by Richard Amos
“My word is nothing it seems,” she replied.
“Your damn right it ain’t!”
“Does my offering my home and money mean nothing? Has the art of hospitality been wasted?”
“Are you bloody serious?”
“We have all been tasked with a job to do, and we are wasting time. Coldharbour is not the place for feelings and weakness. You know my reasons for acting as I did. I had to use what I had at my disposal to make sure your feet kissed the tarmac of the city.”
“Do you want him to fall on his knees and thank you?” Mr. Douglas asked. “Is that it?”
“Appreciation would not go amiss. I understand you are shocked, but I fail to see why you do not grasp the reasons for everything that I have done. The fate of the world is greater than the trivialities of our lives.”
I surged forward, inches away from the lighting. “What the fuck? What the actual fuck?” My spit fizzed in the violet power. “You’re calling my husband’s murder a triviality? You’re sick, you know that?”
She spun then to face me. “And you fail to listen, Jake. Yes, it is a triviality. Why do you care so deeply about the death of a man who loathed you? Anyway, you’ve moved on with Dean. Isn’t it about time this nonsense was dropped and do your job? That goes for all of you. One of our own is out there—a valuable soldier. We cannot afford to lose more, nor lose our focus.” She turned to face Mr. Douglas once again. “I am sorry you love me, but you are not anything other than a man who serves my will. You have to come to grasp that, my friend. And quite frankly, I expect more from you. This weakness you are displaying is abhorrent. Put that gun down and get back to work. Or, if you are so heartbroken by my rejection of this foolish love you have for me, then turn the weapon on yourself and be done with it.”
“Karla!” Nay yelled. “You can’t—”
The gun went off, the boom tearing through the room.
Oh. My. God.
It bloomed on her back, the red flower. It was tiny at first, the size of a daisy, then a rose in seconds, a sunflower, until it was a red lake across her white shawl.
My ears were ringing from the shot, and then I noticed the pain flaring in my chest as the wall of lightning collapsed.
I blinked at the hole in my jumper, blood streaming down the red material in a darker shade, right in the middle of my chest.
Shot …
Greg roared, Naomi screamed …
Karla collapsed to the floor as I went down to my knees.
Shot …
My brain was struggling to understand. Empty, I was empty and there was hurting in my chest.
Shot …
“I’ve … been … shot …”
I fell forward. Nay grabbed me in her arms before my head could hit the floor.
Chapter Twelve
The healing magic rose up thirty seconds later. It lessened the pain, but the bullet was still in me. I could feel it, an invader in my flesh.
Bloody hell!
“It’ll be okay, Jake,” Nay reassured me. But she was shaking, her voice shrill, tears rolling down her cheeks.
Be still … the goddess ordered. Bullet will leave …
Okay. Thanks …
Do not move, do not allow them to move you …
“I’ll … be … fine …” I struggled. “Don’t try … and … move … me. Power … will … sor … sort me out …”
“Oh, babe.”
“K-Karla?” I didn’t need to be told the answer, because the loss of one of my guardians sat right there on my chest with the bullet. It was kernel of ice, a symbol of what I had just lost. And I had lost her, no matter what. We had been bonded.
“Dead,” Nay answered.
“I’m sorry.”
She blinked more tears free.
Where was Greg? Mr. Douglas?
“No!” Greg roared.
The boom of his voice startled me. Another wave of healing energy went through me. The bullet was pulled a little, moving upward.
“What?” Nay asked him
One of her tears fell on my cheek.
“Beasts outside the wards.”
Shit! Here I was again, injured and rendered temporarily useless. Karla was right about me. If it weren’t for this healing power, I’d be screwed.
How much longer? I asked Hecate.
Soon …
It made me sound like a snotty little shit with the patience level of zero. That wasn’t it, I wanted to be up and at ‘em because the enemy was bloody outside.
I know you are not that … she answered my thought.
Karla was dead.
Dead.
Our leader.
“Mr. Douglas …” I puffed out.
Greg loomed over me then. “He’s … out of action.”
“Dead?”
“No. But I had to knock him out. I’ve tied him up until we …” He shook his head. There was an awful wobble in his voice. “Jesus! What the hell?” I then noticed blood on his hands.
More healing and the bullet inched closer to leaving me.
Living in Coldharbour was a nightmare, but this situation was the worst kind of bad dream. And there was no waking from it. Dean was ensnared by Lilisian somehow, and now our leader was dead after being revealed as a traitor.
The fact I understood the root of what she was saying made me nauseous. I hated myself for getting her stupid fucking reasoning. It was the most brutal kind of logic that suited her—the new version revealed to us before a bullet put an end to her. She had proved herself to be unfeeling and completely focused on one thing—success.
The was a mind fuck, a pull on my reason in all different directions.
Damn.
Karla was gone, and I still couldn’t escape the sting of loss even after feeling the need to kill her myself. That was desire for you, in all its glory—the need for something to be done. There was so much vengeful desire in me, the revelations about Karla another layer added. But now she was dead, that layer was gone and leaving me … lost. Would I have killed her? I had no clarity now, but I wondered if it was in me to move past that need.
Quickly, that questioning was shot down in flames. No. I didn’t forgive and didn’t forget. The white eye guy would die by my hand, that was for sure. No matter how many times he’d helped me, it would always come back to his destruction. I wanted the bastard dead. And I would have wanted her dead too. My heart doesn’t have the capacity to forgive. Even though my grief for Michael had consumed me, my need for him keeping me awake so many nights, deep down I would‘ve never forgiven his infidelity.
“Hyenas,” Greg said. “About twenty of the fuckers.”
Crap!
“For h-h-him …” I managed.
“The beast guy?” Greg responded. “Yeah, they must be.”
Nay blew out a breath. “I need to finalize the spells to try and break whatever’s blocking him from communicating. Karla would’ve made notes. My God … she’s dead.”
Twenty hyenas. Wonderful.
“How you doing, Jakey?” Greg asked.
“Getting … there. Healing …”
And I was. The pain was lessening now, my lungs no longer struggling as they had been before. I was gonna live … again. Good. Because I wanted nothing more than to get out there and kill me some hyena beasts.
“I’m gonna move Mr. Douglas and go check on our guest,” Greg said. “Can’t leave him out there alone.”
Greg left. He was so right. Luke had been outside in his tube when … when he’d … blimey. It hurt like hell to think how much I’d let my beast friend down. They weren’t all monsters, Luke being one of the good eggs.
They wouldn’t have the beast man. No way. I would do everything in my power to stop them. He wasn’t a friend, and I didn’t know his name. But he wasn’t a beast I needed to kill. He wasn’t one of the kinds to want me dead. There were secrets inside him I needed to know that those hyenas beyond the wards wanted to stop him revealing.
I still couldn’t feel
Dean down the SOS bonds.
“Can … you … feel … D-Dean?” I asked weakly.
“I’m sorry, babe,” Nay whispered. “I can’t.”
Dean’s bond to me was lost, but not severed. I knew that deep within my heart. He was under a spell, not a traitor. His absence hurt like hell, but I’d bring him back to me. I could find that frozen bond and rescue it from whatever cold place it was trapped in.
I need you, Dean …
It was half an hour later before I could finally get to my feet. The bullet had been resilient, not wanting to come out, only doing so a little bit at a time.
Now it was out, my healing power could do the last of its work and take away all of my aches and pains, restore me to full energy.
“I’m ready for this.” I cracked my knuckles.
Nay simply nodded, a shadow of grief hanging over her.
Greg came back in the dining room after being gone since he left to check on the beast man.
“You okay?” I asked. “You’ve been gone thirty minutes.”
He sucked in air between his teeth. “Hyena numbers have more than doubled.”
“Oh, shit.”
“Yep. I counted at least fifty.”
“What we gonna do?”
“Laughing potion,” Nay offered. “I have a huge stash of it.”
“Cannons can help,” Greg added. He sighed. “Feel so bloody useless.”
“Know what you mean,” I said. “I wanna get out there and bust some heads real fucking bad.” But there too many to tangle with.
I looked over to the spot where Karla had died, kind of expecting her body to be there still. Obviously, Greg had moved her too.
Nay started walking away. “Let me go and get some potion. We’ll drown the bastards in it. I’ll meet you outside.”
“Come on, mate.” Greg took point, and I followed him out into the cold.
There were so many of them outside the wards.
“More have come,” Greg said. “Great.”
A sea of yellow eyes watched me move down the steps of the mansion’s main entrance, striding down the snow-covered driveway.
“Weapon.” The collective hiss was a wallop to my ear drums.
“Bloody hell!”
“There is no way out!”
I flipped them the middle finger and cast my eyes over to the beast man. He was standing in his cube, watching everything intently.
“Give us the beast, and we shall depart!”
“Bollocks will ya!” I yelled.
“War is coming, weapon! Surrender the beast and your life, and the city will be spared from the terrible ravages of what is to be unleashed.”
“Said you were chatting bollocks!”
“Foolish weapon will beg our queen for mercy when the end comes.”
My phone screamed in my pocket.
“Surrender!”
It was Rose calling. “Hi. Not a good time—”
“Jake! They’re attacking Wand Towers! Please help! Goodness! They’re almost here!”
At that moment, Nay came running down the driveway with a huge rucksack on her back.
“We’re coming, Rose! Hold tight!”
“Randy!”
The line went dead.
Oh. My. God.
“What’s happened?” Greg demanded as we ran after Nay.
“An attack on Wand Towers. We have to get over there right now.”
Nay heard too, which galvanized her into action. She charged and roared as she hurled vial after vial over the gates, through the wards. Purple gas exploded all over the hyenas. Within seconds, the collective hissing became a mass laughing fit.
Greg turned and ran for his car. “Jake!”
I followed him, getting into the front passenger seat.
He stopped the vehicle by the gates where Nay still threw her potions from the rucksack.
“Get in!” Greg commanded her.
“No,” she countered. “I have to stay here. There’s no one to watch the beast man. Anyway, I can keep doing this for hours. Never get tired of it.”
“Nay, I—”
“Stop!” she cut Greg off. “You’ll have to plough through them. Do whatever it takes to help Rose and Randy. I’ve got this. I need to stay here and you know it.”
Crap! I didn’t like the idea of her being here alone. But she was right. Damn it, she was so bloody right.
“I’m calling the wolves,” I said.
“Go!” she cried.
The gates opened and Greg hit the accelerator, taking down hyena beasts. They rolled off the bonnet, got caught under tires. In fact, their bodies soon became the tarmac, all the while writhing and howling with laughter.
My sparks were going wild, but I had to resist. This slow pace was bad enough. I couldn’t delay with making kills, though, couldn’t do anything from stopping me getting to the goblins.
And Fiona. Oh, my God! Fiona! We’d sent her with Rose and Randy to be safe but ended up putting her in danger.
Who was attacking them? More hyenas? Piggies? Some new bloody strain of beast I hadn’t had the misfortune of setting eyes on yet?
Greg cleared the beasts, the wheels of the car meeting the road. He went as fast as he could on the snowy roads without us spinning off to our deaths. Fuck! We needed to go faster than this!
I made a quick call to Eric, and he said he was on it, sending wolves to the mansion, and to Wand Towers. We needed all the help we could get.
“We can’t lose them,” I said.
“We won’t, mate,” Greg replied. “We won’t.”
The defeated tone in his voice told me otherwise. Doubt was at the surface, as it was in me. Whatever was coming for the goblins was almost upon them.
My hands were tights balls of rage. I had to kill a beast, any beast. I had to feel my power working, to reassure me I could still kill the fuckers and have at least some sort of upper-hand on them.
If only this car could go faster …
Fuck the snow!
Damn it.
Chapter Thirteen
As the car hit Rainbow Mile, the screaming started. Pedestrians pointed out to sea, darting into the amusement arcades and restaurants, running out into the road with careless terror.
Greg slammed on the brakes as I looked to the water.
“What the fuck is that?”
A head of pale gray skin, hair made up of snapping eels like a twisted Medusa. It was the size of a house. Shoulders of pointed bone followed as it rose up out of the waves, then a naked chest covered in barnacles and clams. Next came the torso, covered in gills, then the sexless groin and then the huge thighs.
My sparks spat wildly at the beast.
It towered above the sand, taller than the giants I’d tangled with when the dragon had attacked.
A car came tearing down the road. I could see the driver panicked, having lost control.
“Get out!” Greg boomed.
I didn’t need telling twice.
As I went to run, Greg shoved me out of the way before I even had the chance to move. The car hit Greg’s vehicle in a deafening clang. We tumbled together, down a small concrete slope that led down to the sand.
The screaming had been a familiar sound in Coldharbour. I hated it, wanted it to be a terrible memory, nothing to do with the present.
Wishful thinking can damage the soul sometimes.
I spat sand and got to my feet, eyes not leaving this new horror.
Its hands were webbed and glistening with something slick.
“Where’s the rocket launcher when you need it?” Greg said.
What the hell was I supposed to do now? Take it down? The giants had fallen because they’d had a good dose of rocket. This beast was bigger, black eyes full of more shadow than anything else I’d seen.
It lifted a huge hand and pointed a webbed finger at me.
Of course it did.
This beast couldn’t come into the city. It’d flatten everything. I had to stop it.
Think!
There was no choice but to tangle with it. If we ran and made for the goblins, we’d be leaving Rainbow Mile to its fate.
But this beast wasn’t moving, hadn’t come out of the waves yet.
“Oh dear,” a voice said from behind me.
I spun to see Lilisian standing there, with Dean by her side. They were both dressed in gold—her cloak flapping behind her in the sea wind, robes way too big for her again.
“Dean!”
He was vacant, a golden sentry beside her. There was no reaction to my voice at all. God, he was so immaculate though, so beautiful, and so … empty.
I wanted to fall to my knees and beg him to see me, to leave her side and break whatever spell she had over him.
I would never give her the satisfaction of seeing me crawl.
There was triumph on the Supreme beast’s face. “It seems Lache has finally found his way to this realm.”
I realized then that the huge water beast wasn’t actually pointing at me, but at Lilisian.
“I could control the giants as they were mine, but not this creature. He has a terrible temper on him. It probably wouldn’t surprise you to hear that I would very much like to see him dead. We have a difficult history.”
The beast groaned, and the water churned around its legs.
“You did this on purpose,” I spat.
“Goodness, what a perceptive human,” she mocked in response. “And now you find yourselves in a conundrum. Do you fight this beast, which could end in you being squished on the sand? I doubt that because of the luck you have that I mentioned before. But then your goblin friends need you. Can you leave them to die? Or would you damn this part of the city as Lache rampages through the streets? Believe me, his rampaging will be savage.”
Greg growled.
“Is that supposed to be threatening, golem?”
“Don’t fucking talk to me,” he snapped back.
One leg of the water beast lifted, a webbed foot finding the sand.
“So it begins,” Lilisian said. “What to do, what to do. This is the beginning of the end, Jake. You want to live? Then you will see everything fall apart before your very eyes.”
She took Dean’s hand. “Come, my beautiful fae. Let’s leave them to it.”