Seraph of Sorrow
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 14 - Following Instincts
CHAPTER 15 - Following Footsteps
CHAPTER 21 - Rebirth, Afterlife, and Everything in Between
Praise for
Jennifer Scales and the Messenger of Light
“A delightful story . . . fun to read.”—
Midwest Book Review
“Filled with humor, friendship, and fierce loyalty . . . Jennifer’s character and attitude fly off the pages.”
—
BookLoons
“A truly wonderful read . . . This is one series that earns its place in any keeper shelf.”—
ParaNormalRomance.org
“A book to ignite the senses . . . The plot is original, the characters charming, and the dialogue enchanting and engaging . . . If you like dragons, mystical creatures, secret societies, and reading about the things that go bump in the night, this is definitely a book for you.”
—
Romance Reviews Today
“Amazing! . . . wonderful . . . The characters are well crafted and believable . . . You will love the witty dialogue.”
—
Roundtable Reviews
“Lighthearted . . . with a regular laundry list of preternatural creatures . . . strong story line and humorous touches.”
—
Monsters and Critics
“The writing . . . rolls right along, interesting and imaginative. The dialogue is witty and sharp, and the characters and world setup are great to read. Fun for all ages, this writing duo has hooked me into this series.”
—
The Romance Readers Connection
Praise for
Jennifer Scales and the
Ancient Furnace
“A wonderfully funny read! . . . a thoroughly engaging and captivating story.”—
ParaNormalRomance.org
“A good, entertaining story filled with some intriguing turns and surprises . . . giv[es] off a Buffyesque vibe. Jennifer is a good, strong character with a lot of potential, and I look forward to future offerings in this series.”—
SF Site
Titles by MaryJanice Davidson and Anthony Alongi
Jennifer Scales and the Ancient Furnace
Jennifer Scales and the Messenger of Light
The Silver Moon Elm: A Jennifer Scales Novel
Seraph of Sorrow: A Jennifer Scales Novel
Titles by MaryJanice Davidson
Undead and Unwed
Undead and Unemployed
Undead and Unappreciated
Undead and Unreturnable
Undead and Unpopular
Undead and Uneasy
Undead and Unworthy
Derik’s Bane
Sleeping with the Fishes
Swimming Without a Net
Fish out of Water
Anthologies
Cravings
(with Laurell K. Hamilton, Rebecca York, Eileen Wilks)
Bite
(with Laurell K. Hamilton, Charlaine Harris, Angela Knight, Vickie Taylor)
Dead and Loving It
Mysteria
(with P. C. Cast, Gena Showalter, Susan Grant)
Demon’s Delight
(with Emma Holly, Vickie Taylor, Catherine Spangler)
Dead Over Heels
Mysteria Lane
(with P. C. Cast, Gena Showalter, Susan Grant)
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
SERAPH OF SORROW: A JENNIFER SCALES NOVEL
An Ace Book / published by arrangement with the authors
PRINTING HISTORY
Ace mass-market edition / February 2009
Copyright © 2009 by MaryJanice Davidson Alongi and Anthony Alongi.
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eISBN : 978-1-440-68652-8
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For our moms and dads,
who were once fifteen, too
It is an illusion that youth is happy, an illusion of those who have lost it.
—W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM
PREFACE
This fourth book in the Jennifer Scales series has been our favorite. It’s also a touch aggressive and complicated, particularly for those of you who may not have had the good manners to read the first three. Rather than chastise you or callously insist you put this book down right now until you’ve paid twenty or so bucks for our earlier paperbacks, we’re going to help you out. Because that’s the kind of people we are. Well, it’s the kind of person Anthony is. MaryJanice would rather let you hang.
Here’s the minimum you should know (or remember) from the first three books:
To start,
Jennifer Scales
is our hero, and she’s a
weredragon
. That means she’s one of a rare breed that turns into a dragon every crescent moon. Weredragons have a hidden refuge called
Crescent Valley
. Jennifer’s different from her kind (a “freak among freaks,” as she would put it) in that she can change shape whenever she wants. Lately, she’s found a way of passing on that power to other weredragons, which makes her popular with many of them, including
Catherine Brandfire
, who’s just old enough to drive the Ford Mustang convertible her grandmother
Winona
owns. (
What, no boldface font on the Ford Mustang convertible?
you ask. It’s a good car, folks, but it doesn’t drive the plot here. Try to stay focused.)
Jennifer would be even more popular among dragons if she weren’t also half
beaststalker
. A beaststalker is a warrior bred to kill dragons and other monsters. They run
Winoka
, the town the Scales family lives in. In fact, beaststalkers invaded Winoka about sixty years ago, back when it was called Pinegrove. They “cleansed” the town of its dragon populace and pretended the old town never existed. The mayor-for-life is
Glorianna Seabright
, an elderly woman with unusual eyes who barely tolerates the Scales family but appears to have a soft spot for Jennifer’s mom,
Elizabeth
. Also in a position of power is
Hank Blacktooth
, husband to
Wendy
and father to
Eddie
. Eddie and Jennifer have been friends for years.
Jennifer also has
werachnids
to cope with. All right, everyone, you’ve all taken this sort of test:
weredragons
is to
dragons
as
werachnids
is to . . . guess what? (
Kittens?!
Start over!)
Despite their terrifying spider and scorpion shapes, werachnids are not all evil. Sure,
Skip Wilson
, Jennifer’s would-be boyfriend, betrayed everyone. And sure, his father,
Otto Saltin
, tried to put Jennifer in a coma and kill her father,
Jonathan
. And sure, a half dragon, half arachnid (name of
Evangelina
) came blazing through this dimension for a few weeks to terrorize her family. And sure, a powerful arachnid foursome (called the
Quadrivium
, of which there are two confirmed survivors, a girl named
Andi
and a teacher named
Mr. Slider
) recently tried to scrub out beaststalkers and dragons completely from the universe.
But really, they’re nice guys and gals. Sometimes. Like dragons, and beaststalkers, and normal people like
Susan Elmsmith
(Jennifer’s best friend) and you and us.
—
MaryJanice and Anthony