Eldritch Sparks

  Eldritch Sparks

  Shadows of Otherside Book 2

  Whitney Hill

  This is a work of fiction. Any references to real events, people, or places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events is purely coincidental.

  ELDRITCH SPARKS

  Copyright © 2020 by Whitney Hill

  All rights reserved. This book is for your personal use only. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. Thank you for supporting the author by purchasing this book.

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  ISBN (ebook): 978-1-7344227-3-3

  ISBN (pbook): 978-1-7344227-4-0

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2020913561

  Cover Designer: Pintado (99Designs)

  Editor: Jeni Chappelle (Jeni Chappelle Editorial)

  For everyone who has had to make hard choices about where to give their time, energy, and love…and especially for those who have made harder choices about when or where they can no longer give at all.

  Chapter 1

  A howl echoed through the trees, and I ran faster, my feet kicking up dust from the moonlit trail, heart pounding, breath heaving. It was only Roman, but that didn’t mean I wanted to be caught. My werewolf lover would be in wolfman form; his magic wasn’t strong enough to go full wolf, but he’d be deadly all the same. He wouldn’t hurt me, of course, but the game was “keep away,” and grown Othersiders played a little differently than human children.

  We were taking advantage of the full moon and the balmy spring evening. My evolving role in Otherside and my efforts to get the elves, vampires, weres, and djinn to finalize negotiations on our new alliance had me stressed to hell and back. Roman had suggested a run in the forest to get my body moving as much as my mind had been lately.

  Eno River State Park was closed, of course. Nobody should have been in the woods after dusk. Budget cuts had trimmed the number of rangers available to keep people out, but even had there been a ranger, Roman and I could have slipped past. As a sylph⁠—an air elemental⁠—I couldn’t move as quickly or hear as sharply as Roman, but I could still perform better than a human.

  Not that that saved me.

  A shift in the wind brought me the faintest whiff of cedar and musk from in front of me. In my rush to stop, I tripped over a raised root and went ass over tits down the path, landing with an undignified thump in front of two huge paws. The backpack I’d been wearing skidded past them. I winced at the bruises I’d have and the thud the pack made as it stopped against a rock then started laughing at my own clumsiness.

  “Interesting tactic, babe,” Roman said with a toothy smile, the words coming out a little mangled. Wolf snouts weren’t meant for human speech, and being stuck halfway through the change didn’t exactly help.

  Breathless, I tried to scramble back. It wasn’t over until he caught me.

  With superhuman speed, he bent down, caught my ankle, and pulled. As he leaned over my body in a push-up, he sniffed along my neck and hummed with pleasure. “This has promise.”

  For all that I, and my body, agreed, I wasn’t ready to let him win just yet. He was using his power, so I drew on mine.

  “You little⁠—” He yelped as my eyes glowed gold in the dark and a gust of Air pummeled him in the side. Elemental powers and hapkido gave me enough of an edge to hold him off, but he had strength, weight, and reach on his side. Plus, he fought dirty.

  “Okay, you win!” I cried, laughing as I tried to fend off tickling hands. He stopped immediately, nuzzling my neck, and I ran my fingers down his back. “If you want to change, we could continue this more comfortably.”

  Roman’s howl of triumph rang through the woods—and was answered. His growl cut straight through to my gut as he looked up and toward the trailhead. “I know that voice.”

  It had sounded the same as his to me, but maybe that was the telling part. I stood and brushed myself off, tugging a twig free of my tight curls as Roman went behind a tree to shift back to human, still embarrassed by the process and his difficulty. A handicap or a disability, as he saw it, though I didn’t.

  I had his spare clothes ready when he stepped back out, naked and trying to hide his nerves more than his assets.

  “Let’s go,” he said when he was dressed. We hustled back to the trailhead, the scent of rotted cedar growing and clashing with the piney scent of the night as we got closer to the parking lot and his anxiety climbed.

  A single male figure, as dark-haired and light-skinned as Roman, leaned against a big, white SUV in the parking lot.

  “Stay behind me,” Roman murmured, one arm out to stop me from passing him. Energy crackled and the moon reflected from the stranger’s retinas. Definitely an Othersider, likely the answering wolf we’d heard, and from the way Roman stiffened and rumbled deep in his chest, more than dangerous.

  “Not afraid of the big bad wolf, are you, brother?” the stranger said.

  “Sergei.” Roman’s response to the mocking tone held taut patience, even as the tension in the lines of his body ratcheted up another notch. “What are you doing here?”

  “Nothing permanent. For now.” The wolf in CEO’s clothing pushed away from the truck with a mesmerizing, purposeful grace. He’d called Roman brother, but that clashed with what little I knew about my lover’s family.

  The way I’d heard it, the Volkovs had kicked Roman out of pack, clan, and home and expected him to die somewhere between the mountains and here. Magical “runts” like Roman, who couldn’t fully shift, weren’t very welcome in werewolf society. I shifted my hand toward the backpack I held close in front of me.

  “You don’t need the gun.” Sergei added an inhuman snarl when I hesitated.

  I kicked myself. A werewolf could probably smell the oil, especially if he was in touch with his wild side. The full moon made that more than a little likely, and I was three kinds of foolish to forget and risk pushing him into a shift. Roman made a huge wolfman. I did not want to see how big a wolf his brother made. The man was a full six feet tall, taller than even Roman’s unusual⁠—for a wereanimal⁠—height, and had to weigh a good buck eighty.

  “A weapon, in the hands of something smelling of thunderstorms on a dry summer’s day. Not a hint of musk, so not one of the clans. Oh, brother, what trouble are you making for yourself now? You were shifted in the woods, if you can call it that. I can smell it on you.”

  “She’s Otherside,” Roman snapped. A bone popped as his hand started rearranging itself. “I haven’t broken any of our laws.”

  “You mean any more of them. Bad enough you still live without breaking the Détente and forcing me halfway across the state.”

  Roman flinched, and a shadow darkened his expression.

  I’d had enough of standing at the periphery of whatever long-standing family nastiness was going on here. “If all you’re here to do is talk shit, I’m sure Roman and I have better things to do.”

  “Oh ho, the mystery meat has teeth!” Sergei chuckled, apparently delighted, and extended his
hand. “Well then. You have my name. What’s yours?”

  I didn’t need Roman’s warning growl not to shake the other man’s hand. “Why don’t you tell us why you’re here?” I said.

  “Not very hospitable in this neck of the woods, are we?”

  The little witticisms were starting to grate. Between gritted teeth, I said, “Not when out-of-territory wolves turn up unannounced at the full moon, no.”

  Sergei smirked. “Do you always let your bitches speak for you, Roman? Lupa’s teats, I knew you were weak but⁠—”

  The but what was cut off as Roman lunged, slamming Sergei against the SUV. “Tread lightly, little brother,” he warned in a voice almost too low to hear, his Appalachian mountain accent coming through much stronger than I’d ever heard it. “Family bonds only stretch so far. You’re in my territory, and I was cast out of the pack. This land is mine, that there female is mine, and you’re far from home. If hospitality is in question, I reckon that’s your doing. And if you’re fixin’ for a fight, Lupa forgive me but I’ll give you one.”

  In the moonlight, I could see Sergei’s bared teeth as he quivered, fists clenched, with Roman’s mouth at his throat. A weak wolf still had teeth, a fact I hadn’t forgotten and Sergei had. Roman might have forgotten that fact himself, given how often he deferred to me, but then again, he was usually much more easy-going. He had a temper, sure, but with me it flared and settled without all of…this.

  The standoff ended as abruptly as it had started.

  “Beg pardon,” Sergei said, opening his hands. “Ma said⁠—”

  “I know what she’da said. I don’t need to be tested, Sergei. Don’t try me again.” Roman stepped back, not taking his eyes off his brother as the other wolf straightened the sleeves of his suit. The fine dark jacket contrasted sharply with Roman’s tatty, oil-stained T-shirt.

  “Sure, bro,” Sergei said.

  “Business?”

  “Business.”

  I blinked, confused by the sudden change in atmosphere as they both turned and ambled toward Roman’s trailer, a minute’s walk away on End Street. It wasn’t friendly, per se, but they weren’t ready to fight anymore. “Uh, guys?”

  They both turned back and I lifted my hands in the universal gesture of what the hell.

  Roman extended a hand for me. “Come on, Arie. Sergei won’t try anything else tonight.”

  Somehow, I doubted it. “So, what was all that?”

  “Reintroductions.”

  Sergei snorted and looked at the ground.

  When neither of them offered any more explanation, I rolled my eyes. “Whatever.”

  Sergei’s car would be towed if he left it there but frankly, I didn’t care. My date night, the first one I’d had in a while thanks to an uptick in my work as a private investigator and my new Otherside responsibilities, had been hijacked by the guy. Unfortunately, my car was parked in front of Roman’s trailer, which meant walking back with them regardless.

  I angled toward my car when we got there.

  “Arden?” Roman asked.

  “What?”

  “You aren’t coming in?”

  “I thought you’d want to take care of family business in peace. Seems like it’s pretty urgent.”

  Sergei’s sudden focus set me on edge. I didn’t like the interest sharpening his tone as he said, “Wait⁠—Arden? Finch?”

  I pressed my lips together, unwilling to confirm it, even if he already seemed to have some idea of who I was.

  Turning to Roman, Sergei said, “She needs to stay.”

  I bristled, but Roman just shrugged. “Convince her yourself.”

  “I thought she was your woman.”

  “And that works so well for Pops, doesn’t it?”

  Sergei fidgeted. The porch light revealed the true quality of his clothes⁠—designer, or I wasn’t a private investigator⁠—raising a whole lot more questions about how Roman had come to be living in a run-down manufactured home on the other side of the state.

  Rubbing the back of his neck, Sergei said, “Ms. Finch⁠—”

  “Oh, now it’s ‘Miz Finch’? I thought it was ‘mystery meat’.”

  The younger Volkov gaped to look more like a fish than a wolf, and Roman was bright red with the effort to keep a straight face.

  “I’m a guest,” Sergei said at last. “I should be offended that you don’t want to stay and welcome me.”

  “Then you shouldn’t have started off being rude. I guess that’s good night.” My car beeped a welcome as I opened the door and settled into the driver’s seat.

  Sergei was fast, I’d give him that. Before I could shut the door all the way he’d come around and caught it.

  “Please,” he said when I lifted my eyebrows at him.

  “Now he finds some courtesy,” I muttered, glaring as I tapped on the steering wheel.

  With a glance at Roman, Sergei knelt, heedless of the dirt and patchy grass that passed for the front lawn. Up close, with the overhead light falling full in his face, he looked a good five years younger than his brother. Leaner in face and form, though still bigger than me, and with hair a shade lighter than Roman’s rich brown. They had the same eyes though, a dark grey that flowed from steel to storm with their mood. He looked soft compared to Roman, though.

  With what I imagined was supposed to be a charming smile, Sergei said, “My apologies. I came looking for my brother to re-establish ties, at his request. I hadn’t reckoned on finding you here.”

  The mountain accent Roman took on when he was pissed or drunk grew heavier in Sergei’s speech.

  In a lower voice, he continued. “My family, my pack, sent me to learn whether Roman was telling the truth about a new alliance and the opportunities it might bring. I was told you were crucial to the negotiations, and I would take it as a personal favor if you stayed a little longer.”

  I sighed and leaned back in my seat, so not in the mood for this. About two months ago, I’d outed myself as an elemental while trying to escape an elven serial killer and stop the conspiracy he led. Long story short, I’d sort of escaped with my life, gotten one of the elven Houses to suspend the bounty on elementals, and managed to free myself from some onerous obligations to the local boss, Callista.

  Now I was in the awkward position of being a known neutral party in the Triangle’s Otherside community. I’d gone from persona non grata, keeping quiet about my powers and staying hidden, to somehow being the community coordinator. Callista was pissed with me and the fact that everyone in the Triangle⁠—and maybe beyond, now⁠—seemed to want my help with business they should have been able to settle on their own.

  A rap on the passenger window made me glare at Sergei to behave as I reached for the window button. Roman leaned in, the car shifting a little with his weight.

  “Babe, he’s made himself lower than you,” he pointed out, looking at Sergei rather than at me.

  “Did I miss something?” I glanced over to find Sergei bright red, eyes averted.

  “Yeah. You saw what I had to do to get him to submit at the trailhead, and that was just looking aside. He’s not as clever as Vikki, but he knows better.” Roman frowned. “Speaking of our dear sister, why are you here and not her?”

  Sergei pushed up and away, turning slightly so that he could see us but keep his face and chest angled away.

  “Ah.” The satisfaction in Roman’s voice drew my attention back to him. “Beat you to it, hey, little brother?”

  My face blanked as the pieces clicked into place. Sergei was supposed to have created a more physical tie between me and the wolf pack. I knew Roman hadn’t gone to Asheville in person to bring his family the news of the new power balance in the Triangle, so the Volkovs must have had a weak fifteen-year-old in mind. The boy Roman had been, rather than the man they’d forced him to become.

  Though I was proud of him for surviving and even thriving on his own, something felt off. Icky. I cared for Roman but didn’
t like the idea that he had used my influence with the alliance to gain an in with his estranged family without talking to me first. We were supposed to be partners. Why didn’t he tell me he’d started negotiations for the alliance? I’ve barely gotten my feet under me with the vampires and the elves, and he’s rushing?

  With Sergei out of the way, I slammed the door shut and stabbed at the window button. I needed some space to think this through. “I think it’s best if I go. I’ll call you tomorrow, Roman.”

  “Do you want everything to go back to the way it was?” Roman said as he jumped away from the rising glass.

  That broke through and I clicked the button the other direction to stop it, leaning forward to rest my head on the steering wheel. At the start of the year, I’d been alone. Alone, scared, and increasingly frustrated by the way I was forced to live. Now I was known. I had people. Sort of. But at least I could practice my magic openly and had gotten out from the worst of my obligations to Callista.

  I sighed. No, I really didn’t want things to go back to the way they’d been⁠—and Roman knew it. Some Othersiders were coming to me for help, but others were after my blood. That was the whole reason I was trying to pull a new alliance together: to be part of something, both to belong and for protection.

  “Shit,” I muttered, setting aside my feelings. “Fine. But we’re going to have a discussion on this, Roman.” I gathered up the fancy leather backpack I used as a purse and got out.

  He winced and nodded, shoving his hands in his pockets, and strode toward the trailer home.

  “After you,” Sergei said, watching me intently.

  “Oh, no, after you. I insist,” I replied between gritted teeth. He puffed himself up as though he was about to protest. I tilted my head and cocked an eyebrow. How badly did he want me to stay?

  With a growl I probably wasn’t supposed to hear, Sergei followed his brother, tugging roughly at a shirt collar that didn’t need straightening, and answered my question. Badly enough that he’d give his back to an unknown Othersider on the full Worm Moon.