Description
Catalyst – Mychael Black
Shadowkings 1
Witchcraft and homosexuality are punishable by death, but it doesn’t stop Lucca Moretti from embracing both. Lucca fears no man, but he has one weakness: his twin brother, Gabriele. When tragedy strikes, Lucca and Gabriele have few options, but they do have allies. They flee from the wreckage of their family’s home and take refuge in the home of Lorik, the unofficial leader of the vampires in the city of Rome. Lorik offers them safety, but not without a price.
Gabriele has spent years fighting an unholy desire for his twin, but it’s no match for the lure of Lucca’s kiss. In this new world they’ve stumbled into, however, there is much more to the people around them than meets the eye.
The vampires are at war, and Lorik’s court mage sees something in Lucca that could turn the tide in their favor. Secrets come to light which can either aid the twins in saving the new family they’ve found, or destroy them all.
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EXCERPT:
Velian Keep, 1204 AD
Just outside of Rome…
The images in the crystal flickered from one to another until finally settling on a single one Velian knew well. He’d been watching the boy for quite some time throughout the youth’s life. At thirteen years of age, the child wandered through the forest alone. He often ventured there, unknown to all others, and spoke with the creatures and spirits of the woods. Velian watched the boy kneel and coax a wolf from its hiding place with nothing more than the sound of an already-deep, steady voice. The animal seemed to accept the boy as one of its own. Ancient energy flowed around the youth, enveloping the slender form in an invisible cloak. Velian smiled, the energy intimately familiar.
“Somehow, I’m not surprised to discover he’s the one.”
Velian nodded, attention still riveted by the untapped magic he sensed within that young body. “I felt it when we met with his father. What is his name?”
“Lucca.”
“Lucca?” Velian chuckled. Perhaps he hadn’t been the only one to recognize a future mage, if the Morettis had indeed named their eldest after the Morning Star. “Does anyone know of his gifts?”
“Not that I’m aware.”
“Hmm.” Velian cupped the crystal in his palm. When he opened his fingers once again, the image was of his own keep where he and Lorik now stood. It was his refuge, the one place he came to renew his own magic and energies. An imposing fortress between worlds. “But will he be open to such things?”
“You are thinking he is one of them?” Lorik asked.
Velian had often thought so, even before he learned the young man’s name. “Yes.” He glanced at the man beside him.
Lorik served two roles in life: that of master and servant. Though very few knew of the latter role. Lorik had been with Velian for what felt like several lifetimes, and while the vampire served as master of their kind in the lands beyond, Lorik had sworn fealty to Velian long before then, in this place.
“Most people think of the shadowkings as myths,” Lorik pointed out.
Velian couldn’t deny that fact. Shadowkings were vampiric mages of legend, venerated as gods for their powers above all, including their vampire kin. Lorik was the only soul who knew Velian to be one. Velian had wondered if perhaps he was the last, until Lucca Moretti caught his attention. He doubted anyone had an inkling of what vast amounts of power Lucca possessed in those young fingertips.
“He’s not ready,” Velian said, “but he will be in a few years. What of his siblings?”
“His brother and sister do not share his abilities. I daresay they would be rather unnerved if they suspected their beloved brother possessed even a hint of magic.”
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