Chapter 2 Summoning Disaster
SUMMONING DISASTER
“Hey, sis, you okay?” I jerked back to myself and let go of the strange, haunting vision that I knew would cling to my mind regardless.
I used to get these types of things when touching something.
Like a bare glimpse into another life, just from contact with an object.
Memories that weren’t my own but had imprinted on an item.
At first, they freaked me the fuck out. That was until my mom explained it, telling me it was a precious gift given by a higher power.
That I should consider these moments as offerings handed to me by Janus, the God of Time.
That I was special.
Well, after that last one, I definitely didn’t feel very special.
It had felt more like a warning. Like some demonic god somewhere was keeping an eye on me for some reason.
As if some malevolent being was waiting to punish me.
And no matter how devastatingly handsome he had been, I would have been a fool to let beauty distract me from the wickedness I felt coiled at the very core of his soul.
I had never experienced a vision like it!
Even now, I could feel it clinging to me, as if he had just opened a visual portal and the image it fed him was of me. A wave of foreboding swept through me, as though he’d purposely left a piece of himself behind, branding my mind with an image I knew would never fade.
He had been sitting on a throne of twisted bones and flesh, made from creatures that were clearly not of this world.
A man who had looked as comfortable sitting there as if it had been an armchair made of the softest leather.
His large, powerful frame had been relaxed, with a long, open robe flowing at his sides, leaving a ripped, pale-skinned torso on show with too many muscles to count.
Pale skin that was marred with tattooed symbols that looked as if they belonged to some ancient lost world unknown to Earth.
They had rippled over his body like oil on water, as if they flowed over his skin rather than being absorbed into it.
Symbols that had started to glow white the moment he seemed to catch sight of me.
Like some kind of sixth sense of his that was alerting him to the fact that there was an intruder peeking through into his world.
He had even leaned forward, resting a forearm to his knee so as to get closer to me, gifting me the first glance of his face.
Moon Goddess!
But he had been breathtaking, and not only from how handsome he was.
No, because fear had claimed me first. Claimed me in his unyielding grasp and with an intimacy I hadn’t invited, as his demonic eyes flared from the shadows crowding the throne.
An all-consuming gaze burning into me like white-hot coals, alive and hungry, fed by every ragged breath I took.
Then the whites of them suddenly turned to black, and this darkness branched out, bleeding into the skin surrounding them.
High cheekbones and a slim nose matched the sharp lines of his jawline, giving him an ethereal and macabre appearance. One that in any other setting I would have said he looked more like an angel or even a…
A Fae Prince.
Now, where that thought had come from, I didn’t know, but the moment it surfaced, my gaze was drawn to the pointed tips of his ears.
They were visible only because his long, white-blond hair had been pulled half back from his face.
Hair that had been braided tight against his scalp, while the rest spilled over his broad shoulders in pin-straight strands that looked impossibly soft against the hardness of him.
Even his flawless, pale skin seemed too gentle to belong to a killer.
As though every beautiful detail were a deliberate contradiction to the monster beneath.
But then those pale lips stretched into a malevolent grin that only promised me bad things should this ever become more than just a vision in return.
Something within him that had prompted him to reach out toward me, as a pale hand emerged from the long length of his robe.
This before he extended two fingers, jerking them in a way that wanted me to come closer.
Such a simple gesture, yet one that spoke volumes, telling me this was not a being to be denied anything.
A man who could command subjects with the barest hint of action.
A power that went beyond barked orders or bellowed commands.
Oh, and I didn’t miss the details of that hand either.
One that looked too strong to simply wield magic and nothing more.
No, this was the body of a warrior, and those rough hands had, no doubt, gripped more weapons in his time than simply that of casting spells.
Fingers that I knew could crush my spine, curled back as he beckoned me forward.
But this time, silence wasn’t enough, and he spoke one name, his rich, unearthly voice winding around my heart even as it loosened the spell that momentarily bound me to him.
A name he should have never known.
Shadowmere.
That was enough for me to break free of the vision, and by the time I had, I felt myself near shaking from it.
My sister’s concerned face replaced that of the ruler, who I now knew was incensed by my escape.
Because that had been the last vision I saw of him.
The way his features had hardened, and that smile had disappeared, replaced by a snarl of anger.
The face of a man who promised this would not be the last time.
“Lily-pad?” My sister calling my nickname was enough for me to shake through the fear enough to respond,
“Yeah… erh, I just… I guess I’m just freaking out about work. Speaking of which, I’d better go,” I said, changing my mind at the last second and deciding not to tell her about my dark vision.
Her features softened, and she pulled me in for a hug.
“You will be fine, you’ve totally got this, now walk your killer boots in there and rock that presentation, then call your sister and tell her she was right.”
I laughed at that before kissing her on the cheek and telling her,
“Well, you are the smart one.” She chuckled and said mockingly,
“I know, right?”
“Thanks, sis, I owe you.”
She waved off my thanks as I grabbed my bag and jacket, before making my way to the door.
Time was ticking and now, after my coffee mishap, I knew I wouldn’t have the preparation time I had wanted before the meeting started.
At this rate I would be late, and then it wouldn’t have mattered what I was wearing.
So, I shouted my goodbyes, getting a ‘Good Goddess of luck’ from Sabrina and a ‘break a diva leg’ from Nate before the door closed.
Then I was back to praying to the deities for succuss the whole journey back to my office building.
Which meant I was, with just five minutes to spare, I was finally inside the building and walking toward my desk.
“Where the hell have you been…? Whoa… erm, nice dress,” Tara said, who was my best friend and worked in the HR department.
As usual, she looked the picture of perfection, with her glowing dark skin creating a beautiful contrast with her smart business suit that was a pink blush tone.
The jacket was a cropped style that flared at her waist and fit perfectly with the pencil skirt to match.
The dark red stiletto heels she wore only managed to elevate the outfit from office chic to red carpet.
As for her hair, it was a thick black afro that gave her a cool seventies vibe, and I was a little jealous that my own wild curls would never style themselves so perfectly.
On my first day at work, it hadn’t been her hair that caught my attention but her smile.
The kind that spread so easily you found yourself smiling back without even realizing it.
Although, it had to be said that she wasn’t smiling now.
No… now, she looked worried.
Of course, she also thought that I was overworked, underpaid, and underappreciated, three factors I tended to agree with. But like I said, I had my eye on being promoted and had worked my ass off for it for far too long. Now it was my time.
“Is it that bad?” I asked, wincing. I was really hoping no one would notice enough to comment.
“Bad? Er… no, I mean not bad-bad, just like badass bad… is that bad though?”
I couldn’t help but groan, wishing I could just sink into my office chair and hide behind my desk all day.
“Some asshole spilled coffee on me in the street,” I explained.
“And then you robbed a gothic chick and stole her clothes?”
My groan of despair said it all.
“No, I… look, it doesn’t matter, I just need to set up and…”
“Honestly, I just thought your alarm didn’t go off, or you were stuck in traffic… anyway, being the awesome friend I am, I went ahead and set everything up in meeting room three.”
At this I felt like weeping and grabbed her to me, pulling her in for a hug.
“Fuck, I love you! Margarita night, on me!”
“Well, it was that or your left kidney.”
I laughed before checking the time and hissing,
“Shit, I better…”
“Go, go… be awesome.”
I winked at my friend before rushing to the meeting room to find other people from the department already arriving. Of course, the second I started to get funny looks from the rest of the department, I started to feel even more out of my depth.
The boardroom was full, with people here I wouldn’t have even expected to see, and some were people I had already been working with on this.
Like the head of the design team and media coordinator.
But there was Toby, our copywriter, and Katie, our CEO specialist. There was also our public relations manager, whose name I could never remember, and he would bore you stupid talking about his ten thousand cats in the breakroom.