Thaumatology 12: Vengeance (37 page)

She paused to let that sink in and then went on. ‘That said, in the Demon Realm I’m known as Ayasha, Overlord of All Demons, heir to the throne of Gorefguhadget, bearer of the Iron Crown. As of today, the Government of Great Britain is opening official diplomatic negotiations with the Demon Realm, and you are now sitting in the Realm’s Consulate. Legally, you are all currently on the soil of another world, one which both I and the Government hope will have a fruitful and peaceful future with Earth.’

Another pause, and now her audience was getting restive. They wanted details. They wanted to ask questions. But she had one thing left to say before the chaos engulfed her.

‘Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the new age of magic. I think it’s going to be wonderful.’

Epilogue

Kennington, London, May 25th, 2013.

‘There’s a werewolf on the path,’ Twill announced.

Ceri looked up from the equations she was studying on her tablet and frowned. ‘I wasn’t expecting Michael.’

‘I don’t believe that it
is
Michael. I think I know him, though.’

Still frowning, Ceri went down to the front door, opened it up, and found a tall, heavily built man in biker leathers standing on the porch looking bemused.

‘Dane! I haven’t seen you in ages.’

‘I know,’ the werewolf replied, ‘but what’s with the coppers on the gate? They won’t let us in unless we have the right paperwork or something.’

‘I’ll take care of it,’ Twill said, buzzing past them toward the gate where the rest of the North Hills pack, or a significant number of them, were waiting around looking disgruntled. The road was full of motorcycles.

‘What are you doing here?’ Ceri asked. ‘Not that I mind, but it’s a surprise.’

‘It’s Crierwy’s first birthday,’ Dane replied. ‘You still haven’t met her. I know things got a bit crazy last year, but we
thought
it had settled down…’

‘Yeah, well, this is now the official consulate building of the Demon Realm. Long story, I’ll tell you all about it when we’re inside. You named her Crierwy?’

‘Aleena’s idea. She liked the sound of it, and she’s a little beauty.’ His face straightened. ‘But we were hoping you and Alexandra could take a look at her. There’ve been some… odd things happening around her and… Well, she’s a perfect kid. She was a quiet baby, loved riding the bikes with us, hardly ever cried. But she hasn’t said a word, not even a mumble and… Well, like I said, odd things have been happening…’

Frowning, Ceri looked down the path to where Aleena, a child in her arms, was finally being allowed through the gate. Ceri saw the flicker of light pass through the wards as they entered, though neither Aleena nor Dane appeared to notice. She felt it as they approached, the slight tightening in the back of her skull, the feeling of power…

‘Ceri,’ the tall, beautiful Alpha female of the pack said as she stopped on the porch, ‘it’s nice to see you again. I’d like to introduce you to my daughter, Crierwy.’

Ceri looked down into the dark eyes of the child. She was, indeed, a pretty kid with a thin mess of black hair. She looked very calm, and when she saw Ceri she reached out a thin arm and giggled.

‘You’d better come in,’ Ceri said urgently before backing into the house and yelling up the stairs. ‘Gwyn? Get down here, please.’

Dane and Aleena looked at each other and then followed Ceri quickly into the hall. By the time Gwyn was coming down the stairs, most of the rest of the pack were filing in. Gwyn got to the small landing and then came to a stop, her eyes widening. That was all Ceri needed to know.

‘Dane, Aleena, we know why strange things are happening around Crierwy.’

‘You’re making me nervous, Ceri,’ Dane told her.

‘Right…’ There was no easy way to say it, so she just blurted it out. ‘Your daughter has one of the dragon bloodlines in her.’ She watched the look of shock developing on the child’s parents’ faces, but she felt she had to spell it out. ‘She’s going to be a sorceress.’

###

About the Author

I was born in the vicinity of Hadrian's Wall so perhaps a bit of history rubbed off. Ancient history obviously, and border history, right on the edge of the Empire. I always preferred the Dark Ages anyway; there’s so much more room for imagination when people aren’t writing down every last detail. So my idea of a good fantasy novel involved dirt and leather, not shining plate armour and Hollywood-medieval manners. The same applies to my sci-fi, really; I prefer gritty over shiny.

Oddly, then, one of the first fantasy novels I remember reading was The Dark Is Rising, by Susan Cooper (later made into a terrible juvenile movie). These days we would call Cooper’s series Young Adult Contemporary Fantasy and looking back on it, it influenced me a lot. It has that mix of modern day life, hidden history, and magic which failed to hit popular culture until the early days of Buffy and Anne Rice. Of course, Cooper’s characters spend their time around places I could actually visit in Cornwall, and South East England, and mid-Wales. In fact, when I went to university in Aberystwyth, it was partially because some of Cooper’s books were set a few miles to the north around Tywyn.

I got into writing through roleplaying, however, so my early work was related to the kind of roleplaying game I was interested in. I wrote science fiction when I was playing
Traveller.
I wrote “high fantasy” when I was playing
Dungeons & Dragons
. I wrote a lot of superhero fiction when I was playing
City of Heroes
. I still love the idea of a modern world with magic in it and I’ve been trying to write a novel based on this for a long time. As with any form of expression, practice is the key and I can look back on all the aborted attempts at books, and the more successful short stories, as steps along the path to the Thaumatology Series.

Writing, sadly, is not my main source of income. By day, I’m a computer programmer. I work for a telecommunications company in Manchester, England. My favourite authors are Terry Pratchett, Susan Cooper, and (recently) Kim Harrison. Kim’s Hollows books were what finally spurred me to publish something, even if the trail to here came by way of Susan, back in school, several decades ago.

For More Information

The
Thaumatology
Blog:
http://thaumatology.wordpress.com

The
Steel Beneath the Skin
Blog:
http://steelbeneaththeskin.wordpress.com

Other Books by this Author

The
Thaumatology
Series

Thaumatology 101

Demon’s Moon

Legacy

Dragon’s Blood

Disturbia

Hammer of Witches

Eagle’s Shadow

Ancient

Dragonfall

The Other Side of Hell

For Whom the Wedding Bells Toll

Anthologies set in the
Thaumatology
Universe

Tales from High Towers’ Study

Tales from the Dubh Linn

The
Aneka Jansen
Books

Steel Beneath The Skin

The Cold Steel Mind

Steel Heart

The Winter War

The Greatest Heights of Honour

The
Ultrahumans
Books

Ugly

Find all of these at https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/Thaumatologist