One,
Two, Three Kiss Box-Set
An
Apocalyptic Urban Fantasy
Transmissions
From the International Council
for the Exploration of the Universe
E.J.
Kimelman
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Date of Publication: 4/17/15
ASIN: B00W4DJIQ8
Number of pages: 218
Book Description:
The International Council for the
Exploration of the Universe exists to consider and conduct investigations into
the dimensions of the Universe; to examine how far humans are being depleted by
zombies; to investigate natural methods, such as by breeding, etc., of keeping
up the stock; and in cases of certain future failure of supply to suggest the
necessary remedial measures. For the most part it deals with the humans common
to all dimensions, but a special sub-committee considers the vampires, and a
second the shifters; disembodied spirits are not investigated.
In
the first transmission....
A new, dangerous street drug is
spreading through Crescent City. A hallucinogen that causes violent attacks,
incredible strength, and leaves its victims in a permanently altered state.
Darling Price's band, Higgs and
the Bosons, is on the verge of their big break. If only she could get her act
together and play the way she did before her best friend and musical
inspiration, Megan Quick, fell fatally ill, then disappeared.
With only weeks to live Megan
wasn't even strong enough to visit the bathroom by herself, yet, somehow she
climbed out of her window and left.
Even though it's been months,
Darling can't stop looking for Megan. Still hoping to find her alive is insane.
Her obsession is pissing off her band mates and Darling is worried it might
trigger her hallucinations. She hasn't been sick since Megan and she ran away
from their foster home to Crescent City at the age of 13.
They took a blood oath, pressing
bleeding palms together, promising that no matter what they'd stay with each
other. So how could Megan leave her? It's a mystery Darling can't solve and
refuses to let go of.
Since Megan's disappearance
Darling has started to feel a gnawing hunger. No food or drink or drug can
quench it. It's a hunger she's felt before, but has convinced herself wasn't
real. Because what Darling feels, and the vivid memories from her early
childhood, are all impossible.
As the drug spreads through the
city and the world begins to unravel, Darling's lack of musical inspiration
becomes the least of her problems as she comes to recognize that all of her
assumptions about the universe may be wrong.
In
the second transmission....
Darling Price thought her best
friend, Megan Quick, was dead. Months earlier the doctors said Megan had only
weeks to live. Than she disappeared. So when Megan saves Darling from a crowd
of flesh crazed zombies, exhibiting strength and speed beyond the bounds of
biology, Darling is at once exhilarated to see her friend alive again but also
frightened by her.
Darling comes to understand that
Megan's new found life comes at a price, one she hopes Darling is willing to
pay so that they can be together again.
With zombies over running the
streets, immortal beings controlling her emotions, and lost memories flooding
back to her, Darling must make a decision that will decide the course of her
life forever. At the same time Darling begins to understand that she is not
just some regular girl. She may have powers of her own that go beyond the
bounds of known biology.
In
the third transmission....
Darling Price can feed off the
power of others. Through this transfer of energy she can heal from any wound,
including a zombie bite. With the help of Dimitri, an 800 year old vampire,
Darling searches for answers about her parents and her powers.
As she gets closer to the truth
the world continues to crumble around her. Dr. Issa Tor, a powerful warlock,
believes that Darling can help save the world but when she goes to his society
looking for answers she just finds more questions. Time is running out for
Darling and the world she has learned to think of as home.
EXCERPT:
International Dimension
Investigations
Please state Where and When this
correspondence was found and then put it in the nearest inter-dimensional
pathway. You will be informed in reply where and when it was set adrift. Our
object is to find out the Direction of the Deep Currents of the Universe.
Locality where found?
Depth
Date when found?
Name of Sender
Address
I hope this
works. I’ve never tried attaching anything to our research messages before.
Only 4% are found and responded to. Perhaps you have no idea what this is, what
the Deep Currents of the Universe are. More than likely, if you can understand
this, then it is much like your ocean. In my world we first started putting
messages into bottles in order to track the currents of our waters.
When another
dimension responded it shocked us. It’s possible in your world the dimensional
portals are still unknown to your scientists. After decades of study they are
still mostly unknown to ours, hence this message. We still use the same methods
we did over a century ago. Though now it is the currents of the Universe that
we throw our bites of data into.
But I have not
broken all protocol, and risked my career, in order to talk about my world or
the methodology of The International Council for the Exploration of the
Universe. I did it to talk about Darling Price.
I have
interviewed many inter-dimensional creatures but none of them like
Darling. Enclosed you will find the
recordings from the first day’s sessions. I hope the file is not too heavy to
float. I feel a great nervousness that I
will be too late, or that you will not understand the impact of these interviews.
I fear that my world is lost, but perhaps yours can be saved.
I will send out
more when I can. Please respond. Tell me that you’ve received my message.
****
Darling Price’s
hair is dark; it falls over her shoulders in shimmering waves. It’s glossy like
a record, catching the light in white lines. Her eyes are a very intense green.
Alarming, powerful.
She avoids eye
contact. “Bad things happen when I look a person in the eyes. Everyone except
Megan.”
“Tell me about
Megan,” I said.
“She is the thing
that saved me. I was going to kill myself, and kill people with me, and just
drag the whole world down. I felt like reality was twisting around me and… she
stopped the world and I got to live.”
“Since her
leaving?”
“Leaving,” she
hiccuped a laugh, “is that what you’re calling it?” Darling stood up and turned
to the wall. Her black leather pants were the same shiny black as her hair. On
her hips hung a white belt; it tilted to one side, where her gun hung. Silver
pistol, not as shiny as her hair. It looked used, scuffed, strapped to her leg
for too long.
She raised her
hands above her head and rested them against the cinder-block wall. Her
fingernails were short, painted the same matte metallic as her gun. She turned
back to me, running a hand through her hair, pushing the long locks away from
her high cheekbones and arched brows. “She was taken. I want you to write that
down. Megan did not leave me.”
“Okay,” I said,
dutifully picking up my pen. “Please continue.”
She looked at
her empty chair, the long hair falling to cover her fine features. It exposed
her shoulder, bare except for the strap of her tank top. Surprisingly erotic
under the fluorescent light.
Darling sat down
and leaned onto the table between us. “Do you have a cigarette?” she asked.
“You can’t smoke
in here,” I said.
She smiled
slowly, her eyes warming; a sensation began to tingle along my jaw. “Give me a
tobacco stick, and I’ll tell you my story.”
I waved to the
guard.
Darling sat
back, pushing the chair away from the table, and extended her legs out
straight. “And a beer,” she said. “I’d love a beer.”
I nodded.
Moments later, a
fresh cigarette hanging from her lip, the smoke curling around her and seeming
to want to brush up against her hair before dissipating into the air, she began
to tell me her story.
About
the Author:
Emily Kimelman is the author of
the best selling Sydney Rye Series including UNLEASHED, DEATH IN THE DARK,
INSATIABLE, STRINGS OF GLASS, THE DEVIL'S BREATH and INVITING FIRE. This series
feature a strong female protagonist and her canine best friend, Blue. It is
recommended for the 18+ who enjoy some violence, don't mind dirty language, and
are up for a dash of sex. Not to mention an awesome, rollicking good mystery!
Emily splits her time between the
Hudson Valley and traveling the world with her husband and dog, Kinsey (named
after Sue Grafton's Kinsey Milhone), researching exciting locations for the
Sydney Rye Series. You can follow along on their adventures through Instagram,
Facebook, and on Emily's blog.
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