Genre: Urban Fantasy Heat Level: 1 Word Count: 64, 785 ISBN: 978-1-77339-799-3 Editor: Audrey Bobak Cover Artist: Jay Aheer

The Arena by October Weeks

Heat Level 1
$4.99
SKU 978-1-77339-799-3
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An ancient grudge. An ancient darkness. A slayer who will stop at nothing to put an end to both.


When her good friend Lucia DiGregorio calls her asking for help, slayer Tuck Houston immediately joins the hunt. Once she gets a hint of strigoi power at the scene of a slaughter, she understands exactly why Lucia called her in.

Shortly after that slaughter, Tuck realizes that the team is in a trap and none of them will be able to leave until the game is done. The gravity of the situation is made clear when they discover that the vampyr responsible holds an ancient grudge against Lucia’s family, and that the strigoi in league with the vampyr has his own plans for Tuck once the game is done.

But Tuck won’t make success easy for the vampyr or the strigoi. She will find a way to end the game … even if she has to die to do it.

 

Excerpt:

The opening chords of Godsmack’s “Stand Alone” jarred Tuck Houston out of much needed slumber. She tried to move closer to the nightstand but the arm around her tightened in protest.

“Leave it,” Tristan Baudin grumbled.

She laughed softly. “You know better than that, Tristan.”

The phone stopped, but Tuck had a strong feeling that quiet wasn’t going to last.

Tristan slid his hand up the side of her torso and across her chest to lightly grasp her breast. “See?”

She sighed, and a shiver of desire ran through her. “Three, two—”

The phone started up again.

Tristan mumbled something about “bullshitery” and loosened his grip.

Tuck wasn’t fond of moving out of his arms, but whoever was calling wasn’t going to let her stay snuggled up.

She grabbed her phone and lay on her back. The screen said Lucia. Concern swept through her as she swiped the screen. “Lucia?”

“Tuck. I’m sorry if I’ve woken you.”

“It’s all right. What’s going on?”

Vaguely, she heard Tristan mumble, “Fuck me,” and then he rolled over and snuggled her against him.

“A few days ago we found a nest of vampyr just outside of Tombstone. We killed them, but they had fifteen human bodies in the basement of the house they were squatting in. The whole area felt off. Once we veered off the main road, the desolation was immediate.”

Tuck did not like the sound of that. “How far out from the house did that start?”

“Nine miles.”

“Shit,” Tuck said as she sat up.

Tristan did the same, a look of concern on his face as he watched her.

“We’re tracking another group now, one we picked up on once the house and bodies were dealt with. That same feeling is following them—all the way into New Mexico. When we get close, the feeling deepens. I’ve never felt anything like it, Tuck, but I know what that could mean—Vampyr and Damned don’t have the ability to mask themselves that heavily or for that long of a distance. Not even the oldest ones.”

No, they don’t.

Vampyr and Damned could hide from humans quite well, but that power only stretched out so far, even if there was more than one vampire involved. The farthest that power could spread was roughly one mile. More times than not, Vampyr and Damned would only mask the area they rested or lived in. The farther out their power reached, the weaker it became.

Only one breed of vampire could mask the way Lucia was describing—strigoi. Tuck understood why Lucia had phoned her.

“Your dad said you and Tristan are in San Diego.”

“Yes, we just finished our hunt a few hours ago. Where are you right now?”

“About an hour outside of Las Cruces, but this group is headed farther into the desert and away from civilization. One of us will go back to Las Cruces and wait for you and Tristan.”

“We’re on our way.”

“Thank you, Tuck. I have a bad feeling about this one.”

In DiGregorio terms, that meant whatever was happening was beyond the pale, and that sent the spike of urgency already forming in Tuck’s gut all the way up her spine. The DiGregorios never called in backup unless something was very wrong.

“Be careful. If something looks too easy, don’t move forward. Wait for me, please.”

“We will,” Lucia promised, and then ended the phone call.

Tuck ran a hand over her face and then told Tristan what was happening. “We need to hustle. I don’t want Lucia on this hunt without me if strigoi are truly involved. If we leave in the next half hour we can be there by mid-afternoon.”

He kissed her shoulder and then nuzzled her neck. “Take a shower first. I’ll get the gear packed.”

She thanked him with a kiss and then quickly got into the shower.

Product Reviews

Score: 5 out of 5 (based on 2 ratings)
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4/5
Coffee Time Romance
Written by delane on 27th Feb 2019

Tuck Houston is a slayer called by her friend Lucia DiGregorio to come and help her solve the mystery of a dark presence. Along the way, despite the dread she feels, she will move forward towards her destiny. The two slayers had no idea they were two pawns in a game shaped for hundreds of years. They are targeted to fight for their lives and the lives of the ones they love. Along the way many we learn but not all will live. The past has returned to seek revenge for deeds of the past. The outcome in the arena will determine the future of all but the victor is never a sure thing. The Arena is an interesting book with the ending hidden throughout every page. The writing is good despite the reader having to learn the characters quickly in order to keep up. I enjoyed reading all the fight scenes and believe the story has something to offer to all readers. The writing of Ms. Weeks is well worth the read because it has a good mix of suspense with some action and a dash of romance.

5/5
Tuck and Lucia out did themselves this time!
Written by Valerie Roberson on 26th Oct 2018

This was awesome! At first I couldn’t remember who Tuck Houston was, it has been a few years since the last book, but a really good author will leave you with the memory of that last book and when you pick up the next book, those memories come flooding back. October Weeks is that kind of author. As I read the first couple of pages, the last book came flooding back to me and it was a light bulb going off. I love authors like that! Tuck and Lucia are forced to be held to play a very sick game with a vampire out for revenge, Lucia’s ancestor took out this Vampires family while he ran like a scared child. Then add a strigoi with his own agenda and you have one nasty game planned and Tuck and Lucia are the game and Sophia is the motive. The girls fought hard and fought good. There was a lot of good fighting action and a few really hot vampires to slay. I cheered the girls on, cussed at the vampire and strigoi, held my breath during the worst parts of the fighting, cried when Tuck cried with her father, tried to put two and two together on how these two creatures ended up together on this game and was on the edge of my seat through most of the book. All in all, I’d say it was an excellent book!

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