Ivory Inferno

by LeAnn Mason

  IVORY INFERNO

  A TALE OF GRIMM HOLLOW

  LEANN MASON

  Ivory Inferno by LeAnn Mason

  Published by LeAnn Mason PO Box 140876, Broken Arrow, OK 74014

  www.leannmason.com

  Copyright © 2021 by LeAnn Mason. All rights reserved.

  No parts of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the production of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, live or dead, are purely coincidental.

  For more information on reproducing sections of this book or sales of this book, go to www.leannmason.com or email at: leann@leannmason.com

  Ivory Inferno/LeAnn Mason– First Printing/2021

  Cover by: TakeCover Design

  Edited by: Dawn Yacovetta

  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

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 22

  CHAPTER 23

  CHAPTER 24

  CHAPTER 25

  CHAPTER 26

  CHAPTER 27

  CHAPTER 28

  CHAPTER 29

  CHAPTER 30

  CHAPTER 31

  OTHER BOOKS BY LEANN MASON

  FOLLOW LINKS

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  For all those who have walked through fire,

  and emerged as steel.

  CHAPTER 1

  I ’d been waiting for a night like this with friends like these who knew my brand of crazy and loved me anyway. Maybe I was jumping the gun a tiny bit with all of that. I still couldn’t believe they’d agreed to a girls’ night.

  A girl needed more than seven burly dwarf guardians sometimes. A girl needed… girls. And, I’d really wanted some time with a certain grizzly Shifter, but that pipedream would have to wait until I plucked up the courage to actually ask. However, that was a problem for a different day.

  Tonight, I needed to figure out what to wear. It wouldn’t be a strictly fun, frivolous night seeing as it had been deemed that weapons were making an appearance. That definitely caused me to sweat more than was acceptable for a girl. I’d never used my katana with an audience before.

  I’d practiced with my guardians looking on, but they were teachers, mentors… surrogate parents. Far different from peers that I hoped would be friends.

  “Bianca. You’d better calm, or you’re going to need to change again, Firebird,” Rune chided quietly from his spot in my open doorway, a shy smile on his bearded face. He was the outlier, the least boisterous of my guardians, but was always quick to offer a sweet word of encouragement.

  “Easier said than done,” I groused from my spot in front of the full-length mirror at the back corner of my room, clad in my freest pair of stretchy jeans and a tight red sweater. I needed something warm but form-fitting with enough movement for me to be able to strike.

  I ran fingers through my jet-black hair, which was cut in a bob above my shoulders. Luckily, the mass didn’t get too crazy in the way of moisture-frizziness, thanks to my Japanese heritage, which I’d gained from my mother’s side, making the cut cute.

  “I need my armor,” I muttered. Thinking of my mother usually upset me. My memories always fed me the worst moments first, never letting me forget that she was dead.

  Storming over to my dresser, I retrieved my trusty red lipstick, a bright shade known as Click Your Heels. It was my armor, and as it glided over my pink lips, I settled. “You can do this.” The affirmation helped seal in the confidence as if it were wax, hardening the words into truth.

  My phone pinged from its spot nestled among the strewn quilt of my bed. After a quick search and a few re-flings of the already rumpled sheets, I found the elusive device. Reading the message pulled a squeak from my chest. Sweat began beading again in all of the wrong places with the few words spelled out on the stark screen: The guys want to join us tonight.

  The guys. Did that include Nick? Obviously, Hunter would be there. He was glued to Scarlet’s hip. No, not Hunter and Scarlet, Jason and Allya. I couldn’t just think of them as their personas if I wanted to call them friends. That would be weird. The nicknames usually happened after said friendship had budded, not before.

  Nick, being Jason’s best friend, I assumed to be the plural in “guys”, but the Shifter had just come back from doing a stint in a human police station. Who knew what kind of toll that had played on him. He’d always been smiley and fun, but things like that had a way of changing a person.

  I sincerely hoped not. Nick was too good of a guy to have that breezy attitude taken from him.

  I guessed I’d find out soon when we all met in the green space behind Ms. Elsie’s house. Because a raging bonfire and some sharp weapons were just what the break-up doctor ordered. Poor Mae. The girl had had a rough go of it of late. Then again, so had Allya.

  My own trauma had taken place long enough ago that I’d gotten pretty good at burying it. And that’s what this outing was about. Getting Mae to forget about her sadness, if only for a couple of hours, while we howled at the moon. Figuratively, of course.

  If it meant that I had to embarrass myself with a swordsmanship show, so be it.

  As the beginning endeavor, we’d all set about gathering the elements we’d need to get a smoking bonfire raging. I’d been paired with Mae, and we foraged for kindling. The guys and Allya –the Shifters– were all lugging giant limbs back to the site, piling the offerings into a structure resembling a teepee in shape. I wondered if any of Elsie’s ghosts were hanging about. Would a fire draw them like moths?

  Roving the nearest wood, I couldn’t help shooting glances at my companions. Especially Nick. Of course, as predicted, he’d been Jason’s plus one. The two were almost as inseparable as the lovebirds, which was either cool or kinda odd, depending on how you looked at it.

  I was both happy and terrified. I was not what would be described as ‘brave’ around the opposite sex. I’d never even been on a date, but I wasn’t sure if that was because of me or all of my rough and surly guardians. Though they were small, they were formidable. Dwarfs were masters of mining and weaponry. They could easily scare off a teenage boy, even a supernatural one.

  That was the story I told myself about my lack of suitors. I didn’t like to think that the alternative might be that it was… me. Another glance at Nick showed him dragging a limb larger than me back toward the fire, a grin spreading his pretty lips as he cast a look over his shoulder at where Allya had hopped onto Jason’s back and was smacking his rear like he was her steed.

  Looking away, I came back to task. “So, you’re going to swing a blade around a bit, too, right?” I bumped my shoulder into Mae in playful camaraderie but hadn’t noticed her precarious position, and the girl went sprawling into the dirt. Luckily, the sea of dead tree leaves made for a fairly soft landing. I reached to help her back up, a soft laugh escaping as I chided myself for the faux pas. There were reasons I didn’t have friends.

  “I’m so sorry. My timing sucked on that. Oops!” Maybe a smile would soften the blow? I tried one.

  It seemed to wor
k… for a moment. Then her smile fell, her eyes cast downward. Sad again, I assumed with thoughts of Rory, she marched back to the emerging bonfire. Thinking of the Shifter prince currently had that effect on her. I hoped they figured it all out. Both of them deserved some happiness, and I loved the idea of them finding it together.

  Following Mae’s trail, I brought my meager woody offerings to the growing bonfire, watching as the guys expertly placed what looked like tree bark moss or something, dry pine needles, and some smaller sticks at the base to ignite the pyre. It would have been cool to bring the flames to life, but no, my Mage gifts didn’t range wide enough to create fire. I could only manipulate what was already there. The more proficient elemental Mage teens loved nothing more than giving me crap about my lack of ability.

  I tended to stick to myself at the school unless I happened across Sasha. That girl had it worse with the Witches than I did with the Mages. I couldn’t even count the number of times one or the other of us had interrupted the bullying by our respective “popular” cliques. I didn’t want my budding friendships to be tainted, so I kept my mouth shut and my fingers firmly clasped together to deny them the pleasure of manipulating the flames. I didn’t want to answer those questions tonight.

  Suddenly feeling like I was falling, I sensed my eyes widening, arms forced to raise like wings ready to lift me from danger. Strong arms wrapped around my back, tossing me in an arc. My startled gaze met briefly with Nick’s laughing peepers as a deep, playful growl erupted from his body. The sound vibrated my hands where they fell, pushing against the lumberjack’s back from the upended position where I’d been thrown like a kidnap victim over his brutish shoulder.

  I needed somewhere else to put my hands, so naturally, I thought of the worst idea ever and picked a new target: his glorious bum. I mean, who knew a guy could have a bubble-butt? It was begging for it. I couldn’t deny its pull and finally gave in, letting loose with a wind-up smack that landed squarely on the right cheek of the denim artfully cradling the meaty flesh beneath.

  A ridiculous laugh bubbled from between my pursed lips. The thing hadn’t moved! No jiggle in that wiggle. Not at all. But like he was a steed being whipped into action, Nick took off, loping around the growing flames as if it was a racetrack.

  Now, both hands were planted on his rear, smacking in reproach as my body slapped against his back. My boobs were the only things to keep my nose from smashing against his back with every large step. “Save me, Hunter.” I reached out to where the rest of the group stood, guffawing at Nick’s antics. My plea only succeeded in adding another level of torture to the grizzly’s game. My laughter turned into a squeal, the fight to escape becoming more real when I felt an unabating tickle at the back of my knee.

  I was stupidly ticklish, and my legs couldn’t help but kick in any direction they could move. After a few seconds of torture, one of my flailing legs succeeded in stopping his fingers… when my heel came into contact with something on Nick’s too-handsome face.

  Brilliant, B. “Ha! Serves you right, you oaf. Put me down,” I chided playfully in hopes of dulling the sting of my strike. It seemed to work, or at least, he wasn’t holding a grudge as he smoothly lowered me to the ground. I kept my eyes firmly planted on his dark, band-shirt-clad chest as my body tingled every inch we touched while he moved to straighten.

  My face flamed as I realized I very obviously ogled him. I dropped my eyes as well as the hands that had unknowingly moved to grip his rock-hard forearms, the muscles corded and solid beneath my grip. The moment I moved away, I missed his heat, his scent. And…

  Holy crap, B, get a grip!

  Shaking my head slightly to dispel the haze, I cleared my throat and hastily shuffled to one of the fold-up chairs arranged near the fire. They’d gone all-out with the food and drink. Bags of goodness lay hiding their wares near the large, blue ice chest a few yards back from the circle. It was late enough now that the fire’s ample light chased away the shadows that wanted to encroach on our group, both metaphorical and literal, the laughter and light helping to keep us warm.

  “Earth to Mae,” Allya cajoled. Waving a hand in front of her friend’s face seemed to bring her back into the moment and the realization that she was too close to the heat of the now roaring pyre. Shifting her glasses, Mae wrapped her hands around the fabric arms of the chair then stood keeping the seat molded around her rear as she scooted backward to a more comfortable distance.

  “Okay, so, are we doing dessert or training first?” Allya chirped brightly, a maniacal smile gracing her beautiful Native features. One guess which one she hoped we’d pick. With a quick, conspiratorial look at Mae, we nodded our agreement to each other before turning back to the Scarlet Huntress.

  “S’mores,” Mae and I voiced in unison, making us burst out laughing again when Allya’s face dropped. Clearly, she’d been hoping for the latter option. Man, did it feel good to laugh.

  CHAPTER 2

  “D o it!” Allya jeered, tossing a plump marshmallow at my frozen body. Stage fright looked to be a real thing, and my body refused to move an inch as I stared into the growing darkness looming beyond the half-circle where the others were seated. Waiting for me to show off some mad katana skills.

  Skills I was pretty sure I didn’t possess.

  “Why am I going first again? I’m sure you want to see how apt Mae is with a blade, right? Right?” My rerouting attempts were going nowhere. The lot of them booed and threw little bits of somethings at me again. Playfully, I sliced in a downward arc to intercept one of the lobbed foodstuffs.

  It connected. The fine edge of the curved blade glinted majestically in the firelight as it sliced the cloud of puffy white sugar neatly in two, the severed halves landing in innocuous lumps on the ground at my feet. I stood in silence, staring dumbly, not registering the complete lack of human sounds for a few beats. Once I did, a blush stole hotly up my cheeks. I ducked, self-conscious, my eyes gravitating to the glinting metal still grasped tightly in my hand. My knuckles were turning white, starkly contrasting with the ruby-red-and-gold handle, the bird’s head carved into the kashira staring at me, beak agape.

  “Dude! I think you’ve been downplaying your skills. That was fast!” Allya laughed, eyes round. There were nods of agreement from the rest of the group, who all looked as impressed as her.

  “Seriously, guys, one quick strike does not a samurai make…”

  “All right, then, exhibit away,” Mae cheered. With her eyes lit in excitement and a smile lighting her face, how could I deny her? We were trying to get her to stop worrying about Rory, so I guessed if I had to play the part of faux-samurai…

  “Gladly,” I chirped with feigned brightness, trademark smile firmly affixed. I turned away from the gawking crowd, hoping it would help in my pretending there was no audience. Occasionally, one or another of my guardians would give me some pointers, but that was the extent of my experience with being in front of anyone while playing with the sword.

  Let’s face it, that’s all I’d ever done with the weapon. The one time I could have used it, I hadn’t known it existed. To be fair, it had just been crafted. The dwarfs had forged it for my mother and were bringing it to her the day she’d been killed… saving me.

  The fire swelled and ebbed, following my tumultuous emotional state, my connection with the element allowing me to “see” it even when not looking. I wondered if anyone else noticed. I needed to calm down, channel my inner ruby-lipped badass and knock the socks off this group of teens I desperately wanted to like me. “How about a little mood music? Mae, think you could find me something? Smooth with bursts of quick?”

  Happy with her task, Mae set about finding me something to make this whole thing a little less intimidating. Focus on the forms, B. You’ve got this.

  The haunting melody and deep humming of one of my favorite bands began leaking from the portable speaker we’d brought out to give a soundtrack to our party. Deep bass hits put me into the perfect rhythm for the forms I’d practic
ed for years. Lyrics switched from lulling to accusing, talking about being a natural at leaving behind your heart, being the hunter as opposed to the prey. Being cold.

  Before I knew it, my body flowed, the katana up, level with my eye line as I took a step forward. Slashing in a crossing arc, the blade sang through the air, and I took another step, jabbing the sword perpendicular to my body. I cross-stepped into a spin that would place me behind my opponent. Blade arcing quickly downward again, this time aimed at the back of my imaginary foe from shoulder to waist. The movements were like second nature when I only focused on the pulsing beat, the words, what I felt while listening to it.

  I had to be cold to make it in this world.

  I was tired of hiding away. Maybe tonight was the beginning of something new for me, the dropping of invisible shields I’d held around myself since…

  As the music trailed to its inevitable end, I was pulled from my bubble by an enthusiastic round of applause. It took me a moment to come back to the present, to remember where I was.

  “Are you a Mage?” Mae’s curious question was the first coherent string of words I heard over the raucous hoots and hollers the rest exuded. Should have known the bookworm would notice…

  “Uhh, yeah, I am. Not really a good one but… yeah.”

  “The way the fire followed your movements was beautiful. How could you think you’re not a good Mage? I bet flames would do whatever you told them to… perfectly complimenting the moves your body made. Man, every day, I see something in here that makes me wish I was supernatural.”

  “I can influence fire, but I cannot create it. To Mages, that is a weak gift.”

  “Well, they’re dumb if they think you’re weak. I mean, watching you spin that blade around was a thing of beauty. I still think you would make a badass Sentinel. We could use more kick-ass girls in the ranks,” Allya said in a bit of a smug tone like she’d known I could rock the weapon. “And your aura… it looked like it wrapped around the blade like it was a part of you.”