Stalked
by Flames
Dragon’s
Breath Series
Book
One
Susan
Illene
Genre:
Urban Fantasy/New Adult
Date
of Publication: ebook- July 27th, 2015
Date
of Publication: audio- September 24th, 2015
ISBN:
978-0-9863361-0-2
ASIN:
B012O4NCSQ
Number
of pages: 484
Word
Count: 101,000
Cover
Artist: Jeff Brown Graphics
and
Claudia at Phatpuppy Art
Book
Description:
Bailey
Monzac has just graduated college and is leaving town for her
parents’ ranch in Texas when a massive earthquake unleashes the
unthinkable on the world: fire-breathing dragons.
Chaos
erupts as people flee for their lives, and Bailey survives only
because she is somehow immune to the dragons’ flames. In the midst
of the mayhem, Bailey is helped by a shape-shifting dragon named
Aidan, who recognizes Bailey is a dragon slayer and will be an
essential ally in the power struggle between—and within—the
dragon clans.
Natural
disasters intensify and dragons lay waste to the world as
civilization all but collapses amid the loss of electricity and
running water. Roving gangs prowl the debris-filled streets, and
Bailey and her friends manage to find refuge in the university
library. As her relationship with Aidan deepens during private
training sessions, Bailey must learn to harness her newfound skills
or see everything she knows and loves destroyed.
Stalked
by Flames is a gritty urban fantasy about a woman’s journey into a
dark new reality she never could have imagined.
Available
at Amazon
Excerpt:
The
dragon stomped toward me on all four legs, steam puffing from his
nostrils. His nose was as big as both my fists put together. I
grabbed a brick off the ground and clutched it in my hand. Maybe I
should have tried to run—a normal person would have—but being
attacked by dragons had spiked my adrenaline.
Whenever
that happened, it was as if another side of me took over. I became
someone who fought and stood her ground. More than once my stepfather
had marveled at my ability to compartmentalize fear and think clearly
when in danger. My mother hated it. She feared it would get me hurt
or killed someday.
I
grew up on a ranch outside of Dallas where we had a lot of land. When
I was ten years old, I’d decided to go out fishing by myself. Along
the path to a nearby pond, I stumbled across a rattlesnake. Most
people would have run screaming, especially a girl my age. I chucked
a heavy tackle box at the thing. That didn’t kill it, of course,
but it immobilized the snake’s body long enough for me to beat it
to death with my fishing pole.
That’s
how my stepfather had found me. Hovering over a mangled snake and
pondering whether to get my tackle box back. It had blood and guts
all over it. Killing a poisonous snake was one thing, touching icky
stuff was another.
Now
I had an honest-to-God dragon coming at me and once again I refused
to panic. I needed to weigh my options. With my back against a wall,
there was nowhere to go before he’d reach me, but there had to be a
way out of this mess. Did the dragon have a weakness I could exploit?
Something to buy me time until I could get to a safe place?
I
glanced at my brick—it was all I had. A heat-seeking missile would
have been preferable, but no one had told me we were about to get
invaded by mythical beasts, so I didn’t have one on hand. I looked
up at the sky and wished a bolt of lightning would strike my
opponent. The storm wasn’t close enough to make that a possibility
yet. Not that I’d get that lucky.
The
red-scaled dragon lumbered closer, less than ten feet away. His gaze
still didn’t show any signs of wildness or rage in it. The tilting
of his head made me think he was curious more than anything. It’s
what stayed my hand as he lowered his head to sniff at my legs. The
heat emanating from his breath warmed the skin on my calves.
I
stared down and noted once again that my jeans had been burned off to
my upper thighs. The sandals I’d been wearing earlier were missing,
too. How had I lost half my clothes? There weren’t any signs of
burns, only scratches and bruises.
The
dragon inspected all of this as his head inched upward. His hot nose
tickled the skin of my thighs and he let out a puff of steam near my
crotch. Okay, that was just a little too uncomfortable. I smacked his
nose.
“Back
off!”
He
shook his head and let out a snort, then reared onto his hind legs.
Flames licked up his body, consuming him. Standing only three feet
away, there was no escape from the heat. I scrambled along the wall
sideways, putting as much distance between us as I could. What had
just happened? Did smacking dragons in the nose trigger some weird
reaction?
The
flames narrowed and became brighter. Then a dark shape emerged within
them that had me tripping over my own feet to get away. It looked
demonic—like something straight out of Hell. There was standing my
ground and then there was being stupid.
I
spun on my heels and took off down the sidewalk that lay between the
library and the building next to it. A growl echoed down the
corridor—a really angry one. I passed by bushes and benches that
provided no cover from a menacing dragon and kept going. There were
plenty of paths to take up ahead if I could just get past the
library. The damned building seemed to extend forever.
Through
the racing of my heart, I caught heavy footsteps behind me. They
didn’t clomp the same way as the dragon’s and sounded more like
boots on pavement. Glancing back, I saw a man with feral yellow eyes
wearing strange clothing. The red dragon was nowhere to be seen.
Shivers raced down my spine as I realized this guy’s attention was
focused solely on me and he was racing toward me fast. Where had he
come fr
About
the Author:
Susan
Illene served in the US Army for eleven years and worked as a human
resources specialist and an Arabic linguist. She served two
deployments to Iraq, and after leaving the army, she studied history
at the University of Oklahoma. She and her husband currently live in
Oklahoma with two high-maintenance cats doing their best to help her
write her books.
Visit
her at
Website:
http://www.susanillene.com/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/SusanIllene1
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/susan_illene
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