Authors: Ann Macela

Tags: #General, #Fiction, #Magic, #Fantasy, #Paranormal, #Romance, #Contemporary

Do You Believe in Magic? (42 page)

BOOK: Do You Believe in Magic?

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What was she going to do? The threat grew stronger.

The blackness around her faded to a pale monochromatic hue.

She could see! She could see . . .

Nothing—just a dim grayness.

She brought her hands up in front of her eyes. At least she could see her fingers wiggling.

She looked forward, then back. The expanse yawned in all directions. She still couldn’t make out any walls, any edges to the space.

She revolved in a slow arc.

As she reached the three-quarter point in her revolution, a long elevated stage materialized in the middle distance, and she walked toward it over a gray stone floor. She knew she was walking, she could feel her muscles moving and her feet striking the surface, but her footsteps were silent.

As she got closer to the structure, some human figures appeared on the stage. A ramp grew out of the raised platform and the people walked down it toward her.

She felt the menace intensify as the figures came closer. Cold fear washed through her body, tried to overcome her. She refused to give into it. She could defend herself.

Someone appeared at her side. A man. Tall with blue eyes, he looked down at her and smiled. He was not there to hurt her, she knew, she felt it in her bones. He was there to help.

The intimidating figures changed from human to monsters and were almost upon them. She could see their gleaming fangs and scent their noxious, dead-fish odor.

She had to do something. Who did these creatures think they were, fooling around with her? Hot anger drove out the fear; she gathered every little bit of magic in her and cast the most powerful spells she could devise.

Lightning cracked, thunder rolled, fire flashed. A roar vibrated the air, and the ground shook.

Nothing changed.

The creatures still advanced, clawed hands now reaching for her and her companion.

She cast again and again, until she was exhausted.

It did no good.

The blue-eyed man beside her did nothing. Evidently, he was having the same problems she was.

The beasts were upon them. She could see their crazed yellow eyes, smell their foul breath, sense their vile hatred.

She could feel their sharp claws, and she jerked away from them, frantically fighting the amorphous shroud they had thrown over her.

“No, no!” she screamed, but her voice sounded only like a whimper.

She opened her eyes and stared straight into a yellow-eyed face with long sharp fangs.

“Mrrrow?” her male cat asked as he pushed at her arm with his paw. His claw was caught in her nightshirt.

“Yaahh?” asked the female from her other side.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Daria groaned as the tension drained from her body and her muscles went limp with relief. After a long moment to let her heartbeat return to normal, she stirred. “Okay, I’m awake,” she told the cats, disentangling herself from the sheet and the claw.

She reclined on her pillow for a moment. What a dream. Threatening monsters, a black cave, a man, and she couldn’t cast a spell to save them. She ran her hands through her hair and rubbed her scalp.

Where had all that come from? What was going on in her subconscious to cause such a dream?

The job, probably. Something about this last client was bothering her and appearing in her dreams. Only a few more days and it would be over. Thank God. Did she ever need a vacation.

“Come on,” she told the cats as she climbed out of bed. “Let’s get some breakfast.”

By the time she reached the kitchen, she was in control of herself again and couldn’t for the life of her remember what the dream had been about. But the memory of the blue, blue eyes of the man who had stood beside her lingered for a much longer time.

THE OLDEST KIND OF MAGIC
ANN MACELA
ISBN#9 781932 815 4 3 6
US $6.99 / CDN $9.99
Mass Market Paperback / Paranormal
Available Now
www.annmacela.com