Harbinger's Hex (The Purgatory Knights Series Book 1) by Steve Gilmore

Author:Steve Gilmore [Gilmore, Steve]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Liquid Mind Publishing
Published: 2023-05-08T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Like the abrupt changing of a channel, Erin’s consciousness was ripped from the alluring warmth of Mischief Livingston’s balcony overlooking the Hexenbrenner Lounge and thrust into the unnatural grudge match unfolding at the ancient crossroads thousands of years earlier.

A stranger, neither seen nor heard, she stood there like a ghost and looked upon the goddess, Hecate, and the warrior, Gunhild, both held in place by an unseen force.

It was cold.

Impossibly cold.

Crossing her arms across her chest, Erin peered into the darkness just as the Horsemen emerged from the crimson-stained shadows. Doing her best to soak in every last detail, she watched intently as the pale rider dismounted his mammoth steed and approached.

Reeking of festering, rotted flesh, he circled Hecate like a predator toying with his prey. Almost twice her height and built like a freakish linebacker, his ghoulish, yellow eyes were paralyzing. Almost feline in nature, they swept back and forth from behind his battle-scarred Praetorian helmet as he walked.

“Behold the mighty Hecate,” he said. Both curt and penetrating, his words dripped with condescension. “The once great Triple Goddess and noble protector of mankind. Not so long ago, she held dominion over the very moon itself. And now? Nothing more than a simple crossroads witch.”

Stopping behind her, he reached back and drew the mighty longsword from the scabbard on his back, releasing a ripple of energy into the chill air. “Tell me, witch, have you anything to say before I remove your head and place it on a pike for all to admire?”

Unfazed, Hecate hissed a word, and her invisible bonds melted from existence. Spinning around to face him, she said, “There’s nothing simple about a crossroads witch, harbinger. Allow me to demonstrate.” Then she hissed another word, and her hands erupted with bowling ball-sized spheres of blue flame.

Erin cringed, fully expecting the enigmatic birthmark on her wrist to follow suit.

But much to her surprise, it didn’t.

Instead, the scene blurred, and everything changed.

Like a vinyl record skipping several tracks and picking up midstream in a different song, she found herself on her knees, panting and gasping for breath.

Staring at the ground, she was dizzy.

Disoriented.

Something about the air felt different.

It was thick.

Suffocating.

Sour.

Blinking her eyes until her vision returned, she looked up to find all four of the end times harbingers marching toward her in lockstep. Their dark cloaks rippled about their imposing silhouettes as their soulless gazes looked straight through her.

Adrenaline raced through Erin’s veins like wildfire.

Her heartbeat tripled in intensity.

Staggering to her feet, she backpedaled several steps when a literal firestorm of blistering blue flame rained down from above. Strafing the crossroads and engulfing the Horsemen in a torrent of fiery death, entire patches of earth were obliterated in an instant, leaving behind a gruesome network of deep pockmarks and craters.

“Dragon fire,” Erin muttered as she looked up to see Gunhild hovering in the darkness like a nightmarish attack helicopter. Her ivory-scaled hide gleamed in the moonlight as every stroke of her wings fanned the roaring flames below.

Rearing her

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