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Excerpt 2:
Dulcina sat upright, her hand sliding down his chest until she pulled back and let it rest on her own leg. She was thinking things through. He'd thrown a lot at her, and he could see she'd taken it all in, was trying to figure him out.
“What if...” She paused for a moment, her gaze shifting to the door, and then she lowered her voice. “If you could confirm he's here, is there a way to make your countrymen aware of when he returns to the States? Then they can arrest him upon arrival?”
Hope surged though him. “Maybe. It might be a while before he feels safe enough to return. I'd have to keep tabs on him until he got on a plane, and when he does, you'd have to let me make a phone call.”
“I think we could make that happen. I'll help, Jake, but you have to do two things for me,” she said, imperious as she sat atop him. “Number one. If we hit a dead end, you let this go.”
“And the second?” Jake already knew what the last thing was, he just needed confirmation.
“No more trying to escape.”
“Yeah,” Jake said, and even as he said it, he knew he'd be true to his word. He valued preserving her life over taking one of a criminal.
“Trust me,” she coaxed, tilting her head slightly as she looked down into his eyes, a slight crook of a smile on the left side of her lips.
“I'm trying to. How do you think you’re going to find him?”
“I speak French. You don’t. Also, I happen to have a friend well connected to...everything. Airlines, car services, drugs, bars, criminals, humans, vampires, rumors, facts. He would know when your man came in and where he was headed. From there, any movement within the city will be easy for him to track,” she said, her confidence in this man boundless.
“We’ll find him.”
“When can I talk to your guy?”
Dulcina threw her head back and laughed, a wild laugh that made his insides jump to life, all giddy and drawn to her infectious smile. This time, when meeting his gaze, she sent him one of those looks that said he'd lost all sense of reality. A ‘good for you for believing you can fly to the moon on a kite’ kind of a look.
This moment between them was special and he could damn well recognize the rarity. There was intimacy in this sharing of secrets, of planning the future. She was with him on this, one hundred percent at his side.
Thank goodness she'd tied him down, because if he'd been free, he would have flipped her onto her back and kissed her until she sighed. Jake cleared his throat, more so to redirect his thoughts than to gain her attention, but it accomplished both.
She slowly shook her head. “He won’t talk to you.”
“So you'll talk to him?” Jake tried sitting upright, his excitement getting the best of him, but he wasn't going anywhere all trussed up with her still parked on top of him. “He’s your kind, right?”
“It’s not that easy, Jake.”
“I’ll do whatever it takes to get this guy. Tell me what to do,” he demanded. She took a long, drawn-out breath, and for a moment Jake thought he'd lost her. With only a few tools left in his belt, Jake raised his voice to draw her focus. “Hey! Look at me, Dulcie. Want me to be your pet? Fine. Your servant? Done. Anything.”
“Anything?”
He tipped his chin down in a solitary nod. “I need this.”
“What I need,” she said, leaning forward until her face hovered just over his, so close he felt her breath curling over his chin, “is for you to obey me.”
“I’ll polish your damn boots for the rest of my life if you want. Just give me this,” he pleaded through clenched teeth.
“You're not listening, Jake. I'm not asking for shiny boots. I'm asking for your obedience. If I tell you to follow me, you do so without question. If I need you to duck out of sight, you've got to move fast,” she said, and Jake kept nodding along. He was right there with her, agreeing to everything she threw at him. With her help, her trust, he might actually have a shot at catching Tulio, and that was better than the hollow nothing he was living with right now. She continued her list of demands, but slower, “And if I need you to keep that smart mouth of yours shut, you will do so. I can't have you saying the wrong thing at the wrong time to the wrong person and getting us both killed.”
His eyes widened. “That can happen?”
“With certain vampires.” She shrugged lazily. “Yes.”
All he had to do was stop looking at her as jailer, and start thinking of her like she was his captain. Jake was an officer, a SWAT member. Following directives was second nature. On top of it all, she wasn't wrong. He was walking onto a battleground he didn't know how to navigate. She did.
“Yeah, we're good,” he said, nodding his compliance. “I'll follow orders.”
“No matter what, Jake. If you're going to walk at my side out there on the streets, you're going to encounter a way of life you don't understand. That means if a man is attacking me, you don't move unless I say.”
“Listen, if someone is—”
“Nothing. You do nothing. If the situation is bad enough I think I'm in danger, then I will tell you to run. And you will.” At his questioning look, she shook her head to quiet him and continued, “If something happens to me, and demons don't get you first, there will be a kill order out on you. You will need to know where it is safe to seek sanctuary.”
What is it about this book that makes it special?
Dulcina. She's been with us since the very first book, In the Dark. Little known fact, but it hurt to write In the Dark. I knew the city of Balinese would shift from a peaceful, well-oiled machine in the beginning, then fall into absolute chaos and sorrow at the end. I saw it coming, how it would effect each of them, and it was painful. In the Dark changed so many lives, made leaders of men, gave strength to women, but most importantly it set up five little orphaned souls to fall under the care of the only woman who could make them thrive after the tragedy. Our Dulcina is the second oldest of these children.
Demons killed her family. She left her home and ventured above ground, seeking vengeance for the loss of her parent, and felt the need to kill demons before hey had a chance to kill others. As often happens when one leaves the nest, she was hit with reality, and her perspective was altered. Though we don't see it first hand, Dulcina has already been through her crucible and her views on demons have shifted. We've gotten to know her little by little across the span of five books, and Dulcina is nothing, if not adaptable.
She's had a lot thrown at her in her short life. A demon attack, the loss of her parents, stopping a man from killing her foster mother, helping to raise her foster siblings, saving her foster sister, adjusting to life as a Stalker, changing her views on demons, learning to let go of her vengeance...and then I dump Jake in her lap. Not literally, but close enough. Only a Jake would be able to roll with the punches and handle Dulcina because, well, she punches.
Night Stalker is book 6 in The Cities Below series and it's not that I'm tying up loose ends, but everything inside me needed to know where each of the orphaned children from In the Dark landed in life (hint dropped for future books). Dulcina is a strong, independent woman, and for the most part, she's already sorted herself out. She's good. She did it all on her own without me. I just need to see her happy, too. I have closure knowing Dulcina is now cared for and loved.
About the Author:
Jen Colly is the rare case of an author who rebelled against reading assignments throughout her school years. Now she prefers reading books in a series, which has led her to writing her first paranormal romance series: The Cities Below. She will write about anything that catches her fancy, though truth be told, her weaknesses are pirates and vampires.
She lives in Ohio with her supportive husband, two kids, and four rescued cats.
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