FurOut, page 12
But Sally was quicker. She twisted out of his grasp, her dark energy blasting the Beastwarden in the chest and sending him hurtling across the stage. He crashed into the wall with a deafening thud, the impact cracking the cinder blocks and sending dust and debris cascading to the floor.
Once again, she turned back to me, her eyes alight with the thrill of battle. She had gone too far, and I knew she wouldn’t stop until she’d destroyed everything in her path. I came to the realization that I couldn’t beat her. Her magic was too powerful, but it didn’t mean I would give up. I’d taken an oath to protect the people in this town, and I would fulfill my oath to my dying breath.
With no other choice, I braced myself for her next attack, knowing that this might be my last stand. But even as fear gnawed at me, I would give everything I had, even to my last breath.
Sally raised her hands one final time, the dark energy swirling in her palms, ready to strike. And I knew this was it—the moment that would decide everything.
“Hazel!” I heard Tizzy scream. I looked up to see my flying squirrel gliding through the air. She had something large in her back claws, and she let it drop when she was passing over my head. “Catch!”
Like a rock, my 9mm weapon fell into my hands. My confusion lasted all of one second before I acted. I raised my hand at the same time that Sally let loose her terrifying magic, and I shot her through the forehead. The magic hit me, and I screamed as it burned into my side, but as Sally dropped lifeless to the gym floor, the dark magic died with her. I sagged, falling to my knees as the fight left my body.
Tizzy ran to me. “Hazel!” She climbed my shirt and put her face against mine. “You’re alive. I can’t believe it. I thought for sure that witch had you.”
“Me too,” I said numbly, somewhat unable to believe I was still alive. I felt no remorse for ending her. It was her or me and the rest of the town. The decision had been easy. “Thanks, Tiz. Thanks for knowing what I needed.”
“Aw-shucks.” Tiz brushed my face with her whiskers. “Magic wasn’t cutting it, so I figured some good old-fashioned hot lead and steel might do the trick.”
I nodded at Sally’s lifeless body. “Sure did.”
CHAPTER 16
Tanya Gellar trotted across the gym with her medical bag once my officers gave her the all-clear. “Let me check you over.”
“I’m okay.” I gave her a heartfelt hug first before shooing her away. She’d come through for me big time, and I would never forget it. “Go help the others.” I gestured to the Beastwarden. “He’s got a big chunk missing from his arm.”
Ford rushed over, still slightly furred. Tizzy moved out of the get-squished path as he hugged me tightly. “Are you okay?”
“I’m okay. A little bruised and exhausted, but I’m not broken.”
“I knew you had it,” he whispered against my hair.
“The parents?” I asked.
“All safe,” he said. He glanced at Sally. “A magic bullet?”
“Opposite,” I told him. “She was immune to all magic. It was something mundane that finally took her down.” I was sorry I’d been forced to kill her, but if I hadn’t, she wouldn’t have stopped her rampage of torture and death. “Can we go home?”
“Not yet,” the Beastwarden barked. “This doesn’t change the fact that a charge has been levied against Ford Baylor, and that has to be addressed.”
“Right,” Ardell, Jensen’s second, shouted from high up in the bleachers. He and a few of his werewolves had hidden up there during the fight. Cowards. “This territory is now ours. We want our due.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me?” I groaned. “I think it’s obvious that neither Ford nor I had anything to do with Jensen’s death. Henceforth and so on, he’s innocent.”
“It doesn’t change the situation,” he said with a guttural rasp. The idiot was obviously in pain. I guess it was true—misery loves company.
“You’re not taking my husband.” I waggled the end of my gun in his general direction. “Unless you want me to shoot you too.”
Ford put his arms around me again. “No one is shooting anyone.”
“Because it won’t be necessary,” the Grand Inquisitor announced from the open doors. “I’ve found the proof!” She had my cell phone in her hand and walked it over to the Beastwarden.
“What’s this?” he asked.
“I like ‘em big and dumb in bed,” my grandmother said, “but not at work. Wise up. It’s a text message from one of Brahm Jensen’s own men telling Hazel to meet him at the park. The timestamp is after the time of death.”
“The number is from an unknown caller. It’s not proof.” The Beastwarden seemed less gung-ho now. Clementine Battles had a way of taking the wind out of someone’s sails.
“You want proof?” She gestured to me. “Hazel, do your thing.”
“My thing?” The magic fight must’ve mushed my brain because I had no idea what she was talking about. “What thing?”
She bobbled her head back and forth. “Your reveal spell thing.”
“Oh.” Duh. She handed me my phone, and I concentrated on the “Unknown” part of the text.
“Goddess, bring me second sight.
Turn the darkness into light.
What once was unknown, let it be shown.
Reveal a path, make the unseen seen.
Done and done, Goddess grant to me,
Second sight, so mote it be.”
The word “Unknown” began to glow for me as the letters turned and twisted and became a set of numbers.
“What’s happening?” the Beastwarden asked, not able to see the numbers that were revealed to me.
“Just watch,” my grandmother told him.
I punched in the sequence of numbers, and a phone at the top of the bleachers began to ring. I noticed the second in command, who was not the alpha with Jensen out of the way, looked really uncomfortable.
The Beastwarden glared at the werewolf. “Pick it up,” he demanded.
Instead, Ardell shot up from the bench and took off running across the bleachers toward the door.
“He’s getting away,” I told the Beastwarden.
“Not for long,” he replied in a steely tone that sent shivers up my spine. “Trial is over. Ford Baylor is not guilty. The werewolf pack will vacate Merry County, and when I get Ardell Singer, he’ll pay for his crime.” The enormous man nodded to my grandmother. “Grand Inquisitor,” he said. “Ever the pleasure.”
She smiled. “Same, Beastwarden. Same.”
Ford and I exchanged looks as we witnessed the chemistry between two extremely powerful creatures. Honestly, it scared me a little.
“Can we go home?” I asked again.
“What she said,” Tizzy added. I noticed she was watching forlornly as Lupitia walked off with a ginger and white cat. “I don’t want to be here anymore.”
“I’m sorry, Tiz.” I cuddled her close to me. “This really sucks.”
“Go home,” Grandmother said. “I’ll come over later to see you before I leave.”
Ford helped me to my feet, and we walked out of the building together. I saw my father and Ford’s parents in the parking lot. I had known Ford would keep them safe, but I still breathed a sigh of relief.
“Tizzy!” Lupitia shouted. “Wait up.”
“Keep walking,” Tiz said as she snuggled closer. “I don’t want to see her right now. She can break up with me tomorrow.”
“Tisiphone!” the cat cried out. “Wait.”
Tizzy skittered up my shirt and climbed onto my shoulder. “If you wanted to break up with me, you should’ve just told me. You didn’t have to cheat on me.”
“What are you talking about?” the Persian asked, bewildered. “Who cheated?”
“You!” She pointed a tiny claw at the cat. “I saw you.” She pointed to Spike. “With him two nights ago right here in this parking lot.”
Lupitia let out a string of expletives that would curl a sailor’s toes. “I’m not cheating on you.”
“Well, you sure as heck aren’t going to Book Club.”
“No, you’re right. I haven’t been going to Book Club. I’ve been in rehearsal!”
“For?” Tizzy demanded, wildly confused.
“You!” Lupita announced with a cat that ate the canary grin.
This was getting long, messy, and weird, and the only long and messy I wanted was the six-foot-five bear trying to take me to bed. I could do without the weird all together. “Can you two talk at home?”
“No,” Lupitia said again, but with more vigor. “Because I have something I want to say to Tisiphone. I want her to know that I’ve had the time of my life.”
Music began to play. It was the song from Dirty Dancing.
I looked back to see Lupitia swaying and swishing as she strutted toward us. She lip-synced to the song as several other familiars joined the dance.
I looked at Ford. “What is happening?”
“I don’t honestly know,” he said, “but it’s freaking me out.”
“It’s a flash mob,” someone yelled. “Aren’t they adorable?”
What an afternoon. We’d gone from shrieking and running for our lives to adorable dancing animals. More proof that the paranormal community was a resilient bunch—albeit crazy.
When the song moved into the bridge, Lupitia stood up on her hind legs and held out a paw. “No one puts Tizzy in the corner,” she announced.
Tizzy jumped down from my shoulder and took Lupitia’s paw.
I wasn’t sure if it was going to happen, but sure enough, Lupitia danced away from Tiz and then held out her front legs. Magnificently, my happy familiar took off at a run and flung herself in the air, landing less than gracefully on top of her Persian girlfriend. This knocked her over, and they both rolled off the sidewalk into the grass. The growing crowd went wild with applause. When the two cute critters got up and dusted the grass off, Lupitia asked, “Tisiphone, as the song says, I’ve never felt this way before, and it’s all because of you. Would you do me the greatest honor by consenting to be my wife?”
Unexpectedly, a sob choked from my throat when Tiz shouted, “Yes!” Of course, then she turned on me and said, “See, Hazel, I told you she wasn’t cheating on me.”
I rolled my teary eyes and laughed. “Congratulations, Tiz, I’m so happy for you.” I sagged against Ford’s arms. “Can you take me home now?”
“Yes, love.” He wrapped me in his warm embrace. “There’s no place I’d rather be.”
A week later, my grandmother confirmed what I’d suspected about Sally. The innocent-looking diaries had been spelled by Adele, and the secrets they revealed to Sally had driven her mad. There were contacts in the books for other groups of Arete. It’s how Sally had found Brahm Jensen. The Beastwarden had gotten a full confession out of Ardell. Ardell didn’t make it out of the interrogation alive. The Beastwarden didn’t suffer fools or criminals lightly.
Sally had stolen the real deed to Clayton Driver’s property and used her know-how as a realtor to forge a new one. Only, when Jensen arrived, Sally figured out fast that she couldn’t control the strong alpha, so she plotted with his second to steal his power and blame it all on Ford and me. She’d wanted us out, but she hadn’t wanted Jensen to have any real control over our town. She’d also been the one to grow the tree where they sacrificed Dick. She clearly had the same gift as Pierce. It made me wonder if Pierce hated me so much because he’d once been Adele’s lover. Maybe even the father of the child she never wanted. It was better not to speculate. I didn’t need another person from that family forming a vendetta against me and mine.
Ford and I were planning a vacation—a real one with views, drinks, and room service. Tiz and Lupitia were planning a wedding. I loved my family, and they loved me, and once again, my boring little town was boring again. And that was just fine by me. Never again would I complain about being bored...who was I kidding? I was already itching for our next adventure, and with Ford by my side there was nothing we couldn’t tackle.
The End…for now
Check out Hazel Kinsey’s next adventure!
A Witchin’ Pitsgiving: a Barkside of the Moon-Witchin’ Impossible Crossover Mystery
Cougar shifter and new mom Lily Mason is hosting Thanksgiving in Moonrise for her closest friends and family, including Hazel, Tizzy, and Ford, but when one of her guests goes missing, the festivities are thrown into chaos. Lily and the gang must solve the mystery, before this holiday turns into a real witch.
Want more Hazel and the gang? Read the FREE Bonus Short Story “Witchin’ Impossible: The Box Identity”!
Click here to download.
Witch Hazel Kinsey, her bear shifter husband Ford, her familiar Tizzy, her dad, and her ex-nemesis are thrust into a deadly adventure when a mysterious artifact traps them in a shrinking magical prison. With time running out, they must solve the ancient riddle to escape—only to discover that the artifact is tied to Hazel’s family's secrets. As the walls close in, love, wit, and magic are their only hope for survival.
BURNING DJINN OF FIRE - SNEAK PEEK
Seven months ago, goddess magic allowed me, the very human Marigold Everlee, to have a couple of sizzling nights with the very paranormal Zev. He was tall, dark, and smoking hot.
Literally. He's an ifrit--a fire-magic-wielding djinn.
Spoiler alert: When the goddess magic poofed---so did Zev.
Yeah. I was ghosted after he promised me, he’d be back. His disappearance turned my heart to ash. But you know what? I'm middle-aged and marvelous, baby. Crying over spilled magic isn't going to change what happened to my one-sided love connection.
I have new aspirations: being the best bad-ass witch possible. My new bestie is teaching me the ways of eclectic magic, and I’m throwing all my energy into the process. I’ve always been a little hippy-dippy, so using my crystals and herbs for spell work should come naturally to me, right?
Wrong.
Just when I think I’m getting the hang of potions, a fire spell blows up in my face, leaving a cryptic message scorched into my kitchen ceiling.
From Zev. What the what!?
It seems Zev didn't want to disappear after all.
I may be a magical mess, but no one gets away with hurting the people I love, including my stubborn, sarcastic, sexy genie.
Watch out, world. This girl is on fire. Get out of the way ... or get burned.
Chapter One
Seven months earlier...
The acrid stench of the giant, horrid beast turned my stomach. With a name like snotgurgle, I knew it would be disgusting, but I hadn’t been prepared for how much nauseating mucus would be covering the creature. It resembled a colossal green booger. So freaking gross.
“Oh, holy monstrosity.” I swallowed as the sour taste of bile filled my mouth. I watched Zev, an annoyingly charming and unholy handsome fire djinn, run across the expansive field with the snotgurgle hot on his heels.
My heart skipped a beat. I wanted to yell at him to get his ifrit ass moving, but obviously, he was booking as fast as he could.
I hadn’t seen him since the pixie mating frenzy until today, but man, I thought about him a lot. He’d shown up at the Iron Grove earlier that day. Keir had called him to act as Iris’s fire guardian for her witch trial.
It was as bad as it sounded.
As the beast closed in on Zev, I staggered forward.
“Don’t expose yourself, Marigold,” Carver Martin, an eclectic witch I’d only met hours earlier, warned as he tugged me down, shielding me with the stone barrier outside the hedge maze behind the Iron Grove. “You don’t want him catching your scent. Snotgurgles are relentless once they start hunting. Besides, you get slimed, you get dead.”
Carver’s father, Thomas, the witch of Archdruid Freya, had assigned Carver the task of babysitting me. Honestly, I thought it was Thomas’ way of keeping both of us out of harm. A part of me felt like I was responsible for what was happening. My sister’s boyfriend and magical mentor, Keir, had asked me to bring Iris her grimoires, and I’d asked Linda the Gnome to come along for the ride.
How in the hell could I have known that gnomes were a delicacy for Snotgurgles? Oh, and guess what else? Snotgurgles were nasty trolls that took great delight in torturing their food before eating it. I hoped like hell it hadn’t eaten Linda.
I’d never forgive myself.
My anxiety level ramped up to ten as I gnawed on my thumbnail. Ugh. I’d already chewed all my fingernails until they bled. I dropped my hand and turned my gaze to Carver. “We can’t hide. We have to help.”
“How do you suggest we help?” Carver asked. His unnaturally black hair had fallen over his bushy brows and into his eyes. He brushed it back. “The druids and their tru-craft witches will struggle to take that creature down. This kind of troll is immune to magic and most physical attacks. His mucous is poisonous, and the snot from its nose can dissolve flesh and bone. You go out there, and they’ll have to worry about protecting you while trying to do an already impossible job.”
“Fine,” I conceded. Carver and his stupid logic. “I can’t believe creatures like this exist.” It was a sentiment I’d repeated to myself often since finding out my sister Iris was a tru-craft witch.
“I wish the snotgurgle was the worst thing I’ve ever seen,” Carver muttered.
I didn’t have the emotional capacity to think about what could be worse. My fears were for the people I loved. “What about my sister?” I craned my neck again to see if I could spot her on the field. Zev had come out of the woods with the monster, but I hadn’t seen Iris. “Where is she?”
Carver put his hand on my shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Iris is strong, and so is Keir. Keep the faith.”
Easier said than done. I’d never been religious, but I’d always been drawn to the spirituality of the natural world, so I prayed to anyone who might be listening to keep my sister and Keir safe. And Zev, too.
