Summoned (Black Sorcery Trilogy Book 2) Read online

  After showing me the guest bedroom, which looked almost identical to how it was previously when I had occupied it, we took to the stairs. Excitement coursed through me now. Dorian hadn’t allowed me a single glimpse of this room at all. He had kept it a secret.

  After stepping through the door, my eyes darted everywhere as I tried to take it all in at once. The triangular wooden ceiling spanned the length of the house, with glass from floor to ceiling at both ends, and patio doors leading out onto balconies.

  A table with a computer faced the window on the west facing side of the house and the whole right wall had bookcases built to fit – right up to the beams.

  “Oh my god,” I chirped happily and turned to see a sofa at the back of the room. There was a punch bag hanging from the rafters. I raised a suspicious eyebrow at Dorian.

  “So, I can keep you company when you’re up here,” he explained.

  I threw my arms around him. “It’s brilliant! I can edit my photographs up here and read. I mean there’s like enough room for hundreds of books!” I squealed with delight.

  We went back downstairs and I took off my coat and kicked off my shoes. I made a tea and coffee in the kitchen. That was about all that occupied the cupboards anyway. Then I made my way over to those inviting comfy sofas.

  I stopped midway still holding the steaming mugs, “Oh!” I exclaimed.

  Dorian, already seated, looked over. “Under-floor heating,” he said and gestured to the floorboards. “It’s the same in the bathroom as well.”

  “Awesome,” I approved. Delighting in the feeling of warm feet, I placed the mugs on awaiting coasters on the glass coffee table. Dorian already had the fire ablaze and I noticed a little heap of logs beside it. The fire cracked and sparked. I naughtily imagined Dorian chopping the wood - shirtless of course.

  I snuggled under his arm and sighed. “Perfect.”

  “How long will you be here for this time? A few hours?” He frowned at me, trying to look nonchalant, but I saw he was expecting disappointment. Whenever I had visited, it had only been for a few hours at the most. It was never enough for either of us, but he had understood and given me my space. My recovery was more important to him.

  I stood and retrieved my bag from the kitchen then sat back down to show him the stone. The glowing amber light reflected in his eyes as he studied it. “I take it you don’t know why I have been summoned then?” He answered by giving me a blank look. “It turns out I may be here a while, but truth be told I was ready to come back, although I only just realised it.” I had said it blasé, but I felt his body tense and I bit my lip to stop myself from smiling.

  “So, do I need to stock the kitchen with food now?” he asked carefully.

  “Make sure you get crumpets and cheese,” I told him and waited for his reaction with hidden excitement.

  In a heartbeat I was off the sofa and being spun around. He held me up at eye level. “You are mine now,” he declared possessively and before I knew it he was kissing me fiercely. We had fallen onto the sofa and I was just pulling his grey long sleeve jumper off when my phone began playing ‘Jupiter’ by Train. We froze.

  “Ignore it,” I told him and traced the line of the scar on his rib I had patched up from what felt like a year ago.

  “It might be important,” he said regrettably. “It could be the Coven.”

  “Damn it!” I groaned with exasperation and surprised him by ripping his top off anyway then answered the unrecognised number on the screen. May as well have a little eye candy whilst on the phone. I thought devilishly.

  “Hello?”

  “Melissa?” I’d recognise that voice anywhere.

  “Yes, Cheri. How are you?” I rolled my eyes at Dorian. He tried to sit up, but I pushed him back down and waggled my finger at him. He gave me mischievous a smile.

  “How are you feeling?” she asked, but it sounded like it was out of obligation. Typical Cheri. “Are you ready to come back?” That was the big money question she wanted the answer to. She probably just wanted to know if I was ready for an assignment.

  “I’m feeling a lot better, and yes I am ready to go back.”

  “I see. When can you get here? I know I wasn’t going to call you, but I need to speak with you urgently and in person.”

  I paused pretending to ponder on it. “Err, I could get there tomorrow. I’ll see Dorian first to move some stuff in so if you want to pop in at our new house in the evening then that should be okay.”

  “Perfect. I’ll see you both then.”

  “Okay, bye,” I shut the phone off and crawled back over Dorian’s delicious body. With the moment gone I just lay there, my head rising and falling with his breath.

  He toyed with my hair, “Do you think she’ll find out about the mirror?”

  I let out a long breath I hadn’t realised I’d been holding and felt a twinge of worry. “I hope not: it’s illegal sorcery. I don’t think she’ll have any reason to wander into our bedroom, but at first glance she wouldn’t see anything out of the ordinary.”

  We lay in silence; the only sound was that of the fire cracking and spitting. I stood and looked out over the water. The sun had been setting and the room had grown dark. The fire provided a flickering light.

  Dorian was watching me, so I said in a casual manner; “I’m going to take a shower.” I took my jeans off, turned and walked a few steps. I stopped to drop my polo neck jumper onto the floor and then my socks came off, so I was wearing only my underwear and the necklace. Silently, I padded along the warm wooden floor to the bathroom when finally, I heard Dorian leave the sofa. He spun me around and threw me over his shoulder then slammed the bathroom door behind us with his foot.

  I awoke the next morning in our room. With cream walls and the feature wall now a mocha colour, it wasn’t as masculine as it previously had been. The carpet was beige so the whole room had soft complementing colours. I looked at the cupboard doors adorned with mirrors, one containing the mystical portal I had created. It was a spell from the ‘Magia Ater’ and I remembered there was handwriting in the margin declaring it was a spell to leave a scene in dire need.

  My attention swung back to Dorian, who was sound asleep, and I instantly banished the mental image of the book from my head. He looked like he should be a model for Calvin Klein or something with his hair a mess, one arm up over his head and the other over the covers.

  Regrettably hauling myself out of the warm bed, I found my clothes then touched the mirror to activate it.

  “You are coming back, right?” Dorian asked startling me a little. Doesn’t miss a trick this one.

  The mirror had already begun changing. “Of course I’m coming back. I need to get clothes and things. I’ll see you in a bit, I won’t be long.”

  When I came back through, Dorian helped me with my suitcase and then sat on the edge of the bed. He was wearing a white vest top with black combats and I noticed he was looking intently at my camera. Nearly all my energy had been zapped so I plonked myself down on the bed beside him.

  “These are good,” he complimented.

  “Um, thanks,” I replied a little embarrassed.

  “This is where you live? It’s the Cotswolds, right? I recognise the stone.”

  I raised my eyebrows with surprise. “Yes, it’s Broadway.” Only then did a thought occur to me. “Y’know, I don’t even know where you’re from?”

  A smile pulled at the corner of his lips. “Funny you should ask. We weren’t far from my hometown the day we kidnapped you. I’m from Mevagissey in South Cornwall. It’s a nice little harbour town. I’ll take you there someday. I lived there until I was six, before my parents moved us to Stockholm.” He looked down and pinched the bridge of his nose then closed his eyes. I placed a reassuring hand on his arm. If I understood anything, it was how difficult it could be to banish the past from one’s thoughts.

  My hand crept to his shoulder so I could pull him closer, but he stood up. “I’m fine.” He took a few steps then turned back,
“I’m heading down to the gym for a while and then I’ll head into town to get supplies. You had better stay here, they don’t know you’re here yet.”

  I pursed my lips, nodded and watched him walk away. Dorian’s ordeals still stuck to him. He was haunted by his history with his parents, as well as by his recent transformation experience, haunted him. In the night he had awoken from a nightmare. It was always the same one – he was still a Moroghai with a demon inside him extinguishing the light of his soul. That was my fault. I had mentally tortured him. It had been an accident, but it was of my doing and guilt attempted to crush me every time I reassured him in the night that everything was okay. Guilt was another form of torture I was trying to deal with recently.

  Dorian would be in the gym for a while - doing a little anger management and emotion-suppressing - so I unpacked my stuff and then took a steaming cup of tea to the living room. I watched small boats whizz by and the slow progress of a cruise ship in the distance ploughing through the deeper part of the channel. The sun was streaking through breaks in the cloud and lighting up the water in bright sparkling patches. There must be a strong prevailing wind as fluffy clouds skittered across the sky and the shadows on the water hurried to chase their progress.

  Something niggled at me. I thought about how Dorian had woken from his sleep when I had used magic to activate the mirror. There was a definite connection between us, but not as strong as it had been when he was a demon. Occasionally I could see mental pictures from his mind and now he appeared to subconsciously know when I used magic. Weird. The reason our minds were now connected was something we were both trying to forget. I hung my head with the weight of my past torments. However, when we were together our memories melted away.

  Determined not to stew on things I took my camera upstairs and switched my new computer on. After downloading the images, I smiled fondly as I flicked through each one, smiling fondly. I leaned forwards to examine more closely one in particular as I saw a familiar face behind my grinning brother in the foreground.

  I laughed. “Oliver!”

  “Yes?”

  In response to the disembodied voice behind me, I almost knocked my camera off the table. “Bloody hell!” I pressed my hand to my heavily thudding heart, but I already had a smile on my face as I turned to the sound of Oliver’s laughter. After getting over the initial shock, I waited for my friend finally to appear. He was having a good old belly laugh at me, his blue eyes twinkling. I took in his all too familiar appearance. He still wore that same white T-shirt and blue jeans as always and I wondered if that would ever change. I didn’t want him to change one bit though.

  “It seems you are in my photographs.” I told him when he’d finished.

  “Am I?” He responded with blue eyes popping wide.

  “Yes, look,” I pointed at the image on the screen then felt a cold breeze with his face next to mine. There was no denying that it was Oliver in the picture. He looked slightly insubstantial, but only if you knew what to look for.

  “No way!” he exclaimed in disbelief.

  “Way,” I replied after rolling my eyes. “How did you do that? I didn’t think regular people could see you, let alone appear on photographs.”

  “You got me.” He shrugged his shoulders then turned his mischievous eyes on me. “Hey, you.” His voice had softened, as though he had instantly turned into my protective big brother.

  “Hey, you. What have you been up to? You only visited me four times mister!” I accused but with mock severity.

  He stood and to my surprise floated over to the sofa and sat. “That’s right,” he answered to my surprised expression, “I’m a floater now,” he smiled.

  I swivelled in my chair. “It’s not endearing to call yourself a shit that won’t flush away.”

  He laughed. “I suppose I am in a way.” He gave me that young boyish grin and I folded my arms waiting for his answer to my question.

  He held his arms open. “Well, I have a home here now. Somewhere I belong, even if I can’t have what I want.” I gave him a sad smile at that. He continued, “When will you be visiting next?” It was an eager question, “You want another hug from Oliver, don’t you?” he winked at me and leaned forwards resting his elbows on his knees.

  “Of course, I’ll visit. Anyway, I don’t have to be at the House of Haunting to give you a hug.”

  “Really?” he asked, and his eyes popped open with eagerness.

  “Really.” I stood and drew magic into my body to begin the process of detaching my spirit. I waved a hand in front of my face to see my body was slower to follow. I then felt Oliver slam into me, winding me slightly. “Oof!” I relaxed into his arms though and let him hold me for a little while.

  “You are the bestest friend ever!”

  “I know, I know,” I said before slowly peeling myself out of his arms. I fussed over his scruffy blonde hair, much to his delight, and dusted off his white T-shirt. He took my hand and we sat on the sofa together. It was still an alien feeling.

  “I have to ask you something.”

  Looking at him dubiously, I remembered the last time he asked me for a favour he ended up kissing me, so I warily answered, “Okay.”

  “Can I smell your hair?”

  “Oliver!” I snatched my hand away.

  “I’m joking!” he laughed at me then took my hand back into his. “You know how you can do this trick?” he held up my hand with his.

  “Yes.”

  “Can you do this for other people?” I frowned at him. “When you left, everyone asked if you could do that for their loved ones. Some of them would move on if they could have one last embrace, kiss or even hold their child…” Oliver looked at me with a seriousness that didn’t suit his usual jovial persona.

  The weight of the question made my shoulders sag. It had caught me off guard and I immediately felt for all those other ghosts. I could imagine the longing on their faces and a lump formed in my throat while tears prickled my eyes.

  “I didn’t mean to upset anyone,” I turned away from his hopeful expression.

  “You didn’t, you gave them a little hope. Plus, you gave them more faith in witches and warlocks.” he said more seriously. “They don’t really get along – apart from with Dayna.”

  Looking sullenly out of the window, my mood dipped. “I don’t know,” I finally replied miserably. I hadn’t asked Anarch to teach me something like that, but I’m almost positive he would know if it was possible. I hadn’t anticipated people asking me to separate their spirit from their body, so they could interact with the loved ones they had lost. Could I teach other witches and warlocks to do the same so it didn’t all fall on me? Biting my lip, I realised I hadn’t thought of Anarch in such a long time and I worried about the day he would inevitably call on me.

  “It’s okay, I’ll break it to them gently. Naturally they would hope for the same thing. I’m just incredibly lucky.” Daringly, I looked back at him and he moved a strand of hair out of my face. My fringe had grown out and was now at that annoying level that it was constantly getting in my eyes.

  Oliver perked up. “So, this house, huh? I visited Dorian a few times during its build and boy did he lose his temper sometimes. I was actually glad I was ghost, or I think he would’ve wrung my neck just for being an available neck.”

  That made me titter, but my thoughts still clouded around Oliver’s request. My mom’s words swam through my mind, “You could make this world a better place.”

  With a deep sigh, I realised the spell was sapping my energy. Before I began to wilt I let go of the magic contained within me. Oliver gave my hand one last squeeze before I returned to my body. His hand became cold once again, instead of that human warmth.

  “Thank you,” he said gratefully.

  I smiled warily. “Oliver, do you know why I have been summoned? You have contacts within the coven, right?”

  “Nancy,” he revealed with a wink.

  “Yeah, so do you know anything? I don’t want to get
bombarded when Cheri gets here.”

  “All I know is that it has something to do with the otherworld.”

  “They aren’t going to try sending me there again, are they?” I said whilst terror shot through me at the prospect.

  “No, I don’t believe so. You are, in a way, a retired sorceress, right? Although, I would like to congratulate you on your magic mirror, Snow White…”

  “WHAT?!” I yelled and Oliver floated through the glass to stand on the balcony with a mischievous look on his face. I opened the door and followed him through. I was buffeted by a strong cold wind. “Oh god, who else knows? They are sending me away, aren’t they?” My heart sank, “How do you know about it anyway?”

  “No one else knows, and I only discovered it because I came over to visit Dorian and just caught sight of your backside disappearing through it.”

  “Bugger.”

  “I wouldn’t say that; it’s a nice backside,” he retorted. I tried to supress my irritation. “Oh, come on! You don’t think I would seriously tell anyone do you?”

  I breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you.” I drew my cardigan around me as the cold began to penetrate my clothes.

  “Right then,” he said. “I’m going to pop in to see Dorian and give him a fright. I’ll see you soon.” With a wink he disappeared, and I cringed. Dorian was already in a bad mood; Oliver would not improve it.

  Later that day I was sitting in front of the crackling fire sipping at a hot chocolate. I had given Dorian a very strict shopping list and he had stuck to it. Chocolate, bubble bath and more chocolate were on the list. What can I say? Absolute vitals only!

  Dorian entered the room from the gym and strode over to the front door. “Cheri is here.”