Читать онлайн «Spook's: Dark Assassin»
Автор Джозеф Дилейни
Contents
Cover
About the Book
Title Page
Dedication
Map
Epigraph
Prologue
Chapter 1: Spook’s Business
Chapter 2: Training a Girl
Chapter 3: Little Cat
Chapter 4: The Safe House
Chapter 5: What Humans Call Hell
Chapter 6: The Daemon Tanaki
Chapter 7: The Domain of Pan
Chapter 8: The Journey to the Mill
Chapter 9: Dead Bodies
Chapter 10: What am I?
Chapter 11: Queen of the Witches
Chapter 12: The Boiling Cauldron
Chapter 13: Females are Animals
Chapter 14: The Increasing Threat
Chapter 15: What Dark Thing?
Chapter 16: The Water Witch
Chapter 17: Burning Light
Chapter 18: A Shaiksa with a Bow
Chapter 19: Chingle Hall
Chapter 20: Lukrasta’s Plan
Chapter 21: Within the Devil’s Triangle
Chapter 22: A Mound of Bodies
Chapter 23: The Refuge of the Witches
Chapter 24: Makrilda, the Witch Assassin
Chapter 25: The Portal
Chapter 26: The Two Towers
Chapter 27: The Kobalos God
Chapter 28: The Silver Fingers
Chapter 29: The Silver Cage
Chapter 30: The Truth about Alice
Chapter 31: A Price to be Paid
Chapter 32: The Dark Assassin
Glossary of the Kobalos World
About the Author
Also by Joseph Delaney
Copyright
About the Book
The County that the Spook is sworn to protect is under threat from the beasts who killed his oldest ally. But their inhuman ambition stretches way beyond the County’s borders and the future of all people hangs in the balance, caught in a supernatural struggle between beings of the utmost power.
Forces from both the dark and the light must stand side by side in this, the ultimate battle for the entire world.
The war that will decide the fate of humanity unfolds in this blood-curdling tale from the bestselling author of
For Marie
Do not think that you will be returned to Earth with a beating heart and warm blood coursing through your veins. You will never again dine on fish or meat or berries. Nor will you sip cool water from mountain streams or feel the warmth of the sun on your skin. Firstly, each return to Earth will be extremely painful and you may only dwell there during the hours of darkness. Before the cock crows you must return to the dark or else be burned to ashes by the first rays of the morning sun.
PROLOGUE
I awoke in darkness, shivering with cold, my mind numb and void of memories.
I was lying on my back, staring up at a pitch-black, starless sky.
The full moon hung low on the horizon and it was the colour of blood.I felt bewildered.
I sat up slowly and looked around. The ground was flat, dotted with dead trees and patches of scrub. I could see lights in the distance, and the faint outline of what looked like cottages.
I began to stumble towards them, weak and unsteady on my feet. Perhaps someone there could help me – or at least tell me the name of this strange place. I didn’t like the look of that moon; it should have been a pale silvery yellow – not a monstrous bloated thing, its staring face covered in blood. It seemed to be watching every step I took.
I gradually grew stronger and made better progress towards the cottages – but suddenly I was brought to a halt by what sounded like the growl of an animal in the darkness behind me. It growled again and my anxiety became a stab of fear.
