Earth Enchanted

EARTH ENCHANTED

Elemental Magic, Book One

By Brynna Curry

LYRICAL PRESS

http://lyricalpress.com/

KENSINGTON PUBLISHING CORP.

http://www.kensingtonbooks.com/

For my husband, Jackie, you are the hope, life, heart and soul that lights my world, my inspiration and my dream, the love and the magic. Your faith in me gives my heart wings. Then, now, ever and always, I love you.

Acknowledgements
 

My thanks to my mother, Dianne, for listening to my ramblings and believing. My husband, Jackie, for having enough faith in me to invest his time and thoughts and for putting up with me all these years.
 
Thank you L.J., Anna, and Kayla for being my bright shining stars, I love you all more than mere words can say.
 

 
Frank and Renee Rocco thank you for giving Jack and Liv a home.
 
My editor, Piper, girl you rock!
 
And everyone at LPI. So many people had a hand in creating this book it’s impossible to list them all here.
 
You’re awesome, thank you!

Foreword

When choosing the setting of Earth Enchanted, I decided to go with the old adage ‘write what you know’.
 
Jack’s hometown is fictional and modeled after Haleyville, AL.
 
Haleyville is a small city whose only claim to fame is the very first 911 call was made here in city hall on a red telephone that always reminds me of the old Batman phone.
 
Every year the city holds a heritage day where we celebrate the system and the men and women who save so many lives every day.
 
The movie theatre, library and entire mall area actually exist here as they are described.
 
I enjoyed sharing a little of my hometown with you.
 

You may already know the Hope and Marie Louise’s necklace stolen in the story are actual gems kept safe at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., the Regent is held in the Louvre in Paris, France.
 
What you may not know is before resting in Napoleon’s sword, the Regent changed hands several times.
 
The origin of the diamond is sure, but the method of procuring is not.
 
Originally owned by one of my Pitt ancestors our historian claims it was purchased and then sold to the Crown of France, yet another states it was stolen from the diamond mines in Africa. Either way, this is why it is often referred to as the Pitt Diamond.
 

Author’s Note

Thank you for taking this journey with me.
 
I hope you enjoyed Jack and Liv’s story.
 
Look for
To Take Up the Sword
, the next installment in the
Elemental Magic
Series. Love is the truest magic.
 
If you’re lucky enough to find it, hold on with everything you have.
 

Chapter 1

Jack’s Past

Jack dreamt and screamed in silent warning. Terror tore through him. Like a scene in a movie unfolding, he could do nothing but watch in agony. His hands ached to touch and hold her one more time. Lips craved one last taste of what would never be again. In his dreams, she was still alive and vibrant. He watched the candlelight bounce off her hair. Saw the lusty light come to her eyes when she watched his dream counterpart. Jack wished for her even now. If wishes were pennies…

Candlelight flickered in the dim room. Music, something soft with a lot of strings, played quietly in the background. Jack wasn’t sure what the piece was called, but his ears told him it was beautiful. White tablecloths adorned the small round tables while wine shimmered in the elegant crystal flutes. Nothing could have been more perfect.

The restaurant was peppered with couples, lost somewhere in their own murmured conversations or each other. Staff became ghosts slipping unnoticed through the crowd as they went about their duties. The woman who sat across from him was many things: childhood friend, comforter, partner, lover and wife.

Jack had known Serena nearly all his life. Her family emigrated from Ireland when she was five, but the lilt that came from her homeland had never left her voice. Both she and Jack had wanted to be in law enforcement for as long as either could remember. It had been a rough road, but they had made it together.

Their first anniversary dinner, a special time for any couple, was only a sidestep for them tonight. Both were dutifully married to the job first. Serena had been discussing the case they were working on, but he had tuned out the words and was just listening. Too blinded to see how distracted she was. Would he have had a vision of her death that night if he’d been paying attention? The rise and fall of Serena’s voice became a spellbinding music leaving him breathless and entranced.

Two separate cellphones rang, interrupting the nice little lull his mind had gone into. They grinned at the “Miami Vice” themes that played badly through the gadgets. He answered, “Roarke,” softly into the small phone. She frowned at the ID and shut hers off.

“Mickey.” Their informant wanted another meet. Like magic, the lovers were gone and they were cops again.

* * * *

Jack noted Serena kept quiet for most of the drive, barely speaking at all. Uneasy ever since his informant’s call had come, he grew tense as they got closer to the building and he parked the car along the sidewalk. Though she had a ‘no flirting during working hours’ rule, he dragged her across the seat and kissed her hard.

“Jack? What was that for?”

“Nothing. Everything. I love you, Sissy.”

She brushed a curl of hair from his forehead. He never did manage to remember to get it cut. She smiled. “Let’s get this over with.” That being said, she checked her gun in its holster and got out of the car.

The alley ran behind one of the rattraps that they’d raided for drugs a couple of weeks ago. No light reached here in the bowels of the city. The air was thick with the stench of garbage, smoke, and prostitution for those lovely people who didn’t care enough to rent a room.

Summer heat in northern Alabama, the thermometer had been bursting at 103 degrees by noon, made the smell walk like a living thing. Sissy passed her penlight beam over the building’s brick wall. Graffiti announced the sort of things one human being could do to another. ‘Mickey,’ Jack’s informant, always showed on the signal, but not this time. He had a gut feeling to grab his wife, turn and run as hard and fast as he could. The premonition flashed through him dark and heavy.

Copper, the raw taste of fear, slid over his tongue. Both drew, half expecting to find the informant dead, definitely to find trouble. Neck deep in a suspected smuggling ring, they’d had their share of scrapes lately.

Jack screamed at her and his dream self, though he knew she couldn’t hear him.

“Run, baby, please.”

Why? Why do I have to watch over and over again? His heart and soul cried out from the wrenching pain. Please, God, have mercy! Just let me die with her this time.

He finally felt the prickles of warning on the back of his neck. The nauseating pain spread from the base of his skull to his temples and lastly in front of his eyes. Finally able to see the threat, Jack knew, the vision came far too late. Someone was watching them, unseen from high atop the neighboring building.

“Get out, Sissy!” Jack screamed. “It’s a trap! Run!” He fired two shots in the direction of his unknown attacker.

Three shots pealed through the dark. Two pinged off the brick. She turned toward his shouted warning and barely had time to call out before the third slammed into her chest. Dazed, she clutched her breast.

Jack returned the fire instinctively, getting off another six rounds, before the gun dropped from his hand. A dark stain spread across her white silk dinner blouse. He caught her as she cried out and crumpled to the ground. He pressed his hand over hers, a futile attempt to staunch the wound.

All that blood, so much gushing out of the hole in her heart. Oh, God!

It pulsed and dripped across her hand where his ring rested on her slim finger. An hour ago, it had seemed they had a lifetime to live, love, but now they might have minutes only. Maybe not even that long. He’d seen men die, had killed before, but nothing compared to watching the woman he loved bleed to death in his arms. There wasn’t anything he could do.

“Help us! Somebody!” He rocked her back and forth gently, and dug his cellphone out of his pocket. The alley fell silent. Her attacker had accomplished his mission.

Another vision came, along with a sickening sense of loss. She would be gone before help would come. Helpless, Jack fought back the drowning tears and grief he already felt, and lied to her. “It’s going to be all right, Sissy, just hold on to me.” He stroked her hair, kissed her cheek. She shuddered in his arms as though she’d never be warm again. He dialed 9-1-1. “Detective Jackson Roarke. I need a bus at…” He rattled off the address. “Officer down, I repeat officer down. Bullet wound to the chest. Hurry, damn it!”

“Don’t lie to me. I’m as good…as dead. You see it.” Her breath hitched as blood gurgled from her throat and stained her lips.

“Catch them for me, Jack. Promise me.” She clutched his shirt, pleading.

“I will, but you’ll help me. You’ll be there to help me.”

She nodded.

He looked back toward the gaping mouth of the alley. Where were the medics? He couldn’t panic, couldn’t afford to let his mind go frantic. Maybe he was wrong and what he saw wouldn’t come to pass. When he was about to give up all hope, the screaming sirens ripped the night air. Help was here. His vision had to be wrong, born of panic instead of the gift. Serena must live.

“Almost here.” She was so cold. How could she be so cold already?

“I love…Jack…tell…Sorry.”

“Don’t say it, not now.”

“Live.” She whispered, “Just live.”

He felt Serena’s spirit leave her body before fingers left a trail of blood to mix with his tears. Her bright green eyes lost their spark, faded and then saw nothing. His vision had happened. Serena Roarke was dead.

He shook her, rocked her, begged and pleaded. He cursed God and the devil, but she was beyond him now. Jack looked down to the bright red covering the concrete, her and him. Never again, he thought. Even though he wasn’t exactly sure what that meant. He tossed his shield on the ground, where their weapons lay in her pooling blood. Cradling his dead wife in his arms, Jack curled into a ball, rocked her lifeless body, and sobbed inconsolably.