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    Guardian of the Grimoire
    Guardian of the Grimoire
    Guardian of the Grimoire
    Ebook73 pages1 hour

    Guardian of the Grimoire

    By Karen McCullough

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Librarian Jess O’Rourke already has her hands full with her father’s declining health and the under-staffed, under-funded library she runs. A new preacher in town waging war on her books is just an annoyance at first, but an attractive mysterious stranger warns her that there’s more behind the reverend’s campaign than she can guess. The new preacher is a human possessed by a demon and he’s searching for an old grimoire that’s part of an uncatalogued collection of books stored in the library’s basement.

    Gabriel Sutton has been the guardian of the book for a long time, a very long time, he claims, since that has been his penance for crimes he committed as a soldier during the Civil War. He convinces Jess that she needs to find the grimoire and use it to return the demon to where he belongs.

    Their time gets short when the reverend realizes she’s searching for the book and resorts to desperate measures to either retrieve or destroy it.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherKaren McCullough
    Release dateOct 18, 2013
    ISBN9781310803789
    Guardian of the Grimoire
    Author

    Karen McCullough

    Karen McCullough is the author of ten published novels in the mystery, romantic suspense, and fantasy genres and has won numerous awards, including an Eppie Award for fantasy. She’s also been a four-time Eppie finalist, and a finalist in the Prism, Dream Realm, Rising Star, Lories, Scarlett Letter, and Vixen Awards contests. Her short fiction has appeared in several anthologies and numerous small press publications in the fantasy, science fiction, and romance genres. Her most recent release is A GIFT FOR MURDER, published in hardcover by Five Star/Gale Group Mysteries. She invites visitors to check out her home on the web at http://www.kmccullough.com and her site for the Market Center Mysteries series, http://www.marketcentermysteries.com

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      Book preview

      Guardian of the Grimoire - Karen McCullough

      GUARDIAN OF THE GRIMOIRE

      A Novella by

      Karen McCullough

      * * * * *

      Smashwords Edition Published By:

      Karen McCullough

      Copyright © 2010 by Karen G. McCullough

      No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by an electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the express written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law.

      Originally published as:

      HEART OF THE NIGHT

      First electronic edition 2010

      Red Rose Publishing

      Electronic Edition License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.

      This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination, or, if real, used fictitiously.

      Author's Note: I try to produce as clean a work as possible. This book has been through several rounds of editing in an effort to eliminate errors of grammar, usage, and consistency. However I realize that even multiple editors will overlook some things, so I ask that if you find any errors in this book, you let me know. You can email me at karen@kmccullough.com.

      Chapter One

      The gargoyle over the library’s main entrance twitched its wings and leaned down to look at her as she rushed up the steps.

      Jess O’Rourke stopped and blinked at it. She shook her head, staring upward. No movement now. Of course not. It was a stone statue. It must have been a pigeon or a crow flitting around that fooled her into thinking the gargoyle had moved.

      She was running late and her father’s deterioration had shown itself all too brutally that morning. Distraction had almost caused her to rear-end another car on the way there. That discombobulation surely explained the illusion. It couldn’t have been that outlandish thing watching her.

      She must’ve been more rattled by the morning than she knew. Her imagination embroidered a bird fluttering around the figure into the thing itself moving. Ridiculous illusions. Just as ridiculous as putting the statue there in the first place.

      Whatever had possessed the architect to include a gargoyle in the plans? It didn’t fit at all. The library building was a plain brick box with a simple porch and classic pediment above the front door. It showed no hint of gothic other than the ugly winged creature hunched over the pediment, its big ears spread wide, eyes trained on the road in front of the building, snout open to show its sharp teeth. It sat there, forever brooding on the visitors who climbed the six steps to the entrance.

      The breeze swirled around her, stirring up some of the dry oak leaves on the steps. Maybe the movement was just an autumn leaf drifting down over the figure. She shook her head again and hurried inside.

      The chaos of the day continued here. Lisa, her part-time assistant, managed the library by herself three mornings a week while Jess cared for her Alzheimers-afflicted father. The woman all but pounced on her as she entered, making Jess stop at the desk before she could even get to the office in the back to hang up her jacket and lock her purse away.

      Jess! Glad you’re here. More trouble this morning. This was tacked to the door when I got here. Lisa jumped up from behind the checkout desk, then went back to reach under it and bring out a piece of letter-sized white paper.

      Jess turned it around, read it, and realized she and Lisa should both have been more careful about how they handled the sheet. Could the cops still get fingerprints after they’d both touched it? Would they even bother? Crude hand lettering covered the page, writing so large that only a couple of sentences would fit.

      Jess read it aloud. Ungodly books are a curse on the entire town. ‘If thy hand offend thee, cut it off.’

      She slapped the paper back down on the desk. Ignorant assholes are the real curse on this town. I’ll bet it’s the same people who’ve been writing the letters to the editor about our fantasy books and some of the biology texts.

      It sounds kind of threatening, Lisa said. That bit about cutting a hand off.

      It’s from the Bible, Jess answered. Makes me wonder…What do you know about that strange group that’s been meeting at the old Presbyterian church on Winwood?

      Some of my neighbors have gone there. Doesn’t sound like my cup of tea, though. All that fire and brimstone stuff. Lisa shuddered. You think it’s them? Could be, I suppose. Weren’t they the ones that held the rally on the square? Where that Reverend what’s-his-name gave the speech about evil books and the sins of the world? Their God doesn’t sound like someone I’d really like to meet. I mean I know God is supposed to be great and awesome and all that, but theirs sounds like he’s also mean and spiteful and no fun at all.

      Jess grinned despite her worry. "I don’t know that he’s supposed to be fun, but he is supposed to be good. The

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