THE DESCENDANTS OF THOR TRILOGY
BOOKS 1-3
S. A. Ashdown
PART ONE OF THE DEVILS OF ALFHEIM NOVELLA, FEATURING LORENZO AND MALACHI, YOURS FOR FREE. SELF-CONTAINED SHORT STORY. GET IT HERE: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/7kc7h74ej5
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Contents
Volume 1
EXCERPT
Prologue
I. The Storm’s Curse
1. Rebirth
2. The Red Hawk
3. The Book Of Gatekeepers
4. All Roads Lead to Hel
5. Harbinger Of Storms
6. A Tale Of Alfheim
7. Kiss Of Death
Interlude: Raphael
EXCERPT
II. Tangled Webs
8. Descendants Of Thor
9. The Anchor
10. The Guardian
11. The Praetoriani
12. Salvation In Those Eyes
13. Breaking And Staking
14. The Intruder
15. A Deal With A Vampire
16. Party In A Graveyard
17. A Meeting With Raphael
18. Dreaming Of The Dead
19. Philosophers Love Definitions
20. Mentor
21. Temple In The Heath
22. Crossing Blades
23. The Queen Of Sicily
24. Snow White And The Photographs
25. Hunt For The Amulet
III. Inquisition
26. Into The Labyrinth
27. The Assessment
28. The Date Crasher
29. Agony
30. Smile Between Friends
31. The Daemon
32. Rolling In His Grave
33. The Satyr’s Portal
Interlude: Nikolaj
IV. Black Widow
34. Drowning In Memories
35. Dökkálfar
36. Forest Of Dreams
37. A Mother’s Child
38. Never Ever
Interlude: Raphael
V. Snapping Cords
39. Return To Midgard
40. A Familiar Face
41. Demolished By Desire
42. Ghost Boy
43. Weeding My Heart
44. Trust
45. Visions Of The Dead
46. The Fall
47. Pulling The Wings Off A Fly
48. Blood At Dawn
49. Severing Strings
EXCERPT
Volume 2
EXCERPT
I. MISSING
1. Black Roses
2. Flying the Nest
3. Looking for Trouble
4. How Do You Plead?
EXCERPT
5. The Archives
6. Secret Liaisons
7. House Hunting
8. First Time
9. Meeting in the Marsh
10. The Morning After
11. Ghost Writer
12. It’s Been A While
13. A Touch Undead
14. Foresight’s A Bitch
15. Supply Run
16. Hellingstead Hair Raids
17. Fenrir
18. Dying To Be Noticed
Interlude: Raphael
II. Blood Brother
19. Army
20. Welcome to the Family
21. Liquid Interrogation
22. Blood Magic
23. Dancing with Stardust
24. The Prodigal Sons
25. Beetles Under Rock
26. The Amulet
27. See You At Sundown
28. Leap of Death
29. The One Who Needs It Most
30. Mirror, Mirror
31. Hills of Blood
32. The Gathering
EXCERPT
33. A Night Off
34. A World Within You
35. Countdown
36. Wrath of the Returned
III. Part Three: Trial By Fire
EXCERPT
37. The Break Up
38. The Golden Court
39. Rats
40. Cut Short
41. Priddy Awful
42. Serpent Slayer
43. Courting Destruction
Interlude: Raphael
IV. To Hel and Back
44. Naglfar
45. Hel in Hellingstead
46. Valkyrie
47. Goodbye
48. The Gatekeeper Reborn
49. Nikolaj
Epilogue
Volume 3
Prologue
I. Farewell
1. All Together Now
2. Home Is Where The Fear Is
3. Time To Go
4. Dining in Hel
5. Alfheim Bound
6. Dancing in the Mist
7. A Bridge Between Nations
8. A Third Eye for a Third Eye
9. Down Under
10. A New City
11. Avalon
12. Odin, Thor, and Freyja
Interlude
II. Swords Of Fire And Ice
13. Bad Aird
14. King of Renewal
15. War Council
16. Halls of the Slain
17. I Don’t Believe In…
18. Your Mission, if you Choose…
19. Hvergelmir
20. A Confluence of Enemies
21. Starlight
22. A Parting Gift
23. Truffles
24. Word on the Vine
25. Mummy
26. De-Nile
27. Just Keep Climbing
28. Yew Dale
29. A Rainbow for a Redhead
30. A Room With A View
31. The Craven Claim
32. Valley of Doom
33. City of Ash: Part One
34. Rainbow Sky
35. City of Ash: Part Two
36. The Utgard Fortress
37. Thief in the Forest
38. A Problem Shared…
39. Maze of Memory: Part One
40. A Different Kind of Plan
41. A Prayer and Some Scissors
42. Maze of Memory: Part Two
43. Quake
44. Me, You, Her
Interlude
Interlude
Interlude
III. Gods Of Fire
EXCERPT
45. Dead Shore
46. All Fathers
47. Evacuation
48. Windy City
49. Hands Off My Cousin
50. That’s My Ride
51. Jewel in the Crown
52. Let’s See
53. Time Crystal
Interlude
IV. End of the Line
54. Merrily on High
55. Alfheim: Land of Ash
56. Mending the Tear
57. Inundated
58. Yule
Epilogue
Afterword
Glossary Of Terms
For Jacobie, the Gatekeeper of my soul; my Pneuma; my Vital Essence…
... And to absent friends…
…And invisible cheerleaders
Contents
EXCERPT
Prologue
I. The Storm’s Curse
1. Rebirth
2. The Red Hawk
3. The Book Of Gatekeepers
4. All Roads Lead to Hel
5. Harbinger Of Storms
6. A Tale Of Alfheim
7. Kiss Of Death
Interlude: Raphael
EXCERPT
II. Tangled Webs
8. Descendants Of Thor
9. The Anchor
10. The Guardian
11. The Praetoriani
12. Salvation In Those Eyes
13. Breaking And Staking
14. The Intruder
15. A Deal With A Vampire
16. Party In A Graveyard
17. A Meeting With Raphael
18. Dreaming Of The Dead
19. Philosophers Love Definitions
20. Mentor
21. Temple In The Heath
22. Crossing Blades
23. The Queen Of Sicily
24. Snow White And The Photographs
25. Hunt For The Amulet
III. Inquisition
26. Into The Labyrinth
27. The Assessment
28. The Date Crasher
29. Agony
30. Smile Between Friends
31. The Daemon
32. Rolling In His Grave
33. The Satyr’s Portal
Interlude: Nikolaj
IV. Black Widow
34. Drowning In Memories
35. Dökkálfar
36. Forest Of Dreams
37. A Mother’s Child
38. Never Ever
Interlude: Raphael
V. Snapping Cords
39. Return To Midgard
40. A Familiar Face
41. Demolished By Desire
42. Ghost Boy
43. Weeding My Heart
44. Trust
45. Visions Of The Dead
46. The Fall
47. Pulling The Wings Off A Fly
48. Blood At Dawn
49. Severing Strings
EXCERPT
EXCERPT
From the diary of Julian Knight, Overseer of the Praetoriani, written in code:
5th May 2015
Sometimes it’s necessary to swap the white robes for grey. Malachi De Laurentis has come back to Hellingstead, and I suspect the Tuscan coven has come with him. The time is ripe. My son, Menelaus, must not suspect my involvement.
Hellingstead won’t thank me; I’m allowing another blood-drinker into their midst. Blame the Elves for that; it is their curse.
I feel sorry for the lad, of course. Lorenzo Angelucci, fate has other plans for you now.
Prologue
5TH MAY 2015
I must get to her.
His dead mother rode through the fir-tree copse, vibrant, crimson hair flailing in the wind like a headful of snakes as he struggled to catch her in time. He’d had this nightmare before, and it was always too late. She always made it to the cliff’s edge, always plummeted to her death. But it hadn’t been this violent before, this vivid.
Theo Clemensen reached the rocky ledge, but this time no spit of waves hissed up from the ocean’s surface. This time, he met exploding fire, a bubbling cauldron of colour that enthralled him into submission. On, on, it urged him. Come, come. He stepped forward and plunged into the deep, his body exploding on impact, his mind melting in the flames. His cry broke through the lava of his dreams and into reality, shaking the foundations of Hellingstead Hall. The air crackled and popped as his father, Espen, and his great-uncle, Nikolaj, appeared at his side, wrestling Theo’s limp body from the sheets.
‘He’s not breathing!’ shouted Espen, as they dragged him onto the oak floorboards.
‘No!’ Nikolaj restrained Espen’s frantic hands as he tried to resuscitate his son. ‘Stop. He has to die before he can be reborn.’
The rain was biblical, drowning out the face of Lorenzo’s wristwatch as he squinted, trying to read the hands between lightning flashes.
Damn it. The storm seemed to wind the hours forward to midnight, lacquering the sky as Lorenzo tucked his dissertation under his arm, the folder already damp, despite the detour through Oakley Park.
As Lorenzo picked up speed down the slippery pathway, huddling close to the thick line of silver birch trees, he imagined his professor, Menelaus Knight, waiting in his nice, warm office. Tonight was his final chance to deliver his dissertation before the exam season started. He couldn’t show up late, sodden, and without dry text after the third extension. I should’ve brought my laptop, he thought, I should’ve paid for a taxi.
In the darkness, Lorenzo didn’t spot the boy, slight as a pixie, inhabiting the matted branches of a looming oak tree that had defied time and foul weather for four centuries. The path forked around it, leaving Lorenzo to find refuge under its bony branches as the wind reached its apex and rain shards sliced his cheeks raw. This wasn’t a normal spring storm; the air came in clammy gusts that left a bitter taste on Lorenzo’s tongue.
Above him, the boy watched, accompanied by the insects hiking over his skin, and the birds nesting in his black hair. Gold streaks burnished his curls – a hint to his creation; he was living stardust, the first of his kind. His name was Raphael, and he perceived Lorenzo’s immediate fate as it unravelled before them both. He could sense in the dull steps against the wet earth that death was approaching – his creature companions stilled as if waiting for the audible squelch. Each critter heard it. The sharp fangs sinking into yielding human flesh, the grunts and groaning, and finally the screaming.
I
The Storm’s Curse
THEO | PENNY | LORENZO
1
Rebirth
I have dug up the sky. I have hacked up the horizon.
I have traversed the earth to its farthest extent.
I have taken possession of the spirits of the great ones,
Because I am the one who equips a myriad with my magic.
Spell 10, Egyptian Book of the Dead
7th May 2015
My family’s idea of a twenty-first birthday surprise is that ‘coming-of-age’ kills us. Temporarily. Guess Father thought that meant he didn’t have to warn me first, although by the look on his face when I had woken up on the cold, hard floorboards of my bedroom, you’d think I’d already begun to haunt him.
Really, something haunted me. Whatever slid inside me upon my death was strengthening its grasp with each passing moment. Everything felt numb to the touch as my brain rewired to accommodate my sudden, internal roommate.
The Descendants of Thor Trilogy Boxset: Forged in Blood and Lightning; Norns of Fate; Wrath of Aten Page 1
