Magic and Mayhem: Witchin' Hard (Kindle Worlds Novella)

by Claudy Conn

  That sun was shining brightly and made me blink. I groaned and made my way back upstairs to the amazing luxury bathroom.

  I smiled to see that Gramps had spread out toiletries labeled for each my mom and me. Where he had managed to obtain them, I have no idea, but a toothbrush was so much better for my teeth than magic.

  I turned on the hot water, dropped off my dirty clothes, and got in. It felt wonderful, but as I soaped myself up, all I could think about was Kallem.

  I had to get back to Kallem. I was useless to him, in his present state, I know, but what if he woke up and I wasn’t there? I had to be there.

  “Dilly!” Mom’s voice rang out at the closed door she had cracked open. “Join me outside in the garden for coffee when you are done. I left clothes for you hanging on the door.”

  Mom had left me clothes? Mom and I have a very different opinion about what designates the term ‘clothes’. She likes ethereal and elegant. I like rough, tumble, and sexy comfortable.

  After I dried off, I was surprised to find my favorite jeans, a sexy black sleeveless knit top, and fresh black sexy underwear. These were from my drawers at home. My favorite boots were gone, but she had laid out another pair that looked almost the same. Where had she gotten these?

  I dressed and feeling refreshed, poured a cup of coffee, found my favorite muffin, and went outside to where two chairs and a small garden table sat. Mom was near the flowers, talking to herself again.

  She was talking to herself.

  My mom is sure and steady…well, she was before we lost Dad. “Mom?”

  “Oh, sweetheart, you are here, good. Sit,” she said, walking over and putting her cup of coffee down as she sat opposite me.

  I decided to try casual by first saying, “Mom, where did you get these boots? I love them.”

  “I had them hidden at home…they were going to be a surprise present for the holidays. But you need them now.”

  I had been using a pair of old running shoes.

  “Thanks…and who were you talking to just now?” I stuck in.

  We have familiars…not quite like Fat Bastard, but pets that often help us work out a difficult spell, simply by being nearby. She could have been talking to a new familiar. Mom is very in tune to nature and animals. She is forever caring for injured creatures.

  “Your dad,” she said without hesitation.

  I nearly choked on the sip of hot, really hot coffee. I didn’t say anything. Maybe I misunderstood her.

  She went on as though she hadn’t said anything odd at all. “He wants you to know that he needs you to be safe. He doesn’t want you to put yourself in danger going after Morlan. He says your gramps will handle that.”

  “Er…Dad told you that…just now?” Maybe there was an explanation? Maybe it was her way of trying to keep me out of the fray?

  “Yes, love, and he also said that he liked your choice of mate,” she said without blinking. She was now staring hard into my eyes as she added, “Who is Kallem? He says your mate is called Kallem.”

  Okay, now I was spooked.

  “Did I call out his name in my sleep?” That was it. That was how she knew the name, but why had she assumed he was my mate and not a friend…or…? Hell, what was going on?

  “If you did, I wasn’t there to hear you do so,” she answered. “Now, who is this Kallem, and what does your father mean, he is your bonded mate?”

  Freaked out, I tried to change the subject. “You weren’t here to hear me? Where were you all night?” Her door had been closed. I had just assumed she was inside asleep.

  “I was with your gramps at the meeting,” she answered. “We didn’t get home until twenty minutes ago. Now, answer my question.”

  “Kallem is a Fae, a Prince of the House of Donai,” I said.

  “I have never heard of this Fae House and I know them all…” she said, one brow up.

  “Mom, it was newly created by the Daoine Queen to honor their service. It is the Fifth House of Daoine.”

  “Ah, but what is all this about you and this Kallem?” Mom had a bone and wasn’t letting go.

  I reminded myself that I was an adult. An adult witch who had a very powerful ‘key’ inside of her.

  “I think you need to explain to me how you are speaking to my father. We lost him, Mom, it isn’t healthy for you to…think you are speaking to him.”

  “We haven’t lost him. How would I know all this if he hadn’t told me?” she said, waving off my concerns.

  “But, Mom…?”

  She leaned forward and touched my knee. “Your dad is with us. Remember, he was the ‘key’. The magic of the key surrounded his spirit when his body was murdered…and sent his body to another plane.”

  “No, Dad was cremated, Mom…”

  “No, he wasn’t,” she said. “And his spirit is alive.”

  “If that were true, Dad would have spoken to me,” I said irritably.

  “He only found the power to speak to me recently and then only because we are bonded mates. You will understand because now you supposedly have a bonded mate. Your father will find the way to you. Give him time. This is all so new.”

  I got up and stared at her. “No. This isn’t real. It is your need to have him back. I understand, Mom…but it isn’t healthy.”

  Mom regarded me thoughtfully, nodded as though she were listening to someone on her left and said, “Your father looked in on Zelda. He wants you to know that she is doing better but her wolf-mate, Mac, is arguing with her about continuing to heal Kallem. He says that your Kallem isn’t a shifter and not her responsibility to heal.”

  I couldn’t move. How would Mom know all that? She couldn’t possibly know all that. She hadn’t known it yesterday?

  I looked around. “Dad?”

  I felt a warm breeze take my hair and make a mustache under my nose. Dad always did that when I was younger.

  I collapsed to my knees. “Dad.” And I cried my heart out.

  Mom covered me with her arms, held me, and whispered a promise, not for revenge against Morlan, but of something else entirely!

  ~ Five ~

  “COLE, WHAT ARE YOU doing here?” I turned away from Mom because she had raised an eyebrow to him.

  Mom inclined her head. “Cole.”

  “Dilly, you have to come with me. I have to show you something,” he said, and his tone was dripping with urgency.

  “Go,” Mom said. “It must be important.” She looked at Cole. “Her safety is paramount, Cole. Please remember that. Don’t put her in any danger or you will have to deal with me.”

  “Of course,” he said, and bowed his head respectfully. “And just to be clear, Mrs. Crescent, I don’t need to be threatened to look out for Dilly.”

  She lifted her chin, but I saw the smile in her eyes.

  Oh yeah, Cole is cool and although she raised a brow, I saw that she liked his response.

  I nudged him with my shoulder.

  Still, how could I go with him? I had to get to Kallem.

  I wasn’t needed yet here in Rucker and I could use these precious moments to be with Kallem, which I so needed to do. “But…I have somewhere to be.”

  “I’m sorry, Dilly, but this trumps everything.”

  I frowned. “Can’t you just tell me what this is about?”

  “No, you have to see for yourself,” he said. “I was asked by our Clan Master, Rollingwood, to take you there, now. Your grandfather will be meeting us as soon as he can.”

  “Gramps? Huh. What the…” I curbed my mouth, “…heck is going on? I have to be somewhere, so let’s make this quick.”

  He grinned wickedly. “Quick, you say?”

  The next thing I knew, he threw me over his shoulder and went into warp speed, vampire style.

  I objected, “Hey you, not a bag of potatoes.” It wasn’t the first time in our many years as friends that he had treated me to this sort of transportation.

  “Damn, girl, you are as light as a feather, so I know that,” he said on a chuck
le.

  A few minutes later, he set me down. I wagged a finger in his face and objected, “I could have used my magic to transport us!”

  “Numero Uno, you wouldn’t have known where to transport us to, and besides that, the less you use your magic, the harder it will be for Morlan to get a ‘sense’ of your whereabouts.”

  “Right, okay, what did you want me to see?” I was still facing him.

  He put his hands on my shoulders and turned me around as he said, “It started out as a very small hole…but this morning we discovered this!”

  I am not afraid of heights, but this was one deep sucker!

  We stood about five feet away from the edge of a very high precipice, overlooking a narrow, and what appeared to be a bottomless, canyon. I couldn’t remember ever seeing such a cliffside anywhere in all of Rucker.

  But it wasn’t just the deep hole that astonished and shocked. It was what was happening inside of it that stunned me speechless.

  A battle of magical forces inside the depth of the canyon was at work.

  White bolts of energy flashed and crackled and held against streaks of dark power fighting for control. Splinters of both swept across the canyon, hitting the sides with zaps of thunderous power.

  “Whoa,” I said.

  “We guess that whatever that thing is, it has burrowed very near to the core of Rucker.” He waved a hand. “Your grandfather tried to stop it early on by installing a shield of White Magic, but as you can see, and hear…”

  A whirling noise, like that of a revved up super-charged motor filled the deep crevice.

  “Dilly,” Cole continued as I studied the two energies, Light and Dark, going at it. “This thing seems determined to tear our realm apart by attacking the core. Your grandfather seems to think that you can get Morlan to withdraw it from Rucker.”

  “Even if I could get through to him, make some kind of deal with him, you don’t really think he has the power to get rid of this, do you?”

  “He would want to, wouldn’t he? Even Morlan wouldn’t want to see Rucker implode—would he?” Cole answered, but I could see he wasn’t so sure Morlan would help.

  “Cole, did Morlan bring this…this creature on purpose?”

  “We don’t know for certain, but Rollingwood and your grandfather don’t think so. They believe that when he opened the portal to a Dark World for its magic, this thing came through.”

  “Look at it, Cole, the beast seems to be feeding off the earth around it. What mineral is it after?” I asked after studying it for a moment.

  Gramps stepped out of his magical cloud of silver and put a hand on Cole’s shoulder. “Thank you, Cole, for bringing my Dilly here.”

  Cole nodded. “Dilly thinks the beast is feeding off the earth. It makes sense, sir.”

  “Ah, and she might well be correct, but for now, we’ll dub it the Dark Machine and until we find a way to turn it off, Rucker is in danger.”

  Gramps knew something he wasn’t letting on. Gramps always knew so much, but he wasn’t one to share until he absolutely had to. I eyed him and said, “How can I help, Gramps?”

  “You are the ‘key’, sweetheart. You have the power inside of you. Being the ‘key’, combined with your superior White Witch Magic, is a mana that I believe can conquer nearly any obstacle. However, first we have to try something less dangerous than going into battle with this…Dark Machine.” Gramps took both my hands and then released them as he turned away from me and paced a few steps before standing still and adding, “I asked Cole to bring you here to show you what we are up against. It is no longer Morlan or what little army he has left to him. It is this…” He waved his hand towards the monster in the canyon. “If we allow this to continue at its present rate of speed, there will be no Rucker left to rule…by anyone.”

  “I don’t understand. What exactly are you asking of me?” I waited for Gramps to answer, but when he didn’t, my hand shot out and tore at the air before I put it to my forehead and gasped, “Wait, what? Are you saying Morlan wants to destroy Rucker? Even he couldn’t be so stupid?”

  “I don’t think that was his original intention, and I am not certain he is now capable of putting an end to what he allowed to enter our realm, but we have to try and get him to tell us what spell he used to open a portal that allowed this thing…to enter Rucker.” Gramps’ voice was low and because I know him, I knew then that things were dire, more so than he was even letting on.

  Cole’s hands went up in the air, and then through his hair before he gritted his teeth, his fangs protruding. He hissed, “The warlock Morlan is insane and out of control.”

  “We are in agreement on that score. I do believe Morlan has gone over the edge into madness. However, I also believe he is still intent on getting Dilly to agree to a union between them. He has always wanted her for himself and now that she is the ‘key’, I believe he is intent on that one goal above all others.”

  “Upchucking here,” I told my gramps.

  He smiled. “I understand, my dearest, but in this case, we have to resort to subterfuge.”

  “What? What are you saying, Warlock Crescent?” Cole’s fangs were totally on display and he looked fierce. I couldn’t help but stare, and whisper, “Easy, vamp.”

  He eyed me and gave me a look before he was able to withdraw his fangs and get control over his obvious outrage. “Warlock Crescent,” he began formally, indicating he was in total disagreement with what Gramps was about to propose. “I cannot, in good conscience, agree to this.”

  Gramps eyed him and said, “It isn’t for you to agree or disagree. You have made your objection known. I understand. Now it is for Dilly to decide.”

  “Dilly,” I said, irritated, “has to know what you are asking before she can decide.”

  Gramps drew himself up and I realized how much this was taking out of him, for he had been seriously slumped only a moment ago. He sighed heavily and said, “Dilly, I am going to ask you to meet with Morlan and offer him a deal.”

  I turned away from him.

  Morlan had murdered my dad. My father’s father was asking me to offer him a deal. The only deal I meant to offer Morlan was whether or not I would keep him alive while I dissected him.

  Flashes of my life over the last few weeks bombarded me. Grieving over my father. Going into hiding against my will. Hiding out in Zelda’s attic in the Human Realm. Kallem…meeting Kallem…and…

  “NO!” I turned screaming at him. My fists punched upwards. “No, no, and no!” I felt as though my grandfather had punched me in the gut and I couldn’t catch my breath.

  And then, I saw a tear silently slide down his cheek. He swiped at it.

  “It hurts me more than you will ever know to see you like this and to know I have just been the cause. However, our need to avenge your father’s death must take a step backwards while we save the world he died to protect.”

  That was nearly more than I could handle.

  I fell on my grandfather’s chest and cried my heart out for a few moments.

  Cole was at my back, rubbing my shoulders, whispering, “Dilly-girl…I’m with you. Whatever you need. I’m there. We’ll get through it and then together, we will take Morlan down.”

  Kallem was dying. If Zelda didn’t heal him, he would die and he did that for me and for Rucker. He said his and the Human World were tied into whatever happened to Rucker.

  I had to depend on Zelda to save the man I loved.

  I had to depend on myself to stand up to Morlan and make him think I was willing to deal in order to save Rucker…for my dad, for Kallem, my gramps, and for Rucker. I had to be more than a daughter out for revenge.

  I turned partially, took and squeezed Cole’s hands in mine before I turned to Gramps. “Okay then, I’ll do this because I must, but first chance, Gramps…first chance I get, I will kill him.”

  Cole frowned and said, “Sir, I object and must tell you, I am a bit shocked that you would put your own granddaughter in harm’s way. However, I do see that
she is the key to this problem, in more ways than one. So, I’m going with her when she meets with Morlan.”

  “Dilly, you will never be in danger. Never forget, you are the ‘key’. You can come and go with a thought,” Gramps said, and looked at Cole. “However, it is a good idea for you to accompany her. Your presence will distract Morlan.”

  So, this was really going to happen. I was going to face El Creepo and what? Offer myself, oh holy hell, I felt sick.

  Morlan now had power over me, and in fact, I was more comfortable with the ‘key’s’ magic than ever before, but could I refrain from slicing him with my dagger? Could I refrain from cutting out his tongue and his arms and…

  “Won’t he realize I am not sincere?” I asked. “Gramps, won’t he know at once?”

  “No, he is an egotistical son-of-a-bitch,” Cole stuck in. “He will actually think you have come to your senses and realized he is the only mate for you.” He shook his head. “But, Dilly, I still don’t like it.”

  Gramps looked at Cole. “You—acting as Dilly’s guard so to speak, will allow him to think she is sincere and ready to accept him. It will appear as though she is still concerned for her safety in his company…since she brought a guard and this will lend credence to her proposition. I don’t think he will have any idea that she might be dissimilating to gain the advantage.”

  “No, not putting Cole in danger. I know Morlan. He will see Cole as a rival and try and eliminate him or hold him hostage,” I objected with a stomping foot. This—all of it, didn’t sit well with me. I stared at Gramps. “I will not allow Cole to be put in any danger. I will meet with Morlan, one on one, period.”

  Gramps growled. He was out of patience. “You will do this as I see fit or not at all.”

  I have never seen Gramps get so angry that his eyes blazed red, but he stood in a fury and I stared at the red glints in his warlock eyes. I decided to wait until he got himself under control.

  He took a moment to do just that and said, “Dilly, some of the time, we have to think of a picture beyond our own. I don’t know why I have to repeat this, but, you seem to forget, this is about saving Rucker and all the inhabitants of Rucker, vampires, werewolves, shifters…need I list them all? Later, we will talk about Morlan’s punishment.”