were no demons with their magicks and powers, and the other magical creatures left us alone, or so she’d said.

Dorea was a land that stretched far to the mountains in the north, and with valleys and forests to the south. The west was cut off by the deserts, making travel and trade in that direction impossible. The land flattened to the sea on the east, and that was the entirety of my knowledge.

I leaned against a ladder, debating on whether to sleep in the hayloft or not. If I spent another night there, I would likely oversleep and be late for my morning chores. That meant another beating, and the vicious cycle would continue. I reluctantly turned to head back into the house, wondering if I still had any salve left in my tin.

It was any wonder I was still alive, really. Most of the breeders here only lived thirty years or so, then they worked like dogs in the fields until they dropped dead. Crullfed would purchase a fresh, young body to take her place. By comparison, my life was luxurious; it was all I could really hope for. Humans were slaves to be used and discarded.

A fresh set of screams pierced the night, floating through one of the second story windows. I winced; Lucretia was much too early to be giving birth now. If the baby died, she’d be whipped, and likely sent to the fields. It wasn’t her first miscarriage. I turned to go, and that’s when I saw him.

He wasn’t trying to hide, and that was what kept me from running. His body was backlit by the moon, so all I could make out was his towering figure, easily dwarfing Lord Crullfed by two feet. He was devoid of any weapons, though that didn’t mean anything in a world ruled by creatures. I took a step back, wondering if I could outrun him. With the length of his legs, I doubted it.

“Do you have business with the Lord?”

I kept my eyes down on the floor, like I’d been taught since birth.

“Come with me.”

His voice was deep, the rough growl of a predator. I glanced up, noticing his eyes were amethyst; the color of Lord Crullfed’s favorite cloak and the color of grapes before the harvest. He stepped into a ray of moonlight, and I saw him more clearly. Long, black hair was held back by a simple leather thong, with bits braided intricately down the sides. He was bare-chested, though wearing dark leather pants tucked into leather boots. His skin shimmered oddly underneath the moonlight. He wasn’t a lykos, or a vampyre. He was also clearly not one of the male breeders leased to Lord Crullfed.

The man frowned when I didn’t move towards him, his eyes peering down at me as he leaned forward and grabbed my wrist. I swallowed back memories as bile rose in my throat; the only time a man ever touched me was to hurt me. His skin