by Danica Avet
The Three Kingdoms
You Bet Your Banshee
What’s a banshee to do when she’s sentenced to death because of her inability to cry? Move to Earth and become a stripper, of course. For ten years, Magda O’Quinn has lived on Earth, supporting herself with her butt-shaking skills and hiding from the banshee queen who wants her dead, before she discovers people are hunting her who won't stop until she's back in Fairworld.
The first to find her is hunky Halfling Ryvan Keller, an agent of the fairy queen. The attraction Magda feels for him is panty-wetting to be sure, but there’s no way she'll give in to her attraction and meekly follow him back into the hell of Fairworld. She’ll have to battle extreme lust for a sexy Halfling, fall in love, and defeat an evil queen before she can get back to the business of having a life again.
Genre: Contemporary, Fantasy
Length: 32,728 words
YOU BET YOUR BANSHEE
The Three Kingdoms
Danica Avet
EROTIC ROMANCE
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Erotic Romance
YOU BET YOUR BANSHEE
Copyright © 2012 by Danica Avet
E-book ISBN: 978-1-61926-831-9
First E-book Publication: July 2012
Cover design by Harris Channing
All cover art and logo copyright © 2012 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
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Letter to Readers
Dear Readers,
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DEDICATION
My cat, Cookie, played a very big role in deciding who would be one of my heroine’s best friends. Without my chunky four-legged friend, Magda wouldn’t have had Breeze and I wouldn’t have had as much fun writing this story as I did. Thanks, Cookie, for all the inspiration. This one’s for my readers. I wouldn’t be doing this without your kind words and support. I hope you enjoy Magda’s story.
YOU BET YOUR BANSHEE
The Three Kingdoms 1
DANICA AVET
Copyright © 2012
* * *
Chapter One
The small room attached to the Thomas Guillory Community Center was packed with Fairworlders in need of support and understanding. I glanced around at the crowd of fifteen, picking out the new faces easily. I’d been coming to these Fairworld Support Group meetings for eight years now and knew the routine.
Phineas, the group leader nodded my way after he gave his welcome speech.
I stood, my stomach fluttering. I hated going first, not because I’m scared of crowds, but because when we had new Fairworlders in the group I felt like more of a freak.
I cleared my throat. “My name is Magda. I’m a banshee.”
They murmured, “Hi, Magda,” back at me, the two newbies keeping mum. I squinted at them. One was a vampire. He was easy to label with his eerie pink eyes. The other I wasn’t too sure about, though he looked a little familiar. He was a halfling of some kind and his dark eyes watched me with way too much attention. I shrugged it off. Chances were he’d seen me at my day job.
I knew what newbies to the group thought when they saw me. They took note of the platinum blonde hair which could have been dyed, but wasn’t. I’d tried coloring it a few times, but my hair grows so damn fast, all I seemed to do was piss money away. They stared at my eyes, the lavender irises that marked me as a banshee. Not that my peepers did me any good.
Ugh, gut clench time. I geared myself to admit my shame to a roomful of people.
“I can’t cry,” I confessed to the crowd. I saw several nods, a couple of understanding smiles, and the blank look of shock from the vampire. I wasn’t sure what the halfling thought because his face was so deeply shadowed, but it was probably the same look of astonishment as the vampire wore.
Yeah, I was a freak because banshees are supposed to cry. Hell, we were known for crying. “I’ve had every test known to Fairworld, been exposed to every torture known to human and Fairworlder, yet I can’t produce tears.” This was the hardest part. My stomach twisted on me, trying to keep the words in, but they had to come out, I had to purge myself of the pain. “Because of my…mutation,” it seemed a kind enough word, “I can’t be a functioning member of banshee society. I can’t contribute anything to the court. I was a burden and a shame to my family. I came Earthside ten years ago when I realized my queen wanted me dead.”
That was an understatement. For all of our advancements in technology and magic, Fairworlders were like any animal in Fairworld or on Earth: they wanted to destroy the weakest link. I’d nearly been torn apart by my people before I managed to get away from them. I might be defective, but I have a will to survive. I hadn’t been back to Fairworld and I doubted I ever would. Those bitches were crazy.
Phineas gave me an encouraging smile. “How have you done since our last meeting, Magda?”
“Um, fine. Things are a lot better now that I no longer fear they’ll come after me.” I twisted my fingers in the loose folds of my skirt. “I have a steady job now”—stripping at Spankalicious, but they didn’t need to know that—“and I finally sleep more than two hours at a time.” When I drink myself into a stupor, I added mentally.
“Have you made contact with your family to let them know you’re okay?” Phineas’s young-old face studied me with compassion. He was a wood elf, very o
ld, very wise, and he understood being a freak since he was allergic to plants.
I shook my head, my heart slamming. “No. I’m not ready for that.” I’d never be ready for that. My own grandmother had handed me over to the banshee queen for “training” when I was a child and that bitch hated me.
“You need closure with your tribe, Magda,” Phineas said in his calm, collected voice. He’d been at this support group a lot longer than I had. He no longer got ruffled. His oak-colored face creased into a charming smile. “Your family needs to understand they no longer have a hold on you, or you’ll always live in fear of them.” I nodded because it was true. He smiled again. “Next month I want to hear that you’ve at least called them, okay?”
I nodded and sat down again. If I was able to cry, I would have right then and there. My eyes burned with the need though no tears fell. They never did. It was a birth defect that marked me for death the moment my tribe realized I wasn’t capable of producing the one commodity banshees had in Fairworld.
As I absently listened to others talk, I pleated my skirt, wishing once again that I was normal. I was useless to my people. Banshee tears were a form of money in Fairworld. Used in rituals, spells, and even medicine, the strength of the banshee gave more power to her tears which made them more valuable. The banshee queen’s tears were like nitroglycerin, full of power and quite valuable in the Fairworld magic market. I’d seen Queen Melosia’s tears kill someone once. I’d been filled with awe and envy, not because I wanted to kill someone, but because I couldn’t produce a drop of moisture to keep a gnat from dehydrating.
I’d spoken with complete truth earlier. My defect shamed my family and made me a burden on the economy.
I bit back a sigh and looked up just as the new vampire stood. He wasn’t bad looking, I suppose. I just never got into the whole blood-letting thing. Several women I knew adored it; they thought it was sexy. I figured I bled enough when I was back in Fairworld. I wasn’t about to donate to make some man happy. I glanced over at the halfling who was way more attractive and found him still staring at me. Warmth pooled in my belly because I wouldn’t have minded trying to make him happy. Idiot! I was so not lusting after some random elf no matter how rugged he looked.
I forced myself to look at the vampire again before I started panting at the halfling. The vampire’s pink gaze skittered across the faces turned toward him. I felt kind of bad for him. Most newbies waited a few meetings before speaking, but he’d stood up when Phineas asked if anyone else would like to say anything.
“My name is Gideon,” he said in a deep voice that didn’t really go with his lanky frame and pale face. I saw several women shiver, leaning forward. I leaned back. Something about him bugged me. “I’m a vampire.”
“Hi, Gideon,” everyone chimed in.
His tongue swiped over his lips. I swear I heard one of my friends sigh. “I…I hate the smell or sight of blood.”
Sympathy swelled despite my revulsion. I’d met several vampires at the meetings. None of them had an aversion to blood. Poor guy. Phineas started asking questions, encouraging Gideon to speak. It was a bit like pulling teeth, but in the end we all learned he had to plug his nose and close his eyes to drink. Even then, he admitted with a very pale blush, he sometimes lost his meal because thinking about what he’d swallowed upset him. He’d been turned out of his clan for being weak and had been struggling on Earthside for eight months.
Phineas gave Gideon a few suggestions and his number before he asked if anyone else would like to speak. I glanced over at the halfling, but he was gone. I gave a mental shrug and stood to clasp hands with the fairies on either side of me for the group prayer.
Once again, peace filled me. I wasn’t alone here. There were other freaks like me on Earthside. We’d found each other and provided support. It was a hell of a lot more than any of my relatives had done in the fifty years since I was born.
* * * *
After making plans to meet up with Sable, the reaper who was scared of the dead, I huddled into my coat and stepped onto the sidewalk. This part of New Orleans wasn’t the best, but it wasn’t the worst either. With a long walk ahead of me, I thanked the gods I wore comfortable boots.
Stepping quickly, I started for the shitty apartment I called home. Cold wind snapped around me making me wish I’d brought my scarf with me and maybe brought jeans instead of a skirt when I got off of work. I hated the cold, which was why I moved to south Louisiana after living in Michigan. Winters weren’t horrible here, but we were having freak weather. Meteorologists were talking about the possibility of snow in the next couple of days. Just my friggin’ luck.
“Magda,” a deep, hypnotizing voice said from the darkness next to me.
My heart pounded and my mouth went dry. I didn’t recognize the voice, but the power in his tone was undeniable. I wanted to keep walking. Hell, I wanted to run, except my muscles froze. I’m not a complete coward. I knew how to fight, all banshees are amazing swordswomen, but I was weaponless and the power in that voice proved impossible to ignore. I stopped dead in the middle of the sidewalk, turning my head to peer into the deep shadows next to the community center.
A figure slipped out of the darkness. He moved with lethal grace, his footsteps silent on the broken glass scattered over the concrete. His power hit me square in the face like a big slap of reality. I backed away as he neared. The power quickly receded as though he realized he was scaring me. Not that it was hard. He was a hulk of a man.
He had to be nearly a foot taller than me and twice as wide. Not fat or even pudgy. No, he was all muscle. It scared the shit out of me to be honest. I recognized him, though when I’d seen him earlier, his face had been mostly in shadow. It was the other newbie, the halfling. Eerie blue eyes stared at me, looking way too light for the darkness of his hair and deeply tanned skin. I tried looking away from him because you can’t run if you’re staring behind you, but that didn’t work worth a damn.
He stopped five feet from me and shoved hands as big as dinner plates into the pockets of his jeans. “I’m sorry,” he said in a purposely calm voice. “I didn’t mean to startle you.” Unlike Phineas, this guy didn’t have the elf’s ability for suggestion because I was still scared.
My throat made a click sound as I swallowed. I continued staring at him, feeling a bit like David facing down Goliath, except I didn’t have a slingshot.
His lips, soft-looking lips, curled back in a grimace exposing sharp incisors. Overly long, shaggy black hair fell around his not-quite-handsome, but attractive face. Again, heat stirred in the pit of my stomach as I noticed how really…well, sexy he was.
“Who are you?” I asked like I wasn’t about to pee on myself.
He froze with his hand halfway to his hair. The black jacket he wore gaped, showing off his broad chest covered in a tight T-shirt with diamond hard nipples visible beneath the fabric. I stared at those stubby points for a moment before dropping my eyes. I knew it had nothing to do with me and everything to do with the cold considering my own nipples were in the same condition from the freezing wind.
I was not turned on, no sir. It was definitely the weather.
“I’m Ryvan Keller,” the big man said, pushing his hand through his thick hair. The move showed more than washboard abs. It also revealed pointed ears. He was an elf, though I’d never seen one as big as him. “I’ve been trying to track you down for years.”
I took a wary step back. I should have recognized him for what he was the instant I felt his power, but in my defense, I’d been living in the mortal world for awhile. The only Fairworlders I ran into these days were weak from living on this plain of existence. Ryvan was full to the brim of power and he’d been tracking me.
He was a Repo elf, had to be. “I paid off my debts before I left Fairworld,” I stammered, stumbling back another step. “I didn’t bring anything with me that I wasn’t supposed to. I swear.”
Oh, I did not like the way his eyebrows lowered, or how his eyes blazed even brighter
. “I know that. I’m not here because of a debt.”
Somehow that didn’t make me feel any better. I didn’t want to find out why he was stalking me. I just wanted him to take his sexy ass back to Fairworld and let me live in peace.
I’d taken two steps away from him when he said, “You have to return to Fairworld.”
My heart seized with sudden, unadulterated fear. There was no reason for me to return to Fairworld unless it was to receive punishment for running, or execution for abandoning my people.
Adrenaline shot through my body. My tear ducts might be fucked up, but my flight or fight responses were keen. I tensed to spring away from him, my mind already working out a way to lose the elf as I ran for home. Before I moved, something barreled into me from behind. Ryvan’s eyes widened, dangerous sparks flaring near the pupils, but I fell before I could see more.
I hit the ground with a bounce, my head slamming into the concrete. Everything swam before my dazed eyes. I felt crushing pressure on my back seconds before it was torn away. Vicious snarling and growling filled the air around me, but darkness encroached. I don’t remember anything else after that.
* * *
Chapter Two
A crash sounded nearby and I sat straight up, a scream on my lips. The sound never made it out of my mouth because I wasn’t where I should have been. My big butt should have been laid out on the sidewalk in front of the Thomas Guillory Gym, but I was in bed. My bed.