Stone Champion Read online

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Free books

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Twenty

  Twenty-One

  Twenty-Two

  Twenty-Three

  Twenty-Four

  Twenty-Five

  Twenty-Six

  Twenty-Seven

  Twenty-Eight

  Twenty-Nine

  Thirty

  Thirty-One

  Thirty-Two

  Thirty-Three

  Thirty-Four

  Thirty-Five

  Thirty-Six

  Thirty-Seven

  Thirty-Eight

  Thirty-Nine

  Forty

  Forty-One

  Forty-Two

  Forty-Three

  Forty-Four

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  About the Author

  Stone Champion:

  A Paranormal Protector Tale

  Demelza Carlton

  Book 2 in the Heart of Steel series

  It was meant to be a joke – trying out a demon summoning spell from an ancient spell book. Callie didn't expect it to summon one demon, let alone four.

  Now she can't get rid of him.

  Grant Steel isn't sure what's worse – that Callie is a better Latin scholar than he is, or that he's forced to protect her.

  But when a family wedding looms and Callie needs a date, she has no choice but to make a deal with Grant. If he pretends to be her fake fiancé for the wedding, she'll allow him to protect her.

  But Callie gets far more than she bargained for...

  COPYRIGHT

  This book was created with the assistance of a grant from the Western Australian Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2022 Demelza Carlton

  Lost Plot Press

  All rights reserved.

  Click here to get started – https://demelzacarlton.com/readerquiz/

  ONE

  "Good morning, Auntie Callie!"

  No one should be that cheerful first thing in the morning, Callie thought as she reached for a mug to make tea. Except...one look at little Rory's gap-toothed smile, and Callie couldn't stay grumpy.

  "G'morning, princess," Callie said, grabbing the kettle.

  That did it. "I am NOT a princess! I am a bounty hunter and I can bring you in warm or I can bring you in cold!" Rory insisted.

  "Does your mum know you've been watching the Mandalorian again?" Callie asked. So much for the parental controls on the TV. Rory seemed to be an expert at getting around them. Maybe she took after Octavia.

  "Mummy watched it with me!"

  Callie couldn't explain how, but she always seemed to know if someone was lying or telling the truth. And Rory was being absolutely honest, unlikely though it seemed.

  Tacey having time to watch TV, even if it was a streaming service. Now that, there, said something was definitely wrong with the world.

  "What did Mummy do this time?" Tacey strode into the kitchen, wearing her café blacks.

  "Has the world gone back to normal again, so you're going to work?" Callie asked.

  Tacey grinned. "Not quite, but on the morning news, they said the restrictions are easing soon. So we'll be able to open properly, and not just serve takeaway for the mornings. I'm going in to dust and put in some stock orders, so we'll actually have something to serve people." She patted Rory on the head. "C'mon, time for school."

  "Yuck, Mummy! You said you'd get rid of it!" Rory screeched, pointing at a storage box that to anyone but a princess-hating six-year-old would be completely inoffensive.

  "Oh, yeah. While we were cleaning up Rory's room yesterday, we found that. I think it's yours, Callie." Tacey tied on her sneakers.

  "What is it?"

  "It's a princess box! Princesses are boring!" Rory shouted.

  "Put your shoes on, Rory." Tacey sighed. "It's a box of your old school books."

  "Are you sure they're mine?" Callie poured hot water over the tea bag, inhaling the unearthly steam that rose up like it was the breath of life. It almost was.

  "Yup. With CALLIOPE FERREIRA emblazoned on the front of them, it's hard to think they belong to anyone else." Tacey tucked her bag under her arm and picked up her keys. "See you tonight." Then both she and Rory were gone.

  Leaving Callie alone with the Sleeping Beauty box and a fresh, steaming cup of tea.

  She hefted the box onto the table and lifted the lid. Sure enough, Tacey was right – those shaky letters were hard to miss. She probably hadn't been much older than Rory, but unlike Rory, Callie had actually liked Disney princesses, hence Mum had liberally covered her books in every Disney movie imaginable. Callie could remember loving all of them. Except Cinderella and her fairy godmother, apparently, who she'd crossed out and scrawled, MAGIC DOES NOT EXIST over.

  Callie sat back in her chair and sipped her tea.

  Quite right, little Callie. Magic definitely does not exist, she told herself.

  She lifted out the mutilated maths notebook, and several other Cinderella-covered books which had received the same treatment. Then she saw the cracked black leather and dropped the lot, hiding it from sight.

  Sometimes, she thought she'd imagined it. That the book had just been part of her nightmares, a figment of her imagination amid the horrible memories. Yet here it was, real.

  Magic does not exist, Callie told herself.

  But books with magic spells in them...or spells that claimed to be magic, despite the non-existence of such things...yeah, those still existed. And this one held a power over her that had nothing to do with magic.

  TWO

  Grant knew one thing for certain: there was magic in the universe, and the universe used it to give him the most amazing adventures. Take today, for example.

  Harlow slammed his empty cup on the table. "We are not robbing the mill and stealing a bride for Stan!"

  Spoilsport. But that was Harlow, all over. It was hard to believe Grant was his brother. "Of course we are. Right, Stan?"

  "Yes! We are proud and true Scots, and it is tradition!"

  From the slur in his voice, it sounded like Stan had actually managed to get drunk on the watered down piss that passed for ale in the Swan River Colony. That would be a first.

  "So, should we go in with guns blazing, like bushrangers?" Grant asked eagerly.

  "We'd have to get guns first, and what if you actually shot someone? They'd send you to Van Diemen's Land for that, and no one comes back from that hell hole. No, we must use stealth, or not go at all," Wystan said.

  Harlow turned on him. "You can't actually mean to support this lunacy?"

  Wystan spread his hands wide. "Stan's in love, Harlow. Love cannot be reasoned with. That's why we need to help him. When you fall in love, you will understand. And we will help you, too."

  Harlow scoffed. Grant was inclined to agree with him. Harlow was far too logical a man to ever fall in love with anyone. "If we do this, we'll wake up in chains tomorrow."

  "Chains of matrimony. For Stan, at least. The sweetest, lightest chains a man ever wore," Wystan said dreamily.

  Of course, he was not thinking of Stan or Carline, but of himself and his own dearly departed wife.

  Grant only wished he'd have half Wystan's luck. Well, not losing his wife so early in the marriage, of course, but having someone he loved so desperately in the first place. A woman worth stealing. A woman who wanted him to steal her.

  A woman who would come with him on any adventure, whose high spirits matched his own.

  The sort of woman he had yet to see in this dreary Swan River Colony, which was mighty strange. A brand new colony, carving out land in the wilds on the other side of the world, begged for people with an adventurous spirit, but most of the women he'd seen here were...tired. Listless. No spirit to speak of, even if most of them weren't already married. Not that that would have stopped them if the lady were truly an adventurous spirit like himself...

  Grant sighed. But he hadn't seen a single woman here who might stir his loins, let alone his spirit. Perhaps she was still aboard a ship, sailing to him right now. The universe was magical that way – there would be such a woman, as perfect for him as Stan's stolen bride would be for him. Grant was certain of it.

  "So, it's settled, then. Tonight, we steal a bride for Stan, and he will be the first of us to wed. Then, we shall steal three more, when the time comes, until all of us are so happily situated, working our Murray River farms, that the devil himself will envy us." Grant lifted his cup of ale. "To a successful raid, like the days of old!"

  Stan and Wystan lifted their cups, then looked expectantly at Harlow.

  "Fine. To our last night as free men," Harlow said, and drank.

  Grant couldn't help grinning. There was magic in the air tonight, he was certain of it.

&nb
sp; THREE

  Callie wasn't sure which was worse – university students, or the staff.

  Usually, she'd say the students, but what with all the restrictions and lectures going online, the staff now outnumbered the students and seemed to be going more than a little stir-crazy in their offices alone.

  But that was before the Fremantle zombie.

  Yes, she had the largest collection of arcane texts in the Southern Hemisphere. Yes, she knew more about medieval magic practices than the Spanish Inquisition. But she had never seen, let alone created, a zombie.

  Unfortunately, the religious faculty members didn't believe her.

  "The grave was desecrated less than a kilometre from your office!"

  Christian's office was closer.

  "No one has found the body!"

  Maybe some kids had just dug six feet down for a prank. The hole was in a high school oval, for goodness' sake. Just because kids dug a hole in a century-old cemetery didn't mean they'd actually find a body.

  "This office must be exorcised, so the zombie doesn't return."

  Callie had offered to perform the exorcism herself – she was as fluent in Latin as any of the religious scholars – but the faculty head had insisted on the ritual being performed by a priest.

  So Callie had gone up to see the second hand bookseller she'd been meaning to visit, to pick up some rare books he'd bought as part of a deceased estate. She'd returned with three new books, which she piled on top of the cracked black leather one, in an office that now smelled strongly of frankincense.

  Good thing she liked frankincense.

  The rumours about the zombie had finally died down, when the internet discovered the Fremantle Moth Man.

  After three people invaded her office without even knocking, demanding she tell them everything she knew about the Moth Man, Callie went to hide in the kitchen.

  But they found her there, too.

  "Good morning." Catena smiled, then opened her mouth as if to ask a question.

  Oh goddess, not her, too! Catena worked in the library. She was usually such a sensible person.

  Callie held up her hand. "Before you ask, let me stop you right there. No, I don't know anything about Moth Men. No, I didn't see it last night, and no, there are no historical accounts of anything even faintly resembling a Moth Man in any part of my archives, because a Moth Man is an urban myth, based on a hoax staged in some small town in America. There is no Moth Man, there never has been a Moth Man, and there never will be, because they do not exist!"

  "What is a Moth Man, and why is everyone so interested in him, all of a sudden?" Catena asked, carefully.

  Callie dared to breathe again. At least Catena still had sense. Callie waved her hand in dismissal. "It's a myth. The only reason everyone's talking about it is because someone dressed up in a bad Batman costume, filmed it, stuck in some special effects, and then posted the video online, where it's gone viral. Even the news websites have picked it up, because it's the second monster sighting in Fremantle in the last month, or at least that's what they're saying." She snorted. "As if zombies were real, either."

  "There's a zombie in Fremantle?"

  Catena had to be the only person in the world who didn't know. Callie warmed toward her even more.

  "Of course there isn't. Not even a fake one – someone would have caught it on camera if there was. No, it was a prank pulled by some high school kids, I'm sure of it. Someone dug up an old grave at the first Fremantle cemetery, left some hand and foot prints in the soft soil around it. Like a zombie had risen or something, or at least that's the story the kids told, when they got to the police station. Something about a man shambling away. If you ask me, they probably disturbed some homeless man, sleeping in the bushes. Serves them right."

  Catena backed away a little, her smile appearing forced.

  Maybe Callie shouldn't have given her so much detail. But Catena hadn't had her office exorcised because of a hoax.

  "Who'd have pegged Fremantle as Monster Central? In the movies, it's usually some American small town, or the seedy parts of one of their cities. What next? Vampires? Demons? The Winchester brothers?" Now her smile looked real. Supernatural could do that to a girl.

  Callie shook her head. "While I wouldn't say no to a visit from Sam and Dean, it's got to be a stunt. Monsters don't exist. At least, not the supernatural kind. Just people who do horrible things." She shrugged. "Watch the video for yourself. Search up the Fremantle Moth Man – you'll find it. See how fake it looks. We won't be hoping for a visit from the Winchesters or whatever their real life equivalent is any time soon."

  She headed back to her office, but only long enough to pick up the four old books she wanted to scan. Then she spent the rest of the day in the rare books room at the library, carefully scanning each delicate page, and avoiding zombies, moth men and mad academics.

  It was the best work day she'd had in weeks.

  FOUR

  Callie finished translating the third book from the deceased estate. The first two had been herbals, books that described how to make plant-based medicine for a variety of ailments. Some of them might have even worked. The third one, however, had been more of a witch hunting guide. How to recognise witches, and how to drive them off. While some of the things in the book could have been source material for a Monty Python movie, the rest was decidedly dark. As for witch bottles...Callie shuddered. Some knowledge really should stay lost.

  But now she'd finished those three books, she really had no choice but to work on the cracked black leather one from the Sleeping Beauty box.

  The one that didn't actually belong to her, because she'd stolen it, all those years ago.

  Callie closed her eyes. She'd taken it to protect herself, because she'd believed it was necessary. Now...

  "There's no such thing as magic," she said to herself as she clicked on the book's folder.

  And...her phone rang.

  She didn't even look at the number before she answered it, she was so relieved at the reprieve.

  "Hello?"

  "Callie! Did you see the news? They're lifting the restrictions!" Kara sounded almost hysterical with joy.

  Kara...whose wedding was in a matter of weeks.

  "So...you don't need me to be your bridesmaid, and speak at the ceremony?" Callie ventured.

  "Of course I need you, silly! You're the only member of my family I trust not to mess things up. I mean, I love them and all, but I want it to be perfect. Anyone else would stumble over the Latin, and even Knut admits he bit his own tongue last time he tried to get the Norse right. But instead of just ten of us, we can invite everyone! Well, everyone who's in the state, anyway, with the borders closed. I just checked with the wedding venue, seeing as that's what we originally booked, and they're fine with the additional numbers. In fact, they've basically said we can have the whole place to ourselves. So I've upgraded you to a suite, their second best room in the house. You should see the bed. It's as big as the one in the bridal suite. Tell me you're bringing a date to share it with. There's even space for two or three, if you wanted to..." Kara gave a wicked giggle.

  Sharing a bed with one man would be challenge enough. Two or three sounded like hard work.

  "Not everyone's as lucky as you and Knut," Callie said.

  "Well, I know that, silly! That's why I'm marrying him. You are still coming, right?"

  "Of course," Callie assured her.

  "Because Uncle Lucius was asking about you, when he called to RSVP. I told him you're definitely coming."

  Callie's heart sank. "Is..." She couldn't even bring herself to say his name. "Is he coming?"

  "He is now. He's normally too busy travelling around with that team he coaches, but as all sports have been cancelled with the restrictions, he's promised me he'll be there. And he can't wait to see you!"

  Fuck.

  Kara kept talking, but Callie wasn't listening any more. She mmhmmed her way through the rest of the call, until Kara finally finished, when she managed to mumble a goodbye before her phone tumbled onto the desk from her nerveless fingers.

  She'd take a zombie and a moth man and a vampire in her office right now over a wedding with Uncle Lucius there.

  Callie snorted. Because imaginary monsters didn't exist, but Lucius was all too real.