Blood Ascendant (Blood Stone Book 5) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  About Blood Ascendant

  Praise for The Blood Stone Series.

  Who’s Who and What’s What

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  More Vampire Menage Urban Fantasy Romance by Tracy Cooper-Posey

  About the Author

  Other books by Tracy Cooper-Posey

  Copyright Information

  About Blood Ascendant

  The wildly explosive finale to the Blood Stone series!

  The Summanus eat humans. There are more of them every day. Humanity can’t win.

  Rory Rafferty, theoretical physicist and stunning beauty, is an eight hundred year old vampire with no time for men who want to control her. At night, she kicks Summanus butt.

  Dante Santana is a recently retired pro football player in love with Rory, and more than eager to kill Summanus while he’s waiting for her.

  Sasha Mikhailov spies for the GRU, roams the world, an independent man with a gun…until he meets Rory and Dante.

  Humans, vampires and the Elah face the end of the world in the series reviewers call “fantastic”, “a knockout” and “definitely a keeper series”. Get your copy today!

  WARNING: Contains frequent, explicit, heart-stopping MMF sex between two sexy alpha heroes and their feisty heroine, including ménage and anal. Also contains some violence, but no actual vampires were harmed in the making of this novel.

  __

  This is Book 5 and the final book of the Blood Stone series.

  Blood Stone 1.0: Blood Knot (#1 Amazon Best Seller, Fantasy Romance)

  Blood Drops 1.1: Southampton Swindle*

  Blood Drops 1.2: Broken Promise*

  Blood Drops 1.3: Vale*

  Blood Drops 1.5: Amor Meus*

  Blood Stone 2.0: Blood Stone

  Blood Stone 3.0: Blood Unleashed

  Blood Stone 3.5: Blood Drive – Blood Stone Boxed Set 1

  Blood Stone 4.0: Blood Revealed

  Blood Stone 5.0: Blood Ascendant

  [*Blood Drops are short and novella length stories featuring the characters and situations in the Blood Stone series. Droplet sized morsels for your reading pleasure.]

  These are continuing characters and storylines. Reading the series in order is strongly recommended.

  Praise for The Blood Stone Series.

  I've really enjoying this series as a whole. Watching Nial maneuver his pieces on the board as he and the other vampires prepare to reveal themselves is interesting.

  I highly recommend this series because it is a knockout.

  I can't tell you how glad I was to find Tracy Cooper-Posey. I haven't been a big fan of vampire romance, but she does it for me. Read this series and you won't be sorry.

  This whole series has been fantastic.

  I recommend the entire Blood Stone series 100%!! Great!

  I’m rapidly falling in lust with all these characters and stories and can’t wait to read more.—Carrie Reads a Lot

  As always a cracking story– definitely a keeper series—Jeannie Zelos Book reviews.

  Who’s Who and What’s What

  abd Al-Malik: Agent with Dairat al-Mukhabarat al-Ammah (General Intelligence Bureau) of Jordan.

  Azarel: A member of the immortal and apparently omnipotent race called The Serene Ones, who takes mortal, human form to fully understand the human experience.

  Blood Stone, The: A stone created in antiquity by the Serena to contain three war-like species that once preyed upon humans; the Elah, the Ĉiela and the Summanus.

  Blythe Murray: Heroine, Blood Revealed.

  Bradley, Elizabeth: Female lead in Warrior King.

  Bryon: Human CEO of the League for Humanity.

  Ĉiela, the: One of three ancient races contained within the Blood Stone. Ĉiela = “from the sky”. Army of winged creatures. Deadly. It’s where the idea of angels came from. They were led by An. “An” = Sumerian god of the heavens. He was immortal, but he had a weakness: He could not be away from the sun for too long. Locking him up in the Blood Stone killed him. The Ĉiela were defeated by the Summanus, despite being the superior and immortal force. There were few left when the Blood Stone was created.

  Curandero: A species that can heal and adjust the physiology and biology of others through their touch. Winter is a Curandero.

  Danich Wulfson: a.k.a. Dan Wilson. Vampire president of the League for Humanity. Originally from Vinland, circa 1000 AD

  Dante Santana: Hero, Blood Ascendant.

  Dominic Castellano: The deaf mute hero of Blood Revealed.

  Elah, the: One of three ancient races contained within the Blood Stone. Elah = mighty, tree. They were the inspiration for elves and elven lore. But they’re not as user friendly as the mythology paints them. Led by the Emperor Dai Chi (dye-chee), who was immortal, but not a god like An, the god of the Ĉiela. The emperor held sway over dozens of kingdoms and minor holdings. They were earth oriented -- of the earth and grounded. They were defeated by the Summanus, and by treachery within. Much civil strife that was their undoing.

  Euphrasia: The Ancient One who was the Greek child of Nial’s maker. She lived until the Second World War on an island in the Aegean. She was treated as a prisoner of war by the Germans.

  Fettercairn: The distiller of single malt and blended Scotches, located in Kincardineshire, Scotland, where the Bruce Clan (and Calum Garrett) originates.

  Finka Zupan: Serbian immigrant, who once knew Winter when she lived there as a child. In Blood Stone Finka attempts to blackmail Winter.

  Francesca: Dominic Castellano’s sister.

  Garrett: Calum Micheil Garrett. Hero, Blood Stone. Vampire.

  Greg Evershot: Hollywood A-List Actor and film star. In Blood Stone, he is considered for the lead in Kate Lindenstream’s movie.

  Heru: Menes Heru Asar Iah, a.k.a. The Deadly Moon. Vampire – An Ancient One originating out of Akkad circa the third millennium BC. Antagonist, Blood Stone and Blood Unleashed. Asar means Osiris = god of the dead. Iah = moon.

  Ilaria Scavo: a.k.a. The Whisper. Heroine of Blood Unleashed.

  Jake Murray: Blythe Murray’s son.

  Kate: Kathrine Lindenstream: Human. Heroine, Blood Stone. Action thriller movie director.

  Khurshid Tabrizi Amirmoez: Madam Kurshid is an Ancient One, who can drink alcohol. She is an empath.

  League for Humanity, the: Vampire political group opposed to Nial’s plans for revelation. They believe in and practice the old ways, that includes human servitude

  Marcus Anderson: Human. Hero of Blood Unleashed. Kate’s CIA handler.

  McLaren: Marcus Anderson’s superv
isor. Division director, CIA

  Morena: Winter’s birth name, which she was known by in Serbia. “Morena” means "death" in Slavic. In Slavic mythology this was the name of the goddess of winter and death.

  Narish: A human who is permanently in the company of a vampire, for that vampire to feed upon as needed.

  Nial: Nathanial Aquila Valerius Aurelius. Vampire. Hero, Blood Knot. Leader of the Revolutionaries. Born 559 A.D., northern Italian mountains. Married to Sebastian and Winter.

  Nizari Ismailis: The original Assassins. Hassan bin Sabbah was the first leader. Alamut was their central fort (castle). Alamut (Persian: الموت‎, transliterated Alamūt) was a mountain fortress located in Alamut region in the South Caspian province of Daylam near the Rudbar region in Iran, approximately 100 km (60 mi) from present-day Tehran. The name means "Eagle's Nest".

  Patrick Sauvage: Hollywood A-List Actor and film star. Works with Kate Lindenstream in Blood Stone.

  Peter and Marcy Mathur: Blythe Murray’s neighbors.

  Pro Libertatus: Vampire political group opposed to Nial’s plans for revelation - comprised of powerful shadowy vampires – politicians and government personnel around the globe.

  Pyrrhus: An explosive/corrosive that kills vampires. Anything under a cupful is highly corrosive, and can ignite and burn with intense red flames (from the strontium chloride). Anything over a cupful explodes. More stable than nitroglycerine. More powerful than TNT. Contains Strontium chloride, oil and a few other controlling agents.

  Reggie Yima: Host of a Saturday Night Live style entertainment show.

  Richard Lowenstein: Speaker of the House, Vampire. Suspected leader of the Pro Libertatus

  Rick: Cyneric Pæga, a.k.a Cyneric the Assassin. Hero, Blood Unleashed. Vampire. Pronounced Sin-er-rick

  Roman: Adrian Romanus (“Roman”) Xerus: Hero, Blood Stone. Vampire. Born 1437. Enslaved 1453 (16 y.o.), during the Fall of Constantinople.

  Rory Rafferty: Heroine, Blood Ascendant.

  Sasha: Marlen Alexandrovich Mikhailov. Hero, Blood Ascendant.

  Sebastian Worthington III: a.k.a. Bastian. Former vampire, hero of Blood Knot. Married to Nial and Winter.

  Serena, the: a.k.a. “The Serene Ones” A mythical species with omnipotent powers. Not gods, but servants of unnamed higher powers. They take human form, and they’re ethereal and beautiful...and frightening. White to vampires’ black. Unreasonable and unreasoning. They mete justice with no regard for the human equation. The Serena created the Blood Stone.

  Simone and Eloise Murray: Blythe Murray’s twin daughters.

  Summanus, the: One of three ancient races contained within the Blood Stone. A race of blood shifters. An older power, and older creatures -- the predecessors of vampires. Instinctual, nocturnal, powerful. A private army. They’re shifters, too. They can imitate humans, but only those who are asleep, and for the length of their REM cycle. (10 minutes to one hour). They were led by Abiram (= ‘swallowed by the earth’). They were of the ground and under it -- the Underworld. None of the Summanus were immortal. They were considered the weakest and most despised race among the others, but they won the ages long struggle for supremacy (to the despair of humans). They were the only race that needed to renew itself and its energy, which they did by drinking blood. They used humans because humans were weak and easy to overcome. They used human “recruits” to bolster their armies in the final battles, and that is how the humans finally rid themselves of all of the Others. The Summanus did not pay their dues and the humans called upon the Serena and demanded retribution.

  Suresh Harris: a.k.a. “Sushi”. Danich Wulfson’s narish.

  Warrior King: The name of the movie that Kate Lindenstream wrote and directed in Blood Stone. Post-production occurs during Blood Unleashed.

  William Donnelly (Billy): Kate Lindenstream’s former husband.

  Winter: Winter Menon Kennedy. Human. Heroine, Blood Knot. Former professional thief, married to Sebastian and Nial.

  Chapter One

  There were not many people who earned Rory’s respect. Benjamin Lyon was one of them—not because he was her boss and certainly not because he was once a lover. Among all the super-smart and over-intelligent people that worked at the NASA Ames Research Centre, Ben was one of those who knew how to think. In her opinion, at least.

  When Ben pushed open the heavy glass door and dropped into the visitor chair next to her desk, Rory sat back and gave him her full attention. It was usually worth the time to do so. “You look tired,” she told him.

  “Three states in three days. My brain is fried,” he confessed and scrubbed at his face with both hands.

  “New Mexico, Houston and…?” Those were the two other NASA facilities that Ben was usually called to.

  “Louisiana, this time.” He sat up again. “I didn’t get a chance to talk to you before I left last week.”

  “You left very clear instructions,” she assured him.

  “I mean, talk.” His gaze met hers.

  Rory drew in a slow, controlled breath. “About?” Was Ben going to be a problem after all? He had been very adult about the end of their relationship and that had been a year ago. Rory had learned, though, that men were often possessive about women they had slept with. They often felt they had a claim on them. However, Rory had been very clear about the end of the affair. She had learned to do it that way.

  “It’s about Corbin,” Ben said and grimaced.

  “Ah.”

  Corbin Parish was a different matter. If anyone might be inclined to cause trouble, it would be him. She had cut all ties to him only a week into their relationship when she had discovered his unforgiveable flaw. “What has Corbin done now?”

  He leaned forward with a heavy sigh. “He came and saw me the day before I left last week, in a total muck sweat about you. He wanted me to fire you.”

  “I don’t believe that is a call Corbin gets to make.” Corbin was less senior than her and in a different department.

  Ben lifted his head to look at her with blood-shot eyes. “He’d just found out you are…are….”

  “You can say it. I am a vampire.”

  Ben shook his head. “It still feels too surreal to say it aloud,” he confessed. “Although, as soon as I found out that you were, it was as if a huge thing clicked together in my mind. It made perfect sense, given what I know about you.”

  “Then you are not bigoted the way Corbin is,” Rory surmised.

  “Not even close. That’s why he wants you fired, you know. He quoted a lot of standard contract terms like failure to disclose and conflict of interest. I think he even tried non-performance.”

  “I do my work and then some, as we all do.”

  “Corbin seemed to feel that as you are a vampire, you should be working longer because you don’t sleep.”

  Rory laughed. “His arguments are conflicting. What, exactly, is he objecting to? My nature or my performance?”

  “I think what it comes down to is, he’s just an asshole with an axe to grind and this gives him an excuse. I sent him away.”

  “Yet you still felt it necessary to tell me at the first possible moment and in person, too.”

  Ben nodded. “It’s Corbin Parish. I don’t like the guy and I didn’t, even before he decided your ‘no’ wasn’t good enough. I just can’t object about him officially because he’s a talented scientist. That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t watch my back if I ever got on the wrong side of him. You’ve got on his wrong side, Rory.”

  She sighed. “What is it about men like him? If I’d known, I would never have…well…” She gave Ben a tight smile.

  “It’s the hormones, honey.” He grinned back. “We just haven’t evolved enough yet, I guess.”

  “Present company excepted.”

  “Thanks.” He got to his feet and rotated his head, stretching the neck muscles. “Watch your back, Rory. I mean, your actual back. Corbin is the type of guy that, a hundred years ago, would have been running around in a white sheet, lynching bl
ack people. Now, with all this bullshit about vampires in the news, he can hate vampires right out in the open and not be slaughtered for it.”

  “Thank you. I appreciate the warning.”

  “Back to work, then.” He left her alone.

  Rory returned to her current project and promptly forgot about Corbin Parish. Everything Ben said about him was true and had been true of a great many people in her life. She didn’t let it worry her. She had learned how to handle the Corbin Parishes of the world long ago.

  When the Santa Clara police knocked on her door, three hours later, Rory realized she should have paid more attention, after all.

  * * * * *

  It was close to sunset when the detective rapped on the glass, holding up his ID for her to see. Then, just as Ben had, he pushed his way into her office before Rory could tell him to come in. There was a civilian with him, a young-looking woman with steel gray hair and eyes and a perfectly conservative skirt suit from Armani’s prêt-à-porter collection from two years ago. The shirt was synthetic silk, a gray that matched her hair and eyes. Rory knew she was not another detective or this man’s partner because the body language was all wrong. So were the clothes. Detectives didn’t wear skirt suits.