Death Be Blue (The Terra Vane Series Book 1)
Page 1
Table of Contents
Copyright copy
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Contents
Copyright copy
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Published by Katie Epstein in 2017
Death Be Blue (The Terra Vane Series) Copyright © 2017 by Katie Epstein
Katie Epstein has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988
The novel is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the copyright owner.
Cover Design by Yocla Designs
Edited by Fair Crack of the Whip Proofreading & Editing Services
ISBN 9780995625242
***
This book is dedicated to Katie-Bree.
Thank you for making Terra Vane’s first outing something I can be proud of.
You weaved your magic wand and cast a beautiful spell around Portiside, and for that, I will be eternally grateful.
***
MAP OF PORTISIDE
DEATH BE BLUE
PROLOGUE
In the Past - 12,000 years ago to be precise - on Earth…
“We’ve done it, Omashira!” a voice echoed down the hall of the Temple of Moshai. “We have discovered the portal the Ancients spoke of!”
Omashira bolted up from his marble throne as if it were on fire. He strode purposely down the grand hallway, his long, cream robes gracing the floor, meeting his Advisor, Samhier, halfway.
“Please tell me it is so, my friend?” Omashira demanded as he gripped Samhier’s arms.
“It is so. The Lady Elvine of the Whispirian Glen confirmed it only a moment ago. The others stand with her. We are ready to venture forth through the portal!”
“Who has been chosen to trial it?” Omashira asked as he rushed alongside Samhier. Neither of them wanted to acknowledge that it could be a potential sacrifice for the volunteers.
“The mage, Urigan of the Flame, has been chosen. So has the vampire, Astaroth.”
“Then they will be honored. No matter the outcome.”
“I have also been chosen, my master.”
Omashira stopped dead in his tracks. Samhier did the same and cast his eyes to the floor.
“My friend. No. Say it isn’t so?”
His eyes met Omashira’s. “I must do this. I must do it to represent our people. Say you will honor me also?”
Omashira squeezed his eyes tight. Hope flared in his heart. It may not be a fool’s mission after all, and so his friend would survive. But Omashira also needed to remember that their days were numbered here on Earth, regardless of the chosen ones’ fates. Of that the prediction had promised. Should the portal not be a success, they were all doomed anyway.
Eventually he spoke. “Of course you will be honored, my friend. I will make sure of it.”
After hearing the prediction of the Great Flood, the wise ones of Earth formed an alliance. Each member was of a different race, chosen to represent their species. They called themselves the Hunters of Salvation, and now they stood in a group on the land where the portal was reputed to have been discovered.
“You have found it? It is here?” Omashira asked. There was no evidence of a portal in front of him. But he had learned long ago not to believe in something based on sight alone.
“It is here, Lord of Moshai,” said Lady Elvine. Her words were slow and softly spoken, yet there was a power to them. She was Queen of the Whisper Fairies and someone whom Omashira had come to trust over time.
“Then now it must be done.” He bowed to the three who had been chosen to step through the portal first.
A man as tall as a warrior and with hair as dark as night, stepped forward and hit his chest with a clamped fist. Omashira knew this man to be Astaroth. He was a valiant vampire who frowned upon the likes of his own kind who hunted for sport. Next to him stood Urigan of the Flame who resembled a man of a hundred years or more. His shoulders were hunched and his white beard long, but there was a fiery intellect in those eyes that defied his external appearance. Urigan was a powerful master of magic, and he was someone who had earned his wise reputation.
Coming to stand at Urigan’s right was Omashira’s oldest friend, Samhier. A small man with weak limbs yet he possessed a brilliant mind. What he lacked in muscle he made up for tenfold in heart, and it hurt Omashira to gaze now, perhaps for the last time, upon his friendly smile.
“So it is, here and now, that we discover the truth as to whether our salvation has been sought!” Omashira shouted before any of them could change their minds. “Travel safe, my friends!”
Lady Elvine stepped forward, along with those who were part of the alliance. Ritualistically, they all linked hands as Lady Elvine began to whisper. Slowly, her words built in strength, and all within the presence of the sacred spot could feel the powers coalesce into an unseen force. Just as the energies united as one, the portal flared to life, a circular, bright light spiraling out of the air, spewing forth a new era.
It was time.
CHAPTER ONE
Present Day - Portiside City (Through the Portal)…
/> It was at times like this I had to wonder if I’d made the right choice immigrating through a portal when I was a teenager. Aged only sixteen and stuck in a psychiatric hospital had been my catalyst, however.
Being a human with psychic gifts wasn’t exactly a great candidate for fitting in on Earth—let alone Seattle. So I’d made my home in a place where vampires and shifters were considered normal.
Roll on several years later, my job is something I usually find satisfaction in. But not right now. Right now, I would prefer a home-cooked meal and a soft bed instead of sitting in a place that reeked of stale sweat and urine.
The Beer Barrel was a place that lived up to its name. With scuffed and tarnished woodwork reminiscent of the inside of a beer keg, it not only smelt like its namesake, it looked like it, too.
The cantankerous bartender had eyed us with curiosity when we’d first walked in. But business was business so he hadn’t turned us away. Instead, he’d served us with a grunt as he slammed down the full tankards in front of us, splashing my leather jacket with the sweet smelling ale we’d asked for. That’s what we got for stepping into a place this far south in the Victorian Quarter of Portiside City.
Huddled in a corner with my agency partner, we’d managed to find a seat in an area dark enough to give us some privacy. But nowhere would have been safe from the odor and bad attitudes of its patrons, that’s for sure.
“So, Terra,” my partner, Kaleb, said from beside me as he swigged from the tankard before him.
I couldn’t help the look of disgust that crossed my face when he did so. After all, this wasn’t the most sanitary of places.
“So, what?”
“Go through the vision you had again. It might help you to recognize something now we’re here. And it will give us something to do. I hate stakeouts.”
“Yeah. Don’t I know it. You’ve moaned at every place we’ve hit so far.”
“I haven’t moaned. I’ve expressed my feelings. There’s a difference.”
He was delusional. He’d moaned enough for the both of us. But after six weeks of trying to hunt down a cannibalistic serial killer, I guess he had reason too. We both did.
A sigh of agreement left my lips. “I have to admit. I’ll be glad when this case is over and we can have some form of a life again. Living on takeout and limited sleep every night is starting to take its toll.”
“You signed up for it, babe.” He winked and I cringed at the endearment. He then threw a grin my way knowing how much calling me ‘babe’ got under my skin.
“Yeah, well. If in another life I tell you that I’m going to step through a portal and choose to become an Enforcer Field Agent. Please shoot me.”
“Nah, I’ll just bite you. Shifters don’t do well with guns.”
Another random conversation with my partner. These were becoming more frequent the longer we were on this damn case.
“You carry a weapon,” I told him and his hand reached out to adjust the advanced weaponry on his belt.
“Sometimes teeth don’t cut it. A wolf’s got to do what a wolf’s got to do.”
“Yeah. This case is definitely getting to both of us, you idiot. We need to catch this asshole. And fast.”
Kaleb and I worked as Enforcer Field Agents for the PCA (Portiside City Agency). Going after dangerous criminals such as this one wasn’t an unusual thing. But after six kills and no leads, frustration had become a continuous loophole in our daily grind. We were no closer to catching the killer now than we had been a few weeks ago, and the trail continued to hit a brick wall.
It had taken a recent psychic vision of mine to give us the break we needed. And we’d been staking out different places in the Victorian Quarter to try and catch another break ever since.
“You said you saw the killer come to this part of the city in your vision?” Kaleb asked me and I glanced over at him.
“You think I’ve brought us here for the classy customer service?”
He chuckled. “I think you like spending time with me. You know you want a piece of my furry ass.”
“When pigs fly is how the Earthside saying goes. And trust me. I like the Victorian Quarter with how quaint and sweet it is, but I wouldn’t choose to come down to this part of the city if I had a choice.”
“Keep your voice down,” he warned me. “This lot in here already look like they want to slit our throats. And I don’t appreciate taking down a bunch of humans who are already half off their feet. It would make me feel guilty, and I don’t like feeling guilty.”
I couldn’t argue with him there. Blending in among this crowd hadn’t been an easy thing to do. Most of them only possessed half their teeth; grinning, as if proud of their filthy state. They couldn’t get out a sentence without cursing like a drunken sailor every other word. Yet their glazed eyes remained wary as they often flickered over at the two strangers seated in the corner of their local drinking hole. Laughter bellowed from the bar, and a sea of noise hovered around us.
They were workers of the city from what I could tell, and the majority of them were human. They were too busy singing rowdy songs to worry about us, but it might not stay that way the longer we were here.
Kaleb looked exactly like what he was. A wolf shifter. His gunmetal blue eyes complimented the color of his dark blond, shoulder-length hair. But the long jacket he’d added over his usual attire of a vest and combats hadn’t done much to lessen the threat his muscled stature posed. He still walked and moved like a predator in his human form, and that tended to put people on edge.
I didn’t exactly look threatening. I’d opted to wear my usual leather jacket that I’d brought over with me from Earthside. That’s what they call Earth over here. My jacket was one of my most prized possessions, and I often wore it with my dark jeans. But it didn’t matter what I wore because I usually blended in wherever I went. I wasn’t exotic like the shifters or alluring like the vampires. Over on Earth, my long, dark and purple hair may have warranted a second look in some places, but not here. Not in Portiside. Here I was just your average, boring human.
“It’s not my fault that you look like a shifter, act like a shifter, and talk crap like a shifter,” I snapped back. “They see you as a threat.”
“Good. Being a threat I can handle. But it’s not like you fit in either. And you used to live here.”
“I used to live above a herb seller in the nicer part of the quarter. And I lived there long enough to know it was wise to avoid places like this. If it wasn’t for my vision urging us down this end of town then I wouldn’t have given it a second thought.”
Casting his eyes over the bar, he finally agreed with me. “Yeah, I have to admit I wouldn’t have thought to look down here based on the evidence we found. All the kills happened either in the grass plains or hunting grounds surrounding the city. There was no trail to suggest that he could be selecting his victims from the Victorian Quarter.”
“In the vision that’s exactly what he did.” A shudder crept up my back from the memories I’d felt when I’d connected with the killer. “He lures his victims into a carriage of some kind, then he drives them out somewhere to let them loose so he can chase his prey. Finally, he then catches, kills and eats them.”
“The third victim, Mariah Whittingham. That’s who you saw in your vision?”
“Yeah.” A sigh left my lips as the pain of watching and feeling Mariah’s demise lay heavy on my shoulders. “I saw her have a brief conversation with the killer and then he charmed her into his carriage. After that she got scared and escaped before they had the chance to leave. Unfortunately for her, the killer found her in one of the alleys around here. He knocked her out cold before taking her back to the carriage.”
“And you’re sure it’s not a rogue shifter doing this?” I could tell from the look on his face that he didn’t believe a rogue could be capable of such planned devastation. But we’d believed in the rogue shifter theory for so long that it had been a hard one to shake.
Rogue shifter
s didn’t have the cognitive ability to worry about covering their tracks, though. And we’d only pulled at that strand because of the bones left at the crime scenes. Nothing but the skeletal frames had been left behind of the poor victims the killer had hunted, bringing us to the conclusion that the killer wasn’t only hunting for the fun of it. He was hunting to feed.
In a place like this, there were a select number of species who would have had the capability or desire to do such a thing. But few who would have done it through a lack of intelligence. Or worse—because they had the gall to leave the bones behind. The citizens here were aware enough to know the laws and abide by them. And those who didn’t, were tracked down and arrested.
The problem with this killer in particular, was that my psychic vision had told a different story. Whatever this citizen was, he wasn’t the kind to lose control like a rogue would be. That was the problem.
Leaning back in my seat, I replied, “It’s definitely not a rogue shifter. I know that now. And as I told you before, the killer, who had a male energy in the vision, is someone who is the master of control. It’s as if he tries hard to mask the havoc and evil that spirals inside of him with an external shell of calm and charm. A rogue shifter would never have been so controlled.”
“So, where does that leave us?”
“Sitting in a place like this hoping the killer turns up for me to sense,” I replied. “Just like we’ve been doing for the past couple of days.”
“And coming up with nothing for our trouble.” He released a sigh and started to fidget in his seat. Kaleb wasn’t the kind of person to sit still and kick back if there was a killer on the loose. But neither was I. The longer we had to wait around or stake out places that ‘might’ give us a lead, the more frustrated we were becoming.
When I glared at him in warning to keep still, he gave me one of his probing looks that had me shifting in my own seat. He was getting ready to ask more questions. I could see it on his face. And even though we’d been partners for a couple of years now, he’d discovered more about me these past few weeks than he had since I’d known him. Staying with the present had always been safe enough ground for the both of us. But recently, he’d started to probe deeper and poke at my past. Usually, I ignored him, but now it looked like another question was brewing.