Guardian of the Moon Pendant
Read Guardian of the Moon Pendant Online
Authors: Laura J Williams
| Guardian of the Moon Pendant |
| Highland Secrets [1] |
| Laura J Williams |
| Laura J. Williams (2012) |
The MacAlpin women are of a fierce clan, born from a rare bloodline that harbors a dark and powerful secret – a mystical heirloom called the Moon Pendant. It is the key to controlling the MääGord standing stones, a magical Portal into the Otherworld, the realm of the Fae.
Anabel and Izzy MacAlpin are two sisters, polar opposites, living separate lives.
Anabel’s life is going precisely according to her plan, a ring on her finger from her steady beau, Edgar, and medical school in the fall.
Izzy’s life is filled with scars and wounds from her past. Dubbed the “spare child” by her family and treated poorly, she rebelled, and now lives life by her own rules.
These two sisters’ worlds are about to explode when one of them must go to Scotland and fulfill her duty as the Guardian of the Moon Pendant, by recharging this magical heirloom with four elementals, air, earth, water, and fire, and then finally close the Portal.
There’s only one problem…
The Baobhan Sith – a vampiric faery who lures men in with her hypnotic voice, feeding on their blood or transforming them into Màrmann, her zombie-like warriors who do her bidding – desires the Moon Pendant to take control over the Portal, opening a gateway into the realm of man, helping her to seek revenge on the MacAlpin clan, and to quench her eternal thirst for human blood.
Anabel finds herself torn between a sinfully handsome Scottish warrior, Blane and her fiancée, Edgar. Izzy finds herself, angered by her sister’s lack of faith in her.
Both sisters are forced to help one another, but may end up killing each other in the end. Surrounded by an array of good and evil Scottish Fae like a vampiric faery, the Baobhan Sith, zombie-warriors, the Ankou, Dryads, the Fachan, the Ghillie Dhu, Heather Pixies, Leigheas, the Nuckelavee, the Bloody Baron a Red Cap, Stone Faeries, Trows, and Will-o’-the-wisps.
Will these two sisters put aside their differences before the final task to charge the Moon Pendant and close the Portal or will the Baobhan Sith, the vampiric faery, be successful and open the Portal into the Otherworld?
Guardian of the Moon Pendant
By Laura J. Williams
Guardian of the Moon Pendant
All
rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, magnetic, and photographic including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission of the publisher. No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information contained herein. Although every precaution has been take in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.
Copyright© 2012 by Laura J. Williams
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s amazing imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Published July 2012
Table of
Contents
♦♦♦
Prologue
I lay there sprawled out on a cold stone slab, tucked away deep inside the demon’s lair, spread-eagle, face-down, blood trickling from my mouth. The Màrmann hovered over me like vultures, swooping in, their mouths drooling, poking me with their sharp claws, testing to see if their prey was dead or alive, itching to get a t
aste of my most precious blood.
I doubt the Màrmann ever had female blood before, let alone a MacAlpin; most of their food was wayward travelers, local Scots men or the naïve backpacker, lured b
y their demon’s hypnotic voice.
I felt their hesitation, their boots shuffling side to side, lips smacking, even salivating,
not
knowing if I was as delicious as they thought I’d be. If only the Bloody Baron were here to let them know that indeed, my nectar was the sweetest of the sweet.
But, seriously, it didn’t matter anymore.
I was dead.
Toast.
End of the line.
Kicked the bucket.
Kaput!
Lights out.
Six feet under.
It’s over, buddy.
The End!
The Grim Reaper had arrived, and he didn’t look like he was stopping by for crumpets and tea.
So who cares if the Màrmann throw back a couple of pints of my blood? I didn’t need it. Drink up, I say! Follow it back with a beer chaser and a couple of nips of whiskey and we’ll make it my last happy hour! A final fare thee well party!
Except now…
I was the beverage of choice.
Isn’t it funny how quickly things change?
Chapter 1
Suburbia, NY
♦♦♦
Anabel
I focused my eyes on the diamond ring, a commitment between myself and Edgar, my high school sweetheart, the only boy I had ever grown to love. It was delicate, thinly curved, a modest clear-cut diamond cradled within its setting, its molten golden color reflecting the sunlight’s rays, tickling my eyes.
I swallowed hard, taking in a deep sharp breath, hoping it would relax my nerves, trying to suppress the butterflies in my stomach, hoping the feeling in my gut would go away or was utterly wrong.
Edgar meant the world to me. He was the boy who followed me around before and after class in high school, searching for an excuse to be near me. At first I thought it was a little creepy, having someone follow you around all day, popping up in all my AP classes, planting his awkward self into the desk behind me, snickering uncontrollably at my jokes, but never quite making eye contact with me ever.
I remember peering into my microscope in biology class, staring at a few colorful amoebas swimming around. When I had popped my head up again, there he was holding a formaldehyde frog on a grungy brown tray. All he said was, “Ready to kiss
your Prince?” flashing his pearly whites. I burst out laughing, and since then we’ve never been apart.
Bang!
An earsplitting shot rang out, piercing my eardrums, its power throwing me back into my seat, rattling the pictures on my bedroom wall, and rustling the papers on my desk.
“There she goes again!” I grumbled, gritting my teeth and rolling my eyes.
I pushed the chair back from my desk, thundering across the room, jerking open the window and sticking my head out.
“Mother!”
I hollered, turning my head up toward the clear blue sky, a grey plume of smoke hovering outside the upstairs’ window, a foul stench of burning metal wafting through the sweet spring air.
“Not now, dear,” she said hoarsely, sticking out her straggly mop of a head, her frizzy auburn hair poking out wildly like she stuck her finger into an electric socket. “There’s vermin moving in these bushes.”
A silver barrel peeked out of the window, focusing on its next victim.
“They’re called squirrels!” I yelled, plugging my fingers into my ears, before she pulled the trigger again.
Bang!
A flock of birds fluttered out of the trees in the backyard, rustling leaves and soaring into the cloudless sky.
“A-hah!
That’ll teach them vermin!” mother cackled.
“Would you
puh
-lease
stop shooting at anything that moves?” I begged. “Let the animals live in peace, mother. They’re not…”
I paused.
My ears prickled, hearing the pumping sound of pellet gun loading. Mother had switched from her double barrel shotgun to her air rifle to kill the squirrels. I blew out a frustrated breath and knew the mad woman upstairs wasn’t listening to me. Hastily, I slammed the window shut and walked away from the ruckus.
For years my mother had some crazy notion in her head that there was something lurking on the edge of the forest just beyond our yard, staring at her with impish eyes. She had spent my whole childhood learning how to shoot and load a shotgun in five seconds flat.
Instead of a swing set, we had a big red bull’s eye setup on a hay barrel in the backyard. I spent my childhood years learning how to shoot a bow and arrow, along with a slingshot, and even became a black belt in karate.
I nestled back down at my honey oak desk, hoping my mother would lay off the firearms for a full minute. I scooped up a handful of response letters from my medical school applications, straightening them out by tapping them firmly against my desk, sliding them into a manila folder, and slipping it into my lower desk drawer, under the letter ‘M’ for medical school.
I prided myself on my superior organizational skills. I grinned, knowing everything had a place and everything in its place. One must always have control of her life in order to move ahead, I reassured myself, lining up my pens in a flower jar next to my iMac, separating the black ones from the blue ones.
Beep! Beep!
My iMac rang. My heart jolted inside my chest. It was, Edgar.
I ran the palms of my hands over my ponytail, smoothing back any wayward strands of red hair that may have escaped.
I clicked on my Skype icon, launching his simple, yet adorable pasty white face across my monitor. Edgar smiled awkwardly, flashing his oversized teeth into the webcam, shifting uncomfortably in his seat as he adjusted the camera.
“Luvey!” he chirped, pushing back his thick glasses up the bridge of his nose.
A flush heated my cheeks, gazing into the caramel eyes of my fiancée.
“I have everything planned, Edgar,” I said excitedly, thumbing through a bridal magazine with red Post-it flags jutting out from the sides, marking the pages that were important to our perfect wedding. “First, we’ll start with…”
Bang!
I cringed, slapping the heel of my hand against my forehead.
“Your mother seems to be preoccupied with the extermination of any animal on your property,” stated Edgar in his matter-of-fact tone, his fingers splayed gingerly through his greasy black hair, exposing his Dumbo sized ears.
“I know,” I said, feeling the blood drain from my face. I was so embarrassed. I wanted to drop my forehead flat onto the desk and bang it repeatedly. But I didn’t, as a lady doesn’t do that. So, I threw my shoulders back, aligning my torso with my seat and continued. “She’s obsessed with things that go bump in the night. And in the day, for that matter, anything that moves.”
“No need to be ashamed, Luvey,” said Edgar politely. “Speaking of animals, perhaps, the two of you may be interested in my new ios App that I’m creating? It’s called
animaland
.” Edgar held up his iPhone, encased in a clear rubber cover, displaying a green striped UI screen for his ios App.
“What does it do?” I asked, squinting into the monitor for a closer look.
“You take a picture of an animal with the camera phone,” said Edgar, pressing a few of the purple buttons, “any animal, mind you, and it tells you exactly what biological
species it is. It’s Family, Breed, if applicable, Traits and Characteristics, Life Expectancy… ”
I know Edgar is a bit boring, but that’s what I love about him. He’s safe. I know what I get, and I always get what I expect. How perfect is that?
I nodded my head with emphasis. “Wow! Does it work on dead ones?” I said sarcastically, pursing my lips to the side.
“Of course!”
Edgar said elatedly. He was always happy to talk about his latest Apps.
“As long as it is located in North America.
I’m also making it adaptable to other creatures, living or imaginary, such as, birds, insects, World of Warcraft characters, and even Star Trek aliens. It’s highly compatible with anything I choose. I just have to cross reference it to a new database.”
I smiled at Edgar as he adjusted his suspenders and straightened out his bowtie.
He was all
mine
, the big geek!
My life was right on track. I had graduated early from college with a 4.0, a B.S. in Biology, pre-med, aced my MCAT’s with a perfect score of 45, got engaged to the smartest man in high school and was ready to get out of this hell hole of a house – far, far away from my crazy mother and my rebel sister, Izzy.
I’d include my father, but ever since I was a child he’s never really been present in my life, always disconnected, staring into the TV like a zombie, snorting strange noises every now and then, and drinking beer. So, as far as I was concerned, he just took up extra space in the house and never really added to the family dynamics.
In the fall, I’ll be attending medical school. Where? I didn’t know yet, but I was going and I was going to make it happen! And then next summer, in a year’s time, Edgar and I would be married. We’d live in the suburbs, a Victorian-style house with a slate roof, yellow siding with white trim, and a wide porch to sit out on, rocking back and forth on our swing chair, canoodling in the summer breeze, drinking homemade lemonade, watching our two children playing in the yard, one boy and one girl along
with two chocolate Labradors. Yes, life was going precisely as I planned it, full steam ahead.
“Listen, Luvey, I must go. I have to finish this work and submit it to the App store to get it accepted before the summer push. I hope you don’t mind?”