Novels by Jemima Forrester

The week following the defeat of the demon had been surprisingly normal. Well – as normal as a week could be for two vampires, a witch, and a werewolf. I leant back against Skye, pressing my body against his. His arms slipped around my waist, and I snuggled closer. I could see the darkness swelling outside, scattering the stars and drawing away the purple haze of dusk. Skye had all but moved in to the Clan house, and, whilst most of his belongings were stashed in the spare bedroom upstairs, he slept and spent all of his time in my room. I’d dragged another chair up the staircase and lugged it into my room, so that we could share my desk – though very little homework ever got done, what with our constant teasing and moments where, despite the desk and my laptop, despite the mounds of assignments and text books, nothing but Skye and I existed. Those moments ended in kisses, always, and though I was

The large, red-brown wolf in front of me panted, its claws digging into empty earth. I stepped closer, one quivering hand outstretched. The rain splattered onto its fur, slicking it down as it turned its huge, golden eyes to look at me. There was a nudging glee between our bond, as though we were both too scared to accept that we’d done it. We hadn’t failed. We’d won. I held the wolf’s gaze. He gave me a nod, and his jaw hung open in a lopsided grin. It was raining. I’d made it rain. I couldn’t make sense of everything that was happening. My grip on the knife loosened, and it clattered to the floor. Then Skye was shifting in front of me, and, rain soaked and bloody, we fell into each other’s arms. All around us people were waking up, witches and vampires alike, and I let out a breath I hadn’t realised I’d been holding. They were going to

“If you have the power to do that,” I said, yanking the blade out from under my skort, “why not just kill us all now?” Cythraul clucked his tongue. “And what would be the fun in that? The realm I’m from is nothing like your world, Ellis. This place has hope, and fear, and love, and loss. There is duality in all things. It is a privilege for me to be here, you see. I plan to enjoy it.” “So this is just a game to you?” I spat, raising the knife. I tried to keep my eyes on the demon, not wanting to see the lifeless bodies of my family all around us. “Of course,” he grinned. “Though I’m afraid your chances are perhaps bleaker than I’ve made out. Your little witch friend, the red head – she was wrong about that stone around your neck.” He nodded at it. “It doesn’t mean what she thinks. Her first guess was right &n

“You know?” I whispered. My mouth went dry, and I swallowed thickly, trying to wet my lips. Ice flooded my veins. We had lost. We had failed. He stepped out of the shadows, snakes of black mist pooling around his body as he moved. His smirk deepened, and I saw a flash of white teeth as he struggled to hold in his laughter. He looked, for the most part, human. His skin shone with a pearlescent lustre, but two dark horns protruded from his forehead and his eyes glowed red. He was tall – taller than any person I’d ever seen, be they vampire, human, witch, or wolf – and, as the fog parted, billowing away from his legs, I understood why. He had the upper body of a human, and the legs of a large goat. But, as I watched, they shifted and shimmered in the darkness, stars and sparkles of an indeterminable colour – too matte to shine like that, too black to be so bright; it was impossib

“I guess this is where I have to leave you,” I said, though I didn’t slide my hand out of Skye’s, or make any indication that I was planning on walking away from him. I was reluctant to leave him alone, even though I knew that his job was more likely to be safe than mine. That didn’t mean I wasn’t scared for him. “I guess so,” he echoed, though his clutch on my hand grew firmer. We’d agreed before that Skye should stay to protect the humans in the maze. With every second that we put off the inevitable, we were putting lives at risk. Our jaunt through the maze had been undertaken with the knowledge that we would likely be to first to arrive at the scene of any attacks – but there had been none, and, so far, it seemed as though the demon was planning on giving the maze a miss. The thought gripped me with fear, icy and unyielding, a frozen cage that constricted my

We had an hour to kill before the Clan were due to start their fight. I didn’t want to think that it might be my last, but try as I might, my barricades were struggling to stay in place. The two thuds played on a loop in my head, and I had to concentrate very hard to keep the images of David and Toby out of my mind. No. I couldn’t think like that. Tonight we would avenge David, and we would keep the rest of the town safe. We’d been lucky so far in that there had been only one casualty – there was something odd about that, I was sure, though I was grateful that was the case – but I didn’t want to put anyone else at risk. I took a deep breath. “Do you want to go through the maze?” I asked, turning to face Skye. He slipped his hand out of mine and rubbed it on the thigh of his jeans. “Sure.” He pulled a smile onto his lips, but it seemed that I wasn’t alone w

I tugged nervously at my dress. Nami and Rosa were behind me, weaving flowers and plaits into my long, brown hair. It waved neatly, having been blow dried and oiled by my entourage. “Are you sure you don’t want any lipstick?” Rosa asked, fiddling with a daisy. She glanced at me in the mirror, her sharply plucked eyebrows raised. “I’m sure,” I said, rolling my eyes at her. They sparkled in the bright light, wide beneath the swathe of brown and gold eye shadow on my lids. “I think you look good without it, anyway,” Nami shrugged. She wound a small, black band around the end of the braid she’d woven into my hair, and then stepped back. “You’re all done, Ari.” “Thanks,” I smiled, turning from side to side to admire myself in the mirror. The dress was simple: I was draped in gold, tightly fitting and hugging the curv

“It seems,” Alpha Gedeon smirked, “that an accord will have to be negotiated. Young Jacob is to be Alpha of your pack one day, if I am not mistaken. Airini will make a fine Luna; of that, I am sure.” But nobody was paying Gedeon so much as an ounce of attention, not even the wolves of his own pack. All eyes were fixed on Jacob and Airini. She, like Jacob, was covered in the mud and gore of battle. There was a deep, purple bruise blossoming along the side of her face, which stood out starkly against her white skin. Her hair was fine, golden gossamer that floated down to her shoulders. She was easily as tall as he was, but lightly boned and lithely muscled. She looked delicate, but sharp, like an ivory blade. I grabbed Samyak’s hand excitedly, and in that moment I knew that Jacob and I had never been meant to be. My love for Jacob poured out of me now, an expression of friendship and joy for h

Death was easy. There was no pain in darkness, no anguish. There was no regret, no suffering. But there was no joy either; no elation, no sense of wonder. The darkness was all consuming, but it was not fulfilling. There was something missing, something niggling at the very farthest point of my mind. Then the darkness began to lift, and, though my bleary eyes stayed shut, a bright, golden light shone upon my face. I wondered if I would be opening my eyes into the afterlife, this first blurry vision of gold my eternal resting place. “Arienne?” Samyak murmured. “Arienne – please, open your eyes.” Then I heard him turn, shuffling despairingly to someone, anyone for help. “Why won’t it work?” He asked, his voice heartbroken, confused, like that of a child. This didn’t seem like death. Death was a painless, eternal nothingness. Samyak was crying, and I could see him w

Alpha Brius was shadowed on either side by his family. His hair, red as blazing fire, stood out even in the darkness. The glow of the sun shone on it, blood dousing flame, and it rippled like water as he stepped forward beside his mate. I could just make out Luna Lucille’s classical features in the dim morning light, though her hair, darker than Brius’s, was obscured. “We said we would stand beside you,” he called. “No matter the task. You saved our son, and the White Elm pack is in your debt, Lapis Moon. We have come to fight at your side.” Luna Carla beamed, and walked down the slope to greet them, Alpha Felix at her side. “You came,” she breathed. “We did, Luna,” said Alpha Brius, bowing his head to her. It was a gesture of respect, and one that was not necessary under such circumstances. “You called, so we came.” I beamed dow

The sun was rising, the first glimpses of orange light tickling the purple sky of the dawn. I stared straight ahead, my flask of coffee going cold between my hands. They were coming, and we were ready. We’d been sent to bed halfway through the night. I’d struggled to sleep, but had fallen into its warmth an hour before I had to wake up again. The broken pattern of napping had made me more tired than I had been before, but my steely focus and determination was keeping me awake now. Samyak had excitedly filled his parents in on his gift, but when they had asked me about mine I’d had very little to say. Ryna’s aura, if that was what it had been, gave me hardly anything to go on. Samyak’s gift was real, palpable; we had both witnessed its effects first-hand. Seeing one maybe-aura was not much to brag about; besides, even if it had been real, I didn’t know what it meant.&nb

I felt my face pale. I clung to Samyak, my hands scrabbling at him like the terrified claws of a prey animal. The moon’s light glittered in my eyes, spinning slowly like a distorted, monocolour kaleidoscope. “Arienne?” Samyak asked, his voice whipping like static against my ears. “What is it? What’s wrong?” Black spots pulsed through my vision, but I shook myself, determined to find out more. Gedeon? What time tomorrow? I sent back, my mind scrambling to find his. But no reply came, and I felt myself falling. Before I hit the bottom, however, I yanked myself back up to the surface. The tidal wave was coming, but we had time. We were prepared, and we could be ready. We would be ready. I pulled back, and my gaze met Samyak’s. He looked soft, his lips plump and his eyes tender. They furrowed in confusion when he saw my own exp

It was all my fault. I’d hesitated, and, because of that, Old Tim was dead. The demon had lured me in, with what were most likely lies, and I’d taken too long to strike. And I’d forgotten another important rule of hunting, though it was an unspoken guideline more than an actual rule: don’t gloat. Maybe, if the demon hadn’t known it was going to die, it would have left Old Tim alive. I berated myself angrily the whole way back to Seafall, and as my emotional exhaustion began to set in, I continued to berate myself in a bitter inner voice, rather than the angry one, cold and almost toneless. Death was an unfortunate part of the reality of hunting. But unnecessary death was something far, far worse, and this time I’d been the one to cause it. I’d gone through the motions of the clean up rigidly, hardly noticing what my body was doing. I was less than a passenger as we sorted t

The stadium in Beerbridge had been built on an old apple orchard, which explained why their team, Beerbridge Town F.C., was nicknamed the Apples. However, I didn’t think it explained why half the stadium was filled with middle aged men wearing cartoon apples with gaudy, beaming faces on their heads. I’d played a lot of sports in my time, and football had been one that I’d enjoyed. I’d never understood the appeal of watching it, though. I wanted to be an active participant, rather than dressing myself up like an idiot and shouting from the sidelines. I’d been to a few university home games to watch Harper (he’d played for the Seconds), but that was more to be a supportive girlfriend than out of any real interest in watching the sport itself. Unfortunately for us, we needed to fit in with the heaving crowd. And that meant buying apple heads of our own. “I feel ridiculous,” Me

Once we were in the right place, Old Tim – and the demon possessing his body – were surprisingly easy to find. It was a relief to fall into the familiar routine of hunting. It gave me a chance to shut out my thoughts regarding Harper and Cyrus, and allowed me to focus fully on the task at hand. I was in my element here, stalking the streets of Beerbridge, my hand gripping the rowan knife in my pocket. I’d had to move it from the thigh holster – cool as it had looked – so that I could swing it quickly when the time came. Though Sierra seemed confident with the words of the exorcism, words of power designed to send the creature back to Hell, I couldn’t leave anything to chance. Who knew what poor Old Tim was dealing with, trapped inside his own body and unable to move or think or speak. He was a passenger, as far as our previous experience told us, anyway. I wrinkled my nose at the thought, and clutche

To put it mildly, I’d been surprised to learn that a demon had taken up residence in the neighbouring town of Beerbridge. It was a little bigger than Seafall, and sat off to the east. It was known primarily for its large harbour and docks, so I supposed that a travelling creature, such as a demon, would see the benefits of settling there for a while. There were plenty of bodies ripe for possession, and, if it got bored, there was easy access to other port towns readily available. Though I was, of course, not glad that a demon had taken root in Beerbridge, I was glad of the distraction it provided me with. It all worked out perfectly – I had Sunday off work, and Susan, of all people, had found us a lead. Sierra had followed it up, and we’d gathered a few of our number to track the monster. Torre had been eager to stay behind in Seafall. The vampires were her main concern, and she’d asked Beau to st

I’d half expected the house to be in darkness when I got home, but the downstairs lights were on, and it looked as warm and inviting as ever. I pulled up next to Harper’s battered old car, some vintage Chevy that he was equal parts proud of and fed up with, and then I killed the engine. It was easier to face myself, sat alone in the liminal space that my car provided. It had always felt like a limbo to me: you were either getting in, getting out, or actively driving. To sit in it, especially in the driveway, or a car park, at night, made the very air feel hazy and dizzying. The orange streetlight glowed against the windows, catching on the water droplets from the earlier rainfall. They were stark against the dark, glum sky, and I pressed the pads of my fingertips against the cool glass, tracing the pattern of them. I was only prolonging the inevitable. But his face – I’d never seen Har

Harper grinned at me as Grace and I filed out from the back room. I smoothed down my apron, wanting something to do with my hands. I smiled back at him nervously, glancing at his soft, brown eyes for only a second before my own eyes started darting around the room, trying to find Cyrus. Being unable to spot him filled me with conflicting emotions. Was it good or bad, better or worse, that I couldn’t see him easily? I decided that, for the time being, at least, I would push him out of my mind. He was just a customer, and Harper, sweet, gentle Harper, was sat at the bar, leaning heavily across the counter and waiting for me to say something to him. “Hi,” I said. Harper frowned, standing immediately and reaching for me. “Are you okay, Cals?” “She’s been like this all day,” Grace chipped in, shaking her head at me. &n