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Neither Matthias nor Lyrrekka were in the dining room when Lydia came down for breakfast the next morning.

“Where’s Dad and Lyrrekka?” she asked as she sat down.

“Lyr’s gone to the other world to speak with Estara about Marian’s condition. As for Matt, he’s finally gone to talk to his family,” Sarah said. “I’d say I’d like to be a fly on the wall when he tells them he’s been hiding you all this time, but they’re the Morgans. They’ll probably take it all in stride.” Read the rest of this entry »

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Andrew didn’t think he’d managed to sleep properly at all since Emms kidnapped him. Not only was it hard to sleep while chained and sitting up but the situation as a whole was hardly conducive to getting a good night’s sleep. Still he was managing to doze fitfully when the sound of the door creaking open startled him into full wakefulness.

He opened his eyes, but the darkness pressed against his eye. All the same, he was certain that whoever had opened the door wasn’t Emms or Laxmi. The intruder also seemed to be hesitating near the door – he didn’t hear any footsteps approaching. Read the rest of this entry »

Start | Chapter Fourteen Part One | Index | Chapter Fourteen Part Three

Michael was sleeping when Sarah rapped gently on his door. He opened his eyes and frowned at the clock and the little bit of sunlight leaking in around the curtains. It wasn’t like her to wake him up in the middle of the day and she’d insinuated that she had a meeting with Meredith today. So it must be important if she’d come back early to talk to him. He grabbed his robe and put it on just as she rapped again.

“Come in, Sarah,” he called. Read the rest of this entry »

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Lydia poured herself a cup of tea from the large pot Sarah had brought into the dining room and looked around as her father and Lucas came in. “What now?”

“Our guests are asleep until the morning – even the ones we can trust,” Matthias said. “So we have time to figure out what to do next.” He sat down by Sonia. “Are you okay?”

Sonia looked pale and tired. “It was a trap, Matt. A very cruel trap.” She folded her arms on the dining table and rested her head on them. “And someone laid it specifically for Marian Laverne.” Read the rest of this entry »

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Salia sat on one of the bunk beds in the safe room and watched Tarian and the humans curiously. They were sitting in a circle on the carpet in the centre of the room and while they were not touching physically – except for where Tara had Martin in her lap – she could feel the way their minds were enmeshed with each other.

“What are they doing?” she asked. Read the rest of this entry »

Start | Chapter Thirteen Part Three | Index | Chapter Fourteen Part Two

“Anna’s fever has broken already,” Tanya told David when he arrived at her place early the next morning. “How was the party.”

“Interesting,” he offered after a moment. “Informative. Emma was there.” He hesitated for a moment. “And Sarah’s employer is a vampire. Oh and she knows about us being hunters.” He frowned at his cousin. “What do you mean already?”

“Ha! I knew that Meredith had illicit contacts!” She grinned wolfishly then added quietly. “Werewolf fevers usually last a couple of days, Dave. Hers lasted less than a day. It’s probably nothing but it’s a little worrying.” Read the rest of this entry »

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It’ll be okay, Dan, Karen said as they raced towards Sarah. But we’re lucky you sensed them. They must have had a second layer up.She gave a mental growl. Clever.

Do you know who they are? he asked.

Let me look. He felt her mind flick out ahead of them. They’re all Barkses. They’re one of the Lavernes satellite lines and usually more involved in hiding our existence than hunting. They’re an odd group to pick to go after Aunt Sarah. They really don’t care one way or the other about resonants. I wonder what…. Oh, of course. To keep them occupied because Marian’s trying to keep her family unaware of what’s going on. Her thoughts were so fast he could barely keep up with them. Read the rest of this entry »

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The six attackers who’d come through the wards first weren’t really a challenge, Daniel decided. In fact it was all rather too easy.

He bound up one of their opponents with snakelike tendrils of darkness and noticed Karen frowning as well as she and Alban faced off against two of them, while two more of the attackers were heading towards Jason and Caolainn. One of them fired a stream of metal shards as they charged and Daniel leapt forward, intending to throw up a shield to help, but Jason gave a little smirk and casually plucked the strings of his violin. The note shimmered in the air and the shards shattered and dropped to the ground. Jason cocked his head and raised his bow to the strings as Caolainn began to sing. The music was complex and lovely to Daniel’s ears but the attackers didn’t seem to agree. Both screamed and dropped to their knees holding their ears. Daniel watched them for a second, then looked back at Karen. Read the rest of this entry »

As I’ve mentioned I’m doing a little blog tour this month. I’ll be listing them here as I do them so you can follow along if you want.

1. I talk about “World Building the Weird” at Feral Intensity.
2. Worried about the possibility of dragon attacks? I give my tips on surviving one over at Zoe Whitten’s blog.
3. I talk about the Draconic language on Aldersprig’s Dreamwidth (mirrored at her LJ).
4. I’m interviewed over on Tony’s Miscellnea.
5. I muse on my IndieGoGo crowdfunding experience at Cheapass Fiction.
6. Why I am not on KDP Select at ankewehner.de.

I have other things lined up and will add them as the posts go live for people who want to follow me on my tour.

Start | Chapter Thirteen Part Two | Index | Chapter Fourteen Part One

“Thanks!” Anna began to stuff sandwiches into her mouth and barely managed to remind herself to chew before swallowing. Even so she was surprised when she cleared the entire plate. “I must have been even hungrier than I realised.”

“It’s fine,” Tanya said. “You’d missed a couple of meals. Do you want me to get you some more?”

Anna shook her head as she sank back into the pillows. “I think that’s enough for now. While you were gone I realised something. I can’t feel the presence of that vampire in my head any more. I don’t know why.” Read the rest of this entry »