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WELCOME TO THE JUNE NEWSLETTER JUST A WEE BIT EARLY!
FIRST: HOPE YOU'RE HAVING A HAPPY HOLIDAY.
Take a moment to think of those who've given their lives for your country (whichever it may be) then make the most of enjoying the freedoms you've been given.
NEXT -- AND THE WINNERS ARE - Wow guys! There were a LOT of entries for the last contest. I'm seriously flattered. I drew three names at absolute random. Scott, Connie and Tresa won. I've requested snail mail addresses and the books are going into the mail on Tuesday (Monday's a holiday).
REMINDER - June 3-6 I will be at FanExpo Dallas/i.e., Dallas Comicon. I will be selling and signing books in a vendor's booth hosted by Kevin J. Anderson. I hope to see you there. I also hope to get as many good pictures as I got last year. It was a hoot! One of my good friends, Rachel Caine will also be there, so I expect a good time will be had by all. Stop by and say hi! Tell me you heard about it in the newsletter and I'll . . . hmnnn, I know, I'll give you a signed ARC of ALL YOUR WISHES. Hope to see you there.
The draft of the next Fae book - THE RESCUE has been reviewed by the beta readers and changes made. It's off to the agent for review (the ever-marvelous Lucienne Diver), then to the editor (the equally awesome Melissa Singer). Here's hoping they like it. (Toes crossed, fingers are for typing.)
After the trip I'll be starting on the next (unnamed) Celia Graves novel. I'm pretty excited about it.
I've been so blasted busy that I haven't had much chance to work on the short story collection. BUT since the silly things are written, I've decided to give you guys a present. Attached to this newsletter is a Celia Graves short story - THE WIZARD OF ODDS. ENJOY!
That's about it for now. I've got to get packing. Hope you have a wonderful holiday weekend.
The Wizard of Odds
Cissy Englewood hadn't been the prettiest, but she'd been by far the most popular girl all through school. Her facial features were a little harsh, but she had the build of a model, with legs that went on forever and cheekbones that could slice bread. She'd been gifted with her father's dark skin, and her mother's hair, so that she never had to worry about straightening it. Today it hung in cornrows that reached past her shoulders. Whenever she made the slightest movement the beads clicked and clacked. It would've driven me crazy, but she didn't have vampire-enhanced hearing, so it probably didn't bother her. Her brown eyes were large and liquid, her mouth full. But the exaggerated pout on her face now was probably the benefit of whatever the hell treatment the stars were using this week.
I'd hated her growing up. Not because she was beautiful. There are lots of beautiful girls and women around. This is, after all, California. Starlets and wanna-be's abound, routinely make the most of genetics, magic, and plastic surgery in their unending quest to reach the top. They tend to marry older men with lots of money and breed the next generation of gorgeous. Besides, I like my looks. Always have. I may not have won the genetic lottery, but I didn't lose my shirt either.
No, I'd hated Cissy because she was a bitch. I don't know how I'd wound up on her radar, but I did, and she'd made damned sure to make my life a living hell from sixth grade clear through graduation.
Seeing her in the lobby of my office amidst the clutter of boxes and moving paraphernalia was a serious shock. Never in a million years would I have expected to run into her again-and that would have been just fine by me.
She rose to her feet taking in my appearance in a single, appraising glance. Apparently she didn't like what she saw, because her eyes narrowed a little, her expression hardening.
Okay, I probably looked like hell. I was, after all, dressed in grungy clothes for moving. Still, I've aged pretty well. I've kept my hair its natural blonde, and it's cut in a very trendy short style with long bangs that has the plus of being really easy to care for. My body is in great shape. I work out, hard. I have to. I'm a bodyguard. My job is to protect my clients from not only mortal threats, but the monsters. I can't do that if I'm not in top shape. Well, I suppose I could try, but it would be really, really, stupid. And I certainly wouldn't last long.
I'm not stupid. And I've been doing this for quite a while now. Long enough to have built up my business into the thriving enterprise it was turning out to be. Graves Personal Protection isn't the biggest company in town, not even close. But I've made enough of a name for myself that I can afford the nice new office we were in the process of moving into.
I supposed that name was why she'd come to me. That, and maybe some mistaken idea that I might remember her fondly.
Time had not been kind to her, although she probably thought it had. She looked tough, stringy and hard. But the clothes were top of the line designer wear, and the jewelry, while overbearing, was real. She'd done plastic surgery at some point, narrowing her nose, tightening things up. It had probably cost a fortune, but she'd have been better off with her natural look. The hands that had a death grip on her designer bag were tipped with nails that could qualify as talons. They'd been painted black with white stripes to match the zebra patterned leggings she wore under an oversized black tunic.
"Celia."
"Cissy. What brings you here?" I kept my voice as neutral as I possibly could. Points to me.
"I need help." She paused for a split second, as if thinking that maybe that wouldn't be good enough then said, "Bennie needs help."
I sighed inwardly. I'd have helped Cissy. It's my job. But I had to help Bennie.
Bennie was Benjamin Silverman. Once upon a long time ago he'd been my friend: My only friend back in grade school and junior high. When my mother did stupid shit like snort the grocery money up her nose or drink it all, Bennie would share his lunch with my sister Ivy and I, or wrangle an invite to his mom's place for us for dinner. I owed Bennie.
Short, chubby, and very Jewish, he'd worn thick glasses, had minimal magical talent, and been almost as much of an outcast as I was. But his parents had adored both him and his older brother Jacob.
How in the hell did he wind up with Cissy Englewood? I thought to myself. What I said was, "You'd better come up to my office."
My office building complex is a former mission-style church and grounds that wasn't historically significant enough for the Archdiocese to keep. I bought it from a friend who'd spent a fair amount of time and money rehabbing the place. It's gorgeous and, best of all, it is holy ground. Vampires, demons, and quite a few other big bad monsters can't/won't come here. My personal office is in the former choir loft. Accessed by a narrow set of stairs, the room is dominated by the stained glass window that takes up most of one wall. When the light is right it's like being inside a rainbow.
I love it.
Of course, with my specialized medical needs I have to use a lot of sunscreen, but hey, so worth it.
Technically I am what's referred to as an abomination. I'd been fully human (with some interesting blood lines I knew nothing about) up until a job went bad. A master vampire started to turn me into a bat, but the process got interrupted. I wound up half turned. So now I have an uber pale complexion, sensitivity to sunlight, and difficulty eating anything other than semi-liquids. On the other hand, I've got vampire strength, speed, and enhanced healing. The bite also kicked in my Siren heritage-definitely a mixed bag, but since it put me in touch with my great aunt Lopaka and that whole side of the family, I'm taking it as a plus.
Cissy looked around, taking in the light show, and the view over the half-wall of my staff working away below, and my partner in her glass walled office. Meanwhile, I shoved aside a stack of boxes so that she could take a seat in one of the two guest chairs. I took the other, since my desk and office chair hadn't been brought up yet.
"All right. What's up?"
She squirmed a little in her seat, and I could tell she was trying to figure out how much she was willing to tell me. That's never a good sign. It's not my job to judge people for what they've done, but I do need to know the truth of what I'm up against. Still, you'd be amazed and how often clients lie. Stupid, but true.
"You know that Bennie's a mage right?"
"Yes. Level two was it?"
She scowled. She didn't like that I'd remembered. Or maybe didn't like that he wasn't powerful. Whatever.
"His brother, Jacob, was a clairvoyant." I nodded. It wasn't news. Jacob had been able to see the future-but he hadn't seen the car that would run over and kill him at fifteen. I'd gone to the funeral with my grandmother. Bennie and his parents had been devastated. I don't think they ever really got over it. They kept going, but there was this huge hole in their life where Jacob used to be. It made me sad thinking about it.
"Yes."
"It's illegal for clairvoyants to gamble."
"Yes." Everybody knew that. In point of fact in most states it was illegal for anybody to gamble. There were a few exceptions, of course: Nevada, New Jersey, and some of the Indian reservations. But for the most part it was still illegal.
"It's not illegal for mages. And ghosts can't lie."
Oh fuck. Bennie what did you do? But even as I said it to myself I was pretty sure I knew. Surely he couldn't have been that stupid. Still, I stalled for time, hoping I was wrong.
Jacob is a ghost? He didn't go to his reward?
"No." She took a deep breath, seeming to sink further into the chair as she steeled herself for what came next. "When his father got cancer, the bills started piling up. The insurance only went so far. Business had slowed down a lot anyway, and with Morrie not working . . ." she let the sentence trail off.
"He started gambling." I prompted her.
"Yes. It started out with a trip to Las Vegas. Jacob's ghost . . . helped him with some bets at the track. The money was so good, and we needed it so badly . . .," again she let the words trail off.
I waited. It took a while. When she spoke, her voice was hoarse. I couldn't see tears in her eyes, but her voice was rough, as if she was close to crying. "He used to joke about it, called himself 'the Wizard of Odds.'" She looked at me with sad eyes. "He's not joking anymore."
"What do you expect me to do?"
"They want the money back. They sent a vampire-he beat him, then drained Bennie, right to the edge of death. They said next time it would be me, or Edna, and that they wouldn't stop."
Wow. A vampire enforcer. I'd never heard of such a thing. But damn, it would be effective. I sat there in silence, processing. She leapt into the silence, sounding hopeful, as if my lack of argument constituted consent.
"Bennie's an inpatient at St. Joseph's. I don't think they'll come after him there. He convinced Edna to go visit her sister in Key West until this is settled. I've sold all my jewelry and everything else that isn't nailed down, got a mortgage on the house-raised every cent I could get my hand on to come up with what they're asking for. It wasn't easy, but I've scraped together the cash." Her gaze locked with mine across the expanse of my desk. "I'm supposed to deliver it to him tonight. Bennie told me to have you come with me. I told him you wouldn't do it. But he swore you would-that you'd keep me safe."
"When and where?"
"Midnight tonight. He said he'd call and tell me where to go."
Not good news. If we knew ahead of time we could prepare in advance, set up a circle that the vampire couldn't cross. As it was . . .
I had a thought. Maybe it wouldn't work, but it might.
I've spent a lot of time with mages over the years. I've dated and/or worked with some of the biggest names in the business. My new employee, Tim, wasn't in their league, but he wasn't bad, and he was flexible, able to think on his feet. That was just what I needed if we were going to pull this off.
I reached for the phone and pressed the intercom button. He answered on the first ring. "What's up boss?"
"You up for a challenge?"
"Always. What kind of a challenge?"
Tim sounded young, and very eager. Then again, he always does. At twenty-two he was the youngest member of our team and a brand new hire. Biracial, his skin is the color of heavily creamed coffee. He has light brown hair that he keeps cropped close to his head to control the curl. He has a sunny disposition, and the kind of grin that lights up a room. He jokes around, but knows when to settle down to work. In time I thought he'd be a real asset to the team as he was proving to be an asset.
"Would it be possible to create a portable circle? Links of metal you could drop on the ground around you and bring to life with a word?"
"Oooh, nifty." He sounded enthralled at the thought. I could almost hear the gears in his brain whirring over the line. "I wish I'd thought of that. That . . . that could be really useful. It'd make you a ton of money too, if you could get it to work."
"Can you do it?"
"Maybe. When do you need it?"
"Eleven tonight."
"Wow, you don't ask much. It's already after three."
"I did say it would be a challenge."
"Yes you did. If I pull it off do I get the patent?"
"IF you pull it off on time we'll split it. Fifty-fifty. After all, it was my idea."
"Fifty-fifty."
"Take it or leave it."
"I'm on it."
He'd hung up to get started, so I dialed Kevin.
Kevin Landingham is a very interesting man with a very colorful past. He also happens to be a werewolf. We've been friends for years, since way back when I was in college studying under his father, Warren Landingham, one of the bright lights of the University of California Bayview's Paranormal Studies program. Over the years we've had our issues, but we'd gotten past them. If we hadn't, I wouldn't have hired him. Since my other primary employee, Bubba, had taken a couple of days off to go fishing, Kevin was the one who would have to guard Bennie for the duration. Because while St. Joe's was on holy ground, which would stymie the bat, I'd bet good money that the vampire wasn't the only enforcer in our enemy's stable.
Kevin picked up as promptly as Tim had. "'Sup?"
"Are you free tonight?"
"How late?"
"I need someone to cover Bennie Silverman at St. Joseph's hospital from as soon as you can get there until about 1:00 or 2:00 a.m. I'll call you when we're clear."
"If I'm at the hospital, who's your backup?"
"I'm flying solo on this one."
He didn't say anything. He didn't need to. I could actually feel his disapproval coming across the line. But he was the employee, and I was the boss. And while we have a very casual work relationship, he wasn't about to cross that line. Besides, I'd worked alone for years. For the most part it had been just fine.
Except when it wasn't.
"Have you checked with Dottie or Emma?"
Dottie and Emma were my elderly, semi-retired, receptionist and his sister. Both of them were clairvoyants. They used their gifts extensively to try to keep me out of trouble. Sometimes it even works.
"I'm just about to."
"Good. I'll head to the hospital."
"Thanks Kev."
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Just so long as the check clears."
I hung up the phone and turned to Cissy. "You said you got the money together. Where is it?"
"I've got it in a cash box out in the car."
Seriously? She just left that much money sitting out in the car? I mean, yeah, I've got pretty good security around the property, but we're talking a lot of money here.
"There are some pretty serious protection spells on it." She sounded a little defensive. Apparently my non-existent poker face had given away my thoughts again.
"Well, why don't we move it into my safe for the duration. And why don't I get you set up in one of the spare rooms we've got set up for clients in the back. You look like you could use some rest. When was the last time you really slept?"
"Not in days." She admitted.
"Well this is holy ground. You're being guarded, and the beds are excellent. You'll need to be rested if you plan to be at your best tonight." I rose from my seat and she followed suit. We were halfway down the stairs before she spoke again.
"Celia, thank you."
"Don't thank me yet. Thank me when it's over."
We locked the cash box in my safe. It's biometrically and magically controlled with layered protections that should keep its contents safe until a few weeks after doomsday. The client went to bed in one of the spare rooms. Kevin went to the hospital. Tim was working in our permanent casting circle outside. I went to meet with Dottie and my business partner, Dawna. Call me paranoid, but I wanted more information from neutral sources.
# # # Cissy got the call at 11:15 PM. She was in the office kitchen, eating a pastrami on rye with swiss cheese. I was having baby food and a nutrition shake.
The voice on the other end of the line told us to meet him in the parking lot across the street from the Denny's on Oceanview. "Don't be late."
Denny's on Oceanview is a hopping place 24/7. Then again, Oceanview is the main thoroughfare running through Santa Maria de Luna. If you stand and watch for more than a few minutes you'll see a pretty good cross section of humanity as it exists on the west coast-all different races, creeds, colors, religions and social strata. A flashy low rider cruised by slowly, followed by the biggest Hummer I had ever seen. There were old beaters, and brand new luxury cars. Cissy and I got to see them all. We weren't late. Our contact was.
Not that I was exactly paying attention to the scenery. I wasn't. I was busy checking out our surroundings.
Every public place in Santa Maria was required by law to have a magical perimeter to protect its patrons from supernatural predation. Technically this lot had a perimeter, but it hadn't been renewed since God was a baby and dirt was new. I knew this because my own vampire nature makes me sensitive to the kind of magical energies used to create such a barrier. I can cross, but a good one burns like an SOB. This barely even gave me a tingle.
I was armed to the teeth, but then again, I always am. Beneath my jacket was my Colt, a pair of One Shot brand squirt guns filled with holy water, a pair of stakes, and a matched set of knives that are magically spelled and qualify as major artifacts. In addition I had a back-up gun at my ankle, and a garrote hidden within the jacket collar. I've never used the garrote, nor do I ever hope to. But dammit it's there.
I'd added a couple of new items for tonight's party. I'd made a big production of taking the portable circle from Tim. First off, he'd earned it. Working up complex magic quickly is a very big deal and he'd done us proud. Not only had he managed the first circle, he'd been able to replicate the second in record time.
Secondly, I'd wanted to put on a show for Cissy. It never hurts to impress the clients. It was in my right jacket pocket, and was big enough that it created just a little bit of a bulge. Isaac, my friend and tailor would so not approve. If I decided to make it a part of my regular arsenal, I'd have to visit Isaac's shop and get the spells on the jacket adjusted.
To balance it out I'd put a Catholic rosary in the left jacket pocket. I'm not Catholic, more generic Christian, but Bruno DeLuca, my fianc� is, and he has a few of the accoutrements lying around.
"Where is he?" Cissy shifted from foot to foot, careless of the mess she was making of her expensive designer sandals. She held the tan metal cash box balanced on her left hip as if it didn't weigh a thing. She stood to my left and a little behind me, close enough that I could protect her easily, but far enough back not to get in the way of my drawing my weapons.
"Chill. He'll get here when he gets here. He wants to get paid. He won't stand you up."
"No. I won't." The voice was silken, male, and belonged to a very, very powerful vampire. I could actually feel the pressure of his presence, like heat from the sun. "I see you've held up your end of the bargain. Well done Cissy."
I would like to say that as an experienced, intrepid bodyguard I wasn't a bit scared. Unfortunately, I'd be lying through my teeth. This bat was old and powerful. Every word out of his mouth made my skin try to crawl off of my body. And he wasn't even trying. I reached into my left pocket and started to pull out the rosary.
And that's when Cissy betrayed me.
Just like I knew she would.
Thinking I was drawing the portable circle she gave a fierce karate chop to my arm to force me to drop it.
Several things happened at once.
The bat moved to attack in a blur of speed. I dropped to the ground and rolled out of the way. And the big old Hummer came rumbling off-road, windows down, huge water guns filled with holy water spraying over my head, soaking me, soaking the ground, soaking Cissy and a now smoking, uber bat suffering from the equivalent of acid burns.
I'm sure he was shrieking in rage-but I couldn't hear it. My ears had gone offline. They didn't hurt, so I didn't think my eardrums had burst. But they might have.
It didn't matter. If they had, I'd heal it. And I didn't have time to worry about it anyway. The vampire might be burnt and smoking, but he wasn't down for the count. Not by a long shot.
I rolled to my feet, pulling a stake with one hand and the portable circle with the other. Dropping the circle onto the ground spread it and activated it at the same time and when I stepped across that little metal barrier it burned like sunshine at noon. The Hummer, meanwhile, had ground to a halt. Tim stood with an unconscious Cissy in a similar circle, having sensibly used a stunning spell on her before stepping up to protect her. He had a wand drawn, and looked ready for all comers. Good. Dawna, meanwhile, raised a crossbow. Resting it on the hood of the Hummer she aimed and fired into the back of the now-fleeing bat.
It was a heart shot, and he went down, hard. When he fell he hit the ground face-first, arms splayed and didn't move.
She started to move forward, but I gestured for her to stop. "He's not dead. Not even close."
"Are you sure?" She didn't sound like she doubted me, but she was surprised. I was surprised too. I could hear her. Go go vampire healing.
"Oh yeah. He's like Lillith only more so."
Dawna gave a hiss of displeasure, and moved to reload the crossbow. She remembered Lillith-probably better than anyone. A demon spawn who'd been turned into a vampire, Lillith had been the single most deadly bat I'd ever encountered. And to punish me for having killed her companion vampires she tried to make Dawna her Renfeld.
I am so glad I killed her.
"Did you bring the fire axe?"
"Back seat," she answered.
"Cover me."
"Always."
I slid the stake back into my jacket, snagged the rosary from the ground and put it around my neck like a necklace. I spoke the word that released the power before stepping out of it. "Good job Tim. Works like a champ."
"Thanks boss."
I retrieved the axe from the back seat of the Hummer. Dawna didn't watch. She only had eyes for the fallen vampire: Smart girl.
Once I had the axe in hand, I pulled on the vampire powers given me by my status as an abomination. Moving at a speed that would be a blur of motion to human eyes I ran across the litter-filled lot to where the enemy lay.
He felt me coming.
Moving just as fast as I, he rolled to his feet, crossbow bolt still sticking out of his chest. He looked hideous. His face was covered with holy water burns, his clothing burnt and smoking over blackened and cracked flesh that looked like a burger that had fallen through the bars of a barbeque grill.
All that, and he still fought.
"I will kill you girl for what you've done; and your friends with you." He might look like shit, but his voice still had power. He focused it on me, trying to use his magic to cloud my mind. I knew because the rosary around my neck flared to life, the cross at the end of it lighting up like a magnesium flare.
That was unexpected. I'm not a true believer by any stretch of anyone's imagination.
A voice from behind me provided an instant explanation.
"Sorry I'm late. I had to wait in line to get the hunting permit." I heard the sound of a car door opening then slamming shut and found myself smiling.
"Welcome to the party Bruno. Glad you could join us."
The rosary was Bruno's and he is a believer.
"Though I die, I'll take you all with me."
I raised the axe. "You can try."
Try he did. Moving with the kind of blurring speed that left me reacting on the pure instinct that comes from years of daily practice. He wasn't armed. I had the axe. It shouldn't have even been a close contest. But it was. And none of my friends dared to do much to help for fear of catching me in the crossfire. We were just moving that fast.
In the end, it was a small slip that cost him. Just a little loss of balance on the uneven ground. The axe sank with a meaty thunk into his back, cutting through muscle, bone, and the section of spine right between his shoulder blades. When it severed the spinal column he lost all control of his lower body, dropping like a puppet with cut strings.
It took all of my strength to pull the axe out, but I managed. And with a single, well placed stroke I removed his head from its body. 2 Getting the heart and head to the disposal facility was my job. Bruno and Tim used magic to immolate the rest of the corpse. Dawna dropped Cissy off at the police station where she got to explain her part in the night's fiasco. I'd called ahead, so my friend Heather Alexander, a detective on the force, had someone waiting for her with all the proper paperwork. Normally Heather would have wanted to be part of the hunt, but she was out of town at a police conference. Still, Cissy would be facing serious charges: entrapping humans for a bat is a felony.
Everybody on my team met back at the office where I could clean up and we could have a celebratory pizza and beer.
"What I don't understand," Tim said, gesturing with a hand that held a thick slice with only a single bite out of it, "is how you knew."
I took a sip of milkshake I'd whipped up in the office kitchen before I answered. "First, she hadn't sold all of the jewelry. She was wearing a ton of it. And I know Cissy. She would not leave that much money just sitting out in a car unattended-spells or no. It made me suspicious. So while she was taking her nap, I had Dottie look into the future, and Dawna and I made a couple of calls." I gestured to Bruno, who took up the narrative.
"One of the calls was to me. My family . . . know people in Vegas, and they live and work in Jersey. It wasn't hard to check and see if anyone named Bennie Silverman was in over his head."
"And he wasn't." It was Kevin's turn. He took a break from chowing down to continue. "He was in the hospital all right. Recovering from open heart surgery."
"So you knew it was a trap. And you went anyway? Without telling the rest of us?" Tim stared at me like I'd grown a second head.
I answered the implied question of my sanity. "I had told Dawna, and Bruno. I thought they'd told everyone else." I glanced over to Dawna, who sighed.
"I sent a text. Apparently he didn't get it.
"Anyway," I continued, "someone was trying to trap and kill me. I needed to know who, why, and handle the threat in a way I could control."
"So who was he? Why did he want you dead," Tim asked.
It was Dawna who answered. She'd been very quiet since the attack. In fact, I was a little worried about her. She'd had to go through a lot of therapy after what Lillith had done to her, and there were some mental and emotional scars she might never get over.
"His name was Daniel. He was Lillith's brother. And her sire. She left him to come set up her own nest. I don't know why he didn't show up sooner. Maybe he just found out that Celia killed her and decided to take revenge."
"Yeah, well that didn't work out so well for him." Tim cracked the joke to break the tension. It worked too. The haunted look in Dawna's eyes faded somewhat, and she was able to give me a smile.
"No. It really didn't."
It was time for a change of subject, and I knew just the one.
"Hey Bruno, did you see my newest toy? Tim came up with it. It's a portable casting circle. The first one took him some time, but he was able to replicate it in short order."
"Really? That will make it seriously marketable." Bruno turned to the younger mage, his eyes avid. "Tell me everything."
Tim's eyes lit up like Christmas at the opportunity to impress an older, and more highly ranked mage.
As he launched into his description I looked around the table at my friends and colleagues. I always worry whether or not I'm doing this right, being a good boss; whether each new hire will work out. But tonight we'd all pulled together and worked well as a team under pressure. It made me think that things were going to work out just fine. |
