Of Magic And Murder: Covens and Clans, #1

By Sabastyn Gold

Book 1 of the Covens and Clans series "Of Magic and Murder". A group of teenagers, consisting of witches and vampires, from Egregore High face trauma, self discovery, evolving friendships, and blossoming romance while finding themselves searching for an unknown killer who preys on those driven into hiding. But the killer's identity is not the only secret being kept. As the story unfolds hidden truths are revealed when the teens uncover a secret dating back to over a decade ago. All the while they are learning the horrors that exists in the outside world, that seek to rid their home of magic practitioners. And somehow the teens are stuck at the center of it all.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kyaira Harjochee
• Release date: Jan 13, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224497072

Book preview

Prologue

Desolateness took over the atmosphere as the winds cried out. Far from town a woman ran nearing breathlessness as exhaustion began to overtake her body. The night was still with fear, not a single animal dared to venture out as horror unfolded. Thick dark clouds loomed in the sky. The clouds shielded all but a sliver of the moon. What light touched the ground created sight stealing shadows casted by the trees.

A petite, olive skinned woman ran towards the trees just beyond the paved road. Her long white tattered night gown clung to her perspiring body. Her matted brown hair clung to her sweat drenched face. The wind was dry and

suffocating. Her heart was beating loud and fast.

Her bare feet touched the crisp, damp grass that led to the forest. She tripped, falling as she lost balance. Scurrying back up to her feet she felt the whooshing of air as something grabbed her. A fiendish creature pinned the woman against a tree, turning her to face it. Terror filled the woman’s eyes as she came face-to-face with the creature.  

Any last words? the creature taunted.

The woman could hear twigs snapping not far from them.

HELP!!! the woman let out in a bloodcurdling hollo hoping someone was out there who might be able to save her.

The creature smiled as schadenfreude swelled within it. The woman’s terror was the creature’s bliss. Fear, torture, ill fortune of others were the evils the creature existed for. The creature could taste the woman’s dread as the woman felt her blood draining from her body, her veins turning cold and hollow.

By the time the snapping of twigs had ceased it was too late. The creature tossed the limp, lifeless body of the woman at the feet of the man that now stood in front of them. A vile smirk spread across the man’s face. His malevolent eyes glowed in the darkness.

Well done he praised looking at the now seemingly harmless creature.

Seeing as how my part in this is done, I’m leaving the creature replied, licking the fingers it had just used to wipe the blood from the corners of its mouth.

Very well. I’ll be in contact the man stated with a hint of umbrage to his voice.

The creature disappeared as if it were never there. With the creature gone the man removed the bag from his back. Pulling out a heavy rope, he threw it over a large branch looming above him. Once one end of the rope had been tied around the neck of the cold, blood drained body of the woman he began pulling the other end. Heisting the woman above him from the branch he secured the rope.

As the woman’s body dangled in the air he rushed to complete what he had come to do. He sat out a circle of stones and within them he dug his blade into the earth. With the last word etched in the ground he stood. The man admired his work for a moment before vanishing.

Before her last breath, the woman had tried to push the creature away, attempting to break free of the heinous beast. In doing so she created one last tie to the physical plane as her blood pooled between her fingers. It was that same blood that tricked from the fingertip of the hanging woman into the slits of earth carved by the man. A drop of blood filled the crevice and the woman’s spirit pulled just enough power from the earth to reach out to someone.

Chapter 1

Lai-lai found herself standing at the bottom of two flights of stairs holding the hand of a two-year-old girl who was standing on her left and the hand of a young woman on her right. The two-year-old resembled herself at that age. The women on her right looked like a complete stranger yet the woman’s essences felt familiar. In front of the three of them, on the stairs, appeared another woman. The woman in front of them wore a long sleeve light purple Victorian style dress with white ruffles peeking out at the wrists and collar. The woman’s long raven-colored curls fell past her shoulders and she had the most entrancing amethyst-colored eyes.

Lai-lai could hear the voice of the amethyst-eyed woman in her mind, ‘Come, follow me’.

The child on Lai-lai’s left was hesitant and crying, afraid to walk up the stairs but the three followed anyways. Making it up the stairs they found themselves staring down a long dark hallway. There were five doors on the left and five on the right, ending with one door at the very end of the hall. Lia-lia could feel the young child being consumed by fear as they approached the first set of doors. One-by-one the doors on the left opened.

The first door opened to reveal a dark room with dead bodies and the silhouette of someone standing over them. The second door revealed a room full of dark thoughts, scripted in the air, able to be read. Dark thoughts that did not belong to any of the onlookers.

‘You have to let go’, the voice of the amethyst-eyed woman echoed through her mind.

‘You have to let go of her’, that same voice echoed in her mind once more.

Lai-lai let go of the hands she had been clenching in her clammy palms. Leaving the child and other woman standing behind herself as she approached the next door. The third door opened to reveal a dead body being carried away. The body looked familiar but she had no memory of anyone dying. The fourth door opened to a room of memories and emotions. Memories from moments that had no explanations. Feelings of belonging somewhere she did not know and that she had never been to before.

The fifth door opened; another room full of memories. A memory that could have been her last. The period of time in her life when all she wanted was to escape her reality. Every time she cried in the shower or cried herself to sleep because she felt out of place but could not bring herself to run away. Knowing running away would hurt her mother but also wanting to escape the ridicule she had faced by her peers and the painful secrets she kept locked deep within.  

The cascade of memories vanished and she found herself standing at the end of the hallway, where she was rejoined by the child and woman she had left standing behind her a few minutes ago. They found their selves in front of the door at the end of the hallway but the woman with amethyst eyes was in front of it, facing them. All of a sudden one-by-one the doors on the right begin to open.

The first door opened, in it the desire to protect others from what she had faced. The second door opened, the room was full of pure white light and radiated positive energy. The third door opened, in it Lai-lia saw the people she loved the most. The fourth door opened, another room of memories, good memories this time. Memories of time spent with her family and her best friend.

The fifth door opened, at first it seemed empty. Then she noticed a huge mirror taking up the entire doorway, reflecting her herself as she was in that moment. Along with her reflection was that of the two people standing by her in the hallway.

Lai-lai was now wearing all white with her thick black hair in a single long braid of twisted knots, surrounded by a white energy field outlined in gold. This energy field emanated from her and surrounded those standing with her. The energy field lit up the once darkened hall. She studied the reflections of the others that stared back at her through the shadowed glass.

First she saw the woman at her right who was in a black hooded cloak that touched the floor with sleeves that reached the woman’s fingertips. The woman pulled the hood back and as she did Lai-lia noticed the woman had multiple silver rings on every finger and a face adorned with a multitude of pierces. The woman had red glowing inscriptions of encircled ancient sigils in the center of her palms and she could feel power pulsating from the woman’s hands.

Second she saw the two-year-old girl at her left wearing a sailor patterned dress with midnight-colored curls pulled up into pigtails. The small girl was holding a lifeless baby blue jay. The child whispered to the bird as she gently stroked its wings. As the child’s breath touched the bird it was reanimated. The toddler smiled kissing the bird’s head.

Third she saw a new face that had not been there before. On her left side behind the young child with the blue jay stood an eight-year-old girl with long dark hair. The young girl wore a long sleeve red button up shirt. She had a soft closed mouthed smile and in each hand she held a white taper candle. The girl focused intently as she looked down at the candles. Almost immediately the wicks began to burn, casting an even brighter light upon her face.

Last Lai-lai saw a man. He stood to the right, behind her and the woman with red glowing palms. The man displayed a half smile. Water was coming up beside him like geysers but it was not touching him. He raised his slightly cupped hands in front of himself and orbs of water began floating above his palms. He was wearing a Mjölnir necklace and had Norse runes on the bottom sides of his fingers. There were three runes on every finger, one on each section aside from his thumb. His thumbs had three lines on them, the two outside lines went from the base of his thumb to the center, while the center line went from his thumb’s base to the tip.

When Lia-lai turned to face the woman with amethyst eyes, the woman handed her a pocket mirror. Her eyes were met with a memory of a time she had died. She saw an entity, one that had dragged her under the water pulling her to her death. The fear rising inside of her gave life to the entity once more.

Why are you showing me this? Lia-lai implored wanting the images far from her as she handed the mirror back with a quickness.

‘You overcame, defeated, and escaped death. That gave you more power than you realize or know. You have something that most do not. An understanding of death, a tie to it. Your senses that allow you to see, hear, feel, and smell the dead heightened that day. Death touched you and now you are tied. Your spirit is entwined with the world of the dead. That is another reason you are so drown to those dying or nearing death. Your spirit senses those who’s time is near. The only thing you cannot pinpoint is your own death. That is because you are not meant to see or know your own fate.’ The amethyst-eyed woman’s voice gently filled Lai-lai’s mind.

The thing from the water, the one that killed me just tried to come out of that mirror. Lia-lai stated in a trembling voice.

‘Breathe my child. It cannot harm you. You have the power to give life. The power to show others, teach them how it feels to be seen and met where they are standing. You not only give life but you can protect others from death. Your energy field is made up of the essence of creation. Death cannot enter your energy field. And those you shield with your energy are protected from untimely and undestined death.

You dear are a walking beckon of light and life. You yourself are a breath of creation. Let go of pain and fear. Let go of negative memories. Step into your power, our power. You can draw power and source energy from each of us. It is your choice to make. I’m here to guide you to your power. To help you step into it. To help you realize your what