Fear & Vengeance: Driven to Revenge Trilogy, #2

By Stephen Harding

Book 2 of the Driven to Revenge trilogy from the author of the Sci-fi Janus trilogy & Liberty Rock thrillers. Stephen has written some of the most exciting books you'll read. Unique, ingenious, dark, spine-tingling & twisted are words best linked to his creations.

 

Growing stronger with each kill, the vengeful spirit of Eddie continues his reign of terror as the forces of evil come together with his dead brother leading the demon horde as they prepare to fight the angels. No one is safe, even the humans, as things grow from bad to worse. The final battle is imminent with the rules of the game long forgotten.

If you like twists and are a big fan of the ancient forces of good and evil, then you'll love the second part of this amazing unputdownable fantasy trilogy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stephen Harding
• Release date: Jan 4, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393535508

Stephen Harding

Bestselling, prize-winning author Stephen Harding has written some of the most exciting books you will ever read. Unique, stimulating, ingenious, dark, mind-blowing, spine-tingling, and twisted are words that would best be linked to his creations. In 2008 his short play 'My Bench' won third prize in the Kingston Readers Festival before being published. Inspired by Stephen King's 'On Writing', he decided to publish his first novel 'Janus the Arrival' in 2013, having cut out the filler that bores so many readers. The sequel 'Janus the Offspring' followed in 2014 with the third part of the trilogy 'Janus the Sandlings' coming later that same year. 'Driven to Revenge' a horror/fantasy was released in 2016 with a crime thriller 'Twice Bad' featuring Detective Liberty Rock in 2017 with the sequel 'ISO Killer' released in March 2019. 2020 included 'Driven to Revenge' becoming a fantasy trilogy with a message about saving our planet, with work on a prequel to the two Liberty Rock Thrillers now underway. A comedy about UK Telephone Engineers will eventually arrive, but this will need to be reviewed with past colleagues in an English pub, prior to release in 2021. Stephen dislikes stories where you can always guess what happens next, so he tends to twist the plot in order to shake up the reader by calling on his love of books, films to gain new ideas. Stephen currently lives in London with his wife and has drawn on good and bad encounters in the business world and life in general. He remains very passionate about encouraging others to read and write and hopes you enjoy his works as well as he enjoys creating them. For further information, please visit: Facebook: Novels by Stephen Harding https://twitter.com/LexxyJanus

Book preview

FEAR

&

VENGEANCE

STEPHEN HARDING

––––––––

Driven to Revenge Trilogy - Part 2

A HORROR FANTASY NOVEL

FEAR & VENGEANCE

Copyright: Stephen Harding

Published: 2020

Publisher: Stephen Harding

The right of Stephen Harding to be identified as author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, copied in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise transmitted without written permission from the publisher.

You must not circulate this book in any format.

DEDICATION

I would like to dedicate this to all those people who have supported me on my ventures so far...

You know who you are, so give yourselves a big pat on the back from me.

Also, a special call-out to all my followers on Twitter and those who visit my Facebook page.

Also, by the same author:

THE JANUS TRILOGY

Comprising of

JANUS - The Arrival

JANUS - The Offspring

JANUS - The Sandlings

Other books

THE DRIVEN to REVENGE TRILOGY

Comprising of

DRIVEN to REVENGE

FEAR & VENGEANCE

AFTERMATH

Thrillers featuring Liberty Rock

LIBERTY ROCK

TWICE BAD

ISO KILLER

––––––––

[e-mail]

Facebook: Novels by Stephen Harding

https://twitter.com/LexxyJanus

Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER 14

CHAPTER 15

CHAPTER 16

CHAPTER 17

CHAPTER 18

CHAPTER 19

CHAPTER 20

CHAPTER 21

CHAPTER 22

CHAPTER 23

CHAPTER 24

CHAPTER 25

CHAPTER 26

CHAPTER 27

CHAPTER 28

CHAPTER 29

CHAPTER 30

CHAPTER 31

CHAPTER 32

CHAPTER 33

EPILOGUE

CHAPTER 1

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The whole place stood in total darkness, and an eerie silence had already descended around the building. After what seemed like hours, Gary had finally finished telling the police all about the stranger’s sudden appearance, once he’d finally managed to stop shaking and found the courage to do so. It transpired that the occupants of the upstairs flat to his were away on holiday, having long since planned to spend just over a month in Canada with the husband’s relatives. This in turn, had left their building completely isolated from any help that could possibly have been at hand at the time. Consequently, even the loudest screams for assistance would have gone unheeded, and Gary couldn’t help but wonder if that had been the case for Amy. He prayed that she’d still be okay as he watched the two uniformed officers enter the premises through the door at the far end of the hallway. Ages seemed to pass as he stood unable to help in the distance. He watched the flicker of flashlights methodically searching each room. They appeared to move from wall to wall, searching for even the slightest of clues inside the darkened building. Suddenly, he heard a clear but distant voice shouting something about a fuse box in the kitchen, just an instant before the house lights all flickered on and made the place come back to life. Six long drawn-out minutes passed before the taller of the two policemen finally emerged looking slightly horrified from the doorway. He appeared to be carrying a small childlike figure wrapped up in a blanket in his arms. The other officer then appeared, having followed close behind. Gary could see that he had a mobile phone held close to his ear as he muttered away to an invisible colleague on the other end of the line.

‘The ambulance will be here in ten minutes Jim!’ the policeman shouted across to his partner, who now sat on the cold concrete steps of the nearby monument cradling the helpless looking figure back and forth in his arms. At the end of the call, the second policeman pocketed the phone, and then their eyes made contact as he walked across the street and headed straight towards Gary.

Moments later, the officer stood right before him and Gary noticed that he appeared to be around about the same age.

‘May I ask you to confirm that this is the very same young lady that you informed us about earlier sir.’ he asked, with a hint of anger very evident in his voice.

‘I’m afraid she’s in rather bad shape at the moment, so if you can just confirm her identity and not attempt to communicate with her, that would be very much appreciated. Thank you very much sir.’ he added as a last thought, before drawing Gary back across the road to the figure in question.

‘Oh! My God,’ Gary exclaimed, as the blanket was pulled right down to let him have a proper look. He hardly recognised Amy as the same person he’d abandoned just a short while earlier. She looked more like a little child from one of those refugee appeals that appeared on the TV every so often. Her terrified eyes tore at him and seemed to grow wider by the second. They expressed much more than the full horror of what had happened, as they stared far beyond the place he was standing, and out into a far distant zone of some kind. This told him in no uncertain terms that she’d been through an unimaginable ordeal at the hands of that evil bastard who’d appeared. Guilt instantaneously overwhelmed him as the whole picture suddenly dawned on him. The once confident, Gary Brooker felt the tears welling up in his eyes as he stepped away in utter disgust and asked himself why?

*

Ted screamed as he rounded the corner at speed. He hit the figure full on with a sickening thud that should have woken up at least half the neighbourhood. He hadn’t stood a chance in hell to be honest. The stupid cretin had been standing right slap bang in the middle of the road for fuck sake. What did he expect? There’d been no possible way of avoiding him, and yet something didn’t quite make sense... It was all a bit strange. No sound had followed after the body had been thrown up into the air and nothing had landed on the windscreen either. In fact, having looked around and from what he could make out, the body was nowhere to be seen at all. Then, Ted nearly had a heart attack there and then.

‘Hello my friend. So, we finally meet again, I’m pleased to say.’ The voice was coming from directly behind where he sat. Ted had jumped completely out of his skin and nearly crashed the car as a result. The coldest of fears took hold of his senses and almost paralysed him for all eternity. He’d realised almost straightway who it was, and was desperately trying to blank the entire thought from his mind. It just couldn’t be... It wasn’t possible...

‘Go away!’ Ted screamed, afraid to look back at this nightmare of nightmares. The voice came again, but this time it sounded far more persistent, and it was certainly much closer than before. Whatever this thing really was, it was now right there beside him, sitting in the bloody passenger seat with the most insane grin that Ted had ever witnessed. It was spread right across its face and couldn’t have been more terrifying if it tried.

‘Now, now Ted! Is that really any way to speak to your dear old friend Eddie? Especially after hitting me so cruelly with your car like that? Don’t you realise that I could have been killed or seriously injured?’ he mocked. ‘I simply wouldn’t dream of going away so soon, especially when we still have so much to talk about.’

That was the final breaking point that took Ted over the edge. The sheer horror of the whole thing was just far too much to handle before the man finally lost his nerve. Therefore, the car swerved violently to the left. It hit the curb with such tremendous force that Ted and Eddie both shot forward through the car windscreen in total unison with each other. Ted screamed in absolute agony as he felt the sharp edges of the glass slice right through him as he went. He guessed it was comparable to being placed in a human shredding machine, as the skin on his body seemed to peel away ever so easily. Eddie kept pace with him along the way, and even gave him one of his most sadistic smiles, as they passed over the bonnet of the blue car before hitting the concrete in perfect harmony. Ted then felt what was left of the raw flesh from his face being stripped almost clean away, as he slid along the sharp granite ground that lay beneath him. It was like something out of a scene from a slow-motion movie as he finally came to an abrupt halt against the jagged edge of the curb. A ferocious cracking sound echoed loudly in his head as his skull took the full impact of the fall, just before the darkest mist he’d ever imagined, descended on him and swallowed him whole.

Moments later, it seemed as if someone must have turned the lights back on. Yet, he couldn’t see a damned thing as the brightness was so excruciating. He was momentarily blinded and then someone was yanking at his arm. It hurt. It hurt quite a lot At least that was what he thought. Or did it? He turned to see Eddie pulling at him but knew full well that something wasn’t quite right. What appeared to be a body or something of that nature, appeared to be lying at his feet. Then, as he was forced to look down, he screamed. Ted screamed a continuous and incredibly frightful scream, but no sound would come. He stood totally transfixed. He desperately wanted to look away, but he simply couldn’t. It was him lying there; it was really him. Ted Reynolds or at least what was left of him. The corpse was completely saturated in an odd mixture of blood, guts and glass. The whole thing was almost completely unrecognisable as that of a person. Ted felt totally exhausted right then, and in the end, he just stood and wept at what had happened before finally finding enough energy to turn and face his tormentor.

‘You bastard, you, absolute bastard?’ he screamed as loud as he possibly could. ‘Why?’

‘I did warn you Teddy baby.’ Eddie chuckled unsympathetically. ‘But you just didn’t choose to listen to wise old Ed.’ he added.

Ted flew at him with everything he had, but Eddie had already anticipated this reaction and the flailing man found himself grabbing at nothing more than a handful of thin air. Swirling shadows buzzed around him and a faint demented laugh rang out, which entered his head and filled it with the sound of virtual insanity before gradually fading away to nothingness. Ted was feeling completely broken as he floated above the ground looking totally dejected and drained of every ounce of energy he’d possessed. Sadly, he could do nothing more than look helplessly around at his surroundings and wonder what could possibly happen next, when a ray of light suddenly burst from the sky above and hit him full force in the face and chest.

A cloak of impenetrable whiteness was suddenly cast about his person, while he felt an incredibly strong force begin to pull him away. A sense of complete purity suddenly entered his soul and his nerves seemed to settle completely. Ted gradually started to relax as his spirit was lifted high into the air and then disappeared fully into the void above. It felt to him like he was entering a tunnel at high speed, yet it was without the fear of not knowing where he was heading. It was just as if every drop of anxiety had been totally washed away. As his speed began to lessen, he heard a chorus of warm, welcoming voices coming from somewhere just ahead. Then, aware that he’d reached wherever it was that he needed to be, a whole multitude of hands suddenly appeared from thin air and reached out towards him. Together as one, they worked hard to steady him until he slowly came to a complete stop.

The man who faced him was not human, and yet he was. This made no sense at all. Yet, when he spoke his voice came from within. No physical words appeared to be spoken, and although the lips remained perfectly still, Ted still heard what was being said, very loud and clear.

‘Welcome! You, who was once known in the human form as Ted Reynolds. You are incredibly lucky to have escaped the spirit referred to as Eddie Lawson. He has given us so much grief as of late, and he’s now becoming a slight problem for all of us. He has managed to gain far too much power during his extra time in the plain of life, and he cannot be allowed to stay there any longer’. Ted stood still gazing in awe at what he assumed must be some sort of angel. Why was he telling him all this? Why didn’t he just show him where he should be staying, now that he was dead?

‘I’m sorry Ted,’ the voice continued. I’m afraid you won’t be staying here with us for that much longer. The fact of the matter is that we urgently need your presence back in the plain of life for a little longer. Once there however, you’ll be able to help us place Eddie where he truly belongs, which I’m sure you’ll agree, will be no bad thing. In return for your assistance, and providing that everything works out according to plan, we have agreed that you can remain with us once the job is finally completed.’

Ted really couldn’t believe it. They could even read minds up here, yet the more he listened, the more he realised that he had no choice but to do as he was being told. His host spent an awfully long time explaining his mission and providing him with a full-blown update of what had happened to date. During their conversation, in which no words were spoken, a small glass bottle magically appeared from thin air, right between where the two of them stood. The host then politely suggested that Ted drink the contents to allow him to enhance his powers during his return to the Plain of Life, and in doing so he deliberately glanced at the bottle. The bottle then appeared to take on a life of its own. No longer shocked by anything he saw any longer, he just stared and laughed, as it automatically flew through the air towards him, then stopped within touching distance. Ted simply reached out, removed the lid and knowing he had no choice but to comply with their wishes, he obediently drank the entire contents. The taste of the liquid was surprisingly pleasant and quite refreshing if the truth were known. Then, just as he was about to ask what he thought to be a valid a question, his vision suddenly blurred and he swayed a little to the right. Standing upright, Ted was amazed to find himself back in the ‘real world’ or as he’d recently been informed, somewhere known as the Plain of Life. Once he’d gained his bearings, having double checked with a second look around, he found that he now stood at the bottom of a long metal footbridge that passed over what looked to be a busy carriageway. Even more reassuringly, his feet were as one again with the surrounding ground, and this pleased him no end. Ted took a deep breath then swiftly turned to the right. Yet just as he began to climb up the steps, he halted in his track’s straightaway. Listening carefully, he could quite clearly hear a loud commotion coming from somewhere in the distance. On further inspection however, he soon worked out that it appeared to be coming from someplace just above him, up on the overhead gantry.

CHAPTER 2

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They stood on the footbridge with their feet making full contact with the metal flooring once again.

‘This feels so good,’ Debbie said, jumping up and down on the spot just for good measure, while the others all stood around looking rather amused at the youngest member of their group. It was quite a magical moment for them, all said and done. It was also one of those classic opportunities not to be missed, as one by one they gradually joined in, and before long the infectious laughter had spread around the whole group. They now looked like some sort of retarded, adult exercise class who were having a crazy day out. Any passers-by would have phoned either the police or the local loony bin, just to maintain a firm grip on their own sanity.

*

Tanya was the first to realise that something was seriously wrong. Her sixth sense had involuntarily kicked in and told her that something strange was happening. She wondered if she’d been designed that way, or had possibly inherited something from her family gene pool, but she was the first to stop jumping. She stood and waved frantically at the others to stop all this silliness at once. The group