by Sadie Anders
Flash and Flame
Portals of Asphodel Series, The Guardian: Book 2
Sadie Anders
Coquelicot Press
Copyright © 2020 by Sadie Anders. Published by Coquelicot Press.
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.
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
About the Author
1
A ceramic pot exploded directly behind my uncle’s head, causing him to move uncharacteristically fast to get out of its way. A man of deliberate thought and action, he was not one to startle or run.
Until he started practicing magic with me.
“This was a Mycenaean virility urn. Quite old. Quite valuable.” He huffed under his breath, clearly agitated with me, as he picked up the shards and placed them on the countertop.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to,” I said sheepishly. “Maybe we can fix it. A glue spell or something.” It was the fourth time today that I’d had to apologize for breaking something inside our family’s magic shop, Hyperion Occult Oddities and Antiquities.
“If you don’t focus your energy, you will continue demolishing your surroundings every time you attempt magic,” Uncle Julian said.
“I know. But focusing is hard.”
“It may be the case that we must consider moving our lessons outside. Perhaps the park by your house.”
“You know people could see us there.” Portland was a city of eccentricity and sights that you didn’t tend to see elsewhere, but I wasn’t sure what the citizens of my fair city might do if they saw two supernaturals swapping real magical parries at one another and exploding things. I didn’t think we could disguise it as cosplaying or LARPing, not when real magic was being used. It might be too much even for a town that prides itself on being weird, not to mention we could get in trouble for doing magic so openly around here. There were rules, apparently.
And I was only now beginning to discover them.
Two weeks ago, I discovered that I had magical powers. It was only two weeks ago that I had discovered an entire world I didn’t know existed.
Asphodel.
A wild place I’d discovered by going through a portal. My uncle had kept it from me my entire life. Now, I was having him make up for lost time.
So, yeah. Maybe I didn’t know how to use my powers, but it was his responsibility to help train me. He had kept me in the dark long enough, after all.
Now that I was back home in Portland, all of it seemed surreal. Asphodel. Magic. Vampires. And one vampire in particular.
Raphael.
I had fallen for Raphael hard, which made it that much more difficult that I hadn’t heard from him since I’d returned home. At first, I didn’t think anything of it. I knew he was busy informing the rest of the Council of Guardians that one of their rulers, the Fury Tisiphone, had abandoned them and joined an anti-vampire rebellion.
As the days stretched into a couple of weeks, however, the radio silence continued, and I started to wonder if he had been injured.
I started to wonder if he had simply lost interest in me.
Either way, it wasn’t my preferred outcome for the situation.
I felt like I was being ghosted. By a vampire.
I laughed. The absurdity of all of it was more than I could wrap my head around sometimes.
“That is quite enough for today, I think,” Uncle Julian said. He closed the grimoire that lay open on the countertop, the smell of dust wafting up from the old book, and took it back to his private office. I tried piecing together the shards of the urn, but then gave up and put the bits that remained in a box below the counter, along with all of the other items that I had broken in the store. I had a lot of mending to do once I figured out how.
The store had been closed for about an hour, but there were still things to do before heading home since we started our magical training as soon as we had locked the doors. The trinkets and objects needed a quick dust. The rugs needed a vacuum. The cash register till needed to be accounted for and the money deposited in the safe in the back room.
Rain had started pouring down, not an unusual occurrence in these parts, but the crash of thunder that accompanied it was. I jumped as the walls shook and the lights flickered.
How ominous.
Like the beginning of a gothic romance or a noir mystery novel. My favorite.
I used to think life was very different from what you read in books, but I had underestimated things. The world was even more fantastic and expansive than you could believe. Even the mundane, the bits of everyday life here in my home, seemed to be radiating power and possibility now.
Things had certainly changed.
Uncle Julian emerged from his office, putting on his coat, ready to leave for the evening. Ever since I had been accosted by supernaturals from Asphodel on my way home two weeks ago, he refused to let me walk home alone. Safety in numbers, he kept saying, but I knew that he was nervous about one thing in particular, that the snatchers would return and take me back to Asphodel against my will.
So, there he was, waiting for me outside my apartment every morning and ready to walk me home in the evenings. It was like having a personal bodyguard. He had never been this attentive, as he had fully understood since I was a child that I was pretty independent and needed my space. But, again, times had changed.
“Perhaps we should pop into the market on our way home,” he said. He pointed to the cabinet on the wall by his office where we kept our teapots. “Running low on tea.”
An emergency indeed.
We turned off the lights in the store and headed towards the front of the store. Before we reached it, someone began pounding on the door, a quick, urgent knock. I couldn’t make out the figure on the other side of the glass in the dark. Uncle Julian stopped, hesitating to move forward.
“Should we open it?” I whispered.
“It might be dangerous,” he said.
“Or it might be a customer who forgot their wallet.” I refused to believe that everything was dangerous all the time. I didn’t want to become that distrustful.
We stood still, not knowing what to do. A guest knocking urgently on the door during a thunderstorm at night was a rare occurrence for us.
A voice called from the other side of the door.
“Or it might be a friendly bartender who can read your thoughts. Open the door please, Alexis.”
Nick.
The vampire from The Old Standard Hotel. The portal keeper for the local door to Asphodel. And a friend.
I let out my breath and unlocked the door for him. He was dripping with water as he came inside.
“Sorry about that,” he said, pointing at the puddle of water collecting on the ground around him.
Uncle Julian went to the storeroom and collected a towel, returning soon after and handing it to him.
“A personal visit
, huh? Not that I mind you dropping in,” I added quickly.
“I have a message from Raphael,” he said. My heart leapt as Nick said his name. Raphael. He was finally getting in touch. The knots inside my stomach began to unravel.
I pointed to the weather outside. “You could’ve called.”
“No. I really couldn’t have.”
He seemed serious.
I stopped with the joking, matching his tone. “What’s going on?”
“I need you to come back to the Old Standard with me.”
“Is everything okay?”
The smile that was ever present on his face was nowhere to be seen.
“You need to go back. To Asphodel.”
2
“Absolutely not,” Uncle Julian interjected. “She is not returning there, especially not while there are unseemly people still looking for her. It’s too dangerous.”
I held up my hand to my uncle, pausing his tirade. “Let’s hear him out,” I said.
“The Furies have requested that you return. They wish to speak with you.”
A chill went down my spine.
Uncle Julian threw his hands up in exasperation. “See? As I said. Dangerous.”
He was right. The Furies were deadly and cruel. There was no telling what they might want with me, and there was no guarantee that I would make it back home in one piece. If I never had to see them again, it would be too soon.
“Do you know what they want?” I had no clue, but maybe Nick had some idea.
Nick thought about it. “No. Raphael was pretty vague in his message. He just said it was urgent that you return.”
“Why should she go if they will not even grant her the courtesy of letting her know why she is summoned?” Uncle Julian asked. He was in a full on huffy mood.
“You know as well as I do that it would be extremely unwise to turn them down. They have ways of getting what they want. It’s best to comply with their wishes if you can.”
Uncle Julian did not look pleased with this, but he didn’t disagree.
What I was beginning to understand, what I knew deep down, was that this was not a request. I would be forced to return to Asphodel whether I wanted to or not. I didn’t even live in the realm of the Furies, wasn’t under their jurisdiction, but somehow they thought they had the right to control me. People who had power were always the same. They never questioned why or if they had it, never hesitated to inflict their will on people as if it were law. They simply did as they pleased.
Maybe someday I would have the luxury of doing the same.
Still, that day wasn’t today. Nick was right. The Furies could make me do what they wanted, and there wasn’t much that I could do about it. They were ancient and powerful, and I was only a novice witch, after all.
It did make me wonder, however, what they needed from me. What could I give them that they didn’t already possess?
My guess was that it had something to do with Raphael, but I wasn’t sure what.
Uncle Julian paced around the room, formulating some sort of plan. I could see the wheels in his brilliant mind turning a million times a second. He was always so active when he was thinking. I was surprised that we didn’t have a groove in the carpets in the magic shop from all of his pacing. He suddenly looked up at Nick.
“If Raphael wants Alexis here to come back to Asphodel so badly, then why didn’t he come himself to escort her?”
“Fair point,” I added.
Nick’s look of concern intensified. “Haven’t you heard? About Asphodel?”
“No,” I said. “We haven’t heard anything from there since we returned.”
Nick’s face fell. Clearly things were bad. “Vampires aren’t allowed to come and go at the moment, not even the guardians or the Council members. The Furies are forbidding it. It’s the first time in ages that such a rule has been enforced.”
The vampires were the only ones who were allowed to come and go through the portals to Asphodel at will. While witches and demons couldn’t legally go through the portals without special permission, vampires typically had freedom to travel as they pleased. In fact, the portals were almost primarily used for the vampires’ pleasure, to come to our realm to hunt, to procreate, to generally enjoy life. If they were restricted from passage, things must be difficult there.
Uncle Julian seemed shocked. “Free passage of the guardians restricted? The last time that happened was….” He trailed off, and Nick nodded his head, knowing exactly where my uncle was going with that thought.
“When?” I asked.
“Darker times, my dear,” Uncle Julian said. Again with the vague answers. Apparently, some old habits were hard to break.
“Vampires aren’t even allowed to leave the upper city right now,” Nick said. “Bad things have happened in Aporia.”
Aporia, the lower city, was where the witches, wizards, and demons lived in Asphodel. Not many vampires frequented that part of town anyways, but my understanding was that the citizens down there had a tentative peace with the vampires who ruled them from the upper city. As much peace as can be made when you fear your rulers, anyhow.
Things certainly seemed to have escalated in the weeks since we had departed, but then again time worked differently there, not moving at the same pace. What seemed like a day here might be a week there. There was no telling what had happened in that time.
Uncle Julian looked grim. He did not want me returning, especially if things were even more dangerous than usual, that was for sure. And I completely agreed with him.
Nick pulled his phone out of his pocket and looked at the time. “We really should be going, Alexis.”
I had a decision to make. I could take my chances by refusing to do what the Furies wanted and try to avoid them, but that would most likely require that I leave my life behind, go somewhere they couldn’t find me. Wherever that could be.
Or, I could go to them and trust that Raphael would help protect me. Go for his sake and my own. Either way, it was risky.
“Okay,” I said. “Let’s go.”
Nick breathed a sigh of relief. “Take a few minutes to gather what you need.”
I didn’t envy him. Even though he was a good guy, a friend to me, he still reported to the Furies. He was the local portal keeper, and he had responsibilities that he couldn’t shirk. He had to walk a fine line between doing what he thought was right and doing what he was told, just like Raphael, and you could tell that it weighed on him.
I took a few minutes to gather what I could in my knapsack, and Uncle Julian disappeared to his office. There was no telling what I might need in Asphodel, and I was still only learning about the magical objects and potions that we had in the shop, so I started gathering anything I thought might be useful. An invisibility draught. Some healing serum. A moonbeam stone. If it seemed like it could help me in a tough situation, I chucked it in.
I didn’t have any clothes here, only a spare jacket that I wore around the shop when it was drafty. I pulled it on so it didn’t take up room in my bag and waited for my uncle. He emerged soon after, his arms full of items from the back, along with a couple of small books.
“Here, Alexis,” he said. “Open your bag.”
I did so, and he dumped the items unceremoniously inside. The bag weighed a ton now, but better prepared than not. That was usually my approach to life.
“Most everything is labeled, and the grimoires are for guidance.” I nodded. Hopefully, I wouldn’t need to guess as much about the magical items I brought with me this time since I would have Uncle Julian with me. The first time I had gone to Asphodel was to rescue him from the snatchers, and then I had no idea about anything magical. It was all a bunch of trial and error. It would be great to have someone as skilled as my uncle with me. I needed all the help I could get.
“Ready?” Nick asked, holding his arm out toward the door.
“As I’ll ever be.”
Uncle Julian grabbed his own bag that he had prepared, then reached into the
stand by the front door, distributing umbrellas to the three of us. He sighed as he locked the door to Hyperion, and we exited into the chilly Portland night.
We made our way the few blocks to The Old Standard Hotel, a Portland institution since the dawn of the city itself. It had been a home to loggers and bootleggers and captains of industry over the years, but mostly, its saloon had been a haven to the supernaturals of the city, the one place they could all congregate. They could be themselves at the Old Standard, didn’t have to hide their supernatural natures from the world, that is, as long as they kept the peace with the others. No fighting. No sectarianism. Everybody had to play together nicely.
Nick ran the joint. He was the vampire charged with overseeing the portal to Asphodel that radiated magic in the belly of the hotel, but he seemed to like his cover job, too. He was an empathetic bartender, fueled by the fact that he could read minds, and he was a phenomenal cook, too. Running a hotel and bar suited him.
The bell above the door tinkled gently as we walked in the front door to the hotel lobby, and I could hear the loud din of the crowd in the bar in the next room. Everyone over there seemed to be having a good time.
A harried looking woman with a purple pixie haircut ran into the lobby, a flurry of colorful garments and nervous energy.
“Where have you been?” She looked at Nick with concern and exasperation for a moment then disappeared behind the concierge’s desk.
The poor thing was clearly stressed out, but Nick couldn’t have been at our magic shop for more than half an hour. He hung his raincoat on the stand by the door as we put away the umbrellas.
“It’s okay, Nelle. I’m back now.”