Rebels and Realms: A Limited Edition Urban Fantasy Collection

  Rebels and Realms

  a Limited Edition Urban Fantasy Collection

  Rebels and Realms

  Delve deep into enchanted realms and discover the marvelous creatures and passionate loves that await on the other side. Only the rebels will survive...

  Unparalleled worlds await you inside this collection packed with magical, arcane, and nefarious stories from today's New York Times, USA Today and award-winning authors!

  Embark on adventure with rebel angels being hunted by witches, djinns striving to break the chains of slavery, and guardians and dragons navigating mythological underworlds when you download your copy of REBELS AND REALMS!

  FREE for a limited time only. Grab a copy of this urban fantasy collection to escape into the adventure of your choosing today!

  Rebels and Realms is a Multi-Author Bundle, Copyright © 2018 by Carter and Bailey Publishing.

  All individual titles copyrighted by the individual authors. Published July, 2018 by Carter and Bradley Publishing.

  Cover Art Design 2018 by Rebecca Frank

  All rights reserved.

  Ebook Edition.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  Rebels and Realms

  Heather Marie Adkins

  Saffron

  Saffron

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  RJ Blain

  Water Witch

  1. Blood in the Water

  2. Fishnet Stockings

  3. The Water’s Call

  About the Author

  J.A. Culican

  The Golden Dragon

  The Golden Dragon

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  About the Author

  Christine Ashworth

  The Curse of Elliott Jones

  The Curse of Elliott Jones

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Heather Renee

  Before The Falls

  Before The Falls

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  About the Author

  Rosemary A Johns

  Vampire Secret

  Vampire Secret

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  About the Author

  Amanda Booloodian

  Redcap

  Redcap: AIR Novella 1.5

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  About the Author

  Beata Blitz

  The Fallen Vampire

  The Fallen Vampire

  Preface

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  About the Author

  Chrishaun Keller-Hanna

  Shaman States of America: The Black Spur Hunt

  Shaman States of America: The Black Spur Hunt

  Prologue

  1. A Girl's Gotta Dream

  2. The Path

  3. The Call

  4. Small, Discreet Favors

  5. The Best of Intentions

  6. The Hidden Room

  7. We Know This Life

  8. Wood, Leather, Vanilla

  9. A New Plan

  10. One Question, One Answer

  11. Ms. Monster Hunter Lady

  12. It Was the Life We Were Given

  Epilogue

  A Note from Chrishaun

  Amir Lane

  Wendigo

  Wendigo

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Caroline A. Gill

  Blood in the Ashes

  Blood in the Ashes

  1. Safety’s Price

  2. Waking

  3. Chained

  4. All That Glitters

  5. Dancing With Demons

  6. Somnambulance

  7. Chrysallis

  8. Revelations In the Dust

  9. A Question of Alliances

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Saffron

  Heather Marie Adkins

  Saffron © 2017 Heather Marie Adkins

  * * *

  All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

  Saffron

  Book One in the Vengeance Goddess Serials

  Marion Churchman, code name SAFFRON, is an assassin employed by the vengeance goddess Nemesis. She may have been trained by an elite academy and rubbed elbows with immortals for five years, but it’s not her dream job.

  Sent on a particularly tough run, Saffron has no idea that she herself is being stalked, and her life is in danger.

  She’s not as invincible as Nemesis makes her feel.

  1

  When I got the summons, I was in the middle of some Olympic-gymnastics-worthy sex. The kind where my legs were at angles I’d never thought humanly possible, and I was looking at parts of his body that probably should never have seen the light of day, much less my eyeballs. At one point, I was certain I’d gotten turned upside down, and then we were backwards, and that was… odd.

  But that was what happened when you had anonymous sex, right
? When you drank one too many amaretto sours at a bar in a strange city because you’d just killed a serial killer, and you went to a motel with some guy named Mark just because you thought the way he wore his glasses was cute. You weren’t always sure what you were getting into before you, well, got onto him.

  The sex got sweaty, and Mark started making some weird grunting sound similar to a pig eating, but I was determined. Pushing on towards that goal of certain orgasm, my eyes screwed shut as I rode him like a rodeo cowgirl.

  Fulfilling my missions made orgasm a necessity. You can’t just run around killing bad guys without some kind of release afterwards. So yeah, I sometimes felt like a slut, but in a career where death dripped from my fingertips, a bit of life made it better.

  I felt the sweet sensation of climax rise within me; a little niggle in my lower abdomen that snaked its way through my lady parts until I was panting. One minute, I was on the verge of paradise…

  … and the next, I was whooshing into the Other Realm.

  Whenever it came, the summons was like a flat screen TV to the head: BAM! right on the frontal lobe. Saff, you’ve got work to do, without there being any actual words involved. No, journeying through purple time and space, my spirit tumbling with flailing arms and legs was a completely physical experience and also completely without warning. My soul ripped from my earthly body by my unearthly boss, so that I could pass through a rainbow-colored wormhole and land awkwardly at Her feet, where She preferred me.

  Nemesis made demands like a prison warden or an overbearing mother. Suddenly, my extremely enthusiastic sparring partner was a blip on the radar, and I was in a different realm. One of many, and never the same place twice, as if Nem traveled dimensions the way I changed sex partners.

  Even after five years of working for a goddess of vengeance, the summons took my breath away. I landed on my knees, hard, catching myself with both hands and flattening tall grass against soft ground. I swayed, trying to blink the woozy from my eyes. My fingers were translucent; I could make out grains of sand through my fingernails. With my akasha — my spirit — here, my body would be unresponsive atop Mark.

  Poor guy. He was going to freak.

  Nemesis’s voice cut through my post-world-jumping stupor. “Stand, girl. We haven’t got all day.”

  Pushing myself to my feet, I retorted, “I was a little busy.” I wobbled a bit on the incline, and then stooped to brush dirt from my knees. My bare knees. Naked in form, naked in akasha. Lovely.

  The Other Realm was anywhere Earth and my reality were not. Nemesis’ summons pulled my spirit form to Her, but because I was Hers to own and play with, I maintained my solidity. Real, but transparent. If I traveled to another dimension of the realms in my astral form — and without Her help — I’d be non-corporeal. With Nem? Just another day at the office under the dark-eyed scrutiny of the head honcho.

  Nemesis was beautiful, as always. Her long, dark hair draped elegantly, tendrils curling beside Her heart-shaped face. The robe that clung to Her thin, curvaceous body glowed white in the evening, drifting into obscurity below the grass line. She appeared the part of innocent beauty, but beneath, a lioness marked every move around Her. Even though I stood, She still towered over me, larger than life and scarier than the depths of hell. I felt as if I walked on fire in Her presence, and only Her amusement and good mood kept me from being burned.

  We stood on a steep, round hill overlooking the rough waves of an ocean stretching into the gunpowder-gray horizon. The emerald grass was tall enough to brush my thighs in the warm breeze. The sky above was royal purple: dusk, dotted with the first pinpricks of stars. I could hear the lonely cawing of crows. The scenery gave an impression we were alone in all the worlds, and that made me feel oh-so-very vulnerable.

  Vulnerability was not on my short list of virtues, and as a result, my mouth often got me in trouble.

  When Nemesis’ silent examination dragged on too long for comfort, I remarked, “Looks like rain.”

  “It always rains in this world,” She said.

  With one small phrase, She could make me feel pitifully, painfully, stupidly human.

  “The rain here would burn your delicate expanse of human skin,” Nemesis added. “Within ten minutes, your face would melt so that even your mother would not recognize you.”

  I shuddered, touching my cheek and wondering what would possess Her to bring me to a world that could kill me so violently. There were days I considered myself an asset to Her cause. Other days, I knew I was merely a pawn in Her dangerous game.

  Nemesis raised a lovely eyebrow, black eyes shining with humor. “You’re naked, Saffron.” Her bow-shaped lips, the color of blood, pursed in amusement. “Bad time?”

  I grunted, wrapping my arms around my breasts modestly. It was just a bit of nudity between women, but Nemesis already knew everything about me. Couldn’t I at least preserve my modesty?

  I figured if I tried to hide my below-belly-button naughty bits by crossing my legs, She’d laugh, so I didn’t bother.

  “Darling, you look wonderful. Have you been working out?” Nemesis walked forward, Her gait smooth and perfect, until She was in my personal space. She poked my abdomen and squeezed my bicep like I was a science experiment. When She began scrunching my long black hair in Her palms, I stepped away.

  Glaring, I echoed Her own words, “We haven’t got all day.”

  “Ah, dear Saffron.” Nemesis tutted. “You never forget a word I say. I should be honored.”

  I would never tell Her, but the hint of approval in Her tone gave me a surge of pleasure. I wasn’t the teacher’s pet; that was my best friend Frank’s job. But still, the mocking approval of a deity considered dangerous by other deities was enough to make a girl blush. Instead, I griped, “I’m naked, and it’s about to rain. I don’t want to die today. Can we move along, please?”

  Her tinkling laugh drifted on the wind. As She stepped away, the jeweled scabbard that held Her sword, Hubris, smacked against a shapely thigh. She regarded me with the same ambivalence of a satiated hawk eyeing a fat rat — I could eat you, but I won’t. “So sorry, love. Sometimes I forget what it’s like for humans. Modesty and the like.”

  “I had no idea.”

  “I’ve had word from Demeter,” Nemesis went on.

  I froze, my arms slowly falling to my sides. I wasn’t going to like what followed. Demeter was the Mother Goddess, protector of children. Whatever was happening, it was going to be one of those hard cases that ended with Ben and Jerry’s ice cream and a good cry.

  “Travel to Savannah, Georgia,” Nemesis ordered, making Her words a full Decree. Her voice took on the echo that accompanied my formal assignment; the echo that forever wed me to Her. I felt it reverberate deep in my bones, binding me to Her will. Goosebumps spread across my pale skin. “Seek Amy and Andy McClore. The children must be avenged.”

  My body went hot, my heart ratcheting until it felt like it would burst from my chest. The purple ether of passage back to the real world whipped around me, disorienting, and I crash-landed, bouncing on the creaky motel bed in the manner of someone waking from a dream of falling. I lay there for a moment, willing the empty feeling in my stomach away, my fingers digging into the coarse sheets beneath me for stability.

  Mark, the handsome, bespectacled man I’d been carnally enjoying before Nem’s rude interruption, cowered in the far corner of the room. His arms were wrapped around his knees, his breathing shallow and rapid in between his hysterical recitation of The Lord’s Prayer. “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom—”

  I sat up, a hand fluttering to my spinning head. “Mark?”

  He rocked slowly back and forth, not looking at me. “Your eyes. God, your eyes, they went white, and you went limp and cold, and I thought you were dead.”

  I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing at how silly he looked. But who was I to judge? I wasn’t the one left after the summons, trying to figure out why my bedmate was suddenly unresponsive
. I couldn’t have been gone longer than a minute; time in the Other Realm didn’t function the same as ours.

  “Women have died from orgasm before,” Mark mumbled. “I did a study on it in grad school.”