Shadows and Sorcery: A Collection of Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance Novels

by Adkins, Heather Marie

She simply wasn’t built to be a hired hand. To toil and grind away for other people’s desires. These creatures…they weren’t like her.

  “Hey, what are you doing?” Oriel burst through the rear door with his arms full of coffee bags. “There’s always something to clean. You shouldn’t be standing around staring off into space.”

  She glared at him. “Haven’t you heard of breaks? I believe they’re required by law. Could be my imagination though.”

  He wiped his hands on a paper towel. “Yes, I’ve heard of breaks, and yours isn’t scheduled for the next thirty minutes. I’m not a complete slave driver, you know.”

  His word hit home. Slave. It’s what she felt like anymore. A slave to her new nature, one she didn’t understand. To this man who thought he had a hold on her.

  “Maybe I don’t like the way you’re talking to me.”

  “Then maybe you should stop acting like a spoiled brat and actually do something.”

  Her nails bit into her palms when she clenched her fingers. “Who do you think you are?”

  “I’m the guy who put a roof over your head and food in your belly.”

  “Oh, like I’m supposed to get down on my knees and thank you. Hold your breath and wait for it, bud,” she snapped back.

  “Be careful. I might like you on your knees. I’ll tell you this: a little gratitude goes a long way, Georgia.”

  She hated the way he said her name. Like he was entitled to it, to her, to her time. It rubbed her in all the wrong ways. Her mother used to tell her she was so obstinate, if someone told her the sky was blue, she’d argue until she was sick that it was green. On principle.

  That’s how she felt looking at Oriel, with his smug smile and his save-the-world mentality.

  Her eyes narrowed. It wouldn’t hurt to watch him and see what he did. After all, she deserved to know what it was he did with his time. She lived under his roof and worked for him. It was only natural to want to know what he did and who he did it with.

  Right?

  It was a smart move. And if she had an opportunity to grab the nullum fame for herself, then she would take it and get things on track again.

  * * *

  She was a hard worker, Oriel thought, staring at Georgia. At least, she was when she wanted to be, when she wasn’t pouting in the corner and showing him glimpses of her previous haughty self. The personality that catapulted her out of obscurity.

  His little starlet.

  The potential for greatness was still there if she’d stop feeling sorry for herself. There was so much she could do if she put in the effort. He saw it clearly, and not just when he was staring inappropriately at her. Her condition didn’t need to stop her from moving forward. If she could figure out what she was and how to harness her power instead of letting it hold her back, then she could once again be the center of attention. If that’s what she wanted. He wasn’t sure.

  She walked like she was working a runway with double-jointed hips. The sexy sway was unnatural.

  Just as it was unnatural how she’d gotten under his skin so quickly. She consumed his thoughts from waking to sleep, of which he hadn’t gotten much lately, because his head was too full of her. And he definitely couldn’t relax when she was right down the hall and the manly parts of him urged him to get up, grab her off the couch bed, and drag her to him.

  He spent the same amount of time fighting his urges as he did working, which he wasn’t proud to admit.

  “Stop staring at her ass.”

  Hilary came up behind him and gave his a swat to get his attention. Completely unprofessional, he knew, but they’d been friends for the last five years. He wasn’t about to hold her lewd and lascivious nature against her after all this time.

  “I wasn’t staring at her ass,” he replied in defense, shifting until he rested his elbow on the counter, chin on palm. “I was making sure the apron strings were tied the way I taught her.”

  “Sure. The day you start doing apron inspections is the day I quit.”

  He blew a raspberry. “You aren’t going anywhere. Where else would a hard working selkie go and bring home what I pay you?”

  The nullum fame helped her as well. Hilary was one of the first supernatural creatures he’d met who was willing to try his creation and tell him her thoughts. It kept her fit and able to stay longer on dry land than a normal selkie.

  “Oh, Oriel.” Hilary hitched her hip to the side and stared him down, her dark brown eyes unnaturally wide. “I forgot to tell you. The guys from Sysco called and they’re delivering early today. If you can drag your attention away from greener pastures to focus on work.”

  He managed to tear his gaze away. Trying to wrap his mind around what his employee was saying. “Sysco. Okay. Well, that’s good.”

  “It’s not good when you haven’t cleared space from the walk-in,” Hilary stated.

  He sighed. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier? Or better yet. Why didn’t you start to clear a path yourself?”

  “You don’t pay me enough to do the heavy lifting. Besides, you’re stronger than I am. And you can reach the upper shelves.”

  He glanced up at the clock. “What time did they say they would come?”

  “Soon. Ish.”

  “Soon-ish tells me nothing. You’re going to have to watch the front while I get this mess straightened out.” Time to get back to work, and hopefully avoid the mess before it became one. If he was lucky.

  Hilary gestured with her chin to where Georgia leaned against the counter, chatting with a griffin. “Take your new pet with you. It will give her an opportunity to see the dirty inner workings of this fine establishment.”

  “Why, might I ask, would you want me to be alone with a woman I find attractive when you just scolded me for ogling her?” Oriel asked. “You know I don’t understand these games of yours.”

  Hilary shrugged, although she didn’t deny his accusation. “Chalk it up to being a selkie thing. I like to see what happens when you mix a thunderstorm and warm water.”

  Oriel thought about it for a minute. “Isn’t that how hurricanes form?”

  “It might be.”

  “You’re unbelievable.” He tapped her on the shoulder then walked over. “Hey, I’ve got a job for you.”

  Georgia turned and stared at him like she had a choice comment for where he could stuff his job. “What menial task do you have lined up for me now?”

  “Nothing I won’t do myself. I need your help in the walk-in.”

  “Oookay…” She followed him hesitantly, raising a single eyebrow at him when he held the door open for her.

  “There’s no ulterior motive other than another pair of hands to help me finish. I promise.”

  He led the way toward the cooler and groaned when he saw the disarray. The Sysco delivery wasn’t scheduled until nearly two p.m. on Wednesdays. He glanced at his watch. Ten. Where he’d thought there were hours now God knew how long before the truck got there. He and Georgia were going to have to hustle if they wanted to clear the space in time. How long had it been since he’d inspected the cooler? Long enough to have his crew take boxes down and leave them on the floor, apparently.

  “You might want to put your sweater on. It can get chilly in there even when we’re moving around,” he told her.

  “This is ridiculous.” She strode past him and into the cooler, her breath puffing out in a white cloud in front of her face. “I don’t know what I am, but I don’t get cold anymore. I can stay in here for hours without it affecting me. Go grab your own sweater.”

  He shook his head. “We are going to have to figure out what happened to you. I’m too curious to let it go. What kind of creature doesn’t feel the cold?” Then he winced. Probably shouldn’t call the current subject of his nighttime fantasies a creature.

  “Oh, trust me, I know what happened to me. I just don’t know how it changed me on a molecular level.”

  “I hear rising from the grave can do that to a person.”

  Georgia stopped, a b
ox of butter in her hands. “Are you making a joke?”

  “Trying to,” he grumbled. “I guess it didn’t go over as well as it did in my head.”

  “No, it was fine. I just didn’t think you were the joking type.” She set the box down and pushed a lock of hair out of her eyes.

  “I can be when the occasion calls for it. Now that I have you here and you are entirely at my mercy—” he paused or effect, hoping the joke would land home. It didn’t. “I don’t believe I ever asked you. What brought you to Yachats?”

  “Other than the dazzling scenery?” she answered dryly. “Why do you care?”

  “Seems a long way off from the posh streets of Beverly Hills.”

  He watched her bend over, her pants stretching over her ass until it gave him a clear view of the line of her thong. Should he tell her that her pants were see-through when she went too far? He swallowed his growl. Nah.

  “I’m here, aren’t I? There really isn’t much to say on the subject. Be happy to have me at your beck and call,” she retorted, shooting him a look over the shoulder that said she knew he was watching her. And liked it.

  “Yeah, well, the only reason you’re still here is that I have something you want. Doesn’t really make for a good working relationship. Does it? You could turn on me at any moment.”

  “You don’t know how right you are.” They worked the next ten minutes in silence before she decided to shatter it. “Tell me more about your mom.”

  Oriel had his back to her and felt his muscles stiffen. It wasn’t a subject he was comfortable discussing. It was his turn to be closed lipped. “There isn’t much to say.”

  “Either we can work here in the absolute quiet, lost in our own worlds, or we can talk about it. Your call.”

  He chuckled and inclined his head toward her in deference. “It’s one or the other for you? There aren’t a billion other subjects for us to discuss?”

  “None I’m this curious about.”

  “Well,” he began, setting down a box and leaning against it. “I already told you part of it. The big part. She had brain cancer and there was no way modern medicine would save her. No way we knew of and no way to afford it if there were.” He drew in a deep breath and held it against the story he really didn’t want to tell her, yet somehow was. “I didn’t know about vampires then. It wasn’t exactly something they teach you about in school. But my mother was beautiful before cancer ate away at her. I think it’s important, having that kind of beauty. She was turned and rejuvenated before we even had a chance to process what was going on.”

  “Rejuvenated?” Georgia asked.

  “Brought back from the brink. Like the disease hadn’t ravaged her body. She looked exactly as she had before.”

  “You said you were young.”

  “Yeah, Jasmine was only four at the time. We, ah, we ended up in foster care.”

  “What? Why?”

  He turned away, scratching at his hair until he winced. He had to be careful or he’d hurt himself. “Have you ever heard of a vampire sticking around to raise their human family?” he replied bitterly. “Of course not, because it doesn’t happen. As soon as she changed completely any last ties to us were gone. She tried for a bit, to pretend things were still the same. Who do you think ended up taking the reigns during the day? It wasn’t her.”

  When she replied, her tone was as soft as velvet, and if he didn’t know any better, he’d say she was sorry. “You had to step up.”

  “You’re damn right. Until I couldn’t take it anymore and social services were called. To them, we were abandoned. They couldn’t know what happened to my mother. We were shipped off to foster care.”

  He had tried to block out his memories of those days, but some things didn’t want to die. He’d been a scared little boy doing his best to handle something much larger than himself. Trying to be an adult when he wasn’t physically and emotionally capable of doing so. Protecting Jasmine in an unfamiliar and scary situation.

  She’d been too little to understand. Nightmares kept her awake most nights and Oriel did his best to stop the screams before they began. There were many times he told her stories to take her mind away from where they were.

  When he turned to Georgia, she was staring at him, head tilted to the side. There was a curious melting around his heart. She looked at him like she empathized. Then she shook her head and the emotion passed.

  “What happened then?” she asked.

  “We didn’t get adopted if that’s what you’re wondering about. We bounced from home to home and I guess our luck held because Jasmine and I stayed together until I turned eighteen. Then I used some of the money I saved to legally adopt her.”

  “And now you serve vamps and other paranormal creatures. For what? Some sort of sick punishment for what happened to your mother?”

  “Because it’s the right thing to do. What happened to her wasn’t her fault. Her hunger got the best of her. It lit a fire under me, and I researched. I went on the dark web and I looked at sites you would never believe. I searched until I found something, even when I thought it was a joke. Then I searched. And by some miracle, I found the nullum. I found a way to help. I want to help, Georgia, and there is nothing selfish about it. I found a way to do that and to make the supernatural community a little bit better. To make their plight a little more bearable.”

  “And what if they like who they are and what they do? What if they like the hunger?”

  She thought about her own pain and shivered.

  “Yes, I’m sure you know creatures out there who relish their bloodlust and the constant draw of the hunger. You’re not like them. Maybe you’re luckier than you gave yourself credit for,” he murmured.

  It was clearly a topic she didn’t feel comfortable discussing with him. “You opened the coffee shop. You tracked down the potion…” she said to get Oriel to continue.

  He blew out another breath and nodded, his gaze focused in front of him. Without looking at her, he lifted one of the boxes and pushed it to the top shelf, then said, “I did. It made sense to me at the time. Still makes sense. I’d been researching alchemical procedures for years in my foster homes. Everyone thought I was nuts. Then I found something I thought could work.”

  “Did you use a guinea pig?”

  “It took me a long time to track down a vial. Then I stared at it for another year. Just stared at this little thing that held so much potential. So much change. If the literature was right, then a tiny drop could stem the most violent hunger and keep it tamped down for at least a month.”

  “If I were you, I would be afraid my customers wouldn’t come back,” she said as a joke.

  “Trust me.” He swiveled around and caught her eyes. “They always come back.”

  The look on his face clearly made her uncomfortable.

  “Sure, because of your dazzling personality.” She raised an eyebrow, daring him to retaliate.

  He held up a piece of plastic and flicked it at her. Was disappointed when it fluttered to the floor between them. “You know, there seems to be an awful lot of one-sided sharing going on here. I’ve bared the pieces of my past to you—”

  “Some of them.”

  “Maybe it’s time you do the same for me.”

  She cleared her throat and let her hair drop to cover her face. “Some other time, maybe.”

  “Oh, come on,” he pushed. “You’re going to leave me out here stranded and feeling vulnerable?”

  “I’ll tell you I don’t remember all of it.” She closed her eyes and tried to shut off her memory. “The project had a lot of issues from the start. There was a boom failure or something. I’m not sure.”

  “Hey.” Oriel stopped what he was doing and stepped over to her, catching her arms and stilling the frantic movement of her feet although she clearly hadn’t been aware of moving. “It’s okay. You don’t have to tell me anymore. I’m sorry I pushed.”

  She stared at his shoes. “Thanks.”

  Slowly, because he d
idn’t push her, she let her gaze move higher and higher. Past the holes on the knees of his blue jeans. Past the black bistro apron dotted with stains. Up the buttons of his shirt, landing for a moment on his clavicle, before meeting his eyes. “You can let go of me now.”

  His fingers tightened on her. “I’m not sure I can.”

  “What? Do you bring all of your employees into the walk-in and try to put the moves on them?”

  “No,” he answered honestly. “Just you.”

  There was a flip in his stomach when her eyes went hot. A quick zip of something he didn’t have the words to describe. He found himself leaning in, wanting to taste her, savor her, kiss her until her panties were soaked and she was ready for him to dive.

  There were two pops from the front of the shop. Muffled but present. Gunshots.

  Then the screams began.

  Oriel snapped his head toward the door, automatically pushing Georgia behind him.

  “What the hell is going on?” she asked, trying to see around him, and failing.

  His voice was gruff. “I’m about to find to find out.”

  6

  She grabbed his arm before he could step out and the trembling in her fingers had him stopping in his tracks. It might have been the trembling. It might have been the way her nails bit into his skin hard enough to make him bleed. Either way, Oriel glanced down and, in the shadows of the cooler, they both noticed the moment she began to disappear, lose her corporeal form. It wasn’t a conscious decision, she’d think later, her body melting away into nothingness. It happened without thought. Without hesitation. Until she could no longer see half of her body.

  Although his brows were drawn together, he fought to plaster a grin on his face. “Don’t worry,” he said. Taking care to keep his voice calm and collected. “I’ll be fine. You stay here.”

  “You’ll take care of it?” she wanted to know.

  The swell of concern she felt was completely unexpected. What did she care if he went off half-cocked straight into trouble? If there really was any trouble. It might be nothing.

  Something told her the sounds they’d heard were on the opposite end of the spectrum from nothing.