Daughter of Stars and Nightmares (The Eternal Bond Saga book 1)

Pure hatred is too sweet

Rosalie looked at her watch, it was already nine o'clock and she was running late. A deep scowl marred her fine features, she hated being late for anything. She was on her way to Hell's Broth for a meeting with Edrys and Felicia. They would discuss further fortifications of the barrier and other measures. As the head of Havenswood protection guard she had been edgy lately.

That week had been eerie, even for her. It was as if the supernatural creatures that usually hid in the shadows of the woods outside of the town had gone crazy. Every night there were at least ten incidents where one of them would try to cross the barrier. They'd never done anything like it before. The various charms and wards around the barrier repelled them as well as humans and yet over the past few nights' wards didn't seem to work properly. The creatures' actions were unnatural as well and Rosalie had a bad feeling in her gut that someone was behind all of it.

When she brought her concerns up at the Town Elders' secret meeting, they did what they always did. Most them were more than happy to hide everything and act as if things were normal. They voted three to two, to downplay it and keep things quiet. As Edrys didn't get a vote unless there was a tie, Felicia and Usui were the only two that voted for action. The other three voting against any action stating that the last thing they wanted was panic and chaos to spread through the town as their reason. She thought this was a foolish plan, but not being a Town Elder herself, she had no choice but to comply.

Rosalie thoughts were consumed by mulling over how she would protect the town without violating the Elders decision. As she rounded the outskirts of the town, a thunderous explosion lit up the sky, its Shockwave nearly knocking her off her feet.

Steadying herself, she pulled back her sleeves, exposing her forearms. As she ran each hand over the opposite forearm, it emitted a bright pink light that crackled and popped. Slowly, a swirling map of the barrier appeared on her forearms. When the next explosions went off her arms lit up in orange dots. This showed where the blasts had gone off and that they had weakened the barrier in those spots.

A string of very colourful expletives flowed from her mouth as she looked at her arms. It wasn't just one place the attackers were trying to break through; it was around ten. She could've punched a hole in the road with rage as she saw that the explosions all occurred where the barrier seemed its weakest. A chill as cold as winter ran down her spine as a thought ripped her head; she knew Thorsen was after Julia.

Cupping both hands to her mouth, she started whispering into them. Then raising her hands to the sky she let off a huge burst of blue energy. It swirled and separated into sixteen small orbs. Each of the tiny blue orbs shot off in different directions. Rosalie had just informed everyone on the protection guard of what was happening. They would need to regroup and rally more reinforcements and that meant she had to head back to the town centre.

Before she could do that, another explosion went off; this one was ten times stronger and shook the whole town. With her eyes still wide from shock, another array of blasts went off with the same amount of strength as the one before. This time red dots flickered on her arms telling her the barrier had been breached.

Rosalie let off three bright red power orbs into the sky. They expanded and then exploded in a supernova of energy, bathing the whole town in crimson. This was the signal that Havenswood had been breached.

There had been a yearly drill where the whole town would take part. The kids would gather in the high school along with anyone who was too weak to fight. Everyone else would take up arms and defend the town. Havenswood was one of the safest and most guarded towns on the planet and no one other than Rosalie thought the town defences would be breeched.

She knew Thorsen's style; he was the type that loved to make a bold entrance, and shot off toward the first breach. He was like a tiger, spending the time needed stalking his prey in the shadows and then striking, taking down anything that stood in his way.