Sherrilyn Kenyon - Blood Trinity

FROM SHERRILYN

Thank you to my friends, family, and fans. I love you all and couldnt do this without you. You guys rock!

FROM DIANNA

A big thank-you to Sherrilyn for wanting to team up on a new series. Im thrilled. Who wouldnt be ecstatic over the opportunity to collaborate with a paranormal romance publishing legend? I can never thank my amazing husband, Karl, enough for his constant support, and ensuring my world is stable and filled with love so that I can create. Author Mary Buckham helped as an early reader and in wild brainstorming moments, sometimes with a glass of wine involved. Cassondra Murray is the best assistant anyone could ask for, but having the benefit of her sharp eyes and understanding of storyfor she is a talented writer as wellis priceless. Plus, her husband, Steve Doyle, is always ready to offer his former Special Forces expertise when needed. I also want to thank Barbara Vey for spending that impromptu day in Atlanta with me researching locations, and for what her informative and positive Beyond Her Book blog brings to the publishing industry. Thank you, as well, to Kim Newman, who once again shared her knowledge of the Spanish language and on short notice. I love hearing from fans and book clubs at dianna@authordiannalove.com.

FROM BOTH OF US

Wed like to thank the entire Pocket team, with a special thanks to our terrific editor, Lauren McKenna, and outstanding publisher, Louise Burke. Everyone, from the marketing department to the art department to the copy editing department, worked hard to give us a wonderful presentation for our first Belador story. Wed also like to thank our amazing agent, Robert Gottlieb, who directed this project from the beginning and continues to show why he is an icon in our industry. Thanks also to the RBLs for always bringing joy like fairy dust when we see them.

Last, but never least, we want to thank you, the fans, for reading and coming out to share time with us when we tour. You are the reason we write.

SHERRILYN KENYON is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of several series, including the Bureau of American Defense novels Born to be BAD, BAD Attitude, Phantom in the Night, Whispered Lies, and Silent Truth all available from Pocket Books. Tere are more than twenty million copies of her books in print in over thirty countries. She lives with her family near Nashville, Tennessee. Visit her website at www.SherrilynKenyon.com.

DIANNA LOVE is the New York Times bestselling coauthor of Phantom in the Night, Whispered Lies, and Silent Truth. She is a national speaker who started writing while working over a hundred feet in the air, creating billboard marketing projects for Fortune 500 companies. When not plotting out her latest action-adventure, she travels the country on a motorcycle to meet fans and research new locations. She and her husband live near Atlanta, Georgia. Visit her website at www.AuthorDiannaLove.com.

Evalle kept a city block between her and the Cresyl demon skulking along Peters Street through one of the riskier sections of downtown Atlanta after dark.

Three-in-the-morning dark. Graveyard quiet for a Sunday morning. Where were all the people leaving the bars? There should be more on the street than this.

But more importantly, who had sent a Cresyl demon into this territoryagainand why? Second time in ten days, and she wouldnt have identified this one so quickly if not for having studied up on them after the last one showed up and ruined her day.

So many nonhumans to learn about, so little time. Especially while hunting them. But the last Cresyl sighted in Atlanta had disappeared before causing any trouble.

This time, they werent so lucky. A human had died, and in a suspicious manner for a demon attack. A death that meant trouble for Evalle in the worst way with VIPER.

The body of a young female had been mauled with only the heart missing. Worse had been the stink of sulfur, which told her exactly how nonhuman the attack had been. But that didnt make sense. A demon had to ingest the entire human to take a soul, so why only one organ? Why maul the body?

It didnt smack of demon. It smacked of the way Alterants had decimated bodies in the past.

Was someone intentionally trying to make the killing appear as though an Alterant had attacked the woman?

Or am I just being paranoid?

She wished Tzader and Quinn hadnt both been called out of town. They could sort reality from paranoia. She hadnt been really good at doing that for herself since surviving their escape from the Medb two years ago.

Had the Medb sent this demon?

Were they still trying to get her?

But that didnt make sense either. Cresyls were South African and not Celtic, therefore they werent the kind of demon the Medb would use.

Stop with the crazy thoughts and catch that friggin thing sneaking around the city. If she handed proof of what had killed the human to VIPER before they opened an investigation, she wouldnt face even suspension. If not, the first finger would point at her the minute they found out about a ripped-up human.

Always worked that way.

Guilty beyond doubt. Burden of proof on me, no matter how much I prove myself.

Bastards.

Shed never harmed a human, but she was an Alterant after all, profiled in the purest sense of the word as a predatory threat for nothing more than breathing their air.

Even temporary suspension would be unbearable, because it meant having her powers stripped to a minimal level. That would leave her practically defenseless in a city where preternatural beings moved silent and deadly.

With purpose.

Like the being that crept along steadily ahead of her.

If she ran around Atlanta without her powers, itd be open season on her and shed end up on a slab in the morgue next to that poor woman missing a heart.

Much as the idea of losing her powers gave her the shakes, her greater worry would be that the sudden stripping of powers might trigger an involuntary shift into her beast form out of a natural instinct to protect herself.

That would end any question of her guilt as far as VIPER was concerned, and shed be doomed.

Shed face a room full of demons to avoid that scenario. Besides, VIPER needed her out here working. She had the best informants in the city when it came to supernatural intelligence.

Thats how shed found this demon in so little time.

The Cresyl stumbled, caught his balance, then stopped as though stuck in place. Dividing her attention between him and her path, she barely sidestepped a pile of putrid-smelling ick on the sidewalk that hed left in his wake.

Great like walking behind a horse. Jeez. Didnt they have any sense of cleanliness?

Hethe demons gender as determined by the size of his hornsglimmered in and out of shape, appearing more as shadow and mist than anything lifelike to unsuspecting humans at three in the morning. Even through her dark sunglasses, Evalles natural night vision picked up his bony spine, slinking tail and leathery skin as clear as a high-resolution image.