Friday, September 23, 2011

Push

He burst out of his body and hovered above it. Well, not quite. His eyes were still closed. He could still feel the big man on top of him. He just, wasn't himself. He felt detached. Like when the doctors had made him take all of those pills as a child.

I'm dead, he reasoned. His voice seemed to echo as if from a distance. Where's the light?

Except he wasn't dead. His body was still resisting. The knife had stopped a hair's breadth from his throat. He could still feel it. It was just... blurry.

"Help me," his mouth growled. Only it was Inigo's voice that came out, not his.

How? Damian asked, but the response he got was incongruous to the question asked.

"Push," Inigo grunted.

Tossing aside his metaphysical concerns for a moment, Damian zeroed in on the command.  He couldn't feel any arms and legs. How could he push? Dutifully, he focused on the concept of pushing. Muscle against muscle.

Righty's knife slipped back an inch. Damian's eyes opened.  The rage on his assailant's face had been replaced by something else. Fear? 

"Push," Inigo reminded him.

He renewed his focus. The knife retreated another small bit. Righty ground his teeth in anger.  The bigger man was losing.  Suddenly, he rolled off of Damian. That quickly, the threat of death was gone. Righty thumped onto the floor. He scrambled to his feet, and made for the door.

He's fleeing? Damian leaped off the bed and retrieved his knife. He casually flipped it around so that he held the blade gingerly, and flung it. It found the space between Righty's shoulder blades a scant two steps before he reached the door.  The big man toppled forward with a thump.

Silence crashed in.  Damian stood, dumbfounded, and settled back into his own body.  His limbs tingled as if  blood had just resumed its circulation, and he shook out the pins and needles.

There were two dead bodies on the floor.

Knock, knock.

It took Damian a moment to realize that the knocks weren't in his head.  By that time, they'd sounded again. He crept toward the door.  A strong voice called from the other side.

"Damian?"

Damian froze.  It was a female voice.

"Genny?" he called out.

A quick glance through the peephole confirmed his guess.  He jumped back.  How did she find me?

"Are you all right in there?" came the concerned voice from the hallway.

"Yeah... uh... just a moment.  Let me get... ah... decent," he answered.

He turned around.

There were two dead bodies on the floor.

7 comments:

Nadja Notariani said...

...Well, Damien, explain that...Ha!

By the by...I just finished The Binder's Daughter! I'll be putting up my four star rating on Goodreads. I really liked your story! Michael was so tortured over his vampire 'state'. It was heartbreaking. I was so relieved when KeiKei finally showed him what he needed to see. And Matthias...well, I wouldn't mind him having a story of his own. I was quite interested in him throughout the storyline.
I wish more was explained about who/what exactly KeiKei was, and what exactly his bequeathing of the gift of 'spirit binder' meant/how it worked/future implications/why & when will Kiara be expected to 'bind'.. . Perhaps you are saving that for the next book? I also wish that I knew why (if there is an exact 'why') Michael was connected telepathically to Kiara.
Your romance between Kiara and Michael was nicely done. You conveyed a lot of emotion even though they don't get too 'involved'...wink,wink ;}
And...I love a happy ending. Great read, Matt! ~ Nadja

Matt said...

Incidentally, I just finished your book today too, so I hit you back! I left my thoughts in the form of a review :-)

Thanks for the thoughts and the read. A lot of those questions are definitely things I plan to expand upon in subsequent books. It's tentatively a planned to be a trilogy.

Matthias was a blast to write. He would be a great candidate for a prequel-type book/novella. I'll have to keep that in mind ;-).

Nadja Notariani said...

Matt,
Thank you for the review! I'm so glad you liked the fight scenes. I LOVE action...
I cannot wait for you to write another in this series...I want to read more on the things I mentioned!
And as for Matthias...well, ahem, I think he'll be a hit for readers of the female persuasion. lol.
When I started reading, I suggested your book to a number of fellow bloggers/book reviewers. Hope it helps. Talk to you soon! ~ Nadja

Matt said...

No problem. I wanted to try and highlight the things I felt were unique about your book. I think it is a great example of indie publishing enabling a good story to be shared. I'm not an expert in the genre, but I would guess it would have been tough to shop this book, as it seems pretty unique (which, we all know, is synonymous with "unmarketable," whether it actually is or not in the big publisher world right now).

I'll jump back to the Spirit Binder series right after I finish my current WIP. The plan is to go back and forth. Keeps me fresh and learning different things.

As for Matthias... nerds are sexy, eh? I'll have to make sure he gets some solid face time in the next book, then. :-D

Nadja Notariani said...

Oh my goodness would my book have been difficult to shop! Although, after reading around from the beginning, I never seriously considered anything other than indie publishing.
Yeah, I was noticing your 122k word progress on your current WIP...nice. I'm guessing you'll stay in the fantasy/sci-fi genre for this story?
As for nerds being sexy...well, that depends. I got a nerdy vibe off of Matthias, but nerdy in the sense of the ancient, intelligent, cool & calulating logic of a vampire. That combo is what made him sexy to me (women love a man who can 'handle business'...all kinds ;}. And after reading what my great friends over at the Brazen Broads Book Bash had to say...I imagine that's what a lot of women will think of that German vampire. Plus, men with accents earn bonus points.

Talk to you later...and yes...get to writing on a book for Matthais...Ha! ~ Nadja

Nadja Notariani said...

http://brazenbroadsbookbash.blogspot.com/2011/09/binders-daughter-matt-hofferth.html

Link to the Brazen Broads Book Bash...

Matt said...

I went zipping off after the last comment, then lunch and work happened... then I wrote a good post. Just awesome, thank you!

And yes, the new book is fantasy. More epic than urban this time and almost done. Then I'll jump back to the Spirit Binder Series.

I'm starting to see what y'all are saying about Matthias, but honestly I didn't intend him to be that way (or, to be fair, to not be that way either). He'll definitely be around in the next book, and I'll have to brainstorm about a novella or something with him in it :-D.

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