A loud bellowing roar made me look up to find Gunnar sprinting through the strip club with his voodoo bride under one arm, knocking down anyone in his path. As I watched him mowing down those in his way, I realized that he was just running laps around the strip club, not actually going anywhere.
I saw the Minotaur pounding across the center stage with his head down like a battering ram. He struck one of the poles, ripping it entirely free of the bolts on the floor before he tripped, stumbled, and fell off the stage into what looked like a backroom VIP area.
I found one of the test tube trays and sat down on the empty couch beside it, propping my feet up on the table as I picked up one of the shots, sniffing it absently. I tasted it, licking my lips a few times as I watched the fighting continue. Gunnar ran past me for the second time, still roaring and running laps around the club. I downed the test tube and tossed it away, folding my hands behind my head as I watched the fight.
Things had escalated at one point or another because now there was a dozen or so shifter foxes battling an equal number of shifter crocodiles, no longer bothering with human forms. It looked like the naked men here had been crocodiles after all and had worn the fox-tail thongs as a mockery of the other shifter strip club in town.
Likewise, the foxes strip club had worn crocodile skin cowgirl boots to mock their competitors. It was all rather confusing, so I dismissed it from my mind.
Achilles jogged up to my table with an elastic headband around his forehead. A fox tail hung from the band and he shook his head to show me. “Look, I’m Davey Crockett!” he said, laughing.
I grinned. “More like Davey Cockett,” I told him, laughing.
“What?”
I waved a hand, forgetting why that had been funny when I said it. “I don’t know, man. I think I’m barely managing to keep my atoms together right now,” I told him, pointing to the bucket of test tubes. “What the hell is in that stuff?” Because my vision was flashing with concentric light and my very soul was vibrating with energy like I was holding all the magic I could manage.
I blinked, slowly turning to Achilles who was reaching for one of the test tubes. “Dude, I think I know how to use magic…” I whispered, staring down at my hands, twisting them back and forth curiously.
He grunted, downing his drink. “You’re just really high, man. It will pass.”
“Oh, that’s good. I’m probably the last person who should be given that kind of power,” I admitted, feeling relieved. “I think I’m just going to hang here for a while. I think I finally figured this thing out.”
“What thing?” he asked absently, watching the stripper fight below.
“Life, bro. Life.”
He nodded. “Good luck with that. I’m going to try jumping off the stage to see how many crocodiles I can take down.”
“Cool,” I told him. “But wait just a minute,” I said, holding up my hand. Achilles turned to frown at me, brushing the fox tail from his face.
Gunnar rounded the corner and ran past us, still yelling at the top of his lungs as he made another lap with his voodoo bride.
I waved Achilles on. “Okay, now it’s safe to cross,” I told him, closing my eyes.
“You’re pretty deep, man,” Achilles told me, but I didn’t stay awake long enough to answer him.
Chapter 15
I woke up at a sudden noise. I was beside a strange campfire on a distant planet. I jumped to my feet in alarm.
“Easy, champ. Easy,” Ashley chuckled from a lawn chair a few feet away.
“Oh, this is Earth,” I said, letting out a relieved breath.
Ashley frowned at me but didn’t comment.
Gunnar lay beside her in werewolf form, cuddling the voodoo bride doll. Achilles was leaning against a log with a strange elastic band around his head. A fake foxtail hung from the front of it, resting against his nose and lips so that when he snored it briefly rose, falling back down when he inhaled. It looked familiar for some reason.
Alucard was on his back staring up at the stars. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, but he was wearing a cheap bow-tie for some reason. Although he was awake, he wouldn’t make eye contact with me.
Asterion was face-down in the dirt, arms and legs spread-eagled as if he had swan dived on dry land and knocked himself out. He was missing one of his boots and snoring loudly.
I turned to Ashley, shaking my head. I felt surprisingly good—very confused, but not hungover. I sat in the chair next to her and let out a long breath. It was night, apparently.
“What happened last night?” I finally asked, wobbling slightly. I still felt kind of drunk, now that I thought about it.
She chuckled softly. “The Valkyrie who dropped you off said I wasn’t allowed to talk about it unless you remembered first.”
I nodded after a few moments. “That’s probably smart.”
The silence stretched between us as we watched the fire, wondering who in the group would wake up next.
“Hey, Ashley. Can I ask you a serious question?” I mumbled, my eyelids feeling too heavy to hold open much longer.
“Sure,” she said in an amused tone.
“I can…use magic…right?” I mumbled, fading away from the campsite altogether.
I think I heard her laughing, but I was too busy sailing off into the furthest reaches of the galaxy on the USS Segway, the dread-space-pirate Nate Temple reporting for duty. Constellations of Valkyries, foxes, crocodiles, and mermaids zipped past my ship as I turned on warp speed, leaving a distant campfire far, far behind me.
To boldly go where no space-wizard had ever gone before…
Nate Temple returns in December 2018 with LEGEND…
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
From Cameron:
I’d like to thank Shayne, for paving the way in style. Kori, for an introduction that would change my life. My three wonderful sisters, for showing me what a strong, independent woman looks and sounds like. And, above all, my parents, for—literally—everything.
From Shayne (the self-proclaimed prettiest one):
Team Temple and the Den of Freaks on Facebook have become family to me. I couldn’t do it without die-hard readers like them.
I would also like to thank you, the reader. I hope you enjoyed reading LAST CALL as much as we enjoyed writing it.
Quinn will return in Fall of 2018 with her book 5, MOSCOW MULE.
Callie Penrose returns in October 2018 with her book 5, SINNER.
And Nate Temple returns in December 2018 with his book 11, LEGEND.
And we are aiming for several more full-length novels in the TempleVerse before we wrap 2018 up, but that all depends on how many Beerlympians we can consume… So stay tuned.
ABOUT SHAYNE SILVERS
Shayne is a man of mystery and power, whose power is exceeded only by his mystery…
He currently writes the Amazon Bestselling Feathers and Fire Series about a rookie spell-slinger named Callie Penrose who works for the Vatican in Kansas City. Her problem? Hell seems to know more about her past than she does.
He also writes the Amazon Bestselling Nate Temple Series, which features a foul-mouthed wizard from St. Louis. He rides a bloodthirsty unicorn, drinks with Achilles, and is pals with the Four Horsemen.
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Shayne holds two high-ranking black belts, and can be found writing in a coffee shop, cackling madly into his computer screen while pounding shots of espresso. He’s hard at work on book 11 of the Nate Temple Series - coming December 2018 - as well as Callie’s book 5 in the Feathers and Fire series for October 2018. Follow him online for all sorts of groovy goodies, giveaways, and new release updates:
Get Down with Shayne Online
www.shaynesilvers.com
[email protected]
ABOUT CAMERON O’CONNELL
Cameron O’Connell is a Jack-of-All-Trades and Master of Some.
He writes The Phantom Queen Diaries, a series in The Temple Verse, about Quinn MacKenna, a mouthy black magic arms dealer trading favors in Boston. All she wants? A round-trip ticket to the Fae realm…and maybe a drink on the house.
A former member of the United States military, a professional model, and English teacher, Cameron finds time to write in the mornings after his first cup of coffee…and in the evenings after his thirty-seventh. Follow him, and the Temple Verse founder, Shayne Silvers, online for all sorts of insider tips, giveaways, and new release updates!
Get Down with Cameron Online
BOOKS IN THE TEMPLE VERSE
CHRONOLOGY: All stories in the Temple Verse are shown in chronological order on the following page
PHANTOM QUEEN DIARIES
WHISKEY GINGER
COSMOPOLITAN
OLD FASHIONED
DARK AND STORMY -
MOSCOW MULE - COMING FALL 2018…
FEATHERS AND FIRE SERIES
UNCHAINED
RAGE
WHISPERS
ANGEL’S ROAR
SINNER - COMING OCTOBER 2018…
NATE TEMPLE SERIES
FAIRY TALE - FREE prequel novella #0 for my subscribers
OBSIDIAN SON
BLOOD DEBTS
GRIMM
SILVER TONGUE
BEAST MASTER
TINY GODS
DADDY DUTY (Novella #6.5)
WILD SIDE
WAR HAMMER
NINE SOULS
HORSEMAN
LEGEND (TEMPLE #11) - COMING DECEMBER 2018…
CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER: TEMPLE VERSE
FAIRY TALE (TEMPLE PREQUEL)
OBSIDIAN SON (TEMPLE 1)
BLOOD DEBTS (TEMPLE 2)
GRIMM (TEMPLE 3)
SILVER TONGUE (TEMPLE 4)
BEAST MASTER (TEMPLE 5)
BEERLYMPIAN (TEMPLE 5.5)
TINY GODS (TEMPLE 6)
DADDY DUTY (TEMPLE NOVELLA 6.5)
UNCHAINED (FEATHERS… 1)
RAGE (FEATHERS… 2)
WILD SIDE (TEMPLE 7)
WAR HAMMER (TEMPLE 8)
WHISPERS (FEATHERS… 3)
COLLINS (PHANTOM 0)
WHISKEY GINGER (PHANTOM… 1)
NINE SOULS (TEMPLE 9)
COSMOPOLITAN (PHANTOM… 2)
ANGEL’S ROAR (FEATHERS… 4)
MOTHERLUCKER (FEATHERS 4.5, PHANTOM 3.5)
OLD FASHIONED (PHANTOM…3)
HORSEMAN (TEMPLE 10)
DARK AND STORMY (PHANTOM… 4)
Last Call: A TempleVerse Anthology Book 1 (TempleVerse Anthologies) Page 22