Nightshade (17 tales of Urban Fantasy, Magic, Mayhem, Demons, Fae, Witches, Ghosts, and more)

by Annie Bellet

  In that moment of a history known only to those of the Drachen was born the Charm of Fury.

  “Are you saying,” Levi said, “that Crwys created a spell that makes your human forms possible?”

  “He did.”

  “But I thought…or I guess I assumed, that this ability was just a part of the Drachen.”

  “No,” Crwys gave a short shake of his head. “I made it. I created it. It was because of this spell that my mother later believed I could create a spell of annihilation.”

  “And you did, my Azazel. The Tetragrammaton.” Lethe’s voice was little more than a whisper, which showed her awe at such power. “He created the Charm of Fury and transformed that very moment into the human you see before you. I begged him to give me the spell, but he hesitated because he didn’t know what the cost would be. Magic like his always has a cost.”

  “And that’s the Dragon’s Sleep,” Levi said.

  Crwys nodded. “After my first Sleep, Lethe found me and I cast the spell on her. It was a mistake.”

  Lethe spoke and anger crept into her voice. “I commanded him to cast the spell upon my children so they could walk among men, but he refused.”

  “So she locked me away in human form with her own magic, by influencing my mind and making me believe I could never leave her,” Crwys put his hand to his head. “She made me believe I couldn’t transform back. But when the Sleep came my mind refused to change, so the pain drove me mad until my Dragon broke through her magic. I sought vengeance on her,” he glared at Lethe, “and her kin. I went insane for a time and burned it all. Her temple. Her home. Her bastard children. A demigoddess believing she could give birth to a race of Gods.” Now filled with hate and contempt once more, he took a step closer to Lethe. She didn’t move. “I’m not casting the spell, Lethe. Now let them all go or I will kill you now. Here.”

  She laughed again. “I don’t want the spell, Azazel. No, no, my dear boy. I want you.” She closed the distance between them and stood with her chest pressed against his. Her eyes locked with his and he couldn’t look away. “As long as I have you, I control the spell. But more than magic, I want you by my side.” She reached up to touch his face.

  He slapped her hand away. “I do not love you.”

  “Does it matter? Not loving me just means you won’t have a weakness. You can be strong again, the strongest of us.” She glanced at Emma, still holding the gun pointed at Crwys’s head. “Did it occur to you that she’s no more your mate than Maggie was?”

  The mention of Maggie’s name lit his internal fires. He roared as he brought his hand up and grabbed her face. He released his Fire upon her, pouring into it his hate and his sheer rage against her.

  “Crwys!” Levi yelled as he started toward the two of them, but Rhames fired the gun at Levi. Crwys didn’t know where the bullet hit, but the Vampire went down and remained still.

  Instead of screaming, Lethe laughed beneath the flames that engulfed her. That sound deprived Crwys of his concentration as he staggered back, a bit drained from the use of his power and withdrew his hand. He expected to see a withering, burning corpse. But Lethe was untouched, except for her clothing, which had been completely turned to ash. She brushed the bits and pieces of it away with no inhibitions about being naked before him. But then, Lethe was proud of her human form, just as she was of her Dragon. “Oh…Azazel…has it been so long that you’ve forgotten?”

  Crwys staggered back. “No…”

  “You can’t burn me. I put that control in your head long ago. You were able to remove it after Sleep, but when I found you this past time—”

  “You put it back in.” Crwys took a deep breath and inhaled the smells of the night surrounding them. He was also pretty sure someone in town had seen that flare of flame. The police would be there soon. “When you were there this past time.”

  “Yes. While I kept you with me again. But you slipped away and it was my turn to Sleep.” She held out her hand. “I can hear the sirens, my love. Come with me. You have to know that while I live, you will never be allowed to love another but me.” She smiled sweetly at Crwys. “Come with me and the killings end. No more deaths that are your responsibility.”

  He felt that old rise inside of his mind. The whip of control she’d planted there in his dreams all those years ago. She was right. He’d escaped it through Sleep and then she’d replanted it again. His life had been a vicious circle with Lethe for so long. A constant battle of wills and he had to be ever more careful of her, of what he did. He’d let his guard down after escaping her this last time and now all those women were dead. Any woman he cared for would be in danger as long as Lethe still walked this Earth.

  Levi jumped up at that moment, moved behind Rhames, and grabbed him around the face and put another arm over the man’s upper arms. Rhames fought and started firing his gun. Bullets ricocheted off the stone and hit a trash can, a flag pole…

  And Emma.

  Crwys yelled out as the bullet struck Emma in her arm. She fell back, the gun falling from her grip. He tried to go to her, but Lethe grabbed his arm and pulled him to her.

  “It’s just a flesh wound. Come with me and she lives.”

  But he’d had enough. With her hands on his left arm, he reached around his back with his right, grabbed the dagger, and plunged the tip of it into Lethe’s chest, between her breasts.

  She didn’t move at first. She was a frozen thing in his arms. Then her fingers locked tight as she tried to break his arm. He wrenched free and let her go. Lethe collapsed backwards under the moonlight, the dagger sunk deeper than he thought he’d shoved it, and he was pretty sure the point had broken through to the other side.

  The sounds of sirens drew his attention but he didn’t look away. He saw Levi move to the edge in his peripheral vision. Rhames lay on the ground, unmoving but not dead. He knew his old friend wouldn’t kill indiscriminately. “Hey, Crwys—cops are coming.”

  Crwys didn’t respond as he approached Lethe’s writing human form. Her flesh was melting, revealing her scales and exposing the hidden thing underneath.

  He held out his hand and summoned red Fire. He mingled it with blue and then forced a stream of it at Lethe. The flames instantly consumed her this time, but she didn’t give up. She tried to crawl away from him, away from the pain, and too late he realized she was crawling toward Emma.

  “No!” he screamed as he lunged at her.

  But Lethe had Emma in her burning arms as she stood and ran to the edge of the lookout. Crwys took off after them as he saw Emma’s clothing, her hair, everything catch fire. He opened the spell holding him in his human form and allowed his wings to escape as he jumped off the overlook after them. But with the descent, the oxygen, and the power of his flame, Lethe and Emma became a plummeting ball of fire.

  When it struck the trees, it ignited everything in its path.

  He felt what was left of his connection to Emma disappear as he followed them, extinguishing the flames. Within seconds, the fire was gone but the damage was done. He hovered over the trees, searching for Lethe’s or Emma’s remains.

  Ashur was already in the Mustang and taking a different way down the mountain when Crwys found Emma’s burned body. The smell of her charred flesh would remain with him as he lifted her up in his arms. He couldn’t look at the empty, staring sockets of her skull because all he saw was her accusing him of cutting her life so short. She promised to love him, and he promised to protect her, and in the end, all he had were the charred remains of another innocent life.

  His tears sizzled as they struck her body while he pulled her to him and lifted the two of them up as high as he could before he started the long flight to his home, to his new cave where he’d spend another hundred or so years Asleep as the world went by around him.

  But…not just yet.

  ***

  Two mornings later, after the stories died down in the media about the fire seen on Lookout Mountain and the unconscious police detective found there, Crwys and L
evi entered the police station with a plan in place. Crwys had buried Emma’s body next to Maggie’s on a hill in Ireland; on land he still owned under one of his many names.

  His heart mourned Emma’s loss and most of the detectives and officers were sympathetic to the fact she’d disappeared from the hospital and was believed dead, killed by the same deranged murderer who killed all the others.

  As for Rhames, he couldn’t remember why he was in the park after closing or what happened, or he was faking the amnesia. Crwys assumed this to be the truth. Better to keep his mouth shut than to talk about Dragon Women messing with his mind. With no evidence of a fire visible in the park, it reopened that same morning, and Rhames would be discharged by noon to the care of his wife and kids.

  Now in Denton’s office, with Levi parked at his desk in the bull pen, Crwys handed over his badge and his gun.

  “You’re serious about this?” Denton had read over Crwys’s resignation, but it was obvious from his expression he wasn’t buying it. “You’re the best cop I got—and if you leave, Rhames is going to tell everyone he drove you away.”

  “But he didn’t.

  “That’s not how he’ll play it out.”

  “Captain,” Crwys leaned against the door of Denton’s office. “The guy’s a real bonehead. He kills morale, he bullies everyone here, including the black and whites, and he’s got a chip on his shoulder, but he didn’t drive me away. I would suggest you rein him in for a while. Put him at a desk job until he’s recovered.”

  “I will.” Denton looked through the windows at Levi. “That’s Detective Tulose?”

  “Yes.”

  “Apparently you do know him?”

  Crwys glanced at his best friend. Did he know him? Maybe not as well as he thought he did. “He’s a friend. An old friend.”

  “And you’re heading to New Orleans together.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Then,” Denton pulled the resignation letter toward him and signed it. “I accept your resignation. Direct deposit your last paycheck?”

  “No. Actually, donate it anonymously toward a fund for helping Rhames get back on his feet. And don’t let anyone know I did that.” He reached over the desk as Denton stood. “It’s been a pleasure, Captain.”

  The captain’s hand was warm and his grip strong. “It has been…a sometimes hair-raising pleasure, Holliard. Just be careful in New Orleans.” He let Crwys’s hand go. “I hear there are some serious weirdos down there.”

  “Weirdos?”

  “You know. Vampires. Witches. Voodoo people.” Denton spread his hands. “Watch your back.”

  “We will.” He opened the door and headed into the bull pen. The other detectives approached and did their bro-hugs and handshakes to wish him well as Levi helped him pile his stuff into a box. There wasn’t much to pile in.

  “This yours?” Levi held out a small picture.

  Crwys took it and nodded. It was an old shot of himself, a black and white, taken back in 1899 with Lethe by his side, just before he slipped away from her. He lit it on fire as he held it and dropped it into the empty wastebasket.

  Once at the Mustang, Crwys tossed the box in the back next to their luggage and got in the driver’s seat.

  Levi slipped into the passenger side. “So…about that stray bullet—”

  “Not your fault.”

  “And about what Lethe said…”

  “You being a girl?”

  “Yeah.”

  Crwys held up the key to the car. “I don’t wanna know. You’re Ashur to me. And for now, that’s fine. You’re the closet thing to family I have. I need you, got it?”

  Levi nodded. “Cool. Cool. Just…promise me you’re not going to go all weepy on me once we get to Louisiana. Tell me know if you’re just gonna crawl into a cave somewhere and Sleep like you did with Maggie.”

  Crwys paused before he answered. “It’s not the same, the strength of the bond, I mean. Not like it was with Maggie. It still hurts, but I’m not as young as I was then, and I don’t want to Sleep my life away. It didn’t help with the pain the last time I tried to run from it. It’s better I face it head on and just learn to accept it.”

  “That sounds pretty grown up, Crwys. So, it’s best if we just don’t dwell on Emma…or Maggie?”

  “One day we’ll talk about it.” He slipped the key into the ignition and with a glance at Levi, let his eyes finally release their sorrow; showing his best friend just how sad and devastated he was inside. “But not right now.”

  Phaedra is the author of the The Eldritch Files, an urban fantasy series set in New Orleans with Witches, Vampires and Werewolves, and The Grimoire Chronicles, sister urban fantasy series to The Eldritch Files, that follows the life of Living Grimoire and half Faerie Dags McConnell in Savannah, Georgia. Upcoming books in these series are Elemental Storm and Chimes At Midnight. Phaedra lives in the green hills of the deep south with her daughter, cats, and a menagerie of backyard friends, including a rather large raccoon (nicknamed Jabba) who slides his plate to her every morning for his breakfast.

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