Lost

By Stacey Jaine McIntosh

Where will you go once you are lost?
Who will you seek?
What will you find, awaiting you in the shadows?
Enter… if you dare, into worlds where faeries, werewolves, vampires, gods, angels and demons collide.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stacey Jaine McIntosh
• Release date: Feb 28, 2019
• ISBN: 9781386235279

Stacey Jaine McIntosh

Stacey Jaine McIntosh is the author of ten short stories. "Freya" and "Blood Sacrifice" were published late 2011 and "Fallen Angel" published in 2012. "Life or Death", "Exiles of Eden" and "Morrighan" published in 2013. "Red" and "The Summer Girl" were published in June 2015 and "The Hunter Million" and "Shadows of Annwn" are due to be published later in 2015. She lives in Perth, Western Australia with her husband and four young children.

Book preview

FOR

My children – Alexander, Lilia, Caleb and Quinn

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AND

My husband, Rhyce

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

There are so many people I have to thank who have supported me over the last eight years of my journey as an author and along the road to publication.

My family... my husband Rhyce and our four children: Alexander, Lilia, Caleb and Quinn. Your love and support mean the world to me and I couldn’t have done it without you.

To my cover artist and sometimes editor, Nicky Montgomery. Thank you so much! Your work is amazing.

To all the writer friends I’ve made along the way, thank you so much! I wouldn’t have persevered for so long if it wasn’t for all the words of encouragement along the way.

FREYA

Freya, she heard a voice whisper. Freya!

She bolted awake; surprised that it was still dark outside her bedroom window. She hadn’t been dreaming that much she knew because fey didn’t possess the ability with which to dream. That was the stuff of human conscience and beings with souls; Freya had neither.

Who’s there? she asked into the darkness, afraid that if she turned on the lamp she might scare off whomever it was that was around.

I am, the figure said. She squinted her eyes against the darkness but to no avail she still couldn’t see anyone.

What do you want? she asked.

I am not scared. I’m not...

Her thoughts cut off and gave way to a high pitched scream, only in that moment did she realize that there was nobody around to save her. She was completely and utterly alone and at his mercy.

You already know what I want Freya, he said.

The... necklace, she whispered.

Yes, he said. Give it to me, quickly now, before it’s too late.

Before it’s too late for what? she asked.

The longer you stand around talking, the longer it takes for you to give me the necklace, he said.

I don’t have it, she said.

What do you mean you don’t have it? You have to have it, he said.

The necklace was stolen. Somebody took it. I... don’t know who, her words rushed.

Well then, my pet, it would seem that you and I are going to be in each other’s company a while longer yet.

She swallowed thickly.

Who are you?

Yes, you would demand that of me wouldn’t you? he asked. But I’ll grant you this one request, if it means I get the necklace in the end.

His hand brushed up against her cheek and she shivered under his touch.

Well, what do we have here? Nobody told me that the keeper of Brísingamen was a virgin. That is rather interesting.

Please... don’t hurt me, she said.

Oh, Freya. I don’t plan on hurting you, he whispered, his fingers trailing down the side of her cheek to her collarbone.

With a motion too fast for her to catch he drew her shirt over her head and then pressed the palm of his hand against her chest. Pushing her back, her head fell back against the pillows and she felt him shift to kneel at her feet as he drew her pants from her legs.

Naked, she lay shivering as his fingers, light at feathers trailed across her skin.

Who are you, she asked again.

"I am Odin, at your service lady," he replied.

She flinched as his mouth came down and sucked on one nipple and then the other.

This is not how it’s supposed to be. She squeezed her eyes shut; she felt herself sinking.

Her stomach clenched in knots. He was hard, she could feel the tip of him pushing into her until he was consumed by her and she was his – forever.

BLOOD SACRIFICE

Thistle and Heath waited impatiently in the depth of the wildwood for their prey to appear. She was a mortal and once captured would fetch a handsome reward from the Faerie Queen.

Queen Mab was out for blood, the girl would be a welcome sacrifice just in time for Samhain – All Hallows Eve to the human folk.

A flicker of something moving through the wildwood caught Thistle’s attention; then Heath’s.

Right on time, Thistle said regarding his companion.

Let the games begin, Heath replied.

The two darted off in the direction of the girl, dead leaves crunching under their feet as they went and they stopped several feet in front of her.

W-who are you? she stammered.

The last beings that you’re ever going to lay eyes on, Heath replied.

I don’t... understand, she said.

Soon Molly dear soon all your questions will be answered, he said.

Where are you taking me? she asked.

Quiet mortal! Where you are going doesn’t need to concern you, Thistle snapped.

Why the Queen insisted on the sacrifices being alive was always cause for contention to Thistle. Humans always made such a fuss and their deaths were usually loud and messy affairs – especially during the ritual sacrifice of Samhain.

Thistle sighed, his job was not to question, his was only to deliver the girl to the Queen upon receipt of his payment he would not have to think about it ever again. And yet for some strange reason – this time he did think about it. What was it like to die anyway? Fey didn’t die and perhaps in some instances that was a blessing. But for the girl – Molly it would be a slow and painful death as the Queen demanded she be drained of all her blood.

Opening the gateway to another plane was always tricky, but on the night of Samhain, particularly when the mortal world and Faerie aligned made it all the more powerful. The right blood split at just the right time would make for some powerful magic indeed.

Well? Queen Mab demanded. Do you have her?

Yes, your Majesty. She is right here, Heath replied bringing the girl forward. The two hob goblins had bound her hands and dragged her the short distance to the Queen’s sacred space.

She will do nicely, the Queen murmured. Such power will lend itself nicely to the ritual.

Yes, Heath hissed. And our reward, your Majesty?

After the ritual, the Queen snapped. Let us prepare the girl and be careful. Her blood is precious we must not waste a drop until it is time.

Molly moaned; her eyes wild as Thistle and Heath dragged her away out of the Queen’s sight.

She was bathed and dressed in a gown of faerie make which was when Thistle and Heath took their leave of her.

What is going to happen to me? Molly asked quietly.

For the veil between this world and the other to open you are to be sacrificed, Thistle replied.

Molly screamed.

FALLEN ANGEL

Samael looked to the setting sun in the west; the sun was a flaming orb in the blood red sky. It was sinking fast, the sky too; turning from red to black. Soon it would be night and she’d be back and they’d be a family again.

He sighed with fatigue as he gazed down at the sleeping form of his infant daughter, Isabeau. How would she get by in a world that was rife with so much turmoil? She was neither and she was both of them at the same time. A daemon, never before birthed, making her unique.

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LIFE OR DEATH

Briseis ran blind. The stars overhead looked like tiny crystalline orbs in the night sky. The moon was void making it harder to see what was ahead of her and many times she tripped and almost fell. The third time she did fall, but she didn’t hit the ground.

Strong and muscular hands gripped her shoulders, as dark probing eyes bore into hers. Briseis felt as if he could see into her very soul had she possessed one. Leaning in he tucked a loose strand of her hair behind her ear, his fingers lingering on the pointed tips.

Briseis shivered under his touch, and felt the presence of something cold clamp around her slender wrists. It radiated a heat that wasn’t all that unpleasant until it began to burn. Her skin hissed as the metal touched it. Iron? Surely the humans hadn’t evolved enough that they knew the fey’s biggest weakness? She only knew of one other creature, besides herself, that could pass as human and that was a werewolf. But, as she had been told many times over, they were the enemy.

She sank to her knees in agony. As the world slipped away from her, and tumbled into darkness. The stars overhead were snuffed out, as if they had been no more than meagre beeswax candles than crystalline orbs.

Well, well. What do we have here? He touched her again, rousing her from her stupor; his index finger traced the line of her jaw, from her eye to her chin and tipped it up so she was forced to look at him. If she hadn’t been bound at the wrists, and rendered almost too weak to move, she would have slapped him. Instead she settled for second best and spat, the