I stepped into the first room; it was empty but there were signs of a struggle. ‘Kala?’ Chairs on their sides, broken glass on wooden floorboards. The coven smelt the same despite the lack of magic; that weird mix of cinnamon, freshly cut grass, and lavender that seemed to permanently drift around the place, no matter which potion was cooked up or meal was prepared. The smell of my master’s witchcraft. I turned back and stepped into the hallway again.
‘Intruder, my name is Stella Familiar and you will show yourself or I… or I will…’
I pressed a palm against the wall to steady myself and swallowed, throat dry. The emptiness was getting to me, giving me the shakes. All magical beings are connected to the power that radiates from all things. They feed a little on the magic that naturally occurs, and I was no different. I soaked it in, night and day, without even thinking about it. It sustained me, made me stronger, gave me the energy to cast spells, and, for want of a better word, gave me a ‘buzz’. But now, in this place, in this empty coven, I was like a junkie who’d suddenly gone cold turkey after a lifetime of indulgence.
And it hurt.
It was actually disturbing to me how quickly I was affected. A minute had passed, tops, and I was a shaking, sweaty wreck.
I grunted, straightened up, and tried to get my shit together.
‘Intruder, my name is Stella Familiar and you will damn well show yourself to me for punishment!’ The words roared out of my mouth with a strength I really didn’t feel.
There was no reply.
I placed a hand on the door to the main coven room and pushed.
I tasted death before I saw it.
That coppery tang on the tongue that twisted my stomach and told me exactly what I was going to see before my eyes had chance to catch up.
There were three bodies on the floor inside. Three bodies, but more than three pieces. Kala, Trin, Feal, my masters, my coven’s high witches, had been torn to pieces and scattered around the room.
Eyes wide, hand to my mouth, I stepped inside.
‘No…’
The world had gone mad.
This couldn’t be happening.
Nothing was capable of doing this to the witches of the London Coven. Together, the three of them wielded enough power to crack open mountains, and yet my shoes were now soaking in a pool of their collective blood.
I crouched and placed a hand on a hunk of meat that could have once belonged to any one of my masters. It, like the coven itself, was empty. Not just of life, but of magic. Of power. Something had broken into a place it was impossible to break into, survived the magical protections it was impossible to survive, and torn to…
…and murdered my masters. Murdered creatures of immeasurable power. And then, to finish things off, they’d drained every last drop of magic from the place.
It was impossible on top of impossible on top of impossible and it made me tremble.
I stood, angry. Angry that I’d allowed fear to infect me. I cradled that anger and blew upon it, igniting it like the first spark of a new fire. It didn’t matter that this was impossible, it had happened. It didn’t matter that the kind of power needed to have even achieved one of the impossible things done to this coven would be enough to turn me into a puddle of bubbling goo.
None of it mattered.
All that mattered was that the coven was breached and my creators had been murdered as though they were nothing. As though they were less than nothing. They’d been ripped and shredded and tossed aside. My nails dug into my palms and drew blood, but I didn’t flinch. It felt good.
I was going to find out who was behind this and do something impossible myself.
I was going to get bloody, horrifying revenge.
I was nothing but a lowly Familiar, but I swore on every spell I knew that I was going to avenge my slaughtered coven.
‘Listen to me. Listen closely. You’ve made a terrible mistake. You’ve made a terrible mistake and you don’t even realise it. My name is Stella Familiar, and what’s happened here today will be met with fury like you could never even imagine. Do you hear me? I know you can. Whoever did this, I will find you, and when I do, I will rip your heart from your chest!’
A noise—
A movement in the corner of my eye—
I whirled and caught sight of something my mind couldn’t quite pin down.
I wasn’t alone.
And I was in terrible danger.
2
Whatever the creature was, it was taking its time. I had the distinct impression it was trying to scare me.
It was working.
Normally in this sort of situation, with an unknown beast stalking me, ready to leap and tear my throat out at any moment, I’d draw on the surrounding magic and cast a spell that would turn the thing into confetti. Sling a spell first, ask questions later, that was my usual way of dealing with threats. But there was no surrounding magic. I extended my senses as far as I could, invisible tendrils firing out in all directions, desperately searching for a hint of the strange to draw upon, but everything was cold.
This was a dead place.
The creature unleashed a low, rumbling growl that shook the floor beneath me. I was in deep trouble. I tried to ignore the blood, the chunks of my dead masters, and I reached out again to try and make sense of what I was up against.
A voice—
A single word, repeated staccato—
Kill-Kill-Kill—
The words rolled in my head as I came upon the thing stalking me. It was a slippery creature, hard to get a clear grip on, but it was obvious it wasn’t the person behind this attack. It was a booby trap.
Okay. It was time to take stock.
I had no magic to draw on, only the weak power I already had stored inside of me, and even that was dulled by my surroundings, as though my magic was shrinking back in confusion at the emptiness around me. Did the creature keeping just out of sight know that? Did it realise I was running almost on empty? That I’d be bringing a slap to a gunfight?
No, I didn’t think so. It was just toying with me; that’s the only reason it hadn’t already pounced. It wanted to make me scared to death, before death actually came calling.
‘Whatever you are, this is already getting boring. Just show yourself, but beware: I have enough juice in me to make your head go pop. Understand?’
A bluff, but I sold it as best I could. From what I could sense, it was a simple attack beast, left to take care of anyone who stumbled into the dead coven. To take care of me. It was the monkey, not the organ grinder.
‘Do you hear me, you dumb creature? Show yourself or get the hell out of my house!’
A growl and the floor shook—
A wall in front of me exploded—
A creature erupted into the room, busting through plaster and brick as though it were matchsticks and spit. The thing looked a hell of a lot like the dog-monster Rick Moranis turns into in Ghostbusters; horned, eyes burning with red fire, a mess of sharp teeth.
It raised its great head, drool dripping from its mouth and splashing onto the floor, mixing with my masters’ spilled blood. I had to choose my next words carefully.
‘There, there,’ I said. ‘Good dog…?’
Yes. Not ideal.
A thought struck: This monster was created by magic, which meant it must have magic available for me to feed on. I ignored the fact that I should have already been able to sense any magic in my vicinity and tried to reach out to it, to draw in some of its power, but whoever had created this thing was no idiot. Some sort of extra spell had been cast upon the beast that made my mental feelers slide off it every time I reached out, like I was trying to push two magnets of the same pole together. So that was why I hadn’t been able to sense its presence, or its magic. The thing was shielded from me. Whoever had ripped apart my witches and left this booby trap didn’t plan on making things easy.
The thing took a step forward, a floorboard cracking beneath its heavy, cloven foot.
‘Stop! Stay there! Don�
��t take another step or you’re for it!’
I raised a hand by way of a threat, a weak cloud of sparks swimming around it, as though at any moment I was about to cast a furious spell upon the damn thing.
‘You will tell me your name, and the name of your master, or I will—’
—I didn’t get to finish the sentence. The creature snorted and began to charge, drool trailing from its mouth.
I flung the weak defence spell I’d conjured in the creature’s direction as I turned and bolted from the room. I didn’t bother to check for damage, I knew the energy I’d unleashed would have affected the beast about as much as running through a cobweb.
A second more and the thing was going to be on me; I stopped sharply and threw myself through the open door to my left and into another room, the monster tumbling past and away, unable to suddenly halt its momentum.
I landed on the floor, shoulder jarring, but I didn’t have time to notice the pain. I rolled onto my knee and turned to the open doorway; I could hear the thing scrabbling to stop and turn. I didn’t have time to run back out the door and head in the other direction, which left me only one option: the window.
I had to get out of the coven and out of the blind alley; that was my only hope. Either the thing wouldn’t follow me, had been conjured only to stay within the confines of the coven, and I would be safe, or it would follow. If it followed, then my one shot was to make it out of the blind alley and into the street with enough time before it caught up to pull what magic I could from the surroundings to do… whatever I could. I’d have at best seconds to power up. I already knew that wouldn’t be long enough for me to gain enough energy to destroy the thing, but I was out of options.
The corridor’s floorboards began to crunch as the beast headed back to the doorway. Its giant, snarling head came into view and its burning, hellish eyes looked at me. Looked at me with hunger, desperate to taste my flesh.
Okay.
It was now or never.
This was going to hurt.
‘Here, doggy,’ I said, then used the last of my power to throw a chair directly at the thing’s face, hoping to slow it down for even half a second, as I turned, raised my arms up over my head, and threw myself through the window.
3
Shards of glass swarmed me like angry bees as I burst from the coven and fell hard onto the cobbles outside. I heard the beast, its roar barely muffled behind me.
‘Get up!’ I yelled, and pushed myself to my feet, hands criss-crossed with livid red cuts from the shattered window.
I’d made it outside, now I just had to make it another twenty metres to the end of the blind alley, to the streets beyond with their wash of background magic that I could pull on. I could do it.
Maybe I could.
Had to do it.
I took a step and my knee almost buckled beneath me. The adrenalin was pumping so hard that I hadn’t realised how hard I came down during my escape. I staggered, but managed to keep just about upright, even if I did step more sideways than forward.
‘Come on, you can do it—’ I gritted my teeth and kept moving. I had to make it to the street before the animal took me down. Had to. Had to!
‘Well, look at you.’
The new voice seemed to come at me from all angles and I span around looking for a source, even as I tried to keep moving toward the street.
‘Such willpower. Such determination. I find myself admiring you.’
‘Show yourself!’ I yelled, though I really hoped they would ignore the request. I was as weak and empty as I’d ever been. A kitten could have taken me down at this point.
‘Keep going, Stella. Don’t make it easy for me. I want you to struggle and hope and strive, it makes the inevitable all the sweeter.’
The voice speaking seemed to change from word to word, making it impossible to pin down. Impossible to try and work out who it might be. I knew every sorcerer, every member of the Uncanny that passed through London; if I heard their true voice, I’d know who it was in an instant. Another trick; more powerful magic used to evade and disorientate.
‘Why’ve you done this to my coven? Answer me!’
‘No,’ said the voice. ‘But you should know… they screamed for mercy, Stella.’
‘Shut up.’
‘Oh, they begged me for it. Even as I tore strips of flesh from their bones with my teeth. They tasted… weak.’
I stopped in my pursuit of the street, rage clouding my senses. ‘I’ll find you! Whoever you are, I will find you and I will kill you! I promise you!’
Mocking laughter swirled around me, only to be replaced by the crashing of the coven wall as the beast leapt through and into the blind alley.
Bashed-up knee forgotten, I turned and ran, the creature howling and giving chase.
I wasn’t going to make it.
I could feel the ground shake beneath me as the animal grew closer with each bound, felt its hot breath begin to beat against the back of my neck. Five metres to go until the end of the blind alley, until the street and its magic welcomed me.
It would be about four metres too far.
Out of options once more, I screamed and threw myself to the side, hurtling into the wall, lucky not to bash my brains in against it. The beast roared in surprise and tried to stop, stumbling over itself and rolling out of the alley, screaming in fury at having been so close only to be foiled once again. The creature was vicious and strong, but it wasn’t smart.
I pushed myself back up and ran for the street. I almost smiled as I stepped out of the blind alley and the dead veil, the absence of magic, was pulled away from me. I inhaled a great gulp of the natural background power of the place as shoppers screamed and sprinted from the insanity that had just intruded onto their day, browsing the Hammersmith high street shops. My every nerve ending tingled as the magic, weak as it was, washed over me and soothed my jangled nerves.
So sudden was the rush that I closed my eyes, a beatific smile upon my face, and I almost forgot about the giant devil dog that was about to feast on my guts. My eyes opened again and I took up an attack pose, legs spread, arms up and outstretched, ready to unleash whatever spell came to me in the moment.
I didn’t have time to consider my attack.
The animal was already up and just metres away from me, teeth bared, the fire in its eye sockets roaring with fury. As it leapt toward me I felt myself shake in terror. I always thought, when death came for me, that I’d be able to face it boldly, but here I was, shaking like a child. Shaking and unable to form a clear thought as six or seven half-formed invocations crashed through my mind and the certainty of death seized my heart.
I closed my eyes and braced myself for the end.
4
After eight or nine seconds, I’d begun to wonder why death was taking so long.
I opened my eyes to find myself looking up not into the furious, twitching face of a monster hell-bent on tearing my skin off, but instead into the face of a man. He looked to be in his mid-thirties, and was wearing an expression of complete surprise.
‘Hello,’ I said.
‘How did…’ he started. ‘I… I mean, where did…?’
Somehow, I’d jumped from standing in the street, about to be chewed upon like the favourite squeaky toy of the Godzilla of dogs, to being laid out on my back in some strange man’s kitchen. It was odd, but preferable to the alternative.
The man jerked back as I sat up sharply and took in my surroundings.
‘Have you seen a big monster dog thing that wants to eat me?’
‘I… what?’
I pushed myself up onto my feet and darted for the kitchen window, trying to see if the thing had been able to follow me.
‘A monster! Have you seen a monster?’
‘Of course I haven’t seen a monster!’
‘Good. It was about to kill me and is probably, currently, very, very angry that it’s not crunching my bones between its teeth. A thing like that doesn’t like its target to escape.’<
br />
‘Doesn’t it?’
‘Well of course it doesn’t, it’s the whole reason they’re created. Think it through… um…’ I gestured with one hand, ‘Name?’
‘What?’
‘Your name, what’s your name?’
‘David.’
‘Oh, I knew a David once.’
‘Most people do.’
‘He was eaten by a bear. Well, a powerful sorcerer pretending to be a bear. Well, a demon, pretending to be a powerful sorcerer, pretending to be a bear.’
‘Right. Of course. We all know people like that.’
I was babbling, I was aware of that, my brain sprinting.
I turned from the window, satisfied the devil dog wasn’t about to leap through the wall at me. My heart was still flying a hundred miles an hour in my chest, and I realised I’d been saying things to a normal I’d usually have kept under wraps. But then, this wasn’t a normal sort of a day. Someone had murdered the witches of London.
‘So are you going to, I don’t know, tell me what you’re doing in my house or—’
I raised a finger and pressed it to his lips: ‘Shh, David.’ Closing my eyes, I extended my senses out as far as they would go, searching for any hint of trouble. Any sign that I’d been followed. There was nothing; all I felt was the normal background magic of the place. I was safe. Well, safe for now.
‘Good, seems like I shook the thing off somehow. Not sure how though; all the half-formed spells rushing through my mind must have somehow combined, formed something altogether different, and snatched me away from danger, dropping me, well, here. Where is here, by the way?’
‘Can I talk now?’ said David, lips smushed by my finger still. I pulled it away.
‘Go ahead.’
‘Thank you. My name is Detective David Tyler, and you just broke into my kitchen. Not the smartest of smart moves. Because of the detective thing I just mentioned. I’m a detective. You… well, you’re in trouble.’
My first thought was to raise my hand, conjure up something horrible, and toss it in Detective David Tyler’s direction. Then I realised that was a bit rude, especially considering I had appeared from nowhere in the centre of his kitchen. On top of that, with danger passed for now, it suddenly hit me how weak I was. The fight, the strange lack of magic in the alley and the coven, the death of my witches… my masters… it was all too much. It was crushing me.
Uncanny Kingdom: An Eleven Book Urban Fantasy Collection (Uncanny Kingdom Omnibus 1) Page 5
