Reapers in Rhode Island

Readers Please Note: this is book 2 in the Monsters & Motorbikes series. Book 1 is published in the anthology Monster Hunter (Limited Edition Paranormal Romance Collections).

Meet Camille LaMontagne.  Her parents have a surprise for her. A motorbike, a legacy as a voodoo priestess, and an arranged marriage. What's a girl to do?

Serena taught me about magic. Interacting with James taught me about myself.

Yet, by the time Serena and I had scared off the goblins, and I'd started feeling the urge to increase the distance between me and my responsibilities, I had no idea what I wanted or where to go. All I knew was that I wasn't ready to take the path chosen for me. I wasn't ready to accept my fate and marry a man I barely knew.

Serena helped. She brought me out under the waxing moon. She spelled the amulet I had always worn, now recognizing it as a protection charm. Then she helped me learn how to scry. I asked one question before suspending it over the map of the US: Where should I go?

I worried that I was going to discover I was meant to go back to Louisiana, back home, back to a life I didn't want and didn't know how to live.To my relief, I discovered that I wanted to go north...to Rhode Island.

For some reason, going there felt like a test. And I had no doubt it was, but I had to wonder how all of this would end. Maybe that's why I reached out to James. Given his heritage, which was similar to mine, I shouldn't have been surprised with his reply.

Be careful in Rhode Island, Camille. I'm counting on you to return in one piece.

I was counting on that too, but that's before I knew about the reapers.

I was also counting on him giving up on me before I returned. I had yet to make up my mind, and though I found countless excuses to explain away my absence, the truth was I had never been in love. I had never had any adventures. I'd always done what I was supposed to do. Now, I was doing everything at once.

To me, this made sense. Only when I was about to face off with death was I finally beginning to live. Only when I was completely alone did I wish I could find my other half.

James was nice, but a soul mate would be better. That's what I needed in life, this really big adventure. I needed a partner, a team. No one should face death alone.

If I survived, I might change my mind about how to face my life too.