Deadly Night Read online

  Contents

  Title

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Character List

  Places

  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

  Thank You

  Also By the Author

  About the Author

  DEADLY NIGHT

  Ageless Mysteries - Book 1

  Vanessa Nelson

  DEADLY NIGHT

  Ageless Mysteries - Book 1

  Vanessa Nelson

  Copyright © 2021 Vanessa Nelson

  All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction.

  All characters and events in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to any real person, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Reproduction in whole or in part of this publication without express written consent is strictly prohibited.

  Click or visit:

  http://www.taellaneth.com

  For Mum and Dad - I got my love of reading and mysteries from you both.

  Much love.

  Character List

  Algar Hobbs - human, Watchman, minds the desk at the Captain’s Watch Station

  Ambrose Twist - owner of curiosity shop

  Barclay - Ageless - Susan’s father

  Blythe Wynder - Ageless-born, favourite of the Citadel

  Brigid - Ageless-born, citizen of the city

  Caroline March - human, skilled apothecary, Thea’s mother

  Caster - human, Inquirer at the institute

  Dina Soter - human, in charge of the forensics team

  David Goddard - human, younger of Hugh’s sons

  Edris - Ageless, Archon of the known worlds

  Ella Weaver - human, manager of fish factory in Brightfield

  Gant - Ageless-born, overseer on black ship

  Gilbert - cat, lives with Thea and her mother

  Henry - human - one of the family that used to live in Brightfield House - older son

  Hugh Goddard - human, carpenter, widower

  Iason Pallas - human, doctor in charge of the city morgue

  Ivor Goddard - human, elder of Hugh’s sons

  Josiah March - human (deceased), Caroline March’s husband

  Konrada - goddess of wisdom (from the time before the Ageless)

  Laurelle - Ageless - archivist of the Citadel

  Matthew Shand - night kind, leader of the fiandar clan in Accanter

  Nassir - human, Chief Inquirer at the institute

  Niath - mage, based at the Citadel

  Odilia Trant - part-human, mage assigned to the city watch

  Parker - human, clerk working in Brightfield House with Dina and Iason

  Phillipe - human, Inquirer at the institute

  Prudence Smith - factory worker

  Reardon - Ageless, one of the garrison commanders at the Citadel

  Richard - human, younger son of the family that used to live in Brightfield House

  Sara Carpenter - night kind, resident of Brightfield Estate

  Sisley - human, Apprentice Mage at the Citadel

  Solomon - human, uncle and nephew Watchmen

  Sondra - human, Inquirer at the institute

  Sutter - human, Senior Sergeant of the Watch

  Thea (Althea) March - junior law officer, Caroline’s daughter

  Thomas Carpenter - night kind, resident of Brightfield Estate

  Udele Percy - human, friends with Lynette, skilled jeweller

  Ware Handerson - captain of the Watch

  Waters - human, Mage, senior Mage of the Citadel

  Places

  Accanter - city where Thea and her mother live, home to the Archon

  Brightfield - former village, now part of Accanter - one of the Watch districts

  Brightfield House - former home of the lord of Brightfield, now headquarters for the Watch’s physician and scientific examiner

  Citadel - houses the Ageless and their soldiers, in the case of Accanter

  Cross Keys Tavern - tavern in Brightfield

  Fallowfield - former village, now part of Accanter - one of the Watch districts

  Highfield - former village, now part of Accanter - one of the Watch districts

  Institute of Scientific Enquiry - also known as the institute, part of Accanter, in the Watch district of Northcroft

  Lowcroft - former village, now part of Accanter - where Thea and her mother live

  Meadowcroft - former village, now part of Accanter - one of the Watch districts, borders the Citadel

  Middlefield - former village, now part of Accanter - one of the Watch districts, between Brightfield and Fallowfield - where the Watch Captain is based

  Northcroft - former village, now part of Accanter - one of the Watch districts, borders the Citadel

  Threshers Street - part of the Watch district of Wheatcroft

  Wheatcroft - former village, now part of the city of Accanter - one of the Watch districts

  CHAPTER ONE

  Thea paused in the shadowed hallway outside the kitchen, glancing at the house’s side door. No one in the kitchen could see her from here. And the side door was only a few paces away. Almost close enough to touch. She could leave without anyone else in the house knowing she was gone.

  The temptation carried to her feet, and she almost took a step forward, towards the door.

  But it would be rude to just go. And, more importantly, unkind to her mother, who was expecting Thea to be at the lunch table.

  So, instead of following her impulse to leave, Thea glanced down to double-check that she had managed to get all the cat hair off her uniform. Gilbert seemed to have adopted her as his favourite person, and she kept finding finger-length tan-and-black hairs in her room and on her clothes. Today she had managed to get rid of all evidence of him, so she squared her shoulders and took the necessary few steps away from the side door and into the kitchen.

  It was a large room with shelves and cupboards scattered around walls dominated by a large fireplace and stove, the centre taken up by a large wooden table with a scarred surface and mismatched chairs. It was normally a place of quiet and peace unless her mother was trying a new recipe. Today, it was too full of people, a near stranger at the head of the table where her mother usually sat.

  Hugh Goddard looked up as she came into the room. An ordinary-looking human male, somewhere in his middle years. He had a pleasant, unremarkable face, with slightly tanned skin, pale blue eyes and mid-brown hair. He looked absolutely harmless, but Thea had been wary of him since their first meeting a few weeks before, the instincts that had kept her safe growing up telling her to be careful.

  His mild expression slipped for a moment as he saw her. The slips had been happening more and more over the past few days. The veneer of a pleasant, gentle man gradually fading into something more like his sons.

  The sons, Ivor and David, were settled in chairs on either s
ide of their father. In their late teens, they were not mature enough to have learned how to adopt their father’s harmless veneer, and stared at her with flat, pale eyes. They were outwardly as unremarkable as their father, with similar blue eyes and mid-brown hair, although Hugh took care to ensure he was neat and tidy in his appearance. His sons still had some more to learn there. Then again, as far as Thea could tell, neither of them had jobs, or any particular skills. She made a point of avoiding them even more than their father.

  Thea moved to kiss her mother’s cheek before settling beside her at the other end of the table. Even sitting, Thea could see the top of her mother’s head, the blonde hair piled into a serviceable knot with a few hair pins securing it out of the way. It seemed impossible that so delicate a woman could have produced Thea, who stood taller than most men.

  They did not look related, either. Thea’s mother was petite and fair, with vivid blue eyes and silky blonde hair that always seemed to stay in place, while Thea was tall, with dark hair that needed far too many hairpins to secure it, and eyes to match her hair.

  Her mother looked tired, shadows under her eyes. She was in high demand as an apothecary and that normally took most of her time. Now she was also looking after her unexpected guests. Still, she managed a smile for Thea. “I’m glad you could join us.”

  Thea said nothing, turning her attention to the plate in front of her, trying to suppress a stab of guilt. Sitting and having lunch together, or indeed any meal, was a ritual that she and her mother had shared for years. Exchanging the little bits and pieces of the news of the day. Taking turns to read to each other. Or just settled in companionable silence. It had been only the two of them for a long time.

  And Thea had been avoiding as many meals as possible for the past two weeks. Since Hugh and his sons had moved in, on her mother’s invitation. Their own house was undergoing repairs after a fire. So they said. And of course Thea’s mother, warm-hearted and kind, had offered them a place in her house. It was more than big enough to hold them all, her mother had said. It might be true, but Thea far preferred the space and the quiet.

  Her mother had offered a few nights’ respite to other people over the years, and Thea had always welcomed them as warmly as her mother had. All their previous guests had brought something different into the house. New stories, new perspectives, new recipes. The guests had stayed a few days, then moved on. Some of them still wrote to her mother from time to time, with news from their new homes.

  So far as Thea could tell, the only thing that Hugh and his sons had brought to the house was more work for her mother. And, in her days off, for Thea, too, in keeping up with household chores.

  Her absence from meals had been noted and commented on. By Hugh and by her mother. Although she felt guilty for not supporting her mother, Thea had a strong sense, from what her mother said and did not say, that meals were far more comfortable if she was not there.

  “You haven’t thanked your mother,” Hugh said. The mask was back in place, the tone mild and oh-so-reasonable. Thea suppressed an impulse to stick her tongue out at him, reprimanded like a small child.

  “Thanked her?” she asked instead, voice as mild as Hugh’s.

  “For the food,” Hugh explained, mouth tightening for a split second. A tiny sign that Thea would have missed if she had not been looking for it. Whatever lurked under that seemingly harmless surface was deeply unpleasant. Thea always found herself tensing up in his presence, waiting for that darkness to spill out. It had not appeared yet.

  “Hugh, don’t be ridiculous,” her mother said, voice bright. “We should be thanking Thea. She made this when she came off shift yesterday.”

  “You made this?” Hugh asked, brows lifting, fork pausing halfway to his mouth.

  It was a basic stew, flavoured with some of the herbs and spices from the extensive collection set along the high shelves around the kitchen.

  “I did,” Thea confirmed, taking her first mouthful. It was flavoured as her mother liked. Slightly mild for Thea’s taste.

  “I thought it wasn’t up to Caroline’s usual standards,” Hugh said. “Caroline excels at everything she does,” he added, smiling at Thea’s mother across the length of the table.

  Thea ignored him. It was getting easier with practice.

  Her mother lifted her brows slightly, but did not otherwise respond. It was not the first time that Hugh had tried to be charming. Thea wasn’t sure that he had realised it was having no effect on her mother.

  “Have they demoted you already?” Ivor asked. He was sitting across the table from her, eyeing her chest and the bare lapel on her jacket. The place where her badge would normally sit. The folded-over piece of metal was tucked into her pocket, safely out of the way. She had hoped that by keeping it out of sight she would avoid any comment from Ivor or David on her status. It seemed she was wrong.

  “No. But I am not on duty yet,” Thea answered. The dark red uniform she wore would tell anyone in the city what she was, even without the badge.

  “A Watch Officer should always be on duty,” Hugh said. “Don’t you think, Caroline?”

  “Sounds dreadful,” her mother answered, laughing. “And Thea works hard enough. Don’t encourage her to do more, please.”

  Thea could not help the smile on her face as she looked at her mother. Despites her delicate appearance, Caroline March had a strong core. She had needed it. She had left the Archon’s service with only a few coins and her skills as an apothecary, and never looked back. Raising her daughter single-handed, she had taken possession of this large building and its extensive garden, set up a shop in the front room of the house to sell her work, preparing her own healing potions and salves, and building up an apothecary’s business that was renowned through the city. If Thea worked too hard, it was only because she was following her mother’s example.

  Eventually the meal was finished. Ivor and David were to do the washing up and grudgingly left the table under their father’s prompting.

  Thea got up to leave, putting her plate near the sink for washing, moving away from Ivor and David as quickly as she could without being openly rude.

  “You didn’t ask for permission to leave the table,” Hugh said.

  She stopped and lifted a brow at him. “I am a grown woman,” she said to him. “And I will be late for my shift if I don’t leave now.”

  “I’ve never made Thea ask for permission to leave the table,” her mother said, standing up in her turn, a slight frown on her face as she looked across at Hugh. “Not even when she was a child. Thea, be safe.” Her mother lifted onto her toes and kissed Thea’s cheek.

  “I will,” Thea promised, and left before Hugh could make any more petty observations. Not for the first time, she wondered just how long it would be before his house was repaired and he and his sons could leave.

  ~

  Thea left the house through the back door, taking a few moments to breathe in the mingled scents from the herb garden. The house had been built as a large farmhouse, once the centrepiece of an extensive farm that had served the great lord of the area. The lord was long gone, only a few traces of him and his family left on the once-fertile farmland that lay between the high cliffs and the river.

  But there was still this house, which must have held a huge family when it was first built. It had been abandoned for years before Thea and her mother had moved in.

  It had needed a lot of work. The grey stone house had mostly been in one piece, forming a narrow end of what had been a large farmyard, the rest of the space enclosed by various outbuildings and the remains of a stone wall. The stones themselves had been tumbled around the ground, and rebuilding the wall alone had taken Thea and her mother days to complete.

  What had been nearly a ruin was now a neat house, in good repair.

  The formerly bare farmyard had been made into an extensive, well-stocked garden providing food for them and herbs and other plants for her mother’s business. Their unwanted house guests rarely ventured into it,
so Thea made a point of leaving through the garden as often as she could. It also allowed her to make sure that the outbuildings were intact and that all the doors, including the hidden ones, were closed.

  She went through the wooden gate next to the house, latching it behind her as she stepped onto the packed earth road that ran through their neighbourhood. The old farmhouse was surrounded by small, squat houses tucked together, with strips of garden at the back, mostly given over to vegetable plots that were shared between neighbours. The people were not poor. They worked hard. They had food, a roof over their heads and clothes that kept them covered and warm. But they were not wealthy, either.

  They were mostly honest and straightforward, and Thea far preferred her neighbours to the inhabitants of the wealthier district that lay a stone’s throw from the back wall of the garden. There, enormous houses were surrounded by extensive gardens and high walls. Thea had been there once, curious, when she and her mother had first moved in. She had been driven away, pelted with stones and shouted insults. She had not been back.

  Thea headed away from the wealthy district, towards the narrower, more crowded streets nearer the river and the port. The city’s districts always seemed to her to be haphazard, uncomfortable neighbours settled together, each one jealous of something the other had, no matter how wealthy or how poor their neighbour.

  She turned onto the bustling main street of her neighbourhood, stepping around a brewer’s dray, the great horses half-dozing whilst the beer was unloaded. She was surrounded for a few strides by the sounds of chatter all around. Tradespeople and customers exchanging the news of the day. The faint scent of beer, and the tempting smells from the bakery on the other side of the street.

  As she crossed the invisible dividing line between her home neighbourhood and the industrial district, she walked under a shadow and glanced up, as she always did, at the reason why the city was here at all. The Citadel of Accanter. Perched on top of great stone cliffs of bare, dark stone that drew in all the light, the Citadel itself was built of bright stone, reflecting the sun, the highest part of it rising into the clouds. It was impossible to miss, no matter where she went in the city. The afternoon sun made its pale walls glow, although Thea knew that was also partly due to the magic built into it. Even from this distance, the whole structure was enormous. There were flecks of light and shadow in the air around the Citadel. They looked like birds, tiny next to the great buildings. Thea, and everyone else in the city, knew what they were, though. Far more deadly than any bird. The Ageless. The rulers that everyone in the city, and its surrounding lands, bowed to. No matter how wealthy or powerful they might be.