Winter Shadows

by Richard Amos

  We trudged up to the main entrance where a sea of police waited. It was a proper standoff, like when a major hostage incident was going down in a movie.

  “Ready?” Nay said to Dean.

  He nodded and the two of them joined hands. Nay said a spell, Dean was silent. Their hand joining broke and the air flashed red. The police scratched their heads, asking each other what was going on, their guns lowered. Nay and Dean repeated the action two more times.

  “They’ll drift off now,” Dean said. “But let’s not hang around.”

  We hurried past the officers and were halted by closed barriers across the main doors.

  Greg huffed, yanking out his phone. “Bliss? Let us in!”

  Seconds later, the barriers raised enough for us to crouch and push a glass door open. Once in, they closed behind us.

  My sparks came to life immediately.

  “About time,” Bliss said. The pale-skinned lady with a scar on her left cheek exuded intimidation. She’d rip anyone in half, even a giant, just for looking at her the wrong way.

  “Thought we made good time,” Greg said.

  I could hear whimpering. “Where are the shoppers?”

  “Locked in various stores,” she said. “Had to scare the shit out of them. Eric’s shifted to wolf to do the job.”

  “That’s messed up,” Greg said.

  “And how the fuck are we supposed to keep order, eh? Let them go running outside screaming their heads off and breaking down the big old lie that this shithole city is? How’s your fae friend gonna fix that one?”

  Nay and Dean sent up some orb drones to help out the wolves a couple of times a week, as Wendy and Nay had before Wendy’s murder in the days before me.

  “Attitude much?” Greg said.

  “I’ll knock you out, I swear.”

  Greg didn’t respond.

  “Calm down,” Nay said. “This isn’t the time for this crap.”

  Bliss rolled her eyes. “Just make sure he keeps it zipped.”

  “Come on, none of this now, Bliss,” Nay said. “We’re here to help.”

  “Whatever.” She turned and started walking.

  I followed.

  Greenoaks was huge and sprawling, with shop after shop after shop, and interactive maps all lit up and ready to guide anyone who needed help navigating the maze. And judging by the map, it certainly was a maze and then some.

  Five shops down was the pharmacy, its green cross of healing no longer a beacon for poorly people, but one harboring a horror I was about to witness.

  “Where are the people?” I asked Bliss.

  “Some in that chocolate shop.”

  “Guess there’s worse places to be trapped,” I said.

  Bliss threw me a death-stare over her shoulder—a proper squint and glare with a flash of murder in her brown eyes. I gnawed my bottom lip. She really was one scary werewolf.

  “Others are scattered around in different shops away from here including staff. Liam and Tracy are doing the scary wolf bit with them.”

  “Is everyone contained that was shopping here?”

  “Yes. Considering the time of year, it wasn’t that busy.”

  We kept following the werewolf straight until she made a right at a crossroads with a fountain bubbling away at the center. A huge dog was there, fur a coppery shade with a dash of gold flecks. Correction, it was no dog, but a wolf.

  “Is that Eric?” I asked.

  “Yep.”

  If Bliss was scary, Eric was scarier in his wolf form. He was a shy guy, quiet and a little uncomfortable. But now he was all sorts of terrifying. He paced back and forth outside the chocolate shop, red eyes blazing against the copper of his coat.

  “Shit,” I said.

  “The wife is waiting in a coffee shop with Missy. She’s distraught.”

  “Wife?” I asked.

  “Of the goblin that was killed. You’ll need to talk to her after.”

  Oh, my God.

  Eric paused, sniffing the air, sliding his ruby gaze over to me. Eric’s ears flicked up, and he watched for a moment before returning to his pacing, throwing out a growl.

  There was sobbing coming from the shop.

  “It is shit,” Bliss said. “A really big mess.”

  “How did this even happen?” I asked.

  “Are you stupid?” Bliss snapped. “You not paying attention to this city? This happened because Coldharbour is fucked up.”

  “You—”

  “I don’t wanna hear it,” she said.

  “Listen, I—”

  “You’re here now, right? That makes me feel so much better.”

  “It should,” Greg said. “We actually have a chance now.”

  “At what?” Bliss said. “At killing them? Great. What about being able to get the fuck out of this city and get back to real life?”

  “Coldharbour’s your home,” Greg said.

  “Yeah? Maybe I don’t want it to be no more.”

  “You wanna leave your pack?”

  She looked like he’d just murdered her father or something. “Say that again, and I’ll rip your tongue from your head.”

  “You said—”

  “I’m done talking.” She stormed off, halting just before the chocolate shop so she wasn’t on view from those inside.

  “She’s always fun,” Nay said. “Don’t understand why we’re not friends.”

  “I heard that, you sarcastic bitch.”

  “And?”

  “Werewolf hearing,” Greg said to me.

  The wolf that was Eric came over, giving the imprisoned shoppers a reprieve. He transformed to a naked, dark-skinned human man within seconds.

  I looked away. “Hi,” I said.

  “Hi. Thanks for coming, all of you.”

  “Nice pecs,” Greg said.

  I glanced up. For all his shyness, Eric was not too bothered by his nakedness. He was watching me with icy blue eyes, the red gone. His braided hair fell between his shoulder blades. Greg was right, he did have nice pecs … and arms and scars. There were so many scars across his skin.

  I wanted to be nosy and ask why, but there was a job to do. Too much time had been spent already. My mind had to be focused on those people and killing those beasts.

  “So, what do we do?” I said. “We got a plan?”

  Eric broke his stare. “You’ll have to loop round,” he said. “You can’t go past the chocolate shop window. If they see you walking around, it’ll tip them over the edge. We need this part of the illusion to keep them scared, but contained, before everything gets wiped from their memories.” He licked his lips and looked down. “I’ll stay here, carry on being the monster.”

  “Same,” Bliss said. She started stripping off her clothes. “We’re the wolf cover. Got other wolves on standby if we need the muscle—they’re guarding the exits. I’m not joining in with the scaring act, but will be ready to get bitey if the beasts slip past you.”

  “How many exits?” I asked.

  “Five,” she said, removing her bra.

  The pack was made up of fourteen wolves in total, including the alpha, when it used to be twenty-five strong. I’d only met these two, and knew that Sabrina West was the pack Alpha who supposedly made Bliss look like a bright ball of sunshine in comparison.

  “Cool,” I said.

  “Won’t be if you let them slip past you.”

  “Not gonna happen.”

  She shrugged and yanked down her knickers. Bliss was now completely free of clothing.

  Greg didn’t compliment anything. In fact, he shuffled from foot to foot and made an obvious attempt to look at anything and everything but her naked flesh.

  “So, which way round?” I asked.

  “Come,” Nay said. “I used to shop here all the time.”

  As we headed off, I turned to see Bliss again. I got what I wanted, the shift from human to wolf. It was so quick, so seamless a change from woman to a wolf of black fur and red eyes. She sat on her hind legs and watched
me go.

  I was relived to go right at the crossroads, removing myself from her sight.

  Chapter Nine

  I was on the other side of the chocolate shop now, having done a quick loop back to that shopping zone and closer to the pharmacy.

  My sparks were going crazy. I made a beeline for the window.

  Inside, the three hyena beasts were watching me through the shutters, three pairs of yellow eyes trained to me. They were hyena-like, with nasty talons and the ability to stand on two legs and be more human-like if they chose.

  The windows were nothing but shards of glass all over the floor inside and out of the pharmacy. Amber ribbons of lights twirled all around their monstrous forms. That was their fear—their fear of me that only I could see.

  “It comes to kill,” one of them said. I didn’t know which as their jaws didn’t move whenever they decided they wanted to chat.

  They didn’t have my full attention anyway.

  My brain scrambled to comprehend what I was seeing. I knew what it was, that it was real, but my denial didn’t want it to be.

  If only denial could bring the sweet lies needed for this … massacre.

  There had been five human victims, plus a goblin, but I couldn’t tell who was who. Blood was splattered everywhere, over everything. The place had been trashed. Body parts were scattered all over the place, including a human arm with visible teeth marks where the beast had torn limb from body.

  The dead eyes of a woman crushed against the shutters looked up at me, her face mangled so badly that her jawbone was showing. Her head was only just attached to her body.

  An acidic bubble rose up to the back of my throat.

  I swallowed it.

  The beasts were covered in the blood of their victims, their matted grey fur stained crimson.

  “You bastards,” I said.

  “The weapon is here to end us,” one said or maybe they all had. I didn’t give a fuck.

  “Get those shutters open,” I said.

  Kill …

  “Wait,” Nay said. “Let’s just make sure we’re ready.”

  “I want them dead right now.” I’d rip those shutters off!

  “We all good?” Greg asked. “We ready to fight?”

  Kill …

  “Open them!”

  My anger was lava seeking escape from the volcano, to flood all before me with fire and death.

  I really needed to kill those fuckers!

  “Easy, babe,” Nay said. “Easy.”

  Kill…

  I knew there was a recklessness to me when I got pissed off. Every muscle was tense, my body poised to strike. And the frustration of not being able to unleash was driving me crazy.

  “Please, babe,” she said. “We’ll get them open.”

  I heard a clink and saw two vials in her hand.

  “What is that?” I asked.

  “The laughing gas stuff.”

  “Oh.”

  I was so focused on wanting to get slaying that I’d let the abilities of my guardians slip through my thoughts. Nay would let loose the contents of that vial and set the beasts into an uncontrollable laughing fit, while Greg and his golem strength would beat down on them, Dean too with his knuckle-dusters and more agile delivery of fisticuffs. Then Nay would get some punches and kicks in where she could too. They really were top-notch protectors and fighters, seasoned in what they do. Not reckless like me.

  The lava cooled a little. It was all very well being outraged and wanting to defend the honor of these poor, fallen innocents. Yet it wouldn’t do anything but cause problems for those around me. Their priority was keeping me safe, to make sure I could do my job. If I was careless, it had a ripple effect.

  I rolled my shoulders. Bollocks to this thinking. Fine, no gung-ho Jake for today. I’d toe the friggin’ line as I always did.

  Kill …

  Nay smashed the vial, releasing purple gas. The laughing gas was a go-to tool when dealing with that kind of beast.

  Feed …

  Yeah, yeah.

  Greg pushed one of the shutters up, roaring against the friction as he did. It wanted to be down. Greg won the fight.

  A horrible laughter filled the air, one of madness and hysterics. It wasn’t the nicest sound in the world by any stretch. The hyenas were circling, as if chasing their tails in a frenzy. Nay grabbed one by the head and wrestled it to the ground. It shrieked with laughter, talons clawing at the air.

  “Here you go, babe,” she said.

  I delivered my killing touch and went to the place of fog and gold light.

  Back in the pharmacy, I slipped in the blood. Steadying myself, I went over to kill the beast Dean was punching the shit out of.

  Greg’s beast was the last to die, its skull broken by the big guy’s power-punches.

  Death dealt out, I let the rush of euphoria take over me. I’d fed, drank down that glorious beast essence. Man, it felt so good. I could fly, run across the clouds because I was full of so much warmth.

  And so bloody horny!

  I came back down to Earth quick, the happy wave receding.

  “Look at this place,” Greg said. “Fuck!”

  It was worse inside than seeing it from the outside looking in. And it was too much. Organs and intestines and even a few eyeballs made up the carnage along with the limbs. I could see the green flesh of the goblin on the counter—what looked like a tiny finger.

  There came that acid bubble again. But I wouldn’t throw up, wouldn’t allow myself to add to the mess and be … weak. These people didn’t deserve that. I had to keep my shit together for them, to honor these strangers.

  It was really hard to keep up the composure.

  I left the pharmacy, taking in lungful after lungful of warm air. It didn’t matter that it wasn’t fresh in that little pocket of hell. I needed to inhale and exhale to keep myself upright.

  Funny how anger can shift so swiftly to something else.

  “Jake …” Nay said softly into my ear.

  “I just need a minute. Just one minute.”

  Chapter Ten

  Pink energy danced from the ends of Dean’s fingertips, glittering as if sunlight was adding some bling to the tendrils. It spiraled and expanded and broke off to form grids of light in the shape of nets, hovering over the heads of each trapped person in the chocolate shop. The nets snapped shut around the heads, constricting until the light absorbed into the skin. Each one of the people blinked, their faces vacant.

  “Go home,” Dean said. “Go home and have a nap. You need a nap, all of you. Talk about a stressful shopping trip! Bloody Christmas and the mad rush! Every year you say you’re gonna be well prepared before December, yet here you are again.”

  This was the first time I’d ever seen Dean use his magic. He and Nay had hit the police outside with another combination of their magic.

  “Go home,” he said again.

  With that, the people started to leave. They grumbled about how tired they were, how they hated this time of year, how it was all too commercial nowadays.

  Dean approached two staff members behind the counter who were still blank slates awaiting command. “Close up early. Everyone else is.”

  The two women nodded and went out back to grab their coats before joining the exiting shoppers.

  Nay put a spell up around the pharmacy, a veil no one could see beyond. People walked past it without a second look, without even a clue about what was mere feet away from them.

  Eric was back to human form again, fully clothed. Bliss was too, but had headed off in the opposite direction with Dean and Nay to sort out some other shoppers in need of some mind-bending.

  “Follow me,” Eric said softly. “I’ll take you to the goblin.”

  The coffee shop had terracotta walls and brown wooden floors. It was small with dark wooden tables and chairs. Unfinished cups of coffee sat here and there, with some uneaten cake too. The smell of freshly brewing coffee was ripe.

  In the corner, weeping
into a steaming mug, was a goblin. She had brown curly hair and was being consoled by a red-headed woman with her back to me.

  “This is Missy,” Eric said, taking a seat at the next table. “Missy, this is Jake Winter.”

  Missy got up from her seat and shook my hand. “So nice to meet you.”

  “Hi,” I offered.

  “You know Greg.”

  “Hi,” she said. “Thank you all for your help.”

  The goblin woman wasn’t looking up from her beverage.

  Missy took a seat with Eric. “I think you should talk to her.”

  She was looking at me. “Oh. I, er, I’m not very good with this stuff. Greg?”

  “Go on, Jake. I’m right here.”

  Why did it have to be me? Because I was the one who’d also had a husband murdered?

  My cheeks flushed. Bollocks! Was that really why? If it was, that was ridiculous and presumptuous. I mean, really? The love of your life died, now go get her. You’ll understand. What about Greg losing Crystal? What about … shutting the fuck up? There I was again, ranting away on the inside, working myself up, getting literally hot under the collar. It was pathetic. Someone needed to speak to her and it was to be me.

  Suck it up!

  I drew in a deep breath, then another. Fine. I’d suck it up and stop being such a petulant prick.

  I joined the sobbing goblin at her table.

  “Hello,” I said.

  She sniffed. “Hello.”

  “I am so sorry for your loss.”

  “Thank you.” She wiped her eyes.

  I shuffled in my seat. Man, it was hot in there. “Are y-you okay to talk to me?”

  “Rita.”

  “Sorry?”

  “My name’s Rita.”

  “Oh.” All goblins had names beginning with ‘R’ apparently.

  She looked up at me with blue, blood-shot eyes. “Thought you’d better know that.”

  I nodded. “Can you tell me what happened?”

  She ran a green finger along the rim of her mug. “It all seemed to come from nowhere. My husband Rick and I were having a typically normal day weaving medicines for the pharmacy. I had a few errands to run so I popped out for a bit.” She shook her head. “Silly things, such menial tasks that don’t matter in Coldharbour anymore. I had my mind set on buying Christmas wrapping paper—it had to be blue and silver. I’d seen it, my friend Roxanne having weaved some really lovely rolls of it the other day. To me, it was so important that I had it. Gift wrapping is an important part of present giving, I always thought. They say the act of giving is the kindest thing, but the whole package was what I cared about—high-impact wrapping paper being key. Who cares really? My husband ended up being butchered … I should have been with him.” Tears came, but she didn’t look down. “All because of such rubbish.”