The Monster and The Mortal- The Hunter and Bringer Book 2
New Adult (17+)
Collaboration of Paper Crane Books and “What If…” Publishing.
Release Date: July 10th, 2020
You can Purchase this Book at:
Amazon (paperback, ebook, and audiobook)
Books-A-Million (BAM) (paperback)
Bookshop.org (paperback)
iBooks app (ebook)
Official Blurb:
“They protect mortals from monsters. But what now defines a monster has become unclear.”
Top agents of The Hunters, Val Hemmingway, and the golden boy of The Bringers, Jeremey Darington, are forced to continue their mission together to locate and stop a homicidal threat from the monster realm and his human puppet. Things are as rocky between them as usual as they track down this killing machine through Europe with weapon’s master Galen and timid analyst Kesler. Along this dangerous adventure, storms will brew, monsters will attack, minds will be chaotic, and hearts will shatter, the answers to this mystery changing their lives more than they ever expect or are prepared for.
Audiobook Narrators: Lexi Evans and Logan Anare!
Praises for “Monsters and Mortals:”
5.0 out of 5 stars on Amazon: “Absolutely makes my heart sing with pure joy!-” Reviewed by J.A.N.
“OMGoodness! My romantic, mythological loving side of my brain and heart is screaming in wonder while singing in happiness! The on your edge of the seat moments that just made me unable to put it down, the damn they were so close romantic aspects, which in turn totally made me table flip in my frustration only due to that oh so close tender moment being interrupted with an epic discovery or fight scene! Yeah, I mentally flipped tables a few times, but even so, it was too good to put down! I totally loved how Val and Jeremey interacted together in the first book but my love of their interactions together has totally gone up more because of this one! I’d give it like 10 stars rather than 5 if only that were possible! ^_^”
*****
5.0 out of 5 stars I love this duo series!
Cool Links:
Author reading part of the first chapter of “Monsters and Mortals:”
OTHER “MONSTER AND MORTALS” VIDEOS and INTERVIEWS HERE!
Announcement of book release blog post:
First Few Pages Preview:
WARNING: THIS IS 17+, SO THERE WILL BE SOME LANGUAGE, VIOLENCE, and MATURE JOKES! For the sake of this sample since I cannot control the ages of the readers, I did *** the parts of the words curse words. If you purchase the book, you will not have to worry on that.
Chapter #1:
Fog will obscure your path, but you can never evade your journey. I know you; you will never halt the walk, but venture forward, cautiously, slowly, looking over your shoulder. The only real question I have for you is this: will you plod or will you fly in order to find the one who dances with you?
***
The expression ‘you can cut the tension with a knife’ has never been so apparent in the existence of the universe.
Rolling wispy clouds stretched across the heavens, clashing with the dull, stormy gray tone of the sky. The narrow glimpse I got from the small luxury helicopter window reflected my mindset, the motion of our moving the only vision I could see. My muscles were rigid, wound up like a clock about to shatter. I would merely fall into a clank on the ground, dull pieces, my gears no longer wanting to turn. Time. I wanted to forget events of the time and just allow it to pass over me absentmindedly, like the clouds outstretching the backdrop of the planet.
I refused to address the person who caused me to crave to be a blank doll, a broken heroine in a fairy tale. Unfortunately, he was sitting in the seat by me, only the helicopter walkway between us. Thank the Lord he was respecting my wishes and ignoring me as well. I placed my elbow on the plush armrest, resting my chin on my hand and just a hair away from leaning on the cool metal surrounding my glass bowl of a window. Nothing was near me, nothing behind me. The only sensation in the shared space was the sickening, nearly tangible air.
The tension in the room was so thick it could be seen.
And I knew it was creeping the cohorts who sat behind me.
Kesler, my dear jumpy friend and the analyst for this mission, was crouching behind his seat in the back, the same row as me. His face was animated in extreme nervousness as it peeped over the seat to check out the awkwardness in the helicopter a few times. His skin was ghost white to match his shaking fingers gripping the headrest of the seat in front of him. The little mumblings coming from his quivering mouth were indeed precious, but I was only getting a corner-of-my-eye perceptive of this bouncing off the shimmering white wall of our flying carriage.
On the opposite end of the back, row was Galen, our weapons and combat expert, and trainer. The squareness of his jaw looked like he was going to pop it out of the socket or at least break his teeth. His arms were crossed as he leaned back, attempting to be indifferent as usual, but there was an uneasy air humming around him. The black of his trench coat flowed dramatically around him as his army boots wedged in the seat in front of him thanks to his crossed legs. The boldness of his scar that went from eye to chin thudded lightly, our deafening silence seeming to make it at times the only sound in the room.
Then there was him: Jeremey Darington. The one I refused to acknowledge. He was on a separate plane of space and time from me, I only seeing him, but not comprehending him to be in the same dimension as me, his figure an eyesore. The whiteness of his crisp buttoned-up shirt blended into the wall. The sad expression on his chiseled face looked to be studying his window, making him look like he was a watercolor that had been drowned in a heavy downpour. However, he knew better than to speak to me or look at me, for I might have sliced him on reflex and refused to feel anything after the fact. He also knew I had the right to do so.
Only our duty-bound us now.
Our world is inhabited by creatures that the masses believe to only be myths, legends, fuel for their imaginations: monsters. Yet, no matter how hard you try or wish, monsters are merely vile creatures born at the beginning of time from darkness, causing almost all the evil and tragedy the Earth has been forced to encounter. Their only purpose is to feed, survive, which makes sense. Their food of choice, though, are humans and they care nothing of our suffering. In fact, they thrive on it, enjoying our tournament and fusing their darkness into the light that created mankind.
That is why not long after our country gained its freedom to birth anew, we sent ambassadors to explore. Their discoveries were more than we could ever have fathomed: monsters. To protect ourselves, a monster-hunting organization was created. With experience, the selected individuals trusted with this secret to keep world order became versed in the ways to kill these threats, their country of origin to craft lethal weapons key in addition to studying the stories of past and continuing research for ways to protect the agents and people. Other countries around the world have similar organizations as well, a true global-scale operation.
After the scale of destruction caused by World War II, mortals and monsters alike at fault, the politics and conflicting views of members in the monster-hunting organization truly shone and a rift was apparent, dividing us. It was decided that the organization would be split into two groups: The Hunters and The Bringers.
I belong to a group known as The Sicarius Venator, or in English, The Assassin Hunters. We see monstrums as we call them, preferring Latin terminology, as just deadly creatures that need to be destroyed in order to protect as many mortals, regular humans, as possible. The Hunters are heavily trained in weapons, martial arts, and combat. We know all monstrums need to be destroyed at all costs. We are meant to protect mankind and allow the masses to live normal lives.
Jeremey Darington is part of The Justitia Lator, or The Justice Bringers. The Bringers refuse to kill the monstrum, seeing them as living beings. They want to capture them in order to study, tame, and train them as partners to fight against darkness. However, this has never worked. The data they receive from their intensive study is admittedly impressive and they are hard-core trained in self-defense and martial arts.
The Hunters and The Bringers avoid each other at all costs when plausible, the organization that arrives at incidents first helping the situation how they see fit. However, my Chief, Ms. Beryl Edric, and Jeremey’s boss, Mr. Wren Stillman, came to a bold agreement in order to stop a monstrum so horrid and powerful it can lure its victims away with its mental abilities alone and toss them around like rag dolls unseen, controlling darkness like it’s a tangible thing: a lamia, a vampire. Their conclusion to stop this threat was for me, as the top agent of The Hunters, and Jeremey, the all-star, somehow, of The Bringers, to work together, a never-before-occurrence.
As one can imagine, this caused a slew of issues. My main headache was Jeremey and I are being forced to work together at my school, his principal persona drowning out the needed normally of my daytime career as a kindergarten teacher. Rage swelled inside me from this, but I am a loyal Hunter and will perform my duty to save innocent lives. We worked together to track down this lamia, and through my forced encounters with Jeremey, I started to understand him better…or so I thought. That was until he pinned me against the wall and forced intense kisses on me. Understandingly, this pissed me off to a point that I was a jumbled mess of emotions, so many feelings that my body shut down, it barely going through the motions like a rusty machine. So many emotions that I didn’t feel anything but tension now.
The dumbass, to his credit, knew I did not want to be bothered, or maybe he just didn’t want his head on the chopping block. What mattered, unsung between us was that we get to our destination rapidly. We were on the road to the newest location where the lamia’s deeds were spotted. His creepy minion was seen at his side as well, a shocking development for us since ‘it’ was human. We weren’t sure if possession was involved yet or not.
After Jeremey and mine’s latest blow-out at The Hunter’s gym, Kesler and Galen received a direct order from Chief that we needed to investigate a monstrum attack, a tragic massacre and kidnappings that aligned with what we know about the spree this lamia has been commencing. We took the Charger, a sleek and large fancy helicopter that belongs to The Bringers, heading to the boot of Italy, the reports saying the monstrum was heading to the coast of Greece.
And Greece would have a slew of problems for us, as it is littered with monstrums of numerous myths.
A small wave of turbulence snapped me from the mindless flashes of all that had happened. My eyes watered annoyingly. I wiped them away, yearning to lose myself into the nothingness of the sky that was drowning in the start of a stormy sunset. With this movement, a glint of the final words I heard at the organization rang strongly in my ears.
When I was leaving after we inspected The Charger and did our supplies checklist, Madame Edric, the mother of my Chief who is a medical leader in her Cherokee tribe, beckoned me over with steam of lilac. It was hard to focus on her, but I drank in her kindly image, ashamed when I absorbed the sadness in her eyes, eyes that were gazing solely at me. Like a grandmother, she patted my hand, its warmth drawing me to heed her serious tone, words I knew were spoken to her through her ancestral spirits:
“Fog will obscure your path, but you can never evade your journey. I know you; you will never halt the walk, but venture forward, cautiously, slowly, looking over your shoulder. The only real question I have for you is this: will you plod or will you fly in order to find the one who dances with you?”
“Where are we heading to, calculator boy?” The scratchiness of my weapons master’s voice lightly tapped me out of the mental fog in which the Madame’s riddle engulfed me. I inclined my head slightly in order to hear any new agenda on our endeavor. I was getting tired of sinking into this brain pit.
I could almost hear Kesler clawing into his armrest, his nails digging into the leather from nerves. Creakingly, he told us the latest information, “Um …you see…We are going…to Bari in Italy to the scene of the incident. The Italian division of The Hunters has blocked it off for us from the police and public after an investigation of their own.”
“The scene was on a cliffside outside one of its popular beaches?” Hearing Jeremey speak was like a surge of electricity jolting through every cell, standing my arm hair on end.
Kesler gulped audibly, loud enough that I didn’t have to move to look at him, “Well…yes, but…the city itself is…famous for its white cliffs, even having a cliffside restaurant. Many of their houses are built on top of them as well. The attack was not directly in a tourist area, but about half a mile away. We are lucky that it was late at night, but there was a celebration going on near this semi-secluded cliff of about forty innocents…”
“Bad luck for them, an excellent meal and pleasure trip for this bastard lamia.” Galen finished in his own crude, but not untruthful way.
I could feel Jeremey’s gaze baring into my cheek and it was getting more difficult to blankly stare through the looking glass. I yearned to be Alice and hop into a new realm, even a trippy one like Wonderland. At least I was used to doing six impossible to mortals things before breakfast already. Steadying myself, I let out a long sigh and focused my vision on the dull plush padding wall of the fake seat in front of me.
“So, our objective is to meet The Cacciatore at this location of the incident and do our thing, then we will compare findings at their base if allowed access?” My wispy voice sounded like it was in a cave somewhere, but there was the usual authoritative mission tone I used. Lord, it felt like I aged one hundred years; that took way more effort than it should have!
Jeremey had his mouth partly opened, gawking at me while his hands squeezed the armrest until his knuckles were white. I refused to look at him head-on, but I kept an eye on him now, pretending to be indifferent about him being here although, in actuality, I loathed and feared him being near me. The squeaking of his seat made me give him a small percentage more of my sight to notice he was leaning forward by his torso, but his limbs were glued in place, making him look gangly.
“I know we have been dealing with this vampire case first, but this happened on their soil and I would guess you guys can share information. But, why would we not be welcomed to return to their base with them after our investigation? For cross-referencing, it makes sense.”
I stared ahead, not wanting to state the obvious to the rest of us in the helicopter, but I guess Galen couldn’t resist, being the oh-so-lovable ass he was. He snorted then honored Jeremey with the answer, “We can get in just fine. YOU? That’ll be a tricky one.”
Jeremey looked back and forth between all three of us, dragging his sentence out like the words were sticking to the roof of his mouth, “Yeah…I can see that if this was a normal case. But, our branches decided for us to work together. So, I’m a part of this assignment. By default, I should be able to have at least basic entry since I have as much experience, knowledge, and exposure to this monster as Val, I mean, Agent Hemmingway…” His eyes were bouncing between all of us, not sure where to land.
Kesler yelped and ducked his head down, twiddling his thumbs from stressed nerves. I was still refusing to acknowledge him in the aircraft, so, once again, Galen had to break it to him in his gentle way, “Look here, High School Musical; by some fluke with God and the powers of nature, we needed to work together this one time to snuff out this SOB monstrum. I’m still not sure what you bring to the table, but our bosses agonized over this never-before ordeal. Just because we are forced to see you PETA for monsters in OUR halls, biting our tongues each encounter, doesn’t mean the other branches around the world are going to agree, nor do they legally have to. They have their own rules. In fact, I can’t see Chief Beryl going around and blabbing her jaws about how we have a Bringer partnered with our lady fair over there for an assignment. So, if they don’t invite you in, don’t get all butt-hurt. Leave your ego and pride at the door and chill. Remember what you’re here for and if I hear any more complaining, I will sew your trap myself and I can tell you, I’ll use a rusty dagger instead of a needle to do it!”
And the Razzie for Most Motivational Speech goes to…!
Jeremey, to my surprise, didn’t argue, throw a fit, or even interrupt; he just listened and absorbed Galen’s bluntly honest words. After a dragging twenty seconds, he threw his body hardback on his plush seat, tossed his hands in the air, and moaned, “Well, good to know now how picky you Hunters are, even internationally. Damn…” His tone was slightly assumed but also hurt and annoyed. Still, his focus was true, same as ours: stopping this lamia as quickly as possible.
I leaned my head once more on the cool glass. Half of me longed to land soon, to get my bearings, but once on the ground, I would have to hit my mission running. And I had a feeling once we started the sprint, there would be no pit stop.
We were in ancient monstrum territory now.
A harsh howl brushed past the window and entangled the helicopter in a rumbling sound, the gales buckling the machine slightly. To most, this would seem like a flash of extreme turbulence or the dawning of a wind storm, however, my ears perked up on instinct, sensing the otherworldly wrongness of this gust. My mind became alert in seconds, a surprise with the heavy mental fog in which I was drowning. The seat I was in squeaked in protest when I straightened up to better get my bearings.
Kesler and Galen looked a bit surprised by the sudden vibrations of the aircraft, but their eyes gave nothing away. Jeremey must have felt what I did, for he shifted in his seat as well, studying the direction from which the wind was coming. I suppose all that top-notch training meant he was as keen as I was about feeling the darkness, the invisible wrongness that monstrums’ auras tend to radiate in the shadows.
Jerk-on-a-stick craned his head without overly moving from his gripping the armrest position towards his hole of a window to gaze at the ocean below. After five seconds of him trying to close his mouth, he swiveled his head back to face me dead-on, his seaglass eyes draining of color and looking like rainwater. “Ah, you guys may wanna take a lookout there. The sea is a foamy swirl of roughness.”
I didn’t think twice about taking his suggestion to heart, hopping out of my seat so I could land on my knees to get a better view. Whelp, I have to admit; Darington’s description was indeed accurate to the point of chilling poetic. The deep blue waves churned in anger, the current so strong that the forces were swirling in many spirals on top of each other, confused on where to go, but wanting to dominate the waters around it. The middle point of the froth was sinking deep into itself, easily able to fit several ten-story buildings all side-by-side.
It looked hella bad.
As I pressed my face oh so attractively to the glass, whips of wind wrapped around the blades of the Charger and tugged on them for dear life on my side. We all fell flat on the ground, the helicopter leaning towards Jeremey and Galen’s side. For minor support, I grabbed the metal leg of my chair that was bolted down, my hands going numb to keep from ramming into Jeremey’s gut on the other side. Galen was concocting a slew of curses as if performing a spell and Kesler was trying not to whimper as he focused on searching for pieces of his equipment, counting off the keys he was finding from his typewriter.
At this time, our pilot was able to get The Charger mostly back in control after a minute. I was surprised we heard him with the roaring gales hitting the metal, but he did holler in distress soon after, “I don’t know what to do!”
Well, that’s never reassuring to hear.
Another wave of air punched through the helicopter and I somersaulted backward with the force, slamming into Jeremey, who was on his side under his seat’s walkway to the window. He grunted and then gave me a strained smile, guilty delight blinking a small light in his dull green eyes. “Thanks for dropping in, my lady.”
I ignored his advance to talk to me, grateful my Hunter will fight was so strong. “Get off me.”
I shoved his face away from me and got on my knees, ready to attempt to crawl over him so I could get a better view of the raging ocean from his side. I didn’t get far in my travels. Before I lifted my knee to step over him, the helicopter buckled hard again and I was dragged down, Jeremey catching me awkwardly in his arms. We were tangled on our side in a half-sitting position, forced to gawk at each other. My fury at not having control of my limbs and being held by this guy was making my face an uncomfortable warm.
“Back again? How can I help you this time, princess? ” Again, his voice and expression were strained, but he was trying to get back to our original routine, a more comedic one in extreme situations. I wasn’t sure I had the patience for this and the fact we were getting attacked in the air was not a good place to test his theory. I really didn’t like flying or water. I felt trapped.
“Let me f***ing get past you!” I exclaimed with ire before even giving him a chance to react, this time crawling over him before I was beaten by Mother Nature again. A massive wave shot up from the ocean below and smacked into the window, white foam sliding violently down the glass like a handprint. The boom from the contact shook the flying machine we were encased in, but luckily didn’t shake us more. Still, the fact that a wave could shoot up with such precision to touch a helicopter made it clear that Mother Nature was being altered by a nasty puppet master.
Jeremey placed his palms flat on the wall of the Charger on either side of my waist, spread out so he wasn’t touching me, but I could feel his body heat catty-corner from behind. The scene in front of my fishbowl was able to distract me from the fact he was so close…Well, about 95% of my mind at least. “That’s one mother trucker wave out there.” He whistled lowly, his voice grumbling.
“Pssst. Obviously, it’s not natural, Eggs for Brains,” I snarked after a heavy sigh, our eyes glued to the storm raging intensely in the real world, searching for any clues to what we were dealing with and how we could get out without endangering Kesler and our pilot. Galen could take care of himself.
“Son of a *itch!” Galen lashed out with his teeth mashed together. I could hear him and Kesler shuffling to regain balance, but I dared not look at them. The vastness of the hole from the sea was expanding and becoming the color of pitch, a void of nothingness. However, from the rumble of the world and the now near-deafening howling of the wind, I knew this was not the case.
As if my thoughts called the beast, a shadowed mass erupted from the enraged ocean, bursting from the waves with a vengeance. The monstrum that emerged from it was easily sixty feet tall, nearly flying out of the water. It was easily as thick as a whale but was also somehow lean like a Chinese serpent of legend. Segmented into coils of murky blue and seaweed green scales, it roared with a disgusting voice, its fangs easily as tall as Jeremey. Purple, thick saliva was dripping and plopping loudly into the sea. Embedded above its filmy yellow eyes was a fuzzy cluster of fur. A forked tongue licked the air in time with its razor-sharp flippers and cat-like claws.
“A cetus,” I breathed out, awe and irritation ringing in my tone.
“Not familiar with that one,” Jeremey stated without shame as if it was a simple fact.
Of course, he didn’t. “It’s the sea serpent from the Greek story of Perseus, where he rode on Pegasus to slay the monstrum to save his future wife, Andromeda. Hercules was also said to encounter one. I’m not sure if there was only one or it’s an ancestor, but this guy is a real deal. The bastard is far from home, too.”
Jarvis Zero clicked his tongue, glancing at the monstrosity outside, but his eyes were lighter than I had seen them in a while, “Leave it to you, my Val-nilla cupcake, to know the origin of all the Greek mythology just by looking at this demonic creature.”
I rolled my eyes at his response, “It’s called reading a book every once in a while. Heaven knows you need to, or at least listen to something other than the droning of your coxy voice. I love Greek mythology and even teach college classes on it in the summer.”
I huffed out some air as the wind whooshed through the now larger cracks in the window’s side. That…wasn’t good. As I pointed my finger towards the fracture, my voice was sucked into a vacuum tunnel and glass shattered around us, one shard scraping against my cheek so it lodged and trickled a thin line of blood. I ducked from the small explosion so my skin would not get any more intense prickles, Jeremey placing his arm up between us like a shield, pieces fusing into his shirt sleeve like diamond beading.
All that could be heard was the pounding, deafening roaring of gales invading the inner spaces of our helicopter, it whipping our hair in sporadic patterns due to the tunnel pathway it had. The deep bellow of the cetus below fused into a sickening harmony with the rage of the skies. With these new vibrations added, the latch of the enforced door rattled with shaky clacking. When our attention shifted to this, the damn cetus burst a mighty pillar of pressured water that hit the bottom of the Charger, the geezer rumbling under our feet and making the still shut door quake even more. The high-pitched sound that followed shattered my chest even though the air suction took over my thoughts.
We were either gonna be sucked out of the helicopter and plummet into the ocean or crash into the water below, most likely being devoured by this fat dick snake. Either way, a watery grave was in the cards and I wasn’t going down like that. I was a horrid swimmer and I didn’t want to die embarrassingly.
“Well…” Jeremey dragged out, his shout barely audible above the storm of sounds in our flying metal carriage. Spots of blood were poking out through his dress shirt from the glass he was trying to block from harming me further. I backed away carefully a foot from his shadow to stand beside him, staring down at the creature that was throwing a tantrum so giant that it was chopping up the waves. “I think we need a plan, dear.”
After his mouth shut, the door that was by us was ripped off its hinges and dragged into the heavens by the insanely powerful gales, our poor helicopter being slanted even more to the right. Jeremey and I placed our palms firmly on the walls and planted our feet so we would not slide out of the chopper like kids going down a slip-n-slide. Ironically, we could hear each other better since the air wasn’t leaking and getting sealed into our man-made space. Now, we were just fully exposed to the elements and the enraged and maybe hungry cetus that I could swear was now staring at us with narrowed slants as it howled.
“A plan now would be preferred.” Jack-of-no-Trades voiced, his casual tone keeping my senses sharp. My mind twisted and turned with thousands of possibilities to get out of here alive. First, we needed to get the Charger semi-upright. I had no idea if our pilot was still conscience or just quaking in fear since I hadn’t heard his voice in a while.
Yet, I knew a man with balls of steel.