by Richard Amos
“Good thing it didn’t do that.”
He nodded.
“What happened to her?”
“Went up to Scotland in the days when you could leave Coldharbour—about a year before everything got sealed up. Name was Shelly. Was only a two-week bang-fest.”
“You miss her?”
“Nah, mate. I was happy to give my solider a rest.”
“Is that what he is?” I nodded to his crotch.
“With her he was, yeah.”
I chuckled.
“Shelly was fun, all about the fun. She’ll be having a wild time up in Edinburgh, trust me.”
“Good for her.”
“Amen to that, Jakey.”
A warmth that wasn’t from the heater came over me. It was the fuzzies, a little bit of contentment that I shouldn’t be feeling while all sorts of crazy crap was going on. But there it was. I didn’t fully understand it, only that it was the complete opposite to trauma.
“Here they come.” Greg pointed to the jeep rolling out of the forest.
“Cool.”
“He must be good to make you scream the way Nay heard.”
I punched his arm. “Shut the fuck up. Don’t you dare say anything when he gets here.”
He snorted, as was his little tick. “I’m ribbing ya, mate.”
I couldn’t help but laugh a little, though my cheeks were back to their annoying hotness. “Dick head.”
He grabbed me in a headlock and planted a kiss on my crown. “Aw, I do lufs ya!”
“Get off me,” I said, laughing.
The jeep rolled up beside the car, Dean and Nay hopping out and striding over.
“All good?” Greg asked as Nay opened the passenger door behind him.
“Yeah, sorted.”
The jeep drove away, tinted windows hiding the wolf inside—the beta, the driver.
“Said they’d be in touch once the cleanup was done,” Dean added, getting into the seat behind me.
I turned to face them both. “You’re not drained or anything?”
“We’re fine, babe,” Nay answered.
“What she said,” Dean offered. He winked at me.
“Good.” I got back into sitting position.
“Could so do with a cuppa, though,” Nay added.
“Same,” I agreed.
Greg got the car moving, heading for home. “Another job well done.”
Chapter Three
My phone went off as we approached the road leading to Rainbow Mile. “Rose? You okay?”
“Where are you?” the goblin asked.
I told her. “What’s wrong?” My number one fan sounded harassed.
“I’m at the derelict houses.”
“Wait … what?”
“There’s been an incident.”
“Greg, head for the beach houses. Something’s happened.”
My golem bestie didn’t ask questions, just gave me a nod of confirmation.
“What’s happened? And why the hell are you there? Where are the werewolves that’re covering our patrols?”
“I don’t know, Jake. They’re not involved.”
She really did sound stressed. “You need to start talking.”
“Are you close?”
“Real close. Is Randy with you?”
“Yes. He is.” She sighed heavily down the phone. “A woman, a human woman … she’s holding a beast hostage.”
It took me a moment to get my head around that? “What?”
“She lives in the flat below us … sh … I … rem …”
“Rose? The signal’s a bit dodgy. Just hang on, we’re almost there.” I hung up, texted her the same thing I’d just said, and relayed the info to my friends.
“Shit,” Nay responded. “Let me give Lizzie a buzz, see where they are.” Lizzie, Francesca and Nick were the three wolves patrolling this area while we dealt with the mess at Ashford.
“This is weird,” I added. “Real friggin’ weird.
We rolled up outside the derelict houses minutes later to see the goblin sleigh parked up outside on the road that ran along the row of four abandoned buildings. Every time I saw one of the wooden sleighs, they were a different color. Today this one was a wine red, with no trace of Christmas on them at all. The reindeer that pulled the sleigh watched me intently.
Randy, the goblin, had a scowl on his face, as usual, as I approached, while Rose jumped out of the sleigh and grabbed my right leg in a hug.
“Thank goodness you’re here,” she said.
“What’s going on?” Dean asked. “Who’s this human?”
Rose let my leg go. “She lives in the flat below us. Her name’s Fiona and … she remembers.”
A cold shudder went through me.
“The sort-of zombies from the shadow twins’ attack,” Rose continued, “the dragon, something on the beach with you, Jake.”
“What?”
“A crab beast,” she replied. “She mentioned you and your sparks a lot, Jake, how she’d seen you kill those unkillable things—in her words.”
“Oh, my God!” When I’d first started out on this journey as the weapon of the goddess, there’d been an incident with a woman on the beach—she’d seen me kill a beast. Greg had been with me. A man had joined in, thinking we’d attacked the screaming woman, and a crowd had gathered. Dean and Nay had nipped it in the bud before anything could happen, their combined magic working on the minds of all involved.
“That’s not possible,” Greg said. “How is that possible?”
Rose shook her head. “She came to us, seeing right through the magic that hides us and our flat. Knocked on the door. She was a wreck, but came in for tea even if my appearance was rattling her. Fiona, the poor thing, begged me to tell her the truth. I couldn’t, though, and I wouldn’t. She went on and on about all she’d seen, the destruction and the rebuild. She could even feel the magic of the city try and get inside her, she calls it brain worms, trying to trick her again.” Rose was shaking. “I’m worried for her, in there with that beast.”
“She got some sort of weapon?” I asked.
“A machete and a syringe.”
“Syringe?”
“I think she drugged him. He’s tied up in there.”
“We didn’t think it wise to use goblin magic on her,” Randy added matter-of-factly. “If she has some kind of resistance to fae magic, and to the magic of Coldharbour’s chanters, it could either fail or do some terrible damage.”
“She can’t stay in there with a beast,” Greg added. “We have to get her out.”
“The beast is completely powerless,” Randy replied. “He’s tied up and helpless. She completely overpowered him—hunted him down.”
“She hunted him?”
Randy nodded. “He was walking down Rainbow Mile, heading in the direction of the mansion. He’s humanoid.”
“Did anyone see this happen?” I asked.
“No. It was in the early hours of the morning.”
“She’s been in there all this time? How did you find her?”
“She called me,” Rose said. “I gave her my number when she left our flat—if she needed to talk. Not that I was any help to her, but I felt awful for not being able to put her mind at rest. She’s … troubled and she’s asking for you, Jake.”
“As you would be,” Nay offered.
“Which house?” I asked.
Randy pointed to the first house on the left. All its windows and doors were boarded up, a hole in its roof. There was moss growing all over the veranda.
I sprang into action, hurrying to the front door. My sparks came to life.
“We’ll go together,” Greg suggested. “She’ll remember us. Dean? Nay? You wait in the hallway.”
“Okay,” Nay replied.
The boarded door’s lock was broken, so I pulled it open with ease. I stepped inside the dark hallway, my sparks lighting the mold-ridden house. It was everywhere—the walls, the carpets, the ceiling. The house stank of damp.
> There were stairs to the left, a kitchen straight ahead, and an open door to my right with orange lamplight spilling out into the hallway.
“H-hello?” a woman’s voice called.
With caution, Greg and put ourselves on view in the doorway.
It was her, the woman from the beach, though a lot thinner than I remembered. Her short blonde hair was messy, dark circles under pale blue eyes that widened as she saw us.
“You …” she gasped.
The living room had no furniture but a chair and a wind-up lamp on the floor. In that chair was a man with long dark hair, his green and brown clothes dirty and bloody, his pale face bruised. His arms and legs were tied to the chair. He looked drowsy, his paleness coming with a sheen of green that may result in puking at any moment.
There was nothing beastly about him, though he could have some secret power. Like Luke had been able to shift between human male and cat form.
“Hello,” I said softly. “You must be Fiona.”
She was watching my hands. “I’ve seen you … you kill them with your … hands. I couldn’t kill them, but you … can …”
Fiona looked exhausted, but that didn’t stop her from holding the machete steady at the beast’s throat.
“And you,” she addressed Greg, “I’ve seen you and some others helping him. What are you?”
“We’re here to help.”
The beast opened his mouth, struggling to say something. In the glow of the lamplight, I could see there was something wrong with his mouth.
“What’s going on?” I asked Fiona.
“I had to do something … to get you to come. And I don’t want none of those brain worms. Please. I can’t stand them! They take away the truth, but I pushed them out.”
“Step away from the man,” I suggested, “and let me help you.”
“What’s your name? The goblin wouldn’t tell me.”
“Jake. Jake Winter.”
She nodded. “What are you?”
“We can go some place and talk,” I offered. “But not here. We—”
“I know you’ll try and put brain worms in my head again. I’m not an idiot.”
“We won’t.”
“Liar.”
“I promise.”
How the hell could Fiona be resistant to Coldharbour’s lie?
“You can’t touch me, Jake. I’ll slit my throat if you try anything. You won’t be able to hit me with worms in time.”
“No one wants to hurt you, Fiona.” This had to move along, no more going around in circles. “This city is living a lie. Those things,” I nodded at the bound beast, “are called beasts and can only be killed by me. I was made by a goddess, Hecate is her name, to come and kill them, to save the city. You see, Coldharbour is sealed away, hidden from the outside world. Everyone beyond have forgotten all about us, that the city is even part of the UK at all. It’s gone because the beasts broke through into our world somehow and have been plaguing this city. But things are changing, so many lives have been lost. I’m trying to save you and everyone, to stop these beasts.”
She blinked. “I …” Tears fell from her eyes. “I remember the screams of people when the dragon burnt them to death. So many buildings were destroyed, yet they’re back again now and no one remembers the fires, the rain that didn’t stop, or … anything.” She broke down, the machete dropping to her side. “I can’t … I don’t understand how people can be treated like this. It’s not fair … we’re being lied to.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
“How do you think life would be in Coldharbour if everyone knew? There’d be chaos.”
She shook her head. “Still doesn’t make it right. There’s nothing real.”
I went on to explain how goblins wove everything from food to clothing into being with their magic, allowing the residents of the city to never go without.
Fiona wiped her eyes with her free hand. “My head hurts.”
“Mine did when I was told,” I offered.
She didn’t say anything to that.
“I know this is a lot to process, Fiona. But you will, in time. And the brain ache will get easier. Not the fear, though.”
She sniffed. “What do you mean?”
“You don’t need to cut your throat or worry about magic wiping your memory.”
“We’re not gonna do that to you,” Greg jumped in.
Glad to know he was on the same wavelength as me. “That’s right.” What would be the point? I wasn’t about to be that cruel. I just didn’t have it in me.
“You’re not?”
“No.” It wouldn’t work anyway, it seemed. She had some sort of resistance, and maybe the whole city was going that way after years of constant mind-bending.
“Please … Please, don’t be lying. I can’t take it.”
“We’re not. All I can give you is my word. This is …” I stopped myself from saying refreshing. “You just have my word and Greg’s word. The last thing we want to do is hurt you and make things worse than they are. But I need something from you.”
“What?”
“I want you to tell me what you’ve done to this beast?”
Her machete went back to the beast’s throat. He was looking less drugged-up, and his golden eyes hadn’t left me the entire time I’d been in this room. “He was walking down Rainbow Mile.”
“How did you know he wasn’t human?”
“He looks … different. Sometimes I can see things aren’t right in the ones that look human, like an aura of gold. It’s faint, but I can see it.”
What the hell? “Okay.” She had to come back to the mansion with us.
“Was he doing anything else?” Greg asked.
“Just walking. But he wants you dead, right?”
At that point, the beast groaned and shook his head vehemently.
“No?” I addressed him. “You don’t want me dead?”
He shook his head again.
“Speak.”
Another head shake.
“What’ve you drugged him with?” I asked.
“Morphine.”
“Oh.”
“I’m a nurse at the hospital. I … stole it.”
“Heavy,” Greg said.
“Can I introduce you to my other friends?” I asked. “They’re out in the hall.”
“They won’t try and trick me?”
“No. We’re all in this together.”
“O-okay.”
Nay and Dean appeared behind Greg and me. They made their introductions.
“Poor thing,” Nay whispered.
“I can tell you for sure,” Dean offered, “that I’m not gonna be wiping your memory. That’s usually my job. But you’ll have to come to the mansion with us. Not as a prisoner or any shit like that, but for your own safety. We can protect you, keep you out of the madness. And believe me, there’ll be so much madness for you to see now that you, er, see.”
“I … I don’t know. I like my flat.”
“Then we’ll look after you,” Rose called from down the hall.
“Rose?” Fiona said.
“Yes, darling.” She waddled into the room, sliding through my legs to be at the front of us gathered lot. “Now you know. I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you before. The mansion is a safe place, but maybe not the best place for you.”
“Look,” I added. “You need to come and be tested. We need to know what’s going on with you, why you broke through the spell. There may be others like you. But that’s all. Maybe you’ll be better off in your flat, seeing as the mansion is a target.”
“True,” Dean said.
“Will it hurt? The tests?” Fiona asked.
“No,” Nay answered. “I promise you. Me and another witch—yep, I’m a witch— will need to give you a check-up and then we’ll go from there.”
“I would rather just go home.”
“And you will,” Rose reassured her. “With me and Randy. We’ll look after you. It’ll be nice to finall
y get to know one of our human neighbors. But first you need to have these tests done.”
Greg moved to catch Fiona as her legs gave way. She’d fainted, out for the count.
“Who’d have thought,” I said. “This situation.”
Greg scooped her up into his arms and carried her out of the room.
“We’ll take her to the mansion,” Rose said and went with Greg.
Now for the beast.
I folded my arms and scrutinized the man. There was a dirty sweat aroma about him, and he really was quite grubby on closer inspection. If I wasn’t about to kill him, I’d get my hands on some bleach and a scrubbing brush and give him a good seeing to.
“Right—”
He groaned, cutting me off. Yep, there was something wrong with his mouth. There was no tongue in there.
The beast pulled at his restraints, the effects of the morphine obviously lifting, groaning and groaning and groaning at me.
“Who are you?”
Stupid of me to ask, the bloke clearly couldn’t communicate with his mouth.
Crap.
“Right, so how do we do this? Can you write?”
He shook his head.
“I wasn’t about to give you the chance anyway.”
He groaned, frustration across his dirty face. It almost sounded like pleading.
“This isn’t right,” I said.
“Jake?” Dean came up to my side. “What is it?”
“You’re right,” Nay agreed. “This is something else. I’m getting Luke vibes.”
“Same,” I added. “You’re not here to hurt us.”
An energetic shake of his head.
“You here for Lilisian?”
He cowered at her name but denied he was.
“You working with the white eye guy?”
He looked blank.
“With the beast priesthood?”
Again with the blank look.
“Are you lying to me?”
Denial of lying.
“Obviously, I don’t trust you.”
The beast groaned, imploring.
What the hell was going on? There was no denying that there was a desperation to this beast, harkening all the way back to when Luke asked me for help. Man, I missed Luke so much. He’d only been with us for a short time, but he’d been a friend, a comfortable presence.