Autumn Calling Read online

  AUTUMN CALLING

  A Hellhound Tail

  T. Lynne Tolles

  About AUTUMN CALLING

  Summer Raine thought her life was tough growing up as an orphan, but with finding her relatives, it’s become clear, having a family is not all it’s cracked up to be.

  Her paternal side is out to kill her and her maternal side is, well, odd to say the least, with a great aunt who wavers on the cusp of dementia and a great uncle who is a grumpy talking cat, both of which are feverishly shoving a crash course of witchcraft down her throat to help survive the apocalyptic war of magic that will probably be their demise.

  Add a defiant adolescent hellhound to the caldron, Tori in the hospital from an almost fatal dog mobile crash and Summer losing her heart, she isn’t exactly having the best time.

  How will she ever learn enough of the craft to save herself, her friends, and the crazy family she’s finally found? And what if her newly found wicked witch of a twin sister doesn’t seem all that…villainous?

  Discover how Summer keeps her sanity during these troubling times with the help of some old and new friends, as well as her slobbering, sometimes mutinous, hellhound, and a new love at her side.

  Autumn Calling

  SMASHWORDS EDITION

  Troll Publishing

  Copyright 2014 T. Lynne Tolles

  August 14, 2015

  Version 2.0.1 May 6, 2016

  ISBN 978-0-9905589-1-0

  All Rights reserved.

  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 author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews, is illegal and punishable by law.

  Publisher’s Note:

  This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places, and events are the work of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, locales or events is coincidental.

  T. Lynne Tolles

  Cover Artist: Jennifer Meyer

  Digital Formatting: Author E.M.S.

  Table of Contents

  About AUTUMN CALLING

  Copyright

  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

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  About the Author

  Other books by T. Lynne Tolles

  Chapter 1

  Tori and Summer stood shoulder to shoulder in the graveyard, facing Summer’s Uncle Morti, who had been punished for magical misuse by being turned into a very rotund tuxedo cat.

  Morti stood on a tall mossy gravestone, his golden-green eyes glowing as he instructed his untrained niece and her best friend who hadn’t an ounce of magical blood within her.

  Tori, try as she might, had very little success in her magic lessons. Summer was progressing, but needed to step up tenfold if she was going to take on the entire Macabre family determined to see the end of Summer’s family tree.

  Morti and Myrtle were brother and sister. Myrtle had once been a very powerful witch, but it’s thought that the Macabre family had a hand in her lapses of memory and comprehension over the past thirty or more years. Myrtle tutored the girls in magic, but mostly the herbal and potion side of it. Morti was in charge of elemental magic and casting. Having been raised in an orphanage all her life with Tori, Summer was terribly behind in the knowledge, history, and practical aspects of her family gifts.

  Hunter, who Summer met when she moved onto the Midnight estate last year, was an ancient dragon, the last of his kind actually, who’d been promised a dragon egg by the Macabres if he kidnapped Morti so they could strip him of his magical powers. Due to his long life, Hunter was in charge of teaching Summer the history of magic, including about the war between the Midnights and Macabres.

  Summer had all the tools she needed to get up to speed—everything but time. The Macabres now knew of her existence and they would surely attack sooner than later—before she had time to learn to use magic to defend herself and her family against them and the twin sister she’d learned she had.

  “Concentrate,” the grumpy cat shouted.

  The two girls stood with their hands in front of them, palms just inches away from each other. Tori’s hands were empty, but Summer’s crackled with pulses of electricity. A golden orb swelled between her hands, but it was unstable, and though she concentrated she couldn’t get it to form as it should to be utilized in combat.

  It was then that the fidgety hellhound pup, over two hundred pounds, which lay between the two girls, decided the cantankerous cat’s twitching tale was too much to resist and he pounced. In doing so he bumped Summer’s leg, throwing her off kilter. When she used her arms to reestablish her balance, her orb was thrown towards the cat. Sully’s leap shoved the cat out of mortal danger, but not away from having his tail set aflame. One slobbery lick from the amorous Sully and Morti’s tail was extinguished. A hairless smoking tip of a tail replaced the once large, fluffy, white one previously there.

  In the commotion, Tori zapped herself with her own tiny electrical spark and she sucked her finger as she tried not to laugh with Summer at the scene before them. Sully continued to lick the cat, slicking all the black and white fur on his head back into strange, spikey clumps.

  Morti was mumbling maniacally in Latin at yet another failed attempt at arguing, and as Sully carried him off in his slobbery mouth Morti dismissed the current lesson.

  * * *

  Tori and Summer made their way back to Summer’s cottage on the back right corner of the Midnight estate, nestled by the graveyard. Sully romped by, still gripping a loudly protesting, singed feline.

  “So, I’ve got some news…” Tori excitedly announced.

  “Ooh…do tell,” Summer said.

  “Nick feels we’re ready for the next step in our relationship.”

  “Does he? And what’s this next step?”

  “Moving in together.”

  “Oh,” Summer said, a little shocked.

  “You disapprove?”

  “Uh. No. It’s just not every day your bestie gets an apartment with a vampire.”

  “You’re not still hung up on that are you? I mean, come on…you’re dating a vampire too.”

  “Technically it’s hard to date a vampire when he’s in another country.”

  “You are a stickler for details,” Tori joked. “But seriously, that’s just temporary. You knew he’d be gone for a while when he took off with Hunter to Japan.”

  “I know. It’s just, our relationship was just starting, and I don’t know. I’ve only heard from him a handful of times in the last two months.”

  “Hunting down a lead on probably the last living female dragon takes a lot of work.”

  “Of course, you’re right. And it is far more important to possibly extend the existence a species than worry about my problems. It’s just, well, I’m a little lonely.”

  “ How could you possibly be lonely with ME around most of the day? Even though Dr. Stuart took a long-time coming vacation and closed the vet office so you could get up to speed with your cool
new magic.”

  “I have enjoyed having you all to myself during the days, but then you go home to your vampire and I’m alone with my gigantic hellhound puppy.”

  “Well when you put it like that, I can see your dilemma,” Tori joked. They laughed for a moment as they sat on the little porch of the cottage watching the crazy hellhound and cat.

  “You are cool with Nick and me moving in together, aren’t you?” Tori said seriously.

  “Of course I am. You and he are good for one another. I’m just feeling a little jealous your relationship is moving on and mine’s kind of petering out.”

  “You don’t think that, do you? Jackson adores you. I’m sure Hunter and he are busy pursuing some clue.”

  “Maybe. I just…we never really got established as a couple before he left and now, well, it feels like it’s just not there anymore,” Summer explained.

  Nick appeared around the bend with a stern look on his face, staring at the girls.

  “Nick, honey. You’re here.”

  “Yup,” he said, kissing Tori, but never really taking his eyes off of Summer. Summer was sure with his vampire hearing, he’d heard their conversation. Nick was very protective when it came to his best bud Jackson, and if he got wind that she was thinking of calling off the relationship, Jackson would be hearing about it, pronto!

  “Nick,” Tori said with a tone of reprimand. “I don’t know how much of our conversation you heard, but we were just chit chatting. Girl stuff, you know. Don’t get your vampire cape in a bunch. Besides, even you can understand how distance can be hard on a new relationship. Summer’s not wrong in feeling the way she does. I’d probably feel the same way, so just stop with the stink-eye look.”

  He grumbled something under his breath, forced a painful looking smile on his face, and then nibbled her neck, making Tori giggle.

  As they started back towards the car, Tori said, “I’ll see you tomorrow, right?”

  “I’ll be here with bells on,” Summer said, waving.

  Tori waved and Summer could hear her telling Nick about how tomorrow they would learn about gypsy magic from Ms. Midnight, hence the bells. Summer loved having Tori to learn with. It was so nice to have someone else to talk to about what she was learning, the mistakes she made or how grumpy old Morti was being.

  If it weren’t for her enthusiastic excitement and involvement, Summer might not be in a great place. It was a lot of pressure knowing you had to get up to speed magic-wise as fast as possible to save yourself, your family, and friends from a wickedly evil family. A family, she knew, whose blood flowed within her. It was all so much to wrap her head around.

  All her life she’d been in the orphanage thinking she had no family whatsoever, to find out later that the only way to protect her from her father’s evil family was for her grandmother Ivy to steal her away in the night and hide her away in the Holy Cross Orphanage.

  Ms. Myrtle Midnight, Aunt Myrtle to Summer, was her grandmother Ivy’s sister. She had explained how this all came to be a few months back when Hunter had posed as a demon and stole away the RAT, namely Morti, who is the Reliquary of All Thaumaturgy.

  Since then Aunt Myrtle, Morti, and Hunter have been cramming knowledge and information into her, preparing her for a magical war she’s expected to be a key player in. At the time she’d talked to Aunt Myrtle, it had been too much. But now that the information’s had time to sink in, maybe she’d talk to Aunt Myrtle before Tori came for lessons about this twin sister that she’d have to fight in the near future.

  * * *

  The following morning Summer got up early and sat on the couch having a bowl of Cheerios while checking her email on her computer. Sully had just finished his hellhound kibble and found it was time to take up a spot on the floor near Summer to lick doggy junk. Summer scrunched her face as she watched Sully. This seemed to be very detailed work and quite time consuming.

  After what seemed like ten minutes he came up for air panting as if he’d held his breath the entire time. After a moment he started on his leg, licking and nibbling with great intricacy. “You have quite a ritual there, boy,” she said, shaking her head. Sully ignored her and continued about his business of whatever it was he was doing, whether itching or grooming. He had no time for her nonsense.

  She had an onslaught of junk mail after a recent shopping spree she’d done online not long ago. Fifty emails and only one out of three were worth looking at. She reached for her glasses on the side table to find they weren’t there. She looked on the floor near the table then found them under the couch, mutilated, mangled, and a bit melted.

  “Sully. Did you do this?” She waved the glasses at him, and as she did one of the lenses fell out. Sully cocked his head to get a better look, then went back to itching.

  “That’s a bad hellhound. Don’t you be chewing on my glasses.” She realized she was talking to a brick wall. She huffed in displeasure at his ignoring her, and then went about squinting to read her emails.

  There was a cute nun joke from Sister Margaret she’d sent to a handful of her favorite peeps. There was a Facebook update from a friend at the orphanage, and quick video note from Dr. Stuart in a hat and a tropical drink in hand telling her what a great time he was having on vacation. But she had no word from Jackson. Not an email or even a text letting her know he was thinking of her.

  Was she being selfish, wondering why he couldn’t find two seconds to send her some kind of recognition that he was missing her or thinking of her? Part of her felt angry, and the other part felt ashamed for being so needy.

  While she pondered their relationship and where it stood, she heard a tap, tap, tap. At first she wasn’t sure where it was coming from, and then she heard it again. She closed her laptop and set the empty bowl on the side table while she got up and looked around. Tap, tap, tap she heard again, and it seemed to be coming from the front door. Sully was completely disinterested in what was happening and continued his duties cleaning. She crept to the door, glancing out the window to see if anyone was there, but she saw nothing.

  Tap, tap, tap. It made her jump as she stood in front of the door. She turned the knob and opened it cautiously. There was no one on the porch but a large black crow, who cawed at her. He looked at her sideways, seemingly sizing her up. She stepped farther into the doorway when the crow stretched out his shiny black iridescent wings to their full extent, took two hops toward her, and cawed. He seemed to be provoking or challenging her.

  His creepy golden eyes never left her as his head jerked and nodded at her. She wondered if he was hurt or acting odd after maybe hitting a window or something. She knelt on the porch to get a closer look. The crow looked at her sideways with one eye then turned with a jerk to look at her with the other.

  Then without any warning he flew at her face, catching her cheek just an inch below her eye with his razor claws. His wings batted at her head. Summer brought her hands to her face to protect it from more injury from the bird’s claws, and she let out a scream. Sully sprang into action at this and bounded toward the bird, ramming it with his head and sending it off the porch onto the ground beyond. It quickly righted itself and squawked at him furiously. More calls came from a nearby tree, where Summer noticed a dozen or more crows protesting the actions inflicted upon their kin.

  Sully leaped within a foot of where the crow complained and growled low and deep. Summer noted the smell of sulphur and the steamy smoke that leaked out of his steel jaws. The crow decided he had enough for the moment and left. With a flurry of feathers and deafening caws, the bird flew off to the waiting “murder” in the tree, and when he joined they all took flight, momentarily obstructing the tree from view. Then they were gone. Sully stood watching, listening to distant screeches until they no longer sounded, then he turned back to check on Summer.

  A ribbon of blood ran down one cheek along with a half dozen pink welts swelling alongside. Sully sat beside her and nudged her with his nose as if checking on her.

  “I’m okay, Sully
. Thank you.”

  He licked her hand. She used the large hellhound to brace herself as she got up and went inside to get a wet rag to cool the sting and pain of her injury. What a bizarre incident, she thought. She’d never seen such odd behavior in a crow, or one as bold as to knock on a door and confront the human who dwelled within. It was as if the bird was possessed, or driven by something or someone. And then there were the birds in the tree—were they…laughing? Screaming?

  Her heart ran double-time and the whole event unnerved her. She felt her Cheerios flip-flop in her tummy and she found herself racing for the bathroom to purge herself of her breakfast. Adrenaline will do that to you, she thought. She rinsed her mouth with water and lay on the bed.

  “Maybe today was not the day to get see Aunt Myrtle before Tori got here. I’ll lie here and rest until Tori comes,” Summer said, and then invited Sully to join her. He didn’t have to be asked twice before hopping on the bed and circling three times before flopping down and starting his grooming all over.

  Chapter 2

  A knock at Summer’s door roused the hellhound, who jumped off the bed, trotted happily to the door, and pawed it. This was a sure sign that Sully knew who was at the door and that all was well.

  Summer yawned as she opened the door and was greeted with, “Oh my God. What happened to your face?”

  Instantly Summer’s hand reached for her cheek, feeling the sting at her touch and the swollen welts. “I had a run in with a psychotic crow this morning.”

  “A crow? Really?”

  “I’m just as surprised as you. Trust me.”

  “So it just attacked you for no reason?”