Samhain Resurrected: A Codex Blair Novella

by Izzy Shows

  "I will transport you back to your time, then."

  "Could you do me a favor with that?"

  "What?"

  "Could you put me back at, like… I don't know, not the exact same time as it is here? Maybe around nightfall on Halloween?"

  "I may be able to do that. We will see."

  And before I could say anything more, the world was swimming around me again: darkness and bright colorful blurs. I whirled through time, and unlike with Raven, there was no slowing down to see what was happening around me.

  At last, I came to in front of my house, wavering to keep my balance.

  "Ugh, time travel," I muttered. I looked at my door for a long moment, and the feeling of weakness in my body swamped me. All I wanted to do was crawl into my bed and sleep for the next three days, but from the looks of things, it was already late, and I had promised to go trick or treating with Finn and the gang.

  No sleep for me!

  I stepped up to the door, lowered the wards, entered my house, and was immediately jumped by Weylyn. He almost knocked me to the floor, but I couldn't do anything more than laugh about it as I wrapped my arms around him.

  "Hey, I missed you, too."

  "Where did you go? I couldn't find you anywhere. Not even Druxglieqfredhelic could find you when he scried for you."

  "You're not going to believe it, but I got pulled through time to this Shrine in Scotland, where I had to fight something called the Slaugh because they'd corrupted a Dullahan, and I had to tell the Dullahan to get lost. It was pretty bad, but as you can see, I'm in one piece. For the most part."

  "You are almost not in one piece," he grumbled, rubbing his head against my leg. "But I am glad that you are home. I'm not letting you out of my sight."

  I grinned and rubbed a hand between his ears. "I wouldn't want it any other way."

  Then I went to change into real clothes that weren't torn to pieces. It was harder than you'd think to find decent clothes, because I was always getting into fights and always destroying my clothes in one way or another.

  But at last I found a shirt that had just one hole in it and a pair of jeans that were only ripped on one knee. I pulled them on, wincing as the jeans scraped against my wounds, and then pulled on socks and my boots.

  I was about to leave for Finn's when I thought better of just taking off.

  I need to get a little something if I'm going to make it through the rest of the night, I thought, feeling that dizziness come over me again. If I kept going like this, I was either going to pass out at the wheel on the way to Finn's, or I would collapse in the middle of trick or treating. I didn't want to traumatize his kid, so I needed to do something about that.

  Looking around, I spied my cuff on the nightstand next to my bed. I slipped it on, and after a moment of hesitation, I put on the rest of my normal gear: the chain I wore around one wrist that could create a gale of wind when activated, and the collection of shield rings I'd put together over the years.

  They all had a different form of shield in them, in case I went up against something that could defeat one of them. I didn't think I'd really need any of them tonight, but after getting yanked out of time and not having any of my gear, I wasn't about to go anywhere without them for a while.

  The only things I wouldn't take with me were the stakes I had piled in the basement, the wands I'd crafted, and the staff I'd made during my trials to train as a Wizard. I kind of wanted to take the staff with me, but I knew my friends wouldn't be too happy with me if I did.

  "You think I'll be OK to go trick or treating without my staff?" I asked Weylyn.

  "You will be just fine, because I will be with you."

  "Heh. I'm sure everyone will love that."

  "Finn should be well pleased that he has someone like me to guard his child on this night."

  I shivered. "Yeah, tell me about it. Halloween isn't my favorite night anymore."

  With that decided, Weylyn and I headed out to drive to Finn's, and I was damned pleased I had my familiar with me again.

  Fourteen

  It didn't take long to get to Finn's house, which was a good thing, because everyone else was already there. I got out of my car, opened the door for Weylyn to hop out, and walked up to knock on the front door to Finn's grand townhouse.

  "Hey!" he said as he opened the door, and he looked relieved. "You made it. I was afraid you weren't going to come. Holy shit, what happened to you?"

  As he shouted, everyone else came running to peek around him at me.

  "Bloody hell, Blair, you've been through the wringer," Shawn said. "Do you want me to take a look at those?"

  I laughed. "No, no, I'll be all right. I'm just tired. I'll tell you all about it later. We have to get trick or treating now, don't we?"

  They debated amongst themselves for a minute, Shawn very upset that I wouldn't let him take a look at my wounds and do what he could for them. He was an excellent medic, and I knew he could stitch me up in no time flat, but I didn't want Lilian to miss out on Halloween because of me.

  "All right, you're right. We were about to leave if you didn't come in the next ten minutes, so I guess we should get going," Finn said, stepping back so I could enter the house.

  "What are you doing?" I frowned, pointing over my shoulder. "We need to leave. I don't need to come in."

  "I have a costume for you," Emily said, laughing. "You have to put it on!"

  "It's really good, Blair," Finn said with a grin. "I can't wait to see it on you."

  "What the hell," I grumbled. "I didn't know I was gonna be wearing a costume."

  But I walked into the house anyway and let Finn shut the door behind me, and Emily showed me what she was hiding behind her back.

  I couldn't help but fall into a fit of laughter, because it was a silly Wicked Witch costume. It was absolutely perfect in every way, and I couldn't believe she'd thought to get it for me.

  Everyone else was already wearing their costumes, so I would have been the odd one out if I didn't have one, and it was nice of Emily to think of me like that.

  The others joined in my laughter for a moment.

  "All right, all right, let me go and put it on," I said, then took it from Emily's hands and darted into the bathroom to change.

  As soon as I was dressed, I came back out, and the five of us left to go trick or treating.

  It was odd for me, because I'd never done anything like this before, but it was also nice to watch Lilian go door to door and get candy.

  The four of us stood at the curb watching Lilian walk up to another house for candy, and I took a minute to look at all of my friends. A sense of warmth flooded through me as I took in the three of them, all standing with me, talking to one another.

  This was my family.

  I was so blessed to have found them.

  If you enjoyed Samhain Resurrected, don’t forget to check out the first book in the Codex Blair series! Read on for a taste of Grave Mistake!

  Buy Grave Mistake on Amazon!

  Chapter One

  The bar smelled of beer, sweat, and desperation. So, you know, like every bar you’ve ever been in.

  I was curled over a pool table, sizing up my target with a smirk decorating my lips. I’d been playing pool for most of my life, so it wasn’t a challenge for me. Well, there was this time. I was trying not to play my best. Didn’t want the enemy to know that I was hustling him.

  I scratched. Huffing out a disappointed sigh, I stood up with my shoulders slumped.

  “Damn.” I shook my head. “Can’t believe I mucked that up.”

  “I can.” He rolled his eyes, scoffing at me. “Everyone knows girls can’t play.”

  I bit the inside of my cheek, glaring down at the floor. Idiot. I could play circles around him.

  I watched as he landed two balls before missing the third.

  My turn.

  I couldn’t help myself. I sank my remaining balls with my normal ease. Showed him what girls could do. Maybe I rile too easily,
but I’d been subjected to this kind of derision from various foster fathers for most of my life. When they weren’t ignoring or beating me, that is.

  Funny, though: it was much easier to take a punch to the gut than one to the psyche.

  “What the fuck!” my opponent shouted. “How the fuck—? You hustled me!”

  Oh, yeah. I was doing that. Oops.

  I shrugged. “Time to pay the piper. Not my fault you can’t play for shit.” I held out my hand and gestured for him to pay up.

  He advanced on me instead. I took a step back, eyes narrowed as I sized him up.

  There was always a risk in a situation like this, that the person would refuse to pay up. I had a hunch that he wouldn’t have paid me even if I’d ‘miraculously’ pulled off a win while playing like shit.

  “I ain’t paying you,” he growled, swinging his cue stick at me.

  I ducked the blow, relying purely on instinct to bring me far enough down to avoid the hit. I brought my own stick up in an arc and caught him on his chin. It sucked that I wasn’t going to get paid—I hadn’t earned enough this month to pay my rent, and I really needed the money. Tomorrow, I would be out of time, and this had been my fall-back.

  He charged, knocking me into the wall behind me with his bulky mass. I lost my pool cue in the process. It’s pretty much impossible to avoid someone that large in such small quarters. I probably should have picked a better bar, but… you know. Didn’t have a lot of options.

  He pulled back with a balled fist, aiming for my face, but I managed to avoid him again, bringing up my own fist to deliver a gut punch even as I was wheezing in the air that he’d knocked out of me.

  I was rewarded with a good ear boxing. Any hearing I’d had over the din of the bar was lost, replaced with a ringing sound that wasn’t provided by reality.

  Ugh.

  I snapped my knee up to his groin, connected my elbow with his chin, and followed up with a kick to his gut to get him off me. Dancing to the side, I regained my pool cue. I balanced on the balls of my feet, debating between continuing the fight and fleeing the scene.

  On one hand, I could probably get the money from him if I managed to keep him down. On the other, his friends were starting to form a circle, and the odds of me being beaten to a pulp were going up.

  I looked around at the group of burly men, arms crossed over thick chests as they eyed me. It was probably an odd sight, a scruffy-looking girl standing over a large man groaning on the floor clutching his groin; enough for them to pause, but not enough to dissuade them from attacking.

  I should probably disappear while I still could.

  I sidestepped, jumped up to slide across the faded wood on the side of the pool table and found myself safely outside the circle of men.

  “Get…her,” my attacker groaned from the floor.

  The men started to walk toward me. Why do they always move slowly? Is it supposed to intimidate me?

  I ducked out of the bar and raced down the street to put as much distance between me and them as was possible.

  So much for rent money.

  I slowed down after I’d made it a couple of hundred yards, reaching into the pockets of my jeans to grab my pack of cigarettes. I lit one and breathed in the nicotine, letting it wash through me and calm the adrenaline that had carried me to this point.

  I only made it another fifty yards to the next corner before the anxiety returned, the cigarette no longer dulling me to relaxation. I felt a tension between my shoulder blades, like someone was watching me. Had one of the men followed me even after all that running? It didn’t quite make sense—I was fast. I had been good at athletics in school. Eventually, I had reached a point where I’ slowed myself down just to keep things interesting. It had become a competition with myself rather than with the other runners, and that had been a different kind of fun.

  I wasn’t having fun right now, and the memory didn’t do much to change that. I glanced over my shoulder but didn’t see anyone suspicious.

  None of the men from the bar. I shrugged to try to relieve the tension and kept walking.

  The feeling didn’t go away, and I felt myself becoming annoyed. I glanced nervously down an alley as I passed by and was surprised by a pair of red eyes staring out at me from the dimness of the backstreet. I jumped forward, away from the sight, and took a long drag off my cigarette to get my heart rate down.

  What the fuck was that?

  I craned my neck around to look down the alley again.

  Nothing there.

  Well, fuck, that didn’t make me feel any better.

  I started walking again, faster this time, hurrying to get back to my flat but never losing the feeling that something…weird was following close behind me. I found myself glancing over my shoulder repeatedly, but I didn’t catch sight of anything abnormal again.

  Probably just the alcohol I’d put away.

  Maybe it was time to quit drinking!

  Yeah, right. I smiled as I entered my building.

  That was what I’d keep telling myself.

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  Also by Izzy Shows

  The Codex Blair Series

  Grave Mistake

  Blood Hunt

  The Fallen’s Crime

  Dark Descent

  Wild Game

  Grim Fate

  High Stakes

  Samhain Resurrected

  The Fallen Hunter

  Tainted Light

  Ruled by Blood

  Blood Captive: Origin

  Blood Huntress

  Blood Slave

  Blood Exile

  Space Mage

  Eradicated

  Provoked

  Enslaved

  Recalled

  About the Author

  Izzy Shows writes urban fantasy novels for adults, and much more in her spare time. She’s also an avid LARPer and enjoys storytelling in all art forms. She can be a little cooky, and really enjoys talking about her works, writing in general, or all things fantasy. To learn more about her you can follow her on twitter or check out her website.

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