Magpie & Jynx: The Lost and the Fallen

Magpie & Jynx

The Lost and the Fallen

The Twin Cities Series

J. B. Cameron

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, events, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons (living, dead, or otherwise), events, locales, etc. are entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2015 by J.B. Cameron. All rights reserved.

Smashwords Edition

ISBN: 9781310558368

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

FOREWORD

Though populated by the fantastic, The Realms are not the setting of your typical fantasy fare. In the Twin Cities Series, our mandate is to push the envelope of urban fantasy by depicting elements of fantasy in a realistic way, within a dark and gritty, modern sprawl that is both separate from our world, yet too close for comfort.

The Twin Cities Series has gone through its first season of tales, introducing readers to a world populated by creatures who formerly only existed in human imagination. Vampires, werewolves, shape shifters, and other monsters and mythical beasts thrive within the gothic, magical city found on the other side of secret portals into The Realms. Access to these portals are scattered throughout the known worlds, including our own. Concentrated around the twin cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, they remain hidden to everyone except those who know how to find them.

As we move into the second season of stories, the Twin Cities Series authors have a very special treat in store for you. Our books this season are part of a greater tale, a crossover story entitled Nightfall. Major changes to the world that we're building are coming, specifically in regards to the rule of Raven, the city's vampire lord.

A key player in this season's action is the vampire, Tabitha. Turned a century before by Raven, she has remained by his side, enduring the mental and physical abuse of her sire for ages. In the story that you're about to read, Tabitha's plot against him begins to take shape. It will continue to evolve throughout the remainder of this season's books, culminating in the stunning revolt against Raven in our climactic finale.

Raven, Tabitha, and Mr. Grimm are all characters of author Drew Avera and have been used or referenced with his permission. The goblin black market trader, Xellist is a character introduced by Theresa Snyder, also used with permission. You should enjoy the books offered by these authors for further details about them. You will find links to their contributions to The Twin Cities Series included after the story.

In this second Magpie & Jynx adventure, I hope that you will begin to notice fundamental changes in the personalities of the protagonists. As the four-book series progresses, these changes will only grow more pronounced. Their saga has a central theme of addiction, introduced from the very beginning by the notion that Jynx was a former addict, during her years in thrall to a vampire. In this book, you will discover that she isn't only one dealing with a monkey on her back. How they cope with their cravings provides an insight into their true characters. In that sense, the title for this book doesn't only refer to Tabitha and Gerrod's fall from Raven's grace, but it also provides a little foreshadowing into the fate awaiting Magpie and Jynx in future stories.

The half-troll Gerrod Kinspoiler is a new character to The Twin Cities fold. His encounter with Magpie and Jynx in this story forms the first act of his tale. Only time will tell if it ends in happiness or tragedy.

Introduced in the first book, the mystery behind Marlon and his strange magic shop at the city's heart deepens after events in this story. His real identity becomes the subject of Magpie and Jynx's next stirring adventure. Is he friend or foe? It's a revelation that you won't want to miss. I hope to see you then!

- J.B. Cameron

Chapter 1

The crow was an ebony raptor, a silent shadow whose presence remained hidden by the perpetual darkness of The Realms. It glided through the narrow arteries of the city streets, winding past lamplit towers of stone and glass. The sheen of its feathers reflected the prismatic neon branches hanging from the weathered skyscrapers of its concrete forest. This was its hunting ground, amidst the flying buttresses and stone gargoyles of its gothic metropolis. From its lofty airborne vantage, wonders and horrors played out before its eyes nightly, upon the cobblestone stage a hundred feet below.

The bird didn't belong on this side of the dimensional portals separating The Realms from the mundane world, or at least their presence this close to the city was such a rarity that it seemed that way. Magpie brooked no offense by this sentiment. The world contained many things that had no right to belong, including the creature who she presently hunted.

A clatter from below drew her gaze. Glass shattered in the shadows between two stone spires, accompanied by a voice crying out in pain. Usually, the scavengers were thorough. They scoured every inch of the city after the setting sun, feasting indiscriminately on detritus and carrion. Unfortunately for her quarry, they hadn't passed by this way yet. Magpie dipped her wing and circled around for a better view.

A figure emerged into the light, hobbling across the cobblestone street to the forested park on the other side. Gerrod favored one leg, holding his hand against the fresh gash torn in the other. The fear on his face was justified. He was only half-troll, and far too deep inside the city for any hope of escaping through a portal to the other world. Magpie could already detect the hungry dead stirring after catching the first scent of his half-mortal blood on the wind.

She needed to get to him quickly. It wouldn't be long before others would take up his trail. The last place she wanted to be when that happened was standing between him and a horde of bloodthirsty vampires.

Magpie issued a shrill caw, alerting him to her presence. Gerrod peered over his shoulder, almost stumbling as he desperately searched the night sky for any trace of his pursuer. She tucked her wings and swooped for his head, startling him with her cry. Gerrod wailed and waved his beefy arms to protect himself from his winged attacker.

He looked around. His assailant had seemingly disappeared. Sensing his chance to escape, he rushed headlong into the forest, ignoring the sting of branches slapping his arms and face as he crashed through the trees.

Behind him, Magpie settled upon the empty street and watched his reckless flight through the wilderness. She could stay on him easily from the branches overhead, but there was no point. Gerrod was heading exactly where she wanted him.

The bird uttered a raucous cry, screaming in agony as the metamorphosis racked its tiny body. Some considered shape changing glamorous, but for Magpie, it was more often sheer, blinding pain. The rush of her boiling blood flooded into stretching and knitting muscles. Her bones popped and cracked, extending well beyond the cruelest torture device. Internal organs threatened to explode from within, squeezing against the confines of her changing frame like an overstuffed paper bag. Hundreds of needles pinpricked every inch of her as feathers retracted into the pores of her newly formed, pink flesh. Within the space of heartbeats, her skull stretched, swallowing up her corvid features and taking on the appearance of a beautiful woman with a mane of thick, black hair.

Maggie Bartlett hugged the cold stone under her naked skin. The transformation was draining, as always. It would take time to adjust to the cumbersome weight of her human form. Following Gerrod would simply have to wait. He wasn't going to get far anyway, not in those woods.

Eventually, she would need to alter her epidermis, covering her nakedness with a black, leathery garb fashioned from the mineral composition of her crow physiology. For now, however, she was content to enjoy the soft kiss of the cool night air as it soothed her aching body.

Ah! she sighed. I really hate that bit.

Gerrod fled deeper into the black woods, his eyes darting to the branches over his shoulder in search of his unseen pursuer. Branches lashed his body mercilessly. In his panic, he barely felt the pain.

All he wanted was to get away, to escape this accursed city, fleeing back through the portals to the relative safety and normalcy of Minneapolis. He tried to remember what it was about his life there that he hated so badly that he felt he had to cross over. Nothing came to mind. Were he to suddenly emerge from this hellish nightmare and catch sight of the Twin Cities' golden lights, he figured that he'd probably drop to his knees and cry like a baby.

He was born an orphan in a Saint Paul medical center. His mother died while bearing him into a world that would treat him like a fatherless misfit for the next twenty-four years. The other children in foster care, intimidated by his freakish strength and hideous features, quickly took to calling him names and treating him like a pariah. They made it clear from an early age that he didn't belong around other people. However, it wasn't until much later that a succubus from The Realms enlightened him in regards to the truth of his parentage.

After crossing over, he soon tracked down his wayward father. Kagrilorn Bloodsever was a chieftain of the Uruk-sha'hai troll clan. The arrival of his bastard, half-mortal son caused quite an uproar amongst his many wives, one that could only be resolved with bloodshed. Before Gerrod had a chance to reunite with his absent parent, he was orphaned a second time. The clan drove him out, completing the title originally granted to him by a Saint Paul social worker. From that moment on, The Realms knew him as Gerrod Kinspoiler.

He bore the shame of his moniker for years, until transforming its meaning into something much darker while in the service of the Raven, the undisputed vampire lord of the city. His troll strength and foothold in both worlds made him the perfect fist to enforce his undead master's will. The job was one for which he was born; uniquely suited for his half-breed abilities. For a while, the ruination of lives became his only real purpose.

Then he heard about that situation between Grimm and Raven, and for the first time in his lonely life, Gerrod questioned the distinction between belonging to something and being someone else's belonging. Afraid that one day he might also end up as a vampire's puppet, he fled the Raven's service, becoming an orphan for the third time in his life.

The relatively new experience of being the fox, rather than the hunter, was something that came soon after.

He thought his pursuer might be a man by the name of Corgan. The Raven had plenty of spies working for him, but this particular shifter was one of Tabitha's people. He didn't want to think about how he was going to stay hidden from creatures who could transform themselves into any animal they desired. Even with two worlds to lose himself in, he could never be sure about avoiding the Raven's sight.

The barbed, wiry branches of a shrub caught his wounded leg. Gerrod bit his tongue to hold back a scream as he dropped to his knees on a soft carpet of moss.

Gah! he gasped, enduring the pain. His leg felt sticky under his hand. He was losing too much blood! If he didn't do something to staunch the bleeding, he'd be dead long before the