Please help me welcome Author A.J. Locke to my blog today!
Black
Widow Witch
A.J.
Locke
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Etopia Press
Date of Publication: May 15th, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-941692-09-7
ASIN: B00KD43GUY
Number of pages: 239
Word Count: 88k
Book Description:
A deadly curse, a deadly
assassin, and one shot to save everyone she loves…
Malachi Erami can’t fall in love.
After she’s caught with Knave, the witch Queen’s favorite lover, she’s cursed
to savagely butcher any man she falls for. Exiled to live among humans, Malachi
runs a bar that serves magic-laced drinks, but since her curse labels her high
risk, she’s also closely monitored. Julian Vira is her latest babysitter, but
he’s also the first man since Knave that she’s been attracted to. Good-looking
and nonjudgmental of her horrible curse? Yeah, he’s hard to resist.
But when Malachi finds a body
behind her bar, she knows she’s in trouble. If the Witches Control Council gets
wind of it, she’ll be accused of murder and sent to her death. And when her
friends start getting framed for murder, she realizes she’s not the only
target. Malachi and Julian dig into the evidence to clear her name, but the
closer they get to answers, the closer the curse comes to taking over. So when
Malachi uncovers a plot to kill the witch Queen, she finds herself suddenly
recruited into service, with the promise of having her curse lifted and a
reunion with Knave as well. But if she fails, Knave will die. And she and
Julian might not live long enough to see that happen.
Short
Excerpt- Chapter One
Today was the
anniversary of the worst day of my life, and I’d been trying to forget about it
by consuming a vast amount of booze. The fact that I owned a bar greatly helped
with that endeavor, and the fact that I was drunk was an accomplishment, since
witches weren’t easily susceptible to alcohol. Humans were onto something with
this whole drinking-to-forget-one’s-crappy-life thing.
Behind the bar,
I poured a shot for an eager customer. Amaretto, Southern Comfort peach
liqueur, and sweet-and-sour mix went into the glass, then I held my hand over
the drink and let a stream of purple magic, the same color as my eyes, flow
into it. The drink glowed purple for a few seconds, then I handed it to the
customer, who drank it with no hesitation. After slamming the glass down, he
grabbed the tipsy woman who’d been hanging on him and gave her a sloppy kiss,
then led her out of the bar. I smiled and shook my head. The magic I’d put into
the shot, aptly named Piece of Ass, would ensure they didn’t leave the bedroom
tonight.
Somewhere in the
room I heard riotous laughter, and above that the voice eliciting that
laughter. Xiune was having a good night for a change and wasn’t holed up in my
office. Though since she was just a head inside a clear acrylic box, it was
understandable that sometimes all she wanted to do was hide.
“Malachi,
darling!” Xiune called. “Seven handsome young men have requested the
Challenge!” I smiled slyly. I loved administering the Challenge.
“It’s time for
the Seven Deadly Sins Challenge!” I announced, filling up eight shot glasses
with vodka, one of which I downed. “Which sin will it be and what will its
victim do?” People shouted their guesses while I sent tendrils of magic into
the shots. My magic sparked like tiny bolts of lightning, and like the shot I
had just made, the liquid briefly glowed purple. I focused on one of the
glasses and started whispering a spell, channeling the essence of one of the seven
deadly sins through my body. For a brief moment, my body became flushed with a
feeling of ravenous desire, then it flowed out of me into the shot glass. I
felt rather charged and wondered if this had been the right sin to choose
tonight. But hey, I was drunk, and I kind of wanted to see someone suffer.
Misery loves company right?
I levitated the
shot glasses onto a tray and sauntered over to the table where Xiune was
entertaining the men who thought they were up for the Challenge. With her
flawless complexion, golden eyes, and vibrant red hair, Xiune didn’t need a
body to be beautiful. I’d known her when she had one though, and if she’d been
sitting there in all her glory, she’d have every man kneeling at her feet. Her
allure was only heightened by the fact that she was a bodiless beauty who used
her magic to float herself around in a box. The box wasn’t necessary for Xiune
to move around, but she felt safer inside it when she was out in public. That
way if a witch hater spat on her, she’d have a shield. It also prevented those
on the other end of the spectrum, people who were fascinated by witches, from
getting too close. I set the shot glasses down and motioned for the men to
stand around the table. They looked like your typical college fare: unkempt hair,
sagging pants, and some sort of ironic or sports themed T-shirt. High-fives and
shit talking all around.
“Now boys,” I
said, leaning forward on my forearms, giving my cleavage time to shine. “Are
you sure you’re ready for this? One of you is moments away from experiencing a
sin you may or may not enjoy.” They assured me they were man enough to handle
any sin, and I smiled. The fun thing about the Challenge was that everyone
handled it differently. One man caught with gluttony had run across the street to
McDonalds, spent over a hundred dollars on food, then sat on the floor and
gorged himself. A woman under the same gluttony spell had tried to eat her
friend’s purse.
“Let’s hope it’s
lust and let’s hope it’s me,” one of the men said, winking at me. He stood a
couple of inches over six feet, had brown hair and a lanky physique. If he
started spending time at the gym, maybe his lame come-ons would give him more
luck getting laid.
“Honey, I would
eat you up,” I said with a slow smile. Normally I would never have said such a
line, but all the alcohol I had consumed was speaking for me. He probably had
no idea how true those words were though, because his smile never wavered.
However, for a moment after I spoke, I saw another face in place of his, and it
cut through my drunken haze like a knife. I gasped, and he must have thought
that was a sign he had a chance with me, because his smile became more
lascivious. Lucky for him, he did nothing for me.
“Malachi, let’s
get this show going.” Xiune slid her box over to nudge me, and I shook my head
and turned back to the waiting crowd.
“All right, it’s
about to go down!” I yelled. “For anyone who hasn’t witnessed the Challenge
before, I’ll explain how it works. One of these shot glasses is infused with
the essence of one of the seven deadly sins, and the recipient will be overcome
with that sin for the next half hour, while the others will experience the most
euphoric feeling they’ve ever experienced from a shot of alcohol.” I motioned
for the men to pick up a glass, and Mister Flirtatious had one more wink for
me.
“Gentlemen, take
your shot of sin!” They took their shots to the head. When they slammed their
glasses down, every eye in the room was on them. After about twenty seconds,
one of the men—not Winky—suddenly gasped, whipped his head around, and bolted
from among his friends to accost a mildly attractive woman standing nearby.
“Fuck me! Fuck
me, please!” He shook her by the upper arms while she stared at him, mortified,
as his friends tried to pry him off her. I brayed with laughter, as did Xiune
and everyone else in the bar.
“Oh god, I’m so
horny. Someone please, fuck me!” He struggled against his laughing friends,
trying to reach any female in sight, with his erection leading the way. Lust
had been the winner tonight, and for the next thirty minutes this poor sap
would be lusting after every woman he saw, whether she was twenty-eight or
eighty-two. He even lurched toward Xiune, but she floated out of the way. Xiune
was one sexy head in a box and had a mouth she could work wonders with. She
often came out of her box to work those wonders on any willing man. There were
more than you’d think.
“Right sin,
wrong guy, right?” brown-haired dude said to me.
I rolled my
eyes. “You and your friends will have your hands full for the next half hour. I
suggest you hold on to him real good and don’t be surprised if he turns to one
of you when it starts to look like he won’t be getting any women.”
He laughed and
pulled out his cell phone. “I’ll call his girlfriend, though she’ll probably be
too pissed at him for doing this to alleviate his lust.” He left the bar to
make the call, while the other five continued to hold on to their friend,
laughing like they’d never experienced anything so hilarious in their lives.
Some of the more mischievous or drunk women teased the guy by parading in front
of him and doing dirty little stripper moves. Only his friends’ hold stopped
him from tackling one of them and trying to rip her clothes off.
I wasn’t afraid
of things getting out of hand because I could break the spell any time I
wanted. There was always a point where things stopped being amusing and started
getting annoying. I left them and headed back behind the bar, while Xiune found
another table of people to entertain. She was a wonderful songstress, and soon
her melodic voice filled the bar as I went back to making magicked drinks. I
glanced at my watch, noting that it was almost midnight, which meant the day
was almost over. That didn’t actually mean anything though. The day passing
didn’t mean I would forget the curse that was hanging over my life.
“Hey, Malachi,
can you pass me a knife?”
“Knave?” I
quickly turned to the busboy, James, who was bent over a box behind the bar.
“No, I said
knife,” he said. My throat was suddenly tight, but I reached under the bar, got
a knife, and handed it to him. I stood back and ran my hands through my short
black curls, blowing out a slow breath as I tried to rein in my reaction to
thinking I had heard the name Knave. That was the name attached to the face I
did not like to think about, but no amount of alcohol and rowdy college boys
taking the Challenge could truly put him from my mind. I didn’t want to see
Knave’s face, didn’t want to think about the hard muscles my hands used to
slide over, following the planes of his body to his waist and not stopping
until I touched something that arched his back and made him whisper my name. I
didn’t want to think about the nights we’d spent wrapped in each other’s arms,
feeling our hearts beating against each other. But of course, since his name
crossed my lips, he was all I could think about.
Falling in love
with Knave was why I was cursed. And I could only blame myself. I should have
known better than to take someone else’s lover to my bed. Especially if the
woman crossed was a witch queen who was powerful, sadistic, and known to curse
people just for sneezing out of place.
“Malachi? Excuse
me, Malachi?” I blinked and brought myself out of my thoughts, turning to see
that one of the other busboys, Dan, was trying to get my attention. He held a
box of empty liquor bottles and needed me to move so he could pass. I shuffled
out of the way, but thinking of Knave and my curse, along with all the beer and
shots I’d drunk tonight, made me feel slightly unstable. Suddenly, the rowdiness
in my bar wasn’t fun; it was obnoxious, and I wanted to get away from it. I
headed through the door Dan had passed through, into the hallway that led to my
office and the Dumpster out back. Halfway down the hallway, I heard a crash,
followed by a scream. I ran through the back door, taking in several things at
once that left me rooted to the spot. One, the revolting stench that went far
beyond what our single Dumpster could give off. Two, Dan standing rigidly a few
feet away with broken bottles scattered at his feet. And three, the thing that
had caused him to drop the bottles and scream. Behind the Dumpster was a dead
body.
About
the Author:
A.J. Locke is an author and
artist, originally from Trinidad, now residing in New York City. Black Widow
Witch is her second published novel, and other than writing she enjoys reading,
drawing, painting, graphic design, and watching too much television.
Twitter: @maqueripe
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Please thank A.J. for joining us today! Please check out her links and books!
Keep Writing!
Jodie Pierce
