Teaser Tuesday ~ Something Different

Hey, I know this is late. Me bad blogger, but better late than never. Right?

This is from a different series. It is actually from Spell of the Black Unicorn, my light fantasy which I self-published in 2008. I'm working on it when time allows and I have a beta reader (Shelly Arkon), helping me with edits so that I can publish it as an eBook.

Here you go, from the first chapter of Spell of the Black Unicorn

Heavy pounding on the door made her jump out of her thoughts.

Just a moment,” she said, and looked through the small wedge of glass. The shadow of a tall, square-shouldered man stood there. But with his back toward her she couldn’t identify him. He wasn’t wearing a suit, so she knew he wasn’t a stupid salesman. She was sure it wasn’t Richard Keys, who was much taller, and more robust. The man had shoulder-length black hair. Whoever he was, from this angle, the guy looked... interesting.

“Who’s there?” she asked.

The man turned to face the door. He shook the wild mane out of his dark, brooding sapphire eyes and Zofia stared into a handsome face. She pulled in a gasp as instant recognition hit her hard like a troll’s fist to the noggin. He looked almost as he had the day he’d left her to go on assignment, five First World years ago; his hair was longish, and even the sideburns needed trimming. Even in this light she could see the slight bump on the bridge of his nose where it had been broken in a fight in his youth.

“Zofia? It’s me, Dorian,” he said in a distinctive Ogenthow accent with a mellow, almost crooning voice.“Let me in, darling.”

Her heart gave a sudden lurch. A multitude of emotions zipped through Zofia. She twisted the locks and yanked the heavy oak door open so frantically she broke a fingernail—oh hell... I'll mend it later. Their eyes met for the first time in five years. Zofia couldn’t believe he was standing there alive and looking fit as a Troll who'd eaten a whole village. Even so, she held off pulling him into a tight embrace. Mostly because all the warning bells were clanging in her head.

“Zofia . . .” His gaze took in every inch of her like a man who’d not set eyes on a woman in a thousand Euphoria years. “How wonderful you look in that—” his hands gestured toward her. “You look like one of those women in a lingerie add on Ugwump TV.”

Zofia realized she’d been holding her breath since she’d opened the door, and now exhaled with her words, “I thought you were dead! I thought Blood had killed you!” She crossed her arms and glared at him, waiting for an explanation.

“Well, yes he did—”

“I saw it all in my dream the night you disappeared. That’s why I fled with the children.”

“I know,” Dorian said. He glanced over his shoulder. Then he turned back to her and said, “I’ve not much time. Could you just invite me in? I’ll explain everything—”

“I mourned for one hundred days, as required by the Code of Ethics. The children—” her voice broke with emotional chirp. She averted her gaze. Embarrassed to show her emotions in front of Dorian she went on. “We couldn’t find your-your body so as to sever the head, a-and then burn the body so that a demon couldn’t take it over,” she strove on matter-of-factly, trying to regain control over those wild emotions, but it was nearly impossible with the memories of what she'd gone through thinking he was dead.

“That would’ve been a mistake,” he said low.