a comparison of the original photo and the cover
Hex and the City
Vehicle City Vampires
Book Two
Roxanne Rhoads
Release Date: TBA
Exclusive Excerpt:
Who the hell was knocking on my door this early? I grabbed a robe
and stumbled to the door. I had not even had coffee yet, someone better have
one hell of a reason to be waking me up this early.
I opened the door to find my cousin and her demon boyfriend
standing there. “Elita, what are you and Connor doing here?”
“Sorry to bust in so early, but I brought up The Darkness to
Connor and he said we needed to come right over, because the story he has to
tell is long and he doesn’t want to have to repeat it twice.”
I was shocked, and suddenly filled with hope. “You know about The
Darkness?” I asked him.
“Make some coffee and we’ll all sit down and I’ll tell you what
you need to know.”
“Annie, what’s going on? Who is here?” Mike stumbled out of the
bedroom in just his jeans looking endearingly tousled. His muscled torso
and chest were on display, his wavy hair was sticking up everywhere.
“Mike you remember my cousin Elita and her boyfriend Connor?”
His eyes widened a bit. He knew Connor was a demon…and Mike, being
a Hunter, was not fond of demons. But he kept his mouth shut and sat down while
I put on a pot of coffee.
Once it was brewed we all sat down, ready to listen to Connor’s
tale.
“It is said The Darkness was born with the original Gods and
Goddesses, brought forth from the elements into this world.”
“The original Gods and Goddesses?” I asked.
“The ones you always hear of- Allah, Yahweh, The Greek and Roman
Gods so many stories are told of, The Egyptian Gods and Goddesses, and Christ
who is so popular today. The Darkness is one of them. They were all born to the
creators. The creators are the first of absentee parents for no one knows who
or what the creators were or why they were never around much. After the
originals were born they were spread around the world to be caretakers. But
they had no one to rule. It was just land….and animals. The creators brought
forth a new race of people from the animals, they were colorful and beautiful
and had many talents tied to nature.”
“The Fae?” interrupted Elita.
“Yes, the Fae,” He continued. “The Originals mated with the Fae
and new beings were born…demigods. Today these descendants are the court fairy.
Other beings were born later that adapted to the land, evolved, became new
species- witches, brownies, trolls, little people, etc. Humans eventually
developed. They were weak without magick. The originals took advantage of this
and decided they wanted to rule over them. Stories say it started with The
Darkness, he was the instigator, the agitator. He wanted to create havoc and
chaos. He encouraged Christ to push his brothers and sisters to the side so he
could be ‘the one true god’. Christ created Angels, and they were his warriors
who pushed back the forces of ‘evil’- who were the other gods and goddesses.
Later Christ molded modern man into what he hoped would be his puppets to
worship him, too bad free will can be a tricky thing and sometimes turned on
him, thanks to The Darkness whispering sweet nothings into the ears of man. But
that wasn’t enough for The Darkness, he was there when Lucifer jumped ship, he
was there when Eve took the apple.”
“So you’re saying The Darkness is the origin of evil?” Mike asked.
“Of evil, of sin, he is the seed of true despair,” Connor sighed.
“Most of the originals backed down when Christ took over. They slumber,
forgotten by humanity for so long. But after two thousand years there is
rumbling. The originals are awakening…humans are remembering them, worshipping
them, calling them out of hiding. Christ’s children are calling him a failure
and a fraud. War is brewing…and The Darkness revels in it.”
“How do you know all of this Connor?” I asked.
“Demons are one of the races born to the Originals and the Fae. We
are the caretakers of knowledge. Think of us as librarians, genealogists. We are
hoarders of history. We have preserved history from the beginning, from words
on stone tablets, to cave paintings, to papyrus, to today’s modern digital
recordings. Our vaults contain the history of the world.” He seemed so serious,
which wasn’t Connor’s style, so he smiled and attempted to lighten things up a
bit, “Plus demons are terrible gossips and eavesdroppers. We listen to
everything and whisper it to each other.”
“So that’s the real reason people summon demons, because you guys
squirrel away the secrets of the world?” Elita asked.
“Knowledge is power, it is currency. It is the one thing everyone
seeks but not everyone has. We have it, all of it, at our fingertips. Of course
not every demon has the keys to the vault. Some of us record only.”
I stood up and paced around the room, “Okay, you’ve told us a
great story but what the hell does any of this have to do with mine and Elita’s
parents? Or the prophecy? If The Darkness is an original God how would we ever
be able to stop it?”
Connor shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t know, Anwyn. All I can
give you is the history of The Darkness and rumors. I don’t know how your
family or the prophecy plays into it all. I can do some digging into the vaults
and see if I can discover anything useful. My clearance levels will not get me
into the oldest archives but I will do my best to find answers.”
“Thank you, Connor.” I gave him a hug. Elita stood up and I hugged
her as well. “We’re getting closer, Cuz. We will find out what happened to your
parents.”
She smiled sadly. The truth was a long time coming and while we
were closer, we were still so far away from anything that made sense.
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