Trolling for Trouble (The Lynlee Lincoln Series Book 1)
Trolling for Trouble (Lynlee Lincoln Series One)
Olivia Hardin
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
Copyright © 2012 Olivia Hardin
All rights reserved.
Table of Contents
Copyright Page
Trolling for Trouble (The Lynlee Lincoln Series, #1)
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
The beginning starts now...
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Want More Lynlee Lincoln? Get Tangled Up in Trouble next...
Trivia from Olivia
TROLLING FOR TROUBLE (LYNLEE LINCOLN SERIES 1) © Olivia Hardin 2012
Keeping the world from discovering magic is just the start of TROUBLE for these two best friends...
My name is Lynlee, and I'm a Neutralizer. It’s my job to keep magical and undead creatures out of sticky situations. What kind of sticky? The kind where humans find out that we really do exist. The kind that derails the great big train of our happy coexistence.
It might sound like I’m complaining, but I love what I do. Still, sometimes a girl just needs a break from all of the supernatural chaos. Tonight, I just want to collapse into my bed and forget the day... until I discover two little kids scavenging through my refrigerator. One look at the motley pair, and my heartstrings get a good, hard tug. Imagine my surprise when I discover that their father is the one human I’ve spent years trying to forget.
Beck broke my heart, but when he asks me to save his daughter, that’s when I know I’ve landed into a whole new sort of trouble.
My name is Rhiannon, and I might not be a Neutralizer like my friend Lynlee, but that doesn’t mean I get to take it easy. When Magical And Undead Creatures cross paths with humans, sometimes they get hurt. That's when this doctor to the paranormal world steps into action. What I never expected was to get an urgent call from my secret crush.
Risking my life to grant Sandy a favor might not be the smartest decision I’ve ever made, but sometimes love means taking chances.
Also included, The Trouble With Holidays (The Lynlee Lincoln Series Prequel)
FALLING FOR A HUMAN who doesn't believe in magic was the last thing Lynlee Lincoln needed. Beck Hale was a young architect, and she was a Neutralizer-in-training—they were drawn together, but worlds apart. When Beck's apartment gets flooded, she invites him to her home for Christmas. Lynlee tries to ignore the pull of the mistletoe, but after all, 'tis the season.
Chapter 1
RHIANNON: WEREVAMP, doctor, BFF
Rhiannon Blackstone yawned so wide her jaw popped, then she rolled over and stretched her long limbs. The clock read 9:47, and she groaned in reluctant anticipation of what was sure to be another busy day. In one agile movement, she flipped back the covers and leaped out of the bed straight to her feet. Glancing at the nightstand, she saw her diary open, a pen marking the page:
Dear Diary,
Yeah, another one. I swear when my membership for MagicMatch is over, I’m ditching this stupid dating site. Do they even screen these freaks? Tonight’s guy was the worst yet. Seemed totally normal online, so I agreed to meet him at that Chinese buffet I like. I was really restraining myself—only on my third plate—when I realized he had been sitting there with one of his hands under the table since finishing his second helping. He kept staring at me with this glassy look, then all of a sudden, I start hearing a shuffling sound.
Dude was totally touching his junk at the dinner table! Freak!!! I am so glad I drove my car so I could high-tail it out of there. And then when I get home, there’s a message telling me how I’m just not his type and the chemistry wasn’t there and to please not write him anymore because he won’t be able to respond. Uhm, can you say DELETE? Last time I go out with a genie. They never can keep it in the bottle. Lol!
Rolling her eyes at the memory of another failed date, she shuffled towards the kitchen. Her belly grumbled, and she immediately grabbed a whole-grain power bar, punching the button to start the coffee.
Werewolves were pretty much hungry all of the time, but it was in the mornings that they were more voracious than normal. She bit off over half of the bar, crumbs exploding everywhere. She dusted the oat morsels off her nightshirt and into the sink, then swept the ones on her counter into her hand and tossed them away, too.
“Halloween,” she muttered as she glanced at the monthly calendar on her refrigerator. She calculated she had maybe two to three hours before calls started coming in about MAUCs in need of medical attention. It wasn’t easy to be a doctor/veterinarian to the unseen paranormal world.
Magical And Undead Creatures were warned to remain under the radar on October 31st and the days surrounding it. Human perception of the paranormal was heightened during this time, and with all of the attention, it was like asking for trouble.
But many MAUCs just couldn’t resist the temptation. There would be calls about minor injuries and scrapes, vampires with holy wounds and probably a few human injuries that needed the touch of someone with a medical degree and knowledge of the paranormal.
Rhiannon glanced at her cell phone, plugged in on the bar between her kitchen and living area. The blinking light warned she had a message, so she grabbed it and tapped the buttons with her thumb.
Call me when you wake.
It was her best friend, Lynlee, and after pouring herself a big mug of black coffee, she dialed her number.
“What’s up girlfriend?”
“Hey, Rhia. Uhm, hold on,” Lynlee said, then shuffled around with her phone a second before speaking again. “Sorry, was finishing an email. I can’t do that and talk at the same time.”
Rhiannon snorted and nodded her head. “Yeah, I know.”
And she did. Lynlee was great at multitasking, but for some reason typing and talking didn’t mix for her. She’d end up typing what she was saying and saying what she was typing. Which normally provided lots of amusement for Rhiannon.
“Things may get hairy later–no pun intended–so I thought we could catch breakfast if you want.”
“Are you kidding? I never pass up a chance to eat.” That was true. Rhiannon had the appetite of... well, of a wolf.
“Yes, I know,” Lynlee responded dryly. “Your eating habits are the bane of every woman in the world who wishes she could eat what she wants without getting fat.”
Shrugging, Rhia heading to her bedroom to start getting dressed. “I can’t he
lp genetics. So, meet you at the diner? I’m already drooling thinking about a big giant stack of buttery pancakes. Mmm, mmm...”
“Damn,” Lynlee hissed, and her friend had a feeling she knew why.
“Getting a vibration?”
“Hold on.” The irritation in her voice was palpable. She could hear her friend talking to whichever charge had buzzed her via her magical amulet, though she could only hear Lynlee’s half of the conversation. “Okay, okay. I’ll be there in a few minutes. Yes, I know.”
“Standing me up?”
“Sorry, but duty calls.”
Glancing at her clock, Rhiannon frowned. “Duty sure is starting early today. I’ll try to check with you tomorrow ... after all the fun settles down.”
There was little more than a grumble from Lynlee’s end of the line, and then she was gone. It was sure to be a busy day with an abundance of trouble for both of them to deal with.
“Well,” she said to herself. “No one says you can’t go out for breakfast on your own.” Slipping into a pair of yoga pants, she grabbed her keys and headed for the door
Chapter 2
LYNLEE: WITCH, NEUTRALIZER, BFF
My shoulders sagging, I stepped outside the huge granite grotto with heavy feet. I was tired. Dog tired, and I yanked the gold chain attached to my multicolored amulet from its slot in the stone wall with the finality of one ready to throw in the towel forever. That wasn’t the case by any means, but if I didn’t get another call for a few days, that would make me perfectly happy.
With a long breath, I slung the chain over my head and around my neck so that the crystal would rest against my breastbone.
Eyes narrowed, I flashed an exasperated look up at the ceiling of my old storage shed and opened my mouth to speak.
“I’m done,” I muttered to the heavens, to the gods, to no one in particular. “Done! Lynlee Lincoln is officially off the clock. I need sleep!”
It was no secret that I hated this time of year. In truth, most of the others in my profession felt the same way. I knew my best friend Rhiannon complained about it almost as bitterly as I did even though she wasn’t “in the business” like me.
In the days leading up to Halloween, it never failed that my monitor would go into overdrive. It didn’t matter that MAUCs (Magical And Undead Creatures) were advised to remain out of sight during this particular time of year. No, some magicals were stubbornly unconcerned about the dangers associated with All Hallow’s Eve, even though we all knew Halloween made normal people more susceptible to the subtle nuances and evidences of our existence. Some just couldn’t resist the opportunity to spread their wings, so to speak. Sometimes, literally.
“Geez...” I muttered, remembering my first call of the night at least five hours ago. The “vampire bat” sighting was something I’d come to expect, yet hoped I wouldn’t get. “Stupid kid!” I grumbled.
Technically speaking, Montgomery Janeck wasn’t a kid, since he was at least 158 years old. Still, he’d been little more than a teenager when he’d turned into a vampire, so he looked all of 15. Centenarian or not, Monty hadn’t grown up in the least. Just as he did almost every year, he’d found a way to get an invite to a teenybopper Halloween party.
I was sure he seemed perfectly normal to the parents and school kids for most of the evening. But then just about the time all of the other children’s parents arrived to pick up their offspring, Monty the Vampire transformed himself into a bat and began buzzing all the young girls across their budding breasts with a lascivious and very un-batlike smile on his furry face. It wasn’t the first time he’d pulled such a stunt and was the main reason he’d requested to be in my charge ten years ago.
I’m a freelance “Neutralizer.” It’s my job to clean up all the sticky messes MAUCs get into when they mix with normal people. The Salem Witch Trials might have been averted if there’d been people like me around at the time. Yes, I’m a witch, but to be honest, my magic isn’t usually my most important asset. Oh, it helps me, sure, but generally my no-nonsense attitude and assertive attention to detail were what got my MAUCs out of trouble.
I glanced in exasperation at the body of the faux bat on the ground just outside the opening to the grotto. I’d “killed” the thing in order to convince the panicked parents it must have only been the overactive imaginations of their children and not an undead beast flying overhead. Some local doctor would likely do a little extra business treating one or two kids unnecessarily for rabies, even though each of the families would receive a letter in tomorrow’s mail certifying the animal had not had the disease.
Exiting my oversized storage shed, I hurriedly locked the rickety doors behind me and trudged on towards my house, a meal, a hot bath and sleep foremost in my mind. And not necessarily in that order.
With a flick of my wrist, I waved my hand behind me to engage the invisible shield around the building as an added protection. When I bought this place, my home inspector suggested I tear the shed down and build a new one. But I knew the run-down barn was the perfect façade to detract would-be snoops. Who would expect anything of value to be in an old monstrosity that looked like it would collapse at any minute?
Exhaustion was taking its toll on me, and even though my stomach grumbled in protest, I avoided the kitchen and started up the stairs towards my bedroom.
Absently slipping my hands into the pockets of my coat, I dropped my head back and rolled my eyes when my fingers brushed against something rubbery. I pulled the toy toad from the confines of my coat and tossed it over my shoulder without even looking to see where it would land.
Vampires certainly weren’t the only MAUCs to take advantage of the ghoulish holiday. No, in fact, witches were the worst offenders. Still, I had been more than a little shocked to get a call on the monitor from Grammie Charley earlier tonight.
Grammie loved Halloween almost as much as she loved little children. As a hag-witch, she looked the epitome of the character one might find in any child’s tale. That being said, Grammie was a kindly soul and liked nothing more than to make little kids happy. Which is why each Halloween she decorated her home in true holiday style, with cobwebs, pumpkins, fake tombstones, etc. She even took the time to divide the house into age-appropriate sections.
For the ten to fifteen age group, she annually concocted her “toad brew.” The neighborhood children of that age knew that if they brought Grammie a toy toad, she’d gladly dunk the little object into her brew, and it would emerge as a living, slimy toad. In all the years she’d opened her home to the children, this was the first time she’d ever had a child infiltrate a section he wasn’t supposed to enter. And when the little three-year-old boy precociously stuck his arm into the brew...
Well, it wasn’t any wonder the little boy’s mother fainted dead away when her son gleefully presented her with a wriggling green amphibian growing out of his chubby little arm. I’d arrived just after Grammie had nervously returned the boy to normal. The quickest solution was for me to place a spell on the child’s mother so she wouldn’t remember the trauma. Careful interviews with the other parents in the vicinity verified that no one else had seen anything amiss.
Those were only two of about a dozen calls I’d fielded, and it was just barely midnight.
My stomach growled again, and I paused about midway up the steps, realizing I was practically starving. The thought of food naturally brought to mind my best friend, Rhiannon whose appetite rivaled none. I figured she was having a time of things, too. As a doctor to the paranormal world, many Neutralizers called on her over Halloween. I hadn’t heard from her and thankfully hadn’t had to call on her, either. I decided she was either busy or in bed and not to bother her until the next morning. I also decided that despite near starvation, sleep was still more important than food at the moment so continued my trek up to my room.
The bedroom I called my own wasn’t very large, but it was the only updated room in my house. I’d faux painted the walls in tones of green and cream. My high-post bed was
dressed to match with a single-tone green spread and ecru throw pillows. I liked the upstairs room the best and made it mine even though one of the bedrooms on the lower floor was the actual intended master.
The house was an oddity. The realtor had slipped and called it the “mafia house” prior to showing it to me. That was enough to pique my interest, and once I saw it, I fell in love. There were little hidden aspects throughout the 2200 square foot residence. One bathroom had a safe hidden behind a wall panel. Also, in that same bathroom, there was an opening behind the medicine cabinet door. The little peep-hole peered into the laundry room beyond. The largest room in the house wasn’t the living area or even any of the four bedrooms. No, instead it was a huge walk-in closet completely lined in cedar and with a built-in dressing table and numerous racks and storage cubbies.
Yes, to say that I loved this house was an understatement.
I reached behind me to slip my shoes off one by one, dropping them with a thud onto the carpeted floor. As I examined myself in the bathroom mirror, I considered the hot bath I’d been imagining. Brushing my long black hair away from my face, I frowned at the dark circles under my eyes. I needed sleep; a bath could and would wait. Instead, I simply brushed my teeth, wiped away my make-up and slipped into bed. The hazy veil of sleep was just wrapping around my mind when my monitor began beeping wildly from the nightstand.
I rolled onto my back, my arms spread out on either side of me and cursed under my breath. I waited a minute, hoping the alarm would cease and whoever thought they needed help would change their mind and leave me alone.
No such luck. The amulet around my neck began to vibrate and buzz the secondary alarm. I slapped my left hand onto the amulet and clutched it tight.
“Gretchen...”
Just by touching the crystal stone I could sense which charge was calling me. Gretchen was what one might term a “somewhat paranoid Siren.” Her voice could conquer any man’s will to resist her advances, which was good because she absolutely loved men. Still, she inevitably called me just after each date and always with the same quandary. I knew she wouldn’t settle down until after she spoke to me, so I gave up on sleep and snatched the monitor from the nightstand.