Rag & Bones: Chaos

By Juliet Boyd

When chaos comes, no one is safe.
Sometimes, decisions we make for the right reasons don’t pan out how we imagined. When Flynn tries to free her mother from the Overlord’s clutches, she unleashes all kinds of horror on the small town of Midbury.
People will die, that is inevitable, but some will live on. Skill, protection and honour all have their place in determining the outcome.
The web of Flynn’s life is about to unravel with devastating effect.
This, the final book in the Rag & Bones Vampire Series, is a frantic journey through one day in the lives of the residents of Midbury. Join them now to see who survives.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Juliet Boyd
• Release date: Apr 4, 2016
• ISBN: 9781310418693

Juliet Boyd

Juliet lives in Somerset in the south-west of England. She used to work in administration, but now writes full-time. Her main writing interests are fantasy, science fiction, weird fiction, horror and flash fiction. Details of her work are available on her website.

Book preview

Chapter 1

RAG HELD ONE end of the metal pipe firmly across the Overlord’s neck and Kaleb held the other. Their increased strength, courtesy of a spell cast by Flynn before they’d descended into his lair, was enough to hold the Overlord to the ground, but barely. The creature’s strength was phenomenal, greater than anything Rag had ever experienced before. It was a good job Flynn had the enhanced magical powers given to her by the Mother Stone, otherwise he didn’t think they would still be in control of the situation. They needed to hurry, to sort things out, before the tables turned in the Overlord’s favour.

Where’s the key? said Rag, putting as much menace into his voice as he was able — a fair bit, considering the history they all had with the Overlord. The most significant fact being that the creature had abducted Flynn’s mother, Nadelie, or Adeline, he couldn’t remember which they were supposed to be using now, which was the sole reason they were now in this situation. She had been taken and they knew she was still alive. Well, Flynn hadn’t suddenly aged and that was the best indicator they had of her mother’s survival.

The key to what? said the Overlord, taking tiny gulps of air between the words. As if he didn’t know. If there was one thing the Overlord wasn’t, it was stupid.

That. Rag nodded his head back to the heavy, lead door behind him. The one they suspected held the secret to Adeline’s whereabouts.

You can’t go in there.

Rag nodded at Kaleb. They pushed harder. A strangled sound left the Overlord’s mouth. It might’ve been a word. They relaxed the pressure a tad. He had to be able to reply.

Where?

But the Overlord didn’t need to say a word. A key, on a chain, appeared around his neck. The kind of key that always spelled trouble. Large, ornate, clunky. Looked like it was made in the dim and distant past.

Lori scuttled over and removed it. She handed it to Flynn, although why, Rag wasn’t sure. She couldn’t be scared of going into the room. They’d been training. She was supposed to be over the scared-vampire thing.

Flynn did the honours and the door unlocked with an ominous thud of metal settling on metal. It creaked open a crack. Flynn pushed it further and stepped in.

A whoosh of stale air pushed out.

No way, she said.

Flynn looked like she was frozen to the spot. She turned back to the group, her lip caught tightly between her teeth. You go and suss it out. Emilia and I will keep him subdued.

The comment was directed at him.

Was she scared? She didn’t usually defer to him like that. No matter. He wasn’t scared. He nodded.

Emilia spluttered, But the Overlord’s strong. He has magic.

Flynn glared at her and she shut up. Olaf can stay here with us, we’ll be fine.

Kaleb can stay as well, said Rag. Lori, you’re with me.

No.

Yes.

Without any further words being necessary, Olaf swapped places with Rag, and he headed toward the door, latching his hand around Lori’s wrist as he went. She tried to resist, but he wasn’t about to let go. Until he stopped, as still as Flynn had done, when he stepped over the threshold. Bloody …. There weren’t many times in his long life he’d been stuck for something to say.

Lori gasped. "What is this?" Her face was filled with horror.

Even his insides did a flip. I’d say it’s a prison.

They moved further into the room. It was another cavernous space that looked more man-made … creature-made, than having been caused by the natural seepage of water through the rock, especially as, leading off from the main room, were multiple tunnels, far too regular and evenly spaced.

The sounds of hissing and shouting battered their ears. Angry. The kind of sounds you might make if you’d been caged for a long time. The smells of incarceration were also in abundance, which explained the waft of air they’d got when the door had been opened. The cages, although large enough for the prisoners to take a few paces in any direction, did not seem to have anything in the way of sanitation, or privacy. It was primitive in the extreme. It was inhumane.

Rag closed his eyes for a moment. He needed to focus.

They weren’t there to comment on the political correctness of the situation, or why this prison existed. They were there to find one person. Flynn’s mother. Nothing else. No moral crusade.

At least, Ellie wasn’t with them. Although, in her current state, she might not have cared.

Ignoring the taunts as he went, Rag strode over toward one of the tunnels and peered along it. It turned out to be a small passage, no more than a few feet long, that led out into another cavern, equally as full, equally as noisy, now that visitors had come to call. And beyond, there were more tunnels.

There really were no words.

All this had been beneath them the whole time? How could they not have felt the magic, the presence? It had to be more than a lead door. There had to be something in the rocks that stopped it from leeching out. Perhaps, even those weren’t real.

Rag retraced his steps and strode back through the entrance. He stopped where the Overlord lay. Rag leaned over him. How many? The Overlord remained tight-lipped. How many?

He thought he saw a tear trickle from the Overlord’s eye. He swallowed hard. I’ve lost count.

This was ridiculous. You must have a checklist. Something.

No. No paperwork. Paperwork is evidence.

Evidence?

You don’t understand.

Too right, I don’t.

I was supposed to kill them. None of them should be here.

Well, that shut Rag up. Supposed to kill them implied he’d been ordered to do so, but he hadn’t. He was defying them, whoever they were. There was always a they. And if it were true, that was brave, he supposed. But it didn’t alter the fact that these creatures had been locked up for a very long time. Most he’d seen, in his brief examination, were immortal in terms of natural lifespan, not impervious.

Why didn’t you?

Because killing’s wrong. I don’t like killing for the sake of it. You don’t blame a lion for tracking and felling its prey. They’re no different. You’re no different.

Rag thumped a palm against his forehead. Was he hearing this right? But destruction of private property isn’t wrong? Impersonating others to get the creatures here isn’t wrong? Abducting them and making them think they’re going to die, isn’t wrong? Rag tried to obliterate all his own deficiencies in his mind as he spoke, especially the one regarding abduction and scaring the living daylights out of people.

No system is perfect. I never said it was perfect.

You must have some idea of how many, said Flynn. Make an estimate.

It’ll be in the thousands.

And where did you put my mother?

You can’t free her. They’ll know.

I don’t care. Where is she?

Will they kill you if you tell us? said Rag.

I’m already dead, said the Overlord. He sighed so deeply Rag was sure a breeze wrapped it’s way around the tunnels. I’ll show you where she is, but that’s all I can do.

Chapter 2

THE HOUSE WAS empty. The Old Bakery was usually so full of people these days, especially since Lori had moved in, and Rufus, Kaleb and Olaf had become part of their circle of supernatural friends. But they’d all gone off somewhere without telling Ellie what they were doing. They hadn’t even said goodbye. They’d waited until she was asleep and crept out like grounded teenagers sneaking out to a club. She didn’t like it one bit. It made her feel unloved and unwanted, but it had become the norm. She knew they didn’t trust her. In truth, she didn’t blame them. She wouldn’t trust herself. Ever since she’d returned from Bristol, with Rag and Bones as her rescuers, it had been different. They knew something, she was sure of it. Whether they knew the actual truth, that was another thing entirely.

She refused to enter their minds without their permission.

The truth was that she was a vampire pretending she was still human. That somehow, miraculously, she’d found a cure for the curse and returned to the living. It wasn’t true, of course. That could never happen. It was an impossibility. The dead didn’t come back to true life. They had their own special kind of life that defied the rules of logic. Bound by some kind of magic to the mortal world.

Magic. She hated magic.

But even though she knew it was futile, she wanted to feel she was human. She missed not knowing whether she’d have cereal for breakfast or a sneaky Danish pastry from the real bakery in town. She did eat, but she found no joy in it anymore. She was still hiding the fact that she needed to feed on the blood supplies they kept in the freezer. Duplications of her own blood — pre-vampire blood. That fact had made her queasy at first, but once it was in her mouth, it was just blood.

Feeding wasn’t the only issue. She spent her time desperately trying not to let her fangs descend when she was in company, or to move too fast for a human, or to hear something that would be impossible for her to hear, but it was getting more and more difficult. Her whole life was a struggle. A struggle not to let on what she suspected they already knew. A struggle against the magic that bound her.

She opened the fridge and took out the most recently defrosted container of blood and turned it around and around in her hands. She lifted the lid and sniffed at the contents. Copper notes she knew so well. Delicious. She could feel the saliva activating in her mouth. She didn’t need to drink any more. She’d already had her ration, but it was a little like your favourite biscuits, once you’d eaten one, you could easily devour the whole packet in a single sitting. All it would take to resist was a little restraint. Self-control had been one of her strengths before she changed. She slammed the container down on the table. The restraint was an issue.

Anger, that was what she felt most of the time. Anger at Bones for changing her. Yes, she knew it was him now. She’d heard the whispers amongst the others with her newly acute hearing that she was trying not to use, but she didn’t know why he’d done it when she’d expressly forbidden any saving her on her death bed. Anger at the lies Adrielle had spun when Ellie was at her most vulnerable, making her believe that she’d become human again, even if that hadn’t lasted long. Masking her vampire traits because she wanted something in return. Anger at herself for being tricked in the first place. That had been so stupid. You couldn’t return from being a vampire. Oh, yes, and anger at Roger and his employers for trying to trick her into believing they were in the business of helping vampires, when all they wanted was to milk their healing blood. She ought not forget that.

No, she would not drink more. That wouldn’t solve anything. She put the blood back into the fridge and walked through to the lounge.

The lights on the Christmas tree winked at her, as if they knew everything. Sentient lights, now that would be something.

The piles of presents were there. Two piles. One labelled Christmas, with presents for everyone, and one labelled Birthday, for Flynn alone. Lori had insisted. She didn’t think it was fair for Flynn to only get one set of presents. Lori was a good friend.

Flynn’s birthday. One day away. The deadline.

Ellie shook her head. There was no way she was going to kill Flynn. There was nothing on this earth that could make her do it. She’d kill herself first. She would. She was sure of it. Maybe, she should do it now while she was alone.

She returned to the kitchen, picked up a knife and tried to push it toward her chest, but it was as if there was an invisible barrier around her body that she couldn’t pierce. It was called survival instinct. She cursed inwardly. She had to find another way. She had to resist what Adrielle was trying to force her to do.

Chapter 3

FLYNN FOLLOWED THE map of the prison caves the Overlord had implanted in her mind. She almost wanted to keep her eyes closed, to rely on her other senses to move around, rather than seeing everything else, as well. It was disconcerting to have an image imprinted across her eyesight. I am never wearing smart glasses, she mumbled.

She wished it wasn’t her who had to do this bit, that she wasn’t the most powerful magic user among them, but she was. So, here she stood. She had brought Emilia with her. If nothing else, her sister might be able to enhance what she was doing. That was the theory, anyway. She wasn’t sure why she’d insisted on Lori coming with them. Moral support?

She wished they’d brought one of the men with them. She’d wanted to, but as Rag had said, ‘They’re all caged. They can’t hurt you.’

She couldn’t bear to see all the caged creatures. Yes, she knew some of them were deadly. Scrub that, they were probably all deadly in their own way. But that didn’t alter the fact that they were caged in tiny spaces the same as animals in a zoo. Less space than animals in a zoo. It wasn’t life. It was existence.

Some of the cages were enhanced with more magic than others. She could feel it just by walking by them. She wasn’t sure why, but a little probing indicated that their forms might have been squeezed into the cages, much like when the Overlord squeezed himself into Rufus’ body. That had to be bad for them. She shivered at the thought that they might actually be much bigger than they seemed.

She tried to keep strong, to show that she wasn’t scared. Someone needed to. Lori and Emilia cowered like timid woodland creatures behind her. Perhaps, she’d have been better on her own.

No. She’d been alone too long. Having support was good.

Eventually, Adeline’s cage came into view. Flynn rushed forward. Her mother looked like a broken woman, slumped on the floor of the cage, head down, not joining in the ruckus. But not harmed. Her body wasn’t bruised or scarred, as far as Flynn could see, and she wasn’t emaciated from lack of food.

Mum?

Adeline’s head shot up. Her unfocused eyes grew sharp. Her look was disbelief. She stood and brushed herself down. She didn’t seem happy to see them.

It’s really us, said Emilia. She approached the cage and held out her hand.

Don’t, said Adeline.

Emilia’s hand shot back toward her chest.

Is it electrified? said Flynn.

No. Not exactly. Just magically enhanced.

Flynn knew all about magically enhanced prisons and their tricks. Bars that weren’t real bars. Timespans that