Blood Drop (The Warlock Brothers of Havenbridge #5) by Jacob Z. Flores
Dreamspinner Press
Cover art by Paul Richmond
Release date: November 6, 2017
Buy Link: Dreamspinner Press e-book/Dreamspinner Press Paperback
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to have Jacob Z. Flores here today on his Blood Drop tour. Welcome, Jacob.
Blurb:
A single drop of blood might hold the key to the fate of the magical world, and Aiden Teine must choose between his bond of love and embracing the power to defeat his enemies.
Aiden’s adjustment to being the first vampyre fae hasn’t been easy, but his ties to warlock Thad Blackmoor prevent him from becoming a monster. With Thad, Aiden has a new family, a new purpose, and a new reason to live—though he’s technically undead. There’s one problem: Aiden’s control over his vampyre is weakening. He must learn what’s triggering his violent reactions before he surrenders to the creature within. To complicate matters, Aiden discovers his transformation might not be complete, and he fears what he will become.
Aiden’s search for answers thrusts him into a frightening world filled with deception, new dangers, and apocalyptic visions. The part destiny intends Aiden to play could alter his relationship with Thad forever. If Aiden, Thad, and the entire magical community are to survive Icarian’s latest scheme, Aiden must interpret the meaning of the prophetic blood drop before it falls and ushers in the destruction of all creation—and the warlock he loves.
Blood Drop
The Warlock Brothers of Havenbridge (Book 5)
by Jacob Z. Flores
Magic has enthralled me since I was a child. I can still remember those summer afternoons, running around my grandparents’ yard and pretending that I was levitating my enemies or moving objects with my mind. As I grew into an adult, my fascination with the mystical world only grew. The only thing that changed was my realization that I wasn’t telekinetic and couldn’t cast spells.
But, I was only partially wrong.
While I couldn’t summon arcane energies, as an author I could create a magical world and populate it with magical characters. Thus, I began constructing the world on which the Warlock Brothers of Havenbridge is based.
As hard as it is to believe, the journey began in 2015. Two years and four books later, the fifth (and most likely the last) book of the series is set to release on November 6.
I’ve enjoyed exploring this world with everyone. I’ve also had great fun re-imagining warlocks, witches, and wizards and vampires, shifters, and fae. I’m also extremely proud of my boys—Mason, Thad, and Pierce. They have come a long way since book one, but I’m not done with them—yet.
There’s one story left to tell, and it belongs to Aiden Teine, the fire fairy who captured Thad Blackmoor’s heart. Aiden is the narrator for the fifth book, which will answer all the remaining questions from the series. Readers will finally learn the identities of Icarian and the Warlock Hag as well as the devastating truth about the Prophecy of the Three.
However, all endings have a beginning, and that is what I want to share with readers on this tour. I have written a six-part prologue to Blood Drop that will fill in the gap between books four and five and lead right into chapter one. I’ll be sharing each part at the first six blog stops and an exclusive excerpt at the final one. I hope you’ll come along for the ride.
So kick back, grab your favorite snack, and enjoy. Don’t forget to enter the blog’s giveaway. One person at every stop will win a $10 Amazon gift card.
Blood Drop Prologue: Part 6
For the past week, I’d felt awful. My head pounded as if a pack of gnomes had climbed inside my brain and were hacking away at it with their pickaxes. My gut wrenched and spasmed, and my normally warm flesh had chilled.
I normally avoided wearing clothes at all costs, so when I slid into a pair of sweat pants and a sweatshirt, Thad knew something was wrong.
“Alright, that’s it.” Thad crossed his arms over his chest and leveled his gaze. “What’s going on?”
I shrugged, not wanting to make this as big of a deal as Thad was about to. “I’m cold.”
“Y-you’re cold?” I couldn’t have shocked Thad more if I slapped him. “You’re a fire fairy. You’re never cold.”
He was omitting the fact that I was also a vampyre. The living dead didn’t have to worry about the cold either. “Must be the weather,” I said while attempting to head downstairs for Sunday brunch with the rest of the family.
Thad blocked my path. Even though I towered five inches over him, his set jaw and flinty gaze made me feel about two inches tall.
“What?”
“Don’t ‘what?’ me.” He poked his index finger in my chest. No one else but Thad could get away with that. “You’ve been acting strangely ever since your hunt last week. I know you’re keeping something from me, but I’ve been giving you your space, letting you work things out in your own time while I finished up my dissertation. But I can’t leave for Salem in a few days when we both know there’s something wrong.”
I should have realized Thad had picked up on the fact that I was keeping something from him. I’d only done that to spare him the inevitable worrying, but he was right. Things were only getting worse. I felt ill, and fire fairies never got sick.
“Tell me.” His anger vanished like smoke in the wind, and a fog of concern rolled upon the shore of his gaze. I loved him so much, and I couldn’t keep my fears from him anymore.
“Will you two quit fucking around in there?” Pierce’s taunting voice bellowed from the other side of the closed bedroom door. Thad’s older brother seemed to only be happy when he was taunting someone in the family. “Brunch is served, and I’ll zap someone in the balls if my bacon gets cold.”
I snarled at the door while Thad placed his hand upon my chest. It was his cue that I needed to calm down.
“We’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“Better make it faster than that.” That was Mason, Thad’s younger brother and a thorn in just about everyone’s side. “You know how much Pierce hates it when his meat gets cold. That must be why he always has his hand down the front of his pants.”
“You’re about to have my foot up your ass,” Pierce challenged.
“Hey, let go!”
A huge scuffle, which sounded like trolls wrestling, exploded in the hall. Thad flung open the door to referee as he always did. I turned away from the chaos and stared out the window. I focused my attention on the sun creeping away from the horizon. The beauty of nature centered me, and right now, I needed that more than anything else.
The pandemonium Pierce and Mason created typically irritated me. Today, I found it appealing. It pulled at the darkness within, threatening to tear down the barriers I’d erected to keep my vampyre in check.
I couldn’t let it out. The last time I did I hadn’t recognized Thad. If my vampyre focused its attention on Pierce and Mason, they might not survive the encounter.
“Will you stop?” Thad screeched again.
“Tell that to him,” Mason yelled. “He’s the one trying to inflict bodily harm.”
I smiled. I’d enjoy seeing the two of them beating each other bloody. It would be an appetizer for the main course, my talons shredding their skin and gorging on the crimson liquid within.
The door slammed behind me, shutting out the commotion as Pierce and Mason stomped down the stairs. The closed door couldn’t keep out the scent of anger and violence. It swirled around me on sweet, coppery currents.
“A-aiden?”
I turned to face Thad. He seemed shorter as if dealing with his brothers had shaved a few inches from his height. That was bizarre, but not as strange as the look of horror that scrunched up his face.
“What’s wrong?”
He pointed at the mirror to my right. “Look at yourself.”
I gasped when I gazed upon my reflection. I flexed my talons as if I were preparing to strike, and my tongue searched the air for its next meal. I’d unconsciously shifted to my vampyre form.
That had never happened before. I’d always been able to control my transitions. If that was no longer the case—
“We’ll figure this out.” Thad stood behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist.
I hoped he was right. If not, Thad and his family were in more danger from me at this moment than they were from Icarian.
To read all 6 parts of the prologue, follow the Blood Drop blog tour and enter to win a $10 Amazon gift card at each stop!
About the Author
Jacob Z. Flores lives a double life. During the day, he is a respected college English professor and mid-level administrator. At night and during his summer vacation, he loosens the tie and tosses aside the trendy sports coat to write man on man fiction, where the hard ass assessor of freshmen level composition turns his attention to the firm posteriors and other rigid appendages of the characters in his fictional world.
Summers in Provincetown, Massachusetts, provide Jacob with inspiration for his fiction. The abundance of barely clothed man flesh and daily debauchery stimulates his personal muse.
When he isn’t stroking the keyboard, Jacob spends time with his daughter. They both represent a bright blue blip in an otherwise predominantly red swath in south Texas.
Author Website / The Warlock Brothers of Havenbridge Website / Facebook
Giveaway
Win a $10 Amazon Gift Card
How?
Leave a comment telling Jacob Z. Flores what you think about the prologue
Jacob will choose a new winner at each stop on the tour, so make sure to visit them all!
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The Blood Drop Blog Tour
11/6 My Fiction Nook
11/7 Open Skye Book Reviews
11/8 Love Bytes
11/9 Happily Ever Chapter
11/10 The Novel Approach
11/13 Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words
11/15 Divine Magazine
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 