Peasblossom’s pink eyes were wide, her wings completely still. She tensed when I looked at her, hands gripping the edge of the fridge.
“You kept shouting for Scath not to bite someone. At Marilyn’s, then again at that zombie property. Especially Raphael.” I set my can of soda on the kitchen island. I’d been thinking about this all day. Even when I was pursuing Andy’s accusers, in the back of my mind I kept hearing Peasblossom’s voice. high-pitched shriek, “Don’t bite him!”
“You know, don’t you?” I asked quietly. “You know what Morgan’s talking about. You know why Raphael keeps pushing Scath, trying to get her to attack him. Bite him.” I shook my head. “There was no reason for Raphael and Luna to be at that property with Andy. If he’d only wanted to get me into a contract, he could have stayed somewhere safe, waited for Flint to die. But he didn’t. He was right there, pumping up our adrenaline—Scath’s adrenaline yet again.” I stared into her pink multifaceted eyes. “And you know why.”
For a second, Peasblossom crouched there, frozen. I relaxed, letting our empathic link open a little further. Let her feel what I was feeling.
Her wings drooped for a split second, then she launched herself off the fridge and flew straight at me. I let out a grunt as she collided with my neck and clung for dear life.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I can’t talk either. I would tell you if I could, you know I would tell you.”
I patted her back, carefully with one finger between her delicate wings. My stomach was tight, and it was hard to muster up a reassuring smile, but I did my best.
“It’s okay. I’m not mad. We’re going to figure this out.”
I took a deep breath and unzipped my waist pouch. “Bizbee? I need some index cards, colored string, masking tape, two pens, a piece of pencil lead, and a variety of Post-its.”
Bizbee popped out of the enchanted space with wide eyes, his antennae swinging wildly. “Are ye organizing, then? What size Post-its? What color pens?” He waved a hand at me. “No, no, you’ll need options. I have the very thing.”
The grig’s office supply euphoria eased my nerves, and I managed to smooth the furrow from between my brows. When he reappeared with the requested supplies—including two multi-color pens—I handed a stack of index cards and a pen to Scath. I also put a small pad of miniature Post-its on the floor for Peasblossom, along with the pencil lead.
Both of them stared at me as I wrote “Event” on one of the index cards and used the masking tape to stick it to the wall. Then I broke off a few pieces of purple string and taped one end of each to the index card, then spread them out like sunbeams radiating from the center card and taped the loose ends to the wall. I wrote down Morgan’s name on another card, and the twins’ names on another and taped each one to the end of one of the purple threads.
“Write down whatever information you can give me that’s in any way related to any of those cards,” I said, nodding to the wall. “It doesn’t matter if it seems relevant right now or not. It could be relatives, or powers, or marriages, any kind of relationship. It could be locations where they’ve been, where they are. Goals, defeats, wars, house affiliations. Whether they’re in good or bad standing with someone.”
“You want it here, where Flint will see it?” Scath asked.
I nodded. “He offered to help. And as much as I hate letting him be part of anything important, the fact is, he could be an asset here. He’s part of this world, and we all know how nosy he is. Might as well let it work for us.”
I glanced at Scath. “I’m asking you to spend more time in human form than you want to. And I’m sorry. But I would really appreciate your help. I’m not asking either of you to violate the geas, but it can’t prevent you from talking at all. It has to end somewhere?”
I couldn’t see Peasblossom as close as she was to my neck, but I knew she and Scath were staring at one another. Finally, Scath nodded.
“I’ll try,” she said softly.
I let out a breath and nodded again before turning to the wall. “Then let’s get started.”
Sign up to be the first to see the cover art for Blood Trails #10!
My Next Book Release: CLICK HERE
I hope that you enjoyed reading this book as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you did, please spare a moment to leave a review. Nothing helps other ravenous readers find a good series like a passionate review from readers like you.
THE BLOOD TRAILS SERIES is a fusion of fantasy and mystery that combines a classic private investigator/whodunnit with the sarcasm and magic that’s made the Urban Fantasy genre so famous.
THE BLOOD PRINCE SERIES is a sensual paranormal romance series that twists beloved fairy tales into original tales of love, adventure, and…well, blood. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and ultimately, you’ll need to sink your teeth into the next book as you follow a desperate desire to find out just what the werewolf, the vampire, the demon, the angel, and the god are really up to…
THE BLOOD REALM SERIES is a spin-off /continuation of the Blood Prince series. Though these books can be read in any order, to get the most out of the epilogues, I always recommend following the suggested reading order HERE.
* * *
All of my books are written in the same universe (yes, even the Urban Fantasy, which is contemporary, not historical like the Blood Prince/Blood Realm series—and you’ll have to read Deadline to find out how I managed that…). Be ready for crossovers and cameos!
Jennifer Blackstream Newsletter
Did you find a typo?
Typos are the jack-in-the-boxes of the reading world. There you are, reading an amazing story, when suddenly—BAM! A typo rips you right out of the groove. At Skeleton Key Publishing, our editors do their best to correct the typos that slink by our authors, but sometimes they escape and go on their ruinous rampage.
So here’s the deal. If you found any typos, go to my website and report it. Every month we will put the names of everyone who reported a typo into a hat and pick one out. That person will then be offered a $25 gift certificate to an online retailer.
That’s right…you can win a gift certificate just for reporting a typo. If you find more than three typos, send us a copy of your receipt and we’ll send you an updated version of the book.
Thank you for helping us improve the reading experience for later readers.
* * *
- The Skeleton Crew
Ahoy, ebook pirates!
All right, so here's the deal. Certain online retailers have affiliate programs whereby people can earn referral fees for sending people to shop on their site. It's sort of like a "finder's fee" negotiated by a burly sea captain. Or perhaps a roguish treasure hunter. Maybe a dragon-shifter with a head for business... I digress. Basically, when you click on a referral link, the online retailer pays the associate (in this case, me) a very small percentage of whatever you spend during that session. So if you click that link and buy, say, LEGO Super Heroes Super Hero Airport Battle for $75.70, then the retailer takes your $75.70 and gives me somewhere around $2.
Now, some of you are reading this because you got your hands on a pirated copy of one of my books. I'm not going to lecture you, or shame you, or beg you to stop. I spent an hour last night begging my daughter to go to sleep, so I'm all groveled out for at least the next 12 hours. All I'm going to say is this: If you got any enjoyment out of my work, please consider clicking on the link below the next time you need to buy something from one of these very popular online retailers I’m sure you already shop at. You won't be spending a penny more than you would have anyway, and I'll get a little compensation for all the time and effort I put into writing the book so I can continue to write more books.
Clicking the link is not an acknowledgement that you pirated one of my books. Even if you are a wonderful person who paid for this book, if you'd like to use this link to help me earn enough money for the next Lego set with a superhero in it (even though we all know my son's going to build it, then discard the majori
ty in favor of playing with only the little people) then you can click the link too.
The link can be found here: http://www.jenniferblackstream.com/ahoy-ebook-pirates/
If for some reason you can't bring yourself to click the link, consider leaving a review for the book. Reviews help too.
All right, back to writing. Thank you for reading,
Jennifer Blackstream
Conviction Page 33
