Shadows and Sorcery: A Collection of Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance Novels

by Adkins, Heather Marie

  “Is everyone alright?” Elora asked, looking around as she could hear mumbled voices in the distance. She didn’t know who it was and who it belonged to, but she had to go and find someone at least. “Hello? Kieran? Chaiya?”

  As she walked towards the distance, she suddenly found Kieran, lying on the ground, unconscious at least. She sighed and bent down, groaning at the slight pain and soreness in her sides and back.

  “Wake up Kieran.” Elora shook him, really concerned at the state of his body. “Kieran, wake up!”

  He showed no response. He was still asleep, unable to wake up at all. His eyes were closed and he wasn’t showing any signs of breathing. Elora shook him harshly, not wanting to see him die, not right now.

  “Come on Kieran you jerk! Don’t do this to me! You promised to help me get home! Wake up Kieran!” Elora shook him, really frantic now. He was not moving and wasn’t showing any signs of life, which was a very, very bad sign. She didn’t want him to die. Suffer, yes, for what he did to her, but die? NO! “KIERAN!”

  Chaiya, who heard the commotion from where she was checking on the four Campers, jogged over to where Elora was. She noticed the young woman frantically shaking her brother and her concern rose up like the wind during a stormy night.

  “Elora...is he?” Chaiya asked, her eyes suddenly tearing up. Elora shook her head and pressed on Kieran’s chest.

  “Stand back,” Elora said, her voice filled with determination as she pressed down on his chest. “He is not breathing and I can find no pulse. I am going to have to perform CPR on him.”

  “He is dead then!” Chaiya cried, but one look from Elora had her shut up. She gulped and stood back, letting Elora do her work on Kieran.

  “Alright, you are not dying on me today,” Elora told Kieran’s unresponsive and cold body as she started to press down on his chest. After fifteen contraptions, she quickly pressed her lips to Kieran’s lips and pumped in air. Then she once again started to press on his chest fifteen times and repeated that a couple of times. Chaiya recognized this. She had seen this done once on people that had been drowned. She didn’t know why that was done but it had been done. And she didn’t know how Elora knew about this. “Come on, Kieran! Breathe! Breathe Damn it!”

  Finally, after the eighth set, he finally made a noise from his mouth, and Elora quickly scurried away, looking at Kieran to see if he was getting up. He didn’t respond again.

  “Do it again!” Chaiya exclaimed, hoping that the ‘CPR’ as she called it would work. Elora was quick to jump on Kieran again and start her CPR again. This time, though, she got what she bargained for. On the second set, Kieran’s lips suddenly pressed back against her, and Elora’s eyes opened wide as she felt him kiss her. She felt his lips move against hers and she felt him pull her closer as he could kiss her properly. Blood rushed to her head as she felt the ‘power’ behind the kiss and she couldn’t believe how good it felt. It was as if she was complete, by that one single kiss, but eventually they had to part so Kieran could talk and speak.

  “See, I told you that you would eventually fall for me,” Kieran said, his voice rough and weak and his eyes opening. He was greeted with a shocked and worried face that Elora had on her, filled with tears, and his sister’s own face. He groaned and tried to stand up, and then fell down again with a yelp, all the while Elora just sat there, looking at him as if she had seen a ghost. He wasn’t breathing, had no pulse, and was dying right in front of her ten minutes ago and now, he was moving? Kieran, as he stood up, suddenly yelped in pure pain as his back was bruised.

  “Ouch!” He yelped out, in pain. “Damn, my back is hurt, I landed on rocks.”

  Elora’s face started to flush. She had never, ever kissed a man before and now Kieran came in and stole her first kiss, when she was saving his life. He had kissed her, and she had never, never felt so good yet violated in her entire life. So she only blushed, harshly, and glared at Kieran.

  “The only thing I have to say is I am glad that you did not die,” Elora said, slightly coldly as it was her first kiss that he had taken. He was a Jerk! Such a stupid, idiot, Hot Jerk! ‘There’s nothing wrong with that, he is hot. But he is a jerk, none-the-less.’

  Elora got up quickly and stretched, feeling the slight pain in her own body due to the fall, but glared at Kieran again.

  “Do remember your promise that you gave me, and don’t die before that. After I am home, you can do whatever you want,” Elora said, and then turned around, huffing and walking away, stopping by a very, very relieved Chaiya. “Chaiya, I think you should put him on a leash, he’s a beast.”

  As Elora walked away, Chaiya stomped over to Kieran and slapped him hard on the face. Kieran winced at the impact and rubbed his cheek as he looked surprised at Chaiya.

  “Jeez, lighten up!” Kieran winced at the stinging sensation in his cheek. Then he looked seriously right into his sister’s eyes. “She’s supposed to be the girl from the legend. The girl that came from another world, the girl that is supposed to save us all from peril. She is supposed to save the kingdom, and she needs to toughen up and be fearless, you know that.”

  “That does not mean that you kiss her,” Chaiya said, barely controlling her temper. Kieran winced as he sensed the oncoming argument once they reached the camp, but nodded, sighing. It was a spot on decision. He had felt her pumping air into his body, and he just wanted to feel those lips on his properly, so he did kiss her, and it was, apparently, the wrong thing to do. It took Kieran two minutes to be ready to move again, and so did the campers. Vali was the only one that was still fearless, Naik was shuddering in his boots and the other two were very, very nervous. Elora was the only one that was ready to actually look for the armor. They stumbled around inside of the newer surroundings, looking around.

  It was like a small hallway of sorts. Elora looked back and wondered why there were no stairs around. Why was this place so plain? And how did one come down here?

  ‘The gargoyle’s can fly, of course that is how they come here. But what about those that want the armor? How can they come down here and then go back up? Is there something else at play here?’ Elora wondered, as she walked in front. They finally came to the end of the hallway, where they could see a door, with strange light below. Elora noticed the handle of the door, and opened it, and entered inside the room. As she did though, she heard a grunt.

  “What the—” Elora turned around to see Chaiya pressed up against some sort of an invisible door of sorts. Kieran also had the same problem, and so did the rest of the campers that had come with her. Elora wondered what was going on and she looked closer around the glowing door. She looked at the inscriptions all around and her eyes widened.

  “What is it?” Kieran asked, pressing on the glowing door. “What is happening?”

  “It means that only those of pureness shall enter this room,” Elora said, looking at the strange inscriptions. Remembering Kieran’s words before, she grinned as she looked for some sweet, sweet revenge. “Well it seems all of you are impure, so you can’t come in here. Don’t worry, I can take care of myself.”

  Turning around, she completely missed their horrified expressions and scared once as she then came face to face with two yellow eyes. His large and sharp teeth were right near her own face and his smelly, disgusting breath was causing her to have mini bouts of nausea all over her body. He wasn’t able to see her at all. He didn’t even know that she was existing, but she could see that Blayne’s eyes were locked onto people behind her. His eyes were locked on Chaiya and his head was pouring with his power and his words.

  “There you are!” Blayne cried out, angry, furious and at the same time, excited. “Finally out of my eyes and with me! Now I can ravage you for all eternity!”

  Blayne roared and his monstrous body charged right at the group. Elora managed to duck down on the floor and rolled over to the side to not get stepped on or run over. Blayne rushed towards where the campers and the siblings were, who had already vanished as the gargoyle step
ped over on the other side of the door.

  Ouch. Elora rubbed her head. It had impacted against whatever was behind her just when she had rolled over, and she wondered what was going on. That hurt. Now...what is—?

  She was interrupted when her other hand started to itch. She looked at it and saw the same fiery red line that there was on the other side. She never, ever had an itch here, and now both of her hands had red lines going down from the palm down to her elbow.

  ‘What exactly is wrong with this world?’ Elora thought as she got up, and looked around. She spotted a stone table, and her eyes widened.

  There was intricate feminine armor lying on the table complete with every piece she would need to protect her body from harm. Every single piece was carefully designed, made out of pure silver and a strange metal she couldn’t name. She ran her fingertips over each piece individually, memorizing the dips and curves in each piece. First, she ran her hand over the chest piece, heavy enough to protect her, yet light enough that she wouldn’t feel the weight of it on her body. Next, the groin guard, perfectly sculpted to her shape and wouldn’t give her an ounce of discomfort. Then the pauldron, nicely shaped to fit her just right, and the arm and leg guards were every bit as perfectly shaped and curved to her body type. The one thing that really caught her eye was the helm complete with avantail to keep her throat and neck protected, but more than that it was the crimson inscriptions that made her pause and tilt her head inquisitively. At first, she didn’t quite recognize the images laid out in front of her, but as she lifted the helm and saw the inscriptions form a flower, she immediately knew what the language was. How could I not recognize it immediately? She chided herself. The language was Aramaic, a language she fluently read as the hopeful archaeologist she was.

  Wow...that’s so beautiful, she thought, looking at the armor. Her phone instinctively came up as she took another photo. I can’t believe how good that armor looks! I just have to wear it! But...how should I? It even looks for a female.

  Realizing she should quickly do this as she had to somehow help out with Blayne, she started to read the inscriptions.

  “Helm of Fire, metal of light. Flow through my veins and shroud me in light.” As she was speaking, the red inscriptions on the armor started to glow. “Protect me from the darkness, armor of fire, and shine upon my enemies, thy power asunder.”

  Suddenly, she felt heat leave her body. As if something was encompassing her and soaking out all the heat. She didn’t know what this feeling was, but it was strange and it was like power itself. She could feel the heat slowly go towards the armor, where the once glowing inscriptions had vanished away, and now that she looked at it, it looked like the same fiery lines that there were on her arms. The inscription was now smaller on the breast-plate, and the armor started to move. It flew up, and swirled around Elora. Elora looked around, and then screamed as she felt the armor come towards her. First came the breast-plate, easily coming over her chest, with the back-guard as well. Her bag flew away from her at that point and landed on the table. Then all the other guards, her hands, legs, back, neck, everything. She felt heat travel around her and encompass her, as if fire was burning under her skin. Her breath was labored as the armor finally completed with the helmet lying in front of her in her arms. There was a sword beside it too. It was a fairly normal sword, but it was sleeker, and had a red colored hilt instead of a black one.

  ‘This armor is so light!’ Elora exclaimed to herself. Then she heard a roar and a scream. Elora could feel that the armor was perfect, as if it was made just for her. It was as if this armor was waiting for her to show up and wear it, and there was no better time to use it then it was right now. She could hear Kieran fighting the gargoyle Blayne, and she knew that she had to help out. So she just grabbed the sword that was sitting beside the helmet, and wore the helmet, and started to run towards where her companions were to save them.

  * * *

  Chaiya could feel the complete and utter fear surrounding her sweaty body as she could see the gargoyle chomp down hard upon Vali. Lou was lying dead on the ground not too far away, his hands separated from his body. Kieran was holding up his sword shakily, his body completely broken as he had been handled roughly by the leader of the gargoyle. The other two? They had ran away, Naik being the first one to run and the last camper following him. They landed in the middle of five awaiting gargoyle’s, who had a nice feast on them. She could still see the bones of the poor campers lying around which they had used as toothpicks.

  Now what, Chaiya thought as Blayne threw away Vali’s dead body and glared at Kieran, who was still standing and glaring right back at him. Kieran charged forward, his sword held up in the air as he slashed down on Blayne’s side. Blayne laughed and punched Kieran in the face. He was sent flying back and crashed against the wall. Before he could recover, Blayne was already on him. He kicked the downed Kieran right in the chest, breaking a couple of ribs instantly.

  God damn it! Kieran roared in his mind in utter pain and agony. He didn’t know what to do. This gargoyle was too powerful and he didn’t even know if Elora had even lived or not. Kieran tried to get up, and even managed to stand up, and tried to grab his sword, but Blayne kicked him again right towards his brothers, waiting for him.

  “Ahh, now here’s the feisty one.”

  “Hmm... is he our toy as well? Or should we feed on him?”

  “What should we do?”

  Chaiya shuddered in fear as the large gargoyle moved towards her, perversion shining in its yellow eyes. The gargoyle looked heavily strong and looked ready to do worse things to her than anyone could have ever done to her.

  “You...I have a lot of plans for you,” Blayne said, his disgusting tongue coming out to lick his lips. “Hmm... Perhaps I should have fun with you right now? Perhaps I should claim you as mine so everyone can hear before we kill that man over there? Your bow and arrow won’t save you now, girl.”

  Chaiya shuddered once again, as she gave up all hope, her weapons falling down. She was alone against six gargoyle’s and her brother was about to be killed as well. There was no way in hell she was surviving this time. They were going to kill her and use her body for their liking and she wasn’t going to be able to do anything about it. Anything.

  ‘Well, this is it then. Sorry Elora, I wasn’t able to keep your promise.’ Grabbing an arrow, she was about to use it to stab herself in the neck and finish herself off to save herself from such a fate. But then a miracle happened. Blayne screamed. He screamed so loudly that the voice was like that of the worst of all the monsters that she had ever, ever heard. There was an arc of pure blood that was flying behind Blayne, and a sword writhed in pure light. Blayne shuddered around and fell down, roaring on the ground, blood pooling out of his destroyed wing, and a figure stood there, wearing an armor that she had never even heard of. The figure was that of a female, and that of a very, very recognizable person. The other gargoyle’s only looked at the armored female in shock, the female being no one but Elora. Chaiya smiled softly, and widely.

  “Leave him!” Elora’s voice came from inside of the armor, strong and powerful. The gargoyle’s felt as if it was their own leader commanding them and let Kieran go. Kieran groaned as he wondered what hit him, and only saw the armored female figure, and his eyes widened. He didn’t need to see the face to know who was in there. “And step back from him, or I’ll cut you into shreds!”

  The gargoyles complied. They stepped back, watching the armored figure walk over towards the downed Kieran, sword never faltering and eyes never leaving them. They whimpered as she bowed down to help Kieran up.

  Kieran accepted the much needed help and slowly walked him towards Chaiya. She then got a sudden idea. The gargoyle’s seemed to be afraid of her and would do whatever she asked.

  “Alright. Now carry us all to the top and out of the castle,” Elora commanded. “To the main level and touch any of us the wrong way, and you’ll die.”

  The gargoyle’s all complied instantly. Chai
ya was quick to step near Elora and waited for one of them to pick her up. The gargoyle did pick her up, the same one that had attacked her before, and she started to fly. As she did, Chaiya looked at Elora, her eyes wide.

  That’s one hell of a change, Chaiya thought. What exactly happened to her when she wore the armor?

  Similar things were running inside a pain-filled Kieran’s head. He didn’t even know what to say, the fact that Elora, a woman, was inside of that armor and was able to cut off a gargoyle’s wing with a simple slash of her blade was enough for him to shut up and actually start to respect Elora. She had saved him, and it was enough for him. Perhaps he would actually respect her instead of egging her on and on.

  They landed down right in front of a draw bridge of castle, and looked at her. Elora looked to see if Chaiya was safe or not, and then removed her helmet.

  The gargoyles were all surprised and shocked to see a human inside of the armor, they never had thought that it was possible for someone to wear it. It was seriously a legend even for them to see the one that was wearing the armor. Blayne, who had also managed to fly over, bowed down first.

  “Oh great warrior,” Blayne’s voice was shaky as he spoke. “It has been two hundred years since anyone has worn that armor, two hundred years since we have been stuck here, as these creatures unable to control ourselves.”

  Elora and Chaiya were both surprised by the submission that Blayne was showing. They didn’t think that a gargoyle would show such submission, especially the one that wanted to kill them not too long ago. Kieran was helped up by Chaiya, as he also looked at the gargoyles surprised. They didn’t know anything about them, and yet he was so friendly now that Kieran couldn’t help but wonder why he was so dangerous before.

  “We have guarded your armor for two hundred great years, your highness,” Blayne said, as the rest of the Gargoyles also fell to their knees. “I am sorry for being so rude to you and your guests, please forgive us.”