"The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend."
Deadline
(Blood Trails Series, Bk 1)
By Jennifer Blackstream
Blurb:
As a witch with a dark past, Shade Renard knows the Otherworld isn’t always successful at policing itself. Humans don’t believe in magic anymore, and their ignorance renders them easy prey. So when an FBI contact hires her to consult on a possible haunting in a missing persons case, Shade seizes the opportunity to see justice done.
Her case takes an unexpected turn when an undead crime lord shows up on her doorstep. A bold thief stole the vampire’s little black book of secrets—and he’ll pay a lot more than an FBI consulting fee to get it back. To collect, Shade will have to confront a rogue sorceress, a vengeful wizard, and a lethally seductive fey, with only her wits, her growing magic, and a sarcastic pixie familiar.
Success means bringing a killer to justice and taking the first step to redemption. Failure means a war between humans and the Otherworld.
No pressure.
Available for purchase at
Excerpt
Excerpt #2
My instincts flared as I pulled into my driveway. The sun had set and it was dark, but the automatic light on my garage didn’t come on. I frowned.
“Did you disconnect the automatic light?”
Peasblossom curled against my neck, her wet dress adding to a sudden chill in the air inside the car. “No.”
Unease rolled down my spine. I murmured a spell, drawing a few circles in the air. “Lumen.” Three glowing balls of reddish light bloomed to life and hovered before me. I kept one over my head and sent the other two forward, illuminating my path to the front door. I didn’t open the garage door and pull in, but got out while I was still in the driveway, already preparing another spell as I climbed out of the driver’s seat.
“Revelare.” My power flowed in a wash of silver toward the house, probing for any foreign magic.
Nothing.
“Stay here,” I told Peasblossom. “If I don’t call for you, go to Mother Hazel and tell her everything that happened today.”
“But I won’t have anything to tell her unless I stay to see what happens,” Peasblossom hissed. “I’m not leaving you.”
“This might be nothing.” I kept my voice as low as possible. “The bulb may have burned out. Don’t be silly.”
“I’m not silly and I’m not stupid. You think there’s something bad inside. And a witch never ignores her gut.”
A lump rose in my throat, and I fought to swallow around it. “Please stay out here. I can’t bear the idea of anything happening to you.”
Peasblossom gave my ear a ferocious hug. “I’ll stay out here, but only as backup. I will never leave you.”
I waited for her to fly up and off my shoulder before straightening my spine. This was my house. My village. Whatever was here, whatever had violated my home, would be sorry. Power rose in my throat, feeding the spell I’d readied.
“Shade, look out!”
I whirled around and spat behind me. The spell hurtled through the air, and I had a split second to see a dark figure separate itself from the maple tree beside my driveway. The spell landed in the grass, the viscous blue fluid of the entanglement spell pooling in the tree’s shadow.
“Such attacks will not be necessary.”
A man spoke from beside me, smooth and masculine, voice heavy with an accent I hadn’t heard in a long time.
A very, very long time.
I turned, knowing I’d never call up another spell fast enough. I raised my hand anyway, needing to try, to go down fighting. A hand closed around my wrist, tight enough that I swore I heard my bones creak. I gritted my teeth and stared into the face of my visitor.
He was dressed in a suit that probably cost more than my car. Long white-blond hair brushed his shoulders and framed a pale face with sharp, graceful features. I couldn’t see what color his eyes were in this light, but it didn’t matter. I remembered his face.
He went by the name Anton Winters, majority shareholder of the Winters Group, a company that made the Forbes 500 list look like a gathering of struggling start-ups. There were whispers he had criminal connections, that he was former KGB. I knew the truth. And it was scarier.
Anton Winters had once been known by a different name.
Prince Kirill of Dacia.
A vampire.
About The Author
USA Today bestselling author Jennifer Blackstream is…odd. Putting aside the fact that she writes her own author bio in third person, she also sleeps with a stuffed My Little Pony that her grandmother bought her as a joke for her 23rd birthday, and she enjoys listening to Fraggle Rock soundtracks whether or not her children are in the car.
Jennifer doesn’t have spare time, but she makes it a point to spend at least one night a week with her sibling binge-watching whatever show they’re currently plowing through (currently Numbers on Netflix), and she ferociously guards quality time with her son and daughter. She cooks when she has the sanity for it—adding garlic to the recipe whether it calls for it or not—and tries very hard not to let her arachnophobia keep her out of her basement on laundry day.
Jennifer doesn’t have spare time, but she makes it a point to spend at least one night a week with her sibling binge-watching whatever show they’re currently plowing through (currently Numbers on Netflix), and she ferociously guards quality time with her son and daughter. She cooks when she has the sanity for it—adding garlic to the recipe whether it calls for it or not—and tries very hard not to let her arachnophobia keep her out of her basement on laundry day.
Jennifer’s influences include Terry Pratchett (for wit), Laurell K. Hamilton (for sexual tension), Jim Butcher (for roguish flair), and Kim Harrison (for mythos). She is currently writing the series of her heart and her dreams, the series that has been percolating in her brain for the last decade…Blood Trails. An Urban Fantasy Mystery series that will combine the classic whodunit spirit with a contemporary fantasy setting. Expect mystery, magic, and mayhem, with characters that will make you laugh, cry, and probably stare at the screen with your jaw hanging down to the floor. Well, that’s how they affect Jennifer anyway…
You can find Jennifer at
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