“All right. Call me if anything else happens, okay?”
“Sure, Sam. Hey, I’m the one who should be worried about you getting hurt.”
“I’ll be extra careful. This file I’m working on has a bad attitude. I think it’s planning to cut me.” I chuckle to myself, but my sister’s right. Sometimes I do wind up in dangerous situations. People abusing the HUD program can get violent when we show up, which is the reason we pack heat.
“Bye.” Mary Lou hangs up.
“So, what was that all about?” asks Chad.
“My sister thought she saw someone trying to break into her house, but she’s always been overly cautious.”
Chad, looking at me, adds too much of that green stuff to his next piece of sushi and makes a wild face when he eats it. His cough blasts the smell of horseradish into the air. “Oof. Little too much wasabi there.”
“Even our food is trying to kill us.” I raise one eyebrow at him.
Laughing makes him choke more. He dabs his mouth with a napkin and wipes a tear from his eye. “She’s right to be vigilant. Woman home alone with kids? It’s either nothing or an opportunistic burglar who panicked and ran off when he noticed someone there.”
“Yeah,” I say, not meaning it. Tammy describing some shadowy thing has me on edge, and inexplicable, crippling fear hand-in-hand with my kid seeing a shadow figure isn’t the sort of topic one can openly discuss around federal agents without risking an appointment with a psychiatrist.
Chad holds up his chopsticks, a piece of ginger pinched between them. “Don’t worry. If some guy meant to hurt her, he’d have broken in long before the cops got there.”
I stare across the table at him, my expression flat. “Thanks. That’s reassuring.”
“That’s why I’m here.” He winks and eats the ginger.
Maybe I shouldn’t worry just yet. Mary Lou and her family have lived in that place for years without anything happening. It’s weird that two days after that thing shows up on the beach, it’s at my sister’s house, too. Wait. What? That thing? I’m really thinking about this like some actual ghost or whatever is stalking… Tammy? She’s the only common link. I fidget in the chair, barely able to keep from leaping to my feet and rushing off to make sure she’s all right. But, Tammy didn’t seem the least bit afraid of it.
Stop. I rub my forehead, trying to force sanity through my skull. There’s nothing phantasmal stalking my daughter, or me, or my sister. I must’ve reached some critical point of boredom at work that my brain has kicked into overdrive and I’m making shit up.
“You okay?” asks Chad, sounding sincere. “The police are there, and I’m sure it’s nothing. We can swing by if you want. Say we were doing a property inspection.”
“And then we’d have to falsify a report about a property we didn’t really inspect.” I sigh. “Nah, it’s fine.”
He grins. “Not if we really stopped by a place. These inspections don’t have time parameters.”
“No, really. It’s okay.” I manage a smile.
A playful argument about paying starts when the check arrives. Our usual routine is to alternate, but he’s ‘forgotten’ who’s turn it is, and points out his $22 lunch was more expensive than my $13 soup. I relent this time, but make it clear tomorrow’s on me.
We’re not back in the office two minutes when Nico Fortunato, our boss, leans out of his door at the end of the row and gives us the ‘get in here now’ wave.
Uh oh.
New Moon Rising
is available at:
Amazon Kindle * Amazon UK * Paperback
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Other Books by J.R. Rain
STANDALONE NOVELS
Winter Wind
Bound By Blood
Silent Echo
The Body Departed
The Grail Quest
Elvis Has Not Left the Building
The Lost Ark
The Journey (with Piers Anthony)
The Worm Returns (with Piers Anthony)
Lavabull (with Piers Anthony)
Jack and the Giants (with Piers Anthony)
Dolfin Tayle (with Piers Anthony)
Dragon Assassin (with Piers Anthony)
Glimmer (with Eve Paludan)
Lost Eden (with Elizabeth Basque)
Judas Silver (with Elizabeth Basque)
The Vampire Club (with Scott Nicholson)
Cursed (with Scott Nicholson)
The Black Fang Betrayal (with multiple authors)
VAMPIRE FOR HIRE SERIES
Moon Dance
Vampire Moon
American Vampire
Moon Child
Christmas Moon (novella)
Vampire Dawn
Vampire Games
Moon Island
Moon River
Vampire Sun
Moon Dragon
Moon Shadow
Vampire Fire
Midnight Moon
Moon Angel
SAMANTHA MOON CASE FILES
with Rod Kierkegaard
Moon Bayou
SAMANTHA MOON ORIGINS
with Matthew S. Cox
New Moon Rising
Moon Mourning
VAMPIRE FOR HIRE EXTRAS
Vampire Alley (poem)
Moon Dance (Deluxe Edition)
Moon Extras: Bonus Scenes
VAMPIRE FOR HIRE SHORT STORIES
Teeth
Vampire Nights
Vampire Blues
Vampire Dreams
Halloween Moon
Vampire Gold
Blue Moon
Dark Side of the Moon
Vampire Requiem
Moon Love
JIM KNIGHTHORSE SERIES
Dark Horse
The Mummy Case
Hail Mary
Clean Slate
Easy Rider (short story)
THE WITCHES SERIES
The Witch and the Gentleman
The Witch and the Englishman
The Witch and the Huntsman (with Rod Kierkegaard)
THE PSI SERIES
with A.K. Alexander
Hear No Evil
See No Evil
Speak No Evil
NICK CAINE SERIES
with Aiden James
Temple of the Jaguar
Treasure of the Deep
Pyramid of the Gods
DEAD DETECTIVE SERIES
with Rod Kierkegaard
The Dead Detective
Deadbeat Dad
Ghosts of Christmas Present (short story)
THE ACCIDENTAL SUPERHEROINE
with Kris Carey
The Accidental Superheroine
My Big Fat Accidental Superheroine Wedding
THE WATSON FILES
with Chanel Smith
Sherlock Holmes and the Missing Shakespeare
Sherlock Holmes and the Lost Da Vinci
WINTER SOLTSICE SERIES
with Matthew S. Cox
Convergence
Containment
MADDY WIMSEY SERIES
with Matthew S. Cox
The Devil’s Eye
The Drifting Gloom
ICE WOLF SERIES
with H.P. Mallory
Ice Wolf
MAJOR QUATERMAIN ADVENTURES
with Randy Keys
The Spear
ALEXIS SILVER SERIES
with Matthew S. Cox
Silver Light
THE SPINOZA TRILOGY
The Vampire With the Dragon Tattoo
The Vampire Who Played Dead
The Vampire in the Iron Mask
The Vampire on the Train (short story)
THE ALADDIN TRILOGY
with Piers Anthony
Aladdin Relighted
Aladdin and the Flying Dutchman
THE WALKING PLAGUE TRILOGY
with Elizabeth Basque
Zombie Patrol
Zombie Ra
ge
Zombie Mountain
THE SPIDER TRILOGY
with Scott Nicholson and H.T. Night
Bad Blood
Spider Web
Spider Bite
SHORT STORY SINGLES
Vampire Road
Skeleton Jim
The Bleeder
Vampire Rain
The Santa Call
COLLECTIONS
Moonlight & Monsters: Ten Vampire Tales
The Sands of Time
Dark Rain: Stories
Blood Rain: Stories
Black Rain: Stories
Red Rain: Over Forty Bestselling Stories
Naughty or Nice
The Indomitable Ten
Chronology
Primetime
Rainy Nights: Four Novels
Rain Dance: Four Novels
The Map: Four Novels
Crime After Crime: Four Novels
L.A. Rain: Four Novels
Murder Latte: Four Novels
Dark Spells: Four Novels
Vampires: Three Novels
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Other Books by Matthew S. Cox
STANDALONE NOVELS
The Menagerie of Jenkins Bailey
Axillon99
Wayfarer: AV494
Caller 107
Operation Chimera (with Tony Healey)
The Summer the World Ended
Chiaroscuro: The Mouse and the Candle
Nine Candles of Deepest Black
The Eldritch Heart
Citadel: The Concordant Sequence
Out of Sight
Sophie’s Light
THE AWAKENED SERIES
Prophet of the Badlands
Archon’s Queen
Grey Ronin
Daughter of Ash
Zero Rogue
THE DIVISION ZERO SERIES
Division Zero
Division Zero: Lex De Mortuis
Division Zero: Thrall
Division Zero: Guardian
TALES OF WIDOESWOOD SERIES
Emma and the Banderwigh
Emma and the Silk Thieves
Emma and the Silverbell Faeries
THE DAUGHTER OF MARS SERIES
The Hand of Raziel
Araphel
Ghost Black
Nascent Shadow
The Shadow Collector
THE ROADHOUSE CHRONICLES SERIES
One More Run
The Redeemed
VIRTUAL IMMORTALITY SERIES
Virtual Immortality
The Harmony Paradox
THE FADED SKIES SERIES
Heir Ascendant
Ascendant Revolution
VAMPIRE INNOCENT
A Nighttime of Forever
A Beginner’s Guide to Fangs
MADDY WIMSEY SERIES
with J.R. Rain
The Devil’s Eye
The Drifting Gloom
THE WINTER SOLSTICE SERIES
with J.R. Rain
Convergence
Containment
SAMANTHA MOON ORIGINS
with J.R. Rain
New Moon Rising
Moon Mourning
ALEXIS SILVER SERIES
with J.R. Rain
Silver Light
ANTHOLOGIES
The Far Side of Promise
The Divergent Fates Anthology
Valcoria: Awakenings
NON-FICTION
The Dysfunctional Conspiracy
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About J.R. Rain:
J.R. Rain is the international bestselling author of over seventy novels, including his popular Samantha Moon and Jim Knighthorse series. His books are published in five languages in twelve countries, and he has sold more than 3 million copies worldwide.
Please visit him at www.jrrain.com.
Join his newsletter here.
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And read his blog here.
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About Matthew S. Cox:
Originally from South Amboy NJ, Matthew S. Cox has been creating science fiction and fantasy worlds for most of his reasoning life. Since 1996, he has developed the “Divergent Fates” world, in which Division Zero, Virtual Immortality, The Awakened Series, The Harmony Paradox, and the Daughter of Mars series take place.
Matthew is an avid gamer, a recovered WoW addict, Gamemaster for two custom systems, and a fan of anime, British humour, and intellectual science fiction that questions the nature of reality, life, and what happens after it.
He is also fond of cats.
Please visit him at www.matthewcoxbooks.com.
Follow him on Amazon.
Follow him on Pinterest.
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And read his blog here.
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