The gravediggers son, p.11
The Gravedigger's Son,
p.11
“She’ll help you with that, too.”
“Thank you for everything, Amber. I wish I could hug you.”
Amber clasped her hands at her chest. “I do, too.”
“Take care of him.” Dora gestured toward Quentin just as he saw the IV and realized where he was.
He bolted upright. He could not be in a hospital. Not with how fast he healed.
“Quentin!” Amber said. Dora disappeared, and Amber lunged at him. “What are you doing? Lay back.”
“I can’t be here,” he said, pushing at the blankets.
“Relax. We’re in my apartment. We have a lovely doctor who’s…friendly to our cause. She came over and got some blood into you since you decided to ditch what you had in Madrid. And now, she’s just trying to rehydrate you.”
He sank back onto the pillows.
“You good, boss?” Kyle asked from the doorway.
“I am. Thank you, Kyle.”
When the man glanced at him, Quentin nodded a greeting. Kyle offered him a sheepish smile and disappeared. The nerd had come through. If not for him, the day could’ve ended badly. Or, well, worse.
“So,” Amber said, tugging her Betty Boop comforter tight again, “the Vatican is looking into the website. They’ve already taken it down and are searching for the person who started it.”
“And you know this because…?”
“I contacted them. Using your phone, of course. I told them what happened with the demon and gave them your two-weeks’ notice, starting two weeks ago.” She sat beside him on the bed and felt his forehead, her fingers cool against his blistering skin. She’d braided her long hair and wore a T-shirt and boxers as if she were just getting ready for bed. Or waking up. She looked as fresh as morning dew either way.
“How long have I been here?”
“Only a few hours. You weren’t kidding. You heal fast. I was just getting ready to get some sleep when my mom called. She’s bringing over soup.”
He winced. “Does she hate me?”
Amber cupped his face. Ran her thumb over his unshaven jaw. Looked at him like he’d hung the moon. If she only knew how wrong she was. He could only imagine how bad he looked. She didn’t seem to care. “She could never hate you. My stepdad, however, is a little miffed.”
“Great.”
She laughed softly. “They love you, Quentin. Nothing will change that.”
“And you?”
She swung her legs up onto the bed and sat cross-legged. “What about me?”
He chuckled, then asked in alarm, “Wait, how did you get me here?”
The grin she flashed him stole his breath. “Remember Hawaii? Steve?”
“You’re kidding.”
“Nope. We owe that man dinner. Or possibly a small island. He helped me get you to the truck and then drove my car while I drove you.”
He shook his head. “Why?”
“Apparently, he is a fan of the supernatural.”
“Nice. What about the Tavern?”
“I’m still waiting to hear. We got out of there pretty fast, but the whole town heard the commotion. We’ll probably get a bill any day now. Or arrested. It’s hard to say.”
His gaze traveled the length of her. “It’ll be worth it.”
* * * *
Amber watched as he took her in, giddy about the fact that he even wanted to. After all this time, Quentin Rutherford was back in her life. But she didn’t want to make a big deal about it, to pressure him, so she changed the subject. “I can’t get over how well you know English now.”
“Rune. Yammering in my head ad nauseam.”
“Was it just me, or were you embarrassed to speak to me at first?”
“I was, yes.” He looked away. “I don’t sound right.”
She brushed a lock of hair off his brow. “You sound perfect.”
“But you can still tell I’m Deaf.”
“You can still tell you have hearing loss. Is that bad? I mean, you used to speak a word here and there all the time. You were never embarrassed before.”
“I’d never heard my voice before.”
In her head, she said, You mean the panty-melting, bone-dissolving, orgasm-inducing voice that she would never grow tired of hearing? Out loud, she said, “Oh, I see.”
“You called it Q&A Investigations.”
“What?” She was still on the panty-melting portion of the program.
“Your business. You named it after the business we started in high school.”
“I did. It seemed appropriate.”
“Amber.” He took her hand. “You could’ve become anything. Why are you a PI?”
“What’s wrong with being a PI?”
“Nothing. It’s just… You’re so smart.”
“You thought I would become a doctor or a lawyer or something.”
“Something like that.”
“I had a calling. What can I say? I wanted to follow in Aunt Charley’s footsteps.”
His gaze landed on her mouth and stayed there. “When is your mom going to be here?”
“Probably any minute.”
“How much time do you think we have?”
“Probably not much.”
He nodded in disappointment.
“No,” she said, snuggling beside him, “I mean, we should hurry.”
“Oh. Right. Okay, then.” He sent a hand under the waistband of her boxers.
“Wait,” she said, stopping it from reaching the motherland. “What does Rune do when you…when we…you know?”
“Shouldn’t you have thought of that before?”
“Hardly the point.”
He filled his lungs. “I won’t lie to you, Amber. He’s kind of a part of it.” When she only stared at him, he sank back onto the pillows. “I don’t even know where I stop and he starts anymore.”
She couldn’t imagine how he felt. To have something inside you that could take control like that. And she’d sicced Rune on him. Forced Quentin to stand down.
“I don’t blame you if you don’t want to have sex ever again.”
“Please.” She propped herself up, gazed into his eyes, and then delved into his mind. “Rune, look away.”
Hundreds of thousands of Rune-ians—Rune-ites?—turned away from her in unison. “Wow, did you know the citizens of Rune all have these long, curved spikes on their backs?”
“Yeah, I don’t care,” Quentin said, right before attacking.
He really did recover fast.
* * * *
Also from 1001 Dark Nights and Darynda Jones, discover The Graveyard Shift.
Sign up for the 1001 Dark Nights Newsletter
and be entered to win a Tiffany Key necklace.
There's a contest every month!
Click here to subscribe.
As a bonus, all subscribers can download FIVE FREE exclusive books!
Discover 1001 Dark Nights Collection Eight
Click here for more information.
DRAGON REVEALED by Donna Grant
A Dragon Kings Novella
CAPTURED IN INK by Carrie Ann Ryan
A Montgomery Ink: Boulder Novella
SECURING JANE by Susan Stoker
A SEAL of Protection: Legacy Series Novella
WILD WIND by Kristen Ashley
A Chaos Novella
DARE TO TEASE by Carly Phillips
A Dare Nation Novella
VAMPIRE by Rebecca Zanetti
A Dark Protectors/Rebels Novella
MAFIA KING by Rachel Van Dyken
A Mafia Royals Novella
THE GRAVEDIGGER’S SON by Darynda Jones
A Charley Davidson Novella
FINALE by Skye Warren
A North Security Novella
MEMORIES OF YOU by J. Kenner
A Stark Securities Novella
SLAYED BY DARKNESS by Alexandra Ivy
A Guardians of Eternity Novella
TREASURED by Lexi Blake
A Masters and Mercenaries Novella
THE DAREDEVIL by Dylan Allen
A Rivers Wilde Novella
BOND OF DESTINY by Larissa Ione
A Demonica Novella
THE CLOSE-UP by Kennedy Ryan
A Hollywood Renaissance Novella
MORE THAN POSSESS YOU by Shayla Black
A More Than Words Novella
HAUNTED HOUSE by Heather Graham
A Krewe of Hunters Novella
MAN FOR ME by Laurelin Paige
A Man In Charge Novella
THE RHYTHM METHOD by Kylie Scott
A Stage Dive Novella
JONAH BENNETT by Tijan
A Bennett Mafia Novella
CHANGE WITH ME by Kristen Proby
A With Me In Seattle Novella
THE DARKEST DESTINY by Gena Showalter
A Lords of the Underworld Novella
Also from Blue Box Press
THE LAST TIARA by M.J. Rose
THE CROWN OF GILDED BONES by Jennifer L. Armentrout
A Blood and Ash Novel
THE MISSING SISTER by Lucinda Riley
THE END OF FOREVER by Steve Berry and M.J. Rose
A Cassiopeia Vitt Adventure
THE STEAL by C. W. Gortner and M. J. Rose
CHASING SERENITY by Kristen Ashley
A River Rain Novel
A SHADOW IN THE EMBER by Jennifer L. Armentrout
A Flesh and Fire Novel
The Graveyard Shift
A Charley Davidson Novella
Click here to purchase.
Guarding a precocious five-year-old who is half-human, half-god, and 100% destined to save the world is no easy feat.
Garrett Swopes was the ultimate skeptic until he met a certain hellion and her husband. They vanished after stopping a catastrophic event and left him, a mere mortal, in charge of protecting their gift to mankind. But when she disappears as well, he needs the help of another breed of hellion. One who can see past the veil of space and time. One who betrayed him.
She will get a truce in the deal, but she will never earn his forgiveness.
Marika Dubois’s son—a warrior in the coming war between heaven and hell—was foreseen long before his birth. But to create a child strong enough to endure the trials that lay ahead, she needed a descendant of powerful magics. She found that in Garrett Swopes and tricked him into fathering her son. A ploy he has never forgiven her for. But when he knocks on her door asking for her help, she sees the fierce attraction he tries to deny rise within him.
And Marika has to decide if she dares risk her heart a second time to help the only man she’s ever loved.
* * * *
Charley Davidson, a god with a penchant for maiming first and asking questions later, was going to kill Garrett. No, that wasn’t right. Charley’s husband, Reyes Farrow, also a god with a penchant for maiming first and asking questions later, would start the whole process by ripping him to shreds, then letting Charley finish him off. Gladly. And with much glee.
Garrett had one job. One. Fucking. Job. Watch his best friends’ daughter, Beep, aka Elwyn Alexandra Loehr, a kid who just happened to be destined to save the world from a catastrophic demon uprising. He was supposed to guard her with his life. To keep her safe. To protect her from all the ghosts and goblins—metaphorically speaking since he didn’t have a supernatural bone in his body—hell-bent on doing her harm before she could prevent said catastrophic demon uprising.
He failed.
Yesterday, at exactly 3:33 p.m., the precocious five-year-old was running across a sun-drenched field of sagebrush and wild grasses when she disappeared right before his eyes. One second she was tripping over, well, absolutely nothing—so much like her mother, it startled him—and the next, she was gone.
If he hadn’t been looking right at her, if his gaze hadn’t been laser-locked on the long, dark tangles cascading down her back, if she hadn’t disappeared between his strategically placed blinks, he would’ve questioned the entire event. But there was simply no doubt about it. She’d vanished into thin air.
The way she disappeared would suggest a supernatural influence, especially considering the fact that she was the daughter of two gods, but her celestial parents had placed a shield over the entire area. No supernatural entity could penetrate it. Was there some loophole they’d missed? Some escape clause they’d overlooked?
Garrett didn’t hesitate. He immediately called in his entire team, but even his most preternaturally enhanced members couldn’t figure out what had happened, and one of them was a bona fide angel. Well, former angel.
After thirty-six hours of scouring every inch of Santa Fe and the surrounding area for even a sign of the little hellion, a storm had rolled in, and the search had to be abandoned. Garrett left his team at the compound, as well as the Loehrs, Elwyn’s grandparents, panicked and scrambling to figure out what’d happened. In the meantime, he went in search of the only woman he knew who could see past the veil of not only space, but time as well.
He had one clue to go on. Elwyn’s last words before she took off across the rugged New Mexican terrain.
Surely, he’d heard her wrong. He prayed he’d heard her wrong as he fought the winds and icy pelts of the desert storm, then raised a fist and pounded on the door of his ex, Marika Dubois.
Discover the World Of 1001 Dark Nights
Collection One
Collection Two
Collection Three
Collection Four
Collection Five
Collection Six
Collection Seven
Bundles
Discovery Authors
Blue Box Press
Rising Storm
Liliana Hart's MacKenzie Family
Lexi Blake's Crossover Collection
Kristen Proby's Crossover Collection
On Behalf of 1001 Dark Nights,
Liz Berry, M.J. Rose, and Jillian Stein would like to thank ~
Steve Berry
Doug Scofield
Benjamin Stein
Kim Guidroz
Social Butterfly PR
Ashley Wells
Asha Hossain
Chris Graham
Chelle Olson
Kasi Alexander
Jessica Johns
Dylan Stockton
Richard Blake
and Simon Lipskar
Darynda Jones, The Gravedigger's Son
