Lady Jessica, Monster Hunter: Episode 3: Dark Waters

By Keith Dumble

England, 1889.

Lady Jessica McAlpin is the commander of The Black Diamonds, the Great British Empire's covert monster-hunting division.

With her crew of criminals, misfits and desperadoes, Lady Jessica soars above the land in the airship HMS Zephyr, tracking down the diabolical foes of the Empire.

When a series of mysterious deaths are reported in the ponds of Hampstead Heath, Lady Jessica and her companions are sent to investigate. Is it the work of a malevolent water spirit, said to haunt the depths? Or does an even darker trail lead to the answer to the mystery, one which leads all the way to the heart of the Empire itself?

Dark Waters is the third episode in a series of action and character driven steampunk adventures featuring Lady Jessica and The Black Diamonds.

Short in length, each episode is designed to be standalone: though they are linked by an overall story arc which will develop as the six-episode 'season' progresses.

Lady Jessica will return in Episode 4: Tooth And Claw

• Language: English
• Publisher: Keith Dumble
• Release date: Jan 10, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310671845

Keith Dumble

I am a writer from Edinburgh, Scotland.I write history, mystery and speculative fiction, focusing on the sci-fi and fantasy genres. As an indie author, I regularly publish short stories, serials, novellas and longer works of fiction on the main e-book platforms.

Book preview

Lady Jessica: Monster Hunter

Episode 3: Dark Waters

by Keith Dumble

Copyright © 2014 by Keith Dumble. All rights reserved.

Cover copyright © 2014 by Keith Dumble.

www.mcalpinpress.com

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

Reproduction in whole or in part of this publication without express written consent is strictly prohibited.

Thank you for purchasing and supporting my work. If you have enjoyed it, please consider leaving a review wherever you bought this book.

Keep up to date with the ongoing adventures of The Black Diamonds at

www.ladyjessicamonsterhunter.com

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

LADY JESSICA: MONSTER HUNTER

CHAPTER ONE

An Offer

Whitehall, London, 1898

'I DON'T BELIEVE you.' Jessica folder her arms across her purple velvet jacket. 'Dragons are extinct.'

Lady Astor leaned back in her red leather chair. 'You doubt what you saw with your own eyes, Lady McAlpin?'

'I'm not sure what I saw. Major Carruthers claimed we were in the future. It all seems so... far-fetched.'

'What if I told you it was true? All of it.'

'How could you know? Time travel is just a theory. And dragons? They're nothing more than fairytales and a few dusty old fossils in the museum!'

The Prime Minister opened a brown leather-bound folder on the desk in front of her. 'The Major was not the only one. There was another. Another one who came back.'

Jessica peered down at the typewritten words on the page. Most were too small to make out, apart from the heading. 'London, 1908,' she said, looking back up at the Prime Minister. 'Ten years from now.'

'Precisely. This is a report from Captain Joseph Darlington of the Nineteenth Hussars.' She slid the paper across the desk. 'It makes fascinating reading, I can assure you.'

Jessica scanned through the words, then laid the page aside. 'It is consistent with what I saw.' She recalled the sight of London in ruins; the dragons massed above Whitehall, ready to unleash fire upon the last survivors of the Empire. 'And where is Captain Darlington now? Did he return to the future?'

'No, he did not,' said Lady Astor, pouring tea into a white china cup on a silver filigreed tray. 'Care for some Darjeeling?'

Jessica waved away the offer. 'He is still here?'

'In a manner of speaking.' Lady Astor raised the cup to her lips. 'Darlington managed to extricate himself from our inquiries before we were fully satisfied.'

'He escaped, you mean?'

Lady Astor grimaced. 'No, Lady McAlpin. He was snatched from under our very noses.'

'From the Department? I find that hard to believe.'

'Our defences are not entirely impregnable.' The Prime Minister gazed at the brooding grey clouds brewing above Whitehall. 'Especially not against one of your so-called fairytales.'

'He was taken by a dragon?'

'Not quite, my dear. Captain Darlington was rescued by one. From Horseguards Parade, would you believe?'

'It managed to get in through the sky shield?' It was hard enough for airships to manoeuvre through the intricate web of energy beams woven high above London, and they had the advantage of onboard navigation devices. How a beast as large as a dragon could have penetrated it was a mystery indeed.

'In... and out. We barely had time to blink before Darlington bolted for the beast, climbed on its back and was off, soaring away to the south.'

Jessica recalled the object she and Flint had spotted from the Zephyr on the way to Carruthers' mansion. Was it possible? 'What does this mean, Lady Astor?'

'That,' said the Prime Minister, 'is what I would like you to find out.'

__________

The streets of the Capital flicked past like scenes from a magic lantern show as the carriage clattered back towards Clapham.

Traitors in the Empire's midst. Lady Astor was shrewd: she would have known how Jessica would react to that. And indeed, she had used Jessica's father like a pawn. A piece in a game which Jessica had yet to learn the rules of.

If she was successful, the Prime Minister had told her, and Jessica managed to uncover those within the Empire who wished it harm, then her father would be pardoned. All past crimes, alleged or otherwise, would be wiped from the slate of his record. She would be reunited with him at last.

All she had to do was find out who was betraying the Empire.

'Trust no-one,' Lady Astor had said. The Prime Minister's spies had already uncovered a trail which threaded like a poisoned vein through the corridors of Whitehall. Arrests had been made. High-ranking members of governmental departments had been taken, protesting from their homes in the middle of the night. But the trail had now turned cold. Inches from the door of the Department of Interior Security itself.

Only a select few had been informed, and Jessica's commanding officer was not one of them. Sir Humphrey Appleton was not above suspicion. She was to treat everyone as a potential traitor, no matter what position they held. And anything she discovered was to be communicated without delay to Lady Astor personally.

Jessica sank back in the tatty leather seats of the carriage and closed her eyes. Lady Jessica McAlpin. Commander of The Black Diamonds. Monster Hunter. And now, spy for the Prime Minister of the Great British Empire.

She was under strict orders to tell nobody. If she shared details of her mission with anyone, then Lady Astor had promised her father would never see daylight again. But it was not that threat which had caused Jessica's heart to sink.

The last thing Lady Astor had said before Jessica had been led from the office. The words still echoed in her head, louder than the chimes struck by the automata of Big Ben.

'We have reasons to believe one of the traitors is rather closer to home,' the Prime Minister had said, leaning over