Lieutenant Lacey Anderson of the Dallas Police Department heads up a elite new squad dedicated to solving crimes involving Immortals like herself. Lacey, a Vampire left for dead when her family was slaughtered by Werewolves, still has nightmares about the attack.
Detective Colton Scarber is her unwilling partner and second-in-command. He’s a Werewolf, a descendant of those who killed Lacey’s coven. She’s unaware of this, but she doesn’t trust him from the start. When the fragile beginning of the team is threatened by the truth, can they learn to trust one another as partners must, or will the Undead Unit be doomed to failure?
A mysterious suspect and strange physical evidence leads them to solve a case spanning decades, and leaves Lacey with no other choice but to rely on her enemy when her very life is at stake!
Targeted Age Group:: 16+
What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
I battled leukemia, and the resulting treatments took me out of the traditional workforce. It also causes my brain to not work in the same way it used to. I had been watching a marathon of Supernatural DVDs one night, and the idea for this book, indeed, the entire story, came to me in that twilight moment between sleep and wakefulness. Needless to say, I grabbed a pen and scrap paper, and using the light from my cell phone to avoid waking my husband, I jotted down notes!
How Did You Come up With Your Characters?
Lacey is a strong woman with an incredible sense of justice. Kind of like I was during the majority of my working life as a woman in law enforcement. Colton was supposed to be her polar opposite, as the two characters have a lot of friction to work through in the first book of the series.
Book Sample
Colton stopped short, scrubbing one large hand over his eyes to clear his vision. That’s impossible, he thought as he rounded the final corner of the building. There were two of her. The hands gripping his service pistol trembled and went sweaty. For a brief moment, he was startled at the sight of two Laceys, squared up and fighting kung fu style. Kick, block, punch. Spin, kick, roll. He couldn’t shoot because, as far as he could see, there was no way to tell them apart.
Blood ran from the nose of one of the Laceys, and when they spun around, he noticed the other one had a shallow but down the cheek. One of them jumped up, spun, and delivered a kick to the chest of her opponent that would have stopped any human, and quite a few Immortals, in their tracks.
“Give it up, Blyge!” His bellow fell short; the wind at the top of the building was howling so much that any word he may have voiced was immediately shoved into the back of his throat.
But somehow, Jason Blyge knew he was there, just behind the stairs leading down from the roof. One Lacey looked up with a feral grin. In a flash, s/he snatched the real Lacey close, one slender yet muscular arm wrapped around her neck. Her hands went to her throat, but it was obvious that they were matched in strength. The __________ sneered at him, swaying back and forth as s/he held Lacey in a choke hold, making sure s/he was in constant motion.
“Put your gun down and slide it toward me!” The ________ demanded.
Colton hesitated. It was against departmental policy to negotiate with suspects, but an entirely different situation when the subject had his partner in a death grip on top of a skyscraper. He lowered his gun a fraction.
Seeing that Colton had no intention of putting down his weapon, Blyge continued to weave, presenting a moving target, while making his way closer to the edge of the building. Lacey was no longer struggling against the grip of her copy, but Colton could tell by the look in her eyes that she was evaluating, trying to get a sense of the _______’s weaknesses. But, he could tell that she was also scared.
“Put your gun down,” the suspect demanded again. “Or I throw her off the edge!”
Colton, well aware of his partner’s fear of heights, saw the terror in Lacey’s eyes intensify. Her mouth moved almost imperceptibly around the word, “Don’t.” He now knew he didn’t have a choice. He wasn’t about to let Blyge throw his partner from the building. But if he gave up his pistol, he would have to rely on the secondary weapon he wore around his ankle; the ankle holster was meant as a backup, not as a quick-draw weapon. Slowly, he lowered his service pistol, crouching at the knees to lay it on the pebbled surface of the roof. With both hands out to his side, he straightened and kicked the weapon so that it clattered across the gravel with a skittering noise.
Blyge’s eyes tracked the gun as it slid across the roof. His distraction was obviously the moment Lacey had been waiting for; she placed one foot between each of Blyge’s, landed a hard backwards kick to one of his kneecaps, and did a neat little twist and dive, sending the copy of herself over her back and through the air. Colton breathed a sigh of relief, for at least he could tell them apart now. The real Lacey had the vicious slice down the right cheek.
Lacey remained in a fighting stance as the suspect climbed slowly to his feet. Then he charged, and she waited until the last minute before stepping to one side and using her hip to throw him off balance. He grabbed her wrist as he went by, and fumbled to keep his feet under him. The rest happened in slow motion.
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