by Marie Hall
I stopped, suddenly realizing where I was headed. I stood in front of his silver bullet trailer. My hand trembled as I pushed open his door.
His clothes still lay in piles. Video games and equipment scattered all over the place. On the table sat the wire, it didn’t look like he’d even touched it after our talk yesterday.
Had it only been yesterday morning since I’d last seen his smiling face?
Walking over to one of the piles of clothes, I grabbed a t-shirt and pulled it on. It smelled like him. Deep and masculine, I breathed it in.
I still felt him. So alive. In this place. All around. Everywhere I looked, I saw him. It helped.
I moved to his bedroom. Lying on the carpet atop his pile of books was my guitar. I’d forgotten to take it home the other night.
Grabbing it, I sat down cross-legged on the bed and started tuning, tightening the metal strings until they rang clean and pure.
I plucked at the strings, following the melody where it led and I found myself back at the song I’d sang the night I’d first met the priest.
My voice cracked, and many times I had to stop. But I forced myself to finish it, not because I wanted to play the part of the martyr. No, I did this for one reason.
Because I couldn’t go to the funeral and this was my way of saying goodbye.
The last note hung in the air like a delicate strand of spider silk. I hugged the guitar to me and the last tear I would cry for Kemen tracked slowly down my cheek.
Grace had made the biggest mistake of her life screwing with me and someday she’d live to regret it.
“I love you, Sandman. I promise. I’ll make them all pay.”
Finis: The End is just the Beginning
Outside, shadow is slinking. I feel like something is watching me, stalking me… my hand is trembling as I try to jot this down. There are only so many places I can hide, eventually they will find me. I can only hope that it will not happen until I tell the whole story. You see what Grace did, Wrath luring me into Hell… that’s nothing compared to the rest of my story. The zombies… my God, what I found there. What he did to me there, who the Gray Man really is… there is so much more to say, to write, but I think I hear something, it’s closer now. I have to go. But just know this, this story is far from over…
Acknowledgements
To my street team because they’re really awesome and I would be nothing without readers like you guys. But also to my betas, specifically Gaele, Ginger, Joselyn, and Cristina you ladies are really special and awesome and should be given crowns of gold and diamonds. To Leanna the Awesomeness, because I told you I would do it. To my fantastic editor, Judy at Judicious Revisions, so glad I found ya! To the best assistant ever, Grace, you are worth your weight in gold and then some. And to everyone else who’s read the advanced copy and given me reviews on Goodreads already, thank you. Seriously, a writer is nothing without you guys to spread the word about our books.
Finally, to someone who’s meant so much to me and who suffered such a terrible tragedy a few months back… Daryl Dixon, you did the right thing when you killed Merle. I know he was your brother and all, but the whole zombie thing… yeah, he would have definitely eaten your brains. Although the number of times you stabbed him was quite possibly overkill, I still salute you and am looking forward to the next season premier of The Walking Dead and should you need to film an episode where a writer gets it, I’m your gal. Just sayin…
Author’s Note
I wrote this story years ago and decided long ago, I wasn’t going to publish it. It was just supposed to be a book I wrote that broke all the rules. Like breaking down the third wall and having Pandora speak directly to you, the audience. At the time I wrote this, first person narration was very unpopular, so I’m actually quite surprised to be publishing this now. But it felt right to do it. Pandora is as special to me as Danika has become with my Kingdom Series. While I know I explored some themes in here that feel uncomfortable, when I put myself in a demon’s shoes I realized their world was definitely not pretty or even at times palatable. Trying to make sense of a character that definitely has the ability for evil isn’t an easy one to write about, at least not and have the audience still root for them. But that’s what I find so intriguing about all of them. The choices they’ll make, whether for good or bad, is what makes these monsters who they are and I want to tell their story. So this is me, just saying thank you for giving my bad little demon a chance… and I’m super stoked to be writing about zombies in the next book. Seriously, I love me some zombies!
About Marie Hall
Marie loves books that make you think, or feel something. Preferably both. And while she’s a total girly girl and loves glitter and rainbows, she’s just as happy when she’s writing about the dark underbelly of society. Well, if things like zombies, and vampires, and werewolves, and mermaids existed. (Although she has it on good authority that mermaids do in fact exist, because the internet told her so.)
She’s married to the love of her life, a sexy beast of a caveman who likes to refer to himself as Big Hunk. She has two awesome kids, lives in Hawaii, loves cooking and occasionally has been known to crochet. She also really loves talking about herself in the third person.
If you’d like to know more about Marie then you can contact her at [email protected] Or, if you’d like to check out her latest offerings go to mariehallwrites.com or mariehallwrites.blogspot.com. If you just want to stop by and say hi, she has a Facebook page and a twitter handle @mariehallwrites, also if you’re interested in really getting to know her and maybe winning some cool prizes from the contests she runs throughout the year, sign up for her newsletter and if you still can’t find ways to contact her then I don’t know what else to do. She does have a pinterest page, but hey… that stuff is kinda boring, just Marie being goofy and posting sexy pics of her couples and nails and food stuff… totally boring.
Also, she reads any and all emails and you’ll get a response from her, so if you don’t want to go public, she’s cool with that. Slip her a note on the low low and she promises not to blast your thang all around the net. And if you liked the book, leave a review. Please, those things are like gold in her world. Helps other readers to know this book might actually be worth reading.
Marie Hall Books
Kingdom Series (Fairytale Romance)
Her Mad Hatter (Free everywhere! Book 1 based on Alice and the Mad Hatter)
Gerard’s Beauty (Book 2 based on Beauty and the Beast)
Red and Her Wolf (Book 3 based on Little Red Riding Hood)
The Kingdom Collection (Books 1-3 with bonus deleted scenes)
Jinni’s Wish (Book 4, based on Arabian Nights)
Hook’s Pan (Book 5, Based on Peter Pan)
Danika’s Surprise (Book 5.5, novelette and first introduction to the upcoming Dark Princess Series)
Moments Series (NA Contemporary Romance)
A Moment, Book 1 (Ryan and Liliana’s Story)
Right Now, Book 2 (Alex and Zoe’s Story) Coming Sept. 15!
Night Series
Crimson Night- Urban Fantasy (Book 1)
All Hallows Eve- Urban Fantasy (Book 2): Coming Soon
Eternal Lover’s Series
Death’s Lover (Book 1) From Grand Central—Forever Yours—Publishing
Previously published under the title The Witching Hour
Eve Philips thought she could never love again. After her husband died in a hit-and-run accident, Eve poured her heart into her potions shop, Witch's Brew, and hasn't given any man a second glance until Cian. As soon as she locks eyes with him, Eve knows she'll never be the same. Gorgeous and mysterious, he incites a passion in her that she's never felt before. And it's almost otherworldly...
Cian knows Eve is special the minute they lay eyes on each other. He's a supernatural being with a dangerous duty, and being seen is not part of the job description. But when he meets the kind, beautiful Eve, all the rules go out the window. Now that his superiors have gotten w
ind of it, he has a wicked enemy on his tail. Yet all he cares about is Eve: loving her, protecting her and finding the right time to tell her his dark and terrible secret, a secret that threatens both of their lives...
Death’s Redemption (Book 2) Coming March 4, 2014 from Grand Central!
Mila is a human with a secret: she can see the future. Working alongside an elite San Francisco task force her identity was supposed to remain a secret and in return she'd use her powers to bring about justice on the supernatural baddies gone rogue. Problem is, someone's found her out and leaked the information to a sect of vampires that want her for more than just her blood.
Frenzy, is a grim reaper of legend and part of The Morrigan's personal retinue. He wasn't supposed to be working the streets of San Francisco but thanks to a sudden shortage of reapers to do the job, he finds himself staring into the eyes of a woman who reminds him fiercely of a lover he'd once known in the seventeenth century. He'll do anything to make her his, even if that means becoming the monster the world had once feared.