Mist and Shadows: Short Tales From Dark Haunts Read online

  And yet…fortune and destiny have a way of playing out their cards. The next morning, Julie sensed a new presence in the area. Most humans came and went without her notice, but this one stood out. Why he did, Julie had no idea. But the fact remained: his presence was loud on the wind. So she was waiting on the embankment when he came hiking by, five minutes walk from the pond—five minutes from being in danger of the kelpie.

  He was as brilliant as the morning sky—tall and blonde, his hair wavy and skimming his shoulders. And his body was lanky but moved with the promise of a touch light as silk, light as dew on a meadow. As Julie watched him, something inside shifted, and she felt herself tremble. He was the one. The one she’d been waiting for all her life.

  Without thinking, only reacting to a force deep in her psyche, she opened her mouth and began to sing. The man paused, then glanced toward the shore. Now many humans had passed right by her before, never noticing she was there, but a veil lifted and she realized he could see her. He knew she was there.

  He dropped his pack, moved over to the side of the stream, and knelt down. Without a word, she rose to stand, her feet firmly planted on the bottom of the pond, the silt shifting between her toes. She reached out, her arms spread wide, and silently, he leaned into her embrace. She kissed him, long and deep, weaving her spell, and then—right as she was about to pull him into the water to love her, she stopped herself.

  “I need your help,” she whispered into the wind, and the wind carried her words to his ears.

  He looked confused, then nodded. “Whatever you need. I will do it.”

  Julie knew he was under an enchantment, that he was acceding because she had bewitched him, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was tricking the kelpie. After that, whatever destiny had planned for him, would play out in its own time. There was a greater need than her desire to spawn. A greater need for the forest, and for Memory Creek.

  “You shall do as I ask.” And, with the wind still carrying her words, she told him exactly what she wanted him to do.

  The man—his name was Terry—walked slowly toward the pond. Julie had kissed him into a daze, whispered the words he needed to hear, and sent him over to the water’s edge. A wave of sadness overcame her as she waited. What if she wasn’t in time? What if the kelpie got to him first? Then again, if Terry was a sacrifice to save others, so be it.

  Asheeda had crept closer to the pond, and now Julie glided through the waters to its mouth. In their respective spots, they waited.

  Yes, the kelpie would sense them, but they were banking on the depth of her thirst to overcome any resistance she might have. The slavering desire was so thick that it subjugated all other sensations coming from the area. She was hungry. She wanted blood and flesh and life force now. The feeling intensified as Terry approached the edge of the pond, staring into the water.

  As Julie tensed, a woman rose from beneath the surface. Tall she was, and lithe, with flowing hair the color of flax, and ruddy cheeks, breasts firm and round, and a waist made for holding. She was naked, her hair draping around her like a cloak, and she stepped onto land, a coy smile flickering over her face. It was then that Julie saw the comb in her hair, holding back a tangle of curls.

  “Help me? I have lost my way.” Her voice echoed through the trees, the trill of fluttering notes breaking the silence.

  Terry said nothing, simply nodded and held out his hands. As the kelpie grasped them, Asheeda jumped out of the bush and grabbed hold of the kelpie.

  The water siren shrieked, squirming out of the dryad’s grasp, her form shifting, changing to a body of dark sinewy muscles that were formed from skunk cabbage and stinging nettle.

  Asheeda gave her a shove as Julie came up from behind and yanked her into the water by her hair, which were now stringy masses of seaweed.

  They struggled. Julie had the kelpie in her grasp, but the creature was strong and as her hands closed around Julie’s neck, she began to drain the life energy out of the water sprite.

  Julie tore into the kelpie, ripping at her, but she was beginning to feel faint. Would she die, then? Would she vanish back into the Ocean Mother, merging her essence with the waves that rolled across the world?

  And then, before she knew what was happening, the kelpie’s grasp lessened. Julie pushed away from her, looking back over her shoulder to see the kelpie turn on Terry. He was swimming away as fast as he could. In his hand was the comb—the blessed comb.

  Julie shot forward, gliding through the pond. She knew these waters, they were a part of her, and they pushed her on, giving her strength and speed. As she passed by the kelpie, giving her a wide berth, Julie managed to snatch the comb from Terry’s hand. Then, gathering the force of the water, she used it to create a wave that propelled him out of the pond and onto the shore.

  The kelpie bore down on her, gnashing her teeth.

  Julie held up the comb—carved from bone—and broke it in half. As the comb shattered, the kelpie began to flounder. And then, slowly, she began to dissolve, her form flowing into the waters of the pond.

  Another moment, and it was over. Julie broke through the surface of the water to see Asheeda sitting next to Terry, who seemed not to notice the dryad. But he gazed at Julie, love and desire flickering in his face.

  “You saved my life,” he whispered.

  Heartbroken, Julie merely whispered back, “And you saved mine.”

  Julie sat on the edge of the pond, her feet dangling in the water. She looked up at Asheeda. “I had to send him away, didn’t I?”

  Asheeda, who was lying back in the grass, shrugged. “No, you didn’t. But you decided to.” After a pause, she added, “Was he your only chance?”

  “For children? Yes. Each water sprite gets one mate, picked by destiny. If we pass by the chance…there will never be another.” Julie hung her head. “I will never spawn. Never bring children into this world. But I couldn’t do it…I couldn’t take him into my lair to keep with me forever after he saved my life. Bewitched or not, he chose to risk himself in order to help me. He will never remember today. He will never remember me, and never again walk this way. But he will live.”

  The two women sighed, then Asheeda went back to playing with a daisy while Julie kicked the water. The kelpie was dead, and chances were they’d never see another one. And she…she had a long future to look forward to. But she would not be alone—not totally. She had her friends, and the forest, and the ever present flow of the water.

  “Can I ask you something?” Asheeda sat up, a perplexed look on her face. “You use a human name. Why?”

  Julie smiled then. “Long ago, when I first came here, before I met you, before your oak was even an acorn…a young girl came out to the meadow where you play. She could see me—she had the Sight. She told me that I was beautiful. She told me that she wished she could be me…that she loved the water so much that she would like to change places. And she sang to me. Her voice was like the morning sky, and the song she sang stayed with me. I asked her to teach it to me and she did.”

  “Let me guess. Her name was Julie?”

  “Yes, her name was Julie. My mother had never given me a name—most water sprites don’t have them. So I took hers. Because she taught me that not all humans are destructive, or evil, or to be feared.”

  Asheeda laughed. “That is a tale to tell, for sure. What was the song? Do you remember it still?”

  Julie nodded. “Oh yes.” And then, in a voice that caught hold of the wind, that wove it into a melody of light and shadow, of longing and of hope, she sang to Asheeda, and the forest listened.

  “If you come to the woodland, to meet your love,

  You shall meet Fate instead.

  A million miles below, a million above,

  The future, you should not dread.

  Should you find yourself walking alone,

  Solitude, never fear,

  For in the end, we are all bound together,

  So hold the world dear….

  Yes, hold the
world so dear.”

  Biography & Biblography

  New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today bestselling author Yasmine Galenorn writes urban fantasy for Berkley: the Otherworld Series, the Indigo Court Series, and the Fly By Night Series. In the past, she wrote mysteries for Berkley Prime Crime, and nonfiction metaphysical books. She is the 2011 Career Achievement Award Winner in Urban Fantasy, given by RT Magazine.

  Yasmine has been in the Craft for 33+ years, is a shamanic witch, and describes her life as a blend of teacups and tattoos. She lives in Kirkland WA with her husband Samwise and their cats. Yasmine can be reached via her website at www.galenorn.com.

  Books by Yasmine Galenorn:

  Whisper Hollow Series (in order):

  Autumn Thorns (Oct 2015)

  Dreaming Death (Oct 2016)

  Fly By Night Series (in order):

  Flight from Death (June 2015)

  Flight from Mayhem (June 2016)

  Otherworld Series (in order):

  From Berkley and Berkley Jove

  Witchling

  Changeling

  Darkling

  Dragon Wytch

  Night Huntress

  Demon Mistress

  Bone Magic

  Harvest Hunting

  Blood Wyne

  Courting Darkness

  Shaded Vision

  Shadow Rising

  Haunted Moon

  Autumn Whispers

  Crimson Veil

  Priestess Dreaming

  Coming Soon

  Panther Prowling

  Darkness Raging

  Indigo Court Series (in order):

  From Berkley and Berkley Jove

  Night Myst

  Night Veil

  Night Seeker

  Night Vision

  Night’s End

  Chintz ‘n China Series (in order):

  From Berkley Prime Crime

  Ghost of a Chance

  Legend of the Jade Dragon

  Murder Under a Mystic Moon

  A Harvest of Bones

  One Hex of a Wedding

  Bath and Body Series (under the name India Ink) (in order):

  From Berkley Prime Crime

  Scent to Her Grave

  A Blush With Death

  Glossed and Found

  Anthologies:

  From Berkley/Berkley Jove:

  Never After (Otherworld novella: The Shadow of Mist)

  Inked (Otherworld novella: Etched in Silver)

  Hexed (Otherworld novella: Ice Shards)

  E-Novellas:

  From Berkley/Berkley Jove/Berkley InterMix

  The Shadow of Mist: Otherworld novella

  Etched in Silver: Otherworld novella

  Ice Shards: Otherworld novella

  Flight From Hell: Otherworld-Fly By Night crossover novella

  Other Anthologies:

  From Simon & Schuster, Pocket Star, Smart Pop Books, Poisoned Pen Press, Nightqueen Enterprises LLC:

  Tales From Otherworld : Collection One

  Songs of Love & Death (short story: Man in the Mirror)

  Songs of Love and Darkness (short story: Man in the Mirror)

  Nyx in the House of Night (article: She is Goddess)

  A Second Helping of Murder (recipe: Clam Chowder)

  Magickal Nonfiction:

  From Llewellyn Publications and Ten Speed Press:

  Trancing the Witch’s Wheel

  Embracing the Moon

  Dancing with the Sun

  Tarot Journeys

  Crafting the Body Divine

  Sexual Ecstasy and the Divine

  Totem Magic

  Magical Meditations