Haven't got around to picking up the DeMobbed duology yet?
It's got it all.
✅ Found family
✅ Sentient camper van
✅ A quest to the demon realm
✅ Romance + spicy times
✅ And a road trip nobody asked for
For this week only, as part of the Queer Your Bookshelf promotion, The Calling of the Well is on sale for 99c. That's a whopping 80% discount!
Obviously, buying direct from my shop is the best way to support me, but it's also available from other retailers here.
Check out all the books in the promotion here. Promo available March 14th.
The Calling of the Well goes live in the 13 Club shop tomorrow, and I'm so excited to share it with you. This story has been such a long time coming. I started work on it all the way back in 2017, and it grew from four disparate ideas into one cohesive story that I'm still in love with eight years later.
I wanted to share an excerpt that's fun but won't spoil anything, and I found this little gem. If you've read the Not the Same River series, you'll remember Astaroth from the final book. Well, they're back with their usual ethereal charm.
Enjoy!
POV: Astaroth
Astaroth was not Jacob fucking Marley, yet there they were paying visits in the middle of the night to people who were old enough to know better than to make the life choices they did. It was a peculiar kind of penance, and one they were not sure they had done anything heinous enough to deserve.
The president had grumbled loudly about being woken up at two in the morning when an ethereal being had somehow managed to breach the White House, the security team nowhere to be seen.
“I’m only here to bring back the secret you gambled away,” Astaroth told the man, handing over the sealed purple envelope.
He leaned back against his pillows in his fancy monogrammed pajamas. “How do I know that Asian kid didn’t look at what’s inside?”
“You can see it’s still sealed, and you shouldn’t gamble what you can’t afford to lose, Mr President.”
“Did you look at it?”
“I don’t need to open it to know what’s inside, but I have no interest in inciting an international incident. The last time I did that, heads rolled. Literally.”
The president eyed them skeptically.
Astaroth sighed. “The only secret that has been divulged in any capacity is Montero’s secret, which was the location of an object rightfully belonging to Mr Kirkland. All other secrets remain just that—secrets.”
“How do you… know things? Are you God?”
Goodness, what a weighty topic for the hour. Astaroth was certain the man would never have uttered such a question in broad, uncompromising daylight.
“You’d better hope not, Mr President, because your reputation hangs on your good Christian persona despite there being so very little evidence of it.”
Astaroth left the man to his blustering, exiting the White House the way they came—through the wall.
Mr Baldy-whatever was trickier to track down despite the predictability of his routine. Still, Astaroth arrived at the brothel a full five minutes before the aristocrat. The man was in a jovial mood as he removed his hat and overcoat, but his expression soured the moment he laid eyes on Astaroth.
He crossed the public lounge swiftly, dropping into the seat beside them, hissing under his breath. “What in the blazes are you doing here?”
Astaroth smiled, waving a hand at their surroundings. “Having a good time. Is that not why you’re here?”
The aristocrat cleared his throat. “So… you’re not here to see me?”
“I didn’t say that,” they said coyly.
“Ah, well, you see… I’m not sure… I mean, do you have, ah… the right equip—”
“I’m not here to seduce you,” Astaroth promised, barely holding in a laugh. “I came to return something to you.” They placed the purple envelope on the table. “You can call off the hunt for Sunny Wyatt.”
The man’s eyes widened, and he quickly stuffed the envelope into his inside jacket pocket. “He hasn’t seen the contents?”
“No, he has not. Nobody has. I’m not sure how you managed to get into Montero’s game with such a banal secret.”
“How do you know it’s banal?”
“I know everything,” Astaroth said. “I see everything.”
“So, if I went upstairs with one of these fine ladies, you’d be able to…” He nodded repeatedly as he tried to make his tongue form the words, finally whispering, “see us?”
Astaroth wrinkled their nose. “I will do my utmost to block that out. Now, do I have your word that you’ll stop targeting Mr Wyatt?”
“Yes.”
“It might also be prudent to focus those attempts closer to home on the Health Minister rather than the PM.”
He leaned closer. “What do you know about that?”
“Enough to know you’re looking in the wrong place for the leak.”
He eyed Astaroth suspiciously, then groaned. “How did you even know I’d be here tonight?”
“You’re a man of habit.”
“But I wasn’t due to be here tonight. I came yesterday.”
Astaroth stood, patting the man on the shoulder. “That’s not what I heard, dear.”
***
Join my gang of paranormal Vegas runaways for a road trip turned quest that's a little bit Scooby Doo, a little bit Wizard of Oz, and a whole lot of trouble.
If you're looking for more adventures with these characters, here's where you can find them.
If the book is already published, you'll find it in the books collection.
If it's not, you can hear more about upcoming releases in my newsletter.
***
The cast then, in order of appearance:
The man with hell in his eyes—Not the Same River series (Book 2 onwards), DeMobbed duology. Also known as Lucifer Pendragon (yes, that Lucifer).
Thatcher Kane—The Weakest Link (Not the Same River prequel), The Cursed Bones of Sergeant Boom!, Earth Render serial.
Simeon Fable—The Cursed Bones of Sergeant Boom!, Life Advice from the Dead archive, Earth Render serial (currently trying to find a new home).
Cecilia Rose Abaddon—The Cursed Bones of Sergeant Boom!, Two Souls & a Pocket Watch and its companion tale, Ninety Blooms & a Wishing Well, Thirteen at the Leash (Tales from the Noctuary #4).
Pride—The Cursed Bones of Sergeant Boom!, Earth Render serial. I'm considering reuniting him with Aguillard at some point 👀
Violet—the MC of Not the Same River series (start with A Storm of Paper Starlings), cameos in upcoming DeMobbed 2 and No Good Comes series.
Everyone you met at the priory appears throughout Not the Same River series.
The Duke of Rosemont—Not the Same River series (Book 4 onwards), Puddles in the Pavement (Tales from the Noctuary #2), Thirteen at the Leash (Tales from the Noctuary #4), The Two Souls Duo, A Victorian Christmas (short story/epilogue for the Two Souls Duo), Earth Render. Rosemont will eventually get his happy-ever-after when I’m done torturing him. He's also known as Gabriel Ozanne AKA the Archangel Gabriel.
Those damn pirates—The Pirates of Siorai trilogy. The first book, The Prince & the Pirate, is complete, but it won't be on the retail publishing schedule until I've completed the rest of the trilogy. Some of the pirates show up in the short story, Luke's Wolf, and the Earth Render serial.
Uriel—Puddles in the Pavement (Tales from the Noctuary #2), Not the Same River series (Books 5 & 6), DeMobbed duology, Thirteen at the Leash (Tales from the Noctuary #4), DeMobbed duology, No Good Comes series (cameos).
Bel—Puddles in the Pavement, Not the Same River series (Book 6), Two Souls & a Pocket Watch, Thirteen at the Leash, No Good Comes series (cameos). Bel will get his own love story eventually.
The duke. The smug, blonde-haired Scottish duke—Not the Same River series (Book 3), Puddles in the Pavement.
Hellhound—The Weakest Link (Not the Same River series prequel), and I'm working on a series about the vampire houses. These guys are from Cerberus House.
Oz—The Haunting of Wolfmordre Hall, an MM spinoff novel from the No Good Comes series, which kicks off a series of its own, in which his ghost-hunting sidekick gets his happy-ever-after. Oz features in Book 1 of No Good Comes.
Gwyn—The Haunting of Wolfmordre Hall. He gets a happy-ever-after in a spin-off series that I can’t tell you the name of because SPOILERS! MM
Lucifer—Not the Same River series (Book 2 onwards), DeMobbed duology
Raphael—Not the Same River series (Book 5 onwards). He features in the DeMobbed duology and will get his own MM story eventually.
Azrael—DeMobbed duology.
Ophelia—No Good Comes series. Will she and Eddie get their shit together? She also makes a cameo appearance in book 6 of Not the Same River.
The Undertakers—No Good Comes series (MF).
Armando Rose—Two Souls & a Pocket Watch, and its companion tale, Ninety Blooms & a Wishing Well.
Runa—Earth Render.
Raguel—Not the Same River series (Book 6), Furies at the Gate (Tales from the Noctuary #3)
The snake charmer—Not the Same River series (Book 3 onwards), DeMobbed duology.
Tabby/Isabelle—Not the Same River series (Book 3 onwards), Furies at the Gate, The Weakest Link (Not the Same River prequel).
***
I think that's it. Let me know if I left anyone out. And if you read any of my books and enjoy them, don't be shy about reviewing. Book reviews help me a tonne.
Thanks for reading Pride's Treasure.
Love Inka xo
❤️ 🧡 💛 💚 🩵 💙 💜
Everything goes dark for a moment, and your belly flips like you just peaked on a rollercoaster. Before you fly into freefall, you land in your bedroom, which looks smaller with Rosemont in it. Azrael is nowhere to be seen.
“Thanks for bringing me home,” you say, ignoring the fact that this man shouldn’t know where you live. “You can go now.”
He holds out his hand. “I’ll take the bum-bag.”
Dammit! You were hoping he’d forget. Even though you know it’s nothing but a fake, you still don’t want to part with Pride’s gift.
You unhook it from your waist and dangle it, now visible, between you. “Wait!” You unzip it to pull out the feather. “A gift from Violet, you tell him.”
“I suppose it won’t do any harm to let you keep it,” he says, confiscating the only bum-bag you would voluntarily wear again. “Stay out of trouble.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Because I’m always watching.”
Eww, creepy.
“Oh, I almost forgot.” Rosemont pulls a small flask from his inside jacket pocket. “It will help you sleep.”
You unscrew the lid, and an evil stench permeates the air. You screw it back on. “Help me sleep? That stuff’ll kill me.”
“It’s quite harmless despite the odour,” he says. “Magnus made it at the priory. It works, I assure you.”
You eye the flask warily. After your adventure, you could use a long nap.
“I suggest putting a peg on your nose,” says Rosemont. “That should do the trick.”
You don’t remember falling asleep, but there’s a foul taste in your mouth when you wake, like stale mint and diesel. You stretch, remembering your adventure with a smile. Just a dream, you tell yourself. When you glance down, you’re wearing your usual sleepwear, and you let out a long, disappointed sigh. You’ve kind of got used to Kane’s terrible taste in clothing.
You haul yourself out of bed and leave your bedroom in search of snacks.
A white feather floats gently to the rug behind you.
THE END
I hope you enjoyed being the star of the show. For a list of your fellow cast members and where you can find them, click here.
An olive-skinned man in a gaudy shirt flashes a grin and greets Pride warmly from behind the bar. “Back so soon?”
“I heard Tabby was back,” Pride says.
“Down the corridor, last door on the left.” The man whistles sharply, and a dark-skinned man standing at the entrance to the corridor looks over, nodding when the barman points to you and Pride. “Yemi’ll let you through.”
“Thanks, Harvey,” Pride says.
The huge bouncer lowers his head when Pride approaches, and you remind yourself once again that Pride is a literal god. A flash of red hair in the middle of the dancefloor has you glancing over at Uriel, who is dancing with his shirt off, garnering the kind of attention that would make most people blush. You smile to yourself and follow Pride to the end of the corridor, where he knocks on the last door on the left.
“Come in,” a woman calls.
She’s sitting at a dressing table, trying on a long silvery wig, all bouncy waves and shine. She glances at us in the mirror, then spins on her stool to face Pride, “What do you think?”
“If not for the silver, you would look exactly as you did the first time I met you,” he says.
She looks familiar, and it’s not until she stands and pulls off the wig, revealing a blonde bob underneath that you realise why. “Isabelle?”
She blinks at you, her eyes widening until she gasps, “Why, if it isn’t Edward Sheeran. Wait…” She slaps a hand over her mouth, then whispers, “But how did you do it?”
Pride assesses you shrewdly. “Tabby hasn’t gone by Isabelle for a long time. Just what did Uriel and Bel get you into when I left you in Victorian London?”
You laugh because it feels so long ago, yet it wasn’t, but it was.
“They played Uriel’s heartbroken yet murderous cousin to perfection,” says Tabby, eyeing you fondly. “They helped put away a murderer.” She clicks her fingers. “Oh, what was the bastard’s name?”
“Faultless Molvander,” you remind her.
“What a legacy to bear with a name like that,” she says. “But you still haven’t explained how you ended up there.”
“Let’s just say we had a run-in with a faulty portal,” Pride says.
“Is it working now?” she asks. “Because I have a meeting with Kane, and I don’t want to pull Yemi off the door if I can help it. It’s inexplicably busy out there this evening.”
“It’s working perfectly well, and yes, you can have a ride back to Kane’s,” says Pride. “But I came here for a reason.”
“You want the Shadow Codex back?” Tabby guesses. “Funnily enough, that’s why I need to see Kane. Raguel is pushing for Cascade protection on the club, and if he gets his mitts on my wards…”
“He can sweep in whenever he feels like it and confiscate whatever he wants?” says Pride.
“Precisely. I have a hard enough time keeping the pricks from the Home Office out, and as far as I know, Rosemont doesn’t know half of what I have stashed here.”
“Does Raguel?” you ask. “Because Uriel said he’d do anything to get his hands on Pride’s artefacts.”
“Did he, now?” says Pride, sharing matching arched eyebrows with Tabby. “Looks like I came to collect in the nick of time, then.”
“Give me a few minutes,” Tabby says, then disappears through the door.
When she’s gone, you ask, “What’s the Shadow Codex?”
“A book,” he says. “It contains every variation of spell capable of conjuring anything from the Tarragoth Axis.”
“Where the ash army came from?”
He nods. “I move it around often because, though it’s protected with a number of enchantments, it has a strong signature that will eventually leak into its environment.”
“Do you have a new place to move it to?”
“I have the perfect place in mind,” he says. “Somewhere nobody would ever think to look.”
He doesn’t elaborate, and you don’t ask.
Tabby rushes through the door, closing it quickly behind her. “He’s here,” she says, shoving a tiny ring box into Pride’s waiting hand. “Raguel.”
“Shit,” he mutters, opening the box to prod at the contents.
“That’s a book?” you ask.
“I told you there were enchantments. Come on, get the portal out and make it snappy.”
You open the bum-bag and pull out the portal, which expands in your hand the second it’s clear of its constraints.
“Kane and Fable,” says Pride, throwing it to the floor. “You first, Ed.”
***
You land in the back room of Kane’s shop, where Soup lets out a disgruntled yowl before bouncing onto the highest perch in the room.
“You’re back!” Simeon exclaims happily, as if you’re long-lost friends. “Is Pride…”
Pride lands right behind you, then Tabby.
Simeon claps his hands. “A full house. What fun!”
“Hey, you’re wearing a suit,” you say.
“I was considering going to a funeral,” he says.
“Oh, somebody died?” It seems a silly thing to have said now that it’s out.
“I expect so,” he says. “There’s always someone dying, isn’t there?”
“Wait, you’re going to… gatecrash a random funeral?”
“I am considering gatecrashing a random funeral,” he corrects. “If I can find one.”
“Is that a hobby of yours?”
“Who are they talking to?” Tabby whispers.
“I wouldn’t call it a hobby,” Simeon says. “More a way to pass the time when one is bored. But we have visitors now, so…”
“I should probably take that now,” Pride says, reaching for the bum-bag.
You reluctantly hand it over, far too reluctantly considering how ugly it is. “I think I’m going to miss this thing.”
Pride smiles as he straps it to his own waist, where it disappears, leaving the gross belt buckle behind. Then, he heads for an old walnut sideboard, pulling out a felt-lined drawer. Inside, sits a new bum-bag, just as ugly as Pride’s. He hands it to you. “A gift. To remember me by.”
You wrap it around your waist, smiling down at the vibrant orange colour, and swallowing a surge of disappointment when your fingers trace the top zip, meeting only nylon where you’ve grown accustomed to the hard enamel of Pride’s bag. “Thank you. Wait! The feather.”
Pride rummages in his bag, pulling out the white feather Violet gave you, and you lay it gently in the bum-bag, which seems to be filled with things that weren’t there a minute ago.
“Replicas,” Pride says.
“Are we all done?” Simeon asks, smiling broadly.
“Tabby’s here to see Kane,” you tell him.
He heads for the door. “This way, then.”
“Is someone going to tell me who they’re talking to?” Tabby asks again.
Pride opens the door when Simeon drifts through it. “That’s Simeon,” Pride explains. “He’s no longer with us.”
“I’m right here,” Simeon argues.
“Oh, I remember Simeon,” Tabby says. “I didn’t realise he was still here.”
You’re right behind Simeon. “Don’t forget to—”
It’s too late. Simeon drifts through the velvet curtain into Kane’s shop.
“Simeon!” Kane barks.
“Sorry,” he says. “Pride distracted me with his manliness.”
Kane groans, then he catches sight of what you’re wearing, which you only now remember belongs to Uriel. “You found a way to subvert it, then?”
“That shirt was hideous, by the way,” you tell him.
Kane chuckles. “The leggings were Simeon’s.”
Simeon gasps. “You gave them my Jurassic leggings? How dare you?”
“They’re back in your wardrobe now,” says Kane.
“I don’t trust you,” Simeon grumbles, drifting back through the curtain.
“For gods’ sake, Simeon!”
Simeon doesn’t respond.
“I understand you need your wards replacing,” Kane says, glancing up at Tabby, as he winds up a clock that proceeds to go backwards at twice the speed of normal time.
“More like upgrading,” says Tabby.
“Watchlist magic?” Kane asks.
Tabby grimaces. “I’m afraid so.”
“You’re aware I’m unlicensed?”
“I’m aware you’re the best,” she says.
“It will cost you.”
“I should hope so,” she says. “I wouldn’t be here if I wanted a cheap fix.”
The velvet curtain flips aside to reveal Simeon, still wearing his shirt and suit jacket, which is now paired with dinosaur leggings and fluffy slippers, this time shaped like monster feet. “So, you weren’t lying,” he announces to the room, running a hand down his scaly thigh. “And our new friend didn’t make them baggy in the knees, so I’m calling it a win.”
When the shop door opens, setting off a tinkling bell, Tabby’s mouth twists in a sour fashion. “Rosemont.”
You turn to find the Duke of Rosemont closing the door behind Azrael.
“This is quite the gathering,” Rosemont says. “Did my invitation get lost in the post?”
“Does anyone ever invite you anywhere, Rosemont?” Tabby enquires.
Rosemont ignores the slight, directing his piercing blue eyes in your direction. “I’ll be taking the frisbee, since a certain person cannot keep themselves out of trouble with it.”
“But how will I get home?” you ask.
“I’ll take you myself.”
“You?” asks Tabby.
A strange look passes between them, then Rosemont nods at Azrael, who is still waiting by the door, looking bored out of his skull. “We.”
You glance up at Pride, who gives a discreet nod towards the bum-bag you’re wearing. You know very well the frisbee is not in there because it’s in Pride’s bum-bag. Still, you open the top zip, trying not to show surprise when you find the small frisbee pouch sitting on top, just as it does in Pride’s bag. You hand the fake to Rosemont with what you hope looks like a reluctant pout.
Rosemont tucks it inside his jacket pocket. “Say your goodbyes,” he says, before joining Azrael by the door.
You’re mortified by the hot tears brewing in your eyes, but you manage quiet goodbyes. Tabby graces your cheeks with air kisses, Simeon gives you a hug you can’t feel, and Kane tells you to stay indoors during the next full moon. Pigeon the talking raven squawks at you to eat your greens, and Mush allows you to scratch behind his ears, which makes him more cross-eyed than usual. Soup peers down at you from the top shelf of a bookcase.
Pride reaches for your hand, and you let him take it, but you can’t bring yourself to look at his face. You don’t know if he’ll see you or Aguillard, and you’re not sure which is the better option.
“I won’t forget you, adventure buddy,” he says, pulling you into a hug and whispering in your ear. “Remember me, okay?”
You nod against his chest. “I’ll remember,” you promise. “Goodbye, Pride.”
“Farewell,” he says.
You head to the door, where Rosemont awaits, his elbow held out for you to take. You tuck your arm in his, and then you do look at Pride. He winks at you, his smile soft, his eyes bright.
Then he’s gone.
And so are you.
Episode 23: Wherein You Learn Magnus is a Menace With No Taste Buds