Title: Shadow Path
Genre: Fantasy/Detective
Publisher:
Studio See Publishing, LLC
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Format: ebook and print
BLURB:
Corpus Christi police detective Kat Morales, a human, and her elf partner, Tevis,confront murderous pixies and magic of the blackest kind as they investigate a string of murders that lead into Tevis' past and a former lover, turned necromancer, whose ultimate goal is Tevis' death.
EXCERPT:
As soon as she pulled into the parking place in front of her own building, Kat knew something was wrong. She cut the engine then sat for a moment, her gaze moving slowly from the door to the window on the left. Heavy drapes blocked her view inside the front room, but she didn't need to see in.
Neither of the cats was in the window. That was ... part of what gave her the feeling of all her hairs standing on end. At least one, sometimes both, were in the window when she got home. Waiting for her. Making sure she knew she was overdue (even on those rare occasions when she got home early) and keeping them waiting for their kitty kibbles. She'd never arrived home to an empty window.
Until now. Moving slowly, she reached under the driver's seat and pulled out the holstered Colt .45 she carried for emergencies, then opened the door and eased out of the car. She closed the door as softly, as silently, as she could, but the sound still was too loud in the quiet around her. She winced.
Up onto the curb, the Colt out of the holster, Kat moved toward her apartment in a ready-to-fire mode. The borrowed sneakers had one advantage over her own shoes ? they allowed her to move with the barest whisper of sound. Closer to the door, she saw the other circumstance that must have unconsciously registered: The door was open ? not much, just a crack.
She'd left it closed and locked yesterday. Maybe Angelina ?
No. Her sister wouldn't be that careless. Where was Angelina, anyway? Had something ?
Kat shoved that train of thought off the track. Angelina was just supposed to look in on the cats last night and this morning, check their food and water. She wouldn't still be hanging around; she'd be home by now, with Miguel and the kids.
But she wouldn't have left the door open. Revolver at ready, Kat eased closer. She could sense a presence on the other side, someone.
Or some thing.
Then ? "Here, kit-ty, kit-ty."
The voice drove a shudder through her. Not a woman's voice, but too shrill and high-pitched for a man's ? or an Elf's. And it resonated malice. Right hand clutching the gun, finger on the trigger but not pulling it ? not yet ? Kat kicked the door open, and her left hand shot out, found the light switch on the wall and flipped it on.
The shriek from the creature the light revealed nearly deafened her. The thing went down on its knees, long-fingered hands covering its face. But a single eye peered at her from between the fingers, large and green and luminous.
"Turn it off," the creature moaned. "Turn it off!"
A wave of pity washed over Kat. She reached, found the light switch.
What the hell was she doing? She jerked her hand away. "I don't think so." She barely recognized her own voice in the icy detachment of the words.
Silence. Slowly the creature raised its head and looked at her.
She had prepared herself for something hideous. But the face that gazed up at her was Elfin-beautiful. She felt her grip on the Colt loosen a little.
And suddenly the diminutive thing was six inches closer than it had been, its mouth open in a snarl that revealed rows of teeth like those of a great white shark.
***
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