Dead Lost
(Kiera Hudson Series Two)
Book 8
BY
Tim O’Rourke
First Edition Published by Ravenwoodgreys
Copyright 2013 by Tim O’Rourke
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organisations is entirely coincidental.
This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Story Editor
Lynda O’Rourke
Book cover designed by:
Tim O’Rourke
Copyedited by:
Carolyn M. Pinard
[email protected]
For all of us who get lost from time to time…
Thanks to:
Shana at bookvacations.wordpress.com
bookwormbetties.blogspot.com
Caroline Barker at Areadersreviewblog.wordpress.com
claricesbooknook.blogspot.co.uk
Melly at the Vampire Forum
Who all took the time to review my books – Thank you!
You can contact Tim O’Rourke at
www.kierahudson.com
Or by email at [email protected]
More books by Tim O’Rourke
Kiera Hudson Series One
Vampire Shift (Kiera Hudson Series 1) Book 1
Vampire Wake (Kiera Hudson Series 1) Book 2
Vampire Hunt (Kiera Hudson Series 1) Book 3
Vampire Breed (Kiera Hudson Series 1) Book 4
Wolf House (Kiera Hudson Series 1) Book 4.5
Vampire Hollows (Kiera Hudson Series 1) Book 5
Kiera Hudson Series Two
Dead Flesh (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 1
Dead Night (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 1.5
Dead Angels (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 2
Dead Statues (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 3
Dead Seth (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 4
Dead Wolf (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 5
Dead Water (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 6
Dead Push (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 7
Dead Lost (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 8 Coming December 2013!
Dead End (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 9 Coming Soon!
Kiera Hudson Series Three
Lethal Infected (Kiera Hudson Series Three) Book 1 Coming 2014!
The Jack Seth Novellas
Hollow Pit (Book One)
Seeking Cara (Book Two) Coming 2014!
Black Hill Farm (Books 1 & 2)
Black Hill Farm (Book 1)
Black Hill Farm: Andy’s Diary (Book 2)
A Return to Black Hill Farm (Book 3) Coming 2014!
Sydney Hart Novels
Witch (A Sydney Hart Novel) Book 1
Yellow (A Sydney Hart Novel) Book 2
Raven (A Sydney Hart Novel) Book 3 Coming 2014!
The Doorways Trilogy
Doorways (Doorways Trilogy Book 1)
The League of Doorways (Doorways Trilogy Book 2)
The Queen of Doorways (Doorways Trilogy Book 3) Coming 2014!
Moon Trilogy
Moonlight (Moon Trilogy) Book 1
Moonbeam (Moon Trilogy) Book 2
Moonshine (Moon Trilogy) Book 3 Coming 2014!
Samantha Carter – Vampire Seeker Series
Vampire Seeker (Samantha Carter Series) Book 1
The Vampire Watchmen (Samantha Carter) Book 2 Coming 2014!
Unscathed
Written by Tim O’Rourke & C.J. Pinard
Flashes
Coming 2014!
You can contact Tim O’Rourke at
www.kierahudson.com or by email at [email protected]
Dead Lost
Chapter One
The Photographer
Kiera Hudson screamed. The sound almost broke my heart. But I had to keep telling myself that this wasn’t the Kiera I loved as a friend… a sister. This Kiera was going to kill Potter. I could remember moments from my past when I would’ve been quite happy to see the obnoxious jerk
take a bullet or two – but not now. Not anymore. Potter was my friend too, and if I were to be honest, he was like family.
Taking aim at Kiera as she hid in the bicycle shed outside the front of Bleak Point Railway Station, I squeezed the trigger of the gun clutched in my fist. Bullets whizzed from it, turning the bicycle shed into splinters. Kiera sped away in the dark. I glanced to my right and watched Potter push Sparky’s corpse to the floor inside the station. I had killed Sparky too, and I hadn’t felt bad about doing that for one moment. In both my lives so far, he had been untrustworthy. He was a friend to no one. Through the glass doors at the front of the station, I could see Potter come racing forward. His eyes were as black as ever, as were his wings that now tore from his back. I took a step back into the shadows, the hood I wore covered my face. Potter launched himself through the glass front doors. It broke in a spray of glass that danced in the night sky like glitter. He landed on the ground, wings out and claws raised. Potter snarled, brandishing his fangs. Although I had seen him like this so many times before, the sudden sight of him crouched on the front step of the station took my breath away with fright. Potter could be imposing most of the time, but as a Vampyrus ready to kill, he often looked terrifying. With his shirt open down the front and ripped across the back, I could see his chest, stomach and arm muscles as hard as stone beneath the pale light of the moon.
There was another scream and I glanced right to see Kiera race towards the fields that led away at the back of the station. I took aim and fired.
Potter shot into the air and rocketed over the roof of the station. I followed, keeping low to the ground. My jet black wings hummed behind me. I couldn’t risk taking full flight for fear of Potter seeing me. I couldn’t let that happen until I had killed Kiera. If he saw me too soon, he would stop me. Although this wasn’t the Kiera either of us truly knew and loved, Potter wouldn’t let her die. Racing just inches above the grass in the field below, I could see Kiera running away. How long would she keep up the pretence? I wondered. She could change into a wolf at any time and outrun both of us. Then, swooping out of the sky like some giant bat, Potter threw his arms about her waist and soared away.
I heard Kiera scream out again, but not with fear this time, but surprise. Or was that delight? She had Potter racing to her rescue. He would do anything to protect her now and this Kiera knew that. Why did Potter always have to think with his dick?
I took aim and fired again.
Bullets whizzed past them. I wasn’t too worried about Potter taking a stray bullet. He would soon get over it – he always did. Sure, he would bitch and complain, that was another of his talents as well as having his brains in his bollocks, but Potter would heal. And so too would Kiera, unless one of my bullets went straight into her head.
They corkscrewed through the air above me as I raced just inches over the hilltops. The camera I had taken so many pictures with, hanging from around my neck. I could see Potter glancing down at the ground in search of me. If Potter and Kiera got away, he would only hide her in a place of safety then come back for me. I had to stay out of sight now so Potter believed he had left me way behind. After al
l, I doubted he would suspect for one moment that his pursuer had wings just like him. There were no other Vampyrus left in this world of wolves.
Staring up at them, I watched Potter tighten his arms about Kiera as he raced through the air. Just like mine, his wings rippled out on either side of his body. I couldn’t help but notice how this Kiera had her face pressed against Potter’s chest. And for the briefest of moments, a snapshot image of Kiera and Potter raced across my mind. It was like a flash of déjà vu. Again, I had to remind myself that I wasn’t looking at the Kiera Hudson I knew. She wasn’t exactly an imposter; she was from another where and when. In this when Kiera Hudson was a wolf and she had already killed the Potter from this pushed world and she was about to kill the other. I couldn’t let that happen. Potter wasn’t meant to be interacting with this Kiera, but just like it always did, Potter’s dick had gotten in the way again. Would he ever learn? Not while there were beautiful women in this world like Kiera, I figured.
I saw Kiera look up into Potter’s eyes, and he stared back down into hers as they swept through the night sky. Who did he think he was, freaking Superman taking Lois Lane for a quick swoop over Metropolis, for Christ’s sake?
I followed them, as Potter swooped out of the sky toward a remote dirt track lined with pine trees on either side. I could see a parked, beat-up old red Mini. The wheres and whens reflected more than just people. Potter dropped out of the night sky with surprising grace. With his feet touching the ground, Potter slowly lifted Kiera out of his arms. Kiera didn’t let go, even though she was back on the ground.
I raced toward the trees, and planting my boots on the ground, I snuck between them. Even from some feet away, I could hear both their hearts racing in their chests and the blood surging through their veins. Both were hot, Potter for her, and Kiera for her impending kill.
Kiera looked up into Potter’s face and whispered, “So it is true, there are winged creatures. You’re one of them.”
Now the real Kiera would’ve never asked such a dumb fucking question. Positioning myself behind a nearby tree, I tried to take aim with my gun.
Potter stared down into her bright hazel eyes. Snap out of it, Potter, I wanted to roar at him from my hiding place. Hadn’t he learnt his lesson with Sophie and Eloisa? How much action did a guy need in his life?
Still in Potter’s arms, Kiera reached out and caressed one of Potter’s motley-looking wings with her fingertips. “They’re beautiful,” she whispered.
“Oh please,” I sighed and took aim.
“Kiera…” Potter started.
“Shhh,” she said, then leaning forward, she placed her lips over Potter’s mouth.
“Move, bitch,” I hissed under my breath. If I shot her in the head now, Potter would end up with a throat full of her brains. Perhaps I should fire, I thought, gently squeezing down on the trigger. He’d think twice about ever kissing anyone ever again. I might not be doing this Kiera a favour, but my Kiera would love me forever more.
I watched her pull Potter close as Kiera’s kiss became evermore passionate. I pressed the trigger further, then stopped. Potter seemed to be trying to ease her from him. He opened his eyes and pushed her away from him. He had a kind of disgusted look on his face, like perhaps her breath had smelt real bad or something. It was the tongue, I smiled to myself. He had felt that soft silk hair covering that lined the underside of a female wolf’s tongue.
“Kiera…?” he whispered, looking at her.
“Yes,” Kiera smiled, her eyes now blazing like two glowing coals.
Staggering backwards, Potter said, “You can’t be Kiera. This is a trick… you’ve got to be… Lilly!”
“Lilly?” I whispered, taking aim again. I had been right; there had been more women in Potter’s life than just Sophie and Eloisa. No wonder Kiera had left Potter.
“Who’s Lilly?” Kiera said, tilting her head to one side and staring at Potter with her bright yellow eyes. “Not another woman?”
Another jealous Kiera, I thought. These pushed worlds really were mirror images of each other. How does one guy manage to piss off the same woman in two different wheres and whens? Only Potter could do that.
“What other woman?” Potter mumbled, looking as if he had been caught out again.
There was a small part of me that actually felt kind of sorry for him. Only a very small part. He looked lost – he looked trapped.
“I knew there were others,” Kiera said. “But that’s not why I killed you.”
Okay, confession time, I thought, listening to this Kiera start to explain everything to Potter.
“Killed me…?” Potter stared at her. “Kiera, what are you talking about?”
She isn’t your Kiera! I felt like leaping from behind the tree and screaming at him.
“I had to prove I wasn’t the other Kiera,” she smiled, her long, black hair growing slowly longer and thicker as it trailed down her back.
“Prove what to who?” Potter looked agog. “Am I being punked here, or what? What are you talking about, Kiera?”
“The Wolf Man told me that if I still wanted to hunt with the wolves – to be one of them – I had to prove I wasn’t the Dead Angel the wolves feared was going to come and destroy them. The Wolf Man said I had the same name as her – that I was identical to her – that he was going to kill me. I begged for my life. But how could I prove that I wasn’t this other Kiera Hudson the Wolf Man spoke of? So he asked me to kill my lover – to kill you, Potter. He said the real Kiera Hudson would give up her own life to save yours.”
“So you killed me – you killed the other Potter,” Potter breathed as if all of a sudden he could see past his own hard-on.
“I ripped his fucking face off and ate his heart while the Wolf Man watched,” Kiera smiled. “Only then did he believe that I wasn’t the Kiera Hudson – the Dead Angel – he was waiting for.”
“But you’re half Vampyrus… you have wings like me, Kiera,” Potter said. He looked suddenly broken and crushed by what he was learning. The sudden realisation that this Kiera was nothing like the Kiera he loved looked to have broken his heart. He slowly walked backwards from her.
“So those lumps are wings then?” Kiera asked, looking revolted by the idea. “That’s what the Wolf Man thought when he saw them. And even though I had killed my lover in front of him, the Wolf Man once again started to believe that I was really this Dead Angel he so feared. And just when I thought he might kill me once and for all, you showed up in my apartment and I realised I had another chance to prove that I was truly a wolf and have no love for you.”
With Potter looking dumbstruck before her, Kiera sprang into the air. Her body changed into the form of a giant black wolf. Kiera’s body was now long and covered in a coat of silky black fur. Her once beautiful face was now hidden behind a vicious-looking snout. The black fur that now covered her body glistened like glass in the moonlight.
“No, Kiera!” Potter hollered, darting out of her way.
Kiera hit the ground and spun around again to face Potter.
I raised my gun from behind the tree.
“Don’t make me kill you, Kiera,” Potter said, his eyes glistening wetly.
“You won’t kill me,” Kiera snarled. “You can’t kill me because you love me. The Wolf Man was right. The love you and this other Kiera Hudson have for each other will be what kills you.”
I moved around the edge of the tree and took aim at the wolf. I pressed down on the trigger to fire, then stopped. Kiera raced towards Potter, swiping her giant claws at him. They tore a jagged opening in his chest and he cried out.
I steadied my hand holding the gun.
“Don’t listen to this Wolf Man,” Potter suddenly cried out. “He isn’t who or what you think he is.”
The wolf leapt at Potter again, she howled, consumed by rage. Potter rolled back his fist, crunching it straight into the wolf’s snout. Kiera flew backwards, howling and yelping in pain. She crashed into the side of the rusty red Mini. With her claws sc
rambling in the dirt, Kiera leapt onto all fours again.
“He told me to bring you up here tonight and kill you. If I did that, then I would be free,” she told Potter.
“He doesn’t have the faintest fucking idea what true freedom is!” Potter roared at her. “He isn’t a wolf. He’s a Vampyrus like me, and he wants to rule you. He wants to rule everyone. That isn’t freedom.”
Did Potter now know the identity of the Wolf Man? I wondered. Who was he?
“Liar!” Kiera roared, springing from the car at Potter.
Potter dropped to the ground, raising his claws into the air. I watched him rake them down the length of her body. He could have killed her if he had wanted to – but yet something was still holding him back. It was the love he had for her. But this wasn’t his Kiera – when was he going to get a grip of that? It was like he was holding out hope that she would leave her wolf-killing ways behind her and become like the Kiera he loved.
“Kiera, listen to me,” he almost pleaded with her.
The wolf’s tongue was lolling from the corner of its jaws as she panted. Blood gushed from Kiera’s side.
“The Wolf Man is called Luke Bishop or Elias Munn… he has many names and faces… but one thing for sure is that he will kill you.”
I dropped the gun from my fist and staggered backwards. To hear Potter say that the Wolf Man was Luke Bishop was like a punch to the face.
“Why?” Kiera snarled as if being able to read my mind.
“Because the other Kiera Hudson… the Kiera I love… she won’t ever give up the fight. She won’t ever be beaten. And somewhere deep inside of you, you are the same. Bishop will see that in you, and he will destroy you, Kiera,” Potter told her.
Then she rose up on her haunches, tail wagging from side to side.
“Please, Kiera, you don’t have to do this… you’re breaking my heart,” Potter whispered.
Dead Lost (Kiera Hudson Series Two (Book 8)) Page 1