Immortal Resistance: Division 3: The Berkano Vampire Collection Read online

  Immortal Resistance

  The Berkano Vampire Collection (Division 3)

  Lisa Carlisle

  LisaCarlisleBooks.com

  Immortal Resistance

  Copyright © 2017 by Lisa Carlisle

  Cover by Rebecca Frank

  The right of Lisa Carlisle to be identified as author of this Work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, copied in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise transmitted without written permission from the publisher. You must not circulate this book in any format.

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please do so through your retailer’s “lend” function. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  To obtain permission to excerpt portions of the text, please contact the author at [email protected].

  All characters in this book are fiction and figments of the author’s imagination.

  Find out more about the author and upcoming books online at lisacarlislebooks.com, facebook.com/lisacarlisleauthor, or @lisacbooks.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Immortal Resistance

  Other Books by Lisa Carlisle

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Afterword

  About the Author

  Also by Lisa Carlisle

  Immortal Resistance

  The Makara Coven turned Nalia away when she was a child. Now she must return to save her village.

  With vampires squeezing life out of the division, Nalia swallows her revulsion and pride to take on the distasteful task of venturing to the witches to enlist them as allies. But when her guard is attacked during their trek, she’s stranded in the Himalayan forests.

  Starved for blood after being locked in the temple prison, Vikas stumbles through the woods seeking sustenance on his way back to his cabin. He tracks an enticing scent, the promise of a delicious meal, which leads him to a woman alone in the woods. He offers to help her—but at a cost.

  When a vampire, of all creatures, offers to help Nalia, she must choose the best option for survival—not only for herself, but for everyone counting on her. If she makes the wrong decision, it may be a fatal mistake.

  IMMORTAL RESISTANCE is a standalone contribution to the Berkano Vampire collection. Stories can be read in any order.

  To learn more, visit fallensorcery.com

  Other Books by Lisa Carlisle

  Underground Encounters series

  Steamy paranormal romances set in a underground goth club that attracts vampires, witches, shifters, and gargoyles.

  Smolder

  Fire

  Ignite

  Burn

  More coming soon

  Chateau Seductions

  An art colony on a remote New England island lures creative types—and supernatural characters. Steamy paranormal romances.

  Darkness Rising

  Dark Velvet

  Dark Muse

  Dark Stranger

  Dark Pursuit

  Underground Encounters series

  Gargoyle shifters, wolf shifters, and tree witches have divided the Isle of Stone after a great battle 25 years ago. One risk changes it all…

  Knights of Stone: Mason

  Knights of Stone: Lachlan

  Knights of Stone: Bryce

  Seth: a wolf shifter romance in the series

  Knights of Stone: Calum

  Knights of Stone: Gavin (coming soon)

  Stone Sentries

  Meet your perfect match the night of the super moon — or your perfect match for the night. A cop teams up with a gargoyle shifter when demons attack Boston.

  Tempted by the Gargoyle

  Enticed by the Gargoyle (coming soon)

  Captivated by the Gargoyle (coming soon)

  Night Eagle Operations

  A paranormal romantic suspense novel

  When Darkness Whispers

  Blood Courtesans

  A vampire Blood Courtesans multiple author shared World Series.

  Pursued: Mia

  Visit LisaCarlisleBooks.com to learn more!

  Don’t miss any new releases, giveaways, specials, or freebies! Join the VIP list and download a free read today!

  www.lisacarlislebooks.com

  Acknowledgments

  Thank you to all the authors in the Berkano Vampire collection for welcoming me into this world.

  As always, I am so grateful to everyone who helps make each book possible, helping me shape the ideas in my head into a story. Huge thanks to my fellow authors, critique partners, editors, beta readers, ARC readers, Street Team, and you, the reader!

  Special thanks to Mr. C. who keeps our family well-fed, giving me more time to write. The kids are happier he does most of the cooking. :D

  Chapter 1

  Nalia

  Nalia’s father rose from the head of the table in the meeting house and paced with a grim expression. Nearly a dozen Guardians and residents of Kantari Village had gathered to discuss what to do about the state in the division.

  “After much contemplation, I have decided it’s time to talk to the witches,” her father said. “If this darkness continues, we will all perish. Nalia, you must go to the Makara Coven and enlist their help.”

  Nalia’s mouth fell open as she stared at her father. The situation had to be even worse than she’d thought. He wouldn’t ask her to do this task, otherwise. Visiting the witches who had once shunned her wasn’t something she’d ever wanted to do. She’d happily keep her distance from them and stay away from their valley in the Himalayas in the northern region in the division of Charmukh.

  “And do what exactly?” she asked, once she’d recovered from the shock.

  “Two things. We need more assistance to save the failing crops before we all starve. And we must recruit the witches as allies. We can’t take on the vampires alone.”

  Allies, ha! Nalia resisted groaning.

  She tried to keep the vulnerability out of her tone. “Why me?”

  “Because of your witch blood,” he said. “That is more of a connection than any of us have.”

  Don’t remind me.

  Nalia swallowed the distaste in her mouth, turning with a grimace to mask her lack of enthusiasm for the task. She inhaled and then exhaled slowly. It took all her self-control not to declare her contempt for the coven and their exclusive membership. Her father had heard it before. Pure blood witches were few and far between since the Rift, which resulted fifty years ago when a witch and vampire had tried to cure vampirism. The chaotic spell had la
unched the world into disorder, reshaping it into sixteen divisions.

  “After all, what’s a stronger bond than blood?” Hiran, a Guardian in the village, said from across the table, near her father’s seat.

  “Stronger bond than blood?” Nalia blurted out. How could she not? “They turned me away when I was a baby. An orphaned baby. My biological mother was one of them, yet they clearly don’t feel the same about any blood bond.” Apparently, her half-blood status wasn’t good enough for them.

  She stopped before adding that she would have died herself if she hadn’t been adopted by a human couple in the village.

  “I know this is difficult for you, Nalia,” her father said, “and I wouldn’t ask you if I thought we could avoid it.”

  There had to be something. Some other way that didn’t involve her going to the elitist witches and groveling for their help.

  “Why not just go straight to Marco?” Nalia said. “And explain how the shield is harming us.”

  Marco ruled over the division from a temple in the city of Four Corners. Although she’d loathe going to a vampire for help, the task wouldn’t be as personal, poking at a sore spot deep within.

  Her father shook his head. “We’ve tried that. Some scouts were forced to be blood suppliers, while others were found as mere husks, drained of blood.”

  Nalia gasped. “You never told me that.”

  “You’re my daughter,” he said in his usual gruff voice. “I protect you however I can.” He spoke in a gentler tone. “Unfortunately, I need to pull you into this. Sometimes, we must do things we don’t want to for the benefit of all. The time for diplomatic discussions is over. The vampires are too dangerous and they need to be overthrown.”

  She gazed at him with an odd mix of wonder and admiration. What he proposed would mark a monumental change in the division.

  If it worked.

  It took tremendous courage to suggest such a plan. The vampires in power were destroying the division. Somehow, they’d manipulated the shield that the god Shiva had erected, to protect Charmukh after the Rift. Whatever they’d done, it slowly squeezed out the sunlight like wringing out a sponge. Daylight no longer shined over the division. At the peak of day, the skies were merely illuminated to twilight, allowing the vampires to roam unharmed by the sun’s rays.

  “What about going directly to Shiva?” she suggested.

  “We’ve sent scouts to Mount Kailash as well, months ago. They did not find Shiva, but left several messages where they hope he will find one—if he ever returns.” Her father lifted his arm and glanced at it. “The lack of food is crippling us. Look at us, wilting like dying flowers.”

  Hearing her father, a proud leader, refer to himself that way, affected her deep within. She swallowed, seeking fortitude for the task he asked her to do. The lack of sufficient sunlight had devastating consequences on growing crops. Hunger affected everyone in Charmukh as even the vampires suffered with less nutritious blood from human donors. Without the magical aid from witches to encourage the growth of crops, humans would soon perish. Why the vampires followed such a reckless plan was a mystery. What was their endgame?

  Her father was right. She couldn’t be selfish and think about her pain when the lives of so many were at stake, including children. They needed the Makara Coven’s help, not for food, but to overthrow the vampires. Humans couldn’t take them on alone. Witches and vampires had been enemies for as long as she’d known and relationships between them were forbidden.

  The coven had to be suffering, as well. Filtered sunlight drained life from all, and magically modified food did not have the same nutritional value. The witches might not be suffering as badly as the humans, but they had to be still affected. Would that make them more likely to join an alliance?

  Nalia clenched her hands, but then forced herself to relax them. It was time to act. “All right. I’ll go to them.”

  Her father gave her a proud nod. “Hiran will serve as your Guardian.”

  Good. Hiran was a close friend of her father and a well-trained warrior. She would feel better not venturing through the forests on her own to reach the coven. The hunger and suffering made people desperate and more likely to act out of that desperation.

  Nobody was comfortable traveling alone anymore.

  The next morning, Nalia gathered her pack for the journey. She said goodbye to her parents and struggled to control her conflicted emotions. Her mother had challenged that resolve by putting on a brave front, but her glistening eyes tugged at Nalia—the look of a worried mother.

  Her parents had adopted her when she was an infant, after she’d been found hidden in the forests where her biological parents had been slain. Clearly, they were better people than the witches who’d turned her away. She’d never forgiven the coven for it, even now when she had to beg for their help.

  And yet, her father was the one who sent her on this journey to the witches.

  Nalia trekked with Hiran out of the narrow roads between the congested apartments in Kantari Village, where several families lived in a jumble of colorful apartments in the fringes of the city of Four Corners. The buildings appeared to climb over each other, gasping for air and sunlight in the darkened skies of the oppressive city.

  They would venture west past the rice paddies, into the forests, and then on to the valley where the witches lived. They estimated the journey to take two days by foot. The terrain on the forest trails could be rugged and difficult to navigate.

  Although Hiran was now in his fifties, he moved through the winding paths amid the trees with the agility of a man half his age. He made a living selling chess sets and pashmina at the bazaar, right next to her parent’s stand, where they sold trinkets and second-hand goods—whatever they could to support themselves. For as long as she could remember, he’d practiced his martial arts training daily, which was likely what kept him in top shape. The only indication he wasn’t young was the salt creeping through the pepper of his close-cut hair.

  “Things need to change in Charmukh,” Nalia ranted as they left the outskirts of the city. The transition wasn’t subtle. The forests claimed the edges of the city with trees and vines creeping in over the streets and sneaking up through cracks in the pavement. If left unchecked, they would swallow the homes and temples one day, leaving no clues that a civilization ever had existed there.

  With the way things were going, the humans would be the first to go. But then where would the vampires get their sustenance? Witch blood would poison them. Leave it to the vamps to chart a course that would lead to self-destruction for them all.

  “I’m sick of the witches thinking they’re so superior to humans. And then there are the vampires and their power trip—making it impossible for anyone to thrive, let alone survive.”

  “That’s why we’re going on this trip,” Hiran said in a calm tone, which contrasted with her heated declarations. That was typical of Hiran. He was solid, steady. “We need to do this to make things better.”

  Nalia didn’t reply, but took in the scenery as they ventured deeper into the forest. So much green, and the quiet was so peaceful compared to the constant noise of the village. She had to listen carefully to hear an underlying buzz of activity—the musical sounds of doves singing, the cries of the cicada, or a gentle breeze ruffling through the leaves. She inhaled. Even the air was cleaner. The soothing atmosphere of the forests calmed her harried thoughts during their trek.

  They continued to walk in relative silence as the morning passed into a dimly lit afternoon. The dark sway of the trees’ shadows across their path coupled with the howls of nocturnal animals spiked her anxiety. Dusk in the forest hampered her ability to see what was out there.

  A rattling in the bushes caught their attention. A man leaped from behind it and knocked Hiran to the ground. He bared his fangs and bent down, piercing Hiran’s neck. Hiran cried out.

  Vampire.

  Nalia lunged on top of the vampire, shrieking, “No! Get off him!”

  The vam
pire pushed her away as easy as tossing a pillow, knocking her pack off her back and sending her to the ground. He hissed at her. His eyes glared with red venom, which matched the streaks of blood dripping from his mouth. He crawled over to her. She scooted away, but he grabbed her ankles and yanked her back. Sliding over her, he opened his jaw like an overpowering anaconda. Her heart pounded, echoing in her ears, like a time clock ticking her last moments. Her eyes widened. She pushed at his chest, but he didn’t yield.

  A gleam of metal slashed across his throat. Hiran’s kukri, his favored knife, dripped with the evidence of his action as he hovered over her.

  Blood poured from the gash, raining down on her face. Some trickled into her mouth, the distinct tangy flavor covering her taste buds. Oh, how ghastly. She turned her head and spat it out.

  Get it out, get it out!

  A part of her craved more. She refused to acknowledge it. A wave of nausea followed.

  Hiran plunged the knife into the vampire’s back. The vampire shot back more quickly than Nalia could track.

  The vampire pinned Hiran to the ground. Although Hiran battered the vampire with fists, the vampire didn’t react. He tore into his throat and fastened his mouth to it. The coppery scent of blood filled her nostrils.

  No! Where was the knife?