Phantom Moon

by Gaja J. Kos

  Phantom Moon

  Gaja J. Kos

  Contents

  Kolovrat Universe

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Also by Gaja J. Kos

  Copyright © 2020 by Gaja J. Kos

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Kolovrat Universe

  The Lotte Freundenberger series sits at the heart of the “Future” portion of the Kolovrat universe. However, several other works exist in the same sphere.

  Each series/standalone title can be read individually, or as a whole for a more complex insight into the universe where myth and reality blend into one.

  PRESENT

  BLACK WEREWOLVES SERIES

  Urban fantasy

  Novels:

  The Dark Ones

  The 24hourlies

  The Shift

  The Ascension

  Novellas:

  Never Forgotten

  Chased

  Black Werewolves: Books 1–4

  NIGHTWRAITH SERIES

  Paranormal romance

  Windstorm

  Blackstorm

  Nightstorm

  Nightwraith: The Complete Series

  SUCC

  Open relationship standalone paranormal romance

  FUTURE

  PARADISE OF SHADOWS AND DEVOTION

  Standalone paranormal romance

  LOTTE FREUNDENBERGER SERIES

  Urban fantasy

  Shadow Moon

  Darkening Moon

  Transient Moon

  Phantom Moon

  Burning Moon

  SHADE ASSASSIN

  Urban fantasy

  Shadow World

  Shadow Lies

  Shadow Heart

  HEAT OF THE NIGHT

  Standalone paranormal romance

  DAWN OF KOLOVRAT

  Urban fantasy standalone novellas

  Destiny Reclaimed

  For Boris and our future trips

  1

  My mind strained to separate illusion from reality.

  Wildfire curved around me and danced beneath what little of the false night sky I could see beyond the smoke. I cast a look over my shoulder. The woods gave way to pastures, unrecognizable figures shuffling in the distance. False, false, false.

  The thunderous echo of footsteps crashing against my right ear, too.

  I flexed my fingers by my sides and ignored the dizziness that had ratcheted up again as I pushed my focus to its limits. Even the feel of hard ground—not soil—beneath my feet did little to steady me. Shit. The entire damn situation was almost like experiencing some sort of odd double vision—if you could even call it that when it was only the scents that didn’t align with the imagery or sound and painted a different landscape.

  Though I probably should have been grateful I at least had that tiny bit of advantage given the sheer strength of the Leshy who kept evading me with infuriating ease.

  With a vicious snarl ripping free from my throat, I threw myself straight towards the roaring blaze of fire.

  It’s just in your head, I repeated over and over. But as those embers flickered and danced, as they reached for my damn skin and the scorching heat whisked up my bare arms, that assurance felt paper-thin.

  I braced myself for the agony of charred flesh—

  Only to pass through the angry flames without incident.

  My shoulder hit asphalt as I dropped into a roll, the intrusion of solid—and slightly damp—reality clearing my head for a moment. Rain. It had rained earlier today.

  Real.

  For less than a second, I allowed my fingers to scrape along the damp, rough pavement. Small reminders went a long way to prevent a mind from unraveling. But just as soon as I claimed that necessary anchor, I leaped up and hurried to put some more distance between the Leshy and me. My feet thudded against the ground.

  Good, if I could hear myself, that meant the potency of his illusions was fading.

  While retreating wasn’t high on my list of things I enjoyed, it certainly beat losing myself completely. Dopfer had delivered a taste of what that would be like during one of our training sessions. I’d had nightmares for a week straight.

  Once I was almost out of the Leshy’s range, I sucked in some much-needed gulps of air. Faintly, I could make out the industrial-looking buildings looming to the side. None of my fellow agents, though. The whispers of the road behind me stretching to safety was a beckoning sight, but this was as far as I could go. With a last deep inhale to clear my lungs, I immersed myself into the damn magic again and focused on scenting the bastard.

  He’d shifted from his original position by a broken-down truck that had given him just the cover he’d needed to get his illusions going when we’d rolled in, and was now lurking up ahead to the right—right at the heart of the disorienting tornado.

  A growl trickled from my lips.

  We’d been at this for at least twenty minutes. I was getting seriously pissed there was no metaphysical plug to pull to shut him off. Shit, he didn’t seem even the least bit tired.

  A breeze caressed my face, bringing with it a familiar scent. I breathed deeper and analyzed the trace. Agent Elena Mayer was working her magic from the other side of the street, trying to push back the Leshy’s illusions with her own blend of power. So far, it didn’t seem to have much effect, although maybe the mere fact I wasn’t left wandering aimlessly around some horrid fantasy landscape already was her doing.

  Fuck if I knew.

  I dropped down into a crouch and touched my hands to the damp asphalt. My sight wasn’t about to become reliable anytime soon, but I still dreaded relinquishing the sensory input as I closed my eyes and focused on what I knew was real.

  A blend of sounds surrounded me. Whistling of wind. Crackling embers. Metallic clinks. Engines. A flickering, like that of a light bulb on the verge of going out. Distinct, but nothing remotely legit enough for me to latch on, so I blocked that out, too, until all that was left were the scents.

  I grounded myself through the press of my fingers against the cool pavement and pushed deeper.

  The demonic power I’d been infused with nine months ago swept through my awareness and opened up almost a kind of blueprint of my surroundings—or, rather, the essences that populated it. Where I had once only sensed another’s presence, my gift—if I was being generous with the term—had profoundly developed thanks to me tapping into it more and more.

  Elena was a blaze of pink-tipped white, the colors more something I felt rather than saw. And the Leshy—

  Well, his thrumming green wrapped in undu
lating vines of brown was unmistakable.

  A smile whisked across my lips. Gotchya.

  Pushing aside the whispers of fear that never failed to stir whenever I had to rely on this other-sight, I gathered my power at my fingertips and opened my eyes.

  Blue embers morphed into a ball of demonic fire that pushed against the oppressive illusions I ignored with all the willpower I had as I moved deeper into their grasp. My surroundings shifted faster now, a flurry of images that assaulted the senses, but my other-sight remained true. I wasn’t about to let the bastard go even if it was the last damn thing I did.

  The metallic taste that came to life at the back of my tongue suggested that last part just might turn true unless I got a move on.

  Immersing myself deeper into my other-sight, I readied my aim.

  A capture would have been better than a kill, but I doubted anyone would truly be upset by the prospect of not having to contain this asshole’s magic. Too many resources spent on a small-time crook never produced happy superiors. ICRA’s cells were packed enough as it was.

  Faster than the Leshy could catch on to my plan, I flung the orb.

  The demon fire cut through the illusions with the speed of a bullet. The Leshy jerked but was too slow to maneuver his massive frame. Served him right for choosing his giant form instead of making himself a smaller target.

  Through the keyhole-tunnel of reality, I watched my flames burrow into his flesh. I rushed forward. The nightmarish images around me flickered then died, echoing their master’s state.

  I swayed as everything normalized and the dark gave way to cloudy July sky.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I registered Elena close in from across the street, her pale skin practically shimmering with magic and brow drawn in concentration as she warded the perimeter. She spared me the briefest of nods. I moved.

  The first net of Elena’s threads knitted together just as my foot hit the door of what looked to be an abandoned workshop. The rusty hinges didn’t even have time to groan as the force of my kick sent the iron slab crashing into the dimly lit space.

  A stale, sweaty stench burned my nostrils, coupled with the distinct heaviness of oil and machinery. I counted three figures on my right (all human), one vamp staring down at me from beneath the ceiling, and a stocky man up ahead who shared some faint scent markers with the Leshy I’d taken down outside. His son would be my guess, although the potency of his power seeping into the space didn’t come even close to what I’d experienced earlier. Mixed heritage, then.

  Thank the gods for small mercies.

  I kept a nearly transparent sheen of blue demonic power wrapped around my body as I advanced on the half Leshy like a wolf going in for the kill. Let them think I was blinded by my base nature. That I’d missed the vampire preying on me from above.

  But before I could make it three damn steps, a whoosh of air from the right stopped me in my tracks. Swearing, I arched back—

  A wrench passed right beneath my breasts. A bloody wrench.

  For fuck’s sake…

  So much for thinking the humans would make the wise choice and stay out of a supernatural fight.

  With no more incoming tools spearing my way, I threw my hand out and blasted all three assholes with demon fire. They all went down with a cry, but the move cost me.

  My torso was still tilted slightly back when the vamp leaped.

  Shit.

  I bent farther until my fingers scraped the grimy concrete floor and lashed out with both feet. My muscles screamed as the full weight of the vamp hit the soles of my boots. Growling, I threw her against the back wall with a satisfying crash, but before I could roll into a crouch, a shot rang out.

  Blue fire flared around me. It slowed and disintegrated the bullet enough so that when the damn thing hit my shoulder, it was more as if the asshole had thrown a sharp rock than fired something meant to go straight through skin and bone.

  Not that it saved me from the flare of pain, though, even if the end result was just a flesh wound.

  As the scent of my blood mixed with the machinery, I snarled and launched myself at the regular-sized half Leshy who was still clutching the damn gun. A stirring of an illusion formed in the corner of my vision, but I was too pissed off to care.

  I tackled his stocky form onto the ground, the gun skittering across the floor, and drew my arm back to knock him unconscious—

  An arm locked around my elbow.

  Shit, the vamp.

  She didn’t even seem to mind the fact that the thin layer of flames still lapping around my form was scorching her flesh. The reek prickled my nostrils.

  “ELENA,” I roared. “ANY TIME NOW.”

  I wasn’t sure how long I’d be able to withstand this rodeo with the half Leshy thrashing beneath me and the vamp pulling me back. Using every inch of my past sports training as well as the drills ICRA had put me through, I worked on maintaining the center while at the same time controlling the threats.

  The stench of charred flesh intensified as the vamp glued herself to my back. Her warm breath whisked across my neck, and I could have sworn that was the scratch of a fang I felt against my skin. I jostled my elbow to buy me some time and focused on my true target. The half Leshy bucked harder.

  I doused the flames on my free hand and wrapped it around his throat. Mindful not to snap anything vital, I pressed down on his pulse.

  Ghostly warmth licked up my neck again as I held on to the half Leshy.

  My instincts urged me to tap into my demonic powers and blast the vampire away, but this was one of those cases where I simply didn’t have enough faith in my abilities to not char my mark as well. This one, ICRA wanted alive. Unfortunately.

  I didn’t loosen my grip even when two pinpricks of pain burst to life just above my vein—

  Agony flared across my nerves, the stench of burnt flesh building up to the point I gagged. Bile rose in my throat, the arm the vamp still had in her grip twisted at a fucking unnatural angle. I snarled, but my voice found no resonance as power swept through the room.

  Stunning, opulent, late power.

  The vampire jerked right as the half Leshy ceased struggling. Blood gushed down my side as the vamp dragged her fangs across my skin, but it was a small price to pay for getting the leech off me. I twisted as an invisible, but very tangible, power flung her across the space. She landed in a heap in the middle of the room, and my gaze caught on her mangled, charred face turned in my direction.

  Hello, new nightmares.

  I tore my attention away from the gruesome sight. Elena was standing by the door, her curled fingers resembling claws as shimmering magic still dripped from her fingertips. She caught my gaze, then took one look at my neck and winced.

  “Sorry, Lotte. There was something blocking me from setting the higher-level wards. The assholes had their own perimeter fixed up, and it acted kind of like that disgusting salt they throw on the roads to thaw the snow.”

  I let go of the unconscious half Leshy. My surroundings did a lively twirl as I straightened. Great. The vamp must have fed on me more than I’d thought.

  “With you being the snow?” I asked once I remembered we were actually having a conversation.

  “Yeah.” Elena scanned the human bodies by the far wall, then looked at me again. “Kerman is keeping watch outside. The others should be here in five. As well as the medics.”

  “Awesome.” I smiled—then dropped into peaceful darkness as my werewolf body stitched itself back together.

  Blood swirled red, then rusty orange before it flowed down the drain. Though my neck had healed by the time I got to ICRA HQ, I still looked like something out of a horror movie set. I scrubbed myself until the water pooling around my feet bore no more traces of gore, then wrapped a large, white, plush towel around myself and strode into the spacious locker room. The setup reminded me of the Zentrum—minus the thankfully absent stench of chlorine that had always grated my nerves. A pang of longing clenched my stomach, but the numerous v
oices spilling into the silence as the doors swung open broke the memory before it could anchor its treacherous claws in me.

  I glanced at the agents pouring into the room as I padded over to my spot by the long bench dividing the space between the two rows of fog-gray lockers. With the majority of us werewolves who saw nudity as no big deal, I didn’t hurry to put on my clothes. Instead, I dried myself thoroughly as the group spread across the space, some stripping before hitting the showers, others simply exchanging their clothes for something a bit fresher.

  Bren, my locker neighbor, joined me just as I draped the plush towel over the bench to throw it in the appropriate bin later. He threw his sweaty T-shirt into a plastic bag. Unlike the towels, ICRA didn’t offer its services to wash our clothes. The fact that this place didn’t stink like something died in it showed the lengths scent-sensitive supes went to to minimize the odors.

  “Training or hunting?” I asked him as I finger-combed my wet hair.

  Bren sealed the bag shut before stuffing it into the locker next to mine, then flashed me a grin. “Both, actually. We were just enjoying a few laps when we got the call.”

  “A nice bonus, eh?” I arched an eyebrow.