Kiera Hudson & The Creeping Men (17 page)

Before Sir Edmund had a chance to protest further, the Leshy were racing backwards across the clearing toward us.

“Give us the girl!” the Leshy screeched as one.

“Never!” Potter roared, racing toward them.

As the Leshy reached us, they spun around so they were facing front. They lunged at us with their long, brittle fingers.

Potter leapt into the air, his wings fanned out on either side of him. It was so good to see him again as he truly was. To watch his power and speed. To see his lust to fight. I watched as he soared upward, back-flipping through the air, only to race down toward the ground again, snatching one of the Leshy from the fight. In a blink, both Phebe and Uri shot from the ground, racing into the sky, a Leshy in their claws.

Where was Murphy? Did he have the same fight in him as I knew him to have before? I glanced back. He had removed his shirt and was neatly folding it in half and placing it on the ground beneath a nearby tree.

He caught me watching and said, “It’s a new shirt. Cost me a fiver, and that’s a lot to someone living off their pension.”

I looked at his bare upper torso, and just as I remembered him to be, Murphy was in good shape. His chest, stomach, and arms were taut with muscle. Before I’d the chance to say anything back to him, his long, black wings were rippling from his back and he was racing across the clearing and opening the throat of the nearest Leshy with his powerful claws. Blood sprayed over Murphy’s chest, covering the white hairs there with blood.

“Help me!” I heard a shrill scream. Spinning around, I saw Amanda pinned to the floor beneath one of the Leshy. With its hands bent backwards, it brought them down like giant hooks. Within an instant I was on it. With my hand as flat as a spade, I drove it into the chest of the Leshy. Curling my claws about its heart, I pulled it from his chest in one quick movement. The heart was still beating as I tossed it away. The Leshy collapsed face first onto the girl.

She cried out.

“You’re okay,” I told her, pulling the limp Leshy from off her. “It’s dead.”

“My father!” Amanda screamed, pointing over my shoulder.

I spun around to see a Leshy racing backwards amongst the trees in pursuit of Sir Edmund. It was terrifying, yet breathtaking to see these strange creatures as they ran backwards with long, powerful strides. It was like they had eyes in the backs of their heads. Gaining on Sir Edmund, the Leshy span around, taking hold of him. In a spray of black shadows, I zigzagged through the trees, sinking my claws into the Leshy. I soared up into the night sky with it kicking and screaming in my arms. Cranking its hands and feet backwards, it began to cut and rake at my flesh with its hooked claws. Its grass-like hair was as brittle as wire and it scratched the sides of my face as it wrestled with me. I continued to spiral upwards above the treetops. My wings beat furiously on either side of me, those little claws opening and closing as if grabbing at the air. Blood ran down my arms, front, and legs as the Leshy dragged its claws down the length of me. It was like trying to hold onto a giant cat that was desperate to get away. It wriggled, hissed, and spat in my arms. I couldn’t hold onto it any longer, so I let go. No sooner had I opened my arms than it had sunk one bony claw into my ankle, its sheer weight dragging me out of the sky. I spun over and over, out of control, my wings fluttering uselessly on either side of me.

Plummeting out of the sky and back toward the ground, the Leshy looked at me with its huge green eyes and screamed, “We die together!”

“Not today,” I heard Potter say, as he rocketed past, snatching the Leshy from me.

I tried to right myself as the ground raced up toward me. But I didn’t have time. I closed my eyes. Then feeling the sensation of racing up again, like I was trapped in an elevator that was charging skywards with no way of stopping, I opened my eyes to find that Uri had snatched me up into the air.

“Okay?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I said.

Then he was letting go of me and soaring away to help Phebe, who was in the process of peeling back the scalp of one of the Leshy and removing its brains. Taking hold of a leg each, they hung the dying Leshy upside down and shook him. His brains rained down out of its skull like lumps of grey jelly. The Vampyrus from this
where
and
when
didn’t seem keen on the idea of taking any prisoners.

“Father!” I heard Amanda scream.

Dropping out of the sky, I ran toward her. She knelt at the foot of a nearby tree, cradling her father to her chest. Her summer dress was stained black with blood that seeped from a gaping wound in his chest.

“The Leshy killed him,” she sobbed. “They took my father from me.”

As gently as I could, I tried to ease her father’s body from her arms. Amanda refused to let go. She held on tight, pulling him closer still and gently kissing his upturned face. “I love you!” she cried, throwing back her head. And as she cried out, her sobs of anguish soon turned to anger, then rage. Her cry changed into that of a howl. I stepped backwards as Amanda’s face, arms, and hands became covered in that soft white fur – the colour of the hair that hung thick about her shoulders. With eyes glowing a fiery red, she lay her father down and sprang to her feet. Her bones made a sickening sound like a blunt knife being scraped against dry bone as her feet and hands turned. Then, as I saw her do so in the passageway beneath Bastille Hall, Amanda raced backwards into the fight. Within inches of the nearest Leshy, she spun around. Gripping its head between her claws, the Leshy’s face disintegrated into a red mess.

“That was for killing my father,” she said, shaking blood and flesh from her hands and wrists as she raced backwards once more through the woods in search of other Leshy.

“I’m glad she’s on our side,” Potter said, dropping out of the night and landing beside me.

I glanced sideways at him. His chest, arms, claws, and face were streaked with blood. “Thanks,” I said over the screams of the Leshy that were being slaughtered all around us.

“For what?” he said.

“For saving me up there,” I said.

“Which is kinda funny, don’t you think?”

“How come?”

“I thought you said you didn’t need saving,” he said, striding away.

“Did you really have no idea?” I called after him.

“About what?” he said, stopping to glance back.

“About me?” I said. “About what I really was?”

“Not all the temps the agency sends are special,” he said.

“Am I special?” I dared ask him, not knowing how he might interpret my question.

He looked at me as if thinking long and hard before giving his answer. Finally he said, “Do you know what, Kiera? If this was any other time or place, I would really love to get to know you – to spend some real time with you – to find out how special I suspect you really are. But I can’t. Not now. It just wouldn’t be fair. I’ve made a promise to someone else. I’ve made my decision, and I think you made one too.”

“I think I underestimated
The Creeping Men
,” I heard someone shout in a dry rasp.

I looked up at the last of the Leshy. He was on his knees in the centre of the clearing. He had been circled by Murphy, Phebe, Uri, and Amanda.

Realising that he and the other Leshy had been defeated, he looked up nervously and said, “Perhaps we could renegotiate. I think I’ve made a mistake. Perhaps you could give me another chance?”

The Leshy’s words haunted me. It was everything I would want to say to Noah, if only I could go back to that station. It was everything I would have loved to have said to Potter as I watched that train leave the station with him on it. I feared now that I too had made a mistake.

Without saying a word, Potter marched into the clearing. With one quick jab of his claw, he had ripped the Leshy’s heart from its chest. The creature let out a rattling gasp before slumping forward into the earth.

As Potter left the clearing, he brushed past me and said, “I don’t believe in giving people second chances. They should live with the bad decisions and the mistakes they make.”

Without looking at me, he dropped the Leshy’s heart at my feet and walked away.

Uri and Phebe disappeared as quickly as they had arrived. Back to the Crescent Moon Inn I guessed, where they would continue to do the very best by the guests who happened to stay there – all of them unaware of who or what they truly were.

I walked with my arm around Amanda’s shoulder as Potter and Murphy carried Sir Edmund’s body back to Bastille Hall. Despite her father’s death, there was no sign of the rage in Amanda that we had seen the night before. Perhaps her father had been right and her spirit was just adapting to the changes that were taking place within her. Maybe it was the approach of the full moon? I suspected that only time would really tell. But for now at least, she walked beside me, sobbing quietly.

As we stepped from the wood onto the lawn, I could see the first rays of dawn sparkling over the roof of Bastille Hall. Ms. Locke was waiting on the top step, and on seeing Miss Amanda step from the woods with me, she raced forward. Sobbing, not through sadness but delight at finding Amanda, she swept her up into her arms. It was then she saw Potter and Murphy carrying Sir Edmund’s body between them.

“Is he…?” she wept, unable to bring herself to say the word.

“Yes,” I said. “I’m so very sorry.”

With their arms about each other, Amanda and Ms. Locke walked slowly back across the dew-speckled lawns to the house. It was dawn by the time Murphy and Potter had buried Sir Edmund at the edge of the wood.

“The girl won’t be able to stay here,” Murphy said, hands in the small of his back, weary from the digging.

“Why not?” I asked. “This is where she lives. She has nowhere else to go.”

“We know of a place where she can go,” Potter said.

“No!” I insisted.

“You saw what she was like last night,” Potter reminded me. “She is dangerous.”

“Any more dangerous than us?” I said.

“She’s unpredictable,” Murphy said. “She will be far better off in a place where she can be properly monitored – cared for.”

“I’ll do it,” I said. “It looks as if I’m here to stay – for a while at least – in the Ragged Cove. I’ll come by each week. Spend time with her. I can remember what it’s like to find out you’re someone –
something
– else than who you first believed you were.”

“I’ll have to check it out,” Murphy said.

“With who?” I asked. “Lois Li? Is that who calls the shots around here?”

“We’ll talk in a few days’ time,” Murphy grunted, walking away.

“Why not now?”

“I need some sleep, but first I need to go bury some Leshy,” he said, heading back into the woods.

I made a move to go after him, but Potter took hold of my arm. “Just leave him, Kiera,” he said. “You don’t know Murphy like I do. He can be a miserable old-fart when he wants. He’ll give you a call in a few days’ time.”

“But I have so many questions that I need answering now,” I said.

“Take the next few days off,” he said.

“Is that your way of getting rid of me again?” I asked, as we headed away across the lawn together toward the avenue where my car was parked.

“I’m taking a few days off too,” he said.

“How come?” I asked.

“Sophie sent me a text,” he started to explain. “She’s coming back from her mother’s early. We’re gonna go away together for a few days. See? I told you she never stays mad at me for too long.”

“It must be all your charms,” I said, trying to laugh but all I really wanted to do was cry.

We reached my car. “Want a lift back into town? Maybe we could find a little café and have some breakfast. It looks like it’s going to be a beautiful morning and…”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t, Kiera,” Potter said. “I promised Sophie I’d get straight back, so…”

“I understand,” I said, pulling open my car door and climbing in.

With hands in his pockets, Potter began to walk away. He stopped and came back. Perhaps he’d changed his mind already about breakfast. I wound down the window.

He peered inside. “You know what happened between us…”

“What about it?” I asked him.

“Best we forget it ever happened, don’t you think?” he said.

“I already have,” I said, driving away.

I looked back just once in my rear-view mirror, but he had gone already. I was glad. I didn’t want him to see me pull off the road unable to drive any further because I just couldn’t stop myself from crying.

How long I sat by the side of the road, I didn’t know. But it was quiet there. All I could hear was the gentle hush of the wind and the distant sound of waves crashing against the far-off cliffs. When I had no more tears to cry, I started my car. I didn’t want to go back to the Crescent Moon Inn, not yet anyway. So instead, I drove back down into the Ragged Cove.

After parking, I went and sat on the sea wall. I hadn’t been there long when someone said, “Hey, Kiera. Is that maybe a definitely, yet?”

“Huh?” I looked round. The artist I had met just the day before had joined me on the wall, his unruly dark hair blowing in the breeze. “Hey, Nev.” I smiled back at him.

“Well?” he said, sitting down next to me.

“Well what?” I asked.

“Are you going to sit for me – you know, let me paint you?” he smiled.

“Why would you want to paint me?”

“Do you seriously need me to answer that question?” he asked. “Do you have any idea how pretty you are?”

“I don’t feel pretty right now,” I said, looking out across the shore at the waves breaking over the sand.

“I couldn’t ever imagine a time when you wouldn’t look pretty,” he said.

“You’re flirting with me again, aren’t you?” I said with a sideways glance.

“I’m seriously flirting here,” he smiled. “Let me paint you.”

“I don’t know,” I said, feeling embarrassed that he would even want to.

“How about I take a picture of you then?” he said, pulling a mobile phone from the pocket of his jeans. “I’ll paint you from the picture.”

He held the phone up. I covered the camera lens with my hand. He looked deflated.

“I won’t let you take my picture. But I’ll let you take me for breakfast,” I smiled.

“Seriously?” he grinned.

“Quick, before I change my mind,” I said, jumping up. “What do you fancy?”

“Do you really need me to answer that?” he said with a wry smile.

“You’re
too
funny,” I sighed.

“You’ll find that having an incredible sense of humour is just one of my many talents,” he said, holding out his arm.

I looked down at it.

“I don’t bite,” he said.

“No, but I do,” I smiled, linking my arm through his and setting off in search of some breakfast and something to fill the gaping hole in my heart.

Kiera Hudson & The Lethal Infected

(Kiera Hudson Series Three) Book 2

Coming Soon!

Now Available to Pre-order from Amazon by clicking on the following links!

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.ca

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More books by Tim O’Rourke

Kiera Hudson Series One

Vampire Shift (Kiera Hudson Series 1) Book 1

Vampire Wake (Kiera Hudson Series 1) Book 2

Vampire Hunt (Kiera Hudson Series 1) Book 3

Vampire Breed (Kiera Hudson Series 1) Book 4

Wolf House (Kiera Hudson Series 1) Book 5

Vampire Hollows (Kiera Hudson Series 1) Book 6

Kiera Hudson Series Two

Dead Flesh (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 1

Dead Night (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 2

Dead Angels (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 3

Dead Statues (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 4

Dead Seth (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 5

Dead Wolf (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 6

Dead Water (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 7

Dead Push (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 8

Dead Lost (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 9

Dead End (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 10

The Kiera Hudson Prequel Series

The Kiera Hudson Prequels (Book 1)

The Kiera Hudson Prequels (Book 2)

Kiera Hudson Series Three

The Creeping Men (Kiera Hudson Series Three) Book 1

The Jack Seth Novellas

Hollow Pit (Book One)

Seeking Cara (Book Two) Coming 2014!

Black Hill Farm (Books 1 & 2)

Black Hill Farm (Book 1)

Black Hill Farm: Andy’s Diary (Book 2)

A Return to Black Hill Farm (Book 3) Coming 2014!

Sydney Hart Novels

Witch (A Sydney Hart Novel) Book 1

Yellow (A Sydney Hart Novel) Book 2

Raven (A Sydney Hart Novel) Book 3 Coming 2014!

The Doorways Trilogy

Doorways (Doorways Trilogy Book 1)

The League of Doorways (Doorways Trilogy Book 2)

The Queen of Doorways (Doorways Trilogy Book 3) Coming 2014!

Moon Trilogy

Moonlight (Moon Trilogy) Book 1

Moonbeam (Moon Trilogy) Book 2

Moonshine (Moon Trilogy) Book 3

Samantha Carter – Vampire Seeker Series

Vampire Seeker (Samantha Carter Series) Book 1

Vampire Flappers (Samantha Carter Series) Novella

The Vampire Watchmen (Samantha Carter) Book 2

The Tessa Dark Trilogy

Stilts (Book 1)

Zip (Book 2) Publishes October 2104

The Mechanic

The Mechanic

Unscathed

Written by Tim O’Rourke & C.J. Pinard

Flashes

Flashes (Book 1)

You can contact Tim O’Rourke at

www.kierahudson.com
or by email at
[email protected]