This week I have a new release Slayer, an Elfhame Academy short story. You can get it here on Amazon and read the excerpt below.
I lost my slayer heritage the day my mum was murdered.
I’m Cassie Morgan. I’ve carried a feeling of emptiness with me since I was twelve. When they took my mother’s life, a part of me went with her. Now, thanks to a caring aunt and the passage of time, I’m ready for answers about where I came from and the mother I lost.
I can’t deny who I am any longer. The lure of the Elven realm beckons.
Surprises were expected, but I never imagined my journey would introduce me to a baby dragon or reunite me with an old friend. For the time being, all is well… until it’s not.
Danger lies ahead.
When my aunt is arrested, it’s up to me to help. The question is – at what cost? I don’t know where this trail will lead, but I have no doubt, more trouble lies ahead.
Dying for answers isn’t part of the plan, but if that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.
Excerpt
My map didn’t seem to tell much of anything, so I shoved it back into my backpack. That temple had to be here somewhere.
Damn, why did I keep dreaming about the temple if it didn’t exist anymore? I’d dreamt about the place every single night for months now. It had become so frequent I couldn’t ignore it anymore. True, I hadn’t been there in nearly ten years, and I’d only been around nine at the time. Maybe Elfhame had changed itself and moved places around like the Ever Realm had.
When I first went there, I’d been just a kid and travelling with my birth mother. That felt like a lifetime ago now. I’d been someone else then. Cassie McGregor, not Cassie Morgan. My aunt had become my adoptive mum and changed mine and my older sister’s surname to her name. My birth mum had been an elf slayer. She didn’t just kill bad elves, but anything else that went bump in the night. Until one of them killed her.
After that, my aunt told me to forget about my slayer heritage. Mum—my aunt Nina Morgan—was fae. She and Estelle had been adopted sisters. Nina was more fae than elf.
I was all elf, or so they said.
That temple had to be around here somewhere.
I checked my phone. Still no signal. Mum and my sister Liv would be pissed I hadn’t called them. Nothing I tried so far would make the stupid thing work. I’d even tried calling Liv with my mind, but that hadn’t worked either. The magic was all over the place in this realm, so that didn’t surprise me.
Travelling around Elfhame for the past few weeks had been an adventure, to say the least. It had been fun visiting different places from my childhood. I still felt like part of me was missing something. I just didn’t know what.
I’d felt like that for a long time. Back home in Colchester, I’d graduated from school almost three years ago. Went to college, dropped out, and got my PI licence. It hadn’t felt as good as I thought it would. Something was still missing.
Estelle trained me, taught me everything about being a slayer, but that part of my heritage died with her.
Mum said I had to forget. No good came from being a slayer. Only death.
Yet here I was, trying to find the slayer temple. The place had been haunting my dreams for weeks, and I had to find out why. Was something calling me?
My mum would say it was a trap, but Estelle would have told me to trust my instincts.
I hiked up a steep hill. Blue mountains stretched out before me. This was it. Or at least what I remembered. Now where was that temple?
I didn’t remember much about the place. In my dream, I saw the outside of it. When I reached the base of the mountain, I realised there was no way out.
Nothing but a sheer wall of rock. I either had to go around and find another way up or climb. I’d wasted enough time just trying to find this place. One good thing I’d inherited from Estelle was strength and agility.
I scaled the wall easily and climbed up to a ledge. The next ledge was much higher, so I stepped back as far as I could and jumped. I landed hard and gasped for breath. At least my slayer powers were good for something.
More rocks loomed above me, but this entire area seemed flatter. With one more jump, I finally reached the top and gasped for breath. But up ahead stood a building built into the mountain itself.
