Thank
you for stopping by Blogging by Liza for today’s Mistletoe Madness spot. This
year’s event is hosted by Blogging by Liza, Books Make Me Happy, and That’s
What I’m Talking About. It’s a two week event where authors with 2015 winter
releases (November 2015 – January 2016) will take over our blogs with guest
post written from their character’s POV with a holiday theme (Christmas,
Hanukkah, Festivus, New Years, etc.). For a line up of all the authors featured
at all three blogs, please click on the image above or go to the kickoff post
from December 1, 2015.
Today’s
Mistletoe Madness author is…
Silver James
Book: The Devil’s Cut
Release Date: October 30, 2015
Series: The Penumbra Papers #3
MISTLETOE MADNESS BLOG HOP
So, this Mistletoe Madness thing? Yeah, my
writer volunteered me for this gig and my boss, who happens to be Director of
the FBI, didn’t give me a choice. In fact, he called me off my current
assignment just to show up here. I should introduce myself. I’m Special Agent Sade
Marquis. Say-dee. Not Sha-Day. Not Sawd. Say-dee. Don’t ask. It was my mother’s
idea of a joke. So was trying to pass me off as the daughter of Oberon, King of
the Fae Court. My real dad is just a CPA. Who happens to work for a master
vampire. Technically, I guess Mathias is THE master vampire since he’s the Veşnic of the effing Vampyre Conclave. I head up the FBI’S
MAGIC unit. When magical crime spills over to affect humans, that’s when we
effing take over.
*glances over shoulder* Yeah, yeah. No cussing, Silver. You, Sinjen,
Caleb, and Roman all made me promise to keep this effing PG. Where’s Ariel when
I need him? Oops. I shouldn’t have said that. The da—er…dang fae shows up when
I least want him around.
So, Mistletoe Madness. It’s all about
Christmas. As you can imagine, me growing up in the household of a master
vampire led to some interesting Christmas celebrations. There was the time I
was six and Caleb appeared under the Christmas tree wearing a big red bow and
fur. Werewolves stay furry until they hit puberty so I thought he was my
Christmas puppy. And that whole puberty thing? Werewolves don’t really have
control of their shifts due to all those raging hormones. So…there was the
Christmas when I was fifteen. Now, that’s a good story and it embarrasses the
cra—carp out of Caleb. Win-win for me!
Christmas in Mathias’s household was, and
still is, boringly traditional. Vampires hid in plain sight. Hell, all the
magicks did so. I dreaded the annual Christmas party. Myriad sparkling lights
lit the mansion from within and without. As a pampered child, I loved the
holidays. In my teens? Ugh. Just…ugh. I coated my upswept hair with one more
spritz of hairspray, sighed, and with a fake smile firmly fixed on my face, I
headed out to confront the dragons. No, not literal dragons. So far as I knew,
Mathias didn’t hold court with them. That came later when I got my own pesky
dragon stalker.
Anyway, the
house was like something out of a magazine. A huge tree, covered in antique
glass ornaments and tiny lights, adorned the formal living room. I avoided the
people hanging out there and drifted along looking all bored and shi—stuff. A
second tree graced the family room. It was just as large as the first but homier,
with tinsel, garlands, old-fashioned lights, and mounds of presents heaped
beneath it. This was technically the family tree. People lounged on the comfortable
furniture, the whispers of their quiet conversations filtering through the soft
Christmas music playing through hidden speakers. A few people looked up, waved
or nodded, and then ignored me. Yippee.
In the dining room, the table was set with
china, antique silver, and crystal to Hoskins’s exacting standards. Hoskins is
a stick-up-his-a…arse English butler who’s been with Mathias for a lifetime. He
also hates me. The feeling is mutal. Each place setting contained enough china
and cutlery to accommodate a full seven-course meal. I did a full-body shudder
at the sight. Should I mention I hate formal meals? Oh, I know which fork to
use and all that sh—stuff, but that whole clink of silver on china, the sharp
tink of crystal glasses? Makes me grit my teeth. *glances at the sexy vampire lounging on the leather couch* You
should remember that Sinjen. And stop looking so damn yummy. Now…where was I?
Oh, yeah.
People were everywhere, milling around with
drinks in their hands, hors d’vours in their mouths, and doing that whole fake
kiss-kiss cra-crud. My skin prickled from the level of magic in the air. Damn
shit actually created static electricity in the air. Hoskins shuttled from room
to room directing the staff. When he announced dinner, all those people
channeled like lemmings toward the dining room to mill around the table
searching for their names. Hoskins agonized over the sitting arrangements and
in previous years, Caleb and I played tag with the place cards, moving them
helter-skelter. I got grounded for a week the previous year. Caleb was banished
to wolf form and tied up in the yard for the duration. We learned our lessons. Besides,
there were more subtle ways to create havoc.
Did I mention this was a formal dinner? That
meant I was supposed to be in a gown and Caleb wore a tux. Some of the guests
were strictly human—business associates or social acquaintances of Mathias. An
old woman who looked like a dowager queen reigned over the event. She’s Aunt
Polly to me, though everyone else calls her Dame Apolline. She’s an old friend
of the family—old like centuries. There was also a small bevy of unmarried
former débutantes who were edging over into the old maid category, sent by
their mothers to try to seduce either Mathias or my father.
Nothing about this troubled Mathias. He’d
always said débutantes tasted of mimosas and white wine spritzers. He much
preferred the rich, earthy tones of a good lager, a single malt scotch, or a
dark red Cabernet Sauvignon. Dad, on the other hand, was just baffled by
members of the opposite sex, including me. He’d been seduced by my mother and I
think he was sort of traumatized by the ensuing war over my custody.
I waited until Caleb finally showed up. He
kept tugging at his collar and looked a little green around the gills. He hated
mixing with people even more than he hated the tux. Caleb escorted me into the
dining room and dude, the reaction! Dad looked stunned, like he didn’t
recognize me. I’d refused to wear a formal gown, opting instead for a little
black dress—and I do mean little. I’d piled my hair in haphazard curls atop my
head. It helped the illusion, along with the high heels so I stood almost six
feet tall. I didn’t miss a nuance as people turned to watch. I knew the moment
Dad realized his baby girl was all grown up.
Everyone eventually found their places at the
table. Caleb even managed to hold my chair for me. The first course?
Bacon-wrapped scallops in crispy phyllo pastry cups drizzled with apricot
vinaigrette and alder smoked salmon lox with crème fraiche served atop a
miniature onion-chervil scone. None of the humans seemed to notice that neither
Mathias nor Apolline partook. The staff served steaming bowls of Mediterranean
Tomato Bisque, a rich & creamy blend of tomatoes, fresh mint and lemon
along with a salad of wild winter greens mixed with spiced pecans, apples,
dried berries, and goat cheese crumbles in a forest berry vinaigrette.
Grapefruit sorbet garnished with fresh mint
was served—to clear the palate, Mathias once explained when the little kid me
asked about ice cream in the middle of dinner. The main course arrived at the
table amidst a good deal of pomp and ceremony. Hoskins placed a crowned rib
roast surrounded by whole new potatoes caramelized in a sauvignon and butter
sauce before Mathias. The vampire made the first cut, carving off a slice and
placing it on the plate in front of Apolline. Amidst polite applause and
exclamations, Hoskins removed the platter to the sideboard and carved the rest
of the roast while maids distributed the plates filled with beef, potatoes and
steamed asparagus stalks in a Hollandaise sauce.
Mathias picked up his wine glass, the
burgundy in it gleaming dark crimson beneath the subtle glow of the Austrian
crystal chandelier. “A toast,” he proposed. “To good friends and family.”
“Hear, hear.” The group murmured in reply,
each taking a sip from their glass—all but Caleb. He downed the whole glass of
the potent wine in one gulp. I cut my eyes but didn’t say anything.
Conversation ebbed and flowed over the main course. The matron on Caleb’s left
leaned against him, giving his bad sixteen-year-old wolfy self an excellent
view of her cleavage. She whispered something to him and his reply came out as
a short bark. I cringed and tried to get Mathias’s attention without being
obvious.
I poked Caleb in the side and whispered
harshly, “I need to talk you—outside.” Caleb shook his head, a low growl
rumbling in his chest. “Caleb,” I insisted, wrapping my hand around his biceps.
“Now!” I stood up, attempting to drag Caleb out with me.
The next few minutes blurred. Surprised
exclamations and screams mixed with snarls and growls. The sounds of ripping
cloth added to the confusion. I felt a brief moment of vertigo and stars danced
in front of my eyes. When my vision cleared, Caleb, in his wolf form, sat
quietly beside Mathias’s chair at the head of the table. His chair and place
setting had been removed and I now sat next to the matron. Mathias fed bites of
his roast to Caleb. Glancing around, I realized no one seemed perturbed that a
sixteen-year-old boy had just changed into a wolf in their midst. The magicks
acted as if nothing had happened and the humans just seemed…dazed.
That was the moment I realized was
different—really and truly different from the rest of humanity. I could see
that Mathias and Aunt Polly were different; that Caleb was different. None of
the other humans could, not even my father, though he was aware of the fact
that Mathias and Apolline were vampires and that Caleb was a werewolf. I could
see through the magical glamours the magicks wore.
The revelation so stunned me that I missed
what the matron said until Mathias said, “Sade is still three years from her
debut.”
I was all sorts of freaked right the hell…o
out. “Debut?” I blinked. Repeatedly. “Me?” My voice squeaked. “Uncle Mathias, I
am so not débutante material.”
The lady patted my hand. “Nonsense, Sade,”
the woman asserted. “When your time comes, and it will—” she broke off to look
up the table toward Mathias. “I’ve already nominated our little Sade for the
honor, Mathias.” The woman simpered and actually batted her eyelashes at him.
“Our little Sade will be a rose among thorns when she’s presented at the summer
ball.”
A rose among
thorns? Seriously? Gag me with a spoon! Then I freaked out even more. Did the
magic world have the equivalent of the human débutante ball? I managed to get
through dinner. I inhaled dessert—some sort of hot pudding pie thing—as as soon
as the last spoon hit a plate, Caleb and I were out of there. We hid at the top
of the stairs the rest of the night and made bets on who would wrangle Mathias
under the mistletoe to claim a kiss. No one, it turned out. Not a bad Christmas
memory, all things considered, though I did make my entry into formal society.
That’s a story for another day.
And speaking
of other stories, Caleb’s story just came out in book form, thanks to Silver.
THE DEVIL’S CUT is an Amazon exclusive on the digital side. You can read it for
free if you have Amazon Prime or belong to Kindle Unlimited. If you don’t, it’s
a bargain at $3.99. And you can get it in print on Amazon, too! Here’s where
you get your mouse out and go clicking.
Buy Links:
About the Book:
The Devil’s in the details…
What do two werewolf teens missing in
the New Mexico desert, a stolen pouch of Native American fetishes, and a drug
lord calling himself El Diablo have in common? Undercover FBI Agent Caleb Jones
would sure like to find out. The trail leads to Denver where CSI Adele McCoy is
investigating the cases of two diabolically murdered men and the pouch of
Native American fetishes discovered at one of the crime scenes. She doesn’t
believe in magic, but the whole situation gives her a creepy supernatural vibe
she can't deny.
And the Devil always gets his cut…
When their cases collide, Caleb and
Adele are soon running for their lives—and fighting an attraction that
threatens to combust. Hot on their trail is Caleb’s best friend, Special Agent
Sade Marquis. She’s bound and determined to find the wayward werewolf. Death is
a dialogue, love hurts, and you don’t know the measure of a man—or a woman—until
it’s time to pay the Devil his due. In this Case from the Shadow’s Edge, it
might just be a werewolf and the woman he loves who pay the price.
About the Author:
THE DEVIL’S CUT, and other books in the
award-winning Penumbra Papers urban fantasy series, is written by Silver James.
Silver
likes walks on the wild side and coffee. Okay. She LOVES coffee. Warning: Her
Muse, Iffy, runs with scissors. A cowgirl at heart, she’s also been an Army
officer’s wife and mom, and has worked in the legal field, fire service, and
law enforcement. Now retired from the real world, she lives in Oklahoma and
spends her days writing urban fantasy, paranormal thrillers, and sexy
contemporary romance with the assistance of her two Newfoundland dogs, the cat
who rules them all, and the myriad characters living in her imagination.
Giveaway:
Silver is generously giving away one (1) $10
Amazon gift card and one (1) digital copy of The Devil’s Cut. To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter
form AND comment telling us one of your favorite holiday tradition. The giveaway is open during the time specified on the
Rafflecopter form. Winner(s) chosen at random from all eligible entries. This
contest is open to U.S. residents only. Open to participants, 18 years or
older, who are legally allowed to participate in such a contest as allowed by
their local laws. All federal, state, local, and municipal laws and regulations
apply. Void where prohibited. No purchase necessary. By participating in the
contest, participants agree to be bound by the decisions of the contest
sponsor. Prize will be delivered by the author. This blog, its reviewers, and
the owner are not responsible for items lost in the mail. By entering this
giveaway, participants agree to abide by these terms.
Now, head over to BOOKS MAKE ME HAPPY to see
today’s feature with Hildie McQueen and THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT to see
today’s feature with Cat Johnson
