Game of Vampires: Winterball

Game of Vampires: Winterball WICKED FAE GAMES: BOOK ONE DONNA BERDEL Copyright © 2023 by Mary Stone Publishing All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Created with Vellum To my mom Thank you for all those trips to the library when I was little and for never getting mad when I stayed up past my bedtime to read. I owe my lifelong passion for stories to you. Description Centuries ago, humans waged a war with dire consequences against magical beings. They won and banished the vicious fae to another realm. Now, after years of waiting, the fae and the paranormal descendants they left behind in the human world are ready to rise again. When Cassidy Wright envisioned how her life would change as a newly divorced, single mom of 40, learning to navigate a treacherous world filled with monsters and magic wasn’t what she had in mind. She had no idea supernatural creatures or magic even existed until she inherited her late mother's cabin in the heart of Silvery Pines, Colorado. Now, Cassidy’s seeing things she never believed possible: vampires, shifters, and a haunting power within herself. And as the banished fae, now known as The Watchers, return to seek revenge on the human world, Cassidy's newfound abilities make her the target of their series of deadly games. To stand a chance at defeating a bloodthirsty horde of fae-descended vampires, Cassidy must learn to control her mysterious power before the first game at Winterball begins. The cost of losing is her life...and the lives of everyone she loves. With so many questions to ask and no one to turn to for answers, Cassidy will face her darkest fears on a journey to embrace her true self and fulfill her destiny. Let the games begin... Winterball is the beginning of a heart-pounding journey into a new imaginative world of ancient magic and wicked games, where suspense and romance intertwine to keep you on the edge of your seat, and leave you breathless, begging for more. Anyone who loves K.F. Breene, Shannon Mayer and Ilona Andrews won’t be able to put this book down! Contents 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 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43 Chapter 44 Chapter 45 What’s Next? Wicked Fae Games Series Acknowledgments About the Author Chapter One I entered the final stretch of my eighteen-hundred-mile drive fueled on the fumes of a two-hour-old caffeine stop, nineties rock, and the emotional turbulence of a person who’d recently discovered her entire life was a lie. For a good chunk of the journey, I’d silenced the rotating cycle of grief, anger, and guilt by belting out the lyrics to my grunge favorites. My singing ended once I hit the switchbacks carved into the snowy Colorado mountains. That was also when I reached for the stereo knob to lower the volume. Shifting my hips around in the seat, I searched for a position that eased the dull throb in my lower back. Why hadn’t anyone ever told me that my days of ache-free road trips would end along with my thirties…or that I’d transform into one of those embarrassing people who needed to turn down the music to drive? I braved a fleeting glimpse of my reflection in the rearview mirror and wrinkled my nose. “Welcome to your forties, Cassidy. No more denying that you’re an official member of the Middle Age Club.” I remembered when my sister and I were younger and would argue with our parents over the music every time we climbed inside our gold Buick. We’d insist that the volume only affected their ears and not their ability to see other cars. Now here I was, some twenty-odd years later, turning into my mom. Except, in a shocking twist, the woman who’d raised me wasn’t my biological mom. That honor belonged to my favorite aunt, and my real dad died just before I was born, because apparently, my life belonged on a daytime talk show. A little over a week ago, a Colorado area code had flashed across my screen. Aunt Sylvie had never shown up for our holiday dinner, and my daughter and I had been worried sick. I’d snatched up the phone, thinking she was calling from a different number, only to hear a county official with a flat voice informing me that she’d died. A hiking accident, he’d said. From what they could tell, she slipped on an icy rock and fell thirty feet, smashing into the frozen boulders below. Sylvie was always my favorite, so I spent most of her funeral back home in Jacksonville sobbing my eyes out, right up until a strange man with electric-blue eyes tapped me on the shoulder. He claimed to be Sylvie’s lawyer before handing me a letter… Hey, Snowflake… Enclosed, you’ll find your true birth certificate, the keys to my cabin, and some of the legal paperwork needed for you to take control of my estate… I’m your biological mother… I gave birth to you in a hospital in Jacksonville. Shortly afterward, my sister took you home, adopted you, and raised you as her own. Why had she hidden the truth from me all these years? Why was she content to remain in the background while her younger sister raised me? After almost thirty hours of alone time to ponder those conundrums, one might