Magic After Dark: A Collection of Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance Novels

by Margo Bond Collins

  One of the reasons she decided to stay until the end of the week was because Teresina planned a big going away bash at the local pub. Kasha felt like she never gave her a chance, and while they did not share a room, they had been housemates for the past two years. All of the housemates would be there, along with a boatload of their graduating class.

  After getting off the phone with her grandmother, Kasha decided to opt for a cup of hot tea. It helped to ease her homesickness. On the short walk to the bookstore, she started to second-guess her decision to stay at school for the rest of the week. She started to calculate how long it would take to load her old Cherokee.

  All of her thoughts came to an abrupt halt when she saw the line extending out of the entry doors to the campus store. She was glad she didn’t carry a bag with her; she knew there wouldn’t be any time to even put it in the staff room.

  Kasha pushed her way through the crowd, past snarky comments and evil eyes thinking she was trying to cut the line. She held her hands up in the air as proof that she wasn’t there to exchange books. “I’m here to work. Help is on the way,” she responded the only way she knew how, with a giant smile spread across her face.

  There were a few students browsing the clearance racks of clothes with last year’s date on them, but the line for the book exchange was at a slow crawl. It was always busy, but she hadn’t seen the line ever move that slowly.

  As she rounded the corner to where the makeshift station was set up, she saw large folding tables arranged with stacks of books and boxes behind them.

  “Kasha! Hi,” shouted an overly eager Teresina. A girl who had never worked a day in her life now stood behind one of the tables with a scanner in her hand.

  “Hey,” slowly rolled off Kasha’s tongue. She made sure the corners of her lips curled up into a smile and forced her eyebrows not to scrunch together. “Teresina, what are you doing here?”

  “I saw a poster in the quad, looking for volunteers. Isn’t this great?”

  “Yeah, looks like we need all the help we can get.” Kasha hurried to grab a scanner and started pricing out the used books.

  The line started moving, but not by the hands of her housemate. Kasha wasn’t sure if or what kind of training they gave to the volunteers, but her mouth was, as usual, moving faster than anything else.

  “I can’t wait for the party this weekend. It’s going to be such a blast. I’ve been inviting everyone. I even saw that someone put up posters in the quad. How cool is that?”

  “Wow, I didn’t see that. Sounds like the pub is going to be packed.” Kasha handed another ticket to a student for them to take to the register for their cash back.

  “A guy that said he does club promotions back home even contacted me about the party. He said he’s heard that I have a knack for party planning. He’s going to meet me at the pub tomorrow night.”

  “Be careful meeting people you don’t know. How did this guy get your number anyway?” Kasha asked her.

  “He said he got it from that girl Rebecca in our philosophy class. I asked her and she said he was hot.” Teresina wiggled her eyebrows. “Maybe I can introduce you? When is the last time you went out on a date anyway?”

  “That’s a good question. I’ve been too busy to notice. But I’m not interested in meeting any strange guys. Besides, I’m going home in a few days so what would the point be anyway?”

  “Suit yourself. Maybe I’ll get you drunk enough to consider it.” Her laugh sounded more like a hyena’s cackle.

  “When have you ever seen me drunk?”

  “Whatevs, this is your last college party. I’m going to make sure it is one you never forget.” Her smile was just too perfect.

  Perhaps it was her over-cheerfulness that didn’t sit right with Kasha. Kasha was someone who preferred to surround herself with happy and positive people, but there was something about Teresina that seemed phony.

  They continued to scan books until the store manger had to cut off the line and tell everyone they would have to come back in the morning. Kasha tried to engage some of the students in conversation about their summer plans to avoid having to directly interact with Teresina the entire night, because she never once came up for air.

  Chapter 2

  Mage got off the phone with Kasha and although she was happy to talk to her granddaughter, she had mixed feelings about her staying at school another week. Something wasn’t sitting right with her. She had her work cut out for her to investigate. She knew the storm was coming, but she wasn’t yet sure how bad it would be or in what direction it would be aimed.

  She already had it on her calendar to go to the flea market for some supplies. Maybe she would make plans to connect with a few people in the city before Kasha came home. There was always plenty to do and see in Santa Fe. It was one of Kasha’s favorite cities. Mage was sure she would probably start her job search there when she was ready to start her career.

  Since it was only Thursday, she figured she would make sure everything around the house was in order. Not only did she want to make sure things were tidy for Kasha’s return, but she needed to move some of the clutter from Kasha’s room. Mage was sure Kasha would be bringing back more stuff than she had room for in the little house they lived in. There was always the garage, but everything got so dusty out there in the desert.

  Mage felt very strongly about the cycle of life and that the past, the present, and the future were all connected by a stream of energy. Nothing ever truly existed the way it was seen and somehow everything existed the way it was viewed. Everything may take on many forms and many names, but it is all still the same. A tree becomes a plank, a plank becomes a table, a table becomes firewood, firewood becomes ash, and the ash becomes the earth that a new tree will grow from. Always changing form and name, but always the energy of the tree remains.

  One of the ways she liked to give back was by volunteering. Her favorite place to help was at El Rancho de las Golondrinas. It was a living museum that had ongoing events throughout the year. Once in a while, Mage would dress in historical clothing and walk around greeting visitors to the property. She wished she could be involved more, but she didn’t have the energy she had as a young woman.

  Next month would be the Herb and Lavender Festival, and she couldn’t be more excited about any of their other events. Mage volunteered to give a seminar on drying herbs for teas, vinegars, and oils. Something fairly generic that would appeal to the masses, but from her heart nonetheless. Herbs were her thing; she could answer almost any question about how to dry herbs, how to use them, and what they were best used for.

  Mage never passed up the opportunity to connect with nature or the earth. She ran around the kitchen, grabbing some last-minute things and a notebook to jot down anything special that Catori wanted her to include in her little workshop.

  Catori, the operations manager, was part Native American Indian and Mexican. Working at Las Golondrinas was her way of honoring the past. She and her family grew up in the area. She loved being able to replicate the old ways of what it was like to live in New Mexico as far back as the 1700s to both the youth in the surrounding communities and tourists interested in the colorful history of New Mexico. Mage had a lot of respect for what this woman did.

  She grabbed her almost rusty key ring and started to pack up a few old milk crates with her workshop supplies. She needed a distraction for her unease. She knew she had nothing to prove to Catori and didn’t need her approval, but she’d asked if they could go over everything together before the event.

  Mage taught a workshop or gave a lecture every year for this festival. Most of what Mage did with her herbs wasn’t something she would discuss in public or teach the masses, but this was the one thing she could say she was an expert at.

  It took Mage a few trips to her car to get it fully loaded. She purchased with her own money all the supplies for the event: jars, bottles, oils, vinegars, even grape juice. She made sure she would have everything to help these do-it-yourselfers make thei
r own homemade products. She believed in growing your own food and not buying over-processed goods with loads of additives with names you couldn’t pronounce. Anything that the attendees purchased would go right into the funds for the ranch.

  Once the old Chevette was packed, she stood back in amazement that the old girl still ran. It may have been a lifetime ago, but she did everything her husband told her to do to maintain a healthy vehicle. The old thing was still pretty in her own way. Her cream-colored paint had rusted away in only a few places. The rust spots reminded her of her own age spots that decorated her body now. The wood panel stripe along the side of the car only had a few scratches and dings, a reflection of the fact that she didn’t frequent busy parking lots very often.

  She smiled and thought about the amazing life she had and slowly lowered herself into the car. That car had taken her places, places where she created everlasting memories with her loved ones. Mage put her key in the ignition, and to her surprise, the first time she turned the key, the car grumbled a little, but did not turn over.

  “Hmm,” she said out loud. “That’s a first.”

  She got an uneasy feeling in her stomach and decided to try again. She turned the key and gave it some extra gas. The Chevette didn’t make it easy, but eventually purred to life.

  Mage pulled away from her house and began her short, but scenic drive over to the ranch. She couldn’t help but keep correlating her own life with that of her old car. She tried to tell herself how silly that was, but she knew when she had a “feeling,” something significant was usually about to happen.

  She didn’t have premonitions or anything like that, but when something bad was about to happen, she could feel it deep in the pit of her stomach. There were others in the family who had the gift of sight along with an assortment of other supernatural gifts, something she failed to ever mention to her granddaughter. Mage didn’t have any special abilities, but she studied many different cultures and different histories as they pertained to her family’s unique bloodline.

  Mage had a lot to tell Kasha when she got home from school. Guilt was always under the surface. She had kept many secrets from her granddaughter. There was often a fine line between omitting the truth and lying.

  When Mage was a young girl, she learned of her true nature from her parents. Her mother was of Celtic descent; she had a special connection with nature. Although she didn’t have the same abilities as her mother, she did feel connected to nature and treated the Earth as her mother taught her.

  Her father was a fire starter. He told Mage when she was young that she could inherit any number of unusual gifts. It was possible she would be like all the other boys and girls at school, but if she noticed anything, not to be afraid. He encouraged her to talk to them about everything.

  Each generation was only able to bare one child. His family moved around a lot too. They needed to be very careful. There was a time when they were openly hunted. Even rumors surfaced that most, if not all, of the Unis were killed off or taken and used to create new breeds.

  There are many supernatural humans, or humanoids that roam the Earth. Their numbers had dwindled down so low that their only chance to have children was to copulate with a Uni. Of course their children were hybrids at best, but when they grew up, they too would be able to mate with their own kind, strengthening their genetic makeup.

  She knew there was chance that Kasha was like her and that she would seem as human as the next person. She held on to that so tightly she might have convinced herself it to be true. In the end, she would still have to tell Kasha the truth. She needed to let her know the dangers that lurked in the shadows.

  Aurora, Kasha’s mother, knew at a young age that she was different. There was no hiding anything from her. She knew things before they happened. Aurora could see through a lie so there was no use trying to keep things from her.

  Mage tried to protect her by telling her everything about their family history. She warned her against letting anyone know about her gifts. When Aurora was a teenager, she had some rough times at school with the other girls. She struggled, knowing she was better than them, and hated that she couldn’t tell them, or better yet, show them.

  Sometimes she would write down some of the girls’ secrets on the bathroom walls if she got angry enough. They never knew Aurora was to blame, but Mage heard things around town about the pettiness going on in the school. Mage and her husband tried not to make too much of it and just moved them a few states over.

  Aurora was always searching for a way to express herself. She never felt like she belonged. Instead of embracing her gifts, she tried to ignore them and fit in with the other teenagers.

  When Aurora was eighteen, she left home and moved to a bigger city and got a job bartending. She wasn’t interested in college. She just wanted to make money and enjoy herself. She couldn’t read everyone, but with her chosen profession, she used her gift to her advantage.

  She called her parents almost every day until she was twenty-six and then the calls slowed to a stop, as did her father’s heart.

  When Aurora turned twenty-seven, she showed up on their doorstep with a baby in her arms. Mage knew it would be her only grandbaby. She wasn’t about to lose it by asking Aurora too many questions.

  The first couple of years, Aurora stayed with Mage. Her attention was on Kasha every waking minute. Mage thought back to the way the girls would look at each other. They had a special connection—one that was unspoken. From the outside looking at them, she thought they communicated with their eyes. They both had very uniquely colored blue eyes. When their emotions ran hot, their eyes changed. She couldn’t put her finger on it. Their eyes would flash a bluish-silver; it was like they got sparkly like the high sun hitting the water in a lake.

  Her heart warmed at the thought of seeing her daughter and her granddaughter together again. She smiled and cherished the thought as she pulled off the road leading into the ranch, hopeful she might know the opportunity again.

  Instead of making a left off of Los Pinos Road for the main parking lot, Mage made a right into the permit parking only lot. This way she could pull her car close to the cart booth entryway. She had no qualms about unloading her car, but Catori told her to hold off and to let her know when she arrived.

  Catori informed her that she had a young man who had volunteered to organize and assist all of the vendors and demonstrators that would be working at the event. Nonetheless, she parked as close as she could to make his job easier. She grabbed two tote bags from the back seat.

  There was always so much to see at the ranch, being that it was run and worked as it was in the 18th and 19th century. She walked past the decorative garden and memorial area on her left; of course she stopped to smell the flowers. She was in no rush; they didn’t have a set time to go over her lecture. Catori said come any time after lunch.

  There were people hard at work all over the ranch. Several hundred people volunteered on the property throughout the year. There were a few people that Mage was on a first-name basis with and a large handful of familiar faces that she remembered from other visits.

  In the short distance, she could see Catori outside of the museum shop, talking with a small group of men and women. When they locked eyes on each other, they waved. Mage didn’t want to interrupt so she hung back and motioned to her that she would be heading out for a walk.

  It was kind of like a ritual that she had each time she visited the property. She would visit the largest, and what some locals thought to be the wisest, cottonwood tree on the property. It was about a half-an-hour walk for her.

  In the tote bag that did not contain her notes and paperwork related to her workshop, she had packed an offering of rich compost to bury at the foot of the special tree and a small shovel to help her with the dirty work.

  When Mage got to the tree, she sat beneath the shade it provided. Before she would begin her ritual, she liked to meditate and connect to her surroundings. Mage’s mother was able to talk with nature in a w
ay that she could not understand, but it never stopped her from trying.

  For a few minutes, she sat there breathing in the smells of her surroundings. She was letting go of the thoughts that had burdened her all day one breath at a time. Her only thoughts that remained were in the moment. She pressed her hands, palms flat, onto the ground. She could feel the tiny granules of dirt, small pebbles, and debris from the plants under her fingers.

  She sat and watched the particles of dust floating through the air in the streams of light that broke through the patches of clouds and through the branches of the trees. She watched them so intently that all other things around her disappeared. As Mage focused her eyes on the bits of light, all other thought fell away.

  With an opened heart, her shoulders relaxed back and her chest pushed up to the sky in the direction of the tree. She did as her mother taught her. Mage was unable to communicate with the tree; if she sent the tree thoughts or questions, she never got a response. Her mother, on the other hand, was always answered; that was her gift. She still believed and had faith that nature would hear her calls and provide her with what she needed. Mage knew the difference between what she wanted and what she needed.

  The things we need sometimes come with loss and pain. She knew we couldn’t rejoice without understanding sorrow. There would be no peace without fear. At this point she felt fear, not so much about the potential that something would happen to her as much as it was her concern that the darkness she felt was coming for her beloved granddaughter Kasha.

  After connecting with the tree in a meditative state for some time, her concentration was broken by the sound of footsteps in the distance. Her concentration level was so attuned to her surroundings that she heard them coming before she could see them.