Her will be done.
ABOUT AUTHOR DENISE VERRICO
Denise Verrico is a New Jersey native who grew up in Western Pennsylvania. She attended Point Park College in Pittsburgh, where she majored in theatre arts. For seven seasons she was a member of The Oberon Theatre Ensemble in NYC with whom she acted, directed, designed and wrote plays. Denise has enjoyed vampire stories from the time she was a little girl and a fan of the Dark Shadows television series. She currently lives in Ohio with her husband, teenaged son and flock of six parrots.
Visit her website at www.deniseverricowriter.webs.com
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Ratopia
Book Four of the Immortyl Revolution
From the ashes of the first battle of the Immortyl Revolution, vampires Mia Disantini and Kurt Eisen set out to build a new Immortyl society. Trouble arrives in the person of Cedric MacKinnon, a runaway adept of the ancient arts, who brings tidings of upheaval at the chief elder’s court that threatens everything Mia and Kurt have accomplished. Mia finds it hard to resist when Cedric pledges his service and tempts her with the legendary skills he learned as an Immortyl courtesan. Facing opposition from both within and out, Mia begins to doubt Kurt is up to the task of leading their followers to his vision of an Immortyl Utopia. Torn between her loyalty to Kurt and Cedric’s insistence that she is the earthly manifestation of the Goddess Durga and destined to lead, Mia confronts the greatest challenge of her life.
Excerpt from Ratopia
I tore out of the armory and galloped up the back steps to the roof. Flinging the door open, I ran outside. Cedric’s slender figure kneeled behind one of the gargoyles jutting over the edge. The rifle rested between the sculpture’s pointed ears.
Wind lifted the boy’s hair in a rust-colored wave. His face turned to me. A lit cigarette dangled from his lips. “Don’t try to stop me, Mia. I have to do this.”
“You’ll just get yourself killed. Put the gun down.”
“The Mother’s will be done.”
“How much can you do for her if you’re dead?”
He tossed his cigarette down and ground it under his heel. “They won’t catch me.”
“You won’t get ten yards before the dogs are all over you. Cedric, listen to me. You can do a lot more damage if you bide your time and fight for us. If Giulietta attempts a coup, we’re going to need someone like you.”
“And how many years will I have to wait for my chance at Raj? Fifty—a hundred?”
“How long will you get to enjoy the knowledge that you sent him to hell if they kill you?”
“I’ve got to do this.”
I launched myself onto Cedric’s back and locked my thighs around his neck. He tumbled backward, still clutching the rifle. With a cat-like twist, he regained his feet, trying to shake me off of his shoulders.
“Mia, let me go, I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I don’t want to hurt you either, but I won’t let you jeopardize the safety of everyone here.”
I kicked the rifle from his hands. It skidded across the rooftop, toward the garden with its clumps of potted trees. The boy threw me off and ran for it. I tumbled and somersaulted to my feet, tripping him. He crashed to the roof; my one hundred and ten pounds vaulted onto his body.
“You stupid idiot. Stop this,” I said.
“I’m going to kill him.”
The kid was a juggernaut, much bigger and stronger than me. He crawled on his belly and reached for the weapon. I huffed and clung to his back, going along for the ride, my legs clamped around his torso. Nothing I did could slow his progress, but I couldn’t find it in me to harm him either. The adept could have easily killed me as well, but he hadn’t. Cedric still harbored a shred of human decency that the blood couldn’t erase.
I appealed to it. “Cedric, if you die, who’ll scatter Sandhya’s ashes over the Ganges?”
His tense posture collapsed. He flattened against the tarred surface of the roof, heaving. I released my grip on his body. With a growl, he rolled over and pinioned me. His greater weight crushed the air from my lungs. The blade of the adept’s knife lay against my throat, cold and unforgiving. Strange green lights poured out of his eyes and into mine.
Lips rolled back from his fangs. “Those who stand in Kali Maa’s way are cut down.”
I lay there, panting. I’d misjudged the boy. This mission of destruction had possessed him with religious zeal and driven out all reason. My only chance was to persuade him I was on the same divine wavelength.
My Fearful Symmetry Page 29