Paranormal Magic (Shades of Prey Book 1)

by Margo Bond Collins

  Standing outside in the dark a tear of fulfillment ran down her left cheek as she heard the first cry for help. Soon she heard a second, then a third until the house was filled with screams. As her heart raced, she slowly ascended the stairs to see what hell had come here tonight by her making.

  As nerves took hold, her body became hot, real hot. She steadied herself against the back door to stop herself from falling and waited for it to pass, resting her head against the frame, which wasn’t really cold but, compared to her body’s temperature, it felt ten degrees cooler. She prayed not to pass out.

  Her insides felt like they were on fire, twisting and melting from the inside out. Her dress clung to her as beads of perspiration covered her skin. Shutting her eyes and covering her mouth to prevent herself from screaming, she rode out the storm inside of her in silence.

  ***

  As it receded, she was finally able to breathe normally again and stood up straight, bracing herself against the house in case she felt light-headed but inexplicably she felt just the opposite. Lilly felt well, completely well in mind and body. Her heart raced and her energy soared so high she felt like she was floating on air. It was euphoric, something she had never felt before.

  “You have to stop them, Lilly.” Jina appeared to her, begging her to forget this madness before it was too late. Lilly spun around. This time she was not pleased to see her but annoyed at Jina for appearing now.

  “Stop them, why? You knew what tonight was about. I already told you not now, girl, later,” Lilly said, swaying on the steps.

  “But we didn’t know the truth about you. You don’t understand the more they feed, the worse it affects you,” Jina said.

  “Go away, girl,” Lilly said, swatting at Jina and turning her back to her.

  “He’s coming, Lilly. I know you sense him. I know you do and if you don’t stop this he will come for you too. He will hunt and kill you just like those things in there. It’s evil we brought forth, Lilly, please fight it, fight it . . .” but Jina tailed off again because the only thing Lilly wanted to fight was the truth. She didn’t want to hear her anymore.

  I will not care until later, she told herself with doubt in her heart. She promised herself she would call on Jina afterwards but for now she needed this wickedness, this evil as Jina called it. Honestly, it felt right; it felt so good it made her body tingle all over. Her focus needed to be on the present moment not the aftermath, so she pushed the doubts away.

  She opened the back door to see what awaited her on the other side. Stepping inside, the kitchen was a mess of thrown body parts, pools of blood and half-eaten flesh. The cook was shriveled and withered up, the same as her followers had been. The only things left of him were bones and clothes, no flesh remained.

  The smell caught Lilly for a moment but she got over it when a noise caught her attention. One of the cook’s helpers, a girl, had a bloody butcher’s knife stuck in her chest, nailing her to the floor. She wasn’t dead yet because her eyes followed Lilly, pleading for her to help. She lay choking on her own blood, attempting to say something. There were bite marks on her arms, legs and stomach as the evil fed on her. There was another body but it was so badly mangled she couldn’t make out who it was.

  The mess was daunting and Lilly knew it, but only part of her felt remorse; the other half of her relished it. She knew it wasn’t right to feel that way, but her darker half was winning out, making her want more.

  Curious, she bent down next to the girl who was still trying to say something to her, but instead of helping her, she dipped her fingers in the girl’s bloody flesh. She didn’t know why, but she did. Pulling her hand away, Lilly placed it on her own lips, tasting the bitter sweetness of the young girl’s blood. Half shocked, Lilly wiped her mouth and the girl’s eyes widened in disbelief as she watched Lilly taste her blood. Lilly jumped, moving away, mortified at what she had done.

  From the corner of the kitchen, she watched the girl die slowly, gagging no more. She snapped out of her fixation when more screams came from the other side of the kitchen door. Hearing the cries of the fat, rich men in the next room begging, pleading to be let out, she needed to move on.

  Careful not to touch the bloody wall, she opened the kitchen door, wondering what horror she would see next.

  Entering the hallway, she carefully followed a trail of blood. It led to a half-eaten man lying dead, propped up against the wall. Peering closely to see if she recognized him, something warm and wet hit the top of her head. She touched the spot, wiping the area to see what it was and saw that it was red: blood red.

  Looking up she saw the doorman staring back at her from above. His head was somehow hanging from the ceiling by what looked like a hook and rope, although she knew it wasn’t rope but part of his internal organs. Not knowing the body as well as a practitioner she didn’t know what body part it was, but pity did not overcome her dislike for the man. He had always looked down on her for being what she was: a mistress.

  Realizing she was in a daze she refocused, moving on. She heard more howls from ahead in the main room at the front of the house. Passing other rooms along the way there were bodies of men she didn’t recognize swinging from the ceiling, and corpses she could tell had suffered vicious deaths.

  Following the trail of blood into the main room, she found most of the guests huddled together, climbing over each other in a frantic attempt to get away from Theolus and Hearon. And there, in the middle of the crowd, was her dear old husband Henry, the one who had made this possible.

  Theolus stood by the mantle, wiping his face with someone’s handkerchief as Hearon surveyed the huddled mass of scared folks, plotting her next kill, not caring that her face and white wedding dress were soiled with blood.

  “What voodoo madness is this?” Henry spat at Lilly as she walked in. “I thought I beat this wickedness out of you,” he continued, forgetting what he had just witnessed by way of Lilly’s wrath, inching closer and closer to her as he spoke. “Your father told me about your unusually special ways. You should be grateful I even chose . . .” Theolus was there in a second to stop Henry from getting too close to Lilly by throwing him against the mantle, knocking his head against the metal grate that protected the fireplace.

  The others begged and bargained with her that they would pay to be released but she didn’t even hear them. She was too focused on Theolus. He moved so swiftly it would have scared her if she wasn’t enjoying Henry’s pain and humiliation so much. Theolus stood over Henry, making sure he didn’t get back up. He didn’t even try. He was cowed by the sight of Theolus, making his suffering even more enjoyable to Lilly.

  Theolus motioned for her to talk to Henry where he lay, implying he could not harm her. Even after all the forces had done tonight, she was still more afraid of Henry. Bending down almost to his level Lilly asked, “My papa knew about me? He told you about me?”

  “My father, may God rest his soul, cried to your father about me, and he paid the price for betraying his son. He, not my wife as she would believe, handpicked me for you, knowing full well what I was capable of, Odara. You women are so simple,” Henry said in an attempt to sound superior, even as he lay on the floor unable to stand.

  All this time her papa had known full well what hell he was putting her through, and he had still allowed it. All those times she had begged to come home and he had said no. “This is your fate and you must make your husband happy,” he would say as her mother cried and begged for him to let her come home, but sadly the man had the last say.

  Not anymore.

  She could hear her mama’s words loud in her head. “Never trust any man, not any man, ‘cause them all rotten.” She even meant her papa. Then it finally clicked in Lilly’s head that Henry had killed his own father. It was no accident that he had fallen down those stairs he had taken so many times before. Henry had pushed him. She knew it was true just as she knew her hatred for Henry was real.

  Lilly stood back up, backing away. “You did this, Henry. Y
ou made me like this. I’m only returning the pain and suffering you put me through. I may have been special but that don’t mean I was wicked. All my life I was told to be something I’m not and I listened, but not anymore. Now you shut your mouth ‘cause I have something to say.”

  Not that tonight’s guests would retain what Lilly was saying because of extreme fear, but she got off her chest what she had been hiding for twelve long, miserable years. She told everyone what Henry had done to her and how truly evil he was. She wanted them all to know just the same even if they didn’t care.

  She told Theolus and Hearon to kill the men who had approached her for sex and the men who had never stood up to Henry, not even to defend their wives, but to spare the others. Most of the women were just like her, forced into marriage. Lilly felt this was no life for any woman.

  She commanded the survivors to tell the others what had happened here tonight and about her, Madame Lilly. She threatened the other men to do right by their wives or she would come for them while they slept. But before she would let them go they were going to watch as her forces had their way with those chosen to die.

  “As for Henry, he will not die tonight. He will watch as we slaughter the rest of his family. Kill the rest,” Lilly ordered, not having to point out anyone in particular. They knew whom to spare and whom to kill. Lilly watched as they tortured, maimed and ate the selected victims. They sucked them dry by ripping off heads with their bare hands to drink their blood, pulling them apart from the center, slitting throats. The survivors were caught in the middle, screaming and begging to their gods. Others huddled in the corner, covering their eyes and howling to be freed.

  Lilly shouted and her voice sounded like insanity. “There is no God here this night. You must watch and remember . . . hear, watch and remember.” As fire ran through her body again her blood boiled as before. She fell against the closed doors partly to keep them shut but mainly holding herself up as Theolus and Hearon fed savagely, attacking the living.

  She felt like she was floating on air once more. Her body was tingling and she enjoyed it, even though she knew it was wrong. Lilly knew this was not her but she couldn’t stop it. She wanted more of it.

  Trying to fight the overwhelming feeling she watched as the forces attacked the guests. Theolus and Hearon moved so swiftly they soon resembled hollowed fragments of themselves or disfigured creatures. They made such awful screeching sounds it wore on Lilly’s nerves and the smell of death almost sickened her. Wanting to turn away she found she couldn’t yet. As soon as she couldn’t take it anymore, it abruptly stopped.

  “Madame Lilly,” Theolus called to her, bringing her back from her deep thoughts. She observed the mess of torn and half-eaten bodies. People she knew, people she had once called her friends were in front of her, dead.

  “What have I done?” Lilly said, gripping the door handles. “Why didn’t I stop this?” She knew why but didn’t want to confront the part of her which had enjoyed it.

  “You have done nothing, Madame, we did it.” Hearon finally spoke, sounding amused. “Are you not pleased?” she said, showcasing the room.

  As Lilly walked forward away from the door, she shook her head in disagreement and said, “No, this was me.” She remembered Henry, he cowered in the corner, still not saying a word but choking on his own vomit.

  “Leave, get out,” she told the survivors. “No one else here shall be harmed tonight.” Most thanked her a thousand times before running out, not thinking about their carriages.

  Chapter 8

  The night stirred again, bringing that feeling with it that the presence they dreaded was close. “Burn the house. Afterwards, if we survive, then we will visit the Nicolas’ house so Henry and his wife can die together.”

  “No, voodoo witch, kill me now. I won’t go,” Henry said, standing and holding onto the mantle to stop himself passing out. “You’re sick.”

  “No, Henry, you will be in agony and die a cruel death, but before then you will suffer as I did.” She spat in his face, making him recoil against the wall. She yelled at them to hurry.

  Theolus poured liquor on furniture, threw oil lamps, and grabbed up anything flammable to burn down this place she had once called home. Hearon was taking care of the upstairs, destroying and setting the house ablaze. The only thing Lilly had taken from the house was a bag, already packed and stowed away in her buggy.

  The house was now alight, burning the rotting bodies within. As the place burned, they all stood inside the foyer, including Henry under duress. Watching her home crumble, Lilly felt nothing but relief that her hell was finally over and her new life of freedom was about to begin.

  Theolus pulled Lilly to him and kissed her long and hard. No longer caring about what these creatures were, only about the ecstatic feeling that came with their insatiable appetites, she enjoyed every minute of it, kissing him back passionately. It wasn’t love or infatuation but pure pleasure as he made her body desire and lust in ways she had never experienced before.

  She knew deep down inside her tainted soul that the three of them were linked and she could never let either one of them go. Henry gave her the look of death but all Lilly did was smile back.

  They walked outside, not looking back as the flames grew behind them, taking the house with them, slowly crumbling it to the ground. Their backs felt the heat of the burning wood as they made their way down the path away from her past. Hearon had Henry roped by the hands; he was trying to get away, but was unable to free himself from bondage.

  They walked down the front path where she had arrived by carriage so many years ago thinking she was the luckiest woman in the world to have been picked by Henry.

  “He’s here, Madame,” Theolus said.

  “I know,” Lilly said. “I can sense him too.” That feeling was something new. Before tonight she had never been able to distinguish a man from something else.

  Reaching the buggy that Lilly had hidden before this night began, they were met by none other than the one they were trying to miss.

  “Mambo Lilly, I presume,” said a man seated on top of a horse and leaning forward.

  Lilly motioned for Hearon to get in the buggy with Henry while she handled this, but Theolus stayed at her side.

  “What do you want?” Lilly asked the man on the horse.

  He dismounted to walk next to her. He was a tall, handsome man with chiseled features. He wore a long black jacket with gold buttons over black tights and black boots to match his eyes that were dark pits of nothingness.

  “My name is Elijah and you know what I came for. If you don’t command them to release those bodies, others of my kind will come for them.” Although he was polite when he spoke Lilly knew it was a threat.

  “They are my business. You play no part in my affairs,” Lilly said, half afraid and half wondering why he didn’t just kill them. She could sense his energy and it was powerful, but she had no clue what he was.

  “You were supposed to have released them by now, so why haven’t you?” Elijah demanded.

  “How do you already know so much?” Lilly asked.

  “I see and hear a lot. Don’t make me take them from you,” Elijah said. “There will be a lot of bloodshed.”

  Before Lilly could respond, Theolus had grabbed him. “Let go of Elijah, Theolus.” Now she understood why she was needed: Theolus and Hearon were faster and stronger than he.

  “They control you as much as you control them, but you will not hold their control for too much longer. You are playing with forces you know nothing about. The more they feed the more you will change. Don’t you understand the gravity of your doing? Didn’t your grandmother, Sophie, explain this to you? Don’t give in, Odara,” Elijah said, lightly touching her arm but clearly upset by what had just occurred. Theolus only knocked his hand away but it was clear he wanted to do more to him for touching her.

  “Stop, Theolus. How do you know my mama, my grandmother?” Lilly asked.

  “I knew Sophie well. You are su
rprised. Did she not tell you about your heritage, Odara?” Elijah looked no older than Lilly, yet he knew Mama.

  “We must go, Madame, others are coming and we need to hide you,” Theolus said. Lilly allowed herself to be lured to the buggy but wondered who this man was and how he knew so much about her.

  “When you are ready to talk, Odara, you can find me where the oak meets the river,” Elijah said as they pulled away to find shelter.

  As they rode away Lilly could not help but look back at Elijah, the mysterious figure on the horse, as he was no mere man. It would not be the last time she’d lay eyes on him for she knew his threats were real and came with a wrath far greater than her own. There would be no escaping Elijah.

  ***

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  Her Wolf

  by Erin Hayes

  EMBRACING HER WOLF

  CHAPTER 1

  “You're Gemma Branford, aren't you?”

  She had been enjoying her gin and tonic at the bar when the comment caught her off guard. She didn't exactly jump, but she jerked her head around at the sound of the voice. A young man had slipped unnoticed onto the stool next to her. Standing up, he would have towered over her tiny five feet of height, with shaggy brown hair and equally brown eyes.

  But she wasn't intimidated.

  “Excuse me?” she asked, unable to keep the amusement out of her voice.

  “You're Gemma Branford, right?” he asked. A smile played across his lips. “One of the pack leaders? Strange that I don't remember meeting you. I would have remembered a pretty lady like you.”

  Easy on the eyes, yet his scent gave him away. Omega, she realized. Gemma wasn't one to play into the ranks of werewolves, but it was unusual for an Omega to be so forward. She was an Alpha, and unfortunately for him, an Alpha ranked high above an Omega. Way above him. She felt pity for him, since he was facing an uphill battle.