Hurricane of Magic

by J. L. Hendricks

  Hurricane of Magic

  Book 2

  Of

  The Voodoo Dolls

  By

  J.L. Hendricks

  This book is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Copyright (c) 2017 J.L. Hendricks

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. It may not be sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy.

  First Edition June, 2017

  All rights reserved. Copyright © 2017 J.L. Hendricks

  Editor: Rebecca Reddell

  Illustrator: Rebecca Frank

  Table of Contents

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Epilogue

  Author’s Notes

  Acknowledgements

  Other Books by J.L. Hendricks

  Chapter 1

  Jenna

  “Oomph!” I landed on my butt - hard! This fighting wasn’t getting any easier. In fact, it was getting tougher.

  “Dude, you better not mess up my pants! They’re brand new.” I hated it when vampires attacked for no good reason.

  “Doll, I wouldn’t worry about your pants if I were you.” The vampire who threw me to the ground was coming back to get me again, but I was ready this time.

  With a roundhouse kick Rico taught me, I got the guy in the gut. His eyes narrowed, and he actually seemed shocked I was able to get in a good kick. These past six months have done wonders for my fighting ability. Well, to be honest, it was non-existent before Rico and his pack took me and my sisters under their wing.

  The vamp backed up a few steps to get out of the reach of my legs. Next thing I knew, the blood-sucker was behind me and had his arm around my neck. Grabbing his arm, I bent at my waist and tossed him over my shoulder. Again, he seemed stunned I was fighting back.

  “Grrr, I’m done playing with you. You are going to submit to me - tonight!” He licked his lips and focused on the throbbing vein in my neck.

  I’ll be honest; it was tiring fighting him. My skills were improving daily, but fighting an actual vampire, when I knew my life was on the line, was very different from sparring with the wolf-shifters who happened to be my friends.

  It was time for the big guns.

  Pulling out the wooden stake from inside my jacket, I got into my fighting stance. Feet spread shoulder width apart, knees bent, and fists out in front of my chest. One hand gripped the stake and was ready to strike the second this blood-sucker was close enough.

  “Okay, Buffy. You got me. I surrender.” The vampire was very sarcastic. He must have been a newer vamp if he knew that pop-culture reference.

  “Funny, I don’t take you for the Spike kinda guy. You seem like the kinda guy who gets spiked.” I smirked.

  “If I remember correctly, Spike and Buffy got it on more times than anyone can count. I’m up for the same relationship, if you think you can handle me.” His smile disgusted me.

  This guy was nothing like Spike. Real vampires weren’t like what we watched on TV either. They were more evil and more interested in having humans be their daily blood supply than friends.

  “Not in this life creep.” I moved closer to him. The sooner I killed him, the better. He gave me the creeps.

  His wicked smile was enough to gag on. “Hmm, sounds like you’re ready for the next life. Good. Let’s get this going. I’m hungry, and your blood is calling to me.”

  “Shut up and make your move, fangboy. I’m ready to get home and take a nice, long, hot bath. Your stink is all over me.” I blinked, and he was next to me.

  Spinning around, I slammed the steak into his chest but missed his heart. Grunting I said, “This is harder than Buffy made it look.”

  The vampire laughed and pulled the stake out of his chest. Throwing it far away, he moved behind me. Grabbing my hair, he pulled back my head to give him access to my neck. I could hear him smack his lips before he bit down.

  “Ahhh!” I screamed when his fangs broke the skin. As the pain made its way through my head, I realized I needed to do something and fast.

  “You’re right. I do want to jump your bones. The bad guys are always the best lovers. Let go of me, and I’ll be happy to go with you.” It was the only thing I could think of to get his fangs off my neck.

  He was way too strong for me to pull away from. If I didn’t stop him, I’d be too weak to fight him when he did let go.

  He pulled his head back and licked my blood off his lips, like it was ice cream. “Hmmm, your blood is sweeter than it smells. I can’t wait to get you back to my room. You made the right choice.” He licked my neck and lightly nibbled on my ear.

  It sent chills of disgust up and down my spine. How could anyone enjoy this? It hurt!

  “What’s your name?” I wanted to be able to tell Rico who I killed tonight, if I made it out of here alive.

  “You can call me, Spike, if you like.” He continued to kiss my neck and ear. If he didn’t let me go soon, I’d be puking.

  “No, your real name. What do I call you in front of others?” If I kept him talking, maybe he would begin to relax and let go of me, or give me a chance to grab the other stake in my boot.

  “Master. All acolytes call me master. However, when we are alone, you may address me as Derek.” He turned me around and kissed my mouth full on. GROSS!

  His tongue tried to part my lips. I could taste my own coppery blood as he tried to get me to open my mouth for his tongue. This was it. How far do I let him go before I fight back?

  I couldn’t do it.

  Pushing him back I reached down with one arm for the stake in my boot and pulled it out while he was laughing.

  “I knew you were lying, little hunter. Good, this just makes it all the sweeter.” He lunged at me.

  This time I did hit the mark.

  With wide eyes, he looked down at his chest before he slumped to the ground.

  I wish it was like in the movies or TV shows. Stake a vamp and poof. But no. In real life their lifeless body is still there.

  Joseph, the pack’s Alchemist, told us that the vamp’s bodies have to be set out where the sunlight will hit them in the morning. Then the bodies go poof. However, the body needs to be put in a place where no one will get to it before the sun comes up. If regular humans found it, they would know vampires were real.

  I wished I could just d
ump it in a trash bin, but then the sun wouldn’t hit it. Hiding it in bushes wouldn’t work either, not enough rays from the sun would get to it. Besides, animals would probably find it before enough sunlight did hit the body.

  Leaving it out in the open was certainly not an option.

  Pulling my phone from my jacket pocket I dialed Rico.

  Not long after I met Rico, we hired him to help us find a friend of ours who had been abducted by a vampire. The cops were no help to Acadia’s sisters when they reported her missing. Rico went down to the police station, and they gave him the CCTV footage showing Acadia leaving a nightclub with a vampire.

  Rico and his pack protected New Orleans and her inhabitants. He was also the CEO of a very successful private investigation firm. Sometimes, he even worked with the local police. They respected him so much, they gave him whatever he asked for.

  “Hey, Jenna! What’s up?” Rico answered on the second ring.

  “Hi, Rico. I could use some help.” Sighing, I told him what happened.

  “YOU WHAT? Of all people, I would think you would know better than to go out at night all alone. What were you thinking?” I could hear his anger, as I’m sure anyone within several blocks of him could.

  I pulled the phone away from my ear and shook my head. That guy had a set of lungs on him.

  “I thought it would be safe to go out for Chinese. There’s this little hole in the wall only a few blocks from my apartment. It was never an issue before. I’m actually surprised no one came running when I screamed.” This was not going well.

  “Where exactly are you? I’ll see who’s the closest and send them to you. Is there a store or restaurant you can wait inside of?”

  “Um, I’m in an alley close to the Chinese restaurant, Uncle Wong’s. I’ll head there. What do I do about the body?” I looked around at my surroundings and noticed a few things I could use to cover up the body temporarily.

  “Never mind, I’ll just put some trash over him. I doubt anyone will look too closely at stinking garbage.” Walking over to the dumpster I eyed earlier, I picked up some mostly empty boxes and dumped the contents on the vamp.

  Great, it was rotting vegetables. At least the stench would keep away any lookie-loos.

  Chapter 2

  Jenna

  I heaved a huge sigh of relief when I walked into Uncle Wong’s. “Hey, Jimmie. Do you have my order ready?”

  “Jenna? What happened to you? Why do you have blood on your neck and shirt?” Jimmie was actually Uncle Wong.

  Who ever heard of a Chinese restaurant called Uncle Jimmie’s? Wong isn’t even his last name, it’s Ang. Not the best name for a restaurant. I liked the name Uncle Wong, it flowed off the tongue.

  “I was attacked in the alley.” I held up my hands when Jimmie started to get upset.

  “I called a friend, and he’s sending someone to help me. I’ll be ok after I get some of your famous wonton soup and a bath.” Sitting down in a chair, I looked to the TV he had in the bar area. It was currently showing the weather report.

  Jimmie rushed into the back and came out within a minute carrying a steaming hot cup of wonton soup. “Here, take this while you wait. It’ll help give you nourishment. Can I get you some tea? I think tea would be good.” He ran to the back again.

  I called out, “Thanks, Jimmie! It looks worse than what it really is.”

  Looking around, I noticed there weren’t any other customers in the place. Normally, Uncle Wong’s was really busy this time of night. It was close to eleven at night, but he always had to make people leave when they closed at one in the morning. Wong’s was a very popular place to hit up after the clubs or the parades.

  Since no one was around, I put the bowl to my lips and slurped it. Jimmie wouldn’t care. “Mmm, this is exactly what I needed! Thanks, Jimmie.”

  He walked out of the kitchen with a cup of piping hot tea. I could see the steam coming off the cup. “Drink this, and don’t slurp my wonton soup! It’s not ladylike.” Jimmie pursed his lips and took the seat next to me.

  “Tell me, what happened? Who did this to you? And where are they? Should I get my cousin to teach this animal some manners?” Jimmie’s cousin was in a gang.

  I wanted nothing to do with them. I had enough trouble just keeping up with a pack of wolf-shifters.

  “I don’t think you have to worry about him. He won’t be coming around here.” Did Jimmie know the truth? How should I handle this?

  A little voice in my head said Change the topic.

  “Jimmie, I thought the hurricane was going to dissipate before hitting land? According to the news,” I pointed to the TV over the bar. “It looks like we might be seeing another hurricane hit our poor town. Turn up the volume. I want to know when it’s going to hit land.”

  “Don’t worry, it won’t be hitting until sometime tomorrow early afternoon. Sasha, she’s my favorite weather girl, said it wouldn’t be any stronger than a cat 2. She thinks it might even be downgraded to a tropical storm by then.” Jimmie had goo-goo eyes for Sasha, the local weather girl.

  She wore those super low-cut and very tight dresses that the men loved so much. I didn’t think much of her, she was usually wrong. However, most of the time all of the weather people were wrong, didn’t matter how hot they were.

  “Is that why the place is empty? Are people evacuating? Has it been ordered yet?” I looked over my shoulder at all of the empty tables and booths.

  “We closed early tonight. I only stayed here for you to pick up your order. When you came in, I was in the middle of packaging all of our leftovers to take on the road. I was going to leave once it was all packed up. Now I know why you were so late.” Jimmie scrunched his nose.

  “Jenna, you need a bath. Sorry, but you stink.” He leaned away from me enough to let me know he wasn’t kidding.

  “Sorry, Jimmie. I fought back. We were in an alley that was filled with rotten vegetables and who knows what else. Probably dead rats too.” I shivered.

  We both turned when the bell above the door rang.

  “Damien! Thank you so much for coming so quickly! Were you the closest?” I stood up to greet my friend who also happened to be a pretty tough wolf-shifter and the pack’s beta.

  “Jenna, thank goodness! Rico is out of his mind with worry! Hi, Jimmie! You have any more food? I think you’re going to be inundated with a few pack members.” Damien came over and was about to hug me, but he scrunched his nose and stepped back.

  “Jenna, you need a shower. Badly.” He fanned his nose.

  “Sure thing, Damien. How many are coming?” Jimmie asked when he stood up.

  “Probably at least a dozen. You know how they get when they’re patrolling. I would imagine they’re going to be very hungry.” Damien took a seat at my table.

  When Jimmie went to the back, I leaned forward and whispered, “Does Jimmie know? About you guys?”

  “Of course, most of the shop and restaurant owners who stay open really late have had run-ins with vampires. Not all know we’re shifters, but Jimmie does. One of my guys saved him and his wife from an attack a few years back. Now, this is one of our favorite places to patrol. Jimmie always gives us wonton soup when we come in.” Damien looked up to the TV.

  No wonder Jimmie’s wife was never here at night.

  “Did you see the report? Looks like the city is going to get hit with a hurricane after all. What do you guys do during hurricanes? Do you evac?” I had never considered what they would do during an emergency.

  Last hurricane season I didn’t know these guys. This was the first one heading our way since I’d met them.

  “We have a place a few hours north of here. If the hurricane is projected to be cat 4 or above, we send our young and elderly there for safety. Otherwise, we can withstand quite a bit.”

  “Yeah, you guys are pretty tough and fast.” I reached up and massaged my neck close to where the stupid vamp bit me. The muscles were sore. Stupid vamps!

  “How much did he drink from you?”
Damien’s eyes darkened when he looked at my neck.

  “Not a lot. I tricked him into letting my neck go before he got too much. Although, it still hurts. It wasn’t as bad as the last time I was attacked. That blood-sucker must have wanted to inflict as much pain as possible. I’m just glad you all arrived when you did and were able to tear him apart.” Sighing, I tried to push out the memory from over six months ago when I first met Rico and his pack.

  Jimmie came in with a bowl of wonton soup and a cup of tea for Damien. He also had a teapot on his tray and refilled my tea.

  “Thanks, Jimmie.” I took a sip of my full cup of green tea and sighed. It was the best tea, besides my rose tea, of course.

  “What did you do to trick the vamp?” Damien asked before taking a sip of his tea.

  Jimmie’s eyes widened. “You were attacked by a vampire and survived? Mad props, Jenna.”

  “I told him I wanted to jump his bones, if he let my neck go.” I blinked and watched as Damien choked on the tea he was drinking.

  Jimmie busted up laughing. “Oh, Jenna. I always knew you were my kind of girl! Free wonton soup for you!”

  “YOU.TOLD.HIM.WHAT?”

  I froze when I heard Rico’s voice. If he was angry earlier, I had no clue what this emotion was. Something primal inside of me knew to cower. Slowly, I turned around and could swear steam was coming off Rico’s head.

  The next thing I knew, a wolf was standing right in front of me and sniffing my body.

  “Jenna, don’t move. He won’t hurt you. Just sit there and let him get his fury under control.” Damien stood up holding his hands in the air, like it was a stick-up.

  “Rico, she’s fine. She tricked the vamp into getting his fangs off her neck, nothing more. Calm down and shift back. Let her tell you the whole story.” I had never heard Damien talk so softly or comfortingly before.

  Should I be afraid? I wasn’t really sure. My head knew that Rico would never do a thing to harm me. But something inside of me was screaming to get away from the scary wolf who had its nose on my neck.

  Rico continued to sniff my entire body. Before he was even half-way done checking me out, he sneezed. Most likely the stench of vampire, or the alley, caused an allergic reaction. Couldn’t be sure which one. Once he was done, he magically shifted back into the human man I knew.