Jules
Page 9
------------------------------------------------------------------
End
Epilogue
Hansel's House
"So what now?" Hansel asked, looking at me expectantly.
What had looked like an old sanctuary on one side turned out to be an old, abandoned building instead. I wasn't sure how Hansel had altered the image, but apparently he had.
The real place we ended up at was an old house somewhere in Spain. I changed my form back to my own sexy bipedal shape as soon as it was safe to do so, taking a look around. We were out in one of the rural habitats, where some of the roads were paved and some were not.
We retreated into the house, which was incredibly deceptive from the outside. Apparently, this was an old hideout of Hansel's. He used it after doing things like helping to start a species-wide war.
"We wait," I responded, running a hand along the counter that separated the kitchen from the main living quarters. "The word will get back to the Hyenas that a Fox killed one of their own. A higher-ranking one of their own."
"Because of the Wolf alpha, right?" he asked, bringing over two steaming plates of food. He had managed to put together a dish comprised of chicken and squash, sprinkled with red pepper seasoning.
I nodded, accepting a fork from him and digging in. The food was alright. I didn't necessarily need human food, but eating something helped to replenish my energy when I was in dire need.
Like now.
"She'll feel like it's her duty to find the Hyenas and let them know what happened. And because the Hyena was there to meet with her in the first place, she'll feel responsible for his death. The guilt will drive her to ultimately try to reunite the Wolf packs to attack the Foxes. And the Hyenas will seek revenge on Afanasiy specifically since they'll think he was the one who ordered the strike in the first place."
"And if he denies their accusation?"
I snorted out a short laugh. "You're kidding, right? No one will believe that—"
Hansel cut me off with an appropriately-timed, "A-hem," which caused me to stare at him in amused disbelief.
"Really?" I asked. "You draw the line at language?"
He shrugged. "I don't like it is all."
I gave a small roll of the eyes but continued. "They won't believe Afanasiy. He's got a long enough track record of despicable acts that it won't even be a question."
"So we start a war among the Clans," he said, sucking on the end of his fork as he thought aloud. "Afanasiy gets wiped out by his own kind, his evil influence over the Foxes gets broken, and the Wolves get reunited under one leader." He glanced at me, still confused about something. "What do you get out of this?"
Without hesitating, I answered, "Home." I looked up at Hansel. "I get to go home."
About The Author
From an early age, K. Stevens devoured all things magical and mystical. To this day, she hesitantly struggles to keep one foot in reality while the rest of her remains firmly rooted in the fantastic and insane. In 2015, she finally worked up enough courage to share her stories with more than just her family, and was encouraged by the fact that she wasn't eaten alive for it. She may be the crazy lady that talks to bugs and stares incessantly into the sky, but don't mind her. She's just thinking.
When she's not skulking around in the Terran underworld making deals with the fee or hunting for trolls, you can usually find K. Stevens in the following places:
EKlecticKreations Blog:
http://eklectickreations.weebly.com/writingwormholes.html
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/KaeliaStevens89
Excerpt From My New Book, Rod
Coming April 1st
11
Bullet Catch
"You want what?" Jules asked, drawing me back to our conversation. Her soulless black eyes stared at me in complete passive boredom, flicking down to the cell in my hand before going back up to my face.
"You heard me," I answered, putting the phone away. "I want to make a deal."
A slow, patronizing smile spread across her half-pixie face. "And what could you offer to me, little thief?"
"In exchange for your sword, I can offer you a way home."
Her smile fell into a frozen line as a look of feigned annoyance crossed her face. "Nice try, darling," she sighed, flicking some hair over a bony shoulder as she folded her arms. "The portals were sealed a long time ago. No one can open them these days. Not even you."
"They weren't sealed," I said with a sly smile. "They were locked."
She shrugged a single shoulder. "Same difference if you don't have the key, dear." Swinging around, Jules began walking away with an air of annoyed superiority, sauntering up the dirt road back to the abandoned-looking house. She raised a delicate hand and wiggled her fingers in a passive goodbye. "Nice try, darling. Next time, stick to what you're good at."
I smiled. "Oh, but I am, 'darling'."
She stopped. Before I could move, she flung a spike of shadow magic at me, the black magic slicing through my body and shattering my image. Shards of a broken mirror fell to the ground as I let the magic come apart and fuel the next image.
"You think I'd leave this up to you being agreeable?" I asked from behind her. She slung another spiked arc of magic at my new image, shattering it. Her hands lowered as she waited, keeping her magic at the ready but unwilling to unleash it on another trick.
Smart.
But I knew her. I produced four more mirror images of myself, positioning them in front, behind, and on either side of her. They stalked forward in disharmony and made menacing faces. Each one was a half a step off from the other, and each held a different kind of weapon, taking care to brandish them at her aggressively.
Mind you, I'm not the weapon-y kind of person. I like my tricks. But Jules was thinking in terms of attack and defend, now. She was looking for weapons. And the easiest way to trick someone was to give them what they want.
I shifted uncomfortably in the dirt underneath a nearby bridge, the activated camo-patterned sheet hot and stuffy. Granted, it made this 'tricking Jules' thing a lot easier since she couldn't see me, but using it in the heat of a Spanish summer wasn't something I did on a regular basis. I created two more mirror copies, activated several handfuls of dry ice wrapped in a chloroform-bathed cloth, and handed them off.
My mirror copies took off in opposite directions, scattering the dry ice as they ran. Jules' black eyes tracked their movements for a second before going back to my slowly advancing copies.
A look of complete annoyance crossed her face. Heaving a frustrated sigh, the witch raised her arms with a surge of magic. The shadows around us swirled in response, rising from the ground and slicing through my shells. They all shattered, leaving behind an incomplete trail of dry ice and rags.
Any other 'copies' were likely to get the same treatment. She had seen through my antics and was now waiting for me to come out. I pulled the sheet off, revealing my hiding spot as I walked away from the bridge. I made a show of my entrance, snapping the sheet free of dirt loudly as I walked and making sure she took note of everything I did.
"Did you really think you could pull such an old trick on me?" She asked with a smirk, placing a relaxed hand on her hip.
I casually settled a hand in my pocket and gave her a small shrug. "Can you blame me for trying?"
"Of course I can, monster," she answered with a very patronizing tone. She flicked a bit of hair over her shoulder in a haughty motion and waved me away. "Now, be a good little creature and swim off."
"After this question," I responded, taking a step closer. "Where's this wonderful Keeper I've heard you ran off with?"
She gave a half-hearted shake of her head as she rolled her eyes. "Something about saving the world. You know how those types are. To answer your real question, darling, it won't ever work. Chloroform doesn't work on me."
"Not even as a distraction?"
Pulling a mirror shard fr
om my pocket, I caught the sunlight in it and forced the light to flare up into a blinding flash. Jules recoiled, throwing a hand in front of her and calling up her magic. Charging forward, I grabbed her wrist and snapped an iron handcuff around it, cutting off her magic blast before it started. I darted behind her, dragging her arm with me as I grabbed for her other wrist. She twisted, wrenching it it away from me but not far enough. Snatching her other wrist out of an icy flail, I snapped the other cuff around it. Her magic fizzled, the iron halting her magic in its tracks.
Jules began to pull forward, twisting and pulling in an effort to free herself from the cuffs and from me. Pulling my jacket off and ignoring the spikes of black ice stabbing at me from her arms and back, I flung it around her head, caught the other end of it and pulled while digging a heel into the back of her knee. Her head jerked backward. Her knee crumbled. She went down onto her knees, the handle of her sword now eye-level.
The cuffs groaned, her black ice pressing up against them in an attempt to pry them free. Using iron was a tricky move; it hurts Terran fae and controls their magic, but Jules wasn't Terran. As it was her ice had almost breached the metal. It wouldn't be too long before she completely ripped it apart.
Switching the jacket to one hand, I smacked my hat off my head. It tumbled backward, popping open in a portal right behind us.
The metal squealed.
I let go of the jacket and pulled the sword free.
The iron snapped.
I fell backwards. Jules swung around, black ice in her hand.
My portal closed between us.
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to Chandler Bolt's Self-Publishing School, without which this book would have never even existed. Many thanks to my launch team, who helped this book take off in flight. Many thanks to my family, for putting up with my insanity long enough to read through my first and second attempts at authorship. And ultimate thanks to all you readers. Without you, there would be no audience and therefore no story.
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Author's Notes
Remember the system referenced at the beginning of the book? Yup, it's the same system in the acknowledgements; Self-Publishing School. For comparison, my first book took roughly five years of on and off writing until it was completed. This book took three months. Not only did the guidelines work, the encouragement found there was tremendous.
At any rate, my final note to you, dear readers, is this:
I hope you leave me an honest review.
I hope you seek me out for the next installment.
I hope you'll join my newsletter (found on my blog), have become a cautiously optimistic fan, and will be willing to tell other people about this book.
But most of all,
I hope you enjoyed what you read.
For me, there would be no greater gift.
(Besides, you know, a review and purchasing my other books)
Table of Contents
Dedication
Other Books By This Author: Olyvia Rod (Coming April 1st!) Story Blog: Writings And Pretty Things (https://kstevensthewriter.blogspot.com/)
Title Page1
Copyright
Forward
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Epilouge
ATA
Excerpt of Rod
AKAN