December Spoilerific Sneak Peek: Tense Friendships

Hey again, everyone!

Good Intentions 5 continues rolling onward, though I fell short of my hopes for November. Surprisingly, I only lost a day’s work to our awful shitshow election. (I don’t want to invest much time talking about that, but if you’re here and you’re one of my readers, you can imagine I that wanted things to go the other way.) But I remembered my books are a way of helping people through rough stuff, so I bounced back fast and had a really productive week…

…and then Seattle got hit with a bomb cyclone and my house lost power for two days. And we needed another day to bring things back to normal. And then we had ten people coming for Thanksgiving, which meant days of house and food prep. I’m grateful to have that chance, of course, but… how is it that November was the pick for “national novel writing month” again? How the hell is THIS the month to buckle down and write?

To cut to the chase: at the start of this month, I really hoped to bring GI 5 past 60k words. November closed with me squeezing in writing time wherever I could, so I got just past 50k instead. That’s still a great pace for me, all things considered. So I can pat myself on the back as long as I include some asterisks. :) Hopefully next month will allow more focus.

On to this month’s posts! Spoilerific stuff below, with this month's chapter to follow today or tomorrow!

GOOD INTENTIONS 5 drops some long-ignored family drama into Alex’s lap, bringing him, Lorelei, and Rachel to sunny Las Vegas. Alex has been there as a child, but that was before his life turned upside down and spooky. These days, he wants to look before he leaps, and the crew knows one person familiar with the Las Vegas night life… who, in turn, has his own wary concerns…

“Huh.”

“Huh?” asked Alex.

“Yeah. Huh.” Hector Kingston stared at Alex from the other side of the counter—his counter, built mostly of thick glass to display a variety of handguns. Dark eyes set in a dark face scanned Alex without a hint of what they sought. The shop’s proprietor carried an image of casual confidence and strength, punctuated by a Jamaican accent to his deep voice. Short dreadlocks, a goatee, and an open Hawaiian shirt over a plain tee and jewelry added to the image.

Dark wood paneling and the faint scent of oil added to the image, too. His shop lacked the posters and logos Alex usually saw in other places that sold guns. After waiting out the previous customers, it lacked any onlookers, too. The counter hosted only Alex, his companions, and Hector—whose skills and merchandise went beyond those of the average gun dealer.

“Kinda blatant with the aura-reading, aren’t you?” Onyx scaled her dark ensemble down for warmer weather, but her ankle-length skirt and top were as black as her usual wardrobe.

“Should I hide it?” Hector still watched Alex.

“Most people think that’s polite,” said Onyx.

“Polite, maybe, but blatant is at least honest.”

“Yeah, but you know us.” Molly took to summer easier than Onyx, trading her dark jeans for dark shorts that had all of Alex’s attention until they got here. She’d always been more comfortable with Hector than Onyx, too. “Aren’t we cool?”

“We are, sure.” Hector turned to the counter along the wall behind him, pulling a drawer from a richly-stained wooden library card catalog. Alex didn’t see what he withdrew until Hector raised his hand to blow a grey cloud of dust at him.

“Whoa, what—?” Alex blinked and stepped back. Nothing in Hector’s body language warned of a real attack. The cloud seemed harmless, though some of the dust caught on his shirt—heavy dust, mixing gunmetal grey with jagged white.

“Hey,” Molly protested. “You didn’t give our other friends this kind of shit.”

“That’s why you didn’t expect it now.” Hector nodded to Alex. “Powdered iron and salt, man. Harmless. Brush it off.”

“If it’s harmless, what’s the…?” Alex stopped. “It’s to shut down any magic.”

“Or curses or illusions. Good for cutting puppet strings. If you’ve got ‘em, I’m doin’ you a favor.” Hector folded his arms and looked Alex over again. “I don’t really know you. I know the company you keep. Some’s good,” he said, nodding to Onyx and Molly. “They tell me your other company is cool, but I don’t take anything for granted. You know the demon lady. I don’t, so a demon’s a demon.”

“You’ll notice we didn’t bring her,” said Onyx. “Even though she’s cool.”

“I know you say so. Ain’t nothin’ against you.” Hector watched Alex brush the dust from his chest. His eyes narrowed. “And your guy’s got somethin’ in him too deep for salt and iron.”

“Okay, yeah,” Alex said as he caught on. “You got me. Technically it’s a curse. They know. It’s only on me and it doesn’t hurt anyone. Past that, it’s personal.”

Hector’s examination included a downward glance at his subject, and then his eyes rolled away. “A’ight. If you know and they know, it’s your lookout.”

“Is our word for Alex good now?” asked Onyx.

“His aura shows how he feels about you two,” said Hector. “You seem to know all about him and his situation, so yeah. We’re good.”

Molly frowned. “Wait—Hector, are you looking out for us?”

“Might be.”

“Why?” asked Onyx.

“Maybe I like some locals better than others.” His eyes narrowed curiously. “We been around a few blocks. Fought together. Molly’s chill. You ever gonna drop the side-eye?”

“Plot twist: coming to you was her idea,” said Molly.

“We’re all chill,” said Onyx. “You’ve done right by us. Always been friendly, too. I know it.”

“Okay. So?” asked Hector. “It ain’t for something petty. I know you ain’t like that. So what’s the deal?”

“You told us once that you’re only altruistic when it doesn’t cost you,” said Onyx. “Said it right after you shot someone in front of us. You saved our necks by shooting him, but that helped you out, too. I feel like if I started calling you a good guy, you’d lose some respect for me.”

Hector stopped, stared… and then smiled broadly. “This is why I like you two.”

“Back at you.”