A Magical Reckoning: Magic and Mischief Book 1

by N. R. Hairston

  After a couple of minutes, my head started to swim and my eyes became unfocused. I swayed in the air and didn’t trust myself to land without getting hurt.

  Andrew popped up below me. He held out his arms and I floated down to them. He had a gash over his right eye and a welt across his chest. He placed me gently on the floor and snatched up a tablecloth. “I’m going to stop the bleeding.” I’d almost forgotten I’d been hurt. At this moment, the only thing I felt was woozy and tired.

  Andrew used his energy to rip the tablecloth in half and then tied it over my arm and around my waist. “I think we’re getting the upper hand. That Lia is a firecracker. Who knew?” I nodded as best I could. Who knew indeed.

  I took a minute to collect myself, then got to my feet. Andrew and I fought back to back. We moved at a steady pace and took out anybody that challenged us.

  Once we met up with Gerell and Lincoln it was all four backs together, fighting anyone who came our way.

  I turned to the left, taking out the Siana woman who’d fitted me for my dress. Back to the right I saw Max’s prone body on the floor, unmoving. To the left again and this time I stopped cold.

  I took in the sight of the two women who’d held onto each other, sisters I think. Now that I had a better look, I noticed the striking resemblance they bore to one another.

  They lay side by side, eyes fixed, blood leaking out of their heads and throats. To die in an unfamiliar place, surrounded by people they didn’t know just seemed like one of life’s cruel jokes, and damned unfair.

  I scanned the crowd trying to catch sight of Ed and Renee. They were nowhere to be found, but Lia burst through.

  Her dress was completely gone now. Her white petticoat was well past her knees, and she had on a tee strap that hid her upper parts. Her face was bruised and swollen and her chest rose and fell rapidly. “We have them down for the moment. I’m going to call in my people now and put an end to this.”

  Her people? Did I miss something? She held out her hand and blue light came from it. It twisted and turned and then a small wormhole slowly opened.

  Men and women dressed in blue and red suits burst through, blowing whistles, and taking some of the ones left down to the ground.

  Not knowing what to think, I turned to Lia, hoping for some type of explanation. “Who are you?”

  She wiped a trail of blood from her face and then held out her hand for us to shake. I didn’t, and neither did the others.

  The resigned look in her eyes said she’d expected as much. “Look, I’m sorry, okay. My name is Lia. I’m with the coalition of interplanetary crimes, and we’ve been watching Siana for a while. I wanted to tell you, but I didn’t know who I could trust and I just couldn’t take the risk.”

  All around us the Sianas and their auctioneer friends were being lined up and brought to a halt.

  I’d try to process it all later. Right now, the only thing getting through was that Lia knew how to open a portal. “What happens now? Will you let us go home?” I asked, trying not to get my hopes up too much.

  She nodded. “If you want, but I think I may have a better offer for you. Follow me.”

  She opened another wormhole. I took one last look at the place that had been my home for the last couple of months. So much pain and hurt had gone on here. What these people did wasn’t right and I was so glad it was finally coming to an end. I’d lost my soul here, hopefully with where I was going, I’d finally get it back.

  6

  Lia brought us to her world. Bright lights blinded me, as we entered a large facility. The sign on the wall read, decontamination center.

  Everything around us looked white and sterile. Medics stood off to the side and scooped us up as we came through.

  They tended to our wounds and made sure we had a hot bath, food, and a clean change of clothes. The same things I’d had when I’d first entered Ed and Renee’s.

  I closed my eyes and tried to breathe, taking a moment to collect myself. Could I have jumped out of the frying-pan and into the fire? I’d have to wait and see.

  Once everyone was cleaned up and stable, we were called into a large room, with a conference table. I sat beside Andrew with Gerell on the other side and Lincoln on his right. I spared a quick glance their way, but I think we were all a little too nervous to talk. We’d been here before. Every one of us. So I understood the reluctance. I felt it too.

  Lia stood in the front of the room. She’d changed to a black jumpsuit and had her hair smoothed down instead of spiked. “For some of you, you just want to go home and that’s fine. We’ll open a portal and send you straight through. I know some of you were out of work and some were even living on the streets. We’ll help you with that too. What you’ve done today, fighting, and taking back your right to live freely, is amazing and us here at the coalition are willing to help you anyway that we can.”

  A peaceful coolness floated over me. That’s all I wanted. To go home.

  “But,” she said, holding up a finger. “There are many other worlds out there like Siana or worst. No. Not all deal in human trafficking. We just stopped a world a few weeks ago, that would invite other cultures over, only to poison them, effectively taking out their competition. Another world got rich by holding business partners from other worlds hostage, only letting them go once they’d signed over the entirety of their bank accounts. So, while they got richer, every world surrounding them got poorer.”

  She dropped the file she held in her hand to the table. “If you’re willing to go through the training, we could use some help. Here we teach you how to ask the right questions. What signs to look for that something is not as it seems. We teach you how to fight and how to defend yourself. We go over problem solving skills, so hopefully it doesn’t always lead to a fight. We teach you how to collect information. Everything I learned about being a coalition agent, you’ll learn. There’s also some psychological testing involved as well, to better fit you to the right position.”

  One woman sitting up toward the front raised her hand. “Will we be paid?”

  Lia nodded. “We offer a competitive salary that we’d put up against any other coalition organization around. We’ll also assist you with housing and anything else you need when starting life in a new world.”

  The lady up front shook her head. “I don’t want to fight.”

  Lia waved her concern away. “There’s a number of testing and a lot of training. Some of you may be better at data and collecting information. Some of you will do better at sorting that information.

  “We offer a range of different jobs, and yes, some of you will be going to other worlds just like I do. Sometimes you’ll go in an official capacity, and other times you’ll be undercover. But we deal with each operation on a case by case basis.” I listened carefully, soaking it all in and weighing my options.

  The only thing I’d wanted since this whole thing started was to go home. Now I wasn’t so sure. What did I really have to go home to? Nothing really, nothing that I couldn’t recreate somewhere else anyway.

  I thought about maybe being able to get a job once I returned. Then I thought about the people of Siana, and how there were others like them, out there hurting innocent people like myself.

  I felt a fire in my belly and my fist curled at my side. I wanted to stop them. Every one of them. I couldn’t just stand by and let others suffer the same way that I had. I wouldn’t. “I’m in,” I blurted out. “I want to train. I want to learn how to stop them.”

  Lia nodded at me and smiled.

  Andrew, Lincoln, and Gerell were caught up in a rapid conversation until they apparently came to an agreement, raised their hands, and announced that they were in as well.

  I was happy for that. I’d grown rather fond of all three men and was glad this wouldn’t be the last I’d see of them.

  Andrew leaned toward me, his voice loud enough for only myself to hear. “What do you think they’ll have us doing first?”

  As long as they kept their word and
helped us as they promised, it really didn’t matter. Anything was better than being back on Siana. “Let me get a good night’s sleep and a hearty breakfast, and I’m game for anything.”

  I lay in bed later that night thinking about my journey so far. Lia had set me up in a nice two-bedroom apartment, and I’d been able to get credit from my first paycheck to get the things I needed for it.

  Andrew, Gerell, and Lincoln lived across the street from me and had decided to stay together in a three-bedroom, two-bath duplex. We were some of the few that had remained, as most people just wanted to go back home.

  My story was probably no different from many others and that’s what made it so upsetting. Renee and Ed had to be two of the most disgusting people I’d ever met and I cursed out loud at the thought that I didn’t even know if they were dead or alive.

  It didn’t really matter. Lia’s crew had that whole city on lock down and with the help of a few other coalitions were slowly making their way through that entire world.

  I sunk deeper into the covers, happy to finally be on my own after living in somebody else’s home for so long. This was a new beginning for me, and one I planned on embracing with everything I had.

  Two years ago, I could have never seen myself here. I’d been through a lot, been challenged in ways I’d never dreamed, but I’d made it.

  When I thought about it, I guessed that’s all that mattered. No matter what life threw at me, no matter how far I sunk, there was still a light shining at the end of the tunnel.

  I didn’t always fight for it, half the time I didn’t even know it was there. Yet, every day I stayed breathing, was a day I had a chance to make a difference in my life and the lives of others.

  So, yeah, I’d take this second chance. I’d take it, and do everything I could to help others who couldn’t help themselves.

  They’d been me once, and I, them. That I’d lived on the streets the last couple of years, then been kidnapped, and almost sold, but still came out on the other side, meant that others could as well.

  My resolve strengthened, and I vowed to never turn a blind eye to those in need, as many hadn’t turned a blind eye to me.

  A Gathering of Succubi

  1

  The only light in the club came from the blue and silver strobes illuminating the stage. I ordered a beer from the bar and sat down to enjoy the show, glad to finally have a night off work.

  The smell of spiced beef and whiskey permeated the air and I inhaled deeply, loving the scent. It wasn’t often that I got to come here, but when I did, I made sure to enjoy myself to the fullest.

  The incubus on stage shook his hips and sashayed back and forth, doing everything he could to earn those hard-earned bills lying dormant at his feet.

  I pulled out a stack of ones, about twenty or so, and placed them on the table. That was all I was willing to spend on a night out. Now I just needed to get my ground game going.

  I whistled and tossed out a couple of dollars, thinking I needed to save some for that private lap dance I hoped to get later.

  Guyess, who was currently humping the floor, stood about six feet tall, his dark skin tattooed with the mark of the clan Glecics. That meant he was a descended of one of the First Families.

  There were five First Families living in Dupoint. I’d lived here all my life and had no plans of moving.

  I was descended from one of the First Families as well. I didn’t put much stock in it, though. Hell, I figured we were all interconnected in some way or another.

  Yet, to some, just the prestige of having the mark of a First Family meant everything. It did come with a certain amount of respect and maybe a freebie here and there, but that was about it.

  The First Families were those whose iron fist had ruled since man had walked on all fours. Each country had them, and all laws that governed the magical community went through them.

  With the flip of the hand or the wink of an eye, they could seal your future in death and despair or prosperity and prestige. Their word was final, and no one dared challenge it, not even those of us descended from them.

  Guyess lost his shirt, and the crowd erupted in screams. I laughed, enjoying the show, and tossed a few more bills his way. He rocked to the floor, came back up with a spin, unleashing his claws and baring his razor-sharp teeth.

  My drink arrived, and I downed half of it, never taking my eyes off the stage. Guyess’s tongue, which reached well past his chest, flicked out and a hush fell over the crowd. My, what a talented one he was.

  Heat flooded me, and I squirmed in my seat, wishing I could get in on the action tonight. I wanted it, wanted him, but my body wasn’t ready to receive love at such a high voltage level.

  I called for another drink and hiked one of my legs up on the seat in front of me. I’d have to find a lesser lover for tonight because I’d already reached my threshold for the month.

  Guyess dropped again, this time taking his pants off, and throwing them into the crowd. The other succubi around me rushed the stage, and I braced myself because this was the moment I’d been waiting all night for.

  The sooner he finished his routine, the sooner someone would come out that I could take home for the evening.

  Underpants now gone, Guyess threw himself into the crowd. Horny succubi snatched him up and carried him to one of the private rooms in the back. At least that’s what I think they did with him anyway.

  I exhaled deeply, because hopefully, the next dancer wouldn’t be an incubus, which meant it would be safe for me to have sex with him.

  The strobes changed from blue and silver to black and red, indicating the next performer was ready to take the stage. I licked my lips, eager for the action, so of course, that was the moment my damn phone decided to ring. I pulled it out and scowled before answering. It was my boss, which meant my evening was now canceled anyway.

  “Time to suit up, Kia. Got an illegal draining over in Morse town.” I rolled my eyes as I stuffed the phone back into my pocket and called for another drink. That meant either a succubus or an incubus had drained a human of its life, and now it was up to me and my partner to go clean it up and find out who’d done it.

  The crowd cheered as a tall hunkering figure came out, barely clothed and skin glistening. Disgusted to be missing it, I said fuck the second drink and walked into the night air of a hot Virginia summer.

  I headed for Klemn, the name of the house I lived in and the last place I’d seen my partner. It was a home shared by many mystical creatures like myself. All who lived there were in law enforcement, but with different skill sets and agendas.

  My partner, Boya, was a dranghum, and I knew I’d probably be sharing a room with him tonight. Dranghums were descended from dragons.

  They existed in human form but had many characteristics of their late ancestors. Some believed them to be more powerful than succubi and incubi, but that wasn’t a line of thought that I encouraged.

  I’d wanted to give him a break from me and my sexual needs. Not that he wanted one. I just didn’t like draining him too much, too fast. He could take it. I just didn’t want to wear him out, as I knew I’d need him again sooner or later.

  Walking up the front steps, the first person I saw was Lin. With light brown skin and a close shave his was simply breathtaking. His broad chest and clearly defined muscles were a testament to his weekly work-out schedule and careful eating habits.

  He sat, shoulders hunched, eyes drawn together, staring at an empty spot in the yard. My heart softened at the sight of him, and a small smile tugged at my lips, as it often did when we were together.

  Lin was my go to incubus for, well, anything. If I wanted mind-blowing, out of this century sex, I went to Lin. If I needed a shoulder to cry on or someone to help me rip the world apart, I called Lin. But like with many good things, it had its drawbacks.

  Sex between succubi and incubi could only happen once a month. It was just too destabilizing to do it more than that. Our bodies couldn’t take it. Two high voltage e
ntities coming together often canceled each other out, such was the case with us.

  The thing about incubi and dranghums was that their bodies stayed hot, while succubi, like myself, constantly ran cold. Which is what made Lin and Boya such excellent lovers for me. We completed each other. Their heat warmed my core, while my ice tampered their fire. Which was a satisfying deal for all involved.

  Then there were those nights that Boya and Lin spent together. Nights I wasn’t a part of… but that was a whole other story altogether.

  Lin still hadn’t looked up yet. I walked up the last few steps and took a seat beside him on the porch. “What’s wrong?” I rubbed my fingers on the back of his hand, electricity shooting through us both from the brief contact.

  He laced his fingers with mine and brought them to his lips for a small kiss. That was all we dared while our bodies were still recovering from our last sexual encounter.

  “Got a call from Misha’s roommate. Misha’s in a bad way. Roommate said she needs help or she’s not sure what might happen. Thinks she might have some kind of powers now.” His voice came out low and sad.

  I gave his hand a quick squeeze. Misha and Mitch were twenty-year-old twins, and for two years, Lin had dated their father. He loved those kids and I knew he’d do whatever he had to just to make sure they were okay.

  He’d broken up with their father three years ago, but he’d never been able to fully detangle himself from the twins.

  I ran my fingers through his hair, trying to offer what comfort I could. “What are you going to do?” I asked quietly. He wanted me to help. That much I could sense, but I had this case the chief had just given me, and I had to get on that before it grew too cold.

  “I know,” he said, reading my mind. A feeling of warmness spread through me at his easy acceptance, and I couldn’t help leaning over and placing a small kiss on his cheek.