Chapter 1

I stood at the edge of a cliff, overlooking a huge forested valley. The air smelled sweet and everything felt peaceful. The wind picked up, causing the trees around me to rustle. I watched as the effect crossed the valley like waves on an ocean. Clouds moved swiftly overhead, although the sky seemed more purple than blue. And just that quickly, the peace left me.

Huge plumes of smoke rose at each end of the valley. The smoke had a green tint to my left, and to my right, it was purple. A third, smaller plume rose at the far side, which, though thinner, was more distinctly red.

I heard movement within the trees, and more plumes of green and purple smoke rose. Suddenly a scream cut across the quiet of the valley. Somehow, I knew that scream involved surprise, pain, and death. More screams sounded, some were of anger, others of rage. More smoke rose, lights flashed, and metal clashed. The sounds of battle grew closer.

With the same speed of the wind racing through the trees, the fighting reached me. Men and women raced around me, throwing spells as freely as they might use firearms. There was no quarter offered, and none asked for. Everyone killed freely. I couldn’t tell where one side started and the other ended.

One of the fighters disintegrated an opponent and then turned to me. “With whom will you side?” he asked.

The others, fighting to kill one another, all stopped and looked at me. The sudden silence, not to mention the mass attention, was unnerving.

I looked out over the valley, most of which was on fire. I could no longer make out the small red plume that had started across from me.

Another fighter pulled me around. It was a woman dressed in leather and holding a rather large knife. “If you do not fight with us, then you fight with them.”

I turned and looked at the fighter who had asked the original question. Blood ran down his face from his eyes like dark tears. I looked around at all the others. They all shared the same bloody tears. I pointed at their eyes. “What’s happening?”

Nobody answered. Each one collapsed to his or her knees, looking more confused than scared. They each dabbed at their eyes, stared at the blood on their hands, and then stopped moving as if frozen in place. I watched in horror as the color drained from each one, not just their skin, eyes, and hair, but their clothes and weapons too. Then they cracked and broke apart like statues made of white sand. The wind carried away the resulting dust.

I looked back to the forest. All the fires were out, leaving most of the trees as nothing more than burnt trunks or stumps. The cost was high.

Though several thin smoke tendrils rose here and there, the only full smoke plume rising was the red one on the opposite side of the forest. Curiously, the trees surrounding that plume were all left untouched by the ravages of the battle.

I made my way down the cliff face, across the valley, and up to the trees surrounding the source of that small plume. The trees here grew closer together, slowing my effort to get to the fire. It seemed like the trees were trying to do more than block my path and the further in I went, the darker everything became to the point that I feared for my life.

I finally broke through the last row of trees to a small clearing. At the center was a small campfire with four women sitting around it. Three of the women wore cowls so that I could not see their faces. The fourth woman, however, had familiar red hair.

I stepped closer to the fire and the women all turned to face me.

The redhead looked familiar, but I couldn’t place her. She stood up and closed the distance between us. She seemed to know me, but she also looked confused. With a frown, she asked, “How did you survive?”

I realized that these four had killed all the others. Something in me wanted to protect the redhead, so I reached out to move her aside so I could deal with the other three.

The redhead blinked at me and tears of blood ran down her face. She wiped at them, saw the color of the smear, and screamed in horror and rage. Then she went limp as if all the strength in her legs was lost. I held her up and watched again as she lost all color. The near-porcelain appearance of her face cracked, and I tried to hold onto her as her body crumbled in my hands and the wind carried away the dust.

Confused and upset, I turned to look out at the forest again.

Ricardo stood in front of me. His face was bloody and his eyes were completely black. “You have destroyed magic,” he said. Then he lunged for my neck.

In an intimate reminder of our fight in front of my parents’ house, fire sprang up around us, and he lashed out with blinding speed.

I stumbled away but Ricardo didn’t give me a chance to gain my bearings. It was a strange sensation, knowing his fists rained down on me, and though I didn’t register any pain, I understood that he would kill me if I didn’t defend myself.

I called on my shield, but nothing happened. Ricardo hit me and I fell to the ground.

I tried to call upon my skills as a fighter, but couldn’t remember how. Ricardo kicked me in the side, forcing me over onto my back.

I tried to call out my House Guardians, but couldn’t connect with them. Ricardo sat on my chest, grabbed my head, and slammed it back on the rocky ground.

“You killed Magic,” he said and slammed my head on the ground again.

“YOU Killed MAGIC!” He yelled and slammed my head on the ground again.

“YOU KILLED MAGIC!!” He screamed and raised my head to slam down again...

I shook awake.

The fear of death may have forced me to wake up, but the pain in the back of my head was very real. Worse, I wasn’t entirely sure I had escaped the nightmare, because I was still on my back with someone sitting on me. The only difference was, I wasn’t getting my head slammed into the ground. My fear spiked. I tried to reach up to push him off, but I couldn’t move.

A female voice purred above me. “Oh, you’re awake!”

In my panic, I called on my armor shield again. This time, I felt the person’s weight shift as my shield pushed her up.

“What the...?” said the female voice.

I looked down at my arms but didn’t see anything holding me. I kicked my legs but something held them down too. It felt like I was strapped down to the floor, but since I couldn’t see anything, it meant someone had used magic!

The person sitting on me leaned forward, blocking the overhead light, and I found the source of that female voice. She placed her hands on my shield over my chest and studied me as if examining my armor. “Very nice,” she said, and then looked into my eyes, “but it won’t save you from me.”

Then she closed her eyes and this peaceful look came over her. She was lovely to look at but my panic-fueled head couldn’t see past my being tied down. I didn’t want her casting spells on me, especially to bypass my shield, so I used the only part of my body that didn’t feel tied down - my midsection. I thrust up at her with everything I had, trying to throw her off me.

Her eyes opened wide as she caught herself, and then she eased back into place and smiled down at me. She had brilliant white teeth that stood out beautifully in contrast to her tanned skin. She reminded me of a movie star from some big sci-fi blockbuster, but I couldn’t remember who at the moment. She crossed her arms over my chest and put her face closer to mine. “Keep thrusting up at me like that, and I just might have to take advantage of you.”

With a grin, she looked up, across the room.

I craned my neck around and looked in the same direction. Several women were seated around the table in the breakfast nook but slumped forward as if unconscious while tied to their chairs. Whatever magic tied me down must have been used on them as well. They also wore black sleep masks. It didn’t matter that I was seeing them upside-down, or that the masks easily concealed half their faces. I knew them. Most of them, I knew intimately. Fear for myself subsided and was replaced with fear for them, coupled with anger. I had to make sure they were okay. I had to get them out of here, safely. I had to. I simply had to.

In my anger and fear, I noticed movement. I focused and watched. Each woman drew her breath and let it out just as slowly. None of them seemed hurt or in pain. It was like they were all asleep. Not even nightmares plagued them. It helped me to focus, to stop fussing over what I should have done to prevent this, and focus on what I had to do to get them all out safely. I relaxed and looked up at the woman sitting on me. “What have you done to them?”

“Nothing painful,” she said with a hint of disappointment, then she smiled down at me. “But that can change.”

“Let them go, they have nothing to do with this,” I said, struggling against my bonds again.

“Really?” she asked. “And just what do you think this is?”

I couldn’t honestly answer that. I frowned at her. “Who are you?”

“You may call me Jade,” she said, with a crinkle of her nose that would have been cute if she didn’t seem to enjoy the situation so much.

“What do you want, Jade?”

Her eyes brightened at the question. “I want someone who would enjoy my company.” Then she raised her face as if looking up at her dream man. “He would have to have a high tolerance for pain, outstanding endurance, and a cock as big as my forearm.” She looked me in the eyes again with a crazed expression. “But I may have to make do with you in his stead.”

The urge to melt down through the floor to get away from her was very strong.

“You know what would be fun?” she asked, leaning over me again. “How about if I pull you out and we find out just how far down your length I can mark you with my teeth?”

For a moment, I stared back into those pale green eyes fearing for my safety, and then I got angry. “Get off of me,” I growled. “Now!”

She pretended to pout. “Oh! You don’t want to play with me?”

“Lady, I want you as far away from me as I can manage.”

She sat up and slapped my chest. Thanks to my armor, I didn’t feel anything. “Keep talking like that and I may have to turn my attention to someone else.” She glanced at the table. “Eventually, I will hurt someone you care about.”

I glared at her, trying to think of an appropriate spell to cast that would disable her.

Before anything came to mind, she whispered something and made an odd gesture that ended with her holding up her index finger. Then she slowly lowered her hand and touched me with the tip of that finger.

My entire body was locked up as if an electric current ran through it. I felt like I had a Charlie horse in every muscle of my body. The bonds that held my hands and feet to the floor kept me in place, but it didn’t stop me from thrashing as hard as I could. Worse than the uncontrollable shaking and jerking, my whole body was in excruciating pain!

She lifted her finger from my chest and the pain stopped instantly. I fought to gulp down air. I stopped breathing while she touched me.

She smiled down at me. “Fun, right?” Then she touched me again.

I couldn’t stop myself from thrashing about, nor could I think straight. All I could do was hold on until the pain ended, not to mention hope my heart didn’t decide to stop when she removed her finger.

She let up again and I felt nauseous. “I don’t know ... what you’re doing to me, ... but if you keep it up, ... I’m going to throw up all over you,” I said.

“Is that the best you can do?” she asked. “I was hoping you would piss yourself first. Maybe we should try again?”

“Jade!” barked a male voice from the kitchen.

Jade looked toward the voice. I didn’t bother because there was furniture in the way. Instead, I focused on Jade. She was distracted. I used my telekinetic spell to throw her off me.

She slammed into a bookshelf and dropped to her feet. In her dazed state, she fell further to her knees but remained upright.

I knew it wouldn’t take long for her to recover, and if she was as dangerous as I believed, then I didn’t want to be here when she did. I tried to think of a way to cut my invisible bonds, but my brain felt like it was stuffed with cotton.

Jade, in the meantime, shook off her dizziness, gathered herself up, and rose to her feet. I don’t know where she kept it, but she pulled out a long, thin dagger. She raised her head to look at me. Her smile was gone and there was a look in her eyes that suggested I was in more trouble than before.

I jerked harder at my bonds. All thoughts of using magic to get loose had flown from my head.

She reached me in two long strides, held up the dagger above her head, and with a crazed look in her eyes, brought the dagger down to stab me.

Someone reached out and caught her arm, stopping her dagger just above my chest.

Jade looked up at the owner of the hand holding her. So, did I.

The man who stopped her pulled her up away from me. “Killing Seth will stop us from reaching our goals,” he said softly, but with a hint of threat. “I would recommend you curb your temper.”

“You told me to keep him from using Magic!” she spat.

“I told you to make sure he doesn’t escape,” he said and then looked down at me. “The fact that he could focus well enough to throw you like that after you touched him twice means Seth has surpassed his status as a Child Magus.”