by W. J. May
Fight the Darkness
The Chronicles of Kerrigan Prequel, Volume 4
W.J. May
Published by Dark Shadow Publishing, 2016.
This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.
FIGHT THE DARKNESS
First edition. September 15, 2016.
Copyright © 2016 W.J. May.
ISBN: 978-1536596960
Written by W.J. May.
Also by W.J. May
Bit-Lit Series
Lost Vampire
Cost of Blood
Price of Death
Blood Red Series
Courage Runs Red
The Night Watch
Marked by Courage
Forever Night
The Other Side of Fear
Daughters of Darkness: Victoria's Journey
Victoria
Huntress
Coveted (A Vampire & Paranormal Romance)
Twisted
Daughter of Darkness - Victoria - Box Set
Hidden Secrets Saga
Seventh Mark - Part 1
Seventh Mark - Part 2
Marked By Destiny
Compelled
Fate's Intervention
Chosen Three
The Hidden Secrets Saga:The Complete Series
Kerrigan Chronicles
Stopping Time
A Passage of Time
Ticking Clock
Secrets in Time
Time in the City
Ultimate Future
Mending Magic Series
Lost Souls
Illusion of Power
Challenging the Dark
Castle of Power (Coming Soon)
Limits of Magic (Coming Soon)
Omega Queen Series
Discipline (Coming Soon)
Paranormal Huntress Series
Never Look Back
Coven Master
Alpha's Permission
Blood Bonding
Oracle of Nightmares
Shadows in the Night
Paranormal Huntress BOX SET #1-3
Prophecy Series
Only the Beginning
White Winter
Secrets of Destiny
The Chronicles of Kerrigan
Rae of Hope
Dark Nebula
House of Cards
Royal Tea
Under Fire
End in Sight
Hidden Darkness
Twisted Together
Mark of Fate
Strength & Power
Last One Standing
Rae of Light
The Chronicles of Kerrigan Box Set Books # 1 - 6
The Chronicles of Kerrigan: Gabriel
Living in the Past
Present For Today
Staring at the Future
The Chronicles of Kerrigan Prequel
Christmas Before the Magic
Question the Darkness
Into the Darkness
Fight the Darkness
Alone in the Darkness
Lost in Darkness
The Chronicles of Kerrigan Prequel Series Books #1-3
The Chronicles of Kerrigan Sequel
A Matter of Time
Time Piece
Second Chance
Glitch in Time
Our Time
Precious Time
The Hidden Secrets Saga
Seventh Mark (part 1 & 2)
The Kerrigan Kids
School of Potential (Coming Soon)
The Queen's Alpha Series
Eternal
Everlasting
Unceasing
Evermore
Forever
Boundless
Prophecy
Protected
Foretelling
Revelation
Betrayal
Resolved
The Senseless Series
Radium Halos - Part 1
Radium Halos - Part 2
Nonsense
Perception
Standalone
Shadow of Doubt (Part 1 & 2)
Five Shades of Fantasy
Shadow of Doubt - Part 1
Shadow of Doubt - Part 2
Four and a Half Shades of Fantasy
Dream Fighter
What Creeps in the Night
Forest of the Forbidden
Arcane Forest: A Fantasy Anthology
The First Fantasy Box Set
Watch for more at W.J. May’s site.
The Chronicles of Kerrigan Prequel
Fight the Darkness
Book IV
By
W.J. May
Copyright 2016 by W.J. May
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a 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 product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual person, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. 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.
All rights reserved.
Copyright 2016 by W.J. May
Cover design by: Book Cover by Design
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews.
THE ENTIRE CHRONICLES OF KERRIGAN SERIES:
THE CHRONICLES OF KERRIGAN: PREQUEL –
Christmas Before the Magic
Question the Darkness
Into the Darkness
Fight the Darkness
Alone in the Darkness
Lost the Darkness
THE CHRONICLES OF KERRIGAN
Book I - Rae of Hope is FREE!
Book Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gILAwXxx8MU
Book II - Dark Nebula
Book Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca24STi_bFM
Book III - House of Cards
Book IV - Royal Tea
Book V - Under Fire
Book VI - End in Sight
Book VII – Hidden Darkness
Book VIII – Twisted Together
Book IX – Mark of Fate
Book X – Strength & Power
Book XI – Last One Standing
Book XII – Rae of Light
THE CHRONICLES OF KERRIGAN SEQUEL
Matter of Time
Time Piece
Second Chance
Glitch in Time
Our Time
Precious Time
The Chronicles of Kerrigan:
Gabriel
Living in the Past
Present for Today
Staring at the Future
Kerrigan Chronicles
Book 1 – Stopping Time
Book 2 – A Passage of Time
Book 3 – Ticking Clock
Find W.J. May
Website:
http://www.wanitamay.yolasite.com
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http://eepurl.com/97aYf
Blurb:
LEARN HOW IT ALL BEGAN ... before Rae Kerrigan.
The sins of the father are the sins of the son.
What did Rae’s father do that put fear in people’s eyes at the name Kerrigan?
It only takes a second for your entire life to change.
Simon Kerrigan thought he had it all figured out. He has friends, a gorgeous girlfriend he’s in love with, and even a secret society to topple what he thought was a tyrannical regime. However, in the wake of a giant storm, Simon realizes his entire world has fallen down around him.
With one friend on death’s door, and another hiding out in a secret flat in London, Simon finds himself torn between two worlds. Before he has a chance to figure out where he stands, the Privy Council beckons him.
A girlfriend with a secret, an inner darkness building inside him, mistrust all around—Simon can no longer hide in the shadows.
Can he find it in himself to join up with the enemy? Can he do what it takes to keep Beth safe?
Who is the real enemy now?
And more importantly... what do they want with Simon Kerrigan?
Contents
THE ENTIRE CHRONICLES OF KERRIGAN SERIES:
Find W.J. May
Blurb:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Alone in the Darkness Blurb
More books by W.J. May
TUDOR COMPARISON:
Chapter 1
SIMON KERRIGAN SAT in a hard-backed metal chair, staring silently out the window. It was the same chair he’d been sitting in for the last ten days, tilted at precisely the same angle so that he could watch the other Guilder students as they wandered by the infirmary on their way to class. Same book bags. Same mindless chatter. Same troubled expressions as they hurried past the small crater on the southern lawn where the astronomy tower had once stood.
No one seemed to want to look at the crater. Their eyes glanced right past it as if it wasn’t even there. Strange. Most days, the crater was the only thing that even registered with Simon.
Yup—in the last ten days, most everything had stayed the same. Repetition seemed to be the name of the game in the medical wing. There was very little change to report, encouraging or otherwise. It was a fact that disturbed Simon greatly.
He turned back to the hospital cot with a soft sigh, eyes adjusting from the early summer sun to the clinical florescence. He would have given his right leg if it meant seeing a change in just one thing.
Without thinking about it, he reached out automatically and wrapped his fingers around the stone-cold hand.
Tristan’s.
He lay unmoving. So still. The first time Simon had seen him he thought Tristan was dead already. No way could a living person be so still. Not to mention the fact that most every inch of his body had been broken and ripped open from the impact with the ground.
A medical coma. That’s what the doctors called it. No small wonder that Tristan’s mind wouldn’t wake up after he had been struck by lightning and fallen eleven stories. The fact that he was even alive was a miracle.
That’s the word they always used. Miracle.
It made Simon want to punch a hole in the wall.
Fortunately, around a week ago Jason had finally announced that the next person who referred to Tristan’s condition as a ‘miracle’ would be getting a late-night visit from him. The thinly-veiled threat was enough to render even the most optimistic doctors mute.
At first, no one could understand it. Dr. Stein had the supernatural ability to fix any problem. To cure any malady known to man. How was it that, after fixing every broken bone, mending every tear, and stopping every internal hemorrhage, he couldn’t accomplish the simple task of making Tristan open his eyes?
But the mind was a delicate thing, the doctor had said. If pushed too far, it could break in ways that even the magic of ink couldn’t fix. Tristan would come out of it in his own time, under his own power.
Or he wouldn’t.
Only time would tell. By all statistical accounts, he should already have been dead about a hundred times over. He had earned the right to sleep.
“Afternoon, Simon.”
Simon’s eyes flickered up with robotic dullness, coming to rest on a young man who was in the process of refilling the bags of liquid leaking into Tristan’s arms. Peter. Simon remembered that’s what his name was. Peter-the-orderly. Coming in just after one o’clock.
That meant that it had to be Thursday.
It was remarkable—the way that time both flew and crawled with excruciating slowness. Another Tuesday ‘study group’ missed at Jake’s Grill. Simon wondered vaguely if Jacob had continued running the meetings in his absence.
Peter whistled softly to himself as he hung up the new bags. As usual, he stepped carefully around the flood of balloons, flowers, and cards from well-wishers. That was another thing that remained the same: The constant flood of useless hope from the outside world.
“Any change today?”
Simon didn’t answer. He was no longer expected to. The first few days he had devoured the question—examining it from every angle as he scrupulously studied his friend, searching for even the slightest indication of improvement. After Dr. Stein had healed all the physical damage, Tristan was resting in such a way that it almost looked as though he had simply fallen asleep.
Wake up. Simon had thought it so many times. Wake up.
He’d stare down at Tristan’s eyelids as if, at any second, they would spring open—revealing the pair of twinkling blue eyes underneath. His friend would smile with his usual mischief, pleased with himself for keeping them waiting so long. Laughing at his own private joke.
Except, technically, they weren’t friends anymore.
It didn’t stop Simon from sitting beside Tristan, waiting for him to wake up.
Any second those eyes would open, and everything would go back to normal. To the way it was supposed to be. The way it was before Simon drove Tristan up onto that tower...
He closed his own eyes with a look of physical pain, and forced himself to turn away.
Yes—it had been he who drove Tristan up to the tower. Ever since his freshman year, the top of the astronomy tower had been the place Tristan went to think. A hidden sanctuary, too high and difficult for the rest of the world to intrude. A solitary place where he could be by himself with his thoughts. He had confided this to Simon in their second week of sparring, in answer to where he had disappeared one night after dinner.
A week later when he vanished a second time, Simon hadn’t been surprised. Tristan had received a letter from his father that day. A rare occurrence, and one that was as equally wracked with turmoil as the rest of their relationship. His parents were considering a move to France, and would Tristan care to stay in the Escher house when he returned home for the holidays? It did not include an invitation for him to come with them. Just a not-so-subtle warning not to cross the Chunnel.
Not a single mention of how they were doing
. Not a single inquiry as to the wellbeing of their son. Not a single shred of warmth to indicate they were anything more than curt strangers.
When Tristan had disappeared that day, Simon understood. The night they had their biggest disagreement, he hadn’t returned to the dorms. Simon hadn’t been concerned because he had other things to focus on. Like a piece of human flesh on his door. That was the night they fought. The night of the storm.
He stopped right there and allowed himself to go no further. It was not physically possible for him to punish himself any more than he already had. It was not physically possible for him to be any more crippled by the suffocating feeling of helpless guilt.
It was his fault Tristan was lying here. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind.
It was his fault his best friend couldn’t open his eyes.
Wake up.
“No change,” he said, surprising both himself and the orderly.
Peter simply looked up in shock, and offered him a slight smile before nodding and disappearing back into the supply room.
Simon stifled another sigh and tilted his head up to the ceiling.
They were worried about him. He knew this. Everyone was worried. From the infirmary staff, to the teaching staff, to his friends at school. Right down to Tristan’s own mother who had visited once, his second week. His father had not made an appearance.
On the fifth day that Simon had refused to leave the bedside, Dr. Stein had offered him a mild sedative. Something to help him sleep, if he insisted upon staying. On the seventh day, Dean Robbins had been called in for reinforcements—trying to coax him back to the dorms.
“Get some rest, Simon,” he’d said. “There’s nothing you can do here, and Tristan isn’t going anywhere.”
It had been the wrong thing to say. While Simon might be as hopeless as possible, he absolutely forbade that attitude in others. He’d thrown a full-blown tantrum. Yelling, kicking things over, and screaming at the dean to get the hell out of the room.