'Water's Blood (The Elemental Clans Book 1)' by Elaine Calloway

Blurb:

In the Elemental world, there is a rule: Never mate with humans.

But for Brooke, a Water Elemental stationed in New Orleans, following the rules can be tricky. She's spent countless millennia protecting the innocent from the evil fallen angels, who reap human souls and force them to do their bidding.

Keeping her supernatural powers hidden--another rule--has begun to take its toll. When she meets Alex, an intuitive police officer with the NOPD, all bets are off. Not only does she fall in love with him, but she conceives a half-breed child, Ella.

Universe, ruler of the Elemental World, is furious. For her indiscretion, Brooke is forbidden to share a life with Alex, the love of her life. Even worse, she cannot reveal her true identity to her own daughter.

When Brooke learns that the fallen angels plan to snare Ella's soul by Halloween, she is hurled into a war between good and evil. Brooke broke the rules once by allowing love to interfere with her mission. Now she and Alex must put consequences aside to break the rules again--if they wish to save their daughter's soul.

Read an excerpt:

CHAPTER ONE

“Hell is empty; all the devils are here.”

― William Shakespeare, The Tempest

Brooke gripped the bar’s wooden edge until her knuckles turned white. Nausea and trepidation washed through her human form. Not now. Please. Not when her New Orleans pub, Armand’s, was filled with Friday night locals. She couldn’t keep walking away from her cover job. And she definitely couldn’t tell her customers the truth.

Her mission was critical: protect innocent humans from the Minare, a local clan of Fallen Angels. Who knew dealing with a teenager would be the more difficult job?

The nausea grew stronger, churning in the depths of her stomach. For one hopeful moment, she wondered if the Shrimp Creole she’d eaten for lunch could be the culprit. A sense of uneasiness snaked through her veins. No such luck. All signs pointed to the distress call.

Images in her line of vision began to spin. Gold, purple, and green Fleur de Lis emblems on the bar walls blurred into a kaleidoscope haze. Oh, yes. She recognized this feeling—the ole Tilt-O-Whirl-from-Hell. She shut her eyes, wanting her equilibrium to stabilize, but the famed Mardi Gras colors danced behind her eyelids.

Breathe. She inhaled deep. Beer, tobacco smoke, and lemon polish overpowered her nostrils.

The impending doom intensified. Your daughter is in danger. You have to go.

Panic churned inside her like a tornado. She’d been afraid this would happen.

What was she supposed to do? Family and her mission were mutually exclusive in her world. She couldn’t kick her customers out. Her only option was to leave someone in charge. Someone trustworthy.

Quinn, one of her favorite regulars and a self-professed hippie, approached and plunked his shot glass down. “Refill when you get a chance. Life treating you okay?”

Perfect. Quinn and his wife had helped her rebuild the pub after Hurricane Katrina. They were good folks, the kind of humans Brooke could trust her customers with.

She tilted the amber whiskey bottle and poured. “I’ll make you a deal. Watch the place for thirty minutes, and you can have all the refills you want.”

“Works for me. What happened to John?”

Brooke grabbed her keys and jacket. She didn’t have time to get into the particulars. “Quit on me yesterday, said he’s moving back home to care for his parents. I haven’t had the chance to place a want-ad for someone new.”

“I’ll hold down the fort. Go do what you need to do.” Quinn strolled behind the bar, his lanky body moving in tune to Zydeco music from the speakers. On any other day, she liked the New Orleans locals and their leisurely way of life. Just not now. She needed to go.

She sprinted for the back exit. “Thanks. Be back soon.”

“Is everything okay?” he called after her.

Not really. She didn’t turn around, only said, “I won’t be gone long, thanks,” and ducked out the back to avoid further questions.

Brooke ran down the crooked sidewalk. Live oaks draped with Spanish moss lined the narrow street filled with shotgun houses. Fortunately, Alex only lived two blocks away. The short walk made it easy to keep watch over him and Ella.

Darkness covered the sage-colored home with black shutters, but the full moon’s beams slanted through a side window. Brooke crept alongside the narrow house, which extended back for almost a city block. These old Mid-City homes had more rooms than she could keep up with. Over the years, she’d learned which ones she could easily peer through.

Peeking inside, Brooke saw Ella tiptoeing across the study, headed straight for the cabinet.

Brooke’s neck went tight. Holy hell, this was no false alarm. Ella was a mere twenty steps away from the cabinet. Or rather, from disaster.

Where the hell was Alex? She shifted her gaze left and right. He’d fallen asleep on the corner couch. Wake up, damn it! Don’t let her unlock the cabinet.

Sixteen steps. Maybe Brooke should run to the front door and ring the doorbell? No. By the time she reached the doorbell and returned to the rear window, Ella could have the chalice in her hands.

Maybe she could bang on the window? Not the best option. Blaring alarms would wake the neighborhood and alert Alex and Ella to her presence. The last thing Brooke needed was to call attention. Not when evil forces lurked inside the Crescent City, forces that wanted her loved ones dead.

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Author Bio:

Elaine Calloway writes paranormal fantasy romance books for Kindle and paperback. Whether she writes about an Elemental Series and Elemental Worlds, or tells stories about ghosts in the deep South, all books are set in iconic cities such as New Orleans.

She is currently working on the Elemental Clan Series, about nature's four elements--water, fire, earth, and wind--and their battle to save innocent souls from the evil Fallen Angel packs.

The elemental series includes:

Water's Blood - Book One set in New Orleans

Raging Fire - Book Two set in New York City

Earthbound - Book Three set in Portland, Oregon

Windstorm - Book Four set in Napa Valley - release date summer 2014.

Also available is Droplet, a short story prequel to Water's Blood.

Originally from New Orleans (she can still do a decent Cajun accent upon request), Elaine Calloway grew up with a love of all things supernatural and gets back to the Crescent City as often as she can.

For more info, visit her Web site at http://www.elainecalloway.com