by Jade Kerrion
Danyael chuckled. “I looked further afield; I checked out their website as well as news coming out of Zhengzhou, where their research and manufacturing facility is located.”
“What did you find?”
“Nothing. Just the typical societal ills and social media garbage that plague any large city. Apparently, a new designer drug is taking hold among the younger generations; from the effects, it sounds like a more potent variant of Ecstasy.”
“I’m surprised it made the news at all. The Chinese government is spectacularly good at shutting down news that makes them lose face.”
“Lose face?”
“A colloquial Chinese term for looking bad,” Xin clarified. “Anything else?”
“Blogs are buzzing with rumors of vampires. Is the Chinese Halloween approaching?”
Xin tilted her head, and her gaze grew unfocused. “It’s the seventh lunar month. It’s Hungry Ghost month.”
“An entire month of Halloween?” Was there even enough candy in the world for that?
Her brown eyes flashed back to Danyael’s face. “Not quite Halloween, but it’s believed to be the month when the starving spirits—those who never received a proper burial—are released from hell. The Chinese lay out food offerings to appease the spirits, and the rituals peak on the fifteenth day, the Hungry Ghost Festival. At the end of the month, the Chinese release lanterns into the sky to escort the spirits back to hell.”
“And the Chinese still observe this festival?”
“Traditions are hard to shake even when people stop believing in ghosts.”
Danyael shrugged. “It looks like someone decided to take advantage of it. Bodies have been found, supposedly drained of blood. There’s nothing official, though; nothing’s confirmed by the government.”
“So Zhengzhou has a serial killer using Hungry Ghost month to make a run on his enemies or the general public. I can’t imagine how it might have anything to do with Excelsior.”
“I don’t either,” he confessed. “Perhaps nothing’s wrong. The guilt I sensed from Dr. Shen could have been personal—an affair or embezzlement—things that have nothing to do with research protocols. Emotions offer clues, not answers.”
Xin set aside her empty mug and leaned forward. “What does your gut feeling tell you?”
Danyael’s answer was immediate. “That something’s seriously wrong, and it matters.”
“Then you’re probably right. The gut feeling of an alpha empath is a great deal more than a gut feeling.”
“But there’s nothing to go on, at least not here.” Danyael gestured at the tablet.
“Maybe you have to look elsewhere.” Xin pushed to her feet. “I should go. I’ve left you more confused than when you started.”
Danyael walked Xin to the door, but before he tugged it open, he asked, “Why did you alter Laura’s genetic records?” It was a shot in the dark, but no one else would have had the knowledge and the nerve to hack into medical databases and substitute the results of Laura’s prenatal blood tests.
A faint smile crept across Xin’s face. “Zara would have aborted her otherwise, and it would have been a mistake.”
Danyael’s chest tightened. Laura could have died in the womb, her life unlived. The precious little girl who recited her alphabet of gun manufacturers and charmed him with her effusive hugs would never have filled his life with her boundless love if not for Xin’s unscrupulous interference.
“Thank you,” he said simply.
“You’re welcome.” Xin let herself out and quietly shut the door behind her.
Danyael returned to his study and stared into the unlit fireplace as his fingers tapped an uneven rhythm on the tablet screen. The only aspect about Xin more disturbing than her ruthless and manipulative streak was the fact that she was usually right. She had been right about Laura, and if Xin was also right about his gut feelings, then something was truly wrong at Excelsior.
Continue reading XIN.
Urban Fantasy and Science Fiction entwine in the world of the DOUBLE HELIX
“The Double Helix is the kind of series you’d expect to see with a movie deal. I loved, loved, LOVED it. I fell in love with the characters and will be reading all four books again in the future…a treat I reserve for my favorites.”—Full Time Reader
“I wish I could award more than 5 stars. This phenomenal series continues to astonish and delight.”—Hillel Kaminsky
THE DOUBLE HELIX COLLECTION
Finally available as a single collection, the books in the Double Helix series have gathered over 100 reviews with an average of 4.5 stars.
“Higher octane than Heroes. More heart than X-Men.”
His genetic code sourced from the best that humanity offers, Galahad embodies the pinnacle of perfection. When Zara Itani, a mercenary, frees him from his laboratory prison, she offers him a chance to claim everything that had ever been denied him, starting with his humanity.
Perfection cannot be unleashed without repercussions; Galahad’s freedom shatters Danyael Sabre’s life.
An alpha empath, Danyael is rare and coveted, even among the alpha mutants who dominate the Genetic Revolution. He wields the power to heal or kill with a touch, but craves only privacy—an impossible dream for the man who was used as Galahad’s physical template.
Galahad and Danyael, two men, one face. One man seeks to embrace destiny, and the other to escape it. But destiny has a name. Zara. Assassin.
The multiple award-winning Double Helix series, consisting of Perfection Unleashed, Perfect Betrayal, Perfect Weapon, and Perfection Challenged, will defy your notions of perfection and humanity and plunge you into a world transformed by the Genetic Revolution.
MIRIYA
Thirty years into the First Genetic Revolution, society’s tolerance for human derivatives is wearing thin. Clones and in vitros are regarded with suspicion, and mutants with resentment. Yet in spite of the hostile environment, some alpha telepaths—like Miriya Templeton—have thrived.
Her luck is running out.
Destiny has set her life on a collision course with Danyael Sabre, the alpha empath who can kill with a touch. Whether he becomes friend or foe, whether he and she live or die, will depend on the choices she makes. On her decisions hang the outcomes of the Second Genetic Revolution. Miriya, however, does not believe in destiny, nor want any part of the revolution. It is up to the enforcer, Jake Hansen, to convince her otherwise, and he is running out of time.
PERFECTION UNLEASHED (Double Helix #1)
Winner of six literary awards, including Gold Medal, Science Fiction, Readers Favorites 2013
He shares a face with the perfect specimen. Together, they’ll reshape a divided nation… or shatter it completely.
Years as an assassin taught Zara to steel her heart against weakness. But she believes no creature deserves to be caged and prodded… much less the man who embodies human perfection. Against her better judgment, she ditches a recon mission to spring him free. She wasn’t counting on a powerful empath joining the chase.
Doctor Danyael Sabre hides his healing powers in plain sight. With tensions between unmodified humans and mutants intensifying, the empath vows to stay clear of the coming storm. But when his doppelgänger—a top-secret genetic experiment—escapes the lab, he is yanked into the fray. His only choice is to team up with his lookalike and the cold-hearted assassin who can't stand him.
As they fend off enemy forces and puzzle out the mystery of their past, Danyael faces an impossible dilemma. Should he use his healing powers to inflict pain or will he risk a lifetime in a cage?
PERFECT BETRAYAL (Double Helix #2)
1st Place, Royal Palm Literary Award 2013
Danyael Sabre, an object of desire, would much rather not be. An alpha empath by birth, a doctor by training, and an empathic healer by calling, he is stalked by the military that covets his ability to kill, not heal. Bereft of two days of memories, he goes on the run under the protection of an assassin, Zara Itani.
&nbs
p; The more he uncovers of his lost hours, the more he doubts everything that once anchored him. He knows only that he endangers those around him and that he is falling in love with Zara, who hates him for reasons he no longer remembers.
As forces—both powerful and ruthless—threaten those he cares for, Danyael has only two options. He can betray his values and abandon the path of the healer, or he can wait to be betrayed, not by enemies, but by his friends.
ZARA
1st Place, Royal Palm Literary Award 2016
The alpha empath, Danyael Sabre, languishes in a maximum-security prison. His life sentence should spell emotional freedom for the assassin, Zara Itani, but true to her contrary nature, she travels the solitary and hazardous path from hate to love even though it is far too late for her and Danyael.
Meanwhile in her hometown of Beirut, international political conspiracy simmers on the brink of renewed military conflict. Zara’s loyalties will be tested; her beliefs challenged. She could start a war, or she could stop it.
Tell me who you love and I will tell you who you are....
Zara will finally discover who she is, but what will it cost Danyael this time?
PERFECT WEAPON (Double Helix #3)
An alpha empath, Danyael Sabre is powerful, rare, and coveted, even among the alpha mutants who dominate the Genetic Revolution. Betrayed by his friends and abandoned to a life sentence in a maximum-security prison, Danyael receives freedom and sanctuary from an unlikely quarter—the Mutant Assault Group, an elite mutant task force within the US military. Physically crippled and emotionally vulnerable, Danyael succumbs to the warmth of friendships and the promise of love he finds within their ranks.
Friendship and love, however, demand his loyalty, and Danyael rises to the challenge of training and leading the assault group's genetically modified super soldier army. The super soldiers are faster and stronger than the military's human soldiers; their animal instincts spur ferocity and fearlessness in battle. Who is the perfect weapon, though, the super soldiers or Danyael, the alpha empath, who can, with a touch, heal or kill?
Adversaries swarm like vultures around carrion; the pawn is once again in play. The threads of betrayal that sent Danyael to prison spin into a web, ensnaring him. When a terrorist group strikes Washington, D.C., how far will Danyael go to defend a government that sent him to prison to die?
SILENCE ENDS
2nd Place, Royal Palm Literary Award 2013
When you choose your friends, you also choose your enemies.
Seventeen-year old Dee wants nothing more than to help her twin brother, Dum, break free from the trauma in their childhood and speak again, but the only person who can help Dum is the alpha empath, Danyael Sabre, whom the U.S. government considers a terrorist and traitor.
The search for Danyael will lead Dee and Dum from the sheltered protection of the Mutant Affairs Council and into the violent, gang-controlled heart of Anacostia. Ensnared by Danyael’s complicated network of friends and enemies, Dee makes her stand in a political and social war that she is ill equipped to fight. What can one human, armed only with her wits and pepper spray, do against the super-powered mutants who dominate the Genetic Revolution?
America, nevertheless, is ripe for change. Exhausted by decades of belligerence between humans and their genetic derivatives, the clones, in vitros, and mutants, society is on the verge of falling apart or growing up. Which path will it choose, and can a mere human, her sassy attitude and smart mouth notwithstanding, light the way to a better future?
In her quest to help her brother become normal, Dee will learn what it means to be extraordinary.
CARNIVAL TRICKS
1st Place, Royal Palm Literary Award 2015
In a world transformed by the Genetic Revolution, Kyle Norwood is an honest-to-God human and proud of it. His deadly skills come from hard work and not genetic sleight of hand. An easy mission to protect two Proficere Labs scientists turns into a shoot-out that leaves a scientist and a federal agent dead. Worse, the research data the scientists were carrying disappears.
In a world where human derivatives are hated and feared, Sofia Rios is almost human. When a fight during her waitressing shift turns fatal, a dying scientist launches her into the shady world of scientific espionage. The unwilling trustee of research that people would kill to obtain, Sofia turns to the man who steps out of the shadows to protect her, even though he appears as dangerous and disreputable as the people who hunt her.
Together, Sofia and Kyle must unravel the truth behind the illicit information she carries before one or both of them are killed. Their mutual attraction sparkles, but the spark could just as easily become an explosion if Kyle ever finds out that Sofia is a despised telekinetic.
SICARIUS SOUL
Some grudges live forever, and the worst enemies are the ones you didn't know you had…
Alpha empaths are dying, executed by an assassin who leaves no psychic trace. Zara Itani derides the mystery as sloppy investigation until Danyael is injured by the assassin's bullet. If he died, his empathic death throes would have driven everyone within ten miles to suicide.
The only solution is to imprison Danyael beyond the reach of assassins, damning him to physical solitude and emotional isolation. Zara, however, bets on her ability to use Danyael as bait to draw out the murderer. Kill the assassin, end the threat, right?
But nothing is ever easy in a world transformed by the Genetic Revolution. Sins of the past transcend decades and centuries to coalesce into a threat no one can contain. A vigilante driven by hate demands absolute vengeance—the suicide of millions of innocent people—and it will begin with Danyael's death…
PERFECTION CHALLENGED (Double Helix #4)
An alpha empath, Danyael Sabre has survived abominations and super soldiers, terrorists and assassins, but he cannot survive his failing body. He wants only to live out his final days in peace, but life and the woman he loves, the assassin Zara Itani, have other plans for him.
Galahad, the perfect human being created by Pioneer Labs, is branded an international threat, and Danyael is appointed his jury, judge, and executioner. Danyael alone believes that Galahad can be the salvation that the world needs, but is the empath blinded by the fact that Galahad shares his genes, and the hope that there is something of him in Galahad?
In a desperate race against time and his own dying body, Danyael struggles to find fragments of good in the perfect human being, and comes to the wrenching realization that his greatest battle will be a battle for the heart of the man who hates him.
XIN
3rd Place, Royal Palm Literary Award 2016
When the trail of Danyael Sabre’s stolen blood exposes illegal scientific research at a Chinese laboratory, it unleashes a designer drug with terrifying side effects and imperils the decades-long peace between China and America.
NSA analyst Mu Xin, the clone of a Shang-dynasty queen, steps into the fray to stem the chaos, but in a land where ancestral worship and beliefs in incarnation exist alongside cutting-edge genetic engineering, will Xin find herself trapped or liberated by her past?
Aeternae Noctis
ETERNAL NIGHT
1st place, Fantasy, Royal Palm Literary Award 2014
No one spins unexpected stories and unforgettable characters like USA Today bestselling author Jade Kerrion. Now in a thrilling, award-winning fantasy series, enter a city of eternal night ruled by demons and vampires.
For a thousand years, humans cowered beneath the rule of the Night Terrors, but Jaden's five-year-old sister is prophesied to stop them...if they don’t get to her first.
To protect her, Jaden leads a rebellion against the Night Terrors, but when he is captured in battle and dragged before the demonic queen Ashra, he realizes that he has seen her face before…every night in his dreams.
Ashra is fighting her own battle for survival against enemies without and treachery within. But when Jaden stumbles upon Ashra's darkest secret and uncovers the truth about the city of eternal
night, he realizes that nothing may be what it seems…including himself.
ETERNAL DAWN
Return to USA Today bestselling author Jade Kerrion’s world of Aeternae Noctis—where immortals and mortals struggle to co-exist, and an enemy is changing the rules…
All parents in Aeternae Noctis have lost children to the culling, among them, the herbalist Rafael Varens. Humanity's remnants rise in rebellion against the ruthless rule of the three immortal icrathari and their vampire army; yet again, they are crushed.
When the icrathari Siri seeks a salve for her chronic pain, she and Rafael strike a bargain. He will cure the poison in her blood if she expands the settlement and frees the children, including his son. Their tentative alliance ushers in unexpected friendship, until it is shattered by the cruelest betrayal.
From the darkness below the earth, an ancient and implacable enemy rises, twisting their pain and turning Rafael and Siri against each other—his first step in the destruction of Aeternae Noctis…
ETERNAL DAY
Follow USA Today bestselling author Jade Kerrion to a post-apocalyptic Earth—where the only chance at survival demands an impossible reconciliation—in the third novel of Aeternae Noctis…