Paranormal Word Series Box Set (Books 1-3 and Novella)

by CC Solomon

  Poppy butted her head against my hand, and I realized then that I had stopped petting her. She was not concerned about my worries. However, as I petted her again, my anxiety lessened. I wasn’t sure if that was because she was my familiar or if the act of petting her was just soothing in general. I leaned back comfortably on the couch and continued to scratch the kitten’s head, feeling the tightness in my shoulders slowly relax.

  Somehow, I was able to fall back asleep, and when my eyes opened, the cloudy daylight hit me in my face. I squinted and looked towards the kitchen.

  Erik stood in front of the sink, eating what appeared to be a bowl of oatmeal.

  “You have a dining room table to sit and eat, you know,” I called.

  He winked at me. “Who needs that?” he replied through mouthfuls.

  I looked over to the table. It did look a bit dusty. I’d have to throw a good cleaning spell on it when we returned. Ah, the joys of magic and its ability to make me lazy.

  Erik put his empty bowl down in the sink and headed out of the kitchen.

  I cringed. He had to at least fill the bowl with water to make cleaning it out easier. He looked at my face and raised an eyebrow. “Yes?”

  I waved both my hands at him. “It’s nothing.”

  “Ok.” He didn’t move.

  “It’s just…You’re just going to leave that bowl in there like that?”

  He smiled, returned to the sink, and rinsed the bowl out before putting it in the dishwasher.

  I looked at him cleaning, and doing such a mundane task with a smile on his face. It warmed me. For a moment, I was completely content just watching him. “Why are you smiling?” I asked, resting an elbow on the arm of the couch.

  “I missed you.” He walked over to me with a predatory look in his hazel eyes that tensed my core. I didn’t ever want him to stop looking at me like that.

  “I’ll tell you to clean more often then,” I cracked. I wanted a home with this man, I suddenly realized. I loved him and everything about him. The way he looked at me as if I was amazing to behold overwhelmed me with joy. His need to protect those in trouble, even if it made him uncomfortable, was inspiring. I even loved his growl when he was upset or his often grumpy demeanor, especially in the mornings. He was kind hearted, brave and quite possibly the love of my life.

  He looked at me, eyes slowly covering every inch of me.

  I bit my lower lip, and my heart sped up. Poppy jumped off my lap and raced out of the room. Smart kitty.

  Erik’s eyes seemed brighter. Not yet jackal but not fully human either. It was a predatory look, but at this moment I knew I was more than safe. He wanted me and I wanted him. I would never get tired of those eyes.

  He kept his eyes on me as he slowly leaned toward me, hands balanced on the back of the couch so that his arms were on either side of me. And then his lips were on me, soft and warm at first before becoming harder and needful. I pressed up to him, wanting him closer.

  “I missed you,” he whispered, grabbing my hands and placing them above my head. He held my wrists into place with one large hand against the wall.

  “I miss—"

  I was interrupted by a knock at the door. I was going to strangle whoever was.

  Erik cursed before retreating to the entrance.

  Lisa appeared awkwardly behind him.

  I sat upright. “Hey, Lisa.”

  “Sorry, did I interrupt anything? You’re still leaving for Hagerstown, right?”

  I slapped my forehead lightly. I’d almost forgotten that Lisa had offered to help me move.

  Erik nodded, getting our coats out of the closet. He didn’t speak to her as we headed out the door. This was going to be a fun ride. I knew he and Lisa had been on the outs since she sent me away, but I had hopes they’d get past whatever happened when I was gone.

  We drove that morning in uncomfortable silence. I was beginning to second guess my decision to drive. Teleporting was always an option, but it took unnecessary energy, and there was a trading post we wanted to swing by on the way back. Not to mention, I was curious to see if anything had changed in our surroundings from the time I’d been gone. New communities were always popping up or expanding.

  An hour in Lisa finally broke the silence.

  “So, you guys think Blake is really the soulmate?” she asked.

  I shrugged, turning slightly in the passenger seat. “I’ve never been a huge fan of hers in part because she aligns herself with people I don’t care for like Seth,” I answered.

  “Or Phillip,” Erik said under his breath, turning the car slightly to get around an abandoned car in the middle of the highway.

  Highways weren’t always the best method of traveling because of all the abandoned cars from those fleeing the Sickness almost ten years ago. Of course, there weren’t really many places one could escape to if one was a regular human. The immune and paranormal humans still had to fight supernatural creatures and plant life because human flesh really was the best. Apparently. Such creatures took over many of the major cities in America. People had taken to the highways to get out. Many hadn’t made it, dying on the road from being infected or having to leave their cars when something large and terrifying erupted from the middle of the interstate pavement.

  Therefore, travel always took a much longer time by car because roads were still not clear, and backroads were more at risk for large creatures like giant trolls. We were just thankful that magic allowed us to still drive cars. When the paranormal change took over, anything electronic went dark. The only way to get power to work again was with the help of mages and witches like my brother and me. There were many places in the world that still had no electricity and were living off the grid.

  Things didn’t seem as if they’d ever get back to normal. We still had no government and were, instead, a series of independent towns, despite a recent resurgence of something more unified trying to form. Hagerstown was one such place, known as a government town. These towns were communities that supported the reemergence of our former order and had their own leaders that served as a cross between a mayor and a congressman. There wasn’t a president yet, but the individual town leaders instead made up a type of oligarchy still ruling democratically. Any day now, there would be a fight as these towns attempted to get everyone else to submit and go back to the one rule under the United States.

  “Anyway,” I began, side-eyeing Erik. “Something just isn’t right. If Blake was really the soulmate, why would she push me together with Phillip? You’d think she‘d want to encourage us being apart.”

  “I could send her to fairy world,” Lisa offered, gazing out the window as she twirled a strand of her hair. “Keep her away until we figure this whole thing out. Queen Arwa is pretty strong. She might be able to get the truth out of her. The Fae are an old race, a Fae queen could be as powerful as a soulmate.”

  I pondered that. “That’s actually not a bad idea.”

  “Seth won’t allow that.” Erik remained focused on the treacherous road.

  “You think he’ll care that much? Who’s her second? I’d figure he wouldn’t care as long as he has the vampires on his side.”

  “How long do you think the vampires will be on his side if Seth doesn’t do anything when we banish their leader to another realm?”

  Good point. “Well, at least we have the lamp now, and they can’t use Ahmed against us.”

  “We don’t have the lamp,” Erik started, his face scrunched together in a frown, “Phillip does. I’m not sure that’s better.”

  I didn’t blame Erik for not being comfortable with Phillip. Between Gary the gryphon as his familiar, having the lamp, and being Blake’s consort, Phillip had certainly set himself up to be formidable.

  Entering the government town was a process. Whether we drove or teleported, we still had to go to the entrance checkpoint to get in. At the entrance, we were looked over and had to submit a cotton swab sample from our mouths to people in Hazmat suits to test whether we were carrying th
e Sickness. Even if we were immune to the deadly symptoms, no one knew for certain if that meant we were carriers. And for any new paranormals entering town, their power was magically muted for twenty-four hours or longer until cleared. We were basically citizens of the community, so access was quicker for us.

  Packing up our apartments didn’t take much time. I hadn’t acquired much, and since apartments and houses were plentiful in this new world, I didn’t have any furniture to bring.

  I was feeling a bit awkward not living with Charles, who had moved in with Felix now. We’d been living together for almost nine years, not including the time before I went off to college. Now I was about to embark into yet a new phase of my life, cohabitating with a guy. A grumpy, alpha werejackal, whom I’ve only known for seven months, and half of those seven months, we weren’t even together. Sure, in this brave new world, time was a different creature. People connected quickly when they had to fight off supernatural creatures and human cults. Yet, panic rose inside me, twisting my gut. I tried my best to hide it as Erik threw my large suitcase in the back of his SUV.

  Erik walked over and hugged me, rubbing my back. “I think this will be good for us.”

  I should have known I couldn’t hide anything from Erik. I wasn’t sure if it was because we were mates, part of The Six, or simply because of love, but he always knew how I was feeling.

  Lisa smiled at us before turning away, kicking at the snow on the sidewalk.

  She was still shocked like I was at how tender Erik could be. When I first met him, he wasn’t the nicest to me, but one thing he always seemed to be was a protector, even in his former life in the military, as a bodyguard, and as a father. The latter was still something he hadn’t talked about much, and I didn’t push him. Losing a child is never easy, but losing a child in such a horrifying way made it even worse. Children, paranormal or not, were still the most vulnerable resource in our society. Erik’s daughter had not survived shifting into a werejackal. The death rate for were children was nearly half. Children of the Fae and living vampires had even higher mortality rates.

  Yet, even with all that hurt, he still wanted me with him. I squeezed him closer to me before reluctantly letting go.

  “You guys are really cute together,” Lisa said, clasping her hands behind her back and smiling at us like a little girl.

  I moved away from Erik and turned to her. “Thanks for helping me pack.”

  She waved her hand at me dismissively. “Of course.”

  I looked over to Erik, who was busy brushing fresh snow off of the car windows. He had been like a brother to Lisa and now they no longer spoke.

  “Okay, make up and be friends again,” I demanded, looking between the two of them and giving my mom glare.

  Erik kept avoiding my eyes, evading the full force of my inner mom magic.

  Lisa gave me sad puppy dog eyes while shaking her head.

  Ok, I was going to have to pull out the threats. “Well, if you don’t make up, I’m not moving in with you.”

  Erik gave me a death stare. “What?”

  I jutted out my chin, unafraid of his glare. “You heard me. You’re being silly. Lisa did what she thought was best, and honestly, it was the right call. I wish I was in on it from the beginning, but it came at the right time. If I’d lost the challenge, who knows what could have happened?” I didn’t remind him that my plan was to kill myself and, due to our connection, Phillip, if I didn’t win our Witches’ Challenge.

  However, the look in his eyes showed clearly that he remembered. Erik looked over to Lisa with neutral eyes. “I don’t trust you anymore.”

  “I understand,” she replied, staring at her feet.

  “You should,” I interjected. “She’s shown that she can make the tough decisions to do what’s right.”

  Erik tilted his head and gave me a weird, creepy look. “Sending you away with that man-child was the right thing to do, you say?”

  “Yes.” I put my hands on my hips. I knew I was taking risks, but I had to push him just a little. He was smart enough to know the bigger picture and he was being unreasonable.

  Woman, are you crazy? Lisa’s voice boomed in my head. Don’t risk your relationship for me.

  I’m not, but he needs to be more reasonable and…hey, how can we communicate telepathically? I thought The Six telepathy only worked when we were in danger.

  Clearly the world is saying that one of us is in danger now and for once it’s not me.

  “I shouldn’t have to say this, but it’s rude to have a telepathic conversation while others are around,” Erik grumbled. He lowered his head, but his eyes were on me. “You test me, woman.”

  “Which one of us?” I asked, giving a wide grin.

  He growled. “Both of you.” He ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

  “Lisa, I’m moving in with you.”

  Her emerald eyes grew large. “But I live with Faith, and it’s only two bedrooms.”

  I rolled my eyes. Why couldn’t she play along? “We’ll figure something out.”

  Erik turned from us.

  “It’s so cold out here,” I whispered loudly. “I hope your apartment is nice and toasty, Lisa.” I crossed my arms and did a two-step on the snow-covered sidewalk.

  “Lisa, next time you want to do anything that could jeopardize the group, let’s talk about it first. And Mina?” Erik started, giving me a sideways stare.

  “Yes, babe?”

  “If you mention again how being sent away for almost three months with that ass-wipe was the right thing to do, then I will have Lisa send you away again. You’ll do it right, Lisa?”

  “Yep,” she squeaked with slightly frightened, wide eyes.

  I glared at her.

  She dropped her hands to the side and gave me pleading eyes. “I gotta make amends.”

  “You’re gonna have to make amends to me if you send me away again.”

  Erik turned back to us, and Lisa walked up to him, hugging him tightly. He stiffened at first and then relaxed, slowly wrapping his arms around her. “No more secrets, okay?”

  Lisa nodded and then mumbled something in his chest I couldn’t catch.

  He frowned and held her back at arm’s length. “You know the elf in Baltimore?”

  “You heard that?” I asked then quickly remembered he had that amazing were hearing.

  Lisa nodded and explained how she knew Joo-won, having met him when she left to visit the Fae Realm after my brother’s supposed death. It was her thought that he could be rehabilitated. I couldn’t believe she’d been keeping such a secret from us. Unless he was helping the soulmates against his will, I couldn’t imagine him being a good guy.

  “Or we can just kill him,” Erik offered with a shrug after she finished explaining.

  Lisa threw her hands out to the side. “Hey, he saved my life and swore to protect me.”

  “That’s because he wants to get in your pants. As soon as he realizes he has no chance, he’ll try to kill you.”

  “Really, Erik?” I cried. I suspected there was flirtation from both sides and possibly something deeper. Trivializing it to just sex was insulting.

  He gave me emotionless eyes that made me a little uneasy. That was the killer look. The look of the soldier who offered to kill Blake. “You can’t rehabilitate some people. If you keep trying, you’ll only get hurt in the end,” he said simply before walking away.

  I was smart enough to know he wasn’t just talking about Joo-won.

  Chapter 5

  After packing up, we met the head of the Hagerstown vampires, Henry Butler, his girlfriend and my witch mentor, Shayla Winans, and my friend and former prison-mate, Chelsea Thompson, at the town deli.

  “I don’t know what’s going on,” Shayla began, a worried look in her dark brown eyes. She flung her waist length light brown braids over her shoulder, shaking her head. She was in her mid to late thirties but appeared much younger, as was the case with paranormals. Before the world changed, she’d been a life
coach and into new age science. When all hell broke loose, she fared well with magic, having already opened herself up to it. When I asked her to mentor me and prepare me for my challenge against Phillip, I had no doubt she’d be the perfect person.

  “We had a witch go dark out of the blue,” she continued, dipping a French fry in ketchup. “When we visited her house, it was like a den of death. Her walls were covered in archaic dark magic symbols, there were bowls of blood from all types of animals. Then we got to the basement and found a man chained to the wall. It was horrific. We went to confront her, and she tried to kill me and the fire mage with me. We had to kill her. When I brought her back to life—”

  “Brought her back to life?” Erik looked up from his roast beef sandwich. “As a vampire?”

  Shayla’s eyes went wide as she popped the fry in her mouth. “Oh no, not my calling. I can reanimate corpses. Control the dead.”

  “She’s a necromancer.” Her teaching helped me to win the round against Phillip to bring Poppy to life. Poppy wasn’t just a kitten, but an undead kitten. She still wasn’t a gryphon, though.

  “You make zombies?” Erik looked over to Shayla with narrowed brows.

  Shayla laughed. “Not if I can help it. Which, in the beginning, I had a bit of trouble with. Now, I have that under control.”

  Thankfully, zombies were one form of supernatural that we rarely had to worry about. The paranormal shift in the world had only affected the living and plant-life. The dead remained dead unless you were a necromancer who tried to bring a corpse to life. Shayla was, in a sense, the opposite of Phillip and I, who had control over anything alive. And although I had to use a spell to bring rotten food back to its edible state, Shayla merely had to touch it, and the food was brand new again and even tasted good. My magical food had a generic frozen food aisle taste to it.

  Of course, her zombies didn’t come back fresh and new, like her food. She could make someone who died look alive again, but the more magic she put into restoring them to the appearance of their former self, the more energy it took, and their brain never fully came back. In our world, zombies weren’t mindless drones who ate people. Sure, you get bit by a zombie, and it wasn’t pleasant, but you didn’t become a zombie. You might die from any infection the walking corpse had, so getting treated after a bite was a necessity. However, zombies weren’t high functioning members of society either. In some places, we knew of necromancers who used zombies to do menial labor. Shayla refused because she found it inhumane.