Magic In My Soul

by Kellie Sheridan

  Simon and Leda had returned the vampires to Greece, as we'd promised—just not to the compound, and not together. Nadir and his buddies would’ve been able to find each other and regroup, and we weren't feeling all that inclined to help them do it. He'd offered no promises about what his next moves, so time would tell what his response would be. But he wouldn't be able to take back the home he'd held for generations. That belonged to the Greek Lesser Magick's faction now. Word was already spreading that the stronghold they'd taken would offer protection to anyone in the country who needed it. There was no way the vampires could take it back, not without the help of the people they'd sought to control.

  Simon, Leda, Ieza, and Kassie were, in theory, free to go home to Greece or to settle in Galway if they wanted. I suspected they’d take a few days to themselves, and then make a home for themselves inside the walls that had once been their prisons, finding a new community that would always have their backs.

  As far as I knew, there wasn't a single person connected to the vampires left in my city. But if I'd learned anything, it was that there was so much I still didn't know.

  And how much did it really matter if Galway went a few days without vampires, especially if so many more were going to descend on the city for the summit?

  Once the dust had settled, I'd gone to bed on my own that night, determined to feel safe enough in my own city to rest.

  Somehow, I'd still woken up with both Cooper and Taya inside my apartment.

  "How's it going?" I asked, causing Taya to jump a little from where she'd planted herself on my couch. Cooper must have heard me coming. Cheater.

  "Good!" Taya said, a little too brightly. A little too eager. "Did you manage to get any sleep?"

  "Yeah, actually. I was pretty beat. But now I'm having some serious second thoughts about my own ability to hear people coming and going from my flat without anyone knowing about it."

  Taya had the decency to look at least a little sheepish. "We just wanted to make sure you were okay."

  "Both of you?"

  "At this point, it mostly feels like the way things work," Cooper added.

  "I should probably make a point of having more people with lesser magicks in my inner circle if I'm going to make this work." I laughed, not really sure how much I was joking. Getting to know different people in my community and what they could do had been the only way I'd won the night before, and yet I was still hanging out with greater magicks. Sure, Taya had been cast off by the witches, and Cooper had been nothing but a great friend, but it wouldn't hurt things to try and make more of an effort to keep growing my network, offering its strength to anyone else who might need it.

  I unplugged my phone from where I'd been charging it on the coffee table, intending to send a message to Tilly. As soon as the screen came to life, I could feel trouble coming.

  "Something's coming," I said, already closing my eyes to connect online. "Something big."

  "On your phone?" Taya asked, sounding a little confused.

  "Yes. Something is being targeted at..."

  Ding. Buzz. Ding.

  I had a new email. And perhaps my friends did as well.

  It took a second to figure out that nothing harmful had been attached to the file. The message was the weapon here, so I opened it up.

  Consider these words a declaration of our intent. Vampire, werewolf, fae, and witch alike will no longer stand for this insolence. War will be waged, and war will be won.

  From this day on, until balance is restored, the presence of lesser magicks and those who possess them will no longer be tolerated on the islands of Ireland and Greece.

  Tell your brothers, sisters and friends. Ignorance will not be tolerated. As we descend on Galway to discuss the fate of our entire community, those we find will be exterminated or taken to further serve our cause, and Greece will not be a refuge. We will retake what is ours by right.

  Those who wish to stay alive may present themselves to the service of the rightful factions one week from today at the Cork Roscoff Ferry to be distributed to those in power in Ireland and beyond.

  You will not be warned again.

  That was it. Just a few lines, each of which promised to rip apart everything I'd built, and everyone who had only begun to build new lives for themselves.

  "What. The. Actual. Fuck." Taya tossed her own phone down on the couch. Her phone dinged with a dozen notifications from behind me, but it seemed a world away.

  I reread the email, sure I must have been a misunderstanding. It was possible that if the proclamation had come through any other means, I might have believed it sooner. But a declaration of war via email seemed too absurd, even by the standards of my new life. I guess that was what we'd come to.

  "What does that even mean?" I wondered out loud. What I couldn't bring myself to wonder out loud is what that would look like. Would the factions simply resort to killing us on sight? It wasn’t like they’d given us any true options. Surrender to the service of one of the factions, possibly far from anywhere you’ve ever known. Or what… die? The people in Greece hadn't even been given an opportunity to surrender.

  And who exactly was this coming from? How far did it go? I didn't even know who I was supposed to be afraid of now. My stomach churn, fear rising again. How quickly it returned after working so hard to push it down.

  In the end, it wouldn’t matter what they meant or where this had come from. It wouldn't matter if they stripped Lesser Magicks across Ireland of the few rights they still had. It wouldn't matter if the factions were truly a united front in this decision, or we'd simply pissed off one too many vampires. We were going to need to fight back.

  I allowed myself only one minute to get my thoughts in order. If going up against Nadir had taught me anything it was that our little faction was so much better off when we were utilizing all the people on our side. And that apparently vampires could hold a grudge. But I probably should have known that part already. Was what we’d done to Nadir the catalyst in all of this or had it been brewing since our faction was formed? Or had what we done to him simply put the rest of the factions on notice? We had more power than they thought.

  More likely than anything, something like this had been coming since long before I’d even stepped into this world. Simon had given me a glimpse of how lesser magicks were being treated. Even Aoife had played a hand in showing me just how deeply resentments were running. I was one piece of a tapestry that extended the world over. "We're going to have to act quickly." Still connected online, I pulled up a local area map inside my mind. "The factions are going to be incoming soon, and we're not just going to sit around here and wait for them to pick us off one by one."

  "You can come to Dublin," Cooper said.

  "It won't help," Taya said back. They both felt a million worlds away. They couldn't know what this felt like.

  The realization hit me like a bullet. They couldn't know. They couldn't even be a part of what was happening. "No. We can't. We're not going to run and hide. Not from this." I allowed myself the span of a few heart beats to commit to my next decision. "And you can't be here."

  "I'm sure it's fine," he answered absentmindedly, not looking at me.

  "I'm serious. You can't be here. You're part of Ethan's pack. Whoever sent this letter still considers you one of them. We can't risk that changing."

  "You can't seriously think that I'm afraid of whoever these assholes are." A feral fire had seemed to light behind Cooper's eyes in an instant. "Ethan's not going to put up with this shit. He's not going to let this stand."

  "And I so appreciate that. But at this point, no one really knows what's going on, or what the stakes are. You need to get back to Dublin, at least until the summit. I won't have anyone accusing you"—or Ethan—"of playing both sides." There were too many ways this could go wrong. There was a good chance I'd already made the wrong call here, but it had had nothing to do with Cooper or his pack. All over the country, there were Lesser Magicks getting this same message.
r />   You aren’t welcome.

  You aren’t wanted.

  You aren’t safe.

  And me working closely with the werewolves wasn’t going to do much in order to make them feel more comfortable. Now more than ever, I’d need them to trust me since I had no intention of leading a mass exodus from Ireland before the summit. This was our home we were talking about. It was not something to be handed over lightly.

  Or at all.

  Cooper studied me for a moment before sending off a text that I had to assume was headed for Ethan.

  Ethan. Damn. So much for our tentative dinner plans.

  The thought was gone as quickly as it had come. It would need to stay tucked away in the back of my heart for a while now. Maybe forever.

  But maybe not.

  I truly did believe that the wolves hadn’t sanctioned this war. But that still left the witches and the fae, and I could think of a few good reasons for both factions to sign off on this plan.

  “I guess I’m going to take off then,” Cooper said, looking a little uncomfortable. “I’ll see you soon?”

  “With a little luck. I hope so.”

  “Are you going too?” he asked, looking over at Taya.

  They both turned to look at me.

  Good question.

  Taya was as much a witch as Cooper was a wolf. So where did that leave us?

  “I’ll head home,” Taya said, not waiting for me to order her out, as I’m sure I would have had to. Not that it mattered; I couldn’t stay here. “The good news is, under the rules of,” she waved a hand toward the computer, “whatever this bullshit is, I’m fine. They didn’t acknowledge the faction itself, it’s based on power. I can stay here without consequences. We can use that. You can use me. However you need to.”

  A steely determination had taken over Taya’s features. “And remember, they can’t do what you can. Seeing the abilities of those around you is going to be crucial. They don’t know who has power and what kind. I’m sure there are some people whose powers are known, but not everyone. They can’t simply waltz in and kill on sight. It’s going to be a lot messier than it sounds, but a lot more challenging for them.”

  My friends were gone within minutes, leaving me alone with an outpouring of emails and text messages, coming in far faster than I could keep up with. Nina. Simon. Tilly. Others I'd spoken to only the day before, some of whom had offered help, others who had declined. People in Ireland were scared, and those in Greece were bracing for a fight to the death. Even those who hadn't been named directly knew what this meant. The gauntlet had been thrown down for all of us. We weren't going to be allowed to simply waltz into our newfound independence.

  But had any among us ever really thought it would be that easy?

  The summit was coming, and if the factions had their way, we wouldn't be here to see it, let alone have our voices heard.

  What came next was too obvious. Lesser Magicks everywhere would be offered to the world as a test balloon to see how humanity would respond to being exposed to the supernatural world. If they accepted us, great. The factions would use the door we'd been forced through to gain even more power for themselves. If not, we'd be the ones who were mercilessly hunted and killed all over the world.

  Not one witch, vampire, or fae would shed a tear for our deaths. And I couldn't let myself be blindsided enough to think the wolves would be much better.

  A war would have to be waged. There was no choice for any of us.

  What the factions didn’t seem to understand yet was the role we would play.

  I'd watched my own mother die through her own eyes, a victim of the factions unending power plays.

  The factions were coming to Galway. My city. Our city.

  I couldn't stop them from coming. But I could ensure that the welcome would be anything but warm.

  The End

  The summit is starting, and there’s nowhere left to hide. Continue her journey in Magic In My Blood, Book Three of the Lesser Magick’s Trilogy.

  Be the first to learn about Kellie’s new releases, while also getting exclusive access to discounts and freebies by joining her newsletter.

  Author’s Note: Thank you so much for reading Magic In My Soul! This book was a journey and a half for me. After releasing it shortly after book one, there was no denying how unhappy I was with how it had all turned out. The story wasn’t long enough, and more importantly, it wasn’t good enough. Not for the readers that had loved Melanie’s story in book one and wanted to see her take on the world in book two.

  I ultimately decided to pull the first edition, re-edit and add an extra 50% in order to flesh out the story and the characters, and I’m so glad I did.

  I hope you enjoyed this second part of Melanie’s story as much as I did writing it, and will stick around to see how it all plays out in book three of Melanie’s trilogy.

  The summit is coming, and I hope you’ll be there with us!

  Other Books by Kellie Sheridan

  Into the Night

  After her sister's murder, Mackenzie Winters learned to fear the night.

  In an attempt to find some closure on the anniversary of the worst night of her life, Mackenzie sets out to retrace her sister's final day. One wrong step opens a door to the truth. Not only about what happened to Evie, but about what else lurks in the shadows, forcing her to redefine the line between truth and myth.

  Vampires are real. They're hungry. And they're only the beginning.

  But Mackenzie is learning from those who have been in this fight far longer than she has.

  Soon, the night will learn to fear her.

  Mortality

  After surviving a deadly plague outbreak, sixteen-year-old Savannah thought she had lived through the very worst of human history. There was no way to know that the miracle vaccine would put everyone at risk for a fate worse than un-death.

  Now, two very different kinds of infected walk the Earth, intent on nothing but feeding and destroying what little remains of civilization. When the inoculated are bitten, infection means watching on in silent horror as self-control disappears and the idea of feasting on loved ones becomes increasingly hard to ignore.

  Starving and forced to live inside of the abandoned high school, all Savannah wants is the chance to fight back. When a strange boy arrives with a plan to set everything right, she gets her chance. Meeting Cole changes everything. Mere survival will never be enough.

  Into The Void

  Her legacy was built on lies, but uncovering the truth will put everyone she cares about in danger.

  Evie was never interested in being part of SolTek Industries, content to enjoy the perks of her family's legacy without any of the responsibility. But when her brother, a party boy with no tech skills whatsoever, starts claiming he's about to reveal the next big thing, an invention of his own design, Evie can no longer deny that something is wrong.

  Everyone in Evie's family has been lying to her, and she intends to find out why. With a pocket full of credits and a set of coordinates she lifted from her brother, Evie sets off in hopes of finding what her family is trying to keep hidden. When those coordinates turn out to lead to deep space, though, she knows she can't get there alone.

  She's going to need a ship.

  Oliver Briggs is high on ambition but short on credits. Having spent his entire life's savings to hire his dream crew, he risks losing them all if they don't start bringing in some real money--fast. When the daughter of a tech magnate shows up looking for an inexplicable ride to the outer reaches of the system, offering a payday too lucrative to resist, he can't help but accept.

  But taking her offer may mean losing his crew after all.

  The secrets uncovered by the crew of the Lexiconis could change the future course humanity's future. The only question is if they'll survive long enough to do anything about it.

  Fans of The Orville and Star Trek will get lost in this space opera adventure that explores the boundaries of universe...and humanity itself.
<
br />   Grab your copy today, and join Evie, Oliver, and crew as they travel through the galaxy, where one wrong decision can drop you on the other side of the universe with no resources and no way home.

  Writing As Kellie Bean

  Four Of A Kind

  The odds of giving birth to identical quadruplets: 1 in 13 million.

  The population of Fairview, a town where all anyone talks about is the Fairview Four's return after fourteen years: 47,327.

  The chance of Reagan meeting a guy who sees her as one of a kind: better than she thinks.

  Following in her sisters' footsteps--and, all too often, their shadows--is nothing new to Reagan. But a disastrous first day at Fairview High forces her down a new path, one that could lead to seeing herself as more than just someone else's sister. Things aren't going as smoothly for Reilly, Reece, and Rhiannon though. How can Reagan let herself be happy--or dare to fall in love--when she may be the only one who can bring her family back together?

  Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants meets Gilmore Girls in the first novel of a heartwarming new series about first loves, family, and finding your way.

  Abdication

  For Hannah, visiting the small country of Eilland on a political trip with her mother was the chance of a lifetime. A chance to see history first hand. A chance to escape her mom's new boss, the President of the United States. And maybe even a chance to find love.