Angela Knight - Mageverse 11 Master of Smoke

Comic book shop owner Eva Romandiscovers a real-life superman battling a werewolf. After she spiritsthe handsome hunk to safety, she discovers he has no memory of who hewas or why the werewolf wants him dead. Beth takes him in andpromptly becomes a target of the werewolf hit team thats been sent tokill David. Luckily Eva, too, is a werewolf, so shes up to the job ofplaying bodyguard.

And Davids body is a lot of fun to guard. Hes handsome and seductive, with a feral sexuality Beth finds impossible to resist.

Now if only they can stay alive long enough to find out why all these monsters want David dead

ONE

Boom!

The psychic rumble seemed to vibrate Eva Romans skull. She jumped. What the heck was that?

Her father glanced over at her.What? I didnt hear anything. Bill Roman was a bear of a man with abroad, handsome face and a gray-shot black beard that blended with thesalt-and-pepper bristle of his hair.

The customer he was talking to shook his head and slid his hands into the pockets of his jeans. I didnt hear anything either.

Eva hadnt either, but shestill felt as though she were sitting next to the amps at a rockconcert. Her chest vibrated as if from a deep bass note, and ripples ofice crawled along her spine.

What was that?

Something that isnt making youany money. Unpack the boxes, Eva. Dragging her attention back to thejob at hand, she used a box cutter to slice open the cardboard box ather feet, pulled out a stack of books, and started counting. It wasWednesday, and the weeks shipment had arrived, so she needed to checkthe contents.

Yep, fifty copies of AmazingSpider-Man, just like the shipping manifest said. She put a check onthe list and propped the books up at their assigned spot on the NewReleases display rack.

Ruuuumble. Despite herinstinctive jolt, Eva tried to ignore the vibration as she startedpulling copies of X-Men out of the box.

It was completely out ofcharacter. Her father leaned an elbow on the counter, settling in forhis favorite pastime: debating his beloved comics. Deathrage wouldnever torture anybody, not after what Psicopath did to her in issue 28.Its like Batman using a gun or Superman beating somebody to death.

The writers just trying totake the book in a darker direction. A tall, handsome blond, JoelHarmon had intense opinions and a love of comics almost as deep as herfathers, which was why Bill loved to argue with him.

Eva had fallen in love with himfor basically the same reasons. At least until she realized what shewas doing to him. Or worse, going to do.

Darker? Her names Deathrage, for Gods sake. How much darker can she get?

Rummmmmmmble. Something aboutthat sound gnawed at Eva, gave her the nagging feeling that somethingwas deeply wrong. Something she had to do something about. Stop. Fix.Fight. Something.

And she had to do it now.

Dropping the stack of books back into the box, Eva looked over at her father. Mind if I take off, Dad?

He turned around and examinedher face. Whatever he saw carved sudden lines of worry around his hazeleyes. Hey, are you all right?

Eva rolled her shouldersuneasily. I just dont feel well. She had to find out what the hellwas causing her Spidey sense to tingle.

She hadnt even known she had a Spidey sense.

Go. Ive got this. Bill took the box cutter out of her hand and went to work on the next box of books.

Thanks. She gathered up herpurse and headed for the door, striding past massive wooden displayracks stacked with comics. See you tomorrow, Dad.

Bye. He pulled out a stack of books. Im telling you, Deathrage wouldnt have laid a finger on that guy ...

The bell attached to the doorjangled merrily as Eva stepped out of the Comix Cave. It was dark, themoon riding the stand of pines that bordered the strip malls parkinglot. In the distance, dogs barked in a hysterical chorus. Probably atthe same thing that was making her crazy.

She could head into thosetrees, transform, and go investigate. Might be better to take the car,though. Especially if she needed a quick getaway from whatever wasdoing ... whatever the hell it was doing. Eva dug her keys out of herpurse and clicked the fob to unlock her dark blue Ford Focus.

Curiosity might have killed the cat, but she hoped it didnt do anything to werewolves.

Greendale, South Carolina, wasa New South town, which meant it was one big suburb and a small citycore that included one or two tall buildings with skyscraperpretensions. The Comix Cave lay on the western outskirts, among ranchhouses, subdivisions, and so many trees you had to drive carefully toavoid hitting Bambi. It was mating season, and amorous deer andspeeding cars made very bad mix.

But there was something outthere that definitely wasnt a deer. Driving toward the psychic rumble,Eva tightened her grip on the steering wheel. Should I be doing this?What if its dangerous? I could be getting myself in real trouble.

On the other hand, what ifsomebody else was in trouble? It certainly felt like trouble, and Evacould handle threats other people couldnt. If, that is, she couldfigure out a way to do it without scaring the crap out of the innocentbystanders. Most folks found the sight of a seven-foot werewolfseriously disconcerting.

That included rapists. Theredbeen the incident last year when Eva had heard a woman screaming nearthe shop late one night. When shed gone to investigate, shed foundfour drunken frat boys trying to rape a seventeen-year-old girl.

Eva was strong enough and fastenough to knock all four of them out before they even knew what hitthem. Their victim, however, did see her; in fact, shed screamedlouder at the sight of werewolf Eva than she had during the attack. Evahad told her to shut the hell up and hand over her cell phone. She had,shaking.

Shed looked thoroughly astonished when Eva simply called 911, handed the phone back, and growled, You never saw me, right?

Not surprisingly, Eva did notmake the papers, though the kid did tell the cops a very thin lie abouta big guy with a baseball bat whod rescued her from her attackers.

To Evas satisfaction, all four little bastards had gone to jailafter a stint in the hospital.

Go, Team Fluffy.

Too bad somebody hadnt been able to do the same for Eva five years ago.

The rumble was coming from theleft now. She turned into a neat little middle-class development anddrove down the darkened street, following the sensation. The vibrationhad grown so powerful, she could feel it in her back teeth. Howlinginstincts insisted something evil was up ahead.

Not just bad. Mwwwwhahahah evil.

Looking through the treesbordering the yard just ahead, she saw something glowing blue. Evapulled over and parked, staring through the windshield at the light.Could be a police car. Except police cars didnt go Mwwwwhahahah.

You are such an idiot, Evamuttered, swinging the car door open. She was starting to feel like thedumb blond baby-sitter investigating the mysterious sound in thebasement.

Dont be a wuss. If you runinto a knife-wielding psycho, you can always eat him. There was acertain comfort in being able to kick a grizzlys ass.

Unfortunately, that sense ofMwwwwhahahahwhatever the hell it wasmade her think it was something ahell of a lot worse than a grizzly bear. And that shed do well to be alot more careful than shed been with those rapists.

Still, she had just as strong a sense that she had to investigate. So one way or another, she was going in.