The Call of War: The Watchers Chronicles: Book One Read online

  The Call of War

  The Watchers Chronicles Book 1

  Patricia Halladay

  Copyright © 2021 Patricia Halladay

  All rights reserved

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

  Cover design by: Fantasia Cover Designs

  Remember to always look for and follow the clues! They will lead you on a journey of knowledge and adventure!

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Prologue

  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

  Epilogue

  About The Author

  Books In This Series

  Books By This Author

  Prologue

  Life seems so mundane when you have lived for as long as I have, well not really long, but have had multiple past lives. Let me explain, my name is Ianna Foster, I am average built, 5’7” with long dark brown hair, and maple brown eyes and I am eighteen. I am a Watcher to the Crimson Star Coven and in every previous life I was the Atlantean Battle Warrior. It’s kind of messed up going from a celebrated warrior to a pencil pushing, recorder taking desk jockey, but it is what it is.

  I was a nomad in my former lives, right from the very beginning and kept the ways of my people. I was originally born in 1253 BCE, on the island of Crete. After I died, the gods saw it as a reward for my sacrifice to be reborn. Another life was during the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BCE, and again I had spent the previous 5 years before traveling, learning, and becoming a warrior again. I learned very quickly to hide my Atlantean made weapons in a place only I would find, and each time I came back I made sure to have them again. With each life I moved my way up the continent, so that I would not be in one place for too long. By the time I died in 1510 ADE, I was in Canada and living in the wilds, with one of the many tribes of indigenous people. This time around, I had left my weapons at Stonehenge, a druid gave me information on a hidden compartment in the alter stone, so I left them there hoping I would never need them again.

  Every time I was reborn, I would take the same path; get an education, travel, train and run headfirst into battle. I had spent so many years fighting, that only once did I look to another way of life, just to have the gods take it way almost immediately. That is how I got my title, The Atlantean Battle Warrior. Some may think it was a title of honor, but it wasn’t. For the most part I was sought out to aid one side or the other in battle against a great enemy and each time I was given the title. The rewards were sometime great, a rich piece of land to call my own or gold, jewels, and materials worth more than some kingdoms, but the losses were just as bad, and my heart closed off earlier and earlier each time I was reborn.

  Now you may be wondering why I am telling you all this. Well I thought it would be nice to get firsthand knowledge of the facts, rather than sit through this absolutely riveting Ancient history lesson Mr. Tessler is giving. Yep and since a warrior of my caliber is no longer needed, now I am destined to sit through the most enlightening hour of history, so that I can take my place as a Watcher of the Crimson Star Vampire Coven. Yea for me! Note how heavily laced with sarcasm that was and there was an eye roll too.

  Chapter 1

  “Please turn to page 507 in your Ancient Battles and Warriors text. I hope you all got the assignment done for today’s class.” Mr. Tessler says looking at a group of young men specifically. He brings up a group of photos, and I already know what our class is about today. It’s me and I can’t wait to discredit the teacher about his fact less textbook.

  “Mr. Tessler, why do we need to know about some little girl that was a nobody in history?” Angelica asks. She obviously did the reading, now I am going to have fun with this.

  “How was the Atlantean Battle Warrior a nobody Angelica?” Mr. Tessler asks looking highly amused that his little pet is giving him credit for nothing.

  “There is nothing of her life that made her outstanding, she was basically a tool that men saw a way of using. She probably spread her legs more than killed anyone. Plus these women are from different time periods and there is no way to connect them to the original Atlantean Battle Warrior.” Angelica says smiling sweetly and showing Mr. Tessler her boobs.

  “67 in the Trojan War of 1240 BCE, 29 in the Battle of Thermopylae, 31 in the …”

  “What the hell are you talking about? Wow you’re still stupid aren’t you Ianna?” Angelica says cackling.

  “Those were my kill numbers in each war I fought in. The connection that you say isn’t there is right in front of you in the pictures, along with every other description of me throughout history.” I say looking at Mr. Tessler and smirking when he goes white.

  “Whatever you’re making that up.” Angelica says trying to boost her grade by other means than fucking the teacher.

  “Really? Look that the right hand with the brace. It’s the same weapon in every picture, it also use to have an ejector fashioned by the Great Atlantean Black Smith Arreon. The blade in the left hand was also made by the blacksmith and was my personal favorite because it fit nicely into my leather boots to be concealed. Lastly the birth mark on the left upper pectoral muscle is the same in every picture.” I say looking again at Mr. Tessler who is starting to go red from embarrassment and anger. I wonder if the little fat pigmy is going to blow his lid like they do on the old cartoons, like when Yosemite Sam does on The Bugs Bunny & Tweety show.

  “You have no proof of any of this. How dare you discredit my work!” He yells at me. I stand and remove my jacket, leaving my left upper pectoral in full view. He goes as white as a ghost and begins to stutter.

  “Tell me how I have no proof of my past lives. Tell me how I am discrediting your work when there is no credit to your work to begin with, and Angelica, unlike you I almost never gave my body to anyone in any of my lives if the gods did not allow it. In many of them, I died a virgin.” I say looking at the school slut and making her look foolish.

  “Well if you are her, where are your sacred weapons? The Atlantean Battle Warrior always had her sacred weapons. They are rumored to work for no one but her.” Dane says giving me a smirk. The resident Alpha from Black Granite pack and the cockiest person I have ever met. Alexander the Great wasn’t even as bad as Dane.

  “They are hidden in a sacred place told to me by a druid. I was not in need of them in Britannia after 376 ADE, nor was I in need of them in 1510 ADE when I was living with an indigenous tribe in Manitoba. I stayed with them until I died of pneumonia eight years later.” I look at Dane and see him writing down what I am saying.

  “Well then I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your sacred weapons are in the Atlantean Battle Warrior exhibit at the National World History Museum. You might want to go check it out.” Dede says giving me an excited look. She makes me smile because I know she already has tickets for us to go check out the exhibit. “They even have a live
combat seminar too for ancient weapons! I would love to see your ancient training and knowledge at work!” She says highly animated. Go figure my best friend would want to see me beat the shit out of a bunch of professionals.

  “Ok when are the tickets for? I will need to do some refreshers.” I say looking at Dede, who by the way has a very evil smile pointed at Mr. Tessler and Angelica.

  “How about this, I’ll see if dad can get the class all tickets. Mr. Tessler bring your so called historical work and textbook with you, we can have Dr. Thaddeus take a look at it. After all he is the foremost expert on the Atlantean Battle Warrior, because he has traced his family line to her adopted mother Hyda. Even though she had no children. Theron is his family tie to her.” Dede says looking at me. To say I am shocked is an understatement. Dede is the next in line for the Midnight Tear Witch Coven’s Second Command. So her family has money and lots of it.

  “I don’t think that is necessary Miss…” Mr. Tessler starts to say but gets cut off.

  “I think that is a wonderful idea, I am sure my Grandfather would love to meet your class and rake you over the coals for the lies you published and teach.” A young man says from the doorway of the class. He is tall with a muscular build, rich ash blond hair and sharp cheeks that remind me of Theron and the god of war, Aries.

  “Wow, and who are you?” Angelica purrs eyeing the visitor.

  “Out of your league.” He says causing everyone to burst out laughing at her. “My name is Soren Thaddeus. Dr Soren Thaddeus and I was asked to come here to talk to you about your publication Mr. Tessler. So since a challenge has been already issued, you have until 24 hours after your visit to the Museum to publicly retract and admit to the false information you published. Oh and also resign from teaching, I will be taking over the class.” He says, he looks at me with a smile and then when I turn to face him completely his eyes are drawn to my birthmark.

  “Interesting, I will see if I can get approval for you to handle the sacred weapons. We test everyone with that birthmark. Never know when Aretha would be reborn. Look forward to seeing you there.” He says nodding to me.

  “Where did you find my weapons, I hid them where no one would find them. That I am sure of.” I say scowling at our new professor.

  “Stonehenge, in the alter. Found writing by a druid that spoke of a young woman looking to hide some sacred items. He had a drawing of The God of War’s helmet in detail, with notes saying it appears on the cross guard of the sword and on the brace. Guess he thought if you ever needed them but couldn’t remember where they were, he would keep track of them.” Soren says giving me a knowing look. “See you soon Aretha.” He says before leaving the room.

  “Fuck!” I scream causing Mr. Tessler to jump. The rest of the class went quietly as Mrs. Parish came and excused Mr. Tessler from class. Actually that is being nice, she canned his ass in front of everyone. She went back through all the information covered in class for the last month and a half. Let me just say because of Mr. Tessler’s lack of credible information, we are now doing a month and a half of lessons in on-line seminars to learn all the proper and factual information Mr. Tessler neglected to teach. And we need all this information for midterms in November, I want to just gut someone right now. FUCK!

  “So Miss Atlantean Battle Warrior, how do we do a refresher for you? It’s not like you have 206 years to get all that training again.” Dede asks getting up from her seat and linking our arms. For me this is nothing unusual, in many of my lives powerful women would ask me to be their escort to prestigious functions. General Octavian was right, there is no one more powerful than a woman with strength and brains. I miss him and Hyda so much, I always do in each life.

  “Well Miss Augustine, I just need you.” I tell Dede, to which she raises a pierced eyebrow at me and gives me a “do tell” look. “Well since you are a huge history buff and an Ancient Cultural Scholar, I just need you to perform a small ritual, the name I carried and the year I was born. It will bring back all my memories and training.” I say causing Dede’s mouth to hit the floor.

  “What makes you think I can do this ritual? Wouldn’t a witch or a god be a better choice?” She says coming out of her shock.

  “You don’t fool anyone Dede, we all know you are a witch and if I am correct on my guess. You are a descendant of Medea. Well her family not her since she killed her children to get back at Jason’s betrayal.” I say causing Dede to blush a bright red. “Oh and I am sure that Ares or Athena will want to be there, since my weapons have been found and the gods need to bind them to me again. They need to in every life, it’s a fall safe in the weapons.” I add.

  “Shit! That is pretty epic! Do you know why you were chosen to have this destiny?” Dede asks as we walk into the cafeteria and wait in line to grab lunch.

  “Yes, Hyda ask to be given a child the gods would deem worthy enough to be a great warrior, but for the child not to have any direct ties to the gods themselves. She wanted not to worry about the child being tainted by power. So she got me.” I say smiling as I remember Hyda throwing me into a hot bath and helping me wash just hours after taking me as her daughter. Even for a noble woman, she was hands on and did everything herself for me. Making sure I had the best, to get what I needed to become a great warrior. See its moments like this that my heart truly hurts, remembering the unwavering love she had for me.

  Dede and I sit beside the window at the end of the wall to eat our meal. We chose this spot because it’s near the window, lots of sun light and it has the best advantage point to see all enemies coming. It also has the weakest point in the glass, it’s the one window that is original from when the school was built in 1964. Every other window has been replaced with bullet proof anti-shatter glass. One, to keep Hunters and rogues out and two, to keep us in.

  You know how birds can’t see glass, well neither can vampires apparently, or it’s just because they are dumb as hell most of the time. Speaking of the dumb as pet rocks portion of our school population, Franny just walked into the cafeteria, with Marcus and Matthias in tow.

  I keep track of their movements and watch out of the corner of my eye. I really don’t want to deal with them at the moment. It’s bad enough I have to deal with them and the coven, having an infestation of crabs would be more fun! Please just for once leave me the hell alone.

  “Oh look it’s our babysitter and her bitch.” Franny says smirking. There goes that happy thought.

  “Ianna did you hear something?” Dede say looking at me as if she was bored listening to the crickets sing.

  “No I think that was the furnace kicking in, you know how it wails like a banshee who swallowed a cat.” I answer causing Matthias and Dede to laugh, while Marcus is failing miserably to hide his smile.

  “Why you little bitch!” Franny screams grabbing my hair to slam my head into the table.

  “Aretha, 1253 BCE Crete!” Dede screams, and instantly Franny goes sailing into the window. Before she hits the ground, I have ripped wood off the wall and land on top of her to drive it through her heart. The shock on Marcus and Matthias’s face have frozen them in place and are little help to her.

  “Enough!” Maxum yells from the doorway. I hadn’t realized that Franny, Marcus, and Matthias were here with the coven leader and Marcus’s father.

  “You three get to the damn car now! Ianna my office once we arrive home, get out to the car. We need to leave for an important meeting.” Maxum says looking pissed at me.

  “Thank you Dede.” I whisper and she looks at me.

  “For what?” She asks.

  “For awakening Aretha. I remember all my training from my first life.” I tell her under my breath. I watch as her eyes go the size of saucers and she starts to smile. I leave my best friend and head to the school office to sign out.

  My Uncle is still the current Watcher for the Crimson Star Coven, so I don’t understand why I am needed for this meeting. Helix walks with me out to the second car and opens my door. I am not allowed to ride in the fi
rst car with the coven leader, although I am supposed to.

  “Nicely done on that take down, where in the hell did you learn that? I have never seen anyone take Franny down before.” Helix says with a smirk. It has obviously excited him because his fangs are starting to show just through his lips.

  “My first past life. Helix you remember when you first came, you said there was something about me that you thought I was hiding.” I say looking at the centuries old vampire.

  “Yes and I believe I told you I would figure out your little secret.” He says giving me a quick amused glance from the road.

  “Aretha, born 1253 BCE on the Island of Crete and became the adopted daughter of Hyda of Corinth, Greece in 1248 BCE.” I tell him, I watch as the smile leaves his face and surprise takes over.

  “You’re the Atlantean Battle Warrior!” He shrieks in excitement. I start to laugh; I have never thought something as simple as that could get a 362 year old vampire excited.

  “I was. I haven’t been since 698 ADE and I was living in Britannia, but I also haven’t been reborn as much either since humans started to live longer lives.” I say looking out the passenger window, remembering how I hide my weapons and left for Canada.

  “What has changed? There is no way that you just suddenly remembered all your training. That is 206 years’ worth of training.” Helix asks giving me a challenging look.

  “Someone found my weapons, and Franny needs to have her ass handed to her. Other than that, the only reason would be war is coming.” I say and Helix looks white for a black man. His normal rich chocolate skin has an ashen look to it now.

  “Shit that is not good. Keep this to yourself, ok kid? I won’t say anything either, until we know for sure, and you have all your training back. If you are hearing the call of war, that means it is coming and soon.” He says giving me a worried look. Helix reminds me of General Octavian, I was brought here to the coven when my parents left me on the doorstep of a church. My hospital information bracelet was still wrapped around my leg. So the cops were able to find my Uncle to raise me.