Blood and Starlight

By Nicole R. Taylor

An impossible enemy. A terrible struggle. Under the starlit sky, the hunter will become the hunted.

Grace Atkinson’s life is in turmoil. After discovering that shapeshifting black panthers roam the Australian High Country, she finds herself alone as she grapples with the aftermath of the attack that almost killed her. An attack that’s left her with irreparable scars...and a deadly secret.
Shapeshifter Lawson vanishes, knowing that his presence will bring nothing but danger to the small alpine community, and to the woman he cares deeply about. Just knowing him puts her in harm’s way, but it’s his guilt over her attack that forces him to take action and wage a war of his own.
But amongst blood and starlight, Grace finds herself at the mercy of a powerful and secretive enemy who will stop at nothing to capture and control the magic running through Lawson’s veins. It’s a threat so dark, it could bring her entire world crashing down in an instant...and she’s forced to face it alone.
Grace’s only chance for survival is to accept the truth. That the terrible secret she’s been carrying since her attack may be the only thing that can save her.

Blood and Starlight is the second book in the Australian Supernatural: High Country series. The aftermath of Grace’s attack has left her with irreparable scars and Lawson has vanished to keep her safe. But the one person she might need protection from...is herself.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nicole R. Taylor
• Release date: Aug 4, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215740736

Nicole R. Taylor

Nicole R. Taylor is an Australian Urban Fantasy author.She lives in the western suburbs of Melbourne, Australia dreaming up nail biting stories featuring sassy witches, duplicitous vampires, hunky shapeshifters, and devious monsters.She likes chocolate, cat memes, and video games.When she’s not writing, she likes to think of what she’s writing next.AVAILABLE SERIES:The Witch Hunter Saga (Vampires and Witches) Series Complete!The Crescent Witch Chronicles (Irish Witches) Series Complete!The Arondight Codex (Arthurian Demon Hunters) Series Complete!The Camelot Archive (Arthurian Demon Hunters) Series Complete!The Darkland Druids (Druids and Fae) Series Complete!Fortitude Wolves (Werewolves and Vampires) Series Complete!Australian Supernatural (Supernatural Ensemble) - SERIES FINALE COMING EARLY 2022...and MORE to come!Find out more about Nicole and her books by visiting:https://www.nicolertaylorwrites.comSign up for the VIP newsletter and get occasional free books and more:https://www.nicolertaylorwrites.com/newsletterFancy some FREE Urban Fantasy books? Check out Nicole’s Free Reads:https://www.nicolertaylorwrites.com/books/free-reads

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

The hot summer sun blazed down on the thick eucalyptus forests of the Kosciuszko National Park, the heavy air washing everything out, even the hue of the cloudless sky. The lone cry of a wedge-tailed eagle pierced the haze as the bird wheeled through the blue, riding the unseen currents far above the rolling peaks.

The unseasonable rain that’d plagued the high country had finally dried out, leaving behind a thick nest of kindling, ripe for the fire season. The tiniest of sparks would set whole swathes of wilderness alight, the potential for devastation at an all-time high. Everyone was on edge—the animals and the New South Wales Fire Service.

But it wasn’t the heatwave that had left Grace Atkinson feeling restless.

It’d been a month after her ‘accident’ on the ridge above Lawson’s house, and while her body had mostly mended, her spirit still had a lot of catching up to do.

Because Lawson was gone—vanished without a trace.

Grace’s shoulders had healed to the point her ruined flesh was pink with new skin. It was as if Madden hadn’t attacked her at all, and not even the stitches had left behind a mark.

But it was her arm that told a different story. The gash had taken its time to knit back together, resulting in a jagged line of puckered skin around fifteen centimetres in length, reaching from her wrist to her elbow. The doctor said the scar would likely fade in time, but would never fully disappear.

To Grace, it was just a constant reminder of everything she’d been through…and what she’d lost.

That morning, a month after that moonlight night of blood, Grace sat on the front steps of the small cottage that sat on her parents’ farm, her knees drawn up to her chest, their verandah shielding her bare shoulders from the sun. She felt a pang of loneliness in her chest as she stared at the spot where she’d last seen Lawson.

She knew she had to move on—that he’d left to protect her from all the bad that chased him—but it didn’t make her feel any better. It was how he’d left that hurt the most.

The last time she’d seen him was when she’s aimed her father’s rifle at the fighting panthers…and fired. After that, it was nothing but days in the hospital and the long recovery—doctor appointments, physical therapy assessments, bandage changes, therapy. Seriously, what could she tell a therapist? I was attacked by a deranged shapeshifting soldier and was saved by the well adjusted one? That admission would’ve earned her a one-way ticket to some lock-and-key facility where people sat in circles and ‘shared’. She had nothing against those places, but they weren’t for her. What she’d been through was real.

Lawson was a man who could transform into a black panther—though it was only a word for the colour of his coat, he’d said. He was probably a jaguar or a cougar, but he couldn’t exactly ask anyone, not without revealing his secret…and his location to the people who hunted him.

Grace snorted. Government conspiracies were a thing, apparently.

Taking out her phone, she squinted at the screen. No new notifications was the story of her life. Grace Atkinson was still a nobody.

Unlocking the screen, she opened the recent calls list. There were a few from her mum, but the bulk was to Lawson. No incoming calls from his number had registered…not even once.

She didn’t know if he was checking his messages, but she left them anyway, sending him updates about her recovery and whatever else came to mind—the weather, the farm, Targangil gossip. Everything but the one thing she desperately wanted to say.

I miss you. Come back.

Calling his number, the line rang, which told her his phone was on. He just wasn’t picking up. Knowing he was screening her clingy stalker-esque calls felt like a kick in the heart.

The now-familiar robotic voicemail recording played, and when the beep came, Grace spewed out her word vomit. She’d warned him about it, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise, though she was starting to feel like the recipient of an imminent restraining order.

I finally got a new phone, she said. They saved my old number from that cheap piece of temporary crap I’d picked up at the supermarket. My parents got me a fancy smart phone with a camera and everything. I’m all twenty-first century again. Mum said she got a good deal. She scoffed. "I’m thirty years old, yet I feel like a child again. Mummy and Daddy buying me stuff, but it was an early Christmas present, I suppose. Hell…Christmas. Can you believe it? The day it’s over, there’ll be hot cross buns in the supermarket and Easter eggs sneaking into the chocolate aisle. Cue the complaints. I mean, it’s just a spicy fruit bun. We should have them all year round, just delete the ‘cross’. Her expression fell, and she sighed. You don’t want to hear me talk about fruit buns, not after… She trailed off, knowing the last thing she should do was talk about panthers or murder on a recorded message. I just wish you’d explained why. I mean, I get it. I so get it… I just… I wanted to hear it from you. I didn’t want it to be a conclusion I came to on my own, you know?"

The glint of sunlight on metal drew her eye to the long dirt driveway that led down from the main farmhouse to the cottage, and she straightened. An unfamiliar dark grey car was making its way towards her.

I’ve got to go, she blurted. "I, ah… Lawson… Just let me know you’re all right. Please?"

The car did a smooth U-turn in front of the cottage as she ended the call.

For a moment, Grace saw an undercover military officer come to kidnap her, but it was only her friend Diana.

Diana Granger was an entomologist and part-time arboriculturist, who had a grant to study some kind of insect that was causing trouble in the high country’s ecosystem. That was as much as Grace understood about what her friend did, though she hadn’t exactly had time to learn more, what with the shapeshifting panthers running around and all.

The blonde-haired thirty-something-year-old scientist had the same chaotic energy as Grace did, but it manifested in a totally opposite way—expertly demonstrated when she practically commando rolled out of the car.

Hi! She pushed her glasses back up onto the bridge of her nose. I thought I’d come and see if you wanted to do something. Get you out of the house, or something to that effect.

And do what? Grace made a face. This is Targangil we’re talking about. Even Jindabyne is thin on the ground in summer.

Diana shrugged. I know a place with air conditioning, but it might be boring. Unless you’re interested in bugs.

She perked up. Your lab?

Yeah. I thought you might want to check it out. See what all the fuss is about.

What was it called again? The long-something?

Longicorn beetle, she replied. The little critter who’s chomping its way through the endangered snow gums, thanks to winter not being wintery enough to send them into hibernation.

Global warming, huh?

Yeah, it’s not just melting ice and rising sea levels. It’s entire ecosystems and mass extinctions and— She clamped her mouth shut. Sorry…I get a little passionate.

Grace chuckled, glad for the distraction. Let me just get my shoes.

You might want to grab a shirt or a jumper, too.

What? Why? It’s like, a million degrees.

Garth likes to crank up the aircon to sub-arctic levels.

Who’s Garth?

The guy who’s sharing my lab space. She screwed up her nose. He’s a little weird.

As opposed to…?

Diana let out a garbled cry. Grace!

Joking! I’ve always felt like we exist on the same spectrum of chaos, just so you know.

You better get those shoes before I drive off on you.

Grace laughed again and pushed to her feet. I’ll be back in two shakes of a lamb’s tail.

It turned out that Diana’s lab was in the middle of Targangil, behind the medical centre.

She parked the car in a spot labelled ‘staff only’ and they got out.

Now this is a familiar place, Grace said, looking up at the brick building.

We rent a space at the back, Diana explained. We need a certain level of sterility for all the equipment and samples, so it helps that we’re attached to a medical facility. She led her up a set of metal stairs to the second floor, then unlocked the door at the top. It’s not fancy, but it does the job.

Inside, Diana flicked on the lights, the fluorescent tubes buzzing and clicking as they came to life.

Grace looked around with interest at the long tables filled with papers, test tubes, petri dishes, large microscopes, and other bits and pieces of various equipment and machines she had never seen before. Along the far wall were several large tanks filled with greenery, illuminated with lights varying in intensity.

Wow, there’s a lot of stuff, Grace murmured.

We’re classified as doing fieldwork here, so that means we just get the basics outside of the university. The funding only goes so far.

Leaning down, Grace peered into the largest tank, watching beetles go about their business, which was eating. So, this is what all the fuss is about?

Yep, Diana said, leaning down beside her. That’s the longicorn beetle. It bores into the wood and eventually causes the tree to die. See? She pointed at the branch closest to the glass, which was covered in lots of tiny holes and tracks—the insects had well and truly eaten their way inside, around, and in all directions. It’s not actually the beetle that does all the damage, it’s the larvae. They cut off the water and sugars the tree needs to survive.

What’s causing them to do all this damage? I assume it’s only a recent thing.

It’s been an ongoing issue for almost twenty years. We don’t know what’s causing it for sure, but the current theory is the rise in alpine temperatures. All we can do is study and experiment until we draw some concrete conclusions. She shrugged and straightened. It’s a lot of fieldwork—surveying diebacks, insect population, plant stress, and even studying tree rings from dead plants. Satellite imagery shows us how fast it’s spreading, too.

Sounds like a lot, Grace said.

Yeah, it’s tough to know what to do, she said. We don’t want to kill them because they’re still a necessary part of the ecosystem. It’s just finding a way to either send them into hibernation at a higher temperature or curb their appetite for food and breeding.

A few scenarios played through Grace’s mind—a virus, a breeding program, alteration in their DNA—but she knew nothing about entomology except that she was good at squashing spiders that invaded the bathroom.

Diana opened her laptop and clicked on a program. An image appeared on the screen that Grace recognised as DNA results, and her mind began ticking over. You can do DNA sequencing here?

Yes and no, she replied. We don’t have the proper equipment to do a full spectrum, just what we need. We have to send anything detailed to the University of Canberra. This is an image of what the longicorn beetle’s genetics are made up of.

It just looks like a bunch of smeared fuzzy lines to me.

That’s just from the testing, Diana said with a chuckle. It makes way more sense once it’s put into a pretty diagram.

I’ll trust you on that one.

The genetics tell us what drives the beetle to survive, what it can withstand, and what it’s vulnerable to. But it’s also about what it eats.

The snow gums, Grace said.

Yes.

But you can change the DNA, right? That’s a thing scientists can do these days?

Genome editing is possible. We have the technology, but at what cost? There’s an ethical dilemma, as well as an environmental one.

She nodded. It could do more harm than good.

Yep. Playing God is dangerous territory. Nature is… Well, it’s a delicate balance, always and for good reason.

Grace was starting to understand how the army had discovered Lawson’s secret. Whatever was in his blood was also in his DNA. So, was it magic that’d created the panthers, or was it something more biological? Maybe it was a virus or parasite that changed the human genome in a fundamental way, latching itself onto what was already there and growing around it like a third strand in the double helix.

At this stage, Grace wasn’t sure it mattered how he’d become what he was since the damage had already been done.

Hey, are you okay?

She looked up at Diana, realising she’d drifted away with her chaotic thoughts. Yeah, I’m just thinking about your beetle, but I don’t have any wisdom to impart. My solution would be to go out and squash the lot.

The scientist chuckled. The nuclear option, huh?

Yeah. Grace managed a laugh.

Is this boring? Diana asked with a grimace. It’s boring, right?

No, not at all.

Her eyes lowered. Yeah, it is. Bugs aren’t exactly a great conversational topic.

Don’t be silly. Of course, I’m interested. I guess I’m just… she trailed off. After what happened, I’m…sad. She couldn’t think of a better word.

Diana nodded. It was a dog act, you know, him leaving like he did. He couldn’t even wait until you were conscious.

Grace shrugged, thankful the motion didn’t hurt her shoulders anymore. It is what it is. Can’t change it.

They were silent for a moment, the buzz of the fluorescent lights filling the little laboratory.

Hey, do you wanna get some lunch? Diana asked. My shout.

Grace forced a smile. Well, if you’re paying…

They left the lab, clattering down the stairs to the car park.

Any requests? her friend asked. Fish and chips by the river? We can get jam donuts, too.

Grace nodded. Sounds perfect.

As they made their way around the front of the building to the main street, she tried to push away her melancholy. It wasn’t good for her.

Lawson was gone and had taken all his shapeshifting drama with him. It wasn’t her problem anymore. All that was left for her to do was to get on with her life.

Starting with fish and chips…and donuts.

CHAPTER 2

Lawson jerked awake, the dream he’d been having dissolving before his mind could catch any details.

He lay in the back of his blue Ford Ranger, the 4WD ute open to the sky above. The tray was hard as a rock, but he had a foam mattress and sleeping bag, and the nights were hot, so not that bad in the end. Better than the trapped heat inside of a house without air-conditioning.

The sun was just beginning to rise, the horizon smeared with pale yellow and blue. A kookaburra laughed in the distance, followed by the warble of a magpie as it skirted around the isolated campsite.

He set up his small camp stove, filling a pot