Hunting in Hell
Authors: Maria Violante
PRAISE FOR THE DE LA ROCA CHRONICLES
"
… Action packed fantasy adventure with a strong female antihero…"
-
D. L. MORRESE
,
Author of
The Warden Threat
"… just the right pacing … The way this author, Violante, describes new worlds and planes is brilliant…"
-
TERRA HARMONY
,
Author of The
Akasha
Series
"Gritty, imaginative and entertaining … reminiscent of King's Gunslinger … foreign, alien and fantastic…"
- M. PAX
Author of
Semper Fidelis
"Compelling and well-written … a great read…"
- CHARLES M. PULSIPHER
Author of
The Crystal Bridge
"…offers an elaborately developed and densely populated supernatural world … and present[s] to the reader mysteries large and small … ambitious and often very engaging."
- NADER ELHEFNAWY
Author of
Surviving the Spike
"De la Roca is an enigmatic and dangerously beautiful antihero … Even between the action scenes, characters never feel or even seem safe with new developments constantly pushing towards greater peril…"
- PIERS JAMESON
Editor for Airam Publications
"… I was hooked from the start … so luminous, I can only think that she paints pictures in her head as she writes."
- MICHAEL OFFUTT
Author of
Slipstream
BOOKS 1 AND 2 OF THE DE LA ROCA CHRONICLES
HUNTING IN HELL
Books 1 and 2 of the De la Roca Chronicles
MARIA VIOLANTE
AIRAM PUBLICATIONS
KALAMAZOO
Hunting In Hell
Copyright © 2012 by Maria Violante
Edited by Piers Jamerson, Airam Publications
Cover Art © 2012 by Caytlin Vilbrant
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.
Published in the United States by Airam Publications.
http://www.airampublications.com
This book is a work of fiction.
Names, characters, places and incidents are used fictitiously.
Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
DEDICATION
W
hile walking through a valley snow-covered
I
came upon a bunny alone.
C
ompanions, we scrabbled along a trail ruthless
R
ocky and twisting, relentless, endless
Y
et, I give thanks for my rabbit and for the hard trail
or stronger legs and hardened feet.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
III. Book One: Hunting the Five
PART ONE:
HUNTING THE FIVE
A
smile played at the corners of De la Roca’s lips.
“Alright, Rico.
This had better not be a waste of time.”
Blessed with a demon’s sharp senses, she saw the way his heartbeat quickened, the tiny bump at the side of his throat flashing like a beacon to advertise his fear—and his arousal.
His gaze swept over the long fall of her dark hair, his nostrils flaring at her scent.
Got you.
I know what you were thinking about.
She didn’t have the
akra
of reading men’s minds, but she could
cloud them until they filled with hot blood and imaginary moans.
She ran her tongue over her top teeth, enjoying the contrast between sharp and soft.
“A little birdie told me you had my gun.
It’d be a shame if they were wrong.”
His gaze flicked toward her mouth and his throat jumped as he swallowed.
She knew he was weighing the two options, trying to figure out if the stories he had heard in seedy bars and dark alleys were true.
After all, if I were in his position, that’s what I’d be trying to do.
And yes, they are true, every last kill.
Don’t make me kill you.
He wrinkled his nose.
“Yeah, I got it.”
“Well, don’t hold back on me then.”
She held out her hand, palm up.
He gave it the stare reserved for holy relics.
It wasn’t until she cleared her throat and shot him a glare that he walked to the front of the store, locked the door, and pulled the shades.