Vampires Don't Sparkle: Deathless Book 3 Read Free

command. Whatever was happening was beyond his control, the strange power bubbling within him like a cauldron about to boil. Then silver light burst from his eyes and mouth, the fire of the universe searing his very consciousness as it departed.  
    This cannot be. His risen whispered, an odd mix of awe and shock.  
    Osiris shuddered as the access key left his body, bereft of the Ark’s incredible power for the first time in many millennia. He lay against Alaunus’s chest, shivering in the rain as he struggled to understand what had just befallen him. There was only one explanation. Someone had bound the First Ark using a Primary Access Key. It should be impossible, but the proof was undeniable.
    “A terrible calamity has just befallen the world,” he said, forcing himself to his feet. The assembled druids watched him in silence, their expressions horrified. “The First Ark has been stolen. I must reclaim it, or I too will perish along with all of you. The thief will take its power into the next age, and the other Ark Lords will be unprepared when next they awaken.”
    No one spoke. What could they say? Osiris didn’t wait. He gathered himself, blurring north with all the speed and fury he could muster. The wind and rain whipped at his cloak as he bounded over hills and through valleys. He ran for long minutes, crossing the land he knew so well, faster than it had ever been crossed.
    At long last he arrived at the Valley of Hidden Voices, the place he and his companions had discovered so many millennia ago. Back during the last ice age when the world had been frozen and harsh. He stared up at the massive black pyramid, the First Ark. Its sleek surface was untouched by the rain, untouched by time itself. It hadn’t changed in any way since the first time he’d laid eyes on it, though the land itself was different now.
    A low thrum of power resonated through the land around Osiris. The Ark itself vibrated, then the structure began to sink, descending into the earth with alarming finality. Osiris understood what he was seeing, but he could scarcely believe it. Whoever had stolen the Ark was putting it into stasis, preparing for an age bereft of power.  
    It was exactly what Osiris had been planning to do, but now he was trapped outside with no way to reach the safety of the rejuvenators. No sanctuary to weather the ravages of time.
    There was only one god who could have orchestrated this, could have found some loophole that allowed him to break Osiris’s bond with the Ark. Set. His treacherous brother had returned, and now controlled the most powerful of the great Arks.
    Did he know of The Well? What if he opened it? He could doom them all, and even if he did not he would possess an advantage over every other Ark Lord. The rest would slumber away the gulf of time, but Set would be able to wake periodically, to use the vast reserve of power to sustain his life. The others would have to husband their reserves, gambling that it would carry them forward to a day when the sun would again sustain the Arks.
    Not so Set. He would emerge more powerful than ever, and this time Osiris would not be there to oppose him. Could not be, for no matter how clever he was there was simply no way to survive for thirteen millennia without the aid of an Ark.

Chapter 1- Angel Island

    Trevor reflexively reached for his cell phone to check Facebook. Then he remembered Facebook no longer existed. Neither did his iPhone, or any other electronic device. They’d all been destroyed in the wake of the sun’s coronal mass ejection, or CME as it they’d come to call it. Had that only been eight weeks ago? How ironic that he should find that more strange than the fact that he was, for all intents and purposes, a walking corpse. His heart no longer beat. He didn’t need to breathe. His skin felt cool to the touch.
    Then there was the mouthful of razor sharp fangs. Not quite as obvious as the black claws where his fingernails had been, but much more