by Richard Amos
I was relieved the coppers hadn’t opened fire yet. It was coming though, and that would be when the shit really hit the fan.
Hiding my sparking hands in my coat, we got out of the van and headed to the police barricade.
An armed male copper stopped us immediately. “Get away from here. This isn’t a safe place to be.”
“We know that, officer,” Greg said.
What now? We had no Dean to hit the man with a dose of fae magic, making him let us pass.
“Seriously, gents, you can’t be here. Get back.”
“Can’t do that,” Greg retorted.
He had a gun and there were lots of his fellow colleagues around to back him up in a flash. This wouldn’t go anywhere but downhill. The days of mystery were gone—at least until we could fix this mess with Dean.
“I can stop that thing.” The words fell out of my mouth.
The officer’s eyes widened a little. “You what?”
“Jake …”
“It’s cool, Greg. There’s no other option.”
“You two better piss off now.” The copper did not look happy, his sense of reality already smashed to pieces with that thing on the sand. “Get your hands out of your pockets.” His gun was on me. “Both of you!”
“Okay, but you better listen to what I have to say when I do.”
“Now! Hands above your head!”
I obeyed.
He almost dropped his gun, his eyes fully wide now, jaw hanging open. “What …” He couldn’t finish.
“That thing can only be killed by these hands.”
“What …”
“You have to let me through to do my job. This whole city is riddled with different variations of that creature that only I can kill. Yeah, it sounds mental, but then look at what’s right in front of you. There’s no denying any of it, right? You hoped it was a dream, but no amount of pinching yourself made you snap awake in a cold sweat, thankful for your bedroom walls, cursing your wild imagination. If only that were the case, eh? Life would be feeling so much better right now.”
The copper stared at me.
“It’s true,” Greg added. “A head fuck, but true. I’m his right-hand man.”
God, I loved Greg so much. “We can do this. You have to let us past.”
He kept on staring at me.
“There’s no time for processing, for investigating us. Do that at a later date. You have to let me kill it.”
The baffled bloke shook his head. “I can’t … I … I can’t …”
Lache groaned and I noticed it was straining, as if being held there.
“You can, fella,” Greg responded. “This is your last shot before that thing smashes the city to pieces. You got family here?”
“A g-girlfriend. She’s pregnant.”
“She’ll be dead, you’ll be dead, and your kid. You want that?” Greg had to be harsh because that was the reality of it.
“I’d like to stop that from happening,” I added.
“I …” The cop’s radio crackled.
“Danny? Who’re those people? Get rid of them!” an authoritative female voice commanded.
“Ma’am, I … these people can help.”
“What you talking about? What’s that white light?”
“We … need to let them fight it.”
“You what?”
“Ma’am—”
“No! Get rid of them.”
“I don’t understand it, but this guy with the white hands … he says he can kill this thing.”
“No, we’ll kill this thing …”
She didn’t sound too sure.
Greg yanked the radio from the cop, who was too shocked to react. “Listen to me, you’ve no idea what you’re doing. Don’t shoot, let us take care of this.”
“Who the fuck is this? Danny? What’s going on?”
“Listen,” I said to Danny, the flabbergasted copper, “the only way is to demonstrate.”
“What if you get shot?”
“We’re going now.” I was so done with this. “You’re the back up if I fail.”
I saw them then, on the roof tops. Priest beasts in their black robes and crimson beads, one of them Brother Bennett, their mouths moving in a simultaneous chant. And there he was, the white eye guy, chanting along too. Explained why the beast wasn’t moving—magic.
That single white eye locked onto me. He knew I knew all about his plans now. The fucker was the most clued up creature in the universe. My enemy, my savior many times over—including now.
I’ll kill you …
Greg caught what I was looking at. “We’re doing this,” he told the commanding officer down the radio.
“Then you’ll be shot!”
“And you’ll be dead. End of. Your choice.” He handed the radio back to Danny and darted back to the van to receive the rocket launcher.
“What’s that for?” the copper asked, eyes wide.
“Gotta bring the thing down to a suitable level,” Greg replied.
I moved around the barrier, Danny not reacting as we took to the snow-covered sand in a run.
Please don’t shoot …
There was commotion behind us, the commander obviously losing her shit, and other voices yelling at us. But no bullets fired, nothing to stop us. There was an understanding there amongst the police officers, a fear of the unknown halting their trigger finger. Thank fuck for that! Bullets wouldn’t work, only aggravate.
As much as I hated the white eye guy, I was also reluctantly grateful that him and his buddies were pouring all their energy into holding this monster back. It made things easier, turning the odds of me being stomped on the other way.
He wanted me alive … for my blood.
We arrived at the Lache’s feet. It struggled in its hold, groaning and groaning and groaning. Shame we couldn’t move him to Lilisian’s palace in the beast realm, seeing as he hated her so much. Still, couldn’t take the risk of him doing a single inch of damage in the city.
Brine and rotten fish made me gag. Lache was a smelly git.
“Stand back, mate,” Greg said. He took aim, ready to blow out the beast’s kneecaps.
My sparks crackled with anticipation. The rush I’d get from feeding on a beast as big as this would knock me for six with a wave of pleasure.
The weapon fired, but the rocket didn’t hit its target. It whipped off to the side just before impact, changing direction and arching in the air, its new trajectory the rooftops of Rainbow Mile.
“What the hell?” I yelped.
The white eye guy and the priests scattered.
“No!”
Right where the white eye guy had just occupied went boom. Smoke and fire licked at the sky, debris raining down on the army of police.
Lache roared above me.
Oh, shit.
“Did you really think it would be that easy?” Lilisian’s voice tickled my ears. I couldn’t see her anywhere.
Lache swung a huge arm, webbed hands going for the grab and crush. I dove out of the way just in time, rolling in the snow and sand.
Greg roared, a force to almost match the beast’s sonic boom, and pulled me out of the way before Lache stomped.
“Thanks,” I said as I was yanked to my feet.
“We can do this, Jakey.”
A plan came to me straight away. I didn’t think about it, just ran at Lache and brought up my shield beside his left tree trunk of a leg.
Wham! The inky blue energy burst forth and made contact with the beast. He howled and was taken off his feet. His crash to his backside shook the beach.
Greg was on the beast as I brought the shield down, tearing into the webbed feet with his might. The slimy skin split, and Greg kept on savaging it while I made a beeline for the head.
Lache caught me in a huge hand, and I launched my shield once again. He was sent rolling as if he’d just been set free from rolled up carpet. I charged after him dropping my shield.
Something leapt out of the wav
es. Before I could register what type of beast it was, a slimy tongue wrapped itself around my legs, pulling them out from under me. I went down hard, getting a mouthful of snow.
Toadies! How bloody inconvenient!
Another tongue coiled around my neck as I was being dragged toward the water. I grabbed it, sparks singeing the flesh and setting me free. Before I could do the same to the one on my legs, Greg was there, ripping it in half as if it were nothing.
He got tongues on him for his efforts, two around his neck.
He yanked them, two toadies landing on the beach in heaps. Then he tore them too, the toadies shrieking in pain.
Three of them. There’d be more to join the party any minute. Lache was getting to his feet. The rampage was about to begin if I didn’t shut him down now.
“Kill him!” Greg roared. “I’ll handle these!”
My boots pounded the snowy beach. This damn beast was not gonna have my city in ruins.
I threw myself at Lache as he kicked at me. I brought up my shield once again. The impact rattled my bones, but I dropped to the ground gently with my shield around me. Lache was flipped onto his back. I moved quickly, leaping at him again, belly-flopping on his huge abs. My sparks sizzled his flesh. With another dose of shield, he was forced into the sand—his whole body sinking as the force of my power had nowhere else to repel him to.
My limbs were trembling with the pressure, but I kept on as the beast roared.
Enough … the goddess said.
She would always pop up now and again at random moments, lending a helping hand.
“Thanks,” I answered her aloud.
Dropping the shield, I rolled off Lache’s belly straight onto the sand. He was almost fully submerged. His arms and legs were sunk in, his chest and belly exposed, as well as his face and half of his head.
Half a head was all I needed.
I had to move quickly. He was already starting to free himself.
A toadie tongue sent me to my arse. Fuck! I dealt with it as another did the same. No! Lache was almost at the point of being able to get up again.
“Piss off!” I yelled as another tongue caught my waist.
A gave them a quick dose of shield to give me the seconds I needed. I didn’t see the commotion of tongues snapping back into mouths, but I heard the satisfying squeals of it.
Time had been bought. My sparking hands landed on Lache’s head, and I was sucked into the place of his beast essence.
“Fuck!” I boomed as I ran through the fog to the golden diamond light.
Without hesitation, I destroyed it.
Euphoria took me. My cock throbbed and desire flared, a powerful need for Dean to take me right here, right now as my body returned to the beach.
“Dean!”
I clawed at the wet snow, the gritty sand beneath it, arching my back. So much power in Lache, filling me up to the brim. I needed Dean to do the same, to give me that delicious cock of his, pound me until I couldn’t take anymore, then pound me even harder.
Hands on me, pulling me to my feet. Yes! “Take off my clothes and fuck me!”
“Not right now, mate.”
Greg’s voice pulled me back with a snap. I gasped and collapsed into his arms. He threw me over his shoulder and ran up the sand. Holy shit! The buzz, though fading, made my body convulse.
“You’re okay,” Greg muttered. “You’re okay.”
My composure was returning. I looked up toward the sea. Toadies were raging in the waves, but not following.
“What the fuck!”
It was Danny’s boss.
Greg put me down as we got to a slope leading back up to the road.
The woman was suited and booted in a uniform of black police body armor and helmet, ashen and wide eyed. All of the cops were. If not for their training, there was a real possibility they’d have all fainted by now.
“It’s dead,” I announced.
The woman’s gun was trained on me. “What did you just do?”
“Your city is filled with these things,” I answered. “I can kill them, but you can hurt them. Sorry, but we have to go. Our friends are in danger and—”
“Thank you,” she responded and lowered her gun.
That took me by surprise. “Erm, no problem. But we have to go. We can explain everything at a later time, but not now. Just know we’re fighting to keep this city from falling into the hands of those things. Okay?”
She cocked her head. “Danny?” she said into her radio.
“Ma’am?”
“You’re coming with me.”
“Ma’am?”
“Just get over here now.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
Couldn’t she hear the friggin’ urgency in my voice? “We—”
She cut me off with a raised hand. “Me and Danny will take you where you need to go.”
“You don’t need to. We have a van.”
“And so do we.” She turned to a male officer next to her. “I want patrols around the area, and a squad watching the water. Shoot those things if they move.” She turned to me again. “We can hurt them even if we can’t kill them, yeah?”
I nodded, taken aback by what was happening.
“Good. Now let’s move.”
Chapter Sixteen
Danny’s boss turned out to be Sergeant Claire Green. She sat with me and Greg in the back of the police van as Danny took the wheel, speeding through the streets of the city to Wand Towers.
Greg had explained some of Coldharbour’s problems to her, to try and help her brain cope with what it’d been walloped with.
“And you say magic has been hiding this from us for over three years?”
“Yes,” Greg replied.
“Shit.” She rubbed her chin, brown eyes narrowing. “This is a lot to take in. But, you know, something’s niggling at me, like I kind of know what you’re talking about.”
That just confirmed that the magic was weakening. It wasn’t just Fiona who was seeing through the cracks—though she was the only one to do so fully.
“You gonna wipe my memory after this, then? Put me back in the dark along with all the other people who just saw that go down?”
I sighed, not knowing what to say.
“I don’t know,” Greg answered.
“We can help,” Claire said. “I know you said keeping up the lie of the city being normal stops people going crazy, and I agree with that, but it also seems like a waste now that we know. We can have your back, be your army. Yeah, okay, gonna need to properly process this, but think about what I’m saying. The whole of Coldharbour’s police force on your side, fighting with you.”
Danny took a hard corner. I grabbed the edge of my seat to steady myself.
There was a reason for keeping up appearances in Coldharbour, maintaining that fake status quo. Less damage, less chaos while the work to free the city was undertaken. But the time of hiding in the shadows was over. Things were gonna get worse. The endgame was coming, and I was still blind to the last hurdle. Things couldn’t remain on the same track—Lilisian had smashed that to pieces. But what if we could build a bigger army? The people could rise and fight back. They deserved to know, to be given the chance to defend their home.
“Everything’s changed,” Greg echoed what I’d been thinking.
Danny was on the approach to Wand Towers. My stomach flipped as I thought about what might be in there.
The van pulled up, and I was out, charging for the main doors of Tower 1.
“Wait in the van!” I heard Claire bark at Danny.
It was quiet inside as I took the stairs two at a time, taking point. There was no other sound other than the ascent of me, Greg and Claire.
Please, let them be okay …
Please, let them be okay …
A figure stopped our charge about halfway up the tower. Amber ribbons of light danced around its legs—the sign of a beast’s fear that my power allowed me to see. My sparks spat at it. It squealed, clearly running aw
ay from something. Hopefully one of the wolves.
The piggy, a humanoid with a pig’s face, and blades on its trotters for added deadly effect, swung at me. I ducked and kicked its legs out from under it.
Making short work of the bastard, I went to charge on. A black wolf came bounding down the stairs and froze. Green eyes blazed and the wolf shifted to woman. She was splattered with blood.
“Oh, my God!” Claire squeaked.
Cassie was six feet tall with bobbed black hair and a love of playing chess. She also had a brilliant ability of tearing out throats and busting heads.
“Ben’s upstairs,” she said. “Tower was attacked by piggies. Goblins managed to lock themselves in their flat. We got most of them, waiting for you to finish them off. But … it’s a bloodbath up there. Took out the whole of the top floor.”
My head swam with nausea, but I held it together.
“Oh!” She leaned forward. “You brought a cop?”
“We’ll explain later,” I answered.
“Sure. I’ll keep an eye on things here.”
I ran up the stairs, taking two at a time. The whole top floor? No way … no way …
Ben was sitting on the last set of stairs, naked, covered in blood. He scratched at his short dark hair as he looked up at me.
“Jake?” he said. “Good to see you’re alive.” He quirked an eyebrow. “Who’s the cop?”
“Here to help,” I answered. “Please tell me Cassie was exaggerating.” That was a stupid thing to say, but stupid things are always said when denial is involved.
“Afraid not.” He stood. “The goblins wouldn’t drop their spell until you got here.”
“Thanks, Ben.”
“No worries. Beasts are locked up in a flat next to the goblins’, waiting to die. We covered the bodies of the fallen as best we could.” He shook his head, sighing heavily.
I nodded, making for Rose and Randy’s flat first. The floor was smeared with blood, the walls splattered with it, the ceiling, the windows and the lighting fixtures too. There was a horrible metallic tang in the air. I resisted the need to spew.