Beyond Everlight: an Urban Fantasy Novel (Fearless Destiny Book 1) Read online

  “What you thinking?” Brett asked.

  “I’m thinking parks.”

  “Good call.”

  There were eight of them in the area. The coordinates came up, and I programmed them into my ride before emailing them to Brett. While he accessed the email and programmed his ride, I fired up my engine.

  “Meet you there.” I was off.

  ***

  “This is the last one, bud,” Brett said.

  It was beginning to get dark and we were in a part of the borough where everlight was scarce. This area was far removed from the capital where everlight hung in the air, coated the roofs, and shone from every street light. Here we had real night—just the emerging moon, distant stars, and the growing shadows.

  Nature had taken a hold, growing defiantly through cracks in paving and climbing stubbornly up walls. Once again a far cry from Everlight, where nature only grew where deliberately permitted.

  “Can you sense anything?” Brett asked.

  Part of a Fearless Officer’s skill was sensing portals. As I wasn’t really Fearless, I didn’t have this skill, but I had learned how to fake it using my excellent gut instinct and perception. Taking a couple of steps into the park, I scanned the equipment: the slide, swing sets, the roundabout, the climbing frame, and an obstacle course made from tyres and huge plastic tubing.

  Bingo.

  I pulled out Frieda and began to move toward the tube.

  “Yeah, me too . . .” Brett said. “I can feel it.”

  I got there first and ducked my head to peer in. It was pitch black. The tube wasn’t that long, and there was plenty of moonlight, so I should have been able to see out the other side. A blink and the darkness receded, revealing the swing set on the other side of the tube, but in the next moment it was obscured by darkness yet again.

  Behind me Brett activated Lance.

  “It’s pretty unstable.”

  Our everlight swords gleamed wickedly in the dark.

  “You ready to close this sucker?” Brett asked.

  “Yeah.” It was a large breach. I couldn’t believe we hadn’t had more trouble from it. Kids went through here every day. It could have opened at any time and simply swallowed one. Maybe it had. I’d have to check the missing person’s reports. I climbed a little way into the tube, Frieda held up and ready to jab the darkness.

  The darkness leapt at me.

  A scream tore from my throat as I slashed at the inky mass. A screech filled the air and the denizen slammed into me, propelling me out of the tube. Teeth snapped at my face. Its weight pressed down onto my chest. I couldn’t tell what it was; just that it was too damn close for comfort, and my sword arm was trapped between us. I held it at bay with my left arm while Brett yanked at it, but the bugger had its talons in my jacket and all Brett was doing was shaking the fuck out of me.

  “Get the hell off her!” Brett yelled.

  “Kill it!” I shouted.

  It reared back and lunged. My arm slipped and it bit me, its teeth piercing the leather arm of my jacket and sinking into flesh. The pain was fire. Darkness clouded my vision, and then I was pinned under its full weight for a long second before it shuddered, jerked, and folded in on itself, over and over until there was nothing left.

  “You okay? Oh fuck, you’re bleeding!” Brett hauled me to my feet.

  My vision swam with black dots. I blinked to clear them before peeling off my jacket to expose the bite.

  “It’s deep, but I don’t think it’ll need stitches,” Brett examined the wound.

  My head swam when I tried to nod. “There’s a med pack on my ride.”

  Brett led me to a bench and then sprinted back to the rides for the med pack. He was back in less than a minute, already ripping the bandage out of its sanitised wrapper. I let him work on me, binding the bite to staunch the bleeding and giving me a shot for the pain.

  “You think you can ride?”

  I exhaled and slipped my jacket back on. The pain was ebbing already. “Yeah, I’ll let you know if I need to stop.”

  We walked back to our rides and I saw that Brett had activated the luma skin on both our bikes. They glowed softly in the dark—twin sources of fear for otherworld denizens. I climbed aboard, eager to get home, but then remembered my meeting with Lauren. Just as well really, Market Borough was closer to Riverside than Everlight was, and maybe Lauren could work his mojo and fix me up.

  “I’m gonna take a detour through Market Borough, I have to pick something up for mum. I have a medic friend there who can look at the bite.”

  “You sure? I don’t mind coming with you. We should really take you back to base to get that sanitised and flushed.”

  I shook my head and smiled. “Trust me. I’ll be fine. Besides, you have a date remember?”

  His eyes widened, “Oh shit! Yeah,” but then his brows snapped down, “Danny will understand. You’re hurt.”

  “It’s just a scratch.”

  He quirked a brow. “So tough.”

  “You know it.” I leaned in and gave him a hug. “Go get engaged.”

  We rode together as far as the motorway and then split up. Brett headed down the main road to Everlight, and I took a slip road to Market Borough.

  I had to see a Twilighter about some intel.

  CHAPTER8

  “S

  o what did you find out?” I was sitting on the edge of Lauren’s bed, as he’d claimed the only chair.

  “Nothing of value.”

  I raised a brow. “Seriously? You were gone two weeks and you learned nothing?”

  “The farm is closed to all visitors. I tried for days to get a meeting with the owners, but no luck. I did however manage to bribe one of the field hands into doing a little spying. Apparently the owner’s son hasn’t been seen about the place for some time.”

  “You think that means something?”

  He shrugged. “The son used to run the fields and now he’s gone.”

  “So you think something happened to him? But how would that affect the luma crops?”

  “It wouldn’t, unless . . .”

  “What?”

  “Unless the owner was being blackmailed.”

  “If someone took his son and was forcing him to lie and hold back the luma?”

  “Yes.”

  “But why? Why would they do that? What is luma used for in Twilight?”

  “The gem mines mainly, and sometimes in decoration to light the midnight revelry, that kind of thing.”

  “But as far as Twilight is concerned they’re getting the luma they need?”

  “Yes.” Lauren leaned forward and took my hands. “Depriving Lindrealm of luma will make it vulnerable to the denizens.”

  “But all we have at the moment is a theory based on sketchy information. I’ll need more if I’m going to take this to Blane.”

  Lauren’s expression shuttered. He released my hands and leaned back in his chair. His classic reaction whenever I mentioned Blane.

  “How is . . . Blane?”

  “He’s good, thanks. I wish you guys could meet, you’d love him.”

  “Do you?”

  “What?”

  “Love him?”

  “I—” Did I? “I guess so.”

  His lips curled in a soft smile. “Believe me Kenna, when you love someone . . . really love someone, there’s no guess work involved.”

  Was he talking from experience? Maybe about a lover he’d had? Wow, I really didn’t know much about him at all. He’d known me since I was a baby. I’d been coming to see him on my own for six years now, and all I knew about him was that he owned this bar, had a magick quill, could pass through a magick mirror, and that he was single, or at least I thought he was.

  “Have you ever loved someone? I mean . . . I never thought to ask if you had someone.”

  “Yes, but it was a long time ago.” His tone was clipped.

  Yep, this was why I didn’t pry into his personal life, because every time I did I got the shut-down face
. Over the years I’d just gotten used to filling the silence with chat about myself or mundane everyday things.

  “Well, I should get going.” I made to stand.

  “What about your wound?”

  I glanced down at my leather-clad arm. “How did you know I was hurt?”

  He offered me half a smile. “I can smell the blood.”

  Okay, now that was creepy. What if I’d been on my period? Had I visited him at that time of month before?

  “Kenna? Would you like me to patch it up?”

  My arm had begun to throb. I had intended to ask Lauren to fix me up, but he was looking at me in that way again, the way that made my chest feel hollow. I needed to get away.

  “It’s getting late, I should go. Mum can fix me up when I get home.”

  He opened his mouth, and for a second I thought he was going to insist, but then he snapped it closed and nodded.

  I was at the staircase when I realised we hadn’t planned what our next step would be with the luma situation. We needed hard evidence. I turned back to Lauren, to ask him just that.

  “I’ll keep trying,” he said. “Check back in a day or so.”

  I left him at the bottom of the steps but didn’t look down. I knew he’d be watching me leave.

  He always watched me leave.

  CHAPTER9

  M um lathered my arm with some kind of green poultice. She had a knack with herbs, and we used herbal remedies at home all the time.

  “So Lauren’s going to try for some real evidence?” she asked for the third time, her brow furrowed with concern.

  “That’s what I said.”

  She gave me the look, the one that warned me not to get snippy. “This will heal it up in no time.” She sighed. “So you have to go back in a few days?”

  I’d told her that twice too. I bit my tongue and nodded.

  We were at the kitchen table, Bella safely tucked up in bed, which was the only reason she was speaking Lauren’s name. Bella didn’t know about Lauren. He was mine and mum’s secret, to tell Bella would be to risk revealing the truth about my mark.

  Mum sat back and wiped her hands with a damp cloth. “It’ll be okay.”

  I wasn’t sure who she was trying to reassure more—me or herself.

  “Do you think there are others like me?”

  Mum glanced up at me sharply. “What do you mean?”

  “Without a destiny. Without a mark.”

  She stood and walked over to the sink. “Why this again? We’ve talked about this.”

  “Now who’s getting snippy?”

  Yeah, we’d talked about it, and most of the time I was okay with it. Tonight was just one of those nights. When mum had first told me the truth, that my bud was a fake, I’d been horrified. But curiosity had soon set in. Surely not having a destiny made me special? But mum had been insistent that it made me a target. It wasn’t until I began to see the migrant djinn that I understood the danger.

  “If they know you can see them, the real them, then they will kill you,” Mum had said.

  So when the time to pick a destiny had come around, Fearless had seemed the best option. The exciting option. It was as close to the real me as I was going to get. It allowed me to hunt the otherworld denizens, to seek them out without anyone knowing. And in time I befriended the odd djinn, using the excuse of my sensitive Fearless nature as the reason I’d been able to flush them out. My true sight was a secret I intended to take to my grave. Of course I wondered why me? But with time it became less of an obsession.

  I pushed back my chair and stood. “You’re right, it doesn’t matter. I should get some sleep. Night mum.”

  “Night baby girl.”

  I left her standing at the sink, water still running, with a faraway look in her eyes. I knew better than to ask what she was thinking about. My mother was a woman with many secrets. I just hoped that one day she would deign to share them with me.

  I was half way up the stairs before realising I was too buzzed to sleep. The news that we’d closed the breach would be all over the office tomorrow, but hopefully news of Brett’s engagement would take a little of the heat off us. We’d gone against protocol and there were bound to be repercussions. Warning Blane about what we’d done, and emphasising the success of our mission, could turn the reprimand into a mere slap on the wrist.

  My phone was already in my hand, but a better idea came to mind. Swiping my keys and jacket, I headed out the door.

  ***

  I’d have loved to surprise him. Climb into bed naked with him and wake him with a kiss, but I didn’t have a key to his house so I settled for ringing the bell like any other Joe. It was around eleven at night, but Blane wouldn’t mind a wakeup call from yours truly. Besides, the incident in the park had shaken me more than I’d care to admit. I’d almost had my throat ripped out. If Brett hadn’t killed the denizen in time . . . I shuddered.

  I rang the bell again and waited as the hallway light came on.

  Blane opened the door, dressed in one of his bed time tee shirts and the soft grey joggers I loved to borrow when I slept over. His mouth was already curled into a smile, and his eyes were alight with recent laughter. They widened in genuine surprise when he saw me. His mouth formed an ‘O’ and he glanced back over his shoulder. I followed his gaze and caught movement down the hall behind him, in the kitchen.

  My brows shot up. “You have company?”

  “Blane, I’m just topping you up.”

  I recognised that voice, and my blood was instantly on the boil.

  Blane held up his hands. “She popped over with some documents I forgot to sign. She’s only been here an hour. I was just about to kick her out.”

  “Really? Is that why she’s ‘topping up your glass’?” I injected a whine to my voice to match hers.

  Blane’s expression sobered. “Jealousy does not sit well on you.”

  “Wow. Really?” I turned and began to walk away, then paused. No. Why the fuck should I leave? I spun on my heel and strode back up the path. “It’s eleven in the evening, if you popped over to see me and found, say . . . Kev chilling in my kitchen over a bottle of wine, wouldn’t you be a little jealous?”

  Blane sighed. “Okay. I’m sorry.”

  “Good. Now let me in and we can get rid of her.” He stepped aside.

  I have to say the look on her face when I walked into the kitchen was priceless.

  “Oh, hi.” She brushed back her hair, which she’d left down for the occasion. Dark, long, and glossy, it hung in silken waves down her back. Without the pinched look to her face, I had to admit she was pretty good looking.

  “Hi Vanessa, Blane said you were kind enough to drop off some documents?”

  Vanessa smiled tightly but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Yes, I guess I better get going.” Her gaze slid over my shoulder to Blane. Was she expecting him to ask her to stay?

  I exhaled to control the green-eyed monster that wanted to scratch out her eyes as she brushed past me into the hallway.

  Blane let her out and returned to the kitchen.

  “Please tell me you’re not that stupid.”

  Blane shrugged. “So she has a crush on me. Big deal. It wouldn’t be the first time, and it doesn’t mean anything would ever happen.” He moved toward me and pulled me into his arms. “There’s only one woman for me.”

  Gah, I hated that he could make me melt like this. “Really, and who might that be?”

  His lips curled in a slow lazy smile. “How about we head on upstairs and I show you?”

  Sounded good to me.

  CHAPTER10

  “M

  aybe I shouldn’t go?” Mum hovered at the door.

  I gave her a once over. Light makeup, hair loose, nice slacks, and a lovely cashmere sweater under her new calf length black coat.

  She looked good.

  “You’re going.”

  “It’s just dinner with the girls. I can eat at home.” Her eyes lit up. “I can join you guys for movie night
! I haven’t had a chance to say congratulations to the boys yet.”

  The problem wasn’t that she hadn’t seen Brett and Danny, the problem was that the place her charity group had picked for their bi-annual meet-up was a little on the pricey side.

  “We can afford one fancy meal, mum. Trust me, it won’t break the bank.”

  Her phone buzzed and she looked down at it. “That’s Brenda . . . I guess I should go?”

  I opened the front door and ushered her out before she could think of any other excuses to stay home. As soon as the door slammed, Bella came bounding down the stairs in her pyjamas and bunny slippers

  “Has she gone?”

  I nodded.

  “Yay. Now we can watch killer clowns!”

  “Yeah, then we can braid each other’s hair and I’ll let you paint my nails bright pink.”

  “Really?”

  “No. Not really you dingbat!”

  She puffed up her cheeks and blew out a breath. “Fine. But it was worth a try.”

  I shooed her into the living room. “Pick an age appropriate movie.”

  He eyes lit up.

  “Your age, not mine!”

  Her shoulders fell.

  Biting back a chuckle, I headed into the kitchen to put on the microwavable popcorn.

  “When are Brett and Danny getting here?” Bella called from the other room.

  “Any minute, Sweetie!”

  I found the popcorn and stuck it in the microwave.

  “Has it been a minute yet?”

  “Gah! Child, pick a movie will ya?”

  The doorbell rang.

  “I’ll get it!” she cried.

  The microwave pinged, and I grabbed a bowl for the popcorn. Male voices drifted into the kitchen, followed by an excited ‘eep’ from Bella which could only mean one thing. Treats! I hurriedly filled the bowl and headed into the living room just in time to see Bella taking a huge bite of a Delightful Donut.

  I glanced at Brett, then Danny. Both were empty handed.

  “Seriously? Where’s mine?”