Excerpt: Dance by Midnight

Book 1

Most people have childhood memories. I don’t. And I had come to accept that my childhood was filled with mystery. I even thought that was cool for a while, back when I couldn’t get enough of super heroes. Thought of myself as having an origin story—only I didn’t know what the story was.

So at the age of twenty-four, I decided to look for my past in hopes it would explain my present. Explain my ability to see ghosts. Explain how I could live with a magic book bound to my soul.

That journey started with a spell that promised to restore my memories of my beginning. But like all spells, it needed ingredients. One of the most poignant of those ingredients is the graveyard dust of my forefathers. The only forefather I knew of was my grandfather, buried in Savannah, Georgia.

That brings me to where I am now. Laurel Grove Cemetery, just after midnight. It was the beginning of February and cold. I’m not a fan of graveyards, and though I was relieved I didn’t have to visit Bonaventure Cemetery with its ancient mausoleums and massive tombstones, I was still creeped out. Laurel had a few mausoleums here and there, and of course one of them was near where I had to be. I held my phone up, the flashlight app on, and clumsily made my way down the row to my family plot where my grandfather, Torbin A. McConnell, was buried.

I smelled water and all things green as a breeze sifted through the trees. My light shined down on the marble slab that keep the dead firmly in the ground, and I wondered what part of the grave constituted graveyard dust?

Ten seconds later, I found myself trying to breathe as an Angel strangled the ‘effing shit out of me.

She didn’t look like any Angel found in a book or a movie or on TV. She wasn’t all gracious and golden and glowing with love and light either. Gabriel was tall, lithe and scary as hell. She reminded me of Switch from The Matrix, wearing white boots, white vinyl pants, white crop top and a long white leather trench coat. The entire scary picture was topped off by a head full of spiky white hair. She had me off the ground. My feet dangled beneath me as she pressed my back against the icy marble of a mausoleum wall. I had my best death grip on her wrists and tried with much enthusiasm, but little success, to pull her off of me.

She didn’t start her attack with the strangle dance. In fact, she surprised me with a right cross as she materialized to my left from thin air. I saw stars, kicked at her as she dove at me again and tried to run. That’s when something very solid and very painful nailed the back of my legs. I literally flipped in the air as I ran and landed on my ass. That’s when she grabbed my neck, dragged me to that mausoleum and pushed me up against the side of it and started yelling.

“Answer me, Guardian—what are you looking for in a graveyard at midnight? Dust perhaps? Or maybe even a bone or two? Did something whisper to you from that damned book in your soul?”

See? A book in my soul. Unfortunately it’s a book a lot of different…creatures…want.

I suspected Gabriel wasn’t going to kill me. She’d hounded me since the book and I were joined and she hadn’t ended me yet. Given her power she could at any time. I suspected her reluctance had something to do with the book itself. I’d heard nothing but stories of how powerful it was since learning it was there. Secretly, I think she’s afraid of it.   

I closed my eyes and focused on the Grimoire. That’s what they all called the book. Someone who knows a great deal about the book told me my best defense was to learn to use the book. They always said that desperate times usually drove us toward desperate measures. Well—her exact words were “when the student is ready, the teacher will come.” I took that to mean the person to teach me how to use the book’s magic would show up just before something killed me. 

My name’s Dags McConnell. First name’s really Darren. I have no idea where the nickname Dags came from. I’m around 5’7, with dark brown hair and gray eyes. I love long walks on the beach and apparently having my ass kicked.

I tried to answer her, I really did. My face grew warm and spots did a hula in front of my eyes. I lost feeling in my hands and feet and not because of the temperature. I could see my breath in the cold…that is…if I could breathe.

“I’m right, aren’t I? You’re using the Grimoire to find a way to get rid of me. Maybe I should lock you away, keep you close by until you finally die and then take—”

I heard the dog about a beat after she did, barking and growling nearby. Gabriel turned her frighteningly beautiful face away and peered into the darkness. “It…it can’t be…”

A light appeared about eye level with me in the distance. It started out as a pinpoint but quickly grew in size and I realized about the same time she did that it was coming right at us.

Gabriel released me just before whatever it was struck the mausoleum. Luckily, gravity brought me under it and I collapsed on all fours, hacking and coughing as I struggled to bring air into my lungs. My neck hurt, but my head hurt worse. When I looked up and back at the mausoleum’s side in the moonlight, I saw scorch marks in the shape of a large pentagram.

That’s when a dog—no, a wolf—stepped out of the surrounding darkness and padded up beside me. It nudged my shoulder and gently pushed me to the left of the mausoleum wall. I could have sworn it was trying to herd me away from the mausoleum. I kept my cool—barely—since I’d never been nose to nose with a large gray wolf before.

Gabriel’s white clothing made her a moving target in the twilight. The nearly full moon illuminated everything about her, screaming Pick me! Pick me! She practically glowed. “Come out. I can sense your power, Witch.”

Witch?

No no no no…not another Witch. 

With that knowledge, it was time to exit stage left. I ventured forth slowly—because I was in some serious physical pain—and turned in the direction Gabriel wasn’t facing with the visualization of getting to my car and getting the hell out of there. I’d dropped my phone somewhere but wasn’t going to risk my life to find it.

Only…the wolf was in my way. If I tried to move to either side of it, it growled and showed teeth. So I remained on my ass, hidden in the shadow of the mausoleum, guarded by a gray wolf. I didn’t think my life could get any weirder.

“You gotta be kiddin’ me.” The voice had a slight southern lilt and belonged to a young woman. “What in the hell brings an Angel into a cemetery at midnight?”

She appeared out of the darkness and stood several feet away from Gabriel. “You know you’re not supposed to be here, Cherubim. And you, of all of the Ethereals, know this is a serious breech of protocol. So, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

I gave her points for spunk. Her outfit added to that spunk. Tight jeans moved smoothly into some serious cowboy boots. A short-sleeved white button-down hung untucked beneath an oversized black vest that would probably look more at home in a men’s three-piece suit.

Dark hair hung long over her shoulders. What I could see of her face in the twilight was beautiful.

Gabriel scowled. “Who the fuck are you?”

“I’m your worst nightmare.” Her expression remained serious for about two beats before she erupted in laughter and waved her hand dismissively. “I’ve always wanted to say that!”

“This is not a game, little Witch. You are no match for me. Now if you care to survive and not become a Power just to entertain me, then I suggest you leave. Now.”

A Power was an Ethereal’s slave, a host for Angelic essence created and controlled by a Virtue. Powers inhabited dead bodies and did their maker’s bidding. I guess Cherubims, as well as Virtues, could make them? I didn’t like the idea of her doing that to the girl in the boots. But how was I going to help when I had such limited resources? Not to mention I was starting to feel a lot of pain.

“Sorry, sweetie, but I’m not in the mood. See I’ve got business out here myself, and I don’t need an Angel tainting the place or torturing poor little kids.”

Little kids?

“What the hell are you? Just stupid?” Gabriel sounded as confused as she did angry. This girl interrupted her play-date with me.

The girl in the boots put her hands on her hips. “I’m a child of the God Mother. And it’s my job to keep your kind out of where it doesn’t belong.”

Gabriel spat at her. “You don’t have the power.”

“Lady Darksome….” the girl in the boots sighed as she lowered her hands. “Angels really are arrogant. Now…I can’t stand here and chitchat. It’s time for you to go back to where you came.” She raised her arms again; only this time she moved them in opposite directions, the right arm making a right-handed arc, the left making a left-handed arc. The movement created bright lines in the air in front of her, forming a symbol that remained suspended in brilliant blue and white light. “I am a Child of the Wandering Wide. I call upon the gates of future and past and cast you back into the world you hold so dear,” she held out her hands. “So mote it be!”

I didn’t really expect anything to happen. I mean—Gabriel was a Cherubim and they’re like the upper crust of the First Choir, or we can call it the In Crowd. Hell, I’d seen several people go up against Angels and get their asses handed to them in seconds. Including mine. So I was a bit upset this girl in the boots was about to have what I could only assume was a nice little butt treated in the same way.

Only…that’s not what happened.

Gabriel looked confused, especially as the girl in the boots started her incantation (which she said really fast). I thought Gabriel would counter the spell or block it. But even after Boots released it, which I figured the “so mote it be!” was for, I didn’t see anything. No light show, no blinding auras, no sparks.

It took a few seconds before I realized Gabriel was gone. Not even a pop sound. Just…there one minute, gone the next.

I relaxed back against the mausoleum wall. The cold replaced the air around me and I shivered. My toes were already goners ’cause I couldn’t feel them. That’s when I realized Gabriel had yanked me right out of my shoes.

The girl smacked her hands together as if getting the dirt off and then came toward me. I held up my hand as the wolf bounded to her and to my shock and horror, pounced on her. Only it wasn’t in a grrrr I’m gonna eat you way. It was more in a fun, loving, I wanna be your bed buddy way.

Apparently they knew each other.

She snapped her fingers and a light appeared over her hand. It hovered for a second before ascending above us to stop a few feet over our heads. The light was pretty bright, but the height diffused the glow—like having a private sun. When I looked into it, I thought I saw a lizard. She squatted with her knees against her chest and leaned in close. “Wow…she did a number on you. You’re going to have a black eye…and a black cheek. Oh, and your jaw is looking a bit bad too. Can you walk?”

I nodded to her, mesmerized by her face. She was prettier up close, or was it the twilight that did it? Blue eyes clothed in darker makeup. She was almost goth, but not quite. Which was kinda hot. 

To prove to her I could move and not be the helpless dude, I started to get up. The stars that filled my vision robbed me of my dignity as I fell back against the side of the mausoleum, nauseated. Oh god…I was going to lose my cookies in front of a good-looking woman.    

“Okay, we’ll call that a no.” She reached out to my head and where she touched, it hurt. I winced. “Sorry. Looks like she might have rammed your head into that marble. Concussion…probably why you look like hammered shit. Is your mom nearby? Got a cell we can call her on?”

I cleared my throat. “Not a kid. Twenty-six.”

Her eyes widened. “Wow…I need more light, cause you look really young. And you….” she said as she sat back, staring at me.

I was light headed and the pounding between my ears intensified. My palms itched (no jokes, please) and felt warm, like holding them over an open fire.

“What…what the hell are you?” She held up her hand and a large, complicated pentagram appeared between us. It spun like a combination lock as she concentrated on it. To the right, then the left, then back to the right.

My eyelids felt like lead. I looked at her through slits. Yeah, I was going to pass out. I was gonna faint in front of this hot chick and she was going to bash my head in with her kick ass boots. “Tourist,” I managed to say.

She spoke as she watched the pentagram. “Dude…you’re not just some tourist. Tourists don’t glow the way you’re—” her eyes widened as she dismissed the huge star, got on her feet and came close again. “Oh man…so that’s why that Angel was here messing where she shouldn’t be.” She gave me a half smile. Her hair was long and brushed over her arms. “My dex says you’re a child of the God Mother!”

Yippie?

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