Christmas Moon (8 page)

I suspected that Ishmael had to break his connection to me, whatever that connection was. I suspected that, as my watcher, he was bound to me as my guardian.

But once I became immortal, all bets were off.

I angled up, followed a mountainous ridge, and when the ridge dropped away, I kept angling up, flapping my wings harder and harder. Up I went, surging through vaporous clouds, blinded, until finally I broke through.

Above me was the half moon, shining brilliantly. I flew toward it, higher and higher, until ice crystals formed on my wings, until all oxygen disappeared in the air.

And there I hovered, briefly, at the far edges of our atmosphere, pondering destiny, until finally I tucked in my own wings and dove down, speeding through the night, faster than I had ever flown before…

After all, Christmas was over and I had a killer to find.

The End

Merry Christmas, everyone!

—
J.R. Rain

Samantha Moon returns in

Vampire Dawn

Vampire for Hire #5

Coming January, 2012

~~~~~

Also, read all three “Vampire for Hire” short stories (along with bonus material and deleted scenes) in:

Vampire for Hire: Three Stories

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And coming soon:

Vampire Christmas Love Story

by H.T. Night

~~~~~

Also available in ebookstores everywhere:

Honeymoon With the Enemy

Kaitlyn’s Secrets #1

by Elaine Babich

(read on for a sample)

I was beginning to think I had done something stupid. I was regretting I had ever married Danny. He seemed to have changed. He was so different than the boy I had dated. I needed help, but I was in New Hampshire on my honeymoon and hoping I would make it home alive.

It all started the day after our first night together. I thought it was heavenly. We both were virgins and fumbled around a lot and laughed, but we got the job done. I can’t say I saw stars and fireworks, but I was in love, so it didn’t matter.

The next day, I started to notice the change in Danny. He was quiet and not talking. When I asked what was wrong, he snapped at me, which was out of character for him. The previous year, he had treated me so kindly when my friend was dying, that I was sort of shocked at his reaction.

The first night of our marriage, we stayed at the Anaheim Hilton. The next day, Danny was unusually quiet. I hoped I hadn’t done anything to make him mad. I had never seen Danny mad except at his brother Alex and that wasn’t a good thing.

Our plans were to take a flight to New Hampshire for the rest of our two-week honeymoon. We had packed our clothes the night before, so there wasn’t much to do but drive out to LAX airport the next day. I was nervous because Danny was acting so funny. We parked our car in an overnight parking lot. Our flight was at six o’ clock in the morning and LAX was a zoo.

When we got to the terminal, there were people everywhere. I had only one suitcase and so did Danny. I had my purse which was full of my pills (I have epilepsy) and books to read if I had time. My purse was heavy and I tried to hurry after Danny, who was walking very fast. We went through the security check, and their machine threw a fit because I had on an underwire bra. I quickly unhooked my bra, slid the straps off my shoulders, and pulled it out through the front of my shirt, putting the bra into a bin with my shoes. We eventually got through security and to the right terminal. We sat down in the seats that are hooked together.

I smiled at Danny and he smiled back. I felt better. Maybe he was just tired. I hadn’t ever seen him quite so early in the morning. Although, I would think he was used to being tired. As a firefighter, he had to work for two days in a row, and then he got two days off.

“
Are you excited to go back to seeing all your old friends?” Danny asked me.

“
I don’t really have that many. I sent all of them texts before the wedding, but most of them are going out of town because New Hampshire schools are not in session this week.”

“
Well, we have each other,” Danny said as he kissed my hand. That made me feel better.

Then Danny got that frown on his face and put my hand down.

“
What?” I asked him.

“
Nothing,” he said.

I didn’t know him to be so moody.

Our flight was called, and Danny grabbed his computer and his bag as I grabbed my purse and my luggage. When we got to the plane, they said they had to take our luggage. The plane wasn’t big enough for it to go on. I was sure glad I had put my medicine in my purse. Danny was angry. He didn’t want to check our bags. I asked the flight attendant if we had to pay for the luggage being boarded. She said no. I told Danny, and he nodded his head.

We found our seats, and I sat by the window. Danny was right next to me. The plane was medium sized, so it had three seats on each side.

I don’t normally like to sit by the window, but I didn’t want to make waves with Danny being so grouchy. The flight took off and I fell asleep. I woke up when the flight attendant gave us something to drink. Danny told me I was snoring a little bit. No one had ever told me I snored. I wondered if I was getting a cold.

The flight was three and a half hours. It was difficult not to get bored. I tried sleeping again. Danny said we could watch a movie. I said that I didn’t feel like it. He watched the movie by himself. I read for a while. Finally, the pilot said we were at our destination.

We landed in Atlanta, Georgia. I was hungry and told Danny that I would like to get something to eat. He said of course we would, so that ended the matter.

After we got off the plane, it was a little easier walking around because all I had was my purse. Danny had his laptop and was guarding it like a bull dog.

We went to TGIF for lunch. The food was okay. I ordered a chicken sandwich and only ate the chicken. The bread tasted funny because of the sauce they put on it.

Danny, the food police, said, “Aren’t you going to eat your bread?”

“
It doesn’t taste good,” I said.

“
You should eat it anyway because we might not have time to eat again,” he said.

“
I am getting full anyway,” I said stubbornly.

Danny frowned at me. He didn’t say anything more.

I had had trouble in the past with anorexia and bulimia. I didn’t have those problems now.

After lunch, we hurried to our other plane bound for New Hampshire. In spite of myself, I was looking forward to the snow. I didn’t like it much when I lived there, but we didn’t have snow in California, except in the mountains, so it would be fun to see it again.

Danny had come to see me once in New Hampshire on my birthday. It hadn’t snowed yet, so I asked him if he was excited to see it.

“
My parents have a cabin in Big Bear, remember? I have seen snow,” he said.

“
Oh,” I said. I had forgotten about them having the cabin. I had gone there as a child with my family to visit Danny’s family. I had known Danny all my life. Our families had been friends for years.

We got on the second plane, and I settled in for the two-and-a-half hour flight. I fell asleep almost immediately.

I woke up again when the flight attendant came by with our drinks and peanuts. This plane was smaller, so Danny and I had the aisle to ourselves, and no movie.

After I drank my Coke, it was hard to fall back to sleep. Danny told me to quit fidgeting. We were sitting pretty close to each other, so I guess I was bugging him.

I wondered at the change in Danny. He was usually so attentive and kind, but he sure was grouchy on this trip.

The pilot said we were landing in New Hampshire in twenty minutes. Everyone started to get ready for the plane to touch down. I refastened my seat belt. So did Danny.

We landed with a small thud, and then we were on the runway. I liked it when the plane finally landed. We slowly went to our gate and got hooked up. Everyone on the plane started calling relatives. We didn’t have anyone to call in New Hampshire.

People started getting their luggage out of the overhead bins. Danny got ours down. He handed my purse to me. He kind of thrust it at me. I grabbed it quickly, so it wouldn’t fall.

“
Thank you,” I said to him.

“
No problem,” he said.

We waited in line for the people to move. They finally started moving, and we got off the plane.

We had to go to the baggage claim to get our bags. The wait was forever. Finally, our bags came around. I grabbed my bag and put it down, so I could wheel it.

The airport was just like I remembered it, spacious with a lot of light. They have cute displays of moose and giraffes for people to look at. We were renting a car, so we went to the Thrifty Car Rental.

The rental agent representative tried to sell Danny insurance, but he had already purchased some online. The man wasn’t too happy.

We walked over to the garage where the car was parked. It was a nice, white Honda. Danny opened the trunk and put in both of our bags.

We got in the car and started off. We were going to stay at the Residence Inn in Merrimack. I was looking forward to staying there. I had heard good things about the hotel.

The streets had snow piled high by the curbs. Danny drove carefully, not being used to driving in snow.

It took us about a half an hour to get there. Danny knew the way because of all the driving we did when he came to see me when I lived in New Hampshire.

When we arrived, we took our bags and went to the front desk. The man behind the counter was very nice, and he gave us two keys. He showed us where our room was on a map, and we went there.

The buildings were typical of New England, older looking and two story. Fortunately, we were on the bottom floor because I was getting tired of rolling my suitcase.

Danny opened the room, and it was beautiful. It had two beds, a kitchen and a living area. We walked in and sat on the bed. We both sighed. It was nice to get to the place we were going to stay for two weeks.

Danny looked at me and smiled. I smiled back. Maybe he was just nervous about the whole honeymoon thing.

“
Maybe we should unpack since we will be here for a while,” Danny said.

“
Okay,” I said.

I didn’t get up, though. It felt so good to just sit with my legs stretched out in front of me.

Danny looked at me. He frowned. I looked back at him.

“
Did you mean right now?” I asked.

“
Yes,” he said.

I got up. I guess, now that we were married I was the little woman. I didn’t know if I liked that role. I kind of liked it when he waited on me.

I got our bags to the drawers and put our clothes away. I hung up some of the clothes, but there weren’t that many hangers.

Danny turned on the TV. I resented that he expected me to do all the work while he watched TV, but I wasn’t going to make waves on the second day of our marriage. I remembered that Danny’s mom did everything around the house. I hoped he didn’t expect to sit around while I did all the work. If he did, he had another thought coming.

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Fearless in High Heals

High Heels Mysteries #6

by Gemma Halliday

(read on for a sample)

I watched as the dark figure moved through the forest. Mist swirled at his feet, the glow of the full moon above casting shadows across his beautifully sculpted face, his black hair curling over his ears in the damp night air as he stalked his prey. She stood, unsuspecting, on the other side of the clearing. A dark haired woman, her back to him, her slim, pale neck exposed to the chilling night.

He spotted her. Then he smiled, showing off a pair of sharp, white fangs against his full lips.

I sucked in a breath, pulling my feet up to my chest.

Then I watched in horror as, in an instant, he was hurtling through the darkness toward the woman.

I covered my eyes with both hands. “I can’t look. He’s gonna bite her, isn’t he?”

Dana sighed next to me. “Yes. Again.”

I pulled my Snuggie up over my head. “Tell me when it’s over.” I burrowed into the pillows on my sofa where my best friend, Dana, and I were indulging in chocolate covered popcorn and hot cocoa while watching Moonlight, last summer’s biggest blockbuster movie. I’d read all the Moonlight books but had made myself wait to see the movie until I’d finished the last one in the series. Which, as of this morning, I had. And I had to admit, it was worth the wait. The actress playing Lila was totally convincing as the naive teenager who inadvertently falls in love with a local vampire.