The Prophecy

  The Edge of Forever Book 4

  D.C. Gambel

  Contents

  Prologue

  1. Gaby

  2. Grayson

  3. Gaby

  4. Grayson

  5. Gaby

  6. Grayson

  7. Gaby

  8. Grayson

  9. Gaby

  10. Grayson

  11. Gaby

  12. Grayson

  13. Gaby

  14. Gaby

  15. Grayson

  16. Gaby

  17. Grayson

  18. Gaby

  19. Grayson

  20. Gaby

  21. Grayson

  22. Gaby

  23. Grayson

  24. Gaby

  25. Grayson

  26. Gaby

  27. Grayson

  28. Gaby

  29. Grayson

  30. Gaby

  31. Grayson

  32. Gaby

  33. Grayson

  34. Gaby

  35. Grayson

  36. Gaby

  37. Grayson

  38. Gaby

  39. Grayson

  40. Gaby

  41. Grayson

  42. Gaby

  43. Grayson

  44. Gaby

  45. Ava

  Epilogue - Gaby

  Also by D.C. Gambel

  About the Author

  Copyright © 2018 by D.C. Gambel

  All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America.

  No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval systems, without prior written permission of the author except where permitted by law.

  Published by

  D.C. Gambel at Createspace

  Edited by

  Mina Torres

  Cover images from Canstockphoto - konradbak, nataliazakharova, rabbit75can, Teka77

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  The author acknowledges the copyrighted or trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction: Starbucks, iPhone, Jell-O, True Blood, Keurig,

  First Edition April 2018

  ISBN-13: 978-1983508103

  ISBN-10: 1983508101

  Created with Vellum

  Prologue

  Michael stood atop the highest building in the city. He peered down below at the humans scurrying through the streets like rats in a maze. Inhaling, his nose scrunched deciding against the use of his lungs. The air was putrid in the city. He was glad he didn’t need to breathe like the beasts below.

  Of all the cities in the world, it had to be New York. Disgusting, he thought to himself. Extending his wings, he prepared for flight. He’d been waiting for his informant for longer than he cared to admit. The sound of the door slamming open had him tense, announcing he was no longer alone on the rooftop.

  “You had to pick the tallest building?” his informant inquired. “The elevator’s out.” Michael turned and glared at the inferior being. If the information weren’t necessary he wouldn’t have lowered himself to speak to the demon. The demon had chosen a vessel of a middle aged, over weight man, with a balding head. His face was shrunken with dark circles forming around his brown eyes, probably from playing host to the demon for so long.

  The situation was one that would affect them both. Michael had felt the shift in the air several weeks ago. Something had changed the course of the world. Whether it was for good or evil, only God knew, and He refused to share and ruin His ultimate experiment.

  “Any word?” Michael asked the pudgy man before him.

  The demon held his chest appearing to catch his breath. He didn’t need to breathe, but his vessel did. If the human form died, the demon would be expelled from its host. The round face of the host nodded, jiggling the extra skin under his chin.

  “The hunter failed.”

  Michael waited for more. This was no surprise to him. The hunter was a human going up against angels and the abominations his brother had created. All were immensely powerful.

  “He claimed to the council that the breeding commenced sometime in June. The girl has been showing signs of pregnancy. He managed to tap her phone and intercepted a voicemail coming from a former doctor that is now a member of the New York nest. The message confirmed his story.”

  Michael huffed. The information was something but it wasn’t everything.

  “She mated, yes?” he questioned the demon who nodded. “A human?” It was something that needed clarification.

  “Yes, but she turned him. The hunter stated that the girl’s mate is a day walker, just like her.”

  Michael frowned. He knew not to expect the world from a demon, but he hoped they would have more common sense.

  “He vanished for some time. Is it not possible the child belongs to someone else?” An angel? He thought to himself. Even he’d heard the rumors. Perhaps the conception date was off. He wanted to make absolutely sure, beyond a shadow of a doubt that the child was the one prophesied. It was bad enough the lengths he would have to go to stop what was foretold from occurring, but if the child wasn’t the one they sought, he’d have the blood of an innocent on his hands.

  The demon shook his head. “There was talk about her angel lover as well. The council was extremely diligent in the matter. The conception was with her mate. There is no doubt in their minds.”

  Michael glared up into the heavens above. He wished for a sign from his father that he was doing the right thing, but nothing came. With a heavy sigh he returned his piercing gaze back to the demon.

  “Get me a meeting with the hunter council.”

  Gaby

  My heels clicking across the cement floor echoed off the ceiling sounding like a metronome keeping a steady beat. It was the only sound as I entered the dark room. The scent of blood and death was a pungent tang in the air making my stomach churn. The place seemed oddly familiar, yet I couldn’t quite place it. Fear crawled up my spine, although it didn’t stop me from advancing forward. Something compelled me onward.

  Air whispered past me almost like a phantom. It was a cold chill blowing across my neck causing me to spin, searching behind me for the source. There was no hum of supernatural energy, but if I had been taught anything in the last few months, it was that just because I didn’t feel the presence didn’t mean that I was alone.

  A breeze whipped behind me again causing me to right myself forward. I saw a dark shadow on the floor taking the form of a man. The memory hit me like an oncoming car causing me to stagger back several feet. I knew where I was. It was a place that haunted not only my dreams, but also my consciousness.

  “Grayson?” His name left me in an agonizing whisper. Shooting forward in a rush of vampiric speed, I fell to my knees in a pool of deep crimson blood just as I had once before.

  This can’t be real. I played those words over and over in my head as my own personal mantra. There was no way that his wounds could have killed him—not anymore. He was a vampire with a strength matching mine, courtesy of my father’s angelic blood. He had suffered months of torture with cursed items that would have killed any normal vampire, not to mention a stake to the heart, which too should have ended him. Grayson had survived it all. How then was he lying here, unmoving, with no heartbeat? I couldn’t form the word, although I knew what he was. I knew he wasn’t going to open his eyes again.

  A deep chuckle reverberated through the room breaking me away from my trance of grief and self-pity. It filled the room like a fog not allowing me to determine where it originated. That didn’t matter. Just the tenor of it sent a shiver of dread, causing my hair to stand on end. I recognized the sound and whom it belonged to, but again it wasn’t possible.

  “Hello, Gabriella. ’Tis good to see you again.”

  Twisting in a swift movement I turned to face the person speaking to me, moving from my knees to my feet. I was still squatting but wasn’t as vulnerable as I had been before on my knees with my back to the man. There he stood as confident as ever.

  “Anton,” I hissed wanting to rip his heart out of his chest, again. After everything he had done to me, what his infatuation caused, he deserved the fate over and over.

  He smirked expecting my hostility. “I can see that the joy is one sided.”

  “Much like your affections.”

  His lips quirked up, twitching with amusement. “You still look stunning. Although you have lost some of your appeal since tainting yourself by, not only bedding the human, but carrying his bastard child.”

  “You look pretty good too,” I paused, righting myself to my full height, which brought me closer to his eye level, “for a dead man. And he’s no longer a human.”

  Anton eyed Grayson lying motionless on the floor. “It looks as though he is not much of anything anymore.”

  “This isn’t real,” I tried sounding confident but even I heard the dubious tone.

  The vampire master before me began circling me like I was his prey. I turned with him refusing to put my back to him knowing he was just as likely to kill me as he was to talk to me. “You are correct. This is how he was the night you murdered me.” His voice darkened as his words progressed. I tried to prepare for what I knew was coming, but he moved faster than I anticipated. His fingers clamped around my throat slamming me against a wall, causing a

crack and debris to fall around us.

  “You deserved it,” I choked out while gripping his hand trying to loosen his hold. He was stronger than I remembered.

  He seemed amused as his lips tugged up in the corners. “Perhaps I did.” Releasing me, I tumbled to the ground. “And as much as I would love to enact my vengeance on you, this is not the time for it. I’m here to warn you.”

  “Warn me?” I coughed trying to relieve the pressure Anton had put on my throat. “Forgive me if I don’t believe you.”

  “I understand your reservations, but you should.” It wasn’t Anton who spoke, although I recognized this voice as well.

  “Clive?” I cocked my head in his direction just before he stepped out of the shadows.

  He turned to Anton speaking as if I wasn’t there. “I thought we agreed not to harm her.”

  “She’s fortunate that was all I did,” Anton spat back. They spoke like they were familiar. “And if she were to lose the child from it, then it would make our mission here obsolete.”

  “What mission?” Speaking brought their attention back to me. I wanted to shy away from the intensity of their gazes, but I didn’t dare show weakness. Not to two men that had died trying to harm me.

  Clive squatted down bringing himself to my eye level. He looked almost sympathetic which was a huge difference from the last time I’d seen him, when he’d been hell bent on ending my existence.

  “We’re here to warn you, Gaby,” he held his hand out. Hesitantly, I took it but kept my guard up incase he tried something. I didn’t trust either of them, but until I could find a way to escape this nightmare, I’d feign being friendly.

  “About the baby? I know. You already did—” Before you died. I didn’t say the words, but with the way Clive’s eyes darkened it was like he heard them.

  “The baby is an abomination,” Anton hissed.

  Clive glared at Anton’s comment, but didn’t turn to aim it at him. He was clearly annoyed by Anton’s hostility towards my unborn child.

  “It’s not about the baby. You’re right. I have already warned you that they’re coming for him.”

  “Who?”

  “Everyone,” he stated, letting the single word hang heavy in the air. Clive glanced down at Grayson’s crumpled body, which appeared the way he had the night Anton had tried to use him to punish me. I shouldn’t have been surprised that this was where my subconscious brought me. It was one of my worst nightmares. “Walk with me.”

  Not waiting for my response, he placed my hand in the crook of his arm like we were old friends. He led me away from where Grayson laid, only to lead me into the room where I had killed Anton. But in wasn’t Anton lying there with his heart missing. It was Sebastian.

  “What is this?” I demanded feeling ill. “This isn’t how it was.” Glancing back, Anton leaned casually against the doorway looking smug.

  “I think it looks better this way,” Anton smirked.

  Clive grasped my chin turning my attention back to him. “This is what we’re here to warn you about.”

  “That I’ll find myself in the exact same situation with Sebastian as I did with him?” I threw my thumb over my shoulder gesturing at Anton, “Only I’ll kill Sebastian?” If that’s what they were selling then I wasn’t buying. I had no doubts where Sebastian was concerned. Even if he was heartbroken over me choosing Grayson and now us starting a family, I knew he’d never hurt me.

  “You’re taking things too literal,” Anton mumbled.

  “He’s right. What do you see here?” Clive coaxed.

  Shaking my head confused, I stated the obvious. “I see Sebastian dead.” I almost choked on the words as they slipped from my lips. I knew this wasn’t real, but I couldn’t look at him like this even if I was just dreaming. It hurt me in a way I wasn’t prepared for.

  “And before, in the other room?”

  “Grayson,” I simply stated unable to utter anything else.

  “This is your warning,” Clive admitted.

  “Enough with the cryptic!” I yelled. In this nightmare, I had seen the two people I cared most about in the world dead, along with the two who had died in a relation to me. I was done and wished for nothing more than to wake. “Just tell me already. If you’re truly here to help and not because of some revenge over your deaths, you'll just tell me.”

  “So impatient, Gabriella,” Anton moved closer until he stood next to me. “This is your future, unless you do something to change it.”

  “What do you mean?”

  This time Clive spoke. “They will both fall before the child’s birth.”

  “No. You’re lying!” I yelled. “This can’t be true. I can’t lose them both.” I hated admitting, even to myself, but I cared for both men.

  “There’s a way.” Anton stated. Clive glared at him when I looked to him for confirmation. “What? She deserves to know.”

  “Tell me. Tell me how I can save them both.”

  Clive sighed. “That’s just it, Gaby. You can’t save them both.”

  “But…” I looked to Anton. Hadn’t he just said…?

  “One,” Clive answered the unspoken question holding up his index finger. “You can save one of them. You just have to choose who.” His eyes softened sympathetically at me.

  “I can’t.”

  “You have to,” Anton answered a little gentler than I expected.

  Clive nodded in agreement. “If you don’t, you’ll lose them both. I don’t envy you to choose between them, but it’s either one or both.”

  My lashes fluttered close as I tried to absorb what was being explained and wondering if I should even believe it. After all, they were both dead; killed in an attempt to hurt me. When I opened my eyes, I saw both Sebastian and Grayson standing before me looking like zombies.

  “Choose me,” they said in unison reaching towards me. I let out an ear-piercing scream, only to be jolted upright in my bed. I was covered in a sheen of sweat and was panting heavily. My heart pounded threatening to jump out of my chest. Reaching over to Grayson I found his side empty, and the sheets cold, just as it had been almost every night since Clive died.

  Throwing my legs over the side of the bed, I needed to see him, to confirm he was fine to ease my restless mind. Following the sensation that tugged at my heart, I knew it would lead me to him. Using our mating bond alerted me that he was in the apartment. I wouldn’t have felt it otherwise. I found him asleep on the couch in his office. Walking over to him, I saw the gentle rise and fall of his chest verifying he was sleeping. I ran my hand gently over his head brushing his hair away from his forehead. It was the first time I’d touched him in days.

  Quickly, I left the room as he stirred. I didn’t want to risk seeing the animosity that occasionally plagued his eyes these days. When I returned to the bedroom, I debated on whether I should make the call I desperately desired. I checked the clock. It was almost three in the morning, but I wouldn’t rest otherwise.

  Before I could change my mind, I dialed the number. It rang twice before the call was answered.

  “Gaby?” Hearing Sebastian’s voice caused me to sigh in relief.

  “Hey, I’m sorry if I woke you.”

  “You’re fine. What’s up?” I could hear the concern lacing his voice. We hadn’t spoken since the night he kissed me. The night Clive died.

  “I had a bad dream, I think.”

  He let out a deep breath he’d been holding. “A bad dream, huh?” He asked sounded relieved that that was all it was.

  “Yeah. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”