Spring Blog Hop

Hello Everyone!

If you have come by this post and were not on the tour, don’t miss out.  Use this LINK to join us as we share free reads, eye candy, and various prizes, including a Nook!  If at any time you fall off the tour you can also use the link to get back on.

For this hop we used a random scene generator.  My results were Bounty Hunter, Truck Driver, and Doctor.  The adjectives I got were gruff, focused, and beautiful.  Place: Bank Lobby.

Here is what I came up with.  Hope you enjoy.

Bloody footprints.  What a way to start the weekend.  Kris Layton suppressed the string of curse words that threatened to explode from his lips.  There were days when being a Bounty Hunter sucked something fierce, and he had a feeling this would be one of them.  The door to the apartment was opened slightly, a crimson smear on the old brass knob.  Kris removed a pen from his pocket, and used it to push the door open far enough for him to pass through it. 

            His assignment was to bring Ruben Smith, a truck driver turned drug transporter, in alive after jumping bail.  But the picture presented in this apartment didn’t give him much hope on the alive part.  End tables were overturned, various pieces of broken debris scattered around them.  At the end of the short hallway he spotted a body lying prone, face turned away from him. 

            Kris approached the body, and looked down at the face that was clearly not the person he was looking for.  He flipped open his cell and punched in nine one one.  After quickly explaining the situation to the operator, he left the apartment to follow the footprints.  With any luck Ruben would be on the other end of them.

            Across the hall and down a set of service stairs, he followed the sanguine steps.  As he went through a door that led to the alley behind the apartment complex, he noticed the trail changing to the occasional drop of blood.  It would be harder to track than the footprints, but at least it would be steady, as the remnant of blood on the shoes seemed to be near gone. 

            With determination, Kris strode forward toward the street.  Every few feet he found another series of small red dots that let him know he’d chose the right direction.  When the trail went cold he found himself backtracking as he looked through the various windows of the businesses on the street.  When he caught sight of Ruben inside a small bank, his joy was quickly eclipsed by his anger, as he watched the man aim a pistol at the tall slender redhead beside him. 

            His boots thumped against the side-walk as he approached the building.  Cold metal pressed against his hand as he pulled the door open and went inside.  “Ruben, don’t be stupid.”

            Ruben turned around quickly, holding his hostage tight around the waist.  “Fuck that.  I know who you are and I ain’t goin back.  I won’t last three minutes in jail.  Hell, they already sent someone to kill me.  So I think I’ll take my chances in Mexico, fuck-you-very-much.”

            “Let the woman go.”  Kris stared the man down.

            “Lady, you might wanna hurry up with that cash in the bag or this redhead’s gonna bite the bullet.”

            The blond teller began stuffing cash into the bag faster as tears tracked down her cheeks.

            Kris started toward Ruben with slow measured steps.

            “Ruben swung the gun in Kris’s direction.  “Stop right there.  They don’t pay you enough to take a bullet, and I’ll put one in ya.”

            Kris stopped his forward progress and noticed Ruben’s left side appeared wet beneath his dark shirt.  That’s where he would have to aim.  The gun swung back towards the redhead, whose hands were visibly shaking as she turned her bright green gaze toward him, pleading for his help.  Kris stepped towards Ruben again.  The gun swung back towards him.  Good.  He didn’t like it pointed at that woman any more than she did.

            “Boy, ya deaf?  I said I’d shoot your ass.”

            Kris charged.  A shot rang out.  He felt the flesh in his side burn with hellish intensity, as he connected with Ruben’s side.  They all three went down in a tangle of limbs.  Another shot went off as Kris seized Rubens wrist in his hand.  With a forcefully crack, Kris banged Ruben’s hand against the marble floor, and he released the gun. 

            Kris saw a flash of movement as the security officer snatched it up.  Ruben yelled out as Kris punched him in his injured side.  Sirens wailed outside as Kris’s arm pulled back and then swung forward, connecting with a sickening crunch against Ruben’s face, silencing him.

            “Police!  Stop where you are!”

            Kris held his hands up and backed away from Ruben’s limp form.  “My name is Kris Layton.  I’m a Bounty Hunter and I was sent after this man.  My license is in my wallet.”

            The cops came over to the pair of them and began cuffing Ruben.  “I called in the shooting that happened a few blocks over, at the Rex Apartments.  I bet you’ll find the murder weapon right over there.”

            “Let me through,” a small feminine voice sounded behind the police men standing in front of him.  The men parted and the red headed woman pushed through.  “I’m a doctor.  Let me look at your side.”

            He nodded and she knelt beside him.  “What’s your name Doc?”

            She glanced up at him then her gaze went back to the hole in his shirt.  “Kathy Fisher.  Why don’t you take off your shirt.”

            He ground his teeth as he pulled the dark t-shirt over his head.  When it was off he released the breath he’d been holding.  He looked down at her as she studied the wound.  Freckles dusted the smooth skin across her nose and cheek bones.  In a word she was beautiful.   

            “Well there’s good news.  The bullet grazed the muscle so it’s more like having a big, deep cut into the muscle.  So most likely no internal damage.  But I still would like to run some tests to be sure.”

            “On one condition,” he said.

            She smiled.  “And what condition is that?”

            “Have dinner with me?”

At the end of the tour you will be prompted to register for all the prizes offered on the tour.  I have offered up one copy of Secrets of Night, the first book in the Order of Night series.  I will also give one copy of Winter’s Shadow away this weekend.  To have your name entered to win it, you must leave a comment here.  And if you subscribe to my blog, I will enter your name in the hat to win a copy of Deceptions of Night, book two in the Order of Night series.

 

Tempers run hot through the members of the Order of Night as Lex tries to settle in as the new Triad vampire.  But when a jaguar attacks him in his bed, his life gets turned upside down, and he discovers a new meaning to keeping your friends close and your enemies closer.

Kill the triad vampire or your brother dies.  Shayla grudgingly accepts the assignment.  But she soon realizes that success is easier said than done as she lies prone, trapped against the floor and secured by the body of one pissed off sexy leech.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.  Lex wants answers, and Shayla wants her brother returned alive.  They form a shaky truce as they seek out the man who has both.  Fierce attraction pushes them closer as mistrust tears them apart.  Deception lays in wait around every corner as they struggle to find the mastermind behind the traitors to the Order of Night.  As the tension rises, desire begins to burn with an intensity that threatens to consume, leaving them to question whether they can find what they seek with their lives and hearts intact.     

Best Wishes,

Virginia Cavanaugh