Uncanny Kingdom: An Eleven Book Urban Fantasy Collection (Uncanny Kingdom Omnibus 1)

by David Bussell

  There was a flash of purple as Lorna turned and stood, her cloak whirling past my eyes and its hood falling down to give me my first clear glimpse of her.

  It wasn’t pretty.

  She was in full beast mode.

  Her eyes were unbroken pools of black, her face a stretched, razor-tooth-filled gargoyle scream. Before I knew what was happening, she’d swept the back of one elongated, clawed hand across my face and I was airborne, a wall breaking my flight painfully.

  There was no time to check for broken bones or open wounds. I hopped up onto my feet instantly, my fists boiling with magic, and found Lorna stalking towards David, who happened to still be blocking the only exit.

  ‘Halt in…. the name of the law?’ said David.

  He wasn’t going to just get out of the way, the stubborn, brave idiot, which meant unless I did something fast he was going to end up face down in a puddle of his own brains.

  So I did something fast.

  I clapped my hands together then pulled, creating a long, magical whip of crackling, bright orange energy, which I swung, striking Lorna across the back.

  CRACK.

  She hissed and twisted back to me, fury in her ink-black eyes.

  ‘Where do you think you’re going, succubus? I haven’t even started with you yet.’

  All thoughts of escaping by way of a dead David had now clearly deserted Lorna. All she wanted now was to do some very bad and potentially very fatal things to me.

  I struck out with the whip again, hitting her across the face, opening a livid cut across one cheek. She screeched and sprang towards me, claws out, ready to sink them into my chest. I dove left, rolled once, then hopped back to my feet, lashing out with the whip again, only this time she was wise to it and caught it before it struck home.

  ‘Oh shit,’ I said, and really, really meant it.

  Lorna yanked on the whip, sending me flying towards her. I landed in a pile at her feet, the whip no longer in my hand, the world tilting as my brain jarred on impact. I looked up to see Lorna above me with murder in her eyes. As she loomed over me, face twisted with fury, claw raised and ready to strike, I pictured my dead witches and wondered if I’d be seeing them again sooner than planned.

  That’s when the metal bin bounced off her head and sent Lorna sprawling to the ground.

  ‘Well,’ said David. ‘Get the up and twat the cow!’

  He didn’t have to tell me twice.

  I leapt to my feet, soaking up the magic in the air like I was breathing in smoke, my fists throbbing with energy.

  ‘My turn,’ I said, and punched my fist forward with a scream, unleashing a wave of energy that caught the still-downed Lorna flush and smashed her back against the wall.

  I didn’t wait for her to gather her senses.

  I punched forward again, and again, one fist after the other, the magic surging into me and then exploding out, crashing into Lorna like breaking waves. Taking on a junior member of the family had been a lucky break – she still had enough strength to rip me to shreds given the chance, but if this had been Anya, the chances of me walking out of this alley would have been next to zero.

  ‘Lorna,’ I said, unleashing another wave of energy, trying to keep her from gaining her footing and fighting back. ‘You know why I’m doing this. You’ve stepped outside of the pact.’

  I looked at her as she squirmed, still in full beast mode, and wondered what could have—

  —I blinked, the world swimming back into sharpness, to find myself on my back and looking up at the sky. What the hell?

  ‘Hello, Stella.’

  ‘Hello there, Stella.’

  I sat up to find Jack and Jake, The Den’s doormen, stood before me with David in their clutches. We were in the courtyard still, but there was no sign of Lorna.

  ‘Hey, Stella,’ said David, ‘Jack here told me to tell you that if you try anything funny he’ll… what was it?’

  ‘Snap your neck like a twig.’

  ‘That’s it. That thing he just said. About my neck.’

  ‘And stomp your skull into a bloody paste,’ said Jake.

  ‘Oh, yeah,’ said David, ‘that too. Forgot about that.’

  I stood, my fists clenched, ready to fight.

  ‘Which one of you fuckers knocked me out?’

  Jack raised a hand. ‘It was this fist here.’

  ‘That one there,’ agreed Jake.

  ‘One punch.’

  ‘Back of the head.’

  ‘And down she went.’

  I looked around, but she’d definitely gone. Lorna had escaped.

  ‘If you’re looking for Lorna, we couldn’t let you carry on with that nonsense.’

  ‘Not with that nonsense, I mean, you were being very rude.’

  ‘Rude is the word for it.’

  I’d had enough.

  ‘David?’

  ‘Yup?’

  ‘Sorry.’

  ‘About?’

  I swept my hand across him and he lurched out of Jake’s grip, sprawling on the ground a few feet away.

  ‘Like that is it?’ said Jake.

  ‘Oh, like that, then?’ said Jack. ‘Oh goodie.’

  I threw a fist forward, then another, striking both in the chest with a ball of crackling power. The bouncers flinched and slid back, like rhinos nudged by a couple of shopping carts. They didn’t go down.

  They looked at each other and smiled, then back to me.

  Christ, I hated fighting this pair.

  They charged towards me as one.

  I punched out more and more magic, but they were quick on their feet for their size, ducking and weaving as they approached, causing me to leap and roll to avoid their massive bodies crushing me against the wall.

  ‘David, away,’ I ordered.

  ‘I’m not leaving you to these lumps,’ he replied. ‘Christ, why am I so noble?’

  ‘Stella, stay still so we can hurt you,’ said Jake.

  ‘Yeah, stay still, Stella, we only want to hurt you,’ agreed Jack.

  I soaked the magic into me, willing as much of it inside of me as I could. So much that I could see a dim aura glowing from me.

  ‘Come on then,’ I said, and began to charge.

  Jack and Jake smiled and came to meet me. At speed.

  There was a collision. There was a release of magic. There was a lot of pain. And then I was on the ground again, struggling to right myself as Jack and Jake, breathing heavily, helped each other to their feet.

  One hand against the brick wall for support, I wrenched my complaining body back up, my head throbbing from the impact, vision swimming.

  ‘Had enough yet?’ I asked, my voice wavering.

  ‘Enough?’ said Jack.

  ‘We can do this all day,’ said Jake.

  ‘Ha, all bloody day!’

  They hunched their shoulders and turned to face me, ready to charge again.

  I pulled the magic into me, my legs still threatening to drop me back to the ground.

  ‘Enough,’ said a voice I recognised. Smooth, commanding, and above all, seductive.

  Jack and Jake relaxed and stepped aside as Anya, head of the succubus family of London, slinked into view.

  12

  Anya’s hands caressed the chests of her two doormen, tracing the scorch marks on their starched white shirts.

  ‘Has she been playing rough?’ she asked.

  ‘Very rough,’ replied Jake.

  ‘But we don’t mind that, boss,’ said Jack.

  ‘Oh no, don’t mind that.’

  ‘We like it rough.’

  Anya smiled and licked her lips as she turned and looked at me. ‘Go and wait for me by the car, would you, boys?’

  Jack and Jake nodded, gave me a cheery wave, then lumbered away.

  ‘Well, isn’t this an awful mess?’ she purred.

  ‘You lied to us,’ I said.

  Anya pulled a mock-hurt face and shook her head. ‘No. I did not.’

  ‘She’s the killer, i
sn’t she, Anya? Lorna, your sister, she’s gone feral, broken ranks, and you’re here to try and pull her back. Am I wrong?’

  She turned towards David, who had his back pressed against the wall, trying to be invisible. ‘Detective Tyler, what a delight to see you again so soon.’

  ‘Oh, hey there.’

  ‘When will you come back to my club, alone?’ she asked. ‘I see such… fun in you.’

  ‘Pfft, I have such a busy slate at the moment. Otherwise… well, I still wouldn’t come as you and that place terrify me. A lot. A lot of terrified.’

  ‘Anya, I represent the London Coven, and you will answer my questions now. Truthfully.’

  She turned to me, her mouth twitching momentarily into a grimace. ‘Oh, will I now? Are you really the coven, or just all that’s left? A remnant clinging onto something that’s already dead?’

  I can’t pretend that didn’t sting. That it didn’t ring a little bell in my head. Eva popped into my mind’s eye briefly. Eva, who was just like me, but had given up her purpose after her coven’s destruction. Did she have the right idea after all? Maybe I was holding onto something that was over. I wasn’t a witch. What right did I have to try to act as though I were?

  ‘As things stand, I am the coven, Anya. And that means I can’t just stand aside. I can’t let people in this city die at the hands of the Uncanny, no matter which family that Uncanny might belong to. You know that.’

  Anya stared at me a little too long, and I felt a chill caress my skin. I wondered what would happen next. If she’d turn feral and leap at me, sink her teeth into me, gouge my heart open with one claw.

  But instead she smiled.

  ‘Yes. I know that. And again, I did not lie.’

  ‘The murderer, it’s Lorna.’

  Anya bowed her head once.

  ‘So you’re telling me you didn’t know?’

  ‘That is what I am telling you.’

  ‘The powerful Anya of The Den, head of the succubus family of London, didn’t know when one of her own was breaking the agreement and indulging in a murder spree?’

  ‘I won’t tell you again, Stella,’ she replied.

  I shifted, hands clenched, I didn’t like the way Anya spoke to me. L’Merrier was one thing, but Anya got under my skin.

  ‘Where is she then? Where’s Lorna?’

  ‘We will find her,’ said Anya.

  ‘Sorry,’ said David. ‘Does that mean you let her escape? You let the murderer get away?’

  Anya turned her head in his direction, her eyes suddenly black, causing David to hop back in not the most manly of fashions.

  ‘No offence, just trying to get the facts down. It’s the copper in me.’

  ‘Why did you have your pair of idiot doormen stop me if you were just going to let her run away?’

  Anya turned her attention back to me, the black in her eyes fading. ‘Because she is my sister. My family. She is mine to deal with. She is not yours to bat around or judge, familiar. Is that clear?’

  ‘No,’ I said, trying to sound braver than I felt.

  ‘No?’ she replied, arching an eyebrow. ‘One of these days your bravery is going to be your undoing.’

  ‘Anya, I can’t just allow Lorna to carry on killing and wait for you to clean up the mess.’

  ‘Is that so?’

  ‘Yes, and you know it is. I couldn’t just step aside even if I wanted to. It’s my job to take out whatever’s threatening this city.’

  ‘You know, Stella, I really must question that fiercely stated manifesto, considering your current company.’

  She turned to face David again.

  ‘Tell me, Detective, how are you feeling?’

  David looked past her to me, a little confused, ‘I’m good. Well, pretty good. Good with a side of fear, which is pretty much my default setting these days.’

  ‘You’re different than you were the first time we met.’

  ‘Anya—’

  ‘I am? I parted my hair differently this morning, but—’

  Anya turned back to me, a humourless smile on her face. ‘A little hypocritical, familiar.’

  She turned and strode towards the street. ‘Lorna is my family, I will deal with her.’

  ‘Not if I find her first, Anya.’

  She paused briefly. ‘Get in my way, and it will not end well, regardless of your affiliation.’

  As she left, David crouched to catch his breath. ‘You know, she is really very stressful to be around.’

  Anya knew about David. About what was happening to him. L’Merrier was right, the news was spreading. How long before someone decided to try and do something about it?

  13

  I placed a pint on the table in front of David and dropped onto a stool opposite. We’d retreated to The Beehive to lick our wounds and consider our next move.

  ‘Cheers,’ said David, raising his glass and gulping down a few mouthfuls.

  I now knew two things for sure. Firstly, the killer was indeed a succubus from Anya’s family gone rogue, and secondly, people were starting to find out about whatever it was that was happening to David.

  ‘I’m not going to lie, Stella,’ said David, ‘I really hope Anya finds that black sheep of hers before we do, because those succubi are not my favourite Uncanny peeps.’

  I smiled and took a drink. I can’t say I disagreed with him. If Anya managed to get to Lorna first and pull her back into the fold before she committed any more murders, that would be fine with me. You could argue she should have to face some sort of justice for the murders she’d committed, but unless the family agreed, it would mean going to war. Justice couldn’t always mean punishment, not in this Uncanny world. It would be up to them how she was reprimanded. Stopping her would more than likely have to be enough. I touched the side of my head and winced a little; a painful reminder of my rumble with Jack and Jake.

  ‘So, what she was saying back there—Anya I mean—about me changing; what was all that about?’

  ‘How should I know?’ I replied, feeling like shit as I avoided his eyes, instead suddenly finding the foam on top of my beer super interesting.

  ‘Seemed like she was circling around something,’ he said, pushing.

  ‘She says a lot of things. It’s what she does. Trying to prick at you, trying to get inside your head. I learned a long time ago to block that crap out.’

  David looked at me curiously, then shrugged. ‘Yeah, she’s a crazy one,’ he said, taking another swig of his beer.

  I didn’t like lying to David, especially when it was about something that might actually hurt him later, but I didn’t see what choice I had at that point. I needed some sort of plan of action before I said, “Hey, so you seem to have turned into some sort of magic black hole, slurping up the juice around you, and at some point there’s a chance you might explode and wipe out the city.” As soon as I could cap it with, “But don’t worry, because this is how I save you,” I was staying quiet. Anything I told him before then was only going to make him worry, and that’s the last thing I wanted.

  I drained my glass and stood, my stool scraping back like nails on a chalk board. ‘Another?’

  David looked up at me, then at his own still three-quarters full glass. ‘I’m good. Thirsty?’

  ‘Thirsty.’

  I made my way over to Lenny, The Beehive’s landlord, and ordered myself a second glass full.

  ‘So,’ began Lenny, then stopped.

  He was never much for small talk.

  ‘So what?’

  ‘Your friend. The not-so-normal normal. People are talking.’

  ‘Let them. He’s under my protection. I’ll deal with it.’

  He slid the full glass across the bar. ‘Sure. But maybe you should stay out of view for a while.’

  ‘What are you saying? You want me to leave?’

  ‘People are getting antsy. I see it. I see them coming in and out of here all day. I hear the chatter. Your detective has been coming up a lot lately.’

 
‘Let them talk. If they have anything more to say they can come and see me.’

  ‘All I’m saying is, be prepared.’

  I looked over my shoulder, scanning the room. I saw little groups of people, huddled around tables, speaking in hushed voices, stealing glances at an oblivious David, who smiled and waved at me.

  ‘Put it on my tab,’ I said, and made my way back over to our table.

  ‘You okay there, magic lady? I mean, you scowl a lot, but even for you, that is one full-on, scowly scowl. That is a scowl squared. That is the mommy and daddy of all—’

  I raised a hand to stop him. ‘I’ve got it.’

  I took a sip, and took another quick glance around the room.

  Now that Lenny had pointed it out, I could practically taste the unease in the room. Before, my attention had been so taken with the Lorna problem, and the fact I was lying to David, that I hadn’t noticed. But now I did.

  Surely none of them would dare do anything though? Not with me there? I was Stella Familiar of the London Coven. David was safe with me.

  ‘So, what did old Giles L’Merrier want with you, you never said?’

  ‘Hm? Oh, nothing. Just, you know, to call me a few bad names, tell me what a terrible job I was doing. The usual.’

  Certainly nothing to do with how you need to be put down before you go nuclear and blow up the entire city. Nope.

  ‘If ever there was a guy with a stick up his arse,’ said David, ‘it’s that man. I mean, don’t get me wrong, he rocks that robe like a boss, but he needs to get out once in a while. Mix with us little people.’

  I smiled, and then the world seemed to hold its breath around me, time slowing to a crawl. I tried to search my memory to find something that told me I was wrong, that I’d just forgotten, but I couldn’t find anything. Because I wasn’t wrong.

  ‘David.’

  ‘Hm?’

  ‘How did you know I went to see Giles L’Merrier?’

  ‘You told me.’

  ‘No, I don’t remember telling you anything about that.’

  David looked at me, incredulous. ‘Well you must have done, because I know about it, and I’m pretty sure Giles didn’t fill me in. We’re not exactly best buds.’