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In the last book of the Jack Templar series, Jack and his friends race to stop Ren Lucre before he launches this Creach army against humankind. But the Lord of the Lesser Creach and the Lord of the Zombies hold the last two Jerusalem Stones Jack needs to have any chance of success. To make matters worse, the Oracle predicts that one of their group will die in the upcoming fight, and Jack discovers betrayal among those he trusts most. Even so, Jack must find the courage to lead his friends into battle. Either they collect the Stones in time to defeat Ren Lucre or die trying. It’s "Do your duty, come what may" no matter the cost. The fate of the world hangs in the balance.
EXCERPT
The old hag, because that’s what she was now,
laughed in a low chugging sound that rattled around in her chest. She
held out a hand toward me, clenched into a fist. Slowly, she opened it
with her palm up. Resting in her hand was the Jerusalem Stone I’d left
her.
“You tried to use it,” I said. “You promised you wouldn’t.”
“And
I lied,” the witch hissed. “What? Did you think only the Black Guard
could tell lies? Only hunters were allowed to break their vows?”
The
fire in the hearth blazed higher as if feeding off her bitterness and
anger. In the light, I saw that the hand holding the Stone was curled
into a claw. Worse, it was blackened. No, worse than blackened. It was
charred as if the Stone had caught fire but she’d refused to let it go.
“What
did you try to make it do?” I asked. In my heart, I knew the answer,
yet I had to ask. Everything that had happened since walking into the
cottage somehow felt out of my control. Like I was on a path I couldn’t
get off. And I had a bad feeling the path was leading me somewhere I
didn’t want to go.
“Why is it that I’m made to suffer?” she
asked, ignoring my question. She took a hobbling step closer. “I was the
one who was wronged. You see that, don’t you? Anyone can see that.”
I
remembered the dozens of Talib, the small-bodied creatures that had
been everywhere the last time we were there. Each one had an identical
head grown in the witch’s cauldron. All of them made to look like her
murdered son.
“Where are the Talib?” I asked.
She
clutched the Jerusalem Stone in her hand, and smoke rose from her fist.
The air reeked with a burning smell. “I just wanted … I wanted …,” she
whimpered. “I just wanted to take back what those monsters stole from
me.”
As she said the words, I looked past her to the wall
where the firewood was stacked from floor to ceiling. Only now, I
realized it wasn’t firewood at all. It was all the heads of the Talib,
rows and rows of bodiless heads, piled up ten or twelve high across the
length of the wall, their eyes all open and staring at me.
She noticed me staring and turned toward the heads.
“I
tried to bring him back,” she said. “You can see how hard I tried. But
the Stone refused to work for me. I knew I should wait until I had
three, but I was impatient. I thought one might do it. I thought that
one might be enough.”
My body tensed. What she was saying
wasn’t far off from my own thoughts. I hoped the reunited Jerusalem
Stones would be enough to turn both Eva and Daniel back into their human
forms. Shakra, the Lord of the Vampires, had told me it could be done,
that she knew the Stones had performed this transformation before. But
bringing someone back from the dead? That was entirely different.
“But what happened? Why are they all …all …?”
“Why
are all my children without bodies?” the witch asked. “Because the
second I tried to use the Stone, somehow all the magic I’d used to bring
them alive was gone. The heads just rolled off onto the ground. The
bodies, the ones I’d spent so many years gathering, all fell to the
ground. Worthless.” She turned as she spoke and stared into the fire,
losing herself in the flames. “I should have waited,” she mumbled.
“Should have waited to get the other Stones.”
Her hand with
the Jerusalem Stone in it fell open again. That terrible smoke stopped.
Somehow, I had to get that Stone and get out of there. I was starting to
regret coming by myself. “Bella,” I said. “You and I made a pact. You
swore on your son’s name that you would return that Stone to me if I was
able to get the Stone from the Lord of the Demons. I’m going to unite
the five and defeat Ren Lucre for good. Give it to me so that I can
continue my quest and make him finally pay for what he did to your son.”
She
continued to stare into the fire, but she must have heard me because
she answered in a whisper. “But you’ll fail. Just like your father
before you. Just like your mother. Traitors, the both of them. In their
own way.”
I took a step forward, fighting down an impulse to
pull my sword. “Why do you say that? What do you know about them?” The
Lord of the Demons had said something similar to me. Said I was a pawn
in a game I didn’t even know I was playing. Even Aquinas had hinted
there was part of the story about my parents that I didn’t know. I was
starting to get a little tired of it all. I wanted answers.
The
witch only smiled, pleased that I was upset. “A trade, perhaps? The
other Jerusalem Stone for the truth about your parents. About Aquinas.
About this fool’s quest you’re on. Give me the Stone and I’ll tell you
everything.”
“Whatever you tell me will be lies,” I said.
She
lunged toward me, moving faster than I imagined she could. One second
she was by the fire, the next she was right in front of me, her face a
grotesque sneer. “I might be the only one willing to tell you the
truth,” she rasped. “Give me the Stone. Give it to me now.”
I
took a quick step back and pulled my sword. “No, you give me the one I
left with you,” I said. “Look at the way it’s burned your hand. Look at
what trying to use it has done to you. It won’t bring your son back. I’m
sorry.”
She jerked back sharply as if I’d slapped her. “You’re sorry?” she asked. “Did you say you’re sorry?”
“Give me the Stone. Please,” I said. “I don’t want to fight you.”
“You
don’t have to fight me, Jack,” the witch said, clenching the Stone in
her fist again. Black smoke rose from it immediately. She raised both
hands over her head as if she was about to throw something at me. “All
you have to do is die.”
Author Jeff Gunhus
Jeff Gunhus is the USA TODAY bestselling author of thriller and horror novels for adults and the middle grade/YA series, The Templar Chronicles. The first book, Jack Templar Monster Hunter, was written in an effort to get his reluctant reader eleven-year-old son excited about reading. It worked and a new series was born. His books for adults have reached the Top 30 on Amazon, have been recognized as Foreword Reviews Book of the Year Finalists and reached the USA TODAY bestseller list. After his experience with his son, he is passionate about helping parents reach young reluctant readers and is active in child literacy issues. As a father of five, he leads an active life in Maryland with his wife Nicole by trying to constantly keep up with their kids. In rare moments of quiet, he can be found in the back of the City Dock Cafe in Annapolis working on his next novel or on JeffGunhus.com.
$25 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash Giveaway Ends 11/30/16 Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.
I was born to die... But to defy fate is to control your own destiny.
Moving to Big Bear Lake was supposed to be a fresh start, but when Taylor Sparks is thrown into a supernatural world, her reality comes crashing down around her when she finds out she’s a KEY player in a dangerous game created 1,000 years ago that will give the witches and werewolves the upper hand against the vampires. Blood will be spilled and secrets will be revealed in this action-packed thrill ride and paranormal romance.
Will Taylor dive into a paranormal world she knows nothing about to be with the one her heart can’t live without?
Or will her life spiral out of control when she learns her blood is needed, just the serum necessary to lift an ancient curse from a group of supernatural beings and give the witches back their magic?
Werewolves will serve as her guardians and protect her until the first full moon of the new year, the night of her sacrifice…
Will she accept her destiny?
Or will she refuse to let evil swallow her up?
Excerpt
Grabbing my purse, I hurried out of the car and locked the doors. Just as I started to walk up the driveway, I felt the cold steel of a muzzle against my neck. My heart hammered against my ribs.
“One sound, and you’re dead,” a harsh, male voice said.
I froze in panic as somebody slipped a black blindfold over my eyes, then gagged me. A man duct-taped my mouth, while another tied my ankles, legs, and wrists with rope. He hoisted me over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry, and horror ripped through me. Help! I’m being kidnapped! my brain yelled, but I dare not cry out for fear of what they would do to me. I did try to fight back, at least to some degree, but I was tied and gagged and could do little about being manhandled.
“Put her in the trunk!” a man yelled.
As I fought, I was thrown, neck-first, into the trunk of a car, and my mind began to race. This can’t be happening! I tried to call out for my parents. If only they could hear me. If only I could scream, maybe Max would bark, and Mom or Dad would come to the door. If only…
Tires screeched, and the vehicle took off down the street. The smell of gasoline made me gag. I tried to kick and scream, but it was tight quarters, and I was still all tied up. I cringed at their muffled voices, wondering what they wanted from me.
“I’m tellin’ ya,” one of the guys said, “we oughtta just kill her now.”
My skin crawled at his nonchalance.
“He’s right,” the other said. “Just do it, right here, right now. We’ve outsmarted her protectors, but for how long? We need to do it swiftly and quickly, before they return.”
“You know the rules,” a low voice hissed. “If we just kill her, they’ll have the legal right to choose another, and we’ll be right back at square one again. We’ve gotta do this by the book.”
“I agree,” a woman said. “We need to stop the Millennium ceremony from happening.”
“I don’t want to kill her,” another woman said. “She’s just…an innocent victim in all this. It isn’t right.”
“If we don’t kill her, they’ll win,” another said. “They’ll gain the upper hand when she gives them what they need.”
“Our enemy will stop at nothing to destroy us,” another said tensely. “Killing her will keep them from becoming more powerful than they already are.”
“It will bring them to their knees!” another shouted.
Great, I thought. A case of mistaken identity is the last thing I need. By their talk, I assumed that killing me was some way to get back at their rivals, though I had no idea who those rivals were. The mafia? Some kind of…street gang? I had absolutely no idea, but I desperately wanted to tell them who I really was, to let them know they obviously had me confused me with somebody else. Maybe if I explain that, they’ll let me go. After all, I hadn’t seen their faces, so I wasn’t a threat. Then it dawned on me: Jesse had just revealed his identity to me. Maybe his clan wants to kill me because I know too much. I wanted to scream at them and tell them, to assure them that I’d never reveal Jesse’s identity, that I’d take his deep, dark secret to the grave with me. Jesse meant everything to me, and I would never betray his trust like that; unfortunately, my captors didn’t give me a chance to explain that to them. I wasn’t completely sure if it was vampires that had me. But they had heard me messing with my ropes and that took Immortal hearing. No human could hear that over the sound of the engine, the radio, and voices talking.
We drove down the lonely stretch of road, and I didn’t hear one car pass by. I considered trying to pop the trunk open so I could jump for freedom. I figured the car was going about eighty, but I figured it’d be easier to heal from a broken neck than a bullet to the head. The rope bindings cut into my skin and began to sting and burn. I wiggled my numbing hands, trying to find some relief, when a man yelled back at me.
“Stop it!” he said. “Or else I’ll kill you right here.”
I shivered at his voice, then obeyed his commands. There was no way he could have seen me no way he could have heard me picking at the ropes. I contemplated how they were going to kill me. It had to be a contract hit, but I wondered why there were so many of them there just to take out a defenseless woman. I also wondered how they could be so heartless.
The vehicle stopped, and my stomach dropped when I heard the doors swing open. This is it, I thought. My time has come. When footsteps approached, I held my breath. The trunk popped open, and strong arms lifted me out and set me down on a hard surface, maybe concrete or asphalt. My legs were wobbly, but one of the men steadied me and untied my ankles. Jerk, I sarcastically seethed. The cold night air hit and my hair blew around. I tried to see through the blindfold, but all I could see was darkness.
A man shoved me forward. “Walk!”
I let out a trembling breath and stumbled to the edge of the hard surface, then felt my shoes sink in grass and damp earth. As I carefully walked forward, a towering fern brushed softly across my face. I took tiny steps because my imagination was in overdrive; I couldn’t help picturing all those pirate films I’d seen of people walking off the plank, and I knew there were a lot of cliffs around. The man behind me kept pushing and shoving, making me go faster than my hesitant feet wanted to carry me, forcing me to trip over what I assumed to be a very long log. Twigs snapped and crunched underfoot. An owl hooted, and crickets chirped. The smell of wet moss, damp dirt, and decaying leaves mingled with the scent of pines, wafting up my nostrils; any other time, the aroma would have been beautiful. My heart lurched. I was sure they were leading me to some isolated location for my execution, a place where no one would ever find me, and that thought sent droplets of nervous perspiration rolling down my face, perhaps mingled with tears.
I refused, however, to go quietly. I couldn’t do much to fight them off, but I wanted to make it harder on them. They’ll have to carry my corpse, because I’m not gonna walk out to the middle of nowhere and shovel my own grave. I’m not doing their dirty work for them! I took a huge step to the left, and then bolted.
Strong arms caught me within seconds, and I flailed and thrashed like a gazelle in a lion’s grasp.
“If we don’t keep movin’, we’re not gonna make it to the designated spot on time,” a man said.
“Maybe I oughtta just snap her like a twig, right here, right now,” said a deep-voiced man.
I screamed through my gag at the thought that the guy wanted to rush my demise.
“No!” another said. “She must be sacrificed at midnight.”
Sacrificed?
Trembling with fear, I thrashed even harder in the guy’s grasp. I suddenly realized that my abduction had nothing to do with a mafia hit, vampires, or a street gang initiation; rather, I was in the hands of some strange cult. I could barely breath, terrorized by fear.
“How much farther?” a man asked.
“We’re here,” another answered.
At that point, I was gasping for breath at the thought of being sacrificed in some weird ritual. I recalled what Fred had said about witches and realized it wasn’t so farfetched of a theory. My heart had never raced so hard. The man held me tight in his grasp, and I tried to fight, but he was so strong, and I was no match for him. My feet suddenly left the ground as he picked me up and carried me. I turned and twisted in his grasp, to no avail. He gently set me down on a cold slab of concrete and forced me to lie down, and I’d never been so terrified in my entire life.
Fingers gripped my ankles and wrists as the rope was tightened around me, securing me to a cold slab. It didn’t make sense to me that they left my blindfold on and my gag in, since they were clearly going to kill me anyway. For all I knew, maybe they thought it was more humane to kill me that way. Perhaps they want to spare me the misery of watching the dagger pierce my heart. I listened intently as they shuffled around, and then I struggled in my bindings.
Get the entire boxed set for just 99 cents this week! Ends 11/19/16
This was a fantastic box set with magic, action, mystery, twists and turns, vampires, werewolves, witches, and gargoyles. Each book gets better and better and takes you deeper into the mystery!
Book 1 is about Taylor moving to Big Bear Lake and learning it's a supernatural place and that her crush is something more. Book 2 gets deep! And this is when all hell breaks loose! Taylor is tossed into the supernatural world. She thought she was observing it from the outside, but little does she know that she's a major player! And she didn't even know it!
She comes from an ancient line of witches and is supposed to be sacrificed in The Millennium Ceremony. She's stubborn and fights her supernatural enemy with everything she has. I loved how tough she becomes. There's a paranormal battle raging and I loved every page. This is one of my favorite paranormal romances ever!
Author Chrissy Peebles
Chrissy Peebles has always loved reading and writing fantasy from the earliest age she can remember. She lives in a busy city with her husband, two children, and one cat (Shadow) and three dogs. (Sparkles, Rosie, and Jack) Chrissy also loves to snap photos as her favorite hobby.
Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. a Rafflecopter giveaway
