Mistress of Malice and Mercy

It is a year overdue, but it is up at Amazon and I am working on BN & Smashwords.  If you are having a hard time with it and want it in PDF, just shoot me an email.

Thank all of you for sticking with me throughout all of this.  Y'all are truly amazing.

Cover

A view from the end

Mistress of Malice and Mercy is done.

Yes, you read that right.  It's done.  All I'm waiting on is the cover art (Viola will be on the cover of this one... I'm so excited and nervous I can hardly stand it) and a few final edits.

To celebrate with y'all (since I can't pour you each a glass of the wonderful Texas red wine I'll have tonight), I'm posting a snippet from the last chapter.

But first... I struggled with how I wanted to end this story because it is the end of the series.  I worried about making it dramatic and final, but when the time came to actually write the chapter, it was so much easier than I feared.  It comes back to how it started:  a guy, a girl, and a pack of demons. 

- - -

“Who do we have to kill?” Duke murmured in her ear.

“A pack of Nverns,” Viola said, reading the messages on her screen.

The duvet lifted.  Cold air wafted over her back and chest.  Duke’s head loomed over hers.  “How in the hell did a pack of Nverns get your phone number?” 

 “I think the better question would be how they managed to use the phone,” she countered, wriggling her fingers at him.  “They have crab claws, remember?”

 

Duke flopped down beside her, shoving her head to the edge of the pillow.  “Who do we know brave enough to interrupt our vacation?”  He scrubbed a hand over his face.  “The vacation we made very, very clear that we earned.”

 

“Tom.  He says there’s a pack of Nverns nearby.   The Trackers in the area aren’t equipped to deal with them.”

 
Duke scowled at the ceiling.  “How does Tom know where we are?  I thought we made him promise not to try to locate us?  You even had that ridiculous pinky-swearing ceremony.”

Viola wriggled guiltily.  She and Duke had agreed to limit their access to technology, but she was so behind on her emails that the thought of falling even further into the hole made her skin crawl.  She’d taken advantage of every moment alone and scrolled through her inbox, reading important emails and deleting spam messages.

 

“There may or may not be a website devoted to  Chaos Child sightings.  It may or may not have been started by that nice Grakken couple we helped in El Paso.  Tom may or may not have emailed me the link four days ago.”

 

“I may or may not kick your ass,” Duke growled, rolling over to pin her arms to the mattress.

“Pack of Nverns,” she reminded, though she was tempted to let him try.  She ran her toes along the back of his calf, chuckled when his pupils dilated and a growl rumbled in his chest.  “I brought my new pants.”

 

“And the vest?”

 

“Yup.”  She reached up to trace the curve of his lips.  “In the unlikely event you manage to kill more Nverns than I do, I’ll show you what it looks like without the t-shirt underneath.”

 

“You’re on.”

Before she could blink, he was off the bed and headed for the small closet.  Her Giivva hide pants landed on the bed followed a second later by the matching vest.  The soles of her heavy black boots thunked against the wooden floor when Duke set them beside the bed.

Cathedral & Jackson Square during ghost tour

New Orleans trip

MMM & Vacation

Here's a Mistress of Malice and Mercy snippet before I go on vacation.  I'm spending one day in New Orleans before I head up to my brother's wedding.  Expect to be bombarded with pictures.  Apologies in advance.  :)

I am going on a ghost tour in New Orleans and am staying in a haunted hotel.  I plan on touring several cemeteries.  Unlike Viola, I have no desire to spend time with ghosts, so I expect to get almsot no sleep while I'm there.  If you happen to see a hotel room with all the lights on at three in the morning, that'll be me.



MMM - Chapter Thirty-Nine

“You’re not half wrong.”  She hooked her ankle around his calf and wriggled until she was plastered against his side.  “I could stay here, like this, forever.”

 

“We’re in a cemetery.”

 

Soft laughter floated on the breeze.  “J’rain and Temek don’t mind.  They’ve peacefully moved on.”

 

“I wasn’t worried about them.”

 

Her fingers skipped across his waist until they reached his belt buckle.  She traced the engraving for a moment before deliberately slipping southward.  “You know, back when I was in high school I had this recurring fantasy.  I’d sneak out of the house and you’d follow me and we’d argue and then you’d…”

 

He snatched her hand up and tucked it against his chest.  “We are not making out in the cemetery, Viola.”

 

“You’re no fun.”

 

He kissed her fingertips, moved his lips to the pulse fluttering at her wrist.  “I’ll make it up to you.”

 

“You’d better.”

MMM

She half-heartedly kicked his ankle. “I don’t need you to protect me all the time, Tobias.”

 

“Oh please,” he huffed, “you’ve been a trouble magnet since the day you were born. Sebastian and I spent most of the ‘90s rescuing you from one scrape or another. At times I swore you went looking for danger.”

 

Her warm breath tickled his neck when she laughed. She hooked her fingers through his belt loops and blocked out Sebastian’s gagging. “Can you blame me? I had my very own Prince Charming, complete with white horse and faithful sidekick. Besides, you know you enjoyed playing the hero.”

 

“I did.” He nipped her bottom lip, savored the way she melted against him. “Protecting you is second nature; don’t ask me to stop now, sugar. I don’t think I can.”

 

Viola and Sebastian in Mistress of Malice and Mercy

While the relationship between Duke and Viola is undoubtedly one of the most important in the series, the one between Viola and Sebastian is important.  The first incarnation of this series actually focused more on the Ashwood siblings and Duke was a secondary character (you see how well that turned out - sometimes I think he's more of a drama queen than Sebastian).  When their father disappeared and their mother lost her grip on sanity, the Ashwood siblings broke.  They didn't break in the same way, which is something I wanted to explore and I don't think I got a chance to do.  Ah well, who is going to complain about an excuse to write another Ashwood book?

I am probably in the minority, but I adore the relationship between Sebastian and Viola.  Of the siblings, they are the most alike, though there are some marked differences.  Amy's death split them, but there were cracks that started long before Elrachaim killed her.  Viola wanted to break with her siblings before that showdown.  Sebastian wanted to stop searching for their father and settle down to start a life with Amy.  They were drifting apart and poor Olivia was stuck trying to hold them together.

In The  Chaos Child, Sebastian and Viola try to work out some of their issues but things aren't easy because of his Dreamless Sleep addiction and the matter of trying to rescue Olivia.  In the end, she tells him that she knows he'll never trust her again and that they won't have the relationship they once had.  He surprises her by sticking around, and I think he'll surprise you in Mistress of Malice and Mercy. 

I also adore their teasing - it's not quite the same as her banter with Duke because there is an edge to it, but there is always affection.  This is one of their scenes together in MMM:

 

 

Tears stung Viola’s eyes. The lump in her throat hurt and she wanted to bawl like a baby. She flung her arms around Voltnor’s neck and dragged him down into a bear hug. “I love you guys so damn much.”

“Whoa there, little sister,” Sebastian teased. “Let’s not say things like that with Duke around. I’m not sure who I’d pick in that fight.”

She spun around and threw herself at Sebastian. He stumbled back a few steps but quickly regained his balance. Her arms and legs were like vices around his neck and knees. “I love you, too.”

“Hormones?” Sebastian asked an amused Voltnor.

”I would not dare presume to...”

Viola reared back to glare at her brother only to freeze when she caught a glimpse of his black eye and busted lip. His left cheek was puffy. Still clinging to him, she arched an eyebrow and drummed her fingers on his shoulderblades.

“What in the hell happened to you? Sweet mercy, Seabass-the-stupid-ass, who did you piss off this time? I have warned you about getting snippy with the Yvaltas in the cabin across from yours. How many times do I have to tell you that you cannot, I mean cannot, tease them about their horns. Did you just stand there and let whoever it was kick your ass or did you at least try to defend yourself?”

Over her head, Sebastian rolled his eyes at Voltnor. “Hormones.”

Viola in The Chaos Child

My notes for my books aren't always in outline form.  Often I write short snippets of what a character is thinking or feeling at a certain point (which is where many of the back & side stories come from).
This is Viola in The Chaos Child when Duke is impaled:

Viola's life, for the most part, has been spent in flux. Growing up in the Network is never easy, but she's flexible. The motto Semper Gumby serves her well. She clings to a few constants - not many, but enough to get her through endless road trips, abandonment, and rebuilding her life. Her constants are this: her father loves her, Aunt Hattie always has her back, and Tobias Duke exists. She doesn't rely on his friendship or wish for his love (except when she does, of course). It's enough to know he's out in the world somewhere.

A month before her twenty-fifth birthday, she loses a constant. Aunt Hattie's decades of betrayal are revealed.  She repays that betrayal with torture and release.  Vengeance does little for the ache in her heart. Another constant is shaken. Her father isn't a victim but a cold, calculating monster. He loves her but hurts her, and she tries to separate Demon from Daddy. It's hard, though, when the devil wears a beloved face.  She's been Daddy's Girl all her life.  It's a hard title to lose.

The third constant evolves. Not only is Duke in the world, he's in her life. In her head. In her bed. He becomes her rock, her safe harbor, every cliché she can think of, her heart and soul. While her world crumbles around her feet, she wraps her arms around him and holds on for dear life (sanity). Throughout Sebastian's detox, anxiety over her father ( the Daddy-Demon), fearing for Finn's life, and guilt over Granny's injuries, her remaining constant runs through her mind like the chorus of the annoyingly catchy pop songs Olivia used to love (and there's more guilt added to the load). At least I have Duke. At least I have Duke. AtleastIhaveDuke. AtleastIhaveDuke.

Until one bright afternooon, she doesn't. An ambush. Folists (sweet mercy, haven't they done enough damage to the Duke family). A traitor in peril. That damned Duke honor. Before she can blink, he's on the ground with blood pooling around him and static in their link. The third constant wobbles. Flickers.

Viola's fists clench. Her heart stills. The breath catches in her throat. Fireworks burst behind her eyes, and heat sears her skin. Power bursts from its prison.  Without that last constant, her world dissolves into flames. Chaos.

MMM Snippet

I have started on the last six chapters of MMM (which is poor timing on my part because college football season has started).  I adore this story, but I am worried because this is it for Duke and Viola (for now, at least) and I love them so much that I don't want to let them (or anyone) down.

Dinner was awkward, but not a disaster. Sebastian took pity on his brother-in-law and directed the conversation away from the Network and recent events. It was easiest for him since he was the only one, aside from Isabel, who’d tried to live without demons or ghosts. Fortunately, the Wfsals had agreed to eat their gumbo in Aggie’s bedroom. Sebastian had a feeling Viola’s bribe of pie and cartoons had a great deal to do with their compliance.




Isabel chatted about her latest gallery event but refrained from extending an invitation. She ignored the stab of disappointment when Duke didn’t press for details about her next showing. He’d never expressed much interest in her watercolor landscapes and portraits. She wondered if he’d believe that she had every issue of his comic book series tucked away in a drawer in Florida. She even had the handmade cards and school artwork he’d sent on his father’s prompting. Feeling he was wasting his talent didn’t mean she couldn’t appreciate it.



“I’ll make tea,” Viola offered while Sebastian and Duke cleared the table.



“No!” Duke flushed when all eyes fixed on him. It was possible he’d been a little too vehement. “I’ll make it, sugar,” he added in a much softer tone.



She rolled her eyes and followed him into the kitchen. “I’m not going to poison her in Granny’s house. That would be rude.”



“Okay.”



“I mean, Granny dislikes her just as much as I do. She’s better at hiding it.” Viola retrieved a tin of mint and chamomile tea from the pantry. Under Duke’s suspicious stare, she measured out scoops of tea, filled infusers, and lined up five mugs. “If I poison your mom by myself, Granny’d feel left out. That’s not fair.”



“Bloodthirsty tonight, aren’t we?”



She shrugged, leaned back against the counter while he set the kettle on the stove. “It was a rough day. I need to go to the office tomorrow afternoon to see Becky, but I’m not going to Burkeholt. We can talk about it in the morning.”



“More bad news?”



“Some. Some of it’s stuff I – we – already suspected.” She snuggled against his side, slipped a hand into his back pocket. “I’m surprised your father isn’t here tormenting your mother.”



“Bowling night, remember? He said he’d stop by tomorrow to see if she was still around.”



“Lucky man,” she muttered. When the kettle whistled, she poured boiling water into each mug. After setting the timer over the stove, she returned to Duke’s side. “We have four minutes. Whatever shall we do with the time?”



His lips were pulled to hers as if drawn by a magnet. He ignored the dull ache in his shoulder and pinned her against the refrigerator door. “I have a few ideas, sweetness.”



The door separating the kitchen from the formal dining room swung open. A frustrated male sigh echoed off the walls. Sebastian slapped his hand across his eyes and spun back to face the door. “That’s it! I’m staying at Burkeholt tonight!”