Why does your heroine, Alexandra Porter, believe
that Winn Jackson, sheriff of Bodie, California, can help her save her people?
The short
answer is because Winchester isn’t just sheriff of Bodie. The longer answer is
he’s also a Jackson brother, the eldest in a family of Hunters whom Alexandra’s
people believe are part of a prophecy called the Chosen. She believes that he,
along with his three brothers, have the ability to reunite the scattered
chapters of the Book of Legend and use it to prevent the destruction of
humanity.
How did Alexandra learn about the Jackson family
legacy?
It’s part
of Darkin lore—something the vampires having known for more than three hundred
years. The Hunters are familiar with it as well, but neither Winchester, nor
his brothers really believe that they could be the Chosen.
Winn prides himself in living by rules, only
shooting actual law-breakers. He stands apart from his brothers, who hunt and
destroy demon predators. What led Winn to this personal resolve?
Out of all
three brothers Winn is the most disenchanted with the “life”. He’s been a
Hunter the longest and while it’s part of his family heritage it’s also a huge
burden for him. He’s seen several people he’s cared for die as a result of
hunting and destroying Darkin, and he nearly died himself trying to save his
youngest brother, Colt. Since that run-in with a demon he’s thought the best
way to keep the people he loves safe is to not participate as a Hunter any
longer. The problem is that now the situation has changed, and reclaiming that
Hunter legacy is really the only way to save not just the people he cares
about, but the rest of the world as we know it as well.
How does Winn initially react to seeing
Alexandra’s fangs? Since he is about fairness, judging on the basis of
law-breaking, does he take her in stride or is he concerned/afraid/cautious?
Well, his
first reaction is just to shoot her outright and lop off her head later, but he
tamps down that impulse with reason and logic. Out of all the brothers Winn’s
the most thoughtful about what he does because he’s made so many costly
mistakes in the past. He’s cautious of course—no one who’d had it drilled into
them by a well-meaning parent never to trust a Darkin could help but think
twice. But Winn’s had enough experience to realize that just because you don’t
trust someone doesn’t mean you can’t work with them if you are both after the
same end goal. Once he knows that’s the case with Alexandra, he’s about to be a
bit more objective about her being a vampire and eventually comes to see the
humanity within her.
Alexandra is set on taking him back with her to
Transylvania, changing his opinions about vampires, demon-hunting, and who
exactly deserves shooting. If she wants Winn to abandon his rules of shooting
only law-breakers, why didn’t she select one of his brothers? What is unique
about Winn that can help her?
As far as
Alexandra is concerned she originally sees Winn as a bit of a lost cause. She’s
only comes to Bodie on a diplomatic mission on behalf of the Vampiric Imperial
Majesty. While she believes he has skills, it’s her leader who believes Winn is
the lynchpin in finding and recovering the missing piece of the Book of Legend
that was stolen from the vampires. He believes Winn is the one out of the
Jackson brothers who will stick by a deal once it’s been struck – even if that
means returning the piece of the Book to the vampiric court. Colt is an outlaw,
so he’s willing to change the rules to suit him as the needs arise, and
Remington likes to play both sides—he’s an attorney after all, so just because
he says something, doesn’t mean that will be the end result. Remington and Colt
are more willing to live in shades of gray where Winn is all black and
white—right or wrong—Hunter or Darkin from the very start.
THE SLAYER
Book
Two of the Legend Chronicles
By
Theresa Meyers
Zebra - Steampunk Romance
April 3, 2012
ISBN-10: 1420121251
ISBN-13: 978-1420121254
Brothers Winchester, Remington
and Colt know the legends—they were trained from childhood to destroy demon predators,
wielding the latest steam-powered gadgetry. It’s a devil of a job. But
sometimes your fate chooses you...
CHASING TROUBLE
Winn Jackson isn’t interested in
hunting nightmares across the Wild West—even if it’s the family business.
Unlike his rakehell brothers, Winn believes in rules. As sheriff of Bodie,
California, he only shoots actual law breakers. That’s what he’s doing when he
rescues the Contessa Drossenburg, Alexandra Porter, a lady with all the
elegance of the Old World—grace, beauty and class. And then he sees her fangs.
Alexandra isn’t just some
bloodsucking damsel in distress, though. She’s on a mission to save her
people—and she’s dead certain that Winn’s family legacy is the only way.
Luckily, aside from grace and class, she also has a stubborn streak a mile
wide. So like it or not, Winn is going to come back with her to the mountains
of Transylvania, and while he’s at it, change his opinions about vampires,
demon-hunting, and who exactly deserves shooting. And if she has her way, he’s
going to do his darnedest to save the world
ebook: Kindle
Excerpt from THE SLAYER
Branches cracked and snapped as
Alexa tore through them on her way to the forest floor. Fortunately the drop
wasn't too great. She landed in a crouch on the ground, letting her knees
absorb the shock of her fall. She slowly rose and glanced up at Winchester,
still suspended in the ruined glider. From this distance he reminded her of a
Christmas ornament in a very tall tree.
"Are you going to join
me?" she shouted up at him, enjoying the opportunity to dig at him.
"Not like that, I'm
not," he replied as he carefully maneuvered his way out of the pod,
loading his pack and the holstered rifle onto his back. Hunters. They were
nothing without their toys.
She sniffed the wind, trying to
scent out their distance from the Castle Barranoch where the captain had
adjusted their course. It lay on the edge of the border with France. The
moldering smell of ancient stone and fresh blood reached her, but it was
tainted with the feral scent of wet wolf. The castle was fifteen miles to the northeast,
and the wolves were no more than a few miles away, between them and the
protection of the castle. She swore heartily in Russian under her breath. For
herself she wasn't afraid. She was stringer and smarter than any were. But the
Hunter was merely human, with all the frailties that entailed.
"Insufferable
creatures," she muttered to herself. When they later retrieved the
wreckage of the airship, she had no doubt that it would be Sidhe bolts
recovered. No one else but the dark fae who lingered in the Black Forest could
shoot that distance accurately, which was bad news. It meant the Sidhe and the
Russian werewolves had formed an alliance in her absence. While the werewolves
were brute strength, the Sidhe had more powers. It was a formidable combination.
Now that the Sidhe had brought down their airship, the werewolves were closing
in for the kill.
Where are you? Are you harmed?
Enric's insistent voice, edged with worry penetrated her mind.
The Hunter and I are fine, for
the moment. How far are you from Castle Barranoch?
We transported there, per your
instructions.
Excellent. Inform Count Vernay
that we have landed and need an escort through the forest. There are werewolves
on the ground and I suspect Sidhe in the forests. We shall be arriving shortly.
His majesty is not going to be
please his airship was wrecked.
Pfft. He can have another built.
He'll be more worried if we allow these werewolves to kill the Chosen.
She kept a close eye on Winn's
progress down the tree. A crackle in the underbrush caused her to tense. Alexa
sniffed the air, her gumline beginning to throb. The wolves were still a few
miles away; this was a different scent altogether. Gun powder, oil and leather.
From the bushes sprang five men,
all armed and pointing their weapons at her. Helsing crossbows, loaded with
silver tipped arrows that could pin her to a tree in less time than it would
take to transport herself away from the clearing. Each of them had a scabbard
at his side, the handgrip of their swords easy for her to see even in the
gathering gloom.
"I think we have us a lone
vampire, men, and one worth ransoming from the look of it," said the
blonde man, German by the sound of him, a glitter of avarice in his eyes.
Alexa hissed at them. Damn
Hunters. "Where is your honor? Do you not have treaties with his vampiric
imperial majesty?"
"What that old vamp doesn't
know won't bother him," the blond Hunter sneered. "Take her."
Two of his comrades lowered their crossbows, shifting them to their backs, then
pulled out their swords and started forward.
There was a crack just above her
and Winn dropped from the tree between her and the Hunters. He sprang up, armed
and ready to fight, the Amanarath stretched and loaded.
"Not so fast, boys. This
vampire happens to be off limits."
The blonde Hunter stepped
forward, brandishing a blade with a twist and flourish of his wrist, making the
metal flash.
"Drop it." Winn held
the Amanarath poised and pointed right at the Hunter's chest.
"Identify yourself,"
the Hunter demanded.
"You first. I'm gettin' a
mighty itchy trigger finger. Takes a lot of thought to control it. Might hit
everyone of you before I get my control back."
"I'm Lieutenant Victor Van
der Hoff, a Hunter with Saxe-Coburg regiment of the Legion. And this vampire is
in our custody."
"Is she now? How do I know
you aren't just making that up?"
Van der Hoff quickly unfastened
the buttons of his shirt, pulling it aside. A tattoo of the triple cross
bracketed by a lion, palm tree and raven at the points was inscribed over his heart.
He was definitely a Hunter. No one else would want a tattoo that ugly.
"Satisfied?"
Winn nodded and lowered the
crossbow slightly from his shoulder. "I'm Winchester Jackson, part of the
Legion out in the western territories of America."
"A Slayer?" One of the
others behind Van der Hoff said, a note of derision in his tone. Two of the
others snickered as if it were some kind of a joke.
Winchester frowned. He didn't
know what they meant, but he knew he didn't like it. Choosing to ignore them,
he locked gazes with Van der Hoff. "Our airship went down. We're trying to
get to Castle Barranoch."
Van der Hoff jerked his chin in
the Contessa's direction. "What about the vampire?"
Winn's hands tensed on the
Amanarath, ready to aim and fire in an instant if it became necessary.
"She's my guide."
One of the Hunters in Van der
Hoff's party gave Alexa a lewd appraisal. "To what?" he interjected.
Van der Hoff glared at the other
member of his hunting party. "Hold your tongue, Werner. I'll ask the
questions." He turned back to Winn. "What are you looking for?
Perhaps we can help you and you can give her to us in exchange."
Winn raised the barrel of the
Amanarath an inch from Van der Hoff's face. "No deal."
Van der Hoff smiled, but it
didn't reach his pale green eyes. They remained as unyielding and cold as deep
lake ice. "Alright. No harm, no foul, Slayer. But you can't possibly want
to protect that Darkin."
For a moment the irony did sink
in. Here he was protecting a Darkin, and a vampire at that, from other Hunters.
Pa would have risen out of the grave and kicked his ass if he'd known. But this
wasn't a normal situation. He needed her help. "My bow begs to differ with
you."
A blood curdling howl tore
through the night and all of them turned to peer at the dark maw of the forest.
"Werewolves!" Alexa shouted as she ran up and grabbed Winn's arm,
almost causing him to misfire the bow. "We're running out of time!"
"Correction," Winn said
as the shadows burst from the trees. "We're outta time."
The twenty or so wolves were far
larger than any Winn had seen before. They were the size of grizzly bears, and
while most of them were gray, there were a few brown, white and black wolves
among them as well. With coordinated movement they circled him, the Contessa
and the small band of German hunters.
"Insufferable Weres,"
the Contessa muttered, her voice turning more guttural and growl-like as her
face shifted and changed.
By now it didn't shock Winn as
much, even thought the sight of her in her fighting mode still disturbed him.
She hissed, and the wolves came to a stop. They were close enough in their
formation that Winn could see no easy gap for him and the Contessa to get
through.
He changed his target for the
crossbow, grateful Marley had offered it. Winn's mind quickly calculated his
options. With only fifteen shots in his rifle he would have been out of ammo
before dispatching all of the wolves. He had that pathetic water shooter, but
he didn't trust it to do more than slow the wolves down. And it wouldn't do anything
to the Hunters. If he ran out of bolts, he could likely take out the other
Hunters with his rifle butt first, backed up by his fists if necessary.
"Kill only if
necessary," the Contessa warned under her breath.
Winn nestled the crossbow against
his shoulder ready to let it release. "They attack, then it's all
necessary."
"Hold your bloodthirst,
Slayer." Van der Hoff's voice itself was irritating right now.
Winn wanted to tell the Hunter to
go screw himself. This was no time for being some pasty yellow-bellied mama's
boy. It was kill or be killed. That's how it always went in these kinds of
situations. Negotiation was done by who had the least dead. Period. "This
ain't bloodthirst. It's survival, and I swear I'll kill every damn one of them
if I have to."
The wolves glanced at one
another, ears twitching as if they talked to one another the way the Contessa
did with the other vampires. The hair on the back of Winn's neck prickled up
like an agitated porcupine.
A few of the wolves growled low
and belly-deep, their black lips curling up to reveal razor sharp yellowed
teeth. It was a veritable Mexican standoff with the furries on one side and the
Hunters, and vampire on the other. "They don't look like they're here for
a tea party, Van der Hoff. What do you wanna do here?" Winn prompted. His
finger was getting itchy to pull the trigger on the bow as tension pulled at
the muscles in his neck and shoulders.
"Hold," Van der Hoff
ordered.
"You don't even know what
they want." Winn's thigh burned with the tension of the muscles beneath
his skin.
"Does it matter? They're
Darkin."
Winn's mood darkened further. He
didn't see a good way out of this. He edged closer to the Contessa. "I
thought you said there were treaties for this sort of thing."
"That's the problem with
treaties. They get broken all the time, and usually when it's most
inconvenient," she said with annoyance.
"What the hell do they
want?" Winn asked. "They're just holding back."
"Why don't you ask
them?" the Contessa growled through her fangs.
A loud howl broke the standoff.
Winn didn't wait another second. His Hunter training kicked into gear, taking
over both his body and his mind, making his movements as automatic as
breathing. He shot down three of the Werewolves in quick succession. The thwang
of the crossbow jolted up his arm with each rapid release of the bolts. Thunk.
Thunk, thunk. Three of them fell. The others kept coming, a blur of movement.
Winn cranked the bolts into place
and shot off three more. The Contessa leaped forward into the fray, fangs at
the ready. For an instant Winn's heart forgot to beat as he watched a bolt
graze past her, shearing off a lock of her hair. An inch closer and he would
have hit her square in the head. She tore every Were within reach with her bare
hands, sending fur, muscle and skin flying as she ripped away limbs.
His heartbeat returned twice as
hard and Winn turned away from the grisly sight to glance in the direction of
Van der Hoff and his men. The Hunter hacked and slashed at anything with fur
that came within striking distance. Winn's chest burned. His blood was pumping
hard. The fighting had turned hand to hand now, wolves and men in mixed battle.
Winn swung his crossbow to his back and pulled the bowie knife from his boot.
A great gray wolf coiled his back
legs a split second before he launched into the air, seeming to sail toward
Winn in slow motion. The dinner-plate sized paws connected like a solid punch
to the solar plexus, knocking the wind from him and leaving him gasping as he
fell backward into the fir needles of the forest floor. But he didn't need to
breathe to act. Winn pulled hard and fast, slashing the blade of his Bowie
across the exposed throat of the wolf, looming over him.
Hot blood splattered his face and
the weight of the enormous dead wolf crushed down, smothering him. Winn's lungs
burned as he scrabbled to lift the huge beast off of himself. Cries of anguish
and pain from Van der Hoff's men were followed by the sickening crunching
sounds and abrupt silence.
"Winchester!"
Winn managed to shift the weight
enough to crawl out from beneath the wolf carcass. The Contessa was surrounded.
He scrambled up, hacking a bloody path to her. He and the Contessa stood
back-to-back against the ten remaining werewolves.
The growls of the largest wolf
shifted and warped into words Winn could comprehend, stunning him.
"Slayer, cease your resistance. Rathe wants you taken alive, but he didn't
say unharmed. Put down your weapons. Come with us now and we will let the
vampire live."
Winn twisted the handle of the
Bowie in his extended hand, still brandishing it against the werewolves. Tessa
was snugged up tight against his back, her derrière brushing the backs of his
thighs. "Let me get this straight. You expect me to just give in and come quietly?"
"Yes."
Winn let out a brittle, caustic
bark of laughter. "Clearly you've never met an American Hunter before. We
don't quit, and we sure as hell don't give in."
Raised by a bibliophile who made the dining room
into a library, Theresa has always been a lover of books and stories. First a
writer for newspapers, then for national magazines, she started her first novel
in high school, eventually enrolling in a Writer's Digest course and putting
the book under the bed until she joined Romance Writers of America in 1993. In 2005 she was selected
as one of eleven finalists for the American Title II contest, the American Idol
of books. She is married to the first man she ever went on a real date with (to
their high school prom), who she knew was hero material when he suffered
through having to let her parents drive, and her brother sit between them in
the backseat of the car. They currently live in a Victorian house on a mini
farm in the Pacific Northwest with their two children, three cats, an old
chestnut Arabian gelding, an energetic mini-Aussie shepherd puppy, several
rabbits, a dozen chickens and an out-of-control herb garden.
You can find her online on
Twitter, Facebook, at her Web site or blogging with the
other Lolitas of STEAMED!
Giveaway Details:
2 comments:
I love reading about vampires. I would love to read this book. Thanks for the giveaway. Tore923@aol.com
this sounds like a great steampunk novel! thank you for the contest!
inthehammockblog at gmail dot com
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