“Not exactly, but I think we might have something in common,” he said with a knowing smile.
His statement and smile poked a big hole in the cocoon of calm, giving Vivian a case of the creeps. Good down-home charm aside, she should never have let him get this close or stay this long. This wasn’t like her, especially in light of the evening’s stress. Time to end the conversation before the guy went all Jack the Ripper on her.
“Thank you for stopping by. I need to get back inside now. Rain’s coming. You should get home before it starts. Good night, Mister….”
“Oh, you can just call me Ezra. It surely was a pleasure to meet you, Miss Vivian,” he said, extending his hand.
She hesitated for a moment, but then accepted, tilting her hand slightly to hide the unsightly nails, chewed to the quick. His roughened skin and gnarled knuckles chafed her skin before the warmth of his grasp overwhelmed her.
The shock of it froze her in place, even as warmth suffused her fingertips and beyond—the same heat she’d felt with the wounded man in the car, only more intense and powerful.
When she didn’t release his hand, Ezra pulled away gently. He tipped his hat and began his slow descent down the stairs as she stood dazed, still swathed in the pleasant warmth of his presence. Halfway down, he glanced over his shoulder and said, “I’ll be seeing you soon. Get on in the house and rest easy now.”
“Good night,” she said politely, then nipped inside and bolted the door behind her with a sigh of relief and irrational regret.
She tiptoed down the dark hall to check on the shell that held her sister. Entering Mae’s room with practiced quiet, Vivian listened. Her sister’s breaths were shallow and still plagued by rasps and wheezes. Vivian stood over the narrow bed, regarding her sister with a mixture of love, pity, and resentment.
All of that time they’d borrowed and bought for her, and for what?
God, she was loathsome to think such things. What decent person questioned the value of life, especially the life of a loved one? Hell, Mae was the only family she had left since their parents were gone. Good people didn’t think of their flesh and blood as burdens, especially someone like Mae. She hadn’t asked to be born with her condition, and Vivian had long ago promised to assume responsibility for her should the time ever come.
Still, standing there in the dark, Vivian recalled the horror with which she first contemplated her sister’s level of awareness. When she’d prayed as a child, Vivian had hoped God’s mercy had spared Mae awareness. She didn’t want to think of an intact mind trapped in such a body.
Without thinking, she stroked her sister’s cheek and ran her hand over Mae’s soft hair. Mae shifted and inhaled deeply. Vivian stiffened, bracing herself for a coughing fit or worse, Mae choking. Instead, Mae’s breathing evened out and she drifted further into a peaceful rest. Stranger still, the air around them seemed warmer.
Perplexed, though relieved, Vivian left her sister and forced her own weary legs in the direction of her bathroom. Halfway there, realization dawned. She hadn’t actually told Ezra her name.
Had she?
Then again, she’d given her contact information and statement to a half a dozen cops, medics, and even one firefighter at the scene. He’d probably just overheard it. A good chunk of southeast Nashville probably knew how to find her by now.
Still, she could have kicked herself for letting a stranger know she was more or less alone in the house, and for letting him get so close to her. The news and all of those crime dramas on TV tended to blur the line between healthy caution and paranoia. The events of the past few hours weren’t helping either.
She didn’t notice anything unusual with her hands while completing her nightly routine, other than the slight tremor running through them as she washed her face and brushed her teeth. And the raw skin and mangled nails, of course. Maybe she’d just zapped the paramedic and Ezra with a little static discharge, like the other paramedic had said. But she hadn’t been wearing a sweater and it was such a humid night.
Oh God, she’d just touched Mae with that hand. What had she been thinking?
But she’d touched Ezra with it too, and his hot touch almost burned her. What the hell? Static electricity didn’t travel back and forth like a normal current. Since when had she turned into a battery?
She touched one tentative fingertip to the metal faucet fixture, bracing for a jolt.
Nothing.
Feeling foolish, she touched the brass-plated hoop that held her hand towel, her metal tweezers, and her scissors. Wet or dry, she felt nothing other than cold metal, which should have been a better conductor than flesh.
Vivian shook her head. Maybe things would look a little clearer in the morning.
“Go figure,” she muttered, looking at her bottle of sleeping pills. She hadn’t even realized she’d pulled them out of the cabinet, though it came as no surprise. Seemed her earlier brush with death had killed the mood.
She put them back with a little hesitation.
After all, they’d still be there tomorrow.
Don’t stop now. Keep reading with your copy of WAKING THE DEAD
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Don’t miss more of the Jinx McGee series coming soon, and check out the Soul Broker from D. B. Sieders with WAKING THE DEAD
The road to hell begins when the reaper darkens her door.
A chance encounter with a dying stranger opens an empathic connection between down-on-her-luck caregiver Vivian Bedford and the world of spirits. Lazarus Darkmore, a grim reaper in a charming and seductive package, seeks to recruit her as a soul broker. Guardian spirit Ezra and his new apprentice Zeke offer protection from the reaper—so long as she works on their side of afterlife management. But these guardians are no angels, and their methods leave Vivian fearing the price of their protection.
Her ability to channel conscious energy from the living, something no guardian or reaper can do, could be a game changer. If she can control it, she can use this power as leverage. And she needs a bargaining chip, especially when she discovers that incapacitated living mortals can supply energy for the spirit realm, making her disabled sister Mae a prime target for guardian and reaper alike.
Can she move from pawn to major player in order to save Mae, and herself, from a horrific fate beyond the simple and fleeting terrors of death?
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Acknowledgments
I am so grateful to City Owl Press for helping me make this book baby shine and for bringing it to readers. Tina Moss and Yelena Casale are fantastic publishers! Shout out to my amazing editor, Tee Tate. This book is better for her input, insight, and editorial guidance. To copyeditors and everyone involved with production at City Owl Press, I appreciate your hard work and dedication. My fellow Owls are an incredible group of writers and human beings, and I love being a part of the family. Thanks for the support and love!
Special thanks to Kristin Anders and Jody Wallace for book doctoring early drafts. The pandemic gave me extra time to work on this project, one of the good things that came out of shelter at home. Thank you also to beta readers Eli Jackson and AJ Scudiere. Shout out to Mibl Art for the gorgeous cover art. It captures the world of Jinx beautifully! I’m sending a special thanks to SiederTree Studios for the custom graphic you’ll find above each chapter heading. Check out their work on Instagram @siedertreestudios.
And, as always, thank you to my family for giving me the freedom to be a writer, and to my furb
alls for keeping my lap warm and giving me purrs and love.
About the Author
Award-winning author D.B. Sieders was born and raised in East Tennessee and spent her childhood hiking in the Great Smoky Mountains and chasing salamanders, fish, and frogs. She loved to tell stories while sitting around the campfire.
She is a working scientist by day, but never lost her love of telling stories. Now, she’s a purveyor of unconventional fantasy romance featuring strong heroines and the heroes who strive to match them. Her heroes and heroines face a healthy dose of angst as they strive for redemption and a happily ever after, which everyone deserves.
www.dbsieders.com
About the Publisher
City Owl Press is a cutting edge indie publishing company, bringing the world of romance and speculative fiction to discerning readers.
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Escape Your World. Get Lost in Ours!
www.cityowlpress.com
Additional Titles
WAKING THE DEAD
By: D. B. Sieders
The road to hell begins when the reaper darkens her door.
* * *
RAISING THE DEAD
By: D. B. Sieders
Afterlife management is a tricky business, especially for a living soul broker.
* * *
THE QUICK AND THE DEAD
By: D. B. Sieders
Afterlife management is tightening the noose…
and Vivian Bedford is on the run.
* * *
ASHES OF ONYX
By: Seth Skorkowsky
They stole her magic. They killed her friends.
Nothing in the multiverse will stop her quest for revenge.
* * *
A TOUCH OF DARKNESS
By: Yelena Casale & Tina Moss
USA Today Bestselling Authors
Cassie Durrett dreams of the darkness. And lives the nightmare.
Award Winning Urban Fantasy
* * *
BLOOD AND MAGIC
By: Melissa Sercia
Gray is a Dhampir—a woman alive, but also dead. With supernatural powers and an insatiable need for blood, her existence is cursed.
* * *
BLOOD KING
By: Amber K. Bryant
While Sybille’s ability to summon and guide spirits of the undead to the afterlife pays the bills, it comes with colossal risks, including becoming undead herself.
* * *
CODE BLACK
By: Tina Moss
USA Today Bestselling Author
Gossip mag reporter Sera Benenati knows a thing or two about unearthing secrets...and burying them.
* * *
EDGE OF THE WOODS
By: Jules Kelley
There’s something lurking in Pine Grove, Montana, and its bite is vicious.
* * *
FREYJA’S DAUGHTER
By: Rachel Sullivan
Well behaved women seldom make history, but they still end up as the monsters of folklore.
* * *
FROSTBITE
By: Joshua Bader
Getting hired to be a personal wizard for a billionaire may just become a death sentence.
* * *
HEART OF MALICE
By: Lisa Edmonds
The first time Moses Murphy’s granddaughter killed on his orders, she was six years old.
* * *
MIDNIGHT DESIRE
By: Shari Nichols
Danger and desire collide to form an unlikely alliance between a witch with a sordid past and a special agent who might be her future.
* * *
PURGATORY’S ANGEL
By: B. Hughes-Millman
We all have a dark side where inner demons roam. When devils of our nightmares murder in their sleep, only she can stop them.
* * *
THE FAMILY CROSS
By: Gabrielle Ash
As she inches close to her goal, Matilda’s world is rocked by monsters roaming the Manhattan streets.
* * *
TRUTHSIGHT
By: Miriam Greystone
Rowan and Amy must join forces with the creatures who were once her patients and fight to uncover the one secret that may be powerful enough to save them all.
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Catching Hell Page 30