Reaper series book 4 Apprentice Killers is now available for purchase!
Apprentice Killers
‘Two
for the price of one.’
BRB:
When Brody receives a cryptic
message from the newest of the Snuff program inductees, his memories are
stirred. People and places, he hadn’t thought about in years awaken the most
dormant of his emotions, and the present becomes blurred with the past. Not
wanting to risk the life of the only person he cares about, he leaves Zeus
behind to fight the pharmaceutical giant, for what he believes will be the last
time.
Excerpt:
Brody caught a glimpse of auburn
hair—sunlit hues of radiant red. The young woman held a bag of groceries to her
partially exposed chest as she exited the store. She had a vivacious air,
bright smile, and perky bounce in her step that caused her ponytail to swish
her sun-kissed shoulders. He followed her out of the supermarket into a parking
lot lined with dry grass and giant trees. Most were of the nut variety, and
dehydrated seedpods littered the ground.
He sat on a wood bench, slats faded
where the lacquer had rubbed off. Screwed to the backrest was a dedication
plaque in oxidized brass that read, ‘In loving memory of Sadie Ketchum.’ He
wondered briefly who Sadie Ketchum was when he noticed subtle movement in his peripheral.
“I knew a girl similar in appearance,” he said.
The young woman got into a compact,
blue, European-model car.
“When was that?” Zeus sat down on
his right, dropped a bag of groceries between his runners, and lit a cigarette.
“High school.”
“I get the feeling your memories
aren’t pleasant.”
“Jessica Humboldt was a remarkable
bully.”
“God, I can’t stand bullies.” Zeus flicked ash at the ground and took another
drag.
“Don’t misconstrue my choice of
adjective. I despise those who prey on the weak. But her strength of purpose
fascinated me.”
“Well, good. For a moment there I
thought you’d gone soft on me.”
He noted the mordant ring in his
lover’s tone; Zeus was evolving. The more confidence he acquired the more
openly he spoke his mind. He watched the blue car merge into the traffic. “She
believed her superior intellect gave her privilege, and she turned humiliation
into an art form. She could pinpoint her victim’s Achilles’ heel. It was the
leverage she used to terrorize.”
Zeus looked at him. “So what did she
do to you?”
The question didn’t catch him
off-guard, however, it did trigger a physical response. He felt an ache in the
center of his chest that he could only associate with an emotional loss. He’d
experienced it just once before. “It isn’t what
she did, it’s who she did it to.”
Brody blinked slowly, and when he
opened his eyes the environment around him had changed. He was in the
second-floor hallway of his high school, and a girl with the same auburn hair
was inside a nearby classroom. Jessica’s expression wasn’t congenial like the
smile of the woman from the supermarket; instead, her mouth was curled in a
vicious snarl. The girl seated in front of her covered her face with her hands.
Over a period of two semesters, he’d watched Jessica systematically torment a
number of students both male and female.
Jessica yelled and slapped the girl.
Teary-eyed, the girl slid her tremulous hands higher, shielding her head. The
others teenagers in the classroom feigned ignorance. They looked out the
windows, buried their heads in books, or continued to eat their lunch. No one
dared to get involved. Brody didn’t feel anything in particular for the victim.
But he felt something simmering deep within for the bully.
Rising from his slouched position
against the wall, he stared at Jessica. When she noticed him, she froze with
her fist in the air, and her already stern lip line soured to that of aversion.
She grabbed her knapsack and burst into the hallway. As he knew she would,
she’d come to confront him. The coldness in her glare told him everything, but
he wasn’t fazed. Again, his mind elicited no emotional response. And his heart
continued to beat at a relaxed and steady rate.
“You’d better mind your own
business, geek.” She jerked her thumb towards the classroom. “If not, you’ll
get worse than she did.”
“Prepare yourself,” he said evenly.
She stopped dead in the middle of
the hallway and after a moment’s pause turned around. “What the fuck did you
say?”
Everyone in the classroom watched,
their curiosity growing by the second.
“To simplify: you don’t scare me.
Threaten her once more and I will
kill you.”
She didn’t move, and she didn’t show
any obvious signs of fear. However, he did observe a slight tremble in her hand
as her grip tightened on her knapsack strap, and her pupils dilated. He sensed
a rise in her pulse and a hesitation to react. She was terrified and debating
her odds.
Sliding his hands into his hip
pockets, he bent closer and flashed a grin. “I can see straight through you,
bitch.”
She leaned backwards, trepidation
growing in her eyes, and nervously barked, “If you know what’s good for you—you’ll
just stay the fuck away from me, asshole!”
He watched as she strode to the end
of the hallway and descended a wide set of steps.
Zeus bent forward, dropped his butt,
and mashed it under the grinding pressure of his shoe. “I’m guessing she didn’t
stop after that.”
“The trouble escalated. The only
deduction I could make was that she’d seen us together.”
“Us?”
“Cody and I.”
“I take it he was the high school
boyfriend.”
“Yes.”
Author Bio:
Blak Rayne is an author of gay romance.
She loves to write and believes it’s one of the greatest forms of
self-expression. What better way to see inside the human soul? Blak Rayne
resides in Canada, and yes, she is a woman, wife, and mother. She’s been
writing and drawing since elementary school, and she loves anything that
involves the arts. As for family, her daughter is her toughest critic and
greatest support!
Blak Rayne
‘Taking erotic to a sinful new level.’
Visit her online!
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