Olivia's Decision Read online

  The BloodDark Series

  Book Three

  Olivia's Decision

  By

  Cindy A. Matthews and Adrian J. Matthews

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  The BloodDark Series

  Dedication and Acknowledgment

  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

  About Cindy A. and Adrian J. Matthews

  The BloodDark Series

  Book One: Olivia's Escape

  Book Two: Olivia's Return

  Book Three: Olivia's Decision

  Book Four: Fire on the Sands

  Desert Breeze Publishing, Inc.

  27305 W. Live Oak Rd #424

  Castaic, CA 91384

  http://www.DesertBreezePublishing.com

  Copyright © 2017 by Cindy A. Matthews and Adrian J. Matthews

  ISBN 13: 978-1-68294-110-2

  Published in the United States of America

  Publication Date: August 2017

  Editor-In-Chief: Gail R. Delaney

  Editor: Leah C. Guinn

  Marketing Director: Jenifer Ranieri

  Cover Artist: Gwen Phifer

  Cover Art Copyright by Desert Breeze Publishing, Inc © 2017

  All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording or by any information retrieval and storage system without permission of the publisher.

  Ebooks are not transferrable, either in whole or in part. As the purchaser or otherwise lawful recipient of this ebook, you have the right to enjoy the novel on your own computer or other device. Further distribution, copying, sharing, gifting or uploading is illegal and violates United States Copyright laws.

  Pirating of ebooks is illegal. Criminal Copyright Infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, may be investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is punishable by up to five years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

  Names, characters and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination, or are used in a fictitious situation. Any resemblances to actual events, locations, organizations, incidents or persons – living or dead – are coincidental and beyond the intent of the author.

  Dedication and Acknowledgment

  To anyone who has ever had a story they wanted to tell. To those of us who tell them even when no one else seems to care. We are the creative force of the universe. Never give up—never surrender!

  Chapter One

  One good thing about dreams—you eventually wake up. Living nightmares just go on and on...

  Olivia shook her head and refocused her attention on the task at hand. She had lost all track of time. Living on the dark side of a tidally-locked planet played tricks on a human's senses, but could she even call herself human anymore? Had she become a part of them?

  Best not to think about it. She picked up the tarnished candelabra on the table in front of her and began polishing. Strange, hadn't she returned to BloodDark to pose as a "mail order vampire bride" or something along those lines? Shouldn't she have attendants and servants? Why was she polishing the silver?

  Because you must learn obedience said the other voice in her head, the voice which worked against her best instincts even when it attempted to comfort her misgivings.

  "Oh, so somehow it makes it all right?" Olivia snorted. "Now I'm talking to myself and expecting an answer. What could have been in the wine at the pair-bonding dinner?

  "Come on, Ollie girl," she muttered to herself. "Keep trying to think it out. Stay on your plan. You're here to find the other Portal. You're here to expose Clan Alpha as the double-dealing troublemakers they are."

  Obey us! The other voice in her head sounded super-ticked off now. You are chosen of Clan Alpha. You will obey.

  "Bite me," Olivia mumbled. She froze. "Oops. I didn't mean it."

  She had learned during her recent ordeal that the Pure Bloods didn't need to bite their victims to partake of their blood. In fact, they were often quite clinical and detached about it all. Through mind control they made their human subjects believe they were being bitten by a vampire while they withdrew blood in a much more conventional way—through sophisticated, miniature hypodermic devices. Once one of these was placed under the thin skin of the neck or shoulder, they could obtain blood as needed, leaving only a pair of puncture wounds and slight bruising.

  "Interesting how humanity has romanticized your method of extracting our genetic materials. I suspect you all enjoyed becoming a part of our spooky myths and being portrayed as nasty villains and sexy Goth lovers."

  Olivia placed the candelabra on the table and stood. "Enough of the spring cleaning. I'm going for a walk." She headed toward the chamber door. Three steps shy of the exit, she hit an invisible brick wall. She knew it couldn't possibly be there, but her mind wouldn't let her take another step forward.

  "All right. You win. I'll polish the silver." Sighing, she returned to the table and plopped down on the bench. "This is boring."

  The voice in her head didn't respond. Maybe it agreed with her and didn't know what to say? She picked up the cloth and another candlestick to polish, hoping it would be her last and she'd be rescued.

  Annara. Olivia had to get a message to her friend and conspirator. Tell Annara how she'd messed up their spy mission big time and needed help getting out of the Clan Alpha House. She needed to tell her boyfriend Hernando how sorry she was for lying to him and her parents, too. I need to get myself out of this mess I've fallen into... before I can no longer hear my own thoughts at all.

  The rest of her day was routine: polish the silver, sweep the floors and beat out the rugs like a Victorian housemaid. Menial tasks to keep her busy and keep her from wandering too far afield within the Clan Alpha compound. Olivia knew the Alphans were up to something. She knew they had access to a Portal-like device and were selling or trading their valuables to acquire fresh human DNA in the form of mail-order spouses from Earth—like her. They spent every waking moment securing new blood, then covering-up the lengths they were willing to go to get it.

  Olivia frowned. Why did the Pure Bloods' activities ring with such a sense of desperation, such urgency—or dare she think it—such finality?

  "We are not desperate, my dear Olivia," Moreau assured her as he took her by the arm to stroll the walkways of the clan's walled gardens after her work period. "We are determined."

  "Could have fooled me." Olivia admired the stark beauty of the dark purplish-black, thornless roses. Like every plant in the garden, they were the result of the Pure Bloods’ endless fascination with collecting Earth’s plant and animal life, then altering and combining species into new living things. The end results were neither of Earth nor of the near- barren BloodDark, a world which held little variety of native plant life according to the history she and the other mail-order brides were being taught on a daily basis by their tutor.

  "Kate's intended, Professor Mahvet, says the Pure Bloods were a dying race when they crashed on this rock all those millennia ago. Only with regular infusions of human DNA have they survived and prospered here."

  Olivia stooped to sniff one of the larger rose blossoms. Luminous and soft-petaled, the flowers held no scent. She f
rowned at the incongruity, then stood and glared at him. "Seems to me you all are desperate to keep the status quo, whatever the cost."

  Moreau's mouth twitched, belying his calm expression. "Mahvet is an eccentric," he said, dismissing the clan's historian and scholar with a wave of his hand. "He's been taken in by his studies of human society once too often. He believes our species are equals in intelligence and abilities. He won't shut up about it."

  Olivia bit her lip, fighting a grin. It was fun, getting to him like this. "You and your family don't agree with his findings?"

  Moreau pulled her into his arms. "Let's just say some sentient life forms are more equal than others." His kiss came as a demand, not a gift of affection or trust. Olivia balled up her fists against his chest and pushed. He allowed her to struggle for several moments then let her free, laughing as he did so.

  "You cannot hide your attraction to me," he taunted. "I was designed to be a go-between our worlds, the emperor of both. I am handsome and proud, bold and intuitive. I can sense and hear your thoughts... You don't find me half as repulsive as you pretend, Olivia. In fact, you find me rather handsome. Too bad I don't find you half as attractive as you’d like."

  She wiped the back of her hand across her lips and spit into the roses. "Great pick-up line. Guaranteed to have women throwing themselves at your feet. You're right about one thing—you are handsome in a cold, calculating, perfect movie-star kind of way, but you're not attractive by a long shot. There's a big difference."

  Moreau glared at her, then shrugged. "Handsome, attractive... they mean the same in your language."

  Now it was Olivia's time to laugh. "Ha! Too bad you don't listen to Professor Mahvet's lectures. You could learn something. Instead, your hereditary arrogance just makes you irrational. You're hopeless."

  She spun on her heels and stormed back toward the main house. It was almost meal hour, and she needed to keep her strength up so she could fight the mental hold Moreau exercised over her.

  Why am I hopeless, Olivia of the Clan Brown? He sounded hurt, almost pleading in her mind. She paused, waiting to hear an apology. Because I'm irredeemable in your eyes?

  No apology. Olivia shook her head and sighed. "You're hopeless because you'll never understand humanity."

  Why won't I understand?

  "Because you don't want to." Exasperated, she threw up her hands and continued into the hall. There was no need for her to turn around and look for Moreau. She sensed he wasn't following her and didn't want anything more to do with her. For now.

  This supernatural sense of knowing gave Olivia the shudders. Have I become more Pure Blood by association than they have become like me? What does it mean for my future—both on Earth and on BloodDark?

  Chapter Two

  "You're looking tired, Lauren. Are you feeling all right?"

  Kate Hemsworth's question broke into Olivia's inner turmoil. She straightened up in her seat and rearranged the napkin in her lap. It was hard not to correct her new friend, but no one else knew her real identity but Moreau and his family. The rest of Clan Alpha and their mail-order brides were clueless. It was safer that way.

  "I'm fine, fine." She picked up the ladle-like spoon beside her bowl of soup-stew and began eating. "Mmm, ‘s good."

  "Really? Can't say I'm enamored of the food here myself." The middle-aged librarian picked at the pieces of BloodDark vegetables swimming in her bowl, eyeing them with caution. "I suppose you get used to it."

  "You do." Olivia gulped hard. "I mean, I assume you do. Just give it some time. It doesn't remind you of English cuisine at all? Thought you all liked your mashed turnip and mushy peas and stuff."

  "Our cuisine has come a long way since then, but at least the mash is recognizable." Kate pointed to a mound glopped on her side plate. "Purple mash." She stuck out her tongue. "What sort of vegetable is in this dish? I wonder."

  "A cross between a potato and a grape?" Olivia smiled. "The original potatoes came in all colors from purple to red to brown. I suspect the original specimen was taken from the Andes long before Columbus stumbled upon the New World."

  Kate took a small bite of the purple substance and shrugged. "Yeah, it's potato-like. I could get used to it."

  "That's the spirit." Olivia wondered if Kate was suffering from a bad case of homesickness. If so, it probably wouldn’t take much for her friend to entice Mahvet to return with her to England.

  "How interesting to discover we've had contact with the Pure Bloods for so long," Kate said as she managed small sips of soup. "Our ancestors certainly did a great job keeping it a secret."

  Olivia nodded. "I think it was the other way around. The Pure Bloods disguised themselves as vampires, demi-gods and demons. They kept very low profiles while on Earth and departed with their... captives... before they could be reported to the larger community."

  Kate sighed. "It's sad they did so because of how we'd react to their need for our blood."

  Olivia blinked. Kate wasn't under any illusion about the Pure Bloods' need for a continuous influx of new DNA, or her own role in providing it. "Uh, yeah, I think it was obvious from the onset most human beings weren't going to take too kindly to sharing their blood with strangers from another world. You can't blame the Pure Bloods for coming up with cover stories."

  "No, I don't blame them at all."

  Kate gazed across the dining hall and caught the eye of her intended, Mahvet. They nodded to each other and smiled. Kate blushed.

  "We all do what we must to survive," Kate continued. "Now is the time to come clean and to confess the secrets of our past, I feel, for the good of both our peoples." She rose. "If you'll excuse me, I need to talk with the professor for a moment."

  "Please do." Olivia couldn't help but grin at Kate's back as the petite woman in somber gray tweed made her way over to the table where most of the Alphan males sat during meal hour. Why Mahvet and Kate hadn't had a pairing ceremony yet was a mystery to her. They appeared ideal for each other—an academic and a researcher—very much like her own parents.

  Her parents. She must finish her mission and return to them. So why was she so fascinated with the notion of matchmaking humans and Pure Bloods?

  You said it yourself, Ollie girl: Human beings weren't going to take too kindly to sharing their blood with strangers from another world. You can't blame the Pure Bloods for coming up with cover stories. They had to make themselves the “bad guys” because that’s how’d they be seen, anyway.

  Or was she coming up with "cover stories" and excuses for Moreau and his kind? Sure, the Pure Bloods she'd met weren't all as arrogant and condescending as he. At times, some were quite charming—like Kate's professor and many other scientists and academics. They had less time for putting on airs, preferring to spend their days learning about Earth and coming up with strategies the new BloodDark government could use to establish good relations with its humans, thereby allowing all of the planet's inhabitants to thrive.

  Olivia realized now her time stuck in the Clan Alpha House hadn't been wasted. She'd learned a lot about what she'd thought were the native humans' and Quadsangs' common enemy. She understood now the Pure Bloods couldn't all be painted with the same brush. Some wanted to live in peace. They all survived using the methods they'd learned and perfected for centuries. To read evil intent into every Pure Blood's motives wasn't fair.

  Still, not being upfront about their intentions and smuggling BloodDark's artworks to Earth to make money and connections behind the new ruling council's back... There were definitely some members of the Alphan leadership whose actions needed looking into.

  Olivia sensed Moreau and his family were at the heart of it all. She glanced over at the patriarch's table and caught a glimpse of her intended sitting at his proper place beside his father. No, she was certain Moreau and his family were smuggling art. The inhuman straightness of Moreau's posture, the gleam of confidence in his cold, dark-blue eyes, the hard edges to his smile....

  She sniffed. Her heightened sense of
smell detected an unusual scent emanating from Moreau's direction. It triggered another troubling thought. Like father, like son. Together they gave off an air of superiority and invincibility, taunting others, daring them to catch them in the act. They were untouchable. Neither the laws of their society nor those of humankind applied to them—would never apply to them.

  They are gods. Olivia swallowed hard. To deny their reality was an offense against them and the natural order of things. They'd do anything to protect and preserve what was theirs by divine right.

  A horrible thought popped into her head: Would she become more and more like these sinister gods every day she spent in their presence?

  A sudden disturbance at the adult males’ table jerked her out of her reverie.

  "No, Kate, please don't go!"

  Mahvet’s voice cut through the chatter, but Kate didn’t stop as she rushed from the room. Where was she storming off to? Had Mahvet said something to upset her? The other men at the table seemed to be restraining him, preventing him from following her.

  Olivia sprang to her feet. Without hesitation, she ran after her friend and caught up with her in the dormitory.

  "What happened back there?" Winded, Olivia flopped on the bed besides Kate's to catch her breath. "Did you and the professor have a misunderstanding? Oh, no... don't tell me you guys are breaking up."

  "The latter." Kate pulled out her suitcase from under her bed and opened her nightstand drawers to pack. "They're sending me back to Earth with the next scheduled Portal transport session in a few hours." She turned her face away from Olivia and sucked in a shuddering breath. "It's all for the best." She began to sob.

  Olivia jumped up and put her arm about her friend's shoulders. "It can’t be. You two are perfect for each other. I see how he looks at you during our classes. He adores you. You adore him."

  "It's not enough," Kate managed in between sobs. "I can't serve his basic needs, and the clan will not waste resources on a human who can't fulfill her purpose toward them. It's either go home to Earth or be sent to the farms to work off my room and board like an indentured servant."