Cambion Read online

  CAMBION

  BOOK 4 OF THE

  SACRED OATH SERIES

  by

  Plum Pascal

  Copyright ©2020 by HP Mallory

  Writing as Plum Pascal

  License Notes

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  ALSO BY PLUM PASCAL

  (Writing as HP Mallory)

  Reverse Harem Romance Series:

  The Sacred Oath Series

  Fantasy Romance Series:

  The Lily Harper Series

  The Dulcie O'Neil Series:

  (Over 1 million downloads of the series!)

  Paranormal Romance Series:

  The Jolie Wilkins Series:

  (New York Times Bestselling Series!)

  The Sinjin Sinclair Series

  The Peyton Clark Series

  Virtual Reality Romance Series:

  The NuLife Series

  About Cambion:

  Darkness is winning. I can feel my control slipping away. Little by little, my angel lightness is dying and the succubus is taking over…

  And my companions realize it as well—my white hair and blue eyes are turning black.

  Even though I love Dragan and Baron, I need Cambion’s light in order to balance the darkness within me.

  But, Cambion hates me and always has. Yet, he’s the only creature of the light strong enough to survive my feeding from him.

  Well, there is one more who could survive it… Variant. But Variant is under the control of a powerful entity who plays him like a puppet. That means, Variant still wants me dead…

  To make matters worse, Morrigan, The Midnight Queen, doesn’t appear to be the savior we thought her to be. And when Cambion’s brother, Theren, brings his Unseelie army into the sanctity of The Veil, all hell will break loose.

  Literally.

  ONE

  Eilish

  The Veil

  Darkness creeps across the ground like fog in the early hours of dawn. I wade through that darkness until I find a small hovel surrounded by large stones that obscure the light of the rising sun. The scent of crisp apples and dewy grass fills my lungs as steam coils from my mouth with each breath. Snow gently flutters to the ground, and I hear my boots crunch on the frozen stone beneath my feet.

  “Ellie!” someone calls in a small voice. It’s familiar and yet not, but I follow the sound as though I’m drawn to it. I step inside and bask in the warm candlelight spilling through the room, breaking up the shadows. A woman with cascading silver hair sits at the table with a young child.

  “Ellie! Did you go to the city again?” the woman asks, concern lacing her voice. She stands up and approaches me. Suddenly, warm hands frame my face as she stares deeply into my eyes. I feel loved here. This woman... I don’t know her name or what she means to me, but I know she loves me and I know… I know she’s dead. And so is the child by her side.

  “Solya, go fetch a blanket for your sister. She’s freezing.”

  Sister? I have a sister? Why can’t I remember her? And this woman with the silver hair must then be my mother?

  The woman who holds me tenderly, my mother, begins to fade. Her skin cracks like fragile porcelain and she turns to dust before my eyes. Solya screams and I run to her, but I’m too late. She clings to my blouse, weeping as she cries out for me to save her, but I can’t.

  I don’t know how to. I don’t know what’s happening. All I do know is… I’m scared.

  I shoot up from my bed, sweat glistening on my heated flesh as the nightmare slowly recedes to the corners of my mind. I feel like I can’t breathe, so I stand up to open the window. Flumph squints at me, worry clear in his beady little eyes.

  “You been dreamin’ again? Or it somethin’ else?” the sprite asks.

  “A memory, I think,” I respond as I remember my mother’s eyes. “A memory of my mother and sister.”

  “I didn’t knows you had a family,” he says.

  “Neither did I.” I lift a hand to brush the sweat-tangled hair from my eyes and breathe in the fresh air that filters through The Veil.

  “Tell me ‘bout her?”

  “She was beautiful,” I say in a haunted tone. “Silver hair and blue eyes. I think she was an angel. My sister... she didn’t look like my mother. She had dark hair.”

  “Were she a succubus like you?”

  “I don’t know. I wasn’t able to see much of her. But…”

  “What?” Flumph climbs up onto the windowsill.

  “My mother and Solya are dead. I don’t know how I know that… but I… just do.”

  “You sures?” he asks and eyes me narrowly.

  I nod. “It was this feeling I had—like I knew they were no longer with us. I think they died before the balance was disrupted.” Part of me hopes that memory never returns. Yes, I want to know who I am and what my life was like before I walked up to Anona’s precinct, but there’s so much going on now that looking back seems... pointless. Whatever happened, happened. I sigh. “Anyway, that’s what the dream was about.”

  “Well, if ya need me, just holler.” Flumph flutters across the bedchamber and into the bathing room. I turn my back to the window and watch my companions as they rest. Fighting to get the Midnight Queen was much harder than any of us expected, and some of us were injured in the process.

  My head throbs and I leave the bedchamber to find Noni. I push open the door to her room and find her hovering over the Midnight Queen. “How is she?” I ask.

  The house brownie shakes her head. I move to sit on the bed and press my hand to Morrigan’s forehead. She feels hot. “I was hoping to find her awake,” I say as I glance down at the beautiful woman. “There are still so many questions I want to ask her.”

  “Why pretty angel want to ask questions?” Noni asks, her large eyes like saucers in her face.

  I shrug. “I need answers—we need answers, if we’re going to finish this mission.”

  “What the mission?”

  “I thought it was to simply stop Variant, but there seems to be so much more going on now. Stopping him won’t restore the balance or repair the damage that’s already been done.”

  Noni blinks her cerulean eyes up at me. “Midnight Queen not getting better without her power. Noni will do her best but Master still not feeling good, either.”

  I reach over to the bedside table and take the rag from the bowl, squeezing out the excess water before dabbing Morrigan’s forehead. Her fever seems to come and go, but there’s no telling when she’ll wake up. It’s been two nights since we rescued her and my mind is prickling with curiosity.

  Why did she keep me safe for so long? Who am I to her? What will happen once Variant is stopped?

  So many questions. My mind is plagued by uncertainty.

  But then there’s the matter of my companions. I no longer fight my connection to Baron, but Dragan and Cambion still try their best to keep their distance. I turn to the house brownie as a question occurs to me. “Noni, have you met any angels before?”

  She shakes her head, causing her curls to bounce. “Noni never meet any angels. Just you. But she know lots of demons. Why you ask?”

  “What about a succubus?”

  “Oh! Noni know lots of succubus-es. Well, she did, before they disappear. Noni even met a Incubus before. He was real handsome. Eyes real
black and skin all pale, but him’s wings... they was huge! Like a bat, but Noni don’t see him for a long time.”

  “An incubus?”

  She nods, her eyes growing even wider. “He was a king,” she explains. “When he left, the succubus needed to feed from regular fae, because he wasn’t their master no more. Noni meet Incubus in the mountains once. She like him. He big and scary like Master, but he nice to Noni. That the last time Noni see him.”

  It’s hard to imagine anyone could dislike Noni. “I never knew there were males like me,” I say. “No one ever mentioned it.”

  “No males, just one. And he disappear long before the succubus disappear.”

  “What were they like?” I ask. “The succubae that you met.”

  Noni sits on the edge of the bed and swings her feet. “When Noni meet one succubus, she know she not meeting them all. One ain’t never like the other. Everybody different. Some mean, some nice, some big, some small. Even Noni ain’t like other brownie. Most brownie are tricky, naughty things that get into lots of trouble.”

  “Then the succubus you met wasn’t nice to you?”

  “No,” she answers. “But, just ‘cause one succubus ain’t nice, don’t mean they all not.”

  We fall quiet once more, focusing on bringing down Morrigan’s fever.

  “Midnight Queen need her powers back.”

  “None of us can leave until the others are healed,” I reply. It’s for the best. We need this break—we need to rest and to heal. And there’s no better place than in The Veil, because we’re safe here.

  Noni teaches me a trick with my healing magic—how to channel it into one specific place so I don’t drain myself so easily. It helps, and it also reminds me that I haven’t seen Pyre for some time. When the Midnight Queen’s fever subsides, I head into the corridor and make my way down the stairs.

  Pyre is nowhere to be found. The fire still crackles nearby, filling the small cottage with warmth and it brings back tendrils of my dream. I close my eyes and see the face of my mother again. She looks like me.

  A hand touches my shoulder, startling me, and I turn around to face Pyre. The necromancer appears pained. His face is contorted into a tight frown, his skin ashen and a bead of sweat trickles down his temple.

  “Why are you up at this hour?” he asks, his voice sounding rougher than usual. “You need your rest as much as the rest of them do, Eilish. Go back to sleep.”

  I can’t. Not when I’ve seen his condition. “Pyre… what’s… wrong with you?”

  He glances down at the floor as if it has an answer for him. “It took much of my Necromantic energy to shape the Oluri,” he answers before taking a deep breath. The Oluri was a glass sphere that acted as a portal, allowing us to exit Variant’s castle and return safely to The Veil.

  “This… weakness is to be expected,” Pyre continues.

  “Because the Oluri captured a piece of your soul?”

  “Yes, exactly.”

  I swallow hard as I look at him. He seems to be crumbling by the second. “Pyre…”

  “I don’t need your pity.”

  “Not pity. Concern,” I reply reassuringly. “What can I do? You risked your life to help us. Let me return the favor. No matter what it is... Please.”

  He stares at me and for a moment, I forget he’s blind “Are you willing to trek through the dangers of The Veil?”

  “If doing so saves you?” I ask before nodding. “Yes.”

  “I must go to the Echoing Spire.”

  “What is that?”

  “It’s the place where The Veil’s magic pools. As the guardian of this world, I can tap into its power and restore my strength. But I can’t get there alone. I was hoping Baron would have been well enough—”

  “I’ll go with you,” I interrupt as I start to worry my lower lip.

  “What is it?”

  I look up at him, craning my neck, because he’s so tall. “We have to leave without the others knowing. They would never allow me to go, and I don’t intend to argue with them.”

  ###

  Cambion

  The Veil

  I’m here in the darkness and yet I can’t find the entrance to my garden, the place I visit when the reality of my fate is too consuming. I can’t get there and so I can’t get to her, to Eilish. Not the real Eilish, of course, but the part of her I can’t deny. My life would be much easier if it were Aima or someone else. This world, however, has never been kind to me. What makes me think the planes of the fabricated world in my mind would be any different?

  The sun is rising. I can sense it. Though my eyes aren’t open, I feel heat slithering through the darkness. The sun isn’t the same in The Veil as it is in the realms. Here—in a world trapped between life and death—the sun isn’t as bright, nor does the sunshine last more than a handful of hours. Day is fleeting and night reigns supreme. The spectrum of color that bleeds into the spirit world is vibrant and enchanting.

  I blink and see Noni sitting on my chest. She looks nervous as she fidgets with the hem of her small tunic.

  “M-Mr. Cambion? Noni don’t mean to wake you, but she worried. She real, real worried.”

  “What’s wrong?” I ask, sitting up from the pillow. Noni slides down my torso and lands in the blankets that gather around my waist.

  “Noni know you real kind to fae like her, so she wanna tell you, but... Oh! Noni not very good at keeping secrets and this a big one. Master will be angry, but he not thinking right.” The little creature tugs at her chestnut curls and chews her bottom lip. Her eyes flicker anxiously around the room.

  “You can tell me. If Pyre’s in danger, I need to know.” I help her up and lean against the headboard, feeling the pain in my chest as I wince. In the battle with Variant, when we freed Morrigan, Variant came for me and lanced my chest with his blade. He would have killed me if Eilish hadn’t pulled me out of his way. “What is it?”

  “Master is gone. He leave before the sun come and he take the angel with him... er. No, that not right. The angel take him before the sun come up, but it be Master’s idea to go. Noni heard him talking to the angel.”

  “What?” I ask in alarm. “Where did they go?”

  “They go get his powers back. It a long way from here.”

  “Where?”

  “Across the spirit world, where Master tell Noni she can’t go.”

  “Then you don’t know the way there?”

  “Noni no know the way.”

  I jump from the bed, carrying Noni with me as I limp over to wake Dragan. The big brute squints his eyes at me and gives me the middle finger. I shake my head. “Get up now. Eilish is gone.”

  That gets him up and moving, just like I knew it would. Dragan searches high and low for his clothes, asking me a million questions I don’t have the answers to, while I awaken Baron. The surly vampire is no easier to deal with than the gargoyle, but I’ve grown somewhat accustomed to their bullshit.

  “What do you mean, she’s gone?” Dragan demands, eyeing me narrowly. He bends over to take a deep breath and then holds his side as though he’s in pain. He probably is in pain—just like the rest of us are. The fight with Variant took a lot out of us all.

  “I mean, she’s gone,” I respond with a shrug. “And Pyre is with her.”

  “You’ve got to stop smoking whatever roots you elves like to—”

  “I’m serious.”

  “Fuck! Then we’d better get our asses moving,” Dragan responds and I can see the worry in his eyes. Whatever distrust he harbors toward the angel half breed, one thing is obvious—he cares about her.

  “None of us is in any shape to go after her,” I say, pointing out the obvious. “You can barely walk and I can barely even stand up.” I take a deep breath. “Not to mention the fact that none of us knows where to go.”

  “What do you mean?” Dragan demands.

  “Noni doesn’t know where they went.”

  “Fuck!” Dragan says and bashes his fist into the wall, shaking the
whole house.

  “If she’s with Pyre, she’s safe,” Baron says as he appears in the hallway.

  TWO

  Dragan

  The Veil

  I’m nervous for Eilish, as much as I wish I weren’t.

  I keep replaying Revenant’s words—that Pyre will keep her safe. I only hope it’s the truth. Regardless of the frustrating and confusing relationship between Eilish and me, I want to protect her and keep her safe.

  I don’t understand why I care so much, after realizing what she is--succubus. But, I do and I can’t help it. And that bothers me because it’s a sign of weakness. Caring about someone else hurts you—it affects your decision making in a negative way. You can’t think clearly or logically.

  I don’t know if it’s owing to my anger with myself over Eilish, but I feel different. I don’t want to lose my will to fight, but each day I feel like I’m drifting away from the man I used to be. Not the King of Shadows, the betrayer, or even the man who killed the last of the succubae... I feel like I’m drifting away from myself, from Dragan, and everything I thought I was.

  I can see changes in the others, as well. Revenant is more cautious and even a little bit optimistic. His newfound friendship with the necromancer, Pyre, seems to be giving him some type of purpose. Even Flumph, despite his complaining, has found some sort of meaning to his life. Cambion is, as usual, too concerned with whatever’s going on in his own mind to notice the outside world.

  My heavy boots cause the boards beneath my feet to creak as I search for Noni. She shakes her head and clicks her tongue in disappointment when she sees me up and moving.

  “Mr. Dragan, you should be resting. Noni take care of you.”

  “Thank you, Noni, but... I need your help with something,” I say, hedging around the subject. I can’t go after Eilish and Pyre because Cambion was right—I can barely walk. Furthermore, no one knows the way to the Echoing Spire. So, I have no choice but to stay here and wait for their return. In the meantime, there’s some unfinished business I need to take care of, and I’m not familiar with the other areas of The Veil.