The Damned by Candy Crum

Title: The Damned

Series: Tales of the Feisty Druid: Book Six

Author: Candy Crum and Michael Anderle

Genre: Fantasy

Release Date: December 22, 2017

-- A dark smile crossed her face as she stalked closer. "I told you I'd come back for you. I imagine you now have a pretty good idea of what death looks like. You're staring right at her." --

Arryn is doing all she can to prepare for the war to come, including paying a visit to an old friend. As the time for war draws nearer, Arryn learns just to what lengths her family and friends will go to in order to fight for her.

And she can't let them down.

The war for the Dark Forest is on, and Arryn is doing what she does best--dealing out justice.

With her friends both old and new at her side and her familiars at her back, she plans to rain hell down on the dark druids for all they've done.

Prologue

On the ground, among charred grass, plants, and trees that still smoldered and cracked with the intense damage that had been done to them, laid a young woman. She didn't move, didn't breathe, and she was face down, with blood pouring from her ears and down her face.

Just outside of her immediate area, lying amongst the damage, were several others. Some of them were dead, their bodies mangled and blown apart, while others were much like the young woman: just outside of what had been the area of greatest impact, unconscious, but near death.

Her eyes shot open, and a deep breath painfully filling her lungs. A scream bubbled up in her chest, but her broken ribs wouldn't allow her to call out as she continued to gasp for air, tears coming to her eyes.

Slowly, she stood on shaky legs, clutching at her side as she leaned against a tree and looked around the area with blurry eyes. The light that shined through what was left of the canopy blinded her, and there was an intense ringing in her ears. Everything else sounded muffled in comparison, like she had a thick pillow over her ears while trying to listen.

She could hear the faint crackles of the trees that were still on fire echoing through her impaired ears, but something else made its way to her. Was that crying? Somehow, she felt curious, but didn’t care much past that. It was only a faint sound, but she just couldn’t make it out. It seemed foreign to her right then.

Letting it go, the woman turned herself around, her eyes taking in the sights around her. There was smoke slightly wafting into the area. It wasn't enough to choke her, but she certainly felt the dryness in her throat and nose with every painful breath. There were bodies all over, but she didn't recognize any of them.

A few yards away, she saw what must have been gallons upon gallons of blood splattered all over the trees and forest floor, body parts strewn about. Intestines, organs, and human limbs littered the ground all around her.

But there was nothing inside her.

No sadness. No anger. No emotions of any kind.

She felt as if she were asleep, dreaming. None of that was real. Not the burning forest or the mutilated bodies, however that had happened. Not the scent of the smoke or death around her. Not the crying men and women on the ground that she had now made eye contact with. She just groaned and shook her head as some of them grasped at her ankles as she walked by.

It was all a dream.

Ears still ringing and her eyes still sensitive to the light, the young woman stumbled through the woods, periodically wiping the blood streaming down her forehead. It continued to drip down her brows and into her eyes.

Without knowing or understanding why, there were times she came to a stop, leaning against a tree. She wondered if her body knew something that she didn't. Was she tired? She didn't feel tired…

She sighed, letting that go, too. It didn’t matter. She wasn’t really in control of herself, and that was fine. It was just a dream, and she would be awake soon.

She continued to walk, not knowing where she was going, but not caring. She just needed to get away from that mess, that nightmare. Before long, she found herself coming to the edge of the river. There was something familiar about it, but she just assumed it was another part of the dream playing tricks on her.

After all, she had never been there before.

She continued to walk forward, smiling suddenly as she looked down at the rushing water. At that moment, she found herself wondering how badly it would hurt to bend over and take off the boots she didn't remember putting on.

Shrugging, she decided they would dry eventually. It was the water that was important now. Maybe it would help her wake up.

The ringing in her ears had yet to stop, but she heard something trying to break through it. It sounded as though someone was screaming at her from below the surface of the water. She smiled, wanting to laugh. That can't happen. They would drown.

She shook her head, quickly wiping the blood away again as it dripped into her eyes, burning them unmercifully. There it was again, the sound, that yelling. It was louder now, but she couldn't understand what that person was yelling, let alone why.

It was so peaceful there, why would anyone want to scream?

"Arryn!" the sound came again, only this time she made out the word.

Turning, she looked around, but saw nothing. The action made her feel a little dizzy, and she laughed as she stumbled over to a large rock by the river bank.

"Arryn!" The voice had completely broken through the ringing now, and she saw a man stepping out of the forest and walking toward her.

Who was he, and why was he shouting at her?

"Arryn!" he said, his voice taking on a relieved tone now instead of the frantic one he'd had before. As she looked at him with total confusion, the relief fell from his expression, a look of worry replacing it. "Arryn?"

She laughed again, pointing at the man who seemed terribly worried about someone named Arryn. "I…" She coughed, realizing the smoke had done more to her throat than she had thought. But she would wake soon—so again, it didn't matter. "I don't know who that is. You have the wrong person."

The man stared at her, his long, blonde hair blowing slightly in the breeze. He began to shake his head a bit as he stepped closer. "You are Arryn."

The young woman's smile fell as he began to approach her. She had no idea who he was, and he was much larger than she was. There were knives on his belt, and blood on his clothes and hands. There were even a few drops on his face.

At that moment, she thought back to the dead bodies she had seen littering the area she had awoken in.

"It was you! You hurt them." The thought had occurred to her to run away, but why? She wanted to see where this dream went.

The man's eyes flashed green, earning a gasp out of the young woman before he said, "I'm sorry to do this, but it's for your own safety."

Dream or not, she didn't want to stick around to see what he meant by that.

She tried to move quickly, but he was much faster. Vines shot out from the ground, wrapping her from her elbows down to her ankles. They held her tight, keeping her from moving at all.

The man made his move then, running up and placing his hands on either side of her face. His hands were large, and very warm. Something about that warmth felt familiar as it raced through her entire body.

And then everything began to change. She didn't like this, not at all.

Suddenly, she was painfully aware that her ribs had been crushed, and was now aware of the splitting headache she had. She began to see memories flashing through her mind, explosions in the forest, and then she became aware of even more.

It wasn't a dream. It wasn't a dream at all.

Within moments, though it seemed like an eternity, her ribs cracked back into place, her headache dissipated, and she took her first painless breath.

"Is it you?" he asked cautiously. "Do you know where you are what happened?"

She slowly nodded, her expression reflecting the rage that was quickly coming back with all her other emotions now that her broken mind had been healed. All the bodies she saw in the forest came back to her. They hadn’t been a dream either.

They will pay for this, she thought.
​
Wasting no time, Arryn said, "Get me a fucking healer. I need to be at full capacity. I made a promise to Alaric, and I'm about to make good on it."

Candy Crum is a multi-genre author whose work ranges from YA to more adult titles. She is the author of the Eternal Series and all the books in the ESU (Eternal Series Universe) - including The Eternal Series, Time of Death Series, and the Memoirs of an Egyptian Goddess Series. 

Candy lives with her two children and very chubby black cat, Korra. If you'd like to check Candy out further, please go to her website - candycrumbooks.com. There you'll find links, news, and even more fun stuff.

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Cover Reveal: Night Shift by Carey Decevito

Title: Night Shift

Series: Nightshade #2

Author: Carey Decevito

Genre: Contemporary Erotic Romance/Suspense

Release Date: January 9, 2018 

A serial killer…

A past that haunts no matter how much the distance…

Which one will strike first?

Eighteen deaths over eight years has left Shane Peters itching to find his mark. The death that started it all ensured his obsession with the murderer who had turned his life into a living hell, leaving him to raise a newborn daughter on his own.

Starting over wasn’t the easiest thing, but Emberlyn Roth had managed by shear grit and the skin of her teeth. It’s too bad one can’t outrun their past.

A protector of the wronged, Shane is torn between his duty as a detective for the Jacksonville PD and a quest to find himself some peace. Red tape binds his capabilities and moonlighting as an investigator for Nightshade Securities has him feeling stretched thin. Late nights on the streets and his sense of duty keeps him from being the father he wants to be. Throw onto his already rickety house of cards, an attraction to the mysterious Emberlyn, the lead he’s got on the murderer he’s been hunting for nearly a decade, and threats his woman is receiving by an unsavory character from her past, and he’s seriously tempted to take Dalton Kipper’s offer to join his team in a permanent basis.

Rules have a place, but when you’re faced with losing the one that means most to you, lines can become blurred. With the fate of his family’s future hanging in the balance, he’s ready to risk it all.

Prologue

“What are you doing here?” The tension around me palpable, she hurried aside to let me enter before closing the door behind us.

My blood boiled.

My skin crawled that she’d let him do that to her.

I had to get rid of it.

The taint.

Purify her.

“What have you done? You’re mine, Evie. I told you, when I came back, you’d be mine and now look at yourself.” Disgust was as clear in my voice as it was in my expression.

“Wh-whatever it is…we can talk this out,” she stuttered, her feet inching her backward as I followed her movements.

Reaching to the small of my back, my fingers wrapped around the grip as I pulled it from its sheath. The eight-inch blade caught the glint of the afternoon sun, mesmerizing me, causing me to admire the play of light against it before I focused on the woman before me.

Her eyes shone with terror. “You don’t…” She shook her head left to right, swallowing hard, stumbling against the side table next to the sofa. “You don’t have to do this.” She righted herself. “We can still be together. Now that…now that you’re back–”

I shot her an incredulous look. Did she think me a fool? “You’ve gone and done the unthinkable. You had his child!” I hollered, my knuckles gripping the knife tightly. “This is the only way…the only way to get rid of the stain.”

Her steps froze momentarily. “Stain?”

“It’s what I should have done a while ago,” I spat, cornering her as her steps were halted by the wall at her back. “What you took from me…what should have been mine,” I raged, “is what I’ll take from you.”

One moment my eyes darted toward the hallway where I knew the devil lay in slumber, and the next, Eva Peters was making a mad rush toward the door that separated me from saving us all.

“No!” she panted. “You’re crazy!”

If she only knew. “Move, Evie,” I growled, “it’s the only way.”

“She’s not here. Please!” Tears streamed down her face, her body shaking with fear.

Using the tip of the blade, I ran it over her soaked cheek, the metal sharp enough to catch on her ivory skin, causing a streak of blood to suddenly materialize.

I felt lighter instantly.

Powerful.

In control. A feeling I hadn’t had in quite some time.

Manning my knife, I proceeded to run the tip of it down to her bottom lip, nicking it just enough for another bubble of her essence to form.

“Mmm…” I groaned, leaning forward to press my front against hers, taking the time to lick her damaged lip, then whispered my new realization while rubbing my impossibly hard cock against her stomach. “I was wrong. This…” I ran my finger through the blood on her cheek, watching its movement, “is what I need, Evie.”

The sadness was overwhelming as I stared at the beauty laying limp and lifeless beneath me.

The rage I’d felt had all but dissipated with each slice of my blade through her flesh. Like a hot knife through butter, each time blood began to pour out, a weight lifted within me.

What once held pleading in her eyes, was now long gone.

She was nothing but a piece of art, trussed up by her silk scarves, a vessel conveying my message.

I’d be back… 

Chapter 1

Shane

Eight Years Later

The moment I walked over the threshold, I knew a clusterfuck of epic proportion awaited me.

Blood was everywhere. Spatter by the front door, smears over the walls, and droplets leading to where I knew the victim would ultimately be laying in a pool of her life’s essence.

Forensics was going to have a field day with this one.

Just like with the other fifteen.

Donning the protective gear the lead officer had ordered me to change into before entering the scene, I made my way toward the back of the house.

Carefully avoiding one evidence marker after another, I entered the master bedroom. The grizzly sight of Victoria Spark’s mutilated body, lying face up on the bed, greeted me. The standard ligatures on her wrists and ankles proved that she’d been restrained and alive through most of her torture; the killer leaving her to die in excruciating pain from her wounds and ultimately, blood loss.

The scent of copper on the air thickened as I made my final approach, slipping my hands into a pair of plastic gloves. I was looking for something I knew was meant for me.

Setting my evidence kit down beside the bed, I bent toward the body in search of my next clue.

The sickening crack of the victim’s jaw set my stomach to roiling as I pulled her mouth open, locating the three pieces I had come to expect after so many years of chasing this perp. Letting go of the victim, I grasped my digital camera and photographed my findings. Setting the camera down, I whipped out the small evidence bag from my kit and opened it, manning my tweezers.

Fishing the objects out one by one, I dropped them in the bag, then photographed them again. Fragments of a photograph were what this sicko leaves. Camera in hand, I shot a few frames of the room, as well as the rest of the premises. The team would have their own photos, but I liked being thorough with my investigations, thus preferred gathering my own shots, comparing them with the others’.

Closing up my kit, I stood to take my leave.

Fucking sadistic bastard and his games.

It pissed me off that he was always one step ahead of me.

Thinking on those tiny pieces—the unknown subject, or unsub’s calling card—I was confused more than ever as to why he was leaving them at every scene. The letter I’d received at the precinct, a week after the first murder, had eluded that they were all part of some demented countdown…a puzzle of sorts. One thing was clear however, the perp was after me, and after sixteen murders, I still wasn’t any closer to finding this guy.

In my career as a detective, I’ve come across a lot of questionable characters. I’ve done my fair share of arresting the dregs of society and making enemies along the way. You can’t be a cop without that happening.

“I take it that Rosie is in for another disappointing birthday dinner?” Will asked, coming to a stop at my side as I exited the victim’s home.

For the last seven years, it had been the same fucking story. That in itself was enough to confirm that the unsub was gunning for me. That, and the fact that he’d started this spree of his claiming none other than my wife as his first victim.

My only problem was, my list of suspects had next to nothing. This perp was meticulously careful. Treating his kills like artwork: from the placement of limbs, to the blood spatter surrounding the victims…even those fucking pieces.

“I hate going back on my promise,” I growled. “She’s going to be pissed.”

“I know it’s your case, Shane, but I’m your partner,” Will said. “Take a few hours, go to her, then come back if you have to.”

I nodded. “I have what I need right now. You sure you can handle everything without me?”

He patted me on the back as I straightened from the body and backed away. “I’ll call if something comes up.”

Thanking him, I handed him my evidence bag, then made to leave the scene, my camera and evidence kit in tow.

Caught up in my own memories, I drove home on autopilot, scenes from eight years ago playing in my head.

The same black hair. The same look of terror in her open eyes.

Eva had been bound too.

And cut up.

Blood. God! There’d been so much blood everywhere.

I’d been the one to find her. I hated to think what would have been had my Rosie been there that day.

“Daddy!” was squealed, knocking me out of my grizzly thoughts.

Opening the car door and letting myself out, I caught her as she launched herself into my arms.

My princess.

The light of my life.

Born and raised in small town Northern Ontario, Canada, Carey Decevito has always had a penchant for reading and writing.

More than a decade later, with weeks of sleepless nights, where exhaustion settled into her everyday existence, she finally gave in and put pen to paper (more like fingers to keyboard!) She submitted to the dreams that plagued her. And the rest, as they say, is history!

A member of the RWA, Carey Decevito enjoys spending time with family and friends, the outdoors, travelling, and playing tourist in Canada's National Capital region. When life gets crazy, she seeks respite through her writing and reading. If all else fails, she knows there's never a dull moment with her two daughters, her goofy husband, and cat who she swears is out to get her.

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