Blurb
When five college friends reunite, one night changes their lives forever.
Halloween in New Orleans. Rémy Lafitte has paid a charlatan to enact
a Voodoo ceremony in the cemetery. The ritual reanimates Niko Valdés, a
French Quarter tutor who was damned to Everlost for murdering his
sister’s attacker.
Mild-mannered stockbroker Heidi Purdue stumbles upon Niko and Rémy
in a compromising position. They are interrupted by a demon on horseback
who beheads the charlatan before giving the trio a pentalpha puzzle to
solve.
Curvy Heidi knows that heartthrob Rémy would never fall for her, but
she falls for the undead tutor. Rémy, jealous of the other two’s
closeness, agrees to an equitable ménage, opening up to a male lover.
The centuries-long battle against primordial evil leads them to a
temple, where they find Solomon’s ring. They go past the portal of
Hellmouth to redeem themselves, but the real puzzle is how to fulfill
the prophecy that they are intertwined inexorably—now and forever.
http://www.bookstrand.com/redemption-song
Excerpt
Parked on the sidewalk, the nerd unfolded himself from the Corvette and extended a hand. “Marvin Simon, at your service.”
The trio introduced themselves. Rémy
wondered at the casual attitude Marvin had toward three strangers who
were in the service of the Duke of Demons, looking for a damned ring.
Did this happen often to Marvin?
Niko said, “Sorry we were so late. We got sidetracked by placing stones.”
Marvin nodded knowledgeably. “That’s good.
That’s a very good reason for being late. I’m glad you’re following the
angles of the pentalpha.”
“Yes,” said Rémy, “we’ve crisscrossed this city placing stones at all the right spots. Now we need the ring, though.”
“Can you verify,” said Heidi, “that this ring will enable us to command the demons? We have several quests at stake here.”
“Well yes,” said Marvin, “within reason.
You have to do several things first, though, before the ring will give
you superiority over Baal-Berith and his cronies.”
Niko gaped. “There are more of them?”
Marvin looked at Niko as though he’d just
come back from the dead. “Well, yes. Why else would he be called the
Duke of Demons if he didn’t have anyone else in his duchy? You haven’t
seen any others? No matter, you will. Baal-Berith isn’t easily subdued.”
Rémy said, “But he’s losing power at midnight tonight. Can’t we just wait for midnight to come and go?”
Marvin looked exasperated. “You could,
if you didn’t really give a flying fig about your quests being
completed. You could just go back to your dull-as-dishwater, boring-ass
existence watching America’s Favorite Bachelor and driving your
BMWs”—how did Marvin know that Rémy drove a BMW?—“but then you’d
completely miss out on accomplishing your quests, now, wouldn’t you?”
Niko stammered, “I…I didn’t know there was a time limit. So we have to complete our quests by the time Baal-Berith loses power?”
Marvin looked skyward for divine assistance. “Well, of course
now. The demons don’t just sit around waiting for you to take your
thumb out of your ass. That’s the whole challenge. The closer it gets to
midnight, the more powerful they become. The more assistance they can
give you, but at the same time…” Marvin trailed off meaningfully.
Heidi filled in. “The more they can…crush us?”
Marvin nodded decisively. “Exactly. That’s
what they live for, to crush you. They wouldn’t be very demonic if they
didn’t. It’s my goal to help you subdue or overcome them. Now, with
that in mind, why don’t you tell me about your quests? Two sentences or
less, please. I don’t have all day. I’m entering my crawfish in the
cook-off, and I don’t want to miss Chicken on the Bone playing ‘Rock
This Town.’ They do it with such pep.”
Rémy went first, to give Heidi and Niko
time to think. “Well, at first my main goal was to find my ancestor Jean
Lafitte’s gold bars.”
Predictably, Marvin’s eyes lit up. “An
admirable goal indeed. Treasure hunts are always given top priority by
the demons. But your goal has changed?”
“Well, yes,” Rémy had to admit. “I mean, I
still want to find the gold bars, of course. But I’ve really come to…”
He couldn’t admit to this bobble-headed stranger that he thought he was
falling in love with Heidi, and was having strangely powerful feelings
about the undead Niko, too. Heidi was a unique, powerful soul, yet so
childishly appealing. And Niko, well, there was nothing that was not
unique about him. He told himself he never would have allowed himself
romantic feelings about another man unless the man was as oddly singular
as Niko de la Concepcion Valdés. So Rémy said, “I’ve come to put Niko’s
quest as top priority. Niko, tell Marvin about yours.”
Niko solemnly folded his hands before his
crotch. “I come from the year 1855.” Rémy wasn’t surprised that Marvin
also nodded sagely. “I was stuck in Everlost with my poor departed
sister, and then this fellow here revived me with a ceremony he
performed. I’d like to get my sister out of Everlost, too, but leave the
bastard who caused all of this stuck in there until time immemorial.”
“Yes,” said Marvin, as though thoroughly
familiar with Leclerc, “he behaved so badly on earth he can’t be
recycled. He can never move forward.”
“Truly?” cried Niko, breaking his respectful stance. “We can leave him behind?”
“Yes and no,” said Marvin. “He will be put
into hell like broken pottery that can’t be repaired. This does not get
you out of making amends with him.”
“Damn!” swore Niko. “I swore I will never apologize to that sack of buzzard’s guts!”
“Language, language!” said Rémy, sharing a grin with Heidi.
Marvin asked, “Do you wish to stay in the present, my friend?”
“Well…” Niko looked around at his newfound
partners, at the shiny automobiles and motorcycles that raced by, at
the ten-story tall professional buildings around them. He shrugged. “I
suppose, if that’s my only option.”
Rémy was deeply offended. He supposed! If that was his only option! Trying to be light, he said, “Thanks a lot, Niko. We’re your last and only option.”
“Yeah,” said Heidi, apparently miffed, too. “I guess you’re stuck with us.”
“No!” protested Niko. “I mean that if I
had my way, of course I would go back to 1855 before any of this
happened! But…” He turned to Marvin. “That is not an option, is it?”
“I’m afraid not. You’re stuck with these
people you don’t like. You’re all witnesses. You’re all bound together,
so you can’t separate. Get used to it. Now, Miss Purdue, what is your
goal?”
ADULT EXCERPT
“I know. So much has
changed, Raoul. When you hurt me, you hurt me permanently. I moved on
before the words were even out of your mouth. And unlike you, my version
of ‘moving on’ actually involves moving. So, no. I’m not coming back to
you. I’m not coming back at all. But you can send me a postcard from
Tahiti. I’ll text you my address.”
So that was the end of
Raoul, and now Heidi had her thighs and arms wrapped around the most
scrumptious piece of man candy ever to walk the planet—in fully human
form, that was.
“Oh, please, please,
imprint me, Rémy,” cooed Heidi, lifting her head from the mattress to
suck his lower lip into her mouth. Tilting her pelvis, she impaled
herself on his fat cock, and Rémy lost what little control he’d had.
Grunting into her mouth, he drove it home, wedged deep next to her womb,
where he held his prick, throbbing with an erotic pulse.
She’d been stretched out
from fucking Niko the other day, so she easily accepted Rémy’s fat, long
tool. She set up a gently rocking motion while grasping his cock with
her inner pussy muscles. She had powerful Kegels after decades of
self-pleasuring with the detachable shower head, and she could grasp a
man’s penis as though she were a Venus flytrap.
Every time she clutched
Rémy’s cock, he gasped. Heidi started giggling. She knew Rémy was afraid
to really pound her because he’d come too fast. When she corkscrewed
her hips while simultaneously clutching him with her pussy, he raised
himself on his forearms and glared down at her. He bit his own lip, and
his eyelids fluttered as he fought to keep control.
“You’re an ornery, mischievous girl,” he snarled.
Only Heidi could see over
Rémy’s shoulder. Niko stood beside the bed whipping Rémy’s bathrobe from
his torso. He tossed the satin and it slithered off the chair’s arm,
but Heidi was transfixed, admiring Niko’s otherworldly body.
For an undead guy, Niko was ravishing,
fresh, brimming with vitality. Especially since returning through
Hellmouth with his sister, it was virtually impossible to tell that Niko
had been raised from the ground recently. He still had his waistcoat,
strange linen shirt, trousers, and odd boots. He still wore his
greatcoat out at night, although he’d agreed to allow Rémy to take him
shopping for a new jacket.
But now, as he kneeled behind Rémy and
knocked apart Rémy’s knees with his own, Niko looked firmly embedded in
the present. Leaning, Niko dipped a few fingertips into a jar of
shimmering white coconut oil. Heidi was fascinated with the view. He
slathered his sleek dark cock with the pearly white cream, his thumb
working a circular pattern around his shiny glans.
Heidi clutched furiously at Rémy’s cock.
He sucked in air with a hiss when Niko reached between the globes of
Rémy’s ass and touched a finger full of coconut oil to his tight bud.
Heidi assisted by parting the shapely globes for Niko’s pleasure. She
could reach one of her long arms around Rémy’s waist to massage his
perineum as he hunched up into her higher and higher, inching her up the
mattress toward the headboard. She could tell by the way Rémy gasped
and his prick plumped inside her that he liked the way Niko slid a
finger up his anus.
She knew it before Niko even asked. “You
like that, boss man?” In bed, Niko liked to call Rémy that. Outside of
bed, Rémy was hardly the boss of anything. The two were equitable. But
Niko was freer with his bisexuality than Rémy, having more years of
experience under his belt. “You like having me up your ass?”
“I like it,” Rémy grunted, his cock
knocking against Heidi’s cervix. It twitched, too, when Heidi petted his
perineum, slick with creamy coconut oil. She could even jack Niko’s
cock as it pulsated against Rémy’s tight ring, encouraging him to impale
the bad boy pirate.
“Teach him who’s boss, Niko.” Heidi spoke
around Rémy’s shoulder. “He might pretend to be the boss, but show him
who’s in charge, who’s got the upper hand around here.”
Rémy started to protest. “No one’s got the upper—”
But Niko’s penis slipped inside of him, and the rest of his sentence was just a tortured groan.
Heidi was thrilled beyond belief to be
feeling Rémy’s prick inside of her, his pumping driven by each thrust of
Niko’s hips. Niko was the conductor who controlled all. He held Rémy’s
hip, bringing his lover back to meet each one of his thrusts. Heidi was
aroused with every loud slap of the men’s pelvises, every slap of Niko’s
ball sac against Rémy’s shapely ass, every twitch of Niko’s cock inside
of Rémy, which Heidi liked to think she could feel.
With books at MLR Press and JMS Books
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