Predatory by Brooklyn Ray

Author:Brooklyn Ray [Ray, Brooklyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: NineStar Press, LGBT, Contemporary, paranormal, witches, elements, shifter, wax play, BDSM, spanking, body horror, dark
Publisher: NineStar Press
Published: 2019-08-02T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Four

HOME FELT HOLLOW.

Donovan noticed his father’s absence more that morning than he had in months. He remembered the way the planchette hummed beneath his fingertips, how it trembled and jolted across the board on its own, spelling out Oliver’s name in jerky fits. He thumbed the edge of his phone in his pocket and stood in the hall between two closed doors. One led to his bedroom, the other led to his parents’—mother’s—bedroom. Sometimes he helped his mom with laundry, folded clothes and placed them on the bed, or brought her tea in the early morning when she arrived from a long shift at the hospital. But he kept his eyes on the floor most of the time, refusing to glance at the altar or the framed picture on the dresser or the drawers he knew housed his father’s clothes.

But Oliver Quinn’s grimoire was in that room, and it might have the information Donovan needed. He reached for the doorknob, hesitated, then gripped it and pushed. The bed was unmade, comforter flipped open on one side and pillow dented. A paperback sat on the nightstand beneath a lamp, and a nightgown was draped over a chair in front of the vanity. A hamper half-filled with dirty laundry was in the corner and beside it, an old, wooden desk. He remembered sitting at his father’s feet, tucked beneath it while Oliver carved runes into wood or scribbled notes in his grimoire. Now, it carried a sense of abandonment—untouched and unused.

A candle with a charred wick stood in one corner. Across from it, a black, leather-bound book gathered dust. An emblem stretched across the cover, a cat’s eye encircled in vines, and the pages wore stains and rips from years of handling. Donovan carefully trailed his fingers across it, gripped the edge and opened it. Notes spanned page after page. Runes he didn’t recognize. Splattered candlewax, pressed flowers, ash. Magic stirred where the pages met, as if it’d been asleep until that moment. He let his palm pass across each page, feeling indentations where the pen had pressed down, memorizing the way Oliver wrote certain letters. In the center of the grimoire, Donovan found a spell.

Transmutation of the Spirit—Shifting of the Body

He studied each letter. Read the words over and over.

The spell required transmutation, a way to take the magic inside him—his leopard—and tether it to his physical body. Supplies were easy enough—crystals, ash, wine, and a few other consumables. But the problem was the nature of the spell. Who it was for.

Second Shift was circled in red pen. Beside it a way to keep the animal accessible was scribbled and underlined. This was a spell meant for someone who had gone through their first shift and needed a way to access it easily. Donovan touched the place where the ingredients were listed. If he added to the spell, he might be able to tweak it enough to work. Honey blossom, he thought. Something for birth. Rose petals, maybe. Intention written and charged, then burned and spread into the wine.

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