Latex, Leather, and a Pinch of Pixie Dust

  Latex, Leather, and a Pinch of Pixie Dust

  E. Gregory

  Pinch of Pixie Dust Publishing

  Copyright © 2020 Pinch of Pixie Dust Publishing

  All rights reserved

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

  ISBN-13: 9781234567890

  ISBN-10: 1477123456

  Cover design by: E. Gregory

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2018675309

  Printed in the United States of America

  To Autumn for keeping my belief in fairies alive, and to Amber for keeping my feet on the ground when need be. You both are the sisters of my heart. Finally, I’d like to dedicate this story to my husband, Matt, who tirelessly supported me, loved me, and listened to me through the entire process. Thank you for being my rock and having so much faith in me. I love you.

  Come Faeries, come take me out of this dull world,

  For I would ride with you upon the wind,

  Run on the top of the dishevelled tide,

  And dance upon the mountains like a flame.

  William Butler Yeats, The Land of Heart's Desire

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Epigraph

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Jessica's Do's and Don'ts For Visiting Fae

  Dear Reader

  Acknowledgements

  About The Author

  Chapter One

  The mark on Niki’s wrist glowed in pulses of gold and fiery red. It looked like it should burn, but all he felt was a warm presence beneath his skin as the mark began to lose its color and become one with him. He watched it in awe as the magic seemed to settle into his skin. The colors dimmed and faded like a candle being blown out, the mark was left as black as it was when the mage first drew it. Mage Charles smiled and laid down the silver athame he’d used to draw the mark on Niki’s skin.

  Niki looked at his mark and then looked around the workshop where the most important rituals took place. This was only his second ritual, but it wouldn’t be his last. The candles on the table between them quivered in a breeze that didn’t exist, casting shadows that danced along the sigil marked concrete walls. The tools on the table were all related to protection magic and the book of mage marks lay open to the one he’d just received. The basement was damp and dark, but never in a frightening way. More in a hushed reverent way, that always left Niki feeling like he’d just been somewhere sacred rather than under what was for all intents and purposes a boarding house for new mages.

  “This doesn’t mean you’re done.” Mage Charles said as he pointed a finger at Niki, bringing his mind back into focus. “This is only a break so you can check on your werewolf packs and start university again. You’ll have to keep up your studies with us from afar and come back next summer to complete your training.” Mage Charles told him plainly.

  Niki nodded silently as his finger traced over the lines of the small axe that now sat on the inside of his right wrist. It was double sided, an ancient-looking tool. He could still feel the heat of having it magically burned into his skin, but it was a comforting feeling. It was such a simple drawing no one would ever know it was a mage mark instead of a tattoo. They would think he’d gotten brave in San Francisco and gotten his first ink. However cool it looked, though, it’s purpose was much more important. Niki knew he could use it when casting protection spells to boost his power. It was his first mage mark and it meant that he was ready to begin protecting his pack. Well, in his case there were two packs of werewolves waiting at home for him. The werewolf council had wanted him to choose just one but after explaining the situation back in Rush Creek they’d reluctantly agreed to let him serve both packs.

  “I’m dedicated to finishing this, you have my word. And you know where I live, so there’s that.” He said, unable to stop the little quip from leaving his mouth. Mage Charles was a serious guy and not really a fan of all of Niki’s jokes, but this time he surprised Niki by laughing. His smile crinkled his eyes at the corner and for once he didn’t look his age at all. He looked closer to a man in his fifties rather than one pushing seventy.

  “I do know where you live, Nikolai Petrov. But most importantly I know that you know that your packs are counting on you. The Birns pack hasn’t had a proper mage in two decades and the Anderson pack is too new to have made any outside connections aside from you. So I trust you. Now go pack your things, you’ve got a bit of a drive ahead of you.”

  Niki nodded again and smiled at his teacher. “Thanks, I’ll definitely be in touch.” Niki clapped the man on the arm and headed up out of the basement to his room to gather his stuff. The walk through the house was a quiet one as most of his fellow boarders weren’t yet awake. He walked through the spacious kitchen, through the dining room with its mismatched chairs, and up to the second story where the newcomers like him slept. The old banister creaked as he walked up the stairs, but otherwise, the house always seemed in pristine condition for the age of it.

  Niki wasn’t especially looking forward to the drive home alone. From San Francisco back to Rush Creek in Oregon was more than a bit of a drive. And Niki was a people person. He didn’t want to drive alone. He loved a good buddy style road trip with sing-a-longs and snacks, but this wasn’t anything like that. When left alone with his thoughts for too long his mind tended to wander and that was never a good thing when one was driving. Especially not when one was driving for nearly eleven hours.

  Still, he would be glad to be home. Skype was a great modern invention but it couldn’t replace getting to hang out with all of his friends and it certainly couldn’t be used to protect them the way he wanted to. Plus he missed his dad. This summer had felt really long being away from home, but he’d learned so much in the month he’d spent with the mages. He was ready to begin serving as a real mage himself, finally.

  Niki stuffed his favorite hoodie into his backpack and the rest of his books too. Then he grabbed his suitcase, slung his backpack over his shoulder, and took one last glance around the tiny room to make sure he wasn’t leaving anything behind.

  All that was left now was a twin bed, stripped already to the mattress so they could prepare the room for someone else, and a nightstand with a little shabby lamp on it. It was weird, but he’d grown fond of the place at some point. There was something cozy about the old paneled walls and the dingy off white curtains over the window. But, it couldn’t compare to his bedroom back home in his dad’s house, he reminded himself, so he clicked off the light and turned to leave.

  A few other mages in training stopped him as he walked through the house to say goodbye. He’d made friends with a couple of them during his time there and it was nice to know he’d be missed. It was also kind of awesome to be building his own little network in case he ever needed help, he knew he had some people out there that would be happy to jump in with him and face whatever he might be facing. Niki had
learned the hard way that the supernatural world was dangerous and one needed all the friends they could get.

  Out at his car, he threw the suitcase into the trunk, the backpack into the passenger seat, and he hopped in. Niki started the car and pulled out his phone to turn on a podcast he’d decided would help keep him focused and not drift while driving. This one was about real ghost stories, something that still fascinated him even after finding out that werewolves were real. In fact, there was a lot out there that turned out to be real. Most ghost stories weren’t though, he’d learned, but that hadn’t stopped his interest. He loved trying to pick apart which were authentic hauntings and which were not.

  Niki adjusted his glasses, pushing them up the bridge of his nose, buckled his seat belt, and started his podcast. Traffic was light this early in the morning, so it was an easy thing to pull out onto the street and point himself home. If he didn’t stop too much he planned to be home by seven that night and he couldn’t wait to see everyone. Now if only his little old car would make it there.

  He’d been really skeptical when he’d first bought the car. It was a dingy green with one silver fender because he’d had to replace it in the beginning. Having a dad as a mechanic meant he’d gotten a car he’d had to fix up for himself, but it had turned into time spent with his dad learning a lot of useful things. The car itself wasn’t so bad at first, but he’d been driving it for four years and before him, it had over a hundred thousand miles. Plus it didn’t help that his dad was much better at keeping cars running than he was. So he had something of a love-hate relationship with it. Niki had just had the oil changed, so he was hopeful as he pulled onto the highway and pointed himself toward home.

  Unfortunately, Niki did have to stop more often than he’d have liked. At least it was nothing major, though. A rainstorm had shown him that his windshield wiper was trash and he had to find an auto parts store to get a new one. Thankfully the guy at the gas station was friendly and didn’t mind pointing the way.

  He pulled on his hoodie in an attempt to block the rain and hurried to change out the wiper the way his dad had taught him. Thank God for all that time spent fixing this car up, if he hadn’t had so much practice he’d never make it anywhere. Something was always on the fritz it seemed.

  Once back on the road, his podcast kept him busy the rest of the way. He was glad when he made it out of the rain and found that the drive wasn’t terribly bad after all. Not nearly as painfully dull as he’d imagined. Though this haunting he was listening to was definitely just old pipes. Noises in the basement, popping and creaking in the kitchen? Those weren’t footsteps. Footsteps made an obvious sound. So did pipes, he thought with a chuckle. It was still interesting, though. He loved listening to people’s stories about hauntings because he’d been so scared of everything as a kid and his mother had been intent on proving to him that most things like that weren’t real. Man, she would have had a serious wake-up call with the whole 'supernatural creatures are real' thing.

  Niki missed his mother and often wondered what she would have thought about her son becoming a mage to protect not one but two werewolf packs. It made him laugh to himself just thinking about it because he was sure that at first, she’d have tried to stop him, to protect him, but in the end, she would have been proud he thought. Kind of like his dad was now.

  Unfortunately, his mother hadn’t survived her brush with cancer. It had taken her when Niki was young and left him with a lifetime hatred of hospitals and fake cancer charities. She’d been vibrant and full of life one minute and wasting away the next. They hadn’t even had a chance to help her fight with chemo or radiation because the breast cancer was too advanced. Now, when he thought about the man he was becoming he still wondered how she would have taken things.

  His dad had been shocked about werewolves, but a practical demonstration from Michael had proven everything Niki had told him. It was a risk, but one Niki felt he had to take, letting his dad in on the secret, in order to help keep him safe. Rush Creek wasn’t the most dangerous place, but it had its share of supernatural woes. It turned out their hometown needed all the protection it could get.

  Rush Creek was a small town, the population was about fifty-five hundred give or take. It was nestled near a national forest not too far from the coast and the biggest nearby city was Portland. Driving in the way he was, the great evergreens lined the two-lane highway, making it impossible to see anything else. They were majestic and brought with them the smell of sharp tangy pine and home. Niki loved to watch the way the wind caused the tips of the trees to bend in waves of green no matter the time of year. It was like being underwater driving through them as they swayed. Sure fall foliage was lovely, but the evergreens of home were something he would always consider special.

  In about forty-five minutes he could be in the city and that’s what Niki had always loved about the place. It was remote, but not so remote that he couldn’t find his way into the metropolis if he wanted. Plus he loved the woods and the beach. There was a lake he’d swam in with Michael Anderson, his best friend since they were little, and a bluff that they made their secret hangout looking out over the town. It was nothing like San Francisco that was for sure, and that was okay by him. San Fran was fantastic in a lot of ways and he’d even joined in at pride waving his bi flag all over the place, but he liked the slow life more than the fast life. And now home was just a few miles away. So close he could practically hear his dad’s laughter and smell the bakery on Main street that served donuts and coffee every morning. He’d have to get some and soon. Margery, the owner, still remembered his order and giggled every time he came back for a refill. Too much caffeine, she would warn him, but he always waved her off.

  Ryan Birns, one of Michael’s betas, had started working there over the summer and he intended to try and get free pastries out of the deal. Pack loyalty, a card he rarely pulled, but delicious buttery baked goods were definitely a reason to try. He would also try flattery if he had to. She was a blonde bombshell and she didn’t quite know how to use it to her advantage, which was probably good for all of them. If she ever did she might be unstoppable.

  Okay, he was shameless and everyone who knew him knew it. He’d once complimented Oliver Weston, Michael’s other beta, on his taste in scarves back when Oliver was working at the pizza parlor in order to get free pizza. It hadn’t worked, but had been a hilarious fail all the same. Oliver was now working with Jessica at the Preppy Poppy, their town’s only metaphysical shop. He still wore the scarves but he knew better than to listen to Niki try and flatter him for his long wavy hair or his height or something else as equally telling. Ryan would eat it up, though, he knew for a fact.

  Niki grinned as he passed the sign letting him know he was welcome in their little town. It stood tall like the trees around it, dark green with white letters that just looked friendly to him. The powers that be added wooden stilts to help prop the sign up because it was a bit on the rickety side, but it had been freshly painted at some point over the summer. Niki could remember the way that sign had looked as he drove off months ago to go back to college, getting smaller and smaller in his rear view mirror and causing him to tear up. He loved that dumb sign and was half tempted to turn around and take a picture by it the way his mom always had when they’d been gone on vacation. He didn’t stop though, he was too excited. He was home! Almost.

  Just a couple of mile markers past the welcome sign Niki got a strange feeling in his gut. Something was up. It left him feeling really cold but as soon as it came, it was gone. He chalked it up to nerves, seeing everyone after being away for so long and using his magic as their official mage for the first time. That was surely all it was.

  He drove through town, enjoying the familiar sights. The post office, the library, the high school he thankfully never had to go back to. Middle school and high school had been especially rough on a kid with ADHD and anxiety. The combination meant he could never quite focus but then he felt bad for not being able to do so. It was like
a never-ending cycle that made several of his teachers despise him. Most notably in high school was Coach Harris, his Biology teacher, and Ms. Fitzgerald, his senior debate teacher. Not many fond memories to be had, but then high school had changed his and his best friend Michael’s lives in ways he never could have expected.

  Then he was on Main driving past his dad’s favorite diner where Niki had ended up making an arrangement with the owner that his dad wasn’t allowed to have burgers and fries anymore. Or three-egg omelets with extra cheese. Just the healthy stuff. Healthy adjacent anyway.

  Last year his father had a mini heart attack that left him in the hospital for several long days. He was ordered to change his way of life, but especially his eating habits. No more greasy fatty foods. Nothing fried, not too much cheese. Keep things light and healthy. His dad had agreed to all of that to the doctor’s faces and then he’d gone right back to his old habits. Well Niki wouldn’t stand for it. He was the one that cleaned out the fridge and pantry, who bought the food and forced his dad into a new eating regimen. His dad was initially reluctant to comply, but then Niki had gone and pulled the mom card on him, telling him in no uncertain terms that he wasn’t prepared to lose another parent just yet. Maybe it was underhanded and dirty, but it worked. Niki’s father stuck to healthy eating at least as far as Niki knew.

  Then he passed the firehouse where Michael, Ethan, and Oliver worked. Their town didn’t see much violence, but accidents were always a problem even in small towns. Michael had met Oliver through the training program and had been especially proud to be doing the job that Ethan Birns did as well. He’d always looked up to Ethan even before they’d become friends since it was Ethan who had tried to teach them about werewolves. Having a best friend that was a fireman meant you never had bonfires out in the preserve, but it also meant that your father’s house was never without working smoke detectors even when you weren’t around. So he was grateful for that.