Friday the 13th Freebies!!

From Friday March 13th to Tuesday March 11th Kindle is offering a Free Promotion for my books! Head on over to Amazon to get a digital copy of An Other Kind of Fury and/or An Other Sanctuary. Immerse yourself in my dark, twisted, trigger-y world. 

An Other Kind Of Fury 

An Other Sanctuary (A Call Of Blood)

Author note: So I noticed that it wasn't exactly the 13th...more like the 14th. I blame it on migraine brain. 

Authors note #2: ZOMG the date was supposed to be the 14th to the 18th!! 

I need a working . . . thinking . . . thing. 

Excerpt - Chapter Two - An Other Kind Of Fury

“We should do a report on your attack while the details are still fresh,” Bryan interrupted her thoughts.

“Report?” Karla said dumbly.

“The Panthers,” he coaxed her gently. “I know the regular police handle gang related reports, but I can take a statement and pass it on to one of their officers once the weather lets up. At least it will be taken care of.”

“Uh, no. That’s not necessary,” she told him, avoiding his gaze. Her fingers tightened on the mug. This is bad.

His eyes narrowed. “Did they threaten you? You know you’re safe now right--?”

“No. I know. It’s...just not necessary.” Karla tried to reassure him. “I’m safe. I’ll be smarter next time I go out.” And armed.

He didn't like her answer. “They will never be held responsible if you don’t.” His voice was curt.

“Don’t tell me they’ll be held responsible!” Karla snapped, “That’s a load of shit, and you know it! The police don’t mess with the gangs, especially those with hot lawyers like the Steel Panthers!”

Bryan wanted to tell her she was wrong but he knew he’d be lying. Didn't mean he had to like it. “You could have been hurt.” He didn't like how much that bothered him.

Her blue eyes flashed. Too late, she thought bitterly. “Yeah, well it’s a good thing I have a stalker in blue.”

He coughed as his hot cocoa went down the wrong pipe. He chuckled, “Found me out did you?”

Okay, you didn't have to prove me right, Karla wanted to say. She just shook her head in exasperation. She opted out of that line of conversation quickly. “I should call the Cafe and let the others know I’m safe. Phone?”

Bryan handed it over to her. She ignored the little jolt of electricity that tingled through her fingers as their hands brushed. Damn it, she fumed at herself.

Karla dialed the Cafe. Liesl’s face appeared on the video screen.“Karla! Where are you? We were worried!”

“I’m fine, Lis.” Karla assured her. “I've got a place to stay.” She didn't elaborate, but her cheeks warmed knowing that Pandora would know exactly where she was.

“Scott, Drew and Jesse landed here,” Liesl informed her.

Oh hell, Karla thought desperately. Don’t let them know where I am!  I’ll never hear the end of it!

“Look, I have to go,” Karla said abruptly. “I’ll be home when the storm’s over.”

Liesl’s brown eyes were wise. “Stay safe.”

She hung up. Well crap. This night can’t possibly get any better.If her siblings got wind that she was at Bryan’s apartment she’d never live down their knowing glances and teasing jokes. Kidd was closest to Scott and it would only be a matter of time before he got the wrong idea.

Karla wanted to sink into the armchair in utter misery.

“Want to watch a movie?” Bryan asked her.

“Sure,” she mumbled. She wanted to add, only no romantic comedies or dramas, and definitely no porn.

Her cheek was throbbing. Karla absently pressed her fingers lightly to the spot and Bryan caught the motion. He leaned forward with a sudden change in expression. She froze at the look on his face. “What--?”

“They hit you?” he growled angrily.

“It’s nothing,” she murmured, cursing her double-crossing fingers.

He was suddenly examining her and Karla found herself unable to move as he carefully tilted her chin up to get a look where she’d been belted twice across the face. Her cheekbone was starting to discolor. “Shit! I didn't know you were hurt--!!”

She didn't trust her voice to respond. His touch was shockingly gentle. It fried any working synapses in her brain that would have provided a snappy comeback, or at the least, a coherent response.

“Are you hurt anywhere else?” Bryan demanded, his blue eyes bored into her with a mixture of concern and anger.

Biting her lip, she began to shake her head no. At the simple action, the shirt she had borrowed, gaped open at the neck and slid to bare one of her shoulders. She jumped in surprise when Bryan suddenly yanked it down further to bare the angry weal where the chain had caught her.

“For fuck sakes woman! Why didn't you say something?” he snarled at her.

Her heart raced. All she could do was stare at him in mute dismay.

“Fuck. I’m sorry!” He let go of her abruptly, realizing that he was manhandling someone who’d just been physically assaulted. “I’m no good at this shit...wait here.” He stormed out of the living room, leaving Karla in a shaken state.

*Karla? Are you alright? Where are you? What happened?* Scott’s unexpected telepathic interrogation only added to Karla’s raw nerves. It was clear he was picking up on her distress.

*I’m fine!*

*Are you?  Damn it, I’m worried!  The Panthers were spotted in our area...*

*Yes, I know!  And no, I’m not going to tell you any more until I get back to the Cafe!  Leave me alone!*

With that, she slammed down her mental wall and cut off any reply that Scott may have had.

Bryan returned with his first aid kit. His lips were pressed tightly together as he cleaned and bandaged her shoulder. She watched the forgotten TV over his shoulder with unseeing eyes. He finished by retrieving an ice pack from the kitchen. “Lay back,” he said brusquely, holding the pack to her cheek.

He noticed the new silver necklace around her neck, and the ring, and guessed what it symbolized.

“I can hold it.” Karla placed her hand over his to claim the ice pack for herself and gain some personal space. He stared at her for a long moment before he relinquished his hold. She closed her eyes briefly in relief as he returned to his spot on the couch.

A blast from the past--who wants a prequel?

Kidd tromped up the stairs to the second floor. He fished his keys out of his pocket and flicked through the bunch, trying to find out the room key. He almost didn't notice the huddled figure pressed against the balcony railing.
It was the off key strain of Marvin Gaye’s ‘Sexual Healing’ that caused a chill to fission down Kidd’s spine. He froze in mid-step.His eyes zeroed in on a strangely dressed figure. It was a girl; she looked like she’d wandered away from a Steampunk gathering with her odd getup. A black top hat was pulled low over her face, hiding her features. Ultimately it was the voice Kidd identified, though it hitched and skipped like a broken record.“Rae?” Kidd called her name in disbelief.Her head flopped back and indeed it was her. He saw that she had trouble focusing on his face and recognized the telltale pupils.“You’re high.” He said shortly.“You’re here.” Rae chirped happily. “Hiiiii!”Kidd shook his head impatiently. What the hell?
“Did you bring the pretty stars for Karla?” Rae asked him, “She likes presents! She liked my fireworks!!” Then the happy expression on her face dimmed, “She’s mad at me.”Kidd knelt down and grabbed Rae’s shoulders. “Karla? Is she here?”The smile came back but this time it was coy. “Uh uh. Can’t tell you. You’re a kitty cat.” She growled at him playfully. “A bad kitty cat.”That almost sat him on his ass. She knew he was a Panther? That explained a lot. Shit!“I’m not going to do anything bad to Karla, Rae. You have to trust me.” He said urgently. “Is she like you? Is she high? Where is she?”“Are we playing twenty questions?” Rae asked him soberly. “Cause that sounded like twenty—”Kidd wanted to growl in frustration but he didn't dare scare her. She’d lock up tighter than a bank vault. He took a slow breath through his teeth, “Rae. Where’s Karla? I have to give her my present.”
“The stars?” Rae guessed excitedly. “Oooh! I can’t wait to see her face!!”He nodded quickly, “That’s right. Let’s go show her the stars--!”He was about to help her to her feet when Rae pulled back with a frown.“No, we have to wait our turn.”Kidd wanted to shake her. He was getting worried. “Wait for what Rae?”“Sexual Healing,” She said like ‘duh’.He was going to throw up. It took him a few deep breaths to gather enough control to ask, “Is it Karla’s turn now?”Rae nodded, blinking guilelessly.Kidd couldn't wait any longer. He started searching Rae for a key. “Rae, so fucking help me, you have to tell me where Karla is--!” He snarled.
She was too far gone. As he searched Rae frantically, she giggled as though he were tickling her. All Kidd could think of was that somewhere in the building behind him was Karla. She was being hurt by someone and he couldn't fucking help her because her best friend was out of her mind high!
“God dammit Rae!” Kidd exploded impatiently.Hang on Karla! 

Who's the EVILLEST baddie in my books?

If you had to pick thebad guy from An Other Kind of Furyand/or An Other Sanctuary which douche canoe would it be? Leave a comment!! :)

Fenris – Scruffy, slightly crispy ex-Panther-now-reinstated with a vendetta. Hobbies include dressing in drag and employing the equivalent of human rope origami.

Malcolm – Solntsevskaya. Other. A dangerous combination of soldier, techie and supernatural. He’s a smooth operator with underworld influence.

Alastor – The self-assured, nauseatingly powerful, CEO of Digitalis Corporation. Pretty to look at and he knows it. Hobbies include felating sharp objects and ditching shoes.

Jayce – Poster child for having inappropriate sexual relations. The oldest Hunter sibling and psychic vampire. Questionable sanity.

Jake – Leader of the Steel Panthers. Dark savant. Has more money and power than he lets on. Obsessive. Once he gets his teeth in something he refuses to let go. 

ohboy these guys look like famous persons. how bout that? good thing i'm only using them as eye candy :)

Flashback

Midnight found her on a hill overlooking the bridge. The city lights blurred to her gaze like an artist’s wet canvas. The bottle hung in one loose grip as she leaned against her motorcycle and surveyed the view.

“Not quite the same,” she said out loud, thinking of the suspension bridge in Wabun where she and Kidd just about died trying to out run the Steel Panthers. “Not as pretty.”

She took a swig of whiskey and let the fire burn away the regret.

“Should have listened to you when you asked me to run,” she wiped the back of her mouth with her sleeve. “Maybe you’d still be here and I wouldn’t be . . .” Her voice caught painfully.

Shrugging she set the bottle down on the saddle and looked at the schematics she had drawn onto her wrist with a pen earlier. Like she didn’t know they had a tracking device embedded in her body. What? Did they think she was stupid as well as a slut? Tears spilled over her cheeks as she traced the outline with her finger. Yeah well. Maybe she was both after all.

Digging into her boot for the knife she had kept all these years, she pulled out Jayce’s old knife into the moonlight. She weighed it in her hand and tested its sharpness with her thumb. Yup still sharp. Karla sucked at the welling blood.

She pulled her hair over to one side and let it hang down her shoulder. The other shoulder she stretched the neck of her dress until it was bared to the night sky. With searching fingers she traced the muscles and ligaments of her neck until she found the spot she was looking for. She poised the knife point to her neck and closed her eyes.

“If I said yes now, I know it’s too late,” she murmured to Kidd’s memory. Probably if she was sober, the thought of talking to his ghost would give her a hint how unhinged she was acting, but oddly enough, right that moment, it was comforting. “But I’m going to run anyway. For the both of us.”

Her whole body tensed in anticipation of what she was about to do. Her grip tightened on the hilt of the knife and in the split second before she stabbed herself, she though she heard someone call her name.

White hot pain flared through her shoulder. A spasm shot down to her hand and almost made her drop the knife but her other hand tightened determinedly. The sensation of the cold hard blade digging into her flesh was wrong. Karla’s stomach rolled and she closed her lips tightly around the urge to throw up.

In her inner mind she saw the schematic and pushed down harder with a whimper. She felt the blade scrape bone. The cold sweat of shock broke out on her forehead and upper lip. Her breath exited in quick harsh bursts as she traced the spot with steel.

When she was sure she had successfully obliterated the tracking tattoo on her clavicle she let go of the knife. Her fingers spasmed open as she hunched over and dropped to her knees in the grass.

She stared wide-eyed and in shock as blood dripped onto the grass in front of her.

That was a lot of blood.

She must have nicked one of the arteries when she let go of the knife. Damn it.  

Placing her hands over the wound was rather wishful thinking; she could feel her heart beat in the woosh of spray against her fingers. Her vision was graying out and she couldn’t find it in her to care.

“I guess we’ll be running together after all,” she mumbled. She felt the curve of a wistful smile on her lips. “Sorry it took me so long.”

She fell forward onto the grass, using the last of her strength to roll over onto her back. She wanted her last sight to be the night sky.

So she couldn’t understand why Grant’s worried upside down face was the last thing she saw.

Falling to Pieces

She raised a shield in self-defense just to see how much it would drain her energy. It was haphazardly constructed, meant only to act as an early-warning system of sorts. If she needed she could feed it more energy with just a pull. To her satisfaction, she didn't feel much of a physical demand. She was getting better at it.  

Karla then returned her attention to the approaching figure. Her eyes widened when she realized his form was hastening towards her at a quicker pace. In fact he was just about to round the corner—

She dove for the floor, intending to ricochet off the opposite wall and take him by surprise when she caught first glance of his figure through the moonlight shining through the window.

He was big. He wore a black leather jacket—

Actually that was where her thoughts screeched to a stop.

Big. Leather jacket.

Karla’s ricochet was more of a face-plant  Her head struck the cement wall instead and her face radiated pain. Her nose burned, she tasted blood. But through it, all she could see was Jayce staring her down.

Pure terror.

Her hand was shooting out before she could connect rational thought and her shield was expanding out with unequivocal purpose. To hit first and hit hard.

*Karla!* Scott’s alarmed telepathic shout cut through her panicked reflex.

She didn't know where she found the strength to pull back but she did. Karla pulled the shield back within herself with a sharp wrench, suddenly horribly sober with the realization that she was in a training exercise.

She found herself on her knees in the hallway, coughing as dust rained down on her from the stressed concrete.

Short Story itty bit

               Without the element of surprise, Mika saw no option but to rush him. Charlie was clutching his jacket so hard, he was counting on it. When he lunged forward, he kept his arms straight so that the jacket stayed behind with her. Then he was moving forward unencumbered.

            “Mika!” Charlie screamed.

            “Go Charlie!” Mika yelled desperately as he threw a punch at the smug looking Panther.

            With an ease that was embarrassing, Jayce blocked Mika’s punch with a Jiu Jutsu wrist lock and pulled him forward into the switchblade he had waiting in his other hand.

            Mika made a surprised sound that was muffled by the leather jacket his face was currently pressed up against. He was glad his expression was hidden. He could feel the foreign wrongness of the steel in his belly.

            Charlie was caught in midflight by the sound of the indrawn gasp Mika made. His order for her to flee evaporated and she whirled in time to see her boyfriend slowly sink to his knees, arms limp by his sides.

            “M-Mika?”

            She thought she’d reached the limits of her capacity for terror. But when she saw his profile, the crimson stain on his lips, she discovered it was possible to reach a new plateau. Her legs locked and she forgot all about the promise of freedom. 

            Woosh. There was a displaced blast of air and Charlie suddenly found herself being dragged back to Mika’s side. Though the fingers crushing her upper arm were punishing she didn’t resist. She wanted to be closer to her boyfriend. Her eyes swam with tears.

            “Charlie--!” Mika groaned. His brown eyes were agonized. “No! Run--!”

Out Of Control

Kidd closed the apartment door quietly behind him. It was late and Bryan’s place was dark. He tossed his leather duster over the arm of the sofa directly in front of him. Turning to the left he made his way carefully towards the kitchen where he illuminated the room briefly by refrigerator light. He popped the tab on a can of beer the same time as he heard a sound float down the hallway.

He paused, can half way to his lips. He glanced in the direction of Bryan’s bedroom where he expected the Karla and the cop to be sleeping this time of night. Kidd tipped his head in acknowledgement of the unreal predicament he found himself in; calmly noting his girlfriend in bed with another man. It was the makings for a song that was for sure. He swallowed the cool draft as he reflected reluctantly on how he’d come to spend more time here than at his own place.

The faint sound reached his ears once more. Kidd froze where he stood. This time he recognized the soft breathy little moan.

It was Karla’s soft breathy little moan.

Air exploded from his lungs with his disbelief. Are they--?

Emotions assaulted him at once. He was surprised to find that he had actually placed a measure of trust in Bryan. After all this time he’d actually begun to believe that the annoying prick of a cop wouldn't take advantage of Karla. Clearly he was fucking wrong.

Ch 4 - Ode to a Door excerpt

            The passage of time was carefully marked until they heard the sound of gravel crunching under tires. Jesse nodded in silence and Lucy unzipped her duffle bag to pull out a long cylindrical object which she slung over her shoulder. She silently climbed to the top of the dumpster and crouched in the darkness, watching the distant approach of a black armored van.

            Below her, Jesse had flipped a visor over his head fitted with binoculars.  He peered down the lane with the enhanced view and read the signature of four Panthers within the van.  *Four* he shared with Lucy.

            *Gottit!* she confirmed peering through the night sights of the AT-4 rocket launcher she was setting up. *Recognize any of those dipshits?*

            Jesse was too busy focusing and adjusting to answer her at first. *Driver, no. Passenger looks like Fenris. I can’t see the two in the back.*

            *I’m getting a major yuck vibe. I’ll bet fifty credits Gomer in the back there is Jayce.*

            There was no response from Jesse but she guessed he already sensed his father’s etheric trace; it was like a black hole, hard to miss.

            **HEY!**

            Lucy and Jesse froze. Their eyes met guiltily.

            **WHERE ARE YOU TWO SHITS?** Drew interrupted.

            Fuck! How was that for timing?! They needed to get rid of the Big Brother Brigade before they realized the two youngest Hunters were up to no good.

            *Ow! Can you fucking keep it down?!* Lucy growled, thinking fast. *I’m on the rag alright?!*

            There was a nonverbal version of *Eep!* from Scott and Kelly who had checked in right at that instant. They withdrew just as abruptly; Lucy could almost hear the vacuum of the headspace they left behind.  Drew kind of flopped around gracelessly as the unwelcome mental image caught him like a poleaxe to the back of the head.

            *She’s making me watch movies.* Jesse added for emphasis. *Anyone for Notebook? We have popcorn—*

            **Nuh nuh—no thanks!** Drew backpedaled. **Uh . . . have     fun--?**

            With that Jesse and Lucy were alone once more. They gave each other a mental high-five.

            *That was too close!*

            *Notebook?* Lucy drawled. *I’d have to be in a coma, not just pmsi—heads up!!*

            He tensed as the passenger to the van opened and the figure he guessed was Fenris jumped out. Jesse hurriedly tore the binoculars from his head and readjusted his beanie. He reached for the skateboard and unhooked it from his backpack.

            *Remember,* she reminded him as she removed the safety pin at the rear of the tube and took a crouching position. *We get what we came for and split. No blood feuds today okay?* As much as the thought of killing a Steel Panther was appealing, killing an Echelon-level Panther like Fenris or unfortunately, Jayce, would fatefully mark them in Wabun’s powerful underworld. Only Echelon could kill Echelon. You could also get away with it if you had the poor taste of being a cop but not many of them even risked the gang’s wrath these days. She and Jesse had an idea on how to get around the status issue but it wasn't going to happen in one night.

            Jesse didn't take his eyes from the van. *You’re preaching to the choir firecracker. In. Out. Just like one of Drew’s dates.*

            Lucy wanted to snort. *Classy.*