Blood, Smoke and Mirrors (2010) (27 page)

"I love you, Cat," he murmured.

"I love you too. Go to sleep."

I didn't have a single nightmare.

Chapter Twenty-Four

The need for coffee awoke me from my blissful slumber, and Lex mumbled something vaguely coherent at me as I slipped out of his arms. It was early, especially considering how late we'd gotten to sleep after our daring escape from Harrison tower, so I drew the covers up around him and told him to go back to sleep. Lex nodded, mumbling again, but this time I was able to decipher that he wanted me to take the dogs with me if I went anywhere outside.

I didn't plan on wandering around the property, considering my current ensemble was distinctly lacking in pants, but as the coffee brewed the idea began to sound more and more appealing. The morning was cool and clear, not a single cloud left in the sky after last night's rain. With mug of coffee in hand, I headed out into the yard. The nearest neighbors were far enough away that I didn't need to worry about being seen wearing only my borrowed T-shirt. The dogs ran past me once I opened the back door, and then they trotted around, sniffing and inspecting their territory to make sure nothing had changed in their absence.

Blades of wet grass stuck to my bare feet as I made my way down to the river. Everything was quiet at this early hour. The river was calm and placid, its surface smooth as it eased by. Later on in the day the water would be stirred up by boats, and choppy waves would lap against the concrete seawall that lined the bank. Weathered wooden planks made up the pier, and Lex's boat rested in its station next to it. I glanced over the speedboat as I cautiously made my way to the end of the pier. The craft was long and sleek as I remembered, but I spotted a new detail when I reached its stern: flowing script spelled out "Catherine." Huh. I couldn't wait to hear the story behind that one.

When I reached the edge, I sat down and let my legs dangle over the water. Though the recent rain had swelled the river's water level, my legs were still too short to reach the surface. The German shepherd, Bubba, lay down next to me and plopped his head in my lap. I scratched behind his ears. Though I'm a cat person, I like dogs too. Ces
a
r took a spot behind me and began gnawing on a large stick that must've blown down during the storm last night.

I sipped my coffee, enjoying the morning quiet. I had a suspicion that there weren't going to be many more quiet mornings in the near future. Faint and distant, Harrison's magic tugged at me, a light itch in the back of my mind. I didn't know what this connection was between us, but I knew it was going to be a problem.

The sudden thumping of dog tails and a slight shaking of the pier alerted me to Lex's approach, and I turned around to look at him. Shirtless and shoeless, he wore only an ancient pair of blue jeans that were so worn and full of holes that sheer willpower was probably the only thing holding them together. He carried his own cup of coffee, and when he arrived at the end of the pier he nudged Bubba with his foot.

"You're in my spot, Bubba," he informed the shepherd. Giving me a parting slobbery kiss, the dog got to his feet and trotted away. Grimacing, I wiped drool from the side of my face as Lex sat down. "Here, let me take a look at that bruise of yours."

"It looks better." Turning my face toward him, I let him run his fingers over the faded bruise. The combination of food and a good night's sleep had let my magic heal a good deal of it. By tomorrow there wouldn't be any left of it at all.

"We're goin' to work on your hand-to-hand combat skills next."

"What hand-to-hand combat skills?" I smiled dryly.

"Exactly." He put his arm around me and then began drinking his coffee. I leaned against him, and we sat in comfortable silence.

Lex brushed a kiss across the top of my head. "You ready for the ceremony tonight? I talked to Portia, she said the council wouldn't grab us 'til after nightfall, so we have the day to prepare."

"I'm ready. Are you?"

"Definitely." He nodded.

"You're not... I mean, you're okay with this? No regrets?"

"No regrets. I love you, Cat. Bein' Oberon is goin' to take some getting used to, but I think you and I are meant to do this. Together."

"Good. Well, then there's only one thing left to worry about."

"Yeah? What's that?"

"How are we going to convince our pets to live together?"

Lex threw his head back and laughed. "We'll think of something."

When the time came for the ceremony I fully expected to appear back in the great hall of the Underhill clan, but much to my surprise Lex and I were popped into a forest. The night air was a bit warm, and the scents of rich earth mixed with the smell of smoke from a nearby fire. Flickering light filtered through the trees in front of us, and faint music floated on the breeze.

"Nice change of scenery," Lex commented. Taking my hand in his, he gave it a reassuring squeeze. "Let's see what kind of party the council's throwin' us."

"Don't try to kill the hosts of this one."

Lex grinned in reply, and we started toward the light. We emerged from the dense wood into a grove--a suspiciously familiar grove, in fact. If I didn't know better, I would've sworn it was the same grove that we'd been in during the dreams we'd shared during my time in the tower. That was impossible, however, considering the wards around the building would have prevented me from drifting into Faerie.

Unlike the dreams, the grove was filled with people. A bonfire burned in the center, and the three council members stood in front of it, waiting for us. Off to our right, Portia and a group of my cousins were gathered, white and shining in the moonlight. To our left were five human women, one of whom I recognized instantly as Lex's sister Marie--the pink hair gave her away--and the rest had to be Lex's mother and his other three sisters.

Lord and Lady. I really hoped they weren't here to kill me for de-guardianifying Lex. I'd probably want to slay me if I were them--here I was taking the only man in their family and destroying his opportunity for carrying on the family tradition. Nervous, I nearly tripped over my feet, and Lex glanced at me, looking concerned.

"You still hurtin'?"

"Yeah," I grudgingly admitted. "Though that's not the problem. Did you call them?"

"Who?"

"Your family."

"Nope. Don't worry, they'll love you," he assured me. Before I could panic any further, we reached the waiting council. Cecelia of the Silver Crescent gave us both a long, measuring gaze, and then she did something I never thought I'd see: she smiled.

"We are glad that you both have weathered the storm," Cecelia informed us. "These are difficult times. The path that brought you here was not easy to tread, and though tonight is a new beginning, the road ahead will be long and arduous."

The faerie paused, and I fought the urge to sigh. Cecelia definitely wasn't going to win any awards for motivational speaking. She turned toward me and motioned me to step forward.

"Catherine Marie Morrow, do you accept the position of Titania, and agree to perform as liaison between the realm of the Faerie and the Midwestern region of the United States of the realm of Earth?"

"I do."

Cecelia turned to Lex, and he stepped forward. "Alexander Duquesne, do you accept the position of Oberon, and agree to perform as liaison between the realm of the Faerie and the Midwestern region of the United States of the realm of Earth? If you choose to do so, you agree to forfeit your position as guardian and the abilities that accompany it."

"I do."

There was no hesitation in his voice, no tinge of regret, and it made my heart flutter and my face flush--he loved me, he wanted to be with me.

Cecelia's eyes sparkled, and her smile widened. "Excellent. You have passed your third test."

"What test?" I asked, confused.

"Because Alexander did not participate in the first test with the other candidates, the council decided to give him a separate trial. We chose to test his willingness to make sacrifices for this position. Though you were willing to give up your guardian abilities, we have...negotiated on your behalf. You will be allowed to retain most of them, and as is tradition for guardians, your children will be born with guardian blood."

Lex and I glanced at each other in surprise. It looked like his family wasn't going to have to kill me after all. Though the prospect of trying to manage a herd of little drawling guardians was intimidating. Possibly even terrifying. But hey, if I can deal with Portia, kids should be a piece of cake in comparison.

"Now, shall we proceed with the handfasting?" Cecelia asked.

Handfasting?
I didn't recall a wedding being a part of the process of becoming Titania...but then again our situation was unique, and we were already planning on the marriage thing, and our families were here.

Why not?

"I knew I should've worn a dress."

"You look beautiful," he assured me with a grin.

Smiling, I turned to Cecelia. "We're ready."

About the Author

Robyn Bachar was born and raised in Berwyn, Illinois, and loves all things related to Chicago, from the Cubs to the pizza. It seemed only natural to combine it with her love of fantasy, and tell stories of witches and vampires in the Chicagoland area. As a gamer, Robyn has spent many hours rolling dice, playing rock-paper-scissors, and slaying creatures in mmorpgs. Currently she lives with her husband, also a gamer and a writer, and their cat.

You can learn more about her at
www.robynbachar.com
. Robyn can also be found on Twitter at
www.twitter.com/RobynBachar
.

Saving the world is easy for a superhero--unless you're a fraud.

Blaze of Glory

(c) 2010 Sheryl Nantus

Jo Tanis is a superhero, fighting evil on the city streets, using her ability to feed off electromagnetic energy and fire off charges--and it's all just a show. The Agency captures her and others like her when their powers begin to manifest, pitting them against each other in staged, gladiatorial fights. An explosive implant on the back of her neck assures she'll keep right on smiling for the camera and beating up the bad guys.

When Earth comes under attack, suddenly the show becomes deadly real. Unable to deal with a real alien, the "supers" are falling in droves. Millions of innocent civilians are going to die...unless Jo can cobble together a team from among the fake heroes and villains the Agency enslaved. Including Hunter, who not only promises to show her how to deactivate the implants, but seems to know more than he should about how the mysterious Agency operates.

Forcing a rag-tag bunch of former enemies to work together is the least of Jo's problems. The trick is determining if Hunter is friend or foe--and becoming the hero everyone thought she was before the world is destroyed for real.

Warning: Contains superhero in-jokes, Canadiana and large alien craft shaped like avocados. Really.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Blaze of Glory:

"When we arrived at the training facility we were given a choice--to be heroes or villains." My smile appeared, despite the mood. "Couldn't pass up the chance to be a star."

"Who would decide to be a villain?" David pressed his lips together tightly as he helped himself to one of the sandwich triangles.

I shrugged. "People with issues. People who didn't want to play nice. It was a whole psychological thing, I didn't ask." My hand went to the back of my neck, to the scar tissue. "Long story made short, the Agency controlled us with this. Gave the power to our Guardians to blow our heads off if we started getting ornery or if we tried to run away."

"Your Guardian?" both Jessie and David asked at the same time.

"Mike." A dull ache started in my chest as I spoke. "He was my Guardian. Had a special wristband that could set this thing off."

"But he's..." David paused, probably out of concern for my feelings.

"He's dead." The words sounded flat to my ears. "I know. But the Agency can still activate it long-distance, which is why I need you to turn this damned thing off. The bastards thought of everything--well, except for this, obviously."

"Right." Jessie walked back to the computer. He rested his elbows on the desk, smirking. "We've got the GPS figured out. Jammer is on the way courtesy of a friend of mine." He threw me a saucy wink. "Used to work in a chop shop. Until you find the chip to toss it out you have to jam it."

"Don't tell me too much." I chuckled. "And the plug itself?"

His face went solemn. "Well, that's another whole different ball of wax. I've got some ideas, but let me check out some things before I present them to you. Don't have that many surgeons on my list, but I've got the word out." Jessie's voice dropped an octave. "Do you think they'd really kill you?"

"They've already been popping heads today." I nodded towards David. "I saw the news reports of heroes and villains dying without even getting into the fight. That's not from the aliens, that's the Agency."

David frowned, biting down on his lower lip. "Why would they do that?"

"Because no one wants to fight a battle you're going to lose. Even the villains aren't that stupid." The mental image of Tan, lying there gasping his last breath, came to the forefront of my mind's eye. "They must have said no and their Guardians pulled it. You refuse to fight, you get your plug pulled." I waved a hand in the air. "And don't get any ideas about us being patriotic or anything like that. It's one thing to go into a fixed battle and another to go to what looks like certain death." My throat felt tight. "If I had known what was going on before we left, I might have tried to talk Mike out of it."

"Then he would have killed you," Jessie growled.

"Maybe. Guess I'll never know now." I closed my eyes, trying not to think about the hundreds of times I had run that scenario through my mind.

"That's murder, no matter how you explain it away," David said in a low, sad tone. "Especially when this Agency is supposed to be helping us fight these aliens. Killing supers who won't fight is just..." He fell silent, unable to find the words.

"Which is another whole problem." I gestured towards the laptop. "Everyone thought that our arranged fights were real, right?" I continued without waiting for the two men to respond. "So what if someone or something monitoring our transmissions thought the same thing?"

The redhead at the desk shrugged. "Probably think that you were the hot stuff like we all did." He blushed, his attention on the computer screen.

"So they figured that they'd take you on and win." David rocked back and forth on the couch. "But then why stop?"

I blinked. "What?"

"Why stop? I mean, they've retreated back into their ships and are just hovering there, waiting." He smacked his lips together. "Not a wise move if you want to invade a planet. Take out the top defenders and start moving your ground troops in, get the boots on the ground. Instead they're just sitting there. Not a very good military position to take."

"Thank goodness for that much." Jessie hummed under his breath. "There should be a parcel at the front door in a few minutes."

David got to his feet. "I'm assuming I don't need to sign for it."

"Better if you don't." Jessie chuckled. "Just bring it right up here and we'll kick it into gear."

I shifted my position on the thin cushions. "Think this is going to work?"

"Of course." The smug tone in his voice had me laughing.

"Thank your buddies for me." Getting to my feet, I stretched out my arms, shaking the sleep out of them. The snap, crackle and pop as I arched my back startled me, reminding me that I was off my routine. Big time. Mike had always been keen on our daily exercises. He'd be pissed I'd forsaken them for a nap. Course we'd never talked about keeping up a routine in the middle of an alien invasion.

Jessie stared at the screen, chewing on the inside of his mouth before speaking. "You ever want to quit?"

"Every day," I whispered. "Every fucking day."

The silence hung in the air between us, the sudden tightening in my chest reminding me that I had a lot to make up for.

"It's here." David's excited voice reverberated up the stairs. Jessie smiled as I walked to the steps and reached down to help the elderly man up.

"You should tell your friends to have better manners." He wagged a finger at Jessie before tossing him the small box wrapped in plain brown paper. "Bike messenger drove up and threw it at me. Left without even saying a word." He sat on the couch.

"I'll make a note." Jessie ripped the paper off the box and tore the flaps open. "This should at least keep you off the radar for the time being."

The small black box was no more than three inches by two inches, the size of a cigarette pack with nothing more than a switch at one end. He toggled the metal stick and passed it to me. "Now you're good."

I looked at it. "Seriously?" Turning it over and over, I weighed it in my hand. "Pretty light."

"Have to be. You'll need to keep that within thirty feet of your transmitter to maintain the cloaking." Jessie beamed, putting his feet up on the empty chair and rocking back, hands behind his head.

"Don't get too smug. If we're lucky, the Agency hasn't caught their collective breath and no one knows I'm here." I tucked the box into the pocket of my leather jacket, over my heart. Good place for it. "Now, what about the plug?"

"That..." he waved a finger in the air, "...can be dealt with." His attention turned back to the laptop screen. "The problem here is that we don't know the frequency it runs on. A GPS is one thing--we can get that info easy. But this, this is a bit more complicated." A weak smile appeared on his face. "But they're working on it. And by
they
I mean medical professionals looking to get a paper out of it at some point, so don't be too shy."

I shrugged. "If we survive this, they can get a whole damned manual out of it. Right now I'm running on borrowed time." My right hand tapped the plastic case in my pocket. "And this is going to help convince them of that."

"Good." David reached for one of the juice cartons. "Now, what are you going to do?"

I drew a deep breath. "What I'm supposed to do. I'm going to save the world."

When you live forever, you're bound to make a few mistakes.

In the Dark

(c) 2009 P.G. Forte

Children of Night
, Book 1

1969 San Francisco
. World-weary Conrad Quintano should have known better than to fall in love with a human--much less Suzanne Fischer, the barely legal, adventure-seeking hippie beauty known as Desert Rose. And the very last thing he should have agreed to do was to raise her babies and protect them with his life. But even twelve-hundred-year-old master vampires can find it hard to reject a deathbed request--especially when issues of love, guilt and blood are involved.

Present day
. Raised in virtual isolation, twins Marc and Julie Fischer have always known they were vampires. But they never knew their parentage--or their unique status in the vampire world--until their "uncle" Damian comes to fetch them home. The family reunion, however, isn't what they expect. They're thrust into a world for which they're totally unprepared. And the father they expected to see, Conrad, is missing.

How to find him...and whom to trust? Solving the mystery of betrayal and vampire family values will prove the Beatles had it right. All you need
is
love...and an occasional side of blood.

Warning: While reading this book you may experience any of the following, an increased desire to wear flowers in your hair, dress in tie-dye or nap during the day. Other symptoms may include an intolerance to sunlight, an aversion to garlic flavored tofu and a pronounced urge to bake...or get baked.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
In the Dark:

"Isn't this place fantastic?" Suzanne sighed as they strolled in the shadows of towering redwoods, breathing in all the cool, night scents. The fog was settling in, and between that and the trees, it should have been too dark to see. It wasn't. Flickering torches, set along the winding paths that cut through the property took care of that. Given the costume she was wearing and the autumn breeze, she should have been shivering with cold. She wasn't. The man walking beside her, with his electric voice and simmering smile, took care of
that
. "I don't believe any of the rumors about it being haunted though, do you? I think it's more like...well, like being in a fairy tale, or something."

The sound of Conrad's soft laughter made her cringe. He smiled indulgently. "A very dark fairy tale, perhaps, yes? Populated with monsters and demons and things too terrible to mention."

Suzanne bit her lip. Fairy tales. What must he think of her, hearing her talk about such silly things? He was older--how much older, she couldn't say, but definitely over thirty--and more worldly and cultured and altogether more fascinating than anyone she'd ever met before. And here she was, when she should be trying to act as sophisticated as possible, saying things only a baby would think to say. "I just meant...well, it's just such a...such a
gas
to be here, don't you think so too? I wonder who owns it."

He slanted a curious look her way. "Don't you know? Who brought you here, anyway?"

"No one, really. I was with some friends the other day and I guess they'd overheard some other people talking about it. They said they throw parties like this almost every weekend and that it was a real happening scene. So I thought I'd come and see for myself."

"A happening scene. I see." They walked a few more steps before Conrad asked, almost hesitantly, "So...is that...is that a good thing then?"

"Conrad! Of course it is!" Laughter bubbled up before she even considered that, perhaps, he was making fun of her, but the look in his eyes told her he wasn't. "Look around you," she said, slipping her arm free of his so she could twirl in place, her arms spread wide. "It's all so...dreamy." However older and worldly he might be, there were still things he didn't know. She liked that. She liked the rush of power she got from the thought there were things she could teach him, things she could show him and tell him
about--new things, things he might never even think of on his own. The realization left her so jubilant she didn't even protest when he took hold of her hand and pulled her into his arms.

His kiss was nothing like she'd expected. It was earthy and dark, with just a hint of buried sweetness and a taste that was almost familiar. Tempting, yet somehow forbidden, just like the baker's chocolate she'd once watched her foster mother use to make a cake.

The tantalizing scent as it melted in the top of the double boiler had made Suzanne salivate. No matter how much she'd begged for a piece, she wasn't allowed so much as a crumb. So, that night, she'd crept down to the kitchen and stolen a square. It, too, was nothing like she'd expected. Bitter, intense, but exciting, all the same. Like her first sip of coffee. Or her first taste of love.

The press of Conrad's mouth on hers was hypnotic. She couldn't break the spell his kiss laid on her even if she'd wanted to. No more than she could keep from moaning in protest when he pulled away. His hand slid across her bare back, took hold of her hair and tugged. She let her head fall back as his open mouth ghosted, warm and wet, over her neck, as though he was searching for just the right spot. Her heart seemed to stop. The night grew still. Even the breeze seemed to settle as she waited, breathless for...something.

It never came.

Instead, Conrad's mouth reversed course, traveling back up her neck to her ear where he whispered, "So much sweetness. It would be a shame to rush what should be savored. You'll spend the night with me."