INHUMAN
INTEREST
by Eric Turowski
INHUMAN INTEREST
Story By Tess
Cooper
Thirteen words in a
want-ad turn Tess Cooper’s world upside down after she signs on as a paranormal
research assistant to the mysterious Davin Egypt. He reveals a world of grave
robbing, clockworks artifacts in blue amber, antique revolvers that fire
strange ammo, and powerful forces beyond human comprehension.
As ancient occult
energies threaten to destroy her city, Tess must use her journalistic instincts
to stay one step ahead of the public works director, Drew Dawson, whose agenda
seems bent on destruction rather than maintenance. And possibly murder, but
will anyone believe her?
Yeah, right. When
garbage trucks fly.
If Tess teams up
with the hunky police lieutenant, Kirk Gunther, and the pale, oddball Mr.
Egypt, they might be able to save the city in time. That is, if Egypt even
wants to. And if Tess overcomes her phobias long enough to do battle in
Granddad’s 1983 Subaru Brat.
Things are about to
get icky.
Egypt sat
behind the desk, leaving me to stand. He switched on the light. “Nearly all of
my work is done at night. I trust that won’t be a problem.”
I
generally had no plans at night. But that wasn’t my primary concern. “What
exactly is the job?”
His brows
squeezed together in mild confusion. “I thought I made that clear. I am an
occult researcher, you will be my research assistant.”
“So,
what, we look things up in books, cite them for papers?”
Egypt
leaned back in his chair. “Hardly. Do you know what the word occult means, Miss
Cooper?”
I
couldn’t recall actually introducing myself to him. But I must have, right? “It
means ‘hidden,’ or ‘covered.’ From the Latin. Same root word as occlude.
Synonyms would be, oh, arcane or esoteric.”
“And do
you believe we could research the hidden, the arcane, by browsing published
media?”
Well, put
it that way. “I suppose not.”
“Not,
indeed.”
“So,
what, you go out hunting for ghosts and that?”
His mouth
made a little moue. Not, indeed. “We will seek out events caused by apparently
hidden means, examine them, study them, and place them into context with other
apparent occult phenomenon.”
I
suddenly recalled Lieutenant Gunther’s reaction.
“You’re looking
into the grave robberies for the police.” I carefully worded it so it wasn’t a
question, the way Egypt did.
The moue
spread out into almost a smile. “It seems that even if we are not on the same
page, we’re in the same chapter. At midnight, we need to examine the graves at
the City Cemetery.”
Frankly,
I had developed an aversion to City Cemetery. All I needed was to fall in
another loose grave, which seemed far more likely in the dark. “At midnight?
Why not right now? It’s forty-six degrees and sunny. We’re supposed to get six
inches of snow tonight.”
Egypt
leaned forward, clasping his hands on the antique desk. “That forecast is
incorrect. And as for midnight, it is a most important hour in occult research,
as you will learn.”
Newspaper founder, bookstore owner, artist,
musician, and man-about-town Eric Turowski writes lots of mixed-genre books
when he’s not too busy playing laser tag with Tiger the Cat and his fiancée
Mimi deep in the Central Valley of California.
You can learn more about Eric at
www.ericturowski.com.
Eric will award one randomly drawn commenter a
signed copy of the book, plus a $25 Amazon gift card (US/Canada only) and a
second randomly drawn commenter a signed copy of the book (US/Canada only).
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