Year of the Rat Read online

  Changeling Sisters IV

  YEAR OF THE RAT

  By Heather Heffner

  The right of Heather Heffner to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act of 1988.

  YEAR OF THE RAT. Text copyright © 2018 Heather Heffner. All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  ∞∞∞

  Find out the latest news on the Changeling Sisters series at:

  http://heatherheffner.blogspot.com/

  Dark, action-packed fantasy epics from author

  Heather Heffner:

  Seven deadly vampyre princes. Two sisters far from home. One spirit world in trouble. Let the shifting begin.

  Changeling Sisters Series

  Year of the Wolf (Book 1)

  Year of the Tiger (Book 2)

  Year of the Dragon (Book 3)

  Year of the Rat (Book 4)

  Year of the Snake (Forthcoming Book 5)

  Changeling Sisters Novellas

  Year of the Boar: Tica (#1.5)

  Year of the Rabbit: Rafael (Forthcoming #3.5)

  ~Available on major online eBook retailers~

  Welcome to Hell. Don’t abandon all hope. That wouldn’t be as much fun.

  AFTERLIFE CHRONICLES

  The Tribe of Ishmael (Book 1)

  The Staff of Aaron (Forthcoming Book 2)

  ~Available on Amazon.com~

  For my family who travels fearlessly into the unknown: Aunt Nancy, Aunt Belle, Cousins Rebecca & Jessie

  Table of Contents

  Foreword

  Prologue

  Part I: Mice

  Chapter 1: Goddess Reawakened

  Chapter 2: Blackout

  Chapter 3: Hole in the Heart of the World

  Chapter 4: The Red Night

  Chapter 5: The Frost King

  Chapter 6: River of Ice Maidens

  Chapter 7: Siege

  Chapter 8: The War Room

  Chapter 9: The Golden Mane

  Chapter 10: Where Gods Go

  Chapter 11: Land of the Rising Sun

  Chapter 12: A Place Twisted and Strange

  Chapter 13: The Treehouse Village

  Chapter 14: Yuki Onna

  Chapter 15: Betraying the Heart

  Chapter 16: Shades of Deception

  Chapter 17: The Color of Dying

  Chapter 18: Blame

  Chapter 19: Frozen Tears

  Chapter 20: Sparks Amidst Shadows

  Chapter 21: A Breakthrough

  Chapter 22: The Chimes

  Chapter 23: Panic

  Chapter: 24: Fine Things

  Chapter 25: The Old Gods

  Chapter 26: Corporate Silence

  Chapter 27: The Trade Tower

  Chapter 28: Forbidden

  Chapter 29: The Doors of Death

  Chapter 30: Eyes of the World

  Chapter 31: The Plan

  Chapter 32: Song of Darkness

  Chapter 33: Death Palace

  Chapter 34: Shadow Art

  Chapter 35: An Old Friend

  Chapter 36: Fool’s Mission

  Chapter 37: Fearling Way

  Chapter 38: Battle for Lotte World

  Chapter 39: The Tide Jewels

  Chapter 40: Kingdom Beneath the Sea

  Chapter 41: Ryujin

  Chapter 42: Price of the Underworld

  Part II: Horde

  Chapter 43: The Price of Power

  Chapter 44: Downfall

  Chapter 45: Prison of the Mind

  Chapter 46: Raise a Glass

  Chapter 47: Spectrum

  Chapter 48: Rooftop Serenade

  Chapter 49: A Blushing Heart

  Chapter 50: Icarus

  Chapter 51: Early Frost

  Chapter 52: The Firebird

  Chapter 53: The Madman’s Game

  Chapter 54: Roll of the Dice

  Chapter 55: The Boundary of Loyalty

  Chapter 56: Infiltration

  Chapter 57: Mice in a Trap

  Chapter 58: Black Ice Heart

  Chapter 59: Traitor

  Chapter 60: Game, Set, Match

  Chapter 61: Countdown

  Chapter 62: Lights Out

  Chapter 63: Indebted

  Chapter 64: Dragon’s Gambit

  Chapter 65: Lord of Walking Death

  Chapter 66: The Nightmare Curtain

  Chapter 67: Fall of a King

  Chapter 68: For Better or for Worse

  Chapter 69: Intercepted at Sea

  Chapter 70: Distress Call

  Part III: Rat

  Chapter 71: The Last Frontier

  Chapter 72: Kalinov Bridge

  Chapter 73: Drowning

  Chapter 74: Whole

  Chapter 75: Crimson Snows

  Chapter 76: This Savage Dance

  Chapter 77: Border

  Chapter 78: New World Order

  Chapter 79: Reunited

  Chapter 80: Ghosts of the Past

  Chapter 81: The Winter is Jealous of the Flowers

  Chapter 82: Old Friends

  Chapter 83: Return to the World

  Chapter 84: Dragon Scales

  Chapter 85: Picking up Pieces

  Chapter: 86: A Cruel Heart

  Chapter 87: A Father’s Love

  Chapter 88: Change in the Winds

  Chapter 89: Showdown

  Chapter 90: The Deal

  Chapter 91: Return to the West

  Acknowledgements

  Glossary

  Foreword

  My name is Citlalli Alvarez.

  I don’t have much time. There is barely any light left to write with, but I must try. Someone must know.

  They are coming.

  It wasn’t supposed to be this way. My pack, the Seoul werewolves, teamed up with the dragon-shifting Yong family to drive the Vampyre Court from South Korea once and for all. The youngest Yong daughter, Heesu, completed the Trials of Wisdom to become the new Celestial Dragon who would bring balance and harmony to the world. She claimed the Yeouiju, which is the dragon’s pearl of creative power.

  However, freeing the Korean Peninsula angered an enemy we did not see coming: the Death Lords of Xibalba. These demons of pain and humiliation are the vampyres’ makers. Their hellish underworld has risen to claim the spirit world of Eve, and they don’t plan to stop there. What’s worse is that the few gods left are either in hiding or have joined the enemy. My half-sister Raina’s father, the famous fire dragon Yong Mun Mu, made the wrong deities angry in his quest to accumulate a massive trove of wealth to fund the innovative technologies of Yong Enterprises. Now one of those rivals, the vindictive wealth goddess Eobshin, has come to collect. The price she took is one we are still reeling from: Heesu.

  Thanks to Eobshin destroying Heesu’s Yeouiju, Seoul has been sucked into a strange, isolated netherworld. No one in the mortal world can help us. It’s just us…and them.

  One vampyre, Crown Prince Khyber, dares fight for our freedom. He acts as a spy now in the camp of his brother Aleksandr, a centuries-old Russian vampyre known as the “Frost King.” Aleksandr has brought an army of rusalki and snow giants t
o aid the Death Lords in crushing the Were Nation for good.

  But it is these Death Lords we fear above all. They have the power to turn friends into foes and sanity into madness.

  Welcome to the Red Night. Where the hunted must become the hunter in order to survive.

  No matter the cost.

  —Citlalli

  KEY PLAYERS: THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UNDECIDED

  Alvarez Family:

  Citlalli: I was turned into a werewolf what feels like ages ago. I’ve since committed shifter taboos such as turning Triad and life-bonding with Vampyre Prince Khyber. But our pack is dwindling in numbers, so they’ll take what they can get. Eobshin took my arm in our last battle, but I burned her with my demon fox firesoul, which forced her to flee.

  Raina: my younger half-sister. She is a shapeshifting water dragon who faced off with Heesu in the final Trial of Wisdom. Raina took it hard when she failed. I haven’t seen her since the Red Night fell.

  Miguel: my older brother who works as a manager at our family restaurant in Itaewon. He is dating my rival-turned-Alpha: Ahn Yu Li. Go figure.

  Mami: our mother. She is the proud owner of the Alvarez Family Restaurant and, I’ve discovered, keeper of many family secrets. Too bad she took a trip to México for “unfinished business” before she could enlighten us.

  Yong Family:

  Mun Mu: the former Celestial Dragon, Guardian of the East Sea, CEO of Yong Enterprises, a bad-ass fire dragon—this guy has so many titles I can’t keep track. He’s also Raina’s father. They had a falling out last time they spoke, which I bet has something to do with the fact that he kept a wealth goddess imprisoned in the body of a young Thai woman named “Nyssa” in order to amass a huge fortune. But, you know, he got rich. No one has seen him since the argument.

  Sun Bin: Mun Mu’s eldest daughter. Sun is an air imugi who controls winds and temperature. She has taken a bit too much of a liking to her heritage as the “Winter Dragon” and isn’t afraid to freeze anyone who looks at her wrong. She was in love with Nyssa for many years and was as shocked as any of us over the revelation of Nyssa’s true identity.

  Ankor: Sun Bin’s twin brother, an ore imugi who can sense metals in the earth. An early scientific experiment left him seriously wounded with a shard of Yeouiju impaled in his ear, which made him a Triad like me. His soul fracture transformed him into an energy dragon capable of generating nuclear-level power, but at a terrible cost.

  Heesu: the youngest Yong was an earth imugi who rose to become this age’s Celestial Dragon. In her short reign, she defeated a Greater Dark Spirit and won us the Battle of Jeju Island. She wielded the Yeouiju, which has unlimited powers of creation. When Eobshin broke Heesu’s pearl, it unleashed a storm of destructive curses that sucked Seoul into an Eve netherworld.

  Nyssa/Eobshin: a Thai refugee who served as governess to the Yong household for years. She is a werenagi who fell in love with Sun Bin. Later she revealed herself to be the Korean goddess of wealth Eobshin, who had been unfairly imprisoned by Mun Mu. Now none of us know if “Nyssa” ever existed.

  The Seoul Werewolf Pack:

  Rafael: my werewolf “maker” and ex-boyfriend. Things got strained when I was life-bonded to Vampyre Prince Khyber, whom Rafael has vowed to kill in order to avenge the deaths of his mother and sister. He was exiled from the wolfpack for planning a mutiny.

  Yu Li: Alpha of the Seoul werewolves. She generously kept me on as Beta despite our history and now faces the daunting task of leading our beleaguered forces in the fight of our lives. She is mother to Young Soo and, for some reason, has a thing for my brother.

  Namkyu, Moon, and Iseul: the other pack members trapped in Seoul. There are so few of us left since we lost Bae to the vampyres.

  The Were Nation:

  Una: the Doorkeeper, who keeps the balance between the spirit and mortal realms. She can shapeshift into the legendary Black Turtle.

  The Lady of Eve: the reincarnated White Tiger. She is the leader of the Elder Life Spirits who watch over Eve.

  Xu Xiang: the “Red Bird.” He is the leader of the Eastern International Were Council and rules the shapeshifting goshawk clan in China.

  The Golden Mane: We do not know much about this American lion shapeshifter, except that the Lady of Eve warned us that his coming would bring disaster.

  Taeyang: the walking-talking incarnation of Khyber’s soul. He is everything Khyber is not: friendly, human, likes sunlight—and has extraordinary healing powers.

  The Vampyre Court:

  Khyber: eldest son of the deceased Vampyre Queen Maya. A long time ago, he sacrificed himself in order for his sisters to escape from Maya. He can kill with a touch. Khyber is called the “Prince of Sorrow” or “the Crow,” referring to his shabby black wings. His quest to find true death has led him to align more frequently with the Were Nation, making him a target amongst his brethren. He was cursed to a life bond with me after the Dark Spirits discovered his betrayal, making it impossible for him to die without taking me, too. Yikes.

  Aleksandr: one of Maya’s younger sons who hails from Russia. Over the centuries, he has built an undead army out of Slavic legend that he means to use to finally destroy the Were Nation in Seoul. He is called “Frost King” and “Silver Tongue,” and I don’t want to know why.

  Donovan: Maya’s third son, who is originally from France. He has the power to incite lust and desire, which he has tried to use on my sister Raina more than once. Since the Battle of Jeju Island, he licks his wounds in disgrace somewhere in Japan.

  Aaron and Santiago: the last of Maya’s royal vampyre brood still defiling this earth.

  The Death Lords of Xibalba:

  Patan and Xic: the Lords of Walking Death, who are known for their demonic powers to kill on the road. There are Twelve Lords of Xibalba, and they operate in pairs to spread misery and death across the world. The broken Yeouiju freed these two to stalk the streets of Seoul, where they drive civilians into zombie-level madness.

  One-Death and Seven-Death: Little is known about these two mysterious gods who rule the Death Lords, except that they are responsible for the existence of vampyres. The other Death Lord pairs are the Lords of Famine, Hardened Hearts, Forgetting, Plague, and Walking Death.

  Prologue

  ~Sixteenth Century Russia~

  In the heart of the snow palace, silence ruled. Icicle chandeliers hung dreamily over lonely ballrooms, and ashes blew from fireplaces with no one to tend them. Grand mirrors that stretched from floor to ceiling kept watch. Occasionally their glass fogged with breath, although not a soul could be seen. When evening fell, the domes of each tower roared to life under the glow of the Northern Lights. Color rippled up the valley in a reflection of the night sky’s dance. No one ever saw this. No one dared come too close.

  For this was the land of the dead.

  Today, one pair did. The sons of the tsar stood in the frozen courtyard and gazed in wonder at a herd of crystalized reindeer.

  It was forbidden to speak of the enchanted palace at court, but all knew the tale. When the Northern Lights lit the winter sky, it was said that the legendary Firebird was flying to the magical snow palace on the other side of Kalinov Bridge, where she would bring light to the people of the underworld. There the Firebird would remain until springtime, when she would return to bring warmth and color to the land.

  Except this spring had come and gone. Winter stayed with no end in sight.

  The older son was a hunter. He wore his ice-encrusted blond hair tied back to reveal a face with jagged edges and keen blue eyes. He carried a crossbow on his back and a hunting knife on his belt in case they encountered the dreaded wolf people. He was renowned for his many kills.

  The wolf shifters dwelled deep within the wood and were a blight on the livestock in spring. When winter’s chill had lingered far past its time, the wolf people’s unearthly howls had grown closer to the village limits with each passing night. They were starving.

  It was the one good thing to come of
this wretched cold, the older son decided. He hoped all of the wolf folk were dead. He had lost many a friend to those savage beasts who had human faces by day and merciless fangs by night.

  He knew it was dangerous to be here. The older son was practical and despised anything he couldn’t put down with a knife. But with the curse of eternal winter facing their northern kingdom, he also knew they had no choice but to enter the palace. Just in and out. Find the legendary Firebird and go.

  The younger prince carried a bow and arrow, but he was not a hunter. His skin was pale and delicate like blue ink parchment blotted with water. On the journey over, blood had flooded his eyes the way it frequently did due to his illness, and he had a large purplish bruise spreading up his leg. However, he was their reason for being here: his books of legends and adventure, and his inability to watch children loll listlessly in their parents’ arms.

  Now he plopped his pack on the ground, where it promptly over-spilled with manuscripts. This fanciful fool, the older brother thought, watching him search for a map. Insisting to arm himself with knowledge rather than the blade.

  But for once, surrounded by the spirits of the departed, the older brother was grateful.

  The younger prince looked up, and a grin spread across his weary face. “We are here, Mikhail.”

  The older prince clapped a hand on his shoulder. He didn’t see how his younger brother grimaced under the weight of it. “You see? It is as we planned. We will restore fire to Salekhard and rule together. I couldn’t have done this without you.”

  The younger prince fought to keep up with his brother as they descended deeper into the palace, but he was beaming from ear to ear.

  It had taken a lot to earn their father’s blessing for this mission. The younger brother knew that they could not afford to fail. Even if the mission had been whispered in his ear by the foreign rusalka.

  He thought he could feel Lada’s oil-black eyes watching now, even though they had left her on the other side of Kalinov Bridge to watch the horses. It gave him the unpleasant feeling of insects crawling across his skin. His father had given her to him as a jest, an exotic present from the faraway lands of his books to a boy who spoke of the Persian Mazdak movement; of foreign Utopia; of classless societies and equal distribution of wealth.