RavenVampireClub

Resurrection by Sydney Somers

Gage Campbell already died once, or nearly, and he doesn't plan on doing it again anytime soon. Part of an elite team of Shadow Destroyers, he has spent the last few years hunting the demons who changed his life, never dreaming an assignment would lead him straight back to the woman he hasn't been able to stop thinking about for five long years.

But standing between them are years of secrets and hurt, and a raging desire that just might bring them together, if the murder case they're working on doesn't separate them…permanently.

Excerpt

Brady's door was partially open. Jordan rolled her eyes, making sure to close it soundly behind her. How many times had she told him to keep it shut tight? His apartment was loaded with dozens of newspaper clippings, old books, pictures of symbols, some of which Brady enlarged by hand on his own walls. Anyone who poked their head inside would automatically suspect a paranoid conspiracy theorist lived here. Or worse. He didn't need to give anyone another reason to wonder over his state of mental health.

She found him perched on the edge of a stool, elbows propped on what should have passed for a dining room table.

"You doing a round or two tonight?" Brady didn't look up from the book he was studying, his nose inches from the old pages.

"Hi to you, too."

He frowned at her over the glasses perched on the edge of his nose. With graying brown hair, his unkempt beard in need of a trim, and wearing clothes she was pretty sure he'd slept in, Brady stared up at her. "You doing a round tonight?" he repeated.

"Nope."

He arched a brow.

"Well, if you already know I am, don't ask." She leaned down and gave the words on the page a quick skim. A dead language she decided, frowning over the depiction of a Shadow Demon in its ghostly form in the corner. "What was with the five messages today? One wasn't enough?"

"I wanted to make sure you got them."

"Oh, I got them."

"So I see." He went back to his book.

Arms crossed, Jordan knew he would forget she was there in another ten seconds if she didn't speak up. "So what's so important?"

"Demons."

"You don't say."

Brady tipped his head up, his brows crinkling. "Has something happened?"

Matching his frown, she shook her head. "Outside the usual run-ins, no."

His eyes narrowed as he scrutinized her face. "You're not sleeping enough."

"Are you going to tell me what has your knickers in a twist or not?" She wasn't in the mood to listen to him criticize her about her sleeping habits. The man knew she worked during the day and spent at least a few hours each night tracking demons. Lack of regular sleep came with the territory.

He shoved the book aside and gestured to a map of the city spread out over the table. She didn't want to think about what caused the stains that scarred the chipped birch tabletop that peeked out from under his piles of notes.

Brady pointed to a number of red dots that covered a ten-block radius. "I've been monitoring the sights of your encounters."

"A lot of Jeopardy reruns on lately?"

He ignored her sarcasm. "Not only are you seeing more of them, most of your encounters are falling in this vicinity."

Not until she looked at the map did she realize just how much of a pattern there was. When she first relocated to the area she only ran into the various types of Shadow Demons a few times a month. In the past few weeks the instances had become a few a week. She hadn't really paid that much attention to where it happened, not even when she vaguely filled Brady in later. He on the other hand had obviously been paying attention.

"So what does this mean?"

"Something not good."

"That's all you've got? Not good?" Another one of those rare smiles tugged at her lips. Mostly because she knew it would annoy him. And Brady was the only person she felt remotely comfortable teasing.

"Just…be careful. For now I think you should just stick to the outskirts of this area."

"Worried one of them might take a chunk out of me?" One of these days she knew it would happen. She'd gotten plenty banged up, injuries that would have landed a normal person in intensive care, if not six feet under, but none of them had landed a killing blow. Yet. While she was far stronger than she used to be and healed quickly, she wasn't invincible. Sooner or later, she knew one of them would take her down.

Jordan glanced at the clock. It was already getting close to nine. "I'm gonna head out."

"Watch your back."

"I always do."

*****

Jordan knew she was in trouble the second she followed the storm demon down the deserted side street. Instead of listening to Brady, she'd eventually wound up heading straight into the center of the hot spot. She couldn't explain why she did it, couldn't even rationalize it with the fact that the odds of encountering demons looking to tag team her were slim.

"You'll start off feeling like you've been shot from a cannon, and it's all hang-on-for-the-ride from there. Fans of the paranormal, steamy romance, hot action and good, fast-paced writing with kickin' characters will love Resurrection." Kwips and Kritiques

posted by Michelle Pillow at 10:23 AM