Rune Kingdom (standalone in the same world)
Kaippa Receives a Letter…
Coffee was growing on me, as Hekla would say. I watched the love of my cursed life walk through the door of Sweet Touch, the bakery Hekla and her friend Coren ran. Hekla blew her thick fringe of black hair from her blue-shadowed eyes and studied a letter.
“Kaippa, I think this is for you?” Her adorable nose wrinkled as she held the letter out to me.
I wanted to grab her by the hair—gently mind you—and get her up against a wall, but sure, I could control myself for a potentially important—
Frowning, I set my cup on the counter near the cashier who was snapping her gum as usual. “Who would know where I am? Everyone I know is dead.”
Hekla winced, eyeing the customers who had frozen in the process of nibbling scones and sipping cappuccinos.
The humans knew vampires like me existed, knew Hekla was a fox shifter, and knew about the fae that Coren preferred, but sometimes the details still floored them. I liked that term. Floored. Another bit Hekla had taught me.
Handing me the letter, she wrapped one arm around me, just under my invisible wings. “Who’s it from?”
Blood-red wax sealed the back, the uneven closure showing a sphinx. A distant memory tickled my head, but wouldn’t come forward. I cracked the seal and pulled out a heavy sheet of parchment. Only one line had been written in the center of the page.
Rome. Immediately. Or she will die.
“What in hells?” I turned it over, but there was nothing. Not a signature, a detail. Nothing. The thing didn’t even have a real scent to it.
I realized Hekla’s arm had slid away and she was chewing her cuticles as Coren warned me she would when worried.
“What does that mean?” Hekla frowned around her flayed fingernails. “Who is she?”
Wincing, I shoved a scone her way. “I think they mean you, foxy. Because if this letter is for me, you’re the only she I would care about.”
Her eyes widened. “Fuck.”
“Yes. I’m tempted to ignore this, but it has the air of someone who doesn’t explain him or herself before ripping my beloved’s head from her body. So what do you think? Shall we flit off to Rome for adventure?”
Hekla’s lips pursed and she stared at me flatly. “Adventure that may or may not end in my death.”
“Or mine? It definitely could end in mine.”
“Peachy.” She took a massive bite of the baked treat.
I elbowed her. “Ah, come on. I’m bored. Let’s go wrestle with some trouble.” I joked, but the letter had my hackles up. Hekla’s friend Coren had broken a curse that led to humans discovering all about us supernaturals. That kind of magic would have extensive effects on standing spells and organizations.
As for who sent the letter, well, only one of my enemies lived and he was the most deadly vampire that had ever, or would ever, live.
Akhenaten, High King of the Old Blood.
Perhaps all of our shenanigans had ruffled his feathers. I didn’t think for one second that the scary as hell former pharaoh wouldn’t want my testicles on a stick.
A shudder rattled my bones.
This was going to get very interesting.
Vampire Unbound
~A raw, unedited sneak peek of a new book in the Yew Queen World~
Chapter One
Jess
A rush of tingling magic ruined my fabulous nap.
I opened my eyes to complete darkness. Hmm. Odd. A sweat broke across my back which was pressed against a hard surface. I tried to move my arms, but a barrier held me… Beside me, above…
I was trapped in a box.
A coffin.
Screams tore from my throat and I pushed at the lid, only managing to let in lines of dim light along the seams of the coffin or whatever this thing was. Muscles stiff, I shoved harder, sweat rolling down my face and plastering my hair against my skull. Finally, there was a crack, a give, and I was launching the lid to the floor of what looked like the ruins of a cathedral. Lightning crackled and rain flitted through the partially destroyed roof. I peered down past my checkered Vans.
I stood on a wall of stacked coffins.
Swallowing bile, I turned to see three other makeshift walls of coffins. Each of the strange, dark orange body containers—ugh, gross—showed a label.
Mabel. Jon. Don Giovanni. Saoirse. Helga D. Rafael. Ekon.
Names. A shudder gripped my bones.
“Jess.” A tall, broad-shouldered man with light brown skin, black hair, and eyes that looked like they were lined in black makeup gazed at me from the floor. He stood beside a red-haired woman in jeans. “Please come here,” he said as he calmly removed his suit jacket and set it on a carved, wooden chair that looked like a throne.
My brain fizzed like a dropped Coke can. I blinked. His name almost came to me, but then it fled as my stomach growled. I patted my painfully empty belly. My Lollapalooza shirt was destroyed. Green shit grew along the short, white hem and the Sonic Youth band logo was peeling off. Hell, my shorts were crumbling under my fingers. What in the world was going on?
“Jess,” the man said again, his voice somewhere between a general’s command and a kitten’s purr.
I couldn’t help but look down obediently, which pissed me off. “What? I can’t remember who you are.”
“Akhenaten, Jess. I’m your maker. Now, I know you’re confused and uncomfortable. If you’ll just come to me…” He waved a hand and the urge to leap down to him nearly overwhelmed me.
My mind cleared. Akhnaten. Yes! I remembered him. Wait.
I’d completely forgotten I was a damn vampire.
But I didn’t have time to deal the sudden onslaught of memories like meeting Akh and his friends at a bar in downtown Knoxville after a UT game, how I’d stupidly had far too many beers and ended up following his friend to his Porsche where he’d…
The coffins under mine began to shake. Shouts and grunts grew louder than the storm. All the vampires were waking up. Not
