thinking about the peace Kate and I had reveled in for months.
Time to go back to work. But smart trolls? Yeah, right!
Rest and Recuperation
Magic isn't all glittery and energizing. For our species it hurts like hell to use and leaves you sick, wasted, and in agony as it does its best to return to the Empty where it belongs.
It's not our birthright. We steal it. Take it and make it do our bidding if we are lucky, but there is always a price to pay.
For true Hidden, creatures born solely of magic, then there is no payback—it's what they are. Every job I go on, every time I summon this addictive power, I pay with pain. Nine months ago, I'd been involved in a serious job, followed less than a week later by even more trouble, resulting in my house getting wrecked by an ancient vampire, my boss Rikka, and me, as we fought.
Events spiraled further, resulting in the vampire headquarters being gutted by fire, Rikka losing almost two hundred pounds of body fat because he used a spell to escape a sticky situation, while I was left victorious but broken.
My body turned on me. I wasted away for months no matter how much food I consumed or how much rest I got.
As promised, Rikka signed over the deeds to the lovely house in the country I moved into after just a few days staying at Kate's. She's the hot vampire with sweet-smelling blond-brown hair, blue eyes, and the love of my life. She also has a very nice bottom.
We'd dallied around our feelings for each other for years, ever since I saved her from death after a vampire attack, and although she fights the inevitable it has changed her. But I love her, and thankfully the feeling is mutual.
To our utter surprise, we found ourselves moving in together, somehow even making a go of it. A dark magic enforcer and a young vampire, definitely the odd couple and with bells on, but you take your gifts when offered, and Kate is more than I deserve.
Slowly, I recovered, her too. After all, a vampire usurper had almost killed us both at her old home, and without each other I don't know what would have happened.
Life settled down, I got better, got stronger and was happier than I have ever been, ever thought I would be.
But my old life called to me, and I missed it. It's who I am, what I do. I help Rikka and a few others deal with those that abuse the power they have obtained. My special skill makes me hot property. I can suck the dark magic right out of Hidden and send them screaming back to their old life, a Regular, no magic remaining. Just a person, same as almost everyone else. For true Hidden it gets more complicated, but I can weaken them, and they are seldom the same again.
This is my life. My people are the Hidden. We walk amongst you but you will never know us. We have this tiny bit of magic always shrouding us. I'm the no-man, the person you look at but forget in an instant. Nobody in the Regular world knows me—I'm a ghost, entirely forgettable. True Hidden have something similar. So a troll may look like an overweight man wearing a bad tracksuit to you, an imp may appear to be a rather odd looking cat, a gang of goblins like rather scrawny and mean people in tight fitting and out-of-date fashion, but to me they appear as they truly are.
Me, I like smart suits, and after an "accident" I now have short and fading bleached-blond hair, which I kind of dig now I've got used to it. I've kept it short, foregoing my old style of long and black like I'd had for a century.
I've always loved Cardiff, the capital of Wales, the sticky out bit to the left of England, a place that is out of the way but the center for the Councils, and it sees more action than you can imagine. It's small, easy to navigate, and although it's gone through some serious regeneration it still maintains its history and integrity.
I was out of the loop, though there was little choice. I had to recover, lie low, and besides, I was too caught up in my blossoming relationship with Kate and our
Time to go back to work. But smart trolls? Yeah, right!
Rest and Recuperation
Magic isn't all glittery and energizing. For our species it hurts like hell to use and leaves you sick, wasted, and in agony as it does its best to return to the Empty where it belongs.
It's not our birthright. We steal it. Take it and make it do our bidding if we are lucky, but there is always a price to pay.
For true Hidden, creatures born solely of magic, then there is no payback—it's what they are. Every job I go on, every time I summon this addictive power, I pay with pain. Nine months ago, I'd been involved in a serious job, followed less than a week later by even more trouble, resulting in my house getting wrecked by an ancient vampire, my boss Rikka, and me, as we fought.
Events spiraled further, resulting in the vampire headquarters being gutted by fire, Rikka losing almost two hundred pounds of body fat because he used a spell to escape a sticky situation, while I was left victorious but broken.
My body turned on me. I wasted away for months no matter how much food I consumed or how much rest I got.
As promised, Rikka signed over the deeds to the lovely house in the country I moved into after just a few days staying at Kate's. She's the hot vampire with sweet-smelling blond-brown hair, blue eyes, and the love of my life. She also has a very nice bottom.
We'd dallied around our feelings for each other for years, ever since I saved her from death after a vampire attack, and although she fights the inevitable it has changed her. But I love her, and thankfully the feeling is mutual.
To our utter surprise, we found ourselves moving in together, somehow even making a go of it. A dark magic enforcer and a young vampire, definitely the odd couple and with bells on, but you take your gifts when offered, and Kate is more than I deserve.
Slowly, I recovered, her too. After all, a vampire usurper had almost killed us both at her old home, and without each other I don't know what would have happened.
Life settled down, I got better, got stronger and was happier than I have ever been, ever thought I would be.
But my old life called to me, and I missed it. It's who I am, what I do. I help Rikka and a few others deal with those that abuse the power they have obtained. My special skill makes me hot property. I can suck the dark magic right out of Hidden and send them screaming back to their old life, a Regular, no magic remaining. Just a person, same as almost everyone else. For true Hidden it gets more complicated, but I can weaken them, and they are seldom the same again.
This is my life. My people are the Hidden. We walk amongst you but you will never know us. We have this tiny bit of magic always shrouding us. I'm the no-man, the person you look at but forget in an instant. Nobody in the Regular world knows me—I'm a ghost, entirely forgettable. True Hidden have something similar. So a troll may look like an overweight man wearing a bad tracksuit to you, an imp may appear to be a rather odd looking cat, a gang of goblins like rather scrawny and mean people in tight fitting and out-of-date fashion, but to me they appear as they truly are.
Me, I like smart suits, and after an "accident" I now have short and fading bleached-blond hair, which I kind of dig now I've got used to it. I've kept it short, foregoing my old style of long and black like I'd had for a century.
I've always loved Cardiff, the capital of Wales, the sticky out bit to the left of England, a place that is out of the way but the center for the Councils, and it sees more action than you can imagine. It's small, easy to navigate, and although it's gone through some serious regeneration it still maintains its history and integrity.
I was out of the loop, though there was little choice. I had to recover, lie low, and besides, I was too caught up in my blossoming relationship with Kate and our
Similar Books
Slam the Big Door
John D. MacDonald
Nomads' Fall: Burning Bastards MC
Ryder Dane
Never Neck at Niagara
Edie Claire
Longarm and the Missing Husband
Tabor Evans
Theron's Hope (Brides of Theron)
Rebecca Lorino Pond, Rebecca Anthony Lorino
Scorched Edges
L.M. Somerton
Lethal Exposure
Lori Wilde
New Year's Eve
Marina Endicott
Anna's Gift
Emma Miller