For Jennifer, Katie, Michael, Jenna, & Jason
Thanks for being the crazy to my psycho
Wicked Grove
Wicked Grove Series Book 1
Copyright © August 2017 by Alexia Purdy
Published by: Lyrical Lit. Publishing
Cover Design © Melancholy Muse Designs
Model Photography © Jason LaVelle: Dark Horse Studios
Model: Monique Wahinehololio k12
Cover background photography: © Depositphoto
All rights reserved
This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this novel are fictitious and are products of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual events, or locales or persons, living or dead are entirely coincidental.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Acknowledgments
This book goes out to all those who’ve supported this crazy writing life of mine. To my husband Josh and my four kids who put up with my endless hermit life holing up on the computer for endless hours to write and work on books. My loves, you’re amazing and so patient! I’m so thankful for all your support.
To my beta readers and reader’s club who always help me feel like I don’t ultimately suck, which could happen, but you all prevent it! I seriously can’t do this without you! Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Also, thank you to my ever-supportive friends who put up with my crabbiness when things get manically heavy: Jennifer Malone Wright, Katie Salidas, Jenna Elizabeth Johnson, Michael K. Rose, and Jason Lavelle. You guys rock and are the sanity to this crazy. Thank you!
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Bonus Wicked Grove Story: Bitter
Sneak Peek: Twice Bitten
Sneak Peek: Marked by Sight
About Alexia Purdy
Also by Alexia k12
Chapter One
* * *
Three days ago
Amy
“Grab your gear. We’re almost ready to go,” Jay hollered out to me. He was dressed in full hunting gear: cargo pants, black shirt, and a whole slew of knives sheathed across his chest on a bandoleer. A quiver stuffed full of arrows crisscrossed the belt of knives, making him look like a black ops soldier.
Not just like one, he was one. We all were. Just a different kind of soldier. Operatives of a special agency designed to stop supernatural infestations and exterminate magical nuisances gone awry. My brothers, Craig and Jay, and I worked for the S.R.A., The Wicked Grove Supernatural Regulatory Agency. Our job was to keep the magicals in line, hidden from the human world, and make sure the pacts were honored to keep everything running smoothly.
If only it were that simple.
Nothing supernatural could be out in the open. We were real-life monster hunters, “fixers” for anything which had to be kept under wraps, especially when things got out of hand. We were the ones they called to clean up the messes that ensued. Yep. We were the maids of the hidden worlds of sorcery, spells, curses, natural and unnatural magic. No matter how big the mess, we were the cleaners.
They said I could be anything when I grew up, but hunting the supernatural creatures surrounding Wicked Grove wasn’t what I’d had in mind. I’d been a kid who adored her big brothers and wanted to be just like them. Everything they did, I followed in their footsteps.
Moronic, right? Well, I can’t say that I didn’t enjoy my work; it was far better than being stuck behind the counter of a clothing store selling subpar knock-offs to snooty trust fund teenagers. Trust me, I did a short stint of that to prove to myself I was not cut out for the normal kind of life, let alone a “normal” monotonous job. So, there I was. Err… there we were.
Even though we three had been born consecutively, each a year apart, everyone at the agency called us the triplets. My guess was because the three of us were obviously siblings, with our dark hair and stunning light-brown eyes, but we had a sort of familiar intuition about each other that’s usually only shared by twins and triplets. Connected even more by precognitive tendencies and telepathic abilities, we were tight. Not only that, we were pretty much the most undefeated offensive team the S.R.A. had to offer.
We ruled the world. Sort of. Kept it safe from the preternatural madness? You bet.
Groaning, I walked to the back of the truck and grabbed my hunting gear—which matched Jay’s but with a more feminine style—and snugly strapped it on.
“Seriously, why do these things always have the worst timing? I was heading toward the mall to hang out with my girls. What’s going on that you guys had to screech on over here and interrupt my perfect evening?”
Jay threw me a look of feigned shocked before tossing a bow at me and snickering. I caught it in my hands, but the hilt dug into my palms.
“I think this is much more important than shopping for shoes. Priorities, missy.”
I glared at my brother, wishing I could just slap the living daylights out of him. He never cared for anything but the hunt. Sometimes being a hunter had its downside. Especially when all I wanted to do was be an ordinary teenager, spending money at the mall and listening to music into the wee hours of the morning, eating junk food while my metabolism burned right through it, and wasting time like I was getting paid for it. I sighed. At least this time I’d remembered to wear decent shoes. Hunting in heels was up there on my list of things I’d rather not do again.
“Heads up!” Craig called out from the cab of the truck. A flashlight went sailing at me, near my head. Catching it at the last second, I cursed him under my breath. He prided himself in making me flinch, which was a feat unto itself since none of us scared easily. I made a note to pay him back for almost giving me a goose-egg or a black eye. I owed him for much more than that. We had an ongoing tally on who made the others jump to the skies with fright. If I recalled correctly, I was losing, but there was always next time, right?
“Watch where you throw things. You could’ve killed me!” I stuffed the flashlight into its assigned loop on my belt and stomped closer to Craig’s massive F-150 black truck, which he prided, treating it with joyous care and constant polishing. I swore it was his real girlfriend. Any flesh and blood girl had quite a competition to catch up to the standards of that shiny hunk of metal. I briefly wondered if Ridley, one of the commanders at the Agency he’d dated on and off, had any idea how bad he had it for his truck. If only he’d spend more time outside the Agency, he could find someone special instead of doting on a piece of metal like it was his precious. It was pathetic, really.
Plopping onto the passenger seat, I glared at my older br
other Craig, making sure he knew just how much I loathed him at times. Seething, I tried not to glance longingly at the mall in the distance, past the railroad tracks where we had stopped to gear up. It would disappear beyond the horizon when we sped off into the ominous and mystic forests surrounding Wicked Grove. My heart had been set on a deep blue sweater blouse that probably wouldn’t be there tomorrow. Plus, it was buy one get one free at Sandy’s, my favorite style boutique. I grumbled.
Darn it.
“Sorry, Pudge. Didn’t mean to take your head off with that flashlight. Just helping you prime your lightning-fast reflexes. It’s going to be a doozy tonight!” Scratching his head, Craig threw me a wink as he whistled and drummed his other hand on the steering wheel. It was a sure sign he was nervous but excited for the hunt.
I wished I could get that excited for the hunt, but there was something in the air I didn’t like. It brought a knot to my stomach. We got under way, and I shifted in my seat, staring out the window at the scenery speeding by. Maybe it was that greasy hamburger take-out I’d had working its way through my intestines and not the inconsistent precognition which hit me now and then.
It wasn’t long before we arrived at our destination−the edge of Harlow’s Lake. It was surrounded by thick redwood forest, and the sky was quickly darkening as dusk fell. Craig stuffed a flashlight of his own into his jacket before hopping out and yanking his weapons from the bed of the truck. I did the same, slipping my own jacket over my shoulders as the evening’s crisp air, primed with dense fog, swirled over us. I slammed the truck door closed and scurried toward the back to find him and Jay scoping out the woods.
“Hey, don’t I get a say in the game plan? This isn’t a ‘boys only’ club, you know. I’m as trained and effective as you two brutes. Oh, and one more thing”—I sighed, turning to scan the darkening woods before us— “don’t call me ‘Pudge,’ Craig.” I elbowed him hard in the ribs, catching him off guard. Too bad he was wearing Kevlar or I might’ve broken something. My elbow complained from the impact, but I ignored the ache.
“Ow!” He rubbed his side and grimaced. Ignoring my rant, he continued scanning the thick, inhospitable woods. Staying focused was one of his positive traits. He could always be counted on to steer us back to the mission at hand. I was the queen of deviation, always living from one attention deficit episode to another.
A trail on our left led deeper into the trees, disappearing from sight after the first turn. There, the brush had grown over the path. It was tangled with weeds, tall grasses, and fallen saplings which twisted across the path in a dangerous, ankle-cracking mess. Far from welcoming, the place felt haunted and sacred. Nothing could make me shudder more, and the pit of my stomach agreed as it continued its violent protest. Shaking off the dread and clutching my belly, I prayed it would calm as I followed my brothers into the forest, letting the truck disappear behind us. The forest swallowed us up like quicksand embracing its victims. Sweat beaded along my hairline, but I refused to wipe it away.
I knelt to study the dirt and shrubs lining the path, looking for any disturbances. “Are you sure there were sightings in these woods? I don’t see any tracks yet.” The twigs and dead leaves cluttered the forest floor and made it difficult to identify any tracks. I studied it intensely until a small splash of dirt across some sapling leaves betrayed our prey. Narrowing my eyes, I felt a grin widen across my face as my heart raced in anticipation of the hunt. The sick feeling dissipated immediately.
Gotcha.
“This way,” I whispered, motioning for my brothers to follow me off the path, confident I had discovered the right tracks. There was no way they were getting away from us this time. This clan of faeries had evaded us time and time again in the vastness of the woods surrounding our town of Wicked Grove, but these tracks were fresh; I could literally smell them. It was a lot like a mixture of ozone and mulch still moistened with morning dew, with a bitter hint of sulfur in it. Pleasantly poisonous.
We tracked them for about an hour, treading tediously through undisturbed foliage while the dusk sucked the daylight away. The trees rustled in the cool evening breeze and made it harder to hear any movement around us. As the night approached, a series of reflective lights shined in the distance, sharpening as we made our way farther and farther into the woods. They were the retinal reflections of luminous faery eyes, shimmering in the moonlight. I shivered.
“Checkmate,” I snickered and counted the pairs of lights, estimating there had to be at least fifteen of them. “Nearing twenty counted. There have to be more right behind them.”
“Faery lights,” whispered Jay, motioning toward the darkness beyond. In the distance, firefly-like glowing orbs blinked, iridescent and ethereal. I sucked in my breath, steadying my bow as I clicked off my flashlight and counted the floating pinpricks again. This tribe had caused several disappearances lately, thus keeping us hunting them regularly. How they’d avoided us so far was a mystery, but we had to put a stop to it or risk losing more and more of our city’s inhabitants to them.
It made me wonder, were they cannibals? What were they doing with the humans they took? These questions floated across my mind and sped up my heartrate as I considered every possibility. They were magical beings, capable of unbelievable things. Why would they need humans, who lacked any kind of power? The faery clans we had worked with before kept far from the city limits and refused to interfere with the mortal world. Especially the Sidhe fae, who were a lot more humanlike in appearance. Other faeries were less likely to obey the treaties between the humans and the leagues of supernaturals of the surrounding areas.
Fortunately, my siblings and I were impervious to faery charms. Call it a genetic mishap or even a spur of evolution, but this ability paved the way for us to become the best regulators of the supernatural world for the Agency. Even at our young ages, me being seventeen and my brothers eighteen and twenty, we’d seen more than any nightmare could present.
Craig and Jay were on full alert, guns and arrows pointed toward the flashing targets as they grew closer and amplified in size. Those once-miniscule pinpricks of light now glowed with fury, the size of candle flames. They knew we were there, and as we closed in on them, their outlines came into focus along with their stoic faces and unusual features. More and more of them gathered together and waited, curious yet knowing our intentions.
They watched us approach, not wavering from their positions. If this was an indication of how much they feared humans, their confidence made the hairs on my neck stand on end. These faeries weren’t easily spooked like the other creatures we’d encountered before. Other, more docile faery clans would’ve been wailing with retreat calls by now. But not this one. These creatures held their ground as we approached, as still as statues while their ever-observant eyes gleamed and moved to watch us, taking in every step we took.
The eerie silence of the forest animals and the presence of their glowing eyes unnerved me, and my stomach began to roll once more.
Chapter Two
* * *
Amy
“Amy, take the left flank,” Craig whispered. “I’ll take the ones on the right, and Jay, you’re the center point man. Don’t spread out too much. Stay together, within view, and switch safeties off.” He carefully stepped toward his right as we expanded our perimeter.
I nodded without looking at him; we all knew the drill. We’d done formation drills hundreds of times, but never toward an adversary so willing to face us. We were usually the more aggressive of the opposing sides. This wall of fae made my skin crawl, and I fought to not furiously rub at my arms.
“Craig, they’re not moving.”
“Formation, Amy. Don’t lose focus.”
“Now!” Jay gave the command, as he had many times before. Craig and I obeyed, and a cascade of arrows flew into the darkness, sailing toward the glowing targets nearly surrounding us.
The infernal screams which followed were deafening. Even the loud roaring wind through the tree canopy was swallowed by
the animal wailing all around us. I wanted to fall to the ground and hold my hands over my ears to muffle the screeching. It swept toward us and felt like a ram splintering against my head. I gasped, pushing to keep my focus. This band was louder and madder than any we’d extinguished before. A gnawing, terrible feeling spread through me as my control over my terror wavered.
I nocked an arrow into place, aiming for one creature who had moved into my line of vision, holding an axe. His feral smile crept up as he prowled forward. He looked like a panther, ready to pounce on a weaker prey. I let the arrow fly in his direction, and he leaped, dodging the point mere milliseconds before it hit him. Instead, it hit another fae lunging forward behind him, and he dropped to the ground with a heavy thud.
I swallowed, retreating a few steps and swinging my bow at the faery. The others continued to hit them with arrows and bullets—Craig had switched to his handgun. My bow cracked against the fae’s side, sending him flying head-first into a nearby trunk. He fell to his knees, his head lolling in a strange position, but I was already shooting off my gun as rapidly as I could. I watched as the mass of dark faeries changed their stances and began to bum rush right at us as I finished off a magazine. They loomed far too close and were upon us before I could reload.
Crap!
I pulled a hunting knife from my belt just in time to slash one across the chest and smack another over the head with the butt of my gun. Their bright blue-green blood splashed across my face and arms as their veiny skin burst open under my blade. Swinging hard, I caught another across his arm where he’d been holding a long, shining blade meant for me. His screech pierced my eardrums, disorientating me with a ringing that spun the world. His glowing eyes narrowed on me as his sharp blue teeth flashed in my direction.
I’d never seen one up close, and their appearance was off-putting. I inhaled sharply, blinking through the tears of pain as the ringing faded somewhat and I took stock of how many remained around me. Shocked to find more approaching, as though they’d been magically replaced, I stepped back, hoping to get far enough away to gain some ground.