Snippet Saturday: The King of Horror

Happy Halloween!  Today’s snippet theme is horror, so we’re gonna go for a three-for-one blow-out!  How about a paranormal snippet from a horrifying situation that happens to mention the King of Horror himself…Stephen King.

We try to be sparing with our pop culture references most of the time, but sometimes we just can’t help ourselves.  In the Red Rock Pass series, the epicenter of vampire activity is Bangor, Maine.  This can be pretty much entirely blamed on my grandmother telling me stories about logging at the turn of the century and the Devil’s Half-Acre, but it also made it very hard to resist a tiny little acknowledgment that Bangor’s got another reason to be Ground Zero for all things terrifying.

So here you go…one last snippet from Sanctuary’s Price, our new release from Samhain Publishing!

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They were outnumbered already, and Sasha wanted to stop, to help. Instead, she ran inside the house.

A man grabbed her and slammed her into the nearest wall in a practiced, fluid movement. Then he stopped, a look of disbelief flitting across his face as his nostrils flared. “You’re not a wolf,” he growled.

“No, I’m not.” She closed her eyes and reached down for the dark magic she’d warned Dylan about, the part of herself she’d hoped to avoid. She wouldn’t get through this fight without violence, so she let go, unleashing some of the anger and fear inside her.

The man dropped his gun and staggered back, clutching his head. Adam strode past her, grasped the man’s head and twisted it with one sharp movement. Sasha heard a sharp crack, and Adam turned as his opponent slumped lifelessly to the floor. He lifted his face as his voice rose, loud enough to be heard over the angry snarls outside. “Prudence Goodman, I challenge you for blood rights to Bedagi Creek.”

There was no response, just a clicking of what sounded like shoe heels on hardwood. Then a delicate-looking brunette with dark, curly hair leaned over the second-floor railing and smiled down at them. “What could you possibly want with them, Adam?” Her voice was light, clear and sweet. “Last I heard, you were eating deer and bunnies out in the woods.”

Adam laughed, a harsh, rumbling noise with an edge of menace. “What brings you to the woods, darling? Can’t get anyone to believe you’re Stephen King’s muse anymore?”

Prudence yawned. “That joke was only funny twenty years ago.” She looked past him to where Sasha still stood against the wall. “You’re new. Witch, right? Have you come for the wolf?”

She looked absolutely, utterly normal, and Sasha shivered. “I came for my friend.”

Claws scrabbled on the threshold behind them. Adam spun, placing his body between Sasha and the door, but the attacking wolf only made it halfway into the room before the reddish wolf she recognized as Dylan pounced onto his back. Power spiraled out as Dylan snarled and snapped.

Prudence sucked in a laugh and clapped her hands. “Not a moon wolf, but I bet he’d taste like one. Adam, you cad, what have you been doing out in that hovel of yours?”

Before Adam could answer, Brynn screamed. Pain, not rage, and Dylan’s head snapped up. He leapt toward the door but skittered to a stop a few feet away from Sasha, obviously torn between conflicting instincts.

Adam caught Sasha’s gaze. “Do what you have to do,” he told her, his voice deadly serious. He spun without waiting for a response and sprinted out the door.

“Nice.” Prudence’s heels clicked again as she walked slowly down the stairs. “He went off to fight the wolves and left you here.” Her eyes gleamed as she studied Sasha intently. “So why are you special?”

I can do this. Sasha repeated the words silently even as Dylan growled menacingly. Maritza had taught her everything she needed to know, and all she had to do was believe in herself the way—

The way Dylan believed in her. The way everyone in Red Rock believed in her, even if they were scared to death of what she could do.

She had to speak to call the spell she needed, and Prudence’s steps sped with Sasha’s whispered words. “What are you doing?” the vampire asked, still more curious than anything else.

The spell took hold, readying the magic inside her, and Sasha released a soft, pained breath. “You don’t look so scary. I bet you get that a lot. So do I.”

Dylan edged in front of Sasha with a low rumble of warning. He paced one step toward Prudence, and the wolf whimpering in the corner staggered to his feet and lunged at Sasha.

Everything happened at once. Dylan spun and barreled into the attacker with an angry snarl. The wolf tumbled back to the floor as Dylan lifted his head and let out a furious howl of challenge. Magic thundered through the room, a crash sounded from upstairs, and the wolf on the floor rolled onto his back in obvious surrender.

Cold, slim fingers closed around Sasha’s shoulders and jerked her back. Prudence’s soft laughter tickled the side of her neck. “You don’t have to be scary to be powerful, my dear.”

Sasha barely had time to breathe the words Maritza had taught her, a witch’s last line of defense, before the woman’s teeth sank into her skin. Sharp pain bloomed, and she thrashed instinctively, though she knew the iron strength in Prudence’s hands wouldn’t give.

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Check out more horror snippets: Anya Bast, Eliza Gayle, Juliana Stone, Michelle Pillow, Lauren Dane, Moira Rogers , TJ Michaels, Jody Wallace, Ashley Ladd, Kelly Maher, Shelli Stevens, Shelley Munro, Mandy Roth, Mark Henry, Savannah Foley