Description:
Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?
For Red, it’s just another day on the job. Even a fearless bounty hunter can find herself in trouble on the road. But with the help of her longtime hunting partner, Will, and her trusty crossbow, there’s nothing she can’t handle. Demon bounty job? Check. Juggle a complicated fuck buddy relationship with your best friend and partner? Check. Take on anything foolish enough to take on her? Double check.
They say you can’t go home again but Red doesn’t have a choice. Her estranged family has been brutally murdered and she’s the only suspect. Unwilling to spend her life on the run for a crime she didn’t commit, Red returns to her hometown to clear her name. And when Red’s long lost grandmother reappears, things really start to get complicated. With Grandma’s help, Red is on a mission to pay back whoever is behind it all. Now that Red knows the family secret, can she solve the family murder?
This fantasy omnibus contains three interrelated stories re-imagining of the classic fairy tales, taking readers to a place the Grimm brothers never dared. Sexy, gritty, and imaginative, this is the first in a series of fantasy adventure novels that will change the way you see Little Red Riding Hood forever.
EXCERPT
“Stand back!” I said to Will as it swiped at him with one of its slime-covered legs. Will jumped back just before it made contact. I loaded another arrow and put myself between him and the demon. I sent the second arrow right next to the first, making another direct hit in its head. It slowed but kept coming.
I was moving away when I tripped over an unfortunately placed rock and lost my footing. Even as I fell on my back, I was loading and loosing another arrow. This one stopped the miskla’s forward momentum, though it used one of its tentacles to grab my right leg. It hissed at me and waved its fangs in my direction.
I felt a hot, searing pain in my right leg. “Fuck!” I screamed. The digestive slime burned through my woolen leggings and made contact with my skin. This thing was efficient. It was already starting to digest me before it even got me inside.
It was strong, too. It started dragging me closer using the same tentacle that was covering me in slime. The burning was bad enough but I couldn’t let it touch me with those fangs. I couldn’t do anything on my back. I flipped over and scrambled away from it.
I felt rather than saw Will coming for me and screamed for him to get back. I could get out of this but I couldn’t guarantee he would stay out of the line of fire. I dropped the bow and reached into my left boot for my favorite dagger. I guess I would use it after all. I slashed at the miskla’s sinewy tentacle and made it scream again. Freeing myself, I moved so I could reach its head.
I needed to finish this off for good, but I was having a hard time taking a deep breath. The sticky black blood that poured out of the miskla smelled like spoiled milk. I didn’t want that in my nose but I had no choice. With a deep breath and a quick twirl of my dagger, I sank it into the miskla’s head and twisted. Its slimy, bulbous head deflated it as the black blood poured all over the ground, and me.
Will came for me again. This time I let him. He grabbed my arms and pulled me across the grass a few feet away from the stinking, black demon. I tried to catch my breath as he placed his hands over the burnt flesh on my right leg. He prayed to his Gods in a swift whisper, and I bit back a whimper as the warm, soothing burn of his power slid over my leg.
“Not bad for a magickal school dropout, huh?” he said.
I looked at my leg through the shredded tights, the skin a dark, tender pink. I tested it by standing and putting weight on it. Not too bad. It would heal. Will’s face bore a shit-eating grin. “Showoff,” I growled. “Now go get our money so we can get out of here.”
About the author:Princess Jones is a fantasy author with an obsession with the stories we tell ourselves over and over. Red is her first fictional work. Jones currently lives in Austin, Texas with her husband and a constantly revolving menagerie of stray people and animals. She spends her time reading good books, watching bad television, and trying to teach her dogs to fetch cheesecake.
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