This will be the last sample chapter of Resurrected since it comes out next week.
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Alex Stanton heard their expected guests in the hallway before they rang the doorbell to his and Phil’s condo. He yanked the door open before the sound died. “How’s my favorite granddaughter?” He swept Ellie into his arms and twirled her around. His Maltese Kiki danced around his bare feet and barked at the excitement.
Ellie giggled. “Grandpa Alex, you’re being silly. I’m your only granddaughter.”
“And if you make her puke, you’re cleaning up the mess,” Phil yelled from the kitchen.
Ellie leaned close to his ear. “Mommy’s upset. Uncle Jake’s in the hospital.”
“I know,” he whispered back. “Grandma Phil’s making cookies. Why don’t you give her a hand?”
“Yay!” Ellie shed her jacket and dropped it on the floor before she ran for the kitchen. Kiki yipped and raced after her.
“El—” Tiffany started.
“Let it go this once,” Alex murmured as he retrieved the bright pink garment with Hello Kitty embroidered on the pockets. “What happened?”
“W-we don’t know much yet. His mom just said there was an accident.” She looked on the verge of tears herself.
“I’m taking her there now,” Sam said, as if daring him to say something.
Things hadn’t been great between the two women since Max died two years ago. He hadn’t agreed with Duncan about getting in the middle of the mess between Sam and Tiffany, but maybe Duncan had been right to do so after all.
“Go. I’ll meet you two there.”
“You don’t have to—” Tiffany started, but he held up a hand. The kid’s relief at having someone else there was obvious, even to Sam from the way her lips pinched together.
“He’s my employee, too. And I’m gonna make damn sure whatever happened was really an accident.” Things had been quiet for the last year, other than the misunderstanding with the ghouls six months ago. But the peace Tiffany brokered with them had been invaluable in taking down the Vampire Liberation Front, and the threat of rebellion for withholding the cure from her own coven had gotten Virginia Dare to back off her planned invasion of St. James Coven’s territory.
However, there had been no signs of Marcus Giovanni, the Sunshine Believers, or any dino demon since the ghoul incident.
Alex’s gut said this was merely the proverbial lull before the storm. And it would be just like those assholes to target a Normal member of the coven. He glanced in the direction of the kitchen to make sure Ellie was still back there.
Give me a little credit, Phil’s voice whispered in his mind. Of course, she’d been listening to the conversation through him.
Tiffany’s eyes widened. “You don’t think—”
“Don’t worry about it right now. Get to the hospital. I’ll be there in a bit.”
“Thanks.” Tiffany’s voice trembled, but her back was ramrod straight. She and Sam winked out of sight.
He padded back to the kitchen where his wife and Ellie were enthusiastically licking chocolate chip cookie dough off the beaters. Poor Kiki looked mournfully up at them.
“That looks delicious,” he said brightly as he retrieved a doggie treat. He crouched down, and Kiki licked his fingers before she gingerly took the nugget from his hand.
Ellie paused. “Did you eat chocolate chip cookies before you got sick?”
“Nope. I don’t think they had been invented yet.” He winked, and she giggled. “I need to go run an errand.” He rose and grabbed his keys and wallet from the counter.
Ellie’s eyes narrowed. “You’re going to the hospital, too, aren’t you?”
He and Phil exchanged looks.
Don’t lie to her, his wife said in his mind.
“Yeah, sweetie, I am.”
“Why can’t I go?” Ellie asked matter-of-factly.
He knelt beside her. “Because the doctors want Jake to rest so he can get better. They won’t let little girls into his room yet.”
“Would they let me in to see him if Jake and Mommy got married?” she asked. “He said he was hoping to be my daddy real soon.”
Alex swallowed his discomfort. Jake had mentioned he’d asked Ellie’s permission when he’d dragged Alex along to shop for an engagement ring last week.
He wrapped an arm around Ellie. “I know he wants to be your daddy, sweetie. But even if he were already, the doctors still wouldn’t let you in yet. You would need to stay with us, or Grandma and Grandpa Howell, or Uncle Duncan.”
“That’s not fair.” Ellie stuck out her bottom lip. “I’m better behaved than Grandma Howell.”
Alex couldn’t look at Phil because he was having trouble keeping his own laughter in check. “If it makes you feel better, the doctors wouldn’t let Grandma Howell see Jake right now either.”
“Okay.” That answer seemed to mollify Ellie. “I suppose you can go without me.”
He smiled. “Thank you.”
She threw her arms around his neck. “It’s okay if you have to bite him to make him better, too.”
He forced himself not to react. Concern rolled along Phil’s thoughts as well.
Maybe Bebe had been right all those years ago. When they had first met the doctor, Tiffany had been in high school. Bebe had gone ballistic about Tiffany being raised by vampires. But not even as a teenager had Tiffany taken the V-virus this lightly.
Or maybe Ellie wasn’t taking things lightly. Maybe she understood more than Sam and Tiffany had been willing to admit to themselves.
“Well, let’s see what Jake’s doctors says before we do anything.”
“Okay.” Ellie released him. “Can I watch some television, Grandma Phil?”
“Yes, you may, but—” Phil turned and pulled a clean bowl from the dish rack. “Take this to put your beater in.”
Ellie accepted the bowl and took off for the living room. Kiki glanced at Alex before she trotted after Ellie. A few seconds later the overly sweet lyrics of a popular children’s show echoed through the condo.
Alex rose and kissed Phil briefly on the lips. “I’ll call you once I know something.” He turned to leave, but she grabbed his arm.
“Wait.”
“What’s wrong?”
She laughed and forced him to pivot away from her. “Hold still. You have a blob of cookie dough in your hair.”
Water ran in the sink behind him before the fresh scent of his wife mixed with the sweet smell of raw dough. He held still while she gently wiped the dough off the back of his head.
“There you go,” she said. “But you might want to wash your hair when you get home.”
He turned and pulled her close. “I will.” She tasted like semi-sweet chocolate and brown sugar when he gave her a much deeper kiss this time.
Phil pulled away and swatted him on the ass. “You’d better get going. If Jake’s all right, the hospital’s going to need you to referee the girls.”
Alex hoped she was wrong about Sam and Tiffany. But he still said a silent little prayer for Jake while he pulled on his boots. His goodbye didn’t even register with Ellie who was engrossed in her program, but Kiki looked at him briefly before she curled up against Ellie on the couch.
Sometimes it felt as if that dog understood far more than any normal canine. According to Phil, the Maltese breed were descended from pets created by a Phoenician god. Hell, for all he knew, Kiki might really be a were-Maltese. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d run into such a creature.
Five minutes later, he guided his pick-up through early evening Los Angeles traffic.
Or tried to. Rush hour was in full swing. Wilshire was already a mess. Santa Monica Boulevard wouldn’t be much better. Time to take the back streets. He turned right toward Olympic.
“
Buenos tardas, viejo amigo.” The voice came an instant before the smell.
“Shit!”
His truck swerved. Horns blared. Alex yanked the wheel back, somehow missing any of the vehicles around him.
He shot an ugly look at the Uku Pacha monkey demon now sitting in the pick-up’s passenger seat. “What the fuck, Francisco? Are you trying to get me killed?”
“Boss wouldn’t be too happy with me if I did,” the demon replied in English. The former vampire, now minion of Supay the Incan god of Death, still had the same charming voice he’d had while alive.
Alex guided his truck into the left turn lane for Olympic Boulevard and braked behind a minivan with a stick figure family in the rear window. Another glance at his visitor showed rotten teeth in Francisco’s broad smile. “You couldn’t have dropped the glamour five minutes earlier when I wasn’t driving in heavy traffic? Better yet, knock on my door like a civilized person?”
The demon shook his head. The motions sent dead skin and disintegrating hair flying through the cab of the truck. “Not with the little senorita visiting you. I did not wish to frighten her.”
“What are you doing in the States? Shouldn’t you be back in Peru, kissing your new boss’s ass?” The light changed, and Alex pressed the accelerator.
“Aren’t we in a piss-poor mood today?” The chittering sound Francisco made was the demon equivalent of laughter. “Did the lovely Phillippa kick you out of her bed for acting like an idiot?”
Alex’s grip tightened on the steering wheel. Francisco was right. He was taking his worry out on the demon. “Sorry, my friend. I’m on the way to the hospital. One of my enforcers was in an accident. He’s a Normal, and I don’t know how bad his condition is yet.”
Francisco grunted. “A Normal injured is never a good thing. They are so…fragile.” Of course, he understood. He had been the chief enforcer for the Lima vampire coven before he died. For some reason, Lord Supay had taken a shine to Francisco and offered him a place in his court at Uku Pacha after the dino demons and their followers had killed the vampire.
“You still haven’t told me why you’re here?” Alex murmured.
“My Master wishes to collect on the remainder of your debt.”
A chill ran through Alex. Owing a god, especially the Incan god of death, was not a healthy position for anyone, much less a vampire. “I got him his tumi back. You delivered it to him, didn’t you?”
“Of course I did!” Francisco huffed. “Do you truly believe I’d be that stupid and not return it?”
“Then our debt is done,” Alex declared. From the corner of his eye, he could see Francisco shaking his head sadly.
“In addition to His tumi, you promised to deliver those who took it.”
“All three of the Old Ones’ minions are dead. You helped Phil and me kill the two in Peru, and we took out the third one twice.” Even though the third dinosaur demon had managed to breed a couple hundred demon babies, surely Supay couldn’t count them as part of the debt.
“My Master had us hunt down the Normals and vampires who worked for the Old Ones’ minions at the time his tumi was stolen, but we were never able to catch one,” Francisco replied.
“Marcus Giovanni,” Alex growled as he braked at the next red light. Olympic was just as bad as Wilshire traffic-wise.
“Yes.”
The bastard had been Selene’s lieutenant when she made her repeated bids to kill Caesar and take over the Augustine, now St. James, vampire coven. After their third failure and Selene’s death, Giovanni had allied himself with the dinosaur demons and the human worshippers of their ancient gods.
Alex tapped the steering wheel with his thumbs as he waited for the light to change. It had been wishful thinking on his part that sad excuse for a vampire might have died when he’d been dragged to Otherwhere. It wasn’t like Sam hadn’t been hunting the bastard for the last two years in that alien dimension after he had tried to Turn Ellie when she was still in preschool.
“So he’s still alive. Do you know where he is?” Alex asked.
“He was last seen near the U.S. western coast. In the Cascade range outside of Portland, moving north with two Normals.”
The light flipped to green, and Alex press the accelerator as he considered the situation. Now, why would Marcus come back to the U.S., much less hang out in the Oregon back country? Unless he didn’t consider Duncan a threat as the new coven master.
But Giovanni being back in the States and Jake’s accident was too much of a coincidence. And why the hell would the rogue vampire be traveling with Normals?
“Is your source reliable?”
Francisco chittered again. “As reliable as Coyote has ever been.” He sobered. “But he has no wish for the Old Ones’ return either. My Lord considers the information valid.”
“And Coyote is absolutely sure the pair with Giovanni were Normal?” Not that Alex questioned any deity given that his father-in-law was Ares of Olympus, but the Native American Coyote had a reputation as a trickster.
More skin flaked from Francisco’s forehead at his frown. “You believe them to be demon spawn?”
“It’s possible.” When Francisco remained quiet, Alex continued. “Portland, huh? Could he be heading back to Seattle? The last dino demon had a nest there a few years ago.”
“A possibility,” Francisco admitted. “I have been making the rounds on our end to alert other deities and their entourages in this area.”
“All right.” Alex pulled into the parking garage closest to the ER. “I’ll send out word to our enforcers.” He guided the truck into the first available parking spot he found. “Is there anything else?”
The demon sighed. “Unfortunately, there is.” Silvery white light filled the truck’s cab. “My Master needs something delivered.”
The little carved figure he held resembled something out of a Lovecraft story. It was made of the same space-age ceramic, titanium, and unknown metal as Supay’s tumi.
Francisco’s orange eyes held a terrible sadness. “I beg your forgiveness, my friend.”
Vampiric speed meant nothing. The demon slapped his right hand over Alex’s heart. The light from the strange object blinded him.
Alex couldn’t scream if he wanted to. Something else owned his vocal cords.
