Tag Archives: Sensor Series

Darkness Wanes sneak preview

Progress on Darkness Wanes is coming along well.  I want to once again apologize for the lengthy delay in getting this novel out due to personal setbacks.  I finally got back into my writing groove last month and I’ve been working like mad on it ever since.  My poor family may have forgotten what I look like since I barricade myself behind a closed door most of the time.  Not to worry, though, they make me come out to eat occasionally.

The first half of the book is in good shape and I’m just revising the final chapters now before sending them off to my editor.  By the looks of things, this novel is going to end up being about 120k words.  As a comparison, Darkness Shatters was 96k and Stalked by Flames was 101k.  Darkness Wanes will definitely be the longest book I’ve ever written by quite a bit, but there is a lot to wrap up and I want to be sure to do the characters (and story) justice.  Special thanks to all the beta readers who’ve helped out along the way.  You all are awesome!

I have high hopes I will be able to release this novel by the end of the month.  Keep your fingers crossed for me.  Below are the first three chapters of Darkness Wanes (about 10k words).  Hope you enjoy 🙂

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Chapter One

Melena

Some places should be avoided at all costs.  Troll villages, the woods on a full moon, and retailers on Black Friday topped my personal list, but above them all—Purgatory.  It was an inhospitable island set outside of time and space where human souls went after death when they weren’t quite good enough for Heaven, but not bad enough for Hell.  One might consider it a sort of way station—though it was probably closer to a prison.  Unless you had a very good reason, you didn’t come here voluntarily.

The sandy beaches at the island’s edge could fry eggs or blister bare feet.  A prisoner couldn’t swim away, assuming they made it through all the guards first.  The ocean surrounding the land extended forever, an infinite mass of water with no apparent end.  Not that you’d want to be outside in Purgatory.  Blinding light shone down from a sun that appeared twice as large as Earth’s, and it generated more heat than any mortal could survive for more than a few minutes.  That is, assuming the low oxygen levels didn’t suffocate them first.

Jagged mountains rose in the middle, raw and intimidating.  All along them, human souls relived the crimes they’d committed in their past life.  These were people who weren’t good enough to enter Heaven yet, but neither were they terrible enough for Hell.  Purgatory served as a place for them to learn from their evil deeds before they went on to their final destination.

They had no bodies, only the light of their inner beings, but that didn’t reduce their suffering.  On the rare occasion I came close enough to them, I felt their pain and remorse in every fiber of my being.  Nothing could be worse than facing one’s past mistakes over and over again with no relief.  This place couldn’t be mistaken for an island vacation spot.  It was real, and it was only one step above Hell.

It wasn’t that much better for me, either.  The only difference being I wasn’t dead yet.  Purgatory also served as an immortal penitentiary, though supernatural inmates didn’t stay up top with the human souls.  The guardians of the place—sort of an offshoot breed of angels—kept us confined deep inside the mountains in a vast network of tunnels and carved-out prison cells.  Of all the inmates here, they hated me the most.  I’d broken into Purgatory twice, using modern firepower against them, to free others who didn’t deserve to be here.  Those people were now free, which made it worth it, but I had no way of escaping without assistance.  I was trapped here for my full three-month sentence.

In the caves we inhabited, it dropped to bone-numbing temperatures and the stone walls wept with the icy tears of its denizens.  That wasn’t meant to be poetic.  Purgatory had a way of torturing you with both your darkest memories and your most cherished.  I’d had a lot of time to think since arriving.  One moment I’d feel the pain of my worst mistakes, including those that led to the loss of good friends, and in the next moment I’d remember my lover, Lucas, or adopted daughter, Emily.  They were part of the good things in my life, but the longer I stayed in Purgatory, the more I wished I didn’t think of them.  It would have made my time easier that way.

This was an ugly place where nothing good belonged, especially in the bowels where I’d been confined.  The walkways were frozen except for the occasional numbing cold stream running along the path.  Sharp icicles hung from the ceilings, often falling on hapless victims.  I’d had my head struck more than once—made worse by the fact it took considerably longer to heal in Purgatory than on Earth.  It was also eerily dark.  If not for the greenish-blue glow emanating from cracks in the stone, even those with the best night vision wouldn’t have been able to see anything.  Then again, it didn’t seem to bother the guardians who lorded over their prisoners.  They moved around just fine.

Clink. Clink. Clink.  The sound of pickaxes droned on in an annoyingly familiar rhythm.  I suspected I’d hear them in my head long after I left this place.  I blew a strand of my auburn hair from my cheek where it had come loose from its braid and continued chipping away at the blue-gray stone in front of me.

This section of the tunnel and I had become well acquainted since the archangel, Remiel, dropped me off here two and a half months ago.  In that time, I’d managed to extract about five pounds of ore.  The older and stronger supernaturals working alongside me gathered much higher amounts.  Not that it really mattered.  A cavern several levels above us had at least a dozen piles of it wasting away.  The guardians had long since gotten enough to make all the chains and weapons they needed.  They just wanted us to continue adding to the heap.

I rubbed at my aching lower back.  Even an immortal body couldn’t handle fourteen hours of crouching in mines every day without getting sore.  By the end of my shift, my spine always became so bowed out of shape that I could hardly stand up straight without a lot of effort and pain.  If I never saw an underground tunnel again it wouldn’t be long enough.

The clinking of the axes slowed and whispers rose among the other prisoners.  I took a surreptitious gaze around to find our guards had wandered down the tunnel out of earshot.  It happened so rarely I had to seize the opportunity while it lasted.

“Eli,” I called softly to the dark-skinned nephilim hunched ten feet away.

He turned his head toward me.  “What?”

Eli wore the same basic uniform as me—buckskin trousers, a matching sleeveless top and leather boots.  We hadn’t gotten utilitarian clothing when we first arrived in Purgatory.  They’d given us long robes that chaffed at our skin and no footwear.  It made it difficult to navigate the treacherous tunnels.  After a few days, I’d had enough and went on strike.

No one else joined me at first.  I was a sensor, and the rest of the prisoners were nephilim.  Our races were eternal enemies, but I was trying to change that.  I’d mated with a nephilim, Lucas, and he’d made me immortal.  Most of the supernatural world knew about us and how we’d found common ground.  Some of them had grown to accept me, mostly in Alaska where we lived, but we had a long way to go before our races got along entirely.  The majority of the sensors and sups still didn’t trust each other.

For three days, my prison mates watched me get whipped every morning because I refused to leave my cell for work in the mines.  On the fourth day, Eli was the first to join me.  We’d met a couple of times before, and he’d seemed more open than most.  Eventually, all twelve nephilim participated in my little strike.

It wasn’t just the poor clothing choices I’d protested, but also the awful gruel they fed us every day.  The lack of oxygen and stronger gravity of Purgatory drained us too much already.  Poor nutrition made things worse.  Immortals might not be able to die, but they could become severely weakened if their basic needs weren’t met.  We needed humane treatment if we were going to have the energy to work.

The rest of my companions were centuries or even thousands of years old.  They’d lived during times when the weaker always submitted to the stronger.  It didn’t occur to them to demand more for themselves.

I was a modern woman and military veteran who believed in standing up for my rights.  The ancient guardians running Purgatory had no idea how to handle me, but I had experience dealing with their kind before.  In fact, I’d helped rehabilitate one of the worst among them.  I just had to suffer through their punishments for a while before I got my way.  Though it wasn’t easy—they nearly broke me more than once.

“How do you call on an archangel without a summoning stone?” I asked Eli.  There was a bit of Denzel Washington’s features in him that always struck me, especially in the eyes and chin.

He frowned at me.  “Why?”

He was constantly telling me to keep my head down and stay out of trouble.  Not that I did, and more often than not he got caught up in my battles with the guardians.  It wasn’t like I forced him to do my bidding.  Eli just had a need to help people no matter what it cost.  We had that in common, which was why we were both stuck here.

“Because I need to know.”  Working in the mines gave you a lot of time to plot.  I estimated that in about two or three weeks—they wouldn’t give an exact date—I’d be out of here.  I had things to do as soon as I got back home.

“Melena,” he said in a warning tone.  “I’m not helping you again.”

I glared.  “It’s important.”

“Let it go until we return to Earth.”  He turned away and began swinging his pickaxe again.

“Come on,” I said in a pleading tone.  “I just need to know how to summon an archangel.”

He ignored me.  I considered throwing my pickaxe at him, but I couldn’t risk drawing the attention of the guardians.  Not to mention the chain stretching between my ankle and a hook in the floor would keep me from getting the tool back.  All the prisoners were restricted so that we couldn’t move more than a few feet.

“Eli,” I growled when he still wouldn’t answer me.

A female nephilim with shoulder-length blond hair turned toward me.  “Be quiet!”

Sabelle’s golden eyes were filled with hatred.  It never ceased to amaze me how a woman with such a sweet nature could become that hostile toward someone she hardly knew.  When I’d first met her, her heart-shaped face had seemed welcoming and kind.  That only lasted until she discovered I was a sensor.

“What is your problem?” I asked her.  Not that I expected a logical reply.

Sabelle’s nostrils flared.  “You! Your kind are nothing but…”

“I can tell you how to do it,” Bartol interrupted, putting a stop to the hate speech.  He worked on the wall to my right and spoke so rarely that I was startled to hear his voice now.

I turned toward him.  Bartol’s long brownish-gold hair fell past his shoulders in light waves.  The oily strands didn’t quite hide the horrific scars on the left side of his face.  The burns marred what had once been handsome features.  Nephilim could usually heal from anything, but a magic spell had been infused with the damage so that he’d never be whole again.  Not even my ability to nullify magic could do anything to help him now.

Bartol had been in Purgatory for nearly a century as his penalty for seducing an angel.  Not long after arriving an overzealous guardian, Kerbasi, burned him as part of his own personal brand of punishment.  Bartol had faced many horrors since arriving here, but that was probably among the worst.  By my estimates, his sentence would finish around the same time as mine.  He was a friend of Lucas’ and we planned to help him as much as we could when he got out.

“You know?  How?” I asked. Continue reading

Happy Holidays!

For those who celebrate, I hope you have a Merry Christmas!  Please take care if you’re traveling.  I also want to remind everyone that the Sensor series holiday short story I mentioned in my last post is up over at Nocturnal Book Reviews.  This is an all-new story you haven’t read before featuring Kerbasi, Kariann and a new character .  Check it out and leave a comment on the post for your chance to win a blue Kindle Fire HD 8, tote bag, and other goodies.  You’ve got until December 30th to enter.

Holiday giveaway banner

 

Darkness Shatters is now available!

For those of you who haven’t caught it yet, Darkness Shatters is now out.  This is the fifth installment of the series and events are really heating up as we near the end (one book left to go, not counting spin-offs).  If you didn’t read the three chapter sample I provided in my previous post, you may not know Lucas has his point of view in this installment.  He only gets about twenty percent of the novel with Melena still narrating the other eighty percent, but it is important at times you see things from his side (for the sake of the plots and their relationship).  I really enjoyed writing this one and hope you’ll enjoy reading it.

Below is a summary for the novel and links to the retailers.  Thanks to everyone who has stayed with me this far into the series.  It’s meant a lot to me.

Darkness ShattersSUMMARY:

Winter has come to Alaska and it’s about to be joined by death.

Since moving to Fairbanks, Melena Sanders has watched too many of her friends die because she couldn’t react fast enough. When a mysterious illness comes along targeting only supernatural races she’s determined to stop it. But as the death toll climbs she realizes finding a cure is more complicated than she thought. Melena might have to give in to plans to reveal the existence of supernaturals to the human world—as it may be the only way to save them.

Word count: 96,000 (approximate)

 

 

 

 

 

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RETAILER LINKS:

AMAZON US    AMAZON UK     AMAZON DE     AMAZON AU     AMAZON CA

NOOK     KOBO     ITUNES

First three chapters of Darkness Shatters

As I mentioned in my last post, I’m giving you all an early peek at the first three chapters for Darkness Shatters.  Please keep in mind that this is not the final version and that there may be some minor changes before the novel releases.  Hope you enjoy!

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Chapter One

 

There was no price I wouldn’t have paid for one night of peace and quiet, but unfortunately even the brief illusion of peace couldn’t be bought.  Not by me, anyway.  It was a squeaking noise that woke me.

Coming from inside my house.

I cracked my eyes open and ran my gaze about the dark bedroom, searching for the source.  Nothing stirred.  My hand crept over to the other side of the bed and found cold, empty sheets.  Lucas hadn’t returned during the night.  Not that I’d expected him to since he’d called the previous evening to say he’d arrived in Portland—still searching for his missing twin brother.

Faint giggling floated down the hallway, coming from another bedroom.  I sent my senses out.  Emily’s boyfriend, Hunter, had snuck in sometime after I’d gone to sleep.  He was over at the house often enough that I’d almost forgotten he shouldn’t have been there.  Emily came up on my radar as warm and familiar, whereas his presence sent light claws raking against my mind.

Damn teenagers.

I shoved my warm blankets away and got up.  It was time to do my duty as a parent and put a stop to this.  Padding across the room, I grabbed a robe and pulled it on.   No need to give Hunter, an eighteen-year-old werewolf, an eyeful since I only slept in a skimpy tank top and underwear.

The wood floor didn’t creak as I crept down the hallway, but that wasn’t my real concern.  Emily was a sensor, like me.  If she was paying attention she’d know I was coming toward her room, but the emotions I picked up from her revealed no panic.  Instead all I sensed was lust and excitement.  Those sort of feelings could distract our kind from picking up any trouble coming our way.

The door wasn’t locked.  I pushed it wide open and got an eyeful of the teenagers in bed.  Hunter didn’t have his shirt on and Emily’s was pulled up to her neck.  His body blocked my view of her chest.

“Hunter, get off of her right now.”

Their heads swung in my direction.  Emily’s face was flushed and her shoulder-length brown hair was tousled.  She shoved Hunter to the side and pulled the blanket over herself.  I caught just enough before that to be sure they hadn’t gone all the way.  Both of them still had their pants on.  I could give small thanks for that.

“But we weren’t doing anything wrong,” Emily argued.  “Just kissing.”

Like it wouldn’t have gone further.

“On a Sunday night when you have to be up for school in a few hours?  He’s leaving.”

“It snowing outside.”  She pulled the blanket tightly against her chest and scooted up.  “You can’t make him leave now.”

Hunter sat next to her on the bed and stared at me with frozen horror.  He hadn’t shaved in a couple of days and there was a bit of dark scruff on his face.  Emily might not care about getting caught, but he did.  The dread in his brown eyes said it all.

“Not my problem.  He has to go.”

I moved toward the bed, grabbed his arm, and hauled him onto the floor.  He had to weigh about a hundred and eighty with all the muscle on him, but it didn’t bother me since I’d become immortal and increased my strength.  I did make a point of not looking at his pale, naked chest too closely.  It was awkward enough that I’d walked in on them making out.

Emily grabbed her phone off the nightstand and pressed her finger to the screen.  She lifted it up for me to see. “It’s like, negative forty degrees outside.  Let him stay until morning.”

I moved to the window and peered out.  It was dark, but the porch light lit up the yard.  Only my Jeep sat in the driveway with a thin layer of snow covering it.  No other cars were out there, but there was a faint hint of recent tracks leading to the side of the house.

“He should have thought of that before coming here.  He’s a werewolf.  I’m sure he’ll survive getting home.”

We might live out in the bush of Alaska where houses were few and far between, but there were only so many places to leave a car in January with all the snow that had accumulated over the last few months.  I was willing to bet he’d parked it around the side of the house where he could plug the vehicle into an electrical outlet to keep it warm.  That’s where it was the last time I’d caught him in Emily’s room.  With winter set in the temperatures were too low to risk a cold start.  It could ruin the engine.

“Fine.”  She shot me an annoyed look before hopping out of bed to give Hunter a quick kiss, blanket still wrapped around her.  “Just come by tomorrow night.”

He gave her a rueful smile.

“You know the rules, Emily.”  I pointed a finger at her.  “You two got caught in the act and can’t visit each other for a week.”

There was nothing I could do about school, but since they tried to spend every possible moment with each other I could take nights and weekends away.

“That’s such bullshit.”  She plopped herself onto the bed.

Sometimes I missed the old Emily who was sweet and didn’t argue with me so much.  She’d been an easy teenager to take care of until she’d gotten a head injury the previous spring and her personality had altered drastically.  Now we fought more than we got along.

“Sorry, Melena,” Hunter said as he pulled on his sweater.

“You need to stop letting her talk you into this…”  I stopped.

A scratching noise came from downstairs.  Sable had just come through the cat door and was making her way toward us at a fast pace.  She skidded to a halt at my feet, currently in the form of a reddish-brown lynx with black markings, and growled at me.  Then she sunk her teeth into my robe and tugged until I almost fell over.  It was the sign she’d been taught to give me in case there was an emergency and I needed to follow her somewhere.  Probably into the woods since that’s where she typically roamed and there wasn’t much else this far outside Fairbanks.

“Is it really that important?” I asked her.

She ran to the doorway and then looked back.  I could sense the urgency in her emotions.  She was definitely upset about something and wanted me to see it.  Whether I wanted to or not, I was going to have to check it out.

“Finish getting dressed and meet me at the front door,” I ordered Hunter. Continue reading

Cover reveal for Darkness Shatters

I’m excited to finally reveal the cover for Darkness Shatters.  The model shots for this one came from the October photo shoot I discussed in a previous post here with behind-the-scenes pics.  Special thanks to my cover design team for helping me with this one (including Rachel, Sarah, Kristy, and Heather).

Below you can get your first look at the cover, book summary, and expected release date (which has changed).  Hope this helps build up your excitement for the next novel in the series!

 

 

 

Darkness Shatters

Models– Steve and Haley

PhotographerTeresa Yeh

Cover designClaudia McKinney

 

SUMMARY:

Winter has come to Alaska and it’s about to be joined by death.

Since moving to Fairbanks, Melena Sanders has watched too many of her friends die because she couldn’t react fast enough. When a mysterious illness comes along targeting only supernatural races she’s determined to stop it. But as the death toll climbs she realizes finding a cure is more complicated than she thought. Melena might have to give in to plans to reveal the existence of supernaturals to the human world—as it may be the only way to save them.

 

Expected release date–  February 25th, 2015

Add to your Goodreads TBR list here- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23445137-darkness-shatters

 

Check back on the blog a week from now.  I plan to post the first few chapters of Darkness Shatters for you all to check out.  Hope everyone has a lovely weekend!