I just love Christmas. The lights, the music, the cheer and good will. I know there are those who work in retail, I sell electronics, who really dread the approach of Black Friday. It is a long day. I arrived at 3:00 in the morning and was still here at 11:00 when our doors finally shut, but I love it.
Yes, my feet hurt, and my stomach is tremblingly hungry, but the till is full, and all is right with my world. Oh, forgive me, you don't know who I am, do you? How rude of me to ramble on like we're best friends.
My name is Diana Matthews and although I don't know it, I am about to have my whole world change. Let me ask you, when myth and legend converge spinning your reality out of all recognition, what should you do? 
Christmas is a month away. The lights are stunning, especially those that reflect off the nearby lake, and I am in my own heaven as I leave the mall. I mean I am literally soaring, so much so I almost feel like hop-skip-and-jumping all the way to my car on the far side of the lot. 
Foolish, very, for along with Christmas cheer comes Christmas crime. To this day I have no idea where the three thugs that jumped me had been hiding.He came out of the night. I recognized him, I think from earlier in the evening when I'd waited on him back at my store. He sent me back to safety, which concerned me. He was one against three, but he insisted, and something about the way he looked into my eyes had me following his directions. He told me to go and wait. He joined me after the police took the thugs away. I was nervous and I couldn't figure out why. He is so beautiful, and my palms were sweating. He must have heard my stomach rumbling, so we had a bite to eat and kept it light; he saw me to my car, and into my shaky hands he placed his card. 
Four days passed. Francisco Bolle was still defending his actions on that night to his superiors. They were a bit ticked at him. He was an Envoy after all, and his company's liaison to the government, a former Cleaner, and oh yeah, a fully functioning vampire. His Company frowned on the risks he took that night of exposure, but he didn't want to hear any of that. Now that he'd been promoted, he needed the powers that be to promote his second in command, the very effective Michaela...
...to replace him as the Cleaner, and he wanted his phone to ring. It was while waging this minor, on the surface of all things, battle, that she finally calls, and actually agrees to having a romantic, at least in my mind, date.
Out on the lake I made all the plans...arranging for the caterers...
...to the ethereal Pavilion. And I will never forget the look that lit up her beautiful face. For the first time in ages, I felt joy. I shoulda known it couldn't last...
...His attack on the caterers was ruthless this enemy from my past. With a sinking feeling in the pit of my gut, I had to respond. The night of beauty and promise, turned in a heart beat into violence, terror and an awakening to a truth that mortals hoped was nothing more than the fiction spread across their movie screens. My justice was swift, but the disgust and fear that replaced the earlier delight on Diana's face nearly drove me to my knees.
Four days passed. Francisco Bolle was still defending his actions on that night to his superiors. They were a bit ticked at him. He was an Envoy after all, and his company's liaison to the government, a former Cleaner, and oh yeah, a fully functioning vampire. His Company frowned on the risks he took that night of exposure, but he didn't want to hear any of that. Now that he'd been promoted, he needed the powers that be to promote his second in command, the very effective Michaela...
...to replace him as the Cleaner, and he wanted his phone to ring. It was while waging this minor, on the surface of all things, battle, that she finally calls, and actually agrees to having a romantic, at least in my mind, date.
Out on the lake I made all the plans...arranging for the caterers...
...to the ethereal Pavilion. And I will never forget the look that lit up her beautiful face. For the first time in ages, I felt joy. I shoulda known it couldn't last...
...His attack on the caterers was ruthless this enemy from my past. With a sinking feeling in the pit of my gut, I had to respond. The night of beauty and promise, turned in a heart beat into violence, terror and an awakening to a truth that mortals hoped was nothing more than the fiction spread across their movie screens. My justice was swift, but the disgust and fear that replaced the earlier delight on Diana's face nearly drove me to my knees.Michaela came and cleaned up the mess for me, and then spent the next few days trying to explain to Diana what we are and why.
Across town a darker enemy arises from the death I thought I'd consigned him to. Langdon, the name makes me want to strike out and kill, again. This vile vampire...
... grandson of Cassandra, the Queen of the Vampires, has returned, and vengeance is just the beginning of what he is determined to extract.
Across town a darker enemy arises from the death I thought I'd consigned him to. Langdon, the name makes me want to strike out and kill, again. This vile vampire...
... grandson of Cassandra, the Queen of the Vampires, has returned, and vengeance is just the beginning of what he is determined to extract.Will Francisco survive Langdon? Will Diana? Can she learn to accept Francisco's darker side and forge an alliance with him, the Queen, Michaela, and the other vamps, strong enough to take down the vile Langdon?
You'll have to follow Delilah K. Stephans and her new novel Envoy all the way from here to Lyrical Press.
You'll have to follow Delilah K. Stephans and her new novel Envoy all the way from here to Lyrical Press. You can also follow Delilah at Muse it Up Publishing where she is both an author, and their multi-talented Cover Art Goddess.
Delilah can be reached at the following addresses:
website--- http://www.delilahkstephans.com/
blog------- http://delilahstephans.blogspot.com/
Cover done by: Renee Rocco
Digital Publication Date: 7/5/2010
$3.50
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