Protected by the Damned Boxed Set 1: A Supernatural Action Adventure Opera

by Michael Todd

  Yeah, I imagine she could be doubtful. So, I did something that would cause her to believe.

  I told her to bill me half up front for the first 12 covers (and she did, no hesitation on her part…oh no.)

  However, when the money showed up, I become a real client.

  Since Laurie was out of commission at the beginning (the reason I went looking for Loraine in the first place) I engaged Loraine on a couple of projects.

  The first was a skunkworks project for the Tales of the Wellspring Knight, she blew PJ Cherubino out of the water.

  Then, she did the cover art for my proof of concept with Jude’s first 3D model of a character and WE HAD SOMETHING! Now, Jude rocked our fourth cover’s model (for SIT DOWN, SHUT UP and PULL THE TRIGGER) in a day I think, and as soon as I have the hi-res, I’ll be able to toss it to Loraine who will have something back to me in about a day as well. I can’t explain how nice it is to be able to find a pose, send it to Jude and in 48 hours have a model review to look at.

  Unfortunately, Laurie is about to unleash the beast of 56 covers and I am going to have to share Loraine’s time.

  DAMN!

  I asked Loraine how she got involved in doing covers and here is her answer (I asked for ‘short.’ Seems I get what I ask for (she did ask me if I needed more, but we are trying to get this book out tonight.)

  FROM LORAINE:

  I started on Photoshop years ago, in 2010 when I was staying abroad in Ireland for my gap year after matric, I was on holiday for basically the entire year, so I wrote a book and made my own cover.

  That was about when I first started with photo manipulations on Photoshop.

  Don't ask about the book, the publishers closed and sent my book back on a cd. I have no other version of it and I lost the cd a few years back when we moved around a lot.

  I might rewrite it some day when I have time, but for now I'll stick to covers lol

  Further, I studied graphic & advertising design when I got back in South Africa in 2011, but it did not cover Photoshop.

  Everything I know about PS was self-taught.

  WELCOME LORAINE!

  WHAT IS YOUR DAMNED (Katie) SCHEDULE?

  The future….Ahhhh, the future.

  So, SIT DOWN, SHUT UP and PULL THE TRIGGER (PBTD 04) is due out on Monday, April 2nd (2018) and then, we are looking to produce 2 books a month’ish for the next 4 months. Due to a NEW series coming out, and my Kurtherian Book PAYBACK IS A BITCH, we have a stutter step in May where we are writing 2 books, but only 1 book will come out.

  However, in June we should have THREE released to make up for May. Tentative Dates are:

  APRIL 2nd, 13th, 27th

  MAY 18th

  JUNE 1st, 15th, 29th

  WHAT THE HELL ELSE ARE YOU DOING?

  Oriceran… And Mr. Brownstone…

  About one year ago this time (2017), I wrote a 2,000 word scene with ‘a guy’ that kick started the whole Oriceran Universe. But, I was writing Kurtherian Gambit and could not spend the time to make the series – Martha Carr came to my rescue.

  However, I’ve made it back… And my guy is coming alive.

  That guy’s name is James Brownstone, and he is already a badass. A bounty hunter who works the tough jobs, bringing home the money, and listens to BarBQ shows and podcasts and drives around in a nicely kept up Ford F-350 that can’t be hacked by all of the technology and magic easily.

  You know, a simple life and he likes it that way.

  Life, however, is not about simple and two females came into his nice, organized (and simple) life.

  One is a young teenage girl that helps find his dog but her mother has disappeared, taken. The other is a tomb raider who has a hidden past.

  Neither relationship is straightforward nor simple.

  All hell breaks loose, and James has to learn to handle life when feelings he has not had to deal with intrude in his KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) mantra.

  I’m LOVING these stories, and I hope many of you will check them out. The first one is: FEARED BY HELL - The Unbelievable Mr. Brownstone Book 01 and the release schedule is:

  APRIL 6th - FEARED BY HELL – Book 01

  APRIL 20th – REJECTED BY HEAVEN – Book 02

  MAY 3rd – EYE FOR AN EYE – Book 03

  MAY 25th – BRING THE PAIN – Book 04

  We will have an additional two series associated with this one. The first series is about Shay, the Tomb Raider with the hidden past and her books start arriving at end of April.

  The third series is about Allison’s life at The School of Necessary Magic. We do not have a release schedule for that series, yet.

  MORE PROTECTED BY THE DAMNED

  So, I was video conferencing with Laurie a couple of nights ago discussing the amazing success this series has garnered, and the fans who enjoy our concepts.

  We have tentatively agreed to greenlight our next one to two series in the PBTD Universe, and I will be setting up characters in the next month or so, for possible releases in June timeframe. If you are happy to keep reading additional characters and character arcs (I’m thinking our next ‘contestant’ is going to be a lady’s player with a succubus – or my second thought below.)

  He wants girls…She wants guys. What could possibly go wrong with that?

  Another relationship is the totally screwed up person with an OCD demon… because, who doesn’t want a girl who just wants her beauty sleep and do nothing in her life to deal with a demon that has her day all planned out…

  To the second?

  Imagine how frustrated the demon is going to be?

  Susie rolled over in bed, pulling a pillow over her head to block out the morning light. “You think you are going to get me to do shit my parents worked 22 years to accomplish, but failed? You are out of your damned demon mind…. So, fuck off and let me sleep.”

  C’lechtock (now Timmons for whatever fucking reason Susie called him that) pursed his lips inside her body, then started playing with her gastro-intestinal tract.

  Seems last night she was eating beans, and then followed her dinner with a Coke Float and Butterfingers…

  All the right ingredients to make this a place she will not want to smell in about twenty minutes.

  She will get up, oh…she will indeed or his name isn’t…

  Fucking Timmons.

  If you have possible ideas, PLEASE jump into the Facebook Group and let’s discuss them! These ideas above are just working concepts right now. If better suggestions happen, we can push them back.

  LMBPN WELCOMES YOU INTO OUR FAMILY OF STORIES…

  I hope you stay awhile ;-)

  Ad Aeternitatem,

  Michael Anderle

  Author Notes - Laurie Starkey

  March 24, 2018

  What a friggiddy fracking jacked-up insane asylum sort of week! *pulls hair and dances like a goon from Fraggle Rock* Whew. Okay. Now that THAT’s over… Let me tell you about it.

  As I mentioned in my last author note, we decided to take our Texas country-asses up to Washington D.C. for the cherry blossom festival. We wanted to see the flowers and tour the monuments over a seven-day period, but boy, were we in for a surprise.

  Something like a Nor-easter rolled in on Day Two. We were out, running through the rain (looking like wet mole-rats) and yet, still trying to keep the positive, upbeat parental persona for the twelve-year-old bopping along with us.

  It was FREEZING. By the time we got back home, we were beat. And it had started snowing. Like–hellacious snowing.

  I’m from Texas. We don’t get snow. The cold rain melts long before it hits our humid-ass no-winter-having ground.

  It didn’t just snow. It SNOWED. All of you in the North East are like, “Right… and?”

  Snowed and snowed and snowed. So, what did we do?

  We decided to take a walk in it. *rolls eyes and shakes head* And we got a bit lost trying to find a coffee shop. We were trying to be hip, but that didn’t exactly pay off. We get to the Starbucks finally,
and I’ve got no feeling in my fingers, toes, the last half of my ass… it was rough.

  And the damn Starbucks is closed. Of course, it is.

  My husband and I just stood there, looking homeless. People passed by, giving us a concerned look and asking, “Starbucks is closed?” heard that fifteen times.

  “Um, no. We’re just waiting on a formal invitation from the barista. YES. It’s closed. Hello. Shitburgers.”

  So anyway, in other news, I released/launched 3 books since I left Texas 10 days ago. Two with Mike on this project, which were super smooth, and one for my Weston Parker romance line, which was a fucking nightmare from the bowels of the devil’s crotch. (I might exaggerate from time to time, but this isn’t one of those times.)

  We loaded the romance book on Saturday, and this one was a sweet romance. I’ve written some “sexy, your mother better not read this” books, but this one wasn’t one of those. So, we check later that night (Saturday night), and the book has been pushed into the erotica category. Now, that would be fine if it was an erotica story, but it wasn’t.

  Erotica fans everywhere would have read that book and used it as kindling later that night, thinking someone from preparatory school wrote it. Sweet. Love. Story.

  So, that resulted in six days of fighting with Amazon. Why did I fight? Because you don’t get some of the advertising and NO promotion value from Amazon if you’re in the erotica category. I got three emails back from them, telling me that we were out of the wrong category, but were we? Hell to the no.

  It was the longest week of my life. By the time I finally got on the phone with someone, I was in tears. We’d spent so much money and time trying to advertise the book, and Amazon tied my hands. I rarely cry, but boy did that poor lady get it.

  Thirty days of my life writing the book, paying for everything, as well as my team of seven people editing, proofing, promoting, graphics, ads…. You name it, and we do it for that romance line.

  And finally, last night, the clouds parted and it all cleared up. I’m happy to say we’re number sixty-four in the top 100 paid overall on Amazon as I type this, which honestly seemed like an insane possibility, but we did it. My team is thrilled, and I am insanely relieved.

  In other news, that convo that Mike mentioned above has so many possibilities for spin offs from Protected by the Damned, as well as a few new series that we had a good time kicking around.

  It’s always a bad idea to get me and Mike in a room together, on a call together, etc. We will come up with two million ways to tell more stories and start pushing them. My hubs was listening from the side, but he just nodded every time Mike and I came up with something new.

  Someone needs to be there to say, “NO! You must sleep, eat and occasionally shit.”

  Ugh. Fine. Ha!

  Thanks for reading this madness. I swear it just gets more and more mental every time I write one of these notes.

  To the Protected by the Damned Facebook Group–you guys rock so much. Thanks for welcoming me into the fold. I appreciate that so much and love the energy you guys have. Makes me want to tell more stories and faster… just for you.

  This note has gone on for damn near ever, and I’m in the backwoods of Tennessee, visiting some family as we drive home, so no internet. Not sure there’s running water to be honest. Internet is NOT top priority right now. LOL.

  I’ll tell you about the cookie BS next time, and I’ll even drop a link to the video of the cookie madness in the back of Book 4 for you. Not that you want to see it, but just in case someone is devastatingly bored, I’ll hand it over.

  Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. There is nothing more precious to a writer than to know he or she is affecting people with their craft. To know that some of you are laughing, shedding a tear, rereading the books and having fun? Priceless to us.

  We will be bringing you more of what you love, and if we’re not–someone mentioned pitchforks. I’m all for it. Bringing you books, not getting poked.

  To you guys that read our stories, thank you. We do what we do for you.

  Slave to many stories,

  Laurie Starkey

  Sit Down Shut Up and Pull the Trigger

  Sit Down Shut Up and Pull The Trigger

  Chapter One

  The creature’s head almost rubbed the ceiling. Its claws flexed in agitation as it wandered back and forth in T’Chezz’s office, which was situated between the flowing lava and the pile of tortured bodies.

  T’Chezz’s realm was unknown to man, but man was not unknown to him.

  He had a plan; a plan that would destroy humanity at its core. But what he hadn’t expected was Korbin and his team of Killers, and the other teams T’Chezz had been fighting all over the world.

  He’d win in two areas, then a major setback would come at the hands of the demon hunters. It was becoming difficult for T’Chezz to keep all the balls in the air simultaneously, so he was going to have to focus.

  His eyes narrowed. T’Chezz had thought the invasion would be seamless and entertaining, but as Barro stood in front of him for the second time, he realized that he might have underestimated the power these Damned wielded on Earth.

  T’Chezz plopped into the massive stone seat at the front of the room and tapped his claws against its carved arms. He stared at the demon, who was injured and obviously terrified of him.

  T’Chezz could see that Barro had fought hard, and though he was livid that things weren’t progressing, getting rid of him just yet would be a mistake. It was hard to find loyal demons, especially in a place like hell—even when he had spent so much energy, effort, and trouble to find his ass once Barro had been killed…again.

  If he hadn’t needed the information, Barro would have been lost.

  “Tell me again how many there were?” T’Chezz asked calmly.

  “At first there were two,” the demon began. “The black man and the girl, but then two more came, some freshly Damned male and a priest.”

  T’Chezz rubbed his chin. “It seems as if they have formed some sort of group or gang that is hunting us specifically.”

  “There is something else,” the demon said quietly. “The girl…her demon is familiar.”

  “Familiar? How so?” T’Chezz asked.

  “It’s your sister,” Barro admitted, putting his head down.

  “So she has been up to no good.” T’Chezz chuckled, his laughter sounding like two chunks of basalt rubbing together. “But you’re telling me that she is helping these Damned? That’s too much for me to believe.”

  “I know, but it’s true,” the demon told him. “She gave the human powers like her own during the fight: strength, agility, and healing ability. She screamed questions at me when I was dying, wanting to know your plans.”

  “How could she help them?” T’Chezz growled. “I hate the bitch—don’t get me wrong—and would love nothing more than to watch her be buried on one of hell’s deepest levels, but I am aghast at the idea that she was fighting against us. Helping the human destroy us.”

  “She helped the human fight me,” the demon corrected. “Talked shit to me during the process, too. Stood in the background as the human used the fucking cross to send me back to hell, though I am pretty sure they underestimated your ability to bring us back.”

  T’Chezz stood up. “You were lucky I caught you before you plummeted farther down, or you would be picking hell’s core out of your teeth right now.”

  “Well the weapons they have are no joke,” Barro told him. “And they hurt like a motherfucker.”

  “A special cross?” T’Chezz shook his head. “How in the world did those dimwitted creatures become capable of creating a material like this?”

  “I don’t know,” the demon admitted, “but it burned right through me and ultimately ended me.”

  “And the Damned holding it was fine?”

  “I would guess.”

  “Interesting,” T’Chezz growled, looking across the hellish landscape. “It’s been centuries; possibly ov
er a thousand years since anything like this has been spoken about. There have been rumors but no evidence—until now.”

  “They have swords and knives as well.” He groaned. “My legs were cut to ribbons, and when I got slashed across the belly it felt like my body had been thrown into a volcano. It takes the wind out of you and drops you to your knees. If I had that reaction, I can only imagine what it would do to the smaller beasts out there.”

  “It doesn’t instantly kill you, then?” T’Chezz asked.

  “Not me, though I don’t know what effect it would have on other demons,” he answered. “But it took quite a bit for the metal to penetrate my skin. Quicker than bullets, but not immediate. Still, it hurts like a sonofabitch, which puts us at a disadvantage when we are trying to focus on crushing those humans’ tiny little bones.”

  “There hasn’t even been a whisper about a new weapon until now, and we have had our watchdogs out there searching,” T’Chezz said angrily. “Even a thousand years ago when it surfaced for the first time, it was only two swords—two swords that I was told were completely taken care of, with no trace for the humans to find. Those swords forced us into the darkness for a long time, fearful of what might happen if they surfaced once again after the Battle of Intaglio. However, after centuries of hiding, starving, and needing entertainment from the human creatures we have started to emerge again. Slowly at first, but now it has become a movement. The last thing I need is to have this kind of challenge following us around topside.”

  “Do you think your sister had anything to do with it?” the demon asked.

  “With the swords?” T’Chezz chuckled. “No, she is too stupid to understand something on that level. She is just a thorn in my side, nothing more. This human she has infected…she may be tough. She may be different, but she sure as hell can be taken out if necessary. She is human, with the frailty of a human’s body, the misguided tempers, and the emotional attachment to their human lives. She can be broken, and in due time I will make sure that she is. For now, though, I have larger issues to take care of—like this weapons problem. I don’t know who is behind this or where they got this knowledge or how many of these tools are out there, but I can promise I will find out.”