by LJ Ross
The shrine was hidden deep underground, and was accessible via a single door to which only they had the key. It was a private sanctum, not a thoroughfare for the hoi polloi; a place where they could regenerate, and be reborn each morning.
It was a trove of family heirlooms, each painstakingly recovered from their place of captivity, no longer to be gawped at by an ignorant rabble. Their treasures shone in the candlelight, not beneath the garish light of an electric bulb. This was a world of reverence and contemplation, of power and the powerful.
It was a place unlike any other, because it was intended for no other.
It had taken years to build, and still more to maintain—such was the cycle of their immortality. To have the blood was not enough; they must also be imbued with the power, and the knowledge of what it could bring.
Cuthbert’s descendant knew what it meant to remain humble.
It did no good to fly too close to the sun, like poor Icarus; they must remain worthy of all that they had been granted.
Sometimes, a sacrifice was needed.
They crawled inside the cell, an exact replica of the one Cuthbert had built on Inner Farne, and pressed a concealed button. Immediately, sounds of deafening waves and rushing wind mingled with birds of prey, and they closed their eyes, waiting for the voice to speak again.
EPILOGUE
Elsie Kaye spent a lot of her time watching people.
They came to visit their family and friends, or they bustled around the hospital tending the sick, and many of them stopped to say ‘hello’ to the foolish old woman with lilac hair.
She knew that’s what they must think of her.
Old and foolish.
What could a woman of her years know about life, and love, after all?
Only that which could be learned from eighty years of living.
She saw their impatience and their awkwardness when she talked for too long. The young didn’t always want to be reminded of the old, though she might have said the feeling was mutual.
While they looked upon her faded skin and bony hands and dreaded what was to come, she looked upon their smooth bodies and strong muscles and was reminded of all that she’d lost.
She still remembered, you see.
Each night, when she slept, she remembered life as it used to be, and each morning when she wakened, she realised that was no longer how it was.
She wasn’t a girl in platform shoes and a polkadot miniskirt, dancing to The Beatles or The Rolling Stones.
Now, the dancing was done mostly in her head.
She wasn’t a newlywed bride, learning how to be a woman with the man she’d loved. The man with the auburn hair and green eyes had left this world, never to return, and all she had left were the memories, and children who hadn’t yet learned that life was fleeting.
A little boy stuck his tongue out as he left the ward, and she stuck hers out too, to make him giggle.
When all else failed, it was best to laugh.
The ward was quiet again, the visitors gone and the old fogies all asleep, after their exertions.
She cast around for an occupation, but she’d read all of her books and had never learned how to knit.
“These came for you, Mrs Kaye!”
Elsie turned to see a young nurse walking towards her, carrying an enormous bouquet of red roses. Not just any roses, either; the big, velvety Grand Prix roses, with the blood-red petals.
“I think you must have made a mistake, love—these can’t be for me.”
Nobody would send these for her.
“They’re definitely for you,” the nurse told her. “Shall I read out the card?”
Elsie ran her fingertips over the soft petals and nodded dumbly.
“It says, ‘For Mrs Kaye, the most glamorous girl on Ward 18. With love from, a Secret Admirer.’ ”
Elsie smiled, and felt much more like her old self.
“They’re from my toyboy,” she said, with a wink.
DCI Ryan will return in Summer 2020…
If you would like to be kept up to date with new releases from LJ Ross, please complete an e-mail contact form on her Facebook page or website, www.ljrossauthor.com
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
LJ Ross is an international bestselling author, best known for creating atmospheric mystery and thriller novels, including the DCI Ryan series of Northumbrian murder mysteries which have sold over four million copies worldwide.
Her debut, Holy Island, was released in January 2015 and reached number one in the UK and Australian charts. Since then, she has released a further nineteen novels, all of which have been top three global bestsellers and fifteen of which have been UK #1 bestsellers. Louise has garnered an army of loyal readers through her storytelling and, thanks to them, several of her books reached the coveted #1 spot whilst only available to pre-order ahead of release.
Louise was born in Northumberland, England. She studied undergraduate and postgraduate Law at King’s College, University of London and then abroad in Paris and Florence. She spent much of her working life in London, where she was a lawyer for a number of years until taking the decision to change career and pursue her dream to write. Now, she writes full time and lives with her husband and son in Northumberland. She enjoys reading all manner of books, travelling and spending time with family and friends.
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If you would like to be kept up to date with new releases from LJ Ross, please complete an e-mail contact form on her Facebook page or website, www.ljrossauthor.com
