I have ANOTHER book release coming up in just a few days. ACK!! So, I thought it would be fun to share a little bit from the first chapter. This is a novella that I wrote for the Havenwood Falls line. But don’t despair! If you have never read anything from Havenwood Falls, that doesn’t mean you can’t read this one. Each story is meant to be a stand-alone (there are a few sequels in the mix, but this isn’t one of them.) It is my first solo effort onto the world of fantasy (I always relied on Amy Miles to help me figure things out for our Hallowed Realms Trilogy.)
This short novella (about 100 pages) is WAY outside my comfort zone and not my norm at all, so hopefully, you will like it. You can read the full manuscript on release day, Nov. 30. Without further ado…I give you Chapter 1…
Chapter 1
“Want me to take point?” Adam asked. His trap was raised
high, like you might raise a gun going into a drug bust. His muscles flexed,
showing delicious chocolate biceps. There were no two ways about it—that man
was fine, but also not on my radar. Poor boy wanted some quaint Christian girl.
That’s definitely not me.
“No need,” I said. “It’s only a Class C spirit. It’s not
going anywhere.”
Generally speaking, Class C spirits were harmless and
confined to the places where they died, unless they were way older than this
dipshit ghost, who chose to spend his afterlife tormenting a politician. We had
him right where we wanted.
I was the last thing a pissed off ghost wanted to see, for
good reason, too. I was the best spirit agent around. When a spirit felt me
walk into a room, they knew their time was up. What can I say? I was infamous
for being a bitch in both the human and spiritual realms. I wouldn’t apologize
for my skills. Or for being the best in my field. I was paid quite well by the feds
for handling these “classified” cases. My job was simple: enter a haunted
house, remove the misbehaving spirit, collect the cash, and move on to the next
city. The world was none the wiser as to just how many ghosts they walked the
earth with. Most were harmless. I only went after the ones that became a
problem.
My team was called in this morning to remove a less-than-friendly
Casper. This one was trapped in the attic. In a matter of minutes, the job
would be over, and I could go back to the hotel, where I planned to sink into
their hot tub. It really was the world’s easiest job.
More often than not, I got assigned a Class B spirit. Those
assholes became strong enough to emit sounds but were mostly harmless. Sure, I
might end up with a scratch or two from the older ones, but those went away by
the end of a day. Because they were so powerless, demonic spirits specialized
in the psychological mind-game damage they could do to the humans they’d been
forced to live with. This type of auras wrongly blamed humans for the reasons
they were trapped between realms. These were the douchebags I specialized in.
Grumpy spirits who liked to bite. That didn’t scare me. I was into the rough
stuff.
“Room is clear. Waiting on your call, Agent Young,” the
voice in my headpiece said. Ah, Winston was on today’s mission. How wonderful.
He was scared shitless of me. As he should have been.
“We go in when I say we go in, Winston.”
Winston bumbled an apology, and I focused back on the door.
Beside me, Adam and my other team member, Eduardo, were all
business, their traps poised and ready. They were so serious on these missions.
For them, I imagined, this was pretty scary shit. Going up against a spirit
wasn’t as simple for them, mostly because they couldn’t see them the way I
could. The imagination was always worse than reality when it came to fear. I
could see what I was after, so ghosts didn’t frighten me in the least. The rest
of the world was less fortunate.
To be clear, I couldn’t see a ghost in the same way I could
see a human. Spirits were not of this realm anymore, and therefore didn’t hold
the same shape as living, breathing humans. Instead, I saw the fragments of
what was left of them—their auras. Their souls. It was sort of like looking at
humans with heat-seeking glasses. A blob of pulsing energy. It wasn’t crystal
clear, but it was enough to be able to aim a trap accurately.
This baddie in the attic would be a cake walk. Normally, I
wouldn’t be called in for such an easy bag and tag but when this spirit took up
residency at a VIP’s place, my team was called in by the feds. Of course, if
the FBI was asked about its Soul Searcher program and my place on it, it would
deny any and all knowledge of me and the other spirit agents. Such was the risk
of a confidential job. I was like a ghost myself. Now you see me, now you
don’t.
Only a few dozen teams like mine existed around the world,
though most of them didn’t have a team member like me. They had to rely on
malfunctioning gadgets and incompetent tech to bring a spirit down. They didn’t
actually remove the spirit permanently. They simply pushed them somewhere else,
but that wasn’t my concern.
There were only five of us that the feds had in their
employment who were also Recoverers. There were likely dozens more, but none of
them wanted to be controlled by the bureaucracy. I didn’t mind. It paid well.
Being a Recoverer was another special skill of mine. I could bring back the
recently crossed over. Well, I could bring them back if I could get to them
within a few hours. I couldn’t bring back anyone long dead like Elvis or Prince,
though I totally would if I could.
Hell, a lot of those “near-death experiences” you read about?
Nine times out of ten, it wasn’t a miracle. It was a Recoverer sent to bring
the soul back to the human realm. These souls weren’t fully dead. They were
stuck in the spirit realm and hadn’t officially crossed over. Like purgatory, I
guess. We snatched them out of the waiting rooms of death to live another day. I’d
like to say why we brought back who we did had to do with noble reasons like
true love, or they had the formula to cure cancer, or some shit like that, but
it was usually because they owed money to the mob or were a family member of
someone important. The feds charged a pretty penny for a recovery and only
those with power could pay it.
I was recovering more souls than I trapped these days. It’s
like all the Recoverers decided to go on vacation at the same time. Lazy
fuckers. No one had a strong work ethic anymore. But that was just fine by me.
I’d happily take their fees.
Just then, Eduardo lifted his trap as he winked at me.
Unlike Adam, he got off on this part of the gig. He knew the men on this team
were there only for show. I was the star, and he liked seeing me in action.
Well, Eduardo liked seeing every aspect of me.
I don’t say I was the star player merely because of my
ability to see the spirits and bring back the dead, though those were pretty
kick-ass skills. No, I was the leader of the team because I was the only one
who could actually use the trap properly. I don’t know if they were just slow
on the trigger, aimed wrong, if their guns weren’t calibrated right, or what.
Whatever the reason, whatever the job, my traps were the only ones that took
the spirits down. Adam and Eduardo were basically my backup dancers. I didn’t
need them at my side, but it sure made an intimidating picture to the spirit.
Nodding, I gave Adam the signal to kick down the attic door.
Did we need to break the door to get to the spirit? Hell no. Breaking shit was
for the politician’s benefit. Might as well make him believe it was harder than
it looked, right? Smoke and mirrors. That’s all ghost hunting and politics
were, after all.
Adam went in first, followed by Eduardo. Each of them
shouted for the ghost to show itself. This was really quite a ridiculous thing
to say to a ghost, especially with me on the job, but it made them feel useful
and masculine to yell.
The ghost was there, plain as day to me. Eduardo and Adam
watched my face to follow where I was looking, so they would know where to aim
their traps. Usually, I had to walk around to find the thing cowering in a
corner, but this spirit was hovering right in front of me. Almost as if it
wanted to be found. In fact, I swear it cocked its head when it saw me.
“Why, hello,” I said with a smirk.
Adam and Eduardo raised their traps to where I was focused,
but my trap remained at my side as I studied the boldness of the spirit. This
was unusual behavior for a spirit. They were typically more skittish when they
knew their time was up. Color me intrigued.
“Fire?” Adam whispered when I stalled the command.
“Not yet. I need to check on one thing first,” I said,
tapping against my earpiece. My eyes never left the aura. Though I couldn’t see
actual eyes, I had the sneaking suspicion its focus was directly on me as well.
“Go ahead, Agent Young,” Winston said in my earpiece.
“Is my room ready at the Ritz?”
“Yes. I have booked a king bed, just like you asked.”
“Good,” I purred. “Eduardo and I plan on making good use of
it later.” There was a silence on the other end of the com, which assured me I
had made poor Winston blush. I knew full well all our conversations during
missions were recorded. I didn’t say such things to torment Winston, but to
annoy my commanding officer, Agent Duncan. He didn’t care for the fact that
Eduardo and I were screwing around. It was jealousy, pure and simple. They all
got that way when I tired of them.
“I suppose it’s time to trap this spirit and go play, eh,
Eduardo?” I whispered into his ear.
His lips curled into a mischievous smile for a half a
second, but then he refocused on the mission, like a good boy.
I lifted my trap in one fluid movement, waiting for the
spirit to make a run for it, but it didn’t move. It held its ground in front of
me. Smart spirit. It would have been wasted energy trying to escape from me.
“Your time is coming,” the female-sounding spirit said,
though only I could hear it. I raised my eyebrows, impressed in spite of
myself. They normally couldn’t communicate. It took too much energy. Those four
words likely drained her completely. She was easy prey now. Not that she wasn’t
before.
“Yeah, yeah, we all meet our maker soon enough. Right now,
though, it’s your turn,” I said, before walking right up to her. I pointed the
gun to where her head was and pulled the trigger. My wrist singed a bit from
the kickback of the gun, but it was a small price to pay.
“Target acquired.”
I handed the trap to Adam, who held onto it like it was
worth more than gold. Spirits fascinated him. He longed to be able to see them
as I did. He always took meticulous notes after each capture, begging me to
describe each spirit in as much detail as possible. Apparently, saying it
looked like colored smoke wasn’t enough for him. I wished he could see an aura,
just once, so he’d get off my back about them.
Eduardo was less professional about the completion of our
mission and opted to grab my ass instead. He pulled me close for a
congratulatory kiss. I wasn’t about to object. That man knew how to use his
tongue.
“Get a room,” Adam groaned. Eduardo and I did this sort of
thing all the time, so you’d think he’d be used to it by now, but his prudish
ways always left me feeling a little dirty. In the good way.
“Great idea,” I said. I’d had enough work for
one day. It was well past time to let off some steam. Eduardo was the perfect
way to do it, too. We left the attic, arm in arm, leaving all thoughts of the
job behind.
Well, there you have it. Stay tuned here and on my social media platforms for more fun and games leading up to release day!
Danielle Bannister, Author and sneak peeker
Danielle Bannister, Author 