Lucky
Blow (Gods
and Pawns Book
1)Genre: Urban Fantasy/Paranormal
Date of Publication: 9/27/16
ISBN: 978-1537101279
ASIN: B01KUEPQM2
Number of pages: 189
Word Count: 55,746
Cover Artist: Lindsay Cimina
Book Description:
Thanks to the deities in her family tree, Romi has been enslaved to a life of larceny since birth. Well, except for that one night, four years ago, when the goddess of love and debauchery sprang her from her prison, slipped her some sort of magical roofie, and introduced her to an irresistible blacksmith for a little tryst resulting in a child. So when two powerful gods show up and offer her a way out of her thieving lifestyle for good, she jumps at the opportunity. All she has to do is blow on a magical sword and imbue it with luck.
Then she can finally find that guy she’s been dreaming about and introduce him to their son. If only she knew the blacksmith’s name…
But when the
same gods use the sword to rip Zeus’s essence from his body, Romi’s son is
kidnapped and held for ransom. Now Romi, her mysterious fling, and her teenage
griffin babysitter have to steal back Zeus’s essence from a cast of powerful
gods, or they’ll lose the child forever.
MY
DAY STARTED upside down. No joke, I was harnessed, suspended midair, with my
feet up and head down, looking over a room full of priceless artifacts when the
antique grandfather clock beside the door struck midnight. Dings and dongs
thundered, reminding me I was running out of time. As much as I’d like to
pretend my days didn’t normally begin in an upside-down race against the clock,
I’m not a liar, just a thief. But hey, a girl’s gotta make a living somehow,
and this was what I was created to do—there’s a contract and everything—but
that’s a story for a time when my life isn’t literally hanging from the
ceiling.
As I
released another inch of rope and lowered myself further, the black cocktail
dress I’d hastily tucked into the knife sheaths around my thighs tumbled free,
covering my upper body in chiffon and revealing my panties to the vacant room.
I sighed. This was exactly why I hated dresses. But since I couldn’t magically
make my normal work pants and T-shirt appear, I ignored my wardrobe malfunction
and focused on my objective.
My
target rested two feet, five inches below my head, locked away in an engraved
metal display box chained to a pedestal, which was bolted to the wooden floor
and surrounded by trip wires. Red lasers sliced the air between me and the box,
rotating randomly. Randomly…that’s what the alarm company’s brochure says.
I
smirked. Human security…so quaint.
Everything
has a pattern if you’re patient enough to find it, and I was so patient, my new
harness dug craters into my shoulders while I memorized the cycle. Random, my
ass. As my opening approached, I bent at the waist and let out a foot more
rope. The lasers shifted. I spit a small key out of my mouth and sprang back
down, sliding it into the lock. I technically didn’t need the key, but picking
the lock could potentially take longer than I had between laser cycles.
Besides,
the owner of this building was a sleazeball who’d been too busy “accidentally”
bumping into his party guests to notice my hand sliding into his pocket. A
little piece of me felt like I was doing a solid for women everywhere by
ripping the jerk off.
Getting
back to the task at hand, I turned the key and popped open the box. Magic
flooded the room like a pulsating glow of sunlight and power. Music sprang
forth—some sort of ancient battle song—forcing a vision into my mind. I
suddenly found myself in a bed chamber, watching an enormous brute swing a
singing sword back and forth as he advanced on the figure asleep in the bed.
Shaking myself free of the vision, I ignored the deafening tune and fought to
stay focused on my orders. Get in, get the weapon, get out.
The
bedchamber dissipated and I was once again in some rich guy’s trophy room,
hanging upside down and staring at a metal box. Within the box, a magical sword
almost as long as my legs and hooked at the end like a sickle, kept right on
singing, declaring its greatness to the world.
The
lasers were coming back around. I should have grabbed the sword, but the
familiarity of it gave me pause. I pulled back from the lasers and struggled to
process what I was seeing. I’d stolen some pretty high-value goods before, but
this sword…I knew this sword. I’d seen pictures of it in books and read the
lore about it. I was almost certain I knew what I was looking at, but I
couldn’t accept it.
The
Harpē?
It
seemed to glow brighter in response.
It
can’t be.
Nobody
seems to know where the Harpē came from, but its lore began when Gaia, the
goddess of earth, and Uranus, god of the sky, birthed a handful of hideous
children, known as the cyclops and giants. Uranus sent the uglies to live in a
hell-like prison for deities, pissing off Momma Gaia so much she gave the
weapon to their son, Cronus, and asked him to whack off his father’s junk.
And I
couldn’t think of a single reason why a weapon powerful enough to take down the
god of the sky would be locked away in the trophy room of a human.
Was
he human?
I’d
done my homework. Public records had the owner of this place listed as Aaron
Blake, some corporate CEO spawned from old money and raised to power on the
backs of blue-collar workers. The guy was textbook for a hit. I had no reason
to believe he was anything more than some greedy player.
Stupid,
Romi.
If
Aaron Blake wasn’t human, what was he? A god or a demigod in disguise? Everyone
called the disguises glamours. They were more like a trick of the eye…easy to
create. I’d used the same type of magic to disguise the daggers strapped to my
thighs, assuring nobody would see so much as the outline of them through my
dress. Yet I hadn’t even looked for a glamour surrounding Mr. Blake.
I
wasn’t prepared to go up against a god, but the more I stared at the sword, the
more certain I was of its identity, which meant touching it would bring
someone’s ire down upon me.
Damn.
What does Shade want with the Harpē?
Shade
was terrifying enough without a magical sword at his beck and call. He already
wielded me like a weapon, and the idea of arming him with the Harpē made my
stomach churn.
No. I
won’t take it! I won’t give him this.
Determined
to follow through with my decision, I pressed the button on my harness and let
the rope retract. Pain blossomed inside my chest, and the further I got from
the sword—and the task Shade had ordered me to complete—the more I hurt. My
insides seemed to fold inward, squeezing the air from my lungs. I knew from
experience it wouldn’t let up. The pain would drive me crazy until I gave in
and did my sire’s bidding.
Stars
danced before my eyes, I smelled copper, and felt blood welling up in my nasal
cavity, especially unpleasant due to my upside-down position. Swearing, I
pressed the button again, halting my retreat. I’d only managed to get about
five feet away. I dangled midair, cursing both my sire and the mother who’d
abandoned me with him. Once again accepting the fact I had no choice, I lowered
myself back down to hover above the sword and wait out the next cycle of
lasers.
Giving
in to Shade’s commands despite my personal convictions always left a sour taste
in my mouth, but I couldn’t disobey. Not with my kid counting on me to make it
home.
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