Witch Wars: The Underlayes, Book One Read online

  Witch Wars

  The Underlayes, Book One

  T.A. Moorman

  After Glows Publishing

  Witch Wars

  © Copyright 2017 T.A. Moorman

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  Published by After Glows Publishing

  PO Box 224

  Middleburg, FL 32050

  AfterGlowsPublishing.com

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  Cover by

  Formatting by AG Formatting

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  All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

  AfterGlowsPublishing.com

  Contents

  Introduction

  The Underlayes

  1. Forbidden Love

  2. Destinies

  3. First Impressions

  4. The Wall Of Death

  5. JUST WHEN YOU THINK YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE JUST WHEN YOU THINK YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE

  6. Strange Encounters

  7. Who’s Your Daddy?

  8. Where My Dogs At?

  9. Too Many Revelations

  10. Reasonable Doubt

  11. It’s A Family Reunion

  12. Is My Mind Playing Tricks On Me?

  13. Over My Dead Or Alive Body

  14. Hot Springs Eternal

  15. Live And Let Live

  16. Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid

  17. Where’s The Love Now?

  18. Perfect Strangers

  19. A Plan Of Action

  20. Rude Awakenings

  21. Let Bygones Be Bygones

  22. Back Together Again

  23. Tainted Love

  24. All Good Things Come To An End

  25. Is This The End?

  A Look at Book Two

  About the Author

  Note From the Publisher

  Witch Wars

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  Tialanna is fated to become the queen of all Underlayes witches. She thinks the worst part of her life is the fact that she’s betrothed to a complete stranger while in love with someone else. She’s in for a rude awakening when she discovers who, and what, she truly is.

  Tialanna is about to learn the truth behind several lies, because not only does her life depend on it, but so does the fate of the family she never even knew she had. But hey, life would probably just be boring if she didn't have to deal with elemental witches, vampires, demons, sorcerers, bindings, spells, lust, and betrayal. Right?

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  ***This book is intended for mature audiences only as it includes both graphic violence and graphic sex***

  I would like to dedicate this book to each and every person in my life that doubted me. Your hatred, doubt, and cruel words only fueled me to prove you wrong. So, thank you from the bottom of my deep, dark, and loving soul.

  UNDERLAYES

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  Underlayes is another dimension, where all sorts of nocturnal creatures reside: witches, vampires, fae, shifters, werewolves… The dimension was created by all these creatures working side by side to escape the scrutiny and danger to their very existence that stemmed from the human world. Humans tend to fear things they do not understand, and tend to try to eliminate anything they fear, even though these nocturnal beings were humanoid themselves, just different—more enhanced—than their day-walking brethren.

  When God created the Earth, He had some help along the way. While there is only one true God, there are many underling goddesses and gods to help Him. Let’s just think of God as the CEO. Just as God created man in His image, He allowed His goddesses and gods to create certain races in their images as well. Their races come in every color, shape and form there is, but are like them in their…characteristics. Like, for instance, Hekate and her necromancers, or Aphrodite and her beautiful sirens. Since most of these creatures are more powerful when the moon comes out to play, they are nocturnal, though don’t get it wrong; they are not ruled by the moon. Some have a deadly reaction to the sun, while others are just as powerful be it day or night.

  Many of these creatures can be quite deadly, though it’s usually only when provoked. Though there are some who tend to be more violent and sadistic, regular humans can be that way as well. After all, most serial killers, though not all, are human.

  Originally the intention was for these nocturnal creatures to have their time at night and keep to themselves, while regular humans were to rule the day, unawares. But even the best-laid plans are doomed to fail…

  For three hundred years, these nocturnal creatures have lived peacefully amongst their own…or have they? Has that peace been nothing more than superficial? There has never been anyone who truly sought to rule all of Underlayes. Though most factions have their own leaders, no one race rules the entire Realm. And with that much power rolling around unchecked and unbalanced, peace may be coming to an end.

  1

  Forbidden Love

  “I am fire, I am light.” As I said the words, flames began boiling in my veins. “Fill my body, flow through my mind. Let my flame become my guide.”

  I was sitting cross-legged in my practice room, wearing my workout gear, which was also my gear of choice, red sweats and a sports bra. My caramel skin glistened with sweat. My scarlet hair flowed down my back to my waist in untamable fuzzy waves. I needed some time alone to think about everything. So I’d come down here to call on my flames of guidance, which are something like a camp fire, only I don’t need logs or matches or even a lighter. Fire is my element to call. Watching my flames, I can sometimes catch glimpses of the future. Today, I was trying to catch a glimpse of my own future. Of course, I got nothing.

  I had been merely five years old when my father had taught me the incantation. See, Dad had been so proud I was such a natural with my element, some kids having hit puberty before they truly had any semblance of control over theirs. Though he hadn’t exactly been happy he was going to have to teach me about the birds and the bees at such an early age, and that was exactly what my first glimpse had forced him to do. Not only had I seen Mommy’s belly getting fat, I’d also seen her stretched out on a bed with blood gushing out of unmentionable places along with a huge headful of curly, bluish hair; my sister, Elyssia. Who, for the record, still has a big head.

  “What the hell are you doing down here?” called a deep, rough, grumbling, irritating voice from behind me, pulling me back to the here and now.

  I let my flames die out, though I knew exactly who was there way before I even turned around. It was none other than my best friend and hotshot werewolf, Grimm Packston.

  Grimm is about six foot seven, built somewhere between a pro wrestler and a body builder. Dark chocolate-brown skin, hazel eyes, dark chestnut dreadlocks coming down to a delicious set of hips, sexy and knows it. Prancing in wearing nothing more than a pair of jeans, showing off every bit of a hard, sculpted, muscular chest. Making the decision I was being forced to make that much more difficult.

  “Trying, unsuccessfully it seems, to b
e alone.” I ranted at him. “What do you want, Grimm?”

  “I want an answer.”

  “You know, I am truly sick of all this shit!” I shouted as I threw a fireball at the wall (good thing the room was fireproof). “What are you doing down here?”

  “It’s Friday, Tia.”

  Damn, I’d forgotten. Or, to be more accurate, I’d been trying to forget. Fridays, Grimm usually sneaked me out to the human world. We normally went to a bar, played some pool, or went to a movie to see what the human world thought of us. Just to do something normal. Well, as normal as a witch and a werewolf could be, anyway. But that Friday, he had planned on sneaking me away for more than just one night. Something that was never going to happen.

  “I won’t be going anywhere tonight. I have a date.”

  Grimm turned beet red and started sprouting fur on the backs of his large hands, eyes turning into pools of pitch black. “With who?”

  “My fiancé.” I hated using that word. “You knew this was coming just as well as me. It’s just sooner than we both thought. Seems that way, anyhow. And if I see one fucking claw, I will not hesitate to set your ass on fire.”

  That stopped him in his tracks—for a minute, anyway. “You wouldn’t.”

  “You really wanna test that theory? Try me.” I started bouncing a fireball in my hand. Finally, he shut his eyes and calmed himself, at least physically. His energy was still vibrating like a tuning fork in the air.

  “Just because you know something’s coming does not mean you have to like it. You think I want some bastard putting his hands on you? I…” Grimm hesitated, then said through clenched teeth, “I don’t like it.”

  “It’s not for you to like or not to like; it is what it is. You think I like it? You of all people know damn well how I feel about it.”

  “Why don’t you enlighten me? Cause I’m afraid I have no idea how you feel.”

  “How can you stand there and say that to me?! You and I have both always known I’ve been promised to him since the day I was born. I’ve never had a choice in this. Love has never been an option for me. None of this is about what I want or how I feel or how anyone else may or may not feel about me.

  “There has only been one man in my entire life who has ever cared to know the real me, who has ever displayed any care about my hopes and dreams. There is only one man who has ever looked at me and seen just plain Tia, not ‘all-powerful Princess Tialanna’. There is only one man who has ever looked at me and seen more than just a weapon to be wielded.”

  “Tia, please don’t cry—” He took a step closer to me.

  “No!”

  I could feel my eyes turning molten gold, then to a blazing red. I could feel fire threatening to burst from my every limb, but I’d had no idea I was crying; that was something that hadn’t happened in years.

  “You claim not to know how I feel? Well I’m telling you. So just shut the hell up and listen! I love you, Grimm. I have always loved you, and from the bottom of my very soul I know that some part of me always will. But we’ve both always known you and I were never a possibility. So why are you doing this to me now? Why?!”

  With each word, I was steadily reaching my breaking point, but I continued. I had to get my point through that thick-ass skull of his.

  “I can’t be with you no matter how much my body may ache for your touch, no matter how much my heart is ripping up inside me at the very thought of having to walk away from you. No matter how empty it makes my soul feel, I have to do this. You know that just as well as I do.”

  Grimm began stepping forward with those dark pools of his boring into me. If he would only let go, it would be so much easier for me to do the same. Why couldn’t he seem to understand that?

  “We can leave this world and be together. All we need is each other. As long as I have you, I don’t give a damn about anything else. I lo—”

  “No, don’t say it. Don’t you dare say it. I can’t bear to hear those words from your lips right now. Not when I know what I have to do. I can’t just abandon my people, and what’s more, my father would kill you. That’s the one thing I would never be able to live with. Even if I can’t have you in my life, I would rather walk away and never look back than be the reason your life is taken away.”

  He started walking closer. I started backing away. By this time, I was so frustrated, my hands were literally on fire and tears felt like acid burning a trail down my heated skin.

  Everything he was saying was true. It just felt as though he was taking how I felt and slapping me in the face with it. I’d been looking for signs of this supposed impending battle for years, and still nothing. But if I did leave and something did happen to endanger my people, what then? I couldn’t take that chance.

  Whether this battle came or not, my father would kill Grimm. I couldn’t, wouldn’t chance that.

  He kept coming closer. I lifted my blazing hands, and he stopped.

  “Tia, I love you. I have loved you since before you could even light a match. I thought I could just be a friend to you and that would be enough. I thought that any part of your life would be better than nothing. I thought wrong.”

  “Grimm, stop. I want you so bad it hurts. But I can’t have you. I can’t do this.”

  “Yes. You. Can!” he growled at me.

  “No, I can’t. My father would hunt us down and kill you. We would never be able to have peace, constantly looking over our shoulders for the rest of our lives. What kind of life would that be?”

  “Fuck your father!” he yelled with a slight growl at the end.

  “I love you, Grimm. But I can’t do this. I won’t do this. I won’t—”

  He came at me so fast, I didn’t even realize I had backed up all the way to the wall. He pinned my arms above my head and kissed me. His lips were on mine with such force it was almost painful, yet gentle at the same time. My body felt like it was melting on the inside; it felt like time had frozen. There was nothing but us and our passion for each other. Nothing else mattered. Nothing else even existed.

  I didn’t even realize my flames were out until he let his hands slide down my arms and he was cupping my breasts. There was nothing between us but the material of my sports bra. As his hands slid down lower to my stomach, my hands slid down to his flawless, muscular chest, which was slick with sweat. He started pulling at my pants. Then before what little self-control I had left abandoned me, I pushed him and broke our kiss.

  We both just stood there, panting, staring into each other’s eyes. As if we were looking into each other’s souls. His eyes were black pools of a deep, endless night, mine the blazing red of a wildfire.

  “Please, don’t do this.” I said when I was able to find my voice.

  “Don’t what?” he snarled. “Love you?”

  “Yes. No. Just stop!” I shouted in his face, barely able to think, to breathe. “Tonight is the beginning of my courtship with Bran. We have to stop.” Even though stopping was the last thing I wanted.

  “You think Bran can make you feel like this?” he damn near growled as he grabbed the back of my head, gripping my hair and rubbing his face in the crook of my neck. He inhaled deeply, sending chills down my spine. “I can smell your lust, Tia, your desire for me. Me, not him.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” I replied weakly.

  “The hell it doesn’t matter. I am not giving up that easily, Tia. If this is the last chance I have with you, I am taking full advantage. I will make it so that every time you look at him, you will wish it was me.” He ground out each word slowly and precisely through clenched teeth. “Every time he beds you, it will be my face you’ll see, my hands you’ll long for, my name on the tip of your tongue.”

  “Grimm, please…”

  And then he was kissing me again, harder and faster than before. His tongue exploring every inch of my mouth. Our tongues twisting together in a wild, exotic dance. My body felt like it was on fire, and so did his. Then we were sliding down to the floor to our knees. He gently laid m
e on my back, never breaking our kiss, my legs opening seemingly of their own accord to accommodate his girth. Slowly, oh so slowly, he broke our lingering kiss. He was on top of me, hands on the floor like he was doing a push up, eyes as black as pitch; I could see my blazing eyes reflected in those dark pools.

  Still balancing on one arm and looking into my eyes, he was sliding his other hand down my body, pulling off my pants. Very slowly, he slid his hand up the inside of my thighs, spreading them apart. His hand crept up my inner thigh until he found that spot that let him know just how hot and wet I was for him. Then he was nipping and licking his way down my neck while flicking his thumb over my clit, making my body shudder against his. When he found my breast and took as much of it into his mouth as he could, he drove two fingers inside me. Then he released my breast and kissed his way down to my navel, licking delicately down toward more sensitive regions, all the while his fingers caressing, rubbing, and probing. Suddenly, just when I thought I was about to explode with pleasure, his fingers were replaced by his tongue, going deeper than I would have thought possible, and he was drinking me like I was the finest wine.

  Somewhere in all of that, he must have taken off his own pants, because suddenly he was once again hovering over me, and with our gazes locked he thrust every inch of himself inside me—and trust me, there were a lot of inches—leaving me gasping for air and wanting to beg for more.