Fire and Fantasy: A Limited Edition Collection of Urban and Epic Fantasy

by CK Dawn

  The room was lit only by a circle of candles. At first, he thought the King and his niece were the only two people there, but as he was pulled closer, he made out a shape laying on a long table in the center of the circle of candles.

  Ramsey gasped. “Is he …”

  “Dead?” Calis finished. “Yes.”

  The King leaned forward to push dark hair from the smooth brow of a young man who looked like he’d been handsome in life. His face was somewhat distorted with bloat now.

  Calis didn’t seem to mind. He touched the man’s forehead, murmuring words no one else could hear.

  The flames of the candles blazed higher, reaching towards the ceiling. Calis had the young man’s shirt open and pressed his palms to his chest. His skin began to glow and the hum of magic surrounded them.

  Ramsey watched in horrified fascination and he looked up to see the same look on Lorelai’s face. Her jaw hung open as the air whipped up around them. Their hair flew about their faces, but the flames didn’t even flicker.

  The young man’s body shook, rattling the table, and Calis yanked the crystal from his own neck to hold it against the man’s.

  All at once, the flames extinguished, descending them into darkness. The wind died and silence followed.

  “Uncle?” Lorelai whispered.

  A green glow began and Ramsey realized it was coming from the crystal in Calis’ hand. The glow illuminated the man on the table as he sucked in a breath.

  He’d known the power of the crystal, but the Tri-Gard never played with life and death like this. They didn’t play God.

  Calis had no such reservations. Dread filled his heart as he bore witness to the King controlling death as he controlled everything else.

  “Ramsey.” Calis snapped his fingers and Ramsey was pulled forward. “Now.”

  The man’s head was damp with perspiration as Ramsey rested a hand on top of it. New perspiration, he thought. Because the dead man lives.

  A shiver ran through him and he held his hand out for the crystal.

  Calis hesitated before placing it in the Tri-Gard’s palm. Even though the King maintained contact with the crystal, power surged through Ramsey for the first time in twenty years.

  He channeled his power into the man’s mind, picking out the threads of memories. As he saw them in his own mind, he knew exactly who the man was. He closed his eyes for a brief moment but couldn’t stop the tear from escaping.

  What he was doing was unforgivable just like his actions all those years ago. And yet, he continued.

  He gave the man a blank slate and a mind that was easily moldable. He’d fill the role Calis wanted him to fill.

  Ramsey thought of the boy he’d wiped clean all those years ago. Would this man live his life as a pawn? Having his mind crafted and altered at will?

  Ramsey sighed and stepped back as Calis’ hand tightened around the crystal as it stopped glowing.

  With a nod of the King’s head, the candle came to life once again before the King sagged forward with exhaustion.

  A low moan came from the man as the bloat disappeared from his body. His clothes were bloody, but his skin showed no sign of battle. He truly was made new.

  The man opened his blue eyes and stared at Ramsey in confusion. Calis pushed him out of the way with a cry.

  “Davion.” He took Davion’s hand in between his own and squeezed as he let out a laugh.

  Lorelai’s soft cries carried to him as she crossed to the other side of the table.

  Calis grinned down at the bewildered young man. “My boy.” His magic was depleted now and his legs threatened to give out. “Welcome home, my son.”

  Calis Beirne, King of Dreach-Dhoun, collapsed to the ground, twitching before going still.

  >>>The End<<<

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  About the Authors

  Michelle Lynn:

  Michelle Lynn has a brain that won’t seem to quiet down, forcing her into many different genres to suit her various sides. Under the name Michelle Lynn, she writes romance and dystopian as well as upcoming fantasies. Running on diet coke and toddler hugs, she sleeps little - not due to overworking or important tasks - but only because she refuses to come back from the worlds in the books she reads. Reading, writing, aunting … repeat.

  Read More from Michelle Lynn

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  Michelle Bryan:

  Michelle Bryan lives in Nova Scotia, Canada, with her three favorite guys; her husband, her son and her crazy fur baby. Besides her family, her other passions in life consist of chocolate, coffee and writing. When she is not busy being a chocolate store manager or spending the day at her computer, she can be found with her nose stuck in any sort of apocalypse book.

  Read More from Michelle Bryan

  Glossary

  The world of Dreach-Sciene and Dreach-Dhoun was created using a combination of words from Old English and Gaelic. In these two languages, words didn’t only have one meaning. They had many. They became ideas rather than just singular objects. That’s why we chose to blend the two. Deep meanings can be conveyed in a single beat. Even our location names can hold more power.

  Aldor – (All-door) Old English for life. ‘Aldorwood’ means the wood of life.

  Bràthair – (Brah-thair) Gaelic word for brother.

  Dhoun – (Doon) Old English for dark. ‘Dreach-Dhoun’ means dark magic.

  Dreach – (Dray-ach) A simplified spelling of the Gaelic term ‘draiocht’ meaning magic.

  Isenore – (Eesen-oar) Old English for iron mine.

  Scíene – (Scene) Old English for beautiful, brilliant, light. ‘Dreach-Sciene’ means light magic.

  Sona – (So-na) Old English for hope. The Isle of Sona means the Isle of Hope.

  Tá sé in am – Gaelic for ‘it is time’.

  Tenalach – (Ten-eh-lahct) – An Irish term for a deep connection with the earth.

  Toha – (Toe-Ha) An old English term meaning the leader of an army, but also a leader of people.

  Tri-Gard – Gaelic for the three guards.

  Trúwa – (True-wah) Old English word for trust, fidelity, promise.

  Uisce – (Ish-ka) Gaelic for water.

  A Touch of Darkness

  Yelena Casale & Tina Moss

  A Touch of Darkness © 2015 Yelena Casale & Tina Moss

  * * *

  All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the authors’ imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

  A Touch of Darkness

  When demons threaten the game, angels don’t play by the rules.

  Cassie Durrett dreams of the darkness. And lives the nightmare. She's working for a tightwad boss at a pretentious NYC diner, dealing with paralyzing pain that doctors can’t diagnose, and trying to hide her hands that glow purple whenever she ... well, whenever.

  So, when mystery man, Gabe, walks out of her dreams and into her life to spout some nonsense about her being a mythical creature, she chalks it up to one more crazy thing to add to her it’s-a-crappy-life list. Yet, when his predictions start to come true, she'll need his help to beat back the darkness-spawned creatures invading her reality.

  Pretty s
oon Gabe has her running half way across the country in search of answers. As a bond grows between them, Cassie worries not about losing her mind to the paranormal madness, nor her life to hellish monsters. Rather her deepest fear is surrendering her heart to a powerful man fallen from grace.

  One

  The primal scream died in his throat, a foreign sound he couldn’t set free. The surrounding quiet enfolded him, thick as oil. Air hissed through his gritted teeth as he struggled for control.

  He knelt at the edge of a dark lake, watching his muscles contract beneath smooth skin. With a shaking hand, he reached back to touch the empty space by his shoulder blades. He grunted at the contact, an alien noise in the absolute silence of the night.

  City lights shimmered in the distance, the sole signs of life. No creature stirred in this desolate place. It was as if humans and animals alike felt the dangerous current in the air and chose to stay away. Only the full moon reflected in the water, an indifferent observer to his torment.

  As his thoughts unraveled, he caught his image through the water’s ripples and stilled. The face staring back at him, usually so stoic, now contorted in agony. His eyes held wildness, framed by a mess of disheveled black hair and topped by a forehead damp with perspiration. Nothing remained of the control, of the precious order that had been the pinnacle of his existence.

  The light autumn breeze cooled his naked body but offered little relief. His blood burned from the inside out. The scorching fire threatened to consume him. Every inch of his skin, from the tips of his nails to the ends of his hair, buzzed with soft electric blue energy.

  He reached back once more and ran his fingers along the ridge of a burn scar, first on the right side and then on the left. A jumble of images flashed through his mind in chaos. Pain. Pain was everything to him now, his lone reality. He had nothing more to hold him to the ground.

  The scream returned, ripping past his lips and into the night. He had arrived.

  “What you want to know, niña? You have questions about your love life? Your career?” The woman’s thick Spanish accent caressed each word. Her dark eyes bore into Cassie as her hands shuffled a colorful pack of Tarot cards. Swift fingers travelled over the tops, never losing their place, like a Las Vegas dealer.

  Cassie glanced over her shoulder at the tall woman behind her. Her best friend, Zoey, had been the one to find this psychic and insist on the visit.

  “You sure about this?” Cassie mumbled under her breath.

  Zoey nodded, twisting a strand of her golden curls around a slender finger.

  Lord, save me. Cassie faced the psychic, plastered on a straight face and adapted a business like tone. “Well, actually I was hoping you could tell me about all the weird stuff. You see… I’m a total freak.” She said it without any reserve whatsoever. The paralyzing headaches, the shadows emerging from nothing, the purple energy consuming her life, all of it warranted the freak label. Now, this strange vision to top it off. She sighed, eyeing the room. Crystal skulls, long tapered candles, and navy colored drapes with stars filled the space.

  I do belong here.

  “Weird? Freak?” Luna stopped shuffling her Tarot deck in the middle. She plopped the cards on the table and inclined her head to one side, which made her look like a curious dog.

  Cassie would have laughed at the thought if the situation weren’t already so strange. Instead, she rested her elbows on the table and let her head fall into her hands.

  “Where to begin?” She tapped her fingers, enjoying the swishing noise they made against the velvet. “How about my hands? I get flares of purple energy around them. Want to take a stab at explaining it?”

  Luna’s grin faltered for a split second, then snapped back into place. She put her hands palm up on the rich cloth. “Lemme see your hands, niña.” She leaned forward. “Don’t be afraid.”

  Cassie complied without protest, allowing her hands to fall into the older woman’s warm moist palms. Luna closed her eyes and mumbled something in Spanish. Cassie took the opportunity to give Zoey a well-deserved eye roll. Her friend slapped the chair’s back and pouted her bottom lip, a small line furrowing her brow. Cassie resisted the urge to stick out her tongue.

  As the minutes ticked by with Luna studying her hands and mumbling as if in a trance, Cassie observed the psychic in more detail. The modest wrinkles in her forehead and dyed auburn hair could have placed her anywhere between forty and fifty. Her sharp nose and beady eyes against a round face gave her a wild, off putting look. Couple it with her black gypsy style skirt, flowery peasant top and red headscarf and she had the whole psychic image packaged just right.

  “Hmm...Sí,” Luna muttered, more to herself than her audience. Her eyes snapped open. “Yes. You have a strong aura, purple ringed. A color of wisdom and strength.”

  “I do?” The corner of Cassie’s mouth quirked up.

  “Oh, yes,” Luna said. “You’re a brave soul. But you haven’t had an easy life.”

  Her smile died. No, watching your parents die wouldn’t be defined as easy. She sucked in her cheeks. The memory of the awful day threatened to break through the surface, but she pushed it down hard. Choking back the bitterness, she erected a mental wall to block her emotions. She shook her head at the psychic and tried to keep the scowl off her face.

  “You have health issues.” The psychic tilted her head forward as if challenging Cassie to fill in the blanks.

  “I guess you can say that.” Cassie slanted her eyes toward Zoey, who flashed a triumphant told-you-so grin. She sunk into the chair, resolved the psychic was nothing more than a charlatan, but not wanting to disappoint her friend. “I have these bad headaches...”

  “How long you had them?”

  “Long as I can remember. They’ve been getting worse and more frequent though. The doctors could never find anything wrong.” She tapped her fingers on the table again and huffed.

  Luna nodded as if in understanding. “Well, let’s see your cards.” Picking the deck of Tarot cards from the table, she flipped them into her hands with ease. After a quick shuffle, she laid them face up, explaining each card.

  “See, here, the High Priestess. There’s a secret knowledge about to be revealed. You’ve some of the supernatural around you. Soon you’ll find out. Soon you’ll know. You must trust yourself.” She patted the next card twice. “And here’s the Lovers card. Someone is coming. The stranger will become part of you. You’ll be unable to resist.” Glancing in Cassie’s direction, she wriggled her nose before shaking a long pointer finger. “The stranger brings challenges. Many changes are coming. Be careful, niña.”

  Cassie stared, unable to resist inching closer despite her doubts. She looked at each card. A nagging thought tugged at her rationale. Should I tell her about the vision? It had happened just once, but the dream had been so vivid, so real. A man shaking as he kneeled naked by the lake in Central Park. Two massive scars ran down the length of his back. His beautiful face twisted in anguish under the moonlight. Then, the scream erupted, forcing her to rise while echoing through her waking hours.

  The words remained on the tip of her tongue, never moving past her teeth. For as the psychic continued laying out cards, Cassie glanced down at her hands. They rested on top of the table innocently except for the light purplish glow beginning to encircle them. Oh God, now?

  The purple energy kept growing in strength. Cassie tried to relax and will it away but the force shone brighter. She shoved her hands under the table in an effort to hide them, but the light slipped out the sides and ignited the rounded table edges in color.

  Luna slapped the deck on the table. Her face ran pale, illuminated by the unnatural purple glow lighting up the room.

  “Qué esto?” Luna’s strangled whisper echoed in the small space. “What...what’s that?”

  “It’s the energy I was telling you about.” Cassie grimaced.

  “I never see anything like this.” The psychic’s accent grew thicker as thin beads of perspiration formed on her br
ow. “I mean I see auras...sometime, but not like this!”

  “So you can’t help me? You can’t explain it?” Cassie said, though she already knew the answer.

  “I...I don’t know...I...maybe the cards.” The psychic fumbled and grabbed the cards from the table. She tried to shuffle, but lost her place and the cards fell from her grip, spilling onto the floor.

  Cassie sagged in the chair, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. Just as she was about to storm out in frustration, the pain assailed her. Flashing across her brain like a lightning strike, it set her entire nervous system aflame. Her heart thudded, then skipped a beat. She knew what was coming next but could do nothing about it. The agonizing headache rocked her to the core and pushed the air from her lungs. Her body tumbled to the floor, as if something had pushed her out of the chair. She couldn’t move, couldn’t think. Paralysis took over. The waves of panic became stronger, deeper. A few more minutes of this and her head would either split open or she’d suffocate.

  She scarcely registered Zoey kneeling by her side. Her friend’s arms tightened around her shoulders, trying to hold her up. From the corner of her vision, she could see the psychic standing close by, terror clear in her eyes.

  Feeling close to passing out, Cassie tried to get her breath under control. The encroaching oblivion threatened to swallow her up as a shadow appeared before her. Fear became more palpable. She opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out. She tried to throw her arms up without success, trying to protect herself from...what? A shadow? Insanity? She wanted to get up and fight despite the pain. Her body had other plans as she curled into a fetal position. A weight pressed upon her and she found herself fading away. She let go. Blessed darkness descended and for a time she found calm inside the void.