This is a very unusual town in that its inhabitants are mostly made up of hot-blooded paranormal beings and some unusual normals. If a tourist comes in, there is a spell about the town that keeps others from knowing it right away. A newcomer might think it is a regular country city, unless he or she can see through the protection spell, or is accepted as belonging there by Spellfire, or is a paranormal creature/being who finally sees what the place really is. Many of the residents in this unique and oddball-ish place have a sweet tooth or sweet fetish in some form or fashion, so there is one particular place they all strive to go to.
Sinful Sundaes Ice Cream Shop is a special type of novelty desert parlor. It is in the large town square of Spellfire, Texas. Here, within the shop and the town, you’ll learn of the diverse lifestyles and secrets concerning the town’s inhabitants and visitors. It will make you think twice about how to further take pleasure in sundaes and other deliciously hexed, sweet concoctions. Regular humans go there too. It is one of the town’s hottest spots. Sinful Sundaes sells more than just ice cream. There are also ice cream cakes, brownies, and gallons of ice cream to take home, hot dogs, hamburgers, malts, souvenirs, candy, and various other related items. There are at least two favorite flavors that tourists love to try. Caramel Carnivore Cupcakes: mini-ice-cream cupcakes with swirls of pecans and caramel inside vanilla ice cream. Strawberry Veinilla: Old-Fashioned homemade vanilla with veins of blood red strawberry juice flowing through it. However, tourists love the toppings there too, and they sell like wildfire. Yet, Electra never asks why, she just knows.
Next door to Sins, (as it is sometimes nicknamed) is Barnabas’ Bar, which is the town’s largest nightspot/club. Across the street from the SSICS (that would be Sinful Sundaes Ice Cream Shop) is Trinkets, a new-age shop that sells anything from books to coven robes, and often has coffee times there. Various shops are around this mid-size town, both for normal and paranormal crowds, so normal are use to the paranormal at times. There are hotels there, like the one down the street only an eighth of a mile from Barnabas’ Bar.
The Spell House is a very old and intriguing 5-star hotel. At the opposite end of the town is the Havoc Hotel, always in competition with Spell House. Then there is a Bed and Breakfast type of place called Boodoirs, run by a very ghostly family, some whom only become corporeal at Halloween. The town has been around for several hundred years and is one of the oldest in Texas. It is located between Galveston and Houston, Texas.
The mayor of the town is Perry Normil. And he is not particularly fond of the paranormal set, though he is one himself. He dislikes fairies in particular and hates the shop for selling his worst flavor of cherry ice cream. So, he can cause trouble if you’re not nice to him. He has a lot of despicable spooks in his pocket. He’s a close friend with Frightful Frieda. His sister Abbi Normil once ran against him as mayor, but she disappeared some years ago, and that never happened.
One of the nastiest persons in town, Frightful Frieda, doesn’t like girls who are prettier than her and will cause problems just out of spite. She is a Northern witch whose half-mortal husband just dumped her in Spellfire and left with a younger husband-grabbing witch. So, watch it, she might even try to cast a spell on some unsuspecting man. (It was Perry’s wife that her husband ran off with.) She and Perry have another semi-nasty friend, Horrible Henry. Henry is one of Spellfire’s naughtiest and raunchiest ghosts. You never know what he is up to. These three know a lot of dark secrets in Spellfire and love to gossip about that.
Perhaps one of the most unusual people in town is long-time resident Electra Spellfire, sole owner of Sinful Sundaes. She’s a lovely, but stubborn, powerful sorceress who knows a lot about what goes on in Spellfire. She knows because the town tells her. Electra’s lineage goes a long way back into the history of Spellfire. Back into a time when Havocs, Spellfires, and Gremlors, ancient Indian races, and other mysterious beings roamed the old lands now known as Texas. Many other remarkable and not so strange characters and places abound in Spellfire, as do their secrets. Just wait and see, something unique and mysterious always happens in Spellfire which can cause even the paranormal residents to be surprised. Spellfire itself watches those who enter its borders and delves into the secret love lives of many there. You can leave Spellfire, but, oddly, something about it will always remain in your heart and in your mind.
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Child of Light/Child of Night Chapter 1
Jane Carver
Merl shuffled the cards then laid them to his right so Nina could cut the deck. “Five cards, ladies and gentlemen.” His hands flew as he slid each card across the smooth tabletop. Cheating was impossible. Each person at the table could spot any shenanigans. They were equals in perceptions and skullduggery skills.
Rhia pulled her cards close and rearranged them until she was satisfied then went absolutely still.
“A sign that you like what you hold, little sister.” Merl laid down the remaining deck and drew his cards to him. “Your bid, Fay.”
Beautiful ambitious Fay laid down a card and discarded none. “To you, Rhia. Hope that hand’s not as good as mine.” She flipped her golden-brown hair over her shoulder and cocked an eyebrow in challenge. Though she smiled, all knew she played poker for keeps.
Rhia also laid down one and discarded none. But she did not rise to Fay’s baiting comment.
“Looks like it’s my turn, and I’m not so sure my hand can beat either one the ladies seem to be holding.” A big man with an impressively large set of muscles and a face to die for, Jan slid two cards to Merl and received two after he played his one against the ladies. With a bit of dramatic flair, he swung his hand, palm up, across his chest in the direction of the next player. “Take it away, Nina.”
Nina said nothing as she gently placed the ace of spades on top of a growing collection of face cards. “This hand is going to get expensive.” She grinned at Merl and jerked her chin to the cards in the center of the table. “I love playing with you guys. Winner gets to name the prize.”
“In the old days, we played for money or jewels.” Merl threw another card on the pile and took two from the remaining deck.
“I could have told you playing cards against each other would lead to some interesting jackpots.” Jan sat back and laid his cards against his stomach.
“Yeah, yeah, we know you and that fortune-telling shit. This game is about power, my friend.” Fay flicked another card on the stack.
“Absolute power,” Jan began
“I know that one.” Fay turned her gaze up, put a manicured finger to her chin, and pretended to think. “Oh yes, absolute power corrupts absolutely.” She stuck her tongue out at Jan who waggled his brows up and down.
“I have a better use for that luscious piece of meat, dearest.”
“Shut up, you two, and play.” Rhia watched the two shoot a few hot glances at each other then turn back to their poker hands. “Honestly, you two haven’t changed at all. Fay is still a snipping little bitch, and Jan is still a wise-cracking Roman who thinks he can control everything.”
“Not everything, dear heart. Just this game.” At which, Jan laid out his cards, a royal straight flush. Ace high, straight face cards in a row, all the same color.
Merl threw down his cards. “Damn!” He knew it was an honest hand. All five players were equal in ability. Each monitored the others, and that wariness kept them all truthful. “Okay Mr. I-can-see-the-future. What’s the challenge this time?”
Jan stood and stretched. That last hand ended the play for the evening. Sunlight beyond the window had faded to a dull glimmer of color. A miserably chilled night lay ahead outside. A shiver ran down his back. “Damn highlands are too freakin’ cold. Why can’t we play in Tuscany where it’s warm, and the food is a dang sight more appealing than haggis?” He turned up an aristocratic nose at the sideboard, most of the food there not to his liking.
“Come on, man. What are we going to be doing to satisfy your winning that last hand?” Merl sometimes dreaded the jackpot because more often than not whatever activity the winner chose got them all in trouble. The girls especially were bad about that. Fay and Nina sometimes went head-to-head against each other, leaving the other three in the middle of trouble. He and Rhia sometimes clashed, natural in siblings, even half ones. He and Jan got along well, though with the Roman’s ability to see the future, Jan sometimes put them in situations that required a delicate touch in order to get the ball rolling to his liking. The host of this evening’s poker game, Merl got along with them all.
He had decided to have this game in the Scottish Highlands in a crofter’s cottage. His timing wasn’t so good. The temperature had dropped all day, and now that total darkness settled over the moors, the place was cold as a tomb.
Humm, not a good choice of analogies there, he thought. Nina once tried to kill him by shutting him up in a tomb. That was a long, long time ago. He hadn’t forgotten though he understood her reasons now.
The women moved to seats near the large fireplace where Fay set a fire to blazing, taking the chill off the room. Merl shook out his legs and joined them, settling into an overstuffed wing chair. Jan stepped into the circle, a tray of drinks and refreshments in his hands.
“Well, aren’t we the gracious winner?” Nina accepted a glass of Spanish Museum Crianza 2003 red wine and a plate of sugar cookies.
“Thank you, Jan. This will warm me nicely.” Rhia took a glass of German white wine, Domaine Zend Humbrecht Riesling, and plate of apple slices.
“Water with lemon, my lady,” Jan said quietly to Fay. She held the glass in her hands but said nothing to the man, her gaze captured by the blue, orange, and gold of the flames.
“Here you go, old man!” Cheerfully, Jan handed Merl a stein of beer, rich Irish Guinness. He whisked the empty tray to an end table, got his glass of Italian cabernet sauvignon and a bowl of pretzels, and settled close to Merl so they could share the twisted delights.
As if a trance had fallen over them, they sat in shadows that vied with flickering flame light. Time seemed unimportant; the date could have been any of a thousand. Hundreds of thousands.
Rhia gazed wistfully at the flames.
She misses her friends. Mortals long gone from this plain. A fairie princess of the highest court in the heather land, she could go anywhere, do anything, any time. But Merl knew on nights like this, in a cozy setting like this, with her equals, memories stirred, and she relived days so far in the past as to be the stuff of myth and legends.
Nina sighed and cut a hasty glance around the circle, checking to see if anyone noticed. No one moved. Merl regretted the days when he loved her, and she spurned him. He had lost his head and taught her everything. Her duties to legend fulfilled, peace restored between them, she too sat as if time had reverted to the old days.
Only Fay sat back in her chair, her water glass held high. She gazed at the flames through the curative fluid. A healer, she only ate and drank what was healthy. Too bad her life was one of constant discord. Some saw her as evil while others knew the great good she did with her herbs and magic.
Across a small table from him sat Jan. Truly a man out of his element among those of ancient English tales. Jan was a Roman through and through. While he was often as blind to what was happening as the rest of them, he knew what started each fracas and what it would take to end it. He didn’t have Merl’s sense of humor, but he made a good companion for adventure.
Speaking of adventure…
“What do you have in mind for us this time, Jan?”
“We use the Life Arrow and pick a town, something not too small or large.”
Silence.
“And…?” Fay had little patience with guessing games.
“Let’s do that first then I’ll tell you the rest.” So saying, Jan pulled a world Atlas off the shelf and laid it on the coffee table in their midst. “Merl, the Arrow, please.”
Reaching into his inside coat pocket, Merl produced a short silver arrow, so slender as to be an elongated needle. He passed it ceremoniously to Jan.
“Now I hold it thus.” He positioned the Arrow over the map. “When it falls, the location shall narrow our quest.”
“Quest?” Nina moved to his shoulder and peered over.
The Arrow fell and landed in the state of Texas in the United States.
“Oh goody, we can all be cowboys!” Fay’s sarcasm was nothing more than what Merl expected, but no one else seemed bothered by the choice.
“Now we narrow that down to a specific town. Then I’ll fill in the details.”
Quickly Rhia turned in the Atlas to a large-scale map of the state. The Arrow fell once more.
Five heads almost bumped in an effort to see what town the piece chose.
“Spellfire. Never heard of it,” Merl commented as he perused the location.
“Near the Gulf Coast. Not too large, not too small, according the map’s legend. Just right.” Jan sipped his drink and looked as mysterious as the ancient Sphinx.
“Cut to the chase, if you please.” Rhia rolled a swallow of Riesling over her tongue. “We don’t have all night.”
“Actually, we do, but I’ll not go there.”
Merl cringed. Time was all they had. That and these adventures they allowed themselves twice a year. Other than that, the world no longer believed in them, so they were basically stuck with each other for company.
“I propose that we go there and find one man who has never been in love. We find his perfect match and then gently guide the two to each other until they fall in love.” He pointed a wagging finger at them when all three women opened their mouths at the same time. “Uh, uh, uh. No magic. Just us, our normal selves.”
“But magic, you dolt, is our normal selves!” Nina practically snarled at the man.
Jan blushed and apologized. “Sorry, I tend to forget what you others can do. I’m not magical like the rest of you.”
Merl practically spit a mouthful of beer across the room. “You’re not magical? With what you can do?” He used a napkin to wipe off his mouth and the drops that splattered on his jeans. “Give me a break!”
“You know what I mean.” Now the man practically begged forgiveness while his companions glared at him.
“You underestimate yourself, sir,” Rhia spoke softly.
“I only meant that we go there, in disguise if you prefer, find our man, find the woman that is meant for him, and get them together. Without using magic.” He shot a meaningful glance at Fay. “I know how some of us hate to lose, but that is the challenge. Love without magic.”
“That’s no challenge. We’ve got all the time in the world to do that,” the easily bored Fay grumbled.
“Okay, so we set a time limit. Half of us work on the guy, and the other half work on the woman.”
“Uh, Pinky to Brain here,” Nina injected. “There are five of us. Two and two. What’s the fifth one supposed to do? Referee?”
Jan sat back and let a wicked smile grace his face. “Exactly. The fifth one will keep the rest of us honest.”
“Us? You plan on being part of the search parties?” Merl sat up straighter, the whole idea getting more interesting by the minute.
“Well, yeah. I thought I’d find the girl.” Jan said, with a grin. “Uh, woman. Rhia and me. Nina with Fay will find the guy.”
“Thank the gods! At least you didn’t decide to team up with me!” Fay huffed in high spirits but did manage to set the delicate wine glass down without breaking it.
“So that leaves me to run interference.” Merl rubbed his chin. “Thanks. I think.” He stood and collected the empty glasses and mug. “So how long do the teams have, and how do we determine when the couple is in love?”
Jan sat for a second, his gaze on the flames now dying lower. “How about four days? One or two to locate our couple and a few days to get them to fall for each other.”
“And the measure of success is…?” Nina wanted to know.
“One is willing to make a sacrifice for the other. A life-or-death type of sacrifice.” Jan’s expression said he was serious about the outcome of his game.
“Humans don’t fall in love and willingly give up their lives for someone else in just four days.” Rhia sighed as if the game were already lost.
“If we find the perfect match, they do.” Jan seemed so sure of his logic that Merl could see the women coming round to the idea. He held his silence though.
Rhia stood, brushed the heavy skirt of her deep green hunting outfit as if there were lint on the material. “I think this could prove interesting. I have not interacted with a human in a long time. They no longer believe in fairies, you know,” she added regretfully.
Jan stood and laid a hand on her shoulder. “That is the humans’ loss, my dear.” When he squeezed, she gave him a tender smile.
Buff-colored high top hiking boots hit the floor with a resounding thud as Fay jumped to her feet. “Let’s do it. We’ll use my flying ship to get there.” She snapped her finger. “T’will take no time at all.”
“Gracious of you, healer. Keeps me from getting seasick,” Jan quipped.
“I love a good hunt,” Nina said as she rasped her palms together in anticipation, her coral-colored evening gown catching the color from the dying flames, evoking an ethereal aura.
“So says Dianna’s favorite.” Merl laughed and whisked the cabin clean with one sweep of his hand. “Ready?”
Despite a chill rain that fell and the agitated winds that swirled around the cottage, the five trooped out the low door in their modern if oddly selected evening attire and walked Indian-style down a narrow path worn in the heather. With a single thought, each magically transported to the deck of a glorious ship, its sails billowing with mysterious winds. Winds that would carry the Inexplicable and her passengers to the far side of the world. To a place picked by chance. A place called Spellfire.
At the bow stood five as the real world no longer saw them.
Merlin in his maroon robes of finely woven clothe, a staff in his hand, long dark hair behind him. Wizard, sorcerer, enchanter, he answered to many names and no mortal. The light of mischief and magic shone in his eyes.
Lady Rhiannon stood next to Merlin, her twin by the design of fate, not humanity. Once lost to her. Now found. Fairie princess to a realm that no human believed in any more. Twin of magic and twin of the fey. Dark hair lay in graceful waves down her back, mirroring her brother and fellow sorcerer. A diaphanous blue gown hugged her curves, lending her a sensuousness and majesty that mortals had long since forgotten.
Niniane, the white sorceress known by those of old as Nym. Lady of the Lake, La Belle Dame. Red-headed, hot-tempered at one time, she had mellowed with the ages. Rumored companion to the goddess, Dianna the Huntress. Adorned in tunic of green, leggings of rust, and soft brown boots, she stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the fairy princess. In her gaze, the magic of Excalibur and Avalon.
Morgan le Fey, a great healer though the world remembered her as a witch. A darkly dangerous woman, woven tightly into Arthurian legends, she learned her magic under the tutelage of Merlin himself, though he knew her not in true form at the time. Mother of the seductive sea sirens and creator of the magnificent flying ship aboard which they sailed. Her gown of scarlet and forest green highlighted a delicate complexion and golden-brown curls. Ahead of her lay adventure, and she reveled in the prospect of challenge.
At her shoulder stood Janus, ancient Roman god of beginnings and endings. Most often abstract concepts only he recognized. Seen by mankind as two-faced, one looking back, the other forward. The past and the future. His blond curls lay close to his head; his beard hugged the face of a handsome man. A short white silk tunic outlined with a golden band ended at his knees. Leather sandals with straps tied to his calves secured his steps. His game was now in play. Excitement and determination held him aquiver like an arrow prepared to fly.
Five god-like beings of ancient legends prepared to enter the unknown world of Spellfire.
Were they ready to play immortal cupids?
Was Spellfire ready for them?
Ready or not, their ship set sail in the new light of morn for distant shores.
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