Inquisitor
Witch and Wolf
Book One
RJ Blain
Genre: Urban / Paranormal Fantasy
Publisher: Pen & Page Publishing
Date of Publication: May 16, 2014
ISBN:
ASIN:
Cover Artist: Chris Howard
Book Description:
When Allison is asked to play Cinderella-turned-Fiancée at a Halloween ball, the last thing she expected was to be accused of murder on the same night. She has to find the killer and quick, or she'll be put to death for the crimes she didn't commit. To make matters worse, the victims are all werewolves.
On the short list of potential victims, Allison has to act fast, or the killer will have one more body to add to his little black book of corpses.
There's only one problem: One of the deaths has struck too close to home, and Allison's desire for self-preservation may very well transform into a quest for vengeance...
This book can be read as a standalone, it is part of a linked series
Available at Amazon
Excerpt #2
It was well enough our
‘relationship’ was nothing more than make-believe. Our friendship wasn’t much
better off, either. Unfortunately, Mark didn’t know that. I shook my head to
clear it, staring down at my watch.
3:59 pm.
I glanced eastward, at the
glass-lined wall of the jewelry store I was in. Shoppers hurried about their
business in the broad mall hallways, chatting to each other or talking on their
too-expensive cell phones. Beyond the walls of the building, I could already
feel the moon calling to me, birthing shivers under my skin. In a little over
an hour, it would start to rise. I made a thoughtful sound, turning my
attention back to the glass case in front of me.
It was a full moon on Halloween.
Some people would don masks, confident in their superiority as a human, never
realizing how close they’d tread to a very violent and bloody end. Others would
remove the masks they normally hid behind, rejoicing in their one night of
freedom.
A sad few would have no idea what
horrors they had sowed come morning.
I was in a lot of trouble. My
fellow boogeymen didn’t frighten me all that much. It was Mark who worried me.
Mark, as well as the other humans he’d subject me to before the night was done.
I hadn’t lost control in years — I doubted Mark’s mother had been born since
the last time it’d happened.
But that didn’t change the fact
that it could happen.
Old or not, I was still a bitch.
Without pack or mate, it was only a matter of time before I lost control.
Mark wouldn’t stand a chance, and
when I finally lost my grip on sanity, I wouldn’t even remember killing him.
Why hadn’t I said no? Why had I agreed to travel to New York on Halloween? What
had I been thinking?
I hadn’t been, and that was a big
problem.
“Is there something I can help
you with, miss?” A woman asked from beside me. I about jumped out of my skin.
Shit. I swallowed back my heart
and improvised. Without really seeing the jewelry beneath the glass, I pointed
at something shiny, and hoped it was a necklace. “May I see that please?”
“That’s a very expensive piece,
ma’am.”
I glanced at the woman out of the
corner of my eye. A pastel pink blazer was matched with a pencil skirt that
showed off thin legs and knee-high black boots. Glittering bracelets clung to
her wrists. “Is that so,” I murmured, focusing my attention on the piece I
pointed at.
Rubies and diamonds winked at me,
woven together in a Celtic knot trapped in the center of a web of delicate
diamond-encrusted chains. My cheek twitched.
No wonder the woman was skeptical
and eying me suspiciously. Here I was, in some luxury jewelry store poking around
to waste time, dressed in a beat-up leather coat, a baggy sweater, and worn
jeans, complete with mud splatter from my walk in Central park. As my luck had
it, I pointed out a necklace worth more than any car or house I’d ever seen in
person, let alone owned.
I felt the eyes of every customer
in the store settle on me. Great. Just what I needed. An audience.
Maybe I should’ve acted more
indignant. Maybe I should’ve walked away. Instead, I took out my wallet, pulled
out my black platinum Amex card, and tossed it on the counter. “May I see that
please?”
The sales woman stared at the
card and then at me, her eyes narrowing. “Do you really think I’m going to
believe this is your card?”
Half of the customers in the
store cleared out in the time it took the sales woman to pick up my card.
“Is there a problem?” A man
dressed in a business suit stepped forward. His blue eyes took in my clothes
before settling on the black credit card in his coworker’s hand.
The woman glared down her nose at
me, her gaze settling on my beat-up jacket. “I do believe we have a stolen
credit card here, sir.”
The manager snatched my credit
card. “Is this true, miss?”
Oh hell no. I felt my cheek
twitch again. “It’s not. I’ll just take my card to a different store, then.”
“I think this can be resolved
quickly and easily, miss,” the man replied. He frowned at me. “Can I see your
ID please?”
I showed him my license. The
manager winced. “I’m sorry, there have been a lot of theft of valuable jewelry
lately by those with fraudulent credit cards and out of state driver’s
licenses. This will only take a few minutes as I verify this is a real card.”
Well, at least he wasn’t going to
call the police on me right away. I sighed. “Since when hasn’t my driver’s
license been sufficient proof? What is this? LA?”
About the Author:
RJ Blain suffers from a Moleskine journal obsession, a pen fixation, and a terrible tendency to pun without warning.
When she isn’t playing pretend, she likes to think she’s a cartographer and a sumi-e painter. In reality, she herds cats and a husband, and obeys the commands of Tsu Dhi, the great warrior fish.
In her spare time, she daydreams about being a spy. Should that fail, her contingency plan involves tying her best of enemies to spinning wheels and quoting James Bond villains until she’s satisfied.
Blog: http://rjblain.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/rj_blain
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/RJ-Blain/121746651191778
RJ Blain’s Favorite Books & Series
In no particular order:
Anne McCaffrey’s Pern
Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar & Gryphon Series
Jim Butcher’s Codex Alera
Brandon Sanderson’s Elantris
Patricia Briggs’ Alpha and Omega & Dragon Bones
Madeline L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time
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2 comments:
Cute drawing
Thank you! It was a doodle I did a few years back but liked enough I kept it around as an avatar picture. :)
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