Holiday Excerpt - A Snowflake's Chance in Hell

Two hearts drawn by hope, linked by love.

All Quinn Lawson wanted was to find her brother. Separated after their parents perished in a drunk-driving accident, Quinn has been searching for him since she became eighteen. She is closer now than ever, but it is her last lead.

Gunnery Sergeant Kevin McCaluson has a choice to make, stay in the military or step away and try life as a civilian. With no family and no prospect of one, Kevin wonders if he can leave the only family he has ever known for the life he’s always dreamed.

Excerpt

 

Gunnery Sergeant Kevin McCaluson reread the letter a dozen times. For some reason he thought by reading it over and over it would spark an answer to his problem. It was his commission letter promoting him to Master Sergeant, stipulating his decision to go career military. He had spent the past eighteen years in the Marines, and truth be told, he wasn’t sure where his hesitation was coming from. Maybe because it was all he knew and that felt suffocating. It wasn’t as if he had anywhere to go outside the word he knew. He enlisted as soon he was legally able and kissed the world goodbye. The Marines challenged him, made him a man, and gave him a sense of honor. He felt it a privilege to defend his country, so why would he ever want to walk away.

That was the question preventing him from accepting the commission as soon as it landed on his desk.

A knock at the door pulled him from his thoughts. He looked up to see a wisp of brown hair peeking through the door. A tanned, heeled foot followed by a navy suit followed.

“Excuse me?”

The voice was sweet but did not waver, and he rose from his seat. “Can I help you?”

She stepped fully into the room, holding out her hand. “My name is Quinn Lawson. I am looking for Sergeant McCaluson?”

Her deep eyes swirled in a pool of color and a touch of sadness. “What is this in regards to?”

“It’s private matter.” Her expression tightened, her voice sharpening in tone.

He really wasn’t in the mood for this. “Well you can leave him a message if you like, concerning your private matter.” He hoped that the excuse would shut her down until he was better prepared to deal with her private matter.

“Do you have a copier?”

The question threw him off. “Pardon me?”

“Do you have a copy machine?”

She is certainly tenacious. “Yes.”

“May I use it?”

“Of course, follow me.” He led her to an adjoining mailroom. He held the door open for her and she moved past him. The soft scent of cotton candy filled the air surrounding where she passed. He watched her pull a letter out of her purse. She made a copy, wrote on it and folded it neatly. She silently handed it to him before moving past him and out of the office. He tossed the letter on the desk, his mind lingering on the woman who decided to invite herself into his office. Absently looking back, he became curious about the copy she so carefully folded and laid in his hand.

“Gunney!”

He groaned, knowing his best friends voice anywhere. “Clarkson.”

“So where are we going to celebrate?”

“What are we celebrating?”

“It is not every day my best friend becomes a Master Sergeant.”

“Yeah well, hasn’t happened yet.”

Turning the chair across from his desk and sitting down. “Oh please it is as good as done.”

“Not sure I want it.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Exactly what I said, I don’t know if I want the promotion.”

“It’s a career. It’s what you’ve been working for.”

“Yeah I know, it is just a big decision.”

“What’s so big about it? It is a steady job for the rest of your life.”

“Exactly, what if I don’t want all this for the rest of my life?”

“What else would you do, if not this?”

“I don’t know, travel, work TSA or the Fed, buy a house, have a few kids and a dog. Not live on a military base for once in my life.”

“Sounds great in theory. Do you have any idea what it is like out there?”

“No, that is part of the problem.”

“Seems like a good problem to have I guess.” Clarkson snagged the folded copy off his desk. “What’s this?”

“Some woman barged in looking for Sergeant McCaluson. I informed her he was not currently available so she left a note.”

Clarkson opened the note, a grin spreading across his face.

“What?”

“Oh man, you’re dead in the water. She is on to you, dude.”

McCaluson took the note from his hands. “What are you talking about?”

Gunnery Sergeant McCaluson,

Call me when you give a damn.

Quinn Lawson

555-8136

He couldn’t help but chuckle at the directness of the note, “Crap.”

***

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New Release - Little Angels Pre Order for Kindle NOW!

What if saving little angels meant becoming the monster?

When Special Agent Nick McFarlane receives news his partner of eight years is in trouble he doesn’t hesitate. Throwing himself into a deep cover operation to expose and shut down The Micahs, a child trafficking ring, Nick enters unprepared for the reality that awaits. 

Special Agent Meredith Richards took the assignment fully aware of the consequences. Leaving her life behind, she wouldn’t be able to get out with her life until she shut the Micahs down for good.

When Meredith’s informant is murdered and her contact inside the organization starts to lose control, Meredith is forced to make choices she can’t take back. On the edge of sacrificing herself, her principles, and her life, she begins to wonder if she will survive the case or if she even wants too.  

Excerpt

Meredith returned to her apartment for a shower and hopefully a nap. The sun was setting, and the room filled with hues of pink and gold. Meredith closed the door with a sigh and threw her jacket and purse on the couch before moving to the bedroom.

Abruptly, there was a pounding on the door, and Meredith turned with a sigh. She kicked off her shoes and walked to the door. The instant she opened it, it pushed back and Devon burst through, holding a blanket in his arms. It took her a moment to realize what was happening.

"Devon, what are..." she started. He moved to the couch, dropping the blanket upon it. Meredith observed his frantic movements in confusion, and then saw a small hand fall from the folds of the blanket. "Oh my God..."

Devon blocked her movement toward the girl in annoyance, and gripped her arms tightly.

"What are you doing?" she asked him.

"Don't touch her," he growled.

"Let me go—what did you do?" she asked him, her heart racing. She stared into his black eyes and a cold dread raced down her back.

"You have to help me, Tal," he said, the coldness never leaving his eyes.

"Let me go!" she growled back at him, breaking free from his grasp.

She ran to the couch and began unwrapping the small form. Her chest hurt with every revealed layer, and her knees weakened in horror. The blanket slid away, revealing the girl’s small face. Meredith tried to hold back the anger and pain, but couldn't. She reached out, feeling for the girl's pulse. She found one, weak, but it was there.

"She's still alive—Devon," Meredith turned in hope. He stared back at her blankly. "Did you hear me? She's still alive, Devon! We can take her to a hospital..."

"Tal," he said in an icy and controlled tone. She moved to her shoes, pulling them back on.

"My car is just out front, if we take the stairs there's a less likely—" Meredith grabbed her coat. Turning back to the girl, Meredith stopped. She heard a popping sound, and her knees collapsed beneath her.

No, please, no...

Devon looked back to her, a stark rage consuming his face. He rushed her, pulling her off the ground and slamming her against the wall. "You will not tell anyone what happened."

"Devon—"

He put his hand around her neck and began to squeeze. "I..."

"Talia, I need you to understand..." he said, continuing to squeeze the air out of her. "Baby, I need you to—"

Meredith weakly nodded her head and reached out to touch his face gently. His grip loosened and released. She fell forward, gasping, landing in his arms. He held her tightly against him.

"Tal...Tal...it was an accident." He rocked her in his arms. "You have to believe me, baby, you have to understand."

Meredith couldn't move. She stared at the body of the dead child bleeding on her couch. Everything he said was a blur, and eventually she felt him move and leave her. He returned with a black garbage bag and began pushing the child's body into it. She watched the scene unfold, but was powerless to do anything to change it.

The door slammed, and she sat staring at the now blood-soaked cushions.

Time ceased to exist. The scene playing out repeatedly in her mind. There was no movement, no sound, no thought, just the child's face and the blood.

She was cold.

She was empty.

She was dead.

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Free Serial - Jack Primus Part Four - Malingering in Moab

So I had this fire fly guy eying my girl, a bucket full of Xemmoni I had unfortunately left to fester in Colorado to still deal with, and now a bunch of bikers were quite conspicuously pulling into the lonely national monument we had stopped at.

Now, being a biker of sorts myself, I had no real problem with bikers on principle, but I had a bad feeling about this group. They were roughly fourteen strong and sported red leathers that matched the color of their spiked mohawks. And that wasn’t the only thing they had that was spiked.  All sorts of fanged chucks of steal tore through their leathers and even flesh. A snarl started deep within my throat and I didn’t need Hannah to tell me, for when she whispered, “Ripperkah,” I already knew.

“Oh crap,” Ethan hissed. “We’re going to run right?” he sighed. “Oh yeah, you’re of Yig, Damn it.”

“Yeah, I think I’ve run enough for one day. Besides I have a thing about the Ripperkah” I began to swing my sledge in lazy circles. “So if you have any fancy tricks, I suggest you bust out with them now.”

He grinned. “You mean like this?” Then with a chuckle and a few mumbled words, he gestured at the approaching pack. An instant later, one of the bikes in the center of the group’s gas tank exploded. A rain of fire and shouts of panic followed with it.

Several bikers wiped out, taking those that followed down as well. However, half the Kah made it through and continued their charge.

Hannah stepped before us, her hair flowing in fluid motions like she was underwater. “My turn”, she said with a determined grin.

I remember letting out a gasp as a ray of bright golden light flowed from her.  I could sense its pour nature and strength. I knew then that Hannah was a warrior of humanity and Weal.

The Ripperkah howled and screamed as the righteous light of Heaven tore into them. More of them lost control of their bikes, spinning and cart wheeling over the rough pavement.

Damn, leave some for me,” I yelled, as I charged into them. I took to the air before one of the last ones to remain on his bike reached me. He got a boot to the face which sent him flying from the motorcycle and the motorcycle toppling. This crashed two of the last three bikes remaining upright. 
My hammer took off the jaw of the third.

I barely focused as I tore through the closer group of their fallen. I became a whirlwind of destruction. My sledge broke spike, teeth, and bone. I went mad in my fiery, until the green haze of Yig enshrouded me.  Claws and fangs erupted from their flesh and they tried their best to rend me, but between my rage and protection of Yig, they were unable to slow me.

Wet smacks and the crunches of shattered bone sounded in every direction, and even my allies stayed clear of my wrath.

I found out later that my allies had focused on the first group that had fallen, alternating between hitting them with blasts of both fire and Hannah’s holy light. The few that had survived this hurried back unto their bikes and rode away, dripping flesh as they went.

Together, the three of us finished mopping up the few that were left.

“These were fresh cuts,” Hannah scuffed.

“Why are you mad about that?” Ethan asked. “That many Rippers, with full Rapidity going, could have cut us to spreads.”

Pulling away the tattered remains of my jacket, I said, “now that we might be able to breath for a moment, I think it’s question and answer time.”

Throwing out a hip, Hannah glared at him.  “Alright, Jack, you start.  Why is every damn race of Xemmoni trying to kill you?”

“Now where were we?” I said, while burning some of my precious Ki to heal myself. It helped me feel a lot better, but it didn’t help remove any of the blood that soaked my clothes to such an extent that it was falling in large scarlet drops from my sleeves and the bottom of my jeans.

“I think we were talking about why you’re a Xemmoni magnet,” Ethan said with a lopsided grin.

“No, I think we’re talking about how we’re going to head back to Colorado and waste that damned Darcarre nest and that thrice damned Caradon lapdog of theirs, The Creeper.”
Hannah was looking through the mangled Ripperkah bodies and letting the men talk while she gathered a few stray weapons.

“What are you talking about, dude,” Ethan said with eyes gone wide. “You barely escaped from them the last time. I thought you’d be happy to have gotten out of there with your lives.”
I walked over to this younger guy. “I’m happy you got us out of there when you did, even if I still don’t know who you are and why you’re helping us. But I do know one thing. You can’t leave a Xemmoni nest. If you discover one, you have to take it out. It you don’t, it just festers and grows.”

“Then these killers aren’t only wasting everyone they can get their hands on, but when someone tries to take them out later, the job gets five times worse. I’ve learned this the hard way and I was on the way to take the first group I fought and then ran away from when I was less in the know about all this evil crap. I like to finish what I start. I didn’t know better then, but I do now. But despite all that, I won’t be heading back to my old home until I know I’m not leaving any unfinished business behind me.”

Ethan threw up his hands. “Damn Yiggos. They’re the same every flipin’ time. How about you Hannah? Can you believe this guy?”

“I’ll take the company of a follower of Yig over one of Loki, every time.”

“Oh you will huh, let me guess, you’re with, wait don’t tell me, Apollo.”

I had been listening intensely here. By that point I had figured Hannah had to be a Stalwart, but of what branch I had no clue. “Is he right?”

She brushed her long golden hair over her shoulder. “What do you think?”

“Since I have never met a follower of either Loki or Apollo, I guess it’s hard to say. But I think both of you have some explaining to do. Besides that, we still don’t even know why my bike appeared when we needed it in that battle against the Glooms. I need some answers, but I also need to eat. 
We’ll finish this discussion over dinner. Next stop Moab”

Yes, I know it’s hard to believe, but we made it to Moab without so much as a flat tire. I had no problem becoming a snake and wrapping myself around Hannah’s nimble form, but I didn’t enjoy Ethan driving my ride, or how Hannah was forced to put her arms around him. I liked even less how much this Loki guy appeared to enjoy the latter. I had hoped we could have used some of the Ripperkah’s bikes, but all of their tires had been burned to slag.

Once in Moab, I gained some small respect for this guy when he pulled into the local brewery, even if he did charge my bike over four lanes of traffic to do so. The place was called the Dead Horse and was filled with paintings of mangled horses with Xs instead of eyes. Right away the place seemed like the sort of spot that a Xemmoni would run, that is, until I tried the beer. No Xemmoni could brew pale ale this good.

“I wonder if maybe a Tezcatlipoca guy runs this place,” Ethan mused over an amber ale while rarely taking his eyes off Hannah’s two inches of exposed cleavage.

Finally feeling almost half relaxed, I leaned back a little and asked, “Why would you say that?”

“Well, it doesn’t seem like a Xemmoni place and those Tez guys are into death and darkness and all that?”

After taking another long pull off my ale, I asked, “why does everything have to be something to do with either Stalwarts or Xemmoni?”

“Everything interesting does,” he said, while finally shifting his eyes away from Hannah, even if it was only to take in the young waitress’s slim form.

“Are all you Loki types such letches?” She asked.

“Only the breathing ones,” he said with a smile.

“Oh brother,” I couldn’t help but groan, but then our food arrived and for a few minutes, while I at my chicken wings,   I almost felt like a normal guy. Although when I was a normal guy, I had never dated anyone as pretty as Hannah.

But like most good things, our meal was eventually over and after ordering another pitcher, I knew we needed to get down to business.

“So I need to head back to Colorado. I can’t leave anything unfinished. It just isn’t right.”

“Or die trying, right.” Ethan said, while stirring his drink with a finger.

“I usually try to avoid that part.”

“Some people care about others and don’t want to see innocents get hurt,” Hannah said, crossing her arms and staring down Ethan.

“Whatever.”

“Does that mean you won’t be going with us?” I asked. “You fought pretty well back there. We could use you.”

A hint of a smile could be seen. “Well, I did leave my car there.”

I laughed, but Hannah looked like she was hoping the guy was going to say no. “What about tonight?” she asked. “No reason to be hunting Xemmoni in the dark least of all those Darcarre.”

“Well, I have plenty of bread, let’s just stay here.”

“You do?” Ethan said. “Say can I borrow some? I need-”

“Can it. I’ll pick up dinner and spring for a hotel room for you tonight, but that’s about as much as you can dare hope for.”

Looking at Hannah, he said, “My own room… but what about safety in numbers and all that? Wait 
 are we each getting our own room?”

“Nope just you,” Hannah answered for me.

“Oh geez. Well can I at least get a little chump change. I am sorta your employee and I think I deserve something.”

“Oh thanks for reminding me. I have wanted to ask you about why it was that you suddenly showed up like you did?” I knew I might need to ask Hannah the same question sometime, but I figured I’d start with the person I cared far less about first.

“On man, me and my big mouth.”

“Well?”

“Okay, okay. I ah…well, I was sent here to help, I guess.”

“By who and why?”

“Let’s just say that there are um, ‘beings’ that want to make sure nothing keeps you from returned to Idaho and taking care of what you didn’t finish there.”

“Are you supposed to help me when I get there?”

“Oh thank Loki no. I um, let’s just say I made a little mistake and making sure you get back to Idaho is my way of paying off that debt.”

“You little turd, so you had to go back to Colorado no matter what?”

His cheeks flashed as red as his jacket for a moment. “Yeah, okay, yeah I guess.”

Hannah was talking slower and sounded more uncertain that her usual self assured demeanor. “Jack, I might as well come clean too. I didn’t just meet you randomly.”

“I had figured as much by now.”

“Don’t tell me you’re in trouble too.” Ethan said smiling.

“Hardly,” she said, giving him a glare. “But I was sent to help make sure you make it to Idaho, Jack.”

“Again, I ask, by who and why?”

“These are hard times. The Xemmoni, with Vile’s help, are growing more numerous and powerful than ever before. Stalwarts are becoming rarer and the few of us that are left are being stretched quite thin.”

She paused, looked at Ethan briefly, but then her blue eyes burned into his. “The agents of Weal have been watching you, Jack. They think you might be our last hope.”

See how Jack began!

Free Serial Read - Jack Primus Part Three - Fire On The Mountain

Fire on the Mountain

We managed to make it to our hotel room and as we were grabbing our things and cramming them into our bags (mostly weapons) Hannah looked over at me and said, “Ah Jack, didn’t I drive you here?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Well, if I drive you here, how did you get your motorcycle? I thought you said it was hidden in the woods near Ophir Pass. And it was like you remembered where you bike was, even though you didn’t drive it here.”

I was dumbfounded. “I, ah, what the hell is going on? I just talked to Loskeep. He said he would try to help me, but he isn’t even on this planet and…well Yig is the all-father snake. He has never had time to help me before.”

“Yig loves you, Jack.”

“He does?”

Suddenly we heard some shouts from below. “Get out here Primus! Or are you scared, like all the other Stalwarts we have killed. Come out here and meet the Creeper.”

“Here we go again. I’m locked and ready to C.K.A. I say we give them what they are asking for.”

“Yeah, sure, Jack, as long as we play by our rules.”

“I won’t roll any other way. Those Xemmoni bastards need to stay off my planet!”

“So are you geared up Hannah?” I asked, as I took up an axe in one hand while a sledge hammer filled the other.

Turning, I saw that she had just finished strapping a gold handled samurai sword onto her back. She reached into her duffle bag and with a wicked smile drew out a double barreled shotgun. She cocked it loudly and said. “I’m good.”

She sure was, I was thinking, but instead I said, “You aren’t really a normal gal are you?”

“We can talk about that later. Right now we need to waste these Sks.”

“I think we need to be careful. That bastard Creeper batted me with a car.”

“Primus, we have your precious bike,” a shout came from below. “I wonder how long it will burn.”

“That does it. Have you heard of the jump and stab?”

“Since I have the feeling you are making it up as we go, I doubt it.”

I made a face. This woman was no fool, no matter how blonde her hair was. “That’s when I get all of them to attack me and then you come in behind them and axe them each, one by one.”

“I’m down, but it sure seems like you getting the rough end of that deal.” She leaned in and gave me 

the best kiss of my life and whispered, “Good luck.”

A second later I was leaping out the window!

I saw a gaggle of Darcarre clustered around my bike. Half of them held torches and their flicking light danced in my eyes as I plummeted to the ground.

The Creeper was there, looming as large as an upended bus. My boots took the twisted freak in the face and it grunted, but really let out a scream when my sledge smashed him in its tattered ear. The scream only increased when my axe tore through his mangled face as I fell.

I had surprised and stunned the Creeper enough that the Darcarre got some of my special Stalwart attentions when I smacked down on the snow.

“No one touches the bike!” was hurled at them about the same time my axe was. One of the younger darklings had turned towards me and was rewarded by having my axe split his face. Then, grabbing the sledge with both hands, I waded into them. Swinging it wildly, I didn’t bother to aim, but just kept the weapon moving. Screams and the sounds of breaking bones surrounded me, but I focused on my task until a hand the size of a bookcase batted me across the parking lot.

I tumbled violently, smacking pavement, ice, and finally a stone wall.

“Primus!” the Creeper screamed through bloody torn lips as its titanic form raced at me.

“Quit talking my ear off,” I yelled, as I got to my feet. The guy was over forty flippin feet tall, I just stared for a second, and then said, “Screw this,” and began to run. Creeper growled like 20 grizzlies as he chased after me. Looking of my shoulder, I yelled,” Oh damn,” as I saw him tossing cars from his path, like they were empty beers cans.

I jumped, wild eyed and startled, when a car crashed into the pavement only seven feet to my left. 

“Oh crap,” I yelled and started to arc around the back of the hotel. The sounds of a shotgun going off could be heard and really hoped Hannah could hold out for a while, but I would be lucky to last out the minute.

As I continued around the old hotel, the Creeper took off a section of its roof and chunks of wood, plaster, and shingles rained down on me. A splintered beam connected with my shoulder, but I didn’t have time to feel it.

Yep, things were getting tricky.

I managed to make it around another corner of the hotel and that was when I came across a corpse of trees. “Oh Hail Yig,” I muttered, as I began to weave a spell. Yig had heard me, for the pines came alive clutching and tearing at the Creeper as he turned around the side of the hotel.

Now I had a terrible choice.

I could either strike against the Creeper while he was entangled or help Hannah. I could no longer hear her shotgun going off.

I chose Hannah.

So after flipping Creeper the bird, I ran off to aid to aid her.

I could only hope that I would be in time.

The mangled, angry screams of The Creeper followed me and I blazed around the side of the house.

Hannah was holding her own, but fighting the Darccare frankly just sucks. They are the only

Xemmoni race that can heal themselves and half of them are immune to bullets. I saw that her 

shotgun was gone and she was trying to hold a half dozen of the inky darklings back with frantic swings from her Samurai sword.

I still had the sledge and I was forced to use it when the two remaining Glooms, that we had faced earlier, tried to block my path. Their fingers were moving like wounded spiders and before I could reach them, their damned Flesh To Mist Bestow crashed into my chest. I couldn’t help myself and I cried out as my very body began to disperse into string of fog.

“Oh so you play like that,” I growled and before the Glooms could snatch their sickles off their belts, 

I had already dashed forward and broken one’s jaw with a snap that woke up every baby in the neighborhood. That one tumbled back. The second one moved in, but I yelled, “batter up,” and his head crumbled like he was a rotten corpse.

I wanted to finish the wounded one off, but Hannah was crying out in pain. She had been holding them back- yeah, this was no normal girl- but now they were releasing their Black Veins spells on her and I looked on in horror as corrupted threads of darkness spread over her body, tearing into her flesh.

The Darcarre forgot one thing though…me! I was in their ranks before they even knew I was there. My sledge took down two and despite how wounded Hannah was, she killed a third. You can’t heal decapitation.

We might have finished the scum off, if the Creeper hadn’t escaped the trees that held him. He roared around the corner of the hotel, like five hundred lions. I tossed my hammer into the ranks of Darccare and grabbed Hannah by the hand. We would have made it to my bike of the biggest Cell Disruption I could imagine crashed into my back. I rolled in the snow screaming as my flesh bubbled and boiled. It flowed off my bones and I thrashed in agony. Somehow, through everything, I could hear the 

Creeper chuckling.

Then I heard my bike starting. But Hannah was right there trying to help me. I think she might have even used a spell to heal me. Yep, this was not you typical blonde beauty.

“Hop on if you want to live,” I heard a man’s voice call out from off the back of my bike. I was in too much pain to make out more than the fact he was dressed in mostly scarlet and leather.

“How can we all fit?” I managed to gasp.

“Become a snake dumbass. Do I have to do your thinking for yah too!”

There was a wush of flame and suddenly a wall of fire separated us for the Xemmoni. I knew it wouldn’t hold them back for long, so I transformed myself into a servant of Yig and entwined myself around Hannah’s leg. I wasn’t too pleased that her hands went around this stranger, but sacrifices had to be made and my bike bike roared off into the night as behind us the smoke mixed with the fog and the falling snow.

Find Out How Jack Started!