Hexes and Habaneros, page 1
Hexes and Habaneros
Dawn Montgomery
Indie Outlaw Books
Contents
Foreword
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Magic and Mayhem Universe
More From Dawn Montgomery
Copyright © 2022 by Dawn Montgomery
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All rights reserved.
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No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is coincidental.
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This book contains content that may not be suitable for young readers 17 and under.
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The Author of this Book has been granted permission by Robyn Peterman to use the copyrighted characters and/or worlds created by Robyn Peterman in this book. All copyright protection to the original characters and/or worlds of the Magic and Mayhem series is retained by Robyn Peterman.
Created with Vellum
Foreword
Blast Off with us into the Magic and Mayhem Universe!
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I’m Robyn Peterman, the creator of the Magic and Mayhem Series and I’d like to invite you to my Magic and Mayhem Universe.
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What is the Magic and Mayhem Universe, you may ask?
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Well, let me explain…
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It’s basically authorized fan fiction written by some amazing authors that I stalked and blackmailed! KIDDING! I was lucky and blessed to have some brilliant authors say yes! They have written brand new stories using my world and some of my characters. And let me tell you…the results are hilarious!
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So here it is! Blast off with us into the hilarious Magic and Mayhem Universe. Side splitting books by fantabulous authors! Check out each and every one. You will laugh your way to a magical HEA!
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For all the stories, go to https://magicandmayhemuniverse.com/. Grab your copy today!
And if you would like to read the book that started all the madness, Switching Hour is FREE!
https://robynpeterman.com/switching-hour/
1
Veronica Alvarez
It was a Saturday like any other. Me, standing in a dark alley, triple-checking defense spells and trap hexes while the bad guys traded illegal goods behind closed doors.
What I wouldn't give to be on the inside where the action happened. The heavy drizzle worked against me as I marked my hexes. Why didn't they make waterproof magic paint?
With careful precision, I evenly painted the hex mark on cracked pavement beneath the reinforced iron door. The shimmering paint would dissipate in an hour if I didn't add the spell trigger on top of it.
This was the last one. A small drip of sweat slid down my face and I swiped it away with my sleeve. Can't let saltwater touch the spell or it would end in disaster.
I pulled a folded piece of tissue paper from my pocket. On it was the spell to trigger my hex traps. I gently placed it on the newly painted mark and whispered a few words. The tissue paper adhered to the paint, burning a line where it touched the mark.
It wasn't my favorite medium, but it was the easiest to dissolve if the Council decided to move against us. And since I wanted to be part of the council in the future, the less I crossed them, the better.
Pain seared my thumb, and I hissed. I looked down and realized the tissue paper had been consumed by the spellfire, giving me a nice little burn. I shook my hand, sucking my thumb into my mouth to stop the pain. Careless. Get it together, Alvarez.
Drizzle I could handle. I hoped the rain would hold off until we were done here.
Thunder rumbled above.
My nose twitched. We're going to ignore that. The rain can wait until we're done.
“Alvarez, what's your status?” The captain's query brought me back to my work.
I closed my eyes and infused magic into the hex mark. A sound like a lock clicked in my mind. I pulled a string, only visible to me, from that trap to the thumb on my left hand. The very thumb that throbbed painfully from the burn.
Five strings of magic. Five fingers. I needed to empower the other four.
“This one is set. Gimme a second to get them aligned.” I reached out to each trap with my magic, feeling their awakening. Four exits on the main floor. One on the second-floor fire escape.
“Gonna screw this one up, too,” A hothead teammate interjected. Baker, my favorite jerkface.
“Slow your roll, Baker. I'm almost done.” My magic weaved into each trap, strengthening the spelled line between us.
“Quit delaying us–”
“Clear comms!” the chief cut through. “Alvarez.”
The final one clicked into place. “Alvarez ready.”
“All teams go on my mark.”
My heart rate kicked into overdrive and I couldn't stop the grin from spreading on my face.
The lines of magic tied to my fingers looked like puppet strings. It would tell me which exit they took and stop them in their tracks. They were also only visible to me.
I closed my hand, feeling the spell-threads tighten slightly. My thumb pulsed lightly, reminding me I needed to stay focused.
Last minute check of my gear. My left arm also held my spellcraft bracer. I ran my fingers over the pockets holding my defense and escape artifacts. Smoke bombs, pepper spray spells, a few trap hexes, and an unlock-it-all spell. Now all I needed to do was wait.
“The exchange was made. He's been marked. Go! Go! Go!”
The shout tensed my muscles, spiking my adrenaline. If they've been marked, that means they can activate my traps. The hex trap lines shimmered green every time a team member crossed over the threshold. It would turn yellow when it was someone else. Red was our target. And when they crossed, everything would be over.
“Tango One is leaving through the North exit. All teams are ready for pick-up.”
Tango One, the leader of this group of thieves. The North exit was on the other side of the building. I had to hold positions; otherwise, the traps would fail and the op would be blown. I couldn’t make that mistake again.
“He used a scatter spell! We can't see him.”
Water hit my cheek and I looked up at the sky. Rain.
I cursed in my mind as I strengthened my hold on the spells.
“He's heading upstairs!”
The fire escape was the only door exit. If he took a window, I wasn't sure what I would do.
The captain roared my name and I clicked my tongue. “On it, sir,” I replied to his shout.
I raced to the end of the alley and grabbed the ladder, climbing it as fast as possible. I reached the stairs the moment the back door burst open. Instantly, my hex grabbed his legs and he jerked to a stop. I had an impression of a fierce glare and a sharp hook nose before he tried to turn back. He was stuck in my spell but clenched a case against his body like his life depended on it.
“Target trapped.”
I grinned at him and he shot a spell in my direction.
Instinct had me bring up my bracer, but the spell exploded in front of me. The impact slammed me against the rail.
Pain erupted in my side, but I dispersed the spell with a quick whisper.
At that moment, the heavens opened and dumped rain on us in a curtain of destruction. The hex lines attached to my fingers flickered, disappearing one by one.
I withdrew a small carved dowel rod from my bracer. It was a net spell.
The sound of magefire and explosions echoed from the alleyway. The team must have met up with the other target.
“Tango Two is escaping. The trap isn't holding!” The shout over the radio twisted my stomach into knots. Not again. Stupid rain ruins everything.
“Alvarez, what's your status?”
I couldn’t hold the hexes together. I clenched my jaw and tightened my hold on the spell beneath my target’s feet, letting the other hex traps fade. Tango Two escaped. Now it was just me and this guy.
“You're not going anywhere,” I said with a smirk, reinforcing the hex he was trapped inside.
His smirk annoyed me. He cast another spell in my direction, and I braced for impact.
Smoke hit me instead of another explosion.
Smoke?
The air around me trembled. I felt lighter. Like 80 or 90 pounds lighter. My stomach twisted in panic. He was going to jump!
“Tango One is using an anti-gravity artifact!” I shouted into my mic.
I can't let him get away! My fingers pulled an artifact from my bracer. I yanked on the spell line connecting me to the hex and jerked toward him, net artifact ready. Unlike the painted hexes on the ground, this would last until it broke.
He cursed at me, throwing another spell. This time I didn't wait. I launched at him, slamming my body against his.
The net released with a whispered spell and slapped him against the door, slamming it shut and locking him against the wall. It spread over him like a spiderweb, glistening as rain soaked it through. I reached up and yanked the case out of his hands.
“Don't let him get away. He has the package.”
I leaned against the rail and smirked at the hook-nosed criminal. Our client would likely skin him alive once they got their hands on him. “I have him, sir. Tell Baker, he owes me a box of donuts.”
“Alvarez!” Baker's shout over the earpiece made me wince, but I couldn't stop the monumental grin from spreading over my face.
“You think you've won? We will–”
I flicked my wrist, and the net covered his mouth, completely sealing off whatever else he wanted to say. I didn't get paid to listen to rants or monologues. Only to bring in bad guys.
I shook the net artifact in my hand and sighed. Another one bites the dust. It would take another two months of eating only ramen and taking, I shuddered, public transportation to put the down payment on another one. Good thing this job paid well.
Or it was supposed to. I should have known nothing about this job was going to be easy.
2
John Reeves
“Within a secret portal room, under the eyes of a dozen investors, numerous security personnel, and the stakeholders of various Kitchen Witch industries, John Reeves cast his Spell of Seasons.” A low voice droned next to my ear.
“What are you doing, Mark Anthony?” I glanced at the sleek gray familiar stretched out on a bench in my lab, stomach tempting one to scratch. Ignoring the itch to do so was prompted by the numerous tiny scars of teeth and claws this brat has left behind.
“I think that's the perfect title for your next article.” Most familiars spoke in slow, slurred purring voices. Some spoke using mindspeak. Mine sounded like an audiobook narrator-a voice that you wanted to keep listening to. He could make a grocery list sound fascinating.
“Too long. It sounds more like the opening to your new novel,” I said as I slowly cast my environmental spells within a dome of protection. An expensive spell I hated using but had no choice. Winter was giving me too much trouble.
“Good idea. I should write that down,” he said as he lightly rolled off the bench, landing quietly on all four paws. In a few moments, I heard him tapping quietly on the keys of the travel writer I bought him.
“Don't forget to warn me if it's going to blow up, this time,” Mark Anthony called from his keyboard.
“You'll know before I will.” A true statement, if there ever was one. My familiar was extremely sensitive to erratic explosions. A survival instinct he honed thanks to my numerous destructive spellworks.
I concentrated on my spell, moving closer to the dome. This particular shell allowed me to cast the spell inside but contained explosive reactions that occurred from within. I gently poured magic into the first hex mark, bringing a slight humidity to the room. The magic of water. This mark's blue glow soothed me. The first step was done.
Next, I wove another one on top, activating heat. Heat is essential in every season. Cold, itself, wasn’t a thing. It's the absence of heat. Without heat to pull from, I would never get the spell to work. I didn't want the cold of winter. I wanted snow, when I needed it. And that made the next two hexes essential.
With care, I ignited the spells for air and pressure, building a stable, warm weather pattern, that I would then flip to extreme cold and snow. Gentle rain started falling within the spell dome, and then the tricky part. I needed to trigger the final hex. I concentrated, focusing on the next step.
A loud banging jerked my attention from the spell, causing the hexes to explode within the dome, shattering it.
I stood in the wake of the blast, defensive spells automatically igniting around me like fireworks as they got hit with spells and debris. His temples throbbed as temperatures plummeted around him. Ice spread from the destroyed hex circle, freezing everything it touched.
Joy rose within me. I did it! I made it super cold.
The ice continued to spread, covering my laptop. I was shocked as the screen blitzed out. Not only was the ice instantly destructive, it was spreading quickly. Too quickly for me to contain it.
“John,” Mark Anthony yelled at me, jerking me back to reality.
I turned on my heel. “Time to go,” I said as I swept both my familiar and his little word processor up in my arms.
“It's moving faster,” Mark Anthony said as his claws dug into my shoulder. The spell chilled my back and I broke into a run, making a mad dash toward the door. My hand reached it the moment the cold touched my shoes. I jerked open the door and slammed into another person, knocking him down and threatening my balance. I lurched back, to prevent falling and caught the door, slamming it shut behind me with all my might.
I turned around and stepped over the man lying on the floor. “Cousin,” I said, not surprised to find out he was the one who disturbed my work.
“You look like a popsicle. What happened?” he asked, sullenly staring up at me. Alexander Baker was part of the Magical Witchery and Whatnots recovery team.
I stared at him, furious, as I walked away, dropping both my familiar and his precious toy on a table away from the lab door. “You ruined my experiment. Who let you in? Where did my assistant go?”
“You fired him. Just like the last forty hex assistants I found for you. Anyway, it doesn’t even matter. I thought you'd want this back.” A case came into my view and I stared at it.
My heart pounds in my chest. “What is it?”
“Your precious hexes. My team picked up the guy buying them–”
The soul-squeezing pressure I had on my heart since it was stolen eased. Finally. With care, I used magic to break open the locks, opened the case, and slowly flipped through my spell pages. “Did you find the traitor?”
“We're still looking into it.”
I clicked my tongue in irritation and ran my fingers over the ornate mirror hanging on the wall. It took only a moment for the call to connect to my aunt.
A bright smile met me the moment she came into view. I winced at the outfit she wore, wondering when flamingo tights had ever been in style. “How did it go?” she asked with a grin.
A throbbing pain echoed in my head. “Your son ruined the experiment.”
“You told me to return this the moment I got it back. Now you're being naggy.”
“Why is the mirror getting foggy?” she asked as she swiped at the mirror.
The cold was seeping through despite the incredible amount of spell protection surrounding the lab. “The lab is frozen solid. I think it will take a few weeks for the spell to dissolve. Until then, the experiment will be on hold.”
“Wait. What about the stakeholder meeting? We promised them four seasons. The meeting is tomorrow.”
“What did I tell you about underestimating the time it takes to complete complicated hexes?”
An alarm echoed in the house, haunting bells and chimes.
My familiar and I looked at each other. “Did you say the meeting was tomorrow?”
“Yes, of course.”
I calculated the time in my head. There was something else going on that day. Something that I wouldn’t miss for the world.
“The camp alarm,” my familiar said.
“It's that time already,” I muttered. My familiar had already jumped on my arm. “We need to hurry if we don't want to be late.”
