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

by Adkins, Heather Marie

  “My friend, the fault is not with you. Let us all put our blame on the serpent that deserves it and cut off its venomous head. Brown will pay. I will see that it is so.”

  The room became unbearably warm. Her grandpa threw back his sheets. Riley looked at Sean and saw his face pale.

  “Sean, are you okay?” Riley touched his hand. Hi skin was cold. She placed her hand on his forehead and saw Sean’s colors exploded into pure white light followed by a total blackout of the world around them.

  “I have to go.”

  24

  “Sean!” Riley yelled, but he was gone.

  Fergus and her parents turned a nurse away with an explanation for Riley’s outburst before coming in her grandpa’s room.

  “Where did he go?” Her dad asked, hugging her mom to him.

  Fergus and Riley nodded at one another.

  “I think I know,” Riley said and began to shimmer.

  “Wait,” her mom’s voice broke. “Don’t do this. It’s madness.”

  Riley hugged her mother. “I have to, Mom. Love you.”

  Her grandpa tried to get out of the bed, but Fergus pushed him down, ordering him as he did. “You stay here. The fight is ours now.”

  “I’m going.” Her dad kissed her mom and faced Fergus. “Let us meet in the courtyard.”

  Fergus shimmered and was gone.

  Her dad turned. “We have to go, Gilly.”

  “Then I’ll go, too.” She took his hand. “I can’t lose you again. And no spells to keep me in the dark.”

  “No, no spells. But your place is here with your father.” He took Riley’s hand. “I’ll protect her. I love you.”

  “Let me lead, Dad. Just follow after.” Riley barely heard her mother return her father’s I love you as she concentrated on her room at the castle.

  Her dad looked around her room. “Why aren’t we in the courtyard?”

  “Because I need this.” Riley picked up the rusted chisel and the nail and took his hand. “One more stop.”

  Her dad almost fell on the balcony, losing his footing as Riley let go of his hand. “Where do you think Sean is?”

  “I don’t know, but I know that he needs our help, all our help.” She picked up a loose stone from the floor and approached the stone griffin. “Smaed, if you can hear me, I need you to know that Finan needs you. Sean needs you, Smaed.”

  Riley angled the chisel at the stone beneath the talons and brought the rock down with all her force. The rock crumbled and fell to the courtyard below. Riley saw Fergus stare up at her. She chiseled at the back paws and finally the other talon. The stone held and would not budge.

  Her dad took the chisel from her and pounded the stone against it. The stone splinted into a thousand fragments, plummeting down to the gravel. “Now what?”

  “I don’t know.” Riley remembered her grandpa’s warning against touching it. She trembled as her hand neared the stone feathers of the thick neck. Her ring shot out two brilliant rays of purple. “Smaed, wake to me.”

  Her hand became sand and moved lightly over the stone. It rippled against her strokes like sand blown across the dunes. The great head of the beast turned and the feet flexed, grinding against the stone. Riley pulled back her hand, her flesh intact, and stepped away from the living stone.

  “Are you sure that was wise?” Her dad hurriedly placed himself in front of her, his back to Smaed to shield her as the beast shook off a shower of rocks. A white light sprang out around them and the stones bounced off its bubble like rubber.

  “Meow.”

  Riley looked down. At her feet, Belle was digging her black paw against the floor. Her fur was twice its normal height and her claws drew sparks as they hit fragments of stone.

  The shower stopped. Her dad stared down at Belle and back to the golden beast in front of them. The bubble wavered and was gone. Belle stalked over to Smaed and rubbed up against him. The griffin bent his eagle head and nuzzled her with his beak.

  “What was that?” Her dad shook his head and then gasped as Belle leaped into his arms.

  Finan has need. The griffin’s rasping voice filled her head. She tried to talk back to it with her mind and spoke aloud at the same time.

  “Sean needs you. I need you to help us.”

  It cocked its head like a listening dog and opened its beak in a shrill shriek. I am ready.

  “Thank you.” Riley reached out and stoked its golden feathers and thick fur. She felt a stirring in her mind as the griffin bowed to her.

  I will find him.

  From below, Fergus yelled for them.

  Riley nodded and took her dad’s hand. They shimmered with Belle to the courtyard below. Jay and Emma had joined Fergus at the fountain. As they walked, Belle jumped out of his arms and joined her all white sisters on the fountain’s rim.

  Riley’s heart stuttered as she saw them all gathered.

  One by one, they acknowledged her. Jay bowed to her and nudged Fergus who winked and tipped his hat. Jay spat out a tiny ember and held it in his hand.

  “I thought this might come in handy,” he said and popped it back into his mouth.

  “You all don’t need to be here. You could...”

  “Die?” Emma joined hands with Fergus and Jay on either side. “Nonsense, dear. Safety in numbers, you know. And Fergus came to get us for a reason, dear.”

  Her dad stood beside Jay and linked an arm in his. He pulled Riley to him. “Don’t leave the safety of this circle, okay?”

  Riley didn’t respond as they herded her away from the fountain. She dug into her coat pocket and pulled out the nail. When she looked up, Aileen and Eric were locked in the circle which surrounded her. Aileen’s purple car pulled up, and William got out to join them.

  “What are you all doing?” Riley held the chisel and the nail in either hand and looked into each face.

  “You need protecting, Miss.” Eric smiled weakly at her and lowered his gaze to his shoes.

  “Sure enough, my fiery lass,” Jay said and burped out a tiny flame.

  A shriek from above caught everyone’s attention. Smaed flew over the field, carrying something, a man, in his talons. It was Sean.

  The circle of hands broke as Smaed lowered Sean to the ground beside Riley. He walked backwards a few paces and sat panting.

  Wounded.

  The scars on Sean’s palm were freshly burst open and bleeding into the gravel. His clothes were in tatters. His white shirt was pink with blood and mingled sweat. At his heart, the stain was a wet scarlet.

  “Oh, my lord.” Riley and William rushed to Sean.

  Smaed’s voice came again. He held him off.

  The gravel began to shake. The fountain bubbled up and over. The cats all shook off the water and stayed put.

  William clasped Riley’s hand. “Hurry, concentrate.”

  Riley willed all her energy to Sean’s heart. The blue light that settled around him stayed as she pulled her hands back and stood. William let her go, taking Sean’s hand in his. Eric broke from the circle and took Sean’s other hand.

  “Take us inside, girl. Do it now!”

  Riley touched their shoulders and imagined them in the castle. They disappeared. She lost her balance and fell onto one knee in the sharp gravel. Blood seeped through her jeans. The ground swelled out and up, knocking her off balance. Her shoulder hit the ground hard and she moaned against the pain. Her dad rushed over and helped her up. She had sent them there without her.

  “Are you okay?”

  “I can’t lift my arm.” Riley winced as the pain shot through her.

  Behind her the cats hissed in unison. Everyone watched as the black dog racing across the courtyard morphed into a man. Brown held up three brass buttons and tossed two over their heads. They landed with a plop into the fountain behind them.

  “Now we can take out the betraying dog,” Fergus said, widening his stance.

  Riley saw the brilliance of color flare in each person. The pure white of the cats bubbled out and o
ver the group.

  “I see you’ve amassed a few friends.” Brown’s voice was almost a hissing. “Too bad they are so willing to die, lady. The only gentlemanly thing to do, I’m afraid, is to oblige.”

  A great blackness spread out behind him as he sprang at them. His yellow fingernails swiped across Fergus’ face, breaking through the barrier the cats had erected. Fergus pivoted and hunkered down. His leg shot out and he kicked Brown’s shins. Riley saw the fingers dig into Fergus’s back and heard the rip of fabric and flesh before he came up and clawed at one of the cats.

  Jay ran at him, screaming something in Gaelic and met Brown head on. Black and white magic met in a forceful blast. Brown stumbled back, but the colliding force knocked Jay back to lie motionless at Riley and her dad’s feet. Jay’s mouth lolled open and the ember rolled out onto the gravel at her foot.

  Riley struggled against her father’s grip and bent to retrieve it.

  “Everyone back!” Riley’s command was immediately obeyed. Even her dad, who was still holding her arm stood aside as Brown landed in front of them. He hissed at them, forcing his breath into small explosions of gravel all around her. He beckoned to Riley.

  “What is it, girlie? Come for your prize, did you?” He reached out, as if to touch her face, and she recoiled. His answering sneer showed dripping fangs with slobber falling in strings onto his cloak. He flexed his talons and lunged toward her.

  Riley gripped the nail in her fisted hand and welcomed the fire to her other one from Jay’s ember. It dropped through her palm but not out. Her body flashed into multicolored fireworks, and she no longer felt the pain in her shoulder. She saw Brown leaping for her and she opened her flames to him. He tried to turn, but she had him in her grasp. He flailed against her, fighting the flames, his black eyes mirroring only a large fire. Riley smiled and ate at his clothes. She was the fire. His skin was melting against the burning from the deep blue core of her existence. Riley opened its center and watched the pure white engulf Brown.

  He smiled and breathed a foul wind against her. She called to Smaed. Help.

  Smaed swooped down and lifted them both into the air. As he released them, his talon dug out one of Brown’s black eyes. Riley felt herself falling backwards. The nail she’d retrieved was in her flame-hand, and she plunged it into his now empty eye socket as they fell together into the fountain there in the courtyard.

  “Riley! No!” Her father reached for her, and in her periphery she saw Fergus drop his head just as she met the water. The fire boiled the water, and Brown was suddenly gone. Riley tried to make her body flesh again and failed.

  The water had extinguished the flame.

  25

  Riley’s first conscious thought was that being water wasn’t so bad. She felt languid and aware of everything she touched. The nail was cooling below her, hardening back to solid metal. It was smooth now, like new. The coins she and Aileen had thrown in were shining as the sun’s rays found them in her depths. She recognized her gown’s buttons and wondered where the third was.

  She felt her dad’s hands pass through her, heard him crying out her name. His face was reflected in her body. His tears fell into her. She remembered the tear Sean had taken as her father’s tears absorbed into her as hers had into Sean.

  What is part of you can be shaped by you. She heard Sean’s voice warble in her mind.

  Riley smiled at her dad as another tear fell. Before it hit her surface, she reached up and caught it between her thumb and forefinger. She heard gasps like bubbles as she stood up and walked through the fountain. Everyone was looking through her. Riley looked down at her body. She was water on top and stone below until she touched the gravel and the earth beneath.

  “Riley, oh my lord. What have we done to you?” Her dad fell to his knees.

  “Thank the saints above,” Emma said.

  Blood trickled down Aileen’s face and neck, but she tried to smile at Riley.

  “I told you that you’d come back if you tossed your coin in, though this is hardly what I had in mind.” She leaned against her car and held her hand to her head.

  “Riley, can you hear me?” Her dad looked up from below her. Smaed stalked over and put a talon out and gently touched it to her watery shoulder.

  Daughter of Fate, I send to my mother a song of you. She will come. He lifted his head, and the music lilted out like harp chords.

  Everyone stood entranced at the melody. When Smaed stopped, her dad shook his head and stood up. He reached out to touch Riley and stopped.

  “I am afraid to hurt you.”

  Smaed turned to him, and Riley was sure her dad could hear the griffin’s words. She is your flesh.

  Her dad touched her watery hand and squeezed as it became solidly flesh. Riley’s mind remembered her hurt shoulder and the pain. She looked at her hand and smiled. Her body came to itself haltingly and grudgingly. Aileen rushed over, covering her with a cloak before all of her was flesh.

  She winced as a spasm in her shoulder ran down her arm.

  “Dad?” Riley struggled to see. A steady prism of color burst behind her eyes. Riley gasped and a searing pain ripped through her chest.

  Emma raced over to her. “The magic is too much. Call on the Mórrígan now, Riley.”

  “No, I can’t. I can’t, Emma.” The pain had her doubled over. Her body morphed back and forth between stone and water and flesh and fire. Everyone stood back.

  Above her two golden griffins circled the courtyard. Riley could hear their sweet song rolling to her.

  Daughter of Fate, there is another way.

  “How?” she grit the word out, and everyone around her exchanged glances.

  The Dreamscape. You don’t have long to decide. The pain will return.

  Smaed landed beside her, his head bent to her. And you will die.

  26

  Her body had stopped transforming. She pulled the cloak tighter.

  Aileen handed her a medieval-looking dress not unlike her own and stood with the cloak spread so Riley could pull it on.

  “Thank you.”

  Aileen hugged her. “You were magnificent, dearie. You did good.”

  She hung her head. Not good enough.

  Maybe if she called on Tsura, she could help. Riley looked down for the ring, but it was gone. So was the griffin ring.

  Had they burned? “I need to find my rings.”

  Her dad helped her to her feet. “We’ll look, darling, I promise.”

  He let go, and she struggled to steady herself. “Is he dead?”

  William nodded yes, and her insides went frozen. “We think Brown is literally extinguished, thanks to you.”

  She barely got the next words out. “I meant Sean.” She feared the answer. His wounds had been terrible.

  William and Eric exchanged a look. “He’s not dead, but… maybe you should sit back down.”

  Her dad squeezed her shoulder.

  Riley sat, her heart surging up into her esophagus.

  “He’s dying.”

  “Oh, God, no.” Riley’s head dropped and she covered her face with her hands. She had failed. She felt sick. Her body convulsed again and she cried out. Her dad knelt beside her. “What hurts?”

  She panted, shaking her head. “Everything.”

  Eric sat beside her. “Are you okay?”

  She nodded, even though it was a lie.

  Eric patted her back. “Sean is going to seek healing elsewhere. He’ll be okay.”

  “Where?”

  “He hasn’t told us exactly,” William said, “but I think your griffin friend is going to help him.”

  “Is your arm broken?” Her dad tried to lift her arm, and she screamed again. He grimaced. “I’ll go get find something to make a sling.”

  She nodded and even that hurt.

  We must go. Smaed spoke to her mind. She glanced over.

  In the courtyard, the griffin was flapping his massive golden wings. Beside him, another larger griffin stood regal and proud, lookin
g at her. Selwyn.

  Riley shimmered over to them without thinking and stood under the gaze of the griffins.

  “Can you help him? Can you save Sean?”

  There are songs of healing that cannot be heard in this world. We take him to the Dreamscape to care for him there. As you should join us. Smaed nuzzled her cheek, and Riley threw her arms around his thick neck.

  Another voice filled her head.

  As brave and strong as Finan is, he will live. Selwyn’s voice was a cadence of joy and power. Her voice was stronger than Smaed’s, though less a pattern of words and more a succession of musical notes shaped into ideas.

  Smaed broke in. It is the dark he fights against that concerns us most. And we will save you, brave warrior.

  Riley leaned against Smaed and realized she knew exactly what the griffin meant. She had seen the blackness when Sean had felt Brown coming.

  It is the waster’s feeding from him that leaves him so, though some rests on his own hunger for power and his anger.

  “Is there anything I can do?”

  Finan.

  Riley turned. Sean made his way slowly to them, leaning on Eric as he stopped to catch his breath.

  As they neared, Riley and the griffins walked to meet them.

  “Riley, Maiden of Mist.” Sean’s breathing was labored and his words were low and weak. She scanned his drawn face. He looked like she felt.

  “My savior, my warrior maiden, I must leave the living world again it seems.” He took her hand. “It saddens me greatly that I must part from you.”

  He pulled back. “Something is wrong. Riley? Smaed?”

  The griffin lowered its head.

  She is dying.

  “No. No!” Sean had gone dark again. “Then take her instead. Heal her in the Dreamscape.”

  I applaud your honor, but the sacrifice is not needed. She is welcome. You both are.

  Sean’s face visibly changed. His aura was light again. “Thank God.”