Prophecy

 

PROPHECY promo artwork by Lisa Brennan-Webb

And the moral of this story is...
Friends help you move.
Real friends help you move bodies and get arrested with you.
Best friends help you incite mutinies, deliver babies, and design promotional art for your books while you wait for cover art to come through. Guess which kind of friend Lisa is?? It's no wonder she has a dedication in a quarter of my books so far.
 

 The artwork of Richard Spake
KYLA sketch is the property of Richard Spake, used by permission.
 

PROPHECY-

NEWS! Seven years later, I've got the PROPHECY bug again. Several of my early test readers agreed that I'd set Kyla's band up for more adventures. At the time, I didn't agree, but the muse knocked some sense into me. This time it's Mollie's turn in the hot seat...and with a VERY hot hero. The book is, as yet, untitled. Since I can't find another book of the Bible that works well with the PROPHECY moniker, I'm considering something like PROPHECY: REBIRTH or PROPHECY: RECKONING. I'm leaning heavily toward the latter.

PROPHECY: REVELATIONS- When Joe Connor is hired to protect Kyla Keating, he thinks his boss is insane.  Why would Samantha "Gram" Allen hire him to watch and protect a woman she doesn't even know?  Gram doesn't even want to know Kyla. She only wants to know two things.  Is someone else watching, and does Joe see anything unusual?  Joe has no idea how unusual things are about to become.  Kyla is the subject of a prophecy, a woman with fantastic powers, an unknown quest, and a ghost guide.  She also has a personal army of bodyguards and enemies who will kill her, none of which she is aware of.  It is Joe's destiny to love and protect her, but  when he has to kidnap her to keep her from being killed, will he ever win back her trust so he can do his job?

HEA-yes, VIOLENCE-high moderate, LANGUAGE-moderate, SEX-sensual  

Prophecy Volume One: Revelations Self-Published rerelease available from ARe, B&N Nook, Amazon Kindle, and 1 Place for Romance.

To read an excerpt of PROPHECY: REVELATIONS

To read reviews of this series...

To read the unedited outtakes and redone scenes from REVELATIONS...

 

 

 

PROPHECY: RAPTURE- Joe and Kyla are back to finish their adventure. When last we saw our duo, Joe was forced to trust Kyla's protection to the higher powers, and Kyla was forced to sacrifice herself for Joe. Joe had prepared himself to die for Kyla. What will he do when she takes a leap of faith that places her in Harris' path? With plans within plans and traitors at every turn, Kyla still has no idea what she is supposed to do to fulfill the prophecy. The heat of battle will either temper her to the prophet she is to become or destroy them all.

HEA-yes, VIOLENCE-graphic, LANGUAGE-moderate, SEX-lightly sensual

Prophecy Volume Two: Rapture Self-Published rerelease available from ARe, B&N Nook, Amazon Kindle, and 1 Place for Romance.

To read an excerpt of PROPHECY: RAPTURE

To read reviews of this series...

To read the unedited outtakes and redone scenes from RAPTURE...Don't forget the deleted CHAPTER!

 

PROPHECY: RAMPAGE- The gods aren't through with prophecies yet. To release a killing creature on the Earth, a cult has to use a now-adult Mollie as a human sacrifice. There's one little snag; the one man who might be able to save her is too busy trying to escape his fate to listen to words of caution.

HEA-yes, VIOLENCE-graphic, LANGUAGE-moderate, SEX-lightly erotic  

 

Excerpt from PROPHECY: REVELATIONS
Chapter One
April 9th , 2001
 

Joe Connor ducked to the right, his shoulder brushing the rough brick storefront. His smile widened as he caught sight of the telltale flash of auburn three doors up. He surged forward as she slowed, taking chances as he read in Kyla’s actions that she was close to her destination. Kyla slid left between two businessmen, and Joe lost track of her for one heart-stopping moment. As always, her way of neatly avoiding the crush allowed her moments of near-invisibility in the rush of taller pedestrians.

She reappeared, her slim figure outlined in the streetlights as she prepared for a dash across the busy street. Joe slid in behind her, daring to inch into her personal space. Kyla shivered and smoothed her hair, so close Joe could have raised his hand and allowed one of her curls to brush around his finger. He didn’t, and she didn’t look back at him. Kyla never did. It had taken him more than a month to learn that about her.

Joe wasn’t worried about Kyla seeing him, and tonight was a night to take chances. A loner, with few friends and little time for family, Kyla didn’t fit into the pattern of city life. For any other stunning redhead, a night out like this would be commonplace, but this was Kyla. She didn’t typically go out this late. It only took him a week to learn that.

Joe startled and blended into the group of people behind Kyla as she lead the way across the street. Her stride was purposeful now, and Joe gave her an extra few yards lead on him. He’d seen that walk before, just before the quiet, introspective young woman unloaded her anger on the one boyfriend Joe had seen her with in his two months on the job.

When Gram first approached him for this job, Joe thought she was crazy, but the money was right, and he couldn’t argue with that. He smoothed the bristling hair at the back of his neck. Gram was easily the most intimidating employer he’d ever had. The elderly woman could never be mistaken for feeble, even in her age and infirmity. She had resources that boggled him and a foreknowledge that was downright spooky at times. That was what really bothered him about Gram. She made him uneasy.

The job was simple. Keep as close an eye on Kyla Keating as possible twenty-four-seven. Kyla was a woman Gram couldn’t even claim to know except by reputation, yet Gram was paying a lot of money to make sure Joe kept on her tail. Joe’s needs were all met as part of the job. He was provided with an apartment near hers, money for expenses: meals if she ate at a restaurant, movies if she went there, an all-zone bus pass every month, and a car in case someone else drove her. The small apartment he occupied was across an alley from the rear of hers, but the entertainment center wasn’t just for amusement. It was wired to Kyla radio, as Joe liked to call it. For two months, he had gotten to know Kyla in a way he was sure few had.

Kyla seemed oblivious to how unique she was, to how she stood out in a crowd. Joe had learned her favorite foods, her favorite songs, and her favorite pastimes. He caught glimpses of her drawings and heard her recite her own poetry as she wrote it. Some nights, Joe watched Kyla move around her apartment using the binoculars. Some nights, he laid back and listened to the sound of her voice. He wondered if she could fall for a security guy with a few semesters of college under his belt. Joe sighed. Kyla was definitely out of his league.

At any rate, while Joe was having a completely meaningless relationship with a dream, Gram wasn’t interested in any of this. It confused him at first, but Gram explained that she only needed to know two things. Was there anyone else watching Kyla, and did he see anything unusual?

“Unusual how?” Joe had asked her.

“Anything that happens around her, to her, or that she does. Anything, no matter how irrelevant it seems, may be important,” Gram had answered him.

Joe kept following Kyla, and he learned more about her every day. So far, he hadn’t seen anything out of the ordinary. Of course, Joe had no idea what he was looking for either.

He dodged right without conscious realization that Kyla had made the same move, following her as she stepped into line at the Rex Theatre. Even with the single person between them in line and her voice low, Joe picked out which of the two movies she was seeing easily. He cringed at how he would have to fake his way through if he hadn’t.

Ticket in hand, Joe strode inside. He passed on the concession stand just as Kyla had. His dinner had been a big one. He could afford to pass on popcorn and candy to secure a seat close to her.

Joe sucked in his breath as Kyla turned into her row, her eyes sliding over the crowd and passing over him like a warm touch. She hadn’t noticed him. Kyla never noticed him. Joe reminded himself that he should be glad of that. His job was to watch and report. He couldn’t do that if she knew he was there.

Joe sighed as he sank into his seat two rows back from her. As usual, he would miss most of the movie watching Kyla. Was it a good thing or bad that she liked such good movies?

*   *   *

Kyla’s eyes were on the screen, but her mind was elsewhere. There was something behind her that she should see. Most of her life, feelings like that had plagued her. She’d turn suddenly to see a flash of movement reflected in a mirror or a shadowy image fading away. She hated the cold, feathery, static-charged feeling it gave her. At times, Kyla would turn to a voice over her shoulder, and there would actually be a person there.

The person would stare back at her; annoyed, amused, kindly or startled, and her mother would drag her away. “Don’t stare, Kyla. It’s rude.” Her mother was always there, waiting to pounce on her. “What is wrong with you?” she’d hiss. “Stop it.”

Kyla knew what the problem was. The flashes of movement were phantoms, afterimages of things not there anymore. The people hadn’t actually said what she heard them say. But, if she told someone that, they’d lock her up and hurt her. Was that something her mother told her, too? Kyla couldn’t remember her saying it, but she had known it was true from a very young age.

As time went on, it simply became easier to ignore that nagging feeling, to avoid crowds, and to forget the dreams. It was better not to see what was over her shoulder. Kyla pushed away the feeling and tried to concentrate on what was on the screen.

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Excerpt from PROPHECY: RAPTURE (volume two of PROPHECY)

Kyla rubbed her eyes and looked again, sure she was seeing a mirage of sorts. No, it was a door. She hoped feverently that Harris wasn’t on the other side waiting for her, then she cracked the door open and looked around. No one was in sight. She turned off her light and stuffed it inside her shirt.
 
She crept out of the enclosure and surveyed her surroundings. Sunlight streamed from large dusty windows far overhead. One of the long walls was lined with bleachers that reached up to a few feet below the windows and looked down on the cavernous hole of the empty pool, which fell away just a few yards in front of her feet.

Kyla backed away to the cool, tile wall behind her. After her time in the claustrophobic tunnels, the room seemed to spin around her. She broke out in a cold sweat, closed her eyes and tried to still the pounding of her heart in her chest. She had to keep moving. She opened her eyes again and finished her assessment of her surroundings. The locker rooms were across the room and a stairwell up lay to her left through a glass door. She touched the glass, then glanced back at the locker rooms. Prophet or not, she was human, and she needed a bathroom.

There was no water, of course, and Kyla cursed her luck. She was thirsty. She had been thirsty since she woke. It was like what Sarah used to call cottonmouth. Kyla wondered if Harris had drugged her. It was possible but not worth the time to figure out.

Kyla was headed back to the pool when she caught sight of herself in the dusty bank of metal mirrors. She gasped at the image reflected back. It didn’t even seem that Kyla was looking at herself. Her entire body was smeared with dark mud and slime. Her hair was matted and dirty. Her left cheek and nose were swollen and discolored. Dried blood spread out from her nose to below her right ear. She smelled horrible.

What Kyla wouldn’t give if these showers actually worked. She considered washing off the blood streak, at least, but she didn’t have the spit to spare. She sighed and headed out. This was one image she wouldn’t send to Joe on a bet. Vain? Maybe, but he didn’t need to see this anyway. There had to be a way to get cleaned up before then.

She gave the pool a wide berth and headed up the stairs. The door at the top was locked with a double key deadbolt. What Kyla wouldn’t give for Eric, right now. She was out of the tunnels and still trapped.

Kyla peered out the windows and sucked in her breath. Tears of joy ran down her face, and Kyla was surprised she still had enough water to cry. She knew where she was. She should have remembered the stories about the old tunnels, but in a city as old as this one, there were a lot of old tunnels. She wouldn’t have wanted to send Joe to the wrong ones before she was sure. There was no chance that she was wrong. As many times as she could, Kyla had lain out in that garden and read a book. The library was to her left. The math building was straight ahead, and the convent was to her right.

As she glanced right, Kyla ducked. Her heart skipped a beat. Two men were heading directly for her. They were halfway through the garden between the gym and the convent when she saw them. They knew about this exit. Kyla scurried back down the steps to the pool level and crouched next to the tunnel door.

She reached out excitedly. “Joe.”

“What’s wrong?”

She shouldn’t have yelled that way. “I have some good news and some bad news. I’m out of the tunnels.”

“You still don’t have any clue where you are?” Joe was disappointed.

“Yes, I do. I’m at Galway College.”

“Galway? Where is that?” he asked.

“Fourth Avenue in Oakland.”

“What’s the bad news?”

“I have to go back into the tunnels.”

“Why?”

“They’re coming. They know about this exit. That means they’re looking for me.”

“Keep your head down. I’ll be there soon.”

“They’re in the convent at the top of campus. You’ll have to figure out a way in. Maybe the woods northeast of campus--”

“Let me worry about that. You stay out of sight as long as you can. No crazy chances.”

“This whole thing is a crazy chance. I have to go.”

Kyla pressed against the wall and listened. She might not have to go back in, if all they needed was to guard the exit from the outside. Her hopes were dashed as she heard the door creak open.

Their voices wafted down to her. “It’s pointless. Does Harris really think she’s going to find her way out of that crumbling maze?”

“Can it. At least, he just wants us to stand guard. He’s going in there himself. Glad to hear it, too. They’re not paying me enough to get caved in down there.”

“Guess you better get down to the new residents’ hall and watch that one.”

“Hey, Timms. What’s that stuff?”

There was a long pause and footsteps overhead. They weren’t on the stairs, yet. “Mud, and it’s fresh.”

Kyla glanced around. She dragged in mud, all right. Everything she touched, her shoes. So much for them giving up there. She looked at her handprint on the glass door.

“Should we search?”

“You lock me in, and I’ll search. She may still be here, and we don’t want her slipping out an open door.”

“What about me?”

“Get to the residents’ hall door fast. If she’s been here and left already because she couldn’t find a way out, she’s probably headed that way. Make sure she doesn’t get out. I’ll radio Blake to let him know she was here. Move.”

That was enough for Kyla. She slid back into the tunnels and switched on her light. She hurried back around several corners so she would be out of sight if he looked in. He wouldn’t follow her. Harris was the only one willing to actually go into this mess.

Kyla stopped and pondered her situation. Joe would be here in an hour and a half. It was Sunday, but the safe house was in North Side, and he had to sneak onto campus. All the known exits were covered, and Harris was in the tunnels. That variable frightened her the most. Did Harris know the tunnels, or was he running blind like Kyla was? Did it matter? If Harris found her, what did it matter if he knew where he was going?

She decided to take no chances. Kyla had no destination in mind. Why not waste time wandering? She would attempt to stay toward the center of campus. From what she saw and heard about the tunnels, they reached the whole four blocks north to south and three blocks east to west of the campus. That was twelve square blocks to lose herself in. That was all she had to do, play a game of cat and mouse with Harris long enough to get help.

*  *  *

Harris muttered a curse under his breath. She had already reached the gym building and left again before he even set out. That little witch was fast. She would be heading for the other opening. Cason was on his way, but Harris was still going in to intercept her if he could.

“When I catch her--” Harris sobered. If he caught her, he was going to make her very sorry for putting him through this hell on Earth. But, catching her was the rub. The mud was fresh, but that still meant she navigated the tunnels to that point in anywhere between fifteen minutes and an hour. There were miles of tunnels down here, but if she actually knew where she was going, Kyla could be out the other end in minutes.

Worse still, the residents’ hall had lots of standard windows she could crawl out, unlike the gym building with its high, permanently closed windows. If she got free, he was going to have to cut and run. Kyla would go to the police this time to save the old woman, and Harris would spend the rest of his life in jail with no questions asked.

He stopped and shined his light down on the map. The others didn’t know about the map, and they didn’t need to know. Let them continue to fear what he was capable of. Soon, it would be the only edge Harris had left. Already, they were faster, stronger, and had more stamina than he had. Most of them referred to him as “the old man” now, and they were starting to treat him that way, too.

Harris had requested the map as a condition of using the site the first time Jessup had suggested it might be useful. That was over twenty years ago. The map itself was easily thirty-five years old, but it included the original design. It was highlighted for the tunnels that were capped off or that were already collapsed at the time it was made. It showed the new tunnel, which was not accessible from the old ones, and the exits. Harris supposed the man who really had balls of steel was the one who used the original map to do this survey and update it.

Years ago, Harris had worked out two routes to each exit and marked them in different colors on his map. That way, if more tunnels collapsed, he would still have a chance to reach his destination. He scanned the map. The blue line was the shortest route to the residents’ hall exit. He started following the series of twists and turns that would lead him out the other side.

Why was he doing this? Why not wait for her to come out? Kyla would have to come out for clean water and food, eventually. But, Harris knew time would run out before she gave up and walked willingly into his hands. Kyla was right, after all. It wasn’t going to be that easy.
 

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