by Rene Folsom
Charmed
An Elemental Trials Bonus Novella
Rene Folsom
Synopsis
The Earth was filled with charming people…
Myself included.
Most beings didn’t know me—like, really know me. While I was charming and glamorous on the outside, neither sancti nor mortali saw the true Sarah behind the veil.
A charm that glimmered in the dimmest light…
Even in the darkness.
The world of the fae knew how deep my blood ran, and if they forgot, I wouldn’t hesitate to remind them.
So when I was given my first assignment to snatch up a drab piece of jewelry, I felt like I had it made in the shade.
Little did I know that Kirsi Ranta, the misfit of all the sancti, would be my undoing.
Copyright © 2018 by Rene Folsom
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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Charmed
The Earth was filled with charming people.
Salesmen.
Streetwalkers.
Entertainers.
Children.
My face twisted with the last example. It wasn’t that I hated children… they were just so sticky and loud. I usually chose to keep my distance if I could help it.
Most beings didn’t know me—like, really know me. While I was charming and glamorous on the outside, neither sancti nor mortali saw the true Sarah behind the veil.
A charm that glimmered in the dimmest light…
Even in the darkness.
The world of the fae knew how deep my blood ran, and if they forgot, I wouldn’t hesitate to remind them.
So when I was given my first assignment to snatch up a drab piece of jewelry, I felt like I had it made in the shade.
Little did I know that Kirsi Ranta, the misfit of all the sancti, would be my undoing.
“You’ll do this simple task, Sarah.”
My father’s booming voice held no question—no need for argument. After all, I knew more than anyone else how utterly fucked I’d be if I disobeyed his orders.
Soundlessly, I bowed in acceptance. Well, more like surrender. I didn’t dare mutter a single word as I bent at the waist to show my respect, my hands clasped tightly behind my back as if the sheer force of my grasp would’ve been enough to ground me.
No such luck.
Still keeping the death grip my hands had on each other, I pivoted on my heels and marched out of his office.
I made my way down the hall and out of my father’s house. A shiver ran down my spine like a trickle of ice. This was my first mission for our colony. While it didn’t seem that difficult, I still didn’t want to disappoint my father.
“Steal the relic,” I whispered, my voice disappearing in the dark of the night. I ducked into my car, the shadows swallowing me whole. For a second, I just sat there and thought of what this meant. I wasn’t a dummy—I knew this kind of mission was just the first step my dad was taking to dominate. But even my simple questions had impatience boiling in his eyes.
Supposedly, this relic was a basic pendant—well, part of it was. And I was to steal it.
A snowflake of all things.
Steal a gaudy piece of jewelry from a sancti mutt. Easy enough, right?
The only information I was provided was a bit of background on this chick—my target.
Kirsi Ranta was a half-breed—elemental and human. Her powers were dulled by the mix of blood in her veins. She didn’t stand a chance against a charmer.
A charmer… like me.
I was special enough, or odd enough, to be one of the few in our area.
A charmer was a special brand of faerie—our skills much more powerful than the normal fae who wandered the streets of Relic, New York. Most fae were turned, similar to the way vampires were, their blood tainted to make them something otherworldly. But charmers… we were rare, purebred—with untouched faerie blood flowing through our veins. Our magic was dark and thick to the depths of our soul. Dark didn’t mean evil though. On the contrary—dark meant exceptional, powerful, and something no mutt could dare to battle. No matter what being we stood against, we could charm the living pants off them.
Dark powers were—beautiful.
My powers were beautiful.
And I was proud to be a charmer.
A harsh knock on the glass window by my head had me nearly jumping out of my skin. I still sat in my car, the interior shrouded in inky darkness and the engine off. It didn’t take me long to realize who had disrupted my thinking time.
I shook my head, allowing myself to exhale a shaky breath.
Taking my keys out of my pocket and shoving them in the ignition, I signaled for the interloper to come around to the passenger side and get in.
“Why are you just sitting in the dark?” he asked while never looking at me, his ass sliding into the smooth leather seat of my car. The lone lamp in the driveway illuminated the edges of his face… his skin smooth, yet rugged. The mere look of him, even in darkness, had the flutters in my stomach coming alive.
I shrugged noncommittally, not wanting him to see the genuine emotions that plagued me each time he was around. “Just thinking…”
I also didn’t need Raz to know about my assignment. It was too new—too fresh. The last thing I wanted was for him to follow me in order to make sure I was safe.
Raz was, for lack of better words, my best friend. I’d always looked at him as more though, but had almost come to the realization we’d never actually be. I was okay with it. At least, I was trying to be. But I couldn’t deny I felt stomach flutters whenever he smiled.
As the son of a chieftain, his father heading off the most powerful witch clan in all of New England, Raz was both powerful and oddly normal. But he knew just as much as I did that him ending up with a fae would be an atrocity. He was practically royalty—the final surviving bloodline of his clan. There was no way royalty could be caught dead or alive with a lowly fae like me. Even though I was the daughter of the most powerful fae in the city and my blood was as thick and rich with magic as his was, the witches didn’t see me—or all of my kind for that matter—as anything special. For the most part, we enjoyed the anonymity.
All but my father.
He was dead set on taking control of the sancti community, and he didn’t give a damn who stood in his way.
Raz’s voice startled me, yanking me from the downward spiral my thoughts were taking.
“Well, how about we go ‘think’ where there’s beer? Is that okay with the boss? I could use a cold one.” He used air quotes around the word think, as if even a simple thought was beneath him in that moment.
I flicked my headlights on and headed toward the nearest bar—the only one I knew in the city of Relic, New York that catered to the supernatural.
Sitting at a high-top table in The R
elic Pub, our drinks causing rings of condensation to build a slick mess on the enamel, I pondered what my next move would be. After all, this was the pub Kirsi Ranta owned.
My target.
But still, I had no idea how I would go about meeting her, let alone snatching the necklace she always wore.
“Where are you?” Raz asked, his voice startling me out of my own mind yet again.
I shook my head, putting the rim of the glass to my lips while avoiding his stare. Regardless of my feelings toward him, I always tried to hide them—wear a mask of nonchalance while he was in my presence.
It was getting more difficult as time went on.
Again, I shook my head and shrugged. I honestly didn’t know what to say. So, in true Sarah fashion, I blurted out the first thing I could think of.
“I’m sitting right here, fool.” Even though my words came out impatient, the smile on my face gave me away.
“I know that. I’m just wondering why you’re lost in your mind,” he said with an eyeroll. The protective amulet that hung from his neck—the one he wore while around me—gleamed in the dim lighting. I looked away, my stare boring into the top of the table, while I ran my finger through the condensation.
“So that’s what’s bothering you?” he asked. With force, he grabbed at the amulet and yanked the rope that held it to him. “You know damn well I can’t take it off.”
“I know, Raz. I know.” I sighed. “I just hate you feel the need to wear it. I’d never manipulate you,” I said honestly. Even though his protective charm wasn’t what I’d been thinking about, I now saw it as an outlet—a way to keep what I was really thinking about to myself. Not to mention it was always a sore spot between us. I hated he didn’t trust me. We’d known each other for way too long to still be afraid of one another.
Now it was his turn to sigh. “Damn straight you won’t, but not because of some stupid amulet. That’s not you and I know it. But I still can’t take it off.”
I nodded, fully aware of why he couldn’t… or at least his story as to why.
When Raz was just a boy, he came across a wickedly strong vampire, one who dabbled in the kind of magic not many witches would even dream of talking about, let alone dare to practice. Most vamps only excelled in strength—pure brute force—so for this one to also be able to conjure spells had taken Raz off guard. It had also nearly killed him. Now he didn’t dare leave his house without his wards. They were like his security blankets. As soon as he charged them, they went right back around his neck and surrounded every inch of his home.
To say Raz specialized in security would’ve been an understatement.
I needed to make him feel at ease, especially since he was beginning to fidget, which was something he did when he was about to flee the scene. I didn’t want our time to be over.
“Don’t go,” I said, reaching out to brush my fingertips over his. He flinched, and I dropped my hand back down to the table. “My mind was somewhere else. Something… family related.”
At my tone, he perked up, looking me straight in the eye before he spoke. “What’s the matter with your family? Do they know about us?”
While there really wasn’t much of an us to speak of, it still made my stomach flutter to hear him phrase it that way.
I shook my head. “It has nothing to do with you. My dad has put me on the payroll… sort of.”
Raz snorted, an uncomfortable chuckle leaving his throat before he finally stilled. “Wait. You’re serious?”
“Yep.” I allowed the p-sound to pop between my lips. “But don’t worry. The tasks he’s asking for are simple. Almost too simple. Almost as if he doesn’t trust I can handle anything of importance,” I added disgustedly.
“Still. I don’t like it one little bit.”
Before I could formulate a response, I glanced over and noticed someone.
A person I could use to get to my target.
There she stood, Kirsi Ranta, talking to one of my professors.
While I might’ve been the daughter of a pretty significant sancti, I still went to school like any other norm in existence.
The only thing that looked remotely promising about the encounter was that she appeared to be super pissed at having him there, even though his expression didn’t change in the slightest when she rounded the bar and got in his face.
His smirk stayed strong when she grabbed his hand, leading him into the hallway behind the bar.
It was as if a light bulb had gone off in my head. Yeah, yeah, I knew how flippant and cliché that sounded, but still… the idea now pounding at my brain was absolutely brilliant, even if I had to judge for myself.
I had just found my way to Kirsi Ranta.
I mulled over ways to win the charms Branton Bellamy, who students called Mr. B. He was my astronomy professor, and I idly wondered if he’d be easy to nab.
Raz followed my gaze, which was now focused on the hall door they’d disappeared through.
“What?” he asked, curiosity alive on his features.
I shook my head, plastering on a smile to hide my true mission. “Just thought I saw someone I knew.” I waved off my words, my hand wagging as if it were no big deal. Inside though, I was getting excited.
Who would’ve thought one of my professors was shacking up with the target of my first mission? Things were never this easy for me—ever. Yet, I couldn’t help the hope that blossomed in my chest at the mere thought I’d impress my father on my first go at the family business.
Encanti Enterprises was, for lack of a better word, a front. Granted, my father made quite a bit of money through the company. In fact, it was our main source of funding. Still, what most people didn’t know, especially the humans of this silly metropolis we lived in, was that we had the upper hand with our ability to manipulate the minds of those who were foolish enough to do business with us.
And by us, I meant charmers.
Pure breeds.
Fae.
Even though I’d never been hired for a mission under my father’s hand, I was still an Encanti, and I was going to prove my worth. I had to if I were going to be considered for my dad’s leadership position. He’d already told me he needed someone to take over the family business once he got too old—and I was right in line, especially considering I was his only offspring. But he’d also made it clear he had no qualms about passing it onto the only other young charmer in the fae community.
Greg Townsend.
My future husband.
I internally cringed at the thought. Most would think at this day and age, I’d be able to make my own choice of who I married. No such luck when we were the only two pure faeries left in the greater New England area. I could hear my father’s words echoing through my mind…
You must carry on our legacy.
Shaking my head, I took another large gulp from my drink and avoided Raz’s gaze. He was examining me, and it was obvious he knew what was going on in my fragile mind.
“You can still back out, you know,” he said. I honestly loved to hate the fact that he could read me like a book. “You don’t have to…” His voice trailed off, but I had no doubt what he’d been about to say.
“Just like you don’t have to?” I said with a shrug. My words came out way too shrill, and I wasn’t surprised to see him cringe at each syllable.
While Raz wasn’t already promised, for lack of a better word, to someone particular, he was well aware his situation was dangerously close to mine. Pure souls like us held a certain expectation—a responsibility to our bloodlines.
Now resolutely avoiding my eyes, he thrust his hand up to demand the check so we could tab out… after only one drink.
So be it.
It wasn’t like I could learn anything about my target with Raz around anyway.
As he tossed some cash on the table, his movements nearing forceful and angry, he finally spoke. “You know damn well I’ve at least been trying… trying to get through to my parents and force feed them some reality. But
you? You have just rolled over and taken it. You’ve given up. You haven’t even bothered to try.”
I fought the tears that bubbled up. “That’s not true, and you know it.”
He didn’t bother to let me speak anymore, his negativity cutting me off before I could wrap my brain around the topic our conversation had plummeted into.
“It’s useless, Sarah. And hanging out with you is just a constant reminder of how lost we really are as individuals.” He paused, his voice a mere whisper now. “You used to be such a firecracker… so strong… and you still are a pillar of strength. The only time I see you falter is when it comes to standing up to your dad. I just can’t imagine a future like that.”
Without even a good-bye, he walked out the doors of the pub and left me in his wake of fury. I should’ve been sad, or hurt, but instead, I was pissed. How dare he call me out when he was just as much of a pussy as I was.
Still, I couldn’t help but wonder if he’d be able to get home safe considering he rode here with me. I didn’t need him on my conscience while I tried to plot out my mission, so I ran outside to find him standing on the sidewalk, his face lit by his phone.
“I’m fine. I called a cab.” His voice was brusque, dismissive.
My nature told me to manipulate him, charm him into staying with me, or at least to let me take him home. But my conscience and the amulet hanging from his neck had me standing down, the barriers thwarting my very nature.
We’d had this fight numerous times before. Somehow, we always came out of it intact. This time felt different, though. This time… it felt like I’d never see him again.
My best friend.
My partner in crime.
And he didn’t even spare me a glance when he climbed into a cab.
I couldn’t dwell on my feelings. Besides, according to my father, emotions were the last thing I should focus on. As a charmer, I delved them out to others, never allowing them to seep into me.
