Page 1 of Payne's Envy

Prologue

Melinda Thymes

The past

To the north of the City of the Dead, in a forgotten vampire village, I stared at the sky. If one would call it that. The Underworld was a nothing-less that existed. The faux moon illuminated the abandoned buildings. Bones and ash were in piles throughout the paved path.

I tugged the brown cloak around me, pulling it as tight as it could go. As a creature of light, I stood out too much in the Underworld. The glow of my body was so bright most demons couldn’t see beyond it. They couldn’t see me. I was nothing more than a blinding light. The light would leave me soon… It was already beginning to dim at random.

Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath.It is what it is.I knew what would happen when I began this journey after peering into the scrying mirror. I knew my body would change, my very essence would become something else, and yet I still descended.

For an angel couldn’t enter Hell for long. If one did, we became monsters like all those that fell with Lucifer. Every creature in that place descended from a fallen angel. Those very first vampires were once my brother and sisters. Those first few men, some of the most beautiful of our angels, became something as foul as ogres. Werewolves, banshees, orcs, warlocks, and...Witches. I glanced down at my gloved hand as I made a fist. I believed I knew which I was becoming.

It’d been years since I gazed down into the moving water to see the future. I’dneverlook into it again because my home would reject my dimming light and that’s where the vessel of water existed. I was fallen, changed already. But hope didn’t abandon me because even without the scrying glass, I could see again.

And I saw everything.Too much.

Harvest, an entity the Devil created, would start the beginning of the end. There were so many empty spots in my visions that it petrified me, but one thing was always clear. Grim’s children had fated mates. If they found their soulmates, they would be stronger. Mankind needed them, but my visions were blurry and unfinished. I was unsure of when the mates would be born because of it.

One of them was a babe on the verge of death if he stayed with his parents another day. A creature not of that realm nor the human one. If he died, one of Grim’s daughter would lose her mate before she was born. I couldn’t let that happen.

I predicted, calculated, and watched, a hundred times over the exact moment his parents would cross realms, hoping to save their child. A sickness wreaked havoc in their land. If my visions were accurate, then I was in the right spot… in that abandoned village. If I was wrong… A miscalculation on my part could be devastating.

A deafening boom came from behind me, rattling my teeth and ringing my ears. I whipped around to see a large fissure opening in the sky. Like the very Underworld was a piece of paper being ripped down the middle. Within the widening break between two realms, black and blue hues, which resembled mingling magic, swirled around and around.

Two creatures, bigger than any dragon in this realm, burst through the vortex. One black and the other brown. Dark red and orange lines, like veins, zigzagged across their bodies. In my visions, I saw the two hulking creatures as massive flames riding through the sky. At first, I had wondered if maybe something had set them aflame, but the more of the past I saw, I realized those dragonswereflames. That neither burned proved a part of my foresight might be accurate. They were dying.

With their wings tightly wrapped around one another, the two crashed into the homes, destroying five of them. I stepped back as the dust swept up. One creature wailed and then roared.

When they spoke, I didn’t recognize their words. I flicked my wrist. My magic allowed me to understand them when the female spoke again. “There’s nothing here.Mejiki—”

“Calm yourself!” The male coughed. “There are bodies on the ground. Someone must be close—”

“I cannot leave him!” she cried. “He will never survive maturation if no one protects him until he can protect himself.”

My chest tightened as they finally came into view. They were no longer dragons, but two human-like creatures. They were taller than the average human. The dark red and orange veins were still visible. Another thing that set them apart from the mundane upon closer inspection was their eyes. Black irises, but feline-like at the pupils. Red and purple eyes. Beautiful and terrifying.

In her arms was a bundle, and my heart raced, knowing it had to be the babe.

“Dasha…” The male’s voice softened before coughing so hard he doubled over. “We can’t keep him.”

She cried. “Look around. Look at the puny bones and bodies on the ground. No one can protect him here. More danger could be here! And our son would never know a mate. No one could withstand his—”

“Dasha…” The sadness in the man’s voice made my throat tighten. It didn’t help that I saw their fate.

“The priestess was wrong. There’s no one here.” Dasha’s head lowered. “I cannot leave him to die.”

“He will catch the sickness if we keep him another day,” Mejiki said.

Taking a step forward, I spoke, “I’ve been waiting for you both.”

They jumped. Mejiki stepped in front of his family. As I moved closer, I could clearly see the sickness they mentioned. A black substance seeped from their eyes, nose, and ears. Even the orange and red veins seemed to flicker in and out, growing weaker, much like the light fading inside me.

“Who are you?” Mejiki asked, as Dasha turned her head and coughed, avoiding the bundle in her arms. “How can I understand you?”

“I made it so we could understand one another,” I said.

“Where is your face?” Dasha asked and narrowed her gaze as I pulled the hood over my head to hide from her inspection. “I see nothing but light.”

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