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    Blood Moon: The Gambit
    Blood Moon: The Gambit
    Blood Moon: The Gambit
    Ebook68 pages59 minutes

    Blood Moon: The Gambit

    By Nicolas Wilson

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    About this ebook

    When the local vampire colony asks a favor of Knight, sheriff of Portland's magical government, he must team up with his vampiric counterpart to solve a series of murders rooted in forbidden magic. What they find could alter the future of vampiric society, and cause a magical war.

    Blood Moon is a standalone novella of 16,000 words or approximately 64 pages. It features characters from The Necromancer's Gambit (The Gambit #1) and Kindred Spirits (The Gambit #2), but you do not need to have read The Necromancer's Gambit to enjoy Blood Moon.

    WARNING: Contains strong adult language and graphic violent content.

    READERS ARE SAYING:

    “Film Noir meets the printed page.”
    Walter Danley, Amazon review for The Necromancer's Gambit

    “If a paranormal film noir was turned into a Dungeons and Dragons style RPG, it would read something like this... Wickedly awesome!”
    Melody, for Up All Night Novels, reviewing The Necromancer's Gambit

    “The book is quirky, ironic, funny, entertaining and written with great prose... Connoisseurs of the detective, fantasy and humour genres should all have a field day with this original piece of work.”
    ChristophFischerBooks, Amazon review for The Necromancer's Gambit

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherNicolas Wilson
    Release dateOct 1, 2014
    ISBN9781502276711
    Blood Moon: The Gambit
    Author

    Nicolas Wilson

    Nicolas Wilson is a published journalist, graphic novelist, and novelist. He lives in the rainy wastes of Portland, Oregon with his wife, four cats and a dog. Nic's work spans a variety of genres, from political thriller to science fiction and urban fantasy. He has several novels currently available, and many more due for release in the next year. Nic's stories are characterized by his eye for the absurd, the off-color, and the bombastic. For information on Nic's books, and behind-the-scenes looks at his writing, visit nicolaswilson.com.

    Read more from Nicolas Wilson

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      Book preview

      Blood Moon - Nicolas Wilson

      Blood Moon, by Nicolas Wilson

      When the local vampire colony asks a favor of Knight, sheriff of Portland's magical government, he must team up with his vampiric counterpart to solve a series of murders rooted in forbidden magic. What they find could alter the future of vampiric society, and cause a magical war.

      Urban Fantasy, 16,000 words or approximately 64 pages. This is a standalone novella connected to The Necromancer's Gambit (The Gambit #1) and Kindred Spirits (The Gambit #2). You do not need to have read The Necromancer's Gambit to enjoy Blood Moon.

      WARNING: Contains strong adult language and graphic violent content.

      One

      She's beautiful, but that isn't the only reason she makes my heart beat faster. She's a vampire, and more dangerous than that, she's a conservator—basically a sheriff for the local colony, which means she's also one of very few vamps allowed magic. I'm her opposite number, working magical crime for Portland's mage government. She looks at me the way I look at a double deluxe from Mike's Drive-In; goddamnit, now I'm hungry.

      The room is a Jackson Pollack painted in blood. If there was a chance we were leaving this for the cops, I'd be concerned about stepping through, because bloody boot prints are really hard to explain away. Even standing along the edge of the carnage, I can see two corpses. Their eyes were fountains of blood, though I'm not even sure how that works.

      You wouldn't think it from the smoothness of her skin, but Scarlat's got decades on me. That's why I ask, Seen anything like this before?

      Unfortunately. The spell overloads the blood-brain barrier, then pumps blood into the brain. The pressure smashes the brain, but it continues to build until it shatters its way through the skull. The eye sockets are a structural weak point, so when the pressure rises enough...

      Blood geysers out of the eyes. I raise an eyebrow. So why don't you fill me in?

      Unfortunately, the method is all that I know that you don't, she says. I can tell already there's something she's holding back. But I'm not sure I've ever known her not to be holding something back.

      Well, from the looks of it, it has the hallmarks of a suicide pact. The kind of thing idiots think is romantic as hell, but it is really just a giant middle finger to whoever's left with the carpets to clean. I wonder if she's called the Cleaning Ladies. But she isn't Pawn; I don't have to babysit her.

      What makes you think it's a Romeo & Juliet? she asks. She wants into my process.

      They're in an embrace, mid- or immediately post-coitus, unless she just happened to fall on his dick as she died.

      That's a good catch. But the spell is usually paired with an anesthetic agent—a spell to keep the victims from feeling what's happening. It meant they wouldn't have been aware of what was going on until their heads popped open.

      And when you say 'usually', you mean?

      Modus operandi. Haven't figured out the means, mind you, but it's clear from the victims that they weren't suffering from extreme intra-cranial pressure immediately before death. When you asked if I've seen anything like this before. Four other times, in as many weeks. That's why you're here.

      And here you had my hopes up it was a social call. But that doesn't fully explain why you want me here. About anything I can do, you can do better.

      "That's not strictly true, she said. You're a more than capable mage, and a better investigator. But to the point, my kind is exceptionally vulnerable to this kind of magic."

      I'd propose a trade, I start.

      Trade? she asks, as if the concept alone intrigues her.

      I've got a case that could probably benefit from your expertise. A bloodless killer. Pretty much the opposite of this.

      Bloodless... a vampire?

      Could be. There weren't neck punctures, but that doesn't mean much of anything.

      How many bodies?

      Just the one, so far, I say. But there'll be more.

      What makes you think that?

      "It wasn't a one-off. And it might be the first in my neighborhood, but it wasn't his first."

      Mind if we focus on mine? I get the impression there's a ticking clock.

      My investigation's dead until another body drops, I say. How many in your pile?

      More than a dozen.

      That's a peculiar number.

      "Second scene had pieces from at least four people; could have been as many as seven. They were little pieces. The blood pressure spell... they were still experimenting, then, figuring it out. They burst the entire bodies from the inside out."

      Ah, I say. That means this scene is probably the cleanest yet. I imagine you want to keep this circle tight.

      Probably the best way to keep it quiet.

      How would you feel about bringing in my pathologist?

      "Bishop? It's enough off the beaten path, I'm not

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