We were in Bora Bora when I ran out of pills. But instead of going to see the doctor, like I should have, we stayed for another two months. Now we’re back home. And when I went to get a check up and get more birth control, the vampire doctor informed me that I am pregnant. Six weeks pregnant. And I don’t know what to think about that, but I suppose it’s too late now.
I’m going to be a mom, which is just weird to think about.
I look at the picture the doctor gave me. It looks like a tiny, alien blob right now. But I know it will get bigger. Wait. Not it. She? He? I don’t know yet. But I can’t call my baby ‘it,’ even if they are just a tiny little blob right now.
When I pull my car into the garage, I notice that Cayson is already home. I guess that means I’ve got to tell him. What was supposed to be a routine visit to get birth control is way more complicated than I thought it would be.
I shut off my car and walk inside, my heart racing as I do. I have no idea how he’s going to react. Is he going to be happy? Sad? Mad? I don’t even know. We’ve talked about having kids, but I honestly thought we’d wait until I was much older. Vampires don’t have limitations on these kinds of things like humans do. But adding a member to the family sounds kind of nice. The more I think about it, the more excited I get.
I just hope Cayson feels the same.
“Hey.” Cayson looks up as I enter his office.
“Hi.” I let out a nervous breath.
He knits his brows as he looks at me. “Are you okay?”
I nod, walking closer to his desk. I don’t know what to say, so I just put the sonogram picture onto his desk and stand there.
He looks at his picture, confusion on his face. And then he picks up the picture to get a closer look.
The confusion leaves his face and he looks from the picture to me. “Is this real?”
I nod. “Yeah.”
“We’re having a baby?” His jaw is lax, but I can’t tell yet what he’s feeling.
“Yep.”
He doesn’t miss a beat.
Cayson jumps over his desk and envelops me in his arms, spinning me around.
I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it wasn’t that. He’s completely elated and I can feel it through our mate bond.
He kisses me on the lips and then backs up to look at me. “You’re not joking, right?”
“I promise. I would never joke about this.” I give him a shy smile. “I’m due in July.”
Cayson lifts me into his arms again, holding on tight.
We’re going to be parents.
“I love you so much,” he says, then kisses me again.
“I love you too.”
It’s the start of our new adventure and I couldn’t be happier.
The end.
*
Find Scarlett Online:
https://www.amazon.com/Scarlett-Haven/e/B01AM928MG
Life’s a Witch - Guild of Guardians Book 1
Skyler Andra
What is it that they say? Life's a witch and then you die.
Change and I have never been best friends, something that's only gotten clearer now I’m at the Guild of Guardians; an academy training mage warriors to hunt the gantii threatening Earth.
The men in my new team don’t want me around. Don’t want me to replace the one they’ve lost. They just want to push me to my limits, test me, thinking that I’ll fail. But they have another thing coming. I’ll pass everything they throw my way, and I’ll prove I’m worthy.
Life's A Witch is book 1 in the Guild of Guardians series, a paranormal academy reverse harem with plenty of action, swoon-worthy men, and a heroine determined to end up on top.
Copyright © 2019 Skyler Andra
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Characters, incidents, and dialogs are products of the author’s
imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events is strictly
coincidental.
1
Astra
I twisted my hands. Once, twice, three times. Anxious didn’t begin to describe my current state. I could barely catch my breath and hunched forward in the great wooden chair seeming to swallow me.
My hands wrung again. I didn’t handle change in my routine very well. Blame it on my mild case of Asperger’s Syndrome, along with some serious OCD, the occasional foot in mouth, and the extreme anxiety and meltdowns that occurred with any shake up in my routine.
Here, in this new Guild campus, in a new city, far away from those I loved, I was out of my element. The dose of magic that had calmed me earlier began to wear off and another episode was coming on.
I grabbed the necklace gifted to me by my instructor, Blaze. It glowed with the five colors of the djinn. Use this. It will settle your brain chemistry and the neurons firing that trigger your episodes.
All I had to do was hold it and whisper the words he’d told me. But I held it, wanting to test myself to see how I coped in this new and strange environment. I didn’t want Asperger’s to define me or hinder me.
Venellan, the Guild headmaster, sat across from me behind his oak desk, his fingers folded, eyebrows drawn into a fuzzy line, his grey eyes staring. Not a good omen for my already hazy future at the Guild.
I glanced at my suitcase and backpack. Keychains dangled from the zippers: Deadpool, Batman, Pokémon Pikachu, Storm Troopers and Harry Potter. My fan girl ode to pop culture.
“Do you know why you’re here?” said Venellan, his voice firm and penetrating.
I gripped my amulet again. After all the crap that had gone down at the Bathurst branch, I didn’t know whether I’d be continuing my magic study or training to fight the gantii. It wasn’t everyday you were asked to pack your stuff up to be shipped off to another Guild. I had a sneaking suspicion that my arrival here, in the middle of fricking nowhere, was a reappointment or a punishment for breaking the rules. But I’d do it all over again if it meant stopping the Guild’s enemies, the Serpent Brotherhood from claiming dominion over Earth and all the supernatural creatures.
“I think I can guess,” I said, not sure if I’d said it aloud or internally.
The headmaster’s eyebrows drew together in what I interpreted as a confused expression. But I wasn’t the best at reading social cues…or understanding people for that matter.
My discomfort grew by the second, and I smoothed the wrinkles from the front of my favorite shirt, which read Eat, Sleep, Fan Girl, Repeat. I probably should have worn my Guild uniform. But after a long car ride to the airport, an even longer flight cross country, I wanted comfort—a t-shirt, sweatpants, and my hot pink headphones blaring my punk rock collection.
Scenarios played in my mind. One of me getting my ass canned, a warning issued, and having to shuffle on my hands and knees, scrubbing the floors of the Guild. Or maybe he’d brought me here to praise me, commend me for my efforts in saving the Bathurst Guild and a promotion…unlikely since I’d been banished to a different state at one of the worst Guild stations in Australia.
I shifted in the heavy oak seat, uncomfortable under the headmaster’s probing gaze. He waited for a response, but my reply seemed tacked to the back of my throat. His old wooden clock ticked in time to my heartbeat.
I took off my glasses and cleaned them with the end of my shirt. When I put them on, all smeared with grime, I pretend to admire his bookshelf, jam packed with magic books and teaching instructions, and leadership books.
Please don’t let me be kicked out and sent to some Guild prison.
Obsidian—my Guild appointed gargoyle, nestled on the top of the chair—
scratched his lion paw on my shoulder, his way of trying to calm me down when my agitation kicked in. He was like an epilepsy dog, sensing when an attack might come on.
> One part eagle (his head), the other part lion (his ass), he was one of the better looking Guild guardians, that was for sure, but not even he could calm me down today.
I needed another shot of Blaze’s magic. But I didn’t want to rely on it to help me, like some kind of scared child running to the mother every time they were overwhelmed.
“I know this must be a change for you, Miss Nomical,” the headmaster said, his voice softening as if he sensed my unease. “Coming to the Northern Territory. The furthest Guild from anywhere.”
I choked back a laugh. The irony! Everyone talked about this place, said they sent misbehavers and screw-ups here. Son of a gun! I was being punished for helping my friend Luna defeat the Serpents.
I rubbed my earrings—a collectible pair of Harley Quinn and the Joker set that Id’ bought online—between my fingers.
I sighed. I didn’t want to be here. So far from my friend. From my old life at Bathurst. My heart ached for my mom, my sister, and my dog Barny. At the old Guild, I’d take the train down to see them every weekend. Now I’d have to catch a flight. Four hours didn’t seem like much, but for someone like me, who didn’t handle change very well, taking a plane would be hell on Earth.
I slumped further in my chair and brushed a shaky hand through my orange-streaked dark hair. It reminded me of when I’d dyed sections of Luna’s hair purple and how it brought out the hazel in her eyes. Hot tears stung my own eyes, and I glanced at my hand, gripping the armrest.
“Miss Nomical?”
Obsidian nudged me again. Alright, alright. Time to speak.
“I’m here because I screwed up,” I blurted, unable to control the things that came out of my mouth. It got worse when I was outside of my comfort zone.
“On the contrary,” Venellan explained, his eyes smiling, even though his mouth did not. “We need more warriors like you.”
“Good warriors don’t get posted to remote locations,” I corrected him, pushing my glasses up my nose.
He tilted his head and laughed as if I amused him. “Despite what you might have heard on the Guild grapevine, this station is not what you think. But we like to make people think so. That way we don’t get flooded with applications for appointments once the students graduate their training.”
What the heck did that mean? This place blew. It was too far away from anywhere. I bet the sentries and Gildrons probably encountered one supernatural creature per year. In between those times, they probably all lazed around, playing cards, and drinking away their shifts.
Venellan stood up, crossing his room to a globe sectioned by grid lines. His fingers traced over Australia, landing in Darwin, in the Northern Territory state, which was covered in a thickened mesh of lines.
“Many veil lines cross over this region.” He pointed to our current location.
I didn’t know that, and I leaned in to examine the globe closer.
“That means a lot of gantii cross over in these parts,” the headmaster added.
Gantii was a Guild word which referred to any supernatural creature living in worlds beyond the veil. Worlds in other dimensions. Accessible only though magical space portals and ruptures in the veil.
When God created Earth, he layered it with an energetic force, known as the veil, to protect the world from invasion from gantii. In times of celestial events, this barrier weakened and allowed gantii cross-over to Earth. We knew where they lived, thanks to a device which tracked the orbits of the planets, the arcs of the gantii realms, and ruptures in the barrier. The angels had given the Guild all the tools—namely weapons and magic—to defend our world and maintain the delicate balance of the veil. At least, the Guild history books told it that way.
“As you are aware.” The headmaster abandoned the globe and sat on the edge of his desk looking down at me. “In the last few months, the Serpent Brotherhood ramped up their attacks on the Guild stations and the veil.”
Boy, did I know it. It was because of the serpents I was sent here. For helping my friend Luna and her harem fight them back in Bathurst.
“These attacks have caused absolute havoc,” he continued. “Ruptures in the protective layer, complete obliteration in parts. To the point of instability which, as I’m sure you know, puts our world under constant threat. Last month we suffered a devastating attack and lost several of sentries.”
Sentries were the warriors charged with defending the Guild and the cities. Gildrons were the mages who used their magic and talents to apprehend gantii and return them to their worlds. I wanted to be a Gildron. But I didn’t get a choice in that. The Guild appointed roles based on how by matching skills with need.
I lowered my head. War with the supernatural realm was never easy. We’d lost friends back in Bathurst, too. My chest seized thinking about them, their families, and friends, who of course were none the wiser of our activities to save the world.
“Here in Darwin,” the headmaster said, crossing his arms. “We have an elite team dedicated to stopping these attacks before they start.”
“How is that different to a normal team?”
“We don’t handle the standard run of the mill accidental gantii crosses.” The headmaster smiled. “We hunt and punish the repeat offenders. A Guild police force, if you will.”
All my earlier misgivings zapped to the back of my mind as if sucked by a magnet. An elite police squad…like a bunch of superheroes? To a fan girl like me that was a wet dream.
“One such repeat offender is a rogue vampire faction, lead by Styx.” His eyes studied me. “Styx is wanted in his world and this one for breaking the Karvosh covenant. He intends to parasite off the inhabitants of this world.”
Vampires. Fricking energy suckers. One of the worst gantii to encounter because of their speed and strength. They absorbed the fuel of a human’s body from ten feet away. Whoever had started the vampire ugly blood “drinking” rumor was a total douche for misinterpreting the words in the ancient texts which said vamps bled people of their lifeblood. Translation: a person’s life force. The very thing pumping oxygen and power around their body. Life blood. Not real blood peeps.
The headmaster wandered over to a part of the wall with an in-built set of shelves storing various weapons. He selected a wooden stake carved with runes. The stakes severed the energetic connection established by a vamp when they drained someone. When stabbed with one, it also released the energy they’d stolen, made them weak enough to be apprehended and escorted back to their own world.
“We’re charged with finding Styx,” said the headmaster, replacing the weapon. “And bringing him to justice and holding him for transport so he can be returned to his coven where they will dispense their own justice.
I scooted forward in my seat. “Sounds pretty cool if you ask me. But what do you need me for? Because I’m not cleaning your damn floors.”
Venellan laughed and sat back down on the edge of his desk. “You’re here because your powers will be extremely useful to one of my teams.”
I smiled. My powers. Chemical equations bursting in my mind like fireworks, creating an exothermic reaction in the body of the gantii, reducing it to its basic genetic makeup. It didn’t kill them. No, no, no. None of our powers had that potential…except for my former instructor Blaze, who possessed the death gift of the djinn. In most cases, our powers restored the gantii to their original form, giving us time to return them across the veil.
Guild law enforced the safe restoration of gantii to their world, to maintain balance. That was how the serpents kept us busy with all the attacks. They stole gantii from their realms, causing havoc on the veil, for the Guild to restore.
I gulped again, not sharing how I’d used my powers against a few of the serpents days earlier. Best kept a secret. I didn’t need any more trouble.
His gaze drifted to a spot on the wall behind me. “The vampires slipped through in a breach and are hiding in town somewhere. You’ll be assigned to the team responsible for flushing them out.”
“I’ll do
my best, sir,” I said, my voice hollow, almost robotic, but inside my brain was firing like crazy, triggering a churning and fiery stomach.
“Come, meet your new team.” Venellan moved from the desk to the door. “I’ve assembled them outside.”
My new team. His words registered, excited me even but didn’t snap me into action. The fearless part of me did cartwheels. Most Guild students didn’t get assigned to active duty until they’d completed their four-year training. Here I was one-and-a-half-years in, appointed to an elite team. Elite, peeps! But the other part of me succumbed to my condition.
The headmaster twisted the door handle and opened the door. “They’ve prepared a training exercise for your first day to help you bond.”
My stomach felt like a rock settled at the base of it. I started to nervous sweat. Gross. I didn’t want to meet my new team smelling like someone’s armpit.
Obsidian squawked in my ear. That was his little reminder to relax. But I couldn’t help it.
I twisted my hands again. Three times. A little ritual to take my mind off it. But it really wasn’t helping me.
“Miss Nomical.” Venellan stood by the door waiting.
I couldn’t move. All my muscles were paralyzed. I shook my head. “No,” I whispered.
“Miss Nomical?” Venellan repeated with a little more oomph.
Obsidian tugged my ear.
No. No. No. I shook my head with more fury. I couldn’t do this.
I touched my necklace again. The magic inside it pulsed, and I squeezed another three times for good measure. Lucky three. I needed a dose of Blaze’s calming energy to soothe my mind. Make the synapses fire properly.
I whispered the words he’d given me, allowing the power to flow out and absorb into my fingertips. His magic seeped into me, warming me, chasing away my fears as it changed the chemicals in my brain. My mind pumped with new messages, neurons firing different commands to my body. My breathing shallowed. The furious drive of my chest calming. My worries faded.
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