Conjuring Quantico (The Federal Witch Book 1) (28 page)

“Dude, take a chill pill. We need to get settled and I will get out the good stuff for you. OK?”

“Hay is good!” I looked over at Cat and she just laughed.

“Did someone give him some wacky weed or something?”

“I think he’s just happy to be home.”

“I guess. Are you OK? You have been a bit quiet.”

“Just thinking. I need to work on my fighting skills when in warrior mode. I can see times when I should have changed. Agatha, I know you are second guessing yourself. Stop it. You did way better than they expected you to. Next time they will respect you more.”

“I hope so. I really do.” I rested my head on my hands as we drove onto the Marine base that was our temporary home.

Director Mills was waiting for us in front of the administration building. We got out of the car and thanked the driver who brought us here. He tried to lift the bags out of the back but Cat had to help him.

“Welcome back ladies. I’m not going to ask if you had a good time. Nita called me the moment you left her. Are you OK? Still want to be FBI Agents? I will understand if you have changed your minds.”

Cat glanced at me. “No, Ma’am. We haven’t changed our minds. Evil like that has to be fought.”

“Good. I thought you might like to take a couple of days off and then on Monday resume classes. The instructors have been holding off on tests until you could return. Remember operational security when discussing the assignment you just completed. The news media has published a great deal of information, but so far Washington hasn’t confirmed or denied any of it. Do not be the one to do it first. Allow them to make that decision. Witch or not, they would never trust you again. Keep that in mind.” She started to step away and stopped. “One more thing. I took the liberty of informing a friend of yours that you were back.” The Director pointed to her left and climbed the stairs into the building.

We both looked to our right and yelled. Chuck was standing there with a huge smile on his face. He ran over and gave both of us a huge hug.

“Hi, Chuck how’s class?”

“Crappy without you two! It’s all over the news. Was it really a demon incursion? Are we safe?”

I looked at him and nodded. Reaching over I placed a finger against his lips and shook my head, no talking.

We had only been gone three days, but it seemed a lifetime. They were some of the longest working days in my entire life. I knew that in the future I would look back and laugh at having to work this hard. Our return was not a secret, and many asked the very questions the Director said they would. We stated OPSEC rules and denied everything like we were told to do.

In Washington, the existence of a demon cult was not a new thing. Hundreds of those existed. What sent a shockwave through the establishment was the fact that many of their wives and mothers might be members. One of the biggest cover-ups in history began that night. Records were sealed and documents were signed.

The National organization of Alpha Nu Omega put out a statement condemning it’s former Board member Catherine Emery, and those radicals associated with her. How dare anyone accuse a young women's Sorority of demon worship? Lawsuits were prepared and lawyers hired. Any news agency that broached the subject was hit with legal action immediately.

None of that mattered to Cat and I. We had school to finish and another year to plan for. I was hip deep in school work trying to get caught up. We were only gone for three days, but I had what felt like three weeks worth of work to study for. I blame Nita and the Director. They ratted me out to the police procedures instructor, and he piled on the work. Never again would I just go back to sleep after catching the bad guy. I looked up when Cat came in and tossed her books on her bed.

“Hey, Cat. How did the study session go?”

“I think that instructor is an idiot. Since when do we try to capture cultists? Hasn’t he ever had hordes of crazies trying to kill him before?” I laughed at her. Our perceptions of things had changed a lot.

“You just like him because he’s cute. But I understand. Remember most of them only hunt mundane criminals. We are the demon hunters now.”

“Bite your tongue right now Aggy. You and I both know we don’t want to do that our entire time in the FBI. I’m starving, want to go to Fergus’s favorite place for dinner?”

“That sounds like fun. You have Chuck’s Riviera keys again?” Cat nodded and held them up.

“He won’t miss them. Hey did Fergus like the gift I gave him?”

“You gave Fergus something? What is it?” I took a couple of steps toward his barn.

“I found one of those ponies he likes so much. I stuck it in his barn.”

As I neared the barn I could hear faint music playing it was Barry White. Then I heard what would scar me for life. “Hey baby, come here often?”

Cat and I laughed as we grabbed our purses and ran from the room. No way were we staying for that! Anchors a Weigh here we come.

~~~~~

In a dark basement of a clothing manufacturer, shadow covered figures gathered around a makeshift altar. A gruesome blood splattered painting hung on the wall in a place of honor. The worshipers were few in number but they would grow. There were many that sought power in the misnamed City of Angels. Hell was home to stay.

~~~~~~~~~

Author Notes

I had the idea to do this series a few months ago. I bounced the idea off my wife. She doesn’t read my other stuff because she isn’t a fan of Science Fiction. Paranormal however is in her wheelhouse. I contracted for the covers with fellow Author and designer Heather Hamilton-Senter. I realized after I sent off the information I didn’t even have titles for the books. I brainstormed up a few and fine tuned them with my wife.

My schedule said that I was supposed to be writing and finishing the New Athena Lee Book 10 - War to the Knife at this time. I have half the book done at this writing. Boredom has set in and I’m burning out on the SF stuff. It happens. I needed something else to work on. I was on my way to pick my wife up from work and had a wild hair. What if I wrote a prequel to the Paranormal Series? More of a way to relieve the boredom I wrote 10,000 words in 24 hours. Each time I finished a chapter I dropped it to my editors. When I was done so were they. I bought a pre-done cover and threw it up on Amazon.

I sell fairly well in the SF market. But this little 55 page book blew all of that away. In two weeks Born a Witch sold over 1200 copies worldwide. Readers using Kindle Unlimited read over 72,000 pages on their Kindle readers. It was a double number one book in two categories for a week! It passed some traditional mainstream authors such as Grisham and even George RR. Totally blew me away. So I dropped everything I was working on including the New Athena Book and started this one up. I really hope you enjoyed it.

My plan is to finish up the Athena Book next. I have a great many people waiting for it. I will then dive into book 2 of the Federal Witch series.

Later? I have another Athena Universe book due. Tisiphone and her friends have a trip to make.

Next year will be very busy with Athena, Agatha, and the CATTs. Expect to see more of both series along with a few new things. Lots of new ideas came about this Fall. I have a new non-Athena Lee SF series planned. It will be lots of fun and I hope you stick around to experience it with me.

I have tons of ways for you to follow me.
My Blog is the biggest one
. https://tspaul.blogspot.com/ I post tons of fun stuff there every few days.

Next we have
BookBub
and
Goodreads
both of these sites have my books and will notify you if I put up new stuff. There is of course always
FaceBook.
I post fun things there too. If you are lucky I can be found there for chat sometimes.

Finally, I have a shout out to the 20bks to 50k Facebook group. It was created as a place for Authors to share information with other Authors without the BS that other forums have. They have been very supportive.

Copyrights

This book is a work of fiction, All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.

Copyright (c) 2016 T S Paul

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

*No actual Demons, Unicorns, Witches or Weres were harmed in the production of this work.*

Cover designed by
Heather Hamilton-Senter

Blurb by Ashley Maples

***Any Russian or Old Norse mispronunciations is my own. If I have offended anyone I do apologize.

Editing by Diane Velasquez, Dorene Johnson, David Brims

And ProWriter Aid.

All writing was done on Scrivener and Google Docs

Special thanks to Michael and to my wife Heather who keeps me grounded and to Merlin the Cat, we are his minions.

The Federal Witch

Born a Witch Drafted by the FBI
! - Out Now!

Conjuring Quantico - Out Now!

Magical Probi - Look for it Late 2016

Special Agent in Charge - Look for it Early 2017

Witness Enchantment - Look for it Mid 2017

Night of the Unicorn - TBD

Athena Lee Chronicles

The Forgotten Engineer

Engineering Murder

Ghost ships of Terra

Revolutionary

Insurrection

Imperial Subversion

The Martian Inheritance

Infiltration

Prelude to War

War to the Knife - out in Nov 2016

Athena Lee Universe

Shades of Learning

Space Cadets - Coming Soon Early 2017

Short Story Collections

Wilson’s War

A Colony of CATTs

Box Sets

Chronicles of Athena Lee
- Books 1-3

Chronicles of Athena Lee - Books 4-6

Chronicles of Athena Lee - Books 7-9 plus the prequel

Standalone or tie-ins

The Lost Pilot

Uncommon Life