by Ashley Meira
Ties That Bind
The Spire Chronicles: Book 2
Ashley Meira
Copyright 2016, Ashley Meira
All rights reserved.
This novel is a work of fiction. All characters, places, and incidents described in this publication are used fictitiously or are entirely fictional.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, except by an authorized retailer, or with written permission of the publisher. Inquiries may be addressed via email to [email protected].
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Editing by Deanna Chase
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Story Summary
Hunter of all things evil and paranormal, snarky witch Morgan Maxwell knows she needs to get herself back into shape before she continues the hunt for the demon-worshipping vampire that tried to kill her, her friends, and the rest of the world.
Until she receives a summons from her estranged father to help solve the gruesome murders of werewolves and shifters that live in his forests.
The last thing Morgan wants to do is see the man who threw her aside when she was a child, but even she can’t let bitterness and resentment keep her from helping put a stop to the murder and mutilation of innocents.
But solving the murders will be the least of her worries. Alex – a man Morgan finds herself getting terrifyingly close to – has a personal stake in this case, one that Morgan fears will tear them apart for good.
Ties That Bind is the second book of the Spire Chronicles urban fantasy series.
Table of Contents
Story Summary
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Author’s Note
Books by Ashley Meira
1
There was nothing but the sound of my breath and the rustling of leaves as I raced after my target. The sky was a pale purple and a light, gauzy mist hung in the air, twisting through the dark branches of the trees surrounding us. My legs were throbbing and my lungs burned as we ran. Alex was to my right, farther away. The thick foliage above us made it too dark for the rising moon to provide any help; there were small orbs of light flying alongside the both of us: ghost lights – one of the first spells I ever learned.
The trio of demons was ahead of us, their human forms still in place as they sprinted through the woods. Normally, their pace would be too much for a human, but hunters like us were imbued with enhanced physical abilities that allowed us to keep up with them. With this kind of movement, it was hard for me to aim at any of them. It was even harder to focus on, well, anything when there were a thousand treacherous little branches and rocks for me to avoid tripping on.
Not that falling on my face wasn’t a great way to spend a Saturday night.
Unlike me, Alex didn’t seem winded at all. His short black hair stuck to his alabaster skin by a thin sheen of sweat, but he was otherwise unbothered. There was a blade on his back and a pistol strapped to his thigh. He whipped the pistol out once he’d gotten closer to the group and fired off a round into the back of the black haired demon’s head.
A normal bullet wouldn’t have done anything, but the special rounds hunters used packed a hell of a punch. The demon went down. He wasn’t dead, but he’d be crippled long enough for Alex to take his head off. And he would have, if a hellhound hadn’t lunged at him from out of nowhere.
Hellhounds looked like giant, roided up versions of dobermans that had binged on way too many hot dogs. Their stomachs were distended and their muscles bulged underneath mottled grey skin. They were big, ugly, and dangerous as hell. Pun intended.
“Why is it always hellhounds?” I cried. “Aren’t there any cat people among demons?”
One of the demons, a short girl with spiky red hair, turned back with a toothy grin. “The cats are worse!”
“Gee, thanks.” I rolled my eyes and fired off an ice spear in her direction.
“Aw, baby, that’s cold!” she called back, giggling as she ducked.
The spear whizzed over her head before I destroyed it, watching it splinter into a burst of white frost. I wasn’t trying to hit her so much as slow her down, but I wouldn’t have minded impaling her – a comment I would need to file away in my “things I shouldn’t say out loud” folder.
I swerved around, and actually aiming this time, shot an ice spike at Alex’s hellhound. The beast let out a whine as it was knocked back. I followed up by charging forward and launching a ball of pure force magic at it.
Force spells weren’t really something I was great at – I’d always been more partial to the flashy magic that came with the elemental arts. Still, force spells were the school of magic that contained the greatest amount of raw power, which would make them my favorite if they didn’t come with one fatal caveat: they were invisible. They were pure waves of highly pressurized energy. Basically, it was hard to hit a mark with a weapon you couldn’t see, and even with a scope, I wasn’t that precise with my attacks.
From this distance, though, it was an easy shot – even for a half-blind klutz like me. As a bonus, being only two feet away meant I got to hear the cracking of every bone as my attack devastated the hellhound… It may be time to invest in some therapy.
Nah, setting things – and people – on fire was all the therapy I needed.
I ran over and knelt by Alex, running a quick healing spell over him.
“You’re going to drain your magic again,” he said, standing up and pulling his machete out. He stepped over to where the hellhound was twitching, its muscular legs dancing around like a puppet on a string as it waited for its shattered bones to regenerate. Alex didn’t give it the chance as he stabbed the creature through the brain before cutting its head off in one clean swipe.
Killing a demon, or anything supernatural, in a way that didn’t involve completely destroying the body always made me uneasy – like leaving a job half-finished – but it wasn’t a good idea to set something on fire in the middle of a forest. So, I restrained myself from reducing the body to ashes, no matter how much more it would have reassured me.
“I thought you might be hurt,” I said with a cheeky grin. A hit like that wouldn’t have fazed him much, but it was fun to tease him.
He returned my grin with one of his own, and my stomach fluttered at the sight of his warm blue eyes. Dude really was too pretty to be a hunter. Wait, no, bad Morgan, focus on the hunt. I shook my head to clear the incredibly detailed image of Alex laying naked in bed from my mind; his face definitely wasn’t the only good looking thing he had.
“They’re getting away,” said Alex, and we resumed the hunt.
Running was one thing I didn’t miss about being on active duty. Seriously, it was always running. Always. It was the single most boring form of exercise I’ve ever encountered. Ever since I had my ass handed to me three months ago by a veritable army – okay, twelve, plus eight vampires – of demons while looking for my missing mother, I’d been stuck on “administrative leave” in Haven, one of the Order of Hunters’ capital cities and the place where I grew up.
By now, I should have been back on duty in my designated sector: Manhattan. Then, about a month ago, a demon caravan was slaughtered and Alex came to accuse me of doing it. He was a hunter, too, and heir apparent to the Campbell family who had been tasked with investigating the murders. My sort-of cousin, Lily, called it a “meet cute.”
Less cute was what followed: the murder of the only mother figure I’d ever really had, which led to the discovery of a plot to break one of the locks on the Frozen Spire – a prison in Hell that contained the worst creatures to have ever existed. Oh, and there was also a freaky vampiric sorcerer dude who worshipped demons, looked like my birth mother, and went by her name. I’ve named him “Fake-Corrigan.” He’s a prick.
When Lady Cassandra died, she left the spot as head of the Maxwell family – one of the four Order families in America – empty. Since she’d chosen me as her successor, I had to stay in town until the Council – the Order’s governing body – made their decision on whether or not I was ready to take over. Y’know, because I’m still young and cute and wasn’t supposed to become the head of the family for another decade or two.
“It was nice of them to wait for us,” I gasped, my lungs full of fire, as the demons came back into sight.
The guy Alex shot was hunched over and out of breath. Yeah, I know the feeling, dude. Through heavy breaths, I decided that I really wanted the job as head of the family. There was no actual hunting – and more importantly, running – involved. Though I was sure that political games were a lot more dangerous than all the forces of Hell put together, along with werewolves, vampires, and every other supernatural being that wanted to kill me.
The demons were gathered around some hole in the ground, presumably digging for something. It didn’t matter. They killed an innocent family of five, so they had to be put down.
Red spun around to face us, licking her lips, as we stopped a few feet away. Alex had his gun trained on the third demon, a blonde woman with a ponytail. My hand wrapped around my own gun, but it was more for security than anything. Ghost lights or not, it wasn’t likely I’d be able to get an accurate shot off. Besides, who needed bullets when you could shove an ice spear through someone’s eye?
Red wore a cocky grin as she held her hands up. “Can’t we all just get along?”
“Maybe if you hadn’t slaughtered an entire family,” Alex spat. His face was twisted into a grimace and aura of malice exuded from him.
Alex had been adopted by a traveling hunter who’d taken down the demon that killed his entire village – including his parents – so his rage was understandable. I just hoped it wouldn’t cloud his judgment.
“I don’t suppose you’d be willing to turn yourself in?” I asked. I always asked. They always said no. Guess I was just an optimist.
“And let the Court judge us?” the blonde said. She was referring to the Court of Hell, which was basically the fiery, horned version of the Heavenly Host. “Fuck you. The fact that Lucifer is even letting us be condemned for killing a bunch of pathetic–”
A shot rang out and Blondie reeled back, a hole between her brows. I looked at Alex in amazement. Holy aiming, Batman. However, the bullet only served to enrage her more and she charged at us.
There was a sharp whistling sound. Pain clawed at my back as I was knocked to the ground. The weight against me vanished less than a second later, and I pulled myself up only to come face to face with a hellhound. It roared at me, the thick threads of saliva dripping down his jaws splattering onto my face like droplets of foul smelling lava.
I sent out a blast of force at it, knocking the beast away and allowing me to get back on my feet. My back stung with the burning of a thousand suns, and I could feel blood sliding down my skin from the claw marks that stupid mutt gave me.
A quick glance to my left showed Alex fighting off that blonde, but I gave up the chance to look closer in favor of ducking out of the way of another hellhound. Backpedaling, I counted five of them – two for each demon if you counted the one Alex beheaded.
Despite the fact that he was the one who took their brother’s head off, the hellhounds seemed perfectly content to ignore him and circle around me. Their long, pointed teeth, like stiletto daggers in their mouths, were bared as they growled. And people asked why I preferred cats.
All at once, they leapt at me. I dropped to one knee and put up a barrier. The pale blue dome thrummed as they dive-bombed against the surface. They roared, pounced, and clawed at the barrier around me in an eerily synchronized dance. I’d have found it almost beautiful if they weren’t trying to kill me.
What a barrier did was convert any physical damage inflicted upon it – damage that would have maimed the caster had it not been up – into mental damage. The assault was something mages were trained to resist, but everyone had their limits. Summoning up a barrier wasn’t particularly difficult, but maintaining one with five wild beasts hacking away at you was enough to cause the aneurysm of a lifetime. Still, I’d rather have a killer migraine than actually be killed.
A girlish cackle pierced through the growls and snapping of teeth, telling me we wouldn’t have to chase after Red again. Taking a deep breath, I steeled my will and channeled energy along the walls of the barrier. Releasing the breath, I shattered the barrier, forcing the built up energy outwards in a circle around me. A large gust of wind whooshed around me from the release of such heavy force, whipping my curly brown hair into an even bigger bird’s nest than it probably already was.
A handful of thumps sounded and I stood up, surveying the results. Alex managed to decapitate the male demon; his head rested a few feet away from the excited redhead. Blondie was still keeping him busy, though, looking like she just came out of a Bruce Lee movie with the way she was roundhousing him.
My magical shrapnel bomb had taken down two dogs, but they could heal if I didn’t finish them off completely. I pulled up another barrier as one of the other hounds lunged at me. If it came down to a strict brawn versus brawn fight, there’s no way I would win. As their monstrous forms revealed, hellhounds were more muscle than anything else.
Even with my magic, there were times when I couldn’t firebomb or ice spear my way through – like when I was surrounded by a bunch of hellhounds and couldn’t take one out without being devoured by the rest of his pack. An area of effect spell would work, but they were pretty draining and they would hit everything in the designated spot, Alex included.
The hellhound rebounded off my barrier, and I scrambled off to the side to avoid another leaping attack. They were too damn fast! Forcing myself to think quickly, I waited until one of them crouched into a pouncing position before charging towards Red, rolling away as I reached her. She let out a loud whoop and stepped to the side, dodging the hellhound that leaped toward us.
“Toro! Toro!” she shrieked, her fingertips crackling with electricity. It seemed I was the only witch here who was worried about starting a forest fire. So much for peer pressure.
I rolled over as she threw a bolt of lightning at me. It hit a tree, filling the air with the smoky scent of burnt wood. The blonde in the back let out a broken choking sound as Alex stabbed her through the chest, the glistening metal of his blade turning a vibrant crimson. He wrenched the weapon out, and in one quick swoop, sliced her head clean off.
Another excited whoop rang out, and I fell on my ass dodging the remaining demon’s punch. I was vaguely aware of whining from behind me as I kicked Red’s feet out from under her, lan
ding a hit on her for the first time all night. It was a short-lived victory. She rolled us over and sat on my torso, raining down a flurry of blows against my face. The first punch hit home and there was a sharp cracking sound as white-hot pain flooded my jaw. I managed to put a barrier up to soak the other hits, but that just made it feel like I was getting punched in the brain instead.
With the assault on my mind, it was too hard to concentrate on casting another spell. Apparently, I wasn’t as good at finding my Zen as I thought. Maybe I should quit meditating and take up knitting or something. Actually, trying to find a way to overcome my shitty aim was probably a better use of my time.
Knit hats were so cute, though.
Wait.
My aim.
It was a struggle with my arms pinned underneath the other girl’s legs, but I managed to get a grip on my gun. Damn it, I swear this thing had never been so difficult to un-holster before. With all my efforts turned towards wrangling my gun out, I slipped up and let my barrier fall. Red was more than happy to penalize me by crushing my nose. Blood flooded my mouth, the sickeningly tangy taste sliding over my tongue and down my throat like concentrated bile. I finally got the gun free, angling it as best I could before pulling the trigger.
Pain pulsed around my wrist as the recoil twisted my limb in an unnatural way. I gasped at the sensation, choking on blood. The demon squealed, clutching the side of her face as blood slid out from between her fingers. I flipped us over and pressed the barrel of my gun against her forehead. Turning my head away to minimize spatter, I pulled the trigger once, twice, and a third, final time.
The fresh night air blew against my blood-splattered face, making me shiver. Silence filtered through the treetops and spread through the clearing. Not even the quiet hum of insects or the rustling of leaves sounded, as if they all died with the demons.
