by Yvonne Heidt
Tiffany nodded but wondered what that was about. The new receptionist, Raven, was beautiful and charming. Why the snappy reaction?
“Mommy!” Angel’s scream echoed down the hall.
Tiffany, Kat, and Shade, ran toward her room where they found her sobbing on her bed. Tiffany scooped her into her arms and began soothing her. “What, honey?”
“The rider! He says I have to go with him. I don’t want to leave.”
Her blood turned to ice and her scalp began crawling. “You’re not going anywhere. I’ve got you.”
Kat paled and looked at Shade. “How? I thought you cleansed the spot where he died.”
“I can feel him. There must be a trace left here.” Shade crossed to the closet, turned on the light, and then dropped to her knees to begin moving various toys and boxes out of it.
“I hadn’t even thought of that.” Tiffany was livid. “Why did I not think of that? I do this for a living.”
“He’s right there,” Angel said and pointed to the corner of the room.
“I know, baby. Auntie will take care of it as soon as I find what I’m looking for.”
Angel stopped crying and nodded toward the empty wall.
“What’s he saying?”
Kat sounded as hysterical as Tiffany felt. She stood with Angel in her arms, intending to leave the room when the door slammed shut in front of her.
“No, Daddy,” Angel said. “You have to go to the light.”
“Leave her alone, you bastard!” Tiffany screamed. “Get out!”
Angel didn’t flinch at the volume in Tiffany’s voice. Instead, she continued to stare at the area where Shade was frantically searching for what must be another blood curse. “But if you don’t feel good, the light will make you better. I promise.”
Kat moved quickly to put Tiffany and Angel behind her, trying to protect them from something that Tiffany knew she couldn’t see.
“I can’t go with you now.” Angel paused. “Next time, maybe.”
“Oh God,” Tiffany said. “Shade?”
A cold wind blew out of the closet. “Found it.” Shade got up from the floor. She was holding a small box against her chest. “I’m leaving with it. I’ll take care of it.”
Tiffany nodded. “Please hurry.”
“It’s okay, Mommy,” Angel said. “Daddy says he won’t bother us anymore. He’s almost done.”
The doorknob clicked and turned before Shade reached it. Tiffany felt Kat shudder slightly. She walked in front of her and Angel.
“Be careful,” Kat said when she opened the front door.
Shade turned back to look at them when she was halfway down the walkway. “Good-bye, guys. I love you.”
Tiffany felt that her tone and choice of words were off somehow. She wanted to call her back, but a sharp pain in her temple kept her from voicing her concern. She wanted Angel as far away from the damn box as she could get.
She blew Shade a kiss when she got in her van. “Love you too.”
Kat waved as she closed the door. They had only taken two steps toward the hall when a bright orange flash illuminated the room an instant before the glass in the picture window shattered inward, and an explosion rattled the entire house.
Tiffany screamed. “Shade!”
About the Author
Yvonne Heidt’s first book, Sometime Yesterday, was a 2012 Lambda Literary Award finalist in lesbian romance and a 2012 Golden Crown Literary Award winner. She is also a bronze medal Rainbow Award winner for Debut Author. Yvonne was born a fourth-generation San Franciscan, but is currently living in Texas with her partner and their four dogs, where she channels her inner rock star on Friday nights. Writing is her passion and she considers herself blessed beyond measure that she and her muse get along so well.
Books Available from Bold Strokes Books
The Quickening: A Sisters of Spirits Novel by Yvonne Heidt. Ghosts, visions, and demons are all in a day’s work for Tiffany. But when Kat asks for help on a serial killer case, life takes on another dimension altogether. (978-1-60282-975-6)
Windigo Thrall by Cate Culpepper. Six women trapped in a mountain cabin by a blizzard, stalked by an ancient cannibal demon bent on stealing their sanity—and their lives. (978-1-60282-950-3)
Smoke and Fire by Julie Cannon. Oil and water, passion and desire, a combustible combination. Can two women fight the fire that draws them together and threatens to keep them apart? (978-1-60282-977-0)
Asher’s Fault by Elizabeth Wheeler. Fourteen-year-old Asher Price sees the world in black and white, much like the photos he takes, but when his little brother drowns at the same moment Asher experiences his first same-sex kiss, he can no longer hide behind the lens of his camera and eventually discovers he isn’t the only one with a secret. (978-1-60282-982-4)
Love and Devotion by Jove Belle. KC Hall trips her way through life, stumbling into an affair with a married bombshell twice her age. Thankfully, her best friend, Emma Reynolds, is there to show her the true meaning of Love and Devotion. (978-1-60282-965-7)
Rush by Carsen Taite. Murder, secrets, and romance combine to create the ultimate rush. (978-1-60282-966-4)
The Shoal of Time by J.M. Redmann. It sounded too easy. Micky Knight is reluctant to take the case because the easy ones often turn into the hard ones, and the hard ones turn into the dangerous ones. In this one, easy turns hard without warning. (978-1-60282-967-1)
In Between by Jane Hoppen. At the age of 14, Sophie Schmidt discovers that she was born an intersexual baby and sets off on a journey to find her place in a world that denies her true existence. (978-1-60282-968-8)
Secret Lies by Amy Dunne. While fleeing from her abuser, Nicola Jackson bumps into Jenny O’Connor, and their unlikely friendship quickly develops into a blossoming romance—but when it comes down to a matter of life or death, are they both willing to face their fears? (978-1-60282-970-1)
Under Her Spell by Maggie Morton. The magic of love brought Terra and Athene together, but now a magical quest stands between them—a quest for Athene’s hand in marriage. Will their passion keep them together, or will stronger magic tear them apart? (978-1-60282-973-2)
Homestead by Radclyffe. R. Clayton Sutter figures getting NorthAm Fuel’s newest refinery operational on a rolling tract of land in Upstate New York should take a month or two, but then, she hadn’t counted on local resistance in the form of vandalism, petitions, and one furious farmer named Tess Rogers. (978-1-60282-956-5)
Battle of Forces: Sera Toujours by Ali Vali. Kendal and Piper return to New Orleans to start the rest of eternity together, but the return of an old enemy makes their peaceful reunion short-lived, especially when they join forces with the new queen of the vampires. (978-1-60282-957-2)
How Sweet It Is by Melissa Brayden. Some things are better than chocolate. Molly O’Brien enjoys her quiet life running the bakeshop in a small town. When the beautiful Jordan Tuscana returns home, Molly can’t deny the attraction—or the stirrings of something more. (978-1-60282-958-9)
The Missing Juliet: A Fisher Key Adventure by Sam Cameron. A teenage detective and her friends search for a kidnapped Hollywood star in the Florida Keys. (978-1-60282-959-6)
Amor and More: Love Everafter edited by Radclyffe and Stacia Seaman. Rediscover favorite couples as Bold Strokes Books authors reveal glimpses of life and love beyond the honeymoon in short stories featuring main characters from favorite BSB novels. (978-1-60282-963-3)
First Love by CJ Harte. Finding true love is hard enough, but for Jordan Thompson, daughter of a conservative president, it’s challenging, especially when that love is a female rodeo cowgirl. (978-1-60282-949-7)
Pale Wings Protecting by Lesley Davis. Posing as a couple to investigate the abduction of infants, Special Agent Blythe Kent and Detective Daryl Chandler find themselves drawn into a battle over the innocents, with demons on one side and the unlikeliest of protectors on the other. (978-1-60282-964-0)
Mounting Danger by Karis Walsh. Sergeant Rachel Bryce, an outcast on t
he police force, is put in charge of the department’s newly formed mounted division. Can she and polo champion Callan Lanford resist their growing attraction as they struggle to safeguard the disaster-prone unit? (978-1-60282-951-0)
Meeting Chance by Jennifer Lavoie. When man’s best friend turns on Aaron Cassidy, the teen keeps his distance until fate puts Chance in his hands. (978-1-60282-952-7)
At Her Feet by Rebekah Weatherspoon. Digital marketing producer Suzanne Kim knows she has found the perfect love in her new mistress Pilar, but before they can make the ultimate commitment, Suzanne’s professional life threatens to disrupt their perfectly balanced bliss. (978-1-60282-948-0)
Show of Force by AJ Quinn. A chance meeting between navy pilot Evan Kane and correspondent Tate McKenna takes them on a roller-coaster ride where the stakes are high, but the reward is higher: a chance at love. (978-1-60282-942-8)
Clean Slate by Andrea Bramhall. Can Erin and Morgan work through their individual demons to rediscover their love for each other, or are the unexplainable wounds too deep to heal? (978-1-60282-943-5)
Hold Me Forever by D. Jackson Leigh. An investigation into illegal cloning in the quarter horse racing industry threatens to destroy the growing attraction between Georgia debutante Mae St. John and Louisiana horse trainer Whit Casey. (978-1-60282-944-2)
Trusting Tomorrow by PJ Trebelhorn. Funeral director Logan Swift thinks she’s perfectly happy with her solitary life devoted to helping others cope with loss until Brooke Collier moves in next door to care for her elderly grandparents. (978-1-60282-891-9)
Forsaking All Others by Kathleen Knowles. What if what you think you want is the opposite of what makes you happy? (978-1-60282-892-6)
Exit Wounds by VK Powell. When Officer Loane Landry falls in love with ATF informant Abigail Mancuso, she realizes that nothing is as it seems—not the case, not her lover, not even the dead. (978-1-60282-893-3)
Dirty Power by Ashley Bartlett. Cooper’s been through hell and back, and she’s still broke and on the run. But at least she found the twins. They’ll keep her alive. Right? (978-1-60282-896-4)
The Rarest Rose by I. Beacham. After a decade of living in her beloved house, Ele disturbs its past and finds her life being haunted by the presence of a ghost who will show her that true love never dies. (978-1-60282-884-1)
Code of Honor by Radclyffe. The face of terror is hard to recognize—especially when it’s homegrown. The next book in the Honor series. (978-1-60282-885-8)
Does She Love You? by Rachel Spangler. When Annabelle and Davis find out they are both in a relationship with the same woman, it leaves them facing life-altering questions about trust, redemption, and the possibility of finding love in the wake of betrayal. (978-1-60282-886-5)
The Road to Her by KE Payne. Sparks fly when actress Holly Croft, star of UK soap Portobello Road, meets her new on-screen love interest, the enigmatic and sexy Elise Manford. (978-1-60282-887-2)
Shadows of Something Real by Sophia Kell Hagin. Trying to escape flashbacks and nightmares, ex-POW Jamie Gwynmorgan stumbles into the heart of former Red Cross worker Adele Sabellius and uncovers a deadly conspiracy against everything and everyone she loves. (978-1-60282-889-6)
Date with Destiny by Mason Dixon. When sophisticated bank executive Rashida Ivey meets unemployed blue collar worker Destiny Jackson, will her life ever be the same? (978-1-60282-878-0)
The Devil’s Orchard by Ali Vali. Cain and Emma plan a wedding before the birth of their third child while Juan Luis is still lurking, and as Cain plans for his death, an unexpected visitor arrives and challenges her belief in her father, Dalton Casey. (978-1-60282-879-7)
Secrets and Shadows by L.T. Marie. A bodyguard and the woman she protects run from a madman and into each other’s arms. (978-1-60282-880-3)
Change Horizons: Three Novellas by Gun Brooke. Three stories of courageous women who dare to love as they fight to claim a future in a hostile universe. (978-1-60282-881-0)
Scarlet Thirst by Crin Claxton. When hot, feisty Rani meets cool, vampire Rob, one lifetime isn’t enough, and the road from human to vampire is shorter than you think… (978-1-60282-856-8)
Battle Axe by Carsen Taite. How close is too close? Bounty hunter Luca Bennett will soon find out. (978-1-60282-871-1)
Table of Contents
Synopsis
By the Author
Acknowledgments
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Epilogue
About the Author
Books Available from Bold Strokes Books
