by Rain Oxford
At that moment, the door burst open, I let go of their minds, and two cops entered. “She killed my wife!” Emerson screamed and lunged at Elena. I shoved him back and he tripped over his chair.
When Elena snatched a fountain pen and tried to stab me, one of the cops grabbed her and slammed her to the ground. The cop cuffed her and started dragging her off to his car while she fought and screamed that he couldn’t take her away from Chester. The second cop questioned Emerson. I just stood in deep thought and disbelief.
Finally, the cop turned to me. “Now you’re a---”
Without a single thought, I pushed my magic into his mind. “I wasn’t here.”
He blinked. “Right. Thank you, Mr. Emerson. We’ll be in touch.” He turned and walked out.
Emerson gaped. “How did you do that?”
“How long was your wife in the hospital?” I asked, ignoring his question.
“Two days. She had a clotting condition that nobody knew about until the accident.”
“Oh, right. I forgot about that,” a voice said behind me. I turned to see Julia. As the surprise in her eyes changed to sorrow, blood started to spill down her face. “I woke up as the doctor explained that I was going to die. I heard it, but I couldn’t open my eyes. Maybe I was already dead. How can you see me?” she asked.
I thought back to Vincent asking me if I developed any odd powers. That had to be it. It wasn’t the shadow walkers I sensed watching me; it was the presence of death.
* * *
When I reached my apartment door, I took a deep breath. The fact that I was controlling people more and more told me that my problem could only escalate. Vincent had taught me to control my visions, but the only one who could teach me to control my mind powers was killed by my own hand. With the realization that I could now see dead people, I decided there was no way I could just go back to my human cases.
I didn’t fit into the human world. I never really did. In the paranormal world, there were people who could possibly stop me if I got out of control. Of course, the only person who I knew could stop me was trapped in another world for all eternity.
I opened the door, stepped inside, and froze. “Kitten? What are you doing?”
Scott was sitting on the couch, in the dark. He shrugged. “The people upstairs are fighting again and Daddy is talking to Ms. Kate.”
I listened for a moment. “You can hear them?”
“The woman said the man is a blow-hole and threw chocolate milk at him. I heard a glass hit the floor, but it didn’t break because there was a rug. And they don’t know not to leave the microwave running with nothing in it. You should warn them before there’s a fire.”
“I’ll do that the next time I see them. You’re pretty observant.”
“So I can help you and Daddy solve cases?” he asked.
“I’ll discuss it with your dad.”
I saw a few papers scattered out on the table and, thinking they were drawings, picked them up. They were actually Scott’s legal documents. Seeing as how he was born in Jamaica and has been in and out of foster care with a different name, I decided not to look too closely at their authenticity. Any child who went through as much as Scott had deserved a happy ending.
The door opened and Henry entered. “Oh, you’re back,” he said before kissing his son’s forehead. “Do you have a preference for dinner?”
“No. Did you get everything squared away with Kate?”
“Actually, I did, but not the way we planned. Remington called me and offered me a teaching job at the children’s school. She said that I would be teaching control of our beasts, but I would also oversee the care of all cat shifters in the school. After everything Kitten has been through, I think staying close would be best for everyone.”
“Did she tell you that she also talked to me?”
“No.”
“She offered me a job as well and I decided to take it. So I guess I need to give up both the apartment and the office. Maybe Darwin will want them.”
Henry laughed. “Yes, I can see Darwin living here for about two days before we wouldn’t be able to get the door open around the rubbish.” When we first started Quintessence, Henry’s emotions were very repressed, except during the three days of the full moon, when he had enough hormones to last someone a month. He had come a long way from that, and most of it was thanks to Scott.
“I can’t believe we have just gone through so much and the semester hasn’t even started yet. It feels a little like quitting to skip out on our fifth semester.”
“I thought so as well, but Remington explained that we are not the only ones she wants to hire before graduation. Apparently, Hunt wants to recruit some graduates to the council and Remington wants to beat him to it. She has a list of us she thinks are good enough that we don’t need to take the last semester.”
“So… Darwin?”
“He’s going to be a math teacher, I think. Hunt wants him to teach at the university, but Remington is going to fight for him. Are you giving up the investigating altogether?”
“No; I’m going to investigate paranormal stuff throughout the year, especially during the summer break. Since you and Darwin are going to be there, maybe you two can get in on the action. That is, if you’re not too busy grading papers.”
“So, it’ll be like nothing has changed.”
I laughed. “I think everything is going to change. It’s going to be dangerous, exhausting, weird, and probably a lot of fun.”
Epilogue
1985, Dothra
In a crumbling house, in the middle of an abandoned neighborhood that was overrun by vermin, the cries of a baby broke the silence. The baby was alone in a dark bedroom. It was a dingy-looking place with holes in the walls and a dirt floor. The only furniture was a broken crib. It was broken for the same reason everything else was broken; time had decayed the entire world. A miniscule amount of light spilled in through the only window, which was tiny and very high in the north wall.
An alarm rang in the distance, though it was barely heard over the baby. After a minute or so, a woman with long black hair and dark red eyes burst through the door and tried to comfort her baby. The little girl was barely old enough to sit up on her own. She reached for her mother, who picked her up and tried to quiet her.
The baby wouldn’t be quieted.
The door opened again and Keigan Langril swaggered into the house with all the confidence of a lion who just vanquished his rival. Only, he hadn’t just killed his rival, not yet. He was drawn to the cries of the infant girl.
“Don’t you know what the alarm means, Tes?”
“It means you’re culling the weak.”
“Precisely. Only, I have something a little different in mind today. I’m here for the little girl. That means, if you hand her over, you get to live.”
She set the girl down in the crib. “I’m not giving her up. I took her from her father because he tried to kill her. I’m not letting you have her.”
He smirked. “What’s her name?”
“Astrid.”
“Her real name. You owe me, Tes.”
She hesitated. “Austoria. Our deal was for me, not her.”
“You belong to me, Tes, and that means your children belong to me. That was the circumstance of your deal with Lystan. You don’t have a choice. Besides, I’m giving her a better life. I don’t want her father to kill her, either. I am going to take her to another world, where she will live a long and happy life, where her father can’t get to her.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“I don’t care what you believe.” He flicked his wrist and the woman froze. Langril walked right up to the crib and picked up the baby, unconcerned with the hate in the woman’s eyes. She couldn’t even scream at him. Instead, she could only cry as he took the baby. “I need to get you a blanket before our trip,” he said softly.
The little girl stopped crying and gazed up at him with curiosity. When she opened her mouth, there were two tiny vam
pire fangs.
“Are you hungry?” he asked as if she was precious. He pressed his wrist to her mouth and she bit him. “Good girl. You’ll be very useful to me some day. I don’t know how yet, but you will definitely be useful.”
Shadows swarmed him and the baby in his arms. The instant they were gone, the woman unfroze. She collapsed to her knees and cried. Krechea appeared as suddenly as Langril had disappeared. “Where is my daughter?” he growled, glaring at the empty crib.
“The shadow master took her.”
About the Author
Rain Oxford is a teacher who has been writing for more than half of her life. She does most of her writing in a secluded cabin in the woods with a four-pound Maltese as a companion. When she’s not teaching or creating worlds, she usually enjoys cooking, playing the piano, or photographing exotic wildlife.
Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/rainoxfordauthor
Website: rainoxford.wordpress.com
Amazon Page: amazon.com/author/rainoxford
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Books by Rain Oxford
Elemental Book 1: Dark Waters
Elemental Book 2: Hungry Earth
Elemental Book 3: Furious Flames
Elemental Book 4: Insidious Winds
Elemental Book 5: Soul Guard
The Sorcerer’s Saga Book 1: The Sorcerer’s Quest
The Guardian Book 1: The Guardian’s Grimoire
The Guardian Book 2: The Dragon’s Eyes
The Guardian Book 3: God of the Abyss
The Guardian Book 4: The Demon’s Game
The Guardian Book 5: The Wizard’s War