Withered (A bridge novella of the HKW Universe)

By Heather Killough-Walden

Withered
An HKW Universe Novella
By Heather Killough-Walden

During an ultimate war with evil and the battle that brought it to an end once and for all, The Kings and Queens of the Thirteen Realms joined forces against Hatred, Lust, and Death... and in the ensuing catastrophic chaos, the fabric of time and space was fundamentally fractured. Two dimensions collided, bringing changes both large and small, sudden yet eternal.
It has forced the Sovereigns of the Thirteen to exist in a brand new world that only they are aware has changed.

In this brand new world are new humans, and alongside them in the shadows and hidden doorways, new non-humans. Some are strange and splendid. Others are wonderful but wrong.

Melody Margaret Tannym is eighteen years old, and she goes by the name Mimi amongst her friends. Mimi is a dragon. However, one of her friends is quite special too - or about to be - and neither one of them has any clue. This new world carries with it new forces, and those forces play upon the young man, altering him as much as the altered world and plunging Mimi and her companion into the dangerous underworld depths of the new supernatural kingdoms.

Worse yet, the colliding dimensions weakened a very old barrier, one that has kept a primordial and powerful atrocity at bay for countless millennia. Only one creature, one darkly brilliant soul, stands between this evil force and the new world. But Bantariax the Great Black Dragon can only remain vigilant against his deadly foe for so long. For even he in his ancient draconic splendor has his weaknesses... beautiful and precious beyond measure. And new worlds have brought new chances for his enemy to prey upon them.

"Withered" is a bridge novella by Heather Killough-Walden linking The Lost Angels series and The Kings series to the upcoming Monsters series. Coming soon.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Heather Killough-Walden
• Release date: Sep 3, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463849675

Book preview

Withered

A Novella of the HKW Universe

by Heather Killough-Walden

Copyright 2018 Heather Killough-Walden

Smashwords Edition

Discover other titles by Heather Killough-Walden at Smashwords.com:

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/HRKW

Heather Killough-Walden Reading List

The Lost Angels series:

Always Angel (eBook-only introductory novella)

Avenger's Angel

Messenger's Angel

Death's Angel

Warrior's Angel

Samael

The October Trilogy:

Sam I Am

Secretly Sam

Suddenly Sam

Neverland Series:

Forever Neverland

Beyond Neverland

The Big Bad Wolf series:

The Heat

The Strip

The Spell

The Hunt

The Big Bad Wolf Romance Compilation (all four books together, in proper chronological order)

The Kings - A Big Bad Wolf spinoff series:

(in proper order so far)

The Vampire King

The Phantom King

The Warlock King

The Goblin King

The Seelie King

The Unseelie King

The Shadow King

The Winter King

The Demon King

The Shifter King

The Nightmare King

The Dragon King

The Time King

Withered – bridge novella linking The Kings to Monsters

Monsters

The Good, The Bad, The Cursed

(Future Monsters books TBA)

The Chosen Soul Trilogy:

The Chosen Soul

Drake of Tanith

Queen of Abaddon

Redeemer (stand-alone)

Hell Bent (stand-alone)

Vampire, Vampire (stand-alone)

A Sinister Game (stand-alone)

The Third Kiss: Dorian's Dream (stand-alone)

Note: The Lost Angels series (not including Always Angel, Warrior’s Angel and Samael) and the Big Bad Wolf series are available in print and eBook format. All other HKW books are currently eBook-only.

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http://www.facebook.com/killoughwalden

and

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Heather-Killough-Walden/204947809542189

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Acknowledgements…

I want to thank my amazing and patient editors, Mary, Ivy and Withercat.

I seriously couldn’t do this shiznit without you. xoxo

Note from the author…

Withered is meant to be a novella bridging The Big Bad Wolf series, The Lost Angels series, and The Kings series with the upcoming paranormal romance series, Monsters. I’ve done my best to help ease brand new readers into the HKW universe for Monsters, but as you well know, once a universe is built – there’s a lot of crap in it.

So if at any time you feel confused, I highly recommend going back and starting from the beginning. Not only will it help you get up to speed, you have the leisure of reading each delicious story at your own pace because my prior series are all complete. (No waiting-for-the-next-book lulls to mess up the passion.)

I’ve included an HKW reading list so you know where to begin. Keep an eye out for sales, giveaways, and deals too. For instance, the entire Big Bad Wolf series is available as an compendium for the price of a single book.

If you’re a loyal HKW reader, thank you so much for being here right now. I love my readers. And if you’re new to the HKW world – welcome. I truly hope you’ll decide to stick around. :)

Prologue

It was all he had ever been able to do to focus his strength on this, right here – containing the enemy that he had kept prisoner for eons.

The world Ban knew was a void of dark, soundless and seemingly empty. But it seemed to close in on him a little more every time he bothered to notice it. So he tried very hard not to notice it.

It’s only a matter of time, Bantariax. It always has been.

Ban kept his ancient eyes closed. It was easier that way. It was easier to not see the hopelessness, the absolute absence of night or day or life. If he kept his eyes closed, he could pretend and he could imagine.

He could think of colors. Like the dark red of a sequoia tree or the deep, troubled gray of an oncoming storm. He could think of sounds, like the crooning of a lone cello or the call of distant bagpipes on foggy moors. He could remember smells… like the salt of the ocean and the wet ground after it rained. He could even remember what it felt like to touch something. Something soft, something tender.

He could remember her.

When he did, it filled a little of that void around him – so long as he kept his eyes shut.

You can pretend all you want, dragon. But the end is coming. Your end is coming.

Ban focused inward, imagining that his hands were running through silken locks of hair the shimmering shade of fire. He caught the scent of cherry blossoms and almond bark. He recalled what it felt like to be a man, with a woman wrapped securely in his strong arms.

Laughter cut through his dreams, harsh and hot.

Ban sighed. Your laughter does not frighten me, he said softly. That at least was true. It had been forever just the two of them, and there was no longer anything his captive could do to rattle sabers with the ancient dragon. Ban already knew how dangerous his nemesis was. There was no further need for proof on the matter.

My laughter flies on its own and is inevitable, said his enemy. For I am truly amused. Do you want to know why?

No.

There was a brief silence as Ban redoubled his containing efforts, because he realized he was losing focus again. The truth this time was that he did want to know. Because in that moment in that impossible nothing, Bantariax the Great Black dragon felt something just a little different in the void. And he didn’t know what it was.

But he was betting his enemy did.

I’m going to tell you anyway.

Ban finally opened his eyes. He couldn’t help it. Something was pulling at him now, something so extremely far away and yet so intrinsically and painfully familiar, it almost killed him then and there.

His enemy gazed back at him, steady and terrible and larger than life. I’m amused, it said in its forever voice, because all this time you have kept me here, I have peered into your soul.

Bantariax bared his sharp white teeth as his massive black wings unfurled and his power pulsed.

I know where your strength came from, Bantariax. And I want you to know that when I am free, she will be the first to pay for your crimes.

There was more laughter as his enemy’s eyes bored into his.

But certainly not the last.

Chapter One

Withercat wasn’t her real name; it was just what she used when she was playing the computer game, Overwatch. She went by Mimi in the real world. Mimi wasn’t her real name either. She’d shortened it a long time ago to Mimi from Melody Margaret Tannym. Because Melody Margaret was a curse. She’d never gotten to know her birth parents, but she’d always kind of assumed they’d been high when they named her. Or maybe they had just been evil.

Dragons could go that way… kinda easy. If you weren’t careful.

And Mimi? Well, it had a nice ring to it. It was unassuming. But it also sounded like she was clearing her throat right before singing the lead part in a grand opera. "Mi, mi, mi, mi, mi!" Not that she could sing. Not that she didn’t sing, either. She just did it alone in the shower or when she had her headphones on and was one hundred and ninety percent certain no one could hear her. Which was hard to do in a world full of dragons.

They had excellent hearing. They had excellent everything. Except manners.

An unfortunate truth the player who called himself dragonforrealzpeeps was more than proving right now. She knew who he really was. She was fairly certain he had no idea who she was, but Mimi had friends in high places, and those friends had taught her a thing or two about information gathering. She’d taken some of those lessons and put them to good use, back-door researching who each and every one of her friends on Overwatch really was.

Dragonforrealzpeeps had friended her about six months ago, after they’d worked well together in a fairly long campaign. He’d always been nice enough. In fact, his behavior tonight was a little out of character for him.

In real life, he was a several centuries-old blue dragon from New York named Zack. It wasn’t short for anything, not Zachary or Zachariah, and like a lot of dragons, he had no actual last name. But for humans, he went by Zack Andareel. And he wasn’t supposed to choose a player name that touted he was a dragon. Though she could totally understand why he did. Sometimes it got so old hiding who and what you were. No one would believe him anyway.

In today’s world, you could come right out and tell people you were the Goblin King and whoever you told would roll their eyes and smile and probably say something along