Rebels and Realms: A Limited Edition Urban Fantasy Collection

by Heather Marie Adkins

  "Thanks, Fish. Need to break that shield, baby," Ray said.

  "Got it," Clancy and Fish said at the same time, then looked at one another.

  "Child 'baby' or husband 'baby'?" Fish said, placing a skin patch over the wound in front, then turned her to clean and patch her back.

  "Yeah you need to clarify that—it's weird that Fish and I answer to the same name," Clancy said.

  He reached into Ray's pocket and pulled out the vial with the pink shoe. Kyla saw the shoe, her daughter's new lease on life, and shot up from pure adrenaline. She kicked one of the Hunters away and threw up a shield. The Hunter jumped away and the other reached for Kyla's legs and a power bolt traveled from the sides and shot out to the other Hunter, knocking her back. She rolled back and landed on her knees. Kyla started to sway then fell back to the ground. They came back with rubber gloves and placed her on a gurney, strapping her in while they dodged bolts and weak flailing limbs.

  "She is nothing if not determined," Clancy said and tossed Ray a black T-shirt. Ray took off her plaid shirt and pulled on the shirt over her head. She stopped halfway when the trembling and the screams started. The shield turned from the blush rose gold to a dark green color from the triskull's blood.

  The bones grew back, forming joints and talons covering them. The end blade was longer and the tip shone like metal. The legs tilted down, and the skulls rolled and attached themselves to the legs, lines of tendons connecting the two.

  Ray, Fish, and Clancy got to their feet as the other Hunters brought carbon shields to block the bolts from Kyla's shield.

  "I'm tired of this. Let's get this shield and this target done." Ray took one of the shields and pressed it down on Kyla's chest.

  "Kyla, my job first and foremost is to protect those that don't see from creatures that will do them harm." Kyla pushed up on the shield. Ray leaned further and pressed her back down on the ground. "Right now, you are the danger here and I am going to end this."

  Ray pressed further, using her free hand to pull Kyla's arm up. Little bolts of energy stung and cut Ray's skin.

  "You will not take this from me," Kyla hissed through gritted teeth.

  "You did this to yourself," Ray said, and sunk her nails into Kyla's flesh. The triskull roared, lifted one of its legs, and brought it down on Ray.

  "Shift right!" Ray yelled to the Hunters. Ray leaped off of Kyla to the left, pulling Kyla's specter as the Hunters pulled Kyla's gurney to the right. The triskull's blade foot sliced through the strand of specter energy. The strand snapped into Ray's hand and she absorbed it into her body. Ray's eyes filled with tears as she felt Kyla's loss and dread.

  She could feel her failure. She worked so hard, planned for years, convinced and cajoled her neighbors to make the hot spot, found and planted the triskulls... and Baylee was still gone and now so were Aby and Hank.

  Was it worth it?

  "We don't know what's worth it until it's done." Clancy's voice cut through the haze of Kyla's emotions clouding Ray's mind. Gunshots, the swoosh of spectral swords and bolts, screaming, and sirens. She was back in the greenbelt and there was chaos. Clancy pulled her up.

  "You didn't hear that, did you?" Ray said.

  "Yep, you talk in your sleep too... and you snore." Clancy winked and slapped the vial in her hand.

  "Make the best choice now, Ray."

  Ray nodded and sent a green line on the tube. Gold bands shattered from around the triskull's barrier and it glowed red around it. "Clear the area! We're going to end this thing."

  She watched as her husband and oldest daughter ran into position, her youngest daughter giving instructions to the other Hunters. The Hunters backed away until it was Ray, Fish, Clancy, and a seven foot tall, fully grown and fully powered triskull. This was the life they knew because it was the one they were given.

  As Ray pulled her chopper and ran toward the triskull, she thought about the things she'd done to save her powers, keep her children .

  Was it worth it to see Fish or Anna again? To have Clancy? The life of the Hunt? Were they the best choices?

  Ray planted her foot, pivoted, and slashed into the triskull's leg. The metal chipped the bone and it screeched and bared its teeth.

  "Hey, triskull!" Ray yelled as she kept chopping into the bone. "Those specters don't belong to you!!"

  Fish and Anna giggled.

  "Are you really going to steal the little girl's line?" Fish said.

  "It is a good line," Anna said.

  "It was a great line," Ray said. The triskull's leg finally gave way and then wobbled and rebalanced on two legs. Ray swept the legs. “Get on those legs!"

  Fish and Clancy took out their big knives and chopped the legs where they met the skull. It turned its head so that a mouth was facing Fish and Clancy and let fly a beam from its open mouth. Clancy and Fish rolled out of the way of the beams, landed on their feet, and opened fire on the head. Ray made a ball of energy and let it drop, where it went solid and dangled from a chain. She swung it overhead and brought it down on the skull's head. She brought it up again and the chain went rigid and landed it again.

  The skull opened its mouth, digging in the ground and pushing so it turned backward towards Ray.

  "Thanks for looking me in the eye when I end you," Ray said and landed the hammer. The hammer went through the final face and the eyes went dark.

  Ray gave it another whack for good measure and waited until the bone softened and wilted, sagging through the middle as it deflated in death. She lowered her phone to the monster ,opened the Hunter app, scanned the triskull, and took its picture.

  "Triskull, single, fully grown. Kill registered. Good job lady," Anna said.

  "Thanks." Ray stood there looking at the decomposing monster. Any other time she would have absorbed the specters the monster was holding as part of pay and to heal, especially after the gut-slashing she got days ago.

  But she just watched as the remaining specters pulled themselves from the carcass and ran back to the safety of the hot spot, bits of their forms flying off their bodies. Clancy and Fish gazed at them as they ran, fading as they go. The three of them followed them to the crest of the greenbelt where the Shaman knelt on the grass, hands on the ground, making the grass glow bright green. The specters landed on the bright green and became whole and fully formed again.

  Ray, Clancy, and Fish stayed on the crest looking down at the specters gathering around their Shaman.

  "That's going to be you someday, you know that, right? Shaman?" Clancy said to Ray. Fish and Anna murmured their agreement. Ray felt a small hand wrap around her leg and she could feel the specter activate her nerves. It felt like a head leaning on her leg.

  Ray pulled the vial out of her pocket and popped the top. She set the vial on Baylee's head. Baylee looked up at the Hunter, eyes peaceful and trusting.

  "I promise that it will be for a little while and you will be back with your friends," Ray said, and Baylee nodded. The swirls of energy left her body and entered the tube, the top flying in and closing shut.

  "Shaman? That's for those that don't want to be Hunters anymore," Ray said to her husband, still gripping the vial tight. "I want to do this for the rest of my life." Ray summoned her Dash crate, pulled a drink out, and watched as the specters gathered and celebrated their freedom.

  If you plan to continue with the Shaman States of America universe and specifically Mama Ray’s story, there’s an epilogue…but I suggest you stop here if you don’t like cliffhangers and don’t plan to continue.

  Thanks for reading!

  Epilogue

  Sunday Night Dinner

  The invitation to dinner was for the entire LaCoure team, marked as casual, and when asked Ms. JoJo stated that nothing needed to be brought. Ray knew that she meant that, but Ray could hear her grandmother's voice tell her that she had better not walk into an invited house empty handed and opted for a couple of nice mixed red wines and a dessert wine that she handed to her daughters.

  Fish brought
a bottle of Hendrick's and fixings for cocktails and Anna brought a pan of her half brownie/ half chocolate chip cookie decadent sorcery she called Naughtiness.

  They knocked on the massive wood door, then walked in to Ms. JoJo's tiny frame and open arms.

  "Ray! When Jakob told me that you were on that hot spot case, we knew that we were in good hands. It is a shame about Kyla. You know that her girls play with my grandchildren all the time. Tommie always goes on about how great a Hunter Hank will be."

  “I offered to train her. That will help while Kyla is away.” Ray gazed at her drink before taking a sip. “I can’t say that I can blame her. Losing a child has to stay with you, and if I had a chance to bring back either one of those knuckleheads, I would. Grief is stronger than most things.”

  Ms. JoJo nodded and gestured to the main room where Jakob and Cassandra were drinking wine out of wine glasses with bowls bigger than their heads. They handed over their gifts to oohs and thanks and Ray sat down on the settee next to the Nobles.

  “She will get a trial and the help she needs, Ray. That’s my job to worry about that,” Jakob said. Cassandra squeezed his thigh and he raised an eyebrow and smiled. “At least for now.”

  “What do you mean for now?” Ray said.

  "There's a few more moments until dinner will be ready, so I will cut to the chase. When Trey Wolfsrudel came to Texarcana with your body"—she held her hands up to an alerted Ray and Clancy—"yes, we know that that wasn't you and that it was him, but until after everything went down…"

  "Nasty bit of business that," Mr. Bo, Ms. JoJo's husband, said while sliding slices of cucumber into his glass of gin. "We were glad that he made it out with your body intact. He did manage to deal that gorgon a blow, though."

  "Yes, and that is why you will be the one that will end this," Ms. JoJo said.

  "And besides, I want to travel," Casandra said and took a sip of her drink. Jakob ran his hand up his wife's thigh.

  "And when she is done, I will be done," he said, and Ray sank into the settee. This was what this was about. Ray had only been back in her body what? Seven or eight years? She wanted to spend at least another decade on the Hunt.

  "Did you know about this, Clancy?" Ray looked over to her husband, then sat up. "Where did you get a beer?"

  Clancy stopped mid-sip and pulled the glass from his lips, leaving a foam mustache. "I brought them with me—you didn't think I was going to show up empty handed, did you? And no, I didn't know, but you must have known that this was coming. LA is already a Shaman; the Judge has been clamoring for it since you made your comeback. And folks know you and trust you."

  "And more importantly, you are being commissioned by your Shaman to finish the gorgon Stheno and take your place as the Shaman's choice," Jakob said, and Ray sank even further into the chair.

  "And not in that order. I am sure that you will lead the people of the Great Shaman State of Texarcana with all the care and wisdom that your new duty demands."

  Everyone in the room that wasn't Jakob Noble gasped at one another.

  "Are you sure?" Cassandra said. She turned to Ray. "No offense."

  Ray took a drink. "None taken at all. I was going to ask the same thing." She turned to Jakob. "Are you sure?"

  "Yes." Jakob patted his wife's leg and stood, raising his glass. "I know that you still have trials, but I am not being too overconfident when I say that we all should bow to you, Shaman."

  The current Shaman of the Great State of Texarcana lowered to a single knee, bowed his head, and pressed the palm of his left hand to his right fist. In a few moments everyone else in the room took the position.

  Ray looked at her friends and family kneeling before her and she leaned back and took a sip of her wine.

  She was so glad she didn't come empty handed.

  * * *

  The End

  I hope you enjoyed Shaman States of America: The Black Spur Hunt. If you did, please click the link below and to receive exclusives straight to your inbox!

  http://blackspur.allazar.com/

  A Note from Chrishaun

  Hello, Chrishaun here:

  Thanks for making it this far into the anthology! We have a great set of authors, well worth finishing the book for! This story, The Black Spur Hunt, started as a Crypto LaCoure series where Tommie and her sisters create a hotspot so Hank could learn to hunt and attracted a triskull.

  It was a good idea, but what intrigued me more was the mom, Kyla. She was the one felt the loss a child. She was the one that missed the Hunt and wanted to know the joy of teaching them. She felt the frustration of having to convince her husband that takes from the system, but doesn’t want to contribute. If she knew there was a way to the pain away, and had the skill to pull it off, would she?

  That answer became this story. And I hope you enjoyed it.

  I’m also the Story Mother of the Shaman States of America, a US where 2% of the population can see and fight monsters. But how you fight in Texas (where Mama Ray is) is different than Detroit (where Dana Kane is) and still different from Tennessee or Seattle (That’s Ed Mauer and Liz Fox). Their stories will be coming late 2018.

  When I am not writing, I love video games, movies (especially documentaries), hanging with my husband and adult daughters (when they’re in town) and keep my kittehs from opening the seventh seal and bringing the Lifting down upon us.

  Wendigo

  Amir Lane

  Wendigo © 2018 Amir Lane

  * * *

  All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

  Wendigo

  Scenic Arrowhead Provincial Park would be the perfect holiday destination, if not for the wendigo.

  A wendigo is suspected of slaughtering campers in Arrowhead Provincial Park. RCMP officer Elias Harper sets out to investigate. He has everything he could possibly need to handle a killer demon. He's armed with technosorcery, enough hexes to burn down a provincial park, and an accomplished siren partner.

  "I'm going to need a can of hairspray and a lighter."

  1

  “The Ontario Provincial Police have confirmed they have a wendigo in Arrowhead Park, and they are formally requesting the RCMP’s help. Harper, I want you to handle this one.”

  There was a warm thrum beneath Elias Harper’s skin coming from every electronic in the room. Cellphones mostly, three laptops, and a pager. Who even used a pager anymore? Someone in the back row had a smart watch, and there were a handful of what felt like activity trackers. The lights, the projector, the TV. If he closed his eyes, he could feel the wiring closet pulsating below his feet. It was all like a white noise machine to a technosorcerer. How easy would it be to reach down and pull the electricity into his veins? Or to at least shut off the phone that kept vibrating, Officer Hack.

  It would be too easy. So easy, it almost wouldn’t even be any fun.

  Elias raised an eyebrow.

  “What, you think because I’m part Ojibwe, I know how to hunt wendigo?”

  Elias paused long enough to make Staff Sergeant Jean-Baptiste Callahan visibly uncomfortable. He managed to keep from smiling. “Well, I do. But that’s mostly a coincidence.”

  It was partly a coincidence. How much was the fact that he doubled as a hex witch, the k
now-it-alls of the witch world, and how much came from being raised by his Ojibwe grandfather was up for debate.

  Callahan cleared his throat, though his posture relaxed some. Twenty years ago, he would have been a total babe. Too many years behind a desk worrying about civilians being eaten and too much poutine — only people from a place like Montréal, Québec could come up with putting cheese curds and gravy on french fries, bless them — had done away with a lot of the looks he’d probably had. Why anyone would give up field work was a mystery. The only real indication that Callahan had been the total stud Elias thought he was despite the permanent scowl on his face was a pair of sparkling blue eyes. How could anyone with eyes like that not have been attractive? He opened his mouth to continue, but Elias’s partner, Tyler King, spoke up with a raised hand.

  “Do you want me to go with him?” Tyler asked.

  Everyone flinched away at the sound of his voice, and Callahan nearly ducked behind his cheap, plastic lectern. Elias couldn’t say he entirely blamed them despite the way he rolled his eyes. Sirens’ voices were a terrifying thing, a weapon all of their own. Tyler turned to Elias, his lips pressed into a thin line and his steel eyes betraying his annoyance, and Elias struggled to keep a straight face.

  Callahan cleared his throat and straightened his suit jacket as if that was what he’d been doing instead of flinching. Elias’ lips twitched, and he was half- tempted to push a pulse of power into Callahan’s pager. He would have, too, only giving him a reason not to trust Elias’ powers wouldn’t make him trust Tyler’s. It would have at least made Elias feel better, and he refrained only out of worry that it would get them separated. Or worse, get him booted of the wendigo case. He’d always wanted to take on a wendigo.