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    Transformations: Uncollected Anthology, #14
    Transformations: Uncollected Anthology, #14
    Transformations: Uncollected Anthology, #14
    Ebook80 pages41 minutes

    Transformations: Uncollected Anthology, #14

    By Leah Cutter

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Ao Dan works as a wizard for Huli Transport. He primarily opens portals to transport messengers and goods between places.

    Easy. Non-complicated. Even if Ao Dan has taken off time recently to grieve the loss of his partner and has not done any magic in a while.

    But hitchhikers can always show up. Dangerous creatures from other planes tunneling through to this world.

    When a demon nearly kills Ao Dan on his first day back at work, the confrontation starts Ao Dan questioning everything he knows about magic, as well as Huli Transport.

    "Transformations" introduces the Huli Transport office in San Francisco, expanding the universe and this fascinating alternate world.

    Be sure to read the other Huli Transport stories, including the origin story, "Fox and Hound" as well as the novel, "The Immortals' War." 

    "Surprisingly deep urban fantasy"--Tangent Online

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherKnotted Road Press
    Release dateOct 21, 2017
    ISBN9781386555490
    Transformations: Uncollected Anthology, #14
    Author

    Leah Cutter

    Leah Cutter--a Crawford Award Finalist--writes page-turning fiction in exotic locations, such as New Orleans, ancient China, the Oregon coast, ancient Japan, rual Kentucky, Seattle, Minneapolis, Budapest, etc.  Find more fiction by Leah Cutter at www.KnottedRoadPress.com. Follow her blog at www.LeahCutter.com.

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      Book preview

      Transformations - Leah Cutter

      Transformations

      Transformations

      Uncollected Anthology, Issue 14: Warlocks

      Leah R Cutter

      Knotted Road Press

      Contents

      Transformations

      About the Author

      Also by Leah R Cutter

      About Knotted Road Press

      About Uncollected Anthology

      Transformations

      W atch out! Behind you! Ao Dan shouted .

      It was too late. The demon had already breached the portal. The stench of rotten cabbage and rancid fish hit Ao Dan like a physical blow. He couldn’t help but gag, doubling over with dry heaves. His white shirt felt tight against his chest and the collar strangled him. His black suit was suddenly too warm. Sweat dotted his scalp, under his straight, black, Asian hair that was only now starting to gray at the temples, show his fifty plus years.

      Shut it down! Shut it down! the messenger shouted. Then he gave a blood-curdling scream as the demon ripped his spine, and his soul, out of

      his

      body

      .

      Ao Dan wiped his weeping eyes with one hand while he blasted a strong wind at the demon with the other, hoping to force it back through the portal.

      However, it didn’t stumble back through the swirling gray portal. Instead, it merely grunted in frustration as it struggled to reach the other tasty morsel in the room. Probably, the messenger’s soul had already fortified the demon, making it even stronger.

      Ao Dan kept up the strong wind while he finally got a quick look at the red-faced demon. Pig-like snout and boar tusks. Sharp, poisonous spines covering its skull and spine. Chest and arms made of all muscles. Wicked tail. Claws on both hands and feet. Seven feet tall in height. Some sort of leather wrapping around its waist—probably human flesh, the kind it had flayed from a recent victim.

      A binding spell would do the job, hold the demon while he pushed

      it

      back

      .

      If only Ao Dan had one prepared…

      But this was supposed to be a milk run, or so his boss had claimed. An easy job to help Ao Dan slowly get back into the swing of working as a wizard again. Merely set up a portal from the San Francisco, California office to the office in Bejing, China. Pop a Huli Transport messenger through. Hold the portal open for fifteen minutes.

      Easy.

      Except that there was always a chance that a creature from one of the other dimensions would sense the portal and tag along. It didn’t happen frequently—maybe one time in one hundred did a hitchhiker appear.

      Ao Dan should have been better prepared. Was he getting sloppy? Overly confident?

      At least Ao Dan didn’t have to worry about the creature escaping: the demon was contained in the portal room. It couldn’t escape and go terrorize the rest of the building. Once the door to the room was shut, special binding spells locked it into place. Nothing as magical as a demon could burst through and wreak havoc in the mundane world.

      There was nothing in the room to help Ao Dan, though. Plain dark gray walls, now dotted with the messenger’s blood. Sturdy brown carpet that would have to be replaced (the cost probably coming out of Ao Dan’s salary). Tall white ceiling. The door out to the rest of the office building somewhere behind him. Swirling gray portal rising from the floor to the ceiling, about three feet across, standing in the corner. Occasional blue streaks of lightning streaking running along the edges of it. Rich blackness filling

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