A Christmas Peril (7 page)

“
This is a very unique
engagement,” Hedda said. Her violet eyes glittered. “It’s an
avant-garde piece.”

Avant-garde. Uh oh. That’s
exactly what Charles had said about
County
Dracula
back when he’d offered me a job.
“How experimental?” I asked.

Her smile widened, giving
a glimpse of overly white teeth. “It’s called
16 Voices Talking at the Same Time
.”

I suppressed a groan.
“Does it really involve sixteen actors all speaking at the same
time?” When Hedda nodded, I grimaced without meaning to. I hadn’t
thought anything could be worse than
County Dracula
. No wonder most
people thought modern theater was dead.

Her sharp eyes pierced me. “My dear,
Shakespeare was once considered too experimental because he mixed
comedy with tragedy.”

Comparing
Much Ado about Nothing
to something called
16 Voices
Talking at the Same Time
was absurd, but I
kept my mouth shut.

“
Who wrote it?” Andrew
asked.

Hedda brightened even more. “Victor
Stuyvesant. He’s a close, personal friend of mine, and he’ll be
working alongside the director and actors.”

Not again! The
County Dracula
playwright had also been a close friend. Surely something in
the AEA bylaws prohibited the torture of actors. Andrew and I
exchanged worried looks in the mirror.

Charles’s jaw dropped, and
his eyebrows jumped. “Victor
Stuyvesant
? Of the New York
Stuyvesants?” At Hedda’s nod, Charles said, “Any idea why he’s
making a surprise visit to Detroit?”

“
He’s here to stage a
play, of course.” Hedda continued to smile, but several nervous
tugs on the diamond bracelet belied her calm. “And, of course, to
attend my little party tomorrow night.”

Charles’s lips puckered, as if he’d
suddenly bit down on something sour. “You’re still going through
with that?”

“
I see no need to cancel.
Luquin deserves recognition for all he’s done for me.”

Charles’s hands clenched
into fists. From our weeks together, I knew his temper was rising
like the mercury in a thermometer. “After all
he’s
done for you? What about
me
?”

Hedda’s eyes blazed. “It isn’t your
place to question my decision.” The vehemence behind her words
cracked like a whip.

Charles jerked as if he’d been hit,
and he lowered his eyes. “You’re right. I apologize.”

Hedda nodded stiffly. “Well, Andrew?”
she asked, her voice gentle once more. “Are you
interested?”

“
Who’s directing?” Andrew
asked.

Hedda waited several seconds longer
than necessary before finally saying, “Charles. Of
course.”

A little color returned to Charles’s
face, and some of the tension went out of his shoulders. He bowed
slightly. “I’d be honored.”

“
In that case, maybe,”
Andrew said. “What about you, Cassie? Are you going to
audition?”

Shocked, I stumbled over my reply.
“Well, I don’t know…it’s a great opportunity, but I’m awfully
busy.” It wasn’t just my fear of auditioning that made my palms
sweat. It was Hedda herself. Something about that woman put me on
edge.

Hedda studied me, gauging my reaction,
before dismissing me with a shrug. “The auditions are by invitation
only.”

Relief blew through my chest. “Oh,
sure, I understand. No problem.”

Hedda turned back to Andrew. “Well?”
When he hesitated, Hedda said, “Why don’t you read the play before
you decide.” She took a script from her purse and laid it on
Andrew’s table. “Auditions begin next week.”

Annoyed that Andrew was getting all of
the attention, Tabitha sauntered up. She gave Hedda her best
ingénue smile. She didn’t carry it off nearly as well as Andrew
had. “Hello. I’m Tabitha Purcell.”

Hedda smiled slightly. “Ah, the
beautiful leading lady.”

Beautiful. My jealous brain clung to
that word. Tabby wasn’t a gifted actress, but her looks sold
tickets. She was tall where I was short. Her complexion was fair
whereas mine was the color of tea. She also had blond hair, a pert
nose, and a perfect figure while I had none of those
things.

Tabitha offered her hand, but Hedda
left it hanging. Turning to Charles, she said, “Now, where is the
other actor I wanted to meet?”

“
This way.” Charles
ushered his guest away from us.

Tabby stood stunned, like she’d been
running full tilt and suddenly smacked into a glass wall. I sucked
in my cheeks to hide my smile.

Charles and Hedda passed by the
remaining principal cast. When they reached the end of the hallway,
only one actor remained. Tabby’s fists clenched in outrage. “Oh.
My. God.”

Darryl had changed from his costume
and back into his gangsta wannabe attire: baggy jeans carefully
sagged to reveal a stripe of red boxers, and an oversized t-shirt.
He was lacing up a pair of fluorescent yellow high tops.

Darryl! Of all people! The guy’s
performances were as wooden and creaky as the Bleak Street’s stage.
“Oh, the injustice,” I muttered.

When Charles handed over a
script to
16 Voices
, Darryl thrust out his chest. Making sure everyone was
watching, he said in his loudest onstage voice, “I would consider
it an
honor
to
audition for a part, Miss Widderstrom.” I rolled my eyes before
deciding it wasn’t worth my energy to be jealous. Other than
Andrew, Hedda Widderstrom’s taste in actors appeared to be as
terrible as her taste in plays.

While I locked up the theater and
turned off the lights, Andrew finished packing up his things. When
I came backstage again, he rubbed his hands together and grinned.
“Ready to get that drink?”

The back hallway was still a mess, but
cleanup could wait until Monday. “Let’s do it,” I said. I grabbed
my purse and followed Andrew through the back door.

Charles and Hedda stood in
the tiny, employee-only parking lot behind the back of the theater.
Charles had smoked halfway through one of his unfiltered Camels,
and was already shaking another from the pack. “Because honoring
Luquin isn’t fair! You’ve kept me waiting for
years
!”

Hedda spoke with quiet intensity. “And
you will continue to wait as long as I say…”

Seeing Andrew and me, Charles cleared
his throat. Hedda immediately cut herself off.

“
Good night, Charles,”
Andrew said. He turned to Hedda. “It was nice meeting
you.”

“
I hope you’ll consider
taking a role in
16
Voices
,” she said. “You’d be a great
inspiration to the playwright.”

“
Maybe. But you should
really let Cassie audition, too,” Andrew said. “She’s terrific! You
should have seen her in
King Lear
at the Pinnacle last winter.”

I gave him a grateful
smile.
King Lear
had been a lucky break. I’d been the understudy for the role
of Cordelia and had gotten the part when the actress initially cast
had slipped on the ice and broken her ankle. The run had been very
short, only two weeks, but my performance had earned me several
great reviews.

Hedda frowned. “I saw that show, but I
don’t remember you.”

“
Cassie played Cordelia,”
Charles said. “You and Marcella both told me how much you enjoyed
her performance.”

Hedda continued to shake her head.
“No, this is not the same young woman.”

“
It is,” Andrew
insisted.

Hedda leaned in close, peering at me
like I was a specimen in a jar. I backed away, bumping into Andrew.
“Ah, yes,” she said. “I suppose there is a little resemblance, but
she’s changed since then.” She treated me to another of her cunning
smiles. “You’ve lost your shine, haven’t you my dear?”

I flushed. I thought I’d
been doing a pretty good job of hiding my mental issues, but
Hedda’s expression told me that I didn’t fool
her
at all.

“
Such a pity that her
talent has wasted away,” she told Charles.

I gaped at her. Wasted
away? What did she mean
wasted
away
? Seeing my crestfallen expression,
Andrew put his arm around my shoulders and guided me out of the
parking lot.

That’s the end of the
sample of
Stage Fright.
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Stage Fright.

After an accidental meeting with a
friend, Cassandra Jaber realizes that vampires aren’t the only
supernatural beings roaming the Motor City. Witches abound as well.
Although there are good witches and bad witches, Cassie’s friend
has found himself trapped in the middle. But because Cassie has
moved out of the state to take a long-awaited acting job, she’s in
no position to help. Luckily, her brooding, sexy vampire hunter is
able to lend a hand, and Cassie is able to focus on her career once
more. That is, until she finds a bloody package on her doorstep, a
reminder that evil witches are not to be trifled with.

Maybe it's because of my Halloween birthday,
but I've always been attracted to scary stories. On the other hand,
I love romances as well. Once I discovered that these two genres
existed side-by-side in urban fantasy novels, I was in heaven!
Urban fantasy is like chocolate and peanut butter: a perfect,
to-die-for combination that I can never get enough of.

I've been writing since childhood, but earned
my bachelor's degree in psychology and my master's in English
literature. When I'm not writing, I'm a straight-laced English
teacher at a two-year college in Detroit. I've been married to Mr.
Right for over twenty-five years. I also have three teenaged
children: a boy and two girls, all of whom have threatened to never
speak to me again if I turn them into characters and put them into
my books.

Straight to Hell

The devil never forgets a
deal.
I, Lilith Straight, was the woman
you always wanted to be. I was married to someone better looking
than your husband, we lived in that house you always wanted. Within
a year, however, all of that changed. My marriage dissolved, my
house burned down, and my job hardly paid the bills. So when I was
hit by a car and died, I thought my life couldn’t get any worse.
Boy, was I wrong.
Hell was not the place I imagined. It was worse. During my brief
stay, I learned some disturbing truths about my family. Most
worryingly my ancestor’s deal with the devil promising him every
female descendent as a succubus.
So these were my options: Life on earth as a soul-sucking
seductress. Or death and pass the succubus baton to my sweet little
daughter. There was no choice. Welcome to hell on earth, Lilith.
Mother, teacher, wanton she-demon.

Straight to Hell
is published by Carina UK (the digital imprint of
Harlequin), and is
available at the Kindle
Store.

The Soulless

The soulless are always hungry.
T
hey prey upon society’s outcasts--the
lonely, the desperate, the guilty--feeding upon the rage and lust
and fear hidden in these human hearts. Once they find a victim,
they are able to erase the boundary between impulse and action,
turning an angry thought into murderous rage and a simple desire
into manic obsession.
Only one person understands the danger. Evander Calhoun has spent a
lifetime protecting his unsuspecting neighbors from these evil
spirits, but--after a nearly a century of service--the old man no
longer has the strength to continue the fight.