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

by Adkins, Heather Marie

  Sean was saying something.

  “You’ll not speak of her that way, Brown. I demand you apologize or else.”

  “Else what, Donahue?” Brown spat on the gargoyle and turned. “You’ll sic the girl on me?”

  Sean went rigid, sudden heat flaring from his body. The lights that surrounded Sean begin to swirl. She tried to push the vision away, but it persisted. Riley wondered why she saw no light from Brown. She knew he used magic, had power. Why did she see nothing?

  Sean moved forward. “I will have you apologize to the lady.” His voice was low and dangerous, and his colors had darkened.

  “Of course, I did not wish to offend, lady.” He smirked, bowing and stepping back into the window’s glow. When he faced them again, Riley gasped. She saw no color, no pupils. Unlike before, the sockets were not empty. Instead, the black orbs within reflected upside-down images of her and Sean.

  He moved suddenly, knocking Sean down with a kick. Sean tried to rise, and she bent to help him. Her arm jerked as Brown dug yellowed nails into her flesh, the fabric of her gown of little protection.

  Riley expelled her breath at the pain that stabbed through her and watched it float out a sphere of swirling fog. Just explode, she told it. The fog tightened and flared red, exploding with a loud bang. Brown fell back through the library windows, ripping her gown’s sleeve off.

  “Sean, get up.” Riley shook him gently and noticed the trickle of blood running down his brow.

  “You must go.” Sean’s eyes were unfocused. He tried to pull himself up by the railing and slumped there, reaching blindly for her.

  “I’m here, Sean.” She took his hand and pulled him to his feet.

  “Riley.” Sean touched her cheek with the back of his hand. “Go.”

  “I can’t just leave you.” She tried to conjure the picture of her room and held him tightly to her. “Hold on, Sean.”

  She felt him push her off, kissing her hand and letting go. “Maiden” was the last word she heard before she tumbled onto her bed.

  Riley looked at Belle sitting calmly on the dresser. Her heart bottomed out. She had lost him.

  She looked down at her gown with the sleeve in tatters, and her stomach clinched. Brown had the brass buttons that had adorned the side of the sleeve. He would come for her now, she was sure. She needed help to keep him from projecting to her, or at least be ready when he did.

  Riley took a deep breath. If her father could do project without an object, she could. He as much said she had his powers and more. Riley swallowed. Her mouth had gone dry.

  “I can do this,” she told Belle, who swished her tail and meowed. “I can.”

  Riley let her mind travel to Aileen’s shop and tried to fill in the blank spaces on the shelves with what she could remember—a case of shot glasses where Eric had stood the day they first met, a rack of postcards near the back where she had first projected, the objects of power. Riley could smell the candles, hear the hum of electricity in the old building.

  “Yes.” Riley barely savored her success. She was in the shop. Her teleporting had worked. In front of her were the objects of power that Aileen had shown her. Riley picked up the pewter bird and danced around, bumping into the stuffed animals.

  “I can’t believe it.” She set the bird back on its cloth and walked toward the register. “Aileen! Are you here?”

  William came through the curtain behind the register carrying an ivory piece like Eric and her grandpa had.

  “Riley, girl, what are you doing here this late?” William laid the ivory on the counter and came around the front. “Is something wrong with Carter?”

  “No, I mean, I don’t think so, but I need to talk to Aileen. Brown is coming for me.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, I went for Sean, and Brown was there. He ripped my gown, see.” She held up her arm. “And there were brass buttons on it.”

  “Oh, I see.” William scratched his head, “Okay, we’ll need to get you to a safe place.”

  “No, no more running. I have to fight.” Riley straightened and pushed her shoulders back. “I will have to face him.”

  “My dear girl.” William patted her rigid shoulder and pointed to the back of the store. “Maybe some of those can help. I’ll go get Aileen.”

  Riley nodded and felt like she was going to hyperventilate before she could even explain to Aileen what she wanted. She walked to the back, touching the many things as she went, memorizing their texture. What if she needed to come back in a hurry? She needed to know what everything was like.

  At the back, she picked up the ring with the griffin’s head and the purple jewels.

  “I thought that wasn’t something you ever wanted to see again.”

  Riley pivoted, and Aileen put a warm hand on her exposed arm. “I see you have a few scratches here, too. William sent this.” Aileen handed her a tiny tin of salve.

  “Thanks.”

  “Go ahead, put some on those, or you’ll regret it, I promise.”

  Riley twisted off the lid and dabbed her forefinger into the highly scented salve. It smelled like the castle kitchen, herby and musky. She soothed it over the scratches where Brown’s talon-like nails had brought welts to her arm.

  “I need your help.” Riley closed the tin and handed it back to Aileen.

  “Keep it and apply some later. Now, what can I do?”

  “I went back in time for Sean, but Brown was there.”

  “Back in time? My William only said you tried to get Sean again.” Aileen looked at her like her dad had, with pride and fear. “You should have waited for one of us to come aid you.”

  “I didn’t have time. Grandpa needs me to save Sean. He’ll get better if I can figure it out.”

  Aileen put a hand on Riley’s cheek. “My dear, it is not that simple. Carter will get better, I’m sure. Eric is usually right about these things, and so am I.”

  Riley cringed at Eric’s name. She felt that she had betrayed him, even though nothing had been spoken between them, nor had anything really happened with Sean. She knew Eric cared about her, and she felt more than just friendship for him. But her feelings for Sean were real, too, and he needed her desperately.

  Riley sighed. She couldn’t deal with that now. She needed to be ready for Brown. She looked at the menagerie of animals on the lower shelf.

  “Don’t you have something I can use to protect myself? Or can you help me to use something against him?”

  “You could gather things of significance or power to you.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like something that helped you use your abilities or something you wore that still has your magical residue, as it were, on it.”

  “Can’t I use some kind of offensive or defensive skill? Is there a talisman or something?” Riley scanned the shelves.

  “Hey,” Aileen grabbed her shoulders. “There’s no shortcut here for this. I don’t have the answers, my girl.” She eased her grip. “And I never will. Nor will you or anyone else.”

  Aileen let go. Riley hiccupped softly, crying at the futility of her efforts to come here.

  “If these things would help you, I would give all of them to you. But you are the answer, you draw the energies, you see stone living and breathing, you feel the forces. What you don’t understand, my dear, is that you are the object of power. You.”

  Riley shook her head. “No, I’m not.”

  “How did you get here tonight?”

  Riley wiped her eyes. “I projected.”

  “Did you have an object?”

  “No.”

  “You moved yourself from one location to another with the power of your mind, nothing else.”

  Riley shook her head again.

  “See. You located, teleported. You have harnessed your power, sporadically, I admit. You just don’t have full control in your mind.”

  “How do I get control?” Riley sniffed and rolled the griffin ring around her palm.

  “Take it. You t
ake control, dear. You must take control of the power you were given. Otherwise, you are just its vessel, not its wielder.” Aileen gestured to the ring. “Take that, too. At the least, it will remind you of your charge to take control.”

  Riley slipped the griffin ring on her left hand beside Tsura’s protection ring. The griffin adjusted on her ring finger, narrowing its band. She looked at Aileen. “Did that just do something bad?”

  “No. It bonded to you. I believe it has found its home,” she said. “Consider yourself married to your magic.”

  The ring gleamed in the dim room. Riley held her hand up in front of her face to inspect the ring.

  “Do you believe, Riley? Truly?” Aileen took Riley’s left hand and squeezed it, smiling.

  “I do,” Riley said. “Thank you.”

  She shimmered, feeling immaterial and yet more powerful and grounded as she thought of home.

  “Careful, dear.”

  Aileen looked wavy and transparent as Riley tried to leave. She had to hurry. She concentrated on home, and the griffin ring glowed a brilliant purple. The sensation of falling was back. When she landed, she hit something soft in the darkness.

  This wasn’t home.

  18

  Riley struggled to get up and get her bearings.

  She was again in-between. The black velvet space held little light. There were no doors or windows this time, no place to transition to. But above, there were twinkling stars.

  “Well met, daughter.”

  Riley spun around at the voice. It was a woman’s voice, the softest tone with a hard edge that was more than confident. It was a voice of power and control, of awareness.

  “Who’s there? Where are you?” Riley spoke into what felt like a void, her own words circling her there in the velvet dark.

  “I believe you call me Mórrígan. I am here.” The voice settled to Riley’s right.

  A soft white light grew from the dark, enlarging around a shape, a woman wearing dark red robes and carrying a black staff decorated with silver runes and ending in a raven’s head at the top. The Mórrígan emerged from the light and stood in front of Riley, both hands on top of the staff.

  She was beautiful. Long auburn hair close to Riley’s own that flowed down her robes in loose curls, eyes like emeralds, and an aura purely white.

  “I am here because you called me.”

  “I didn’t call—“

  She spoke over Riley, holding up one hand. “All my daughters can call me when there is need, and I will come. You have need, daughter.”

  “Are ready to accept your fate?”

  Riley swallowed, remembering the things Tsura had said. “What is my fate?”

  “To be joined to the triple goddess, to become of the Mórrígan.” Her eyes flashed. “You are one of the daughters of Fate itself, the bloodline of Lia Fáil. Old magic has awakened to you. All around you, the land, the old gods, they wake. And with them, old enemies stir. A battle comes when only the daughters of Fate can turn the tide. It is your destiny.”

  All around them, the stars above fell, disappearing into the velvet black darkness. The Mórrígan closed her eyes as their light died.

  “And it is your choice. I offer you immortality as my own. Only then can your heart’s desires come. Only then can you wield your magic as it was meant. Only then can you save the ones that would be lost. Your family and friends.”

  Riley struggled to understand what the Mórrígan had said. “I just want to save Sean and my dad. I don’t want to be immortal.”

  “There is only one choice. Even now, the magic inside you consumes you. It’s becoming more and more erratic and hard to control. I easily swayed you here. The power inside you will destroy your human mind, your human body. And without your magic in check, you won’t even be able to save yourself.”

  “Then take it back. I never wanted it!”

  “You were born with it, daughter. And it will be your salvation if you let it. The war is coming. Only those aligned with power will survive. For good or ill, you must choose your fate.”

  Riley’s heart was fumbling to beat, her lungs struggling for air. “I can’t be immortal.”

  The Mórrígan shrugged. “Is that your choice?”

  “If I say yes, will you take my powers?”

  “No, but I will not force immortality on you. It would mean giving up all that is your human existence.” She caressed the raven head on her staff. “Your will is free. The choice is yours.”

  There had to be another way. Riley reached for her necklace. The little shoe met her fingertips. Home. She thought of mom and dad, of her grandpa. “I choose humanity.”

  “So mote it be.” The Mórrígan tapped the staff, and the sound reverberated in the dark. A small space opened, morphing lights like a sci-fi portal. “If you change your mind, the path is clear.”

  “Wait, I need your help.”

  The Mórrígan bowed.

  “I give you the tools you’ll need. A tool of the gods …” The chisel her grandpa had found in the library was suddenly in her hand. “And your own object of power.” Riley thought about the nail she’d stabbed Brown with and it too appeared in her hand.

  “What do I do with these?”

  “Wield them in battle, daughter.”

  She tapped the staff again and was gone in a burst of multicolored light. And Riley again felt herself falling until she was back in her room at the castle in her bed. She struggled to open her eyes and failed.

  * * *

  Riley hovered between sleep and waking. Her right hand clutched the rusty chisel, her left, the nail. She had slept with them clutched tightly in her now cramped hands. She tried to sit up and squeaked in protest as Belle’s claws dug painfully into her foot. Riley scrambled off the bed and got scratched again for her efforts.

  She placed the nail and chisel on the nightstand. She looked despairingly at them. There was no way to know what to do with them. Aileen had admitted she didn’t know much more. Who could help her now? Who knew about the Mórrígan? Her father had mentioned her, but not what it meant to them. And Tsura had known.

  It seemed another lifetime ago when she was there learning that her father was in danger and that magic was real. Riley glanced down at the hamsa ring Tsura had given her. Two rings side by side that she wasn’t sure she knew how to use. The purple stones of the griffin ring were not glowing now, but the hamsa blinked.

  A whirling filled the bedroom and the scent of orchids met her nose.

  “Tsura?”

  Riley squinted against the vortex spinning in her room. She held up a hand and shielded her eyes until it stopped.

  “Well met, Riley.”

  Tsura stood in front of her in her dark purple gown and black cloak.

  “Tsura, I can’t believe you’re here!”

  “You called.”

  Had she? Like the Mórrígan had also said?

  Tsura smiled. “And I promised I’d come when you called.”

  “Thank you. I feel terrible for getting you involved in this. You saved me at the fair. I owe you.”

  “I saved myself too. He would have come for me, and it was fight or flight. I stayed this time.”

  “Thank you.”

  Tsura bowed her head. “Much has changed. I can feel something different in you. The magic is stifling, overpowering. Do you feel it?”

  Riley shook her head no. “I don’t feel different.”

  “No?” Tsura held up her arms, palms facing Riley. “I see threads frayed and moving like serpents. Your fate is shifting.”

  “That’s what I needed to ask. About fate and the Mórrígan. She came to me, or rather said I called her, like you did.”

  “But you did not accept her offer.” Tsura stated it as a fact. “I fear that was your salvation, Riley. And the Mórrígan doesn’t give second chances.”

  “I couldn’t take immortality. This is all too fast anyway. That’s not fair to ask me to decide like that.” Riley knew she was spiraling. It came on
suddenly, like everything that had happened had just that moment caught up to her. Tears she couldn’t stop spilled silently down her face. Her whole body felt weak and worn. She sat down, trying to pull herself together and found her hands were shaking and sending out white light that wavered and sputtered.

  “I was afraid you’d not be ready.” Tsura took her hand and surprised her by squeezing it and giving her a hug. The scent of orchids reached out to Riley’s senses, and she didn’t just smell the perfume, she saw the purple and white essence that was more than just a scent. It swirled around Tsura’s frame, and Riley saw the repeating hamsa blending in and weaving about her. “Your aura has eyes?”

  Tsura pulled back. “Something like that. You really are stretching your magic. It’s too much, I’m afraid.”

  Riley dropped her head into her hands. “I don’t know what to do now. The Mórrígan said my path was clear, but it’s not. Nothing is clear. She said if I wanted immortality, it was mine to take if I decided to accept my fate.”

  “Wait. After you turned her down?”

  Riley nodded.

  Tsura whistled low. “She must want you for something beyond what I know of her.”

  “What do you know of her?”

  “She’s the goddess of war. Her priestesses are warriors tasked with fighting great evil in the lands, between the worlds. She has many daughters, but three are always chosen as her face, her voice among the gods and goddesses. Daughters of great power and great purpose. Like your fate.”

  “Everyone keeps saying that.”

  “There are always prophecies about the Daughters of Fate, the mortal heirs, but none have been in the legends like the one I believe you are bound to see through.”

  Riley’s skin tingled, and the griffin ring glowed. “What prophecy?”

  “That a Daughter of Fate would rule the in-between as heir to the mortal realm and the lands of the gods. I assumed it meant as an immortal. There is no other way for you to harness your power.” She gave Riley a sorrowful look. “I’m sorry. Magic always requires a price. Consume or be consumed.”

  “No.” Riley licked the tears off her lips. “There has to be another way.”