Today I’m super excited to be hosting a stop for one of my fave new authors, Keri Lake on her Soul Resurrected Blog Tour!
If you’re looking for a great new urban fantasy with tons of sexy alphas and kick ass heroines, this series is for you. Stick around for a fun look into the world of the Sons of Wrath, an exerpt of Soul Resurrected and a fabulous giveaway!
There’s also a fabulous scavenger hunt going on, so be sure to follow the tour and participate for even more chances to win prizes. Follow the tour and find more information for the scavenger hunt HERE.
“Murder App” by Keri Lake
“What kind of sick bastard …” With his arms crossed over his chest, Zeke looked around, ignoring the bickering, in Thai, between the much smaller, elderly man and woman behind him.
The decay from leaking water and years of neglect gave the concrete walls of the basement a patchwork appearance, with splotches of black and brown. Though the upper part of the building made up the most popular Thai restaurant in Detroit, clean and well kempt, it was obvious no one had ventured into the basement in decades, Christ, maybe longer. Original brickwork surrounded a manhole in the ceiling that’d been sealed off long ago, judging the aged look of the mortar and distortion of irregularly placed bricks. Dim lighting would’ve made the place too dark for a human to see what lay heaped, left for the rats and critters to feast upon.
Gavin stood up from the body he’d knelt beside, pale, naked with stiff muscles and a horrific wide-eyed expression on his face, as if the last thing the fucker saw was his own demise.
“What’s your theory, Brother? They’re champing at the bit to call the cops on this.”
“I had to see for myself, first.” Gavin set his hands on his hips, eyes trained downward at the body he’d just examined. “Internal bleeding, I’m guessing from the blood tracks around his abdomen and in his mouth. Septic shock, maybe. No other markings on the outside of his body aside from where the rats got to him, but those are mostly superficial. What I find interesting is this.” He pointed at the juncture of the victim’s collarbone and neck, where a small dark circle carried the Demonic symbol for a door. Supes capable of inhabiting a body often marked an entrance, a superstition among themselves to keep from being trapped inside. Gavin glanced back at Zeke and in the old language said, “Demon.”
“He picked the nastiest shithole in Detroit to kill the guy. Seriously, smells like someone shit in here.”
“He’s following the game.” Gavin gave the inquisitive Thai couple a nod, signaling the okay to call the cops. Both had been reluctant to allow passage to the basement, likely thinking it was some kind of unannounced health department inspection, completely unaware of the macabre in its depths, until Gavin urged them to do so—by pinning their meathead son against a wall and threatening disembowel him in front of them. Once the couple was out of sight, Gavin huffed and rubbed a hand down his face. “Ate his intestines. From the inside.”
Zeke curled his lip. “You say this was an app?”
“A popular one, believe it or not. Apparently you can pick your victim, setting and weapon of choice.”
“Who the fuck comes up with this shit? So they get their jollies off on torturing?”
“Well, the avis are based on criminals, so you torture a pederfuck or rapist.” Gavin sighed. “Obviously the guy isn’t picking criminals in the real life version.” He waved Zeke to follow back up the stairs, continuing on, “The killer is posting his games on Youtube under KillaSapien. This one had supe all over it. Cops aren’t taking it seriously.”
“Ain’t that some shit …” Zeke shook his head, carefully stepping over rotted wood planks and desiccated toilet paper plastered to the concrete floor. “How’d you know he’d be here?”
“Phi Pop is a malevolent spirit in Thai folklore that has a craving for human viscera. It invades the body and eats them from the inside. In the app version, the torture takes place just below the surface, where humans are unwittingly enjoying their meals.” Gavin reached the stairs and paused. “The killer is feasting on the victim’s innards all the while. A sewer. Thai folklore. Popular restaurant.” He shrugged. “Pieced it all together. And as you can see, no evidence on the surface. They’d have to cut the bastard open to find out how exactly he died. And even then, how would they explain a bunch of chewed up intestines?”
“You’re one smart muthafucka, brotha.” A quick glance over his shoulder captured movement beyond. “Gav, wait. You see that?” Zeke tilted his head, twisted back toward the direction they’d just come and approached the body on the floor. The stomach of the victim rippled as if snakes crawled beneath the surface of skin.
Gavin gave the signal to shhh, and gave Zeke a nod.
Zeke grinned and slammed his fist through the stomach of the dead human, his wrist disappearing into the bloody viscera, and grasped hold of the beast and a gnarled and gnawed cord of intestine as he yanked it out. Black curls of smoke writhed in his hand, occasionally taking human form before fading back into vapor. Eyes appeared and a mouth full of cannibal-like fangs nipped, as if it would attempt to devour Zeke.
With laughed and little effort, Zeke held it outward as Gavin stood beside him. “Can’t inhabit the body of the undead, dipshit,” Zeke said. “What an unlucky day for you. My brand of pain was designed specifically for roaming little cocksuckers like yourself.”
“Release—,” Zeke tightened his grip as it spoke in a mutilated voice, raspy with the throttling at its neck.
“Sorry, missed that.” Zeke brought both hands to its neck and squeezed, crushing the very essence of it in his big palms.
With frantic jerking, it attempted escape, eyes wide, mouth agape, until at last, the vapor burst and disappeared.
Zeke smiled. “Who’s the Killa now, bitch?” He wiped his hands against his leathers and crossed his arms over his chest. “This soul shredding shit has its moments of fun, I’ll tell you what.”
“Should’ve known it was a Vapuszi.” Gavin patted Zeke on the shoulder. “Let’s get the fuck out of here before the cops try to make sense of this.”
***
ABOUT THE BOOK…
SOUL RESURRECTED (Sons of Wrath, #2)
Author: Keri Lake
Release Date: October 31, 2013
Genre: Adult Paranormal Romance/Dark Urban Fantasy
ISBN: 978-0-9848517-5-1
Purchase: Amazon | Amazon (Print) | Barnes & Noble | Signed Print Copy
As Wrath’s fiercest son, Logan carries the scars of fifty years spent in the most dreaded prison of the underworld, for a sin he’d kill to keep secret. Enduring decades of gruesome torture has left Logan feared by and detached from others, until a female Alexi’s blood resurrects his soul from death and, with it, the pleasures he’s been denied for so long.
Plagued by shame of her own, Calla is drawn to the ruthless demon, Logan, whose insatiable craving for her touch rouses buried passions and, for once, leaves her feeling desired.
A dark and dangerous evil has been reawakened, however, and when Calla is drawn too close to its breeding grounds, Logan vows to summon the violence of Wrath in order to keep her safe. First, though, Calla must save him from a past riddled with deceit and corruption … but only if she can accept the chilling consequences of unearthing his vilest skeleton.
CHAPTER ONE
Some lives just weren’t worth the trouble of saving …
The dark room swallowed Logan, as he lay sprawled on his bed—just as he’d been left after ditching his date with death. A stomach-turning sensation of thickened skin and tingles swathed his body, closing in on him, phantom sensations crawling over his flesh that kept him awake. Every five minutes or so, he willed an arm or a leg to move. No go.
Shadows danced across the wall on the occasions that one of the Catatones guarding the mansion passed through the floodlight below his window. He focused on them only because his neck had been propped in that direction and he had no choice. Good thing, though. She had been assigned to watch over him and slept somewhere beyond his periphery, the reminder heating his blood every time her sleepy moan drifted across the room.
The fury could’ve split him right down the middle.
Her blood ran through him—pumping in his veins, feeding his heart, keeping him alive.
Calla’s.
The woman who’d gotten him stabbed with Demortis, the only element capable of taking down a demon, now swam through his body as the only element capable of saving him. Her blood. Pure. Probably the closest he’d ever come to being righteous.
The irony was enough to leave him scratching his own eyeballs out of his head—that is, if he could reach the damn things. Like a bitch slap from the gods, who probably sat around drinking beers over the shit, poking fun at him.
The side effect of returning from the dead?
Feeling like the fucking dead.
Logan tightened his lip, wishing he could kick his own ass for being so stupid. Not like he’d had to save her or anything. Hell, being a demon meant being the exception to human rules.
And being a son of Wrath meant never having to play by any species’ rules.
Yet for some reason, one lodged so deep inside his brain he couldn’t even begin to explain, he’d felt the need to intervene. Not so much for her sake, but because the little prick trying to rape her had taken a jab at the psychopath buried in Logan’s bones. Taunted him.
Then finally tripped his kill-switch.
Yeah, that’s what Logan told himself, anyway, because no other excuse could possibly justify why he couldn’t stir a single muscle in his body for anything having to do with her—Calla. The girl they’d picked up at some underground party, so high on Shine she’d have probably let every one of the brothers have a go at her if they’d been the ravaging bastardly types.
Lucky for her they weren’t.
“Should’ve walked away,” he muttered, his voice the only part of his body he could control.
A zing of pain shot through Logan’s feet, flexing them into an unnatural, paralyzed position. “Ah, shit!” Hadn’t his feet been numb just seconds ago?
Not even forcing his muscles to relax shook the sting away, one like a strike to the level of his bones, as if they shattered with impact.
He held his breath and clenched his teeth while the pain crept up his leg. “Motherfucker!” He spoke past gritted teeth, keeping his voice low to keep from rousing his babysitter, but damn, his back arched like one of those tetanus-infected bastards, his eyes squinting so hard they could’ve popped backward into his brain.
Black smoke curled behind his lids, and a deep laughter mocked him as the agony reached his spine. Trembling in the bed, Logan clamped his mouth shut and allowed the convulsions to run through him.
In silence.
He’d known pain—gut-turning, put-me-out-of-my-fucking-misery pain. Nothing compared to what wracked him at that moment, as if nightmares could invade the body and inflict injury. The burn, like molten lava oozing in his veins, seeped into his every cell, searing him from the inside. Sweat trickled down his temple at the same time as a chill burst deep inside his bones and swept through his limbs, leaving behind a wake of nausea.
That black smoke carried the familiar sensation he’d felt once or twice in his life—from the quick witted son of a bitch that brought the toughest demon males to their knees: absolute death. Stygius. The place in the underworld from where no soul ever returned.
With shallow panting breaths, he allowed the blackness worming its way into his mind to take over as something dark and wicked laid claim.
All Logan could do was let it take him.
About Keri Lake
Keri Lake is a married mother of two living in Michigan. By day, she tries to make use of the degrees she’s earned in science. By night, she writes paranormal romance, urban fantasy and likes to craft the occasional tragic love story. Though novels tend to be her focus, she also writes short stories and flash fiction whenever distraction manages to suck her in to the Land of Shiny Things.
When she isn’t toiling away on plots and protagonists, she enjoys reading, music and travel. If she could create mystical powers for herself, she’d have the ability to flash to anywhere in the world. And if she could flash to anywhere in the world at this very moment, she’d be staring at the ocean from her adirondack chair on the shores of North Carolina.
Giveaway provided by author
Soul Resurrected Blog Tour Giveaway Info:
1st Prize:
1-$30 Amazon Gift card
1-Signed Paperback Soul Resurrected (Sons of Wrath, #2)
1-Limited Edition Print signed by Julian Christian & Keri Lake
1-Property of Logan T-Shirt
1-Soul Resurrected Tote Bag
1-Soul Resurrected Notebook & Pen set
1-Sons of Wrath Wine Glass Charm set
1-Soul Resurrected Book Mark
1-Soul Resurrected Coffee Mug
2nd Prize:
1-$20 Amazon Gift Card
1-Signed Paperback Soul Resurrected (Sons of Wrath, #2)
1-Soul Resurrected Tote
1-Soul Resurrected Notebook & Pen set
1-Soul Resurrected Purse Clip
1-Sons of Wrath Wine Glass Charm set
LOL I love that this guest post; any excuse to hang out with the Sons of Wratch is a-ok in my books!
I’m with you Carmel, any time I get to sneak a peek at the Sons of Wrath is a good time!
Great excerpt!
Thanks so much for hosting a tour stop, Lori!! ❤❤
looks and sounds awesome 🙂 congrats to Keri on the new release!
The Sons of Wrath are my new book boyfriends….LOL
I was so happy when I found out that Logan’s book was coming out.
koonie2888 at yahoo dot com
Damn anything with Gavin and I’m game. I got it bad for the demon… its weird saying that, I hope I don’t get a visit from a real one at 3AM, but he’s my book bf!!! Squee!!
Oh man, if this whole tour is going to continue to have snippets like this one, then I will be in heaven! I love the Sons and couldn’t agree more with Carmel’s comment!
I definitely need to read this series! It sounds so good!
goodblinknpark(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
Since I read the first book I have been addicted to the series. I can’t get enough of the men. I have them as my book boyfriends. I like to share!!