Paranormal Word Series Box Set (Books 1-3 and Novella)

by CC Solomon

  “That’s sweet,” he replied in a condescending tone.

  “You’re being an asshole.”

  He threw out his hands. “I said, ‘that’s sweet.’ How was that being an asshole?”

  I pointed a finger at him. “It’s how you said it.”

  “In all seriousness, I need you by my side. People are still going to be wary of me from how I ran things before. They like you.”

  “The people here hardly know me. The last time I was here, I was challenging you to a magic duel.” It was ugly, and no one would be forgetting our prior fights anytime soon.

  “But you were here before then. And you helped people when you were. A fraction of this town comes from the people you helped save at that prison. And the pack likes Erik. The vampires like Charles and Faith. Mae says nothing but good things about you to anyone who listens. You have fans. You saw how Wilfred looked to you before deciding if he’d follow me. People may not hate me, but they don’t trust me alone. With you, they will.”

  He had a point. “I’d say I’d think it over but you’ve already told people, and they’ll be expecting that package deal.” In theory, this could be a good thing. If Phillip had lost the challenge, it had always been a possibility that I’d be a part of the new leadership anyway.

  The idea of a counsel entered my head. It would take away the pressure of me having to spend too much alone time with Phillip, and it felt more like a democracy. This was all assuming we’d even get the town back from Seth, which wasn’t a given.

  Well, one thing at a time. Next up, confronting a soulmate out to kill me.

  Chapter 3

  Blake seemed genuinely surprised to see Phillip, Charles, Erik, and I at her door early that evening.

  Her blue eyes widened, and she turned to let us into her apartment. It was evening, and she was styled to perfection with her ice blond hair in a sleek bob and her curvy shape framed in a tailored black suit paired with six-inch, red heels. Her shoes hardly seemed practical for the possibility of attacks, but then again, she was a vampire and heels wouldn’t hinder her much. Not to mention, the city was surrounded by a magically warded steel wall which made it a place where the locals could pretend the world was normal again.

  “I was just about to head to my club.” Not only was Blake head of the vampires in Silver Spring, she also ran a nightclub which turned into a burlesque bar Thursday through Sunday nights. Not one of the first things one would think of forming to get the world back on track, but everyone needed their escapes.

  “We need to talk to you,” Charles said, a soft look in his brown eyes. He was looking at her like she glowed. I still didn’t see the two as a couple. She didn’t register as his type. Honestly, Charles didn’t seem like Blake’s type either. She was a glamazon who would stomp down a catwalk like the next great supermodel, and he was a guy who used to sit in a dark bedroom playing video games with strangers online. It had to all be just physical. A scary supernatural world certainly made strange bedfellows.

  She looked at us in squinty eyed suspicion as we sat down in her living room. Her place was impeccable. All light hardwood floors, white walls with gold-painted framed art, glass tables, white couch, and colorful pillows. Clearly, spilling blood wasn’t a concern for her. Then again, she was dating a mage, my brother, who could drop a cleaning spell should she make a mess when she bit a blood donor.

  “What’s this about?” She sat in a large armchair that looked more like a throne than ordinary living room furniture.

  How to begin a conversation accusing a person of being an original soulmate out to destroy the world was a complicated endeavor. I suppose the best way to do it was just to roll it out. I heard a loud squawking from the direction of Blake’s balcony.

  Seated, I turned to my right and opened my mouth in shock, confused about what exactly I was seeing. A large bird-like thing, the size of a pterodactyl, perched on the balcony railing. "Bird” was probably a misleading statement. It had a dark furry body and a long thin tail like a lion. The head looked more like an eagle or hawk, and it had large dark wings.

  Charles shot up. “What the hell is that?”

  Phillip stood up and casually walked over to the balcony, hands in his pockets, and an unworried look on his face. “That’s Gary. He’s a gryphon and my familiar. I had to replace the one you guys killed so mercilessly.”

  We hadn’t killed him. My friend, Chelsea, who harbored a vendetta against Phillip for killing her boyfriend when he’d been all evil incarnate, had murdered the poor puppy familiar in an attempt to weaken Phillip.

  “Not that I’m justifying the killing of any animal, but please don’t act like a victim.” I walked over to him. “How did you get something like that anyway?”

  Gary flapped his wings, nearly filling the double-glass doors leading to the balcony. He squawked again upon seeing Phillip.

  “I found him some time ago. He stays out near the former National Harbor, outside D.C.”

  Suddenly I felt a bit inadequate. “You get a mythological creature as a familiar, and I get a kitten. Now, that doesn’t seem quite fair.”

  “Well, I did have a puppy. I figured go hard or go home. If I’m going to get something to help me juice up, it might as well be something powerful to fight these original soulmates. I can get you a pegasus I know about in Atlanta, if you’re interested. Of course, that would involve killing your cat first.”

  I waved a hand at him. “No way. I’m keeping Poppy.”

  Phillip waved at Gary before turning back to the group. “Good for you, but after that mass dream we all had, I thought it best to come prepared.”

  Charles leaned toward me. “You sure you don’t want to get that pegasus, Sis? You really want this dude one upping you?”

  “We’re soulmates. I’m sure she could gain strength from Gary just like I could use…Poppy,” Phillip replied. There was a distasteful tone to his voice when he said my kitty’s name. It’s not like I named her Poopy. What was the deal?

  Erik pointed at Phillip, looking at me. “He doesn’t come near the cat.”

  I fought the urge to chuckle. During my absence, my werejackal boyfriend had become close to my kitten familiar. Now the two were nearly inseparable.

  “Okay. I have to go to work. What do you guys want?” Irritation crept into Blake’s voice.

  We sat back down. No need to make her angry from the start. There’d be plenty of time for that later.

  “Sorry, the bird beast kinda distracted me. Do you own an incredibly unique looking lamp? Maybe one you forgot about in the back of your closet?” I asked her.

  She raised her eyebrows. “The only thing I have are shoes and clothes in my closet.” She paused. “Oh.” She looked up at the ceiling and tapped her chin.

  The four of us leaned in towards her.

  “I also have a collection of belts and hats in there.”

  I leaned back in disappointment.

  “Do you know anyone named Gedeyon?” Erik asked, still sitting at the edge of his seat towards Blake.

  She pushed hair behind her right ear looking all too bored. “Should I?”

  “What about Ahmed?” I questioned.

  “No idea who these people are.”

  I looked to Erik. He was on point as our lie detector.

  He lowered his shoulders. “She smells fine.”

  “I should hope so, I did just shower,” Blake huffed.

  That wasn’t what we meant. Since Erik was a were, he could literally sniff out a lie. If he didn’t smell anything that smelled like body odor, then she wasn’t lying. Of course, that was assuming she didn’t have a lie-concealing spell on her.

  I looked back to Blake. Time to employ some mind control. I rarely did so. Ethically, it felt wrong. However, this was the rare occurrence where ethics had to take a back burner to the greater good. “Blake, you aren’t lying, are you?”

  “Of course not,” she replied with calm, slightly dazed eyes.

  “And did you get a magic sp
ell to hide if you were lying?”

  “I didn’t get any spell.”

  “Are you the original soulmate?”

  “No.”

  “Is or was your name Rima?”

  “No.”

  I looked at the others; they were all frowning. Well, this helped us not at all.

  “I don’t sense magic on her,” Phillip announced, sitting back on the couch.

  “Would you?” Erik asked with a snort.

  Phillip rolled his eyes. “Yes. That’s the whole point. She seems like the same old Blake.”

  “Okay, what the hell is going on?” Blake shouted. She stood up and placed her well-manicured hands on her hips. “Why were you asking me those weird questions?”

  Phillip rose as well. “What questions?” His magic washed over the room.

  He was mind controlling her. Looks like we were both ending the day with a little bad.

  “What are you talking about? What questions?” Blake asked.

  “Exactly.”

  “I don’t know why you all wanted to see me so bad. You should just come to the club.”

  “We will soon,” I stated, also getting up along with Erik. I did feel a bit bad about using magic on her, but desperate times called for desperate measures and all.

  Blake gave me a genuine smile. “I’d like that. It’d be fun to hang out with you, Amina. Get to know each other better.”

  “Yeah, sure. That’d be nice.” If Blake wasn’t a soulmate, she really wasn’t a bad person. I was just loyal to Charles’ ex, Lisa.

  Erik, Phillip, and I left Blake’s apartment, leaving Charles behind who would keep watch over her.

  “It’s not her,” Phillip said with assurance.

  If Blake’s wasn’t the soulmate, then why did she have the lamp. I pondered this as we left her building. Had she been framed?

  The frigid winter wind slapped me across the face, and I zipped my puffy jacket up further. How I hated these new supernaturally long winters. We weren’t even halfway into the six months of Hell yet. Now we mostly had just hot summers and cold winters. No spring or fall to speak of anymore.

  “We should lock her up until we get this sorted out. She might be stronger than your abilities. She could still be lying, and we just don’t have the power to catch it,” Erik stated. He seemed annoyingly unaffected by the cold, his black jacket open with just a black shirt underneath.

  “No one is more powerful than us. I have a freaking gryphon as a familiar. You think just any witch can do that?” Phillip spat. He walked backward from us, arms open wide.

  Erik gritted his teeth. “It’s not smart to overestimate yourself. Besides, having her roam around is too dangerous.”

  I agreed. We had to play this smart. “Don’t get so cocky. I’m sure there are plenty of beings more powerful than us, Phillip. And underestimating her is dangerous. Just because she, or whoever the soulmate is, isn’t showing their full strength doesn’t mean they don’t have more strength,” I added. “They certainly have powerful followers. The evil eye is nothing to mess with, and we don’t even know what Rima can do yet.”

  Phillip turned his head from us. “Look, someone could be setting Blake up. We’ll watch her around the clock, but I don’t want to lock up an innocent person, a friend. The true soulmate could have hidden the lamp in Blake’s closet to keep us off her trail.”

  Erik frowned. “You care about locking up innocent people now?”

  “As you know, I was under a dark spell then. Can you at least pretend I’m a decent guy now, just for fun? Anyway, who wants to volunteer for the job of telling Seth we’re going to lock up his second in command of the town because we think she’s some evil soulmate? Is your boss going to believe us or even care, or is he going to fight us instead?”

  “Not it,” I cried. The less I had to see of Seth the better my life.

  Erik muttered something unintelligible and kept walking.

  I followed.

  “Exactly,” Phillip called.

  “But if Blake’s not the soulmate, then who is?” I wondered aloud.

  Phillip turned around and walked beside me. “I don’t know, but if we act like we’ve solved the riddle, we might be making ourselves vulnerable to who’s really trying to harm us. As far as I’m concerned, we keep what we know about the soulmates secret and keep looking until we know for sure.”

  “How will we know for sure?” I questioned. I was starting to get annoyed with his cocky demeanor. He didn’t have all the answers, and I was rapidly becoming a fan of being safer versus sorry.

  “My new friend, Ahmed, and I are going to figure that out.”

  “I don’t get to help?”

  “There you guys are.” I heard a voice call from behind us.

  A man, perhaps in his late thirties or early forties jogged up to us. He had short curly brown hair and was built like a boulder. Martin, a werebear ranked fifth in the pack.

  “What’s wrong?” Erik asked.

  “Man, I’ve been looking for you two. Seth wants to see Phillip and Amina,” he replied.

  Oh, crap. The day just refused to end on a high note for me. “When?” I asked.

  Martin raised his eyebrows. “Now.”

  I needed to take a shot or do some meditative breathing. Anything to avoid strangling the dude which I pretty much always wanted to do.

  “I have so many things I’d rather be doing than appearing at this asshole’s beck and call,” I muttered as we walked to Seth’s office building which served as a bank in the Pre-world.

  The three of us entered the large space and were stopped by two guards at the front.

  “We’re here to see Seth,” Phillip stated in a bored tone.

  I knew it was a struggle for him to be on this side of the line. He was used to having people come at his beck and call. The fact that he wasn’t pushing Seth out of his seat by now said a lot about his change. Well, he was either improving or biding time as he gained back his followers.

  A tiny woman with long black hair sauntered over to us. Yes, that was really the best description of her walk in four-inch heels and a short, tight, blue dress. It was very impractical for daytime but she made it look easy. There was something predatory in her walk ,as if she would wiggle her bottom and then pounce on some unsuspecting soul out of the blue.

  “Seth will see you now,” she said in a breathy voice. She glanced over to Erik and a spark of lust flashed through her deep brown eyes. “Hi, Erik.”

  I raised an eyebrow. Oh, they were on first name bases. Hmm, note that to the mental file.

  Erik seemed unfazed. He glanced over to her. “Hello, Danika.”

  Phillip gave me an amused grin, and I fought the urge to give him the middle finger.

  “I’m so sorry Erik, but Seth is only letting Phillip and Amina meet with him.”

  Erik tightened his lips. “Really?”

  Danika nodded. “You can wait out here…with me. I’m sure they won’t be long.” She ran a red pointed nail up Erik’s arm and bit her lower lip.

  I was sure she’d love him to wait with her.

  I looked at Erik, who seemed like he wanted to argue and touched his arm. “It’s okay. Give us fifteen minutes.” I told myself to breathe deep and be the bigger person. And maybe I might trip her on the way out.

  Like the former military man that he was, he looked down at his analog watch. “I’m counting.”

  I gave his arm a light squeeze and then turned to follow inappropriately-dressed-Danika into Seth’s office.

  Inside, Seth was seated not at his desk but at a small conference table to the far right. Raya Ortiz, the fourth in command of the pack was there, too, seated next to him. I cocked an eyebrow again. I couldn’t have Erik with me, but she could be there?

  “Hey, you two. Glad you came,” He exclaimed arms open wide. The tall blond-haired former athlete gave us a wide grin. “How’s being back? I wanted to give you some time to get readjusted before meeting.”

  Phillip and I t
ook a seat at the circular table.

  I looked over to Raya and we gave each other tight smiles. Clearly, there was no love lost between us, what with her openly laying claim to Erik as the mate he deserved. She gave a wink to Phillip, who grinned back her.

  “We’re fine. What are we here for?” I asked, agitation starting to creep in.

  “I just wanted to hear about your trip,” Seth said with an innocent look on his face.

  “It wasn’t a trip,” Phillip responded. He leaned back in his seat and his eyes grew cool.

  Seth tapped his forehead. “Right. Sorry, man. That fairy banished you. If I were you both, I’d be pissed as fuck. But seems like you’re all friends again.”

  I wanted to roll my eyes so very badly, but I was on good Amina duty. “I’m sorry, Seth. What exactly do you want to know about the alleged trip?”

  “Did you learn anything useful from your travels?” Raya asked, tucking a chunk of her wavy chocolate brown hair behind her ear.

  “Yep, but quick question. Wy are you here?” Erik, as the third in command, had to wait outside but Raya was free to roam?

  “I just wanted someone else here to put you at ease, but also someone more neutral than Carter and Erik,” Seth replied.

  I wasn’t buying it. He’d brought Raya in to mess with me. However, I wouldn’t take the bait. I inhaled deeply before I spoke. “Um, ok. Well, we didn’t learn anything worth talking about. We practiced our magic, encountered some supernatural life we never had before, made some friends at summer camp.”

  Phillip chuckled. “And I had an awakening.”

  “And what did that awakening show you?” Seth gave a smile that reached his green eyes, giving a false impression that he was actually friendly.

  I didn’t think he was that damn happy.

  “That I have a lot to atone for.” Phillip sat back, crossing his legs.

  I fought the urge to look at him with wide eyes. Why would he tell this to Seth?

  “Not that you want to be back in charge? Because we have a good thing going now, and I’m not sure people would want you back in power. Once gone, they realized how scary you were.”