Tanya Huff - Smoke and Mirrors (Smoke, Book 2)

[From Jacket]

SMOKE AND MIRRORS

TANYA HUFF

From Tanya Huff, the author of the acclaimed Blood novels, which followed the adventures of private detective Vicki Nelson and vampire Henry Fitzroy, comes the second novel in a brilliant new contemporary fantasy series, SMOKE AND MIRRORS.

The first novel in the series, SMOKE AND SHADOWS, reintroduced us to Henry Fitzroy, and to Tony Foster, a former street kid and snitch rescued from his dead-end existence by Vicki and Henry, and given a chance for a better life.

Relocating to Vancouver with Henry, and forced to get his act together, Tony landed a job as a Production Assistant at CB Productions. In an example of art echoing life, the syndicated TV series Tony worked for was Darkest Night, a show about the adventures of a vampire detective.

Except for his unrequited crush on the shows handsome costar, Lee Nicholas, Tony was pretty content..

.at least until the day shadows took over the set. Though Tony and most of his coworkers survived their encounter with shadowy forces of dark magic, survival was not without its price. Tony discovered a surprising truth about himself and was offered a chance to become far more than a mere Production Assistant.

But he wasnt certain he wanted to take that next step. And so, though he occasionally practiced the skills that CB Productions former special effects wizard had gifted him with, Tony continued to fill the job of Production Assistant on Darkest Night.

Everything was going fine until Chester Bane rented Caulfield House, a long-deserted, turn-of-the-last-century mansion, to shoot an episode about a haunted house.

It should have been an easy week, with a perfect setting, the cast all in place, the script ready to go. But there was one little hitch that no one had counted on. Caulfield House really was haunted! Over the decades,

a number of horrifying deaths had occurred in the mansion. And apparently none of the victims had managed to escape to an afterlife....

It began with harmless pranksafter all, some of the ghosts were just kids. Then there was trouble with equipment, eerie sounds, and Tonys discovery that he could see-and hear-the dead. He probably could have dealt with that. Hed certainly lived through far more terrifying and perilous situations. But that was before someones blood was spilled. Just a little accident, but in this case, a little was all it took.

Suddenly, Tony and most of the cast and crew found themselves imprisoned in a house that had killed numerous times before. With Henry Fitzroy and Chester Bane unable to break through the barrier the house had created, all that stood between them and madness and death was Tonys fledgling ability as a wizard....

Although she left Nova Scotia at three, and has lived most of her life since in Ontario, Tanya Huff still considers herself a Maritimer. On the way to the idyllic rural existence she shares with her partner Fiona Patton, six cats, and a Chihuahua, she acquired a degree in Radio and Television Arts from Ryerson Polytechnican education she was happy to finally use while writing the SMOKE novels. Of her previous twenty-two books the fiveBLOOD PRICE, BLOOD TRAIL, BLOOD LINES, BLOOD PACT, BLOOD

DEBTfeaturing Henry Fitzroy, bastard son of Henry VIII, romance writer, and vampire are among the most popular. Shes pleased to be returning to that world once again as Tony Foster, ex-street kid, and one of Henrys own, discovers that working in television has less to do with reality than he ever suspected.

Jacket painting by John Jude Palencar

Jacket designed by G-Force Design

The Finest in Science Fiction and Fantasy

by TANYA HUFF

available from DAW Books:

SMOKE AND SHADOWS (#1)

SMOKE AND MIRRORS (#2)

BLOOD PRICE (#1)

BLOOD TRAIL (#2)

BLOOD LINES (#3)

BLOOD PACT (#4)

BLOOD DEBT (#5)

The Confederation Novels:

VALORS CHOICE (#1)

THE BETTER PART OF VALOR (#2)

The Keepers Chronicles:

SUMMON THE KEEPER (#1)

THE SECOND SUMMONING (#2)

LONG HOT SUMMONING (#3)

SING THE FOUR QUARTERS

FIFTH QUARTER

NO QUARTER

THE QUARTERED SEA

WIZARD OF THE GROVE

OF DARKNESS, LIGHT, AND FIRE

SMOKE

AND

MIRRORS

TANYA HUFF

DAW BOOKS, INC.

DONALD A. WOLLHEIM, FOUNDER

375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014

ELIZABETH R. WOLLHEIM

SHEILA E. GILBERT

PUBLISHERS

http://www.dawbooks.com

For Judith and Dave

Who opened the door

and then gently shoved

me through it.

Chapter One

ABOUT A THIRD of the way down the massive wooden staircase the older of the two tuxedo-clad men paused, head up, nostrils flaring as though he were testing a scent on the air. Were not... alone.

Well, theres at least another twenty invited guests, his companion began lightly.

Not what I meant. Red-gold hair gleamed as he turned first one way then the other. Theres something... else.

Something else? the younger man repeated, suspiciously studying the portrait of the elderly gentleman in turn-of-the-century clothing hanging beside him. The portrait, contrary to expectations, continued to mind its own business.

Something... evil.

Dont you think youre overreacting just a... The husky voice trailed off as he stared over the banister, down into the wide entrance hall. His fingers tightened on the polished wood of the railing as green eyes widened. Raymond, I think youd better have a look at this.

Raymond Dark turnedslowlyand snarled, the extended points of his canine teeth clearly visible.

And cut! Down by the front door, Peter Hudson pushed his headphones back around his neck, peered around the bank of monitors, and up at the stars of Darkest Night. Two things, gentlemen. First, Mason; whats with the pausing before the last word in every line?

Mason Reed, aka Raymond Dark, vampire detective and currently syndicated televisions sexiest representative of the bloodsucking undead, glared down at the director. I was attempting to make banal dialogue sound profound.

Yeah? Nice try. Unfortunately, it sounded like you were doing a bad Shatner, whichwhile Im in no way dissing the good Captain Kirkis not quite the effect we want here. And Lee, he continued without giving Mason a chance to argue, whats on your shoulder? Your right shoulder, he added as Lee Nicholas aka James Taylor Grant tried to look at both shoulders at once. Actually, more the upper sleeve.

A streak of white, about half an inch wide, ran from just under the shoulder seam diagonally four inches down the sleeve of Lees tux.

He frowned. It looks like paint.