by R. Gualtieri
“Sold,” Danni interrupted.
“Huh?”
“You could have stopped at Bermuda. I don’t know about you, but I’ve about had it up to here with forests for a while.”
Derek smiled sadly and nodded. “Yeah, me too.”
♦ ♦ ♦
Sophie Guiterrez erased the messages on her machine – two from her mom, one from a concerned aunt, and three more from her sister. As she stepped away from the phone and into the kitchen, a spasm racked her stomach, nearly doubling her over.
She grabbed hold of the countertop to steady herself and squeezed her eyes shut until it passed. It was the same as always, but she’d begun to welcome the pain. Best yet, she was certain she’d felt a kick this time.
It was probably too early, but she knew what she felt and it made her proud. Her baby – John’s baby. Despite everything that had happened, their child was alive and growing within her.
The doctors had all shown concern for her condition, specifically her blood tests. They wanted to monitor her progress, take steps to terminate it if necessary. She wouldn’t allow that. After all she’d been through, they wouldn’t take her baby away, too.
She made sure of that – checked herself out of the hospital, sequestered herself away, and kept the pregnancy a secret from her family. She was certain they’d understand, but at the same time, she didn’t want to run the risk of them trying to talk her out of it.
Despite what those monsters had done to her, she knew – knew – the baby was John’s, one last miracle from God before he’d taken her husband into his fold. It had to be. And, knowing that, she wouldn’t let anyone take that away from her.
Sophie swallowed some vitamins, then washed them down with water. As she was leaving the kitchen, she felt another kick from inside, stronger than the first, and she winced at the force behind it.
Yes. Their child was going to be strong and healthy. She wouldn’t let anyone tell her otherwise, no matter what.
THE END
The Crypto-Hunter will return in
Kraken Hunters
♦ ♦ ♦
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this tale and I’d absolutely love it if we could stay in touch – no matter whether you’re interested in new releases, geeky fun, or just occasionally shooting the breeze.
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AUTHOR’S NOTE
So ... this one might have been a wee bit late. Yeah, that’s entirely my fault. But there’s the old saying about better late than never.
Truth be told, I was beginning to worry that never might be the case. But, no matter how many times I put this story back into my digital drawer, the fact remained that I’d made a promise: both to my readers and myself that this story would see the light of day.
Now, don’t get me wrong, this is less a tale of woe and more one of it simply not being the right time. The tale presented here is fairly unchanged from the outline I first created for it, so it was never a case of being unhappy with the story itself.
Devil Hunters had the unfortunate luck to be started right when two other things were happening – the muse had dropped an awesome story idea into my head, which would eventually become The Necromancer’s Wife (by my nom de plume Cara Vance), and my other series The Tome of Bill was starting to gain in popularity.
Both events caused me to set this aside with that most vile of lies to myself: I’ll get right back to this.
Needless to say, it took somewhat longer than expected and for that I sincerely apologize. That said, please do not think I enjoyed writing this any less as a result. I continue to be wildly passionate about cryptozoology as well as monster stories. As much as I might enjoy writing my comedic novels, there is something about a bloody monster rampage that is satisfyingly cathartic.
I hope you feel the same way and that you’ll stick around for a while longer. We’re not done with this world and its characters yet, not by a long shot.
Rick G.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rick Gualtieri lives alone in central New Jersey with only his wife, three kids, and countless pets to both keep him company and constantly plot against him. When he’s not busy monkey-clicking words, he can typically be found jealously guarding his collection of vintage Transformers from all who would seek to defile them.
Defilers beware!
Rick Gualtieri is the author of several books, including:
THE TOME OF BILL SERIES
Bill the Vampire
Scary Dead Things
The Mourning Woods
Holier Than Thou
Sunset Strip
Goddamned Freaky Monsters
Half A Prayer
The Wicked Dead
Shining Fury
The Last Coven
Strange Days (Bill of the Dead 1)
GET BENT!
Bigfoot Hunters
Devil Hunters
Lycan Moon
Midnite’s Daughter
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Follow Bill the Vampire on Facebook: www.facebook.com/BilltheVampire
