Love and War: Short Story Collection

Moving On Up - Mezzy Hitch

The New Year’s party was in full swing, the double glazed doors muffled the laughter and music. Sheldon Town had an optimistic Christmas atmosphere due to the snow that had settled throughout the day. The festive cheer would usually infect me and I would hold my own Christmas party with mine and Evan’s friends from work. This year has been an alcohol induced despair. I can hardly remember anything since Christmas Eve. I’ve cried every day into whatever bottle I had and turned the phone and TV off. Only allowing my iPod to haunt me with all the songs that Evan liked. The text that came up when I turned my phone on was from the home wrecker, Susannah.

This is Susannah. I’ll be Evans’ new wife soon.

The rest were from all my friends at work, commiserations to WTF filled my inbox. I didn’t answer anyone. They were friends of ours as a couple. Not one of them I would consider a close friend that would be entirely on my side.

“Leonara? Why are you out here? It’s below minus one”

Sighing, I turned to see my mother’s face hanging out the crack of the doorway. Last I saw of her was at the punch bowl area with a glass of the pink stuff in one hand and her favourite nutty chocolates in the other.

“It’s a bit weird being back, everyone keeps staring”

She moved forward and rubbed her arms against the cold. “That’s because they think you are picking up the mantle from Aunt Livvie”

Arguing the point that I wasn’t here to be Sheldon’s next Head Witch was moot. They all knew that my husband had an affair and got a woman pregnant. Here in Sheldon, that didn’t even reach gossip level. Cheating husbands could be taken care of by curses or poison. The real gossip was if I was going to be the next Head Witch. Sheldon holds an equal ratio of Werewolves, Vampires, Necromancers and Witches. Each sect has a head and with that came properties, businesses and a s**t ton of money. It should excite me that Aunt Livvie thought I was capable and amazing enough for this position, but the real reason she put me in her last Will and Testament was because I was the only young female left in the family. She hated men.

“Ignore them for now, darling. Take a week to think it over. You can always pass it on to someone else if you want,” she beckoned me over and I walked over to her, clicking my heels against the patio.

The warmth of the heating coupled with the amount of bodies hit me as I screwed my eyes up against the bright lighting. My mother’s house was at its brightest and loudest at New Year’s. The spells of merriment would have been cast repeatedly throughout the day to influence everyone’s perspective. It was a gentle spell, but my mother’s cast is strong. It didn’t have any effect on me. Growing up in this house gave me immunity to everything that Eferin Witches can cast.

“Leonara, I’d like you to meet my son. He’s just finished his training and he can cast…” I tried to listen to my old neighbours prattle, but my eye got caught by a man walking in from the foyer. Big, muscly, yellow eyed, has to be a werewolf. His eyes caught mine, and I felt rooted to the spot as he walked purposefully over to me.

“You the next Head Witch?” His voice was growly and matched his features, which were drawn into a frown. He seemed handsome in a craggy sort of way, not usually my type. My ex was classically handsome with a clean-shaven face.

“I’m thinking about it”

“Hmph, you need to stand as referee” behind him heavy footsteps of a tall thin man who had long dark hair, his jacket was the giveaway that he was a Vampire. It had the badge of one of the Vampire houses. They tend to like to wear the name of where they came from. It still puzzled me why.

My mother slipped her hand through mine and I stopped myself from sighing again. I was looking forward to a hot chocolate and a bubble bath at the end of this party, not an all out fight between races.

“What’s the case? And why can’t the necromancer head not stand referee?” My mother gripped me again, her fingers biting into the crook of my arm, her obvious distaste evident. Necromancers and Witches do not mix well.

“They are within their fast” it must be Hivana, a necromancer version of a religious holiday.

I nodded and gestured back to the patio. If there was going to be bloodshed, then I don’t want it in the house. With that one action that everyone will assume that I had taken on the role of the Head Witch, it was insane. I’ve been away for ten years in the human world and I’m back for two days and already embroiled in something crazy. Sheldon was like that, never mundane. Good thing no humans could enter here.

The werewolf stood on one end of the patio and the vampire on another.

They placed me in the middle and thought back on Aunt Livvie’s countless referee meetings.

“State your grievances. Wolf, go first” I stepped out of the middle and kept my eye on the Vampire, he was the dangerous one here. Wolves are predictable. Vampires are the sneakiest bastards I know.

“We are accused of theft. After our investigation, we have caught the culprit and punished him. Vampire family wants death, we disagree”

“Vampire, you next.” I saw the Vampire flick his hair in an almost effeminate way and smiled. His fangs gleamed in the moonlight and I rolled my eyes at him. He looked down and cleared his throat.

“We demand death, reason is that we destroy our Vampires if they cross the line”

Death was at my fingertips. I could order the execution and no one would point shame at me for it. That was the power of being the Head. I didn’t feel a thrill at the prospect, so I’m glad that at least I’m not a psychopath Witch like my Aunt Livvie was.

“What was stolen?” Pointing the question again at the Vampire, he bowed his head and whispered in reply.

“Our wine” A Vampire wine is the strongest and rarest as they make it every thirty years. Very few of the other races can take a sip of it and its renown to knock your socks off after one teaspoon full.

“Wolf, who is the culprit, and what was the punishment?” The wolf’s bright yellow eyes shone at me and he made quite a picture set against the night sky.

“A youngster called Greg, he is a ruffian. He’s been put into the underground for five years” I nodded. Seems like an apt punishment. No matter how rare, the wine is not worth a death. That means that there was no choice but to let them fight.

“Punishment meets the standard of the rules. Vampire you have two choices, pay Witches and Wolves compensation for wasting our time or fight till one of you draws blood. Which do you pick?”

His smile was answer enough, and the Wolf nodded. Noone ever wants to pay compensation. They always end up fighting. And this is how everyone keeps civilised here. It was just a pretence. Most are at the precipice of killing each other.

I stood back and raised my hands to cast a spell of containment and looked at my watch. Twenty minutes they had. If no one drew blood at that time, then they would be stopped and arranged for another referee meeting.

The spell felt natural, as I cast for the first time in ten years. There wasn’t even a delay. I felt a pressure on top of my head and knew exactly what it was. The copper crown of the Head Witch sat comfortably on my black hair.

Was this decision impulsive by being referee? Most likely. But I just went with the flow. At least it was distracting me from my pain, and for the first time in a decade, I actually thought another man was handsome. The wolfs name wasn’t needed in the meeting, but I wished I asked it. Maybe getting over someone is to get under someone. Now that did give me a thrill, but my logic screamed at me that rebound affairs are notorious for dealing out the hurt. I stamped on my hormones and watched as the Wolf rushed forward while the Vampire laughed.

The Vampire would find this hilarious, his master has probably sent him to teach the wolves a lesson and also to get the troublemaker out of his hair. These meetings have cogs in wheels within wheels of reasons.

The Vampire slapped the wolf away, and he flipped back with a faster than eye movement. Because I was Head Witch I could see everything but it would baffle onlookers from the party. Noises of them going back into the warm cosiness of the hallway confirmed it and I stood holding my slinky around my shoulders to keep warm.

The wolf had managed to get behind the Vampire and morphed his hand into wolf's claws and pierce the vampire’s neck. I shut down the containment and used another spell to freeze them. The watch said 3 minutes, not bad. The wolf won so the vampire would go under probation by his master.

I separated them and unfroze them with a flick of my finger. The spells were coming faster and ready within my mind, better than before. I know it’s because of the crown. It gave that ability which was at least ten times faster than any Witch.

“Wolf drew first blood. Vampire go back. Wolf, you may stay at the party if you choose”

The Vampire smiled at me and even though his relaxed posture was normal for a Vampire, I felt that something was off.

“Oh dearie, there is no way I’m going back. I’ve brought friends to play with you”

He waited till everyone had gone back inside the house. Clever vampire. The Wolf went into a half crouching position, a wolfs simple attack position, and I put my hand up to stop him.

“Vampire, are you declaring war on the Witches?” Clasping my hands together, I kept my features impassive. War with the Vampires was not an unusual thing. Considering they can live for thousands of years, they are as impulsive as three-year-old toddlers. War was like a distraction, fun, and a chance for their internal politics to have a major shift.

His ‘friends’ jumped up from the drop at the side of the patio and again I wished my mother had a house in the middle of town so that we wouldn’t be blindsided but this house had been in the family for six generations and she’s old-fashioned.

“We declare war with you, Witch, your family, your friends” There it is, official declaration.

This time I let the sigh out and mentally cursed Evan. If he hadn’t bumped uglies with that lipstick obsessed slut, then I wouldn’t be in this predicament. I would be living a normal, boring human life.

The Vampires flew at me. They didn’t change into bats like those myths, but they can leap great distances in a millisecond. I held my ground without casting. Blood needed to be drawn. We always follow the rules of war. Declaration and who draws first blood? The Vampire has assumed that a ten-year break in the human world will leave me weak and floundering.

A vampire pierced my neck with his fangs and sacked in a mouthful of blood. He jumped back off and hissed at me with burnt lips. Another Vampire had scratched my thigh through my one of the kind Gucci black sequin dress and screamed as his hand caught fire. The rest got the picture and backed away warily. I froze them all and put a spell on the primary culprit.

The spell was a difficult one. A truth spell always is. Letting the Vampire speak, I started the questions.

“Why declare war?”

“My master wants the crown”

Vampires are like the dragons from stories, always coveting what’s not theirs.

“Are the politics in your family at the point of needing a shift in power”

“Yes”

“Does your master desire a bloody war?”

“Yes”

Well, that’s an issue. I was hoping to have this wrapped up. He’s drawn first blood, he’s declared war and there’s nothing I can do about it except get everyone ready to go through another tedious to and fro with the Vampires. I wish I could banish them, but that would mean the humans would suffer a worse fate. At least we kept them in check.

“Do you only want war with the Witches and their friends?”

“Yes”

“Wolves are our friends. Are you worried?”

“No”

The Vampire’s eyes told me what he was feeling. Telling the truth must be killing him inside. They lived their lives on deceit and conspiracy.

I tapped my chin in a show of thoughtfulness and smiled. “Do you know a person called Uno Patence?”

“No” His evinced his frustration by panting and I would have felt sorry for him if he hadn’t tried to play me.

“Uno is a childhood friend. My mother never liked her, in fact she hated her. But we stayed friends. I haven’t seen her in ten years, but we kept in touch through a message stone. She told me before I came back that if I ever needed her, then she would be here for me and of course I would do the same for her. Are you sure you don’t know her?”

“No” His pants were coming quicker, and I reached into my purse, which had taken a battering already but held together with a string and hope. The message stone was still there. It felt warm in my hand as I rubbed it three times. It was our signal for 911. A crack of thunder pealed behind me as I felt a portal open.

The handsome wolf stepped back further as a woman with blonde hair and glasses came squealing through and into my open, waiting arms.

“Leo!! Oh my Leo!!” Her scent of paper and ink was the most normal thing I’ve encountered since I came back and I inhaled it as much as I could with my head buried in her hair.

“Naughty Leo! I’m fasting, you shouldn’t call” She didn’t pay attention to the wolf, or the frozen Vampires. She went straight up to the one I was interrogating and let out a big guffaw of laughter. I felt like it transported me back to our childhood when we first met, and she laughed when she made a dead frog dance to a tune. Uno is and always will be my best friend. Witches and necromancers never got along, but I’m no ordinary Witch and Uno is no ordinary necromancer. For one thing, I know that she’s not been fasting. She said this for the benefit of wagging ears.

“So, they want war again?” Her voice was still jovial, and she curled one of the tendrils of her hair round her index finger.

“Mm, and they want war with my friends too”

Uno whipped around and ran to me. She gripped my arms and jumped up and down in excitement. “I actually get to fight Vampires? It’s not even my birthday!”

The Vampire behind her had widened his eyes, and the shock written in his look said it all. Necromancers and Vampires never went to war under an agreement made centuries ago, except when they are included in a declaration. Uno is my best friend. She alone could control more than a thousand Vampires. Necromancers have control of the dead. Vampires are the dead. They have never been able to defeat a necromancer.

I nodded at her and out of the corner of my eye I spotted the grin on the Wolf’s face.

I kissed Uno’s cheek and put my hand in hers as I faced the Vampire again.

“I will send you back to your master. Tell him, this war will be quick. I haven’t enjoyed Christmas or New Year’s, so after this is sorted out I would like to have a belated Christmas with my best friend”

I took the truth spell back, and the Vampire spluttered before forming his words. “You can’t, the treaty!”

“Vampire it is all legal. Please inform your master on your failure to procure the crown and that the fate of your dead lives will be up to Uno”

I cast a portal and used a wind spell to lift all the Vampires and push them through into the portal.

I turned around and hugged Uno again.

“Well, colour me impressed Head Witch” I watched the Wolf carefully as he stalked his way to me. Those yellow eyes didn’t leave my face and again I was struck by how handsome he was. His roughness and straggly hair added to his charm, and I smiled involuntarily.

“Glad you are glad Wolf”

“The name is Wentworth, and the position is Deputy, I’ll be visiting tomorrow” He nodded at both of us but his lip lifted in the grin that’s been hiding and I had a funny feeling I had been tested tonight. I shrugged my shoulders and pulled on Uno’s hand to the double glass doors. Everyone was already looking at Uno with a lot of hatred.

She giggled, and I knew that at least this was going to be funny. I bet Aunt Livvie would regret making me the Head Witch now.

~

Two years later

“My liege, we have finished the construction on the school. All points of rebuilding have been finished” Herald, the Vampire who started all this, was on one knee with his head bowed in deference as I stamped another document and handed it to Wentworth. He had become the new Head recently and has amped up his flirting to hot levels.

“Herald, you may take your leave, tell your master that I hope he doesn’t have any mischievous thoughts of war again”

Wentworth kept silent as he usually does when I’m dealing with the Vampires, and Herald stood and shook out his shoulders as if to release the hold he was under. Which was true. His master put him and all his underlings under compulsion to serve me until they did all repairs from the War. The war didn’t last longer than ten days, but the Vampires wrought a destruction, which was phenomenal. Schools, sidewalks, homes, businesses were destroyed. Not many were killed, mainly anyone who was too ancient to live. The Vampires paid millions to the families for compensation and the culprits were staked. Uno only controlled half of them and used them to fight the others back. She had her fun and in the necromancer ladder of ambition she was now considered for Head.

“We cannot go to war with the wolves since Wentworth is now a friend of Uno. There will be no war from us till Uno has left this life”

I nodded, and he spun around and left the building. I know that his master was the most cruel and vindictive Vampire in Sheldon. Herald will be staked once he got back. I didn’t feel sorry for him. Herald was a nasty Vampire too.

“He’s going to Vampire hell, isn’t he?” Wentworth leaned across to me and I craned my neck upwards. Damn, he’s tall.

“Yeah” His scent was all woodsy and pine, delicious. The only reason why I haven’t jumped into bed with this hot Wolf was because I was waiting for my divorce to come through. It should have been a straightforward thing and my lawyers in New York kept getting revisions and refusals from Evan. I had sent a final revision and stated that if he didn’t sign, we would have to go to court. The reply was surprising.

“I’d like to ask you for a favour if that’s OK”

He seared me with a gaze. “Anything Darlin’ “

“I have to meet my ex-husband to get the divorce papers signed. I don’t actually need anyone there with me, but I do want you there”

He nodded without hesitating. “Of course, can I pull the limpweed to bits afterwards? Or will you curse him…”

I laughed as I sat back; the tension leaving my shoulders “No, it’s the human world, remember? Besides, we are Heads now, we have to act responsibly"

It was an unspoken rule to not interfere with the human world, our world was accessed through a portal we can cast.

“Then when do we leave?”

I stood up and held my hand out to him, which he took willingly. “Now, he’s due in fifteen minutes”

Wentworth lifted my hand to kiss my knuckles, and I leaned to his side to kiss his cheek.

We arrived at the Beugolais & Carte, an afternoon tea cafe that was top of the range and overly expensive. Evan was sitting at a table for two, nervously pulling his tie. What was he up to?

He spotted me and got up quickly, nearly knocking his chair over in his haste. “Leonara” his smile was huge, which sent shivers up my skin. How did I ever lay with this creep?

Wentworth went to get another chair after he held out mine for me, over the last two years he’s shown he’s not just a rough-and-ready wolf, he has impeccable manners and has an extremely gentle side that will coax a bird with a broken wing in his palm to calm down.

I gave Evan my cold professional smile, and he looked visibly shocked. I had changed. My hair was curly and long now compared to the pixie cut I had and I was more slender.

“You look…” He was speechless and Wentworth brought a chair for himself and seated next to me, his large body making it creak. Evan scowled at him, and Wentworth just stared back impassively. He exuded intimidation and Evan noticeably lowered his gaze. Wentworth was protecting me, and damn if that wasn’t the sweetest thing.

“Let’s cut to the chase Evan, sign the divorce papers or do you want to waste everyone’s time in court?” His cheeks tinged a pink and looked at the brown envelope that held the divorce papers that I had now placed in the middle of the table.

“I was thinking that we could try again, Leonara. We had ten good years together. We were a great team and…”

“No” I ignored the rest of his rambling.

“As I said in the divorce papers, I don’t want any of your assets, monies or alimony. Just sign it and then we will never see each other again.” I held out the pen, and I felt Wentworth shift his position next to me and leaned forward so he was inches from Evan’s face.

“If you want, I can help you remember how to write your signature”

Evan gulped and took the pen with a shaky hand and signed the divorce papers.

“She was sleeping with three other men at the same time as me. The baby is not mine” His voice was thick with tears and I took the papers and sleeved them into the envelope.

“Karma is the worst b***h out there, isn’t it? Goodbye Evan” Leaving Evan there without a backward glance, I beamed up at Wentworth and he leaned down to my face before we left the cafe and brushed his lips lightly against mine. It was time to enjoy my new life as Head Witch and also being a mate to Wentworth.

The End.

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Free Books for now

The Omega's Top Choice (Dreame) (Pen Name: Mezzy Hitch) (m/f sweet, omegaverse, non-shifter Alpha, beta, Omega) (Ongoing)

Hide And Seek With My Alpha (Dreame) (Pen Name: Mezzy Hitch) (m/m sweet, omegaverse, non-shifter Alpha, beta, Omega) (Ongoing)

The Alpha Fire King's Mate (Dreame) (Pen Name: Mezzy Hitch) (Teaser first chapter, enemies to lovers, regression) (due next year to be updated weekly from February)

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