Urban Fantasy
Date Published: 1st October 2017
~Prequel to the Witch-Hunter trilogy~
James Bennett is a Yorkshire lad, making the big move to Oxford to start university.
His ambitions involve getting a good education; impressing the Rugby Club; and not throttling his roommate. All perfectly normal drama, until Hallowe'en.
A girl's murder throws James into the dangerous world of witches, and those that hunt them.
After playing a sidekick in the Witch-Hunter trilogy, it's only fair that James gets to be centre stage in his own prequel.
This can be read as a stand-alone, and does not contain any spoilers. It may contain witches, bad jokes and cringe-worthy scenes; but definitely no spoilers.
Excerpt:
James went outside;
the cool air a refreshing experience beneath his skirt. Ignoring the wolf
whistles of some guys dressed as zombies, he headed over to Hunter, who stood,
scrolling through his phone.
“Y’know, when you
moved in, I thought you were being an arse to me ‘cos you were some sort of
snob, an’ I wasn’t good enough to share the same air as you.” James called out,
“Now I realise you’re just a dick to everyone, it’s a miracle you’ve got any
friends.”
Hunter’s head shot up
from his phone screen, and he glared at James. “I don’t remember asking your
opinion. And I’m not going to take the advice of a guy in a sunflower dress.”
“Oh, sunflowers... I
was tryin’ to work out what-” James broke off, looking back at Hunter. “Never
mind that, are you gonna come in and make an effort to be human?”
Hunter snorted at his
question, and glanced at his phone again. “It’s nearly midnight, I’ve got
somewhere to go. And James, if you value your sanity, you’ll mind your own bloody
business.”
Hunter tucked his
phone into his pocket and glanced away down the dimly-lit city street. “Can you
tell Johnny that... ah, just tell him I went home. Not that he’ll ask.”
“Sure.” James said,
as Hunter disappeared in the opposite direction of their dorms.
James stood, not sure
what to do. Loud music and student voices were coming out of the pub, as
everyone continued to enjoy the Hallowe’en party; but outside, the cool air was
quickly sobering him up.
Party with all the
relatively-normal students; or find out what Hunter was hiding? In the end, it
was an easy choice.
James pulled his
phone out of the surprisingly handy little floral handbag. With a few taps, he
logged into his tracking app, quickly bringing up Hunter’s location.
With a final glance
back towards normality, James jogged down the dark street, his yellow dress
billowing behind him.
James kept jogging,
away from the busy hub of the city, and away from the streets of architectural
beauty. He found himself in a small bundle of warehouses, all dark and silent,
apart from one. James tucked his phone back in the girly handbag, and moved
towards the source of light.
The main door was
ajar and, checking there was no one nearby, James slipped inside.
The warehouse was a
neatly-ordered affair, with pallets and boxes stacked high in straight rows.
James could hear voices ahead, he kicked off his noisy flip-flops and padded
barefoot towards them. What he saw didn’t make sense. Someone wearing a cloak
and hood stood at the head of a makeshift table, and numerous candles
highlighted a young woman lying on the table. Another cloaked figure moved in
front of James, blocking his view.
Somewhere, the
distant church bells chimed midnight, and the two cloaked figures started to
chant.
About the Author
Kelly S. Marsden grew up in Yorkshire, and there were two constants in her life - books and horses.
Graduating with an equine degree from Aberystwyth University, she has spent most of her life since trying to experience everything the horse world has to offer. She is currently settled into a Nutritionist role for a horse feed company in Doncaster, South Yorkshire.
She writes Fantasy stories part-time. Her first book, The Shadow Rises (Witch-Hunter #1), was published in January 2013, and she now has several successful series under her belt.
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2 comments:
Thank you for posting
Thank you so much for sharing my book today!
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