Title: Stake and Dust, Book 1
Author: Karen Michelle Nutt
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Urban fantasy
Book Blurb:
Enjoy another Graystone vampire tale full of adventure and romance. Also meet the Hayeses, who are preternatural hunters. Their motto is 'stake and dust' and forget the questions. Though the lines between who should be eliminated and who shouldn't become blurred when Cassandra Hayes and Tremayne Graystone work together to bring down a sea creature worthy of nightmares. A Lamia, a sea creature worthy of John Keats' prose, teams up with a vampire with serial tendencies. When young promising artists are found dead, the Preternatural Bureau sends Cassandra Hayes to the Hamptons to help a fellow hunter track down this lethal duo. She's only spoken to Mr. Green once on the phone and when she meets him in person, he is not what she expects. His hunting skills are spot on, but there is something the man is hiding, and she's determined to find out what it is despite the attraction developing between them. Tremayne Graystone, a vampire from one of the oldest septs, is not pleased when he finds a dead hunter left on the doorstep of his pub. He should have never answered the hunter's phone, but someone is trying to frame him, and he wants answers. Surely, he can masquerade as Mr. Green, the hunter Cassandra is supposed to meet, before she figures out his true identity and stakes him. She's a Hayes, from a long line of vampire hunters, and fraternizing with the enemy is simply not done, but as they work together and follow the clues, the lines become blurred when he falls for the hunter's charms.
Excerpt:
At Bygones, vampires didn't have to pretend they didn't sport fangs and could order blood drinks without question. He'd been there a time or two, but he found some of the company dismal. Woe is me, I'm the un-dead, didn't suit him. He really detested whiny beings, vampire or not. They needed to get over themselves and move on. Gotta love yourself before you can love someone else. He was a big believer in that policy.
"Have you been to this place?" Cassandra asked as they walked away from the boardwalk and headed toward the street where Bygones was located.
He'd been to the establishment, but he didn't think it wise to share the tidbit with her. "I've been by it." He wanted to question the bartender there, but he wasn't sure if it would be a wise idea for her to go inside with him. The clientele would know she was a hunter just by her stance alone. It would make them leery to dole out information. Heck, they might even hide the vamp they were looking for purely on principle.
"You've been by the place?" Her lovely brows furrowed, and he had the urge to smooth the lines away with the pad of his thumb.
"What aren't you telling me?" she asked and looked him in the eye.
She was good. Never missed a beat when it came to hunting. "It's a place where hunters aren't exactly welcomed. They'd think we'd gone mental for just stepping foot inside."
She gave him one arched eyebrow now. She had many expressions and he looked forward to learning each and every one of them. Arch eyebrow meant: 'Are you kidding?' and in a sarcastic manner of speaking.
"Why hasn't the place been shut down then?" she asked, but he knew what she really meant. Why were the preternatural beings left to live?
"They mind their own business," he told her. "If they watch their Ps and Qs…" He let the rest of the sentence trail off with a shrug.
She glanced at him with a tilt of her head. "Out of curiosity, are you okay with the policy you just spewed?"
"About not offing the preternatural beings and asking questions later?"
"Yeah."
He could lie and say he was a bad-arse hunter out to kill all beings not considered human. Too many of the hunters had that backwoods, narrow-minded view – where Otherworldly beings were concerned anyway. He went with telling her the truth. Their whole relationship couldn't be based on lies. "Not all preternatural beings are bad news," he said. "Just like not all humans are good upstanding individuals either. There's plenty of them who should have been offed a long time ago, but human laws prevent such vigilante pursuits." He held his breath waiting to see if she'd blast him with righteous hunter bull crap.
"You sound like my brother, Derek."
Not exactly the answer he thought she'd give him. "Is that a good or a bad thing?" he asked upon reaching their destination.
"I think highly of my brother," she said and pushed opened the door to Bygones and entered.
His lips curved as he followed her inside. He really liked this hunter.
The interior of the place held an old world feel to it with sconces on the walls and the overhead lights were faux candle-lit chandeliers. Of course, all fixtures were electric and not the flickering lights of a real flame.
The scent of coffee hit his nostrils first. Not a surprise. Preternatural beings liked their coffee as much as the humans did. An espresso was one of the favorite drinks among the werewolves. They tended to drink large quantities of the stuff as if amped up on caffeine would make their overly charged persona even better. He'd known more than a few werewolves. Truly, they should avoid the stuff.
His gaze landed on a werewolf seated in one of the corner booths. He sported sideburns and long hair. He reminded him of someone but couldn't quite put his finger on who. The werewolf eyed Cassandra with curiosity before his gaze landed on Tremayne. One thick eyebrow rose as if he realized Tremayne wasn't human. The werewolf sat back in his seat and folded his beefy arms across his chest.
Tremayne ignored him for now. The guy looked like he wanted to watch the show, not join in. He turned his attention toward the jukebox against the far wall. One of the Fae stood there, looking over the selections offered, and a werejaguar hovered nearby as if to help him choose the best song. The place had yet to form a crowd, but the three customers present could make things difficult if they chose.
He would bet the guy manning the bar was a lower-level demon with the way his glamour slipped in and out, revealing glowing red eyes. His nervous response most likely initiated because he recognized Cassandra as a hunter, and the demons weren't overly fond of vampires either. The demon's gaze shifted from Cassandra then to him in confusion. Yeah boyo, you're truly seeing this. He was sure there was a bad joke in there somewhere. A vampire and a hunter enter a bar… Only he didn't know the punch line.
"We'd like to ask you a few questions," Cassandra said upon reaching the bar, not wasting any time on pleasantries.
"Yeah, and what would that be?" the demon asked with suspicion.
"We're looking for a Lamia who may be fraternizing with a vampire."
"What's it to you, hunter?" the demon spat.
"We just want to chat with them," she told him.
The demon chuckled without mirth. "Sure, and I bet you're going to ask them to join you in a cup of coffee."
Cassandra's lips curved. "Missing humans are bad for all preternatural beings…" She let the statement hang there for a few extra seconds to bring home her point.
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What makes your featured book a must-read?
It’s a story of stepping into someone else’s shoes; of forbidden love; humorous escapades, hunting a monster worthy of the name, and victorious retribution. It’s the perfect recipe for paranormal fans to indulge in on Halloween night or any night where the craving for the darker side of romance beckons.
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Author Biography:
Karen Michelle Nutt resides in California with her husband. Though her three children are grown and starting their own adventures, she still has a houseful of demanding pets.
When she's not time traveling, fighting outlaws, or otherworldly creatures, she creates book covers at Gillian's Book Covers, "Judge Your Book By Its Cover".
Whether your reading fancy is paranormal, time travel or contemporary romances, all her stories capture the rich array of emotions that accompany the most fabulous human phenomena—falling in love.
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