Winter Twilight: an Urban Fantasy Novel (Coldharbour Chronicles Book 5) Read online

  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

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Also by Richard Amos

  Copyright © 2019 Richard Amos

  All Rights Reserved

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, duplicated, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  Cover by JMN Art

  Formatting by Gina Wynn

  Chapter One

  Tendrils of magical energy tickled my back.

  “Naff off!” I yelled and went into a dive.

  There was no way this was gonna be a dive with any sort of skill or grace, not when I was running for my life. I hit the sloping ground face-first, getting a mouthful of dirt and leaves. My cheeks were scraping along horribly, but at least I was going downward and away from danger.

  Wham! My head cracked into a tree root, and I went spinning, tearing down the slope until I landed slap bang into a tangle of thorns.

  Fuck this forest!

  “No!” Luke cried. Turned out my late beast cat friend was now a ghost wandering the beast realm, lending me a hand at the right moment when I’d needed to run for my life. Shame he couldn’t do more than panic seeing as he was a spectral version of the man I’d known.

  “Tell me about it!” I replied through clenched teeth.

  Nasty spikes bit into my skin and snagged my jumper. “Who put these here?”

  Brother Bennett was the first beast priest to come sliding down to meet me. His moves were way smoother than mine.

  “Trapped like the sneaky rat you are,” he spat. His brown eyes moved to Luke. “Foolish spirit.”

  “Jake!” Luke yelped. “You must run!”

  “Trust me, I’d rather be doing that!”

  Though his face was full of hate, Brother Bennett also had an ashen expression that was pleasing to see. It meant he was rocked to the core after seeing Claec get royally fucked over by my beast-killing touch, and the whole of his priesthood shafted by the white eye guy … who’d actually turned out to be Hercules—my ancestor. Yeah, my head was fit to pop with the bombardment of friggin’ revelations it’d had to take in recently.

  “Don’t blame me for the people you hang around with,” I retorted. “I wasn’t in on that shit.”

  “It matters not, weapon. Claec has fallen by your hand. You will die for your crimes.”

  The priest had some magic in him. I couldn’t let him use it on me. He’d once cut open a whale-like beast with his mojo, and I didn’t want to see what he had lined up for me. But he was right. I was stuck. By the time I could get myself free, he’d slice my head off.

  Think, dammit!

  I had no shield now, thanks to Hercules. The fucker had stolen it from me. Ah, well. Time to use my head—my throbbing head.

  Just like that, my built-in healing magic kicked in and eased my pain.

  Okay. He wasn’t close enough to strike. Any chance of sweeping his legs out from under him was out of the question. If I couldn’t go up, I’d go deeper into the thorns. It’d hurt like hell, but if I pushed myself backward—

  My thoughts were cut off as the rest of the priesthood arrived, sliding through the mud and leaves to be with their leader. A couple of them stumbled but held steady. Shame. I could’ve snagged one if they’d come tumbling down to meet me. There were six of them, including Brother Bennett. Aside from their wanker of a leader, their eyes were trained nervously on my hands—alight with spitting white sparks. It was the only force in the universe that could give them true death. Man, was I eager to deliver it.

  I started pushing back into the thorns. It didn’t do much, only hurt like a bastard.

  This wasn’t gonna work.

  “Time to die, weapon.” Brother Bennett’s miserable lips stretched into a smirk.

  Shitshitshitshit! Come on!

  There was just no give in these bloody thorns!

  “Fuck you!” I hissed.

  The air buzzed with collective magic rising. I was no expert on magic by any stretch of the imagination, but this felt like it was gonna have an explosive outcome—my body splattering the trees.

  Desperate times bring out the survival instincts of a man. I wasn’t about to have everything come to an end at the hands of these knob heads! My weirdo brain decided the best course of action was to scream like a crazy bastard and hope for the best. The theory behind it was that the other priests were a bit nervous, slightly wobbly on the slope. So, with all my might, I howled at them, calling them every curse word I could think of as if I’d just had a major psychotic break. I thrashed and bellowed and cut myself up real good on the thorns. My sparks played along, really blazing and spitting like the hungry animals they were.

  The buzz of magic faltered and a beast priest lost his footing.

  “Fool!” Brother Bennett yelled.

  The beast crashed into me, screaming bloody murder. It was a sweet song as I grabbed the piece of shit’s head. That was all it took to deliver my killing touch.

  I was whisked off to the beast priest’s inner sanctum—the place of fog where its essence lived. But this was a good moment to take a pause. If I went straight for the diamond-shaped golden light that was his essence, I’d return to the real world right where I left off.

  Crap.

  I was in a bit of a situation …

  I see I need to come and help you, Hercules said in my head. He could do that as we were linked—me, him and the goddess Hecate being a new little trinity of communication.

  I don’t need your help, I snapped back.

  Cleary you do, Jacob. I can hold them off, but you have to run as soon as you’re back.

  Shit.

  It is, yes, but we can’t have you dead. I told you you’re a risk. Always crashing into sticky situations.

  If you’d have left my shield alone then I’d have been fine.

  Would you?

  Herc was still the white eye guy to me—murderer and highly annoying tosspot! Yeah!

  I deserve more than a shield, Jacob. Anyway, shut up now! I’m approaching the slope. You want to get away, get ready to destroy the beast essence.

  He wanted his fallen lover—Calix. He’d been killed back when Herc had been a weapon of the goddess like me, taking down the Titans in Ancient Greece. His grief had broken him completely. I needed to live so I could find out more about what the hell was going on. He wanted to help me and be reunited with his love. Why hadn’t th
ey been? What had happened to stop them being together? Hecate had said he’d refused her. What did that mean? He was helping me to get what he wanted—a reward for lending a hand to my cause.

  I made for the beast essence.

  Though he no longer wore the face of the white eye guy, Hercules had been the one who’d driven the knife into Michael’s heart. He was still gonna die by my hand. That would never change. He had to die to make the missing piece fit once and for all.

  Why did there have to be so many shades of gray, though?

  The diamond light spun in a frenzy at my approach, nowhere to go.

  Now, Jacob!

  I destroyed the beast essence and went back to the forest.

  Chapter Two

  I was back in the thorns as the priests went flying off to the side of the slope. The white eye … Herc’s power was good for clearing things out of the way.

  “Up you get, Jacob!”

  My dark-haired, olive-skinned hero pulled me out of the thorns, plopping me back on my feet. I took off in an instant, following an incredibly relieved Luke deeper into the forest. His messy blond hair was a beacon in the dark, boosted by the glow that came with being a ghost … apparently.

  “Weapon!” Brother Bennett roared from behind.

  “Keep those legs pumping!” Hercules ordered.

  “Worry about your own friggin’ legs!”

  “Is that your way of saying thank you?”

  I hopped over a tree root. “Piss off!”

  “You’re welcome.”

  What was his bloody problem? We were in the middle of a getaway and all he cared about was gleaning thanks from the one bloke in the whole universe that wanted him dead?

  Luke paused up ahead, pointing down to his right. The forest path branched out three ways. Luke took off down the one he was pointing at. It slopped downward into a denser gathering of trees, the light really getting swallowed up by shadows. All I had was Luke and my hands to give me an idea of where not to step. It was a flippin’ challenging jog through the woods.

  I hated jogging.

  “How many times have I saved your life now, brother?” Herc came up beside me.

  “I’m not your brother. And this path wasn’t made to be shared.”

  “Careful of that.”

  I spotted a hole just before my foot could take a dip into the void. A hop, a skip and another hop over a particularly twisty tree root, and I was safe.

  Thanks to the white—

  Hercules.

  Fuck!

  “Thanks,” I mumbled.

  He got ahead of me but didn’t turn to face me. Thank God! “What was that?” he asked.

  “Don’t start that shit with me.”

  “I just enjoy hearing gratitude.”

  “Didn’t you say you were off to go and help take down Lilisian? Go do that.” And get yourself on the end of something sharp while you’re at it.

  Wouldn’t that take away the fun of you killing me, Jacob?

  Crap! He could hear me!

  Yes, I can.

  Escape, the goddess cut in.

  That’s what we’re doing, Hercules snapped back in reply.

  “She wants you to shut your bloody mouth!” I responded aloud.

  He didn’t say anything. Peace at last!

  “Here!” Luke was pointing at a spot in the dark.

  Upon closer inspection, it was a thicket we’d have to crawl through.

  “There is a cave on the other side. Bit of a squeeze, but you will fit.”

  Luke vanished.

  “Let’s do this,” I said.

  I got on my belly and crawled through the dense bushes, my face getting a dose of sharp twigs. Hercules was right behind me.

  The cave entrance on the other side was definitely small, but it wasn’t impossible to get into. It required more crawling and a deep breath as I wriggled through the rock. My red jumper got a battering, scraped away to expose my skin to the roughness I maneuvered through.

  Nice.

  A minute later, the pressure of the cave entrance that felt like it wanted to make me a permanent filling to a rocky sandwich was gone, and I could be vertical again.

  My back was grazed and stinging, my glowing hands too. I didn’t care.

  Luke was in the small, damp chamber I found myself in. My sparks revealed the rocky walls that looked like they were closing in, the ceiling that was almost grazing the top of my head. Those sparks of mine wouldn’t go out in this realm. It was pure beast after all, so they’d sparkle away, waiting for one of the realm’s residents to get close enough for me to kill.

  “If I could, I’d hug you right now,” I said to my friend.

  He grinned. “I have missed you.”

  “Where are we?” Hercules cut in.

  “A secret place. They will not find you here. And there is a secret way out too.”

  “Couldn’t we have gone to that part and come in, rather than crawl through that?”

  “No. You cannot climb the waterfall.”

  “I see.”

  “Yeah, so stop moaning,” I retorted.

  My healing magic brought a temporary green light to the cave.

  “Some of us aren’t so lucky,” Herc said.

  I caught his green-tinged features—all contorted in a scowl. “You stole the wrong power.”

  “We’ll see.”

  “Don’t try and be ominous. Makes you sound like even more of a knob head.”

  “We should move on to the next chamber,” Luke said. “There you can light a fire. I hope my kindling is still there.”

  “You used to hide here?” I asked.

  “Yes, when they were hunting me to try and free the shadow twins.”

  I shuddered at the memory of those wankers. “Blimey. I guess being a cat was better for getting through the gap.”

  “Yes, Jake.”

  He doesn’t hate you, Herc said.

  What?

  For killing him.

  It was an accident. You know that!

  Herc didn’t add anything else to that.

  Stupid prick.

  “Come on,” Luke said. “Follow me.”

  He led us through another tight squeeze, upright this time without the face-scraping, to a larger, airier chamber. I could hear water in the distance.

  “Here.” His glow revealed a ready-built bonfire, loaded with dry wood. “There are some matches here.”

  “You have matches?” I asked.

  “Of course.” His response was along the lines of ‘Don’t ask stupid questions.’ It made me smile. “As well as some fuel.”

  “Awesome. Nice to see you’re fully prepared.”

  “I had to be.” Luke waved a spectral hand over the wood until the tiny box was revealed by his ghostly light, as well as a small case of BBQ lighter fluid.

  “I’ll do this,” Herc said, scooping up the tools.

  “Fine.” It meant he was doing something other than talking to me.

  “There is plenty of ventilation,” Luke added. “Do not fear.”

  “Good to know,” I replied.

  Now things had calmed down a bit, everything was catching up with me. The white eye guy actually being Hercules thing, the quick death of Claec, the fact that I was trapped in the beast realm, Karla’s betrayal and death, Dean enslaved by Lilisian … the fact that she was pregnant. Well, Rachel’s (also known as DI Williams) body was pregnant but without the soul of Dean’s one-time fling in there. Still, it was his child growing inside of our enemy, and she was using it to control him. Or at least, that was the theory. Magic was a scary thing.

  And then there was this silent beast guy. He had all the answers we needed, I just knew it. Hecate knew it but couldn’t quite fit the pieces together. We had to figure out a way for him to communicate with us, seeing as he was being blocked from doing so by some curse.

  Magic and its scariness again!

  Greg and Nay were twanging on the SOS bonds, but it was still a distant thing. I was as
out of reach as they were. At least they were still there … alive.

  I had to get back.

  The sound of Herc striking a match echoed in the cave.

  Along with everything else my brain was dealing with, here was Luke. He’d died … by my hand. Because of a fucking crazy potion that drove him wild. He shouldn’t be dead. He was one of the good guys. It wasn’t fair.

  “I’ve missed you, Luke.”

  Even though our friendship had been pretty brief, his death had really stung.

  “And I have missed you, Jake.”

  “I-I’m sorry. I—”

  He raised a ghostly hand. “I will not hear it. That was not your fault. I was honored to have helped you, and to have brought justice for my dear Lucy.”

  I’ll never forget seeing the body of his murdered love with her lungs ripped out. “You’re not with her?”

  “Not yet.”

  I sat down as the fire caught. Herc gently blew on it to help it along. “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “My destiny is not fulfilled, Jake. I still have purpose here.”

  “Like helping me?”

  “Us,” Herc chimed in.

  You’re not part of this.

  I am, Jacob. Stop being an ungrateful brat. I’m helping you bring down that bitch and save the world. Then Hecate can give me Calix, and we’ll live our lives again.

  Wait … live? You want him to be resurrected? What the hell?

  Yes, Jacob. That’s my goal.

  Calix has passed over, Hecate said.

  Obviously. You’ll have to fix that.

  He is passed—

  Figure it out!

  You’re a dick, I added.

  A dick who is lending a kindly hand to you in a really sticky situation.

  Yeah, until Hecate doesn’t give you what you want—then you’ll be the next problem. There’ll be no friggin’ kindly hand then!