The other side of fear, p.1
The Other Side of Fear, page 1
part #5 of Blood Red Series Series
The Other Side of Fear
Blood Red Series, Volume 5
W.J. May
Published by Dark Shadow Publishing, 2019.
This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.
THE OTHER SIDE OF FEAR
First edition. June 11, 2019.
Copyright © 2019 W.J. May.
ISBN: 978-1393981466
Written by W.J. May.
Also by W.J. May
Bit-Lit Series
Lost Vampire
Cost of Blood
Price of Death
Blood Red Series
Courage Runs Red
The Night Watch
Marked by Courage
Forever Night
The Other Side of Fear
Blood Red Box Set Books #1-5
Daughters of Darkness: Victoria's Journey
Victoria
Huntress
Coveted (A Vampire & Paranormal Romance)
Twisted
Daughter of Darkness - Victoria - Box Set
Great Temptation Series
The Devil's Footsteps
Heaven's Command
Mortal's Surrender (Coming Soon)
Hidden Secrets Saga
Seventh Mark - Part 1
Seventh Mark - Part 2
Marked By Destiny
Compelled
Fate's Intervention
Chosen Three
The Hidden Secrets Saga:The Complete Series
Kerrigan Chronicles
Stopping Time
A Passage of Time
Ticking Clock
Secrets in Time
Time in the City
Ultimate Future
Mending Magic Series
Lost Souls
Illusion of Power
Challenging the Dark
Castle of Power
Limits of Magic
Protectors of Light (Coming Soon)
Omega Queen Series
Discipline
Bravery
Courage (Coming Soon)
Paranormal Huntress Series
Never Look Back
Coven Master
Alpha's Permission
Blood Bonding
Oracle of Nightmares
Shadows in the Night
Paranormal Huntress BOX SET #1-3
Prophecy Series
Only the Beginning
White Winter
Secrets of Destiny
Royal Factions
The Price For Peace
The Cost for Surviving (Coming Soon)
The Chronicles of Kerrigan
Rae of Hope
Dark Nebula
House of Cards
Royal Tea
Under Fire
End in Sight
Hidden Darkness
Twisted Together
Mark of Fate
Strength & Power
Last One Standing
Rae of Light
The Chronicles of Kerrigan Box Set Books # 1 - 6
The Chronicles of Kerrigan: Gabriel
Living in the Past
Present For Today
Staring at the Future
The Chronicles of Kerrigan Prequel
Christmas Before the Magic
Question the Darkness
Into the Darkness
Fight the Darkness
Alone in the Darkness
Lost in Darkness
The Chronicles of Kerrigan Prequel Series Books #1-3
The Chronicles of Kerrigan Sequel
A Matter of Time
Time Piece
Second Chance
Glitch in Time
Our Time
Precious Time
The Hidden Secrets Saga
Seventh Mark (part 1 & 2)
The Kerrigan Kids
School of Potential
Myths & Magic
Kith & Kin (Coming Soon)
Playing With Power (Coming Soon)
The Queen's Alpha Series
Eternal
Everlasting
Unceasing
Evermore
Forever
Boundless
Prophecy
Protected
Foretelling
Revelation
Betrayal
Resolved
The Senseless Series
Radium Halos - Part 1
Radium Halos - Part 2
Nonsense
Perception
The Senseless - Box Set Books #1-4
Standalone
Shadow of Doubt (Part 1 & 2)
Five Shades of Fantasy
Shadow of Doubt - Part 1
Shadow of Doubt - Part 2
Four and a Half Shades of Fantasy
Dream Fighter
What Creeps in the Night
Forest of the Forbidden
Arcane Forest: A Fantasy Anthology
The First Fantasy Box Set
Watch for more at W.J. May’s site.
By W.J. May
Blood Red Series
Copyright 2019 by W.J. May
The Other Side of Fear
Copyright © 2019 by W. J. May
Cover Art by Book Covers by Design
Printed in the United States of America
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Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Thank you for your purchase, for comments, or to obtain further copies, please find us on the web at www.wjmaybooks.com, on Face Book at Author WJ May, or contact the author direct at wanitamay@aol.com.
Have You Read the C.o.K Series?
The Chronicles of Kerrigan
Book I - Rae of Hope is FREE!
BOOK TRAILER:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gILAwXxx8MU
How hard do you have to shake the family tree to find the truth about the past?
Fifteen year-old Rae Kerrigan never really knew her family's history. Her mother and father died when she was young and it is only when she accepts a scholarship to the prestigious Guilder Boarding School in England that a mysterious family secret is revealed.
Will the sins of the father be the sins of the daughter?
As Rae struggles with new friends, a new school and a star-struck forbidden love, she must also face the ultimate challenge: receive a tattoo on her sixteenth birthday with specific powers that may bind her to an unspeakable darkness. It's up to Rae to undo the dark evil in her family's past and have a ray of hope for her future.
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Blood Red Series:
Courage Runs Red – Book 1
Night Watch – Book 2
Marked by Courage – Book 3
Forever Night – Book 4
The Other Side of Fear – Book 5
The Other Side of Fear Blurb:
WHAT IF COURAGE WAS your only option?
When the three of them had slowly climbed out of the cave, Kalie knew Caleb and Liam would protect her forever. Not because they had to, but because they wanted to.
She’d gotten away then.
Maybe someday she would find Petra again.
Or Petra would find her.
Kallie pressed her lips into a tight line. Whatever happened next, she was ready for it.
Contents
Have You Read the C.o.K Series?
Find W.J. May
Blood Red Series:
The Other Side of Fear Blurb:
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Blood Red Series:
Find W.J. May
More books by W.J. May
Prologue
Her feet slapped against the pavement, echoing in the stillness of the night, the sound doing little to dispel the lingering worry that clung to her like a second skin. She had no idea how much time she had, or if she even had any time at all, but she had to believe she could still make a difference.
Resisting the urge to glance behind her, Petra willed her feet to take her as far away as possible, promising her body she would rest as she soon as she was safe. The problem was she didn’t know if she could follow through on that, or whether it was even possible in her current state.
A life on the run meant nothing was a guarantee and her foolish arrogance had blinded her to the many risks she’d have to undertake in order to survive. Everything carried such deadly consequences. Maybe it was time for her to pay what was due. The problem was, she didn’t want to. All that time spent amassing power only to have it turn around and betray her had been for nothing. She realized that now.
It’s a little late for regrets, she thought bitterly to herself. Yet, she couldn’t help but wonder, what if. Usually Petra was not the sort of person to dwell on mistakes, especially ones she’d made. Her mind was not so easily convinced anymore. She kept circling back to that, relentlessly, almost obsessively, until her skull felt like it was about to explode.
Her body screamed in protest, begging her for the rest she so desperately craved, but she knew she could not stop. To pause now would mean the end of her. She knew that as surely as she knew that she needed to get off city streets and find somewhere safe. The smooth asphalt began to give way to bumps and potholes, signaling the end of the sprawling civilization that she was rapidly leaving behind.
Up ahead, a short distance away, she could see the tall dark trees of the forest looming, beckoning her forward. She’d always been drawn to the dense and thick vegetation, even when she was a girl. It was the place where she felt the safest, and where her magic truly came alive. She didn’t know how to explain it, it was the way things were. With her heart pounding in her ears, she stepped off the pavement, took one last quick glance behind her, and shook her head. So far no one had followed.
Only somewhat reassured, she turned back around, keeping her eyes straight ahead. This was no time for tears, though she felt them on her cheeks. Gasping for breath, her chest rose and fell unevenly.
She was unused to being this weak.
Not liking how her physical vulnerability made her position all the more precarious, she vowed she would not be caught like this. No, she needed to bide her time till she had her strength back, most of which she’d lost when she tried to help Kallie in her quest to end the war.
As always when she thought of her daughter, her heart squeezed painfully reminding her of everything she’d lost. At times like this, when Petra was left alone with only her thoughts for company, that she realized how much she regretted making that choice. It was too late to go back on that now, logically she understood that, but she sometimes caught herself wondering how different her life would’ve been had she stayed with Frank and Kallie. Had she not given up everything good in her life for the sake of...what exactly? Power? Right now it felt like a poor bargain.
I could’ve gotten to see my little girl grow up; take her first steps, go to her first ballet recital, and all those other milestones. Bitterness washed over her. At the time, she’d believed that she was making the right decision for everyone involved, including Frank who’d been forced, in the beginning at least, to pretend that Liz was his true wife. It hadn’t been easy on him; he’d taken it hard. Then again, she hadn’t expected anything less. She’d fallen in love with his strong convictions and his willingness to fight for his beliefs. Should it have come as any surprised that it was these same traits now that had come back to bite her?
He’d argued that it wasn’t fair to Liz. In fact, he’d insisted that she had the right to know what she was getting herself into, but Petra had cut him off, determined that it was too dangerous for Liz to know their secrets. If anyone suspected that Petra’s only daughter was being hidden away in plain sight, in the care of her sister, they’d come after her. And while Petra and Liz had been at odds for years, she hadn’t wished for any harm to come to her.
It was a strange how life tended to come to a full circle like that. She’d never dreamed that things would turn out the way they had. Up until the night of the accident, Kallie had led a blissfully normal and ignorant life, free from the shackles of her birth and the responsibility she would have to undertake. Petra had wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible. At least until Kallie was old enough to make her own decisions regarding the world she’d been born into.
Petra had been looking forward to that day, when she could embrace her daughter and invite her to take her rightful place as her heir. Sadly, life had other plans in store for her, and Kallie had taken another path entirely.
In the end Petra had lost her daughter not once, but twice.
The distant sound of a wolf howling snapped Petra out of her reverie and she skidded to a halt, taking long shallow breaths to fill her body with air.
Her ears were attuned to the tiniest nose. She listened intently, trying to determine if she’d been followed, but so far, she seemed to be in the clear. She sighed as she slumped against a tree, her heart pounding away in her chest, staring at her trembling hands. She sucked in a huge breath and clenched her hands into fists, willing herself to stay steady as she glanced around.
The smell of wildflowers and fresh rain hit her nostrils. It should have been a pleasant scent, but they brought to mind open fields. She felt too exposed out here, and the clearing in front of her offered no cover at all. She bounced lightly on the balls of her feet, looking for a cave or an opening of sorts where she could hide. Relief flooded her system when she spotted a small cleft in the rocks, half hidden underneath some overgrown bushes.
Silently, thankfully, she slipped in and carefully took stock of her surroundings.
The cave looked smaller on the outside, but on the inside it gave way to a much larger space. Out of the corner of her eye, Petra spotted some animals scurrying away, small things that had made this space their lair. Well, it was hers now, she needed it more than they did. She hugged her coat tighter around her, shivering as she came to the conclusion that she didn’t like this setup. There was only one way in and out.
She pushed the fears to the back of her mind and crawled forward on hands and knees, unable to keep her body upright any longer. Her body sighed as she lay flat on her back in the damp cave, letting her thoughts run around in circles until she finally sat up, knowing she needed more than just shelter if she were to survive.
Petra arranged a few pieces of dry twigs she’d found near the opening, the remains of some old nest that had fallen out of the bushes that concealed the entrance. Cautiously she rubbed her hands together and whispered something under her breath. A moment later, the twigs caught fire and she inched closer, wishing the feeble flames would be able to soothe the chill that had settled in her heart, though she knew that wasn’t possible. The most it could do was keep her body warm for the night.
A shudder went through her as she lifted the coat up and examined the wound on her lower abdomen. Slowly, her fingers assessed the damage; kneading and prodding to find out its extent. She winced in pain, but was thankful that it wasn’t as deep as she’d originally thought. Dried blood was caked to her coat and she gingerly peeled it back and set it on the ground next to her.
Next, she took a closer look at the wound under the glowing light of the fire and determined that it would be wise not to waste her magic on it. It was superficial and she could handle the pain as long as she rested for the night. Her body would take care of the rest. She swallowed, her throat feeling dry as she glanced around, trying to find the tools to get herself some water. Quizzically, she stared down at her shoes and took them off. She crawled towards the entrance of the cave and stuck her shoe out, relieved when she heard the steady splat of rain falling outside, drenching the forest. A few minutes later, she tilted her shoe backwards and lapped up the water greedily. She wiped her hands across her mouth and gave a grim smile of satisfaction. She left the shoe where it was and turned her back to the entrance, taking the time to take stock of her cave. What a useless place to try and carry out her mission. She who’d had the elegance of a palace around her, reduced to...this.
