Guardians of the Dead Read online

  When sixteen-year-old Amber Noble’s dreams begin to weave into her reality, she turns to the mysterious Connor for help. His links to the supernatural world uncover a chilling truth about her hometown and a pact that must be re-paid with blood.

  As her father alienates her, and the Guardians take her best friend, her true destiny unfolds, and she begins a quest that will see her past collide with her present.

  Drawn deeper into the world of witchcraft and faeries, it is only at the end of her journey that she realises how much she could lose.

  Book one of The Guardians

  GUARDIANS of the DEAD

  Copyright © 2015 S.L. Wilson

  All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, 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 prior written permission of the publisher.

  This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Published by

  Amber Publishing

  Print edition ISBN numbers:

  ISBN-13: 978-1508433200

  ISBN-10: 1508433208

  For Lee, Jamie & Ella

  Her lungs threatened to burst as she ran, but she pushed herself to keep moving regardless of the pain in her joints. How could she have been so foolish? The signs had been there. The crippling headaches had forewarned her of what was to come but she hadn’t heeded the warnings and now she was running for her life.

  The old church loomed before her, a humongous sandstone building that, under the light of dawn, appeared to be bleeding from the mortar that sealed the large blocks of stone. The gothic spire soared into the sky, its ornate carvings disfigured by the wind and rain that had hounded it for centuries. If she could make it to the doors she could bind the lock, and cast a spell to prevent anyone getting out.

  She had sworn to protect the town which slept around her, its inhabitants safe in their beds. Her own husband and daughter slept soundly, oblivious to her mission.

  Her frantic mind calmed as she thought briefly of her daughter. At just six years old she could hold her own against any classroom bully, bright as any scholar and yet she showed no sign of inheriting her family’s power. She was a little girl, special in her own unique way but she was no prophecy child. They had been wrong.

  Now, as she ran for her life, she feared she may never set eyes on her sweet child again.

  The gravel path crunched underfoot as she hurried along to the gaping mouth of the church entrance. Solid oak doors, highly decorated with concentric circles, stood before her, their iron handles caked in rust from centuries of neglect.

  The church, once the thriving centre of Hills Heath’s community until the disappearances began centuries ago, was now a derelict monstrosity, a haunted mausoleum that the local authority were too afraid to rip down.

  She skidded to a halt, dropping to her knees and pulling her heavy coat collar around her neck, protecting herself from the chill of the early morning air. She tried to relax her posture as she cast the protective circle, her heart pounding in her chest as she hurriedly traced the shape in the dirt. Her fingers crackled as blue fire caressed her hands, spreading along each digit until flames danced in her upturned palms.

  Pushing her power out, she raised it from the earth, letting it rush through her in a torrent until a lightning bolt escaped and arched towards the wooden doors. Using all her concentration she carved the spell into the wood, splinters of oak breaking off as the blue fire cut deep. Looping the flame in a crescent, she chanted under her breath, drawing her power from the nature surrounding her. She had to prevent them from setting foot in her town. In her world. Time stood still as she heard them approach from behind. The world spun as she realised she was too late and they were already here. The protection spell collapsed as her face smashed into the heavy wooden doors. She tasted blood and wiped her mouth with her sleeve. Shaking her head to try to clear her vision, she stood, sweeping her arms around her, an athame nestled in the palm of her hand.

  The dawn mist swirled through the churchyard, cloaking the gravestones. A large shape stepped out from the smog; a tall, muscular man dressed head to foot in black with a golden phoenix emblazoned across his armoured breastplate. His hooded cape was drawn up over his head, disguising all but the hard set of his jaw. From beneath the swathes of black fabric a deep rumbling laugh reverberated across the churchyard.

  ‘I have need of you, witch.’ He spat the words at her as he stepped closer, his hand resting on the hilt of the sword hidden from view beneath his cape.

  She glared at the huge man. With her dagger raised between them she stood tall with her chin held high. ‘My name is Myanna.’

  His laugh held no warmth as it echoed in the eerie silence, her blood pounded in her ears, and the tiny hairs on her arms stood erect.

  ‘I don’t deal in pleasantries.’ He snapped his fingers and two men approached, similarly dressed save for a smaller red phoenix on their armour.

  They circled either side of her, cutting off her escape routes. She backed away until her shoulders touched the oak doors. Still clutching her athame and holding it at arm’s length she fumbled with her free hand to find the iron handle behind her. There was only one way out. She would have to go through the church.

  Planting her feet squarely on the compacted gravel she flung her dagger at the man to the left, striking him in the shoulder as she swung open the wooden door, smashing it into the advancing man on her right. She pivoted on her left foot and slipped through the door, pulling it closed behind her, whispering a sealing spell to slow them down. The inside of the door charred and smoked as the magic took hold.

  The interior of the church smelt musty, the years of decay permeating the walls and floors. She was in the nave, an enormous room with vaulted ceilings and rows of wooden pews that faced a raised stone altar. Strings of cobwebs laced across the seats leading to the platform. No-one had stepped foot in there in over two centuries—no-one human anyway. She hurried past the baptistery, once the centre for all the town’s christenings, but the font had long since dried up.

  SHE SEARCHED along the back wall, running her hands across the stone looking for another exit. An opening in the darkest corner of the church led to a wrought-iron staircase. The stairwell was cloaked in darkness and descended further than her eyes could see. She faltered briefly, unsure if stepping onto the first rung would lead her into more trouble or point her to an escape route.

  The heavy front doors of the church smashed open and the men stormed through the entrance with a bloodcurdling cry.

  Her time was up. She placed her foot on the first rung and took a step down, then another…

  Ten Years Later.

  The rasping sound of a match head on stone echoed through the graveyard. The flame spluttered briefly before igniting. As it met with the wick, the black candle burst into life and cast an unearthly green glow across the ground.

  The hunched figure scratched whirling patterns on the wet soil with a small chicken bone while pouring hot wax into the grooves. The liquid trickled slowly along the trench until the ancient symbol was alight with green fire.

  As the rain began to fall and the sky grumbled, heavy with storm clouds, the figure began to chant.

  The symbol shone in the gloom, changing from a ghostly green colour to blood red, blazing like a branding iron against the hide of a dark beast. The thunderclouds rumbled and drowned out the fierce crack of the earth as the ground began to open.

  A humourless smile spread across
the figure’s anaemic face as the soil around the candle trembled. Clots of earth erupted in clumps like macabre molehills and the flames danced in the wind. A sound to the right forced the intruder to squat lower to the ground and nestle between the tombstones to avoid discovery or have the dark magic that seeped into the earth before them halted.

  A young couple ran hand in hand through the open church gate from the town square and bolted through the graveyard to the shelter of the trees.

  Still laughing from the thrill of her breathless sprint the young girl wrapped her arms around her companion’s neck. ‘That was fun,’ she giggled, giving him a coy smile as she pressed her body in close to his.

  The boy’s grin spread across his glistening face and he bent forward to kiss her.

  As their lips met, the ground around them shook.

  ‘Blimey, Dan, you’re a really good kisser.’

  He laughed. ‘That wasn’t me.’ He moved away slightly, holding her shoulders as he looked down at their feet. ‘It came from underneath us.’

  The ground shook again and mounds of dirt spewed forth as if something was pushing up from below.

  A flash of lightning momentarily lit up the sky. The earth stirred again, large clots of mud were tossed as high as the gravestones, the topsoil flung to the sky as the earth cracked open and a grotesque creature broke through the surface.

  The young girl screamed and stumbled against the tree trunk as her companion stood protectively in front of her. The creature clawed its way from the ground never taking its black eyes off the figures. Long talons with grimy fingernails grabbed at tree roots as it pulled itself from the ground.

  The demon was immense. It stood tall and stretched its muscled arms wide revelling in its freedom. It towered over them, its waxy grey skin laced with black veins, its thick neck ending in a horned head with deep set eyes that shone as black as obsidian, jagged teeth filled its mouth and its breath was putrid as it leant down to snarl at the young couple. Dark spots covered its scalp and a row of scars ran from its nose and up across its forehead to meet with the two grey horns.

  The girl sobbed. ‘What is it?’

  Snarling at them, the creature then licked its dirt-covered lips. Skulking forward it swiped a long arm and sent the girl skidding across the ground to crash head first into a headstone. Blood oozed from a deep gash on her forehead and she screamed hysterically, holding her dirty hands to her head.

  The boy faced the creature, anger powering his actions. ‘Leave her alone!’ he screamed.

  The creature laughed and, moving faster than the boy could see, leapt through the air to hunch over the hysterical girl like a feral dog over its dinner. In one fluid movement it ripped off her head and tossed it to the ground.

  The colour drained from the boy’s face as he staggered backwards, a wave of nausea washing over him. He vomited over one of the gravestones then scrambled into a run. He ran blindly, hot tears stinging his eyes. He tripped over tree roots and rocks but never looked back. The overhanging branches of the churchyard’s trees clawed at his face as he tore through the night, a heavy weight of grief and panic lodged in his heart.

  He could hear the creature gaining on him, its foul odour permeating the night air. Ahead of him was the gravel path which led to the town square and civilisation. His legs were screaming with pain as he pushed himself to go faster.

  With the church gate in sight he crashed to the ground in a cloud of wet gravel, the creature’s razor sharp talons wrapped around his ankle. He kicked out with his free leg as he was pulled along the path, clutching at tree roots and tufts of grass, writhing to break the bond, but the creature was much stronger.

  A lone figure stepped out from the treeline to stand in the demon’s path. The man was dressed head to foot in black: black trousers and heavy boots that were strapped up to his knees with leather cord, and a long cape covered an armoured breastplate with a picture of a red bird at the centre. The hood of the cape was drawn up over the man’s head obscuring his identity. In his hands he held two curved swords which he lifted slowly and pointed at the demon.

  The creature snarled and easily tossed the boy to the side as it faced its new opponent.

  With a bloodthirsty roar the monster threw itself at the man, its talons slashing wildly as it tried to slice him in half, but he was too fast. He sideswiped the creature and hacked down with his right sword catching its left flank. Green ooze poured from the open wound and the creature howled into the night. The man circled in front and thrust his sword up into the creature’s belly, simultaneously slicing its throat with his other weapon.

  The huge lumbering creature fell silent and crashed to the ground. Its skin began to burn and sizzle and within minutes the immense fiend had been reduced to ash, washed away by the heavy downpour which continued to pound the earth.

  The boy watched as the mysterious hooded figure surveyed his surroundings while he cleaned his blades on the hem of his cape, his face still hidden under his black hood.

  He tried to stand but his shaking limbs wouldn’t work, instead he dragged himself over to the churchyard wall and leant against the cold, wet stones, fighting to stabilise his breathing as he wiped the fresh blood from the cuts on his hands down his trouser leg.

  The man slotted his swords back into their sheaths and strode over to where the boy was sitting, half on the ground and half propped against the wall.

  ‘Thank you,’ Dan said, his voice muffled as he wiped the vomit from his mouth with the back of his hand.

  The figure swivelled his head to look out once again across the graveyard. Someone was there but before he could react or call for help the man crouched down beside him, bringing his face within inches of his own. He pulled out a pencil-thin dagger, the blade not much wider than a needle. The handle was made of a translucent material filled with a murky purple liquid.

  Without warning the man dropped his hood. His shaved head was covered with an ornate tattoo which wound over his scalp and trailed down his neck. His features were chiselled and hard. Deep, ruby red eyes looked back at Dan, glowing in the darkness like pools of fire.

  He took hold of the blade in his right hand and placed it over the boy’s chest.

  ‘No, wait!’

  The man studied Dan for a long moment then plunged the blade into the boy’s heart. As it reached the hilt, the murky substance that had filled the handle drained into his body and the hot liquid seeped into his bloodstream.

  Before Dan blacked out he saw the great oak doors of the old church loom up ahead of him. The church that had been derelict for years. As he drifted into unconsciousness he wondered if he would ever see those oak doors again.

  AMBER NOBLE tucked her brown curly hair behind her ears and folded her coat tightly across her chest, protecting her from the night air. It was threatening to rain as she hurried along the deserted street, eager to get home and out of the cold.

  She checked her watch, ten thirty; she was in so much trouble.

  ‘Get a job,’ her dad had told her, ‘I’m not having you sitting around all summer getting under Patricia’s feet.’

  As if she would want to get under Patricia’s feet. Her loathsome stepmother had lined her up with a desk job at the local beauty spa; Amber shuddered at the thought: an entire summer wasted with that woman and her plastic, peroxide friends. She sourced her own job as soon as possible but even that had caused a massive argument. Her dad hadn’t spoken to her for two days, much to Patricia’s delight.

  Working at the local coffee shop apparently wasn’t good enough for Alan Noble’s daughter, but then these days nothing she did was ever going to be good enough for her father.

  The sleepy eyes of the shop windows ended and Amber cut across the town square in the direction of the old abandoned church. Its dark, grey bulk was an ugly blemish on a quaint English town.

  As she hurried past, she glanced at the stone archway framing the oak doors, which yawned like a mouth from the house of horrors at the funfair. The simil
arity had always unnerved Amber and the recurring nightmares of her mother being sucked through those church doors into a flaming inferno still haunted her ten years after her mother had walked out on them.

  The sky rumbled as it began to rain. Pulling her coat tighter, Amber skirted around the grey walls.

  The spire of the old building glistened in the downpour and was briefly illuminated in a flash of lightning. It gleamed a dull red in the night sky, like the bloody end of a sword.

  The walls towered above her as she splashed through the puddles. At the crossroads of Orchard Street and Station Avenue, she turned right heading out of town. The graveyard walls fell away to waist height and Amber could see across the black headstones to the rear of the church.

  As another flash lit up the sky Amber saw a figure run behind the stones, a fleeting vision of black and silver. She slowed her pace.

  Squinting into the gloom she watched for signs of movement. A flash of silver caught her eye and she concentrated hard on the space between the headless angel and the oak tree that dominated the cemetery.

  There was someone out there, dressed in black with a hoodie pulled over their face.

  Crackheads. As she pushed away from the wall, a sudden scream filled the air. She grabbed for the stone and scanned the cemetery for the hoodie addict to emerge again, worried he had lured an unwilling victim to his crack den.

  A low howl filled the air as if a dog were being neutered. The hoodie passed across her line of sight again and Amber saw that what she had assumed was a wayward teen was a heavily muscled man. The heavy ‘hoodie’ was in fact a long black cape covering black trousers, heavy boots and an armoured breastplate with a picture of a red bird at the centre.

  As if the man sensed an audience he swivelled his gaze at her. Blood red eyes peered out from the gaping hole beneath his hood and she felt his fierce stare drilling into her. She gasped as the figure lifted up two curved blades. Bile rose up in her throat as she spied thick liquid ooze down the silver. The man whirled the swords in his hands and wiped the mess on the hem of his cape.