SMOKE by Nigel Bird

Okay, if you've been reading my reviews you might have noticed by now that I've had a troubled childhood. Look, I could tell you hundreds of stories of how I was wronged in my youth... but even with all the wrongs that I've encountered, I like to think I turned out to be a pretty decent person. I mean, I do my best at living a good life just like the rest of you do.

Yet, for many people, the way they are raised influences their entire  life. Due to their upbringing,  some never see the good that is hidden among the rotten filth that lies before them. And for others, even when they do see the good, they don't know how to leave their existing lifestyles behind to obtain it.

Which brings us to Smoke by Nigel Bird. 

At the beginning of Smoke by Nigel Bird, we read about a young man named Jimmy being humiliated at school by a boy named Sean Mulligan. Jimmy's been stripped down to his privates in front of a group of other kids, left to run home in the buff, and then forced to go back the next day only to find his trousers flying from the flag pole. Jimmy seeks revenge, but things don't go as planned... and I think Jimmy even develops a little sympathy for the bully and his living conditions in the process.  Eventually, Jimmy drops out of school, is attacked by a dog, and spends the rest of his life with half of his face hidden behind a mask.

And then there's Carlo.  He's obviously a guy with a troubled past... an odd past that left him tied to a railroad track and wheeling around the city in his wheelchair. Carlo happens to be in love with Jimmy's sister, Kylie. Apparently they were a thing before the railroad "incident," and now, Carlo has returned to his old stomping grounds with hopes of reclaiming his relationship with Kylie and making a happy family unit with their son.  But, things don't go exactly as planned for Carlo when he finds out that Kylie is still in a relationship with another man, and... he's not the father of her son.

Smoke is an incredible journey through a small block of time being told through the eyes of two unfortunate victims.  The lives of Jimmy and Carlo are, unfortunately, woven together through a series of separate events all connected to the same worthless group of people, the Ramsey's.  The Ramsey's are two brothers making their wealth by swindling people and setting up big wins in a dog fighting ring.  While Kris Ramsey is the meanest of the two, it would be wrong to not let his brother take any blame for past deeds just because he's capable of showing a little emotion at the right time. They're a ruthless twosome connected to an even more sinister group of thugs.

But there's a light at the end of this journey through time. A very small light. When Jimmy gets wind of some information on the Ramsey's money, he sets up a plan that seems rather foolproof in its simplicity. But, again, things don't go as planned for Jimmy and his decisions end up harming those closest to him. Oddly, those same decisions that cause harm, help restore broken spirits and relationships, and they also help Jimmy see what he needs to do to escape the life he's been living.

I think what I loved the most about Smoke, was the author's ability to make me care for all the characters in the story. From Sean Mulligan and his bullying ways to the Ramsey boys endangering the lives of animal for sport, I found myself caring about all of them. 

Smoke is a story about drug abuse, alcoholism, gambling addictions, children being failed by the school system, careless love, revenge, and a desire for new beginnings.  And it's also a story laced with sorrow, disgust, humor, love, and hope.

Yeah, Smoke by Nigel Bird, is everything a good story should be.

SMOKE is available on Kindle and Nook.

Nigel Bird is about to serve up a 9 course meal.  As an appetiser, there’s a morsel (‘Sebille’) at Flashquake.  The Starter, ‘No Pain No Gain’ will be in Crime Factory.  There’s something fishy in the form of a surprise.  A visit to France for mains at Voluted Tales.  If you’ve room, it’ll be time for Best Of British Crime Stories. For dessert, Pulp Ink, served up jointly with Chris Rhatigan and / or Blackbird Pie at Grimm Tales.  Digestif is a novel that has all the ingredients and requires a bit more time in the oven.


And cheese.

You can read more about Nigel HERE!

White Fangs - Guest Post by Nigel Bird

Author Nigel Bird stops by the blog today to give us a look inside the creation of his novel, Smoke. I'll be back later this week with a review, but for now... let's give him a very warm welcome to My Friends Call Me Kate.

Humans are animals.

Nothing controversial in that statement, however splendid we consider ourselves to be.

We’re capable of great subtleties of thought and have the most intricate communication systems to share them.

In my opinion, one of the greatest creations of the human race is ‘White Fang’.

I don’t think there’s anything controversial there, either.  It’s a tremendous book on so many levels, but fundamentally as an exemplary piece of story-telling.

I first heard the story when I was 11.  Our ageing teacher, all leather face and tweed, read it as our class novel at some point in our final primary school year.  It’s one of those periods of life which remains vividly alive in my memory.

No wonder then that it has always been something I wanted to use in my work at some point.  I almost wrote ‘emulate’ there in place of 'use’; how crazy is that?

Anyway, to take you back a couple of years, I wrote a story called ‘An Arm And A Leg’.  I’d been aiming to submit something to Crimespree for a while and knew that this was it, my first real crime work.   I pressed the send button just before I went to bed.

Jennifer Jordan got back to me while I slept, bless her.  Accepted it there and then.  I’m indebted to the Crimespree team for effectively fanning the embers of my hope in a way that I’d all but given up on.

I was thrilled. Absolutely. Took my kids to the soft play that morning and sat drinking coffee in a daze.

It occurred to me that if the story was as good as it felt, I should use it as a springboard for a novel.  Made a lot of sense.  All I needed was a theme.

Back rolled in Jack London. 

Dog-fighting in Tranent!  Perfect.

All I needed was to follow the life of fighting dog from birth till death and I’d be on to a winner.

A good friend of mine also suggested having some kind of police story in there – let’s face it, pleasing agents and publishers may require compromise, or so I thought at the time.

The angle I decided to take was to look at a spectrum of the human race.  I’d have the dog-fighters and their obvious cruelty contrasting with the middle-class breeders aiming to create the perfect show dogs.  Perfect. 

Research showed me some of the crazy things dog-breeders have done in the name of beauty, creating grotesques who live in pain or are susceptible to illness and all sorts of disabilities.  Horrible.  There are good dog-breeders out there, so don’t flood the comment section in their defence, it’s not necessary, but there are some crazy things also.  Barbaric even.

Animal rights are something I believe in quite strongly in many ways.  There’s a touch of irony then, that ‘An Arm And A Leg’ has a description of the deep frying of a cat.  I could tell you that it was the character who took over or that it was essential to the plot (both partly true), but it was me at the helm.  Doesn’t mean I hate cats.

Anyway, I got to work and wrote my novel. 

From the beginning I was looking forward to describing the dog fights, not with relish for the violence, but as a major challenge to my writing skills. 

I considered reading White Fang for the third time, maybe focusing on the fight scenes to see how they were done. 

When it came to those sections, I changed my mind on that.  It seemed better to give it my best shot and see how it went.

I’m delighted with the result.

Sadly, the same couldn’t be said of the novel as a whole.

I had to get rid of the cop and the cop angle (I just hadn’t pulled it off).  I binned chapters and characters.  The dog-breeding work was all chopped.  The vet disappeared.  My bigger picture was gone.

Thing is, by chopping away so much to create this novella I ended up with a more profound piece, in my opinion.  Less can be more.

White-Fang was a product of his environment, like the characters in Smoke.

The folk who inhabit my stories have been brought up in a tough world.   Outsiders might describe it as hellish.  It’s no wonder they behave and express themselves in the way they do.

The sad thing for me is that it’s only the plot and my creations that are fiction.  The town, culture, environment, abuse and poverty really do exist.  Not just where I work, but around the world.

It can be overwhelming to be involved with.

Even so, Jack London managed to get his novel to sparkle with hope on occasion. 

White Fang was the best, meanest fighting dog there was, yet he was saved from that (and a great big bulldog) to become the most amazingly loyal creature going.

The idea of ‘saving’ people from the cultures and themselves is fraught with difficulty (think religious evangelism or colonisation), but it’s something I want to work with to make the world a better place.

Yes, if you read Smoke you’ll have had one hell of a ride.  It will be a tour of a brutalised folk who brutalise.  At the same time, I’d like to suggest that you’ll find something about the whole thing strangely uplifting; if you do, I guess I’ve passed my challenge.


Nigel Bird is about to serve up a 9 course meal.  As an appetiser, there’s a morsel (‘Sebille’) at Flashquake.  The Starter, ‘No Pain No Gain’ will be in Crime Factory.  There’s something fishy in the form of a surprise.  A visit to France for mains at Voluted Tales.  If you’ve room, it’ll be time for Best Of British Crime Stories. For dessert, Pulp Ink, served up jointly with Chris Rhatigan and / or Blackbird Pie at Grimm Tales.  Digestif is a novel that has all the ingredients and requires a bit more time in the oven.

And cheese.

You can read more about Nigel HERE!

Click x 6

Before I share my purchases from last week I want to announce the winner of the first four books in the Black London series by Caitlin Kittredge.  The winner is Mary B. I want to thank all of you for taking the time to visit the blog and for leaving comments.  I'll get the books to you ASAP, Mary. Congratulations!

Okay, my Kindle purchases last week contained some pretty great reads.

Already Gone by John Rector  $4.99

It looks like past sinister deeds come back to haunt University teacher, Jake Reese, in this incredible thriller by John Rector. If you click on the above link you will find a Q & A with John Rector on the Amazon site. Great stuff.

I met John Rector at Bouchercon. Okay, I didn't really "meet" him. We were never formerly introduced. But I did mistake him for someone else thanks to the mood lighting in the hotel bar.  I held his hand, made some conversation, and was in the process of sharing my deepest thoughts when I noticed his name tag.  Ugh!

Kick It by McDroll $0.99

Hey, lookie, my good friend Fiona has a book. This collection of short stories will introduce you to one of Twitter's favorite female short story characters, Gemma Dixon, a young investigator starting out at the bottom in her career. You'll be begging for McDroll to write you a novel when her character pulls you in with her subtle humor, tough-as-nails exterior, and heartbreaking case load.  Yep, this is just the beginning for McDroll's writing. 

The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology edited by Thomas Pluck, Fiona Johnson, and Ron Earl Phillips  $2.99

This anthology is what happens when people step outside themselves and give to the greater good. Prompted by a photo (see the cover) people were invited to write short stories... from there my good friends put together this anthology with all the proceeds benefiting children's charities.  Hey, for $2.99 we can all afford to give.

Beat to a Pulp: Hardboiled edited by Scott D. Parker and David Cranmer  $0.99
"BEAT to a PULP: Hardboiled is a compilation of uncompromising, gritty tales following in the footsteps of the tough and violent fiction popularized by the legendary Black Mask magazine in its early days." 

What's really great about this collection of stories - besides the cover - is that I know pretty much all of the contributors. I'm really looking forward to reading this one.

No Rest for The Witches: A Dark Mission Novella by Karina Cooper  $1.99

For my friends following Karina Cooper's Dark Mission series, you'll definitely want to snag her latest novella.  Oh, yeah, now would be a good time for you to pre-order the next book in the series, All Things Wicked, scheduled for release on January 12, 2012.

The Caretaker (Two Short Stories) by J.D. Rhoades  $0.99

"A couple of tales from the graveyard...

In "The Caretaker," William Cain doesn't know why only he can see the new arrivals in his cemetery, or why they tell him their stories--but he knows how to take care of their unfinished business. 

I've added some links to the side of the blog that will highlight some books available for pre-order.  I'd like to invite you to check them out and pre-order if you feel moved to do so. Also, for my coworkers, if you see a book that you are interested in and would like me to order it for you, just holler.  Nothing makes me happier than placing a book or two in your hands.

Turning by Dawn Kirby

Haven

Nicholas stepped closer to the house, careful not to let the leaves crunch beneath his feet. Alana had painted such a clear picture in her mind for him; he had been able to find Ben’s hideout before Matt had been able to recover from his wounds. A fact that suited him just fine. The less people he had to worry with at this point, the better.

Ben was under the delusion that being a vampire made him untouchable. No human was safe around a creature with that mindset. At times neither was another vampire. Thomas’s death had proven that.

He reached for the front door, calmly seeking out Alana’s now familiar heartbeat. It was quicker than normal. Her breathing was labored, frantic almost. Alarmed, his body faded from view as he hurried through the closed door and up the stairs. He could practically feel Ben’s cold breath on his own neck.

Quietly he crept through the open bedroom door. Alana’s hand was cuffed to the bed. Her legs pinned in between Ben’s as he lay beside her whispering his plans for their future in her ear. The urge to kill had never been quite that strong before. Common sense overcame emotion. Ben had fed. A lot. Nicholas hadn’t. If they fought now there’d be no way he could win let alone save her.

But her captor was distracted. So distracted he hadn’t even felt another presence in the room with them. Then an idea. He knew how to get her out, but it would have to be quick. Taking her cuffed hand in his, he closed his eyes and concentrated hard on his own home. It was the one place they could go where no one would find them. There she would be safe and he could regain his strength.

Alana felt something close around her hand and then there was a feeling of weightlessness. Suddenly Ben’s body disappeared. Wind and darkness swirled around her making it virtually impossible to see anything. Seconds later it died down and Nicholas was standing there, his hand in hers.

They were standing outside a Victorian style house. Trees surrounded the house in every direction. She looked around quickly; sure Ben had followed them there somehow. Getting away couldn’t have possibly been that easy.

“Here we’re safe,” Nicholas told her. “Here nobody can touch us.”

She closed what little gap there was between them, pressing her body against his, resting her head on his chest. In his arms she knew she was secure. He rested his chin on her head, content to let her stay right where she was. That’s when she heard it. She turned her head to look up at him. He lowered his eyes to hers.

“No, I’m not dead,” he said. “Not yet anyway.”

“I thought-” she started, but found herself unable to finish.

He brushed his fingers through her hair and smiled. “I’m sure an explanation would be nice, but I have none. I simply am what I am.”

“And that is?”

Her heart was racing. So was her mind. They’d been close before, but this was different. She saw him in a new light somehow. Hearing his heart beat, no matter how slow had brought forth emotions she’d been trying to ignore.

“A man.”

He wrapped his arm around her waist, pressing his lips gently against hers. She slid her arms around his neck, her fingers playing through his hair. Her lips parted. Passion took hold. Their kiss deepened. His hands moved up her sides, stopping just shy of the curve of her breasts. She broke away, her gaze shifting between him and house. The lustful look in her beautiful blue eyes was unmistakable.

“Show me.”

Turning Series by Dawn Kirby

Dark Soul

Ben tightened the handcuff around Alana’s wrist, securing the empty cuff to the headboard. She jerked at the cuffs testing the strength of the wood. Not surprisingly the bed didn’t budge. Well, this wasn’t what she had in mind.

“You really think you won, don’t you?” she asked. As she looked around the room she began to realize where they were. But this house was never this quiet before. Fear for his family’s safety ripped through her. “Where are they?”

Ben looked at her and grinned. His eyes glazed over. “They didn’t care about me,” he said, sauntering to the bay window overlooking the woods. “I showed them just how much I cared about them.”

“You killed them?” She was stunned. Tears rolled down her cheeks. His parents were so kind and his younger sister had only graduated from high school this past year. “When?”

“They were my first kills,” he answered proudly. “Mom and Dad never knew what hit ‘em thanks to this mind control thing. But Allie? Allie, I wanted her to know what was happening. I wanted her to regret the day she disowned me.”

“You didn’t think simply killing her did that?”

“No!” he yelled. Even in the dark room she could see his fangs peeking out from under his upper lip.

 “That bitch sided with you. With the cops. With everybody but me. Her own flesh and blood! She deserved to suffer.”

“Allie was a kid!” she screamed back at him. “She knew you were wrong. She had every right to do what she did.”

“No, no,” he said shaking his head vigorously. Within seconds he was standing in front of her. His nose mere centimeters from hers. “She was family. You don’t turn your back on family.”

“She was disgusted by what you did. You killed a man, Ben. Killed him!” He turned his gaze back toward the window, but didn’t back off. “Even if you hadn’t beaten me to a bloody pulp I’d still have a hard time forgiving you.”

“You I get,” he snorted. “You’ll forgive soon enough. But her? She should have stuck by me through everything. The trial, prison.”

“Do you think it was easy for her?” Alana asked. “Do you think there was one minute when she didn’t look past what you’ve become and see the man she looked up to all her life?”

“What I’ve become?”

“Mean, heartless.”

“I’m no different than I was before,” he snapped.

“You’re right,” she agreed. “You were a monster long before I broke up with you. I just didn’t see it.”

He struck fast and hard, knocking the breath out of her. She felt the warmth of the blood running down her neck before the felt the pain of his fangs. She tried to push him away, but with one hand cuffed to the bed it was useless. He’d pinned her legs between his so tightly she’d lost feeling in them. Now she was starting to feel faint. In a last ditch effort to stay conscious she jabbed her nail on his eye. Seconds later her body fell to the floor as he leapt off her and into the bathroom.

“You’re damn lucky you didn’t take out my eye,” he fumed.

“Tell me Ben,” she said forcing herself off the floor and onto the bed. The dizzy feeling was still there, but it felt as though the danger of passing out had passed. “What could you possibly do to me that you haven’t done before?”

In a flash he was lying on the bed beside her. His arm wrapped tightly around her waist. “Turn you.”   

Welcome to My Life, Jack... Winter!

Yep... did you notice that switch? I'm talking about a guy named Jack, and it isn't that Reacher guy that I wrote endlessly about last year. It was last year, wasn't it? Honestly, this year has past by so fast that if I did read or talk about that Reacher dude he clearly didn't make much of an impression.

Jack Winter on the other hand...

He popped up on my radar a couple of months ago, out of the blue and with no warning. It was love at first read. And sight, if I'm being honest.

Jack was brought to my attention when Stephen Blackmoore turned his blog, L.A. Noir, over to author, Caitlin Kittredge. After talking about the next book in her Black London series, I found myself ordering all the books available and decided to have them read by the end of October. I mean, why not? October IS the month of goblins and demons and zombies and all the scary things that keep you awake at night, right?  And the Black London novels are about a truly badass crow-mage that has sold his soul to a demon to escape death.

Soooooooo... I read book one and knew I wanted more...

Read book two and was sold on the adventures of Jack Winter and Pete Caldecott.

Read book three and couldn't believe I'd gone all this time without knowing a thing about this series.

And then I read book four and found myself depressed about the idea of having to WAIT for the next book.

Oh, how I hate waiting.  *sigh*

In Street Magic by Caitlin Kittredge, the first book in the Black London series, we meet Pete Caldecott. She's sixteen and spending an afternoon summoning a spirit in a cemetery with the incredibly handsome, overly-confident, and equally powerful mage, Jack Winter. Unfortunately, the spirit summoned kills Jack, forcing Pete to flee without him and leaving her to deal with the trauma of that day for years to come.

Fast forward 12 years and we find Pete Caldecott a detective inspector working a child-snatching case and chasing down a tip from an informant. And that's when things get interesting. The informant turns out to be... Jack Winter.

Back from the dead (if he was even dead in the first place), Jack Winter is no longer the strong and powerful mage that Pete knows him to be. He's a heroin addict... using drugs to keep down the voices of the dead that constantly invade his mind. He's also bitter, and carrying a huge grudge against Pete for having abandoned him all those years ago in that cemetery.

Even so, Jack has information on the missing girl that proves to be accurate.  And when two more children go missing Pete does everything within her power to help Jack get clean so she can use his contacts in the "supernatural shadow-world of the fey" to find the truth behind the missing children... and maybe even learn what happened to Jack in that cemetery so many years ago.

In Demon Bound, Pete Caldecott has resigned from her position as detective inspector and is now living with Jack running a paranormal investigative service that allows them to use dark magic for cleansing ghosts, finding lost souls, and even calling upon the dead for clarification regarding last will and testaments.  We also learn that Pete's sensitivity to the supernatural is because she's a weir *dramatic pause* and that Jack didn't just want Pete with him at the cemetery all those years ago... he needed her there to perform that summoning. 

Now, thirteen years have passed since Jack found himself dying and calling upon the demon Belial to save him. The poor guy was given thirteen years of life in exchange for his soul... and those thirteen years are coming to an end. 

But don't worry, ladies... Jack's a sweet talker. So much so that it's possible he may have found a way out of his problem without losing his soul. Not letting Pete know about the bargain he's made with a demon, Jack sets off for Thailand without her in an effort to pay back his debt. And using her connections with her former partner, Pete tracks him down and together they fight the powers of hell, but without the happy ending one would expect. So, so sad.  *sigh*

Which brings us to Bone Gods...


Unfortunately, Jack's been summoned to Hell and Pete is left alone in the dreary world of London to live without him.  But living without Jack gets a little easier for Pete when a bizarre ritualistic killing has Pete's former partner calling her for help in the investigation.

This investigation takes her to an evil underworld dance club that leaves her on the floor about to be trampled to death in the middle of a mosh pit, when suddenly... Jack appears. Yep,  he's back from Hell, and changed forever... and the poor guy doesn't even remember being released.

As they work together in another investigation, we learn about a turf war brewing in the supernatural underworld of the fey with necromancers threatening to take over and go to war with the demons. But the more Pete learns, the more dangerous things become, and the more she understands about her and Jack's role in how the war will end.

Wait. What was that? The more Pete learns, the more dangerous things become, and the more she understands about her and Jack's role in how the war will end. You see, Jack,  the all-powerful crow-mage, has been chosen to lead the army of demons in this war.   And Pete, well, she's been chosen to kill the crow-mage.  At this point most people would probably throw up their hands in despair and pack their bags and run. Pete, however... follows the example of her lover and makes a deal with the demon  Belial and saves Jack's soul.  This deal turns out to be a good thing, because having Jack around will prove useful in just a few short months (totally a spoiler, btw). *wink wink*

By the time we get to Devil's Business, the fourth book in the Black London novels, Pete is a few months pregnant, and the members of the supernatural world are not too happy about having Jack around. He's being hunted...  and after getting his butt kicked by a grocery store clerk, Jack's starting to think it might just be a perfect time to pack up and leave London... with Pete, of course.

And Pete has plans to do just that. With no work for their investigative business available to them in London, Pete decides to take a case in L.A. The case is concerning a family that was murdered in a home they were renting. The most disturbing part of the crime is that the pregnant woman's unborn baby is missing. Interestingly, there was a similar case ten years earlier and this detective in L.A. is determined to solve both crimes.

And, of course, Pete and Jack aren't in L.A. very long when the demon Belial makes an appearance to collect his debt from Pete. Turns out there's an "evil older than the black" haunting the City of Angels, and this evil is harvesting the bodies of the unborn to create their own little... I have no idea what they are, but when the one kid shows up in the book things got a little creepy. Like.. real creepy. And when they went after Pete and Jack's unborn baby, and Pete could feel the baby changing inside here... I totally panicked. In fact I found myself silently screaming; "DON'T HARM THE BABY!"

Will Jack and Pete's unborn baby be a vessel for all that is evil, or will they destroy the evil and restore order in the Black? Hmmmm... I guess you'll need to read the book and find out.

So there you have it... My take on Black London. I love this series so much I'm willing to share. If you think this series is for you leave a comment on the blog and I'll enter you in a drawing to win all four books listed in this post.

Street Magic is available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Demon Bound is available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Bone Gods is available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Devil's Business is available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble

You can learn more about Caitlin Kittredge on her website  ----->>>  HERE.

Turning Series by Dawn Kirby

Undercover

Chris settled in behind the wheel with a hot cup of coffee and a cold burrito. Not the best food to keep a guy going for long, but if he were lucky the wait would be worth it. There was something off about this whole situation and he was determined to find out what it was. Since the girl had been killed here, Matt’s house seemed like the best place to start.

Best case scenario he’d catch them trying to dispose of evidence. Worst case, he’d wake up with a massive neck cramp and nothing to show for it. Either way he’d get a little closer to the truth. Carter may have excused the girl, but he didn't. Playing the victim only works when you've got nothing to hide

Crouching low in his seat he watched as Matt’s truck pulled into the driveway. No sooner than he stepped out of the truck than he was on top of it. Chris shook his trying to figure out how he’d not seen him before. How could he miss the one guy they’d been looking for for weeks? He put his hand on the door handle prepared to intervene. He pulled once, nothing. Twice. Still nothing.

“Stay,” a voice said. He jerked his head to look in the back seat. Nobody. The disembodied voice came again. “I can only protect so many.

Lost, he turned his attention outside. He pulled the handle again. Still it stuck. Seconds later a man appeared out of thin air. Alana arrived shortly thereafter. The man pushed her toward Matt’s girlfriend, urging them inside. She froze; watching as her former lover began to squeeze the life out of her brother. Even from where he’d parked he could see the blood trickling through Ben’s fingers.

Chris drew his side arm and tried again to get out. “Stay,” the voice growled. “You have no idea what you’re dealing with.” Not about to give up he pointed the gun at the window. Somebody had to put a stop to this craziness now. “You do this and they’re all dead. This I promise you.”

The man stepped in front of Matt, blocking any further blows and shot a contemptuous glance Chris’s way. He lowered the gun. Somehow that guy had managed to get inside his head. As much as he didn't want to believe it, he knew it was true. What the hell was he dealing with?

Matt’s body sailed through the parking lot coming to rest mere feet from his car. In seconds his earlier question was answered. Fangs, blood...He barely had time to register the fact that vampires were in fact real and one was right here in front of him before he and Alana disappeared.

Stunned he tried his door again. Gun drawn he hurried out of the car and ran to Matt’s side. Though his neck was a bloody mess and his body was broken he was still conscious. Barely, but there.

“We need an ambulance,” he said reaching for his phone.

“No,” Carly said. She glanced up at Nicholas. “We've got him.”

“Hun, this guy needs a doctor.”

Nicholas took the phone from the detective’s hand and turned to Carly. “Do I have permission? I’d rather not do this out here. It’s not safe.”

“You bet your sweet ass you do,” she answered. “I assume you have a plan?”

“She does,” Nicholas said. As dire as the situation was he couldn't hide the smile. This was Alana’s way of not being a victim? “Had she not, she would still be here.”

“Do you mind?” Chris said impatiently. “I’d like to get this guy some help.”

“He is helping you nimrod,” Carly spat. She slid her arms under Matt’s. “Yo! Grab his feet. Nicholas, keep your eyes open. I doubt he’ll come back, but you never know.”

Chris reluctantly helped them get Matt inside and on the couch. Blood was everywhere. Once the kid was settled he went for the phone. Carly tossed her shoe at him stopping him in his tracks.

“What is it with you people?!” He turned around to see Nicholas dropping blood from his wrist into Matt’s mouth. “What the hell?”

“Ben’s not the only vampire,” Carly said stroking Matt’s hair. Chris sank into a chair, shaking his head in denial. “Nicholas will give him what he needs to heal and then we can go get Alana back.”

“No!” Nicholas yelled. A couple of drops more and Matt was out. “He will be useless for hours. She won’t have that long.”

“Then what do you suggest?” Carly asked. “You know he’s gonna wanna help when he wakes up.”

“With any luck she will be home safe by then.”