Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 119694 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 598(@200wpm)___ 479(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119694 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 598(@200wpm)___ 479(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
My friend is just standing there, wide-eyed and frightened. She no longer looks like the jewel-eyed Fae creature Whistler dragged in by the arm. She’s not some nightmare thing made of glamour and sharp edges—she’s just Hanna. Real, human Hanna, in wrinkled navy-blue scrubs that are a little too tight in the hips with a name badge clipped crookedly to her chest.
Her auburn curls are a mess, pulled half out of whatever ponytail she threw them into this morning, and her green eyes are wide with shock. Freckles dust her nose and cheeks, standing out starkly against skin that’s gone pale.
She looks exactly like she did the last time I saw her—except now she’s standing in a Vampire Don’s dining hall, surrounded by monsters. Well, two monsters and me.
“Oh my God,” I breathe, still not quite believing it. I never expected to see anyone from Book Club again, but here she is.
Hanna sways slightly, like her legs might give out and I rush to catch her before she falls…but Don Malthus beats me to it.
Before I can stop him, he is cradling Hanna in his massive arms, looking down at her with that skull mask of his.
“Be careful, lovely one,” he murmurs. “You wouldn’t want to bruise that lovely pale flesh, would you?”
Hanna looks up at him, her green eyes going wide with fright.
“Who…what…”
I dump my cat and rush to my friend. Mr. Mittens lands on his feet, of course, tail lashing furiously as he glares at us all like this is the worst dinner party he’s ever attended, but I barely notice—I’m too worried about Hanna.
“Hey, let her go,” I demand, glaring at the Necro Don. “You’re scaring her to death!”
“Very well.” Don Malthus removes his skeletal hands, pushing Hanna gently into my arms.
But by this time, she looks positively wild. Her hands fly to her hair, fingers tugging at her curls like she’s trying to wake herself up.
“Oh my God,” she says, sounding breathless. “Oh my God, Jules. What…where am I? Where is this place?”
“That doesn’t matter, right now,” I say, hugging her tight. “For right now, you just need to know that you’re safe. I won’t let anyone hurt you—I promise.”
Of course, I couldn’t stop either the Vampire or the Necromancer if they wanted to hurt her but just let either of them try! I’m not so worried about Lucian, but I give Don Malthus another glare, letting him know my friend is off-limits.
Hanna lets out a broken little sound and clings to me tightly. Clearly her mind is reeling—trying to process all of this. I know how she feels.
“Oh my God,” I say, laughing and crying at the same time. “I can’t believe you’re actually here!”
“I can’t believe it either!” she says, voice high and shaky. “Where am I? Jules, where am I?”
I pull back just enough to look at her, keeping my hands locked on her arms like if I let go she might vanish. She’s curvy like me—soft hips, full thighs—and the reality of seeing her, another human here in the Shadow Realm—grounds me like nothing else could. She just looks so real.
Her scrubs are rumpled, like she slept in them or ran out the door in a hurry—probably she was late to work. Hanna is a wonderful person, but she’s almost always running five to ten minutes late at any given time.
Maybe she came looking for me and that’s how she ended up here.
My chest tightens painfully at the thought. My poor Hanna—I feel awful for her.
“Where am I?” she whispers again.
“You’re definitely not in Florida anymore,” I tell her. “I’ll explain. I promise. Just—breathe.”
She sucks in a breath that seems to shake her whole body. It’s not like she’s weak—she’s one of the strongest people I know. I mean, she’s a Hospice nurse—it takes guts to do a job like that. But she also looks like she might be going into some kind of shock and who could blame her? It makes you feel crazy to be dragged from the regular world into the Shadow Realm—I should know.
But while I’ve been preoccupied with my cat and my friend, the mood in the room has shifted sharply.
Lucian rises from his chair in one smooth, dangerous motion, the scrape of wood against stone loud in the sudden silence. His eyes have gone blood red and they are fixed on Whistler, his expression darkening by the second.
“What,” he says coldly, “is the meaning of this?”
Whistler lifts one shoulder in a casual shrug, like he didn’t just drag one of my best friends into a supernatural power struggle.
“You instructed me to retrieve the cat and its accoutrements, my Lord. So that’s what I did.”
“I instructed you to retrieve the cat,” Lucian snaps, every word precise and sharp. “Not abduct another human—especially not another Curvy Queen! You know how dangerous it is to bring them here to the Shadow Realm!”