Serving as a Mage of the Nightshade Guild was an honor. I took my responsibility seriously to honor those who had been lost. Thousands of years before, a group of Mages had come forward to try and curtail the destructive magic and disarray in the world, but some thrived on the chaos and didn’t want peace. A group of Mages banded together to try to bring order to the world. In a simple but deadly attack, those who didn’t want the world to change poisoned the group with poison from the nightshade. None of the Mages survived the attack, but it was finally enough to shake the magical community. Mages from throughout the realms had banded together to fight back against those trying to take control. They chose the strongest among them and followed the new rules passed down. That was the birth of The Nightshade Guild in honor of those that were lost. As a member of the twelve chosen, it was my duty and honor. I couldn’t let desire get in the way.
I lived at the top of this mountain, owned the whole thing, actually, because I loved my peace and solitude. With the house at a four-thousand-feet-high elevation and uninterrupted views for over sixty-five miles, I could feel the magic pouring from the ancient land and all of nature surrounding my home, my sanctuary. It didn’t often snow here in the Western North Carolina mountains, so when it did, it was news. Henry had called earlier to ask if he could come tomorrow because of the weather, but I explained I was babysitting my niece for a while and needed everything as soon as possible. He’d agreed immediately, gushing about how exciting my adventure would be with a baby in the house.
He didn’t know the half of it. My little charge wasn’t my niece; she was the Elvin Princess Ameria, holder of all magic since the untimely murder of her parents two months ago. Since the assassination, the Nightshade Guild members were charged with keeping her hidden and safe until somebody found the assassin. From shifters to vampires and everything in between, every paranormal race was scrambling to get possession of her because whoever held the princess ruled all magic. Each member of the Guild was keeping her for a month, then passing her to the next. A moving target was harder to catch.
This was March and my month. Granted, I had known for two months that this day would come, but I’d hoped somebody would have solved the murders by this time and I would be off the hook.
That didn’t happen.
So, I’d made my last-minute order of everything I found online listed as must-haves for a one-year-old baby. I just hoped I’d be able to do this. Show me anything in nature that needed fixing, and I could handle it with a blink of the eye. But a baby? Yeah, not my specialty. Nothing scared me normally. I was a Druid Elf. Six-foot-six of muscle and magic, but babysitting scared the hell out of me.
The sound of Henry’s truck struggling up the last steep section of my driveway finally spurred me to leave the porch, moving through the living room to check on the baby who was just beginning to squirm. She’d be awake soon and probably hungry. I’d have to help unload everything quickly so he could get down the mountain safely before the worst of the storm hit. I didn’t need him interacting with the princess. She was already showing remarkable powers, and a human learning about her magic was the last thing I needed.
I walked to the front door, opened it, and waved Henry toward the carport through the snowfall. He pulled his ancient truck under the shelter and turned off the engine, which gave off a death rattle and chug of smoke from the tailpipe before finally falling silent. The rusty hinges of the door echoed under the roof of the carport, followed by an even louder slam. Then, as always, Henry started talking without even a word of greeting.
“Good gods, Finn. You better be glad I like you because the drive up here in this mess was a nightmare. Heck, it’s a nightmare on good days with clear roads.”
My heart raced, and my balls tingled when I heard him say he liked me. I knew it was a modern expression, but I loved hearing him say it anyway. Sweet woodlands elves, I was pathetic.
In fascination, I watched his blond mop of curls bounce as he strode to the back of the truck, lifting a blue tarp off the boxes inside and throwing it to the other side out of the truck bed while still talking.
“That gravel path you call a drive up this mountain is getting slushy and slipperier every minute. I hope I can get down without sliding into a ravine. My parents would kill me if I died.”
He snorted at his joke, then turned in my direction before stopping cold. Henry had gone still, so I shook out of my reverie and noticed he was looking behind me with eyes wide and a smile that could brighten even this gloomy evening.
“Hello, beautiful! Where do you think you’re going in such a hurry?”
Henry bounded up the stairs from the carport to the front door, pushing me aside in the process to get to his objective. I was a big guy, and Henry was no more than five-foot-eight. Being able to move me so far so fast meant he was much stronger than he looked. When he approached the doorway, I saw that the baby must have followed the sounds out here and crawled to the door to investigate. She could have been hurt by any number of things on the way to the door. I
