Today I want to feature an excerpt from fellow Casablanca author Tes Hilaire, whose third book in her Paladin Warrior paranormal romance series, Prince of Shadows, is in stores this month! Something I really love about Tes’ writing is how immersed you feel in the world—which features angel warriors and creatures of the night… read on for more!
From
Chapter 2…
“Pay dirt. Looks like we aren’t the only ones hunting tonight,” Valin said, nodding to the skirmish going on near the back edge of the playground. It was one hell of a fight, an opinion validated by a staggering couple who exited a nearby club, took one glance at the violent encounter, then sobered up enough to scurry down the street in the opposite direction.
“Pay dirt. Looks like we aren’t the only ones hunting tonight,” Valin said, nodding to the skirmish going on near the back edge of the playground. It was one hell of a fight, an opinion validated by a staggering couple who exited a nearby club, took one glance at the violent encounter, then sobered up enough to scurry down the street in the opposite direction.
“Should we help out or wait
until they’re done and follow?” Bennett asked, stopping beside Valin.
Valin considered the fight. Six
against two. It would have been staggering odds but for the fact that the two
fighting were obviously not your average humans. The air around the man wearing
the camouflage pants practically sizzled with power overshadowing any power
signature that the petite blonde might have. Not that she seemed to need to
resort to any sort of magic given how she wielded her knife and axe like a
vengeful Valkyrie. Not a big axe, granted, just one of those ones that could be
clipped on to a tool belt, but the thing must have been seriously sharp for how
she cut through the vamps as if they were butter. And just watching her
seductively lethal dance had him buzzing with adrenaline.
“I don’t see why they should
have all the fun,” he finally said.
Bennett nodded, then reached
under the back of his jacket. There was a snap, and he pulled out his curved
blade.
Valin blinked, rocking back on
his heels. “Hey, where’d you get that?”
Last he knew all the Paladin
weapons were being kept in a shielded trunk down in one of Senior Calhoun’s
off-limits storage rooms. His paranoia about the blades falling into the wrong
hands (or being exposed to the general public or other such blah blah blah) was
beginning to overshadow logic.
“Think I’m going to go hunting
without my knife?” Bennett shook his head, disgust plainly written on his face.
“Not bloody likely.”
“And you didn’t bring me mine?”
Bennett shrugged. “I figured
you wouldn’t want to lose it if you had to ghost.”
There was that point. He lost
his clothes and anything on him any time he entered the shade, but still…“You
wouldn’t have offered to carry it for me?”
“What am I? Your valet?”
Bennett called as he dashed across the street.
Valin swore and jogged after
him, still in shock that easy-going, it’s-all-good, sure-thing boss Bennett had
gone against council edict and stolen back his knife.
“And where are your cojones?”
Valin muttered to himself as he scanned for something to use other than his
bare hands.
There were a few ways to kill a
vamp—sunlight, stabbing it in the heart, lopping off its head, snapping the
neck and severing the spinal cord—but using a Paladin blade was certainly the
easiest. One good plunge with that sucker, heart or not, and there was a better
than good chance that the vampire would be dust.
A mangled pallet sat half under
a pile of broken bricks nearby, left over from an attempt at re-facing the
building it sat beside. Valin jogged over, grabbed a prime piece of the
splintered wood and yanked it free. A couple nails came with it, but he pounded
those in quickly with a brick. And look at that, a stake.
He cursed the time it took him
to run down the street, climb over the chain link, and join the fray, but he
didn’t want to ghost—not when he’d lose his perfectly good weapon, and not when
he hoped to talk a little business after—birthday suits were fine and dandy for
the right occasion, but not when trying to make friends and influence people.
By the time he arrived, Bennett
had already taken care of one vamp and was helping the tall, camo-clad guy take
on three more. That left one for the axe-wielding Valkyrie and one for himself.
He whistled, drawing the
attention of the vampire currently circling the woman and her dancing partner.
The vampire—a big motherfucker—glared, then chuckled at Valin who probably
didn’t look all that imposing to the behemoth, even with the splintered piece
of wood.
Valin smiled back.
The vampire hissed and charged.
Easy enough to dodge and Valin even got in a good kick to the vampire’s
kidneys. The vampire roared and charged again, this time coming away with a
busted knee and a nice gash across its ribs from Valin’s rough-edged stake.
His opponent hesitated, his
eyes gleaming a wary crimson.
“It’s all in how you use it,
big guy,” Valin jibed. The vamp made a low, back-of-the-throat growl and came
at Valin again. They danced, Valin settling into a dodge and attack pace that
was guaranteed to wear his partner down, eventually allowing for a final strike
with the makeshift stake into his opponent’s chest cavity.
Through the cloud of ash, Valin
saw the blonde go down, her boots losing purchase in the thick puddle of blood
she’d made with that handy axe of hers. Her partner yelled from the other side
of the playground, power pulsing and the lights in the street flickering as he
threw his knife at the vampire standing over her. At the same time she rolled,
slicing at the vamp’s ankle. The vampire screamed, crumbling as the knife
sailed harmlessly over it where it dinged into the nearby building.
Unfortunately for her the vampire fell on her, its anger overcoming the pain.
A hand snaked out, grabbing her axe arm and twisting it into an unnatural
position. A quick flash and its other hand had latched on to her side, dragging
her further under him.
She swore, kicking and punching
as the vampire snapped at her throat.
Yeah, not going to let that
happen. No dinner for tall, dark, and deadly. Valin ran to the struggling pair
on the cement. A quick plunge of his stake and right-o, disappear-o. Ignoring
the lingering cloud of dust, he reached down to offer a hand but the blonde was
already up, her axe ready as she eyed him warily.
Whoa… and that was a whole lot
of blood pouring out of a gash at the crux of her neck. “Are you okay?”
“Never better,” she ground out
from between clenched teeth, even as she tossed her hair, and ignoring the
bloody mess on her shoulder, struck a stubborn hand-on-hip pose.
Valin sucked in a breath. Holy
friggen fuck. Gabby. Never would he forget that pose—or the bite of attitude
that came with it. And those eyes… well he might as well lie down, roll over,
and play dead because all she had to do was look at him with those emerald
greens and he was her slave.
Even as his heart pounded
against the confines of his ribcage, Valin forced himself not to show any
reaction. Not with Bennett here. And not when Gabby had obviously gone out of
her way to disguise herself. It wasn’t just the wig or the stage makeup she
must have used to add a good decade or more to her physical age, but holy crap,
were those socks in that bra or had she invested in some enhancements?
Why was she in disguise? Her
shields were what were important for flying low under the radar or any supernatural
being and if she were worried about being recognized then she shouldn’t be
going after vampires in the first place. That left, what? Hiding from the
Paladin? Maybe, but none of them, other than Logan, Roland, and himself, knew
who and what she was. Roland wouldn’t hurt her and Logan, who probably wouldn’t
either, wasn’t exactly up to doing much of anything these days anyway. That
left…crap. Him. That left him.
The protein bar he ate earlier
curdled in his stomach before he realized he was overreacting. She probably
just wanted her new friends to treat her with respect. Must be hard being over
a half-century old and stuck looking so young.
“Fuck me,” he muttered,
dragging his gaze from her newfound assets and back to the struggle that had
drawn dangerously close once more.
“What?”
He jerked his chin. “Behind
you.”
She started to pivot, but he
grabbed her quicker, shoving her aside as he stepped in to engage the vamp.
This one must have grabbed camo’s thrown weapon, and as cool as Valin’s stake
was it didn’t hold up against the jagged knife. The wood splintered further.
Rather than keeping a useless weapon, Valin let it go, twirling under the
attack and…
“Since you boys seem to have
this covered…” Gabby called, slipping away from the edge of the fight.
“Shit…” He ducked the next
attack that had come because of his distraction. “G— … Wait!”
He barely managed to grab the
vampire’s knife arm as it plunged down toward his chest. A struggle ensued,
mainly Valin trying to keep hold of the lethal knife arm as he simultaneously
tried to avoid his throat being ripped out. A blast of pain erupted in his side
from the vampire’s balled fist. Valin pushed away, distancing himself from the
knife as he struck out with a quick kick to the vampire’s knee. The vampire swore,
taking a stumbling step to the side. Enough time for Valin to scoot out of the
immediate strike zone and make a quick scan of the street. Empty.
Bennett?!
Need help? He
felt the other Paladin hesitate.
No, damn it. But I can’t get away
to track them.
Already
on it.
Satisfied that Bennett would
keep them in his sights until Valin could catch up, Valin settled into the
fight. A seemingly endless three minutes later, using the same strategy of
dodge and attack, he finally managed to rile the vampire into making his last
mistake. Compensating for a leg that couldn’t heal fast enough from Valin’s
continued kicks, the vampire lunged too fast and too far. Valin easily dodged,
following through with a reverse round-house kick, taking the vamp down. Valin
was on him before he could get his hands under himself to push up. One hand on
the jaw, back of the head, twist and…Snap!
“Goddamn it!” he choked on the
ash, trying to fan it out of his face. Please tell me you’re still tailing them,
he cast to Bennett.
Sorry, mate. There
was a pause as if Bennett were distracted, then, They slipped into the subway.
And you didn’t follow them?
No. Bloody chit screamed for
security. I had to dodge out real fast. I’m camping in a pub as we speak.
Valin sagged down onto the
pavement, the adrenaline crash hitting him like a freight train. Gabby had been
here. Less than five feet from him. And he’d lost her, again.
Valin? What do you want
to do, mate?
Valin stared at the puddle of
sticky blood, thinking of how not all of it was the vamps. Some of that had
been Gabby’s too. A lot of it actually.
She’s okay.
Okay enough to run away, at least.
Valin?
He rubbed his hands over his
face, forcing his legs back under him as he stood. Looked like his plans for a
reunion had been put on hold. I’ll meet you back at Haven.
Calling it a night?
Yeah, we’ll try
again tomorrow.
Only this time he’d be ready. There was no way Gabby would get a chance
to run away from him again.
See what I mean? To
enter to win 1 of 2 copies of Prince of
Shadows tell us in the comments if you’d rather be a warrior angel or a
vampire, and why! Open to US and Canada only, please be sure to leave an email
address so we can contact you easily, winners will be chosen on Monday, 12/16.
PRINCE OF SHADOWS BY TES HILAIRE – IN
STORES DECEMBER 2013
It's
Forbidden for a Warrior of the Light to Love a Creature of the Dark...
Valin has never quite fit in with the
rest of the Paladin warriors. His power to manipulate shadow has always put him
at odds with their purpose of using heavenly Light to eradicate evil. His
warrior brothers have no idea how close he is to being lost to his dark nature.
But
Maybe He Was Never All That Light to Begin With...
When Valin meets the vampire Gabriella,
she awakens within him something he thought long buried. But as he watched
Gabriella's need for vengeance to drag her down into the same dark hell that
he's living, he knows his only chance at redemption is bringing her out of the
dark...
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Daphne Award-winning author and former
Tennessee native Tes Hilaire doesn’t remember how old she was when she wrote
her first story, but she’s pretty sure it had something to do with a boy and a
girl and a happily ever after. Displaced
at an early age to “the north country,” her stories turned darker as she started
creating whole new worlds to escape the harsh, upstate NY winters. Now back in
the South, her stories remain edgy, exciting, and bring a hint of dark fantasy
to paranormal romance. Best of all, no one ever has to shovel snow. For more,
visit her website at www.teshilaire.com, follow her on Twitter, @TesHilaire, and find her on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/TesHilaireAuthor.
Great excerpt, Tes! Congrats on the release :-)
ReplyDeleteHi Tes! Your book sounds great. I would like to be a warrior angel. It would be awesome to have wings and to be a strong fighter.
ReplyDeletecrystal816[at]hotmail[dot]com
I'd rather be a vampire. More bad ass
ReplyDeleteThanks, Shana! It's so exciting to see it go live!
ReplyDeleteCrystal and MK... I have to say I love both warrior angels and vampires... as long as they are bad-ass and have a good heart.
Thanks for stopping in!
I'd want to be a warrior angel. Less stigma attached to it
ReplyDeleteI want to be both and in Tes's world it has happened ;) .
ReplyDeletewarrior angel because they sound tough
ReplyDeletebn100candg at hotmail dot com
Congratulations and love your cover. I think an angel warrior would be awesome since I'm totally the opposite of that lol.
ReplyDeletecatslady5(at)aol.com
Sharon and Delphina! Thanks for stopping in :-)You guys have been so supportive!
ReplyDeletebn100 - Angel warriors rock!
Catslady - that cover is drool worthy! Pickyme and the sourcebook artwork team are amazing!
Thanks everyone for stopping in and celebrating Prince of Shadows release with me!
Sounds really great!! I would rather be a warrior Angel, I think it would be cool to have wings and fly. Thanks for the giveaway.
ReplyDeletemlawson17 at Hotmail dot com
I'd rather be a vampire, because they don't have to be good all the time. It's fun to be a little bad occasionally.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the release!
ReplyDeleteIts at toss up. Would be great to be that good, but it can be fun to be bad
Loved the excerpt, Tes. Nice cover, too. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI have to choose warrior angel. I want wings. :)
ReplyDeletelattebooks at hotmail dot com
Loved this book!!!
ReplyDeleteSomehow, I'd rather be a warrior angel...the idea of drinking blood just doesn't quite appeal to me, lol.
ReplyDeleteelewkf1 at yahoo dot com
Our winners are
ReplyDeleteSusan P
E.L.F
I'll email you both shortly!
Thanks for commenting, everyone!
Danielle
Thanks so much!
ReplyDelete