“No, thank you.” He lowered himself into the chair, looking nervously around at the group, who returned his perusal with friendly expressions.
Glenda sat as well and smiled. “Now, Derek, first of all, you must understand you’re among friends. We’re also very serious about what we do, and we’ve investigated thoroughly, so we know a lot more about you than you know about us. Of course, that will change in time. We have no secrets within our coven. But you said you had something of great value to earn your place as the eighth of us since Marjory passed.”
Derek swallowed, nodded. “I’m grateful to you for accepting me, so I offer this as my pass of entry. I feel guilty because it’s stolen. This woman I know, she’s a friend of the girl I love. Well, loved. Anyway, I’ve kind of been shadowing her. Not really stalking,” he said quickly. “It’s not her that I care about. Being around her makes me feel closer to...” He sat up straight, cleared his throat. “Anyway, I knew she was up to something...sketchy. I broke into the place she was staying, and I found this book. I knew right away it was dangerous and would be safer in the hands of a good coven than anywhere else. I’m pretty sure she would have destroyed it, and I couldn’t let that happen.”
Glenda appeared skeptical but curious. “And what is it, dear?”
Derek took a deep breath. “It’s a journal. An ancient and powerful book with many secrets. Have you heard of Edgar Allan Poe?”
“GONE, YOU SAY?” Poe lay in silk sheets in his house at Telegraph Hill, South Boston. The bullet wound still hurt like hell, but painkillers were dealing with the worst of it. Thankfully his vital organs had avoided any severe damage, and blood loss was the only real risk. But transfusions had taken care of that.
“Yes,” Sarah Mason said. “I checked every inch of that hotel room. The only other options are that they have it on them, they hid it somewhere else, or they did indeed destroy it.”
Poe nodded, sipped tea from a china cup as he lay back against a pile of soft pillows. “Let’s hope for the latter, eh? If nothing else, at least I think the trail of people who know about it is finally dead. It ends with us, Jake Crowley and Rose Black. I think they’re decent enough people that we can trust them. If they don’t destroy it, perhaps they won’t abuse it either.”
Sarah tied back her long blonde hair, revealing more of a face that looked little more than thirty or so, completely belying the fact that she had been born in 1903. The last of the elixir that Poe had saved had been his gift to her when she agreed to marry him. He had refused to ever make any more. The cost was too high, but the one dose that remained in his possession for so many years was too valuable to destroy. And immortality was lonely, watching so many people grow old and die. Never getting too close to anyone, as they’d see him remain the same while they surrendered to the ravages of time. But Sarah understood.
“Let me take a look at that dressing,” she said. “We need to change it again today.”
“I made a smart move marrying a doctor, did I not?”
Sarah smiled. “The irony of an immortal man needing a doctor is not lost on either of us, I’d wager.” She leaned down and kissed him, then drew back the sheet to see to the dressing on the last gift Matthew Price had given his old friend.
LILY BLACK ANSWERED her phone, annoyed to have been disturbed. But this was one phone she always answered. “Tell me you have good news,” she said, without preamble.
A gravelly voice on the other end said, “As a matter of fact, I do. I’m in New York City, and I’ve finally found them. Your sister and her boyfriend seem to be enjoying a vacation.”
“Is that so?” Damn! Why hadn’t Jazz let her know? She’d maintained the fiction of friendship with that obnoxious snoop for years, solely for the purpose of keeping tabs on Rose. Jazz had it bad for Rose and had maintained their friendship, which made her the occasional source of grade A gossip. But not this time, apparently. “Where are they now?”
“About to board the Ellis Island ferry out to the Statue of Liberty. I’ve tracked them to their hotel too, so I know where they’re staying.”
Lily smiled, her lips curling up in slow satisfaction. “Excellent. Don’t make any moves, but don’t lose them. I can be in New York by the morning.”
IF YOU ENJOYED REVENANT, try PRIMORDIAL, book one of the Sam Aston Investigations series by David Wood and Alan Baxter.
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THE END
Books and Series by David Wood
The Dane Maddock Adventures
Blue Descent
Dourado
Cibola
Quest
Icefall
Buccaneer
Atlantis
Ark
Xibalba
Loch
Solomon Key
Contest
Dane and Bones Origins
Freedom
Hell Ship
Splashdown
Dead Ice
Liberty
Electra
Amber
Justice
Treasure of the Dead
Bloodstorm
Adventures from the Dane Maddock Universe
Berserk
Maug
The Elementals
Cavern
Devil’s Face
Brainwash
Herald
The Tomb
Shasta
Destination-Rio
Destination-Luxor
Destination-Sofia
Jade Ihara Adventures (with Sean Ellis)
Oracle
Changeling
Exile
Bones Bonebrake Adventures
Primitive
The Book of Bones
Venom (forthcoming)
Jake Crowley Adventures (with Alan Baxter)
Sanctum
Blood Codex
Anubis Key
Revenant
Brock Stone Adventures
Arena of Souls
Track of the Beast (forthcoming)
Myrmidon Files (with Sean Ellis)
Destiny
Mystic
Sam Aston Investigations (with Alan Baxter)
Primordial
Overlord
Stand-Alone Novels
Into the Woods (with David S. Wood)
Callsign: Queen (with Jeremy Robinson)
Dark Rite (with Alan Baxter)
David Wood writing as David Debord
The Absent Gods Trilogy
The Silver Serpent
Keeper of the Mists
The Gates of Iron
The Impostor Prince (with Ryan A. Span)
Neptune’s Key
The Zombie-Driven Life
You Suck
Books by Alan Baxter
The Alex Caine Series
Bound
Obsidian
Abduction
Omnibus Edition
The Balance
RealmShift
MageSign
Omnibus Edition
The Jake Crowley Adventures
Sanctum
Blood Codex
Anubis Key
Revenant
Sam Aston Investigations
Primordial
Overlord
Other Works
The Roo
Manifest Recall
Hidden City
Crow Shine
The Book Club
Dark Rite
Ghost of the Black
The Darkest Shade of Grey
Non-Fiction
Write the Fight Right
About the Authors
David Wood is the USA Today bestselling author of the popular action-adventure series, The Dane Maddock Adventures, and many other works. Under his David Debord pen name he is the author of the Absent Gods fantasy series. When not writing, he hosts the Wood on Words podcast and
co-hosts the Authorcast podcast. David and his family live in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Visit him online at http://www.davidwoodweb.com.
Alan Baxter is a British-Australian author who writes supernatural thrillers and urban horror liberally mixed up with crime and noir, rides a motorcycle and loves his dog. He also teaches Kung Fu. He lives among dairy paddocks on the beautiful south coast of NSW, Australia, with his wife, son, dog and cat. Read extracts from his novels, a novella and short stories at his website – https://www.warriorscribe.com– or find him on Twitter @AlanBaxter and Facebook, and feel free to tell him what you think. About anything.