Fire and Fantasy: A Limited Edition Collection of Urban and Epic Fantasy Read online

  “Yes, Baba,” the shy girl released Abbey’s hand and waved goodbye.

  Temple didn’t say much as Abbey followed beside him down the countless hallways to the girls’ adjoining suites. Abbey could tell he was worried about Lourdie. Concern was written all over his hunky face. Staring straight ahead he seemed deep in thought, distracted. Lourdie didn’t look much better. Abbey could see the immense dark circles under her closed eyes, and she was pale, death warmed over pale. Her idol was a force to be reckoned with, but in Temple’s arms, she almost looked fragile, breakable. Abbey had never seen her mentor look so...mortal.

  Lourdie moved in Temple’s arms and snuggled into him. She wrapped her arms around him as her head nestled against his collarbone. Pulled out of his thoughts by her embrace, Temple slowly closed his eyes. Her mentor let out a deep sigh and began breathing softly against the knight’s neck. She mumbled something Abbey could barely make out, “Mm… caught me.”

  Temple whispered against her cheek, “Always.”

  Abbey pretended she hadn’t seen or heard any of it, but in her head she was doing cartwheels despite the situation. Whoa! Go Lourdie!

  Temple gently put Lourdie in her bed, pulling the covers up to keep her warm. He quietly put her weapon next to the roses on her nightstand. Lourdie fidgeted and mumbled again, “Mm. Mr. Hunky…”

  Abbey dropped Lourdie’s shoes and covered her mouth with both hands trying not to giggle. Temple turned his head and raised an eyebrow at her. She shrugged, but could feel her face flush. Abbey knew she was probably as red as a tomato.

  Ripples in time echoed off the tomb walls. Reality was a tangible thing now. She was near, his beloved token. The giant among mortal men had expelled too much of his dwindling power, too much energy, and was still unable to reach his prize, his precious trinket. Her strength and defiance would be his undoing, all their undoing. The time to strike was near. He could taste it on the air. Reluctantly, he would slumber. He would gather the remnants of his power like individual grains of sand, collecting them for one more attempt to draw her near. Forever trapped, eternally damned, he rested and waited.

  Lourdie contently stretched her body like a feline after a nap. She’d always been envious of how a cat was able to relax every muscle in its body in one fluid movement. Now she knew the joy of it. Realizing it was still dark outside, she knew she was awake far too early again, but she didn’t care. She had just gotten her best night’s sleep in weeks.

  It slowly dawned on her that she hadn’t made it to her room alone. The helicopter. Lourdie slowly opened her eyes again and faintly saw the I.V. in her arm. She quietly pulled out the needle and placed it on her nightstand next to her stun baton. The weapon went into her right side pocket.

  Silently the hunter got out of bed, slowly creeping to the chair that had been placed next to her bedside. She smiled softly. Butterfly wings beat at the edges of her heart. Damn. That was unexpected. No...She was honest with herself for one brief moment. The only man that had ever challenged and thrilled her, sat before her. Finding someone like him, that had been unexpected. Diligently staying by her side, the knight slumbered. The man had a sex appeal she couldn’t deny. Looking like he had just stepped off a Calvin Klein photo shoot he was barefoot, wearing a simple white t-shirt, well-worn jeans, and had an open book in his lap. Then suddenly a different flush came over her body, heat pulsed, skin electrified. Strangeness flooded through her like she was its conduit as her emotions started to surface. Sensations of losing control and exploding into nothingness overwhelmed her. Something foreign, unwelcome was emerging, and she feared it was fighting her for control. Instinctively and without hesitation she slammed everything shut. Emotions and feelings were stopped. Thoughts were ignored and the weird, otherworldly feeling, slowly, unwillingly, subsided. It was hard to describe, as though someone or something was trying to take control of her body and her mind through her emotions. Whatever it was, she didn’t like it. Whatever was happening was causing her to fear and mistrust her own emotions.

  Deep breaths calmed her as she wiped the cold sweat from her brow. She bit one side of her bottom lip, hoping she had not disturbed Temple. Moving his book, she pulled his blanket up around him.

  “Are you alright?” Temple whispered, gently grasping her upper arm. His thumb absently caressed her skin back and forth just once.

  Lourdie whispered back, “I feel fine. Really good actually.” His innocent touch made her heart beat faster. She shoved her emotions even deeper, “You, however, look exhausted. You should get some sleep.” Her heart throbbed under his grip. Or was it his heartbeat? She couldn’t tell.

  The threat of losing herself had been horrifying. The nothingness had been infinite, endless, and impenetrable. She barricaded her feelings behind a wall five feet thick.

  “Lourdes, what happened?”

  “I... I don’t know,” she was unwilling to ask herself the question, afraid of what she might find. He seemed reluctant to let her go, “I’m fine, I promise.”

  As he loosened his grip, his hand slid down her arm leaving goose bumps in its wake. Their skin reacted to each other like magnets. He was gravity. Their palms touched and curling fingers met, but slowly she pulled away. The old, fearless Lourdie, could have lived in that one perfect moment forever. But this new, less confident Lourdie that had awoken, wasn’t as brave.

  His fingertips and thumb enclosed around her own, then slowly, hesitantly, he let go.

  She headed to the bathroom, not daring to look back. The thrilling moment, their undeniable attraction and connection, had terrified her.

  Lourdie barely got the bathroom door open before Abbey barreled into her with a bear hug. “Holy crap, Abs, you scared me. I didn’t hear you get up.” Startled, she looked towards her bed at the empty chair. Temple was gone.

  “Really? I finally snuck up on you? Okay, wow, that’s a first. What the hell happened? Are you alright?” Abbey demanded answers that Lourdie didn’t have and didn’t want to explore.

  “I’m fine. Just worn out I guess,” Lourdie said trying to convince herself as well.

  Abbey kept volleying question after question and Lourdie kept dodging. Her young apprentice had finally had enough, “Lourdie... You’ve been asleep for over two days.”

  A gust of wind could have blown the hunter over. Lourdie couldn’t believe it. She was dumbfounded.

  Abbey went on stating quite proudly that Temple had been by her side virtually the entire time, day and night. Abbey gave Lourdie her biggest, toothiest grin and said, “So, I am happy to report Mr. Hunky does not snore,” then she winked with unabashed exaggeration.

  Lourdie tried to ignore her goading, “Abs, it’s still way too early for this. Go back to bed. I promise I’m fine.”

  Channeling her mentor, Abbey crossed her arms, raised an eyebrow, and gave the reluctant patient a stern unwavering stare.

  Lourdie surrendered to her apprentice’s determination. “Okay, okay. I promise I’m going back to bed too.”

  Abbey turned the lights off, carefully watching Lourdie. Not truly believing her mentor would go back to sleep.

  Two days and the kid-- err, young woman is already turning into me. Lourdie snickered. “Good night, Sensei,” she mockingly said, placing her weapon on the nightstand.

  “Good night, my little Padawan. Sweet dreams,” Abbey said with a playful snarky tone.

  Lourdie sighed, “I’m going to try.” Secretly, she pulled Temple’s blanket into bed with her and inhaled the faint lingering scent of fine leather and sandalwood. Somehow she felt like she would actually have a good dream for once. She nestled closer to his scent under the warm covers in her favorite pajamas. Her eyes flew open and she sat straight up. She was mortified, “Oh my god.”

  “What! What is it?” Abbey was on full alert.

  Lourdie asked slowly, “Abbey... how did I get into my pj’s?”

  A girl’s bubbly giggles came from across the room, “You pass out on a mission, nearly fall out of a helicop
ter, sleep for two days, and that is what you’re worried about?”

  “Abbey!?” Lourdie actually stomped her foot.

  “Chill, Sensei. Scarlett and I are the ones who undressed you,” she waved her hand in a mock dismissal, “Temple was ever the perfect gentleman and left the room. Hence me saying he was here virtually the entire time.”

  Lourdie didn’t know what to say, “That’s the only time he left?”

  “I know, right!? Sigh, a knight in shining armor.” A romantic fairy tale lingered on Abbey’s lips, “And you called him Mr. Hunky by the way. Okay so he may not know you were talking about him exactly, but… I’m sure I turned bright red,” Abbey giggled. “Well, goodnight,” she then spun on her heels, leaving her mentor is silent shock.

  “Oh my god.”

  Lourdie’s blossoming anxieties grew as she opened the doors to her designated training ground and didn’t see Abbey anywhere. She wished she shared the young girl’s enthusiasm and positivity. Even before her collapse a sinking feeling of futility had weighed heavily in her mind. No matter how she explained it or how slowly she demonstrated the creation of two orbs, no one from any of the courts could create more than one orb at a time. Luckily, the necessity for hunters to train incessantly limited her specific class to only a couple of excruciating hours a day. Her doubts plagued her so much so that she had been planning to open up to Abbey up until a few days ago. Concerned that she would worry her apprentice even more, Lourdie decided to keep her doubts to herself and find a distraction.

  Abbey nearly skipped down the hall to her room after her court history lesson. She was so glad to have Lourdie back she could barely stand it. Her mentor had woken up late in the morning after Temple left. And, after a few days recovery Lourdie hadn’t had a single nightmare since, or, at least, none that she knew of. Lourdie was resuming her class today and Abbey was running late. The doors between their suites were closed again. Lourdie began shutting them shortly after her collapse. Abbey shrugged. Maybe her mentor just needed some space. She quickly looked through her shirts for one in particular. Wanting to keep the good mojo going, she sported the new black t-shirt with pride. The bright purple phrase depicted exactly how she felt about Lourdie. Her mentor’s inner strength never ceased to amaze her. Abbey smiled happily as she rushed down the hall to the large indoor training facility.

  Temple and Bishop came in and stood against the wall near Abbey and watched the others practice. The three of them watched silently as hunters jumped off walls, flipped backwards over objects thrown in their way, and conjured orbs faster and faster. They looked like combat dancers in an urban jungle. Every object became a tool to jump off of or slide under, and anything not nailed down was a weapon at the ready.

  Temple hiked one foot up on the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. The sexiest grin Abbey had ever seen crept across his face. “The difficult she does right away. The impossible...just takes a while,” he motioned to Abbey’s shirt. “For your mentor?’

  Abbey nodded and smiled.

  He winked at Abbey, “Nice one.”

  For the rest of the afternoon, court members came and went, talking to Temple and Bishop at the side of the room, as Abbey and the rest of the guardians trained. The pint size powerhouse had started to wonder why Temple wasn’t joining in like usual, until she saw tablets and laptops pop out as people took notes and checked calendar dates. It had quickly become apparent that Temple was holding his meetings here today to keep an eye on a recovering Lourdie. Abbey knew it was ticking Lourdie off, even before she had overheard her mentor grumble something about nervous hens hovering over her. Apparently it had pissed her mentor off so much that during their half hour break she wasn’t going to acknowledge that Temple and Bishop were even there. The two extra days of bed rest had Lourdie going stir crazy. Temple hovering about today only added fuel to that fire.

  Quintin Sinclair, a twenty-three year old Scotsman from the Bellows, brought Lourdie a large bottle of water with a big sleazy smile on the side. Even though he could pass for a Templeton, Abbey felt the need to get away from him before she gagged. The meathead was pretty to look at, of course, but the way he looked at girls made Abbey want to take a shower to get the slime off her skin.

  Louie came directly from his last class and stopped near the door to talk to his cousin. He scanned the crowd looking for his favorite gamer girl.

  Abbey bounced over and greeted him. “Hi, Louie. Are you ready to rumble?”

  “Bring it on, Thorne,” Louie chuckled. “Nice armor,” he said gesturing to her shirt.

  “Thanks,” Abbey smiled.

  “The difficult she does right away, huh? Rubbing it in that she’s going to kick my blarney easily and as usual?” Louie teased, over emphasizing that Abbey was the she, he was referring to.

  “She thinks you hold your own pretty well for a pre-gloamer.” Abbey giggled.

  “I can’t wait to do better than just hold my own.” Louie looked at his shoes and blushed. He quickly changed the subject, “Don’t look now but your shadow is back.”

  “Scarlett? Where?” Abbey said, not making any sudden moves.

  “Kelen left the door open, she’s inside right behind him.”

  Abbey scoffed triumphantly. “Good. By next week she’ll be practicing beside us.”

  “Hey, where did she go?”

  “I told you she was good.”

  He nodded in agreement. “Dude,” Louie gestured in his cousin’s direction.

  No one needed hunter senses to feel the tension coming from Temple. Abbey noticed him glaring a hole straight through the back of Quintin’s head. The meathead and his two sizes too small shirt was still monopolizing Lourdie’s time. If she didn’t know any better, Abbey would swear her mentor was getting her flirt on. Abbey watched in disgust from across the room as Quintin poured compliments and affection all over her like thick syrup. Lourdie laughed at Quintin’s jokes and didn’t even put him in a choke hold when he brushed a loose strand of hair away from her face. Abbey did not understand this unusual flirty-girl routine from Lourdie.

  “Dude, set your phaser to douche!” Abbey whispered in protest. “What is she doing?”

  Either Lourdie seemed to genuinely find him funny and was oblivious to his sleazy advances or just chose to ignore them. Abbey hoped it was the latter.

  Temple made his exit grumbling something under his breath about Quintin throwing his hat into some ring. Abbey made a mental note to google the meaning later. She had no idea what the knight was talking about, but Abbey knew two things for certain. Lourdes Reese was not acting like herself and Logan Templeton did not like Quintin Sinclair.

  Eleven

  Seasons Changing

  The smell of fresh pine and warm mulled wine was everywhere. Evergreen garlands of pine cones and holly berries weaved in and out of every staircase and topped every doorway. A thick layer of snow covered the landscape in a crisp white blanket, reflecting the glow of thousands of lights silhouetting the castle’s shape in the evenings. Bells draped with ribbons and bows hung from every doorknob. The castle looked, smelled, and even sounded like Christmas.

  Abbey picked up the flowers off her nightstand and inhaled the sweet scent. “Do you think everyone visiting the castle is getting fresh roses?” she asked as she finished her traditional letter to Santa. She had been invited to burn the letter in the great hall at the end of the month on Christmas Eve along with all the other school kids from the Cloak. It was a British tradition so Father Christmas could read the smoke from all the chimneys. “And why are we getting two different colors? It makes no sense. I like pink. Why are you getting pink?” the caffeine-laden apprentice was amped and ready for the day.

  “Abbey,” Lourdie said calmly. “All flowers have different meanings. Why don’t you google it.”

  “Ooh, good idea!” she said getting out her laptop. “Sorry, Lourdie. I know the rule. No coffee, but Luke and I were helping Louie again with some extra hunter training way too late last night.�
�

  “Well, I can’t be too mad since it was for a good cause, right?” Lourdie gave her a sarcastic wink.

  “Dude. Louie is determined to be a black belt in literally everything, even before he gets his relics.”

  “Sounds like somebody else I know.”

  “Hey, get this. Besides the rose being the state flower of New York, the yellow rose is a symbol for a true friend, warmth, and happiness.” Abbey was laying on her stomach reading intently as she kicked her feet in the air, “Okay, that’s cool. I like my yellow roses.”

  Lourdie smiled at her inquisitive apprentice, then snuck a glance at her own roses.

  Abbey brought her tablet closer to her face, “Ooh, I think somebody has a secret admirer,” she teased.

  “Why, what does it say?”

  “Ha! Wouldn’t you like to know?”

  “Fine, don’t tell me,” Lourdie said making her bed for the day.

  “Pink stands for grace, elegance and it’s a sign of admiration,” Abbey cooed.

  Lourdie changed the subject, “Ready? I’ll help you muck out the stables before I head to the greenhouse.”

  “No way!” Abbey bolted up. “You don’t think I’ll have to do that do you? I won’t complain about washing dishes or peeling potatoes anymore, I promise.” her eyes got wide.

  Lourdie chuckled, “Kidding, Abs. Just kidding.”

  “Dude, you suck,” Abbey pouted. “Now that you said it out loud it will probably happen.”

  “Sorry, Abs. I’ll make sure it doesn’t,” Lourdie said guiltily, “I promise.”

  “Things are a lot different here, huh?” the girl sounded a little homesick.