Black Magick Read online

  Table of Contents

  Black Magick (Magick Series, #2)

  Black Magick | by | J.E. Taylor

  BLACK MAGICK

  Black Magick Chapter 1

  Black Magick Chapter 2

  Black Magick Chapter 3

  Black Magick Chapter 4

  Black Magick Chapter 5

  Black Magick Chapter 6

  Black Magick Chapter 7

  Black Magick Chapter 8

  Black Magick Chapter 9

  Black Magick Chapter 10

  Black Magick Chapter 11

  Black Magick Chapter 12

  Black Magick Chapter 13

  Black Magick Chapter 14

  Black Magick Chapter 15

  Black Magick Chapter 16

  About J.E. Taylor

  Black Magick © June 2015 by J.E. Taylor

  All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. 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 publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  www.JETaylor75.com

  Cover Art by Vraciu Andreea [email protected]

  Edited by Dragonfly Editing

  Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

  Black Magick

  by

  J.E. Taylor

  BLACK MAGICK

  What was supposed to be a relaxing weekend in New York City turns sour when she meets a familiar stranger who freezes the blood in her veins. The experience shocks her world, and sends her into a flurry of doubt over everything in her life, from her current relationship, to her skills as a witch.

  Did she truly banish a ghost, or just transplant him into a different body...a body primed for revenge?

  Black Magick Chapter 1

  “What the hell are we doing here?” Austin Shelton asked as Paige shut off the ignition in front of a Tarot and Crystal Readings shop in Chinatown.

  Paige Turner stepped out of the car and ducked down to meet his questioning gaze. With a snap of her head, her long dark hair shifted out of her face, revealing the crystal blue eyes that always melted through his frustration.

  “I need to get a few things. You can wait here if you’d like.” She flashed a smile and closed the door on any further conversation.

  Austin glanced at his watch and sighed, turning his attention to the front of the cheesy psychic shop. Although he knew her magic practices had saved his ass in the past, right now, he had less than thirty minutes to get across the city to Cornell, and if he was late, he could kiss his chances at getting in to his first choice of medical schools goodbye. He did have a backup plan just in case, and that interview wasn’t until the end of the day at Columbia.

  The fact Paige was dicking around at a psychic’s place of business set the burn in his already twitchy stomach on overdrive. Another glance at his watch and he reached for the door. All he had to do was swing the metal open, and she came trotting back out with a smile and a little bag in her hand.

  He took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves, but they were as untamed as a toddler’s hair. She slid in the driver’s seat and handed the bag to him.

  “For luck,” she said in that breathless tone that stalled his brain.

  Austin blinked and glanced in the bag at the small crystal that connected two strands of silver.

  “What am I supposed to do with this?”

  She gave him a cursory glance before she pulled out into the thick city traffic, navigating the streets like a veteran cab driver. It both impressed and terrified him.

  “It’s a necklace. You should wear it to the interview.”

  He rolled his eyes and glanced out the window. Despite their recent past, he still didn’t know if he could put stock in her psychic mojo, but he sighed and fished the necklace out of the bag. It wasn’t gaudy, but it wasn’t very masculine, either. He slipped it over his head and tucked it under his dress shirt, forcing a thank you from his lips.

  Paige navigated the car into a parking spot across the street from the administrative offices of Cornell. Austin glanced at the signs on the side just to make sure the parking spot was legitimate and then gave her a forced smile and nod before he reached for the car door. Nerves still clenched his muscles.

  Paige climbed out of the car and came around to the passenger side. She stepped onto the sidewalk next to him while he closed the car door and took a deep breath.

  “You got this,” she said, pulling his attention away from the building, and the conviction in her voice almost had him believing her.

  Austin tried on a smile and leaned forward, placing a gentle kiss on her cheek. “Thanks. Are you just going to hang in the car?”

  Paige hitched her thumb over her shoulder, and he glanced up at the Starbucks sign across the street.

  “I’ll be over there nursing a Cafe Mocha and finishing up my paper.” Paige gave her laptop bag a pat. “Just relax and be yourself,” she added, and gave his hand a squeeze before she turned, heading towards her destination.

  Austin waited until she was safely inside the coffee shop before he stepped toward the admissions building. Taking a deep breath, he crossed the street and opened the door to what he hoped was the start of a bright future.

  Black Magick Chapter 2

  Paige grabbed a coffee, set herself up at the table next to the window, and sat facing the door. She spread her notes out and set up her laptop, getting comfortable for the hour or so she expected Austin to be in his interview.

  Every time the bell above the door jingled, her gaze was drawn to the people entering the coffee shop, and then she would get back to her paper. Considering Starbucks was across from the medical school campus, the bell jangled more often than not. Even though the waiting line wrapped around the small shop, the seating was sparsely populated, so Paige didn’t feel like she was imposing.

  Her fingers flew on the keyboard, and her gaze dropped to the clock in the bottom corner of the screen. It had been over an hour and her paper was almost finished. Her gaze bounced to the door as the bell dinged again, and her hands froze over the keys.

  His bright green eyes locked on hers, and he stopped before he got to the counter. The familiar stare penetrated her and Paige swallowed hard. The moment passed when the new patron moved his gaze away from hers and stepped to the counter.

  Paige couldn’t pull her eyes away from the stranger. His dark hair fell in soft waves past his shoulders, and his profile was equivalent to a Greek god with a perfectly clear olive complexion and chiseled cheekbones that most girls would swoon over. But it was the eyes that had Paige’s gaze glued to the man.

  The only time she’d seen eyes that green was when Hunter Garrett had possessed Austin. Her chest tightened when the stranger took the far table at the window and sat facing her. His eyes flashed in her direction, and she dropped her gaze to her computer. Heat filled her cheeks at being caught staring, but a quick glance found him hidden behind an open Wall Street Journal.

  After a few moments, the corner folded down, and she was caught again. Her heart slammed in her chest, and she barely remembered to press save on her computer before she closed the laptop. In a flurry, she swept her papers together and shoved everything into her c
omputer bag.

  Chancing a glance, she caught a smirk on the stranger’s face as he watched her flustered behavior. He folded the paper onto the table and leaned back in the chair, studying her with fascination.

  She scrambled out of her seat, only to realize the path out the door took her within arm’s reach of the stranger. Paige couldn’t catch her breath, and a cold fear wrapped around her heart, squeezing at the thoughts rampaging through her head.

  Thoughts of banishing Hunter.

  What if she had failed?

  Her feet moved without permission, and the moment she stepped into reach, his hand wound around her wrist.

  “Do I know you?” he asked.

  The foreign lilt in his voice should have soothed her, but it just served to make the fear settle into her bones, creating a dull ache through her entire form.

  She shook her head but found she could not tear her eyes from his as they studied her before narrowing just enough for the spit in her mouth to dry. He still gripped her wrist, and the physical contact unsettled her even more than his cautious study of her.

  “Are you sure?”

  She forced a smile and pulled her wrist out of his grip. “I’m sure,” she said and didn’t wait for him to speak again. Instead, she bolted out the door with her bag and slammed right into Austin, nearly knocking them both over on the sidewalk.

  Austin caught her, steadying her on her feet before she looked up at him.

  “You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” he said.

  She pulled him towards the car without acknowledging his comment. For both of them, his words were not just the usual cliché. And he pulled her to a stop at the curb behind their car.

  “What is wrong?” he asked.

  Paige met his gaze, uttering a high-pitched squeak of a laugh.

  “Excuse me,” a voice from behind them said, and Paige froze. “But you left your pocketbook on the chair where you were sitting.”

  Austin’s brow creased and Paige turned, meeting the stranger’s gaze.

  “I thought you might need it.” He extended the purse to her.

  “Thank you,” she said and took the offering.

  “Are you sure we haven’t met before?” he asked, and his head cocked to the side like a curious German Shepherd.

  “I’m sure.”

  Austin put his hands on Paige’s shoulders and the stranger raised his gaze from Paige to him. The tightening of Austin’s grip told her enough, and she gave the stranger a smile.

  “We really have to go,” she said and unlocked the car. Neither she nor Austin said anything until she was in the thick of the city traffic, heading in the direction of the hotel that they’d booked near Columbia.

  “Was that... Hunter?” Austin asked, his hands clenched into tight fists.

  Paige glanced at his stony profile. He didn’t look her way.

  “I don’t know,” she said. “He just asked if we had met before.”

  Austin huffed and glanced out the passenger window, crossing his arms. “Is that why you were running out of there like the place was on fire?”

  Paige pulled into the hotel valet service and put the car in park before she glanced at Austin. “He scared the hell out of me.”

  Austin swung a deadly glare in her direction. “I thought you banished him.”

  “I did.” Despite her words, doubt colored her voice.

  A knock on her window interrupted them and she turned, staring into the dark eyes of the hotel valet.

  Black Magick Chapter 3

  As soon as the hotel door closed behind them and their suitcases were stowed on the luggage racks, Austin took a seat on the end of the bed and stared at her with a sigh.

  “If it is him...” His gaze dropped to his hands and Paige stepped closer, tilting his chin up so he would look at her.

  “Maybe we freaked out over nothing,” she said. “How’d the interview go?”

  His lips curved into a smile. “Nice change of subject.”

  Paige’s cheeks flushed with heat. “Well, I’d rather talk about something pleasant instead of Hunter.” Just the mention of his name brought a rash of goose flesh across her arms, and she shivered.

  Austin studied her. “The interview went well,” he finally said, but he remained stoic. “They said I’d hear before the end of the semester.” His hands moved to her waist, pulling her closer. “If it was him...” He licked his lips, keeping his gaze locked with hers. “What does that mean...for us?”

  His uneasiness struck Paige as odd, especially since he seemed to have set the pace of their entire relationship. After she was released from the hospital, he had hooked her up with an apartment in the same building he lived in. Despite their sexual escapades while she had been incarcerated, since they left the hospital, he had slowed things down to a crawl.

  The past few months had been filled with a flurry of classes, schoolwork, and catching a dinner or movie whenever their schedules allowed. It was a far cry from the intensity they encountered while Hunter terrorized them.

  Austin’s sense of humor was truly warped, and it generally caught her off guard enough to draw a snorting laugh from her. And the man knew his way around a kitchen. Her favorite dates were the ones where he cooked for her, and then they collapsed on his couch for either a movie or a mean game of cards. It was all perfectly civilized.

  His quiet confidence was something she found she relied on, so seeing him nervous like he was on the ride into the city today really blew her mind. And the hesitation in his gaze right now shot to her core. Austin didn’t show his vulnerable side often, but when he did, it pulled at her heartstrings in a way no other man ever had.

  Paige cupped his cheeks and leaned forward, meeting his lips with a tentative kiss. When she pulled away, that hungry spark she remembered from the hospital ignited in his eyes. His arms encircled her, and he delivered the kiss that burned through her like wild fire. He spun her onto the bed next to him without breaking the kiss, and his hand slipped between her legs, rubbing her through her jeans.

  He broke the kiss and his hand stilled, but he didn’t move away. Instead, he met her gaze and whispered, “Do you want me, Paige?”

  “Yes,” she whispered and went to pull him back to her lips.

  “Is it just because you saw him today?”

  Paige blinked and her mouth fell open in shock. “Austin...”

  “I’m serious. You never attempted anything with me over the last few months, and now you’re like a she-devil in heat.”

  “You never even tried to kiss me...” she started and popped her mouth closed. The anger bubbled up inside her, overriding the burn between them. She pushed him away and sat up. “It was like you didn’t want me, either. What the hell did you expect?”

  Austin rolled onto his back and ran his hands through his hair. “What is it that you really want from me?”

  “I want the fire back.” The words just tumbled out of her mouth before she could stop them.

  His eyebrows arched and he started to laugh.

  “You want me to fuck you instead of dating you?”

  “I want both,” she muttered and moved to get off the bed, but his hand on her arm stopped her.

  “Why me?”

  She turned and met his gaze. “I don’t know. You’re funny and easy to talk to,” she started, and he rolled his eyes. “And when you kiss me like that, you consume me.” Surprise registered and he blinked at her, but before he could speak, she continued. “I could ask you the same thing, you know. Was your attraction to me all driven by Hunter?”

  His lips thinned and he glared at her. “If you think that, you are out of your goddamned mind.”

  “Then what the hell is our problem?”

  They stared at each other, and then Austin broke out in a sarcastic laugh.

  “I have no idea,” he said after the laughter faded. He stared at her, his expression turning serious as he pulled her back down onto the bed. “All I know is you’re the only girl who has ever made
me lose my fucking mind.”

  His kiss crushed her lips, filled with the unleashed passion that had lain dormant for the last few months. Her mind stalled with the intensity of it and the welcomed caress of his hands on her body that shot her into the land of bliss.

  It wasn’t until the sound of ripping fabric interrupted them that he pulled away from the kiss. Paige pressed her lips together in a smirk.

  “Oops,” she said as they both stared at the rip in his finely tailored shirt.

  “Oops?” His eyebrows rose as his voice challenged her choice of words, but the smile toying with his lips belied his true feelings on the matter. He grabbed two handfuls of her shirt and yanked in opposite directions, grinning when the thin cotton shredded in his grip.

  Paige giggled at the raw magnetism pulsing from him, and his salacious grin was just as infectious as the spark he produced in her soul. But, it was his stalk up her body with his hands and his mouth that set her on fire. His tongue swiped at her skin between nips, and the low growl of satisfaction in his throat as he nibbled on her ear took her breath away.

  The rest of their clothing came off in a flurry, and he worked the kind of magic she had almost forgotten existed. Austin kissed her gently and then trailed butterfly kisses down her neck and chest and her abdomen. His slow progression down her body contrasted the frantic and animalistic stalk to her lips, and the juxtaposition of it pulled a moan from her even before he settled between her legs.

  What Austin did with his tongue, mouth and fingers set her into overdrive. Every memory she had of him between her legs paled in comparison to this moment. He took his time, making it a slow burn, and every time she was close to an orgasm, he dialed back.

  “Please, don’t stop,” Paige whined when he pulled away again. “Please, I’m so close. So goddamned close.”

  He smiled at her, and this time, when his tongue flick brought her to the plateau, he didn’t stop. The orgasm gripped every muscle in her body. Her fingers dug into his scalp as her wailing gasp filled the room, and a river of wetness flooded from her pussy.