Relics and Runes Anthology

by Heather Marie Adkins

  My boot connected with a jaw, and I whirled into the kick, throwing a punch at the man behind him.

  “Relle, duck!” Shana yelled.

  I ducked, and gunfire was exchanged over my head, so close I felt the breeze. An unfamiliar SEA agent fell, his gun skittering across the marble floor and a pool of his blood following it.

  I stood and turned to grin my thanks at Shana.

  She was on her knees, her white button down stained with blood.

  Alarm bells clanged in my head. I punched past an officer and ran to her, falling to my knees and sliding the last two feet.

  She crumpled to her back, her legs tangled beneath her. She struggled to breathe, blood trailing from her nose. I whipped off my tank top and pressed it to the wound in her chest.

  “Giving the boys a show,” Shana joked, and then coughed, her abdomen rocking beneath my hands.

  “If they can’t handle a sports bra, they deserve to be shot.”

  She laughed again, and cringed. A low moan escaped her lips, which were quickly growing pale.

  I raised my voice over the melee, scared to hear my own panic. “Warren!”

  He appeared at my side, blood on his arms that, thankfully, didn’t appear to be his. The barrel of his gun smoked. He sucked in a breath at the sight of Shana bleeding on the floor, and knelt beside us.

  “Take her somewhere safe,” I begged. “Get her help.”

  “I can’t leave yo—”

  “Get her out of here!” I screamed.

  I couldn’t think about Shana right now, blood pouring from her gut. If I thought about losing her, or losing Lila, still comatose upstairs, I’d shut down. There’s only so much one girl can handle. I needed her far away from here so I could finish what I came for.

  Warren’s haunted gaze remained on me as I turned my back. But I felt the surge in energy that meant he’d slipped through time, carrying Shana with him.

  “Nez! Watch out!” John Nesbitt barreled through a group of SEA officers like a person-shaped wrecking ball. He raised his gun and fired, the bullet whizzing past my head to take out an agent behind me. “Go!”

  As Nes pressed against the crowd, I ran for the stairs.

  The upper floors were silent as a tomb. I moved quickly, searching the council chambers, Everett’s office, their living quarters, even Lila’s office. The absence of anyone made me think he’d sent everyone home; cleared out the building as if he expected to lose.

  Maybe I was being optimistic, but the thought spurred me on, anyway.

  I finally found the rein of Senka Hollow, sitting beside his comatose wife in her hospital room.

  “Hello, Nez. Figured you’d find me eventually.” He slouched in his chair petulantly. “You’re like a goddamned flea. Impossible to eradicate.”

  “Sorry about that. I tried. Really.” I leveled my gun on his face and ventured further into the room.

  Dr. Webster lay splayed on the floor, a trickle of blood trailing from a head wound. But his chest rose and fell, so for the moment, I knew he was safe.

  Everett sighed. “It was going to be grand. The darkness is a great place. Everything is so free. So clear. It’s gone, you know.” He held out his palms and turned his blue-eyed gaze to me. “Senka is doing her job again. Quite well, I might add. Sucked the darkness out of everyone I know.”

  I reached out with one hand and lifted one eyelid on Lila’s sleeping face. Her eye was as pure and gorgeous blue as it had ever been.

  No longer shadow touched.

  The realization rocked me to my core. Senka hadn’t just stopped the progression of the darkness — she’d erased it entirely. I touched the white stones at my neck and sent her a silent Thank you.

  Everett leaned forward.

  I put my second hand back on my gun and stiffened. “Don’t move.”

  He chuckled. “Always the hero, hey, Nez? My wife always liked you best. Fae of a feather flock together, or some shit.” The bitterness in his tone on the word “fae” startled me.

  “This had nothing to do with making the Hollow stronger,” I said. “This was about you. You couldn’t stand that your fae wife was stronger than you. Her magick could power the entire Hollow, but you... you’re only human. All you could do was power her.”

  Everettt launched to his feet and pulled a gun from behind his body.

  Too many people underestimate those moments. The split second between drawing and shooting your gun can last a lifetime.

  When your opponent is already sighted on you, it is your lifetime in the balance.

  In the small hospital room, the gunshot echoed.

  32

  Everett Lear tottered backwards like a felled tree. He tripped over the chair, dead before his body hit the linoleum.

  My ears rang in the aftermath of my shot. Everett’s gun had flown from his hand and landed in a fern on the windowsill.

  Lila gasped, eyes opening. She looked around groggily, taking in my haggard, bloody appearance and the smoking gun in my hand. “Relle? What’s going on?”

  I holstered the Taurus and pointed at Everett’s body on the floor.

  Lila stared at her husband’s body for a long moment. “Son of a bitch tried to kill me.”

  “Dr. Webster figured someone had.”

  “You look like shit.”

  “Battling through officers to assassinate a leader will do that to a girl.”

  She gave a shaky sigh. “You telling me I can’t sleep without you bringing war to my people?”

  “Hey, it was your husband’s fault. Not mine.”

  She groaned. “Give me your wrist.”

  I went one better and removed my Com, passing it to her. As she keyed up, I found Dr. Webster’s strong, steady pulse to ensure he would be okay.

  “Reina Lear to all units. All units, cease fire immediately. The Rein is dead. I repeat, the Rein is dead. All units report to command staff and await further instructions. Anyone who entered this building with Agent Maurelle Nez is under the protection of the Reina. All councilmembers are to report immediately to the chambers. If they do not, agents are to subdue them and deliver them.” She collapsed back against her pillows and patted the bed beside her.

  I pulled off my thigh holster and placed both it and my gun on the table beside the bed. I stepped out of my boots and climbed onto the bed next to my reina.

  We lay shoulder to shoulder in the silence.

  “Why are you in a sports bra?” Lila finally asked. “That doesn’t seem like proper battle-wear.”

  I laughed, thankful for the outlet. “I like to keep the boys guessing.”

  Lila’s small hand slipped into mine, and we locked fingers.

  “What now?” I asked.

  The Reina sighed. “I figure out how deep Everett’s betrayal goes. Who’s safe and who’s not. Rebuild the council from the ground up.”

  “I think the Insurgentia would like a say.”

  “I think you’re right.”

  “If you need someone who would be a great representation of the shadow touched, I know a guy. Half-shadow touched fae, half human. Super cool dude.”

  “You got laid, didn’t you?”

  “Am I really such a fucking open book?”

  Twenty minutes later, I rolled Lila into the council’s chambers in a wheelchair and left her in the capable hands of John Nesbitt, who had happily cuffed an ornery old councilman to bring him there. Dr. Webster, awake and coherent, accompanied her against my better judgement. But I guess you can’t stand in the way of loyalty.

  The lobby was trashed. I stepped over bodies and guns, and dodged medical personnel as they attended to the wounded. Josiah Bishop occupied a bench by the broken front windows as a nurse gently wrapped his bleeding arm. He lifted his good hand in greeting. I returned the gesture, oddly relieved to see him still alive.

  A shell-shocked Population officer sat at the desk by the door to the jail. I waved my hand in front of his face multiple times before he finally looked at me.

&nbs
p; “I need access to Sub-4,” I told him.

  “Now?” he said, aghast.

  “Now.”

  He gave me the proper access codes, and I entered Population.

  Georgie Lewis looked up as I opened the door to her cell. Her green eyes held no trace of the darkness that had been there before. She looked like a scared little girl.

  I held out a hand. “Come on. You’re not dying on my watch.”

  Warren found me an hour later in the lobby, where I was taking statements from survivors. The monotony of it helped ground me.

  I thanked the officer I’d been questioning, and walked away with Warren at my side. “Where’s Shana?”

  “With your mom.”

  “Is she okay?”

  He touched my hand. “She’s going to be fine. Your mother is a marvel.”

  “Yeah, good call taking her there. You probably saved her life.”

  “You ready to go home?”

  I glanced around. Everything seemed well in hand. Lila had competent bodyguards and Dr. Webster to keep her safe. The councilmembers who had followed Everett’s shitty plan had confessed under a truth curse and been placed under arrest. Even the lobby was starting to pull itself back together.

  Warren offered me a hand.

  “I’m not into domesticity,” I told him. “I like carrying a badge and a gun. I’m not an easy person to live with. I’m definitely not easy to love. You sure about this?”

  He laughed easily and gripped my arms, easing me against the length of his body. He kissed my nose. “Do you trust me?”

  “Yes,” I said simply. Like Shana’s quick response earlier, I didn’t even need to give it thought.

  Trust had a mind of its own.

  The world shifted and swayed, a whirlwind of colors, sensations, and clove cigarette smoke. I had no idea where—or when—we were going, but I knew it would be one helluva ride.

  Epilogue

  I sat cross-legged in the desert, my daughter’s knee pressed against mine as we faced the sunrise.

  “Brick by brick,” I told her. “Visualize.”

  Ysa groaned, her nose wrinkling but her eyes remaining shut. I loved her beautiful eyes: the same rich mahogany as her father’s. “Ma. This is dumb. We don’t even have to protect against the darkness anymore.”

  I touched the turquoise necklace around my neck. “I know, baby. But you never know when you’ll need to protect yourself. So just humor me, okay?”

  The sun had crested the horizon completely and begun its daily descent by the time Ysa and I stood and brushed dirt from our long, bare legs.

  “Can I stay with Aunt Mai tonight?” Ysa asked, tucking her small hand into mine as we walked towards our house.

  “Maybe you should ask Aunt Mai first.” My sister, twenty-two and as wild as I’d been at that age, lived in the city. Ysa loved to visit her, to feel the bustle and hurry of the Hollow’s center.

  I’d come accustomed to the slow, steady life we had on the Res.

  “I’ll call her while I’m at work today and ask,” I promised my daughter.

  The kitchen door stood open. A slight breeze followed us in, and Ysa carried it with her as she skipped down the hall to her bedroom to get ready for school.

  Mama stood over the stove, her wiry legs poking from denim cut-offs. “Maurelle. I made hominy.”

  “Of course you did, Mama.” I kissed her cheek and took a deep breath. “It smells wonderful. Can you get Ysa to school this morning? I have a meeting at Headquarters.”

  The years had turned Mama’s vivid dark hair salt-and-pepper, but had only added to her beauty. The deep folds at her eyes held a lifetime of love and laughter. She pointed at me with her spoon, dripping hominy on the floor. “Yes. But don’t forget. We have circle tonight.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Yes, Mama.”

  “It would not do for our clan chieftess to miss yet another circle.”

  “Yes, Mama.”

  In our cool, dim bedroom, my husband was nothing but a motionless lump under the covers. I gently lifted the covers and slipped in beside him. As if he’d been awake and waiting for me, he hooked me with a single arm and pulled me into his warmth.

  He kissed me softly. “Morning. Brick by brick?”

  “She’s so stubborn.”

  He didn’t open his eyes, but his smile lit up the space we shared. “I wonder where she gets it.” His hand skimmed over my hip and up to my breast. He opened those gorgeous eyes and leered at me. “Got a minute?”

  “Is that all you need?”

  “So cheeky,” Warren growled.

  I was late to work, but when you’re the agent in charge, and the Reina is your best friend, nobody really cares if you roll in ten minutes late with a smile on your face.

  The night sky hung heavy with stars and magick as I took my place beside my mother at the fire that evening.

  “You’re late,” Mama scolded.

  “By whose clock?”

  “Don’t sass me, girl. I brought you into this world, and I can take you out of it.”

  Sadly, I’d used that same line on Ysa. One of these days, I’d get around to apologizing to my mother. One day.

  “Chieftess Nez,” Elder Conn called. “Are you ready to begin?”

  I smiled at the old man and lifted my arms. “Yes. Let’s begin.”

  Senka greeted me with a smile and a cup of her delicious spicy tea. “Sister.”

  I accepted the mug, breathing deep of the familiar scent. My handprint on Senka’s heart hadn’t faded over the years. The rust-colored print peeked out over her dress as she took her place next to me.

  Neither had her handprint faded from my skin. Like a tattoo, it decorated my body with the tale of our past, present, and future.

  We exchanged necklaces—my vivid turquoise replacing her pale white stones. The ritual had become habit; a normal part of our life together. Carrying the Hollow into a future where the darkness couldn’t hurt us.

  I sipped my tea and crossed my legs. The sky on this side of the veil held so many stars. More stars than people. More stars than words.

  We had several minutes before the Elders would call me back. I leaned forward and stoked the fire with a log from the pile. “Tell me a story, princess.”

  So she did.

  I hope you enjoyed SHADOW TOUCHED!

  Do you love books with strong heroines, dark paranormal storylines, and lots of magic?

  Don’t miss my Shadows & Sorcery series!

  These books are stand-alone novels from different shared world collections. You do NOT have to read the other authors’ books (much like you just read this book!) to enjoy my books.

  Find out more at heathermarieadkins.com/shadowssorcery

  About the Author

  HEATHER MARIE ADKINS writes too much but still too little. She also has too many cats, not enough tequila, and a torrid love affair with procrastination.

  Heather resides in southern Indiana with a sarcastic cop who is entirely too dependent on puns. When she’s not plotting her next story or herding felines, she's researching the weird, witchy, and woefully spectral for Spirits & Spells Podcast.

  www.heathermarieadkins.com

  Remnants of Ash

  CK Dawn

  Remnants of Ash © 2018 CK Dawn

  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 author’s 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.

  Created with Vellum

  Remnants of Ash

  Mere mortal. Fae hunter. Oh, and the apocalypse? Yeah, that happened!

  She’s an unstoppable human. He’s an immovable beast. But the Fae have scorched the earth and humans are next...

  Chloe Etain, stumbled into an ancient war between the Light and Dark that has culminated in her world being thrown into darkness and pre-industrial chaos. Vampire-like creatures roam free, feeding on unsuspecting humans. Chloe knows the truth though and, possibly, how to stop it. But as a mere mortal, what can she do?

  That’s when the fates step in. Bram Tice, a fae hunting his own kind, vows to help Chloe. But he won’t say which Court demands his allegiance. Together, they set out to right the imbalance plaguing her world and save humanity before they turn into nothing more than remnants of ash.

  1

  Fall of Humanity

  The Fae did it. They besieged the human world and were on the precipice of annihilating humanity itself. Chloe Etain learned the magic realm’s secrets too late. There was only one thing left to do. Run!

  Chloe dialed her phone as she frantically shoved her research into her backpack. It felt like she hadn’t slept in weeks, always keeping one eye open and thinking someone was following her as she got closer and closer to the truth about the Fae. Glancing in the mirror at her fading summer tan, she wiped at the dark circles under her eyes as if she could erase the fact she hadn’t slept. She held her phone to her ear with her shoulder as she tightened the messy bun holding most of her dark blonde hair at the nape of her neck. Barely acknowledging the latest breaking news alert as it flashed across the television in her dorm room, she continued putting every scrap of paper about the Light and Dark Courts deep inside her backpack. With the constant bombardment of information about massive hurricanes, devastating earthquakes, and abnormal weather patterns, the news had become mind numbing with all its coverage and the feeling of helplessness it created. They did this! Chloe thought. She wanted to scream.