Simon Says (Order of the Black Swan, D.I.T. Book 1) Read online

  Table of Contents

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  Simon Says

  Black Swan D.I.T. 1

  An introduction to

  The Department of Interdimensional Trespass

  by

  Victoria Danann

  Copyright © 2017 Victoria Danann

  Kindle Edition

  Published by 7th House Publishing, Imprint of Andromeda LLC

  Read more about this author and upcoming works at VictoriaDanann.com

  *

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  About the Book

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Preview of Finngarick

  About the Author

  Also by Victoria Danann

  Twenty years ago Sir Simon was a vampire hunter. He took three months’ bereavement leave to go wild camping in the far north of Scotia following the death of his team leader. He expected solitude and fresh air to clear his mind and heart. He did not expect to fall in love. While picnicking on the stark landscape of the Orkney Islands, she disappeared into the standing stones. He turned just in time to see her fading into nothingness, a look of panic frozen on her face. As she reached out and silently called his name, he lunged to grab her an instant too late.

  She was gone. But her memory has haunted him every hour since.

  Simon channeled his sorrow and loneliness into work until he eventually rose to the most powerful position ever held by an ex Black Swan knight. With tireless dedication, he built a congregation of talented misfits, watching and waiting for the one who could find Sorcha.

  PROLOGUE

  What has happened since Elora Laiken arrived in Loti Dimension.

  This series is also a serial saga in the sense that each book begins where the previous book ended.

  There is a very old and secret society of paranormal investigators and protectors known as The Order of the Black Swan. In modern times, in a dimension similar to our own, they continue to operate, as they always have, to keep the human population safe. For centuries they have relied on a formula that outlines recruitment of certain second sons, in their early, post-pubescent youth, who match a narrow and highly specialized psychological profile. Those who agree to forego the ordinary pleasures and freedoms of adolescence receive the best education available anywhere along with the training and discipline necessary for a possible future as active operatives in the Hunters Division. In recognition of the personal sacrifice and inherent danger, The Order bestows knighthoods on those who accept.

  BOOK ONE. My Familiar Stranger:

  The elite B Team of Jefferson Unit in New York, also known as Bad Company, was devastated by the loss of one of its four members in a battle with vampire. A few days later Elora Laiken, an accidental pilgrim from another dimension, literally landed at their feet so physically damaged by the journey they weren’t even sure of her species. After a lengthy recovery, they discovered that she had gained amazing speed and strength through the cross-dimension translation. She earned the trust and respect of the knights of B Team and eventually replaced the fourth member, who had been killed in the line of duty.

  She was also forced to choose between three suitors: Istvan Baka, a devastatingly seductive six-hundred-year-old vampire, who worked as a consultant to neutralize an epidemic of vampire abductions; Engel Storm, the noble and stalwart leader of B Team who saved her life twice; and Rammel Hawking, the elf who persuaded her that she was destined to be his alone.

  BOOK TWO. The Witch’s Dream:

  Ten months later everyone was gathered at Rammel’s home in Derry, Ireland. B Team had been temporarily assigned to The Order’s Headquarters office in Edinburgh, but they had been given leave for a week to celebrate an elftale handfasting for Ram and Elora, who were expecting.

  Ram’s younger sister, Aelsong, went to Edinburgh with B Team after being recruited for her exceptional psychic skills. Shortly after arriving, Kay’s fiancée was abducted by a demon with a vendetta, who slipped her to a dimension out of reach. Their only hope to locate Katrina and retrieve her was Litha Brandywine, the witch tracker, who had fallen in love with Storm at first sight.

  Storm was assigned to escort the witch, who slowly penetrated the ice that had formed around his heart when he lost Elora to Ram. Litha tracked the demon and took Katrina’s place as hostage after learning that he, Deliverance, was her biological father. The story ended with all members of B Team happily married and retired from active duty.

  BOOK THREE. A Summoner’s Tale: The Vampire’s Confessor

  Istvan Baka was captured by vampire in the Edinburgh underground and reinfected with the vampire virus. His assistant, Heaven McBride, was found to be a “summoner”, a person who can compel others to come to them when they play the flute. She also turned out to be the reincarnation of the young wife who was Baka’s first victim as a new vampire six hundred years before.

  Elora Laiken was studying a pack of wolves hoping to get puppies for her new breed of dog. While Rammel was overseeing the renovation of their new home, she and Blackie were caught in an ice storm in the New Forest. At the same time assassins from her world, agents of the clan who massacred her family, found her isolated in a remote location without the ability to communicate. She gave birth to her baby alone except for the company of her dog, Blackie, and the wolf pack.

  Heaven was instrumental in calling vampire to her so that they could be intercepted and given the curative vaccine. Baka was found, restored, and given the opportunity for a “do over” with the wife who had waited for many lifetimes to spend just one with him.

  BOOK FOUR. Moonlight: The Big Bad Wolf

  Ram and Elora moved into temporary quarters at Jefferson Unit to protect mother and baby. Sol asked Storm to prepare to replace him as Jefferson Unit Sovereign so that he could retire in two years. Storm declined, but suggested twenty-year-old trainee, Glendennon Catch, for the job.

  Litha uncovered a shocking discovery about the vampire virus by accidentally leading five immortal host vampire back to Jefferson Unit. Deliverance struck a deal with Litha to assist Black Swan with two issues: the old vampire and an interdimensional migration of Stalkson Grey’s werewolf tribe.

  In the process of averting possible extinction of his tribe, the king of the Elk Mountain werewolves, Stalkson Grey, fell in love with a cult slave and abducted her with the demon’s assistance. He eventually won his captive’s heart and took his new mate to the New Elk Mountain werewolf colony in Lunark Dimension where the wolf people’s ancestors had settled centuries before.

  Throughout this portion of the story, Litha’s pregnancy developed at an alarming rate. Since there had been no previous instance of progeny with the baby’s genetic heritage, no one knew what to expect. The baby arrived months ahead of schedule. The birth was dramatic and unique because Storm’s and Litha’s new daughter, Elora Rose, “Rosie”, skipped the usual delivery with a twelve inch ride through the passes and appeared on the outside of Litha’s body.

  BOOK FIVE. Gathering Storm

  Book Five opened w
ith Storm and Litha enjoying quiet days at home at the vineyard with a brand new infant. Sol shocked Storm with the news that he was getting married to Farnsworth and asked Storm to help Glen run Jefferson Unit so that he could take a vacation – his first ever – with his intended. Storm agreed, but when Rosie reached six weeks her growth began to accelerate drastically.

  Deliverance was to pick Storm up every day, take him to Jefferson Unit so that he could spend two hours with Glen and supervise management of Sol’s affairs, then return him to Sonoma, but the demon lost his son-in-law in the passes en route to New Jersey. Every paranormal ally available was called in for a massive interdimensional search. Finally, Deliverance was alerted that Storm had been located.

  The demon picked him up and dropped him in Litha’s bedroom, but it was the wrong Storm. B Team, Glen and Litha all undertook a project to do a makeover on the fake Storm so that nobody would find out that there was a huge flaw with interdimensional transport.

  Jefferson Unit was attacked by aliens from Stagsnare Dimension, Elora’s home world, with nobody there to offer defense except Elora, Glen, the fake Storm, Sir Fennimore, the non-combat personnel and the trainees.

  BOOK SIX. A Tale of Two Kingdoms

  The book opened with a look behind the metaphysical scene. It seemed that the strings governing Earth-related operations were being pulled by a group of misfit adolescent deities who were, eons in the past, given the planet and its derivative dimensions as a group project.

  Kellareal led the elves and fae to discover the truth that they were once the same people, but were separated in the distant past because of a tragic estrangement of siblings. After believing that they had escaped the politics of their families, Duff and Song were captured and separated. With the angel’s help, however, they were reunited. Meanwhile, Aelsblood, Ram’s older brother was removed as monarch and his son, Aelshelm, succeeded as king in name only under the agreement that Ram’s father, Ethelred Mag Lehane Hawking, would reign in Helm’s place until he was old enough to decide whether he would join the family business and accept a career as king.

  BOOK SEVEN. Solomon’s Sieve

  Sol crossed the veil, but raised so much hell in the afterlife that the Council was persuaded to place his essence in the body of a Black Swan knight that had recently been vacated. He returned to Jefferson Unit with every intention of concealing his true identity, but intentions often go astray.

  Dr. Mercy Renaux was a professor of archeology hired to investigate a vampire tomb unearthed in Bulgaria. She took the job thinking she would change her life and find something to blot out the guy she couldn’t forget, Sir Rafael Nightsong, bad boy member of the infamous Z Team.

  She found him even harder to forget when Raif’s team was assigned to escort her on a mission to contain irrefutable evidence that vampire existed. After being trapped inside a mountain together and presumed dead, Mercy and Raif decided the spark that had exploded a New York speed date could be used to ignite a more pleasurable and lasting connection.

  BOOK EIGHT. Vampire Hunter

  Ram’s book is partly My Familiar Stranger retold from his unique point of view with chapter insights from other significant characters. The story begins the first time he runs away to the wild magic of the New Forest at age ten, follows his recruitment by Black Swan along with his training to be a vampire hunter, tells the story of the death of his first partner, and his romance with Elora Laiken.

  CARNAL. Exiled 1

  Though Carnal is part of a different series, it is a spinoff of Black Swan. Rosie Storm was the shared character and the principal character in Carnal. A few references to events that occurred in Carnal appear in this book. Note that it is listed prior to this book on the suggested reading order.

  BOOK NINE. Journey Man

  For five years, Glendennon Catch had knocked around the globe as a floater, filling in wherever a team of vampire hunters was down a member. He’d buried six good knights and watched the life take its toll on countless others. He’d drunk his share of whiskey and bedded so many women he would hate to hear the count, but he’d never gotten over his first love. And, if he had a chance for a do-over, he wasn’t sure he wouldn’t have chosen Rosie Storm over The Order.

  Elora Rose Storm had spent five years nursing a heavy heart, while on a cross-dimensional mission to make the world a better place, especially wherever she found human/animal hybrids being mistreated. She’d seen horrors, righted wrongs where she could, and matured into a powerful witch/demon with altruistic leanings.

  After all that time, unbeknownst to each other, both were headed home. To Jefferson Unit.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Up ahead he could see a lone figure. Unmistakably female. Waiting.

  For him?

  There was no mistake that she was looking in his direction, watching his approach. She was standing, one leg canted with her weight shifted to that hip, watching his approach. As he drew closer he could see that she was wearing a thick shin-length skirt, a heavy cotton and hemp mixture, hiking boots and layers under a puffy vest. The olive green skirt ruffled slightly in response to a light wind and drew his eye to the places where the fabric clung to her curves.

  When he was within twenty feet, he stopped and said, “Hi.”

  She cocked her head and said, “Human.”

  He thought, perhaps, if she was local, she’d never seen someone like him. It was true that humans were rarely seen so far north.

  Of course he couldn’t know that her use of the word ‘human’ wasn’t a verbal assessment of species. It was the fae marveling about the fact that her mate had just presented himself. Out on the deserted plain of an Orkney isle, far away from the next living person.

  Life was strange.

  With every step he came nearer the pull had intensified, leaving no doubt that the figure in the distance was the one destined to be her lifetime lover. When he was close enough to see, she was pleased with what the Fates had conjured for her.

  Then she realized he was human.

  It wasn’t so much that she was averse to the idea of interspecies mating. It was more surprise because fae-human pairings are rare. And perhaps a fleeting sadness that the idea of offspring was no longer to be a question mark. There would be no children.

  She had to stop herself from rushing forward and throwing herself into his arms, sampling his kisses, and sampling the long-awaited feeling of rubbing herself enthusiastically against the body of her mate. But she knew she’d have to go slow and not scare the human away. If she wanted to keep him forever, she’d have to make him fall in love with her first.

  He shrugged and smiled. “I admit it.”

  She blinked slowly, trying to recall what had been said before. “Admit it?” she repeated stupidly. Then she remembered that she’d called him ‘human’. She covered her momentary reverie by saying, “How could you no’?” Then without waiting for a reply, forged on with, “Why are you here?”

  His eyes pulled away reluctantly to drift toward the tomb and back again. “I’m, uh, here to see the Viking carvings?”

  Her throaty laugh sounded like it was overlaid with tiny tinkling bells. He shook his head, thinking he must have imagined that. For a second he wondered if he’d been caught in a spell. The woman was fae with wild and wavy golden locks that lifted in the breeze to reveal beautiful curved ears pointed in the most seductive and enchanting way. At that moment he thought there was nothing he wanted more from life than to trace the edge of those ears with his tongue.

  “Well, what’s stoppin’ you?” she asked with a bright shining amusement dancing from eyes that were such a bright amber they almost appeared to be on fire.

  He thought about how to answer that question and decided to tell the truth. “You are.”

  “I?”

  “Yes.”

  “How’s that?”

  “I don’t seem to be able to look away.” It was his turn to cock his head. “Did you put a spell on me?”

  Again, she rewarded him
with the laugh that was a bawdy dance of bells. “You think your gift of flattery will cause my legs to fly open.”

  Simon looked like he was considering that seriously. “I didn’t, but now that I have that image, I have to ask. Is that a possibility?”

  She laughed harder. “You’re pretty for a human.”

  “Well, uh, thanks. You’re pretty for a fae. You’re pretty compared to anybody for that matter.”

  She nodded like she’d have to agree with that assessment, then looked toward the tomb. “Archeologist? Historian?”

  He grinned and shook his head. “Vampire slayer.”

  He’d found that he could often get away with telling the truth because no one would ever suspect he was telling the truth. Life was strange.

  She chuckled. “Vampire slayer. Sounds like hard work.”

  “It can be.”

  “And dangerous.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Is that how you lost your friend?”

  The smile on Simon’s face faded. “Why do you ask that?”

  “A feelin’.” She waved at the landscape around her. “Is that no’ why you’re out here? Human?”

  “Simon.”

  “Sorcha.”

  “Sorcha,” he said softly. He repeated her name, his tongue tasting it and rolling it over like a French kiss. “It suits you.”

  “How do you know?”

  He grinned and using her own words, said, “A feelin’.” She laughed. “Are you special?”

  Her eyebrows went up. “I like to think so.”

  “No. I mean, ah, psychic?”

  “Oh. The sight. My gram has it. I would no’ say I do ’cause it comes and goes. ’Tis a moody little bastard. Hides when I want it. Shows up when I do no’ give a care.” She made a face. “More hidin’ than showin’.”

  Simon nodded. He glanced toward the tomb again and said, “How about you? Archeologist? Historian?”