Excerpt Monday – July

It’s Excerpt Monday again!

This excerpt is the beginning of my paranormal romance novella, Ancient Enemies, which is meant to be a sister novella to the one I posted last month, New Alliances. Both involve employees of the mysterious Kavanaugh Foundation. I hope you enjoy it! As always, if you want to read more great excerpts, click on the links below or go the main hub.

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The smell of brimstone singed Anjali’s nostrils, and she quickened her pace. The sound of heavy breathing and pounding footsteps echoed down the nearly deserted street behind her. Logan had better kick it up a notch if he wanted to keep up with her.

The scent seemed to call to her like a child’s taunt on the playground. I dare you to catch me if you can. She grinned. Catching demons was what she did best. She raced forward and focused her second sight when the smell became overwhelming.

“Anjali, are you sure you know where you’re going?” Logan called out after her.

She jerked to a stop and scanned her surroundings. The dim lights from the lanterns illuminated the red and gold adornments on the buildings. They’d chased the demon from Little Italy into Chinatown. Just what she needed — a confusing maze of twisting alleys. But on the upside, it might be easier to trap it now.

Logan stopped next to her and leaned over, his lungs working like a blacksmith’s bellows. For all his surfer-boy good looks, he had lead feet. “Thanks for letting me catch up.”

“You’re the one who wanted to come hunting with me.” She started walking forward, scanning each alley. A flicker of movement caught her eye when she passed the third one on the right. Bingo!

A shadowy figure with clawed fingers nearly a foot long crouched behind a dumpster. She took a step closer, and it tightened into a smaller ball, revealing the line of spines that decorated its back and its bloated belly. A Gaki. Thankfully, this seemed to be a small one, only the size of a grown man.

“You’ve found it?”

“It’s behind the dumpster.” She inched closer to have a direct shot at it. “Stay behind me, Logan.”

That’s when the Gaki charged. Anjali barely had time to cast a quick spell before it collided with her stunned friend. His clothes ignited from the brief contact, and Logan reflexively responded with the whole “Stop, Drop, and Roll” routine.

Fury burned at her like the flames on his clothes. I may not be much of a witch, but I know how to handle you. She channeled her anger into the pit of her stomach, allowing it to gather until she had enough to unleash her spell. To the normal human eye, nothing happened, but with her second sight, she watched the magic coil around the demon like a golden rope.

A shrill cry from the demon’s mouth sent a shiver down her spine. It fell to the ground. The more it struggled, the tighter the bonds became. A hiss rose from the asphalt where it lay.

Logan stood up and examined the burn marks on his clothes. “A little warning would have been nice.”

“That’s why I told you to stand behind me.” A grin touched her lips, masking her relief that her best friend hadn’t been injured. “Demons aren’t like vampires.”

“Tell me about it.” He squinted in the direction where her hands pointed. “Do you have it?”

“Yep.” She added a new surge of magic to the bonds, and the another screech echoed off the buildings of Chinatown.

He shook his head. No one saw what she saw, but then, that’s why she was the only demon hunter in the Kavanaugh Foundation. They had hundreds of employees who could spot a vampire on a crowded street, but she could sense demons in a way none of them could. How’s that for a psychic gift? Being the only freak in the Foundation led to dozens of requests to accompany her on hunts. She’d declined all but a few. If Logan hadn’t been her closest friend for the last ten years, he’d be patrolling the streets of Manhattan alone, looking for vampires, instead of chasing after her tonight.

“So, what do you do now?”

Good question. She never quite understood the “what happens after she catches the demon part”. Up until now, she’d just been happy to cleanse the air of the sulfuric stench of brimstone. “I wait until it gets swallowed up by the earth.”

“You’re joking, right?”

“Nope. I catch them, and something else deals with them.”

“And that doesn’t weird you out or anything?”

She bit her bottom lip. How could she explain to him when she couldn’t quite explain it to herself? When the earth opened up to swallow the demons she’d captured, a shield of magic seemed to wrap around her. It wasn’t a spine crawling experience. More like a warm blanket protecting her from whatever lay on the other side of the rift. Whatever the other part of the equation was, she didn’t fear it.

The air around the demon wavered, and for the first time, she noticed the distortion took the distinct shape of a man. No features, nothing else to give her a clue to her counterpart other than his height and the way his arms grabbed the demon by the magical bindings. She felt the tug and released her bonds.

Curiosity heightened her senses. She wanted to know more about this invisible man other than the way his hair seemed to sway around his jaw or the rippling lines of his biceps. She reached forward. Firm, warm flesh grazed her fingertips. The brief touch sent a jolt through her entire body, and she jerked her hand back in surprise. He was more than just ethereal matter. He was real, solid like her.

A hiss zipped through the space between them, and the distortion flinched.

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Mel Berthier, Urban Fantasy (PG 13)
Bria Quinlan, Rom Com (PG)

Kinsey W. Holley, Paranormal (PG)
Caitlynn Lowe, Epic Fantasy (PG)
Dara Sorensen, Paranormal (PG)

Babette James, Fantasy Romance (PG13)
Christina DeLorenzo, YA (PG 13)
Nika Dixon, Romantic Suspense (PG 13)
Bryn Donovan, Paranormal Romance (PG13)
Kaige, Historic Romance (PG-13)
Julia Knight, Fantasy Romance (PG 13)
Adelle Laudan, Contemporary Romance (PG 13)
Jeannie Lin, Historical Romance (PG13)
RF Long, Paranormal (PG13)
Rebecca Savage, romantic suspense (PG 13)
Crista McHugh, Paranormal Romance (PG 13)
Leigh Royals, Historical Romance (PG 13)

Jax Cassidy, Contemporary Romance (R)
Maya Doyle, Paranormal Romance (R)
Cate Hart, Paranormal (R)
Ali Katz, Historical Erotic Romance (R)
Inez Kelley, Romantic Comedy (R)
Aislinn Kerry, Paranormal Romance (R)
Elise Logan, Fantasy Romance (R)
Cherrie Lynn, Paranormal Romance (R)
Alina Morgan, Urban Fantasy (R)
Vivienne Westlake, Erotic Historical (R)

Stephanie Adkins, Erotic Romance (NC 17)
Evie Byrne, Medieval Paranormal Romance (NC 17)
Kim Knox, Erotic SF Romance (NC17)
Lauren Murphy, Erotic Romance (NC 17)
Kirsten Saell, Erotic Romance (NC 17)

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