Arcane Rising: The Darkland Druids - Book One, R Nicole [suggested reading TXT] 📗

The pair tumbled over and Rory was on top, but he didn’t have a clean shot as her claws erratically swiped at his face.

“Rory!” Acting on instinct, I picked up my suitcase, heaved it over my head, and threw it down the stairs.

He looked up just in time to roll out of the way. My suitcase hurtled through the air and collided with Mrs. Campbell, sending her into the opposite wall.

“Nice throw,” Rory said, grinning up at me.

His knife flashed in his hand and he turned towards the creature. Blue shapes ignited around his arm and crawled over his hand while marks etched into the blade, flaring as they settled. Were those runes?

Mrs. Campbell pushed off the wall with a screech and leapt towards Rory, but he was ready for her. He stabbed upwards and the knife slammed into her chest, the blue light sparking as the blade cut her open from sternum to navel.

His Colour flared, protecting him as the Fae sailed over his head and its guts splattered everywhere. I covered my nose when a foul stench filled the foyer as her body landed with a thud .

“Oh my God,” I whispered. “Oh. My. God.”

“Nope, not God,” Rory said, wiping his knife on the creamy lace curtain covering the front door. “Fae trickery that is. Smells like a rotten fart, eh? Hey, your suitcase survived.”

“But… Will…” I took a deep breath and immediately regretted it. “The cops will be after us now.” I’d never been in trouble before, not even in school. Zero detentions, right here. I’d never even gotten a speeding fine or parking ticket, and now here I was going for broke—murder in the first degree.

“The police are already after us, but not for this or anything on any official record. Fake Detective Owen will be along shortly to cover it up…and install a new Mrs. Campbell.”

“A-a new Mrs. Campbell?” I backed away and tripped onto stairs, my arse coming to rest on the landing with a plop.

“Illusions,” he told me. “Always look deeper, Elspeth.”

Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, my landlady turned out to be a Fae in disguise. Did she know who I was all this time? She had to be in on the conspiracy, helping Owen keep tabs on me. The clueless Australian woman with no one to come looking for her.

Rory knelt in front of me and picked up a strand of my hair. He peered at it for a moment, then smiled like he was only just beginning to understand something.

“Right now, we need to get you somewhere safe,” he said, glancing at what was left of Mrs. Campbell. “Don’t worry about all that, the Chimera will clean it up for us. We need to make ourselves scarce.”

“What about the Druids? Are…? All this for a suitcase.” My cheeks heated and I groaned.

“I guess I’m going to get grounded.”

I shivered. “You say that like it happens a lot.”

“Because it does.” Rory smirked and rose to his feet. “Every day of the week and twice on Sundays.” He held out his hand. “Are you coming? The Fae goop is starting to oxidise.”

9

I sat on the end of Rory’s bed, huddled in a blanket and stare at the fire.

The flames flickered as they burned the haphazard stack of logs in the hearth, popping and cracking as they were consumed.

Elspeth, what are you doing here?

Remembering the dream I had my first morning in Edinburgh, I realised it was a warning. My father was trying to contact me.

“Rory?”

“Yeah?” He looked up from my suitcase, the rag he’d been using to clean the last of the Fae goop from the hard outer shell dangling in his hand.

“Can Druids speak to spirits?”

His brow creased. “Some can, but that’s a skill rarer than shapeshifting. We call them Spirit Walkers.”

“What about the Fae?”

“Maybe.” He shrugged and tossed the rag into the fire. “I don’t really know.”

The chances of me being able to Spirit Walk were slim, then. There went that idea.

Besides, it seemed like an advanced skill that could take years to master. The only time I’d used my so-called abilities was to stab Owen in the chest…and explode apparently. Luckily, I hadn’t been conscious for that.

“What was Mrs. Campbell?” I asked, watching the flame turn green like it was burning a harsh chemical. “Was she a Chimera, too?”

“Your landlady was a Fae, but not a Chimera,” he explained, sitting beside me. “She was a trickster. A lesser Dark Fae.”

“A lesser Fae?”

“There are many different kinds of Fae, Elspeth. More than we’ll ever know or encounter…not that I care to. The Chimera are more than enough.” We watched the rag burn until the flame turned back to orange. “You want to talk to him, don’t you?”

“It was worth asking. It’s not every day you find out magic is real.”

“You said your father was a hero?”

“He worked as an environmental scientist with the Australian government, but he was also a volunteer firefighter,” I told him. “There were some serious bushfires across the country this past summer and… Well…” I swiped my hand across my eyes.

“Well then,” Rory said. “You were right to be angry with me. I’m sorry.”

I was beginning to understand why Dad had been so good at his job. He was a Druid and connected to the elements. He’d always known the best way to fight a fire or to preserve an area of natural heritage. My Dad was a supernatural environmentalist.

Rory shifted beside me. “Why did you come here, then?”

“Well, I kind of made a snap decision. I saw a poster in the window of a travel agent and…” I shrugged. “I felt drawn to it and before I knew it, I’d gotten on a plane.”

“Ah,” Rory said. “Without your father, your blood was calling you back to us.”

I frowned and curled my lip. I didn’t like the suggestion that I hadn’t had a say in the matter.

“Don’t look like that,” he told me. “It’s not attractive.”

Without thinking, I punched him in the