Even the Gods Fear It

Copyright © 2023 Kelly Barker The moral right of the author has been asserted. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study,or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. MatadorUnit E2 Airfield Business Park,Harrison Road, Market Harborough,Leicestershire. LE16 7ULTel: 0116 2792299Email: [email protected]: www.troubador.co.uk/matadorTwitter: @matadorbooks ISBN 9781803137650 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Matador® is an imprint of Troubador Publishing Ltd Dedicated to Rory and Penny CONTENTSChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5Chapter 6Chapter 7Chapter 8Chapter 9Chapter 10Chapter 11Chapter 12 Apple Tree AcknowledgementsAbout the Author CHAPTER 1David was right: the bookshop was starting to look empty. It had been almost a year since he had died – or more accurately, was killed, I should say. One of my characters from the story I was writing snapped his neck while I was on the phone to him. A vampire called Ivy wanted revenge because I had deleted her story while she was no longer within it. I erased her home and her family. In her reality, I killed her father, and then she killed mine. But I couldn’t lose David; he was all the family I had, so I wrote a story about him and brought him back to life. Sort of anyway. The only way I really knew how to do it was to recreate him as a phantom, a ghost, just like our dog, Goodboy. He had become my version of a ghost, I suppose; it wasn’t like I had ever seen one. Some people would say they don’t exist; well, they do now. The fact was that I had very few choices regarding his resurrection. I couldn’t exactly bring him back as the human he’d once been; the coroner had pronounced his death an accident at the scene.“Zoe, will you cut my hair?” Varik asked for the third time, while pulling his black fringe over his nose. He was wearing his usual black jeans and slim-fit black jumper.I looked down at what I was wearing; my usual too. “No. I don’t cut hair any more,” I snapped. We had more important things to discuss. David, Bowen, Varik and I were in David’s – now mine – second-hand bookshop, discussing a new plan of action to save the plesiosaurs. Another creation of mine, and another disaster. Although, in my defence, I wasn’t fully aware that I could write characters and bring them into existence back then.“You still cut Bowen’s hair, you little liar,” he whined.Yeah, whined. A whining vampire, and another creation of mine. As I said, they have all been disasters so far. Well, apart from Goodboy. As if sensing my thoughts, he bounded over to me for a bit of attention. His once emaciated form had transformed to one of pure muscle and strength.“Yeah, I do.” I blushed, then I looked away. “But it’s different.”“How so?” he asked.At the same time, Bowen looked over and winked at me.But Varik misses nothing. “Ah, it’s like that, is it? A role-play thing, is it?”“No,” I snapped at Varik again.I saw David smile awkwardly, then look the other way – at nothing in particular. I hid my face in my hands, knowing Varik would not take the hint and keep his mouth shut.Bowen laughed without embarrassment and asked, “Varik, what do you know about role-play?”“A lot, thanks to you and that online fishing page you set up for me.” Varik shivered.We all bloody shivered when he brought that up.He needed blood to survive. You could argue that’s how he was created, and he therefore shouldn’t be judged by it. I certainly didn’t judge him. However, he couldn’t go round feeding from and killing humans – not the innocent ones anyway. Bowen had set him up with an online profile as a twelve-year-old little girl, which was based on something he learned from his time in the police force. Within an hour, he had six men asking if he – or she, I should say – was home alone. One of them even sent a dick pic and asked for a ‘front bottom’ pic in return. I retched when he first told me that. Varik would then arrange to meet with these paedophiles. Some may say murder is murder, but I say the world was now a better place.Varik had that gleam in his eyes, and I knew he wasn’t finished. I was about to ask Bowen if he wanted a coffee, but Varik put his hand over my mouth, cutting me off. “Bowen goes to the barber shop to get his hair cut by this lusty she-barber. But, oh no, he has no money. How will he pay?” He grinned widely, revealing his serrated, pointed teeth.“No, absolutely not,” I said, but my words were muffled behind his hand. I pushed his arm out of the way. How did he know? I looked at Bowen. “Did you tell him?”“No, I didn’t,” Bowen said, failing to hide his smirk behind the back of his hand.“Right, that’s it,” I shouted, then I headed towards the staffroom.Bowen and Varik just laughed it off, which both pissed me off and filled me with joy. My temper deflated instantly. I was happy for them both, if I were honest. They got on so well, and I couldn’t have asked for more than that.I flipped the kettle on, then