Vague Shadows

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Cyndy Stevens for never giving up on me during the writing process. Thank you, Kathy Johnston, for all the very helpful and honest feedback. It was a blessing, and it helped me to make an overall better book. Cheryl Etter, I couldn’t have done it without the many hours you spent listening to me read a scene over and over to make sure that it flowed properly. And last but not least, I would like to thank Joshua Vose for always being supportive while I do what I love most.

PROLOGUE

SIX YEARS AGO....

She stepped into the stone dwelling and dread settled low in her stomach. A shiver shot down her spine and coiled around her like a snake. Sweat dotted her forehead, despite the bite in the air.

The door had been left open. Her mother never left the door open. Especially when it was cold outside and the fireplace took so long to warm the house up.

Aniki tiptoed down the hall to the living room. It was a disaster, the glowing swirls on the wall showed her where the table had been overturned and the china cabinet rested on its side.

Shattered glass littered the rough wooden floor and fruit from their cornucopia lay in random spots in the debris.

She carefully tiptoed through the wreckage, trying not to make a sound.

Maybe it’s just a burglar?

A tiny peek told her that her room was a disaster. She kept going, looking for her mother and simultaneously hoping not to find her in the wreckage. The sense of urgency was only accentuated as she stopped herself and tried not to breathe so loudly. She wanted to listen for sounds but the pounding in her ears was all she could hear.

Aniki found her mother, dead on the floor in the study. Arehdel lay on her side, hazel eyes staring sightlessly at the wall. Her long dark hair still reflected the light in a healthy way and her face was still a beautiful mocha-colored work of the angels themselves.

Blood coated the carpet. Aniki looked for the source of it. It took a moment for her brain to process that her mother's guts were spilled out onto the carpet. Someone had slashed an angry red mouth into Arehdel’s lower abdomen. The morbid scene clawed its way into the deepest reaches of her soul.

A cold weight settled onto Aniki as her reality shattered. She knew she would never forget the sight before her. She threw her head back and screamed in anguish. No longer caring if anyone heard... Nobody came.

A small glint of red caught her eye. It was right by her mother's head.

She pulled up her second sight. Arehdel had left her a note as she lay dying. It was written in the air with red translucent letters in Elven.

-Run  Selde. I don’t think she knows about you. I lov-

Aniki knelt with no care for the blood. Tears cascaded down, soaking her cheeks. She waved a hand through the note, dispelling it. Taking one final glimpse into Arehdel’s big hazel eyes. She kissed her mother’s forehead and closed them for her. Rest now, she whispered. Then Aniki did what her mom told her to, she ran.

Chapter 1

MR. NEWBERRY, YOU'RE going to have to be more specific if you want my help, Aniki said, trying to sound patient.

Mr. Newberry was a balding, paunchy man with a beaky nose and a constant fidget. He was homely but his suit said money. She tried not to stare at his shiny dome that seemed to be emphasized by the scant surrounding of thinning gray hair.

Why not shave it off or get a witch to make it grow back in? Did he not realize it looked bad? Or was he was stubbornly trying to hold on to the last dregs of his own hair?

How do I know you won't tell anyone about this? he asked.

Aniki grabbed a stack of papers from a caddie on the wall and set them down in front of him. Page two, paragraph three, reads: neither I nor anyone in this company is allowed to divulge any information from this case to persons outside yourself or Vague Shadows employ unless it’s a matter of life and death, or it puts a person in harm's way.

He snorted. My ex-wife works at the hospital, she signed that HIPAA thing and it never stopped her from telling her friends and me every gross detail about her job. What other assurances do I have that you yourself won't do the same? Mr. Newberry tapped the paper with a knuckle.

She took a breath. Mr. Newberry, I have magically bound the contract myself in several different ways. The binding ensures I cannot directly or indirectly give any information about the events that go on inside this room. Unless it would cause someone harm. It’ll likewise compel you to go to great lengths to make your monthly payments on time. If for some reason, one of us breaks faith, then the oath-breaker symbol will appear on our foreheads, for up to six months.

Being an oath breaker was a serious matter. The community as a whole would shun someone with an oath breaker symbol on their forehead. It would start as a faint red outline and get redder and redder with each day until the bill was paid.

He opened his mouth to say something, but Aniki continued before he could. Those quill pens on my desk will draw blood from a finger as we sign. The cost is to be filled in after the details of the case are hashed out. Then we will both initial next to it. Therefore, if you don't want to contract my services after you hear the price. You can still be assured of my discretion.

Mr. Newberry had been fidgeting on his chair, but stopped when it was obvious Aniki noticed. He Cringed, then seemed to come to a decision.

They signed the contract.

My ex-wife found out I cheated on her so she had me cursed, he trailed off, blushing.

Aniki kept her face carefully neutral. Show me.

He stood and the suit pants came down.

She was treated to a bunch of nasty pus-filled sores. She fought the discomfort of seeing him in such an intimate way, and focused her sight into the third plain.

Streamers of sickly greenish-brown magic led from each individual sore to his chi. Aniki opened her desk drawer and grabbed a pair of surgical blue gloves. Did the former Mrs. Newberry have access to any of your DNA? Hair? Blood? That kind of thing? Did you sign the marriage license in blood? She asked.

He remained there, awkwardly holding his pants to mid-thigh We were sleeping together again, so yeah, but I didn't use a blood signature. And she did this with my money! His face reddened, but he wasn’t embarrassed, there were creases of anger at  the corner of his eyes and around his mouth.

Aniki came around the desk to get a closer look, wincing at the scabbed area where he’d obviously scratched too much. I’d say you can press charges, but it would cost a lot of money getting a witch to prove she paid to have it done.

He nodded, frowning. Yes, and the witch I traced my credit card to said she just did a cosmetic treatment for Betty!

The law was rather murky when it came to things like curses. It was illegal to curse someone, but very difficult and expensive to prove exactly who’d done it. The law was only recently starting to recognize magic as a forensic tool, and they wouldn’t spend the funds to investigate a case like Mr. Newberry’s.

I can remove this but it's going to take some time. I’m also going to recommend you let me do a cleansing to keep this from happening again. With your DNA, she could just pay to have it put back on if you don't cleanse, too.

He shifted uncomfortably. How much?

She told him, and he groaned.

Aniki led him to a salt circle in an empty corner, and instructed Mr. Newberry to set his pants and underwear outside of it. She glanced over the wall lined floor to ceiling with wooden shelves.

It held a miasma of different ritual things from dried herbs to candles, to old animal bones with runes carved into them. She chose a new white candle, some premixed herbs from a plastic container, and an old steel athame with some ancient carvings in it. Step into the circle, Mr. Newberry.

He stepped over, looking awkward.

Aniki chanted nonsense syllables under her breath, gathering her will, focusing on her intentions, and lowering her shields a little. She set the herbs on a small table by the circle and pricked her finger with the athame. She rubbed her bloody finger on the candle and carved a crude sigal into it. Then she squeezed out a few drops into the herbs. Her magic infused the items, until they possessed a vague red outline.

What are you doing? he asked, breaking her concentration.

I'm setting up the ritual to break the curse. I’m guessing she put a boil for every time you were unfaithful to her during your marriage.

His skin took on a green sheen that had nothing to do with Aniki’s magic. He looked as if he would retch. I didn't think it was that much. Are you sure it's not one for every time I was ever with another woman?

She ground the herbs together, keeping half her focus on her purpose. The counter-curse was supposed to have a lot of other things in it, but she was short of funds, and her company only covered so much. So she'd been making due. So far it had worked out okay.

It’s doubtful. The links of the curse are strong and very defined. That suggests she not only obtained a DNA sample, but she probably also got ahold of something to specify the curse. Like a marriage license and a divorce certificate. It has a very definite end and beginning. Something, some promise you signed your name to, a letter with your word of intentions would work too, I suppose. Though probably not with it this rigid.

He flushed, his guilt palpable.

Aniki gathered little red motes of her magic into herself, feeling like an overfull balloon. Stand still, she instructed, stepping into the circle and kneeling. She set the herbs and candle on the floor, and touched the salt circle, willing it to close.

A transparent white dome sealed over their heads.

Mr. Newberry let out a startled gasp, looking around at their new enclosure.

His genitals