Kim Harrison - Hotter Than Hell

Fingers slow and clumsy, Mia felt the back of her dress to be sure the buttons were done up properly. The coffeepot was steaming, and she carefully put her empty cup away in the cupboard before unplugging the pot and setting his filled cup on the coffee table beside him. She turned the music down, and guilt prompted her to drape an afghan over him as if he was sleeping. His clothes went into the hamper.

Silent, she stood above him in her coat. “Goodbye, Tom,” she whispered before gathering her groceries and quietly leaving.

Fatigue hit her anew when she found the sidewalk. The rain had stopped, and the sun was peeking past the heavy clouds. Fumbling, Mia put her sunglasses on. Traffic hissed wetly, and she breathed deep when a couple passed her, hotly discussing the amount of the tip one of them had left. It was a sour taste after Tom’s love, and she let it eddy behind her unsipped.

She glanced at her watch and picked up the pace. Digging in a pocket, she found her wedding ring and put it back on. With a shamed slowness, her fingers slipped back into the pocket, running through Tom’s life force, pooled and condensed.

Delicate features pulling into a grimace, Mia took out a handful of tears, slipping the lightest one between her lips and sucking guiltily on it. His strength poured into her, and her pace quickened, heels clicking smartly against the concrete shining with the new sun.

Stupid man, she thought as she waved and jogged to catch the bus. The wish did work. Well, perhaps it would be more fair to say it had worked. It had worked very well when she met Remus—savage, angry Remus whose psychotic rage had been strong enough to bring Holly into existence. The love had come later, until now, she, Holly, and Remus were a real family. Like any family on the street, and Mia was proud of it.

Holly was the first banshee child to know her father, plying him with innocent love and devotion. It had been watching father and daughter that Mia learned it was possible to force emotion back into a person, lulling them into thinking they were safe while making themselves more vulnerable. The child had, in her innocence, returned to her species all the cunning and power human laws had taken from them, and for that alone Holly was going to be revered among her own. Once she learned how to walk and talk, that is.

Breathless, Mia smiled at the bus driver as she just made it to the door, fumbling for her bus pass. Tom, dead in his apartment, was hardly a glimmer of memory as she settled beside a young man smelling of cologne and shedding lust Mia knew to be from a new girlfriend. Easing back, she soaked it in, sated.

Her lids fluttered as they rumbled over the railroad tracks, and she looked at her watch, mildly concerned. Remus would likely throw a bloody-hell tantrum that she was running late, being unable to go to work until she got home to watch Holly. But they would both enjoy her kissing him into a calm state, and he’d get over it.

Besides, little Holly was hungry, and it wasn’t as if he could do the shopping.

TANYA HUFFlives and writes in rural Ontario with her partner Fiona Patton, six cats and an unintentional chihuahua. Her third novel in the Confederacy of Valor series, Heart of Valor , was published from DAW Books in the summer of ’07 and she is currently working on book four, Valor’s Trial. When she’s not writing, she’s keeping an eye on the production of Blood Ties, her Vicki Nelson books adapted for televison. She’s recently become addicted to homemade chai latte and thinks life would be pretty much perfect if the crawlspace would just quit flooding.

MARJORIE M. LIUis an attorney who has lived and worked throughout Asia. She hails from both coasts, but currently resides in the Midwest, where she writes full time. For more information about her books, which include the bestselling Dirk & Steele series, as well as her upcoming urban fantasy, The Iron Hunt , please visit her website at www.marjoriemliu.com.

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author CHEYENNE MCCRAYhas been writing ever since she can remember. She always knew one day she would write novels, hoping her readers would get lost in the worlds she created, as she did in her favorites.

For St. Martin’s Press, Chey writes the bestselling “Magic” series, most recently Shadow Magic and the upcoming Dark Magic. She also writes romantic suspense novels, including the high-octane thriller Moving Target and the soon-to-be-released Armed and Dangerous: Zack. Cheyenne is married to her college sweetheart, has three sons, three dogs, a messy house, and will do anything to get out of cleaning, which may be why she writes so much. Visit Cheyenne’s website at www.cheyennemccray.com.

L.A. BANKS,(aka, Leslie Esdaile Banks) is a native of Philadelphia and graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Wharton undergraduate program, as well as holds a masters in fine arts from Temple University’s School of Film and Media Arts. After a ten-year career as a corporate marketing executive for several Fortune 100 high-tech firms, Banks changed careers in 1991 to pursue a private consulting career—which ultimately led to fiction and film writing. Now, with over twenty-seven novels plus ten anthology contributions in an extraordinary breadth of genres, and many awards to her credit, Banks writes full time and resides in Philadelphia. Look for her Vampire Huntress Legends series and a full listing of her published works at www.vampire-huntress.com or www.LeslieEsdaileBanks.com.

Born in the San Francisco Bay Area, SUSAN KRINARDreceived a BFA from the California College of Arts and Crafts and “fell” into writing after her dream of becoming a SF/fantasy cover artist fell through. The author of fifteen novels and several short stories and novellas, Susan focuses on the combination of fantasy and romance in her work. Her most recent novel, Lord of the Beasts, reached the New York Times bestseller list. She now lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with her husband Serge, a cat named Jefferson, and her dogs Freya, Nahla, and Cagney. You can reach her at susankrinard@comcast.net.

KERI ARTHURwas born and bred in Melbourne, Australia, and grew up sharing her life with dragons, elves, vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, and the occasional talking horse. Which worried her family to no end. Of course, now that she actually makes a living sharing her life with the above-mentioned creatures, they no longer contemplate calling the men with the little white coats. When not at her keyboard, she can be found with her hubby in front of the TV, or taking her two dogs for a walk. For more information about all her books, head on over to www.keriarthur.com.

Bestselling, award-winning author HEIDI BETTScombines believable characters with compelling plotlines to create stories that focus on the commitment of one man and one woman to each other. She has written more than a dozen historical and contemporary romances, with several more projects in the works. Her first book for Silhouette Desire hit number one on the Waldenbooks Series Romance Bestseller List, where her books have continued to make an appearance ever since. Heidi loves to read, write, watch movies (and just a little too much television), and surround herself with furry, four-legged friends in her home in the beautiful hills of Central Pennsylvania. You can visit her website at www.heidibetts.com.

LILITH SAINTCROWwas born in New Mexico and transplanted to England at an early age, where she imbibed some very odd notions about tea and language before being violently uprooted and returned to the U.S. She is the author of the Dante Valentine series as well as other interconnected books about Santiago City, which exists only in her head—despite what you may have heard. You can learn more about both the city and the books at her website, www.lilithsaintcrow.com.