by Sarra Cannon
Midnight Kiss
A Collection of
Four New Adult Paranormal Romances
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
After Midnight
Copyright © 2014 by Sarra Cannon
The Midnight Test
Copyright © 2014 by Juliana Haygert
Seduction's Kiss
Copyright © 2014 by Alyssa Rose Ivy
Kiss of Awakening
Copyright © 2014 by Jennifer Snyder
Smashwords Edition
ISBN: 978-1-62421-033-4
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.
Cover design by Once Upon A Time covers
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MIDNIGHT KISS
After Midnight
by Sarra Cannon
The Midnight Test
by Juliana Haygert
Seduction's Kiss
by Alyssa Rose Ivy
Kiss of Awakening
by Jennifer Snyder
* D P G R O U P . O R G *
After Midnight
By
Sarra Cannon
Happy Halloween
The last place I wanted to be on the afternoon of my first Halloween in New Orleans was at PJ’s, working a six-hour shift.
Two hours to go and the coffee shop was hopping. Everyone was getting their caffeine fix before heading back to their dorms to get into their costumes for whatever party plans they had for the big night. Since most of my friends were under twenty-one, we couldn’t drink at any of the bars on Bourbon Street or Frenchman Street, but a lot of us still wanted to go and see what all the fuss was about. Phoebe, my roommate, had offered to buy us all fake ID’s, but I’d been too chicken to go in on that.
I needed to keep a low profile these days, and I wasn't taking any risks. Besides, I couldn't very well tell her my current ID was a fake, too.
She’d bought me a flask, instead, and said I could hide it in my purse.
To be honest, though, I didn't plan on drinking much tonight. I had way too much on the line to let loose and risk missing my midnight deadline. Halloween or not, it was the last day of the month and that meant I had to drink my potion at exactly midnight before the new month began. My mother had drilled it into my head so hard I was terrified to miss it, even by a few seconds.
Still, going out with friends would be fun for a change.
After the mess of moving around all summer and going through hell to hide our identities, it was nice to finally settle somewhere and make friends again.
If Mom had it her way, I wouldn’t have gone to college at all. I would have just followed her around the country from town to town for the next few years, fugitives from our past. She was scared, and I didn’t blame her. We were on the run from some scary people. It had taken all of my efforts to convince her to let me come to Tulane after everything that had happened. It had been my third choice, but when she’d found out about the Midnight Cauldron and the safety Madame Kalisa could provide for me here in New Orleans, Mom had finally agreed to let me enroll as a freshman.
I’d had to change my name. I'd had to change everything.
Back in Peachville, Georgia, I’d been Allison Moore, a blond-haired, blue-eyed cheerleader. One of the popular girls everyone looked up to.
Here at Tulane, I was Becca Goldberg. Dark hair. New face. Not popular.
Part of Mom's rules was that I couldn’t join any special clubs like the cheerleading squad or a sorority. I had to blend in. So I got a job at PJ’s and have kept to my very small social circle of girls on my hall at the dorm. I've kept my nose in my books and hardly ever stepped off campus.
Until tonight.
I’d been looking forward to Halloween all semester. This was the one night no one would notice a young witch out on the town. And Halloween in New Orleans? It was a dream come true. I smiled to myself as I dumped the old coffee and started a fresh pot. I couldn’t wait to see all the costumes and craziness.
I finished making the vanilla latte a pretty blond senior had ordered, and turned to the next person in line.
My heart jumped into my throat and my mouth opened slightly. It was him. John Pierce. The sexiest guy on campus. And, apparently, the most elusive. I’d casually asked around about him at the start of the semester when he first came in for coffee, but no one seemed to know the first thing about him. Not where he lived or where he came from. Nothing. He kept to himself, but unlike me, there was no way this guy was ever going to blend in with the crowd.
He was hands-down the most gorgeous human being I’d ever laid eyes on. Six-foot-two with raven-black hair and eyes to match. His skin always looked slightly tanned, as if he’d just gotten back from a vacation at the beach. Today he wore faded jeans and a black t-shirt that clung to the taut muscles of his arms and chest. A pair of classic Raybans hung from the neck of his tee, and he carried the same worn leather backpack I'd seen slung on his shoulder every day for the past two months.
Every time I saw him, he took my breath away.
But true to my new persona, I seemed to be completely invisible to him.
“What can I get for you?” My voice trembled like a nervous little girl. I cleared my throat and steadied my hands. Why did I get so nervous around him?
“Large coffee. Black.”
Always the same order. John Pierce was a creature of habit. He’d get his black coffee and go sit at one of the small round tables outside for an hour or so with his books open. No one ever came to sit with him. He was always alone. For someone so gorgeous, I wondered why he didn't have more friends here on campus.
Or any friends, for that matter.
So far, saying hello and taking his order had been the full extent of our interactions with each other, but today, I felt brave. Maybe it was the promise of a fun evening ahead, or maybe it was something about a full moon on Halloween night, but I wanted to talk to him. I wanted to understand why I felt so incredibly drawn to him.
“It’ll be a second. I just started a fresh pot,” I said, motioning toward the coffee-maker. My heart pounded against my ribcage. I'd never been so nervous to talk to a guy in my life. “Got any big plans for tonight?”
He narrowed his eyes at me, and then glanced over at the steaming coffee-pot. He offered no answer to my question, which suddenly caused the butterflies in my stomach to start dive-bombing.
Okay, maybe he's shy.
“You’re a senior, right? I guess you’re used to the Halloween festivities around here, by now,” I said. “Some friends and I were thinking of heading down to Frenchman Street. I’ve heard that’s where the biggest parties are tonight.”
Still nothing from him. My cheeks pulsed with warmth. I was making a complete fool of myself, but I couldn't seem to shut my big mouth.
“There are supposed to be some good parties here on campus, too, but those are mostly at the big frat houses.” I was rambling now, but some deluded part of me thought that if I kept talking, he'd eventually say something. Anything. “You don’t really strike me as the fraternity type, though.”
Oh God, someone please make me stop.
At this point, his silence was mortifying. It was like I was just standing there having a conversation with myself. Actual tears started to well up in the corners of my eyes. I took a deep breath and lifted my chin. Fine, if he was going to ignore me, I was going to let him know he was being a complete asshole.
It was either that or cry, and I was so done with crying.
“Really? That
's so interesting,” I said, nodding my head. “Thank you for sharing the smallest detail about yourself to the lowly freshman on campus. How magnanimous of you.”
That caught his attention. He turned to look at me, his eyes questioning and curious. A slight smile played on his lips, and for a moment, I thought he might actually laugh at me. I wanted to crawl under the counter and hide.
“I think the coffee’s ready,” he said.
I swallowed and turned, flustered. Anger tightened in my chest. I may not have been the prettiest, most popular girl on campus, but was I really so horrible that he couldn't even pretend to be nice to me for a minute?
I reached for the large to-go cups and poured the steaming hot coffee so fast it overflowed onto my hands. I shot back and dropped the entire cup onto the floor, like an idiot. I cursed and cradled my burned hand against my apron.
Shit. That really hurt. Now, with my hand and ego wounded, there was no stopping the tears.
I turned away from him and swiped at my eyes before he could see how much he had upset me.
I grabbed a mop from the back and quickly cleaned up the spilled coffee. I poured him another cup and passed it to him over the top of the counter. He looked down at my hand but didn’t ask if I was okay. In fact, he seemed amused.
“Thanks,” he said, one eyebrow raised. He took the coffee and started toward the doors. Just before he walked outside, he turned and raised his cup toward me, a hint of a smile on his face. “Happy Halloween.”
Taken
I ran my hand under cool water and did my best to stroke my injured ego.
That’s what I get for putting myself out there, I guess. Especially after my mother had lectured me a thousand times to keep my head down.
My phone buzzed inside my pocket, and I sighed. Speak of the devil.
Mom was the only one who would be calling me. The few friends I did have only ever texted me. Plus, they all knew I was working until six tonight.
I glanced around, checking for my manager. She would go insane if she saw me talking on the phone during my shift, but Mom freaked out every time I didn’t pick up. I pulled the phone from my pocket and ducked into a corner.
“Hi, Mom. I’m working,” I whispered, anxious to calm her fears about whatever conspiracy theory she had come up with today and get off the phone as soon as possible.
“Allison, listen to me.”
She never called me Allison anymore. Something was wrong.
“I’m listening.”
“It’s started,” she said. “Some of the other girls have been taken. You need to get out of there.”
My mouth went dry.
“What happened? Who?”
“Jennifer’s two daughters disappeared this morning,” she said. “Five others from the group are missing, too. I’m scared.”
I tried to take a deep breath, but my chest was too tight. “Maybe it’s just a coincidence.”
“It’s not a coincidence.” There were tears in her voice. “I want you to get in your car right now and drive to me, here in Alabama.”
“Since when are you in Alabama? I thought you had settled in Florida for a while?”
“I left last week. I didn’t want to worry you for nothing, but there were a few times I thought I was being followed. I had to get out of there,” she said. She sounded frazzled, like she hadn’t slept in days. “Have you noticed anything odd there on campus? Anyone following you or paying extra attention to you out of the blue?”
“No, Mom.” The questions were always the same. Who had I talked to? Or better yet, who had talked to me? Had I noticed anyone watching me? Following me to class? How could I explain to her that I was practically invisible here? “Everything’s fine. I’m safe.”
“You can’t know that,” she said. “These people have resources, Alli. The Order of Shadows has eyes everywhere. You don’t realize what they are capable of. Do you have your potion for tonight?”
On instinct, my hand dropped to my pocket. The small vial of white liquid was safely stashed away there. Even though I didn’t need it until midnight, I kept it on me on the last day of every month. Just in case.
“I have it.”
She sighed. “I can get to you in a few hours if I need to,” she said. “I know how much being there and living a normal college life means to you, but we can’t risk you being discovered right now. Not if they’ve started abducting trainees.”
“Where do you think they’re taking them?” The thought of being pulled away from the life I had created here and forced back into the Order was terrifying, but I wasn’t sure I’d be any safer on the road with my mom. If the Order wanted to find me, I knew they wouldn’t give up until I was theirs. Spending the rest of my life running wasn’t the answer.
“No one knows,” she said. “These girls, they just disappeared without a trace. Everyone’s looking for them, of course, but so far, we’ve got nothing. Allison, I can’t...”
Her voice cut off into sobs.
I leaned my forehead against the wall and closed my eyes. I didn’t know what to do. Should I leave? Was I really in danger here at school? I had followed all the rules. Changed my name. My appearance. I’d only made friends with my roommate and the girls who lived in my dorm. I’d steered clear of anyone who seemed too eager to get to know me or ask questions about where I lived before I came to school.
With the exception of going out of my way just now to make conversation with a guy who barely knew I existed, I’d been careful.
But what if it wasn’t enough?
“Mom?”
She sniffed and took a few choked breaths. “I’m just worried about you, baby.”
“I know you are,” I said. “But leaving now might be the wrong thing to do. If anyone is watching me, they’ll know something’s up if I take off right now. It'll only confirm my identity. If I stay here and act like I know nothing about it, maybe they’ll pass right by me without a glance. Besides, I have the potion. They can't possibly know who I am.”
She paused. “You’re right,” she said, her voice still trembling. “That’s my smart little girl. You’re right. Best to stick to the plan. Stay put and act like nothing’s wrong. But I need you to check in with me after midnight, okay? Let me know you took the potion and everything’s okay.”
“I will, Mom.”
“Maybe you should stay home tonight,” she said. “I know you were looking forward to going out with your friends, but maybe you should pretend to be sick or something. Tell them you need to study.”
“I think I’ll feel safer in a crowd than alone in the dorm all night,” I said. “I’ll be fine. There will be thousands of people around me. They wouldn't dare do anything in public like that.”
“Please be safe. I don’t know what I’d do if they took you away from me.”
I swallowed and rubbed my hand across my cheek. I understood her fear. She’d been brought into the Order of Shadows when she was eighteen years old, forced into the Peachville coven against her will. For thirty years she had to live her life according to their rules. They used her and abused her, just like all the other witches. But now she was free, and she would do anything to keep me away from them.
“I promise.” I patted the pocket that held the potion from the Midnight Cauldron. The potion that made me invisible to the witches in the Order of Shadows. All I had to do was take it tonight at midnight and everything would be okay. Those other girls didn’t have potions like this to keep them safe. Everything was going to be fine. “I’ll call you tonight.”
“I love you, sweetheart,” she said. She was crying again.
“I love you, too, Mom.”
I hung up and stuffed my phone in my pocket just as my manager came out from the back room.
The Emblem Of The Snake
Even with the frenzy of activity in my dorm, I couldn’t shake the fear I’d heard in my mother’s voice.
I wanted to believe everything was going to be fine and that she was worried for nothing,
but I knew better than to ignore the threat of danger. Growing up in Peachville, I’d always known we were witches. Magic was a normal thing in my household, and as soon as I was old enough, I’d been ushered onto the Peachville High Demons cheerleading team—the secret training ground for the Order of Shadows. As a young cheerleader, I learned the history of magic and how a witch’s magic, as we know it today, came from demons mating with human women a thousand years ago. It had all seemed like fun and games when I was younger.
Back then, my mother never once told me anything different.
As trainees, we learned how to do cool things like creating light out of thin air and using glamours to change our hair color or our clothes. My mom seemed happy and never once let me in on the evil side of the Order. She couldn’t. None of the mothers were allowed to tell us the truth about what was going on. And none of us who were still uninitiated had any idea what was in store for us when we turned eighteen.
All I knew was that after a girl turned eighteen and went through her initiation ceremony, she changed. I watched it happen to my closest friends. Girls like Brooke Harris who had been so sure of what they wanted to do with their lives suddenly changed direction and focus, doing whatever the Order had commanded them to do.
Back then, I saw it as a rite of passage. An honor.
That was before I found out the truth. Before I found out that on your eighteenth birthday, the Order performed a ritual that forced a demon spirit from another dimension into your body where it would live as a slave, fueling your power. As a full member of the Order of Shadows, a witch was a thousand times more powerful. It seemed cool and glamorous before I knew where that power came from, but once I learned its cost, I wanted no part of it.
It took one very brave girl to bring down the coven of witches who ruled Peachville, and even though she probably hated me for my family’s loyalty to the Order, Harper Madison was my hero. Without her, I would be a slave to them right now, forced to do whatever they commanded. My life would no longer be my own.
