Hunting a Tyrant

By Cassidy K. O'Connor

Brielle Masters is a top agent of the Zodiac Enforcement Agency, dedicated to imprisoning the Fallen - those Zodiacs who use their power for evil. When she's sent to another realm to bring back a rogue Fallen who's been killing locals, Brielle expects it to be a routine mission. What she doesn't expect is to find the former love of her life, Grant Shipley, hiding on this same world.

Grant, a former Sinless who turned Fallen to save his mother's life, has been in hiding for almost a decade. As Brielle and Grant work together to take down an evil tyrant and save the realm, they must confront their past hurts and put their differences aside. But once the mission is over, will they be able to rekindle their love, or will they be forced to walk away from each other once again?

With danger lurking at every turn and their hearts on the line, Brielle and Grant must decide whether their love is worth fighting for. An Accidental Zodiacs Novel

About the Accidental Zodiac shared world: There are three types of Zodiacs: The Sinless who live life in goodness and light, their blue auras shining like beacons of hope. The Wanderers, their purple essence telling others they walk a fine line between good and evil. Then there’s The Fallen, the evil. The ones who use their powers to enhance their lives at any cost.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Celtic Hearts Press
• Release date: May 11, 2023
• ISBN: 9781949575705

Cassidy K. O'Connor

Cassidy K O'Connor is a born and raised Floridian who loves to travel but never forgets where her roots are. She married her high school sweetheart, they have 3 kids and a crazy dog. Travelling and reading are her two favorite hobbies. Cassidy loves all things Ireland and has been lucky enough to visit twice. Her first book 'The Evolution of Sam' was published August of 2014 and she has plans for many more.

Book preview

Chapter

One

Bri growled in frustration as she slid on gravel taking too sharp a turn. The zodiac she was racing after had slipped through her fingers more times than she would ever admit to the agency. 

The fallen looked over her shoulder and smiled at Bri.

Mother fucker is taunting me. She took a deep breath and ran faster. No way was she going home empty-handed this time.

A screech of tires up ahead broke her concentration as she saw a truck barely miss the Fallen zodiac. The truck slammed on its brakes blocking the intersection. The woman turned down an alley. Bri laughed as she realized that path led to a dead end.

She turned the corner and slowed down as the other woman ran her hands along the brick walls trying to find a way out.

It’s over Sadie. Don’t drag this out any further. Bri knew it wouldn’t be so easy. She pulled on her magic, ready to fight.

Sadie sneered at her. Little Ms. Perfect, here to save the day. You can’t just let me live my life?

Bri’s jaw dropped open. You enchant men into a stupor and then kill them. Why would you think the agency would let you continue doing it?

Sadie rolled her eyes. The world has too many useless human males. What’s the big deal if I get rid of a few? You Sinless think you are so much better than the rest of us.

Bri nodded. We are better than you. We don’t kill innocent people. She pulled out the handcuffs that would cut off the other woman's magic. Can we just get on with this?

Sadie held her wrists together. Come put them on me.

Before Bri could move, Sadie sent a bolt of lightning, missing her by an inch. If she hadn’t ducked, her face would be ash right now.

That was just wrong. She tucked the cuffs in her pocket and astral projected behind Sadie.

The other woman conjured a thick black cloud between them, blinding her for a second. Bri reached through it but Sadie had already moved away.

Bri called on the air to send a wind current down the alley. At the same time it cleared the cloud, it also picked up Sadie and pinned her against the wall.

As Bri reached up to cuff her several small screeches had her spinning around, ready to defend herself. Rats scurried from the darkest corners of the alley and came right for her, nipping and scratching her legs as they tried to climb her. She fought them off as Sadie’s laughter rang in her ears. She sent out a pulse of electricity sending the rats scurrying, smoke puffing off their singed fur.

Before she could get her bearings, a fist flew at her face hitting her square in the nose. She reached out blindly and grabbed a handful of Sadie’s hair. She held on with all her might and pulled the woman hard enough that they slammed against the brick wall. Sharp edges cut into her skin.

Sadie’s hands gripped Bri’s throat, threatening to cut off her airway.

Growling loudly, Bri had enough. She pulled on her magic and called the wind back, harder than before. The force was so strong Sadie couldn’t keep her eyes open as it pinned her against the wall.

Bri reached up and slipped one cuff on her wrist then dragged her other arm over and cuffed the other wrist. The wind died down as soon as the magic threat was gone. As long as the handcuffs were on, Sadie would be as mortal as any human.

That wasn’t so hard now, was it? Maybe you’ll get lucky and they won’t send you to Stelliceda One. I’ve never been there myself, but I’ve heard stories.

Sadie’s face paled. Please, if I promise to stop killing will you let me go? I’ll never survive that prison.

Bri pulled Sadie to her side as she opened a portal to the agency. Maybe you’ll get lucky and they’ll send you to Stelliceda Two or Stelliceda Three. The implant doesn’t hurt too bad either. I heard it’s like a light pinch. A small part of her felt bad that they basically nullified Zodiacs powers when they put them in prison but if they hadn’t broken the law to begin with, they wouldn’t be in that position.

They stepped through the portal and she handed Sadie off to a booking officer.

Brielle, boss needs you. The young executive assistant rushed out as she walked through the room and out another door. Bri didn’t know how the girl did it. She always knew where any of them were in the building and seemed to be in ten places at once.

She grabbed a soda out of the break room and made her way to Jackson Steele’s office. I did it. Sadie Hollows is in custody.

He didn’t even glance up as he answered her. It’s about time. I think that’s the longest it’s ever taken you to catch a perp. If he was going to give her shit, the least he could do was look at her so she could get lost in his crystal blue eyes.

She pretended his statement didn’t sting. They can’t all be easy. It was nice to finally have a challenge for once.

He finally looked up at her and smiled. I was hoping you were going to say something like that. I have a new case for you and it’s a doozy. He paused as he took in her appearance. She really put up a fight, didn’t she? You look like Hell.

Bri quirked an eyebrow, but didn’t respond.

He handed her an envelope. Raymond Glout is a Fallen who’s managed to get off world. He found a nice little realm where they aren’t as advanced as we are and has taken over. A refugee made it out and after a bit of hopping around from realm to realm, he made his way to us. It took months for him to get here, so I imagine as bad as his story is, it’s probably ten times worse by now. I want you to go there and extract Glout. Hopefully, there’s enough of their governing council left to get their lives back to normal.

She read through the refugee’s statement. Raymond had infiltrated and taken over the council quickly. He used his magic to subjugate the people and anyone who fought it or was immune was killed. She hated zodiacs on a power trip. He couldn’t get worshiped here, so he went and found a new place to rule over.

This man, Tido, went through the closet and picked out clothes you can blend in with. We don’t have any of their money, but he said you can take gold and silver and use it to trade for money. Everything is in a sack in your office. They don’t have tech, so take as little with you as you can and try not to introduce anything new to their society.

Got it. I’ll message in when I leave and will hopefully be able to send updates while I’m there. If not, I’ll see you when I’m back with Raymond in cuffs.

Jackson nodded. He’s killed thousands. Don’t do anything risky to take him in alive. If you do, great, but he’s unredeemable, so one less Fallen taking up a spot in prison is a good thing.

Bri didn’t exactly agree with him. Taking a life should be the absolute last option, even if it meant she had to take some risks to bring someone in alive.

She refused to believe anyone was unredeemable though. If that were true, she’d never get to see Grant again, and she had to hope one day she’d get to see her Fallen friend if he could make his way back to being Sinless.

Be careful and get back quickly, Jackson mumbled, as he was already focused back on his computer.

It was rare for her to go off-world, but she had a plan in place for when she did. A quick trip to her apartment and a phone call to her mom, and she’d be ready to hunt a tyrant.

Chapter

Two

Bri took a deep breath and snuggled into her bed. It was the one item in her life she had splurged on. Since she was likely going to be sleeping on the ground for the next few weeks, she didn’t mind taking five minutes to enjoy the puffy, oversized bed.

She grabbed her phone and pushed the video button to call her mom.

Hey, honey. A middle of the day call. Everything okay? Her mom’s smile always calmed her.

Hi Mom. Yeah sorry, I didn’t make it over last weekend for family dinner. I’m probably going to miss the next few, too. I’m being sent off realm to bring back a Fallen and I don’t know how long I’ll be gone.

Her mom instantly frowned. "I don’t understand why you do that job. You are a zodiac honey. You can do anything you want. Heck, you don’t even have to work and the world would