Phoenix Read online

  Table of Contents

  From the Author:

  INTRODUCTION

  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

  CHAPTERTWENTY FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

  EPILOGUE

  Phoenix

  Copyright ©2014

  Danielle James

  Phoenix is a work of fiction. No matter how real any person, place, or thing appears to be, it is not. Any resemblance to any non-fictional situation or person is coincidental and unintentional by the author.

  From the Author:

  Phoenix has been a favorite character of mine for a long time now. He has made cameo appearances in several of the Forbidden Love Series novels. I have been asked by many people if he would ever get his own story. The truth is, Phoenix has always had a story. I wrote it about eight years ago, but now I think is the perfect time to introduce you to him.

  I want to thank my lovely Betas for their consistently honest and wonderful opinions. I also need to thank Lisa for keeping me busy and writing. Without you ladies, I would never get anything done.

  That’s enough from me, as promised, Phoenix.

  PHOENIX

  By Danielle James

  Phoenix (fee’ niks) n. a fabulous bird of the Arabian desert, supposed to live five hundred years and after death by fire to rise to new life; a symbol of immortality–Webster’s Dictionary.

  INTRODUCTION

  Phoenix had grown to love his little mismatched family. He had always been prone to keep company with what regular humans called supernatural beings, the things humans considered to be legend and myth. If only they knew! Most things humans believed were not real, in fact, were very real. Vampires roamed the streets virtually undetected by the human eye. They were a result of evolution, not a curse as most believed. People who could change their physical bodies into anything they wished worked in the local pub, the library, even in political offices. Werewolves roamed in packs, and demons had integrated themselves into the population. Some decided to live out in the public eye, and others did not. The human population accepted supernaturals as a whole, but still they knew little of how many were truly out there.

  Phoenix met Nick by accident, really. Phoenix was flying over the city of Boston, minding his own business, when he saw a woman being mugged. He shot down from the sky to offer his aid, but Nick was already there. He moved with the preternatural speed and strength that belonged to vampires alone. The would-be mugger ran off in a fit of terror.

  Phoenix learned that Nick was only half vampire, having been born to a human mother. The two made fast friends, and Phoenix met Nick’s family. Victor, his father, was a vampire nearly five hundred years old. Rachel, his aunt, was once a human, but made the decision to change in order to never have to leave the two most important men in her life.

  Phoenix stayed at Nick’s home, a welcome guest, for some time before Jolice, a human witch, walked right into their lives. Literally. She showed up one day and asserted herself into the family as if she had been there all along. She was a wonderfully kind soul, and she quickly became a sister to Phoenix.

  When Nick met Jules, a human woman who was running from the internal pain of losing her husband, things started to change. Nick narrowly stopped Jules from taking her own life, only to have to rescue her again after being attacked by a sadistic vampire. The only way to save Jules was to change her into a vampire. Jules was a strong woman, and a powerful lie detector. She found that, as a vampire, she could copy the gifts of others. An intriguing talent, to say the least.

  Jolice became adamant that there were dark forces aligning against the human race, and there would be more to join the family. And there was. Michael, a fallen angel who was given back his wings, Andrew, a human friend of Jules, and Jared, a shape-shifter all joined the family.

  Love blossomed between Nick and Jules, and also between Michael and Jolice. Everyone speculated that Victor and Rachel would soon succumb as well. But danger was lurking just around the corner. After some serious spying, the family learned that the Dark Alliance had plans to enact war on the human race, the end result being to enslave them, herded like cattle.

  Michael was a very effective tool in dealing with demons. His angelic powers were a force to be reckoned with. Jules was a powerful vampire and a fierce fighter. Phoenix learned that he loved her like a sister.

  Together, the family fought the Dark Alliance, and won. It was only after Michael permanently gave up his wings, and angelic power, to forever be with Jolice, did they realize that the Dark Alliance’s plans ran much deeper than simply enslaving the human race. The signs were there. Natural disaster, famine, floods, the moon as red as blood. The Dark Alliance was not finished, but only just getting started…

  CHAPTER ONE

  THE BOSS

  “Follow him,” the boss ordered. His dark eyes were darker than normal and particularly menacing at that moment. Harwin hated his eyes. They gave him the creeps and he was no tinkerbell.

  “Yes sir, we already have the plan in motion. He won’t make a move that we don’t know about.” Harwin replied. There were so many books in the boss’s office. Papers and folders that formed a huge mess that made Harwin wonder why the boss bothered to keep up pretenses this late in the game.

  “Good, I will not have a repeat of our last encounter. There is no room for mistakes.”

  “What about the woman?”

  “Soon, she will be of no consequence,” the boss said, nonchalant. He was confident. This time, he had his ace in the hole. He knew he should have never left Harwin to his own devices. That demon couldn’t carry out a plan on his own to save his pitiful life. “Alert the witches, tell them to be on guard. Their assignment approaches.”

  “Yes Sir,” Harwin turned to leave, but hesitated. “Are you certain the girl will be cooperative?”

  “It does not matter. She will join me, or die. She is mine, and I will not let her go.”

  “I just meant, we have been surprised before by the strength of a woman,” Harwin offered.

  “How dare you question me?” the boss spat at him, his eyes blacker than ever before. His face was twisted into a snarl that made the hairs on the back of Harwin’s neck stand up. He knew better than to bait the boss.

  “I am sorry, Sir. I merely meant to suggest we proceed with caution.”

  “The waters have begun to rise, the moon is in position. We do not have time for speculation on what may or may not occur. You follow my command, without question. You must trust that I have seen to every possibility. To every outcome. Now, get to work! Leave me!” The boss barely contained his irritation. Harwin could be so insolent. He and his group of misfits nearly caused the downfall of the entire operation before. He would not allow it again. This time would be different. This time, the boss had what he needed, what he wanted.

  Someone entered his office at that moment. He knew from the lovely scent who it was. The boss turned his lips up into a smile as his future wife came to his side.

  CHAPTER TWO

  PHOENIX

  September

  Phoenix flew over the Atlantic Ocean slowly, gliding as mu
ch as possible. He enjoyed the wind on his face and the smell of the water in his nose. He had nowhere in particular to go and he was in no hurry to get there.

  He had left Boston early that morning without saying goodbye to anyone. He knew Victor and Michael would understand, but he worried a little about Jules. She was a bit prone to outbursts and overreacting and that was the main reason he left the way he did. He couldn’t bear to break her heart, and he knew it would. They had become close friends, even as close as siblings. He knew Nick would look after her and that would have to do. Phoenix needed to get away.

  The truth was, he was feeling a little bit lonely. Everyone in his home had paired up. Nick and Jules were finally together, Victor and Rachel, even Michael and Jolice. Phoenix, however, was alone. It wasn’t anything new to him, though, he was always alone.

  The drawbacks of being one of a kind.

  It wasn’t like there was an abundance of female firebirds around. As far as Phoenix knew, he was the only one. He had lived for so long and in so many places that he had come to accept that there would never be another like him. He was myth and legend, in the flesh. Of course, most of the myths depicted him as an actual bird, which wasn’t entirely true. Phoenix was nearly seven feet of man who just so happen to have enormous wings that caught fire. He had healed many people over the course of his life. And yes, once he died, he was reborn in a fury of flames. But not a bird. Definitely not a bird.

  But having never met another like him, Phoenix sometimes felt the loneliness shadowing over his heart. Maybe one day there would be someone who could love him for who he was, but not this day.

  So he did what he always did when the darkness started and took to the skies. He didn’t know where his flight would take him and he didn’t know how long he would be gone.

  Phoenix didn’t even attempt to make out a game plan, only that he knew his family was meeting up with Kelly in Paris in a few weeks. It was going to double and Nick and Jules’s honeymoon. Since Kelly had begun dating a supernatural, everyone was anxious to check him out. Victor had always been big on family and so when the Boston Clan Leader suggested a trip, they would take it.

  An airplane passed overhead, with its engine screaming. It amazed him how much progress humans had made over the last century. They went from traveling by horse and cart to exploring outer space in less than one hundred years. It had been the most progressive century in human history. It was no wonder the Dark Alliance was worried about humans and their technologies. But still, Phoenix couldn’t help but feel like there was more to the story. Sure technology could be a threat to supernaturals, but more and more humans were accepting their existence every day. There was something more that the Alliance was up to and he felt like it should be as plain as the nose on his face, but yet he still couldn’t make the nagging feeling turn into anything concrete. He knew they would figure it out in time, just not right then.

  Yes, he thought. He would meet them in Paris. This would give him ample time to get himself sorted out. He would only have to make a phone call to set up a meeting place with Nick when the time came. Phoenix loved Paris. To him, it was the most beautiful of human cities. It was a double edged sword, though. It was also the city of love, the one thing Phoenix knew he was destined to live without.

  The sun was setting as he approached Nantes, a small French shipping port nestled on the Atlantic Coast. There was nothing overly remarkable about the city; it was just like any other shipping port anywhere else in the world.

  Dark had settled in over the ocean. The beach was deserted, except for Phoenix. He took the opportunity to rest his wings as he landed nimbly on the sand. Walking along the surf, he searched the sand for signs of any human. Once he was satisfied that he was alone, He slid his coat off and draped it over his arm. He walked along the shore, allowing the water to lap at his feet. Ahead, looming out of the darkness, Phoenix saw what he had been looking for. A large piece of driftwood sat alone on the sand. Since it was the size of a small car, he sauntered over to it and sat down, folding his wings neatly behind his back.

  He stretched his long legs out in front of himself, gazing up at the stars. He decided that he had been hanging around humans for too long. He was starting to act like one. Not that humans were bad or distasteful in any way, just that he seemed to have forgotten how to be himself.

  He had friends. Hell, he even thought of them as family. Especially Jules. He respected her strength and he welcomed the love she had for him. She was his sister in every way that counted. Nick and the rest of the family were the same way.

  This particular stint was the longest he had stayed in one place. It was the norm for Phoenix to move around quite a bit. Now, he had somewhere to call home, something to come home to. He had a family. As wonderful as that was, it was foreign to Phoenix. He had always lived his life in solitude, save the occasion romp in the sheets.

  Not to say that he never tried to have a relationship with a female. There was a vampire female a long time ago that he tried to date. She refused to not bite humans, though, and Phoenix just couldn’t be with her for long. It bothered him to know she openly fed on humans and the humans didn’t always remember it. Phoenix didn’t hold her nature against her, but he left anyway.

  He was digging his bare feet into the sand, lost in his own head, when it happened. A sharp pain exploded in the back of his head. Phoenix instinctively raised his hand to grasp at his head when it happened again, only harder. He fell sideways onto the sand, dizzy and confused. His field of vision began to tunnel and the pinprick of light got smaller and smaller. He was losing consciousness and there was nothing he could do to stop it. The last thing he saw before the darkness took over his vision completely was a pair of stiletto boots on the sand in front of him.

  CHAPTER THREE

  It was dark. No, Phoenix’s eyes were closed. What the fuck just happened? He was vaguely aware that he was not alone, and his instincts reared up and demanded that he stay still and assess the situation. He was also aware that he was tied up. But what he was the most aware of was the painful throbbing in the back of his skull. He silently took inventory of the rest of his body. His hands were tied behind his back with a thick rope, and his ankles were bound as well. He was sitting in a chair. There didn’t seem to be any major damage, so he remained still. Phoenix knew he could easily break free of the restraints, but curiosity held him in place. He needed to know who got the drop on him before he ripped them apart. And he would. He was going to play a little game first though.

  He tried to remember hearing anyone on the beach. He had been certain that he was alone. But that couldn’t be true, otherwise he wouldn’t be sitting in a chair trussed up like a Christmas turkey then would he? Who the hell had enough stealth and strength to capture him and more importantly, why? It wasn’t like him to let his guard down like that. He really was acting like a human. He needed to get it together. What was the world coming to if anyone could just sneak up on the phoenix? The powerful creature of myth and legend? Vampires? No. He would have smelled them. The same for shifters. Demons were not a likely culprit either. Their stink always preceded them by a mile. He listened to the soft voices that drifted to his ears. There were two of them. Female. They spoke in French and only in whispers, but he got the gist of it.

  They were curious what he was. Should they wait for him to wake up, or just kill him now? Phoenix fought the laughter that threatened to bubble out at the thought. They could kill him, sure. Then what would they do when he burst into flames and shot right up out of the ashes untouched? Freaking funny shit right there. But he kept a leash on his giggles and continued to pretend to be knocked out for the purpose of recon.

  He was abruptly slapped across the face. “Wake up!” His head shot up and his eyes opened as the sting set in on his left cheek. He saw his assailant for the first time.

  What he saw surprised the hell out of him. Phoenix hadn’t formed an idea of what he expected to see, but it sure as hell wasn’t the very tall woman wi
th skin the color of milk chocolate and a mop of unruly, curly, ebony hair. He didn’t expect to see deep brown eyes. The stiletto boots and leather pants fit in with his expectations, but that was where it stopped. The woman stared straight into Phoenix’s eyes without shying away. Most people who were lucky enough to see him up close were sufficiently freaked out by his eyes, but not her. She stared intently into the inferno.

  “What are you?!” she finally demanded of him. Her voice was smooth, but full of authority. “You’re lucky I don’t kill you now! I know you can speak, so if you value your life, you had better start talking!”

  “I am Phoenix,” he replied without thinking, his voice carrying centuries of pride and strength. “That is also what I am. I am a firebird.” He managed to keep his laughter inside. Kill him! Ha!

  “Ha! So says you! A liar. There is no such thing!” another mocha-skinned woman replied. She was not as tall as the first, but equally attractive. “Let’s kill it. It is a demon. Those wings are just a glamour!”

  Phoenix had always found himself to be a pretty good judge of character. Nothing about these two women screamed evil to him. If anything, they didn’t know what he was and ignorance is the root of fear. They feared him. Normally, Phoenix wouldn’t have given a fuck whether anyone believed a single word uttered from his lips, but this time was different. He could feel the strength pouring off these women. Not to mention, they thought he was a demon and that was completely unacceptable. “If you will untie me, I will show you. How is it that you believe in demons, but refuse the possibility that I am truly the phoenix? I am not a filthy demon, not even close. My gifts are heavenly. I am a being on the side of good; I kill demons any chance I get,” he said.

  “Blasphemy!”

  “I could break free of my restraints, if I wanted. I prefer you trust me first,” he said with a smug grin.