I’m working through the editor’s line edit on Idol and Enemies (Amplifier 4) and since I’m refining the text, etc, I thought it would be fun to share a short snippet. When I asked for requests over on Facebook and Twitter, the overwhelming majority voted for more Paisley content. So here you go!

Warning: it’s rather difficult to pull chunks out of Amplifier 4 without spoilers, so there are characters in this snippet that you haven’t met yet.

Aiden released my hand, stepping over to the kitchen island. “Whose turn is next?”

Khalid cleared his throat, eyeing Paisley and then glancing over Aiden’s shoulder at me. “Mine. If I step back, will Paisley try to rip my throat out?”

“I never really know,” I said casually. “Shall I ask her not to eat you, sorcerer?”

“You haven’t already?” Ocean cried. Then she blushed fiercely.

I didn’t answer.

So apparently, I could play games. For my own pleasure, at least. Though by the look Aiden angled at me, I’d managed to amuse him as well.

Aiden took Khalid’s spot at the island. Paisley hooked paws that were too big for her current body on the edge of the speckled quartz counter and pulled herself up. Her nose skimmed the low edge of the magical grid. Sickled claws shot out from her paws.

Across from the demon dog, Sky meeped.

I wasn’t certain I’d ever heard a human make that particular sound before.

“Paisley,” I said in a warning tone.

The demon dog retracted the claws, laughing at me with her eyes.

– Idols and Enemies (Amplifier 4)

*SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS*

Paisley shoved herself between Aiden and his father. A single tentacle sprung forth from her neck. It was wrapped around a large bovine bone. The demon dog flashed a double row of sharp teeth at Kader, then poked him in the thigh with the bone.

“Ah,” Kader said. “Look at you, beautiful. I didn’t know that any of you had survived.” He glanced at me. “Did you get the entire litter out?”

I hadn’t. Only Paisley had survived the destruction we Five had wrought on the compound when we’d escaped the Collective.

Paisley poked Kader with the bone again.

“Yes, sorry,” he said to her. Then he wrapped his hand around the end of the bone, gazing deliberately into Paisley’s blood red eyes.

Silence stretched. A distant rooster crowed, then the rooster overseeing our flock responded. An airplane passed overhead.

Aiden glanced my way questioningly.

I shrugged. Paisley had done something similar when Opal had appeared on the property, making her hold the bone as well. I hadn’t thought to mention it to anyone. But the demon dog seemed to be using the bone that Aiden had given her as some sort of way to vet intruders, friend from possible tasty treat.

Not that I’d let the demon dog eat someone. Though, even I couldn’t stop everything that might happen in the heat of battle.

– Excerpt from Idols and Enemies (Amplifier 4), 4th draft. Releasing Sept/Oct 2020.