Dark Awakening Page 8

  Nationally bestselling author Patti O'Shea has won numerous awards for her writing and been nominated for many more. Her books have appeared on the Barnes & Noble, Waldenbooks, and Borders bestseller lists and have earned starred reviews in prestigious publications such as Publishers Weekly and Booklist.

  More Paranormal Romance by Patti O'Shea

  Through a Crimson Veil — A Crimson City Novel

  When a sexy half demon asks Conor McCabe for protection, he can't say no and he doesn't understand why. He hates demons. He doesn't want to help her. He doesn't want to want her, but every minute he spends with her strengthens his need to keep her safe—and intensifies the desire burning between them.

  Mika Noguchi sought out Conor to steal the key that can free all demons imprisoned in Orcus. She quickly regrets her mission—Conor is her destined mate and he'll view her theft as betrayal—but she gave her word to the council and the penalty for breaking it is severe.

  Other demons are loose in Crimson City, however, and they have their own plans. They're not about to let anyone stand in the way. Not Conor. Not Mika. They'll do anything it takes to advance their agendas—even kill. (2006 Booksellers Best Award Winner — Best Paranormal)

  The Light Warriors Series

  In the Midnight Hour — When a troubleshooter for a society of magic users rescues a private detective from a dark spell, she finds more than an ally as she faces down her former mentor. (2008 Booksellers Best Award Winner - Best Paranormal)

  In Twilight's Shadow — Troubleshooter Creed Blackwood is trying to capture a demon hunting Maia Frasier’s sister. But if Maia’s suspicions about Creed's falling to dark magic are true, he might be a bigger danger than any demon could be. (2009 Write Touch Readers Choice Awards Finalist – Best Paranormal)

  Edge of Dawn — Troubleshooter Logan Andrews has his loyalties torn between his people and the woman he’s been assigned to protect. (2010 Aspen Gold Award Winner – Best Paranormal)

  In the Darkest Night — Kel Andrews has spent the last year living with nightmares and flashbacks. He's withdrawn from his family and been removed him from his position as a troubleshooter. But when a woman asks him for protection from a demon, Kel reluctantly agrees to help—and finds himself facing an unexpected adversary, one he doesn't know how to fight. (2011 Beacon Award Winner – Best Paranormal)

  Blood Feud World Stories

  Blood Feud — When a demon starts murdering vampires, a vampire enforcer and a demon prince are assigned to find the killer before war erupts. But Isobel and Seere have a past and that complicates their mission. (Short story)

  Demon Kissed — Demon slayer Bree Molina has been tried for murder by the demons and sentenced to death. Andras has a plan to get her out of trouble, but he has secrets that will rock Bree’s world. (Nocturne Bites)

  Shadow's Caress — Former vampire hunter Cass Lanier didn’t believe vampires could become ghosts, until the shade of the last one she killed shows up. Malachi James needs Cass to return him to his life, but other hunters have learned she can resurrect the vampires she killed and they plan to kill her first. (Nocturne Bites)

  Enemy Embrace — When vampire hunter Nicole Ruiz nearly loses her life to a powerful vampire, she offers an alliance to her rescuer, a demon name Daktan. Demons might be an enemy, but she'd make a deal with the devil himself if that's what it took to avenge her family. (Part of the Crave the Night anthology)

  To find out more, read an excerpt, or watch book trailers, please visit Patti's Website www.pattioshea.com

  Follow Patti on Twitter: www.twitter.com/patti_oshea

  Find Patti on Facebook: www.facebook.com/patti.oshea

  Dedication and Acknowledgements

  For Melissa Lynn Copeland, my fabulous writing buddy. Reading this story fresh off the plane from Europe is above and beyond—you're the best, Mel!

  I'd like to thank:

  Susan in California who emailed me one day and asked for Kimi and Nic. I hope you think their story was worth waiting for.

  The Lunatic Café gang who came up with dozens of title ideas.

  And a big thank you to Joely Sue Burkhart who suggested the name that was used for this story.

  About Crimson City

  The award winning and best-selling Crimson City series is set in an action-packed Los Angeles where humans, vampires, and werewolves are barely managing to make their co-existence work. Throw in a few demons, mechs and druids and peace is starting to look pretty impossible. Authors Liz Maverick, Patti O'Shea, Carolyn Jewel and Jade Lee bring the world of Crimson City to life.

  Find out more at Crimson City.com

  Crimson City Novella Excerpts

  A Time to Howl by Liz Maverick

  Chapter One

  The doorman at the ground level of Dumont Tower touched his earpiece, his leather-clad index finger delicate against the metal. His coat looked as it did every afternoon, as if he'd removed it from a sea of unwrinkled tissue for just this one day. He wore his top hat perfectly straight; his face exhibited a kind of blank confidence that never let on that the archaic accessory might be slightly bizarre in the context of the current century. Across the street, from a perch atop a mailbox fused shut back when postal service ended, Tajo Maddox mused that it hadn't seemed bizarre for some time now.

  Yes, even the humans understood that with immortality came tradition. The styles, philosophies and behaviors of earlier centuries infused this latest incarnation of Los Angeles, blending modern and old-fashioned in a pastiche that made the place unlike any other; that made it Crimson City. And as the humans lost ground to the vampires and werewolves and found themselves in jeopardy from the other races they themselves had helped empower—the demons from the plane of Orcus, the mechs from the humans' own military labs—the present borrowed an ever-increasing number of elements from the past.

  One thing hadn't changed for years: The richest and most powerful group in Crimson City was still the Dumonts, one of the pureblood vampire clans collectively referred to as primaries. They'd had centuries to perfect their operations, and it showed. From this doorman at the bottom of Dumont Tower to whatever the hell went on in the penthouse war rooms at the top.

  Tajo's own group had not enjoyed the luxury of time. The Rogues were new players in Crimson City. Glancing down at Hayden Wilks, Bridget Hathaway, and Jillian Cooper sprawled along a concrete riser beside him, he had to marvel at how far they'd already come. Especially for a bunch of mercenaries and freelancers used to working alone.

  They hadn't organized into an actual team until recently. It wasn't easy surviving as a rogue in Crimson City. You had no backup, no clan or family to run to for an army of help. People assumed the worst—that you had no sense of honor, no sense of mercy. People who wouldn't dream of killing a primary seemed perfectly able to justify killing a rogue. What really talked in this town, what safety really demanded, was power.

  So a bunch of rogues teamed up. The idea of thumbing their noses at the rigidity and insularity of the purebred clans by forming a mixed species superpower appealed to the rebel in all of them. They'd even chipped in and bought an underground club to turn into a headquarters. They'd dubbed it the Rogues Club, and just like that the city was put on notice. Except, not everyone had noticed. Yet.

  Tajo jumped off the mailbox and sat down next to Hayden. The two cased the area in mutual silence, waiting, wondering, wary. Without turning away from her surveillance, Bridget stuck her hand out; Hayden took a last puff and gently laid his cigarette in the V of her fingers.

  Jill leaned back as Bridget took a drag, coughing and waving away the smoke even as she darted nervous eyes to the dove cooing on the overhang above her head.

  Yeah, this was a solid bunch, a good team. In time, they'd be great. In time, they'd be ranked right up there on the Crimson City power scale alongside the Dumont vampire primaries, the Maddox werewolf clan from whom Tajo had long ago exiled himself, and most certainly the human government that had once seemed so indestructible.


  "Time?" Hayden asked.

  "About three minutes since you last asked. Maybe you could ask Jill to get you a watch for your birthday," Tajo muttered.

  Hayden turned back to Tajo. "I'm holding out for something more personal," he said with a cocky tip of his head.

  Tajo followed the gesture to Jill, who was sitting by Bridget on the end. She fiddled with her field glasses, then pointed them up the facade of Dumont Tower for the umpteenth time. Two seconds later, she lowered them and looked down, a wounded expression darkening her face. Jill was supposed to be thinking about the Rogue job, but it was obvious it was her doomed bond with Marius Dumont making her search the Tower so intently.

  Tajo kept his mouth shut this time, wishing he hadn't joked about it. Hayden had been circling Jill since she joined the Rogues. So far, his interest seemed to be as much about revenge against the Dumonts as it was about the girl herself.

  DX by Carolyn Jewel

  CHAPTER 1

  The way the briefing room went silent Hell Marshall knew she was on the outside of an inside joke. Jim West, Chief Division Agent for U.S. Internal-Operations in the City of Los Angeles, gripped the projector remote in one hand and a red penlight in the other. I-Ops was the law enforcement and surveillance arm of the government. Battlefield Operations was military, the muscle on the streets. I-Ops was pencil-pushers, spooks and cops and a few other things nobody admitted. West signaled one of the field agents to hit the lights. The room went dark. He clicked the remote and two seconds later Hell understood the silence. Shit.

  "This is from a surveillance camera installed at the Golden Wing Spa and Health Center," West said. The camera had been placed behind the reception desk, so the back of a perky blonde head occasionally blocked a portion of the screen. Tuan Ng was clearly visible in the right corner of the shot.

  Hell didn't move. Didn't change her expression. West was looking at her. Everyone was looking at her. She could feel it, but she kept her eyes glued to the screen. She didn't work for I-Ops anymore. They'd fired her ass nine months ago, and that meant her personal life was nobody's fucking business. She was here because Milos Sanders, Director of I-Ops in Crimson City, was the only friend she had left. Well, that and the promises he'd made to get her back for this assignment.

  She wished she had the nerve to give up L.A. and move to her aunt Lucy's beach house in Bodega Bay. Her aunt wanted someone she trusted in the house. She could open a little coffee shop and serve killer espresso and sandwiches. At night she could sit on the porch, eat salt water taffy, breathe fresh air and watch the stars. It was a stupid fantasy, but it was all hers.

  In the video, the perky receptionist kept looking in Tuan's direction. Tuan Ng was movie-star handsome and, now that Hell wasn't seeing him, notoriously available. If these jackass agents expected a scene, they were destined for disappointment. Her relationship with the vampire had been doomed from the start because he was a fang, and she wasn't.

  On screen, the lobby door opened and one of the most beautiful men Hell had ever seen in her life walked in. He wore loose trousers and no shirt, and he had the pecs, abs and everything else to pull off the look plus more. His black hair was held back by two narrow braids that started at his temples and secured his long hair in a pony tail. Silver threads gleamed in the braids. His skin bordered on bronze, and he was ripped. Seriously, beautifully, ripped without looking like he spent hours in the gym. What was a guy like that doing in a place like the Golden Wing?

  If you had the money, the Golden Wing accommodated any and all consenting adult interactions, regardless of species. Tuan's open-minded attitude cleared him a million and a half a week. A guy who looked like this one could have any woman he wanted with one flex of a pectoral. Flex the other and his beauty of choice would do any kinky thing he wanted. Mr. Gorgeous walked toward the reception desk camera. His eyes were a freakish pale amber. She'd never seen eyes quite that color.

  "Can I help you?" the receptionist asked.

  The man gestured and a flash of yellow light filled the screen. When it died down, the blonde was face down on the counter. Scarlet blood oozed around her head and dripped onto the floor. On screen, Tuan shouted. Six of his enforcers rushed into the lobby.

  West paused the video and pointed his laser pen at the screen. "No need to identify him," West said, centering the light on Tuan's forehead. "But this—" the light shifted to the bare-chested major god who was, it seemed, a deranged killer "—is our DX. Demon of unknown origin." Hell sat up. "For the uninformed in the room, Hell, he's been identified as a Bak-Faru demon."

  School Bites by Jade Lee

  Chapter 1

  "To a wise man, every day is a new life."

  The screams reached her first. Toni Freedman was just putting the chalk swoop into the last letter of her morning inspirational quote when she heard teeny-bopper squeals become alarmed jeers. Within moments a full-out riot of noise crashed into her little special ed classroom on the second floor. She was already running down the stairs when her walkie-talkie sounded "Cafeteria incident" in its garbled, dark tones.

  She slowed briefly as she waded through a crowd of lunchroom staff and kids. At a short 5' 2", many of the on-lookers were larger than her, but what she lacked in stature, she made up for in attitude. She was the adult here, the teacher, and the woman trained to take down either of the three boys mixing it up on the floor. Of course, a little back-up would be nice, but when had that ever arrived on time? In truth, she was supposed to wait for help. Her training told her to "monitor the situation" until at least two other staff members helped her take control—one for each kid. To hell with training. She wasn't going to sit on her hands while two kids were pummeling a third.

  As she pushed through the last of the crowd, she mentally categorized the incident. Gang-related: the somebodies against the somebody-elses, spurred on by some girls with affiliation to whatever. The particulars didn't really matter. Here at Crimson City's most challenged middle-school, violence happened when pre-teens jockeyed for social position. Add in hormones and post-holiday yuck, and tempers ran hot.

  She entered the fray as two black kids took aim at a mixed latino/black—Victor Somebody, a relocated Katrina victim. The lunchroom teachers were doing their best to clear the room, but like her, they were vastly outnumbered. And everyone–including herself–had been trained to not step into the middle of a fight. It was just too dangerous, especially in vamp, werewolf, and demon-infested Crimson City.

  She blocked a blow from the nearest kid, only to watch as the big one—Kumars Gray, aka hoodlum trash–planted a fist in Vic's face. Blood spurted from Vic's nose, and he howled in pain as the impact dropped him onto his butt. Toni lunged forward, body-checking Kumars before he could draw back for another blow. Ugh, was Kumars wearing body armor or something? It was like ramming into a solid wall, and no way could that pudgy body be that solid.

  She bounced off Kumars, but still managed to throw him off his attack. He stumbled backward with a whoosh of Cheetoes-laced breath—yuck!—and caught a flash of commando-like body armor beneath his tee. Great. Hoodlums with body arm. Just what was called for in middle school.

  Meanwhile Kumars's cohort was moving in. She could tell from his angle that he was getting ready to kick and she pivoted, trying to block the blow. She already knew she was too late, but hope springs eternal in a fight. She saw the kick land onto...nothing.

  Vic wasn't there. He'd leapt up from the floor with another unholy roar. Thankfully, she was already in position to block him back down. So long as she kept herself between Vic and the thugs, things would decelerate. She took a knee in the belly, but had been braced for that. Same for the blow to her shoulder. At least she was larger than little Vic and he didn't have any armor on. Plus he was off balance, so she could press him back down onto the floor, pinning him on his back with all her slight weight. It was safest for everyone if she kept her body on top of his because Kumars and company wouldn't hit her.

  Vic didn't understand that, of cour
se. All he knew was that someone else was flattening him, and the kid released another bellow—damn he was noisy–while he squirmed like the very devil beneath her. Out of the corner of her eye, Toni saw her back—up arrive, quickly restraining Kumars and his buddy.

  "Calm down!" she grunted. Vic was just slippery enough to throw her off, and—

  She felt the sharp pain of a bite on her arm. Her reaction was automatic. The only way to break a bite was to shove your arm deeper into the kid's mouth. It forced his jaw open enough to break free. Except damn, this kid's mouth was big.

  Only then did she realize that his body felt longer than before, shaped more lean and more hairy. She turned to look at Vic's face, her heart dropping straight into her stomach. Ah, hell.

  Werewolf. And her arm was dripping blood from his bite.

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