Hey! I am Rhys Ford… speaking to you in my own… okay that doesn’t work.
Does anyone else remember Don Carnage!? He’s speaking at you in his own voice!
Ah, the esoteric memories. You’ll probably want to skip this part during the
next few…*coffs*…okay, a dozen blogs as I parcel out a short tale featuring
Wolf and Tristan!
Welcome to a Hellsinger Investigation!
There will be prizes and giveaways. Be sure to hit up each blog for an
update on the investigation. I have brought in for this tale of ghosts and
shenanigans two special prizes (well many of them…but two!). You might have
seen them already; a pair of cuddly alpaca and a braided leather Wolf sigil
bracelet. You’ll be able to win one or both at each stop with a Grand Prize to
be given away at the end of the tour.
The giveaway for this spot is: a Wolf Sigil Bracelet.
Leave a comment or… if the blog is so inclined, ping their contest widget…
to be entered to win!
Hellsinger
Investigations
File #241
Residence: Hazel Maplethorn-Bocker
Paranormal Activity: Objects Relocating
Location: Eureka, CA
Paranormal Activity: Objects Relocating
Location: Eureka, CA
The residence is occupied by Ms. M-B and
ten cats. Client is retired school-teacher and has no history of psychic or
paranormal activity either personal or in residence. Residence is 1940s bungalow
with no recorded deaths. Land cleared of any prior paranormal activity;
formerly undeveloped acreage. No structures or causalities reported at
location. Cannot discount native population or transitory inhabitants prior to
establishment of city boundaries.
Team: Gidget
and Matt
Consultant:
Tristan Pryce
§
PART
THREE
“Indians.” Gidget stared up at Wolf from
where she was crouching on the floor. Her legs were nearly buried in equipment
and cables. “Here? In Eureka?”
“Native Americans,” Tristan corrected,
handing his lover a cup of coffee. “Hazel said there was a massacre here back
in 1860. Well not here, per se but on an island out in the bay. Nearly all of
the women and children were killed with hatchets and axes. A witness said he
heard screaming but went back to sleep. Apparently they didn’t want to use guns
because the shots would be too noticeable.”
“That’s horrible.” Matt echoed Gidget’s
disgusted look. “Why… why would someone do that?”
“Land, cattle.” Wolf mounted the
stepstool Hazel’d given him and began to pull video cables out of an air
conditioning duct he used to thread feed lines through the house. “Because they
could. A lot of shit happens in this world because people just can do something.”
“Cynical, much?” Tristan shot him a look
and Wolf answered with one of his own.
“Realist.” He responded lightly, fitting
the grate back onto the opening to prevent it from rattling about as they
filmed. “Skeptic where ghosts are concerned—”
“Even after everything we’ve been
through?” Tristan straightened up and cocked his head at Wolf. “Really? Still?”
Wolf didn’t call out his employees
suddenly finding something else to do in another part of the house although he
had to give them credit for slithering away as quietly as they did. Matt even
gently shut the door behind him, sealing Wolf and Tristan into Hazel’s dining
room with a quiet snick of a latch.
“Especially after everything we’ve been
through.” He climbed down from the stepstool then reached for Tristan’s arm.
His lover shook him off, green eyes flashing with a clear warning of a brewing
storm. “Thursday, come on. You know
my first instinct is to debunk something. I’m not saying ghosts aren’t real. I’m saying not everything
is a ghost and people shouldn’t jump to conclusions before they examine the
situation.”
Tristan’s response was thick with
derision. Short, certainly, but thick. “Huh.”
“I come from a family where people lie about ghosts to make money. Not all
of them—” Wolf held up a hand to stop Tristan’s incoming protests. “But definitely
a lot of them. It’s taking advantage of people and that’s why I’m skeptical.”
“Okay, name one job where you declared
there were phantasms.” Tristan stuck his hands in his jeans pockets, rocking
back on his heels and staying out of Wolf’s reach. “One job.”
“Sey— ”
“One paying job.” Tristan qualified.
“Name one assignment when it wasn’t swamp gas or kids playing a joke. I’ll even
take a job where you said maybe there
was something there.”
“I don’t have… shit, okay, yeah. We’ve
had some jobs where things could be spectral but there wasn’t enough evidence
to say for certain that there was a haunting.” Wolf edged closer, snagging
Tristan’s belt loops to pull him in to a loose embrace. “Doesn’t mean I said
there weren’t any ghosts. Just that there wasn’t any evidence.”
“Sometimes you have to take things on
faith.” Tristan sighed heavily but let himself be pulled in tighter. “I’m not
saying there are ghosts or something here. I’m saying you have to open yourself
up to the possibilities more. You can’t come into a place and say… prove it.
You should come in with at least an inkling that there might be something—or someone—there.”
“Tell you what, if you tell me there’s
something here, I’ll believe you.” Wolf murmured as he nibbled on the corner of
Tristan’s mouth. A strand of his lover’s hair was caught between them, and Wolf
smiled as he tasted the citrus scent of Tristan’s shampoo on his tongue. “But
I’ve got to have something to take away to show it’s real. It’s what I do,
Tris.”
“I know. But I’d like you to
open-minded. You say you’re a scientist. Yes, you need proof but aren’t you
guilty of the exact same thing you’re accusing other people of?” Tristan leaned
back in Wolf’s arms, sliding their hips together in a sensual grind.
“Keep doing that and there’s going to be
more than ghost hunting.” Tristan gave him a steely glare hot enough to rival
the one they’d gotten from Hazel’s grey cat. “Okay, what am I accusing people
of?”
“Jumping to conclusions.” Tristan broke
away, sliding his hand across Wolf’s flat stomach before picking up a portable
EMF reader. “I’m going to see what I can find out in the kitchen. You sit here
and stew in your hypocrisy a bit and let me know how it tastes. Hurry up in
here. Hazel’s making us lasagna for dinner.”
“Yeah, right,” Wolf called out as
Tristan opened the door. “You guys have lasagna. I’ll be choking down that
helping of crow you just served up to me.”
§
ANNOUNCING:
Duck Duck Ghost
by Rhys Ford
Paranormal investigator Wolf Kincaid
knows what his foot tastes like.
Mostly because he stuck it firmly in his
mouth when his lover, Tristan Pryce, accidentally drugged him with a batch of
psychotropic baklava. Needing to patch things up between them, Wolf drags
Tristan to San Luis Obispo, hoping Tristan’s medium ability can help evict a
troublesome spirit haunting an old farmhouse.
With Wolf’s sister handling Hoxne
Grange’s spectral visitors, Tristan finds himself in the unique position of
being able to leave home for the first time in forever, but Wolf’s roughshod treatment
is the least of his worries. Tristan’s ad-hoc portal for passing spirits seems
to be getting fewer and fewer guests, and despite his concern he’s broken his
home, Tristan agrees to help Wolf’s cousin, Sey, kick her poltergeist to the
proverbial curb.
San Luis Obispo brings its own bushel of
troubles. Tristan’s ghost whispering skill is challenged not only by a
terrorizing haunting but also by Wolf’s skeptical older cousin, Cin. Bookended
by a pair of aggressive Kincaids, Tristan soon finds himself in a spectral
battle that threatens not only his sanity but also his relationship with Wolf,
the first man he’s ever loved.
Available from Dreamspinner
on Sept 8. (http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=5409)
§
Duck
Duck Ghost Promo Tour
Sept 2
Love Bytes: http://lovebytesreviews.com/
Sept 3
Prism Alliance: http://www.prismbookalliance.com/
Sept 4
Smoocher’s Voice: http://www.smoochersvoice.com/
Sept 5
On Top Down
Under Book Reviews: http://ontopdownunderbookreviews.com/
Sept 6
Fiction Vixen: http://fictionvixen.com/
Sept 7
Boy meets Boy: http://boymeetsboyreviews.blogspot.com/
Sept 8
Three Chicks after Dark: www.3chicksafterdark.com
Sept 9
Ndulgent
Bloggers: http://guiltyindulgencebookclub.blogspot.com
MM Good Book
Reviews: http://mmgoodbookreviews.wordpress.com/
Sept 10
Rainbow Gold
Reviews: http://rainbowgoldreviews.wordpress.com/
Sept 11
Joyfully Jay: http://joyfullyjay.com/
Sept 12
The Blogger Girls http://thebloggergirls.com/
Sept 13
The Novel Approach: http://thenovelapproachreviews.com/
§
About Rhys Ford
Rhys admits to sharing the house with three cats
of varying degrees of black fur and a ginger cairn terrorist. Rhys is also
enslaved to the upkeep a 1979 Pontiac Firebird, a Toshiba laptop, and an
overworked red coffee maker.
My Blog:
www.rhysford.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Rhys_Ford
And at the
Starbucks down the street. No really, they’re 24/7. And a drive-thru. It’s like
heaven.
My books can be
purchased, folded and first chapters read at Dreamspinner Press. http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com
