Ritual Magic

  Ritual Magic

  Book 2 of the Magical Tendencies Series

  By Selena D. Hunter

  Smashwords Edition

  Copyright 2013 by Selena D Hunter

  All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.

  Dedication

  This book is dedicated to all of my supportive family and friends. All of your support means a world of magic to my astounded mind and soul.

  Credits

  A big thank you should go out to the people that have helped to make me want to write and be excited about it. Kym, you are my most supportive reader and your input has become the highlight of my writing adventure. I love the way you think!

  Cori, Mom, Loretto, Laura and Virginia...thank you for reading and for giving me the feedback that helped me to believe in myself.

  Thank you especially for my cover artwork prepared by Killbot Design at www.killbotdesign.com. The amount of work and talent that was poured into the cover has brought this dream of mine to life. Thank you again for all of your help!

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  About the Author

  1

  Okay, so I wasn't prepared for any of this. First, I met a daughter from my future...my future daughter. Uhg! Second, she knocked Solomon, my overprotective vampire personal guard, out with a sleeping spell she said that I taught her. I don't even know a sleeping spell. Third, she killed some shadow demons and used weapons like an expert. Huh. Fourth, and certainly not least, she actually has demon blood. ICK! Who is her father...I mean who ARE her FATHERS?! Geesh, I must be a tramp in the near future.

  My head hung a tiny bit. This was not possible. I wasn't an idiot—I knew about biology. One sperm, one egg, one child. Twins maybe, but not multiple fathers for one child. That was just...wrong.

  I shook my head at my random range of thoughts as we walked up the steps towards the beach house. The steps curled against the wall of stone and cut a distinct path towards what felt more and more like my private sanctuary with every passing moment.

  My eyes kept flicking towards Cora every now and then, making it clear that I was expecting her to disappear out of view at any given moment. She couldn't be real. She just couldn't. As the wildness of the future came crashing down upon my shoulders, I realized that there was a distinct feeling of defeat that was beginning to take hold of my psyche. Was this a losing battle that we were fighting? Was there anything worth looking forward to? Could this honestly be happening?

  Cora began humming a tune that was oddly familiar to me. Accentuate the Positive rang through the back of my mind. Well, maybe this could be happening. That was one of my favorite WWII songs.

  We reached the top of the steps and Cora stopped abruptly, pulling back on my arm gently. "Mother, you have to invite me in." She looked at me pleadingly, her hazel eyes swirling with bright colors and mystery. Her smooth olive skin accentuated her face, drawing my eyes to her captivating beauty. My daughter.

  Just for good measure, I eyed her once more. Could she honestly be real? She was clearly taller than I was, standing at about 5'11'' with a shapely and beautiful body. Her long, brown hair looked so much like my own, and yet.... I gazed deeply into her hazel eyes and saw exactly what I had been waiting for, hoping for—a glint of my own deep brown that assured me that this was definitely not a dream. I nodded knowingly.

  "Cora Elena Ravenwood, I invite you into the beach house." I smiled up at her as a warm, dazzling smile crept across her perfect face.

  She reached out and took my hand in a blur. "I can't wait to see it, Mom! You have told me soooo much about this beach house..."

  Cora now ran towards the house, pulling me like a child, eager to get to the surprise inside. She stopped at the doorway, holding her breath. Finally turning the knob in slow suspense, she took the first step inside only to drop my hand abruptly and gasp loudly enough to make me watch her in wonder. It was as if I was seeing the house for the very first time again and it was a beautiful experience.

  "Oh my gosh!" She whispered under her breath, "It's exactly like you described it!" She rushed over to the curtained window and pulled the curtain back with a sharp tug, revealing the moon hanging high in the sky, painting the beach in a soft white glow. She then ran over to the couch and threw herself down upon it, floating her fingers over the fabric as if it were something unique to experience. Turning her head quickly towards the rest of the room, she swiftly pushed herself off the couch and ran to the loveseat, the coffee table, the end table, the kitchen counter. She touched everything lovingly as she said, "Yes, oh my goodness, so soft, so perfect. Ooooohhh!"

  Cora's eyes danced as she finally turned back towards me. "WOW! This place is absolutely amazing, Mother. I can hardly believe that I am truly here." She spun around on the spot before turning back towards me with an excitement that beamed on her face. "Do I have a room?"

  "Um, I don't know. Solomon was the one that bought this house." I looked around the room as if an extra doorway for Cora was going to appear out of nowhere. "I believe that there is a downstairs area with extra rooms...possibly there?"

  "Right! He always loves to shower you with gifts." She smiled broadly, "He's definitely one of the more generous of the fathers. You would take it the wrong way sometimes, though, Mom. Solomon just likes to give you gifts—it makes him happy. Remembering that will help you two in the future."

  For a moment, I just stood there staring at her as I thought about what she was saying. She knew Solomon personally, she was my daughter, and I was...confused.

  "Okay, Cora, you are going to have to stop talking like that." I turned my head and waved a hand towards her as I headed for the loveseat to collapse on just in case my mind decided to blackout. Sitting down, I leaned back against the firm cushions and placed my twitchy hands in my lap. "Please sit down." I waved towards the couch to my left. "You need to explain everything to me so that I can actually believe that this is...well, real." I still had an odd sense of dread.

  "Right!" Cora smiled as she walked over to the side of the couch that was closest to me. "Now, let's see..." She tapped her chin with her finger and appeared as if she was putting all of her thoughts into sequence. "Dad said that this was going to be hard for you...that you were not going to believe me, at least, not at first." She smiled at me, still beaming with joy. What is wrong with this girl? Does everything make her happy?

  My empathic abilities seemed to surge to life as I watched Cora, aware of every thought and feeling that pulsed through her veins. It was an odd sensation, that was for sure, but it was an absolutely joyous moment to watch her a
nd see her as I was at that very moment. It almost felt as if I was new to the world of joy.

  I quirked my head to the side as I thought about what she had been saying. "Dad?"

  "Uh huh, you know, Solomon Ryker."

  Gulp! "What...the..."

  "Mom!" Cora sat up straight as a board and waved both hands at me as if she was trying to stop traffic. "You really do need to watch your language. You know that Daddy can't stand it when you cuss." She wagged a long, slender finger at me.

  I could feel my eyebrows furrow. "Daddy?!"

  "Yes, you know, Von Edwards." She bounced up and down on the couch, causing me to instinctively blink with each bounce.

  This was all a bit too much for my addled mind to accept. I couldn't imagine Von Edwards as anything other than a stiff jerk, and thinking that he might allow a twenty-two year old woman to call him 'daddy' just seemed too insane for words. Cussing immediately began to hold a fascination for me that it never had before—Von hated it when I cussed. Hmmmm.

  Shaking off the direction of my thoughts, I straightened and tilted my head to the side as I closed my eyes to concentrate.

  "What the heck is going on, Cora? You had better talk faster than you are at the moment because my head is beginning to spin and I think I'm going to throw up."

  Cora smiled as she reached over to pat my knee, the brush of her skin drawing my eyes to her slim fingers. "I know, it's a bit confusing, but please realize that my whole life has been surrounded by these men, my fathers, and I wouldn't have it any other way." She beamed at me.

  "Okay..." How was I honestly expected to take this?

  "Okay, so here it is in a nutshell." Cora nodded at me and made sure that I was still watching and listening as if she needed me to do just that.

  I narrowed my eyes on hers before she continued, realizing that she had my full attention.

  "I wasn't conceived in the normal sense of the word. You know, with sex and sweating and all of that." She paused for a second and then jumped right in to continue the story, "I was conceived magically in a ceremony with all of my fathers involved. You were there, of course, and my four fathers."

  "Your forefathers? Like in the forefathers of the United States of America?" My voice sounded incredulous but it was definitely a place to begin. Get the information correct and then you can move on with your crazy future.

  "No, my four fathers as in I have four men that are my fathers." She looked at me with concern. "Mom, are you getting all of this? I thought that we had already covered this subject."

  "Yes, I think I am..." I shook my head in denial. This definitely could not be happening...not to me anyway. "Just bear with me here..." I held my hand up to express my need to slow everything down, if only for the moment. "So you have four separate fathers?" My eyes found her face to register that her eyes were agreeing with everything I was saying as a sudden chill began to creep up my spine.

  She was being honest, or at least she was convinced of what she was saying. Could all of this honestly be happening? Is there really a world out there where I'm actually a mom?

  "Yeah, that's basically it." Cora leaned back against the blue and white cushions smiling softly at me as if she knew what difficulty I was experiencing at the moment.

  "Who...who are they?" My voice shook, "I mean, I know of Solomon and Von, but...who are the other two?"

  Cora's confused expression surprised me as she leaned forward to brace her hands on her thighs. "You mean you don't know them already? Huh, that's weird. I was under the impression that you already knew them."

  "No. I need to hear their names."

  "Oh!" Cora sighed and leaned back again against the couch, "Gabriel Running Wolf and Leonzio Emilio Castillion." She shrugged like it was no big deal, "Otherwise known as Father and Babbo."

  "Babbo?" The brisk laugh popped out before I could filter it. "That sounds so corny."

  "Well, that's what Babbo wants to be called, and what Babbo wants, Babbo gets." She nodded happily.

  "Babbo...that's Leo isn't it? I can't imagine Gabriel going by something as sentimental as Babbo." I shook my head, "Actually, I figured he would have you call him Gabriel or Sir all of the time."

  Cora nodded morosely as she looked down at her hands dejectedly. "Well, yes, Father would prefer for me to call him 'Sir' but it sounds so tedious and stiff." She leaned back in the couch again and fidgeted with her shirt.

  "You don't get along with him very well, do you, Cora?" I smiled at her. I didn't get along with him either and I definitely could relate.

  She looked up at me sheepishly, clearly not wanting to share too much of the inner workings of her life. "Well, he's definitely not the most loving or fun father in the group, that is for sure. Always working on my archery, my languages, my Pilates. Badger, badger, badger." She paused to roll her lips between her teeth as she looked towards the window that overlooked the ocean as if she knew that there was support out there in the dark of the night. "He's priming me for leadership, but he never really spends time with me. You know, to get to know me...bond." She hung her head heavily and I instantly wanted to beat Gabriel up. "He's a bore."

  I nodded because I was finally getting a picture of Cora's life. Having been the princess in training for a future that neither one of us understood, it stood to reason that she would be underneath much more pressure than any child would ever deserve.

  "Each father has been teaching you things, helping you grow."

  Cora nodded with a broad smile on her lips, the thoughts of Gabriel falling away to the excitement of stories and moments to share. "Yes! Even as a child they were teaching me. Babbo and I used to play hide and seek in the castle by shadow jumping. Well, it's truly referred to as shadowing but I like to call it shadow jumping because that is what it literally is—jumping from shadow to shadow. I would shadow jump to the other side of the castle and he would have to find me. Of course, he did it the traditional way although he always found me within five minutes. It was later that I found out that he was using my scent to find me even though he had promised not to use his demon powers. He has always been such a cheater." She grinned broadly. "How I love that crazy old demon." Her eyes glowed with love and pride.

  Leo? OLD? She had to be joking, right? He never appeared to be any older than his early thirties to me. I figured, because I was closer to his age than she was, that all of her parents appeared to be old to her.

  Shaking my head, I smiled back at her. I just didn't get it. Leo, a loving and sweet father? Babbo?! Really?

  "Tell me about Von."

  "Yes, well, Daddy has always been the most protective of me out of all of my fathers. He personally selected all of my tutors, schools and extra-curricular activities. He has always been the one to push me the hardest, even compared to Father, but Daddy always believed in me." Cora scooted forward on the seat towards me as if she was trying to convince me of something, and I couldn't help but register the sincere desire she was expressing to change my opinions.

  Of Von? Well, that was still a slippery slope for me to traverse.

  "You see, that was the difference between Von and Gabriel. Von was always supportive, and I could see the pride in his eyes when I succeeded in doing something correctly. Like when I cast my first shielding spell—he simply glowed with pride for days." She smiled to herself as she spoke of Von. But that was just so very foreign to me because all Von ever did, at least from my experience, was push me to the brink with every word that he said and everything he did.

  "Huh. Well, that's nice."

  Cora's bright laughter filled the room in reaction to my annoyed reply. It was immediately clear that she knew exactly what I was thinking. Busted.

  "You and Daddy have never really clicked, not from what I've seen." She smiled as she reached over to pat my hand lovingly and then withdrew it as she looked down, folding her own hands on her lap. "He still loves you, you know." A small smile crawled across her lips as she continued to stare down at the backs of her hands. "He just can't
stand to be in the same room with you and you are exactly the same way with him. There must be a lot of history there—something edgy."

  We sat there for a moment as I thought deeply about what she had said about Von loving me. Yes, I figured that he did, but he sure had a terrible way of showing it. And so did I where he was concerned. He was lucky I hadn't turned him into a hangnail or something ridiculous.

  "Yeah, you could say that, I guess." Or a platypus. Shifting in my seat, I prepared myself for what was coming. "Okay Cora, now tell me about Solomon. What kind of a father was he?" I shuddered at the thought that I would hear the worst about him.

  "Dad? Huh. Let's see..." She stood up and began to pace around the room, a familiar little habit that I found entertaining to watch. "Well, there was the time that he taught me to ride a horse. I was four at the time and my balance was poor, so I fell off. He couldn't be anywhere near the horse or he would have scared poor Casper away, but he swept in just as I slid off Casper's side and caught me before I hit the ground." She smiled as she pivoted to begin walking the other way across the room, the sound of her boots filling the room with the thudding of leather on wood. "I cried and cried all day long because I was so shaken up and disappointed in myself. Dad never put me down the entire time...not until I stopped crying. I figured he was afraid of your wrath if something truly had happened to me."

  She snickered, pivoting again and walking towards the back wall. "Oh! And then there was the time that he was teaching me to hunt and catch animals. Not kill them, just catch them. The speed of a vampire and the adrenaline gained during the hunt was a huge high for me. I loved every single second of it. He was teaching me to use my sense of smell to find the animals so, of course, that was when I discovered boys. Oooh, they smelled so much better than all of the animals in the forest and Dad was NOT very happy about that." Another broad grin spread across her face, but this time she bit down on her lip as she fought the distinct look of glee that seeped forward.