Cards of Death Box Set

by Tamara Geraeds

  “Please… just make up already,” I whisper.

  My hand trembles as I raise my athame. The Shield forms a line between the demons and the office. I want to join them and at the same time, I want to hide until it’s all over.

  The demons fight to free themselves from the time lock. Their eyes narrow in rage, their claws stretch to grab anything they can. Mouths are opening wide, releasing icicles in slow motion.

  D’Maeo raises his sword. “Get ready to duck.”

  Before he finishes his sentence, the scene explodes. Roars and growls drown out all other sounds and icy spikes whistle past me as I seek cover behind the wall. The demons jump as one. A wall of claws, sharp teeth and hungry eyes approaches, the head demon leading the way.

  I raise my left arm to throw the Morningstar. There’s no weight in my hand. “Oh crap,” I mumble.

  The Shield vanishes a millisecond before the demons reach them. They storm ahead, confused but determined. They reach the circle, charging straight at me. I recoil, not sure if this trap will work. Then the head demon bounces against the border of the circle. It falls to the ground and howls in pain.

  The ones at its side spit their weapons at me. I duck, but the icicles can’t breach the demon’s snare. They drop down and melt.

  The demons that turn around, smelling danger, are driven backward by the ghosts until they’re inside the circle. They hiss violently, but they’re unable to touch us.

  I let out a sigh of relief. “It’s working.”

  Jeep stumbles towards us. “How are the brothers doing?”

  I turn around. It looks like the discussion has gotten more heated in the last couple of minutes.

  Geoffrey’s face has turned a bright red and George is reaching for a pair of scissors lying on the desk next to him.

  “If you go through with this set-up, we are no longer brothers. I have always tried to help you, and now you want to stab me in the back. Come on, Geoff, be reasonable.”

  I didn’t think it was possible, but Geoffrey turns an even brighter shade of red.

  “Vicky,” I yell before he can say anything. “I need you here.”

  “What’s happening?” she says before I finish my sentence.

  A loud banging from inside the circle disturbs my concentration for a moment. I glance back only for a second, but in that time George has picked up the scissors. He lunges at his brother with a roar. The demons fall silent.

  ”No,” I yell. “Stop him!” But my warning is pointless. Vicky is already suspended between the brothers, gazing into George’s eyes, while Geoffrey leans back with a shocked look on his face.

  George drops the scissors with a sob. “What are we doing, Geoff? Why can’t we just talk it out?”

  Vicky turns her head to look at Geoffrey.

  His look of shock changes into one of sorrow. “I just can’t stand it anymore, George. I want some happiness, too. You got it all. The job, the wife, the house…”

  George just shakes his head. “No Geoff, I swear. I paid Dad for the house and we never told Mom, because she wanted to give everything away. I couldn’t let her. They had nothing.”

  The demons behind us snarl. They hit the invisible barrier with their hooves. Some are trying to freeze it.

  George stands up and holds out his hand. Vicky is at my side again. We watch silently.

  Geoffrey finally accepts his brothers help. George pulls him up and slaps him on the shoulder. “I’m so sorry you’re unhappy. I wish you the best. Just… let’s make this company bigger together. You’re better than me at running it, so you deserve a bigger share.”

  Geoffrey slumps on the couch by the window and hides his face in his hands. “That’s stupid. You deserve half.”

  George sits down next to him and puts his arm around his brother. “I am so sorry Mom always favored me. But you know I always tried to pull you into everything, don’t you? You’re my brother. I love you.”

  Geoffrey’s shoulders shake. “I do know that. I just… forgot somehow. I felt so betrayed, by life, by Mom and Dad, by you. I’m so sorry. I should have just talked to you. I should have spoken up.”

  A loud cracking noise makes me and Vicky whirl around. The demons howl in triumph. Their mouths open in wide grins.

  I shiver. “Are they getting through?”

  Vicky raises her sword.

  The rest of the Shield appears next to us, their weapons ready. Jeep has a mad look on his face. Now that he’s back in the game, he’s ready to rip those monsters apart.

  “Please forgive me,” I hear Geoffrey say. “I’ll transfer everything back and say it was a glitch in the system.”

  My eyes zoom in on my weapon lying against the wall near the elevator.

  “Vicky, my Morningstar.” I nod towards it.

  She disappears and returns with the ball.

  After handing it to me she clenches her fists. “We should attack before they escape.”

  “I agree,” D’Maeo says.

  Before we can charge, Jeep takes off his hat and flings it into the circle. It cuts off one demon’s raised tail, but it only enrages the others further.

  When I fling my Morningstar, the head demon catches it and pulls me into the demon’s snare. I yell and hold my athame in front of me. I hit the demon square in the eye and it bounces backward, letting out a deafening howl.

  I scramble back out of the circle. Red stains appear on the bandage around my leg.

  When I turn my head for a moment, I see the brothers bent over a laptop.

  The demons fling themselves forward in one motion, their icy gazes fixed on Geoffrey.

  Completely oblivious to the importance of what he’s doing, Geoffrey hits a button. “There, every last cent is back where it belongs.”

  The noise within the circle ceases. We all frown.

  I give Vicky a sideways glance. “What’s happening? What are they doing?”

  My confusion is reflected on her face. “It looks like they’re giving up.”

  “What? Why?”

  D’Maeo grins. “Because we’ve won. We prevented Geoffrey from framing his brother.”

  I shake my head. “I thought we were supposed to prevent George from killing him?”

  The monsters slowly start to vanish. The head demon’s eyes are the last thing I see. They bore into mine, as if it wants to say, ‘I will see you again.’

  I rub my arms to drive out the sudden cold.

  Vicky pulls me from the doorway when the Timson brothers leave the office, slapping each other’s shoulders.

  Taylar puts away his sword. “I think we just saved them both.”

  I scratch my head. “So what-”

  Jeep adjusts his hat. “You can stab someone in the back literally or figuratively. I think the cards warned us about both. We just didn’t realize it until now.”

  I rub my face with both hands. “I think you’re right.”

  Maël walks through the circle. She’s leaning slightly on her staff, although she’s trying to hide it. “Let’s go home.”

  I collect the bowl, candles and incense stick and take the elevator down. I look down at my leg. The bleeding has stopped again. It still hurts, but I can manage. Right now I just want to go home, check on Mom and sleep for a week. Or maybe just draw for days.

  The Shield is already waiting for me in the car. There’s no sign of Charlie and Paul. I will have to confront them later.

  The Timson brothers drive by in Geoffrey’s car. He waves at me. I’m too stunned to wave back.

  “He could see me,” I say when I reach Phoenix and step in. “How’s that-“

  “You were only invisible until you succeeded, remember?”

  I nod slowly. “Yeah... I’m afraid my brain is shutting down.”

  Jeep slams his hand on his heart. “Wow, are you saying it worked once?”

  “Very funny.”

  Vicky reaches over and strokes my arm. “It’s okay.
You’re stronger than you think.”

  “I am, I know that now. But there’s so much I don’t know yet. Like what is going on with my friends? What did Paul have to do with all this? And what about the others? Can I still trust them?”

  Vicky shrugs. I know she doesn’t have the answers, but I can’t stop the words from flowing out of my mouth. “Are Mom’s fits really gone? How is that possible? And that voice. Was that real or just in my head?”

  D’Maeo leans forward. He clasps a hand over my throat and the words get stuck. “Take a breath. You’ve had a lot to process. You just need some rest.”

  I can’t argue with that.

  I drop the ghosts off at Darkwood Manor and put the bowl and candles away in the kitchen.

  “Thank you,” I say.

  The Shield looks up, surprised.

  “Thanks for fighting with me. Thanks for saving me.”

  Vicky smiles. “No problem, that’s what we’re here for. And you did a good job yourself.”

  The others nod in agreement.

  I take the cards out of my pocket. Before I can take a last look at them, they crumble to dust in my hands. A sudden gust of wind picks the tiny pieces up and blows them through the hallway and out of the open door, into the clear sky.

  I give an incredulous shake of my head. “We did it. We saved him. We saved the world.”

  The Shield gathers around me. They pat me on the back and hug me, all at once.

  “We did it,” I repeat.

  A triumphant feeling rises in my chest. This crazy magical ride has come to an end. We survived. And we came out so much stronger. I have a pack of ghosts at my side that I can trust. A Shield that I can turn to when I’m in trouble. There’s so much to learn about this strange world full of magic, but I can handle it. I’m ready to embrace my new life, as a Mage and as a master. I have the power of premonition, which I can use to save people, save the whole world even. And I just know I’ll find all the answers I’ve always searched for about Dad. I still believe he was a good man and one day I will prove it, if I can only be patient. The most important thing right now is that we are safe. We beat the Devil.

  But still, something feels off. A sliver of unease tugs at my heart. My gut tells me that this was just the beginning…

  What’s next?

  Dante is right, the rollercoaster isn’t over yet.

  Do you want to know what the Devil’s plans are? Why Mr. Timson was so important? Who Mona really is? Why it’s not permitted to build in Blackford? What Dante’s friends are hiding? Who that mysterious voice belongs to?

  Then be sure to move on to book 2: Cards of Death - The Second Premonition.

  PLEASE review THIS BOOK

  ON AMAZON!

  Reviews are very important to authors. Even a short or negative review can be of tremendous value to me as a writer. Therefore I would be very grateful if you could leave a review at your place of purchase. And don’t forget to tell your friends about this book!

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  Found a mistake?

  The First Demon has gone through several rounds of beta reading and editing. If you found a typographical, grammatical, or other error which impacted your enjoyment of the book, we offer our apologies and ask that you let us know, so we can fix it for future readers.

  You can email your feedback to: info@tamarageraeds.com.

  Have a great day!

  Tamara Geraeds

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Tamara Geraeds was born in 1981, in a small village in the south of The Netherlands.

  When she was 6 years old, she wrote her first poem, which basically translates as:

  A hug for you and a hug for me

  and that’s how life should be

  She started writing books at the age of 15 and her first book was published in 2012. After 6 books in Dutch she decided to write a young adult fantasy series in English: Cards of Death.

  Tamara’s bibliography consists of books for children, young adults and adults, and can be placed under fantasy and thrillers.

  Besides writing she runs her own business, in which she teaches English, Dutch and writing, (re)writes texts and edits books.

  She’s been playing badminton for over 20 years and met the love of her life Frans on the court. She loves going out for dinner, watching movies, and of course reading, writing and hugging her husband. She’s crazy about sushi and Indian curries, and her favorite color is red.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Lots of thanks to my valuable beta readers Samantha Schenk, Kallista Foote, Melissa Vargo Carlini, Quanisha McGruder, Edith Hilthrup, Cebo Hadebe, Cailem Kostiuk, Marion Jones, Hati Bell and Kelli Lowry.

  Thanks to Susan Halley of the Sierra Silver Mine, for the info on silver mines.

  Copyright © 2019 Tamara Geraeds

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Cover design by Deranged Doctor Design

  Editing by Samantha and Rachel, Proofreading By The Page & Ambition Editing LLC

  PREVIOUSLY, IN CARDS OF DEATH

  A lot has happened up till now, and in case you forgot or didn’t read it, here’s a quick recap of the most important stuff.

  I am Dante Banner, sixteen years old and living in Blackford, Idaho. My mother has been suffering from mysterious fits for years and five years ago my father went missing.

  A couple of days ago, my mother was suddenly fine again. On that same day, I got word that my father had passed away and left me a mansion: Darkwood Manor. When I went there to explore, I found a ramshackle house with five ghosts in it: D’Maeo, Maël, Jeep, Taylar, and the stunning Vicky. It turns out I am their master. They are my Shield and will do anything to protect me. They cannot leave the house, unless they come with me, and if we get separated, they automatically return to Darkwood Manor after a while.

  I was told that I’m a Mage, which is pretty much the same as a wizard, but without the pointy hat and ridiculous robes. I have the power of premonition, which is pretty nice, but not very useful in a fight.

  A battle between good and evil seems to be raging and I’m suddenly caught in the middle of it. It turns out I’m the only one that can save the soul that keeps the Devil in Hell. I’m not sure how that works yet. All I know is, I received two demon cards, called the Cards of Death, that showed symbols pointing to the person I was supposed to save, a Mr. Timson. We had to keep him from committing a crime and stop him from getting killed. Although some of my so-called friends, Paul and Simon, made this job difficult for me and my Shield, we saved Mr. Timson. You’d say that means we’re fine now, but I have a bad feeling about this whole thing. Maël was captured by a magical tree in the Shadow World and I’m not sure she’s fully recovered. And there’s so much I don’t know. How can an inexperienced Mage like me keep the whole world safe from the Devil?

  CHAPTER 1

  I steer my Dodge Phoenix through the woods slowly, with the windows rolled down, so I can breathe in all the earthly smells. It feels peaceful after the giant battle we just had. My leg hurts, but I pay no attention to it. We defeated
the demons and saved Mr. Timson. We did what we were supposed to do. We saved the world. We still don’t know why the Devil needed Mr. Timson’s soul to escape Hell, but we made sure he didn’t get it.

  After dropping off my Shield at Darkwood Manor, I don’t feel like stopping yet, so I drive straight ahead, through the center of Blackford and into the forest on the other side. The wind in my hair blows away all the questions tumbling through my head. Questions about Dad’s powers and his disappearance, about Hell, demons, angels and people who betray their friends.

  After a ten minute drive, I park Phoenix at the side of the road and kill the engine. For a while I just listen to the absence of sound. Everyone is asleep, even the animals in the forest. All the madness I’ve seen in the past days suddenly seems far away.

  Cheerful chirping wakes me. When I try to roll into a more comfortable position, my knee bumps against the steering wheel. Phoenix groans in protest and the bird on her hood flies away.

  I yawn, stick my head out of the window and breathe in the fresh scent of a new morning. A squirrel rushes past and I smile. “Yes, it’s a new day. Good morning.”

  I start the car and drive back to Blackford’s city center. I take a right, past the police station and look at the familiar houses. I’m not sure why, but it eases my nerves to see that everything here is still as boring as it has always been.

  Mom calls just as I pass Rodney’s DIY shop.

  “How’s the floor?” she asks.

  Oh, right. The flooding. I forgot all about that. I was a little busy sending a bunch of demons back to their hellhole. “It’s drying.” That’s probably true.

  “Someone is coming this morning to put in a new one, so I’ll be home after breakfast.”