by T S Paul
I really didn't want to tell her, but I mentioned my run-ins with who I thought was Odin. She looked at me crossly. "You should have told me. Old one-eye has his own agenda. I will have to study this. Pay attention to who and what is around you, Agatha. All is not what it seems."
Since we couldn't produce a body, Camilla was listed as a fugitive by the State Police. I hoped we had seen the last of her, but Karma being what it is, I doubt it. With the failure of the Missionaries in front of them, the Strega as a whole vanished. Grandmother told me they went to ground, but I suspect they returned to Sicily. Regardless, they were gone, and WITSEC was more than a little pissed at us. Still. Their case was gone. As was all that were under investigation. Any and all suspected politicians with mafia ties were dead or missing due to accidents, suicides, or strange disappearances. The newspapers were calling it the second night of the long knives.
Fergus was crying, and I don't know how to fix him. All I could hear was "my barn!" The loss of his barn and his plastic girlfriend was the most catastrophic thing to happen in his small life save his being brought to me the first time. I told him we would find another barn, a bigger one. His answer to that?
"Will it Moo?" Unicorns.
I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. We were just about ready to pull out to head home when my phone rang.
"Agatha? Are you OK?" It was Director Mills.
"I'm fine. We were worried about you. Cat said she tried to call, but Beatrice diverted her."
"I'm fine. Tell her it was just internal politics. All taken care of. Is your team ready for another assignment?"
"Sort of. We are going to need another command vehicle, and the SUV is pretty messed up. Can we just requisition another RV?"
There was laughter on the other end of my phone. "No. It doesn't work like that. I will try to see if we can get one that has been seized or stolen. But you may have to make due for now. The new assignment is in Montana, so it's a bit of a drive."
"Montana? What's in Montana?"
"This one is right up your alley, Agent Blackmore. Someone or something is killing unicorns."
~~~~~~~~~
The room was dark, damp, and cold. She felt as if she had awoken from a long nap and couldn't move. Her limbs were heavy, and she could barely sit up. Shakily, she stood and walked to the iron-bound door. "Hello? Is anyone there?"
The moment she touched the door, it opened. A hallway lay before her, a faint flickering light at the very end. Stumbling, she slowly walked toward the light. She could hear the murmur of voices, but not what they were saying. The language was familiar, but not clear, hanging frustratingly just on the very tip of her tongue.
The room before her was dimly lit by flickering torches. Thirteen thrones sat along the wall, but only one was occupied.
"Hello? Can you tell me where I am?"
The woman on the throne smiled. It didn't reach her eyes. "Welcome to the Strega. Are you ready to complete your training, Camilla?"
Night of the Unicorn. Book 5 in the Federal Witch Series.
Expect it early Summer of 2017! Someone is killing Unicorns and Fergus is pissed! Join Fergus and Agatha as they confront Peter and the rest of Fergus's old herd finding out what the pact with Humans truly means...
This was an intense book for me to write. It is a bit more violent than some of my other books in this series. There is a reason for it. Having a big bad enemy in a series is common. Having three is just crazy. I was forced to eliminate a couple of them. You will notice that they didn't all die. They just faded into the background for now. There will be eight more books in this series. We will see them again. Count on it.
I just finished Alpha Class Book two a month ago and automatically dove into this one. Agatha is one of my most favorite characters to date. She and her team are slowly growing as the books continue. I like to think my writing process and procedures are growing with her. My wife recently remarked that she had no idea how much research I did to write these books. I start with an empty one inch binder and end up with two filled ones. I do that much each time. As a process, I develop my characters giving them history and interactions as I write.
Very little is planned out ahead of time. I'm a pantser and proud of it. That means I have only a general idea of what I want to happen ahead of time. I use my titles and covers to plan the series. In case you haven't noticed yet, the title of the book reflects the main plot in some way. It also gives me a starting point for all the books. So if you read ahead you get a general idea of sorts what lies ahead for our heroes. Lots of fun is what I see.
This year, I've been doing different stuff then last year. My first year as a writer introduced the world to Athena Lee and Wilson. This year we have the further adventures of both Agatha and Athena. Yes, Athena will return this year. But that is not where I was going with this. Cookbooks. Once upon a time I went to Culinary School in St Louis and turned a passion into a career. A short lived one but a career nonetheless. This left me with tons of recipes and other things. Shoot ahead to 2017 and an author friend of mine asked if she could do two things this year.
Write a series of cookbooks with me and write in my universe is what Taki Drake wished to do. The cookbooks were easy. I could remember when Author Patricia Cornwell wrote her two tie in cookbooks to her crime series. I was a Waldenbooks manager at that point in my life. Marcella's Garden Cookbook and Fergus Favorites were born out of that discussion. But that isn't all. We intend to do quite a few more. Expect them in a wide variety of topics this year. Her other request was a bit harder. Write in my universe. Agatha and Fergus are my characters and I like to keep it that way. She had other more interesting ideas.
She is writing about another country. Through her eyes and mine we will get to see a counterpart of Agatha's in the Russian Empire. Vampires and Witches oh my! I wrote a history for the Russian Empire set in my Universe gave her a time line and a file of character names that relate to the story and turned her loose. Expect her first book Shade of Honor this Spring. And that's not all. Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer Bradford Bates told me he wanted to do the same thing. He is leaning toward something other than Witches and Weres. If and when he decides, expect that one late Summer into Fall of this year.
So that brings me back to me. I plan to put out at least four more Agatha books this year (not counting this one). I will be squeezing an Athena in there somewhere. Also I will be doing book three of the Alpha Class set in Michael Anderle's Kutherian Universe. I have a mystery series launching this fall centered around Mongo, one of Chuck's friends in the Federal Witch series. He's the guy that lost the Jackalopes in the forest. Catch up on him in the short story collection; Cat's Night Out. In June, Author Craig Martelle is releasing his Expanding Universe Anthology, book two. I have a prominent spot in that one. Expect to see something completely different from me for that.
Expect all of that and more from me. I have a few secret projects in the works too. I like to say I work on this stuff in my copious free time. Those Military folks will understand that one.
Last year I became involved with a spin off group from the 20books to 50k group on Facebook called Phoenix Prime. Their goal was to learn to write better. I was honored to be one of their mentors. They learned stuff from me and I from them. This is the year they start to publish. Many of them were already authors but now, they are that much better. So check out a few of them and take a look around.
This time I'm highlighting the women of Phoenix Prime.
As always I am reachable through my Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pg/ForgottenEngineer
Or through Email at [email protected]
Short stories and Snippets can always be found on my Website. http://tspaul.blogspot.com/
Other Author Pages including my one on Book Bub (sign up to get great book deals) https://www.bookbub.com/authors/t-s-paul
And GoodReads. https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15054219.T_S_Paul
Weapons in hand, Zoey and Claire a
pproached Mrs. Fillmore's room. Linking arms, they nodded at one another, and on the count of three, Claire turned the icy knob, then gently pushed the door open.
They instantly recognized the source of the eery light--a few candles on a little dresser in the corner.
Zoey quickly scanned the room from top to bottom, scissors clenched in her hand, ready to lash out at anyone who'd dare attack her daughter. The howling wind whipped outside, a crack in the window casing allowing a draft to sway the silk curtains.
They approached the little dresser, lured by the tall, red, drippy candles in ornate candlesticks. Their wicks glowed in front of a decorative oval mirror. The reflection of their fire danced, broken by smudges on the mirror from what looked like lipstick.... or was it blood? It read, in crooked handwriting: FIND MORE CLUES! FIND MORE CLUES! --C
You can find this book and the rest of the Series on Amazon!
Claire Kane's Author Page https://www.amazon.com/Claire-Kane/e/B00BR2YTMA
Ciaran wriggled down from the front seat of the car and ran around to lift one handle on the picnic basket. He gamely lifted it the whole way, though the movement caused the angry row of Indian burns along his forearm to flare into pain. If his granddad could manage with his terrible limp, Ciaran could too.
"When I was a boy we used to live out this way," his granddad said as they reached the concrete slab. "This here," he stamped his twisted left leg twice, "was part of the foundations for the inn."
He pointed out spots farther back toward the roadside. Ciaran looked at long grass, the seeding tips rustling in the quickening breeze. His granddad painted over the view with ghostly constructions: a butcher, a haberdashery, a grocer.
"Where did they go?" Ciaran held his breath while his imagination lit up with excitement. Had they been destroyed in a magic blast? Been fired into another dimension?
"We burned them down, after the war. Moved a few miles away to empty land and started again."
"Oh," Ciaran said, chewing his lower lip again. "Why'd you burn them?"
When no answer came, he looked up at his granddad, silhouetted against the sun. The shadows on his face gathered around the deep scar that bisected his cheekbone, turning his expression into a snarl. To another onlooker, he'd look aggressive, but Ciaran loving eyes only registered his troubled frown.
"We did something bad here." His granddad's gruff voice was a whisper, torn away by the breeze.
You can find this book and more on Lee Hayton's author page on Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Lee-Hayton/e/B01MRK3CU0
"I think I know why you always win this game," she said, brushing a small kiss across his soft lips. "I always go first, and you cheat."
"That's funny," Spence said, pulling her tighter against him. "I seem to recall us both winning last time."
Honor blushed, still unused to the very adult feelings he pulled out of her. She'd wanted to talk to her mom about it, but every time she'd brought it up, her mother had frowned and changed the subject.
"I can't believe you're graduating tomorrow," she whispered. The warm summer air felt delicious and smooth against the bare skin of her arms and legs. She wanted more. "And then you're leaving for Chicago."
"Don't think about it," Spencer said, pulling her closer. "I don't even want to think about it." He burrowed his nose in the soft cloud of her hair.
Tears filled Honor's hazel eyes. "Maybe we could just get married. I'm almost seventeen. That's probably legal."
"As soon as I'm done with Basic," he promised. He pulled out a small silver filigree ring and slipped it on the third finger of her left hand. "I promise."
Honor pulled him to her and there, beneath the billowing clouds and warm early summer sun, they pledged their love.
You can find Summer Donnelly Here on Amazon! https://www.amazon.com/Summer-Donnelly/e/B00HE1SD16
Gena Teyis pushed the throttle to twice impulse speed and the craft leapt from its stationary starting position. Latara's gaze flicked between the three readout screens on the console in front of her as she continually made adjustments. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Teyis's hands caressing the console.
Latara had checked the colonel's record when Teyis had first been assigned to the station. Gena had only partly been joking when she'd called herself an Ace pilot. From what Latara saw in her search, Colonel Teyis was the best pilot in this sector.
A flashing readout caught Latara's attention. Two massive rocks collided to their left and a chunk the size of their shuttle was headed at them with more velocity and mass than anything so far. She hadn't built this test model for something that large.
Latara felt the ship move to get out of the asteroid's path. Knowing the ship couldn't out run that rock, she accessed some untested code she'd written to boost the gain of the xyclon capacitors. She fed the code into the main shielding program and pushed the capacitors to a hundred and ten percent rated load.
Bang. Screeeeeeeech.
The ship shook and tilted.
"Hold on." Teyis hit one lever hard and pushed swiftly on the throttle.
Latara's stomach slammed into her throat then she was flung back into the seat. The ship dropped then shot forward. The inertial dampers were still trying to catch up but Latara pushed against the now reduced g-forces to get her hands back on the console. They weren't out of the Orlan Belt yet.
You can get this book on Amazon here! https://www.amazon.com/Saving-Ice-Planet-Akmar-Imperium-Frontier-ebook/dp/B01MY4OSEV
The Federal Witch
Born a Witch Drafted by the FBI! Now Available in Audio!
Conjuring Quantico Now Available in Audio!
Magical Probi Now Available in Audio!
Special Agent in Charge Audio Coming Soon
Witness Enchantment
Night of the Unicorn - Coming Soon!
Invisible Elder - TBD
Blood on the Moon - TBD
Child of Darkness -TBD
A Draft of Dragons -TBD
Cat's Night Out, Tails from the Federal Witch Audio Coming Soon
Cookbooks From the Federal Witch Universe
Marcella's Garden Cookbook
Fergus Favorites Cookbook
Athena Lee Chronicles
The Forgotten Engineer
Engineering Murder
Ghost ships of Terra
Revolutionary
Insurrection
Imperial Subversion
The Martian Inheritance - Audio Now Available
Infiltration
Prelude to War
War to the Knife
Ghosts of Noodlemass Past
Athena Lee Universe
Shades of Learning
Space Cadets - Coming Soon Early 2017
Short Story Collections
Wilson's War
A Colony of CATTs
Box Sets
Chronicles of Athena Lee - Books 1-3
Chronicles of Athena Lee - Books 4-6
Chronicles of Athena Lee - Books 7-9 plus the prequel
The Federal Witch Book 1
Standalone or tie-ins
The Tide: The Multiverse Wave
The Lost Pilot
Uncommon Life
Kutherian Gambit
Alpha Class. The Etheric Academy book 1
Alpha Class. The Etheric Academy Book 2
Alpha Class The Etheric Academy Book 3 - Coming soon
Don't forget to check the Blog every week for a New Wilson or Fergus story.
Copyrights
This book is a work of fiction, All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.
No actual Unicorns, Demons, Fae, Dragons, or Witches were harmed in the making of this book. Promise.
Copyright (c) 2017 T S Paul
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.
The phrases Badger Hole Bar and Badger Hole Bar Universe are creations and property of Author Taki Drake and are used here with her permission.
Cover designed by Heather Hamilton-Senter
http://www.bookcoverartistry.com/
Great Big Thanks to :
Developmental Editing by Diane Velasquez and Dorene Johnson AKA the (real) D's.