Excerpt From Reaper

Many of you have already heard the news: My first paranormal is being released soon by Liquid Silver Books. I am very excited. I don't have art work yet but I've decided to share an excerpt...this scene follows the interrogation of Kendrah by Detective Jonathon Taylor in relation to her being at the scene of a homicide.

Excerpt begins here:

“I can leave?” Kendrah asks, pushing away from the table and standing.

“Yes.” Detective Taylor holds open the door for her. “That accent of yours? You’re from England?”

“Once,” she admits. “But that was a long time ago. A different life.”

“I’ve always been a sucker for a foreign accent, he admits, following her into the large room filled with the desks of lower ranking detectives. “You intrigue me Ms. Lake.”

She starts to walk away but he grabs her elbow and she faces him, her expression demanding an explanation. He stretches out her arm, looking down its length, rather looking at the tattooed sleeve covering her arm from shoulder to wrist. “This is unusual. When I first sat down with you, I thought, beautiful, vibrant, but once I took the time to take a closer look at the individual pieces that make the whole, it’s very disturbing.”

She licks her lips, self-consciously. She hasn’t stood so close to man she has no intent of crossing over for centuries. His scent surrounds her, cologne and coffee, but beneath that his scent, and she realizes she likes that scent entirely too much. It brings to mind other centuries, other men, love and lust and sex, want, desire, need, and pain.

She doesn’t want to remember the love lost and tries to jerk away but he only smiles, holding her wrist tight but not hurting her. “I can’t inquire about a tat? This one is truly a work of art. Can you explain the symbolism?”

She remains silent.

“I know a little bit about symbolism,” he admits. His finger traces the narrow band of trumpets circling above her bicep, each trumpet containing another figure, impressing him with its sheer level of artistic detail. He recites a verse from Revelations. “And the seven angels, which had the seven trumpets, prepared themselves to sound.” He touches the first trumpet depiction which within its shape holds a representation of earth. “See? This trumpet perfectly represents what happened when that trumpet sounded. The earth was assaulted by hail and fire.”

He touches the second trumpet, depicting the sea within, tarnished with red crests, reciting, “…and the sea became blood.”

Kendrah tries again to pull free her arm but he strokes the third and fourth trumpets sensually with his thumb, continuing to quote, not direct quotes, but understanding the verses enough that he paraphrases. “…and there fell a great star from heaven…the sun falling…and the moon and stars were darkened.” Lifting his gaze to hers, he asks, “I wonder what kind of a life a girl would have had to inspire the Biblical rendition of Armageddon on her arm. Some kind of messed up life, I’m guessing. ”