Scouting Jasmine

Book 0: Jaz Parks

by Jennifer Rardin

Genres: Fantasy Romance; Paranormal; Urban Fantasy

Synopsis

Jaz Parks is on the hunt for a politically-powerful vampire; but little does she know that she herself is being hunted -- by her future boss, Vayl. In this exciting short story that takes place prior to Once Bitten, Twice Shy, Vayl sees Jaz in action for the very first time.

Release date: April 18, 2011

Publisher: Orbit

Print pages: 32

Sample

Jasmine Parks leaned against a maple tree at the edge of a grassy path, one booted ankle crossed over the other. Her left hand clutched a knife nearly as long as a machete. In her right she held the Walther PPK that had made her the envy of every other assassin in her department. She called it Grief, and Vayl noted that she had already transformed it into crossbow mode as it rested against her thigh. He supposed it would serve her well once again in her mission to smoke Almont, the Vulture of Indianapolis.



Vayl had never met the vampire himself. But he had heard enough. In fact, the only reason he had refused the opportunity to eliminate a nestleader, with the audacity to turn a state’s governor and either blackmail or bully its top authorities into transforming its capital into his own personal fiefdom, was because it interested him to see how Jasmine would handle the assignment. After all, she had become something of a mythic figure within the CIA’s most obscure section.

A fragile beauty with a halo of fiery hair who spoke tersely when she deigned to talk at all, Jasmine had never failed to hit her target. According to the file Vayl had purloined, she seemed to have an uncanny ability to know where her prey crouched before they managed to pinpoint her position. And despite increasingly daring exploits, she had so far escaped unharmed. He found her methods fascinating and wished to observe her work firsthand.

At least that was what he had told Pete. And himself.

But now, watching from the cover of a monument so large it dwarfed the cedar tree beside it, Vayl found it difficult to perpetuate the lie. Though the night was sultry for May, Jasmine had chosen black leather for her jacket, pants, and boots. Perhaps not such a bad decision considering the woods at her back were filled with thornbushes and the crypt before her was stacked with vampires, but as far as Vayl was concerned, the outfit could not have been more perfect, either. He thanked the fates that a man born to fret over the endless layers of a woman’s skirts could have lived long enough to slide his eyes over an outfit so supple that it seemed to celebrate the curves of her hips, to invite his hands to explore her soft belly and high breasts.

He felt his breath come faster and let his forehead rest against the stone marker before him. He reminded himself that a general lay beneath his feet. That he and Jasmine stood within one of the largest cemeteries in the country, and if either of them lost their heads, Pete would be forced to dig new graves alarmingly similar to these old ones. Besides—he looked up at the woman who had lost everything that mattered to her less than five months before—she was not interested in new attachments. He could see it even now, when she raked her eyes across the space between them. They held only death.

Even though she should not be able to see him, Vayl called up the power that would distract her vision and make him seem to be part of the marble that hid him. He twirled the tiger-carved cane in his hand, promisin. . .