Winter Blood: an Urban Fantasy Novel (Coldharbour Chronicles Book 4)

by Richard Amos

  I strode out of the cell, back into the corridor as she carried on ranting.

  There was a lot for me to take in now, and I was done listening to her fucking voice.

  “That bastard,” I said as my friends joined me.

  Abby sealed the cell once more.

  “That fucking prick.” My voice was at a normal level. I wouldn’t raise it; I wouldn’t let the pot of rage boiling within me spill over.

  Weapon …

  That female voice again.

  Before I could say anything, ice flooded my veins.

  “Jake?” Dean’s voice was muffled, as is if my ears were full of water.

  My mind resisted the alien fingers wanting to break through my skull and into my brain.

  I know you will not come to me, so I would like you to listen.

  My immediate surroundings melted out of existence, making way for a place of darkness.

  “Welcome, weapon.” The voice was clearer now, but still delicate.

  I couldn’t move, stuck in the dark.

  “What is this?” Oh good. I could still talk. “Who are you?”

  “My name is Adreana. It is wonderful to finally meet you.”

  Was that movement in the darkness? A faint trace of a shape …

  “Great. Care to answer the first part of my question?”

  “I am the mother of Lilisian.”

  Great. “Of course you are.”

  “I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to converse with the already legendary weapon of Hecate.”

  “So, what, you’re gonna scramble my brains?”

  Adreana chuckled lightly at that. “I am a prisoner, my power weakened by the men and women who run this place.”

  “Yet, here I am against my will.”

  “This is as far as things will go, weapon. Do not fear. In any other circumstances, I would revel in your fear, be drinking it down right now as the finest of crimson wines. Alas, that is not to be.”

  “Where are my friends?”

  “Wondering why you have gone vacant, standing there like a statue in the middle of the cell block.”

  “Thanks for that.”

  “No, be thankful I cannot pop your head right now. Once upon a time, I would have been able to.”

  “I’ve heard you were quite good at that.”

  “You did? Good. Does that mean I am feared? Do not answer that, I would rather stay with the feeling I have now. Fear is a wonderful thing.”

  “You done?”

  “Are you afraid, Jake?”

  “I’m bored.”

  “There is no need to be rude.”

  I tried to move again. Nope, wasn’t happening. “I’m not interested in a chin wag with the mother of Lilisian. Cheers all the same.”

  “Oh, I think you will appreciate what I am about to tell you.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Are you ready?”

  “Unless you wanna talk about the weather.”

  Silence for a moment. “Why would I wish to talk about that?”

  “Don’t worry about it.”

  “Anyway, weapon, I have some more information for you regarding Claec.”

  A shudder went down my spine. “Oh?”

  “I have a marvelous gift, Jake Winter, one far greater at seeing things than anything Floyd possesses. The Celestial blessed me with it you see, praise be the name.”

  “The what?”

  “The Celestial is all things in our realm—the sun, the moon, the stars, earth and water. It made us, allows us to live in the glorious beast realm.”

  “Right.”

  “You sound doubtful.”

  “I didn’t say that. I believe you.”

  “There are no limitations of a physical form for The Celestial—it is pure, beautiful energy. But I digress.”

  I made another attempt to get free from this weird hold and failed.

  “Now listen to me, weapon. I am about to open your eyes to what you have failed to see.” Adreana paused for a moment before continuing. “I gather you wonder why this happened to your city—this curse? How could the walls between our realms break? Was it magic? Was it an unfortunate occurrence? So many questions, so many possibilities, and still no answer. Well, there is an answer. It was one of your own … your leader.”

  My skin broke out in goosebumps. “What?”

  No …

  “You heard me, weapon. It was Karla Jones, blind witch, who tampered too much with her spells and tricks, causing the rip to allow us to spill into your world. Our gates were born that day your guardian delved too deep.”

  No … “You’re … lying.”

  “Am I now?”

  Hecate would’ve known this—she would have seen this! Surely she would’ve! This was before she couldn’t see much.

  “I don’t believe you,” I said.

  “I didn’t take you for a fool, weapon.”

  “Let me go. I’m done.”

  “There’s more.”

  “I said I’m fucking done!”

  “She ordered the death of your husband.”

  My legs went to jelly, but I remained upright.

  “I-I know you mess with minds. That’s your thing, right? You’re trying to break me, make me turn against my own so your daughter can rampage through the city. No way. I’m not that easily broken. The shadow twins tried and failed and so will you. I’ll stop Lilisian, and I’ll stop Claec and that white-eyed bastard. Forget all of the shitty plans you have, they have, and all the fucking beasts have. I’m the weapon of the goddess. My guardians are my friends, my family, and I won’t let you—”

  “Then ask her.”

  “Shut up.”

  “Denial is a toxic thing. Yes, I want to break you, so why not break you with the truth? It is far more powerful than any lie. You have the means to find the truth, so why don’t you?”

  “Fuck off!!”

  “Be the fool, weapon. Play dumb, try to avoid listening to me. It will eat at you, all of this, until it comes exploding out of you in rage, in frustration. I have sown the seeds of doubt.”

  “Because you manipulate.” Bloody hell! I was on the verge of passing out. It was so damn hot in the dark.

  “She is a liar, weapon. A terrible woman. I do not lie when I choose to shed light on the things that hide in shadow. I do not know why she conspired with the white-eyed creature to kill your husband, but I know she did. Does that not tell you enough?”

  “No.” Rage threatened to engulf me in white hot intensity. “It can’t be true because—”

  “Your goddess is weak, weapon.”

  “I’m done.”

  “Why not use a truth potion on your leader?”

  “Let me go.”

  “Kill the white-eyed creature and destroy the priesthood before they draw your blood, weapon.”

  “So your daughter can succeed?”

  “Accept your fate. Lilisian will destroy you. A new age is rising, and you cannot stop the waves from flooding your world with change. But you would do well to die by my daughter’s hand than allow Claec to rise once again.”

  “What the hell?” I couldn’t hold back my fury much longer.

  “He would make everything a terrible hell, weapon. You can be the master of your death. If you were to stop him, I promise you Lilisian would set you free without any pain.”

  It took everything to speak as I threatened to erupt. “Free?”

  “From your pain. You must ache so much for your late husband. You can be free.”

  I erupted at that, going from half-baked to bonfire. “Fuck you! Let me out of here, you piece of shit! I’ll fucking kill you and her and every single one of you! You’re all fucking done for! You hear me? You fucking hear me?” My limbs were free and I was lashing out. “Get out of my head!”

  “Jake!”

  “Kill you all!”

  “Jake!”

  Something solid pinning me again. I thrashed and kicked and struggled against the powerful hold.

&n
bsp; “Let me fucking go!”

  “Jake! Calm down!”

  I screamed, my lungs on the brink of burning to dust. My bones were jelly, and I slid downward, held up by immense strength.

  “Jake …”

  Arms around me as I descended to the floor, held in the embrace of … a friend. This wasn’t the dark place, but a place of sanctuary.

  Greg’s scent of freshly cut grass that reminded me of brotherhood, because he was my brother, hit me. I blinked as I saw his dark coat before my eyes, my face buried in the rough material.

  “It’s okay, mate. It’s okay.”

  My boots slid across the floor as uncontrollable sobs ripped out of me, as I struggled against the torrent of pain. Michael’s death, the agony, the cravings to snort some white dust up my nose—it was all exposed and raw, and I couldn’t deal with it.

  The tears gushed as I screamed into Greg. That fucking beast had struck a chord within me, a horrible chord that I thought I’d buried in these recent weeks while I walked the path of healing.

  Another hand on my back, the spicy scent of Dean. “Jake, what is it?”

  But I couldn’t answer, lost in the roll and tumble of this wave of pain.

  “We need to leave,” Dean said. “Get him home.”

  I wanted to break this, to stop and process and all that shit. But I couldn’t get free no matter how hard I tried. She was a fucking liar, she had to be!

  Karla …

  Karla …

  Karla …

  I was scooped up into Greg’s big arms. Dean stroked my head, Nay tried to talk to me. I sank deeper and deeper into the pain.

  This couldn’t be real. Adreana had to be lying. All of this was her messing with my head, and I was snared in her trickery.

  Karla …

  My dear boy, Hecate said.

  There was not even enough strength to answer her mentally.

  Come to me now, Jake. You need my garden to let your body sleep.

  My lids were heavy, so bloody heavy. I sobbed still, but soon fell into the loving arms of my maker, and her beautiful haven somewhere on the other side.

  Chapter Eight

  Sunlight and beautifully landscaped rings of color encircling a pond with waterlilies and a shape-changing flower also known as Hecate. This place was so calm, so peaceful—blue skies and serenity.

  But I paced back and forth on the grass at the pond’s edge.

  “This can’t be true. You’d know, right? You’d know.”

  I resisted every urge to bite my nails, to rip up the grass and throw it in a raging fit. My screaming and crying had stopped.

  “I did not see,” Hecate replied. “And I do not see anything of this accusation linked to Karla.”

  “Thank fuck for that!”

  “But that does not mean it is not true, Jake.”

  “What?” I paused in my pacing. “What the bloody hell does that mean? Of course it ain’t true! This is Karla we’re talking about. Why would she want some bloody beast free? And why would she … have ordered Michael’s death …” I took a moment before answering again, feeling a little woozy at my words. “She wouldn’t have done that, wouldn’t have caused the beasts to come. Karla’s not like that.”

  “I wish I could tell you, Jake, and I am trying to see.”

  “How bloody long have you been blind?” I winced at my tone. Snapping at the goddess wasn’t something I enjoyed.

  “I am sorry.”

  I sat down. “Bollocks.” I ran a hand through my hair. “What am I gonna do? What if this is true?” My stomach churned. “I’m gonna be sick.”

  “You can cry, dear boy. This is a safe place for you to release any emotion you wish to.”

  All of that pain was muted now, though. Coming here, under the sun, had helped, shifted me from one state to another. My hands were trembling from the aftershock of all that anger and emotional agony.

  “You think it was Adreana amplifying things for me?” I asked.

  “That may well be, yet there is nothing false about what you feel. Amplification is only a grander display of your feelings.”

  “Yeah …”

  “However, you have been doing remarkably well in healing—as you set out to do. Your relationship with Dean has helped immensely, allowed you to give in to the joyful side of yourself.”

  She always had the inside scoop of my heart. It would never stop being creepy.

  “The other side have so much intel,” I changed the subject. “They know so much about you making me.”

  “Yet there is much they do not know.”

  “Like the white eye guy.”

  “Yes. And she has inadvertently aided us, Jake, in a way she did not mean to.”

  “What’s that?”

  “The Celestial she spoke of. I have a strong feeling that this is what has its roots deep within me, within Coldharbour.”

  “Can we destroy it, do you think?”

  “Let me look deeper, Jake. We will know. Did you notice who she did not mention?”

  I cracked my knuckles. “No.”

  “What is interesting to me is that the hyenas attacked our mute beast. Do the hyenas not work for Lilisian? A truth has been avoided by the Purple one as the right questions have not been asked. Indeed, she must be questioned again. Our silent beast is the key to finally unlocking the way to freedom.”

  I licked my dry lips. “Bloody hell. I think you’re right.”

  “Maybe, Jake. Maybe.”

  A pink butterfly flew past my face. “You would’ve seen Karla causing all this, right? You’d know if she did the things Adreana said?” I couldn’t accept this as true. It wasn’t possible.

  “Dear boy, I wish I could be the ultimate power you think I am. Alas, I am not. I have failed the world over and over, watching helplessly as war ravaged the lands, as sickness took lives too soon. What could I do? You all have free will. It is not my place to interfere, yet it feels very much like failure. It … broke my heart.”

  “But you did get involved when you made me, when you helped Hercules defeat the Titans.”

  “Two marvelous boys,” she replied. “My only great achievements.”

  “And being the goddess of magic. That counts for something. What about the maker? Why didn’t he or she get involved, then?”

  “As I said, you have free will. I aided in this case and the one with the Titans because they were incidents of attacks from other realms, not an act of your own violence.”

  “What about natural disasters?”

  “Beyond my control. The world has to be the world, to be calm, to rage. I am guessing that what we call nature is a version of The Celestial over in the beast realm.”

  “You’re making my head spin.” I blew out a breath. “So, you can sometimes be involved, but most of the time not?”

  “Yes. I am the goddess of magic and witches. This is a magical problem of sorts.”

  “Right.”

  “I wish I could be more.”

  So did I, but I didn’t say that.

  “You do not have to say it, Jake.”

  Damn! That mind-reading crap!

  “I hope your head does not spin too much.”

  “Never really stopped since I got here to be honest.” I circled my fingers in the lush green grass. “I get it. Nothing is ever black and white, eh? Everything has its limitations and stuff. Still, it was impressive that you managed to whip me up.”

  “Whip you?”

  I chortled. “Made me, I mean.”

  “I may not see many things, but I do see you. And you have been feeding my power as much as your own. Together we continue to grow stronger. We can save your world. Now we have a new direction to explore with The Celestial and the mute beast.”

  “But first there’s the Karla problem. I have to know, Hecate.”

  “And you will.”

  The thought of using a truth potion on one of my guardians sat uneasy with me.

  “Because you care,” the goddess answered
my thought.

  “What if she … did … I can’t … I can’t …”

  “You may stay here as long as you wish, dear boy.”

  “I need to get back out there, explain myself. My friends will be worried.”

  “Listen to me. Whatever happens, we must stay on this path we are on. It is a good path. I can sense hope through darkness that would consume if we strayed from this course. I am so proud of you for making it this far. Do not break. Do not let this destroy your heart and soul. You have a beautiful determination to survive, to leave the demons behind. When hope seems so far away, strive to pluck it from the mire.”

  “So, don’t fall apart if Karla is a traitor?”

  “I understand that would be incredibly hard to deal with.”

  “Understatement.”

  “You are strong, Jake, as I have told you many times.”

  “Yep. But taking a hit like that, if this is all true …” My whole life had comprised of taking hit after hit after hit.

  Oh, poor me. Boo fucking hoo! What about my friends—Greg and Nay especially. If they found out … it’d crush them. The ultimate betrayal.

  “If she’s working with the white eye guy then she wanted me dead all along.”

  The flower in the pond changed from golden tulip to ruby pansy. “The truth must be found. And soon. This cloud cannot continue to linger over things.”

  “It’s alright to say for me to not break,” I said. “What about my guardians? Oh, God! Is Mr. Douglas in on this too?”

  “I think it is time you go back,” the goddess suggested. “Wait …”

  “What is it?”

  “No …”

  “What?” I was on my feet.

  “I do not wish … no, you must go back.”

  My heart was pounding. “What is it?”

  “You are going back to danger.”

  Chapter Nine

  My eyes shot open as the car came to a screeching halt along the coast road.

  “Jake!” Dean had my face in his hands. “You’re awake! Oh, shit!”

  “Welcome back, babe,” Nay said.

  “Fuck,” Greg added. He was looking straight ahead.

  “You okay?” Dean said, still holding my face.