M.L.N. Hanover - Vicious Grace (The Black Suns Daughter)

Praise for
M.L.N. Hanover

DARKER ANGELS

An urban fantasy packed with intense emotions, cleverly original escapades, and an engaging group of characters.

Single Titles

Written with such tension that the book nearly vibrates in your hand. I read it in less than twenty-four hours, barely pausing to work, eat, or sleep.

Reading the Leaves

A fascinating and entertaining thriller.

Genre Go Round Reviews

A wild tale in a surreal world that is our own, just with elements we never see.... A fabulous read.

Night Owl Reviews

A dark urban fantasy series that could easily become addictive.

Pop Syndicate

Vicious Grace is also available as an eBook

UNCLEAN SPIRITS

Smooth prose and zippy action sequences.

Publishers Weekly

I absolutely loved unclean Spirits . The world that M.L.N. Hanover has created is fascinating without being overbearing, and it is unique enough that it stands out from the rest of the urban fantasy genre.... A must-read for any urban fantasy lover.

Fallen Angel Reviews

Hanovers debut blends various aspects of urban fantasy and her unique touches to create a series opener that should appeal to genre fans.

Library Journal

Tight, well-developed action and interesting charactersparticularly the heroine, dropped bewildered into a fight against the tattooed wizards of the Invisible College.... This is a series to watch.

New York times bestselling author S. M. Stirling

Jayn is a fresh, likable heroine who grows from being a directionless college student into a vigorous, confident leader as she discovers and accepts her mission in life.... With a solid concept and eclectic cast of characters established, I have high expectations for Book 2 of the Black Suns Daughter.

The Sci Fi Guy

Between the novels energetic pacing, Jayns undeniable charm, and the intriguing concept behind the riders, unclean Spirits is a solid entry in the urban fantasy genre.

Fantasy Book Critic

Engaging urban fantasy... Fans will enjoy learning alongside the heroine the rules of para-physics in the realm of the Black Suns Daughter.

Genre Go Round Reviews

Pure entertainment... Jayn is strong, sexy, and smart, but she isnt too much of any of these; she is far more real and vulnerable than your average heroine.

Reading the Leaves

You wont find the same old supernatural capers in unclean Spirits . It builds its own mythology, its own shadowy, intriguing world.

New York times bestselling author Carrie Vaughn

Also by M.L.N. Hanover

UNCLEAN SPIRITS
DARKER ANGELS

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright 2010 by M.L.N. Hanover

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Pocket Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Pocket Books paperback edition December 2010

POCKET and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

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Cover design by John Vairo Jr.
Cover illustration by Cliff Nielsen

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

ISBN 978-1-4391-7629-0
ISBN 978-1-4391-7635-1 (ebook)

To Sigrid Drusse

Acknowledgments

I would once again like to thank Jayn Franck for the use of her name; my editor, Jennifer Heddle, for her attention and support; and my agents, Shawna McCarthy and Danny Baror, for making this project possible. And also Carrie Vaughn, whose friendship and intellectual company have made this a more interesting book.

vicious grace

PROLOGUE

Kim arrived at the fMRI suite twenty minutes later than shed intended. It was in a wing of the hospital she rarely passed through, and late at night, there were few people to ask for directions. As she swiped her card through the passkey protection, she had a sense of being tardy for class. The doors opened silently onto a long, empty corridor. Only one in three lights glowed, giving the space a sense of twilight and darkness. The smell of antiseptic and electricity seemed to cover something deep and earthy. The closed doors of the individual rooms couldnt quite shut out the clanks and thumps of the machines. A man in a white coat much like her own leaned out of a door halfway down the hall, his eyebrows raised and his mouth set in a scowl.

Im here for Dr. Oonishi, she said, and his scowl shifted into something oddrelief, perhaps? Anticipation?

You must be Kim, the man said, waving her forward. Im Mohammed. Hes in his office. He said to send you back as soon as you came.

Kim forced a tight smile and nodded curtly. She knew her reputation in the hospital and at the university, and she more than half expected this all to be a prank. It wouldnt be the first time someone had seen fit to make fun of the kook, and Kichirou Oonishi had a reputation of his own. Media appearances, popular books, combative letters in the journals, appearances before Congress. Large grants for flashy, headline-grabbing research. He had a lot of pull in the academic hierarchy, and his sense of humor wasnt to be trusted.

But even if she was walking into her own private Punkd moment, she would see the research in progress. That was worth something. And she trusted that she could maintain her dignity. God knew she had enough practice at that.

Oonishis office could have belonged to an accountant. Desk, filing cabinet, worn carpet with old stains, the smell of stale coffee. Only the sixty-inch touch-screen monitor on the wall hinted at the grant money behind the project. Oonishi leaned on the desk, his gaze flickering over the computer screen. Six individual panes were open on it, each showing confused jumbles of grainy black-and-white images. A seventh pane spooled green characters on a black background too quickly for her to process. The wallpaper image behind it all was Oonishi shaking hands with a former president.

He glanced up at her and then back to the screen. His face wasnt rugged so much as cragged, and the white at his temples made Kim feel younger than she was. Or at least less qualified.

So, Oonishi said, without preamble, you understand how all this works?

Kim crossed her arms.

It isnt in my area of expertise, but I imagine that I understand the theory. At least as well as you understand parasites, she said.

He blinked at her. The light from the monitor blued his skin and deadened his eyes.