Novels by Matisyahdu

True to Snowcloud's word, she had them leave the castle at dawn.Stoneheart and Tuya saw them off as they departed, offering them wishes of good fortune on their travels, along with several small gifts.Tuya gave Arran fifty Essence Crystals, which she said was a token of gratitude for his help in disposing of the army. Arran accepted it gracefully, not bothering to point out that she'd taken twice as much for the armor he'd used. Tuya, he suspected, would have been able to easily handle the matter herself had she wanted to.Stoneheart, on the other hand, had little to offer but his gratitude. The tall novice had last his own void bag in battle months earlier, and it appeared that Elder Naran had confiscated all the belongings of the novices they'd defeated in battle.The giant Elder himself, finally, did not appear. From what Snowcloud said, he'd locked himself away weeks earlier, and it seemed that

"You idiot!" Snowcloud looked at Arran with tear-filled eyes. "I thought you had died!"Arran didn't respond. She had repeated variations on the same words at least a dozen times in just the past half hour, and by now, he understood there was nothing he could say that would make a difference.When he returned to the castle, he had expected her to be angry, even furious. What he had not expected was for her to hug him while nearly crying her eyes out.In Arran's view, this was considerably worse than anything he'd been prepared for. Her anger, he could weather. But this, he had no idea how to handle. It was clear his absence had hurt her, and that she had spent the weeks he was gone in worry, fretting that he had died or been captured.He had apologized, of course, but it seemed an apology wasn't what she wanted. As for what she did want, Arran had no idea.Part of him blamed Ston

"Our town is called Riverbend," the woman said, her voice anxious. "I am the mayor."Arran spent some moments in thought. While the village — it was far too small to be called a town — shared a name with his old hometown, the two places were thousands of miles apart, and other than being next to a river, they seemed to have little in common.Still, the name reminded him of the life he had left behind. Even if he did not regret his decision to become a mage, he wondered what things would have been like had he stayed in the real Riverbend. Calmer, probably, and certainly less bloody.Arran shook himself from his thoughts. He had more important matters to handle."What about them," he said, gesturing at the soldiers. "What are they doing here?"Before the woman could respond, one of the soldiers stepped forward, a stocky, middle-aged man with dark skin and several old scars on his face."You gonna kill us?" Although the man's expression was cautious, there was no fear in his eyes. It see

In the days after the battle, Arran hunted the escaped soldiers with grim determination. Deadly though the battle had been, many survivors had managed to flee, and thousands of them now filled the woods surrounding the camp.After just three days, he had already killed more soldiers in his hunt than he had killed during the battle, and even if most of the temporary strength of the Blood magic dissipated quickly, he could feel that there were permanent benefits, as well.Perhaps he wouldn't be able to shrug off major wounds the way he had right after the battle, but any small wounds he sustained healed easily, and his strength had more than doubled.Several times, groups of soldiers tried to ambush him. They did not live to regret the mistake. Arran's Shadowsight allowed him to see through their ambushes easily, and even if most of the strength of the initial battle had dissipated, Arran was strong enough to crush them effortlessly.More troublesome were the ones who neither fought nor

Stoneheart braced himself for Arran's Battering Force attack, throwing up what seemed to be a shield of Wind Essence.Before the attack could hit him, however, it smashed into its actual target — the Shadowcloaked mage who was heading toward Stoneheart with a raised sword in his hands.The attack hit the mage squarely in the back, sending the man flying into Stoneheart's shield. Stoneheart staggering back from the force of the impact, while the mage crashed heavily to the ground.The force of the attack proved enough to break the mage's concentration, causing his Shadowcloak to fail. With a brief flicker of light in the air, the short, fat man suddenly became visible to the eye.Despite taking a direct hit that should have incapacitated him, the mage got to his feet immediately, and without even a second's hesitation, he turned to Arran and shot a stream of white, lightning-like fire from his hands. It hit Arran in the leg, burning straight through his armor and leaving a fist-sized h

The mage's thunderous words immediately set the entire camp in motion, and within moments, Arran's Shadowsight told him that hundreds of soldiers were beginning to move into the woods, with many more following behind them.It was exactly what he had hoped would happen, and he could not help but feel excited at seeing his enemies fall into the trap so easily. While he had prepared for the possibility that they would see through the ruse — it was hardly subtle, after all — it looked like everything would go according to plan.His spirits rose further when he realized that his enemies' advance was chaotic, lacking any sort of organization. Rather than progressing in tight ranks, as he imagined a real army would, they moved forward in a disorderly mass.Their sloppy advance allowed Arran to continue attacking in much the same way as he had before, striking quickly and furiously, then disappearing into the woods again before they could respond.Several of the soldiers had the presence of m

I nodded. He stepped in and I closed the door behind him. He spun around to face me. "Every single human in this building—me included—perhaps my daughter being the only exception—wants you dead." At that, I couldn't help but chuckle wryly. "So I've gathered." "The great Derek Novak. One of the best hunters the order has ever known…now prince of the vampires." King actually…I looked up at him…but then you don't really need to know that. "This thing you have with my daughter stops now. You can't keep using her for whatever reason you have for wanting her." "I'm in love with her," I said through gritted teeth. "I fully intend to marry her." "Marry her? She's mortal! If you loved her, you wouldn't deprive her of the future she deserves. You wouldn't deprive her of an education, a family, children of her own…" At that, I couldn't find a proper response. I'd been plagued by that thought ever since Sofia returned to The Shade. I knew I was being selfish with her. "Be straight with me

I knew then that should Derek ever ask, I would willingly let him have my blood. The thought scared me, because it was a stunning realization of how much I was willing to give up for him. I drifted off to sleep for the rest of the flight, leaning my head on Derek's shoulder, hoping to escape everything through peaceful slumber. It was the sudden jolt caused by the wheels of the plane hitting the tarmac that woke me. My immediate instinct was to check out the window for the sun and I was relieved to find that it was dark. I knew we were in the US—that much I'd gathered from overhearing several conversations between the hunters, but where exactly in the States we were, I had no clue. I checked on Derek and found him unbuckling his seatbelt. "Hey, beautiful," he said before quickly looking away.Something about him felt distant and cold. I looked toward my father and wondered what he would have to say if I went to him to ask for blood to feed Derek. The prospect seemed insane. I grabb

It felt like I was riding to my death. I was surrounded by hunters and I was willingly heading toward the last place any vampire should be. The hunters' headquarters.I could feel Aiden's glare burning through me. I knew that in his eyes, I was the enemy. In his eyes, I had brainwashed Sofia into loving me. I knew that he would do everything to take Sofia away from me. It's the way I would've thought had I still been a hunter. I clung to Sofia, driven mad by how much I was craving her blood. I swallowed hard as I pressed my lips against her cheek. I couldn't remember ever wanting anyone as much as I wanted her. The fact that I was in love with her only added to the heavy ache that seemed to permanently settle on my chest. No wonder Lucas couldn't keep himself away from her… Lucas. My jaw tightened at the recollection of seeing my brother burst into flames. I'd never liked him, but he was still my brother. Seeing him meet his end brought no satisfaction whatsoever. I found myself w

Amidst all the bedlam surrounding me, I was certain of one thing and one thing alone. Claudia had reverted to her old mad and twisted self. I knew it the moment she attacked Sofia and sank her fangs into her neck. "What is wrong with you?!" I hissed at her after seeing her claws come out, ready to put me through another painful ordeal. "She's safer as a vampire than she is as the pathetic little twig that she is," she told me. "I was doing her a favor." She wasn't feeding on Sofia. She was turning her. I couldn't even begin to imagine what was going through her mind. "This place is filled with hunters. Nobody is safe, you crazy bitch." Her claws retracted and she pressed her palm over my chest to keep me down. "You were going to shoot me," she accused. "You were sinking your bloody teeth into Sofia's neck. Of course I was going to shoot you." I pushed her away from me and was slightly surprised when she actually backed off. I searched for Sofia in time to see her pinned to a wall

The moment the circular glass elevator stopped at level four, I saw my father rising up to his feet as he pulled a wooden stake from a vampire's chest. At the sight of me, his eyes widened. More questions than I could make sense of flashed through my mind at the sight of him. My mother was a vampire and my father was a hunter. It felt like my entire life had been a lie. However, I knew that I wasn't about to get any answers, because this was no time for teary-eyed reunions. War was breaking out all around us. As I stepped out of the elevator, I realized that my father had just begun to take note of the dress I was wearing and the blood on my wrists. He then saw Derek stepping out of the elevator right behind me. My heart stopped when I realized what it looked like. "Dad, no!" I screamed, but he was already pulling out a gun and aiming it at Derek. I immediately acted out of instinct and used myself to cover Derek. I was about to tell Aiden—who was running toward me—that if he ever

I stepped away when Borys began to run his hand down my shoulder. Borys responded by using one strong arm to grab my waist and pull my back against him, holding me in position so that he could touch me any way he pleased right in front of Derek. I kept my eyes on Derek's, wondering if things would really end this way. I was grasping for any thread of hope. I wanted to be strong for Derek, but I had no idea how to do it. We were both too weak, too broken. When a soft knock interrupted Borys' shameless display, I could hear Derek sigh with relief. "What?!" Borys screamed. A guard entered. He looked terrified. "Your highness…" His voice trembled. "The boy…Ben…he escaped with the blonde vampire. They both left The Oasis…they haven't yet returned." I could feel Borys' breathing suddenly get heavy. His arms clamped around me so tightly, I thought he wanted to snap me in two. Instead, he pushed me to the ground and marched toward the guard. He grabbed the guard's neck. "How long have th