A Modern Day Witch Hunt
Available Now from eXcessica

Reviews:

Rating: 4 stars

"Kamillia, the heroine of Kiki Howell’s A Modern Day Witch Hunt (eXcessica Publishing, 2009), is like a female version of Harry Potter, mixed with Sookie Stackhouse and Sarah Connor.

Kamillia, as far as she knows, is a fantasy writer. Like Harry Potter, she has no idea of her true powers. She’s a witch, just as her parents were. Like Harry, Kamillia lost her parents to an evil group of dark wizards. Like Charlaine Harris‘  Sookie Stackhouse, Kamillia can read minds, an ability that has made it difficult for her to fit in with others. Like Sookie, the orphaned Kamillia was raised by a fiercely honest, deeply beloved grandmother.

Luca, a Watcher who appears to be eternally twenty-five years old, was sent to protect her. This part of the story reminds me of Kyle Reese and Sarah Connor in the original Terminator movie. Like Kyle and Sarah, Luca and Kamillia are headed down an inevitable path of attraction. Unlike Kyle, Luca sees colorful auras swirling around human beings. He’s acutely sensitive to emotions, and the way human emotions affect the world around them.

The sex? Scorching, yet still achingly romantic and mystical. The sadness? Just as overwhelming. Although Luca and Kamillia feel an inexorable attraction to one another, his job as a Watcher, watching over the river of life, means he will inevitable have to leave her. When Kamillia and Luca must travel to Florence, Italy, they learn their lives have been linked for centuries. Are they destined to be star-crossed lovers for eternity, or will the universe finally let them be together? It will take a powerful kind of magic to right the wrongs that have been done to them, but Luca just might know a way."~Review By Erin O’Riordan

"This was definitely a different rendering of a witch hunt and I have to say that what was certainly hot sex in the story was perpetrated for the most unique reason ever given. But I must say that the ending is perhaps the most intriguing one there has been given to a tale that doesn't seem open to a sequel. Although just the tiniest bit convoluted in it's premise and perhaps a wee bit confusing if you don't read it slowly, it is nonetheless one of the most unusual reads I've had in a while." ~Review by Alternative-Reads
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BLURB: Kamillia is an author of paranormal romances living in an upscale suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. Accused of being an actual witch herself by an ambitious group of businessmen with a dark agenda, she is surprised to find a man who resembles one of her fictional, alpha male heroes at her door offering her protection.

Luca is an immortal Watcher from the River of Light. Sent to Earth to help Kamillia, whose true heritage has yet to be revealed to her, Luca is caught off guard by the fighting spirit of the woman and the way his human body betrays him in her presence.

When research for her next novel requires Kamillia to travel to Italy, she and Luca are forced to join together despite numerous obstacles to overcome the evil of many centuries blocking a portal there. Only then, can she return to the problems awaiting her in her own city, with or without this stranger who has captured her heart but cannot share her future.

Length: Short Novel
Formats: eBook and Print
Genre: Erotic Paranormal Romance
Mystical Beings: Witches, Immortal Watcher
Warnings: Some Graphic Language


Excerpt:

Prologue Shores of Cleveland, Ohio 2009

As he sat looking out upon the vastness of the water, the waves beat at the shore with the same urgency he felt inside. Leaning against an autumn bare tree, Luca could see the blue-gray haze over the cityscape silhouette to his right. The pollution, a mixture of smoke and sky, stood as an omen of great significance to him knowing the buildings held within them the inhabitants he had both come to protect and come to battle. In his five hundred years as a Watcher, the energy of the Earth had changed negatively affecting the human condition.

From his realm, each city had its own fundamental haze blurring its buildings and beings. This mystical force field, referred to as The River of Light, or simply The River by Watchers such as Luca, covered the earth forming an energy grid. The grid could be seen as a matrix of light and sound and colors which formed geometric patterns around the planet. Humans had attempted to observe such patterns in the study of Sacred Geometry, but it was the immortal Watchers who from their post at The River watched over and recorded the shifting spiritual energies of the times. Ever shifting slightly, the ebbs and flows of the negative and positive life energy swirled and moved over the varied landscapes of the Earth much like waterways. Therefore, it was critical for him to witness when certain events emerged, what energy they added to the collective conscious of the world and how that energy impacted the flow of The River. Recently this city in the northeastern part of Ohio had grown darker and darker until it looked like it was choking under a bout of polluted smog.

On Earth, back in true human form, a Watcher could see through this light haze to the true souls of the people which were revealed to him in the colors of their auras. Both systems simply mirrored each other. Just as the human body had a meridian system with vital life force energy flowing through it, the world had a similar system of passageways through which the collective life force flowed. On the astral plane, the integral energy of thoughts, words and deeds combined into the mystical force field he kept watch over. Although he had been sent to Earth many times before, a greater sense of foreboding gripped him this time. The places where the lines of the energy grid intersected and channeled to the earth had become blocked at alarming rates here these last few days. At portals such these, the energy was stronger in its effects on the surrounding area.

Luca had felt Ahti, the Watcher who had called him from his post, approaching with peace so strong it preceded him even as he crossed realms. When footsteps pushed aside the sand, he knew the moment had come to begin his next assignment. As a large shadow covered over the foam evidence of the last wash of the current along the shore, Ahti spoke to Luca in an oddly comforting voice for the exigency of his message.

“It is time, Luca. It has begun to worsen here beyond what we had anticipated. The River of Light is polluted greatly over this region. The black forces, which some ignorantly mess with, have charged the air with a significant amount of negativity. It darkened just this morning causing the ripple effect to the flow at this portal greater than we had initially feared. I have granted humanness to many of the immortal watchers like you this time. You each know the job you have to do to help the human you have been assigned to. You know what is at stake. She is going to soon be at a crossroads, and her decisions will have a major impact on The River. Such is the human condition these days that I often feel the fate of the world is being decided with each mission.”

“Yes, Ahti, I will do my best to clear the portal here.”

“I am afraid this mission will not be so simple. Sometimes Watchers are called for anomalous reasons. Depending on why a Watcher was called in the first place, these exclusive missions, deviating from the norm, can be much more involved than they usually are. So, follow the signs without questioning them. You are a Watcher with great powers, but you also have been matched to Kamillia for unique reasons not yet revealed. Trust, Luca, you understand why it has to be so. I can not explain any further at the present though without jeopardizing your part in the whole.”

“She is still unaware of her heritage, sir?”

“Very much so. The history you were given of your charge when summoned was very much up-to-date despite the haste of its delivery. You know Kamillia has been back in her hometown now for over a year. The first attacks on her by the Mastema began a few weeks ago. Yet, Kamillia is a strong woman, despite being unaware of all she is. The Mastema have been playing with spells of black magic they do not truly understand. With their frail human knowledge, they do not realize their actions are slowly condemning the world. The men lust for power and material possessions and, in their ignorance, have succumbed to any means necessary to obtain such things. The Mastema have become mere pawns to the evil they have played with. The demons rule the men now. Therefore the portal here has darkened. The nature of the depravity they have invoked goes beyond what we have seen in centuries. The negative energy of their thoughts and actions greatly interrupts the flow of The River.”

Luca turned to look at the Watcher who he trusted enough to do whatever was asked of him. He thought with a smirk that for one so great and wise, the man in front of him looked the part. Watchers were all stuck at the age their lives had ended on Earth. Ahti was a wise old seventy-nine when he was granted his immortality, so he looked like the sage he was. He served a bigger role among them as messenger and guide. Unlike him, Luca’s final life had been cut short making him an eternal twenty-five. He had no memories of his time alive like all of the Watchers, and was not allowed the knowledge as to why he had been chosen. The sky behind the formidable figure lurked with unnatural shades of jade and agate creating darkness like the coming of a storm.

“What is with the sky?”

Ahti turned so rapidly the cloak of white he wore rippled like the white caps on the angry Lake Erie. “I do not know. Go Now!”