The Sellouts
The Sellouts
Written by:
Jeffrey Alan Henning
Copyright © 2009 by Jeffrey Alan Henning
Cover and icon design by Jeffrey Alan Henning
Book written by Jeffrey Alan Henning
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
Jeffrey Alan Henning
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Dominating the Demon Within
Release Date:
November 30
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, 2014
Short Description:
In the Three Lands, Angels and Demons can inhabit human hosts, should the host accept them. Angels are revered, while Demons are killed onsite. So when the Angel Aturah the Wise asks to travel with one of the last remaining magic users in the Three Lands, Grammard Poske can’t refuse. Soon into their journey, Grammard is abducted by a group of Demons. His only way to survive is to summon the Demon Paos into him. While Grammard and Paos battle over control of their shared body, Grammard discovers a plot for Demons to rule the world that has been in progress for over a century.
The Avatar Series
Book 1:
Death Trade
Release Date:
July 8
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, 2013
Short Description:
John Ashkore has been the Avatar of Death for a little over 7 years. As Death’s helping hand on the mortal plane, he is frequently given tasks by Death himself. Only this time, the task is something John never expected, keeping someone alive instead of dead! The problems are: he must do this while fending off a psychopath who wants him dead, maintaining secrecy from the world, ducking the law, keeping one of Death’s clients alive, and above all - staying alive himself…
Book 2:
Luck is Everywhere
Release Date:
September 6
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, 2013
Short Description:
Helena Thompson has been the Avatar of Luck for a few years now, though all she's been doing is training. Finally, Lady Luck has given her a mission to accomplish in the real world, and it's only her Luck that's keeping her alive. Luck, and John Ashkore - the Avatar of Death.
With someone close to her trying to kill her, and unable to trust anyone but The Avatar of Death and his “Butler”, Stephan, she must find out who’s trying to kill her while proving to Lady Luck that she’s a capable Avatar of Luck.
The Crymson Guard
(Short Stories)
Storysode #01:
Prisoner 500
Release Date:
January 1st, 2015
Short Description:
A team consisting of an Agent, a Wizard, a Knight, A Fairy, and a Healer is brought together to save Earth from enslavement and slaughter by Demons.
Storysode #02:
Infiltrated!
Release Date:
February 19th, 2015
Short Description:
The team’s new headquarters is infiltrated by Demons and they must figure out how to combat and protect themselves from this new threat.
Storysode #03:
Demon Lord Drahux
Release Date:
April 5
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, 2015
Short Description:
The Wizard and the Knight must find out who is posing as the new Demon Lord Drahux and find out what he wants with the other half of the Wizard’s staff.
Prologue
January 25
th
, 1915 1:03 AM
The opera, “Madame Sans-Gêne”, was barely past intermission when Tina Oslett ran from the Metropolitan Opera in New York City as fast as she could, throwing her knock-off fur coat over her shoulders. The snow was falling lightly over the fur as she pulled it close to her.
“Mrs. Oslett! Please wait! Let me explain!” a man shouted after her.
She stopped quickly and pointed her finger in the man’s face. “Mr. Dunsby! I can not believe you would propose such a thing! Shame on you and your family! What would your wife think?”
“Please, we don’t have to tell her. We can just forget this ever happened and go back to finish the opera.” Mr. Dunsby said quietly, trying to grab her arm.
She shook away from his arm and stalked off, raising her arm for one of the new-fangled taxis. She wouldn’t get very far with the little money she had, but she decided anywhere was better than here right now. The taxi was loud as it pulled up. The cabbie jumped out quickly and rushed to open the door for her, tipping his hat and saying “Good evening, Miss.” as he did so. He ran around the cab quickly and jumped back into the driver’s seat.
“Where to Miss?” he asked her.
She fished out a few pennies. “How far will three pennies get me towards Brooklyn?” she asked him quietly.
“Almost the whole way for a pretty lass like you.” he said as he started driving.
Tina gave a dark look towards Mr. Dunsby as the cab lurched forward.
“Rough night, Miss?” the cabbie asked.
“No offense to you Sir, but I’d rather not talk about it.” she said as she pulled her short fur coat over as much of her legs as she could.
The cabbie tipped his hat with a quick glance back. “Sorry Miss, I didn’t mean anything by it, just usually talk on the drive is all.” he said quickly.
The streets weren’t crowded at all at this time of night, so the trip was relatively short. The cabbie took her as far as her three pennies would take her and stopped twelve blocks short of her apartment. The cabbie ran around and opened the door for her, and held his hand out to help her out.
“Mind the puddle, Miss.” he said as she stepped over it.
“Thank you for the ride.” she said as she handed him the only money she had on her.
“Be careful on these streets, Miss.” he said with another tip of his hat. He walked around and got into his cab, driving off through the light snow.
Tina didn’t say anything to him as she started walking towards her small one bedroom apartment that she shared with one of her girlfriends. She was thinking about Mr. Dunsby and how she had to go back to work for him in the morning, even though he had given her tomorrow off if she would come to the opera with him. She had agreed only because he said he was meeting clients and would need her to take notes for him. He lied. He wanted
her
. She shook her head as she cursed quietly.
The lights from buildings on the street dimly lit her path, some were flickering, and all were casting strange shadows. She was mostly watching the ground as she walked, careful of slipping on the ice in her best heels when she had bumped into someone. He seemed to come out of nowhere.
“Excuse me, Sir.” she apologized. When she got a good look at him, she noticed he was wearing dirty clothes, his face was unshaven, and the top of his head was bald. He looked back at her and looked her up and down.
“You’ll do nicely!” he said.
Suddenly a hand was covering her mouth and she was being dragged into the alleyway by another man she hadn’t noticed. She screamed through the hand.
“Quiet down, or I’ll have to hurt you.” the first man said quietly, brandishing a pocket knife. “Hurry up, get her to the back wall.” he told the man dragging her.
“I’m tryin’ to, but she’s wigglin’ too much.” the other man said as he finally just lifted her off the ground with his second hand around her waist.
Tina continued to scream through the hand, and kick and punch at the man holding her. It had no effect. She doubted he even felt it through his thick coat.
“Put her over the crate there.” the man with the knife said as they neared the back of the alleyway.
Tina was slammed down hard on her back over the crate so that her head and her feet were dangling off the ends. She tried to punch and kick, but the first man had grabbed both of her tiny wrists in one hand, and still clamped his hand over her mouth, pushing her head down at an angle that hurt.
The man with the knife used it to cut her cheap fur coat down the front, ripping it open furiously. He smiled an ugly toothless grin as he cut the front of her dress from her bosom down to the end. The only sounds coming from the alleyway were her muffled cries and the ripping of fabric as he tore her nicest dress off and started revealing her naked body.
“Nice…” he mumbled as he unzipped his pants.
The man holding her moved his hand from her mouth and reached for her naked breast. As he did, she screamed as loud as she could.
“What are you doin’? It’s my turn to fuck, your turn to hold! Shut her up!” the man with the knife said as he penetrated her hard. She cried out in pain and fear as the man put his hand back over her mouth.
His hand was partially in her mouth this time, so she bit him as hard as she could. He yelled and pulled his hand up, only to slam it back down on her mouth, forcing her head down too hard. There was a cracking sound as her neck broke.
Her body went limp.
“What did you do?” the man with the knife said as he pulled out of her and zipped his pants up quickly.
“She bit me.” the big man said quickly in his defense.
“You killed her! She’s not breathin’ anymore!” the man said while backing away.”
“So… mind if I have a go?” the big man asked him.
“You’re gonna’ fuck a corpse?” he said, backing away.
“She’s still warm.” he shrugged.
The knife-man shook his head and hurried backward towards the entrance to the alleyway. “Just make it fast.” he told the other man, who just smiled at him. “I’ll keep a lookout.”
January 25th, 1915 4:07 AM
A stray dog sniffed around the dark alleyway where Tina Oslett had been murdered. The dog searched out food, going from trash bin to trash bin. At the end of the alleyway, it found a cold human toe and started to lick it.
Bones crunched in Tina’s neck as it regenerated, and the dog barked at the sound, backing away from its recent find. Seconds later, Tina sucked in a deep breath and let out a scream.
The dog barked at her.
She sat up slowly, dusting a fresh coat of snow off of her and pulling her cut clothing around her for warmth. She shivered as she looked around. She grasped at her neck with her free hand, the other clasping the clothing around her body.
“What just happened?” she said out loud as she looked at the dog. It regarded her with indifference, cautiously moving towards her toe, then backing off and barking when she moved a little.
“I was dead! I felt it when I was killed!” she said as she slowly stood up. She looked around for the two men who had raped her and found nothing except the dog that was following her as she moved slowly down the alleyway.
Seeing no one around, she moved as quickly as she could towards her apartment in a ripped dress, a broken heel, and a missing shoe.