Before Dawn

A SKY OF SPELLS (Book #9)

A SEA OF SHIELDS (Book #10)

A REIGN OF STEEL (Book #11)

A LAND OF FIRE (Book #12)

A RULE OF QUEENS (Book #13)

AN OATH OF BROTHERS (Book #14)

A DREAM OF MORTALS (Book #15)

A JOUST OF KNIGHTS (Book #16)

THE GIFT OF BATTLE (Book #17)

THE SURVIVAL TRILOGY

ARENA ONE: SLAVERSUNNERS (Book #1)

ARENA TWO (Book #2)

ARENA THREE (Book #3)

VAMPIRE, FALLEN

BEFORE DAWN (Book #1)

THE VAMPIRE JOURNALS

TURNED (Book #1)

LOVED (Book #2)

BETRAYED (Book #3)

DESTINED (Book #4)

DESIRED (Book #5)

BETROTHED (Book #6)

VOWED (Book #7)

FOUND (Book #8)

RESURRECTED (Book #9)

CRAVED (Book #10)

FATED (Book #11)

OBSESSED (Book #12)

Listen to THE VAMPIRE JOURNALS series in audio book format!

Copyright © 2016 by Morgan Rice

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior permission of the author.

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Jacket image Copyright iStock.com/nsilcock

“Come, gentle night; come, loving, black-browed night;
Give me my Romeo; and, when I shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night…”

    ― William Shakespeare
    Romeo and Juliet

CHAPTER ONE

Kate woke on the morning of her seventeenth birthday with a pit in her stomach. She wished she could be excited; but she knew, with a sense of dread, that there’d be no presents waiting for her, no special birthday breakfast, no cake. There’d be no cards. She’d be lucky if anyone in her family even remembered.

She felt the warm Santa Barbara sunshine on her eyelids, and she opened her eyes and blinked. Her room was still filled with moving boxes, a chaotic mess, one she could not bring herself to organize. Perhaps it was, she realized, because she didn’t want to be here. She didn’t want to be with her family – anywhere. Why would she? They hated her.

Kate pulled her cover up over her head, blocking the light out, desperate not to have to get out of bed and face the day. The best thing, she decided, would be to get out of the house as quickly as possible and head to school. At least she had her friends. They knew all too well about her home life, and they would make a fuss over her.

Kate finally pulled herself out of bed and dressed in her favorite comfy jeans and black T-shirt. Then she slipped on her battered red Converses and dragged a comb through her dark brown hair, just enough to get the kinks out but not enough to style it in any particular way. Since it was a special occasion, she put on a slick of mascara and rimmed her eyes with kohl. She stood back and regarded her appearance in the mirror. Her mom would hate her outfit. The thought made her smile.

Out in the hall, the smell of pancakes, bacon, and maple syrup wafted through the air. Her mom loved pretending to be the All-American Mother, with her Soccer Mom hairstyle. She was anything but. A phony. It was all fake. All-American Moms were supposed to love their kids – not choose one daughter to adore while making the other feel small and insignificant.

Kate already knew the pancakes wouldn’t be for her. They’d be for her dad and for her sister, Madison, and brother, Max, but not for her. Her mom’s jibes echoed in her mind.

If only you took up a sport, you’d be able to have a hearty breakfast too. But since you spend all day reading indoors you’ll have to watch your figure.

Kate braced herself before going into the kitchen.

The kitchen in the new house was tastefully decorated, filled with all the latest gadgets. It looked like someone had clipped it out of a magazine. It was everything her mom needed to keep her charade of the perfect family.

Her dad was at the table, his eyes still red from last night’s drinking session. He was staring mournfully into his black coffee. His pancakes were untouched beside him. Kate knew that meant he was too hungover to eat them.

Madison, also at the table, was busy applying her makeup in her little handheld mirror. Her dark hair had been styled with gentle waves over her shoulders and it glistened in the sunlight. She was complementing her look with bright red lipstick, making her look more like a college student than the high school senior she really was. From the outside, it didn’t look like there was only eighteen months between the girls. Madison was more like a woman, whereas Kate in many ways still felt like a scrawny kid.