Anka's Orb by CB Samet

Author:CB Samet [Samet, CB]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Avant Star Publishing

Chapter

Five

Denny drove back to his place, contemplating Anka’s predicament. In one night, two men had died tragically in front of her. She was an entrepreneur on a tight budget whose livelihood was just shut down thanks to an evil she-demon with pet zombies. Right now, her only friend in proximity was a hubble with no magical abilities to help her get back the orb she feared would land in Helen’s hands.

Well, he didn’t have magic, but he had compassion, good food, and a hella better place to sleep than a rented shop.

“Do you have family or anyone who needs an update on how you’re doing?” he asked.

She shook her head. “I’m alone.”

“By choice or circumstance?”

She glanced at him, and he took his eyes off the road long enough to give her an encouraging smile.

“Both.”

“Sounds like a deeply honest answer.”

“I was a difficult child—as you can imagine one would be when able to move objects with the mind. I was hell on my mom, who had no magical abilities. She couldn’t exactly send me to daycare or school. We fought a lot. When I was seven, she threatened to put me in foster care, so I ran away. Living on the street was difficult but made easier by my abilities. I could steal whatever I wanted, and nothing could hold me—not handcuffs and not locked doors. My grandmother caught up with me when I was a teenager—one woman against the world with nothing to learn from anybody.”

Anka sighed and shifted her weight in the passenger seat as she stared out the window. “She told me about my origins and the shadow world, adding to what I’d pieced together bit by bit living on the streets. I learned about how she trained Shadow Guardians, and I began having delusions that maybe I could be one.” She fidgeted with the seatbelt. “You’re way too easy to talk to, you know that?”

He took a gamble and reached over to hold her hand.

Voice unsteady, Anka continued. “My grandmother wouldn’t take me in that way. Said being a Shadow Guardian wasn’t in the cards for me. I assumed she’d meant I wasn’t powerful enough. Being a pickpocket didn’t create a robust résumé for a job of saving lives.”

She turned to face Denny before looking down at their joined hands, her voice stronger as she said, “So I ran away again. I took odd jobs to make money, and I worked on becoming someone more respectable. She taught me that much. My love was of art, so I became a tattoo artist, and I learned how to infuse the ink with magic so the tattoo could be used by those with existing powers. Those with enough Nine Realms blood to activate the magic within the tattoo. Of course, those individuals are few and far between, so standard tattoos pay the bills.”

She sucked in a deep breath, and on an exhale continued, “When word got out about my magical tattoos, I became a target, so I’ve had to move around a lot.

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