“What was that for?” Glory asked.
“I had to get rid of the bodies, and I figured if I threw something through the Gate, I could close it. Now no one has to figure out how to hide the bodies.”
“I’m sorry about your friend’s death,” she said.
“Thanks,” I replied. “He was a good guy.” I was hopeful that Renfield could help me through some of the harder points of making someone vanish in the legal sense, not just the physical sense. I looked around the theater, the bullet holes in the walls, the giant summoning circle of blood in the floor, and knew that someone was going to come looking to me for information. But not tonight. For tonight, the world was as safe as it ever was, and I had another lost friend to mourn.
Epilogue
“Not that I’m not flattered that you wanted to share something personal, Harker, but what about that story is so important that you had to drag me out of bed at three in the morning and talk ‘til sunrise?” Detective Rebecca Gail Flynn asked from my sofa. I looked at the window. She was right, there was sunlight peeking in through the blinds. I’d talked nonstop for about four hours.
“I know you and Glory have been through some shit, but it’s none of my business, seriously. It’s not like I thought you were banging your guardian angel, and who am I to say anything if you are?”
That was a disturbing thought, but what was more disturbing was the level of emotion I felt coming through the mental link I had with Flynn. I saved her life a few months ago by letting her drink a few drops of my magical blood, and that created a bond closer than that of mother and child. I felt a flurry of things—relief, worry, confusion, jealousy, and a little…lust? Definitely on the list things I needed to explore later. When I had more to drink. And maybe opiates. But not now.
“A body was found last night, dumper at a strip mall in University.”
“Yeah, I heard about that on the police radio.”
“I went to take a look. It was a Nephilim.”
“I’m sure that’s just a coincidence,” Flynn said, but her crinkled brow said something different.
“Yeah?” I asked, my eyebrow reaching for my hairline. “Because the story I just told you happened seven years ago. And seven is a number of power. If there was anything about that ritual that was tied to a specific time, this year is the first time that it could be attempted again.”
“But you sent Sponholz to Hell. There’s nobody to carry out the ritual.”
“Any Cambion could do it,” I said. “And I never figured out what Sponholz wanted or who put him up to it. He had a little power, but he had nowhere near the brainpower to think up something like that.”
“But it could still be a coincidence, Harker. Just because a half-angel gets murdered doesn’t mean…”
“Look at the calendar, Flynn.” I cut her off. “The Solstice is in three days. And there was one more thing about the body that makes me sure that this is someone trying to open the portal again.”
“Oh, fuck.” She looked at me, eyes wide.
“Oh, fuck, indeed,” I agreed. “The body’s throat was cut from ear to ear, and all its blood drained. Somebody is trying to open that portal, Bex. And if we don’t stop it, we’re looking at Hell on Earth.”
Nowhere Near The End
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Acknowledgements
A very heartfelt thanks to Melissa Gilbert of Clicking Keys for her all her help.
Thanks to Adrijus at Rockingbookcovers.com for the awesome cover.
For information on appearances, signings, autographed copies, etc. please visit
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Copyright 2016 by John G. Hartness
Heaven Sent: A Quincy Harker Novella by John G. Hartness is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
About the Author
John G. Hartness is a teller of tales, a righter of wrong, defender of ladies’ virtues, and some people call him Maurice, for he speaks of the pompatus of love. He is also the best-selling author of EPIC-Award-winning series The Black Knight Chronicles from Bell Bridge Books, a comedic urban fantasy series that answers the eternal question “Why aren’t there more fat vampires?” In July of 2016. John was honored with the Manly Wade Wellman Award by the NC Speculative Fiction Foundation for Best Novel by a North Carolina writer in 2015 for the first Quincy Harker novella, Raising Hell.
John is the author of the Bubba the Monster Hunter series of short stories and novellas, the Quincy Harker, Demon Hunter novella series, and the creator and co-editor of the Big Bad anthology series, among other projects.
In 2016, John teamed up with a pair of other publishing industry ne’er-do-wells and founded Falstaff Media, a publishing conglomerate dedicated to pushing the boundaries of literature and entertainment.
In his copious free time John enjoys long walks on the beach, rescuing kittens from trees and recording new episodes of his ridiculous podcast Literate Liquors, where he pairs book reviews and alcoholic drinks in new and ludicrous ways. John is also a contributor to the Magical Words group blog. An avid Magic: the Gathering player, John is strong in his nerd-fu and has sometimes been referred to as “the Kevin Smith of Charlotte, NC.” And not just for his girth. He can be found online at www.johnhartness.com and spends too much time on Twitter, especially after a few drinks.
For more information about appearances, signings, and other silliness, feel free to follow John on Twitter (@johnhartness), or on his website www.johnhartness.com.
Also by John G. Hartness
Quincy Harker, Demon Hunter
Year One
Raising Hell
Straight to Hell
Hell on Heels
Hell Freezes Over
Year One - A Quincy Harker, Demon Hunter Collection
The Black Knight Chronicles
Volume 1 - Hard Day’s Knight
Volume 2 - Back in Black
Volume 3 - Knight Moves
The Black Knight Chronicles Omnibus Edition
Volume 4 - Paint it Black
Volume 5 - In the Still of the Knight
Volume 6 - Man In Black
Black Knight Shorts
Movie Knight - A Black Knight Short Story
Black Magic Woman - A Black Knight Short Story
Gone Daddy Gone - A Black Knight Short Story
Knight UnLife - Collected Black Knight Shorts
Co-Edited with Emily Lavin Leverett
The Big Bad: An Anthology of Evil
The Big Bad 2
Bubba the Monster Hunter Short Stories
Season 1
Voodoo Children
Ballet of Blood
Ho-Ho-Homicide
Tassels of Terror
Cat Scratch Fever
Love Stinks
Hall & Goats
Footloose
Sixteen Tons
Family Tradition - A Bubba the Monster Hunter Prequel
Final Countdown
Scattered, Smothered and Chunked - The Complete Bubba the Monster Hunter Season 1
Season 2
UnHoly Night - A Skeeter the Monster Hunter Short Story
Love Hurts
Dead Man’s Hand
She’s Got Legs
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Howl
Double Trouble
Elf off the Shelf
Casket Case
Stone Cold Crazy
Rest High on That Mountain
Bad Moon Rising
Grits, Guns & Glory - The Complete Bubba the Monster Hunter Season 2
Season 3
Moon Over Bourbon Street
Night at the Museum
Beauregard the Monster Hunter Short Stories
Fire on the Mountain
White Lightning
Moonshine & Magic - The Collected Beauregard the Monster Hunter Stories
Other Work
Headshot
Balance - Tales of Alternate Reality
Genesis - Return to Eden Book 1
The Chosen
Returning the Favor and other slices of life
Red Dirt Boy
The Christmas Lights
Cinched: Imagination Unbound (Editor)
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Of Lips and Tongue
A Touch Trilogy Novella
By A.G. Carpenter.
"A stunning new voice in genre!" - John G. Hartness, author of The Black Knight Chronicles
Delaney Green is one of them that don't burn. Possessed of the Touch - with the ability to not only see the future but manipulate it - she's been kept in an institution for most of her life. When the Salesman, a murderous entity with a connection to Delaney's past, starts burning girls to death, FBI Agent Percival Cox gives her the chance to leave the asylum behind. But he presents an even greater threat and she must risk flesh and bone in order to keep him from becoming a Power more destructive than the Salesman.
Available now wherever ebooks are sold!
Available now from Falstaff Books
This Giant Leap
By Edmund Schubert.
"(Edmund Schubert is) a writer I stay up late reading" Faith Hunter, NY Times bestselling author of the Jane Yellowrock series.
Acclaimed editor Edmund R. Schubert hangs up his editorial hat to explore issues both global and personal in this exquisite short story collection. Life, Death, Aliens, Zombies, Love, Loss, Apocalypse, Space Travel - these are just a few of the topics Schubert looks at in This Giant Leap. In this volume readers will find science fiction, horror, fantasy and new genre blends, all told with Schubert's characteristic heart and glorious writing style.
“Edmund Schubert writes with flair, with wit, with stunning imagination. His plot lines twist and surprise and, ultimately, satisfy. And his characters remain with you long after you’ve stopped turning the pages. Savor this collection, but beware: When you’re done with these, you’re just going to want more.” — David B. Coe/D.B. Jackson
Available now in print and ebook from Falstaff Books. WWW.FalstaffBooks.com.
Heaven Sent - a Quincy Harker Novella (Quincy Harker Demon Hunter Book 5) Page 11
