by Richard Amos
But the others weren’t.
Nay threw some potions into the snow, causing explosions of white to spray upward. It didn’t slow them down.
The next hookster was leaping for the other sleigh.
Dean delivered a rotating kick to its face—him and Greg clearly knowing that was the safest place to aim for. Not like me back in the railway tunnel, getting my foot skewered for my troubles.
Where Greg was powerful strength, Dean was light and fast. Nay had a similar fighting style to Dean, but wasn’t as fast as the fae man. Her main skill was her magic, but she’d been trained well and good in the art of kick-arse. And she showed off those skills as another hookster came for the sleigh. It landed, grabbing hold of the back of the sleigh, body dragging through the snow. Not for long, though, as it flipped itself up and landed above Nay.
She buried her axe into its face and pulled one of the hooks from its chest with her bare hands. With a roar, she stuck its own weapon in its jugular. Then, for added effect, she shoved one of those exploding potions into its mouth and upper-cutted so it fell clear of the sleigh.
Moments later it exploded. It wouldn’t be dead, but life for it would now be super difficult.
“Yes!” I cried, punching the air.
“Nay wins!” Greg yelled.
Dean was smiling, and I blushed. What the hell was wrong with me?
“My poor axe!” Nay cried.
Greg snorted.
The hooksters were falling back. Good! That’ll teach them to mess with my guardians!
“And they thought I’d be an easy kill,” I said, sitting down.
“Never,” Greg said.
There was a blanket with glittery holly leaves and berries woven into it. Greg pulled it up over us. “Time for you to rest now, mate,” he said.
“Sounds like a plan.” I laid my head on his shoulder and let the sleigh bells be the only sound as we sped toward the south of the city.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The shit storm struck as soon as we entered the first street.
Cars immediately took to the air as they’d done before, hurtling towards us.
“Shit!”
But the goblins were awesome drivers, the reindeer some super-hardcore breed. They wove through clusters of sort-of zombies, getting out of the way of cars.
One van soared over my head and hit one of those clusters, bodies exploding red before the vehicle itself went up in flames.
Jesus! How many more people were gonna die like this?
Another cluster was taken out by two cars. It looked to be deliberate, for my benefit.
The shadow came up alongside the sleigh. “Hello,” it said.
I tried to grab it and it pulled back, laughing.
“Fascinating that you survived my little trap, weapon.”
“Gutted, are you?”
“Gutted is something I hoped you would have been, entrails decorating those rusted old rails. Never mind.”
Another horrendous crash from behind me. I didn’t look round, but I knew what it was.
Those ruby eyes in the shadow blazed. “All because of you,” it said.
“I’ll stop you.”
“So much blood on your hands. If you just had the decency to die, then these people would not have to pay with their lives.”
“Bullshit,” Greg said.
“Just die, Jake,” the shadow whispered, ignoring Greg. “This life it too much, too hard. You have been through enough in your twenty-six years. Rest, be at peace. Come, step off that sleigh.”
“I’d rather you went to be at peace. Well, not peace, but dead all the same.”
The shadow twirled and zipped off, reappearing at my other side. “Hecate was foolish to intervene.”
“I think it was rather smart. Shows she’s got stuff going on up here.” I tapped my head. “Maybe I will snuff it, but I’ll make sure that I leave my mark, try my best to make my time here as big a headache as possible.”
Did those red eyes just blink? “Fool.”
“Been called worse.”
The shadow twisted away and the vehicle flinging stopped. At least I thought it had.
Rose stopped the sleigh. “Oh, no!”
At the end of the street was a lorry—one of those huge ones that carried cars.
Rose waggled a stick she pulled from her coat pocket and the reindeer popped into a shower of copper glitter. “Run!” she yelled, leaping off the sleigh.
Greg smashed open a door into a computer repairs shop. The street was packed with zombies, some of them staggered in behind us.
“We have to let them in,” I said. “They’ll—”
The roar of the lorry was incredible. It boomed past the shop, mowing down the zombies and destroying the sleighs.
There was blood everywhere. How many people had there been?
A zombie pawed at me hungrily—a survivor. This was a woman who had escaped with her life.
“Out the back,” Dean said, pulling me away.
“All those people,” I said. “So much blood.”
“Come on, Jake!”
There were four zombies in the shop. Four out of how many?
I was moving, constantly glancing behind me as I did.
This was all because I wouldn’t give up and die. No, the shadows would do this anyway ...
Right?
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“Not much farther,” Rose said as we waded through the heavy snow.
It was so cold and the streets so packed with the sort-of zombies. We stuck to alleyways were we could, even breaking into shops to cut through and avoid the main streets.
There’d been no more vehicle incidents. That hadn’t stopped the nausea that afflicted me.
I had to fight it, to battle all of the thoughts screaming at me—the cocktail of guilt and doubt, the inner-voice telling me to roll over and be dead.
Needaline!
No! I didn’t need a fucking line. I needed to kill.
“Almost there,” Rose said, full of encouragement. “It’s—”
A zombie lunged at her. Dean was quick to move, pulling her out of the woman’s way.
“Oh,” Nay said.
It was Detective Inspector Williams.
Dean froze. He’d had a one night stand with her, nothing else coming of it. Well, apart from the odd bit of eye flirting whenever they saw one another.
Poor woman. She staggered toward Dean, mouth oozing saliva. She had needed heavy doses of Dean’s mind-manipulation power to placate her after the hospital incident that’d gone down upon my arrival in the city. Guess it was that sleuth brain of hers.
“Sorry,” Dean said, and gently pushed her so she fell onto her backside in the snow. It swallowed her, only her head visible.
Before I asked if we were just gonna leave her there, I stopped myself. What about everyone else? The people had to be left to it in order to be saved. What could we do for her but chain her down? Then she would become nothing more than a target like the rest of the people that happened to be near me. The best thing for the DI was to leave her there and try and make sure she survived.
We all moved around her as she groaned.
Dean didn’t look back or down at her. How did he feel about her? Did he want more from her than that one-night stand? I watched him walk with Rose, proper stared at his back. Beneath his coat was toned muscle. I knew how those back muscles moved, the way they looked as he worked out or walked across the gym. I even knew what his cock looked like.
A flare of pleasure went through me as a tiny vision of him above me, my hands holding onto the back muscles, entered my brain and knocked me for six. This wasn’t right! There was something deeply wrong with me. Dean was my friend, and I wasn’t interested in that stuff anymore!
Resisting my fingernails, I cracked my knuckles.
Rose, taking full point with Dean at her side, turned the corner and said, “This is it.”
She was standing outside a bridal shop in a tiny
mews not far from Mystique Square. There were no zombies down here, and it was pedestrian only—thank God! It was called Wedding Sparkle. Pretty wedding dresses on mannequins were in the windows.
“Come on,” Rose said, opening the shutters with a silver key, then the door.
Randy handed her an LED lantern, revealing the shop’s interior.
Inside smelled of rosewater. Racks and racks of bridal wear filled the space, the walls painted duck egg and the floor carpeted gray. Sat on an obsidian cash counter flecked with silver sparkles was a vase of white roses.
A silver Christmas tree sat in the corner, its lights off.
Randy grunted as he sauntered past me, disappearing out the back.
Rose closed the shutters and locked the door.
“What happened to the reindeer?” Nay asked.
Rose presented her stick. It was twisted and brown. “Magic,” she said. “I made them. I can pop them back again when we need them.”
Nay was grinning.
“You have more sleighs?” I asked.
“Oh, yes. Come, I’ll show you downstairs.”
“I love the dresses,” Nay said.
“Thank you, sweetheart. A lady called Mandy owns the shop. I don’t … know where she is. Hopefully she’s … alive.”
She led us downstairs into a staffroom, still decorated in duck egg and gray, and then through another door which seemed to appear as soon as she touched it. We followed Rose down some wooden stairs into a cave of wonders.
Well, it wasn’t a cave. It was all pink and white striped tiled walls and a large space filled with all sorts of treasures neatly placed on free-standings shelves. Gold urns, jewelry, marble statuettes, globes—all manner of trinkets were waiting for eyes to feast on. Over to the right was a little space of cushions and an open fire. Randy was there with a steaming kettle.
“Come sit,” Rose said.
The small cushions were pink and white, the rug they sat on white. Rose gestured for us to take a pew. Okay, so this would be interesting to park my arse on.
As I went to sit, the cushion grew. I paused.
“You’re fine,” Randy said with a bite in his tone.
So I sat. The cushion expanded and accommodated my size. Man, was it heaven on my butt cheeks. I sank into it, enjoying the warmth of the fire.
The people outside weren’t getting any sort of enjoyment …
Rose must have read something on my face. “We’ll be on the move soon, Jake. I promise. We just need some tea and biscuits to fuel us.”
Dean sat next to me.
I nodded. She was right. “And we need a plan.”
“Yes,” she said.
Randy handed me a mug of tea and a plate of chocolate biscuits. I didn’t see that kettle plugged into anything, nor was there something over the open fire to boil it on.
“Thanks,” I said.
He offered his usual grunt and gave tea to everyone else.
Nay’s phone pinged, and she pulled it out.
“Everything all right?” Greg asked.
“Sam,” I said. “She finally replied.”
“How is she?”
“She’s fine. Waiting it out with Phil in The Mermaid. Says they’ve managed to lock some zombies in the cellar.”
“More survivors,” I said.
Nay nodded, sadness in her expression. “I’m just glad she’s okay.”
Nay and Sam needed to sort themselves out. They clearly loved one another, but were acting too cool for school. This whole existence in Coldharbour didn’t make it easy.
“Me too,” I said.
“Trolls are tough,” Greg said. “And Sam’s the toughest I know.”
“You only know two—her and Phil.”
“Yeah, and she’s way more scary than Phil.”
Nay chuckled, putting her phone away. “She is.”
“She would be the toughest person I know even if she wasn’t a troll. Shame she’s not on the team.”
Trolls were territorial. Sam and Phil took care of business where they were, not anywhere else. It was a shame they couldn’t come on patrols, but I was advised not to bring it up. Troll politics were a messy web to get tangled up in.
I sipped my tea. It was so, so welcome on my taste buds and to my throat as it made its way down.
“Is this your second home?” I asked Rose.
“No,” she said. “We use this for storage and work. Our only proper home is our flat. I hope it hasn’t been ruined by those dreadful things.”
Randy was staring into his teacup. “Lived in this city way before any of this curse business,” he said.
I took a bite of biscuit, then a swig of tea. The two mixed together in a warm delight. I dipped the rest of the biscuit and wolfed it down.
“You should see our flat,” Rose said. “The view in fine weather is divine. You must come and visit one day.”
“I, erm, would … love that.” Randy’s glare could burn a hole right through me if he had that ability. I’m sure he would put it to good use if he did.
“I still don’t get why the runes didn’t go off up there,” Nay said. “There’s quite a few around Wand Towers.”
“The shadows know what they’re doing,” Randy said.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Definitely been demonstrated.”
He didn’t look up from his tea.
One day he’d get over me and his wife. God! That sounded like we’d been a thing! I needed to demonstrate to him how safe his relationship was. Anyway, even if I got my kicks from goblin women, Rose didn’t seem like the kind of woman to betray her other half. She just enjoyed a flirt, and probably wanted her husband to up his own game—from what I could tell. Obviously, I could be completely wrong. I’ve been wrong a lot over the years.
He did look up then as I watched him and offered me a scowl. I sighed and had another biscuit.
“The plan,” Dean said. His voice was laced with darkness and sex. It washed over me, pulses of electricity sparking across my skin. Or was that my power kicking in? No, it was more … sensual.
I gulped down my tea. Bloody hell! Time to get a grip!
“Yes,” Rose said. “We really should be leaving soon.”
“What else can we do but stick together?” Nay said. “We’re stronger together, and Jake’s gonna be vulnerable.”
“It’s getting up there,” Greg said. “Getting past the cars and the zombies—not letting the zombies get hurt.”
“We can take the direct route,” Randy said. “The main roads will have more cars, but we need the clearest path possible. Taking the back roads is too risky and too slow.”
“But less cars,” Greg said. “I get what you’re saying. Could end up trapped down some narrow road with a lorry coming at us again.”
I shuddered at the all too recent memory.
“Exactly,” Randy said.
“Whatever we do will be dangerous,” Rose added. “That’s a given.”
Randy frowned. “But you agree?”
“Yes, dear.” She rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry.”
He huffed in response.
“So, all guns blazing, so to speak,” Nay said. “We get out and go for it.”
“Yes,” Rose said. “There is no other choice.”
Nay checked her potion belt. “I’ve got two more exploders left and a couple of healers. Spells it will be from now on, if needed.”
She preferred using alchemy to spells—no words and more bang. Still, Nay was an awesome spell-caster when she pulled that rabbit out of the hat.
“When shall we set off?” Dean said.
“Let’s finish our tea and biccies,” Rose said.
I turned to look at Dean. He quirked a brow as he swigged his tea.
I looked away. “Where’s the white eye guy’s pseudo-flying power when you need it?”
“Something tells me it wouldn’t be that easy even if he were here to use it,” Nay said.
“You don’t know who or what he is, do you?” I
asked Rose.
“No clue, sweetie. Neither does Randy. Not seen him around the city until now.”
“Always worth asking, right?”
“Of course.” She smiled sweetly.
I shuffled in my cushion. “One shot.”
“Yes, babe,” Nay answered.
“We’ll do this, mate,” Greg said. “You have us right behind you. No more white-eyed bastard to snatch you away.”
Thinking of that man dead was constantly disappointing. The hooksters had stolen my job!
“Thanks.”
“Gonna be a big mess to clean up,” Dean said.
“I’ll say,” Nay agreed.
“We’ll help where we can,” Rose said.
Nay’s phone rang. “Karla,” she said. She put the phone to her ear. “Hi, Karla. Yes. Okay.” She held the phone in front of her. “There, you’re on speaker.”
“Jake?”
“Hi,” I said.
“Thank goodness you are okay.” Her voice trembled. “I am deeply sorry for going along with that foolish man’s request. I should have known better. I have failed you.”
“Desperate times,” I said.
Everyone watched me with blank expressions, though Greg was letting through some degree of pissed off.
“I will never fail you like that again, Jake.”
“You don’t need to worry. I’m fine.”
She took a moment to answer. “So, Wand Towers. When will you be heading up there?”
“Imminently,” Rose said.
“Is that Rose?”
“Hi.”
“Nice to speak to you,” Karla said. “I hope to meet you after this mess is done with. Thank you and your husband for your assistance. I cannot begin to tell you how greatly it is appreciated.”
Why had Karla agreed to the white eye guy’s proposal so quickly? I knew he was making sense in what he was saying, but she wasn’t particularly resistant to the idea as she maybe should have been. But then, it was a smart idea. Karla was being pragmatic. I couldn’t blame her really. It was just a little unsettling.
“Our pleasure,” Rose said.
Randy had his back to us, facing the fire.
Karla sighed down the line. “What else can I say but wish you good luck? All of you, please … be safe. I wish there was more I could do to help. Even if Mr. Douglas was okay and we could get through the snow, it would not be possible with the people gathered outside the mansion.”