Exclusive Excerpt from A Caller From Austin

by Susi Hawke

God, I wished someone would kill me now. First, the vampire I’d told to hit the bricks turned out to be my favorite author. I couldn’t take back my first impression where I’d threatened to kill him, or the second where I threatened it again. Now my mother wanted to discuss my so-called sexual repression? Jeebus.

I sat back down when I realized I was making a scene. Dammit, apparently a man not only couldn’t have privacy in his own home, but he couldn’t storm off in a huff either. At least, not without making his mother’s ramblings sound valid.

Mama gave me a break—or so I could hope—and looked at Storm with fresh interest. “Storm, it occurs to me that you can’t have been a vampire for long if your twin sister still looks the same age as you. And we all know you won’t age now that you’re immortal. Pardon me if I’m touching on a sensitive topic, but do you mind if I ask how you came to be a vampire? I’m curious because I thought vampires stayed in a central nest, and yet here you are being such a good brother to your sister.”

Before I could stop myself, my hand shot out and grabbed his wrist. “Storm, you absolutely do not have to answer any questions that come out of my mom’s mouth. She’s nosier than a hound dog on the hunt.” I jerked my hand back, glaring at the intrigued look on my mother’s face.

Shaking my head in her direction, I blew out an exasperated breath and turned back to Storm. “Honestly, if you’re going to live here, then you might as well learn from the get-go that it’s perfectly okay for my mother’s curiosity to remain unfulfilled. Heck, some might even say it’s good for her.”

Storm’s eyes lit with silent laughter. “I don’t know about that, Darcy. It seems to me that curiosity left unfulfilled often leads to wild conjecture. I’d be better off just answering the question in the first place.” He winked and turned back to my mom. “As it happens, the jerk I was dating at the beginning of the war was a vampire. I had no idea because, like everyone else, I didn’t know the supernatural lore was based on truth until they came forward with that stupid press conference.”

I snorted. “God. That day when they revealed themselves and declared they were taking over because they were dominant and were better left in charge of the earth? I’ll never forget that. I mean, they had a point about us humans ruining it for everyone, but still. I can’t believe they didn’t expect war after that.”

Muriel nodded her agreement. “They would’ve won, too, if the supes hadn’t started fighting each other over which species was higher on the food chain. If they’d just maintained solidarity, we’d never have gotten that armistice agreement signed.”

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