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

by Richard Amos

  Hercules was the perfect vessel for Hecate’s power. She’d made him into a weapon, just like me, when times had been dire. The gods and goddesses had left the humans to it, leaving the coming of the Titans to play out whatever way it would. According to Hecate, Zeus had said that if it was to be the end of humans then so be it. But the goddess wasn’t about to let us fall at the hands of these bloody demons and their followers on earth. No, she made a weapon, poured herself into him and sent him out there to go and kick some serious arse.

  “How many dead?” Herc asked his companions.

  “Ten,” Acacia answered. “But the village is not lost.”

  Herc was a serious brooder. The only one who’d been able to make him let go of that was Calix. He’d been the golden-haired whirlwind of joy, the first of his companions he’d met on his journey. There was some tension there, but it seemed they’d skirted around the issue. A bit like me with Dean before I stopped being a dick. But Calix was dead before either of them could get a grip. Man, was the grief potent, even from this side of the fence. I knew it well, the dreadful sensation still sitting at the pit of my being.

  But he had some amazing friends in Acacia and Belen. There were echoes of Nay and Greg in them, the way they supported him as if they were his family. In fact, his whole life had similarities to mine.

  “Oh, fuck …”

  “What is it, dear boy?”

  “Dean …” A dreadful chill ran down my spine. “Calix is the Dean of their group … Oh, God! Is this the future? Am I gonna lose him?”

  I couldn’t breathe.

  “You must not give in to fear, Jake.”

  “I can’t … not him. I can’t …” I slumped to the grass, tears cascading down my face. “He can’t die.”

  “My dear boy, I wish I could heal your heart. Though it seems to be doing so all by itself.”

  “How can that be possible in my life?” Man, I sounded like I was going down the self-pity route. But I missed Dean, needed to feel his skin on mine, to hold him under a warm duvet and leave our troubles outside.

  To tell him he had a child growing inside the belly of Lilisian …

  Fuck!

  I fell asleep under a tree on the nineteenth of March. Hecate had given me the moon and stars, and a summer night’s breeze to lull me into dreams.

  Amsterdam. One my favorite cities in the world. Not because of the ‘special’ cigarettes that would never touch my lips again. No. The beauty of the architecture, the laid-back vibe the city exuded in abundance.

  I knew I was dreaming as I sat outside a café in the lovely square of Spui, nursing an alcohol-free Pina Colada with Dean by my side. It didn’t matter. I wanted this.

  “Nice night,” Dean said. God, it was so good to hear his voice—even his dream one.

  “Yeah.” I smiled at him.

  It was spring, the good kind of butterflies in my belly as we enjoyed the surroundings.

  He reached over and covered his hand with mine. “I’m so pleased we decided to take this break.”

  “We needed it.”

  I was there, as if it were real, but then not. When we’d planned to take a city break together, I had no idea. Obviously, this reality was not mine. No trips over to Europe for me.

  “How’s the mocktail?”

  I laughed. “Not going to my head, that’s for sure.”

  He was on the orange juice. Wow, did we know how to party in the dream world.

  The dream jumped ahead to a walk along Amstel river, drinking in the lights dancing on the surface of the water.

  He stopped, winked at me and took off in a run.

  “Dean?” I went after him, running alongside a canal, moving out of the way of an oncoming bike.

  He paused at the main road up ahead, Weesperstraat, bouncing from foot to foot. I caught up with him. It was late, past midnight on a Tuesday. There was barely any traffic. He could’ve shot across at any moment, starting the game of chase again.

  “What’re you doing?” I asked the back of his head.

  He turned to glance at me over his shoulder. “Hop on?”

  “What?”

  He clapped his hands behind his back. “Piggy back.”

  I giggled. “Don’t be daft.”

  “Come on. Get on. Where’s your sense of fun?”

  “Oh, yeah, really fun when I fall off and crack my head open on the road.”

  “I would never drop you.”

  A jolt of sharp agony went through me—the real me and the dream me connected by a very accurate emotion. It felt like I’d already been dropped.

  I hated dreams like this—the being awake in sleep kind. They were too interactive, too much like the real world. I mean, I could feel the air on my skin, the ground beneath me, hear all the sounds of the city. I could even smell Dean’s sexy cinnamon scent.

  “Come on, Jake! Live!”

  I snapped out of hatred at the cheeky smile he was throwing at me. “Living all comes down to a piggy back in Amsterdam, does it?”

  “Well, yeah.”

  I shook my head in mock-exasperation and jumped up. Fuck it. I was having fun.

  “Good boy.” He squeezed my thighs.

  “You could try and turn around. It’ll be a new position?” I looked down at him and gave him a wink of my own.

  He chuckled. “I like your willingness to experiment. Hang on, let me just—”

  “Wait …” I gasped in horror. “What’re you doing?”

  “You said—”

  “I was bloody joking!”

  He roared with laughter and darted across the road, me bouncing on his shoulders.

  “Oh, my God!”

  I was shrieking with laughter, holding onto his head. This wild abandon, this stupidity—it was so freeing. I didn’t want to come out of this place where the only shadows were because of the night time, the dim and beautiful lighting that gave the city its romantic glow.

  He finally stopped in a small circle under trees, complete with benches, by the side of a canal.

  I slid off. “You’re crazy.”

  “You love it.” He pulled me into a kiss.

  Whenever his lips met mine the world stopped. It was just me and him. His taste, his arms around me. There was nothing else, no other space but the bubble of this … this thing we had.

  That jolt of pain nagged at me again. His tongue came over to my side, my hand was in his hair … but I was still well aware of this being a happy place of imagination. I couldn’t be with him, kiss him, because he was lost to me.

  I kissed him harder.

  He laughed. “Want it on that bench?” he whispered into my mouth.

  I giggle like an idiot, forgetting my pain again for the moment.

  We went on that bench, me on top of him, dominating him in our make out session. I would never do this in public. Ever. But I didn’t care. Everything was perfect, set up for the romance, the lust that was fit to erupt from me. These damn clothes were in the way.

  His hands clawed at my jeans, but I stopped him, ending the kiss. “Not outside.”

  “No?”

  “Erm, no.”

  “Why not?”

  “This isn’t exactly secluded.” Okay, so now I cared.

  He sat up on his elbows, looking around. “Don’t see anyone.”

  “Not now, no. But when I get my clothes off someone will show up and the next thing you know we’re in the back of a police car.”

  “Or you’ve just shocked someone into cardiac arrest,” he offered.

  “That’s not funny.”

  “And you’d still end up in the back of a cop’s car.”

  I pushed him back down, getting right in his face so the tips of our noses touched. “And where are you in all this?”

  “Not in the car.”

  “Charming! You’d leave me to it, then?”

  “You said you were taking your clothes off.”

  “I didn’t!”

  “I love it when you pout.” His smile falte
red. “Jake?”

  “Yeah? What’s wrong?”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “What for?”

  “I can’t … get to you.”

  I sat up. “What?”

  “I said I love it when you pout.” He was grinning again. “Get back down here and give me some sugar!”

  Dean? Had that been Dean? The real him?

  “I’ll set you free,” I whispered.

  “You what?”

  I went with the dream again, making out on that bench with him, never stopping, until the feel of him started to fade away, until the sounds of the goddess garden started to replace those of the city.

  That’d been him, the real-life Dean. He’d reached out. I knew it … I just knew it.

  “Good morning, dear boy.”

  I sat up, rubbing my eyes. The sky was pink with the rising sun.

  Dean. I’d … fallen for him. He made my head spin in the best way possible. All the questioning I’d done about what this thing was between us had gone out the window. Everything had become clear. I’d finally had the guts to pull my head out of the sand and face it—I’d fallen for the man. The sex was amazing, yeah, but the other stuff was what really made my heart beat faster. Waking up with his arms around me, or just hanging out, watching a film. Or catching the way he looked at me … I needed him by my side, to feel his hand in mine again. Everything that’d been happening between us … I had to have it back.

  He’s gonna be a dad … Shit. Would he be? What was happening to the child while Lilisian was running the show?

  What a bloody mess.

  “I thought you would like to see the sunrise,” Hecate added, dragging me out of my thoughts.

  “Thanks.”

  “Did you sleep well?”

  I turned to the flower in the pond. “Yes … thanks.” She blatantly knew what I’d been dreaming about.

  “I did not, Jake. I do not interfere with your dreams. They are yours.”

  “But you like to read my mind.”

  “It is our connection.”

  “I know, I’m sorry if I came across like a wanker.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “Today’s the day, right?”

  “The Spring Equinox.”

  “Have an idea when shit is gonna go down?”

  “I do not.”

  “I guess I’ll just wait to wake up. Wait … so if I just slept here, then … that’s weird.”

  “You are awake in spirit here. You can still dream here like you do as a physical whole.”

  “That’s great.” My head couldn’t be dealing with the mechanics of all that.

  I stroked the cool grass as I sat cross-legged.

  “Whatever happens, you must remember to fight or flee. Take the best course of action to get away from him.”

  A frog leapt from a lily pad in the pond, up onto my knee. “I will.”

  “Even if your blood is drawn, fight. Look for a way out. I will do the same. We are together in this as much as I can be with you. If you do not hear my voice, it is because I am battling to fight my way to you.”

  “Okay. Thanks.” I knew she wanted to be more of a goddess, more of a warrior for me. She’d given me this power, an essence of her, transformed me into a weapon ideal for destroying beasts. It’d taken so much from her, as did the hold that was on her. My guess was that hold had something to do with The Celestial.

  But all in good time.

  First, I needed to get the hell out of the beast realm and away from the white eye guy.

  “We grow together …” she said. “I strengthen as you do …”

  “Which is awesome.”

  “Yes.”

  No matter how much I could feel Greg and Nay, it was clear I was lost. Lilisian would obviously be keen to find me and put a stop to this too by cutting my head off, or whatever, but I was still stuck in Hecate’s garden. This was the waiting game—not a game I particularly enjoyed playing by any stretch. But the fighting bit that was to come, oh, I’d bloody well play that … no problem.

  A searing pain blazed in my heart. I clutched my chest, my lungs freezing in shock.

  “And so it begins,” the goddess said.

  Chapter Nineteen

  The garden was gone in a click of a finger. I gasped for air, the pain in my heart still blazing. That one white eye loomed over me.

  “Here he is,” the wanker sing-songed. “Back from his little hibernation.”

  “Fuck … off …” I struggled.

  Where the hell was I? It was dark, save for candlelight.

  Healing magic bathed me in its green glow, lighting up the white eye guy’s face, and my surroundings. I strained against my restraints. Of course I was strapped down. Craning my neck, I saw by the green light that I was in a small room with no windows. I was on a bed, again, and the only other things in the room were a small table with a candle burning in a holder and a chair.

  The white eye guy dangled the bloody blade above my face. “Wonderful instrument this. Some of my best work. Took a year to forge, you know?”

  “I couldn’t give a shit.”

  “You should give one, Jacob, because it was all for you.”

  “Thanks for turning me into Sleeping Beauty.”

  “You’re so welcome. The pleasure was all mine. You’re much more interesting when nothing is coming out of that mouth of yours.”

  “Ah, but I save all my best lines for you.”

  “Well, if that’s what you want to call them. I wouldn’t add best into it.”

  “Your breath stinks.”

  He smirked. “Is that one of those so-called best lines?”

  “Dick.”

  “Wow, they just keep on coming.”

  I smirked back at him, trying to hide any signs of panic. How the hell was I gonna get out of here?

  Searching … the goddess said.

  Shitshitshitshitshitshit!

  “Nice to see I’m not laying in my own filth,” I said.

  “Ah, the magic froze those bodily functions. You’ll probably be dying for the loo in about an hour though.”

  Weird. “Whatever.”

  “You’re a bit smelly though. Afraid we couldn’t move you to change your clothes, and the magic didn’t stop you sweating.”

  He was right. There was a nasty, stale tang about me. “Didn’t fancy giving me a sponge bath?”

  “Not particularly. Anyway, Jacob. Shall we?”

  “I’m quite happy here, cheers.”

  “Plotting?”

  “You’d know all about that, eh?”

  He loosened the straps on my legs.

  “Absolutely, Jacob.”

  “Indeed, Whitey.”

  “Really?”

  “If I could shrug I would.”

  Next went the restraints across my chest. Was he some sort of idiot? Once my hands were free, that would be my cue to get rowdy.

  “Don’t even think about putting your shield up,” he said. “You know it won’t work.”

  “Yeah, yeah.”

  “Whatever you’re plotting is going to fail. You know how I like to snare you in my grip.” Yeah, him using his holding power was so annoying.

  I’d have to move quick.

  He grinned, exposing his crooked teeth.

  “Oh, you’ve got a molar missing.”

  “And I should care why?”

  “For dental aesthetics?”

  “I’ll leave the vain crap for the models. Wait … former models.”

  I couldn’t help but smile. “Still an opportunity you’ll never get to taste with a face like that.”

  He chuckled. “This is the face of victory.”

  “Remind me never to be victorious if that’s what it looks like.”

  “You crack me up, Jacob. Don’t ever change.”

  He undid the straps at my wrists. I was free.

  The white eye guy backed off. “Sit up.”

  Do as he says, Hecate commanded.

  I played along. “Sitting up.”r />
  “Now stand.”

  I obeyed.

  You have an opportunity to act.

  “I’m going to let you come willingly,” he said.

  Foolish man … Smash through his naivety.

  “If you do behave, Jacob, there’ll be no need for me to use my—”

  I brought up my shield. He flew backwards, cracking the back of his head on the wall.

  Good …

  The only issue I had with my shield was that it didn’t let me move around while it was up. Calling out any flaws in my powers didn’t go down well with the goddess but running along with my shield up would have been awesome. Still, I had to work with what I was given—and I so appreciated it. Every part of my power had kept the air in my lungs, my heart still beating. Yeah, I needed to not be critical—it made me sound like a dick head.

  Let him come at you …

  I’m loving this, I answered her.

  She didn’t reply.

  The white eye guy was spitting feathers, and plenty of colorful language.

  Let him cut …

  If I let my shield drop, he’d grab me with his power and that would be that. I had to play this perfectly.

  “I knew you’d try some shit!” he bellowed. “Prick!”

  He came at me, slicing through the shield with that poxy knife of his. That shit needed to be broken.

  Okay. This was it. Speed. As soon as the hole was made in my cocoon, and at the first sign of his body without the prism of inky blue covering it, I went for him. My head cracked his nose. Pow! Sometimes you couldn’t beat a good old head-butt!

  My shield had fallen away, forcibly switched off. He staggered back, and I delivered a knee to his groin … really fucking hard. Crunch! His howling was music to my ears, but also made me wince with sympathy being the barer of cock and balls myself. That must have really, really hurt.

  Good.

  I punched him in the stomach as he bent over, kneed him in the face, which hopefully took out some more of his teeth, and drove my elbow into his back.

  The fucker went down hard, and I tore the door open.

  Run …

  Brother Bennett was standing right there in a dark hallway, his brown eyes glinting with fury. His formally buzz-cut brown hair was a little longer.