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The
Giftsnatcher
Back Cover:
The ad in the newspaper says Alana is a witch.
She isn’t. She is something far more important… a Giftsnatcher, able to
discern, identify, and steal the spiritual gifts of others. For years,
she and her older sister have made a living selling them to paying
clients. But when Lord Tremain wants her to bestow a particularly
powerful gift on his grandson, for the first time in her life, Alana
can’t. It doesn’t work.
Her quest to find a stronger gift, one able to penetrate Edgar’s broken
defenses, leads her into the social circle of Dr. Joseph Bell, a leading
Edinburgh physician whose true profession comes to light as dark forces
close in around them. Her stable, predictable life is turned upside-down
when an unseen nemesis lures her into a series of macabre events that
force her to confront her fundamental beliefs about the nature of good
and evil.
Illusions, family curses, blood magic, and the Ripper killings unfold in
a chilling tale of magic, murder, and mayhem as Alana unravels the truth
not only about Edgar, but also herself.
Author's Notes:
I can’t seem to escape
tackling controversial topics, in this book the idea of family curses,
although it’s changed from a more tangible and realistic curse (such as
alcoholism) into a fantastical idea.
This book rather wrote itself. I knew the twist toward the end going in,
and that it would tie in the Ripper murders, but the rest unfurled with
each passing week. I intended to use Dr. Bell from the start. He’s
fascinating man, and was a fun character to write – a no-nonsense but
very compassionate figure, devout in his faith and as remarkable for his
observational skills as for his hidden talents.
Alana was a throwaway character in The
Secret in Belfast, important for only a few chapters, to
establish the Conclave and Richard’s role as their Influencer. But as I
wrote those few pages about a remarkable woman with the incredible
ability to “punish” those who use their gifts for evil, I knew she
needed a novel and an entire back story of her own. Here, she has it,
from the darkness in herself to her first meeting with Richard… although
only observant readers will pick up on it.
The decision to bring in Alistair and Henoria, from
Thornewicke, was made for two
reasons: I couldn’t find a place for them in
The Secret in Belfast,
however much I wanted to, and my readers asked me to delve further into
their marriage. Here, we have them a genuine couple for the first time,
and find out a few more surprising secrets and nuances of the
relationship between Guardians and Defenders.
In my usual tongue in cheek way, I’ve slipped in literary nods to some
of my favorite books and films, and made hints toward characters and
places that will be important in future books… which may just be set in
a time period much further back than 1888 England. But then, that’s part
of the fun of being a writer. Hopefully, it’s fun for you, as my reader,
too
Excerpt:
The ad in the newspaper says I am a witch.
Everyone who believes it comes in for a
reading. They sit at the small round table in our parlor, place their
hands in mine, and ask me for the power to accomplish all they desire. I
bestow a gift upon them. It never lasts long, but it is effective enough
to make them return for more.
Today, the rain interferes with our usual
stream of clients. Large drops hit the street and run into the gutter.
My sister is out, leaving me to the solitude of our front room. With the
exception of the scarlet and black curtains, it is deceptively normal. I
stare at the cards in front of me. Irina has more talent with them; to
me, they are simply unconnected symbols.
“You will never learn how to read them if you
don’t do it properly.”
I look up as our maid, Kasaria, enters the
room. Her gypsy blood is strong, giving her dark skin and exotic
features despite her advanced age. She pulls out a chair across from me
and sits down. Nimble fingers shuffle the cards and fan them in a
semi-circle on the table. “Tarot is an old kind of magic. You cannot
choose the cards on impulse but must let them speak to you. You must
sense them.”
“I sense nothing in them,” I answer. “These
are cards, nothing more. There is no power in them, nothing for me to
draw from. It is false, just as my sister’s séances are false, just as
that mirror has a light behind it, to reflect ghosts in the room, just
as that picture is on a wire so it levitates. Irina researches her
clients, and chooses her cards according to the little bumps she has put
in them with a needle. Her predictions are not genuine, but fabricated.
Look, here, this bump means the Death card.”
I turn it up, its grotesque skeletal face
leering at us. Kasaria frowns and turns it over again. “Your sister is
ingenious in her deceptions but ignores her own potential. She chooses
farce rather than devote time to learning the true craft.
You possess the real gifts. Let the card choose you.” She moves her
hand over them, drifting along until her brow furrows. Her thin fingers
turn up one, then another, and another. The color drains from her face.
“You must not see your clients tonight.”
“Lord Tremain is paying us a fortune for a
private session,” I answer, unimpressed as I stare down at the painted
cards. “I can assure you, not only will we see him and his grandson, we
will put on a grand performance.”
Disapproval lurks behind her unflinching,
eerie gaze. “The cards tell me that his presence in this house will
threaten everything you have built. He is a grave danger to you. It is
too great a risk.”
Pushing away the cards, I lean toward her.
“What does it risk?”
“Your talent. Your life.” Her eyes return to
mine. “Your soul.”
This sends a shiver up my spine, but I shake
my head. “Nonsense. He is a client like any other, and you worry too
much.”
“You don’t worry enough,” she counters,
stacking the cards. “You have so much confidence in your ability to
steal what gifts you need that you are not careful to protect the ones
you have acquired. I promised your mother to look after you, to protect
you from harm, but if you will not allow me to do that, I will take
matters into my own hands. You are less important than the power you
have accumulated.”
Gloom lurks in the space around us, the rain
diminishing slightly. The gaslight flickers as, with deliberation, I ask
softly, “Is that a threat?”
“It is a warning.” Kasaria rests her
weathered fingers on the tabletop. “If you do not heed my advice, you
may return one day to find me gone. I serve your mother, but I will not
serve you if I am unwanted.”
Feeling cold under her penetrating gaze, I
answer, “It is your right to leave, but it would not be prudent to take
anything that isn’t yours.”
“Is it theft to steal from a thief?”
Lightning flashes in the distance and cold
stirs in the air. Kasaria’s intensity fades and she reaches across
the table to take my hand. “I do not mean to alarm you, child. Your
mother told me to protect you, and if I could not do that, to protect
the magic. Your sister uses it carelessly; its true purpose is not to
give and take it in exchange for profit. In the wrong hands, it is
dangerous. Lord Tremain is dangerous. Do not enter into business with him
lightly. This card is a bad omen.”
Footsteps cross the front porch and the door opens. Irina enters, shaking water from her umbrella, a basket under her arm...
