Shoulders of Giants: The Demon Gatekeeper Book Two: The Demon Gatekeeper, #2

By Russell Brown

The battle's won, the demons sent back to hell, but the war isn't over, the werewolves are out for revenge!

 

Lewis and Charlie are the last two remaining blood royals, the most powerful magical creatures in existence. They've had a lot of growing up to do, and fast. They've learnt how to control their magic and even saved the earth from disaster, but the werewolves are still on the loose and it's only a matter of time before the demons find a way out of the pit.

 

In order to stop them, Lewis and Charlie, helped by their lycan friends (and a few handy humans), need to find the ultimate magical weapon, the demon killer, and put an end to the monsters, before they can take over the world.

 

Shoulders of Giants, book two of The Demon Gatekeeper trilogy, is a thrilling ride through a world full of magical creatures, with angry werewolves, vengeful angels and even a two-headed dog.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BLKDOG Publishing
• Release date: Aug 16, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223188926

Russell Brown

Russell Brown was chef proprietor at Michelin-starred restaurant Sienna in Dorchester and is now a food writer and photographer. Www.wellseasoned.co.uk, the website he runs with Jonathan Haley, has won numerous awards.

Book preview

On the Issue of Blood Power

T

here are many theories as to why blood power acts the way that it does, and is generally weaker in smaller magical creatures and increases in power and potency the larger the creature is. Some believe that it is weaker in lesser magical beings due to the type of body it inhabits. Others believe that it becomes distilled over time as smaller beings are not able to contain the power. That it will fade away into nothing after a certain number of generations, eventually leaving the likes of flutterbys and imps as normal beings with no magical properties at all. The theory goes that the greater the body mass, the more able the creature is to retain blood power and pass it on through the generations. If we follow this theory through to its logical conclusion, it would mean that giants and trolls should be the most powerful creatures on earth. But they are not. As we know, werewolves and lycans are by far the most powerful creatures and royal lycans the most powerful of all. This theory doesn’t take into account The Source or the fact that demons feed off lycans and werewolves, but nothing else. In conclusion, these theories around size and body mass are incorrect.

And yet, we do know that blood power has a gradient of potency that does generally follow size. To start with, all magical creatures have blood power. It’s what makes them magical. Smaller creatures such as imps, and sprites have what appears to be the smallest amounts. How do we know this? By the sense of potency they give off. This potency increases as the creatures become larger, such as drakes, trolls, unicorns etc. But it also varies according to type. Goblins are more potent than water nymphs but are clearly smaller. So, once again, our size and body mass theory is blown out of the water. A messy business if you’re a water nymph. So, what does potency depend on? We only have theories. What we do know is that the strongest blood power stands with just two beings. The blood royals themselves. Thanks to their victory over the demon Blaine, we now know that demons need to feed off lycans or werewolves in order to sustain themselves on the earth. We also know that Blaine had been doing this for centuries before he was sent back to hell.

We also know that The Source, that incredible tree, living underground and protected by satyrs, is where all blood power originates. But we cannot feed off it or take power from it by force. Not even demons can feed off it. We can only receive its gifts. But not everyone has received the gift of blood power. Humans, the most populous creatures of all, have no blood power and don’t even believe that magic exists.

In conclusion, blood power enables magical creatures to be magical. It originates from The Source. There is a potency gradient, albeit inconsistent, and blood royalty are the most powerful creatures on earth. Demons can only feed off werewolves and lycans and need to feed in order to remain on earth. Which leaves us with one final question – now they have been banished, will they ever try and return?

Section taken from the publication On the Issue of Blood Power by Derek Smyth, Blkdog Publishing, 2025.

Dramatis Personae

T

he lycan lashed out with his claws and missed the werewolf’s face by inches. After regaining her footing the werewolf roared in response and dived towards her enemy, ducking under another swipe of his claws and smashing into his chest with force. The momentum catapulted them both over the edge of the cliff, but the werewolf managed to grab hold of an outcrop of rock halfway down and control the rest of her decent. When she reached the bottom, she landed lightly on her hind legs, and began to search for her opponent. It didn’t take long to find him, lying face down on the floor, one arm jutting out at an unnatural angle. He’d changed back into a human and his breathing was short and laboured. The werewolf also changed back into a human and crouched down beside him. He was lying on his stomach with a band of thick black hair covering his face. She brushed it aside to reveal a pale face etched in pain.

‘Why do you still attack us, even though The Dark Man has been sent back to hell?’ she asked.

‘You’re an abomination,’ he said through gritted teeth.

‘I’m not an abomination, my name is Amelia and I like fast cars and slow boys.’

‘You’re a werewolf who followed a demon.’

‘So, you’re a lycan who followed a demon.’

‘We didn’t know what Blaine was.’

‘Oh, come on, it wasn’t hard to tell. He’d lived for thousands of years and had red eyes.’

‘It doesn’t matter, he’s been sent back to hell too.’

‘Yes, by the blood royals, quite a duo you’ve got there.’

Amelia reached out and turned the lycan onto his back. He let out a grunt of pain but said nothing.

‘That’s better, I can see the whole of your face now, you’re a mess by the way, the fall was a bad one.’

The lycan remained quiet.

‘I could help you, but seeing as I’m an abomination I won’t bother. Tell me what are they like?’

‘Who?’

‘The blood royals.’

‘Powerful,’ the lycan said, wincing as he turned his head.

‘I heard that. Only just turned seventeen and already powerful enough to send demons back to hell.’

Like most of her fellow werewolves, Amelia had heard how Lewis and Charlie, the blood royals, had sent her master, The Dark Man, back to hell by reaching inside him with their minds and crushing his heart. It had been a blow to hear what had happened. Like her companions she had run away from the site of the great battle between lycans and werewolves when she found out. The fact that giants had come to fight on the side of the lycans, had encouraged her to run faster.

In the six weeks since that battle, she’d also learnt that Blaine had been sent back to hell by the pair, and that Bob, the leader of the lycan crew, and the blood royals’ second in command, had taken over the shop Blaine once owned.

It had been a terrifying time for Amelia. She had hidden in the sewers below Glasgow, too scared to walk the streets in case she was captured by lycans. Then she’d heard that Mr Mono, The Dark Man’s assistant, was alive and back in Glasgow Zoo, The Dark Man’s abandoned hide out. She’d rushed back, hoping to find others and to her delight, many of her werewolf companions had found their way there too. Mono had promised them that he would help The Dark Man return and told them to go out and take the fight to the enemy. That was what she’d done, and now she’d found herself sitting on the ground talking to a dying lycan.

‘What’s your name?’

‘Curly.’

‘Hello Curly, I wish we could meet under better circumstances, but you’re the enemy and I have to kill you, Mono’s orders.’

Curly just stared at her and said nothing, once again.

‘Still, I don’t see why we can’t have a chat before I send you on. I hear you have humans working for you now, is that right?’ Amelia asked.

Curly continued to stare.

‘Come on, there’s nothing wrong with being polite, even when you’re dying.’

He closed his eyes and let out a low moan, before opening them again. ‘Yeah, we have a human working with us.’

‘Who is he?’

‘Derek, he’s the leader of this group that explores old places in Glasgow.’

‘I think I might have seen them one night, a small bunch of nerds in yellow anoraks, why are they working with you?’

‘I don’t know, I just do as I’m told.’

‘What about Calder, is he still working with you?’ Amelia asked through gritted teeth. Calder Rouge was the great betrayer. He was supposed to identify the blood royal Lewis so that The Dark Man’s werewolves could go and capture him, but he’d warned him, and his lycan friends, of the danger instead. Even worse he'd told the lycans where The Dark Man’s hide out was. That had been a dangerous mistake that meant Mono had to kill Calder Rouge’s family. Amelia didn’t know how she felt about that, but she knew that Calder was a traitor and deserved a traitor’s death.

‘I haven’t seen him,’ Curly responded weakly, ‘I’ve been busy visiting a bunch of lycan families to tell them that their loved ones have died, and searching for you lot.’

‘Don’t worry, we’ll find him.’ Amelia said, half to herself.

‘Why do you follow him?’ Curly asked, before a coughing fit overcame him.

Amelia knew the lycan didn’t have long and she needed to get as much intel from him as she could, but she couldn’t resist rising to the bait.

‘Why did you follow Blaine?’ she hissed. ‘He was a demon and kept my master in hell for as long as he could. At least The Dark Man never hid his true nature, we always knew what he was. Blaine pretended to be on your side when he was only in it for himself. He was feeding off your blood power and you didn’t even notice. We gave our power willingly and he rewarded us for it.’

Curly made no response, he simply stared at his enemy.

Amelia shook her head in frustration, the lycans never understood what it was like to sit at The Dark Man’s feet and feel the power that surrounded him. The werewolves took comfort in that power and fed off his confidence and surety, it gave them a purpose.

‘So, you’re all living at the shop, now Blaine’s gone?’

‘Yes, where are you hiding?’ Curly asked weakly.

‘Mono likes his privacy; sorry we don’t want a horde of lycan’s descending on us.’

‘You’re afraid of us, aren’t you? You’re afraid of the blood royals’ power.’

‘We fear no one, we just don’t want you lot sniffing around,’ Amelia said, with a confidence she didn’t feel. She was sure Mono was as afraid of the blood royals as she was, and that this was the reason why they kept their hide out a secret. Unlike the lycans who did nothing but party in that shop of theirs.

‘So, what are you lot planning Curly? Are you going to try and find our hide out and attack us?’

Curly didn’t respond. His dead eyes simply looked up into space.

‘Damn it!’ Amelia cursed, she had so many more things she wanted to ask him, but she wouldn’t get the chance now. With a sigh, she stood up and walked away, leaving the body for the crows.

Back, Let’s Go Back

T

he car’s headlights brushed off the wet surface as it sped forward, illuminating arrows of rain that quickly disappeared under the bonnet. Water drummed a steady beat on the roof, echoing inside the silent interior and increasing the tension.

A man, a woman and a sleeping boy occupied the inside. The two adults stared intently out into the pouring rain, each trying to see through it into an uncertain future. The man gripped the steering wheel tightly, his eyes darting from the windscreen to the speedometer and back again at regular intervals. The woman sat as still as a statue, in the passenger’s seat, a grim line marking the place where her mouth should be. They had been sitting that way for some time now, while the car kept a steady speed down the empty road, neither wanting to break the tension, neither wishing to wake the boy.

‘You had to tell him, didn’t you,’ the woman whispered, finally breaking the spell.

‘I had no choice; he was going to find out anyway.’

‘You don’t know that. He could have just been fishing. He probably knew nothing.’

‘He knew,’ the man replied with certainty.

‘Well, he does now,’ the woman huffed, turning her head and staring out of the window.

‘This could be a good thing,’ the man replied, gripping the steering wheel tighter.

‘How on earth is running away in the middle of the night a good thing?’ the woman asked, turning back around to star at him.

‘You said you wanted to get away from it all. To give him a normal life. Now we can.’

‘Living hand to mouth on the run isn’t a normal life.’

‘We don’t have to live that way. We can settle down somewhere no one knows us. We can start again, as a proper family,’ The man said, trying to placate her.

‘We need money and new identities. New national insurance numbers and passports. Do you have all that in your back pocket?’ the woman asked.

‘No, but I know where we can get them.’

‘Maybe you should have thought of that before you opened your mouth and we had to run. Anything illegal we do now will surely tip them off to where we are,’ the woman said, shaking her head in disbelief at his answer.

‘I did what I thought was best,’ the man said, through gritted teeth.

‘No you did what suits you, as always,’ the woman replied, pursing her lips.

‘Do you think this suits me?’ the man replied with anger in his voice.

‘Don’t play the innocent with me, that’s the one thing you’ve never been. Everything you do is for selfish reasons.’

‘I’m doing this to save you and the child.’

‘You’re doing this to protect your legacy. Don’t pretend it’s for our benefit.’

‘So why did you come, then?’ the man asked, shrugging his shoulders.

‘Because you gave me no choice, you idiot. You revealed the one thing you needed to keep secret, you told him about our son.’

‘He knew, I’ve already told you!’

‘Stop shouting dad,’ the boy said sleepily, from the back seat.

‘Keep it down,’ the woman hissed at the man.

They sat in silence for another few miles, the tension slowly rising once again.

‘What’s that behind us?’ the man asked, after another mile of tense quiet.

The woman stared into the side mirror intently. ‘Obviously, it’s a car.’

‘Yes, but how long has it been there?’

‘We’re on the motorway, it’s probably been there for some time.’

‘It’s closing in on us fast.’

‘Cars tend to do that on the motorway.’

‘No, I mean it’s getting closer really quickly,’ the man said with rising panic.

The woman turned around and stared out of the back window. ‘Put your foot down,’ she said in an urgent whisper.

‘I’m already doing 80.’

‘Then do 90! I think it’s them.’

‘How can you be sure?’

‘Just a feeling, go faster,’ the woman said, staring intently out of the back window.

The man put his foot down and the car sped forward. It didn’t work. The chasing car continued to close the gap.

‘Can’t this go any faster!’ the woman hissed.

‘We’ll take off if we go any faster.’

The car continued to gain on them, the headlights growing in their rear view mirror. The man tried to speed up, but their car wasn’t as powerful as the one chasing them. After a few more miles, the cars made contact, both veering off the road at speed, smashing through the barriers and rocketing into a field beyond. The man tried desperately to control the car, but it was no use. The vehicle skidded into the field and rolled over several times before coming to a stop, steam hissing from the radiator and one wheel slowly grinding to a stop in the dirt.

Luckily the boy had fallen back to sleep, so his limp body fell into the well between the seats and he escaped unharmed. The man lay unconscious across the steering wheel, blood pouring from a cut on his forehead. The woman lay with her head back, her hands resting in her lap.

‘Mum,’ the boy moaned gently. ‘Mum, what happened?’ No reply came from the woman in front.

‘Dad, I hurt my arm, what happened?’ Still no reply from the front. After a few more seconds of silence the boy climbed out of the well and fell onto the back seat. He looked up to see both his parents lying unconscious in the front and let out a whimper of fear. For a few moments he sat there quietly, not sure what to do. Then he heard a low growl coming from outside and looked up to see two red eyes staring at him. He slid to the other side of the car and pushed opened the broken door. Spilling out into the field, he gathered himself up and began running. Without thinking he ran into the night, the image of the red eyes spurring him on.

It was hands that eventually stopped him, pulling him back into the arms of a strong embrace. The boy screamed and tried to break free, but the arms were strong and held him tight.

‘Shush, you’re safe,’ the voice belonging to the arms said. ‘Hey, stop struggling, you’re safe. I’m not going to hurt you.’

‘Let me go,’ the boy wailed.

‘OK, I will, but stop struggling first. You’re safe now.’ The arms released the boy and he fell to the ground. ‘Are you OK?’

‘Let me go,’ the boy said again.

‘I’m here to help you and your mum. She’s OK but she needs help.’

‘My mum’s, OK?’

‘She’s alive, but we need to get her to a hospital.’

‘My dad, too; he’s hurt.’

‘We’ll see.’

‘There’s someone out there,’ the boy said in a trembling voice.

‘It’s OK, they’re gone now. They can’t hurt you. Come on, let’s get your mum and you to a hospital.’

‘My dad too.’

‘Yeah, like I said, we’ll need to see about that, Lewis.’

The boy stared at the stranger with wide eyes, somehow, he knew his name.

Open Grave

C

harlie stood on the edge of the grave and watched her tears drop into the abyss. She felt empty. A hollow vessel. A dry container that used to hold love and affection, but now held nothing, not even air. She didn’t notice the people surrounding her, or the hand that was resting on her shoulder. All she could see was the grave in front of her, now filled with her gran’s coffin. It felt strange to view that simple wooden box, sitting snugly inside its dark brown tomb, and think that her gran was inside. Her loving, supportive, affectionate gran. The woman who prised her out of bed in the morning, scolded her when she forgot to do her homework and warned her against wearing ripped jeans and loud makeup to school. The woman who had held the wolves at the door, literally, her whole life.

Lewis squeezed her shoulder and whispered something in her ear, but she paid him no attention. Her body was fixed to the spot, her mind was elsewhere. She didn’t notice as the service ended and the minister shook her hand and told her he was sorry for her loss. She barley registered the hugs and soft words from her distant relatives and didn’t realise that fine rain was falling until it began to soak through her clothes.

‘Charlie, we have to go,’ Lewis said quietly, for the millionth time. She didn’t respond. He hadn’t expected her to. He took her hand gently and slowly pulled her from