The Curse of Three: Makepeace and Grimes, #1

By Kevin Partner

Who would you choose to investigate the disappearance of three children?

A man and a vampire. Of course

It's 1872.

Ichabod Grimes, mysterious defender of humanity, and his vampire friend Valentina, travel to a quiet village in Essex to find the missing children.

They uncover a sinister three hundred year plot that will see the return of a long forgotten evil. 

Who is Ichabod Grimes? Find out now.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Scribbleit Ltd
• Release date: Mar 4, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393831075

Kevin Partner

Kevin Partner has been programming computers since 1983 when he bought his first ZX Spectrum and learned BASIC. He's been a professional programmer since the mid 1990s and has been a contributer to PCPro Magazine since 1995. Kevin has an Honours degree in technology and has mastered dozens of programming languages. He is a massive advocate of the Raspberry Pi which he sees as the ideal gateway into programming

Book preview

1

1872

It began with John Black the smith. He worked the forge his grandfather had built in the village of Finchingfield in Essex, but much had changed since the days of old man Black. What had once been a thriving farming community was now populated mainly by the old and the very young, as the farming jobs had vanished under the onslaught of mechanised iron. Gone were the straw plaiters and most of the farm labourers, leaving young folk with no choice but to head up to the smoke to find work.

But John Black continued making shoes for the few horses that remained. He made hoes and shovels, many of which remained hanging from his wall, unused, unneeded and unloved. And he made wards that kept the monsters at bay. At least, they once had. For now, Finchingfield lay under a dark curse. Three children had been snatched from their beds while their parents slept, and the people of the village dreaded the coming of night.

---

What does the paper say, Grimes?

Ichabod Grimes rustled The Daily Telegraph in irritation. If you'll give me a moment's peace, madam, I'll find out.

Madam, is it? Did you get out of your bed on the wrong side this morning? The woman spoke in a soft German accent. On receiving no response from her companion, she resumed watching the countryside flow past. At least they were on their own in the compartment; one advantage of insisting on travelling First Class, despite the protestations of Grimes.

A cloud of smoke rose from behind the paper.

You know, you really ought to be more careful, you could set the train alight with that filthy cigar. We're not all fire-proof.

With a grunt, he lowered the paper, pulled the smouldering remnant from his mouth and threw it out of the window. Well, my dear Valentina, it seems that any lack of solid evidence is being compensated for by a surfeit of speculation. I didn't think I'd ever see the word 'werewolf' appear in the Telegraph.

Well, I suppose it is possible, Valentina said, placing a cigarette in its holder and lighting it.

Grimes shook his shaggy head. Werewolves would be much messier. No blood at any of the crime scenes.

How to describe Ichabod Grimes as he was then? He was a solid looking man, though no taller than average, and had the sort of face that bore witness to many battles fought, most of them won. He reminded some of an old grizzly bear in a wig. He was a man who had only a passing acquaintance with the concept of subtlety, but, somehow, he was also astonishingly effective. No-one had yet caught Ichabod Grimes and survived to tell the tale

He folded the paper and handed it over to his companion. Countess Valentina von Regensberg was an elegant woman with an aquiline nose and a long face framed by hair of such a dark brown that, to the eye, it appeared black. She wore an ornately decorated black silk dress with matching jacket and her bonnet was trimmed with black ribbon and scarlet berries. She was, in short, a singular woman.

It must be quite the scandal to rate page three of the Telegraph and to see Ichabod Grimes on the early train out of Liverpool Street station.

Grimes chuckled. And it must be interesting enough for me to be accompanied by a countess. Do you suspect involvement from one of the allied peoples?

Valentina shrugged. It's impossible to say. You and I have both seen stranger things than babes snatched from their bedrooms. Do you trust this Black?

John Black is one of my people. I trust him implicitly, Grimes said in a tone that brooked no argument. Finchingfield is ancient territory and the Blacks have been guardians there for years uncounted.

2

John Black

Outside the station at Braintree, they hired a coach and driver to take them along narrow lanes and through a flat countryside to the little village where the smith's forge lay. He came out to greet them as the Brougham pulled up, deposited its passengers and drove off again with unseemly haste.

Grimes watched it go as he shook hands with John Black. He seems to be in a hurry to get back to Braintree.

He's in a hurry to be anywhere but here, Black said. Folk don't come into the village from outside anymore.

It is that bad? Valentina said.

Black looked at her and his face betrayed his doubts. Yes, ma'am, he said, his eyes flitting back to Grimes.

This is the Countess Valentina von Regensberg. She is one of us.

"I most certainly am