Heven and Hell Blog Tour: Charade

I am super excited because we have Cambira Herbert author, of the Heven and Hell series, joining us on the blog today. She is going to share an excerpt from Charade and I am showcasing the newest book in the series. 
We are also giving one lucky reader the entire eBook series of Heven and Hell...How cool is that? Uh oh..guess maybe I should have mentioned that particular pot of coffee has triple the caffeine. Cambira seems excited to start!

Hello everyone!!! *waves*

I am so glad to be here today! I am all caffeinated up and ready to go!*bounces in chair* For today’s tour stop on the Heven and Hell Tour: Charade, the wonderful Kimba has agreed to do a series showcase and share an excerpt from Charde (Heven and Hell #2) with you!!!

Here is the series at a glance:

Before (Heven and Hell #0.5) – A novella detailing what Heven was like before she met Sam, before she was scarred and before her life changed forever.

Masquerade (Heven and Hell #1) – The first novel in this series. Heven is disfigured, her self confidence shattered and she can’t even remember what happened to her. She is a mere shell of who she used to be and everywhere she goes she feels like she is being watched. Because she is. Sam comes along with his whiskey colored eyes and raspy voice and makes her feel things she thought she never would. But Sam has secrets. Dangerous ones.

Between (Heven and Hell #1.5) – A novella dedicated to a new, puzzling character that arrives at the end of Masquerade. Logan is Sam’s brother and he also might be trouble.

Charade (Heven and Hell #2) – The second novel in this series. Heven’s stalker might be out of the picture, she and Sam might be stronger than ever, but so is the danger. Witches, demons and even a dragon appear in this novel and they are all after the one thing Heven and Sam are trying to return to Italy, to its rightful place. New characters, new enemies, new betrayal. You decide who is real and who is putting on a Charade.

Excerpt from Charade

(Note: If you haven’t read Masquerade this excerpt contains spoilers)

*    *   *

I parked the car on a patch of grass shaded by a large tree and hurried to turn off the engine and shove the keys into my bag. I shut the door behind me and turned to face the little shack, my eyes already seeking Sam’s smile. He was down by the water watching a couple in a boat paddling out of sight. He turned slowly, drawing out my anticipation and making my heart thump unevenly.

We were staring at each other from across the soft expanse of bright green grass. My heart stopped altogether and a delicious warmth curled my toes and spread up, restarting my heart when it reached my chest. I raced forward, desperately wanting to close the distance between us. He was faster of course, reaching me in seconds, picking me up and swinging me around before catching me in a huge bear hug. I laughed. He squeezed harder and I squealed. He chuckled, planted me on my feet, and looked down.

I was nervous that he might not like my new style, but then I realized that I did and my nerves fell away. I smiled confidently as he slid his fingers through my locks and tugged at the corner of the side-swept bang. “I didn’t think you could get any prettier.” His voice was deep and raspy and it raised tiny goose flesh along my skin. “But you did.”

I grabbed his wrists and kissed him, standing up on tiptoe to press myself as close as humanly possible. I missed you this morning.

Me too, Hev. Me too.

Suddenly, he pulled back, breaking off our kiss. I pressed my lips together, trying to make it last just seconds longer. “You were with Cole?”

My eyes shot up to his at his accusatory tone. “Yes… no.” I shook my head trying to banish the haze of fog his lips left in my head.

He crossed his arms over his chest and stared at me. I glanced just beyond his shoulder, my eyes landing on a fish jumping in the lake. “I wasn’t with him. I just ran into him in the parking lot of the hair salon.”

His whiskey-colored eyes narrowed and I felt his anger.

“How did you even know?” I mumbled. I didn’t like when he got mad at me and I looked away again. The water was still rippling with the force of the fish’s jump. Must have been a big one… yet, it hadn’t really looked like a fish, in fact, it looked like…

“You smell like him,” Sam said, his voice hard, drawing me out of my thoughts and tugging my eyes back to his face. “What was Cole doing at the hair salon?”

“Getting a perm and some highlights.” I giggled. Sam didn’t seem amused. I let out an exasperated breath. “He works at the grocery store next door!” I demanded. Who cared anyway? Sam let out a gruff sound and then muttered something about Cole always being around, but I wasn’t listening. I was staring at the water again. Something wasn’t right.

Something was slithering closer to the shore, and the way it moved along the surface of the water half-in, half-out was creepy and odd. I watched as its long tail propelled it faster. Its skin was bumpy and green like a crocodile’s. Except we didn’t have crocodiles in Maine. “Sam,” I whispered, but Sam was still muttering and making noise about Cole.

I watched as the thing rose completely out of the water, standing on two legs, and I gasped. In one fluid motion, Sam turned, tucking me behind him. I thought I heard him sigh before his back went ramrod straight and his body began to quiver.

I peeked around him to look. It was a crocodile. At least half of it was. The other half was a man. From the waist down, the crocodile man was green and scaly with a long, curving tail and wide feet tipped with sharp claws. From the waist up, he had skin that was olive toned and shiny with slime. His fingers were gnarled and crooked, and he didn’t stand straight, but hunched over like his short reptile legs couldn’t support his weight. His face was more disturbing than his half-man, half-reptile body. His nose was overly long and hooked, and his eyes were a flat-black color that stared at me with a surprising amount of hatred, considering how vacant they looked. His skin was not smooth, but rough, suggesting scales where there were none. He had no eyebrows. In fact, he had no hair at all and his aura was white.

All these things had white auras.

The absolute worst color an aura could be.

“Go hide in the office,” Sam told me, not taking his eyes off the advancing creature.

I stifled the urge to argue. He knew how I felt about hiding while he took on all the danger. I splayed my palm along his back, spreading my fingers wide, while I debated my options.

Please, Hev. Don’t make me worry.

I exhaled and stepped out from behind him to run toward the rental shack. Now wasn’t the time to argue. The creature let out a long, loud hiss, planted himself firmly on his short crocodile legs, and tossed his tail in my direction. To my horror, he had a tail like Gumby that stretched with the force of his throw and I stared, frozen, as the thing wrapped around my feet and began to tug me closer.

His scales were slimy like his skin.

With a roar, Sam, now a sleek black hellhound, pounced and used his razor-sharp claws to sever the thing’s tail. The crocodile man screamed in anger or agony, I couldn’t tell, and he fell forward to land on all fours. I watched in horror as it scurried across the ground toward me. I shivered because it moved like a spider. Sam wasn’t having any of it and rushed forward, landing directly on top of him as the demon thrashed about. A long tongue darted out of his mouth and began to wind around Sam’s neck. Panic built up in me as I struggled to escape the tail, which was still wrapped around me amazingly tight. I struggled for what seemed like hours, desperately wanting to be free to help Sam.

I heard a sharp tearing sound and looked up just in time to see the creature’s head splash into the lake.

I stopped struggling.

It was over.

I couldn’t stop the tears that slipped down my face, so I settled for swiping them away quickly, hoping Sam wouldn’t have to see them.

He came to me, his skin slick with sweat and slime from the creature, his pair of running shorts hastily pulled on backwards. I managed to get one foot untangled from the crocodile tail and was fighting with the other. Sam reached down, gently removing my hands and then grabbed the tail and yanked. It gave way, curling around his arm. He made a disgusted sound and jogged to the lake, throwing it out into the center, following the creature’s horrid face, where it sank out of sight.

*   *   *

Want to know what happens next? Read Charade!  Lol.

Thank you for having me here today, it’s been awesome! ~ Cambria

Thanks for being here Cambria ! Below is the synopsis for Charade and links to order your copies! 

Charade
by Cambira Hebert
Series: Heven and Hell #2
Publisher: Otherworld Publications
Publication date: May 18, 2012
Purchase your copy of any of the books here:
Barnes and Noble /Amazon 

Dying at the hands of a psycho was a shock. Having my life returned to me by an angel was incredible. Being named a Supernatural Treasure and being given Sam as my guard was pretty darn awesome. Acquiring a debt for it all—well, I should have seen it coming.

Now here we are, fighting demons from Hell, caring for a boy that I just don’t trust, and traveling to faraway places to return a treasure to its rightful place. Nothing is as it seems. Everyone wears a mask; everyone puts on a charade. It’s up to us to separate the truth from the lies and reality from fiction. A hard task when my new reality involves fallen angels, witches and dragons… and did I mention Hell?

Anchoring me down through it all is Sam. Sam, who must face tragedies of his own and is put to the test again and again.

If we fail in our task, life as we know it—life as you know it—will end. Forever.

Be sure and enter the Rafflecopter below to win your ebook set of 

the Heven and Hell series!!!

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