Showing results by author "Auburn Tempest" in All Categories

I have family I didn't know about, a magical heritage laying its claim, and a mystery I apparently need to solve. But when a back-alley brawl leaves me marked with a bizarre Celtic crest on my back, I become a beacon for all things whacked and weird.

Meet Fionna mac Cumhaill, an urban druid coming into her powers and trying to master them. She has a family she didn't know about, a magical heritage laying its claim, and a mystery she apparently needs to solve.

When a back-alley brawl leaves me marked with a bizarre Celtic crest on my back, I become a beacon for all things whacked and weird. My dad is obviously freaked when he sees the tat, but he won't discuss it. So, I do what any stubborn redheaded lass would - I ignore all advice and fly to the Emerald Isle to get answers. And yeah...you know that saying about hindsight being 20/20? True story.

It is the Time of the Colliding Realms—the Keening—the Culling. Everything that happened over the past eighteen months has led to this moment. The good and the bad. The triumphs and the tragedies. Now my family by blood, by choice, and by circumstance face the battle to balance our world's alignment.

I knew three things about my life before adoption: I was a baby rescued from a blazing house fire, I was found in the arms of a dead man, and no one ever came to claim me. No one. Not ever. Now, as a Montreal detective, I'm dedicated to hunting truths for a living. Unheard voices. Cold cases. Unsolved mysteries. Unearthing secrets hidden in the shadows is my jam. Until the fae veil falls . . . When the world learns magic is real, everything changes. Montreal begins seething with prana energy, dormant genes activate, and seemingly normal humans experience magical awakenings.

Assuming my role as the druid representative for the Lakeshore Guild of Empowered Ones is both an honor and a curse. It puts me in a position to make important changes in a flawed system but also puts me in the crosshairs of a lot of powerful people. Demons, tricksters, and wizards I can handle, but when my worlds collide and the police get involved, I'm afraid for not only me but the men in my family.

My outlook on life isn't complicated - any day that passes when nobody tries to kill me or someone I love gets put into the "good day" column. Simple, right? Lately, good days have been hard to come by. Since I totally ignored Da's warning three months ago and flew to Ireland to embrace our super-secret heritage, I've seen the world in a different light - a mythical and magical light. I am a Druid.

Revived after months of being cursed and comatose, I'm thrown straight into Christmas and a chaotic case of carnivals, cannibals, and country cops. Seriously, I can't make this stuff up. Team Trouble continues to bust our butts to smooth out the rough edges between the empowered and ordinary communities. The problem is . . . the wacked and weird isn't slowing down. It's been a year, and something has got to give-Sloan's worried it will be me.

Life is a balance—at least that's what I'm told by people smarter than me. Try as I might to spend quality time with Sloan, family, friends, and companion animals, my magnet of mayhem often has other ideas. Adulting is hard. So when I move an adolescent dragon into my backyard, why don't I anticipate the craziness that will ensue? Maybe Sloan's right and I am ridiculous. I like to think I'm an optimist. Either way, it takes a group effort to figure out the mess we find ourselves in and what to do about it.

Life's pleasures used to be so simple: a fast ride on my motorcycle, a backyard barbeque with my siblings, and taking down criminals to safeguard Montreal's citizens. Sadly, those days ended the moment my fiery side emerged. I'm a fire elemental. Mind blown. The deadly Poreskoro family wants to feed on my fae essence. Rude. And if they succeed, they'll gain the strength to rebuild their army of evil. Terrifying. Demons, drug lords, and deception I can handle, but when a dark storm of danger falls over my family, things have gone too far.

On a good day, wearing the Fianna mark tosses me into topsy-turvy trials. It's a scramble but I manage to hold it together with the help of amazing family and friends: mythical, magical, and mortal. But despite best-laid plans, collateral damage occurs.

Growing up with five older brothers taught me how to take a hit. Lucky for me because the hits I take as a druid make me yearn for the good old days of sucker punches, rope burn, and steamroller.

Since being marked as the heir apparent, I've been stabbed, kidnapped, black-listed, tortured, targeted, and accused of being the cause of pretty much every magical mishap that's hit the streets of Toronto. To some, I'm a nuisance, to others a curiosity, and others still - a problem to be eliminated. Whatevs, haters gotta hate.

The world is about to tilt on its axis. Good versus Evil. Light versus Dark. There's a balance to the world's alignment and every thousand years the Earth Realm, the Fae Realm, and the Spirit Realm collide, igniting a period of rebalancing. And while the empowered sects battle for a stronger foothold and fight to find ways to strengthen their forces, the humans go on living blissfully unaware. Which is good. Blissful ignorance is exactly where we want them to be . . . Well, some of us, anyway. As the volatility rises, the aggressive races protest.

The Culling draws ever nearer—looms really—like a big, fat cloud of doom. With evil brewing, our enemies grow bolder, the warriors of light and dark scramble to be ready for the Winter Solstice, and the Cumhaill fam jam digs in to face the battle of our world's alignment. No biggie . . . Team Trouble is on it. For now, the human populations remain oblivious to the imminent battle to come. If we continue to do our jobs right, it'll stay that way. What you don't know won't hurt you, amirite?

In the past two years, I leveled up as a kick-ass urban druid and became the leader of the Fianna Warriors my ancestor Fionn mac Cumhaill needed me to be. The thing is—four months ago everything changed. The veil between realms came down. With dormant genes waking, the dominant races jockeying for their place in the hierarchy, and the world around us pulsing out of control with power, my position as the Fae Liaison of Toronto has gotten off to a chaotic start.

Assuming my role as the druid representative for the Lakeshore Guild of Empowered Ones is both an honor and a curse. It puts me in a position to make important changes in a flawed system but also puts me in the crosshairs of a lot of powerful people.

When Maxwell sends Team Trouble to investigate a series of unfortunate events, we discover that everything in Texas is bigger-including the mayhem. When the baggage of disgruntled exes and slighted gods and goddesses get thrown into the mix, the violence of the empowered world hits way too close to home.

We all make mistakes, but for most of us we die and they're forgotten—not so if you're immortal. For gods and immortals, grudges live forever. One moment of poor judgment, a lack of understanding, or simply being oblivious to what's going on around you can elevate you to the top of someone's to-do list. Be careful who you piss off. Amid murder, ex-lovers, jewel heists, and much, much wine, the Cumhaill fam jam stays the course of fighting the good fight and standing behind our friends. Ni neart go cur le cheile . . . There is strength in unity.

The moment you let your guard down and think you've got a handle on life—you jinx it. I bust my butt on the daily, smoothing the rough edges after moving in with the boyfriend, making amends to angry empowered ones, and patching things up with hostile in-laws. Things are good on the home front with my job, family, and friends. I've got this, right? Wrong. Cue the centrifuge of life spinning me around while the gods point and laugh. Or, in this case, the goddess. Hecate, Goddess of Witchcraft and Magic, deity of night and ghosts, supreme tormentor of friends.