Shadow Hunted

by L. A. Johnson

  Shadow Hunted

  L.A. Johnson

  Chemical Zombie Press

  Contents

  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

  About the Author

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters and events in this book are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons living or dead is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Published by Chemical Zombie Press LLC

  Copyright © 2019 by L.A. Johnson

  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.

  Cover Artwork by Melody Simmons

  Editing by Elizabeth Lance

  One

  Lydia leaned against the bridge railing and watched the water, listening to the soothing sounds of the waves on the bridge. For a moment, life was peaceful. The breeze played with her blonde ponytail, and it was a warm afternoon. Probably too warm for the black jacket she was wearing, but she needed it. She had weapons and talismans stashed into secret pockets of this particular jacket because she was ordered not to bring her sword. She cursed Kade for telling her to leave it behind. Then she cursed herself for listening to him.

  Glancing around, she eyed the nearby storefronts warily. She knew from experience that peaceful moments weren’t meant to last. Especially since she was out here looking for a magical burglar troll. Supposedly. It was hard to believe, even for her.

  She wasn’t sure she believed Kade in the first place. Of all the odd jobs she did for the mage order, burglar troll was the oddest one in quite a while. Trolls tended to be big and slow and not hang out anywhere near cities. That was, unless the troll in question stole an undisclosed number of magical items and was in the process of using them all up in a mid-town rampage.

  And of course, the magical items in question were only undisclosed because Kade Trilogy, the Mage leader in question, refused to tell her what they were. Unfortunately, he was the boss.

  And so, even though for security reasons the details were only known by him, she was out here putting her ass on the line tracking a magical burglar troll named Earthshaker. According to local intelligence, Earthshaker had changed species three times in the last half hour. Which was possible when someone took a cocktail of magical potions without knowing what they were doing. It’s not safe though, and it’s absolutely not smart.

  In fact, any species other than troll would be dead by now. A fact that didn’t make her feel any better, since trolls tended to be much more dangerous when agitated. And on a scale of one to a hundred, this troll was probably infinity agitated.

  Lydia really needed mage help for this sort of thing. She had complained about it. Bitterly. Again, security reasons and a big, fat check made her betray her better instincts and agree to track the troll solo. And without her sword.

  I know better. I really do. But the rent had to be paid and right now the Mage Council was her only employer. After this job I’ll be smarter, she thought. I’ll stick to my guns. If I’m still alive.

  It probably wasn’t true, but it made her feel better. Right up until a commotion caught her attention and pulled her out of her thoughts. Bingo. A full-sized troll tore his way out of a building in full view of nearby civilians, who screamed and scattered like they were in a Godzilla movie.

  “I’ve got him,” Lydia said into her earpiece microphone.

  “How do you know it’s Earthshaker?” Kade’s voice squawked back. “What form is he in now?”

  “Looks like he’s back to being a troll,” she answered, springing into action in an effort to stop him before he got further into the business district.

  “Are you sure it’s him?” Kade asked.

  Now that she was engaged in the mission, Kade’s voice in her ear felt like a distraction. “I don’t know, Kade. I wouldn’t say I’m a hundred percent sure, but a giant troll just came bursting out of a building in the general area where I was tracking him. And now he’s headed toward the shops. What do you mean is he the one? Do you want me to contain him or let him do some shopping until we’re sure? How many trolls do you think are currently rampaging downtown, Kade?”

  Lydia watched Earthshaker amble down the street, looking slowly from right to left. His legs looked like tree trunks and his body was covered with what looked like moss. His huge head looked like an oval-ish clump of dirt with grass growing out of the sides. In fact, if Earthshaker moved ten feet to his left in the nearby park and stood very still for a while, it was possible that nobody passing by would have even noticed his presence. Magic surrounds us every day, Lydia thought. But the normal people didn’t notice it until it crossed the street directly into oncoming traffic. Shit.

  The voice in her earpiece sprang to life again, distracting her. “Just take care of the situation before somebody credible snaps a picture and it ends up on the internet,” Kade said.

  “Maybe I could if you’d shut up for thirty seconds,” Lydia answered. “Besides, nobody believes anything they see on the internet anymore.” That last part was true. Then again, even I can’t pass off a fifteen-foot angry troll as a quality comic con costume.

  Lydia broke into a sprint when she heard the squeal of brakes and the sound of metal crunching into hairy troll legs. Pieces of bark-like skin flew off of him into the street. Oh no, she thought, that’s going to piss him off. “I’m out of time, Kade,” she said. “I’m jumping in.” This would be so much easier if she could focus, which she couldn’t do with Kade in her ear.

  Judging by his next sentence, Kade seemed to anticipate her thought process. “Don’t you switch off your comm this time, Lydia, or I swear—”

  “Sorry, Kade, I’m going into a tunnel,” she lied. Lydia switched off the comm. There would be hell to pay later, but it would be worse if she didn’t get a handle on this troll situation right now. The next time Kade calls and says to leave my sword at home I’m going to hang up on him. Then I’m going to call him back so I can hang up on him again.

  At least she had gotten half the money up front. With that thought, she ran across the street to do hand to fist combat with the agitated, enchanted troll named Earthshaker.

  Earthshaker, standing in the middle of the street, threw his head straight up and howled in pain and rage before kicking the offending car that had struck him across the intersection. That caused another outburst of howling as he hopped on his good foot, holding the other size forty-five bare and bleeding foot in his hand.

  Lydia frisked her jacket for items that might distract him while she darted into the intersection. That turned out to be a mistake. In his pain and rage, Earthshaker swatted at the traffic light, which came crashing down onto the street. She leaped out of the way just in time to avoid the sparking electrical wires.

  That’s when the screaming started again. It was surprising that the screams had stopped in the first place, but trolls tended to send people into shock. That’s not the case with a garden variety vampire or werewolf, which was far easier to deal with. Most of the time when faced with the
possibility of the supernatural, modern people usually just suspected that somebody was messing with them. A fact that made her life easier most of the time. Though mostly when she was dealing with this kind of thing, she didn’t have to deal with a crowd in the middle of downtown.

  She regrouped her courage and squinted up. Earthshaker appeared to have a satchel around his neck with the familiar magic symbol. So, it was true. He had gotten into magical items somehow. She frowned.

  In the meantime, Earthshaker, who had recovered from his injury, let go of his foot and lumbered further into the city.

  Lydia closed the gap as fast as she could. She sprinted out in front of him and held up a hand. It was a terrible idea, but she was out of time. She shouted up at him. “Hey, big guy.”

  Am I really thinking I can hold off a troll by asking him to stop?

  Earthshaker shifted his giant shaggy head downward to look at her.

  Lydia stared up at his face. Wow. His pupils were huge. From the looks of it, he had gotten into some mage’s secret stash. Maybe that’s why Kade had been so vague about the details. That and he tended to not give a rat’s ass about her health and safety.

  Earthshaker turned his head away from her and shuffled a giant foot to the side. He was simply going to go around her.

  Oh no. Lydia darted back out in front of him again. “Hey, Earthshaker, look at me when I’m trying to threaten you.” She wasn’t really threatening him. In fact, she couldn’t really think of any way to slow him down at the moment, since she didn’t have her sword.

  Earthshaker stopped again. That surprised her.

  She tried to get his attention again. She jumped up and down. “That’s right. Look at me. Down here.” Except Earthshaker didn’t. He stood frozen, staring into space toward the side of a building. Now that she had a moment, she frisked her jacket pockets again frantically for anything helpful. Butterfly knife, nope. Glock? Not a good idea in this crowd and it wouldn’t do any good anyway. Then she noticed that something seemed off. She glanced back up at Earthshaker. He wasn’t moving.

  Poof. There was an actual poof sound accompanied by smoke. Just like you would see in a cartoon if that cartoon had an enchanted troll hopped up on magical potions that could make him change form. Lydia couldn’t help but stare.

  When the smoke cleared, Earthshaker was now a giant. Lydia had to lift her head almost straight up in the air to see him now. He stood just above the tops of the surrounding three-story buildings.

  “Oh, come on,” Lydia shouted out loud. “What am I supposed to do about that?”

  “If you were smart, you’d turn around and run before you get stepped on.” The voice came from behind her. It was Drat. She didn’t ask where he had come from. She was used to him popping in and out.

  “Nice of you to show up, Drat,” she said without taking her eyes off the giant. “Do you have any ideas about what to do next?”

  “I said you should run,” he repeated.

  “I meant helpful ideas.”

  “Maybe you could give his pinky toe a paper cut with your sword.”

  “I don’t have it. Kade wouldn’t let me bring it.”

  “Then you’re screwed,” Drat said matter-of-factly. “You know better than to listen to Kade. And his name is stupid. What kind of Mage Order has a leader named Kade?”

  “This is not the time, Drat. I have to do something about this. I can’t just let him destroy downtown like a shaggy headed movie monster. If only he would go back to being a troll. I can reason with trolls.”

  That made Drat laugh. “You reasoned with one troll one time.”

  “It still counts,” Lydia objected.

  “And that particular troll was heavily sedated,” he persisted.

  The giant took a step. The resulting earthquake caused her and Drat to fall onto the concrete. Then Earthshaker the giant paused. He shimmered for a moment. Lydia crossed her fingers for him to change into something more manageable.

  There was another poof. Yes! She ran forward through the smoke to see what had happened. Where the giant stood seconds earlier, there was now a stunned werewolf.

  “I’ll take it,” she said and darted forward.

  The werewolf staggered forward and fell.

  Lydia grabbed him and pulled him up. “Let’s go, Earthshaker. I think you’ve had enough.”

  “Enough what?” Drat asked.

  “Magic. It’s a long story.”

  “What are you going to do with him?” Drat asked. It was a good question. Police sirens sounded in the distance.

  “We’ve got to get him out of here before the cops can get to him,” Lydia answered. “And hopefully, before he can turn back into a troll.”

  “Oh, that’s a good plan,” Drat said. “Except that means you have to get him to the forest.”

  Drat was right. Lydia’s heart raced. “No, I don’t have to go out to the spooky, haunted forest,” she said, even though she knew he was right. “I can make it to the bluffs.”

  “No, you can’t,” Drat answered.

  “I could if you would help me!” Lydia said as she carried the werewolf away from the scene of the crime. When she glanced around, she could see that the only real damage to the area was the torn down traffic light that was now on the side of the road and the car that got punted. If they got out of here soon, everything would probably go back to normal fairly quickly. “Please get my car, Drat,” she said.

  A gathering crowd gawked at her as she helped Earthshaker the werewolf across the street, but cars were already starting to go cautiously through the intersection again. Nothing to see here, people, just a normal woman carrying a barely conscious werewolf to the backseat of her vehicle. “Hey,” she told the gawkers, “it’s never too early for Halloween. Am I right?”

  Drat pulled up with her car. He jumped out and helped her get the stunned and shaggy werewolf into the backseat of her Honda Pilot. Earthshaker was certainly easier to deal with in this form, although if he changed back before she could get him to a safe place, then her vehicle was done for. That made it a simple race against time.

  The police sirens were getting closer. She was glad she had gotten Earthshaker out of there before the human cops got a chance to get him. That would have been bad. “Hang in there, Earthshaker,” she said.

  She cringed waiting for the police cars to turn the corner toward her, wondering how she would escape notice while leaving the scene of a not so natural disaster with two supernatural creatures in her backseat, assuming Drat was tagging along. She could at least pass for human even though she was partially fae, so that made it slightly easier.

  Much to her surprise, the sirens continued down Main Street in another direction. They were headed someplace else. That was strange. What could be more important than a troll strolling into downtown ripping down a traffic light and changing forms in full view of the public? Right now, it didn’t matter though, this wasn’t the time to look a gift werewolf in the mouth.

  Drat disappeared out of the driver’s seat and reappeared in the passenger seat as she went to take the wheel.

  “Oh no,” she told him, “I need you to be in the backseat to keep an eye on little hairy and tell me if you think he’s going to poof again.” She hopped into the driver’s seat and adjusted it back to its original position.

  The seat was all the way forward because Drat was a magical garden gnome and was only three feet tall. He was wearing jeans, a black tee shirt, and a black skull beanie. The beanie was new. She liked it. She didn’t have time to ask him about it, though. She pressed on the gas without adjusting the mirrors and sped forward. The thought of her destination loomed. “I can make it to the bluffs.”

  Drat turned his head to look through the rear window. “Where were the cops going? Do you think they got lost on their way to the troll disturbance?”

  “I guess so,” she answered, but she wasn’t sure. The only thing she could concentrate on right now was getting Earthshaker out of town and out of her car. Oh yeah and
getting whatever magical artifacts he had stolen back to Kade.

  Drat turned to her. “I’m gonna go see what’s so important,” he said with an evil grin.

  “Drat! No! I’m going to need you to...” That’s when she realized she was talking to herself. She turned to glance at the backseat, where Earthshaker was snoring loudly. He smelled like wet dog and looked like he was sleeping off a bender.

  “Please don’t go, Drat,” she said to herself out loud. “I’m going to need you to give me a heads up if Earthshaker’s about to change forms again. And I might need help getting him out of the car. Thanks for nothing, Drat.”

  Two

  Lydia stepped on the gas, squealing down the street in a haze of smoke. There wasn’t much time to get Earthshaker, the temporary werewolf, to the bluffs. There was no telling when whatever-the-hell-potion he had taken would wear off, and she was still making payments on the eight-year-old car. She made decent money working odd jobs for the Mage Council, but not new-car money.

  A quick glance in the backseat revealed that the smelly, emaciated looking werewolf was still out cold. The satchel containing magical items was still around his neck. She cursed herself for not grabbing it when she put him into the backseat. It was going to be a hell of a lot harder to get away from a full-sized-troll than an unconscious werewolf.

  Should she stop and grab it now? Probably not. First things first, she had to get out of town. She looked up in horror as the light in front of her had turned red while she was checking on the werewolf. The cross traffic made it impossible to run the red light.