Hellhound in a Handbag Read online

  Linked to a mage she hates, Freddy is willing to trade all the power of the demon zone to get her freedom.

  Freddy was born to take the mantle of hellhound, but she wasn’t fond of the idea. Wearing the responsibility to atone for the work of a homicidal ancestor, Freddy is the eleventh generation tied to the victim’s family, and being bonded to a mage halfway around the world is tiring.

  At a moment’s notice, Freddy can be yanked from an event or her own bed and pulled across the world to act as the mage’s familiar.

  Her friends want to help, but there is only one way to get her out of the indentured servitude that her family has landed her in. She needs to find a stronger mage to take her on as a familiar. The hard part is finding a stable mage to link to. The weird part is watching her friends auditioning them.

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

  Hellhound in a Handbag

  Copyright © 2018 by Viola Grace

  ISBN: 978-1-987969-50-4

  ©Cover art by Carmen Waters

  All rights reserved. With the exception of review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the express permission of the publisher.

  Published by Viola Grace

  Look for me online at violagrace.com, Sea to Sky Books, Amazon, Smashwords, Kobo, B&N and other eBook sellers.

  Hellhound in a Handbag

  An Obscure Magic Book 8

  By

  Viola Grace

  Chapter One

  Freddy lowered herself into the bubbles of her bath with a groan. Red and pink began to stain the water around her as she dropped into the tub.

  Self-pity had gotten old by the time she was sixteen. Now, Freddy was just frustrated... and sore. Really, really sore.

  “I am getting too old for this shit.” She sank under the bubbles and let the heat work on her muscles. Being in her mid-twenties should be fun. She should feel energized and not exhausted, but the bitch in Europe liked to yank on their connection, and a fight normally ensued.

  While she soaked, she pondered what she had done to get tapped as her generation’s familiar to the Nurfetti clan. The family name was now Smith, but the Nurfetti bloodline still laid claim to an indentured familiar. Bastards.

  Freddy remained in the tub and looked at the marks on her arms and stomach that were already fading. Coming home covered in blood was not fun, but having to remove her clothing so that her rapid regeneration didn’t fuse her to the fabric was a necessary chore.

  The marks on her belly still showed the claws of the tiger that she had fought. Rolling over and over with it, she had stopped trying to bite and had used the claws on her hind legs to claw at it, forcing it to let go. A rapid reversal of position had had Mage Smith declared the winner with the stronger familiar, and she had collected her money. The moment that the fight was over, Freddy had resumed her normal familiar appearance, and the mage had scooped her up and dumped her into her purse. When they were clear of the fight, she was dismissed.

  Sometimes, Freddy was pretty sure that the mage didn’t realize that she was an actual person, but then, Mage Martha Smith didn’t give a rat’s ass. Freddy was portable when Martha wanted her in the purse and a hellhound outside of it. It hadn’t taken the mage long to figure out how to get money from the use of her familiar.

  Freddy didn’t want to be a fight dog, but she had no choice. The moment she was summed, she lost her voice and her will. It was rough.

  When her skin was healed, she soaped up her poof and set to work. It would be at least another twelve hours before she was summoned again. Her mage liked to sleep in.

  It was a little counter-intuitive to get out of a bath, get dressed and then go dig in the dirt, but Freddy needed the serenity of her grandmother’s garden with its variety of benign and predatory plants and inhabitants.

  She was wrist deep in the bone meal for the sedation roses when her phone rang. “Yellow?”

  “Hey, Freddy. Are you up for a late-night taco run?”

  Freddy looked up and noted the moon overhead. “Sure. Meet you there?”

  “We can come get you. We are in the neighbourhood.” Benny chuckled. “We are actually in your driveway.”

  “I am in the garden. Be out in a minute.”

  She washed her hands in the nearby bucket of water, and then, she poured the contents carefully at the base of the flowers. The hints of red told her she hadn’t been as careful with the roses as she should have been. Ah well, another creature in the world after her blood wasn’t unexpected.

  She shook her hands dry and walked across the grounds toward the small gate on the side. With a last longing look at her private oasis, she walked through the gate and was back in the world of lights, electronics, and magic.

  The SUV was waiting in her drive with the familiar faces grinning at her until she got closer to them. A mass exodus from the vehicle made Freddy stop in her tracks.

  Benny ran toward her, and there were tears in her eyes. “Geezus, Freddy.”

  Freddy noted the direction of their gazes, and she looked down at her arms. Now that the slashes were healed, bruising was covering her. Her face must be just as delightfully blue and scarlet. “Ah, sorry. I should have declined.”

  Agent Tremble came up to her and gently lifted her arm. His lashes fluttered, and he scowled. “You were broken.”

  Freddy lifted her arm from his grasp. “I know. I was there. I was up against a very strong familiar.”

  Smith was frowning with concern, but he smiled slightly. “Not stronger then.”

  “No. I won the day.”

  Argyle shook his head. “For a mage, you are amazing at recovery.”

  Freddy sighed. “I have to be. It goes along with the link. Now, I believe I was promised tacos?”

  Benny grinned and waved toward the SUV. “Hop in. We will discuss this on the way.”

  Freddy got in and sighed as Benny and Tremble went around to scoot in against her. She was locked in next to her best friend and her best friend’s lovers. Not peculiar at all.

  “Freddy, it is getting worse.”

  “You don’t say.”

  Benny sighed. “I know that you aren’t a fan of it either, but will you let me help you with this? I am sure that Minerva can find a spell or something.”

  “Minerva is wrapped up in her pregnancy. If she tried to make me a spell, it would likely rip me in two.”

  Argyle chuckled from the front seat, but no one else made a sound.

  “Folks, I am recovering, and this is the longest time before another summoning. She is on the other side of the world and fast asleep right now.” Freddy didn’t mention that her mage was heavily into drugs and was going to have a short lifespan. As her familiar, the idiot was going to take Freddy with her when she went. It was a little fact of life that Freddy had come to terms with.

  Benny made a face that stated baldly that she wasn’t done talking about it. Freddy took her hand and gave it a squeeze.

  They clung to each other for the rest of the ride to Taco Taco Taco. A little shared fire consumption would do wonders for her conversational skills.

  She exhaled hard as she cleared her mouth and went in for a third bite.

  “Wow, Freddy, you must be in rough shape.” Benny shook her head and ate her own tacos covered in goblin-made chili sauce.

  Freddy sighed as she swallowed again. “Yeah, when all my nerves are back online, this won’t be nearly as palatable, but right now, it is amazing.”

  Argy
le asked the question that the other two had to be wondering, “Why can’t you ask to be reassigned?”

  Freddy wrinkled her nose. “Because there was a loss of magic as well as loss of life involved. I am from a pure mage bloodline, and one of my ancestors had the nerve to win a duel of honour. The duel had been forbidden by the Mage Guild, so my ancestor was punished.”

  “But you were punished.”

  “Well, as the deceased’s wife was pregnant, one of my ancestor’s children was assigned as guardian and then familiar when the child was old enough. They were bound by the work of every arch mage and master mage that were in the country at the time.”

  Smith looked to Benny. “Is that a lot?”

  Benny nodded. “Over ninety. They all threw their power into binding Freddy’s family.”

  Freddy grimaced. “The deceased was an arch mage’s son. They were making an example of my ancestor. He could tap into the demon zone for his magical energy, and it was considered an unfair fight, even though Smith had started the challenge.”

  Argyle nodded. “Right. Honour.”

  “Precisely. So, one member of my family has guarded one member of his for centuries. The eldest gets us as a familiar and chooses our shape. It is channelling us into an object of power and nothing more, but they were kind enough to give us our own time and life when we are not on duty. That was an innovation that began three hundred years ago when there was a sudden decrease in my family’s population.”

  Benny blinked. “I didn’t know about that.”

  Freddy shrugged. “I just learned about it when I was looking up ways to break the spell.”

  Benny stared. “Is there a way to break it?”

  “No. It is rock solid for another three generations. Of course, since we are a straight line in our family now, that means that when I die, my line dies with me.” Freddy sighed and sipped her soda before diving into her next taco.

  “Freddy, what aren’t you telling me?”

  “Quite a lot. What are you looking for?”

  “You have been fatalistic since before our bonding ceremony. What is up?”

  Freddy looked around, among friends, and she blurted it out. “Given the way my mage hits drugs, booze, and unprotected sex, I will be dead in less than six months.”

  Benny’s taco exploded in her fingers. “What?”

  “My life is bound to hers. She lives the lifestyle she wants and uses my energy to heal herself. As these bruises show, I am running out of power. My hellhound had plenty of energy, but unless I am in that shape, I am subject to my body wearing out from the constant draw on me.”

  She kept eating while the others looked at her in horror.

  Benny blinked rapidly. “What can we do?”

  “Nothing. I can’t break the bond, the Mage Guild doesn’t want to hear from me, there isn’t anything to do. I am ready for it, and the curse will end with me unless my parents have more kids.”

  Tremble cocked his head. “Won’t your father take up the mantle?”

  “No, my grandfather died, and I was tapped for the next mage. There is never more than one hellhound at a time. It was part of the curse designed to keep my family going.”

  Tremble nodded. “So, it goes on to the next generation.”

  “Correct. If I managed to have kids, the child would be attached to the cousins or second cousins of my mage.”

  Tremble asked, “Not her children?”

  “Oh, honey, that bitch isn’t going to let kids wreck her body. She is doing that with the hard drugs.” Freddy smiled and looked at her arm. The food was working. Her skin was resuming its normal olive tone.

  She looked around at the others. “Quiet night?”

  Benny smiled. “There has been a rash of recruiting at the XIA. We are getting ready for an out-of-city trip, so everything is being reported around us unless absolutely necessary.”

  Tremble chuckled. “Except for the mermaid hookers.”

  Benny snorted. “Except for that.”

  Freddy wiped her fingers. “I do have a plan.”

  Argyle smiled. “Do you?”

  Benny scowled. “When did this plan emerge?”

  “Just now. I am going to contact a few friends with contacts high in the Mage Guild and see what they think about my options. If anyone can find me a path, it is someone who is born to be lucky.”

  Benny blinked, and a slow smile crossed her lips. “I do like the way you think.”

  Freddy nodded. “It is the beginning of a plan.”

  The others nodded and then went to get the second round of food. Planning required fuel, and no one did tacos better than Dem-rah.

  Chapter Two

  Freddy walked into the Spectral Consulting agency and headed into the office. She settled down and began working on the website that Imara needed to pull in business. It was time to start putting filters on the comment section. Folks were getting too keen on nocturnal adventure.

  Imara rounded the corner with Mr. E perched in kitten form on her shoulder. “Good afternoon, Freddy.”

  Freddy smiled. “Good afternoon, Imara, Mr. E.”

  He leapt from his mage’s shoulder to the desk and sat on the corner, making cute sounds. Freddy reached out to scratch his head and chin with a smile.

  “Did you want some coffee?” Imara headed for the coffeemaker.

  “Please.” Freddy grinned and took a pen out of the pen holder on her desk to use it to taunt the ancient mage on her desk. Mr. E batted the plastic, and she laughed. Her mood was lighter in that moment than it had been since the night of the business warming.

  Imara walked over with a cup with the swirl of cream visible as she set it down.

  Freddy watched as Imara got her own cup and took a seat in the chair across from her. “So, Freddy, what can I do for you?”

  Freddy was sipping her coffee. “What?”

  “I can feel your question pressing on me. You are worried about something, and you want to ask me a question.”

  Mr. E hopped off the desk and wandered over to Imara, clawing his way up her jeans and over her top to settle on her shoulder.

  “Does he know?” Freddy jerked her chin at Mr. E.

  “He pointed it out.”

  Freddy sighed. “It is about my status as a familiar. I want to cut the ties to my mage.”

  Imara sipped at her coffee. “Right. What can I do to help?”

  Freddy wrinkled her nose. “Help me find out how I can do it. I haven’t been able to find a way out, and the Mage Guild won’t help me.”

  Imara smiled. “Toss me the pad and the pen from the desk and tell me everything about the original documents. Give me two days, and I will meet you at Ritual Space for a brainstorming session.”

  “You are going to help?”

  “Sure. My work is primarily in the evenings, so I am all yours during daylight hours.” Imara grinned. “I count you as a friend, and Mr. E understands about the lack of choice of mage that some familiars suffer. He lucked out.”

  Freddy watched as the kitten sat on her shoulder, grew into a full-sized cat, and let out a melodious yowl. From there, he jumped to the floor and became a man in mage robes. “We will help you, Fredericka. You might not gain a mage as forgiving and openhearted as Imara, but we will help you to cut off the cancer, somehow.”

  Freddy blinked. “I always forget you can do that.”

  He smiled. “It is part of the enchantment. When you need to remember, you will.”

  Imara wrinkled her nose. “He has a date with my mom tomorrow afternoon, or I would make arrangements for us to meet then.”

  Freddy blinked again until she thought that her lashes were clicking. “Right. Well, I have set up one of the automatic filters. The invitations to pornographic events should be minimized.”

  “Good. I had to look a lot of that stuff up. Now, when was the curse instituted?”

  Freddy blinked as Imara got back to business. “Right. Well
, here we go.”

  They went over details for three hours. Imara asked questions about family connections that Freddy had never considered. When she asked if any of Freddy’s ancestors—who had the office of familiar—were spectres, Freddy had no idea.

  “I don’t know if our magic survives after death. It is mainly demon zone energy anyway.”

  Imara smiled. “That makes it easier. There are only two facilities that store that kind of spectre, and the nearest is only two hours away. I can make a few calls and find out if there are any of your people there, and if so, I want to speak with them.”

  “Do I need to come with you?” Freddy tensed. She could feel the pull on her magic from across the world.

  “No, I can do this. I will see you in two days. Freddy?” Imara stood and reached out for her just as Freddy was pulled through the ether and into the presence of her mage.

  Hopping around on stubby little legs was annoying, but being scooped up and stuffed into a purse that reeked of stale perfume and sweat was disgusting.

  “There you are, Pinky. You delayed coming again, didn’t you?” Martha scowled at her with darkly rimmed bloodshot eyes.

  Freddy bounced and yipped lightly. It threw Martha’s rage off and so carried Freddy off toward the battle that she had picked. It was the same behaviour as her ancestor, but she used her familiar to carry it out, and there was money on the line.

  Freddy looked out over the field and saw the giant Ferris wheel in the background. She stifled her groan. They were back in London.

  She peered around the edge of the purse and noted the gathering of magic up ahead. This wasn’t the normal setup of challenge and acceptance. Something was up.

  She was going to have to put the situation into some semblance of sense because she and her mage didn’t communicate. It was one of her favourite things about Martha. She talked to everyone but Freddy. Freddy was a utensil. She was due the same respect as a fork.