My Magical Life to Live: Midlife Witchery Book 4

by Trim, Brenda

  We decided to patrol after eating and were heading to the one place the demon and Dark witch kept showing up. Sebastian and Thanos were in different sections of the city. We had no idea who the Dark practitioner was, and the demon showed up at random, so we were wandering around like blind men, hoping to run across them. Thanos said the demon needed to feed every few days, so he was certain it would show up eventually.

  Fiona grimaced and continued down the street toward the park. “I’m sorry. We don’t mean to make you uncomfortable. In our defense, we’ve been following your lead, so your time to fret and be worried is done. And if you’re upset that your wrinkles and age spots came back, get over it. It’s part of what makes you beautiful. You are who you are, and we love you.”

  Aislinn bobbed her head in agreement. Emotion stuck in the middle of my throat, and my eyes burned. “And we won’t let you do anything you’ll regret.”

  “You guys are the best. I’d be lost without you. You feeling any better?” I directed the last part to Aislinn. Her coloring hadn’t been regular for a while now, and it helped to know what was wrong, but I still worried.

  Aislinn lifted one corner of her lip. “Not really. It’s just so weird to think about a tiny person growing inside my body and feeding off me.”

  Fiona and I laughed. We knew the feeling all too well. “Babies are parasitic in nature,” Fiona agreed. “It doesn’t change much after they’re born. However, they do come with benefits.”

  A smile spread over my face as I thought of talking to my daughter when I was at the cabin. Hearing how much she loved me made terrible situations better. “There’s nothing like hearing your child tell you they love you. And then there are the sloppy kisses and big hugs. No magic in the world can touch it.”

  We’d reached the open end of the park. The grass lay before us, and in the distance, I saw the jungle gym and swings. S&S was closed on Fridays, so the place was empty to even the paranormal eyes.

  “Hey, do you know what happens to the plinths and gargoyles that mark the market entrance? I’ve never thought about it, and now I want to know,” Fiona asked with a wave of her hand.

  I glanced at Aislinn, who shrugged her shoulders. “I didn’t grow up here. My family moved here thirty years ago, but we’ve never talked about it.”

  “Oddly enough, it’s not something I’ve ever been told. I assume...” My voice died, and I jumped in front of Aislinn. The demon shimmered into existence in the middle of the park.

  “Get her out of here,” I barked to Fiona.

  I caught Fiona’s head shaking from side to side vigorously out of the corner of my eye. “We can’t leave you to fight this thing alone.”

  Aislinn put one hand on my shoulder. “I’m not helpless, and we aren’t leaving you. But I will stay back. The Dark one might appear any second. You need us.”

  “I texted Bas,” Fiona murmured.

  I glanced around the park. Aislinn needed cover. Unfortunately, aside from a handful of trees in the middle of the park, there weren’t any hiding places. And I refused to tell her to hide in the tree line surrounding the grassy area. The asshole that’d summoned the demon could be lurking nearby.

  “Aislinn, get behind that tree there,” Fiona instructed her. “And be ready with offensive spells. Violet and I will approach it from opposite sides.”

  I reached up and grabbed Aislinn’s hand. “And, be careful. Take off and find Thanos if things go sideways on us. He’s our only shot at containing this demon. In fact, here’s my phone. Text him, as well.”

  “Alright. Be careful.” Aislinn took my cell and took off to the large oak.

  The demon snarled and threw something at us. We were far enough away that we both had time to evade the projectile easily. Fiona ran to the left while I ran to the right, but north of where Aislinn had gone.

  Running with my head turned to the side was difficult, and I ended up tripping on a tree root. Fiona screamed, and I scrambled to my feet. The demon was closer to me but looking at her. And the spot where we had been standing before was smoking and blackened—toxic sludge. Gonna need to avoid that at all costs.

  “Flammeum flagelli,” I chanted. The flaming whip I had imagined appeared in my hand a second later. My magic was responding easier and with fewer problems.

  Thanos had spent the past few days teaching me to embrace the heat and channel it into my spells rather than avoiding it and being afraid. The fear and avoidance were what caused issues. That and me being in flux as I grew into a Phoenix.

  The end of the leather-wrapped around one of the demon’s wrists. It turned toward me and shrieked at the top of its lungs. The sound was daggers to my ears. It made me cringe. Then I dropped the end of the whip and covered the sides of my head.

  The ground shook beneath me, and I glanced up to see it charging toward me. Fiona was right behind it with her hand raised into the air. Flames filled her palm. I couldn’t let her do this alone.

  It took effort to ignore the pain and wetness trickling down the sides of my face. The demon was a few feet from me, and I had fire ready to go as soon as it was close enough. It roared at me. The sound enraged and nothing like the shriek. I went flying through the air and landed on a low fence.

  Cold iron stabbed through my back. My feet touched the ground while my back was bent over backward like I was trying to do a backbend. I hadn’t been able to pull that off since I was fourteen years old. I tensed to prepare for when my back hit the floor.

  Pain caught up with me, and I sucked in a breath and choked on blood. My hands didn’t reach the ground behind me, and I never fell. Confused, I lifted my head and saw the triangular iron tip poking through my chest.

  “Crap.” I could hardly breathe. It had to have pierced a lung because I couldn’t manage to get enough oxygen.

  Aislinn screamed my name and landed on her knees next to me at the same time I was trying to lift myself off the fence. “Don’t move. I’m afraid of what will happen if you do. Oh, my Gods. This is bad.”

  “Fiona...okay?” Blood and an inability to breathe made talking difficult.

  Aislinn jumped to her feet and started forward, then stopped. I lifted my head and screamed when I felt the post shredding my insides. I ended up turning it to the side and saw Fiona lying on her side with blood pouring out of burns on her shoulder.

  “Ignis.” I wanted a fireball I could toss at the demon. Flames crawled from my palm and up my arm. I lifted the hand and threw. I didn’t think it would go far, so I willed it to smack into the side of the demon’s head.

  To my surprise, it did. The second it hit, it spread to cover the demon’s entire body. The attack on Fiona stopped, and she crawled in our direction. She hadn’t made it very far when Sebastian raced into the park and scooped her off the ground.

  Thanos was right behind him. He took out his wand and flicked it in the demon’s direction. A glowing cage surrounded the demon, making it scream in rage. A Dark figure flickered near the side of the forest. It had to be the Dark witch, and no one was watching that direction.

  Bas was tending to Fiona, and Aislinn was stroking my hair. Thanos had paused in containing the demon, and his stormy grey eyes landed on me. I opened my mouth to warn him and got nothing out.

  Black dots were swimming in the corners of my eyes, and blood gurgled in the back of my throat. “Shhh,” Aislinn told me. “It’s alright. We’ve got you. Thanos is here now to manage the demon.”

  The summoner never fully appeared. He stood close to the trees as he waved an arm toward Thanos and the demon then vanished. The glowing cage disappeared, and the demon lunged at Thanos.

  Thanos hadn’t been prepared to deal with the attack and was knocked down. The demon clawed his face and lifted its hand to injure him again. Thanos had a knife in his hand and swung the weapon at the demon. The clawed hand dropped to the ground, and Thanos tossed it off his chest.

  Bas had let go of Fiona to help Thanos and paused when he saw the agent overcome the demon. Thanos kicked th
e monster, who grabbed hold of his booted foot. Thanos jumped around on one foot, and Bas walked up to clock the creature upside the head.

  The demon spit in Bas’s direction. The thick black goo splattered on Sebastian’s neck and made the massive Fae shout and claw his own throat. Aislinn jumped away from me and to Bas at the same time Fiona did. I struggled to get up to help and ended up cutting my insides even more. I hated being helpless.

  “Stop moving. Let us clean it off,” Fiona told him.

  Bas didn’t listen. That didn’t stop Aislinn. She pointed a finger at Bas, and a stream of water followed. I glanced past them at Thanos, who was holding the demon by the hair.

  “That’s enough from you.” Thanos slapped a wide sliver band around the demon’s throat. It fought but wasn’t able to land a blow on Thanos. The wand was back in Thanos’ hand, and he had the beast caged once again.

  Thanos paused and looked back at me. “Go,” I mouthed. It seemed like he was torn between taking the demon back to the Underworld and helping us. I wanted to believe that was the case.

  Thanos gave me one last look before he waved the wand in an odd pattern. The air shimmered next to them, and Thanos dragged the demon through what I assumed was a portal to the Underworld.

  Fiona and Aislinn were at my side a second later. “Don’t move, sweetie. Zreegy will be here soon. The fence is likely stopping you from bleeding out. I would normally call the fire department to cut the fence to transport you to the hospital for surgery. I have no idea how things work here.”

  Zreegy’s tiny body raced through the park. “What have you gotten yourself into now, Violet?”

  “The demon attacked us, and it threw her onto this fence,” Aislinn supplied.

  Zreegy looked me over, then moved to my head and placed a hand on the top of it. She chanted something, and the pain eased a great deal. “Sebastian, I’m going to need you to lift her off and set her down. I’ve blocked her arteries and pain receptors until I can place rudimentary patches. It missed the heart, so I can place the band-aid then finish the repair at my office.”

  Bas loomed over me with his usual grim expression. “You ready?”

  I bobbed my head up and down, then tensed in preparation. Bas placed one arm under my shoulders and the other under my thighs. My scream echoed throughout the park as he lifted me. It felt like swords slicing through my insides again.

  Sebastian raced through the park with Aislinn, Fiona, and Zreegy following. I assumed they followed. I couldn’t actually see them. I was too busy trying to scan the forest for the Dark witch. I wanted to be prepared to fight if the need arose.

  The pain of being jostled made focusing difficult. I gave up when nausea churned in my stomach. Throwing up would likely dislodge Zreegy’s patch. I was relieved when I was loaded into Bas’s backseat.

  Fiona and Aislinn jumped in the back with me. Zreegy and Bas climbed in the front, and he took off. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the fact that we’d managed to send the demon back to the Underworld. We still had a Dark practitioner to locate, but that was going to have to wait.

  Amid the pain in my chest, I felt a deeper, different ache. Thanos got his quarry. He’d finished his assignment and taken the demon back to the Underworld. There was little chance he would be back. I hadn’t met a UIS agent in my forty-three years.

  I hadn’t gotten to say goodbye to him. Or kiss him again. The thought of never seeing him again hurt more than it should. One thing at a time. Heal first, then deal with getting over the sexy demi-God.

  EXCERPT FROM Forged in Magical Fire BOOK #5

  Heat consumed me starting at my feet. It traveled faster than the speed of light and before I knew it, I was sweating buckets. Fear skittered down my spine, chasing a rather large bead of sweat. Was it my new Phoenix side? My mind hadn’t quite grasped what I’d been through. Neither had my magic.

  I had to control my flames, otherwise I was in danger of losing everything I had spent ten years building for myself. Owning a bookstore wasn’t ideal for a creature that exploded into flames.

  The cool air kissed my skin, tackling the hot flash into submission. Thinking of these attacks as a normal part of being peri-menopausal was easier on my mind and lowered the chances I would set my shop on fire. I’d never been happier to live in England where all I had to do was step outside to cool down. It’d saved my house a dozen times over throughout the past week.

  For the first time in over a week I was returning to work. I hadn’t trusted myself before now. Honestly, how did I accept and integrate this new facet of myself. I was part demon now! What the actual? Never in my wildest dreams had I considered I would end up one of the most powerful witches, thanks to sharing power with my best friend, as well as a Phoenix.

  Not all demons are created equal. Thanos is pretty damn sexy, and a good guy. Thinking about the sexy demi-God had the heat changing to something else entirely. His grey eyes were intense and it had little to do with the black that circled his irises. It was the way he looked at me. It was hungry and consuming like he wanted to claim me as his.

  I wasn’t one of those women that lost her mind when a hot guy showed interest in her. I had no desire to be with a guy that would own me so completely I wouldn’t know I was losing my identity in the process. What about mating one that gave himself to you just as completely?

  I locked my car and stuffed my cars keys in my purse, grabbing the ones for the store in the process. I had to stop thinking about the attractive demi-God who had plagued my dreams for more nights than I cared to admit. It didn’t help that I wondered each day if he would return from the Underworld.

  Shaking my head, I reminded myself that we weren’t in the mating slide. Finding the one other being that was fated to be yours was rarer than unicorns.

  Seeing my best friend standing outside my shop was precisely what I needed to stop obsessing over Thanos. “Fi! You skipping out on practice again today?”

  Fiona laughed and uncrossed her ankles then lifted off the wall where she’d been leaning. “You know me too well. Grams is insisting I keep trying to make a truth potion. She thinks she can interrogate the council and discover who was involved in killing her.”

  I shuddered before I shoved the key into the lock and twisted. “Before this month I would have said Grams had an axe to grind, but the way they were ready to skewer me, I’m inclined to believe her.”

  Fiona followed me inside. “Honestly, I don’t know what to think. Phoebe was betrayed by one of the coven members in Maine and nearly killed. I discovered there was no one but her to ensure the witch paid for what she’d done. As much as I haven’t been sure about the council, I like knowing there is a group of people that handle what to do about rule breakers. Which made me wonder if there is a supernatural prison.”

  I flipped the lights on and turned the handcrafted wood sign from closed to open. “The covens where those like Phoebe reside are the few places where there is no council. The Pleiades witch, is the most powerful being and it is expected she can hear cases and handle dispositions. And, yes there is a prison for the magical world. It’s on an island somewhere. The exact location isn’t disclosed to keep others from trying to break friends or family out.”

  “I do not envy Phoebe. That’s way too much pressure. Although the magical police force must make the council’s job, and Phoebe’s, far easier. They get unbiased evidence on which to base their decisions. Speaking of law enforcement, where’s your UIS agent?”

  My stomach flipped and swooped while my heart leaped in my chest. “I have no idea. He had business to take care of and never told me when he’d be back.” I couldn’t think about him not coming back at all. “You should be careful assuming the magical law enforcement agency isn’t biased. Like any being, they can be bought.”

  “Gardoss doesn’t strike me as someone that would falsify information for Derek. He’s far more likely to reroute his bowels than create evidence pointing to a particular culprit.”

  I bobbed my head and tur
ned on the coffee maker. “I agree. In fact, I’d say if anyone on the council is responsible for Isidora there isn’t much of a chance they can be swayed by a truth serum. What does she hope to find out? There might be a better approach to the situation than a truth serum.”

  Fiona shrugged her shoulders. “I’m fairly sure she wants to make the culprit pay for killing her.”

  That sounded like Isidora to me. “Then we need a powerful potion that will reveal enchantments or other magic used in the house. Murder leaves a particular impression and should be easily identified. But I have no idea what potion or spell should be used.”

  Fiona sighed and picked up a stack of magazines left on one of the tables in the reading area before she replaced them on the sales rack. “Maybe one of the books in your magical section will have something for me.”

  “Mari said another shipment came in, so there are new books to pick from,” I told her as she started walking down the aisle to the hidden section.

  The bell over the door jangled, making me turn my attention to the entrance. I tilted my head to the side my greeting died in my lips. There was no one standing there. After scanning the street in front of the store, I turned back to my opening routine.

  I was restocking the pens when a tiny red demon jumped onto the glass display case that acted as my checkout counter. A scream left my throat as the pens in my hand flew into the air. My heart started racing in my chest and my mind went blank.

  The tiny demon jumped up and down, landing on the glass with a heavy thud. Footsteps pounded as Fiona ran my way. “What is it, Violet?”

  “She can’t help you, hybrid. My boss is upset with you. She’s gonna make you pay,” the small demon informed me in a deep voice.

  Fiona ran around the corner and the red fiend bounced to the top of the closest book shelf. It wagged its long tail at us before waving its head side to side. I watched the horns move rapidly while I thought about what it had said.